Reprogramming

by sunnypack

Rating: teen
Tags: Slice of Life, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Changelings
Length: 41165

Take a breath. Good, keep going from there. You may think you are real, you may think you are a pony, you may think you can feel. Anything can be emulated if you mimic it close enough... I know, it's in your programming.

On a patrol through the White Tail woods, Twilight comes across a dying changeling. Torn between giving up the drone to the guards or leaving it in the inhospitable wilds, Twilight reluctantly takes the drone in. As it awakens she realises that the drone was a blank slate, with no connection, no 'programming' guiding its functions. So Twilight sets out to teach this changeling about the world, one hoof step at a time.

Rated Teen for slightly mature themes involving ethical dilemmas.

If Word Worthy stopped editing for me, I'd likely wind up as a grammar-less hack. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Published 2015-04-04 17:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2018-09-01 13:55:28 UTC

1 - Tabula Rasa

Chapter 1: Tabula Rasa

blank slate

Dear Princess Celestia,

I know this isn’t the most typical kind of letter you may receive from me, but I thought it best to report the findings I have made with regards to these relatively new creatures we’ve come in contact with. There’s a lot of information so I think I will split this up into multiple letters, with the important parts summarised. Please let me know what you think, I’m anxious to get your opinion on these findings.

Item 1: The Changeling Code

The one code that keeps a changeling functioning is its primary directive. The primary directive is composed of many of the same rules that we ponies and most other organisms use to live. It only has one instruction, a simple one at that:

1. Survive.

It is a simple directive. There aren’t many complications that could hinder following the primary directive. Of course, the ambiguity of the primary directive allows the queen of the colony to modify individual interpretations of that directive to suit the situation. If the survival of the colony is affected as a whole, an individual may seemingly contradict this directive in order to ensure that it ultimately does not.

It’s all a matter of perspective, really.

Another interesting property of the changelings are their secondary directives. A changeling may have a primary directive and this directive may take precedence over the secondary directives, but the interesting part of the secondary directive is that they can be programmed into the changeling. A changeling will do its best to fulfil the secondary directive, provided that the directive does not contradict the first. When the queen links up with the changelings of their hive, this is how the queen maintains their drones’ loyalty.

There are other aspects and nuances of changeling programming, but these are the main two. The changeling is a complex series of commands, programs and functions that can be predicted through a deterministic equation of simple input to simple output.

I’m convinced that changelings have yet to physically achieve higher order emotions, which is probably why they view such things as mere conduits for their feeding habits. The queen may think for herself, but her loyal servants certainly do not. In that regard, they have my pity. The same metric also builds a barrier between us and I cannot regard them as something more than a very complex series of instructions.

I’ve yet to prove this assertion, but I’m sure that if I ever laid my hoof on an un-programmed changeling, I would be able to confirm this for sure. I will say, for the record, that I am confident in my assumption. No matter how good my reflection in the mirror mimics me, it can never be me. No matter how complex the programming is, a changeling will never feel.

I’m quite certain of that.

Sincerely, your faithful friend and former student,

Twilight Sparkle

––––––

“Princess, would you mind doing a sweep in that area again?”

I looked at the weary stallion. Sergeant Wheeler was a very dedicated pony. He took his work seriously and he never dismissed a call of concern from the residents of Las Pegasus. Though White Tail Woods was little far from the stomping grounds of Ponyville, I was happy to lend a hoof with anything anypony needed, so long as it were within reason.

“I’ve asked you to call me Twilight, Sergeant. There’s no need to refer to me by title.”

Sergeant Wheeler merely cocked his head and gave me a wry smile. “Of course, Princess,” he said and gestured to the nearby shrubs.

I sighed. Very well then.

Usually, requests on the order of magnitude of ‘could you help us patrol the local woods?’ wasn’t something that I would normally help out with. Not that I wouldn’t be happy to help out, but there were plenty of other ponies—many of them qualified guards—who were a much better candidate for search and rescue than me. What drew me here, despite that, was the mention of changelings; something I thought wouldn’t be a resurfacing problem... you know, after we banished the queen and her minions with a well-timed love spell. I was about eighty-two percent convinced that this was a false report, but Sergeant Wheeler had sounded serious, in both letter and face to face.

With a spark and a shimmering pulse, I sent off the detection spell in that area again.

“Okay, Sergeant Wheeler, but I’m relatively certain there’s no—”

I stopped, shutting my mouth with a click. Huh. That was weird. I was getting a weak pulse back, biological signature only.

Sergeant Wheeler perked up. “Princess? Did you find something?”

I opened my mouth, thought better of it, then shut it.

“Yes, I think there’s something there in the bushes” —I waved my hooves at his alarmed look and stiffening stance— “no, no, I don’t think it’s a changeling, the signature is off, I’m only getting a biological feedback on the echo. That shouldn’t be possible, so I’m curious as to what it is…” I trotted forward, my voice trailing off as my curiosity grew. The forest had a stillness to it, almost as if it had been breathing a moment before, with sounds of rustling leaves and woodland creatures filtering into my sensitive ears. Now, all I could hear was the sound of my own hoof steps and they sounded inordinately loud.

I sent another pulse out, tracking the direction is came. It was hard to triangulate, given that the spell only considered one direction at any given time. With a little ranging, I was able to discern that it was coming from the west. I ran a few more calculations in my head, lost in the intricacies of the spell.

“Princess?”

I twitched. “Mmm?”

“What do you think it is, if not a changeling?”

“It has the biological signature of a changeling.”

“Beg your pardon, Your Highness, but doesn’t that mean that it is a changeling?”

“Yes and no.”

“Princess, you’re confusing me.”

I sighed, stopping in my tracks. “Sorry, Sergeant—” a yawn took me by surprise as I rubbed my eyes, “—I haven’t had much sleep.” There were some important documents I had to review. Rezoning around the neighbourhood was apparently a royal duty.

Applejack had made it awkward when she wanted to expand her field into the Everfree bounds. Saying no and seeing her crestfallen expression was one of the hardest things I had to do. Unfortunately the Law was clear on the matter. I couldn’t budge them for anypony. Not even for my friends. At least she agreed with me when I explained to her why the zoning rules were there in the first place. At least she could see the bigger picture. There were some ponies who couldn’t.

“Understood, Princess. About the—”

“—the changeling signature, yes,” I continued, pawing at my eyes. “Biological only. That meant I couldn’t detect the accompanying changeling magic. That in itself is very strange. I’ve never felt that before.”

I concentrated once again and sent the pulse into the woods once more. I lost the direction while I was distracted with Sergeant Wheeler’s question. Did the point move, or was I imagining it?

Sergeant Wheeler grunted in acknowledgement. “So it’s something new. Is it a threat?”

I pursed my lips thinking about it. Honestly, whether it was a threat or not never occurred to me. I was more curious than anything.

“No…” I said slowly. “I’m not actually sure. The facts don’t align so I don’t know if it constitutes a threat.”

“Hmm.” The guard dropped into a more guarded stance. “If it’s all the same to you, Princess, maybe I should go first?”

I snorted at that. “I’m glad to see that chivalry hasn’t died, Sergeant, but I can take care of myself.” I swept the surroundings again and trotted ahead. The sergeant hesitated for a moment and then followed behind me, but I could tell he wasn’t happy with me. Tough. I don’t want anypony to treat me differently just because I’m a Princess. I’m more of a servant of everypony than anypony was to me.

The sergeant muttered something, but I couldn’t hear it, so I gave a slight shrug and kept moving through the shrubbery. The undergrowth was getting denser and sometimes there would be a wayward branch or a gnarled root that would reach out and snatch at my hooves as I tried to make my way through the tangled mess of the forest. With each spell, I could tell that the signature was growing stronger and I felt my heart beat rapidly in excitement. My scientific curiosity was driving me forward. What would I find at the end of the spell? A magical artifact that mimicked changeling biology? A part of a hive that had been abandoned? I threw out another pulse.

We were getting closer, that’s for sure.

“We’re almost there…” I muttered, looking back. Sergeant Wheeler gave me a single nod and drew a dagger. I would have rolled my eyes, but they were inexplicably drawn to the source.

A twig snapped.

I held my breath, my eyes darting towards a suspicious bush rustling not three hoof steps away. Before I could say anything, Sergeant Wheeler darted forward, pushing ahead of me, shoving me roughly to the side. Before I could say anything, he let loose a guttural growl and dove into the bushes. I heard frantic struggling and the snap of twigs and branches as whatever was in the bushes and Sergeant Wheeler grappled each other.

“Ow! Ow! What? Hey!”

I took a couple of steps back as the bushes spat out a small shape that tumbled to a stop in front of my hooves. Sergeant Wheeler leapt out but didn’t push any further, just standing there with an expression of… exasperation?

I glanced back at the small bundle hair as it uncurled itself and coughed a couple of times. I realised the ball of fluff was actually a pony. A tiny filly, actually.

“Ow,” the filly repeated sourly, getting to her hooves. “You didn’t have to throw me so hard.”

Sergeant Wheeler rolled his eyes. “It was a gentle push, you did all the tripping and falling just fine on your own.”

The filly cringed and her cheeks flushed a deep crimson.

“Ah fine,” she muttered, crossing her hooves and pouting.

Sergeant Wheeler was about to add something, but I cleared my throat, distracting him. He straightened slightly and gave me a bow, to which I waved a dismissive hoof.

“Apologies, Princess. This is Puff, she must have followed us into the forest and gotten lost,” he explained.

“I wasn’t lost! I was just… uhm…”

“You were lost,” Sergeant Wheeler grated and he poked the filly on her shoulder. “How many times do I have to tell you that White Tail Woods is dangerous?! You can’t just gallop in here and expect to come out fine every time. I’ve had years of—”

“—training and experience. I know, I know. It’s just that. I got bored… and a little lonely,” she said morosely. Her hoof dug into the soil, stirring up some of the grass and weeds on the forest floor. Sergeant Wheeler sighed and his expression softened.

“Well you’ve put me in a unique situation,” he said, then he turned to me. “Princess, would you mind letting this little filly tag along? I can’t escort her back and leave you alone” —he raised a hoof to stem my protests— “I know you can take care of yourself. I’ve heard of your recent… achievements.”

“Yeah, you’re famous!” Puff squealed. Sergeant Wheeler rolled his eyes. I was beginning to think that this filly was going to make Sergeant Wheeler’s eyes roll right out of his sockets.

“In any case,” the guard continued. “I need to be here. What if you fall down a ditch and hit your horn and hurt your wings? A simple helping hoof might be all that’s needed to get you out.”

I closed my mouth, the protest dying in my throat as I considered his words. What he said made sense.

“Okay, Sergeant,” I said. “Can’t be that bad.”

—————

I spoke too soon.

“So what’s it like to be a princess?” Puff asked, her eyes sparkling.

Though I was all for satisfying the curiosity of this foal, her questions hadn’t stopped since we had headed out. I drew a deep breath and smiled again, trying to channel my inner Princess Celestia. Patience.

“It’s not all that it’s cracked up to be,” I replied honestly. “There’s a lot of work and I have little time devoted to doing what I usually do.” I smiled wistfully at her. “Things I like.” Like reading. And experiments.

“Oh, I thought being a princess would be fun,” she said, her head drooping. “Wearing fancy dresses, talking to everypony and going from town to town to meet new ponies.”

“I like my dress,” I admitted, “but it drags a bit and it can get in the way when I want to get from place to place. Besides, I haven’t seen the other Princesses wear a dress apart from super-special occasions.” I cocked my head. “In fact, I do recall Princess Luna mentioning that she preferred her battle armour to wear everyday.” I giggled. “But Princess Celestia told her that it might not be wise.”

“Battle armour? Cool! Do you think she’s ever used it seriously? Like in a real battle?”

I shook my head, smiling. “No,” I said, pausing briefly to cast my mind back to the historical texts I had read. “There hasn’t been many opportunities to use the armour in an official capacity. Princess Luna did mention that she liked the look of it more than the function. I think it’s more ceremonial than anything.”

“Do you think I could become a princess?” Puff said hopefully. I caught her look and I couldn’t resist reaching out and tousling her wacky mane.

“Of course you can, but you don’t have to be a princess to be a good pony,” I replied simply. “Trust yourself and your friends and I’m sure you can be whatever you want.”

Puff fell silent and we trotted a few more minutes before she spoke up again.

“Princess?”

“Mm?”

“What if you don’t have any friends? Who can you trust?”

I stopped, mid-stride, facing away from Puff. Her words were like a physical wall that I had slammed into. I took a few seconds to calm myself and I turned around, afraid she would hear my wildly beating heart.

“Well that’s not true,” I said, pointing to Sergeant Wheeler. Evidently he had been eavesdropping on the conversation, because he had the same look I had a moment ago. His ears laid flat against his skull.

“Y-Yes,” he said. “You’re a pain to find and you never listen to anything I say, but I know you’re a good pony underneath all that excited hair. What other pony would put up with you anyway?” He gave her a nudge to let her know he was joking.

Puff looked both sheepish and happy, but I was gratified to see she didn’t look so down.

“And if Sergeant Wheeler isn’t enough, you have me,” I added as I drew a wing around her. I lowered my voice conspiratorially. “You can ask me anything,” I whispered into her ears.

“Oh really? Thank you, Princess!” she exclaimed, throwing her hooves around me. I was so surprised by the sudden gesture, I felt my wings flare out behind me and I almost stumbled backwards.

With a chuckle I wrapped a hoof around her and patted her on the head. “Just send a letter to me in Ponyville,” I said, putting her down on the ground. “We can be pen pals.” As she beamed at me, I felt a strange tug of my heart and wondered briefly if this was what Princess Celestia had felt when she took me onboard. I dismissed the notion with a flick of my tail. No, she was much more composed than that. She was always kind to everypony, I was just a good student.

My musings were interrupted as I heard Sergeant Wheeler chortle.

“Don’t make too many friends, Princess,” he said. “Or you’ll have a mountain of letters to reply to as well as your paperwork.”

I shook my head at him, but I grinned at Puff.

“Hear that?” I said to her. “Sergeant Wheeler says I can’t make too many friends. So that makes you special.” I waggled my eyebrows at her to emphasise the point. “Make sure you write to me everyday.”

“I will, Princess,” Puff replied, nodding.

“You don’t have to call me Princess, Puff. Just call me Twilight. We’re friends.”

“O-Okay Twilight.”

“Good,” I affirmed, then scanned the area again. That was strange… why was the feedback like that? I let loose a pent up sigh of frustration.

“What is it, Princess?” Sergeant Wheeler asked. Evidently I was too loud. He stopped as I paused and let loose another spell.

I struggled to put the feeling into words. Sometimes magic was part feeling, part intuition and a touch of luck. I didn’t like working with unknown quantities like luck and feelings. My lips pressed together as I tried to answer the sergeant’s question.

“I feel like we’re getting closer,” I explained awkwardly, “but it’s also getting further away.” I moved my head slowly from side to side, scanning left and right.

Puff looked excited and she waved at me when I turned to her direction. “Are you talking about the changeling?” she asked.

Sergeant Wheeler shot her a look. “How do you know that?” he demanded, nostril flaring. “That’s classified.”

Puff giggled. “If it’s classified, half the town would know before you even finished reading the report. You know how much Miggle would gossip.”

“Yes. That mare has a real motor-mouth on her,” he grumbled. “I think we need to tighten our confidentiality policies.”

“Wouldn’t work. We’d find a way around it,” Puff said, causing Sergeant Wheeler to huff in frustration.

Though reluctant, he slowly nodded. “Well, nothing we can do about it now, unless there are other wayward foals wandering around here.” His ear flicked as if he expected to hear the sound of light hoof steps out and about in the forest. He glanced sidelong at Puff. “Though I doubt it,” he chuckled. “The rest were probably scared to go in alone. Unlike you, headlong into everything.”

“Hey—” Puff began, but shrunk when Sergeant Wheeler gave her a pointed look. “—yeah okay, but I don’t do it all the time!”

Her cheeks flamed as Sergeant Wheeler continued to stare at the cream-coated filly.

“Oh fine,” she muttered. “Maybe a lot, but I can’t help it, it’s so boring back there.”

I let their teasing conversation wash over me as I concentrated on the feedback coming from the spell. I frowned, trying to cross reference what I knew with what I had. The signature was biological and it was definitely from a changeling. The signal was supposed to get stronger the closer I got to it. It wasn’t and we weren’t moving away from it, because it wasn’t getting weaker…

“I don’t know what’s happening with it,” I half-murmured to myself.

“The signal, you mean?” Sergeant Wheeler peered into the darkness as if he could discern the location with just his sight.

“Mm. The biological signature is holding steady,” I said.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Sergeant Wheeler offered.

I shook my head. “The closer we get, the stronger the signal, the further we get, the weaker the signal should be.” I sent another pulse. “No wait, it’s getting weaker right now...”

“Is it moving away from us?” Puff asked.

I almost smacked myself in the forehead. Of course! The signal would be holding steady if we were travelling at the same pace as the changeling in question.

I gave the filly a grateful grin. “Thanks, Puff. That could be it. The changeling must be moving away from us.”

Sergeant Wheeler jerked and his expression cleared.

“Hey, isn’t that direction towards Las Pegasus?” he spoke urgently.

I darted forward. “Quick, we have to meet it, before it leaves the forest. It’ll be harder to track if there are other ponies.”

We jerked forward, running through the scrubs as I sent pulse after pulse to track down the changeling... or whatever it was. It was unlikely to be anything else, since it was moving. At its current pace from the signal decay, I calculated quickly that it would reach the forest limits in ten or twenty minutes. Once it was out of the forest, it could fly away towards the town.

“The signal is a lot weaker now!” I yelled. “I’m going to get out of the forest and try to fly after it.”

“Wait, Princess!”

I galloped forward to get some momentum, then suddenly my hoof caught on something and I pitched forward. Unable to stop myself, I let loose an embarrassing squawk and tumbled to the ground. I grunted, feeling something solid hitting me in the shoulder.

“Princess!” I heard hoof steps frantically coming closer to me.

“Go tend to the Princess, I’ll keep an eye on this thing.”

What?

I got to my hoof somewhat shakily. I shook my head of the gathering fuzziness and blinked a couple of times until the slight double vision came together. Puff was looking at me, her face creased with lines of worry.

“Are you alright, Princess?”

“Twilight,” I mumbled absently. I shook my head again and smiled at Puff. “I’m fine, Puff.”

Puff heaved a sigh of relief. “Oh good, I thought you really hurt yourself when you tripped over that thing.” She pointed a hoof behind her. I looked up ahead and limped over to the object that I had tripped over. Sergeant Wheeler had his dagger out and he nodded at me, his expression relieved at seeing I was okay.

“It looks like it’s barely conscious,” he commented. “But nothing is certain. It could be a deception.”

I cautiously approached the changeling from the side. The sergeant was right, it looked like it was struggling for life. Each breath was a wheeze and the wings on its back twitched and spasmed. I wasn’t an expert on changeling physiology, but this one looked like it was struggling. Maybe even dying.

Sergeant Wheeler glanced at Puff, then slowly slid his dagger back into the side sheath.

“What should we do with it?” he asked me.

The Law dictated that changelings were to be removed from Equestrian soil following the changeling invasion. There was no embassy or consulate or diplomatic equivalent for changelings. The only thing we knew was that changelings had a queen, but Chrysalis had disappeared and we didn’t know another. The Law was clear in this matter. I should hand the changeling over to the guards and let them carry this drone to our borders and set it off there.

The Law was clear, but the situation was not.

I glanced at Sergeant Wheeler. Sergeant Wheeler nodded grimly and stood at attention. He was making a statement. He was a soldier and would follow any orders I gave. Right now, as royalty, I held the arbitration of law in this forest. As Princess, I could decree that this changeling be carted off to the border, without treatment. The best thing would be to take it to a Hive, but since there weren’t any we knew of, we should take it to a hospital. Would doing so set a dangerous precedent? I looked at Puff, who looked back at me with wide eyes. I knew the answer from just one glance. There was no question.

I couldn’t, in good conscience, just abandon this changeling at the border when it was clearly suffering. Though it could pose a threat to Equestria later, the most ethical course of action would be to heal it, then send it on its way.

I had to help this changeling.

“Stand back, everypony,” I ordered, my wings instinctively unfolding as my horn glowed. “I don’t know what’s wrong with this changeling, so I’m going to give it a little bit of everything.”

“Princess, do you think that’s wise—”

“I’m not going to let anything die, especially if it hasn’t done anything wrong,” I declared.

He nodded. “And you don’t have to, we can take it to the hospital, perhaps you could teleport it there.” I was already shaking my head.

“I know you’re worried about me, Sergeant, and I appreciate that, but it’s too far to teleport it or fly out of here. The rate of decay of the biological signature is linked to its life force. It’s got no more than an hour left. I don’t think that’s enough time for anypony to do anything.”

Sergeant Wheeler subsided. “I understand, Princess. Just… be careful.”

I smiled at him. He was a good soldier. I quickly amended that thought. He was a good pony.

“Don’t worry Sergeant, it’s just a healing spell. Everything will be fine,” I said.

Puff shook her head at my blatant disregard to Fate’s whimsy.

“Even I learnt not to say that a looong time ago,” she commented wryly. “But I hope you’re both going to be okay.”

“Thank you, Puff,” I said, shaking my head at that. I closed my eyes and felt the magic flowing through my body. This was going to be a delicate operation. First I’d have to scan his body for trauma. Usually the spell would use (for lack of a better word) an ephemeris of equivalent physiology to heal the stricken pony. Anything that looked like it was out of place would be fixed. The process was very manual, automating healing was considered foolhardy in the extreme. What the spell thought was perfect positioning was not what we considered healthy. In the early days of modern medicine, spells like that often led to ponies waking up with something missing, added or… moved around. I shuddered, trying not to think of that. I concentrated on trying to see what was wrong with this changeling.

But I couldn’t sense anything physically wrong.

The spell didn’t have anything to compare values to and neither did I. Body temperature was below normal, but they were insectoids, so I couldn’t be sure. Blood pressure was low. Heartbeat was fast. Breathing shallow. I didn’t know what were normal values and what weren’t. Physically, the changeling seemed fine. The spell couldn’t find any obvious signs of trauma, no poisons, or what would be considered poisonous to plants, or animals, or insects or ponies. This changeling was looking healthy. There was something I was missing… Something not physical…

My eyes widened as I realised the answer.

“Magic!” I blurted suddenly as I mentally flipped through my internal compendium of spells. There was something about transferral somewhere...

“What?” I heard Sergeant Wheeler say, but I was too focused on finding the solution to answer.

Every changeling had a small spark of magic. I thought it had something to do with their ability. What if they needed that spark to live as well? Then this changeling needed a magic transplant.

Was it dying of hunger? Did it need emotion? I didn’t know if I could feed my emotions into the changeling, but I knew I could give it some of my magic. I paused, uncertain. Would doing what I was doing kill it?

I gritted my teeth. If I didn’t do anything it would die here. There was no spell template for this, I would have to make it up as I went along. I gathered my magic, feeling the raw power gather in my horn. I touched the tip of my horn to the changeling’s.

I couldn’t convey my emotions, but I couldn’t help but send a thought, or perhaps a prayer through the link.

Live, I thought feverishly. Don’t die on me. Stay with me.

With a jolt, a bolt of purest power flowed through our horns and the changeling jerked on the floor. Sergeant Wheeler took a step back and Puff gazed wide-eyed, unable to shift her gaze from the dramatic tableau that was unfolding in front of her.

I couldn’t say anything. All I could do was pour magic into the changeling. I only intended to send it a spark, but the link I established suddenly pulled more magic from me. Surprised, I had tried pulling back, but the link kept me connected with the changeling and I was rooted to the spot.

Stop! Why are you taking so much? Take what you need!

A flicker of something drifted across the link. Suddenly, the flow ebbed and I sagged to the earth like a marionette with its strings cut. The changeling took a deep gasp of air and my head flopped onto its chest. I could hear its heartbeat slowing down. Thoughts swirled around in my head. Did I succeed? I struggled to focus my eyes on the changeling. Its eyes were closed but the breathing was becoming more regular.

I breathed out a sigh of relief.

“I think it’ll be okay,” I called out. I tried to lift my head but I felt a hoof push me back down.

“Don’t overdo it, Princess,” Sergeant Wheeler said firmly. “I’ve seen mage’s malaise before. Don’t make it worse.”

I nodded weakly.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go to Las Pegasus and get some help. Puff, can you stay here?” he asked and I heard him trot off to the side. “Take care of your friend.”

“Okay,” I heard Puff answer and then I heard Sergeant Wheeler gallop off.

After a few moments, I found the strength to raise my head. I saw Puff standing stoically at the edge of the small clearing we were in. I smiled. Although it took much more magical energy than I thought, I was glad the changeling survived. Everything turned out fine.

“Hang in there,” I whispered to the changeling. “Don’t die on me now.”

There was a pause and the changeling croaked. Was it trying to say something? I leaned in closer.

“As you wissshhh…” it hissed weakly. “My… Queeeen…”

Oh. I thought. Oh dear.

Author's Note

Sorry I haven't been active lately, I'll give you the old I've been busy. But hey! At least I'm writing. I think I'll release a couple other chapters across my other fics. In other news this fic has been an idea that has been playing around in my mind for some time. I don't know if it's original, but heck have a read and I hope you enjoy it.

Next Chapter: To connect with another being through magic is a powerful thing in Equestria. Can Twilight escape it?

As always, my accelerating readers, thanks for reading!

P.S. I did some minor edits to some mistakes I caught, but you know I'm not the best at catching my own mistakes. Thanks everyone for giving this a try, see you soon, I hope!
P.P.S Some more minor edits, I'm really, really sorry! You know me, I'm headlong into everything!

2 - Quod Erat Demonstrandum

Chapter 2: Quod Erat Demonstrandum

which is as demonstrated

I swear I had only closed my eyes for a brief moment, but the next thing I saw was a blurred mass of cream.

“Pinkie… that’s too much cream…” I heard someone say. It took me a while to register that it was me.

“She’s awake! Fetch the doctor!”

Was that Sergeant Wheeler? I struggled to get up. The cream resolved itself into a set of wide eyes and a shock of hair surrounding a concerned face.

“Puff?” I mumbled.

“You’re all right!” Two hooves wrapped around my head and hugged for all it was worth. I felt a smile work its way to my lips.

“Thank you, Puff,” I said, my voice muffled through her mane. I used a free hoof to stroke the filly as a smile broke out across my face.

“Wheelie—” Puff began.

“W-Wheelie?!” I heard him splutter. The sound came off somewhere to the right.

“—Wheelie came back with a whole bunch of pegasi. When he saw you, he got all the pegasi to carry you and the changeling back to the hospital! We had to run all the way back. He even carried me— oops, I wasn’t supposed to say that part. He told me never to mention it to anypony.”

I peeked over Puff’s mane and gave Sergeant Wheeler a grateful smile. An added bonus was seeing Sergeant Wheeler blush and look away. Hah, stallions. I glanced at the clock, but it was occluded by a stray curtain.

“A few hours,” he said, answering my unspoken question. “Nothing to worry about, just a slight case of mage’s malaise.”

“Thank you, Sergeant Wheeler, I guess I was wrong about being able to take care of myself,” I said meekly. “Sometimes I do need a helping hoof.”

Sergeant Wheeler snapped a rather formal salute, though the sides of his mouth quirked upwards in a slight smile. “Happy to help, Princess.” He moved towards the bed and tugged on the fuzzy mass at my chest. “Come on now,” he urged. “I’m sure the Princess wouldn’t want a permanent necklace.”

I gave Puff a pat on her head. She nodded at Sergeant Wheeler and then clambered off my bed, joining him at the side.

Then some of Puff’s earlier words sunk in. I sat up.

“The changeling? The changeling! How is it?!” I made to get out of the bed, but I was checked by the sergeant’s hoof.

“It’s fine,” he assured me. “The hospital staff told me that, although they couldn’t be sure, the changeling looked like it would be fine.”

I sank back into my bed, breathing a sigh of relief.

“I wouldn’t know what to do if it—” I shook my head “—in any case, please see that it is well taken care of, but under guard. We’ll have to prepare to relocate it. I’ll need to notify the Princesses and see if they know of the location of any hives. It’s a slim chance, but I’m willing to bet—”

“Princess,” Sergeant Wheeler interrupted quietly. “I know it’s not my place, but you’ve been through a lot. I think it’s best if you take some time to rest yourself and tackle most of this tomorrow.”

Protests died in my throat when I saw Puff’s pleading eyes added amongst the Sergeant’s.

“Okay,” I said, slowly sinking back into my sheets with a rueful grin. “It would be unproductive to overexert myself.”

The sergeant gave me a grateful smile. Puff grinned.

A knock on the door startled all of us. A curious head framed with a wild red mane peeked in.

“You called for a doctor?” the mare said, coming into the room.

“I guess that’s our cue to leave. Thank you, Princess,” Sergeant Wheeler said. He tapped Puff smartly on the shoulder. “Time to leave.” Puff gave a pout, but complied reluctantly.

I tracked them as they left the room, closing the door with an almost inaudible click. Puff sent me back a wide-eyed stare and it was all I could do to wave at her as she dragged her hooves out of the room. She was a precious foal. Meanwhile, the doctor was fairly quick with her assessment and I let her walk me through her diagnosis. She muttered a few things about the cautions of mage’s malaise and I found myself nodding and drifting off, not really catching what she was saying.

“Princess Twilight?”

“Mmm?” I blinked and refocused on the doctor. I shook my head. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

The doctor’s mouth creased into a slight frown, but she went forward with what she was saying while I sat there feeling a little guilty that I had ignored her.

“I was just letting you know that you’re free to leave, however I recommend you staying here for another few days under observation. Just in case.”

I nodded in acquiescence and the doctor surprisingly let go a sigh of relief.

“Sorry,” she said in answer to my querying look. “We haven’t treated an alicorn before. It’s a little daunting.”

I smiled at her. “I’m not an expert, but I think you’re doing great.” I paused, giving an awkward shrug of my shoulders. “I’m just like any other pony, just with horns and wings.”

I liked to think that set her at ease, because she straightened slightly and smiled, then asked me to sign a few forms with a more confident gesture. After sorting out most of the bureaucratic side of hospital life, I yawned as the doctor gave me a sympathetic smile.

“You need to rest,” she advised and I could only nod wearily. The doctor scribbled a few more items on my chart and gave me a cross between a nod and a bow. She swung around, and as abruptly as she came, she left the room, flicking the door closed behind her.

I sat in my bed hearing the constant tick of the clock. I shivered. The room felt empty and hollow and I was left with only the sound of my own thoughts to keep me company.

——————

Tick, tick, tick.

I didn’t want them to. I really didn’t. I recited all of Star Swirl’s spells, from amniomorphic to zyganstry. I tried to read. I tried to sleep. I tried everything I could think of and still I couldn’t banish the niggling thoughts. No matter how I drew away from it, it always came back to that moment of inception, as I lay there with my head bent close to the changeling’s chest.

My Queen.

What did that mean?

I shivered, instinctively drawing the thin linen blankets around me. I tapped my hoof on one of the railings on the side of the bed, hearing the metallic sound echo in the room. There wasn’t anypony else around here. The adjacent bed was kept empty and even the normal sounds one would frequently associate with a hospital, like the pulse of an electrocardiogram or the shuffle of hospital staff, were absent. The silence was eerie.

For a split second, everything felt muted, like I was underwater and sensations felt distant and hollow.

Was it just me or was the clock no longer ticking?

Then suddenly as it came, the feeling was gone. I blinked in surprise.

Was it just my imagination?

Tick, tick, tick.

It was frustrating to hear the sound of the clock, but not actually see it. It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes that have passed since Sergeant Wheeler and Puff had left… it felt like hours.

I licked my lips. My throat was feeling dry. On the bedside table was a glass and a pitcher of water. Habitually, my horn sparked as I reached for my magic, but I reigned it in. Magic had become a big part of my life and I found it difficult to resist performing the simplest of spells. I berated myself for not having more self-control. I had read about mage’s malaise before.

Instead of simple magic exhaustion, mage’s malaise resulted from supplying too much of your own internal magic in a spell. It was common to see in novice doctors and ponies performing medical procedures out of their depth, but I thought I could handle it. Too many confounding variables, I think, and a touch of overconfidence. Grimacing, I hoofed over the glass of water and poured myself a couple of gulps to slake my thirst.

Gulping down the water, I felt a little better about myself. Everypony makes mistakes. I had to learn from them, that’s all. I chuckled to myself. There was probably a friendship lesson in this too. The window caught my eye. I was past the point of friendship lessons, wasn’t I?

A yawn caught me by surprise, my body letting me know that its exertions were catching up to me. It had only been a few hours since I had found the changeling, but it felt like days. My eyes fluttered. A little nap would be nice.

——————

With a start, I awoke. I panicked, not knowing where I was until I realised I was at the hospital. Las Pegasus, White Tail Woods, right.

My ears pricked, swivelling around the room to the odd sound that had roused me from sleep. There were muffled exclamations coming from the other side of the hospital door.

“Oof— will— I can’t— right— call—”

The door burst open and I almost bolted out of my bed in fright. Through the door tumbled in something I wasn’t ready to meet, as well as what looked like half the hospital staff and the whole contingent of the local guard.

“Keep it still! Somepony get the tranquiliser!”

At the words, I jolted into action.

“Hold it!”

Everypony froze.

From underneath the bodies, the changeling from the woods struggled from beneath the pile and clambered to its hooves. A guard’s hoof shot out to restrain it, but I cautiously waved it away. Reluctantly, the guard retracted his hoof as the changeling approached me slowly, nonchalant, despite the many pairs of eyes trained warily on it.

“Yes?” I asked it gently. My outer facade was a lie, I could feel my heart was racing faster than a minotaur with its fur on fire. Despite that, I was getting good at channelling my inner Celestia and projecting that outwards. They wouldn’t know I was about to launch myself out the window.

It looked at me with unsettling blank eyes. Despite my efforts, I swallowed a little too thickly for posterity’s sake.

“I am here, my Queen,” it reported to me. It had a tone that reminded me of a pony who was just talking about the colour of the sky. The tail end of the sentence bothered me. I shot a look back at the hospital staff. The guards had sorted themselves out from the tangled mess from afore. They stared at me, openly curious at the unfolding proceedings, but ready with a word from my lips. I couldn’t see Puff or the sergeant and I was surprised to feel somewhat at a loss without them.

“Would you mind excusing us for a moment?” I asked the onlookers.

“Princess—” one of the guards started to say but I nodded at him.

“Don’t worry,” I said in what I hoped was a reassuring tone. “I’ll be fine, I think.”

“All the same—”

“Would you please close the door behind you on the way out?” I knew I was being a little rude, but what the changeling was saying had made me twitchy. I flicked an ear as the door shut and I strained to hear the reluctantly retreating hoof steps. After I was reasonably sure they were gone, I turned back to the changeling that stood there stoically by my bedside.

“Are you alright? Are you sure you should be out of bed?” I didn’t know what the creature’s agenda was, but logically it hadn’t done anything wrong… well apart from forcing its way into my room. It didn’t look like it wanted to hurt anypony.

“I am healthy, my Queen,” it droned.

I carefully smoothed my expression.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked tentatively, feeling a prickling sensation in my hooves and in the tips of my mane. That feeling never bore well.

“Please be more specific, my Queen.”

“I mean ‘Queen’,” I said tentatively. “I’m not a Queen, and I’m not your Queen. Who is your real Queen?”

The changeling looked perplexed. Its wings fluttered a bit and it took a step towards my bed.

“You are my Queen,” it said.

I straightened out the blankets beneath my hooves, trying to think of a nice way to put it.

“I’m not your Queen,” I repeated patiently. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. You can just call me Twilight.”

“Yes, my Queen.”

My eye twitched. I didn’t know whether the changeling was doing it deliberately or if it truly believed I was its queen. I glanced at the changeling suspiciously and then shook my head. Something told me that this issue wasn’t going to go away, but maybe I could talk some sense into it? I tried another tack.

“Surely you must have a hive close by? Do you have a hive?” I asked.

“Hive…?” The changeling’s eyes blinked a couple of times. “Yes, my Queen.”

I stiffened, then sat up straighter. “Great! Maybe you could show me where it is?”

The changeling raised its hoof. It started slowly from the bottom of my bed, raised it past the railing, and past the sheets... to stop at my chest.

I looked at its hoof, and then to its face.

“That’s not funny,” I said crossly. “Where’s your hive?”

The changeling didn’t move an inch. The hoof stayed where it was. I felt my face pull into a frown. Was this changeling serious? It stood there, its gaze trained on me… like a dog awaiting a mistress’ orders. No… that was crazy. I took a deep breath, trying not to give in the sense of dread that lurked in the back of my mind. Maybe it hit its head before we got to it? Yes, that could be it. No, that was it. It was just playing with me.

It still had its hoof pointed at me.

“You can put your hoof down now.”

“Yes, my Queen,” it said… and kept its hoof in the air.

My mouth quirked. It was definitely messing with me.

“Put your hoof down,” I commanded. To my surprise, the changeling put down its hoof.

“As you wish, my Queen.”

What? Was it…? Some tests were needed.

“Look up,” I instructed.

“As you wish, my Queen,” it stated.

The changeling looked up.

“Look at me.” It looked at me.

“Can you turn around?”

“Yes, my Queen.” It continued to look at me.

Comprehension finally dawned on me. It wasn’t being recalcitrant, it was just interpreting my questions literally. The changeling simply replied ‘yes’ or ‘no’ when I asked if it could perform an action. Fascinating… I opened my mouth to discover more, but I suddenly remembered where I was. This wasn’t the time or place to conduct tests or perform an investigation.

“Okay, start from the beginning. Do you know where we are?”

“We are here, my Queen.”

My eye twitched. Literal indeed.

“We’re at Las Pegasus General. Can you— I mean, tell me why you’re here.”

“To serve the Queen, my Queen.”

“Would you— I mean stop that. Stop calling me Queen. Call me Twilight or Ms. Sparkle or Hey You or even Princess!”

“As you wish… my Princess.”

Well it was a small step up. I wanted to say more but a knock on the door interrupted me.

“Princess?” A muffled voice reverberated through. Oh, Sergeant Wheeler.

“Come in,” I said as the door opened to admit the stallion. I cast my gaze around, hoping to see the shock of hair that was Puff, but I couldn’t spot her.

“Gone back home,” Sergeant Wheeler stated. I flinched with his uncanny habit of reading minds.

“Comes with the job,” the sergeant chuckled. I had to school my features, lest surprise break through.

I smiled at him anyway, grateful for his presence, but I could see the lines scored beneath his eyes. “You should go home and get some rest too, Sergeant, you look dead on your hooves,” I commented wryly. Sergeant Wheeler cracked a grin, but shook of my concerns with a flick of his tail. He lifted his chin stubbornly.

“Nothing too serious, I’m in fit condition. If I may direct the question back to you, Princess, you seem to be up and about, despite medical advice to get some rest.” He eyed the changeling. “Though maybe your visitors are keeping you up.”

I glanced at the changeling.

“You can go back to— Please go back to your room.”

“As you wish, my Princess,” the changeling said, then it stayed rooted to its spot.

Sergeant Wheeler looked at me curiously. I sighed.

“To your room,” I groaned, pointing to the door. “Do you know where your room is?”

“Yes, my Princess.”

It stood in the same spot.

Sergeant Wheeler looked from the changeling to me. I tried one more time.

“Where is your room?” I asked it. Blue-hued eyes regarded me. It pointed a hoof to the floor. In the centre of my room.

“This is our room, my Princess,” it said, while I rolled my eyes.

Sergeant Wheeler glanced at me with a look that conveyed sympathy.

“I think this changeling is a bit touched in the head.”

I sighed. “That’s what I thought too. We just don’t know enough about these changelings.” I stopped and scowled at the changeling. “Please put your hoof down.” I waited for the changeling to comply before continuing. “For some reason it thinks I’m its Queen, don’t ask me why.”

“Do you think it had something to do with the magic you cast in the forest?” Sergeant Wheeler proffered.

I pursed my lips. It made sense, but that wasn’t consistent with the way magic worked.

“Nothing like that has ever happened before,” I said slowly, trying to put the facts together. I cast my mind back to the moment I shared some of my magic with it. What happened was non-standard to put it lightly, but magic is very structural. There’s simple input and simple output. You get out what you put in. Known quantities. Most of the time. If you messed up it was because you put too much power, or you weren’t channeling the right energies, or you got the spell wrong. I didn’t get the spell wrong and as for the power draw… it would just get more of my magic.

“I don’t see how this could have panned out,” I said honestly. I shrugged. “Maybe it lost its connection with the hive and it latched onto me?”

“I didn’t know that was possible…” Sergeant Wheeler muttered, then he shook his head. “I’ll get the changeling back to its room. How about you get some rest?”

I nodded. I was going to write a report to the Princess, but Sergeant Wheeler would probably worry if I suddenly started working in front of him.

“Can you follow Sergeant Wheeler to your room and stay there?”

“Yes, my Princess.”

Sergeant Wheeler made for the door, opening it and looking back. The changeling hadn’t moved from its spot by my side.

“Uhh Princess—“

“Please follow Sergeant Wheeler to your room and stay there,” I growled. “Your room will be the one that Sergeant Wheeler points out for you.”

The changeling looked at me for a moment. It didn’t move.

“You will be here, my Princess,” it said. It sounds like something in between a question and a statement. It was hard to tell, its voice was so monotonous.

“Yes?” I replied.

“Then I must stay here, my Princess,” it stated.

“W-Why?” I demanded.

“Because you ordered me to,” it said.

Sergeant Wheeler stepped forward. “Princess, shall I?” But I raised my hoof stopping him.

“No, no,” I said, turning back to the changeling. “What? When?”

“In the forest,” the changeling stated. “You said, ‘Don’t die on me. Stay with me’.”

Memories of that moment flooded my mind. Dear Celestia, I thought that… did this changeling hear me back then?

“T-That’s impossible, I was only thinking that, I was desperate.”

The changeling locked unnerving eyes with me.

“I heard,” it said. “And I obeyed.”

Author's Note

I did not expect this to get such positive feedback!

Thanks for giving this a shot. I'd like to say I will try to live up to expectations, but her, I'm just that writer that pokes around with his creations every now and again.

Next Chapter: So many questions, so little time.

As always, my symbolic readers, thanks for reading!

P.S. I love hearing feedback or discussing my writing with my readers or other fellow authors, you can talk to me about anything, just head over to my userpage, my skype's in the top-right... Yeah I get lonely sometimes.
P.P.S. First two chapters currently retroactively edited by Izanagi, and some stylistic sentences added. I also added some minor edits again.

3 - Exitus Acta Probat

Chapter 3: Exitus Acta Probat

the ends justifies the means

It wasn’t long before I was up and about again. Though not necessarily confined to my bed, I wasn’t cleared to leave the hospital. It had only been a couple of days, and I could always get myself discharged… but the worried glances from the staff and especially the local guards, made me feel too guilty while signing the papers. So instead of ticking ‘self-discharge’, I sighed and checked ‘observation’. Their slightly nervous grins were well-meant, but I felt like an invalid with the way they were treating me. Also, being in the same room with the changeling made me want to get some fresh air. It wasn’t its fault, really. It hadn’t done anything wrong to warrant the aversion… only its staring was slowly getting to me.

To distract myself, I spent a lot of the time looking out the window.

When Rainbow Dash gets here, I’ll ask her to show me around Las Pegasus. The vista from the window alone was enough to keep my jaw open for longer than posterity dictated. Whimsical wisps of clouds framed the intricate architecture of a floating city above an equally crowded urban landscape below. She once described, grudgingly, that Las Pegasus came a close second to Cloudsdale’s ‘coolness’. What it couldn’t achieve with ‘coolness’ was apparently made up for in ‘radicalness’. I must say, the two couldn’t really be compared. While Cloudsdale certainly had the magnitude and scale, Las Pegasus had an artistic flair that really revealed the flashy pride of the pegasi living here.

A couple of days before being discharged, I was scared out of my wits.

“Who!”

The familiar noise made me turn my head, but I was not expecting two great big eyes so close.

“Eek!”

I back-pedalled quickly and tripped over the frame of my bed, with a sickening lurch I knew I was going to hit the opposite wall hard.

“No, no, no!”

I braced myself for the well-deserved blow to my overreaction.

Thud

I hit something, but nothing that resembled the tiled hardness of the hospital walls. Cracking open a wary eye, all I saw was black. Dull shades of granulated matte black. For a moment I thought I was in a weird state of being lucidly unconscious, but then I realised I was looking at the rough chitin that made up the changeling… and that the changeling had transposed itself between me and the wall. I was awkwardly cradled between its hooves, cuddled to its chest while it stared down at me. On closer inspection, the blankness of its eyes faded away, leaving a brilliant sky-blue pupil hidden behind a membranous covering. So that’s why changeling eyes always looked so blank. It was actually quite pretty, in an alien, lethal, cat-like predator sort of way.

So deep was I in my observations that it took me a while to realise I was in a somewhat compromising position.

“Uhh thank you,” I said, pulling myself away from it with reddening cheeks. It steadied me with its hooves and then returned to its spot slightly off-centre of the room. I headed back to the window, my hooves trying to clasp a heart that was straining to leave its chest. I didn’t know if that was anatomically possible, but my heart was certainly trying.

“Oooooh.” I sighed, letting go the rest of my pent-up breath in a nervous titter. I looked around to see if anypony had seen the unprincess-like display. Wary eyes scanned the room. Phew. No pony. I bit my lip. Well no pony. The changeling was still there. Was that a slight grin I spotted? Surely not.

Probably my imagination.

Perched on the window ledge was a familiar companion from Ponyville. He stared at me with curious eyes mixed with amusement. My exaggerated reaction must have looked silly from his perspective, but I was glad to see a familiar face, even if it wasn’t a pony I knew. Or even a pony.

“Owlowiscious,” I greeted in relief. How did he find me all the way in the hospital? Clever bird.

“Who!” he replied, his feather fluffing with pride. Owlowiscious lifted a claw, and I noticed that there was a scroll tied to it.

“Is that for me?”

He nodded, waving the parchment impatiently as if to say that it was obvious. I must be a mess. Of course it was for me, who else would it be for?

Owlowiscious peered owlishly behind my shoulder. Instinctively, I glanced out of the corner of my eye, though I knew what was there. The changeling. It was still standing in the same position, having refused to leave its spot multiple times. I had to convince Sergeant Wheeler that it was no threat, though that prospect was only slightly less arduous than convincing the changeling that it should probably move to another room. It told me it had to stay nearby. It probably thought that it was justified, seeing as it saved me from the greatest threat in the hospital.

Myself.

I thought about introducing the two, but Owlowiscious seemed to lose interest in the changeling, waving the parchment again.

“Thanks, Owlowiscious,” I mumbled gratefully, gently prying the scroll from his grasp. He fluffed his feathers once again and settled down on the window frame, with the changeling eyeing him curiously. I examined the scroll, noting that the seal hadn’t been affixed properly and the ribbon bound the document loosely. My eyes narrowed suspiciously. Shoddy work. Unfurling the parchment with pursed lips, I skimmed over the scrawled contents swiftly. But my displeasure quickly evaporated as quickly as it had arisen as I read the message.

Hey Twi’,

Spike was worried about you so he wanted me and Fluttershy to head over and give you a visit. We might be a while because Fluttershy wanted to take the train, but we’ll be where you are in a few days. Maybe when we’re around we could check out the local sights? I know some pretty cool places we can hang. Oh, and if Owlowiscious doesn’t get this to you, hang tight, okay?

Awesomely Signed,

Rainbow Dash

A chuckle slipped out unbidden while I read the hastily scribbled words from Rainbow. As always, her writing looked as if they themselves wanted to fly off the page. Though I had gotten used to her… colourful scrawls, it didn’t make it any easier to read, but I had long since given up on teaching her the ins and out of proper cursive writing. Still, the message brought a heady grin and lifted my brooding mood. Looks like Rainbow would be showing me around sooner than I expected.

I glanced at the changeling one more time, shaking my head free of the earlier unease I had unthinkingly saddled myself with. Rainbow would charge at this head-on. Or Fluttershy would approach this with a little care and understanding. Even when they weren’t here, my friends still had my back.

Okay, time to find out a little more about our little friend.

“Uhh…” I began.

It stared back at me. Preparatory words died stillborn in my throat.

If only I could think of something to ask it.

—————

I was still thinking of potential interrogative questions, when a knock on the door startled me from my reverie. Sergeant Wheeler, peeked around the door, along with a familiar face.

“Princess!”

“Puff?”

The little bundle of fur detached herself from Sergeant Wheeler and bounded into the room, practically bouncing on the spot in front of me.

I couldn’t help but grin at Puff. I pulled her into a small hug.

“Now, what did I say about calling me Princess?”

“Sorry, Prin— Twilight, Wheelie told me it wasn’t proper to address you any other way.”

“Did he now?” I murmured. I arched an eyebrow at the sergeant. He suddenly found something interesting to look at out the window.

“In any case, I’m glad you’re here,” I continued. I surprised myself at how heartfelt those words were.

Puff glanced over to the changeling.

“Oh, is that the changeling?” she babbled, bounding over. She would have gotten further if Sergeant Wheeler’s hoof hadn’t shot out lightning-fast. I blinked. Wow. That was either good training or a trained response. Either way it was impressive.

“Puff,” he growled. “I wouldn’t get too comfortable around it.”

Puff pouted. “Why not?”

“Because it could be dangerous.”

“Why?”

“Because it could be on a secret mission for its own hive.”

“Why?”

“Because its Queen might have thought it was a good idea.”

“Why?”

“Because the Queen might think it’s beneficial to do so.”

“Why?”

“Because changelings need to eat.”

“Why?”

“To survive.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s what all living creatures want to do, survive.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s a fact of nature.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s how it’s always been.”

“Why?”

“Because… I— It’s the existential question that drives us to seek further knowledge on our purpose for existence in the first place, our meaning only truly affirmed by something that can only be attained whence we have met our baser needs!”

“…Why?”

From the way Sergeant Wheeler’s brow drew together and spluttered, it was apparent that he was a few words away from the end of his rope. Puff’s wide and innocent eyes prevented the stallion from blowing a fuse, and instead he took a deep, deep breath. I hid a grin behind a wing and pretended to re-read Rainbow’s message as he glanced my way suspiciously.

“Oh just listen to me, okay? It’s dangerous!”

Puff turned to me.

“Princess Twilight? Wheelie won’t answer my questions.”

I suppressed a giggle. I was almost tempted to let Puff terrorise the hardened sergeant for a while longer, but I let it go, deciding that consigning him to that fate could very well spell the sergeant’s untimely demise. I addressed Puff’s question directly.

“The answer is, Puff, is that we don’t know,” I said. “That’s why we should be careful, because anything could happen.”

Puff blinked a couple of times.

“Oh,” she said. “Okay.”

Sergeant Wheeler gazed at me with something akin to awestruck reverence. I shifted on my hooves, growing uncomfortable under his potent gaze.

“Teach me how to do that,” he said.

I giggled as Sergeant Wheeler frowned at Puff. He looked like he was trying to solve a particularly pernicious Puff-sized puzzle. At last he shook his head and gave me a lopsided grin.

“Glad to see you better, Princess,” he continued warmly. “They told me laughter is the best medicine, so Puff wrote you a prescription.”

“It’s true,” Puff said, drawing out a yellow and white coded piece of paper.

“One dose of laughter,” I read out loud with an amused undercurrent. “Stat. Signed Dr. —”

“Who!”

“Ah!” I cried.

“Ahh!” Puff yelped.

“AH! What?!” Sergeant Wheeler shouted.

Right. I had forgotten about Owlowiscious.

“Princess,” Sergeant Wheeler cried. “There’s an owl at your window!”

“An owl?!” Puff exclaimed, bounding to the window. “Cool!”

I quickly reassured Sergeant Wheeler.

“It’s okay!” I exclaimed. “I know him!”

The sergeant still looked like he wanted to tackle Owlowiscious, even though we were ten storeys high… and Owlowiscious was a bird. I quickly introduced him before the twitchy sergeant tried flying without wings.

“Everypony, my night assistant, Owlowiscious. Owlowiscious, this is Puff and Sergeant Wheeler.”

Owlowiscious blinked at me.

“Who?” he hooted.

I chuckled as Owlowiscious fluffed his feathers again, looking pleased at the attention he had garnered.

“As you can probably tell, he’s a playful owl,” I commented affectionately, giving Owlowiscious a pat on the head.

Puff stretched out her hooves hopefully and Owlowiscious obliged her by flittering down from his perch to straddle Puff’s fore hoof. She giggled as he crawled up and down her forelimb and hooted.

“Do you want to play with Owlowiscious outside?” I asked.

Puff hesitated for a moment before nodding enthusiastically.

“Off you go then,” I urged. “Take care not to cause any trouble.”

Sergeant Wheeler grunted. “Don’t worry Princess, I’m sure she won’t go in the woods this time.”

Puff flushed a deep red before scrambling to get out the door. She looked like she was going to say something, but evidently thought it was a better idea to make away with Owlowiscious than risk a rejoinder with Sergeant Wheeler.

When the door closed with a click, Sergeant Wheeler turned to me, his facial expression carefully neutral.

“Princess, about the changeling…”

I sighed, feeling a sense of déjá vu. “Yes,” I replied, looking at it. It hadn’t moved an inch from its spot throughout this whole exchange. A couple of times I told it to sit down or take a break, because it wouldn’t do it itself. I had a feeling that it would stand vigil until it collapsed of exhaustion. I wasn’t sure, of course, but I didn’t want to take the risk.

“What’s your plan, Princess?”

I weighed my options. I had already sent a letter to Princess Celestia, but until I heard back from her, I’d have to deal with it on my own. It seemed healthy enough, and I think the magic I gave it was enough to keep it healthy. I couldn’t help wondering though, what would happen when it run out of the magic I’ve given it? Would I have to feed it some more? Would it start feeding off other ponies? I clamped down on that line of questioning. Deep breaths, like Cadance said. Think about the solution, not the problem.

“We’ll need to find a hive that’s willing to take it in,” I reasoned out loud. “If there is another hive, and provided they’re willing to talk in the first place.” I shook my head. “But, we’ll figure that out later, for now we should try and get in contact with one.”

Sergeant Wheeler nodded. “Makes sense,” he murmured, tapping his muzzle thoughtfully. “I’ll coordinate with the local Guard and see if there has been any reports recently of changeling sightings. Who knows? Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

I found myself nodding along with his suggestion. “Yes, we could ask any travellers coming in if they’ve seen or heard anything recently. After that, a report can be compiled to cross-check the rumours. Eventually we’ll find a hive.”

“And if we don’t?” Sergeant Wheeler posed.

I swallowed, expecting the question, but definitely unready to answer.

“I guess we’ll have to host it until we do.”

Sergeant Wheeler pursed his lips, but didn’t say anything. He knew it was a stop-gap measure, and his eyes studied me critically.

“Is there a problem with that?” I asked, a little harsher than I meant.

Sergeant Wheeler shook his head hastily and looked away.

I mentally kicked myself. Sergeant Wheeler was only worried about me, and I could understand his concerns with something so unknown. The poor stallion was just doing his job. I had to explain myself.

“Sergeant,” I said. “I’m sorry, that was unwarranted. I just feel like the changeling can be trusted.” I held up a hoof to stem his visibly rising protests. Princess Celestia would give this changeling the benefit of the doubt, I’m sure of it. “For now,” I added, then glanced at the chart. “Besides, once my reserves are up, I doubt it would try anything.” I grinned ruefully. “But I’d also like to hear what you think, maybe I’ve been a bit hasty with my judgement.”

Sergeant Wheeler cleared his throat and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t like it, Princess. It doesn’t look like a setup, but it feels like one.”

I cocked my head, curious. “What do you mean?” I asked, glancing sidelong at him.

The guard studied the changeling, then turned back to address me. “Over the years, I’ve gotten a feeling about certain situations. For example, when I’m chasing a thief down an alleyway and I notice that there’s no pedestrians around. Or when I’m tracking a dangerous creature and I notice the forest has gone silent. Little things that prickle my coat and set my teeth on edge. So when a changeling shows up acting all innocent…”

He glanced back our silent participant, his mouth twisted in a nervous grimace.

“It’s an unnerving feeling, Princess,” he finished.

“I can’t see it meaning any harm…” I began, but then trailed off. A seed of doubt lodged itself in the back of my mind. I wanted to give the creature a chance, but could I be making a grave mistake? I didn’t feel like anything was off, not like Cadance’s wedding. Current evidence suggested that changelings shouldn’t be trusted, but there was always subterfuge. If changelings were good at anything it was deception. Still...

“Oh I don’t doubt it, Princess,” Sergeant Wheeler replied. “But it’s like we’re caught in an invisible web, and the changeling is right at the centre of it.”

An uncomfortable silence followed. With a shiver, Sergeant Wheeler turned away from the blank eyes of the changeling and dipped his head apologetically.

“Sorry, Princess,” he muttered. “I guess I’m on edge from all the drama recently, and there’s…” He stopped himself. “Never mind.”

I made to say something, but the sergeant quickly begged off.

“I’ll get to organising the searches and the reports, Princess,” he stated, giving me a salute. “And just in case, I’ll tell a couple of guards to keep an eye on it. See you tomorrow, Princess.”

Before I could object, the sergeant gave me a hasty bow, then left the room, closing the door behind him. Moments later, the guards stationed outside my room entered tentatively. I didn’t have the heart to tell them to leave again, so they stationed themselves next the changeling, who registered them neutrally as they approached.

I paced around in front of the changeling.

“What am I going to do with you?” I murmured to myself.

My gaze drifted among the various knick knacks that made up a hospital room. It was bland… a couple of vases, some flowers, a clock, a book—

A book!

A devilish grin spread across my muzzle. Yes, there was something I could do in the spare time…

——————

The doctor tried to stop me from leaving the hospital. No can do. I was on an important mission.

“I’m not getting discharged,” I explained patiently. “I’m just getting some light reading material.”

The doctor had trouble focusing on me when the two flanking guards—and changeling—stared her down.

“Uhh, n-no,” she stammered. “Look, you’re under my observation…”

Then the changeling growled.

I glanced back at the changeling in surprise. I didn’t know changelings could growl. When I turned back, the poor doctor was quivering where she stood.

“O-Okay!” she squeaked, signing the form with a messy scribble and dashing off as fast as her knock-kneed legs could carry her.

I felt sorry for the doctor, she was only doing her job.

With a sigh, I turned to my entourage, addressing everypony, but making eye-contact with the changeling.

“Hey you can’t just growl at my doctor,” I lectured the changeling. “She’s just trying to help me. Believe it or not, she also tried to help you, and she was really scared of you. Be nice to her. You should be nice to ponies that help.”

The changeling blinked at me, before nodding slowly.

“Yes, my Princess,” it droned.

——————

Sergeant Wheeler vented a snort when he saw me splayed among my little book fort.

I call it that because it reminded me of my foalhood ‘book forts’ that I had actually created from heavy reference materials. But like my mother, Sergeant Wheeler did not look too impressed, despite the fact that the retaining wall was about as high as my chest. Well I didn’t need his disapproving opinion anyway, I was proud of it.

“Princess, what is all this? You’re supposed to be recovering you know. You shouldn’t be… out of bed.”

I read the undercurrent in his tone.

You shouldn’t be playing with books, he meant.

I waved an impatient hoof in his direction, not bothering to rise from the comforting bed of books.

“I’m fine,” I shot back dismissively. “You worry too much.”

Sergeant Wheeler groaned and turned to the two guards next to the changeling.

“Come on you two, aren’t you sworn into the service?”

The two guards shifted uncomfortably.

“Couldn’t stop the Princess, Sergeant,” the one on the left mumbled. During the course of our little argument about priorities I learned his name was Private Smirch. “When I tried to block her exit she just teleported past us. Then the changeling tackled us both to get to the door.”

Smirch’s partner continued the report with an embarrassed expression. “Before we could take any action,” she explained with a sidelong glance at me. “The Princess ordered us to stand down. We complied.”

Sergeant Wheeler sighed. Well the Princess does outrank the Sergeant. Consider your orders countermanded. Nothing gets between me and my books. Nothing.

“Where did you find the time to get all these books? Shouldn’t you have read one at a time?”

I shrugged nonchalantly. “Oh I’ve read them all, I’m just going through some of the more esoteric sections again, because it’s hard to recall texts written in another language.”

Sergeant Wheeler seemed taken aback.

“Read through them– wait, you’ve actually read all of these books?!” he spluttered. “Do you have some sort of photographic memory?”

I giggled. “Oh no, don’t be silly,” I replied. “I don’t remember them word for word, that’s why I had to read through most of them again.”

Sergeant Wheeler glanced at the clock and then back at the books.

“What, all of them? Where did you find the time to do that?” he pressed.

“I read them while you were gone,” I answered, now shrinking under his intense stare. “Uhh, is that a problem?” My eyes widened as a sudden thought struck me. “Oh no! Am I not allowed to borrow this many books from the local archives?! Oh shoot! I’ll send them back as soon as I can!”

Sergeant Wheeler waved his hooves frantically. “No, no! It’s not that!” He glanced between the thick mountain of books and myself. The sergeant seemed to have trouble accepting the situation. “It’s just… how?” was all he could say.

I shrugged, how else do you read a book?

“I just pick up a book and read it,” I said. “It’s easy if you isolate the parts that are important.”

Sergeant Wheeler’s shock could have matched Rarity’s when she first saw me dance. I mentally cringed at the image. I’ve been taking dance lessons at her insistence. Don’t ask. My hooves still hurt.

“That’s… scarily efficient. I mean, just a day and over a hundred volumes of reference texts on…” he picked out a tome, but trailed off as he gazed at the seeming random scribbles that adorned the spine “I can’t even read what this says.”

“It’s Ancient Hippogriff,” I explained, lifting the book gently from his grasp with my telekinetic field. “The book is an anthology of fables and tales collected from lands all over Equestria and beyond.”

Sergeant Wheeler looked confused, so I hastily pressed on.

“The Hippogriffs mention a certain equine-like creature that sucked the soul out of its hosts. The victims would lie in a ‘twilight’ state unable to respond to any external stimuli.”

Sergeant Wheeler’s eyes narrowed. “Are you saying…?”

I smiled with a conspirator’s nod and pulled another book from the wall. I flicked through the pages until I found the paragraph.

“Here,” I said, passing over the book. “Read this.”

Sergeant Wheeler accepted the book and scanned the contents, reading it out loud.

“—and in my journey I was beset by the oddest of creatures, it looked terrifying in its visage of large fangs and blank, blank eyes. I felt drawn into those fathomless depths, and whilst I fell spiralling, something vital within me almost broke and left my body. If not for Clover, I would have been taken there and then. When I regained my senses, the creature was gone and there was no evidence it had even existed in the first place. Thank the Stars for that…”

“Clover… hmm, Star Swirl?” Sergeant Wheeler murmured.

I blinked in surprise. “You know about Star Swirl?”

“He was mentioned briefly during the course on counterspells,” Sergeant Wheeler replied. “But that means…”

I nodded, my wings unfurling slightly in excitement. “Yes! This is an early record of changelings! Pre-classical, even!”

“So changelings preceded the nation of Equestria?” Sergeant Wheeler looked doubtful. “I wonder what that means.”

I shrugged, though my shivery excitement of the discovery was drowning out Sergeant Wheeler’s skepticism.

“I don’t know!” I exclaimed. “But isn’t that great? There’s more to learn about these changelings!”

Sergeant Wheeler looked uncomfortable. He shifted on his hooves and glanced at the changeling. “You’re awfully accepting of changelings, Princess.”

Anticipation deflated as fast as it had risen. My shoulders sagged. “Well I wouldn’t say I would trust every changeling out there.” Unbidden, my thoughts flickered back to Chrysalis. With an effort, I forced the thoughts back. “What if this changeling is different? Knowing more about them wouldn’t do any harm. It would help, wouldn’t it?”

Sergeant Wheeler nodded hesitantly. “Sorry Princess, I feel like we keep coming back to the same subject. I find it hard to trust the changeling—“ he saw my look and bustled on “—and I’m not suggesting anything drastic. I’m just worried that there’s more to this changeling than meets the eye. I’m a stallion that has to see things for itself before I can trust it.”

Muted hoof steps caused us to both turn around. The changeling was there, holding out a self-inking fountain pen in its hoof. I glanced back at the desk where I had left it and realised that the changeling had retrieved it without me even noticing that he had moved from one side of the room to the other.

“For me?” I asked, reaching for it. Surprisingly, the changeling moved away from my grasp.

“No, my Princess,” it replied mechanically. The changeling shuffled over to Sergeant Wheeler and presented the pen to him instead. It blinked at him expectantly.

Not knowing what to expect, the sergeant reached out and carefully took the pen. He inspected it suspiciously for a few moments, but evidently, even a pen couldn’t be construed as a changeling trap.

“Uhh, thank you,” he muttered sending a confused glance my way. I shrugged, I didn’t know what it was up to any more than he did.

Then the door clicked open.

A frazzled pony stepped in. I describe her as such because she sported a frizzy mane and skewed glasses. Surprisingly, the mare ignored every other occupant in the room, beelining straight to Sergeant Wheeler after spotting him as the first pony just outside the door.

“Sergeant Wheeler?! There you are! We’ve done a preliminary survey of the local residents. We’ve got a lead, but I’ll need you to sign here— where— ah pony feathers, where did I place my pen?”

In a louder voice she called out to the rest of the room. Though she wore the Guard’s uniform, I somewhat bemusedly observed that the smart dress and armour didn’t seem to dampen her dizzying demeanour.

“Anypony got a pen?!”

Sergeant Wheeler stepped forward hastily. “It’s okay, Private, I have one… here.” He glanced at the changeling out the corner of his eye. He turned to me with a querying look. I smiled and waved him away. He should probably talk to the Private, it seemed important.

“Oh good,” the mare continued, bringing out a shockingly large sheaf of papers from her saddlebags. “Sign here, and here, and here… and here.” Sergeant Wheeler sighed, dumping the papers on the bedside table and signing the forms with an angry flourish. The guard whistled discordantly as she waited patiently for Sergeant Wheeler to finish his task. Then her eyes finally registered the changeling.

“Oh,” she said nonchalantly. “Changeling.”

Then she did a comic double-take, her arms waving wildly in the air as she adopted some sort of praying mantis-like pose.

“CHANGELING!?!” she gasped melodramatically.

Sergeant Wheeler grunted as he continued to fill out the paperwork.

“Private Miggle, you know this. Or you would have known this if you’ve been keeping up with the bulletin boards.” He didn’t even look up from the papers. “And not to put a too fine point on it, but you’ve been ignoring the Princess for the past few minutes.”

“Princess?!” Miggle squeaked softly. She turned woodenly to where I was standing. Her jaw dropped.

“PRINCESS?!” she repeated. Then she clasped her hooves over her mouth. “Oh I’m so sorry! I was just caught up in the moment and I didn’t even have time to— the nurses said that Wheelie—“

“Wheelie?!”

“—Oh relax, not everypony is calling you that. Puff came around and thought it would be hilarious if the whole regiment started using it.” Miggle hastily backtracked when she saw how confused I was getting. “Anyway, sorry Princess! My name is Private. I mean Miggle. Private Miggle, ma’am!”

I waved away the formality with a warm smile, barely resisting the temptation to giggle at Sergeant Wheeler’s expense. “Hello Private Miggle, Puff has mentioned you.”

“Did she now?” Miggle replied with a proud grin. “That foal is going to go far. Also just call me Miggle, everypony else does. Well except when they’re calling me other things like—”

“Ahem!”

Miggle stopped mid-way with a nonplussed look. She rolled her eyes at the sergeant, then leaned forward conspiratorially. “And if it’s not too much to ask, what’s a changeling doing here?”

Sergeant Wheeler sighed. “I’ll get you briefed later,” he stressed meaningfully. The sergeant glared at Miggle until she grinned apologetically, making a zipping motion with her hoof across her muzzle. Then he addressed me. “Don’t tell her, she’ll blab to the whole of Las Pegasus.”

“Don’t they already know?” I said in a half-joking tone.

Sergeant Wheeler shook his head. “No, not the general public,” he answered seriously. “We didn’t want to incite panic. There were… are rumours, of course, but you can’t stop those.” He hesitated, then spoke in a softer tone. “Do you want to let them know?”

I could feel my brow furrow as I considered his statement. Would it do good if the public knew? The heavy weight of responsibility made itself known again. Well the truth always has a way of working itself out of the heaviest locks and chains.

“Yes…” I said slowly. “But give them all the facts. It’s just one changeling.”

“Should we treat it as a potential danger?”

I shook my head vehemently. “Like you mentioned, we don’t want to incite panic. It’s not a confirmed invasion, that much we know.”

“Not a confirmed invasion?”

I could feel my wings shifting uneasily. “Well we don’t know if there is one yet, and we can’t rule out any possibility. I don’t think so, but we should be alert for any suspicious activity.”

Sergeant Wheeler studied the changeling. “We’ll call the changeling a ‘liaison’, no sense in putting a negative spin on things.”

“Thanks, Wheelie,” I replied, with a teasing grin.

Sergeant Wheeler groaned. “Please, not you too, Princess.”

I chuckled. “Oh I’m just following Major Puff’s orders.”

“She’s a Major?!” Miggle piped up.

“She’s joking, Private,” Sergeant Wheeler growled.

“Me too!” Miggle added.

Sergeant drew breath to answer, but then decided the best of it after seeing us both grin at him. “Come on,” he growled to Miggle through his teeth. “Let’s get everything sorted down below.” He paused, then called back to me. “Oh and I think the Doc is clearing you this afternoon, unless you prefer to stay here?”

I shook my head firmly, remembering the poor Doctor. She probably wanted me… well the changeling, out of the hospital as fast as possible.

“No,” I said. “I’m starting to get antsy staying indoors.”

Sergeant Wheeler nodded, with a furtive glance at the changeling.

“I see what you mean,” he said. “Get some rest, Princess. I have a feeling the next day is going to be much more… exciting.”

I nodded genially as the sergeant and Miggle left, leaving me with two guards, a changeling and a pony Princess in a room. It sounded like the beginning of a really bad joke. Then I recalled what the changeling did just moments before.

“Thank you,” I said to the changeling. “For helping out Sergeant Wheeler with the pen.”

I didn’t expect it to reply, so I surprised when it did.

“Are you satisfied, Princess?”

That made me pause.

“Satisfied?” I asked curiously.

The changeling edged forward. “I did as you wished, my Princess.”

Was it trying to be nice? Was that why it gave Sergeant Wheeler the pen? I had to confirm

“Were you trying to be nice?” I asked it

The changeling nodded.

How curious. Though outwardly stoic, the changeling did have a firm grasp on what constituted a ‘nice’ gesture. Then a thought struck me.

“What’s your name?” It occurred to me that I never thought to ask. This creature was a thinking, living being.

“Name, my Princess?” it asked. The query was barely distinguishable from a monotonic statement.

“Yes,” I said. “Do you have something you call yourself? Or others?”

The changeling frowned. “I am ‘the changeling’,” it said confidently.

I coughed, gesturing negation. “No, that’s what we call your, uhh… species. I’m asking you what your name is.”

The changeling genuinely looked like it was struggling with the concept.

“I am… zzz …yours, my Queen…”

The changeling frowned further. Its jaw worked open and closed. I noted that it had referred to its original mode of address. What did that mean?

“Your name,” I insisted. “What is it?”

The changeling shuddered and made to reply. It twitched. I felt a chill run down my spine.

Even the guards were starting to get anxious.

“Should you be doing that?” Smirch warned.

Smirch’s partner nodded. Come to think of it, she didn’t give me her name either.

“Thank you Smirch, and…?”

“Duft,” the pegasus answered. She shifted her hooves uncomfortably. “Private Duft.”

I turned back to the changeling.

“Well Smirch and Duft, I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with asking it its name—”

*THUMP*

The changeling collapsed onto the floor, its eyes flickering to a close.

Smirch and Duft gave me recriminating looks.

“I can fix this!” I squeaked, leaping forward.

“NO!” Smirch and Duft shouted together. Duft looked ready to tackle me.

Duft continued, while the glow in my horn died down.

“Princess you’re still recovering from mage’s malaise. We’ll fetch help,” she said sternly. She shot to the door, yelling commands to Smirch as she did so. “Keep an eye on the changeling. Keep an eye on the Princess. Don’t do anything until I return!”

Smirch nodded, eyeing the changeling suspiciously. His face may have been carved from stone. Then he caught my expression and softened.

“Look,” he said. “It might be exhaustion. The changeling hasn’t taken a break in a while.”

I bit my lip, looking down at the changeling. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from its still form.

“It’s my fault isn’t it?” I babbled. “And I can’t do anything while it's like that!”

Smirch took a deep breath. “Princess, it’s not your fault.”

“How can you know that?”

“I don’t, but—”

“Then it could be my fault.”

“Princess—”

“What am I going to do? What if the changeling dies? It will have died under my care! I would be responsible for a diplomatic fallout! What if this changeling was a peaceful envoy? What if—”

“Princess! Look at me!” Smirch yelled.

I stopped, well-aware that my breathing had hitched up. Smirch’s steady gaze brought me down a couple of notches.

“Princess,” he continued when he knew he had my undivided attention. “The changeling is not dead. We haven’t yet even established what happened. Until then, we’re going to operate under the assumption that it is not your fault.”

I took another deep, steadying breath.

“Yes,” I said. “Of course.”

Smirch gave me a tight-lipped smile.

“Good,” he said.

“Sorry,” I blurted. Smirch looked scandalised.

“No need to say that,” he said quickly. “Just doing my job.”

“Yes, well… I’m kind of new to mine, if you can tell,” I mumbled into my chest.

Smirch snorted softly. “Yeah, well I’ve been in mine for a few years and these few days have blown everything I’ve ever experienced out of the barnyard, I can tell you.” I heard his muted chuckle. “Princess, you’ve probably brought about three years worth of excitement and gossip to Las Pegasus in as many days. Trust me when I say you’re coping far better than anypony ever would.”

“Well I don’t plan on bringing it, the excitement comes to me,” I grumbled. Smirch merely grinned.

Then I heard a rasping gasp from the floor.

“Hey!” I cried out, edging to the changeling and crouching down to its level. “Can you hear me? What’s wrong?”

The changeling mumbled something.

Getting a weird sense of déjà vu again, I leaned in.

“What is it?” I whispered.

“Name me,” it hissed.

With a glance at Smirch, I wracked my brains at the unexpected question. Unbidden, aged texts and ancient words came to mind.

“Ugh!” I cried. “Why do I—”

The changeling groaned.

“No!” I said quickly. Hopefully it wouldn’t name itself by my rant. “I mean Praegus!”

“Praegus?” Smirch queried.

I hesitated, then nodded slowly. “Praegus. The Ancient Hippogriff word for change.” It wasn’t very original, but it was better than ‘changeling’, if only by a little.

“Your name is Praegus,” I affirmed. The words sounded strange, maybe because I was so used to hearing pony names? The words definitely had a foreign feel to it.

“Praegus,” the changeling, no, Praegus repeated. Its head slowly slumped back.

Smirch put his head closer to Praegus’ chest and listened to its breathing.

“I don’t know what you did,” he said, “but it definitely sounds like it helped.”

I sunk down to my haunches and let go of a pent-up breath. This changeling was so tension-inducing I felt like a spring doll pulled tight on marionette strings.

“Hopefully that’s the end of that,” I mumbled.

Smirch kept his eyes trained on Praegus.

“Don’t count on that,” he muttered more to himself than to me.

Author's Note

I'm sorry, I don't think I can make each chapter as ground-breaking as the next.

This is mainly setup for the next chapter for when Twilight realises she's done something irreversible.

Next Chapter: Names are important to ponies.

As always, my functioning readers, thanks for reading!

P.S. Sorry now that I'm a bit more awake I see there are some more grammar errors. I'll get around correcting them as soon as I can. Thanks for being patient with me!
P.P.S Very minor ~~bug~~ grammar/style fixes.
P.P.P.S More grammar and style fixes.

4 - Res Ipsa Loquitur

Chapter 4: Res Ipsa Loquitur

it speaks for itself

Smirch and Duft were most surprised when they came back to find the room had become a colourful mess.

“Ah excellent,” I said. “I need your help.” I almost turned away, but something caught my eye. I grinned and pointed a hoof to the corner of my mouth.

“You have a little something there, Duft.”

Duft touched the small mustard stain splattered on the corner of her mouth. She flushed furiously and hastily swiped her mouth clean… to the chuckle of her comrade.

“Smooth.”

“Quiet, you.”

Still grinning, I gestured for them to take a seat beside me. They took theirs hesitantly on the floor.

“Don’t worry,” I reassured them. “The hospital has one of the cleanest floors in Equestria.”

Smirch raised an eyebrow. “Yeah but Princess? Yours has a bug on it.”

I swatted the guard on the arm, but he looked more affronted at the breach of protocol rather than the blow itself.

“So what are we doing?” Duft asked, staring at the changeling curiously. She flicked a mane strand away from her eye. I thought it was strange that a guard should have a fringe that consistently blocked vision out of one eye, but I didn’t bring it up. Could be a sensitive issue. Besides, there were other cards in play, so to speak.

“We’re going to run a few tests,” I said. “I would use myself as a benchmark, but I’m an outlier.”

“Outlier?” Smirch queried innocently. “For what?”

I tried unsuccessfully to dampen my reddening cheeks. “I don’t have very good hoof-eye coordination.”

Smirch chuckled softly as I reddened further. “You fit right into the stereotype, Princess.”

Is he referring to the royal archetype or the nerdy one?

Studying Smirch’s smug little smirk carefully, I finally decided that it was probably the royal one. It was less galling, but only by a little.

“Okay,” I continued slowly, with a gesture at the cards. “We’re going to test you with these. Each has a different message on them, with specific instructions written on them. You have to try your best to fulfil them. Anytime you can’t, or you don’t want to, you can tell me to stop. Sound fair?”

Duft widened her eyes and licked her lips nervously. “This isn’t one of those surprise military tests that the Canterlot guards get set, is it?” She eyed the cards with newfound suspicion. “Because I didn’t study for this.”

Smirch’s smile was gone in an instant. Served him right.

“I’m not that great at standardised tests,” Smirch replied hesitantly.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh these are tests,” I said. “But they’re anything but standard.”

Duft and Smirch glanced at each other, locking eyes for a brief moment while they silently communicated something.

“Hey can we—” they both started.

“No,” I replied firmly. Then I rolled my eyes. “They’re just simple logical tests, with some hoof-eye coordination and emotional intelligence. Nothing too strenuous, I promise.”

Duft sighed. “Oh okay,” she said. “Never thought I’d join up to do tests. I left school because I didn’t want to do any more.”

Smirch shared a look with his partner. “Then we hit the Training Grounds and it was a whole different thing, eh Duft?”

Duft giggled at Smirch’s waggling eyebrows and settled down on the floor again. “Alright Princess, what are we going to do first?”

I smiled, relishing the electric feeling of beginning a test. Experiments always got me excited, and I couldn’t help but get caught up in the whirlwind of my own enthusiasm.

“We’re going to test some of the changeling’s latent abilities,” I started in an instructional tone. “We’ll begin with cognitive, move to motor, and end with emotional. I’ll need you two to act as a benchmark.”

——————

“Alright,” I said pleasantly, settling down. “Conjugation.”

“Conjuuu—what now?”

“Conjugation, it’s basic literacy, Duft.”

“I-I knew that!”

“Sure.”

Duft hurried to write her attempt down, while Smirch took his time, not looking pressured at all. Praegus held the pencil in his hoof eyeing the writing implement with neutral curiosity. He examined it and then looked at what Duft wrote. Duft scowled and drew her cards towards her.

“Hey!” she exclaimed. “Don’t cheat!”

The changeling cocked its head, then took the pencil in its mouth and wrote something down on its paper. After it wrote it down, I took all three and compared them.

Smirch’s writing was surprisingly neat and perfectly spelled. Duft’s on the other hand was shocking mouth-writing that was borderline illegible. Conjugation was spelled right as far as I could tell. Praegus’ was something else, though.

“Hey, look at this,” I said in amusement and showed the two guards.

Smirch blinked at the writing and straightened. Duft reddened and glared at Praegus.

Praegus’ paper was a perfect imitation of Duft’s writing down to even the minute scribbles as she fumbled with the curve of her ‘j’.

“Now it’s just mocking me,” Duft grumbled.

I shook my head. “No I don’t think so, I don’t think Praegus has ever written before. It’s just copying you.”

Duft frowned at her writing, then glanced over to Praegus’. “All the same Princess, I don’t know if it’s serious or secretly laughing at my expense. Can we do something different?”

I sighed. “You’re right,” I mumbled, mentally kicking myself for including writing skills in my tests. “Next one.”

——————

“We’re going to attempt an emotional test,” I announced, sweeping the room for their excitable reactions. “I need you to hug Praegus.”

Duft and Smirch looked confused, Praegus simply stood there, as usual.

“No, please, don’t all leap forward at once,” I muttered.

“How do we determine a changeling’s emotion?” Duft asked. “Uhh, don't they suck them out or something?”

“Well, yes, but that doesn’t mean they don’t experience them. The changelings I fought in Canterlot were very expressive and their Queen was certainly… emotional. Besides, everypony likes hugs, my friend told me so. Even if they don’t, that’s still a somewhat emotional reaction. Success either way!” I urged her on impatiently with a hoof. “Don’t worry, it won’t bite. I’m ninety percent sure that won’t happen.”

“Ninety percent?!”

I frowned. “Those are reasonable odds.”

Duft shifted. “I’m beginning to become uncomfortable with this.”

I smiled at her and nodded encouragingly. “Not to worry,” I said, “just pretend I’m not here.”

Duft reddened. “When you say that it makes me more self-conscious about it.”

Smirch made a sound that sounded suspiciously like an amused chortle, but it transformed quickly into a coughing fit when Duft glared daggers at him.

“Go on,” he managed to say through a wobbly smile. “We’re honour-bound to follow the Princess’ orders.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s an order…” I began, but trailed off when Duft suddenly gave me a hopeful look. “Consider it a polite request.”

Smirch came alongside me and gestured at me with a lazy hoof. He didn’t say anything, but merely waggled his eyebrows. Duft pursed her lips, and opened her mouth, but evidently thought the better of it and faced the changeling instead.

“Hey,” she said. “I’m just going to, uhh, just—”

Duft stretched out her hooves and wrapped them awkwardly around the changeling.

Smirch grinned. “See? That wasn’t so bad.”

“It’s like hugging a brick,” Duft complained as she separated from the changeling. “It feels so… cold and alien.”

I tapped a quill to my lip, debating whether or not I should add that to the notes. Yes. Yes I should. For completeness. From the test it was clear that Praegus barely registered the friendly gesture. I did some rough equations. If friendship was quantifiable, then there should be a way to transfer some to Praegus, right?

“Are you writing something, Princess?” Duft asked suspiciously.

Smirch laughed. “Oh don’t worry about it, I’m sure the Princess is just making sure her notes were complete. She’s just being thorough.”

I nodded at Smirch. “You’re right, I was. Private Duft’s emotional state is important observational evidence.”

Smirch looked pleased. “See?”

“For completeness, I think you should try as well.”

I’ve never seen a grin die quite as fast as Smirch’s. I imagine one day I would look back at this moment and have a little giggle when things get quiet.

“Oh,” he said. “Right.”

Smirch didn’t have to worry, the test didn’t yield anything different. Praegus stood there stiffly as Smirch awkwardly slipped his hooves around its neck. I wrote down the result and tried not to sigh too loudly.

I tapped a hoof impatiently on the floor. “Next test.”

———————

“Okay Praegus. We’re going to test your hoof-eye coordination skills. I want you to build something as high and wide as you can with these. Use as many as you want.”

“Yes, my Princess.” Praegus took the pack of cards from my hooves. I made a small tower of cards which I was secretly proud of to demonstrate. Duft and Smirch were busy trying to beat my record. I grinned, regarding my tower of twelve whole storeys. Book stacking is a translatable skill I tell you!

I busied myself with finishing the rest of my preliminary report on Praegus. I fumbled with the words to describe what Praegus’ reactions were like until I remembered an old term from Star Swirl’s first spells on golemancy.

“Programming…” I murmured, writing the word down. The art of following a well planned programme. It fit so well.

I heard a sharp gasp. “Princess!”

Duft was gesturing frantically at the other side of the room. Smirch glanced up curiously, then let the cards in his hooves fall to the ground, seemingly forgotten. I turned almost woodenly, tensing myself in anticipation. My eyes widened and my jaw went slack.

Praegus looked at me expectantly while the rest of us just sat there gobsmacked.

“H-How…?” Duft trailed off, her eyes flicking up and down the monstrosity as if she’d seen a row of grizzly bears performing ballet.

Smirch looked at his own disappointing construction, and returned to me with a soulful look as if I were the one to blame for what the changeling did. Okay, I gave the order, so in a way he was justified, but there was no way…

I shook my head, clearing my wandering thoughts. “Well,” I began, enunciating the word like I was mincing it with my teeth. “Looks like we know how good its spatial recognition is.”

Smirch and Duft could only nod along with me silently.

Sergeant Wheeler also chose that moment to step in.

The door opened and his curious head poked in. “What’s with all the…” The words lapsed in his throat as he stared up at the tower of cards. “Wow, Princess, if you wanted a castle, you could have just lodged a construction permit with Town Hall.”

Smirch and Duft concealed grin behind modest hooves, as I felt my cheeks flush with colour.

Oh so he wants to play it that way?

“Perfect!” I said, bounding forward. “We need a larger sample size. You can take part in the next test.”

“Test?” he asked in a querulous tone. He slowly backed out the door, but found his hooves dangling in the air as I brought him back into the room with magic.

“Yes,” I told him primly. “A test. Consider this a polite request.”

“N-No, I couldn’t impose—”

“I simply must insist,” I pressed.

“But I have to guard you…” he trailed off unconvincingly. I just rolled my eyes at him and pointed to the cards. Sergeant Wheeler vented a despondent sigh and gathered some cards, starting the hopeless pursuit to catch up to Praegus’ impressive castle of cards.

“Excellent,” I said, then relented at their looks. “Oh alright, I’ll give it a go again.”

——————

I knew the tip of my tongue was protruding out the corner of my mouth, but I couldn’t help it, the operation was delicate. Behind me, Sergeant Wheeler stood behind with a bored expression, the polar opposite of Smirch’s and Duft’s shared trepidation.

Come on, just a little bit more.

With a small clatter, the collection of playing cards came crashing down. I groaned in frustration while Smirch and Duft threw up their hooves. Sergeant Wheeler shook his head, but his lips twitched into a small smile of admiration.

“That changeling sure has a lot of fine control,” he remarked, coming off the wall he was leaning against.

We had been waiting for the doctor to get back from signing the rest of the paperwork. They wanted to run just a few more tests on me before they gave me the all-clear. After examining the changeling, they had shook their heads and gave unequivocal assurances. Much of their efforts had yielded generic results. Changeling physiology was too divorced from regular pony physiology to warrant confidence. Still, after giving Praegus its name, the changeling had settled down without too much of a fuss, and the medical staff assured me that it was as healthy as anything could be… at least given what they knew.

Meanwhile, Praegus had other ways of surprising us.

“I think that’s it,” I murmured, filling in the last of the parchment with my own notes. I rolled up the scroll and tossed it onto the desk a little more forcefully than I had originally intended.

“Thank the heavenly body of Celestia,” Smirch moaned, and Duft nodded emphatically, despite my disapproving glare. Such language.

Smirch and Duft were on the ground groaning, Sergeant Wheeler blinked wearily and swayed a little, but still managed to stay on his hooves. I blinked at them. How had they gotten so tired?

“What’s wrong?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Smirch looked at me like I was a rampaging hydra. “Princess we’ve been at this for hours, aren’t you tired?” I glanced at Praegus, who looked fine, and then at myself. I knew I tended to go overboard when there was investigating to be done, but I hadn’t felt that tired. I gave myself a once-over.

“Oh,” I mumbled, when I realised the problem. “Sorry.”

Alicorn endurance must outpace most other ponies. My wings shifted restlessly as I grappled with another thing that set me apart from other ponies.

Sergeant Wheeler gave me one of his lopsided smiles. “Don’t worry about it, Princess. Some of us are professionals.” He directed the last sentence at the two splayed ponies on the ground.

“Well you came later,” Duft complained. “We were here doing this for a couple of hours before that.”

“I can be professional,” Smirch added. “As soon as I take a nap.”

Sergeant Wheeler snorted, but let the point drop. “In any case, we now know a little more about our ‘friend’ here,” he muttered. “These results are just…” His eyes flickered around as he tried to put a hoof on it.

“Whacked?” Duft put in helpfully.

“Monstrous?” Smirch added.

“I was going to say unexpected,” Sergeant Wheeler cut in. “This puts a new perspective on these critters.”

I nodded along. I had suspected that changelings were as intelligent as any other pony, but Praegus was something else. Excellent hoof-eye coordination, a quick and logical deducer, high numerical and problem solving aptitude all pointed to a particularly exceptional type of changeling. The changeling produced results that were consistent as if it were some kind of super-pony. I never would have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. Even more disturbing was the implication that these skills were common for all changelings. I stifled the thought. Even it were true, that didn’t change the fact that something had to be done.

“Alright,” I began. “Let’s review—”

I was interrupted by furious knocking on the door.

“Sergeant! Sergeant!”

The door, for lack of a better phrase, blew open.

Miggle burst in waving panicked hooves.

“Ch— Ch —”

“What?” Sergeant Wheeler took a couple of steps forward. “Ch—?”

“Changelings!” Miggle spluttered.

“What?!”

——————

Miggle took a moment to collect herself before saluting us all awkwardly. “Changelings,” she repeated. “Changelings were spotted along the town border!”

I glanced at Praegus, but the changeling didn’t respond, it simply stared at Miggle.

“What were they doing there?” Sergeant Wheeler demanded. “How many?”

Miggle shook her head. “I just heard from a pegasus patrol. One of them are tracking the changelings, and they spotted a couple of them lurking around the edge. She’s standing outside ready to take you to them, Princess.”

Sergeant Wheeler’s face twisted into a grimace. “We’ll have to gather a guard—”

“Forget it,” I said, belaying his order. “This might be the chance we’re looking for to find out just what Praegus was doing here. Take me to the pegasus, we’ll fly there.”

Miggle nodded, but Sergeant Wheeler cut me off.

“No,” he said.

“No?” I asked him calmly.

“No,” he reaffirmed. “I can’t let you go with so few guards.”

“We don’t have time to waste,” I shot back. “We need to get to these changelings before they leave. Besides, I don’t think they’re here to cause trouble.”

Sergeant Wheeler frowned at me. “How do you know that?”

I shrugged. “If they really wanted to get into the city or spy, there’d be a lot less conspicuous ways to do it. They haven’t even disguised themselves as ponies.”

Sergeant Wheeler conceded the point, but still stood firm. “Princess, I can’t allow you to go out with such a minimal escort, it could be a trap.”

“Don’t worry,” I said patiently. “Remember, I can teleport? I’m sure I can handle a little danger.”

“All the same—”

“Enough,” I said, nearing the end of my patience. “I know you’re concerned about me, but I’ll be fine, you’ll see. I can handle anything, probably better than you can.” The instant the words slipped out of my mouth, I wanted to drag them back.

Sergeant Wheeler’s cheeks mantled, but he made no further move to block me from going. He stared at me with anthracite eyes, then gave me a stiff bow. “Yes, Princess.”

I wasn’t in the mood to feel too guilty. Sidestepping him, I headed out the door with Praegus following close behind. I could feel my eyebrow twitch. Another problem. The changeling.

“Stay here,” I told it. Praegus looked at me blankly. “I mean it.”

“I must follow you,” Praegus insisted. I considered the likelihood of the changeling doing what I asked. It would probably find a way to follow me. From the sidelong glance that Sergeant Wheeler gave the changeling, I knew he was thinking the same thing, though he would lack the wings to keep up.

“Alright.” I sighed. “Just don’t do anything unless I tell you to. Can you fly?”

“Yes, my Princess,” Praegus replied.

At least there was that.

I studied Praegus for a moment longer feeling the familiar sensation that things were slowly spiralling out of my control. Before that could overwhelm me, I turned to Miggle.

“Lead the way.”

Miggle glanced back at Sergeant Wheeler for a moment, before skittering out in front.

———————

Miggle trotted down the hallway, weaving her way through the hospital staff. I found the doctor outside staring at me intently. Before I could even formulate an excuse, the doctor just sighed in resignation and waved us away. She mumbled something unintelligible, but I had the distinct feeling that she was just getting tired of us disrupting normal hospital routine. Again I felt that guilty stab, but I quashed it under the new priorities. I would apologise the Sergeant and the hospital later, right now I had to find out what the changelings were doing so close to Las Pegasus.

Though Miggle’s quietude was starting to get on my nerves.

“Look, I—”

“Almost there, Princess,” Miggle said quickly. Her tone was so falsely cheerful I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from snapping at her. I silently swallowed the ugly feelings. It wasn’t like me to flare up like that or dismiss anypony’s concerns. What would the Princess say?

I stopped Miggle, holding a hoof out. The guard reluctantly turned around and scrupulously avoided my gaze.

I took a deep breath. “Listen, I-I didn’t mean all of that back there, I know you’re all trying to help.”

Miggle flushed, but didn’t say anything. Not hearing the bombastic pony answering frenetically was unsettling to say the least. I marshalled my thoughts, trying to phrase my next sentence so it wouldn’t look like Winona’s breakfast.

“There’s just been a lot going on,” I continued slowly. “I’d appreciate it if you could forgive me for being so hopelessly out of my depth.”

Her armour creaked slightly as the silence wore on. Finally, Miggle replied. “It’s not really me you have to apologise to.”

I nodded glumly. “I know, I’ll tell Sergeant Wheeler I’m sorry.”

Miggle’s smile broke out like the dawn. “Alright Princess, but I think Wheelie needs to relax a little. He takes his job really seriously, and sometimes it puts him at odds with some ponies.”

“I shouldn’t have shut him off, he was only trying to help,” I muttered with a groan.

“If it makes you feel better, I think he worries about you a little too much. You seem like a mare that can take care of herself.” Miggle coughed as she realised what she said. She gave me a meek smile. “Uhh, sorry, sometimes my mouth gets away from me. Forget about it for now Princess, you were right about hurrying, the changelings could be gone.” Miggle surged forward. “Faster now!”

I followed Miggle with my ever-present shadow accompanying me not far behind.

Outside the hospital, the streets were mostly empty. There were a few ponies I caught gawking at a guard, a princess, and a changeling in their midst, but they quickly ducked their heads and went on with their business when Miggle pointed at them and gestured for them to move on. To the left was a pale orange pegasus that stood at attention as we approached.

“Private Firefly reporting for duty, ma’am.”

“Relax, Private,” I told her. “We need to find the changelings, can you lead me to them?”

Firefly finally noted Praegus, her head shifted a couple of inches in surprise before she brought it back. “Yes, ma’am!” She gave Praegus a hesitant once-over before taking to the air.

I shot off after her, straining to keep up with the sudden acceleration of the fervent filly. I was only mildly surprised that Praegus kept up with me, only a few feet behind. The changeling could probably fly better than me.

“Take care!” yelled Miggle after us.

I gave her a small wave, but was quickly back on task. Firefly was streaming ahead, and I didn’t have the luxury to take it easy. Las Pegasus’ tall buildings and cloud architecture grew smaller as we rose in altitude. Firefly glanced back and banked slightly to let me catch up.

“Sorry, Princess, I’ll take it slower!”

I nodded gratefully at Firefly. “Thanks! I’m still a little new to flying in general.”

Firefly grinned and pointed a little ahead and below. There was a river snaking its way below us, and a forest. The tree line was a little ways in, but White Tail Woods looked imposing as ever.

“They were near the rail line,” Firefly explained. “We spotted them coming from the mountains though, but they went into the forest.”

“What happened? How’d you see them?”

Firefly glanced at Praegus and then back at me. “Well you probably know more than we do, Princess, but I bet my wings that it’s to do with the changeling you have there.”

“What makes you say that?”

“They were waving at us,” Firefly replied shortly. “We didn’t risk landing, but they didn’t fly up to meet us. They said something about finding a lost changeling.” She shrugged and pointed back at Praegus. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure they were probably talking about the changeling you found, Princess.”

I nodded at the assessment. What she said made sense.

“So the changelings, what were they like? Can you describe them to me?”

Firefly looked uncomfortable. “I don’t know what to say, their looks are kind of disconcerting, not all that different from the changeling there, but that’s all I know of them.”

Firefly pulled up sharply, and so did I, but with a slightly more awkward aerial stumble. Ahead, a navy-blue pegasus made her way towards us, from here her long mane hair streamed out from her helmet.

“Firefly!” then she noticed me with Praegus. “Princess!” She gave a clumsy mid-air bow.

“That’s Moonshaker,” Firefly said by way of introduction.

“Don’t worry about that,” I chuckled. “You don’t need to bow to me.”

Moonshaker grinned toothily. “You’re here to see the changelings, then?” Her eyes danced with enthusiasm. Firefly narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“I take it they’re friendly?” I hazarded.

Moonshaker nodded vigorously, unaware of Firefly’s rising ire. “We talked a lot.”

“You did what?!” Firefly shot back, her eyes afire with furious scrutiny. Moonshaker shrunk back under her glare. “Do you know the meaning of observe, not interact?!”

Moonshaker cringed. “I was only—”

“They’re the very basics of your training!” Firefly snapped.

“Now, now,” I began, before they could blow it into an argument. “We’re all here for the same thing, let’s—”

Praegus darted forward, choking of the rest of my sentence. “Another,” the changeling said.

“Another?” Firefly asked. “What’s that mean?”

“It’s funny,” Moonshaker said. “When you were nearby, they said the same thing.”

“They?” A ripple of foreboding crept up my spine, chilling me despite the warmth of the sun.

Moonshaker glanced back warily to the clearing she came from. “The changelings,” she confirmed.

“What does that mean?” I murmured more to myself than to the others.

Firefly twitched an ear. “Beats me,” she replied with an inquisitive tilt of her head. “But I think we should investigate.”

At my nod, the two pegasi streamed forwards with me trailing behind. Moonshaker alighted closer to the edge of the forest, while Firefly, Praegus and I hugged closer together nearer to the centre of the clearing. Praegus was staring with laser-like intensity at the suspiciously dense knot of bushes near where Moonshaker was standing. Moonshaker peered at the forest, trying to make out something. She muttered something indistinguishable, and the chilling reply of a changeling echoed back. The voice was more characterised, less mechanical than Praegus and much more, for lack of a better word, sinister.

Gradually, a pair of changelings emerged from the hedge.

At first I thought they looked similar to Praegus, but I noticed some key differences. Praegus had no distinctive colour on its back, while these two sported a faintly mottled green colour. Praegus had smooth, matte chitin, while these changelings tended to be more glossy in colour. Also the one on the left seemed to be limping slightly and they both looked tired, as if they were carrying a heavy burden that none of us could see. I wondered briefly if it were a ploy to garner sympathy or if they really were as worn as they looked.

To the side, Firefly tensed up, but Moonshaker waved her down, waggling her eyebrows in a way that suggested we should go with the flow. Almost reluctantly, Firefly relaxed, but was on her guard as the two changelings approached with Moonshaker.

“Hello, pony princess, pony guards.” As the changeling on the left spoke, they both gave a slight bow of deference. She had a distinctly feminine tone, unlike Praegus’ androgenic monotone. It was yet another difference between them.

The other one kept glancing at Praegus, clearly interested, but the changeling didn’t say anything.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle, that is Firefly and I believe you’ve already met Moonshaker.” I gestured to each in turn. “What brings you to Las Pegasus? We don’t see many changelings.”

The changeling relaxed slightly, and shared a look with its partner. The tense atmosphere between us went down a couple of notches.

“That went better than I expected. I am… Silken, this is… Moth,” the changeling on the left said. “We were looking for a changeling.”

I glanced at Firefly who just shrugged. Moonshaker shook her head in negation. Looks like they hadn’t given their names before.

“Were?” I raised an eyebrow. “And are those your real names?”

Silken and Moth shared a look. “No,” she said finally. “They’re not. Names are… complicated for changelings.”

I had a sudden flashback to Prageus’ naming. “Alright, but you haven’t answered my question.”

Silken took a couple of hesitant steps forward. “We were looking for a changeling around here,” she continued. “We got a call.”

I blinked. “Are you talking about this changeling?” I gestured at Praegus. “We found this one in the forest close to death, and you mentioned a call?”

Silken and Moth shared another look.

“Stop it!” I snapped. “Why do you keep looking at each other?”

“Apologies, Princess” Silken said quickly. “We did not mean to cause offence. We’re just confirming facts.”

“Facts,” I pressed. “What facts?”

Moth was the one who spoke this time. “To know if this changeling is special, and if it can help us.”

Firefly looked as lost as I felt. “What are you two talking about?”

Silken sighed. “I think it is best if we start at the beginning. Moth, you’re more familiar with the ancient tellings, why don’t you start?”

Moth stared back at Silken, clearly unwilling to speak.

“Moth…” Silken insisted, her tone brooked no compromise.

Finally, Moth sighed and nodded slightly. His eyes fixed upon me as he settled into a well-rehearsed narrative.

“Long ago,” he began as if he were chewing each word thoughtfully, “at the beginning of changeling history, what you call ‘the changelings’ lived independently as solitary hunters.”

“Solitary?” I interrupted. “You exist as collective group now, don’t you?”

Silken regarded us with an unreadable look. “It wasn’t always like this. Please, hear the rest of the story.”

I settled back as Moth continued in a deep, almost gravelly tone.

“As solitary hunters we were usually regarded as little more than another dangerous creature to be wary of. Ponies, like yourselves, simply tried to avoid us, or routed us out from time to time.” Moth gave a despondent sigh. “Though lately it hadn’t been any different.” He shook his head, then resumed. “It would have continued if it weren’t for Queen Prime.”

Silken gave a shudder, but didn’t say anything.

“Who’s Queen Prime?” Moonshaker eventually ventured in the awkward silence.

“Queen Prime was the first Queen. She was the first of what you would call ‘changelings’. Before that we didn’t have such a name.”

“Why?” I blurted out.

Moth stared at me. “Because we gained the ability to shape-shift.”

My mind reeled with the implications. “Does that mean that you get all your abilities from your Queen?”

“Certain abilities,” Silken stressed. “But it comes at a heavy price.”

“Well, not as it used to be,” Moth muttered, looking uncomfortable. He continued, albeit more reluctantly. “Each changeling is bound to their Queen strongly, dependent on the magic they have shared with their changelings. The more magic is shared, the higher the connection they have with their Queen. They may share all or some of the abilities that the Queen possesses, but in return they are bound to serve the Queen.” He looked away. “Queen Prime was the first Queen, but she was a tyrant, thinking she was some sort of divinely-inspired changeling goddess.

“When Queen Prime’s rule had gone far, your own princesses, the Royal Sisters, destroyed Queen Prime when she threatened the balance of power. The changelings lost their connection with Queen Prime, but some rose to take her place. The art of sharing a link has been lost to all except these few Queens, and they all zealously guard the secrets.” Moth scuffed the ground with his hoof. “This wouldn’t be much of a problem because the sharing happens between changelings as long as they are both willing. Once they are bound, they both share a covenant, to protect one another. A noble cause however misguided the first Queen was.”

“So you don’t have a Queen?” I asked tentatively.

Silken snorted. “Of course not, or we wouldn’t be talking with you. No, I’m quite thankful I’m not a part of that kind of drone system. The sharing is a choice, but lately—”

“Silken!” Moth growled, stopping her. “We don’t even know if they’ll help.”

“But they have—”

“We don’t even know if it’s true!”

“What’s true?” I interjected.

Silken pointed a hoof at Praegus. “This changeling… we feel something from it.”

Moth frowned at Silken. “Surely it couldn’t be. I mean I know I felt it too, but—”

“What else could it be?” Silken lapsed into a brief silence. “We could ask her.”

Moth laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Tired of being ignored again, I spoke up. “Ask what?”

Silken twitched as if she had forgotten we were all standing there. She shifted her hooves uncomfortably as she answered. “Ask if you have joined with the changeling.”

My eyebrows drew together as I mulled over her words. “Joined? What do you mean joined? As in made a connection?”

Silken nodded. “The changeling you have there has made a declaration of sorts.” She swallowed. “You might not like what it has told us.”

I sighed, rubbing my aching temples with the twisted conundrum of their gnarled narrative.

“You’re not making much sense. I think you’re asking for help, but I’m not understanding how we can give it. I don’t even know if half of what you said was true.” My lips twisted bitterly. “We haven’t had the best experience with changelings in the past.”

“It’s her,” Silken growled. Moth nodded.

“Who’s ‘her’? Just, oh, never mind that.” I wanted to give them a chance, but my patience was starting to wear thin. “So far you’ve been giving us a roundabout explanation of why you’re here. It’s time to be straight with us, or we’ll have to escort you out of the town’s limits.”

Silken shared another look with Moth, but this time they nodded.

“Did you share any magic with that changeling?” Silken asked suddenly.

Not expecting the question, I just blurted out an answer.

“Y-Yes, but I don’t see how—”

“It’s her,” Silken said to Moth, she turned back to me. “You don’t know what you’ve done.”

“I saved Praegus from near death, what would you have me do, let Praegus die?”

Moth stamped his hoof angrily. Immediately, Firefly and Moonshaker tensed. He glanced their way, then visibly calmed himself. “I’m going to let that one go, since you don’t know anything about us.”

Silken put a hoof on Moth’s shoulder and gave him a look, then took over the conversation.

“Of course not,” Silken assured me quickly. “What Moth means is that you’ve started a chain of events that we can no longer intervene with.”

“What do you mean?” I demanded testily.

Silken held up her hooves in a placating gesture. “What we mean is that you’ve linked with that changeling and named it. It’s no longer free. You’ve started your own Swarm.”

“What?” I teetered back a couple of steps. “What’s a Swarm?”

“I’m telling you, she doesn’t know. She can’t help us,” Moth growled.

“Quiet!” Silken shot back, she turned back to us again. “That changeling is special. Now that you’ve started to link with it, it’s calling individuals in the area to join with the Swarm.” She grimaced. “That doesn’t normally happen.”

I couldn’t help but feel curious.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because there’s only three Queens left in the world!” Silken said. “There aren’t any more. One is desperately old, the other is crazy and the last is so hopelessly powerless her changelings are slowly dying out. You couldn’t have possibly learned how to share with a changeling! I didn’t even know it was possible that you could.”

“Only three?” I murmured.

Firefly glanced between us with a confused expression. “Could you… I don’t know, make more?”

Silken looked at Firefly as if she were daft. “Don’t you think that if we could we’d already have done so? The only way to make a new Queen is to share magic with a blank changeling. It’s rare that such a changeling exists, and even rarer that there would be one willing to share magic with it. It’s a dangerous process, and only the current Queens know how to do it, and only one of them has the power to do it.” Her eyes bore down on Firefly. “Many have failed trying. It’s practically impossible even if we wanted another Queen.”

Sharing magic, a blank changeling… I stumbled back a few steps as I started to see what the two were saying. “T-That means…” I trailed off, unable to say it.

Silken nodded slowly, her eyes studying me critically.

“You’re a Queen,” she announced.

——————

I shook my head from side to side, doggedly trying to make sense of what had just happened.

“But… I can’t…” Words died in my throat as I tried to articulate a coherent response. Nothing came close.

“You’re a Queen,” Silken insisted. “That’s the only explanation possible, but that’s not important right now.”

“Not important—”

Silken waved an impatient hoof. “We’re not here for you, we’re here for the blank changeling. At least…” she sighed. “At least that’s what we were here for originally. Now that it’s linked.”

Moth nudged Silken. “Do you think it’ll still work?”

Silken gave him an annoyed glance back. “How should I know? We don’t know if they’ll even help us.”

“Help you with what?” I was getting sick of these two changelings darting all over the place. It was like trying to fit a hoof through the eye of a needle. “We don’t even know what your problem is.” Their plight was beginning to feel insignificant to the escalating situation of my own.

Silken regarded me thoughtfully, her expression belying the careful weighing of options unseen from behind her eyes. Her thoughtful countenance hardened as she came to a decision. “You might of heard of the failed invasion of Canterlot.” Her words were slow and cautious, like treading on strewn glass.

I nodded, my eyes narrowing. “Yes, I was there.”

Silken eyed me as a mouse would a cat. “Were you… directly affected?”

I kept my expression carefully neutral. “As much as anypony else.”

Silken bit her lip. “Chrysalis is one of the Queens as you may know, but she’s different.” Silken took a deep breath and closed her eyes as if to gather courage. “Chrysalis is delusional.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I gathered as much.”

Silken looked slightly surprised, but suppressed it quickly. “I guess that saves us a little time by way of explaining just how crazy Chrysalis is.” Silken rubbed a sheepish hoof to the back of her head. “Chrysalis let her duty consume her. She took the precept to save her Swarm from starvation to conquering all that is non-changeling for food.

“For most, her views on what constituted for the survival of the Swarm were considered extreme, and most started leaving after the failed invasion showed the true cost of following her grandiose designs. You may have noticed that things were quiet lately. At first, we thought that Chrysalis had merely retreated with those that were most loyal to her, but we found out something worse.”

Silken paused to take a breath. The cauldron of emotions were so raw and unfettered that I couldn’t help but sympathise slightly with the stricken changeling.

Impartial, impartial, impartial! Keep. Being. Impartial.

At last, Silken seemed to find the resolve to move on. “Chrysalis began collecting more changelings for her Swarm. We thought she had managed to convince her deserters to return, but it soon became clear that they weren’t joining because of some twisted rhetoric.”

“She was good at that,” Moth added bitterly. Silken inclined her head in agreement.

“Somehow, Chrysalis found a way to manipulate Queen Prime’s sharing magic. She forced those to join with her against their will.”

Moth spat. “She’s broken the covenant.” Silken nodded glumly.

“This is all very saddening,” Firefly drawled in a way that suggested she found it anything but. “I don’t see how this affects us.” She glared at either one. “And for the record, I don’t trust either one of you.”

As Firefly spoke, Moth gritted his teeth and made to move forward, but Silken held out a hoof in warning, forcing the changeling a step back.

“I told you so,” he growled, eyeing Firefly. “They wouldn’t help us.”

Silken sent me pleading look. So far I had tried to remain carefully neutral, although with Praegus in the mix and the potential for what seems to be some heavy changeling politics, I didn’t know where I sat, much less where Equestria sat. Personally I wouldn’t have had anything to do with changelings, but slowly I was beginning to understand that there was a lot more behind these changelings than I once thought. There was still this issue of them claiming I was a Queen. It was far-fetched, but not entirely impossible... Things were starting to go way over my head. Were these the sort of things Princess Celestia and Luna dealt with for thousands of years before?

Enough of that. I concentrated on a pegasus technique Rainbow taught me and I gently flexed my wings. I found the action calming. Moonshaker noticed and gave me a weak smile. Her small gesture of encouragement bolstered my confidence. I could handle this, I was a princess now. Cadance wouldn’t balk from a simple geopolitical cross-species diplomatic nightmare.

Well okay, maybe a little.

“Hold it, both of you.” I turned to Moth. “That’s not true. We may not have the best experience with changelings but what Chrysalis is up to concerns me. We’ll hear you out at the very least.” I gave him a small smile. “Besides, we’ve gotten this far, we should hear the rest.”

Moonshaker nodded and tentatively raised a hoof. “I’m in favour of helping them,” she said quietly. Firefly started as if she had forgotten that Moonshaker was there. “I don’t like to see anypony hurt.”

“How do you know this isn’t some elaborate plan cooked up by Chrysalis to lure us in—” Firefly rounded on Moonshaker pointing a hoof towards me “—or to snag a princess?”

“We don’t,” I answered for Moonshaker. “We don’t know anything about these changelings or what their motivations are.”

“See—”

“Princess—!”

I held up a hoof. “But. What ponies would we be if we turned our backs on somepony who needed help? I don’t know about you but I would want to live in a world where ponies trusted first and then bore the consequences later, wouldn’t you?”

Firefly looked like she bit a lemon, but under my steady gaze she turned her eyes to the ground. “Yes, Princess.”

I softened. “Your desire to protect us is admirable though, I can’t fault you for that.”

Hypocrite, I thought guiltily. Sergeant Wheeler also wanted to protect you, but you chewed him out.

I shook my head. I had to make amends, but now wasn’t the right time.

“Anyway,” I said loudly as if I could smother the voice in my head with my own. “You both look dead on your hooves. Perhaps we should continue this conversation back in Las Pegasus?”

Once again Silken shared a look with Moth. “You would take us in, Princess?” she asked timidly.

I cocked an eyebrow. “I don’t see why not.”

Moth shook his head. “You ponies are too trusting,” he grumbled.

I had started to turn away, but at his comment I turned back with a disconcerting smile that made him take a step back. “Well you will be under watch by a dozen guards, I’m going to put a tracking spell over you and you’ll be inside a changeling-proof barrier for the duration of your stay.” I arched an eyebrow. “So no, not one hundred percent trusting.”

Silken chortled at Moth’s wide eyes before bounding forward. “I like you,” she said to me, catching me by surprise. “You’d make a good Queen.” She cocked her head at my stricken expression. “Too soon?”

“Y-Yeah,” I said. “Let’s not discuss that for a while yet.”

——————

Miggle gave me a cross between a salute and a wave as I landed with the changelings in tow.

“Keep them under guard but provide them with everything they need within reason,” I ordered. Miggle gave me a jaunty salute again and trotted off with the changelings. From her direction I assumed she was taking them to the local guard precinct. Well that was one problem delayed. Looking ahead, I caught Smirch and Duft standing awkwardly near the front of the entrance to the hospital. They gave me a nervous salute as I approached.

“Is Sergeant Wheeler inside?” I asked tentatively.

Duft shook her head. “He’s at the orphanage.”

“The orphanage?!” I couldn’t keep the surprise out of my voice.

“He said he was there to ‘take care of something’,” Duft replied warily.

“What’s he doing there?” I asked.

Duft shrugged. “I don’t know, that’s all he said. Do you want to go there?”

“Yes,” I said. “Can you take me there?”

Duft nodded. “Of course, Princess.” She turned to Smirch. “You coming?”

Smirch grinned. “I don’t really have a choice. Sergeant Wheeler still hasn’t retracted our standing orders to guard the Princess.”

I didn’t say it out loud, but I was glad those two were coming along.

——————

I didn’t know what I was expecting. Maybe a rundown little apartment block with a rusted cast-iron gate and a gnarled garden beyond repair. Perhaps a sour, rotting house that housed sour ponies. What I’ve heard and what was reality was different. It was clean and crisp, with cheerful colours and decorations and equally cheerful staff.

I greeted the receptionist who nearly fell over herself when she recognised who I was.

“P-Princess Twilight! What an honour you’re here!” she exclaimed. To say that I was uncomfortable at the attention I garnered would be an understatement. I don’t think I’ll ever be truly comfortable with the abject adoration some ponies showed when I simply talked to them or passed them by.

“Hello, Miss…?”

“Tulip Cross! Just call me Tulip, I don’t much like the name Miss Cross.” She giggled, motioning down the corridor. “The foals like to play games with my name and sometimes I become Miss Cross!”

Duft chortled, but quieted as Smirch gave her a look.

“Well I’m here for a pony—”

“Oh! Well, I better get Butterscotch!” The mare scrambled out of her seat and bolted down the corridor.

“Miss Scotch! Butterscotch! You have a special visitor!”

I glanced back at Duft and Smirch with a raised eyebrow but they both shook their head in mild confusion.

An aged mare made her way down the corridor. She was spritely for her age, with a cane that suggested she used it more for aesthetics rather than function as she practically sprinted towards us in a bustling heap.

“Hello!” She gave a curtesy. “Your Highness!”

“That’s alright,” I said hastily. “No need for that, I’m not here for an official visit.”

“Oh dearie me, when I heard from Miss Tulip that a Princess had come I thought the Equestrian Social Services department had found something unsatisfactory with this establishment, why I had a bout of panic I did. Dear oh dear.” She clutched an aged hoof to her chest. “Gave me a fright, that did.”

“No need to worry,” I assured her. “I’m just looking for a pony.”

Her eyes sparkled with barely concealed enthusiasm. “Certainly, Princess! Right away!” She clapped her hooves loudly. “Girls, boys, we have a special visitor, line up, line up!”

My eyes widened as it suddenly became clear that there had been a misunderstanding.

“Uhh no, actually—”

“Don’t be shy, don’t be shy, Your Highness, I’m sure they’re all just as nervous as you are.” Butterscotch reached out and pulled me along by the hoof as I sent out a ‘help me’ look to Smirch and Duft. They mostly shrugged and mimed talking.

I tried one more time. “Look I think there’s been a—”

Any further words were drowned out by the excited chatter and clamour of a bucketload of foals.

“Hey, who are you?”

“Can’t you see she’s a princess you doof?”

“Hey who’re you callin’ a doof you goof?”

“Wait, is that Princess Twilight?”

“You mean the one that took on Discord and Nightmare Moon? Woah, no way!”

“Where did you come from?”

“Where are you going?”

“Who’re you going to pick?”

“Oh! Pick me!”

“Pick me!”

“Me! Me! Me!”

“Uhh…” I wanted to tell Butterscotch that I wasn’t really here to adopt a pony, but the hopeful gazes of the gathered foals made it harder by the second to say anything. I swallowed, trying to gather the courage to tell them.

“Princess?”

At his familiar voice, my head shot up to Sergeant Wheeler who looked like he was simultaneously trying to look surprised, exasperated and amused at the same time. The three warred across his features until it settled mostly on amused as he regarded me.

“Fancy seeing you here, Princess,” he said. “You seem popular.”

‘Help me’, I mouthed silently.

Sergeant Wheeler shook his head and turned to Butterscotch and whispered something in her ear.

“Oh my,” she said, reddening. “My deepest apologies, Your Highness, I thought—” she shook her head “—well never mind. Come now everypony! The Princess is only here to visit, maybe she’ll come down later and meet with you all.” Butterscotch began to corral the foals down the hallway, and sulking, many of them reluctantly left.

When the room quieted, I jumped in.

“Sergeant, I’m—”

“Actually it was my fault, Princess.” He sighed. “To tell you the truth, I’ve been feeling kind of bad about our last, uhh, chat. You’re a powerful pony used to danger and making difficult decisions. I didn’t respect that.” He paused. “I guess I felt a little… inadequate around you, like an extension rather than a part of your protection.” He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Princess.”

I shook my head. “Hold on,” I said with a frown. “I was supposed to apologise to you! You’ve got it the wrong way around!” I took a breath and toned down my voice. “Actually,” I said uncomfortably. “It occurred to me that I was being rude.” I stared at the floorboards. “And arrogant. I mean sure I might have had the confidence that I could handle things on my own, but there’s a fine line between confidence and recklessness. I think I hoofed a little close to being reckless. You’re only concerned for my safety, and you’re trying your best to look out for me. What I mean to say, I mean what I want to say is… I’m sorry too.”

Sergeant Wheeler smiled at that.

“That was sappy.”

We both turned around in surprise to see Puff making her way down the corridor.

“Puff!” I said with a grin. “What are you doing here?”

Puff’s smile faltered a little. “I live here.”

Oh. Things started falling into place fast. Suspicion crystallised into certainty. Oh dear.

“Well,” I said quickly. “What was Sergeant Wheeler doing here?”

Sergeant Wheeler rolled his eyes. “This little troublemaker has been wandering outside the building limits again.”

“I can’t help it!” Puff replied with a pout. “It’s so small and cramped in here.” She mumbled something I could only hear at the edges of my hearing. “And there’s nopony to play with.”

“You have to ask for permission,” Sergeant Wheeler asserted. “Or you’ll make Butterscotch worried.”

“I know,” Puff said sullenly. “She’s nice, even if they…” Puff shut her mouth firmly.

“Even if they?” I asked gently.

“Nothing,” Puff said.

“Puff, if we can help…”

“I said nothing!” Puff suddenly yelled, scrambling off.

I stared after her for a while then turned to Sergeant Wheeler who sighed.

“It doesn’t look like the other ponies are giving her a hard time,” he said in answer to my look. “She just doesn’t get along with many—” he bit his lip “—all of them.”

“Why?” I asked. “She seems pleasant enough.”

“Well yes—to us—but Puff finds it hard to communicate with other foals,” he said. “We don’t know why. She just shuts down in front of them.”

“It must be difficult,” I murmured.

Sergeant Wheeler nodded. “She tries though, and that’s what breaks my heart. She tries so hard, and she’s awfully proud…”

I glanced down the corridor regretfully again, before making my way to the door with my silent retinue.

“Let’s go.”

———————

I got Sergeant Wheeler caught up on the changeling situation. Even though I wanted to help Puff, the priority right now was to deal with the mystery of the two changelings.

Sergeant Wheeler paced outside the room, though Duft and Smirch had gone inside to help with the dozen other guards. He looked as agitated as I felt. Several times I could hear him mumbling about possible plans and counter strategies and though I was curious to know what his training said about dealing with this kind of situation I didn’t want to interrupt what looked like a deeply thoughtful process. Instead, I occupied myself by studying the various knick knacks of the Sergeant’s adjoining office. It wasn’t surprising that he had little by way of personal effects, but what I did find surprising was there was only one.

Apart from a curious stuffed doll, Sergeant Wheeler didn’t have much else on his desk. I think I expected him to have a few photo frames, maybe a family, but there was only that doll and a few certificates mounted on his wall. I wondered at the significance of the little doll, but decided to put it aside for questions later. Instead I scanned the certificates.

“Most dedicated guard of Las Pegasus,” I whispered to myself. “Highest performing guard ten years running…”

“Sorry, did you say something, Princess?” Sergeant Wheeler called from the door.

I shook my head, simultaneously dispelling intriguing thoughts about the sergeant’s private life.

“No,” I said. “Are you ready?”

Sergeant Wheeler coughed. “I think I’m ready. Or as ready as I’m ever going to be, Princess.”

I got up from my seat and stretched my wings. I winced slightly.

“Are you okay, Princess?” Sergeant Wheeler asked, his face etched with concern.

I chuckled softly. “Oh I’m just not used to flying around for long distances. I only just recently got these wings. Sometimes growing a pair is not as glamorous as some ponies make it out to be.”

Sergeant Wheeler wore a lopsided smile I was beginning to recognise was his response to something amusing I said.

“What? Was it something I said?”

“Nothing,” he replied. “Just thinking of some of the problems of being a Princess.”

I rolled my eyes. “Nothing you’d have to worry about in your lifetime,” I mumbled. He chuckled as I glanced at the door. “Let’s not keep them waiting.”

“I’m sure a few of the guards are starting to feel cramped in that room,” Sergeant Wheeler added wryly.

I opened the door.

I don’t know if my jaw could unhinge itself from my skull and break through the two storeys we were situated on in the local guard precinct, but by the Stars they were trying.

It was a full five seconds before I could find my voice.

“What in Celestia’s name just happened?!”

Smirch and Duft were on ground with the changelings straddling them in a very compromising position. The other guards were looking on interested, but none made a move other than straightening slightly, inclining their head in my direction, and showing varying degrees of bemusement.

Smirch recovered first. “We can explain. So, wait, Princess—!”

I slowly shut the door and turned to Sergeant Wheeler. “This explanation better be the most amazing explanation I have ever heard explained in the entirety of all things explained.”

Sergeant Wheeler gave me another lopsided smile. “I’m sure it will be.”

Author's Note

Finally, some development. Ah Smirch, Duft, you two are such goofs.

Next Chapter: Well we know Chrysalis is for World Domination, but what's she cooking up this time?

As always, my pericyclic readers, thanks for reading!

P.S. Sorry, unedited because I'm a bad person.
P.P.S. Fixed a couple of minor misuses of 'the' ironically one of them was the first sentence...
P.P.P.S. Expanded a couple of the testing scenes, but decided to keep mostly everything else intact. I may change it later but the plot had to move with the information. It'll hopefully flow better next chapter.

5 - Adversus Solem Ne Loquitor

Chapter 5: Adversus Solem Ne Loquitor

do not speak against the sun

I braced myself, taking a deep breath before cracking open the door. Sergeant Wheeler gave me a sympathetic smile, but behind those eyes were an annoyed commanding officer that was itching to chew these two out. I decided in that moment that I’d take it easy on the two, because they’d never hear the end of it from him. As Smirch and Duft rapidly stood to attention, I gestured for the changelings to step to one side.

“Princess, we can—”

I raised a quelling hoof. “I heard you the first time, but I’d like to hear it from Silken and Moth, if you don’t mind.”

Smirch and Duft glanced at each other, but reluctantly stepped back, keeping silent.

Silken shrugged as if to say that it wasn’t a big deal. “Private Smirch was interested in seeing how a changeling extracts emotions.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. “And this would involve…?”

“Varying techniques, of varying efficacy depending on the situation,” Silken replied smoothly. “We were going to show these guards how we could do so—for the purposes of demonstration of course.”

“Of course,” I said dryly. “Then Private Smirch and Duft agreed, I presume?”

“They were eager,” Moth put in helpfully. He coughed after seeing my look and added. “More like morbidly fascinated.”

“I see.”

Sergeant Wheeler cleared his throat, levelling a simmering scowl at Smirch and Duft. “And Private Smirch and Duft were obviously aware of our no-contact policy regarding escorts, informed you of said policy, which is clearly outlined in their training, right?”

Silken and Moth looked confused and shared a look. They began to realise that it wasn’t them we were interrogating, but Smirch and Duft.

Moth shifted. “Ah, yes…?”

“Sergeant Wheeler.”

“Ah, well then Sergeant Wheeler,” Silken said. “Maybe, for the sake of diplomacy, we should put this from our minds and shelve it under ‘cultural mishaps’?”

“We wouldn’t want to get Private Smirch and Duft in trouble, it was our suggestion after all,” Moth added.

They were covering for them, I realised. I shouldn’t be surprised, these weren’t the same sort of changelings that invaded Canterlot. At least, as far as I knew. I had to put my own feelings aside.

Silken took the silence as an invitation to continue. “Princess,” she began in a businesslike manner, “what would you like to discuss?”

Silken was awfully polite. Though I wasn’t much of a politician, I recognised that Silken had conceded the small negotiating advantage she held by letting me take the lead. I smiled and gave her a slight nod of acknowledgement. My estimation of her and changelings as a whole rose with her example. Were the changelings so desperate that they were willing to broker that goodwill? A quick glance to Praegus from the corner of my eye crushed my stealthy preconceptions. No. Maybe changelings were mostly like this and I was just making judgements based on my experience with Chrysalis.

It seemed like every time I wanted to remain impartial, the past raised its head to bite into my objectivity. The subtle way that it infiltrated my perception disturbed me. I wasn’t somepony that jumped to conclusions, was I? Taking a deep breath, I gestured for us to all sit down. A table was moved from the wall to the centre of the room and four chairs were drawn up. Smirch and Duft joined the other guards at the wall, looking miserable. It occurred to me that maybe I had been too harsh on them. I resolved to make it up to them later. When we all settled down, I steepled my hooves and eyed Silken, then Moth individually. “I think you should tell us what your plan is, and we’ll see if we can help you.”

Again there was that shared look between the two changelings. I stifled a frustrated sigh.

Silken saw my expression, then the fog of her confusion cleared and she quickly explained herself. “Sorry,” the changeling mumbled. “We can communicate silently.”

I straightened abruptly, eyes widening in shock. “What? How?”

“What?!” Sergeant Wheeler added for good measure.

Silken rubbed a hoof along the table as she shrugged. “I-It kinda just happens.” She bit her lip, probably because I was practically leaning across the table in excitement. “Please don’t ask me how! It just comes with a crude form of joining! Any changeling can do it if they’re experienced enough!”

Changelings communicating silently? Wow. I never expected that. Maybe, if we could adapt some of our own theories on how we communicate using magic, I could revolutionise the way things were done in Equestria! Long distance relays, silent speaking, no letters anymore! Quick messages with no error in writing or reading? The possibilities seemed endless. Sure enough, though not how I intended, these changelings ended up being a gemstone mine of information.

Hold on, changelings communicating silently? Wait. A trickle of fear wormed its way down my spine. If they could communicate silently then Praegus… I sent the changeling a furtive look. By intention, or by coincidence, Praegus happened to swing around and stare at me. I shivered slightly, even though I had no particular reason to. Yes. No. I was just jumping to conclusions. There was nothing to say that Praegus couldn’t—no, no! That wasn’t important right now, I had to know what these two were after.

Clearing my mind at the same time I cleared my throat, I continued. “You mentioned before that you needed Praegus, what for?” I doubted that these changelings had a nefarious motive, they seemed sincere, but then again, by their own omission, these were different changelings to Chrysalis’. They could still be deceptive. Regardless, I wanted to provide them with a chance to explain themselves, then I would have to decide what to do with them. I glanced out the corner of my eye. It was kind of like Praegus, wasn’t it?

Silken nodded, taking a moment to gather her thoughts. “Well, as we’ve said before, Queen Chrysalis hasn’t been honouring the covenant. Changelings were being brought forcibly into her Swarm. We just want to live by ourselves.” Her eyes were pleading. “When we sensed a blank drone nearby, Moth and I were beyond surprised. We thought we could be protected.”

“Protected?” Sergeant Wheeler asked sharply. “How?”

Under the table I patted his leg. These changelings weren’t the enemy. Yet.

“We wanted to try and join with the blank changeling.”

I frowned at that. “Wait, didn’t you say that you didn’t know how to do it?”

Silken hesitated. “Yes, but we thought—”

“—And you also mentioned the Queens kept this knowledge, how were you going to go about it?”

“I guess I would just try different ways until it worked…”

“And what if they didn’t?” I demanded. “What if something went wrong?”

Silken shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know, we just didn’t consider it—”

I gaped at her. “Are you serious? Would you risk another life just because you ‘thought’ you could link with it!”

“Didn’t you do the same?!” Silken shot back heatedly. “You just shot magic into a changeling without even knowing what it was.”

“It’s not the same!” I retorted, slamming a hoof into the table. They jumped. “That changeling was dying, and I was trying everything to save its life, you wanted to use it to protect yourselves.”

“What could we do? You don’t understand.”

“I understand perfectly well!” I said through gritted teeth. “That you were selfishly thinking of yourselves when you thought to put theory into practice!”

“Princess…” Sergeant Wheeler said. I ignored him, rounding on the changelings.

“It’s one thing to suggest that you would do something to yourself, it’s another to suggest that you would do it to somepony else!”

“You don’t know what it’s like!” Silken yelled back desperately. “Don’t pretend you know!”

I reared back, silenced by the abject fear in her voice. Silken glared at me like I was the monster. I realised once again that I had been leaning over the table, my hoof fitting snugly in the dent I unwittingly made in its metallic surface. I scanned the room, but every guard, including Sergeant Wheeler, Smirch and Duft, were looking at some point above and behind my head. The silence in the room was an oppressive cloud, and I felt the rain of rational clarity wash away my emotions, leaving me ashamed. I returned to Silken and noted Moth’s shaking, but restraining, arm holding her back.

Slowly, I sunk back into the seat, my scrambled mind wondering vaguely how I had lost control so completely. If I was shocked at my lack of restraint, I was terrified that it had felt so… good. Shaking and more than a little perturbed, I sunk my head back into my hooves, and focused on counting the rapid beats of my heart in an effort to calm down.

What was it about Praegus that seemed to bring out my ugly side? Why was I so protective?

“Sorry,” I whispered. “Of course, I haven’t let you finish. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”

Silken eyed me warily, but in the end she nodded. Moth cleared his throat, catching my attention. He gestured to Praegus, breaking the awkward silence that had befallen us. “We knew there would be a risk,” he said calmly. “You have to understand what was at stake. Our very existence was… is hanging by a thread. If we didn’t try it, eventually Chrysalis would have tracked us down and forced us into her Swarm.” He shivered, his eyes coming up haunted. “Can you imagine that? Losing everything? Listening to her every wish and no matter what having to obey?” He turned his heart-wrenching gaze downwards. “No one wants to live that sort of shadow-life. The joining should be a covenant. An understanding that the Queen would do for her subjects just as the subjects do for their Queen.”

Moth glanced at Silken and released her arm. Silken drew a shuddering breath to steady herself. “The blank changeling—” she swallowed “—Praegus, was supposed to let us gather the individual changelings into a protective Swarm until we could deal with Chrysalis. We searched and searched for the elusive signal of a blank changeling. It seemed to appear and disappear, like it was taunting us. When we finally reached it, the blank changeling was no longer blank. That changeling was gone, and with it, our hope.”

“We had a plan to share with the blank changeling, but that was merely an ends to a means. If…” Silken paused, letting the rest of the sentence die off. She drew another shaky breath to steady herself. “Princess, we want to ask you for something we know no Queen in their right mind would grant.”

I swallowed thickly as I considered the two desperate changelings. I wanted to help them, but I had to weigh that against what they wanted to ask. Now that they explained their situation, I could see why they wanted to use Praegus. I didn’t agree with it, but I could understand.

“What is it?” I said evenly.

Silken and Moth shared one last glance.

“We want to join your Swarm,” they said.

———————

I was dimly aware of the chair crashing down.

“What?!” I shot a look at Sergeant Wheeler. He sat back considering the statement. I turned to Smirch and Duft who didn’t return the look. I suddenly found myself missing my friends’ advice dearly. I hope Rainbow and Fluttershy could make it here quickly.

I shook my head reflexively. “Look, I don’t know why you’d want to join, but even if I could, I don’t know how you could do that? What do you even mean when you say that? I don’t…” I stopped myself when I realised I was babbling. Stop it, you’re a grown mare. With all these surprises what’s a few more? Hysterical thoughts ran circles around in my head. Changelings? Swarms? Joining? Nonsense, nonsense, nonsense! I wasn’t a changeling. I was a Princess, not a Queen!

Silken interrupted by panicked thoughts. “Princess Twilight, we’re not asking that you’d take care of us. We just need to be a part of your Swarm. If Chrysalis comes by, she has to break the link between us to take us into her Swarm. She can’t do that if you’re powerful enough.” She grinned weakly. “We don’t know how an alicorn factors into power, but it’s probably big.” She smiled weakly. “I think that’s the only stroke of luck for us.”

“S-Stroke of luck?” I spluttered, then flushed. “I’m not a Queen, nor am I going to be your Queen!”

“We’re not asking you to be our Queen,” Moth snapped. “We just want to join your Swarm so we can mount an effective resistance against Chrysalis!”

Silken tapped Moth on the shoulder and took over in a reasonable tone. “Look, we’re not asking you do anything in particular for us, you just need to accept us into the Swarm. For a normal Queen, such a notion would be dismissed out of hoof. That would be like asking for a link and not providing anything in return, it would be a twist of the covenant.” She pointed to Praegus, shrugging slightly. “You don’t even have to do anything, just let Praegus do all the hard work. Order your changeling to accept our joining, and that’s it.”

“That’s it?” I said. “Do you know what you’re asking?”

Silken looked confused. “Yes?”

Moth threw up his hooves. “It’s really simple,” he replied with exaggerated patience. “We’ll get out of your mane when we’re done, alright?”

I glared at both of them, quelling Moth’s flippant response and meeting Silken’s worried look. “I may not like being called Queen, I may not enjoy being asked to host a Swarm, but none of that actually matters.” I straightened. “What matters to me are the ponies I’m sworn to protect. I empathise with you, I really do, but what if Chrysalis finds out I’m involved? She might decide to come into Las Pegasus and deal with me. On the way, she could go through other ponies to get at me. You’re asking us to step in and declaring ourselves on one side or another without much knowledge of the current state of affairs.”

Silken looked surprised, as if that thought hadn’t occurred to her, but Moth looked ready to chew steel and spit out nails. “I told you,” he said to Silken in disgust, then he turned back to me with a seething glare. “What are you saying, that you’re going to abandon us?”

Silken looked like she wanted to desperately add something to sway me, but was unable to find the words.

I wasn’t getting through to them, not at all. I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes briefly in an effort to order my thoughts. I had to remind myself that they weren’t able to see the bigger picture.

“No, I’m not saying that,” I replied quietly. “I’m saying that you have to understand what you’re asking of us. Even if Praegus hadn’t been added into this complicated mess and you asked me on any other day to harbour you from Chrysalis we’d need some time to think about it.” I tried to put it gently. “Of course, if there weren’t any danger to any pony we’d of course try to help, but Chrysalis is different, she’s dangerous and I can’t immediately agree to letting you two joining in Las Pegasus. Actions like these have far reaching consequences.”

My explanation was finally starting to take effect. Silken sagged and even Moth subsided.

When I felt sure my words had sunk in, I continued. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to have to take it out of Las Pegasus.”

Astonished silence succeeded my statement.

“That’s… That’s….” Silken’s eyes widened as it slowly registered. “Y-You mean you’ll do it?”

Despite the recent drama, the suspicion, the hostilities, the uncertainties, I did my best to smile. “You changelings have been causing me trouble left, right and centre. If I do this, outside the official capacity as Princess, I’m merely—” I waved my hoof airly “—investigating the curious changeling phenomenon of linking for, hmm... research.” I rolled my eyes at the surreptitious grins from Smirch and Duft. “Besides, it’s a little of my fault that we’ve started off on the wrong hoof, and I guess I’m responsible for Praegus when I… did whatever I did.” I levelled a serious expression at the both of them. “I don’t want either of you to call me Queen, got it?”

“Yes… uhh… Princess,” Silken said brightly. She shrugged uncomfortably at the last part of my statement. “I’d feel weird calling a pony a Queen anyway. What’s up with you ponies and princesses?”

I didn’t answer the question, merely shrugging in response. “Before I actually agree to anything, you have to tell me where Chrysalis is.”

“Why?” Silken asked.

My smile went from warm to frosty. “Because I’m going to remove that pain in the flank from the face of Equestria. Personally.”

————————

On the way out, I let loose a frustrated sigh. I turned to meet the three guards I’d pulled out. The others were still in the room with the changelings.

“What?” I demanded.

Smirch and Duft looked away, pretending to look at something interesting on the ceiling while Sergeant Wheeler eyed me shrewdly, as if I was some weird enigma to be solved.

“You’re surprisingly scary when you’re angry,” he commented, like that explained everything.

I huffed, releasing the pent up emotions in an exasperated breath. “Oh come on, did you see what they had planned for Praegus? This is a life we’re talking about!”

Sergeant Wheeler looked genuinely surprised. “I honestly thought you would put a pony’s above the life of a changeling.” He seemed to realise what he said and reddened, but it was too late.

I turned my horrified gaze on him. “Of course not! All life deserves to live their own life, as long as they don’t harm anypony. As a Princess, I must treat every case equally, whether they be pony or changeling, griffon or dragon, or anypony else!” I frowned at the Sergeant. “Beyond that, it’s simply wrong to just leave them and to risk the lives of ponies simply because I wanted to remain charitable. The only course of action is to help them and get out of the city to do it. That way, it’s only my life.”

“You shouldn’t treat your own life so lightly,” Sergeant Wheeler said quietly. He probably didn’t intend for me to hear it at that volume.

“I don’t,” I replied as he stiffened. I dropped my voice down a few notches. “I don’t treat my life lightly, but I also believe in doing the right thing. If I have the power to change things in front of me, here—” I smiled “—now, then I should. Even if there’s a little risk.”

“You can’t even take any Guards with you?” Sergeant Wheeler asked.

Already I was shaking my head. “No, this has to be unofficial, off the books. I can’t ask anypony to just risk their lives out there when I’m trying to do the opposite.”

“Even if that risk is to you? You can’t just rush into an internal political conflict with the Changelings!”

I stopped, closing my eyes and taking a moment to clamp down on the number of angry ripostes I had floating at the ready. He was just worried about me, I reminded myself. He was worried. I let the stress go, let it leave with my next breath.

“It’s not like that,” I continued reasonably. “You don’t see the bigger picture.”

I paused when a thought suddenly occurred to me, then looked at Smirch and Duft. “Wait, you two don’t think that too?”

Smirch and Duft shrugged. “I mean I like them…but are what changelings do to each other really our concern? What about Las Pegasus?”

I shook my head. “This goes beyond one city,” I said. “Of course I want to protect Las Pegasus, but taking no action is not the answer. Chrysalis is a bigger threat than you realise. She’s been gathering changelings and worse, forcing them to be a part of her army. Do you know what she’s going to do with that many changelings?”

“No…” Duft replied uneasily.

“Neither do I,” I responded. “But you don’t like it, do you? That’s enough reason to investigate, right? If she’s truly gathering this many changelings, then we might be in trouble. I’d rather see what she’s up to and find out it’s nothing rather than regret doing nothing.”

Sergeant Wheeler stared at me for a few seconds… then burst out laughing. I was so shocked I just stood there like a statue while he chuckled.

“That is why you’re a Princess,” he said approvingly. “Come on, Duft, Smirch, we’re going to protect the Princess while she takes on a changeling army.”

Duft and Smirch were already nodding as I narrowed my eyes.

“No,” I said, “you’re going to stay here and protect Las Pegasus.”

“With all due respect, Princess, I decline. We should stay with you. There are plenty of guards at Las Pegasus. They can cover for three.”

Smirch and Duft grinned, nodding along with Sergeant Wheeler.

“B-But you’re both Guards, that defeats the purpose.”

“Your wings and horns do the same.”

I was at a loss of words, well he had a point there.

“Besides,” Duft put in, “we can just go in ununiformed. You don’t really wear anything extra that identifies you as a princess.”

I regarded them silently for a few moments before sighing.

“I take it you’re not going to be persuaded to stay behind?”

Smirch shook his head.

“No Princess,” Sergeant Wheeler replied.

“With all due respect, Princess, heck no,” Duft said.

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t blame me if you... I don’t know, turn into changelings or something.”

Grinning, the trio followed along as I mumbled some choice things about insubordination. I continued to grumble all the way outside, but I made sure they couldn’t see my little smile.

————————

Silken was giving me little sidelong glances as we trotted along the path to White Tail Woods.

“Yes?” I said, prompting her.

Silken gestured to Praegus. “How’re you feeding the blank changeling?”

I shrugged. “I never really gave it thought.” I just assumed Praegus ate, well, emotions or something.

Silken took another look at Praegus. “As far as I can tell it’s healthy.”

A thought occurred to me. “You also call Praegus ‘it’ rather than ‘he’ or ‘she’. Why do you refer to yourselves with gender-specific pronouns?”

Moth answered for Silken. “We’ve said before that names were complicated around changelings. It might not seem possible to you non-changelings but attributes can be shared among changelings in the same way a foal learns as a parent teaches them.”

I blinked at that. “What, you can learn genders?”

“To us,” Silken said, “there’s not much difference between us. Not as much as you ponies seem to care for, anyway. Our ‘gender’ is merely a preference for specialisation. It helps us get close to our target…” she trailed off at the uncomfortable looks the rest of the guards were sending her way. I waved at them to calm down.

“We’re all friends here, and I’m interested in changeling habits.” Laced in that message was an implicit order that Sergeant Wheeler, Smirch and Duft should go easy on the changelings. Besides, my curiosity had gotten the better of me and I genuinely wanted to learn more.

“So you learn a gender? How?”

Silken tilted her head in thought. “Well, I suppose it’s different to learning in your sense. Everything about me that make me, me, has been given to me by the Queen.”

“I thought you said you didn’t have a Queen.”

“Not now I don’t,” Silken said hastily. “This was before I’d gotten myself a personality.”

“W-What? How is that possible?”

Silken laughed. “See? I told you you’d find this hard to grasp.” She pointed to Praegus. “Though we aren’t blank changelings, those are rare, we don’t develop individual traits unless they’ve been assigned to us. Mind you, it’s up to the Queen. Regular changelings can grow up with their own traits, but that’s really slow in comparison to the Queen deciding then and there.”

“That’s crazy!” I said. “That means your whole identity is something the Queen decided.”

Silken shrugged. “Well yes and no.” She looked upwards as if she could spot the memories floating around her head. “It’s hard to explain, and I don’t know the specifics, but I believe the Queen just accelerates the process of development. I heard that she emphasises trait expressions as we grow. It’s like clipping a shrub, a shrub can take any form you want it to as long as it grows well, but how it does it is specific to the individual plant. Some grow spindly, some grow full, some fail to reach their potential, there’s a sort of random element to it, but you can direct some aspects.” She shrugged. “That’s how it’s always been.”

I struggled to digest the radically different view of the changelings. It just seem so fantastical and far-fetched. Changelings that were accelerated? Determining growth by magic? How did that make any sense?”

Moth turned to Silken and stopped on the trail. “I don’t think the Princess gets it.”

The rest of us stopped with the pair as Silken’s eyebrows drew together in contemplation.

“Okay,” she said, sucking her lip through her teeth. “How about this: you ponies and your cutie-marks.”

Instinctively we all glanced at ours. “What about them?”

“They’re kind of like your life, right?”

I frowned. “I wouldn’t really say that…”

Sergeant Wheeler shrugged. “The symbols aren’t necessarily associated with what you’re going to do, like your job. It just shows what you’re good at, or could be good at.”

“Exactly!” Silken declared. “That’s what it’s like.”

Smirch and Duft nodded thoughtfully. “Now that she puts it that way…”

“But gender?” I spluttered. “Deciding gender?”

Silken rolled her eyes. “Gender isn’t as fixed as you think in changelings. It only matters if you’re a Queen.” With a flare of actinic green light, Silken disappeared, to be replaced by a lookalike of Smirch.

“See?” Fake-Smirch said in the feminine tones of Silken. “Wait.” She cleared her throat. “Better?” This time it was in Smirch’s rich baritones.

I shut my gaping mouth with a click. “Okay… point taken, please never do that again.”

Silken chuckled her voice shifting from the lower registers back to her customary feminine tones. I shivered as she gave me a slight smile at my response.

“The reason why we stick to particular genders is really just for convenience. We get used to certain mannerisms for different ponies and genders have very different behaviours, depending on the circumstances. It’s like specialising in a particular skill.”

Moth smiled. “We’re rather like… actors?” He chuckled. “There was actually a changeling that acted as an actor. He played an actor too, which made us all laugh.”

“Made you all?”

Moth realised his mistake a little too late and pressed his mouth shut.

Silken shook her head at him. “They were bound to find out eventually.” She sighed, then turned back to me. “There are other changelings like us who also would like to live free of Chrysalis. They aren’t going to like the idea of being bound to another Queen, but originally I was going to be the candidate if a blank changeling ever showed up.”

“Others?” I pressed. “Why didn’t you mention this before?”

Silken smiled humourlessly. “In a way, you being the Queen is almost as good.”

I blinked at her. “Why is that?”

“You’re a pony, which makes you equally unaligned to every changeling out there. You wouldn’t be biased against us, necessarily, apart from Chrysalis. We hoped that you would be more tolerant than some other ponies.” She shrugged. “However, these are just our thoughts. There are some, Moth and I included, that are reluctant to just dive into a Swarm. We want to give them all a choice to join, and a choice for you to accept it. We don’t know what happens when a pony becomes a Queen, we don’t know what will happen to us, so that’s why we didn’t willingly reveal there were others. In the event that something happened to us, there wouldn’t be much point in letting you know. They would have to find another way, and their fate isn’t your burden.”

“That’s… surprisingly noble of you,” I said quietly. I suddenly regretted the aggressive tone I had taken against them.

Silken shrugged. “It’s only logical. The difference between a friend and an enemy is their point of view. We aren’t born to fight, just to live.”

I contemplated what she said as we continued along the path. The twisting trees of the White Tail forest stretched out their spindly arms almost as if to snatch us from the path. Sergeant Wheeler scanned the surroundings regularly, his face a grim picture of competence, while Smirch and Duft kept to the sides, also attentive, but more openly apprehensive. Silken and Moth trotted up the path, apparently unconcerned with anything in the woods. They had some form of telepathy and they could sense Praegus, so it made sense that they were able to sense other changelings nearby.

I grew sombre at the though of Silken and Moth fighting for their lives, the basic right to live as free as one could. Truthfully, though I had justified the necessity of checking into Chrysalis’ growing army, I probably would have helped them anyway, even if Chrysalis wasn’t a threat. The idea of it was just wrong. Forcing anypony to fit some form or function without a choice was the same thing as Sombra’s designs of enslaving the Crystal Empire.

I glanced back at Praegus, who was eyeing everything with the same sort of curious detachment I’ve come to be familiar with. The changeling obviously didn’t have much choice in the matter to become, as Silken and Moth put it, linked with me, but did that make me the same as Chrysalis? Was I walking a fine line between necessity and morality? I had saved Praegus’ life, but did I doom it to eternal servitude instead? Conflicting thoughts hardened into a lumpy stone that settled to the bottom of my stomach.

I flinched at the hoof on my shoulder.

“Princess,” Sergeant Wheeler said gently. “We’re here.”

Around us was the greenery of the forest, but there were some wildflowers in bloom shading the surroundings with splashes of red and gold. The ground, littered with the petals, looked like cast off colour pencil shavings. I swept around with awe as the vibrant display filled me with the warm feeling of happiness. I didn’t know the forest had this little haven. Silken and Moth stopped at the centre of the clearing, beckoning me to approach. Praegus followed close behind as my guards flanked me protectively.

Nothing struck me as particularly suspicious about the clearing, but as soon as I stepped closer, something at the back of the mind was nagging me. I scanned the tree line, but there was nothing I could see. Unsatisfied, I sent out a pulse of magic to detect any nearby changelings. With a shocked gasp, I staggered back as the spell relayed back its findings almost immediately.

“Sergeant, I think we should leave,” I whispered urgently. “Now.”

“Princess?”

“There are hundreds of changelings coming towards, in a few seconds, we’ll be surrounded.”

——————

“Wait!” Silken called out. “Let us explain!”

“Do it quickly,” I snapped. “You have thirty seconds.”

“These changelings are with us!” Silken explained hastily. “Remember when I told you about the changelings that wanted to be free of Chrysalis’ influence?”

“Why are they here? I thought you said you wanted to try it out on yourselves first.”

Silken shrugged helplessly. “We haven’t been able to contact them since we’ve met, Princess.”

I shook my head warily. “You both have telepathy, couldn’t you communicate the message across your link?”

Moth chuckled briefly, but a stony look from Silken choked it off early.

“We can communicate silently, but the effective range isn’t very far, and it can’t penetrate walls. The further the distance, the stronger the signal, and the more effort is required; it’s like shouting or talking, there’s only has enough range to cover about the same distance.”

The seconds were ticking down. I sighed. We’ve trusted them this far, it would be a bit silly of me to suddenly stop trusting them out of nowhere.

“Okay,” I said reluctantly. I considered some exit strategies. If it came down to it, I wouldn’t be able to outpace a hundred changelings on hoof, but I might be able to in the sky. I wouldn’t do that anyway. If I flew away, I would be abandoning Smirch, Duft and Sergeant Wheeler.

Oh whatever, let’s just roll with it. It was a little too late to second guess myself anyway.

“We’ll stay,” I told them.

Silken and Moth both looked immensely relieved that I decided to stay.

“Thank you, Princess, you won’t regret it,” Silken said. “They won’t bother us for long, I’ll talk to them.”

As the two changelings headed towards the edge of the clearing, Sergeant Wheeler leaned in.

“Isn’t that a little convenient?” he muttered.

“What is?”

“The fact that they knew the rest were coming. It just strikes me as odd.”

Smirch and Duft shrugged when I cast them a look, apparently, it didn’t occur to them.

“Maybe it’s their telepathy?” I offered. “Could they sense them that way?”

Sergeant Wheeler considered it for a moment, then shook his head as he sighed. “No, I’m not sure. I just have the same sort of bad feeling about all of this since the beginning.”

“Still feel like we’re in the spider’s web?”

Sergeant Wheeler didn’t reply to that, but his laser-like stare into the bushes where Silken and Moth disappeared into was answer enough.

“Sergeant I know you don’t trust these changelings, but are you taking the distrust just a little far?”

Sergeant Wheeler didn’t even look back as he answered. “No Princess, I’m being cautious.”

I bit my lip as I tried to think of a good way to frame my thoughts. “Right, and being cautious is a good thing. We all took the right precautions before stepping into this clearing. I was the one that detected the rest of the changelings.”

Sergeant Wheeler flinched, and still remained silent. Ah, so that was the reason. Did he harbour guilt from his inability to detect the changelings?

“There’s no need to hold yourself accountable for failing to detect them, you don’t have access to changeling detection spells,” I said gently. He started, and I knew I hit it spot on.

Sergeant Wheeler shook his head angrily, his distemper was directed more at himself than at me. “It’s just…” He grunted as he thought furiously of an alternative. “Maybe we should have brought a unicorn along?”

I chuckled. “And teach them a completely original spell I’ve made myself over the course of two months? I don’t think we have quite that amount of disposable time.” I laid a hoof on his shoulder. “I don’t say this often, and I don’t like to flaunt it around, but I have been studying magic my whole life, Sergeant. There’s practically no one more qualified to handle spells of this complexity.”

Sergeant Wheeler took a deep breath. “You’re so capable…” he trailed off as his eyebrows furrowed in contemplative frustration. “It’s like you don’t even need us.”

“That’s not true—”

“I know,” Sergeant Wheeler said quietly. “I meant that it feels like we’re inadequate. You’re… you’re just so versatile. It’s hard to keep up.”

“But I don’t…” Wait. It suddenly hit me. I understood. These were the same feelings that I’ve held for Princess Celestia all these years. Dear Celestia, the irony. Have I been holding her up so high that I could no longer reach her? Had I unwittingly distanced myself for fear of tarnishing that which I thought was beyond staining? And Sergeant Wheeler, he must have felt a little out of joint when he’d gone from the pony in the highest commanding position of Las Pegasus for the last decade, to a simple guard for the Princess. What a change in dynamic for him.

“Princess?” Duft whispered in concern.

I snapped myself out of my stunning revelation. “Y-Yes,” I said softly. “No, I mean—” I straightened and gave Sergeant Wheeler a sympathetic smile “—I understand it, truly.”

Sergeant Wheeler’s eyes widened slightly as he caught onto my sincerity. He flushed briefly and looked away.

“Thanks, Princess, I guess you were right that you are just like a pony like the rest of us. I’ve just been ignoring the signs and just seeing all the crazy feats you’re capable of. You know you have a reputation, right?”

“Uhh…” I thought back to Ponyville and the foals that briefly obsessed over the fact that I was a princess. “Yes, I guess I’m a bit of a local celebrity.”

“Try all of Equestria!” Duft squeaked. “You know how excited Smirch was when he heard—urk!”

Smirch tightened his choke hold on Duft as he grinned nervously at me. “Nothing, Princess. Private Duft sometimes forgets her place. I’ll make sure she keeps her eyes on the tree lines instead of wandering as much as her ears and mouth do.” He blushed when he realised we were all staring at him during his babbling speech.

He cleared his throat and dragged Duft a little off to the side. “We’ll, uhh, do guard things.”

Sergeant Wheeler laughed. “It’s true, Princess, you might not know it, but saving Equestria multiple times, ascending to a Princess and being one of the greatest forces of good for Equestria in last decade alone is sure to earn you notoriety of the famous kind. I thought I might have to play bouncer for you.” He coughed. “When you turned up, you weren’t really what I was expecting.”

Oh, right, I remember. That did explain a lot. When I first arrived in Las Pegasus, I had swooped into the local garrison and practically knocked down the door trying to get to whoever was in charge faster. I was about to start taking down names when the Sergeant scrambled forward, introduced himself and made for the door. He must have thought I was going to follow because he simply left, while I stood there. I was about to lay out the evidence and come up with a reasoned assumption that the changeling was a false report, but Sergeant Wheeler had told me he was sure.

The way he stumbled over the florid greetings and protocol reminded me of the first time I had met Princess Celestia. The Princess never dismissed any concern I had, which was actually the tipping point for me to investigate the matter personally. My reluctance must have seemed typically removed, like somepony who was arrogant in the assumption of their experience. It wasn’t the time to explain to him that I received hundreds of letters from ponies all over Equestria asking for my assistance. At first, I took them all seriously, but most turned out to be monsters under the bed. Imagined or overblown fears. I learned to trust my judgement, but in return, I guess I’d grown condescending.

In the end, I went with him, doubting the request all the way. It goes to show that there was never an endpoint to knowing about a topic, and the appeal of assumption was a seductive mistake.

Sergeant Wheeler smirked at me, as if he could read my thoughts. “For what it’s worth, I was wrong about you. I thought you were an amazing pony that solved problems instantly with the flick of your horn. Then I thought you were a stuck up celebrity that didn’t concern yourself with the affairs of your subjects. Finally, I see the real you. Genuinely. You’re still very much a pony. A pony that cares. Also a bit of a royal pain, but mostly somepony that cares.”

I rolled my eyes at the last bit. “Well, maybe, but I’m not as bad as Puff.”

Sergeant Wheeler pursed his lips. “Now don’t get me started on that.”

Silken and Moth reemerged from the bushes, both wearing a slight smile. I sent another pulse, but already the signals were growing weaker. Looks like they were telling the truth. I nodded to the guards and sagged with relief. I didn’t know what I’d do if something happened. One changeling invasion is enough for a lifetime.

Sergeant Wheeler, Smirch and Duft relaxed slightly at my signal, but still scanned the trees from time to time.

Silken and Moth’s smiles faded as they approached. The mood grew more solemn and their steps slower as they appeared hesitant of what was coming. My anticipation grew with theirs, and I shared a look with Sergeant Wheeler. Maybe I’d relaxed a little too soon? Silken cleared her throat and faced me, only a few feet away.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

To link, she meant.

“Will the answer help me get over my sudden debilitating fear of the approaching unknown?”

Silken laughed. It was a nervous titter, compared to the hearty one we’d shared on the trail.

“I’ll take that as a no,” she said wryly. “But let’s get started.”

Author's Note

I keep writing more and more for each chapter, so I decided to trim a little this time around.

Next Chapter: Consequences.

As always, my interconnected readers, thanks for reading!

6 - Nosce Te Ipsum

Chapter 6: Nosce Te Ipsum

know thyself

Silken motioned at Praegus to stand in front of her, and the changeling did as it was bidden, standing like a statue, looking stoic as ever. I imagined that Praegus felt none of the rising sense of unease that was sneaking up behind the veil of my racing thoughts. I was sure the glance and smile that Silken sent my way was meant to be reassuring, but its wobbly countenance gave the opposite effect, making my stomach churn with worry.

To be honest, I’m not even sure why I was worried when everything was going to be handled by Prageus. Call me overly-anxious, but the niggling twinge of uncertainty tore at my consciousness like a Manticore sharpening its claws against a tree.

As a way to take my mind off my dithering nerves, I decided to ‘check up’ on the others to see how they were holding up.

To my left, Sergeant Wheeler stood by with an unreadable expression, while Smirch and Duft shifted on their hooves, looking both curious and apprehensive. Their bare emotions gave me a measure of relief as I felt sure the same ones were plastered all over my face. Tension spread pervasively around the clearance, diffusing across our expressions like a spreading mould.

Then, in a moment granted by unspoken consent, it started.

Silken lowered her horn towards Praegus, murmuring what sounded like phrases of assurances. Despite the soothing tone somehow calming me down, Praegus didn’t react. Surprised by his lack of response, Silken threw a look back at us briefly. When I could do nothing except shrug, Silken bit her lip and drove forward, her horn glowing with latent power charged with purpose.

Silken’s horn gently brushed against Praegus’ own.

And then everything went wrong.

“Ahh!”

Praegus and Silken collapsed onto the ground. There was no sound from either of them, but Moth screamed in pain. His cry pierced through the woods, sending a shock down my spine as I tried to grasp exactly what in the world was happening. I thought I heard distant screaming chorusing along in a dissonant refrain.

Moth sank momentarily but quickly recovered, staggering to his hooves. I was dimly aware of Sergeant Wheeler saying something.

What did he say? I blinked slowly. Was it important?

I watched in a dreamy daze as Moth stumbled over to Silken’s side, mumbling something incomprehensible. Sergeant Wheeler stepped in front of me, waving his hooves frantically. He was trying to get my attention but I felt distracted. There was a strange disconnect that felt startlingly familiar. Like I was underwater and their voices were muffled and muted. I had felt this feeling before, and it was carrying me away, like I was drifting…

“Princess?”

I opened my mouth to reply, but forgot what I was going to say.

“Princess?” The voice was being so insistent.

“Mmm, yes?” I smiled without a reason to. My mouth felt like it had moved all on its own. I should have felt horror, but instead it felt sickly sweet, painfully pleasurable, a harmoniously discordant chord in the screeching of silence.

“Are you alright?”

Time, which felt like a crawl mere moments before, rushed back into the blistering speed of the present. I blinked at Sergeant Wheeler, concern shrouding his expression, weighing it down. “What?”

“Princess, can you tell me where we are?”

Suddenly, the last few minutes all rushed back. I knew I should be… something. Worried, perhaps? I didn’t feel it. Concerned? Agitated? None of them was what I felt at the moment. I felt... content. So I smiled wider at the Sergeant to put him at ease.

For some reason it only made him more concerned.

His mouth twitched. “Answer the question, Princess.”

“Oh good, you’re assessing my ability to recall long term memory.”

“I told you to call me Twilight, Sergeant.”

Sergeant Wheeler's mouth twitched. “Please answer the question… Princess Twilight.”

Princess… the title evoked something visceral within me. My eyes shifted to Sergeant Wheeler briefly, before losing the power to focus again.

“We’re in…” Something suddenly caught my attention. It was a butterfly, and the way its wings dazzled in the sunlight was mesmerising. What delicate wings. Beautiful was the only way I could describe it. My vision shook. I realised it was Sergeant Wheeler trying to get my attention again. Oh right, he had a question.

“…White Tail Woods. We’re in White Tail Woods.”

I blinked rapidly to banish the blurry edges around my vision. Yes, that’s right, I was—

“Square root of two hundred and thirty-six?”

My eyes snapped back to the Sergeant, my mind reluctantly dispelling that pleasant fog. I shook my head. “Now you’re assessing my mental arithmetic?”

Sergeant Wheeler gave me a strained look. “If it’s too hard…”

My eyebrows drew together. “I’m fine.” I paused for a few moments to make the calculation. “Fifteen point three six two two nine one… uhh…” I sighed. “Okay, I’m pretty sure the next number is a four or a five, but I promise it’s reasonably correct to a definable degree of accuracy.”

Sergeant Wheeler sent a shocked look back at Smirch and Duft who were openly gaping at me. No longer floating, I fell proverbially to the ground and flat on my face. I suddenly heard Rainbow's voice. Way to show how much of a nerd you are, Twilight. Rainbow would feel vindicated. I could see Smirch had written a rough approximation of the answer in the dirt, minus a few decimal points I had added… actually, minus all the decimal points I added. Duft kept glancing at the dirt and back at me. She whispered something I couldn’t make out at this distance, but Smirch just rolled his eyes and shook his head.

Wait, if they had the time to make that calculation, that would mean…

“… how long was I out?”

“Ten minutes,” Sergeant Wheeler replied, his brows drawing down. “Any longer and we would have carted you off. I would have earlier, but we were erring on the side of caution.”

I cocked my head. The sergeant struck me as a pony unafraid of taking necessary action.

“Could be contagious,” he answered in reply to my look. The stalwart guard gave me a suspicious once-over. “Nevertheless, I think we should get you to see a doctor. Again. I’ve sent somepony back to alert the precinct and get medical personnel here.”

Thoughts about heading back into the hospital and terrorising the hospital staff again didn’t seem appealing, but blanking out for ten minutes was definitely a cause for concern.

“I think I should—”

“Take it easy, Princess,” Moth finished for me. He looked like he’d crawled out of the changeling equivalent of Tartarus, which was probably Tartarus as far as I knew.

“What happened while I was… indisposed?” I was a little apprehensive of the answer.

Moth looked back briefly, and I followed his gaze. On the ground was Silken, who looked just as bad as her partner. “I don’t know what happened,” Moth finally admitted. “Both Silken and your changeling collapsed suddenly. You blanked out shortly after. I felt a stabbing pain in my skull. After a few seconds, Silken came back, but your changeling…” He shrugged helplessly. Apparently, he didn’t blame me for it, which was a relief. Then his last words hit me.

“Wait, what happened? Is Praegus alright?”

Moth didn’t say anything, he merely indicated to the side of him. I could feel my heart being squeezed by icy claws. Praegus was on the ground. Scrambling forward, I came up alongside and knelt beside the changeling. There it was, a weak pulse, shallow breathing, flittering wings, all the same symptoms from before. I shared a look with Sergeant Wheeler and reluctantly recognised what was reflected in his eyes. A faint creeping chill spread through my hooves as it dawned on me.

“Princess,” he whispered, “that looks like—”

“—in the forest.” I confirmed with him as I took a deep breath. “This is serious, we have to—”

Moth’s hoof reached out to restrain me. He hastily withdrew the hoof as Sergeant Wheeler glared at him. Despite that, his face had a dead-set determination that held back the sergeant’s withering response.

“You knew about this?” His voice held a hard edge as he glanced back at Silken. “Before this happened?”

“No,” I said quickly, “but my change—” I stopped myself, shaking my head. He wasn’t my changeling, snap out of it! “—Praegus was like this when we found it.” I shifted the tone of the conversation to where it mattered. “But the joining didn’t work.”

Moth flinched at my tone, then shook his head guiltily. “I don’t know what went wrong. I knew it was a little experimental, but given that the changeling has declared it was part of your Swarm, we thought that it would work just as usual. Your changeling just doesn’t… it doesn’t do… it’s not…” he shrugged, seemingly at a loss of words. Moth rubbed his forehead in sympathetic pain. He didn’t seem to harbour any ill-will to Praegus. If anything, it looked like Moth wanted to take responsibility for the incident. Okay, one less pile of earth on the mounting molehill of a mountain.

“I don’t feel anything.” Silken shakily pulled herself up onto her hooves. Moth rushed over to help prop her up.

“Silken, is there anywhere you’re feeling pain?” he gave her a once-over and then looked into her eyes. “Silken, talk to me.”

“I don’t feel anything,” she repeated desperately, her eyes focused on the changeling in front of her. “Moth?”

Moth looked pained. He slowly shook his head while his own legs shivered slightly. “I don’t feel anything either.”

“It’s like sending thoughts into the darkness.” She shivered. “It isn’t natural. It’s quiet, so quiet.”

Moth whispered something into her ears, glancing briefly our way; it made Silken’s frown deepen. She whispered something back.

What they were saying, I could only guess, but…

“I thought you two could talk to each other silently?”

Silken held her tongue for a long, excruciating moment. “We can’t,” she finally managed to get out. “I keep trying, but there’s no one there!”

“You can’t communicate telepathically anymore?”

Silken’s lips curled in displeasure. “We can’t.” Frustration seeped through her words. “We’ve lost the ability to communicate that way at all. Not only that, we’re blind! We’re even more helpless.”

I was about to say something else, but a weak wing brushed gently against my hooves. Praegus. No. My gaze flickered down towards the changeling as I softly reached out to touch its body. Laboured breathing resounded as Praegus struggled to draw breath. The changeling was on the verge of dying once more. I couldn’t let that happen, not after I had decided to do this. This was my fault. I had to fix this. I couldn’t let this changeling die.

I took a deep breath. “I’m going to do it again. I’ll share a bit more of my magic.”

All three of my guards—silent up until this point—burst into heated objections.

“Princess!”

“Please think about it!”

“Isn’t there another way?”

“No,” I said quietly, quelling their objections with a solemn look. I noticed Silken and Moth staying silent. From the way they were eyeing the changeling, it seemed like they knew a little of what was going on.

“Any ideas?” I shot to them.

Silken hunched her shoulders keeping her peace, but Moth’s gaze came up surprisingly sympathetic.

“Yes, but we have neither the power or resources to attempt it now.” He shifted his holed legs, breaking eye contact to stare solidly at the ground. “There’s a way of sharing magic among changelings, but it looks like you’ll have to do it alone. I don’t… I don’t think we can do it in our current condition.” Interesting, so there was a way to sustain a changeling without resorting to my own methods, but the method wasn’t available right now. I could feel my lip draw down in frustration. It’s not like I want to make everypony worried, but I couldn’t see any other way.

A wry smile graced my lips as I turned to Sergeant Wheeler, Duft and Smirch.

“I don’t think there’s another way.”

Sergeant Wheeler tried to make his inevitable argument. I could tell from the poor sergeant’s expression that he knew it would be futile; he tried anyway. “Princess you just recovered from… whatever the heck it was, you can’t—”

“Sergeant, I can’t let this changeling die, not when we know there’s a way to stop it.”

“There is a way,” he shot back testily, “and it doesn’t involve you.”

“There’s no time and you know it.”

“Princess Twilight, you know as much as me that the luxury of making decisions like this is for other ponies. For—”

“Normal ponies?” I shot back.

“No,” Sergeant Wheeler said patiently. “For those that may not have the weight of other lives burdened on their shoulders.”

That may have been enough to give me pause a few days ago, but I had already made the resolution. “I have to do what I think is right. Are you asking me to abandon this changeling?”

“No.” Sergeant Wheeler stamped a hoof. “I didn’t, you know I didn’t, but you have to consider other options, Princess.”

“I have, Sergeant, but I’m willing to listen to any other alternatives you have in mind?” I held his look with unwavering eyes, sending him a clear challenge along with them.

Sergeant Wheeler licked his lips. “We could wait for a unicorn from—”

“From Las Pegasus?” I cut in calmly. “Even if they could make it here on time, would they know the spell? Would they have the required reserves to pull it off?”

Sergeant Wheeler stared at me, then sighed, head drooping low in defeat. “No, Princess.”

There was no feeling of triumph in winning this trial of wills. I knew his concern for me, but I had to do this. I knew he would never agree to this; his priorities were simply different from my own. I couldn’t back down from this any more than he could. This was the right thing to do, I knew it... but then why did I feel so bad about doing it?

With nerves threatening to undo my façade of feigned clam, I sank by Praegus’ side, putting a hoof on its struggling chest. “This time I’ll put a limiter of my magic. I won’t fall into mage’s malaise with this.”

“Even so…” Sergeant Wheeler’s response faded away as I gave him a small smile.

“I’ll be careful,” I said earnestly. “Trust me.”

That seemed to do it. Sergeant Wheeler nodded, looking resigned. “As you wish, Princess.”

A guilty prick lanced through my heart, but I tried to push it from my mind, taking a quick breath to steady myself. Though I had projected confidence to those around me, the truth was that I was more than a little apprehensive. If something went wrong, I’d end up in hospital again. Or perhaps worse… I shook my head, leaning in, my horn almost touching Praegus’ as I prepared the spell.

“You’re beginning to be a bit of a hooful,” I muttered dryly, brows drawing together in concentration. Instead of feeling my magic surge through me, I felt a strange sensation rise through me. At first, it felt prickly, as if I was sitting in an awkward position a little too long. It washed through me as a hackle-raising numbness. Then it came. It was the familiar rising tide of magic, but instead of surging across the connection like before, it came smoothly like the flow and ebb of the ocean tides. I gasped softly in mute shock, being caught in the current of magic coursing gently, serenely.

It felt surreal.

It felt silky and smooth.

It felt… nice.

A few moments later, I cut off the connection. I was feeling drained, but not dangerously so. It was a pleasant surprise.

“Princess?”

My eyes sharpened into focus. “Wheeler?” The background was swaying. No wait… it steadied. His concerned gaze filled my view. I realised that his hoof had come around to prop me up.

“You look like death,” he commented wryly as he gestured down. “Praegus is getting better, though.”

When I turned around, Praegus’ eyes flew open, startling us all.

“My… Quee—” It blinked a few times. “Princess?”

“Yes,” I said, relief leaking into my strained words. “How do you feel?”

“Functioning,” Praegus replied mechanically, “my Princess.”

Nopony could accuse Praegus of being wordy. I couldn’t care less, simply being glad that the changeling was alive.

“Don’t scare me like that anymore,” I reproached him, “you’re absolutely forbidden from making us worry like that.”

Praegus was silent for a long moment before replying.

“Yes, my Princess,” It finally said. I made to say something more, but Silken interrupted us.

“Do you feel that?” Silken perked her ears as she swivelled around.

Moth twitched. “Yes—Oww!” He held a hoof to his head. “Wha—?”

I shot to my hooves. “Do you hear that?”

Sergeant Wheeler scanned left to right, his ears pricked. He signalled something to Smirch and Duft and they swept the area too, scanning not only the tree line, but the sky above it.

“No…” he said slowly as Smirch and Duft also shook their heads.

I blinked at the sensation. “It’s this ringing sound.”

Moth blinked at me. “You hear it too?”

I nodded slowly. The tone, much like the whine of some of my analytical machines, died down. Instead, a new sound appeared, replacing it, sounding like the faint whistling of a boiling kettle.

“That shrieking sound?” Smirch said suddenly. “Sounds familiar, but I can’t place it.”

I whipped around. “You can hear it?”

“Yeah,” added Duft with a perplexed expression. “I do too.”

“And me,” Sergeant Wheeler confirmed warily. “That sounds like…” His eyes widened as he dove forward suddenly. “Princess, get dow—”

I flinched in shock, letting out an unintentional shriek of surprise. Then I realised it came from above. Too late, I tried to shift my gaze upwards—

Boom!

Dust and dirt went flying up as something struck the clearing between us. I stumbled back from the shockwave, gaping, then immediately regretted it as I practically inhaled a mouthful of soil. Coughing and wheezing, I blinked madly when grit found its way into my eyes, making me grope blindly around for a few tense and helpless seconds.

Sergeant Wheeler stirred beside me and got to his hooves in an explosive movement, undoubtedly trying to protect me from whatever was attacking us. He yelled something to Smirch and Duft as I staggered to my own hooves. As soon as I got my bearings, I casted a spell to bring down the dust and readied myself to meet the unknown assailant, my horn glowing a dangerously dull red. The instant the cloak of particulate matter dissipated, we met the new threat with weapons raised.

Stamp. Thud.

“Back off! And if any of you want to take me, I’ll beat you down!”

My jaw almost came unhinged as I recognised the newcomer.

“Rainbow Dash?!”

I was met with a courageous grin. “Yeah, and looks like I’m in time. There’s a whole bunch of changelings gathering nearby! I’ll distract these two while we get away, Twi’!”

“Uhhh—”

“What are you waiting for?” Rainbow growled as she pawed the ground with her hoof. “We gotta go! Guards? Good. We could use your help! Twi’s hurt, get her away!”

Sergeant Wheeler was still on guard, but considerably more relaxed when he saw my expression. He edged in front of Rainbow Dash and raised his hoof in a calming gesture. “Steady, uhh, Miss Dash? These aren’t the enemy.”

Rainbow shot a look at the changelings, then whipped her head back looking at me. She spotted Praegus standing somewhat unsteadily nearby. The pegasus flicked her tail in feigned nonchalance as she laughed with a perturbed look. “You’re joking, right?”

When nopony said anything, Rainbow finally took the time to peer at Silken and Moth. Both hadn’t moved an inch since she’d arrived. In contrast to Rainbow’s snorts and stamps, they observed the pegasus carefully, looking ready to flee more than fight. Seeing nopony making a move, Rainbow cocked her head in confusion as the silence dragged on.

The brazen pegasus leaned in towards me, talking through the side of her mouth. “Am I missing something?”

I heard another thump from behind me.

“Oh, uhm, hello, Twilight. Rainbow said she had a bad feeling and wanted to fly ahead.” Turning around, I was only mildly surprised to see that it was Fluttershy, equipped with her saddlebags. Owlowiscious hooted and gave me a wave of his wings, looking pleased with himself. The dots were starting to connect, but…

“How did you find us, and weren’t you taking a train?”

“Can somepony please explain what is going on here?” Rainbow glanced around her. “These are changelings, right? They look like changelings.”

I gestured to the changelings present and decided to summarise the situation as succinctly as possible. “These changelings are not the changelings you know. In the beginning, I found this one—” I pointed to Praegus.

The brash pegasus waved her front hooves. “Woah, woah, woah—”

Ignoring her, I continued staunchly. “—almost dead in the forest. It looked like it needed some magic, so I gave it some—”

“What?!” Rainbow spluttered. “What were you think—”

I checked her heated look with cool one.

“—Let me finish. Then we took it to hospital and found out there were more changelings in the forest. Turns out they were looking for this changeling, or something like it, because Chrysalis has some sort of plan to enslave all the changelings into her rule.”

“What?!” Rainbow looked like she was about ready to explode. Her mouth flopped open as she made to speak, but then surprisingly cocked her head and crossed her arms instead. She took a moment before continuing. “But aren’t like all the changelings under Chrysalis’ thingo?”

Moth muttered something that Rainbow heard and that I couldn’t. Rainbow shot him a look but did little more than glare at him before turning back to me.

“No,” I resumed quickly, one of my ears twitching with anticipation, “there are some that just want to live independently. I don’t really have much time to go into the specifics here, but basically it’s related to some sort of magic that connects them to each other. Anyway, we need to know if what we’ve tried did anything.”

“What did you try?” Rainbow pressed suspiciously. I found my gaze wandering to the side as Rainbow’s features darkened.

Sergeant Wheeler tossed his head. “And did what, exactly?”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” I grumbled.

“Princess,” Wheeler began, “maybe for now we should get you to a doctor?”

“Oh, all right,” I muttered, and immediately blinked out of existence.

——————

“I appreciate you coming all the way out here just to give me a check-up,” I told the doctor as she peered into my eyes with pen torch.

“Well, Princess, I won’t lie and say I’m completely comfortable around the changelings, but I’m happy to assist you here since it’s a lot less disruptive to the hospital than the last time.” She chuckled nervously as she took in the stiff changelings wheeling around the edge of both our peripheries. Only the guard stationed nearby prevented her from bolting. “Tackling guards, rampant mysterious creatures and fainting staff is a lot more than we can manage even in a city like Las Pegasus.” She smiled weakly. “That was my first time teleporting, as well.”

I took the gentle rebuke with a nod. “I will be sure it won’t happen again, Doctor.” That was mainly the reason why I had called her all the way out here in the forest. Smirch and Duft had offered to go to the city to get the doctor, but I just settled it with a teleportation spell. If I was a unicorn, the spell would have brought me to my fetlocks, but ever since I had the use of alicorn powers, the spell felt ridiculously easy in comparison.

It felt a little like cheating.

That didn’t stop Sergeant Wheeler from trying to convince me otherwise. His worry was infectious, with my friends growing increasingly doubtful as they shot me anxious-laden looks every once in awhile. I finally convinced everyone by performing a short range teleportation spell several times in a row. Well, if by convinced, you mean met with reluctant approval, then yes, that. Sergeant Wheeler muttered something under his breath about me showing off and overdoing it, but I pretended not to hear.

On the other hoof, while I was being checked out, Rainbow and Fluttershy stood off to the side, staring at the changelings with mixed emotions. Fluttershy was the embodiment of rising curiosity checked with fear, whilst Rainbow was bottled suspicion tempered with unease. With their hardening stances, I knew it was only a matter of time before something happened. I was glad the doctor ended her checkup when she did.

“Well, nothing seems to be out of order. Reflexes are good, magic in tune, peripheral coordination and muscular strength is fine as far as I can tell.” Her hoof ran down my spine as she studied my features. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you are in full healthy form, barring recovery from mage’s malaise.” Her brow drew down as she scowled in a way that could make Discord blanch. “Though attempting a long-range teleportation so soon was a significant risk. I hope you will think carefully before stressing your body to the limit.”

I didn’t really have anything to say in defence, so I meekly nodded instead.

The doctor caught my look and sighed, relaxing her deep frown into a slight smile.

“I don’t know what it’s like to be a princess, but I do know that you won’t live long pulling off stunts like that. Take it easy, alright?” Her gaze flickered to the changelings and then back to me. “Las Pegasus needs you more than ever.”

“I’ll try my best, doctor.” I gave her a firm nod. The doctor studied me for a moment, looking like she wanted to add something else, but evidently decided against it as she simply nodded.

“So you didn’t answer my question,” I prompted Rainbow, diverting her attention away from the silent changelings gathered at the other end of the clearing. Praegus needed a little convincing, but it stood silently, judging the two new ponies with a blank expression. At least… I thought it was judging them. I couldn’t be sure.

“What?” Rainbow looked at me blankly. “Oh, right, yeah, Owlowiscious flew into the train through a window and I almost ate some feathers.” She grinned at Owlowiscious. “Great flying there, buddy.”

Owlowiscious rolled his eyes and hooted at the pegasus, who simply chuckled. “Well, seriously, even I was impressed. It was a moving train.” My nighttime assistant puffed up his chest, making me reflexively grin in return. He flittered from Rainbow’s head to my shoulder, settling in his regular spot with a pleased hoot. I flexed a wing to rub him affectionately, but resolved to talk with him about such a dangerous method of letter delivery.

Fluttershy, on the other hoof, bit her lip, but said nothing. She obviously had concerns for a pet performing such hazardous stunts, but caught my expression and subsided with a slight nod.

“Anyway,” Rainbow continued, oblivious to the look Fluttershy was giving her. “I got this bad feeling and thought you might be in trouble.”

“Bad feeling?” I repeated.

“Yeah, sorta like when you get this shiver and your stomach feels a bit...”—Rainbow frowned as searched for the right word—“off.”

I gaped at her. “You literally acted on a gut feeling?”

Rainbow nodded with a grin, fluffing up her chest very similarly to how Owlowiscious did. Then she saw Fluttershy’s curiously-raised eyebrow and hastily added, “That, and Fluttershy said she saw a bunch of changelings flying towards here.”

“Here?!”

I shot Silken and Moth a look.

“It could be Chrysalis.” Silken sounded doubtful.

“But…?”

“We’re not sure,” she admitted. “I can’t sense anything or feel anything.”

Moth nodded. “Me too, I can’t communicate with Silken.”

Their silent communication hadn’t improved since. I was growing worried.

“What’s going on?” I muttered to myself.

“Silken!” A changeling dropped out of the sky. Instantly, the guards and Rainbow were on alert. The changeling banked slightly, braking aerially and slowing down cautiously as it landed close to where Silken and Moth were. Silken, initially alert, relaxed and then gave me a nod as I sent her a querying look. Tension hung in the air for a few long moments before I waved everypony down.

Silken gestured at the changeling, saying something softly to it. The changeling balked a little, then whispered something back in an urgent tone. Silken nudged Moth but he merely shrugged and whispered something in an indifferent manner. The changeling looked indecisive about something. Intrigued I perked up my ears.

“Don’t worry,” Silken finally said, “you might as well let everyone here know.”

The changeling glanced at us and Praegus briefly, before giving a rather public—albeit succinct—report. “We all lost contact with each other. Then we saw the other changelings. Don’t know which Swarm they’re from. After the link...” It locked gazes with me, adding deliberately, “We were rendered blind.” Ignoring me, it then leaned in and added something in a whisper to Silken that I couldn’t make out. Whatever it was, it wasn’t pleasant and Silken added a few stern-sounding words before the changeling quieted. Sergeant Wheeler and I shared a sobering look. Seems like the changelings in the field blamed me for the communications blackout.

“What do you think?” I posed to the guards in corner of the clearing.

Sergeant Wheeler glanced at the changelings, tilting his head. “It’s not a trap, or if it is, it’s a very cleverly disguised one.”

The sergeant judged the situation with a militaristic outlook. I guess he couldn’t be blamed for it, but I suddenly felt like I wanted somepony else’s opinion. I turned to Rainbow and Fluttershy.

“What about you, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy bit her lip as she considered the changelings. “I don’t know, Twilight, they seem well-meaning, but I’m still a little…”

“Scared?”

She nodded meekly, sending them a furtive glance. “We all know what happened with Chrysalis before, but I think maybe give them a chance?” Her little suggestion ended in little more than a squeak when Rainbow snorted and shot her a scathing look.

“I say we can’t trust these changelings,” Rainbow spat out in a crackling undertone. “They’re bound to get us when we’ve turned around.”

I sent a look to Smirch and Duft and they shook their heads and shrugged, seemingly to say that they’d leave it up to me. The reason I was collecting opinions, though, was because I didn’t know what to do! With the complexity of the situation becoming more and more tangled, my thoughts drifted to whether a princess was expected to deal with something like this all the time. I stared into the distance, trying to collect my thoughts and feelings into a decision.

Everypony in the clearing was either wary or neutral to the changelings. In the middle of my deliberations, I could hear the changelings conversing softly amongst themselves. Curious, I wondered if they had the same sort of problems I had. From appearances, it looked like Silken and Moth were both changelings that shouldered the burden of many lives.

What kind of thoughts were going through their heads?

Silken mumbled something back to the changeling that had given the report. In reply, the changeling said something that made Moth unexpectedly hiss. The conversation continued at a more heated tone until finally Silken muttered something quietly, which made Moth and the new changeling straighten up, sending a gaze our way and meeting my own. Silken turned around to look at us but then sighed and shook her head. She waved dismissively at the new changeling who reluctantly backed away, all the while sending us furtive gazes that made the mane strands on the back of my neck stand on end.

A prickling sensation swept over me as I managed to ask them, “What’s going on?”

Silken shuddered before answering. “I don’t know what happened, but we’re cut off from everyone.” She looked at me with a decidedly neutral face. “What are you going to do?”

Silken was worried about the new changelings out and about. Without their special brand of communication, this was already a crippling blow to changelings who were already on the lam from an impending changeling swarm. She was asking for asylum. I was in the position to give it, but should I? There were so many unknowns. Chrysalis. The new changelings. Reports of other changelings. Things were just piling up one by one.

“What happened with the joining?” I said, shifting the topic slightly off centre. Silken caught the clumsy gesture but shrugged and went with it.

“I don’t know,” Silken answered miserably. “It looks like it didn’t work. Worse than that, everyone connected to me has suddenly gone dark. The changelings in the forest are having trouble regrouping.” The changeling near Silken twitched, as if it didn’t expect Silken to reveal that piece of information. It came forward, wanting to say something, but Silken merely gave it a look and it took a couple of reluctant steps back.

“This is…” Silken nodded to the changeling as it whispered something in her ears. “Cilia. She’s coordinating the other changelings in my absence, although now that the link is gone… there’s not much she can do except marshal them physically.”

Whatever we did, it only seemed to make them blind from their own abilities. I bit my lip. This wasn’t an expected outcome, but I did share some of the responsibility for Praegus. I made a decision.

“We need to take a look at the other changelings, but at the same time, work out what happened with Praegus.” I didn’t think it’d be a great idea to bring a whole bunch of changelings into Las Pegasus. With how the first contact with changelings went, I couldn’t imagine a warm reception. The last time it was merely two, but most of the hubbub had died down when they saw the massive contingent of guards surrounding them. We needed to plan, and somewhere away. I glanced around the forest, as if the woods themselves held the answer to my little conundrum…

Then again, maybe they did.

“We need a middle ground,” I announced. “Somewhere where we are both comfortable coordinating together to solve this little problem.”

“What do you have in mind, Princess?” Sergeant Wheeler asked, eyes glinting with curiosity.

“I think this forest could be a good spot, don’t you think?”

I could see Sergeant Wheeler’s mind ticking through the options as he considered my idea. “I think that’s a good idea.” He turned to Smirch and Duft. “You two should head back to Las Pegasus and gather a small party to protect the Princess while she’s on stay here.”

“Yes, sir.” Smirch saluted us before galloping off with Duft.

Silken frowned at me. “You’re going to leave us in the forest?”

“Not exactly,” I tried to clarify. “Let’s make this point a place for the changelings and ponies to negotiate.”

Silken shook her head almost immediately. “Absolutely not. We can’t afford to remain out here in the open.”

“Trust me, being in the forest is only inviting danger. We need a way to make sure the changelings we deal with are the same changelings we met. You understand, right?”

Silken considered this, but still rejected the notion. “Changelings can tell other changelings apart.”

“With what mechanism? Is it tied to your telepathy?” I inhaled deeply before continuing. “I hate to put a fine point on it, but you don’t have that ability anymore.”

Silken glanced back and forth between us, looking torn, but she still held onto her opinion. Surprisingly, it was Moth that convinced her.

“Silken, we don’t have contact with any of the others. The Princess is right; we have to round them up.”

It took all of my composure to suppress the surprise in my expression. This was probably the first time Moth readily agreed to any suggestion I had made.

Silken stared at Moth for an indeterminable moment, then slumped her shoulders in resignation.

“Alright, Princess, can you… do us a favour? I would give you information in exchange, but we have precious little about Chrysalis or any of the other Swarms.”

I shook my head. “Well, we don’t need to rush this and you’re giving us something valuable anyway: Information about changelings themselves.”

Moth tilted his head and flicked his holed tail apprehensively. “What do you mean?”

“Well, we don’t know much about changelings, and that hasn’t really changed ever since Praegus arrived. We’ve done some tests—woah, woah, woah, it’s not what you think,” I quickly added, noting the strange expressions the two changelings wore. “Only very simple cognitive, motor and emotional tests, that’s it!”

Despite looking like she disapproved, curiosity blazed in Silken’s eyes. “So… what were the results?”

I rummaged around my saddlebags, withdrawing the parchment I was about to send to Celestia. As I unfurled the parchment, I glanced through my horn-writing and frowned. Spike’s writing was definitely getting neater than mine. Though I was proud of him, it made me a little ashamed that I had let myself lapse so much. In that small moment, I felt a little tug of nostalgia and loneliness, all at once.

“Princess…?”

“Oh, yes,” I said hastily, then verbally summarised the contents of the parchment copy I had made with my magic. The real one was for Owlowiscious later to bring to Princess Celestia. With his recent effort in recovery, I had to force myself to rein in my jittery anticipation and allow him some well-deserved rest.

Then I’ll ask him to deliver the mail.

———————

When I finished, Silken and Moth were sitting down for some reason. Moth had a blank look until Silken nudged him roughly.

“What?” Moth glanced at Silk. “O-Oh, it’s over?”

My brows drew into a frown. It was rather lengthy, yes, but the findings were very interesting!

“T-That was... thorough, Princess, uhh, thank you,” Silken told me whilst noting my look.

“Yes,” Moth quickly added, “that was… that was—”

“Incredibly boring!” Rainbow cut in with a huff. “Twi’, I can’t believe you read the whole report out to them; we’re wasting time here!”

“Excuse me,” I shot back. “This wasn’t the whole report, it was a summary!”

“That was a summary?!” Silken blurted, then held a hoof over her mouth. “I-I mean—”

“I think we get what you mean.” Rainbow snorted. “Twi’, why’d you have to read the whole thing?”

I frowned at the lack of scholarly appreciation my friend had. “You could have told me if it was boring you so much.” I threw a look at Fluttershy who had appeared to listen attentively through the presentat—I mean, summary. She had even put in a few encouraging gestures!

Fluttershy blushed crimson and pawed at the ground. “We tried, actually. Erm, several times. You were, uhm, very excited so it was difficult to get your attention.”

Now it was my turn to flush crimson. Oh. I finally realised that the waving might have been gestures to stop. I turned to the guards. “Why didn’t any of you try to stop me—what are you doing?”

Sergeant Wheeler was cleaning his pauldron, his gaze fixed at the perimeter, but his hooves moving seamlessly. “What? Oh? You’re finished, Princess? My apologies, I was doing some armour maintenance.”

Smirch and Duft looked up from the grass, they had been playing cards, but hastily cleared them away and tried to look smart when I raked my astonished stare over them.

“Sorry, Princess,” Smirch said, “we were paying attention… in the first five minutes or so.”

I balked at their insinuation. “So, what, did nopony listen to me?!”

Everypony found something incredibly interesting to look at in the bushes.

“Uhm...” Fluttershy gave me a strained, but encouraging smile. “Good work?”

Somehow, that gesture of kindness felt very hurtful.

———————

Soon though, Silken and Moth were persuaded to bring out all the changelings into the forest clearing. Being out in the open, exposed, and with no method of communication other than speech, the changelings were understandably very nervous. Several times I tried to catch a changeling’s roaming eyes and smile at them, but for some reason they avoided eye contact and would stare at the ground or the sky. I prided myself on a winning smile, but they weren’t buying it.

“Twilight, you’re creeping me out with that smile.”

I held the smile, speaking through my slightly clenched teeth. “Do you have a better idea to make them comfortable, Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow shrugged, then added bluntly. “No, except, maybe don’t smile like that.”

I gave up the pretence and relaxed my expression. “Well, I don’t think you glaring at them is helping much either.”

Rainbow pursed her lips, sending an extra-special glare to some of the new changeling arrivals. “Pssh, I sure ain’t going to trust them as far as I can throw them.”

“I think that’s ‘I’m sure going to trust them as far as I can throw them’.”

“What?”

“I think you’ve been spending too much time around Applejack, Rainbow.”

Rainbow pursed her lips as she glared at me. “Excuse me for not trusting a bunch of these guys that happened to ruin your brother’s wedding. Remember that?”

Instead of replying to that, I calmly met her look.

Rainbow caught my look and took it down a notch. “Hey, Twi’, I didn’t mean it like that—”

I squeezed my eyes shut, held a hoof to my face and sighed deeply, reminding myself that Rainbow didn’t know anything coming into here and she was only trying to help. “No, it’s alright, Rainbow, I know how it looks. Right, from the beginning, you know how I told you about sharing magic with this changeling?”

“Yeah.”

“So after that I met these two changelings, Silken and Moth. They were around the forest. They were looking for Praegus—”

“Who?”

“The changeling.”

She looked incredulous. “You named it?”

I frowned at Rainbow. “I’m not just going to call it ‘the changeling’ all the time.”

“Oh, okay, I guess…” She huffed. “Though even Fluttershy knows that when you name a critter, you find it hard to let it go.”

Fluttershy, who’d been silent throughout our exchange blushed under our scrutiny. “Oh, uhm, yes. Yes, that’s happened a few times.”

“You mean like all the time.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “You kept a bear cub in your cottage for three years!”

“Harry has been a very good cub.” A reminiscing smile grew across Fluttershy’s face.

“He’s now a full grown bear, you know?”

“Uhm, yes, he is that, but he’s also a sweetie.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes at Fluttershy, holding out a hoof at her. “See?”

“I hardly think I would get attached to the changeling just by naming it,” I countered reasonably. “Besides, it’s gotten a little more complicated than that. You see, I became its Queen—”

“Queen?!” This time both Rainbow and Fluttershy were in unison.

Silken and Moth glanced briefly our way, but when they registered what was going on, they merely sent a sly smile and chuckled. I sighed, turning back to them.

“Yes, but keep it down. It’s meant to be a secret. Well, kind of, at least to the general public. It would be a little hard to explain the town mayor that I was a Princess-Queen-changeling-pony...thing?” I stopped halfway through. I was still a pony, right?

No, of course I was, it would be ridiculous to be anything else.

“Twi’?”

Rainbow looked at me with a strange expression. “They didn't do anything to you, did they?”

“What? No. Of course not!” I cleared my throat. “Well, anyway, so Praegus kind of listens to me now. And something about its ability to protect minds from infiltration was what these other changelings were after. Now, I have to take them into my ‘Swarm’ and—”

“Hang on! You’re going to do what?!”

Rainbow glanced at Fluttershy. “Oh, no, this is worse than I thought. You’re being duped by these changelings.”

I gave them a stare. “What?”

“Don’t you see?” Rainbow pointed in the direction of Silken and Moth. “These changelings are going to convert you into another changeling, or brainwash you, or—”

I laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous, Rainbow. I’m fine.” My brows drew down. “And I think you’ve been reading way too many horror stories recently.”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes. “How do we know you’re the real Twilight Sparkle?” Her eyes widened. “Maybe you’re not Twilight Sparkle at all!” She pounced back, guarding Fluttershy.

“What?” I struggled to get a hold of a situation that was rapidly spiralling out of control. “What are you saying, Rainbow? That I’m a changeling?”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes. “If you’re Twilight Sparkle, prove it.”

“Rainbow, don’t be ridiculous!” I waved a hoof at Sergeant Wheeler who was glaring at Rainbow and tensing. Rainbow didn’t seem the least bit afraid of Wheeler, snorting and stamping a hoof in reply.

Instead of getting angry, I rolled my eyes at her. “And how would you like me to do that, Rainbow?”

“Tell me something only Twilight would know about me!” Rainbow hovered close to me now. We were so close I could almost feel Rainbow’s breath.

“Well,” I tapped my chin with a forehoof as I tried to recall useful memories. “There was the time during a sleepover you sleeptrotted and started trying to make out with—”

“Okay!” she cut in quickly, eyes approaching the size of saucers. “Alright, you’re Twilight.” She chuckled nervously, going an interesting shade of beet-red as Smirch and Duft caught the end of that statement and suppressed their laughter between their hooves. “Just… don’t mention that. Ever again. Ever.”

I gave her a teasing smile. “But what if we need to prove I’m not a changeling?”

Fluttershy smiled hopefully. “We could always have you repeat that. And, uhm, I’d really like to know what happened between Rainbow and—”

Rainbow waved her hooves madly. “Woah! No, nope, no, no, no, no. All good. Nope. We’re not using that. Nope.”

I grinned at Rainbow, letting her twist in the wind for a few second before deciding to be magnanimous. “Okay, we won’t use that. How about we use a passphrase?”

“Too easy, what if a changeling hears it?” Rainbow retorted.

I bit my lip. “How about this?” I prepped a simple spell. “Hold out your hoof.”

Rainbow cocked her head, but held out her hoof. With my telekinesis, I grabbed it and imprinted a small spell on it.

“This is linked to your cutie mark.” I cast the spell on my own hoof. “Now bump hooves with me.”

As soon as we made contact Rainbow yelped as an electric sensation passed through us. Bringing her hoof back she scowled at me, putting it in her mouth.

“Yeah you’re Twilight alright,” she said sourly. “Always messing up a spell.”

I pouted at her, but didn’t say anything to retort to that. “A mere charge miscalculation.” I changed the spell’s structure slightly and cast it again. “Come on, give me your hoof again.”

Rainbow kept her hoof to her body. “Nope.” She glanced at Fluttershy. “How about Fluttershy, you try this time?”

Fluttershy shrunk back, but hesitantly nodded. “I, uhm, oh okay.”

I raised an eyebrow at Rainbow. I hope she got the meaning. Even Fluttershy wasn’t as afraid. Fluttershy nervously held her hoof out, hunching her shoulders and sticking it out whilst shaking uncontrollably. I was a little hurt at my friend’s lack of faith in my spell casting, but decided to shelve it for another day. With my tongue sticking out from the corner of my mouth, I cast the spell one more time. We bumped hooves, but Fluttershy didn’t receive a shock and neither did I. Instead, our cutie marks glowed sympathetically.

Fluttershy smiled in relief. “Oh good, it worked…” She gave me a searching look. “…right?”

I nodded emphatically. “Yes, there! See?”

Rainbow’s mouth fell open as she stared at Fluttershy’s flank. I suppressed a smile as Fluttershy shirked away from Rainbow’s overly-intense gaze. Rainbow met Fluttershy’s look and stumbled back with an embarrassed look as Duft whistled from the back somewhat inappropriately.

“What did you do, Twilight?” She peered at our flanks with a little less gusto. “That looks like the same thing the castle-map-thing does, you know.”

“I’ve linked us together using the magic embedded in our cutie marks.”

Rainbow’s expression cleared as it dawned upon her. “Riiiight. Where’d you learn that, Twi’?”

“I didn’t,” I replied casually, “made it up on the spot.”

Rainbow and Fluttershy gave me a strange look.

“What?”

“You just made it up?”

I rolled me eyes, exasperation fighting with embarrassment. “Oh it’s really not a big deal. New magic gets made up all the time. Look at Rarity’s gem-finding spell. Or the Flim Flam brothers’ cider machine. Or Pinkie. I’m pretty sure Pinkie’s a spell.” I shrugged. “Truth is, I actually came up with it a while back after the wedding. I knew it would come in handy!”

“So… like… you just made a new spell... all on your own... by yourself.” Rainbow had an eyebrow raised. Something about the angle of that eyebrow and her smile irked me.

“Ye-es,” I answered, trying to keep the blood from rising to my cheeks. “Like I said, it’s not a big deal.”

“Where did you have the time?” Fluttershy interjected. “From what I heard from Rarity, unicorn spells are really hard to make.”

“Well, you know…” I shrugged unconsciously. “It’s not too hard once you get the hang of it. Anypony could do it. Theoretically.”

And then Rainbow asked a question that I didn’t want to answer.

“So how long does a spell usually take to make?”

“About once a lifetime,” I mumbled under my breath.

“What?”

“A long time,” I said louder.

Rainbow rubbed a hoof under her chin with a smarmy grin that would put Flim Flam to shame. “Pretty sure I heard ‘once a lifetime’ and you’ve made, what? How many?”

I licked my lips. “A few…”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes. “How many did you really make?”

“Is this really the time to be asking me that?” I cleared my throat. “There are changelings and other things to—”

“Twilight, it might sound rich coming from me, but you’re not showing off enough, you know?” Rainbow nudged me with her flank. “Didn’t you learn that it’s not really boasting if you’re actually really good at it? Isn’t this your special talent?”

“Well, yes, but it’s not that great, really. It’s only a few spells here and there.”

“Uhuh.” Rainbow still had that eyebrow raised.

“But it’s not like it’s anything special! Star Swirl made hundreds, no, thousands of spells!”

“I think you’re being too modest,” Fluttershy said, “and I would know a thing or two about that.”

“Yeah, ‘cause Star Swirl was also a Princess and saved the world like a bunch of times, too.”

“He saved the world!” I shot back. “I’m pretty sure… with knowledge!”

“Uhuh.” Rainbow tilted her head the corner of her mouth tilted in that sardonic smile again.

“Really,” I pressed succinctly, “it’s nothing.”

Rainbow’s eyebrow twitched. “Alright, then.”

I relaxed.

“Let’s ask Sergeant, uhm, Whatshisface.”

“Wheeler,” Fluttershy put in (un)helpfully.

“Sergeant!” Rainbow called out. He trotted over with a curious expression. “Do you know anything about unicorn spells?”

“Only what they teach in the precinct, ma’am.” His reply was curt.

“So tell me,” Rainbow drawled, “How hard is it to make a new unicorn spell?”

Sergeant Wheeler let out a low whistle. “Well, they’d be famous for sure. Probably go down in the history books, depending on the application.”

Rainbow nodded genially. “So, say, a new spell to confirm whether or not somepony is a changeling would be impressive?”

Sergeant Wheeler gaped at Rainbow. “Are you kidding? That’d be groundbreaking!”

Rainbow arched her eyebrow again, studying my rapidly inflamed cheeks, no doubt.

Sergeant Wheeler followed her gaze and straightened in surprise. “So, Princess, you’ve…”

Rainbow nodded sagely. “Uhuh.”

He turned to Fluttershy.

“Mhmm.”

He turned to Smirch and Duff who had snuck up on the conversation long ago.

“Yeeeep,” they both said.

Sergeant Wheeler had a grin so wide, I thought it’d split the side of his face. “An achievement of a lifetime, Princess! You’re going to be famous—I mean, more famous than you already are—”

Grinning in a way that I could only describe as devilishly, Rainbow nudged me again. “Oh Twilight says it’s ‘not a big deal’, I mean, it’s only like one of ‘hundreds of spells’, she’s been creating over the years. It’s ‘easy once you get the hang of it’.”

“I didn’t say it… quite… like… that…”

I wanted to bury myself into the ground. At least a few hundred feet.

“A hundred!”

“Hundreds,” corrected Rainbow, smugly.

“I knew that would bite me back,” I muttered.

Sergeant Wheeler looked like he was about to have a fit. “But—Wha—Y-You’re kidding, right?” He glanced around at the serious faces staring back at him and he suddenly wiped a hoof over his head. “All the more reason for you to get back to Las Pegasus!”

“What? Why?” I spluttered. “What are you saying?”

“This is beyond a royal escort,” he explained, “you’re a national treasure!”

Rainbow was trying very hard to stifle the snorts and giggles behind her hoof. Oh, ha ha, I see the hilarity of it all. Thank you, my so-called friend. I remembered belatedly that pranks were Rainbow’s favourite past time. I didn’t give her enough credit for her ability to do it so subtly. With an exasperated sigh, I glanced at Fluttershy who was innocently trying to hide a smile, but her eyes danced with laughter.

Sergeant Wheeler was also waggling his eyebrows and I stiffened briefly, before lapsing into a hapless smile. Silken and Moth were looking at each other, confused, and with slightly concerned, expressions. They probably thought we’d gone crazy, I mean who wouldn’t in a situation like this? But I needed this. We all needed this.

I took a deep breath and banished the heavy thoughts that had clouded over my mind for the last few days. In the midst of it all, I felt a tug on my shoulder. It was Praegus. The moment Praegus stepped up, everypony’s eyes were riveted to the changeling. Although wary, Rainbow and the rest of the guards only slightly tensed at Praegus’ approach.

“My Princess… better than treasure,” it said haltingly. Praegus stared blankly at me, but there was a hint of admiration in its eyes.

“Erm… thank you, Praegus.”

Satisfied, Praegus nodded and then returned to its spot as Rainbow and Fluttershy sent me amused looks.

“Oh, just—it’s just how it thinks!” I snapped.

“Sure,” Rainbow replied easily. She draped a wing around my shoulders. “Though I could do this all day, let’s deal with the changelings. I’m glad to see a smile, though.”

“You looked a little stressed,” Fluttershy added with a shy smile.

Well, I didn’t really know how embarrassing me so much was going to cheer me up, they did want to give me more credit for my spell. I will admit, I was a little proud of how I came up with it. I gave Rainbow and Fluttershy a quick hug. “Thanks.”

Sergeant Wheeler nodded with a faint smile as I returned to Silken and Moth.

“Sorry about that, things have just been… a little crazy.”

Silken bowed her head, not looking like she harboured any ill-feelings about being temporarily forgotten. “Well, truthfully, we needed a little time to gather the rest of the changelings who were lost anyway. Usually, they would be able to find their way back, but a lot of things aren’t working right now…” She wiped a weary hoof across her face. “Everything isn’t going to plan at all, we… we desperately need help.”

“And I’ll give it,” I told them gently. “We’ll try our best out here.”

Author's Note

So I had this in the works for a little while and I must admit, this was stressing me out with how much I didn't want to disappoint with this chapter. The other chapters had things moving fast so I wanted a bit more character interaction in this chapter and then move into the plot at a faster pace.

Next Chapter: Something, something, changeling, something. Also a massive invasion.

As always, my extremely stony-faced and patient readers, thanks for reading!