The Awkward Pranks of an Awkward Changeling
Thorlight Sparklax
"And this will be your bedroom," said Twilight as she ushered Thorax into an empty room of her crystalline castle. He seemed honored that the princess of friendship would allow him to stay at her residence temporarily while a more permanent home was being constructed in the Crystal Kingdom. But it took some serious convincing on her part to stop the ponies of Ponyville from fleeing at the mere sight of him. And some more convincing to stop some of them from assaulting him out of reflex. It was apparent that not everypony was quite yet willing to be content to have a changeling among them.
But here he was, walking among the crystalline floors, his jagged hooves clicking and clacking on them loudly. Currently in the group were Twilight and Spike, as well as Starlight, who seemed a bit nervous due to the fact that the room Twilight had just given to Thorax was right next to hers. Apparently, Twilight's castle was becoming a sort of rehabilitation home for villains-gone-good, but with less an emphasis on "rehabilitation" and more of an emphasis on friendship.
Twilight continued speaking. "I hope you're comfortable," she said endearingly. Besides Spike, she was probably one of the most accepting of his residency in the Equestrian empire. For a pony, she could definitely be stubborn when it came to some things, but when her mind was changed it was for sure.
"I'll be fine," Thorax said as he carefully caressed the silky soft blanket on the bed. At that moment, all he wanted to do was jump into it and become a changeling burrito, but decided against it on account of the fact they were still in the doorway. Later, he noted mentally. "Thank you, Princess Twilight Sparkle."
"You don't have to say my whole title," Twilight smiled and continued almost inaudibly, "although I do enjoy hearing it."
"Oh," replied Thorax, "thanks Twi."
"Um," said Twilight, "maybe leave it at Twilight."
"Oh sure. Thank you Twilight."
Good grief, Celestia please it this, thought Starlight.
To her relief, Twilight continued the conversation by wrapping things up and leaving Thorax to his own devices. He stared out the window that faced the town, watching everypony stroll by. It was so peaceful and cheery, and the complete opposite of what he used to call home. Dark and musty, randomly placed mysterious gooey substances around every corner, and so forth. Living in Twilight's castle was a dream come true, except even more, because no changeling could have ever dreamed of such luxury. Don't screw it up. Don't screw it up, Thorax found himself chanting a mantra in his head throughout the entire tour of the castle and even now as he was left alone.
"Hey, buddy," said Spike as he walked into the room. "So, how's it hangin'?"
"Um..." Thorax stumbled for words. How is what hanging? Is there something hanging I should know about? What if I was supposed to hang something and I didn't and now they're going to throw me out? Oh, Queen Chrysalis...wait, I don't use that one anymore. Oh, sweet Celestia what am I supposed to say?
Spike seemed undeterred from his lack of response and continued walking and talking anyways. "Good, good. So I was wondering, do you have any plans in particular for the rest of the afternoon?"
"Well, um...no I guess."
Spike smiled deviously. "Well, I was thinking...what would you say to using your powers to do a little prankage?"
Thorax looked uneasy. "Prankage? What's a prank?"
"A prank is when you do something to somepony that's funny."
Thorax smiled and replied. "Oh, you mean like when you suck the life force and love out of something so much that they can't stand anymore?"
Spike's eyes widened. "Um, no...more like things where you don't actually harm them."
"Oh," said Thorax. Stupid, stupid, stupid. "What...did you have in mind?"
Spike smiled once more. "I want you to pretend to be somepony...and then we go around...and you...pretend to be them." Spike realized he hadn't exactly thought this prank out that well, but it still sounded like it would be fun.
"Well, I don't know," he began to push his hoof into the hard crystal floor and it made an annoying squeaky sound, "won't that make somepony...mad?"
"Only if you get caught," Spike replied smugly. "Come on, please? It would be a first in the history of Equestria. We'd go down as legends in history books. First pranksters to utilize changelings for a prank," he mock made a headline with his claws in the air.
"Well," Thorax thought carefully for a moment, "alright. I'll do it!"
Spike giggled as he mischievously twiddled his claws together.
After an hour or so of scheming, Spike and Thorax left the room and entered the main entranceway. Except, it wasn't Thorax who stood next to him.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" inquired Thorax in Twilight's voice, lifting his left wing in the air slightly as if to understand how it worked.
"It'll be fine," said Spike. "Like I said, just don't get caught alright? Twilight is out with Starlight, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about."
"Alright," he replied.
It was definitely still weird hearing Twilight's voice come from somepony that wasn't Twilight. But nopony else would know that, and conveniently, a cyan pegasus knocked on the door of the castle just moments later.
"Hello?" said Rainbow Dash. "You here, Twilight?"
Spike nudged Thorax. "Um, coming!" he replied and trotted to the door as Spike hid behind a column.
He opened the door and Rainbow Dash was waiting for him. "Hey Twilight, I need some help with the weather. Usually I'd be able to take care of it completely myself but...I kind of ended up taking a nap for the entire morning. And afternoon. And Fluttershy is too busy feeding her animals or something. So whaddya say? Lend a fellow pegasus a wing?"
Thorax looked back to Spike, but he was no longer visible. "Um," he said in Twilight's voice, "sure thing."
"Great," said Dash as she turned around and took to the skies.
Thorax flapped his wings and followed suit, trailing a fair ways behind. He had never actually flown as a pegasus before. Some changelings did during the invasion, but he'd only ever taken the shape of earth ponies and was quite literally flying for the first time in his life.
"You feelin' alright?" said Dash. "You're flying awfully slow!"
"I'm...fine!" Twilight responded with a huff of air as he rose higher into the sky. They arrived at a collection of cumulus clouds, and Rainbow Dash began to shoot about every which direction, bucking clouds as she did so. It seemed like she was perfectly capable of completing the job herself, but regardless, Thorax attempted to stay in character as best he could. Spike had said it was a prank, of course. And that he had to do everything within the realm of possibility to avoid being found out. That meant acting.
"I sure do love bucking clouds!" said Twilight genuinely.
Rainbow Dash stopped and looked back at her, confused. She, herself of course, adored the event more than any other pegasus, but Twilight's statement caught her off guard and she took it as sarcasm. "Well hey, if you don't want to help you don't have to. I thought I'd just...invite you along...or something."
Wait, why did she say I don't have to? Thorax questioned in his mind. I said quite clearly that I very much enjoyed it, but it seems as though my statement has somehow been interpreted as the complete opposite. He thought for a few more seconds, until a bright idea came to fruition.
If everything I say is interpreted as the opposite... "I hate cloud-bucking!" He screamed angrily in Twilight's shrill voice, feeling quite content with his moving performance.
"Sheesh, Twi, what's up with you?" Rainbow replied as she soared slowly next to her. "Did somepony mess with your books?"
Keep it rolling, keep it rolling. You've got to be convincing. "Uh, yeah," Twilight replied somewhat uncertainly.
Dash had a look of pure perplexity on her face. "Okay...well, I'll finish up here. I guess I'll see you later."
Thorax sighed internally and began his descent downwards back to the castle. He was tired beyond belief, attempting to fly for the first time in his entire life. A changeling didn't ever actually become what they could masquerade as. A more talented changeling could do a decent job of successfully replicating the utility of any of the three pony races, but their powers could only go so far, as most of their energy went into simply pulling off the visual aspect.
Thorax tiredly landed, somewhat ungracefully, at the front door of the castle and started to open the door until he heard the sounds of the real Twilight talking from inside. The voice got louder, and Thorax began to panic. Thinking quickly as he heard Twilight's voice even louder as she opened the door, he dove to the side into a bush below a windowsill, reverting back to a changeling in the process.
"So that's the story of when we defended Ponyville against a bugbear attack," said the real Twilight. Starlight was trotting alongside, listening to her babble on about her story. Thorax breathed a sigh of relief and quickly came out from hiding and went into the castle as himself and made his way into the room Twilight gave him.
Spike was waiting for him. "So how'd it go? Did Rainbow Dash fall for it?"
Thorax nodded his head and smiled, although it seemed a tad forced. "Flying is hard," he said and peered over at his non-existent wings.
"Hmm," Spike said as he stroked his chin, "maybe for the next prank you should pretend to be an earth pony then."
"Another prank?"
"Of course, we're just getting started!"
Thorax took a gulp and breathed a little bit. He did enjoy pretending to be Twilight for a little while. Often as changelings, they didn't do much actual talking when disguised. He found himself quite entertained with the acting side of things. "Well, alright then. Who should I pretend to be next?"
"Umm...how about Applejack? Can you do a country accent?"
Instantly, Thorax transformed into Applejack and began to speak. "Well a'course I can. What kind a' pony do y'think I am? Yer darn-tootin I can speak country!"
"Excellent..."
