Those Who Walk Among Us (Twilight) Part 1

Changing Time’s Notes: This is the second great secret I am allowed to reveal to you: It has been known for some time that some small number of changelings have lived among us even before the invasion of Canterlot. What most ponies fail to realize is that ‘small’ is a relative term and that we have grossly underestimated just how much changelings have played a part in our lives.

The prince would rather you not know specifics – believing it both a kindness to you and his subjects. He fears it will drive you, gentle reader, back into paranoia. Twilight, on the other hoof, was adamant I include this report for the same reasons I desired it in the first place. She believes that seeing how interchangeable the lives of ponies and changelings are will only help us overcome our issues. I may not be able to detail every significant changeling influence – if only because I don’t know everything myself – but I shall try to cover all that I learned while collecting these reports.

Creating a proper catalog would be an endeavor requiring years of study. There are apparently millennia of unknown history between changelings and ponies. Thus I do hope you’ll forgive me if what I can provide here merely scratches the surface. Such knowledge is not the true focus of most of these reports.

I wish to make it clear that such research is merely a secondary responsibility of mine for now, lest disgruntled readers form an angry mob to take me to task for my delinquency.

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Those Who Walk Among Us: A Report by Twilight Sparkle

It’s odd how easy it is to take somepony for granted. Even the most influential scholars of the ages can be overshadowed by discoveries inspired by their initial work. My hero Starswirl the Bearded is one such pony, yet I sometimes wonder if we all know somepony like that – a friend so close to the core of our being that we just don’t realize how important to us they are, or consider how critical the loss would be if they were gone someday.

It’s like a pony’s favorite book: They’d never give it up, and they’d never harm or hurt it purposefully. It’s something they know back to front, and they don’t expect it to suddenly change or become lost. It’s simply there, and it always should be – the key word being ‘should’.

For me that pony – or dragon – was Spike.

Until I spent the day of Morpheus’ bet within Castle – completely on my own – it hadn’t struck me how empty Castle was. Sure, I had Castle himself, but it wasn’t the same. The books he brought weren’t handed physically to me. There was no rustling of claws in the background to provide comforting reminders that I was not alone.

Worst of all, there was no voice I could give to Castle’s written wit. I simply translated it as Spike’s in my head, and – in those moments I simply couldn’t imagine Spike saying Castle’s response – it caused my heart to lurch.

Spike sank into my coat, and I shifted my concentration once again to solidify myself in the dreamscape. For hours we had been sitting together and reading in each other’s company.

The fact that we had both read Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone at least a dozen times in the real world didn’t matter. It was a book I knew by heart, and one of the few I was confident enough to conjure in his dream.

We simply sat, enjoying each other’s company as we read – I in my undefined void, and he in his giant field of topaz hay fries. Every so often he would seem to pluck some from the void to eat – not that I could see either them or the supposed stalks they grew on, but Spike’s earlier enthusiastic description let me fill in the blanks.

“Twilight?” he whispered, as I turned the page to a new chapter.

“Yeah?” I murmured back just as quietly.

“When do I get to come home?” His voice quivered slightly.

I sighed. “It’s up to you really. I want you to spend just a couple weeks in Canterlot, but I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted more to relax or if you were mad at me.”

The little dragon looked up at me from his place between my forelegs. “Do I look mad to you? I’m just glad you didn’t pick that bug over me like last night.”

I squeezed him. “You really should be mad at me though,” I sighed. “I never realized how much us leaving you behind meant to you! I would have gone with you to Canterlot – Celestia knows I could use a vacation myself – but I couldn’t with Morpheus here.”

I paused, then hung my head. “It’s always like that, isn’t it? There’s always something. It’s too dangerous. You’re a baby dragon. Somepony needs to take care of the library. I’ve given you thousands of excuses, and I never realized what it sounded like on the other side.”

Spike sunk further into his little nook. “I was the one stupid enough not to tell you. Look where that got me. I’m stuck in Canterlot while you’re off on another adventure again. Useless as usual….”

I nuzzled him. “Well, what if I said there was something you could do for me?”

“Really?!” His head bopped my chin as he looked up, and I chuckled.

“Yeah,” I sighed. “The problem is, if you said ‘yes’, the safest place to do it from would be Canterlot.” I felt him tense and rushed to reassure him. “Like I said though, everything is up to you. I want my number one assistant back; you don’t need to stay away. It’s just safer for you in Canterlot, since I’m betting if the changelings do choose to do anything, it will take place in Ponyville.”

“W-what is it you want me to do?” His voice quivered. “Y-you’re not just trying to leave me where it’s safer are you?”

“No!” I engulfed him in a hug, enfolding him with my wings. “I want you to be my backup plan, my fail safe. With what happened with Chrysalis in the Everfree, I need to make sure I can reach somepony if something goes wrong. The other day, when Morpheus was telling me about changelings, he mentioned they don’t dream like normal ponies. I bet they can’t enter or view dreams either. It’d be a great way to secretly send messages, and I was thinking… maybe I could train myself to join your dreams without thinking about it. If I was captured or something, I’d only need to go to sleep or get knocked out, and then I could call you to call the cavalry.”

He shuffled in my embrace, hesitating. “Why do I have to stay in Canterlot for that though? I have my dragon fire.”

I squeezed him again. “You do have your dragon fire, and I said you don’t need to stay away any longer than the two weeks you’re going to be gone. It’s your choice this time. I only said Canterlot would be the safest place for you to be so you aren’t caught in the crossfire. If you were, how would you get your message off?”

“I don’t know… but I want to come home. I’ll find a way to save you if something like that happens, Pinkie Promise.” He broke out of my grasp, turning so I could watch him make the motions.

“Okay then,” I smiled. “We’ll all see you when you come back. I’ll make sure Pinkie makes a fire ruby ice cream cake just for your inevitable return party.”

“Extra sprinkles?” he asked, eyes sparkling, as I hugged him again.

“Extra sprinkles,” I confirmed.

We sat like that for a minute or two.

“So, back to reading?” my favorite assistent asked.

I awoke and simply lay in bed, breathing as slowly as I could to try and go back to sleep. When I realized that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon, I sighed and let the tiny flicker of magic maintaining my connection to Spike fade – so little, my horn didn’t glow and I could maintain it in my sleep. With practice I could – no, would – make it last all the time. Spike was never going to be left completely out again.

Groaning, I opened my eyes, only to find a bug on my ceiling. “What are you doing, Morpheus?” I asked, perplexed.

“Yes, well….” Morpheus kicked the ceiling as the plates in his leg clenched and opened. “When I tried to enter your room to wake you, Castle said I wasn’t to get within three meters of your bed. Ve closed our eyes to calculate how to stay within his restriction, and he shifted the dimensions of the room so I couldn’t just walk in. When ve responded by crawling through the small safe zone of the threshold that didn’t fall within a three meter spherical radius, he decided to shrink the room the next time I blinked. Ve cannot leave the room without violating his original conditions.”

I had tidied my room before going to bed, but now as I looked around I could see it was a mess. There was a house of cards at the door, a book fort sheltering Smarty Pants guarding my bed, and two veritable armies of paper pony dolls warring between the two. Looking back up, I arched an eyebrow.

“By that point ve were having too much fun trying outmaneuver Castle so ve could wake you up to remember to wake you.” He shrugged, levitating a marvelous smelling cup down to me. “Coffee?”

I grunted, cautiously grabbing it in my magic and casting a small divination spell to tell me the ratios of its components.

They were all exactly right.

Taking a sip, I smiled. “That all seems rather…” I trailed off.

“Passive aggressive?” he suggested.

I blinked, and saw Castle’s answer of “Creepy?” on the wall Morpheus couldn’t see.

“Yes?” I ventured. Trying to change the subject I jumped to the first thing that came to mind. “How’d you make the coffee? It’s perfect.”

The changeling smiled. “Oh, that was only partly us. Ve never would have got it right if Castle wasn’t – and ve quote – ‘Always watching.’”

Yes. Creepy and passive aggressive was the perfect way to describe this. I wasn’t sure if this was actually a fight or simply a game to them. Morpheus was certainly smiling, and I wasn’t sure a castle built from friendship and rainbows actually could fight, but this was weird, which is really saying something coming from somepony who is friends with Pinkie Pie.

“Okay then.” My smile was slightly bigger than it should have been. “Well if you don’t mind I’d really like some privacy to get ready.”

Morpheus advanced a small squadron of paper ponies. “Yes, ve would love to leave, but ve’d rather not lose after lasting this long. The room is still too small to exit while following the initial limitations.”

The lights flickered, providing a privacy screen folded up neatly against the wall.

“Hmm,” the prince thrummed. “Ve have a feeling accepting that solution will cost us points, but ve are willing to take it.” A green glow surrounded the screen, and it levitated to block his view of me. He called from above, “I can see your shadow and nothing more, allowing us to track you so I don’t accidentally invade your privacy as you leave the screen. If you give us permission to cast a silence spell, it’ll be like I’m not even here.”

I kicked away the covers to rise from bed. Glaring at the ceiling, I pointed to the floor. “Down.”

As he fluttered down, his grin was smug. “Black prince from 4f to 1c. Capture white rook. Break the Castle. Check and Mate the white princess.”

I cocked my head. “Are you serious?”

He chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “No, chess is a poor analogy for what we were doing, but – now that I can leave your room – ve suggest getting ready as fast as possible. Ve know you had plans for us today, but ve’re pretty sure both our plans and schedules are thoroughly derailed by this point after the last couple days.”

I sipped my coffee and nodded as he continued. “As it stands, ve need to get to Rarity’s as soon as possible. Ve require her skills for a number of reasons – the least of which is ve’d like to appear presentable tonight. Armor would be more traditional, but a suit is much more suited to our needs. Ve don’t want to be too intimidating. Such a tactic would be more of a hinderance here.”

“And what is happening tonight that you need a suit, of all things?” I asked as I levitated various things I’d need to get ready from my vanity – reorganizing them from the clutter caused by Morpheus and Castle’s disturbance.

He licked his lips – or perhaps mandibles. Chops! Chops worked as long as one thought of it involving chopping with teeth or chitin rather than the concept of a chop of meat – which was more fleshy like lips, and a really gross comparison.

“Well, I may have found at least one other changeling in Ponyville, and they may be coming by tonight at seven. I could just illusion up a suit, but that’s impolite. Ve wouldn’t want it to seem like ve were hiding anything.”

I forced my thoughts away from the proper terminology of changeling biology. I had no idea why I was so hung up on it in the first place. Morpheus was fine using the word lips when we were discussing things the first day. It shouldn’t really matter.

Except it did. He wasn’t a love-sucking monster, and yet he also wasn’t a pony.

Taking a second to organize my thoughts, I finally responded. “Okay then. Is that why you were gone so long? When did you even get back from Sweet Apple Acres? Why do I need to come with you? Who is –”

Morpheus coughed, and I realized I had started rambling in my distraction. He opened his mouth to answer, and a song came out instead. “It is, indeed, an interesting tale~ Yet not the one you’d assume~ For I was struck down before noon~”

My jaw opened and closed a few times.

He put a hoof to my mouth before I could formulate a response. “Wait! Oh… nevermind.” He removed the hoof. “Ve thought it was going to continue, but ve don’t think a song explaining ve’re cursed is what the curse wants as payment.”

I arched an eyebrow as his statement shattered my befuddlement. “Did things actually go well then? I mean, I’m smart enough to know curses don’t exist, so you have to be pranking me. It’s definitely more Pinkie’s style than Rainbow Dash’s though, and Castle said you were going to Sweet Apple Acres. Did you change your mind?”

Snorting, he shook his head. “No, it’s a long story involving Rainbow and us making idiots of ourselves.”

He tilted his head for a second, eyes glazing over, before adding, “Of course, ve’re not quite sure exactly which of our actions were ultimately idiotic, but ve’re sure Rainbow and Applejack will give you their side later. Ve’re honestly surprised you don’t know anything as it is. Ve would have thought Applejack or Rainbow would have come running to tell you.”

That didn’t sound promising. Raising a hoof to my chest, I breathed in deeply before exhaling and pushing my hoof outwards. I let go of the panic before it had a chance to build. Smiling, I half-joked, “You can’t give me a statement like that and not tell me more.”

He startled slightly, flinching at the words. “Forgive us. Ve didn’t mean to leave you without an answer there. The story is simply context heavy, and you would benefit most from hearing all of it at once. Ve were going to tell you as soon as you got up, but by now it would be more efficient to get to Rarity’s as soon as possible.”

Tilting his head, he thrummed. “Although, ve’re not sure why Castle was so adamant about not disturbing you….”

I sipped the last of my coffee and hummed in appreciation. “I was talking to Spike all night to make up for missing time with him the night I got lost in the Everfree. I promised him I’d visit every night, and I meant it. Plus, it’s been ages since we could relax together like that without something getting in the way. Anyway, if you’d be so kind as to take this and go make some more, then I’ll meet you by the front door after freshening up.”

As he left grumbling, I muttered, “He might be an improvement over Castle’s silence, but Spike grumbles better.”

Blinking as I gathered my bathing supplies, I asked to nopony in particular, “Did I just compliment Spike’s ability to complain?”

The lights flickered, leaving a piece of paper on the vanity.

“It’s always the little things, Mistress. –Friendship Castle”