Project Starburst

They won't understand you. They never can.

"I wonder if I really made the right choice." Mind Shade sighed as she walked. She'd taken on the form of a mindnumbingly average Earth Pony, the kind that blended perfectly into a crowd. She often did this when she wanted to be alone to think; it was so much easier to get lost in a crowd then find a private place.

You are a Changeling. You know where you belong.

With only a few words, Chrysalis had swayed her heart. She hadn't even had to use magic, just declare simple truths that even now, Mind Shade couldn't deny. She had chosen to stand with the ponies...with her friends. That much, she didn't regret. What she was afraid of was if she could really live among them. Everything they saw in her was a lie; she couldn't change that fundamental fact. The question she had yet to answer was if that lie was worth living.

"Heh. The Princess seems to think that I can do it. I suppose that it's not worth worrying about for the moment. I wonder though...did she suspect something all along?" Mind Shade pondered. Princess Twilight hadn't seemed too surprised to learn that Golden Luck was a changeling named Mind Shade. With as smart as she was, there was no way she could have missed all of the signs.

It seemed like this mystery was going to have to wait for awhile, though. She'd looped around town and passed by the Town Hall again, where a small crowd had assembled. "What's up here?" she asked the nearest pony.

"I have no idea. Some ponies working for Princess Twilight Sparkle arrested Fire Ruby, but when the guards came to pick him up, they were gone"

While her face showed only passive interest, inwardly, Mind Shade was startled, concerned. Why would they leave Fire Ruby alone? She turned away, headed down a blind alley and switching back into her Golden Luck disguise. When she stepped into the light again, she nearly ran into Greymane.

"Golden Luck, there you are. Have you seen Cloud Prism?"

She shook her head quickly, looking back at the town hall. "I don't get it. If that stallion wasn't under guard, why hasn't he tried to escape? Something doesn't fit."

Greymane let out a sigh, and responded. "It isn't like him to do this. He's excitable, yes, but he does his duty. He wouldn't leave his post unless something serious came up. Last I heard, Angel Grace was at Fire's home. Perhaps we should check with her..."

Angel Grace. Mind Shade couldn't get the feel of her mind out of her thoughts. They had touched so briefly, but it was hard to forget how natural she felt in the Hive, how easily she had taken to it. She was a smart mare, that much was for sure, but that ease troubled Mind Shade. She'd spent a lot of time around Changelings, and anyone who fit that well into the Hive...

"Golden?" Greymane inquired.

Shaking herself, Mind Shade nodded. This was no time to be lost in thought. "Right. Fire Ruby's place. Let's get going." She'd be keeping a close eye on Angel for awhile, that was for sure...

"I don't like it." Greymane shook his head. Angel had gathered the others back at Fire Ruby's house to discuss the situation, and that was where she had presented a new plan. "With both Spiral Dream and Prism gone, we don't exactly have a large margin of error for what we do next."

"Which is precisely why we need to figure out what happened to them. It all comes back to Fire Ruby." Angel argued. "If anyone knows what happened to them, it's him." the three of them had spent the entire day searching for their missing friends, with no success.

"What makes you think he'll want to talk to us, though? We did, after all, capture him." Greymane sighed. "By the time we get anything out of him, it might already be too late."

Mind Shade cleared her throat, causing the other two to pause their argument to look over at her. Once she had their attention, she shapeshifted, putting a gentle smile on her borrowed face.

"I'm sure he'd be willing to talk to Star Sapphire."

The other two stared at her, seemingly having forgotten that she was a Changeling. Or, perhaps, they hadn't wanted to remember...she pushed that thought away. Better to focus on what had to be done, magics that once had been as natural as breathing to her.

Once.

Angel and Greymane looked at each other, Greymane frowning slightly. "It could be out best chance at getting information out of him. Are you sure that you'll be able to-"

"What? Make a pony believe I'm their loved one? Convince them to spill their secrets?" Mind Shade scoffed with a slight nod. "I think I can manage, if we do it the way I say. Now come on, we have a pony to seduce."

She had to admit, the slight discomfort of her travelling companions lightened her heart somewhat as they headed out towards the town hall. Shade explained her plan to them, and they both agreed that it seemed like the best way to get the information they needed. By the time they had arrived, all three of them were on the same page.

"Now, Spiral Dream said that all she had to do was look at him, and she wanted to...wanted to..." Angel trailed off with a distinct flush to her cheeks, so Greymane stepped in.

"Just looking at him seems to inspire a certain level of arousal and desire. So be careful."

Mind Shade huffed. "Changelings are asexual. I shouldn't have a problem."

Lies, at least, still seemed to come naturally to her. Taking a deep breath, she focused on the task at hand. Part of the illusion depended on the changeling getting into the headspace of the pony they were disguised as, but a low-level telepathic field filled in the blanks from the pony she spoke to. Her mastery of this field was a part of the reason why Mind Shade was as good at what she did as she was. Once she was prepared, she stepped in, ready to talk down an annoyed stallion cut down in the middle of his triumph.

Entering that room was like stepping into a snowstorm. Despite what ponies believed, Changelings were not true empaths. The only interest they had in emotion was the raw strength of love, and the other emotions barely registered as a blip on their radar, which made what was happening even more remarkable.

Fear...no, terror. Primal terror radiated off Fire Ruby the likes of which she'd never felt before. She stood there, stunned for a moment, before quickly slipping back into the act.

"Ruby...Ruby, what happened to you?" she asked, moving towards the cage. Seeing the look on his face confirmed what she had sensed. He was terrified of something, more terrified than any pony she'd seen. It was as if he was scared for his very life.

"Pl-please, Sapphire. I tried, I really did...it was all I could do to keep it away from you!" he pleaded. "Those other mares..I'm so sorry."

Holding up her hooves, Mind Shade asked "Why? What are you talking about? What is...it?" the way he had said that was a mixture of that same terror and revulsion, like he had touched something unnatural.

He paced in his makeshift cage, eyes on the ground. "I don't know. I think it came from the digsite. One of the interns was transporting a crate when it broke, and that when this...sensation..." he put a hoof to his chest. "I didn't think much of it at first, but after awhile, I started blacking out...finally, I woke up one night, and I was..." he turned around, retching. "What have I done?"

"What have you done, indeed..." Mind Shade muttered under her breath, before speaking again. "But these ponies, they came from the Princess to help you!"

The storm around them suddenly grew in force as he grabbed at the cage door. "You need to stop them! It's gone from me, I think one of them-where are you going?" he asked. Mind Shade was backing away, turning and running out the door.

"What is it?" Greymane asked, seeing the look on Mind Shade's face as she reentered the main room.

"Cloud Prism, or Spiral Dream...probably Cloud...I think whatever made Fire Ruby do all this has gotten to him." she panted, looking between the two of them. "Fire Ruby seems to think it's from his latest digsite."

Angel Grace furrowed her brow, and pushed past Mind Shade, entering the room where Fire Ruby was waiting.

"An artifact." she said simply. "Was there a strange artifact in your home? Something you don't remember bringing home?"

After a moment, he nodded. "That's right. There was a cracked statue sitting on my mantelpiece. At first I didn't know where it came from, but I made the connection between it and the strange occurrences."
It's from another realm. You must stop it.
"So you hid it..." Angel said softly. "He must have come back for it." she reached into her bag and pulled out a key, unlocking the door.

"What's going on?" Fire Ruby asked, looking between the three of them. He walked out of his makeshift prison uncertainly, as if expecting a trap. Angel turned to the others.

"You two need to track them down. I suspect Cloud is now host to whatever was inside Fire Ruby...and I'm afraid if I get too close..."

Greymane nodded. "I understand. We'll find them. What about you?"

She looked back at Fire Ruby. "We have some research to do. If this artifact made Fire Ruby do those terrible things, then it's happened before to somepony else. The magic, the spirit, whatever, must have been held inside the artifact. We're going to find out how to put it back."

With a nod, Angel Grace took Fire Ruby out of the town hall, and Mind Shade turned to Greymane.

"Are we sure we can trust him? Perhaps this is all a story to get Angel Grace alone."

"Angel Grace isn't a fool." Greymane responded, as they walked out themselves. "Besides, Cloud has been gone far too long. There's certainly something amiss. I hope you're prepared to do whatever it takes to end this."

Mind Shade allowed her disguise to melt off; she'd turn back into Golden Luck in a few minutes before they walked out. "I've always done what it takes for the mission." she remarked coolly. Quite a few times, she'd pushed the boundaries of safety to collect love or an advantageous position for her Hive. There were a couple of ponies she'd left in...not the best state. Compared to what she'd had to do, she didn't have a problem taking Cloud Prism out for a short time.

Friendship really was a strange thing sometimes.