Shed My Skin

Chapters

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six

Chapter One

In response to the threat made against Canterlot and in order to secure the upcoming royal wedding, the Princesses requested the mobilization of as many guards in the city as possible, to help keep order and provide a calming presence to the public. Since we had already used up our reserve officers covering every corner of interest, we turned to civilians to occupy low-priority spots. Our volunteers consisted mainly of interns and undergraduates from the Academy, but many came from ordinary civilian backgrounds, too. After a shortened course, they were ready to take their positions. They were given uniforms and non-lethal spears, to grant them the appearance of a proper guard in the eyes of the public. We plan to remove them from our lines as soon as the threat is dealt with, before their limited combat training and other skills are put to the test.

Report snippet from the Royal Canterlot Guards’ Bureau.

***

Shortcuts are rarely worth it. The second I saw the flier, advertising the guard backup program, I should have let the wind carry it away. Instead, I allowed my lifelong dream to get the better of me again. I got to hold a short spear and stand next to a locked door for hours on end with an uncomfortable helmet, cursing myself for my weak self-control. When I had received the official dismissal letter, just after my first year in the Academy, detailing my shortcomings, I should have taken the hint. Ponies like me don’t belong amongst the Royal Guard.

I was paired up with another temporary recruit, a few years my senior, but with even less experience. His presence at my side was a testament to how short on guards the Academy was. Glancing up against the sun, I saw the giant shield the Captain was sustaining, and, clinging to the outside, all the little black dots this whole effort has been taken for. Why was it that he’d chosen this very day to hold his wedding? One would think that keeping a shield up that encompassed the entirety of the city would be difficult enough, without worrying about your big day.

I let out a sigh and glanced at my partner for the day. He was drawing a figure-eight in the air with his horn while leaning against his spear so hard, I had to admire that the wood hadn’t snapped yet. His helmet was lying on the ground at his hooves, as was mine, though he didn’t seem to be having the headache I was suffering from. In the sun, the metal headpiece had felt like an oven and a vice, and taking the thing off only helped a little. To add to my discomfort, I couldn’t lose the feeling of anticipation. Something was going to happen, a little voice in my head was telling me, and it had nothing to do with my job. Not that my job had much to involve.

“Hey, did you see that?” my fellow guard said, perking up. I looked around. He was pointing at the palace’s main chamber, or at least what was visible from it above the rooftops. We were quite a way from the city center.

“What was it?” I asked, fishing for my helmet on the ground, keeping my eyes on the ornate windows.

“Something flashed inside. Isn’t that where the ceremony is going to be?”

I squinted, and I thought I saw the windows light up again for a moment. “Maybe it’s a light show. A Princess is marrying the Captain of the Royal Guard. I would expect something flashy.”

“I guess so...” He eyed the castle some more, then turned his attention to the sky.

I went back to my thoughts, then he spoke again. “Do you think the shield has more of those black things now? There were less in the morning.”

I grunted in frustration, but a look at the shield gave me pause. Now that I focused on them, the dots did seem to have multiplied. I felt a shiver running down my spine, but I couldn’t tell why. The shield was as strong as ever, by the looks of it, though an earth pony such as myself might not be the most capable of judging such things.

“Maybe. Let’s hope the Captain doesn’t forget about his spell while saying ‘I do’.”

We fell silent and watched the castle. The ceremony continued inside with multicolored lights flashing. I shuffled my hooves. Something was wrong. I was missing something.

“Is everything okay?” my partner asked, quirking an eyebrow at me.

I forced my legs to stay still, but I couldn’t lose the feeling that I forgot I had somewhere to be. “I’m fine. I... might need to visit the facilities soon.”

He nodded. “No problem. I don’t think this door will feel lonely if you pop out for a minute.”

I didn’t really need to go, but I grabbed my helmet anyway and looked at the castle and the shield above once again. Was it just me or were there faint cracks appearing along the top? I rubbed my eyes, almost dropping my spear. I wracked my brain for whatever important thing had slipped my mind, but I couldn’t put a hoof on it. I was fine ten minutes ago, but now, it was as if the ground was opening up below my restless hooves.

“I’m telling you, nopony is gonna miss you if you take a break. Just looking at you makes me want to go too.”

I put a hoof to my forehead and closed my eyes. My spear hit the pavement, but I barely noticed. The urge to go somewhere got stronger by the second, and finally it was taking shape. I recognized it, and the pressure subsided somewhat. It was familiar. I’d felt it before.

I put my hoof down. “I have to go.” Not even waiting for my partner to acknowledge me, I grabbed my helmet and put it on. The metal was hot under the sun, but it didn’t matter. I had to go to the Academy. I had to become a guard. I had to finally fulfill my childhood dream.

He grabbed my foreleg before I could take a step. “Hey! Are you sure you’re okay?”

I yanked my leg free, but his concerned eyes made me stop and do a mental step back. I’ve already tried becoming a guard, and failed. I’d told myself again and again that I must move on, but as I looked at my armored reflection in my partner’s eyes, the pony looking back at me was still chasing his lost dream. A dream that wasn’t mine.

It was then, with a deafening crack, that the shield fell.

***

We dashed across the street into an alley. I crouched low and pulled his head down to mine. “Can you fight?”

He nodded, clutching his spear like a child might hug his wooden sword. I spared a glance and pulled him behind a garbage can. The headache was subsiding, but my anxiety was not.

“Listen, don’t try to defeat them. Use your spear only to repel them, then run as fast as you can. I need to reach the Academy—”

“Why? What are they expecting from us there?”

“I don’t know. I must get there, but you don’t have to come with me. Do you know a safe place to hide?”

“There… there is a bakery…”

“Good. I’ll drop you off there. Where is it?”

“Near the center. I can lead the way, I think. Why do you need to go-”

“Sounds good. Get ready.”

I watched a green fireball slam into the ground just a few steps from us. I spun around and gave it a good buck before the flames died, and the changeling sprawled out on the cracked ground. He gulped and nodded.

“Let’s go.”

We ran, dodging incoming changelings and concentrating on progress, engaging in combat only if we needed to shake them off. The streets were wider than the ones near the center, and the invaders took advantage of their aerial skills whenever they could, though most of their tricks involved dashing for us in a straight line while another one circled around from behind. It was an obvious tactic, and with my headache receding, I was able to keep us clear of them.

The many turns threatened to throw off my sense of direction completely, but the castle’s towers kept on getting closer. The Academy was only a minute from there. I almost forgot that I was supposed to follow my partner to safety, and not the other way around.

Reaching a back alley, we slowed to a trot to catch our breaths.

“All right,” my partner said, glancing around in the temporary calmness. The excitement had done wonders for his nerves. “We made progress. What do you reckon they’re here for?”

I shrugged. “They’re changelings. I could think of one particular reason.”

“Obviously, but attacking a whole city, the capital, no less, is just stupid.”

“I’m not making assumptions. Are we close to that bakery?”

Another changeling dropped from the sky, but my companion was quick with his horn. He looked at the twitching body of the creature with regret, but didn’t comment on it. “We are closer than before, but I can’t say by how much. Are you sure you have to get to the Academy?”

I hesitated for a moment, unsure of my motive myself. It wasn’t as urgent as before. “Yes,” said, shaking my head. The reason probably just slipped my mind. With all the madness, I wouldn’t have been surprised. “I must reach it as soon as possible.”

The next corner hid even more of them and this time only I remained standing after a brief, but painful fight. Wiping blood from my cheek, I knelt to my partner, who suffered a serious bite in his left foreleg.

“Come on,” I said and tried to lift him but he waved me off with his good hoof.

“Go right at the corner, then left at the next.” His voice swayed from the pain. “The bakery is just a few blocks down, if you can’t find the Academy. I’ll try and get there on my own.”

I hesitated but he pointed at his injured leg. “I will only slow you down with this. Go, and be careful.”

I looked at the downed changelings twitching in pain. One of them turned his head towards me, with pupils that sent a shiver down my spine. I gauged the pony's girth then reached under his belly and without a warning, threw him across my back.

"I'm sorry," I said as he cried out in pain and surprise, “but I can't leave anypony to these things.”

I set off in the direction he had indicated, trying not to exhaust myself before I reached that bakery. The Academy would have to wait. He quickly realized he was coming with me and clutched my back from behind. A wise choice, as my hoofing wasn’t entirely stable.

The thumping of my heart and the fall of my hooves drowned out his pained hisses, but not the distant cries and the ever present, irritating buzz. I followed the road leading to the castle, a wide avenue connecting the warehouses to the rest of the city. In the open, we were easy to spot, and several green-flamed impacts around us proved it. I had to give everything my body had to dodge the bugs, but managed not to get cornered. The ones that weren't shot down gave chase to the ponies not already defeated or captured. My unicorn ally pointed left and I scrambled not to lose my hoofing as I rounded a corner, followed closely by two creatures.

The walls around us grew closer, which proved to be to our advantage, since the bugs lacked the agility of pegasi and had to resort to running. I caught the eyes of ponies hiding behind drawn curtains and cracked doors following us with fearful eyes. The more courageous ones took stands against the oncoming attacks, but from what I saw as I sped past, most of the population choose to hide.

The tight corners let me pull ahead of our pursuers, but it also threw off my sense of direction. I gave my load a shake but he just moaned and hugged my neck tighter. I slowed to a trot, looking over the brick walls. The castle was completely obscured from view, but I didn't want to waste time trying to get to the top of one of the buildings to get my bearings.

"Hey! Over here!"

My ears perked up at the voice from my right and I whipped my head around to see a stallion waving at me, indicating an entrance next to him. Figuring this was the place the unicorn had told me I took the stallion's invitation, giving him a thankful smile as I dashed past him. There was something off about him, but I had to concentrate on turning.

I skidded to a halt at the wall right across what I had thought to be an alley. Suspecting I made a mistake somewhere, I looked back at the pony who was still looking the way we came, as if expecting others. He looked at me just as I realized what was wrong with him. He had no cutie mark.

He grinned and turned my way just as two changelings appeared behind him, no doubt the ones that have been chasing us. Two of them blocked the exit while the third hovered above them. I shook the unicorn off of my back and lowered him to the ground as gently as I could, then readied myself for battle. The fake pony shed his stallion disguise in green flames and the trio closed on. This was going to cost me precious time.

The creature lit its crooked horn with green magic and I readied myself to dodge. Battling a magic-wielder with bare hooves was a losing battle from its inception, but I only had to get close once to deliver a hit.

His shot grazed my foreleg as I managed to jump in time, avoiding the full force of the blast, but my tired legs collapsed on hitting the ground. Instead of a second blast, though, the changeling merely sent a tendril my way that followed my movements as I cringed back. My fur stood on end as its touch, but it didn’t hurt. The changeling stepped closer, tilted his head, then exchanged a look with one of the others. Their faces showed no emotion I recognized, but given how equine their bodies were, I had the feeling they were confused.

One of them opened his mouth and I was surprised to hear distorted, sort of alien, but still Equestrian words.

"Must be his orders."

The one in the middle dropped the magic altogether. I rose to my hooves, following their movements, hesitating.

"Probably being watched. Can't break character."

Their heads turned upwards, as if looking for something on the roofs. I glanced up too, but there was nothing there. The middle bug said something I didn't catch and the trio flew off, leaving me and the unicorn behind.

It took me a while to process that they were gone. What was that about? I didn’t have time to dwell on it, though. The unicorn behind me blinked slowly and made a noise as I lifted him onto my back once again.

With every jump and sharp turn I made, I feared my companion was going to fall off. I wasn’t the best in the physical activity lessons in the Academy to begin with, despite being an earth pony, and I was nearing the end of my capabilities. I could only hope I was heading in the right direction as I made one unplanned turn after another. I looked for any sign of a shelter now, bakery or not. The Academy’s importance lost even more of its weight, too.

The street I just entered had a few changelings lying on the ground in front of a barricaded door, with a sign above advertising a bakery. I skidded to a halt, ready to turn tail at the first sign of movement, but the bugs remained still. I saw greenish liquid pooling under several of them.

"Over here!"

From the cracks of the barricaded door something glimmered in the dark. It was a pair of eyes that definitely didn't belong to a changeling, but I wasn’t eager to repeat the same mistake again. I almost bolted but I heard the buzz of wings him behind me, then soon after from the other way as well. My unicorn nudged my head weakly and when the pony, a foal, opened the door for just long enough for me to slip through, I did.

My entry into the badly lit interior halted the murmur of the ponies inside for a couple of seconds, before it gave way to the sound of shuffling hooves, as the crowd tried to compress itself away from the door. In the little sunlight that came through the blinded window I saw the fear and accusation in the eyes as they studied me and the unicorn on my back. A few of them had aimed their horns at me, and I thanked the darkness and the lack of space to aim properly. Behind them some foals were making use of the vicinity of the counter.

A form dashed out from the dark and the foal, who let me in yelped, as he was drawn into a protective hug.

"Sweetie, what were you thinking?" the mare scolded him. "He could be a changeling!"

The little pony let his mother hold him, but his voice was full of conviction. “He’s no changeling. Why would he have run from them with a pony on his back?”

My eyes have adjusted to the dark enough that I could count the small crowd of ponies pressed against one another in the cramped interior. There were more than I initially thought. The bakery was hiding the whole block.

“It might be a trick, darling,” the mother said, then took a closer look at the unicorn on my back. “Wait, is that Sweet Seed from…”

She was cut off as the windows exploded inwards, bathing everyone in shrapnel and green magical glow. In the chaos of ringing ears and pained cries, a few ponies were enveloped in green levitation fields and began to float out. I grabbed a pony’s leg but instead of holding her back, the magic enveloped me too. In the bright aftereffect of the explosion I couldn’t see where my unicorn friend had fallen, but there was now something else to focus on. A small army of changelings had surrounded the little hideout, and all had their horn aglow. Alone, they might have not been as potent a magic user as a unicorn, but their joined effort was undeniably effective. To my surprise, I was separated from the others midair and was put down behind the row of changeling facing the building. The closest one to me gave me a salute.

“Good job. The Queen thanks you, soldier.” He turned back to the victims, missing my dumbfounded expression as I stared at him. Was there something in me that made the bugs think I was different from the other ponies?

Not sure what to do, I looked back at the ponies fighting the changelings’ hold with little success. I locked eyes with one for a second, enough to let me know she heard what the changeling had told me. I opened my mouth to assure her it was not true, that I wasn’t working for them, but she was carried away with the others. I turned and ran away.

I galloped through the streets, choosing a random direction at each corner, the Academy and my job to reach it forgotten. I just wanted this nightmare to be over and things to start make sense again. The sight before my eyes gave me no hope, though. All I saw was the hoof-work of the invaders, ponies lying on the ground, some unconscious, some not, most held in place by some green goo. Their eyes pierced the back of my head like accusing needles. Even the guards, ponies I admired the most were no match to the horde of changelings. I tried to free them by nagging at the goo, but there were changelings everywhere and they interrupted me each time, only to give me confused looks and utter apologies as they let me go. They didn’t spare any foal or mare. Only I was left alone.

I threw myself into the next street and found blissful emptiness. I slowed my pace to a trot then a walk, glancing all around me with frantic eyes. I would have run even from other ponies now, fearing they’d demand an explanation.

The alley was edged behind a shop of some kind. The ground was littered with trash and the walls were full with graffiti. Looking up, I got an almost perfect view of the castle’s main hall above the rooftops. The flashing inside had stopped and it was too far away to make out any movement, but judging from the number of changelings orbiting the whole building, something was still going on inside.

Something moved behind the windows, then the swirling of black dots sped up as every window lit up from within. I raised a foreleg over my eyes and watched as the light bled through the walls and the roof, taking the shape of a giant bubble with a pink hue. I watched it with my brain on hold as the grand display of magic expanded in every direction slowly first, then gaining speed as it grew. In its way, the changelings turned tail and tried to outfly it. A few tried to fight it, only to fall from the sky like swatted flies. In that enormous spell, I, as no doubt everypony else in Canterlot, saw long awaited salvation. The Princesses did keep us safe.

The pink bubble passed through the walls with no apparent resistance while carrying changelings who couldn’t fly away from it. They were stuck to the surface. The spell finally reached my alley and was speeding towards me. I sat down and waited for the nightmare to be blown away.

The wall reached me and slammed into me with the force of a sledgehammer. The somewhat soft but firm surface lifted me from my hooves and carried me with it, just like the changelings. I squirmed, trying to get my hooves between me and the spell, barely paying attention to the burning sensation wherever my body met the surface. But the bubble swirled and twisted, rendering my efforts futile. When I opened my mouth to cry for help I almost choked on the thick taste of magic. Realizing that the only thing left to do was to hope it was all a mistake, and I wouldn’t end up dead, squashed against a wall, I craned my neck to get a glimpse of where the spell was taking me.

I was moving down a long street, gradually losing height as I watched ponies stare at the bubble and me. They barely flinched as the spell rushed past them. By the time they would have had any chance to help me, they were gone. I felt my body rise and looked ahead just in time to see a multi-story building in my way. Though the pain and the flames from the spell clouded my vision, I could make out massive windows and barred doors, but the most alarming thing was the realization that my ascend wasn’t fast enough. I was going to hit the wall or, if luck decided to shine on me a bit, a window. I curled up in a ball and braced myself for the impact.

The top of my head hit a window and it exploded inwards with a deafening crash, showering me with glass shards. Just as I thanked Celestia that the spell took me through the window instead hitting the outer wall, I reached an inner one, and the real torture began.

I cried out as the spell pressed me against the surface, the shards trapped between it and myself piercing my skin. I couldn’t keep my legs tight against myself and they shot out in all directions, allowing the spell to press me even harder. But the worst was the fire.

I was unable to open my eyes, but could still feel the flames eating me. The pressure reached its maximum and now was tearing my very flesh away. My helpless body thrashed and my own wail was inaudible to my ears. The magical flames ate through my flesh, my blood, my bones, my brain, my very soul. In its way, it left nothing, only the memory of the immense pain it caused.

Then it passed me completely.

With the pressure gone I slumped to the floor in what I suspected was a ghoulish, smoldering heap of roasted flesh, that was somehow still thinking. I felt no pain, but truth to be told, even a broken bone probably wouldn’t register after being burnt alive. I opened my eyes and blinked a few times to bring the room into focus. Even the colors seemed different as the sun shone through the broken window. I lifted my trembling hooves. Yes, they were blackened by the fire, but I was still alive.

I tried to push myself up to my hooves but my legs felt weak and wrong. In fact, as the seconds passed and feeling was returning, my whole body began to have an alien feel to it. Giving up on standing, I looked over myself as I lay on the dirty floor amongst the glass shards, but only saw the same scorched body. The dust in the air didn’t let the sun light me well enough to get a proper look. I turned my eyes up at the spot where I had hit the wall, but aside from the glass shards still embedded into the slightly dented surface, it was clean. No marks of a fire whatsoever.

The room was an abandoned place with thick dust everywhere that swirled in the sun shafts coming in from the broken window. It was completely empty. It reminded me the cellar I’d fallen into as a foal, to be rescued by a Royal Guard days later.

I attempted a sitting position. My body felt stiff, but responsive. My skin was hard against the parquet. There was a strange feeling in my head, an unusual presence. Attached to my back there were two things that brushed against the floor, kicking up more dust, flat, as a...

My muscles flared up, propelling me upward as my prodding hooves found the thing attached to my back, something with a soft texture and sturdy frame. I whipped my head around to take a look and confirm my suspicion. They were wings. With holes in them.

With a terrible suspicion fighting growing denial, I examined my hooves more closely, and it only got worse. What I mistook for charred flesh was a hard substance, coated in dust, that covered my entire body and flexed with every movement. It certainly wasn’t skin, and every leg had holes in them as well.

I ran my tongue across my sharp teeth and four fangs. I craned my head to take a closer look at the rest of myself and bumped something on my head into the wall.

The spell, that was supposed to clear the city from changelings, had turned me into one.

I stood on wobbly legs, staring at the city outside, feeling the weak air currents in the wings and the weird awareness in my forehead. It was unclear for how long I stood there as I tried to absorb what happened. My trance was broken by a noise behind me that my ears were keen to swivel towards. Whether I was a real changeling or just looked like one, others will have no doubt about it when they see me.

I pushed shock and panic back and prioritized hiding. The empty room offered no cover, only one door, with forms casting shadows visible under it. I retreated to the window, the shards crunching under my hooves. There was the unfamiliar something in the air, like noise, but without any sound, and getting stronger. It was chaos, with a pattern emerging for a split second. I struggled to focus on the tangible world before me.

A lock clicked and the door creaked open, and I locked eyes with a very dirty pony for a split second, before she made a noise and pulled back. I considered the drop beyond the window but the door swung open and a stallion with a glowing horn and also unkempt coat stepped into the room. I scrambled to the side, to avoid and spells he might have shot at me, but misjudged my movements and ended up on the floor.

The stallion didn’t cast any spells, but when he spoke it made it clear he was just inches away from doing so. “Why is one of them still here? Hey, bug, why the hell are you still here?”

My first words were reduced to coughs, but I managed to get my throat working. “Please, don’t hurt me,” I said in a changeling’s trademark doubled-over voice. “I’m not what you think I am. That spell changed me to look like one! I’m a pony!”

In hindsight, I could have chosen my words so that didn’t sound exactly like what a trapped changeling would say, but I wasn’t in a state for much thinking.

“Go and call the guards,” the pony said to the mare who was peeking into the room again. “I’ll hold it up.” His eyes flicked back at me and his horn flared up. His magic took hold of my legs with telekinesis, but right before it did, the air around him shifted in a way I’ve never experienced before.

“That spell was cast by the Princesses,” he said, struggling to keep up the magic. “It got rid of the changeling queen and the others. Why would it change a pony into one then leave it in some random building?”

I heard his words but the sensation in my head made following them difficult. I felt the weight on my hooves but also in my horn. The constant noise assembled itself into a pattern that originated from the stallion’s horn and matched the one holding my legs to the ground. I felt like I was supposed to recognize the pattern, and there was a way to counter his magic. Either a changeling’s instincts or somehow my own, it was telling me something I didn’t understand, but which was a basic task, like raising your leg to protect your head.

“… they will take care of you. Just stand still and nopony will get hurt.”

The door was still open. Two jumps and I’d be out of this room. My heart was beating at a high pace and I focused on that voice in my head. There was a noise outside and the pony’s eyes were drawn to the door, and I took my subconscious’ advice.

My horn burst into life with a strength drawn from the very air around me. The stallion jerked his head back at me just as his spell fell, and I tackled him to the floor. He stared up at me with the same fear and surprise I felt.

I left him behind and burst through the door. The mare wasn’t there anymore, but I saw her tracks on the dusty floor. After some more tumbling, I set off in the other direction. My new legs were no match for an earth pony’s legs, but they did propel me through the corridor’s many turns with respectable speed and only one fall.

Winded from the exertion, I stopped at a bathroom with no door and tried the taps, but they remained silent and dry. Muttering a curse under my breath, I ran my tongue across my dry lips and turned in a circle, looking for a functional sink. What I found was a changeling looking at me from a mirror.

I stared into those dull eyes and the creature held my gaze. I half-wanted it to move on its own so I had a reason to believe it wasn’t me, but it followed my every twitch. I shuddered and watched the familiar equine reaction giving the changeling an uncanny air.

I left the bathroom and wandered through what had been a lounge in the past. The guards were no doubt busy restoring order on the street and tending to the injured, but none of it reached me, even the noises of the homeless ponies had vanished. If they really sent guards after me, they didn’t make themselves known either. The Princesses were probably preparing a statement to the public, which will explain how their spell wiped the city clean of the invaders and that we should be safe now. I chose a dusty old couch to sit on and put my head in my hooves.

Were it for not the trick I had pulled on the unicorn, my state could have been a mere cosmic alteration, I told myself. If that had been the case, things would have had a much better chance to work out favorably. Since I had wings and a horn that I could use without even knowing the first thing about magic, I was just as much an enemy in my own city as the ones that had tried to claim it, with no way of knowing what happened or why, and how to fix it. The best think I could think of was to leave the city altogether and find a way to make ponies let me explain my situation before they threw me into the dungeons, or whatever they planned to do with the remaining changelings.

The awareness — that I guessed was ambient magic — shifted again, and I got up without thinking, looking around for a way to the roof. I had wings, so I might as well use them to escape. I found a staircase and immediately heard hooves striking the floors beneath. Taking a breath, I began climbing.

Reaching the door at the end of the stairs — in much shorter time than I would have with my normal, heavier body — I slammed the handle of the door and stepped into the sunlight. The hinges let out a piercing shriek that would have made my fur stand on end. Right on cue, I heard shouting from below. I slammed the door shut and looked for any way to bar it, but the rooftop offered only an old broom to stick into the handle.

I stepped to the rails and looked down the streets. As I had thought, guards were marching everywhere while medical ponies tended to the downed ponies laying on the ground at every corner. The spell that cleansed the city from changelings also cleared out the icky stuff the bugs had used to hold their victims in place. If one were to take a look at the city now, oblivious to the events of the last hour or so, they’d have had trouble guessing what had happened.

Or so I thought, until I spotted two guards carrying something that only resembled a pony. The changeling appeared to be dazed, protesting the treatment with lazy swipes of his legs. A second, more focused look revealed more incapacitated changelings. Some of them were being carried but some were still laying in corners. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one that was picked up by the spell then ended up pinned against an obstacle, but I seemed to be the only one on his hooves. Because I wasn’t a real changeling, I added with a somewhat hesitant afterthought. I might have had their appearance and skills, but I was essentially still a pony, wasn’t I?

Sweeping my existential concerns aside, I stepped back from the railing. The Academy sprung into mind again but it had lost its insistence, and I was beginning to think that it was not a good idea after all. My ultimate goal was to get my body back, and for that, my best bet was finding the pony who had cast the spell. Getting to whom were probably the Princesses themselves would be troublesome even as a regular academy dropout — let alone one who looked like a changeling — so I had to come up with something else.

The ethereal magic shifted again, feeling like a breeze against my horn, indicating a spell being cast nearby. Useful thing, that. I trotted to where the next building joined mine and judged the distance as impossible without wings. Lucky me, it wasn’t a problem. Rolling my eyes at the irony, I buzzed up my new appendages and leaped.

My cry of fear died in my throat as I landed safely on the other roof. I glanced back at the gap then walked to the next edge. Another big breath, another leap, and I skidded to a halt on the tiled roof of the next building. I made my way towards the eastern walls, careful not to rely on my wings too much. After the first couple of jumps my sides were starting to ache and the unfamiliar sensation didn’t fill me with confidence regarding my range. Before each short flight, I checked the surrounding rooftops for pegasi patrols and I even had to duck behind chimneys on some occasion.

What I should have done is watch my back.

A strange clicking sound behind me made me turn around and I almost stepped off the railing I was currently balancing on. Four pegasi were gliding silently my way in what I assumed was a “catch the bug” formation. The noise came from a net one of them just detached from his belt. The touch of panic gave me the necessary push to dare to stress the new wings more. I turned ahead and shot into the air with speed never felt before. I didn’t dare to look back, but I knew my pursuers increased their speed as well.

I was grateful for taking the time to get the feel of my wings during the short flights. Flying in a somewhat straight line, with only my wings carrying me and no safe landing surface before me, proved to be a mixed bag. It was scary and difficult, but not without a touch of thrill. My sides hurt from the dozen or so flaps each second, but the leaps had acted as a warm-up and I managed not to plummet to the ground, especially when the air currents changed near the edge of the city.

By some miracle, they missed me with the net and it wrapped around a chimney I just circled. I didn’t dare to go much higher. My flight muscles, who knows actually how strong, begged for rest but after a few more pushes, I was finally over the wall. Passing over a few gaping guards, I made the mistake of looking down.

The drop just over the wall had given many vertigos to ponies ever since the city was built. Though most of the times height anxiety only affected earth-bound ponies, I heard that pegasi also got their head spinning on a few occasions when they looked down the abyss beneath, which found myself staring into. I clutched my rear legs together and looked back at my pursuers.

They fanned out with multiple nets dangling between them and were closing in on me fast. I had only seconds to make a decision, and saw only one that wouldn’t end with me finding out if I was going to live in the dungeons for the rest of my life. So I dove.

It was terrifying. The air tried to rip my wings from my back as they desperately tried to save me from an uncontrolled plummeting into the ground with terminal velocity. My eyes closed to slits against the rush of air. I could just make out the general shape of the mountainside getting closer with the second. Through clenched teeth, I managed to turn my initial free-fall into a steep glide of some sort, which made the pain in my wings increase. I stretched out my legs and banked ever so slightly to follow the curvature of the mountain in a downward spiral. The jagged rock formation offered plenty of hiding space, but I was going way too fast to use any of them.

The seconds that felt like hours passed and the ground just got closer and closer. The air's whine in my ears was gradually losing pitch, though, and I stretched out my legs even more to every direction to catch as much air as possible. The wind whistling through the holes made for a very weird addition to the list of new sensory details. I risked a glance back, both to look for any pegasus still in race and to check on my wings. I saw nopony in pursuit. There could be some on the other side of the mountain for all I knew, but I consoled myself with the thought that they would have cornered me already if there were.

My wings were shaking badly, but still cut through the air like organic blades. I was astonished that the fragile-looking things were still attached to me, let alone working. Looking ahead, I caught a glimpse of a town in the distance. I was nearing the base of Canterlot Mountain, which meant the final trial. I didn’t want to end up a big green splash against a tree. Aiming at the buildings past the massive forest beneath me, I straightened my flight and angled my wings a bit more against the wind.

Sharp pain shot through my whole body, like knifes were stabbed into my sides. I was thrown into a wild spin, every bit of control yanked from me in a heartbeat. Obeying my old instincts I attempted to regain some of it by pedaling my legs, but it made no difference. All I could do was shield my head with my hooves and prepare for an impact.

It came soon. I tore through countless trees, snapped off many branches and leaves before coming to a much feared and painful stop in a crater in the dirt. For several minutes all I could do was shake and moan with every hurting breath. I could no longer tell my hurting wings from the other parts of my body. I was one big ball of agony.

After my breathing and heartbeat calmed down somewhat, I unfolded myself one limb at a time, and turned my head to take a look around, starting with the path I had made through the trees. It was uncanny that I made it in one peace. I expected a few broken bones at least, but the changeling body held up. My legs were all functional, albeit not very eager to move, and the wings responded as well. Everything ached, but didn’t think I'd broken anything.

The forest around me slowly recovered from the disruption. The birds started chirping and other animals moved about, and I felt a calmness wash over me. I raised my eyes to the sky, but the pegasi with their nets were nowhere to be seen. For a proud moment I basked in my triumph, having evaded the Canterlot guards, then realized they weren’t going to let me off the hook that easily. They no doubt followed my descent and were coming for me, once they landed safely.

I made an attempt sit up and drew a sharp breath as pain ran through me again. I rolled over to fresh grass to free my other wing and craned my neck to do an inspection. It looked fine to me, as fine as having holes in your wings could be considered fine. It lay flat against the ground and radiated a steady supply of pain in the joint, but twitched when I tried to lift it. I rolled to my belly, then with careful motions, stood up.

I used my fangs to pull the leaves off me, then took a ginger step forward, and when I didn’t fell on my face, proceeded in the general direction to where I remembered the town was. A short while later I altered my course and followed the sound of trickling water until I found a stream with blissfully cold water. It was small but clean, at least up until I dunk my whole body into it. I sighed a relief as the coldness washed over my aching body. I lowered my head and remedied my long overdue thirst as well, then watched the water swirling around my forelegs, washing the dirt from the holes and wrinkles. Apart from a few deeper scratches that would have left nasty wounds on a pony, my new skin looked healthy. I rolled onto my back and moaned when the coldness enveloped my wings.

Behind closed eyelids, I kept seeing the pink bubble rushing towards me. Its purpose was to clean the city and reveal any disguised changelings, not turn ponies into them, and I thought I would have known if I was a changeling wearing somepony's skin.

I stood and swept the water from my frills and wings with mechanical movements. I needed a plan that culminated in answers and with my life back on its track, but first, I had to find food and shelter.

I tried to change into my usual body, but couldn’t figure out what I needed to do, and no instinct rushed to my aid. As a pony, even if imperfect in appearance, I would have had it easier if discovered. For the time being, I had to make due with what I had. I counted myself lucky to have escaped in one piece.

The darkness that fell upon the land after a few hours found me still free and in a makeshift nest I had made from sticks and leaves on a tree, with thick enough branches that I could be fairly certain I wouldn’t fall off mid-sleep. My belly was full of berries and flowers, but my mind wouldn’t stop milling about. Shuffling around a little to take the weight off of my hurting wings, I set off to have my first night as a changeling.

Chapter Two

The spell left numerous changelings behind, but as a side effect, it induced heavy concussion in every one of them. This made taking them into custody much easier than expected. Interrogation begins as soon as their medical state allows it. Unfortunately, many — including the Queen — were propelled too far to arrest them.

The number of reports regarding missing ponies rose significantly following the invasion, but they are being gradually discovered in hidden locations or wandering confused, mostly unharmed, apart from severe mental exhaustion.

A single changeling that didn’t show signs of the spell has escaped custody and was last seen gliding down the mountain at dangerous speeds. Its general direction indicated no particular target before the pursuing pegasi lost visual.

Towns in the proximity of the mountain are set to receive reinforcements in the form of royal guards in the following days.

Report snippet from the Royal Canterlot Guards’ Bureau

***

Changeling physiology differs from pony physiology in many ways, obviously, but it also has its little quirks as well. Who would have thought that the insides of the holes were tender, and thus unsuitable for snapping sticks or fastening things to heavier than a pebble? Also, as I was about to do the first item of my usual morning routine, I discovered the alarming absence of certain body parts a stallion should absolutely have. I calmed myself by repeating the thought that I was a changeling, therefore, by definition, I could always magic myself any body I wanted, with all the necessary accessories. My inability to actually do it was less of a concern at the moment.

Walking around a little, now that I wasn’t being chased, revealed other changes as well. I was much slimmer and shorter than before, though I lacked the necessary reference to properly measure against. My legs lost some of their sturdiness but received agility. Flying was an obvious addition, but practicing it was out of the question until my wings have recovered.

As for my other new appendage, the horn, I was unable to produce more than a few harmless sparks, and the ambient magic was calm as a summer breeze. My stomach also wasn’t too happy about eating grass and flowers and I had to gather up a large heap of fruits to satisfy it. I didn’t know what changeling usually ate, but if I couldn’t digest but only a few kinds of plants, I was looking at a change of diet as well.

During the first morning after I woke from restless sleep, I made short scouting trips in every direction from my nest to find a town or a settlement to visit, once I discovered how not to stand out like a piece of coal in a heap of gemstones. I also had to gather food and water until then. I had plenty of time to think about a plan, but I couldn’t concentrate. I kept glancing over my shoulder every now and then. Someone was watching me, and it wasn’t the occasional critter.

I spent most of the day sitting in one place and staring at my alien hooves. I didn’t want to believe this was happening, that this was not just a temporary state, but the harsh reality. How could my ordinary life take such a one-eighty? And how was I supposed to fix it? Was there a fix for having been turned into a changeling, anyway?

Sometime that afternoon, my unanswered questions occupied me too much, by the time I saw the movement in my peripheral vision, I was too late to react. I only had time to jump to said hooves before I was surrounded by changelings.

I couldn’t suppress a whimper at the half-dozen bug creatures around me, each probably capable of taking me down by itself. My current state skipped my mind for a few seconds before I realized they probably wouldn’t hurt one of their own.

They wore a uniform of some sort, a dark-green fabric over their shoulders and neck. Two or three wore saddlebags that might have come from ponies, they looked so out of place on their black carapace. They carried no weapons that I could see but with magic and those fangs, they probably managed without. My inspection lasted only a few seconds before a doubled-over, authoritative voice came from my left.

“Drone! State your division and purpose!”

I turned my head to look at him. The changeling stood a hair taller than the rest and wore an additional red ribbon on one foreleg. I opened my mouth, not knowing what to say, and what they expected to hear.

“I, uhm… I just escaped from Canterlot yesterday. From the guards. Then I flew…” I trailed off as I saw a few of them taking a step backwards.

“You escaped before or after the spell was cast?” the supposed leader asked, with masked disbelief.

“Well, after,” I said, paying close attention to their reaction. I couldn’t read their stern faces, but their body language was very much equine. I didn’t know how much I should be telling them, but hiding what I really was seemed to be a good idea. “I was thrown into a building and the spell passed over me. Then I flew over the wall and landed down here.”

The leader exchanged a few hushed words with the changeling next to him, before turning back to me. “What exactly was your assignment in Canterlot?”

Assignment? “Uhm… I was…”

“Classified or not, the operation is over. I’m Commander Caracas of wing one-two-seven. You may share your directive with me.”

I was beginning to think that my hope that they would see me as one of their own wasn’t going to get me out so easily. “Well, I’m afraid you have the wrong pony. I don’t know—”

“Do you remember why you were in the city and what your pony form was?” The leader’s consultant asked cautiously.

“What?” I blinked. “My pony form?”

“You were a pony before the invasion, correct? Do you remember that?”

How did they know? “Yes. I mean, I’m not sure…”

“Do you remember the recall spell?”

“The what?”

“The one that told you to shed your pony body and proceed with… With your task.”

My facial expression, however vague it felt for me, was clear enough for them. The two changelings began talking with one another again, and the only word I caught was “recollector”.

“Very well,” the leader said, then taking a deep breath, turned back to me. “Let’s try this again. My name, as I already told you, is Commander Caracas. You are supposedly a special agent of Queen Chrysalis. Your mission was long-term infiltration, with the specifics only known to the Queen. The assignment included a memory re-write to maximize your effectiveness. She released a telekinetic trigger to activate your memories when the time came. Apparently, it didn’t work for every agent, and you were left out.”

I hadn’t noticed, but at one point during that outlandish explanation, my tail hit the ground. I gaped at the leader, my mouth forming one well-practiced word: “What…?”

“The Queen,” he went on, undeterred, “knew about the plan’s shortcomings, and prepared fallback squads with recollectors to use on any agent we found after the invasion, to give them the trigger directly. Sadly…” he nodded to the drone he’d talked to, “we had an encounter with the local fauna and our device was damaged, therefore we are unable to grant you a quick recovery. Unless we find another, only the Queen can help you. As of currently, the latter is quite impossible.” He ignored my helplessly lost blinks and turned to his right again. “Give it a try.”

“Yes, sir.” The drone, using his teeth and hooves undid his saddlebags and produced a reinforced wooden container, opened the latch, then pulled out a tiara-like headpiece made from metal and embedded gems, with circular bands to fit on a pony’s head. Or a changeling's, as it were. He stepped closer to me and held the device out. I took an involuntary step backwards, but somebody put a hoof on the back of my head and he set the thing between my ears with a swift motion. Backing up, he lit his horn and aimed it at the device. I held my breath.

A few seconds later, after everyone realized nothing was happening, the commander signaled the changeling, who removed and repackaged the headpiece. I let out a relieved sigh.

“It was worth a try,” the leader muttered to himself, then raised his eyes to me. Or at least that what I assumed he did. “Your proper recovery must be postponed. Until we can either get you back to the hive or find another recollector, we will take you in and teach you the fundamentals of being a changeling. It shouldn’t be too hard, considering you are supposed to be better at everything than we are. Your questions, if any, will be answered by either me or Hussk.” He nodded to his right.

The whole circle around me moved with the commander, obeying some silent order, leaving me standing where I was, limbs rooted to the ground.

The leader, noticing my hesitation, halted the group and turned back to me. “Is everything alright?”

“No, actually.” I looked at him, trying to convey how lost I was through my reduced range of facial expression. “This whole… thing. What you told me. It can’t be true.”

He cocked his head. “But it is the truth. I won’t lie to my fellow soldiers, even if they don’t remember who they are.”

Fellow soldier? No, thanks.

“What’s going to happen if I come with you?” I asked.

“You will not be captured by ponies and you will be with others like you. What you think and feel now is temporary, and will be corrected in time. You can’t stay here, where you could be caught.”

“And why can’t I decide?”

The leader raised his head a bit. “Because you belong to the Hive. We also have exact orders to bring home any recovered agents. We didn’t bring a recollector with us by accident.”

I looked at their emotionless faces. I had no desire for a fight. I nodded.

“I’m glad you are coming willingly,” the commander said. “Your abilities might even be beneficial to our mission.”

They led me away, the drones falling into a narrow formation around the leader, Hussk, and me. From the corner of my eye I looked over the commander and the others, noticing a slight difference. They marched to a mutual rhythm, eyes straight ahead, only breaking formation to go around obstacles in their path. Efficient and unified, unlike Hussk’s and the leader’s movements, which were more pony-like. Especially the way the latter turned his head expectantly at my direction. I quickly searched for something to say, and settled on his last sentence.

“You mentioned abilities?”

He nodded. “Yes. You were chosen for your mission because of your skills in learning and adapting. The Queen only picked the best for the mission.”

“Was that really wise, risking the best troops for an experimental assignment?”

“The decision was made after extensive testing of the plan. You probably had your mind re-flashed probably a dozen or so times during that time. The issue wasn’t on her side, it must have been something with Canterlot in particular.”

He went silent, leaving me with my thoughts. I didn’t feel particularly crafty, my grades have always been barely passing, but I always shone in the practical lessons and I did manage to slip through the hooves of the royal guard. The thought warmed my chest a little, before I realized I was entertaining the notion the commander had laid on me. I wanted to steer my mind elsewhere, but it refused to point to other than the darkness in my future.

“How do you plan training me?” I asked, mainly to keep him talking, as he seemingly had no idea about my mindset.

“We start with the basics in flight, shapeshifting, counter spells, and close quarters combat. Then, if time allows, we move on advanced practices. We don’t have the necessary equipment and trainers to do proper schooling, but you’ve perfected all of those in the past already. I don’t expect any major setbacks, and we should be able to get you the trigger in a few weeks at most.”

“Right… I hope you won’t be disappointed.”

He raised an eyebrow at me, giving again a strange equine-feel to himself. “Self-doubt is not beneficial. You’re a skilled agent. You have power in your veins.”

Not one to sway, he was.

“Did you mention pony patrols?” I asked, to steer the conversation from my alleged excellence. “Is there a town nearby?”

“There is one, that way.” He indicated ahead. “We are to move there once we have either collected an agent or were driven out of the area.”

That had to be the town in the distance I had seen before I fell from the sky. I wondered if, once perfecting shape-shifting, I would be able to sneak in and work on a plan forward. Preferably alone.

“Is it far?”

“A few days at most. You’ll be trained during rests, and maybe take part in reconnaissance as well.”

“Why is that town so important?”

He gave we a sidelong glance. “We need food the forest can’t provide. It’s been long since we last ate.”

I turned my head forward and tried to act nonchalant. “Canterlot was too big a bite, wasn’t it?”

He was silent for a few seconds. Just when I thought I said something wrong, he let out a sigh. “Maybe you’re right. I won’t question my Queen, though. We have a hunger we need to satisfy, a duty for our kind.”

“Changelings really can’t live without love, can they?” I saw many ears turn my direction at that. The commander gave me another look.

“Considering your unique position, your question is understandable, but excuse us if it strikes us as odd. It’s quite a basic need for us. Without love, we are weak, our wounds heal slower, and our magic is as feeble as a pony foal’s. Our mission is to reach our full potential, which sometimes necessitates violence.”

“If I’m a secret changeling agent, as you said, how come I survived alone for years?”

“But you were never truly alone, were you? Even if indirectly, there were always ponies in your vicinity who loved their fellow pony enough so you never starved too much.”

But the ones who did love, or at least like me, never stuck around for more than a few months. I shook my head. There had to be another explanation to that fit my life… Or at least what I remembered to be my life. Dammit, how can I separate reality from assumptions when I can’t even trust my own memories? I gulped down any further remarks. I needed them believing I was on their side, at least for the time being.

We walked on, our hooves thumping on the earth, as did my heart in my chest. As if looking for a divine answer I peered back up at Canterlot Mountain, just visible between the leaves. My life was still up there, waiting for me to pick up the end of its thread where it was forcefully torn from my hooves.

***

“Where did you get these?”

“From a pony squad, a few weeks back,” the leader of the changelings said. “Faster than building proper cocoons and much less likely to be noticed.”

We had a long march behind us, but the town was getting closer, according to the commander. The walk in the forest gave me time to mull over the change and my new companions, and I was no longer getting the creeps every time I looked up and saw a bunch of changelings surrounding me. Maybe the tiredness played a part too.

I looked around the military style tent the drones put up for the night. They managed to do it faster than I’ve ever seen ponies do. Going inside I grimaced, and gave the nearest cot a poke. It was just as hard as it looked, but lacked the smell one usually associated with such a place. Didn’t changelings have perspiration?

The rest of the temporary campsite was set up with a lack of fuss that my former sergeants would have drooled over. The commander looked over the preparations, then turned to me.

“Food will be ready in an hour or so.“ He hesitated before continuing, and earned a curious look from me. “If you don’t mind, I would like to know how it fares to regular pony food. We tried to heat up what we got from the squad, but the results were not exactly desirable, and I refuse to believe ponies have such bad taste in cuisine.”

“I’m not what you call an expert, but… sure, I guess.” The thought of eating something other than grass and berries was certainly a pleasant one, even if it meant MREs. “I’d love to try some real food.”

“Were they cooking that bad in Canterlot?”

“What? Oh, no, I meant the berries in the forest. I haven’t had a proper meal in days.”

“But you just crashed yesterday.”

“Yes, but before the invasion I lived on sandwiches during my shifts. Never mind…“ My nose wrinkled. “Ugh… What’s that smell?”

The commander flashed me a set of sharp teeth. “Not long from now, our dinner.”

One and a half an hour of spending time getting to know some basics in changeling interactions and the hierarchy of their ranks later, I was sitting by the fireplace with a bowl of a steaming something between my hooves. My eyes wanted to just let it down the toilet, but my stomach thought it was worth growling over. I stared at it, torn between two opposite desires. I hated my new body.

“Not enough?” The leader asked between bites. “I don’t know how much ponies usually eat in one sitting, but it couldn’t be much more.”

“It’s meat.”

He shrugged. “Yes. Meat is a basic part of our diet. We know ponies don’t eat such things, but you’re not a pony anymore.”

I sniffed at the small brown lumps again but despite my belly’s demand, I just couldn’t bring myself to take even one bite. I set the bowl of stew aside and looked at the commander. “Do you happen to have some of that stuff you got from the guards?”

“Sure, if you want, but it’s not much.” He ordered one of the drones nearby who soon put a plate of miserable, limp heap of what had once been a salad and a sandwich. Still, better than a dead animal.

Halfway through the dinner break I left the changelings and went for a walk around the tents, with an attempt to clear my mind. I felt their eyes on my me the whole time at the fire. My solitude wasn’t long-lived, though.

“Your taste is still like a pony’s, I assume.”

I heard the steps as the changeling approached but my hopes of him simply ignoring me died when he addressed me. I turned my gaze at the bug. It took me a few seconds to place his voice, since they all looked the same. He was the commander’s consultant.

“It is, I’m afraid.” I wished I had some water to wash away the taste of the ancient salad.

“Well,” he said, stepping closer to me, “pony diet isn’t straightforward either. How did you manage to keep in mind what you’re supposed to eat and what not?”

I shrugged. “You kinda grow into it. A decade later you would have had no problem.” I wasn’t sure why I was so forthcoming with these creatures. They were weird, alien, and unpleasant to be around. Maybe it was the reason that when they talked like ponies, I felt just a little less lost.

My answer made my new companion’s eyebrows to shot up. “One decade? What in the world were you doing for… Oh, right.”

My mouth twitched with a sarcastic smile. “Yes, secret agent and all that.”

He looked around as if searching for something. “I’ve only heard that they existed… After it was clear that the experiment failed we moved on without them in mind. Or, at least, us common drones did, until this assignment. By the way, what do you say to some training? We don’t have much time before lights out.”

I opened my mouth to protest on behalf of my full belly, but realized how small that meal actually was. So, I nodded.

He led me to an open space behind the tents. The changeling stopped and turned to face me, and I had to admit I was kind of looking forward to learning more about my apparent abilities.

“All right,” he said in a practiced tone. “I’m Hussk, second in command. I suppose since nobody around knows your real name, let’s stick with what ponies had called you.”

At least that part of me didn’t change. “Sure. I’m Split Horizon.”

“Split Horizon it is. First, let me see what you can do. At your pace.”

I hesitated, then produced a few sparks.

“And?” Hussk asked after I rubbed my forehead and just looked awkward.

“I’m afraid that’s it,” I told him. “I did do a counter spell against a homeless unicorn back in Canterlot, but I haven’t been able to replicate it since. My wings are hurt from the crash. I do know some hoof-to-hoof combat, but-“

He raised a hoof. “I see. Not a problem. You’ll do magic in no time. You already know how to do it, after all.” He ignored my barely-silenced huff. “We’ll start with simple levitation and basic channeling, then move over to defense, then to transformation. I will get you a model to learn first.”

For a second I forgot who I was talking to, and looked around anxiously. “Do you have a pony to stand model for me?”

Hussk smirked. “In fact, we don’t.” He burst into green flames and when they died, an earth pony stallion stood in his place, with the same smirk on his lips. I gulped and was thankful changelings didn’t seem to be able to blush.

The pseudo-pony enjoyed my reaction for a few seconds before changing back to Hussk. “I’m going to assume that was not the secret agent talking. Now buckle up, and open your ears. There are a few things about our magic you should know before we start.”

From what I understood, changeling magic used the same fundamentals as unicorn magic, with slight differences I lacked the necessary background to grasp. It did involve channels and leylines and equilibrium and other interesting words, but the recurring theme was focus and practice, just like with any new skill. Also, with me being a trained agent and all, I shouldn’t have any trouble reaching the others’ level in a day or two, apparently. Hussk made it sound like a mere hiccup, but when it was time for demonstration, the hiccup turned into a choke.

My horn flared the same shade of green as Hussk’s as the changeling shot another blast at me. I felt the magical field around me create a pattern and rush to my aid as I focused on blocking the attack. The blast dissolved inches before my horn, and the magic in the air normalized once again. I took a deep breath and beamed at my tutor, only to be forced to dodge yet again. This time the blast left a stinging sensation on my shoulder and my magic imploded even before I could call up the spell.

“Don’t leave yourself open,” Hussk called out to me. He was standing several paces away, but his blasts needed only a fraction of a second to close the distance. I tried to come up with a snappy response but my thoughts were once again forced to turn to my horn. Casting the little shield spell Hussk had taught me was hard, but felt right, and I was beginning to see what I was doing wrong. Coupled with the slight shifts in the ambient magic surrounding me that indicated Hussk was about to release another attack, having a horn proved to be much more like a new limb than I had presumed. I suddenly regretted I didn’t pay closer attention in the Academy when they were talking about combating unicorns.

The air shimmered again, and my counter-spell was up and ready to dissolve Hussk’s attack before breaking up a moment later.

“All right,” Hussk said, walking up to me. “You can relax now.”

I held my head up and realized just how tense I had become. I did a little trot in place to loosen up. “What’s next?”

“Not tired, I see,” he said, appraisingly. “You live up to your reputation. Did you feel when I was about to hit you or was that just luck?”

I felt a touch of pride. “I felt something each time, like a pattern in chaos. Is that common?”

“Oh, yes, but only with the more talented officers. Common drones usually don’t have the fine sense to utilize magic the same degree. Now, little pupil, comes the big one. Do you need a breather?”

“Let’s hit it.”

“That’s the spirit. I’m going to give you a sample to memorize. Concentrate on the broad lines first, get the basic figure right. You can worry about the color and the details later.” The flames engulfed him, reminding me once again to the pink wall of burning pain and betrayal. Those thoughts were swept aside when the dark orange unicorn from earlier emerged from the transformation.

“When you’re ready, focus on the image in your mind and pair it to your own body. Then, tap into your magic,” he said, his voice like a normal pony’s, but his intonation Hussk’s. “Let it flow through you and change you.”

My confidence from the shield spell evaporated. “That’s it?”

“If it doesn’t happen the first time, try again. Don’t target perfection yet. Try imagining you’re burned alive by your own magic, to emerge as the pony you’re trying to be. Trust me,” he added, when he saw my expression, “it doesn’t actually burn. It’s just… an illusion. Don’t worry about it. To change back, do the reverse.”

I nodded, and took a step backwards to take in the pony before me. The thought that had been lurking at the back of my mind, to change back to my usual body and forget about this whole mess, came forward with full force. I gulped and showed it back. I needed to learn how to do it before making any plans based on that particular ability. I memorized Hussk’s patiently waiting disguise as much as I could, then closed my eyes and did as he had told me.

For a time nothing happened, then like a broken dam, the magic washed over me, burning away my carapace in a green inferno that shone through even my closed eyelids. Hussk wasn’t telling the whole truth. It didn’t exactly burn, but it did sting. A lot.

It receded after a few seconds on its own, and I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. Even before I opened my eyes I could tell something had changed. I never realized how much I missed feeling the subtle touch of the air brushing against my coat. I took a peek at my hooves. They were orange and hole-less.

“Excellent,” the other orange pony said. I eyed my work, having trouble believing how thorough the change was. Apart from something on my face, too short legs, a blank flank, and weird-looking tail, I was a normal pony again.

I couldn’t help the huge grin spreading across my face. Hussk nodded. “Good work. You forgot your nose, but that’s all right. The proportions are off a little, too, but not too badly. The colors need…”

I was only half-listening, instead only seeing the possibilities forming before my eyes. Finally, I had access to the best means of disguise anypony could ask for. All I needed to do was to choose a pony body and I could start over! Or, better yet…

Ignoring Hussk’s monologue I closed my eyes again and pictured another pony. One that I was altogether familiar with. I let the flames burn away the imperfect orange one.

“Whoa,” came the voice of Hussk, still as a pony, but the light beyond my eyelids indicated he quickly changed back. “Where did that come from?”

A long sigh of relief escaped me and as I looked over myself. The whole world felt right again, to the smallest of details. I took a peek at my flank and the issue of my special talent crossed my mind, but the sight of my cutie mark tuned it out.

“Now that’s better,” I muttered and looked at Hussk. My mood was immediately wounded.

“Who’s that?” The suspicion his doubled-over voice brought me back to the real world. I dropped my gaze.

“It’s... it’s my old body.”

“Right.” He jabbed a hoof at me. “You still think you’re a pony.”

I thought about it for a few seconds, evaluating just how I really felt. “Yes,” I said finally. “I do think that. Wouldn’t you in my place?”

Hussk shook his head. “Listen… The fact is that you are a changeling, and no matter what you feel or think, it’s not going to change. Whatever the reason you got stuck with the memories you got for your mission, you can’t let them control you. You belong to the Hive. You will forget this body and never use it again. Understood?”

From the corner of my eye, I noticed a red-ribboned changeling casually observing the stitching on the closest tent, conveniently in earshot. I brushed my mane from my eyes. “Understood.”

He nodded, but if he believed me, it was kept hidden behind those expressionless eyes. “Don’t take it personally. I’m here to help you. Now back to business. Where were we...? Oh, yes. Changing back.”

I got the hint. Getting rid of my beloved pony-ness proved to be much easier to do than the other way around. I ignored the implications of that.

“Good job. Take a breather if you need to, then try the orange unicorn once more. I’ll model for you again. Work on those details.”

The ease of which my original earth pony body came to me was not even in the same league as that orange stranger. Ten minutes later there was nothing else on my mind, but tiny details. I might have even enjoyed the training, if Hussk weren’t so fixated on me getting every little thing just so.

Finally, he was satisfied. “Alright, take a good look at yourself. This level of precision is required to blend among ponies. They don’t always voice it, they can spot it if there is something wrong. Nowadays, it’s especially important to keep that in mind.”

I wanted to make a remark, but was too busy admiring my work. The shock value of looking at myself but seeing an alien pony had worn off a while ago, but now it struck me again. The changeling exterior was somewhat easy to dismiss, but what I was looking at now would have passed as an entirely new pony. I wondered just who this one was before meeting Hussk.

I looked at the changeling sitting on the ground. “Can I ask something?”

He nodded.

“What would happen if I met the pony who I… borrowed the looks from?”

His ears perked up. I must have struck something.

“The simple answer,” he told me, his voice hitting a conversational tone, “is to avoid contact with the source. Best case scenario, they just pretend their imagination had played with them. Worse case, they realize there is a changeling who is stealing their looks.”

“And there is a worst?”

“It’s when they require therapy to recover from seeing their doppelganger. Areas where changeling are only a myth a pony’s first thought isn’t that a shape shifter might be around, and they jump to whatever they think the truth might be, sometimes with amusing results.”

“Don’t stop there. What’s the worst about that?”

He smirked. “You haven’t heard anything up there, in the big city? Something like fear of being killed by their look-alike without anypony else noticing?”

I opened my muzzle, but a thought made me reform my answer. “Isn’t that what changelings do in the first place?”

Hussk grinned and stood up. “It’s like they know what’s coming at them from the shadows, isn’t it? Even at the height of their civilization, they still think like prey.”

I got up as well, mostly to face Hussk from the same height. My heartbeat was audible in my ears. “Are they just that for you? For the changelings? Prey to hunt?”

He raised an eyebrow at my indignant tone. “Let me tell you something.” He stepped up to me, making me almost back up instinctively. He ignored it. “There are those who see changelings as their equal. Those are not required to feed on such a thing they reserve only for their kin. So, we take what we need. I suggest you find that sentimental part in you, take a deep breath, and stomp on it until there’s nothing left, because if you want to take their side, you can. Just mind who you alienate in the process.”

I realized I did take a step back. My answer was ready on my lips, but I remembered the commander was still nearby, and simply nodded instead. He glanced around, then, with an even lower voice, addressed me again. “Seriously, don’t go around talking like that. We need you, and you need us. Consider this a contract, if nothing else.”

A heavy silence fell upon the clearing. I could hear the other campers moving about and talking to each other. Their voices, similar to one another blended together, like bees in a pond, alien and alarming. To avoid them stinging me, I had to lay low and hold my tongue.

Hussk was eyeing me, waiting. I stood straight and returned his gaze. “Advice noted. Sorry if I’m having trouble adjusting.”

“A ‘sorry’ doesn’t always buys you a way out. Let’s get on with the rest, though. Night is falling.”

I burned the orange pony away, and listened to Hussk talking about memorizing those little details. I found myself smiling over the fact that, apparently, changeling officers have made a game out of collecting as many different pony forms and personalities as possible, complete with matching backstories.

“How many have you got?”

Hussk puffed out his chest. “I have currently one hundred and forty-one memorized. This one is the latest. He’s from an encounter in the forest a couple of days ago. If you really want to see something remarkable, ask the commander. He’s supposed to have nearly three hundred ponies in his head. You just entered the game yourself, I believe.”

I merely gave a polite smile.

“As much as a game it sounds, though,” Hussk continued on, ”it’s very much serious. It’s our life and our purpose to leverage our skills to benefit the Hive.”

He went silent, as though waiting for me to say something.

“I think I understand.” I said cautiously.

“What’s important is that you never lose yourself in a body that isn’t you. You are, and always will be, a changeling.” He stepped up to me and gave my left wing a nudge. “Are your wings mended yet?”

I gave a few experimental flaps, and my frown was answer enough.

“We’ll wait with the flying, then. Let me show you your place for the night.”

The cot Hussk pointed at when he said ‘your bed’ was more like a rough bag of hay hastily flattened and placed on the ground, but I had to admit, I slept better than ever did since the spell. A relatively full belly and a sense of safety from these creatures, who saw kin in me, was no doubt part of it.

Sleep itself didn’t come after the tent’s entrance was closed and the two changelings I shared the tent with stopped talking with each other. I couldn’t stop thinking about my foggy future, a mess I could see myself lose my essence. Despite still thinking about myself as a pony, logic kept pointing its stubborn hoof at the facts against it. I wanted to have at least a say in the matter before they went and took my identity from me.

I had to come up with a plan as soon as I could. I needed to keep my eyes wide open the next few days.

Chapter Three

The number of missing ponies after the invasion is gradually dwindling as more and more of them are found. They are mostly unharmed, but all of them must receive physical and mental examinations before we allow them to return to their homes.

The interrogations of the arrested changelings continue. Conventional methods are proving effective enough in acquiring small bits of information, though none of the drones’ speech levels indicate advanced individual intelligence. One thing that seemed important and was also confirmed by more than one changelings is the use of so-called special agents that were deployed to Canterlot prior to the start of the operation. None of our reports confirmed the existence of such agents after the spell was cast, except for the changeling queen, who disappeared following her defeat. The matter will be given further attention after the status quo is restored in the capital.

Perimeter reports confirmed an escaped changeling that avoided capture and disappeared into the forest below. Reason for the lack of stupor present in the changeling is as of yet unknown. As we are being stretched thin, further efforts of finding it must fall to the local forces.

Report snippet from the Royal Canterlot Guards’ Bureau

***

Morning came all too quickly.

“Get up, bug! Time for some fast and quick!”

“W-what? What’s going on?”

“Morning exercise, obviously. Or do you want to tell me you don’t feel like waking up?”

I shielded my eyes against the sun that shone through the open window flaps on the tent. Or at least I tried. Having holes in your leg makes such tasks a challenge.

“A little faster than that, new boy. Did those ponies make you soft?”

I quirked an eyebrow at the changeling just as it turned to leave the tent. Then, I sat up with a grimace, as the weight was lifted from my wings. The other cots were empty, and I could hear the rhythmic fall of many hooves from outside. The nameless changeling looked back from the doorway. “Don’t tell me you don’t know what this is about.”

Oh, I did, and it was awfully similar to the morning routines back in the Academy. Except that, while my earth pony body was reasonably capable of drilling through the various exercises, this one was well below average. I was mercifully excluded from the shapeshifting and combat-magic rounds, but not from the hoof and wing-related ones, which turned out to be like what I saw the pegasi do. My amusement afterwards regarding my ability to hover without my eyes watering was met with the expected level of enthusiasm.

“Got that wing problem sorted, I see,” Hussk told me after I touched down, completely ignored by everyone else. I didn’t even recognize him until he spoke. “You and I will run down a few laps of transformation before heading out.”

I felt a pang of fear. “Head out where?”

“We’ll take a stroll through the town. I need to do recon on an outpost and get food, and you need some field experience.” He turned, showing off a pair of saddlebags. “Gotta put that advanced training to work, right?”

That should have put me at ease, but it didn’t. “Are you sure one trip will make a difference?”

“It’s better than nothing. We will run out of food soon, and I could use the help carrying it all back.”

“Wasn’t the whole group supposed to take part in that?”

“Change of plans. We saw more pony patrols than yesterday. We need to pick up the pace if we want to make it back to the Hive safely. Only the two of us will go to the own while the others continue on.”

He produced another bag and held it out to me to put it on. I did a round of swapping bodies, and when Hussk was satisfied with my progress, we set off ahead of the pack. The two of us moved much faster than them, who had to carry all the equipment on their backs.

On the way, Hussk convinced me that it wasn’t just ponies who tended to keep on talking, even when their audience was unable to comment on anything they were saying. He went on about what he experienced on his missions as a pony, not realizing he had lost me after the first sentence, they were so mundane in nature. When he stopped to have a drink at a stream, I used the silence to ask something that had me thinking ever since I turned into the red unicorn yesterday.

“Can you use your magic as a pony? A unicorn, specifically?”

He lifted his head, wiped his mouth, then buzzed his wings and touched down on the other side. I choose to wade through.

“No,” he said, resuming our previous pace. “Ponies are different from us in that regard, too. They create spells ranging from simple levitation to complex enchantments, while we mainly use it to alter our whole body. We have combat spells of course, but those are just counter-attacks, really. As a pony, we can use the same spells as they do to an extent, but you’d never be mistaken for a royal magician. Or even an ordinary adult.”

“So that’s why I don’t see you levitating things that often.”

“That’s right. You’re not discouraged from trying, but many just tend to stick with what works.”

We walked in silence, for a change, listening to the birds around and our own hooves stirring the leaves on the ground, until Hussk stopped me at tree marked with an old sign. Between the trees, I could just make out the first houses of the village.

We both assumed our pony forms in silence. Hussk took the looks of a blue pegasus stallion while I turned into the now familiar red unicorn I had named Scarlet Shaft.

“My name is Cloud Swarm,” the pegasus explained, “and we are brothers travelling from a town far away, and have been staying in the town for four days. Don’t get into more than that. Who are you?”

“I’m… Scarlet?”

“Okay. Generic enough. We’re good pals, all right?”

With a lump forming already in my throat, I nodded. “Sure. Lead the way then, Cloud.”

With each step passed the first houses, my nerves got more and more frazzled. I stole a glance at Hussk’s casual stroll and forced my legs to fall naturally. I was a pony in a pony town. Nothing I hadn’t been doing my entire life.

There were, predictably, ponies everywhere. I caught a few eyes but not one of them held my gaze longer than usual. Letting out a deep breath, I felt my shoulders loosen up. First line passed.

“Have you ever been here?” Hussk, now Cloud Swarm, asked as we ventured deeper.

“I don’t think I ever left Canterlot, actually.” My voice, though alien to me, still carried my intonation, giving me some confidence. “I was born elsewhere, but I obviously don’t remember that.”

“I suspected as much,” he said. He talked just like his usual self as well.

I looked at my orange hooves. “Yeah, so, no. You have, I suppose.”

“A few times, on long recons. There are some great places to eat. Country folk do know how to fill a belly the right way.”

I shrugged, not being one with fancy taste buds. Before us, the street lead straight into a busy marketplace. I pointed my fears of losing Hussk out to him.

“There are two things to keep in mind,” he said, leaning close. “The shortest way out and places to change shape. But you can just pay attention to me, too.”

“Well,” I pulled back a little. “if you decide to turn into, say, a mare, while I’m not looking…”

He gave me a perplexed look, then coked his head. “We can sense if a pony is actually not a pony, you know.”

I stopped short at that. If that was true, my escape plan just sprung a leak.

Hussk massaged his forehead. “Okay, I get it… Just…” He watched a group of ponies walk by. “Just stick close.”

He resumed walking and I quickly followed. If I couldn’t hide from changelings just by pretending to be a pony, hiding and finding my way back to the castle will be a lot harder.

“Is that common? Or am I just not good at magic yet?”

“It’s probably just a matter of time until you get it,” Hussk said. “I don’t really know a single one of us that can’t do it to at least some degree. They might need to magically touch you, but they will know.”

My pegasus partner directed me around the center of the market. My nose was filled with different appetizing smells at each booth we passed. At one point Hussk stopped at one selling vegetables. I remained out of line, gazing at the passing ponies, deep in thought.

“So,” the pegasus intoned as he stepped up to me with a smile. “How many did you memorize?”

I started. “Memorize…? Oh, you mean...” Lucky for me, changelings weren’t telepathic. At least I was pretty sure they were not. “Sorry, I kind of zoned out. Got a lot on my mind.”

He poked my side with a celery stalk. “Bury your concerns for now. Part of why I like coming here is to loosen up a little, and you of all people should be the most casual. Just enjoy the morning and the walk, and take an occasional long look at a good-looking fellow for later use.” He got moving again, signaling with a wing for me to follow. “You’re gonna get bored of the same look eventually, if nothing else.”

I followed the blue pegasus that was deep down a changeling.

Trying to do as my partner suggested, I let my eyes linger on ponies longer than usual, trying not to be creepy about it. The people in this country town dressed differently than the majority of the Canterlot ponies, and I soon came to accept that no clothes were just as normal as giant bowties and fancy vests. It made my bare body much less strange. I even got a few glances back here and there, not something common before the spell. I stole a look at my hooves again, thinking about my beloved, if clumsy former body. With the relative ease of creating entirely new appearances, one’s value was quickly diminishing.

Hussk fished something small with strings attached from his saddlebags and began untangling it. I stopped too, realizing it was a pouch. From the jingling, with bits inside.

“I have an assignment for you,” the blue pegasus announced, after managing to tie his own feathers into a knot with the string. He was clearly not so dexterous with his wings as a real pegasus. “You should go and buy something for us and the guys back home. There is a filly who sells great fried hay. I love that stuff. Oh, for the love of… Ow…! All right, take it. Damn thing…”

He put the string around my neck. I felt the heft of the coins inside, surely more than enough to buy some of food in a town like this. “Where did you get the money?” I asked, swiping blue feathers from my coat.

“Just a little bit here and a little bit there,” he said, folding away his wings. “I know some people with rather sticky hooves.”

“Right… Where is that fries vendor?”

Once again in the flow, my brain was starting to swim in all the colors of a rainbow, so I moved on to focus on cutie marks. Staring at stallion flanks would have had some awkward side effects, so I started with mares, which earned a few smiles as well as frowns. Cheeks reddening, I scooted past a group of fillies with my eyes to the ground.

“Am I doing this right?” I muttered to Hussk.

“Perfect, Scarlet. Never seen such obvious ass-watching. Come on, this way.”

We slipped out of the flow of the market into a small alley, and soon were walking past lovely homes with well-kept gardens and a kindergarten. The foals were inside, only the wind moving the swings. I remembered what the changelings were planning, and my ears flattened to my skull.

Soon, we walked past the local police office. My steps slowed slightly as I looked it over. Despite having nothing particularly interesting about it, the building still represented a childhood desire etched into my brain, a drive that recent events weren’t able to dull. To me, my dream was as real as ever.

“That’s the guard outpost I mentioned,” Hussk said, looking back at me. “Which is full of guards. Can we move on?”

I nodded, tearing my eyes away. “Sure. Sorry.”

He kept looking at me with an eyebrow raised. “Are you thinking about your original assignment?”

“No. I mean… In a sense. As a kid, I always wanted to join them. That’s why I enlisted when I was old enough.”

“Your mission was to infiltrate? How come you dropped out? I would have sworn you were designed to get into lower ranks at least.”

I kept my retort regarding his choice of words down. “I was deemed unfit for service. Behavioral and motoric issues.”

“You had behavioral issues? What did you do?”

I gave him a bitter smile. “Insubordination and relentless curiosity.”

His face went stoic for a second, allowing me a quick glance at the changeling beneath. “I have a hard time believing that,” he admitted.

“They managed to get under my skin.” The outpost disappeared behind the corner, and my legs moved more easily.

“And the curiosity? Did you felt the need to steal certain things? And what was that about motoric issues?”

I grimaced. I was beginning to regret being so forthcoming with him, again, a stranger in many ways. “I kept poking around and wasn’t stealthy enough, which gave me a reputation, even though they didn’t have any hard evidence. They were glad to use a medical report to get rid of me.”

“What was that report about? Come on, don’t make me pry the story out of you. It’s not like it was your real life, was it?”

I stopped and raised a hoof to the side of my head. For a second, I lost my grasp on the present, seeing reality open wide before my mental eyes. I got a glance of the weight of what had happened to me, how my life was thrown off-course in a matter of minutes, and how high a mountain I would have to climb to get even a part of it back. Reaching the royal castle and the pony who cast the spell will be only the first step.

Hussk shook me by the shoulder. The town reasserted itself around me, snapping me back to reality. My legs felt heavy, and I had to resist the urge to purge this fake body from myself. What was I even doing here, pretending to be just another pony, enjoying a few new toys, lost in denial? I looked at his concerned eyes that darted over me then across the street for potential eavesdroppers.

“Hey, Scarlet, what’s the matter? Did you feel something?”

Feel? You bet I did.

“I’m fine,” I said slowly. “It was just… I don’t know. Maybe I’m getting tired, is all.” And so lost.

He took a step back, his eyes still reflecting concern. “Are you sure? We can cut this thing short if you want, but we can’t just leave with empty hooves. We have a job to do.”

“You want those fries so badly?”

He stared at me. “I’m not talking about the fries. There is a place I have to visit today, and you need to learn. Seriously, Scarlet, are you okay?”

I looked at my hooves, the street around us, then finally at Hussk. “Of course. Just a passing nausea. I might have eaten something bad.”

Hussk didn’t fall for the admittedly generic excuse. “If you think something’s up, that we might be in danger, let me know. This is not a game.”

I took a deep breath and raised my head. “Where is that vendor you wanted to visit?”

Hussk eyed me for a few seconds, breaking eye contact just as I was about to do so. “Come on.”

We walked in silence, until Hussk extended a wing towards a diner wedged between two taller buildings. The sign above promoted hay fries, greasy and juicy. “You’re up. Her name is Pearly Twine. Ask for two plates, and four for takeaway.”

Nodding, I walked up to the counter. Ordering food seemed the most minor thing possible.

The diner had two tables set before it with two seats at each, all empty. As the smell hit my nose, I grimaced. I had my fair share of smelly fast food in my old apartment, and was not thrilled to experience it again.

The counter was littered with plates and glasses, but nopony was behind it. I had to look harder to notice a mare, standing with her back to me, deep in the shadows of the diner’s kitchen.

“Excuse me?”

The bun on the back of her head bounced as she looked back, dripping water from a sponge held in her magic. She quickly dropped it into the sink and trotted into the sunlight.

“Hi! What can I get you?”

She was an orange filly with undoubtedly fewer Hearth’s Warming Eve parties behind her than me. Her butter-colored mane was done up in a tight bun that gave her an older look from afar, likely to keep it from falling into the grease that spattered her coat. Her smile dazzled in the sun, as she swept a bit of her hair out of her eyes. The forlorn thought from earlier were pushed back.

“Hi. We, uhm…” What does an undercover changeling do when faced with such cuteness? “Two plates of fries, please, and four for takeaway.”

“That will be forty bits, please.”

I fiddled with the pouch, but eventually produced the coins. Whoever made the thing, didn’t think of earth ponies. “Here you go.”

“Thanks! Is there something wrong with your horn?”

I looked up at her, realizing what she meant. “I… I hit the wall yesterday. Doctor said I should lay off the magic for a while.”

She frowned. “Aww, I’m sorry to hear that. I hope you get better soon! Take a seat, your fries are on their way.”

Levitating four plates off a shelf, she went to the fryers. I joined Hussk, already occupying a chair. As soon as I tugged my legs under myself, he leaned closer.

“Colors, cutie mark and any unique features?”

I blinked. “You mean her? It was just a couple of…”

“A few seconds should be enough, don’t you think?”

“But… Well, okay. Light orange coat, yellow mane, light blue eyes.”

“And?”

“I don’t know. I think she was wearing an apron.”

“No apron on her flank,” he grinned. “She has spots all over herself. She never wears an apron, in fact, just ties her hair up.”

I gave him a look. “It’s not your first visit, is it?

He shrugged. “Like I said, it’s the best fries in town. Does that answer your question?”

We both leaned back as our plates soared over to us in bright magical auras. The filly stepped closer to wipe the table with a piece of cloth, allowing me a glance at her indeed apron-less and, admittedly, not unattractive flanks.

“The takeaways will be ready in a minute. Anything else I can get you? Lemonade? Apple cider? Ketchup?”

“That’ll be all, thank you.” Hussk gave the filly a polite smile and she returned inside.

“Well?”

“A fork in a plate of steaming plate of food. Figures.”

“That’s the other thing. Ponies don’t use forks, so how come her talent is represented with it? I get the meaning behind it, but it still doesn’t make any sense.”

“Actually, unicorns in Canterlot do use them, when they are in public, at least.”

Hussk rolled his eyes and pulled his plate close. “Don’t expect me to follow suit.”

We dove into our meals, or at least Hussk did. The fries were indeed good, but I was just sick of the smell. My pony stomach loved it, though. My tutor looked up at the gurgle coming from my lower regions, then at my full plate.

“Something wrong? Why aren’t you eating? You certainly sound hungry.”

“That’s not the issue, I just had to live above a similar eatery for a long time, and I’m not fan of the smell anymore.”

His eyes widened. “You lived that close to a place where they sell this stuff? That’s amazing.”

I smiled, and nibbled some more. “My thoughts exactly when I moved there. It took me a month to realize why it was so cheap.”

“One day…” He took another bite and chewed. “One day, you’ll have to tell us all about your life up there. You must have so many good stories about ponies.”

I looked at my plate and took a bite. “Yeah, one day.”

Half of my plate ended up in Hussk’s stomach, too, and it took him a few seconds to climb down from the chair. He bagged the takeaway while I waved goodbye to the filly, who gave a smile and a wave in return.

***

“That was long overdue,” Hussk said and adjusted his saddlebags containing two portions of food with a wing. I carried the other two. “This would warrant a siesta, I believe. Pony spas are an experience to behold. Have you ever tried one?”

“I can’t say I have. Never been into that sort of thing.”

“Of course you haven’t. I keep forgetting your... How do I put it...”

I rolled my eyes. “My boring old life of a single objective.”

“Well put. Once you’re memory has been fixed, try to get an assignment that includes going to one. It would loosen you right up.”

“I’ll try to remember.”

“Heh, yeah... Just don’t forget to take off anything before changing shapes if it comes to that. If you’re not careful, you could fuse something with your body and that’s not pleasant.”

I shuddered. “Is that common?”

“It happens.” He shrugged. “Rarely, but happens. A hat or a simple piece of clothing is fine, but anything uncomfortable or too complex might cause problems. Same with mud or water.”

We turned down into a less frequented portion of the town. The meticulously mowed gardens gave way to places with tall weeds and missing paint on the fences. I’ve seen homes in worse conditions, but it made me wonder what Hussk had in mind that necessitated an environment like this. After another turn, he extended a hoof at a small house in particularly bad condition.

“Here we are. Don’t worry, it’s empty. There is a hole in the fence if you don’t want to climb over.”

“What are we doing here?” I asked as I followed him to the building. It didn’t look safe.

“The preparations for the last thing we need to do today, combined with me showing you our safehouse.”

I quirked an eyebrow. “This place?”

“It’s the last thing a pony would want to visit, and it’s in the least populated part of the town.” He stopped at the fence and held out a hoof. “After you.”

I hesitated, and Hussk gave me a shove. “Come on. It’s not that bad. I’ll cast a listening spell so I know when somepony might want to disturb us.”

I turned in a little circle while Hussk prepared the spell. The place was an ancient excuse for a safehouse, with holes in the ceiling and badly boarded-up windows. There had to be quite a few enchantments that made this place safer than sneaking out into the forest to do changeling business. My nose wrinkled at a faint odor lingering around a corner, suggesting another type of business that took place in the house. Rounding up my survey, I raised my eyebrows at my tutor. By his smug smile, he was certainly more at ease than I was.

“First off,” he began, “this lesson is not going to be sufficient for any kind of serious task, so don’t think about it too hard. Consider it fun. I certainly do.”

I gestured for him to cut it. “Are you gonna stand model for me again?”

“It’s more than a fancy,” he said. “We still need to get some proper food. Fries aren’t going to last long and I devised a plan to get a little discount, but it needs two mares.”

“Why not steal it? I mean, it wouldn’t fall far from your moral code...”

He merely batted an ear. “It’s easier to simply buy what we need. Somepony might notice the theft. The money we have hasn’t been earned by honest work, though, so don’t you worry.”

“Right... What am I supposed to do, then?”

“I saw your eyes on her, and I asked you to describe her. You should have a pretty good idea what to strive for.”

My mind turned. “You mean...”

“Exactly.”

I hung my head, but there was a twitch on my lips, wanting to turn into a smile. It didn’t last long.

“That’s not what her hair looked like,” Hussk said some time later. “Make it a bun, if you can’t picture it loose.”

“Do you know what her hair really looks like?”

“Yes, in fact, I do.”

I felt a pang of irrational jealousy.

“She invited me inside a couple of days ago, when it was raining,” Hussk explained. “Don’t worry about it, worry about how your head looks! Make it as good as your butt.”

I covered my blush by adjusting my too short mane.

Hussk followed my progress with interest, offering help when needed. Truth was, having a male mindset for my whole life with barely any female contact made my job of producing a convincing look for a filly challenging, and Hussk always found details to criticize. It was more irritating than alarming, then, to hear a knock on the door. Fear wasn’t far behind, tough.

“Hello?” Somepony said from outside. “Is anypony there?”

I exchanged a look with Hussk. He lit his horn, checking the spell. With a grimace, he tiptoed to the door, peeking through the cracks. The stranger outside tried to open it and knocked a bit more earnestly.

“This house is off limits, kids. Open the door.”

Hussk made a hurried gesture at me, which I took for a sign to change back. I donned the orange pony as fast as I could. Hussk undid the bolt and cracked open the door just enough to peer out. “Hello, uhm, can we help you, sir?”

His imitation of a colt caught in the wrong was convincing, and I suspected he used some real trepidation to help sell it. I stepped behind him to have a look at the intruder.

He was a stallion who stood tall in his old age. His horn was letting out a soft glow, and his face showed determination.

“What are you doing in here? This place is not a safe place to be in, whatever you’ve been up to. I can understand kids to play hide and seek, but you’re too old for that.”

Hussk used a rear leg to shove me backwards and out of sight. I checked myself for faults, but found none. I did, however, see a belt with a lock made for earth ponies, coiled up behind the door. I stared at it for a long moment.

“Apologies, sir,” Hussk intoned, “we weren’t aware this place was unsafe. From the looks of it, nopony bothered to look inside for a long time, and we figured it would be a good place for some privacy.”

My ears warmed as I closed my saddlebags with the belt inside, but my mind was busy forming a plan.

“Do you see me as a fool, son?” the stranger said, unmoved. “There was a clever ward around this house. I walk past every day, and never once did I feel it. Can you explain that?”

“Oh, a mere precaution, sir, to help me know if somepony might be onto us. I didn’t mean to disturb anyone.”

I went over the possible plans this situation might present to me, and found a doable one.

“Seems fishy to me,” the pony said. “Let me take a look inside and see what you’re hiding.” Even before he finished the sentence, he was pushing the door open, against Hussk. The changeling gave up after a short while and allowed him to look over my bags on the floor, me with a foreleg shielding my eyes against the brightness, and the otherwise empty room. I could see the stiffness in Hussk’s rear legs as he backed up and made an attempt to cover me.

“If you don’t mind,” my partner said, and levitated the bags on my back. I cringed, but he didn’t notice the extra weight. “We’ll be leaving now. Sorry for the trouble...”

The stallion didn’t move out of the doorway. “What’s your name, son?”

“Cloud Swarm, and this is Scarlet. If you would, we-“

“Where are you from?”

I fastened my bag’s straps.

“Just a few blocks from here. Sorry again, but we’d be going now.”

A day in the Academy sprung to mind, during hoof-combat period where we were learning how to disable a threat in close quarters, using the innate weaknesses in each tribe. Thankfully, he spared me from making the decision. As he slowly retreated from the door, he fixed Hussk with a stare. “Don’t ever step in here again. Now get out of my sight.”

We took the advice and slipped out of the safehouse and back onto the street. Just as we were had the hole in the fence behind us and Hussk leaned closer to say something, the stallion’s voice came from inside the house.

“Hey! Just what sort of weird magic were the two of you doing in here?”

I didn’t need to told to move. We both picked up the pace. The pony’s voice followed us, turning a few heads in its way. “Come back here for a second! Is this changeling magic?”

“Go, go, go!” Hussk whispered loudly, and we broke into a gallop. I was a good thing I had experience being chased, and I had no doubts Hussk had his fair share of blown covers as well. He took the lead and I followed him in the general direction of the forest.

Most ponies, when hearing the word ‘changeling’ applied to two running individuals, scramble to get out of the way and protect themselves and their loved ones, but there are always brave ones, who feel the need to give the authorities some civilian aid. Not one guard happened to be in our path, but there were at least three buck after us already. It was a good thing I listened to my gut and prepared for a run. Hussk was not to making catching us easy. I was struggling to keep up in the sharp turns with my bags pulling at my back.

My mind was racing as well. That little nagging thought in the background was working on the plan. A long shot and a drastic act, but it would get me closer to my goal. My conscience rebelled, but what did I owe them and to Hussk, specifically? They made the first mistake when blindly assuming which side I was on. I just had to ensure my plan would work and he wouldn’t be able to counter it.

Hussk’s jumps from corner to corner and around other obstacles left both of us winded, but gave us the benefit of distance so we could have a breather. When we finally stopped behind a pile of overturned boxes, I was ready to collapse. Unicorns weren’t meant for physical strain.

“Be ready to move,” Hussk warned. Sweat dripped from his forehead and his legs were trembling as he sat down with his back to me, and peered around the corner. “Think of a new form while you rest. Doesn’t matter if not perfect.”

His side was rising and falling fast and he had a foreleg pushed against it, just below the ribs. I swallowed and pulled out the belt as silently as I could. I stepped up to him, running through the moves in my head in advance. He glanced back at me, but I hid the belt and glued my gaze at a window on the other side of the street, and he turned forward again. My heart was hammering in my ear, but I couldn’t back down now. I was never going to get another opportunity like this. I bit down on the belt to free up my hooves.

My first strike landed precisely in the right spot, under his hoof, into his aching side. In the same time, I raised my other leg to catch his neck as he jerked forward on instinct, and hit the aching part again before he could cover it. Grabbing his foreleg just as he moved to hit back, I got behind him and turned the limb in an uncomfortable angle, forcing his torso to rotate as I pleased. Right now, I wanted him on the ground.

He quickly realized my intentions and moved to counter them. I was ready for it and twisted his leg harder. He let out a cry of pain and kicked out with his back legs, barely missing my stomach. I twisted my neck and looped the belt around the leg in my grip, with the intentions of grabbing the other one, but he wasn’t making it easy. His horn glowed and my throat tightened up. I showed his whole body into the ground and knocked the air out of his lungs. His struggles weakened, but his magic didn’t. I reached out and gave his horn a good smack. That did the trick.

In the short pause that followed I looped the belt around his other foreleg and pulled both ends behind his back, finishing up with stepping on the lock. It clicked, and I released my former partner and sat down hard. In the distance, I heard somepony say something, but for now, we were still in the clear.

Hussk tried to pull out of the belt, but I learned in the Academy how to tie up a pony fast and tight. He realized it, too, and went for magic again. In his position he couldn’t move his head far enough, and I repeated my previous method before a spell manifested. I wouldn’t be able to stop him if he attempted a shape shift, but I doubted he’d take the risk of changing while bound up this tight.

“First of all,” I began, offering at least some explanation. “I wish it didn’t come to this—“

“Spare me the cheesy apology,” Hussk spat. “I was an idiot to trust you in the first place. I thought you wasn’t going to accept us easily, but you played the clueless innocent too well, I told myself I was being paranoid.”

“I wasn’t playing. I was considering your side, but I can’t let you hurt innocents and I can’t let you drag me to the queen to have my memories erased. I have my own plans.”

He stared at me. “You have your own plans? What possible plans could you have other than returning to the Hive? You can’t play the super-spy anymore. You barely know how to change your damn form.”

“I know. There has to be a third way.”

A pegasus-shaped shadow crossed the ground and the shouting returned. I began forming a new disguise as fast as I could.

“Are you planning on staying pony? You’ll be found in no time. All of us remaining will be looking for you.”

“I might find help.”

“You won’t find anypony who would help a changeling. You’re digging your own grave.”

“I’m in a unique position. I can find a solution for myself.”

I stood and watched Hussk trashing on the ground and was ready to stop him, but he only managed to get on his side. “Where did you even find this stuff? I never let you out of my sight.”

“From the abandoned house. It was on the floor behind the door. I noticed it when you pushed me behind it. That gave the idea.”

For the first time since I knew him, Hussk’s face formed an emotion that gave me a burst of satisfaction and guilt at the same time. It was fear.

“I was protecting you!” His voice trembled with disbelief. “Your eyes had slits in them. You forgot to change them back!” He looked the way we came, then turned back to me. “Have you been looking for an opportunity since we left camp?”

“Not quite. I...” I trailed off and listened. They were close. I had to leave. I looked at him for the last time. “Listen, I’m sorry. If it matters, I—“

“Go to hell.”

“If it matters, you changed my opinion on changelings for the better.”

He fell still and stared at me. I closed my eyes and donned the form I’ve been preparing, an all-black earth pony. Immediately, the shouts became louder. I gave one last look to Hussk then fled into the shadows. I could hear cheers, but I couldn’t go back to make sure. I crouched low and continued from shadow to shadow.

I felt sick to my stomach, but I couldn’t stop until I was in the clear and back in a normal body. I probably eluded my pursuers and only bumped into a foal, who ran away, but I kept going, looking for a suitable spot to change. An experienced changeling would have found one in no time, but to my untrained eye, every dark corner was like a pedestal. Finally, I sneaked into somepony’s shed and closed the door behind myself. I listened to my heartbeat as it gradually slowed. I really did it. It was hard to believe. I didn’t feel triumphant.

The interior of the shed was occupied by a woodworking table with tools on top, along with a seemingly fresh bowl of fruit. I looked them over idly, until my eyes caught a picture frame. I picked it up and held it under a sunny spot to study it. I had my template.

After four or five attempts, I was satisfied enough with my modifications of the colt on the photo. I can still make little changes later if needed. I set the frame back where I found it, snatched up an apple from the bowl and left the shed.

I placed one hoof before the other in a mechanical motion. I cut my ties with the changeling group, no doubt. If one of them were undercover and following us, they would have either helped us escape or would have been on me already, but if not, they would piece it together soon that it was me who led to Hussk’s capture. Not that I wanted to go back to them. At least that’s what I told myself. It wasn’t like they were the only allies I had.

I still had my money pouch and two servings of cold hay. I left the latter in a trashcan, lest somepony drew a parallel between me and Hussk’s similar two servings we left in the safehouse, and aimed for the forest. My stomach was considering a rebellion, and my head was demanding a nap. I had a place to satisfy the latter, at least.

***

Instead of shouting, galloping and sounds of magical discharges, as I had feared, I awoke to birdsong and gentle breeze in the tree I had chosen as my napping place, deep in the forest. I climbed down, grimacing as my limbs regained proper blood flow. My little pack still hung on a lower branch where I had put it, and I used my hooves to get it down. My horn still refused to do any non-combat spell. I fished out the apple and munched on it, following the end of the rope dangling from my makeshift bed, purposefully avoiding thinking about last night too much. My life has taken a sudden turn twice in the span of a few days, and I felt as if I was just barely holding onto whatever was directing it.

I closed my eyes and envisioned each proper form I knew I could cast upon myself. It was a pitiful lineup, with only three to choose from, which were my old, trusty earth pony, the filly from the diner, neither capable to help me blend in, and the orange unicorn whose horn I couldn’t use. I also had a few dozen incomplete pictures of various ponies from the town. It was far from a hundred and forty, that was for sure.

I went ahead and tried a few of the latter group, but none looked convincing enough. At night with some clothes on I could have pulled them off, but I didn’t want to wait for the whole day to pass. It was time to put my artistic vein to the test and see if building a form from scratch was indeed as difficult as Hussk had said.

The sun descended a considerable amount the next time I had looked up with a pair of light green eyes, from an elegant dark green body, framed by a short-cut mane the color of the sky. My legs were resting on my chest, following its rise and fall. I rolled over to my side, squinting my eyes at the beginning of a headache. I looked over my craft once again, lingering on the picture of a glass of ice cream with a straw sticking out of it that adorned my new flanks. I hoped the filly I met at school wasn’t going to mind that I copied it. Piecing together an original coloration with the right proportions for a male earth pony that matched my age turned out to be not that difficult, due probably my years of living amongst ponies, but actually applying it to myself was another thing. It took me several failed attempts to get at least the shape right before I could move on to colors, and in the end, I had no desire to create a brand-new cutie mark as well, so I went with one I used to admire from a distance as a foal. Without mirrors, I couldn’t verify the design properly, so craning my neck and twisting my back had to suffice. When I was satisfied, I let myself wonder how easy it was to think about ponies as mere templates, and envisioning them in my mind like dresses in a store. Were they seen only as sources of disguises and food from the changelings’ perspective? Did they ever see the people beneath? I feared I was going to become like them.

To steer those thought away, at least for a while, I turned my attention to the businesses I needed to attend to first. I needed a proper place to sleep and better food than grass and flowers, since stealing everything had more against it than mere ethics. To earn those, I needed money. For that, I needed a job. For that, I needed to find somepony willing to employ a total stranger never seen before in town, and pay him preferably at the end of the day. While taking care of those, I would have to craft a plan of somehow earning back my place amongst ponies, while not having to worry one of them was some sort of agent, ready to capture me for the changeling queen. At least for the moment, I felt reasonably safe from them.

I found the path back to the town fairly easily. I used the time to craft a name for myself and some sort of backstory that explained my presence in the town. I expected guards at every corner, especially where the path led into the town, but I saw only regular ponies. Stopping to take a few breaths, I recalled the route to the marketplace, then, with the gait of someone belonging there, I reentered the town of Sunshaft.

The streets were far from empty, but not nearly as packed as the day before. The air smelled fresh, free of the mishmash of the many vendors. I’ve come across more than one pair of patrolling guards, but none of them gave me a second look as they marched past me. I wondered if the residents knew what went down the night before.

I found a café and decided to spend a few of my bits on some tea. The waitress quickly brewed me a cup of fruity deliciousness, which I slurped slowly, while keeping my ears open.

“…my neighbor’s daughter actually used to go in there, alone, when she was young. Thank Celestia, they grow out of that…”

“…you think there are some of them left, still in the town? Looking like your creepy friend or something?”

“…heard that it was poor Cherry who discovered them, and they haven’t stopped bothering him since. Can you imagine? At least give the old colt a break…”

“…it was a young pegasus, but she was certainly not from here, since there is only one buck with similar colors that I know of. Poor Barrel, he’s been questioned ever since.”

“…hope this doesn’t affect the spa’s open hours. I need my daily pampering, you know what I mean?”

Tea was good, warm, and untroubled. I slumped lower in my chair, trying not to be noticed.

Taking to the streets again, I wondered if the best course of action was to relocate to a different town altogether. I heard Ponyville was close to Canterlot, and enough weird stuff happened there that my presence would fly by under everybody’s notice, but it was also almost at the complete opposite side of Canterlot and then some.

I went into the first building with the words ‘hotel’ on it, asking if there was anything they needed help with. They wanted to pay by the end of the month, which was three weeks later. So did the second place. The third offered daily payment, in exchange of doing uncouth things with my ‘sweet bod’. Others, including various vendors and farming places outright refused to accept a stranger into their circles, considering recent events, as they put it. The fact that they were absolutely right about my real identity didn’t make it easier to keep a straight face as I uttered my understandings and left. My droopy ears perked up only when a certain smell reached my nostrils. It conjured up the image of a yellow filly, whom I knew by profession, so to speak. I followed the smell.

I saw her scrubbing the counter from the distance, oblivious to my eyes on her. She glanced up and I had to remind myself that I couldn’t show I’ve met her already. Just another lie on the heap, bound to grow with time.

She flashed a smile when it became obvious I was heading to her. “Hi there!” She said with the same enthusiasm as last time. “What can I get you?”

“One plate of fries, please.”

“Coming right up! Take a seat.”

I took the same chair as Hussk did last time. It had a good view of the street stretching before me. There was a small bar not that far on the opposite side. From my left, I saw a bunch of mean-looking ponies trotting by, then enter the bar one by one, except the last one, who stayed outside.

The filly returned a few seconds later with my full plate. My stomach growled.

“Enjoy! Can I get you anything else? Apple cider? Ketchup? Both freshly made!”

I returned her smile. “That’s all, thanks.”

She barely turned her back to me, I was deeply involved with my food, wondering if having different stomachs each day messed with my taste. Maybe magic required more food than I had realized, or the fake pony bodies digested it with less efficiency than the real ones. In the back of my mind I sensed that I was missing something significant, something I had yet to grow accustomed to, but it there would be time for that later. Only noises made me look up from my plate.

The shouting came from the bar. Several pedestrians stopped to watch as well. The sound of shouting and stomping grew clearer, and cultivated in a pony flying out at an odd angle and crashing on the street, kicking up dirt. A group of four stepped out behind him, whom I recognized having passed by a minute ago. They went straight to the pony struggling to get up, and pushed him back down. They said something to him, but they were too far away to understand. I looked around, not sure if this was something of a custom here, but all I saw were averted gazes, just as if back in Canterlot, where the guards would come and settle everything. They were notably absent here, though. I half-rose from my chair to go and help, obeying training, then sat back down as I remembered who and where I was.

Three unicorns came galloping down the street, aiming to the scene. The downed pony made another attempt of escape but one of the thugs laid a solid kick in his stomach. They made room for the incoming trio, who, not wasting any breath, lit up their horns and enveloped the stallion in a multicolored aura.

Despite not having a horn at the moment, I could still feel the magical power. It was all too familiar. The victim lit up in greenish flames, making everyone around take a step back, but I knew it wouldn’t hurt them. His cries must have carried all the way to the outpost.

The fire died out, leaving something behind that looked like the charred remains of a pony. A collective gasp sounded as the changeling shifted and tried to stand up, but swayed like a drunk and fell over. One of the unicorns staggered and had to lean on one of the others for support.

Sounds of heavy hoofsteps and clinching of armor came from the distance. The little circle around the changeling scattered before the guards rounded the corner, leaving him behind, and were completely gone when the two pegasi reached the bar. Only a broad-framed pony remained, standing by the entrance, who exchanged a few words with the guards. While one of them talked to who I presumed was the owner of the bar, the other tied the helpless changeling’s legs together then hefted him onto his back. The owner went back inside after a short while, and the two guards walked away with their captive. The gawkers slowly dispersed, only a rough patch on the ground remaining as evidence of anything that happened.

“Hey, are you okay?”

I blinked, realizing I’ve been staring at the empty spot for the past minute, and my fries were getting cold. I looked up at her. She had managed to get right beside me without me noticing. “Huh?” I managed.

The filly’s frown turned into a smile. “You look like someone who saw a ghost.”

My own mouth twitched into an ironic smile. “I’m fine, miss, but thanks for the concern.”

She edged a hair closer. “Right… You look like someone who wants to say something other than ‘fine’ and ‘no problem’, too. So, what’s going on?”

My dismissive remark died on my lips, as I looked deeper into her eyes. She was a stranger, all things considered, and I was… not the best company, even on better days. I couldn’t help but humor her for a moment, though, the lack of suspicion was a welcome surprise. “Why would you say that?”

She lifted her rump onto the other chair and snatched one of my fries.

“Hmm… cold… Why? Because I like helping ponies and you look like a suitable candidate. Are you new in town? When are you leaving? Do you have a place to stay? By the way, my name is Pearly Twine, but just call me Pearly.”

“I’m Mint Flower, and I’m from Canterlot. I’m… Travelling.”

She didn’t seem to mind the curt answer, as her eyes widened with unmasked interest. “Oh, Canterlot, really? Did you see the changelings, Mint? Did you see when that bubble tossed them away?”

I took a piece of hay into my mouth, too, but couldn’t hide a grimace. They were indeed cold. And a little limp. “Kind of,” I said simply. “Didn’t have a very good view.”

“I saw them,” she beamed. “A whole bunch flew over our heads. I didn’t see where they landed, though, they were too far away. I’ve heard one or two have fallen close to the mountain, too, but none of them got here. Well, at least, not that I noticed, but the guards would have stopped me from taking a look anyway.”

Wanting to steer the subject a somewhat different direction, I gestured towards the pub. “This wasn’t the first such incident, was it? They all seemed pretty sure what to do. Even the guards didn’t seem all that upset.”

She chewed on another limp hay, unbothered. “It’s getting more frequent, it seems. There were a couple of incidents with changelings before, but with one caught tied up yesterday and now this one, it seems like they aren’t gonna give up on their dream of… I don’t know, taking over Equestria? Whatever it is, if they keep blowing their covers, they aren’t gonna get far.”

“A couple before yesterday?” I studied her face. “This has been going on for some time, then?”

“A month or so. There’s been two I know of, one was a guest in a hotel, whom the guards captured, then there was one in the forest, who I believe got away. I know because a local found him first, and told everypony about it.” She flicked a stray hair from her eye. “He was hiding under some bushes, then just walked up to that pony. He was undisguised and looked like he was drunk out of his mind. Imagine that, taking a stroll and suddenly a giant bug-thing asks for water… By the time the guards went there, the changeling was gone. I think he was captured by others who took him to Canterlot. They have dungeons there, right?”

“I believe so… Not to be rude, though, but being so excited about the subject doesn’t seem like the safest thing to do these days.”

She sighed. “I’m fortunate enough to be in close relations with the mayor. I get hurt, the town gets free janitors. Besides, it’s not like I attract too much attention anyway, so...”

Awkward silence started to descend on us, but the filly was quick to chase it away. “By the way, you said you had a place to stay?”

I shook my head. “I’ll be looking for one shortly. The problem is that I don’t have all that much money and couldn’t get a job either.”

“Yeah, I can imagine.” She tapped a hoof to her chin. “Tell you what. I just happen to have all my rooms free, and I could use some help around the diner. I’m afraid I don’t have enough bits floating around to pay you full, but I can certainly give you a room.”

“Seriously?”

“Sure! Why?”

I looked over the little restaurant that occupied the ground floor, the curtained windows above, and raised an eyebrow. “You have a hotel? Above a place where you sell fried hay?”

She nodded. “Yup! So, what do you say? I’d be happy to have you around. You strike me as a nice pony.”

I didn’t answer right away. Partly because she just called me a ‘nice pony’, and partly because I didn’t want to believe my luck. But did I have a better solution? Entertaining the idea, I fought the urge to grimace, then failed as I put the inevitable conclusion together. “Oh, dear... Do you happen to have a room facing some other direction, maybe?”

“No, these four is all I have, plus mine on the other side. Why? Don’t you like the view? Are you afraid of loud ponies eating here at night? Don’t worry, I close at sundown.”

I waved a hoof. “It’s not that. It’s… well… Not to be rude, but it’s the smell. I’d been living in a place above a restaurant for six months, and I…”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, I see… I wish I could do something about that, but I don’t have other rooms, and I just met you, so mine is out of the question as well. So, your answer is no? Too bad...”

I let out a sigh. “No, it’s okay. I don’t have a lot of options at my disposal. Besides, I don’t think I’ll be staying here for too long, anyway. I have things to settle in… Other places.”

Seeing her clap her hooves together in glee made the afternoon a little brighter. “That’s fantastic! I’ll set you up as soon as I can. You let me know when you want to move in, okay?“ She slid off the stool. “Where did you sleep so far? I hope not in the forest. It’s not the best idea even in better times.”

My slight hesitation was answer enough. She gave me a look, to which I shrugged.

“I’ll take your offer tonight. Uhm…” I regarded my empty plate, realizing I haven’t paid yet. “Let me just get a few bits and—"

“Oh, no, you don’t.” She rushed in to snatch the plate off the table. “I can’t charge you after I ate half of it. The talk was payment enough, don’t you worry. I’m afraid you’ll have to entertain yourself from now on. I must run across town for some supplies now, but drop by later to settle things. I’d be happy to talk some more.”

“I’ll do that. Thanks for the help. Take care!”

“Bye!”

She waved me off as I trotted away with an uplifted spirit and no particular direction in mind. I was still unsure whether to accept her offer, or, backtracking a little, to come back to her at all in the same body. The number of times available of reintroduction wasn’t quite endless, but significantly higher than it has ever been for me. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the prospect, and even though I knew, logically, that doing so would mean playing with fire in a maze made from hay, I entertained the idea for a while.

***

The first stars were starting to appear when I finally made it back to Pearly’s diner and hotel, but they were gradually tuned out by rain clouds. The route would have been shorter, were I not deep in thoughts. The filly’s enthusiasm was one thing, but her attitude towards changelings was certainly convenient. Besides, I could always opt out with a change of forms, if things went sideways.

The tables and chairs had been cleared, but there was light coming from inside. I hesitated, considering using another form to test her for... something, but that was probably just paranoia. I stepped up to a side door with light pouring out from under and knocked. After some ruffling noises the door cracked open, and an eye popped into view. As soon as its owner recognized me, the eye widened with surprise.

“Oh, it’s you!” Pearly exclaimed. “Give me a second… I thought you would come earlier, so I made a bit of a mess of the place.” She retreated, leaving the door ajar, then after some more moving stuff around, she opened it all the way. “Come in! I’m in the middle of cleaning, so I apologize. Just go ahead and make yourself home in the kitchen. There are chairs and some apples too. I’ll be with you in a second.”

The first word that came to mind as I laid eyes on her home was ‘crowded’. The second one was ‘how’. The door opened into a corridor of sorts, with both walls lined with shelves of… stuff. From kitchen appliances and cleaning supplies to rolls of fabric and boxes of animal food, every inch was covered with something. My eyes, after I successfully peeled them away from the mess, finally centered on the filly’s smiling face. She stood by the closed door, wedged between potatoes and unopened cans of food. Her hair was halfway in the process of escaping her bun, with the rest following close. An old lantern floating by her head allowed a scar on her left ear to be noticed, a detail I’d missed earlier. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to mind my early arrival in the slightest.

“Go on, the kitchen is behind you, at the end of the hallway.” She pointed the way. “I need a few more minutes, and, uhm… I guess I’m gonna have to wrap this up quickly, won’t I? Never mind, I can finish later. Just please, don’t eat all the apples.”

“Sure, take your time…” I said, but she was already back to cleaning the floor. With some difficulty, I turned around and walked into the kitchen. The décor was similar to the corridor, but with much more room around the fryer and the counter. One of the stools from outside stood next to the sink with a basket of apples sitting in it. The room was lit by two more lanterns, hanging from bent nails in the ceiling. The walls were adorned with framed pictures of ponies hugging and smiling to the camera.

I grabbed a big and juicy-looking apple, and took a seat on the stool. The dim lighting was in stark contrast from what I was used to in Canterlot, where everything had to be illuminated with the power of the sun. It was altogether homey. Outside the rain has started in earnest.

The light of Pearly’s lantern danced as she worked the broom closer to the kitchen, the light clopping of her hooves on the floor playing a staccato tune. I munched on the delicious apple and tried to relax, but it wasn’t easy, and not just because the stool didn’t have a back. I distracted myself with eyeing the picture frames. It took me a moment but I recognized filly Pearly with a black doll in her grasp, smiling, with a stallion beside her.

The lantern reached the door to the kitchen and flew straight to a hanger by the door, followed by Pearly, who deposited the broom to a dark corner and went straight for the apples.

“Good, isn’t it? I brought it in from an orchard in Ponyville. I know a couple of ponies there, they told me to try them, and they are just peachy, so to speak. Anyway…” She gave me a quizzical look, which took me a moment to understand.

“Listen, I’m sorry I just barged in, but—"

She held up a hoof. “Oh, it’s okay, really. I don’t mind having you here, I just thought you’re gonna sleep somewhere else after all, but if you need a place now, there is nothing in the way. Why, though? Did something happen? Was it that poor changeling?”

“Nothing serious, really. I wanted to go back to the forest to my camp to get my stuff, but apparently some animal or something else had already been there, and I realized there wasn’t any point to it not to sleep in a proper bed, after all the sleeping in trees, and I figured you’d be still awake, so I came. I didn’t know you’d be in the process of cleaning your house at night...” I trailed off, as her words registered. “Did you say poor changeling...?”

She chuckled. “You slept in trees? I can see a pegasus doing it, but not you or me. Anyway, I don’t have a ton of free time during the day and I haven’t cleaned in weeks, and Fluffy Tail can’t tell the broom’s head from its handle. She’s my little assistant. Don’t worry about it. Now, onto business…” She walked to a cabinet on the wall and used her magic to open it, revealing four keys in two rows. “Do you have a preferred number? I have two, four, six and eight.”

I eyed her for a moment, then decided I probably misheard. “You have four rooms, with those numbers?”

Her ears sagged. “Not much, I know… But running a hotel is expensive and I can’t maintain more rooms in a small town. Do you want number two? It’s the best one.”

“Sure. Are you doing all this by yourself?”

“The diner yes, and to be honest, the hotel as well. Fluffy means well but poor thing has four left hooves. Uncle makes me give her work, though, and pays her instead of me, too, and I do need the help, so no big deal. Anyway, room two it is, and we’ll discuss your end of the deal tomorrow.” She unhooked the key and floated it over to me. A string hung conveniently from it, which I put my head through.

“Come on, I’ll show you around.”

She grabbed the lantern and floated it before her. I grimaced as the smell of petroleum hit me. “What’s up with the lighting? Don’t you have power here?”

“Don’t worry,” she spoke over her shoulder back at me. “The rooms have proper lighting. I just love the old ways, you know? It’s much more romantic than, say, Canterlot with artificial light shining around the clock. Prefer not to burn my retinas out at a young age. To be honest, I’ve never been to the city, but all the pictures show such strong lighting…”

We passed the collection of various animal food and rolled up fabric that I guessed were sheets, right next to each other. I hoped my pillow won’t smell like dog breath.

We reached another room where Pearly immediately turned right and went up a staircase. In the brief moment when her lantern shone into the unlit room, I saw a counter and a few chairs, then followed her up. Here the walls were painted white and were free of any clutter. At the top of the stairs she flicked a switch, and the whole upper floor was bathed in familiar white light. There were five doors, with numbers two, four, six and eight, and finally one marked with the figures of two ponies.

“Where are the other numbers?” I asked, as she went straight to the first door on the left.

“It was my mom,” she said without hesitation. “She didn’t like strange things, so she simply jumped over them when she started the hotel.”

“Strange?”

“Yes, because, you know… odd…”

I rested a hoof on my forehead. “Okay… I see. But why, really? Should I even ask?”

She merely grinned and opened the door of room number two and turned on the light inside. It wasn’t even locked. Beyond it I saw a cozy little place with a bed, a desk, a chair and a mirror with a sink under it. The walls were decorated with pictures of dogs, cats, rabbits, and… was that a manticore? And that a hydra? I glanced at Pearly, and let my ears drop. No, I shouldn’t ask.

“Well?” she chimed.

“It’s lovely,” I said and stepped into the room. “Very homey. I suppose I will have to work quite the hours, won’t I?”

“Let’s leave that for tomorrow. You just go and get some sleep. You look like you haven’t slept in days.”

“I may as well not have…”

“Then stop worrying about how to pay me. If you need anything during the night, I’m sleeping downstairs in the first room to the left. The next one is the closet, and you don’t want to see that, so don’t get them mixed up. I might not hear you right away, so be rude and loud if you really want to wake me up. Bathroom’s behind the ninth door this floor… I mean fifth door. Come down to the kitchen when you wake up, and I’ll give you some breakfast. What else… Oh, I’ll have Fluffy bring you new towels and sheets in a few days, don’t be alarmed.” She half-turned to the stairs. “I’ll be leaving now. Have a good night.”

Before she could close the door behind her, I put a hoof on the knob. She looked back at me, with an eyebrow raised. “Yes?”

I took a breath. “Thanks for all of this, but there is one other thing I need to ask.”

She turned to face me proper and put on a curious smile. “Let’s hear it.”

“How do I put this… If anypony asks, let them be guards or not, I’m not... I’m not new here. You’ve known me for some time, and this is not the first time I’m staying here either. I don’t want to cause trouble or anything, but I don’t want anypony to come and question why would you let a stranger stay-“

She grinned and rolled her eyes. “Oh, you master spy! Afraid to have your cover blown? Listen…” She put a hoof on my chest. “Whatever is your reason, you’re not the first with secrets here, and not the last. I completely understand. I’m not gonna asks touchy questions, as long as you don’t start walking around with a neon sign above your head reading ‘Attention’. Now go on, and stop letting it bug you.” She gave me a push. “There is soap in the shower. You’re gonna need it.”

“All right. Thanks. Good night, Pearly.”

“Sleep tight!”

The door swung closed, obeying her magic. The lock clicked. I stood there until the sound of her hoofsteps died, and only then I let my exhaustion get the better of me. I slumped to the floor with a grunt and lay my head across my forelegs. Despite her apparent understanding of my request, I couldn’t shake the sense of wrongness I was feeling. I took another look at the room from my position on the worn parquet. It screamed temporary. I was a temporary guest in her hotel, in her life, and I was a temporary member of ponies as well.

Chapter Four

Captured changeling reported in Sunshaft by civilians, bound up and conscious. Residents insist on another one that had escaped. The captured one was taken into custody. Interrogation attempts were unsuccessful, but signs of higher than usual intelligence, compared to the previous ones was observed. Local patrols were informed of the alleged escapee.

An aerial recon team engaged a small group of changelings in the forest, at half a day’s walk from Sunshaft, in the direction of Canterlot. Our guards, acting in self-defense, obtained an artifact from a downed changeling. The rest ceased fight and fled the area. The artifact and the changeling were carried back to Canterlot for further examination. Initial observations of the device include metal and gemstone construction, magical in nature, meant to be worn on the head, apparently non-functional. No clue to its purpose was found on the scene or on the changeling.

Report snippet from the Royal Canterlot Guards’ Bureau

***

There are things that a change of clothes can do to a pony. There are also things a change of bodies can do to a changeling. But certain things just remain the same no matter how many gowns one has, or how many forms they go through. A full bladder was one of those things.

I was glad for the absence of other guests on the hotel, as the only bathroom was accessible through the common corridor. When I looked into the mirror after washing my face, I realized I was still a pony, but my pupils were of a changeling again. I vaguely remembered a dream… Well, many dreams over the course of the night, which featured changelings bursting into flames and often ending up dead on the ground before my hooves. I remember being forced to take my own form, the grey stallion, and me dreading the effects. It wasn’t completely in my head, as I apparently did change my eyes at some point. I hoped Pearly didn’t see or hear anything. Shaking the last afterimages of the dreams from my head, I went to see if she offered anything for breakfast besides fries and import apples.

Judging from the noises, my host was in the kitchen. I crossed the corridor and entered the diner’s section to see her happily chopping a heap of fresh hay, then sweeping them into a bowl. The fryer behind her was already filling the interior with fumes. The tables and chairs stood outside, empty in the morning sunshine. What time was it, again? Looking around I didn’t see a clock in sight, but I did spot the same basket of apples with a few sliced up on a cutting board. I scooted over and snatched one.

“Hey! No eating the merchandize, please!”

I grinned and stuffed the slice into my mouth. Then dodged the truss of hay coming for my face.

“Sorry,” I said after swallowing. “That was the first edible thing I saw.”

She sighed, tucked a flock of hair behind her ear that escaped her bun, and gave me a look one usually reserves for children. “There is a bucket over there you can eat from. Did you sleep well?”

I stepped to said bucket and took a slightly misshaped apple. It still tasted amazing. “Pretty well, thanks. I almost forgot what a bed is like.”

“You couldn’t possibly have been on the move for so long to forget something like that, though I imagine sleeping on treetops is not the best experience.”

“Most definitely not,” I said, thinking about the camp’s cots, which reminded me of the previous night, which then reminded me a certain changeling. Then a ticking clock. I quickly finished the apple, my appetite gone.

“So,” I began, stepping up to her, “what work did you have in mind for me?” I might as well distract myself with some manual labor.

She swept the cut food from the cutting board then jabbed a hoof at the sink. It didn’t seem like the pile got smaller since yesterday. “Let’s start with that.”

It wasn’t that I hated doing dishes, but scrubbing greasy remains off plates with hoof-gloves that were too small made me wish Pearly had other things needed to be done. The word I consoled myself with was ‘temporary’. My struggles and the occasional vocal remark didn’t go unnoticed.

“Hmm…” Pearly leaned against the sink and swept a bit of foam from my mane, while wearing a contemplative expression. “Maybe I shouldn’t leave them sitting overnight… I rarely have to use other than my horn to clean them.” She picked up a dirty plate and magically pried off some remains. “Makes you wish you could just magic up a horn for yourself, doesn’t it? Like a changeling? You could just have some green flames make you a unicorn for a day! Oh, wait, they do have horns by default, don’t they…” She trailed off and kept her eyes on me, as if waiting for a response, but when she saw my expression, her smile gave way to a concerned frown. “Hey, don’t look so grim, I’m only joking.”

Not so sure about that, I eyed her, evaluating whether I should act on my plan from the day before and start with a fresh form. If she knew... But if she did, she wouldn’t be making casual jokes about it. I produced a fake smile. “I get it. It’s just...”

She put the plate back into the sink. “Hey, if I’m too much, feel free to tell me. Celestia knows, you wouldn’t be the first one.”

“No, it’s not that,” I said quickly. “It’s just, with what had happened in Canterlot, I wasn’t expecting ponies to joke about changelings so soon. Especially with the incidents recently.”

She stepped back to the fryer and started wiping the counter with a rug. “Everypony is too quick to judge them and treat them like dumb animals. But tell me, to imitate a pony, you’d have to be able to think like a pony, wouldn’t you? And would you treat a pony like a dumb animal?”

“Of course I wouldn’t...”

She waved a hoof. “No, I didn’t mean you. I know you are better than that, judging by the way you looked at the poor fella yesterday. Just ponies in general tend not to give them a chance.” She glanced up at the street. “Though I admit, invading a city doesn’t help their cause.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like, you actually sympathize with them? With changelings?”

She nodded. “Uncle said I should keep it a secret, and I do, generally, but it doesn’t seem fair.”

“That’s not something you hear every day,” I said cautiously.

“Eh, perks of being the niece of the mayor. Nopony’s gonna give me a hard time for saying weird stuff.” She shot a glance at me. “You’re not gonna call the guards on me, are you? I remember what you asked me yesterday, so I don’t think you would, but...”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to pay for your hospitability by giving you a hard time. I think it’s rather refreshing to hear such an open-minded opinion.”

Her lips pulled into a smile. “Thanks,“ she said, and we went back to work.

Pearly’s words led me to another train of thoughts. Maybe there was another way I had yet to consider. I looked at Pearly’s glowing horn as she worked the cleaning rug with her telekinetic spell. There was a spell for anything these days. Why didn’t I think of it sooner?

I scrubbed the plates, putting together a vague plan. Several moments of silence later I took a breath to catch her attention. “So, Pearly… Where did you learn magic?”

She had moved on to watch the fryer, adding spices. “Where unicorn fillies usually do, silly. In magic kindergarten! Although…” Her ears sagged a bit. “Only for a year or so.”

“How come?” I prodded.

“My family moved here before I finished and there was no magic schooling here at that time, so I went to a regular one. I wasn’t the only unicorn student, but we had only earth pony teachers, so... My dad taught me a few tricks, and gave me books to read. I remember only what he showed me, though. The school didn't make a lasting impression either.” She indicated at the picture on the wall, showing a stallion with a yellow foal in his forelegs.

“So, you never got any proper education?” I said, then I realized how that came out. “I mean…”

“No, it’s okay, and no, I haven’t. I do have something special, though!”

“And what’s that?”

She gave her rear a little shake. “It’s my talent! Can you guess?”

I blinked. “Uhm…”

“Two stallions came pretty close to it a few days ago, in fact. They ordered exactly what you did yesterday, and even sat at the same spot.”

“Did they…”

“Well? Nothing?”

Hussk had said something about how special her fries were. “Your talent is making excellent fries?”

“Warm, but not quite. Let me show you.” She grabbed a good plate’s worth of fries from the fryer and gave it a squeeze in midair, and the excess oil dropped back into the fryer. “When I was little, I saw how Mom used to squeeze clothes after washing so they would dry faster. She also kept complaining about all the fast food Dad used to eat and how greasy it all was. Then I thought, why not combine the two? I was already doing levitation at that time, so when Dad next took me out for dinner, I tried it on his fries and it worked! Dad got crispy, less unhealthy food and I got my cutie mark!”

I hid my smile behind the back of my hoof. I had a hunch she wasn’t the first to think of that trick, but she was probably the only one to earn a cutie mark from it. “What did your mother say?”

She put the half-finished fries back. “She made me do the same with clothes in the cleaner shop. I got some pocket money for it, but never liked it as much as making food, so when I got old enough, I bought the equipment for this here place. I’ve been feeding ponies happily ever since.”

“And your Dad? Did he become a regular customer?”

“No… He had an accident and had to be tended to by nurses. Mom moved away soon after that, leaving the hotel to me. In retrospect, ‘happily ever since’ might be an overstatement, but I’m genuinely content on my own now.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Is he all right?”

She turned her head. “He’s as well as he could be.”

I took it as my cue not to prod further. Silence stretched out between us, until Pearly spoke again. “And what about you? Are your parents still together?”

“My parents left me when I was young,” I recited the story I knew was fake, but it was still better than nothing. “I was raised by an old stallion, a retired royal guard. He died when I got into school, and I was taken into an orphanage, but I left as soon as I could to join the Academy to become a guard myself. I’ve never really met my parents, didn't even see pictures of them.”

“That’s so sad, I’m sorry you lost them so soon. No wonder why you wander alone. Did you succeed, though? Did you become a guard?”

“I dropped out halfway through. Long story.”

From her expression, I saw that it came out curter than I intended. “Not that it’s a secret, I just don’t like to think about it. Not one of my fondest memories. What I originally wanted to ask you is that if you had a library in town. I need… To find something.”

“I understand. A library, though? I’m afraid the closest one is in Ponyville, which is a little difficult to access right now, I believe. The librarian is the protégé of Celestia and she’s probably busy nowadays. She’s very kind, though. Dad used to borrow books on magic for me, and he told me she was most enthusiastic about helping a little filly unicorn learn magic. Why? What do you need?”

“Nothing serious, just something I’m curious about.”

She eyed me, then mischief glimmered in her eyes. “Oh, secrets… Is that thing you’re seeking illegal? Can’t I help you find it? I have more horns than you do.”

I seriously considered her offer, even if only for a second. “I’d rather not drag you into it, but thanks. How far is Ponyville? Do you think I could make the trip in a day?”

“With all what’s going on? Even if you did, the library is probably closed. The librarian went to Canterlot for the wedding and I don’t think she returned yet. Besides, that whole town is a magnet for weird.”

I wasn’t ready to write the possibility off just yet, but I accepted her words with a nod.

“Does your secret involve, you know...” She lowered her voice. “Changelings? Or the guards? Are you hiding something from them?”

“What? I’m not...”

She blushed and waved a hoof. “Just a thought. Don’t take it seriously. Are you ever gonna tell me? I love surprises.”

“Maybe, one day, but even I’m not sure about it. I’ll fill you in if I make up my mind.”

“Well, if you think so… Oh, you almost finished! Great job. I already like having you around.”

Two ponies approached the counter and Pearly went to take their orders, while I stayed behind to finish off the last of the plates. A spell to remedy my situation was a long shot, but one that seemed worthy of pursuing. I watched the filly serve the customers, levitating crisp, freshly squeezed hay to their plates, wondering if she deserved to be dragged into the pit I was in.

***

As much as she appeared to be, Pearly was not a pony fresh out of Naïve Town. She knew how to organize her extensive collection, from cleaning supplies to spare parts to her cooking equipment. I never got the impression whatever I was asked to do was only to pass the time, either. Given the current amount of ponies in the hotel, maintaining four clean rooms was really just maintaining one clean room, but as the clock hit noon, the diner saw more hungry mouths than I’d expected. Why she didn’t buy a bigger accommodation for her business was on my list to ask her sometime, but I was busy learning to be a waiter. It was not just standing around and asking if the customer wished for more wine, as I saw in Canterlot. More than once I considered making myself a horn during a break, to make things easier on my back.

The afternoon consisted mostly of cleaning plates, again, before she said the magic words.

“That’s all for today. You did great, though. Those years studying to be a guard did pay off, didn’t they? You didn’t even ask for a break… Oh, are you sure that will do? You do have a bed upstairs.”

Had I had a horn, that bed would’ve floated right down, even if it took the rest of the afternoon.

“Come on now. I won’t carry your grown-up flank anywhere. Didn’t you mention you wanted to take a walk in the town? The sun’s still up, and I want to sweep the floor.”

Walk, yes, but not in the town. And after some rest.

“Don’t be such a baby,” she chimed and crouched down beside me. “Do you want me to tell you scary stories of how the bad changelings will get you if you don’t obey?”

I stiffened, despite knowing she was joking.

“Oh, you do! Well, probably there is one around, watching you right now. Should I get him?”

I turned my eyes on her. Girl, if only you knew. “Okay, okay, Mom. Can I have money for ice cream?”

She stood up, laughing. “Sure, honey… Wait, really? Uhm, yes, actually. We made quite the sum today. Go knock yourself out.”

I got to my hooves and accepted the coins. Ice cream hadn’t been in the plans, but hey. I deserved it.

She cast a look at the broom, and I could tell she was tired as well.

“You sure you won’t need me today?” I asked.

“No, go ahead. I’ll close up after you’re gone.” She smiled at me warmly. “Thanks for the help again.”

I saluted. “At your service.”

My route towards the center of the town brought me past the guard outpost. Two armored ponies stood at the entrance, following me with their eyes as I strolled by. Part of me enjoyed the little secret I was carrying under my green pelt, no matter how eager I was to get rid of it. Green, as I had come to realize during the day, wasn’t my color.

I found a sweet shop and ordered some apple and strawberry-flavored ice cream with cinnamon topping. They went remarkably well together.

Ice cream spent, I set out to find a suitable place where nopony would disturb me. Hussk's safe house was obviously out of the question, and I didn’t want to break into anypony's property, so once again, I set course for the forest. There was bound to be a place secluded enough for me to play around with magic for a bit, with no sentient audience.

Half an hour later I stood in a small but clear place, formed by four trees. I couldn’t see the town’s buildings, and I presumed ponies there couldn’t see me either. I inspected the surrounding bushes and rocks and even looked at the sky for any movement, but I was completely alone. I took a breath, and finally burned away the green pony.

I went through every form I knew, doing a check to make sure I remembered the details correctly. When I got to my old form, I lingered on it for a few minutes, before replacing it with the native one. Maybe one day, I will see use to it again.

Inventory check done, I chose the orange unicorn to wear and picked out a thick fallen branch as a target for my next exercise. I wanted it to break in half upon the touch of my magic. I concentrated, imagining it falling to pieces, but all I could muster was a beam of light that didn’t even scratch it. I tried again and again, but my horn refused to recreate the vision in my head. I changed back and tried it as a changeling. If not breaking in half, the branch did take damage, assuring me that I was doing at least something right. As a pony, my magic was only comparable to a torch. I was intent on producing at least something useful while disguised, so I moved on. If nothing else, I could figure out how to levitate it.

I spent what had to be around two hours trying every trick that came to mind. The grass around me was littered with splinters and torn leaves. Further away was a pile of rocks and sticks, considerably fewer in numbers. I sighed and made a sweeping motion with my horn, intent on magically scattering the remains to hide my presence here, then watched the pieces fly every which was. As a last attempt I tried to set the stones apart, but my magic only threw them at a nearby tree, like a blunt instrument, and not at all like what I intended.

Movement above made me stop and peer around. I heard animals moving around in the forest before, but this one seemed closer. I looked back at the last rock, enveloped in my magic. If there was a pony around, I had to leave. A lonely pony practicing magic in the middle of the woods didn’t feel like a solid cover story.

The leaves parted and two pony eyes appeared in the nearest bush. Without thinking, I whipped my head around and launched the rock. My head immediately throbbed with pain.

“Ah, what? Ouch, that hurts…”

My eyes widened. I just hit a pony. A civilian, by the looks of him.

“What was that?” another pony said, coming fast to aid the one I just hit. I gaped at the young pegasus rubbing his forehead furiously, wanting to say I was sorry, but a voice in my head held me back with a simple order. Run.

Obeying it, I left the poor pony and abandoned the clearing. I barely noticed the still quite wet mud that clung to my fur as I darted through the undergrowth. I wasn’t especially quiet, but I was at least hard to spot. It ran through my mind that changing back to my native form would allow me to use more magic to aid my escape, but even if I wasn’t covered in mud, I didn’t have the time to change.

Walking here took half an hour on clear ground. It was substantially more time consuming and tiring on the way back. By some miracle, I reached the outer fences alone. I stopped, listening, but whoever they were, they weren’t coming after me. Or they were setting an ambush. Or calling guards. I weighed my options. I used the edge of the fence to clear much of the mud off. It still left very noticeable mark on my orange pelt, and I abandoned the idea of changing to something else completely. With my heart still beating in my throat, I hurried towards the hotel, casting occasional glances behind me. Nopony seemed to be following me and I slowed my pace somewhat. I was getting a few strange looks, but nopony said anything. Walking around dirty was probably not without precedent in a rural town.

***

Night has fallen when I reached the hotel. There was light coming from Pearl’s room above the hotel front. Quietly as I could, I opened the side door, then remembered to wipe my hooves in the grass. Sneaking upstairs and straight to the bathroom was done fast. I took the steps two at a time. Only after the click of the bathroom’s door did I let the shaking start.

Operating the shower’s knobs with trembling hooves was difficult, and I didn’t even bother with shampoo, mainly because I left it in my room. As soon as the water was flowing and it was acceptably warm, I collapsed in the tub and let it ran across my mane and fur. I kept on the pony body, just in case I fell asleep and Pearly decided to check on her only customer. Would the disguise remain if I were to do it? I wondered how would she react to finding a changeling nesting in her bathtub, unconscious from tiredness and lack of love. I didn’t know what would happen if I ran out of reserves, but I assumed keeping up any form but the native one was slowly sipping power while on. Casting spells must have cost even more, and there was no shortage of that today.

I blocked the drain with a hoof and tried to enjoy the warm substance for a while, then moved to let the water out. It took the mud and leaves with it. I used the remaining water to scrub myself over then reached for the towel.

Back in my room I finished drying my coat and mane, then made sure both the window and the door were closed, and finally shed the disguise. It proved to be a little harder than earlier, supporting my theory on lack of love, but it felt better to be a real changeling than a fake pony.

My bed was calling, but there was something else I wanted to do before laying down. I needed my horn to properly obey me, not just spit out random spells when in danger.

I knew Pearly wouldn’t be thrilled if I made a mess of her room, so I made sure I only used the smallest amount of magic. I concentrated on the used towel in the middle of the floor. Every child could do it, I told myself, as an aura of green light enveloped my horn and the damp fabric. Every pony in their adolescence floated small objects with ease, so why wouldn’t a specially trained changeling agent be able to do the same? The aura shimmered as I pumped more energy into it. I could feel the towel’s texture, as if I was touching it with my hooves, but in my mind. I could see it moving a little, too.

There was a knock on the door. My half-formed levitation spell imploded and I became aware how high a rate my heart was beating. I looked at the door and frowned. I did not want to talk to anyone right now. Leaving the towel where it was I gathered my mental strength, took on my usual pony form, unlocked the bolt and stepped back.

The door opened, revealing Pearly and a fresh, folded towel hovering beside her head.

“Hi,” I said, trying to sound welcoming. It wasn’t difficult, upon seeing her, but my success was only moderate. “Room service?”

Her initial smile wavered and she eyed me for a long second, then peered into the room behind me. She finally checked the number on the door, and levelled her eyes at me.

“Is something wrong?” I asked, looking at the number as well. It was the letter two, as it should be.

“Excuse me, sir,” she said, as if talking to a stranger, “but this room is already taken. How did you even get in here?”

I blinked. “What? Sir? When did you start calling me that, Pearly?”

Hearing her name, her ears flattened to her skull and she took a step back. Then recognition flashed across her face and she edged closer, looking me over with fresh interest. “Wait a minute. Are you... perhaps… a friend of… the pony staying in this room?”

This was getting very confusing. I looked myself over, too, to see if there was something wrong with the form I had assumed, but I was in the body I always used. Did I mess up some detail, then? I had my grey coat, straight, short mane, and the little shield on my flank. I looked back at her crunched face, her narrow eyes. Then it hit me.

“Oh, crap.” The blood drained from my face and I took an involuntary step back, then another. I’ve made a huge mistake.

Pearly’s reaction was not what I expected, though. A brilliant smile spread across her face and she followed me into the room, the towel thumping to the ground behind her, forgotten. “Oh, I knew it!” She practically squealed the words. “I knew you existed! You were what kept Mint Flower in the town, since he couldn’t carry you with all the guards around. But where is he? Is he with you? Is he okay?”

“I… What? Who are you talking about…“

She spun around, looking for something. There wasn’t much space to hide things in, whatever she expected to find, so she rounded on me again. “Where is Mint? Is he in trouble? Did the guards find him? Did you come for help? Does he need me to tell Uncle to release him?”

Her voice was raising, making me think she was losing it. “Points for not copying his looks and going for something original, though. But, come to think of it, maybe it would have been a wiser choice to go with what I’ve already seen, since you were clearly counting on me finding you! Good thing I’m the only one currently living here besides him...”

I finally found my voice. “Pearly,” I said quickly. “Please, slow down. I know what you see is confusing, and I can explain, but you need to let me.”

“I know what I’m seeing! I see a changeling in my friend’s room!”

Despite her upbeat voice, my heart skipped a beat. Or maybe because of her lack of terror I’d expected.

“I don’t know why he felt the need to keep you a secret from me, maybe he just wanted to keep me safe, but he’s a good pony, and I want to help him. Whatever his plans were, he doesn’t deserve prison.” She paused, and her expression darkened. “Or maybe I’m wrong, and you aren’t here to get help. Maybe you’re here because you let him get captured.”

My heart was now thumping like back in the abandoned building. One half of my mind was busy eyeing up the door behind Pearly and trying to guess how hard I would have had to shove her to the side in order to escape. The other half was sweating bullets attempting to come up with something to say to remedy the situation. I let the latter have a go first.

“Please, let’s calm down and let me explain—"

“I don’t want to hear what I know you’re just making up right now! I want to know if Mint is alright.” She paused, squinted, and her horn glowed, making me take another step back. “I’m not sure what he told you about me,” she said slowly, “but my sympathy for your kind won’t make me hold back if it turns out that you let Mint get captured by changelings or get dragged to Canterlot by guards for helping you! So? Where is he?”

I could practically smell the magical charge in the air, and thought about the little filly, who, when she was upset, cast a spell a decade ago that didn’t lose strength ever since. The part of me that insisted on fleeing felt cornered, and the other could only suggest excuses that were probably going to make Pearly angrier with me.

To put it simply, I bailed.

“T-there is no other pony,” I said, looking her straight in the eyes. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, or where did you get the idea of this hidden changeling, but there is only me.” I took a deep breath. “Or, rather… Uh… You see, there is something…”

As I was looking for a way to say it, she arrived to the conclusion before I could to spell it out for her. It was indicated by a loud gasp and the bang of the door swinging shut behind her, obeying her magic.

“You are the changeling!” she exclaimed. I merely stared, and her previous seriousness evaporated. “Oh my gosh, Mint, I was so close… I thought… You were so shocked by the event that happened with that changeling in front of the bar, I was sure you were hiding one in the forest or somewhere, maybe an injured one, for some reason… That you had something to do with… With that changeling they found tied up…” Her eyes took the shape of saucers. “Was that you too? You know what that was about, right?”

“Please, there is more to it than you think...”

“But if you weren’t hiding a changeling, why… Oh, were you with that one? You must have set him up to save the town, and now his friends are after you?”

“That’s not incorrect, but—"

“Then you were responsible for the attack on Canterlot, too, but then you came here to hide, right? You were… Oh…”

And there it was, that look of worry I was afraid about. I took in a breath to tell her that I was different, but she didn’t need much convincing, as her hooves wrapped around my neck proved it.

“Oh my gosh,” she muttered into my mane. I stood like a statue with four hooves rooted to the ground, still hoping that she would finally allow me a chance to explain, although it didn’t feel so urgent anymore. “I was convinced you were hiding one, then it turns out you are a changeling yourself… You can’t imagine how I feel right now. I have so many things to ask, and I know I should go and tell the guards before someone else finds out, but then you’d just change and disappear forever…”

She slowly withdrew and I saw my chance to speak. “Yeah, please, don’t tell anyone. Truth be told, you weren’t supposed to find out either. I knew you weren’t hostile against changelings, but I never thought you’d—"

She jabbed a hoof at my chest, cutting me off. “You knew how I felt about changelings and you still didn’t plan on letting me know? That’s… I don’t know, selfish! What were you afraid of? That I’d tell somepony? Do you even know me? At least I didn’t lie to you about who I am!”

I found myself pressed against the wall, quite literally. “No, not at all. I just didn’t want you to have to lie when asked, or get into trouble if I was discovered. I saw what those ponies did to that changeling a few days ago, and I couldn’t imagine they would be much kinder to whoever supported them, either.” She listened and I felt the table turn my way a little. “I’m sorry I kept you in the dark, and I promise I’ll explain why I’m different than the rest of them.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You’re different? How? I mean, I suppose you are, but...”

At least this part I’d had enough time to mull over. “I don’t act on behalf of the Changeling Hive, at least not anymore, but I’m not actively against them, either. I sort of belong in the middle. I don’t want to hurt ponies, but I can’t just pretend I’m a pony, either, and I can’t fight these changelings all on my own. They are probably keeping an eye on me, too.”

“So, you changed your mind, then, to support ponies? Surely then you’re not the only one. Have you met others like you? Can’t somepony in town help you find them?”

“It’s not a good idea to ask around. And there aren’t any more that I know of. You see, I’m not a regular changeling.” I sat down and she did the same. “I was selected as a special agent…”

I told her the story of how I came to know what I was, and how the changelings in the camp convinced me and helped me accept it, and why I did what I did with Hussk in the end.

I finished with the conundrum I was currently in. “I sort of have a plan to turn things around, but there are a lot of obstacles. Honestly, I could use your help.”

She studied the floor for some time, and I waited. If there were a clock in the room, I could have heard the ticking, but there was only my own breathing to listen to. Outside darkness had fallen, and I wondered just how late it was.

“So…” Her head was still lowered, but I could tell she wasn’t merely thinking aloud. “What you’re saying is that, by some miracle, from all the changelings still lingering around, you’re the only one not wanting to feed on ponies, and you choose my place to hide.”

“I…” I wasn’t certain she wasn’t accusing me of something. “If you don’t want me here, I can leave.”

“No,” she said quickly, “that’s not it. It’s… Never mind.” She raised her eyes to meet mine. A small smile sat on her lips. “I’m just lucky, it seems. I could have ended up with one with hostile intents, but it’s the complete opposite. And he needs my help to boot. Now, I can’t say ‘of course’ right away, but I can promise you whatever little I can give, I’ll do it, let it be just a room. Or...” The smile stretched into a grin that had a mixture of curiosity, eagerness, even lust, one that was low on the list I thought I’d see on her. I had a good guess what was coming.

“Show yourself, and you got it.”

Not what I expected, and my expression said as much.

“I mean,” she elaborated, leaning forward ever so slightly, only adding to the effect. “I want to see the changeling beneath. I’ve only seen pictures and plushies of them. Can you do that for me?”

“Sure, I just thought you’d ask for something more… interesting.”

“I’d call having a living changeling in my room interesting, thank you very much. Now let’s see the bug!”

A thought that had been on the back of my mind surfaced. “Let’s just stop for a minute. What’s behind this obsession?”

Her ears dropped and she grimaced. “Are you stalling? I’m crazy, if that’s what you want to hear. I always have been the weird one, liking odd things, giving everypony a second chance, even if they weren’t ponies. I always wished I could be somepony else, whom nobody would recognize as the mayor’s weird niece. Do you see what I’m getting at?”

She had the eyes of a little, lonely filly. My heart was beating against my chest. “All right, Pearly. Give me some space, please.”

She was quick to do so. I closed my eyes and made sure I chose the default form. To her credit, she didn’t cry out as I burst into green flames inches from her. A sharp intake of air was all I heard, but after the flames subsided, she was all over me.

“Oh my gosh, you do have hard skin! Are there bones under it? Don’t those holes feel weird? Do they hurt when stuff gets caught in them? Oh, your wings are so thin, I can’t believe you can fly with them. I guess a bee can fly with similar wings, though, so maybe they’re stronger than they look… And even your horn isn’t straight like a unicorn’s. Do you have spells like we do? You must show me what you can do. Maybe you can teach me some sweet changeling magic. Oh, and… I’m not gonna look closely, I swear, but the rumors that you didn’t differentiate between mare and stallion seem true, too…”

“All right, I think that’s enough sightseeing,” I pulled her muzzle from under my belly, feeling like blushing again. Could changelings blush? I still haven’t figured that out. “I promise I will fill you in on the details, but I’m half-dead from exhaustion, and I need to—"

“Oh, you’re not getting away just now. This was only a warmup.”

“For what?” Were I not so tired, I think I would have guessed her request. As I was, it caught me off-guard again.

“For copying me.”

It was the safe house all over again. “You?”

She stomped a hoof. “One more thing and I’ll let you hit the hay. Copy me, turn into me, or however the appropriate phrase goes. I always wanted to see myself from outside, and you’re the perfect pony… person for the job. What if we postpone, and when I come see you in the morning, you’re gone with the wind, and I have to make due with boring old mirrors?”

All the warnings the commander had told me resurfaced in my mind. “Pearly, that’s not safe.”

“I don’t care. I promise you, I’m not gonna freak out. Why would I, if I was anticipating it?”

“That’s a good point, but…”

“Please, Mint, if that’s your real name. Won’t you do it for me? Please?”

Cute fillies and puppy-dog eyes. It must be in their genes. I sighed, swallowing my remarks about my low reserves. I needed her support, and this was maybe not that drastic a price to pay. “All right… Give me a minute.”

“Oh, thank you! Take all the time you need.”

I circled her a few times, more for her sake than mine. I didn’t feel like telling her I already had her looks memorized, though I did find some minor details that had escaped my attention before. She did her best to stand still as a statue, but I couldn’t not smile at the obvious anticipation radiating off her. Her affinity towards changelings still had me worried, but at least her curiosity was genuine.

I stepped back from her and gave a last look-over, then concentrated, and the flames swept over me. It wasn’t even that difficult, like I’d just tapped into some reserves I didn’t know about.

When I opened my eyes, I was standing a bit lower than usual, with a few strands of yellow hair falling into my vision. Pearly stared me with wide-eyed wonder, her mouth forming soundless words. I averted my gaze to let her take a good look at me, then looked back up as he stepped closer and touched my side. Her hoof was trembling as she ran it up my neck and mane to tuck that little flock of hair behind my ear, like she always did with hers.

“I was wrong,” she muttered. “It’s even better than I imagined. This is perfect. Exact match.”

I craned my neck to look at her, but she didn’t meet my eyes. “Satisfied?”

She let out a little giggle. It didn’t sound right. “Even your voice is correct. Imagine… Nopony would notice if little Pearly suddenly became a tad quieter. All it would take is one spell and you could feed on me until I’m empty.”

“Pearly?”

She met my eyes now, but I had a feeling she was only admiring my work. Her hoof kept stroking my mane, then wandered onto my cheek. Under different circumstances, it would have been pleasant. “With enough time, I bet I wouldn’t be able to distinguish between the real me and the fake me, but once you’d had enough of me, you could throw me away and become the real Pearly, couldn’t you?”

A shiver ran down my spine. I stepped back and before she had the chance to complain, I shed her form and took on the green one she knew me by. The ease of the process barely registered as I stepped up to her again and took her hoof that was still hovering in midair. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re the real you.”

This time her eyes focused on mine for good. “I know, silly.” She smiled and squeezed my leg. Her dreamy eyes told me was still under the effect of what happened. “Thanks. You just supplied a year’s worth of freaky dreams.” She leaned closer and touched her forehead against mine. “I could use some sleep right now to see some of them.”

I felt warmness inside, but not the kind that was familiar or even appropriate. I held her silently as my mind raced, putting pieces together. I was a changeling, who needed love to survive. So far, I tried not to think about the source of that love. This new sensation inside me was a sign that I found the solution, and my instincts latched onto it. I felt ashamed.

She must have sensed my stiffness, but leaned against me nevertheless. I tried to convince myself that it was okay enjoy the moment. We stood in the middle of the room in silence for a minute or two, and I was getting better every second. I felt the need to say something, to let her know what was happening.

“Hey, uhm…”

She withdrawn to meet my eyes and I saw she knew. “Don’t worry about it,” she said gently. “It’s what you do, isn’t it?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be silly.” She chuckled. “You’ve earned it.” She sat down and cocked her head to the side. I sat too. The warmness persisted.

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” she said, hesitant. “You said you were a spy, so deep undercover that even you had no idea you were one. Where does the pony part come from? You couldn’t have just made it up. Where is the pony you are inside? Is there a you at all? Or is the person before me just patches of souls long forgotten?”

I studied the floor’s many scratches. “Perhaps. Do I look like a faulty patchwork? Because I feel like it sometimes. I felt like it my whole life. Everypony told me it was because I grew up as an orphan, that there were lots of others like me, and I could still learn how to make my life enjoyable. Turns out I don’t even have a life. It’s just pieces of random ponies they captured and… I don’t know, copied? Everything I know is just junk threw together for a temporary framework. I was designed to forget all of it once I fulfilled my purpose, but here I am, stuck with a bag of loosely tied memories. How can I tell who I am? I’m just fragments.”

“Don’t say that. You do have a life of your own. It’s just… different. They might be fragments, but they work together. There are ponies in much worse condition than you are.”

I opened my mouth to protest but she continued. “I know it’s a cliché, but maybe it can help. You have your conscience and your skills, and if your plan works, an opportunity to start again. Don’t feel like you owe anything to the changelings. They made the mistake of showing you what ponies are like. You just decided to follow your heart.”

“Yes, that sounds lovely, but look outside the window. Ponies are terrified of the likes of me. They would never—“

“Do I look like I’m not trusting you? That’s what you want to say? I know for a fact you know how much of a risk I’m taking right now. Hiding you, and giving you willingly what you usually take by force? They would strangle us on sight, and make a public display out of it, and if not them, the changelings would. How many days passed since you changed?”

“Three, but—"

“Three days, during which you escaped that group of changelings and found me, your only ally. Ponyville’s library is probably out of the question, but I can teach you what I know. Maybe we can figure something out.” She reached out and tapped my foreleg.

“I know a place in the forest we won’t be disturbed.”

I sighed. “Sometimes I wish I let myself be captured back in Canterlot.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that’s what everypony says when facing something difficult. You made it so far. Are you gonna honestly give up now? I bet that’s the reason they gave you time to think, so you will get cold hooves. Don’t prove them right.”

A different kind of warmth spread across my chest, and it made me smile. She didn’t love the changeling in me as a fangirl, she loved me, the imposter. The pony.

Pearly returned the smile. “What is it?”

I shook my head. “That’s the best pep talk I’ve ever heard.”

“My father was great at saying things like that. It runs in the family, it seems.”

“Yeah, maybe…” I looked around. My eyes caught the discarded towel behind Pearly. “What’s with the towel? I only used mine once.”

She grinned and looked at the object in question. “Actually, your towel was not fresh… I mixed them up a few days ago, and put the old ones back to the rooms. I meant to swap them out but completely forgot. I told Fluffy to do it, but she remembered something and left, so I took the opportunity to bring it up myself and maybe have a little chat.” She grinned. “I’d say it was worth the trouble.”

She stood and examined the one I used earlier, and then put the new one in place. “I was hoping I could do the change before you returned, but I was held up. Didn’t you notice it smelled?”

I shrugged and got to my hooves too. The mood of the events was slow to leave my mind. “I didn’t really mind. I was pretty tired when I got back. Thanks for remembering, though.”

“It’s my job, silly.”

We shared a few seconds of silence. There might have been perfect words to say just then, but they eluded me by miles and, apparently, eluded Pearly too. It was she who broke it, though, by walking up to me and placing a kiss on my cheek.

“Good night, bug-pony.”

“Good night, hay-squeeze.”

She turned to leave, but stopped in the doorway. “I do hope you decide to stick around. I could think of a few ways to pass the time while you’re still here.” She closed the door behind her before I had a chance to respond.

Chapter Five

Suspicious magical activity reported north of Canterlot, near Sunshaft. Spell signatures match the magic of changelings. Civilian suffered minor damage to his vision claimed he saw a pony struggling with levitation magic who, when sighted, blinded him with no warning. The person in question left the area. Possible link to the escaped changeling noted.

Testing conducted on the artifact revealed long-range transmitting capabilities, but no further details. Speculations are attached to the end of this report. Permission for further testing with living subjects pending.

More information extracted from prisoners include details regarding pre-invasion spies, so called special agents. Parties sent after the changelings that escaped the spell have been updated to concentrate on Sunshaft.

Tension in nearby towns keeps rising, but there were no major incidents since the last one. Increasing guard presence in the town. Monitoring all public places is impossible due to insufficient personnel numbers, requesting more guards in the area, including the nearby part of the forest.

Report snippet from the Royal Canterlot Guards’ Bureau

***

Finally, since that fateful day of the invasion, I slept through the whole night and then some, something I had rarely done even as a pony. I blamed Pearly’s healthy dose of affection and the soft and flower-scented blanket. Even after I awoke and remembered I had work to do, I savored the moment of the softness enveloping my carapace. The hard substance was surprisingly more comfortable to wear than soft pony coat. It was mine, after all.

The thing that made me leave my cocoon were the noises. A hushed arguing was going on downstairs, too muffled to understand the words. Quietly, I got up and laid my ear on the floor, and was just able to recognize Pearly’s voice. She sounded upset.

I had the presence of mind to not go barreling down the stairs to see what the problem was. I carefully took the form Pearly knew me by and opened my door. The words were still not clear enough, so I continued to the stairs. As I laid a hoof on the first step it let out a creek, and the talking cut out at once. I froze, contemplating going down openly, but Pearly started saying something again, to which the answer was more hushed talking. Something told me she wasn’t having a tea party with her friends, discussing a new pal she made.

I stepped over the first step and was halfway down, when the sound of a door closing made me stop. In the silence that followed I quickened my steps. The lobby to the hotel was empty, though there were two sets of dirty hoofprints on the floor. I turned my head to the corridor, and heard paper sliding on paper from the kitchen on the other end.

Entering the diner portion, I spotted Pearly immediately, sitting by a desk, bent over a ledger. Above her head, a pair of pens chase one another. She made a good effort to make it seem like nothing had happened. Hearing my steps, she whipped her head around. For a split second, before she recognized me, there was fear in her eyes, then it disappeared and she gave me a rather forced smile.

“Hey, sleepyhead. Had a good night?”

“A very good night.” I peered into the giant book, stealing a glance of her face, expecting signs of tears, but saw nothing. “What are you working on?”

Pearly sighed. “Just the usual accounting I do every Sunday.”

“You sound like only I slept well.”

“Yeah, well…” She placed the pens on top of the book. “It’s not how the night went, to be honest. My morning was ruined when I realized I had to crunch numbers.”

I gave her a look, then when I only got a quizzical smile back, I decided to go for it. Pulling a chair close to hers I sat down so we were at the same height.

“I heard voices when I woke up, but they were gone by the time I got down.”

“If you’re hearing voices, I’m not your pony, I’m afraid.”

I smirked, despite myself. “Not what I meant. There were—"

“Two stallions. Yeah, we all heard the step squeaking. I just… How much did you hear?”

“I couldn’t make out the words, but I had a good idea what the subject was. Call it changeling hunch—"

Her eyes widened with fear and she silenced me with a hoof to my mouth. “Hush! Don’t say things like that!”

I grimaced and pushed her leg aside. “So it was about me after all. Why did you try to cover it up?”

I regretted my phrasing as her shoulders dropped. “I’m sorry. But really, why?”

“Because… They wanted to know about you. Where you came from, why are you here, who are you to begin with, that sort of thing. Because of my uncle, nopony other than the guards will go stomping around my home without my consent, but they said they will keep an eye out on us. I don’t think they are eavesdropping, but I don’t want to take chances…” Tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. Acting on impulse, I reached out and covered her hoof with mine.

“Who were they?”

I felt her wince, but she didn’t pull away. “No,“ she said, “you can’t go around telling ponies to stop bothering me. It doesn’t help one bit that they are absolutely right… At least partially... But they would tear you apart if they found out—"

It was my turn to silence her. “I said nothing about going after them. I’m not an idiot, I know what they would to me.”

She turned away. “No, of course not. Don’t mind me. I just don’t want you to be hurt and taken away forever.”

I stroked her back with my free hoof. The confident mare from yesterday was as far as my old life, and I was running out of comforting gestures. “I’m not going anywhere.”

She let out a shuddering sigh and leaned against me. I recognized the situation, I’ve seen it a lot in parks back in Canterlot. Couples did it, but I’ve never had the chance to try it out myself. Was I reading too much into it? Probably, but I didn’t have the heart to withdrew.

When she spoke again, her voice has almost returned to normal. “So, uhm… What do you say for some cleaning?”

“Again?”

Like she'd said, it was Sunday and as such, Pearly’s little diner was closed for the day, giving her time clean the equipment for the next week. I, as the only employee, got the messiest fryer to scrub with tools that had straps designed for a filly’s leg.

“Yuck… That’s going to stay there, isn’t it?” I stared at the blob of sticky grease clinging to my fur. “That’s gross. I can’t believe I ate something that shared space with this.”

I only got a giggle as a response. I looked up at Pearly, who was working multiple sponges with her magic. Her mane was done up in a bun again, and her coat was dotted with pieces of foam. She dropped the sponges and staged a yawn as the strolled by me, leaving me alone in the kitchen. I rolled my eyes and grabbed my sponge again with bare hooves. I was glad to see her smiling again, though, despite I had my suspicion that it wasn’t entirely sincere.

My attention was drawn to a particularly resilient blob of burnt stuff, that resisted even the spatula I was given for such occasions, and I only realized that a young filly was staring at me from outside, when she knocked on the counter. I looked up with the spatula in my mouth. She was barely out of her blank flank years, and probably has never seen a stranger, if her expression was indication enough. I spat out the spatula and looked around for Pearly, but she was not back yet.

“Hi there. Can I help you?”

“Hello…” she muttered, her eyes darting from side to side. “I’m looking for miss Pearly… I got the spices she asked for…”

“She’s in the back. I’ll go get her, just give me a minute.”

“It’s fine, mister,” she squeaked, her eyes wide and her ears flat. “I’ll just leave them here.”

Before I could say anything, she put a small bag on the counter and turned tail, using her tiny legs to propel her with uncanny speed. I looked over myself, even though I had made sure not to make any mistakes with my form. She was only scared from a stranger, apparently. Completely normal for a child. I walked to the counter and took the unlabeled bag to Pearly’s desk, next to the giant book.

The recipient returned a few minutes later, foam-free and sporting a new bun. She trotted up to me and examined my work.

“Progress, yay! Aren’t you tired yet? You can take some time off anytime.”

I placed the spotless mesh in the pile of clean plates and moved my neck in circles. “Just a bit. By the way, a little filly came by and dropped off some spices or something. They’re on your desk.”

She hopped to said spot. “Oh, good! I was wondering what took her so long.” She opened the bag and gave it a sniff. “Yes, just what I ordered. Did she say anything?”

“Not much, but she looked like she saw a ghost. She just put the bag on the counter and ran away. Who was she? She asked for you like she knew you.”

“She’s my little assistant.” Pearly took the bag and poured the contents into a jar. “The filly I talked about, who was supposed to bring you the fresh towels yesterday. Her name is Fluffy Tail.”

“Her?” I gestured the way she left, and a smile crept onto my muzzle. “That’s child labor.”

“It’s called a summer job for some pocket money for her, and some peace for her parents. I could do without her, but I know her mom, and I promised her I’d let her do the occasional task around the hotel. Speaking of…” She lit her horn and the clean dishes rearranged themselves in a neat pile. “Wouldn’t your job be a little easier if you, I don’t know…” Her voice dropped to whisper. “If you suddenly grew a horn?”

I looked back at her, unsure how to respond. Wasn’t she the one hushing me not long before? On the other hoof, she just read my mind. I grinned.

***

During the first months of moving to Sunshaft, filly Pearly, as she explained to me, had a hard time fitting into the established society of the local kindergarten mostly populated by local earth ponies, so she resorted to what most lonely fillies did: find herself a secret place and hid from the world. In the case of a young unicorn fresh out from magic kindergarten, secret also meant magical, in both senses of the world. She had made sure she was the only one who could find the tree's little clearing she designated her place, while the rest was deterred by a nest of angry, but non-existent bees. The leaves of the bushes and trees around hid her from whoever wandered close. The simple yet effective trick assured her privacy, up until her dad suffered severe magical overextension and was hospitalized. Pearly chose to cope with the news alone, but her mother followed her to the clearing and after breaking the spell, she got her crying daughter back home. Being quick on the horn, Pearly's mother used a tad more force than was necessary to counter the spell, causing even more trauma to the filly. A week later she left the town altogether and dumped Pearly in the hooves of the current mayor’s son, who was the closest to the family. Not much time passed before the bees came alive again to hide the lonely filly, but eventually, she moved on, and the bees were left alone, to keep watch over that special place, were she to return.

Unfortunately for the two of us, that place lay quite a distance from the town.

I carefully constructed a new body, a unicorn this time, and after validating its authenticity with Pearly, we set off for a walk with the intention of slipping out into the forest when nopony was watching. We chose a comfortable, if tight pace and chatted about little things like two friends, both without the need to pretend one of us wasn’t what they seemed. It was fun, maybe even more so than before the spell, perhaps due to the fact that now I knew that there really was something different about me. My other concerns presented themselves in the form of two guards that thought we were getting too close to the trees.

“Didn’t you hear? There are changelings in the forest. Do you want to be eaten and replaced with a parasite? No, don’t even answer. We are not taking risks. Turn around and find some other place to enjoy yourselves. No, I don’t care. You’ll have to be quiet. Now shoo.”

The forlorn duo of us reluctantly turned around to find a passage somewhere else. Though, when I said forlorn, I meant one pink-eared stallion with an otherwise green pelt and a hopelessly giggling filly in a bun, clearly amused by the confidence with which the guard had assumed our intentions. How she occasionally rubbed her hips against mine didn’t help one bit.

Eventually, through somepony’s overgrown back yard, we entered the forest undetected. The sobered-up Pearly led me confidently to the nearest path, casting a spell here and there to mark our route. After maybe fifteen minutes through the tranquil forest, I could make out a faint but angry buzz, and had to remind myself not to obey my instincts and avoid it. At one point, we left the path and headed straight into thick undergrowth. The buzz grew louder, and when it seemed to come from all around us, Pearly flared her horn and the noise died off, as if never having been there. In the same time, the forest around us changed as well, as if losing some of its thickness. Following Pearly, I dove into the sea of leaves, then stopped short as I emerged on the other side.

Tall trees cast a shade on the almost perfectly circular clearing hidden in the middle of the forest. They stood so close to each other that it suggested a not entirely natural occurrence, perhaps a testament of young Pearly’s capabilities. Each tree had at least one birdhouse hanging from the branches or fixed to the trunk, a few populated, while the majority in severe disrepair. A hammock hung between two poles, also in need of patching up. A little wooden box, in notably good shape, sat on a large rock. The tall grass brushed against our bellies as we entered a little filly’s realm of solitude.

Listening in on the ambient magic, I detected several powerful sources from all around me, all extending ethereal tendrils across the clearing. Even to my untrained horn, they seemed to be much stronger than what a filly should have been able to fuel. I turned my eyes to Pearly, having doubts about the actual age of the place. She didn’t return my gaze, instead she was looking at two nearby sticks protruding from the ground, slightly askew, barely taller than the surrounding grass. There was writing on them, way too small to read from the distance. Her horn glowed and the sticks straightened themselves. I moved closer, but before I could read the inscriptions, I was lifted and placed in the center of the clearing. The grass around me flattened to the ground in a circle as Pearly stepped into the makeshift training ground. She drew a hoof across her eyes to wipe something away.

“All right, pupil,” she chimed. “Get ready to become magical.”

***

If I were to describe the experience, I’d use the words strange, difficult, thrilling and ultimately, surreal. Pure mental effort that resulted in sticks flying all over the place and into your teacher’s hair was immensely satisfying. Whishing that her hooves would stick to the ground when she tried to chase you was more difficult, but was fun too nonetheless. Granted, it took considerably less effort for her to drag me across the field on my back before forcing me to do a dozen barrel rolls, but in the end, I didn’t have a hard time imagining why unicorn foals needed their own kindergarten. Despite the headache that persisted even after changing to my changeling form then back to the pony one, it was lot different from what I was used to. I now saw the future in much brighter colors with magic in the picture.

“Don’t burn all of your reserves in one go,” Pearly said to me after she declared the lesson to be over. “I expect you to put your horn to good use with the broom tomorrow.”

“Sure thing,” I replied from my spot on the ground, laying on my back, watching a pebble turning in a magical field that matched the color around my horn. I could feel the strain in a form of a numbness in my horn and forehead, but I was having too much fun. “But such a power demands to be used.”

Pearly’s voice came from my twelve. “I can see that. Like a child who just realized he has hooves.”

I smiled sheepishly. “Yeah… But moving your legs isn’t as hard as this. At least for me, you know.”

“Because you’re a changeling is what you want to say.”

“Yes, that.” Feeling chattier than usual, I added, “the others in the camp only used their magic for countering someone else’s attacks. Maybe they didn’t know the first thing about it and just went with their instincts. From what I saw, they weren’t too well educated, but…” I dropped the stone and reached out telekinetically for my water bottle nearby and slowly floated it over to me. “But the spy I told you about put up quite a show, too, even when in a pony form, so my hopes about myself are still up.”

The bottle’s aura changed color and I had only a split second to close my eyes before the water hit my face. I sit up and shook my mane then looked for the culprit, but she just gave me a grin. Her bun had come loose at some point and her flaxen locks were flowing down her neck freely.

“What was that for?”

She set down the bottle before me. “For you to use your brain. They were common soldiers, just drones. Of course they didn’t learn magic apart from fighting. I bet they could levitate the odd sandwich to their mouths, but to do such magic as your spy, they’d have to be trained much more thoroughly than really necessary. That’s what officers and, well, spies are for.”

“Fair point… Though I would still like to learn tricks I’m supposed to be good at.” I wiped the water from my muzzle. “You’re great, but you can’t give the full picture.”

She turned around and walked to the sticks in the ground. “While I decide whether I should be offended, go and build a pile of those rocks. Largest on the bottom, smallest on the top. The higher the better.”

I watched her back as she sat down and started arranging the grass around the stick. Getting the hint, I got to work.

The passage of time could be best told by the warm sunlight reflecting from the top of the surrounding trees. Above us, cumuli chased one another, waiting for the pegasi to get them in order. I appraised my admittedly not very high tower and worked my neck in circles, wondering if there was such a thing as a sore magical muscle. I stood, stretched a bit and looked around for Pearly. All I saw was a yellow patch of fur and some mane sticking out from the hammock, which closed around her like a cocoon. Sound of soft snoring drifted through the rips in the fabric.

I smiled to myself. It seemed that the more love she gave me the more it took out of her, otherwise I would have been in her place, sleeping. I looked around, admiring the orange colors of the setting sun, but then my eyes were drawn to the box. It was set on the ground now, with the grass flattened where Pearly had been sitting, its cover still open. Not far from it was the stick I’d noticed when entering. I gave a last glance at the hammock, and crept towards the stick with that tiny writing engraved on it. My smile fell immediately upon reading it.

In memory of my family.

The crude but thorough work the letters were etched into the wood suggested a child’s touch. The little cracks and the coloration of the stick itself spoke about its age. At the base, amongst the grass leaves, there were three colorful gemstones, two big and one small. I watched them, and felt my heart sinking to my stomach. I took a step back and raised my eyes at the pony who, at one point in her young life, felt the need to create a hole for herself and protect it with advanced magic, then set a memorial for her broken family in it.

I retreated with the intention of laying down as well, but the box caught my attention and I stopped. She wouldn’t have brought me here if she wasn’t comfortable with sharing her secrets, I reasoned, but my conscience held me back. I found a soft patch of grass near the hammock and laid down on my side. I lit my horn to pass the time with some more telekinesis, but the growing pain made me stop and resort to old-fashioned thinking. Random, disjointed images chase another, mostly consisting of changelings, what would I do once a pony again, and how to ensure Pearly was part of said future. From time to time I levitated a pebble around, just to convince myself the ability hadn’t been a dream.

My daydreaming was interrupted by the lovely grunt of somepony awakening. I got up and dusted myself off, then waited for her eyes to finally focus on me.

“Hey,” Pearly said, turning the word into a yawn. “How’s practice?”

I presented my tower and made a show of floating two stones at once, a feat which was awarded with another yawn.

“All right, you’re doing okay. Great, actually, considering you haven’t had a horn for most of your life… I mean, for the last few years… What was it again?”

“The latter, as far as I can tell.”

“Yes… But it’s probably not your first time, either.”

“Probably,” I admitted, and helped her out of her cocoon. “By the way, I have a question for you.”

“Go ahead.”

“Could you use the spell you cast on this place to hide a pony from others?”

She gave me a look that said she’d been waiting for such a question, then turned to gaze at the trees. “Pretty neat, isn’t it? The only problem is that it doesn’t actually hide anything. Anypony persistent and magically skilled enough could find it. Casting it on a thing that moves about would be a feat in itself, let alone maintaining it. I doubt I’d be able to cast it at all, after all this time.”

“After all this time? You were better at magic as a child?”

“Frankly?” She took a swig from my bottle. “Kinda. Yes. I was angry and depressed after we moved here then I watched my family fall apart. I made a nest for myself in a tree to crawl into, then I found this clearing and started hanging more and more spells on it I learned from books. I came here to take out my anger and find some peace. Then I moved on. I inherited the hotel, bought the diner, and got my life together.” She let out a sigh. “I’m a little surprised the spells are still holding up. I must have put quite the effort into this place.” She sent a tendril of magic at the branches forming the entrance. The impact sent a shimmering wave rippling through an invisible force field, following the line of the surrounding trees. I stood, mouth slightly agape, watching the show.

“Interesting…” she murmured, seeing something in the display that I didn’t. “And a little creepy. I must have been quite the magician back then… Oh…” She aimed her horn at the wooden box with its top open. “I thought I sensed something there before.” She dropped the spell and hurried to the box.

I followed close behind. “What is it?”

She sat down and waved her horn above the box until it clicked softly, then opened the lid with a hoof. Inside were unframed pictures of ponies and a few child’s toys. She reached in and lifted the stack out and into the light. She spread them out in the air, and I recognized some of the photographs from her wall, along with some new ones. She paused when she got to one depicting a filly clutching a black pony doll.

“I believe you recognize who this is?”

“Of course. I’ve seen a similar picture on your wall. Figured it would be you.”

“And do you recognize the doll?”

I looked at her, but she held my gaze. I turned back to the photo. “The doll? No. Should I?”

She brought up another picture. This one was of a pretty mare, smiling, but clearly tired. “This is my mom, just after giving birth to me. She was so pretty, wasn’t she?” The next picture was about a small yellow filly, sitting at a table with an older pony. The black doll could be seen on the chair next to her. “This one was taken with Dad, in the restaurant where I got my cutie mark. This was a rare moment, him being happy. There were already troubles when this one was taken.”

She ran through a few more, almost all featuring one or two of her family members. That doll always shared a frame with her. Some pictures were ripped in half or wrinkled, as if someone crunched then smoothed them out again. By the end, she was only flipping through them without a word, until she reached the last one. Below it, in the box, I spotted the doll itself and shuddered. It was black, with green mane and tail, a horn and a pair of stitched, fragile wings. The eyes were pupil-less orbs. I looked at Pearly, but she was staring at the photo held in her hooves. On it, her parents stood above their daughter, their faces reflecting doubt as they watched young Pearly hugging the changeling doll. I reached out with a hoof to grab it, but choose to touch it with magic first. It positively radiated power that immediately resonated with something deep inside me.

“They always hated it,” she said, holding the picture. “Dad bought it as a joke, but I fell in love with it right then and there. Mom said it was repulsive and I needed something with more colors. And, you know, not something that you got your kid as a prank on your wife. They never succeeded, and it kept me company for far longer than any of them.”

She reached out and touched the doll, but jerked her hoof back, as if it was hot. “Yes, I was right.”

“Right about what? Why is this thing so… so full of...”

She looked at me with tears in her eyes. “Of all ponies, you should know.” Without looking down, she lifted a couple of cracked and dull gemstones from the box. “It outlasted the best gems I could enchant. This is the reason the spells here are still going. It was the only thing I had to take my sadness and anger out on.” She dropped the useless stones back inside the box, and stared at the doll. “I believe this also explains my fascination with changelings, doesn’t it?”

“I think so… But this is horrible. They should have been there for you. They were your parents, after all.”

“Were your parents present when you faced hardship?”

My words were caught in my throat and I averted my eyes. She used her hoof to lift my head up.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring it up. I know it’s different. I know well how hard your situation is without me pointing a hoof at it.”

I gulped. “It’s okay. Thanks for sharing it with me. It might sound weird, but it kind of makes it easier, knowing that I’m not the only one alone.”

She gave me a brilliant, moist-eyed smile. Or were my eyes the ones swelling up? “I think you’re doing great, considering all that was dumped on you recently. If nothing else, this shows how much a pony you really are. I could name dozens with less equine emotions.”

I cleared my eyes, and noticed how much her mood improved, and how mine worsened. “Thanks. Really, this is the nicest things to say to an outcast changeling I can think of. By the way, did you notice…”

She let out a chuckle. “Only just now, but yes. Turns out your diet includes more than one thing, doesn’t it?”

Feeding for a changeling meant absorbing energy through love, a strong positive emotion, but nobody told me it had to be only love. Or just positive. As I leaned against Pearly, not realizing when that even happened, I learned the answer to that question.

“Don’t start apologizing,” she said. “I know you want to, but why start now? After what happened last night, I can only be thankful for what you do… Hey, stop snickering. I was talking about… Oh, I see. I see why you were always a stallion when not a changeling. Only guys have such dirty minds.”

I collected myself, feeling a little better, but only before I looked at the doll again. “Sorry, that was just perfect,” I said. “You kind of deserved it, too, for dumping all your sadness into me.”

“Hey, don’t blame me. You’re the one who feeds on ponies, not me.” She looked at the sky. “Hmm, we better get going soon. It’s not the best idea to stay in the forest at night.” She extended a good to the box but hesitated, before grabbing the doll. She stared at it, then her face lit up, and she turned to me. “You know what? I might just found the solution to our problem.”

***

We left Pearly’s hideout behind us. I made sure I was still wearing the same form as before, lest somepony think Pearly switched partners in the forest. Pearly led the two of us again, while telling me about what it was like back in her own town, spending time with her friends in school. I listened, but only with half an ear. My attention was still back at the clearing, mulling over what I saw there. Unlike my fake childhood, which was mainly uneventful and more sad than joyous, hers was worse. I’ve heard more tragic stories, Pearly's stuck in my head. Getting a taste of a filly’s pain preserved in a doll does that to a pony, especially if they’re a changeling. Said doll, to Pearly’s wish, had stayed in its box in the clearing, and I was fine with it.

Nearing the edge of the town, she fell silent as we sneaked closer to our exit point. We crept through the unkempt garden and, after checking the streets for ponies, we slipped through a hole in the fence and assumed the appearance of two friends taking a late afternoon stroll.

Unfortunately, that didn’t make us invisible from those set out to see us.

The pony with an orange coat, who has been studying flowers by the street, didn't even look at us, but when we neared him, he took a step backwards as if as an accident, blocking our way. I murmured an apology as I sidestepped, but he mirrored my movement casually. A block of cold fear was forming in my stomach, but I told myself I was paranoid. Putting a light hoof on Pearly’s back I stole a glance behind us, where another pony was busy studying his hooves. I felt my friend inch closer to me. Looking up revealed a pegasus lazily drifting through the air.

This was still quite the edge of the town, far from any street lights, pedestrians and guards. Just to make sure, I took a step sideways again, but the pony moved too to block our way, turning his eyes to the clouds. I had no doubt about their motive now.

Pearly took my hoof and her eyes told me she knew their reason, too, and that her relations with the mayor wouldn’t smoothen this one. I heard the pegasus landing behind our back and walking towards us.

“Isn’t it dangerous to wander in the forest with all those nasty bugs crawling about?” His voice had all the signs of imminent violence he was looking forward to. I turned around, trying to keep eyes on both the orange one and the pegasus. The latter was looking at me, as if expecting an answer. “Some say there are some in the town as well. Some say they hide, observe, posing as ponies.”

There were five of them at this point, and more were coming out of shadows or from behind clouds. I saw a few unicorns, but with horns unlit. I could no longer keep track of all of them.

“Some try to trick us, but fail. Some go alone. We squish them, if we can. One, we missed so far. When we discovered it, we trusted the cousin of the mayor not to betray us. She didn’t seem to be aware at first, but things have changed.” He stopped and addressed Pearly directly. “I’m sorry, Pearly Twine. You’re getting arrested right after we deal with this one.”

“But he’s not…” She tried to interject, but the stallion cut her off.

“Not what? Did you just try to lie to my face? Did you want to say that it’s not a changeling? Even after you took him in knowing what it was?”

She bit her lips, but held the gaze of the pegasus. “He’s not like the others is what I was going to say, and if you’d listen—"

The pony snorted. “Of course he’s not. Obviously, you won’t see him what he the same way after he indoctrinated you.”

I opened my mouth to say something in defense of Pearly, but the pegasus jabbed a hoof at me. “Don’t you say a word. We’re not finished.” He looked back at her. “Didn’t you understand our message this morning?”

“Your ‘message’ was nothing but bullying!” Pearly snapped at the stallion. “I have control over my own life. I can take care of myself. I don’t need a bunch of strangers to tell me who should I spend my time with.”

I felt and heard them forming a circle around the two of us, blocking every escape route, even the sky. I thought I sensed some of the unicorns readying their magic, too. I wanted to lit my own horn to survey our chances, but that would have been perceived as an attack. I knew we didn’t have much chance against all of them, but some part of me still believed we had cards to play. If nothing, waiting for a guard patrol to show up.

The pegasus snarled at Pearly. I could see the lust for violence in his eyes, The numbness in my strained horn seemed to withdrawn, allowing me to ready myself, magically and otherwise, to at least try and defend us if it came to that.

“The strangers you are talking about are regular ponies with families to protect, if those incompetent guards can’t! Oh, we tried to tell them, but they just said they will look into it, and did nothing! Even after they found one of them and after we were right about Coal being one, they did nothing! They said a little girl’s word is not strong enough. We had to take matters in our own hooves, and we are making progress. You should step aside and let us to our work, before every one of our loved ones is replaced by a parasite.”

Pearly’s eyes laid flat. “What little girl?”

He grinned, sending a shiver down my spine. “Your little assistant. You should be quieter when she’s around.”

I remembered the filly who ran off as soon as she could after she saw me in Pearly’s diner. Did she hear us talk about me? Was she eavesdropping on us?

“Little Fluffy?” Pearly managed to say. “She said I was taking in a changeling?”

“She’s a very observant little pony, with an eye for originality. She saw through your friend’s disguise in seconds.”

Pearly looked at me, and I held her gaze, trying to convey without words that I was sorry, that I shouldn’t have let her involve herself, even when she insisted.

“You saw her this morning, didn’t you?” She whispered.

“Only for the time she gave the bag to me. I thought she was only scared because she didn’t know me. Listen…” I dropped my voice low. “Run while you can. I’ll hold them off. Go to the mayor or—"

“Enough!” the stallion snapped, stomping the ground. “Neither of you is going anywhere. I hoped you would at least deny it, Pearly, but you didn’t even try, and so we have to take care of you too.” He reached out with the intent to grab her but I swatted his hoof away. He made a noise and for the first time, focused his eyes squarely on me. I could hear shuffling all around us.

“I suggest you drop the costume before you share Coal’s fate.” His voice dripped with disgust one usually reserves to the nastiest of repulsing goo stuck to their underhoof. I could practically taste it. There was potential in his hatred. My instincts told me to utilize it, somehow, but I didn’t know how. Instead, I lit my horn and started counting my opponents.

I felt the pony move and I tried to grab him with magic, but he was too quick. He bucked me in the side and my feeble magic imploded at once. I stammered, squinting at the sharp pain in my side that washed over my whole body. I spun around, just like I was taught, and bucked him back while he was still regaining his hoofing, but my weak body only managed to topple him. The others were yet to engage me. Two went for Pearly, including the pegasus, with a rope in their teeth. I jumped in front of her and conjured up another spell to rip the rope from their mouths, but one of them delivered a blow to my horn that knocked my whole head aside. For a second I lost my orientation, and they didn’t hesitate to use it. They tied the rope around my forehooves and started to drag me away from Pearly, while others came in to secure her. I kicked out and the rope fell. I quickly got to my hooves, but she had four giant stallions on her, forcing her to the ground. Her eyes found mine and I saw pain and fear in them. The guilt was like a dagger. My horn was glowing again, but not in a preparation of a spell. Not a pony spell, anyway.

I tasted the anger, the fear, the disgust, as it rolled in the air in waves and hit my horn. I felt the potential in them, the power they carried, but they kept out of reach. The only emotion that truly reached me came from one pony, and she was hurting. Her single spot of love amongst the hate gave me enough strength to focus, and I acted upon the calling.

My horn flared up in a brilliant green and I tore the four ponies off her, then did the same with the ones trying to get me from behind. They fell, but more took their places, and I wasn’t strong enough to fight them all.

They grabbed me by the neck and forced me to the ground, and started hitting me with a torrent of hooves. My whole body came ablaze with pain. I wanted to scream, but they jammed my muzzle into the dirt. I tried to curl up but they pulled my legs apart and pounded on my weakest points.

Then they stopped. A few gave me a kick for good measure, then I was left alone, convulsing, though I felt them remain, standing around me. I tried to open my eyes to find Pearly, but they were swollen, and I lost concentration. I’ve never hurt so much in my entire life. A cough sent up something gooey that I didn’t have the strength to spit out.

I heard galloping. My first thought was that the guards have caught word of the assault, but the steps lacked the metallic sound of armor. I opened my eyes to slits and saw them standing in a circle around me with several unicorns closing in behind them. The crowd parted to let them get close to me. Their horns glowed in unison, intent on sending me through the hell of the pink spell.

In my horn I felt the magic building up strength. Panic arose in my beaten guts. I knew that they didn’t just want to strip my form, but all that mattered was to stay conscious. I had to help Pearly. I had to fix what I dragged her into.

They despised me. They were afraid of me, afraid for their loved ones. They spared their love for their families, and I was left with all their hatred. And what was hate other than the opposite of love? Similar forces, two different ends of the same spectrum.

I felt the spell reaching its peak charge. I took a breath and inhaled their hatred, filling me with wicked strength. Green flames consumed me, washing away the beaten pony body and replacing it with my own before they had a chance to do it. They wanted to fight a changeling? They got it.

I rose to my hooves as the last of the flames wore off. The unicorns tried to cast their spell but I redirected their efforts into the sky as a form of a beam of energy. I could feel the hate shifting into fear.

I opened my eyes and surveyed the determined unicorns. I had to admit, they were persistent. I sent them crashing into the wall of the nearest house. A few others moved to get to me, but I blasted them even before they got the chance to hurt me again. Others managed to reach me, but their kicks bounced off my carapace, and I kicked them with magic-fueled ferocity.

Two came charging with knives strapped to their forelegs and wings. I countered one but the second got a hit. I grunted as the metal sliced into my shoulder, and when I spun around, another blade found its way to my stomach. I grabbed the first one and sent it magically into the first pegasus, while grabbing another one and using his body to knock over several others.

I’d completely lost track of time. I was drunk on power they supplied me with. Their strikes often sent me tumbling to my knees, but my attacks left them crushed and lying still. My horn shone as a beacon of destruction as I turned their own hate against themselves.

Eventually, they stopped coming. I stood in the middle of the road, heaving from exertion and grunting from the pain. I realized a knife was still embedded in my side. I yanked it free with my horn, feeling a strain building in my head. The air was cold and full of pain, but the flood of hatred had been reduced to a stream.

I was the only one still standing. With every beat of my heart I was losing strength, but I wasn’t concerned. It served its purpose. Maybe the changelings weren’t exaggerating when they talked about the potential in me.

I turned to where Pearly was, and found her laying on the ground, curled up, ears flat against her skull, watching me with eyes of a cornered prey. My every step towards her bled off a little more magical charge, and my thoughts were starting to flow in a more rational direction again. She was shivering, and I quickened my steps. One of the thugs cried out as he tried and failed to stand up. I took a look around to make sure none of them was trying to get behind my back, then kneeled down to Pearly. She watched me silently.

“Hey. It’s me,” I whispered, gently as I could. “Come on, get out of here before they come to.”

When I failed to get a reaction, I reached out to stroke her mane. She squealed and pushed herself away from me. I realized my hoof was red with blood. I wiped it and tried again, but with similar reactions.

“Pearly?”

She muttered something. Maybe my ears took a beating, too, because I didn’t catch any of her words. I inhaled, looking for that tendril of love from earlier, but all I felt was pain and anger all around me. Getting very concerned, I tried again.

“Pearly, what’s wrong? Let’s get out of here and find a safe place. You need a doctor and I believe I could use the help too.”

“Can’t...” She said so quietly I thought I misheard it again.

“What was that? Come on, let’s go.”

She closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. I can’t. You just go ahead…” She covered her eyes with a foreleg and curled up even tighter. She shut me out.

I sat beside her, a hoof still hovering inches from her. “Pearly, I can’t leave you behind. Let me help.“

She uncovered her head and her eyes met mine. They spoke of terror. “Please, go! Leave me here. Just go.”

I withdrew, as if she yelled at me. I opened my mouth to say something, but my breath caught in my throat as I took another look around at the destruction with fresh eyes.

Galloping came from behind me mixed with a clicking sound. I didn’t need to look to know who they were. If they come to save their ponies, they were too late. Casting one last look at Pearly’s laying form, I spread my wings. My wounded side made me wince, but I clenched my teeth. She saw what I was capable enough, and she was right to save herself from me.

I managed only a few seconds of flight before my injuries got the better of me, and I plummeted to the ground like a despicable sack. The guard fanned out behind me, rushing to aid the ponies. Apparently, I wasn’t their number one priority. I pushed myself to my hooves and looked around, seeing guards closing in from the other way as well. It took me a moment to realize they weren’t headed for me either, but for the forest. Above me several more flew by, wearing Canterlotian pegasus armor.

My ears caught steps heading for me and I turned around to face four guards, approaching me cautiously. Behind them were a few more, tending to the thugs I downed, as well as helping Pearly. She had her back to me. I looked over the four ponies seizing me up with their eyes.

A familiar buzz filled the air and I had only time to turn my head before something tackled me. My insides erupted in pain, and rendered my attempted defense useless. All around me changelings arrived and engaged the guards.

“What are you doing?” I demanded with a scarce breath, as the creature proceeded to force me onto my back with a hoof to my throat. “Why are you attacking me?”

He put his mouth to my ear. “I’m claiming you for the Queen. We are here to take you back. You acted against the Hive.”

I struggled, whimpering through clenched teeth. They saw what I did to Hussk, and deduced, correctly, that I wasn’t going to let them take me willingly. The prospect of losing all my memories gave me a fresh surge of strength, but I was struggling for air at that point.

He eased his grip for a second, allowing me a chance to raise my head. There was a fight around the two of us, a circle of changeling keeping the guards from reaching me. I didn’t know what their intentions were with me, but after the show I’d put up, I doubted it would be pleasant.

They outnumbered the changelings, and even as I watched, they eroded one more part of the circle. Why didn’t the bugs just took me into the air was a mystery I didn’t have the time to ponder. I close my eyes and concentrated my magic. I tasted the fear and the anger, but this time kept them from taking over. The power they supplied was dwarfed by the previous surge, but it was enough to clear some of the weakness from my limbs. I waited for an opening, and when the changeling holding me down got his attention drawn away for a moment, I reached up and yanked his head down.

His horn hit the ground and before he got his bearings, I was already making for the opening in the circle. I was hoping I could lose myself in the confusion. I dodged a few holed and furry hooves, and I was out.

I enjoyed my success for about two seconds. Without warning, something big and hard slammed into me again, taking me off my hooves, and carrying me into the air. I gasped for air and pounded on the creature’s carapace, before I realized it wasn’t black and had no holes in its legs. The carapace was smooth metal and the legs holding me were white.

“Are you sure this is the right one?” the Royal Guard asked from somepony. I turned my head, seeing three more, flying in a tight formation.

“Quite sure,” came the answer. “All the changelings wanted this one.”

My carrier locked eyes with me. “Listen here,” he said. “We know who you are. We came to deliver you to Canterlot. I can’t tell you apart from them, but if you’re not the one we came for, you’ll be sorry for deceiving me.”

A spark of hope ignited, just to be stomped out. They couldn’t have possibly known.

The guard read my face like a book. Or he was just good at guessing. “Yes, that’s a good sign. We know who you were, cadet. You have information we need and you better come willingly. Who knows, maybe you earn a pardon?”

I tried and failed to form a coherent sentence. It came too fast. It was too good to be true.

***

I felt very small in the hooves of the guard. Small and young and in awe. The fight, the ponies I’d hurt and Pearly all fell away. Whatever his name and story was, he was a real guard, and that was all that’d mattered. He noticed my saucer eyes and I saw a smile in the corner of his lips. Getting adoration from a changeling probably wasn’t high on his list of things to expect to happen that day. Or maybe the hoofcuffs on all my four legs was a delightful sight.

A bit of sadness caught my throat, but it was countered by hope. I’d failed to fulfill my desire, and I was reminded of it again, but I was being taken to where I’ve wanted to go in the end, although with more twists and turns on the way, and I wasn’t about to complain. They knew who I was and even if they didn’t know everything that happened to me, which was likely, they knew not to treat me like an ordinary changeling, and that was a start. I could afford to worry about the details once I was safely inside Canterlot’s walls, in a cell or not.

Armor clinked beside me and I turned my head to meet the eyes of a pegasus wearing a squad leader's armor.

“Hanging in there?”

“I think so,” I said, my voice feeling weak against the wind in my ears. “How did you know to come get me? Did a certain tied up changeling tell you about me?”

“Not a certain one, no. We pieced it together from different sources, partly from captured changelings and partly from other places, including a certain missing pony report. We’ve only narrowed down your location to this town today, and you provided the final light in the dark.”

“Who reported me missing? I lived alone.”

“One of the temporary recruits. He apparently shared a shift with you at the time the shield failed, and you apparently saved him from the invaders.”

“Him? But... Huh, I guess I underestimated him. I was occupied with something else.”

“You were feeling the magic of the changeling queen trying to act upon you.” To my surprised look, he added, “we think we have a sufficient understanding of the situation, but you are expected to fill in the blanks.”

“Before or after the dungeons?”

“That’s yet to be decided.”

A third pegasus winged closer to us. “Sir! Movement below. Possible hostiles.”

The commander gave him a nod and turned back to me. “I take it you’re unable to fly?”

“For a while, yes. Do you think... “

“Hold on tight, then.” He sailed away, giving orders to the others, who took up position below us. I strained my eyes, but my sight was no match for one of a pegasus. Still, I had the feeling the movement below was only a distraction. As if proving me right, two green lights popped up to our left, followed by several more ahead and to the right. Changeling green lights.

They didn’t go unnoticed by my new allies either. Bolts of magic shot through the air, targeting the guards, but they got out of the way with impressive agility that almost took my head off. Several more discharges followed, forcing the pegasi to widen their formation. I wanted to shout a warning, but the air was still on its way back to my lungs after my carrier squeezed it out while holding onto me.

Not that they needed my heads-up. When the changelings appeared, hooves and fangs blazing, the three guards met their blows, keeping them away from the two of us. Their superiority in flying was evident, but the changelings had their lower mass and tougher hides on their sides. It was only a matter of time before I had to dodge a sneaky one. Just as the four pegasi, these changelings showed no doubt about my identity either. What sort of secret agent was I?

The aerial battle for me quickly turned into an effort to merely hold onto my ride as he fought. The changelings’ goal to separate me from the guard became evident. A tactic that succeeded all too soon.

I tried to hold onto the pegasus’ leg but the black hooves around my waist pulled me free. He dove after me, forelegs outstretched, but the swarm forced him to fight for his own self. I struggled against the hold but a kick in my side on the knife wound was the only thing I achieved. I tried my wings but they were useless too. My magic was exhausted and my horn ached dully. I did not l on giving up yet, though. Now, closer to salvation than ever, I still had hope to turn the table my way.

My struggles earned me no more than even more pain, and I watched helplessly as they dragged me farther and farther away from my saviors. I didn’t know precisely what the changelings' purpose with me was, but judging by the fact that they kept me from falling to my doom, it was going to be much less quick than that. It must have been clear to them that I wouldn’t accept their way willingly, and sort of forcing me to meet their queen personally, they would have no way of convincing me to cease and desist...

Or, they could produce another recollector and force me to wear it until my mind is wiped.

The sight of the device glistening in the hooves of an approaching changeling made me squirm even more in the hold of what now was at least three bugs. Two held my limbs while the third grabbed my horn and guided my head upward, facing the recollector.

“What about my choice?” I demanded as a last resort. “Why can’t I decide what to do with my life?”

“It’s not your life,” one of them said from behind me. His voice carried the same level of intelligence I only hear from the commander and Hussk. “It never was. Your body belongs to The Queen, and your mind to a pony long dead. But why not let Her tell you that?” With that, the changeling flew close and pushed the device onto my head.

Within seconds, my horn lit up on its own, tapping into what felt like the reserves of my very body and soul. My vision blurred and my muscles fell limp, the strength sucked out of them to supply the device with power. All my senses shut down, one by one, until I was floating under the starry sky, then my vision faded to black altogether.

I remembered that they said something about a mental link to the queen. I didn’t give it much thought then, given I was preoccupied with other things. Now, as I was becoming aware that my presence in the all-encompassing darkness wasn’t the only one, their words resurfaced with menace.

Something let out a pop seemingly inside my head and made me try to flick my ear, but I had no ear to move. I didn’t have a body at all, I realized with a quick surge of alarm, which was soaked right up by something.

“You’re not making it any easier, my little subject.”

The voice was feminine and had a familiar distortion to it, and sounded directly in my mind. Not having a mouth either, I tried to just think my words loudly. “So, you’re responsible for all this, right? You’re the queen.”

“Right you are.” Chrysalis’s voice was dripping with glee, but if my absent ears weren’t deceiving me, I detected a hint of worry too. “And you are the one who thought you had the freedom to defy me.”

“You made me think I was a pony.” I concurred. “You put a pony’s thoughts into my head. Don’t blame me for using them.”

“I admit, I put a touch too much free will into the hooves of my agents, but I’d have never imagined they would fail to obey the simplest of orders.”

“Sounds like you did a poor job.” I couldn’t help but tease her a little. Thinking what you want to say is just so much quicker than saying them. “I was supposed to be an awesome super-spy, but instead, you created an untalented loner who didn’t even get the liberty of staying that way.”

I wasn’t sure if my thought words carried any emotion, but hers did, and it wasn’t pleasant.

“You know nothing about what I did. You think it was that simple? Just take a pony and flash one of my subject’s mind with his? It took years of experimenting to complete. A mistake like you was bound to occur, but I never expected it to cause this much trouble.”

Her voice pressed down on my mind from all direction, making me wish for a pair of hooves to cover my ears. “Again, what did you expect?” I managed. “The invasion failed, not even because of me, and I only managed to cause more trouble for you. Were there any successful agents at all?”

“That is of no concern of you, but I suppose it wouldn’t hurt you to know you are the least capable from their numbers. Not one forced me to send drones to make them put on the damn recollector.”

“So, all this was only so we can have this conversation? I thought it was going to wipe my memories the second they put it on me.”

Of course, I couldn’t see her, but I got the impression she was grinning. “Worry not, the plan is not over yet. You were created to fulfill your purpose, then cease to exist and return to me as a proper changeling. You were never meant to take matters into your own hooves beyond what you were prepared to do. You tried, and look what happened.”

“What happened? I made a friend, who stayed by my side even after she learned what I was. Doesn't that count? I'm capable of living as a—"

“Did she?”

“Huh?”

“Did she really stay by your side? Where is she now?”

“She’s... She was scared by the ponies who attacked us...”

“She was scared of them, but she was terrified of you. She loved you, but you’re a monster she refused to see. She’s now regretting every minute she spent with you.”

Pearly’s face appeared in front of me, as I last saw her, with terror in her eyes.

“She shut you out,” Chrysalis murmured the exact thoughts that were forming in my head. She was playing me, I knew, but the memory was still too painful. “She saw you enjoying it, hurting all those ponies, and you did enjoy it, didn’t you? Having those fools fall under your strikes as you soaked up their power and turned it around like a knife.”

“I did.” I hated to admit it, but it slipped out my ethereal muzzle too easily. “I did enjoy it. But it didn’t make me happy, and it doesn’t now.”

“Happy? That’s merely the pony speaking. You should be glad to hear that there is a solution for that.”

I knew what she meant. I was expecting it the moment the changeling put the recollector on me. I felt oddly calm about it.

“So, this is the mind-erasing part, isn’t it? A few days too late, but I can finally say goodbye to Split?”

“Not exactly what I had in mind, but close. Rest assured, you won’t suffer from soft emotions after we’re done, but since your magical reserves will deplete soon, I must forgo the gentle approach. Trust me, it is going to be unpleasant.”

She didn’t let me form any thought. There was nothing I could do, nowhere to hide.

Something pressed against my head or, rather, my mind, making her voice from before feel like a caress. I wanted to shake it off, but the force assaulted from all directions. It tore into my thoughts, disjointing them one by one. When the pain got to a point where I was having trouble forming but the simplest of thoughts, the pressure subsided to let the queen speak again.

“Just before I drain you of any memories that could be helpful, and walking you through Tartarus in the process, I thought I’d let you know that you still have a choice.”

I struggled to comprehend her words and that she wasn’t joking. “What? Now you’re giving me a choice? You still want me to join you?”

“Why not? I could use your abilities, and it wouldn’t require me to spend so much effort on you. Besides, you do want to join us. I can feel it.”

I got an impression of her polishing her hooves. I wanted to buck the smugness out of her.

“No need to get violent, soldier. Say the word and your suffering ends now.”

She was right about me. I did enjoy my violent breakdown. I was strong. I saved myself. I won. I proved I can utilize what a changeling had. I also saw the aftermath of those actions.

“There is no choice, is there?” I asked. “Whatever I say, you can’t afford to let me keep any of my memories.”

She let out a short laugh. “Keep? Oh, you have it so wrong. It was never the debate whether you can keep your silly memories of that filly. You may choose to let me extract any intel from your mind then return to me as an ally, or suffer through the process and probably go insane, then have my changelings rip apart what remains.”

“What does it matter? I won’t be me after either.”

“It was never you to begin with. You have been dead for a decade. Your mind just got a second chance to do something useful in its life, but now, it’s time for it to finally go.”

She was the queen of changelings. Why did I think she would actually offer me anything worth choosing from? If nothing else, I could show her how big a mistake she had made with me. Petty, but I was at a loss for options.

“That’s too bad,” she intoned, reading my intentions correctly. I didn’t even have to form a sentence to convey my feelings. “I wanted to see if you’d come around, but oh well, lesson learned. The next batch shall be all the better for it.”

She might have continued, but the pressure amplified to a degree I couldn’t tell her words from my screams. My thoughts were sliced, separated, and tossed aside one by one. Images and impressions flashed by in a big blur. She didn’t spare any segment. The last thing before it all fell apart was something resembling a beehive. I recognized the green-lit caverns. It was my home.

The stars of the night sky returned for a brief moment and I felt air rushing by me, before something warm wrapped around me. My head hit something solid, delivering the final blow.

Chapter Six

We were informed that a fight broke out in Sunshaft. Apparently, a group of locals attempted to capture another changeling, but this time they didn’t succeed. It was bound to happen eventually. The first guards to the scene found almost two dozen ponies beaten half to death and the changeling standing over a young mare on the ground, as if trying to help her. I didn’t believe it either. Recon said it was the agent we were after, and we went to snatch him, but an entire army of changelings came out of the forest and attacked both us and the agent. That clicked with what we have learned about him, and I made the call to snatch him up before the changelings dragged him away. We were to treat him like a pony, too, for some twisted reason.

We recovered the alleged changeling agent, who showed no resistance, but more changelings intercepted our route back to the city. We dropped him and the changelings put a headpiece on him, like what a patrol obtained two days ago, which put him in a coma. Then they simply let him fall to the ground. We were held up in a fight and couldn’t rush to him immediately. Ultimately, we got him back. Officer Stone Fall suffered major wounds to his wing, and others are hurt too. I hope the changeling will be worth it.

Before the attack, I exchanged a few words with him. He didn’t even try to deny he was an agent, and was positively elated to be taken by us. It might have been a trick, but no changeling I’ve seen was able to pull off such an honest performance. Recon might have been right on this one, but I’m not convinced.

I heard Princess Luna wishes to lead his trial. I hope she can look through his act, if it is one. If not, and he is a pony in some way and they will want to keep him around, the politics alone will make me wish for an early retirement.

Excerpt from report #2354, by Commander Rush.

***

I was cold.

I hung in the place between dreams and reality, weightless, comfortable, and trouble-free.

Except some parts of me, that were closer to reality, said that they were cold. I tried to ignore them. I wanted to stay in my comfy limbo and away from reality that was filled with all manners of uncomfortable. One of those realities wiggled its way to me and began dragging me away with its cold touch. Others joined in on the effort, including one that spoke about pain, another that insisted on hearing noises, and a few more, similarly unpleasant. I wanted to grab onto something and go back where I didn’t have to deal with any of it, but the more their number grew, the more powerful they became.

As if bursting through a bubble I arrived in the real world, though the casual observer would have merely seen a twitch on my eyelids. Everything still felt kind of muffled, but the cold was stronger than ever.

I was lying on my back on a bed with my head propped up. My eyes were sticky and refused to open. I lifted a leg to clear them but something rattling held it back. The same happened with the other, and both hind legs too. I squirmed with what little strength I had, testing the boundaries, while forcing my eyes open. They opened, eventually, but as I got them to focus, I sank back into the pillow. A Royal Guard was standing beyond a window, in what appeared to be a corridor. His piercing blue eyes could have very well been the source of the cold, but not even a strict Royal Guard could freeze you with a stare.

I turned my head around. What I could only describe as a cell was only a few steps wide cubicle with a closed door before me, the window of which the guard was watching my awakening, and a second window that was responsible of waking me.

Outside the window was dark with trees swinging in the wind. I looked for a blanket, and found it tucked at the foot of the bed, out of reach. I was chained to a sturdy-looking medical bed. I focused on the window, and saw green light emanating from my forehead, but the window refused to move. Looking up, I saw an IV bag delivering clear liquid into a hole in my carapace that looked like it was cut with a knife to let the needle in. The other leg was in a white cast, up to the elbow. Something heavy sat on my horn, no doubt responsible for my lack of magic. I made eye contact with the guard again, then looked meaningfully at the open window. He merely nodded to somepony I couldn’t see then resumed his watch.

A few seconds later a pony in a lab coat appeared beyond the window. The lock clicked and he door swung open, revealing a unicorn stallion, who, without a word, went straight to the softly beeping machines on my left, shutting the window on the way. Two more unicorns marched in and took up position to either side of the door. The doctor fiddled with the dials, checked the IV bag, poked at the thing on my horn, then finally looked me in the eye.

“For the record,” he said, with a tone that matched the flatness of his gaze, “I advised against waking you so soon, but the powers that be wish to have their answers soon.”

“Powers?” I tried to say, and had to clear my throat thoroughly to form the word. “Is this Canterlot?”

I realized just then to question why I was still alive and able to remember in the first place. The last thing I remembered was Chrysalis crushing my mind. My head still hurt.

“It is,” the pony said. “How do you feel? Changelings aren’t my expertise, despite the many chances I had recently to amend that, so feel free to correct our methods. I am Quiescent, by the way.”

I waved a hoof, making the tube wiggle. “Split Horizon. I’m fine, I think, and don’t worry, I’m not an expert on the subject either.”

“So it would seem.”

“Hmm?”

He returned to poke at buttons that didn’t seem to do anything. “I was told you are a unique specimen, a changeling with the mind of a pony. I had the pleasure to care for your kind more than I would have preferred, but I never had the luck to one with such excellent conversational skills. By the way, you can thank Miss Twine for the book.”

I craned my neck to look at the book on the small table, letting his remark go unanswered. ‘Magic for babies! Ages 0-3.’

I looked at the unicorn baby at the cover proudly displaying her glowing horn, my breath turning into a shuddering exhale. The presence of the book told me about a can of worms that was waiting to be opened, and I wasn’t looking forward to doing it.

The doctor was tentatively not saying anything, and even avoided looking at me until I spoke.

“Was she here?”

“Miss Twine? Don’t be ridiculous. This clearly isn’t a hospital. One of the guards delivered it after it was subjected to thorough examination. It shouldn’t have been allowed at all, but she insisted, and considering her role in the whole issue, it was granted.”

My question was probably written all over me, because I didn’t even have time to form it before he answered.

“She is fine. She is in a hospital, not a cell like this. Luckily, she’s not under my care, so don’t even think about asking me to relay any sappy messages.”

I suppressed a smile. “Glad to hear she’s okay.”

“At least she is,” he murmured under his breath, but didn’t elaborate.

I waited for a few seconds. “How long was I out?” I asked eventually.

“I’m not allowed to tell you that, I’m afraid. I’m just here to help you get ready for your trial.” He adjusted the thing on my horn, then pointed. “Open the door.”

I looked up toward my horn, then rattled my chains.

“Just try. The inhibitor won’t let you do anything, but I need to test how much power you can muster.”

I shrugged and focused on the door this time, with the same results as the window, but Quiescent nodded regardless.

“Don’t be alarmed about the inhibitor. It’s just a security measure, so you don’t try and trick any of the guards. We’ll get it off eventually.” He tapped a dial, with the needle standing barely above zero. “Not that you’d get far. You barely register. That headpiece drained you almost to the bone.”

The recollector. It must have failed, whatever Chrysalis had planned with it. “Do you have it?”

He gave me a studying look. “Why? What do you know about it?”

Sounds of galloping came from beyond the door, as somepony approached in a dead run. The doctor gave me one last look, then looked over his shoulder expectantly. “Never mind. You can ask her the rest.”

The door slammed open, almost knocking one of the guards in the nose. The incomer was a mare, wearing the same scrub as my newest friend, panting from the run.

“Is it up already? Why didn’t anypony warn me? Brr… Why is it so cold in here?”

She looked over the stallion who stood her gaze, then pushed him aside to look at the machines, barely sparing a glance at me in the process.

“I asked to gently wake up the patient so we can prepare it for the trial, not give it a cold shock!” She adjusted the IV needle and prodded me in a few places, where ponies are usually squishy.

“He’s awake, as you wished,” Quiescent said. “Time is short, and I highly doubt a little cold would hurt a changeling.”

“It’s about the principle… Oh, whatever. Did it make any noises?”

He gave me a look and I saw a small smile sitting on his lips. “We had a lovely conversation, in fact. He was asking about the headpiece.”

She froze, and locked eyes with me for the first time. There was fear in those lovely wide eyes of hers. I couldn’t resist the opportunity.

“Hi.”

She stumbled backwards and Quiescent put a hoof on her back to steady her.

“It’s all right. Regardless of appearance, he could pass up for a regular pony. Certainly a step up from the others.”

The mare straightened her lab coat, giving her colleague a querying look. “Him? Is it not a…”

“Oh, no, he’s a regular specimen, but based on level of intelligence shown and his alleged actions in the past, I believe we should show him some respect, and based on the reports he’s been posing as a stallion all along. The princesses certainly think he’s special, too.”

The mare drew in a breath and held it for a few seconds, studying the legs of my bed. “So, the rumors were correct after all. I do have to buy that bottle, don’t I?” She stepped up to me and finally raised her eyes to meet mine. “In that case, I apologize. You must understand, the rest of the changelings we take care of were not so great in the talking department, and when we heard that the Royal Guards collected a special changeling, we made a bet you’ll be just as useless as the others.” She rounded up on her colleague again. “Your first action should have been to inform me, not set up a game. Go and inform the Princesses it’s... He’s up and ready.”

He nodded, with a smirk still on his lips, and spilled out the door. One of the guards followed him, but the other remained in place, watching me. They weren’t taking chances.

“Sorry for scaring you,” I broke the awkward silence that remained after the doctor. “I didn’t expect to wake up in a cell-hospital combo. Truth be told, I didn’t expect to wake up at all.”

“I’ve... heard things,” she said, as she fumbled with the machine. “Weird things. They made me swear not to discuss any of it with you before the trial, though.”

She disconnected the patches taped to my chest. I knew I was bound to face something like a trial, but the mention of it still sent a shiver down my spine. “When?”

She pushed a button and every light and dial on the machine went dead. “Right now.”

***

I insisted my legs were functional, but I was rolled in the audience chamber in a wheelchair by Quiescent anyway. When I saw, who was going to be leading the trial, I momentarily forgot about my dignity. Princess Luna. It made sense, but still, my case was surely not all that important? What could I possibly say that was worth the Princess’s time?

Taking my eyes off the alicorn, I inspected the room and the other occupants. One row of desks formed a half-circle around the room’s well-lit center, with the princess in the middle and four regular ponies to each side. I didn’t need my inhibitor-bound horn to tell me about the mixed feelings they were projecting towards me. I saw a few smiles and frowns as they murmured to each other, but the majority mimicked Luna’s neutral expression. I looked over the whole room once again, but Pearly wasn’t present.

Luna raised a hoof and the room fell silent. Quiescent rolled me center-stage and retreated outside of my vision. I stood the princess’s gaze for a few seconds, then lowered my eyes.

“What’s your name?” Luna addressed me with a steady voice. I looked up at her. So it begins.

“I’m Split Horizon, ma’am.” I did my best to keep the shaking from my voice, with relative success.

“Have the changelings not given you a name of their own?”

“They haven’t. They just called me Split. It was supposed to be temporary.”

“Then let’s not change that for now. I assume we can spare explaining the reason for this trial?”

“I’d prefer that, ma’am. I know what’s going on.” My own voice was getting steady and cool, almost like hers. I felt a touch of pride.

“Very well. Tell us about the events that took place at the invasion, from your point of view. Please note that everything you say is being transcribed.”

I breathed in long, and began speaking. I told them what happened to me, starting from the fall of the shield, elaborating when asked to. I went over how I was found and immediately assumed to be ready rejoin the hive. When I got to the part when I stood up against Hussk, there was a noticeable shuffling around the otherwise silent chamber. Luna raised a hoof, silencing me and the room then looked at a pony in a blue west.

“That’s impossible!” the pony said. “We confirmed the identity of the pony who captured the changeling. He had ample evidence supporting his claim. We even have witnesses, and the changeling didn’t deny it either. It was the work of the brave ponies of Sunshaft. This one must be lying.”

“The changeling in question refused to utter a word so far, Mister Gail,” another pony in glasses said, “and the reports did mention a pony who got away, who might have been changeling as well.”

“Are you saying we must take the award back?”

“All I’m saying is that there is more to the story than we previously thought.”

“We shall revisit the issue once the trial is over,” Luna said, and both ponies fell silent. She gestured me to go on. I described how I met Pearly and how she offered me her help, and predictably, I was interrupted again.

“What were your intentions with her?”

I looked at the pony, who asked the question like she asked what I ate that night. She held my gaze, and I swallowed my indignation.

“Believe me, all I wanted was a place to sleep and some bits. I planned to move out once I had a plan. It just happened that we got along.”

“Are you saying you applied no spell on her to change her attitude?”

“I don’t think so. I might have, but I still don’t fully understand how my magic works.”

“That is not a clear answer. Have you made any attempts or not?”

“I have not, at least not consciously.”

She held up a sheet of paper. “Miss Twine’s testimony includes the changelings’ signature act, the feeding on love. Are you denying it happened?”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “That happened later, with her consent, and it was instinctual. When I met her, I just wanted a place to sleep.”

“Miss Storm, that’s enough,” Luna said, then turned to me. “Be careful what you say, Split Horizon. These matters are fragile. Continue, please.”

I did. “...then we went to the forest to do training. I wanted to be able to use pony magic, but I had an idea about a spell that could mask me, so other changelings won’t recognize me. I had no specifics, and I didn’t know if it would work, but I had no other ideas. No ideas that were viable, at least. I heard there was a library in Ponyville with a proficient librarian who was good in magic, but getting there would have meant crossing an entire mountain, so you can imagine I looked for alternatives.”

The mention of the librarian stirred up some murmurs, but nopony spoke out.

“Do you know who the librarian is?” Luna said.

“I heard that she is the protégé of Princess Celestia, but I don’t know her name.”

“Then who told you to go and ask for her help?”

“Pearly. Didn’t she tell you that?”

“She did, but that is not the concern. Tell us about what she taught you in the forest.”

I described them the spells we practiced, touching on her telling me about her family, and finally on the doll.

“We found the changeling doll in Miss Twine’s indicated location,” another pony announced. “It did bear some striking potential, although the use of it as a magic source cannot be verified at the moment. It is now under investigation.”

I nodded, knowing what was coming up next. “I forgot all about it, actually. Can she get it back?”

“Eventually, I don’t see why not,” the pony shrugged. “After complete nullification, of course.”

I nodded again and waited for questions or comments, anything to delay talking about the fight. I remembered clearly all those ponies laying crushed on the ground, with Pearly looking up at me fearfully.

Everypony leaned forward, with the exception of the princess, who remained stoic. “Tell us about the incident.”

I inhaled, and laid it out to them the best I could. My memories were hazy, but I told them what I recalled. My mouth formed the monotone words, one sentence after the other, as my mind replayed the events in my head. I avoided their eyes, focusing on the floor instead, but I still felt their gazes on me. I described them what happened as if from the viewpoint of an outsider, like it wasn’t me who did it. I wanted to believe it wasn’t.

“Then you were approached by another squad of changelings, is that right?”

I didn’t see who spoke, so I continued to address the floor. “Yes. They attacked the guards and separated me from them. I tried to fight but I was exhausted and they made sure I was helpless. They held my head and forced the recollector on me. I expected to forget everything then, but it was not a recollector, at least not what they had tried on me. It connected me to their queen somehow. I don’t know how it worked or how much time it took, but she talked to me in my head.”

“Yes, we collected the device in question, too,” the pony from earlier said again. “It is a remarkable piece, very much like the first one. It created a mental link between you and the changeling queen over an impressive distance, using your reserves as a source. What you are referring to as a recollector was a similar device, with a similar spell pattern, although it was too damaged for a detailed study. This one, however, is quite intact.”

I shook my head. “Another one? What do you mean?”

A bit of murmur filled the room, until Luna raised her hoof again. “You might be unaware that our guards collected a broken device from a group in the forest, near Sunshaft.”

“Another? You mean Hussk’s group?” Fear clutched my stomach. “Are they here?”

Luna contemplated her answer. “Safe for one, they managed to elude our forces. He’s not yet capable of answering questions. We believe they might have been the same ones attempting to catch you. He is yet to tell us his name.”

Suddenly I was glad of the many guards at every corner.

“Tell us what the queen told you.”

I laid it out the best I remembered, up until the very end. “She was doing something to me, I think erasing my memories, and I can’t remember very well. I can recall something happening that might have interrupted her, a hit to my head, I think. The fact that I remember at all tells me something did happen, though you might know more about that than me.”

“We do,” a stallion said. He was wearing a hat with the Royal Guards’ emblem on it. “You may learn the details later, but something did interrupt the process. You may talk to Commander Rush at some point. He was the one who brought you back.” He looked at the princess, who was eyeing me silently during my monologue. Everypony waited, myself included, for her to say something. I reached the end of my story, and it was time for the conclusion.

“I wish to consult my advisors. The meeting is suspended for ten minutes.”

I leaned back in my chair, but somepony stepped behind me and rolled me out the door. In the hallway outside the audience chamber I was greeted by the doctor who had woken me up. I gave him a nod.

“How am I doing?”

“You may have hope their decision’s going to be favorable,” Quiescent said in a low voice. “Your presentation is quite convincing. Plus, they have the reports and speculations of many ponies who have been working on your case painting a positive picture of you.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Many ponies? Working on my case?”

“Strikes you as odd? Consider the number of changelings that wanted to take you with them. You’re more important than you think.”

“When you put it like that... It’s not easy to wrap my head around it. I never was important to anypony. Except maybe...” I trailed off, but he picked up on it.

“You will see her, eventually,” he reassured me. “There is no reason to keep you two separated after the final decision.”

I nodded silently, and waited.

The time came, and I was rolled back into the spotlight. Luna didn’t waste any time getting the audit back on track.

“I must admit, I expected this day to provide us with more answers.”

I gulped. This wasn’t a good start. She looked me in the eye, and I felt like the chair was swallowing me.

“You, Split, confirmed a great deal of our suspicions and speculations, but we are not closer to the changeling queen’s motives than before. Regardless, your cooperation and general attitude earns you our trust. You will not be sharing the fate of your kin.”

I exhaled, like a boulder was rolled off my chest.

“If you are willing to help us further, Sergeant Cheval will be ready to accept your inputs.”

The pony in the hat nodded, thought there was a little frown on his lips. I looked back at Luna.

“We believe your desire to join the Royal Guard still lives. Is that correct?”

My eyes almost popped out of their sockets. No way. This was too good to be true. Judging by the tiny smile, the first emotion on her, that the princess watched my reaction with, I was right.

“Obviously, we cannot let you fulfill that particular dream, or let you take part in any military operation. You might also be disappointed to hear that we are unable to revert the effect of the spell the royal couple cast on the city a week ago, nor did we find a spell to hide you from changelings seeking you. We, however, allow you to live in Canterlot as a citizen, under certain conditions.”

She said it. I was pardoned. I couldn’t believe it. “A-anything, Princess. Thank you.”

“Very well. Listen carefully. These rules will serve your safety as much as the ponies’ around you. Welcome back to society, Split Horizon.”

***

“Well?”

I shook my head in disbelief. “It’s even better than I expected. I... I don’t know what to say. I can’t believe I’m so lucky.”

Quiescent patted me on the back, as he was pushing my chair down the corridor. He warmed up to me considerably since our first meet. “Don’t give all the credit to blind luck. You worked hard to get here.”

“I had help, though.”

“Yes, you had. Don’t let that dissuade you. You’re the first changeling to achieve this much.”

I looked back at him. “This much? Am I not the first to try?”

He hummed and shrugged. “I couldn’t say. I don’t have a perfect insight into the machinations of the government, but wouldn’t be surprised. The princesses have taken in the strangest of creatures during the years... Or, at least Celestia did... Oh, we’re almost there. Are you ready?”

I sighed. “Sure. Did you get the book from the cell?”

“It’s in the compartment in the bottom.”

“Thanks. Wish me luck.”

“Remember, she’s just a young girl. She’s not going to bite your head off, if that book is any indication.”

“It’s not my head I’m worried about. I dragged her into my mess.”

“And she followed gladly. Now go.”

We stopped in front of a nondescript double door. I inhaled deeply, and pushed one side open.

Beyond was a long room with desks and chairs and only a few ponies scattered around. They looked up at me as I rolled in, my eyes searching for a flaxen mane.

She was sitting with two other mares, with a plate in front of each of them. Upon my approach, the two ponies stood and reseated further away, leaving us room, but not too far to intervene if necessary. Quiescent left me, swiftly joining them. They exchanged a few hushed words, but didn’t leave the room, as I’d hoped. Pearly remained on her chair and followed me with her gaze as I rolled the wheelchair to her. With each passed meter, a familiar warmness grew inside me.

She looked fine, considering the events of that certain afternoon. A couple of bruises on her cheek and side showed the work of the townsponies, and she was holding her right hoof close to her stomach. Her hair flowed freely down her shoulders, her mouth a thin line.

Stopping the chair at her table, I leaned down and pulled out the book. “I got this in the mail. I suppose it means you’re not furious with me?”

She pushed her plate away and kept looking at me steadily.

“Because you should,” I went on, hitting a more serious tone. “I shouldn’t have dragged you into this. I should have...”

She picked up the book with her magic and, without warning, stuffed it in my mouth. She then proceeded to stand up, limp to me, and draw me in a one-legged hug. “Shut up, bug-pony.”

I spat the book on the table and wrapped my own hooves around her, cautious as first, but she squeezed me harder, and I let my head fall on her shoulders.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered. Her hair smelled like shampoo and fried hay. I didn’t believe I was very pleasant to hold, but she didn’t seem to mind. The warm feeling got even stronger, feeling me with strength.

“I’m sorry too. I should have known what taking you in would bring upon me, but you were terrifying.”

“Are you not afraid?”

She sighed. “A little. I’m better now. I knew changelings were dangerous, but I was too excited to care, and when you came to me to take me to safety, I got cold hooves. Icy cold hooves. I would have run straight to my clearing if I weren’t hurting so much. When the guards took you, I cried out, but they didn’t hear me.” She unfolded her legs and pulled my chair close to hers, then sat back down. “How did the audit go? I wanted to visit you, but they didn’t let me. It took a lot of time for them to even give my book to you. Did you like it?”

I looked at the prancing filly on the cover. “I didn’t know what to feel. I woke up this morning, not knowing where I was, how long I was out, how you were doing, why wasn’t I in the Hive, and so on. I did put it together that you wouldn’t have gone with an inside joke if you didn’t want to tell me something, eventually.” I looked up at her and smiled. “I’m gonna take you up on the offer, though.”

She chuckled. “We’ll see how that goes. So, what’s gonna happen to you? Nopony’s telling me anything.”

“Well, in a nutshell, I’m pardoned. I can stay in Canterlot and be a pony, but... Oh...”

She leaped up and pulled me into another hug. “That’s great! I’m so proud of you. I told them you would make a great pony.” She sat back, her good foreleg resting on mine. “What else?”

“I’m not allowed to leave the city, use more than one form, use magic of any kind, feed without consent, take certain jobs, and generally live without guards watching my every step. At least for a while. The rules are subject to change down the line, if I behave. Oh, and I have to provide aid with efforts against changelings whenever needed, and help any other changelings with my condition.”

“So, basically, you’re a war criminal and this is your bail.”

“I don’t know. Maybe. It’s not that bad, considering the alternatives.”

“That’s true... It still sounds bad, but you’re right. At least I can keep you around, even if not as an employee.”

I raised an eyebrow. “How come? I won’t be leaving Canterlot anytime soon, and you can’t just relocate...”

She put a mischievous smile on.

“...except if you already have.”

“That’s right! They brought me here along with you, and when it was time for me to leave, I told them I couldn’t go back after what had happened. They arranged a place and a job for me here. Maybe, sometime I can return to my hotel and my diner, but they can wait. My uncle promised me that he will keep an eye out for them.”

I hung my head. “I’m sorry you had to leave home because of me.”

She lifted my chin with a foreleg. “Don’t blame yourself. I’m a big girl. I know what I’m doing, and I don’t regret siding with you.”

I took her hoof in mine. “Thanks. When you didn’t want me to help you, in the town, I thought I lost you for good.”

She rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah... Not my strongest moment, I admit. You scared me half to death with that act, you freaky creature. Promise me you won’t go all hell-spawn again.”

“Deal.”

We sat in silence for a bit. I became distinctly aware of the three other ponies in the cafeteria with us. They put up a good show of not paying attention to us.

“So, uhm...” I said, shuffling my hooves. “What now?”

She poked me in the chest. “First, tell me why I had to learn your real name from the guards. Second, change into something with an actual iris so I can tell if you’re looking me in the eye.”

I felt my cheeks warming up. “I wanted to keep it secret so the changelings won’t hear somepony saying it, and I never got around telling you, I guess.”

She shook her head. “I would have told it right away. Split Horizon sounds much cooler than Mint Flower.”

I smirked. “I never noticed. Do you really want me to change? I thought you liked changelings.”

“Yeah, but in light of recent events I’d rather put that part of me on hold.”

I winced. “Sure, fair enough.” In the private areas of the complex, I was free to roam in my native body. I didn’t ask specifically, but I doubted they would be upset at me if I used my skill in the loosely populated cafeteria for a few minutes. “I have a few choices. What would you like to see?”

“What you looked like before the change. Is that okay?”

“Oh, that...? Sure, no problem. Here we go...”

I rolled backwards and, still sitting in the chair, assumed my old body. The effect was immediate.

“You?!” She exclaimed. “I mean, him? This is your old body?”

I looked over myself. I was the perfect replica of original Split. What did she mean... Oh. Right.

“Yes,” I grinned proudly. “The very one.”

“But why...”

“You spooked me when you brought in the towel,” I explained. “I was formless in that moment, and I put on this one by reflex, instead of the one you knew me by. It’s not the finest example of a stallion, but I lived with it for years, and grew rather fond of it.”

“I should have guessed. It does suit you, though. It’s a little dorky.”

I studied my well-known hoof. From all the bodies, this remained the closest to my heart. “Too bad I can’t use it anymore. They created a new one for the street.” I hid a smile with the back of my hoof.

“Is it that bad? Can I see it?”

I glanced around. Even Quiescent was openly watching us by this point. I turned back at Pearly, and gave her a big grin. “Sure. They worked extremely hard on it.”

I closed my eyes and envisioned the form. Even just picturing it, it gave me goosebumps. On came the flames.

“Oh my gosh... You look just like a Royal Guard!”

The End