Chapters 'All’s fair in love and war,’ they say. For the most part, all is fair in love and war.
I should know. I’m a changeling. One of Queen Chrysalis’ finest soldiers. One of her several lieutenants. One of her most trusted soldiers. I’ve done what I could to protect my Queen.
Of course, after the attempted invasion of Canterlot… I failed what I was born to do. I failed to save my Queen. I clearly remember her being blown to the horizon by the bride and groom. The guards of Canterlot left a few of my unlucky brethren, including me, to rot in the castle dungeon.
It’s been a week since my family has been thrown into prison. For a species of love and tolerance, the pony prisons are harsh compared to my expectations. I expected the prison to actually care about the health of the prisoners and give edible food. Needless to say I was terribly wrong. It may be due to my rank and so-called crime. The food is nearly nonexistent. The beds? Just plywood barely connected to the stone walls.
The cells in this prison block out magic, so I can’t shapeshift. Taking away a changeling’s ability to shapeshift is like taking a pegasus’ wings or a unicorn’s horn.
After lamenting in my cell for a week, one of the guards taps on the metal bars keeping me from freedom. “Changeling.” He barks at me. If I was a pony, I’m sure I’d be threatened by him. He opens the door and walks in. Even without being able to identify emotions, I’d be able to see that the guard hates me. The guard has two pairs of hoofcuffs. I don’t back up, but he strikes me in the head with a pair anyway. I can feel a thin line of blood coming from my temple.
The guard laughs and puts the cuffs on my legs. “Get up, changeling. Follow me.” I oblige and follow him. I attempt to steal this pony’s form, but the cuffs prevent me. There must be some sort of magic repelling spell on the pair, like the one on the cells. While walking, I notice that none of the other cells seem to be occupied.
The guard opens a door and literally shoves me in. I get a second to look at the room before the door closes. There’s only a plate of food. Actual food. Changelings can live for only so long with just emotions. I don’t know where ponies would get meat, but I won’t question where it’s from as long as I get to eat this slice of paradise.
The door closes and the room rapidly fades to black. I can hardly see anything, even if it's right in front of me. “Before you eat, changeling,” A voice echoes through the room, “you must make a decision. Prince Shining Armor has noticed you.” The voice says. I see a small opening, which lets in a small amount of light, in the wall on the opposite side of the door. The opening is likely the source of the voice. It’s too high for me to look for, even if I stand on my hind legs. My wings haven’t had any exercise in the past week, so I can’t fly up there.
“The Prince has decided to offer a chance rather than have you executed.” The voice says. A shiver runs down my spine and forces me to sit down. The way the pony said it… Has my family been executed? Why? My species needs food to survive! It’s not our fault if we have to remove the weaker species in order to survive!
“Prince Shining Armor wishes to hire you as a spy.” The voice says again. I stand back up. The offer is… intriguing. If my family is truly dead… I have no reason to escape. I have no home to return to. Changelings don’t allow ‘failures’ to return. Any changeling that is arrested is deemed a failure. “He is here with me and aware that changelings cannot speak. You have five minutes to decide. If your answer is yes, eat. If your answer is no, you will be executed immediately. Your execution will not be public. Your body will be shipped back to your homeland.”
These ponies would dare attempt to enter my homeland? Changelings would view that as a declaration of war, especially after the failed invasion of Canterlot. My species would view that as revenge.
I’m tempted to refuse and start a war posthumously. The ponies’ love for each other would be their downfall. But… After what I witnessed, these ponies have the ability to turn their love into a weapon powerful enough to kill Queen Chrysalis. Is she even dead?
If I do accept, I may be able to confirm her death or survival. This alone outweighs a war. I would much rather have a leader and participate in a war rather than start a war and have my species be doomed without a leader.
My decision has been made. I quickly consume the food that has been given to me.
The ponies put some sort of drug in the food. I passed out immediately after eating and woke up in a different room. If I had to guess, I’m in a different building. Maybe even in a different city. The week in a cell allowed me to study the architecture somewhat, and this is similar. I’m still in Equestria and around Canterlot. There is a small town at the valley of Canterlot. I may be in that town.
Now, I’m strapped to a chair. My wings are comfortably stretched out. I test out my magic and discover that it works, but terribly weakened.
Shortly after waking up, a door behind me opens and closes. Hoofsteps on the stones move closer to me. “Hello, changeling.” A voice says. It belongs to a stallion. “It’s good that you’ve decided to become a spy. I will be conducting some experiments to test your… powers. My name is Pavlov.” He walks into my field of view. His emotion is a mix of excitement and curiosity. He’s a light brown unicorn with a graying mane. His cutie mark, or whatever the ponies call it, is a caduceus, complete with twin snakes on the handle.
I spend the next three days in the room without any sunlight reaching me. The ‘experiments’ the scientist Pavlov mentioned were to test if my limits on shapeshifting. I discovered a few things about myself in the process. I’m able to take the exact form of a pony in a picture, even an alicorn. If I concentrate hard enough to remember their appearance, I can take the form of a pony I haven’t seen in several days to near perfection. I can’t use magic as either a unicorn or alicorn, though. I’m capable of shapeshifting into a griffon. Species such as dragon or breezy are impossible for me to transform into. I can stay in pony form for several hours if I can concentrate hard enough. Walking at a constant speed allows me to concentrate. Speaking or flying makes concentration difficult.
Since most of the physical studies are complete, we started mental studies. Standard things like knowledge and language tests. My knowledge stays the same no matter what form I take and I can’t learn what the creature knew before I take their form. Despite this, I can almost perfectly imitate a pony’s personality even if I don’t know them. The languages I can speak, however, change with each form. The accents I use change with the language, as well.
The last trait is a very rare hereditary trait among changelings. My father had the ability along with his father before, and his father before that. It keeps going on for 15 more generations. My family believes it to be something from an ancient line of royalty preceding Queen Chrysalis. If so, my family’s been mating with too many non-royals that the blood is no longer ‘pure’ as my mother put it. There’s a reason she was executed.
“Prince Shining Armor would love this information…” Pavlov says. The way he said it makes me believe he didn’t mean to say it aloud. He turns to me. “Changeling, you’re better than we expected and better than we hoped. We just need to know if you will stay loyal to us.”
I take his form. He’s not even remotely surprised. After all, I have done this a few times before. “I don’t have anywhere to return to. Will you be loyal to me?”
Pavlov smiles. “I can’t speak for the other ponies, but I have no reason to betray you. What you just said is reason enough to place my trust in you.”
The door opens. Pavlov and I turn to see who opened it. It’s the prince. “Changeling, don’t be in Doctor Pavlov’s form.” He doesn’t look amused.
“You’re no fun.” I say with a smile and revert to my real form.
“Just act on your best behavior, changeling.” He shakes his head a bit. The prince looks to Pavlov. “Have you got the results yet?”
Pavlov nods and floats the prince a few sheets of paper. “It’s all there, Prince.”
“Good.” The prince turns to me. His eyes narrow briefly before he walks out the door. I know he doesn’t like me. I don’t need to read minds for that.
“He doesn't like changelings.” Pavlov says to me. “Assuming Prince Shining Armor approves of the information we gathered, you will be accepted as a spy for the Canterlot Royal Guard. I can’t say what sort of missions you’ll be going on because I’ve never been on any. From what I've been told by some spies, it’s a difficult job.” He looks at me with a smile. “Of course, you shouldn’t have any trouble blending in.”
After two days, the prince finally makes a decision. Part of me thinks the wait is just punishment for being a changeling. ‘Love and tolerance’ is a complete lie among these ponies. “Changeling.” The prince says to me. “Or should I say ‘Spy?’ You’re hired. Follow Sergeant Lance. You already have a mission.”
I give him a nod. Judging by his past attitude and current, taking his form would be a death sentence. I want to find Queen Chrysalis. Doing it in one piece would certainly make it an easier task.
I follow Sergeant Lance down the long halls of the dungeon. They twist and turn several times. We stop at a metal door. “The Prince Shining Armor has placed his trust into you, changeling. Be sure it stays there. Enter this room for your mission briefing.” Lance says before walking back down the halls. I open the door.
There are a few ponies in the room. The most noticeable is Princess Celestia and Princess Luna directly in front of me. We’re only separated by a table. At the sides of the table is another winged unicorn, this one being light pink with multi-colored hair of various shades of purple. I recognize her as the bride. I believe her name is Cadance. I refuse to give her the respect of having a name or the fact that she’s royalty.
On the other side of the table is a small lavender unicorn about the size of an average pony or changeling. She doesn’t look very special, so why is she here?
After a second, I recognize her as one of the Element of Harmony bearers. The Element of Magic. Her name is Twilight Sparkle. Like the bride, she doesn’t deserve a name or title.
Along with the alicorns and unicorn, there are three guards in golden armor and red manes instead of the normal blue or silver manes. These guard must be high ranking.
“Good, you have agreed to serve us.” Princess Celestia says. I hear a bit of anger in her voice. She’s likely mad at me for trying to take over her city. I guess she doesn’t understand that changelings need to feed to survive. She looks to one of the guards in the room. “Will one of you three be willing to lend your appearance to this so it can speak?” She asks, gesturing to me. She doesn’t even bother to say my species. Once again, I wish the invasion was successful.
After a few seconds of looking at each other, one of the guards steps forward. “I volunteer, Princess.” I take his form. Despite him looking disturbed for a second, nopony else has a major reaction. The lavender unicorn looks like she wants to kill me, though.
I lock eyes with her. After a few seconds, she looks down. With a smile, I turn to Princess Celestia. She noticed the staring war I had with the unicorn, so she looks even more angry than before. “So what is it exactly you want me to do? I know it’s a spy mission, but what are the details?”
“Straight to the point. That’s a good quality.” The bride says. “Changeling, do you have a name?”
“No.” I reply. Only changelings with royalty have names. “What do you want me to do?”
The ponies hesitate to answer. The dark coated one, Luna, breaks the brief, but uncomfortable, silence. “There is a foreign politician of Saddle Arabia in the city of Maredina. He’s been lying about my sister, Cadence, and I, along with the Elements of Harmony for some time now. These lies could easily get us all in serious trouble. They may even get us executed by Saddle Arabians. We… We want you to take care of him.”
“You want me to kill a politician.” I say. This isn’t what I expected. I grew up hearing stories about love and tolerance coming from ponies. Asking me to assassinate somepony is almost unbelievable.
Almost. They did force me into a prison after trying to survive, then exiled and maybe killed my queen, then executed my family. They’ve ruined my life. They’ve forced me to live with them. If they can even consider doing that to a creature that did what they had to do to survive, asking them to kill somepony shouldn’t be a surprise.
If I had any other choice, other than having to wander the planet with no aim, I would have taken it. The second I’m able to choose an alternate life, I’m going to.
“What’s his name?” I ask.
“His name is Toma Jabhir.” Luna says after a brief hesitation. “He looks like this.” She slides a picture of a pony across the table and to me. His coat is light brown and his mane is dusty blonde. I notice almost immediately that he doesn’t look like the average pony by his build. He closely resembles a full grown horse rather than a pony.
“What’s with his appearance?” I ask. “Normal ponies don’t have this sort of build.”
“Most ponies from Saddle Arabia look like this, changeling.” Celestia says, making sure to put poison into that last word. It doesn’t affect me.
I don’t ask and I don’t care about what Toma Jabhir did, other than the lies. Probably something tyrannical by Equestrian standards. Maybe he served edible food to Saddle Arabian prisoners? Maybe he gave them clean water? It doesn’t matter to me. There is something that matters, though. “How will I be able to find him?”
“We don’t actually know where Jabhir is.” The bride admits. I notice that the unicorn hasn’t said anything. She’s still looking down, actually. Celestia noticed as well and placed a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder, likely to comfort her.
“His exact whereabouts are unknown.” Celestia adds.
“There is a party planned in Saddle Arabia scheduled. It will happen in three days. We believe that information on Jabhir’s whereabouts are somewhere in the party.”
Celestia is still comforting the unicorn and is whispering something quietly to her. I’ve learned a few things about reading lips, so I know some of what the two are saying to each other. ‘Changeling’, ‘Saddle Arabia’, and ‘failure’ are among the words. I narrow my eyes at the princess and she stops talking to the unicorn. Her emotions shift from love to hate in a matter of seconds. I know exactly where the hate is directed. I don’t need to be able to identify emotions to know that.
“So you four, or three since the unicorn isn’t talking, want me to go to this party and find out where your tyrant is?” The unicorn looks up at me, but doesn’t say anything. “Just tell me where it is and the job will be done.”
The bride shakes her head. “You need training first.”
“I’m a changeling. I was born a changeling. Since you seem to have forgotten what we do, I’ll remind you. We copy the appearance of others flawlessly.” To prove my point, I take the form of Celestia, then Luna, then the bride, then the unicorn and back to the guard. “I can fight. I killed 15 ponies during our attack on your capital.”
The unicorn gets out of her chair. “I’m going to kill you, changeling.” She looks like she’s about to attack. If Celestia didn’t hold her back, I’m sure she would have.
“We know, changeling.” Luna says calmly. “We know your talents.”
“Then why did she-” I point to the bride “-say that I need training?”
“Just because you have some talents doesn’t mean you’re ready.”
I glare at her. “We attacked your wedding, but we won’t attack your funeral.”
She tries to stand up, but Luna holds her down. The bitch bride stares at me with daggers in her eyes, but doesn’t say anything. I know what she would say, though. It’s not what a trained princess would say.
I smile and look at the two real princesses. “I’m not the only one that needs training.”
Celestia stands up and pounds on the desk. Everypony in the room looks at her, even the bride and guards. “Can we all not act like little foals? Let’s get back to business.” She looks around. “We’re all adults here. Cadence, I understand why you are so angry at this changeling. You two will have to set aside your differences for the time being.”
“He tried to kill me and destroy my wedding!” The bride shouts with a hoof pointed in my direction.
“And we would have gotten away with it, if it weren’t for that unicorn and her friends.” I point to the purple unicorn.
“Calm down, you two.” Celestia says with a soothing and motherly voice. I can sense suppressed anger. “All of the wedding business does not matter right now. We have more important business at hand.”
“Right. Toma Jabhir.” I say. “You already told me about him.”
“I know.” Celestia says. “I never had a chance to say this, but I don’t believe you need training, changeling. If… what you said is really true, you’re skilled at combat.”
I give the princess a smile. “You mean about me killing 15 ponies?”
Celestia gives me a glare that would kill me if it could. She breathes in and out a few times, probably to calm herself down. She turns to a guard. “Take this changeling away to train him.”
The three guards grab me and drag me out of the room. They stop just outside and throw me into the wall. “What was that about love and tolerance?” I say to them.
“Treat the Princesses like that ever again,” one of them says, “and we’re going to kill you.” I notice that he’s the guard that I’m in the form of. The guard punches me in the face and my vision fades to black.
I wake up some time later with a terrible headache. That guard has a strong hoof. If he didn’t hold back, he could have easily taken off my head.
I rub my aching head. After a few minutes, I notice that I’m no longer in the form of that one guard.
I manage to crawl to my feet. The room I’m in is barely lit. It’s something resembling a warehouse. I’m in a smaller room that looks like it’s been half built. Maybe half destroyed. Either way, I can tell it’s where I’m supposed to train.
“Changeling.” A voice echoes through the room. “This is your training area. Run as fast as you can through here.”
Just a running test? There’s probably something more to this. Judging from what my mission will be, I’m guessing there’s somepony in there for me to fight.
I run through the strange obstacle course. It’s not much different from any other obstacle course I’ve ran.
I finish the small course in less than five minutes. At the end, I’m not even breathing heavily. Unlike my expectations, there wasn’t anypony in the obstacle course.
“Congratulations, Changeling.” A pony in a white lab coat says to me. Her cutie mark is a magnifying glass. “You pass with flying colors.” I see a smile on her lips. “We already know you’re very skilled at combat. From your time with Doctor Pavlov, we know that you’re skilled at stealth, too. I assumed that you were, seeing as how you are a changeling.” She says like I don’t know what my own species is. “All that’s left are some loyalty tests. We need to know if you’ll stay on the Equestrians’ side and won’t hide out in Saddle Arabia.”
I should have seen that coming. I know they don’t trust me and want a reason for me to fail. If they really want this Toma stallion dead, they should just send me to Saddle Arabia and find him. And a loyalty test should have been obvious, but I didn’t see it coming. After all, isn’t one of the Elements of Harmony called Loyalty?
“Please, come with me. I’ll show you to your test.” She says. I follow her down a long hall and into another room. She opens the door and gestures for me to go in. “Your test is in this room.” When I enter the room, the door immediately closes. That’s not a good sign. Part of the room is darkened. I don’t like where this is going.
“Congratulations, Changeling. You’ve made it this far.” A stallion’s voice from somewhere in the room says. I notice an opening on the wall, like the room I was in when I accepted this mission. “Your next test is a loyalty test, as my assistant should have told you. This loyalty test may be difficult for you. Your objective is to… Kill Doctor Pavlov.”
The lights turn on, revealing an unconscious Pavlov strapped to a table. His limbs are spread out. There’s a box next to the table.
They want me to kill somepony I barely even know? From what I heard, Pavlov is one of Equestria’s greatest doctors. There’s something wrong about this. They want me to kill their greatest doctor… Maybe with a great offense, there’s no need for doctors? With the way these ponies’ minds work, I wouldn’t be surprised if they actually thought that.
I decide to play their game and open the box. There’s a scalpel inside. Since I’m not a cruel bastard like most ponies think I am, I don’t go for his torso. I instead slit Pavlov’s neck. To be honest, I briefly hesitate to kill him.
After I do the deed, his body starts to shift. Back into its original body.
I didn’t kill Pavlov. I killed a changeling.
I hear the door open. “Congratulations, Changeling. You pass again.” This isn’t the voice of any of the testers from before. This is Princess Celestia.
I turn to her, then glare at her. I shift into Princess Luna’s appearance. “You made me kill a member of my own species.” My voice is soft, but powerful enough to break down Celestia’s wall. “You still expect me to work for you. You want me to kill that pony. You want me to because you’re too weak minded. You can just sit in your throne all day and bark orders because you’re too weak to fulfill them yourself. I’ll do your job, only because I have no home left. I’ll do it because I’m strong enough to.” Celestia looks like I just slapped her across her muzzle. “Let me know when I’m going. Make sure it’s soon. I don’t want to see your face ever again, but I know that I will. While I’m gone, please, go fuck yourself.”
I drop Luna’s appearance and walk past Celestia.
The next day, the Prince wants to talk to me. He doesn’t want to be restricted to the reins of the castle, so we head out into Canterlot. A few guards follow us so nopony tries to kill us. During the meeting, I take the form of a stallion from a picture the Prince had. “So where are we going?” I ask. I’m still pissed after the events of yesterday, so the poison in my voice is unintentional.
The Prince doesn’t seem to care, though. He just looks tired. “The bar. I want to talk to you about something.” The walk to the bar, The Fermented Apple, is short and silent. The guards sit outside.
We enter the bar. “Hey, Shining.” The barkeep says to us. “Who’s your friend?”
“Someone to get drunk with.” The Prince replies simply. We sit down at the stools. “Get me whatever will put me on the floor the fastest. Get him-” he gestures to me with his head, “-anything he wants.”
“What d’ya want, kid?”
I don’t know any drinks the ponies have, much less any alcoholic ones. “Surprise me.” I say.
The barkeep doesn’t respond and studies me. After a second, he rubs his muzzle. “You seem like the scotch kind of stallion. And a whiskey for Shining.” He looks to the Prince. “On the rocks, maybe…”
The barkeep leaves and comes back to us shortly later. “Leave us alone. I’ve got to talk to him in private.” The Prince says. The barkeep leaves again. “Changeling, I just want to say… I’m sorry for treating you badly the other day.” I turn to him. Where is this coming from? Did the bitch Princess Celestia set him up for this? Is she too weak to apologize to me personally? No… The prince is releasing a feeling I’ve barely had experience with. Forgiveness. “I was just out of my head.” He takes a drink. “After the wedding, I’ve just been… Paranoid? I don’t know if that’s the word. I’ve felt like everyone just wants to ruin my life.” The Prince takes another drink. “I haven’t even told Cadence about this. Cadence…” He stares into the now-empty glass. He sighs, then leans over the counter. He grabs an entire bottle of whiskey.
“You sure you want to do that?” I ask.
“I don’t even care if I am.” He refills his glass and sets the bottle next to him. “I just… I can’t believe I almost married a changeling.” The Prince takes a big drink. “It keeps me up at night. What if I… What if I did? What would have happened? Would I even still be alive? What about Equestria? I don’t like thinking about it, but it’s… It’s impossible.”
I actually feel sorry for him. He treated me like an insect, but I still feel bad
He looks surprised that I said his name and am actually trying to help. I am, too. “What would my family think of me if that actually happened? Mom wouldn’t like it. Dad’s would disown me at best. Twily… Celestia, what would Twilight think about it? I know she knew about the changeling I almost married. She’d probably be depressed that I actually fell for that damn trick. The changeling would have probably killed her.” Shining takes another drink. “I should have listened to her.”
“Be glad you didn’t have to kill one of your own.” I blurt out.
“That wasn’t my idea!” He shouts. “It was Pavlov’s idea.” So Pavlov thought of that. When I see him, I’m going to break his jaw. “He’s a damn psychotic. He’s insane. I don’t like him.” His words start to slur. He’s starting to get drunk. “But you, changeling? I like you. I’m sorry for whatever I said when we met. I was more than a little pissed. Can’t think straight when pissed.” He rests his head on the table and closes his eyes with a sigh.
“It’s alright, Shining.” I tell him honestly. “I’d be pissed off, too, if I was in your hooves.” I take a quick drink. I almost spit it out. It’s terribly bitter. This is what ponies drink for fun? I set the glass aside. I notice that Shining isn’t moving anymore. I tap him with my hoof. He shifts a bit and lets out a snore.
I get the guards to help me drag him back to the castle. For a second, they think it’s my fault. I tell them that he got drunk, which they believed. That truly surprised me. I think these two guards are starting to get used to me.
“Are you ready?” Princess Luna asks me. Her sister isn’t around. Good.
“I’ve been ready all day.” I reply, still in the form I was in back at the Fermented Apple. “I’ll need the picture of Toma.”
A picture surrounded by Luna’s aura floats over to me. I catch it in my mouth and place it in my saddlebags. “Before you go, remember that you must travel south of the castle after the deed is done. Not north. Not east. Not west. South. Remember that.”
“Right, south after I kill Toma. Anything else?”
“Yes. Once you are 2 kilometers south of Toma’s castle, send up a flare via magic. After that, head west. There will be a small town 4 kilometers away.”
“Why do you want me to send up a flare?”
“We have allies placed in the town. With the flare, they will know the mission was successful. They will assist you in your escape. Good luck, Changeling.”
Something’s been on my mind. “Where’s Pavlov? I want to ask him something.”
Luna nods. “We have enough time for you to talk briefly. Follow me, Changeling.”
I follow the princess that actually deserves her title to the castle. We walk deep into the bowels of the castle. We stop at a door. “Do you wish for me to join you?”
“No.” I say, leaving it at that. I know Luna knows what I’m about to do. She must know what the bastard doctor did. Luna knocks on the door. She opens it with her magic.
Pavlov is in the room by himself. “Oh, hello Princess Luna and Changeling. What can I do for you two?”
I walk into the room. “Luna, close the door, please.” She does without any hesitation.
I walk out of the room. My breathing is heavy. “You’re going to need a cleaner.” I say to Princess Luna. “Don’t worry, he’s still alive. He’ll need a doctor.”
“You’re covered in blood. What did you do?” She asks. There’s strength in the last sentence.
“You know what happened. If you want to know exactly what I did, look in the room.” I say. “It’s not pretty. Not at all.”
I sense a lot of fear and anger in Princess Luna. She doesn’t need to open the door to know what happened. “...Try to hold back on Toma.”
For a second, I thought she was going to call off the mission. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not that she didn’t. “I can’t promise anything.”
Luna sighs. “I won’t be able to do anything to stop you. I have something that you will need to gain entrance to the party. With help from our allies in Saddle Arabia, I have forged an invitation. I have cast a spell on it that will change information depending on your form.” A scroll of paper floats to me. I open it. It doesn’t have anything. This is probably the invitation.
To see if it is, I take Luna’s form. The paper changes. A picture of Luna appears, along with text in Arabic. “Thank you, Luna.” I say.
She recoils a bit at hearing her voice. I can sense her emotion shifting to severe discomfort. “You do not have to thank me for what was necessary. And please… Don’t use my form around me.” I smile at that. I drop her form. She starts to feel more comfortable. It’s not exactly love, but this is a relief to me. I’m sick of being surrounded by ponies feeling bad. “There is another thing you may need during your mission.” She summons a small rectangular sheet of paper. A picture of a mare. “This is Malak Uzma. She is the bride of Toma Jabhir. You likely won’t be meeting her on your journey. The real Malak is in Mareitania as we speak. She will stay there for several more days.”
Princess Luna sends me to Saddle Arabia. To make sure I don’t die, I had to be in my real form during the teleportation. The process of teleportation is incredibly nauseating, likely because I’m not a pony and just equinoid. By nauseating, I don’t just mean I came close to vomiting. I mean I felt like my entire stomach turned inside-out.
My stomach and its contents manage to stay in place. I wait a few seconds for my vision to clear. I’m just outside a large city with architecture completely different from Canterlot. I know just by this that I’m in Saddle Arabia. The city is Maredina. A sign, fortunately translated into Equestrian, says so. I recall that this is where the party is.
Fortunately, instead of being teleported out in the open, I’m in between buildings. A unicorn stallion walks by me. I quickly take his form. I let him go with his consciousness intact. I check my invitation to make sure it works. It does.
After the pony leaves my sight, I move to the gate and get inside the city without any trouble.
I can see where the party is going on from the gates of the city. The lights are bright enough to block out half of the stars in the sky. I walk to the location of the party.
It’s in a large building. It’s probably half the size of Ponyville itself. The guard at the entrance stops me from entering.
“Do you have your invitation?” He says in Arabic.
I levitate it into his field of view. The guard steps out of the way and gestures for me to walk in. He allows me to keep the invitation. Once I’m in, a few guards start patting me down for weapons. They don’t find any and let me in. It’s not like I need a weapon to kill Toma. I move deeper inside the building. The room where the dance is at is massive. It reminds me of the ballroom of the castle in Canterlot, where the Grand Galloping Gala was.
There are more ponies here than I’ve ever been with in such a small area. I feel like I’m starting to develop claustrophobia.
I head to a staircase with two levels. I climb the few steps and scan the ponies. One of them catches my eye. A stallion unicorn with a dull brown coat, blonde mane, cutie mark of a constellation I don’t know by name, and wearing a tuxedo complete with a top hat and monocle. I keep the appearance of this stallion in my mind while I make my way towards a bathroom.
I enter a stall and take the stallion’s appearance, then look at the invitation. The stallion’s name that I took the form of is Eren Göker. He’s a skilled unicorn mage and the leader of a country called Poney to the north of Saddle Arabia. Most of the population of Poney see Göker as a god, like how the Equestrians see Princess Luna and her bitch sister.
I exit the bathroom. “Ah, Mister Göker!” A voice with a thick Ponish behind me says. “It has been far too long.” I turn to the voice. A golden colored unicorn with a jet black mane and a diamond for a cutie mark. “You may have forgotten my name. I excuse you for that. You have no need to know the names of others, correct?” He laughs like he just heard a joke. I laugh too with him. “My name is Taş Ihanet. I own the diamond mine just outside Constantineighple.”
“Ah, yes. I remember.” I say. My vision, because of the speaking, is briefly hit by noise. It’s nothing major, but I know that I shouldn’t talk much more.
Ihanet seems truly surprised. He chuckles slightly after a second. “Oh? I did not expect that, Mr. Göker. You have an impressive memory, my friend.” A mare with a tray full of drinks walks past us. Ihanet takes one with his magic. He takes a drink and sets the empty glass on another passing mare’s tray. “Might I request that you follow me? We have something to do, my friend.”
Dammit. Saying ‘no’ would trigger suspicion. Saying ‘yes’ would mean that I have to. If I do, I might lose track of Toma. Not answering would also raise suspicion. So I just throw out an answer. “Yes.”
Ihanet smiles. “Good, good. Please, follow me.” I follow the unicorn to the ground floor. We come dangerously close to passing the real Eren Göker. Luckily, he doesn’t seem to notice us. Ihanet doesn’t seem to notice him, either.
I follow Ihanet to a different room. There aren’t many ponies in here. Ihanet makes a gesture with his head. A few ponies with weapons herd the others outside of the room. I don’t like where this is going. “There’s no need to worry, Mister Göker. We’ve played poker many times at these parties.” He walks through another door and down a hall. I follow him. The ponies with weapons stay in the room.
I keep myself from letting out a sigh of relief. “Yes, I know. It’s been some time since I’ve last played.” I don’t know if these guys play poker to show dominance or something. If so, it’s a shame the Equestrians didn’t teach me how to play.
Ihanet laughs. “Yes, yes. I haven’t played in a few months, either.” He opens another door. Inside the room is a poker table. Three ponies surround it. Two reddish brown colored unicorns. One dark blue pegasus. There’s a bar in the back of the room. Ihanet takes a seat and I take the empty one.
We play a few games of poker. I struggle to keep up the form of Eren Göker. “Eren, why aren’t you holding your cards with your magic?” One of the other unicorns say.
“My magic isn’t very strong.” I say. My voice is slightly weaker than usual. The ponies don’t seem to notice. “I’m not Twilight Sparkle.”
“Who’s Twilight Sparkle?” The unicorn asks. Damn. Did I just blow my cover?
“She’s the Element of Magic.” The other unicorn says. “She’s pretty cute, too. You’d like her, Diğer.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” The first unicorn says with a laugh. I’m not a fan of Twilight Sparkle, but I don’t like what these stallions are implying. The pegasus is suddenly pissed off at these two. He doesn’t show it, though. “But seriously, Eren, you should use your magic."
“Yeah.”
“Agreed.” Ihanet says. He seems to be staring at me, almost like he knows I’m not the real Eren Göker. He’s loaded with suspicion. I can’t tell what the others are feeling.
“I say leave him alone.” The pegasus speaks up for the first time. He has an Equestrian accent. “He clearly doesn’t want to and I don’t see a reason for him.”
“Shut it, pegasus.” Ihanet shoots at the pegasus. He jumps slightly at it. “Mister Göker had better use his magic if he knows what’s good for him.
“Alright, I’ll use my magic.” I say with a sigh. I drop the cards. I catch them with my magic. “Happy?”
Ihanet nods. “There we go. Now, back to the game.” He says, but keeps looking at me. “Wait…”
All of the other ponies look up. The unicorns look at Ihanet. The pegasus looks at me. He’s mouthing something, but I can’t tell what.
“Your aura is green!” Ihanet shouts. He flips the table then dives at me. My head slams against the concrete floor and bounces off it once. I feel a hoof connect with my face. Something takes him off me. I look up to see the pegasus punching Ihanet.
“Get out of here!” The pegasus shouts at me. Ihanet takes the chance to punch the pegasus in the throat.
“Take care of him. I’ve got this stallion thing.” Ihanet says to the unicorns. They start to beat on the pegasus. Ihanet gallops towards me. I turn around and buck him in the face. I can feel something in his face break. When I turn back to him, his nose is bleeding. Ihanet has a look of surprise on his face. I jump at him and tackle him to the floor. I punch him repeatedly.
A unicorn notices and gallops towards me. I’m not fast enough to counter, so he tackles me. I kick him off. He lands on his horn. His shriek of pain is earsplitting. I’m surprised he survived. A hit like that to the horn usually kills, at least on changelings.
“Enough of this.” Ihanet says. He grabs a bottle and smashes it. “I’m going to gut you like a fish.”
“That’s dark for an herbivore.”
“Are you implying that you aren’t one?” He says with a smile.
“It’s not an implication, bitch.” I drop the form. Ihanet looks seriously surprised. The unicorn and pegasus do, too. The other unicorn is still in too much pain to notice.
“What in Jabhir’s name are you?” He mutters. He doesn’t wait for an answer and instead charges me. I notice that the pegasus takes the distraction as a chance to punch the unicorn in the throat. Unfortunately, noticing this distracted me from the threat. He headbutts me and I fall to the floor with a splitting headache. “I don’t know what you are, you insectoid abomination. I’ll send you back to whatever hell you came from!”
He slashes me with the bottle. It only hits my front foreleg, but it hurts a lot. Ihanet suddenly falls to the floor. I open my eyes to see the pegasus standing on top of him.
“We can’t let these ponies live.” He says. He steps off Ihanet and walks over to the unicorn that hit his horn. He’s writhing on the floor in pain. “Sorry about this.” The pegasus snaps his neck. A sickening crunch echoes through the room. The only thing that keeps me from throwing up is my biology.
The pegasus notices my flinching. To spare me from having to hear that again, he simply stomps on the neck of the other unicorn. The unicorn spits out blood. “Is that any better?” The pegasus asks. I shake my head.
With a sigh, I stand up and turn to the door. I gesture with my head to make him follow me. I take the form of Ihanet.
“Watch out!” The pegasus shouts. I turn around to see Ihanet about to stab me. The pegasus gets in the way and takes the broken bottle to the face. He falls to the floor with it stuck still in him. I don’t have to be a doctor to know that it killed him instantly.
“You bastard!” I shout at Ihanet. He’s close enough for me to attack. I bite his throat as hard as I can. Blood pours out of the wound, past my teeth, and into my mouth. It’s terribly bitter and salty. I want to pull away and spit out the blood, but I can’t. Ihanet would call for guards and I would be discovered. I can’t let that happen.
My grip on his throat tightens. More of his blood pours into my mouth. Almost too much for me to breath. To make sure I still can, I’m forced to swallow the blood. It’s disgusting enough for me to almost spit it out.
Eventually, and I do mean eventually, I release my grip. I spit out some of the blood. He looks at me with a startled look for a second, then drops to the floor. He claws at his neck.
Ihanet stays on the ground. He’s twitching and trying to stop the blood from pouring out his neck. With every breath he takes, he coughs up blood. As much as I want to look away, I can’t. I can’t tell if the fear I sense is coming from the pony or me.
Eventually, the pony stops moving. This isn’t like the ponies from Canterlot. I actually feel something. When I killed the Equestrians, I didn’t feel anything. Not a single emotion. Now? I feel guilt. Maybe it was because of how brutally I killed this pony. I won’t kill Toma like this.
“I’m sorry.” I say to the fresh corpse. I close his eyes. It’s not reviving him, but it shows respect. Sure, he did try to kill me. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t a living creature.
What’s the difference between Ihanet and the 15 ponies I killed in Canterlot? Maybe it’s because I know this one’s name. I did just witness him killing somepony that saved my life. I feel remorse for this bitch, but not the ponies from before. I haven’t felt any worse in my life before.
I feel a tap on my hoof. “Changeling…” The pegasus says. “Toma Jabhir is here in Maredina. He’s in the castle to the north, just outside city lines.”
I’m amazed he’s still alive. “Why are you telling me this?”
He shifts what part of his mouth he has left into a smile. “A friend told me a changeling would need help.” He spits out some blood. “Tell Rainbow Dash about what happened. Tell her that Shooting Star died while saving a friend.” He coughs again. “I wish I could tell her goodbye myself. I didn’t get to before I came here.”
“I will, Shooting Star.” I don’t know anypony named Rainbow Dash. I’m certain Princess Luna and her sister do.
“Get out of here before anypony else tries to kill you.” He commands. I hesitate to. I wait for Shooting Star to force me to. I can’t feel any emotions coming from him anymore. Witnessing his death is easily worse than causing Ihanet’s death.
I walk out of the room. I’ve always been skilled at hiding my emotions, but this time is harder than every other time I’ve had to. I just witnessed four brutal deaths and caused one of them. Why am I feeling like this now and not during the invasion of Canterlot? Maybe my time in training was to make me act and feel more like them. If it is, I underestimated them.
“Are you okay, Mister Ihanet?” One of the guards in the room I just entered asks. I’m still too disoriented from the fight to say anything. I nod instead. “Are you sure? You’re bleeding.”
“Do you think I didn’t notice that?” I shoot at him. The guard jumps back. This stallion is a terrible guard. Being a dick is in Ihanet’s character. It’s also just how I want to act right now. Toma Jabhir is the cause of these four ponies’ deaths. He won’t be the cause of anymore.
“Sorry, sir. It’s just that-”
“Quiet. Get me to the castle to the north. I have a friend to meet.” My mind is swimming in an ocean of pain. Standing itself is difficult. I’m surprised I haven’t passed out yet.
I follow some guards to a chariot outside the building. They offer me medical assistance, but I wordlessly refuse. I step on the chariot. A pegasus guard I haven’t seen yet is the pilot. He take me to the castle. I order him to fly with a low altitude. “Why, Mister Ihanet?” The pegasus that’s flying me asks. He’s filled with curiosity.
“Don’t question my orders.” I say. The chariot lands at the front of the castle. I step off and the chariot takes off. When I know I’m not in anypony’s sight, I pull out the picture Princess Luna gave to me of Malak Uzma, Toma Jabhir’s wife. I take her form.
The guards at the front of the building open the door without a word. I walk into the building. I don’t know exactly where Toma’s room is. I’ll find it eventually.
I start off the blind tour of the building by heading upstairs. Leaders of countries like to be in higher areas, at least in their own castles. I’m certain that this isn’t Toma’s own castle.
I can sense some emotions through the doors. Several different emotions, ranging from the sickening pure hatred to a spicy lust to the amazing feeling of love itself. The love is only mild. I can tell it’s not the kind of love a Saddle Arabian stallion would feel to his wife. This love that I’m feeling is more like the kind of love a stallion would feel to a cheap 10 bit whore.
At the top of the castle, I feel a large increase of love. I stop by the door. This is the love a husband would feel to his wife. Toma is in there.
I can feel Toma practically bleeding a river of love from inside the room. It’s enough love to visibly heal my wounds. I could probably live off of the love he’s released in the past few minutes alone.
If my knowledge about the customs of Saddle Arabia is correct, it’s a monogamistic country. Each and every pony has only one mate, unlike Equestria and how the stallions can legally have six mares in a relationship. If I’m right, then I’ll be getting more love from Toma. Mental love, like what I’ve been getting, and physical. I’ve been a mare in that situation before, so I’m used to it.
I open the door and enter the room. Toma, currently shaving with a straight razor, turns to me. When he sees me, a smile forms on his face. Even if I wasn’t disguised as his wife, I would still smile. “My love, you are home early!” Toma says.
He’s not suspicious like I expected. Instead, he gives off more love. It’s almost scary. Fortunately, it allows me to concentrate on my appearance enough for me to speak. He sets the razor on a bedside table and wipes off the small amount of remaining shaving cream. He climbs onto the massive bed. I doubt even the princesses’ beds are this large.
“Indeed I am, my husband.” I say to him. “The business in Mauritania has ended early. The ponies allowed me and the others to leave early. I know you don’t mind.” I climb onto the bed next to him.
He kisses me on the lips. I can give away the love he gave me before. That kiss alone could feed an army of changelings. “You’re correct, Uzma. Before we do our reunion ritual,” he says with a wink, “I’ll let the guards know to not bother us for the next few days.” The love is temporarily replaced with lust as he steps off the bed and over to the door. He opens it. After a few seconds, a guard walks over. They talk for a bit. “No matter what you hear, don’t open the door.” I hear Toma say. The guard walks off with a smile that could be seen from orbit.
The door closes. Toma turns to me with a seductive smile. “It’s time for our reunion.” He says. He removes his shirt.
To be honest, I don’t know how much time passes. My guess is two days. Maybe? I don’t know. However much time passes, it’s absolutely amazing. Toma isn’t the kind of stallion that just ruts a mare. As a mare, I’ve never been with a stallion that’s been quite like Toma. I have been, as a stallion, with a mare like that. Either way, loving relationships like this are rare.
As much as I hate to do this, I have to kill him. The princesses sent me here for a reason. I know this will break his heart. Heartbreak is the worst thing a changeling can feel. Maybe the love I’ve gathered up from him will be enough to counter what I’ll have to experience?
I sigh. Toma doesn’t seem to notice it. I grab the straight razor. “Toma.” I say. He turns to me. His eyes lock onto the razor. The love he previously felt is rapidly replaced with fear. I have to feel his fear, too. “I’m sorry, Toma. I’ll make this fast. It will hurt us both less.” I promise.
“What? What are you saying, Uzma?!” He shouts. The fear grows suddenly. He probably remembered what he told the guards.
“Please, be quiet. I don’t want to make this longer than it has to be.” I say forlornly. I climb onto the bed. He backpedals and falls off. His head strikes a bedside table leg hard enough to break it. It collapses and falls onto him. His physical pain is not even remotely as bad as his mental pain. The fear is replaced with a sickening sense of heartbreak.
It’s strong enough to force me to drop my form as Malak Uzma. Toma locks eyes with me. “...Of course… A changeling.” He’s still heartbroken. “Is my Uzma alive?” I nod. His heartbreak is lessened slightly. I barely notice it. “Good. Take me out of my misery.”
I move next to him. I hug him and slice his throat. He gurgles a few times before finally, finally passing away. The only good thing about his death is that the sickening heartbroken feeling in the air is gone.
I take Malak Uzma’s form again and walk out of the door. I close it. I want to be caught, found out, and be executed for my crimes. The least I could do to make this for the better for any party would be to tell Princess Celestia about what happened.
I walk out of the castle without a word to any of the guards. I get a few strange looks. One of them asks why I look so depressed. I don’t answer him and instead walk out of the building. I head south. After a few kilometers, I shoot up a red colored flare and turn to the west.
During the long walk, my mind wanders over exactly what happened in the past week. My former family attacked Canterlot. My former queen was blasted from the castle into parts unknown. I’ll probably never know whether she survived or not. Honestly, I don’t even care anymore.
During the invasion, I was captured by the ponies. The princesses made me kill Toma Jabhir. I don’t even remember why they did anymore. Something about resources or spreading rumors? Does it even matter? What is a life worth now?
I wish the ponies killed me along with my family. I’m going to have to live with killing an innocent pony for the rest of my life. The bad thing is, changelings live for twice as long as ponies. I have over 100 long years of remembering this day. Having to live with what happened for an hour is hard enough.
My thoughts distract me enough that I don’t remember much of the journey to the small town that is my destination. A few ponies are there waiting for me. One earth pony, one unicorn, and one pegasus.
“This is him.” The earth pony says. He’s probably the leader of these ponies. “Sorry, changeling, but our magic isn’t strong enough to teleport us to Equestria. We’ll have to use a boat to get there.” He has a thick Arabian accent.
They notice that I don’t say anything. Even if I could, I wouldn’t want to. The ponies are all feeling very uncomfortable. “Anypony know body language? I think it’s the same for changelings as it is for ponies.”
The pegasus steps up. “I know some. If he’s anything like a pony, he’s pretty pissed off or depressed. Can’t tell the difference with this one. Either way, we should leave him alone for the trip. Equestria’s half way across the planet, so it’ll be a long trip. Five days at most.”
The pegasus is right. I’m not sure what emotion I'm feeling, though. Am I mad at the princesses for making me go through that? Am I depressed for having to go through that? Either way, I just want to be alone for the next few days.
The trip lasts for four and a half days. During the trip, I get over the murder-- not assassination-- for the most part. I identified my emotions during the trip. Both anger and depression. Mostly the latter. Funny that a creature with the ability to tell the emotions of others can’t tell what emotion it was feeling.
The boat docks at Manehattan. I’m too depressed to pick up a form. The ponies put me in a box my size and smuggle me to Canterlot. They tell me they’ve done this hundreds of times before. What they’re doing is technically illegal. Celestia knows, too, but she’s giving them a break for it since it’s for the ‘good of Equestria’ or something.
The box opens. I’m back in the castle. Several guards are uncomfortable with me around. Some are angry at me. One feels sorry for me. The rest don’t care. One of the guards without any feelings towards me steps forward. “The princesses have information for you, changeling.” He says. Without another word, I follow him. We go into the same room as the first time I saw the princesses.
Like I expected, and as the guard said, the three princesses and the unicorn are in the room.
Princess Celestia raises her head to face me. She sighs. “I have some bad news and some good news, Changeling.” She says. “The bad news comes from sources in Saddle Arabia. That wasn’t Toma Jabhir.”
The news takes a second to click into my mind. It hits like a freight train. “That wasn’t Toma? That wasn’t who I was supposed to kill?” I ask quietly.
She reluctantly shakes her head. “No. The good news is--”
“Then who the fuck was that?!” I shout. “Who did I kill?”
“Please calm down, Changeling.” Princess Luna says in a voice that would usually be calming. Now? It’s just annoying.
“I killed an innocent pony, Luna.”
“That wouldn’t be the first time.” The purple unicorn says. The hatred flows off of her and into me.
“If you don’t shut up, I’ll make you join them.” I tell her. It’s not a threat. It’s not a warning. It’s a statement. If she keeps talking, I’m going to kill her and I won’t feel a damn thing. As if she’s a changeling, she senses my thoughts and stands down. I turn to Celestia. “Who did you make me kill?”
“That was Toma Khayri. He was Jabhir’s twin brother.”
“Twin brother.” I repeat. “Twin brother. Of all the things you know about this bastard, that’s what you mess up? I killed an innocent pony. If I knew about that, I would have killed his wife instead and take her place.”
“Do you think that Khayri wouldn’t have found out?” Luna points out. “He wasn’t blind. He would have found out eventually, Changeling. He would find out that you killed his wife. I’m certain he would feel even worse if that happened.”
I rest my head on the table. She’s right. “There isn’t a way to fix this, Changeling. We can, however, find where Jabhir actually is.”
“Have someone else kill him.” I say, lifting my head back up. If there was one twin, who’s to say there’s not a third? Or a fourth? I don’t want to kill anypony that doesn’t deserve it. After what these ‘princesses’ put me through, I don’t think Toma Jabhir deserves it. The ‘princesses’ deserve whatever piece of hell they get.
“You’re the only one that can, Changeling.” Luna says. “Jabhir knows we’re trying to kill him now. He knows what we look like. He doesn’t know about changelings, however.”
“His brother did.” I point out. “Who’s to say the actual target doesn’t? After you messed up who was in Saddle Arabia, I don’t know what to trust from you.”
“Changeling.” Celestia says in a soft, yet powerful, voice. “We are sending you back to Saddle Arabia. We know that Toma Jabhir is in Maredina. It isn’t our fault that you… retired the wrong pony. If the blame is to be put onto anypony, it would be who gave you the information, or you yourself.”
“You want to know who gave me that information?” I ask. They look up. “A pegasus named Shooting Star. He died because of this mission.” The unicorn looks shocked, like I just punched her in the face. I’m tempted to actually do so. “He didn’t deserve it. Neither did Toma Khayri. I don’t know if Toma Jabhir does, either. I’d be willing to guess you’re the corrupt ones and you’re just making shit up.”
“Changeling.” Celestia says again, this time with a stronger, louder voice. The unicorn visibly jumps, despite still being shocked at the news of Shooting Star’s death. “You will go to Saddle Arabia to kill Toma Jabhir. You don’t have any choice. With the way you’ve acted to my family and Twilight Sparkle, you don’t deserve any choices. You shouldn’t even deserve life, but we need you.”
“Then kill me. I’ve already lost everything I’ve owned. I’ve lost things that I haven’t even owned.”
“Changeling.” Luna interrupts the conversation in a soft, polite voice. It’s not as powerful as Celestia’s. There isn’t any anger, hatred, or any negative emotion in it. “You have a family now. A family in Equestria. I know, you do not consider us family. I consider you to be a member of mine, even if my sister does not.” A non-romantic, almost family-like love seeps from her.
Luna is the only one that could make me go back willingly. I sigh. “Fine. You’ve convinced me, Luna.” I say. She smiles. Celestia just looks displeased. Almost angry. “If this isn’t Jabhir, I’ll be killing another pony.” I say, staring into Celestia’s eyes. The guards raise their weapons. They don’t faze me at all. “That isn’t a threat. That’s a warning. Make sure this is the right pony you want me to kill.”
Celestia closes her eyes and loses any noticeable emotion in her face. She turns to the guards. “Stand down.” The guards quickly drop their threatening poses. “If I am wrong, I deserve whatever fate this changeling gives me. I have failed once. I do not wish to fail again.”
“I’m glad we’ve made one agreement.” I say. “What’s the good news?”
“You won’t be alone.”
They send me back to Saddle Arabia the next day. The Princesses, still in Equestria, gave me saddlebags to help with the job. For this attempt, I use the appearance of a unicorn resembling Shining Armor.
Jabhir has left Maredina, that I know. I overheard a few ponies say he was going southwest to a small town. I would bet my horn and wings that it’s where the Equestrian allies that helped me get back to Equestria are. My magic is far too weak to teleport me there. I manage to convince some traveling merchants to give me a ride there in their caravan.
I buy a small trinket from them. It’s an elephant with a small green jewel on its forehead. They tell me the jewel is an emerald. “It’s for a friend.” I tell them. I plan on giving it to Shooting Star’s widowed marefriend in his name. What was her name? Rainbow Dash, or something like that. I put the elephant in the saddlebags. I don’t want it to get harmed. It’s the least I could do to honor Shooting Star. Besides, it would make that mare happy.
I’d like to say the delivery will be to use some of her happiness… But I actually care about what she feels, and I haven’t even met her. I think killing all those ponies made me more like them.
Now that I think about it even more, I prefer being more like a pony rather than a changeling. Changeling laws were very strict and the punishments were harsh. Several law abiding changelings were executed for reasons along the lines of “so the others will know we’re serious.” At least, that’s what I’ve heard. I like to think it’s just a rumor. I’ve never met any changeling that was executed, law abiding or not. I know execution is, or at least was, still around. I doubt the law has changed since I was captured.
When I was captured, I wanted to kill everypony I saw. Now, I only want to kill one. I will make sure that happens. I have been a soldier most of my life, but that doesn’t mean I like to kill.
The caravan comes to a halt. I step out and pay the merchants thrice that of what the trinket cost. It wasn’t exactly inexpensive, either. “The roads are dangerous. Watch out for bandits.” I tell them. They appreciate it. Once again, it’s not exactly love, but it feels good.
I turn towards the town. It doesn’t have a sign saying what it’s called. The town has no more than ten buildings. It’s a good place to hide.
But it’s not good enough. I know Toma Jabhir is in here. It’s small enough that I don’t need a lot of time to find where exactly he is. If he tries to leave, I’ll be able to follow him. With several allies here, that task will be even easier.
Princess Luna gave me the address of where the allies are. I go to the address and knock three times on the door.
It opens, revealing a dark brown earth pony with a golden mane. “Spy?” He asks in Equestrian, but with a thick Arabian accent.I can tell Equestrian isn’t his first language.
I nod. The earth pony pulls me into the small hut. There are two other ponies in here. One pegasus and one unicorn. Both are stallions “You can drop your facade. We are allies to your cause.” The earth pony says.
He moves to his friends. They’re all around a table with several weapons on it. A few knives. A spear. Some things I’ve never seen before. The ones I don’t recognize are like small metal boxes bent into 90 degree angles. “What are these?” I point to the boxes.
“A new technology. A prototype.” A unicorn says. This one has an Equestrian accent. “They send bits of metal at high speeds towards a target. They move fast enough to break bone.”
“Damn.” I say. “A little overkill, don’t you think?”
The unicorn smiles smugly. “There’s no kill like overkill.”
I narrow my eyes at him. He stops laughing. “I’ll stick to a knife.” I pick one up with my magic. I unsheath the blade.
“Ah. That’s a good one. It’s made of damascus steel.” He says.
“What’s damascus?”
“It’s the strongest kind of steel we have. It’ll outlast you, changeling. It could even outlast Celestia and Luna.” He says, admiring the blade.
I get a close look at it. It has many small ridges in it and reminds me of the grain on wood. I turn it to look at the blade. It looks sharp. I bring it to my foreleg.
“Don’t.” The earth pony warns. “Sharper than it looks. It can cut bone without even trying.”
“Then I’ll take it.” I say. I sheath it. “How much does it cost?”
“On the house.” The earth pony says. “Use it to take off Jabhir’s head.” The hatred is almost enough for me to return to my original form. I manage to hold onto it.
“And before you go, changeling,” the pegasus says, “we know where he is.”
“Take me there.” I say. They all smile. I can’t exactly identify what emotion they’re feeling. It’s positive.
The four of us head out for Jabhir’s stronghold. By then, I’ve dropped my form. They tell me they knew of it since he made it to this small town. They wanted me to get the kill, though. Those bastards.
Jabhir’s stronghold has several guards on the outside. Seven by the pegasus’ count. Five by the unicorn’s. Eight by mine. I’m guessing that he had more in Maredina, but had to leave quickly and couldn’t bring as many guards with him.
Based on how most of the guards are in plain sight, I can tell he’s the kind of stallion that doesn’t care if ponies know where he is. I can tell he wants them to know his location, but too scared to do anything about it. Bad news, Jabhir. There are three ponies and a changeling that aren’t scared of you. Guards won’t be able to save you. You don’t know us, but you’re about to. And not for very long.
"Is everypony ready to kill?" The pegasus asks.
"Ready to kill. Ready to die." The earth pony responds.
“Don’t worry. We got you home once, changeling. We’ll do it again.” Oh. These were the ponies that helped me out the first time. Why didn't I realize that? The unicorn says, running towards the next building close where Jabhir is. He’s quiet enough to not attract any attention. The rest of us follow him. The guards don’t see us. “Are these idiots blind?” The unicorn asks when we catch up.
“Probably not.” The pegasus says.
“That was a rhetorical question.”
“What’s rhetorical?”
“Both of you, shut up.” The earth pony orders with a harsh tone. “You will get us captured. I don’t want to go home in a body bag.”
The pegasus and unicorn stop talking. The unicorn peers inside. “There’s a guard in there.” He whispers. “Changeling, give me your knife.” He orders. I give it to him.
“What are you doing?” The pegasus asks.
“Culling Jabhir’s herd.” He says. He rushes in. A few seconds later, he comes back out with a fresh blood stain on his face. “Clear.” He says and returns my knife.
The earth pony, pegasus, and I follow him. The guard has a fresh wound in the back of his head. One of his legs is twitching slightly. “Damn.” The pegasus says.
“Like I said. It’s a good knife.” The unicorn says. “It’ll outlast you.”
“Can I use it?” The pegasus asks, looking in my direction. I nod and give it to him. “Thanks, changeling.” He says, then takes the blade in his mouth. “I’ll go in firsth.” His voice is muffled.
He walks in deeper into the building. The three of us follow him. It should probably be the unicorn that’s in front and carrying the blade, because unicorns have faster reflexes. Magic and a blade is a deadly combination.
The pegasus moves into the stronghold. He moves slowly to keep his steps silent. The unicorn, earth pony, and I follow him up a flight of stairs. "Wait." The unicorn whispers. "There's a guard at the top."
"I'll take him out." The pegasus whispers back in response. He walks up the flight of stairs that can be seen through, due to several small holes in the stairs. He sneaks up to the guard and shoves the blade into his neck. The guard falls. I see the pegasus looking up from the corpse. "Oh, shit." The pegasus mutters. He runs back down the stairs, having no regard for his volume. Five guards follow him.
One of the guards looks down. "He's not alone!" She shouts to the other guards. Two of them follow the pegasus and the other three stay.
The guards rush for the pegasus, who sprints out of a door at the top of the staircase. The unicorn sprints up the stairs, skipping three at a time. He sends a blast of magic at one of the guards. The guard is thrown back into a wall.
The earth pony sprints up the stairs. I follow him. Another guard is hit with a beam of aura, this time being sent down the stairs. We barely dodge his flailing body. The guard lands with a sickening crunch. I turn to the guard, only to see a large blood stain on the wall and a body with a neck bent at an unnatural angle.
The unicorn notices and just stares at the body. He's pushed down the stairs by the last guard. I manage to catch him with my magic before he lands. I set him down gently. "Thank you. ch--" He says to me. He stops before saying what I'm assuming to be 'changeling.' "I owe you my life."
I shake my head. "Talk later!" The earth pony shouts at us, interrupting the unicorn before he can object. The final guard now has a small knife hilt sticking out of his rib cage. The earth pony pulls the blade out with his mouth. He gestures for us to follow him. We do, going down the corridor the pegasus and guards took.
The three of us sprint down the corridor. We don't care about being silent anymore. Toma Jabhir and his followers definitely know we're here now. I'm certain they did after the pony was thrown down the stairs. I can still hear his neck snapping.
The corridor feels incredibly long. It's only around 20 meters, but it feels like 20 kilometers. During the sprint down the corridor, nopony says anything. The only sound accompanying us is the steady clop of our hooves on the stone floor. The clops echo off the walls and ceiling, so it sounds like there are ponies chasing us. That doesn't make the trip feel any shorter.
We get to the end of the corridor. At the end is a large, dark room. The only thing greeting us is a bloodied corpse with a knife in its neck. A damascus knife. "Oh shit..." The unicorn says. "Only one corpse. There were two guards, right?"
"Yes." The earth pony replies. "Take the damascus."
The knife is surrounded by the unicorn's aura. He has some difficulty digging it out of the guard's neck. "Thing's stuck in his vertebrae." He says, then succeeds in removing the blade. There's another cracking sound. "Celestia, that's disgusting..." The unicorn gives me the blade, which I take in my magic. "I'm going to keep a light on." He says. His horn lights up, illuminating the dark room. A trail of blood is revealed.
"Follow it." The earth pony commands. The unicorn wordlessly obeys and walks along the path of fresh blood.
The trail of blood drags on deeper into the stronghold. I feel like I wandered into a labyrinth instead of a stronghold. There's no way this building should be this large. It's possible we've gone underground. I can sense that the area around us isn't just air. Maybe there's a powerful unicorn that cast a spell? I don't even know.
"Wait. Stop." The unicorn says, taking me away from my train of thought. The earth pony and I stop in our tracks "Stay here. Keep a light on." I use my magic to illuminate the area. The unicorn walks forward out of my light. I can still see his aura around his horn.
It suddenly jerks to the side. The earth pony quickly adopts a defensive position. I take on an offensive position. The unicorn's horn bops around a few times, then it moves towards us.
The unicorn skids to a halt in my light. His face is noticeably colored more lightly than it was just a few minutes ago. His eyes show that he's terrified. He's breathing heavily.
"What happened?" The earth pony asks with strength in his voice.
The unicorn shakes his head. "Celestia... Dear Celestia..."
"What. Happened?" The earth pony asks, putting even more strength into his voice.
"The pegasus... The guards got him."
"Shit." The earth pony says under his breath. "Did you see the other guard?"
The unicorn shakes his head. "No."
"We're going to find him." He turns to me. "You can take the form of corpses, right?" I don't sense any sympathy in him.
I nod. I follow the two to the pegasus' corpse. There's a massive gash in his throat. Blood is still oozing out of the wound. I look closely at it. I can sense fear. At first, I can't tell who it's coming from.
I identify the source as the pegasus. He's still breathing. Barely, but he's still alive. The unicorn notices it shortly after I do. "Oh dear Celestia..." A sudden wave of disgust rushes out of him and I am forced to absorb it.
"Give me the blade." The earth pony orders. I stare at him. Did I hear him right? The unicorn's disgust disoriented me. "Mercy kill." I know I heard him right that time. I reluctantly give him the knife. He takes it in his mouth. The earth pony stabs the pegasus in the back of the head. "I'm sorry had to do this..." He whispers to the fresh corpse.
I turn to the unicorn. He's not looking at the scene. "Let's get out of here." He says. "Don't forget to use his form."
I look back to the corpse, then to the earth pony. He nods. I take the pegasus' form. "Say something." The earth pony says weakly. I can tell he's disgusted at what he had to do. I could have identified that emotion from a kilometer away, even if I wasn't a changeling.
"We still need to kill Jabhir." I say.
"Damn right." The unicorn says with a stronger voice. He starts walking, not even waiting for us. The earth pony walks up to me with the knife in his mouth. I sheathe the blade. I don't need a knife to kill.
We follow the unicorn. "Do you know where to go?" The earth pony asks.
"No." He admits. "Do you?"
"No."
"Then let's just wander around." I say. "None of us know where he is."
Ten minutes go by before we find the next guard. He's alone, so the unicorn blasts him in the head. He falls to the floor with a smoking wound in on his temple. Nopony says a word.
We eventually make it to a massive set of double doors. It must be where Jabhir is. Or at least, where he was. He probably escaped the building. There aren't any guards outside the doors, would is an implication of that.
The earth pony looks at the unicorn and me. He doesn't say a word. I don't need any to know what's going through his mind. If Toma Jabhir is in here, our mission will end today. Successful or not, it will be completed. If we survive or not, it will be over. This will be the last time I see these two.
The earth pony turns to the unicorn. The two nod. The unicorn turns his horn to the handles of the doors. A beam of magic erupts from his horn and hits the handles. There is a small explosion that knocks the doors off their hinges and send them flying into the room. A large amount of gray smoke covers the area, both in and out of the room.
The unicorn rushes in. There are some flashes of light in the smoke. One of them comes out with the intent to kill me. I dodge it, I get hit in the cheek. It stings enough to make me drop my form.
No more flashes of light can be seen from outside the room after I'm hit. No more flashes of light shoot out. I look to the earth pony. He doesn't look turn to me and instead steps inside the room.
Less than a second after he enters the room, a blast of light strikes him in the knee. He shrieks in pain and falls to the ground. Another his him in the chest. He stops shrieking and moving.
"Oh shit..." I mutter. There's still some bastards alive in there. The unicorn's probably dead. I'm not. I know Toma Jabhir is still alive.
My horn lights up green. I run in and lock eyes with a unicorn. I send a blast of some sort of magic I've never used at him. It strikes him in between the eyes.
I look at the fresh corpse. Or, at least, what's left of it. The only part of his head that survived the blast is below his jaw. It's sickening. I'm sure that if my body could handle it, I would throw up at the sight. And the smell? It reeks of burning bodies. I speak from experience. There were plenty of them during the invasion of Canterlot. The aura around my horn dissipates.
I look around for my unicorn ally. I find him after minute of searching. He's still breathing. He lifts his head to me. "Kill that bastard." He says. His head drops. He keeps breathing for a few more seconds before his lungs stop working.
I close his eyes with my magic. I've seen three of my allies being killed unceremoniously, two of them I didn't even know the names of. The other one, I fortunately didn't have to witness.
I'm going to kill Toma Jabhir. I'm going to make it fast. I don’t even remember why I have to kill him. Because that tyrant Celestia wanted me to? Maybe. Why did I agree? Maybe it’s because I just wanted to kill something.
Now, I really want to kill something. I know exactly who it’s going to be.
I look around the room. There’s still some smoke, but it’s cleared for the most part. I can tell that this is a bedroom. Toma Jabhir’s bedroom.
I search the bodies in hopes to identify him. There isn’t anypony that looks like the picture Luna gave me.
My eyes move to an open window, responsible for the smoke clearing out. I know enough about Saddle Arabian royalty to know that they don’t just leave their windows open. I look out of it. It leads to a roof that’s less than a meter from the window. A pony could easily jump on it and escape.
I jump onto the roof and listen for any movement. I can hear something like hooves on hardened clay. I follow the noise as fast as I can. It moves with me, but I catch it.
The noise stops. “Okay. You caught me.” A voice says. I stare into Toma Jabhir’s eyes. “You’re here to kill me, changeling. I understand. Celestia and Luna sent you, right?” I nod. “Maybe I shouldn’t have done what I did, then. Oh well. Shit happens, as you Equestrians say.” He sighs. “I just don’t understand why you killed my brother. He was far more kind than I was. He didn’t deserve to die. Did you at least spare his wife?”
I shift into Princess Luna’s form. “Your brother’s wife has been spared. I didn’t mean to kill your brother.”
He says nothing for a second. “So it was an accident. I guess that makes it better. I know I won’t end up in the same place as Khayri in the afterlife. I did bad things. He didn’t.” I can see a tear fall down his cheek. “Regret doesn’t mean anything to you, does it?”
I shake my head. “Celestia and Luna won’t take me back until you’re dead.”
“Then I guess I should die. I see good in you, changeling. Don’t waste it.” Jabhir says. He looks at the ground from the roof. “There’s a boat at the port. You can use it to get back to Equestria.” He sighs. Then, he jumps off.
The noise is absolutely sickening. The skin and muscle splatter against the ground like balloons filled with water. The bones crunch against the ground and sound like shattering glass.
A changeling body can’t throw up. I found out the hard way that Princess Luna’s body can.
Throwing up made me drop Luna’s form. The feeling of having my stomach contents being ripped out through my mouth still hurts. My throat feels like I just swallowed something on fire. I don’t want to ever throw up again.
I find the boat Jabhir was talking about. There isn't anypony on board. I pilot the boat towards the direction of Equestria.
I land at the port of Manehattan again. If history repeats itself, then the wrong pony died and I’ll be sent back to Saddle Arabia to kill somepony that doesn’t deserve it.
But the pony that jumped off the roof claimed to be Toma Jabhir. There wouldn't be any reason for him to lie. If he wanted to hide somepony, he wouldn't have killed himself. He wouldn't have ran away, even.
By the time the boat docked, I took up the form of an earth pony. These ponies would rip the flesh off my bones if they knew what I actually was. Even if my blood family didn't try to invade Canterlot, they'd still rip me to pieces. They think changelings are freaks. By their standards, I am.
By my standards, I am too. After what I had to experience in Saddle Arabia... I killed too many ponies. I saw too many ponies die. I want to go back home.
My home with the changelings is no longer my home. I'm certain Chrysalis is dead. Good riddance. Sure, she wanted to feed me. Sure, we were running out of love to feed on. We didn't have to kill for food. We did, though.
My home is in Canterlot. I am technically homeless right now, but I just hope that'll change once I get home.
I step into the room where I first met the two Princesses. They're alone. Guards didn't even join us.
"You have returned safe and sound. Good." Princess Celestia says honestly.
“You have done a great deed, changeling.” Luna says with a smile on her face. She’s being sincere about this. “My sister and I are safe from the lies spread by Toma Jabhir. We cannot thank you enough.”
“Agreed, Luna." Celestia says. "Would you like to go on another mission?"
I really don't want to, but part of me feels that I'll have to eventually. "I'll do what I have to do, Princess Celestia. If I have to go to the depths of Tartarus and back, I'll do it."
The two Princesses glance at each other. Princess Celestia smiles. "Thank you once again, changeling. I will arrange for you to have your own room within the castle. Your mission must have been difficult, I am certain, so your room will be very luxurious."
I give the two Princesses a bow. "Thank you, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna." I look back up to them. "And I apologize for my behavior before going on this mission. I was immature then."
"Apology accepted, changeling." Princess Celestia opens her mouth, but the response comes from Princess Luna. "Before you go, we would like to pay you for your deeds on your mission to assist Equestria."
I shake my head. "That isn't necessary, Princess Luna."
"Unnecessary, maybe. We still wish to pay you. Would you rather have bits or gemstones?"
Princess Luna is going to be tenacious. I shouldn't even bother fighting this off. "It doesn't matter, Princess Luna."
"Please, just call me Luna."
"And call me Celestia." Princess Celestia adds. "My sister and I understand that you met Lieutenant Shooting Star during your travels?"
'Travels?' That makes it sound like I went there for fun. "Yes. I did. He was killed by another pony, unfortunately." I reply.
The two Princesses look at each other. They turn back to me. "We will have to inform Rainbow Dash about his death."
"Who's Rainbow Dash?"
"A pegasus and bearer of the Element of Loyalty, though not necessarily in that order." Celestia replies. "You may meet her in the future, changeling." She looks aside for half a second. "Is there a name you wish to go by?"
Maybe I should choose a name. I have a new life, now. Changelings never got to have names, aside from royalty. I have some royalty in my blood, but it's far from enough to earn a spot upon a throne.
I don't think I could get used to a name, though. I've never had one my entire life. I've lived over have of my lifetime already. I doubt I could get used to a name, in that case. Besides, what would I even choose?
"No. I'm just a changeling. Call me that." I reply.
"If you so desire, changeling." Celestia says. She barely hides her look of discomfort and disapproval.
Several hours later, Luna guides me to my room. "Thank you, Princess." I tell her.
"You deserve this, changeling. Your mission in Saddle Arabia was difficult. I can tell just by looking at you."
"...Is it that obvious?" I ask. Luna nods. "Yeah, the mission was... difficult, to say the least." I let out a sigh. I can't tell if it's a sigh of relief or something else.
We stop walking at an intricately-carved door. It's made of some white-colored material, likely marble, and lined with gold trim. I wouldn't be surprised if the gold was real.
I let out a low whistle. "Damn. Fancy door." Luna's smiling. "Let me guess. This is my room, right?"
"Yes it is, changeling." She's smiling ear to ear, almost literally. "If you like the door so much, just wait until you see your bed." I can feel a spell being cast over me. I turn to Luna. Her horn's lit up in her aura. "You look like you're about to wet it. You were bouncing up and down."
"I've never had one to myself, that's all."
"A room?"
"A bed." I admit. Sure, I've slept in cocoons, but never a bed. I've never even been on a mattress before. Princess Luna opens the door with her magic. I step inside the room.
The room is easily the biggest I've been in. There aren't many words that can describe how fancy the room is. It's rectangular with massive white pillars at the corners and the middles of the walls, like where the pockets of a billiards table are. The walls have a soft and barely noticeable gold tint on them. To help contrast the bright colors, there's purple trimming on the bottoms and tops of the walls.
There's only one window, with space for another. The window that's in looks out over the valley. I can see the small town, Ponyville, easily. I'd like to visit that town someday.
I turn back to Luna, but half way, I catch the bed in my sights. It's large enough to hold at least three ponies the size of Luna. There are pillars on the corners of the bed. At the top of the pillars is some sort of sheet, making a canopy above the bed.
"Damn." I say. I want to say more, but... damn.
Luna smiles. "This is your room, changeling. My sister and I decided that it should be elegant. We know that you have had a difficult mission in Saddle Arabia and we know you will receive discrimination for your species. This room is the least we can do to help."
"It's more than enough." I say. "Is there any way I can thank you?"
"There are ways, but you don't have to thank me. This is Celestia's and my way of thanking you." She turns around and starts to leave my room.
"Before you go, Luna. If you ever need me to do anything like that again, let me know." I tell her.
She turns back. After a second, she smiles and nods. "I believe you've done enough for my sister and me, changeling." Luna leaves my room.
With a sigh, I turn to look outside and at the town down in the valley. With all the positive emotions Luna let loose, I probably won't be able to get any sleep tonight. That's probably the only bad thing about positive feelings. They increase heart rates, both in changelings and in ponies.
I walk over to my bed. Just looking at it would probably keep me from sleeping. It would be like sleeping on a painting. With nothing else to do to pass the time, I crawl onto the bed. It's easily the most comfortable thing I've ever been in. It's soft, like how I'd imagine a cloud to be.
I've got years with these ponies ahead of me. I look forward to them. If I ever see Chrysalis again, I'll tell her that I'm done with them.
I'll tell her that all's fair in love and war. It's a true statement. It shouldn't be.
Author's Note
Sorry for the lack of chapter updates in the past few days. My computer practically died and I needed to get access to a better one.
This is the last chapter of Fly on the Wall. It's been a fun ride, but it had to stop somewhere. I'd rather give a story a good ending than have it be endless and with no direction. Because of that, don't expect a sequel. I will have other projects, however. I've started one shortly before uploading this chapter.