Top Secret

The next few days were long and tiring trying to find out what each changeling was talented or passionate at doing. Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash had stayed up late the night they got to the castle making a list of everything to try with the changelings. First Applejack and Rainbow Dash decided to see if the changelings were good at using a lasso. They tried practicing tricks with a lasso, but they quickly crossed it off the list when the male changeling accidently tied up the royal sisters together while trying to lasso a barrel across the room. Next they tried cooking. Twilight suggested baking. At first, everything went normally until the female adult changeling went to mix some cake batter and the royal kitchen ended up with chocolate cake batter splattered all over the place. Twilight again crossed off baking, but she still decided to see if one of them could cook. She watched as the filly changeling put a pan of glazed vegetables in the oven. Twilight thought they were on to something until the filly accidently turned the stove up to high and it caught fire causing the filly to run and hide behind it’s mother as Twilight magically put the fire out and crossed off cooking.

Next they decided to see if any of them were like Rarity and had an eye for fashion. The male changeling seemed to be intrigued by the sewing machine Rarity had in front of her so she decided to let him try to use it. It went well until the changeling got upset because he couldn’t figure out how to turn it on and smacked the machine causing it to roar to life and the loud sound it made caused the changeling to fly away in fright. Twilight crossed sewing off the list. At one point, Applejack had shown the filly changeling a coloring book and crayons. The filly seemed to learn the skill easily enough and colored pretty well. Twilight made note that she even stayed within the lines.

Twilight decided to teach the female changeling some potions. She seemed to be doing ok at it until she added the wrong ingredient to a potion and it exploded in a stinky gas throughout the throne room. As the princesses cleared the smell from the room by opening windows, Twilight clothes pinned her snout closed and crossed of potion brewing. Rainbow Dash showed the changelings a pair of roller skates and when the male changeling seemed interested she decided to see if she could teach him how to skate. She showed him how to put the skates on along with the proper equipment for skating. Then she showed him how to use the skates and to her surprise he learned amazingly quick. Soon she found them racing one another around the throne room. Twilight watched in awe as the changeling seemed to be faster on skates then Rainbow was. After they raced Rainbow set up some obstacles for them to try and the changeling skated through them all with ease. Even the rings he had to jump through. At the end of their skating games, Rainbow was panting while the changeling still skated around enjoying the fun of the wheeled shoes. He even did a few tricks. “Well looks like one them finally find their special talent,” Twilight said with a smile.

“Which one Darling?” Rarity asked looking up from the sketch pad she had been drawing in all day.“ the stallion and it’s roller skating,” Twilight answered and Rarity got back to her sketch pad.

“Well since you’ve discovered your talent you can now take a break,” Fluttershy told the changeling. He smiled and went on having fun skating. Twilight and the girls went on helping the filly and female changeling find their talents. The filly picked up three little balls and tried to juggle, but the result was Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy getting hit on the head with one of the balls and the filly hiding her face. Twilight crossed juggling off the list. The female changing found a microphone and looked confused by it until Twilight explained what is was and turned it on for her. She sang into it, but all that came out was screeching. Twilight turned it off and smiled. “Singings not for everypony,” Twilight said and crossed singing off the list.

The filly changeling was looking around when she spotted crafting paper. She was drawn to it by all the pretty, soft colors of the paper. She grabbed a pile of the green paper and a pile of the pink paper and started bending and molding the paper into all sorts of points and shapes. Twilight watched as the filly seemed to be fully concentrated on her little art project. By the time she was done she had made a big pink rose head. The filly changeling smiled and pushed it over to Princess Celestia. “Why thank you little one,” Celestia said pretending to sniff the flower. That made the little filly giggle.

“Well looks like she has discovered her talent,” Celestia said petting the filly’s head.

“Now all we have left to do is find the last changeling’s talent,”. Twilight said. They spent several more hours trying to discover the female changeling’s talent. Twilight was starting to think she might not have had one until she noticed her looking at a big, wooden bucket. The kind the apple family used to make fruit juice with. She then looked at some barrels of fruits placed nearby. She lifted a barrel of apples and a barrel of mangos in her neon green magic and floated them to the wooden bucket and poured them into it. She then jumped into the bucket and started smashing the fruit beneath her hooves. Soon there was nothing but juice beneath her. She then floated a big strainer to herself and drained the juice through it as she added it to another bucket while the strainer caught stems, peelings, and seeds. She took a bowl and scooped up some of the juice mixture. She looked at some spices that were on a table nearby. She picked some sweet spices and added a few shakes of each to the juice. She filled a pitcher with ice and poured the juice on top of it and mixed it up. When it was good and cold she poured some into a long stem nectar glass and handed it to Twilight.

Twilight sniffed at the nectar as the changeling smiled at her. Twilight took a sip. It was sweet and fruity. She could even taste a hint of cinnamon in the drink. She found herself soon drinking the whole glass. “Hmm, nectar making,” Twilight said, “it’s a rare talent, but it seems to be yours,”. The changeling smiled as she hugged Twilight.

“You’ve all been working hard and since your biggest task is done, how about dinner?” Celestia offered.

“Sounds great,” Twilight said, “it’ll give Pinkie the chance to teach them how to eat like normal ponies,”.

“I’ve made sure no ponies, but we are in the dining room,” Luna stated, “so the changelings can join us,”.

“Ya comin Rare?” Applejack asked looking over to her friend who still had her head buried in her sketch pad.

“I’ll catch up darling,” Rarity said waving her hoof not bothering to look up.

“I’ll have some food sent up to her,” Celestia whispered as they headed to the dining room. During the meal, Pinkie hardly had any issues teaching the changelings to eat like ponies. Of course when it came time for dessert the other girls had to step in when Pinkie Pie stuffed her whole head in the cake. When they arrived back into the throne room Rarity was passed out in her chair. Her head resting on her front hooves.

“I think we should let her rest and work on the changelings’ physical changes tomorrow,” Luna suggested.

“Agreed,” Celestia said as she carried Rarity in her magic to a bed, “it’s been a long, active day. You should all rest,”.