“Sooooo...let's get this straight. You want us to...ponynap you...again?”
With a disappointed sigh, Twilight nodded. “In a way, yes. It’s...kinda hard to explain, but I need the six of you to do it again...just, minus the taking away part.”
The six changelings were still confused, even though Twilight had explained this situation five times already. “You really want us to do this?” One asked, slight annoyance in his voice. “We didn’t get all colorful like this just to go back to our evil ways, princess.”
Knowing they’d bring this up, Twilight tried to explain further. “Don’t think of it like that. Think of it like...all of you helping find ways to make sure it never happens again.”
“How does this help?” Another asked. “We’re pretty much enacting the whole thing again, except this time you’ll be more aware.”
Nods came from the other changelings. “Yeah, how is this gonna help you?”
Twilight knew they would take this the wrong way, but she continued. “It’s going to show me how you did it. That way, I can fully understand and prepare for this.”
“And we’re doing this in the same place we did it before?” One asked, pointing at the floor to Twilight’s bedroom, then to the window. “At around the same time too?”
Twilight shook her head. “Not just here, you’ll be doing this at every location. I need to see how you approached every situation, gather the results, and form a plan to make sure it never happens again.”
One ling chuckled. “Yeah, good luck with that.”
Twilight glared at him. “I know it sounds a little strange, but this is important, more important than the other things I’ve been planning.”
“Other things?” One of them repeated. “What other things, all we did was get ya and hang you in a cave.”
“Are we going to help you in that part too or something?” Another bug asked. “cause changeling cocoons are pretty tough.”
“Not only that, but they help keep ya in pretty tired state.”
Twilight shivered, hating to be reminded of her experience with those things. “I know what it’s like, and we’ll worry about that later.”
“Then what other things?” One changeling asked.
Wishing she didn’t bring this up, Twilight looked away and said, “I’ve been trying to help my friends prepare for other villains using supernatural and powerful forms of magic from taking their thoughts to use them for their own evil purposes.” Blank stares were her only response from them, so she face hoofed and said, “I’m protecting them from mind control.”
A chorus of ‘oh’s’ followed. “Ah, I see. Well, I think you’ll be happy to know that mind control is something changelings can’t do, especially after we turned into these colorful butterflies.”
Twilight smiled. “Nice to know that, but for now, let's just focus on pony napping for now, alright?” Twilight noticed the looks they were giving her, some were on board with the plan while others were still on the dock. “Are all of you okay doing this?”
One of them, who had no wings or horn, stepped up and said something that all her siblings wanted to say. “You don’t think we’re evil anymore...right?”
With a straight face, Twilight knew exactly how to respond for this. “No. I think you guys can change...well, in the good way, mind you.”
One bug frowned. “Yeah, we’re pretty good at doing that, but us changing our ways might take a while.”
Hearing his tone of sadness, Twilight smiled, hoping they’d do the same. “Things take time, but I assure you that helping me in this is one of the first steps to making friends, so, are you willing to help?”
The one in the middle held his head high. “If it means us making friends with ponies, then we’re ready!” All of them smiled and saluted, as if on instinct.
Twilight did the same, laughing a little, and made her way to her bed. “You guys still know how to do this, right?”
One changeling smiled. “Ey, all that love blast did was change our looks, doesn’t mean it changed the way we remember things.”
Another stepped forward. “I’m gonna be the one to say it. This might not go so well for you, princess.”
Twilight would’ve been offended if she wasn’t reminded that they had done this before. “What makes you say that? I’ll be prepared this time, all of us will!”
Some of them looked away sheepishly while others scuffed the ground. “Well, no offence, Princess, but you ponies are pretty easy to take when you're asleep. In fact, anything is easy to take when they’re asleep.”
Twilight got on top of her bed, sitting in the middle. “But it’s not about the state the ponynap-ie is in. It’s about how they sleep.”
Now the changelings were thinking she had no idea what she was talking about. “How they sleep?” One said, knowing that statement made no sense.
“What I mean is how they will sleep.” Twilight clarified. “Meaning the state they’re in, if they have good hearing, or how they’ll react to anything physical. That kind of stuff.”
The bugs looked at each other. “I...don’t really think that matters.” One said, his siblings agreeing.”
Twilight just shook her head and laid down, her eyes to the ceiling. “Let’s just do a test run, no holding back, got it?”
The lead one nodded while the other’s got in the same positions they were in before. “Got it. No mercy on this one.”
“Good,” She said, craning her head up. “Because test runs...are…” She looked around, not seeing them any more. She was very surprised, she didn’t even hear them make a single sound, she would’ve been terrified if she didn’t remember they were on their side now. Twilight took one last look around the room, not seeing any indication of a changeling. She couldn’t remember how they did it last time, seeing as how she was still half asleep, but she was sure this time wouldn’t be so easy for them. “Okay...I’m sleeping now.” She called out, laying her head on the pillow and closing her eyes, waiting for-
Within seconds, Twilight felt something cover her horn, another second later, she felt something cover her mouth, she would’ve opened her eyes if they weren’t now seeing nothing but green, and she would’ve used her hooves to get whatever was covering her off, but they were currently behind her back, feeling as though they were tied up. She was then held up and flung on the floor, landing on her stomach with her back legs now imobile as well.
After being in this position for a few moments, her sight came back, no longer seeing green. Once her sight was refocused, she saw six changelings in front of her, all of them with awkward expressions. One of them walked up and took the green gunk off her mouth, looking down at her. “You said don’t hold back, right?”
Twilight looked away, blushing in embarrassment. “Just get me up, please.” One of them grabbed her by the scruff of her neck while another untied her back legs. She was now sitting upright with her front legs tied, along with her wings. She looked at all of them, her mind swimming with questions. “Okay, first question.” She went face to face with the leader. “How?”
“How what?” One asked.
Twilight tried getting her front legs free, but they refused to budge. “How the hay did you do it, and in such an efficient matter?”
They cleared their throats, knowing this would take some talking. “Well, first we dealt with the main threat, which was your horn,”
“Next we made sure you wouldn’t call for help by taping your mouth shut,” Another said.
“Then we had to cover your eyes so the only senses you would have left was your sense of smell and touch,”
“Which wouldn’t help as we grabbed hold of the front legs and tied them up in gunk, along with your wings and back legs.”
“After that...well, we would’ve gone a step further and knocked you out cold so you wouldn’t struggle, but we thought that might be too much.”
The lead ling looked at the rest of his siblings. “Sooo…yeah, that’s how we do it.”
Twilight’s jaw was dropped the whole time. She eventually snapped out of it by shaking her head and getting up. “I-It was that easy…?”
One of them shrugged. “We didn’t take six classes on this for nothing, princess. It’s what the queen taught us to do, along with shape shifting.”
“Infiltrating,” Another pointed out.
“Espionage,”
“Lying,”
“Cheating,”
“Stealing,”
“Fighting,”
“Flying,”
“Acting, which most of us failed at...”
“I GET IT!” Twilight yelled, all of the bugs stepping back. “She made you perfect for doing missions like this.”
“Pretty much.” One of them said, undoing the tied up gunk around her front legs.
After finally getting on all fours, she looked up at her horn and tried getting it off with her hooves, but it didn’t seem to budge. After several attempts, and strange looks from the changelings, she groaned and sat down. “Can you get this gunk off me! I know where it’s been.” She said with a shiver.
The lead bug shrugged and walked up to her. “Okay, but it’s gonna be a little weird…” Before Twilight could ask how it would be, he answered by opening his mouth and biting down on her horn. Her mind swimming with a mixture of feelings, ranging from utter disgust to slight arousal. Those stopped once he finally tore the green substance off.
Twilight sat still on the spot while the changeling who committed the act spit the gunk on the floor, his face going slightly crimson. “Uh...yeah, sorry. That’s...the only way to get it off...heh…”
Not wanting to make the situation any more awkward, one changeling stepped in and said. “So, uh, what’s the next test?”
Finally regaining her senses, and not wanting to waste any time, she stood up and made her way to the door, wanting them to follow. “Let’s...uh...see how you work on clouds.”
