Getting to Know the Castle (Morpheus) - Revised V2 Part 2

I won’t go into all the details of our talk. It was long and not for the academically faint of heart given Twilight’s thirst for knowledge and the hivemind’s ability to act as the world’s greatest book on useless trivia. We sat there for hours, simply talking about changelings and going on the most bizarre tangents, and – thanks to the small box she teleported in labelled Emergency Academic Rations – we were able to stave off hunger and skip breakfast to continue our discussion for quite some time.

I’m not sure she fully believed everything ve said, given her later reactions to a couple first hoof experiences with the odder aspects of changeling life, but she was studious enough to constantly be taking notes.

More important, however, was the fact that after about half an hour of intense discussion she had returned to a more relaxed state. While Twilight was much more willing to give these talks a chance compared to Celestia: even she had certain phobias about changelings. It was fitting in a way, I suppose.

She showed no fear at having to potentially pick friend from foe. She had complete trust that as long as you were truly a friend to somepony that you would be able to see a changeling for what it truly was. It was refreshingly naïve to be honest.

The circumstances of her discovery of my mother were rare. Few are the number of ponies who are observant enough to catch a changeling in their element. In fact, it was mostly the spells and devices that saw through our disguises that had led us to the brink of extinction. Honestly, ve might have laughed at her stance had I not found the idea at least partially endearing. If what she had said were true, changelings might have considered making peace and friends a long time ago.

Of course, ve still couldn’t help but chuckle cynically at the other option to that being true. After all, such a case might have caused us to go extinct long ago.

No, she didn’t fear being replaced or being unable to see through any changeling’s disguise.

What she feared was our use of mind-affecting magic, although it took me a while to figure this out – or at least to confirm our suspicions. I waited until she was calm enough to try and rationally talk about it – steering the discussion to bring it up as a natural part of the conversation so that she hopefully wouldn’t overreact.

Just as I attempted to tactfully approach the subject, I found all our efforts were derailed by the small issue of lunch – or rather the one who delivered it.

“Hey, Twilight!” a voice cut into our conversation. “I know you said not to bother you in the morning when you pull an all-nighter, but it’s officially noon and you didn’t come down for breakfast. I thought you might like some—“

I was currently facing the other way from talking to Twilight, but I flinched as the newcomer’s gaze fell on me and bathed me with emotion.

“Oh… You were talking with him.”

The bitter emphasis on the word ‘him’ was clear to me, even without the feelings surging through the air. I turned to face the metaphorical dragon in the room, and – oddly enough – it turned out to be an actual dragon. I could see his muscles tense as my eyes locked onto him, and I could hear his breathing grow ever-so-slightly more haggard.

The sour taste of curdled milk in the air nearly had my head spinning, and I was really glad I was still maintaining my emotional filter. I had a feeling I would have gotten more than a taste of his fears had I not.

“Now, Spike,” Twilight chided, “We talked about this last night.” I felt Spike’s emotions spike for a second. Even with the filter on, I briefly saw a flash of something. I’m not sure what it was, and I didn’t want to know more. All I can really recall about it is the chittering and a sense of running.

“We need to be willing to give the changelings a chance. We gave Discord a chance, and that worked out beyond all expectations. Don’t you think the changelings are almost a step down from that? I mean…”

I messaged my forehead, reorienting myself as Twilight naively continued on. It was clear Twilight didn’t realize just how strong Spike’s feelings on my stay were, and it took most of my self-control not to reveal this while Spike was in the room.

“…understand, Spike?” I focused my gaze on the dragon to gauge his physical reaction in addition to his mental one.

“Yes, Twilight.” His face and tone were somewhat forced as he responded, but it was apparently enough to convince Twilight.

“Good!” she said, clapping her hooves together. “Now what were you saying before? Something about me liking something or other?”

“Yeah…” Spike ran into the hall and pushed a cart laden with food into the room. “I thought you might like some lunch while you were working on whatever project you were doing…” I flinched again as he continued under his breath. “…even if that project happens to be talking to the son of the monster responsible for brainwashing our brother.”

Glancing at Twilight, it was clear she had heard from her rather shaky smile. I internally sighed as all my progress was lost.

I wanted to curse to the Azure Veil, but this was my fault. I had actually almost lost myself to the conversation for a while. If I’d really cared about wasting time, I wouldn’t have humored so many of Twilight’s tangential questions, but I’d been having fun instead of focusing on my mission. I could have gotten to the root of Twilight’s issue before, but now there was a scaley obstacle in the way.

And it was messing everything up.

If there was one thing I learned leading the changelings, though, it’s how important it is to know when to and when not to hold a façade.

I smiled before taking care of the easy part – the façade. “Well, I for one am starving after skipping breakfast for a couple snacks. Thank you for the lunch, Spike, but Twilight and I have research to get back to. Right, Twilight?”

Twilight gave a muted nod, and I continued on. “Unfortunately, we were just about to talk about changeling reproductive habits.” Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but I shot her a look and arched an eyebrow. She closed her mouth and I continued. “While I have no idea if you’ve been given the talk on the birds and the bees, I do know that changeling reproduction tends to make even the hardiest of individuals turn a sickly, green pallor.”

I pointedly omitted the fact that changelings have green blood – and thus the fact they blushed green.

I waved a hoof at the cart. “In fact, this lovely lunch will most likely have to wait until after our discussion as projectile vomiting is a severe hazard.”

I gently pushed Spike and his protests of not being a kid anymore out the door to our little alcove. “If you’d be so kind as to set lunch up in the dining hall, I’m sure Twilight and I will be down momentarily. Now if you’d excuse us please.”

The dragon glared at me for a second before opening his mouth to retort.

Twilight saw this and decided to step in. “Spike, don’t worry about him. He can’t harm anypony while he’s here.”

Spike grumbled to himself as he pushed the cart back down the hall, and – while I couldn’t catch all of them – some of those words would make even sailors blush. Granted they were outdated enough to only make sailors from ancient Roan blush, but it was still quite an impressive amount of profanity. It was a wonder what living in a library did for one’s vocabulary.

Turning back to Twilight I dropped the cheery façade. “Alright, Twilight. I was going to bring this up more tactfully, but that’s not really an option anymore. It’s time for the direct approach. Are you afraid of me?”

Twilight squirmed. “I wouldn’t say—“

I cut her off. “Don’t avoid the question.”

“Yes— No— Maybe. I don’t know….” She sighed. “I thought I was okay after the meeting yesterday…. If there’s one thing I learned from Discord, it’s that I should at least give even the vilest of villains a chance at redemption….”

I snorted. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“You know that’s not what I mean!” Twilight snapped. Her ears fell flat as she heard her exclamation, and she continued in a subdued voice. “From what I have to go on, you’re nowhere near as bad as Chrysalis, and you’re both miles below where Discord used to be. No, nothing was wrong until I told Spike about you…. He was less than pleased, and we got into an argument over it. Some of the things he said… I know they were harsh, but I can’t help but wonder to some degree.”

Our tongue clicked against the roof of our mouth as ve mulled over her confession and whether or not we should reveal just how strongly Spike felt.

Sighing, ve relented. It wouldn’t be proper, but it was something I knew Twilight needed to know. “Ve guess ve should have expected that your friends would influence you against us just as much as you might influence them into helping us.”

I looked to the doorway Spike had left through. “Tell us, though. Do you know just how afraid Spike feels? I could feel waves of negative emotion coming off him even with the castle drowning almost everything else out. He loathes my very being here – enough that any argument he made is easily clouded with too much bias.”

“Don’t take that statement lightly either…” I shook my head, cutting off Twilight as she tried to respond. “The fact ve are willing to share his emotional state means it’s a serious problem.”

I pawed nervously at the ground. “It’s somewhat of an unspoken courtesy among changelings not to share what another individual is feeling if they’re purposely trying to hide it from others. Even telling you he hates me more than you know feels like an invasion of privacy.”

Twilight stared to where her assistant had left. “He really feels that strongly?”

I nodded.

“And I suppose you’d be unwilling to show me just how strongly he feels with that spell you mentioned from earlier?”

I hesitantly nodded again. “That would be too great an invasion of privacy, especially considering the true strength of his feelings. This is something you and him need to work out. That’s the whole reason I even told you anything. Any direct involvement from myself would simply make things worse, and it’s not like a disguise would help me here.”

I tasted a hint of the driest of wines waft through the air for a second as the princess slumped in her seat. “Well, if that’s how it has to be, that’s how it has to be.” She smiled slightly. “Still… It’s nice to see you care for him a little, even if he doesn’t care for you. Not many ponies would think about Spike’s privacy in that situation. If they knew exactly what he was feeling, they’d probably show me without a second thought so I could fix whatever they thought the problem was. Hay, I’m not even sure I’d be able to resist doing that.”

I tapped the side of my head. “Always remember the first lesson when dealing with changelings: information is power. And that means knowing when it’s better to keep something to yourself. Ve could have simply shown you, but you haven’t necessarily earned that right yet in Spike’s mind. You need to reach out to him yourself to earn that. Isn’t that all part of your reports on friendship? The trials of friendship only lead to making you better friends?”

Twilight laughed at that. “Do you actually have those reports in that head of yours?”

I grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of my head. “Mother was forced to read most of them by Princess Celestia during her infiltration. She may have found them to be garbage, but ve found them rather refreshing. Ve saw the trust you and your friends placed in each other and well… That was what led to this whole integration idea.”

“I find that to be rather ironic.” Twilight chuckled. “Chrysalis tried to save the changelings from extinction by conquering Equestria, and its greatest success was sowing the seeds for possible peace.” She turned her head towards the construct in the middle of the library. “You know… I wouldn’t mind you casting that spell on me now – the one to let me feel the castle’s feelings. We could do that now and go join Spike for lunch to talk about the results. I wouldn’t mind your input on researching the castle. You have far more experience with emotions, given the whole changeling thing.”

My grin grew. “Sure! Ve don’t really have any knowledge on something this unique in the hivemind, but I’m sure some of the normal rules apply, and, like you said earlier today, it’ll help us get to know each other.”

Twilight smiled warmly and waved for me to come closer. “I’m pretty sure that permission from before still stands since you never actually cast the spell. I’d rather not go through all that pomp and circumstance again, so why don’t you just come over here and cast it?”

I joined Twilight and together we went to the edge of the railing to stare out towards the construct, and it turned one of its gyroscopic arms to face us.

“Strange how I never noticed it acting that way before.” Twilight mused, bracing herself for the spell. My horn’s aura ignited, and I touched my horn to Twilight’s head. A spark flew between us, and in my mind’s eye I crafted the results of the spell.

First, I laid down a second filter so that any and all input coming through me wouldn’t overwhelm her. Second ve established her connection with the hivemind. This was actually harder than ve expected in that our brain structures were quite different. I found there was no place to naturally connect the hivemind to, thus ve needed to scrounge up our knowledge of pony anatomy in the archives, and carefully divvy up its many functions to the closest pony equivalents in the brain.

I was reaching my limits by this point – hungry as I was – but ve knew ve couldn’t actually finish the connection without an additional third part. This spell was meant for one changeling to transfer emotions and memories in a way changelings could instinctually control and understand. Twilight didn’t have those instincts, so ve printed an impression of them on her that would wear off with the rest of the spell. I was a little worried the unbreakable contract would misinterpret the purpose of this extra part of the spell, but thankfully it followed in the spirit of the agreement as no harm actually came to Twilight.

Finally, I released the spell and Twilight’s pupils shrank at the influx of new data.

She cocked her head to the side then rolled her shoulders and head about as if shaking them would jumble things into alignment. Her face scrunched up in a rather amusing way as the raw data gave way to the first step of interpretation. “Ve can’t get the taste of coffee stained old books out of my mouth.” She blinked. “Odd… Did I just say ve?”

I laughed and shook my head. Of course it’d end up being books with her. “That would be my bad. It was difficult to give you the proper wiring. It sounds like you’re mixing all the emotions together, though. Try splitting them apart, and ve’ll help you understand them then if you still can’t do it on your own.”

Ve saw her brow furrow in heavy concentration and chuckled. “Don’t force it. Just do what feels right with the instincts ve provided.”

Her brow furrowed further for a second before things clicked. Her face suddenly relaxed to be replaced with a grin. “I did it! Okay, so now I’m tasting two things at once – three actually. This is so weird. I thought the taste thing was a metaphor, but it’s as if I’m actually tasting things in my mouth.”

I sheepishly rubbed the back of my head. “Yeah, ponies don’t have an exact equivalent in their brains for what we do. Ve had to hook up part of the emotion interpretation system to your physical senses so you could actually understand things. It could be more than just taste though. Some changelings compare it to visualizing or hearing the emotions rather than tasting them. It kind of varies. You mentioned books?”

Twilight nodded, scuffing her hoof on the ground as she mulled things over. “Yeah, there’s two books and a cup of the most delicious coffee I’ve ever had. Now that you mention it I can almost see the books themselves.” She closed her eyes and leaned over the rail. “One of them is immaculately cared for. It’s a pristine edition of my first and favorite Daring Do book. The other book is so ragged and worn I can’t read the title, and stains seem to litter the cover.”

I watched Twilight carefully as we came to the real test. “Alright then. I don’t normally get a visualization of incoming emotions, but what ve do know is that it’s supposedly the easiest form of input to understand. What do those ‘images’ make you feel? It may take more time to analyze closely, but you should never be unable to interpret a new emotion if you’re ‘seeing’ them.”

Twilight leaned forward even more. She was dangerously close to sliding over the edge now. “Hmm… Well… There’s nothing as comforting as a hot coffee during a long cold night of studying. It’s always there to pick you up when you need to keep going, and I have nothing but fond memories of that Daring Do book; It was like a dear friend to me as a filly. I could imagine going on adventures with Daring when my BBBFF was too busy. The last book just looks so… lost and alone. It isn’t worn down with dog ears caused by love and attention, it was chewed by the dog and dragged to a corner where no one ever found it. Love, comfort and loneliness. That’s what it’s feeling…”

I smiled and let the small electric sensation of pride slip past my carefully constructed filter. I didn’t even think about it. That’s how changelings teach other changelings. It’s a much more enriching reinforcement than simply being told ‘good job’. Twilight wasn’t a changeling, however, and she was leaning precariously over a ledge at that particular moment to get a better reading from the construct. Needless to say, she jumped and let out a small exclamation of shock that sent her tumbling over the edge.

I stood staring like an idiot for about a second before I acted. I was just about to dive after her when a voice came up from below reminding us why that wasn’t necessary.

“I’m alright” Twilight called flapping back over the railing. I say flapping because it was definitely not coordinated enough to be flying. Her breath was coming in small gasps, and her pupils were dilated. She was probably more surprised than I was.

“I’m alright.” She stretched as she got up, and I heard the crack of joints being released from nervous tension. “Just warn me next time you’re about to do whatever that was.” She looked at me, and her gaze brooked no argument. “Oh! And tell me what the hay that was.”

I shrugged. “Sorry. I got so wrapped up in what we were doing I forgot you weren’t born a changeling. That was our equivalent of a good job and a pat on the back. We literally transfer our approval to the individual in question. It’s much more meaningful that simply being told good job, as any changeling can simply sense if your spoken approval is sincere. It’s a sign of just how significant earning that approval was when it’s actually given to you as a reward.”

Her gaze softened. “Oh… Just warn me next time – if there even is one. As enlightening as being able to sense emotions is, it still feels incredibly bizarre, and that felt like it came out of nowhere.”

“Well it kind of was out of nowhere. I was filtering most of my emotions out of what you were getting so you wouldn’t need to deal with more information.” I nodded my horn towards her. “Want me to take the spell off now that you got a taste?”

She nodded. “Yeah. If Spike’s at lunch, having it on is a bad idea. If he’s really bottling that much emotion, I want to find out why on my own. You were right about those fears deserving to be private until he wants to share them with me.”

I tilted my head to the side. “To lunch then?”

Twilight nodded and smiled at me. “To lunch then.”

We walked out of our little alcove and down the hall, and I could swear the construct was still staring at me as we left.

“I think you’ll find that Spike’s an amazing cook.”

Twilight had continued to rattle on as we went down the hall.

“He’s also too picky to ruin any of his dishes, even if he knows you like any of them, so feel free to gorge yourself. It may not be love to snack on, but it’s definitely delicious.”

For my part I was quiet and let her talk, savouring the simplicity of her comments. It was time for lunch, and among changeling lords that usually meant it was prime time for backdoor politics. There was none of that in simple Ponyville, however. For once I found myself enjoying the idea of lunch.

I smiled to myself as Twilight continued. As quickly as it came, however, it was gone as that hollow feeling in my heart reasserted itself. I could only wonder how long I’d last if we didn’t find a good enough source of love for me to feed on. I’d tried to distract myself from it all day, but there was no denying its presence.

“We’re here!”

I was snapped out of my thoughts as we entered the dining hall. “Well this is cosier than I expected,” I said as I glanced around. It was true. There was only a single table that could seat maybe ten ponies comfortably. Rather than seats, there were cushions like those that I’d seen in the library – a massive stain threat, but undeniably more comfortable – and several roaring fireplaces kept the room feeling like a lazy summer day.

Three of the seats had been set, although it appeared Spike had hurriedly eaten and left before we got here. I sighed internally, but there wasn’t much I could do about that.

Twilight noticed his absence too, and I could see a small frown mar her face. The faint taste of dry wine spread through the emotions in the air again at that, but she hid her internal reaction well. “Yeah, we get that a lot. I think this is supposed to be for high end diplomatic meetings and close dinners with friends, but I haven’t actually found a grand hall style banquet room yet.”

I shrugged and walked to my seat. I could smell the soup beneath the silver covers of our plates, and I was dying to get at least one form of food in me. “Maybe Friendship Castle just doesn’t want any high and mighty banquets? A personal meal seems way more in line with fostering friendshi—“ I cut myself off as I raised the cover to my meal. I stared at it for a couple seconds before snorting. I tried to restrain my laughter, but there was no stopping the deep thrumming laugh that burst from my throat at what I found before me.

“What is it?” Twilight asked hesitantly. “Did Spike tamper with the food? I really thought he didn’t have it in him.”

I shook my head. “No, it’s not that. It’s just that I apparently started to make friends with two ponies today, and one of them wasn’t Spike."

“Huh?” Twilight’s eyebrow arched. “But you’ve only talked to me and him today. Who’s the other friend?”

I looked down to the alphabet soup in front of me, and read its message aloud. “Take my love, but only if there aren’t other options. –Friendship Castle” I paused to study Twilight’s face. It was scrunched up in what I was coming to realize was a sign of very confused, very deep thoughts. Chuckling, I continued. “P.S. Sir Spike ate your lunch to spite you when you guys took longer than exactly five minutes. P.P.S. Don’t take this as me getting too chummy with you. I’m still watching you, punk. I’ll always be watching you.”

One could almost see smoke pouring from Twilight’s head, and I couldn’t help but add to it. “I just love how it underlined the word always with a spaghetti noodle. It really gets the point across. Don’t you think, Twilight?”

Twilight took a second to actually notice I’d asked her something. It took another second for her to shut off the little fires I can only imagine were running in her head. And then it took another second to form a response as she lifted her own meal cover. “That just seems really creep-“ A small squeak erupted from her throat as she saw her own alphabet soup.

I grinned, and got up to go read it myself, as Twilight appeared incapable of sound.

“Of course it’s creepy, milady! I must beg your pardon, but why in Celestia’s name do you think I’ve been hiding my existence from you until now? What part of incredibly powerful magic castle that knows each and every movement of the inhabitants in it at all times doesn’t sound creepy and stalker-like to you? It’s not something I can bring up casually on my own. I only started talking because the cat’s pretty much out of the bag. I may as well talk to you both and make friends now. –Friendship Castle

“P.S. Sir Spike didn’t actually eat your lunch too, milady. It was just getting too cold for you to comfortably eat, so I replaced it when I replaced Morpheus’. I am sorry for it being low-quality soup from a can, but I’m not the cook Sir Spike is. I blame the lack of claws. Grumble… Grumble…”

“Grumble? Grumble?” I mused. “It does know those are sounds a pony makes and not words to be used, right?”

As I said that, the room shook twice, and we could hear the large grating noise of crystal on crystal. In the aftermath, I looked down at the soup to see a reply had formed in the shockwaves. “That’s the other option for grumbling. Would you rather I do it that way? –Friendship Castle”

Twilight gathered herself from the floor, and saw the message.

She shuddered. “So creepy…”

I chuckled. “I like you, Castle. I’m not sure Twilight appreciates your sense of humour yet though. Hopefully, that’ll change when she realizes she can now interview you directly for her research.”

I was expecting it even if I wasn’t prepared for it. For the third time that day, a girlish squeal of excitement rang out as Twilight thought of the implications of what I’d said on her research. And for the third time that day I blacked out slightly at the sheer amount of volume behind it.