It was a good day in Ponyville. The sun hung low in the sky, slowly completing its journey over the quiet country as the top of the moon barely peeked out from behind the mountains in the distance. Sitting on the balcony at the top of her library, Twilight smiled as she levitated a piece of parchment and a quill in front of her. Her task of writing postponed for a moment as she took in the scene.
It wasn't exactly a rare thing to have a quiet day in Ponyville, but trouble seemed to rear its head more often than anyone would like, even if they were used to it. Still, it happened enough that Twilight had learned the lesson of appreciating days like these.
Breathing in the brisk evening air, she looked down and started to write her letter, one she had been mulling over in her head for a while now. Putting the quill to the paper, Twilight started off as she would any other letter. With big, flowing letters.
Dear Princess Celestia,
In the month since the attempted changeling invasion during my brother's wedding, thing have slowly returned to relative normality around Ponyville. As normal as this place can get, at least. The changeling scare from around the country is leaving the forefront of everyone's mind.
I suppose that it comes as no surprise, in hindsight, that the idea that a loved one could potentially be replaced, or had been replaced by a changeling, would cause anyone to be nervous. Still, I'm glad that after several weeks of no reports, at least confirmed reports, of changeling sightings anywhere in the country seems to have calmed people down.
Twilight paused as she thought about it, a soft chuckle escaping her. It had been a crazy month. Changeling reports had flowed in quickly during the first week., people worried about their loved ones, friends, even neighbors they never spoke to acting differently than normal. She and her friends had to go and help Mayor Mare calm down worried people, assuring them that because their wife wanted to go on a diet didn't mean that she was a changeling.
Her ear twitched as the sounds of books hitting the floor came from inside the library. She looked back towards the balcony door as she shrugged, figuring that Spike was doing a little cleaning, presumably to try and get in Twilight's good graces for an extra ruby at dinner. Twilight smiled, deciding to give him one, before her attention went back to the letter.
On that note, I'm still working on that spell that you asked me to look into. The idea and the magical theory backing it up are sound, but only if we are assuming that changeling magic falls into the same magic theory we're working with. I know some of the mages in Canterlot are hypothesizing that changeling magic could possibly be the missing piece of Starswirl's Thuamatic Theory. If that's the case, I doubt there is anything, or anything that the mages at the academy could do to dispel their spell without knowing exactly how they make their spell, whether it be instinctual like a unicorn's levitation, or using a complicated spell matrix, like teleportation requires. In short, we would only be doing “Guess and Check” theories, without any way to the the check part.
Her ears twisted as she heard another book hit the floor in the library. Turning, she yelled out. “Spike! If you need help putting the books on the top shelf, give me a moment!” She called out. Her number one assistant had a little more growing to do before he could reach the top shelf without a ladder, she recalled with a soft smile. After waiting a moment and getting no response, she laughed softly to herself. She must have embarrassed the young drake. Looking at the setting sun again, she turned her attention back, finishing up the letter.
I'm sorry I can't be of much more help in this matter, Princess. Without a changeling to work with, and I'm sure the academy mages will agree with me in this, there is not much we can do. The absence of changelings anywhere in Equestria is a mixed blessing in this regard. That leads me to my last question of the day; where are the changelings now? Popular belief has them in the badlands, licking their wounds. There are only two other options that I can think of, and both are worrying in their own regard.
Pinkie, as always, says hello, and the others send their regards as well. Keep me informed as to the progress of the academy mages please!
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle
Finishing the letter with a little flourish on her signature, Twilight smiled as she reread it, checking it for errors she may have missed, and to make she she covered everything that she wanted to cover. She rolled up the scroll when she was satisfied, and with a burst of magic it was on its way to the castle. After watch the smoke fly away for a moment she turned around, heading through the open doors as she called down the stairs.
“Okay Spike! Let me help you with the top books and then we can go grab something to eat.” She said, walking down the stairs and into the open area of the library, looking around. “Spike?” She asked, seeing no sign of the young drake anywhere.
Hearing some banging in the kitchen, she frowned softly as she headed that way. “Spike! You know I said we'd go out tonight. You don't have to cook anything.” She said as she paused by the reading table, looking down at a note that was on it.
'Twilight, Rarity needed some help on some last minute order for a wedding or something. Be back soon, then we'll head out!'
Twilight blinked as she read the letter, her mind taking a moment to understand before she dropped the letter and walked slowly over to the kitchen. Turning around the door into the room, her mind took another moment to take in the scene before her. A white pegasus was currently holding a dark gray unicorn in a choke hold against the back door.
Twilight stared at the disaster zone of her kitchen for a moment longer, trying to understand how the table could have been completely flipped and broken without her hearing anything. Pushing that out of her mind, she cleared her throat angrily at the two ponies wrecking her kitchen. They both stopped and stared at her, surprise in their eyes.
“Can either of you explain to me what in Celestia's name are you two doing, destroying my kitchen!” She yelled at them, her horn lighting up as she prepared to kick them out. The white pegasus just let out a grunt as he attempted to keep a hold on the struggling unicorn who was grappling at the arm around his neck.
“Stop trying to kill him!” Twilight yelled, exasperated as she used to magic to free the unicorn from his grasp. “And get out of my library! We're closed!”
The pegasus against the door fell over backwards as the door behind him opened up suddenly, thrown open by the miffed unicorn. The dark gray pony on the floor just lay there, breathing heavily as he recovered. Twilight watched for a moment before sighing as she took pity on him, walking over. “You going to be okay?” She asked as she leaned down, putting a hoof on his shoulder.
He nods, his breathing normal now as he looked up, a grin on his face. For some reason that grin made Twilight's hair stand on end as soon as she saw it.
“Well, good. I don't know what was wrong with you stallions, but if you're going to fight, ple-” She started to tell him off, before she got blinded by a sudden flash of green and the feeling of magic being used to push her against the wall.
By the time her vision cleared she was greeted with a sight of a grinning changeling standing in the middle of the kitchen. Twilight's blood ran cold as the changeling started to laugh.
“Surprised?” He asked as his horn lit up, the kitchen being illuminated in an eerie green light. “You really shouldn't be.” A light tone of amusement was in the changelings voice as he continued. “It's not like you ruined our Queen's plan or anything.”
He took a step forward, his horn flaring for a moment as Twilight threw a piece of the table at him as hard as she could, deflecting the wooden projectile.
“We were just protecting our home!” Twilight retorted as she sent another piece flying. “Besides, we didn't do anything! It was Shining and Cadence's love!”
His horn flared again, turning it around with his green magic and bashing Twilight in the head, nicking her horn as well. Twilight could only stare at her attacker as her teleport spell she had been charging sputtering, a show of sparks from her horn all that remained of her efforts.
“Trust me, the Queen knows that.” He said, his solid blue eyes seeming to grow a bit malicious to match his voice. “You and your friends? Well, let's just say you're a warning message.” He said as he pounced. Twilight's horn lit up in a weak shield, the most she could muster after the strike she took to the head.
“No!” Twilight's ears twitched at the sudden and unexpected shout as the white pegasus from earlier burst through the door, his body slamming into the pouncing changeling. Twilight winced slightly from the resounding thump from them hitting the wall.
The two of them fought for a few moments, the pegasus quickly gaining the upper hand on the stunned changeling. Twilight, her head pounding from the attack, watched from the corner as the pegasus hit the changeling once or twice before it managed to escape the white pony's grasp. Its gaze flickered back and forth between Twilight and the pegasus, who had put himself in between the two.
He grinned. “Try me. See what happens.” He said, his voice low and threatening.
That was all the changeling needed, spinning around and escaping through the open door, almost faster than Twilight could see. The pegasus kept the defensive position for a moment before he dropped it, quickly going and closing the door before coming back to Twilight.
Twilight got her first clear look at him, an off-white pegasus with a dark blue mane, smaller and lighter blue streaks through it. The mark on his flank was hidden by his wings, but Twilight thought she could make out a shield. She blinked, focusing on his face as he spoke.
“You okay?” He asked as he saw Twilight held of hoof up to her forehead, checking for blood.
“I'm fine.” She said as her head throbbed again, but no blood to be found. “Just got hit in the horn while channeling.” She winced as she checked her horn, it being sensitive.
He makes a noise of pain, seeming to understand. “Okay. As soon as you're able to walk we need to get inside more.” He said.
Twilight stood up, wobbling for a moment as she recovered her balance, seeing him take a step back.
“I need to go check on my friends.” She said as she took a shaky step towards the door. He matched her step.
“We need to stay here. You just survived an attack from one attempted assassination, there may be more.”
“Exactly! I need to make sure my friends are okay!” She said, more confident now as she walked to the door, only to be blocked by him. “Let me out!” She yelled.
“The others will be fine!” He insisted as he refused to.
“I'm warning you! Let me out!” She yelled again, anger in her voice.
“Nope! And you can't make me, it'd hurt to channel that much magic right now.” He said, a knowing tone in his voice. Twilight made a noise of frustration, knowing he was right.
She then took a step back. “Just who are you anyway? How did you just manage to intimidate and beat a changeling? How did you even know he was a changeling?”
He raised his hooves to try and placate her. “Hey, I'm one of the good guys.” He said. “Name's Dusk, by the way.” He added on.
“And what, did Princess Celestia send you or something, as a guard?” She asked, still looking pensively at him.
“More along the lines of 'Or something.' “ He admitted after a moment.
Twilight nodded, before she tried lighting her horn up despite the injury. The resulting headache caused her to groan as Dusk took a step toward her. “You knew that was a bad idea.”
“Look, I don't have time for this right now. I gotta go make sure my friends are okay! If a changeling went after me, they probably are going after them too!” She said, going for the door again.
Dusk blocked her again. “You're in no state to help anyone.” He said, before sighing. “Would it help if I said I know for a fact they're okay?”
Twilight shook her head,worry for her friends taking over as she looked at the strange pegasus. “I really, really, don't want to do this, but they're my friends!” She said, a curious look on Dusk's face as she spoke.
“What do you me-” He started, only to be cut off by Twilight's left hoof connecting with his jaw. He went backwards, hitting the door.
Suddenly, Twilight's' vision filled with green again.
Whenever she recovered her vision enough to see, she saw a large, sheepish looking changeling holding his jaw. Her eyes grew wide as she backed up.
Letting out a nervous chuckle, the changeling in front of her held up his hooves in a placating move.
“I, uh, can explain?”
Twilight and Dusk Short (Unpublish before Posting)
Dusk sighed as he sit in the middle of the basement, looking around at the various equipment that Twilight had pulled as he blinked. “Twilight, is all this really necessary?” He asked as she emerged from the closet with yet another scientific instrument.
Twilight nodded quickly as she went about setting up her laboratory. “Of course!” She said as she looked at the taller changeling, her eyes sparkling with the thought of knew knowledge. “You said so yourself, ponies have a disadvantage when it comes to changeling magic due to lack of knowledge!” She said quickly, giving a machine a thump with her hoof before it lit up, blinking.
He blinks again, before chuckling. “Are you sure your equipment will work on me?” He asks, a knowing gleam in his eyes.
Twilight nodded. “Why wouldn't it?” She asked as she tilted her head a little, confused.
He smiles as he shrugs. “You're the magic expert. You tell me.” He said as he leaned back a bit.
Twilight raised an eyebrow as she shrugged. “That's kinda the point of all the tests.” She pointed out, before depositing a helmet on his head. He winced slightly at the sudden weight on his head.
He nodded, watching the purple mare mess with some knobs for a moment, before she finally flipped the switch, looking back at the changeling with a smile.
He just smiled back, his eye never losing its gleam as the machine began to print out its findings Twilight quickly grabbed it and scanned over the initial results. Dusk's grin only grew bigger as her eyes grew wider, the paper slowly falling from her grip.
“Well? What do the results say, magic expert?” He asked in a teasing tone.
“The results say you don't have any magic.” She said slowly, disbelief in her voice.
“No magic?” He asked, blinking. “Okay, wasn't expecting that.” The changeling admitted as he took the helmet off, stepping over and looking at the results for himself as he laughed softly. “I told you, changeling magic is so different from pony magic, or even the ambient magic of the land.”
Twilight powered down the useless machine as she sighed. “Okay, I have to admit. I don't have an idea of where to start on this. Without any base points to start with and work out from, I can't do anything but guess and check.” She said, sitting down with a thump as she sighed again.
Dusk just stood there for a moment before laughing, loudly this time as he enjoyed what seemed to be a good joke, earning an angry look from miffed unicorn scientist.
“And just what, exactly is funny?” She asked, glaring at him as he wiped a tear from his eye before answering.
“Twilight, how much do you know about changelings?” He asked, sitting down with her.
“Not much. Once thought to be mythical, the only things we know for sure about... your kind is that they feed off of emotion and can transform themselves to look like anyone with only a thought.” She said as she easily remembered those two facts.
Dusk nodded as he flashed green, and when Twilight quickly regained her sight she was faced with the image of herself, sitting across from her. Dusk continued in Twilight's voice. “That's correct. Changelings can become anyone they want to, but it takes practice and doesn't just happen 'with a thought.'” He said as he did quotation marks in the air.
“And also correct is we feed of emotions. Ponies however make the wrong assumption of we need to change into someone and get the emotion that they would receive from a loved one. While that is faster, ponies let off enough ambient emotion that we almost never resort to that.” He explained, another flash of green changing him back into the white pegasus he favoured.
Twilight nodded, still being a little unnerved by the blatant display of changeling magic, not quite used to it yet. “Well, that's reassuring to hear, but that doesn't explain why changeling magic is so different from every other magic in the world.” She said, confused.
“Well, unfortunately that's advanced magic theory, and only a trained mage could tell you about that.” He said, rubbing his chin as he thought.
Twilight sighed as she rubbed her temples. “I figured as much.” She said sadly.
After a moment of seeing his charge being sad, he smiled as he continued. “Lucky for you, you happen to have a changeling mage right in front of you.”
