Muffins was panting hard. She felt Gel inside her and she clenched down on him as tight as she could, not to expel the stallion, but to hold him tight. "Okay, I don't know what is going on here, but these things are not nice." She turned on the remaining infested mare eyes glowing green with power.

Vicious was in awe. Every drop of power she had expended was returned, the strange little hybrid pony was awash in energy and it felt… well, good to be the hero.

A tiny gooplicate squirmed and climbed free of Meadow and charged the last infested pony. Leaping four body lengths, Gel dived nose first at her plot. He killed two of the things trying to squirm out of her. He burrowed deeper and killed more on the way and, snuggling down into her womb he not only killed the ones breeding in her but the one controlling her.

Muffins watched the mare seem to go boneless and slump to the floor. She reached for Vicious, grasping the changeling in her magic. "I need you." She spoke the words as she turned to the surprised queen and before Vicious could react she felt herself being co-opted by the gray alicorn. There was no violence to it, no rough grasping or tearing, she just reached for control and cast Vicious' power outwards, fueling it with her own energy.

Gel slid from the formerly infested mare and from Vicious' face at the same time, merging the two forms together into a slight larger gooplicate. He watched as the two big mares stepped together and nuzzled. The magic they shared skipped around, Gel feeling it scoop him up. There was a popping noise and he was suddenly in another building, a house. An infested pony was before him and Gel darted toward her, going inside and cleaning her of the monstrous things.

The gooplicate was barely free of her when the pull came again.

Celestia felt the magic surge, boiling through the streets of her city. She didn't even know what was happening but she could feel who was the source. "Muffins?" The alicorn shrugged and lifted up, winging toward the changeling hive.

"Did you find her?" Twisty was a wreck, she was hopping from hoof to hoof and looking terrified. She set desperate eyes on Celestia and was suddenly hugging the princess. "I didn't mean to send her into danger I didn't think they would be able to beat her please don't-"

"Shh, calm down, Gel has found her, they are cleaning this up." Celestia hugged her lover. "Now we are going to get to the bottom of this when they return, but for now, some tea would be good."

Twisty nodded and pulled back, her horn lighting up as she started brewing the tea herself.

Muffins was panting, she leaned her snout up and nuzzled the queen. Vicious was also well worn out, she could tell, but the queen was standing beside her. Gel blinked back into the room under Muffins' guidance and looked up at the two.

"We need to look further. Vicious, hold with me…" Muffins smiled at the other mare and reached.

Vicious' eyes went wide, her power blanketed the city, she could taste everypony, feel them, they were all healthy. Further, her power poured further and she felt one, one of those horrible things. She didn't need to direct Muffins, the alicorn was right there with her, breathing magic into her. Gel blinked and was back in a moment. There was a slight tremble in the world and a dozen pops sounded, ponies appearing all around them. All mares. All collapsed.

Muffins trembled a little but kept her hooves. "Almost done, lets get them to the hive." She leaned down and nuzzled the tiny, panting Gel. She perked back up when she got the cutest little kiss on her nose back from him. "Celestia." The word wasn't just spoken, it was sent.

Gold burned around them, the kind of power that could burn and melt any substance suddenly flooded around the room and then the room was gone.

"You called?" Celestia raised a smile to Muffins and a deep bow to Vicious. "I see a lot of very hurt ponies. What happened?"

Muffins looked around at all the mares, she felt for their minds but it was like they were filled with nightmares. "The things lived inside a mare's womb. They controlled their thoughts from there, destroyed their memories and filled them with lies. They reproduced and planned… they planned to just spread, to consume as many mares as they could." She slumped down on a couch and was joined by Vicious and, reforming all the little bits of himself, Gel.

"They attached within the womb, I had to make quite a mess in them to kill the things." Gel nuzzled his mare, rubbing cheeks and kissing her jaw again and again.

"Every one of them is broken. Their memories are shattered, there is no love left to them-" Vicious was crying for the ponies, she could barely believe it. This thing had been horrible. One of the mares lifted her head and wobbled a little.

"My… my parasite, where is it?" She sounded lost, scared. "Please, I need it!"

Muffins' magic reached out to the pony and it was like a light switch turning off, she slumped back asleep. "What can we do?"

"You are sure their memories are gone?" Celestia stepped up to the three worn-out changelings, looking to each. It amazed her that this time it was they that saved her city.

"All replaced with horror and fear. It's worse than if they were in a pod!" Vicious shook her head at the feeling she got from them.

Gel perked up though. "What if we did that? They would be empty of memories, but they would be empty of the bad memories." He looked pointedly at Celestia.

"That could well save them, or at least, let them live a calm life. Twisty? I want you to bring a dozen pods to the castle, have them ready to be planted and filled." Celestia's heart was heavy, nopony had seen this threat coming but it scared her suddenly, what if there were more of these? "Could you search all of Equestria for more?"

Muffins shook her head. "Took everything in us to get them all in the city, one was fleeing by train. Unless you know of a burning pyre of changeling power somewhere we are limited to keeping Canterlot free."

"Twisty, Vicious, Muffins… I guess I might as well include you too, Gel. We have a job to do. Meet at the castle tonight, with the pods. Leave the power up to me." Celestia vanished, all the carriers of the parasites gone with her.

"Vicious, you did your hive proud today." Gel looked up at the almost drained changeling queen. "You are liking it here, then?"

"Damn ponies are growing on me." Vicious wasn't sure why but this odd stallion seemed like the oddest friend, but he was a friend. "I am sorry, for what I did. I… I am learning to be good."

"You're a quick learner." Muffins smiled and leaned up to hug the other changeling. The mailmare felt quite at home with the buggy ponies now, they were just ponies to her.

Twilight sat at the table, opposite the green and purple unicorn. She stared at the amulet. "But Spike, you ARE a dragon, there is no denying it!"

"Twi, how much have I grown since I hatched?" Spike didn't get angry, it was hard to get angry with his butt still feeling the soreness of being well used by his lover. Also, completely impossible to get angry at Twilight.

The alicorn stopped and lifted a hoof to her mouth to think.

"The answer is, not at all. The only time I got bigger was when I ate all those gems, and I didn't like that one bit." Spike folded his forelegs before him. "So my decision is, I am going to keep this thing on until I am a unicorn even when it comes off."

"Spike at least-" Twilight was trying to make him at least consider what this was.

"No, Twilight, I have spent a lot of time thinking and talking with this, with Cloud. I want to be a pony and grow normally, rather than be a baby dragon forever."

His assertiveness surprised Twilight and she had to reconsider. "Cloud Chaser?" She got a nod. "Cute stallion." Spike blushed but didn't back down. "Oh gosh Spike, why are we arguing. You have a few weeks before it will be stuck, you can always take it off."

The two ponies reached out and hugged, Twilight quite aware that it was an adult stallion she embraced and not a baby dragon. It still felt just like Spike, however.

"There is a lesson to be learned here." Twilight grinned and flared her horn with light. "Or more to the point, a whole lot of lessons I need to teach you."

Spike grinned at the mare he practically considered his mother.

Rainbow Dash was kicking and thumping into the equipment. Mayor Mare had declared that anypony was free to train on the new gear. Dash loved the pony-shaped block of wood with simulated limbs attached. She threw herself against it, beating into them hard.

"Oh, hay Dash." Vinyl walked into the hall and grinned behind her shades. "I see you have, maid time, for a little work out? Really serving it up?"

Rainbow froze. The blush almost overwhelmed her. How did the unicorn know? "What do you want, Vinyl?"

The blue mare turned to face Vinyl and she grinned. "Oh, not a lot, bit of this, bit of that. My house cleaned." Her grin was ear to ear.

Dash grunted and shook her head. "Ain't worth it." She started beating on the poor wooden sparring opponent.

"What if I told you to clean me while you are at it?" The sound of splintering hardwood accompanied Vinyl's question and the panting pegasus gave a slight snarl. "Whoa, okay, okay. Jeeze…"

"Friday." Dash said the word so softly that Vinyl almost missed it, her headphones were halfway on after all. "Friday and I will clean you, and if you can walk after it, your house." The sky-pelted mare beamed over her shoulder at the DJ, delight in her eyes.

The twelve mares were arranged, in pods, around Chrysalis'. "So we let them lose that horror?" Gel looked down as the last pod closed. Celestia nodded. "Good, now, you said you would give us enough juice to find any more of these things. Lets do it."

Luna stepped into the circle, opposite Celestia. Gel split into multiple gooplicates and prepared to be teleported.

Twisty was breathing deeply, she would be the link between the two alicorns and Muffins. Muffins would boil the power into Vicious and help the queen control it.

They began.

Rarity hugged the orange-colored earth pony. "Thank you darling, it is so wonderful that you take care of little Sweetie Belle for me on weekends."

"Aww shucks Rares, you know she ain't no trouble. 'sides, already helpin' out Scoots, one more ain't no trouble." Applejack tipped her hat. "What is it you doing? Getting extra work in?"

Rarity let the faintest hint of a blush show. "Well, you know that adorable stallion Twilight got herself?" AJ blinked a little but nodded. "He is just the most dashing thing, generous to a fault and you would not believe how protective he is."

"Wow Rarity, you sure are gushin' over him, planning to herd it up with Twi or somethin'?" Applejack had seen how cozy the white unicorn had been with Gel when in the Crystal Empire, and it didn't help that the rumors around town was that Rarity's laugh and the sound of a whip cracking was just about common around the castle on weekends. "Oh, ah think you are!"

Blushing for real now, Rarity tilted her nose up a little. "Well, darling, if you are going to be like that!"

"Oh come on, I ain't having a go or nothin', we are a little old fashioned out here, us country folk, herdin's perfectly acceptable." The Element of Honesty nodded in firm belief.

"You really mean that… oh I am sorry dear, but you know how it can be, some ponies say the most horrid things and it really isn't any of their business what I do behind closed doors." Rarity put on the 'distraught celebrity' pose so well that even AJ was half going for it.

"Well, don't mind little Sweetie, she can come and stay out here as often as she likes and don't you go thinkin' you need to search for somewhere to sleep neither. You always have a home out here, Rares."

Author's Note

Spike, the most tragic character in the MLP show. He is maturing and growing older, but he doesn't dare let his physical body age, for fear of going mad and destroying those he loves. Could you picture the dragon, in a hundred years time. All his friends dead, all that he loved gone, still clinging to the tiny, child-like body for fear of destroying their memories?

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