Pearl's Travels 2: Canterlot

As soon as Deadbolt turned the key to unlock the jail cell with an audible click, the door broke open as if a great force was applied from it from within.

Another Changeling dashed out of the cell, ran head-first into Burst, and the two of them rolled back on the ground from the impact.

"Whoa there!" Burst called out, trying to prevent getting hit by a sudden wild swinging of Changeling hooves at her person. "Calm down! I'm a Changeling too!"

I glanced at Crook, who was just watching what happened while using his tongue to pick at something between his upper teeth.

"You're not going to help her?" I asked, motioning my head in Burst's direction.

"Why? Burst's fine," Crook returned with a shrug. "He has to deal with Blaze's misplaced anger often enough that I doubt even a soldier could best him."

"Sibling rivalry, I take it?" Deadbolt realised. "Blaze and Burst and..."

"Breeze," I reminded him, watching Burst struggle with our sibling.

"Right," Deadbolt accepted before raising his voice toward the fighting pair. "Do you need me to pull you off one another or are we going to calm down soon?"

Our sibling who had jumped out of their cell at the first sign of potential freedom slowed down their assault upon Burst, blinked their eyes a few times, and then looked their target over with growing confusion.

Now they had calmed down a bit I could see the holes in their legs were about as deep as those in Burst's legs to the point where I could see through all of them even if they were thicker than I had seen on most of my siblings. If they had been a pony I would have considered them to have worked out to gain some leg muscles, but I wasn't sure if that worked the same way for us Changelings.

There was a small chunk missing out of their chitin back plate, cutting it short on the left side over their lower back. This must have happened a while ago as the break line had been filed down and smoothed out to not cause them a problem when they would take their wings out from under it, but it was still something which set them aside from other Changelings.

Their shoulders were about as slim as Burst's, in stark contrast to their bulky legs, and I pondered how I could tell whether they were a guy or a girl without being told. Going by the bulk of their legs, I had to consider they might be a brother, like Crook, rather than a sister, like Burst.

"Oval?" they spoke in confusion, their voice slightly higher in octave than I would have guessed. "You're not the pony who locked me up here. What are you doing here?"

"Good to see you too Forsythia," Burst chuckled from where she lay on her back under the other. "Do you mind getting off me, sister? You're a bit on the heavy side."

I made a mental note to just go by the shoulders next time.

"Bah, I'm all muscle and you know it," Forsythia grumbled, giving Burst one last punch with her left forehoof to the chest. "You would have more of it too if you hauled a cart between towns instead of sitting on your lazy bum all day."

"Ow. Okay, fine, I'll take that dig, but can you get off me anyways?" Burst asked again. "I can't break you out of here with broken ribs."

Forsythia clambered off of Burst, then turned around and finally spotted the three ponies and two Changelings watching her from near her open cell door.

"What..." she spoke, then fell quiet as she observed the group before her.

Burst rolled back up on her four hooves and pushed up from the ground, while I gave a slow wave with my good left foreleg.

"Hi there, sister, I'm Pearl," I introduced myself.

"Good to meet you, young one," Forsythia responded with a warm smile to me, then looked over at Crook while narrowing her eyes. "When did they pick you up, Crook?"

"A few days back," Crook responded calmly. "There's no easy way to keep track of time in here, but I've managed to read two books since arriving here."

"You had access to books? Damn. I just got locked in here and told to behave by that pony guard there," Forsythia grumbled, motioning at Deadbolt.

"Oh-ho? And here I thought you two had so much in common; you elders could reminisce about the good old days," Crook teased. "What got you so riled up that he locked you away down here?"

Forsythia snorted out in clear defiance to the other's words.

"Listen here, twerp; I'm only six years older than you and I can still beat you in a fight," she reminded him. "I was never going to go down without a fight, and you know it."

"Uh-huh," Crook agreed. "So what did you do?"

"I was setting up my flower stall on the market when my disguise just fell away without warning. I felt dizzy and had to sit down a moment to stop the world from spinning around me, and this guard comes up to me and thinks he can just arrest me without giving me a chance to secure my bouquets."

"Oh dear," Oval groaned as she stood a half step behind Forsythia.

"Well, I couldn't let him, could I? Aly put so much effort into the arrangements I came here to sell that it would be a damn shame if somepony would just get them for free. She wouldn't let me hear the last of it," Forsythia continued.

"Sweet Alyssum, her mare," Oval pointed out to the rest of us.

"Right. She's probably beyond herself with worry," the bulkier of my sisters spoke in a sad tone. "I don't know how long it's been since I arrived here."

"Well, if you say you were caught by the spell activating while you were already in Canterlot at the time, probably on the first day. So that would have been, what... eight or nine days ago by now?" Crook considered.

"Oh no, knowing Aly she would be on her way here on the second day," Forsythia realised in horror. "She's not in a cell here with us, is she?"

"I wouldn't honestly be able to tell you," Deadbolt spoke with a heavy frown over his eyes. "None of you told me your names. Except for Crook here, and then those other two who arrived today. Pearl and Burst, if I recall correctly."

Forsythia took a few threatening steps toward the jailor. "I swear, if you have her in here and hurt her, I will do unspeakable things to you."

"Calm down, please," Camellia interjected, stepping between the pair. "It is clear you care deeply for her, and I think I can assume by your latest statement that she's a Changeling as well?"

Forsythia did another doubletake, now focusing on the pony who addressed her. "Wait, I know you. You have that lovely flower shop in town! Camellia, was it? I'm Forsythia from Ponyville! You know, Rose and Lily Valley are our muties."

Camellia's pupils shrunk down a moment, then came back in full force and she slapped her right forehoof in front of her mouth. "No way, you're a Changeling??"

"Guilty as charged," Forsythia returned. "Not like I can help how I was born or anything. You know, I don't think you ever met Aly... You always talked about maybe coming to visit when you're in Ponyville, but you haven't done so yet."

"You know how hectic life can be in Canterlot," Camellia warded off, but then turned to look at Meadowsweet. "You remember Meadowsweet? I think you sold her those posies which she's got growing up in the palace gardens now."

"Oh, what?" Forsythia gasped. "What a coincidence to find Canterlot's number one flower gal and the royal gardener here! What's going on?"

"I said what's going on already," Burst sighed. "We're here to break you and the rest of our family out. Hopefully without too much trouble. I swear your mind is a wonderful thing but you can't keep focus for longer than a few seconds."

I was just watching them interact with one another, up until Crook leaned in toward me with a conspiratorial smile on his face. "You know, if you grin any wider your fangs will fall out."

I caught myself and tried to suppress my grin. "I wasn't even aware I was doing it. But look at them; Camellia overcame her fear of Changelings and is just chatting away with a friend."

"Well, I mean," Camellia started, her cheeks starting to flush. "I got caught up in the moment, really. I've gotten used to you and OVal, Crook seems okay, and I guess that led me to accept Forsythia for who she is more easily than before? Huh... Now that you mention it..."

"Hey, it's fine. It's the fangs, right? And the bug eyes? And our fins. Oh, also, did you see we have back plates?" Forsythia wondered, turning halfway so Camellia could see her right side, the cracked part facing away from her pony friend. "I swear you ponies could do with some back plating given what I see some other Earthponies carry around on their backs sometimes."

Camellia let her eyes roam over her friend's back, but then spotted the crack. "It has an interesting sheen to... Oh no, what happened there?"

Forsythia instantly moved her back legs so she was facing Camellia properly again, hiding her back from view. "What happened where?"

"Syth, come on. I saw that," Camellia pressed.

"No idea what you're talking about, Mel," Forsythia lied.

"We're talking about that at a later time," Camellia decided. "I want to hear all about it."

"Can't you let it rest? No, wait, who am I talking to? Of course you can't. You wanted to know why Aly's bouquets were using a different ribbon supplier that one time and wouldn't let that go either," Forsythia realised. "How about this; you finally come to Ponyville and I'll explain it in detail back at my home. Aly makes the best sunflower smoothies this side of the Unicorn Range."

"If you're talking about it at a later time, perhaps we should continue on to our next sibling?" I suggested.

"Right, we are somewhat pressed for time," Burst added.

"Oh, don't let me stop you. I'll just let myself out," Forsythia waved off. "Where's the exit again?"

"No... No, no... No," Crook exclaimed, shaking his head. "You would walk straight into the guards, sis. Wait until we have everyone together and I'll help you slip out without being observed. Or, that's the plan as far as I understood it."

"I'll just go on to the next cell then," Deadbolt considered.

He started off toward the next cell, but hesitated as he passed by Meadowsweet who stood staring at Forsythia with a difficult look on her face.

"Are you okay there, lass?" he queried, startling her out of her concentration.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, go on," she stammered.

Deadbolt shrugged and continued on his way. "I'll wait for you all to join me there, then. I could use some help keeping this one from getting rowdy as well."

I walked past Crook, Forsythia, and Camellia, with Burst moving to catch up to my right side, and stopped a few paces away from Meadowsweet.

"No, seriously; are you okay Meadowsweet? I can stay behind here with you if you have questions? Let 'the boys' handle our sibling?" I offered up.

"Hah, the boys," Burst chuckled, continuing to walk on. "She means you and me, Crook."

"I'm coming, big brother. I'm sure we can handle things fine. Fors won't have to lift a hoof to help, for once," Crook joked as he moved to catch up to Burst.

Meadowsweet watched them pass by, gave a glance over my left shoulder to where Camellia and Forsythia stood, then turned to look to my right.

"Can we walk over there a moment, Pearl?" she asked in a timid voice.

I gave her a nod and turned in the direction she had indicated.

"Sure thing. It's not like we're going to get lost in this place or anything," I agreed.

We walked diagonally across the intersection between hallways to the opposite corner, and I turned back to the earthpony.

"What's on your mind?" I asked, as she planted her rump on the cold stone floor.

"Can I ask you some questions about where you're from? I need to... I want to understand something," she started.

"I might not be able to answer everything; I made a promise to princess Twilight," I warned her.

"I think it should be fine," Meadowsweet pondered. "I'm sure it will be fine. It'll be fine."

I recognized that way of thinking. It was a way to overcome anxiety. She was trying, and I had to quietly commend her for the effort.

I just down opposite her and took as non-threatening a pose as I could while I waited for her to formulate her thoughts.