Changing Views

by lllWarHawklll

Rating: teen
Tags: Alternate Universe, Human, Changelings, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Comedy, Daring Do, Tragedy, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life
Length: 127069

One moment I was enjoying life, the next... well, I'm not so sure, though I was hearing voices. Now, however? I'm the last survivor of my race. I'm not even human anymore...

I was living a comfortable life. Had a loving wife and son, money was absolutely no issue, everything was swell.

Next thing I know, I'm hearing voices, I can't move, I can't talk, I can't even breathe. Yet, I know I'm alive, though I don't entirely feel like myself anymore.

Then I end up being the last of survivor of my new race.

I'm not even human anymore...

------------------------

-A HiE fic as a changeling in an alternate universe where MLP was never aired on Earth.
-Starts shortly before the end of Season 2.
***Slow updates! You've been warned!***
-Current cover image is a placeholder. Trying to find a more appropriate one...
-Comments below contain spoilers!
-The [Tragedy] tag is there mainly because I can't put up the [Sad] tag, due to conflicts with the [Comedy] tag.

Published 2015-01-23 17:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2016-03-31 00:09:02 UTC

[0] Interlude: I like trains

'Cadance' was aboard a train, headed straight to Canterlot while being 'escorted' by four 'Royal guards', observing the scenery as it sped by the relatively peaceful ride.

Once they found out exactly where Princess Mi Amore Cadenza stayed the previous night, it was simply too easy to replace her. Very few knew about the existence of changelings, after all. Preparing against the unknown was always a 'hit or miss' sort of thing, yet nopony would ever expect a race of shape-shifters to pop out of nowhere and outright take the place of the bride and her guards.

Unfortunately, the information they had compiled on the Princess of love was not as great as she would have wished. No changeling knew of her hobbies, or her favorite foods, or who were her close friends. As such, Chrysalis had to improvise as best she could considering the circumstances. Acting like a Princess would hopefully be enough to convince all those ignorant ponies of her being whom she claimed to be and the looming wedding might give her more room to make mistakes under the claim of 'pre-wedding nervousness' or similar excuses. And yet...

She still felt bad for leaving her little Artemis behind. While Chrysalis loved every single one of her children unconditionally and equally, she left the only changeling in the entire hive which could possibly be her heir. Maybe she should send a few of her children back to keep an eye on her...

...No, she needed everyling for this. Besides, nopony knew of the hive's location and nopony should ever find it anytime soon considering it was in the Badlands. Few dared to venture in the barren wasteland devoid of plant life. Sure, the risk remained that somepony may end up discovering the hive accidentally, and the entrance was currently wide open, but the traps she had placed in it before leaving and all of the confusing hallways which made the hive an intricate labyrinth should keep her Artemis safe. Especially the traps she had placed in the chamber currently holding her little one. Nopony would dare hurt her anytime soon.

The Queen could now observe Canterlot in the distance, hanging on the mountain in all its shining glory; truly a marvel of architecture and spellweaving to keep it from damaging the mountain and the city itself from how the Capital was embedded into it.

And she hated it.

All of that brightness, the luxury, the 'sophistication'; it all got to the heads of most ponies whom lived in it.

Most.

All of those stuck-up nobles, muzzles held high, so self-absorbed one would think they thought they were the center of the world, nay, the universe itself. It made for love gathering to be an immense pain in the flank. Only changelings with proper experience could survive in the gauntlet that was Canterlot's society, and even then, the number of spies had to be held at a minimum because of how sparse love was. One would even think it was practically non-existent in it, were it not for the few travelers, tourists, or the occasional activities here and there... hay, the rare griffin visitors themselves usually had more love than certain sections of the city's residents combined.

Even the unions between ponies were planned up there, most of the time. Those arranged marriages, all to keep 'noble blood' and maintain their 'superiority' over others. It was no wonder that most of the population there was comprised of unicorns. Despite Celestia herself preaching about harmony, love and tolerance between all the pony tribes, the 'noble' unicorns took it upon themselves to discretely push the pegasi and earth ponies away through politics. Any that remained were given looks and unwelcoming stares until they too left for more accepting lands.

There was still hope for Canterlot, however. There were the few Earth ponies and pegasi that had managed to become quite wealthy and influential across the city, and the simple fact that they had done so began encouraging others to try as well.

'And yet, even those ponies have to keep up masks of superiority to maintain their positions' mused Chrysalis.

Besides the joyful innocent little colts and fillies playing around every now and again on the streets, the lack of love was frustrating and she was certain that even her dear sister was disappointed at her own subject's disharmony; especially while she lived practically next to them, in that grand castle of hers.

'It matters not, the city will be soon be mine, and she will regret not believing me all those years ago...'

Turning away from the view of the faraway mountain, she turned to see the humble town of Ponyville nearby.

That. Was a proper paradise for any changeling. With all of the welcoming ponies of each tribe, the friendliness among everypony, the proximity to nature (minus the Everfree forest itself), but especially the mere presence of the 'element bearers', the guardians of harmony itself, made sending any of her children there almost a vacation.

Almost.

Tales of a certain pink pony giving nightmares of streamers, confetti and pastries to anyling that wandered into the town with their own unique 'ponified' forms forced the Queen to prepare a class in 'How to be prepared for a Pinkie Pie welcome party'. Even then, only the most brave changelings could truly survive against the element of laughter unscathed. The last unprepared one whom was sent to Ponyville had left after a mere day, mumbling incoherently about cakes and lies. It took a whole month before that one was able to continue any operations across the country.

'One day, we shall learn your secrets, Pinkius Piacus,' swore Chrysalis, narrowing her eyes.

Meanwhile in Ponyville, Pinkie Pie had just finished her shift in Sugarcube Corner and was about to head over to Twilight Sparkle's library to give her a very special surprise cupcake, because EVERYPONY loved very special surprise cupcakes! Especially when the surprise was extra surprising and when Twilight was in a very delicate and complicated experiment at its crucial stages where a single mistake could ruin the entire procedure and force her to completely start over, ruining weeks of work! Like right now!

Suddenly her muzzle scrunched, her knees temporarily weakened and her forelegs flailed a bit.

She knew just what to do, turning to look at a train in the distance headed to Canterlot, replying "Okie Dokie Loki!" and bouncing towards her next victi— err, friend, la-la-la'ing all the way.

The Changeling Queen suddenly felt cold and shivered, quickly averting her eyes from the establishment known as 'Sugarcube Corner', turning instead to view her four accompanying changelings in disguise which were in the same cabin as her.

Number six-two-six, Redstar, Sectine and Edge. The first three were sticking together in a warm pile, serenely sleeping the trip away as they hugged each other while Edge remained awake and alert, observing the scenery speeding by just as Chrysalis was.

'If only more of my children looked up to him and followed his example. Then again, none other can claim to have bested a manticore merely a year after being born, without proper training and while being a measly pegasus, with scars and injuries to prove it. Perhaps the others view him as if he were on a whole different level?'

She turned back to view the peaceful landscape once more. "Thinking about Artemis?" she asked.

He sighed after a moment, moving his gaze towards the floor. "Yes..." Edge replied. "Though I assume you haven't stopped doing so as well ever since we left."

"Indeed."

Unlike the 'relay' changelings, she could connect to every single one of her children, though it cost exponentially more energy to actively use the links with non-relay changelings over long distances. Being the Queen, it was necessary for her to naturally be able to multitask like nopony's business, allowing her to effortlessly work on multiple fronts at the same time. The drawbacks on such an ability were glaringly apparent at this moment, however.

When a pony, griffin or other sapient creature needed to take its mind off something, they could simply distract themselves with hobbies, friends or activities in general, using all of their concentration on such things.

Chrysalis was almost entirely unable to do so, her mind perpetually working on various thoughts at once.

She thought of Artemis, she kept track of the progression of the numerous squads of changelings converging to the point of gathering near Canterlot and she reviewed what she knew of 'Shining Armor' in preparation for her arrival, all at once.

"Why could we not bring her with us, again?" asked Edge, looking up to his disguised Mother. "I thought she had been moved from the incubation room to where she currently is while still in the egg, back when all the others of her group hatched."

"Because—"

"PIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEE!!!"

They both snapped their heads back towards Ponyville, bewilderedly watching an enormous multi-colored mushroom cloud expand from the town's local library, which was somehow completely intact itself.

'That oddly sounded like Celestia's personal student's voice' thought the changeling Queen, entranced by the...

"...Is... that... a double rainbow!?" asked Edge, mesmerized by the continuously rising rainbow cloud.

"What does it meaaaaan?" mumbled Sectine in her sleep.

"As... I was saying," slowly began Chrysalis, unable to tear her eyes off of the wonderful event in the distance. "She was moved because I had determined that she had not yet reached a certain stage of growth within the egg. Once her body begins to work on finishing her neural and magical pathways, it is imperative to not move her too much, otherwise the nymph would risk... complications.

"It's unfortunate, really," she continued in a somber tone, ears splayed back. "Had we stayed just a few days longer feeding her, we would probably be showing her the world at this very moment. Artemis was that close to being able to meet us outside of her egg."

Chrysalis heard the soft sound of hoofsteps and fake armor clinking—the real thing was made of gold for screeching out loud, what were they thinking?—nearing her before feeling her dear son's forelegs around her neck. "I'm sure we'll see her soon enough, after this whole ordeal. The wedding is only in three days, right? I could head back to check on our newest and first changeling princess once our victory is assured, if you wish." He craned his neck from his hug, towards his sleeping siblings. "With a bit of company, of course," he added while looking at Redstar, the only relay changeling of the current squad.

Chrysalis chuckled, her spirits slightly lifted. "Oh? Planning to betray this crown to join the young one's eventual hive? Hmph. I thought you loved me," she said in mock indignation, turning her head away, muzzle held high with her eyes closed.

"W-what!? B-but I, I-I meant—" stuttered Edge, eyes wide, panicking.

Then she actually laughed with her first genuine smile for the entire trip.

"Relax, Captain," giggled the Queen. "Even if you did do so, I would not mind, to be perfectly honest. We would still remain as a family, if not an even larger one. I have noticed the amount of time you spent with little Artemis; far longer than what it takes to merely feed her, compared to the other volunteers at the hive."

"O-oh, right," he replied, relieved and cursing himself for not noticing his mother's joking tone and emotions. "It's just... nearly every one of my brothers and sisters got to 'teach the ropes', as it were, to at least one of the younger recently hatched ones, while I've been either away on missions or just trying my best to find someling at home that would stay and spend time with me, but it's as if they felt unworthy to be near me..." He sorrowfully turned away, pondering.

In truth, he had completely forgotten how much the manticore incident had impressed others. Not that anyling knew that, including Chrysalis. While it had initially somewhat traumatized him for some time, the constant praise he got for the following weeks overshadowed it, and the praise eventually gave way to changelings giving him a wide berth whenever he happened to trot by, out of respect.

'Spreading the tales of his numerous exploits was maybe a bad idea...' she thought, frowning. 'Perhaps I should review our teaching methods more thoroughly.'

He suddenly perked up. "And then Artemis was born! I finally had the chance to play the 'big brother' role, and not just to anyling! No offense to my siblings, of course."

They both then felt a presence approaching from a couple cars away at a steady pace with an aura of nervousness.

'Why would that pony be nervou— Oh, right, I'm playing the Princess role. They're always so afraid of disappointing princesses for some reason,' thought the Queen while sending a pulse of magic to her three sleeping children, awakening them with a jolt.

"Gah!"

"Urk!"

"SPACE BUTTERFLIES!" shouted Sectine, which earned her confused looks from all around.

"Standard positions," was all Chrysalis had to say, causing the four smaller 'ponies' to each move to a different corner of the cabin, spears upright, eyes staring forward, faces set to 'completely serious', chests puffed out and muzzles held slightly high, giving them the general intimidating look guards tend to have on the job.

The door opened and in trotted a shaking unicorn stallion dressed in an expensive-looking suit, crusted with gems of the highest quality at just the right places, levitating a plate with a few drinks on it, somehow not spilling anything despite how wobbly it was.

"G-g-greetings, p-princess!" He bowed upon noticing her in all her natural beauty near the center of the car, looking out the window. "I-I know you haven't o-ordered anything despite knowing t-that first-class c-clients get free service, including food and drinks," he continued, gaining confidence as his obviously pre-planned speech rolled on, "and I thought I would offer you these from my personal stores, as a gift to you." He brought the plate closer to her, gently setting it next to her seat, revealing the three bottles of expensive, very old-looking 'Applejack Daniels', each sporting the image of a light-brown coated stallion with a Stetson over his head.

"Thank you. We will enjoy these... drinks quite thoroughly," replied the Queen-in-disguise, examining the precious containers.

The stallion didn't listen, however. All of his attention was on that cute face of hers, her gorgeous mane, that beautiful pink coat...

*Ahem*, Chrysalis cleared her throat on noticing his dreamy expression, getting him out of it. "Again, thank you."

...

...

...

...

"You can go now," she finally added with a shooing motion of her foreleg on seeing that he remained in place.

"Oh! Yes, of course, forgive me; enjoy your drinks!" he said while quickly scrambling back towards the door, letting out a tiny 'eep!' on noticing the guard whom was right next to him before slamming the door closed behind him.

All five changelings remained in their positions.

Waiting patiently.

Forever vigilant.

Displaying the epitome of patience.

...Until the only Mother in the group let out a sigh.

She opened one of the bottles and slowly exclaimed much louder than necessary: "MMMM, THESE DRINKS SURE ARE GOOD! WHAT A NICE STALLION TO OFFER ME THIS AMAZING GIFT! THEY ARE SO YUMMY AND FLAVORFUL!"

Chrysalis then sensed joy through the sub-link of the pony eavesdropping behind the door. She herself felt relieved as the stallion made his way back to the front of the train.

"Well, that was a nice snack," she mused out loud while the 'guards' broke formation and dispersed throughout the cabin; Edge returning to his spot at his own window to view the outside world, Sectine and Redstar going to a corner to chat, while #626 approached the Queen and sat on his haunches, leaning on her, happily looking up to his mother.

Normally, she would've milked the stallion for what his love was worth (emotion-wise, that is), however these were most likely the final moments she would have contact with her children other than using the hive links. At least until the plan was fully set in motion.

She would cherish them while it lasted.

As she was nuzzling her son, one of her many thoughts drifted towards her own mother.

'What would she think of everything I have done so far? she pondered, now facing the window once more with a sudden poker face. 'Well, for one, she would not approve of this invasion. Not like she would even recognize me. Not after what... Discord did with my body...'

Sectine interrupted her sister mid-conversation as she noticed the expression on her mother's face.

"Oooh, that's the face of a certain mother who is angry but doesn't want us to know it."

Redstar glanced at Chrysalis before turning back to her sister while wearing a confused expression. "Really? She looks sort-of fine to me... feels fine too."

"Trust me, if I could get a cutie mark like the ponies, it would be in deciphering mom's expressions. As for what she's feeling, didn't you say her mind worked differently than ours at some point? Maybe she found a way to mask her emotions from us."

After a little moment of staring at each other, they both wordlessly nodded and silently made their way towards their Queen and Mother, intent on cheering her up.

Chrysalis's thoughts were slowly turning darker and darker, making it increasingly hard to mask her rage at a certain spirit of chaos, until she felt a nudge from her side. She turned to see both her daughters sitting next to her, on the opposite side of #626; one feeling worried, the other levitating the still-open bottle of cider towards her with a hopeful, cheery grin.

...And just like that, her anger evaporated and another smile graced her muzzle as she took the drink in her own magical grasp.

'Maybe... I should actually be thanking him. I would never have had this second family, were it not for his changes.'

And she would love her children until the very end, no matter what happened.

"...Hmm, this really IS juicy and flavorful."

Author's Note

I had originally planned this chapter to narrate various moments during Chrysalis's venture towards Canterlot, including the invasion itself and its (unfortunate) conclusion (sorry), but as I was typing away this little train scene, I felt the need to turn it into a chapter of its own with how it was turning out, as well as showing more of the relations between changelings, both between themselves and their Mother/Queen.

As I was typing this I accidentally pressed CTRL-A and ALMOST pressed the backspace button. Panicked for a second.

Threw in a few hints towards the backstory I made of Chrysalis along the chapter, as well as Artemis's role in their society, though the latter was kind of obvious. However, I'm considering adding the "Tragedy" tag for the next chapter. (Again, sorry.)

I can totally picture the final scene of this chapter as artwork (without the disguises on the changelings). Chrysalis in front of a window with a beautiful sky in the background, surrounded by her loved children, nuzzling one of them...

Gotta love fluff.

Fluff is life, Fluff is love.

If you are unhappy, angry or want to murder me in my sleep for what is essentially going to be the "extermination" of the changelings, well, hopefully the aforementioned fluff that is going to be the rest of the story as Artemis grows up to learn what it means to be a changeling will satisfy you.

Really wish I didn't have to kill off the changelings, especially after I read some comments about how people liked the way I made them out to be, (their deaths will be an unintentional thing by the ponies, by the way), but I feel it's a necessary evil to make the rest of the story better. Gives a lot more options to work with.

[0] ...The harder they fall

Everything was going according to plan.

...

Well, almost everything.

Though in retrospect, the presence of the element bearers in the ceremony was practically a guaranteed thing, what with Twilight being the groom's sister; therefore all Chrysalis could really do about that was delay their arrival as long as possible.

Her secondary squadron of changelings had managed to bring the real Princess of love all the way from Baltimare to the outpost, though the Queen ordered that the pink alicorn be brought to the crystal caverns under the castle instead—which few knew of its existence—without the cocoon surrounding her. Alicorns seemed to be resistant to the sleeping effect of the pod anyway.

When a changeling used magic, it didn't actively consume the love they had gathered per se, rather the strength of their magic itself increased the more full they were on emotional energy. If Chrysalis was to overpower Celestia herself—perhaps even Luna if she got in the way as well—she would need as much love as possible before the final phase of the invasion. Canterlot being a desert in terms of gatherable emotions compared to the rest of Equestria, her main 'food' sources would be Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.

...Though the way she went about getting it from the bride herself was outright cruel.

The taunting, the bullying, the smugness in her tone as she verbally tortured the poor soul...

Then she would 'strut away', leaving the princess on the crystal floor.

Rather, an optical illusion of herself walking away was visible. In truth, she remained invisible near her target, waiting for the inevitable chain of emotions.

The Princess of love would first weep, then feel utter rage against the Queen, before finally just thinking of her beloved Shining Armor... at which point Chrysalis was all but glad to drain her of all that delicious love, weakening the alicorn and preventing her from moving too much or even thinking of escaping.

Deep inside, the changeling Queen knew that this method of harvesting was wrong. She would practically never resort to it, under normal circumstances. However...

Chrysalis was irritated. So very, very irritated.

While on her train ride to Canterlot from Baltimare, her spies at the castle had informed her that Shining Armor was going to put up a sort of shield around the entire city itself once 'Cadance' arrived, preventing anypony from going in or out of it. Due to this, the increase in guard patrols and the scarcity of 'food' available, smuggling any cocooned meals in and out of the castle to sustain the spies was going to be nearly impossible, therefore she would have to order a full extraction of every changeling in Canterlot, just for their safety.

All of the ponies they had replaced were placed right back to where they belonged with the standard procedure for redeployment, though some, like Feather Wind, had to be borderline mind-controlled to prevent... incidents.

Her four accompanying children during the train ride had to de-cocoon the guards that were hidden in the final train car—which was right next to the one she was on for most of the ride—before leaving them to their posts, flying off to the meeting point.

The evacuation order meant that Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings, Mother of thousands, was completely alone.

Away from her hive.

Away from her children.

Away from her little Artemis.

For two. Full. Days.

With yet another one to go, even.

And then there was the matter of Twilight Sparkle. That mare was getting a bit too close to putting a damper on her plans...

Chrysalis was irritated. So very, very irritated.

So for the time being, she would take out her frustration on the unfortunate pony whom she was impersonating. She might not even have to do anything to get rid of Twilight, with how the unicorn was going about so far.

Well, a bit of dramatic acting was going to be necessary, she supposed...

==============================================

"My children..." began Chrysalis in the hive mind, to her relay changelings.

"Mares and Gentlecolts, we are gathered here today to witness the union of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and Shining Armor."

"...It is time. Begin the final phase! The shield will not hold for much longer."

While Celestia was busy spouting off the usual drivel about love and it's mysterious ways and how it would last until their last breaths, the fake bride was partly paying attention to her surroundings and for the most part draining the rest of Shining Armor's love, which indirectly weakened his magic.

'It truly is a wonder how he manages to keep that cursed shield of his up, despite days of draining him and the barrier being large enough to cover the entire city. Maybe I underestimated the effects Cutie Marks have on ponies...'

...Or maybe Shining Armor was overpowered, but we don't talk about that.

"I do," Chrysalis absentmindedly answered Celestia's question.

"Then, Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, it is my great pleasure to pronounce you—"

"STOOOOOOOOP!" shouted Twilight, whom had just barged into the room, interrupting the final part of the ceremony with the real Princess of love in tow.

"...What? But... ah don't understand, how can there be two of 'em!?" asked a confused Applejack from the sidelines.

'This isn't good, have to buy time for the others, the shield is almost down...' thought the shocked Queen at this unforeseen event.

"She's a changeling! She takes the form of somepony you love and gains power by feeding off your love for them!" exclaimed the newly-arrived alicorn, angrily pointing towards the disguised Queen.

'Perhaps I informed her too much... it matters not, however. I have just the thing to delay them long enough for my children to break down the shield...' thought Chrysalis, enveloping her entire frame in an impressive display of green magical fire, revealing her true self as slowly as possible in preparation for the bane of heroes and villains alike...

'...A monologue.'

Celestia could not believe her eyes.

Right there.

In front of her.

Was her cherished sister whom she had not seen for a millennia.

...Give or take fifty years.

The Diarch of the Sun was too shocked to properly react. After all, she thought she had... destroyed 'Chrysalis' all those years ago...

As the Queen began explaining her 'master plan' in excruciating detail to the ponies in the room, Celestia re-lived Discord's warning...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You know this mirror cannot lie. No magic can affect it, not even mine. Somehow. If Chrysalis remains alive, these events will come to pass. Not that I would complain, it's quite the chaotic reunion..." he had said, showing her the future via the Mirror of Truth.

"Tia! What is he showing you!? Don't trust him! You have to believe me! It's me! Terra—"

"So what will it be? Your precious ponies, or 'Chrysalis'? Hmm?" asked the spirit of Chaos incarnate, maliciously grinning, seemingly knowing what was going to happen right then and there.

"L-Luna! Please! I-it's really me..."

As Celestia looked between the mirror showing a battle raging in some sort of City populated by ponies, invaded by these beings resembling bug-like equines and the... thing that was currently claiming to be her sister, Terra...

The choice was easy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the eventual defeat of Discord and Chrysalis, his 'sidekick' as he had called her, she had scoured all of Equus in search of Terra for years... only to find not a single trace of her, no matter where she looked, ever since Chrysalis appeared.

She refused to believe that she had annihilated her own sister, clinging to the hope that one day, she would reappear and claim everything was fine.

Realization of what she had done slowly set in as the seasons went by, and she was struck with grief for years.

But now, practically a thousand years later...

Terra was here.

Alive!

Her Sister wasn't dead! She came back! And... and...

And she was going to invade Canterlot, just like the mirror had predicted ages ago.

"Soon, my children will break through the barrier!"

'no...'

"First, we take Canterlot..."

'No...'

"...and then, ALL of Equestria!"

"No!" interjected Celestia, slowly approaching the Queen, visibly frowning. "You won't.

"You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you have so foolishly revealed your TRUE self..."

'In more ways than one...'

"...I will protect my subjects, from YOU!" she exclaimed, hovering in the air, powering her horn before unleashing a powerful magical beam towards Chrysalis, the latter responding in kind.

It was clear whom was winning the power struggle, however.

"Aaaugh! No!" screamed the changeling, eyes closed in concentration, struggling to keep up with the power of the sun.

Celestia hesitated, though.

'This is exactly how it went last time,' she remembered...

Every single detail of the duel was the same, down to the panicking, desperate and pleading expression of her sister, right before she had suddenly completely vanished back then...

The sun Diarch's lapse of attention was all Chrysalis needed to regain the advantage, however.

Every pony watched in shocked silence as Celestia fell to the floor unmoving, her crown clanging off the ground, her horn slightly charred and smoking.

"Princess Celestia!" gasped Twilight, bringing every being in the room out of their shock, galloping towards her mentor along with the other element bearers.

Despite the agony the Princess felt at that very moment (horns were very sensitive and linked with a pony's entire nervous system, after all), she knew one thing that was perfectly clear in her heart.

'I refuse to hurt her. I've already lost both my sisters once, but not this time... there must be a way to set things right...'

And that is when she recalled the obvious solution:

The Elements of Harmony!

'Perhaps its power will revert Terra back to how she used to be, like they reverted Luna from her possessed form?'

She managed to suppress her pain enough to notice her faithful student along with the rest of the element bearers rushing towards her.

"The Elements of Harmony! You must get to them... and use their power to defeat the Queen!" she exclaimed, to which the six mares simultaneously looked at each other and nodded with grim expressions.

...Though even as they all ran off, throwing their dresses away to gallop faster, a certain unicorn with a beautifully styled purple mane and a shiny white coat stayed behind to make sure the elegant clothes didn't hit the ground and get wrinkled and—

"RARITY!"

The unfortunate fashionista sighed, leaving the exquisite dresses with their doomed fate on the thoroughly over-polished floor to catch up with her friends.

By then, Celestia's vision was fading in and out. She caught glimpses of the room's pony occupants scrambling out of the throne room to escape the Queen, whom was steadily advancing towards her with a sadistic smile.

It was becoming so very hard to stay awake, but she had to stay strong for her ponies! She had to—

"Any last words?" asked Chrysalis, wicked horn in the process of amassing power for a... spell the Princess couldn't quite recognize because of her blurry vision.

"...Forgive... me.......... Terra...."

Celestia lost consciousness, the last thing she saw being the changeling's shocked expression.

She... apologized.

'She actually apologized,' thought Chrysalis, canceling her spell meant to put her target to sleep.

The room was now devoid of ponies, save for an unconscious Celestia, an immobilized Princess of Love who had attempted to 'save' her beloved groom, and a certain Shining Armor whom was currently affected by an overdose of mind-control spells, having almost completely lost all free will for the time being.

Spike was curled up in a ball at a corner near Cadance, looking completely out of his element, having absolutely no clue whatsoever on what to do.

Chrysalis's children had broken the barrier and swarmed the city by then, overpowering the Royal Guard with ease and moving to intercept and ambush the element bearers before they could reach their objective.

There were no casualties on both sides.

About 69% of the guard was currently neutralized.

Two out of three alicorns were down for the count, Luna currently missing in action.

It was just... too easy.

They had practically won already.

...

...Then why did this feel like such a hollow victory?

"So, is that it? Are all ponies just food for you!? Did you ever just stop and think about the fact that we're living beings too!?" shouted an enraged Cadance.

Chrysalis snorted. "You can forget everything I said earlier. This invasion had nothing to do with food." She telekinetically opened the doors to the room, allowing entry to a squad of changelings who immediately began to work on cocooning Celestia.

The rage on the face of the Princess of Love was replaced with a confused frown. "Then why did you even make a speech about it? Why did you attack Celestia? Why did you ruin my special day!?"

The changeling Queen turned to face her. "To buy time for my children. For what she did a millennia ago. You were merely caught in the crossfire."

"Then just WHAT is it that you wanted to accomplish with this entire invasion!?"

Chrysalis turned to look at the Princess of the Sun, an unsettling grin on her face. "I wanted to hurt my sister, make her suffer for making me miss a thousand years on Equus. Show her what it feels like to be betrayed by your own family! What it feels like to be ATTACKED BY YOUR OWN SISTER!"

She glared at Cadance for a moment before closing her eyes and taking a calming breath, exhaling shortly thereafter.

"Do you know what Discord gave to Celestia as a choice, oh so long ago?" calmly asked Chrysalis, eyes still shut closed.

"He gave her the choice between believing I was truly her sister, despite my... new form, courtesy of himself, or to kill me in order to 'save' the ponies she would one day lead.

"Do you know what she did?" Chrysalis asked in a calm voice, slowly opening her eyes, rage coursing through them; and for once, Cadance looked on in sorrow, understanding finally dawning on her.

"She attacked me. Immediately. No hesitation whatsoever. Despite my pleading. Despite my tears! Despite knowing that Discord was A MANIPULATING SON OF A...... GRRAAHHHH!!!" She stomped her hoof on the marble floor with enough force to send a visible shockwave through the air, creating a miniature crater in the process, panting in absolute rage.

She quickly brought it under control when a couple of her children abandoned their posts in the room to comfort her, though.

Chrysalis slowly nodded to them, at which point they went to help hang the now-cocooned Celestia on the ceiling.

"But what about Aunt Luna? Didn't she give you a chance back then?"

Chrysalis snorted. "She did nothing, and that is almost just as bad as what Celestia did."

"That could mean that she believed you!" Cadance tried to argue.

"Apparently not enough to even attempt to stop our sister," the Queen coldly replied.

Chrysalis then began pacing around the room a bit, observing the various tinted glass windows which displayed the feats of Ponykind over the ages; the most recent one being about the elements imprisoning Discord once more.

"I can understand why you'd want... revenge, on my Aunt," Cadance said as if it were a foreign concept, frowning. "But did you have to bring us all into it too? Your problem is with her, not us!"

The now somewhat-relaxed Changeling Queen regarded her with a calm expression. "My sister chose her little ponies over me. She didn't even give me a chance. What better way to hurt her, than to take away what she obviously cherishes more? Perhaps I was not lying about the taking over of Equestria, you know."

By now the pod was stuck to the ceiling with Celestia upside-down in it. Chrysalis both sensed and saw the solar diarch slowly awakening, reveling in her confusion and distress.

She also sensed the pink alicorn's anger returning.

"You won't get away with this! Twilight and her friends will—"

And in walked the element bearers, surrounded and escorted into the room by multiple changelings, both the ponies and changelings looking slightly battered and bruised.

The Queen turned to face Cadance with a smug grin. "You were saying?" she taunted, before turning to face the six 'heroes' of Equestria. "You do realize the reception's been canceled, don't you?"

She didn't need to look at Celestia to feel her fear and... sorrow? "Go! Feed!" Chrysalis dramatically exclaimed to her children, which left her alone with all the ponies.

"It's funny, really. Twilight here was suspicious of my behavior all along! Too bad the rest of you were too caught up in your wedding planning to realize her suspicions were correct!" said the changeling to the ponies, antagonizing them as much as she could, turning to head towards one of the opened windows in the room.

Nothing felt better than to sense Celestia's own despair.

"Sheesh, we didn't even have to do anything."

"Well I'm glad for that, I'm not much of a fighter, anyway," replied Redstar to Sectine, both changelings viewing the city in general from an arch between rooftops near the castle itself.

"I bet you could still take down a Royal guard or two on your own; these guys have no combat experience at all!" Sectine exclaimed, throwing her forelegs in the air in exaggerated motions.

"You'd think the defenders of the pony Capital itself would be better trained than this," agreed the relay changeling. "I heard rumors here and there about them just being there for show, actually. 'Why need an actual army when your rulers are practically goddesses?'"

"Welp, if that's really what they were thinking, then that idea totally backfired on them," chuckled Sectine.

They turned to see Edge landing next to them. "Hey girls! What's up?"

"Oh, nothing, just talking about the incompetence of the Royal Guard," answered Redstar.

"I know, right? I just saw Pixie take on three on her own."

"Pixie!?" incredulously asked Sectine. "Isn't that our sister whom you dropped as an egg by accide—"

"SHHH!" interrupted Redstar by immediately shoving a hoof in the other's mouth. "You know it was an accident and that I still feel bad about that, and you said you'd keep it secret!"

Sectine smacked the hoof away from her muzzle. "But I did keep it secret!"

"...You dropped her when she was just an egg?" asked Edge, not sure how to feel about that. "So that's why she's still stuck at the size of a nymph..." he muttered to himself.

Redstar glared at Sectine, whom nervously smiled. "Ah, heheh, um... woops?"

"Hey, don't worry too much about it, she's still generally happy, and she's even given extra attention!" Edge hurriedly added, noticing his sister's discomfort.

"I guess..." sighed Redstar, looking at the ground.

"Oh look, there's Mom!" chirped Sectine, pointing her hoof towards a window at the castle.

"Yeah, I just came from that place. Did you girls know Celestia and Luna are our Aunts?" asked Edge.

"What? No way. How come Mommy never told us anything about that?"

"Well, apparently it has to do with something that happened a thousand years ago or something like that, not sure how that's possible considering we really appeared only a few years back from now. It was something about Celestia betraying Mom by attacking her. Discord was involved somewhere in there too."

"WHAT!?" screeched both mares at the same time, outraged. "How can somepony, the self-proclaimed race of harmony and friendship, their ruler even, attack their own family!? That's just... THE worst. Possible. Thing!" shouted Redstar.

"Urk......Sist..er....y-you're........."

The relay changeling realized she was practically choking her own brother to death. Just in time too.

She gasped. "SORRY! I didn't mean to! I'm sorry! I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry!!!"

"...W-why....me......."

"Sheesh Redstar, we're going to have to announce that our Captain fell in the midst of glorious combat by the undeniable power of your hugs," laughed Sectine.

Redstar released her hold on him, gasping once more. "I'M SORRY!" she shouted before lunging towards her brother with renewed vigor.

"NO, IT'S FINE! I FORGIVE YOU! NO MORE CUDDLES OF DEATH! PLEASE!" shouted Edge, desperately backing away from his panicked sister, barely holding her at bay with his forelegs.

Sectine ultimately decided her brother has had enough and magically induced some calmness into her sister's system, almost immediately returning her sibling back to her regular serious demeanor.

"Uhh... heh, sorry," sheepishly smiled Redstar, now aware of how she was overreacting. "I guess I just got so angry that Celestia had hurt our mother, her own FAMILY and OOOH I JUST HAVE TO GO AND HIT SOMETHING REALLY HARD RIGHT NOW." She yet again grabbed Edge, lifting him in the air this time with nothing but her forelegs. "WHERE ARE ROYAL GUARDS! I MUST HEAR THEIR LAMENTATIONS! NOW!!!" she screeched.

Edge meekly pointed towards a section of the city where the guards had barricaded themselves inside a few buildings, causing Redstar to release her hold on him and zip away towards the final pocket of resistance in Canterlot.

He merely looked on, bewildered and somewhat afraid. "Angry Redstar is scary Redstar," Edge simply commented, shivering.

"Tell me about it. She was totally refusing to go join in on the action before you came," Sectine replied before turning to look at her mother, who was still observing the city through the castle windows. "Huh, that's a new one," she muttered.

Edge shook his head hoping to get rid of the images of his near-death experience. "What?"

"I believe... that's the face of a certain mother whom is about to experience a life-changing revelation that will seriously affect her," she said, tapping a hoof on her chin in contemplation.

He looked at their mother before turning back to his sister while wearing a confused expression. "Really? She looks sort-of fine to me... feels fine too."

Sectine smirked and looked at her brother. "Trust me, if I could get a cutie mark like the ponies...

As Chrysalis viewed the rest of Canterlot from the castle, observing her plan flawlessly coming to fruition, her smile ever so slowly faded.

Why was she not happy? They had won! Victory was assured! She finally got to have her revenge on Celestia!

...

...But...

Her sister had apologized, hadn't she?

...Well, an apology was obviously not enough to make up for years of accumulating rage.

However...

'Terra...' thought the Queen. 'It has been so long since I have been called that...'

She felt a presence behind her moving across the room; Twilight Sparkle if she sensed right. The Queen didn't really care about that though. Nopony in the room was currently strong enough to defy her, every single one of them being currently weakened while she was practically at her prime.

'Does that mean that she truly believes I am her sister? Was I foolish to not consider that after all these years, she would come to realize that and genuinely regret her actions?'

Even now, she could feel the sorrow emanating from the cocooned Princess. But sorrow for what?

'Is she sad about what I've become? Or is it in worry for her subjects?'

Oh how she wished she could read minds right now.

As she viewed ponies all across the city being chased by her children, felt the fear in the air and saw the damage caused by the changeling's literal crash landings, she began to seriously doubt her decision to enact revenge on Celestia.

'I-I... w-what am I doing!? She obviously remembers me, despite being gone for a thousand years! She even remembers my true name! AND she apologized! Cadance was correct, I have no right to bring other ponies into this!'

She turned around with the full intention of releasing Celestia and halting the invasion.

Unfortunately, she had managed to completely distract herself with her thoughts this one time.

Which meant she had completely missed what was happening with Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, as they magically floated in a swirling aura of love magic........

"...it would be in deciphering mom's expressions."

Edge scrunched his muzzle. "Why do I get the feeling you had this exact same conversation multiple times?"

"Mayhaps this exact same conversation did happen multiple times. Mayhaps I was right every time, too," smugly replied Sectine.

Edge shook his head. "Anyway, Mom gave me the green light to head back to the Hive and check on Artemis, wanna come?"

"And miss all this awesome action? Nah, bro. You go on ahead, I'll be relaxing up here while eating popcorn."

"...What's popcorn?"

"I have no idea!" she cheerfully exclaimed.

He would've rolled his eyes if he wasn't in his natural form. "Whatever, I'll see everyone back home, take care!"

"You too!" she called over to his retreating form, returning to her self-imposed objective of trying to figure out what was up with Chrysalis.

Gone was the smile on her mother's face; her ears had the faintest twitch, her eyes were ever so slightly glazed, as they always were when she was in very deep thought...

"Maybe she thinks taking over Canterlot was too much? We were pretty fine on food... Not sure what we're gonna do with all these ponies."

Sectine really started to worry when she noticed the signs of panic manifesting through Chrysalis's body language.

Suddenly, every changeling in Canterlot—which practically meant almost every changeling ever—stopped whatever they were doing and turned to look at the castle when they all felt the fear emanating from their mother.

Chrysalis had never felt fear like this before. Ever.

"Forgive me, my children."

*BOOM-SWOOOSH*

The last thing they would see would be a rapidly expanding pink barrier.

The last thing they would hear would be their own screams.

The last thing they would feel, would be pain.

The moment she scanned the swirling aura of magic, Chrysalis knew it was over.

The raw amount of love condensed into it was... too much.

No changeling would be able to handle it. To be in contact with it would overload their bodies in a matter of seconds.

"Forgive me, my children."

She turned to see Celestia, who was completely ignoring the display of magic and instead was still focused on her, with that same sorrowful expression.

The changeling queen quickly ripped the pod open with her magic, releasing the Diarch of the Sun whom yelped before collapsing in a heap in front of her.

Chrysalis had to say one last thing before everything ended.

"I'm sor—"

*BOOM-SWOOOSH*

Every pony in the throne room was entranced by the show of magic. As the wave of love hit them, they felt utter bliss, lost in a trance for a few moments.

Every pony, save for Celestia.

She lay next to the twitching form of her sister, whom was seemingly having a sort of seizure, appearing to be suffering in complete agony.

"T-Terra! What's wrong!? S-say something!" cried the Princess of the Sun, unable to stand watching her sister in such pain.

Said sister was slowing down, yet not looking better at all.

"Sa.......S-save........Artemis.............B-bad...l-lands...." Chrysalis managed to say, before any motion she had going on stopped completely.

...

...

...

...

"Te... T-Terra?"

Celestia nudged the corpse, nuzzling the chitin near Chrysalis's face.

"T-Terra, t-this isn't f-funny! W-wake up!"

The other ponies in the room were then returning to their senses, and it was hard to not notice the loud sobbing of their cherished ruler.

"n-no... No!... NO! N-NOT AGAIN! I REFUSE TO LOSE YOU AGAIN!! DON'T LEAVE ME!!!" she shouted, channeling every single healing spell she could think of into the deceased body of her sister in a futile attempt to bring her back, despite knowing full well that it wouldn't work.

Celestia promptly collapsed out of exhaustion, wailing in a heart-wrenching display of loss, embracing Chrysalis for what it was worth.

The streets of Canterlot were eerily quiet for the rest of the day.

==============================================

Three days had passed since that fateful day.

Three days since Celestia holed herself up in her room.

Two days since she sent an expedition team to the badlands to retrieve this... 'Artemis', whatever it may be.

Two days since she herself saw Luna... or anypony else, for that matter.

The lunar Diarch had given a very similar reaction to Celestia's once she woke up. Luna had nowhere near the amount of guilt her sister felt, however.

While both Diarchs had isolated themselves for a yet undetermined amount of time, Princess Cadance had taken it upon herself to lead the day court in Celestia's absence. Fortunately, during these times, the main topics were much less about politics, and more about reconstruction and relocation.

As they had been gathering the various changeling casualties, they had come upon an outpost of sorts, which contained various ponies inside of green pods, seemingly asleep. Once released, they woke up with varying degrees of gaps in their memory. Some remembered everything up until a few days ago, others could recall events until a month ago or so. Luckily, none suffered from any sort of side effects, though the places they originally lived in varied greatly. They had almost all been sorted out so far, though.

A flash of light signaled the arrival of a scroll, which Celestia slowly picked up through levitation and opened. She barely perked up when she read it was the results of the expedition team she had sent.

Barely.

She didn't care about the hundreds of thousands of bits they found.

She didn't care about the various artifacts they discovered.

...She kind of cared a bit about the guard whom got injured on certain traps, though.

Celestia's mood started to decline even further when no mention of anything linkable to 'Artemis' was noted as she read further and further...

Until she got to a certain line, at which point she froze at its contents, re-reading it repeatedly to make sure that she wasn't just seeing things, her eyes widening in shock, disbelief and hope.

'We found an intact changeling egg.'

[1] First Contact

Anger "How can you be joyful at a time like this, young one!? We are about to begin the invasion, which means we will have to leave you behind at the hive alone since we can no longer safely move you and everyling is needed for this!" my mom near-shouted at me before going back to feeling sad.

'.......Oh.'

Needless to say, I didn't feel so happy anymore.

A moment passed before she sighed. "Edge, go get Redstar, Sectine and another infiltrator of your choice. We will meet at our usual gathering spot. After I finish up with a few things, we will be departing towards Baltimare. Prepare an extra squad as well, just in case anything... unexpected happens."

"Right away, Mom!" he energetically said. "Don't worry Artemis, I'll be back one day. I promise!"

Though he said that with a cheerful tone, I could tell he was pretty saddened to have to leave.

Being an empath kind of helped with that.

I heard his footsteps fading away as he dragged the 'food' back with him, until I was left alone with Mom.

She was silent. Thinking, if I had to guess. But I didn't care too much about that; I was too busy basking in the wonderful feeling of her passive love for me, just as I was most likely sending the same feelings back to her.

It really was a wonderful thing to know, and I really mean know, without a doubt, what another person felt for you. Especially when it was something like this. I didn't think I could ever get tired of it.

"I am really, really sorry for having to leave you here alone, Artemis," she softly crooned, voice tinged with melancholy. "Know that it pains me greatly to not be able to bring you with us, especially when your hatching period is imminent."

"In the meantime, I will put you in a state of hibernation so that you may conserve any energy you have until our return to the hive. However, before I do so..."

I heard some sort of… high-pitched twinkling sound? At the same time, I could feel something I've only felt every now and then from the various brothers and sisters that had visited me; some kind of energy in the air, gathering towards one point in a somewhat specific pattern. It then branched out towards various places around the room, but mostly around my container, accumulating and molding itself into… something I wish I could see so I could know what was really going on.

This continued on for a minute or two before the source of all the energy calmed down, silencing that twinkling sound in the process. I could still feel its presence around the place, but now it felt like it was dormant, inactive, waiting for a certain trigger so that it may do whatever it's supposed to do.

"...There, that should keep you safe in our absence, just in case," said Mom, feeling satisfied with herself.

She seemed to go into deep thought once more, if the momentary silence was anything to go by.

"One thing you will come to learn, Artemis, is to have a contingency plan for anything you can think of. As such..."

That musical sound returned, and this time I actually saw something for the first time in what felt like ages.

Various images of a beautiful white… pony?—'seems too big for a pony...'—were ingrained into my mind. Its hair—'mane', I corrected myself—and tail looked to be… ethereal, for lack of a better term, sporting light-pink, blue and green colors, their colored pattern somehow remaining intact despite them flowing through the air as if wind was constantly blowing. It had wings folded on its sides, yet they didn't seem to be physically large enough to allow it to really fly. The horn adorning it's head was pretty lengthy, practically a makeshift spear if one wanted it to be.

What really caught my attention, though, was the face. They say the eyes are a window to the soul, and through this horse's... quite large eyes, all things considered, I saw a being whom had lived through trials and hardships. A being whom had despaired, yet triumphed over it all. A being born to lead—

"This is my sister, Celestia," mom informed me.

—whom I then knew was my Aunt. I didn't particularly care at that moment that my Aunt was a large winged unicorn. The serene smile on her muzzle and the calming aura she seemingly projected—

"No matter what, you must absolutely not trust her—"

—made me want to meet her—

"—for she tried to kill me," my Mom hissed with more than a touch of anger.

—~~made me want to meet her~~ made me NOT want to meet her. At all.

'Never thought I'd see the day where a sentient herbivore would attempt to kill a member of its own family. You'd think murder would be an inconceivable thing to commit as a pony.'

...

...

'On that note, never thought I'd become part of a race of quadruped shape-shifters whom feed on emotions of all things, reborn as an egg in a world where dragons, manticores and griffins exist among other sapient species, and where an entire kingdom of ponies is ruled by a magical winged unicorn whom apparently happens to be my Aunt; not to mention having hundreds, if not thousands of brothers and sisters included within this new family of mine...'

...

...

...

'......Huh.'

Never really thought about it too much, to be honest.

I was brought out of my musings by the arrival of a sibling I had yet to meet.

"We're ready, Mom. Everyling is waiting by the entrance."

"...Alright," she sighed. "I'll… tell you the whole story when we return, Artemis."

She came closer and everything felt warmer. My egg shook a bit, too. She must’ve been hugging me or something, making me wish that I could return it at that very moment. Instead, I’d have to make do with simply sending love through the link.

The twinkling sound returned, and I started...feeling....drowsy......

"Sweet dreams.......my little Artemis."

==============================================

...

...

...

"Forgive me, my children."

'..whaaa...?....... Fahve moar, minutes... mom........ so, tired...'

...

...

*swooooooooooooOOSH*

'Erk!' I mentally exclaimed, fully awake.

I physically jerked as some sort of powerful wave passed through me, somehow invigorating me to the point where it was almost painful. It felt like I was fed the equivalent of five of Mom's visits, all at once; the sensation comparable to being hit by a taser, albeit one where the jolt made you feel incredibly good instead of having your body lock up in a paralyzed state. I felt strong enough that...

Well, to put it simply:

I felt complete.

I could feel my body, curled up inside this egg. I could move and touch the soft membrane shielding me from the outside world. I could sense hundreds upon hundreds of links, stretched very, very far off into a certain direction.

But, something also didn't feel right...

Some of those links were suddenly beginning to disappear completely, as if cut off. One by one, two by two, dozens by dozens, they were vanishing at an exponentially increasing rate.

I tried to peek deeper into one of the remaining connections, yet I was forced to retreat from it once I felt pain on a scale I've never thought possible.

'Maybe that wave gave me a kind of boost that is starting to slowly wear off? Maybe trying to feel the link on a deeper level at this distance is painful by default...? Yeah, let's go with that.'

Assuming all those links I sensed represented the entirety of my new family, then they were all extremely far away. I was alone in the hive for the time being, just as Mom said I would be.

'Don't think I want to get out of this egg just yet then. Not while I'm alone.'

Besides, I guessed that the hatching part was some sort of very special and memorable moment.

And I didn’t want to deny my new Mom that event.

Unsure of how long I could safely stay and be nourished by the egg, I decided to sleep as much as I could to conserve energy, while also in the hopes that my family would return promptly.

Though, as I slowly fell into a deep sleep, I couldn't shake off the feeling of being alone...

==============================================

".-~-.~~-,-.~"

I groggily awoke to the faint sound of multiple voices echoing from some nearby hallway or... something. Didn't really get the chance to look at my surroundings to know the layout of the place and I refused to open my eyes while I could still feel the slime coating the entirety of the egg's insides.

These voices were actually saying words though, and not in the usual instinctive language of chirping, chittering and hissing that I had adopted and heard from everyone I had met here so far.

Annoyed "(Of course I'm not lost you dolt; I'm mapping the place and making sure I don't miss anything of importance.)"

...And unfortunately I had no idea what language they were speaking, nor could I understand it.

Angry "(Well you sure didn't miss that explosive trap back there, Miss 'I know everything about exploring evil monster lairs',)" a distinctly male voice sarcastically replied.

She scoffed… I think. "(I trotted around it, in fact. It's not my fault somepony failed to notice and walked right into it,)" she spoke with a sort of 'sophisticated accent'.

Frustrated "(Geez, thanks for warning us. Maybe you could tell us whenever your 'trap-sense' goes off next time?)"

I was tracking their progress via the sound of their footsteps, but theirs seemed to be much, much louder than what I was used to. Either my hearing got even better or...

'Wait a minute...'

I tried to form a link despite the distance, but… it just didn't really connect, nor did their emotions indicate any sort of reaction to my attempt.

'Please don't tell me these people aren't changelings...'

"(Why are we even here again?)" the guy grumbled. "(I didn't sign up to be a guard to follow the orders of some bossy lady while trudging into weird illuminated caves in the bucking middle of nowhere! We haven't even come across anything yet!)"

This was the first time I got to sense such a concentrated amount of negative emotions in one place, though it all seemed to be centered or directed around that one dude. Considering the family seemed to be extremely closely-knit, the odds of this group being composed of fellow changelings seemed nonexistent by now.

'Oh crap, what do I do!?'

"UUURGHH!" groaned the female.

Well, that one I understood at least.

"(Will you ever SHUT UP!? I thought guards were trained not to question orders and avoid conversation unless the situation demands it!)"

Exasperated "(Forgive my colleague, Miss Yearling. He is… new to the job, as you can most likely tell,)" said a deeper, calmer voice; no doubt from the third member of their party.

"(And you still didn't answer my question,)" spoke the seemingly younger male.

There was a pause when the footsteps stopped for a moment as I felt a surge of rage spike from one of the three invaders; the kind of rage where you struggled to hold yourself from your own satisfying desire to beat the crap out of anything nearby.

"(We're here because Princess Celestia herself asked me to explore these ruins in search of anything linkable to an 'Artemis'. Rather, that's why I am here. You two are here on her insistence to 'escort' me in case unforeseen events were to occur, despite my own assurances that I could do this alone.)"

They seemed to be going further away from me, which was good. From what I had gathered out of the stories Edge told me, nobody knew about the existence of our species. I didn't want to find out how they'd react to finding an unknown egg in some base or something.

"(Surprise surprise! Yet another dead end! AGAIN!)" said Mr. Grumpy.

"(ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!)" shouted the lady all of a sudden, the outburst echoing through the place for a second or two. "(I've HAD IT with your motherbucking whining in this motherbucking cave!! If you want ANY hope of keeping your job as a guard, you WON'T say another word unless it's ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. UNDERSTAND!?)"

I don't think I heard any reply to that, but McGrumpy was now afraid, while the two others were relieved and/or satisfied.

"(And for the record, that was the first and last time we'll come across THAT dead-end.")

Unfortunately they were getting rather close to where I—

"Whoa."

'...Shit.'

"(Hey, uh, I think we found it.)"

"(You don't say,)" the lady replied.

There was a pause where no sound or movement was heard as we all remained in place.

"(I say we smash it,)" the younger male declared with conviction.

Incredulity, shock and anger simultaneously leaked from the other two beings.

"(...What? It's a changeling egg! They're monsters, every single one of them! You all saw what happened at Canterlot!)"

"(The Princess should decide its fate, not a recruit of the Royal Guard. Regardless, as the leader of this expedition, the decision falls to Miss Yearling,") interjected the other guy with his ever-present calmness.

A moment of silence passed until the female broke it. "(...Princess Celestia wanted us to find an 'Artemis' and, assuming this is it, she would want it alive. Now, you two stay here and don't enter the room. I'll go and explore the chamber behind it.)"

"(H-hey! Why should we stay here? We're supposed to escort you!)"

"(Because this entire place is filled with traps!)" she exclaimed from mid-air, the sound of flapping wings overriding the silence.

'Probably a pegasus then. So these are all ponies? They're supposed to be nice, right? I mean, in the end they're just little horses— Oh, but 'Celestia' actually tried to kill mom...'

Definitely not a comforting thought.

The... mare then flew around the edges of the room before proceeding away towards a different section of the place, leaving me alone with the two guys.

The calm dude was, well, remaining calm, displaying the epitome of patience while the other guy was seemingly fuming internally.

"(Who does she think she is? I don't see any traps at all. Hmph,)" the younger voice said after a few moments, slowly approaching me.

"(What are yo— STOP, YOU FOOL!!)"

The older male's sudden shout startled me, and with the anger I was sensing from the young one who was decidedly getting much too close for comfort, I was genuinely starting to be afraid for my life.

I barely noticed my fear being absorbed by the energy that Mom had left around the room before her departure, activating its effects in the immediate area around my egg.

All I heard then was a sort of constant 'oooom' sound as a sickly green light was suddenly being emitted at a brightness that I could see through my egg's soft membrane, regardless of the fact that my eyes were still closed. The activation of whatever that was, in turn, seemed to switch the state of every other scrap of energy in the room from "off" to "awaiting input".

One of those scraps was directly under the approaching threat, absorbing his anger to power itself up.

Fortunately (or unfortunately; the debate still stands), whatever happened around my egg frightened the pony enough that his anger was replaced with fear, at which point whatever he was on top of stopped charging.

The pretty light show and the earlier shout caused the lady to come flying back almost immediately.

She sighed, frustrated. "(This is why I work alone...)" she muttered at a volume that I strained to hear over the humming sound of the light show around me.

"(Alright, what exactly happened while I was gone for less than ten minutes!?)" the mare asked with a tone that decidedly lacked patience at this point in time.

The pony who stood half-way through the room towards me nervously chuckled. "(Ah, heheh, funny story actually—)"

"(He angrily stomped towards the egg, questioning your knowledge of traps,)" interrupted the one who had stayed put.

The pegasus groaned. "(Alright, just… ugh, hold on. I'll get you out of there.)"

She once more flew around the edges of the room, keeping her distance from me before she slowly approached the frightened pony.

Throughout the entire time, I was still afraid of everything that was going on, unable to comprehend anything with my lack of vision. Stuff that I couldn't see was just happening so fast, which fueled my fear, which unknowingly kept the entire room's energy on either an active state or a semi-active one.

The lady had finally reached the immobile pony, slowly descending to seemingly pick him up.

"(Just don't move, now,)" she carefully said. "(No sudden movements...)"

Anger "(WELL WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOI—)"

A sharp whistling sound was heard, rapidly increasing in volume and pitch before he was promptly yanked away from his spot by the mare—

*BOOM*

—narrowly avoiding the miniature flaming explosion that occurred on the very ground he occupied a mere moment ago.

The nearby blast increased my fear which intensified the brightness of the glow around my egg.

"(Whew! That was, close... heh...)"

Someone breathed in loudly, apparently doing a breathing exercise if the diminishing anger meant anything. "(That's it. I'm done with you. Both of you go back and wait for me at the entrance,)" said the mare, audibly struggling to keep a calm tone.

"(...uh, could you… guide us? I kind of, don't know the way ba—)"

"(Just. Go. Up. Up. Down. Down. Left, then right,)" she muttered through her teeth.

I felt the two males leaving to return from whence they came while the lady began to mutter to herself just outside the threshold of the room.

"(Alright, that shield appeared around the egg when he approached, but the trap didn't go off just yet despite him being on top of it. He didn't move at all before it blew either… maybe it's triggered by sound? No, then all the other ones would've blown too...)"

Strangely enough, she had dropped her accent.

She started pacing in circles from what I could hear. "(What do we know of changelings? Ugh, nothing other than them being able to turn into other ponies and love itself gives them 'power'.)"

The mare stopped moving. "(Love.......love............LOVE! Emotions! The trap blew when that idiot got angry! They must be powered by negative emotions!)"

She paused for a short moment. "(...But then what's powering that shield?)"

By then I had somewhat calmed down, the green light slowly dulling before fading away completely.

"..."

The pony then began slowly approaching me. I could feel her giddiness, her awe, her caution...

She was kind of getting a bit too close to me... and to my mounting horror, she had just walked over a few of those explosive trap thingies—that were obviously meant to fend off intruders— along her path towards me without any trouble at all.

The green light returned to shield me from her as she was but a few steps away from me.

"(No change in my own emotions as I approached, I think, and the only other being in this room is...!")

She finally stopped right in front of me, the glow around me stronger than ever.

"(Hello, little one...)" she softly said, projecting sympathy and feelings of comfort. "(Umm… I don't know if you can understand me, but, it's alright… I'm not here to hurt you...)"

Surprised as I was that she wasn't actually giving off any negativity whatsoever, the barrier dimmed slightly, yet remained present.

After a minute or two of having her presence silently loom over me, she suddenly started humming a lullaby.

...Just like... just like Mom used to...

As the light vanished without me actually noticing that it did, I felt myself being lifted ever so slowly, the soothing tune's beautiful melody continuing uninterrupted.

...Until the humming stopped, and I felt the joy and pride from what I realized was the pony whom was holding me, gently carrying me away from where I had been set for so long.

My fear returned in full force, mixed with a desperate panic at realizing that I'd been lulled into a false sense of security and was being carried by what was probably a poacher.

Every single trap in the room began charging at once.

The two royal guards were silently backtracking towards the entrance of the hive.

"...I really bucked up, didn't I?" one of them sadly muttered.

Well, as silently as they could be with Wind Caller present.

His companion sighed, replying with a simple: "Indeed."

"I just don't know what went wrong..."

"Allow me to give you a list of things you did wrong, then," began Wind Caller's superior.

"You've incessantly complained ever since the first day of our trip. You've questioned A.K. Yearling's methods, despite her knowledge on the matter. You walked right into that trap card earlier, when it was clearly displayed on the floor, especially when Miss Yearling walked around it.

"You’ve relentlessly harassed our charge, whom also happens to be the leader of this expedition," he continued, to which the younger guard tried to make himself smaller with each followed up accusation. "You ignored our 'silent treatment' training, which would have avoided nearly all of the aforementioned issues...

"But the worst of it all, however, was when you tried to play Faust and decide the fate of an unborn child. Yes, perhaps changelings are heartless monsters. Perhaps we could save lives by ending that nymph's existence. But you should take into consideration that perhaps, changelings are just like you and me. Perhaps, they are simply misunderstood."

Wind Caller remained silent for a while, contemplating. "Alright, I get it, my muzzle thought faster than my brain. I'm a loudmouth... But what's up with A.K. Yearling, anyway? You make it sound like she's some sort of celebrity."

His friend stopped dead in his tracks.

"You… really don't know!?" the senior guard incredulously asked.

"Uhhh..." Wind Caller hesitantly trailed off. "...no. Should I?"

"A.K. Yearling?"

*Blank stare*

"Famous writer?"

*A tilt of the head*

"Sole author of the entire Daring Do series!?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...DO YOU LIVE IN A CAVE OR SOMETHING!? THE DARING DO SERIES IS LITERALLY THE BEST THING EVER! EVERYPONY KNOWS ABOUT IT! Her daring adventures! Her escapades and encounters against the infamous Ahuizotl! When all hope is lost, when she is wrapped in chains, in a chamber which is being filled with sand and deadly snakes and venomous spiders unleashed on her all at once, SHE STILL FINDS A WAY TO ESCAPE AND SAVE THE DAY! SHE'S THE MOST INCREDIBLE MARE OF ALL TI—"

Wind Caller just stood there, slack-jawed at seeing his friend break from his calm demeanor for the first time ever, over...

'Books. He's fangasming. Over. Comic. Books.'

He barely listened to the rest of his companion's lengthy rant, before a whistling sound was heard from the general direction of the room which housed the egg.

"—OU PRETTY MUCH MANAGED TO PISS OFF THE. BEST. AUTHOR. EVE—"

"Shhhh, do you hear that too?" interrupted the young guard, shoving his armored hoof into his friend's mouth.

They turned to look back in the direction they had just come from, just in time to see Miss Yearling rounding the corner, flying at a speed which shouldn't be possible with the dress, saddlebags and egg she was carrying.

"RUUUUN! BUCKING RUUUUUUUUUNNN!!" she screeched as she flew over them towards the nearby exit.

They didn't need to be told twice as they heard the distant echo of a massive explosion, the shockwave nearly blasting them off their hooves whilst the whistling near them intensified to dangerous levels.

'Yearling' had finally reached the outside, panting in exhaustion after that sprint, her 'escort' arriving shortly thereafter.

*BOOM-SHAKALAKA*

They all ducked as dust, rocks and the occasional boulder fell all around them, the combined explosions from within the hive shaking the earth as a massive plume of fire erupted from the entrance, until the tremors eventually stopped and the dust started dissipating ever-so-slowly.

The pegasus mourned the fact that yet another ruin was lost forever after earning the reward on a pedestal at the end. There was absolutely no way the lair had...

...survived the entire explosion without a scratch!?

"...WHAT?!?"

She tentatively approached the entrance built into the base of the rocky mountain cliff, egg gently held with her forelegs as she flew.

The substance which covered nearly every single part of the fortress's interior remained completely intact, albeit covered in ash. The only real damage seemed to be with the odd glowing substance located behind certain sections of the walls, which was now nowhere to be found, making the entire caverns bask in complete darkness.

'Perfect!' she happily thought, glad that she would be able to return here one day to finish exploring that treasury she had stumbled upon near the end.

"...Soooo, mission accomplished?" asked the one who she had classified as the bane of this group of ponies.

"Indeed," she said, dusting off her disguis- dress. "Right after I write the report."

"Have you uncovered any sort of ancient relics or magical artifacts within the confines of the area we were withheld from? Or perhaps a mountain of bits? Or maybe even the long lost journal of Celestia's forgotten sist—"

"No, I... no," she quickly interrupted, knowing an overzealous fan when she met one. "There was... nothing of importance back there. Just, dust and more dead-ends! Yep!" she exclaimed as she gently placed the egg on the cool floor of the cavern entrance, shielding it from the harsh sun and cooked dirt of the badlands, subsequently taking out a scroll, quill and ink pot from her saddlebags along with the magical candle she was given to send messages straight to Princess Celestia.

"Um, listen, Miss Yearling. I wanted to… apologize, for my behavior during the entire trip," slowly began Wind Caller as she started writing about the thousands of bits she had discovered in that one room. "I was just… angry that I didn't get to do much during the battle at Canterlot, and that I was then sent to escort you instead of helping rebuilding and repairing the City, or maybe even just guarding from any more potential invaders while others were rebuilding and repairing the city, and...

"...Well, what I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry for overall being a jerk and failing in my duty to you," he finished, bowing his head in submission with his ears splayed back.

At this, she stopped writing to look up from the scroll and see the genuine regret on his face, his sorrowful posture...

"...Sure," she uncomfortably said in reply, unsure of how to react to that as she continued her descriptions of the artifacts she had glimpsed while saving the discovery of the egg for last.

"Sure!?" he incredulously asked. "I pour my heart out to you, bow in submission, genuinely apologize, and ALL YOU CAN SAY IS 'SURE'!? YOU COULD AT LEAST SHOW SOME RESPECT AND PROPERLY—" he ranted on, completely missing the smirk on Yearling's muzzle.

'There's the guard I've come to unfortunately know,' she thought as she added the finishing touches to the letter.

"There, mission accomplished. Wind Caller, if you wouldn't mind?" she asked, gesturing to the unlit magical candle on the floor.

"—AND MAYBE JUST THEN I WO— sure!" he cheerfully replied, lighting it up with his magic.

"Thanks."

She rolled up the scroll, added her seal and threw the entire thing into the flickering flame.

"I'll handle the delivery of the egg," she continued, carefully setting the aforementioned object... thing... being? within one of the flaps of her saddlebags. "You guys head on back to Canterlot, I'll be fine."

"...Are you sure?"

"Sure."

...

...

"Are you REALLY sure?"

‘Yearling’ sighed.

==============================================

It had taken quite a while, but Princess Cadance had eventually awoken from the magical exhaustion which followed the wave of love she released with her beloved Shining Armor.

And once she did, she was hailed as a hero by Canterlot's populace.

Her.

A 'Hero'.

Not only was murder amongst the worst possible crimes for ponykind, but she was destined to help others unite and love each other, whether they were ponies, griffins or even minotaurs.

And yet, she had essentially... slaughtered an entire race, shuddering at the mere thought of it. She'd k-killed Celestia's sister.

And the city called her a 'Hero'.

Despite all that, once she learned that Celestia and Luna had both locked themselves in their respective rooms for quite a while now because of something that was essentially her fault, and that somepony had to help manage the day court, well...

She did so, for a couple days, with a smile.

She smiled as she barely touched the food she was given daily.

She smiled as she ignored the greetings and bows of the ponies she passed as she aimlessly wandered around the numerous halls of the Castle.

She smiled as she entered her own room, observing her reflection in the bathroom mirror, taking note of the bags under her eyes, her completely frazzled mane and tail, her random ear and eye twitches...

She smiled, because it's what the ponies wanted.

And so, she would smile.

Smile.

'S-smile...'

After three days of keeping up the facade, she simply couldn't do it anymore, and her smile vanished completely as she collapsed, burying her face into her forelegs, sobbing away as the dam finally broke.

This was the state in which Shining Armor found her in, once he entered their shared room shortly afterwards.

"...Honey? What's wrong!?" he worriedly asked, quickly reaching her side and kneeling down to her level.

"I.......I-I....."

"Hey, if it's about the wedding, we can just reschedule once everything calms down again! It'll be like nothing happened!" he softly said in an effort to comfort her, nuzzling the alicorn affectionately.

She sobbed louder, to his dismay.

"Cadance, talk to me," he pleaded, concerned.

"I-I...We..." she hiccuped. "We k-killed Celestia's s-s-sister!!"

"...What!?"

"It... i-it was Ch-Chrysalis..."

"Who told you that?"

She sniffled. "W-well...."

"Was it the changeling Queen herself?" he snorted.

Cadance didn't reply.

"Look, honey," he began. "That thing had lied to everypony ever since it took your place before the train came. It lied about who it really was, it lied to Twilight and her friends... Hay, it even convinced me that it was innocent of everything Twilight accused her of! What's to say it didn't lie about being Celestia and Luna's sister?"

Her sobs slowly calmed down as she revealed her tear-stained face to him, doubt persisting on her features.

"...Come on," said Shining Armor, helping her back up. "Let's go ask Princess Celestia herself, and then we'll know for sure."

Celestia re-read the scroll for the umpteenth time, hope and joy finally making their presence known.

'Terra isn't completely gone...' she happily thought.

Cadance would probably feel better with this news.

...

...

...

'Cadance!'

She had completely forgotten about how the alicorn of love would feel about the attack, especially since Cadance was half the reason the changelings were gone!

And she let the pink alicorn lead the court despite it all, while she hid in her room in depression!

'How could I be so insensitive...'

The Princess of the Sun got up and trotted towards the doors to her room, fully intending to go find Cadance and apologize, as well as share the letter she had just received... only to find Shining Armor and a downtrodden pink alicorn right outside her chamber's doors as she opened them, the stallion holding a hoof in mid-air as if he was about to knock.

"Uhm, hello, your Highness." The Captain of the royal guard quickly bowed. "We wanted to ask you a few questions about certain things..."

Celestia blinked. "Why, of course! Come right in! I was about to go search for you two, in fact."

As they each took a seat, she took a moment to observe Cadance's condition, taking notice of just how much the whole ordeal had affected the younger Princess. She looked like she hadn't slept for days, which was nothing to say for the tear stains marring her face and her completely unkempt mane.

Never mind the fact that the solar diarch herself had a similar appearance as well...

"Was Chrysalis your sister?" asked Shining Armor all of a sudden, going straight to the point.

"...What?" Celestia eloquently answered, surprised by the sudden question.

"Cadance seems to believe that the changeling Queen was your sister, based on a conversation they both had."

Celestia turned to look at said alicorn, whom was gazing at the floor with a sorrowful expression. "She talked about me?"

Cadance meekly nodded.

"You can't tell us it's true, Princess! That would be completely ridiculous!" said the Captain with a desperate voice, dearly hoping he was right.

"...Did you not see Chrysalis's final moment? Did you not hear her final words?" sadly asked Celestia after a pause, looking back and forth between her two guests.

"Well... we kind of fainted right after that blast..."

'...Oh.'

"...What? You thought we would slowly float down and appear completely healed of everything, awake and full of energy after projecting that wave despite our low levels of magic at the time?"

"I, well... nevermind," Celestia said, realizing how ridiculous that would've been in the first place.

"In any case," she continued. "Yes. Chrysalis was indeed our sister, though she used to go by a different name..."

At this, Cadance cringed before slowly leaking tears anew.

"Now, now, don't worry. It's... alright," Celestia softly said, wrapping Cadance into a winged hug.

The alicorn of love merely lifted her head to regard her Aunt with a flabbergasted expression.

"Chrysalis's last words were 'Save Artemis. Badlands.' And so, I had sent a team to find this 'Artemis.'"

The Princess of the Sun levitated the scroll up to the devastated alicorn.

"This scroll just came in a few moments ago. It contains the results of the expedition."

As Cadance tried to wipe her tears and began reading the contents of the letter, Shining Armor looked decidedly uncomfortable at this turn of events.

"I'm… sorry, your Highness. I should've considered the possibility that it could've been true," he slowly said in an apologetic tone.

He was startled as the pony he loved suddenly sprang up in shock.

"R-really? Is this true!?" she asked, the first sign of anything that wasn't negative ever since the incident displayed on her face.

"Yes, Cadance," Celestia weakly smiled. "You have another cousin."

"What?!?" asked the Captain, taking the note from his love to read it himself.

The alicorn of love felt an immense sense of relief wash over her. It was one thing to cause the dissapearance of… a lot of beings—she flinched—but it was decidedly better than to completely exterminate an entire species.

Of course she still felt severely depressed, but at least she would be able to try, and... f-fix her mistake...

A flash of light signaled the arrival of another scroll, bearing the same seal.

Confused, Celestia opened and read the letter, only for her eyes to widen in shock once more.

"I… have to go talk to our department of research immediately. Please excuse me," she hurriedly said as she galloped out of the room, completely forgetting in her panic that she could simply teleport there.

Cadance gazed at the fallen note, picking it up to read it herself before she, too, left the room in a hurry to catch up with her Aunt.

Shining Armor, whom had just finished reading the first scroll and noticed he was alone in the room, ended up seeing the second scroll as well. Picking it up, he read its contents, which were seemingly written in a hurry if the decreased quality of writing was of any indication:

S3nd me any Xtra infermation yu hav on changlings ASAP.

The egg hatchd.

"...Horseapples."

[1] Out of the frying pan

"Strangers are just family you have yet to come to know."
—Mitch Albom

*Flap*

...

*Flap*

...

*Flap*

...

*Flap*

That was pretty much all I've been hearing for a few minutes now.

*Flap*

For a moment back then, after all of the traumatizing lurching that I had experienced as this pony flew while carrying me at speeds I couldn't fathom, I thought I actually saw the sun's light shine through my closed eyes. Only for a little while though, as she put me in what was probably a bag shortly afterwards since everything went pitch-black once more.

*Flap*

Her two companions had left after some sort of arguing, leaving me alone with the poacher whom had begun flying after some time.

*Flap*

I wanted to panic, cry for help, escape...

*Flap*

I wanted to return to where Mom had left me so that I could resume waiting for her...

*Flap*

I wanted to feel safe again, I wanted to feel the soothing love that permeated the hive, I wanted to feel the comforting presence of my new family...

*Flap*

Alas, there wasn't much I could do, for I was stuck in an egg.

*Flap*

...

*Flap*

It was kind of warm in here at least, so I supposed that not everything was bad...

*Flap*

My family had eyes in every town and city, right?

*Flap*

They should be able to find me in no time.

*Flap*

...Assuming I ended up in one of those.

*Flap*

Also assuming that whatever invasion they were at went well and that they'd manage to return to their previous posts without too many issues.

...

...

...

I realized that my captor had stopped flapping her wings just as that familiar-yet-distant sensation of falling came.

"(I swear I'm going to die from this heat if I have to wear this dress for a moment longer,)" she muttered. "(I'm almost tempted to send a letter to Celestia and ask her to hide the sun for a bit.)"

*Clip-clop* I heard as we seemingly landed.

After a bit of shaking and moving around, she must've opened the bag, because I could then see and feel the warmth of the sun as she very gently lifted me outside, setting my egg on the ground.

'But... supposedly, no one knows about our existence yet, and if they don't know anything about us, then, then I'll probably be kept as a sort of lab rat! I'll be poked and prodded with all sorts of needles and machines and...'

...Come to think of it, I don't think I was ever told how technologically advanced this world was.

I could hear some muffled shuffling nearby, followed by a relieved sigh from the one who had kidnapped me.

'I have to get out of this egg right now,' I promptly decided. The pony would resume her flight any moment now, and I doubted that I'd be able to do anything at all while we'd be in the air. This was probably the only chance I'd get to escape her, and hopefully I would be able to figure out where the hive was at so that I may return home.

I didn't want to stick around long enough to know what this pony planned to do with me.

Gathering strength in my new and unused muscles as I assumed direct control over them, I tried 'punching' a hole through the egg's membrane with my... hands?

'Wait, I probably don't even have hands now, we're quadrupeds. Is it like a paw then?'

Trying to understand what exactly was going on with these new and completely unfamiliar limbs quickly made the whole process of moving around in the egg feel unbelievably weird, but I still tried extending what I thought was an ‘arm’ to push my way out to freedom. Unfortunately, since the egg's exterior was soft instead of solid, my efforts to pierce it with this method were pretty much unsuccessful.

It was as I wiggled around the egg that I ended up feeling the pony's shock and panic.

'Crap, she knows. Too late to back out now.'

"(Please...)"

I tried 'pushing' with both of my arms—or is it forelegs now?—in a concentrated point, but that didn't work either.

"(Please not now...)"

After a few seconds of tossing and turning inside my prison, trying to extend all of my completely unrecognizable limbs as far as I could in an attempt to stretch the membrane enough for it to rip, I ended up throwing my head backwards in frustration—

*Riiip*

—causing something on my head to literally shred a section of the egg, the contact making me shiver at the foreign sensation coursing through my body.

Oh, and the pony's panic levels skyrocketed.

My momentary pause also made me realize that I now felt the urge to do something fundamentally important to everyday life. Something that I actually used to do quite commonly:

I desperately needed to breathe.

Reaching for the newly-made tear in the membrane, I blindly managed to enlarge the hole just enough to be able to drag myself out through it, at which point I unceremoniously sprawled myself on the ground, greeting the sweet dusty air.

However, the mere effort it took me to get out of the egg had made me so exhausted that I wasn't sure I could even stand up. In my haste to escape my prison, I hadn't taken into account that this body was effectively that of a newborn's, and that it— that I no longer had as much endurance as I used to.

Still, as I lay there panting, I eventually managed to slowly open my new eyes for the first time, though I had to blink repeatedly to shake away the blurriness before I was actually able to notice the pegasus mare, whom was staring at me from a few feet away with abnormally widened eyes.

And she... didn't quite look like any of the ponies that I had seen on Earth. Neither did Celestia when Mom had warned me about her, now that I thought about it.

For one, I would've thought that ponies would walk around naked, but this one actually had clothes on. The kind of clothes an explorer would be using if the pith helmet and jacket indicated anything. Kind of reminded me vaguely of Indiana Jones. The mare also had a... tattoo on her flanks?

Indeed, the marking of a compass was clearly on display on her tan-colored fur. Her hair and tail had various shades of grey in patterned streaks, but what was most surprising was the color of her pupils... unless having magenta-colored eyes was something common in this world.

...If you removed the muzzle, I'm pretty sure it would look like a human's face. Well, one of those humans from the various "anime" shows at the very least. Her pupils had also shrunk far beyond what I had known to be possible.

We had been quietly staring at each other for a couple minutes in the time it took me to examine her, however, and it was starting to get awkward. I should probably say something.

"...Hi! Please love me?" I squeaked from my position on the ground; and though I wanted to frown at the high pitch of my 'voice', I was simply too tired to.

'Whoa, didn't think her pupils could shrink any more than that.'

...

...

"(Oh buck, it thinks I'm its mother!)" the giant pony exclaimed before she rushed to the bags that were laying between her and I, fumbling around with them before throwing all sorts of things out. Stuff like a book or two, a box of matches, some rolled-up maps... grass and flowers in a bag?

I swear I even saw a rubber ducky somewhere out there as she finally took out writing materials with...

'...How the heck is she holding that with hooves?' I thought, bewildered as she held an inkpot and some paper with the aforementioned limbs while having a quill in her mouth.

She then used her mouth to manipulate the quill into the ink and started writing on the scroll at a hurried pace, though she repeatedly kept glancing at me as she wrote what seemed to be a short message.

The pony panicked even more and sped up her writing when I tried—and failed—to stand up, unable to muster enough strength.

Her task complete a short moment later, she quickly put a seal on the rolled-up letter before taking out a matchstick, lighting up what looked like a normal candle which had a... not-so-normal green flame?

I then stared in absolute confusion as she threw her scroll into the miniature flame, vaporizing the letter immediately.

...

'Wat.'

And we suddenly found ourselves back to awkwardly staring at each other.

At least until I felt something dripping down my forehead, subsequently noticing that I was still nearly completely covered with whatever substance was inside the egg.

And it. Just. Looked. So. Delicious.

The next thing I knew, I was slowly licking myself clean with a forked tongue, the substance tasting like some sort of sweet sour candy that I quickly realized made me feel energized as I consumed it. I also took advantage of the moment to examine my own body, seeing as the pony didn't look like she would be moving from her spot anytime soon.

My entire skin seemed to be covered in glistening black chitin, though it still looked like it was soft; presumably because I just... hatched. I appeared to also have the base body structure of an equine, though the holes going through each of my legs kind of honestly freaked me out, especially when I tried to clean the ones on the front. Those things were pretty sensitive in the ticklish way.

A stray thought came to me. 'Shouldn't I be feeling disgusted at what I'm doing right now...?'

A quick glance at my only company showed a green-faced mare with her cheeks bulging, holding whatever meal she had previously eaten with a hoof on her muzzle.

'...Yeah, something like that,' I mentally chuckled.

I also took note of just how flexible her hooves were, looking back at how she had been throwing stuff around when she was searching through her things.

Continuing my self-inspection / cleaning, I spotted a pair of tattered bug-like wings on my back, while noticing at the same time just how far I could turn my neck around.

'Edge did mention flying in most of his stories,' I remembered. The prospect of being able to fly excited me to no end and I promptly began to imagine myself soaring through the skies, flying without a care in the world, feeling the wind flow through my hair, free of—

Everything got dark as something covered me.

...And I most certainly did not squeak in fright at the sudden change of lighting.

"(Here, let me help,)" the pony said, very slowly rubbing me with the purple... silk?; as her disgust at my actions slowly dissipated.

I fought as much as I could against whatever she was doing, but I soon stopped my struggles because of a couple things that I noticed.

She wasn't feeling anything negative towards me—quite the opposite, in fact—and she was... or rather had been in the process of cleaning me from what I could tell. In my moment of panic, she had retreated to stare at me from a couple feet away, worried as if she had done something wrong.

I... I wasn't sure what to make of that.

For a brief moment, she stared at me as if I had done something adorable. Which was weird, because all I did was pop my head out from under the blanket that was covering me after shuffling around awkwardly under it in an effort to escape its evil clutches.

She began to close the distance between us quickly at first—or so it seemed—but when I flinched back, she paused before approaching with a much slower and calmer pace.

I don't care what anyone says, having a giant pony loom over you is scary. Her head alone was bigger than I was! The only thing that stopped me from outright freaking out was the fact that I could feel what she was feeling, and as unbelievable as it seemed, she was more concerned for me than anything. Heck, she was actually making efforts to not frighten me!

...N-not that I was scared! This was just a pony, after all!

A pony that could squash me with a single one of her hooves with how huge she was compared to me...

A pony who could catch up to me without any issues whatsoever if I tried to run away...

A pony that, when all was said and done, had kidnapped me from my hive...

...

Okay, so maybe I was still somewhat wary of her—

"(I'm just going to clean you up, alright?)" she slowly said with a surprisingly soft voice as she very carefully approached me.

—but I had to admit that her efforts to keep me calm seemed to be working, because I soon found myself allowing her to resume what she had been doing a moment ago with the blanket.

The very same hooves that could end my life right then and there were taking great care to dry my dark-red colored hair, tenderly running the fabric across my head, though she seemed to be avoiding—

'I have a horn!?'

—the apparent jagged, curved horn on my forehead that I could barely see on the edge of my vision. Whenever she happened to lightly brush it, I would end up feeling this utterly weird sensation that spread throughout my body; something which also coincidentally reminded me of the energy I had sensed during my last moment with Mom as she had been setting up those traps around my now vacant room.

'I hope this horn is as sensitive as it is only because I just hatched...' I grumpily thought, looking up to the pegasus whom had finished drying my head and was completely focused on my back with squinted eyes, doing her best to avoid rubbing too hard my new, fragile-looking wings. They were connected to the shell which covered my entire mid-section, which sported the same shade of red as my hair. And tail, as I soon learned of its existence when I felt it slowly swish of its own accord.

Part of me felt like I should've been panicking by then at just how different my body was compared to when I was human, but I did realize quite some time ago that it probably wouldn't be anywhere close to how I used to be, what with everything I heard back in the hive.

Again wondering why this mare was methodically cleaning me, I took a deeper peek through her link with me, yet I felt nothing but determination and... a small but very slowly growing bond of caring.

'She can't be a bad person if she's actually helping me, even if she has absolutely no obligation to.'

Looking back from ever since the moment I woke up, this pony actually hadn't felt a single negative emotion towards me yet. Other than when I was licking myself clean, that is.

I couldn't help but wonder what was going through her mind.

'It's probably a natural thing for changelings, Daring. Just forget about it. It never happened. This foal didn't just, slowly lick off the... eurk...'

Daring Do shook her head, desperately trying to get rid of that particular memory while she refocused on removing the gunk off of the recently-hatched changeling.

'Poor thing had a panic attack when I threw the dress on her...' She winced.

Thankfully, the fact that the little one had chitin instead of a fur coat meant that the slime could easily be removed, though it still stuck to the mane and tail. She decided to be careful around the wings, however, as they appeared to be somewhat delicate.

Daring wasn't quite sure why she was even bothering herself with helping 'Artemis' get clean to begin with, though she eventually paused when she noticed that the tiny nymph was staring at her.

With the most adorable wide sparkling eyes she had ever seen.

I blinked at the pegasus' sudden change of mood, beginning to feel a minor trickle of love coming from her, despite the fact that she barely met me. She had simply gazed into my eyes, giving me a somewhat uncertain smile shortly afterwards.

I didn't know if I actually did anything to trigger her shift in emotions, but it felt... nice. Nowhere near as good as what I used to get back when I was still in my egg of course, but simply knowing that she 'kind of' cared for me put at ease any fears I may have had about her having any sort of ill intentions towards me.

Her size was still kind of scary, though. I was literally at the complete mercy of this giant pony, and even if I somehow managed to outrun her should the need arise, she could still fly to catch up to me while I had no idea how to even move my wings.

...Not that I'd even consider running from her at this point. Looking at the landscape surrounding us, I saw nothing but dried earth and rocky mountains in the distance. Literally a desert, minus the sand. This mare was, for all intents and purposes, my guardian and my only source of food for what seemed to be miles around.

Besides, I also had no experience in moving around as a quadruped, either...

The pegasus had just finished with my midsection when I saw a flash of light in the corner of my vision.

My two-hundred seventy degree vision, more or less.

'Another one of the many things I'll have to get used to...'

...I could've sworn that scroll wasn't there before.

She...

'Hmm, I should give her a name for now.'

Lara left the stained blanket on me, leaving my side to go read the scroll that came out of nowhere.

'There isn't even a cloud up in the air right now, so it didn't just fall off the sky. Though, there was that flash...'

Really, unless they were so technologically advanced that teleportation was an actual thing, the only explanation would seem to be 'Magic', but that's ridiculous.

...

Well, I guessed shape-shifting would kind of be like magic, so maybe it actually was possible.

Different world, different physics?

Speaking of which, I had to learn how to 'change', hopefully sooner rather than later.

"(Could only do a cursory examination of changelings so far... can't really give you much that would help in caring for a recently-hatched one...)" Lara muttered to herself.

...While she was busy with that...

"(...Bring it to Canterlot as soon as possible...)"

...I turned to look at the parts she hadn't yet cleared of delicious egg fluids...

"(... and try not to let it be spotted by anypony on the way since the public has a generally negative view on changelings for now.)" She snorted. "(Well, obviously. Anypony could tell that just by strolling through Canterlot— Hey.)"

By the gods, it even smelled heavenly good...

"Hey!"

I opened my muzzle, almost drooling in anticipation, tongue stretching out to once more begin licking procedures—

"HEY!"

"Eek!" I squeaked on realizing that she was speaking to me, turning to face her.

"(No,)" she stated, pointing at me with a hoof.

...

...

I turned to feast upon—

"(NO.)"

...!?

We stared each other down under the watchful gaze of the harsh sun on the horizon, our gazes unfaltering and unwavering.

...

...I went back to—

"(NO!)"

I tilted my head in confusion, watching her.

'...She... doesn't want me to clean myself? Well that's really nice of her, wanting to take care of me and all, but fortunately I can do this part myself!'

I once again turned to look at the nectar of the gods—

"(Stop right there!)"

—opened my mouth and stretched my quite lengthy tongue—

"(Don't do it!)"

*Lick*

"Ugh!" she groaned, covering her face with a hoof.

She eventually went back to finishing the letter as I savored my little victory.

"(Take care of it as if it were a regular foal for now... yada yada yada... our studies showed that every changeling we've examined save for Chrysalis herself was, in fact, asexual, and we'd... like you to...)"

I stopped when I felt the embarrassment flowing from Lara, blushing included, as she froze at a certain line of the letter. She slowly looked up from it, her eyes meeting mine, and her face became even more tomato-colored when she noticed that I was innocently looking back at her.

"(Let's get this over with,)" she sighed, nervously smiling at me while she approached, the scroll held under one of her flexible wings.

She carefully wrapped me with a clean section of the blanket, making me squeak as she gently lifted me up, resuming her cleaning on my belly this time.

"Oh, well, I guess you can do that part," I chittered, taking notice of how the dirt clung to the substance.

She was kind of focusing a lot on the part between my legs, though. Erm, and by that I meant my hind... legs...

"H-hey! Stop touching me!!" I indignantly screeched, flailing my limbs as much as I could to show my displeasure once I realized what she was doing.

"(Doesn't- Oof! have a sheath...)" she said as I managed to land a solid kick on her muzzle, which barely fazed her.

"Gah! If only I wasn't so SMALL!!"

My world suddenly turned upside-down as she flipped me over, looking at my backside.

"NO! NOT THE PROBE!!!"

"(Okay, okay! Calm down! I'm done checking!)" she blurted in a slightly panicked tone when my thrashing increased to the point where she almost lost whatever grip she had on me.

I kept my eyes trained on the pony the moment she released me on the ground after taking the blanket back with her, and I scrambled backwards in an attempt to put some distance between us, my wings subconsciously buzzing in my panic while I felt my long pony-like ears flatten themselves on my head of their own accord.

Emphasis on 'attempt' to scramble backwards. True to my earlier musings, I had no idea how to move as a quadruped, and the fact that all of my legs literally bent in ways I wasn't used to didn't help at all.

The pegasus, for her part, merely frowned slightly, looking unsure of herself, apparently having no idea what to do in this situation.

Once my shivering at feeling violated calmed down somewhat, I began thinking rationally again, and I noticed her discomfort and guilt. At more or less the same time, however, Lara noticed that she was still holding the bundled piece of dirty cloth with a single hoof, scrunching her muzzle in disgust.

"(Meh, I've got plenty of these dresses, I'll just get another one,)" she said, throwing it behind her without looking.

I followed the trajectory of the stained purple blanket, right up until—

*Fwoomph*

—it touched the candle's eerie green flame, immediately disintegrating it.

Lara, who was watching me the entire time, comically widened her eyes as she heard the sound behind her. During that moment, though, I was more busy pondering about why she suddenly took an interest on examining my...

'Wait a minute.'

I slowly turned to hopefully confirm the existence of my jewels just as Lara slowly twisted her neck around to notice where her bundle had gone.

...

...

"Fuck," we each said at the same time in our respective languages.

Lara recovered faster than I did. She didn't suddenly have to discover her gender got changed, however. Unlike me.

...

Change...

"(Other differences between what we're now designating as 'Queen' and 'Drones' are as follow,)" Lara said, having gone back to the letter after shaking her head. "(Queens have an actual mane and tail, whereas the common drone has frills, or a type of fin, whichever you prefer to call it,)" she continued, quickly glancing at me, her eyes widening slightly before she returned to reading. "(Queens also have fangs, though they do not protrude out of the muzzle at all times, unlike the ones drones have.)"

'Oh, eheheh, it's alright! I'll, just, change back into a male whenever I learn how to. Y-yeah! It'll be fine!' I nervously chuckled, still trying to absorb the fact that I was... not the same gender that I used to be. Becoming a new species was one thing, but that and being the opposite sex?

"(The Queen's shell covers both her back and her barrel, while it merely covers the back on drones.)" Another glance in my direction. "(Finally, the Queen had a crooked horn with holes dotting it as well as slitted eyes, meanwhile drones merely possessed a slightly curved horn and lacked any sort of iris, instead simply having clear sky-blue eyes.)"

'...At the very least, all of my brothers and sisters came from one changeling, right? Even if I'm a... girl now, I probably can't even have babies. Or eggs, as the case may be.'

"(Send an update via the Messenger Service Network candle you were given as soon as possible,)" finished the pegasus, slowly setting the note down and once more looking at me.

'...Yeah! In the entire family, there's only one mother! Just what are the odds that I'd suddenly be the second changeling ever to be able to conceive, especially when thousands were apparently born before me? I shouldn't have anything to worry about,' I finished my own train of thought, feeling somewhat calmer now that I was sure that I had covered everything and that I convinced myself that I wouldn't have to go through parenthood for—I shuddered—thousands...

"(Well Artemis, looks like you'll eventually be the mother of thousands, huh?)" Lara said to me, smiling nervously.

Her smile was contagious.

==============================================

"Erm, Princess? While I commend you for wanting to 'take the plunge' in the interests of science, as it were, we don't even know what that stuff is," a curious unicorn researcher remarked, observing one of Equestria's Diarchs act in a very un-princess-like way as the alicorn tentatively sniffed what probably used to be a simple dress, which was stained with some unknown substance at various parts.

"Smells like cake frosting..." the princess muttered, oblivious to what the head of her research department said.

"Celestia, I don't think I would try tasting something that's sticking to silk, whether it smells good or not..." Cadance trailed off as the Princess of the Sun—

*Swoosh*

The alicorn of love quickly forgot about her Aunt and picked up the newly-arrived note through her magic, eager to read the report.

'Artemis' seems to possess all the characteristics of a future Queen, based on the descriptions you sent me. She's also surprisingly docile and calm, for a newborn foal. Or nymph, rather. Not that I know much about foals and changelings, however.

Will continue on my way to Canterlot as originally planned, though I will have to make a detour to acquire another 'disguise' in order to not attract attention once I arrive, as I sent my last one to you by accidenton purpose.

P.S. : The dress I sent you is covered in changeling egg slime from when I cleaned Artemis after her hatching.

Cadance smiled and opened her muzzle...

Then promptly closed it, forgetting what she was going to say as she noticed Celestia's half-lidded eyes and content expression as she blissfully licked the floating dress.

Eventually, Celestia noticed the apparent silence, pausing long enough with her tongue sticking out to notice that Cadance looked ready to empty her stomach at any moment. The note slowly drifted towards the older alicorn, in the meantime.

"...Oh," Celestia said after a moment, having read the scroll for herself.

"I'll, I'll just," Cadance gulped, turning increasingly green. "Please excuse m—mblrgh!" she hurriedly galloped out of the room while holding a hoof on her mouth, most likely headed towards the nearest bathroom.

Meanwhile, the unicorn levitated a nearby vial and filled it with the fluid coating the dress, planning to run a few tests later.

"Does it actually taste like 'cake frosting' then, your highness?" he curiously asked, excited at the prospect of learning more about this new species, even if it was simply about the composition of the liquid contained in one of their eggs.

"It tasted like the best cake I had ever eaten," Celestia easily replied, longingly staring at the dress as she exercised all the restraint she could muster to not just jump on it like an overly excited dog licking its master relentlessly.

"...Because this smells like a hayburger to me, surprisingly," the unicorn said, his nostrils flaring as he smelled it himself. "A nice, juicy, perfectly cooked hayburger..." he continued, his face sporting a dopey smile as he slowly but steadily approached.

Celestia noticed that somepony was about to steal her would-be 'cake', and she audibly cleared her throat. "Well! It would simply not do to have Miss Yearling arrive in Canterlot along with such an important guest without a proper dress now, would it?" she said as she magically caused the object in question to vanish from the room. "I will see to it that she gets a replacement in pristine condition. I trust you will put that vial to good use?" she asked, gesturing towards the sample the researcher had taken and resisting the urge to take it as well.

The doctor shook his head once he realized his 'hayburger' was nonexistent. "Why, yes, of course! Though if I were to make an educated guess, I would theorize that this liquid—" he pointed towards the floating vial with a hoof, "—seems to somehow mimic the smell and taste of a pony's favorite meal. Whether it is actually nutritious and beneficial to us, I should soon find out. This brings up quite the issue, unfortunately.

"If my hypothesis is correct," he continued in a tone that lacked its usual cheerfulness, "then this knowledge should immediately be categorized as 'classified', else we may see a dramatic increase in egg poachers if this 'Artemis' is indeed a 'Queen' changeling. Surely you can imagine how well this substance would sell if its apparent properties were to become public knowledge?"

Celestia sighed. "Indeed."

Despite all her efforts over countless years, there were still the occasional groups of ponies whom would set out to gain for themselves at the cost of others.

"Very well." She stood up and flared her wings in the usual way she did when decreeing something. "From now on, you and somepony you will most likely meet within the week will be the only ones allowed to research about changelings, and everything you discover is to be classified unless I say so."

"Of course, your Highness." He quickly bowed. "Though, if I may ask, who else is going to be studying changelings, exactly?"

Celestia smiled. "None other than my faithful student Twilight Sparkle, of course."

He slightly frowned. "Are... you certain that is wise? I may have heard rumors here and there about how she supposedly suspected all along about Chrysalis's deceit. Yet, when she went ahead and confronted the fake Cadance, everypony—her friends, her brother, even you—" at that, Celestia managed to hide her flinch, "turned against Twilight herself. She may have some hidden resentment towards changelings in general due to that, like most of Canterlot nowadays..."

"While it may be true that she may not take kindly to changelings at this point in time," Celestia replied, "I have the utmost confidence that she will not bring any harm to young Artemis. Twilight is, after all, one of the bearers of the elements of harmony." Her warm smile returned. "Besides, she will most likely be too excited learning about a new species to even think about sleeping, let alone dwell in any anger she may have."

He chuckled. "Ah, yes, I have heard about her fervor and dedication to her studies."

The Princess nodded with her usual serene expression. "In any case, I must prepare to lower the sun. I would like you to personally deliver me the report on that sample you took, whenever it is ready," she said, leaving the room.

"Yes, your Highness!"

Besides, the Princess of the Sun also had a dress to clean.

Yes... clean...

...

...

...

"Well, I guess they're not coming ba—"

*Flash*

"Huh? What's this?"

...

...

...

"Chimicherrychangas?"

...

...

"Whoa, this... this is..."

...

...

"Mmmmmm..."

"Shining, love, are you still in here?" Cadance said, entering Celestia's room. "It was horrible! Celestia accidentally... tasted..." she trailed off on noticing a very familiar dress being levitated by Shining Armor, whom had his tongue sticking out, ready for another lick if it were not for his expression akin to a deer caught in headlights.

She bolted out of the room to continue her dry heaving.

"Cadance, wait!" he exclaimed, discarding the dress in favor of catching up to his wife-to-be.

Just in time, too, as Celestia teleported into the room, gazing hungrily at the bundle.

Had he stayed, he would've learned what happened to ponies who stole the Sun Princess' cake.

Nopony steals Celestia's cake.

Except Pinkie Pie. She's a special case.

==============================================

Lara began writing another letter—carefully this time—and by now I had to assume that the candle, which was still at the same length despite the amount of time it's been lit, was some form of communication thingy, though how it exactly worked escaped me.

And I decided to try and take a crash course in 'Quadruped Walking 101' while she was busy with that.

I lifted my right ~~arm~~ foreleg, setting my 'hoof' flat on the ground, and I immediately noticed something odd.

Have you ever held a large magnet against a metal surface? What I was feeling was kind of similar to that. I could feel my 'arm' up until the point where it connects with the 'magnet', but I couldn't feel the 'metal surface' itself, which was the cracked dry dirt in this case. I could, however, feel the grip of the 'magnet', just like I somewhat instinctively knew I could control the magnet's 'strength'.

...If that made any sense.

Concentrating once more, I managed to do the same with my other forehoof, focusing on trying to understand how my hind legs worked next.

This entire 'walking on all fours' business would take some serious getting used to, seeing as the proportions of each of my legs felt... weird.

As an example, what I associated as my 'foot' was actually a little less than half my entire hind leg's length! What went as my thighs was incredibly short and my foot's "heel" was where I would've thought my "knees" would be. (Those were actually pretty close to my body.)

Comparatively, my hands, well... imagine your human arm remained at its current length, but your hand began where your elbow was. And you only had a single, large, blunt finger at the very end.

Yeah... this felt pretty weird...

The other hard part would be getting my body to memorize the movement patterns so that I wouldn't even need to consciously think about it to move around later on.

I tripped a few times as I tried to get my hind legs to stand up straight, but fortunately my forelegs were flexible enough that they pretty much still felt like arms to some extent, thus I didn't have too much trouble on that front.

I was soon standing up, albeit shakily, while Lara still seemed to be finishing her letter.

Now how to move forward?

'Probably easiest to keep my balance by moving front-right with back-left, then front-left with back-right, and so on...'

And so I semi-successfully advanced towards Lara, progressing slowly as to get a 'feel' for my new legs. I may or may not have tripped a lot as I awkwardly 'walked', though at the same time, I ended up noticing how silent my footsteps were compared to the pegasus's own.

'Then again, she is much larger than me.'

By the time I had traversed the two or three feet of distance that used to separate us, Lara had finished her letter and thrown it into the fire once more, still oblivious to my closer proximity as she had her back turned to me the entire time.

"Gah! (How long were you standing there!?)"

...Which was probably why she leapt to the air with a startled cry once she did turn around.

She quickly calmed down while she remained in the air for a few seconds, flapping her wings to remain afloat, though I wondered how I could have possibly spooked her.

In fact, why had I even walked up to her? I could've instead put some distance between us and tried to wander off to find my hive... in the wasteland that surrounded us on all sides for as far as I could see...

...Never mind.

Besides, the thought of leaving Lara somehow bothered me a bit. I wasn't sure if it was because I didn't want to be left alone, or because she was all I had right now, in a way.

In any case, Lara soon landed and began collecting her stuff, placing it back into her bags while she kept a close eye on me if the frequent glances she shot my way meant anything.

I didn't feel like standing there doing nothing in the meantime however, so I looked around for anything that I could help with, eventually spotting a rolled up scroll not too far away.

'Perfect.' If anything, I'd at least get more practice walking.

I clumsily made my way towards it, debating how I would be able to bring it back to her seeing as I lacked hands and had to use all of my legs to move around.

"(Can't believe you're already able to walk,)" Lara muttered after another quick glance at me. "(How am I supposed to carry you all the way and constantly keep an eye on you now?)"

Looking at her to see how she was doing it, she seemed to be using her mouth for most of the things now, her teeth gently grasping notes, books and miscellaneous items around while she organized her possessions in the bags with her hooves.

I was about to do the same, when I finally felt the miniature fangs inside my mouth, which would've no doubt pierced the scroll.

'Guess I'm using my lips?'

There was no way I could've carried this thing with my own hooves, anyway. It was practically as big as I was!

I carefully grabbed the edge of the paper with my lips, careful not to let any saliva or whatever was inside my mouth leak onto it as I slowly but surely dragged it towards her bags. However, the task proved to be more difficult than I thought it would be, since I was moving backwards. I had to take a large number of pauses just to figure out which leg to move next, and I didn't always end up with the right one.

While I struggled with moving the piece of paper, I was able to feel Lara's curiosity, as well as her amusement every time I tripped on my own hooves. It was only when I ended up bumping into her with my rear that I finally let go of the scroll and looked up, only to meet her gaze and realize that she had been looking at me the entire time.

For my efforts, she stared back and forth between my eager expression and the object that I had painstakingly dragged all the way, as if unsure of what to do.

Lara eventually settled for giving me a smile that seemed more genuine than any of the previous ones. There was also a slight increase in the flow of love she felt for me, and she hesitated a little before gently patting my head a couple times as thanks, leaning down to grab the scroll and place it with the rest inside her bags.

I couldn't help myself but smile back, feeling proud of myself for having managed to make her happy while simultaneously securing a source of food for the foreseeable future. If being nice to her was all that I needed to do to increase that meager flow of love, then I would be the nicest changeling to have ever walked the Earth!

Erm, this Earth.

...Was this planet even called Earth?

She was about to pack up the still-lit candle when the sun suddenly declined the rest of the way much faster than what I was ever used to, while at the same time the moon rose on the opposite side of the sky.

It was either closer to this planet than the moon was to Earth or simply bigger in this world, considering it was larger than I remembered.

"(Ponyfeathers! I should've been paying attention,)" she suddenly exclaimed in the diminishing sunlight, looking all around us for... something.

"(Well, we should be fine here, the badlands are mostly deserted anyway,)" she said. "(...Mostly.)"

Despite what I assumed was the lack of sunlight, I could still see pretty clearly. Either the moonlight was more intense here, or I had special eyes.

Leaning towards special eyes, considering she was squinting her own as she nervously tried to look in what was probably darkness for her.

She dropped her bags back onto the dried ground—seeing as she had begun putting them on prior to the sun's rapid descent—before approaching the candle, sitting on her haunches next to it.

Knowing how cold deserts were at night despite how hot they were during the day, I also approached the candle, only tripping once this time as she watched me settling myself at a relatively close distance, mimicking her sitting pose as best as I could.

Our gazes remained interlocked for some time; mine in waiting to see if she would do anything, while hers seemed to be more in a state of conflicted contemplation. Since she appeared to go into deep thought, I redirected my stare to the night sky, and...

Wow.

I was immediately mesmerized by the sheer number of stars that were present. It was like something out of a fairy tale, and I couldn't find the right words to describe just how wonderful of a sight it was to behold. In fact, as I watched, even more stars seemed to be added, as if someone suddenly decided to play with the sky by adding extra constellations here and there.

Though I occasionally shuddered from the steady drop of the local temperature, I found myself trying to 'connect the stars' after a few seconds of complete silence, looking for whatever images I could produce in doing so. It was entertaining for a while, but I eventually stopped playing my little game when I saw Lara getting up, trotting around the candle until she was opposite of me, lying down on the ground to sleep. For some reason, I could sense some guilt coming out of her.

I got up myself to join her—

"No," she firmly said to me the instant I moved.

...I knew that word. She was telling me that when I wanted to lick myself clean. It meant something along the lines of...

'Denial.'

Her feelings of guilt increased as I froze, my ears suddenly folding themselves against my head by their own volition.

"(You. Sleep. There,)" she slowly said, pointing at me and then to the ground I stood on. "(I. Sleep. Here.)"

I thought I understood the gist of what she was trying to tell me, yet I didn't think I could just accept that. Even now, I could feel the cold creeping up on me, my lack of fur leaving me naked against the frigid night.

I let out a small sad-sounding chitter, which essentially translated into "Please". I could tell even she understood the meaning of it, as she sported a pained expression, scrunching her muzzle.

"...no," she repeated, though much more softly this time, turning away from me.

I could feel the maelstrom of conflicted emotions swirling within her; from regret, to fear, to slight anxiety...

Deep inside, though, I could still feel the bond of love she had with me. While it still remained relatively small, it had also grown over the small amount of time we had spent together.

Knowing she somewhat cared for me still, I got up and approached her anyway, the clip-clop of my tiny footsteps replacing the silence of the night, despite being extremely quiet.

Once I had reached her, I sat down and poked her back with a hoof.

No response, beyond Lara's guilt increasing even further.

I was finding it increasingly hard to maintain my body heat, so I continued prodding her at a frequency that only increased over time. And yet, she still remained quiet and refused to acknowledge my presence, even when I had moved on to one poke per two seconds.

I stopped physically pestering her when her guilt turned into annoyance, and as a last resort I let out a questioning chirp—

Frustration "(Look, I said no!)" Lara snapped, getting up and turning around to loom over me as I backpedaled a couple steps in fright from the outburst I had really not been expecting. "(I'm going to sleep on this side, and you... are...)" she trailed off.

"(...freezing,)" she finally whispered with widened eyes upon noticing my shivering.

Lara quickly ran up to her bags. "(How could I forget you didn't have fur!)" she chided herself, beginning to sift through them. "No... no... (Horseapples! I didn't even pack up a blanket, and I threw that old dress away!)"

She stared at me once more with a wrinkled muzzle and conflicted emotions until, after a moment of thought, she let out a sigh and laid back down on the ground, getting ready to sleep.

I drooped when I realized that she was going to leave me to fend for myself against the cold with nothing but the warmth of a meager candle, even despite the small bond of love she had for me—

"(Alright, just... Come here,)" I heard Lara say before I could curl up on myself.

She was looking at me with uncertainty while holding a wing out in invitation.

I... I couldn't quite stop the wide grin that formed on my muzzle at her change of mind.

I tried running to her, but that kind of motion required a whole different way of moving my legs, and so I repeatedly tripped as I closed the distance between us, until I slammed onto her barrel and hugged it for all the warmth it was worth with a content sigh.

The pegasus hesitated for a moment before she brought the wing back down to act as a sort of blanket for me, and I gave her the most grateful look I could muster at the time as my shivering steadily came to an end.

She stared at my little form in the meantime, her expression slowly losing its uncertainty and gaining a meager smile that become more genuine by the moment, and after a little while she wrapped a hoof around my body while her other foreleg gently petted my hair in soothing motions that were quickly making me feel sleepy along with the constant sounds of her heartbeat.

Had I not closed my eyes in contentment, I would've seen her staring off in the distance.

"(What the hay am I even doing...?)" she muttered without stopping her ministrations on me, chuckling mirthlessly afterwards. "(Taking care of a baby changeling. Hah. What kind of story could I possibly write about that?)"

Everything after that was fuzzy from how sleepy I felt, though I was pretty sure that she held me a little bit tighter before I finally drifted off.

This pony may have kidnapped me and taken me away from my hive, but she had also been both careful and 'nice' with me. As I was being held within her waaarm embrace, I couldn't deny that I felt... safe.

But, most importantly, as I sat there and entered the realm of dreams...

...I felt like nothing could go wrong.

Author's Note

I actually didn't know what a chimicherrychanga was, and the first image I saw when I google'd it?

Made by Zimroid on DeviantArt.

[1] Tomb Raider

My prey was close now, I could feel it.

Well... that, and the tracks were getting increasingly fresh.

Makeshift bow and arrow in hand, I slowly trudged on, carefully observing my surroundings in this extremely foggy and humid forest.

I couldn't recognize aforementioned tracks, just like I couldn't see nor hear anything further than a dozen feet away, yet I still felt compelled to follow this trail as if it was something I had been hunting for my entire life.

Disregarding the eerie-looking trees whom had grown so high that I couldn't see the canopy through the dense mist and the lack of wildlife one would expect from a forest of any kind, I had finally reached the end of the trail after what seemed to be hours of tireless pursuit.

It simply... stopped at the edge of a clearing?

"What are you doing here?" I heard someone coldly ask from behind me.

I whipped around in a balanced stance, arrow at the ready, prepared to defend myself if need be from—

"...E-Elena!?" I stuttered in surprise, recognizing the person standing on the other side of the clearing:

My wonderful wife, whom I had loved for as long as I could remember and who gave birth to our cherished son.

...But, something felt wrong about this, oh so very wrong.

"Love, you shouldn't be here! It's dangerous! There's some sort of creature roaming around!" I said, lowering my bow while closing the distance between us until I realized something, slowing my approach. "...Why are you even out here? You never liked being out in the wild!"

"You're pathetic," she said as if I hadn't spoken at all, glaring at me with such hate that I actually took a couple steps back while she herself began stalking forward. "So small. So... weak."

"Wha—!?" I began, only to trip on something as I backpedalled, falling onto my back.

Ignoring the fact that I didn't feel any pain at all, I quickly rolled over and got to my hooves—

"WHAT THE HECK?!?" I screeched with a high-pitched childlike voice, my skin covered in chitin once more as I failed to stand on two legs and fell flat on my face, my changeling body awkwardly sprawled on the forest floor.

"I never loved you, you know?" she forcefully chuckled in the condescending kind of way. "How could anyone ever even like a freak?"

This... this couldn't be her! She would never say these kind of things!

...

...W-would she?

"Remember our vows on that very 'special' day?" she sarcastically asked while suddenly towering over my own tiny cowering form, an unsettling smirk plastered on her face. "That we would be together..."

Her smirk turned into a full-blown terrifying grin, her eyes glinting maliciously as I instinctively made myself as small as I could, almost curling into a ball. My full attention being drawn to her, I failed to notice a swirling portal open off to the side.

"...'Till death do us part?" she finished, lifting a foot that could effortlessly crush me like a bug.

I could do nothing but stare at the hovering foot in shocked fear, unable to get myself to move out of the way of my impending doom—

"(BEGONE FROM THIS REALM, VILE CREATURE OF NIGHTMARES!)"

The... thing that used to supposedly be my wife suddenly let out an ear-splitting in-human screech, recoiling backwards as if in pain before falling and rolling back and forth on the ground, spontaneously bursting into blue flames, body twisting and morphing into some unrecognizable mass until it altogether disappeared completely, the screams still echoing in my mind as I stared open-mouthed in shock.

"(Fear no longer, little one.)"

I was startled out of my stupor as the new person came into the clearing, the words she spoke being in that language I still couldn't fully comprehend, slowly revealing herself as she crossed the edge of the somewhat twisted treeline.

"(Your dream will no longer... be... but, I—y-you...!?)"

An alicorn stood there, her dark-blue fur combined with the gaseous mane and tail shimmering with miniature stars making her look like the complete opposite of 'Celestia', her wide turquoise eyes staring at me in surprise as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Some sort of wind suddenly started picking up, everything in my sight fading away as if the entirety of it was composed of mist, all color disappearing as the gale howled louder and louder to the point where I almost didn't hear what the pony said then, even if I had no clue what it meant.

"(Thou... thou art a—)"

I woke up in near-complete darkness, gasping for breath, panting continuously while my body rapidly rebooted itself.

'...Oh...' I realized, my breathing slowly returning to normal. '...Was... just a dream...'

The whole thing felt wrong, though. The random alicorn appearing near the end, especially, made no sense to me.

'Dreams are based on past experiences and things I've seen, so how could a pony like that just appear in there!?'

In the end, I chalked it up to the obscure workings of my subconscious, even though I didn't really fully convince myself with that. It got my mind off of my wife, at least. That was the one person I wasn't sure I ever wanted to see or even think about again.

Returning to the present, I noticed I was... probably being carried by Lara. Considering it was dark and that I felt enclosed like back when I was in my egg, she most likely put me in one of the bags while I slept; which was surprising since I'm a very light sleeper.

'Was a light sleeper' is probably more accurate now, and that's pretty unsettling. Made me wonder what else changed about... well, 'me'.

'I can only hope that I won't actually be attracted to guys once this body is mature enough.' I cringed at the thought, trying to reposition myself so that I could peek out of the bag's flap.

Lara suddenly stopped trotting, worry and slight panic flowing out of her, causing me to also freeze to try and figure out why. Next thing I knew, it felt like she had removed the bag and thrown it with me still in it, but she wouldn't do that would she—? *THUNK*

"Aow!" I squeaked, even though I almost didn't feel the impact.

I didn't get to see Lara flinching. "(Sorry about that, Artemis,)" she... whispered?

And then I felt it. Or rather, them.

I scrambled to get out of the bag, only to greet a lush... bush? Peeking out of that, in turn, informed me that I was in a sort of jungle early in the day. A complete contrast to the badlands I used to be in when I was last awake.

'JUST HOW LONG DID I SLEEP!?'

A series of low growls brought my attention back to the pegasus whom had taken to be my guardian, crouched in a kind of stance in the middle of a clearing, looking ready to fight against... a tiger and a panther!?

'There's no way she'll survive this if she fights!' I realized, my eyes widening in panic.

The tiger let out a roar, leaping towards Lara with its claws outstretched—

"HYAAH!"

—Only to receive a swift uppercut under its chin, the mare using her wings to propel herself upwards to add extra power to the strike, causing the beast to literally do a couple back flips in mid-air despite being nearly twice as large as her before finally crashing face-first with an audible *Thud* behind the other predator.

From my vantage point within the dense bush, I could only stare slack-jawed.

The panther however, seemingly unaffected by her display of strength in the slightest, only glanced towards its companion for a moment before beginning its own running leap towards the pegasus, snarling in defiance.

In response, she actually ran at a gallop towards it, planting her forelegs on the ground mid-way and flapping one of her wings to shift her accumulated momentum into a spinning round-house kick with her hind-leg, the resounding *Thwak* of the impact being felt by me even though I wasn't the unfortunate being whom got hit.

I had to wonder just how strong Lara really was to make a panther of that size barrel roll away from the mere force of a kick.

A cougar suddenly jumped into the fray to join the battle, causing my guardian to shift her attention to it while the tiger slowly recovered from its daze, painfully picking itself up from the floor.

The third feline was apparently nothing more than a distraction, however, as a bola went flying across the clearing from Lara's blind spot, wrapping itself around her legs, at which point she was being held on the ground by the cougar whom was then keeping her wings in check.

And then he arrived, chuckling condescendingly as he came into view from the edge of the clearing, followed by two ponies wearing what looked like feather accessories, tribal markings and spears.

I... I had no idea just what this guy was. Paws for the hind legs, hands for the forelegs, the tail even ended with a hand of all things. Dark-blue fur for most of the body, light-blue for the belly and hands, all the while wearing golden jewelry on his neck as well as golden earrings, sharp teeth protruding from his mouth at all times.

Oh, and he was about four times larger than Lara, who was at least six times larger than me.

The pegasus sighed. "(What now, Ahuizotl?)" she casually said, face showing exasperation though internally she was screaming with panic and worry.

'If those are trained animals and they didn't kill, meaning they just wanted to capture her... they probably want something she has?' I guessed, craning my neck around to realize I was right next to her possessions, my eyes widening in panic.

"(You tell me, Daring Do,)" the big guy replied while I very slowly made my way to a different bush, doing my best to not make sudden movements lest I attract their gazes. "(I know you possess various objects. Artifacts that I... need. All you have to do, is show me where you've hidden them, and I... might let you go.)" He chuckled with an unsettling smirk.

She snorted. "(So that you can fulfill the prophecy and doom the entire valley for centuries? Hmph, I don't think so,)" she defiantly answered, glaring at him.

He barred his teeth in anger, growling. "(Fine. We'll simply have to convince you to do so if you won't tell us. Let us see what you have with you right now, hmm?)" he said, gesturing for his pony companions towards the bush where she had thrown her bags.

From within my new hiding spot, I watched as they reached the pack, Lara's worry increasing tenfold as they picked it up before bringing it back to the obvious leader.

"(I don't have anything of value in there,)" she hurriedly stated unconvincingly with a sudden poker face, sweat rolling down her face.

The blue giant flashed her a sharp-toothed grin. "(Is that so?)" he replied as they prepared to unload its contents on the floor.

She closed her eyes, flinching in phantom pain as all of her carefully-arranged items fell to the ground...

...Only to slowly reopen them shortly afterwards, noticing a distinct lack of changeling within the pile, relief filling her entire being. At least until she probably realized that she had no idea where I was, her worry returning almost immediately.

"(Grrrr, tie her up and take her with us!)" the leader barked angrily. "(Bring all of that junk, too! We'll sort through it later.)"

The ponies saluted with a foreleg, quickly chucking everything back into the bags before the entire group walked away.

With Lara.

...

...

'HEY! MY FOOD!'

I trailed them from afar.

==============================================

Both diarchs were silently eating their breakfast together in their private dining room, as they always used to. Though, it was a lot more silent than usual, this time.

"Luna? Is there something wrong? You've been chewing the same piece for a few minutes now."

Luna blinked, finally swallowing her food. "We... believe We hath observed a changeling within a dream..."

"You're doing it again, sister," giggled Celestia.

The Princess of the night sighed, "Forgive Us... me, it just happens without me noticing sometimes."

"What's different with this changeling? You told me you've seen hundreds from nightmares in these recent times," Celestia curiously asked.

The lunar alicorn appeared to be contemplating how to answer. "I have seen many, yes, but they were all fictional; products of the dreams of those who were present during the attack, or those who heard about it. No, the dreamer itself was a changeling this time." She frowned. "I think."

The solar diarch raised an eyebrow. "You... think?"

Luna nodded. "Dreams are malleable, ever changing and flowing without following a set path. On certain occasions, the dreamer is prone to appear in a different form. I've seen stallions become mares in their dreams, as well as the opposite. I've seen ponies switch tribes, earth ponies flying without wings, pegasi dreaming of becoming a griffin... anything is possible within that realm, really. But, this 'changeling' in particular..."

Celestia leaned forward in her seat. "Yes?"

"T'was but a mere foal, more similar to... Terra's new form, than the thousands of other common changeling 'drones', though the colors of her highlights weren't the same. What's more, its nightmare involved being tormented by a most bizarre creature. Some sort of, frail minotaur, without hooves nor fur nor tail. Fully clothed, save for its hands and its head..." She shook her head. "There is a way to confirm the identity of the dreamer, similar to a spell, however the dream collapsed before I could perform it."

The doors to the dining room opened, allowing entry to Cadance who decidedly seemed to be in a sour mood.

"Morning," She briskly greeted, setting her rump on one of the cushions, her breakfast plate being levitated towards the table while she massaged her temples with her hooves.

"Is something the matter, young Cadance?" asked Luna, concerned.

"I just wish everypony would stop reminding me of... what I ended up doing," the younger alicorn said, frowning. "Do you know what it feels like to be essentially told every day just how 'wonderful' it was that you 'saved' a city by practically exterminating an entire race?" she rhetorically asked, the beginnings of tears forming.

Celestia set down her tea cup, sympathy written all over her face. "Cadance—"

"It's just not what I wanted to do!" Cadance shouted, finally bursting into tears, the constant reminders having taken their toll. "I-I don't, I n-never..."

No more words were spoken as she was embraced by her Aunt, quietly sobbing as Luna curiously watched the events unfold.

Back in her nights, these kind of situations would've been resolved by simply scolding the pony for not "taking it like a mare".

My, how times had changed...

Though, she would probably hesitate to apply that to this situation. One did not simply walk out of committing accidental genocide unscathed.

A moment later, the Princess of Love eventually calmed down, weakly chuckling as she wiped her tears. "H-heh, and now I ruined breakfast time. I'm sorry..."

Celestia waved it off. "It's alright, Cadance. I'm grateful you took it upon yourself to handle the court in my temporary absence, but I believe you deserve a break from any and all royal duties for a couple weeks, at the very least." She leaned in closer, "and don't tell Luna about Artemis yet. I want to make that a surprise," she whispered, winking.

Luna narrowed her eyes when she couldn't hear that last part, noticing the subtle gesture. Centuries of having lived alongside her sister had allowed her to easily notice the subtle signs present in Celestia's body language, and she could affirm without a doubt that her sister was hiding something from her at that very moment.

She couldn't hide the mischievous smile slowly forming on her own muzzle, however, determined to be the first one to strike. It had been far too long since their last bout had occurred, after all.

Besides, it would certainly distract her from... thinking about Terra, at the very least...

They each resumed their breakfasts after a moment, though some did so with more enthusiasm compared to the next pony.

"Shiny's been acting weird this morning," Cadance commented all of a sudden between chews.

"Oh?"

"I don't think he even slept at all! He was... curled up in a ball, rocking back and forth, mumbling about cherries..." Cadance trailed off before steadily feeling increasingly worried. "On second thought, I think I'll go get him a doctor right now. I don't know why I didn't do that sooner," she said, leaving her barely-touched food on the table as she got up.

"And I must go rest," Luna informed them, yawning. "I shall see you once more during the evening, if thou art available."

"Alright. Sleep well, Luna," Celestia warmly replied, nuzzling her sister affectionately while Luna returned the gesture, smiling as she nodded once before disappearing in a flash of darkness.

"And don't think I was joking about taking a rest from your duties. You earned it and need it," the Solar Princess added to her niece as they walked together out of the room.

"Thanks, Auntie," Cadance smiled, giving her own nuzzle before trotting away to make sure Shining Armor was alright.

Having finished her own meal, Celestia was about to head to the throne room to resume her court duties when a unicorn rounded a nearby corner, frantically looking everywhere before finally setting his gaze on her.

"Princess Celestia!" he exclaimed, rapidly closing the distance between them while she noticed his messy mane and the bags under his occasionally twitching eyes.

"Quickly! Drink this!" the stallion said as he brought some sort of bubbling concoction to her attention, levitating it out of his saddlebags.

She dubiously frowned at him. "...Lab Coat? Did you spend all night running tests again?"

"YES! There was SCIENCE to be done! Now drink this! QUICKLY! DANGER!"

While Celestia was everything but naive, she trusted this stallion enough that the urgency in his tone made her drink the liquid in one go, using all of her willpower to keep it in despite its absolutely HORRID taste.

"Doyoufeelanydifferent?Didyouhaveanycravings?Arethosecravingsgonenow?What—" he quickly asked without pause while the Princess stuck her tongue out in disgust.

"What was that for!?" she demanded. "And take a deep breath! Speak slowly," Celestia added as he opened his muzzle.

He blinked, doing just that. "Ran tests on the contents of that vial from yesterday. Contained an unknown protein that seems to be extremely addictive for ponies, perhaps not meant for pony consumption to begin with. Mixed results when tested on a few of the castle staff. Some—"

"You gave some to the staff!?"

"Didn't tell them what it was, best way to obtain results. SCIENCE! Every test subject developed a craving for a certain type of food, until it became a need. Had to develop a cure before the condition worsened, didn't want to find out what else could happen with prolonged exposure. Came up with what you drank. Works like a charm!" he rapidly explained with a manic grin.

"And," she hesitated to ask. "...what was in it?"

He made a disgusted face. "You... don't want to know. Discovered that countering the effects with the safest most disgusting taste achievable would overload your taste buds, with the side effect of dispelling any want or need for food, effectively stopping the progression of the changeling fluid in its tracks." He put a hoof to his chin in thought. "Unless one of the ingredients actually is a direct counter to the fluid. Hmm, must run more tests. Still, it works!"

Lab Coat slumped, exhaustion finally catching up with him before he perked up one last time. "I don't know what you did with the rest of the substance, but nopony else took a taste of it, right?"

The maid arrived in front of the room for the seventh time in the same morning, pulling a food cart.

Opening the door carefully, she entered the dark room, the stallion still mumbling to himself like the last time she had come in.

"Your sixth order of chimicherrychangas has arrived, Sir." She bowed—

Shining Armor stopped rocking back and forth, slowly turning his neck around in a creepy manner towards the food cart with wide eyes, his pupils shrinking down to pinpricks.

"...Uh—"

"MINE!!" he roared, lunging towards the cart, the desire to satisfy his hunger being the only thing running through his head, devouring all of its contents messily.

Feather Wind was a terrified mare.

"...No, I don't believe anypony else had any," Celestia said with certainty.

"Have a few extra antidotes around my lab, just in case," the doctor mumbled, overtaken by his lack of sleep as he gently collapsed on the floor. "Jus gunna taek a nap nao beefoar teshtz," he slurred, immediately snoring loudly.

She shook her head at his antics, smiling as she dragged him towards his room in the castle via levitation.

'Time to resume my duties,' she thought, eventually entering the throne room after having left Lab Coat on his bed.

She paused mid-way towards her seat.

'I didn't send Daring her dress back yet...'

She resumed her walk after a moment, puzzled about the odd smiles her guardsponies were displaying. 'I'll return it during lunch, after I double check to make sure it's perfectly cleaned,' she decided, finally sitting down on—

*Pfffbbbbt*

Celestia froze, eyes wide, levitating the hidden whoopee cushion which had a note attached to it, blushing as her guards did their best to maintain their composure despite the quiet snickers escaping their muzzles.

'Tis only the beginning, dear Sister! Forsooth, ages have flown past since our previous prank war.

Prepare thyself for the years to come, Tia! For Our pranks, WILL last, FOREVER! >:D

-Luna

A bead of sweat rolled down her face.

==============================================

'My feet are killing me. All FOUR of them.'

I had lost sight of the group shortly after I began following them, but fortunately they didn't seem to care much about the tracks they left behind as they practically 'stomped' onwards. I felt like I had ran a marathon, though. Probably because I was still technically in a baby's body, though I don't know of any other infant capable of walking continuously for miles on end merely a day after being "born".

I was also slightly delayed whenever I had to avoid meeting random creatures passing by. Though I assume they were but animals, they still had emotions to an extent, which let me determine more or less where they were and how close they were to me. Most of them were probably little harmless critters like birds or rodents I think, but considering this world seemed to have great mythological beasts who weren't quite so mythological anymore, I decided to completely avoid anything I could potentially come across.

Thankfully, my small size and weight meant I didn't leave tracks myself, saving me the trouble of having to cover them.

*Rumble*

...Unfortunately, the "boost" I had acquired a few days ago was starting to expire, and without Lara nearby to steadily feed myself off of, I was finally beginning to feel a bit of hunger, especially after all the energy I spent on this trek.

'Didn't Edge say meat was fine in case we were running low on love? Hmm, I'd have to hunt with nothing but my bare ha— hooves...'

Then again, with how small I was, I wouldn't really need to go for the big, dangerous stuff. Never really ate rodents before, can't imagine how tasty they would be as I'd rip them apart with my fangs, picking their bones clean, devouring all that delicious bloody raw mea—

...

'Whoa, okay, I'll... cross that bridge when I get to it.' I decided, shaking my head before wiping off the drool which had started to form.

On a side note, multitasking just seemed to be much easier than before. Heck, I've been continuing my walk the entire time while I've been pondering about stuff, while taking in every detail of my surroundings and while trying to get my wings to work, as if I was concentrating on each of those things individually.

But that shouldn't be possible, right? It was scientifically proven that people could ONLY concentrate on one thing at a time.

'...Whatever, I'm certainly not complaining,' I thought, shifting certain new muscles on my back to slowly move my wings up and down, trying to figure out how fast I'd need to flap them in order to generate enough lift for me to fly.

...If I even could fly at this age.

I finally heard voices speaking nearby while I had been sneaking alongside a dirt road for some time, the jungle providing ample amounts of cover for my small frame.

The two 'tribal' ponies from earlier had stopped in the middle of the road, appearing to be arguing over the mystical candle that Lara had been using while the rest of the group was nowhere to be seen, nor could I sense stray emotions from anyone else anywhere nearby. The stuffed bags were also sitting on the ground between them as one of them lit up the candle.

"(See? Green flame! This is a wishing candle!)"

The other guy groaned. "(Wish-granting candles aren't real! Where the hay did you even come up with this kind of story!? You're as gullible as a foal.)"

"(Then go ahead! Make a wish! You'll see!)" the first pony insisted.

His companion shot him a deadpan look. "(Fine. I'll humor you. I wish I had my very own castl—)"

"No no no! (It has to be a selfless wish! Otherwise it won't be granted!)"

"(Ugh, FINE! I WISH I HAD A BEAUTIFUL DRESS FOR MY MAREFRIEND!)"

*Fwoomph!*

...

'Hey, that's Lara's blanket!'

Meanwhile, the guy whom had spoken last was staring slack-jawed with wide eyes, his companion beaming with a wide grin, eagerly jumping up and down.

"(See? See!? I told you it was a wishing candle!)"

"(I-Buh-Wha...!?)"

"(I have to show this to the master!)" the eager one said, grabbing the candle with his mouth before galloping away along the road with it.

The remaining pony stared back and forth between his retreating friend and the neatly folded purple blanket on the floor. "(H-hey! Wait!!)" he eventually exclaimed, grabbing the bundle of silk with his teeth, running off to catch up to his buddy.

Conveniently leaving the bags and their contents behind.

I waited a few minutes just to make sure they wouldn't immediately come back before I approached the packs, leaving my hiding spot cautiously. I couldn't really tell by merely glancing if everything else was still in there—not that I knew of everything that was supposed to be in it—but before I went ahead and searched them I had to move the bags away from the open road, otherwise it or I would most likely be discovered.

With the combined weight of everything in there, it was pretty difficult to drag it all at once. At least having four legs helped provide enough traction for me to pull it by holding one of the straps in my mouth. My fangs had pierced the material, but it couldn't be helped; there was no other way I'd be able to get a proper grip otherwise.

Leaving the bags in a burrow I had found under a tree before I took note of a couple landmarks to remember where it was—'Big random boulder over there, dirt path visible from here'—I went ahead and covered the trails that the packs made while I had dragged them as best as I could, starting from the road.

I finished just in time too, as I sensed them returning before I saw and heard them.

"(We should see them pretty soon.)"

"..."

"(Hmm, I could've sworn they were here...)"

"..."

"(...Maybe they're a bit further along the road?)"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"(Oh come on! I said I was sorry! How could I know it was just a regular magical candle and not a wishing candle? They're almost exactly the same!)"

"(I just can't believe I fell for one of your stories, of all things. Now I'm stuck guarding that prisoner's cell for the entire night.)"

"(Well, hey, it's not that bad—)"

"(It shouldn't be. But I'm stuck guarding it WITH YOU!)"

"(I know right! Isn't that just great!?)"

I couldn't see them conversing, but that one pony was leaking off so much frustration that I could practically taste it. It was somewhat salty, in case you were wondering. I wouldn't be surprised if his eyes were twitching right now.

"(...Hey! Where are you going? That's the wrong way!)"

"(I give up. I'm going back to the base.)"

"(Huh? But, what about the prisoner's stuff?)"

He groaned. "(We'll just say some creature took it or something. Didn't your brother say he thought he saw a chimera lurking around this place?)"

"(Yeah...)" the other guy said after a pause, "(...but why would a chimera take anything?)"

"(Who knows what goes on through all three of their heads? Now come on, I don't want to find out if your weird brother was right once more.)"

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding once they were far enough, surprisingly headed towards where they had come from, if 'my feels' were right. Something about spying on conversations was just... really enjoyable all of a sudden.

I had been slowly browsing through the bags within the safety of this little burrow while eavesdropping on their conversation. Not sure how I was going to go about learning their language, but the more I heard the faster I'd progress on that front, right?

Unfortunately, nothing within the packs would be useful in any way to me. At least I saved Lara's stuff in case I found her again, I guess.

'But what is she really to me, though?' I pondered, walking out of the miniature hole to continue sneaking alongside the road towards where the ponies had gone to. 'Do I consider her to be a friend? Should I? Or is she just food? For that matter, how does my new family view everyone else? Are they just smart 'animals' meant to be 'farmed' for love?'

I couldn't help myself but chuckle at picturing my new mom scolding me for "Playing with my food". My ears drooped in response to my emotions afterwards.

'I don't even know what she actually looks like,' I sadly realized.

I suddenly stood at full attention, my ears swiveling to the side.

'Something's coming. That way. Ground level. Can't hear footsteps, ground not trembling from weight, must be small. Close to my size.' Before I knew it, I had gotten into a stance, crouched and ready to pounce at a moment's notice. 'Prey' my mind seemed to scream at me.

A fluffy little bunny came out of cover, sniffing the air. The moment it turns away from m—

It never saw me lunge out of the nearby vegetation towards it, nor did it ever stand a chance as I immediately plunged my teeth into its neck after tackling it, whereupon something released itself from my fangs into my prey's body whom rapidly seemed to stiffen.

I finally processed just what happened a few seconds later as I looked at the little-but-not-so-little-compared-to-me animal, apparently still awake and alive despite being completely paralyzed. It was completely mortified. The puncture wounds on the neck had barely bled, too.

'Paralysis should mean that the muscles don't respond, but the heart is also a muscle, so something must work differently here if it's still alive despite that.' I frowned. 'Whoa, back up Artemis, think about the fact that you just ran on auto-pilot for a moment there and have venom in your fangs. Or is it poison? Stored in a sac somewhere within my mouth, like snakes have?... Gah! Focus!'

The little thing was oozing fear, letting me know it was still aware of what was happening to some extent. Those eyes even seemed to be giving off some sort of intelligence; at least more than the bunnies I had seen back on Earth.

"I'm sorry, but this is part of the cycle of life," I felt compelled to chitter, ending its life as quickly as I could.

I was about to try and figure out how to cook and eat it next, but something about seeing the ripped-open neck seemed to flip a switch, my mouth drooling at the bloody, delicious-looking raw meat.

I'll... spare you the details, but needless to say, it was a little messy. Best meat I've had in a long time, though. Had to resort to licking myself clean once again to get rid of the blood stains and while I think I would've been disgusted at doing that back when I was human, this simply felt... natural now.

With ponies as the dominant species in this "Equestria", I realized that meat would probably be a very rare treat for me. I can't imagine what they'd do if they found me hunting the local wildlife, especially if some of them were intense "animal lovers", like some people I knew back on Earth.

Still, "Love" had an even better taste and was preferred. As long as I could get myself some of that, I shouldn't have to hunt.

After burying the remains to avoid having predators roaming an area I might be coming back to later on, I continued my trek, wondering just how much further I'd have to go and how long that meal would last me.

I didn't have to worry long about the former. I soon spotted a sort of gigantic pyramid in the distance, surrounded by walls. A castle? A fortress? One thing was almost certain though:

Lara was somewhere in there.

And so, I had to make a choice. I could potentially risk my life and try saving her from whatever that guy was—assuming she wasn't dead yet—or I could turn around and see where the road lead that way, hunting to sustain myself, hopefully reaching civilization where my family should be able to find me.

...

...

...

...

I turned around.

==============================================

"Good thing you were still in there, Sir Quackerton. No way I'm doing this without backup," I chirped.

I was pretty glad the rubber ducky actually existed and was stored in the bag. I wasn't going to question why Lara had one with her since I myself had my own little "good luck charm" that I'd bring on my occasional outings back when I was still human.

I had scouted the fortress's walls—would've been more flashy and luxurious-looking if it was a castle—for the remainder of the day from the cover of the jungle. Despite how far I was from it (they had pretty much cleared all the vegetation around the fortress for quite the distance), I could spot more of those "tribal ponies" patrolling on the ramparts, each of them armed with spears or bows. The real problem, however, was the fact that the only entrance seemed to be accessible by following the dirt path. The fortress turned out to be essentially on the other side of a chasm, completely surrounded by cliffs save for that one narrow road. There was no way I'd be able to sneak in through that front entrance, with or without the cover of the night's darkness.

While I had practiced flying over the hours of waiting for the sun to go down, I hadn't quite gotten it down yet. All I could manage was rapid flaps, but that wasn't enough it seemed.

And so here I was, early in the night on the edge of the fortress grounds, thinking about an alternate way inside while I sat on my haunches, juggling the rubber ducky with my front hooves.

...

I paused, looking at the duck that was stuck to my hoof.

'If... if this works...'

I set the little toy on the ground, walking towards a random tree.

And then I actually walked on the random tree, literally climbing it using the 'grip' I had learned my hooves had, sticking to the bark effortlessly.

'Holy shit, this just might work!' I realized while grinning happily, now upside-down on a branch. It felt pretty weird to have gravity constantly pulling you "upwards" instead of "downwards", especially when you had spent years experiencing nothing but the latter.

Looking at the patrolling ponies once more, I could see that each group was going about with a torch. Not a single one of them was without a light source in their face, and that was good news for me. It meant that their eyes—whom couldn't naturally see well in the darkness it seemed—were used to the brightness of the torches themselves rather than the naturally occurring moonlight.

They had essentially completely blinded themselves to anything outside the range of their light sources, thus wouldn't be able to notice anything approaching unless it was pretty much next to them.

"It is time to begin operation 'Tomb Raider', Sir Quackerton," I chirped to my partner as my wings buzzed in excitement, picking up the toy gently with my mouth as I began approaching the looming fortress from the cliffside.

Author's Note

I would be asking for help on quite a few things, especially with a couple of REALLY story-changing events I may or may not include within the story, mainly 'help' to just know more or less how my readers in general may react to aforementioned events occurring, but if I did so it would pretty much be spoiling it for those who would decide to help give their opinion on them.

While I'm not asking people what they want there to happen in the story next, I do want to know what they don't want to happen. T'would help me in adding more originality to the story (or at least try to, hopefully.) I've got a vague outline for what's to come, and certain comments have been known to influence how the events eventually play out.

I tried not to make this chapter end in a sort of cliffhanger.

Seriously, I tried.

But the moment I finished writing "operation Tomb Raider" on that last segment, it just felt like the perfect way to end the chapter. I couldn't resist the temptation :twilightblush:

[1] One does not simply walk out of pyramid fortresses

'Spiiider-ling! Spiiider-ling. Friendly neighborhood spiiider-ling~~' I mentally sang as I walked up the fortress walls.

...

'Heheh, NEIGHborhood.'

I slapped myself.

Reaching an opening on the side of the ramparts, I took a quick peek over the edge, immediately ducking back as two ponies walked by, the light from their torch burning my eyes a bit.

In a way, I was also blind to some extent since I couldn't afford to look directly at any light source from too close due to my eyes being used to the darkness for too long.

'The irony when a source of light is what stops you from seeing at night,' I thought while blinking the tears away, looking over the ledge once more to confirm that the coast was clear.

Why they didn't have torches strewn about instead of walking around in groups with them, I couldn't understand. I was hoping it was either laziness or stupidity. Or both.

I jumped through the window with my trusty companion held in my mouth once I was sure it was safe, both from looking around and from trying to sense stray emotions. It was much harder to get accurate readings on the latter with the amount of ponies roaming around the fortress, however.

Now that I was inside, I had to find Lara.

'Where to start...' I pondered while climbing a wall to begin my search from the higher-than-normal ceiling.

I doubted that they'd think of looking up, especially when my own hooves were as silent as they were. I wouldn't be able to move as fast as I could while walking around this way, though. Gravity was working against me while I was upside-down like this since I had to keep at least one limb on the ceiling at all times, or else I'd lose my grip and fall.

I decided to go through the hallway on my left, carefully proceeding as I kept track of where I went and where I could go in case I'd somehow get spotted. After going through a couple turns while avoiding another set of guards, I could sense a large maelstrom of emotions concentrated in a general area nearby, likely due to a high number of beings in there.

It would be risky, but... I had to make sure whether or not my target was there.

Making my way down the tunnel towards the gathering, I could hear the sounds of chanting, the entire room up ahead completely lit up. I quickly peered inside—

'...NOPE.'

From the few seconds it took me to observe the entirety of what seemed to be a large gathering hall of some sort, I noticed a few things:

Lots of ponies.

Lots of sharp sticks.

And lots of golden rings at the top of the stairs at the other end of the room, stacked around a kind of pedestal, the largest ones planted at the bottom with increasingly smaller ones over them. However, a few were scattered around the pillar, most of them being much smaller than the rings set around the totem.

The big blue "leader" guy was also there, proudly standing next to the incomplete golden tower of rings, chest puffed out while having his head raised and his eyes closed, grinning as he took in all the adoration from the ponies which were repeatedly bowing and chanting... stuff.

I quickly made my way back to continue exploring since I didn't spot Lara anywhere in there. Which I was thankful for. There was absolutely no way I could fight right now and I only had one shot at this. Even if I escaped after getting seen, they'd just beef up the security and probably learn to look upwards as well. I wasn't even sure I actually could do anything to save her.

Again, IF she was still alive.

The next hallway I entered was littered with rooms on both sides, one of which had light emanating from it. The first room seemed to be part of their food storage, which was full of fruits and vegetables that I... couldn't find appetizing, no matter how I looked at them.

Letting go of my companion as I approached the food, examining an apple—or, at least, I hoped it was an apple. Looked pretty similar, different world and all—I took a bite out of it, only to find that it didn't have any noticeable taste.

Heck, my body was urging me to swallow the entire piece instead of chewing it first.

Which I did.

My eyes widened in panic and I expected myself to choke on the solid chunk of fruit I had practically inhaled, only to be confused when I felt it slide smoothly through my throat and into... someplace that I didn't think was my stomach. Or whatever went for my stomach as a changeling. I could've sworn I felt it somewhat dissolve near the end...

I ended up eating the entire apple, core and all, simply because I wanted to experience that strange sensation again. It was oddly pleasing and... filling, though it did nothing to placate my actual hunger. Now that I thought about it, Edge did say we made some sort of gel out of food we couldn't actually process.

I shook my head. 'Still have to find Lara. Will figure out how stuff works later,' I thought, picking up my silent sidekick and subsequently resorting to ceiling-walking once more.

The next room was empty, for some reason. The one after that was actually nothing more than a pit with water at the bottom, where I could see some fish lazily swim about. By the time I had discovered that the fourth area was probably a barracks due to being littered with empty beds with a few occupied ones, I could taste a new emotion in the air... and it wasn't a taste I was familiar with.

Normally I could tell what the feeling was, but I had to know what the emotion was first before I could connect it with the 'flavor', committing that knowledge to memory.

Approaching the only room which was actually closed with a door while light shined through the gaps, the taste of sweetness intensified. The kind of sweet that you just couldn't get enough of until you were completely stuffed, prompting you to get more and more until you reached that point.

The door itself didn't have any kind of handle, leading me to assume all I had to do was push it, which I was reluctant to do because I could feel someone on the other side. I could also feel a sort of energy on the door and the walls surrounding the room.

...In fact, now that I looked closely, the door was somewhat shimmering.

Deciding to take a risk once more, I pushed it open as carefully as I could, my hoof passing through some sort of force field as I did so.

...

I quickly used my 'grip' to close the door.

'S-so that's what it was,' I realized, feeling my face heat up in a blush that may or may not be visible due to my chitin.

The weird thing was that I couldn't hear anything from within until I actually passed through that ethereal barrier. The mare was... *cough* quite loud. Sound-proof magic?

I hadn't noticed I was still standing outside the door, practically clinging to it, until a while after as a kind of drunken euphoria was slowly taking hold of me.

"(Hey, do you see that?)" someone quietly said.

I jumped, startled out of my stupor by the two ponies squinting their eyes towards me from the end of the corridor I had come from while I wondered just how long it had been since I had apparently gone from the ceiling to the floor.

"(Well, yeah, it's the master's panther, I think. Looks like it caught something too,)" replied the other pony, both of them having difficulty distinguishing my features from the meager amount of light provided by the room I was next to and the distance they were from me.

'Crap!' I panicked as they began approaching. I scrambled to run in the opposite direction, stumbling a couple times from not being used to running as opposed to trotting.

"(But isn't it bigger—)"

I got far enough that I couldn't hear the rest of what he was saying, my rapid heartbeat throbbing in my ears as I struggled to calm myself down.

'That was way too close,' I sighed, still troubled by how easily I got distracted from my main objective. At this rate, I'd really have to put a lid on this body's instincts.

...Though that was a nice little snack, even if it only barely did anything to satisfy my hunger.

Taking notice of my new surroundings, I spotted stairs leading towards a lower level of the fortress. If this place had a jail or any kind of 'dungeon', I assumed they'd at least be smart enough to place it deeper within the complex, making it harder for any captives to escape. I hoped they didn't, though; Would make it harder to get Lara out of this place.

It was then that I realized I had a new enemy:

Stairs.

No matter how I looked at it or how I thought about going down them, I just couldn't figure it out. Made me wish I actually looked at how dogs and cats did it so that I'd have an idea how. It would probably be easier if I was bigger, thus had longer legs, but as it currently stood, each step was almost as big as my body.

Of course I just wall-walked my way down, but in the event of getting caught and having to escape, I'd have to figure out 'how to stairs' ASAP otherwise it'd prove to be too time-consuming, likely ending with them catching up to me.

'Oh, who am I kidding? If I get seen I'm not outrunning anyone. Not with these stubby little hooves...' I grumpily thought, waving a foreleg in front of my muzzle.

Yup, that little black hoof covered in chitin and riddled with holes was now a part of me. Just like the rest of this bug-like, equine body. It looked nothing like my human self. It was doing things humans couldn't do. It wasn't human.

I wasn't a human.

I... was a changeling.

...

.....It just, never really sank in completely, you know? Circumstances so far had forced me to act on the spot, barely leaving me time to actually stop and really look at myself and... pretty much everything else around me.

Looking back on everything that's happened so far, my time spent in the egg simply felt like a long dream. My life as a human felt distant, as if it had happened ages ago, though at the same time I could recall certain past things as if I had lived them yesterday. My hatching and the events following it, on the other... hoof?... well... I wasn't sure what to make of it. This entire experience felt absolutely surreal now that I was up and about.

I mean, here I was in an alien body which I actually felt like I had owned for my entire life, sneaking around some pyramid fortress filled with sapient talking ponies wielding spears and bows, whom were led by a sapient... w-whatever that guy was, all the while trying to rescue a PEGASUS mare whom I barely knew. Alone. A mere day after hatching. Not to mention that I fed on EMOTIONS of all things, which I could FEEL from others. Then include the fact that MAGIC seemed to actually be a real thing here, in this new WORLD. And THEN, as if all of that wasn't enough, I would apparently be able to SHAPE-SHIFT once I learned how to.

I stopped at the bottom of the stairs, setting Sir Quackerton on the floor.

'Is all of this real?!?'

Recalling my last moments as a human—or at the very least trying to—I remembered the stormy night... I was walking outside... a flash of light followed by... something... was it pain? That part was really foggy, I just couldn't properly remember...

'Maybe I'm actually in a coma after some sort of accident and this is all some kind of super vivid dream? Though, this has been going on for quite a while...'

...

...You can't feel pain in dreams, right?

I smacked the side of my muzzle as hard as I could with my right forehoof. Didn't feel a thing.

'Hmmmmm...'

...

...

...

I smacked my horn as hard as I could with my ri—

"ARGH! OH GOD THAT HURTS!! HNNNNGH!!" I whimpered, crying in pain while I writhed on the stone floor as Sir Quackerton stood to the side, looking at me with his typical unfaltering joyous grin.

It felt much worse than getting solidly kicked in the nads. Way, way worse, and I was of course speaking from experience. Not only that but the agony kind of spread throughout my entire little body.

It actually took a few minutes for the pain to subside to tolerable levels, enough for me to be able to stand back on all fours, albeit very shakily, blinking and attempting to wipe my tears off with a foreleg as I did so.

'Okay... okay...' I thought, panting as the rest of the pain steadily ebbed away from my system. 'This is... somehow real... No more hitting the thing on my forehead...'

The implications of that realization reverberated within my mind.

I'm not human anymore.

I'm a changeling.

I'm really a changeling now.

This is real.

I looked around myself at the stone walls covered in hieroglyphic symbols, feeling the saturated cloud of emotions from every being nearby as if I had just finally noticed it and my surroundings for the first time. Why was I even here, in the heart of this emotionally-disgusting place where my life was potentially at risk?!

Lara was real.

She really protected me from the cold of the night.

She really cared for me, despite barely knowing me.

She really got captured while protecting me.

And so, after a moment of pondering, I picked up my small insensitive friend, determination set on my little equine face as I made my way to the ceiling once more, though this time with renewed purpose.

She helped me.

But now she needs my help.

I will find her.

I WILL save her.

...

...

'And she will LOVE ME!' I childishly added as a happy afterthought.

==============================================

*THUNK THUNK THUNK!*

Celestia groaned in frustration, yawning before frowning towards the door.

And she was JUST about to begin getting her much needed sleep on her luxurious princess-sized bed after an especially tiring day of court, too.

"Unless it has anything to do with an emergency, please return tomo—"

*BOOM!*

"CELESTIA!"

The aforementioned alicorn merely glanced at the obliterated doors to her room, broken pieces of it littering the entire area around her spell-protected possessions, finally spotting the two guards whom were supposed to prevent anypony (or anybody, for that matter) from entering without permission. Currently, they were quivering away from the visually distraught Alicorn of Love, whose horn was smoking.

"Why—"

"Something's wrong with Shining Armor!" quickly interrupted Cadance once more.

"Wha—"

"The doctors just can't figure out what's wrong! He's really sick!"

"Wher—"

"He's in the royal infirmary, room forty-two!"

Celestia quickly got up from her comfortable bed, already missing the warm embrace of her fluffy blankets. She had more important things to worry about at that moment, though. Quickly donning her usual regalia with a flash, she teleported both herself and her niece just outside the room housing Shining Armor, magically scanning the area beforehoof to make sure it was safe to do so.

The sight which greeted her upon entering the hospital room consisted of a nurse and doctor frantically trying to restrain a thrashing Captain of the Royal Guard who was decidedly looking paler than normal on the sweat-soaked bed, grunting incoherently as his unfocused gaze flew around the room.

She quickly cast a fast-acting calming spell on the stallion, turning to face the present medics as the patient's flailing considerably diminished.

"Report!"

"He has a fever that will soon reach critical stages, seems to be suffering from early phases of delirium and is not even conscious at this very moment. None of the conventional methods seem to do anything to help him, whether it's medicine or magic!" informed the worried Doctor.

"His last coherent requests were all about the same meal, over and over again, yet he kept demanding more whenever we decided to give in to his demands," finished the nurse who finally got a hold of his hind legs despite his flailing and strapped them to the bed with restraints, grunting in effort.

Celestia's eyes widened in realization, quickly disappearing in a flash of light before returning a few seconds later with a bubbling drink.

Promptly opening Shining Armor's muzzle once the medical staff moved to the side, she steadily dumped the vial's contents within it, forcing him to swallow something he unfortunately wouldn't ever forget the taste of for the rest of his life, as shown by his face becoming increasingly green, his wide-awake eyes widening in unadulterated horror.

"Keep it in. Drink it all," Celestia sternly ordered once she noticed that he was about to throw up what little he had drunk.

The only thing that stopped him from expelling the foul concoction from his stomach was the desperate, pleading expression of a teary-eyed Cadance who stood next to the bed, gently setting a pink hoof on his shoulder.

Realizing he was just barely managing to hold the liquid in, Celestia quickly conjured a glass of water which he immediately began gulping down at a rapid rate.

"S-Shiny? How are you feeling?" carefully asked the pink Alicorn as the stallion gasped for breath.

"I... I don't know... I feel, weird..." he grunted, clutching his head with his forelegs while the doctor approached to check his status.

"Your fever is still present, though it is receding rapidly. Heartbeat rate seems to be returning to normal levels as well. Are you feeling anything out of the ordinary at the moment? Any nausea, dizziness, voices in your head telling you things or an unrealistically intense desire for... what was it? Chimicherrychangas?"

His cheeks bulged for a moment as he showed an uneasy expression, gulping. "With whatever it was that you gave me, I think nausea is a given. I don't know how long I can resist throwing up... and please don't mention that dish ever again. Ever. Just the thought of food right now... Eurgh..."

The doctor turned to face Celestia. "Your Highness, if I may ask, what exactly was that cure? Everything we've tried on the Captain had no effect on his illness! Is it something we could use on other patients?" he asked while the nurse tended to Shining Armor.

"I am afraid not. This was a special case, one that won't happen again," she affirmed, thinking back to earlier in the day when she had gone to satisfy her curiosity despite knowing that she most likely wouldn't like what she would learn. "... And you absolutely do not want to know what was in it." She managed to hide her shudder.

"Please don't s-scare me like that again..." Cadance whispered to Shining Armor, nuzzling her love's muzzle tenderly, wrapping his body in a hug which he weakly returned.

Seeing that the emergency was for the most part resolved, Celestia excused herself from her present company, leaving the afflicted stallion in good hooves as she herself went to inform doctor Lab Coat about running a few tests in the morning to make sure nothing wrong remained.

However, nopony managed to take notice of the fact that Shining Armor's pupils had taken a practically unnoticeable green tint around the edges.

==============================================

'I don't even want to know what that thing is used for.' I shuddered.

This 'basement' was deserted it seemed, despite the number of rooms that I walked by. Whoever made this place must've had an obsession with levers or something, because nearly every single one of these cells had one inside, as well as various different styles of shackles. Some to merely restrain someone on a table, others were apparently there to keep you stuck to the wall...

And that was before mentioning the suspicious holes, either concealed or in plain sight, located in every single one of those cells, whether they were on the wall, floor, or even the ceiling at times. I certainly wasn't even going to go into details about the other things I've seen in some of those rooms. If anything, this place seemed more like the fortress's 'torture chambers'. The thought that Lara could be down here seriously worried me.

I finally spotted light reflecting off the walls up ahead, my emotion-sense telling me that there were beings around the corner. Among the little cloud of feelings, the mix of sadness and worry was what really stood out from everything else that I had felt so far in this entire fortress. It was downright bordering on depression.

Taking a careful peek around the corner, I saw two of those tribal ponies standing guard in front of the only occupied cell on the side of this entire hallway, staring straight ahead towards a blank wall.

...Well, one of them was staring straight ahead, still as a statue. The other guy?

"(—and then she said 'Oatmeal? Are you CRAZY!?')" the pony said as if delivering the punch line of a joke, laughing by himself.

He just kept talking and speaking and blabbering without end.

"(Oh! Did I tell you about the time I found a coconut on a beach?)"

"(YES! YES YOU DID! NOW PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF LUNA, STOP TALKING!)"

Hey! That was Lara's voice!

"(But I promise it's a different one!)"

And somehow, I was glad that I had no idea what he was going on about.

I realized these two ponies were the same ones that were present during Lara's capture. The silent one felt... weird though; as if his emotions were somewhat muted. Nevertheless, my friend was in there and I had to find a way to get them away from the entryway long enough for me to enter.

After a moment, I came to a decision.

'It appears that this is where we must part ways, Sir Quackerton.' I hung on the ceiling with my hind legs alone so I could grapple the rubber ducky with my forehooves. 'Your valiant sacrifice shall forever be remembered.'

I began swinging myself, building momentum before finally giving the toy a squeeze, making it squeak as I threw it as hard as I could towards an adjacent corridor.

...Surprisingly, it flew much further than I thought it would, hitting the wall within a faraway cell hard enough to squeak a second time along with a somewhat audible *Thud*, catching the attention of the blabbering pony whom finally went silent, if only for a split second.

"(Did you hear that?)" he asked his calm companion, not waiting for a response as he foolishly wandered towards the sound without a light source to accompany him. Unfortunately, the quiet pony had remained in place, not giving any reaction to anything that just occurred, even when he was left to guard alone.

As the stallion went further into the 'darkness', I was trying to quickly find a way past the remaining guard, whom was staying still by the door with a torch next to him.

'It's always the campers...'

I accidentally miscalculated my footing, letting go of the ceiling and landing on the ground. Well, more like crashed on the ground since I couldn't manage to land on my hooves instead of my back. I swiftly turned to look at him in panic, thinking he might've noticed the sounds I had made and see me, but he didn't even react to the relatively quiet 'thud'. I got up and silently approached while sticking to the wall since he wasn't looking my way, walking on the tip of my hooves, until I finally realized why he hadn't reacted during this entire time.

"zzzzz..."

He had painted eyes on his eyelids in an amazingly convincing manner, giving the impression that he was actually awake when in fact, he was sleeping. The tiny ear-buds he had placed in his ears told me that he most likely knew about his annoying partner's tendencies, preparing himself in advance for what would've been a long night of enduring endless chatter.

I ra— galloped the rest of the way, painlessly smacking my muzzle on the stony floor as I tripped once I was inside since I didn't know how to stop myself yet.

And there she was, each of her hooves chained to a different corner of the wall at the other end of the small room. They left her wings unbound, for some reason. She seemed to be relatively okay, if only slightly dirty from last morning's scuffle, though her hooves had chafed wherever metal met flesh, showing that she had struggled to free herself for some time.

Lara must've heard me when I tripped because she then brought her downcast eyes back up to look at my overjoyed expression.

She slowly blinked.

My ears drooped slightly as my wide smile faltered.

'Huh, I thought she'd be happy to see me...'

"(Great, now I'm hallucinating that she's here,)" she sadly muttered to herself, averting her eyes from me, gazing at the stone floor once more.

I noticed that each of the chains had locks where the metal was bound to her hooves, keyholes requesting to be filled so that she may be set free.

"(Should've just kept flying. Just had to get her to Canterlot...)"

But where were the keys? The guards couldn't have them, they didn't have anything to carry them around with!

"(Now she's out there in the jungle, defenseless, maybe even waiting for me, all alone, thinking her 'mother' would return to her...)"

I quickly scanned the rest of the room, my gaze eventually setting on a ring of keys, hanging by a pin up on the wall right next to me.

'...Is this some kind of taunting, letting her know the keys to her salvation are right there out of her reach?'

"(I... I didn't even give her any food! She must be starving by now! I-I'd make a t-terrible mother...)" she continued in a defeated voice, the chains holding her rattling as she weakly attempted to free her limbs once more.

I had wall-climbed towards the keys, almost reaching them, when I turned my neck around in confusion on hearing Lara sniff, her sorrow reaching an all-time high for some reason I couldn't fathom.

"...What's wrong with you?? I'm here to help!" I quietly chittered.

She brought her head back up, looking around the room before spotting me half-way up the wall, observing my puzzled expression.

Then she chuckled. The kind of mirthless, sad laugh you do when you're emotionally broken. "(And, and now she's walking on walls!)"

I tilted my head in incomprehension, worriedly watching her odd behavior. Couldn't she see that I was in the process of getting her out of here? Why was she so sad?!

I shrugged, reaching out with my muzzle to grab the—'blegh'—rusty ring of keys in my mouth, making a jingling noise as the dozens of keys jangled. The moment it made a sound, Lara suddenly got quiet, intently gazing at me with wide eyes, emotionally leaking confusion and a bit of hope.

"(Ar... Artemis? Is that really you? A-are you really here!?)" she whispered disbelievingly.

'Oh, so now she's somewhat happy? Hmph, what did she think I was doing?'

*Squeak*

I froze, my ears automatically swiveling towards the general direction of the sound.

*Squeaky-squeak*

Shit, the guard found Sir Quackerton!

*Squeaking intensifies*

And he seemed to be REALLY happy about it, if the elation I sensed meant anything.

However, as I made my way across the wall to Lara's chained forelegs at a more hurried pace, I also sensed someone else approaching from afar.

Reaching the first lock while taking note of her supremely relieved and happy face, I unfortunately realized how difficult this formerly simple task was.

Have you ever tried to insert a key into a key-hole with fists, without letting go of it? It was as hard as trying to isolate a single key among the dozen ones on the ring! I missed my fingers...

"(What are you doing away from your post!?)" growled a familiar voice.

'Oh shit!' I panicked, quickly trying to insert a random key while hoping it was the right one. Based on Lara's expression, she also heard and knew who was coming.

"(Master! Look what I found!)"

*Squee*

"(Hurry, hurry, hurry!)" frantically whispered Lara, torn between watching the entryway and my pathetic attempts as I struggled with the lock.

'Hrrg! Okay, not that one...' I fumbled to try a different key, though the feeling of impending doom really didn't help matters at all.

"(Answer the question!)" the booming voice barked angrily.

"(Well, you see, I was telling my friend the story of this one magical fruit I had found on the beach of this one cursed island. I was about to get to the part with the zomponies and the pike-filled forests; you know, that one place that is filled with rainbows and unicorns and—)"

The new arrival growled in a dangerously deep tone, giving me the shivers with the raw anger that I felt coming from his general direction.

'Come on, come ON!' That's two keys that didn't work. Only twenty more keys approximately left to try! And that guy was going to be here any moment now!! I mean, no pressure, right? I totally wasn't jittery from nervousness by then.

fear "(I-Iheardasoundandcameoverheretolookarounda-andthenIfoundthis!)"

...

...

*Squee*

'Please work please work please work,' I mentally chanted, attempting to insert key number three—

"(DARING DO!!)"

"Eek!" I squeaked, turning to look at the room's only exit in fear as I heard and felt a rapid series of loud *Thuds* approaching. It didn't occur to me at that very moment that my mouth was the only thing holding the set of keys, accidentally letting go of it.

I also completely missed Lara unfurling one of her wings as the key ring fell, swiftly catching it before bringing her feathery appendage back against her body, the keys hidden from sight.

And then the big blue leader guy showed up, completely blocking the exit with his massive frame.

"(WHAT DO YOU Think you— huh?!)"

I quickly ran up to him as Lara somehow broke free of her bindings, delivering a swift kick to his precious family jewels before my friend grabbed me and flew at sonic-fast speeds, quickly getting us out of the fortress where I then guided her to her bags and we went on our merry way, eventually running into my family who promptly cocooned Lara so she could stay with us forever and ever.

...I mean, that's what would've happened ideally. Perhaps not exactly on that very last part, though...

What really happened? Well...

He stared at me in confusion.

I stared at him in horror.

Lara stared at him much like a kid pathetically trying to hide something he did wrong from his parent's accusing glares would. So... pretty much in horror.

It was an awkward three seconds of silence. More or less.

Then the giant lunged towards me.

"GAME OVER MAN! GAME OVER!!" I screeched, leaping off the wall in order to fall to the ground, narrowly avoiding one of his hands from grabbing me. I quickly ran under him, sprinting as fast as my tiny legs could towards the exit—

"Urk!"

Unfortunately, I had forgotten that he also had a hand at the tip of his tail. It was large enough to grab my entire body, leaving nothing but my little face peeking out of his grasp as I struggled uselessly against his iron grip.

"(Well well well! What have we here, hmm?)" he said, bringing me awfully close to his terrifying face as he studied my little equine head.

"Let me go! I have a family! I'm just a baby! I taste awful!—" I tried to plead while I kept trying to free myself, even though I knew all he would hear would be a bunch of chittering, chirps and hisses.

"(This is very convenient,)" he stated, turning to look at Lara. "(My Deity had been asking for a sacrifice for quite some time now. I believe that this little one will do nicely— SHUT. UP!)" he shouted at me when I continued to rant, shaking the hand holding me and simultaneously squeezing me tighter, to the point where it was actually starting to hurt.

I couldn't help myself but let out a whimper of pain, ceasing any and all resistance once I almost couldn't breathe.

"(s-STOP! Don't hurt her!)"

He slowly swiveled his neck back towards Lara, releasing a bit of the pressure he had on me while he did so. Now I knew how those little animals felt like when a human grabbed them back on Earth. I had unwillingly taken the role of the insignificant little creature, and my entire life was literally in the hands of that giant whom was holding me. Even more terrifying was the fact that I had no idea what he wanted from me or what he would do to begin with.

"(And why shouldn't I, Miss Do?)"

"(Be... b-because...)" Lara trailed off, biting her lips, panicking as if she was looking for something to say, her gaze rapidly travelling between him and my genuinely terrified expression.

He frowned after a few tense seconds of silence, squeezing me once more to which I quickly responded naturally with another pained cry.

"(B-because she's the last changeling queen alive!)" Lara blurted out.

His hold on me slackened considerably, finally allowing me to breathe freely. He looked really surprised at whatever she had said.

And then his surprised face steadily morphed into a smile as he slowly turned to look at me.

"(Changeling... Queen, you say?)" he rhetorically asked, showcasing his sharp teeth as he grinned in my direction.

Not knowing what to do but still feeling the need to do something, I fearfully hissed in a more nervous tone as I moved my head as far away from him as I could, his creepy expression making me feel very uneasy.

"(Uh, I, well, I meant—!)"

"(Then perhaps I may have just found my very own acolyte instead!)" he interrupted, turning away to leave the cell. "(And who knows? Maybe even something... more... eheh, haHAhah, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!)"

The last I saw of Lara before we went around the corner was her horrified face as she looked into my own desperate one. Yet, oddly enough, I then felt her worry and panic dissolve, instead turning into determination.

But what could she do? I couldn't even open one of the locks, never mind the fact that we were now both captured!

They probably took the keys away, too...

I continuously squirmed and struggled all the way, attempting to somehow break myself free, but the only thing that would break if I continued trying would be the entirety of my newborn body since this guy really didn't take kindly to my efforts. All he had to do to stop me was a simple and painful squeeze that had enough strength behind it to probably snap my spine in two if my body wasn't covered in this protective chitin, and I finally, although with great reluctance, gave up fighting when he shot a hateful glare towards me once he grew frustrated enough.

He dragged me up the staircase and through a few hallways I hadn't gone through yet, eventually reaching the gathering hall I had stumbled upon earlier from a different side, stopping next to the incomplete totem surrounded with rings that I had glimpsed. Now that I was pretty much next to it, however, I could sense something wrong from it... something dark and malicious contained within each and every single ring, the energy they emitted reminding me of fire, oddly enough. The only thing that was missing then was an ominous and creepy voice whispering beautiful things that only I would be able to hear.

Though there were a few ponies here and there, the place was pretty much deserted compared to before. That is, until he whistled loudly, my sensitive ears folding themselves on my head as I hissed in pain.

Every pony in the room suddenly ran up and stood at attention, cleanly forming row upon rows of 'soldiers' in front of him as guards poured from every entrance, quickly filling the area with what I assumed was the entirety of his followers.

"(My dear minions!)" he exclaimed happily once everyone gathered, pacing back and forth much like a drill instructor at boot camp would while I tried to make myself as small as possible when most of them noticed me in his grasp. "(Tonight is a wondrous night, for our gods have sent us a unique creature! One that managed to reach our prisoner with nary a single one of you noticing!)" A few of them looked nervous at that, perhaps detecting some sort of hidden meaning.

"(This little demon—)" he quickly brought me in front of him to display me to the assembled ponies as I uncomfortably made myself as small as I could, "(—was found next to Daring Do, attempting to free her from her bindings! If this foal was able to get that far, either it is worthy and has the potential to be my future apprentice...)" his grin immediately turned into a scowl, "(...or You Are ALL WORTHLESS, INCOMPETENT MORONS!!)"

He let whatever he had said sink in for a moment or two, watching most of the ponies squirm and shift on their hooves fearfully before he continued.

"(I will go on the assumption that both are correct and as such, you will spend the rest of the night meditating in this hall on your failure! EACH AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU, WITHOUT EXCEPTION! The next time anything like this happens, there WILL be ponies sleeping with the piranhas!" He turned to leave before stopping at the threshold of an entryway. "(Unless you prefer being fed to my pets! I am generous enough to let you decide your fate, after all.)"

About four ponies immediately dropped to their knees, bowing and chanting much like I had seen them do before. The rest of the armed company took this as their cue to do so as well, quickly filling the room with incomprehensive 'prayers' or something of the sort. Not that I could comprehend their language to begin with.

Giving a somewhat satisfied grunt, Mr. Blue left the hall with me in tow, apparently headed towards that one corridor where I almost got caught initially. He stopped in front of the room with the door—which wasn't shimmering anymore—slamming it open without a care in the world.

Now that I could actually take a proper look around, this room was much more decorated than all the other ones I had seen around the place. Trinkets, bottles and things you'd expect some sort of shaman to have were littered on the numerous shelves on the walls while the mare from earlier—the only other female I had seen in the entire fortress—was currently snoozing away on the only bed on the far side of the room.

"(Orfa Se'tid!)" he called, rousing the pony from her slee— Oh, she's a unicorn.

"(Ye... yes, great one?) she answered, yawning.

To which he responded by literally dumping me on the floor in front of her.

"(Your vision was correct, there was indeed an unexpected encounter in the dungeons. You will be taking care of that foal until she becomes of age,)" he declared, gesturing towards me. "(If she behaves, she may even one day have the honor of becoming my mate. In the meantime, you will teach her our ways during the day so that she may begin serving the cult as soon as possible.)"

And he left, just like that, leaving no time at all for the unicorn to reply as she stared at the door, confused and still half-asleep.

I quickly dashed towards the exit while she slowly rubbed her eyes, barely making it out when all of a sudden I just couldn't move! All four of my legs were flailing in mid-air— Wait, what?

"(I don't have time for this right now...)" the mare tiredly said with sleepy half-lidded eyes as I somehow flew back into the room against my will, a miniature iron cage surrounded by some mystical grey aura floating out of a closet before I was placed inside it, enclosed once more as it somehow locked itself closed.

She sat back down on the bed afterwards, studying me as I kicked and bit and struggled with the iron bars uselessly until I eventually slumped down, wondering just what happened right then and there. I was so close! I had even made it out of the room! How did she stop me?!

"(What exactly are you?)" she muttered to herself.

'Is... is this what my life is going to be? Living as some sort of pet for a bunch of ponies in the middle of some random jungle, never to see my family?' I thought, looking at my captor with what was no doubt a defeated, tearful expression as I laid down on the cold metal, ears folded against my head as I felt the beginning of tears forming.

She shook her head, apathetically turning away from me, laying down on her warm bed as she pulled the covers over herself to comfortably fall asleep.

Now it was my turn to feel kind of depressed. Not only had I failed to rescue Lara, but I got captured myself. Considering I hadn't felt a shred of love in this entire fortress—other than that bit of lust I had fed on—I knew I would only last a couple days longer at most. With no way to properly communicate with these ponies, I wouldn't be able to make them realize that I fed on emotions, nor would they ever even think about that being possible, especially considering my species was seemingly, for the most part, unknown to the world.

As I wallowed in sorrow and loneliness within the confines of my tiny prison, I absently noted that the cloud of emotions from the general direction of the main hall had mainly shifted into surprise and shock.

Fate also thought it was an appropriate moment to remind me that I was living on borrowed time, making my hunger show itself by means of stomach rumbling.

"Maybe... maybe if I do what they ask of me, they'd start loving me like Lara had begun doing...?" I quietly chittered to myself. Regardless of whatever would happen, I had to figure out a way to get these ponies to love me until I could find a way to escape out of this accursed place... with or without Lara.

The mare stirred, sighing as she turned her body around to face me, the cage somehow opening itself before I again felt that odd energy surround me. I found myself suspended in mid-air immediately afterwards once more, my body floating across the room until I landed next to her on the bed despite my efforts to resist whatever was going on while the door to the room closed itself with a locking sound.

By then, the emotions I could sense from the hall were for the most part muted, anger quickly overtaking all other emotions for some reason...

While I awkwardly shuffled to sit on my haunches, the unicorn looked at me expectantly as she showed me her belly.

...

...

"Uh... you... want a belly rub?" I chirped uncertainly, tilting my head.

She blinked in confusion at my inaction after a couple seconds, gesturing towards her barrel with a foreleg.

I got back on all fours and approached hesitantly, wondering how I was going to go about giving her this little impromptu massage she apparently wanted in the middle of the night. Judging by her completely bewildered look as I began rubbing her chest, I figured I was doing something wrong...

She facehoofed before I was floated a bit further down, closer to her hind legs.

Right in front of her teats.

'Ooooooohhhhh.' It finally dawned on me that she was trying to feed me. Or, rather, do the equivalent of breast-feeding. She probably heard my stomach rumbling and thought I had asked for food...

"N-no thanks, I'm fine," I nervously chittered as I stumbled backwards, having no desire for physical food of any kind. Especially not from... that.

She audibly groaned, rolling her eyes as she forced me closer against my will.

'Hrrgh! NO!'

Every being at the hall save for one had their emotions "muted" by now.

'I don't want your milk! Do NOT want!' I struggled harder, flailing wildly as I tried to hold my ground.

The being moved away from the gathering at a very fast pace, rapidly approaching the hallway I was currently held at, worry and determination flowing in droves.

"Nnnngh!... MOMMY!" I ended up screeching despite myself, the mound practically in my face by then as I closed my eyes and fought to divert my muzzle to the side.

*Thunk*

Whatever energy was affecting me immediately dissipated as the unicorn was startled by the hit the locked door took.

*THUNK*

I quietly moved away from the mare as she got up and positioned herself in some sort of crouched battle stance, pointing her horn towards the door.

*BOOM*

The door then literally exploded into multiple pieces which now littered the insides of the room, a single tan-colored hoof sitting in its place before it quickly retreated while the dust cleared, revealing—

"L-Lara!?" I chirped disbelievingly.

Her entire coat seemed to be soaked in sweat as she shakily stood there in the entryway, most likely running on adrenaline from what I could tell. What really worried me, however, was the various cuts and scrapes she had all over her body, her fur stained with blood on multiple spots. She looked like she had gone through hell and back. And then back again.

Oh. She also looked pissed for some reason.

Despite her obvious fatigue, she immediately rushed the unicorn...

...only to suddenly be surrounded by that same grey aura I had seen earlier, completely freezing mid-jump.

With a flick of her head, the unicorn somehow sent Lara speeding towards a wall, smashing her against it with a loud *THUD*, making the pegasus cry out in pain.

Making the pegasus cry out in pain.

Pegasus cry out in pain.

Cry out in pain.

Something in me snapped.

I quickly noticed the unicorn's horn was glowing with the same aura which was currently affecting my friend and savior. I crouched, muscles tensing as I positioned myself much like I had with the bunny from yesterday while Lara was floated back towards the center of the room, looking dazed and slightly more limp than before. The unicorn was getting ready to send her crashing to the same wall once more...

Until I finally pounced from the side, wrapping all of my hooves around her face as I bit down on her horn. As. HARD. As. I. Could.

Her entire body spasmed as if afflicted by a mini-seizure, her eyes briefly going cross-eyed before she then fell to the floor, wailing and screeching in pain, flailing her limbs erratically in a vain effort to throw me off.

I don't know how long I stayed like that. Eventually, someone else was trying to pry me off of the unicorn. The voice was saying something, maybe even shouting at me; I didn't know, I couldn't hear it. My entire focus was on this pony that had dared to hurt Lara.

My grip eventually failed, at which point I got separated from the unicorn which was still rolling over on the ground in complete agony. I continued to struggle against whomever was holding me back with the full intent of continuing my assault, my mind seemingly clouded to the point where I never realized what I had said then.

"NOBODY HURTS MY FAMILY!" I loudly hissed, flailing my hooves in an attempt to escape the grasp of whomever was holding me. "NOBODY—!!"

My entire vision was abruptly filled with sweaty, warm and partially blood-soaked tan-colored fur, yet I continued thrashing as I was being firmly held, until a shushing noise very slowly began calming me down while I felt a hoof run gently and softly through my hair.

When rational thought finally returned to me, I looked up to the calming voice, my gaze meeting Lara's exhausted face as she then brought her head down to nuzzle my own.

I buried my face into her chest, hugging her as hard as I could, adding tears to the mix of liquids soaking her fur as I sobbed.

E-everything was going to be alright.

Lara was here.

Here!

Sh-she came back for me! I wasn't a-alone anymore!

I felt like nothing could take away that moment. There no longer was a fortress filled with evil heartless ponies around us. There no longer was a terrifying blue monster roaming around, holding my life in his hands. There no longer was a unicorn to keep me caged in that claustrophobic little metal prison while I slowly awaited death by starvation.

It was just Lara and me, comforting each other. Nothing else mattered, nothing else existed. The flow of love I felt from her was now comparable to a flowing river, much like the average brother or sister which had come to feed me back in my time at the hive, only she didn't actually need to be forcefully drained like whomever we had cocooned.

We stayed like that for a while, embracing each other, but all things eventually had to come to an end. We were still in hostile territory, after all. I wiped my eyes and turned to look at the unicorn mare, who was by then quietly whimpering pitifully on the floor, laying on her side, not moving at all except for the occasional twitch of her body as tears of agony flowed from her eyes.

I flinched on noticing that her horn had cracked where I bit her.

I already knew just how painful a simple hit to the horn was. Though what I did to her seemed to be extreme, I couldn't help but wonder if she actually deserved such torment...

The image of Lara being flung towards a wall before letting out a cry of pain flashed through my mind.

'She deserved it,' I firmly decided, not regretting my actions in the slightest as my anger returned, though not as intense as before.

Lara managed to set me on her back despite her fatigue before she calmly began walking through the maze of hallways, both confusing and worrying me. Wasn't she afraid of all those guards which were roaming all over the place?

I eventually got my answer once we reached the gathering hall.

It was like the aftermath of a war.

Every. Single. Guard. Was. Knocked. Out. Some were bleeding from the muzzle, most of them had bruises that were beginning to visually form and some even had their legs bending in ways I'm pretty sure they weren't meant to...

...It was then that I realized how Lara had gotten injured and why she looked so tired, dragging her hooves on the floor as she trotted up towards the small tower of golden rings.

"(Getting too close to completing the set...)" she whispered worriedly. "(Well, let's fix that.)"

She grabbed the smallest ring she could find, which was still larger than me, wearing it on her neck as if it were a necklace before she tensed while crouching, breathing deeply.

"(H-hold on,)" Lara quietly said while briefly turning her head around to face me, afterwards taking a deep breath and focusing her gaze on the ceiling.

"...What are youuaAHH!" I exclaimed, tightening my hold on her neck.

She had jumped, taking to the skies, flying through an opening I hadn't noticed on the ceiling right over the top of the pedestal.

We... we were flying. Flying! Sure, I was just a passenger at the moment, not contributing at all, but still! Flying without technology! This was practically one of my childhood dreams come true!

I would've continued grinning in awe and excitement, had I not realized just how much Lara was struggling. With all the injuries she had sustained, she was obviously in no condition to travel using this method. Deeply worried about how she was panting in exhaustion and how increasingly wobbly this flight was turning out to be, I knew she had to rest immediately.

"Hey!" I squeaked, hoping to get her attention.

She tiredly craned her neck around to look at me on the edge of her vision while she kept moving forward, at which point I made sure to show my concern for her wellbeing through my worried facial expression.

"(I... d-don't worry... about me... I'm, f-fine...)" she huffed, continuing onwards.

'This isn't the time to be stubborn and prideful, Lara! Ugh, what was that word she had used...?'

"No!" I exclaimed in her language after I barely felt something shift in my throat, hearing my own childish voice for the first time.

It was kind of freaky, as if two people were talking at the same time, one with a high pitch while the other spoke an octave lower.

My single word caused her to stutter in her flapping, falling a couple feet before she clumsily got over her surprise, hovering over the jungle canopy as she looked at me in shock, though this time I had reinforced my sad face with tears.

I... I tried to convince myself that they weren't genuine tears, that they were just leaking because I wanted to get my point across, but... seeing her this vulnerable, looking at her partially bloodied fur which had started to stain my chitin... I just, couldn't stand it. I didn't want her to hurt herself any more than she already had after what we had both gone through.

She kept her eyes on me for a few seconds, looking like she was about to pass out as her eyes drooped, losing a feet or two of altitude before she shook herself awake, hissing in pain at the motion since her adrenaline was no doubt leaving her system.

"(...A-alright,)" she whispered, purposely losing altitude as I held on, eventually landing on a large tree branch quite far off from the ground, splaying herself on it as she regained her breath.

Though most of her cuts were minor, a couple slightly larger wounds had reopened due to her straining herself, most likely from the flight. I didn't know how much blood she had lost already, but I didn't want her to lose any more if I could help it.

Recalling the bunny I had eaten, I remembered how the puncture wounds I had inflicted at the start had barely bled. Either my venom had a sort of coagulating effect, or my saliva had special properties.

I didn't really know what my venom could do in the long run and I certainly didn't want to bite Lara to find out, thus I licked one of her cuts—

"Gnyahh!" she hissed, her body tensing in pain. "(Artemis! What was that for!?)" she angrily asked, twisting her head around to look at me licking her fur clean of blood.

Fortunately, my theory seemed to be proven correct as the little gash then refused to bleed. As I moved over to the next blood-stained spot, she seemed to realize what I was doing, enduring whatever sting my licking of her injuries produced while I methodically continued cleaning her.

I really wasn't looking forward to the hairball I would no doubt end up coughing up later. Unless it actually got turned into gel? Hmm...

Thankfully, she hadn't gotten injured near her more... err... private parts. In the few minutes it took me to—

I froze.

'...Did... did I really just...?!'

Lara was breathing at a steady rhythm by then, also bewildered at the fact that I had cleaned her, though I didn't know at the time that it was for different reasons.

But I... I was just so tired from everything that had happened over the past twenty four hours to even bother questioning what I just did. Now that this entire ordeal was over, I finally felt like I could stop and rest; and so it was that I walked up to Lara's neck, snuggling up to her as she wrapped her forelegs and a wing around me without any hesitation whatsoever.

I gazed tiredly into her eyes, smiling happily at having her back while exhaustion quickly overtook me...

Daring Do stared in wonder at the little changeling that had most likely saved her life, the little nymph cuddling against her, softly snoring peacefully without a care in the world.

The little foal had not only managed to escape detection in that one clearing, but she had somehow sneaked into the fortress, somehow gotten past the guards in front of her cell and somehow even gave her the keys she needed to escape.

Daring still vaguely remembered the rage she had felt when she had stumbled upon the fools that worshipped Ahuizotl. She knew he would try to convince the innocent foal to be like them, though nothing made her angrier than the fact that the monster wanted to claim Artemis as a potential mate.

She sighed.

...Well, at least this whole adventure would make one hay of an 'awesome' book.

She'd have to censor what Artemis did to that unicorn for the sake of her fans, though...

But then the little changeling gave her a bath of all things, using the method of the olden days. The only beings anypony would ever clean that way nowadays would be their... their own... family...

"I... I can't be your mother, Artemis. I just, can't..." she whispered sadly, idly running a hoof through the silky mane of the changeling whom leaned into her touch as she slept.

The memory of Artemis sobbing into her fur as she tried to calm the nymph down flashed through her mind.

She hugged the tiny changeling a little tighter.

'This is only temporary' she thought. 'We should be at Canterlot by the end of tomorrow, I'm only taking care of her until then...'

And, and then she... she would leave Artemis there, in the care of the Princesses.

...It was for her own good.

Daring took off her hat after a moment, pulling from it the final gift she had received from her father before he passed away while she was still nothing but a young filly with dreams of adventure.

"Can't believe that of all the things they had to take from my bags, they took you, Sir Quackerton," she muttered, thinking back to the guard she had excessively beaten up to retrieve the memento.

She stared at the toy for a few seconds, reminiscing about her childhood, eventually hiding it once more in her hat as she herself drifted off to sleep in the relative safety of the jungle canopy, subconsciously holding Artemis protectively.

Special thanks to Genbulein for his amazing drawing of Artemis.

Author's Note

With the language barrier between Artemis and everyone else, I find it pretty fun to write any interactions with her.

I would like to thank you all for your support as well. Your comments keep me going despite the amount of time it takes me to come up with a new chapter :twilightsmile:

[1] The calm after the storm

The soreness in each and every single one of my legs was the first thing I felt once I woke up. The kind of pain that resulted from overexerting your muscles. All things considered, I probably should've expected it with all that traveling I had done yesterday, what with my body still being a newborn's.

However, the next thing I felt was warmth. Sweet, sweet warmth as something both furry and fuzzy covered me, a foreign heartbeat filling my sensitive ears with its constant relaxing beat.

A smile found its way across my tiny muzzle while I groggily began remembering last night's events up until the moment I fell asleep under Lara's cuddling, happily nuzzling my way into what could only be her fur as I sluggishly made myself a bit more comfortable within her embrace.

The moment was completely and utterly ruined the moment I heard a terrifying—

*GRRRMBL*

My eyes snapped open and I frantically scrambled out of her grasp, standing at attention while looking all around us for any potential danger.

I had slowly calmed down on noticing from the lack of emotions that other than Lara and I, there was absolutely nobody else anywhere nearby. Plus, we were still way up here in the canopy, hopefully safe from most predators.

...Then what made that soun—!?

*GRRRMBL*

I whipped my body around, crouched in a pouncing stance while I threateningly (adorably) hissed a fanged warning with narrowed eyes and folded ears at...

...Lara?

I relaxed my pose, tilting my head in confusion.

'The heck—'

*GRRRMBL*

"Gah!" I squeaked while jumping back, startled.

It turned out that Lara was a hardcore snorer. No, that wasn't doing her justice, she was on a whole different level! It was no wonder I couldn't feel any other living being near us, her snoring practically sounded like some kind of ferocious snarling monster! If anything, she likely scared everything away by sleeping.

I stood there for a minute or two, bemusedly watching her 'snore' peacefully as I wondered how much of a heavy sleeper I had to be to not notice the sounds until I woke up.

Lazily yawning shortly afterwards, I had begun stretching myself much like a cat would, feeling somewhat content and ready for whatever we would do for the day, despite my soreness. Since I was then fully awake, I took another more careful look around, looking for something to do in order to pass the time.

Even though the sun was already half-way to its zenith, Lara probably needed her rest. She was still recovering from her injuries after having fought more or less a couple dozen armed ponies by herself, after all. Part of me wished I had been there to see it.

The other smaller and somewhat instinctive part of me wished I had been there to help and protect her.

I sighed, troubled by the frequency of my body running on auto-pilot lately. At least it had been mostly beneficial so far...

Though, as I looked at my little wings, I couldn't help but wonder... did my body already know how to properly use them? Perhaps I had been over thinking it this entire time.

Assuming they worked like a common bug's wings, they'd probably flap faster than I could ever consciously get them to move before I would even be able to lift off, so maybe I had been approaching the issue from the wrong point of view?

I tore my gaze away from them, closing my eyes and reflexively sticking my tongue out in concentration while I focused on feeling the little things, trying to get them to vibrate faster than I had ever done before as I intentionally let the instinctual part of me work its magic.

A buzzing sound soon graced my ears, steadily increasing in volume...

I felt lighter and lighter as the seconds ticked by...

Surprisingly, I even sensed some sort of energy dispersing itself around my wings...

...until I eventually couldn't feel the grip my hooves had with the tree bark.

I warily squinted an eye open to make sure I wasn't actually in the process of falling before I realized that I... I... Sweet Mother I was hovering.

Hovering.

FLYING!

...Okay, maybe not flying yet, but still! I was suspended in mid-air with nothing but the power of my own wings!

I was happy— no, more than happy! I was elated! So much that I felt this intense desire, an urge to shout out my joy to the world at my accomplishment, an urge so strong I just couldn't resist—

"Eeeeeeeee!!!" I squealed happily, clopping my forehooves together with a wide grin.

Before I could realize how much my 'man card' had been shattered by that simple action, I noticed that my floating body was slowly tilting itself to the side...

'Uhh-! Nngh! Crap! How to steer!? Nonono— STOP!!' I mentally commanded.

My body obeyed, the buzzing sound emitted by my wings ceasing as they stopped vibrating.

Right when I was no longer over the branch which Lara was slumbering on.

Time somehow seemed to slow itself as I directed my gaze at the multitude of smaller branches littering the way down between me and the ground...

...

"...Son of a—!"

*Squeak!*

*Chirp!*

*Hiss!*

*Squee*

*Thud*

"...I'm okay!" I chirped as my eyes spun in circles, dazed. "Good thing the... boulder... broke my fall...? Ow..."

I grunted as I shakily got back on my sore hooves, my left foreleg protesting in pain the instant I put some weight on it. I winced on noticing that the chitin had slightly cracked on my shoulder, which seemed to have taken the brunt of the landing's impact.

'Well, for once I'm glad I'm not in a human body, that fall surely would have killed me! Why on Earth did I think practicing flying from such an elevation would be a great idea!?' I thought while facehoofing with my right foreleg.

Which caused me to fall flat on my face since my left one still hurt quite a bit.

Though, as I glared at the big chunk of rock, I couldn't help but notice it seemed somewhat familiar...

'Could it be...?'

I limped around the boulder, narrowing my eyes as I inspected it closely, until I suddenly turned to look in a specific direction in order to confirm the existence of the nearby dirt road.

'And that means...!'

I steadily made my way to a tree that anyone would've considered to be ordinary amongst its hundreds of nearby peers, were it not for the burrow hidden near its base which still contained my friend's belongings.

Lara would love me a little more for saving her stuff, I was sure.

I couldn't drag the entire thing up to where she was resting though, therefore I was going to have to bring her here once she'd wake up. In the meantime, I (literally) nosed through her possessions until I had found the... 'package'.

It hadn't occurred to me until that morning that, as a pony, Lara would probably use the grass and flowers as food more than anything else. Food she'd no doubt appreciate once awake. Disregarding the fact that the herbs still looked as fresh as ever since I assumed some sort of preservation method was used, I carefully held the little bag of 'food' with my mouth as I limped my way back to my guardian.

I chuckled on realizing that for the moment, the 'baby' was the one taking care of the adult.

Though climbing a tree on three legs while carrying something with your muzzle was a bit difficult, I managed, if only through patience. I could tell my friend was still sleeping since I was able to hear her snoring from all the way down the base of the enormous tree she was on.

Having reached my, uh, 'friend', I sat on my haunches in front of her, wondering if I should actually wake her up or not.

*Snore*

She looked so peaceful...

...Kind of cute too, in a way.

*Soft exhale*

However, the longer I stared at her, the more I felt compelled to...

...

...

'...Bah, to heck with it.'

I booped her snout with my right forehoof.

...

I... that... that was...

I absolutely had to do it again.

*Boop*

She once more frowned in her sleep and adorably scrunched her muzzle, making me giggle while she remained unconscious as if nothing had happened.

The mare then grunted and flipped herself over, lying on her back as her hind legs occasionally twitched, kicking air. The shiny golden ring she had taken, or perhaps stolen from the fortress was still hanging around her neck, reflecting the sunlight.

Still curious about its apparent dormant and somewhat mysterious energy, I slowly approached, extending my left forehoof to poke—

Lara's eyes snapped open, at which point she immediately had me pinned to the bark of the tree before she slammed her pith helmet on me for some reason, completely engulfing me.

"...Sir Quackerton!?" I disbelievingly chirped, seeing as the little rubber ducky was thrust upon my face as it hid within the hat.

Confused "(Uh... Art'mis?)" Lara slurred after a pause, still seemingly half-asleep despite her recent actions.

She removed the helmet, revealing a happy little changeling embracing her toy.

Embarrassed "(Oh. Whoops. Sorry about that, heheh,)" she sheepishly grinned, quickly trying to free the duck from my grasp.

She frowned when I didn't immediately let go, narrowing her eyes at me whereupon I blinked, noticing how increasingly upset she was getting over such a simple little thing.

'It must have some sentimental value to her?' I guessed, releasing my hold on it.

She rapidly hid it away inside her hat, placing it back on her head with a satisfied nod before she yawned and began stretching any stiffness out of her body. I went ahead and grabbed the bag of herbs, patiently waiting on my haunches for Lara to notice me.

Her eyes widened. "(Where'd you get that!?)"

I assumed she recognized it as something she had packed, so I walked towards the ledge of the branch and pointed towards where the burrow was, more or less.

Her eyes followed my outstretched hoof, spotting the little hole I had used to hide her stuff despite the distance. She promptly went ahead and fluttered down towards it after a quick leap—

'Nngh!'

I barely managed to stop myself from jumping off the ledge to follow her as my legs had prepared to make a similar hop, my wings having already been outstretched, lightly buzzing in preparation for what would've been a short flight down to be with her.

'Now I'm acting like some kid trying to following her— his mother around wherever she goes!' I chided myself.

Maybe I had some sort of herd instinct going on, especially as a changeling? Each member of my new family loved each other unconditionally after all, mainly because it was impossible not to, what with all of us being empaths.

I mean, how could you possibly hate someone who was not only your brother/sister, but whom also constantly sent love through a link with you while you did so with them? You knew they liked you because you could feel it, and they with you. Even if at some point an argument would've arisen, I doubted any grudge or resentment would've remained at all!

That was how closely-knit the family felt, back in my time at the hive. Love was practically literally in the air, dispelling any and all kinds of negativity.

In the end, I guessed it wasn't much of a surprise that I'd feel the need to try and constantly cling to the nearest source of love, namely Lara in this case.

The aforementioned mare promptly returned with her bags, staring at me with a blank look as she landed in front of me.

"(HOW!? How did you get these back from Ahuizotl? How did you find and reach his fortress? How did you find me in there? How did you even get in!? How... b-but, you... y-you're just a foal!! You...)" she ranted with grand gestures, as if she was trying to solve some great mystery, to which I merely blinked and tilted my head in bewilderment from the unexpected outburst. I had thought she'd be happy to have her stuff back.

"(Just... how?)" she eventually ended up asking after a short pause, sitting on her rump.

I... may have gotten an idea at that moment.

"(Haow?)" I replied, trying my very best to mimic what she had said.

"(Yes! That's what I'm asking!)"

"(Yis! Dats wat Im askeeng!)" I exclaimed, throwing my forehooves in the air dramatically, if only because it felt appropriate.

"(...Well? Are you going to tell me?)"

"(Ouell? Arr yew goeeng tu tale meh?)" Damn, it was getting difficult...

She squinted her eyes at me. "(...You're just repeating every single thing I'm saying, aren't you?)"

...Shit, that was too long, uh...

"...No?" I very carefully replied.

Lara stared at me for a little while before she facehoofed. "(I just tried to have a conversation with a foal,)" she mumbled to herself.

I chose that moment to pick up the 'food' and bring her attention to it once again, poking one of her forelegs. The moment she saw it, she smiled, snorting in amusement.

"(And I'm the one supposed to be taking care of you,)" she mirthfully said, wrapping me in a delicious hug and briefly nuzzling my cheek before ripping the bag open with her teeth, contentedly nibbling on its contents.

She paused half-way through her meal, looking between me and a flower that she had apparently been saving for last, before offering it to me.

I stared at her uncertain face before sniffing the supposedly comestible flower, my nostrils flaring as I tried to ascertain if I could eat it or not. Just like the apple I had tried at the fortress, it didn't look nor smell appetizing in any way, so I just shook my head at it.

"(B-but... you have to eat something!)" Lara worriedly exclaimed, gazing at me with concern visible on her expression.

'Om nom nom' was my thought in the meantime as I lazily buried my face into her chest and kept my hooves wrapped around her barrel, happily swimming in her love for me. Metaphorically, of course.

I would tell you what 'love' tasted like, but... that would be like having someone who had never before eaten chicken in their entire life suddenly asking what chicken tasted like.

It just... tastes like chicken.

...I mean, love doesn't necessarily taste like chicken. It was... a bit more complicated than that. I would sort of say that the flavor would be akin to what your favorite meal would taste like, except it might not even necessarily be from something you had ever eaten during your entire life so far. Like... you may say right now that your favorite food would be a cheesecake, but somewhere out there, there's something you haven't had yet that would easily outclass the cheesecake you thought to be the best thing in the world.

In short, it just felt like... like the perfect meal.

And the best thing about love? It never got old.

On top of feeling absolutely amazing.

The flavor would diminish the more 'full' I was, though.

...But not the feels! The feels always remained.

"(Well... if you ever get hungry, just, let me know... or something,)" said Lara as she finished eating, saving some grass for later. Though, for all I knew, it could've been something else, even if a lot of the things I had seen so far had an uncanny resemblance to Earth's counterparts.

'Maybe I could alter my taste buds once I learn to shape-shift? Then I'd finally be able to know what that stuff actually tastes like!' I curiously wondered.

"(DAAAAARIIIING DOOOOOOOO!!!)"

Both Lara and I froze, our ears swiveling in sync towards the same direction the distant screech of rage had come from.

'Shit! That's right! We're still not that far from that place!'

Honestly? I was surprised we hadn't been found out yet, especially with how loud Lara was up until she woke up. The blue guy probably just got up himself if he hadn't noticed the aftermath of Lara's rampage until then.

"(...Time to leave,)" the pegasus muttered to herself, quickly reorganizing her bags while I detached myself from her chest, watching from the side as she emptied one of the flaps before very gently picking me up without any resistance on my part and setting me inside it with as much care as she could.

And then she leapt as she took us to the skies, leaving the fortress and its evil residents far behind us.

==============================================

"Clouds here are weird." I ended up chittering after a while, peeking out of the bag's flap with nothing but my head sticking out as Lara flew us both towards... somewhere...

Seriously. Clouds were supposed to be an accumulation of water vapor forming a dense mist or fog, yet every single one I had seen so far as we flew by practically seemed... solid, if that was even possible. They also appeared to be situated at a drastically lower elevation than the clouds from Earth, from what I could tell.

"(Hm? You need something?)" asked Lara, craning her neck around to look at me with her large expressive eyes.

I tilted my head in response to her inquiry, blinking once.

'I really need to learn your language...'

She kept her gaze on me for a moment before she shook her head. "(Well, anyway, we should be home, soon.)" She began gliding, slowly losing altitude while she scanned the forest below us in search of something.

I was still surprised that I could even pay full attention to her, considering I was pretty busy taking in the sights and trying to figure out how she could fly with those wings while both carrying me along with all the weight from the other stuff she had. There was also the fact that I was extremely excited about flying, which kind of went without saying.

After a minute or so, I could vaguely make out a small clearing further ahead, a quaint little home occupying most of it.

As soon as Lara had gently landed at the house's front entrance, I clumsily leapt out of the bag, eager to stretch my stiff legs and buzzing my wings in relief. Interestingly enough, my left foreleg didn't hurt anymore, and the crack present on my shoulder had faded somewhat.

"(Well... here we are!)" Lara exclaimed while glancing at me, entering the house after opening the door, which wasn't even locked to begin with.

"(Home, sweet home,)" she finished with an oddly monotone tone.

As I slowly entered her humble abode, taking in everything within the room with my gaze while in awe at how big everything was, Lara was nervously looking at me. I had absolutely no way of knowing that I was the only other being whom had ever set foot within the house, never mind the fact that she had 'invited' someone in it for practically the first time in her life.

From what I could tell at first glance, it was a pretty modest place. Nothing looked super-expensive or shiny, there were books everywhere, a regular table over here and a desk over there with a weird typewriter on it, a bunch of papers littered the floor across the room with symbols that I couldn't recognize on them, a couple simple paintings hanging on the walls, there was a mirror over that one corner at ground level, creepy artifacts on some shelves, the fireplace was burning— wait.

A mirror.

The pegasus curiously observed my movements as I hesitantly approached the reflective surface. I couldn't see myself just yet because of the way it was angled and, while I really wanted to finally get a good look at myself, I was somewhat... wary of what I'd see.

It was... kind of weird, to suddenly realize that you were about to look at a reflection of yourself, only you weren't exactly "yourself" anymore, instead having this sort of alien body. Granted, I could turn around and see myself anytime I wished to, or at least a large portion of 'me', but there's this thing about one's face that just ends up becoming an important part in what we use to identify and differentiate ourselves from others, in a way.

Lara seemed to be mildly amused at how I was steadily sneaking towards the mirror, at least.

I took a deep breath (relatively speaking), nervously exhaled and took the final steps to place myself in front of it.

It was then that I saw...

...well, I would've said something along the lines of "it's hard to believe that the person I see in the mirror is me," but that would've been a lie... even though I couldn't recognize the tiny being in the mirror in any way, shape or form.

I mean, I knew that what I was seeing was what I looked like; that the being that I could observe in the mirror was 'me'. That was the easy part to believe since, obviously, I was the only person directly in front of the reflective surface.

No, the part that was harder to come to terms with was the fact that 'me' now translated into... that.

Staring right back in surprise and mild shock were slitted eyes as proportionately large as Lara's, a hint of disbelief marring the red pupils with irises that almost seemed to be glowing. Tattered wings that splayed themselves out the moment I walked in front of the mirror were on display, fanning out as much as possible while she hissed at me in a pathetic and perhaps cute attempt at appearing bigger than she was.

...Oh, wait, right. That was me.

...

That was me.

The being I was seeing in the mirror slowly relaxed, her surprised stare turning into a confused and apprehensive one.

That. Was me.

Even though I kept telling myself that, it just... didn't quite fully register. And yet, when I moved my right arm, she moved her left one in perfect tandem. When I blinked, she blinked. When I brought my ha—hoof into contact with the reflective glass, she bumped hers with mine.

I was looking at a mirror, and everything she would do would be because I was the one actually doing it, because that. Was. Me.

Her ears automatically swiveled to the side when I heard Lara giggling in the background.

Her. She. Female.

...

The tiny changeling wrinkled her cute little snout and sat on her rump with semi-folded ears.

Before I could dwell on the fact that I was still... not a guy... Lara had slowly approached, sitting on her haunches as she towered next to me. After a brief moment of silent consideration, she then extended a wing and gently, if hesitantly, pulled me closer to her, both of us observing our reflections the entire time.

Remembering what we had recently gone through and how she had come back to save me, I couldn't help myself but smile at the resulting image shown in the mirror, especially since I had also done my part in the rescue.

She had been there for me, and I had been there for her.

Giving in to my growing desires, I tore my gaze away from our reflections and hugged her as best as I could with my tiny hooves, making her look down at me in surprise before she bent down and nuzzled me with a small smile.

Deep inside, however, she felt... conflicted about something...

That was until she breathed in, her eyes almost immediately snapping wide open as she scrunched her muzzle in disgust.

I maybe, probably should've mentioned this earlier, but... well...

Lara and I both stank.

...A lot.

I mean, between Lara's sweat, dried blood, our trek through the jungle and the fact that neither of us have had a bath for at least two days? It was kind of to be expected. At least the fluid that covered me during my birth had an amazing, pleasant, delightful, undisputedly delicious—

...

*Ahem*, well... you get the idea.

"(Wait here,)" she quickly said then, discarding her saddlebags and immediately flying out the front door before I sensed her rapidly gaining height to the point where I had to strain myself to be able to feel her emotions.

A part of me felt a pang of panic at suddenly finding myself a-alone, but I was reminded by my more rational side that Lara wouldn't just up and abandon me. Not after that little adventure we had recently gone through.

Before I could return to looking at myself in the mirror, my gaze had set its sights on the fireplace which had already been lit before we even got here. The fact that I couldn't sense anyone else nearby and that it didn't even seem to have any kind of apparent fuel made me assume that it was, again, magically powered somehow.

But that wasn't quite why it had caught my attention in the first place.

'I wonder how fire resistant I am,' I thought while approaching it.

Despite the lack of smoke being emitted by the flames, it still released heat, as confirmed when I moved a foreleg a bit closer to it. I couldn't really tell if the fire itself would hurt me yet though, so I decided to set a hoof over it as close as I dared—

ShockPanicFEAR

"(ARTEMIS!) NO!!"

"What the f—!?" I managed to squeak while startled before I was yanked back, a familiar tan coat covering the left half of my vision as Lara hyperventilated for some reason I couldn't possibly fathom, the pegasus holding me closely while her heart was beating incredibly fast.

"(Don't touch that! Fire is bad!)" she shouted at me with a panicked expression, though at a slightly lower volume this time.

"What did I do?!?" was my response as I stared bewilderedly with folded ears at the mare that was sending mixed signals at me through her emotions.

She, in turn, stared at my confused face for a couple seconds before looking around us, swiftly grabbing a random piece of paper within her reach and setting fire to a corner of it, showing me the result as it very slowly burned away.

"(See? Fire is bad. Fire, bad,)" she more calmly repeated, gesturing at the miniature flame consuming the paper.

"...Oh, why thank you! This makes it easier—" I happily chirped as I moved to finally test my chitin's fire resistance on the much safer and smaller flickering fire—

"No!" she angrily exclaimed, smacking my hoof away from it before extinguishing the paper.

I looked at her with what I hoped was a teary-eyed expression. "B-b-but... science!" I sadly chittered, pouting.

Aaaaaand she's back to panicking with rapidly widening eyes.

"Oh no. No, nono, (please don't cry!)" she... pleaded?

Next thing I knew, I was being rocked back and forth in mid-air as she held me with her forelegs, humming some song. Whatever effect she intended to have by doing that was pretty much ruined with how fast she was doing both actions, unfortunately...

...She did calm down after a few seconds though, which then made the experience... nice.

I would deny everything if asked about it, however. Even if I felt... safe with her embracing me like this, Lara gazing down upon me with a warm smile that slowly formed after a few seconds. With how gently she was holding me then, I... really felt like taking a quick nap, all of a sudden...

Before I could drift off, Lara had stopped rocking me, moving towards an adjacent room which turned out to be a bathroom. A bathroom containing nothing but a pretty large bath tub, a short counter with a sink on it and a very small mirror on the wall. Made me wonder if they had even invented toilets or if Lara didn't have one simply because the forest surrounding her home could pretty much serve that purpose just as well.

Now that I thought about it, I haven't even felt the need to relieve myself during my entire lifetime so far.

...I did feel this tiny urge to spit something at all of the surrounding walls, though.

Easily repressed that one.

Lara carefully set me in the middle of the tub, leaving the room immediately afterwards for some reason. I tried to find a faucet or even any kind of shower head in the meantime, but all this bathtub had was that one little drain right next to me.

'Where's the water going to come from then...?'

A movement at the door brought my attention back to it, where I realized Lara was slowly... bringing in a...

...Cloud!?

While one or two of my thought processes desperately tried to reboot themselves from their fatal crashes, my remaining ones struggled to comprehend the fact that there was a solid, fluffy grey cloud inside the house, right in front of me.

Lara's expression became somewhat stern on noticing my flabbergasted, twitching wide eyes. "(Don't even think of getting out of this! We both need this shower!)" she declared.

Thought process #2 returned back to operational status by the time the pegasus had placed the cloud right over the large tub and plugged the drain.

Then it died again when she lightly punched the cloud, causing a quick downpour of rainwater which rapidly filled the basin up until it reached my neck, at which point she hit it again, somehow stopping the flow.

I... I don't even...

'At least I figured out how she gets water in here?' thought the still functioning parts of my mind.

When I turned to look at Lara, I saw that she had removed her helmet and taken the ring around her neck off, placing them both on a pile before initiating the process of removing her jacket. I quickly turned away on reflex, slightly embarrassed that she was pretty much undressing right in front of me.

...Never mind the fact that I was sneaking and, well... running around naked ever since I was born.

...

...

'That sounded wrong on so many levels.'

Imagine my surprise then when a bit of water splashed onto my face as my friend all of a sudden decided to join me in the tub.

In the nude.

She noticed my frozen, wide-eyed, shocked face.

"(You're not afraid of a little bit of water, are you?)" she teasingly asked, smirking as she splashed more water towards me.

No response.

"(Uh... Artemis?)"

I blinked, blankly staring at her concerned expression.

'She's not even embarrassed in the slightest? Is giving a bath to a friend you've met a few days ago seriously considered to be completely normal for ponies?!'

Seeing that I was for the most part alright, she shrugged, taking some flowers she had brought from a cabinet in the counter before spreading their petals all over the water.

'Or, what if... what if she views me as... more than a friend?'

As the flower petals released a pleasant scent across the entire room, Lara then grabbed a brush with her mouth, gently rubbing it across my sides to clean them first while carefully holding me steady with a hoof.

'I mean, sure, helping someone save themselves from a bunch of evil bandits, in their own lair no less, certainly is no small thing! But...'

Since I didn't actually have fur, it really didn't take long to remove any dirt and grime, thus she had moved to my legs and belly.

"Why?" I quietly chirped.

She paused her scrubbing for a second and got rid of her focused expression to look at me, smiling afterwards since she obviously couldn't understand what I was asking, never mind its importance.

Why?

Why was she taking care of me?

Why did she feel this way towards me?

Why did she come back to save me in the fortress when she could've simply flown away safely without me?

...Why did she even bother taking me away from my... from my hive?

'For all I know, my family returned home already, only to find me missing!'

The pegasus then took a little bowl from a small pile of cleaning supplies I had just noticed and scooped up some water, slowly letting it pour on my head as she used a different brush on my hair to clear it of any filth.

'Yet, after everything I've seen so far in this short life, I'm literally unable to consider her to either have some ulterior evil motives behind all of this or to merely be a bad person. She's not emitting any negative feelings whatsoever, and she's practically treating me like I was her little sister... brother... ugh!!'

Lara then began brushing my tail. I had almost forgotten it existed, honestly. Surprisingly, the feeling of having it brushed was... oddly satisfying. It was almost as great as it was when she was cleaning my hair.

However, I then couldn't help but feel that I was maybe enjoying this bath a little too much...

'...Nah. What's wrong with being clean and smelling really, really nice?'

"(There you go, all cleaned up!)" finished Lara in a chipper tone, taking a couple steps back to admire her work before she began scrubbing and cleaning herself.

'Maybe all she wanted was companionship? If she really lives by herself out here in the middle of nowhere, I can easily imagine her feeling lonely...'

That would explain why she kept me around and took care of me, but it still didn't answer why I was taken away from where my Mom had left me.

And yet, no matter how hard I wracked my brain for a possible theory, I just... couldn't find a proper reason for that one.

Nevertheless, I still didn't know much about the world and constantly needed love to survive, so I was stuck with Lara until my family could find me. I hadn't been told how long we could live with nothing but meat as sustenance, anyway.

If I had to stay with her for some time though, I sure wouldn't mind that at least.

While she was busy working on scrubbing her fur coat, something which obviously would take longer than cleaning my own chitin, I decided to splash around in the meantime. The tub was huge compared to my size and the water was pretty much high enough to essentially make the entire thing feel like a pool.

I quickly learned my legs were useless for providing thrust while swimming because of the holes that went through them, though if I flapped and tilted my wings just right, I could simply propel myself around by using those instead.

Lara chuckled when she saw me dip my head underwater and skim under its surface, my horn jutting out like a shark's fin would in a typical shark movie.

I resurfaced after a moment, going cross-eyed when I saw one of the perfumed flower petals sitting on the edge of my muzzle.

...Unfortunately, I then made the mistake of flaring my nostrils and taking a deep breath, the smell overpowering my sensitive nose which quickly built up a need to—

*...Choo!* I quietly sneezed, scrunching my muzzle as I tried to rub my snout with a foreleg to get rid of the strong odor. It turned out that properly rubbing one's nose was pretty difficult when you had chitin for skin and a lack of soft fingers.

Meanwhile, Lara looked like she had just witnessed the most adorable thing in her life, barely holding back a giggle before she eventually resumed her bath.

"(M'kay, that should do it,)" she suddenly exclaimed after a few seconds, bringing me out of my musings.

She unplugged the drain, balanced herself on her hind legs and tapped the cloud, showering us with water for a final rinse. My wings had then outstretched themselves almost of their own volition, flapping slowly as the rainwater poured over me. I absently noted Lara had done the same, eyes blissfully closed as she soaked her lightly-flapping feathered appendages.

The cloud eventually turned almost completely white, which apparently meant it was out of water. It was only then that Lara punched it whereupon it completely dissipated, leaving absolutely nothing behind.

I... I gave up on figuring out cloud physics at that point.

She hopped out of the tub, gently lifting me out of it afterwards before grabbing one of the fluffiest towels I had ever seen as she then carefully began drying me.

"(Heh, déjà-vu,)" she chuckled after a short moment.

I had no idea what she said, but I giggled with her anyway. If anything, that simple action made her smile a bit more and feed me a delicious burst of love.

She got a bit worried and hesitated somewhat when she got to the part where she had to decide whether or not to dry the holes in my legs. I eventually chose for her when I simply licked those parts clean. She somehow thought it was a lot more weird than I did.

Lara then left me in the lobby after quickly drying herself as much as she could—what with her having a fur coat and all—promptly headed afterwards to the second floor of the house with her discarded clothes, bags and golden ring.

...Hmmm... maybe now I could finally—

She hurriedly ran back down and immediately extinguished the fireplace, narrowing her eyes at me when she noticed that I had already taken some steps towards it before she calmly strutted back upstairs.

I pouted.

'Guess I'll just twiddle my thumbs until she comes ba— Oh, right. No thumbs. Bleh.'

...

...

...

'Okay, I'm bored.'

I looked at all the books littering the whole room.

'Hmm...'

"...got my backup jacket, disguise is packed, sent a letter to both Princess Celestia and my publisher using the emergency candle I got since the other one was missing after we escaped from the fortress... Aaaand I think we're set," Daring Do counted off as she finished her mental checklist, preparing herself for the trip to Canterlot which would take the remainder of the day.

Despite how much the little changeling seemed to like her and trust her, she knew she wouldn't be able to take care of the nymph because of her job and occupation. But, most importantly, she knew she would also make a terrible mother more than anything else.

Besides, Daring felt just fine alone and it had been so for years. Yup, perfectly fine.

Though, speaking of Artemis, maybe she had left her alone for a bit too long...

...What if she needed something?

Or if she had hurt herself somehow?

Or...

...Or what if the foal ran outside since she herself had left the front door wide open?!?

Her eyes widening in panic, she slammed the door to her upstairs room open, rapidly running down the stairs to...

...

...

"Well then," she simply said, quickly calming down on seeing that Artemis was completely fine.

The changeling's ears perked as her little face peeked out from behind the ramparts of the enormous book-fort she had somehow built, which now occupied an entire section of the room.

Daring had no idea she had THAT many books in her possession...

"(All your books are belong to us!)" the little changeling adorably chirped, 'threateningly' waving a miniature paper sword with her forelegs before she lost her balance and fell backwards out of view.

The pegasus mirthfully shook her head at the foal's antics, feeling silly about worrying over nothing. Artemis was obviously smarter than the average pony foal, after all.

...Save for that strange obsession she had with fire...

Even though she'd have to reorganize and clean everything up later, maybe she could leave the intricate fort there for awhile.

...You know... because it looked pretty cool, all things considered.

Not because of any other reason.

Certainly not to remind herself of Artemis once she'd be gone.

...

...

Didn't she have a camera stashed somewhere, actually...?

'I wonder what that was all about,' a part of me thought, perplexed as to why Lara suddenly felt deeply worried as she ran down the stairs.

I got back on my hooves, admiring the towering walls of books that surrounded me as I climbed back up the ramparts to look at Lara—

Oh, she went upstairs again. Bummer.

One thing that had seriously surprised me back when I had begun building this entire fort was how I somehow felt a lot stronger than before. Like, 'I can lift books larger than me without much effort at all' stronger.

Did it have to do with the fact I had a lot of 'love' stored right now, compared to back when I had hid Lara's bags in the jungle...?

Before I could ponder some more on my newfound strength and get back down to continue working on constructing the throne-thingy at the center of my fort, Lara had then returned, wearing her familiar jacket and pith helmet while also holding a... camera?

It was one of those huge cameras that were set on tripods, like the one she was putting up right then. I quickly struck a somewhat victorious pose before she would take her shot, but she seemed to hesitate for a good while on something...

She fiddled with a few buttons and whatnot before she ran up to the front of my castle, taking a position on the side before sitting on her haunches and smiling at the camera after making sure I would still appear in the picture.

'Oh, delayed shot?'

I leapt down and sat next to her, also waiting for the picture to be taken.

Lara suddenly felt confused, as if she had noticed something odd.

"(You... already know what a camera does?)" she curiously asked, turning to look at me.

I craned my neck upwards to look at her, almost immediately losing myself in those benevolent magenta eyes filled with love and care while she herself stared at me.

After a few seconds, a warm smile slowly began adorning itself on her face, the bond overflowing with love as she gently unfurled a wing to partially hug me.

I happily smiled back—

*Flash!*

We both turned to face the camera in surprise, having forgotten for a moment what we were supposed to be waiting for.

'...Oh, it's one of THOSE cameras,' I realized after a few seconds since no image or anything of the sort made itself known.

I decided to scamper up and cling to her neck while she trotted towards the camera, taking out the film before dismantling the tripod and putting it away in a corner.

Then she sighed, suddenly feeling sad and... resigned?

"(Come on, Artemis. We've got to go,)" she lamely said while putting on what looked like a lighter version of her previous bags.

She slowly dropped the film in one of her bag's flaps, almost reverently covering it with another purple silk blanket before she gently grabbed and placed me within the other flap. I resumed my earlier position of having nothing but my head sticking out of the bag to notice she had walked outside and closed the front door.

At that point, no matter where we were going to go, I knew I could trust her with my life. Even if I technically knew almost nothing about her background, she seriously cared for me, enough to even go as far as to put herself in harm's way to get to me.

I'd have to make sure my Mom didn't brutally beat the crap out of Lara for taking me away from the hive though, once I'd finally get a chance to meet her. This mare was... kind of like a big sister to me, at that point.

The pegasus then tensed her legs, uncoiling them like a spring as she leapt and began flapping her wings, gaining elevation and flying towards a specific direction.

And so, we flew.

We flew over an endless sea of trees.

We flew over some plains.

And we flew some more...

We flew some more...

We flew...

we... we flew......

.........flew...........

"zzzzzzz"

Author's Note

Bonus deleted scenes:
https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/475222/deleted-scenes-the-calm-after-the-storm

And so, we reach the end of Act one.

The difficult part of writing this chapter was the fact that, since there wasn't much dialogue at all, I had to find alternate ways to (try to) keep it somewhat interesting. Whether I succeeded or not on that front remains to be seen.

Also, I have begun posting updates on my progress with this story on my user page. I'll only post whenever I actively spend time working on it, though.

[X] National food day (non-canon valentine's day special)

In case you don't know what non-canon means, it means that nothing in this chapter will be part of the actual story itself.

My target was in that house.

Which happened to be a tree. And a library.

Maybe there was a joke somewhere that could be made out of that, but I didn't really know any. Besides, I had much more important matters to take care of.

Namely, a changeling to give a surprise scare to.

...and a package to deliver, though the former was just as important to me, since none of us had ever managed it.

I flew towards one of the balconies of the building after making sure nopony was watching, silently thankful that the streets weren't too crowded at this time and that I had chosen a pegasus disguise.

Unsurprisingly, the windows were unlocked. Ponies were way too trusting, which was ironic considering how they reacted to changelings for the first time in general.

'At least Twilight and her friends know about us for who we are and are okay with it,' I thought as I let the red flames wash over me once I was inside the house-library, revealing my true form while I double-checked my bag to make sure that my gift box was still there.

It was.

The one it was meant for, however, was surrounded downstairs with a bunch of ponies, and I could hear the sounds of idle banter. Hopefully it would distract her long enough. I giddily rubbed my forehooves together and grinned to myself, preparing to be the first to surprise—

Amused "We know you're up there!" a very familiar voice called out.

'...Shit.' I pouted.

There was a mixture of shock, outrage and worry emanating from the seven other ponies.

"...Well, okay, none of you did, but I knew you were up there; now come on down! And it's safe, by the way."

I sighed as I slowly made my way towards an opening that lead downstairs. At least I surprised the ponies, I supposed...

"Safe? Oh it'll be safe, alright; Right after I teach you a lesson about trying to break into somepony's home!" a raspy voice proclaimed towards my general direction. "Who the hay even goes into the library through the windows, anyway?!"

I reached the top of the staircase to finally see... Twilight and her friends! They were all sitting and eating together around a table with pony food on it, though for the moment they were giving funny looks at Rainbow Dash, whom was being held back by a red aura.

And as it turned out, the seventh pony wasn't even a pony! It was that little lizard that wasn't really a dragon based on what everyone said about real dragons, though I was also told to not mention that to the little thing because it would offend him and make his joy turn into various things that were not joy.

Rainbow's angry look disappeared once she spotted me. "Oh, it's just one of you guys," she said, relaxing right after she was released from the magical hold.

My ears splayed back at that comment. "Does that mean you're not going to teach me that lesson?" I sadly asked, frowning afterwards. "I'd rather not have to break something to sneak into one of your homes, though..."

The only other changeling in the room giggled, making me happy that I... somehow made her happy.

"Hahahah! I'm sure that Rainbow would just love to *snicker* teach you some 'proper manners'!"

I perked up at that, and the pegasus in question made a face that reflected how happy she was with the idea. "W-what? No! Count me out! That's more Rarity's thing, anyway! You should be asking her for that instead!"

Oh. Darn, I still had a lot to learn about ponies and their expressions...

"I would be delighted to!" Rarity giddily exclaimed from her seat. "Just come by my boutique tomorrow, darling! I'll make a fine gentlecolt out of you; of that, you can be certain!"

Pinkie Pie laughed, throwing a hoof around the white unicorn's shoulder while I scrunched my muzzle. "Don't be silly, Rarity!" she said. "You know Mirage likes being a mare more than being a stallion!"

Rarity's eyes widened in realization as she turned to face me, blushing. "O-oh! Oh my, terribly sorry, Mirage! I sincerely thought you were someone else."

"I get that a lot." I shrugged.

Applejack smirked. "Geez Rarity, I thought you were good at paying attention to details!"

The unicorn huffed. "As if you were able to tell the difference between Artemis' children! At least I get it right most of the time!"

While those two playfully bickered between themselves in the background and that the others resumed eating their meals, I finally set my bag and its precious contents on the floor next to my target before giving her a hug. "Hi Mom!"

"Hello, Mirage." She warmly smiled and bent down to nuzzle me. "How was your day?"

"It was great! There's love everywhere!" I nervously pawed at the floor. "And, w-well, umm... since today is 'hearts and hooves' day, and that I saw a lot of ponies giving gifts to one another, I thought I would give you one of my own!" I beamed, taking the box out of the bag and offering it to her.

"Aww, you didn't need to!" Mom joyfully grinned, accepting my carefully wrapped present. "Is it something I should be worried of?" she then chittered, giving a glance to the nearby ponies.

"I don't think so," I happily chirped back. "They all helped me get it, after all."

Mom blinked, then stared at the others. "Really? You all helped with this gift?"

"Hay yeah! We even went into the Everfree forest and everything!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed with her mouth full and a hoof-pump, causing many of the nodding ponies to gawk at her in disbelief and Rarity to choke on her food until Fluttershy helped her out.

"I think you mean that you went into the Everfree alone with Mirage," Twilight shot back, making Rainbow look... I think it was sheepish? The purple unicorn shook her head before facing Mom. "But don't worry Artemis, all I did was provide a few books! Nothing as dangerous as going into an unnatural forest." She gave another funny stare at Rainbow.

"Hey, don't look at me! It was her idea!"

"Oh I'm not too worried," Mom replied. "That forest isn't anywhere near as bad as you ponies think; and besides, my kids know how to avoid the creatures that live in it, as well as—"

"Why are you taking so long to open your present?!" Pinkie exclaimed, popping out of my empty... bag... that was half her size...

...What!?

"I gotta admit, I'm mighty curious about what Mirage made for you, Artemis," Applejack said, unfazed as I tried to make sense of what I just saw. "Must be something real special since she never told me why she wanted to borrow that old tool shed, and she wouldn't even let me look at what she was doing in it to begin with!"

"Come on! Open it! Open it open it open it!!" the Pink One urged with barely restrained excitement, vibrating from her spot at the round table.

"Alright, alright! Hold your horses," Mom said, chuckling to herself at some kind of inside joke.

She gently levitated my gift up to herself and carefully unwrapped it in a way that not even the wrapping would be damaged in the process, anticipation building up in her as she prepared to open the small box within that Fluttershy helped me make.

Besides the nervous buzzing of my wings, all activity in the room ground to a halt as Mom finally opened the box itself to peer inside.

Mother's eyes widened in surprise at its contents, but my worried shuffling only stopped once I felt her joy.

Joy that turned into uncertainty when Mom ended up tearing her gaze away from my gift to look back at me, before staring at everyone else.

"Do you like it!?" I asked with a small bounce. Even though I was almost certain of the answer, I wanted to be sure that she was happy with it, because if not then I could go and get a better one and—

Mother's fanged grin was genuine. "I love it," she stated, giving me a hug that made it really hard to breathe while closing the box with my gift still inside before anyone could see what it was.

Unfortunately, Mom released me after a few seconds. But that was alright, I could always ask for more hugs later. At least she was still holding me close to her with a foreleg.

"Though to be honest, I'm... kind of having trouble believing that you all helped Mirage get me that," she said to all the others.

"Truthfully, all I really did was offer advice to young Mirage. I haven't even got the slightest clue as to what she finally decided to give to you..." Rarity looked around the table at the multitude of confused faces,"... and I think I'm speaking for most of us when I say that I'm curious about what exactly is in that box, dear."

"It's a book, right?" Twilight asked, causing a few groans from some ponies before she blushed. "I-I mean, she asked for a lot of books earlier today! She said she needed them for a present that she was making!"

"It's definitely not a book," Mom assured everyone, tilting her head afterwards. "Do any of you even know what's in here?" She levitated the box in front of her.

There was a chorus of disagreements as they all waited for an answer from Mom or I. Meanwhile, Spike sneaked a tiny gem into one of his... I think those were called cupcakes.

Mom opened her muzzle to say something, but quickly reconsidered and turned to me. "Actually, how about you tell us how you ended up with this wonderful gift? This is your first Hearts and Hooves day after all."

I perked up at her request.

And so did Twilight. "Hey! We could all share some of our own Hearts and Hooves experiences, too!" she exclaimed, gaining various eager nods of approval before I cleared my throat in preparation of my short tale as I faced my Mother.

"Well, it all began when I saw ponies giving little gifts to others this morning, and when I learned that all the exchanges happened between ponies that liked each other, I thought that I should give something to you to show how much I love you, because you're the bestest mom ever!"

Mom gave me a soft smile as I hugged her.

"But... I really didn't know what to get that would be special enough for you..."

"Ooh, ooh!" Pinkie interjected, waving wildly. "That's when she came to get her surprise cupcake from me at Sugarcube Corner!"

I blinked. "Erm... yes, I went to Sugarcube Corner then, but not for the cupcake. Which I gave back to Pinkie, because I don't like eating."

"Thanks! It was really good!"

"...Anyway! I went there to ask Pinkie if she had any advice on what I could get for you, and she told me that pastries and sweets were always a good choice, especially if it was a cake. I knew that it wasn't what I was looking for because you don't usually eat too, but Pinkie also said that if I wanted my gift to be really special, it would have to be something that I made myself.

"I still didn't know what to make though, so I went to Rarity next, and while she said that she didn't know you all that well to know what the perfect gift would be, she also told me that what I gave you wouldn't matter all that much in the end, because 'as long as it comes from the heart, she will like it,' " I quoted Rarity with her own voice.

"And that was when it came to me! The ultimate gift! I wasn't sure how to do it myself though, so I came here as quickly as I could to see if Twilight could help me with preparing it, but, uh...

"...she told me that I kind of needed my heart to live."

Pinkie choked on her popcorn while almost everyone else stared at me in disbelief, though I caught Mom muttering to herself about doubly making sure that everyling knew about basic biology.

"Wait... wut?" Rainbow asked, confused.

"Are ya tryin' to tell me that you wanted to give Artemis your own heart?!" Applejack exclaimed.

"Wait, WUT!?" Rainbow repeated with widened eyes.

"Don't worry everypony, I explained to Mirage why I shouldn't and wouldn't perform that kind of operation, and I informed her of why it would be a terrible idea for somepony to lose their heart," Twilight quickly said.

I faced my Mom with trembling lips. "She lectured me, Mom! Lectured me!"

"How long did it take?"

"Two hours, fifty-three minutes and forty-one point two seconds," Twilight immediately replied.

"Ah." Mom looked back at me. "You got lucky."

I... wasn't sure what to think about that.

"*Cough* S-so, um, it turned out that I couldn't give you my heart, and I was both sad and back to square one. Twilight saw this, and she decided to cheer me up by letting me borrow a book that showed and explained the biology of various species.

"As I flipped through the pages and memorized the images, though, I realized that there were a lot of different species, and another idea for a gift came to me! So I asked Twilight for a whole bunch of books to help me with this new project!"

Mom looked slightly worried. "Which books, and where are they right now?"

"Erm..." I sheepishly rubbed the back of my head. "...I forgot the names, b-but don't worry! I left them with some friends so that they could hold onto them for me for a little while! I wasn't done reading them, yet."

"So which one should we try first? 'Nec... nerco... uh, ner-co-no-romancy for dummies'? Or '101 ways to catch and tame a monster from the Everfree'?"

"I don't know, the Everfree forest is kind of scary..."

"And I don't want to get in trouble with my sister again. Besides, the other one has 'romancy' in it, and today is Hearts and Hooves day! It's only right!"

"Yeah!"

"Then it's settled!"

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS NECRO—"

Everyone but Mom and I shivered for some reason.

"Anyway," I happily continued, "I needed to go into the Everfree forest to get what I wanted because I didn't want to upset Fluttershy—"

"And that's when I came in to escort and protect her!" Rainbow Dash proudly exclaimed, puffing out her chest.

I frowned. "That's not true! You just followed me inside the forest and kept whining about how slow we were moving and about how bored you were, and you scared all the prey away with all that noise you were making!"

Rainbow's grin faltered a bit. "W-well, uhh, what... what about that one manticore I scared away with nothing but my awesomeness! Yeah! If I wasn't there, it could've eaten you or, or something!"

"Your frustrated cry when nothing happened for 10 minutes was what attracted its attention to begin with! And besides, I turned into a cockatrice while you weren't looking, and it ran away the moment it saw me!" I gave a big smile to Mom. "It's just like you said! Manticores are really scared of chickens!"

"Wait, really?" Twilight asked, eyes widening and excitement building up in her. "What els—"

"Yup!" I quickly replied. She was beginning to get that look in her eyes that Mom had warned all of us about, and so I had to keep talking to make sure that it went away. "So immediately after that manticore ran off, I finally found what I was looking for hiding behind some dense bushes, and I pounced on it with my eyes closed because Mom said cockatrices can do really bad things if you look at one."

"Huh? I don't remember seeing any cockatrices today!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"That's because you were too busy staring at where the manticore ran away while I stuffed the body in my bags."

Silence.

...And some pride from Mom, which made me happy.

"Is that what... what you had in your bags when you came to see me for that tool shed you wanted to borrow?" Applejack asked with an unease that was shared between almost everyone.

"Uh-huh!" I nodded, giving her an awkward smile afterwards. "I, uh, wouldn't go in that shed anytime soon, though. It's a little messy in there. B-but don't worry! I'll clean it up later!"

"You... you didn't..." Rarity gulped.

"So I was able to extract what I wanted out of the cockatrice with the help of the biology book Twilight borrowed me and the tools from the shed—" I omitted the part where I cackled as I did so with thunder in the background, "—and one of the spell books taught me how to cast a preservation spell on it. Then all I needed was to put it in a box and wrap it up, which I asked Fluttershy to help me with, and my surprise was ready!"

Everyone quietly stared between Mom and I.

"I'm... not sure I want to know anymore," Rarity stated.

"I do!" Pinkie grinned, ever cheerful. "What's in the box!?"

Mom gave a brief smirk my way before levitating the gift up to her once more, opening it and pulling out its contents.

For some reason, all of the ponies had weird reactions to it.

Rarity promptly fainted.

Applejack and Spike looked horrified.

Rainbow seemed torn between disgusted and awed.

Pinkie oooh'ed, curious.

Twilight somehow turned green despite not being a changeling, but she couldn't take her eyes off of it in morbid fascination.

And Fluttershy, who had been quiet so far, smiled.

"That's really sweet."

But nothing mattered quite as much as the love that Mom had for me, especially when she gave me another nuzzle.

"It really is, especially raw," Mom agreed. "How did you even know that it was my favorite part?" she asked me.

I blinked. "I, uh, didn't really know," I sheepishly said. "But Rarity said that my gift had to come from the Heart!" I beamed. "So I got you one!"

No, not one of those silly little pink symbols that everypony outside called 'hearts' and put everywhere.

I got my mom a real heart!

"Happy Hearts and Hooves day, Mom!" I chirped as I threw myself at her in a hug.

"Happy Hearts and Hooves day, Mirage," Mom warmly said, returning my affection.

While most of the ponies pushed their plates of food away as they muttered about not really being hungry anymore, Mom gave the room a fanged grin.

"So who wants to hear about how my first Hearts and Hooves day went?"

~~~Meanwhile~~~

Daring Do lounged inside her home after having returned from yet another adventure, calmly taking a sip of her coffee. Her gaze wandered across the lobby, passing over the numerous artifacts that she had collected over the years as she reminisced on the events leading up to the acquisition of each and every single one of them.

However, while her sight more often than not found itself on the book fort that was forever left untouched ever since its construction on one side of the room, it also tended to linger on one of the most unique gifts she had received quite some time ago.

And it was as she fondly stared at it that she decided that perhaps it was time to take a little vacation to visit a certain Queen.

For, next to the fireplace, inside a jar filled with water, floated a still-beating heart whose color changed depending on her mood.

[2] Point Insertion

"Are you sure you'll be fine while I'm gone, Spike?"

"Yup! We already re-shelved this week, I did every single one of my chores, and all the books are accounted for!" the aforementioned dragon happily replied. "Well... except for one of the Daring Do books that Rainbow Dash keeps borrowing over and over again..." he grumbled.

"You know, I'd like to see how she'd react to being told that she's one of the few ponies who frequently borrow books from the library." Twilight giggled at the thought.

Spike couldn't hold back a snicker. "Oh please don't tell her unless I'm there! I totally want to see her face when you get her to realize how she reads more often than most of Ponyville!"

Twilight smirked. "Will do, Spike. Though, I'm wondering why the chariot Princess Celestia mentioned she'd send hasn't arrived yet." She trotted towards a window to gaze outside at the soon-to-be sunset. "I mean, it must be something important if she wants me to come completely alone at this time of the day, by royal chariot no less, and not tell anypony about whatever I'd see once there! Not even you or my friends!"

She omitted that the letter specifically emphasized to not speak with the little dragon about whatever she'd be doing at the castle. No secret was truly safe with that little drake.

After a short moment of awkward silence, she slowly turned around to look at Spike whom was worriedly watching her.

"...What?"

Spike narrowed his eyes. "You're... not freaking out?"

She tilted her head in confusion. "...Huh?"

He maintained his look for a couple seconds, finally letting out a relieved breath. "Whew! I mean, I thought you'd be hysterically running around, panicking because Princess Celestia herself pretty much 'summoned' you..."

She froze.

"...like, this is obviously some sort of test that she's prepared—"

Her eyes widened as her pupils shrank into pinpricks while he continued, completely oblivious to her rising panic.

"—and that you pretty much haven't properly studied for it because you don't even know what it could possibly be about—"

A bead of sweat rolled down her face as she began hyperventilating.

"—which would mean that you'd normally be extremely worried right about now since you really don't want to fail the Princess and be a bad... student... uh, Twilight? Are you okay?" he worriedly asked once he finally noticed her twitching left eye and disheveled mane, which somehow hadn't been like that mere seconds ago.

"T-t-test!?" she eventually squeaked.

Twilight was 'saved' from her upcoming mental breakdown by a cyan-coated mare with a prismatic mane barging through the library's door at breakneck speeds, crashing onto her before they both rolled to a stop as they slammed against a wall.

Every book suddenly wasn't on a shelf anymore. This did not make Spike a happy little dragon, as demonstrated by him staring open-mouthed at the disaster in front of him before he wordlessly threw his arms up in frustration, 'calmly' waddling off to the kitchen in order to eat some well-deserved (and needed) ice cream.

And he had just re-shelved the entire library, too...

The rainbow-maned pegasus got up from under a large pile of books, shaking her head to clear it until she remembered why she was there to begin with.

"OhmygoshOhmygoshOHMYGOSH! TWILIGHT! GUESS WHAT!!"

The aforementioned unicorn's head finally popped out of another nearby pile of books, dazed as she tried to understand what just happened.

She didn't get a chance to reply as her friend immediately continued: "They announced the next Daring Do book to come out five. Whole. Months. SOONER!"

Twilight gasped. "B-but... that means it'll be out in exactly six weeks!"

"I know, right!? Isn't that just totally awesome?!" the pegasus loudly exclaimed as she did a couple quick mid-air flips in her excitement. "Oh! By the way! What's up with those dudes waiting with the fancy chariot out there?" She glanced around. "Erm... is the Princess around here?"

The unicorn's eyes widened. "I got to go right now sorry will be at Canterlot with Princess Celestia for I don't know how long please tell the others for me take care BYE!" she rapidly said before zooming out the front door.

Rainbow Dash stared at the entrance in confusion, shrugging once she saw Spike coming back from the kitchen while he licked his lips contentedly. She then remembered the second thing she had come to the library for.

"Spike! I need to borrow every single Daring Do book there is right NOW!" she cheerfully exclaimed while jogging on the spot.

He stared at her ecstatic, borderline manic face.

He stared at the completely disorganized mess of books littering the entire floor.

Spike was not a happy dragon.

==============================================

A few polite knocks were heard on the door.

"Your Highness? Miss A.K. Yearling has arrived and—"

Celestia finally stopped pacing around her room, magically swinging the doors open before the surprised guard could finish his announcement.

"Is she in the guest room I had assigned to her for the night?" she interrupted, somehow managing to prevent her giddiness and excitement from showing outwardly.

The guard quickly recovered, nodding. "Yes, she is currently located within the isolated part of the guest chambers. Nopony else is being allowed in that general section of the Castle, as per your orders."

The Princess nodded in approval, letting out a serene smile. "Very good. Inform Princess Cadance to meet me there as well as my student Twilight Sparkle, whom should also arrive any moment now."

"Yes, your Highness!" He quickly bowed, headed off afterwards to do as he was ordered.

The Diarch of the Sun could barely contain herself as she trotted at an admittedly faster pace than normal throughout the Castle, finally able to meet the final fragment she had left of her sister:

Artemis.

Would the changeling like and accept her? Would the foal turn out to be as sweet and loving as Terra had been in the past?

...Would she finally have another immortal being she could call a friend or, even better...

Family?

Those were the kind of questions running through her mind as she walked through various hallways while the castle was bathed in moonlight, the night having begun not too long ago.

Celestia was still on her way towards the part of the castle which would securely house Artemis—at least until the nymph could be safely revealed to the rest of Equestria—before she heard the rapid series of sounds announcing that somepony was galloping her way. Turning around, she spotted Cadance—

"WHERE IS SHE?!— *Cough* *Cough*" exclaimed the newly-arrived pink alicorn with a deep gravelly voice before coughing out the fly that had inadvertently—somehow—lodged itself in her throat.

Celestia's smile widened. "Cadance! How is my favorite niece doing on this fine night?"

Cadance quickly regained her breath before they eagerly continued trotting side by side towards their shared destination. "Oh, I'm just so excited! She's finally here! I was worried when the guards you had sent as an escort had returned yesterday without both Miss Yearling and Artemis, but then you got that letter and I just couldn't wait!" The pink alicorn was practically bouncing.

The Sun Princess's smile suddenly seemed slightly forced. "Speaking of which, perhaps we shouldn't talk about her until we're in a more... relaxed setting," she carefully suggested, nodding at a nearby guardspony whom briefly saluted as they walked by.

"Huh?" Cadance confusedly asked, before understanding dawned on her. "Oh! Right..." she muttered, remembering how most ponies didn't share her view of changelings in general.

Seeing as the younger alicorn had all of a sudden lost the spring in her step, Celestia decided to quickly change the subject.

"How is Shining Armor, by the way? Did Dr. Lab Coat find anything wrong with him?" she asked while looking at her niece. "I unfortunately haven't had the time to drop by and check on his condition yet."

"Well..." Cadance frowned. "The doctor couldn't find anything out of the ordinary about him, even though Shiny keeps insisting that he still feels a little weird. Before I left him just now, he said he's been feeling some kind of 'pull', as if he wanted to go somewhere, but only since very recently. He's still going to be under the care of the Doctor until tomorrow more or less." She gave a glance to Celestia. "Has court really been that bad to the point where you didn't even have any free time today?"

The older alicorn tiredly nodded. "While all the 'cocooned' ponies have already been sorted since yesterday, it turned out the changelings were living amongst us for much longer than we had initially thought," she replied, idly noticing how a passing maid had slowed down the tiniest bit while they conversed. "A lot of businesses had been unknowingly employing disguised changelings; some of which had even been working for years, it seemed. Furthermore, only a very minimal amount of those workers were initially ponies whom got 'replaced'. The problem itself began when, a few days before your..." she trailed off, wincing. "...Well, a very large number of 'ponies' across all of Equestria either quit or left their jobs under all sorts of excuses and reasons. With them missing, all of those businesses suddenly found themselves lacking horsepower. You can probably imagine how many issues have arisen after that."

Celestia apologetically smiled at her niece. "But enough about the current economical state of Equestria, leave that for me to handle. You, on the other hoof, have a certain little foal to take care of," she said, glad to see the younger alicorn regain a meager smile and straighten up from her slumped posture.

"You're going to be foalsitting again!?" gasped a voice behind them.

Cadance whipped around. "Twilight!" she happily exclaimed before they quickly closed the distance between themselves, getting ready for their super secret greeting—

"Sunshine sunshine ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" They giggled after doing the motions, a little more so when they saw the bemused expression from the Princess of the Sun.

Twilight suddenly ran up to her teacher, standing at attention. "Princess Celestia! I came as soon as I could and I, um, well, I'm ready for your... test?" she uncertainly grinned.

Celestia giggled. "Whoever said anything about a test?"

She turned away, missing Twilight quietly sigh in relief as she resumed her walk. "Come, we are nearly there."

"Sooo..." began the lavender unicorn. "Who are you going to be foalsitting?" she curiously asked as the trio walked together. "It must be somepony pretty important if a Princess is going to be the foalsitter!"

Cadance nervously smiled. "You could say she's very important. I'm just hoping I won't be a bad guardian..."

Twilight stared at the pink alicorn as if she had grown a second head. "What are you talking about!? You were the greatest foalsitter in the history of foalsitters! I can personally attest to that! I'm sure whoever you'll be taking care of will be in excellent hooves!" she exclaimed with absolute certainty before catching on to a particular word. "Wait... guardian? What happened to the foal's parents? Did they leave on some kind of far-away trip? Can they no longer take care of her?"

Cadance visibly flinched.

"You will understand everything very soon, Twilight," Celestia said. "We're here."

Twilight worriedly glanced at the younger alicorn before noticing her surroundings, including the large engraved door in front of her. "W-wait, she's in... in THE guest room!?" she disbelievingly asked. "The isolated one reserved for reclusive, special dignitaries!? The one that is practically its own house in the Castle!? The one rumored to rival your own personal chambers in luxury, size and, well... everything!?" the flabbergasted unicorn asked her teacher, whom simply nodded.

She then noticed something else. "And... why wasn't there anypony in any of the hallways we walked past just now? I know I haven't been in Canterlot too often during these times, especially the castle itself, but I clearly remember this wing of the castle being pretty busy, even at night!"

Celestia raised an amused eyebrow. "And how did you know how active this area of the Castle was after sundown?"

"Um..." Her student sheepishly grinned. "Late night trips to the Royal Canterlot Archives?"

The Princess of the Sun mirthfully shook her head before her expression suddenly turned serious.

"The reason there isn't anypony in this entire wing is also tied to why under no circumstances you are to speak with any other being on what you're about to see in this room until further notice."

Twilight gulped, shivering slightly at the noticeable drop in temperature. She would've taken a step back if she hadn't frozen under the intense glare of her mentor, something she hadn't yet experienced in all the years she had spent under the Princess's tutelage. Never before had she thought her own teacher would even look at her that way.

Celestia then promptly smiled, her warm motherly aura returning instantly as she turned to face the door, slowly opening it with her magic.

Both alicorns entered, Twilight nervously following behind them after a short moment.

A luxurious, enormous lobby with its own built-in kitchen and numerous side rooms greeted them. The large glass windows were enchanted to prevent outsiders from looking into the chamber while giving a great view of the city itself and the landscape below. The furniture was of the highest quality, the seats looking so fluffy and comfortable that anypony would probably melt from the mere act of applying their rump on them. The ceiling was high enough to allow any winged occupants to freely fly around, easily letting them reach the second floor without using the stairs on the side if needed.

Of course, all of this was nothing new for the Princesses, though Twilight couldn't help but stare. It was probably just the bookshelf at the other end of the room, though.

"She's in one of the bedrooms," announced Celestia whom had run a quick magical scan, headed towards a specific room on the upstairs after telekinetically closing the entryway they had come from.

"That's odd. She turned off the fireplace," Cadance commented as they began ascending the small number of steps.

"Who is 'she', by the way? Also, doesn't she know that the fireplace is linked to a nearby magical leyline, thus theoretically could remain powered indefinitely?" Twilight asked. "I can't really see why she'd extinguish the flames."

"I'm sure Miss A.K. Yearling knows and purposely did it for a reason. She has her very own, after all," Celestia innocently replied.

Twilight froze in her tracks immediately after hearing 'Yearling'.

"She's... she's HERE!?" the purple pony practically squealed.

"Indeed she is, along with a very important guest, which is the reason for the lockdown of this area of the castle," the Sun Princess answered, oblivious to her trailing student's state.

The lavender unicorn barely registered what her mentor said, lost in her own world as she promptly began mentally composing for the famous author a list of all the questions she'd soon ask, the topics ranging from everything to everything.

They entered a lavishly decorated bedroom, each of them feeling a sense of anticipation for their own individual reasons. Other than the dim moonlight streaming through the window, the only light source was a magical lamp set next to the oversized bed, which was occupied by a mare wearing a simple yet elegant purple dress, large red framed glasses, and a quaint hat that nearly covered the entirety of her dark mane. Her back was turned to them as she lay curled around a tiny body, gently petting the little being absentmindedly.

All was silent for a few moments, the mare on the bed seemingly unaware of the newly-arrived trio's presence until they simply couldn't hold their rising excitement.

"Miss Yearling?" they suddenly asked in perfect sync—

"WHAT THE BUCK!?" the surprised pegasus loudly exclaimed as she leapt high into the air, clutching a little foal in her forelegs while she rapidly took stock of the situation.

"...Oh."

She slowly landed back on the bed, carefully setting the sleeping little body (whom promptly flailed weakly in an attempt to grasp the nearest source of warmth) next to her as she bowed to her visitors. "*Ahem*, Princess Celestia, Princess Cadance, Miss Twilight Sparkle," she respectfully greeted with her renewed accent.

Twilight's jaw attempted to meet with the floor. 'She. Knows. MY. NAME! Ohmygosh—'

And that was when she noticed with a quick glance that the foal was, in fact, a tiny changeling.

While the shocked unicorn initiated a flawless imitation of a goldfish, both of the Princesses had begun approaching the bed, each of them wearing genuine smiles.

"Rise, my little pony," happily began Celestia. "You do not need to bow, especially after having done us such a great service."

"The pleasure was all mine," Yearling replied as she complied, "and I would do it all over again if you requested it. Even with the small... hiccup along the way..."

Though she was referring to the fortress incident, the others had no idea it had even happened to begin with.

"I am sorry to have burdened you with such a task, nevertheless." Celestia apologized as Cadance approached to curiously observe the sleeping nymph whose legs occasionally twitched. "It must have been difficult for you, bringing Artemis here all the way from the outskirts of Equestria while simultaneously having to take care of her. I know how much you prefer your solitude and isolation."

Yearling slowly turned to look at the little one next to her, mumbling to herself. "...Difficult... right..."

"What can you tell us about her?" Cadance quietly asked, not wanting to risk disturbing the nymph's rest.

The innocent question got Twilight out of her metaphorical fish tank; her inquisitive nature taking over at the prospect of being able to learn something new as she galloped to stand alongside the Princesses.

The pegasus laughed. "Don't worry about waking her up, she sleeps harder than a rock! Believe me, I tried everything I could on our first morning."

Since they were all too busy observing the softly snoring nymph, they missed Yearling's smile slowly widening as she fondly stared at the tiny changeling.

"She's... very clingy and affectionate," began the pegasus. "From the moment she hatched, she's always tried to stay somewhat as close as possible to me. Even after a little, umm... incident where we had gotten separated, she had surprisingly managed to find her way towards me, despite all odds."

"She seemed to also trust me implicitly," Yearling quickly continued, fully intending to interrupt the clarification Princess Celestia was—without a doubt—about to demand about the separation. "Not once had she protested, cried or struggled whenever I picked her up or cleaned her. She just... kept smiling, hugging me at almost every opportunity, apparently content to simply have me be there. She also cleaned by herself a large number of... cuts that I had accidentally gotten during the trip."

The furious scribbling—which Yearling had just noticed—paused. "Cleaned a cut? How so?" Twilight asked, holding a quill and notepad in her magic as she eagerly awaited the response.

"She simply... um... licked it."

...

...

"...She... licked the cut?"

"Indeed."

"B-but... but what about the possibility of an infection!? Didn't you need to cover or bandage the injury in any way? Did the changeling even know what it was doing and everything that could result from that!?"

The pegasus rolled her eyes and merely held out a foreleg. "Do you see anything wrong with my leg?"

Cadance paused in her petting of the changeling's silky mane to do a quick examination. "...Nothing immediately apparent, at least visually," she ended up saying.

Yearling nodded. "I went from having various bleeding cuts to this—" she gestured at her foreleg, "—overnight."

"Fascinating..." they heard Twilight mutter as she resumed her scribbling, practically burying her muzzle in her notes.

The 'disguised' mare kept her gaze on the mumbling unicorn for a moment before turning to the Princesses once more. "She also appears to be highly intelligent. Artemis began walking minutes after hatching and spoke her first word merely a couple days afterwards."

"Anypony can repeat words, especially foals," Twilight pointed out without diverting her gaze from her notes.

"But that's the thing, though," the pegasus replied with a small frown as she looked downwards in contemplation. "She seemed to know what the word meant. Not only that, but it even applied perfectly to the situation at the time." She turned to watch the resting changeling. "And her eyes... when she looks at you, it sometimes feels like she's studying you, trying to figure you out... They've got this sort of intelligence behind them that a regular foal wouldn't have, but at the same time she seems to be just as curious about everything as any foal would be."

A moment passed in silence while the assembled ponies stared at the tiny nymph as she rolled over, letting out a few quiet and content croons under Yearling's petting.

Cadance suddenly perked up. "Aren't you going to tell us what her first word was?"

"No," Yearling answered.

Celestia raised an eyebrow while the pink alicorn slumped a little. "I'm sorry?"

"No," the pegasus repeated, somewhat confused at the reaction she got based on the expressions of the three mares.

She suddenly realized her error after another momentary awkward silence, rapidly waving her forelegs in a placating gesture. "No! I mean- I meant, that's what her first word was! No," she quickly clarified.

"Aww!" Cadance pouted. "I was kind of hoping it would be 'Mommy' or something cute like that..."

Celestia chuckled. "I'm sure you'll be able to teach her more words in no time if she's as intelligent as Miss Yearling says. However, I believe we should all take a rest for the night—"

"W-what!? But, but I haven't even asked any of my questions!!" Twilight immediately exclaimed.

The Diarch of the Sun kept her serene smile as she turned to face the pegasus. "You're welcome to sleep within these chambers for however long as you wish, though I'd ask that you at least stay for a few nights, seeing as you are currently the only pony with experience when it comes to taking care of a changeling nymph."

The pegasus in question seemed to be deep in her thoughts. "About that..." Yearling slowly began. "I believe I'll stay for a few weeks and write my next Daring Do book during my stay here, if that's all right with you of course."

"It won't be a problem at all," Celestia assured her, leaning in to nuzzle the sleeping changeling on the barrel.

The nymph promptly wrapped all four of her hooves around the newfound source of warmth, clinging to the top of the alicorn's muzzle in her sleep, even as the Princess retreated her head away from the bed.

Cadance giggled while Twilight looked a little worried. "I think she likes you already, Celestia" the pink alicorn said as the little one nuzzled her aunt's muzzle.

The genuine smile from the Princess of the Sun couldn't have gotten any wider.

Once the nymph's hold slackened somewhat, Cadance levitated the sleeping changeling off of her Aunt's face and onto her own back. "If you wouldn't mind, Miss Yearling, she'll be sleeping with me in the adjacent bedroom. Since I'll be taking care of her for a good while, I might as well get started as soon as possible, right?"

"Of course I wouldn't mind! W-why would I mind?" the pegasus abruptly stuttered despite herself, though aside from a few weird looks, the others shrugged it off.

"Very well, we'll leave the three of you alone for the night. Come, Twilight. We have a few things to discuss," Celestia said. "Don't worry, they'll still be here tomorrow," she mirthfully added when the unicorn pouted.

Meanwhile, as they all left the bedroom she would be occupying for some time, 'A.K. Yearling' kept her eyes trained on the changeling, her gaze unfaltering until the nymph in question went out of sight.

"It's for the best..." she whispered to no one in particular.

==============================================

"A changeling!?" eventually exclaimed Twilight within the soundproof barrier Celestia conjured right outside the room after Cadance had went into the adjacent one. "She's going to be foalsitting a changeling!? After they tried to take over Equestria? After they ruined the wedding between Cadance herself and my brother?!?"

"While the changelings may not have given the best of first impressions with their invasion of Canterlot, Artemis had absolutely no part in it," Celestia calmly replied. "In fact, she hatched a few days afterwards and is, as far as we currently know, the... last of her kind."

"...L-l-last?"

The Princess sorrowfully sighed. "Yes."

"Then... then that magical wave at the wedding...?"

Turning to look at the door the pink alicorn had gone through, Celestia eventually answered somberly. "Cadance dearly wishes she could reverse what she did on that day. She's been having nightmares about it ever since, from what Luna tells me. At this point, I'm inclined to believe that she's trying to hold on to Artemis in order to keep herself from breaking down completely." She gave the unicorn a sad smile. "I myself might be doing so as well, to a certain extent..."

Twilight shifted uncomfortably. "...Is it because of Queen Chrysalis?" she carefully asked quietly. "I haven't ever seen you so sad before and you... you just suddenly vanished with her before we could even speak with you right then and there."

Celestia slowly nodded. "It's... a long story, one that I'll tell you tomorrow, otherwise I doubt you'd be able to sleep tonight."

The unicorn worriedly watched her teacher for a moment before she relented. "Alright, Princess. But, why did you ask me to come to Canterlot, exactly? I'm assuming it has something to do with the foal?"

"She will need friends who can look past what she is," Celestia replied. "Considering she alone could potentially bring back her entire species by herself, we must make sure to be careful with her and protect her. There aren't many I can currently trust with that after the impression the changelings left on Equestria, and I fear for the trials she may have to face eventually. Can I trust you to help in this endeavor for me?"

Despite her reservations and concerns on the matter, Twilight Sparkle quickly realized that Princess Celestia had essentially asked her to help revive an entire race. A monumental task considering they knew nothing about changelings, on top of the fallout from the recent terrifying invasion. The Princess' request was obviously a hidden test, never mind the fact that the alicorn had denied it earlier.

Thus, a couple mere seconds were all Twilight needed before she reached her decision, gaining a determined expression. "I will do my best, Princess!"

A smile graced the ruler's muzzle as she gave her student a winged hug. "I am glad to hear that."

After a short conversation on what the unicorn would do in the morning, they promptly left the area to rest for the night in their own individual chambers.

However, while Luna would find that she wouldn't need to intervene in Cadance's dreams for once ever since the wedding, Daring Do couldn't get herself to fall asleep.

She uncomfortably tossed and turned in the luxurious fluffy bed, constantly groaning as she tried every position she could think of in order to relax and enter the realm of dreams. Yet, no matter what she attempted, she just couldn't get herself to doze off.

This was ridiculous! She had slept inside freezing caves, other times in humid jungles, from simple straw beds to uncomfortable stone floors without any issues whatsoever, and now she suddenly couldn't get herself to rest on what was without a doubt the most comfortable bed she had ever laid upon?

The pegasus had frustratingly grabbed a spare pillow after a good while, tightly holding it against herself with her forelegs as she buried her muzzle in it. This made her feel slightly better, more so when she subconsciously brought a wing over the extra pillow itself. The position actually helped and she did eventually manage to close her eyes and fall asleep...

But it just wasn't the same.

Author's Note

Bonus deleted scenes:
https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/493664/deleted-scenes-point-insertion

And the scene is set.

Writing this chapter was somewhat of a challenge to me, as I'm still working on improving dialogues in general, including the fact that I have to take into account all of the different personalities every character has.

How long will Artemis remain a secret within the Castle?

Probably not long, all things considered.

[2] Maresitting 101

I stood there, patiently waiting for anyone to come by and buy my lemons. Not sure why I was selling lemons or why I had even decided to set up my lemonade stand in some park I couldn't recognize in any way, shape or form, but it was fine, I didn't worry too much about that. Too busy selling lemonade.

...To no one.

...

Weird. I'd have expected people to be around, but I couldn't see anyone anywhere within the park. Even the somewhat blurry streets and buildings behind me were devoid of people. I did see large towering horses here and there, however. They were talking to each other animatedly, playing games, enjoying picnics, having fun and good times in general--

--Wait, what was I thinking? There were people everywhere.

Hah, silly me.

I was happily minding my own business when a duck decided to waddle up to me.

"Hey!" he joyfully exclaimed. "Got any grapes?"

I tilted my head in bewilderment as I stared at Sir Quackerton. He didn't just ask that, did he? I mean, the answer was obvious!

"Sure! Here you go~~" I happily replied, hoofing him a bunch of grapes from my stand.

This was a grape stand, after all.

He slowly accepted my offering, staring at me in a confused manner as if this wasn't how it was supposed to go.

...Was this supposed to be different? Did I... I haven't done anything wrong, have I?

"Hmm, no thanks!" he suddenly said while giving me back my grapes, which understandably made me pout in sadness. "You'll probably need them more than I do."

...Huh?

"What for...?" I asked.

He pointed behind me while keeping his unfaltering joyous grin.

A chill suddenly spread itself across my chitin as I turned around to look at the misty forest surrounding me on all sides. The happy background chatter from all of the now-missing giant ponies was gone, replaced with an eerie silence.

"Run."

I looked around, trying to find the source of the echoing whisper that came from nowhere and everywhere at the same time, though I couldn't see anything past a few feet in front of me because of the... oddly familiar fog and trees, the forest stretching itself in every direction I looked at.

"Run."

The oppressing silence was then replaced by a distant sadistic laughter that sent shivers down my very soul, dread filling my core to the point where I felt the urge to actually obey this time without hesitation--

"RUN!!!"

The next thing I knew, I was running at a gallop as I weaved through the trees, never stopping once to catch my breath. Yet, no matter how fast I went or how many obstacles I ran past, I felt like I was running in place. A step forward felt like a step backwards, though I knew that no matter what, I absolutely had to stay away from it. I couldn't let it catch me. Sweet Mother I had to make sure it didn't catch me.

I had no idea how long I had been running, but the laughter hadn't stopped. If anything, it felt closer the more I tried to escape it while the fog behind me kept darkening. I could practically make out a hooded figure hiding within the encroaching darkness, its burning glare promising death. I just wanted to escape, I wanted this to end, oh how I wanted this so badly to end--

"I found your parents~~" a deceptively happy voice suddenly sang from everywhere and nowhere at once, replacing the insane laughter though it retained the tone. "But you never really cared for them after they left you at that orphanage, didn't you?"

D-don't listen to the voice don't listen to the voice don't listen to the voice just keep running--

"I did however meet your adoptive family as well. They were... delicious" the voice cackled.

S-SHUT UP!!

"Such a shame, that they had to be murdered right after all of your so-called 'friends' left you, leaving you almost compleeetely aloooone~~~" it mockingly continued.

N-no! I... I still had my wife! My son! I--

"And, a-and then!" it laughed uproariously, "On the very same night you had lost all those you held dear! SHE--"

*Flash*

I stood there, minding my own business with a happy smile as I hoofed some oranges to my next customer in some park I couldn't recognize in any way, shape or form. There were ponies everywhere, milling about as they chattered between themselves animatedly, playing games, enjoying picnics, having fun and good times in general, the entire area being filled with a constant contagious joy.

...Odd. I could've sworn it wasn't like this just a moment ago...

Oh well, I still had a tomato stand to attend to. This humongous dark-blue coated mare was approaching from afar, though. She looked surprised, though her expression at the same time showed hope and happiness as she began trotting at a faster pace towards me and my potato stall.

Huh. I didn't think my carrots were THAT enticing-- wait a minute.

I... I remembered this mare.

"No..." she suddenly began galloping, though the distance between us somehow seemed to expand despite the fervor with which she was trying to reach me.

I had seen her in... in that weird dream I had gotten the other night!

"NO! (NOT NOW!)" the distant winged unicorn shouted in desperation as she redoubled her efforts, rapidly closing in on me with her wings while everything began losing color, a howling wind rapidly picking up strength. She was barely a few feet in front of me by then with a hoof extended in my direction, her horn glowing with mystical energies.

Except... no, no, it wasn't just a dream back then, it... wife was there, but not real wife, fire, screaming, the alicorn coming out of the forest, the same one that was reaching out to me--

*GASP*

My eyes immediately shot open whereupon I noticed that I was tightly hugging Lara while she was gently running a hoof through my hair, whispering what seemed to be comforting words for some reason, my entire miniature body shaking like a leaf.

Though, I honestly knew not why.

And why... why was everything blurry?

I rubbed my eyes as best as I could with my little forelegs, only to soon find out that my hooves were wet afterwards.

I had cried in my sleep? I...

...What the heck did I dream about!?

The ground suddenly trembled for a short moment--

"(NAY! NAYYYY!!! WE WERE SO CLOSE!!!)" a faraway female voice screamed in frustration, the tremors ending immediately afterwards.

Wait, the ground shook? We landed already? Where were we? How long had I slept? When had I fallen asleep!? Why was I sensing so many distant surprised presences in practically every direction?

...

...

Why was Lara PINK?!?

She promptly embraced me a little tighter, wiping with one of her flexible wings any tears left from whatever I had dreamt.

"Shhhh, (it's alright, it was just a nightmare. It's over now, I'm here for you)" the mare whispered in a gentle, calming tone while nuzzling me.

With a voice that definitely did not belong to Lara.

...

"...WHAT THE FU--"

I immediately struggled against the pony's grip, managing to slip out of it with relative ease due to my lack of fur and her being too surprised at that very moment to properly react to my sudden outburst and change in attitude. Leaping away from the mare and subsequently landing on my tail from falling out of the bed we were apparently on, I realized there were no readily-available exits out of this large room, thus I did the next best thing to escape her.

I ran and hid under what seemed to be a dresser next to the closed shimmering door, my ruby-red eyes watching the unknown pony's every move attentively.

Said pony was confusedly staring at my tiny prone form.

...This really wasn't an effective hiding spot.

"(What's wrong, Artemis?)" the pegasus-- no, wait, the alicorn worriedly asked as she got off the bed, slowly approaching me with her head almost lowered down to my own level.

Hold on, weren't alicorns somewhat supremely rare? I thought I heard there were only four in existence, or something close to that. Celestia was one, so was this mare related to her in any wa-- hey hey whoa Stop right there That's close Enou--!

"Back! BACK, YOU FIEND!!" I hissed while scooting a little further behind, making sure to showcase my admittedly tiny fangs to the giant pink monster barely a couple feet away from me.

She flinched backwards at the sight of my fangs, looking during that very moment as if she was entranced, reliving a flashback. She eventually shook her head, nervously sitting on her haunches as she observed me while keeping her distance out of... a bit of fear? Nervousness? Sadness. Guilt, Happiness Pity RemorseJoyHOPE-- Gah!

Emotionally, she was such a wreck that I actually didn't know what to make of her. There was a bit of love and compassion, completely overshadowed by her hope and sorrow which in turn were mixed in with a very large amount of guilt and remorse of all things. Outwardly, however, she almost looked completely fine despite it all. While I couldn't even begin to guess the source of most of those conflicting emotions, if there was something I could be semi-sure of, it was that she didn't seem to possess any sort of ill-intent towards me, for the most part at least...

But where the heck was Lara? Why didn't I wake up next to her? Was I forcefully taken away? She... she didn't...

She didn't just leave me... did she?

That... thought actually made me a lot more sad than I thought it would...

After noticing me slump and probably realizing that I still didn't have any semblance of trust in her yet, the mare decided to lay down on her belly and look as non-threatening as possible. Rather, as non-threatening as a giant horse with a lengthy spear on its forehead could be, splaying her ears back and lowering her head all the way down to the floor, seemingly in a gesture of peace.

"(Hey, it's alright, I'm not going to hurt you)" she cooed with a soft, quiet voice. As if she was talking to a baby, which I technically was. "(I just want to be your friend.)"

...Well, she wasn't treating me like the unicorn I had met at least. The lack of cage and manhandling was certainly a welcome thing.

"(I'm... I'm actually your cousin, you know? I mean, we aren't b-blood related in any way, so I guess that makes us step-cousins, but, it's the thought that counts, right?)"

Oddly enough, her emotions spiked all over the place for a split second once she stuttered on that one word. And yet, I got the impression that by now she was just talking for the sake of getting me used to her and come out of my little 'safety zone'.

But...

...I mean, there's nothing that's actually stopping her from just grabbing me right then and there, right? She could've tried to scare me, force me out, maybe even do that weird thing the unicorn did and move my body "magically" without my consent, but if she's actually trying to gently coax me out instead of forcing the issue, then... maybe...

I ever-so-slowly took a cautious step towards her as the door next to me opened.

Her eyes widened in surprise at my movement, her expression soon turning to joy.

An oddly familiar pony wearing some weird clothes tiredly trotted into the room.

I stepped forth a little more confidently, feeling myself lured in by the alicorn's faint but tasty love--

"(Seriously? I've been knocking on the door for the past... minute... what are you two doing?)" asked Lara.

"HEY! Do you mind!? We're having our little bonding moment here!" I huffed, turning back to look at my potential-new-friend.

...

I did a double take.

"LARA!!"

The surprised pegasus all of a sudden had an overjoyed changeling necklace ~~choking~~ hugging her vehemently.

"(N-nice, to see... y-you, too... Artemis... ack!)"

...Why was her face turning blue?

Oh, right. Breathing! That's a thing.

Lara gasped for breath as I hugged her just a little less tightly.

"(See, what I meant, by clingy and affectionate?)" she said between breaths, sitting on her haunches to return my hug with her forelegs.

The pink one giggled-- wait, had she been frowning for a split second there? Meh, I'm too happy to see Lara to ponder on that.

Jealous "(I guess I do now, but what exactly did you two do together to bond? I mean, how long did it take to get her to like you that much?)" She curiously asked in a deceptively chipper tone.

"(...What do you mean?)"

Once Lara had relented from hugging me, I maneuvered myself around her chest to reach the back of her neck, climbing up to her head...

"(I'm not the Princess of L-love for nothing.)" Another spike of varied emotions. "(I can literally sense the lo... how much she likes you! You can even see it from how she's behaving around you.)" The alicorn's eyes followed my movements, stifling a giggle. "(Why else would she decide to hide in your mane under your hat to nuzzle your head, the most intimate of all places to do so?)"

'ERMAHGERSH, THINE HAIR ISH SHO SHOFT AND FLUFFEH!!'

"(Err, while I am not entirely certain of it yet, perhaps that since I was the first pony Artemis saw and that I've been essentially taking care of her ever since she was practically born, she's come to believe that I am her mother?)"

Oooh, I liked the sound of that last word.

"(Mother!)" I happily proclaimed as my head popped out from under Lara's hat.

Lara froze and the pink one looked at me in surprise, her emotions betraying a slight increase in envy amongst other generally-positive feelings usually attributed to seeing something adorable.

And... okay, apparently it was Lara's turn to have her emotions all over the place, though her joy somehow felt... restrained.

Maybe I shouldn't say words that I don't know the meaning of yet.

Maybe.

For now I'll just... slowly slide my way back under Lara's hat...

"(...I know you said she was very intelligent, but I somehow doubt that she knows what 'mother' actually means. Are you sure she wasn't merely parroting you up until now?)"

I popped out of the hat once more to glare intently at the larger pony whom had somehow taken away a large chunk of Lara's happiness.

"(In any case!)" Lara proclaimed a little louder than normal, "(I know the sun has not risen yet but, seeing as Princess Luna's outburst woke both of you up just like I am certain the entirety of Canterlot heard her, I thought I'd come and check up on Ar-- errm, that is, offer to, um... make us breakfast! Yes. It IS nearly morning, after all.)"

"(Oh. Well of course! I'd really lo-- like to try out your cooking! You must've learned quite a few tricks from having to make your own meals for so long!)" The mare replied happily.

Lara then turned around to pass through the shimmering exit, leaving the room after I made my way down to her back-- whoa, now I really wanted to know where we were. This enormous lobby was the kind of room that belonged in large mansions! And... was that GOLD I saw embellishing some of the furniture down there!?

"(If you don't mind me asking)" began Lara as she trotted towards some stairs while I looked at everything around us in awe from her back, "(why didn't you answer when I was knocking on the door? You certainly weren't asleep since I found you both out of bed once I entered.)"

"(Ah, that.)" The trailing pony sheepishly stated. "(I probably didn't hear it since I've had to cast just a liiittle sound-proofing spell in our room. Your snoring was... quite special, all things considered.)"

Lara stopped after reaching the bottom of the stairs, looking back towards the alicorn while I could then properly stare at more of the lobby's contents. "(I... really? It couldn't have been THAT bad--)"

"(I honestly thought a manticore had somehow found a way to sneak into your room.)"

Lara raised an eyebrow, opening her muzzle as if to say something before opting against it, continuing to trot towards one of the side rooms at the lobby's ground level.

"(Does Artemis get nightmares often, though? Her trembling while sleeping was what got me awake, in fact.)"

Worried "(Nightmares...?)" Lara asked before stopping and quickly turning towards me. "(What did they do to you out there!?...)" she whispered while examining my tiny body all over, though I couldn't tell whether she was talking to herself or to me.

"Hey! Less worrying, more love!" I chirped while giving her snout a boop since it was within reach.

She recoiled slightly and went cross-eyed for a moment while scrunching her muzzle, making me giggle as she then looked somewhat confused.

I noticed that I've been giggling a lot nowadays. I felt like it was wrong, like it was something I should've, or would've been actively trying to avoid doing but, at the same time, I wasn't sure why. What was wrong with...

Ah, right! Giggling was usually viewed as the 'feminine' way of 'chuckling'. And I was a girl at the moment.

...Shit. I've been trying to avoid thinking about that...

"(I don't think she's had any nightmares during the time I took care of her...)" Lara eventually said. "(Though, she did sleep for the entire day and night following her hatching day, despite all my attempts to wake her up. You could imagine how worried I was that something might've been wrong, at the time.)"

The alicorn nodded, looking at me in worry. "(...I'll be back in just a moment.)" She said, yawning. "(Bathroom.)"

Trotting to one of the numerous doors, she left us alone as she entered it and closed the door behind her.

I jumped off of Lara's back and ran up in front of her, standing at attention with a content expression while she followed me with her gaze.

"(Oh, come here, you)" she lovingly cooed, throwing all decorum to the wind and spreading her forelegs in a wide hugging gesture. I happily obliged, pouncing on her chest where she caught me and began nuzzling my face.

Never in either of my lifetimes had I ever gotten such a great, succulent breakfast.

Mmm...

Sitting on her haunches, Lara then held me at the tip of her forelegs, where she--

I squeaked as she playfully threw me upwards, catching me before I could fall all the way to the ground, whereupon she began repeating the action.

*Throw* *Catch*

Huh. I never thought I'd say this, but--

*Throw* *Catch* *Giggle*

--This was somehow entertaining to the point--

*Throw* *Catch*

--That I couldn't stop the happy grin on my face from forming--

*Throw* *Catch*

--And yet, every time she--

*Throw* *Catch*

--I just, I had the urge--

*Throw* *Catch*

--The need, the need for--

*Throw*

...

...

"(Wha-- you can FLY already!?)" Lara exclaimed in surprise, watching me float higher and higher with my little buzzing wings, steadily reaching the ceiling.

Except I had no idea how to steer, still. But, maybe if I timed this right and rolled over at just the right moment, I could... Nngh! YES! The ceiling was mine!

I happily waved up/down at my bewildered friend with a foreleg.

"(Riiight, I forgot you could do that.)" She said with raised eyebrows, looking up at me.

"(Do what?)" asked the pink mare, whom had just returned without a bed head and appearing more energetic overall.

Target sighted.

"(Oh! Well--)"

Worry "(Where's Artemis?)" interrupted the alicorn, glancing around.

Calculating trajectory...

"(She's--)"

"(You didn't lose her, did you!?)" The mare slightly panicked.

Trajectory set, preparing launch...

"(Calm yourself, Princess! She's still in the room)" Lara quickly replied, thankfully avoiding looking at the ceiling.

Firing in 3, 2, 1...

"(...Oh? Were you two playing a game? Did you somehow manage to teach her 'hide and seek'?)"

Clamps released, initiating surprise tackle--

"(You could say that.)"

"(There aren't many places where she could hide, though)" the alicorn giggled, walking around a table to look under it-- wait...

TARGET MOVED!! TRAJECTORY FAILURE!!! ABORT! ABOR--

*Thud*

"...Ow." I hissed quietly while both ponies yelped and jumped back in surprise at the 'dark object' that fell from out of nowhere next to them. On a soft carpet, fortunately.

I slowly got back on my four hooves, head spinning-- Never mind, Lara grabbed me almost immediately and frantically began inspecting my body for injuries. Which were thankfully non-existent.

"(...What just happened!? She wasn't there a moment ago!)" The alicorn asked, confused.

Lara breathed a sigh of relief on realizing that I was completely fine. I mean I'd hope so, otherwise I wouldn't be happily smiling back at that very moment, much less hugging her as hard as I was.

"(It's, she, um...)" Lara said while looking at the larger pony, "(just... look.)"

She trotted up to a nearby wall, grabbed me and placed me in a way that my underside was facing the wall. I reflexively left my hooves stuck to it once she released me.

"(Wait, she can walk on walls!?)"

"(Indeed.)"

"(...Is that why you were looking up--)"

"(Uh-huh.)"

"(And she just fell!?)" the alicorn exclaimed, looking up at the high ceiling. "(From UP THERE!?)"

"(Yep! It is quite fortunate that her external skin is made of chitin. Unless she were a pegasus, there would be at least a broken bone or two from falling that high.)"

"(B-but... shouldn't you be scolding her for doing something so dangerous!? What if she DID hurt herself from doing something similar!?)"

Lara looked at me for a moment before she grabbed me again, holding me in front of her as she faced the agitated pink pony. "(Look into her sparkling eyes, and tell me you can stay mad at her for more than two seconds.)"

"Hi!" I chirped.

The alicorn looked like she was trying to resist something for a split second before she 'gave up'. "(Alright, you win. She probably can't understand us either way, so scolding her would accomplish nothing to begin with.)"

Lara hummed in agreement, carefully placing me on her back to carry me as she trotted towards one of the rooms.

"(Well, since Artemis is fine, I guess we might as well just move on to breakfast.)"

The alicorn wordlessly nodded, making random cute baby faces at me while she followed us. The fact that she was actually attempting to amuse me with those was frankly hilarious to watch.

Our destination led us towards what seemed to be a sort of mix between a kitchen and a dining room. Oddly enough, the appliances I could see for the kitchen looked... normal.

Normal for humans, that is.

This world's advancements in technology baffled me. The ponies I had seen were using bows and spears as weapons, yet here I was in a room containing what would be considered a 'modern kitchen' back on Earth. Or maybe they had actually made more advances in this field than we had? I mean, I didn't know the extent of what magic could do yet, if it was even being used by these appliances...

Then again, despite what I had seen during operation 'Tomb Raider', maybe ponies in general were simply much more peaceful than I thought, which would explain the lack of advanced weapons. Unless the ponies at that jungle were merely bandit wannabes. That would explain everything.

Lara stopped near what I assumed was the fridge, looking between me and the kitchen before almost imperceptibly wincing.

"(Could you...)" she hesitated, fidgeting a bit, "(...hold on to Artemis while I prepare us some pancakes? It shouldn't take lo--)"

"(Of course!)" the alicorn suddenly beamed, her horn beginning to glow before Lara could finis--

"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU--!?" I screeched with my legs flailing in panic as I suddenly found myself floating towards the overexcited mare. My outburst startled her, which meant I was then falling since whatever energy was making me float was gone.

Lara quickly caught me in an embrace before I could hit the ground, though I probably wouldn't have felt anything from such a small drop to begin with, especially considering that I had survived a fall from the top of a towering tree, landing on a rock no less.

"(PRINCESS CADANCE!!)" Lara barked angrily at the pink one while holding me tightly, as if my life depended on it.

The alicorn splayed her ears against her head and quickly backpedalled a bit, her body slumping while remorse and guilt flowed from her in droves.

"(I... I-I'm sorry! It's just, I... got a little bit excited, I suppose...)" she quietly said, lowering her head in shame.

Lara's expression softened, slowly diverting her gaze away from the mare to instead look at my innocent eyes, which were staring back lovingly. "(Just... don't use magic on Artemis directly and avoid startling her, she doesn't seem to be very fond of surprises.)"

She discreetly hugged me a little bit tighter before reluctantly holding me out in front of herself, at which point the other mare slowly walked over and crouched, moving her own withers under me.

Except... I wasn't sure how I felt about being carried by someone that wasn't Lara, especially considering this alicorn didn't seem to be too emotionally stable even though it currently wasn't as bad as when I had woken up...

I guessed Lara was able to see how tense I was since she promptly came closer and nuzzled me soothingly.

"(Hey, it's alright, Cadance is a good pony, she means well. I'll be right over here)" she first pointed to herself and then to the general area the kitchen section occupied. "(Okay?)"

...Oh. Well, as long as she didn't leave me completely alone with this mare, I guess I would be fine with this while she made food or something.

"Okay..." I uncertainly chirped, nodding.

Lara lingered for a second or two before moving away towards the kitchen while the nervous pony I was on carried me to the large round table surrounded by fluffy pillow-seats, which was situated in the other half of the room. As soon as we were close enough, I leapt off of the alicorn and onto the table, though I didn't stray too far from her. She really seemed to be trying to win my affection from what I could tell, both from her remorse at startling me and from how she was trying her best to be 'nice' to me, despite the recent hiccup.

And if Lara could trust her with me, then I... I probably could do so as well. Though, I should probably figure out a nickname for her at this point. Can't keep calling her "the pink one" constantly...

She was nervously clapping her fore hooves together while observing me with a hopeful smile, though in the meantime I was pondering on suitable names. The irony was not lost on me when I realized that the 'baby' was the one trying to name the adult.

'Perhaps... Pinkie?'

A mare in Ponyville sneezed confetti through her nostrils.

'Nah, that one's too obvious. Hmm...'

"(Miss Yearling? Have you tried to teach her Equestrian during the time you two spent together?)" Lola asked after a moment as she turned to Lara.

No, no, that's a little too similar to 'Lara'. I should probably find an alternate name...

"(I... don't think I have, actually)" Lara replied in-between flipping something on what was most likely a stove with a spatula expertly held with her mouth. She looked like she was in a hurry to finish whatever she was making, for some reason.

Juliet visually perked up at Lara's words, turning to face me with renewed excitement as she repeatedly cleared her throat to gain my attention. "(My, name, is. Cadance. Ca-dan-ce.)" She sweetly began, pointing towards herself as she clearly enunciated the last word. "(Caaa-daaan-ce)"

Wait, was she...?

"(Your, name, is. Artemis. Arrr-te-miiis.)" she continued, pointing towards me this time.

...Was she trying to teach me her name and mine? Well, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that they'd name me, though I'd have to figure out how to translate Artemis into their language, eventually.

I looked at Lara, who seemed to be paying extra attention to our 'conversation' if her perked ears facing our direction meant anything.

'Cadance' followed my gaze. "(Her, name, is. Yearling. Yeeaar-liiing.)"

Oh, so that's what her name actually was?

...Meh, she would still be Lara to me. I guess Cadance's nicknaming was pretty short-lived, in the end.

I smiled and waved at Lara who had turned around to face us from across the room on hearing her name, happily returning the gesture to me before resuming her cooking.

I faced Cadance.

"My name, is... Cadance" I said with my girli- Childish voice, pointing at myself after trying to remember what were hopefully the right words.

She looked at me weirdly. "(What?) N--"

"Your name is Artemis" I quickly interrupted, pointing at her.

She frowned adorably. "No! My name is Cadance!"

"No, MY name is Cadance!"

"YOUR name is ARTEMIS!"

"YOUR name is Artemis!"

Her eye twitched. "I'M CADANCE, YOU'RE ARTEMIS!!!"

"I'M Cadance, YOU'RE Artemis!"

Frustrated "(Just... STOP!) You (got it all wrong!)"

"(Just stop!) You (got it all wrong!)" I was enjoying every single moment of this, and judging by Lara's emotions she was trying (and nearly failing) to hold back a large amount of mirth, quietly snickering.

Cadance, in the meantime, was looking quite flustered with her cheeks adorably puffed like so. Her expression then swiftly changed, her emotions and barely concealed smirk betraying her mischievousness.

Ohoho, this should be the part where she'll end up saying something which would no doubt be self-degrading, fully expecting me to repeat it--

"(I'm stupid)"

--and I'd just quietly sit here.

I calmly smiled and nodded, adding to the effect.

Lara burst out in laughter while rolling on the floor, having seen the entire exchange. Cadance's imitation of a goldfish was absolutely hilarious, even though it eventually ended in a cute pout.

Once my laughing fit had resolved itself into quiet chuckles, I approached Cadance and threw myself at her, hugging her neck apologetically.

"You Cadance" I stated while she looked down on me in absolute shock at my sudden correction and show of affection. "I Artemis."

"(Told you she was smart!)" Lara called out between giggles from across the room, having barely regained her composure by then and returning her focus on finishing making 'breakfast'.

But Cadance didn't seem to hear what Lara said at all.

Her muzzle ever-so-slowly gained the widest of smiles, and she steadily brought her forelegs up to embrace me.

Right before emotionally exploding in an overwhelming amount of happiness.

"(Alright, here we are!)" Lara proclaimed, somehow balancing a large plate on her back as she happily made her way over. "(Delicious, freshly-made pan... cakes...)"

Her gait steadily slowed to a near-complete stop once she noticed our position, her face showing no emotion for a split second before forming a smile that seemed too wide to be genuine as she resumed her pace and set the overfilled plate on the table.

Huh, could've sworn I sensed a spike of jealousy, but why would she honestly feel that? It was probably just Cadance's close proximity and extreme happiness messing up with my empathy somehow.

...However she was quickly getting increasingly frustrated at how long Cadance had been ignoring the... pancakes? Huh, they had those on this world too. Too bad I most likely couldn't taste them seeing as they didn't look appetizing in any way. Though, I did feel pretty full already, so there's that.

Eventually Lara couldn't wait anymore and loudly cleared her throat, causing Cadance to stop nuzzling me and look around in surprise at the interruption, her gaze finally resting on the 'apparently' delicious-looking breakfast.

"(Oooh, they smell amazing! But how did you make so many so fast?)" she asked while licking her lips in anticipation.

"(Magic.)" Lara replied in an odd monotone while keeping her gaze on me.

"(Huh?)"

...Why the heck was Lara feeling hurt?

"(I'll get the syrup and butter.)" Lara stated, trotting back towards the kitchen.

"(...Ooookay?)" Cadance asked uncertainly, gently grabbing hold of me with her forelegs to set me on the table.

I honestly wasn't sure why Lara was still upset, seemingly with me if her blank stare had meant anything, but what did I do that was wrong!? All I did was 'talk' a little with Cadance and hug her!

...Well, no matter! I may be too small and 'young' at the moment to work or help with practically anything, but cheering her up was something I knew I could easily do, especially with this... cute little changeling body I had.

Thus, the moment she returned while balancing a few things on her back, I proceeded to run up to the ledge of the table towards Lara, sit on my haunches and lift my forelegs with a wide grin, performing the patented 'hug-me-plis™' pose typically employed by newborns across the world to great effects.

It was super effective.

...

...Hnngh! Okay, maybe a little too effective since I was having trouble breathing with the bone-crushing hug Lara was giving me after almost immediately scooping me up.

A light-blue glow surrounded the stuff on Lara's back, floating them to the table. I managed to crane my neck around to look at Cadance since, as far as I knew, she was the only one capable of doing that in this room, and she was looking at us with a smile. Not the "D'awww" kind of smile, however. It was the kind you get when you're trying to shrug off an insult or a hit, hiding your true emotions from a rival.

I wondered why she was feeling increasingly determined.

"(Miss Yearling?)" she semi-loudly asked, startling Lara out of our hug. "(Would you mind if I fed Artemis?)"

The pegasus holding me silently stared for a good while without blinking.

"(What did you give her to eat, actually?)" Cadance continued. "(Did you feed her herbs? Fruits and vegetables? Or did you, erm... did you...)" she trailed off, vaguely gesturing at the pegasus's barrel.

Lara looked flustered, blushing. "(I... No! I haven't done that! She, well... actually, she refused to eat anything during the entire time we were together.)"

The alicorn's pupils shrunk to pinpricks. "(You... you haven't given her ANYTHING TO EAT!?)"

"(I, w-well, that is, she--)"

"(OH YOU POOR LITTLE THING!!)" Cadance cried.

I was rapidly encompassed with the same light-blue glow from earlier and dragged across the air over the table to her chest where she held me comfortingly, though I wasn't nearly as surprised as last time considering I could sense her increasing shock. Really, it was just a matter of time before something irrational happened at this rate.

This somehow didn't seem too irrational, however...

"(Don't worry! I'll take better care of you!)" she proclaimed with a not-so-gentle hug.

Lara frowned. "(Hey now--!)"

"(Let's see if those cute little baby teeth of yours are all grown up!)" Cadance cooed, taking advantage of my bewilderedness to gently open my mouth so she could apparently take a look at my fangs. Or my teeth.

Wait, how did she grab my lower jaw with her hooves? Did they have this magnet feature thingy my own little hooves had? It almost felt like it, but it was really weak...

Cadance slightly flinched back almost immediately after having a peek at my mouth's insides, taking a deep breath while I closed my muzzle. "(Miss Yearling?)"

"(Yes?)" Lara answered in a clearly miffed tone, grabbing a stack of pancakes for herself and reaching for the syrup.

"(Were you aware that Artemis is a c-carnivore!?)" Cadance almost squeaked out, unsure of whether or not she wanted to push me away or keep me close.

"(I'm pretty sure it was a given with the fangs.)" Lara replied, stuffing an entire pancake in her muzzle afterwards without a care in the world for table manners.

The alicorn stared back and forth between my worried expression and Lara for some time. "(This... this doesn't bother you in the least?!?)"

Lara swallowed the food in her mouth, gazing at Cadance with a deadpan expression. "(Artemis is clearly intelligent. I doubt she would even think of hurting either of us and, if she was hungry, I am certain she would find a way to let us know. As I've said, I have not fed her anything yet, though I did offer herbs, which she clearly let me know she didn't want. And yet, not once had she complained or shown signs of hunger in our entire trip, nor have I seen her eat anything as well.)"

And with that, she resumed nibbling on her food, this time with a more calm demeanor and what I guessed was the 'proper' way to eat in 'civilized pony society'.

"(...But what about that time you mentioned the both of you had gotten separated? Are you sure she didn't eat anything then?)" Cadance asked after a short pause of contemplation. "(And by the way, I'd like to know how and why you two were separated to begin with.)" she continued with pursed lips.

Lara winced and chewed slightly slower, eventually answering with an empty mouth. "(I stand by what I just explained. I haven't seen her eat anything during our trip, and if she was hungry she'd let us know.)"

The alicorn frowned. "(But--)"

"(Please.)" Lara interrupted with a troubled expression, gazing down at the floor. "(I'd... rather not talk about that...)"

Nope, nuh-uh, not going to let Lara fall into sadness. Not only did it ironically taste like onions (which I wasn't too fond of), but it was kind of contagious to a certain extent due to my empathy.

I detached myself from Cadance, quietly trotting towards Lara under the curious gaze of the former.

Lara pushed away her plate of pancakes with a hoof. "(...I'm not really hungry anymo-- Oof!)" She yelped, startled as I suddenly glomped her neck.

"Shhh, there's no need to be upset." I crooned while nuzzling her fur before she promptly got over her surprise and returned my embrace.

Meanwhile, Cadance was looking back and forth between Lara and I, ultimately deciding to let us have our moment as she levitated a stack of pancakes for herself.

I freed myself from Lara's grasp after a short moment, leaping on the table and pushing her partly-finished meal back to her with the tip of my muzzle.

Lara chuckled. "(Alright alright, fine.)"

I gave a satisfied nod once she resumed eating--

"(Mmmmmph! Theesh pahncayksh ahr gud!)" Cadance exclaimed with her mouth full.

"(They're just regular pancakes, though. Nothing really special about these.)" Lara replied, puzzled.

She gulped. "(But it's been forever since I've had any!!)" the alicorn proclaimed before literally stuffing her face again.

"(...How!? You're a Princess! Don't you get to decide what you eat in the mornings?)"

Cadance was about to reply, until she realized she was physically unable to do so with the amount of flavorless food in her mouth.

Yes, I nibbled on a little piece from Lara's plate. No discernible taste, to my great displeasure.

She eventually finished chewing and swallowed, releasing a contented sigh. "(Exactly. I'm a Princess. The castle cooks insist that we need to eat a 'proper meal' in the morning to be ready for the day, or in Luna's case a proper 'dinner-breakfast' to start the night.)" She stared at her empty plate, disappointed in its lack of contents. "(Pancakes are unfortunately not what they consider to be part of a 'proper, healthy breakfast' for us Princesses.)"

"(Ah.)"

"(And you still haven't answered how you've made so many in such a short time!)" Cadance whined while pointing at Lara.

"(I already told you. Magic. It does usually take a bit longer, but those magical stoves you've got here easily work wonders.)" Lara said, waving a hoof dismissively towards the kitchen.

The alicorn stared at the remaining smaller stack of pancakes on the large plate, hunger clearly visible in her eyes.

Lara noticed. "(Those were meant for Artemis, buuut...)" she grabbed one from the stack and offered it to me. I scrunched my muzzle and pushed it away with a hoof. "(...I guess she doesn't want them, so you might as well go ahead and help yourse--)"

She didn't get to finish before the entire thing was already gone, the only trace left of what was supposedly meant for me being displayed by Cadance's bulging cheeks as she slowly chewed, her eyes closed in absolute bliss.

I looked back at Lara, and she still had two pancakes to go out of the seven she had started with.

"(Hmm, Celestia should be raising the sun any moment now.)" Cadance eventually stated after being done eating, reaching out with her forelegs to gently grab me. "(I'll be in the lobby with Artemis, so she can get a good view of--)"

"(Hokay! Letsh go!)" Lara immediately exclaimed, her plate suddenly empty.

Cadance blinked, internally disappointed for some reason as she began carrying me back to the lobby with Lara in tow, whom was making random cute little baby faces at me along the way.

I rolled my eyes, yet I still had to fight to keep myself from laughing.

I wasn't strong enough.

We seemed to be approaching a large window and, even though I could sense a very large multitude of presences in almost every direction, I wasn't prepared for the sight that revealed itself to me.

I could see what appeared to be an entire city below. There were very few beings up and about on the streets, ponies from what I could tell, walking by odd buildings that still had this sort of elegance to them, though the further I looked from where we were, the less extravagant they seemed to be.

What was really odd, however, was that entire sections of the 'lesser' areas seemed to be under construction. In fact, now that I observed more carefully, the buildings near our current location almost seemed... brand new.

Huh, these ponies really kept their buildings properly maintained, didn't they?

I was interrupted out of my musings when I sensed... something. It was VERY powerful, the energy somehow reaching out into the distant horizon across extreme distances.

And then an even STRONGER energy was felt, extending towards the opposite direction which fortunately happened to be in our view. I could almost literally see the beam of magic this time, powerful as it was.

Then the sun slowly rose from the distant horizon in an amazing, breathtaking view, signaling the start of a brand new day with its gentle warmth. I could already sense the awe from the ponies below, nearly all activity having stopped while the event played out.

"(It never gets old)" Cadance whispered, Lara nodding in agreement.

We all kept watching the rising sun until it was fully visible, though I soon turned to look at one of the doors in the lobby we were currently in. Since that one seemed larger and more ornate than the rest, I assumed it was the entrance to this house, but what caught my attention was the fact that someone was behind it for the past five minutes or so.

Lara eventually followed my gaze. "(What's wrong?)"

'You can do this! You've only been waiting for this all night!' the unicorn thought to herself in an attempt to dispel her nervousness. 'It's just a famous author and a little changeling foal that nopony knows about! No biggie, as Pinkie would say! Just an extremely famous author that just so happens to be one of your top favorites out of hundreds, an author whom is very very VERY successful in what she does and she's right there waiting for me and she's going to be writing the next book RIGHT HERE and Cadance is there too and I have to learn as much as I can about the little one and--'

"I CAN'T DO IT!!!" Twilight cried out right after quickly casting a sound muffling spell around her, dispelling it right afterwards and resuming her pacing.

'Princess Celestia said I had to go meet them after breakfast. I already had my breakfast, but did they? Did the Princess mean after I get mine or after they get theirs? How can I know if they've had breakfast!?'

"What's wrong?" Twilight faintly heard from the other side.

'Oh! They're awake! Now I just have to wait for the sun to rise and it would be the optimal time to enter!' She clapped her fore hooves together, happy to finally have a plan, simple as it was.

She looked at the time--

'AAAAHHHHH!!! SUNRISE WAS EXACTLY FIVE MINUTES AND TWELVE SECONDS AGO! I'M TAAARDYYY!!!'

She slammed the doors open with her magic, surprising A.K. Yearling whom was a hair-width away from getting hit by them.

There was an awkward silence as Twilight simply froze there with wide eyes, tiny pupils, a twitching eye and a frazzled mane, the list of questions she had carefully memorized and re-memorized for the author barely a few hooves away from her crumbling from being the center of attention of the two ponies she greatly admired.

The little changeling's expression was unreadable from across the large lobby, laying on her barrel on top of Cada-- Princess Cadance.

*Chirp?* It-- She squeaked.

Twilight Sparkle could've sworn that the chirp somehow sounded worried. She wondered why.

After all, Twilight was certain she was giving her widest of grins.

*Twitch*

Author's Note

Bonus deleted scenes:
https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/492111/deleted-scenes-maresitting-101

Eight thousand words, and we still haven't gotten past morning yet. :derpytongue2:

It was necessary, however. Character building was a must, and time skips won't really happen until Artemis is able to have a sort of routine going on. With all the new encounters that are pretty much going to occur over the next few chapters, it's safe to say she won't fall into one for some time.

[2] Baby don't huuurt meee~~

Celestia considered herself quite fortunate to be a morning pony.

...Of course, she did have an obligation to wake up early, being the one to raise the sun and all, but that was besides the point.

While most of Canterlot had been startled awake by the sudden tremor and odd cry of frustration from one of their Princesses, she was already preparing herself for the start of the day. Sunrise was due in a few minutes, thus she took the time to ponder about things.

Needless to say, her thoughts immediately went into thinking about the Castle's newest ~~guest~~ resident, Artemis.

From what she had managed to gather out of those that thought she wasn't listening, she could easily make out how her youngest niece would be viewed as, if she were to be revealed to the public anytime soon based on the way her ponies talked about and referred to changelings:

A disgusting bug.

Heartless creature.

Foal-eater.

Demon.

Monster.

Parasite.

Those who believed otherwise or merely sympathized with the nearly-extinct species were very few and far in-between, preferring to remain quiet about it as far as she could tell. The fact that her little ponies could be so xenophobic greatly saddened her.

However, had she not known that Terra was the leader, if not the mother of every deceased changeling, would she still be defending Artemis? Or would she have ended up thinking like most of Canterlot in regards to the changelings?

...The thought disturbed her.

She knew she still would've attempted to garner peace between the two species though, regardless of what was done.

Nevertheless, steps were already being taken to insure that the reveal of Artemis to the populace would be under a positive light, starting with the book that Miss A.K. Yearling would be writing. Celestia had noticed how glaringly apparent it was that the pegasus had bonded with the little one, despite the adventurous mare's reclusive nature. The Diarch of the Sun could safely claim without a doubt that the next title in the Daring Do series would showcase Artemis as a protagonist, and since the series itself was viewed as being one of the best ones out there, even by those whom considered themselves 'high class', the book would at least end up being read by most and hopefully would make her little ponies more open to the idea that the changeling could be a boon to Equestria.

It would still take time for most to accept the shape-shifter, of course. Time that was unfortunately becoming scarce a little too quickly for her liking. Even now, ponies were gossiping about possible reasons for the lockdown of an entire wing in the Castle.

Speaking of time, Celestia inherently knew the moment had come to raise the sun.

Trotting to the balcony attached to her room, she spotted her sister doing the same from her own tower, though the lunar alicorn seemed to hang her head just a tiny bit lower than usual. Nodding to each other despite the distance, they proceeded with their lifelong morning ritual.

In the hopes that Artemis would be watching the sunrise, however, Celestia decided to take her time with its upbringing, just this once. She would certainly be receiving a visit from the committee of daylight management for doing so, but if she could give her niece a good show, it would be well worth the rambling she would have to endure before calming down whomever the group ended up throwing at her. Almost literally, at times.

The deed done and the city gradually awakening for a new day, Celestia soon found herself in her private dining room, alone for the moment.

She sat down on her usual fluffy seat with her morning meal in tow, patiently waiting for Luna to arrive before she could start eating. Something was up with her sister, whom would no doubt vent her frustration once she'd come for breakfast, explaining what the big deal was all about in the process. It had happened quite a few times in the past, after all.

...Luna seemed to be taking a bit longer than usual to be present for their morning meal, though. Normally they'd already be eating together by then.

In the meantime, Celestia's thoughts drifted to her adopted niece, Cadance. She knew that the younger alicorn's psychological state was fragile at the moment, but she also knew that in order to heal, having something to hold on to, or someling in this particular case, could only help the process.

Besides, no matter how intelligent Artemis ended up being, she was still nothing but a newborn foal with next to no actual experience with life. Somepony needed to take care of her, protect her from the dangers of both society and the world, teach her what was good and what was bad, and so far Cadance was the best pony for the job, if not the only one available. Not only did the pink alicorn understand the temporary need for secrecy in regards to the nymph's existence, but she also had prior experience on the matter from foalsitting Twilight.

'Speaking' of Twilight Sparkle, Celestia wondered how she was doing at that moment. Her student certainly must've been with her nieces by now...

I stared in shock at the paralyzed purple pony laying down on the floor next to me as she drooled with a dopey expression on her face. Everything had been quiet for the past ten seconds or so.

Suddenly, it was as if time had resumed.

"Oh no, oh no no no!" Lara visibly panicked.

'Shit shit SHIT!'

Lara grabbed me, rapidly shaking my entire body with her forelegs. "Artemis! (What have you DONE!?)"

"LARA! WHAT HAVE I DONE!?"

Her student must've been having so much fun learning about adorable changeling foals! Perhaps she was even teaching Artemis a thing or two with the help of Cadance.

'Oh I can't wait for little Artemis to do the cute sunshine dance that Cadance does with Twilight!' Celestia smiled, resisting the urge to squeal like a giddy school-filly at the mental picture.

Luna suddenly warped into the room--

"Tia! We hath once more gazed upon the young changeling within the realm of dreams!" The alicorn exclaimed, almost jumping up and down out of sheer excitement.

Celestia blinked in surprise. "Oh?"

"But then the dream colla~a~apsed!" Luna cried, throwing her forelegs in the air before slouching on her own seat while her head rested on the table, pouting sadly. "We were this close to finally having the current location of the dreamer revealed to Us with Our spell!" She whined as she brought both her forehooves together, practically in contact with each other, watching very closely to make sure the 'distance' was perfectly accurate.

"I'm... sure you'll see her again, soon enough." Celestia cryptically replied, her face devoid of any expression as she hid her grin, reaching for her specially prepared tea with her magic.

Luna's eyes widened in disbelief. "B... b-but, Sister! 'Tis about what is possibly the last remnant of Terra that We speak of! Surely thou art concerned about the foal's wellbeing!? How can thou calmly sit on thy plushy seat without knowing if the little one is currently safe!?" she stammered.

Celestia chose that moment to take a sip of her tea, intentionally making it as noisy as possible.

After a short moment, Luna had slowly begun squinting her eyes. "Thou knows something We do not."

The Sun Princess gently set her cup down.

...And then levitated it to her lips once more, taking another steady, obnoxiously loud slurp of her brew.

"...Would it have anything to do with the restriction of one of my favorite sections of the castle?" Luna asked, getting back on her hooves.

"Well it--"

"It is, isn't it?" Luna interrupted, horn charging up in preparation for a quick teleport--

"No, wait!" Celestia exclaimed, reaching out to her sister with a hoof.

The teleport was canceled, though the lunar alicorn remained ready for another one.

"I already told you that I closed the area because I have a... surprise for you, but it's not ready yet!"

Luna paused, before her eyes then twinkled with mirth. "Another one of your 'attempts' at a prank, I presume?" She snickered. "That last one was--"

"N-no!" Celestia stuttered, a hint of a blush appearing on her cheeks as she looked down at the very interesting floor from remembering what was, indeed, an attempt. "As much as our pranks are helpful distractions that stop me from thinking too much about... Terra," her ears drooped slightly, "this surprise isn't a prank," she muttered.

The mention of their deceased sister immediately brought the mood down, both alicorns remaining quiet for a few moments in respectful silence of the sibling they had lost.

Luna eventually brought her gaze back up, looking at Celestia questioningly. "Where is she right now, by the way?" she quietly asked. "I... would like to see her again, before going to bed."

"...I personally dug out a room in the crystal caverns, right near the secret entrance to the caves from hall D2. She's... in there. Surrounded by a stasis spell for preservation," Celestia answered somberly.

Luna thoughtfully nodded in agreement of the tomb's location. "She always did enjoy exploring caves and the underground more than most ponies."

"Which is why I thought it would be an appropriate resting place for her. I'm certain it's what she would have wanted..." Celestia weakly smiled in remembrance of times long past. "I took the liberty to decorate the room with the crystal memory shards of our times together."

"The ones we had stored in our old Castle within the Everfree?"

"Indeed."

"I'll... see about bringing the gift that I had been working on for her as well, when I'll go visit."

"...You finished it?" Celestia asked, surprised, to which Luna nodded. "I'm sure she would've liked it..."

"You know, I can still recall the times when she would skip our lessons with Starswirl to go on her little adventures," Luna added with her own nostalgic smile, "or to simply go and look for somepony that needed help with anything. She loved taking care of others..."

"Especially foals. Though, she also had this weird fascination with insects..." Celestia muttered.

After a short while of reminiscing, however, Luna lost her sad smile and hung her head a little lower. "Why do you think Discord went after her, of all ponies?" she asked. "T'would've been more likely that she would attempt to befriend him than pose any sort of threat!"

Celestia sighed. "You know very well that there's no reasoning with him. The first thing he did when he broke out a few months ago was create cotton candy clouds and rain chocolate milk across all of Equestria!" she exclaimed. "...Well, that is, after he apologized to his pedestal for having stood on it for so long, proceeding to stretch the stiffness out of it, and then having a two-sided conversation with the 'statue of victory' about the 'dreadful weather'."

"...That seemed oddly specific for a description of what he did the moment he broke free," Luna remarked.

Celestia tiredly brought a hoof against her temple. "He locked me in my room, prevented me from leaving it by restricting the usage of my horn and wings, and finally placed a screen that covered an entire wall, showing me every single detail of his escape - repeatedly, I might add - as well as the progress of Twilight and her friends as they... became the opposite of the elements they represented."

Luna cringed. "That must've been painful to observe."

"The screen was upside down," Celestia agreed with a nod.

The lunar Alicorn stared for a few seconds before applying a forehoof directly on her forehead. "We meant watching the element bearers devolve into chaos."

"That as well," Celestia honestly replied. "Fortunately, he hadn't prevented me from sending letters back to young Spike to help Twilight rally her friends. Though, I... might have been somewhat desperate and overzealous in their delivery," she sheepishly grinned. "Spike was a little upset with me when he and his friends arrived in Canterlot for their celebration, what with all the mail he had received."

"I'm just relieved I didn't have to face Discord again," Luna confessed. "Still, had I known he had broken free of his imprisonment, I would've returned from my trip to Zebrica as soon as I could've. Nopony should ever have to endure him alone."

The Diarch of the Moon then noticed the as-of-yet untouched breakfast that Celestia had brought, and she couldn't hide the mischievous smirk that very briefly occupied her muzzle.

"However, I can see that your food has gone cold, Tia." Luna stated.

A cake suddenly materialized out of thin air, enveloped by Luna's magical aura as the Princess of the Moon regarded her sister with a deceptively calm expression.

"Would you perchance prefer to partake in some cake instead?" she eagerly asked out of the blue. Perhaps a little too eagerly, some would say.

Celestia blinked. "Oh, why thank you Lulu--!" she happily beamed before finally registering the alarm bells loudly ringing in her mind. Memories flashed by from back before Luna's banishment, where her sister had taken to mixing 'harmless' potions in her food, one time causing her voice to drop to a deep, baritone tone.

For an entire week.

No, she would not fall for it this time!

"...But I'll have to decline." Celestia continued, forcing herself to keep a straight face as she spoke those words. Words that shouldn't ever be mentioned when cake was involved. "Why don't you eat it? You haven't brought any other food with you, after all." She suggested, resigning herself to begin eating her own cold breakfast.

"Art thou-- you certain you don't want it?" Luna quickly asked as if she didn't expect her sister to outright refuse the 'gift', levitating the plate radiating with frosty goodness a little closer to the alabaster alicorn. "I know it's your favorite kind!" she blurted.

And it was, to Celestia's dismay.

"I... I'm already satisfied with this great, delicious breakfast," she replied, resisting the urge to bite the bottom of her lip in an effort to keep a neutral mask, promptly resigning herself to eat her bland meal with a little more 'enthusiasm' than usual.

Luna sagged, then sighed despondently. "Very well."

...Right before she began eating the cake with no side effects whatsoever, chewing as slowly as she could, exaggeratedly moaning in delight at every bite, savoring each and every single chunk of cake to its fullest right in front of her pastry-loving sister, whose left eye almost imperceptibly twitched.

"Mmm, I can see why you like these so much!" Luna joyfully exclaimed as she eventually finished eating the entire treat, happily patting her barrel with a satisfied grin. "Such a shame that it was the last one in stock..."

Celestia pursed her lips and refused to meet her sister's gaze. 'I-it's fine, let her believe it was really the last one,' she thought to herself. 'I still have my private stash--'

"I wasn't referring to the kitchen's stores, though those have been mysteriously emptied as well," Luna continued, strutting towards the room's exit. "A simple closet is a poor location to stash one's entire 'secret' supply of cake after all, wouldn't you agree?"

Luna trotted out of the doorway, the shattering of a teacup from the room behind her sounding like music to her ears as she closed the door. A couple patrolling guards were then watching her prance about the hallway happily, wondering why their Princess was gallivanting like so.

The Diarch of the Moon briefly paused as she passed by them. "We suggest thou cover thine ears post-haste." She chimed with an odd grin before continuing on her merry way.

They did so without hesitation, understanding immediately dawning on them after hearing the request from that particular Princess. The force of the upcoming shout would end up blasting the nearby door open, revealing a... 'slightly' upset, and very determined Celestia.

Suffice to say, the prank war had become official.

==============================================

Lara stroked my hair while I buried my face in her fur.

"Shhhh, (it's okay Artemis, the scary unicorn won't bother you anymore--)"

"I K-KILLED SOMEONE!!" I loudly wailed, tears freely flowing as they stained my friend's coat.

Lara kept making shushing noises in the meantime, trying to comfort me as if nothing was wrong. As if the unicorn I had reflexively bitten in my surprise and subsequently injected venom into was somehow fine.

"(...So how do you know that Miss Twilight will be alright?)" The pegasus gave a side glance to Cadance without interrupting her calming massage on me. "(I haven't heard of anypony suffering from any sort of changeling venom and I didn't even know that Artemis could do that!)"

"I'm a m-murderer!" I bawled.

Cadance winced at Lara's words. "(Let's just say I experienced it first-hoof from... Artemis's m-mother, and leave it at that,)" she answered, shuddering in a mixture of fear, sadness and guilt before shaking her head to clear it. "(It's merely a non-lethal paralytic substance, from what I know. Twilight should be fine in a few minutes or so.)"

"She's going to die and it's all my fau~ult!" I cried.

The unicorn tried to grumble something, one of her hind legs twitching helplessly as she quickly calmed down once Cadance was done speaking.

"*hic* I didn't m-mean to bite her!"

Everything had happened so fast.

One moment she was standing at the entryway with a face that honestly looked deranged, very rapidly gazing back and forth between Lara and I while radiating nervousness as if her next words would determine the fate of the world, and then... then came a series of rapid flashes. I suddenly found myself right in front of her, the world was spinning, she was looking at me with that terrifying expression and she was blabbering rapidly and too close and flashes and I didn't know her and neither Lara nor Cadance were anywhere near not safe danger-- *Thud*

Her right foreleg was the first limb to become unresponsive as I injected my venom after a quick tackle. It took me a few seconds to realize that I still had my mouth clamped on it, actually, once I had returned to being able to think rationally.

I shuddered at the memory, though no matter how much I wanted to berate myself for what I had done, Lara's soothing and gentle ministrations made it really difficult to stay sad and angry at myself.

Cadance then gave a sympathetic glance.

To me.

Before staring at the paralyzed unicorn with a disappointed expression.

She... w-what!? But... but that didn't make any sense! Sh-she should be angry with me! She should be seething in rage at the injustice of it all, or maybe even crying for the friend she was about to lose! She shouldn't instead be looking like she was about to reprimand the crazy purple pony--

"(Did you learn your lesson about being careful around foals?)" Cadance chided, speaking to the purple one.

The immobilized mare gurgled something that vaguely sounded in the affirmative, not panicking in the least about her impending doom, instead feeling ashamed and... sheepish?

...

I... calmed down somewhat, realizing that they were all more concerned about me than the unicorn that... now that I actually observed more carefully, seemed to be completely fine, aside from not being able to move. Breathing was regular, no discernible sweat, all-in-all there was a lack of symptoms that would point out to something being very wrong...

...

Did I just overreact over nothing?

...H-heh, now I kind of felt silly. And relieved.

Mostly relieved.

"(Are you sure you haven't done any foalsitting before, Miss Yearling?)" Cadance asked as she levitated the remorseful lavender pony to a nearby couch after I slowly stopped sniffling. "(You seem to know exactly what to do to calm down Artemis.)"

"N-nooooo, don't stop rubbing my back!" I quietly chittered when Lara momentarily paused, my wings automatically drooping to the sides in order to give her room so that she could continue her 'massage' while I lowered my eyelids in contentment. "Feels too good..." I crooned in delight.

"(Well, I... haven't really done any foalsitting,)" began Lara, nuzzling me afterwards, "(but, this... it honestly feels like it's what I'm supposed to do. I didn't even think about what I was doing, or am doing, it just sort of happens, and it feels... right.)"

The unicorn got excited, and I saw her horn starting to glow again. One of the notebooks that she had teleported into the room began to light up along with a quill, the aura slowly encompassing the items until her horn quickly fizzled out and everything dropped.

She was confused, beginning to panic at the fact that her magic was seemingly disabled, though she still kept trying to levitate those same items over and over again.

Cadance quickly noticed the unicorn's repeated attempts.

"(Twilight, stop! Trying to use magic while under the effects of the venom will only make it last longer!)"

She immediately stopped trying to levitate things, her eyes moving to stare between Cadance and her notebook with huge pupils in a pleading manner, like she wanted the alicorn to do something with it.

Cadance seemed to miss the look though, her attention returning to Lara.

"(Well, Miss Yearling, now that we're all here, what else can you tell us about Artemis?)" She asked while preventing her giddiness from showing too much.

The unicorn was desperately trying to reach her stuff with her forelegs if the slight twitching of her limbs was of any indication.

"(Please, just call me Yearling,)" replied Lara, moving me to a more comfortable position as she set her rump down on a fluffy cushion. "(And there isn't really much to say that you don't know already, really...)"

"(There has to be something you haven't told us about Artemis!)" Cadance exclai-- Whoa, when did she sit down right next to us?

The purple pony whimpered almost inaudibly, redoubling her efforts in her impossible quest to 'acquire notebook', completely unnoticed by my two friends.

In the meantime, Cadance was cooing at me and doing cutesy gestures with her forehooves in an entertaining fashion while Lara seemed to go into deep thought, staring at the ceiling.

"(...Well, there is one thing,)" she eventually said as she turned to face Cadance, though the alicorn quickly stopped doing her motions before Lara could notice.

The unicorn, in a spike of frustration, eventually forced her horn to light up once more and finally managed to float her quill and notebook to herself, a giddy grin spreading itself on her muzzle as she quickly wrote a few words on it... but then the energy winked out, and her body kind of looked like it rapidly stiffened as everything fell to the floor once more, not making much of a sound since the stuff landed on a carpet.

"(Artemis seemed to be obsessed with fire,)" Lara continued, oblivious to the purple pony's struggles while detaching me from her own chest -with great effort- and setting me down in front of herself, whereupon I pouted at both of them from the severe lack of cuddling. "(She kept trying to touch the flames from my fireplace with her bare hooves, for some reason.)"

"(Ohh! So that's why you turned it off in the first place!)" exclaimed Cadance in realization.

...You know, I've been wondering about something ever since I met Cadance.

I gingerly trotted up to her while she was sitting on her haunches, reaching for one of her forelegs once I was close enough, all the while being under the watchful gaze of pretty much everyone in the room, though the unicorn did so half-heartedly after giving up on moving altogether.

Sheesh, you'd think I was the main attraction or something. The moment I moved or did anything, they'd all act as if everything revolved around me.

...

Well, that actually might be the case, seeing as I'm most likely an unknown species to them. There was also the fact that I was kind of a newborn under their care.

...For now.

I had almost grabbed one of Cadance's forehooves when she began moving it away from me--

"No no wait!" I quickly chirped, tackling the limb and hanging onto it with my own forelegs, the lower half of my body dangling in mid-air. After a bit of wrestling and maneuvering, I managed to cling to the leg with all of my hooves.

"(...What is she doing?)" bemusedly asked Cadance, keeping still once I started examining her fur very closely.

'There's no way this can be your natural coat color...' I thought with squinted eyes while trying to move her fur a bit with my muzzle in an attempt to see if Cadance had actually dyed her entire body pink (minus her... very pretty multicolored mane and tail). To my surprise, the hairs were pink all the way to the base of each individual strand that I could see.

"(I... don't really know. Perhaps it's a changeling thing?)" Lara suggested, holding back a giggle.

I climbed up her leg and neck to reach her head, then did the same check on her mane. I didn't really know how to figure out if some dye was applied, but as far as I could tell, Cadance's entire coloration seemed to... somehow be completely natural.

Envy "(It's kind of cute, though)" Lara added.

I mean, I had seen ponies with odd fur coloration at that fortress in the jungle, but I merely assumed then that they had used some sort of paint to give themselves tribal markings and such. However, if ponies could actually have pink coats from birth, I guessed that blue, red and yellow were also possible colorations for their fur, as strange as that was.

But, just to make sure...

I leapt off of the alicorn, making my way towards the unicorn on the couch while Cadance seemed to be considering whether or not she wanted to fix her mane after my inspection.

However, I stopped mid-way and craned my neck around to look at Lara, sensing a decent amount of disappointment flowing out of her.

...Huh, never mind, she's not disappointed, but she's giving me a hopeful smile. Not sure for what, though.

I resumed my trotting to the unicorn, ignoring Lara's mood swings for the moment. She could be weird, sometimes.

"(Maybe it's something changelings do to those they like! Like a sign of affection!)" Cadance happily proclaimed as Lara slumped a little more before I pounced on top of the purple pony, causing the paralyzed mare to panic.

Yeesh, just how long did my venom last?

"(...I'm more inclined to believe in the opposite, considering I doubt she likes Miss Twilight very much at the moment,)" Lara soon shot back with a smug smile as I began shuffling... err...

...Okay, I should probably ask for this pony's name at this point.

"Is?" I asked Cadance and Lara, pointing at the unicorn that I was proudly standing on top of.

They stared at me confusedly with tilted heads, though I was sure I pronounced it right... or, hmm... maybe it was the other word?

"Name?" I tried again, to which their faces suddenly lit up in realization.

"Oh! *Ahem* Her, name, is. Twilight. Twiii-liiight," Cadance quickly answered with a cheerful grin.

"Twilight Sparkle," Lara interjected, putting an emphasis on the second word. Or second name? Either way, I was happy to know what to call the mare and a little more happy about not having to resort to figuring out a nickname for her.

"Sparkles!" I cheered with my forelegs up in the air, though I quickly went back on all fours since squishy pony bodies didn't make very stable ground.

"Twilight Sparkle," Cadance corrected, shooting a slightly annoyed look at Lara before returning her attention to me.

I raised my 'eyebrows' and my mouth formed an 'o' shape at her declaration. I then closed my eyes and nodded sagely, showing that I completely understood what she was trying to tell me.

"Sparkles."

And with that, I resumed inspecting the fur of the equally annoyed 'Twilight' in search of anything that might show the usage of dyes, paint, or any other sort of color-altering method.

Also, I don't think I've mentioned this before, but Lara's laugh was somewhat beautiful and... very satisfying to hear. I kind of made it my mission to keep her happy, if only to keep hearing it. Well, that, and a happy Lara meant more food for me.

I stuck my tongue out at Cadance on seeing her pout though, to show that I was just messing with her. I didn't really want the mare to be upset since she was my backup meal, after all.

She shook her head in exasperation, turning to face Lara. "(So... fire, you said?)"

Lara nodded. "(Yup. She was attracted to it like a moth to the flame.)"

Okay, this pony's coat colors were also natural. Made me wonder if there was any sort of racism amongst ponies against certain specific colors.

The unicorn was still panicking somewhat, however. Probably because I was standing on top of her while out of her vision range. I'd personally be a little freaked out too if something was crawling around my back, doing... stuff while I couldn't move. Her limbs were beginning to twitch again, though.

Well then! Let's see if I could calm her down and make a 'friend' out of her.

"(...Do you think you could make a small illusion of a flame?)" Lara whispered conspiratorially to Cadance.

I walked up to the top of Sparkles' head and then ~~tripped~~ ~~rolled down her face~~ went muzzle-to-muzzle with her, staring into her large surprised eyes while upside-down.

"(I'm pretty sure I can, though I'm not sure how realistic I can make it,)" Cadance 'quietly' answered back.

Sparkles' panic was gone, replaced with a bit of worry... an incredible amount of curiosity and...

And...

...And that was it. No love, no joy, no happiness to see me, no-- wait, there was something else, but it was very faint. I had to peer deeply into the link to sense...

...

Disgust!?

I, she... wow. That's kind of harsh...

"(It would still just be an illusion, right? No danger at all?)" Lara asked.

Still, I was not going to let that deter me from my goal. I would make it so that she would love me, no matter what!

Thus, I began my work by hugging her face. There was no way this could possibly go wron-- Oh.

She suddenly felt very uncomfortable, and her disgust at me increased a teeny tiny bit.

...Shit.

"(Of course I wouldn't risk injuring her by conjuring a real fire! I care about Artemis just as much as you do!)" Cadance shot back, receiving a cocked eyebrow from Lara.

Okay, hugging didn't work, uhh...

Cute sounds, maybe?

"Operation CWAL! The gathering! What's mine is mine! Diabetes get!" I randomly squeaked/chirped while sitting on my haunches in front of Sparkles, tilting my head in order to increase the cuteness factor.

Her emotions shifted back into curiosity once more and there was a lot of it for sure, but I still couldn't feel any love from her.

...Shit.

I felt some energy to the side, no doubt Cadance doing something magical, however I was too busy thinking of a way to gain Sparkles' affection to see what it was.

"(...It's blue,)" Lara deadpanned.

"(It's an illusion. Besides, unless you want some real fire, it'll stay like that since I can't really change the color of my aura,)" Cadance replied.

How about... a smile? Those were contagious just as well as they were a good source of friendship!

I widely smiled at her, easily making it look as sweet and genuine as possible because of Lara and Cadance radiating giddiness for some reason, affecting me through my empathy.

It... it was barely noticeable, but the corner of her lips started twitching upwards after a moment despite the paralysis, and... and I could feel a tiny trickle of love! Yes! It wasn't much, but it was there!

Baby steps!

I happily grinned at the completion of my missio-- Aaand the love is gone. She was looking at my muzzle with worry and nervousness now. Why the heck...

Ohhh. She must've seen my fangs.

...

...

Well... shit!

"Psst, Artemis!" Lara 'whispered' from the side.

I turned around on hearing the name they had given me, immediately noticing the little flame on the floor.

The little blue flame on the floor.

...That wasn't burning the carpet, somehow.

'The heck?'

I jumped off the couch, trying to ignore the feeling of relief coming from Sparkles at my departure, carefully sneaking my way towards the pretty fire. Oddly enough, Lara seemed to be completely nonplussed about it, focusing her attention on me instead with a large grin, though Cadance was sticking her tongue out in concentration--

I leapt back and hissed at the flame when it abruptly jerked towards me before it returned to its spot.

Were random ghostly fires a common thing around here!? Instead of being worried about one sitting near so many flammable objects, everyone in the room seemed to be amused more than anything! They were all looking at me, actually...

...Maybe they couldn't see it? It kind of looked a little strange, after all, like it was ethereal--

It started floating away very, very slowly, interrupting me out of my musings as I focused most of my attention on it once more. It eventually sped up a tiny bit and went around the couch, out of my sight.

...I crept around the furniture, trying to see where it went, but it seemed to have vanished completely. And Lara was quietly snickering, holding a hoof to her muzzle. However, I could still feel some energy behind m--

I whipped around, and there it was, flickering to some nonexistent breeze right where I had first seen it, as if it had never moved.

I looked back and forth between Lara and the flame, eventually pointing at it with a hoof and chirping questioningly while staring at Cadance and the pegasus since they either seemed to be ignoring it or were completely unaware of it.

In response, they just stood there and waved at me.

...

Hey, wait a minute, Cadance's horn was--

A blue blur flew by my face and I immediately tried to pounce on it, only for it to dodge and fly just out of my reach, moving back and forth as if taunting me to catch it while I kept my eyes trained on it.

'This has to be some kind of wisp, or something.'

I narrowed my eyes, slowly getting ready to attempt another tackle when it would least expect it, unknowingly shaking my rump in anticipation--

It flew away again, and this time I chased after it relentlessly.

Over the couch, under the table, around a seat, bouncing on Sparkles who was barely starting to get up, chasing my own tail as it went in circles around me, it simply managed to remain at a frustratingly close distance no matter what I did, easily keeping itself just beyond my reach at all times.

Yet, as I chased it up a wall with determination lining my features, I couldn't help but realize that I was having fun, from doing something as simple as running after a little flaming wisp, no less.

...It's been years since I've felt like this and I realized that, in a way, I literally was a kid again, which included almost everything it implied. I would probably be able to spend my time doing what I'd want to, I wouldn't have to work for a good while, I wouldn't have to worry about taxes, money and food, I'd go to school, I'd have actual f-frien-- Damn! I was going to have to go through school all over again.

...Shit.

I hadn't noticed I had stopped mid-way up the wall until the wisp landed on the tip of my muzzle for a split second, tickling my nose before it practically urged me to resume the chase as it quickly returned to the ground.

...Meh, I'll worry about that other stuff later.

Leaping down to the floor, I chased it for another short while until it abruptly jerked to the side and I jumped after it--

"Oof!"

--Only to greet a pink wall of fur.

"(Gotcha!)" Cadance beamed, happily embracing me while I wondered where the flame went and why nobody else seemed to have paid any mind to it to begin with.

Lara was glaring daggers at the alicorn whom had begun nuzzling me, in the meantime.

"(How much longer do I have to wait until I can start using magic again without consequences?)" Sparkles tiredly asked, prompting me to notice that she was actually standing up again, though her wobbly stance showed that my venom hadn't fully left her system yet.

Cadance paused her cuddling for a moment. "(Well, you're able to stand on your hooves, so it shouldn't last that much longer now. Give it a minute or two.)"

Sparkles sluggishly nodded, slowly making her way towards us.

...No, wait, she was making her way towards me!!

I panicked and scrambled out of Cadance's grasp, maneuvering myself to hide behind her back, not wanting to face the wrath of the magical unicorn I had paralyzed.

Though, when I took a peek at Sparkles from behind Cadance's shoulder, I saw that her ears were splayed back and her head was hanging a bit lower, having stopped approaching after only a few steps.

Overall, she looked disheartened after seeing my reaction to her approach. Practically the opposite of what I expected.

"(I really didn't mean to scare Artemis...)" Sparkles muttered, sadly scuffing a hoof along the floor.

"(It certainly wasn't the best of first impressions,)" Lara snorted, having scooted a little closer to me without anyone noticing.

Then again, I hadn't sensed any anger from Sparkles at all from the moment she arrived. If what I had done had ever happened to anyone on Earth, there at least would've been some sort of resentment afterwards for sure.

But... ugh! I couldn't stand watching these ponies being sad. It just... didn't feel right, both literally and figuratively.

Sparkles was mainly feeling remorse though, so I could probably make her happy again by merely showing that I was okay with her since she only got sad after I hid from her.

...Rather, I was okay with her as long as she didn't teleport me again anytime soon. That was the weirdest and most disorienting thing I had ever experienced in my life.

Well, both of my lives.

"(But how can I tell her that I'm sorry? She doesn't fully understand Equestrian yet! ...Right?)"

I slid down Cadance's back and trotted up to Sparkles, whom looked surprised that I was approaching her after all.

Stopping right in front of her, I gazed deep into her soul, judging her intently in order to decide if she deserved any forgiveness after her past transgressions with her wicked magicks against my own self, gauging her strength of will against my accusing glare that burned with the strength of a thousand suns.

...

Okay, fine, I was intently staring into her eyes with a smile and purposely making her feel a little uncomfortable in the process, just to see what exactly she'd do.

"(I, uh...)" Sparkles began, uncertainly looking between Cadance and Lara for guidance before letting out a sigh and bowing her head. "(I'm r-really sorry for scaring you, Artemis. I guess I wasn't really thinking when I came here and then I just wanted to ask so many questions b-but I forgot that you couldn't actually speak or understand us for a moment there and--)" she spoke, blabbering faster the longer she talked.

I rolled my eyes and interrupted her speech by pouncing on her. She flinched back and immediately closed her eyes, scrunching her face and bracing herself for any sort of pain.

Only to be confused when there was none.

"(W-what is she doing?)" Sparkles nervously asked, staying completely still with her eyes still shut.

Cadance giggled. "(She's hugging you, silly.)"

The unicorn's eyes finally opened in confusion. "(Huh!?)"

While she was realizing that I wasn't hurting her in any way, shape or form, I was monitoring the link she had with me very closely as I clung to her, smiling and nuzzling her fur when she finally looked down at me.

There was the expected feeling of relief flowing out of her, the disgust was a bit more faint than last time, and...

Yes! Love was making a slow return!

"You're mine now!" I happily declared.

It came out as an adorable squeak to them, though.

"(This might seem odd, but, I believe Artemis can sense emotions, somehow,)" Cadance thoughtfully said, holding a hoof to her chin.

"(What makes you say that?)" Sparkles asked, horn beginning to light up along with her discarded book before she paused, shooting a quick glance at me and probably remembering what happened last time.

"(During our breakfast, Artemis went to... 'comfort' Mis-- err, Yearling, when I seemed to have brought up a bad memory. As if she knew that Yearling wasn't feeling well. Then, she somehow seemed to know that you were behind the entrance door, even from across the entire room, as if she sensed you in some way.)" Cadance explained, though I was playing a bit with Sparkles' hair in the meantime since I had no idea what they were talking about, even if I heard my 'name' somewhere in there. "(And, finally, she came up to you when you felt bad about scaring her.)"

Lara seemed to have brightened up, as if she got an idea, but then she frowned and looked down at the floor with her ears folded.

Right before she suddenly began feeling very, very, VERY sad.

...

...What!? That made no sense! She was happy a few seconds ago... okay, not really happy, more like jealous and I still didn't know why, but this was a complete contrast to then!

"(I don't know...)" Sparkles replied uncertainly. "(That could've just been pure coincidence. We'd need to find a way to test that theory, run an experiment or two...)" she trailed off.

She curiously watched me as I jumped off of her and quickly ran up to Lara, immediately leaping upon the pegasus once I was within reach.

I couldn't help but notice that Lara seemed to be ready for my tackle though, as if she was actually expecting it.

...And now she wasn't wallowing in sorrow, the link instead brimming with joy and love. I mean, it's what I was aiming to do, but the change from sad to happy was so sudden that it felt... weird.

"Stop getting mood swin--mgph!" I commanded, promptly silenced as Lara gave me the mother of all hugs with the most content expression I had ever seen plastered on her cute equine face.

Alright, fine. It was hard to be annoyed with her when she was this happy anyway, especially when I was constantly being fed all of this amazing free food.

"(Yup, she's an empath,)" Lara declared. "(I thought of... one of my most recent memories, and Artemis immediately came over.)"

Now that I thought about it, I wondered just how much more love I could actually store. I wasn't hungry, but I felt nowhere near full, either!

I had so many questions about being a changeling, and the most frustrating part about all of this was that I both didn't have and couldn't immediately get the answers to any of them. Hopefully I'd be able to meet my family sometime soon and I could then have everything explained to me. We were already in the middle of civilization, so all that was left was for me to find the appropriate time to sneak away and search for someone I could link to.

...

But what would I do with Lara? With Cadance? I couldn't simply leave them behind, just like that...

I could probably get my family to make an exception just this once and allow these two to freely walk around the hive since, after all, they were both pretty much radiating love and knew about me.

I'm sure Sparkles wouldn't mind being cocooned.

While the unicorn floated her notebook to herself and looked at me with a skeptical expression after Lara spoke, Cadance was intently staring at the pegasus cuddling me, glancing in my direction occasionally, eventually looking away in thought as she frowned. Right before...

...

Ugh, really!? Now Cadance was the one feeling extremely sad!

"(Still, just to double check...)" Sparkles trailed off, gazing up to the ceiling with her own furrowed brows, pondering somethi-- HER TOO!?

'What is this!? National mood swing day?'

...

...

"...Why are you all looking at me like that?" I eventually chittered, squirming uncomfortably in Lara's grasp as Cadance and Sparkles both stared at me expectantly with wide eyes and huge glistening pupils, emotionally leaking sorrow that kind of didn't actually feel like sorrow, if that made any sense. It probably had to do with Sparkles still feeling very curious despite the sadness and Cadance having a sort-of large amount of underlying... hope.

Lara stared between the two ponies, holding me closer to herself when she seemed to have realized something, subtly glaring at them afterwards.

"(Alright! She looks worried for you both, so there's your proof! Now could you please stop making her uncomfortable!?)" Lara demanded, swiveling her body around and hiding me from their view with a protective wing.

I couldn't see anything past the wall of pretty feathers, but I could sense the sheepishness emanating from Sparkles while Cadance began to feel ashamed with herself.

Cue the sound of furious scribbling.

"(Sorry...)" Cadance muttered.

I freed myself from Lara and brushed past her wing, leaping towards the alicorn so that I could cling to her chest in order to comfort her.

'Ponies and their high maintenance requirements...'

Still, now that I thought about it, I would eventually have to find another way to make ponies love me as well as different alternatives to keep them happy in general. While I had it easy for now, requiring nothing more than a hug to get fed, I wouldn't always be an adorable little happiness dispenser.

I wondered how long it would take for this body to mature...

"(Thanks, Artemis,)" Cadance whispered to me with gratitude, releasing me afterwards before turning towards Lara. "(Could you stay here with Artemis for a while? I want to go check up on my fiancé, maybe even bring him here to meet her if he's able to walk around.)"

Sparkles stopped writing, worriedly looking at Cadance.

"(Sure!)" Lara answered in a chipper tone. "(Could you also bring a type-writer when you return? I couldn't find one around here...)"

Cadance nodded, getting up to apparently leave--

"(Is something wrong with my BBBFF?)" Sparkles quickly asked.

...Was that a stutter near the end?

"Err..." Cadance began oh-so-eloquently, "(...he ended up eating something he shouldn't have from a... special delivery we received,)" she shot a weird look at Lara for a split second, "(and was affected by something nopony had ever seen before. Celestia and I decided to leave him in the hooves of our resident changeling analyst to see if he could determine whether or not anything remained after he got cured.)" She looked to the side, mumbling to herself, "(Or, at least, we're pretty sure he was cured...)"

Sparkles wrote a few more words before everything she had brought vanished in a rapid succession of flashes, flashing me an apologetic/sheepish smile afterwards when I jumped back in surprise, having not expected something so sudden.

"(I think I'll come with you,)" she said, speaking to Cadance. "(I have to see if Spike sent me the books and items I requested last night anyway.)" Clapping her forehooves together in excitement, she continued: "(Besides, I could compare notes with this 'changeling analyst' you mentioned! Think of all the things I co-- I mean, we could learn!)"

Lara didn't look any different outwardly, but internally? She got a whole load happier when Sparkles also got up to leave.

Cadance smiled. "(Alright then, let's go. We shouldn't be away for too long, Miss Yearling.)"

"(Don't worry about us! Take your time.)" Lara sweetly replied, enthusiastically waving at both of them as they trotted out of the room, leaving the happy pegasus and I alone.

==============================================

"So, what do you think about her?" Cadance asked right as they left and closed the door.

"She's certainly more casual than I thought she would be," Twilight replied. "...Not that that's a bad thing!" she quickly amended when the alicorn looked at her weirdly.

Cadance giggled. "I was talking about Artemis."

"Oh," the mare blushed. "Well, she's... different than what I expected."

"How so?"

Twilight took a moment to ponder as they trotted side by side, staring at the floor with a small frown. "To be completely honest, I expected Artemis to be a little more... violent. That might still be true though, since her first reaction to my... admittedly brash teleport on her, was to bite and inject that venom in me." She shuddered, pausing to look at the two tiny holes on her foreleg that were already healing up, making a mental note about it. "Still, that was mostly my fault, so I guess it doesn't count. Especially since, as Miss Yearling said, she turned out to be pretty affectionate afterwards, even though I had scared her." Smiling faintly, she continued; "Artemis does look cute once you get past the fact that she's a bug, in a certain way."

The unicorn's muzzle scrunched in worry. "She's still so innocent and naive, though. You saw how playful she was when you conjured that illusion and made her happily chase it around the room. The fact that she doesn't know that she's potentially the last of her species..." She sighed. "I'm... worried about how she'll take it, about the day she'll eventually find out. It's inevitable. No matter what, she's bound to realize at some point that she's different than everypony."

Cadance absently nodded, hoping for obvious reasons that the nymph wouldn't ever find out about who caused the disappearance of the changelings to begin with.

"Hopefully Artemis can keep her innocence for as long as possible, though. She shouldn't have to suffer knowing what happened to her... family?--" Twilight asked, looking at Cadance for confirmation, which she received, "--so early in her life. I want to believe that she deserves to have a happy foalhood while she can, at the very least." She winced. "Besides, we wouldn't want her thinking that ponies are evil and eventually have a repeat of the invasion at a later date..."

Twilight wisely decided to end that particular conversation for the moment, both because she saw Cadance getting increasingly uncomfortable and because she noticed the guarded checkpoint up ahead that was preventing access to the halls they had just trotted through.

A few twists and turns later, they spotted a familiar figure trotting along an adjacent corridor.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight beamed.

The Solar Diarch serenely smiled as she approached. "Good morning Twilight, Cadance."

"Good morning, Aunty," Cadance happily greeted back.

"Oh, by the way Twilight, Spike sent quite a few items not too long ago. I had them sent to your old room, for your convenience," Celestia informed her student.

Twilight smiled, nodding gratefully. "Thank you, Princess. Are you headed to see Arte-mphg!?" she tried to ask before a pink hoof was shoved into her mouth, preventing her from mentioning she-who-shall-not-be-named.

The Princess of the Sun sadly shook her head as Cadance wiped her hoof clean. "As much as I would love to, day court is about to start. Besides, she will still be here for the foreseeable future, therefore I'd rather focus on helping those that need help now."

The unicorn tilted her head. "Are those nobles really that much more important than... her?" she asked. "I'm sure my friend Applejack would argue that family should always come first."

Celestia sighed. "While that may be true in most cases, I am a ruler of an entire nation, Twilight. The needs of the many outweigh my own selfish desires and the changeling attack affected much more than just Canterlot. I believe I'll have some free time for a visit during the evening though, but for now," she looked straight ahead, "I must go. My ponies need me."

Twilight, while slightly disappointed, bowed in understanding while Cadance nodded. "Alright, Princess. I can't wait to talk with you later!"

Celestia curtly nodded, resuming her walk to the throne room.

After a few more seconds of quietly trotting alongside Cadance, Twilight suddenly realized something.

"Wait, you said my brother was left in the care of the changeling researcher to see if anything remained after he was cured of whatever he was affected with?" she exclaimed. "What exactly did he eat!?"

The alicorn scrunched her muzzle. "I'll... tell you when we're there."

"He's okay though, right?" Twilight asked, concern lacing her voice.

"Other than feeling a bit weird, he claimed he was fine," she answered, stopping in front of a door that had quite the variety of signs on it, displaying warnings of all kinds. "Hopefully the doctor can tell us for sure, by now."

Cadance knocked on the door, which flew open barely a couple seconds later with a fuming unicorn standing in its place.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT!? YOU ARE INTERRUPTING SCIEN-- Oh! Greetings, Princess Cadance!" he suddenly exclaimed with a happy smile, bowing before turning to face the lavender unicorn while extending a hoof. "And you must be Twilight Sparkle! I've heard a lot of things about you! Most of which were good, I assure you."

Cadance returned the greeting with a simple 'hello!', peeking over the stallion's shoulder to notice Shining Armor lying on a bed in one corner of the room, the captain silently mouthing 'Save me' with a desperate pleading expression, despite looking completely fine.

Twilight gave his hoof a shake. "Nice to meet you, Doctor..?"

"Lab Coat, at your service!" he cheerfully answered, motioning for them to enter his lab.

They had to be careful where they stepped, for papers and miscellaneous items were scattered across the entire room, both on the floors and walls, some even pinned on the ceiling while vials and contraptions of all sorts sat on the various tables spread out around the area.

The intact changeling body sprawled on an examination desk with a stasis spell on it was what almost immediately caught the stares of the visitors, however.

Lab Coat rubbed a hoof across his mane sheepishly. "I apologize for the state of my lab, but this is merely the only way I can keep track of all of my research, as... unorthodox as it may seem."

Twilight quickly put the papers back to where they exactly were, grinning at the Doctor in the hopes that he wouldn't notice that she had begun neatly stacking them. "It's f-fine! I actually have a friend that works in similar conditions, though she does it more for inspiration than to remember things..."

Meanwhile, Cadance carefully made her way towards her fiancé, whom had gotten up. "Hi, sweetie! How are you feeli--"

"Please get me out of here!" he hurriedly whispered, interrupting her as he set both of his forehooves on her withers, shaking her slightly. "I can't stand his ramblings! I didn't need to know that changelings apparently had heightened senses when it came to feeling pleasure, or that their chitin allowed them to manipulate the size of any part of their body due to being susceptible to a unique kind of transmutation magic that he's trying to figure out, or that--"

"O-okay, I get it!" Cadance blushed before leaning in to nuzzle him affectionately. "Still, how are you feeling? Did he find anything wrong?"

The captain sighed, setting his hooves back on the ground. "No, he didn't, but I've been getting some odd mood swings ever since I woke up and right now I'm feeling a bit more panicky for absolutely no reason!"

The doctor paused his conversation with Twilight on hearing Shining Armor's outburst. "Mood swings? You haven't told me that part! This could mean so many things--!"

"NO!" Shining blurted out. "I-I mean, no, I'm f-fine. Really!"

His twitching eye showed otherwise.

"Nonsense!" Lab coat insisted, "perhaps you've got special hormones running rampant around your bloodstream! I'll just need a few more samples to check..." he explained, levitating more than 'a few' empty, clean syringes next to him as he approached.

"M-maybe all he needs is some fresh air!" Cadance interjected, placing herself between both stallions. "He's been cooped up inside for far too long, don't you think?"

The doctor pouted, "but--"

"I'll keep an eye on him the entire time, just in case," she assured him. "If anything happens, I'll let you know."

Lab Coat stared back and forth between the hopeful Captain and the worried Princess, finally relenting after a few seconds. "Oh, fine. But please keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary! Still don't know for sure if anything actually changed with him."

Cadance nodded while Shining sighed in relief, both of them making their way to the exit.

"Twilight?" the alicorn called, seeing as the unicorn was animatedly chattering away with the scientist.

Twilight paused her conversation to face her retreating friends. "Huh? Oh! You two go on without me, I'll catch up soon!"

Cadance raised an eyebrow. "Soon?"

"Just a quick exchange of notes! It shouldn't take too long!"

The alicorn shook her head. "Alright, we'll see you later then. Just remember that the longer you take, the more you miss out on learning about Artemis!"

Twilight's eyes widened as her friend and brother left the room.

"So, venom, you said?" the doctor asked, bringing Twilight back to their previous conversation.

"I... yes, she bit me right... here?" she stared confusedly at the spot where the tiny puncture wounds had been. "...Right! Miss Yearling said something about her cuts healing faster from Artemis's licking."

The doctor set a couple filled syringes on the nearby table, levitating an empty vial towards her--

"Were those taken from my brother!?" she exclaimed, pointing at the filled syringes.

"Yes, now I want you to bring me samples of Artemis's saliva--"

"How? When? What!?"

"Up to you, whenever you can, nymph saliva."

"..."

"..."

"Oh, and some venom too, if you can manage it."

He levitated another empty container to her with a cheerful grin.

"I'm sure you're going to like her! She's so sweet and cute!" Cadance beamed as they trotted together past the checkpoint towards Artemis.

Shining Armor nodded, only paying half attention to her due to being a little busy trying to ignore the annoying itch that just wouldn't go away. Must've been a mosquito or something.

"Once we actually get married, I want a foal!"

He absently nodded.

"No, a single foal wouldn't be enough..."

He nodded.

"I want at least three!"

He nod-- wait...

"What?" he asked, not sure if he heard right.

"Hmm, good point, four would probably be better," she thoughtfully reconsidered.

"Uh, eheheh, now let's not get ahead of ourselves honey."

Cadance pouted. "But they're so adorable!"

"Well, first we've got to reschedule the wedding before we e-- ARGH!" he cried out, clutching his head with both forelegs as he collapsed from the sheer pain of the sudden headache.

"Shiny! What's wrong!?" the alicorn stammered, immediately at his side.

He gasped for breath, his rapid heartbeats slowly calming down to normal levels as his migraine abruptly disappeared after a few mere seconds. "I... I don't know but, I think I'm fine now..." he huffed, steadily getting back on his hooves. "In fact I... well, I'm not sure why, but I feel really... happy."

Cadance stared at him worriedly. "Maybe we should go back to the Doctor? I don't think being happy right after a headache is normal. Yeah, let's head back--"

He pointed at the large door at the end of the hallway, "Artemis is in there, right?"

"...Yes?"

Shining Armor continued walking, Cadance quickly returning to his side. "Pull, the... the pull... remember the pull I... told you about, yesterday?"

She carefully nodded, concern for him still etched on her features.

The closer he got to the door, the more his smile widened. "It's... the pull... it's leading me to that room. Happy. Why am I so happy?"

The instant he opened the door, a tiny blur tackled him with enough force to send him sprawling on his back, whereupon he heard a long series of chirps and squeaks.

He gazed down at his chest, spotting a filly version of Daring Do embracing him, the little foal chittering away excitedly.

Meanwhile, Cadance peeked into the room, staring at the papers and books scattered everywhere, the overturned furniture, the small indent on the ceiling that vaguely had the shape of a book...

And in the middle of the lobby sat A.K. Yearling, both her mane and clothes looking more than a little disheveled.

The pegasus awkwardly waved.

Author's Note

I think I've added a little too much filler on this one...

[2] Love, sunshine and unicorns...

"Ah, those were the days." She fondly smiled, most likely reminiscing. "Back when I was but a little nymph, nobody really expected or demanded anything out of me, and all I had to worry about was to keep those around me happy so that I could remain fed; something that was really easy to accomplish at the time..."

-Excerpt of Queen Artemis' response when asked about her foalhood during an interview.

Cadance smiled. "(Alright then, let's go. We shouldn't be away for too long, Miss Yearling.)"

"(Don't worry about us! Take your time,)" Lara sweetly replied, enthusiastically waving at both of them as they trotted out of the room, leaving the happy pegasus and I alone.

Lara immediately fluttered as quietly as she could towards the door once it closed, apparently trying to listen for Cadance and Sparkle's footsteps. I guessed she wanted to make sure we really had our privacy? Not sure why, though.

She nodded after a few seconds, satisfied that they were apparently far enough. I would've told her that they weren't anywhere near us since I could sense them, if only I knew how to convey the message.

'Maybe I could get her to teach me a few words?' I pondered, turning around to look at the numerous books on the shelves at the other end of the room, scrunching my muzzle in thought. 'Is there a way for me to let her know that I want to learn her language? How would I even go about doing that?'

"Hey, Artemis!" Lara called.

I turned to face her with perked ears.

"My name is A.K. Yearling," she stated, pointing to herself.

...I tilted my head, wondering why she was telling me her name since I already knew it, save for the extra sounds she made right before it. Maybe she just wanted me to repeat it?

Before I could parrot her, Lara had suddenly begun taking off most of her clothes, causing me to look away in reflex with a blush that I wasn't entirely sure showed through my dark chitin.

But...

Should I even be feeling embarrassed that she was undressing herself right in front of me? I mean, sure, they had fur coats and nudity was something that was generally considered taboo for humans, but I wasn't one anymore, was I? Was this considered 'okay' by ponies? How many things from my past life would still apply to this one?

She... actually reminded me unintentionally that I've been naked ever since my hatching. Heck, I've even hugged her like this! I, well... now that I thought about it, she didn't seem to mind at all; even acted as if it was completely normal...

Then again, Cadance and Sparkles were also in the nude and didn't seem to find anything wrong with that, so I was probably just overthinking things. Didn't stop me from reflexively bringing my hind legs closer and getting my tail to cover me more thoroughly when I thought about it, though.

As Lara removed certain articles of clothing from her person, she revealed the familiar pith helmet hidden underneath her previous hat while the jacket that I've seen her wear for practically the entire time I've been traveling with her was also now on display.

She then straightened up, chest puffed out in pride while she stood there, looking like the adventurous, heroic mare I've been with ever since I hatched, even as she stared at me with a hint of nervousness.

"My (real) name, is Daring Do."

...Huh? She had two names?

Upon seeing my confusion, she put the other hat back over the pith helmet and haphazardly covered herself with the purple blanket... that I then realized was actually a dress, though it looked a bit awkward since it also covered the tail. Wouldn't it look better if the tail stuck out through a hole in the piece of clothing?

...Wait, never mind, I had a feeling that it'd be pretty uncomfortable once I actually thought about it.

She gestured to herself once more, stating: "A.K. Yearling," before returning to her more adventurous-looking set of clothes. "Daring Do."

And after looking to the side for a moment in consideration, she also ended up removing the helmet and jacket. "Daring Do." She pointed to her naked self.

...Why would she have multiple names? Was she some sort of secret agent? Or, maybe ponies had a special hidden name that they only shared with those they trusted? Those they loved? Because Lara was certainly showering me with the latter. With how protective she's been acting around me, it was almost as if she had somehow taken to becoming my big sister, or maybe even my 'adoptive mother'.

Hah, as if! Mom still gave me way more love than this. Unbridled love. Pure, unlike the somewhat 'restrained' one that Lara was constantly feeding me. Though, if this kept up for a few weeks at the same rate that the bond was growing, Lara would maybe end up reaching that level, more or less...

In any case, I nodded to her with a smile to show that I understood, afterwards making my way towards the bookshelf while Lara was in the process of dressing up.

I scanned the rows of books at the very bottom since they were the only ones I could reach, unless I climbed up the bookshelf. I was looking for... well, in the end I guessed it wouldn't really matter what I picked, seeing as they all seemed to be using the same swirly, alien letters that I couldn't read.

I pulled out the largest book that I could reach, the 'letters' on the front cover having this sort of exotic style to them, opening it to a random page to see if I could advance my understanding of their written language.

There was quite a bit of text, as well as a few pictures here and there, showcasing ponies in different positions.

...Different odd positions.

Why was that pegasus laying down sideways with his wings semi-outstretched while the other—

Shocked *GASP*

The book was immediately snatched away from my confused gaze by a furiously blushing Lara.

"(Y-you can't read that, Artemis! This book isn't for young fillies!)" she stammered, placing the piece of literature on a much higher shelf that was temporarily out of my reach.

"But I wanna see what happened next!" I chittered, pouting.

Her eyes widened upon seeing my expression, quickly glancing at the bookshelf before randomly grabbing a book with a bright pink cover and handing it to me with a smile. The kind of forced smile you gave to someone when you were trying to avoid upsetting them.

I stared back and forth between the new book and Lara, eventually shrugging and opening it to a random page, internally cringing at the cover's pretty color while Lara sighed in relief, as if a disaster had been averted.

Oh hey, more pictures. So that's what griffons looked like, huh? Cool.

...

...But why was that one upside down with all of his/her feathers puffed out while the other Griffon—

"Eek!" Lara panicked, also confiscating the very same book that she had given me.

"Oh come on!"

"(Sorry, sorry! I thought— it's just, t-that book, adults, is for, I'll just... I'll find a good story for you!)" Lara eventually proclaimed, mumbling to herself afterwards as she grabbed a random book, read the title, scrunched her muzzle and unceremoniously threw it behind her before repeatedly repeating the process. "(Need one that's actually a story, is foal-friendly and NOT a guide about mating practices...)"

I sat on my haunches, my frustration at being denied the two earlier books quickly ebbing away while I watched her methodically clear out shelf after shelf, the pile of discarded literature behind us growing in size as she searched for something seemingly specific.

"(No, no, no...)" She blankly stared at the next one for a moment. "(Definitely not this one...)"

She flew up and put it at the very top of the bookshelf instead of adding it to the mountain of books.

Speaking of which, I couldn't help but wince when I turned around to look at the mess she made in the lobby. Cleaning THAT up would surely take a good while at this point. However, if I helped Lara with reorganizing the bookshelf, I'm sure she'd appreciate it, which in turn would mean more food for me.

...Though, somehow, I got the impression that my body was consuming my 'stored love' at a faster rate than before, which made no sense because, compared to all that time I had spent straining my little body out in that jungle in search of Lara, I was barely doing anything in this place!

Maybe it was being used for something other than mere sustenance? I mean I was still a newborn, therefore I had a lot of maturing to do...

Actually, come to think of it, I think I had grown a teensy tiny bit already. Kind of hard to tell, though.

*Thunk*

The newly-arrived addition to the pile of books informed me that Lara had resumed her search.

"(History... documentary... more history...)"

I could probably build another fort with all those books, if I wanted to. It would take a while for me to make it as big as the one I had made at Lara's house, though. If only there was a way for me to move and place them around faster—wait.

Waiiiit-wait-wait.

Wait.

The unicorn at the fortress could do floaty magical stuff, because she had a horn.

Cadance could do magical stuff too, because she had a horn.

I had a horn, so did that mean that I... that I could do magic?!

'...I'm a wizard!?'

"(Cooking guide... creature encyclopedia...)" Confused "(...Crafting guide?)"

Okay, if I wanted to try and levitate something (assuming that I could), how would I go about doing that? It obviously had something to do with the horn adorning my forehead, but was there something else?

"(A wooden pickaxe? To mine stone? What kind of nonsense is this!?)" Lara exclaimed, the book she had been skimming through promptly sailing across the lobby to join its brethren.

Oh yeah! Every time Cadance did anything 'magical', I could feel that energy in the air, originating from her horn! I just had to figure out how to get mine out! If I had that energy too, that is. But... what was I even looking for? Something within me? Or was the energy stored in my horn?

I lightly tapped the protrusion on my forehead, which made me shudder slightly as the odd sensation that I was slowly getting familiar with coursed through my entire body. It allowed me to feel... some kind of flow around my insides.

While most of that weird 'flow' reverberated around my chitin and wings, there seemed to be this one spot within me where it just... coalesced into a whole bunch of something, like a sort of orb that felt very similar to the 'energy' I had been feeling every now and then...

I assumed that I essentially had to somehow bring it out and let it flow through my horn so that I could... channel it, or maybe even mold it, much like I had seen or felt whenever magical stuff happened.

I tried to 'pull' at the orb of energy, which made me flex a muscle that I hadn't even known existed. Though, it might not have even been a muscle to begin with, for all I knew. What I did know was that the 'energy' reacted to it and actually seemed to have partially flowed in random swirls across my entire body, though I stopped it almost immediately since I was trying to process the weirdness that was going on inside of me.

"(...Oh. Well of course they'd have at least one book from my series here,)" Lara eventually said, pondering something afterwards.

'Okay, let's try this again,' I decided, flexing that one 'muscle' again.

The energy began moving once more within me while I tried my best to 'redirect' it towards my horn. Most of it seemed to want to stick to my chitin as it moved by, giving me a tingling feeling whenever enough of it accumulated at any point. I was slowly getting the hang of controlling the flow over the next few seconds, until I eventually managed to have it reach the base of my horn.

And then it just... stopped there. I couldn't get it to go through my horn, no matter how many times I attempted to. It... it felt as if I was trying to push something through a blocked pipe.

"(Alright, Artemis! I found a... story?)"

I closed my eyes, frowning in concentration as I tried to 'force' the energy through, though with a little bit more strength this time.

Some of it actually flowed through, and I could've sworn I heard the sound of sparking while my sensitive horn seemed to have warmed up just the tiniest amount.

Concern "Oh no."

This felt... invigorating, in some way. Like some part of me was finally being released, freed from its limitations.

And all I had so far was a meager trickle!

I... I wanted to—no, no, I needed to unleash it fully. I just... I had to. I wanted to 'unblock the pipe'. I wanted to feel complete.

Nervous "A-Artemis? (Calm down, please stay calm, don't, just, please don't try to do magic right now,)" Lara said with a calm tone in a sharp contrast to her increasing panic.

I tuned her out. It wasn't like I could understand most of what she was saying anyway.

I relaxed my magic muscle, letting the energy return to its default position... which seemed to mean that it spread all over my body, both inside and around my chitin, though mainly on the inside. Lara breathed out an audible sigh of relief once I felt my horn lose its barely noticeable heat and stopped hearing the sound of static.

But then I exhaled softly.

Dipped my head slightly.

Quickly breathed in loudly...

And forced all of the energy I could muster through my horn as hard as I could.

A lot of things happened in that moment.

At first, I felt... relieved, as if something I had unknowingly been holding back suddenly didn't need to be restrained when the previous resistance literally melted away. If I had any doubts that I possessed magic, they were immediately quashed under the fact that, not only was my crooked horn glowing with the same color as my eyes, but my entire body and a few objects around me seemed to be encased with the red magic as well.

Heck, everything in my immediate vicinity was slowly starting to float upwards, including me!

And I wasn't even using my wings!

The sheer power I could feel around me! It was... addicting, intoxicating, delicious, beautiful, entrancing...

It was expanding, affecting an increasing amount of things and causing them to seemingly ignore gravity as well, and I let it do so, because it was simply exhilarating to know that I was the one doing that! That I was the one using magic! I didn't care that I had no idea what I was doing, I was too happy to know that I even could do something like this!

I was beyond excited. Elated was too weak of a word to describe what I felt.

But then something happened with my horn, a sort of hiccup in the flow that I couldn't contain and, for a brief second, my body was hit with a spasm as I unwillingly released what could only be described as a magical wave that pushed everything back—

"Gah—!" *THUNK*

...Which included Lara.

It was then that I finally looked past my awe, that I looked past all of the pretty colors dancing in my vision, past my 'accomplishment', my feat of power, my first usage of magic...

It was then that I looked at what was REALLY going on.

The room was steadily devolving into chaos. The area that my magic was affecting was continuously gaining ground, constantly adding various books to the maelstrom, as well as furniture and pretty much anything that wasn't pinned, each of the glowing objects dancing around the lobby in a sort of haphazard tornado with me at its center, creating a veritable cacophony as an invisible wind picked up strength. My horn wasn't merely glowing anymore, instead emitting a bright light that still seemed to be gaining in power. In fact, my horn was painfully starting to overheat, releasing tiny arcs of lightning in random patterns around me while the twinkling sound it emitted continuously increased in intensity.

But what actually caught my attention in the middle of all that, was Lara.

She was gritting her teeth as she slowly picked herself up from having been smacked against a wall, something that had happened because of me.

I... I had hurt Lara!

And yet, despite everything that was going on, her sole focus was on me. She was staring at me with fear and worry in equal parts, completely ignoring the fact that her headwear was missing and that a piece of furniture almost flew by close enough to hit her.

She was afraid of me. Or afraid for me, I couldn't tell for sure, but one thing was for certain.

I didn't want her to be afraid.

I... I had to stop this.

And that was when I came to the horrifying realization that I couldn't.

I had lost control. Rather, I never had it to begin with.

"Artemis! You—" she ducked as a chair flew by where her head had been a second ago. "(You have to calm down!)"

"L-Lara! How do I stop this!?" I screeched, panicking as another spasm coursed through my body.

Her eyes widened before she braced herself against the wave, holding her ground and expertly dodging the pack of books propelled her way with a fluidity that I hadn't known was possible.

She then turned to face me with calculating eyes, promptly gaining a determined expression as the magical tornado of objects slowly began forming anew, pawing at the ground with a forehoof in preparation for—

"N-no! Don't come any closer!" I uselessly tried to plead through the increasing pain I was experiencing due to the overexertion of my horn.

And despite the blinding light from my horn, despite the reforming wall of objects, despite the fact that the aforementioned objects were orbiting around me at dangerous speeds...

She ran towards me anyway.

As I floated halfway up to the high ceiling against my will, all I could do was watch in my panicked state as she dodged and weaved through the loud maelstrom on her way towards me. However, there were just too many things flying around and a book managed to smash itself on the side of her face with a resounding *Thwack*, staggering her.

But even then, despite looking slightly dazed, Lara did her best to shrug it off and soldiered on. She ended up taking a couple more similar hits before she got in range and immediately executed a tackle, jumping high enough to encompass me in her embrace as she brought me back down to ground level.

My magic was still out of control, though, no matter how much I tried to reign it in.

And what did Lara do as she held me closely in the middle of everything that was going on?

She closed her eyes and started humming a soft tune while gently rocking my trembling body. As if nothing was wrong, even as she visibly grit her teeth against the pain that my burning-hot, sparking horn caused while being in contact with her own furry coat.

I was on the verge of tears.

Ba-dump

Nothing made sense.

Ba-dump

Everything was hurting...

Ba-dump

Red lights everywhere...

Ba-dump

...A... a heartbeat...

Ba-dump

Why was she nuzzling me!? I was hurting her!

Ba-dump

Lara's heartbeat...

Ba-dump

That... that tune she was humming...

Ba-dump

...It was one of the ones that Mom used to sing...

Ba-dump

...The same one Lara had sung the very first time we 'met'.

Ba-dump

Headache receding...

Ba-dump

Lara was gently petting me, making my chitin tingle wherever she touched...

Ba-dump

Chitin tingled wherever she touched...

Ba-dump

Chitin tingled wherever she touched, energ— magic was flowing through my shell, ready to—

I was suddenly hit with a moment of clarity, my eyes snapping wide open as I felt another spasm nearing.

Lara.

Tan-colored fur. Magenta eyes. Dark mane with patterned streaks of grey. Tattoo of a compass on the flanks. Mare. Well-toned, athletic build. Agile. Multiple tiny scars hidden by fur along the barrel, thighs and neck. Voice bordering on tomboyish side.

Pegasus.

A final burst of pain across my entire body as my heavily-strained magic answered to my instinctual request, the energy dancing around all of my chitin—

*Fwoomph*

—and, save for my frantic breathing, my whimpering and Lara's humming, the lobby suddenly became eerily quiet after a large series of *Thuds* when everything that had been held by my magic fell to the floor, free of my influence.

It had taken a few moments, but Lara finally finished the song, sighing in apparent relief with her eyes still closed while I snuggled myself as deep as I could into her chest, my shaking decreasing over time.

I just... I felt so tired by then... everything still hurt, though less than before, yet something else about me didn't feel right. I didn't remember my 'skin' being this sensitive and... fuzzy-feeling, but then again, after what had just occurred with my first 'magic' experiment, it was probably the overexertion resulting from it that was causing hypersensitivity, or something of the sort.

In any case, it made Lara's coat feel softer... to the point that I just wanted to melt myself under her protective winged hug and remain there forever.

I wasn't sure I wanted to play with magic again after what had honestly been a terrifying first experience.

...For the next hour or two, at least.

Obviously, all of that happened because I pushed too much energy through, and it wouldn't have been scary at all if I was in control of it to begin with. I'll just have to be a little bit more careful next time!

...Just a little bit.

But... crap! I really must've overheated my horn too much or something, because I couldn't even feel it anymore! Almost as if it was completely gone! I could only hope that I hadn't actually crippled myself with any permanent damage...

'Mmph, I'll... check later... too busy cuddling...'

Unfortunately, the headache had decided to stick around, pounding away at my head without relent.

Maybe I could take a nap? Sleeping felt like a really good idea right then. Yeah, just a quick little bit of rest under Lara's waaarm fur—

"(It's okay, it's over now,)" Lara whispered, tenderly running a hoof along my... not-so-silky-feeling hair? "(Just please don't try to do magic again without somepony to teach you how to control it, alright...?)" Shocked "...Artemis!?"

I groaned. Sleeping would have to wait, it seemed.

I finally detached my face from her chest to look at what had surprised her, only to realize that she was staring at me with widened eyes.

"...What? Do I have something on my face?" I tiredly chittered, going cross-eyed to stare at... my... furry... tan-colored muzzle...

...What the heck!?

"Artemis?"

"I..."

"You... y-you..."

"I... I-I..."

"You're me!" Lara cheered.

"I'm you!?" I squeaked, craning my head around to stare at my 'new' little body in disbelief.

"(I'm the first pony you turned into!)" she loudly exclaimed, happily lifting me up with her forelegs.

"The first pony I turn into, and I'm still a girl..."

"WOOOO!"

"OOOOW!" I hissed in pain as she spun me around herself in her joy, my aching body still... well, aching.

Her large smile disappeared and she stared at me with wide eyes before quickly stopping her merry-go-round, burying me in her fur once more. "(Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!)"

I quietly groaned at her bear hug.

Lara eventually stopped squeezing the life out of me, setting me down in front of herself so that she could examine me more thoroughly. Something that I should be doing as well, now that I thought about it.

Starting with my wings, obviously.

They weren't bug-like anymore, sporting feathers instead. Not only that, but I could feel... extra muscles in them. It kind of made sense since they were more flexible, even if my previous wings could safely bend to a very large extent.

Slowly unfurling the one on my left, I was trying to get a feel for the new sensations that it would be bringing. However, I suddenly tilted it by reflex when I felt some wind flow under it, the new angle catching as much of it as possible— wait, wind?

I turned to look at Lara, whom was crouched and blowing air with her mouth at my wing from where she was. She stopped and smiled at me then, straightening up. "(I could teach you how to use those, you know?)" She gestured at my feathery appendages while readjusting her own under her dress.

Returning my attention to my modified limbs, I extended both of them this time, giving them a few test flaps with muscles that felt both familiar, yet unfamiliar at the same time. I almost felt like I could lift off with that alone, at the same time realizing how I seemed to weigh significantly less than my base form.

How the heck did that work? I couldn't 'lose mass' just like that, could I? I mean, something else had to be at work here. Feeling for my magic, it seemed to be evenly spread out across all of my skin with a certain... pattern ingrained along it, though the main 'orb' was still sitting there, inside of me, and my new wings appeared to be holding a larger amount of energy than before.

...Yeah, it must've been my magic at work. The physics that I knew of simply couldn't explain how I suddenly weighed less. Or how my chitin turned into a furry coat. Or how levitation worked. Or how my horn was— Oh shit, where's my horn!?

Worried "Artemis?... (What's wrong!?)" Lara asked as I panicked and ran my forelegs all over my head.

'WhereIsItWhereIsIt!? Don't tell me I won't be able to do magic ever again!! What have I don— no, no, it's okay. Calm down. Breathe in, breathe out. Again. And again. Okay, how did I even transform? I'm sure I can still do that, since Edge did it when he told me about how he turned into that one pegasus...'

I sat down under Lara's concerned gaze, trying to remember how I had shape-shifted. It began when Lara was running a hoof along my body to comfort me while my magic was going haywire, and there was that distinct feeling of the energy sticking to my chitin right before... I gave it, or molded it into a pattern?

Was that what that was?

I tried to pull in all of the energy from my softer skin, promptly experiencing a kind of ripping sensation since my magic was still somewhat sore—

*Fwoomph*

Ack! That felt odd... but also kind of great! I didn't feel like I was wearing an extra skin anymore and the tiny 'pressure' that I hadn't noticed until now was gone.

And my horn was back!

I happily stretched my familiar body and contentedly buzzed my real wings, enjoying the fact that I was back to being my true self.

At least, I was enjoying it until I noticed that Lara was slightly disappointed.

'...Oh, fine. Just for you, Lara.'

I concentrated once more, remembered all those previous details about the pegasus, evenly applied the energy to all of my chitin with that in mind, felt my entire body tingle...

*Fwoomph*

...and I was back to being Lara Jr., shaking my head to clear away the dizziness before I got up to cuddle some more with the larger version of myself—

*Thud*

—only to fall flat on my face.

It was only then that I realized that these hooves (which unsettled me with their lack of holes) didn't have the same grip than the ones I was used to. I hadn't thought about how much I had been relying on that just for walking around!

It seemed that I was going to have to learn how to walk. Again.

...But apparently not right now since Lara scooped me up, which allowed me to notice that her fur seemed to be singed around her chest where she had held me during my magic overload. I frowned a bit, worriedly staring into her eyes as I tentatively pointed towards one of the blackened spots.

She glanced at where I was gesturing, cringing for a split second before giving me a slightly forced smile. "(Oh, this little thing? You don't have to worry about that, it'll be gone by itself in a few days. You'll see!)"

After seeing that I still kept my concerned expression, she did her best to cover it with the jacket and decided to just embrace me, simultaneously looking around at the complete mess surrounding us as if she was searching for something. "(Now, where did—)"

*THUNK*

I was startled when a book literally fell from the sky right next to us.

...Actually, gazing at the ceiling, I could see a clearly-defined indent of a book up there. Just how resilient were these things!? That one had apparently been embedded into the marble ceiling sometime during my episode, at least until now!

"(Ooh! There it is!)" Lara beamed, reaching for the completely intact book while positioning me on her lap comfortably, clearing her throat as she placed the storybook in front of us.

I also absently noticed that whatever emotions were sent my way kind of tasted... a lot less strongly while I was wearing this form. Disappointing, really.

"Daring Do (and the Cult of Himalak,)" she read, pointing at the title on the front cover, which showcased a picture of me carefully spying on a group of cloaked beings—Whoa, hold on, no, I wasn't on the cover, that was Lara.

I... actually believed for a second that I really was her!

Weird.

"Da-ring Do," Lara slowly read again, pointing at the first few words with a hoof and looking at me expectantly with a smile.

...

...

...Oh!

"Daring Do!" I repeated with no lack of enthusiasm whatsoever.

With Lara's voice. Though, it was higher-pitched due to my 'age'.

She stared at me in surprise for a moment before shaking her head and slowly pronouncing the rest of the book's title, letting me repeat after her. The fact that she was pictured on the cover didn't go completely unnoticed by me, however.

I had seen... well, okay, I hadn't seen everything that she could do since I missed the big fight at the fortress, but I sort-of knew what she was capable of when it came to fighting and/or defending herself. It made me wonder what her line of work consisted of.

If this book could give me a clue on that since it seemed to feature her...

I perked up and gave her all of my attention as she finally opened it to start the story. Hopefully there would be pictures which would allow me to follow what was going on.

"(...Heh, I'm reading a book about me to myself,)" Lara chuckled before clearing her throat, beginning her storytelling with a theatrical tone. "(A long time ago, in a land far, far away...)" she trailed off as I whipped my head around to face the lobby's entrance.

Lara followed my gaze. "(Oh come on! Already!?)" she exclaimed in disappointment. "(We were just getting started!)"

I got up and started ~~tripping~~ cantering my way towards the door, sensing two beings approaching...

"(...Horseapples! What are they going to think when they see all of this!?)" Lara suddenly panicked, searching for something among the disaster present in the entire room.

I was beginning to notice that different ponies brought with them a sort of... extra flavor along with their emotions, kind of like how a spice or a dressing complimented a meal. As such, I was almost certain that one of the two was Cadance, and the other one was... someone that I hadn't met yet.

"(Whew, okay, there's the hat... but where's my helmet!?)"

But, that 'someone' walking alongside Cadance...

I could almost form a link with... him! Something was wrong with it though, like it was... broken, or incomplete...

Maybe all I had to do was force it to connect? It had been a while since I linked with anyone from my family, after all.

Uh... actually, I probably shouldn't force it after what happened when I tried to do the same with my magic. I'll just... Okay, start by trying to feel the link... Connection error... What if I... No... Nngh! Trying to 'straighten' it...

"ARGH!"

I stopped advancing and clutched my head, feeling a pain that wasn't mine as well as getting a sudden bout of dizziness. I... wasn't sure if I had done it right, but once the discomfort ended up dissipating, the...

The link was there! It was still a little weird-feeling, but it was there!

One of my brothers was coming!

He was just as happy as I was!

I was going to meet a member of my family!

It was only a matter of time before I would be able to see Mom!

And the first thing I'd request from her with Lara at my side would be without a doubt, 'This mare followed me home. Can I keep her?' To which Mom would reply: 'Yus.'

And then everything would be alright with the world.

...

...But I had to greet my bro first, which was something that would end up being difficult to properly do if my ability to glomp people at will kept being impeded by the lack of grip on my hooves.

What if... what if I changed the pattern of the flow around my legs? Keep appearance, but regain magnet effect of my changeling hooves...

"(Okay, just... Smile and wave, Daring. Smile and wave,)" Lara muttered to herself, sitting on her haunches at the middle of the room and arming herself with a fake grin aimed at the door that was about to be opened.

After I felt a slight tingle on each of my feet, a quick test confirmed that my gripping powers had returned.

Now I had to make sure that I would pounce on him with just enough strength to show my affection, but not too much in order to avoid hurting him or making him uncomfortable from the impact. It was really tough to calculate, but I was pretty certain that I had figured out the perfect amount of power I needed for my tackle.

The door opened—

I shot towards my brother with as much strength as I could and easily bowled him over.

Alright! Now to say hello in a completely calm and collected manner—

"HI! What's your name? Or number? Are there more changelings around here? How old are you? How do you know Cadance?" I rapidly chittered.

He finally picked his head up from the ground and looked at me as I continued my barrage of questions from my position on his chest. Cadance, in the meantime, peeked into the room after staring at me in surprise for a few seconds.

"When can I see Mom? Where is she, actually? Did the invasion go well? Did we win? Are you here to bring me back home?"

Bewildered "(...What in Equestria happened here!?)" Cadance asked, trailing her wide-eyed gaze across the disaster in the lobby.

"Can I bring her along too?" I asked, pointing at Lara whom was chuckling nervously. "She's really nice! And strong! And she fed me for days! And she protected me... from..." I trailed off. "...She's really nice!" I grinned.

"(Magic surge,)" Lara simply replied to answer Cadance's question, the alicorn letting out an understanding "ah" before redirecting her attention to me.

My brother blinked in uncertainty at my sudden silence. "Uhhhh..."

I sensed his panic beginning to emerge. "Oh! Don't worry, she already knows about changelings!" I assured him. "I mean, she did kind of kidnap me from the hive while everyone was gone, but she's not a bad person! I swear! Though, she was kind of lonely..."

I was levitated off of him by a light-blue aura and gently set on the nearby floor, at which point he quickly managed to get back on his feet.

He just stood there and blankly stared at me with an odd smile that he seemed to be fighting against.

...

...

He continued staring at me.

...

...

...And then he stared some more.

"...Are you alright?" Cadance and I both asked at the same time in our respective languages, simultaneously taking steps towards him.

He backpedaled until he hit a wall, his worry increasing alongside mine as his eyes widened. He clutched his head and shook it, quietly mumbling to himself. "(No, no, no, no, stop!)"

The pink alicorn approached further with a concerned expression. "(Shiny?)"

Okay, something was definitely wrong with him. I checked the link, and... Oh, that was probably why.

"(These... not my feelings, n-not mine...)"

The link had broken down a bit, oddly enough, so I worked on straightening it once more; only this time I did it more carefully and thoroughly.

His body reacted to the repair with a split-second spasm... and then he stopped clutching his head, getting back on his hooves, blinking repeatedly while glancing around, slowly returning to being happy after a short moment. Coincidentally, his happiness began surfacing just as mine did. Or...

Meh, I was putting too much thought into it, I supposed.

"(It's... don't worry, Cadance, I'm as fine as ever!)" he cheerfully said, turning to face me with a wide grin. "(And you must be Artemis!)" His head twitched. "(Unless Daring Do somehow birthed a filly that ended up being an exact copy of herself, which is a ridiculous notion in itself because she doesn't strike me as the kind of mare that would ever want a foal, as if she would even be able to take care of one considering her line of work and attitude—)"

Lara's eye twitched.

"(—but it's not like she's a real pony to begin with. And besides, everypony knows that she works alone!)" he finished, still full of joy as I perceived Lara's muted anger shift into uncertainty, and then back to anger.

...Did he just say something insulting to her!?

"Hey!" I hissed at the white-coated unicorn that was my disguised brother. "Be nice! She saved my life!"

He started frowning the moment my anger showed up...

Cadance cautiously set a hoof on one of his withers. "(Shiny? Are you sure you're fine? You're... acting a little weir—)"

"(Of course I'm fine!)" he snapped, smacking away Cadance's hoof while his nostrils flared with his sudden heavy breathing.

Whoa, what the heck happened!? He was brimming with joy a few seconds ago!

Cadance's surprised expression became a determined one. "(Alright, we're going back to Dr. Lab Coat. Something's definitely wrong with you.)"

Well, his anger was gone, but he was just as worried as I was about him.

"(Please not the doctor!)" he pleaded with widened eyes, throwing himself at her feet. "(I'll do anything! Just please don't take me back to him!)"

Cadance blinked, then quickly gained a smirk. "(Anything?)"

"(Anything!)" he repeated, vigorously bobbing his head up and down.

The alicorn went into deep thought as I happily leapt on his back. She had opened her mouth to say something, but seemed to reconsider what she was going to say on noticing my presence. She still brightened up after a moment afterwards, though.

"(If you promise to do my sunshine dance whenever Twilight or I happen to ask for it, I will maybe not bring you to the Doc—)"

"(I promise!)" he proclaimed with another twitch of his head as I comfortably set myself on top of it. "(I always secretly wanted to do it, but I kept thinking up until now that it would ruin my public image because it was totally 'un-cool', even though I found it to be really cute. What a silly thought, right?)"

Huh. Could've sworn I felt shock from my brother as he said that, but if there was any to begin with, then it was immediately drowned by our combined joy.

"(G-great!)" Cadance beamed, gently levitating me off of his head and back into the room despite my protests—wait, beyond the lobby entrance was a huge hallway? How big was this place!?

"(I keep my collection of comic books inside a locked box hidden behind the decorative shield hanging on the wall next to our bed!)"

Okay, now I knew for sure that he felt some shock as he said that, even if it still disappeared pretty quickly.

Cadance looked at him weirdly as Lara grabbed me so that I couldn't get to him—

"(The other books are right next to them, behind your dresser!)" His eyes widened in fear for a split second.

Cadance's lips pursed.

"(And, sometimes, when I'm certain that I'm completely alone,)" PAnicJOY "(I put on your regalia and pretend I'm a Princess while—mmphmnghmmmnnghh!)" He happily jammed both of his fore hooves into his mouth.

He was being so silly that I couldn't stop myself from snickering.

"(We're going. Now,)" Cadance firmly stated when my weird brother suddenly decided to laugh hysterically for no apparent reason.

"(Hahah! HahAHaHahAhAHah!... HehEheh... huh... heh, um, Cadie?)" he asked when he suddenly found himself floating in a bubble that had the same color as Cadance's glowing horn. "(What are you doing? I, I thought you said—?)"

"(I said I would maybe not bring you to Lab Coat. We're still going.)"

Wait, they were leaving already? But... b-but I never even got his name! Or even had an actual conversation with him! Or cuddled properly! Or even got a nuzzle!

"(Why are you doing this to me~e!)" my brother bawled, feeling as sad as I was about our forced separation. "(I made you a promise! And you... I thought you loved me!)"

"(Of course I love you! It's just that right now you—)"

"(WAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!)" he openly cried, tears streaming down his face.

Cadance seemed to let her incredulous stare speak for itself, pausing to look at Lara as the pegasus constantly stopped me from crossing the threshold of the lobby's entrance. "(Sorry for that, I'll be back soon. And, um... I'll try not to forget the typewriter this time.)" Cadance sheepishly grinned, engulfing the door with her magic before closing it.

Aww! I didn't even get to spend time with him!

I slumped, finally allowing Lara to relax once she didn't feel the need to stop me from running off after my brother.

...But, in the end... I guessed it wasn't actually that big of a deal since now I knew that there was at least one other changeling nearby! All I had to do now was to find the perfect moment to sneak away!

In the meantime, Lara snorted in anger as she began muttering to herself.

"('Couldn't take care of a foal, even if she wanted to',)" she mockingly mimed before loudly stomping a hoof on the ground in frustration. "(Who does he think he is? Who does he think I am!? I've traveled to places nopony's been to in centuries! I've discovered relics from ages past! Triumphed over ancient puzzles! Secured powerful artifacts away from the wrong hooves, paws, hands, claws and tentacles! I've even occasionally saved the world! And he thinks I can't take care of a foal!?)"

Her rage slowly gave way to doubt as her breathing slowed down, until she eventually froze as if considering something.

Sensing her deteriorating emotional state, I turned to face her.

Our eyes met.

She fidgeted with her forehooves while she sat on her haunches, averting eye contact as she stared at the ground between us, glancing at me after a moment.

"Artemis?" she asked with a softer voice than I had ever heard from her. "(Do you, think, that... that I... am I a... would I be a g-good...?)" she stammered, her voice laced with a certain amount of hope, though at the same time she was feeling increasingly anxious.

I glomped her before she could finish.

To my surprise, however, she remained troubled and adopted that one expression she had whenever she thought I wasn't looking, even as she returned the hug and petted my back at that perfect spot in-between the base of my wings, making them flutter lightly in contentment. It made me almost literally melt in her hooves, feeling like pudding as she continued stroking that delightful area and it just felt so goooooooo—no, no! Stay awake! Focus!

She had this kind of... thoughtful look, as if contemplating something big, something that would perhaps be life-changing and if I had to guess, it had to do with me considering she stole glances in my direction every now and then with that look.

Ugh! If only I was able to actually converse with her! I was certain that I could've helped with whatever was on her mind.

...

...

Oh hey! Right there! It's that one book that she was previously going to read to me!

I flailed a foreleg in its general direction while Lara was holding me, letting out a nondescript chirp to catch her attention.

She shook her head out of her musings, noticing the book.

"(Oh. Sure,)" she said in a distracted manner, grabbing the book as I settled myself comfortably on her lap. I still gave her a worried look though, since her thoughts seemed to remain occupied with something else.

Lara saw my concerned gaze, weakly smiling down at me. "(I'm, it's... complicated, Artemis. But, everything's fine! You've got absolutely nothing to worry about,)" she warmly finished with a nuzzle.

Finally opening the book once more, she did what she could to bring my attention to it; clearing her throat in preparation to begin her storytelling...

...Until I turned to face the lobby's entrance and she once more followed my gaze.

"(OH COME ON!)"

The door opened, allowing entry to Sparkles and... a whole load of stuff that she was levitating behind her.

No, seriously. There were a lot of things. Objects of all kinds; books, little toys, books, little contraptions, books, a few metal orbs of varying sizes, books...

I had this really vague suspicion that she loved books.

"(I'm back!)" Sparkles happily greeted. "(What did... I... miss...!?)"

Aaaaand everything crashed down the moment she noticed the state of the room, the purple glow surrounding the assorted objects disappearing.

...Yeaaaah, we should probably clean up this mess sometime.

Probably.

Lara sighed in exasperation, roughly closing the book with an audible *Thunk*. "(Magic surge.)"

Sparkles trailed her wide-eyed gaze over the lobby one more time, doing this weird motion afterwards where she closed her eyes, breathed in as she brought a foreleg to her chest, and then breathed out, extending the leg ahead of herself. "(It's alright, I've had to clean up my own library from similar disasters pretty frequently. Let me just...)"

The unicorn rearranged everything that she had brought with her magic, separating the objects into neatly organized piles depending on what the items consisted of. After doing that, all of the books that were already in the room before she arrived were levitated next to the bookshelf, forming towers that would no doubt be sorted out later. Next, all of the overturned furniture was set upright and placed right back to where it all used to be, in the same exact formation as before.

I paid close attention to her horn, trying to determine how she was using her magic like so. If I could learn how to replicate that feat... Well, she seemed to have this pattern going through her horn, from what I could sense. It didn't appear to be too complicated, so maybe I could try that soon...

In the span of under half a minute, the room was practically back to how it used to be before my accident, sans the pieces of literature that still needed to be re-shelved—

"(What's this doing here?)" asked Sparkles as she levitated Lara's familiar helmet over to herself.

...Didn't Lara hide that helmet from view with the other hat? Was it supposed to be a secret?

Lara's slightly panicked expression confirmed my thoughts.

"(It looks just like in the books!)" Sparkles exclaimed, excitedly examining it from various angles while she spun it in her magic. "(Practically authentic—)"

Running up to the unicorn, I pounced on the flying helmet, making Sparkles yelp as she immediately let go of her magical grasp on it.

I ended up landing in a way that the helmet completely engulfed my miniature body.

"(It's mine, actually!)" Lara proclaimed as I scampered around while in the cloth prison. "(I always keep one with me. It's... an author kind of thing! To have something from my series. On me. At all times. No matter what. Yes.)"

I forgot how fun it was to run in an enclosed space that could be moved! Heck, just running in general! I felt like I could go on forever with all of this unspent energy that I had—

*Thunk*

"Ow!" I squeaked. Must've hit a table or something— ah, yes, I did.

I retracted my hoof back under the helmet and resumed running around in the opposite direction, using a zigzag pattern towards where I thought Lara was.

This was like playing minesweeper!

Or, at least, it was like before I learned how to actually play that game.

Danger lurking in almost every direction, blindly rushing into lands unknown, never knowing if the next step would be the last—

*Thunk*

...ow.

Sparkles laughed for the first time since I've known her. "(Alright, Artemis, that's enough of that. I've got books for you!)" she cheered.

The helmet was encased in the purple glow and hefted up into the air—

"(Wha— where'd she go!?)" Sparkles panicked when nothing was revealed on the floor under it, quickly peering into the helmet itself—

I jumped out of it with a war cry and successfully hugged her face lovingly.

She froze and tensed as I clung to the top of her muzzle, but hey! At least she wasn't feeling disgust towards me anymore! Still supremely curious, though.

"(W-well, aren't you a sneaky little changeling?)" Sparkles nervously remarked with a not-too-fake smile.

I was levitated to the ground, the unicorn then trotting towards the pile near the entrance.

...

Hey, now that I thought about it, looking at my practically perfect physical imitation of Lara... I pretty much figured out the basics of shape-shifting! I could change... change into...

...into...

...

Change into what?

I couldn't just transform into a human; how would the ponies even react to that? Humans might've never even existed on this planet to begin with! Was I even able to turn into one? My current shape had barely changed my physiology, so it made sense that it was quick, easy and painless, but how would it feel like if I went from being a quadruped to a biped?

I guessed that I was going to find out if a human transformation was possible once I'd finally get some privacy, though it was safe to assume that it wouldn't occur anytime soon. Not that my current form didn't feel great and natural, especially since I felt even more comfortable as my normal insect-like self.

"(Aha! This should be a good one to start,)" said Sparkles, levitating a few wooden blocks in her magical aura while Lara approached to sit next to me.

What about my gender?

...I mean, I wasn't entirely satisfied that I was a changeling girl at birth, but, as much as I loathed to admit it, it seemed that I was stuck with it as my default form no matter what since I felt like I was 'wearing' something whenever I wasn't 'myself'. It wasn't that I inherently disliked being a girl; rather, after spending a few decades as a guy, it was something that I pretty much defined as 'normal' whenever I thought about myself as a person.

I wondered if that would change over time; if I should be trying to cling to my past self, or embrace my new one with open ~~arms~~ hooves.

What about Lara and Cadance? They already knew of my true form and they loved me for it. Would that change if I took on an unfamiliar, male appearance?

Alternatively, I had to admit that it felt pretty great to be treated like a little sis—sibling. I didn't think I ever was this touchy feely before, but it's just that... these ponies! They were just so cuddly and fluffy, and it felt so good to hug them, even more so when they returned it and held me while they showered me with their succulent love! Especially when it came to that love! Mmmmm...

...

...

I wiped off the drool that was starting to form, having caught Lara's befuddled stare.

Seriously though, these ponies were like life-sized plushies!

...Well, more like Godzilla-sized.

I put all of my thoughts about my body and gender on hold when Sparkles came over with various little items, which consisted of blocks that took on various shapes along with a much larger hollowed-out cube that had a hole on each of its sides, every one of them corresponding to a different shape that matched with the blocks.

She set the hollow cube in front of me and, after staring at it for a couple seconds, gave me the star-shaped block, attentively watching my reaction.

"(Is there a point to this? Or are you merely entertaining her?)" Lara curiously asked.

I walked around the box while observing each of its sides, but none of the holes that I could see corresponded with a form that would fit for the block that she had given me...

"(This is just a quick test to see her problem-solving skills,)" Sparkles eagerly replied. "(Where's Cadance and my BBBFF, by the way? I thought they'd be here already.)"

...So I turned the box upside down and inserted the star in the one side that I couldn't previously look at.

The unicorn blinked. "(Huh. She caught on pretty quickly.)"

"(...Assuming BBBFF somehow means Captain Shining Armor, they came by not too long ago. The Captain didn't appear to be in his right mind though, thus they had to leave shortly afterwards. You missed them by a few minutes, in fact.)"

"(Oh. I hope he's okay...)" Sparkles trailed off.

She then gave me all of the blocks at once, at which point I just absentmindedly inserted them into their proper slots in a timely fashion.

"(Seems to have memorized the location of every shape after her first examination, too...)" Sparkles muttered as—when did she get that scroll and quill!?

Lara gave the purple pony an odd look. "(You haven't commented about the fact that Artemis learned to transform yet. I would've thought that you would jump at the prospect of learning how that worked.)"

"(Of course I would love to learn about that!)" Sparkles replied, pausing in her scribbling for a second. "(Doctor Lab Coat is working on that part at the moment; said he thought he was close to a breakthrough of some kind. I'm more interested in Artemis and what she's capable of, though.)" Her eyes glanced at me before they suddenly narrowed in suspicion, traveling between Lara and I. "(Come to think of it, you look very much like Daring Do...)"

I made my way to the pile of books near the bookshelf since they were taking their sweet time with their conversation...

"(B-but of course! It was only natural for me to make the heroine of the series look similar to the pony who created her!)" Lara nervously grinned, shifting in her dress to discreetly cover herself some more.

Sparkles nodded in understanding. "(Ah. Though, speaking of your series...)" Her eyes glinted with excitement. "(Is there going to be a return of the lizard creatures from beyond the dark swamp—)"

"(By the stars, I hope not!)" Lara blurted, rearing her head back.

Sparkles tilted her head in confusion while I paused to see if my friend was alright.

"(...Uhh, *Ahem*, that is to say,)" Lara smoothly recovered, renewing her 'accent'. "(I have not yet given sufficient thought to that particular premise for a sequel. That book was especially difficult to... write, and only time will tell whether or not inspiration will once more... strike me so that I may continue the series on that venue.)"

'Alright, now, let's see here...'

Sad "(I see... It's just that their culture was so interesting! Their different way of life, their language composed of miscellaneous sounds and gestures, how their society was structured similarly to the ancient griffin tribes of old... How did you even come up with half of what you had described!?)"

Lara nervously chuckled. "(Well—)"

"(In fact, why did you have to make it so that one of the lizard tribesmales—the very same one that had been following Daring around while being generally friendly and helpful—ended up causing a village-wide hunt for her across the entire island, forcing her to fight her way through the mob of warriors that used to be friendly villagers moments before, until she was finally able to escape the settlement with the artifact in her possession?)"

"(I... you see—)"

"(I mean, sure, Daring Do might've refused what appeared to be some sort of marriage proposal from him, but I am fairly certain that you could've written that part of the story at least three hundred fifty-seven different ways! Some of them would've even allowed Daring Do to safely acquire the Ancient Archmage's Scepter of Divinity from their temple without any repercussions whatsoever, while—)"

"(It wasn't that simple!)" Lara angrily interjected, stopping Sparkles' rant right in its tracks. "(There was a lot more going on than you think! I had to take into account the fact that Ti-Nyuk-Nyuk and his tribe zealously guarded the thing at all times, worshipping it as if it were some sort of deity in physical form; and while I wa— Daring had been studying their patrol routes and schedules during the initial week she had been there, their leader suddenly decided she was to be his mate the moment she discovered a window of opportunity!)"

"(Yes, that's exactly what happened in the book—)"

"(Daring had to accept or be mauled on the spot since she was surrounded on all sides with no escape route available, never mind the fact that she was unable to fly properly at the time due to close quarters.)"

Sparkles blinked. "(That's... not how it went—)"

"(Then she had to fight the village's champions, all at once, to prove that she was 'worthy' to be the leader's mate, which was made even more difficult because she had to do it unarmed while they had weapons, and their natural scales protected them more than nearly all of the armors that Daring has had to fight against during her entire career.)"

"Uhhhh—"

"(Then she had to complete a death course. And then another death course that featured lava while her wings were bound. And only then was she allowed to 'roam free' once more as long as she stayed within the village's boundaries and was escorted by no less than four warriors who kept her wings tied, until the very next day where she would be going through the ceremony that would bond her to the chief.)"

"..."

"(Thankfully, the whole ritual was going to occur within their temple itself, so all I had to— Daring had to do was grab the staff during one of the most crucial parts of their whole 'marriage' process and flee as quickly as possible while using their shock to her advantage so that she could buy herself some time to escape a little easier.)"

...Okay, I was going to get up to comfort Lara, but it seemed that her speech was something that she simply had to let out since she felt better afterwards. As it stood, I returned to my 'reading', leaving them to their 'girl talk' or whatever it was they were conversing about.

"...Wow," was all Sparkles could say for a few moments while Lara calmed down. "(I know I tend to immerse myself in my books whenever I read them, but you make it sound as if you've actually lived through everything that you just described! Why wasn't any of that in the book, anyway?)"

Lara shuddered. "(The series is known for being accessible to ponies of all ages. I do not believe that the book would've been published if I wrote about how Daring had been on the brink of death, injured as she was from all the cuts and bruises that resulted from the first test. Or how she was stripped of all her possessions for the duration of the following trials. Or how she was barely fed in the dark dungeon that they kept her in for the week that it took them to prepare the rest of the 'events', which took Daring three additional days to complete.)"

Sparkles looked horrified. "(Why... why would you even think about making Daring Do go through that—)"

"(Where's Artemis!?)" Lara suddenly interjected, frantically searching around herself for something.

Meanwhile, I flipped to the next page using my muzzle, having learned that it was much easier to do so than trying to control my hooves' grip in order to avoid grabbing all of the remaining pages at once.

From what I could tell, this book gave some very detailed information on various positions that could be used for hugging and cuddling in general, even if the way these griffins did it was kind of odd, at times.

'Ooh, I'll have to try that one with Lara someday.'

I was about to flip the page once more—

"ARTEMIS!" Lara screeched, hurriedly snatching the familiar bright pink book from my grasp.

Again.

==============================================

Right after I was denied my privilege of learning more about griffin cuddling customs, Lara had taken me back to Sparkles, whom gave me a few more toys to play with; all of which were puzzle-based, I noticed. She kept writing notes as I completed the relatively easy 'challenges', the unicorn getting more excited by the moment.

Cadance had arrived shortly thereafter without my brother—to my disappointment—though she did bring stacks of blank papers, a bunch of ink and one of those weird typewriters, like the one I had seen at Lara's secluded house. The pegasus in question seemed to have thanked the alicorn with a smile, though she lingered by my side for a few seconds before finally setting everything up at the nearest table. She sat on a seat that still allowed her to see us in her peripheral vision as she began typing away, continuously pausing to glance in our direction for the first few minutes.

I was starting to get this itch on my left foreleg's shoulder, right where I remembered landing on that one boulder in the jungle. Turning back to my true—and comfortable—form helped in mitigating it, but the 'itch' just wouldn't go away; at least for a good while.

Sparkles soon ran out of puzzles to throw my way and decided to begin teaching me new words with the help of Cadance, using the various books that she had brought; most of which were obviously meant for babies and/or kids. Or perhaps I should say foals? Either way, I was eager to expand my vocabulary and I think it showed, to Sparkles' delight.

But then, right as they taught me the meaning of the word "Sun" by showing me a picture of it, something truly horrifying happened.

Sparkles and Cadance appeared to have gotten an idea at the same time, slowly turning to look at each other before nodding in silent agreement.

Then they moved into position, told me to "look", and—

"(Sunshine, sunshine...)" They tip-toed on the spot.

'...Wha—'

"(...Ladybugs awake!)" They crouched, covered their eyes and uncovered them at the final syllable.

'The heck—'

"Clap your hooves..." They sat on their rumps and did exactly as they said.

'I don't even—'

"(...And do a little shake!)" They joyfully finished by whipping around and allegedly shaking their butts to each other, giggling right afterwards.

'...................'

But that wasn't the horrifying part. No sir!

The horrifying part was when Sparkles turned to face me—and I swear that I saw all of this in slow-motion—before she uttered to me the one word that I was absolutely dreading to hear.

"Repeat!" she gleefully said.

It was only through pure strength of will that I managed to remain seated where I was with the most poker-faced poker-face I could manage. My multi-tasking abilities were working at maximum capacity to prevent me from showing any signs of fear and panic. I couldn't let these two monsters see any weakness on my part, lest they—

Lara snickered in amusement.

...

...

...

I very slowly turned to face the pegasus, a predatory grin plastering itself upon my face.

Her smile faded as I stared into her eyes, her expression turning to fear within seconds.

"You repeat wit me!" I proclaimed, imperiously pointing at Lara.

"You repeat with me," Sparkles quickly corrected in the background.

Lara blanched in the meantime. "Uh, n-no. No thanks! I—"

"Please?"

She bit her lip in uncertainty.

I gave her a sad, pleading look.

She stared at me with beads of sweat rolling down her face.

I intensified my pleading look—

"Hnnngh! Okay, okay!" she conceded, defeated by my clearly superior tactics as she covered her eyes in an attempt to shield herself from my secret weapon. "(Just)... stop (pouting!)"

I beamed and ran up to Lara, getting in position as I eagerly waited for her to join... me... with...

...Oh. Shit.

Just what did I get myself into!?

"(Isn't this great!?)" Sparkles cheered, clapping her forehooves together in excitement as she talked to Cadance. "(Artemis is even learning about our dance!)"

"Yeah!" Cadance happily giggled before glancing between Lara and I, her smile faltering somewhat. "Yeah..."

Welp, I couldn't just back out now; might as well get this over with.

'The things I do for love...' I mentally sighed in resignation.

"(The things I do for you,)" Lara whispered with a bored expression, yet I could sense that she was feeling a little happier than a few seconds ago.

The 'dance' ended up being kind of awkward due to our size difference, plus we had to get Cadance and Sparkles to repeat it a couple more times for us so that we could get it right, but...

Seeing that faint smile on the corner of Lara's lips after we finished it?

Worth it.

That, and Sparkles seemed to be looking at me under a different light with a kind of thoughtful look. I couldn't feel any disgust from her anymore while being in my base form, and I even felt a bit of love flowing through our bond...

==============================================

Lunch was an... interesting affair.

"(What do you mean she hasn't eaten anything at all in her entire life!?)"

"(Exactly what I just said,)" Lara calmly replied while I clung to Cadance.

We were waiting around the table in the kitchen for Lara to finish cooking... whatever it was she was making on the other side of the room.

Sparkles looked at me with a frown. "(That's impossible. Without any form of nourishment, she wouldn't even be alive right now. She's about four days old, right?)" the unicorn asked, receiving an affirmative nod from Lara. "(By now, she should at least be showing signs of hunger, maybe even of malnutrition if she hasn't eaten anything yet.)"

...Well, they were waiting for their food. I was already getting mine from the alicorn that was enjoying every bit of our contact. Her love wasn't as delicious as Lara's, though. Cadance kept having these rare occurrences where, one moment she was happily embracing me, next her gaze went from loving to pained, the bond overflowing with sadguiltremorse— and back to happy after a few seconds.

What's up with that?

Speaking of which...

Guilt "(...Now that I think about it, I did feel a lot weaker every time C-Chrysalis visited me in the caverns. It only started happening when I thought about Shining Armor, though. Didn't s-she say something about feeding on love... for... power...)"

Things got pretty quiet all of a sudden. Everyone was staring at me with looks of realization, too.

"...What?" was all I could ask.

A strand of hair detached itself from Sparkles' mane. "(That's... you... No. Just... No! Love isn't 'something' you can eat! It's impossible!)"

"Twilight."

"(That makes no sense! Emotions are a concept, not something physical that you digest and convert into matter—)"

"Twilight!" Cadance abruptly interrupted.

The unicorn calmed down somewhat on noticing my confused expression, brightening up as she seemed to have gotten an idea—

*Flash*

I gave a start when stuff appeared next to Sparkles. I don't think I'd ever get used to random teleporting objects...

"Sorry," the purple pony sheepishly apologized before writing... no, she was drawing something this time.

She showed me a simplistic picture of, well, 'me' appearing to be in the process of eating various small pink hearts—not the organ kind—with a symbol next to the drawing... which I was guessing was their written version of a question mark?

Either way, she... actually figured out that I ate love?

Huh.

I nodded to let her know that, yes, I ate love. Unless she meant to ask if I ate actual hearts.

...At which point I'd gingerly nod to say that yes, I also ate hearts.

T'was my favorite part of the rabbit I nom'd on, in fact.

"(Does this mean that I've been feeding her all this time?)" Cadance asked, perking up while another strand of Sparkles' mane stuck out.

"(You actually believe this? Just like that!?)" Sparkles asked, frowning with eyes narrowed in disbelief.

"Artemis isn't looking (hungry), is she?"

I brought my muzzle out of Cadance's fur to look up at her with a tilted head. "What 'hungry' mean?"

The alicorn pondered how to answer me, gaining a smile. "'Hungry' means when your (cute) little (tummy) is asking for food!" she cooed while poking my barrel, miming eating something.

Oh. Okay.

"Are you hungry?" Sparkles asked, staring at me intently as if only one answer existed for that simple question.

Was I hungry? I still felt nowhere near full, though I wasn't too close to being empty at the same time...

"...Little," I ended up answering, bringing both of my forehooves together with a small space between them.

Cadance brightened up to a whole new level.

"That's okay, I have all the (love) you need!" she proclaimed, tightening her hold on me with a happy nuzzle—

*Crash* "(Buck!)" Lara loudly exclaimed, broken glass littering the ground around her right after Cadance finished speaking.

"Miss Yearling! (Mind your language, there are foals here!)" Cadance admonished.

"...What 'buck' mean?" I asked with a tilted head.

...

Awkward silence.

...

"Erm... don't repeat," Cadance nervously grinned.

I blinked 'innocently'. "No repeat what?"

"Buck."

"Buck?"

"Yes, buck."

...

...

...

"Oh, buck."

"Buck!" I cheerfully proclaimed.

"No! Bad word! Don't repeat!"

"No repeat what?"

"Buc—"

"Cut it out already!" Sparkles interrupted. Rudely.

Hmph!

A few cuddles, a couple more nuzzles, a quick transition to Lara and a minute or two later, the food was served and everyone was enjoying their meals.

Cadance's food looked a little burnt...

She didn't seem to mind though; her expression one of pure bliss as she moaned and chewed on her seasoned veggies. Made me wish I could taste...

Oh! Hold on a second~

*Fwoomph*— "BUCK!"

In her surprise, Lara had thrown me and I did not yelp like a little girl as I flew across the room... or at least I would've, if a purple aura hadn't caught me almost immediately.

Cadance finally stopped choking on her food from being startled, both the alicorn and unicorn sending disappointed looks to the pegasus, whom ignored them and instead gazed at me worriedly, breathing out a sigh of relief once she realized that all I did was change into Lara Jr.

In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have shape-shifted while clinging to Lara. I mean, I'd be freaked out too if I was holding a kid who spontaneously combusted in my arms while I enjoyed a quiet lunch. At the very least, the red flames that enveloped me whenever I changed form were mostly harmless; I'd hate to actually burn the hand that fed me.

Or the 'hoof' that fed me. Whatever.

"(I was going to ask you to be more careful, but I'm not sure that I would've reacted any better to that,)" Sparkles said as she levitated me back down, gently placing me next to herself on the table.

I sheepishly smiled to all the present ponies. "Sorry."

But anyway, onwards to more pressing matters!

Namely, Sparkles' salad.

I pointed at a random flower. "I can has?"

"Can I have a 'sunflower', please," she corrected. "And... sure?" She levitated the requested item onto my waiting hooves.

I shoved the large piece into my mouth with the manners they had taught me (read: none) and started chewing.

...

'...Whoa, this is weird.'

The herb actually had a taste, but... at the same time, it had no taste? Like, I could tell it was 'good' and 'edible', plus I could probably come up with a way to describe the 'flavor', but... I felt like I was chewing ash.

"(Did you even try to get her to eat anything other than... love?)" Sparkles asked as I swallowed.

Oof, I probably shouldn't have eaten that, actually. I felt full... rather, whatever held anything I physically ate felt full.

"Yes, (I offered some flowers of my own, but she didn't want any,)" Lara replied.

Mmphgh, shit, too full! I think I'm...

"(There were also the amazing pancakes from this morning that Artemis refused,)" Cadance added, gaining a dopey expression as she absently stared into nothing, practically drooling.

'...I'm going to...'

"(Well, you see? We're not entirely certain yet that Artemis actually eats emotions, but she is clearly capable of eating—)"

*Bleurgh!* *Splat*

"(...normal foods?)"

Cadance, brought out of her reverie, stared at what I had just expelled from my mouth onto the table.

"(...That doesn't really look like normal food to me,)" she stated, grimacing.

I poked the little blob of gel with a hoof. It wiggled a bit, yet remained stuck on the spot.

It didn't even feel like I puked that! Bringing it out was just... as normal and pleasant as breathing! I even felt like I could do more than just spit 'sticky goop'. I'd have to experiment some more...

Lara looked at the little green blob for a moment, checked to see if I was fine, shrugged, and went back to eating as if nothing happened.

Sparkles was slightly disgusted but immensely curious (as always), and attempted to grab a piece of it with her magic, to no avail.

Cadance continued her meal, though at a much slower rate, doing everything she could to not look anywhere near the gel.

And I just sat there, poking it repeatedly.

'Squishy. Squishy squishy squishy.'

After multiple failed attempts to magically detach the gel from the furniture, Sparkles suddenly slammed her forehooves on the table and, with what appeared to be a tremendous amount of effort, finally managed to detach the blob from the table...

...At which point it shot up to the ceiling and stuck itself there with another *splat*.

"Twilight, could you please eat first and (leave that for later?)" Cadance pleaded.

Sparkles sat back down, dejected. "Fiiine."

As we all ate from our own sources, Sparkles and Cadance had been animatedly chatting away with each other about... stuff, speaking too fast for me to follow while simultaneously using words I hadn't learnt yet. Everything was fine and dandy for the most part, until I noticed that Lara was just calmly finishing her food on her side of the table.

Awkwardly.

Quietly.

Alone.

Of course, I rectified that immediately by simply walking towards her until I was close enough to perform the 'hug-me-plis™' pose. She perked up considerably, scooping me up into another hug as she happily resumed eating in a more normal pace.

I kind of felt bad for what I was planning to do when the right opportunity would arise, though. I could only hope that Lara, Cadance and Sparkles wouldn't be too upset by my absence...

...For now, however, I would enjoy the time I had with them as much as I could in case these moments ended up being the last ones we'd have together for an undetermined amount of time.

I couldn't help myself but stare at Lara's salad with distaste from my position on her chest, though. If only I could show her how much better her love tasted than those pathetic greens... that they all seemed to be enjoying immensely, somehow.

'Blech, so much for enjoying regular food. I might as well just switch back to my regular form—'

*Fwoomph*— "BUCK!"

==============================================

"This is the 'moon' that (Princess Luna controls.) Repeat, 'moon'," Sparkles explained, pointing at a picture of the moon on the book we had been going through before lunch.

"This is the moon that (Preencess Loona controwls.) Repeat, moon," I answered.

Sparkles tilted her head. "You only needed to repeat the one word, but that's okay, I (guess)."

"You only needed to repeat the one word, but that's okay, I (guess)." I parroted once more, grinning inwardly.

Lara paused in her typing, having caught on to what I was doing as she sat back to watch the show along with a smirking Cadance.

Sparkles suspiciously squinted her eyes at me. "(...Alright, moving on.)" She flipped to the next page with her magic—

"(Ahlright, mooving on,)" I agreed.

"Oh. I see what you're doing."

"Oh, I see what you're doing."

Sparkles cleared her throat.

Whew, okay, I survived long enough for her to gain that mischievous smirk. Now all I had to do was let her embarrass herself by saying something self-degradi—

"(Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia is the aptly-named term used to describe an intense fear of long words.)"

...

...

...

She smugly smiled at me.

...

...

...

...

*Fwoomph*

"I'm (stoopid.)"

...Oookay, maybe it wasn't such a great idea to turn into a copy of Sparkles and proclaim with her voice what was probably an insult, considering the frown the unicorn was sending my way.

"Who (taught) you that word!?" she sternly demanded after getting over her minor shock.

*Fwoomph*

I quickly turned into a perfect imitation of a miniaturized Cadance in the hopes that it would dissipate her anger. After all, they seemed to be best friends, at the very least. My stratagem appeared to have worked, for Sparkles' eyes widened in disbelief.

She then slowly turned around to look at the real Cadance, whom was trying to sneak away as inconspicuously as possible, for some reason. The alicorn froze under Sparkles' gaze, giggling nervously at the unicorn's slack-jawed expression.

'Whew! Crisis averted.'

==============================================

After a short argument/discussion, they seemed to have cleared up whatever their problem was, resulting in Sparkles laughing at Cadance's expense since the latter felt pretty embarrassed. Lara's snickering probably didn't help much in that regard as well.

So we went back to finishing the book.

This time, the page showed the various types of ponies. Sparkles wasted no time to cheerfully name each of them, but...

It made me wonder.

I pointed at Lara, stating: "Pegasus."

Cadance and Sparkles eagerly nodded with bright smiles.

I pointed at Sparkles. "Unicorn."

They continued bobbing their heads up and down with no lack of enthusiasm whatsoever.

I pointed at Cadance. "Alicorn."

Cadance clapped her forehooves together, happy that I seemed to have gotten everything right so far, though Sparkles' grin began to dissipate, as if she realized where I was going with this.

And then I slowly moved my hoof to point at myself, tilting my head in a silent question.

A silent question that made their cheery expressions morph into neutral ones, until they forced themselves to chuckle, glancing between each other nervously.

"You're a 'changeling'," Lara answered from her position at the nearby table before Cadance and Sparkles could say anything.

Huh. So they came up with a name for my kind that fast? Or did they have one ready because they already knew about us? I never heard about anyone having knowledge of our existence...

...Something didn't feel right here.

"This... isn't good," Sparkles muttered to herself in concern.

Cadance looked perplexed. "What is?"

Sparkles briefly glanced at my innocent expression before facing Cadance. "(The nymph has gained knowledge of the fact that she is unlike the equines displayed within the tome that our group has been perusing through.)"

Oh. Great. Now she's purposely using words that I don't understand to probably talk about me.

Cadance tilted her head in befuddlement. "...So?"

Actually, I think that there IS a way for me to maybe ascertain whether or not I'm the first changeling they've ever known. Unfortunately, they hadn't taught me the words I'd need to clearly ask the question...

...Unless...

"(Ponder about how us grown equines would have to respond when the nymph eventually realizes that—)"

"Only one 'changling'?" I interjected, pointing at myself once more.

Holy shit. The panic I felt from Sparkles skyrocketed, and Cadance's emotions were all over the place. Again. Heck, even Lara went wide-eyed and stopped typing as she froze completely, staring at me in concern.

"Uh, erm, I... Oh look!" Sparkles quickly exclaimed much louder than necessary, levitating something from the pile she had brought.

'Yeah, something's definitely fishy here—Oooh!'

Right there.

In Sparkles' magical aura.

Was a plushy of Lara!

It was as big as I was, dressed with the 'Daring Do' outfit, but what was undeniably the most important feature out of everything else:

It was extra fluffy.

...It was also sent rocketing towards my face hard enough to knock me flat on my back. Not that I minded, though; I pretty much squeezed the heck out of it right afterwards.

I was so enamored with my first toy that I almost missed the sigh of relief that everyone—wait, this was mine now, right? How could I formulate the question with what little I knew...? Hmm...

"This... with me?"

Close enough.

"Is this for me," Sparkles corrected, immediately taking the opportunity to return to her familiar 'teacher mode'. "And yes! That is a (gift) for you. Heheh." She widely grinned.

Fuck yeah!

Lara gave a sideways look at Sparkles. "(You do realize that you cannot keep her from eventually finding out the truth, don't you?)" she asked as I ecstatically barrel-rolled around the floor while clinging to the plushy.

'IT'S SO FLUFFEH!'

Sparkles sighed. "(I know, but... just look at her!)"

"I'll name you Lola! And I will hug you and squeeze you and pet you and pat you and rub you and caress you..." I chirped as I happily rocked the stuffed toy to and fro within my embrace.

"(Do you want to be the one to take away that innocence? Take away what time she has left to just enjoy a normal life while she can still have one?)" Sparkles rhetorically asked.

"...and we will rule the world together forever and ever and— Blech!" What was up with the disgustingly gloomy atmosphere around here all of a sudden?

Cadance somewhat got a hold of her emotions, standing slightly straighter. "(What happened during my wedding might've been my fault to begin with, but... at the very least, I'll make sure that she knows that she has somepony that loves and cares for her. Let her know that... that she isn't truly alone.)"

While Lara seemed to have gone into deep thought with that look once more, I ran up to Sparkles and tackled her lightly.

And by lightly, I mean I almost bowled her over.

"Thanks you!" I cheerfully exclaimed.

"Thank you," she automatically corrected... leaning down after a moment to give me a nuzzle with an uncertain yet genuine smile adorning her face as the flow of love that came from her increased.

I then leapt down from Sparkles and started dragging Lola to Lara, taking extra care to not damage my new companion in any way, shape or form. I was almost there when I caught Lara mumbling to herself as she absently stared towards a window.

"(...ot truly alone...?)"

Stopping in front of the pegasus, I held the toy up to her and chirped to get her attentio—wait a second, I knew words!

"Look!" I excitedly ~~shouted~~ said.

Cadance's words rang in Daring's mind.

'...Let her know that somepony cares for her? That she's not truly alone...?'

Being alone was something that Daring had gotten very familiar with ever since the departure of her father. She had taken his teachings to heart afterwards; the most important of which included having a complete distrust for anypony else. In a way, he was right in that you couldn't trust and rely on anypony more than yourself to watch your own back, but...

What was she supposed to do when somepony looked up to her for guidance? When somepony trusted her with their life...?

"*Chirp?*"

Daring made sure to never have to rely on anypony for anything, but... now she had someling that seemingly relied on her—

"LOOK!"

"Gah!" Dar— Yearling jumped, startled from the joyful cry from the little one that managed to sneak up to her.

The pegasus was about to berate the nymph for interrupting her train of thought... However the words died in her throat from merely glancing at the foal.

Artemis had one of the happiest expressions she had seen yet, the changeling's slitted eyes practically sparkling with joy while her muzzle sported a grin so wide that Daring could see the entirety of her miniature teeth and fangs.

And the nymph was sitting on her haunches, beaming as she held up the stuffed toy that Twilight Sparkle had brought as a gift / impromptu distraction.

Something clicked in the pegasus' mind on seeing the tiny foal happy like so.

Daring may not have known the first thing when it came to being a proper guardian for a newborn foal, nor was she experienced when it came to familial matters—having lost her own so early in her life—but... simply being there for Artemis? Making sure that the little one felt loved?

...yes. Yes, she could do that.

==============================================

We had gotten tired of going through books for words.

"Please?" Sparkles pleaded.

"No."

"Pretty please?" she begged.

"No."

"Just one more!"

"No!"

...And by that, I meant that I was the one getting tired of it. There was only so much I could take of hearing strings of alien syllables, 'repeat', and trying to figure out the equivalent word in English to help me remember it easier. Sparkles really wanted to keep going; the fact that we stopped made her pretty upset.

It was alright though. She brought out something else instead, renewing her excited 'teacher mode'.

While I snuggled against Lola and resisted the urge to start running around just for the sake of running, Sparkles placed a series of metal orbs in a row on the floor in front of me, organizing them from smallest to largest. The tiniest of them was as large as one of my hooves, while the biggest one's size was slightly greater than my entire body... which wasn't actually that big in the grand scheme of things considering how tall I was compared to everyone else due to my 'young age'.

Sparkles then lit up her horn, surrounded every single orb with her magical aura and made them all float about a foot or so away from the ground.

"Levitation!" she cheerfully exclaimed, gesturing towards the hovering balls and her glowing horn.

...And then I think she proceeded to enthusiastically explain how to do that in excruciating detail, except she was using various words that I didn't know yet and spoke a little too fast for me to properly catch up to what she was actually saying.

She still kept her demonstration going with the orbs suspended in mid-air, though. I could sort-of feel the pattern that was currently flowing through her horn, so... maybe if I tried to copy that? It didn't seem too complicated, after all.

Alright... channel the energy... make two 'lines' go through the horn in a parallel formation, but avoid crossing the streams... uh, wait, I needed something to grab.

"Plis stop talk," I told Sparkles.

"Please stop talking," she automatically corrected before she registered that my horn was beginning to glow.

I was making extra sure to not put too much 'magic' into it, this time. Didn't want a repeat of earlier...

She set the orbs back on the floor and sat back to curiously watch me, at which point I chose to start with the largest, no doubt heavier one. 'Go big or go home', as some would say.

The moment I... 'unleashed' the pattern, for lack of a better term, I was suddenly made aware of a new 'invisible limb' that I seemed to be able to control. It kind of reminded me of my old hands, except... no, it was actually more akin to a flailing tentacle.

I stuck my tongue out in concentration as I did my best to try and redirect the flow so that the new appendage would connect with the orb. The moment I finally managed to make 'contact', it was as if the invisible limb became a taut piece of string instead of a flimsy tentacle, and... I could feel the energy holding the then-glowing metal ball as if I was grasping it with a nonexistent hand. Or, at least, that was the closest way I could think of to explain the feeling.

"Um, Artemis? Try with a smaller one first?" Cadance suggested.

Was... was levitation really that simple? Well, I still had yet to actually move the thing, so I tried 'pulling it' upwards—

It shot straight up, smashed through the ceiling, and I lost my hold on it by then as it kept flying upwards towards the sky while small pieces of debris rained down around us.

...

...

...

I swear I thought it was much heavier than that!

"Cadance? Could you go (retrieve the training sphere) before it ends up falling on somepony?" Sparkles nervously asked as I tried to shake off the sudden dizziness that I was experiencing.

The alicorn shook herself out of her surprise and wordlessly nodded... and... whoa, that... that pattern she was charging up in her horn was WAY more complex—

*Flash*

—and Cadance was gone from the room, reappearing at a higher elevation if my senses were right.

...So, depending on how the energy flowed through the horn, different things would happen? It really made me wonder just what the limits of magic were, considering the 'teleport' pattern that I briefly managed to glimpse at because of Cadance featured multiple streaks of energy intertwining repeatedly into elaborate diagrams and symbols within other elaborate diagrams and symbols... and that was before even releasing the 'spell'! For a split second, I sensed the magic leaving her horn, except that instead of a flailing 'tentacle' like mine, it was a perfectly straight and focused beam that went in the direction she had seemingly teleported to.

Cadance reappeared shortly afterwards with the orb in her magical possession, dropping it on the floor with a *Thunk* that shook the ground enough for me to feel the minor tremor it caused.

...

Okay, so it apparently was as heavy as I thought it was.

"Maybe we should teach her (control) first," Cadance carefully suggested, Sparkles rapidly bobbing her head up and down in agreement.

What I just did with that orb was... pretty scary, truth be told. I don't think I've ever seen a human capable of throwing something like that with as much 'force' as I apparently did, or even anywhere remotely as effortlessly as I managed to. Did anyone with a horn have this much power? Was magic itself simply that strong?

...No, Sparkles and Cadance looked genuinely surprised when I did it, so I must've been the one that was different from the norm; besides the fact that I wasn't an unicorn or an alicorn to begin with, that is.

Well... I was starting to feel as if I had drunk a cup or two of coffee. The combined love from these three ponies had been steadily adding up this entire time, and...

...This seemed kind of odd; but, ever since I showed Lara this amazing plushy that I was squeezing, she... well, something changed with the love she was giving off. It didn't feel 'restrained' anymore, and she looked like she had come to some grand realization right then. I wish I knew what she was trying to tell me when she whispered something after having pulled me into a bear hug right then. It sounded kind of important, so I memorized the sounds she had made in case I learned what they meant. I probably should've let Sparkles and Cadance continue teaching me words...

In any case, with the addition of the large boost of love that Lara had suddenly started giving off, it was getting to the point where I was finding it increasingly difficult to stay put and remain calm.

Maybe that was why I got tired of the books to begin with...

Welp, Sparkles and Cadance were busy clearing the miscellaneous debris and repairing the hole in the ceiling with a bunch of complicated 'spells', so I might as well do something in the meantime.

Maybe a lap or two around the room would be enough to burn all this extra energy.

==============================================

It wasn't enough.

==============================================

'I-I'm sorry Lola! I... I couldn't bring you with me!'

Hiding under a couch, I did my best to remain as quiet as possible. Even now, I could feel the tremors caused by the distant footsteps of that beast, my rapid heartbeats throbbing loudly in my ears.

*Clip-Clop*

*Clip-Clop*

*Clip-Clop*

Oh shit, that... monster was getting closer!

*Clip-Clop*

*Clip-Clop*

It had already taken Lola from me! What more did it want!?

*Clip-Clop*

*Clip-Clop*

It... it stopped next to the couch that I was hidden under. I could do nothing more than hold my breath and keep hoping that it would continue on its way and not notice... my... tail that was sticking out...

...

...

I very, very slowly tucked it under the furniture with me.

The monster laughed with its evil, overly-cheerful giggles.

Shit! It didn't see my tail, did it—!?

The couch was levitated up in the air with the familiar turquoise aura of the pink monstrosity that had been chasing me around for the past few minutes with a gleeful, sadistic grin.

"YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!" I screeched, taking off in the opposite direction as Cadance and I laughed away, resuming our improvised game of cat and mouse.

It actually was pretty scary to be chased around by someone who was literally around six times my own size and whose footsteps sent tremors that I could feel along the ground, but it was the 'fun' kind of scary because, well... it was just a giant friendly pink alicorn.

Besides, even if I was reluctant to use my magic because of how strong it apparently was, it still made me feel safer in knowing that if I ever desired it, I was probably capable of sending anything or anyone that dared threaten me all the way into the upper stratosphere; maybe even beyond.

...Not that I'd ever want to send Cadance into space! She was really nice.

...

Huh. Never thought I'd think about these kind of things so casually— 'Ack!'

"Gotcha!" Cadance beamed as she hugged me similarly to how I did with Lola.

==============================================

By the time the sun had declined enough for it to be considered early afternoon, Cadance and I ended up being alone in the 'house'.

Sparkles had been thoroughly reorganizing the bookshelf and ended up getting caught on a few books, spending her time reading while the alicorn played around with me. The unicorn eventually left, saying something along the lines of "Going to see (Dokter Leb Coat)".

While Lara had been taking breaks from her typing every now and then to join in on our fun, she too had left after a quick trip to what I assumed was her room, though she apparently subsequently left to go "Get more food for the (kitchen.)"

For a split second, I thought I glimpsed the camera film under one of her wings...

In any case, I think Cadance had a small problem.

She had to go.

Like, really had to go.

...To the bathroom.

Thankfully, while taking showers with others was apparently fine, relieving oneself seemed to remain as a private kind of thing, so I was saved from having to accompany her while she let nature take its course.

And therein lied the problem for Cadance:

Going to the bathroom meant leaving me alone. Or, I guess 'unsupervised' was the appropriate term.

After a few moments of urgently tip-toeing on the spot and rapidly moving her gaze between the bathroom and I, Cadance finally came upon a decision.

"Stay there!" she commanded, pointing a hoof at me and waiting no more than a couple seconds before making a mad dash to the room on the other side of the lobby, slamming the door behind her.

Huh. How long had she been holding back her need to use the restroom—?

The door reopened and Cadance quickly peeked out of it, her gaze landing on me.

I blinked at her in confusion.

She kept looking at me for a few seconds until she finally closed the door to 'supposedly' empty her bladder.

...

Panic—

Cadance reappeared at the entrance of the bathroom, once more staring at me intently.

I eagerly waved at her with a forehoof while holding Lola against me with the other.

'Sheesh, she's acting like I would suddenly decide to run away the moment I get the opportunity.'

...She very slowly closed the door, though this time it was for good since I could sense the relief flowing out of her a couple seconds later—

I suddenly decided to run away the moment I saw the opportunity.

Quickly making my way to the lobby's entrance with Lola held between my wings, I focused on getting my magic to connect with the large ornate doors, taking extra care to regulate the amount of power I'd use to 'pull' them open. The task complete a moment later, I made sure to close the entryway so that Cadance wouldn't immediately suspect anything. She'd probably end up searching the entire 'house' thoroughly to try and find me for some time.

...Except that, as I stared at the huge hallway that I had already had a glimpse of during my brother's visit, I had to wonder if this place was even a manor or a mansion. Everything looked expensive; from the miscellaneous armored pony statues, to the golden chandeliers and candles that littered the place, to the rich-looking carpet under my hooves...

Just by glancing around at this section of whatever kind of building I was in... well, this place looked fit for a President.

Which reinforced my belief that something didn't feel right.

Lara had taken us here, but I woke up in the ~~arms~~ forelegs of Cadance instead. Was my pegasus friend meant to just deliver me to the alicorn? If so, how did she even know about my existence, not counting the fact that our hive was supposedly a closely-guarded family secret?

And what was Sparkles' role in all of this?

The entire time she had been teaching me and giving me those fun little puzzle games to play around with and solve, she had been... taking... notes...

...

...Oh.

Shit.

Now I knew exactly why the unicorn was so curious; I was an unknown species to them! Lara must've brought me here so that they could study me!

Why else would Sparkles give me the odd request to spit in a little container while putting the blob of gel I had coughed earlier in another one!? Why else would they all be fascinated whenever I changed form as long as I wasn't scaring them to death by bursting into red flames in their arms?

Was... did Lara really just, sell me out to some sort of rich pony so that I could be studied?

...

...no. No, Lara had stayed around, and the love that she continuously fed me couldn't be faked. She cared about me way too much to just turn me in like that.

But Sparkles still did take notes about me. Notes that could potentially endanger my entire family if these ponies ended up finding out too much about my secretive species and, even worse, published all of the information they compiled on us for the world to see...

...Fuck. I had to try and fix this, somehow!

...

Alright, first, I had to find Sparkles. If I found her, I was likely to find the mountain of notes she had written on me. Then I'd have to find a way to dispose of it all...

Maybe my brother could help me! Ever since I sort-of linked with him, I had this feeling that he was... over there, in that one direction. I just had to find him and hope that he wouldn't be too upset that I had already compromised our secrecy so much...

Okay, enough lollygagging! Time is of the essence! Who knew what Sparkles could have done with those notes already?

In any case, with Lola at my side, I was absolutely certain that nothing could possibly go wr— no, no! Almost jinxed myself right there. Whew.

==============================================

A few more minutes, and day court would be over.

If anypony were to look very closely, they would've noticed that Princess Celestia's smile wasn't forced at all during those particular moments. Of course, nopony could've known that she was merely holding back her excitement for the impending visit to a certain niece that remained a secret to the general public for the time being.

Just a few more minutes.

The memory of the little changeling's happy expression as she hugged the Sun Princess' muzzle for warmth kept replaying in Celestia's mind. Her duties as a Diarch of Equestria were the only things that were keeping her from rushing off to spend time with the nymph right then and there.

Just a few more minutes.

Fortunately, things were starting to calm down significantly and the number of ponies that required assistance had greatly diminished, so it seemed that she would even be able to end court earlier than usual!

Truly, today was turning out to be a great day.

And there was absolutely. Nothing. That. Could. Possibly. Go. Wro—

Author's Note

Bonus deleted scenes:
https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/526835/deleted-scenes-love-sunshine-and-unicorns

I'm terribly sorry for the pretty late update, but I had run into financial issues (which should be fine by now). Was running the risk of losing my laptop and car.

Also, it occurred to me when I had finished writing the magic surge scene that I haven't ever read a fic where the main character described how it felt as he/she experienced it. Or if I did, it wasn't something memorable enough for me to remember.

Coming up next will be a quick interlude, followed by the arc 2 finale.

[2] Interlude: I, changeling

Twilight Sparkle approached the door, having finally reached doctor Lab Coat's laboratory with all of her notes carefully organized within the saddlebags that she had brought for just this occasion. Knocking on the door exactly three times at the very same spot with the perfect amount of force to make it polite, she patiently waited and made sure to appropriately restrain her desire for complete cleanliness in preparation for what she knew lay inside the room.

The door flew open with a fuming unicorn in its place—

"MY AFTERNOON COFFEE ISN'T DUE FOR ANOTHER TWENTY-SEVEN MIN—Why hello there, Miss Twilight! How are you on this fine day?" the doctor cheerfully greeted.

The startled unicorn slowly relaxed her pose, blinking at the sudden mood change. "Uh, all things considered, I... think I'm fine. How goes the research?"

Lab Coat moved to the side and motioned for Twilight to enter his lab, closing the door behind her. "Trying to understand just how exactly changelings work is frustrating, yet it remains fascinating nonetheless." His smile widened, eyes gleaming in hope. "Did you procure the samples from the nymph?"

She nodded and levitated the two containers out of her saddlebags, giving the doctor a sheepish smile when he looked at the sticky glob of slime in confusion. "I managed to get Artemis to understand that I wanted her to spit in one of the containers—and I still find it surprising how easily she seems to comprehend gestures—but I wasn't sure how to ask her about giving some venom; and I certainly wasn't going to..." She wrinkled her muzzle. "...manually extract it out of her. Besides, she coughed up that gel in the middle of lunch, and I was wondering if you knew anything about it."

"Why, yes, I do already know what this is," he replied, levitating a little glass box from across the room to himself. "Sort of."

He opened both the box and the container containing the gel, proceeding to—

"Is... is that saliva?" Twilight asked, gazing at the liquid contents of the glass box.

"Yes, gathered from multiple changeling 'drones'," Lab Coat answered, gathering a tiny amount of the secretion in his magical aura and spraying it on the gel that Twilight had brought.

"Then why would you ask me to... Oh, you wanted to compare it to Artemis' to see if there was a difference between a drone and a queen's?" she guessed as the gel appeared to dissolve into a non-sticky and more liquid form in front of their very eyes after the application of the changeling slobber.

"Quite," the doctor acknowledged. "Nearly every single drone that I've inspected also had this 'gel' inside a certain organ that was located where the stomach would've been for any other creature. I discovered that the slime could take on various forms; from a type of resin that would harden to the point of being viable in use for construction, to a sticky adhesive like you've brought. I'm not sure if it can become anything else as of yet, but I did find out that their saliva would melt the latter, as you can clearly see."

And then he proceeded to 'eat' a small portion the aforementioned melted gel, to Twilight's horror.

"Doctor! You... t-that's changeling puke that you're chewing!" she screeched, her face turning to a shade of green similar to the slime.

He held up a hoof, signaling her to wait while he looked up to the ceiling in contemplation, nom nom'ing away. "Hmm, mmph, sunflower..."

Twilight paused, staring at him in confusion. "...Huh?"

"Mmm, pancakes?" Lab Coat remarked, smacking his lips as he continued to 'taste' the substance. "And... apples..."

At more or less the same time that Twilight appeared to realize what he was experiencing, Lab Coat finally seemed to slow his chewing down at the next 'flavor'. His face took on various expressions, eventually settling with a frown. "Not sure what... this last one is..." He suddenly smiled. "But I like it!"

The doctor happily swallowed with a satisfied sigh, inviting Twilight to try some of it for herself by bringing the gel-carrying container closer to her.

She gave him a dubious look. "Are you sure that it's safe to eat... that?"

"This isn't the first time I've taken some, in case that was what you were wondering. If you need any proof that there is no danger, then all you need to do is look at me! I've been eating nothing but changeling gunk ever since I discovered its properties a few days ago, yet I am still a perfectly normal and healthy stallion!" Lab Coat pointed out with a wide grin.

Twilight stared at him in disbelief. If what he claimed was true, then maybe she could have a little nibble. But... that stuff just didn't look appealing at all! it was as if someone had asked her to eat vomit!

...Which was technically true in this case, even though they were dealing with another species.

Watching her internal struggle, Lab Coat butted in with his two bits.

"Do it! For SCIENCE!"

The slime abruptly became akin to a piece of candy for Twilight as she reconsidered her options, and once she gained a determined expression shortly thereafter, she subsequently grabbed a decent chunk of it.

She still kept her eyes closed to maintain the illusion, though.

"As you've probably noticed right after the invasion was thwarted, a tremendously large amount of this 'slime' was still laying across all of Canterlot; mostly around the captured and occasionally cocooned ponies," Lab Coat started explaining as the lavender unicorn began chewing with fascination marring her face, surprised at the explosion of flavors that was occurring within her mouth. "Like you said, the gel is a form of 'changeling puke' since it comes from what passes as their stomach; though, I'd say it's more of a storage sack than an actual stomach. Considering that some of the cocooned ponies we discovered at the nearby changeling outpost had apparently been encased in the substance for longer than a month, I suspected that it might've been providing nourishment to the captives during their 'coma', and it turned out I was right."

Twilight was stuck between listening to his explanation, taking notes about it, and overall enjoying the... meal. Yes, it was a meal; a delicious meal that came from a questionable source, but it was just so... simple, yet flavorful and delicious and... and...

What the hay was that last flavor?

"If what they eat ends up as a gel that can be regurgitated at will, then it begs the question of: what actually provides nourishment for them? Or do they merely consume more food than us so that they can feed themselves as well as others?"

Twilight finally forced herself to swallow, grimacing at the final taste and sticking her tongue out in disgust for a few seconds. "Well we did learn that... urgh. 'Love' is something that apparently feeds Artemis," she said, struggling to hold the gel in. "Chrysalis did say that love gave changelings more 'power', and if Ms. Yearling is to be believed, then Artemis hasn't eaten anything 'physical' during their entire trip."

Lab Coat hummed to himself. "The nymph obviously ate a few things if the gel we just tasted is of any indication, but eating emotions? Are you certain of it?"

"Artemis sure didn't show any signs of hunger during the entire day despite having eaten nothing," Twilight assured him, frowning to the side in contemplation afterwards. "...Well, she did eat a sunflower and a little piece of a pancake from what I was told, but I doubt that it would be enough to sustain her throughout the day. In fact, she even seemed to be more energetic as time went by; we couldn't get her to sit still for longer than a minute at some point, so I just gave up on trying to teach her Equestrian and let Cadance take over to play with her."

The doctor cocked an eyebrow. "You tried to teach a four day old nymph the Equestrian language?"

"Successfully, I would say!" Twilight beamed. "It's really amazing to see that she's able to grasp the meanings of various words so soon! We could only cover a bunch of basic ones for now though, but at this rate she might be able to have and sustain a regular conversation within a week or two!" She clapped her forehooves together, squealing in happiness. "Oooh, I can barely wait for that to happen!"

Lab Coat was finishing up some notes about possible future research avenues. "Considering our own foals take a few months to start talking, I can only wonder whether changelings mature that much faster, are simply smarter, or if Artemis is a unique case." He carefully set the notes down in his neat pile of 'changeling-related' notes—though to Twilight it looked as if he launched them randomly across the room and let them flutter to the ground on their own—and held the container containing the nymph's slobber in front of him. "I'll compare the little queen's saliva with a common changeling's later, but for now I want to show you something else!" Lab Coat joyously exclaimed.

Twilight gave him a perplexed look. "Hold on, why did you need saliva from Artemis specifically? Couldn't you just get some from Queen Chrysalis?" she asked.

"Princess Celestia only allowed me to run a magical scan on the Queen for documentary purposes, and nothing else. That was the only time I got to see her, and the Princess refuses to let anypony know where the body currently resides," he informed Twilight with a disappointed tone. "In any case, I have found something that you simply must see!" he proclaimed, miscellaneous papers flying everywhere as he excitedly dragged the mare—whom yelped in surprise—along with him, until they stopped in front of a changeling corpse preserved within a stasis spell that was laying on the examination table.

This time, however, a special wire with thaumaturgic properties was connected to the bug-like equine's head, the line leading up to a small machine that the purple unicorn quickly identified as one that was designed to detect any magic that would flow within it.

"Observe!"

Lab coat aimed his horn at the changeling's barrel and fired a constant beam of completely harmless magic onto it. After a few seconds, the apparatus attached to the changeling's cranium beeped as it began glowing, seemingly starting to fill up with the unicorn's energy.

"As you can clearly see—"

"The changeling's chitin is conducting the magic infusion spell, unlike how a pony's coat would normally be absorbing it!" Twilight suddenly exclaimed in fascination, interrupting Lab Coat.

"Yes! Which means that—"

"The chitin must have a different kind of magical composition, since harmonious magic—"

"—the magic that all ponies use everyday and the one that was used just now—"

"—would've instead merged with or taken effect on the chitin if the shell had the same harmonious magical resonance—"

"—as our own coats do!" Lab Coat happily finished.

Twilight frowned in thought. "The chitin didn't outright repel your simple magic infusion, though. It channeled it until it found an outlet, which ended up being the machine that you've set up right there. Thus, to some degree, the exterior skin of changelings still does possess harmonious magic."

"Indeed." The doctor gave her a confused look. "But, I expected you to know of this already. Haven't you run a standard magical surface scan on the nymph?"

The mare chuckled nervously, rubbing one of her forelegs with the other while thinking back to her failed attempt to properly greet the celebrity and the innocent little nymph. "Truthfully, it was one of the first things I had planned to do when I went to visit, but I didn't do it." She looked away for a moment, ashamed. "And I probably would've done a few other things too, if I hadn't... startled Artemis into paralyzing me, but because of those few minutes where I couldn't move or use my magic, well... it gave me time to rethink my approach, even more so since I could actually see Artemis while she was awake, and see how she acted around other ponies; yet in the end, all I saw was a carefree nymph that wanted nothing more than to play and be happy. It made me realize that I hadn't even taken into consideration Artemis' feelings because I didn't think that she'd be just like any other regular foal..."

"A scan would only bring a minor amount of discomfort for a very short time, though," Lab Coat pointed out.

"Perhaps, but I had already given her one of the most terrible first impressions ever," Twilight glumly replied. "I didn't want to make it worse, so I decided to just... treat her like I would any other young filly and forego any examination, be it magical or physical. Besides, we don't know if changelings would react and/or feel different from being hit with scanning spells, and I assumed that you would be doing those examinations anyway."

"I see," the doctor said. "Then you're in for a little surprise! Go right ahead and run the scan on this changeling." He gestured to the corpse.

Twilight Sparkle stared back and forth between the doctor and the changeling, visibly looking reluctant to do so on a dead body, especially one of a sapient being... but her curiosity easily won over and she promptly cast the relatively easy spell, focusing on the information it was giving her.

A few seconds into the process and she backpedalled a couple steps, her eyes widening in disbelief. "There's... t-there's chaos magic in there!"

Lab Coat sighed in relief. "Whew, that's good! I thought I had scanned wrong."

"How is that good!?" Twilight exclaimed. "Not only are we talking about chaos magic, but it's also somehow coexisting perfectly with harmonious magic! That shouldn't be possible at all without an extremely violent reaction!"

"And yet, here we have an entire species that managed to do so naturally!" the doctor cheered.

The mare opened... and closed her mouth after a moment, unable to come up with a retort. How could she object against that when there was irrefutable proof in front of her?

"Their exterior skin only redirects excess magic, though, since the chitin seems to innately maintain a perfect balance of both types of energies; which means that most spells—levitation, for example—still work on them without issues because they don't actually affect the energies within the changeling's chitin. Certainly, that balance must be the key to their shapeshifting, or at the very least play a large factor in its process. Perhaps the chaos performs the transformation, while the 'harmony' merely contains or directs its effects?" Lab Coat's smile faltered somewhat as he stared at the changeling. "I was hoping to see if replicating their abilities was possible, but... unfortunately, it seems that progress on that front will have to be put on hold until we figure out a way to harness chaos magic; something that the Princesses won't let me attempt, considering its nature."

Twilight nodded in agreement, her unpleasant encounter with Discord at the forefront of her mind.

"Nnrgh... quiet..." a voice tiredly mumbled from a nearby corner, hidden behind the many tables and contraptions dotting the room.

Twilight whipped around. "BBBFF!?" she exclaimed, ignoring the curious look that followed from the doctor.

"I had to sedate the Captain once Princess Cadance brought him back here," Lab Coat informed her as she set her saddlebags to the side and started trotting towards the voice. "As interesting as it was to hear him spilling out what were probably his deepest and darkest secrets, there were some that, I... hmm, let's just say that it was getting a little too weird for me and leave it at that." He shuddered.

Twilight paused on her way to where she thought her brother was. "Spilling out secrets?"

Lab Coat nodded. "He was having emotional mood swings to the point where I believed that he somehow ended up associating 'happiness' with 'saying whatever came to mind', however unlikely that may seem."

"...N-nyooooo! Make, life... take the citrus... back!"

The mare finally found her brother curled up on a simple cot under a table, sleeping with a dopey expression on his face.

"Cadance... is best pone..." he happily mumbled, grabbing the nearest thing and squeezing it tightly against his chest.

"Ack!"

The nearest 'thing' at that very moment being Twilight.

His smile widened, even though he was still asleep. "There you are, Snooky Wookums!"

"Uhm... Shining—!?"

"Now kiss me!"

Twilight's pupils shrunk to pinpricks. Realizing the impending danger she found herself in, she immediately began flailing all of her legs, frantically trying to escape his powerful grip to no avail.

Shining Armor puckered his lips and brought them closer to—

She haphazardly smacked him across his muzzle and managed to concentrate long enough to teleport out of his embrace. The flash and the hit he took snapped him wide awake and he shot straight up in alarm—

*THUNK*

—at which point he hit his head on the table that was on top of him, knocking himself unconscious once more.

Twilight's panicked breathing quickly calmed down afterwards. She mentally berated herself for having forgotten how... clingy her brother tended to be in his sleep.

"Potential hidden feelings...?"

The unicorn mare turned around to see the doctor mumbling to himself as he scribbled something on a random piece of paper. "What?"

"Nothing of importance!" Lab Coat proclaimed, making the note vanish while he maintained his ever-present cheery grin. "Now, I believe it is your turn! What else have you discovered about our only live specimen of the changeling race?"

Twilight found herself frowning at the way he referred to the nymph, yet her concern for her brother prevailed. "Actually, I'd like to know more about my brother, first. What exactly happened to him? Cadance was being really vague when she talked about it."

Lab Coat hummed in thought for a moment before he started trotting towards a section of the room that somehow turned out to be messier than the rest of the place. "I may have a hypothesis for what is happening to the Captain, but... that is all it is, for now: a hypothesis. Nevertheless, it all started when he supposedly consumed some of this." He opened a hidden safe and brought out of it via levitation an almost completely emptied vial, containing a liquid substance that Twilight couldn't quite recognize.

"What exactly is that?" she curiously asked, quill and notepad at the ready.

Was it a specially processed version of liquid rainbows? An experimental wine? Was it a mixture that granted ponies enhanced senses and extra strength? Or... or perhaps what her brother had drunk was—

"Changeling egg fluids."

Her quill broke before she could even write a single word with it and Lab Coat could almost swear he heard the sound of breaking glass from... somewhere.

"...What!?"

"Changeling egg fluids," the doctor nonchalantly repeated, shaking the vial a little while he examined it for the eighty-fourth time as the liquid sloshed. "Given to us by A.K. Yearling after she cleaned the nymph once it hatched during her trip back to Canterlot."

Twilight stared at the vial in disbelief. "Why would my brother drink that!? Did he even know what it was!?"

"We are still unsure as to when he got a hold of the substance, but the symptoms he experienced ended up being the same ones as the ponies I tested it on displayed—"

"You gave it to other ponies to consume!?"

"Yes," he answered without hesitation. Because there was absolutely nothing wrong with that. Even if everypony else told him otherwise.

"...Did you at least test it with every type of pony and note all of the results?" Twilight asked with a hopeful grin.

Lab Coat snorted. "Of course! What kind of researcher would I be if I didn't? Princess Celestia had taken a sample of her own volition, though." He gazed at the container with a thoughtful look. "The liquid—or perhaps I should say 'changeling honey', as I've taken to calling it—has the unusual property of giving off a unique smell and taste depending on the pony. For example, while Princess Celestia claimed that it tasted like cake, your brother mentioned chimicherrychangas, and somepony else had an obsession with pie. A few ponies had declared a severe aversion to the honey before drinking any, however, and I have yet to figure out the exact reason."

Twilight listened with rapt attention while taking her own notes, to the doctor's amusement.

"Symptoms after consumption included and were not limited to: euphoria, happiness, a sudden and very intense desire to cling to somepony else, pegasi mentioned an increase in sensitivity on their wings while unicorns claimed the same happened with their horns, and the earth ponies said that they felt 'tingly all over'. However, every single pony subjected to the honey had one thing in common: they wanted more of it. Since I refused to allow them any more of the substance, they all developed a craving for their favorite foods instead, trying to fill an insatiable 'need'; and I have to emphasize that it was a need, as it was seemingly the only thing running through their minds at the time. I had to quickly work on preparing something that would counter its effects before any further testing, and I came up with this!"

A bubbling concoction was brought to Twilight's attention, and even though she wrinkled her muzzle at the terrible smell, her curiosity still pushed her to move closer in order to better examine it.

"So what did you put in it as a counter to the changeling honey—"

"You do not want to know."

She tilted her head at him. "Actually, I kind of do—"

"No," he quickly interrupted, shaking his head. "Trust me, you don't"

"But... b-but what if I end up needing—"

"I produced a very large quantity of the antidote after your brother's accident." He shuddered. "Believe me when I say that there's enough of it to cure a large portion of Canterlot's population if the need would arise."

Twilight pouted at being denied information, thus Lab Coat decided to employ the usual method for changing the subject when talking with a curious scholar:

Give the curious scholar something else to be curious about.

"In any case, the symptoms I mentioned earlier were nothing but the first stages of the changeling honey's effects, from what I am able to tell. I had administered the antidote to each test subject before it could progress any further, having decided to monitor a single pony's reactions to prolonged exposure the next day, but before I could begin that particular experiment, well..." he turned to look at the unconscious stallion, "...your brother happened."

At her confused and worried stare, he continued: "I was woken up in the middle of the night by Princess Celestia herself and ordered to examine the Captain after she had administered the antidote to him. Outwardly, he seemed fine when I first saw him, but the report from the nurse that was in charge of him and the fact that he consumed something that we are still learning of remained a cause for worry. Now, if you'll look over here..." He began trotting towards a table next to the changeling while simultaneously depositing the vial back in its safe.

"Do you still have the nurse's report?"

He wordlessly levitated a few papers from around the entire room and formed a neat stack in front of Twilight. "You may keep those notes, for I made my own copies," he added.

She smiled and gratefully nodded, then realized he wasn't looking in her direction and mentally facehoofed. "Thank you."

Lab Coat then brought to her attention a series of vials, each of them filled with what she quickly determined was blood; presumably taken from her brother.

"So! I had taken samples from the Captain at different times, and I have analyzed each of them to see if there were any discrepancies between them. One was taken the moment he was delivered to me, another one was from this morning, and this third vial was obtained during your initial visit shortly afterwards. At first I hadn't found anything new or problematic, but after Princess Cadance brought him back here shortly after taking him out for a stroll, I reconsidered my initial observations and took another closer look." He stared at the blood with wonder, which was somewhat unsettling for Twilight, despite the fact that she was about to do the same.

"You see, when I cast a spell to infuse magic onto each sample, a new element showed itself," he explained as he set up a microscope with three different samples next to it and motioned for Twilight to examine them.

Everything looked normal from her point of view, based on the studies she had taken on the subject. However, the moment she heard the doctor channeling a spell, what she saw through the magnifying lens changed slightly; namely, the addition of the minuscule and rare glowing particles that were sticking to a small amount of blood cells. They were so tiny that hundreds appeared to be needed to merely 'engulf' a single cell. When she swapped to the second sample, the number of particles had increased slightly, and the third one showed even more.

"Now, examine this one; taken when the Captain returned after having visited the nymph," Lab Coat said, swapping the third sample with a new, fourth one.

The amount of glowing particles had gotten to the point where entire cells were actually vibrating, a large number of them completely coated with the previously elusive things.

"Do you have any idea on what this could be?" Twilight asked, eyes still glued to the microscope's lens in fascination.

"Not as of yet, though I found out that those tiny things have a very similar structure to the changeling honey." His cheery expression turned slightly grim. "As you've certainly noticed, something is going on with the Captain, despite the antidote. The fact that the largest change occurred during a timeframe of under an hour with a mere visit to 'Artemis' shows that the event is somehow connected to, and/or affected by the young one, at the very least."

"But... it's not causing him any pain, discomfort or negative effects, right?" Twilight asked, taking her gaze off of the microscope to stare at the stallion in worry.

"Nothing apparent, though there were the mood swings I mentioned earlier. Other than his emotional state being 'out-of-whack', as it were, he's alright." He looked to the ceiling, tapping a hoof on his chin in contemplation. "That is to say that he's only 'okay' for now, since his condition only seems to be developing further with time, despite the antidote. I may have to try and figure out a new mixture if whatever is happening with him ends up showing signs of being any more detrimental..."

"Hold on," Twilight said, suspecting something. "You told me he was having mood swings. How so?"

"Princess Cadance explained to me that, once the Captain had reached a certain distance from the nymph, he was hit by a 'headache' before suddenly feeling an increasing amount of happiness the closer he got to the young one. What happened shortly thereafter on his part was a brief bout of panic, followed by an odd sense of complete joy, then anger, panic, joy, hysterical joy, sorrow bordering on depression, until he finally calmed down somewhat once he was separated from the nymph after a short while. Considering the Queen was capable of it, I'm suspecting some form of mind control was used on him by 'Artemis'—"

"No, I don't think so," Twilight replied while interrupting, gaining her own thoughtful expression. "Even though Artemis managed to learn levitation at an astounding speed for her age, she still had, err, 'trouble' controlling her magic. Never mind the fact that nopony has ever figured out a spell that essentially fit the criteria for 'mind control', it would be safe to assume that such magic would be incredibly complex while also requiring a large amount of focus and control to properly cast; thus, even if she wanted to, Artemis wouldn't be able to perform such a spell for now, at least." She scrunched her muzzle in thought. "However, we did learn that Artemis is an empath. She seemed to know whenever somepony was sad or upset." Twilight giggled. "Sometimes, I even got the impression that she was actually trying to entertain us, instead of the other way around."

"I see," Lab Coat said, levitating various papers to himself and examining them. "I believe that this new information reinforces one my hypotheses, in fact."

"What would that be?"

The doctor seemed to ignore her and went up to Shining Armor, opening the unconscious stallion's mouth to inspect its insides.

Twilight cleared her throat. "Doctor Lab Coat?"

He hummed absently as he took additional notes, closing the mouth before moving his scrutinizing gaze over Shining's eyes.

The lavender unicorn groaned impatiently. "You know, I could probably help you if you'd just tell me what exactly your hypothesis entails, or what you're looking for..."

Still alone in his world, Lab Coat moved on to observe the other stallion's horn, took more notes, then poked the Captain's neck, chest and barrel in that specific order. He paused for a second at the barrel and tapped it a couple more times, just to be sure, before he nodded in satisfaction, having seemingly arrived at a conclusion.

Finally, the doctor turned around while sporting a bright smile on his face with the happy intention of sharing his findings with the other nearby scholar... only to meet Twilight's annoyed expression as she frowned with a deadpan look due to having been ignored.

Fortunately, he was certain that what he was about to say would cheer her right up.

"Based on my observations, your brother appears to be in the process of becoming part of the endangered race of the changelings. Congratulations!" Lab Coat joyfully proclaimed.

Twilight neutrally stared at him for some time, eventually letting out a nervous chuckle. "Oh. Oh! My brother is turning into a changeling. Hahaha, that's a good one doctor! Heheh."

"Indeed! The total known living population of changelings will essentially be doubled!"

A strand of Twilight's mane detached itself from the rest. "Heh, and I'm guessing you'll want to experiment on him too?"

"Of course! Do you think he'd mind if I kept him in here for some time?" Lab Coat hopefully asked.

Sparkle's haircut frazzled itself a little more and one of her eyes twitched briefly, though she still retained a smile that would creep out any regular pony. "Hahah, oh no, I'm sure he wouldn't mind at all! Just don't forget to bring Cadance every now and then to, heh, feed him some 'love'."

"Ah, right! I'm going to have to take his new diet into account, figure out what will be and won't be edible with his new form, potentially discover how emotions can possibly be turned into usable nutrients for changelings... hmm..." he trailed off, writing a new set of notes on some fresh paper.

Twilight's 'happy face' broke a bit. "O-okay, doctor, that joke was great and all, but I-I think that we're taking it a little too far, now."

Lab Coat paused his scribbling to look at her with a genuinely confused expression, tilting his head. "...Joke? What joke?"

Upon hearing not even a single trace of humor in his tone and seeing that he maintained his befuddled stare for a straight fifteen seconds...

Twilight slowly stumbled backwards, beginning to hyperventilate. "Shiny, changeling...?" she whispered, shaking her head in denial, her rear bumping against a table. "Joke, not... not a joke, not..." she kept repeating, until she froze, as if the words had finally registered. "...Heh." Her legs were finding it increasingly difficult to stay upright. "Hahah." A somewhat crazed expression adorned her twitching face. "Hah! HahAhaH! T-turning int, into..."

The lavender unicorn swooned back and forth for a short moment...

*Thump*

...and then promptly face-planted from fainting.

Lab Coat had maintained his stare throughout Twilight's entire episode in the meantime, confused as to how a joke could produce such a reaction, as shown by his highly sophisticated and scientific response to the event.

"Huh."

Never mind the fact that he didn't know what the joke was to begin with...

Regardless, he now had an unconscious mare to wake up. Before he could test one of his numerous new methods for doing so, however, he realized that Twilight had fallen pretty close to the Captain... which explained why she was currently being held in Shining Armor's vice grip as if she were a fluffy life-sized plushy.

Of course, the doctor had to do something about it.

...So he brought up some fresh paper and began taking notes on the Captain's behavio—

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

Or, at least, he would have been taking notes on the Captain's behavior if somepony hadn't interrupted him in the middle of his work by knocking on the door. Again!

At least this time there were four knocks. Everypony knew that 'four' was the proper number of knocks needed to make it polite. He was still annoyed at being disrupted, however, therefore it wasn't really any wonder that he angrily stomped towards the door and abruptly slammed it open, ready to ~~unleash tartarus~~ calmly send away whomever may be on the other side.

The maid stood just outside the laboratory and, even though the numerous signs on the door unsettled her, she still put on the customary and genuine smile she would be wearing throughout the day as she knocked on the door, preparing herself to service the illustrious 'Lab Coat'.

She had heard stories about the pony that she was about to meet; stories that ranged from the simple 'that handsome gentlecolt that studies stars and flowers' to the more commonly used tales of 'that crazy stallion that occasionally eats paper and pouts in a way that you just can't say no to when he asks you to help with an experiment'.

Though, to be honest, Dreamy Peach would say the former for any stallion she knew of, somehow even including that one hyperactive plumber they met one day.

Besides, it was just a scholar. How bad could he really—

*THWACK!*

The door slammed open with a very angry unicorn in its place, glaring death at the poor maid—

"MY AFTERNOON COFFEE IS—"

*Cuckoo! Cuckoo!* the clock on a nearby wall chimed.

"—right on time! Excellent," Lab Coat happily acknowledged with a smile.

Feather Wind was a befuddled mare.

"Three cubes of sugar?"

The maid tried to mentally shake off her surprise at the sudden question (to no avail), but managed to nod, remembering the specific instructions she had received from the rest of the staff when preparing the drink.

"Quarter of a cup of milk?"

She nodded again.

"Water heated at exactly sixty-three degrees celestius?"

The mare hesitated at that one, yet still bobbed her head up and down.

The one known as 'Lab Coat' then proceeded to take his cup of coffee and slurped some of it, smacking his lips together as he judged the drink. The instant Feather Wind blinked, she felt a gust of wind and the door was closed, while practically the entirety of the coffee was gone from the pot that she had been carrying on a cart.

She blinked again, her gaze travelling between the cart and the spot where the doctor had been mere seconds ago.

"Perfect!" she heard Lab Coat exclaim from within the room.

...!?

Feather Wind was a confused mare.

==============================================

The tantalizing smell of caffeine slowly roused Twilight from the depths of her mind. She found herself having trouble breathing from being squeezed, though a quick glance told her that she was being held by her brother, being cuddled protectively like he always used to do in his sleep. Twilight frowned, but... at the same time, she was warm and very comfortable, so she decided enjoy the moment, staying right where she was.

...Until the sounds of scribbling that she could hear from not too far away made her realize that they were not alone as the mother of all blushes rapidly formed on her cheeks, embarrassed as she was by being stared at by the doctor a couple feet away from them.

"Don't mind me," he said, taking a loud slurp of his coffee right afterwards.

And then her previous conversation came back to her.

"My brother is turning into a changeling!?" Twilight screeched, somehow overpowering Shining Armor's powerful grip and shooting straight up—

*Thunk*

—and hitting her head on the same table that had knocked out the Captain, though thankfully she managed to remain conscious despite the headache that immediately formed.

"From what I can tell, yes," the doctor replied as she got out from under the table while massaging the sore spot on her head with a forehoof.

"Wha, huh?" Shining Armor—whom had been startled out of his sleep by his sister's exclamation—mumbled while rubbing his eyes, still not fully awake yet. "Twiley? I... could've sworn you said something about me and changelings just now."

"How did you even come to that conclusion!?" Twilight asked Lab Coat, ignoring Shining's remark.

The doctor took another slurp of his coffee before happily answering. "Well, when you mentioned the empathic ability of the young nymph, combined with what I've been told by Princess Cadance, it is very likely that the Captain had been sensing, perhaps even feeling the emotions of 'Artemis' ever since she had come to Canterlot. He did mention he felt a pull last night, coincidentally at around the same time Ms. Yearling arrived."

"That's true," Shining Armor confirmed, having lazily stood up to join them. "But, wait, why are we talking about that right now?"

"Furthermore, I did inform you earlier that the structure of the particles within your brother's bloodstream had a strikingly similar composition to that of the changeling honey, which also had a resemblance to the changeling's chitin which, in turn, contains a certain amount of chaos magic."

"Hold on, I have what in my blood!?"

"The particles were obviously related to changelings in some way and, considering Captain Shining Armor seemed to have developed the ability to sense Artemis' emotions—much like the nymph is naturally able to do, if she truly is an empath—I checked to see if anything else had changed about him physically. If you look very closely, he already has the beginnings of growing fangs..."

Shining checked, and to his shock he did feel them, though they were still barely noticeable.

"His irises aren't perfectly circle-shaped anymore as well. I wouldn't be surprised if he found everything to be brighter, as changeling eyes seemed to be adapted for subterranean use and he doesn't yet have that eye-cover that they possess to protect against strong light sources."

Wait, so there weren't extra lights in the room?

"His horn will most likely curve slightly over time, but so far there weren't any changes there."

"Could you please not talk as if I wasn't here?" Shining Armor asked.

Lab Coat frowned at him. "Shush, I'm explaining to your sister why I think you're turning into a changeling."

It took a few moments for the words to properly sink in for the Captain.

The doctor turned back to Twilight in the meantime. "Finally, his coat seems to be... softer to the touch, much like how a changeling's skin under the chitin is actually 'squishy' and very vulnerable. He's probably going to lose his fur over the coming days and have heightened sensitivity until a proper shell could grow over his new skin—"

"Oh. Oh! I'm turning into a changeling. Hahaha, that's a good one doc! Heheh," Shining Armor nervously chuckled.

Twilight stared back and forth between Lab Coat and her brother, desperately hoping the former was wrong, finally forcing the latter's mouth open with her own hooves to inspect it herself—

"Ack! Tah'light! Aht de hay!"

Twilight rapidly checked to see if the rest of the doctor's observations were true, but the moment she saw the minuscule fangs that were forming, panic and fear were already clutching her chest at the implications while a few more strands of her mane were then sticking out. "We... w-we have to find a way to stop and reverse the transformation!" she exclaimed with a shaky voice.

All traces of humor immediately left Shining Armor's expression as he stared wide-eyed between the two other unicorns. "Wowowo, hold on, you were serious!?" he blurted.

Lab Coat pouted. "But, but what about everything we could learn from him? There's only so much that can be done with deceased bodies—"

"I don't care about what we could learn from my brother becoming part of a nearly extinct race that we know practically nothing of!" Twilight snapped... but then seemed to reconsider. "...Okay, I kind of do care. But not like this! What if he loses his mind when he ends up turning into a changeling!? What if he becomes nothing but a puppet for Artemis to control as she wishes after the transformation!? For all we know, changeling drones aren't even sapient to begin with!" She paused when she looked at Shining Armor, noticing a distinct lack of panic on his part. "And YOU! How can you be so calm!? Aren't you even the slightest bit worried?"

He slowly turned to face her with a tilted head and a relaxed smile, displaying the epitome of patience. "I was panic. Then I was happy. Now, I am become Zen."

Twilight glared at the doctor, pointing a hoof straight towards her brother. "See? See!? This isn't how my brother normally acts! Will there be anything left of 'Shining Armor' once the transformation is complete!?"

"Alright, alright! Fine, I'll try to figure something out," Lab Coat said, holding his forehooves up in surrender. "I'll start by searching for the other ponies that had so gladly and willingly volunteered to help me test the changeling honey; perhaps I can find a clue as to why they themselves haven't been affected as much as the Captain."

Twilight's pupils shrunk when she remembered that there were others. "Oh no, oh nonono! What if they're turning into changelings too!?" she stammered, pacing in a very tight circle due to the lack of room to maneuver, to the point where it looked like she was simply spinning on the spot. "What if those changelings end up producing more of that honey, a-and then other ponies end up eating it!? It won't end until everypony has been converted! It'll be like a zompony apocalypse!"

Lab Coat quietly filled a cup with a special mixture he had discovered some time ago, making no sudden movements as he approached the mare that was rambling on and on about boarding up all the windows, barricading the doors, stocking up on scrolls and quills, gathering enough food to last a few hundred lifetimes, build a book fort to hold off the impending doom—

"Miss Twilight, perhaps you should sit down and drink this wonderful tea that I've made to help you relax—"

"This is not the time to relax!"

"Ah, I meant to say that it would help you panic—"

Twilight immediately snatched the drink from his magical grasp and gulped it down... then 'decided' to promptly face-plant on the floor, looking sleepier by the second.

"Don't worry, it's nothing more than a calming draught. You'll be back up in a few minutes, at which point I'm sure you'll have returned to your senses," Lab Coat informed her as he made a few preparations before he would leave. "Besides, I took precautionary measures to make sure that any problem arising with those that helped me with the honey would immediately come to my attention. If anything was wrong, I'd know about it. I'll return here once I've finished gathering information, don't touch anything in the meantime, save for that big red button over there."

"Two divided by cake equals apples," Twilight tiredly stated.

"Indeed!"

After making sure that she would really be alright, the doctor turned to Shining Armor, giving the stallion a curious look. He then straightened up and took a deep breath in preparation for a quick test.

"AttennnTION!" Lab Coat suddenly barked, causing the Captain to immediately stand up and stare straight ahead attentively.

"Hmm, standard royal guard reaction? Subconscious reflexes appear to still work," Lab Coat muttered while writing notes on the side. He then pointed at a random nearby cup and calmly asked: "Could you bring that to me?"

Shining Armor didn't move at all, so the doctor tried the initial approach once again.

"Hold position!" Lab Coat bellowed, imitating the tone a drill sergeant would use as well as he could.

This time the Captain gave a quick salute while maintaining that odd neutral facial expression, plumping down on his rear and remaining still as a statue.

"Efryting's hokay! Worry don't! I'll... shave you..." Twilight mumbled, lethargically flailing her forelegs towards Shining Armor's general direction for a moment, giggling to herself.

Figuring that the Captain wouldn't end up doing anything undesirable and that Twilight Sparkle wouldn't cause problems in the meantime due to his mixture's temporary magic-nullifying properties, Lab Coat finally left the room, satisfied that both unicorns were somewhat pacified and wouldn't do anything rash until Twilight would return to her senses.

By the time Twilight became coherent again a few minutes later, sluggishly rubbing her head while slowly getting up, she noticed that Shining Armor was still staring straight ahead with a tilted head and a peaceful expression, sitting on his haunches.

"BBBFF?" she slurred, worry etched onto her own features as she stumbled ahead, closing the distance between them despite the fact that the world was still spinning from her point of view. At his complete lack of response, Twilight weakly grabbed hold of him, shaking the stallion lightly, and then roughly when he still didn't answer in any way, shape or form.

"Big brother?" she once more tried, steadily putting more strength into her efforts as the potion's effects on her mind gradually dissipated. "Shining Armor! Snap out of it!"

Finally, it seemed like Shining Armor had heard her, blinking repeatedly until he seemed to notice his surroundings, as if for the first time. "H-huh? What... ugh..." He rubbed his head.

"Y-you're back!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Oof!" Shining barely had time to react when she threw herself at him in a powerful glomp. "Whoa, sis! What's wrong?"

He felt her tense in his embrace, her head detaching itself from his chest to stare at him incredulously. "What's wrong? What's wrong!? I find out my brother is turning into a changeling, then you weren't responding, and you were acting all weird for the past..." She glanced at the nearby clock on the wall. "...fifteen minutes, at the very least! And you're asking me what's wrong?!"

Shining visibly winced. "Right, the whole changeling transformation thing..."

Twilight snuggled up to her brother again, hugging him with as much strength as she could, as if she would lose him if she lost her grip. "What happened to you, anyway? It's like you weren't even there," she asked with a quiet, shaky voice.

"I'm... not so sure," Shining answered, frowning in thought while holding her close. "You were talking with the doctor about what's... apparently happening to me right now, but... I think it was when I was starting to panic? I felt really weird, kind of similar to when I went to see Artemis." He shifted to a more comfortable position. "Like, I was suddenly happy for no real reason, and nothing could change that... yet at the same time I knew that I wasn't happy, but the happy feelings were just so strong that I couldn't really feel anything else in the end... if that makes sense?"

Twilight remained quiet in thought for a few seconds. "Well, Lab Coat did mention that he was thinking that what you were feeling were Artemis' emotions," she informed him. "But if that's the case, why would Artemis be so ecstatic around you? Cadance said that she was very shy at first."

At the mention of his lovely alicorn, the Captain's composure dropped considerably. "Will... will I still be able to give Cadance the foals she wants?" he sadly asked. "Save for the 'queen', changelings are apparently all supposed to be genderless..."

"But... they can still change forms?" Twilight said, trying to sound hopeful.

"How come we haven't heard of changelings until now, then? A pony giving birth to something that isn't a pony wouldn't be the kind of thing that would stay quiet for long, especially after all the time that they've apparently been among us," Shining glumly replied.

Twilight tightened her hug on him. "You can worry about foals all you want, but I'm more concerned about whether or not you'll still be 'you' once the changes are over, if we c-can't find a cure in t-time..."

Shining ran a hoof along his sister's mane comfortingly. "Hey, hey, it's okay, I'm still here," he said as soothingly as he could while nuzzling his sister's neck, doing a decent job of concealing the nervousness he himself felt about his problem at the same time. "I promise that I'll do everything I can to resist whatever happens for as long as I am able to."

They remained in that state for a short while, until Twilight eventually separated from their mutual embrace to look at him with worry. "...You're being strangely calm about the fact that you're turning into a different species, all things considered."

He winced, looking off to the side. "Honestly? I'm trying my best not to think about it too much."

Twilight pondered on how she could help, quickly perking up as she looked around the disaster that was Lab Coat's laboratory. "Do you know where exactly Lab Coat keeps his research notes on the changeling honey?" she asked him. "I could work on furthering our understanding of it; maybe even find something that the doctor missed!"

Shining blinked. "Umm..." He glanced around. "...Somewhere in this room?"

She deadpanned at him, and he sheepishly smiled in return. "You could... try the papers near that changeling, maybe?" he suggested, gesturing at the nearby body.

"Right," Twilight agreed, carefully trotting across the room towards it. "By the way, if you're really able to sense foreign emotions, are you able to feel mine right now?" she curiously asked, picking up a random scroll that was close to the changeling's head and rapidly browsing through its contents.

While the Captain was reluctant about tapping into an ability that he wasn't supposed to have as a pony, he still decided to make an attempt for his sister, frowning and sticking his tongue out in concentration, trying to... activate something? Feel something?

The only thing he could feel that he knew wasn't coming from himself, though, was this... connection.

"BBBFF?" Twilight called upon noticing that she hadn't received a response to her query, not looking up from the fourth paper she was skimming through.

Yes, there... there was a link present between him and something, or... somepony? He could feel it; the warmth it brought, the calm it induced in him, the comfort it gave, the...

The same thing he felt for his little Twily; the love between a brother and a sister.

The incredibly and wonderfully delicious love between siblin—

Worry "Shiny?"

"H-huh? What?" he abruptly stammered, the sour spike of concern he had briefly tasted snapping him out of his trance-like state to realize that Twilight was staring at him with a slightly troubled look from across the room.

"Are you alright?" she carefully asked.

Shining momentarily shook his entire head in an attempt to clear his mind from the wonderful feeling weirdness he had just experienced. "Y-yeah, I, I think so," he awkwardly replied, still feeling himself being affected by the influx of what he now knew were foreign emotions. He furrowed his brow in concentration and closed his eyes, managing with difficulty to draw a mental line between what was his and what wasn't. "I was just trying to see if I could 'sense' anything out of the ordinary. Don't worry, I'm fine, r-really."

Twilight gazed at him with suspicion for a moment. "Well, if you say so..." she quietly said with uncertainty marring her voice, perking up afterwards. "Did you feel anything, then?"

"Yeah, but only when I actually tried to, and even then the only thing I sensed from you was your... concern?" Shining tried to explain. "I could also... even..."

Taste.

He had tasted emotions.

The mere thought of such a thing was worrisome. Just how fast were his changes progressing? How much longer did he have until they were done? Until he was turned into a member of the very same race he had unintentionally exterminated down to one being?

Was... was this karma for his actions?

"You could also what?" Twilight prodded, bringing him out of his troubled thoughts.

Shining wrinkled his muzzle and waved off the question. "N-nothing, nothing," he replied, not wanting to further worry his sister and simultaneously making sure that she wouldn't cancel her search for the doctor's notes due to going on a tangent about his newfound ability. "Though, uh, hey! Just making sure, but Artemis is more or less over there, right?" he asked, gesturing towards where he knew the 'link' led to.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Actually, Artemis should be staying with Cadance and Ms. Yearling at the guest room reserved exclusively for special dignitaries over there."

She pointed at what was practically the opposite direction.

Shining blinked in confusion at the link's location. "Huh... Never mind, I guess," he said, unsure of why the familiar 'pull' that he knew led to Artemis was telling otherwise.

After all, he was absolutely certain that Cadance wouldn't let the nymph out of her sight and out of that room, considering the current circumstances. Unless something extreme happened that would've prevented her from doing so.

He filed those thoughts for later, trotting up to Twilight to help her with her search. "Have you found anything yet?"

Twilight brightened up. "Oh! You should see these notes he made on transmogrification magic and its effects on the properties of various alchemical ingredients depending on the position of the celestial bodies and the seasons!" she beamed, tenderly hugging the aforementioned papers against herself. "I'm definitely going to be asking him for a copy of these!"

Shining resisted the urge to facehoof. "That's... great and all, but I thought we were looking for information on the changeling honey?"

The lavender unicorn had the decency to blush. "Eheh, right!" She cleared her throat, levitating the 'stack' of papers back to its original location. "I'm onto something with this one, actually. He wrote down his thoughts on your condition." She brought up the note she had previously begun reading.

"So what does it say?"

"Nothing he hasn't told us already, so far." Twilight kept reading. "By the way, try to avoid Artemis as much as you can. It seems her proximity to you had triggered an acceleration of the whole transformation process, somehow."

Shining Armor rolled his eyes. "It's not like I'm even allowed to leave this room," he muttered, glancing at a few machines with disinterest.

Twilight hummed in thought. "I'll see what I can do about relocating you somewhere else; I'm sure the Princesses would help if I talked to them."

An alarm clock suddenly blared to life, constantly ringing loudly, and Twilight got to witness her brother frantically attempt to turn it off as fast as possible, his eyes widening in unadulterated horror. As soon as he finally succeeded, Shining let out a sigh, slumping down in relief.

"...What was that all about?" Twilight asked, bewildered.

The Captain froze, having forgotten his sister's presence for a moment. "Erm... nothing! Nothing at all! Heheh," he nervously chuckled. "Just, uh, keep reading! Don't worry about the clock!"

The lavender unicorn eventually shrugged and did just as he suggested... but then she came to a certain entry.

While the antidote's original purpose no longer works on subject 47307, it still seems to delay any further changes. Either that, or the knockout potion the Captain keeps requesting is the cause of the disruption of the changeling honey's effects. Will give to subject 47307 a dose of each in intervals of three hours just to be safe; set up a timer that will ring when the right time comes for every subsequent feeding.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "You've asked Lab Coat for a drink that would put you to sleep?"

Shining shuddered. "That thing that he claims will help me, it's just so..." He visibly struggled to keep whatever he had eaten in. "I can't stand it. Words are not enough to describe how bad it really is, so I'd rather be unconscious until the taste goes away."

"You mean this thing?" Twilight asked, levitating the 'antidote' with the knockout potion right next to it.

The white unicorn's horror immediately returned tenfold once he noticed what she was holding, backpedalling with a whimper that managed to escape despite himself. "N-no, please no!"

"It's for your own good!" she insisted, drawing closer.

"Oh Celestia, not you too!" he exclaimed, curling up on himself once he reached a corner. "Where did you even get those!?"

"Lab Coat wrote down where he stashed his supply of these things," she said. "Come on, it can't be that bad—"

"Yes! Yes it can, and yes it... is... oh, n-not again... not right now..." he more calmly spoke, his fearful shaking rapidly decreasing as he seemed to steadily slip into what he earlier referred to as his 'zen state'.

Twilight took full advantage of the fact that he was 'subdued' for the moment, force-feeding him the horrid concoction first. Shining Armor ended up drinking it all in one go, a brief twitching of his eyes and a weak protesting whinny being his only reactions to the beverage itself.

He afterwards faced his sister with a serene, happy smile.

"I hate you so much right now."

Twilight winced, yet stood resolute. "You'll thank me later, now drink up the potion."

Shining greedily reached out for it, promptly falling asleep on the spot after gulping down what might as well have been the nectar of the gods after having drunk the previous... thing.

His sister carefully levitated him back to his cot, conjuring a few pillows to at least make it more comfortable for him. She sighed, worried about his repeated 'episodes'. Wondering if this were a rare occurrence, she once again picked up Lab Coat's notes on her brother in the hopes of finding out more about the event.

While she found nothing related to his occasional and sudden calmness, she did find something else.

Addendum: Woke up the Captain shortly after administering the knockout potion; results unexpected. Appeared to be having hallucinations and was slightly delirious. Will have to make sure that he remains unconscious until the end of the potion's duration next time.

Side note: The knockout potion I used is not supposed to have any side effects whatsoever besides some mild vertigo in the case of pegasi, regardless of an early interruption or not. Different outcome on the Captain is troubling. Will other known and tested mixtures evoke alternate reactions on him? Are 'safe' potions no longer entirely safe due to his condition? Must re-evaluate, tread with caution, figure out the cause of the discrepancies.

The unicorn mare sagged, giving her brother a look filled with sorrow. Shining shouldn't have to go through any of this right now; in fact, he and Cadance should've been away on a honeymoon, enjoying their newly-wed status and frolicking together happily in the meadows...

She shook her head. Now was not the time to dwell on what could've been; she had a sibling to help and support. Thus, she went back to reading through the notes Lab Coat made on her brother in the hopes that she could add something with what she herself had learned, perhaps even come up with a plausible solution to reverse Shining's transformation, or at the very least slow it down further.

Twilight made sure to remain as quiet as possible, though. She didn't want to disturb her brother's rest, if only to give him the respite he needed.

Thankfully, if memory served right—which it usually did—then this wing of the castle shouldn't have too much traffic for some time, therefore she wouldn't have to worry about his sleep getting disrupted by outside sources.

It was at that point that the entrance to the lab violently imploded out into the hallway, leaving a gaping hole.

Author's Note

No deleted scenes for this one, unfortunately.

This chapter was a sort of personal test to see if I could keep things interesting without Artemis around, especially around dialogue-heavy scenes; something that I'm working on improving.

I didn't expect that it would take this long to update, however, but then again life had thrown a bunch of things my way that couldn't be predicted.

At least now I get to work on something that I've been anticipating for quite a while.

*Chuckles darkly*

Uh, *Cough*, I mean, look at this adorable picture of Artemis that you may or may not have seen yet from a blog post I made a while ago about Genbu's fan art!

There's also the following one from Cadragon1 that I may have forgotten to make a blog post about. :twilightblush:

Thank you all for your love and your support! :twilightsmile:

[2] Despair...

"Ah, those were the days." She fondly smiled, most likely reminiscing. "Back when I was but a little nymph, nobody really expected or demanded anything out of me, and all I had to worry about was to keep those around me happy so that I could remain fed; something that was really easy to accomplish at the time..."

"I see."

I gave her a few moments to dwell with whatever pleasant memories she seemed to be going through. Eventually, her rather exotic eyes refocused back to the present, and I waited until her gaze settled back on me before prodding further.

"However, I can't help but notice that you're almost making it sound as if everything was perfect back then. Everything has its ups and downs. Certainly, there must've been a bump or two along the way when it came to your foalhood? Especially considering how you had been... 'discovered' shortly after the infamous invasion of Canterlot; an event which earned your kind quite the negative reputation across all of Equestria?"

The young queen's smile faltered long before I finished.

"Artemis?" Cadance asked, having hurried with her bathroom break to check up on the nymph.

Silence greeted her in the large lobby.

The alicorn felt a pang of panic at that, but quickly pushed it back down.

Th-this had happened before! The little one was probably just playing hide and seek again!

Cadance giggled to herself before beginning to look for the excitable foal, already picturing the adorable expression of surprise that the nymph would have upon being discovered...

==============================================

"hm-Hm, HM-Hmmm! hm-Hmmm-HMMmmmm~~"

Feather Wind steadily slowed her cart down to a stop upon hearing the sounds of somepony quietly humming a song.

"Hmmmm Hm-m-mmmm, hm-Hmmm hmmmmmm..."

She couldn't quite figure out where exactly the catchy tune was coming from, however. No matter where she swiveled her ears, the music's volume remained constant. It was... as if...

"...!"

The maid, having hazarded a look up to the distant ceiling, stared in disbelief at the tiny changeling that was at that very same moment gazing back at her with widened eyes, holding what seemed to be a stuffed doll of Daring Do between its minuscule jaws.

Neither side moved a muscle.

There was a lack of blinking.

Unrelenting gazes were shared.

Breaths were held...

...until the pegasus eventually ended up directing her stare at the pot of coffee that she had recently delivered to the eccentric doctor.

By the time Feather Wind looked up again, the changeling was gone.

...

Or...

...perhaps there never was one to begin with...?

After all, what were the odds that a changeling would be within the castle nowadays, humming a song, prancing on the ceiling while carrying a stuffed toy around? The mere thought was ridiculou— No, no, she did not just see a tiny black figure blur around the corner on the ceiling.

Nope.

Definitely not.

Must've been a trick of the light, or the coffee having something weird in it, never mind the fact that she was the one who prepared it.

Yup!

No other explanation.

Thus it was that Feather Wind somewhat reassured herself and resumed her trot with the cart in tow, though anypony would be able to notice without much difficulty that her movements seemed a bit stiffer than normal.

Feather Wind was a ~~troubled~~ ~~worried~~ calm and collected mare.

A breath of relief soon escaped from my little muzzle. I had been hiding behind one of the arches on the ceiling, waiting to see if that pony would try to follow, until I eventually sensed that she had continued on her way. Although, she seemed to be restraining her own panic, oddly enough.

'Note to self: don't get into James Bond songs too much.'

I hadn't even realized I was humming out loud, honestly. It was kind of strange though, I could've sworn that there was some background music following me around for a while, and I wasn't talking about a song playing in my head...

Oh well. It wasn't as if music could play out of nowhere. That would be ridiculous on a whole new level.

However, I couldn't help but notice that my chitin's dark coloring made me pretty easy to spot due to its stark contrast with the light-purple-blue'ish color of the ceiling. As that mare proved, all it took was nothing more than a mere decision to look up for anyone to immediately see me. So far, I had been hiding behind the occasional banner on the wall and using any shade that I could find to escape the notice of wandering ponies, and it was kind of working up until now, but I would rather not have luck determine how long I'd remain undetected. Perhaps I could...

*Fwoomph*

There we go! Skin, hair and tail with an identical coloration to the ceiling!

...

*Fwoomph*

~~Skin~~ Chitin, mane and tail with an identical coloration to the ceiling!

Ahhh, much better.

All I had to do now was sandwich Lara between myself and my improvised 'floor' whenever I'd want to make sure that we'd be as unnoticeable as possible. This was probably the best I could come up with for now, though I was curious as to whether or not magic could be used to further improve my 'camouflage'. Was invisibility a thing?

I'd have to ask whoever would end up taking the role of being my 'magic instructor'. Right after the mandatory surprise hug, of course.

Looking down ahead at the direction I was previously going towards before I had briefly gotten spotted, I, uh... hmm, yet another intersection... which way to go...?

'Eeny-meeny miney-mo, I'm-not-sure-how-this-song-went, eeny-meeny— oh screw it, I'm going left.'

Remaining on the ceiling, I carefully went around the next corner, finally reaching... another dead end with various doors dotting each side of the short corridor that probably didn't lead to my brother considering that I felt he was much further away.

I quietly grumbled, my frustration quickly rising as I went back and picked another direction.

As demonstrated by the fact that I was still wandering around after, I don't know... at least ten, maybe twenty minutes ever since I left Cadance? I finally realized something that I would never admit to anyone else ever, and that I may or may not have been in denial about.

I mean, it wasn't really that big of a deal...

Honest!

I was just... maybe, kinda, terribly, hopelessly... lost.

This place turned out to be way bigger than I thought it would be. And no, I didn't mean that in relation to my own miniature size, even though that much was true as well. One would think that inherently knowing which direction my brother was at would help, and to some extent one would be right in assuming so, but as I've quickly learned, there just wasn't a clear path towards him.

Heck, I'm pretty sure I've gone past that one specific golden armored pony statue for the third time! I recognized that tiny dent on the left side of the helmet and another minuscule one on the back, as well as the scratch that went from the barrel all the way to its flank.

Seeing that familiar 'landmark', however, meant that this next hallway was the last one I hadn't gone through in this entire section of the building, which also meant that I was finally, finally going to find...!

...Another dead end.

Grr!

I've had enough of this place! I've had enough of these winding hallways that led to everywhere except where I actually wanted to go! I wanted to see my brother now! I wanted to meet mom now! I wanted to...

To...

I quickly moved to a slightly more concealed spot and held my breath as another pair of armored unicorn guards marched below me, patrolling like the numerous other ponies I had seen at this place while I did my best to reign my rising frustration back.

Why were they walking so slowly?

Come on!

I had places to be, a brother to meet, a mother to see and siblings to greet!

Hurry uuup!

To my dismay, they paused to chat with each other right under me, which meant that I had to wait because I didn't want to risk getting seen, which in turn angered me even further because I had, to... because... I wanted... I...

'Deep breaths, Artemis. Deep breaths.'

Why was I so angry? How had I gotten to that point to begin with?

I mean, sure, the fact that I was being delayed from meeting my brother was kind of annoying...

Okay, maybe a little more than annoying when I thought about it. I only felt like punching something. Perhaps a bit harder than what would be considered normal.

But, still, I knew for a fact that I could be patient. After all, fishing took patience. The occasional hunting trip took patience. Smiling at grumpy and ungrateful people all day long while waiting for your shift to end took patience.

I was a patient person. I am a patient person; that much was something that I was sure of.

And since I wasn't really in any actual rush despite how much I wanted to find my bro, I could patiently wait until those two guards—which were still conversing—left. Surely it wouldn't take that long. They were probably going to leave any minute now.

...

...

Any minute now.

...

...

Any moment now.

...

...

Aaaany second now.

...

...

...

Oh come on, hurry up!

My mental pleas for mercy finally went answered when the pair suddenly decided that they had had enough about unknowingly torturing little baby changelings, continuing on their merry way a few seconds after having stopped to start talking to each other.

Alright! Now to head back to what I had labeled as intersection fourteen, and hopefully there wouldn't be any more guards taking breaks to babble to each other while on-duty along the way. If they were going to be patrolling, then they better be patrolling right, dammit!

Speaking of guards, just what exactly was this place that so many of them would be needed? What kind of person or, err, pony, would even own this sheer amount of luxury? Did all of this belong to Lara, Cadance and/or Sparkles? Or... was there someone else who was higher up?

I slowed down my ceiling-walk slightly in contemplation.

Was Lara forced to bring me here? I did remember that she felt resigned right before we left that little house in the middle of nowhere, even though she seemed to be enjoying what little time we had spent together back then. If she didn't have any obligations, then I was pretty sure that she would've simply kept me in her humble cottage as company.

I did get to meet Cadance and Sparkles because of Lara bringing me here, however, and they were both really good people as far as I could tell. If my pegasus friend was willing to leave me alone with Cadance, it also meant that she trusted the alicorn enough to properly take care of me.

N-not that I needed to be taken care of. Though, I was relatively new to this whole world...

...and after all was said and done, I kind of did appreciate their unending love.

'Alright, I don't think I've tried this corridor yet.'

Not counting the maid that had briefly seen me not too long ago, every pony I've met in this building so far had been nice to me. Was there even a point to sneaking around? I mean, Lara had been careful with me ever since we 'met', even while I was in my egg; a memory that still felt a little surreal when I thought about it.

Being conscious while in an egg, that is. Lara's unconditional love less so.

She also fought and most likely risked her life to come back for me in that fortress as well, thus I was fairly certain that she wouldn't do anything that would ultimately put me in danger after going through those lengths. By that logic, Lara would not have brought me here if she didn't think that I'd be safe, therefore these guards, maids and other ponies that had trotted under me were at the very least allied to her.

And if they were her friends, then they should all be nice, civilized ponies... right?

...

Well, they may be nice with Lara, but I was still an unknown to the world, not counting the fact that I wasn't even a pony to begin with. Heck, the mere act of showing my fangs to Cadance and Sparkles seemed to set off their 'fight or flight' response, as if evoking a sort of instinctual, primal fear, easily noticeable by their immediate flinching away from me. Thankfully, the fact that they chose to not smite me hinted towards ponies being pacifists.

Or maybe I was just making up stereotypes based on the few food sources I had. The 'bandits' out in that jungle surely didn't seem to hesitate on trying to fatally hurt Lara...

Bleh, and I just now realized that I completely missed Cadance's first reaction in regards to the fact that I was part of a different species due to being asleep when it happened, and Sparkles somewhat seemed to know what to expect when she came to visit, too. If you discounted her initial freak-out, at least.

But, even if I only took Cadance into consideration, why was she trying to be as friendly as possible while barely knowing me? Unlike Sparkles, the alicorn took every opportunity she could to cuddle, nuzzle, hug, or even pet me; basically going for as much physical contact as possible. I obviously didn't mind since I was literally getting delicious bursts of love whenever any of those occurred, but the fact remained that I doubted even ponies were that much 'touchy-feely' with strangers, no matter their age.

Though, I had the feeling that Lara would've been doing the same, had Cadance and Sparkles not been around...

I sighed.

So many unanswered questions.

I'd need a way to get an unbiased reaction...

Maybe I could reveal myself to one of those ponies roaming down there? It'd be like a live simulation of a first contact scenario, and I'd finally get to see an honest response in how other ponies would react to seeing me!

Besides, I had seen myself in a mirror already. I knew that I was kind of adorable and cute. There was no way anyone could resist me!

And that was a weird thought, all things considered. More so due to the odd pride that I felt in knowing that.

If anything, this hallway that I found myself in seemed like a good place to try. I could already sense someone approaching, and there wasn't anyone else that I could feel for what I felt was a safe enough distance to have an isolated encounter.

And whoever was aproaching would give me all of their love!

Already I could feel my little wings buzzing in anticipation of the upcoming feast, and I, I... whoa.

...

...I, I think I... w-was I suffering from love withdrawal or something?

I-I mean, I had been getting a large and constant supply of it when I was with Lara, Cadance and Sparkles, but once two of them left, I... I hadn't noticed just how much I had gotten used to that nonstop stream of mouth-watering food. As it currently stood, I had to restrain myself a bit at the prospect of getting fed again allthelove—Nngh!—no matter how little I might end up getting.

I probably wouldn't even be roaming around this place if all three mares had stayed with me. Not because their presence would've made it harder to leave undetected, but because their combined love was so great and never-ending that I'm pretty sure I literally wouldn't have been able to tear myself away from it.

In fact, I'm not sure I would've even left the room if it was just Lara and I. Her love for me truly was the sweetest, bestest, most succulent, delicious, flavorful— Argh! Get a hold of yourself, Artemis! You're stronger than these annoying instincts!

Even though I was kind of missing Lara already...

'I wonder where she is and what she's doing right now—'

Enough of those thoughts! Now was not the time to think about th-that; I had to give my all to this impromptu meeting with a random pony in order to determine... a lot of things, really.

The being that came into view turned out to be a large white-coated unicorn with a blonde mane, trotting at a leisurely pace with his head held high. His posture and the way he carried himself seemed to scream 'nobility', and was flawlessly being maintained, showing that he'd had a lot of practice in strutting like so beforehand.

But... when he gave a quick look around and noticed he was 'alone', he slumped and let out a forlorn sigh, feeling somewhat sad as he stared at the ground while slowing down his pace, seemingly going into deep thought.

If this wasn't a perfect opportunity to simultaneously introduce myself and make him love me feed on the love cheer him up, then I didn't know what this was.

Quickly scaling down the ceiling and wall while remaining as quiet as I could in order to greet him on equal footing—didn't want him to know I could climb walls, just in case things somehow went sour—I double checked my senses to ensure that we would be alone for a few minutes, at the very least.

I idly wondered if love being emitted by male ponies tasted any different...

Sure enough, we had a certain measure of privacy, so I waited for him to pass by before I eagerly took the remaining steps to finally reach the floor behind him.

Gah, regular gravity felt really weird, now.

'Okay, sit down, tenderly squeeze Lola against my barrel with both of my arms forelegs, perk my ears, maintain happy face, and prepare to tilt head after he turns around to look at me.'

I should probably present myself in my base form as well, just to make sure I'd get an honest reaction to what I really was.

*Fwoomph*

The subtle sound of my changing didn't garner his attention yet, so... should I chirp to get it, or do I say hi? Hmm...

"Hi!" I chirped, the sound echoing across the otherwise quiet hallway.

The startled unicorn jumped slightly at my sudden greeting, rapidly glancing left and right before he swiveled around, at which point he proceeded to stare at me with abnormally widened and shocked eyes, his irises becoming nothing more than mere pinpricks.

"Ch..."

I was prepared for him to sprout a smile of his own and coo at me, much like the three mares I had known would've undoubtedly done. I was prepared for him to trot up to me and engage in delicious nuzzles and hugs with a side dressing of cuddles. I was prepared for him to unconditionally surrender to my adorableness and give me the love that I yearned for. The love that I needed.

"Ch, ch-cha..."

What he did kind of went against my expectations by a large margin.

"Ch-changeling. Changeling! CHANGELING!" he screamed in what was certainly not a manly voice, repeatedly shouting the same word over and over again while he turned tail and galloped away from me, as if death incarnate was chasing him.

But not before releasing incredible amounts of disgusting revulsion and fear my way.

I merely sat there in disbelief.

Did... had I done something wrong? I made sure not to grin so that he wouldn't see my fangs, I made sure to appear as non-threatening as possible, and I smiled at him! W-why didn't he l-love me?

Heck, he was afraid of me!

I didn't even reach higher than his knees in height, and I had a plushy with me for crying out loud!

Fear of all things!

What could I, a tiny baby changeling, possibly do to scare him that bad?!

I mean, he even knew, the... name of... my species...

...

W-what? Did Sparkles already share her findings with others? Was I too late?

"It's over here!" the voice of the unicorn I had scared away stated from afar...

...with two extra angry and determined presences right behind him; the thundering sounds of multiple hoof-steps nearing my current location at dangerous speeds.

I yelped and scrambled to get back on all fours, grabbing Lola with my mouth as I ran in the opposite direction as fast as my little legs could allow me to go. It was only after rounding the nearby corner that I started my climb to the familiar ceiling; the adrenaline rush I was experiencing from the feeling of imminent danger fueling my steps to go up faster than usual.

Hiding in the nearest shade I could find, I stayed as still as possible and held my breath as the trio finally reached the spot I had met the unicorn at. I held Lola between my barrel and the ceiling to further prevent her coat's colors to show too much for anyone who would observe from the ground, simultaneously changing my chitin's color to match with my immediate surroundings.

"(I saw it right here a few seconds ago! It couldn't have gone far!)" the one I had somehow freaked out claimed, his voice still shaky from him being distraught for whatever reason.

The two that followed him were beginning to feel confused. "(How do you know it was a) changeling (in disguise and not some random pony, your highness?)" one asked.

"(I thought Princess) Cadance (got rid of all of them, anyway,)" the other added with a small hint of relief behind his own doubt.

Wait, they knew about changelings too...?

Anger "(You dare question what I, Prince Blueblood, have clearly seen with my own eyes?!)" the noble indignantly replied. "(It was sitting right there, looking at me with its dreadful, evil and glowing red eyes! It had chitin instead of fur, holes in its legs, and it was this tall—)"

Annoyed "Yes, (Prince Blueblood, we know) what a changeling looks like. (Their eyes are tinted sky-blue, however, and...)" The male gave a slight pause. "(...You said it was this tall?)"

From my vantage point, I carefully peeked around the corner to see who exactly the unicorn had brought with him...

"(With a doll of Daring Do that it was strangling, as if to say that I would be next!)" dramatically exclaimed the one I had revealed myself to—

He went to get guards!?

There was a brief lull in their conversation as both of the armed ponies stared at the blonde unicorn with cocked eyebrows.

Unamused "(Riiight. Don't worry, your highness; we'll make sure to keep an eye out for 'tiny undisguised red-eyed changelings carrying dolls',)" guard number one stated in a semi-sarcastic tone, both of the golden-armored ponies—

Shit, gotta hide!

"(And make sure to bring it to me once you do find it!)" the 'noble' pony called out as the pair of guards walked away from him and under me.

It was only once I found myself alone a few seconds later that I resumed my search for my elusive brother at a much more hurried pace.

That... that short encounter raised way more questions than it answered. My plan should've been flawless in its purpose of distributing diabetes to anyone watching. Had I done something wrong? Did I merely stumble upon the wrong pony...?

No, no, those guards gained spikes of anger whenever... changelings were mentioned...

How did they already know about us? I sincerely doubted that Sparkles had enough time to tell everyone. Did the invasion that my family... had it gone bad? It would also explain why I had this nagging feeling of emptiness deep down inside ever since that time in my egg with the weird wave— n-no, what was I thinking?! I, I-I'm sure they were fine and looking for me! From what I had heard at the hive, they knew exactly what they were doing, and they had already infiltrated... w-wherever it was that they were going for.

B-besides! I had a brother nearby!

Though I... wasn't really sure what he was doing here since Mom said that everyo— everyling would be pulled for the attack they were planning. Was it already over? Because if not, the only reason I'd have a brother here would be that this is the place they'd have invaded...

No. They succeeded in their attack which did not occur here, they found out I was gone, and sent someone for me! E-everything was going to be fine, just as soon as I'd find my brother! Forget about those notes from Sparkles, we'd be getting out of here as soon as possible!

On the bright side, there weren't as many people in this section that I currently found myself in after some extra wandering, and I was pretty sure that I was finally going the right way for once, considering that I felt that I was getting much closer to my brother's location than I had before, based on what the link was telling me.

Yeah, this was definitely the right way from what I could gather. I was close enough to be able to feel his emotions a lot more accurately, just like I was also able to send him my own with a newfound ease.

Though, I wondered why he hadn't sent me back as much warmth/joy/love as I had sent him this entire time, especially when he seemed to have randomly gotten a panic attack a good while back. It was kind of hard to send anything to him properly because of the distance, however. I wouldn't be surprised if most of it ended up dissipating or getting lost along the way.

But, surely he... must've had a reason or two for not sending as much love back to me, if he had even returned any to begin with. At least I still had a pretty decent supply stored, though I wondered why his own capacity for love was so small since I may have given him too much at that one point, because I literally wasn't able to send anything after that little surge I sent to calm him down...

However, he finally opened his side of the link with me once that happened, to my delight. I guess I hadn't mentioned just how good it felt to once more have that faint little voice in the back of my head comforting me with its presence, knowing it was originating from a member of my family.

Come to think of it, I was pretty sure I was a 'relay changeling' because of those inaudible whispers. We were the only ones able to use the links as a means of long distance communication, right?

Well, besides Mom of course.

I really missed the constant 'buzz' of the hive, though. Having those hundreds of presences around, each and every single one emanating love between themselves and me, and I to them, forming an endless cycle of joy that was occasionally refueled with those we had cocooned; it was simply... amazing. Wonderful. Actually, scratch that, words literally weren't enough to properly convey how great it both was and felt.

Unfortunately, I only got to start experiencing that... that...

...hive-mind? Yeah, that seemed like one way to describe it; It was only a day or two before everyone had left for the invasion that I fully got to start experiencing the 'hive-mind'.

I hoped I would get to meet everyone again soon after leaving this place. It's been way too long since I've felt anyling besides this brother of mine that I was headed towards, and I didn't even know his name yet!

I was snapped away from my musings by the readings that were suddenly coming from the link I had with my brother.

He just started panicking out of nowhere! And he... he... uh, wait, never mind? He was already back to being relatively calm, apparently.

Huh. Weird.

Regardless, I knew I had to hurry and find him as soon as possible. People didn't tend to freak out unless something was horribly wrong, and I was beginning to have that unwelcome gut feeling that something bad was going to happen sometime soon.

And, shortly thereafter, I felt an even more intense wave of panic flowing through the link. In fact, it was even worse than that time where I had just left Cadance!

My brother was in trouble!

'Hang on! I'm almost there!'

I quickened my pace, simultaneously sending to him what I hoped were calming emotions through the link, taking care to not overwhelm him with too much at once, unlike last time. I may have overestimated how much he could take once more, though.

If my senses were correct, then he should be... behind that door right there!

Finally!

I finally found him! And...

...Sparkles was there too? But, was... she wasn't doing anything to my brother, was she? Even though I was pretty sure she had been studying me in some way, she still eagerly and happily taught me a bunch of words in her language, and she was really nice to me for the entire time we had spent together pouring through books—

The link I had with my brother abruptly became muted after she approached him.

...

Sh, sh-she made him go unconscious!?

No, there was no way that Sparkles had done any harm to him, she was a good pony!

...R-right?!

And yet, despite my desire to remain undetected, ripping that door off its hinges to check on him was very quickly becoming an appealing idea, to the point where I almost began making my way down to the floor to do so.

Almost.

I wasn't sure what exactly happened in there, but fortunately for Sparkles' continued wellbeing, I decided to try to calm the minor part of me that was currently screaming for me to immediately get in there and rescue my lone brother.

Easier said than done.

The more seconds ticked by, the more I felt the urge to ignore that little part of me that wanted to calmly approach and analyze the situation. Why was I even waiting? My brother was right there, unconscious, potentially even in danger! And...

...and I audibly ~~growled~~ groaned in ~~anger~~ frustration at being delayed further from enacting any sort of rescue plan, forced to remain hidden for just a while longer if I wanted everything to go smoothly, simply because I could sense someone approaching from where I had come from.

Still, it would not do to have the entirety of the guards of this place swarming us if changelings were truly hated, based on what I felt from those earlier guards. I could be patient until such a time came for it to be completely safe to get in there and neutralize Sparkles. Besides, at the speed that the being was approaching, he or she was probably flying because I doubted anyone could actually run that fast, quadruped or not.

Wait...

...that background flavor that simultaneously reminded me of roses and of the most exquisite of chocolates...

...Cadance?

She, she was so... I couldn't... even from that far, I, I had trouble keeping myself from shivering and c-crying from how I felt her distressed emotional state affecting me.

Sh-shit, was this because I h-had left her? I didn't, didn't think that she'd be so...

Then she actually came into view.

I wasn't sure what the worst part was; that she had tears streaming across the already soaked fur on her face from her glistening eyes rimmed with red, that she was frantically scanning the ground left and right while looking behind every single ornament that adorned the hallway as she erratically flew by, or that she kept calling out my name in-between choked sobs with whispers I could barely hear.

The fact that it was very likely that I was the reason she was like that to begin with didn't help at all.

It took an ungodly amount of effort on my part to prevent myself from going down there to let her know that I was okay, that I was sorry I ran away from her, that she could hug me as much as she wanted to, that she should stop feeling so sad because it was disgusting, that I just wanted to meet my brother so that I could get reunited with the rest of the family and make sure mom knew I was fine...

...but in the end, no matter how much I liked Cadance or how much I didn't want to make her feel bad, my family took priority over everything else. I had to remain hidden for now.

While I used Lola to soak my empathy-induced tears in order to avoid having them fall to the ground and potentially alert Cadance to my presence, the alicorn in question soon reached the heavily-labeled door that led to my brother, failing to land properly when she tripped on her own hooves after folding her wings.

"Tuh," she tried to say towards the door, her voice hitching when she stumbled while attempting to get back up. "Tw, Twi..." Trembling as she shook her head and attempted to blink her tears away, she managed to charge her horn with the two lines meant for the levitation spell, except... this time she crossed the two streams.

Not even a second later, a huge section of the wall was, just... gone; turned into rubble that was then spread out across the entire hallway after she had 'grabbed' the door.

"TWILIGHT!" Cadance screamed into the room with a tone so desperate that it figuratively and literally tore away at my own heart, to the point where I had to use Lola to muffle the whimper that I couldn't hold back from the bitter outburst.

It didn't help that Sparkles immediately panicked from the sudden breach. "What the—"

"(Intruder alert! Prime the cannons! Man the shields! Save the waffles!)" I heard my brother exclaim, the link alive once more with... with... weird fluctuations in his feelings...

"Oh no, no no no! Cadance! Why did you have to—"

"Artemis is g-gone!" Cadance cried, storming into the room and out of my sight.

"(I don't feel so good...)"

"What do you mean she's gone!?"

"(I-I had to go to the bathroom and when I got out I couldn't find her immediately s-so I thought she was playing hide and seek with me again because it seemed to be her favorite game since it always made her so happy but...)" I didn't need to see Cadance to know that our s— her sobbing was getting worse. "I looked everywhere! (She wasn't in the lobby, she wasn't in any of the bedrooms she wasn't in the kitchen she—)"

"(Did you try to do a magic scan of the general area?)" Sparkles urgently interrupted.

"Yes!" Cadance immediately replied with a shaky voice. "(It didn't find anything! I was completely a-alone in that entire wing of the castle, except for the two guards that were making sure nopony would enter the area!)"

Sparkles seemed to be pacing back and forth from what I could hear. "This is bad, really bad!"

Desperation "(Y-you have to help me find her!)"

Another shudder went through me at Cadance's outcry. Her distress was such that I was barely managing to keep inside through sheer willpower whatever my body was urging me to get rid of, and I wasn't sure how much longer I'd be able to hold off the increasing need to do so.

"(A unicorn here, a pretty pony princess there, a nymph right outside and, a-and, and I'm s-so saa-aaa-aaad!)" my brother wailed.

"...W-what?!"

"(Uh, don't, don't mind him! There's nothing wrong with Shining at all! He's simply under medication!)" Sparkles quickly said, trying to sound convincing while Cadance's emotions were steadily getting worse after my brother's declaration, if that was even possible. "(It's just a side effect of the—)"

"N-no! (Not outside! She can't go outside!)" Cadance shouted before I saw her fly out of the room through the gaping hole she had created.

"Cadance! Wait!" Sparkles called out, quickly coming into view as well.

But Cadance was already gone.

The sounds of someone puking could be heard from within the room, and my brother felt considerably better afterwards. Sparkles turned around to presumably to face him, but ended up gaping at whatever she saw before she ran back into the room, leaving me free to fall from the ceiling; not because I wanted to, but because the urgency with which I felt the need to do whatever I was about to do was becoming too strong for me to ignore, to the point where I couldn't even concentrate on maintaining my grip.

Landing with a muffled *Thunk* that I barely felt over my peaking internal discomfort, I stumbled a few feet away from the room to make sure that I'd at least be outside of Sparkles' view range.

Or, at least, I tried to.

Realizing that I couldn't hold it off any longer, I quickly threw Lola off to the side and finally gave in to my urges, violently expelling from my muzzle a constant stream of some sort of thick, dark-blue liquid amidst the rubble in front of me.

I didn't care that this weird stuff apparently came from my insides, or that I probably could've fed one or two full-grown ponies with what I had thrown-up so far, assuming whatever this was ended up being edible. All I knew was that I felt better the more I purged my body of it.

Marginally better.

On and on it went, the pleasant feeling of throwing up persisting for a few seconds, but when I finally felt it was over—and that I found myself unable to feel sad for Cadance in any capacity—I was left to stare at the relatively large puddle of... whatever that stuff was. Despite the fact that it didn't actually look disgusting whatsoever, I felt utterly repulsed by it.

It also seemed to be evaporating at a very slow yet steady rate.

Then I registered that Sparkles was shocked/afraid/worried. I knew I should've made a larger effort to hide— oh, wait, I couldn't even see her, therefore I wasn't the reason she felt that way. Something else must've garnered her attention. Most likely my brother, since she was right next to him—

She was right next to him!

I leapt over the rubble separating me from the hole, and I stopped myself, shoving away my sudden desire to rush in and protect a sibling, calming myself down as best as I could.

He was fine. He was awake, and Sparkles was... probably a good pony, therefore he wasn't in any danger.

...

Though it certainly wouldn't hurt to assess the situation, just in case.

"What do I do? What do I do!? (Lab Coat never said anything about you throwing up strange substances!)" Sparkles stammered from behind a few tables that were obstructing my... view...

...holy crap were there lots of papers littering the room. How was I supposed to tell which of them were notes on us changelings?!

I decided to climb to the ceiling once more to get a good view of the room and its occupan— there were papers stuck up there too!?

"(Is there a procedure for when a sibling expels foreign liquids through their mouth during their metamorphosis into a different species after being subjected to unknown chemicals?)" Sparkles quickly asked after a couple flashes occurred near her location, the rapid flittering of multiple pages being heard right afterwards while she spoke. I could practically taste her frown shortly thereafter. "(Of course not! We don't know anything about) changelings!" she angrily exclaimed, throwing a few enormous books into the air where they promptly vanished from another complicated spell that I sensed her use.

I had almost reached my destination, but I paused for a second when I felt the anger that Sparkles emitted when she uttered my species' name. Where the heck did that come from? She never felt that way around me as far as I could tell, save for that time where I accidentally cut a page with my horn when I reached down to try and use my lips to grab and flip said page. Was I wrong about her? Did she secretly hate my kind?

"(You could be extremely sick right now, or this might be something completely normal for you to do at this point in time, and there is literally no possible way for me to ascertain whether either of those are even close to being right!)" she ranted in severe frustration, her voice hitching as she reached the end of it when sorrow had begun taking over.

I winced at that. The memory of how Cadance felt and made me feel was still too fresh. I didn't want to have to endure the horrible taste of sorrow any longer, even if it wasn't nearly as strong as it recently was. I didn't want to feel sadness anymore, I didn't want to...

...to...

I blinked. As if a switch was flipped, I... couldn't quite remember what I was feeling just now.

"Nooooo, no no no," my brother slurred. "(Mom, it's okay, don't cry! Look! This is how a smile looks like!)"

Confused "...W-what? (I'm not mom,) I'm Twilight! Twilight Sparkle! (Your s-sister!)"

I stopped my climb half-way up the wall to turn and stare at Sparkles. Why the heck was she practically shouting her name at my brother?

"Oh. Okay. (Whatever you say, mom.)"

"I'm Twilight Sparkle, not Twilight Velvet!"

The room was littered with machinery and contraptions that I was unfamiliar with while papers covered the dozens of desks around the place, but a black object caught my attention on the other side of the room as it sat on a table with... lots of equipment nearby...

"(...Oh! We're playing pretend! Hah, I love that game! Okay, you'll be Twiley, I'll be, uh...)"

...Except... except it wasn't a...

Frustrated "I AM Twilight Sparkle! And you're Shining Armor!"

I rubbed my eyes, because there w-was no way that there was—

It was still there.

"(Okay, sure! I think I can do that! But...)"

I rubbed my eyes again and shook my head. I, I refused to believe it. It was an illusion. A mirage. I hadn't drunk any water ever since I hatched. Y-yeah! Thirst-induced hallucinations! Hahah! That could happen even if I hadn't ever felt thirsty to begin with, right? Heh, I'll just, I'll slowly open my eyes now, and I will realize that I was being silly and imagining things, because in the end, there never was... a... there never... a...

He was still there.

"(...who is Artemis going to pretend to be?)"

Sprawled on a table.

"What do you mean, 'Artemis'? She's not even here!"

Wires connected to his body from various machines.

"(Oh, I get it! She's a statue!)"

His limp body that I couldn't link to.

"(*Sigh* Whatever you're pointing at, it's just a hallucina—)" Shock

His l-lifeless b-body.

Panic "A-Artemis!?" Sparkles squeaked.

The legs dotted with holes, the dark chitinous shell, the tattered, transparent wings that were splayed out and the curved horn on the forehead... this, this was unmistakably a changeling. One of my brothers.

One of my d-dead brothers.

Here.

Dead. Gone.

Wires connected to his body. They had been doing things to him. They were experimenting on us.

Brother that was alive. Glowing things around his legs. He was trying to move. Couldn't. Glowing purple magic stopped that.

Sparkles was doing things. Motions. Talking to me? Communicating? Panicked. Worried.

"—ome on, A-Artemis. (You can't... we have to get you away from here! Uh, please come down?)"

Wanted me to leave safe spot?

"(I'll, uh... I'll give you love! Do you want some love?)"

Wanted hug?

Oh.

...Okay.

Hugs were good.

Sparkles smiled. Strained. Fake. "(Yes, th-that's a good little changeling!)" Ear twitched. Resent hidden under worry.

Purple fur was soft. Warm. Fuzzy. Not fluffy.

Hugs were good.

"(Th-there, now let's get you back!)" Sparkles quickly said. Nervous. Straddling me with a foreleg. Taking hasty steps towards exit. "(You really shouldn't be outside of your room!) Cadance (is very worried about yo—Urk!)"

Hugs were good.

*Thump*

Sparkles was bad.

I retracted my fangs from where I had bitten her, glaring at the purple unicorn's shocked and betrayed expression. Even then, she still dared to ask a simple question, one that she clearly knew the answer to, while her body rapidly stiffened from the application of my venom.

"Wh... w-why?"

The very subtle glow around her horn soon spluttered out, and it was only afterwards that the magical bindings holding my... my still living brother, vanished.

It all made sense now.

The disgust she felt towards me when we first met. Her nervousness around me. The sounds of scribbling as she constantly took notes on me. Her fascinated look whenever I transformed. Her reluctance to play with me. The negligible amount of love she shared with me compared to the others.

In her eyes, I must've merely been some... some thing to study. The fact that she had somehow figured out that my disguised brother was actually a changeling and that she had restrained him with her magic further convinced me of that.

She had even managed to get a hold of one of my deceased siblings.

How?

Were there more corpses of us around?

I... I wasn't sure I wanted to know. I was still reeling from the implications of what I had just stumbled upon.

I really wanted to believe that this purple mare had merely received the dead body from someone else, that she wasn't the one who had caused his death; but at this point I just... I didn't know what to believe. Sure, she had been really 'nice' during the day, though then again, I was being cooperative and I did continuously try to gain her affection.

Yet, despite my efforts, it was obvious to anyone paying close attention that she never actually felt fully comfortable whenever I was too close to her in my true form.

"(Is the game over?)" my brother asked, wobbling about until he saw us, focusing his gaze on me with narrowed eyes, as if he had trouble seeing. "(Twilight? Did you see mom? She was right over... uh...)" He scrunched his muzzle, tripped on his hooves and fell to the floor, giggling to himself. "(...Somewhere... hee hee! Ooh, hello!)"

What the heck was he—

"Yes? Hi! Yes? Hi! Yes? Hi! Yes?" he continuously repeated, staring into space at a particular spot with a goofy smile— wait a minute...

...Sparkles drugged him!?

"Yes? What? What?! What! What do you want!? Yes, I'm listening!"

I whipped around to bore my gaze into Sparkles', yet my expression promptly lost its glare, instead turning into a confused frown. Out of all the things I expected Sparkles to feel, I hadn't thought that she would be emanating worry while staring at my sibling.

No, it wasn't the "I'm worried for myself" kind of worry. She felt concern for my brother.

...What?

I let out a surprised squeak when I suddenly found myself hefted up into the air via a dark purple glow that surrounded my body, which gently—if awkwardly—set me on top of a soft and oddly squishier-than-I-expected white-furred coat.

"(Come on, Twilight! We're leaving! The parasprites here have no manners! No manners, I say!)" my brother grumpily exclaimed as he wobbled towards the exit with me on his back. "(Besides, this place is full of feel-bads! What kind of candy store has no happy medicine in it!?)"

I had no clue about what he just said, but he sure felt happier as I hugged his neck as best as I could with my tiny limbs, trying to find some measure of comfort after finding out what they were doing with us.

"N... n-nuh... Shai-nee..." Sparkles tried to mumble as we went past her paralyzed body, her gaze switching from desperation while staring at my brother, to confusion and anger when she looked at me.

I glared right back at her, even as I felt like I was missing something from the big picture, as if the bite I gave her wasn't the whole reason she had this resentment whenever she focused on me...

Whatever. I doubted I would see her again—at least willingly—therefore I used my higher elevation atop my brother's back to stare at the dead changeling that we would be leaving behind for now.

He was dead.

Dead.

Someone from my family that I would never get to talk to.

Dead.

A brother I'd never get to play with.

Dead.

A sibling that would never again be able to return any hugs I'd give.

Dead.

He was gone. Gone forever.

...

Then... why...

...why couldn't I feel sad?

Isn't that how anyone would usually react when they'd learn that someone related to them died?

Heck, what was sadness? I couldn't for the life of me remember what it felt like. At all. Even remembering the fate of my adoptive parents didn't evoke anything but apathy, while I could distinctively remember the various nights where I cried myself to sleep whenever those particular memories came up.

'Is something wrong with me?'

I was soon carried through the threshold of the room's enlarged exit, rendering me unable to maintain my gaze on the corpse. The corpse that was in pristine condition from what I could see, meaning he had passed on somewhat recently.

And while I still couldn't get myself to mourn for him in any way, shape or form, a question kept coming back to me. One whose answer became more and more elusive the more I learned about this place and its occupants.

'Why did Lara bring me here!?'

It made no sense for her to bring me here when she did everything she could to protect me... unless she didn't know what they were doing with my kind. Did she even know that Sparkles was a murderer?

No, no, I didn't have proof that Sparkles did that yet, and if Lara knew anything about it, I'm sure she wouldn't have brought me here or let Sparkles anywhere near me. She cared too much.

Loved me too much.

I didn't have anything against Cadance yet, but she was super nice and helped with teaching me new words while having no ulterior motives other than wanting me to do things to make her happy, usually involving cuddling, so I guessed I could count her too as someone I could trust in this place that seemed to hate my guts.

The thought that I only trusted three people out of the dozens of ponies that I had walked past, where potentially most of them had knowledge and a dislike for my species... wasn't really comforting, however.

At least I had Lara, Cadance and...

I reluctantly pulled away from my one-sided hug to poke at my brother's neck.

"Hey, what's your name? I don't think you've told me yet," I chittered to him, simultaneously managing through heavy concentration to levitate Lola back to me from where I had thrown her.

In response to my query, the 'unicorn' I was riding on decided to start humming a tune while skipping through the hallways without a care in the world.

I narrowed my eyes. 'Riiight. He was drugged.'

"Hello? Name?" I tried again, hoping the question would register if I simplified it.

This time, my sibling slowed down to a stop with a frown of his own.

"I am..." He struck a pose with a hoof aimed at the ceiling and I struggled to maintain my grip on him from how abruptly he moved. "Shining, Armor!" he proudly declared. "(Defender of Equestria! Protector of ponies! Grandmaster of defensive magicks! Uncontested champion of 'Science: The gathering' and peanut butter eating contests!)"

Uhhh... okay? So he was called "Shining Armor"?

Never mind the fact that it was probably a name in the language that the ponies used, it felt... wrong, somehow.

"Is that your real name, or your disguises' name?" I chirped questioningly.

In response, 'Shining Armor' dropped back down to all fours and started trotting in a direction that I hoped led towards the exit of this place.

I wrinkled my muzzle in frustration. "Real name?" I asked once more.

Aaaaand he went back to humming and skipping allegedly through the hallways. I could only hope that whatever Sparkles gave him would wear off sometime soon.

I may not have been able to mourn my lost brother due to not being able to even remember what sorrow felt like, but at least I could still feel angry and annoyed at Sparkles, though it was hard to maintain those feelings with how happy I was that I at least got to save 'Shining Armor'.

Eurgh, that name just didn't feel right.

Too bad that my brother didn't appear to be able to think straight. While having a coherent conversation with him was something I greatly desired after all the time I had spent separated from my family, it didn't seem like the kind of thing that would happen anytime soon. Though, I guessed that was fine, since this really wasn't the time and place to get to know each other to begin with. We had to prioritize getting out of here, then find Mom, and finally let her know about what they were doing here so that she could mount some sort of operation to retrieve our fallen brother so that we may, uh... properly send him off?

...Do we do burials? Incinerate the bodies? Use some sort of magic to preserve them? Perform obscure rituals?

Questions that would be answered in the near future, I supposed.

Still, I actually had a brother carrying me around right now! The concept alone was new to me since I never had any siblings in my past life, and I couldn't help but feel a certain measure of happiness that I was finally with someone that was actually part of my new family. Even more joy-inducing was the fact that 'Shining' seemed to be sharing in with my own mirth despite his weird state.

Family.

The mere thought that I had one again was just...

I... I couldn't find the words that could properly convey how happy I was.

People who would care about me, who wouldn't simply leave me to fend for myself after a few arguments, who would love and cherish me, and I them. People who I could depend on, who would comfort me in my times of need, who I could put my trust into... and the list went on.

Soon.

Soon, I would meet the rest of my family. Cuddles will be had, love will flow abound, hugs will be given, nuzzles will be distributed, stories will be shared, and we'd proceed to avenge our fallen brethren by whatever means necessary.

...

Wait a minute.

"You do know where you're going, right?" I chirped questioningly to 'Shining Armor', at which point he momentarily paused in his jolly skipping, swiveling his head around to face me.

Except he quickly got distracted by the window right next to us.

Awe "(Have you ever directly looked at the sun? It's so... beautiful. So bright. So vivid. So— ARGH! ME EYES!)" he screamed, furiously rubbing his face.

Riiight. He was still drugged.

"Shit."

Author's Note

The next chapter should be up within a week from this chapter's release.

[2] ...Darkness...

'Shining Armor' and I had been wandering around for some time.

Well... okay, my brother was the one doing the wandering while Lola and I simply enjoyed the ride from his back, but he hadn't led us to a dead-end yet, therefore I had a certain measure of hope that he knew where he was going. He already seemed to be more lucid than earlier too, because he had stopped staring in suspicion at most of the ornaments along the way.

He was still merrily skipping about, though.

"(You know, sometimes I wonder why I'm so happy, and I tell myself: 'Shining, this isn't you being happy, it's all an illusion. Snap out of it,')" he suddenly switched tones half-way into his sentence, as if miming someone else talking. "(But then I realize, why would I not want to be happy? Why would anypony, for that matter, want to be anything but happy? Happiness feels too good, tastes too good, is good.)" He turned his head around to face me afterwards, giving me an extremely wide smile. "(You know what I'm talking about, right Twilight?)"

Unfortunately, he still refused to speak in our native language, therefore I could do nothing but listen to him babble in what seemed to be the ponies' tongue. Except this time he seemed to be waiting for an answer from me despite the fact that I had no idea what he was asking. He also kept referring to me as 'Twilight' for some annoying reason I couldn't fathom.

Nevertheless, I answered with a smile that reflected how happy I was to have him, letting out a content chirp as I threw myself at his neck in a loving hug.

Had I been watching, I would've seen his eyes become unfocused for a very brief moment. I did notice that his gait slowed down to a complete stop, though.

"(I love you too, little sis,)" he softly said, bringing his gigantic muzzle closer to gently return my display of affection.

His head briefly twitched.

Shortly thereafter, we resumed our travelling with my brother being noticeably more energetic than he had been mere moments before.

Luckily, we still hadn't run into anyone. I could sense a few stray presences here and there, but they weren't close enough that we had to worry about them, and most of them were congregating in a few select locations if the large concentrations of distant emotions meant anything. Must've been around dinner time, I supposed.

However, despite my... temporary preference to my base form, I knew that I couldn't stay as I was and risk getting us captured for whatever reason. A random encounter seemed inevitable, and I had to be ready.

The question was, what should I look like?

In fact, would I have to worry about what colors to use for my appearance? Did they have the same general meanings here compared to Earth?

Were some of them frowned upon and/or were associated with negative things such as bad luck?

What would a male of my 'current' age look like?

Could I turn into an animal and follow my brother around? Perhaps a dog, or something?

Would that even work? Do they allow animals around here?

...Did dogs exist here to begin with?

Much question. Quite mystery.

Never mind that; a pony would obviously be the safest form to take for a disguise.

Pegasus, unicorn, or vanilla?

Hmm... I would be momentarily depriving myself of a useful tool in case of an emergency, but being a wingless and hornless pony felt like the right choice if I wanted to attract the least amount of attention to myself. From what I could tell out of everyone I had seen during my search for 'Shining Armor', all three races were taking part in the roles of both the maids and the guard patrols, therefore I could pick any of the three without having to worry about looking out-of-place.

A regular pony also seemed to be the most non-threatening form to take, which was kind-of the impression that I was trying to give off.

Though... I would already be appearing as a baby, and babies were generally considered adorable by default. Maybe I was putting too much thought into these things.

...Yeah! I mean, what was I thinking? 'Appearing as non-threatening as possible'? Who would even believe that a tiny foal could pose any kind of threat whatsoever? Heh, as if my mere presence would cause someone to run away shrieking in terror...

Oh, wait, that did happen.

...

...

Shit.

'Alright, pulling all the stops for this one.'

I stuck my tongue out in concentration, aaand...

*Fwoomph*

My brother paused his gallivanting to turn and look at me, the flash from my transformation having attracted his attention.

"(Huh. You look... different, somehow.)" He narrowed his eyes. "(New manecut?)"

I shuddered, feeling naked and unprotected without my shell. I wished I had a mirror so that I could see myself better, but until then I would have to make do with my flexible neck to check myself out and potentially make adjustments to make sure that my disguise was optimal.

My sibling resumed his joyous prancing in the meantime.

I obviously couldn't outright copy anyone I had met or seen so far, yet I still felt like borrowing something from Lara and Cadance, therefore I gave myself a coat with a similar shade to the alicorn's while my hair and tail took on the pegasus' coloring and style.

Magenta-colored eyes seemed to be a trend from what I had seen so far as well. Perhaps it was the norm here, much like how brown eyes were the majority on Earth? Too bad I couldn't really see my face, for now.

I think felt... 'okay' with how I looked, to a certain extent. As long as I didn't think too hard about it and that I reminded myself that the whole point was to 'blend in', that is. I wasn't sure how a, uh, colt would look like—if there was much of a difference to begin with—but I didn't want to risk playing around with changing my anatomy, yet. Maybe there were rules, or restrictions to my transformations, or something that could go horribly wrong if I made a mistake somewhere during the metamorphosis...

In any case, while I was assuming and hoping that the standards for appearing 'adorable' were the same here as on Earth, I was satisfied enough with my disguise. The only part left was to test its effectiveness, though I wouldn't mind avoiding anyone until we left; however unlikely that would be.

Though... it would be nice if we came across Lara one last time before we left.

My brother froze mid-step, promptly doing a one-eighty and going towards a different direction.

'Lara...'

Sure, I was going to be reunited with my family sometime in the near future, but Lara was still... someone who had loved me since almost the very beginning. Someone who genuinely cared for me, who kept me warm during the night, who fed me and... even bathed me. Heck, at this point I wouldn't hesitate all that much to label her as family, too.

And I was leaving her.

Something told me that this would be the part where I would be 'sad'. Where I should be 'sad'... but I still couldn't even remember what that felt like.

What did Cadance do to me back there? She was feeling so bad that it made me puke... blue stuff... and then I just sort of decided I didn't want to feel that ever again...

Did I purge myself of an emotion? Lock it away?

What if I wanted to feel it again, just to remembe—

"Oh f-fuck! No, no, n-no!" I whimpered when I accidentally did... something that felt like I had released all of the pent-up sorrow that I had bottled up in a while.

All at once, I felt what I would've felt at discovering my dead sibling, what I would've felt at discovering Sparkles' true motives after thinking that she could be considered a 'friend', what I would've felt at merely thinking about my adoptive parents, and what I would've... what I was feeling at the thought of leaving Lara behind without saying goodbye.

A large part of me wanted to wail and cry like one should when feeling this much sorrow.

Another part reminded me of where we were and that doing so would attract unwanted attention on my brother and I.

Yet another portion of me managed to focus enough to 'close the floodgates' so-to-speak, and once again locked away the unwanted emotion, to my immense relief.

My shivering abruptly stopped, though I still had to wipe some tears away from my furry face to notice that my brother had stopped to stare at me in an oddly serious and concerned manner. I smiled at him to let him know that everything was fine, and he nodded before moving on with his current destination.

I probably shouldn't be bottling up emotions like this, but... if it felt so bad, then perhaps it was a good thing that I got rid of it. I couldn't afford distractions right now; not when we were undercover and trying to escape this place. Once this was all over and that we got out of here, I could let it all out and properly... mourn.

Or... maybe I could stop myself from feeling sad for a few days longer.

Maybe a few weeks, actually.

Forever seemed like an even better idea, though. I mean, who would ever want to feel sad?

...Whatever that felt like. I just knew that it was a 'bad feeling' at this point.

Though, back on the previous topic of Cadance, she was distressed an awful lot at my departure. Lara probably wouldn't fare too good as well, especially since she was with me for quite a bit longer...

...

I let out a resigned sigh.

While I may like those two ponies a lot, I knew that Mom must've been worried sick at my disappearance. Even now, no matter how much I strained myself or how many times I had tried to check during my entire stay here, I couldn't sense any other changelings besides the brother that I was in the process of cuddling from atop his back.

...Yeah, it was probably for the best that we exit this place as soon as possible before I bonded any more with Lara and Cadance. I would've ended up leaving to meet Mom no matter what happened anyway; no point in making it harder on everyone involved.

My brother stopped, then turned around and merrily backtracked up to where we had previously been going towards.

"Uh... are you lost?" I stared at my sibling, wondering why we switched directions again.

"(Nay! I know this castle like the back of my hoof!)" he answered, persisting with his usage of the ponies' language to my dismay. "(Every secret passage, nook and granny! Every tapestry, ornament and candle! There is nothing here that has escaped the might of my scrutinizing gaze— Ooh! That's new.)"

He stopped to stare at a particularly large stained glass window in a hallway that was filled with them on one side, though this one had an actual illustration on it, unlike the others.

On it, a unicorn that seemed to be in a uniform and a pony that looked quite a lot like Cadance were forming a heart with their oddly-bent bodies, their horns intertwined. They were both in the middle of a pinkish orb that appeared to be expanding, with a little castle in the background.

"(I thought Cadie told me that she denied their requests to put a stained glass window of this...)" For the first time, my brother seemed to exude something other than happiness, a frown creasing his face in the beginnings of anger. Which only turned into annoyance once he looked around us, his muzzle scrunching itself in the process. "(Ah, sneaky nobles; she denied it from being showcased in the throne room. This isn't the throne room.)"

He maintained his conflicted stare on it for a little while before he eventually resumed trotting. Which was good, because I could sense more and more presences roaming around, and one was actually getting pretty close from ahead of us.

Okay, never mind, it seemed my disguise was about to receive its first test.

Peeking from around my sibling's hair, I spotted a maid that was headed in the opposite direction. My brother had slowed his gait down to a 'normal' level as soon as she came into his view range, and from the way she shrank down a bit when she noticed him watching her, I'd say that he was giving her a sort of intimidating look.

Her entire posture changed once she noticed me atop his back.

I totally wasn't nervously squeezing Lola in a fluff-crushing hug while concealing myself a bit behind the aforementioned doll at that very moment. Nope. I was just maybe a teensy tiny slight bit worried that I messed up my disguise somewhere somehow and that she would figure out that I wasn't actually a pony because I forgot some minor detail and then she would run screaming like that other guy did and...

To my relief, all she did was throw me a bright smile; her sudden joy providing me with a quick snack that simultaneously had the side-effect of dispelling any nervousness I had.

I-I mean, uh, I wasn't really nervous to begin with. It was all a ploy to get to that mare's motherly side!

...Yeah, I'm going with that.

In any case, the maid returned to whatever duties she was performing, leaving my brother and I alone. Shining returned to his prancing, and I mentally high-fived myself at my first real deception through shapeshifting. I couldn't wait to tell Mom! She would be so proud of me, I was sure.

Unfortunately, judging by my senses, we were headed straight towards a part of the building that had a lot of traffic. But that was fine! I was emboldened by my success, and I was sure that everything from here on out would turn out to be alright.

With the next stranger that walked by—a pegasus maid—I decided to take it to the next level by waving and squealing happily (as babies tend to do when they feel like it) once she'd spot me. Unlike the previous pony, she actually stopped right in the middle of the corridor to keep gazing at me intently, like she wanted to pinch my cheeks and hold me and pet me and...

...pretty much enact everything I just named.

"(Oh, aren't you just the cutest thing!)" she cooed, having scooped me off of my alarmed brother's back and fluttering a few feet away from the ground, whereupon she rubbed her cheek against my own in a delicious nuzzle. The maid then proceeded to lovingly gaze upon my bewildered form, giving me some sort of 'baby talk' with puckered lips as she held me with one foreleg while waving the other in front of my face for me to interact with it, occasionally poking my soft pink belly with it.

"*Ahem*," my brother sharply interjected.

The pegasus abruptly stopped playing with me, having the decency to blush when she noticed that 'Shining Armor' was glaring at her. Quite strongly, I might add.

"Eheh, s-sorry," she nervously squeaked, carefully setting me down on my bro's back and picking Lola off the ground to return my fluffy companion to me. "(I'll just, um, go back to work... yes.)" She cleared her throat. "(Pardon me for the disruption, sir.)" The maid quickly bowed and hastily went on her way with flushed cheeks.

She still gave one last glance and smile while waving a foreleg at me right before she went out of sight, though.

I happily sighed, basking in the burst of love and joy that I had just received, making sure to send a large portion of it to my brother. Wouldn't be fair for me to hoard everything, after all. As usual, his wide smile quickly returned and the skipping across the hallways that I've become accustomed to continued.

You know, a part of me honestly disliked that I was so small. Being picked up and manhandled constantly... I felt kind of powerless.

At the same time, however, I kind of dreaded the day where I wouldn't be so tiny. Where I once towered over my friends, my now smaller stature gave me a different and admittedly interesting view on everything, besides the fact that this was a different world. I mean, back in that kitchen with Lara, Cadance and... Sparkles, the food looked absolutely huge.

Heck, everything looked huge; the plates, the furniture, the rooms, the world, the ponies...

How big would Mom be?

It really sucked that I couldn't enjoy 'regular' food as much as before, though. 'Wanted pancakes? Well here's a stack that's literally bigger than you are; enjoy!'

Except not...

Oh well. Love was still amazing. What I'd really miss once I'd grow older—and subsequently less adorable, maybe—would be how easy it is right now for me to get these ponies to love me. And how great it felt to be held despite the 'being picked up' thing. Perhaps I'd figure something out along the way, unless someone from my family already knew and would teach me about it.

While I was mentally rambling, my brother and I had walked past what I assumed was a butler who had managed to maintain his composure despite my cuteness (though he was sweating profusely) as well as another maid that 'Shining Armor' actually had to pry me away from.

I thought I also heard Cadance's name being mentioned in hushed whispers from a couple of passing ponies.

It was as we walked through another secluded section that I got worried again, because this time we were about to walk by a pair of guards. Trained guards that carried themselves as if they were part of the military more than anything else. If my earlier near-encounter with them taught me anything, it was that some ponies actually knew about changelings somehow, and they certainly didn't have nice feelings for us. What if the guards were trained to detect us? What if these two knew how to figure us out?

No, no, I had to stay calm and smile. If I fooled a bunch of other ponies, then I could fool these two, especially if it had taken almost no effort on my part to do the deed.

Unfortunately, things wouldn't be as simple, it seemed.

"(Whoa, look! It's the Captain!)" one of them exclaimed, losing his serious demeanor in favor of pointing at my brother.

"(Where've you been, sir? Nopony's seen or heard of you for days!)" the other added while they both approached.

Shiiit, they both knew 'Shining Armor', and I was pretty sure that the drugs hadn't worn off on him yet!

"(I wasn't feeling so well a few days ago,)" my brother solemnly informed them in a serious demeanor, in such a way that it gave me hopes about how well he could handle himself right then and there. "(I was afflicted with an illness that nopony had ever encountered before. Nothing seemed to be able to fix it, whether it was magic or medicine.)"

The guards looked absolutely enraptured by whatever my sibling was saying.

"(Things looked bleak, I felt weak, it was painful at first and ended with an unending thirst...)"

They leaned in closer when my brother remained silent for a few seconds in suspense.

"(...But then the doctor gave me happy pills, and everything was K.)"

The armored ponies stared, blinked, then looked at each other, and then back to my brother.

One of them narrowed his eyes in suspicion while the other decided to voice his confusion. "(Sooo... you were sick, went to some doctors, and they gave you a prescription? Are you, uh, sure you're allowed to be out and about right now? You don't really look like you're 'kay'—)"

He was interrupted when his unicorn companion suddenly shot a beam of magic straight at my brother, and I could do nothing but watch on in horror as the unknown magic pierced through the air to finally hit him right on the face.

Besides 'Shining Armor' looking a little dizzy and staggering backwards a bit, nothing else happened for a second.

Nor for a second second.

Not even for a second after the second second, when the pegasus guard turned to face his compatriot with a questioning look.

The unicorn breathed out a sigh of relief, relaxing his stance as my brother shook his head to clear it. "Phew, he's not a changeling."

...Wait, what?

"What the hay was that?" 'Shining Armor' inquired once his bout of dizziness passed.

The unicorn stood straighter, giving off a salute. "(Oh, uh, sorry about that, Captain! I guess I've been a little paranoid nowadays. It was just a spell that your sister told the guard about right after the invasion. It's supposed to tear off a changeling's disguise, though I modified it to also incapacitate those bugs. If it did remove anything, at least.)" He looked sheepish for a moment and turned away. "(Of course, I'm not even sure if it works anymore with the modification, but it hasn't hurt anypony yet, so there's no harm in trying, right?)"

The guard then stared at me, and I couldn't help but shrink back a bit from his scrutinizing gaze devoid of happy-feels.

"(So you told us what happened to you, but who's this little filly that you're carrying... around...?)" he asked before frowning. "(Wait a minute.)"

Wait a minute...

The unicorn slowly narrowed his eyes at me. "(Didn't Blueblood say something about a tiny changeling with a Daring Do doll?)"

These were the two guards that were brought up by the one pony I revealed myself to!

"(Oh yeah! He totally did say that,)" his fried replied, nodding sagely.

My smile had long-since faded away, the angry look from the unicorn and the curious stare of the pegasus forcing me to nervously try and hide behind Lola and my brother's neck, more so from how my insides felt like they were burning from the unicorn's disgusting rage.

The winged one's eyes finally widened. "Hey! That's a Daring Do doll!"

I felt my pupils shrink in realization.

That one pony had seen me with Lola! He probably told them about her!

They knew!

"CHANGELING!" the pegasus shouted, pointing while the unicorn aimed his already charged horn.

This time the beam was hurtling straight towards me, and I knew it wouldn't do anything even close to being remotely good with how angry the unicorn was.

I should've moved.

I should've dodged.

I should've done something, yet I hadn't budged. Panic had immediately taken hold of my mind, my body was frozen in fear, my short life flashed before my eyes, and before I knew it the laser had found its mark right between my eyes.

Pain.

Agonizing, excruciating pain surged through my entire body, making that time where I had intentionally smacked my own horn seem like a slap on the wrist in comparison. My skin felt like it was doused in oil and set on fire while simultaneously being ripped away from my very being in such a slow manner that the seconds stretched into minutes, and the minutes into an eternity.

I roared in anger. Or maybe I was screaming in agony. I couldn't tell; the torment was just too much for me to bear. It was all I could think about. It was all I could feel.

I wasn't sure how long I had been writhing around on the floor, but I eventually realized that the pain was nowhere near as bad as it recently was. And yet, while I no longer felt the hurting as much, the memory was still fresh and I could still hear someone screaming.

It took me another moment to realize that it was none other than myself.

My blurry vision was suddenly filled with white, along with two large light-blue orbs. Or maybe they were light-green.

"—wilight! Twilight! It's okay! Calm down, everything's alright! I'm here!"

I tried to scramble away from whatever that thing was—run escape find safe spot hide—but all my efforts were for naught since it promptly grabbed me into a strong embrace before I could put any distance between it and I.

"(Come on, sis! I took care of the bad guys! Talk to me! What's wrong?!)"

I faintly registered the concern emanating from very, very close, and it was only when I soon ran out of breath from screeching that I finally stopped and somewhat partially returned to lucidity, coughing from how raw my throat felt.

"...You okay?"

Warmth. Warmth. Whoever was holding me was slowly making the pain go away, making my tremors go away...

I hadn't even realized just how much I was shaking, let alone that I was to begin with.

"(We've got to go right now, I think others heard us.)" I felt weightless for a second and I tried to resist whatever was going on, but I couldn't even muster any strength whatsoever before I was set on top of something squishy. "(Those two were some of my best friends; I can't believe they attacked you! I don't even know if we can trust anypony right now.)"

I let the worried voice ramble on. It was at least nice to listen to, and it helped take my mind off of my sore body that I still felt occasionally twitch.

'Just don't think about the pain. Don't think about t-the unicorn that was angry, so very angry at me for no reason and who s-shot me with something that hurt so much, just like he did with— Oh, oh fuck, w-where's my brother?!'

"Sh-Shini— *Cough*!" I desperately tried to call, yet all I managed was a weak cry before my sore throat immediately protested against the action.

"Shh, shh, it's okay, I'm right here!" the voice soothingly said while something brushed against my face.

Opening my eyes and letting my vision refocus itself a bit over a few seconds, I realized that the squishy surface under me was in fact my brother's back, and that he was at that very moment staring back at me in concern.

I quickly closed my eyes. Things were too bright; I was getting a headache on top of my current headache and my... everything. But at least my brother was there with me. He was okay after whatever just happened. He would take care of me. He knew this place better than I did. He would find a way to get us out of here safely. Preferably without meeting any more p-ponies.

"(Alright, I know a secret passageway that will get us out of here quickly, and it shouldn't be too far. You just... rest, and don't worry about anything. I'll handle it. I'll protect you.)"

His concern, his love; he was slowly chasing the hurt away, but my shuddering wouldn't stop. I just couldn't forget what I had just felt. I couldn't forget the raw hate on that one guard's face, and how it made my insides feel as if someone had put some acid in there.

Why would that unicorn do that to me? Feel that way towards me? What had I ever done to him to possibly deserve any of th-that!?

I warily looked around once more. Things weren't spinning nearly as much as before and it was still hazy, but I could easily tell that my brother was moving at a hurried pace with a lot of care to not make the ride a bumpy one. We passed by a lot of things, not one of them being a living entity if my scrambled but semi-functional empathic senses were right.

Oh, f-fuck, what if we ran into someone else?! My muzzle wasn't pink anymore, I, I could tell that much. I had to quickly change back! I didn't want Shining Armor to get hit and experience what I did, I didn't want to be the one to get us caught and captured, I...

I grit my teeth and tried to mold my energy back into a disguise, but I couldn't manage to control or direct the magic I possessed in any way. Where it once flowed gracefully at my command, it now forcefully rammed chaotically around my insides without restraint, and I finally realized the cause of my lingering torment.

Whatever that unicorn had done messed up my magic pretty bad. It was running rampant across my whole being, overloading my senses wherever it went; something that might as well have been constant with the amount of magic I apparently had.

All I wanted was for the pain to go away. I wanted to, to go home. I... I wanted... w-wanted my Mom...

"(Should be right over here...)" Brother muttered.

Despite how difficult it was to see, I could barely make out that he was messing with a wall until I... I heard a muffled 'click'. Then he did something to... whatever that thing next to us was, and after that he stepped on some part of the ground before he fiddled with the wall again, more clicks sounding with every step.

I shut my eyes again due to another wave of unintentional shuddering, but by the time it passed and that I took notice of our new surroundings, I came upon the realization that we were in a sort of cave network.

One that seemed to be composed entirely of crystals wherever I looked, and it was an expansive cavern if the echoes from the clacks of my brother's footsteps were any indication.

Before I knew what was going on, I found myself being gently levitated off of my brother and I panicked because I was separated from safe warm family and I would be left alone and—

"(Hey, hey! It's okay... it's okay, shh, I'm here for you, sis. Shhh. We're safe for now. Nopony ever goes through these tunnels anymore, and very few know about them to begin with.)"

White fur surrounded me and... and I quickly calmed down when Shining Armor embraced me in a hug, stroking my hair while whispering comforting words.

His concern at my shaking and the brotherly love he was exuding helped me feel substantially better, the positive emotions having the side-effect of stabilizing my magic, like some sort of soothing medicine that washed through my body as soon as it was being applied.

The pain very slowly went away, as did my constant twitching.

We stayed like that for just about a few minutes, though with the relief I was experiencing during that time, it might as well have felt like a couple hours. Shining Armor held me and continued his ministrations the entire time, until I finally believed that I was... probably well enough to be able to try to walk on my own again.

I wouldn't tell him that, though. Being carried meant I would be closer to him, and being alone was the last thing I wanted. Without his calming presence and the comfort he was providing me with, I... I wasn't sure what I would be doing right now, nor did I want to know or even think about it.

I promptly sensed something trying to escape from me, however. A sort of... accumulation of emotion that had been piling up until now. I even felt tears beginning to form from the meager amount that had managed to leak out, while my body resumed shaking f-from the sorrow—

I quickly and forcefully pushed it back down, though it took significantly more effort than last time to do so. I didn't want to deal with that yet.

If ever.

While I stopped my mild shaking, 'Shining Armor' paused to give me a scrutinizing look with his worried, somewhat unfocused gaze.

"You feeling okay now, Twilight?"

...

Oh for the love of—

"I am not Twilight Sparkle!" I hissed, wincing afterwards at the effort it took and at his surprised expression.

He jerked his head back at my sudden display of anger, but I had honestly had just about enough with everything that happened recently. Being constantly reminded of the unicorn that had been studying me and my relatives was most definitely not helping.

Why the heck would Shining even refer to me as the pony that had been holding him captive?! In fact, every time he called me 'Twilight', he sent a little extra burst of love my way...

My eyes widened while his own seemed to somehow lose a bit of their green'ish hue.

<"...W-what? (I'm not mom,) I'm Twilight! Twilight Sparkle! (Your s-sister!)">

<"I AM Twilight Sparkle! And you're Shining Armor!">

The memories echoed as I remembered how she had been frustrated with him at the time, yelling her name at him.

Had Sparkles been trying to...?!

Shock "A-Artem—!?"

"How dare she try to brainwash you into caring for her!" I angrily chittered after throwing myself at his chest and wrapping my hooves around the base of his neck as best as I could, swearing vengeance upon Sparkles for whatever she had subjected my brother to.

No wonder his name felt wrong! It was probably one that Sparkles made him believe was his!

My frown turned into a confused one when I felt my sibling's shock devolve into panic and fear in equal measures, and he began to backpedal while I still clung to him, looking as if he was trying to get away from me.

Shit, this was worse than I thought!

I sent through our frazzled link a large burst of love in order to snap him out of it and remind him that we were in this together, that we were brothers, siblings, family, and that I would love him just as much as everyone else in the hive had loved me despite the fact that they hadn't even met me outside of the egg.

Had I even sent anything to him during that entire period where I suffered from the aftermath of that... that evil unicorn's spell?

He soon calmed down and relaxed, the 'levitation magic' that he had begun surrounding me with disappearing as I used my severely diminished stores of emotion-food to refill his own reserves... which were significantly larger than I remembered.

His eyes returned to their normal light-green tint and the link we shared was once again filled by the brotherly love we each felt for the other, at which point he nuzzled me while I happily returned the show of affection, seeing that he was as close to 'normal' as I knew him to be—

"I love you, Twilight."

...

I sighed.

"L-look, can... can we just go home, please? I just... I want to see Mom and meet everyone else..."

'She can probably help cure you, too,' I almost added.

Shining Armor's radiant smile returned and he began wandering deeper into the cave as I clung to the back of his neck, nestling myself comfortably, relieved as I was that we were done dealing with ponies for the foreseeable future.

For a moment or two, I stared in wonderment at the multitude of shiny crystals that formed the entirety of the cave's insides, watching with awe as light shows occurred left and right from my brother's charged horn reflecting light off of practically everywhere as we moved along.

But in the end, I closed my eyes, exhaling a sigh of contentment while I deeply buried my muzzle in Shining Armor's hair and strengthened my embrace on him.

Sure, the glittering scenery surrounding us certainly was entrancing and beautiful to look at, but it simply couldn't compare to the physical and emotional comfort that my brother provided, on top of the fact that we were finally going somewhere that most certainly wouldn't have evil unicorns shooting death beams at me for no reason whatsoever.

However, while I may have loved my brother just as much as the many siblings that had visited, fed and talked to me during my time in the egg, what I truly yearned was to be with my... with my new mother. To be held by her, to listen to her singing once more, to feel her loving embrace, to have her teach me how to fly, how to be a changeling, to have her show me the world while I'd happily ride on her back...

It was a nice thought.

Author's Note

I bet you know where this is going.

I'm not sure when the next chapter will be ready, but I am working on it. I'll keep posting status updates on my user page, and the chapter will also contain a link to all the deleted scenes for this chapter and the previous one.

[0] Prologue

I've been here for awhile now.

...Though I still don't really know where 'here' is.

Judging by the fact that I'm actually able to think, then—

"...e'll be ready when the time comes, Mother. Although..."

Yup, they're coming again.

And I still can't feel anything around me. It's like when you dream, where you simply don't feel anything when you interact with it, yet you know that you're moving around, touching objects and messing with the environment in general. In my case though, my 'moving around' seems severely limited and goes unnoticed most of the time.

"...are you sure this is necessary?" asked the same voice. Male, I think.

I have yet to know who my captors are, and yet...

Calling them captors feels wrong.

Ever since I've been stuck here, I've noticed a couple things that were odd, to say the least.

Somehow, I'm only 'awake' whenever there's activity near my general location. Eventually, I couldn't help but realize that I was feeling things that I normally wouldn't be feeling in situations like mine, where I am unable to do, see, or physically sense anything while being conscious. I mean, I'm technically blinded, gagged, immobilized, probably drugged, and soon to be tortured in what could be some kind of evil base for all I know!

Yet, why would I always feel a sense of belonging, love and care whenever anyone came nearby? The kind of love normally shared between a family, like the love a parent has for their child, or a sibling for their sister?

How did I even know what that felt like? I never had siblings before...

Guilt "While it is not something I would normally do," replied 'Mother', "I have my reasons." Anger

These people seemed to always come and go in pairs, and in high heels of some sort if the sounds their footsteps made were of any indication. The most likely scenario I've come up with for my predicament with the limited time that I've been able to stay awake over the past few days... or was it weeks?

Months?

How long has it even been? It certainly felt like a long time, but I had no way to tell.

Nevertheless, I hypothesized that I've been put in some sort of test tube in a lab, and my ~~captors~~ guardians are performing some sort of experiment on me. It would explain why I am barely able to 'move', why everything sounds muffled, my feeling of being enclosed, my strange ability to feel what others feel...

And my not needing to breathe.

That one worried me for a while. Though I guess it helped when I was pretending to be unconscious as I listened to whatever conversation happened to be nearby.

Love "Very well. You know what's best for all of us; we'd follow you to the ends of the world without hesitation if you asked," said the first voice.

Although, if I was being held captive, I certainly wasn't being treated like one. Never once during my stay have I felt pain, hunger, or anything, really. Not counting external emotions, of course.

Joy "I am always happy to hear that," answered 'Mother'.

Which brings me to my next point:

'Mother'.

The one who is almost always present when I am awake.

The one who is either seen as a religious figure by her people or has somehow birthed each of the hundreds of different voices I've heard during my stay here.

The one who loves every single one of her 'children'.

...The one who loves me.

...

It's overwhelming at times.

"..." Feeling their gazes, I somehow knew they stopped right next to me.

Happy "How soon?" the male voice asked.

When I had initially regained consciousness in this claustrophobic space, I was constantly awake, though I couldn't... think straight, like I was half-asleep. There wasn't all that much that I could remember from that time, but I had a vague recollection of hearing a multitude of ripping sounds a few 'days' after I initially regained consciousness. Was it days? I honestly had no way of knowing how much time had actually passed.

Regardless, my most vivid memory of that period of constant semi-awareness was when all of the 'presences' around me were taken away, while I remained confined right where I was.

I was confused. Why wasn't I taken, too?

Apparently I wasn't the only one perplexed at the time, because I could detect a feeling of uncertainty coming from a nearby external source; one that felt worried as they gently shook my container a bit.

I was carried to a different area and left alone shortly thereafter. It was there that I discovered my tendency to go unconscious without a presence nearby.

'Mother' visited quite often, however. Sometimes even going as far as singing lullabies, which were strangely soothing.

On certain occasions she was alone when she came to visit. She would stop near me and I'd get the feeling that I was being watched before I would begin to feel waves of love, of all things, sent directly towards me. These sessions would go on for what felt like a few minutes until she'd start to pant, due to the exhaustion caused by... doing whatever that was.

Strangely enough, I felt empowered and energized whenever emotions were directed towards me specifically. I've slowly been regaining strength, and at this rate I'm fairly certain I'll be able to move soon. Maybe even break out of this prison in the near future, if I'm lucky.

"I am not certain. I would estimate a week or two at most," Mother answered softly, initiating the process of 'giving' me love. The male speaker seemed to practically ooze happiness when he heard this.

Wait, are they talking about me? Am I going to be released soon? Would I be free, or forced to join them?

With everything that had happened during my stay, I'd...

I...

...The thought of letting them down in any way actually made me feel terrible. I couldn't just walk away and never look back on these people after they had sheltered and 'loved' me for however long I've been here. Especially after what had occurred that one night, right before any of this happened...

I really don't want to think about it.

'Mother' must have sensed my sadness.

"Do not fret, little one," she cooed. "You'll be out of there soon."

Clearly, she misunderstood the origin of my sorrow.

Worry "But... won't the Hatching be during the invasion?" the man asked.

Invasion?

"If by the time we finish preparing, the child has... not hatched," she began, her voice starting to sound strained, resignation "we will, have to... *huff* leave the egg here until... *huff*"

Egg...?

Angst "Mother!" exclaimed the male, sounding alarmed at her sudden fatigue as he closed the distance between the two of them if the clacks of hurried footsteps were of any indication.

"It's fine, Edge... I'm fine," she tiredly said as she stopped feeding me, reducing the flow to its usual passive trickle.

Edge? Kind of uncommon for a name.

"I never expected that I would have to spend so much on this one, yet I feel that it will all be worth it in the end." I could practically feel the smile on her face as she said that.

For a split second, I thought I felt a spike of doubt surface from her, but it came and went so fast that I might have imagined it.

"...Have you thought of a name?" Edge asked after a pause, his voice sounding a little more tired than it had a few seconds ago.

Wait a minute.

"I have," she replied, all traces of drowsiness from her speech gone shortly after he came next to her.

...Are they talking about me?

"It took a while to think of a name—"

Those presences back then... were those people in actual eggs?

"—that would be worthy of the position—" I subconsciously noted the voices were slowly fading into the distance.

Was I in an egg all this time?

The last thing I could remember before this entire thing happened was....

That night.

"—and I've settled on..."

Something terrible had happened; something I wanted to forget so badly that I buried it in the back in my mind. Yet I could still remember walking in the rain, a feeling of emptiness, of hopelessness... and a sudden flash of red light, right before being swallowed by the void. I could've sworn I heard some sort of demonic cackle too, right before impacting... something.

Did I die? What's going on here?!

"Artemis."

Darkness.

Author's Note

So it begins.

I decided to try my hand at writing a fic for once. I have a general idea of where I want this story to go, though I suffer from the perfectionist's curse. I feel compelled to double-triple check everything to make sure it all fits with the story. Makes writing the story take a 'little' longer, though how much time that means has yet to be defined :twilightsheepish:

[0] The bigger they are...

Feather Wind was a happy mare.

After all, it wasn't every day that anypony could help with the wedding of a Princess, to the Captain of the Royal Guard no less! The fact that nopony knew when the last royal wedding ever happened just made it that much more exciting!

If Princess Celestia or Princess Luna ever even got married, that is. The records were practically non-existent on that subject...

The light-gray coated pegasus maid with a sky-blue mane had worked slightly overtime in cleaning her designated hallway's various luxurious decorations and making sure everything was positioned perfectly. As such, she would have to hurry to get her lunch in the kitchens before what little remained of her break time expired, which meant she would have to fly and use the castle's obscure shortcuts that not many knew of in order to reach it in time.

A few twists and turns later, she had stopped to reorient herself... until she heard strange sounds coming from a door in a nearby corridor.

While the castle staff was instructed to avoid eavesdropping on guests as to avoid political incidents among other things, Feather Wind was among the few that did it anyway whenever she thought she could get away with it. With lunch well underway, nearly every hallway was devoid of ponies, somehow including most of the royal guards.

Looking left and right for anypony that might catch her off guard, she approached the closed door as quietly as possible, practically making no sound at all. Part of her special talent involved being as quiet and non-disruptive as possible, after all.

What she heard was... odd, to say the least. She could swear there was... chirping, hissing and chittering?

Except for the other voice which still spoke Equestrian, at least.

"Look, I know you can still relay messages to the hive while disguised. I don't care if it's easier without it, we can't risk to be found out now, not when the wedding is so close at hoof."

A series of hisses and chirps was heard, ending with a snort.

"*Sigh* Damn it Yoreel, you know what happens when someling says 'what could go wrong'. Fine, let's just get this over with before somepony catches us. Here's the report so far."

"Nearly every scout has taken a position. Only Viper has yet to take one mainly due to lack of important ponies to take over. Everypony is too excited about preparing the wedding that they're completely oblivious to both our presence and any slight change to normal behaviors."

"Princess Cadance is scheduled to begin her return trip from Baltimare in a couple days, early in the morning with an escort of exactly four guards. Their return trip will be by private train, therefore the odds of anypony else interfering are minimal. Recommend you bring Edge and Redstar at the very least as 'replacements'. The other two can be anyling."

"Captain Shining Armor has ordered an increase in guard patrols, effective tomorrow. Finding time to send any more messages will be harder, but we will manage as best we can regardless of circumstances."

Feather Wind was a worried mare.

"And finally... well..." she paused. "...We all miss you, Mother. We'll be eagerly waiting for your arrival."

"Alright, she got the message. 'Lunch' break should end soon, we should be back at our posts by then," said Yoreel as he trotted towards the door.

"Right, just don't forget—" And then she sensed it.

There was somepony at the door.

Yoreel was just about to open it.

And he didn't have his disguise back on yet.

"WAIT DON'T OPEN TH—"

Despite having an ear on the door, Feather hadn't heard the hoofsteps approaching it. She couldn't have known that changelings had near-silent footing when they wanted to. Hay, she didn't even know what a changeling was.

"WAIT DON'T OPEN THE DOOR!!"

Until now.

The door opened, and on the other side stood a type of pony she had never seen before. Instead of a fur coat, the... thing had what looked like ebony-colored chitinous skin. A single frill was where the mane should've been and its ears were slightly jagged. Its back was covered in a sort of blue shell, sporting tattered insect-like wings while a slightly curved horn was on display on the creature's forehead. Each of its legs had holes haphazardly going through them and twin fangs hung from its muzzle while sky-blue, pupil-less eyes stared back in shock.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

*Chirp?*

"AAAAAHHHHH!!~~"

They say a pegasus flew across the hallways of the castle at a speed that almost rivaled Rainbow Dash's 'official' record on that day. Nopony learned how or why however, therefore the story simply became a legend for the castle's staff.

Or, at the very least, the main topic of gossip for the day.

The glare which Yoreel was receiving was intense. So intense, you'd think Celestia had brought the sun down upon you while you made your utterly futile attempt at finding a shadow to cower in.

The pretty pegasus maid that had been looking straight at his naked form (for a changeling) was there one moment, but after a mere blink, the only thing he could see was a quickly dispersing cloud in the shape of said pegasus. Gone was any trace of her in the hallway, replaced by the glaring face of his sister once he turned around.

"What could go wrong, he said. I sleep in the buff every day in the castle and never get caught, he said. Well WHAT DO YOU SAY NOW!?"

"...Mommy?" he whimpered.

Feather Wind had managed to reach her quarters and rapidly scribbled a note mentioning some sort of attack being prepared against both Princess Cadance and Canterlot. She had thought about alerting the Captain herself, but that would require her to reveal how she got the information, something that may cost her job. Thus the note would remain anonymous.

She had barely left her room and started flying towards the guard's barracks when she was promptly tackled to the ground, the note slowly drifting towards the ground.

"Heh, guess Viper gets her job after all..." her aggressor chuckled before she quickly lost consciousness to a sleep spell.

The note was left there on the floor, unnoticed until the very next day.

==================================

A couple days passed.

...At least I think it's been a couple days. Hard to tell the time when you can't even open your eyes and stay conscious without someone nearby.

Click clack click clack - And here comes today's guest. Seems to be dragging something along, too. Judging by the link I'm feeling it's—

Joy "Hey Artemis!" Edge happily greeted.

Somehow, they managed to give me the exact same name I had as a human.

...Yeah... I figured I wasn't human anymore...

Humans aren't birthed from eggs that grow outside the mother's womb.

Humans can't sense the emotions of others as accurately as this.

Humans don't 'eat' said emotions.

Humans don't walk on all fours.

...Usually.

"Sorry that Mom can't come and feed you herself," began Edge with an apologetic tone. "The wedding's gonna happen real soon and everything has to be perfect if she wants to pull it off. It'll be such a buffet!"

Edge had been one of the frequent ones to feed me ever since I had my revelation. I totally did not have a breakdown since then. Nope. Took it like a man. Absolutely didn't flail my limbs around breaking everything in sight while shouting profanities left and right about my lost humanity.

Not being able to move or talk played quite a large part in that though.

After all the time I've had to bury my past feelings however, handling this situation... wasn't as bad as I'd thought it'd be. I mean, I had already lost everything beforehand...

At least now I had a family again.

...A VERY extended family.

Mirth "Oh, and I brought extra food this time! Still not as much as Mom would be able to give you though, I think," he chirped/chittered. Literally.

Between the period where I had my epiphany and now, a couple extra things developed with my body, though I was too busy internally screaming to notice at the time. Edge was somewhat worried about my emotional outbursts.

For one, my hearing improved to the point that I realized that whenever my 'family' talked, it came out as a series of clicks, screeches, hisses, chirps, chitters and croons. While I interpreted it as English, there was more to it than that. It's like a deeper understanding of the subtle changes in the undertones and overtones of each sound. Though, maybe it wasn't me hearing it as English as much as each sound had some sort of... instinctual meaning.

Also, my empathy improved somewhat, in that I could feel and form... links, I guess one could say, with others. These links were actually already there before; it's how we transferred 'emotions' between ourselves apparently.

From what Edge told me once I subconsciously formed my part of the link with him (he was overjoyed when it happened), it's what allows the recipient to feel what the host feels, though strong emotions can be felt up to a certain extent regardless of the bond being present or not. Turns out that us... changelings I think I heard him say... are able to connect with each other once we're within a certain range. Until now, it had always been one-way links with me, as in I could feel the emotions of others, but they couldn't do so with me yet, whereas now it was a two-way thing.

Every other species actually forms a similar link with anyone nearby, though not quite the same as ours. Changelings were the only ones able to interact with them, as it was how we absorbed emotions. We could attempt to link with non-changelings, but nothing would really happen.

Kind of brought the issue of food to mind. If we ate emotions, couldn't we just feed off each other?

"Hmm, I guess I should teach you about how food works for us today, while you eat," said my... brother, I guess? Still getting used to this whole thing.

'...Huh, wonder if we can read minds.'

"While we do still eat like all the other species of Equus, physical food is less important for us. Most of it is converted into a special gel we can use as an adhesive or to cocoon food for storage while very little of it is actually used for nutrients in our body. Emotions are literally energy for us, the 'glue' that holds us together. While we do technically produce our own 'emotion energy', we consume it faster than it's being made; which is why we need to find external sources of love."

"Speaking of our gel, if we end up putting any creature in a cocoon of it, the chemicals within would lull it to sleep while providing nutrients for the body. The gel is made out of the physical food we ate, after all. Then, all we need to do is manipulate their sleep a little bit, give them the perfect dream, usually involving loved ones or family and the like. We can just feed off the love they feel then, though you have to be careful not to drain too much since every creature also needs that energy to some extent. Draining too much can put them into a coma, and none of us want that."

"Since we're naturally masters of shapeshifting, we usually tend to become whatever we cocoon to replace their daily life for some time. They end up feeding our hive while we get fed by their loved ones as we take their place. They get a very lovely and long-lasting dream and, once the nutrients in the cocoon start to expire, we simply give them memories of what they missed and put them back in place. No one notices anything, everyone is happy."

'...Shapeshifting? I... What? How the heck does that work!? You can't be serious—'

"Whew, I think that's all these two can safely give for now," said Edge while I felt the flow of love diminish substantially from him.

He was right, by the way. That was nothing compared to what... Mom... gives.

"Oh, almost forgot, meat is an exception to the rule. It's actually the only way for us to store long-term energy in case we run out of love. Helps when we're out there with the carnivorous species, since they tend to be harder to gain love from than the herbivores due to their predatory nature."

"But enough about all this teaching stuff, how about I tell you of some more of my adventures?" he asked, to which we each felt the other perk up.

This was the part I usually liked the most about his visits. While learning more about my new species was important and interesting, I felt some sort of childlike joy at being told these stories; most of which were exaggerated I feel, but nonetheless entertaining as heck.

Last time, he had told me how he was sent to gather information from the griffin nation's military headquarters, something done every month or so to make sure our existence is a kept secret, among other things. It resulted with him finding plans to invade Equestria, the land we currently reside in, which would've been bad for everyone. Couldn't get as much love when our food source was under threat of war, after all. Their Emperor wasn't even aware that his generals were in the process of planning that. It ended up with an elaborate plan, which consisted of Mom herself going out to lure Cerberus, the three-headed demon dog guardian of Tartarus itself, onto one of their main cities while Edge and a couple other siblings went sneaking about the palace, placing hints and forged documents blaming certain troublesome individuals. Mainly the warmongers who wanted Equestria under griffin control. It went without saying, when they were found out, the people wanted retribution. Which they got. Of course the plans for Equestria were never discovered by their investigators. As far as the Griffin populace was concerned, those Commanders and Generals wanted to start a civil war in an effort to overthrow the throne for themselves and were unafraid to use demons for it.

Apparently Celestia also made an appearance to calm the rampaging beast and return it to its post, which got her extra brownie points with their empire. Needless to say, it boosted the relations between both nations and peace reigned once more.

Honestly, it was kind of hard to believe and I sincerely doubted any of that happened. Still made a great story though.

"This one started in a town named Ponyville..." he began with a theatrical voice.

'Do all the places here have names based on horse puns? I've heard about the Neighagra falls, Fillydelphia and Los Pegasus, and now Ponyville? I mean I know that the dominant species in this part of the world are ponies but... seriously. Next he's gonna name a pun on Camelot or something.'

"We had learned that the Princess's personal student was to be moved to said town by order of Celestia herself, for reasons unknown to us, by our spies in Canterlot."

If I could narrow my eyes right now, they would be narrowly narrowed at how ridiculous the puns were getting.

"Now, you have to understand that back then, our race was relatively young, and our numbers minimal compared to now. Thus, our most experienced brothers and sisters were already occupied with important missions and the number of candidates able to monitor the student's activities were very scarce. Despite being merely a year old, I was chosen for the task, along with our sister Redstar. She's one of the relay changelings by the way."

'Woah, waitwaitwait, bro, you never told me there's different types of changeli—'

"I had barely managed to arrive and replace a certain somepony that went by the name 'Lyra Heartstrings' in time to see a chariot descend from the sky, containing none other than the Princess's student, Twilight Sparkle, and her pet slave iguana named Spike. They say he's actually a baby dragon, but I personally find that ridiculous."

"After trailing them without being noticed much, it appeared that they were in town merely to make sure all the preparations for the annual Summer Sun Celebration would be taken care of, but I refused to believe it was merely for that. Why would the Princess send her student on such an easy task nearly anypony could do? I stopped stalking Twilight to reconvene with my partner about the Princess's current whereabouts and activities. To this day, I'm still not sure I understood the reply. Redstar, whom had stayed stationed at the edge of the Everfree forest, relayed from the spies at the castle that Celestia had apparently closed day court early to lock herself in her room. The ponies assumed she was getting ready for the celebration, however if one were to listen carefully, you could hear moans of delight from her room. Further investigation of anomalous happenings in the fortress revealed that the kitchens were emptied of all their sugary treats that day... not sure why we got told that to be honest. She refused to leave her personal quarters until 'The time was right' and 'The Pastry Kingdom surrendered', whatever that meant."

"I was about to head back into Ponyville when I was all but dragged into the town library by this pink demon! A short trip that should've taken a few minutes of galloping was literally done in the blink of an eye! Looking around, I saw the townsponies looking as if nothing had happened, even the ones that just got 'teleported' in, as if this was an everyday occurrence. There were streamers and confetti set up everywhere, as well as tables with pony food on it. It turned out to be a surprise party for Twilight Sparkle, and the only notable thing that happened then was when the pink pony, whom I learned later was named 'Pinkamena Diane Pie', engaged into a staring contest with me out of nowhere. I was certain she knew something, the way she was gazing into my eyes as if boring a hole through my soul, smiling without end. Then and there, I felt that behind the blue orbs of her eyes was an ancient, evil eldritch being, hiding, waiting for the smallest error on my part to feast on my soul— Nope, she was just wondering why I, 'Lyra Heartstrings', didn't start talking about something called... hands, I think."

"Don't worry," she had said. "Your secret is safe with me!" she happily exclaimed right before bouncing away towards other ponies, her smile unwavering.

"Never have I ever felt as scared as then."

He wasn't kidding, I could feel his fear right now. If I could shiver, I would shiver.

"Regardless, that night was when the 'Nightmare Moon incident' began, though that'll be a story for another time. I still had to discover the true agenda of Miss Sparkle, thus when she suddenly decided to waltz into the Everfree Forest along with five other mares, I got suspicious and silently trailed behind them from afar without any disguise, since I would blend in easier due to the night. They had just saved themselves from the crumbling edge of a cliff and I was about to catch up to them when Redstar came and informed me my part of the mission was over.

Since Mom learned of Nightmare Moon's return, she decided to investigate the matter herself and was on her way right then and there. I was to report what I learned during the day and return to the hive while Redstar would lead Mother to wherever the six mares were headed to, which ended up being the abandoned Castle of the Two Royal Pony Sisters."

"I hurriedly told of my meager findings and observations so that my sister could be on her way while the trail was still fresh, yet sometime during my review I could hear ferocious roars coming from not too far away, in the direction the mares had gone. My task complete a moment later, I headed further into the forest since our hive was on the other side, when all of a sudden a wild manticore appeared!"

'Manticores are real here...!?'

"The fight that ensued was actually what separated me from the other young ones among our family. A grueling battle where both sides fought and bled and where I survived against what is considered one of the strongest creatures of the Everfree! I had eventually returned to the hive, bleeding from a few cracks on my head's chitin, coated in the monster's saliva, as I had been that close to death! To survive such an encounter was almost unheard of and I was given more and more missions, given more extensive training sessions, until I got shaped into the infiltrator that I now am."

I could feel his pride as he said that, but also something else...

"At least..." he nervously began. "...Well, Artemis, that's the official story about the manticore, and don't ever tell the others, but what really happened was..."

~~~~~~~~~Wavy flashback effect~~~~~~~~~

I had just finished retelling about all the notable observations I had made during my short stay in Ponyville to Redstar, which unfortunately wasn't much. The town was so peaceful, I couldn't imagine anything of importance happening in it for the following decades. As such, I was feeling a bit down.

I wanted to help the hive! Climb the ranks! Go on super sneaky stealth missions!...

Either way, if Mom herself was coming here for this, it was probably out of my league. If only the Everfree didn't have this strange heaviness in the air, I could actually fly over it and make the trip back so much faster.

I suddenly heard the sound of rapid thumps, and turned around to see... to see....

Oh dear Mother...

-----------------

That pony nice. Help with paw. But still hungry... find food at other places...

Fly up cliff, weird smell on dirt... food? Follow trail...

Found pony, but not pony? Not pay attention, don't know I here. Maybe other ponies no mind me eat this one.

He turn, see me leap at him, not matter, head in my mout—

Ack! Head is hard! But hear cracki—

ACK! FIRE! GREEN fire....

...

Oh mommy...

-----------------

OHSWEETMOTHERI'MSTILLALIVE.
IT'SJUSTLOOKINGATMEANDFEELINGEXTREMEGUILTANDIDON'TKNOWWHY.

MAYBE IF I DON'T MOVE IT WON'T SEE ME AND LEAVE ME BE. I MEAN SPIDERS DO THAT ALL THE TIME SO IT MUST WORK.

...

...

Wait why is he feeling guilty? Where was that when he lunged at meeeoooOOH SWEET NON-EXISTENT FATHER PLEASE DON'T EAT M—

-----------------

Pony scared! No want her scared! I hurt pony! No want her hurt!

She not moving... she looking at me... head bleeding a lot... NO!

Must lick! Mommy show it help heal when bad cut happen. Will heal Pony! And she be happy with me again! Yes!

-----------------

Brain.exe has stopped working.

Rebooting...

...

A fatal error has occu—

Reboot complete.

Wha-? The hay is a brain...exe... why is there a manticore hugging and licking my face? They would never..do....this...kind...of......thing.........

...

...

ARGH A MANTICORE RUN AWAY~~~

-----------------

As the changeling-in-disguise ran for his dear life and left Simba the Manticore behind in the clearing, nopony was there to witness the lone tear that ran across his muzzle as his only pony friend (or so he thought) abandoned him. At that moment in time, the magic of Equestria decided to bypass the everfree's resistance to its harmony and compel Simba to—

~~Lonelyyyyy~~

~~I'm mister lonelyyyyy~~......

—sing a song out of freaking nowhere.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...Seriously, please don't ever tell anyling about it. You're the only one who knows. Pleasepleaseplease keep it a secret!" desperately pleaded Edge, hugging my egg if the shaking was any indication.

'I don't even... you know what, sure, whatever. I preferred the first version of your encounter anyway,' I mentally sighed, unknowingly sending feelings that could be attributed to acceptance through our link.

Joy "Oh, thank you thankyouthankyou! You're the best! Keep the love though, you need it more than I do right now," said edge, sending back whatever I sent him.

The feels, man. They felt good.

"Anyway, by the time I made it back to the hive, I had accumulated even more cuts from all of the thorny bushes I ran through in my... err... completely justified panic. Normally they wouldn't even pierce our chitin, but... well, I was disguised as a regular, squishy pony, though I hadn't noticed at the time. I was told I had a soft yellow coat with light-pink hair. Kind of like one of the mares whom was accompanying my target that night. Hmmm...."

'Alright, so manticores are apparently REALLY a thing here, as well as griffins, pegasi, unicorns and alicorns. They all have sapience also. Geez, are there any more sapient species out there?'

"On that note, try to avoid meeting any diamond dogs. They're one of the very few bipedal species of Equus, they replaced all of their love with greed and, worst of all, don't have any dentists in their society. They're also really into 'enslaving-other-species-to-do-our-work-at-an-abysmally-slower-rate-than-we-do' nowadays."

'...Really? What's next? Dragons, Hydras and Cockatrices? Pfffbt.'

"Also, speaking of the Everfree, be extra careful of Dragons, Hydras and Cockatrices. They all have nests in there strewn about randomly, though last I heard the Hydras preferred the area around Froggy Bottom Bogg."

'...'

"..."

'...'

"..."

'Can you read minds!?'

"..."

'...'

"Sometimes, I really wish I could read minds, you know? Seems like something that we could really use and make us unbelievably overpowered," randomly muttered Edge.

If my eye could twitch right now, it would be twitching.

*Twitch*

...Huh, my eye actually Twitched.

Then I felt someone... someling I mean, approaching. Oh hey, it's—

"Mom! Err... I mean... Mother!" chirped Edge.

I thought I sensed something else about Mom. If I strained and tried hard enough, I could actually feel all the links she had with other changelings. And oh boy, were there a lot of them. I got a sort of headache trying to process that.

Amused "Hmhm, you can't do that yet, my little Artemis," chuckled Mom at my attempt to feel every single link at once.

'Yet? So am I going to be one of those 'relay' changelings?'

Sorrow "Unfortunately, we have to start the first phase of the invasion immediately. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza will be beginning her return trip to Canterlot two days from now; another opportunity like this one to take her place without any complications will be unlikely to come by again. I will be pulling everyling across all of Equus to an outpost near Canterlot," my new Mom explained.

Confused "But I thought the pulling of everyling was during phase two?" asked Edge.

Frustrated "Number 1337," My Mother simply replied.

Exasperated "Yoreel asked 'what could go wrong' again?" groaned Edge.

"I am afraid so."

'Why does the name 'Yoreel' seem so familiar... Ohh. Heh, appropriate,' I mentally chuckled.

Anger "How can you be joyful at a time like this, young one!? We are about to begin the invasion, which means we will have to leave you behind at the hive alone since we can no longer safely move you and everyling is needed for this!" my Mom near-shouted at me before going back to feeling sad.

'.......Oh.'

Needless to say, I didn't feel so happy anymore.

[X] Scrambled (Slightly late non-canon Easter special)

In case you don't know what non-canon means, it means that nothing in this chapter will be part of the actual story itself.

Twilight awoke early.

Very early, if the night sky that she could still see from her bed through the window was any indication.

Just as planned.

Recently, she had been closely monitoring the resident changeling queen's daily routines in the hopes of figuring out one pattern in particular. While the process had taken quite a few more weeks than she would have liked, she knew that something like this would require a large amount of patience and subtlety. However, Twilight finally believed to have found what she had been looking for and, based on her observations...

Today would be the day Artemis would lay another clutch of eggs.

The mere thought of being the first pony ever to document such an event gave just enough energy to the lavender unicorn to allow her to get up at such an ungodly hour. Letting out a cute yawn, she let go of the foal-sized body next to her and stretched herself in preparation of whatever would occur in the following hours, finally opening her eyes fully as she threw away the bed covers and stood up from her bed.

Only to greet a pair of red eyes that were scant inches away from her own.

"Hello!"

"AAHHH!" Twilight yelped, scrambling to her hooves. "WHO ARE YOU!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROO—Mmph!"

"Whoa, calm down!" the intruder—whom Twilight quickly realized was a changeling—shushed her after shoving a chitinous hoof in her mouth. "Didn't your mother ever teach you to be quiet at night? You might surprise somepony!"

One of Twilight's eyes twitched.

She spat the hoof away and shook her head, taking a deep breath to both calm herself down and properly assess the situation.

Exhaling, she simultaneously performed the motions that Cadance had taught her to relax. "Okay... okay," she said more to herself than anypony, tiredly staring at the changeling right afterwards. "Just... could you please tell me why are you in my home in the middle of the night?" she asked almost pleadingly.

The changeling perked up. "Mom asked us to keep a close eye on you!"

Twilight tilted her head. "Us?" She turned to look around...

...and spotted a tiny changeling that was pouting at her from the other side of her bed.

"Hi!" yet another voice cheerfully greeted from the ceiling.

Twilight didn't even bother to look up, groaning and holding a hoof to her forehead. Of course Artemis would know of her plans and take extra precautions to keep her away from wherever she would be laying the eggs.

'No matter!' the unicorn thought, straightening her posture in determination. 'I will figure out a way to lose these three, and then I'll have a few hours all to myself to find out where Artemis is hiding!'

She faced the first changeling, frowning from a stray thought. "How long have the three of you been here, anyway?"

"Ever since you went to bed."

Twilight blinked. "You... you've all been staring at me while I slept this entire time?!"

"Yup!"

She took a step back while wrinkling her muzzle. "...Don't you think that's creepy? Haven't you ever heard of privacy?"

The changeling gave her a genuinely confused look. "Huh? Why would that be creepy?"

"I mean, why would you ever not want someling to stand guard and watch over you while you rest?" the one on the ceiling said.

They all suddenly looked sad, as if a thought simultaneously went through each of them.

"Do you not like us?"

Twilight's eyes widened as she waved a foreleg in a placating gesture. "No, no, that's not it! I meant that... ugh," she groaned again, taking a deep breath.

It was way too early to be giving lectures.

"I'm sure that you all find comfort in the presence of other nearby siblings whenever you go to sleep," Twilight began, "But the same thing can't be said for us ponies when we have what would essentially be 'strangers' enter our bedrooms without our knowing. In fact, most of us would rather go to sleep in private, if not near members from our immediate families, or with our special someponies. There are exceptions, such as when sleepovers occur—"

"Is this what Mother meant when she warned us about Sparkles liking to talk a lot sometimes?" the changeling on the ceiling stage-whispered to the largest of the three.

Twilight took another deep breath to calm herself at being unwittingly interrupted.

"I think so," was the equally whispered reply before they all returned to giving the unicorn their full attention.

Said pony sighed. "Never mind," she tiredly muttered as she trotted towards the library's kitchen with her head held low, both from a lack of energy and from exasperation.

The three 'visitors' also followed, to her dismay.

"Are you sure you don't like it when someling sleeps nearby?" the oldest changeling asked while Twilight rummaged through her food supplies, searching for anything that would make her more awake. "You sure were clingy with Mirage while you slept."

Twilight stuck her head out of a cupboard to face him. "Huh? Who?" She then registered what he claimed she did. "...What?!"

The unicorn yelped when a small weight suddenly landed on her back, and she afterwards spotted the little nymph in question as the miniature changeling moved to hug her neck, settling herself comfortably upon it.

"Warm!" happily chirped the tiny one she assumed was called 'Mirage'.

"We hope that it's okay with you that we brought her along," the 'lead' changeling said while Mirage nuzzled Twilight. "She's been overfed a little bit, and Mom thought that taking her out of the hive for some time would help her spend all of that excess energy."

"...She seems pretty calm to me," Twilight eventually stated with a quizzical stare when the nymph gave a long, tired yawn.

"You should've seen her before she played with those games you have down in the basement."

"Oh. Okay." Twilight absently nodded, pouring herself some coffee that she quickly warmed up with her magic, taking a sip of it.

Ah, she already felt much more awake!

She took another calm sip—

"PFFFTT!!!"

Only to spit-take when she realized what he had said, galloping to the door that led to the basement and slamming it open.

All of her compiled notes on changelings, all of her expensive machinery imported from Canterlot's institute of magical research, all of the changeling samples contained within the earthen walls beneath the library's soil...

All of it was on fire.

Twilight stared at the blazing inferno for a moment as the results of months of research slowly burned away into nonexistence, eventually closing the door and taking a deep breath.

She exhaled.

The unicorn then swiveled her head around to stare at the tiny changeling that was still lounging on her back, doing her best to keep her expression neutral.

The nymph was happily looking at her with a wide smile and sparkling eyes.

...

Twilight faced forward, closed her eyes and took yet another deep breath.

She swore that she could still see the fires flickering in those adorable red orbs.

A strand of her mane stuck out, and she briefly giggled as she calmly trotted back to the kitchen.

"Erm... are you alright?"

"It's okay, Twilight. You wrote down those notes once, you can do it again!" Twilight cheerfully muttered to herself with a totally normal grin while she poured more coffee into a much, much larger mug.

"I mean, you're sort of laughing, which I'm pretty sure I was told was a good thing..."

"Can probably ask Princess Celestia for replacements to everything else," the unicorn continued with another giggle, ignoring her present company as she added extra extra sugar to the drink. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind paying a few thousand bits for equipment that was destroyed by her grand-niece!"

"...and you're smiling kind of weird right now, but it's still a smile, which is something that normally happens when you're happy..."

"Besides, look on the bright side! Now I know that the fireproof and anti-smoke wards in the basement work!" Twilight merrily charged her horn and began heating her beverage. "Now I know to fireproof all of my research in case anyone suddenly decides to touch delicate and expensive machinery hidden away in my locked basement while I sleep, without knowing what any of it does!"

"...I also don't know what that constant eye twitching you have going on means, or if your hair is supposed to look like that, but what I'm really trying to say is—"

"And it's so early that the moon is still up in the sky! What else could possibly...! Ugh," Twilight groaned, downing the entire enormous mug of steaming coffee in one go. "...And now I burned myself so much that I can't feel my tongue. Or my mouth. Huh."

"—you taste funny," the changeling finished.

Twilight whipped around to face him with the happiest grin she could muster.

"So! I have one question for you, mister...?"

The changeling pouted. "How can you not remember? It's me, Haze! I talk to you almost every day!" He hmm'ed in thought. "Well, not in my base form, I guess..."

"You all practically look the same. Anyway—"

"That's racist."

"—Could you tell me where Artemis is? I need her help with a project."

Haze shuffled nervously. "Wellll..." he trailed off. "Mother is kind of busy, or rather will be really busy soon, so I don't think she could do much for you today. And for the rest of the week, in fact." He perked up. "But we could help! What do you need?"

Twilight's expression faltered for a moment. "B-but it won't take long at all! I just want to... check something with her!"

Haze shook his head. "Sorry, but—"

"We're getting a whole bunch of new sibli—gnmph!"

"—Mother is going to be very busy," Haze hastily reaffirmed after shoving his hoof into the overly cheerful changeling's mouth, giving Twilight a smile that was just a tad too wide.

In response, her eyes twitched.

...And she quickly teleported herself outside, right in front of Sugarcube Corner.

It was obvious that she would not be getting any information on Artemis' whereabouts from those two, and Mirage was... well, probably too young to even understand what she would be asking.

She didn't have a single moment to lose.

Thus, Twilight decided to start with her initial plans of getting into contact with those who constantly interacted with the Queen, in the hopes that they would be able to tell her about anything they'd know of the changeling hive's location.

Starting with Fluttershy.

The shy mare often did foalsitting jobs for Artemis every now and then, and Twilight was almost certain that the pegasus contributed one way or another in helping the Queen whenever she laid her eggs. And, even if Fluttershy didn't have any information for her, perhaps she could still help her search for Artemis!

After all, the element of kindness always enjoyed seeing those adorable little nymphs scurrying about.

Before the lavender unicorn could even take a single step towards Fluttershy's cottage under the cover of the night, however...

"Mmmhh... Luv... mommy..."

Twilight froze when something lovingly rubbed against her neck.

After a quick inspection of her back, she unfortunately realized that she had accidentally teleported Mirage along with her.

The unicorn groaned. She couldn't just leave the little one alone outside in the middle of the night, and she didn't want to lose any more time. She had no clue when Artemis would lay her eggs, besides that it would be happening on that day.

The miniature changeling appeared to be deeply asleep, at least.

Still, there was no time to lose, therefore Twilight begrudgingly carried Mirage along as she made her way to Fluttershy's, the nymph mumbling and letting out a few content chirps in her sleep as she clung to the unicorn.

As the seconds ticked by, however, Twilight felt the effects of the coffee she had taken become more and more prominent. Her walk hurried into a trot, and her trot promptly evolved into a gallop from how much energy she felt she had, which was only accentuated by how excited she was about the impending discovery and documenting she would be doing today—

"Um... Twilight? I don't mean to pry, but, did you... get any sleep at all?"

Twilight turned around to see just the pony she was looking for, approaching from an adjacent dirt road.

"Yup yup! Of course I did! Woke up full of energy and drank enough caffeine and sugar in one go to last me the whole week!" She set both of her forelegs on the pegasus' shoulders. "But that is not important right now because I have questions and you, Fluttershy, have answers!"

"Oh, um... okay?" Fluttershy shrank back a bit from Twilight's ~~crazed~~ normal expression.

"Where is Queen?"

"Artemis?"

"Yes!"

"Umm... she's at her hive, I think, but I don't think now would be a good time to go see her—"

"Actually this is the perfect time!"

"Twilight, you don't understand—!"

"No, Fluttershy, you don't understand!" Twilight affirmed while shaking the Pegasus like a doll. "Today is the day Artemis will lay eggs!"

"Exactly! That is why you shouldn't—"

"This is the perfect opportunity to watch the whole process and take notes on everything! Think of all the papers I could fill!"

"No, Twilight! Think of the children—"

"Changeling eggs! Can you imagine what they'd look like?"

"Oh, I'd love to see some, but—"

"Besides A.K. Yearling, nopony has ever observed one, and she refuses to comment on the subject!"

"Nopony has ever seen one because Artemis—"

"For too long has Artemis kept secrets from us, but that ends today!"

"Twilight, please listen! If you—"

"Where's hive!?" Twilight finally asked with another shake.

"I don't even—"

"HEY! IT'S THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! PONIES ARE TRYING TO SLEEP HERE!" a tired pony angrily exclaimed from a nearby house.

"Frankly, I don't know how anypony could sleep at a time like this!" Twilight immediately shouted back.

Fluttershy looked up at the moon hanging right in the middle of the sky.

Houses began to light up around them from the commotion in the meantime, causing more and more ponies to slam their windows open in irritation at the unwelcome wake up call.

"Why the hay is everypony shouting!?"

"You woke me up from the perfect dream!!" another pony wailed.

"The horror!"

"I had asked for the Queen's hoof in marriage! She said yes, and she was about to—!"

"THE HORROR!"

One pony finally noticed Twilight in the middle of the street, as well as her disheveled state.

Lyra sighed and inhaled deeply. "NEVER MIND EVERYPONY! TWILIGHT'S JUST HAVING ANOTHER ONE OF HER EPISODES!" she bellowed out, calmly going back to sleep afterwards.

Things went quiet for a moment, before windows started closing and lights turned off with various mutters of "oh, okay," as every pony returned to sleep.

Twilight snapped her attention back on Fluttershy, whom was looking at the snoozing changeling on the unicorn's back.

"You're lucky that this nymph inherited Artemis' sleeping habits," the pegasus told Twilight. "If you wake them from their sleep too fast, they tend to bite the first thing they see."

Twilight's eyes twitched on realizing she had a living tranquilizer primed on her neck.

"I'm assuming you're talking from experience?"

"Oh no, I would never wake a foal from their nap! I'd much rather watch them sleep and try to guess what kind of cute dreams they're having." Fluttershy sighed. "Angel bunny, however... You'd think that he would learn from Queen Artemis, back when she was just a nymph and was as small as he is, but..."

Fluttershy's eyes gained a curious look to them. "Why are you carrying this adorable little ball of cuteness, anyway?" she asked, pawing at the ground. "If you don't mind telling me, that is."

An idea formed in the unicorn's head.

"I was bringing Mirage back to her Mom!" Twilight proclaimed with a wide grin. "That was why I actually wanted to go see Artemis! Not because of the eggs. That would be laid today. That I've asked Artemis for permission to see every day for the last five months and twelve days. Totally not important compared to bringing Mirage back home. Yep!"

Fluttershy's eyes widened. "Oh my, we can't just keep the little one away from her Mother!" she exclaimed significantly louder than usual. "Did you just find her all by herself?!"

"Uhh, y-yeah, sure, let's go with that—where's the hive?"

The demure pegasus shuffled nervously. "I... I still think we should wait a day or two first, Twilight. Don't worry, I can take care of the nymph in the meantime. Mirage, was it?"

"So you do know where it is!?" Twilight closed in on Fluttershy with an overexcited grin.

Fluttershy slowly backpedalled, though Twilight advanced to maintain the distance. "Um, yes, I think? I mean, I'm not sure, but—"

"Please! I want— no, I need to know where it is!"

Fluttershy realized that there was no getting out of this now that Twilight knew that she knew where the hive was. "Alright, fine! I'll tell you!" She conceded. "But only because I know you're friends with her, and because I trust you to not do anything... too crazy."

Twilight answered with an even wider grin and a twitch of her eyes.

The pegasus glanced around at the empty streets to make extra sure that they were alone, whispering the location to Twilight. "There's a tunnel next to the hollowed-out tree near my cottage. It's hidden by an illusion of a rock with strange markings on it, but the entrance only opens if there's a changeling nearby..."

Twilight was suddenly happy that she had brought Mirage along, mentally reviewing the landscape surrounding Fluttershy's home to try and figure out where the hive's supposed entrance would be located.

"But Twilight, I really meant it when I said that you shouldn't look for her today—"

"There you are!" Haze called out from a distance with the other changeling that Twilight had ditched at the library in tow, both of them quickly trying to close the distance. "Why did you leave us!? We're supposed to keep an eye on you, and we can't do that if we can't see you!"

"Alright great thanks a lot Fluttershy I'll see you in the morning!" Twilight rapidly said, charging a teleport to get out of there.

*Flash*

And she reappeared in front of an inconspicuous rock that indeed possessed, on closer inspection, an inscription on one side.

Unfortunately, it was in English. Not that Twilight knew that, or that the message read: "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."

Giggling to herself from sheer excitement, Twilight trotted up to it. True to Fluttershy's word, the relatively large boulder was ethereal, and her hoof phased through it when she attempted to make contact. She still couldn't see any entrance of any kind, however; even when she stuck her head 'in' the rock, seeing nothing but dirt on the spot it laid on.

Perplexed, the unicorn fully stepped into the illusion, noting that she was still able to see the area surrounding the rock while standing within it.

The ground suddenly opened up from under her after Mirage briefly glowed.

Twilight yelped in surprise and found herself freefalling down a deep, dark and wide tunnel, screaming all the way before her fall was finally cushioned by some sort of rubbery slime that made her bounce on the spot a few times, until all of the momentum from the drop was gone and that the unicorn was left there; each of her legs splayed out on the gelatinous surface as she tried to catch her breath from the abrupt scare.

Somehow, Mirage was still asleep and clinging to her neck.

Upon trying to make out her surroundings, Twilight noticed something.

She couldn't make out anything.

...Save for the fact that she was in an enormous cavern, if the echoes of her screams were any indication.

Additionally, the only light source available for... wherever she found herself in, came from the opening she had fallen from. But even then, there was only so much that moonlight could illuminate, and as such she could see nothing past her hooves.

However, a pair of glowing red lights made their presence known, somewhere up on what she assumed was a wall.

And then another pair.

And another one.

...And another.

Soon, dozens upon dozens of red lights were visible, and it took a few seconds for Twilight to realize that those were, in fact, eyes.

"You should not have come," a large multitude of voices declared in perfect synchronization, each of the red orbs seemingly glaring at her while the sound of buzzing wings steadily increased in volume.

Twilight was starting to think that she had maybe, just maybe, arrived at an inopportune time.

...She waved that thought away.

"Hello!" she happily greeted, shakily getting back on her hooves. "Could I see Artemis? I want to check something with her. And take notes while I'm at it, if you don't mind."

The buzzing of wings stopped.

"...Mother knows you are here," the amalgamation of voices replied after a few tense seconds of silence.

"Oh, okay. Should I go meet her somewhere?" Twilight cheerfully replied.

*BOOM*

A distant tremor shook the cave momentarily.

"She is coming."

Twilight beamed a smile. "Great!"

*BOOM*

The tremors intensified.

"Leave while you still can."

"...What!?" Twilight cried. "But, b-but I just got here!"

*BOOM*

The unicorn struggled to maintain her footing from how much the ground shook that time.

"This is your final warning, Sparkles."

Twilight audibly groaned. "For the four hundred and thirty-sixth time, my name is Twilight! Twi. Light. Not—"

*BOOM!*

"SPARKLES!" a single dual-toned voice roared out.

Twilight went quiet and gulped as a bead of sweat rolled down her face.

Even in her current state, she could recognize an angry shout when she heard one.

And, amidst the smoke and miscellaneous debris surrounding the newest opening in the room, Twilight finally spotted Artemis; if only because the large changeling in question had her horn glowing with enough power to nearly light up the entirety of the enormous room.

"Umm... H-hey, Artemis," Twilight nervously greeted, taking a cautious step back when the Queen's furious gaze instantly snapped towards her. "...Nice day we're having...?"

Since the cave was now somewhat illuminated, Twilight could see that a large number of the changelings clinging to the walls were giving her sympathetic looks.

It was only when the much taller changeling started running towards her with an absolutely enraged expression and bared fangs, however, that Twilight realized:

She fucked up.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH—Mmph!"

"Whoa, calm down!" a nearby voice shushed her after shoving a chitinous hoof in her mouth. "Didn't your mother ever teach you to be quiet at night? You might surprise somepony!"

Twilight flailed about and tried to keep screaming. Her gaze frantically traveled everywhere to take in her surroundings in order to try and find a way to escape the irate Queen and her paralyzing fangs, and... her terrifying gaze...

...and...

...

...She was back in her room?

"Are you okay, Sparkles?" Haze asked, looking concerned. "That looked like a pretty bad nightmare."

"...What? But... hive, Artemis, and..." Twilight mumbled, rubbing her eyes and glancing at her room's window in disbelief to see that it was still the middle of the night.

'I was dreaming the whole time!?' she thought.

"...Sparkles?"

"Huh?" Twilight replied, startled, turning to face him. "O-oh, it's just you, Haze. And, y-yeah, I had a pretty scary nightmare..." She shuddered.

The changeling did a double-take. "Whoa, how'd you know I'm Haze?"

"Uhhh..." Twilight blinked. "...Lucky guess?" She shook her head. "Anyway, do you think you could tell me where Artemis is, right now? I need—no, no, I just... want to check something with her."

Haze shuffled nervously. "Wellll..." he trailed off. "Mother is kind of busy, or rather will be really busy soon, so I don't think she could do much for you today. And for the rest of the week, in fact." He perked up. "But we could help! What do you need?"

Twilight pursed her lips as a strand of her mane stuck out.

She sighed.

"Alright, I'm going to get some breakfast before I do anything else," she tiredly stated while getting up, trotting towards the kitchen while the others followed.

She didn't even turn around when she felt a small weight land on her back, followed by Mirage's happy exclamation of 'Warm!'

Twilight did pause to take a peek at her basement though.

Yep, still on fire.

She calmly closed the door and began preparing herself some coffee.

*Flash*

Twilight had teleported away from the pair of changelings once again, with Mirage sleeping soundly on her back. She found herself next to the large rock that hid the hive's entrance, preparing to enter it.

Because last time was only a dream. Artemis could not possibly become that angry just because she entered the hive.

Right?

They were friends after all!

...Sort of.

She nodded to herself and walked towards the boulder—

"Gah!"

—except the object in question was most definitely not an illusion, as proven by the fact that she smacked her face on it when she tried to 'enter' it.

"W-what?" Twilight muttered in disbelief.

She reached out with her magic to levitate the boulder, effortlessly setting it on the side, and she stood on the spot it previously occupied.

Nothing happened, even after a full minute.

"But, but...!"

The unicorn stepped back and used her magic to grab a whole chunk of the land where she knew the pit was located at, ripping the ground from the earth and throwing it away.

All that did was create a crater.

There weren't any signs of a hive anywhere she looked.

Her eyes twitched dangerously.

"SERIOUSLY!?" she shouted, throwing her forelegs up in the air. "Everything happens just like in my dream, but the hive isn't even—mmphnmgph!"

"Whoa, calm down!" a familiar voice harshly whispered after shoving a chitinous hoof in her mouth. "Didn't your mother ever teach you to be quiet at night? You might surprise somepony!"

Twilight looked around.

She was back in her room.

Birds were chirping.

The sun was starting to come up.

And she had made no headway whatsoever in her search for Artemis' hive.

"AAARRRRGHHHHH!!!" Twilight snapped.

A hoof was shoved into her mouth.

"Whoa, calm down!" Haze quietly muttered to Twilight in the middle of the night...

~~~Meanwhile, in the hive mind~~~

"Are they there, yet?"

"I know you're really excited to have more little brothers and sisters, Chipper, but no, not yet. Soon."

"...How about now?"

"Look, sweetie, I'll send a message to everyling when they'll be ready, alright? It's almost time."

"Aw, okay. Can I name one?"

"...We'll see."

"Uhhhh... Mom?"

"Yes, Haze?"

"You know how you asked us to keep an eye on Sparkles and tell you when she wakes up?"

"She's already up? It's, like, the middle of the night!"

"Well..."

"I knew she'd try something today! Just make sure that she doesn't find or come anywhere close to the hive, alright? I don't want a repeat of the last incident."

"I... umm... I don't think that she'll be a problem, Mom."

"I wouldn't be so sure. She's a smart pony, and she probably has more than a few plans at the ready."

"...Sparkles kind of shot straight up from her bed, looked at us, muttered something about us not being real and giving up, and just... went back to sleep again."

"..."

"She also grabbed Mirage and is currently cuddling with her."

"...This has to be a trick of some kind. She's been trying to get one of my eggs ever since I laid my first one. Even my aunts know this."

"She did look like she was having nightmares for a good while before she woke up. Sparkles looks kind of fine now, though."

"Are you sure she went back to sleep? Will... will I really not have to worry about her for once?"

"Mom? Auntie Luna has a message for you!"

"...Oh?"

"She says: 'You're welcome'."

Author's Note

Scrambled.

Get it? :trollestia:

Because Twilight is an egghead, and, and, okay I'll shut up.