The drone rolled to his right, falling off of the rose just as a butterfly net, which was as big if not bigger than some commercial fishing nets, came down. His mind raced as he drew closer and closer to the wooden landscape below him; questions, comments and sheer denial all filled his brain for several partial seconds.

None of it was helping. After coming to a conclusion, for the fifth time, he had spent almost all of his time except for the last second, which was when he opened his wings and flew away from the pony and her net.

Roseluck frowned as she removed the butterfly net from the rose, she knew that the there was a chance that the drone might get away from her sneak attack, but she also knew that there was no chance of escape for it either...

Until she remembered that it had to have got in somehow.

With a groan of annoyance, she went off with the handle of the net in hoof. The drone watched from behind a table leg as the huge pillars that were her legs approached, tremors shook the floor with her very steps while the sight of that much weight moving as effortlessly as it did frightened him.

Okay, my stomach hurts, I'm in some kind of well kept glass house with an admittedly beautiful bunch of flowers growing in it, there's a mare who I've had prior contact with and I've been shrunk somehow, possibly, but not likely, because of her, he thought, I need a way out, now. After a few seconds of planning, he ducked behind the leg and cast a few spells on himself.

Roseluck kept her eyes moving as she tried to find the drone, scanning for the smallest hint of his dark coloured hide. She looked under a table and was about to move on when she remembered something and thought, They can stick to the walls and ceilings.

She looked up, mentally adding the undersides of the tables to her search. As she was looking up, the drone cleared his throat and addressed her... from across the room, "Watcha looking for~?"

Roseluck jumped, whacking her head before she backed out from under the table, nursing a small bump, "Who's there?"

The drone bit down on his hoof, mindful of his fangs, in an attempt to keep his snicker under control. "Me," He said from the back of the greenhouse, "the drone that you tried to catch. Which reminds me, why were you using a butterfly net?"

"So you guys can do more than hiss, that's good to know." Roseluck commented dryly before she walked over to the back, looking at the wall and the tools that leaned against it, "Well, I heard that if something has wings and flies, a butterfly net can catch it. Why isn't your voice all, you know, high and squeaky, or buzzy?"

The drone paused mid-step and glanced back at the mare who was searching around the other side of the building, "...that is, quite possibly, the dumbest thing I've ever heard." He deadpanned, "What about my magic, or The Laws forbid if a Alicorn or dragon was in my place, I doubt they make fireproof butterfly nets.As for my voice, all of my kind are masters of controlling our voices, so no buzzy, squeaky voice. How did I get here, why am I so small or, even better, why are you trying to catch me?"

"I... didn't think about that." Roseluck chuckled sheepishly as she checked under the garden hose, "I don't know how you got in here, or what happened to make you so small, so I'll just chalk it up to currently unexplainable circumstances. So, you all can control your voices, that sounds useful."

She's dodging the most important question. The drone thought as he approached the door and felt an urge to give up at the size of it; the door appearing as an almost insurmountable obstacle.Shaking himself out of it, he looked up at the door knob and sighed before he replied from behind a spade, "Very useful. So why are you trying to catch me?"

"Would you have just sat there and talked to me if I didn't restrain you?" She frowned as she moved a few gardening tools to the side, "You would've screamed and ran off anyway, only I wouldn't have a chance to talk to you."

Curious, but what else is under it? "You're forgetting something," The drone told her as he started to enact his plan by flying up to observe the door knob, "Denial, I could've called you a figment of my subconscious and be asking Princess Luna why a giant version of the mare I chased down is stomping around in my dreams." I'd probably even bite you if I thought this was a dream, good thing I'm a realist. Who's currently in Equestria... damn.

Roseluck blinked a few times as she processed everything the drone had said and resisted the urge to facehoof, "You're that Changeling from Canterlot, the one that chased me before you tried to throw up."

The drone sputtered for a second before replying indignantly, "Okay one, I'm not a Changeling, they belong to a different tribe and two, I was unsuccessful and I feel like I was gut-checked by an overzealous minotaur." He told her as he rubbed his stomach He sighed as he prepared to fly down the the ground and look for another way out.

Only for the net to come down around him and the doorknob, trapping him.

The drone watched as the mare leaned in to observe him with a gentle smile as he pressed himself against the door and stood upon his hind legs on the doorknob in an attempt to gain as much distance as possible.

"I just want to talk a little," Roseluck gently told him as she sat down, holding the net in place, "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want some answers."

Meanwhile, down on the ground to the side of the door, a smile crept onto the face of the drone as he watched his illusion perform a rather convincing deer on the railroad tracks impersonation. Light flowed around him, rendering him nearly invisible as he sat, mentally wishing for a bucket of popcorn. And everyling say transformation magic is the fun kind.

"W-what are you g-going to d-do with me?" His illusion asked as it started stealthily, but not too stealthily, looking for an escape.

Roseluck tapped her unoccupied hoof to her chin and looked skyward, "I'm just going to ask some questions and let you go, is" The drone rapidly nodded, prompting Roseluck to ask, "What are you?"

"W-what?" Gotta be careful with that stutter, "I-I'm a Shiftling. We're a d-different tribe t-than Changelings." The illusion replied as he started inching (milli-inching?) to the side.

"Ah ah ah." Roseluck warned him with a few wags of her hoof, "I'm not done yet. What makes a Shiftling different from a Changeling?"

Gotta keep a few aces in the hole, "We're similar in a-appearance but vastly d-different in biology and magic. W-we can only take emotions from an area, not individuals." He replied, before a thought came to mind, which reminds me...

The drone cast a spell on himself, the light from it being covered by his previous spell prevented any unwanted attention, but to him it was as if his magic flowed from his horn like water until it reached his eyes, where it started pooling. Giving a few blinks, the Shiftling drone smiled as his environment changed and the atmosphere itself was awashed in colours.

He looked from the mare and his illusion, both of whom were distinct opposites. Whereas his illusion resembled a pool of water whirling and swirling, without a single drop of magical energy leaking, the mare looked as if she was a violent beach, with her emotions, something his illusion lacked, and magic crashing and pouring out of her like a bottle of water being shaken. Upside down. From my point of view, it's like an entire lake's worth.

The drone turned to examine the greenhouse, noting the abundance of emotions that would fuel his magic at his current size for years, decades even. Ignoring the mouth-watering buffet around him, the drone turned back to the mare and started sorting her earth pony magic from her emotions, so as to better gauge her.

"Huh, that's rather interesting." Roseluck noted as she looked around the growing plants, the fond memories of all the hours spent inside bringing a smile to her face as she turned back to the drone, "So, somewhere like this would pretty much set you up for life?"

"N-no, althrough, if I had to guess..." With a few seconds of appraisal, the drone had his estimate, "maybe three or four years at my... normal size, and that's without taxes."

Roseluck tilted her head, wondering how somepony could tax love. The drone kept looking around, clearly nervous and scared, something that Roseluck didn't miss, I don't want him to have a heart attack and I did tell him I would let him go after a few questions.

With a small smile, she pulled the net away from the drone and placed it on the ground, causing both the invisible drone and his illusion to simply stare at her as she asked, "Is that any better?"

The illusion looked around, as if searching for a sneak attack, while the drone just watched Roseluck's magic and emotions; calm and curious. Neither indicated any kind of deceit or ill will, there was no angry lashing magic to warn him of an attack, nor any corrupt or perverse feelings in her, just curiosity.

Roseluck watched as the drone nodded, albeit a little bit shaky, and looked around. When the drone's eyes met hers, he asked, "W-why? You had me right where you wanted me... why did you just..."

As the drone trailed off, Roseluck frowned. True, he could've used his magic to escape but why didn't he, was it his fear making him not think straight, not even five minutes after telling her about it or was it something else. Either way, she decided that she needed to calm him down, "I just wanted some answers, scaring you wasn't going to convince you to give them."

The drone looked at the mare, he could see the suspicion rolling around, blending with her curiosity. He knew she wasn't dim by any means. If he wasn't as careful as he can be, he could be caught, which would end with... he didn't know, but he knew he didn't want to know.

"Th-thank you."

"You're welcomed... So, you guys have manners too?" Roseluck giggled as the drone glared at her, the sight of the few inches tall Shiftling being serious proved to be a amusing break in her questions, a welcomed one provided it seemed he wasn't being so intimidated by her, "Relax, I'm just teasing."
.
The drone rolled his eyes before idly looking at his hoof, watching as the positive emotions flowed into the holes of his leg and filled him. Another difference between us and them, He thought. Breaking out of his pondering, he looked back at the mare in front of him.

"How did you know about Changelings?"

Roseluck smiled, happy that the drone was calm enough to ask her something, even if he was still standing on the doorknob.

A Royal Guard ran past, screaming her helmeted head off, "Run for the hills!"

Another one following her, shouted at his partner, "We're on a mountain Dodo, now get back here!"

Dodo didn't even slow down as she ran around a corner, "Run for the valleys, love eating, foalnapping Changelings are invading!"

Roseluck chuckled before she replied, trying to keep from insulting the cowardly guard and her partner, "I guess the princess told some of the guards on her way to object."

The drone simply deadpanned, "I saw them too, remember?"

The drones landed in the middle of the street, just as the aforementioned guards turned the corner.

"Changelings!" Dodo yelled as she performed an impressive hairpin turn and ran back around the corner, only to crash into her partner.

The unclaimed drones shared a few glances before they heard their bachelor cluster leader hiss at the unclaimed drones in code, "Shiftlings are to go after the civilians, bite only if necessary, if the guards want Changelings then the guards can deal with the Changelings and their spit."

Everyling nodded, the comforting presence of order and purpose giving them the drive needed for their coming battles.

"-and I ran around the corner, saw you and off we went." The drone finished giving his brief side of the invasion, Roseluck nervously laughing at his recount of the two guards and the memory of their compromising position from the crash before a question popped up.

"So Changelings have that weird spit stuff, how come you guys don't have that?" She asked.

"Biology," The drone replied, "We just don't have the magic-manipulating organs needed to turn emotions into that thousand and one uses spit that they got." Although our bite on the other hoof...

The illusion looked around, simply trying to avoid looking at the elephant in the room, with said elephant being a massive mare whose eyes were larger than him, "Is there anything else you want to ask, or may I go now?"

Roseluck sighed, sure she had more questions, but she did tell him she would let him go. After a moment of thought, she narrowed her last question down to only four, "Do you think you can get home alright?"

...fuck, The drone thought, how could I overlook that?

Roseluck, without noticing the drone in thought, asked, "What's Queen Chrysalis like?"

The drone only had one thought on the matter of the Changeling queen, Bitchy.

"Why did you try to throw up?" Roseluck asked, although she really rather not know just what the drone knew.

The drone shuddered, understanding the plight of Shiftling extractors that stumbled upon similar scenarios, Emotional Sight plus filling up off of emotions that just shouldn't be felt in a certain situation can be rather disturbing when you can get impressions on where those feelings came from.

"And I'm sorry for not asking this sooner but, what's your name?" The drone frowned at the last question, but before he could even think of anything, Roseluck continued, "Sorry, I should try this again. Hi, my name is Roseluck, what's yours?"

Author's Note

Well, here's chapter two, I hope you all enjoyed and tell me your opinions on Roseluck. Personally, I'd think anyone would be asking questions about something like a strange unknown race that just invaded your capital.

Speculations should continue, just because the characters don't know something, doesn't mean I don't.