“I think I’ll kill you,” Sweetie Belle said with her typical grin. “But not just yet. I’ve got more questions for you, changeling. Consider it like a test. With this one, however, you get a bad grade even if you ace it.”

I wish she would just kill the ugly changeling. She already won in a fight with him and made him surrender. It would be easy for her to finish him off by telekinetically throwing some more stones at him. After all the time she honed her magic, he wouldn’t have a chance against her attacks.

The changeling’s body shook. He swallowed aloud. “Whaa… What kind of questions?”

He crossed the line and should be dealt with accordingly. Taking me hostage and threatening to kill me—it wasn’t his choice to make. Only Sweetie Belle may decide when I die. She is the one that created me from The Mirror Pool. Only she has the right to uncreate me.

“What were you doing in Ponyville?” Sweetie Belle walked in a circle around Zex, not letting him out of her sight.

Is that the town Sweetie Belle is from? I wish I knew. I wish I could have at least some of her memories.

“I told you that already. This area was marked for scouting. I was to determine the sum of its love potential and report back to my Queen, passion be upon her.”

But I only got a copy of her body when she made me. It’s her memories that make her better than me, more deserving.

“How do you test for love?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Everypony hates clones like me. Sweetie Belle told me that and other things, as well. When Town’s ponies found clones of some other pony they stashed them all in one room.

“You know what making love means, right?”

According to what I’ve been told, none of them came out alive.

“Well, my sister Rarity told me about it. She said it’s something magical, but wouldn’t go into the details. I think she wasn't completely honest with me.

“I then asked Twilight, but she told me some really gruesome stuff that I’m sure were nothing but lies,” Sweetie Belle said. “After that, she said she has some books on the subject.”

I bet the changeling would hate me too if he knew I was just a clone.

Zex looked at her. “It’s best to experience these things yourself if you really want to understand them. Just find a Colt that’s also into it and experiment with each other.”

She’s the only one that accepts me. I wish I could belong and have a place at her side, but she’ll only have me if I prove useful to her. And I will prove to be useful to her. I’ll show her that I can be even better than the earlier Clonies were.

“Show me!” Sweetie Belle ordered.

Whaa—Oh, she’s looking at him, not me. Yay, my first time hearing an order that’s not directed at me. I get to see another pony do her bidding for a change. Not sure if he even is a pony, though? He looks really ugly.

“Look, you’re just a filly. I prefer not to do fillies. Maybe you should wait with these things until you’re older.”

The changeling really shouldn’t talk back to Sweetie Belle like that. He’ll get her mad.

“I won’t let age limit me!” Sweetie Belle thumped a hoof on the ground.

Yup, he pissed her off. I wouldn’t want to be him. He dug his own grave by crossing Sweetie Belle. Well, I’ll be the one who ends up digging it, but he’d be the reason for my extra effort!

“I’m sorry, you’re just too young. I won’t do it. And didn’t you learn enough from the books that Twilight gave you on the subject?”

Did he just refuse a direct order from Sweetie Belle?

“No, I ran out of the library, before Twilight could force her books on me. I insist that you show it to me!” Sweetie Belle’s horn glowed and stones lifted from the ground around Zex.

I figured he wouldn’t live long enough to regret it. He already had a taste of what Sweetie Belle could do with her magic, and he was about to feel her full fury.

Zex ground his teeth as his eyes jerked around the dome of floating stones surrounding him. He bowed his head and relaxed his body. “Fine!”

Stones fell to the ground around him.

I didn’t understand why she didn’t just kill him. He knew the location of her hiding place. If he were to tell anypony about it, they would come for her. She had told me that all ponies hate her because her magical abilities were superior to theirs. If they came for her and tried to cut off her horn again, she would have to kill all of them, instead of just Zex. I wouldn’t be able to dig a big enough hole to hold so many ponies!

“You’re gonna need to relax a bit for this to work.” He walked toward her.

I wasn’t sure if Sweetie Belle still needed me. She probably just wanted to play with her prey before ending him. I expected her to send me back to digging the next time she’d notice me. The hole still wasn’t deep enough. And when Sweetie Belle would add the changeling to the pile of used up Clonies, the hole would have to be deeper, still.

He raised a hoof toward Sweetie Belle.

“Don’t touch me!” She jumped back tensing up her entire body then pointed a hoof at me. “Show it on Clonie!”

Oh, crap.

“No, I won’t do it against her will. I’m not a beast you see me as.”

“But she wants you to do it. Clonie!” Her glare pierced me. “Tell him that you want to do it!”

I don’t want this creep to touch me. No way. I’d rather go back to digging my grave! “Yes, I want it,” I said obediently.

“See? Now go to it, changeling! She’ll gladly take anything you can throw at her.”

He shook his head. “I very much doubt that.”

“Me too,” I whispered to myself.

Sweetie Belle’s horn glowed with dark bubbly aura. It seeped from the corners of her eyes, as well.

He turned to me. “If this gets in any way uncomfortable for you just say stop, and I’ll stop. Okay?”

I opened my mouth to say stop, but Sweetie Belle answered instead of me. “I’m sure it won’t come to that.” Her horn shone darkly. “I’ll just watch from back here.” A black crystal rose from the ground before her. She hugged and caressed it with both forelegs.

“Magic-assisted crystal growth...” the changeling murmured and half-closed his eyes. “Fascinating...”

“Quit stalling!” she yelled at him.

“Hold your horses. Let me slip into something more appropriate first.” Zex closed his eyes, and bright circles appeared around his hooves. They moved up leaving yellow fur without any holes in their wake. The hoops merged and encompassed his body. When they moved up, the form changed. A set of feathery appendages revealed themselves on his sides. His horn folded against his forehead while the circles dissipated above his head.

Author's Note

Don't forget to participate in the Comment section minigames when you're done reading this chapter.

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