A Changing Perspective

by Dragrace

Rating: everyone
Tags: Human, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Changelings, Original Character, Queen Chrysalis
Length: 83048

Jack becomes a Changeling by accident in hopes of curing his depression. Will this do him any good?

Jack was a normal teenage boy, other than the fact that he suffered from a deep depression. Well, maybe he was normal, everybody had depressing moments in their life, he was no exception. But something happens that forces him to believe he isn't normal. After wishing he could live in the world of Equestria, things take a turn for the worse.

He wakes up in Equestria and was extremely excited, only to find he was one of the most hated creatures - a changeling.

Will Jack be able to fit in as a regular pony? Or will he sink back into depression after torment from the ponies he once loved?

Will he end up fighting against the ones he once loved just to get his freedom?

Published 2012-09-03 02:44:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-08-01 05:22:30 UTC

Chapter 1 - Introduction

It was another long and boring night, but Jack didn’t care. He felt like his entire life had been filled with torment and punishment for things he didn’t do. Everybody hated him, or at least he felt that way. His school career was already plummeting, he wasn’t passing and he knew he wouldn’t be able to bring his grades up high enough to pass on the exams alone. Every day after school he would lock himself in his room, open up his computer, and watch videos online. He couldn’t get enough of the My Little Pony series, and he waited impatiently for season 3. After watching Hurricane Fluttershy for the fifteenth time, he decided that he would eat his dinner outside, considering his house had no air conditioning and his small dark room was very humid. He flung open the dull, wooden cabinets to find the shelves nearly empty. His parents were rarely around anyways, so most of the time they left him money so he could buy food. Jack began rummaging through the foods, pulling out and old can labeled “green beans”.

‘Nope, had those this morning.’ He thought to himself.

He noticed a small box of crackers in the corner, the nameless brand his parents usually bought. Pulling them out slowly, Jack gave a sigh of disappointment, and headed down the narrow hall out of his kitchen towards the back door. Grabbing the handle, he gave it a hard tug. Nothing happened. He pulled again and let out a grunt of frustration. The back door was almost always stuck. With one final pull, the door flung open knocking Jack right off his feet and onto the ground.

‘Great,’ he thought to himself, ‘Now I have to eat cracker bits again.’

Slowly recovering from his fall, he slowly walked onto the back porch and sat down on a small wooden chair.

---<

An hour passed, or so he thought. His parents hadn’t shown up yet, more than likely doing overtime work to help keep the bills paid. A few emergency sirens went off here or there, and he could hear every passing car. Staring out into the star filled sky he closed his eyes and imagined what it would be like living in Equestria. Everybody (or everypony in this case) cared for each other, there was no fighting, war, disease, poverty and so on.

‘Man I wish I could live there,’ he thought to himself.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw something moving in the sky. It was moving relatively quickly, but living in the big city had a lot of those kinds of things.

‘Probably another helicopter.’

Helicopters were an everyday thing, when he lived in the country the entire family got excited when one passed overhead. Since they moved, he found it wasn't nearly as exciting living in such a heavily populated area. After looking at the helicopter for a little longer, he noticed it was a shooting star.

'Woah, a shooting star! I haven't seen one of those since... Err... Well that just proves my point! I don't even remember the last one I saw!'

Last time, though him and his friend saw one. His friend had wished that he could see his grandparents again, and surprisingly they moved all the way from Europe just to see him! Since that kind of wish came true, he thought he might as well make a wish on that star.

“I wish I could live in Equestria, with all the other ponies.” Jack mumbled to himself, not wanting to be heard by any of his neighbors.

As he stared at the passing star, he noticed it began to slow down. Not only was it slowing down, it was getting bigger. He noticed the large flaming chunk of rock wasn’t stopping, but it was turning! Panic began to set in, and he ran towards the small wooden door that may save him. As he pounded on the door in attempts to open it, he realized it was stuck… again! Without anywhere to go, he turned around, closed his eyes, and prepared for the worst.

---<

Jack woke up quickly, remembering last night. He was lying down on the grass and was quite comfortable, perhaps he had just passed out? He lay in the soothing bright green grass for a moment, pondering if he should get up or not. As he attempted to put his arm behind himself to get better leverage, he noticed his arm would not move in such a direction. His shoulders felt a little out of place as well. As a matter of fact, his whole body was feeling out of whack!

'Something just doesn't feel right here...'

He quickly rolled over and rose on all fours, quickly scanning the environment. No fences, no wood, no small town house, however there were many tall evergreen trees, some rocks both small and large, and a pond with some cattail sticking out.

‘Wait a minute! Did my wish actually come true?’

His excitement got the better of him, and he thought of all the things he could do around Ponyville, maybe he would even meet one of the mane six, better yet meet his favorite Pegasus pony ever – Rainbow Dash!

‘Hmmm…What do I even look like anyways?’ He pondered.

First thing he did was look down at his hooves. But they weren’t exactly hooves. His legs were a deep black, with several holes in them. Well they looked like holes anyways.

‘Oh crap.’

After slowly taking in the possibilities of what could have happened, he began to analyze his new body. It was a little uncomfortable, well, different at the least. With the joints in different spots, it was a little awkward to move. Carefully taking a step forward, he stumbled a little but continued moving. After a minute of walking he sped up, and eventually broke into a sprint. He quickly ran over to the pond, almost forgetting about his suspicions. His suspicions were definitely true. His neutral feelings quickly diminished into panic. Staring back at him from the water was a blue-eyed, deep black changeling.

“No!” He yelled out loud, starling himself slightly at his own voice.

He heard a crack nearby, maybe somebody; no somepony may have heard him.

‘Err… how do changelings disguise themselves? I don't think they ever mentioned it in the series...’ He thought, and after a brief moment noticed the severity if he were to be caught.

‘Well the least I can do is hide.’

He quickly ran behind a tree and peered over to see what was approaching. It was Fluttershy, on a regular stroll through the forest, followed by a small group of ducks.

“Okay duckies,” she said quietly, “You have a nice time while I go grab something for you to eat.”

The changeling slowly slid down the side of the tree, beginning to think of the Fluttershy he knew from the series.

‘Okay, so maybe she wouldn’t try to hurt me unlike most of the others. If I were to start, this would be the best pony to start with.’

---<

After thinking more about Fluttershy, she returned a couple minutes later. He carefully admired her from a distance, ensuring he would not be seen. More memories of Fluttershy came to mind, how she cared for just about every living thing. Would she care about one changeling? Would she try to hurt me? Would she tell the others? Suddenly, he felt a tingling sensation feeling pass through his hooves, his feet, well, whatever they were. The feeling quickly passed through the rest of his body, and when he looked down to see what happened, he had pink hair blocking some of his vision. Turning around quickly, he saw three pink butterflies on his yellow flank, as well as a long, pink tail.

“Woah!” he said to himself, quickly noticing he said it out loud.

“Wh-Who’s there?” said a now nervous voice.

Jack heard hoofsteps slowly approaching, and he began to quickly analyze the situation. Should he run, and clearly be seen by Fluttershy? Should he stay and hide in hopes of not being found? His options were fairly limited, but he decided to at least attempt to change into something else, seeing as he was a changeling. He quickly began thinking of Rainbow Dash, her looks, movement, and experiences. Before he knew it, he felt the tingling sensation again, and he now had cyan hooves, rainbow tail and mane as well as a shiny new cutie mark.

‘Now what?’ He thought. Without hesitation, he hopped out from the tree saying “Hiya Fluttershy!”

“Eeep!” came the response, “Oh you scared me Rainbow Dash! Wh-What are you doing around here anyways? If you don’t mind me asking.”

‘Crap. Wasn’t expecting a question.’

“Well I was just flying by when I saw you down here with the ducks, so I decided to check what’s up.” The changeling responded.

‘That’s something Rainbow Dash would say… right?’

“Well okay then Rainbow, I’ll see you around soon I guess. I don’t want to be late to feed Angel, you know how that bunny can be sometimes. Y-You don't mind me leaving, right?”

“Of course not, Fluttershy! I’ll see you around then!” Jack let out a sigh of relief.

He had escaped a potential disaster on his first day; however he knew things were going to get more complicated if he had to take the forms of ponies he knew well. Should he meet up with the real pony he was mimicking, things would only become a heck of a lot worse. Before leaving the pond, he decided to return to Fluttershy’s form, since he knew she would be at her cottage feeding her abundance of pets. This would be the safest way to travel around Ponyville, at least for now anyways.

‘Wait… which direction is Ponyville in anyways?’ Jack pondered, ‘Perhaps I should just follow the direction Fluttershy was heading, I know she lives near Ponyville.’

Following the hoof prints left in the grass, Jack slowly treaded through the shallow forest.

---<

It only took the changeling about five minutes to reach Fluttershy’s cottage. He stared at it for a brief moment, taking a mental note of Ponyville being a two minute walk away. The wooden structure of the cottage was quite pretty, although he was never really interested in architecture. Before he had a chance to leave, he turned around to find another Fluttershy, paralyzed in fear, staring back at him. Before he had a chance to say anything, she took off towards Ponyville. Without thinking things through, he bolted down the dirt path after her. He knew that he shouldn't follow her, but he wasn't quite thinking things straight after the whole 'Oh yeah I'm a changeling right now, everypony is going to hurt me' incident. The path was pretty straight forward, and the changeling was surprised at Fluttershy’s speed.

'I was not expecting her to be so fast!'

He never really did see Fluttershy run, although he did know she wasn’t a very fast flier. Jumping over the occasional overgrown root, or veering to avoid plants, he kept right on Fluttershy’s tail. When he was no more than a hoof away, he finally noticed he was in Ponyville. Surrounded by other ponies. All of which were staring at him.

“Well, well,” Said a voice behind him, “Now just what do we have here?”

Jack, now in fear to find who was talking to him, slowly turned around to see a purple unicorn staring back at him. Twilight Sparkle gave a slight smile, knowing the changeling had nowhere to run.

“Now, I think the Princess would want to hear about this!”

Chapter 2 - The Not So Great Escape

Okay, so things aren't looking so great for Jack. I mean, he's been there for an hour or so and has already been caught by Twilight Sparkle. Things couldn't get much worse, unless Celestia were to give him a visit as well. However, that was exactly what the unicorn had planned.

"I thought all the changelings had been sent back to their hive after Queen Chrysalis had been banished from Canterlot!" the unicorn said.

"I told you already, I'm NOT a changeling!" stated Jack, in his changeling form.

"Clearly you are, and that spell should keep your changeling form until I can get this letter sent to Celestia about this situation."

"If I was a changeling, then why aren't I working for Chrysalis?"

"You aren't working for Chrysalis?" Twilight grunted a little. "Changelings are insects, and like all insects they are always completely obedient to their Queen. She probably sent you here to spy on us."

Jack knew there was no way he was going to convince Twilight otherwise. He glanced around the room, the basement of the Tree-brary wasn't quite what he expected, it was a lot darker than he thought. Maybe it was just the magic pink bubble surrounding him that made things seem so strange. There were a couple metal tables, more than likely used for chemical experiments. There were even a couple bookshelves down there, although they didn't seem to get much use seeing as they were covered with webs.

'There has to be a way to get me out of here before Celestia comes... I don't even want to know what she'll do to me!' Jack thought to himself. 'Or maybe she might actually listen to my story, and help get everything sorted out'

He had already missed his chance to manipulate her mind, Twilight's magic would definitely overpower his skills. If only he knew how to manipulate the mind anyways...

---<

He sat there in silence, watching Twilight pace back and fourth over the wooden floors, at a pace that sounded almost like a clock ticking. Right in front of her, held upright by magic, was a book titled "Changeling Lifestyle" and had a grey spine. On the front there was a picture that looked almost identical to himself.

"Says here that a changeling would never wander off on it's own, they tend to travel in groups to stay safe." Twilight said, breaking the awkward silence.

"See? That means I'm not a normal changeling! Now can you please let me out of here?" Jack responded, getting quite annoyed not being able to move.

"Not necessarily, you may have other friends here as well, and it could take us quite a while to find out who they are"

Great. At this rate nopony would even get a chance to see him since they would all be suspicious. He thought about what would happen, a pony walks in to see, Twilight suspects them to be a changeling, blasts them with a spell sending them flying into the wall, just to slowly slide back down. More than likely they would be frustrated and get in a heated argument with Twilight, but eventually they would leave. When he finally snapped back to reality, Twilight had left, and there was no more magic bubble preventing him from moving. The first thing he decided to do was to check the door, which had obviously been locked.

"Don't even think about trying to get out, buddy!" said a very familiar voice. "If you do I'll give you a buck so hard you may never wake up!"

Oh my gosh. It was Rainbow Dash! It was Jack's favorite Pony... Ever! Oh he had so many questions to ask, so many things to talk about, he might even get an autograph! Oh wait... He was a changeling.

'Gah! That stupid wish got me what I wanted... but I can't do anything!' he thought.

Wait a minute, he knew each character almost perfectly. Maybe he could convince Rainbow Dash that he was one of the mane 6, and Twilight had gone crazy with power or something. The plan sounded perfect, but who would he be?

---<

A few minutes passed, and he still wasn't sure. He knew for certain he couldn't be Twilight, since she probably told Rainbow to guard the door, and she couldn't be Rainbow, because you can't really convince somepony they aren't who they really are. Did that make sense? Well it shouldn't matter, he planned to get out of there quickly and perhaps hide for a day or so, until things around town settled down. Thinking of who he should mimic, he decided to do Applejack. With the tingling sensation, he became the tan pony, with hat and all.

"Gosh darn it why don't ya'll just go back ta sleep ya filthy insect!" Jack said, pretending to be Applejack.

"You can't fool me that easily!" Came the response from Rainbow.

"Ah ain't foolin' anypony now ya here! Twilight sent me to keep this here thang under control 'till she get's back!" he said.

"Then why would she have me guard the door, and have you down there? You know Twilight only asks me for help if she really needs it. I am a busy pegasus after all!"

"This darned thang keeps lookin' at ma hat funneh. You know what ah think of that?" Jack gives the wall a solid buck, and it sounded like a pretty convincing hit. "That's right! Y'all better not get back up now, ya hear?"

There was some shuffling from the other side of the door, and the shadow appears to be moving. Maybe he had convinced Rainbow he really was Applejack.

'Or maybe I just completely blew what Applejack would say or do and he knows I'm a fake...' He quietly sobbed to himself.

The door began to creek, and a hint of cyan could be seen through the small opening.

"If you really are Applejack," came the voice of Rainbow Dash, "Then how did you get your cutie mark?"

Oh man. That was an easy one, he remembered that episode well.

"Well, ah was on ma way to the big city because ah didn't want to run the farm. While ah was in the city, I found thangs to be a little... overwhelming for ma taste. So one morning, ah noticed that ah didn't want to work in the big city, but instead ah wanted to be an ol' country gal just like Mac and Granny!" he said, finishing the shortened version of the story.

That was what happened... right? And that is how Applejack speaks, right? There was a silence, and Jack could only hope Rainbow bought the whole thing. The door creaked some more, and more light began to poor into the room.

"Did you really knock that thing out?" said Rainbow.

"Of course ah did! Buckin' apples is just as easy as buckin' these here changelings." came Jacks response.

The door opened slightly more. He wanted it to open just slightly more so he could make a run for it.

"Can I see it? I must have been pretty awesome!"

"Of course you can, sugarcube, it's knocked out at the bottom of the stairs if ya want to see it."

The door opened slightly more. Freedom was beckoning as the light continued to expand.

"Rainbow dash! What are you doing?" Came the voice of Twilight.

Crap. Crap crap crap. Now may be my only chance! Quickly, Jack slammed face first into the door, knocking Rainbow Dash off balance. Twilight, slightly stunned by the sudden smashing door could only watch as Applejack, in this case the changeling ran right past her. Jumping over a few books spread across the floor, and dodging a small purple dragon carrying loads of books, Jack leaped right out of the open front door. He stopped for a brief second just outside the Tree-brary, and quickly decided to take a right. He had no idea where he was really going, all he knew was that he had to get away. Seconds after escaping the prison, he found himself unable to move again. He turned his head to see Twilight's horn glowing, her magic was easily able to stop the attempted escape.

"You can't fool anypony, we all know who you really are," she said, as she hit Jack with another spell. Everything faded to black, and Jack fell into a deep sleep.

---<

"...and then he tried to escape but I caught him just in time" Twilight finished.

'Was that about me?' Jack thought to himself, 'And just who is she talking to?'

He looked around to see Rarity, Applejack, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Celestia all in a small circle around him. So Celestia really was that big when compared to normal ponies! He then noticed the shaking Fluttershy hiding among the legs of her friends.

"Quite and interesting story, I must say" Celestia responded. "But one thing does strike me as a bit odd - Changelings aren't normally used to being other ponies, and this one was able to mimic you quite well. Perhaps he is telling the truth."

He let out a sigh of relief. He knew Celestia would understand.

"However, he may have just been around for a very long time, and learned many tricks from the ponies around him" Celestia continued.

'Darn, and I was so close too' He thought to himself.

"Eww the creepy thing is awake!" Along with a little shriek.

Obviously it had been Rarity talking, and Fluttershy shrieking.

"Very well then." The Princess stated. "What shall we do with you?"

"Let me go?" Jack responded. "Please?"

"And continue to feed your Queen with the loves of those you deceive?" Twilight cut in, "I doubt that's going to happen!"

"I think it's appropriate that we send you back to your colony, and keep you away from ponies" Celestia said.

Her horn began to glow, and with a sudden flash of light Jack found himself in a very dark cave. Despite the darkness, he could see very well what was inside. The cave was filled with many black creatures, moving almost routinely, and well as groups of dark sacks splotched with large green lumps. There were stalagmites and stalactites throughout the caves. He had never seen the place before, but he knew just where he was. He was in the Changeling Hive.

Chapter 4 - Under Surveillance

The forest was the same as he had remembered. Surrounded by a variety of trees, both in shape and size, he attempted to determine his way back to Ponyville. Jack was at a loss of where to go, he had no idea what kind of area he was in, and he couldn't see any sort of buildings nearby. He let out a sigh of disappointment. Before he was able to take another breath, a green flash of light appeared before him. Closing his eyes to protect himself, he wondered what was in store for him this time. After a few seconds, he saw the light fading slightly through his eyelids and decided it would be safe to open them again. Standing before him were two more changelings.

"Wh...What are YOU doing here?" Jack stuttered, slightly surprised by the sudden appearance of the two changelings.

They simply stared at him. The one on the right was slightly bigger in size compared to the one on the left, and had a lighter Chitin. The one on the left appeared to have slightly larger wings. The awkward silence continued, crickets chirping happily in the background, with neither of the new changelings speaking. Finally, Jack decided to ask them another question in order to break the silence.

"Well, can you at least give me your names?" Jack said.

"We are simple drones, names are of little importance." The changeling on the left said.

The voice of the changeling seemed to be void of emotion. It was quite raspy, and not as deep as he had expected. Since they had no names, he decided to think of his own in order to keep track of them. The bigger one could be Biggs, while the smaller one would be Wings.

'Well that sure is creative...' Jack thought to himself.

He never really needed to name anything, well, at least since his pet dog Fluffs died. At least they had discrete differences, otherwise things may be a lot more confusing.

"We are here for supervision, it is our duty." 'Wings' said.

'Huh. So there's duties outside of the Hive, other than feeding?' Jack thought.

"Well I recommend not coming into the city. With the way you two talk, you're going to get caught." Jack said.

He was lying; so long as they didn't talk they wouldn't be caught. But he just didn't want two more changelings following him, especially since if he didn't return to the hive... Well he didn't really know what would happen. It would probably be something pretty awful, and before he knew it his imagination was flooded with ideas. Like draining him of emotions until he collapsed, leaving nothing but a husk behind. Maybe they would make it quick and painless, but he couldn't really think of a punishment of that sort. Snapping back to reality, he noticed both the changelings were gone, leaving nothing behind of where they had stood. He began wandering once more, in hopes of finding some sort of civilization soon.

---<

The walk had been going for a long time. The trees seemed to surround him, the forest's relentless behavior for loosing ponies really had been true. Finally, Jack saw a small smoke stack coming from just ahead. It was already getting dark; Celestia's sun was slowly falling behind the horizon.

'Ponies!' He thought to himself.

Before running ahead, he noticed he still hadn't really chosen a disguise yet.

'Alright, I need to think this through CAREFULLY this time, and not get carried away. I can't get risk getting caught and being sent back to the Hive again, that is, if they do send me back... Jack's thoughts seem to trail off.

He couldn't decide what he was going to do. Perhaps this time he would try a creation of his own, however he wasn't really sure what he wanted to look like. As a matter of fact, he could only really picture ponies he had seen before. He shrugged it off, and began to think who he should be. Debating with himself for a while, he decided it would be best to be Colgate. He had no idea why, really, but hey, as far as he knew she didn't live near the edges of the forest. As he followed both the sight and scent of smoke, he noticed a building approaching. Carefully maneuvering around the trees, he saw it to be a small wooden hut. The hut itself blended into the surroundings relatively well, except for the light coming from the windows and door. After a few more moments of admiring the hut, he decided to go for a visit.

'Zecora lives here, from what I remember. I wonder if she really rhymes ALL the time. It probably gets pretty annoying. ' Jack thought.

Slowly approaching the door, he gave two knocks before he got a response.

"My my, now who might we have here? It is almost night, have you no fear?" The zebra asked.

The door swung open, revealing Jacks new light blue coat. It was quite... Beautiful, despite the fact he hadn't really seen many coats up close. He never really got a chance to see many ponies at all, for all that mattered. The interior decorations were certainly much more... unique that anywhere else in Ponyville. The hanging masks on the wall gave Jack an eerie feeling. Other than that, it wasn't very exciting. A few bottles here and there, most of which were empty, a couple potted plants and a small doorway leading to what looked like a bedroom. There was a cauldron in the middle of the room; however the logs below it remained unlit.

'I guess nothing's cooking, pity though, I hear she makes great soup.' He thought. 'And since when did I hear of Zecora making soup?'

"My dear Colgate, why do you wander at such an hour? Do you seek me for something of great power?" Zecora rhymed.

"Oh, no, I was just um... looking for some ingredients. Yeah Ponyville was running a little short on herbs." Jack replied.

"That not an answer for what was asked, my dear. Without your explanation, you leave me in fear!"

"Oh yeah we have some sickness going around. I'm not quite sure what it's called but it has to do with the... Uh... Magical capacities of unicorns. Yeah so they can't use magic well."

"But all is not lost, I hope! Have you been able to cope?"

Jack nods. On the bright side she was believing everything he had just said. In reality he really had no idea what he was talking about.

"Now what herbs might you require? Some golden leaf, or the knot of squire?"

'That rhyming is already getting annoying...

"Err..." Jack had no idea what kinds of herbs there were in Equestria. "I'm not really sure what it's called, but... Err... I know what it looks like!" Jack stated, a little excited.

'Phew. Nice save. I never thought improv club would ever actually come in use!'

"Very well, but be sure to take your time. Ask if you will, and you may take what's mine."

After aimlessly wandering around the room for a few minutes, Jack stumbled upon a small plant growing in a pot. The pot itself had a beautiful light blue coloring, with red zigzags across it. It's placement in the corner of the room seemed to set it apart from all the other plants. Since it appeared this plant was in most abundance, he requested some from Zecora.

"This plant is EXACTLY what I'm looking for! Can I borrow some please?"

"Of course you may, but you must beware. Take a sniff, and you'll lack air." Zecora responded. "Take a breath, with a lack of water, you may find yourself awaiting slaughter."

'So this plant makes you breath water instead of air? That's pretty cool!' Jack thought.

"Thanks a lot, Zecora, I'll be sure to keep this out of the way." Jack smiled as he spoke.

The zebra, despite the annoying rhyming, was still entertaining to be around.

"But you must not leave, you've been so polite! Have you forgotten the dangers of night?" Zecora asked.

"Well... Yeah I sort of forgot. I guess I can stay, but where should I sleep?"

"Don't you worry, my dear friend. This wall here in fact does extend."

---<

Small talk with Zecora was a little difficult. Everything that came out of her mouth seemed so cryptic. Jack thought he heard her mention something about Twilight stopping by earlier to research some plants. Well, that or something about her pants.

'Wait. Since when do ponies wear pants?'

Whatever. It wasn't really a big deal. So long as he was with Zecora, nopony would find him. Especially since they all knew better than wandering the forest at night, a mistake he had almost made. Laying down on the bed, he could feel his grip on reality slowly fading, the moonlight slowly sifting through the windows. Had Zecora not have pointed out the crevice in the wall, he never would have noticed the hidden bed compartment. As his eyes began to close, the silver light creeping upon him suddenly stopped. Opening his eyes wondering what could be blocking the window, he saw a familiar face. It wasn't a friendly one, but hey Biggs hadn't hurt him yet.

"What do you want?" Jack mumbled in a half awake state.

Biggss simply stared at him, his light blue eyes glowing in the dark. He could see Wings just behind him, his chitin glowing in the light. Without a word, the changelings turned around and left, providing the passage for the moonlight to return to the room.

'Well that was sorta weird. But I mean... they ARE supposed to be watching me...'

It was a little bit creepy, having a random face appear at the window just to disappear so quickly afterwards. But, Jack was tired, and really didn't care. He felt his thoughts slowly slipping from his mind, everything seemed to make less and less sense. He closed his eyes, letting the darkness take control, and he finally succumbed to his need of sleep.

Chapter 5 - Double Trouble

The night was quite long. Jack was awoken several times throughout the night for a variety of reasons. Mostly it would be the occasional manticore roar, or timber wolf howling. The one time he was not awoken by a beast, he was awoken due to a memory of his past. He saw a few familiar faces, of both friends and family alike. He felt so happy to see them again, crying to himself quietly in the dark. What made him so upset was his memories were fading, as if the world he had previously existed in never actually existed. The greatest of his childhood memories, he couldn't seem to find. His first roller coaster ride, his first new friend after moving, even the house he had lived in, seemed to have escaped his memory. He was sad that he missed so much, but he didn’t really know what he missed. Weeping silently in the night, he eventually managed to re-gain his sleepy state.

---<

Morning came swiftly, and even through the thick mass of trees sunlight managed to pierce through the hut's window. Jack gave a grunt of disapproval; he was so used to sleeping through the day until he was content enough to awaken himself. However, Celestia's sun lingered through the air, as if it was forcing him to rise. Looking at his surroundings, Jack found the Zecora to be nowhere in sight. Slowly, he arose from the bed compartment, neatly folding the blanket back on top. His observation skills were being tested - he knew Zecora had potted the plant he 'needed' but he needed to find it first. He also remembered Zecora saying something about going into the forest to get some manticore venom. It sounded pretty dangerous, but he assumed she had some sort of sleeping potion or powder she could use.

'Where is that stupid plant. I can't just leave it here, that would be going completely against what I told Zecora.' Jack thought.

Wandering around the hut for a minute, he found a small pot with a tight lid near the doorway. It was the same blue shade as the larger pot with the plant growing inside of it, but this one was roughly a quarter the side, and lacked the red stripes. There was a tight seal on top, since carrying the plant with his mouth would make him inhale it. If he were to inhale it, he would end up in water for who knows how long.

'Well, I think this is right... But how do I pick it up with my mouth if it's sealed?'

Jack took a seat, his light blue coat glistering from the sunlight. He couldn't just pick it up with his mouth, especially since there was nothing he really COULD grab on to. After staring the pot down for roughly two minutes, he finally approached it and turned it around.

'Wow I'm so stupid sometimes...'

The pot had a handle on the other side. Clearly it had been used before as well, there were a few teeth marks on it.

'As gross as this may be, I don't really have an option...'

Bending over slowly, Jack inched his mouth closer to the pot handle. Before he had finally grasped the pot with his mouth, the door just beside him swung open making him jump a little. Standing in the doorway, was a familiar zebra.

"Oh hey Zecora, this is the pot you put the plant in last night, right?" Jack inquired.

No response.

"Zecora, you there?"

He waved a hoof in front of her face. She blinked, but nothing else.

"Wait... you're not Zecora. I remember who you two are!" Jack exclaimed, remembering the changelings from the other night. "But um... Where's the other guy?"

A face slowly appeared at a nearby window. Another Zecora.

"You have to be kidding me..." Jack mumbled to himself. "You two do realize that you CAN'T be the same pony? Well zebra in this case but that doesn't matter! You'll easily get caught, especially mimicking somebody so... unique"

Both faces simply stared at him. Apparently neither of them were talkers, and when they did spoke it was only to get an important message across, really. But, Jack knew that he couldn't get the other changelings caught for two reasons. The first one being that Queen Chrysalis would be notified should they show up at the Hive again. The second being that if they were to be caught following him, the other ponies would assume that he was a suspicious subject as well. So what could he do?

---<

After carefully explaining to the changelings what they could and couldn't do as a pony, they simply responded with a blink. Not even a nod to ensure if they had understood what he had just told them. More than likely the two had understood what he had said and just didn't care; otherwise they had no idea what he was talking about. The two Zecoras continued staring at him blankly, now with both of them in the doorway.

"Can you at least stop staring at me like that? You don't have to be watching me ALL THE TIME!" Jack exclaimed.

It was getting annoying, constantly having four of the exact same eyes staring at you, watching what you do. The response of the changelings was another blink.

'Great. I have two completely oblivious changelings following me. Jack thought.

Without further notice, they suddenly changed into two mares he had never seen before. Wings now had a light purple coat, on the verge of being pink, with a dark red mane. On his flank rested a small icon of darker purple grapes. Biggs was the opposite of Wings, his coat was dark red and his mane was a vibrant light purple. His cutie mark was identical to his partners, however his was a lighter purple.

'Well that was unexpected.'

"In that case, I guess we should head over to Ponyville now, seeing as that's where I'm supposed to be." Jack said, as he slowly brushed past the two changelings. "But of course, you do understand that you can't really talk to anybody, and you need names."

Jack paused for a minute. He had almost forgotten about naming the two. He needed names that would be suitable for mares, and that would be appropriate for grape cutie marks. Remembering about the different wines he had tried before, despite being under-aged, he thought of a few names.

'Mara, Cienna, Pais, Domina, Ruby Cabernet, Rubired...'

"Okay, I thought of a couple names. Remember them in case anybody asks." Jack said.

He then pointed at Wings, the one with the purple coat.

"You can be Cienna." Jack said, swiftly adjusting his hooves direction towards Biggs. "And you can be Domina."

'Those names should pass, they made sense for two mares, right?' He thought.

Without much response, simply another blink from the two 'mares', he continued on trotting right past them. Assuming they would follow him, Jack continued on into the forest, following the rough dirt path along the ground. The forest was a little scary, but at least there were some rays of light that managed to pierce through the trees. Wandering carefully down the path, through the maze of winding trees and flora, Jack found himself with a view of Ponyville once again.

---<

Before Jack would have a chance to continue, he knew he would have to make his own disguise. Colgate would be around town somewhere, and he didn't want to risk being caught again. Pausing for a moment, just before the daylight creeping through the gap between the trees ahead, he began to think of his own creation.

'A red coat... No wait that would be too close to the other two... How about an orange one? But then what would my mane color be... Jack pondered.

He never really was a fashionable sort of fellow; he mostly put on whatever he determined not to be ugly. His clothes tended not to clash with each other, well most of the time anyways. Coming up with a final decision, he decided to have a light grey coat with a black mane and tail. Ensuring to prevent the mane and tail from getting too long, he gave them a rugged appearance. His cutie mark was an ink pot and quill. He may have not looked like the kind of guy that would have a writer's type of cutie mark, but he had his reasons. In his past experience, he was a great note taker. The new Jack, with his new body, made him feel more at ease. Stepping out of the shadows of the Everfree forest, he took a step back onto the dirt path and began walking towards Ponyville, with both 'Cienna' (Wings) and 'Domina' (Biggs) following him. With his head high in the sky, he felt like he would finally be accepted into the place he always wanted to be.

Chapter 6 - A Fresh Start

Jack stood just outside the Everfree forest, starting at the city in the distance. He never really got a chance to stand around and admire things before, usually something was happening or something had just occurred that would catch his attention. This time was different, the two ponies behind him remained silent, and he felt their eyes following his every movement. Jack shuffled on the spot a little, then rubbed his forehead with one of his front hooves. There was a pounding in the back of his head, although he was forgetting something of great importance. He shrugged it off, more than likely it was a memory from the past, one that had faded from existence. The air was no longer silent, there were birds happily chirping as the sun remained high in the sky. A few rabbits could be seen running across the field, and there were one or two ponies in the far distance. Pressing forward, the sound of the added hooves made all the sounds seem like a symphony of music.

---<

Ponyville was no more than a minute away, and the three changelings saw the occasional mare out for a walk. Strangely enough, Jack had not seen many stallions. It appeared as if the male to female population was extremely low, but he didn't argue. Before entering the city, he made sure to clarify what the other two changelings were to do.

"Alright," Jack started, "So you be sure not to talk unless you have to. You're foreign to this part of Equestria, and you speak very little of their language."

Wings was the first to blink. His light purple coat actually looked pretty nice.

"I am Cienna, of Itrot." Wings stated quite blandly.

'Woah he spoke! But umm... He really needs to work on his speech skills. Even if he was foreign it's a little awkward...' Jack thought.

"And I am Domina, of Itrot." Biggs responded, his answer lacking emotions as well.

"Well, in that case what did you do back in Itrot?" Jack said, trying to keep them talking.

No response, just a light purple pony and a dark red pony staring back at them.

"You were grape farmers, I mean, comon you need to at least have SOME back story. You came here to escape the poor living qualities and to start anew."

Jack was a little nervous seeing how little they talked, but so long as the other ponies believed they were foreign he would be fine. They continued towards the city, the occasional wandering pony giving them a little wave. No more than a second after reaching the first wood and straw building, a familiar pink pony jumped out to greet the newcomers.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! You must be new, since I know everybody around here, and since I don't know you, you have to be new! Otherwise that would mean I didn't know you, but I know everybody in Ponyville, so I knew that I couldn't know you so that's why I wanted to meet you!" Pinkie said, sounding extremely excited to meet some new ponies.

"Umm... Yeah well, we're new around here, that's for-"

"I knew I didn't know you! You know what that means? It means I need to throw a new friend party for my new friends! Oooh there will be cake, and cupcakes, and punch, and dancing, and all kinds of fun games! It'll be at 8 o'clock tonight at Sugarcube Corner, so make sure you and your friends are there!" Pinkie interrupted.

Before Jack even got another word out of his mouth, Pinkie was already hopping away. She talked so fast he barely even caught anything, other than to be at Sugarcube Corner at 8:00 that night.

"She didn't even ask for our names..." He said under his breath.

---<

Wandering around Ponyville was quite interesting. Almost every building had the same style, other than Rarity's Boutique, the Tree-brary and Sucarcube Corner. Many of the ponies waved at the newcomers, some of them continued on like it was nothing, and a few of them seemed to be avoiding them. When they finally reached the market, they heard multiple ponies trying to yell over each other in order to advertise their products.

"Aaaaapples! Get your Sweet Apple Acres apples here!" One pony yelled.

"Cherries! Fresh Cherries from Dodge Junction right here!" Another yelled.

The competition between the ponies was quite intense, although Jack could hear both the apple salespony and cherry salespony over every other pony, everypony else was too quiet to hear what they were selling.

'The apple salespony... Wouldn't that be Applejack?' Jack thought.

Wandering over to the large apple banner, posted directly on a plank of wood supported by two small wooden beams, Jack stopped in front of the apple stall.

"Well howdy there, partner! What can ah do for ya'll today?" The tan pony said.

'Well I don't really have any bits or anything...' Jack thought. 'What should I do? Maybe I can get a job on the farm...'

"Well, actually I was looking for work. I'm new to these parts, and I don't have much money with me." Jack replied.

"Ah reckoned you were new around here, ah saw Pinkie run right up to ya'll and then run off shortly after. So where are ya'll from, anyhow?" Applejack asked.

"Well, we're from Itrot, a distant land. We came here to seek refuge and to start anew." Jack responded.

"Ah see, well, ah may have a job or two on the farm, but ya'll gotta be able to do some buckin'. Before we get any workin' done, ya'll gotta at least give me some names!"

"Well, I'm Jack."

'Crap. I forgot to think of a good name for myself. I got the other two names...'

Jack then pointed to the purple pony behind him.

"That's Cienna." Jack said, then changing his hooves direction towards Biggs. "The other one is Domina."

"Well, ah'd like to have some good buckers helpin' out. I reckon I can pay ya'll too, since ya'll are new. By the way, I'm Applejack. If ya'll need a job, come find ma farm just outside Ponyville. It's been a nice talkin' with ya'll, but ah really need to get back to mah apple sales, good luck you three!"

Applejack began yelling out her sales pitch once more, leaving the three changelings with nothing to do. Wandering around the city had been a good time waster, or so the clock tower near city hall told, seeing as the time was 2:24.

'We still need to find a place for the night, though.' Jack thought.

Staying at Zecora's hut was nice, but there was no way he would be able to get a place to stay for 3 different ponies for free. Not really knowing what to do, the three newcomers wandered around the town once more.

---<

There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, and whenever one wandered into sight a pegasus would sweep in and move it away. Ponyville was booming with life, it was almost impossible to wander anywhere in town without seeing another pony. Somehow, Jack and his observers made it back to the market. Applejack wasn't at the stall, and a little filly with a pink bow tie was watching over. She was mumbling something about not getting her cutie mark if she had to sit around all day.

'Applebloom really should perk up, who doesn't want to buy things from a cute little filly?' Jack thought.

"Oh hey there you three!" Came a cheerful voice from behind.

Turning around, Jack saw Pinkie approaching once more, bouncing towards them.

"I still hope you three are ready for the party, I have everything set up, I even managed to get THREE cakes! One for each of you! Isn't that great?" Pinkie squealed. "Oh by the way, I never got your names. I should have gotten your names earlier, but I was so excited to meet new ponies I just HAD to get the party ready! Parties are so much fun, you just can't have new ponies show up in town and not give them a Pinkie Pie party! Ooooh yeah don't forget your names! So what are your names, can you tell me please please pleeeaaase?"

"Ok so I'm Jack." Jack replied.

He knew he already told Applejack his name, so he couldn't tell Pinkie otherwise, especially if everypony did show up at the party.

"Oooh that's a fun name! It's like that one game where you have to pick up that jacks but not you, Jack, because picking up ponies as quickly as possible would be kinda weird, but hey maybe it would be fun we should try that sometime!" The energetic pony said.

"And the two behind me are Cienna, the one with the red mane, and Domina, the one with the light purple mane"

"I've never heard names like that before! You should totally tell me where you're from, it'll be great and so much fun and I can tell you everything about Ponyville and what it's like and I can introduce you to all my friends! Other than yourselves of course, you already know who you are, but I mean all of my other friends!"

Jack let out a sigh, and tried to make sure Pinkie didn't notice.

"That would be great, but..."

"Great! It's settled! I'll make sure that everypony is there and I can introduce you to all of them there! Then you can have lots of new friends and have lots of fun! Oooh I can't wait! I gotta go, I still have some party stuff left to do, bye!"

Before Jack could even remember what he was going to say before the interruption, the pink mare was gone once more. He could find some place to stay during the party, since they were new. For now, he had nothing much to do until the party, but when the time would finally come he would have no idea what was really going to happen.

Chapter 8 - Job Hunting

The previous night, Jack, Wings and Biggs attended a 'Welcome to Ponyville Party' hosted by Pinkie Pie. As much as he hated to admit it, he actually enjoyed the company of the other ponies. He was the kind of person who usually wanted to be alone, but would get involved if he was asked. The sunlight had begun creeping through the windows, and Jack lay on the wooden floor of Sugarcube Corner. Many other ponies that had a little too much partying lay with him or in another small group. There was three different blankets scattered across a minimum of 12 ponies, but there was still plenty of space. Shifting slightly in order to get into a more comfortable position, Jack noticed a familiar pink face roughly 2 feet away, a huge grin stretched across her face. It looked like she wanted to say something, but it was evident that she wouldn't with the other 11 ponies still asleep. Jack blinked, and suddenly Pinkie was gone. Maybe it was more than just a quick blink; he was in a state between being certain of being awake and being asleep. With the sun slowly returning to its position in the sky, Jack carefully got up, ensuring not to awaken any of the sleeping population. Reaching the front door to the dessert themed building, Jack felt a little guilty leaving the two clueless changelings along. He found desire to be alone got the better of him. Stepping out, he quickly looked back to take a look at the mares. Finally, he would get some time to himself. He would get a moment where he could finally enjoy the world around him, so he began wandering the city of Ponyville.

---<

Ponyville was practically empty at this point in the morning. The few ponies he did see hadn't wandered outside the safety of their own property. Every shop remained closed, seeing as the work day hadn't begun. Jack found it enjoyable to get some time to himself, giving him full appreciation of Equestria. Last time he had been alone, he was trapped in a room guarded by one of his favorite ponies.

*THUMP*

Slamming into a tree is never expected. Jack was perhaps appreciating what was around him so much, he didn't focus on what was directly in front of him.

'Stupid tree.' Jack thought. 'If this was back where I used to live it would have been considered a safety hazard, just like everything else. The government would have had it removed, that's for sure.'

Shaking off the throbbing pain in the frontal part of his skull, Jack noticed he was in one of Ponyvilles parks.

'Weird, doesn't Ponyville have more than one park anyways?' He thought. 'And why would they have more than one if it's such a small town, directly beside a forest...?'

Jacks thoughts trailed off, as he begun staring at the clouds. The white, fluffy clouds suspended upon the beautiful light blue sky. He always loved the idea of flying, but he never actually got the chance to go on an airplane before. After staring at the sky a little longer, he remembered something about his new self. Being a changeling and all, couldn't he use magic and fly? It made sense, he knew common changeling magic was quite weak, but he never really knew the flying capabilities of changelings. As much as the thoughts continued to assault his mind, he decided it would be best not to change into a pegasus form in order to maintain his cover. He turned back towards Ponyville, knowing that he should go check on Wings and Biggs.

---<

The streets were slightly more populated now, but the working day had yet to start. When leaving Sugarcube Corner, Jack had not seen the Cakes and assumed the store had not quite opened yet. He had seen Pinkie, but only briefly before she took off, going to who knows where. Returning to the market, Jack saw the stall where Applejack had been advertising her apples. That served as a reminder for him; he still needed to get a place to stay and he still needed a job.

"You two!" Jack said, turning around. "I'm going to need you to do some work."

Biggs rolled his eyes, and gave him a 'We are already working, we are watching you" sort of expression. Jack shook his head; they needed to get some bits so they could actually purchase things. His mind wandering back to the stall, Jack's thoughts returned back to food. Changelings fed off the emotions of others, although he never really felt like he was draining anybody. Wings and Biggs never seemed to do anything as well; maybe it was a natural, passive sort of thing. But during the wedding of Cadence and Shining Armor, Chrysalis did say the love was strong and generated power. Was it only strong emotions changelings could feel?

'Whatever, I don't have time to think of what I could be. Right now I know I'm a broke, homeless pony, and that's all that really matters.' Jack thought.

Continuing to wander through the streets of Ponyville, Jack eventually reached a dirt path leading away from the forest. In the distance, the horizon was dotted with trees filled with red fruits.

'I guess now would be the best time to take up Applejack's offer for work.' He thought.

Pressing forward, with Wings and Biggs, he continued down the dirt path towards Sweet Apple Acres.

---<

Sweet Apple Acres was a solid 5 minutes away from Ponyville. It never actually seemed that far, since he could see the apples littering from the trees all the way from Ponyville. The possibility of him just being a slow walker never really came to his mind. Near the trees closest to the entrance to the farm, Jack saw the two farm ponies hard at work already. Alternating between bucking the trees and carrying apples, neither of them noticed the threesome approaching.

"Hey, Applejack!" Jack said, walking right up to the gate dividing the road and the apple trees.

"Well howdy there! Ah guess ya'll are here about workin' on the farm?" Applejack replied.

"Yeah, we still do need the job. We don't have a place to stay, either, if you could help us with that." Jack said.

"Well, ya'll coulda stayed in the barn..."

'Yes! She does have a place for us to stay!' Jack thought, getting a little excited. 'But then why did she say coulda...?'

"...But Applebloom and her little group have been tearing the darned place apart!" Applejack finished.

'So close...'

"You can offer us the job though, right?" Jack asked.

"Of course, with your two friends there, they must know a lotta 'bout farmin'!"

'No they don't. They barely know about pony culture!'

"They uhh..." Jack said.

'Comon brain! Think!'

"...Know about farming grapes... and y'know, they grow on vines. Also, we're used to tougher soil... Err... Much tougher soil. Almost like clay. They might... uhhh... need some help with this new... type of land?" Jack stammered, significantly increasing the inflection on the last word.

"In that case, ah can still give ya'll a job, but it won't be somethin' farmin' related. Me n' Mac just don't have the time to teach ya'll about farmin'! Ah got work for y'all but it'll be a lot of work. Ya'll gotta fix up the farm my sis destroyed..." Applejack responded, looking a little disappointed. "Ah'll show ya'll to it, then."

Following Applejack, the three quickly reached the farmhouse. It had been completely torn apart, there were hack marks among the wooden beams, burn marks across the walls, the windows appeared to have been replaced by new glass very poorly, the ground had been dug into and the roof had patches of insulation taped to it.

"Well, they gave a shot at carpentry. Not somethin' they're gonna be tryin' again, ah reckon." She stated, while rolling her eyes. "Ya'll should get to work! There's new parts and all just to the side. If ya'll need anythin', ah'll be buckin' trees. Good luck!"

Staring at the complete disaster, Jack almost wanted to refuse the job. Without anywhere else to go for the moment, he would have to take it. This job was going to take multiple days, so it should offer him enough payment to stay somewhere and find more work elsewhere. With a quick sigh, Jack picked up a hammer in his mouth and began working.

---<

'How is it physically possible, for three little fillies, to cause so much freaking damage!' Jack thought.

He knew the three fillies could sometimes be destructive, but for less than an hour of their work to take multiple days to repair, he couldn't imagine what one of their larger projects would be like. The work was quite stressful physically. Constantly carrying in new wooden beams, planks, panes and so forth, Jack found himself constantly taking breaks. The occasional check up by Applejack was nice; she brought them a basket of apples twice that day. When the door began to open for the fifth time, he was expecting the tan mare with her Stetson hat to poke her head through. Instead, a purple headed unicorn appeared.

"Hi there!" Twilight said.

'Well, I'm almost alone. If she has anything to say, she'll probably say it now.' Jack thought, feeling a little upset.

"I was just stopping by to ask Applejack if she wanted to help me with a couple of things, but she's behind in her apple harvesting." She said. "So, Applejack said if I needed any physical labor, I should come in here and ask you three!"

'Not quite what I expected...'

"But we're getting paid to do this, and we need the money." Jack stated.

"She said she would continue to pay you three should you chose to help me, the favor I need is quite grand."

"And what might this favor be?"

"Well..."

---<

Somehow, Jack found himself back in the Tree-brary, although last time he had visited the tree building he had only stopped briefly in the main room before being locked into the basement. In every direction there were stacks of books, all of which looked like they had been used recently. In the center of the room rested a small table, and near a window there was a sleeping owl. Jack assumed it was asleep, since owls were nocturnal, although he wasn't certain since the owl was facing the window. To the right of the entrance was a small staircase, leading up to a small room which was exposed to the rest of the library. In the small room was a small bed, a small basket-like bed, and a large window.

"So are you three ready to get started?" Twilight asked.

"How did I get dragged into this again?" Jack groaned.

"Well, Domina and Cienna don't seem to mind, so I thought you wouldn't either.

'Well they don't seem to care about anything anyways...' Jack thought.

How did this even happen? What was it that suddenly made Jack want to help Twilight? Then again, the physical labor of fixing up the farm was quite exhausting. But, getting up into the leaf covered part of the tree just to remove loose branches? Jack never thought he would see himself doing that. Another long groan, and finally Jack went back outside through the front door.

"I can easily levitate you three up to that point, but I expect that you three can maneuver you're way through the tree and clear it out." Twilight said.

"Alright, let's get this over with..." Jack sighed.

Envelopped with a purple glow, the three changelings were slowly lifted off the ground and began levitating towards the branches of the tree. Stopping slightly above a large branch, Jack felt the spell slowly fading, and carefully balanced himself on the branch. Wings and Biggs were nowhere to be seen. Letting out what felt like the hundredth sigh, Jack carefully pushed his way through the mass of leaves. Spotting the branches was no easy matter, so he relied more on feel, gripping each one with his teeth and pulling. If it shifted, he would have to move around the other branches to see if it had broken off. Otherwise, he would continue along the large branch in search of another small branch. Minutes turned into hours, and Jack felt although he had tried every single branch.

"I think we're done!" Jack yelled.

No response.

"Twilight, I think we're done!"

Still no response. Perhaps he was too deep into the tree to be heard, so he decided to wander towards the thinner edge of the large branch.

"Hey, Twilight! I said I think we-"

*SNAP*

The end of the branch broke as applied pressure. Jack felt his stomach drop, and he felt himself following standard physics and succumbing to gravity. Flailing his hooves through the air, Jack saw the shocked expressions of a few onlookers nearby. Hitting the ground with a loud thud, Jack passed out.

Chapter 9 - Bedridden

Memories of climbing trees flooded Jack mind. He used to do it all the time; it was almost like a sport for him. Of course, there were the moments where he would lose his balance, but it was rare for him to ever fall. Something felt different about this particular fall, as if he couldn't grab anything nearby. He was forced to fall helplessly, without an opportunity to try and save himself. Leaves and branches blowing past and into his body, the pain was in no way comparable to the moment of hitting the ground. But what was so different about this particular fall? Certainly he had to be used to it by now, but... Oh yeah. He was a pony. Well, a changeling in this case, but the limbs were in identical locations, so he might as well have been a pony. But just the sense of falling in an unfamiliar way was enough to scare him senseless. Jack could not remember what had happened after he hit the ground. More than likely he hit his head first and knocked him right out.

'Wh... Where am I?' He thought.

Wherever he was, it was dark. Not completely dark, though, it was as if there was a light attempting to pierce the boundaries of some sort of screen. Awakening and opening his eyes, he took a moment to regain his senses. A headache, multiple cuts scattered across his legs, and a large gash torn across his torso. His head was pounding, and he felt something resting on his face.

'This explains the darkness, it feels like some sort of blindfold.'

With too much pain coursing throughout his body to move, he decided it would be best to simply lay where he was. On the other hand, it was quite comfortable; it was soft unlike the floor at Sugarcube Corner he had slept on the day before. He assumed it was the day before, when you sleep it can be quite difficult to keep track of time. So he lay there, on the cot, bed, or whatever the object was, just waiting for somepony to tell him what was going on.

---<

Time seemed to pass at an extremely low speed, seeing as nothing had occurred since he had awoken. Unable to see if there was anypony else in the room, Jack was still a little curious to know if he was alone.

"Hello?" He called out. "Is anypony there?"

"Oh, you're finally awake!" A voice responded.

"How long have you been there? Who are you? How long have I been asleep?" Jack asked.

So many questions to ask and so many answers he awaited. It was weird for him, being in a blind, bedridden state, he had never been hospitalized before. Then again, he was assuming he was in the hospital, being knocked unconscious was not something you treat like an everyday cut or bruise.

"Well, its barely in the afternoon now, you were here overnight. This morning I came in to check up on you, and I've been here for a couple hours reading books. I made sure to bring plenty seeing as nopony knew when you would wake up." The voice said.

'More than likely this is Twilight, nopony reads for hours on end but her.' Jack thought, smiling a little.

"In that case you must be Twilight Sparkle. I remember you from the party!" Jack said.

"You must be good at identifying ponies in that case, seeing as you can recall who I am from voice alone." Twilight said. "Did your career back in Itrot have anything along those lines?"

'Great, now I have to make up MORE history...' Jack thought.

"Actually, no. I used to be a writer." He said. "Well... more of a scribe if anything."

"Interesting, I've never actually met an earth pony who works as a scribe." She responded.

"Actually over in Itrot earth ponies make up more than 98% of the population. It's not uncommon for earth ponies needing to assume positions meant for unicorns or pegasus."

"How would the earth ponies be able to take care of weather then?"

"Giant scaffolding and giant fans. It takes the entire day just to move the clouds!"

Twilight giggled a little. "Seems pretty ridiculous, doesn't it?"

"Oh, but that's not even the best part!" Jack said, the smile upon his face slowly growing. "You see, when there's a lack of magic in the area..."

---<

The entire time Jack was explaining what life was like for earth ponies, Twilight gave her full attention the entire time. Claiming that the few unicorns and pegasus around were responsible for some of the largest tasks, Twilight never bothered to argue despite having lived in a community full of earth ponies for years. As Jack's imagination continued to expand his story, he was interrupted by the sound of an opening door and somepony entering the room.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your story," The nurse said, "But the doctor said it was time for me to remove the bandages."

Hearing hoof steps grow louder, Jack prepared himself for the light. He felt a little bit of tugging at the bandaging covering his eyes and he was blinded by the hospital lights. Keeping his eyes almost completely closed, he slowly adjusted to the new lighting. The room he lay in was quite small, about 2 feet away was a small chair in the corner of the room which was occupied by Twilight. The walls, floor and ceiling were all white, the floor being tiled and having small dots made it appear slightly darker. The bed itself had white blankets on the white mattress, and the pillow was white as well.

'This room certainly likes to reflect light.' Jack thought.

His eyes continued to wander around the room. The nurse was standing only a few feet away from him. Even she was white, and had a scarlet red mane and tail. Her cutie mark wasn't a red cross like he was expecting, it was a stethoscope instead. Her mane was long and curled downwards and fell beside her left shoulder. Atop her mane rested a small white hat with a red cross in the center. The door behind her was a light blue, with a small shaded window near the top.

'At least there's something else that isn't white or red.'

"So how are you feeling today? We heard you took quite a nasty fall the other day." The nurse asked.

"I'm fine, but I'm pretty sore right now." Jack replied. "What was with the bandages over my eyes anyways?"

"Well, when you fell you took a nasty slash right between the eyes. We had to put the bandages on in order to control the blood. It was also done to ensure you still had full vision." She said.

"He seems to be doing fine at a mental level. The injuries only appear to be physical." Twilight said.

"As much as I would like to take your word for that, Mrs. Sparkle, we do have to do our standard testing to ensure he is in fit condition to leave. If the fall was enough to knock him out, there could be damage to the brain." The nurse said.

"So..." Jack started, to be interrupted directly after by the door swinging open.

In the doorway stood two mares, one red and the other light purple. Instantly, Jack's mind began to race. He had almost forgotten about Wings and Biggs! Where had they stayed last night, how did they find him, and what did they do all day? More questions flooded his mind once more, making his headache return.

"Domina, Cienna, good to see you two again! Where have you been?" Jack asked.

"At the park." The purple mare said, without even a hint of emotion in her voice.

'They really need to get used to adding inflection to their words. I feel like I get bored after one word from either of them!'

"I see. Well, what have you two been up to recently?" He asked.

No response from either of the two changelings.

"Do they always stare into space like that?" Twilight whispered to Jack.

"Yeah, they aren't big on talking." Jack replied, whispering as well. "They are kind of shy around ponies they don't know. You and the nurse probably don't help much."

Twilight nodded in agreement.

"If you all don't mind, I'm going to have to take you down to the waiting room. We are to serve meals very shortly." The nurse said.

Without a single word, the four other ponies in the room left. Jack lay there, staring at the ceiling, carefully avoiding the lights with his eyes. Now that the nurse had mentioned it, he realized he was hungry. Now all he had to do was wait for the food to arrive.

---<

The food took at least fifteen minutes to arrive. Fifteen minutes was an accurate guess at the time, or so Jack thought. Without a clock in the room, he had to rely on his poor time skills to determine what time it was. If they were serving dinner, it would be sometime between 5:00 and 7:00, but without any windows in the room Jack couldn't get a look at the sun for a more accurate estimate of the time. A small metal tray was brought in by the same nurse that had removed his bandages. On the tray there were a couple carrots, a slice of bread, and small glass of water. After thanking the nurse, Jack quickly consumed the food within two minutes of its arrival. His cuts and bruises weren't bothering him that much; most of them were shallow safe for the one across the front of his torso. Jack wanted to go back to sleep, since there was absolutely nothing to do, but he wasn't tired after being unconscious for so long.

*Knock Knock*

Somepony was at the door.

"Who's there?" Jack asked.

"Twilight." Came the response.

"Twilight who?"

"Twilight Sparkle, may I come in?"

'Aww I was expecting her to go along with the knock knock joke...' Jack thought, disappointed with the results.

"Yes, of course you can." Jack said.

The door slowly creaked open, and in the doorway stood the same purple mare than had stayed with him while he was recovering.

'Why does she keep coming to me? I feel like she knows something about me, but she just doesn't want to say anything...'

"How are you now? Feeling better after having eaten some food?" She asked.

Jack nodded, continuing to question why Twilight was always around him in his mind.

'She's always around me, or finding a way to be around me. Like the work over at the Tree-brary, was it really necessary to remove all those branches? At the party, why did she introduce me when Pinkie had already done so before my arrival? No... It can’t be that… Jack's thoughts trailed off, he didn't want to believe he could make that sort of impression on somepony so easily.

"So, why are you here anyways? There are all your friends you could hang out with, but you'd rather hand out with me?" Jack asked.

"Well, my friends are great and all, but you ARE new around here. I thought you might need a couple friends of your own as well." Twilight responded.

"But I came here with Cienna and Domina, they're my friends. I've met a couple other ponies around town as well, and I guess they could be classified as friends. You know Pinkie and Applejack I've hung out with a little. But they always seem to be so busy doing something. There HAS to be another reason for you to be here."

"When Cienna and Domina didn't come to take care of you, I thought I should take care of you."

"But I'm in a hospital; there are plenty of doctors and nurses here that can help me! What in specific could you help me with!"

Jack was getting a little upset with the responses, all of them were decent responses, but the theory he had in his mind was still not proven.

"Who else would be here to make sure you weren't lonely?" Twilight asked.

"It's not really about being lonely..." Jack replied.

"But you are lonely, aren't you?" She asked.

"Well, sort of... I guess."

"In that case it's settled. I'll stay with you until I have to leave."

"But that doesn't answer why you in particular came, anypony else could have come to keep me company. Why do you think that you're so different that every other pony?" Jack asked.

There was a long pause. Twilight's eyes seemed to be pleading for Jack to say something, but he had no idea what she wanted him to say. She gave Jack a smile before finally answering his question.

"It's because no other pony likes you as much as I do."

Chapter 10 - Opinions Matter

Ten years. It had been ten years that he had been preparing for his new position. Ten years of some of the most extreme testing for a changeling. All of the hard work gone to waste when the Queen found of an undercover agent in Ponyville. She couldn't expect one single changeling to feed the entire Hive! Wings was one of the most agile changelings in the entire Hive, he had surpassed many of the royal guards in their combat abilities and speed. Furious with being assigned to take care of a weak, young changeling, he considered exploiting him in order to take him out of his position and return to his training. Wings never expected to get a position as a guard, but more of a scout, scanning the areas for any potential food sources. The more he thought about his career back home, the more he wanted to simply leave Jack and the other changeling, 'Domina' as he called her. Where in the Queen's name did 'Jack' come up with these sorts of names? Had he really been around ponies for so long he could create names? Changelings never had names - names were a weakness, something that took longer than a point and a simple "You there" to get one's attention. Names also involved memorization, something changelings weren't necessarily good at. All that Wings could think of was revenge on Jack, something to get Jack out of the picture, without jeopardizing his potential future. Of course that would only occur should he make it back to the Hive. He couldn't think of a single safe way of doing so, more than likely he would reveal himself, especially since oral communication wasn't his strongest feat. Slumping down against a tree just outside the hospital their subject had been admitted to; Wings stared blankly at his 'partner' expecting some sort of action.

---<

Biggs didn't mind the assignment, anything that the Queen herself demanded must be done for the sake of the Hive. Food was scarce, most of the nearby area outside the Hive had very little life remaining, most of which was too small to feed even a freshly hatched changeling. The strange thing about this new area was the amount of life. Last time he had seen so much life, he had been assigned to assault a heavily populated city while the Queen destroyed the city from the inside out. He didn't quite remember how things had turned out afterwards; he just remembered waking up in a completely unfamiliar forest still full of life. The forest didn't have life for long, the changelings scattered across the many trees quickly sapped the area of life. Something was strange about the changeling he had been assigned to guard, he never seemed to require energy. The amounts of emotions from everypony around him were so... strong. But the 'Jack' changeling never seemed to feed, only eating solid objects. Biggs remembered eating solid objects before, this allowed them to produce bile, but somehow Jack seemed to be gaining the energy required to live from the solids and liquids. Never, in his entire life, had he ever heard of such a changeling, especially since he never saw Jack expelling the bile. With the strong emotions thrown just about everywhere in the new city, Biggs couldn't help but snag a little food here or there. The few solid foods he had eaten were completely different than anywhere else; they had a strange taste to them, almost as if it was bombarding his taste buds with... Kindness, for a lack of a better word. Standing a few feet away from the light purple changeling, Biggs blinked and then nodded his head towards his rear, encouraging his ally to get moving.

---<

'Where does HE want me to go?' Wings thought.

This mission had been a complete disaster, how in the world would any other changelings be able to collect food with so much talking to deal with? Changelings knew their voices were much different than those of ponies; it was almost like the ponies could use different pronunciations to convey certain messages. It was strange being the one to talk most, compared to Domina. Should he learn how to change his voice and speak like the normal ponies, he would be able to achieve so much more in the name of the Queen, and ensure his position. For example, those 'parties' that Wings had visited would be top priority for the Queen, they were booming with all kinds of emotions. Most of the emotions were quite tasty to feast upon, such as happiness, excitement, and most importantly, Love. Love was the most powerful of all emotions, and it was the rarest of all emotions. True love would feed at least four changelings for their entire lifespan alone. Of course Wings had stolen a few of the feelings during the party, but none of the other ponies seemed to react. It was the most emotions Wings had ever sensed before, overwhelming him with the massive boost of energy that allowed him to stay awake the entire night.

But last night... Oh Wings didn't even want to think about it. He knew that something terrible would befall the three changelings eventually, but he wasn't sure when. The problem had been taken care of, only temporarily. Once the town noticed something was wrong, everypony would be on high alert, searching everywhere for the ones responsible. For now, he only hoped he would get a chance to give a full report to the Queen. Looking back up from his red tail, Wings found Biggs to be nowhere in sight, and the sun was beginning to set beyond the horizon.

---<

Biggs assumed that Wings was following him. Both he and Wings had never separated since being assigned as watch over the new changeling. It was odd, that a new changeling had suddenly popped up around the Hive, but the short backstory the queen had given about ‘finding a new food source’ had explained some of his doubts. Still, changelings rarely made it to the new changeling’s age, and without being seen by another changeling before generated too many doubts for Biggs to handle. His head was pounding; he had never experienced such a feeling before without being in a brawl with a group of at least four other changelings. It felt although another changeling had pounded him in the back of the head! The more he doubted the mission, the more his head throbbed. It was wrong to go against the Queen, but the Queen had given so little information that he had actually doubted her for once. He always was the most obedient and one of the largest for his age, making him a dangerous foe for many of the other changelings. Quite often, the other changelings doubted his intentions, but he had always obeyed the Queen without question, until now.

‘The mission must continue’ Biggs thought, trying to expel the pain from his mind.

Pressing further on, Biggs noticed that he was alone, and the moon was beginning its cycle in the sky. Wings had not followed him, and it was strange being completely alone in the dark. Quite often changelings would mass together in groups and prepare for an assault on any nearby life forms at this time of day (or night), but ever since he had received his mission… Things changed. He felt these strange… feelings, like a tingling sensation inside his mind, or a fuzzy feeling at the front of his face, as if some sort of small critter was pressed up against his face. Was this what it felt like to expel emotions of his own? Biggs lie down on the small park bench, confused and alone, continuing to question what had really happened at the ‘party’. Without noticing it, he had passed through almost the entire town and returned to the park which they had visited on their first day, where they had watched the races, no, enjoyed the races. Enjoying, liking, these words were so… strange to him. Lying down on the bench, Biggs stared up into the sky, wondering what had happened in the Hive since he had left.

Chapter 11 - Rugged Romance

Jack was shocked. The room had fallen so silent after Twilight's announcement; the only sounds he could hear were the sound of his own breathing and the sound of Twilight's breathing. The air was so tense and quiet he swore he could cut through it with a knife. He simply stared at Twilight, unsure of what actions to take.

'How could she like me? I've been in town for no more than two days and somepony already loves me?' Jack thought, ' I thought she wanted to talk to me about Cienna or Domina, they certainly haven't been acting normally around anypony...

It made sense. They rarely spoke, never showed any emotion, they even ate in a strange manner! How had Twilight managed to fall for him? Was it something he did that got her attention? Was he really good at imagining a good looking stallion? Or was it just Estrus?

'Ughh... What do I do, brain?' Jack thought

You deal with it. Came a response.

'Thanks, brain. But HOW do I deal with it?'

Do something about it.

'Wait, am I having a conversation with myself?'

Yup. Now do something already!

Without anything else coming from his mind, he rose from his bed, shifting slightly from the pain in his torso, and approached Twilight.

"Uhh... Errr... Well I didn't really... Uhhh.... Want to say it... Now, but... Ummm... Better now than never... Right?" Twilight stammered, her voice shaking enough to knock apples off a tree.

Nothing came to Jack's mind. He continued marching towards Twilight, ignoring the pain coursing through his body. Before realizing what he was doing, he felt his mouth pressed up against hers. The feeling was... amazing. Jack had never kissed a girl in his life, other than his mother when he was a child, not even his cousin after being dared. He pelt was so... soft, and the kiss was so gentle. He felt although time itself had stopped to provide him with this wondrous feeling for eternity. Unfortunately, it came to an end after the door had opened. In the open doorframe stood his employer from his previous day’s work. Taking off her Stetson hat, Applejack gave a nervous smile towards the couple.

"Well. This certainly is... different. Ah was not expectin' you to fall for him so quickly, Twi. But... uhh... I just came in to wish ya'll good luck in recovery." Applejack said.

Without many more words from the tan pony, she took off, leaving the door wide open.

---<

'Screw you brain. Why did you have to do that?' Jack thought

You weren't doing anything, so I thought I should.

'But you are me, and I don't think that was a good way to... get things started.'

I'm your inner self. It was a good decision and you know it.

'I really need to stop talking to myself.'

Good idea, the other ponies might think you're crazy. But you aren't talking, you're thinking.

'Shut up, brain. You and your stupid logic...'

Jack saw mixed feelings on Twilight's face. She looked extremely shocked, as if she was never expecting to be kissed, but she also looked extremely satisfied, like she was waiting for the kiss. It was difficult for Jack to understand what she was thinking right now, more than likely something along the 'Did he really just do that?' lines. He was shocked himself; he never knew he had the courage within himself to perform such an action. Last time a girl had asked him out, he ran home crying in complete confusion. Since then, not a single girl has even approached him, other than school projects and such.

"I... You..." Twilight said.

Jack remained silent. The entire room fell silent, safe for the open window just outside the room, allowing a quiet whistling of the wind through the trees.

"Th...Thank you." She finished.

She was smiling once more, the shock of the moment had left, and the tense atmosphere in the room seemed to dissipate. Jack walked backwards and rested his rump back onto the bed. Sitting wasn't the most comfortable when resting against a wooden beam, but with all the cuts and bruises on his legs it certainly beat sitting. Staring back at Twilight, they both smiled at each other in silence. Nothing could destroy this perfect moment.

---<

When Twilight had finally left, the nurse returned to his room and asked him a few questions. They were quite all quite simple questions, like what color her mane was, what was 1+1, where was he. One question took him off guard, however.

"Can you read this out loud for me?" The nurse asked.

Oh no. Equestrian really was just a jumble of weird symbols. There were so many, but they were all in a large size font at least.

'Jack, you can do this.' He thought. 'It's just like English, but with different... What in the world is that? It looks like a car that crashed into a tree! Oh crap I am going to fail this hard.'

"It says... Uhhh..." Jack began.

He had no idea what the poster actually said, but thoughts began to form in his mind. Slowly, words began attacking his mind, attempting to get him to understand the wording.

"If you're clear to leave, you need to read this for me." The nurse said, shaking her head slightly.

"It says 'In Celestia... me trust? Is Luna... we believe. Only then shall harmony... exit?' Is that right?" Jack responded.

'Crap. Did I really have to ask if it was right?' He thought.

"Well, I mean its close and all. I'll have to ask the doctor if we can clear you, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow morning."

"Well, it is a little fuzzy, in my defense. I guess I'm still not quite recovered yet. So will I get out by tomorrow or not?"

"As I said, we'll have to see what the doctor says. I think you should be cleared, and I wish you the best of luck with your special somepony. I heard what was going on in there."

The nurse gave a comforting smile and a wink before departing from the room once more.

---<

The room fell silent once more. This was what, the seventh time today he was left with nothing but his own thoughts? Jack was lonely; the company that Twilight had offered was nice. He had regretted kissing her, he would only advance their romance, and in his current changeling state he didn’t want to risk accidently blowing his cover. Letting out a long sigh, he returned to staring at the ceiling. The lights would remain on until 8:30, and since the sun had already set they wouldn’t shine for much longer. As Jack lay in the room, he questioned if he really did have feelings for Twilight. He had always loved Rainbow Dash during the show itself, but in person he enjoyed Twilight. What would he do about Wings and Biggs? They were definitely going to keep an eye of him, but for now he had the entire room to himself. As much as he usually liked being by himself, this moment seemed so much more disappointing to him. The stories he had successfully made up and shared with Twilight had been fun. He was reluctant to share information of why he had left, mostly saying he had his reasons and they were personal. As for Cienna and Domina, they had fled from Itrot due to a massive drought, and their crops were failing. But the feelings for Twilight were so surreal, as if the entire day had been a dream. Dreams…

‘What do I believe? Am I working for Chrysalis or am I working for myself?’ He thought.

He couldn’t imagine what would happen should he return to the Hive, especially if he was to abruptly leave Twilight in the dark. But, what could he do? He sat there, as the lights all flicked off at once, and collapsed back onto the bed. His plans would have to wait for the next day.

Chapter 12 - Reminders

The rising sun never pierced the darkness of Jack's hospital room. The lights would not turn on until 8:00 that morning, since the hospital ran strict sleeping schedules. When the lights had finally been turned on, Jack was already wide awake, and was startled by the blinding lights directly above him. The familiar, white environment was filled with light once more. Letting out a moan, Jack rolled over onto his side. As much as he wanted to continue sleeping, he just couldn’t. It was as if the few hours of the night he had managed to sleep through were enough to keep him active through the rest of the day. Rubbing his eyes with his hooves, he sat back up in his bed, waiting for anypony to come and tell him he was clear to leave.

---<

The doctor responsible for his release entered the room roughly an hour after the hospital lights had turned on. While waiting, Jack found himself playing a game of which he would think of a word, then the next word would have to start with the same letter the previous word ended in. Also, the two words needed to be related in some way, other than by the starting/ending letters. With something to do, time actually passed at a normal rate, instead of feeling like it took excessively long periods of time for just a minute or so. The doctor himself was a unicorn, wearing a white lab coat over his brown corpse. His mane was a very dark brown, almost black even. His cutie mark was a couple pills with a diagonal needle covering the majority of his flank. Slightly in front of the doctor a small clipboard and pen levitated gently in the air. Without even saying anything, the doctor began taking notes as soon as he entered the room.

“Your name is… Jack?” The doctor inquired. “Is this correct?”

“Yes” Jack responded, watching as the pen quickly scribbled down a few notes.

“From what I hear, you had a terrible fall and hit your head pretty hard. As from the nurse's view, you're perfectly health other than some blurred vision. Despite that you could still pass the literacy test.” The doctor paused for a moment. “And in other news, you have somepony who has offered to look after you while you recover.”

‘I wonder who might have offered. I doubt it was Biggs or Wings, those two rarely speak.’ Jack thought. ‘ Maybe it was Applejack, or…’

“Twilight Sparkle, I believe, offered for you to stay at her place until you are fully recovered.” The doctor stated. “She is quite experienced with healing magic, and I believe she can help you reach a full recovery quickly. Before you go, however, we noticed a few things about your vital signs.”

‘Vital signs? What is so different between a changeling and a pony when it comes to anatomy, other than the obvious.’ Jack thought. ‘Like the different colors, holes in the legs, weak magic, bile production, eating habits… Okay maybe there are more differences than I thought… ’

The doctor paused for a moment, staring at Jack noticing that his mind was not quite in the mood for the conversation. Before continuing, the doctor cleared his throat in order to retrieve Jack's attention, and Jack snapped back to reality staring intensively back at the doctor.

“As I was saying,” The doctor continued, “Your vital signs are quite irregular. Your heartbeat is normal, your brain is functioning as it should, but there are some strange things we found in your blood tests.”

“What’s wrong with my blood?” Jack said nervously.

Is there something clearly different between changeling blood and pony blood? Was it something blatantly obvious like color? He hadn’t gotten a chance to really look at any of his cuts quite yet, most of the time his mind had wandered elsewhere, numbing the pain coursing through his body. The doctor glared at Jack; it appeared he wasn’t very fond of being interrupted.

“Should you let me finish what I have to say, perhaps you will find out” The doctor grunted.

“Sorry.” Jack responded.

“As I was saying, your blood is not at the normal Power of Hydrogen levels. It appears your blood is significantly more acidic than any pony I’ve ever tested before.”

“What does that mean?” Jack asked.

The doctor let out a sigh, glaring once more towards Jack.

“Oh yeah, sorry, no more interruption.” Jack promised.

“From the data we collected, your blood acidity level is at 5.24. A normal pony has an acidity level between 7.35 and 7.45; it is extremely rare to have a pH level beyond those boundaries by one hundredth of a unit alone!” The doctor said, receiving a confused look from the grey stallion.

“We ran a couple tests on small tissue samples. Consider yourself lucky to be alive, that acidity level damages many of the core tissues required in order to preform standard bodily functions such as a heartbeat or the ability to breath.”

‘So what I’m getting is my blood could hurt other ponies. ’ Jack thought. ‘A little weird, but it sounds like he’s giving me the clear so I can leave.’

Jack was never really a good biology student. He would rarely pay attention in class; he never found anything he learned to be applicable to life itself. That’s why he preferred classes like physics, because it affected him every day, like gravity and stuff.

“Does that mean I can go, doctor?” Jack asked.

“Other than the fact you may need to stop eating acidic fruit, we assume you to be in healthy condition. \seeing as you have somepony to take care of you, we can release you from our care. However, we’re going to need you to sign this waiver,” The doctor said, slowly levitating a pen over to Jack, "Saying we aren't responsible for any destruction of tissue due to irregular blood pH levels."

Biting down on the pen, Jack attempted to sign the form placed just on his lap. It was challenge just to apply pressure down onto the paper with his mouth, let alone write anything. Once Jack had finally given a poor signature onto the dotted lines, the doctor nodded, writing down a few more notes. He then took a few steps to the right, clearing the doorway allowing Jack to pass.

---<

Leaving the hospital, Jack saw very few ponies. Most of the ponies were sick, without any clear physical deformities or injuries. Smiling at the check-in pony, Jack pushed open the double doors and stared back towards Ponyville. He had never realized how out of the way the hospital was, there was a single dirt path leading to the hospital and there were very few buildings nearby. There was a fork in the road, the path to the left leading into one of the parks, and the path to the right leading back to the wooden village.

‘I wonder what ever happened to Wings and Biggs? I only saw them for a brief moment the other day. Where have they been staying at?’ Jack thought.

It was true that Jack was concerned about the other two changelings; their abilities to communicate their thoughts were quite limited. He assumed they had been able to find a place to stay, more than likely in the barn they had almost finished back at Sweet Apple Acres. Pushing the thoughts out of his mind, he decided it would be best to go confront Twilight about what had happened the previous night. Should he be forced to return to the Hive, which he shuddered at the thought of, his sudden disappearance would alert her for sure. He had to give her some sort of excuse; he couldn’t just leave after the previous night. Wandering forward, Jack knew he would get lost again should he not ask for directions. After meeting up with the first pony he saw, he found himself talking to Rarity.

‘This certainly is a small town, I swear I run into one of the mane six every day!’ Jack thought to himself.

“Oh, uh… Hi there. I was wondering if you could give me some directions.” Jack asked the white unicorn.

Rarity, gave a disgusted sort of look once she turned around and had a look at him. Obviously his injuries hadn’t made the best impression.

“Now what might have happened to you, dear? Certainly one does not get these sorts of injuries from one of Pinkie’s parties, I assume.” Rarity responded, scanning over his body with her eyes once more.

“I sort of fell while doing some house cleaning.” Jack responded.

“Now what kind of house would that be, dear?”

“Twilight’s place, actually. That brings me back to my original question, where is the library anyways?”

“Well you must have brought all the books down with you. Did any of those books have knifes attached by any chance?”

“No, I was cleaning the loose branches out, but could you please tell me where the library is?”

“Sorry, dear, it’s just that those injuries are so… terrible. But yes, the library is just over that way, make sure to take a right at the second street, and you’ll be there in no time!” Rarity said, pointing down an empty street.

“Thanks a lot, Rarity.”

“Good luck, darling!”

As Jack and Rarity departed, Rarity noticed something strange about the new pony. She had never mentioned her name, yet he knew her name was Rarity. Perhaps her fashion line had spread her name beyond Ponyville and to other areas of Equestria, but there were so many feelings in the back of her mind telling her than something was definitely wrong. She shrugged it off, perhaps one of her friends had told the new pony about her. It couldn't be something that threatened all of Ponyville, right?

---<

Jack finally arrived at the Tree-brary and knocked on the door. For a few seconds, there was no response, until Jack heard the voice of a familiar purple dragon.

“I’ll get it, Twi!” Came Spike’s enthusiastic response.

The door swung open, and the little purple dragon stood his ground staring directly at the newcomer.

“Oh, weren’t you the one that helped Twilight clean out the tree?” The curious dragon asked.

“Yeah,” Jack responded, “But I kind of fell and ended up in the hospital.” Jack replied.

“Ouch, so what do you need Twilight for? A little healing magic?”

“Something like that, the doctor told me to find her since she knew a lot about healing magic, and I need somepony to take care of me until my injuries are fully healed.”

“Oh, okay then. TWILIGHT, THE NEW PONY IS HERE ABOUT HIS INJURIES” Spike yelled back into the Tree-brary.

Jack looked around the library; Twilight was nowhere to be seen. He thought she might be in the basement, in which case it would explain Spike’s yelling. As the basement door opened, Jack smiled knowing he had guessed correctly. As he purple unicorn stuck her head out the door, she gave Jack a smile in return, not knowing why he was really smiling.

“Come in, I was just analyzing this changeling DNA I picked up a few days ago. If you want you can come down stairs and take a look at it.” Twilight cheerfully said.

Jack’s heart stopped. How had she gotten some changeling DNA? Was it from Biggs, Wings, or himself? Had she taken some from him during one of the moments where he had been knocked unconscious? Twilight noticed the expression on Jack’s face, he looked quite panicked.

“Well, it’s nothing bad, really. It’s just a small sample of skin, not an entire corpse or anything. I know how changelings can really scare some ponies.”

Jack nodded, and resumed his normal breathing.

‘Everything is going to be alright…’ He was trying desperately to calm himself. ‘Just go see what Twilight has discovered, she doesn’t suspect me yet.’

The two ponies walked down the dimly lit staircase. Sitting at the bottom was a small metal table, with a few chemical bottles lying on top with a small piece of black pelt nearby. There were several microscopes hooked up, and many of the bottles were linked by strange devices.

‘I really should have paid more attention in chemistry…’ Jack thought.

Many of the liquids were bubbling, and Twilight grabbed a small pair of goggles from the metal table and resumed her work, taking small samples from the pelt and dipping it in different liquids.

“What I’m trying to do here is get some sort of reaction, to see what the composition of the changeling DNA is compared to that of ponies.” Twilight said.

Jack just stared at her with a confused expression. Twilight quickly caught on.

“In other words, I’m finding differences between changelings and ponies. So far, I found that their hide is more resistant to acid, but then again they do produce some nasty acidic bile.” She said.

‘Well, that would match up with the doctor’s reports of my blood being acidic. But still, how much has she learned about changelings? For all I know, me, Biggs and Wings could all be at risk.’

Twilight continued experiment, while Jack could do nothing but sit back and relax. There weren’t any chairs in the basement, so he sat on the semi-spiral staircase instead.

---<

“Hey, Twi!” Came a voice from upstairs.

“What is it, Spike? I have almost completed a chemical decomposition of one of the pelt’s substances!”

“What? Well never mind that. Jack’s other two friends are here, you want me to let them go down?” Spike replied, opening the door while speaking.

“Tell them to wait upstairs for a moment, we will be right up.”

Jack knew that she was stalling. She hadn’t done much work since he had arrived, most of the time she stared at him through the reflection in one of the beakers, or just swished around a few bottles making it look like she was doing some. His presence was too much of a distraction for her to work, which Jack thought would be a bonus, since she would become less likely to discover the secrets behind the changelings.

“We should go upstairs and greet them. They haven’t got to spend much time with you since you were hospitalized.” Twilight said.

Jack nodded his head in agreement, and the two of them marched up the wooden stairs. They both pushed open the small door, and found the light purple mare and red mare staring at the couple.

“Cienna, Domina, nice to see you again!” Jack exclaimed, happy they were safe.

Blank stares were the response. Typical, really, Jack never expected any sort of reaction from the two.

“So where have you two been staying?” Jack inquired.

“The park.” Came a robotic sort of voice from Wings.

“You haven’t been sleeping there, have you?”

No response. The purple mare that had spoken simply stared back at him.

“I guess not…” Jack said.

“So while all three of you are here, it would be best to find you a place to sleep before it gets too dark. There’s plenty of room in the main room, although most of the supplies are down in a closet in the basement. If you are going to stay here, however, there are a few rules you’ll need to know…” Twilight said.

She began listing off a large list of rules which she had summoned using magic. The list itself trailed almost from her face to the bottom of the open basement. Jack tuned out Twilight’s voice, and began thinking about what he came here to do.

‘I can’t just tell her that we can only be friends, that would be too harsh.’ He thought. ‘I need to think of a way to tell her that I may be leaving soon, but why would I leave, and where would I leave to? I told her I was fleeing from Itrot, and why would I go to another big city with the little amount of money I have? I don’t really know of any other small towns nearby, and I can’t think of a good reason I would want to leave. Maybe I should just tell her the truth.’

“…And be sure you wipe your hooves when entering should you leave for whatever reason. I really don’t want to be scrubbing other ponies muddy hoof prints off the floor again.” Twilight said.

---<

Twilight’s list was extensive, and she had gone over it three times. Three. Times. It took her at least half an hour each time as well, and Jack was a little upset that so much of his time was wasted on something so… Pointless. All he really needed were the major rules, such as no setting fire to anything without reason (but was there even a reason to set fire to anything?), or no going out after dark since the door would be locked at 10:00. Every little thing that could possibly go wrong was covered, even extremely small things such as the requirement to avoid reading books without asking. Twilight didn’t want to be responsible for accidently knocking a book off a shelf and either hurting yourself or damaging the book. Jack knew the library wasn’t quite her home, although it appeared she treated it so. Most of her references were related to the mayor, claiming she would be furious should damage come to the library, although Jack could never really see the mayor angry, on the other hand (or in this case hoof) he could see her upset. Once Twilight had finally finished going over her list, Jack let out a massive sigh.

“What was that for?” Twilight asked, looking slightly offended.

“Well, Uhh… I was just a little nervous about what would happen if we forgot about one of the rules. Or if... Uhh… Something happened that broke a rule but it wasn’t our fault.” Jack stuttered.

“Oh, well if something small like knocking over a book it should be fine, and should a paper airplane fly inside the library through an open window I won’t attack you over it.” She calmly stated.

‘So many rules… I knew she was very organized, but this is a little overkill, isn’t it?’ Jack thought.

He swore both Wings and Biggs never blinked the entire time. The must have always appeared to be staring in space, if you were to talk to them they would look at you but it never seemed like they were paying attention.

“Is there anything else important that we should know?” Jack asked.

“Standard Ponyville laws apply as well, but I assume you knew that.” Twilight replied.

‘At least she doesn’t have to go over those rules’ Jack thought as he rolled his eyes.

Twilight didn’t seem to notice Jack’s eyes roll, and she happily trotted back downstairs to continue her research. Spike had fallen asleep during Twilights lecture, and his body lay on one of the bottom stairs of the main library room. Jack felt a presence approaching him from behind, and when he turned around he found both Wings and Biggs looming right over him, back in their intimidating changeling forms. The door to the basement slowly closed, and the two changelings continued their march towards Jack.

“Umm… Guys? Do you want something?” Jack nervously asked.

The two changelings continued to approach him, small, wicked grins on their faces. Their fangs had never looked sharper.

“The Hive is calling.” Wings said, his grin growing further.

Before Jack had a chance to even call out for Twilight, he found himself blinded by a flash of green light.

Chapter 13 - Emotions

Chapter 13 - Emotions

The flash of green light slowly faded. Jack could not remember anything about the two changelings he had spent time with having any sort of magical abilities, however he had been teleported somewhere. The location did not seem familiar in any way, it was in fact dark, but even with his nocturnal vision he could not pinpoint his current location.

‘What did Wings say? Something about the Hive?’ Jack thought.

He was in some sort of cave, and he could easily dismiss the fact he had returned once more to the changeling lair. There was no life around him, and strangely it was almost as if he could sense the lack of life. The feeling of being completely alone, the feeling of knowing you’re all alone, it scared Jack.

‘Are changelings really able to sense nearby life?’ Jack thought.

He couldn't ignore the feeling, or in this case, the lack of feeling. Whenever he was around anypony else, he had some sort of feeling. Now that he was alone, the lack of any sort of feelings was overwhelming. He felt drained, tired, starved. Was Wings planning on saying more about the Hive? Were his intentions to have him forced to feel what it was like to be without food? Perhaps they were going to guilt him into returning to the Hive in order to feed the colony. But each and every idea that popped into Jack’s mind seemed like a realistic possibility. Flooded with all sorts of thoughts about Wings, Jack never brought any attention to Biggs.

---<

Twilight saw the green flash from the basement, just barely underneath the closed door. After the flash, there wasn’t a single noise, although she could have sworn she heard Jack talking just a moment ago. She rushed upstairs, curious as to what had occurred. Collapsed on the ground, just a few feet away, was a changeling.

“WHAT?!” Twilight yelped.

The sleeping dragon awoke. In his half-awake state he stumbled around the room mumbling something about not getting enough sleep. Unaware of his surrounding, he tripped over the motionless changeling lying near the center of the room.

“T...Twi, why are y-you on the floor?” The dragon murmured, not realizing the purple mare was standing a few feet away.

“Spike! What happened?” Twilight asked, panic in her voice.

“With you lying on the floor, or me trying to sleep?” The dragon asked.

“Spike, wake up! You’re lying on a changeling!” She exclaimed.

Spike, now noticing that he was not lying on the purple mare, quickly jumped onto his legs and ran behind Twilight.

“What happened? Where did everypony go? Where did this changeling come from? Twilight?” Spike questioned, panicking slightly as well.

“That’s what I was trying to ask you! You were the one up here with Jack, Cienna and Domina! Did you see anything odd? Was anypony acting out of the ordinary?” Twilight asked.

“I… I don’t know. I’m sorry, Twi.”

---<

The cave had a nice atmosphere, unlike the changeling Hive; it was much cooler and soothing. There was a small puddle near one of the edges of the cave, where a handful of rays of sunshine managed to pierce through a small hole in the roof. Looking around, there was no entrance to the cave other than the small hole; some sort of teleportation magic had to have taken Jack there. Alone again, without anypony to talk to, he felt although he was back in the hospital. But it was as if the cave bestowed a magical cleansing aura, he felt the water calling to him, as if he must drink from the puddle. The water was clean, there weren’t any signs of dirt or rocks within, and as he approached it he felt although it was his purpose. His life was meaningless without the sparkling water that rest before him. He needed to take a sip. Just a little drink, get a taste of the wondrous liquid…

Without any notice, there was another flash of green light. Before Jack rest a changeling slightly larger than himself. He recognized the changeling, it had been one of the two assigned to watch over him. Biggs stood in front of Jack, blocking his path to the pool of water.

“Halt.” Biggs said.

His voice was deep and assertive; it was rare for either of the changelings to talk, let alone having Biggs talk. But the water was still calling for Jack, he felt like the water was filled with compassion, care, and love. The soft whispers of the ripples in the water called Jack, despite there being a lack of anything to cause the small waves. He pressed forward, Biggs blocking his path. He stopped before Biggs. He wouldn’t be able to pass, and he felt although the only way to get to the liquid was to pass through Biggs. Jack stood there in awe, while Biggs gave him a concerned look; something that Jack had never seen before. But Jack didn’t care; all he wanted was the water.

“Your mind has been poisoned” Biggs hissed.

Jack blinked once, giving an emotionless stare back to Biggs. He didn’t have any emotions left, he felt although the water was the only way to regain his feelings. He had to get to the water…

---<

“Where did this changeling even come from? And who IS this changeling?” Twilight asked, not expecting any sort of response.

“From what information I can gather, it was more than likely one of the three new ponies in town.” Spike responded, a nervous look on his face.

“Spike, that was rhetorical question. But which one of the three ponies was it? It couldn’t be… Jack could it?” Twilight said.

Twilight’s face dropped, and the sadness overwhelmed her. So far, all evidence was pointing to Jack. The other two were obviously related, so the odds of one of them being a changeling were extremely low. But she had feelings for him, feeling she had never had for another pony ever. She was going to ask him if he wanted to be her special somepony… But, it all made sense. Changelings were manipulative, they would take over their pray to feast of their emotions. Twilight had to be strong. She just couldn’t handle it, and broke out into tears on the library floor. Spike was up by her side, stroking her mane trying to comfort her.

“It’s okay, Twi. It will all be okay…” The dragon said.

Twilight began bawling, crying loud enough for anypony outside to hear. If he really was a changeling, then why wasn’t she mad? Why were the feelings so strong? She felt betrayed.

---<

Biggs had finally stuck his two front hooves onto Jack. With force, he began to slowly push Jack backwards. Jack didn’t resist the sliding, he felt stones rolling over his hooves, and dirt getting caught in the hairs, but he just didn't have the energy to move.

“My partner… Was jealous. He tried to take control of your mind, but only managed to send you here.” Biggs voice was still emotionless, although it appeared as if he was trying to ‘understand’ the emotions and include them in himself. “The time has come. The final test awaits.”

Biggs released his grip on Jack and slowly backed away, clearing a path for the changeling. After being forced away from the water, Jack’s mind was almost completely blank, and he had lost his stallion form. The changelings stared blankly at one another, almost as if they were to see who would take the first action. Biggs understood the personal battle, this was the ultimate challenge. One changeling would be sent to this specific cavern, drained of emotion, and forced to make a decision. If they were to embrace the pool, and take the emotions stored within, the changeling would die. Should the changeling turn away from the pool, and accept their fate, they would be returned to the Hive. There was something different about this time; Jack always had emotions, something that changelings never had. Biggs was curious to what would happen; he had never experienced such an oddity before. What baffled Biggs the most was the fact that Wings had magical capabilities beyond moving small objects. He remembered seeing Wings many times growing up, but he had never befriended him. Changelings were never to have friends, but why? Would that not provide the emotions needed to sustain their own life? Biggs was questioning the power that had always controlled him, the power that controlled the ones he knew. He questioned the Queen herself.

---<

By this point, many of the ponies on the street had wandered towards the library. Twilight had locked the front door and windows, but the ponies crammed around to see what was going on. Rainbow Dash had heard some sort of cry from the library from a nearby cloud, and flew over there as fast as she could. She had no idea what was going on, all she saw was Twilight with tears streaming down her face, and a changeling collapsed just beside her.

“Hey, Twi!” Rainbow yelled, while pounding against a window. “What’s going on in there, care to let us know?”

Rainbows brash behavior attracted some unwanted looks from nearby ponies, but Rainbow knew that she would be able to get through to Twilight.

“You have to tell me what’s going on, you can’t just sit there and cry all day!”

Twilight gave a sad look towards the multicolored mare, pausing momentarily in her weeping. Without further notice, she let out another loud cry and began bawling once more.

‘Jeez, she’s pretty emotional about a changeling.’ Rainbow thought. It wasn’t until Rarity approached that Twilight was silenced.

“Twilight!” Rarity called, knocking on the door. “Twilight, I have some important information about a changeling, dear!”

Twilight slowly recovered, rising to her hooves and dragging herself over to the sealed door. Her horn glowed momentarily, allowing Rarity to step in. The door was slammed closed, and sealed once more.

“Wh-What… D-do you k-know about the ch-changeLIIIIINNNGGG” She began melting down once more.

“Calm down, please, Twilight. Everypony is wondering why you have a changeling collapsed in front of you, and why you’re crying over it.” Rarity said.

“W-Well… It all st-started a couple d-days ago, back at P-Pinkie’s p-party…”

---<

Jack stood in the center of the cave. Jack’s will was not his own, he did not know he had a decision on his own life or death. He couldn’t move, although he wanted to. Having Biggs push him away so far from the water was tormenting him, his energy was already at critical levels. He placed one hoof forward, then another. He was shaking tremendously. He caught a glimpse of Biggs out of the corner of his eye. The changeling did not stand in the perfect stance he normally maintained, he was slightly slouched over. But Jack was determined to reach the water. He needed it to live; he felt it was the solution to all his problems. Taking one slow step after another, he reached a point where the water was but a few more steps away, however Biggs was right beside him. Looking over towards the other changeling, Jack saw something he never thought he would see on a changeling. A single tear had formed and was slowly falling down the cheek of the changeling. There was a quiet splash, one that was almost unheard to an average pony, but Jack heard it, clear as day. The tear had hit the ground, and Jack smiled at Biggs.

He then collapsed on the floor.

---<

“… So I thought you should know about the new pony, Jack…” Rarity said, completing her story of her previous encounter with the newcomer.

Twilight had stopped crying, her eyes were dry, and it looked although it was impossible for her to produce more tears. She simply stared at the white unicorn, admiring her brilliant blue eyes. She let out a soft smile, proving that her depressed state had finally ended. The two unicorns embraced one another, and just about every pony that had gathered around the library were now crying as well. Suddenly, there was a loud pounding on the door, which made both Twilight and Rarity jump. Each of the faces crammed amongst the library windows all turned their attention towards the door. More pounding ensued, and with each solid hit against the door Twilight flinched. Spike was slowly approaching the door, with a shovel in hand (since when did they keep a shovel in the library?). The door finally released its locking spell, Twilight was too weak to maintain it. The door smashed against the nearby door, being blown open by sheer force. In the doorway stood a red mare with a purple mane, Domina, as Twilight recalled, and beyond that mare, was a familiar grey stallion.

Jack had returned.

Chapter 14 - Friendly Enemies

The windows of the library were still crowded, ponies pushing and shoving to get a better view. A few of the ponies now crowded the open door, attempting to get a better view upon the situation. The area was filled with many shocked expressions, including those of both Twilight and Jack. Jack was baffled of what had just happened, but to find Wings on the ground collapsed just below Twilight, and Twilight with a completely soaked coat was certainly not the results he had expected from his sudden disappearance. As for what had actually happened to him in the cave, Jack couldn’t recall anything except for the single tear Biggs had shed. Staring at one another, Twilight galloped over to Jack, leaping onto him and giving him an extremely tight squeeze. The ponies in the audience let out a long “Awwwwwww!” as the couple embraced. Jack wasn’t quite expecting to be gripped so hard, and he was left gasping for breath before the hug even ended. When the hug finally was ended, he was caught off guard when he found Twilight turned around, carefully balancing on her front hooves. Shortly after, he received a strong hind kick directly into the center of his chest.

“Ahh… Wh..at was th..at for…” Jack wheezed, barely able to breathe once more.

“That’s for making me worry so much.” Twilight said with a serious expression on her face.

Her serious face was definitely scary. Jack had no intentions of making things any worse, especially if he were to receive another hind kick. Expecting Twilight to resume her passive position, followed by another embrace, he received yet another hind kick, this time from the nearby white unicorn. This time Jack was left completely breathless, collapsed on the ground, and simply looked up at Rarity wondering why she had kicked him.

“Nobody hurts my friend like that!” Rarity said, giving a short “Hmff” and turning towards the opposite direction that Jack lay in.

‘Ow… Ow… Ow… Need to breathe…’ That was all Jack was able to think of, being so dizzy from the quick breathing.

The ponies around the library began to leave, despite the unconscious changeling still resting amongst the library floor. A few ponies remained, the events that occurred in the library that day was more interesting than most of the events that unfolded in their quaint little town. Finally, after roughly two minutes of short, heavy breaths, Jack managed to recover back onto his hooves. Staring back at him was one upset purple unicorn.

---<

“…And for the last time! I don’t know where I was!” Jack screamed, as Twilight continued to suspend him in the air with magic.

Twilight was furious, and Jack was surprised she hadn’t burst into flames or done anything extreme yet. He had been trying to explain to Twilight that the changeling had teleported him somewhere, and he had no idea where. He didn’t even remember where he was or how he got back. All he really remembered was that he needed to see Twilight. Biggs was standing beside Rarity, both of them watching the situation unfold in silence.

“And I don’t want to tell you again, that changeling’s magic is not capable of doing such a thing!” Twilight retorted.

Jack was getting nowhere in this conversation, and decided to take a different approach to the situation in attempts to be grounded once more. Being forcefully suspended in the air by magic was strange; it felt like he was falling although there was no acceleration towards the ground. The feeling of touching the ground once more would be great, so maybe he wouldn’t like flying as much as he had once thought.

“Alright, so you’re suspending ME in the air over a random CHANGELING that came out of NOWHERE, and you haven’t asked the TWIN over there about his SISTER being a changeling?!” Jack exclaimed.

Jack was getting a little frustrated himself with the current situation. But when the magical field suspending him in the air suddenly vanished, he collapsed face first back onto the floor. Twilight then turned her attention towards Biggs, and began slowly approaching him.

“He has a point, you know.” Twilight said as she continued walking towards Biggs.

‘Wait, did I just throw Biggs into the middle of this?’ Jack thought. ‘It wasn’t his fault at all! He was the one that saved me…’

Jack, still lying on the floor, and realizing his mistake he quickly rose to all fours, almost breaking out into a sprint to get to Twilight. Rarity then stepped out from beside Biggs and blocked the path in front of the charging stallion. Coming to a skidding halt, Jack heard the two talking.

“I never had a sister.” Biggs said, still lacking emotion in his voice. “You know how changelings can be, she really got into my mind. I feel like she was there my entire life.”

‘That is the MOST I’ve ever heard him speak before.’ Jack thought. ‘Still needs to work on the inflection part, it still seems he’s lacking emotion. But I know he has them somewhere deep down…’

“That is quite ridiculous, you know” Twilight said, interrupting Jack's train of thought. Biggs simply nodded before she continued, “But it does make complete sense. When I'm around you it feels like you haven’t had a normal day without her, well, IT, in a while.”

Jack cringed a little. Biggs was a changeling as well, but the way Twilight phrased the sentence was a little harsh, even if ‘Domina’ was an actual pony. The red mare let out a deep sigh.

“I know” Biggs said.

‘Wait. That sounded like he actually meant it.’ Jack thought. ‘Did he actually use conversational elements… Properly?’

Conversational Elements. Now what might those be?

‘Now is not the time, brain.’

Biggs shot a quick look over towards Jack before giving him a small grin. The red and purple mare both looked at each other, almost as if questioning what they should do, before finally embracing.

---<

Twilight had recovered from her mental breakdown, Jack had recovered from two sharp kicks to his chest, and the unconscious changeling in the middle of the library had still not awoken. By this point in time, Jack was questioning if the changeling would ever wake up. Jack still found himself puzzled by the changeling’s sudden behavior, from what he had experienced with Wings in the past he was very passive, and did not tend to resort to any sudden behaviors.

The Hive is calling

Those were Wings’ final words before Jack awoke in the cave. The Hive… Jack had been there once, and he understood that he would be forced to return eventually. Jack also noticed some significant changes in Biggs. It was almost as if he was getting an understanding of emotions, how they affected the ponies, how it wasn’t just wording or feeling that conveyed emotion, but action as well. It was if the changeling was developing emotions.

A single tear rolled down Biggs’ dark face, eventually releasing the grip on his lower cheek and splashing down on the ground.

That was the only image of the place Jack had been that he could remember, the rough cavernous walls behind Biggs as he shed his first tear. This wasn’t the first time he showed any emotion; he had given him the smallest grin before at the party. Looking back on the situation, it was almost a laugh, seeing as they knew he wanted the cake, but didn’t get any. Still, laughter is a sign of happiness in most cases; the only exception he could think of was laughing gas. Jack had learned something about changelings; most of the changelings were like the ponies he enjoyed so much. Each and every one was unique, despite them being much more violent. Maybe being turned into a changeling wasn’t such a bad thing. Maybe it was an opportunity.

---<

The four ponies were walking towards the park, hoping to forget what had happened back at the library. They had locked Wings in the basement, and Twilight had put multiple spells on the changeling and the door. She said something about not wanted something bad to happen again.

‘When she said again, I assume she was talking about my first escape.’ Jack thought.

The entire walk Rarity was constantly pestering Jack over every single small detail which she found to be ‘Utterly disgusting’. She complained his untidy mane, split ends, unclean hooves, even something about his teeth not being white enough. Jack knew that Rarity was still upset after the Twilight incident, and she just needed something to rant about, and what better for the unicorn to rant about than style! Every comment just made him laugh; he wanted to make a witty comment back to her, saying something like ‘My teeth aren’t white enough? At least I don’t have celery in them’ or ‘Dirty hooves? But you have mud baths all the time!’. He managed to withhold comebacks, knowing that Rarity was already in a poor mood with him. Approaching the park, seeing a few young fillies and colts playing in the distance, Rarity struck up another conversation with Jack.

“Jack, dear, how did you hear of my name before you met me?” She asked.

Huh. Jack was expecting that question eventually; he remembered accidently letting her name slip without either of them saying their names. He’d assumed that Rarity had come up with some sort of ‘I’m so popular ponies everywhere know me!’ excuse.

“Well, I was walking through town a few days ago, and I saw your boutique. I realized that it was really, nice I guess, compared to all the other buildings.” Jack said.

“A simple ‘nice’? Darling, I’ll have you know it is the most glorious building in Ponyville!” Rarity responded.

“Look, it was interesting. I didn’t really know what to think of it at the time, but I wanted to know what it was. So I asked a couple of nearby ponies.” Jack continued.

“And who might those ponies have been?” Came another question from Rarity.

‘Wow, she’s really on top of me about this, isn’t she?’ Jack thought.

“I didn’t get any names, but it was a mint green one and a light tan one. They told me it was Rarity’s Boutique.”

With Rarity’s question answered, she had finally fallen silent. She definitely was quite persistent when it came to suspicions, something he had not expected from her.

‘Maybe I can enjoy myself now, seeing as we finally made it to the park.

---<

Jack had been to this park before. He had been here twice, actually. He had shown up by accident every time, and hadn’t done much activity other than watching things. This time, his plans had not changed. He planned on staring at the sky, in order to lose himself to his thoughts once more. He looked around for a comfortable place to sit, and saw a small wooden bench. Walking the structure in order to sit down, he was quickly cut off by a rainbow stream.

‘Seriously, you too Rainbow? I know she’s your friend and all but I’ve already had to deal with Rarity’s pestering all day…’

He attempted once more to approach the park bench, just to have a cyan Pegasus land on the ground sliding. The pegasus with the multicolored mane then proceeded to lay across the entire bench.

“All this tough work has really tired me out!” Rainbow said, letting out a long, fake yawn.

Rainbow Dash turned her head over to look at Jack.

“Sorry, buddy, I really need this spot. There’s plenty of other benches across the park though.” The pegasus said, giving him an evil sort of grin.

Rainbow was up to something, he had seen that look before. But Jack couldn’t prove anything, as far as Rainbow knew he didn’t know her. He considered just pushing her off the bench, or pushing the bench over, but he quickly let the thoughts leave his mind. If there was one thing he didn’t want to do, it was get in a fight with one of Twilight’s friends. Then again he knew Rainbow would definitely win a fight on speed alone. Rolling his eyes, he began walking away, looking for another bench. Twilight and Rarity were both chatting on a bench not too far away, while Biggs was staring down a couple of birds that had settled in a nearby tree. When he came across another empty bench, he continued trotting towards it just to have the same rainbow pegasus steal his spot once more.

‘Real mature, Rainbow.’ Jack thought.

He was getting tired of Rainbow’s behavior. He may have hurt Twilight, but it was only momentarily, and it was completely by accident. Was Rainbow always like this when something personal happened? Jack walked away. He wasn’t going to let it get to him, he could just go lay in the grass. Yeah, it would probably be more comfortable as well. Proceeding towards an open grassy area, he slowly found a comfortable position to rest, with his hooves tugged tightly against his body. Staring at the sun, Jack saw a cloud slowly pass overhead, and stop directly above him. Slightly in vision was the tip of the same multicolored tail that Rainbow had used to occupy the park benches.

‘This is just redicilous…’ Jack thought.

He still wouldn’t let Rainbow get the best of him. He proceeded towards a nearby tree, rested his back against it, put his hooves behind his head and relaxed. Well, it would have been relaxing should a certain pony not have ruined it. Jack felt raindrops, one after the other, dripping through the thick layer of leaves the tree had offered. This was the point where Jack couldn’t take Rainbow’s immaturity any longer.

“THAT’S IT!” He yelled, “I’M DONE!”

This attracted the attention of many eyes throughout the park. Now, with almost half the park staring attentively at Jack, he stormed off towards the city.

Chapter 15 - Mentality

Jack stormed down the streets of Ponyville, attracting the attention of almost every pony he had passed. He was furious; Rainbow’s behavior didn’t help him feel any better about his current situation, especially since if he were to tell her anything he’d blow his cover. He never noticed he was grumbling to himself, talking about how Rainbow was ‘immature, childish,’ and ‘needed to grow up’. Jack didn’t know where he was going, but he didn’t really care. Whenever he got angry, he just needed to walk it off, maybe rant to himself quietly in his room. Since he currently had a temporary residence in the library, the only option he had to calm himself down was to walk. Jack found himself at Sugarcube Corner, although he didn’t quite have any bits to purchase any goods. Deprived of the acceptance of Twilight’s friends, Jack assumed Pinkie Pie would still enjoy his company. She was friends with everypony!

---<

“Of course you’re still my friend, silly! You may have hurt Twilight, but I know it was an accident, and I know you made up for her and everything! Oooh! Did you come here to get her some cupcakes to make it up for her even more! That would be super awesome!” The pink mare exclaimed.

“I would get her something, but Applejack hasn’t paid me for any of the work I’ve done.” Jack responded. “I would get her something nice, like flowers as well as a cupcake.”

Pinkie was constantly shifting. Her grin seemed completely natural, but her strange movements told Jack something wasn’t quite right. He felt although she was still upset about the ‘Jack may be a changeling’ incident, just like every other pony who was close to Twilight.

‘I guess nopony has seen Twilight cry like that before.’ Jack thought.

But, Pinkie maintained her content mood the entire time he had visited. She was the only pony he had seen so far that hadn’t had a negative attitude towards him, although he got a strange vibe from the pink mare that told him she wanted to give him attitude. Eventually, Jack left of his own accord. He planned on going over to Applejack’s farm soon, he needed some sort of payment so he could make his own purchases without somepony else dealing with the final bill. Then again, he hadn’t quite purchased anything yet, and at his current standpoint not a single pony would want to pay for anything he wanted, with the sole exception being Twilight. Filled with disappointment, Jack found himself wandering the streets once more. With Pinkie Pie left in Sugarcube Corner to help the Cakes, Jack was once more alone. Biggs was still at the park, or at least he assumed he was. He wouldn’t wander far, he knew Biggs pretty well. Then again, the sudden change of Wings’ behavior could result in something similar for Biggs. Despite his thoughts, Jack continued his aimless wandering through Ponyville.

---<

After an hour or so of wandering, Jack had finally completely settled down. He didn’t care about Rainbow’s behavior anymore, she may have been immature, but she was just defending her friend. Everypony seemed to give him displeased looks, some of them even refused to make eye contact with him. But, he didn’t mind anymore, life was good towards him.

That’s why everypony hates you. Life is just that good.

Ugh. Sometimes, Jack’s thoughts were a little… Cruel. He didn’t always enjoy what he thought about himself, and it was what usually got him in an upset mood.

‘So I’m having another ‘conversation’ with myself again. Great.’ Jack thought.

It’s not so much a conversation if there’s only one person. Well, maybe it would be a conversation if you had like, multiple personalities or something.

‘You know, that’s a good question. But I think it depends if you’re conscious of you other personality, not just doing it on purpose or something.’

Maybe, I’m not so sure myself.’

‘And you’re the one that usually argues that we’re the same person… Maybe I am losing my sanity just a little bit. It isn’t right to have a mental debate…’

Hey, I don’t mind.

Well, whatever was happening to Jack’s thoughts, they certainly were strewn. He couldn’t really think straight, despite having calmed down. When he finally snapped back to reality, he found himself staring blankly at a wall.

‘Yup, I’m going insane.’

Technically, insane is attempting the exact thing multiple times expecting different results, like trying to add 1+1 until you get 3.

‘Fine, then I’m going crazy. That better?’

Yes, actually.

Jack found himself tearing his vision away from the wall. He was somewhere near the center of Ponyville at this point, town hall was just in sight. His mind was at peace once more, no more aimlessly arguing with himself. That was a good thing, right?

---<

The day was quite long, and Jack found himself heading towards Sweet Apple Acres. Between staring at the wall, and choosing to head to Sweet Apple Acres, he had wandered back to the park in hopes of finding Twilight. His disappointment didn’t get the best of him when he had finally arrived, more than likely they had left a while ago when he had ran off. He was expecting them to leave shortly after he had left. Deciding not to go to the library was difficult, the only reason he didn’t go was because he expected Rarity to be there as well. Since her behavior wasn’t the nicest towards him either, he decided to steer clear of those two had definitely witnessed the events. Before much longer, Jack found himself at entrance gate of Sweet Apple Acres.

“Hello?” Jack called.

“Ah’ll be right there!” Came the response.

Coming out from behind a few nearby trees, Applejack was face to face with Jack once more. She didn’t look as upset as the other ponies had, as a matter of fact; she even looked a little guilty. This puzzled Jack, she had definitely heard of the news of what had occurred with Twilight and her hour long meltdown, everypony in or even around Ponyville had heard.

“Oh… Uh… Hey Jack…” She said, frowning a little bit.

It was obvious Applejack was trying to force a smile, but with little success. Her expression looked a little like she had inhaled a terrible odor recently, and didn’t want to breath it in.

“What’s wrong? I know you’re usually not like this, Applejack, even if I’ve only known you a couple days.” Jack responded.

“Ah feel a little bad about what happened back at Twi’s place…” She said.

Her voice wasn’t quite as comforting as it normally was, and she looked genuinely upset.

“Yeah, she had a really bad meltdown. But she’s doing better now. So why aren’t you mad at me again?” Jack asked.

“It wasn’t that, sugarcube. Ah feel bad about sendin’ ya’ll to clean the tree, but when I heard about the fall… Ah just felt terrible! Ah should have just taught ya’ll how to farm, then ya’ll wouldn’t have gotten hurt, and ah wouldn’t feel so bad…” Tears were forming in Applejacks eyes as she spoke, but Jack doubted she would actually cry.

They had a nice hug, one that was comforting, it made Jack feel good about himself again. Shortly afterwards, Jack found a small pouch in front of him, held by a large red stallion.

“Thanks, Big Mac.” Applejack said, wiping the lone tear from her eye.

“Eymmph” Came his response, muffled by the pouch in his mouth.

“Is this money for what happened? I can’t accept it, I’m sorry.” Jack said.

“It’s fine, it’s just for all the work ya did, nothin’ more.” Applejack said.

Reluctantly, Jack took the pouch, and it felt a lot heavier than he felt necessary for the work he had done. He tried to return some of the bits to Applejack, saying it wasn’t necessary, but her stubbornness overwhelmed his guilt. He ended up walking back to the Tree-brary with a pouch filled of 90 bits.

---<

Jack had finally reached the library, and his legs were getting tired from all the walking. He almost didn’t want to reach forward to open the door, so for a minute he just stared at it.

Got a habit of staring at inanimate objects, don’t we?

“Yes.” Jack said in response.

‘Crap, I just said that out loud didn’t I…’ He thought. ‘No doubt I’ve gone just a little bit crazy…’.

Before Jack had a chance to knock on the door, Twilight had already swung it open. She looked around for a moment before bringing her attention back to Jack.

“Who were you talking to, Jack?” She asked politely.

“Er… Nobody, in all honesty..” He responded.

“Don’t you think it’s a little crazy to be talking to yourself?” Twilight asked.

“Of course it is, but umm… Are we just going to continue our conversation our here or what?”

“Oh yes, of course come in!”

The Tree-brary had served as a home for Jack, but it never quite felt like a home. There was too many books, not enough normal household objects. There was a round table with a small chair near the middle, as well as a desk with another chair near one of the front door’s windows. Other than that, the furniture on the main floor was scarce. Jack collapsed onto the sole chair near the center table, and let out a long sigh.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Twilight asked, looking slightly concerned.

“Kinda,” Jack responded, “You see everypony has been acting weird around me ever since the…”

“Oh, yeah, well, the residents of Ponyville are pretty close, and they tend to be a little overprotective sometimes. Oh and maybe I overreacted a little bit and that may have contributed to the overall outcome as well.” Twilight said.

“Well, Applejack paid me for the work, after she almost had a meltdown of her own.”

“Strange, I never really see Applejack getting that emotional. Well, her and Rainbow Dash.”

“Speaking of Rainbow…”

There was a pause. Twilight looked like she was going to say something, but remained silent. Jack didn’t want to rat her out for her poor behavior either. Everypony makes mistakes, right? In the end, Twilight was the first to speak.

“Yeah, I found out about her behavior. I talked to her along with a lot of other ponies I’m close to, to try to keep things under control. It’s been a little rough, but I think they’ll be a little nicer to you.”

“Thanks for at least trying.” Jack said, trying hard to smile.

It was weird, he really did appreciate the effort, but he found it difficult to find any sort of emotional response. It was almost like… He was losing his emotion. That’s when it hit him. The trace of a smile he did have vanished and he entered a minor state of panic. Twilight caught on before Jack had the chance to say anything.

“No… Nonononononono! This can’t be happening!” Jack exclaimed, shaking slightly.

Twilight was silent once more. Her shocked expression allowed Jack to understand everything, although she looked slightly puzzled as well. All she saw was a grey stallion shaking slightly, expressing a small amount of fear. Was he exaggerating something, or was something really wrong? Twilight stood there, frozen, not sure of what to do. Jack felt… strange. The feeling was similar, but it was extremely foreign. If he had experienced this feeling before, he had no memory of it. Was this the work of Biggs? It couldn’t be Wings; he was still locked in the basement… right?

Jack, now as scared as his limited emotions would allow him, found himself fleeing the library once more.

Chapter 16 - The Magic of Flight

Jack knew what was going on. Emotions didn’t just vanish into thin air, changelings were always responsible. The only changeling Jack knew of that would easily attempt to harm him was Wings, the reasoning behind his behavior still being unknown. Jack ran out of the library and out of town completely, ensuring that absolutely nopony was following him. He needed some time to recover both mentally and physically, he was exhausted the entire day. More than likely Wings had managed to track him down and he was following him earlier that day. Jack, losing his breath, slowed down and admired his surroundings. There were a plethora of trees, buildings in the distance, a small dirt path entering the nearby forest and the sun slowly setting behind some distant mountains. The sun was setting, and he was nowhere near anypony’s house. Taking slow, deep breaths, Jack allowed himself to regain his senses and asses the current situation. He could be in deep trouble if he slept in the open, especially if Wings still managed to follow him, although scanning both the land and the ground Jack saw no sign of a single living creature nearby. He could wander into the Everfree forest and look for Zecora’s hut, he had a rough estimation of where it was, but with his previous experiences in Ponyville he knew his geography skills were not strong. Ultimately, his best decision would be to scan the edges of the forest for Fluttershy’s cottage, she couldn’t be too far from his current position.

---<

Jack thought Fluttershy’s cottage would be nearby, but then again he did have poor geography skills. He wandered aimlessly until dark, which surprisingly made it easier to track down her cottage. He followed a feint light in the distance, and eventually Jack was facing the cottage once more. He remembered last time he had paused to look at it, and ended up chasing Fluttershy for reasons he could not recall.

‘Probably just in the moment, that’s all.’ Jack thought.

He had no reason to admire the structure this time around; most of it was similar to that of Ponyville however the roof was not covered in hay. Instead, the entire cottage was built from wood safe for the windows. Some of the wooden beams were clearly overtaking the standard wooden walls, making it an interesting sort of design. Then again, the cottage’s style was still quite similar to those of most of Ponyville’s buildings. Without further ado, Jack slowly approached the cottage’s door, crossing the small bridge and up the small ramp. While approaching the cottage, he attracted the attention of a few nearby chickens, who yelped at the approaching intruder. Rolling his eyes, he found himself finally knocking on the cottage door.

“I’ll be there in just one minute.” Said a soft voice, which was almost impossible to hear through the door.

Jack began looking around the cottage instead of directly at it. Beside it there was a small chicken coop, where the chickens had begun yelling at him. Sitting among many of the nearby trees were many bird’s nests, as well as a surplus of cocoons. There were a few small holes dug into the ground either underneath the cottage or nearby trees. Fluttershy really did take care of a lot of animals. The door finally opened, and Jack found himself facing Fluttershy.

“Oh…” The yellow mare said, cowering slightly at the unfamiliar face.

“Hi, I’m Jack. I was sort of lost, and it’s too late for me to be able to get back to Ponyville. Is there any place I could stay?” Jack asked.

Fluttershy kicked her front hoof lightly against the ground, her mane was covering her face and she was looking at the ground. She was shy, but she didn’t even answer Jack’s question. It was an entirely new level of shy, one Jack didn’t even know existed.

“I… umm… I’m Fluttershy…” She said, in a voice that was almost impossible to hear.

Jack didn’t completely catch what she said, other than the ‘shy’ at the end. Knowing she was introducing herself, and since Jack was already well aware of her name, he decided not to ask what she had just said.

“Alright, Fluttershy,” Jack said calmly with a smile on his face, “Do you know of anywhere nearby I could stay?”

She didn’t respond verbally, but gave a slight nod of her head.

‘This conversation isn’t going anywhere…’

---<

It took Jack fifteen minutes to get an actual answer out of Fluttershy. Most of the time, he spent his time asking her about all the animals she had scurrying in and around the house, most of which were already asleep. The responses Jack got from Fluttershy were all almost completely silent, except for the few statements or questions he had asked about animals. Asking one final time for a place to stay, Fluttershy finally gave a proper response.

“I… I guess you could stay here. It’s not very safe around these parts at night.” The mare said, barely making eye contact with Jack.

“If you don’t want me to stay here, that’s fine.” Jack said.

That’s a lie. Jack’s subconscious brain-entity said to him.

‘Yes, but I need Fluttershy to feel guilty so she’ll let me stay willingly.’ Jack thought.

That’s a little cruel, isn’t it?

Jack didn’t bother to respond, he needed a safe place to stay, even if it cost him some honesty. He had lied plenty of times before, as a matter of fact he had been tricking ponies since he arrived in Equestria. The guilt feeling was almost absent by this point.

“I can’t let you do that!” Fluttershy said, finally raising her voice to a normal level.

‘I honestly can’t tell if she yelled or not…’ Jack thought.

“Alright, then there has to be something for me to do to make this up to you.” Jack said.

“Oh no, it’s really alright. I can’t just leave somepony out in the dark, all alone!” Fluttershy said happily, smiling and finally making full eye contact with Jack.

But her smiling was so... It was so… Fluttershy’s smile was… D’awwwwww! Words can’t even describe the feeling. It was as if a kitten was bombarding him with more kittens, and those kittens had puppies! Jack almost felt like crying from the smile alone!

“Thanks a lot, but seriously, is there ANYTHING I can help you with? You do have quite a few animals around here.” Jack said.

“No, most of the animals can take care of themselves, except for the food. But they’re all so wonderful; I brought them all here to keep them safe and healthy.” Fluttershy said, as she picked up a small squirrel in her hooves.

They then proceeded to cuddle. The cuteness was too much, Jack felt as if his head was going to explode, and then followed by the rest of his body, into kittens and puppies. Almost unable to control his thoughts due to sheer cuteness, Jack finally managed to muster up some words.

“So… Uhh…” Jack began. “Where am I… Going… THEY ARE SO CUTE! I WANT ONE OR TWO OR ALL OF THEM THEY’RE SO CUTE!”

Jack had just made the situation awkward. Then again, he had experienced almost every day so far with an awkward situation, without one wouldn’t quite be normal. Whatever normal was, anyways. Fluttershy, still a little shocked from the sudden outburst, gave him a little smile back.

“You can sleep on the couch right there.”

---<

Morning came swiftly. Celestia’s sun was high in the sky, shining directly into a window amplifying the heat and brightness directly onto Jack’s face. He woke up with a burning sensation on his forehead and quickly got up as a result. Doubting there was any damage done, Jack dragged himself off the couch and sleepily wandered out the front door of the cottage. Today he planned to go into a secluded place and learn more about himself and his abilities. Changelings had flight, and they had magic, despite their magic being significantly limited. Still in a sleepy state, he wandered along the edges of the Everfree forest.

Jack never saw Fluttershy that morning, she was either still asleep or had gone to town. Jack found himself wandering along the edges of the forest for quite a while, and eventually found himself in a small opening between a large cliff and a few trees. The area wasn’t completely secluded, but he felt nopony would bother wandering so far from civilization, so he assumed he was safe. Planting his feet firmly on the ground, he began thinking of himself. His grey stallion body, with his black mane and tail, even the cutie mark in full detail. This time, the only difference was the addition of wings. He felt a tingling sensation on two sides of his back, just behind his shoulder blades. Looking behind him, tucked tightly against his body, Jack found himself with a new set of wings.

‘Alright, so I could always feel my wings although never actually been able to do anything with them…’ Jack thought. ‘I can feel them as part of my body, but how do I move them?’

Jack stood there, his head turning around and carefully looking at the wings. His brain was straining to find the proper muscles to move in order to finally get the wings to move. Most of the time, he ended up moving his shoulders or upper leg, but occasionally would get some wing movement.

This is a lot harder than you think, you know. Said a familiar voice.

‘I know, I’m trying to figure out what muscle does what. It’s like having another random arm out your back, isn’t it?’ Jack thought.

No, not really. There are so many muscles with different functions here, you wouldn’t even believe me if I told you how many there were.

‘I would believe you, seeing as you’re some sort of reflection of myself. But enough talk… Er… Thinking. Let’s get this flying thing done!’

By this point it appeared Jack’s new set of wings were having severe spasms. It didn’t look healthy at all; it even looked like it hurt. But he didn’t feel any pain; the wings were a lot more flexible then they seemed. It took Jack almost an hour just to get basic movement down. It was pretty exhausting, and he felt the unused muscles already wearing out.

‘I need to take a break.’ He thought. ‘Good news is I’ve finally figured out how to get them into a fully extended position, and tuck them back in!’

You mean we. Most of this had been my work, and it’s pretty darn annoying I must say.

‘Ha. Shut up and take a break.’

---<

The break wasn’t long. Throughout the break, Jack lie in the grass slowly stroking his new wings with his hooves. It was almost like he was petting a bird, although he never actually touched a bird so he assumed that was what the experience would be similar to.

I wonder what it would feel like on the tongue…

‘You know what? That may sound weird but I kinda want to try it.’ Jack thought.

Then do it.

‘No. It may be a little TOO weird.’

Deciding to end the break instead of doing something clumsy, Jack rose to all fours once more and began wing exercises. His wings were constantly folding and unfolding, and he felt the wing blowing past him slowly. It was strange having wings; it felt almost as if his body had lost a significant amount of weight. Must have been a pegasus thing. Basic movement was easy for Jack, although he never thought he would be able to get lift. He couldn’t move his wings in large enough strokes quite yet, and he couldn’t get them to move in a sweeping direction behind him. Since that was the method pegasus ponies used to propel themselves forward, he assumed he would only be able to go up or down.

Don’t forget about magic!

Magic. That was what really had Jack’s attention. If he couldn’t fly, he could still levitate himself with magic, or teleport himself somewhere. Then again, that was assuming the changeling anatomy allowed for such strong magical abilities. Maybe just something simple, like moving a rock, would be enough to prove to himself he could use magic. Following the same procedure as earlier, Jack imagined his current body except with a single horn protruding from the skull instead of the wings on his back. After the wings had finished tingling, and his skull finished tingling, he found himself just barely able to see the new, grey horn just above him. Maybe it was just a little tiny bit distracting, but hey, he could try magic now! Then again, there were no muscles or any new feelings really, so he had nowhere to start.

For the first twenty minutes or so, Jack felt himself forcing blood to flow to his head. It was the only idea he really had, and it made him feel so light headed he fell onto the ground a few times. He wasn’t getting anywhere, and wouldn’t get anywhere at this rate. Deciding to attempt something new, Jack decided to focus extremely hard on a nearby rock, one that was less than half the size of his hoof. With no results still, Jack let out a sigh. He wasn’t ready to give up yet, but his lack of success was seriously discouraging him. Looking back towards the rock, he focused once more extremely hard, just to find out nothing was happening.

“Ugh! How does this even work?!” He yelled out in frustration.

Pretty clueless here as well

‘There had to be some sort of secret. Some sort of mental secret, it couldn’t be something simple.’ Jack thought.

Staring at the rock once more, Jack decided to take a different approach. He began meditating.

---<

It wasn’t long before he found meditation did absolutely nothing to the rock, but Jack was now in a relaxed state. He was taking long, slow breaths, making sure to enjoy his time. Slowly closing his eyes, he imagined the rock that he had been staring at the entire time. There was nothing beside the pebble, just complete darkness. It rested peacefully among the nothingness. Before long, Jack saw the rock (in his mind) slowly moving upwards. That was when he finally got a result.

Jack’s legs felt like he had just gained about 60 pounds, his mind was now pounding, and his horn was… glowing? It wasn’t a purple glow, like he had expected, but a light green glow instead. Looking around, he saw the tiny rock levitating roughly two feet off the ground.

“Yes!” He exclaimed, causing himself to lose focus.

The rock tumbled down, and Jack collapsed as well. Sustaining just the tiny rock took an extreme amount of effort, and he had no ideas what his changeling magic would be limited to. He knew his magic was significantly weaker than that of any other unicorn, but he was glad he was at least able to use it. Falling onto the ground once more, Jack lie on his back staring into the sky. He had succeeded in both figuring out how magic worked, and how wings worked.

‘Wings…’ Jack thought, staring attentively at a few passing clouds.

By now, Jack had resumed his earth pony form. Just thinking of the wings or horn made him want to practice more, but he was already exhausted from the little progress he had achieved. He just wanted to rest. Closing his eyes, he imagined himself flying through the sky, shooting magical bolts of energy throughout the forest. The bolts themselves didn’t really do anything, but the concept of it was pretty neat. The wind was flowing through his mane; his aerodynamic body was easily adjusting to different air currents, and his horn was able to produce a variety of light. Then Jack remembered that he was just lying in the middle of nowhere, and assumed he should return to Ponyville soon.

That is, should a certain changeling not be standing ten feet away, staring at him lying on the ground, an evil grin spread across his face. Jack was not expecting him to find him, and as a matter of fact, he wasn’t expecting to ever see him again in his natural form. Slightly shocked, Jack finally managed to open his mouth and released one single word.

“Wings.”

Chapter 17 - Return to Sender

Waking up in a dark place never was a good feeling for Jack. Then again, he had never awoken in such a dark place before. It was almost an unnatural darkness, he knew changelings had strong vision in dim light, but his nocturnal eyes could not visualize any of his surroundings. He felt a tingling sensation coursing over his body, and he couldn’t tell if he had maintained his disguise as a pony. By this point a few minutes had passed in the complete darkness, and Jack began to wonder if he was even awake. He was lying on the ground; he hadn’t risen in fear of hitting his head against something. The option to simply feel around to determine his surroundings had passed through his mind, although he felt it would be best not to know of his surroundings. The air didn’t have a particular scent, which was quite strange seeing as there is almost always some sort of smell emitting from objects. Sure, it was creepy waking up in an unfamiliar place, maybe a bit creepier not remembering how you got there, but it didn’t get much creepier then when he couldn’t tell where he was through his senses. The only feeling Jack got was his body lying against rock, and more than likely the rock would have been cold had he not been resting upon it. Then again, it may have been warm the entire time, not knowing how long he had been out cold further distorted his poor sense of time. The silence was also difficult for Jack to bear; absolutely no sounds could be heard apart from his own breathing and heartbeat. The situation seemed familiar, the lack of sounds at least, not so much the lack of vision. Despite that, Jack continued scanning his eyes across the darkened room, in hopes of eventually catching something in his sight. When he failed to detect anything with his eyes or ears, he released a small sigh and rested his head back on the ground.

---<

Jack’s quiet breathing seemed to make the air vibrate slightly around him. He was scared in the given situation, but not completely paralyzed in fear. He was also relatively bored, although he may have been a little too scared to notice how bored he really was. Hours passed as he rested on the floor, or minutes, perhaps mere seconds, it was difficult to tell without anything occurring around him. That is, until he heard a noise similar to that of a rock bouncing off another rock. The rock must have been small, the noise would have barely been audible in any standard environment, but without much use from any senses everything seemed to impact Jack. The pebble bounced twice more before eventually skidding to a halt and Jack felt the air just in front of his face vibrate slightly in front of him.

‘That can’t be more than an inch away.’ Jack thought. ‘And what could have caused that?’

His question was quickly answered by a feint glowing light. It was a dark green transparent circle-like shape, enveloping what looked like a moderate sized boulder. The glow emitted absolutely no light, which made Jack assumed that the glow was caused by some sort of magic. A grinding sound began, and a few smaller stones could be heard shifting around with the boulder. Once the boulder had been moving for roughly 3 seconds, a sliver of light pierced through the darkness. It wasn’t an actual ray of light, however. The ray of ‘light’ was dark as well, but Jack could at least see where he was. As the ray grew, more of the tight space became visible. He was in some sort of small cave; there were very few rocks apart from the small chippings falling from the boulder and the surrounding walls. Jack was glad he hadn’t risen; the ceiling was no more than a foot above his head. Despite this, the small ceiling escalated upwards as the distance between the entrance and himself grew smaller. The boulder had shifted away from Jack by about a foot, and then began moving to the left. The small sliver of vision that was available for Jack grew at an alarming rate, filling up the small cove swiftly. Crawling towards the entrance while slowly rising to ensure not to harm his skull, Jack eventually rose to all fours and peered out into the new cave. But the cave wasn’t new, and Jack new it, a lot of the things beyond the rock were familiar. Not the kind of familiar where you appreciate it, but more the familiarity where you didn’t want to recognize it. He was back in the Hive.

---<

It was scary, and Jack’s calm breathing had escalated slightly. Analyzing his surroundings, he found multiple changelings glaring towards him, each of the expressionless faces increasing Jack’s insecurity. Jack inhaled, and prepared to speak, but no words came out. He didn’t even know what he planned to say, he had no idea why he had been brought back so soon, or why he had been trapped in a cave to begin with. Staring at the surrounding changelings for a little longer, Jack found himself calming down; there was something strangely comforting about them. Their eyes were glowing a deep green, and Jack was hypnotized by the strange glare of one particular changeling. This changeling was significantly smaller than the rest; Jack’s head was looking down at a great angle in order for their eyes to meet. Also, its wings were small, extremely small, as if they weren’t proper proportion to the small changeling. Then there was the chitin, which was a bone chilling greyish blue color, not the normal dark blue that the other changelings had. He couldn’t help but continue to stare, his thoughts and feelings slowly escaping his body. Without any sort of notice, there was a sudden blast of green energy which travelled in a wave towards the changelings. Every changeling around Jack had been hit, and Jack was shaking slightly. Not from the blast, but mostly realizing the changelings had been sapping his energy and he was already feeling extremely weak. With the changelings nearby knocked about, moving slowly in pain while groaning, Jack noticed a familiar face approaching him.

“Hello once more, my dearest student.” Said the Queen.

‘Sounds like something Celestia would say to Twilight…’ Jack thought.

“Interesting that you should mention those two, I see you have been getting quite a decent amount of work done around your target location.” Chrysalis said, leaving Jack slightly shocked.

“Mention them? I didn’t say anything at all.” Jack said, a puzzled look on his face.

“Dear, I am the Queen, I have the most powerful magic of ALL the changelings.” Chrysalis responded.

‘The emphasis of the word ‘all’ was EXACTLY the same as the wedding. I never knew it would be that familiar to me…’

“Hmm… I’m just as curious as to why you would wonder something so specific as well.” Chrysalis said.

“Oh yeah, you can read minds.” Jack said.

“Mind reading? That magic drains energy like there’s no tomorrow. Quite literally, actually, doing that usually kills changelings within seconds.” She said, her expression becoming serious upon the mentioning death.

“Then how do you know what I’m going to think?”

“I don’t completely know, dear, I only can only sense emotions, but your thoughts seem to be filled with emotions. Still, I find strange is how your thoughts have so many… Feelings in them.”

“I’ve gotten good at what I do, nopony knows I’m a changeling.

“That’s good information to know,” The Queen said. “And please don’t say ‘nopony’, that irritates me greatly.”

“Sorry” Jack said, noticing the Queen had broken her eye contact and was staring over his shoulder.

She looked over his shoulder for another moment before her eyes flashed a bright green before returning to the normal darker green and looking back towards Jack.

“I apologize. Sometimes the young ones don’t understand when to feed.” Chrysalis said.

Jack quickly peered over his shoulder to take a quick glimpse of what had happened. On the floor there was the same small changeling that he had been entranced with moments before the Queen’s arrival.

“Why did you want me to return so soon?” Jack asked.

“My dear, I found something you may find quite… Interesting. Recently, I discovered a few changelings that had not returned to the Hive after the wedding incident…”

---<

“So you want me to ‘take care’ of the rogue changelings?” Jack asked, shocked at what had just been explained to him.

“Yes. You seem to fit in quite well, and when one of the changelings brought you back here I assumed this would be an appropriate chance to inform you.” Chrysalis responded.

“Wait, you didn’t bring me back then?” Jack asked.

“Those emotions inside you are getting the best of you.” The Queen responded, shaking her head. “You had best not to feed too much off those ponies.”

“Wait what?”

“Your emotions are clouding your thoughts. Normal changelings can sense the needs of mine, you appear to be immune. This case only occurs in cases of Extreme Emotional Overflow, a rare disease amongst changelings.” Chrysalis said.

“Oh, umm, alright then.” Jack said.

Things were getting a little confusing. By this point, Jack had been told some changelings had been able to escape the call of the Hive through emotions, or in this case Extreme Emotional Overflow, a changeling illness of some sort. EEO was common amongst changelings that managed to receive large amounts of love from living creatures, and he assumed his emotions had been preventing the Hive’s calls the entire time.

“I believe you understand what you need to do.” The Queen said, as her twisted horn began to glow.

“Wait, but how do I… ‘take care’ of them? And how do I know where any of the other changelings are?” Jack asked nervously, not knowing what to expect.

“That’s for you to figure out. I have many of my own problems, this burden can be yours now.”

“Wait what if…”

The room was filled with a green flash, and Jack found himself back along the edges of the Everfree forest.

“…I fail.” He finished.

---<

He looked around his surroundings; he was quite close to the path that leads into the forest towards Zecora’s hut. Looking around, he found there wasn’t a single pony in the area. In a slight state of panic, Jack rested carefully against a nearby tree, rubbing his forehead with one of his hooves. He had a headache, more than likely as a result from the recent emotional drain he had experienced.

‘Oh man… What am I supposed to do now?’ Jack thought.

You lay low, find out who those changelings are. Came the response.

‘Yeah, but what do I do about them after that? I can’t just do something to one of the residents of Ponyville, that would freak everypony out and leave them suspicious.’

Don’t do anything. Just wait until you are summoned by the Queen again and tell her about the changelings.

‘But that leaves me without having ‘taken care’ of them. I still don’t know what the punishment would be.’ Jack thought, shuddering at what may happen.

Oh come on, it can’t be THAT bad… Oh wait, yes it can. That’s right, I remember why we didn’t want to mess with her last time…

Jack’s mind remained silent after that. He didn’t want to think about potential punishments once more, so he found himself thinking about Twilight and Biggs. More than likely Biggs would still be with Twilight, and with the sun about three quarters done its cycle, Jack assumed he had been gone a few hours.

‘I really shouldn’t worry about them, they do get along quite well. Then again, I should still head back to the Tree-brary…’

Settling down once more, he relieved his weight from the tree and looked to his left towards the small dirt path. He began walking towards the path before hearing a heart stopping scream, followed by the sound of galloping. He looked up towards the direction of the scream and saw a young grey mare with a yellow mane galloping away. For a moment, Jack was curious to why she was running. Remembering he had just been in the changeling Hive, he knew he must have forgotten his disguise. Looking down at his dark black hooves, filled with holes, he entered a state of panic. In a matter of minutes, Ponyville would hear about another changeling, and something terrible was going to happen as a result. Ensuring there were no more ponies around to see him, Jack quickly transformed back into his grey stallion, and began casually walking back to Ponyville. There was no need for panic quite yet, he’d have time to figure things out, right?

Or would he…

Chapter 18 - Lockdown

After finally arriving in town once more, Jack found himself amongst a group of ponies all travelling in one direction. It wasn't quite what he had expected, especially after being caught, to have everypony walking around so casually. Then again, they were all heading towards the same direction, most of them usually socialized and wandered about. He couldn't help but wonder where they were all heading towards, so he decided to join in the group. On his way back to town, he had not seen the grey mare, which was more than likely a good thing. If he hadn't been seen returning to the city after a changeling had been spotted just outside the city, nopony would assume he was the changeling. Well, at least that's what Jack thought.

'I wonder what Biggs knows about this...' Jack thought.

He hadn't seen Biggs for a while, and he was wondering how he was doing on his own. Jack felt close to Biggs, as if he was his first close friend, despite him being their solely to observe his actions. It was a little strange how Biggs' behavior seemed to change as the two changelings spent time together. It was almost as if the changeling was bonding to him, although he had not seen any changelings show any sort of respect towards another changeling in the hive, with the sole exception being the Queen. Quickly noticing the crowd had stopped moving, he found himself amidst a mass of ponies, collected around town hall. On the entrance porch there was a stand with a microphone, behind it stood an older looking pony with a beige coat and greyish-white hair. Something was going to happen, and it was going to be big, especially if the whole town had gathered.

---<

More ponies continued arriving; most of them were familiar to Jack although he wasn't quite sure of their names. He saw a few familiar faces in the crowd, like Twilight and Rainbow Dash, although they were too far away from him to get their attention. As the rate of growth of the crowd began to decrease, Jack saw another pony rise up to the stage as well, the same pony that had run away from him when he had first seen her. This time, Jack easily recognized who it was, seeing as she was much closer than the previous encounter. It was none other than the mailmare Derpy. With everypony in the town trying to talk over each other, Jack found it a little hard to concentrate. The mayor finally stepped up onto the stage, and spoke into the microphone.

"Citizens of Ponyville," The mayor said, her voice echoing through the magically enchanted microphone, "I have gathered you all here today to discuss a certain situation."

The crowd fell silent, before one voice amongst the group spoke.

"Is this about the changeling that Twilight found the other day?" The voice said.

The crowd broke out into whispers, although nopony around Jack seemed to care.

"It is about more than just one changeling, you see," The mayor continued, "You see, Derpy here saw another changeling earlier today."

"How do you know it's not the same one?" Came a different voice, one of a stallion this time.

"I was getting to that," The mayor stated, staring at the stallion which had spoken. "Derpy says this one was definitely different than the first one, first of all it was slightly bigger, and the wings were significantly smaller. Those were the only two distinct features that sets the two apart."

The mass of ponies began whispering amongst themselves, most of them expressing their fear of the current situation, and Jack could see many ponies looking around nervously, before one finally shouted something out.

"So what do we do about this then?" Said an upset voice, shaking slightly.

"I have consulted the unicorns of Ponyville, and they have all agreed that we cannot do anything until the princess arrives."

This caused the ponies to begin yelling, and they seemed pretty upset. By this point, Jack had begun leaving, things were getting intense amongst the group and he didn't want to get involved in anything. Without further ado, Jack managed to squeeze his way out of the crowd. He had not noticed, however, that a certain purple unicorn had noticed him.

---<

Twilight saw Jack leaving, and no other pony had bothered to leave the town hall. Nopony else seemed to mind the grey stallion leaving either, most of them were outraged at the inability to properly protect themselves. Since there were few unicorns in town, they could not individually check each pony, and Twilight knew that if there was in fact another changeling the town would be paranoid. Unfortunately, she couldn't stop the mayor from telling the rest of the town, all she could do was send a letter to Celestia in hopes of her being able to help the town. Still curious of where Jack was going, Twilight trailed behind from a distance, making sure not to be spotted. He wandered through town; his movements were calm and collected. He certainly didn't look lost, although he did end up wandering around the same areas quite a few times.

'I know a certain somepony that may be lost...' Twilight thought, as she continued to trail him.

It looked as if he was only avoiding the mass of ponies near the center of town, every time he would wander towards town hall he would turn around and go in another direction. That is, until he turned around and looked directly at Twilight. She was hiding in a bush, and it would have been more effective if she didn't have a bright purple coat. Most of the time she had hid behind buildings, but this particular area was very open. Twilight froze, and hoped he wouldn't come.

"Twilght..." Jack said releiving a sigh, "What are you doing?"

Twilight didn't respond, she wanted to pretend she wasn't there, but she knew she had been caught. She hadn't done anything wrong though, Ponyville law didn't have anything particular against following anypony.

"I know you're there, and I know you've been following me a while." Jack said.

"Oh. Well... when I saw you leave the town meeting, I thought I should follow you. It isn't normal for just one pony to leave by themselves." Twilight responded.

"You've been at it a while though..." Jack said, his voice trailing off.

It was obvious Jack was looking at something, and he was staring pretty intensely at whatever it was. When Twilight looked behind her to see what Jack was looking at, she saw a purple protective shield slowly forming from town center, quite similar to the one used during the changeling invasion in the wedding two weeks prior to the current day. Within a few minutes, the protective semi-sphere would cover the entire town’s boundaries. Twilight assumed that Celestia had arrived with a few other unicorns; Twilight didn't know any other pony in Ponyville that could produce such a shield. As Jack began walking towards town center, Twilight followed closely behind.

---<

The town was calmer around the massive building. After Jack’s long walk, he guessed that the ponies had figured that they would have to deal with it. Only one or two changelings weren’t much of a threat either, they wouldn’t be able to pull any big moves without somepony noticing. Luckily for Jack, he had arrived before changeling suspicions had raised to such a level, and he assumed he would be safe for a while. Now on the stage there were several ponies; Celestia, Luna, Mayor Mare, Derpy, two guards, and one pony Jack had never seen before. He looked quite important, and it was quite obvious it was his magic creating the shield. He had a dark yellow coat, with a very long white mane and tail. He had a beard, and was wearing a stereotypical magic hat, the rounded brim with the pointed tip. The hat itself was white with golden stars on it. His cutie mark was a bright yellow shield, with a single sparkle on the top right corner. As the two approached, everypony else seemed to be mesmerized by the shield.

"This shield will last for two weeks." The elder pony said.

His voice was deep, and had a sense of seniority. His inflexion used made it sound like he knew what he was doing, but it made him seem cocky as well. He held his head high, and seemed proud of his work.

"But that means the changelings are trapped inside!" Somepony yelled, causing another minor riot.

"Hush." The older stallion said. "That gives you all enough time to figure out who the changeling is, and deal with the issue amongst your own population. As for me, I will remain in this city to help bring any suspicious ponies to the truth. I know a detection spell, but it only works on individual ponies, and it may hurt quite a bit."

The crowd was silent. A few ponies rolled their eyes, and a couple of them were asking each other why Celestia or Luna hadn't spoken. After a while, the crowd finally began to shrink, revealing a chariot near the stage. The princess of night and day both climbed into the carriage, as the two guards were hooked up by magic. They took off, not having said a single word during the entire visit. Jack watched as they just barely passed under the forming shield, and brought his attention back to the new visitor. He looked at him for a moment, then approached him, with Twilight following not too far behind.

"Who might you be?" The yellow stallion asked.

"I was about to ask you that as well, and I'm Jack." Jack said, extending a hoof.

"I am minister Golden Aegis, personal protective spell caster of Celestia herself." He said, looking at Jack's hoof but not giving any motion to shake it.

Now that the mass of ponies had been reduced to a small cluster, Jack saw Biggs and Applejack in a conversation, although he wasn't close enough to hear what was going on.

"...And that is why Celestia assigned me to this particular changeling outbreak." The minister finished, once more raising his head as if proud of his work.

'Must have zoned out again...' Jack thought. 'I should have listened to him, he is the biggest threat to me right now...'

The purple shield finished forming around the town. The minister had a sinister looking smile on his face before he spoke once more.

"And this town is now under my control."

Chapter 19 - A Bad Feeling

Jack stood in awe. Had the minister just said that he was in control of the entire town? He was puzzled, mostly how a pony such as this would be able to make it to such a rank, especially one that serves royalty directly. The few ponies that did remain hadn’t seemed to notice either Jack’s wide open mouth, or the sinister smile Aegis had spread across his smug face. He may have been old, but it was obvious he was still in quite good physical condition, and he appeared to use his seniority to his advantage. Not knowing much about this newcomer, Jack already had a terrible feeling forming in his gut, he knew that the minister would completely abuse his power, and with the shield in place around the entire town there would be no possible way of telling the princess. The shield did in fact protect from both physical objects and magical abilities alike from either entering or leaving Ponyville. At least that’s what Jack assumed would happen.

‘There goes my flight practice for a while…’ Jack thought. ‘And magic, of course…’

Finally Twilight noticed Jack’s shocked expression, although she hadn’t taken notice of Golden Aegis’ dark grin. Approaching him, slightly concerned, Jack turned around to inquire about the newcomer.

“Twilight, did you know about this guy before?” He inquired nervously, “I mean, like, had the princess ever told you anything about him?”

“Celestia doesn’t tell me much about her personal life, which usually includes ponies working for her. To answer your question, I have honestly never heard of this particular stallion before.” Twilight responded, carefully scanning her eyes over the elder pony.

Aegis gave her a frown, quickly alternating his gaze between both Jack and Twilight. The three remained silent for a while, each of them carefully looking at one another, before the awkward silence was finally interrupted by a hyper pink pony.

“Ooh! Ooh! Another new pony in town! Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie, and we should totally have an awesome exciting welcome party! It’s only fair; Jack got one the other day! Him and his friends, well his friend, since his one friend was a changeling!” The pink mare exclaimed, barely pausing between each sentence.

When Pinkie mentioned that one of Jack’s friends was a changeling, he gave him a dark sort of glare, and he was definitely building up suspicions against Jack.

“From what I hear, changelings rarely travel alone…” Aegis mumbled, staring intently at Jack.

“…Cake and Pin the tail on the Pony! It’ll be great! Oh and I love the purple bubble, it’s really pretty! We should totally make the entire party purple themed and…” Pinkie continued.

Jack rolled his eyes. He rolled them for two reasons, the first being that Pinkie was getting carried away in another conversation that nopony was really paying attention to, and secondly because the minister had pretty much just convicted him of being a changeling. It was a fact that Jack was a changeling, but it’s rare for anypony to be arrested without any form of evidence, and there was no way he would cast the changeling detecting spell on him so soon. He hadn't acted anything like a changeling in front of anypony, really, and the only time he was seen as a changeling nopony saw him transform back into his stallion form. After another brief moment of silence, Twilight finally took a step forward, getting face to face with Aegis.

“Hey, you can’t just go around accusing random ponies of being changelings. I’ve been around Jack for quite a while, and he seems like a pretty honest colt to me.” Twilight said, giving what looked like a death stare.

“Hmph.” The minister let out a grunt, eying both Twilight and Jack once more. “I would expect the princess to pick a student that has some sort of logical reasoning, maybe she picked you because you needed the most improvement.”

The minister retained his poker face, and Twilight’s expression changed from that of a little upset to a completely furious state. Her face turning a red color and a few small sparks were emitting from her horn. Jack noticed that things wouldn’t end well should they stay and continue their ‘pleasant’ conversation, so he decided to speak up.

“Alright, it’s been nice meeting you Aegis…”

“That’s minister Aegis to you.” He responded.

“Rude…” Jack said under his breath. “But we really should get going, it’s quite late in the afternoon.”

Looking up at the clock tower, the clock read 6:34. Jack, with an infuriated purple unicorn, slowly began walking away, Twilight continuously mumbling what seemed like curse words under her breath. Even as the two were leaving, Jack felt the eyes of the minister following their movements, until they had finally left the line of sight of Aegis.

---<

Jack and Twilight were lying on the wooden floor of the library. Twilight was reading a dark blue book without a title on the front page, and had a pile of multicolored books beside her. She had already finished reading two of the books, and it still wasn’t night yet.

‘How is it even possible to read so fast…’ Jack thought.

It was true, the sun would set around 7:30 that night, and she had read two full sized books of at least 600 pages in less than an hour. The windows were filled with a brilliant orange glow as the sun approached its final resting point. Biggs was sitting near the small table near the center of the room. His eyes were locked on those of Twilights, slightly moving back and forth with her eyes as she read. Twilight shifter slightly, almost as if she was uncomfortable, and gave a quick glance up to the red stallion before looking back at the page.

“Can you please stop staring at me like that?” She asked, continuing to read the book.

Biggs gave Jack a quick glance, and all Jack could do was nod in return. Jack still wasn’t quite settled after his encounter with the minister. His behavior was definitely not of which he expected of somepony of such a high rank. He was expecting him to maybe be a little cocky, but he seemed to have an ego of a God, and was intensely focused on power. He wanted to talk to Twilight about him, but couldn’t seem to think of the right words. Looking around the room once more, he noticed Biggs was no longer staring at Twilight, but staring at the sleeping Owlicious instead. Perched by a small window near the library’s entrance, the owl stood carefully watching guard outside the window. Or sleeping, just conveniently facing the window. It was hard to determine if the owl was awake or not because neither Jack nor Biggs could see the feathered face.

“Hoo!” The owl hooted, the face still fixed upon the window.

“Oh, Owlicious, you’re awake!” Twilight said, carefully rising to her legs once more. “I was just doing some research on changelings, mostly because I wanted to beat the minister to discovering the changeling.”

“Hoo?” The owl hooted once more, finally turning her head around.

“The minister, Golden Aegis.” Twilight said.

“Hoo!”

“Protective spell caster of the princess, he’s VERY important…” Twilight said sarcastically.

“Hoo.”

“The minist… Oh forget it…”

“You know, when the owl says ‘who’ she isn’t asking ‘who’, but she’s hooting. That’s all owls can really ‘say’,” Jack said using hoof quotes, “If you even call that speaking.”

Twilight was already back into reading, so deep into reading it appeared she hadn’t heard him speak. She had moved into a book called ‘Changing Anatomy – The Anatomy of a Changeling’. Jack was actually interested in the book as well, he wanted to know what he looked like on the inside (not really, he hated guts and gore) and how his body worked the way it did. He rose from the floor, giving a careful stretch of his body, which attracted the eyes of everypony (and owl) in the room. Looking around the room once more, Jack finally noticed what was missing. Spike.

---<

The front door to the library opened, and Spike walked in with a glass of punch in his claw. He had a few streamers around his neck, and there was glitter all over his scales.

“You guys are missing an AWESOME party!” He said, throwing his hands into the air and spilling his punch on the floor.

“Oh shoot!” Twilight exclaimed. “We almost forgot about Pinkie’s welcome party! She’ll be devastated if we don’t show up!”

“I wouldn’t really say ‘devastated’…” Jack said, “I’ve never really seen her upset, and I don’t think she’s really capable of being upset.”

Twilight gave Jack a glare before continuing, “Well, she would be upset, everypony knows she just bottles up those emotions deep inside. You never know what would happen if too many emotions would build up inside of her…”

There was ANOTHER awkward silence. Jack had experienced plenty of awkward moments through his visit, and the awkwardness seemed to be less significant every time. Maybe he was just getting used to the awkward moments; maybe it would be a regular thing for him.

‘At least I can’t get a cutie mark in awkwardness…’ Jack thought.

As he looked back up, he found everypony to be gone, including Biggs. The door had been left open, as if they had expected him to close it on the way out.

“Whatever.” He said out loud, letting out a sigh.

He walked towards the door, carefully closing it behind him as he left the Tree-brary. Looking around the streets, it was definitely dark already, although most of the housing still had lights on. Wandering down the streets, he saw a familiar pointed shaped hat’s shadow in a nearby building. It wasn’t far from town hall, so more than likely this was where the minister had been staying all night. Carefully approaching the window, he saw another shadow of a pointed hat enter the room.

‘What? Is there TWO of him or something? I need to find out what’s going on…’ Jack thought.

He was finally close enough to the window to clearly see the figures beyond, and he was sure to keep his head low to prevent himself from being spotted. Looking around to see if there were any other ponies, he peered back into the window.

---<

“I can’t go to a party, unless it’s a formal party. I refuse to go to a party that would diminish my social status!” The older pony said.

Jack’s eyes carefully scanned the room. There was a small bookshelf in the back right corner, with a small desk right beside. The desk held a small green patch of felt with an ink quill at the top. There was a small painting above the desk, but it was hard to make out. The floor was covered by a bright red rug with golden brims, and the only entrance to the room was a small doorway of the left wall. The minister, with his greyish white hair and beard flowing carefully as he paced back and forth through the small room, was clearly talking to the other pointed hat figure, who had just left the room.

“You can’t look suspicious. I would still recommend going, although personally I would not go.” Said a voice.

The voice seemed so familiar; it was that of a mare, one that had a certain distain to it. The voice made Jack grind his teeth a little. He knew the name of the mare, but he just couldn’t quite put the name to the voice alone. The other figure with the pointed hat re-entered the room. She had almost the exact same hat as the minster, but it was a vivid purple color with light blue and light yellow stars.

‘Not Trixie…’ Jack thought. ‘Does she have anything to do with this?’

“You should still be glad I let you into my humble abode.” Aegis said, frowning blatantly towards Trixie. “I do not accept visitors past dark, and in this town I want to refuse just about every visitor.”

“Do you want me to remind you WHY you have your position, minister?” Trixie responded, giving an evil grin.

The minister let out a little laugh before he responded. “And do you want me to remind you how you got run out of Ponyville the first time?”

Trixie’s face turned red, and she turned away from the minister. Jack finally realized that Trixie wasn’t wearing her cape. He guessed she wore the cape because her tail was so short.

“I guess you don’t need me then.” Trixie said, letting out a small “Hmph” afterwards before walking out the small door.

‘Well, it’s good to know that Trixie isn’t involved in this…’ Jack thought.

“My plan does still involve you, Trixie…” The minister said quietly, and Jack was barely able to make out the words.

The minister then began to approach the window, and Jack wasn’t prepared to run. He quickly looked around to find a place to hide, although the area was void of any nearby objects. Turning and preparing to run, he heard the window slide open and felt the light pour onto his backside.

“Well, well.” Aegis said, “Now what do we have here?”

Chapter 20 - Party Crashers

“Espionage is not commonly used, I find. Not when it comes to royalty, at the least, and I would never expect to find somepony spying on myself!” Golden Aegis said, maintaining a grin that seemed like he would let out some sort of snort.

His eyes matched his bright yellow cutie mark perfectly and his gaze seemed so serene. Jack was still curious of what he planned to do with him; the minister did seem like a power hungry mongrel, so he assumed he would use this to his advantage to instill fear across Ponyville or something of that sort.

“What should I do with you…” Aegis said, putting a hoof under his chin. “I’ve never had to deal with anypony like you before. That is to say you are a pony…”

Aegis gave Jack an evil grin. Jack couldn’t help but think that he would use some sort of propaganda in order to gain power. As bad as things may have seen at the time, Jack tried to remain calm. He was shaking a little, not from any sort of fear, but because it was quite chilly outside that night, and the cooler breeze didn’t help much. Jack was still outside, but the minister had some sort of spell going that prevented his legs from moving. He could still talk and look around, but Jack saw no point in doing either of the previously mentioned options.

“Look, I was only here because you were supposed to come to a party. You weren’t there, so I decided to go find you myself.” Jack mumbled.

‘That was believable, right?’ Jack thought. ‘I may not have been at the party yet, but I assumed he hasn’t gone yet…’

“Son, you should be able to tell that I don’t go to most social events, unless the princess requests I attend. I would not go to such a ‘party’, especially if there were so many lower class ponies around.” The minister huffed.

‘That was rude.’ Jack thought.

“Now, I am quite interested in what punishment system Ponyville offers for spying, do you have any idea of what may…”

“JA-AA-CK! JACK!” Came a loud voice, interrupting the minister mid-sentence.

Looking around, Jack’s eyes fell upon a small purple dragon, followed by a lavender mare.

“Oh there you are! We were looking for you!” Spike said. “Oh and you found the minister! Everypony is waiting on him!”

---<

“Now minister, you mustn’t get too harsh with this stallion here.” Twilight stated, carefully eying the both of them.

“I do not tolerate spies, my personal business should remain private, and I expect other ponies to respect that.” The minister scolded, glaring at Jack.

“He’s relatively new, and he just wanted you to come to a party. You really shouldn’t be so frustrated by that. Unless you’re trying to hide something…” Twilight said, carefully eying the minister.

“Oh… Of course not… I would NEVER hide anything. I’m simply here to take care of the town… That’s all…” The minister growled.

“Exactly!” Spike said excitedly. “So you should have some fun while you’re here!”

“Now’s not the time, Spike.” Twilight whispered to Spike.

“You really should come, Aegis.” Jack said.

“Minister Aegis.” Aegis responded rudely.

Jack and Twilight both rolled their eyes, while Spike was busy sulking over Twilight’s scolding.

“Whatever. Let’s just go then.” Jack said, as the minister’s spell finally began to slip.

“Fine. But don’t think I’ll forget this. I’ll be keeping my eyes on you... Jack…” The minister stated.

The threesome departed from the window. By now, the moon had risen quite a bit into the sky, and most of the small town houses lacked lighting. Luckily enough, the moon was shining brightly that night, and the two ponies and dragon were easily able to return to Sugarcube Corner.

---<

“SURPI… Oh, hi Twilight! Hi Jack! Hi Spike!” Pinkie exclaimed, while the mass of ponies crammed into Sugarcube corner gave another moan of disappointment. “How are you doing? I’m doing great, although we’re still waiting for Aegis to arrive. We have so many activities ready, and we-“

“Pinkie, uh…” Spike began.

“We don’t think the minister is coming.” Jack finished. “We had a little bit of an argument… I’m really sorry about that, I didn’t mean to ruin the party…”

“Oh silly, you didn’t ruin the party, silly! It’s still a party even though the guest of honor didn’t arrive!” Pinkie said, barely maintaining her smile.

Jack saw her bottom lip quivering slightly, although the shaking quickly stopped as Pinkie happily skipped away. Jack let out a frown, knowing that it had hurt Pinkie’s feelings, although he was sure she had experienced something similar before. Like the Twilight meltdown a few days ago. Looking around the room, it was a lot less crowded then Jack’s party, and he noticed the cake was much smaller.

‘I guess the ponies aren’t very fond of the minister.’ Jack thought. ‘If I were the bakers, I wouldn’t have even made a cake at all for him. I mean he’s rude… inconsiderate, and most ponies don’t know that-’

Jack’s train of thought was cut off by a loud thump and a flash of bright green light. Jumping slightly, and being almost deafened by many screams of mares and stallions alike (not very manly screams, either) Jack quickly scanned the room looking for the source of the sound. In the corner, he spotted a mint green mare, positioned low to the ground, pointing her horn ahead of her and breathing heavily. Across the room, sprawled across the floor, was the unconscious body of a changeling.

“What in Equestria happened?!” Twilight exclaimed, staring at Lyra.

“I… Bon… Ughh…” Lyra managed to murmur, before passing out onto the floor.

“Everypony back away, quickly!” Came a voice from behind.

Jack saw a brown stallion and white mare run by, preparing to attend to the unconscious unicorn. Looking at the changeling, nopony seemed to be approaching it. Jack stared in awe, he hadn’t expected there to be another changeling at the party. Thinking back to his second visit to the changeling hive, he recalled Chrysalis telling him that he needed to ‘deal with’ the other rogue changelings in Ponyville.

‘At least that’s one down…’ He thought, letting out a long sigh.

The sigh caught Twilight’s attention, and she quickly glanced at him before returning her attention to the doctors. Her and another unicorn both approached, quietly asking the doctors if they needed any help. Once more, Jack scanned the room. He was nervous, and was hoping he would be able to track down Biggs. He saw a crimson mare, staring emotionless across the room, her purple tail twitching uncomfortably. Giving one quick look back to the doctors, Jack returned his attention back to Biggs and slowly approached.

---<

The party had ended after the changeling incident. Everpony was too freaked out, and the room remained silent through the rest of the night. There was the occasional whisper, one pony asking another if they wanted to leave, but nothing they said seemed to bring their attention back to the changeling. It was quite obvious that everypony was becoming a little paranoid with the changeling situation, and they really didn’t want to think about it. Jack, Biggs, Pinkie, the Cakes, Twilight, and the doctors were the only ponies that remained. Pinkie, for once in her life, did not have a smile on her face, although she wasn’t frowning either. She maintained a neutral expression, although it was obvious that she was extremely upset her party had ended so abruptly. Jack had no intentions of leaving without Twilight, or to leave Pinkie in such a state either. Approaching the pink mare, Jack began rubbing his front hoof on her back.

“Aw, comon Pinkie! It was a great party!” Jack said, forcing a smile onto his face.

Pinkie let out a small smile, quivering in the process, before returning to her neutral emotionless expression. Without a single word, Pinkie tore out of Jack’s back rub and stormed up the stairs.

“Poor dear…” Mrs. Cake said.

“She’ll be alright. She always is.” Mr. Cake responded, as he watched Pinkie march upstairs.

“Who? Lyra or Pinkie?” Mrs. Cake inquired.

With a brief face hoof, Mr. Cake simply glared back to his wife. Sometimes she just couldn’t take obvious hints, and it was not necessary to ask which one he was more worried about.

“…Takes a lot of energy out of a unicorn, that kind of spell.” Twilight said, talking to the doctors. “I still have no idea where or how she would have learned that kind of spell, either. Nopony has bothered asking for any books on changelings recently, and that spell isn’t a simple spell.”

The collapsed changeling shifted slightly, and began to rise to all fours. Nopony seemed to realize except Jack, although Jack was at too much of a distance to take immediate action. Regaining his senses, the changeling glared over to Jack before giving his attention back to the collapsed mint green unicorn. The changeling was clearly preparing to take action, and Jack couldn’t do anything about it but watch.

“Look out!” Jack yelled, as the changeling pounced towards the unconscious unicorn.

Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. The changeling had barely taken off, and the attention Jack had attracted forced all eyes upon him as opposed to the aggressive changeling. Jack’s jaw dropped, as the other ponies in the store slowly brought their attention to the assailant. Jack was shaking with panic, and he was not prepared for anything to occur. He had a plan… Sort of. As much as he hated to do it, he had no other options. Putting his head down, he prepared for what was about to occur.

---<

*2 Minutes Earlier, Twilight’s perspective*

Lyra had been unconscious a while, and she as well as two doctors were carefully examining her for any sorts of damage, be it physical or mental. They had come to no conclusion, but they still had to determine what course of action would be taken next. Transportation to the hospital would be the next step, although at the time of night there were no carriages available and most of the other ponies had already left. They needed some sort of stretcher.

“I still doubt she has any damage done to her.” Twilight stated, looking at the brown stallion beside her.

“We still must take many precautions; we don’t want to cause any damage either.” The doctor replied.

“I know what spell she used. It may not be a common spell, but I’ve used it before. For a unicorn that rarely uses powerful magic like that, this kind of result should be expected.” Twilight said, carefully shifting her head around the unconscious Lyra. “It takes a lot of energy out of a unicorn, that kind of spell. I still have no idea where or how she would have learned that kind of spell, either. Nopony has bothered asking for any books on changelings recently, and that spell isn’t a simple spell…”

Both the white mare and brown stallion gave her an annoyed look. She knew that they understood what had happened, but having another mare lecturing them on how they should perform their job wasn’t helping. Twilight let out a quiet sigh, ensuring that neither of the doctors would hear. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jack shifting uncomfortably, and Domina staring blankly in return. Rubbing her hoof on her forehead, she returned her attention back to the patient. She desperately wanted to help, but both doctors appeared pretty stubborn. They wouldn’t even let her use basic magic to comfort her!

‘That’s just ridiculous.’ Twilight thought. ‘I know they’re just doing their jobs, but there’s so much more my magic can offer to them, I could help them get her to the hospital, make sure that-’

Twilight’s thoughts were cut out by another pony’s yelling.

“Look out!” Jack yelled.

Frustrated with the sudden outburst, Twilight turned her attention to the grey stallion. She noticed his expression was extremely panicked, and he was staring in shock at something behind her. Her, as well as the two doctors, slowly turned their attention to what was occurring behind them. Mid-air, a changeling was flying through the air directly at Lyra. Twilight was just as shocked as Jack, and wasn’t prepared to take action. Preparing for the worst, she closed her eyes and turned away. The last thing she caught out of the corner of her eye was a flash of light flying across the room.

Chapter 21 - Unanswered Questions

A small bolt of pure energy flew across the room at lightning speed. To anypony who had not witnessed magic before, they may not have even seen the tiny bolt. Speed alone was enough to send the changeling flying into the wall, since the bolt itself was almost void of mass. Twilight was still covering her eyes, and the two doctors stared at the collapsed changeling in shock. Slowly, the changeling began rising once more, shaking his head in attempts to regain proper vision. Jack was panting heavily, slumped downwards, positioned on all fours. He rarely used magic before, and the one time he did he was almost completely drained after just levitating a small stone. Jack gave a few quick blinks, his vision was shaky and it was hard to focus. If there was something he had to do, it was protect the ponies he had become so accustomed with. Barely conscious, Jack took a step forward, the step echoing through the bakery, and this drew the attention of all the eyes in the room. Twilight, now uncovering her eyes, turned and saw Jack slowly marching towards the changeling, with a new horn glowing faintly in the dimly lit light.

"Is that... Everything... You got...?" Jack chirped, panting heavily between breaths.

Magic was still quite unfamiliar to him. In a state of panic he had created a horn from himself, hoping to at least throw an object in the way of the changeling. Emotions, however, got the best of him, and he sent a bolt of pure energy accidently. Still trying to regain his composure, Jack took another step forward. The tension in the air was unbelievable, each breath was slow and long, save for those of Jack and the changeling. A sudden movement from the changeling caused Jack to flinch, although the movement was limited to the changeling lowering its head. Was it conceding? There was a sudden flicker of light emitting from the changeling's crooked horn, and a nearby table rose and was sent flying through the air towards Jack. Barely able to react in time, he dove to his right, hitting the ground hard and sliding a couple feet.

‘I need to get this thing out of here, before somepony else gets hurt…’ Jack thought.

Rolling over to get into a better position, Jack quickly jumped back onto his hooves and tried to throw a chair with magic. The chair lifted about a foot, shaking to extreme levels, and then was thrown through the air no more than two inches away. Twilight gave herself a massive face hoof, while Jack lost concentration again due to lack of energy. The changeling, charging at him once more, tackled him out of a small window. The glass pane shattered, sending tiny shards of the transparent substance through the air, while the bodies of the changelings followed. Landing on the darkened streets, the two rolled over one another in attempts to get a better vantage point. Normally it would have been almost impossible to see the changeling in such darkness, but Jack's nocturnal vision provided him with the vision required to assault the enemy. Kicking the changeling off of him, Jack carefully eyed the changeling, preparing for any unexpected moves. Adrenaline was coursing through his blood, allowing him to ignore his current fatigued state. Staring at the changeling for another minute, Jack began a charge. He felt a breeze blowing through his hair, and as he approached the enemy he closed his eyes, lowered his head and prepared for impact.

But there was no impact.

Opening his eyes and looking behind him, he saw that the changeling had vanished. Lacking vision of what was in front of him, he crashed head first into a cart, knocking him onto his back.

"Ughhh..." Jack groaned, "Where did the changeling go...?"

---<

A few minutes passed while Jack rested on the ground. Nothing had happened and the changeling had vanished completely, so the adrenaline slowly began to fade from his body. His head began pounding with pain, and so did the right side of his body, more than likely from the dive earlier. He was also extremely tired, and almost didn't have the energy to get up from the floor. Barely able to focus, Jack looked around his surroundings to determine if there was anypony else around, the changeling easily could have taken another disguise and he wanted to stay safe. Shaking his head, he slowly began rising to his hooves once more, taking a considerable amount his available energy.

"Jack!" Said a voice, at a moderate distance. "I found him everypony!"

Looking around in attempt to figure out who may be speaking, he found himself looking downwards at a small dragon in the distance. Shortly after spotting the dragon, four ponies appeared from around various corners. Jack had not realized how far the charge had taken him; he was out of sight of Sugarcube Corner. Squinting to determine who was approaching, he saw a purple blur, a white blur, and a pink blur all approaching at once. He knew who they all were, but he could only remember Twilight due to his fatigue being of such great levels. The purple blur began rushing towards Jack, and as the blur came closer and closer he was more easily able to determine the equine shaping. Twilight, now resting a hoof on his back, stood there for a moment in silence, staring at his new horn.

"I know what you're staring at..." Jack said breathlessly.

"Well... I honestly don't know what to say. I haven't seen something like that happen in a long time now..." Twilight responded, a hint of suspicion in her voice.

"I'm sure I can explain this... One way or another..." Jack whispered.

---<

Twilight continued to stare at the grey stallion's new horn. It seemed completely real, but she couldn't quite pinpoint how it had just... Appeared. She knew changelings could easily create wings or horns, she had just read an entire series about changelings. Magic was a possibility, although his severe drain of energy after basic spells seemed to rule that possibility out. Either that or he had specialized in a specific form of magic. Specialized unicorns were rare, although nopony seemed surprised when they met one. Pondering about possibilities other than being a changeling, Twilight stood there giving a blank stare towards Jack for several seconds. That was, until the silence was broken by Jack.

"Uhh... Twilight? You okay?" He asked.

"I think so... I'm just... thinking...." Twilight responded slowly.

The two stared at each other for a lot longer. Jack shifted uncomfortably, more than likely the nurse and spike had been staring at him for a while as well, but Twilight was mostly staring at the horn. The shiny, new, horn. Twilight wanted to take a look at her own horn, although she knew that she would need a mirror. Some sort of comparison, in order to determine if the horn was real or not.

'But it HAS to be real... where would the bolt that saved Lyra have come from if not from him?'

It was quite dark outside, the moon was at its peak in the sky, and was very dimly lighting the streets. Most of the houses had the lights off, the occasional house here or there still had the lights on. The night was quiet, the only sounds that could be heard was the unnatural breathing coming from Jack's lack of energy. A voice finally spoke up, breaking yet anothe awkward silence.

"So... Should we tell the minister about the changeling at the party or what?" Spike stated, while poking Twilight's leg in attempts to get her attention.

"Yes... I think that would be best for now..." Twilight said, giving a quick glance to spike before returning her gaze to Jack. "But we do need to be careful. We don't know how many there are..."

---<

The room was dead silent. It was the same room Jack had seen the minister talking to Trixie with earlier, except this time the minister had invited both Twilight and Jack inside to speak with him. Aegis was pacing back and forth in the small room while Twilight explained what had happened at the party. Luckily for Jack, she had not mentioned anything about his horn. Once Twilight finished reciting what had occurred, the minister looked in Jack's direction.

"So you were one of the witnesses, and you helped take care of the assaulted pony?" The minister inquired, eyeing Jack suspiciously.

"Yes. I was there, although I know nothing about medical treatment so all I could do was watch the changeling." Jack replied with an uneasy feeling.

"Twilight says the changeling got away, that it teleported somewhere else in town. If you were the one responsible for guarding the changeling, I may have to say you had something to do with its escape!" The minister said menacingly, with an evil grin spread across his face.

"Minister Aegis, might I remind you that there are other witnesses? Jack wasn't the only one responsible for watching over the changeling." Twilight said.

"How should I know that you aren't involved in the changeling incident then? How do I know you are ponies at all? What should make me believe that everypony there taking care of the unconscious unicorn weren't changelings feeding off the helpless mare? I should have you all jailed right now!" The minister scolded.

"I'm Celestia's personal student; a changeling would never be able to get even close to me!"

'I beg to differ...' Jack though, giving a small grin.

"What's he smiling about? He's already been caught spying on me before, why should I trust him? I bet he's nothing but trouble!"

Jack's grin turned into a frown. He never liked the minister, but he seemed quite hostile towards him and Twilight. Then again, it seemed Aegis was a lot more hostile towards Jack over Twilight.

"Since the two of you are witnesses, I can't jail you on the spot, seeing as the changeling escaped without taking one of your forms. However, I can put you on trial, and should the crowd believe you are changelings-"

"Alright, you know what?" Jack interrupted, "I'm sick and tired of your attitude. You've done nothing but stare at me suspiciously and assume I'm going to do something. You think you're ALL THAT but really, you're just a weak old wizard who can barely keep a shield around the town!"

The minister stood in shock at the sudden outburst, his mouth left wide open. Twilight had a similar look, although hers was more surprised than shocked, she almost seemed a little happy after Jack had verbally assaulted the minister.

"Ha! You think I'm a weak old man do you?" The minister said, after a minute of collecting his thoughts. "Maybe I will arrest you on the spot, see what the rest of the town thinks."

"On what grounds do you plan on arresting him, minister?" Twilight inquired.

"Last time I checked, this little brat didn't have a unicorn horn."

Chapter 22 - On Trial

Everypony in the small court room was staring at Jack. Every pair of eyes on the dark changeling was filled with both betrayal and hatred. Jack tried to avoid eye contact with the crowd, although he found himself looking towards Twilight. He had never seen a single pony with such a sad expression on their face, hers almost pleading to him. She had tried her best to represent him at the court, although her efforts were futile. Ever since the changeling attack in Canterlot, nopony wanted anything to do with a changeling. After the judge had granted permission for the minister to cast his spell to clear any changeling disguises, Jack found himself hit by a strong bolt and knocked to the floor. Still from the lower vantage point, he rested his head against the ground, barely able to maintain his gaze upon Twilight. 'Why didn't you tell me...?' Twilight mouthed.

"I... I'm sorry..." Jack said, closing his eyes and preparing for his punishment.

The room remained silence, and Jack felt his limbs seized by several guards. He let out one last sigh before he was escorted out of the room.

---<

Jack jumped himself awake, shocked from the dream he had last time. He wasn't ready for the trial that would happen that night, and he was scared of what was going to happen. Twilight had agreed to represent him, although the minister seemed committed to 'bringing justice'. Barely awake, Jack attempted to get a look around him, although his vision was too blurry from the sudden rise from his sleep. As the rays of light pierced the windows of the library, Jack noticed Twilight working vigorously, writing extremely fast on a couple of scrolls. Spike was still asleep, cuddled up in a small basket beside the desk.

"Good morning, Twilight." Jack said, still trying to focus his eyes.

There wasn't a response from the purple mare, so he decided to take a nice long stretch. After ensuring his joints were still movable, he realized that his entire body was still exhausted and sore from the previous night. Looking back on the situation, he should have kept his distance from the changeling, they were quite unpredictable at times. That moment was lost in time, however, and he finally saw Twilight take a short pause in her writing.

"So..." Jack said, stepping off the small mattress, "What's going to happen? Does Ponyville even have a court?"

Twilight turned around to look at the speaker, and she rubbed her hoof against her head. She had bags under her eyes, so Jack assumed she either got very little or no sleep at all.

"Uhh... We've never really had a real case before. I'm putting together all the evidence against the possibility of you being a a changeling, but it's pretty tough, especially since you're quite new to Ponyville." Twilight said, then pausing for a moment. "I also assume that the 'court' would take place in town hall, seeing as it may be the only suitable place for such an event."

"You look exhausted; did you get ANY sleep last night?" Jack asked.

"No, but this isn't anything some coffee can't fix." Twilight stated, giving a yawn afterwards.

"So, how much longer until the court begins?"

"We never actually set a time, just sometime in the afternoon. It would be best to be there around noon, make sure we're all set up."

Jack nodded his head in agreement. He had always wondered what it would be like to be in a court room (although this was town hall, so it would be different), but he never expected to be the defendant.

"Oh, and Jack..." Twilight said quietly, "If there's ANYTHING you need to tell me, and I mean ANYTHING, you need to tell me now."

Jack paused, debating if he should really tell her the truth. If he did, he could risk Twilight assaulting him, beating him senseless and preventing the need for the court altogether. But if he didn't, and Twilight found out, the results could be even worse. Especially since he could be revealed in front of the entire town. The silence lasted for what seemed like an eternity. As Twilight shook her head and prepared to leave, Jack finally spoke up.

"Actually... There may be one thing..."

---<

The doors to town hall flung open, standing in the doorway was both Jack and Twilight. On the way over, they had borrowed some old suits from Rarity, which took a while seeing as most of her old designs were stashed away in the small attic. Jack and Twilight both wore black suits, with a white shirt underneath and a small red tie underneath. The shirts were quite uncomfortable, at least since Jack had adapted to the four legged figure. Twilight seemed to shift uncomfortably as they walked, more than likely she wasn't used to the tight fit around all the limbs. As the pair entered the room, there were a few other ponies that had collected. Jack recognized some of them, although he still wasn't sure about their names. The room itself was a lot smaller than he had expected, although the ceiling was quite high. Jack and Twilight were greeted by a large, circular room, packed full of small wooden benches with three stands at the far end. The center stand was slightly taller than the others, and the two side stands each contained a small microphone. Despite the town’s efforts, it still seemed as if they had thrown the room together last minute.

Between one of the side stands and the wall, there was a mare quivering in fear. She had a dark orange mane with a light orange body, and her cutie mark was a few carrots. Jack was tempted to go ask her what was wrong, but he was afraid it may involve some sort of paranoia of changelings. It appeared that the room had been used prior to the current time, there was an occasional piece of trash left on the ground, and some of the benches weren't quite aligned.

"Comon, Jack. There's a washroom just over there if you need to get your outfit straightened out." Twilight said, sipping at her coffee.

"Alright, I'll be a minute then." Jack replied.

Ever since Jack told Twilight about being a changeling, she had been silent the entire way to court. She didn't seem to care, really, although maybe some of his emotional sapping powers had influenced her in some way. Then again, he never felt like he was draining anypony of emotions, unless it was a natural sort of thing.

Twilight nodded her head. Jack doubted that Twilight would have been so accepting of the news. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but no words came out.

Seconds passed, as Jack stared at his own reflection in the bathroom mirror. Those seconds turned into minutes, which eventually turned into hours. Everypony that passed by didn't acknowledge Jack's presence, almost as if he wasn't of any importance.

Walking down the streets with Twilight caused many of the ponies to stare. News traveled quickly in such a small town, and the possibility of him being a changeling was definitely important news.

The crowd outside the washroom had grown, awaiting the verdict on Jack, waiting to discover the changeling that had befriended half the town. Jack just couldn't bring himself to exit, until Twilight finally called.

"Jack, the jury is ready and court it about to begin!" Twilight called, just barely opening the washroom door.

Ordering coffee alone was a challenge. The mare responsible for the sales refused to serve Jack, seeing as he was going on trial soon. Perhaps the citizens of Ponyville were just overreacting, they had never had any sort of trial before.

She wouldn't enter the colt washroom. Although he shuddered to think who would come in after him should he chose not to leave. Piling up all the courage he had left, he pushed open the washroom door and took a step onto the tiled floor. The single step echoed throughout the room, causing the mass of ponies to fall silent. All eyes were on the grey stallion.

---<

Two taps of the mallet and the courtroom fell silent once more. Mayor Mare had assumed the role of judge, she had been the only one in the past twenty years to experience a crime against Ponyville. Aegis was the prosecutor, being the one accusing Jack of being a changeling, and for obvious reasons Jack was the defendant.

"The case remains the same." Mayor Mare stated. "Minister Aegis has accused Jack... Do you have a last name by any chance?"

Jack shook his head.

"Well, that is not of importance at the moment. Minister Aegis has accused Jack of being a changeling. Should he be found guilty, we shall cast a spell to determine the truth. The only reason for the trial is the fact that the spell can be dangerous."

The room was filled with quiet whispers. Twilight turned to Jack, sliding her hoof across her mouth as if telling him to remain quiet. Another bang of the judge's mallet and the room fell into complete silence once more.

"I wish I could have told you sooner, but it's been so hard on me..."

Twilight remained silent. The entire library remained silent. Luckily for Jack, Spike was still asleep. Who knew what would have happened should he have found out the truth.

"I've apologized and I will keep apologizing. I'm sorry!"

"Prosecution, you may begin with your case." The mayor stated.

"Of course, your honor." Aegis replied, giving a smirk towards Jack and Twilight. "You see, Jack's behavior was rather irregular in my presence, compared to what I witnessed from other ponies. He was constantly keeping track of my location, and last night I caught him spying on me while I was preparing to rest. Furthermore..."

Twilight shook her head at the question. She still refused to talk to him, and it was almost time to go to court. The pair had already begun walking, and they expected to be there soon. Jack assumed her mind was still trying to wrap around the fact he was a changeling, despite the fact more than two hours had passed since he had told her.

"Twilight, please. I'm begging you, just do it for me. Do it for us." Jack pleaded.

"...I'll try"

"...And that, your honor, is why the defendant is guilty of being a changeling." Aegis finished.

The crowd began speaking up once more, Jack was fiddling nervously with his hooves and Twilight was reading over some of the scrolls she had written.

"Very well then. The defense may now stand." The judge stated.

It was surprising that the minister had not called up any witnesses, Jack found. Perhaps the minister didn't trust anypony besides himself.

"Your honor, I would like to present to you evidence that counters the minister's theory here." Twilight said. "You see, magic is common for any unicorn, such as myself, or in this case Jack. Although some unicorns may find magic difficult, sometimes they may be gifted in a certain category of magic. Jack, for instance, may not be able to cast basic spells without difficulty, however..."

A small flash of light emitted from Twilight's horn and it vanished. All that remained was the small parting in her hair, avoiding where her horn should have been.

"Illusion magic is always a possibility. It may be true that illusion magic is much more advanced, however past unicorn studies shows that there is the occasional 'gift' for a specific branch of magic. This occurs where a unicorn has a strong ability towards casting certain similar spells..."

Running into Rarity was not expected by either Jack or Twilight. The conversation could have gone better, especially since Twilight remained silent the entire time, nodding or shaking her head when a question was directed towards her. With one final look of anger, Rarity stormed off, leaving the two in the dust.

"Do you think that all of your friends will be like that?" Jack asked.

Twilight nodded.

"I'm kind of afraid of what will happen if we meet Rainbow Dash..."

After saying that, Twilight had developed a slight amount of fear in her eyes.

"...And I rest my case." Twilight stated, beaming proudly at her works.

"So be it. The jury will come up with a conviction by the end of the week. You are all free to-"

"WAIT!" The minister snarled. "I am NOT going to let a fool like you just walk out of here. I KNOW you're a changeling. It's FAR too obvious! I CANNOT STAND TO HAVE A CHANGELING BREATHING DOWN MY NECK FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK!"

"Minister please calm-"

"NO! I'm sick and tired of this. We ponies already have enough problems to deal with as is! Having MULTIPLE changelings throughout the town doesn't make things any better! I'll deal with this myself, if I have to!"

A few ponies had risen from their seats, looks of panic across their faces. A couple of them began to cautiously approach the minister, his horn now glowing in a light yellow aura.

"You...Aren’t getting out of here that easily!"

A wave of energy was released from the minister's horn. Jack, as well as most other ponies in town hall, were blinded by the light. Feeling a sharp pain to his chest, Jack felt his hooves leave the ground as he slammed against the wall, knocking him unconscious.

Chapter 24 - Contemplation

Paranoia had set in in a matter of hours. Every house and shop had been locked up, blinds pulled shut and streets empty. Whatever Aegis had planned, there was almost no possible way to prevent it. Well, from Twilight's perspective anyways. She could easily send a letter to the princess explaining how corrupt the minister really was, and get the whole problem dealt with. As a matter of fact she was in the middle of writing a letter until a large mass of ponies arrived at her doorstep, both interrupting her train of thought and foalnapping her right out of her home. Behind the crowd stood a familiar golden pony with a sinister look upon his face. What Aegis had just done had broken many Equestrian laws, but with such a large amount of support, just about any law could be broken. If Celestia found out about her prized student being foalnapped like that, let's just say the minister would lose more than just his job.

'I hope Spike gets this letter before it's too late...Twilight thought.

There was a paralysis stone placed on Twilight's horn, so she wasn't able to do much to escape. The ring fit snugly, with a small stone encrusted in one of the sides. The stone itself was imbued with anti-magic, preventing any unicorn that wore the device from using any magic. Of course, the anti-magic had a limit, and the device was flawed in such a way that it could be overflowed, however this was extremely rare and usually took months of magical attempts for a regular unicorn. Then again, Twilight was no regular unicorn, she had proven her magical capabilities to Celestia, and she expected to escape from her captors sooner or later. Despite the device attached to her horn, her forelegs and back legs were chained together as well, preventing anything more than a brisk walk.

'When did Ponyville get such devices? She thought. 'It has to be relatively knew, unless the minister had brought them himself... That sneaky little...

Twilight's train of thought ended abruptly when she was tossed brutally onto a concrete surface. She bounced off the solid floor before cowering away. She was shaking slightly from the sudden movement and the amount of pain that she had just experienced. The place she was in was quite unfamiliar, although she did remember entering Sugarcube Corner at some point. There were a few unlabeled boxes scattered across the floor, however it looked like the basement was rarely used. There was a small light which barely lit the small room swinging slightly with the constant movement of the group of ponies. There were approximately seven ponies left in the room, most of which Twilight recognized but never had formal introductions with. The minister was one of the ponies who had followed her into the room.

"Now, could you please explain why you helped the changeling escape?"

---<

Jack couldn't say he hated Scootaloo's company. It was true that sometimes the filly didn't know when to shut her cute little face, but Jack didn't seem to mind. Sometimes he enjoyed being alone, and sometimes he enjoyed company. While he and Scootaloo were both following the edges of the force field, Jack recalled the small opening in the Everfree forest along the edges of the mountain. There were a few flowers in and around the area, so he assumed it would be an appropriate place for Scootaloo to get something to eat. Well, something safe to eat, seeing as it was almost impossible to determine grass from weed and flower from potentially dangerous herb.

"...But then again, Twilight was there and she totally helped us fix everything!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"As interesting as your story may be, I'm afraid I find myself hungry. You must be hungry after be trapped outside of town for a while, don't you think?" Jack asked, looking curiously at the small filly.

The expression Scootaloo gave was of pure shock and fear, as if she expected the changeling to feed off of her. Not a bad assumption to make, in most cases, however Jack knew he would never do such a thing. He let out a small laugh before shaking his head. Then again, the mention of food did get Scoolatoo's attention and stop her from talking for a moment.

"I'm going to eat something solid." Jack chuckled, "I eat normal food, unlike most changelings."

Scootaloo let out a long sigh of relieve before resuming her story. Jack never actually paid any real attention to the story, something about the cutie mark crusaders and becoming librarians. Obviously the story didn't end well, most of the things the cutie mark crusaders did ended up destroying something. As they continued following the edge of the Everfree forest, Jack finally found the small path he had used to find the opening originally.

"Excuse me, but... Uhh... Where are we going?" Scootaloo asked.

"We're getting food, there's an opening with a small pond over here and a few flowers growing around. I hid here for a while practicing my skills." Jack replied.

"Oooh, what kind of skills? Is it something I can do? Will I be able to get a cutie mark in it by any chance? Oh do changelings get cutie marks? I wonder what they would look like..."

"Magic and flying skills, you may be able to do the flying part, not so much the magic part. Cutie mark? Maybe. And changelings do not get cutie marks."

Scootaloo looked a little disappointed, but after they finally reached the bright opening she looked content with the surroundings. There was a rock off to the side, with a small pond beside it. Flowers were blooming here and there; most of them were daisies, with the occasional daffodil. Instantly the filly ran out and began picking the flowers she preferred, while Jack sat back and relaxed. Watching another living thing shove its face full of food had never been so relaxing. Thinking of ponies, he didn't feel the shocking sensation anymore, more than likely he would be able to change again soon.

---<

"So you think you know who I am?" Jack asked, cocking his head slightly while placing a hoof under his head.

"Yeah! You're the new pony that showed up a couple days ago, Jack is it?" Scootaloo said with a hint of excitement in her voice.

"Yeah, but have you seen me like THIS?"

With a blink of an eye, Jack was enveloped by a brilliant flash of green light, and his entire body ignited. Replacing the dark, insect form was now a grey pegasus, looking identical to the old Jack except for the wings.

"Woah! That's AWESOME! Can you fly? Can you show me? Please? I bet you can use magic AND fly! Can you do them both at the same time? Could you make yourself into an alicorn? That would be..."

Jack shoved a hoof over the orange filly's mouth. Too many questions being asked at once, he needed a break so he could think.

"I could probably be an alicorn if I wanted to, and yes, I can fly, and I can use magic. Although my abilities are fairly limited, I'm not used to magic or flight. As a matter of fact, I can hardly control my own wings right now..." Jack said, trailing off while admiring his wings.

They moved up, then down. Up, then down. The wings then expanded to full length, as he stretched out his back, before returning to his side once more.

"Being a changeling and all must be tough. I mean, around town everypony was afraid that something bad would happen, but you're here right now with me, and nothing bad has happened." Scootaloo stated.

It was true. With paranoia, Jack had to be extremely cautious about his actions, and try not to say anything he knew about the ponies around him. So far, he had managed to play it cool with everypony, except maybe Rarity, but things did sort themselves out in the end. Thinking about his cover and his actions, his mind dragged Jack back into reality. The only thing that worries Jack was what may have happened to Twilight. There were definitely suspicions, seeing as the pony on trial disappeared and Twilight was the one defending it. He had no idea what had happened, assuming something had happened, to Twilight. Scootaloo caught notice of the sudden panic in Jack, and decided it would be best to point it out.

"Hey... Are you okay? You look a little worried." She said.

"Uh... Yeah. I'm fine. I just... Well it's nothing really." Jack said, stumbling upon his own words.

When Scootaloo didn't ask any more questions, Jack was relieved. He didn't really want to talk about what was bothering him, especially if he was to bring up a relationship between a pony and a changeling.

'It could always be worse. I guess. Jack thought.

Practicing the skills he sought to master didn't seem like something he wanted to do anymore. As useful as they would be, they wouldn't be able to help him learn about Twilight's current status. Or maybe it could, seeing as he did have magic available. Maybe, just maybe, he could manage to sneak into town. Unicorns can teleport, right? And they can use counter spells as well, it seems. Preparing to return to the energy field protecting the town, Jack took one last drink of water and ate a flower or two before departing. Flowers weren't even that bad tasting, seeing as he never ate them before. The filly followed closely behind, which Jack found it interesting how quickly Scootaloo bonded with him. Then again, life or death situations could result in bonding, or just when there's a lack of other social creatures. Departing from the peace and quiet of the clearing, they headed back towards the sealed off town.

---<

"It's not as easy getting in there, you know." Scootaloo said while Jack tapped lightly on the sphere. "I've tried just about everything to try to get past."

"But you haven't tried magic, have you?" Jack replied.

"Of course not, I'm a pegasus, not a unicorn. You, on the other hoof, can be either. That would be SO cool if I could do that..."

Returning to the unicorn form which he had used for roughly 18 hours, Jack slowly brought his horn into contact with the sphere. He felt magical energies course through his body, and he felt as if the world around him was slowly melting away. It wasn't until Scootaloo poked him on the leg that he pulled himself away.

"Woah, I never knew magical energy could feel so... surreal..." Jack said, attempting to regain his focus.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but on the other hoof, this thing is as hard as rock! There's no way we can just break in!"

Jack paused for a moment. The magical energy protecting Ponyville was way too strong for him to break his way in, and seeing as Twilight managed to teleport him out of the shield, he must use a similar strategy to get himself in. The problem he found was that he could visualize the magic he wanted to cast before, but this time was different. How does one imagine moving something instantaneously? It just doesn't work! Then again, that would explain why so few ponies are able to teleport. With Scootaloo kicking at the dirt on the ground, an idea popped into his head. It was a crazy idea, one that was relatively risky, but he had no other plans. The screen had to have some sort of filtering system, otherwise the town wouldn't receive light, or fresh air for all that matters. Two ideas were in his head, either change what can and can't go through, or turn into something that can go through. The first option was the only one Jack was willing to attempt, the other one just seemed a little too far out of his league. As Jack touched his horn against the glowing bubble once more, he felt the magical energies flow through him. One after another, different 'waves' of energy passed through him, almost like DNA, where the same energies would repeat themselves, but never follow a specific pattern. The energies continued to pass through Jack, while he attempted to decode the magical ability cast in front of him.

---<

"We need him" A raspy, emotionless voice said.

"He has done nothing for us. We fed and we got punished. Why should he hold such power?" A similar voice asked.

"There is no other option. She is gone now. What shall we do?"

"We must search for her. She cannot be lost forever."

"But she has never left us before. What shall we do?"

"Keep everything running. This is bound to cause... Disagreements. However, until she returns, things must continue running smoothly. What if she was to return?"

"We must find him. He has the power to save us."

"He lacks power. He has a gift, and his gift will save us."

"So be it. When shall we depart?"

"This very moment."

Chapter 25 - Heritage

Sifting through the energy field was almost like solving advanced electrical puzzles, the constant repetition of specific tones of magic coursed through Jack's body in what seemed like a pattern. It was interesting what he was learned through experience alone, most of the magic was simply the manipulation of the surroundings at the cost of energy. The good news was he was learning. Learning a lot more than he had expected about magic. Time flew by almost as fast as the different energies in the air. Magic really was a giant puzzle to Jack, although the different patterns seemed to have different effects. Still, below the surface of the shield it was clear there were no solid objects, just the standard composition of air.

Scootaloo had been tugging at Jack's leg for approximately five minutes now, although it was clear he was too deep in thought (or examining the shield, it was difficult to tell). He had been in a trance sort of state for a while now, probably around an hour or so, but without any sort of clock it was difficult to tell how much time really had passed. Giving a sigh, Scootaloo leaned back against the shield, staring upwards into the sky. A few birds passed overhead, although they all avoided contact with the shield. Most of the little critters running around on the ground followed a similar technique, avoiding the shield altogether. Well, most of the small animals did. A few of them literally burrowed their way under the shield, a definite flaw in the protection.

"Hey, Jack!" Scootaloo exclaimed, excited with her new find. "I may have found a way back in!

---<

It took Scootaloo another five minutes to finally get Jack out of the trance. He looked both physically and mentally exhausted, that is, should being able to physically express mental exhaustion be possible. After explaining that the shield did not go through the ground, Jack face hoofed for not realizing the obvious. It would be easiest to tunnel under the shield rather than brute force the magic that held it together. Then again, he still had no idea what he would be able to do to the shield to break it open. He thought about transforming into a creature that maybe wasn't a pony, but he had no idea what it would be like or how to do it. He assumed it would be the same way as transforming into a pony, however the only creatures he could really think of with a solid ability to dig would be Diamond Dogs. His memory of diamond dogs wasn't at its peak, however, and even as he focused his energy his physical form remained that of the grey stallion.

"Alright then..." Jack said, disappointed with the results. "I guess we got to dig through the hard way."

"With our hooves?!" Scootaloo cried. "You know these knobs can barely hold things let alone DIG!"

"Improvise. Use a stick like a shovel or something."

Scootaloo let out a long "Awwwwwww" before reluctantly agreeing. Bringing over two sticks, Jack and the orange filly began digging.

"So..." Jack said, "You looking forward to getting back into Ponyville?"

"Well, sort of." She replied.

"Why's that?"

"Everypony is really freaking out over this whole changeling thing. After finding out you were a changeling, I found out that not all changelings were so bad. I mean, it's okay to be afraid of something dangerous and stuff, but being afraid of somepo... Something like you, that just wants to fit in, shouldn't happen! It's not fair to all the normal changelings out there..."

Jack smiled down at the small filly. This was the first time that a regular (not changeling) pony actually didn't mind him being around. Twilight freaked out, and it seemed like she was still holding something against him. It seemed almost as if she was uncomfortable in his presence, and he could kind of understand why. Scootaloo, however, was quite accepting after Jack explained that he was a friendly changeling. Unlike Twilight, the filly actually wanted the people to stop going mad over the whole changeling thing...

Snapping back to reality, Jack saw Scootaloo hard at work, slowly inching her way downwards under the purple shield. Realizing he shouldn’t let the filly do all the work, he returned to digging as well.

---<

Chrysalis' royal guards stormed through the Everfree forest. A small brigade of roughly 6 marched menacingly through the forest, draining the life force of the unlucky small creatures who encountered them. The path they had marched down was now worn into the grass. There may have only been six of them, but they were massive compared to the size of the average pony. The guards, however, were used to following Chrysalis wherever she went. Leaving the Hive without her felt very out of place, the last time she had left without notifying them she had been defeated in an attack on Canterlot. Pressing forward, the guard leading the group stopped abruptly, the ones behind him undergoing the same halting motions.

Standing tall, much taller than a tree, was a purple bubble shape surrounding a small town. The group of changelings stood among the outskirts of the Everfree forest, staring blankly at the bubble. They had never seen such a shield before. It was true that many changelings had seen a similair shield during the Canterlot attack, however the royal guards had never attended, seeing as the Queen assumed they would all stay within the Hive when she departed. It was true, they had stayed. If they had attended the assault, perhaps the Queen would have been victorious, but they had never been notified.

The shield was definitely a solid object, the magical aura emanating from the wall could be felt by even the weakest of changelings. One of the guards caught something moving near the side of the purple wall and pointed towards it. The other five guards took notice as well, and the brigade began marching once more.

---<

Scootaloo was the first to notice the movement among the trees. She told Jack about what she had just seen, putting him on full alert. Everfree forest was full of all kinds of aggressive creatures, many of which could kill within a matter of seconds.

"Scootaloo, keep digging. If something is coming for us, we have to get through quickly." Jack said.

Scootaloo nodded in agreement, and began shoveling as fast as she could using her hooves. The stick wasn't even close to being as effective as a regular shovel; however it was definately much better than using hooves. A pony-like figure became visible among the forest trees, although the size was much too large. Squinting to get a better look, he saw a pair of blue eyes staring back towards him. Upon further inspection, he found several pairs of eyes watching him. Knowing there were changelings, Jack didn't want to take any chances. For all he knew, they could be aggressive, and could easily attack both him and Scootaloo.

Alright, we're going in!" Jack yelled, shoving Scootaloo into the tiny hole.

"W-What?! I don't fit yet!" Scootaloo yelped.

With force, Jack managed to move the filly through the opening. The earth shifted to accomadate the larger size object being pushed through, although Jack knew he couldn't get through quite yet. He turned around to see several larger changelings approaching. Much larger than the standard changelings. He recognized a few of them from a visit he made to the Hive a while ago, although the others were new to him.

"Scootaloo, go. I'll deal with them." Jack stated, preparing for an epic encounter.

"But-"

"No. Just go. I know how this kind of thing works... I think..."

Scootaloo took off in a hurry, heading further into the shield. Meanwhile, Jack dropped his disguise, and it looked although one of the changelings grinned at his new form.

"So, what could I do for you gentlecolts?"

---<

For the majority of the time spent talking, the larger changeling in the front spoke in short sentences and was sure to keep things to the point. It seemed as if that was a common thing among most changelings, safe for him and the Queen. Then again, the Queen had to give orders, as for Jack... Well, he just knew how to get a conversation going. Most of the information seemed quite blunt, and the lack of expression seemed to make the conversation quite boring.

"So, where do I come in exactly?" Jack asked, rubbing his forehead with impatience.

"You are next." The leader said.

Well, Jack assumed he was the leader. He was the first to come out of the forest, and the other changelings were positioned carefully behind him, almost in a strategic manner.

"I'm next for what? Help find the Queen?" Jack asked rolling his eyes.

"No."

'These answers really aren't helping me...' Jack thought.

"Then what am I next for? You all couldn't have just shown up here for no reason."

The answer Jack finally got was quite unexpected. One of the changelings in the back finally spoke up, but this time the words that came from his mouth weren’t ended shortly after beginning. A change in a changeling’s method of talking, really.

"The Queen has gone missing. Not a changeling knows where she is. You have a gift. One that changelings have never had before. We are in need of this. The colony is dying without the Queen. You must part with your gift and feed the changelings."

"Wait what? What gift is this? Why do I need to part with it? What happens if I refuse?" Jack asked.

He had so many questions he wanted to ask, but knowing that the changelings weren't so easer to answer his questions in the first place, he prevented himself from asking more.

"You generate emotions. Changelings lack this ability. You can save the Hive. Refusal will result in forced removal." The changeling said, finally stepping into the front.

'I can take a guess at what they would forcefully remove, but I have no idea how. Still, it sounds painful.' Jack thought.

"The Queen left me with duties to complete here, first. I believe the Queen's orders overrule any other order, correct?

The changelings stared back at him, a look of anger developing in their eyes.

'Maybe that was a bad choice of words...'

The changeling that was originally leading the group stepped forward, causing Jack to take a step back. They were close enough as is, and closing the already tiny gap was not comforting. Preparing to run, Jack found the changelings had already circled around him. These changelings were not the common changeling for sure, they seemed much more aware of their surroundings, and moved in a very organized manner. Once Jack was surrounding, he finally realised the gravity of his mistake.

"Any last words?"

"Yeah, just one..."

---<

Before even saying anything, Jack charged what seemed like the smallest changeling. Instead of hitting him with his body, Jack managed to manipulate the ground around him using magic, throwing off the balance of the circling changelings. The good thing about dealing with the foreign magic is it enlightened him on how magic works. While the changelings recovered, Jack fled into the Everfree forest, desperately attempting to re-disguise himself.

“Bye!” He yelled, as he gained a significant distance advantage over the changelings.

Maneuvering his way through the various floras, Jack found himself running through a patch of poison joke. Ignoring the fact that the next morning things may not go so well, he desperately sprinted in hopes of losing the changelings behind him. There was one thing for certain, though; the changelings were in much better shape than those he had encountered earlier. They easily managed to weave their way through the forest, even maintain pace with Jack. He didn't like bragging, although he was quite a fast runner.

Whipping under the swiftly approaching branches and hopping quickly over the roots, Jack was able to pull ahead of the changelings slightly. He was panting furiously for air, and his vision was starting to blur. Still, he managed to push himself further into the forest, although he still didn't want to look behind him. When he finally decided to look behind him, he couldn't see any of the changelings. Shaking his head knowing they were still onto him, he tripped over a small bush and tumbled several feet. He rolled head over heels several times before coming to a stop. In another patch of poison joke.

'Great, not only may I be caught, but I'm going to have a terrible case of whatever poison joke has to offer me...'

Jack was shaking profusely, and looking around him, he saw one of the larger changelings charging towards him. After the changeling saw Jack collapsed on the ground, he came to a skidding stop, just barely halting before Jack. Spitting the dirt Jack had inhaled, he looked up at the changeling before it spoke.

"Freely choosing punishment. No true changeling would do that..."

Chapter 26 - The Only One

Returning to the small town wasn't quite as exciting as Scootaloo had anticipated. There was nopony there that was happy to see her. As a matter of fact, everypony seemed suspicious of her finally seeing her in town again. Well, with the whole changeling problem occurring it wasn't hard to believe that she could be a changeling, especially since she was missing for a couple days and then suddenly reappered in town. Every single being Scootaloo passed glared at her, and just staying in town was making her feel uncomfortable. Despite everypony's staring, she pressed forward searching for the one unicorn she knew could help save Jack; Twilight Sparkle.

Scootaloo reached the Tree-brary relatively quickly, and knocked politely before entering. The library was a public building, but she always saw it more of Twilight's home. When she entered, she was greeted by an upset looking dragon.

"Hey, Spike! Have you seen Twilight around?" Scootaloo asked.

The dragon didn't respond, just stared back at her. He looked like he was going to cry, although Scootaloo doubted Spike would cry. She had never seen a dragon cry before.

"Spike, is everything okay?"

The dragon shook his head.

"What's wrong? Does this have to do with Twilight?"

"Yes! They... They just came in and took her away!" Spike exclaimed, his voice shaking.

'Woah, is this town really that paranoid over changelings? I know that not ALL changelings are bad... Hmm...' Scootaloo thought.

With Twilight missing, and Jack having not followed her into town, Scootaloo's fear was growing once more. Before, she had been afraid of Jack, afraid of the changeling. But now... Now she was afraid of the ponies she had lived her life growing up with. They turned against each other, or at least the few that still wandered the streets. Scootaloo was determined to help save both Jack and Twiight, but being a filly it would be difficult. She would need help the help of another fully grown pony. And she knew exactly who she was going to go to for help.

---<

"Domina! Dominaaaaa!" Scootaloo yelled, hoping for a response.

The filly had been wandering around town for an hour or so by this point, but had found to luck when it came to tracking down the red mare. Scootaloo finally gave a sigh of defeat, she had checked around town, asking anypony who would actually acknowledge her if they had seen Twilight or Domina. Perhaps this was the point where she would just give up, and hope Jack would return to town safely. But he was outnumbered 5 to 1, and the odds of anything good happening to him were relatively low. Then again, she had no idea how the changeling system worked, but she assumed if that many changelings were looking for you it couldn't be a good thing. Maybe she should give up, though. She had nothing else she could really do that day, with all of her friends locked indoors by her parents crusading for cutie marks just didn't seem like something she could do. Without much hope left, she wandered towards Sugarcube Corner hoping that Pinkie could cheer her up.

Upon entering Sugarcube Corner, she was not greeted by the hyper pink mare as she expected. Instead, the place looked deserted, and unlike most of the other buildings it looked recently used. On the bright side, there were ponies still keeping the place in good shape, more than likely Pinkie and the Cakes.

"Hello?" Scootaloo called out. "Anypony here?"

"One moment, dear." Came a response from the stairs.

As Mrs. Cake walked down the stairs, Scootaloo knew that she wasn't in good shape. Her mane was a complete mess, her apron torn, and she didn't even walk straight down the stairs. Mrs. Cake stumbled behind the cash register before forcing on a smile.

"Have you seen Pinkie around anywhere? I wanted to ask her something."

Mrs. Cake's smile disappeared from her face, and she began frowning towards the filly.

"Of course. She's just upstairs, but ever since... Well, you get figure it out if you go talk to her."

"Okay, thanks."

Scootaloo got an unnerving feeling as she approached the stairs. The gleeful feeling that normally lingered in the air seemed to be absent, and an eerie feel filled the air in its place. She slowly trotted upstairs, in hope that Pinkie would be able to see the best of the current situation. Walking up to the only closed door in the entire hallway, Scootaloo gave a soft knock on the door. There was a creaking sound behind the filly, and she spun around to see what it was. But the hallway remained empty. Finally, the door was opened and Scootaloo walked in.

---<

The room was dark, far too dark for the room to belong to the energetic party pony Scootaloo remembered. The curtains had been pulled shut, and every small step Scootaloo took echoed through the room. She could hear breathing coming from one corner of the room and slowly approached what looked like a bed. There was a small flick and the room was engulfed in a bright light. Blinded by the sudden change in lighting, Scootaloo's eyes adjusted and saw a pink mare beside the small (now lit) table lamp.

"Pinkie! There you are!" Scootaloo exclaimed, finally happy to track her down.

"Hello." Pinkie said dully.

"Pinkie, is there something wrong?"

"Yes. Does it not seem like something is wrong? The entire town is in a complete state of chaos right now. If Discord's statue was here, there would be no doubt he would have been freed."

Upon closer inspection, Scootaloo noticed the pink pony's mane was no longer curled and poofy, by it was straightened and fell over top most of her face. She was not in a jumpy mood; as a matter of fact she actually looked in a neutral mood. Something Scootaloo thought she would never see.

"What brings you to MY room? Don't have anybody else to bother?" Pinkie said blandly.

Scootaloo flinched a little bit at the remark. This couldn't be Pinkie Pie; she had never been like this before... Right? Maybe it had something to do with the paranoia throughout town, but Scootaloo never thought it would put Pinkie down like that.

"I... Uhh... Have you seen Twilight or Domina, Pinkie?" Scootaloo asked.

"No." Pinkie replied. "And call me by my full name."

"You’re full what?"

"Pinkamena Dianna Pie, I'd prefer it if you at least mentioned me by my first name, not some idiotic shortened version."

'Okay, so not only is Twilight and Domina missing, but now somehow Pinkie has been replaced by some creepy depressing mare. I guess I'll have to do this on my own then...'

"Oookay then. I'll see you around, Pinkamena."

"No you won't."

"Alright then... Bye."

'Weird...'

---<

Twilight had been trapped in the basement of Sugarcube corner for a while now. Every once and a while, another pony would be thrown into the room, locked with her. Most of them were suspected changelings, but apparently the minister had a busy schedule he was dealing with. Well, that's what one of the other mares had told her. The door began to creek open once more, and a familiar mare with a blue and pink mane was thrown in. Twilight knew exactly why they assumed Bon Bon to be a changeling, because it had been witnessed that there was a fake Bon Bon at the ministers welcome party the other day. Approaching to find out if she was okay, Twilight found herself a lot weaker than she remembered. Barely able to reach the collapsed mare, Twilight placed a hoof on her back and received a groan in return.

"Wh... Where am I?" Bon Bon asked without lifting her head.

"Sugarcube Corner, with the rest of us." Twilight responded.

"I still have no idea why I'm here!" Carrot Top yelled from behind Twilight.

"Yeah! Me too!" Said another voice.

"They can't just do this to us!"

The room quickly filled with complaints and bickering, which quickly built up to full arguments. Twilight ignored the fighting and continued examining Bon Bon for any possible injuries. She was in what seemed like a concussed state, she wasn't able to focus well and she claimed she didn't have enough energy to get up. It was hard to be certain that she was concussed, mostly because she didn't respond to most questions. If she really was in this poor condition, she could have some minor brain damage. The bickering in the room continued, before Bon Bon finally began to raise.

"Are you okay?" Twilight asked, helping Bon Bon to her feet.

"Y... Yeah... I think so..." Bon Bon replied.

The room was silent after Bon Bon finally rose. Nopony had really taken notice to the collapsed pony until she had finally begun to rise. Then again, just about every hour another pony would be thrown into the dark cement room. Without much to do, a lot of arguing took place. Twilight would usually keep to herself, and it was quite frustrating for her not able to use magic.

"Wait just a minute..." Twilight said, "What the minister is doing is breaking several Equestrian laws! This isn't just!"

The crowd remained silent. Last time that Twilight had attempted to rally the population (albeit a small population) they continuously interrupted her and attacked her ideas. Now, they were willing to listen.

"You see, I have a plan. A plan to get us out of here." Twilight stated.

"Oh, then why didn't you tell us earlier?" Carrot top said.

"Last time I tried everypony started arguing. Now just listen. You see, when they come back, what we have to do is..."

---<

Scootaloo finally finished squeezing herself under the small hole going under the barrier. If Jack had been taken, there had to be some sort of path they followed. Even if they didn't take a path, there was five of them, and they were pretty big, so they would leave some sort of marks, right? But then again, Everfree forest was a scary place. It was rare for Scootaloo to enter the forest, usually with the other Cutie Mark Crusader members. Well, actually, it was rare for just about anypony to enter the Everfree forest, with the exception being to visit Zecora. The filly stood at the entrance to the forest contemplating if she should enter in search for the missing changeling or not.

'If I go in, I might not come back out! I could be eaten by a manticore, or get lost, or fall into poison joke! Even worse, I could get eaten by a manticore while lost AND under the effect of poison joke!' Scootaloo thought.

It wasn't quite what she had in plan, but judging by what was happening around town something even worse could happen if she stayed there. Especially since a lot of ponies had been disappearing, and many refused to leave their homes. Shaking off the possibilities of what could go wrong; Scootaloo finally stepped into the Everfree forest. Upon her first step, however, she was greeted by a loud cracking noise. With a loud "Eep!" She jumped backwards and stood extremely still. Looking down to where she had just been standing, she saw a broken stick.

'Comon, Scoot! You have to keep your cool! What would Rainbow Dash do...' She thought.

Stepping forward once more, she heard another crack. After flinching slightly, she took another step forward, this time without producing a loud noise. After taking one last deep breath, the orange filly stepped into the Everfree forest, carefully observing for any sort of hoof marks. Every once and a while, there would be a scary sound, or there would be an abnormally dark area amongst the trees. But Scootaloo continued forward, pressing on as would the awesome Rainbow Dash. And everything went just fine.

...Well, not quite. The orange pegasus did end up running several times from foreign creatures and plants alike. Yes, some plants did try to eat the poor thing. By this point Scootaloo didn't even trust her own shadow, and she knew she was lost. Collapsing on the ground, she gave out another sigh of disappointment.

"Maybe I should just go home..." She said, "I doubt I'm going to find..."

Looking just barely ahead of her, she saw an imprint in the grass. Her eyes went wide with excitement, and she ran right up to the mark. There were also several hoof prints in the grass around it. Happy that she had finally found some sort of trace of Jack, she cheered to herself out loud.

"Yeah! I found something! This is going to be great; maybe I'll get my cutie mark in tracking! Oooh! That would be pretty awesome! I can't wait to save Jack!"

Finally having found evidence that Jack was somewhere nearby, she gleefully pressed forward into the dark forest.

---<

"Stop it! Stop it! Oooh that tickles!"

"Awww... But... Why? Why do I feel so sad?"

"Wait, never mind. I just want to party now! Wohoo! Grab all the confetti and eat it too!"

The changeling guard continued experimenting with Jack. Using various emotional prods, the guard was easily able to determine that Jack was no ordinary changeling. His gift would have to be utilized to its full potential, perhaps he could find a way to harvest the gift and spread it among certain gifted changelings.

"Why do we live... We live to die... Is that the meaning of life?"

The results were always different. Every ability the guard used seems to give out a different emotional result. The one emotion that changelings had never been able to manipulate was love. Perhaps with this new information on how emotions worked, they could finally figure out what 'love' really was.

"I swear, when I get free of this, I'm going to DESTROY YOU ALL!"

Well, that and the changeling was also learning what emotions to avoid. Luckily for the guard, he had been tied down to a post. Anger and sadness weren't typically consumed by changelings due to the strong distaste for them, however sometimes you just have to take what you can. The cavern fell silent, and that instantly caught the guard’s attention. Looking up towards the tied down changeling, he saw him in a meditative state. Strangely enough, he couldn't detect any emotions flowing from him; literally it seemed as if he wasn't alive anymore. Making yet another mental note to avoid that... Well... Lack of emotions, the guard continued to prod Jack with magic.

Chapter 27 - Mishaps

The cavern was dark, but it was not quite dark enough to hide the effects of the poison joke. A mass of changelings had gathered around the strapped Jack, unable to move from the wall. If changelings did actually have their own emotions, not just those from whom they fed, they would certainly be expressing some now. It seemed as if the changelings were barely able to maintain their blank expressions, since their eyes were wide in... Shock? Confusion? It was too difficult to tell without facial expressions. Then again, when he did finally manage to maneuver his head into a position in which he could see himself, he understood why every changeling was staring at him so strangely.

Jack was no longer the traditional black changeling, with a dark blue chitin and light blue eyes. Instead, he was now a vibrant pink color, with a sky blue chitin and sky blue eyes. Not only did looking at his new appearance burn his eyes from sheer brightness, but he felt a lot less masculine than usual. If changelings did in fact have a defined gender (somehow he was still not certain) he would have definitely been a female. The large group of changelings staring definitely made him stand out, and having been trapped in a frequently used part of the cavern didn't seem to help. Taking light breaths, with his eyes jumping from one changeling to another, Jack scanned the room in hopes of finding some sort of exit. With the lack of proper lighting emitting from any of the doors, he assumed there were no nearby exits. Shifting in his bonds, Jack was carefully analyzing the situation, seeing as he was not being magically probed for a short while.

'30... No 40... A little less than 50 changelings all staring at me...' Jack thought. 'Magic seems like the best option of getting out of these bonds, but there will be no possible way for me to blend into the crowd dressed up in pink...'

Still embarrassed by the effects of poison joke, Jack dropped his head. Both to avoid further embarrassing himself (although he didn't have much control over the situation) he closed his eyes and transformed himself,

---<

Scootaloo has managed to trot her way to what seemed like the heart of Everfree forest. The surroundings were extremely thick, the grass taller than she was, massive trees larger than most of Ponyville's housing, and a large variety of dark vines and bushes growing just about everywhere there wasn't grass. Shifting through the maze of grass proved to be quite a challenge for the little filly, let alone the challenge of wandering alone. Scootaloo had been talking to herself for quite a while to take her mind off things, and it had been quite effective.

"Just walking through the forest... Nothing here to hurt me... There's definitely not..."

There was a loud crack, and Scootaloo screamed at an extremely high pitch.

"EEEEEEEIIIIIII!"

Sprinting to avoid whatever had caused the noise, the filly's wings flapping vigorously despite her being unable to fly. Her wings did generate a small amount of lift, allowing her to easily jump some of the larger obstacles. There was, however, a large stone, so large that she was unable to jump over it and landed muzzle first into the rock. Dazed from the irregular landing, the orange filly took a few steps back and allowed herself some time to recover. Studying the object she had just collided with, she found herself face to face with a giant mountain.

"Huh?" Scootaloo said, surprised. "I didn't know there were mountains in the forest! Woah, I must be really deep in the forest then!"

Recalling back to Equestrian Geography in school, she remembered seeing a few mountains within the Everfree forest, however they were quite vague position and size wise. More than likely the area had not been charted properly, and Scootaloo definitely had no idea where she had ended up. Still shaking slightly from the loud noise, Scootaloo began following the edge of the mountain, in hopes of finding some sort of cave to take shelter. The sun was beginning to set, and Scootaloo was exhausted from running from just about every single sound. Following the edge of the massive stone slope, she eventually found a small recess. Cowering within, she lay on the dark, cold floor awaiting for the next day to arrive.

---<

Morning came swiftly to the mass of sleeping ponies. Once the first mare had awoken, the rest had awoken as well. This was as a result of the close proximity, the small concrete room was now crammed full of a group of mares deemed suspicious. Once one of the sleeping mares had risen to her hooves, everypony else seemed to feel the shift of bodies, and ended up getting up from their slumber as well.

Twilight did enjoy the company of other ponies, however having so many in such a small proximity didn't seem to help. It was almost like talking to Pinkie Pie, always being in her face when she just wanted to be alone. But this was a crowd of ponies, not just one hyperactive mare. The previous night she had told a few of the mares of a plan she had to escape. News had spread to many of the others mares throughout the room, one telling another, because in all honesty Twilight did not want to deal with such a large group of ponies. It was largely due to the fact that everypony was starving; as the pony count increased, the amount of food sent into the room remained the same. Still, for a pony of such a high position, why would he treat these ponies so poorly? Was he not afraid of any consequences if somepony outside of Ponyville found out? Something was definitely wrong with the whole situation, and Twilight wanted to know why.

'I;m just hoping this plan works...' Twilight thought. 'So long as the door stays open just long enough-'

Twilight's thoughts were cut off by a loud squeaking, that of the only entrance to the basement opening. Without any though, she charged the door, attempting to hold it open with magic just to forget her capabilities were severely limited. Even without the magical field to keep the door open, her as well as two other mares managed to hold the door open.

"Help!" Came a panicked voice from the other side of the door.

'Wait... That voice... There's something familiar about it...' Twilight thought.

Losing her concentration on keeping the door open, she felt a strong magical tug on the door, but barely managed to keep her balance. Peering around the open door, she saw somepony she never thought she would see again.

"Trixie?!" Twilight yelped, slightly startled at the discovery.

"Hmm?" Trixie responded. "Do I know you?"

Twilight was even more shocked by the response she received from Trixie than discovering that Trixie had taken part in the whole scapegoat situation. Twilight was the one that ended up driving Trixie out of Ponyville, and before she had finally left there was some evidence that she held some sort of grudge against Twilight. It wasn't normal to simply let a rivalry 'disappear', let alone a rivalry of such significance. It's true that Twilight had a strong distaste for Trixie as well, but Twilight was never really one to show her discontent.

"Uhh... Maybe? I know you but I mean, you have been on the move a lot..." Twilight bluffed.

Trixie gave a puzzled look, while mantaining a large amount of force into the door. She shook her head before adressing Twilight's statement.

"Yeah... Well... Whatever. Get back in there!" She yelled, slammed the door against Twilight's hoof, as well as the hooves of many others.

In response to the pain, there were quite a few yelps and groans, before the combined force of the trapped ponies pried the door open. Trixie, shocked by the force the ponies were able to achieve without magic, quickly fled upstairs, a fleet on angry ponies chasing after her. Twilight never wanted to get revenge on Trixie, revenge was something that just seemed like a low level of evil, but she couldn't deny that revenge felt good.

---<

The cave Scootaloo had first wandered into was much larger than she had originally thought. At first, it seemed like a small cove, something she would just spend the night in. When the sun finally rose once more, however, she found the cave to go much deeper than just a single small cavern. She was tempted to explore the cave; however she was also hungry from running so far the previous day. Walking outside, the grass just outside the cave shined with morning dew. Unlike most of the grass in the Everfree forest, it was not dark or thick. Taking a small bite from the grass, Scootaloo found it to taste quite similar to the grass around Ponyville, which was quite strange since the grass around Ponyville received special attention to keep it bright and healthy. Shrugging it off as a strange coincidence, the orange pegasus returned into the cave, preparing to explore the darkened depths.

Exploring was always entertaining, quite often Scootaloo and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders would end up exploring the shallow bit of the Everfree, always keeping within eyesight of town. Also, they would explore opportunities, and new possibilities. This kind of exploring, spelunking, didn't really appeal as much to Scootaloo as running through the forest. It was difficult enough to navigate through the dark tunnels without being able to see, let alone do it knowing there's something watching you. On occasions, she would hear rocks shifting around her, as if something was on a high ledge observing her. Following the wall on her left, the filly finally found another opening. Quickly ducking into the opening, she found the cavern to be slightly lighter than the rest of the cave, despite their being no light sources. There was some sort of magical aura floating through the air, such a strange aura that Scootaloo could sense it despite not being a unicorn. Shuddering at the thought of what possible magic could be at play, she pressed forward, determined to find some sort of evidence of Jack's location.

There was movement just ahead. Startled by actually being able to see the movement, Scootaloo shuffled into another small corridor. This cave that she was in couldn't be natural; there were too many openings and tunnels leading to other larger caves. Something was living here, and judging by the size of the tunnels it must have been approximately the same size of a pony. The only possible thing that Scootaloo could really think of was changelings or zebras, quickly ruling out the possibility of zebras due to their lack of nocturnal vision. As for changelings, Scootaloo hardly knew anything about the species, and by this point there was no doubt that the filly had wandering into their lair. Scared, mostly due to the fact that changelings fed off the emotions of any little things, Scootaloo curled up against a wall, praying not to be caught.

---<

Jack had been watching the changelings for a while now, slowly prying himself looser and looser from the flax straps that held him in place. It was strange how changelings managed to get the flax into such a state without any evidence of tools throughout their hive. Ignoring the fact he was strapped to the wall, he carefully watched as the changelings began to wander more than usual. Something had obviously gone wrong that didn't have to do with him being a bright pink changeling. The sudden change in the behavior would prove his theory correct when a larger looking changeling entered the cavern. He approached the changeling that was responsible for his capture, the same one that had prodded him with magic. There was movement from the entering changeling’s mouth; however Jack did not hear any words. Either it was too quiet, or it hadn't spoken yet. In response, the changeling quickly turned his head looking in both directions before returning his gaze to the crowd. With a nod of his head, the mass quickly dispersed and began walking around and a slightly increased pace.

He felt the strap finally release its grip upon his legs. He prepared to run towards where the guard-like changeling had entered, it seemed like some sort of entrance to the cave. With one hard pull, he dropped down to all fours, surprising (or at least it seemed like it) the changelings. Not quite prepared to support his own weight, he almost collapsed upon hitting the ground, but managed to quickly recover. Catching the changelings off guard, he sprinted directly into the group, forcing them to either move out of the way or be hit out of the way. After all, since Jack was slightly larger than most of the changelings he was easily able to force many of the smaller ones out of his path. Rushing through the tunnel, he tripped over an irregular lump alongside a wall in the adjacent room. Turning back to see if any changelings were following him, he noticed what the irregular lump was. It was Scootaloo.

Chapter 28 - Rescue

The mass of ponies stormed up the small staircase leading from the underground storage of Sugarcube Corner. Trixie was being held down by several mares in the basement, while Twilight lead the assaulting group. The second door, leading into the kitchen of the bakery, was locked as well. This door, however, was much smaller than the previous door and the frame seemed to be quite weak. Using brute force, the mass began pounding on the door. One pound after another, the hinges finally gave in to the pressure and broke. After the door had been broken, Twilight felt a little sad about breaking the door, and thought about paying for damages, but her mind quickly returned to the situation at hoof. She had one goal by this point; find the minister and get her answers. The group quickly entered the streets and headed towards town hall. Apparently a couple of the mares had heard of the minister moving in and taking the mayor's position, so that was where the group was heading.

The streets were bare. Completely bare, as a matter of fact. Usually at dusk there were still a few ponies wandering around, looking for a last minute meal or heading to a party. But it was empty, dark, and quiet. Unnaturally quiet. It was as if the group marching towards town hall was the only remaining animals left on the planet. Tension filled the air, and there was not a single voice heard during the entire march. Each hoofstep echoed through the empty town, loud enough to be heard from one end of the town to another. The eerie feel of the quiet town was quite unnerving for Twilight, but she continued to press forward, leading the furious group behind her. Upon reaching the town hall, muttering began to spread throughout the group. Most of them consisted of asking what would happen if they just got captured again, and a few of the ponies began to slowly walk away. By the time Twilight had finally mustered up the courage to place her hoof on the door, there were only six ponies left behind her. Letting out a long sigh, she pressed onto the door which slowly creaked open, revealing the entrance hallway.

---<

"Scootaloo?!" What are you doing here?!" Jack growled.

In response, Jack got a confused look. The filly looked although she was going to break out laughing, but the unfamiliar changeling in front of her prevented her from laughing. Rolling his eyes, Jack motioned for her to follow him, and without any second thoughts the filly quickly rose back up and began running alongside the pink changeling. While they ran, they encountered very little resistance, only a couple smaller changelings which didn't seem willing to stop the two. They continued running, weaving their path through the long tunnel until they finally came across a split path. Scootaloo, still barely able to see in the darkness, was following the only thing she could really see; a bright pink blur. When Jack abruptly stopped, Scootaloo crashed into him, sending the two into the middle of an intersection of tunnels. Before the two stood several tunnels of various heights and sizes, only one of which would lead their escape.

"Ummm... We may have a problem..." Jack stated, scanning each tunnel in hopes of finding some sort of exit.

"What? I can't see a thing!" Scootaloo exclaimed, her voice echoing through each of the tunnels

"How did you even get in here? How did you fi... Almost find me?" Jack asked.

"Well, I was wandering through the Everfree forest..."

"No, I mean, in these tunnels. There's so many of them, and you said you can't see a thing!"

"I followed the wall on the right, I guess. It's weird how it gets brighter in there, though, I can make out shapes."

Jack paused for a moment and thought about the situation. He could easily follow the wall to the left to get out of the maze, but he still had unanswered questions. If Scootaloo could see better deeper in the cave, there had to be something creating a light, despite the lighting being extremely dim. As for himself, he had already figured out his nocturnal capabilities. If he had the opportunity, he would explore the tunnels, but as fate would have it he was a wanted changeling. Having a filly by his side seemed to sway his decision as well, he didn't want to endanger Scootaloo. Snapping back to reality, caused by Scootaloo tugging at his leg, he heard hooves coming in a large mass. Scooping up Scootaloo and throwing her on his back, he darted towards the first tunnel on the left. After entering the tunnel, Jack noticed there was a rough balcony hewn into the rock just above, as if serving as a guard post. Turning his head back towards the direction he was running, he quickly ducked under a small tunnel in hopes not to knock Scootaloo off.

The ducking and weaving continued. The tunnels were not all perfect cylinders, although they were extremely well carved. Occasionally there would be a rock, stalagmite or stalactite that needed to be avoided, but the path itself was relatively clear. Turning around another corner, Jack was blinded by a ray of light just beyond the next corner. Excited with his freedom, he slowed down as he approached the daylight. Turning and looking towards the Everfree forest, however, he found himself staring down a large group of changelings.

"We were so close..." Jack mumbled.

"Yeah... But can't you just fly over them?" Scootaloo asked, tilting her head around Jack's neck and looking him right in the eyes.

'Oh yeah, changelings can fly... But... I'm terrible at it.' Jack thought.

"I... Can't really fly that well..." Jack whispered back.

"We have no choice! Just believe in yourself!"

"But..."

"No buts! The Cutie Mark Crusaders never give up! We may not have our cutie marks yet, but we believe that we will get them. We know that we will get them. Just believe in yourself, you know that eventually you'll be able to fly just fine! You have to do it!"

Scootaloo's words stirred something deep down within Jack. He felt his muscles pounding, his brain on high alert, and his wings were tingling. Prepared to take the worst, Jack charged at the changelings and jumped into the air.

---<

The design of town hall seemed quite ominous. The standard receptionist desk had a couple small candles, as well as a small book, while the receptionist remained absent from her position. The only lighting in the room was emitted from the candles, the hallway to both the bathroom and the main room were pitched black. Unable to light her horn, Twilight stepped into the darkness and quickly looked behind her. The few mares that had entered the town hall with her began backing out one after another. The lavender mare, now without any support (including her own magic), began having second thoughts about the situation.

'Maybe they're right... Maybe this whole thing is a bad idea?'

'What if Celestia finds out that I've been harassing the minister?'

'Maybe I'll get a punishment WORSE than magic kindergarten! Oh... What do I do...'

She had no idea if Celestia would listen to her reasoning or the minister's. Whatever the result was, however, would definitely not be for the best. By this point, however, Twilight couldn't back out. She had already captured Trixie, broken her way out of the temporary prison, and rallied an entire group of ponies. Leaving as if nothing had happened was not an option. Twilight Sparkle, even without her magic, proceeded into the darkness.

Twilight had been in town hall a few times before, however she had not stayed for more than an hour. Most of the meetings were quite short, discussing anything to do with the library. Almost the day after she had arrived she had become the librarian, by no legal means. Apparently Ponyville hadn't had a librarian in several years, and the Tree-brary was maintained by anypony who had borrowed a book. Now, she was a criminal. She hadn't broken any Equestrian of Ponyville laws (although they were identical) when she was captured by the minister, but afterwards, after freeing herself and the others, she had broken multiple laws. What was odd was that Twilight didn't seem to mind. Of course she was the good student, always mailing letters to Celestia on time (with one exception), and she had never broken any laws before this point in time. But Twilight was doing what she believed in, she was certain what she was doing was 'right'.

'But to do what's right... 'Good'... Just outright defining what's wrong... Isn't it all in perspective?'

All kinds of different thoughts began to flood Twilight's mind. Thoughts about life, questions about life, things she had noticed about life. Was everything she was doing really going to be worth it in the end? For all she knew, she could accidently destroy the life of a completely innocent old stallion.

'Wait, why am I thinking of all this?'

Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. The minister had done something, not just foalnapping half the town, but he had protected himself in some sort of magical field, one that would drive a pony to insanity. Or at least something similar to insanity, Twilight's thoughts were quite clouded. Barely able to continue her march, Twilight pushed forward into the darkness.

---<

"That entire time, you planned to save me?" Jack said sarcastically. "Not only that, but you planned to do it all alone?"

Scootaloo shuffled uncomfortably on the rocks. Looking around, she was surrounded by nothing but the blue sky, with a small cove in the mountain behind her.

"Y...Yeah, I guess. It was something I know Rainbow Dash would do for her friends..." Scootaloo replied quietly.

"Well, it may have been a mistake. You got have gotten yourself captured, and who knows what those changelings would have done to you! Those ones are loyal to the Hive, and they'll do whatever it takes to survive. Especially since the Queen is missing."

"What?!" Scootaloo yelled, somewhat surprised. "You mean Chrysalis is missing? You don't think she could have hidden in Ponyville... Do you?"

"Well, it seems like the most likely option. She told me to 'deal with' the rogue changelings. Then she suddenly disappears, and all the changelings wanted me to be the heir. Normally, there are changelings designated for that role, but not a single changeling had made the cut."

Jack paused for a moment, and leaned back against the cliffside.

"Uh huh. Now, when can we get down from here?"

"You're not interested in changelings? How they work, how they feed?"

"Well, I know enough about changelings. They have transparent wings that buzz when they fly, a crooked horn with basic magical capabilities, they're black..." Scootaloo giggled slightly, "Or at least most of the time anyways..."

"Hey! That was poison joke! You want to get a dose yourself and see what happens?"

Scootaloo snickered. "No, but seriously, can we get down soon?"

"Why? A pegasus that's afraid of heights? Never heard of one of those before..."

"No! I'm not scared; it's just that if I fall... I can't save myself, you know. These wings haven't grown enough quite yet. But when they do grow, I'm going to be the greatest flier in Equestria!"

"You would be, if Rainbow Dash didn't have that title already."

"Oh yeah, right... I'll be the second best then!"

Jack laughed at that comment. At least the filly had plans for her future, unlike him. When he returned to Ponyville, there would be almost no way of hiding his changeling form forever. A few ponies already knew of his identity, and some were already suspicious after the court incident. What would he do, after this series of events would conclude? Would he try to fit in, act normal? Or would he live as a changeling among ponies? Or...

'Or would I just return home...'

Home. The one place Jack was actually beginning to miss. Of course he didn't like it all that much, but there were still things he wanted to do in his life. Now, he may never get the chance.

"I'm still waiting to get down, you know." Scootaloo said, breaking Jack's train of thought.

"Oh yeah..."

With Scootaloo hopping on his back, Jack charged the cliff, his wings buzzing furiously. After one small hop, he took off into the brilliant blue sky.

---<

"Wh...Which one is the REAL Bon Bon?!" Lyra shrieked.

Before her, stood two of the exact same mare bickering at each other over who was the real one and who was the fake one.

"I turned my head for five SECONDS and Trixie turns into me? What kind of lame trick is this anyways?" Bon Bon said.

"You mean I turned my head for five seconds, then you turn into me and try to fool my mare into thinking that you're the real me?!" The other Bon Bon said.

"STOP IT! STOP IT THE BOTH OF YOU!" Lyra screamed, shaking the very foundations of the bakery. "I will be the one to decide who is the REAL Bon Bon."

The tension in the small room grew further. It was as if watching Bon Bon fight with a mirror, how similar the two fought each other. The arguments quieted down, however, giving Lyra a chance to speak.

"I have something that only the REAL Bon Bon would know. Remember a while back? When we were just fillies, and we had just met? Well, on that ni-"

"This is ridiculous." The Bon Bon on the left growled. "I refuse to play your stupid game. I must say, this was quite entertaining at first, but now, this is just idiotic. I don't see the purpose in ruining all the fun, my dear"

The Bon Bon who had just spoken stared menacingly towards Lyra for several seconds before erupting into a pillar of green flame. In her place stood a changeling far larger than any other. Standing among the concrete floor, trapping both Lyra and Bon Bon with a powerful green aura, was Queen Chrysalis.

Chapter 29 - Truth Be Told

Home. Or at least it felt like home. Arriving back at Ponyville took a lot longer than Jack had expected, he was certain that he did not travel for that long after being captured by the changelings. Then again, he may have lost conciousness for a while; he was completely exhausted after running with such speed. With Scootaloo by his side, the two stared at the massive protective shield, glowing with its brilliant purple aura. After gaining more appreciation for magical capabilities (mostly because magic was what allowed him to escape) the shield seemed like a work of art. Then again, there wasn't much magic in Ponyville, or at least magic that was morphed into a physical formation. Feeling a tugging at his leg to continue on, Jack and Scootaloo approached the small hole they had made the other day.

Scootaloo could fit through the hole perfectly fine, Jack, on the other hand, had to enlarge the gap to be able to force his body through. After finally reaching the other side, Jack quickly tried to disguise himself, just to remember that one of the side effects of the poison joke incident prevented him from changing forms. Giving a sigh, as he usually did when things went wrong; he then proceeded into the town, following Scootaloo closely. Upon reaching the first house within the city limits, Jack instantly noticed that the windows had the curtains drawn, which was strange for such a sunny day. Wandering around town just behind Scootaloo, he noticed that almost all of the houses were similar to the first, with the curtains drawn. The residents also appeared to have hidden within the houses; throughout Ponyville Jack had yet to see another pony beside Scootaloo. Without much of a plan, he decided it would be best to go see Twilight; she would have some sort of idea of what was going on.

The Tree-brary didn't have the curtains drawn, although it seemed relatively disorganized, for Twilight's standards at least. He knocked at the door several times without avail. The door never opened, and nopony answered it. Worried about the lavender mare, he almost broke the door opening it. Quickly scanning the room, he caught Spike's basket just upstairs with a small lump inside of it. Charging up the staircase, he tripped over the top step, landing on the basket and sending the sleeping dragon straight upwards.

"WAAAH!" He cried, as he flew through the air.

Reacting quickly, Jack rolled over a few times and caught the dragon before he hit the ground. Panting heavily, the dragon stared at his savior for a few moments, before finally realizing what had saved him.

"Get off me! Ahhh! Somepony help! There's a changeling foalnapping me!" The dragon pleaded, without response.

"Spike... You need to calm down" Jack said, carefully setting the dragon on the ground.

Instantly, Spike took off, charging towards the front door, just to be blocked by Scootaloo. Closing the door with her hind legs, the dragon stared at her, full of shock.

"Wh-What?!" Spike yelled, "You're HELPING the changeling?! Are you crazy?! You know what they do to ponies, right?!"

"Yes." Scootaloo responded, "But not ALL of them are bad, trust me."

Spike remained silent for a moment, as if begging Scootaloo to give reason for her statement. Jack approached Spike once more, this time pushing him slightly and throwing him off balance.

"Comon, have I done anything bad to you yet?" Jack asked, smiling slightly.

"Well... No, but... I just don't want to trust you." The dragon replied.

"Understandable, I guess, but I'm looking for Twilight, have you seen her?"

"No. And why would I tell you anyways? She's been missing for a while..." Spike's voice trailed off, and a concerned look appeared on his face. "Oh, and you're voice seems really familiar, but I can't pinpoint whose it is..."

Jack, already beginning to leave the library, paused for a moment before opening the door. He gave Spike a quick glance before taking off towards the town hall. He had his doubts, but there still was the chance that the minister had something to do with Twilight's disappearance. After what he had said before Jack's 'escape', he assumed that he would have some sort of power, so what better place to stay than town hall?

Spike stood alone for a moment, after Jack had just left. As much as he feared changelings, there was something truly different about this one. He felt like a friend of his, even his voice was quite familiar. That was when it finally dawned on him. Changelings rarely spoke, and this pink changeling spoke as if it was a normal pony. The voice, the familiar voice, finally returned to him. He knew who it was, and he couldn't believe that Jack was actually a changeling.

---<

Twilight's vision was of practically no use upon travelling through the dark hallways. She could make out large objects as dark blobs, but other than that it was difficult to determine what were the doors and walls.

'I wonder why the lights are all turned off. Is this really necessary?' She thought.

Taking small steps, and ensuring she could keep track of the wall, she proceeded forward in hopes of finding whoever was responsible for foalknapping half of Ponyville. The unnatural darkness was quite unnerving, but she pushed forward, even without the safety of her own magic. Of course, she wouldn't be a match for just about anypony, unless she somehow encountered another unicorn without magic. Then again, she was hardly the athletic type, putting her at a further disadvantage if she ended up in hoof-to-hoof combat. Shrugging off the thought, she attempted basic magic in hopes of weakening the stone ring on her horn.

The spells were not working at all, and she couldn't even feel the ring shift. She figured it would be best to avoid attempting any spells, to prevent herself from collapsing due to magical fatigue. Hitting several objects scattered upon the floor, she finally reached an object which she could clearly make out in the dark. There was a wooden door in front of her, with a green aura creeping through the gap just above the floor. Reaching for the handle, she had second thoughts about getting involved in this entire situation. Collecting all the courage she had left, she grasped the handle with booth hooves and yanked the door open.

---<

Town hall had a few ponies around it, unlike the rest of the city. Most of them appeared to be having nervous conversations; quite a few of them had uncomfortable looks on their faces. Careful to keep his distance and not been spotted, Jack creeped from building to building, slowly inching his way closer to town hall. Looking a little disappointed with his strategy, Scootaloo finally stopped Jack before running out into the open again.

"You know, I could probably do something." Scootaloo said.

"Oh... Well umm... If you could figure out what's going on and get them to move that would be nice..." Jack said, disappointed he would not be able to continue sneaking around.

With the new suggestion, however, Jack realized it would be much safer. Even if whoever was at town hall didn't do anything evil, something was obviously going on, especially if there were so many ponies collected out front. After watching Scootaloo take off towards town hall, Jack ensured he was well hidden behind a bush. Well hidden for something that was bright pink at the least.

"What's everypony doing over here?" Scootaloo called as she happily skipped over.

In response she had several ponies of the group glare at her. One of them even proceeded to growl, treating her like some sort of evil being. From what she could only assume, something terrible had happened, and they were not in any mood to talk about it.

"Uhh... So... What's everypony up to?"

No response, but there was another growl.

"So... Umm... I'll be right back. Gotta go tell my friend something."

In a hurry, Scootaloo rushed back to Jack. When Jack saw the filly approaching at wild speeds, he knew something was terribly wrong, and he would have to risk blowing his cover to get to the bottom of things. Preparing for the worst, him and Scootaloo walked out from behind cover and began marching towards town hall.

---<

Twilight got the feeling that somepony was watching her, apart from the shadowy figure across the room. Twilight was fearful for her life, she had finally reached the mayor's office and the only clear figure in the room was the shadowy figure behind the desk. Unlike the corridors, the room was slightly brighter, with a very dark green aura providing limited vision. But the feeling that something else was in the room was unnerving, causing Twilight to shake slightly in fear.

"I thought I told the town I refuse to take any visitors until further notice." The voice of the minister said.

Strangely, the voice came from somewhere near the shadowy figure, but the figure did not move a muscle. The figure then looked up, and the eyes stood out the most; a pair of bright green eyes, piercing through the shadows of the room, staring directly at Twilight. Instantly, she froze in fear, all of her muscles tightening. Her horn was pulsating, as if attempting to panic teleport away, but to no avail.

*CRACK*

Twilight spun her head around the room wildly in attempts to locate the sound, and with hopes of locating the other figure hiding in the room.

"It appears that we may have a certain pony that disobeys my laws..." The minister growled. "One who must be punished..."

The voice was not coming from the figure behind the desk, and this was proven when another figure walked in from a dark corner of the room.

"What?!" Twilight shrieked.

Both figures had the same shape hats; however it was clear that one was a mare and the other a stallion. With the minister now in the picture, Twilight couldn't help but wonder who the other figure was. Twilight began to feel dizzy, and was uncertain as of why. Desperately attempting to use magic in order to gain vision in the dark, her voices failed, although she heard another noise.

*CRACK*

Losing her focus, she heard a laugh. A familiar laugh, one that she remembered quite well. It was the laugh of Trixie.

"You didn't really think it would be that easy, did you?" Trixie spat. "I really did expect more of you, Twilight."

Her head was pounding, the world getting blurrier and blurrier. She could still make out some information about both of them. Both sets of eyes were glowing a soft green, the same green Twilight had seen on her brother when under Chysalis' control. How could they BOTH be captured like that? Trixie may have been weak at magic, but she prefers to keep distant of potential relations. But the minister? He had extreme magical capabilities, possibly greater than Twilight's. Her whole body now in panic mode, Twilight was desperately attempting to cast any spell she could, just to help save herself.

*CRACK*

*CRACK*

*CRACK*

"What is that sound?" The minister asked, staring towards Trixie. "It couldn't be..."

*CRACK*

Following that final crack, Twilight felt an immense release of pressure from her skull. Instantly, magical energies flooded from her horn as the device tumbled to the floor. There were flashes of colors, lines and swirls danced through the air. As the lighting died down, Twilight felt her magical abilities once again available, however most of her energy had been expended.

"I didn't think it was possible!" Trixie yelled, her voice changeling slightly. "This... You... NO!"

A green flame encompassed Trixie, and in her place stood Chrysalis. The minister, still staring blankly towards the Queen, shook his head and turned his attention to Twilight.

"She's out of energy, dear. We still have her just where we want her." The minister stated.

"Ahh... I see..." Chrysalis said, letting out a sigh of relief.

Chrysalis proceeded to storm around the desk, and confronted the lavender mare. Twilight was shaking profusely, barely able to maintain consciousness after the outburst of energy.

"This is all that's left to stop me?" Chrysalis laughed.

Well, that's what she would have said menacingly should the window behind her not have been smashed open, and the curtains torn down as a pony came crashing through the window. But it wasn't a just a regular pony, it was a pink changeling. And it wasn't just a regular pink changeling, it was Jack.

---<

"What in the-"

"Twilight!" Jack yelled, as he tumbled across the floor and into the unicorn, tearing her from her fixed position on the floor.

As the curtains fell, light flooded the small room. It was in relatively good condition, save for the glass sprayed across the floor and the torn curtains. It was a small room, with a desk, a couple potted plants in each corner. Also, there was a filing cabinet which had been knocked over by Jack as he went flying across the room, spilling its contents in a small area. Other than that, there were a few paintings of famous ponies on the walls, but nothing more.

The two scrambled to raise themselves off the floor (Twilight was struggling just to move), as Chrysalis recovered from the sudden events.

"I should have known you were behind this entire thing!" Jack yelled.

"Hmm... My most valuable changeling has turned against me...?" Chrysalis asked, "Might I at least know why you're pink? All the chat about why you've betrayed me is of little importance."

"Poison Joke." Jack replied blandly. "And don't think you're going to get away with this!"

"What's going to stop me?" Chrysalis laughed. "The shield cannot be broken; it was created by one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria!"

"It can't be broken, but that doesn't mean you can't go UNDER it." Jack said, receiving a growl from the Queen.

"Very well then. I will have to deal with you now, before it's too late."

The room was filled with a brilliant green light, blinding everypony inside the room. Scootaloo turned away just at the right time, and sprinted from the scene. She ran. She didn't know where she was running, but all she knew is she had to get away. All Scootaloo could do was hope that Twilight and Jack would be okay.

Author's Note:
I felt like actually putting one of these things in. Mostly to appologise for the late release, but I had some issues to deal with that had to do with work. Enjoy.

Chapter 30 - Secrets

The door to Carousel Boutique was locked, just like every other building throughout Ponyville. Scootaloo felt defeated, she had attempted to find somepony in town that would be able to help her save Twilight (and Jack, although if she was to tell them they were saving a changeling... Well... That would end poorly based on what was going on in town) but nopony seemed to even answer their door. The shops, including Sugarcube Corner, were all closed, most of which had a sign saying 'Closed until further notice'. Many of these signs had scratch marks across them, and were covered with graffiti conveying angry emotions towards certain individuals. Ignoring the signs, Scootaloo pressed on; she exhausted the little energy she had left desperately trying to find somepony who would help stop Chrysalis (although the odds of stopping the queen altogether was extremely low). Knocking on doors she had previously visited, the filly finally accepted defeat, and slumped down against a wall. Breaking into tears, Scootaloo began having a complete meltdown, with nopony around to comfort her.

Scootaloo's tear ducts eventually ran dry. She had lost all hope of saving Jack and Twilight, and by now she had no idea where they may be. Even if she wanted to help, the odds were stacked against her. Not only would she have to deal with the changeling queen, but she would have to deal with her assistant as well. That, and the queen was almost triple her size! But then an idea hit her. She recalled the stories of the Canterlot invasion quite well, how Cadence and Shining Armor had defeated the queen, so perhaps they would be able to do it again. Even if they couldn't do anything, maybe the princesses would have some idea as to what they could do. With just a sliver of hope, the orange filly pulled herself together and took off towards the hole she had dug with Jack.

---<

As cliché as it may seem, Jack yet again found himself in a dark room. Well, he would have called it a room, being cramped into a closet with a mare right beside him. His eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness of the closet, he felt a few wooden poles sticking in random directions, and he could only smell the strong chemicals around him. Pushing into the adjacent mare to gain some more space, he heard the tumbling of a few boxes, and felt something hit him on the head hard. His vision now distorted, he was barely able to reach to the handle to the closet, simply to find it to be locked. A sigh of disappointment, and muttering under his breath, he felt the other mare shift slightly.

"Ugh... Where... Where am I?" A confused Twilight said.

"Twilight! Oh thank goodness, I thought something terrible happened to you!" Jack exclaimed, some tension in his body being relieved.

"Jack? Where are we?" Twilight asked, squinting hard to gain some sort of vision.

"A closet, I do believe. Is there a chance you could cast a spell to grant us proper vision?" Jack replied.

"Uhh... Not really. I can feel myself suffering from a little magical fatigue right now. And why are you talking so... Differently?"

"What do you mean dear?"

"Just sort of... Think about what you're saying. Reflect on your choice of words."

"I still lack proper understanding of that statement."

There was a pause, where Twilight glared at where she assumed his eyes would meet hers. After pausing for a moment to actually think about what he just said, he laughed.

"You cannot be serious! This is quite hilarious, I must say! An educated guess would lead me to believe poison joke has affected me in many more ways than I initially assumed!" Jack said, still giggling.

Twilight, rolling her eyes in the dark, felt a scratching sensation on her flank. Shifting uncomfortably in the closet, she tried to rub against something to get whatever was in the room off her. Jack, feeling the movement, tried to press against the wall to give Twilight more room. When the shifting didn't stop, however, Jack became very concerned.

"Twilight, dear, is everything alright?"

The silence remained, and she continued shifting uncomfortable. The silence was quickly broken by Twilight's blood curdling scream.

"Aaaah!"

---<

The day was coming to an end, and Celestia would swap her position with Luna in the courtroom. The court would always be open at any time of day, safe for a few breaks here and there for various reasons. As Celestia stood before her audience, she waited for the next pony to step forward. When nopony bothered to make any motions, she dismissed the ponies from their positions.

"I must conclude this court for the time being." Celesita stated. "I have other business to attend to. Luna will be here shortly to fill my position."

With a wave of her hoof, the courtroom quickly emptied. As the guards closed the large doors, Celestia let out a sigh and took a nice long stretch. After summoning a quill and paper, she quickly took down a couple of notes about key events which had occurred during the day. At the bottom of the page was a smaller note, one that she had placed there a couple of days ago.

'Talk with Luna about changelings.'

The princess of the sun was not looking forward to the discussion to come. There had been several reasons why she had attempted to put off the encounter for so long, however, after the minister had failed to report back to her not once, but twice, she got a little worried. Sliding her hoof through her ethereal mane, she stepped out of the courtroom through one of the back doors. Celestia, having been away from Luna so long, still had problems waking her from her sleep. Not because she was a heavy sleeper, but sometimes the other princess would wake up somewhat violently.

Celestia stormed up the spiral staircase, still thinking of ways to awaken the night princess without getting another hoof in the muzzle. Ignoring the servants bowing at her approach, she continued her way up the staircase. It was bad enough that all of Ponyville was in danger, but now she had to deal with the morning (in this case afternoon) wraith of the sleeping Luna. After reaching the top of the staircase, Celestia paused for a moment. Initially, she assumed knocking would be the best approach, however last time she had knocked Luna ended up setting her entire room on fire. This time, she would take a direct approach, but still keep her distance. Taking one last deep breath, Celestia pushed the door open and prepared for the worst.

---<

After the screaming had stopped, all Jack could hear was hyper-ventilating. He was still covering his ears from the initial scream, and was still able to hear Twilight's heavy breathing. The increased breathing rate could not be healthy, especially seeing as the room was filled with a variety of chemicals. Grabbing her by her shoulders, he instantly knew why she was panicking. Her shoulders lacked a thick layer of fur, as they normally had, and were instead covered with some sort of thick, slimy liquid. Assuming she had spilt some sort of chemical on herself, he instantly retracted his own hooves and wiped them on the floor.

"Twilight, what is wrong?" Jack said, worried about his companion.

"I... My coat... WHAT'S HAPPENING!?" She shrieked.

"You need to calm down, Twilight. Inhaling these chemicals will not improve your current condition."

As her breathing slowed, Jack began looking for an exit. Whatever was happening to Twilight, they would need to get in actual lighting to be able to tell what was happening. Looking towards the floor, he saw clumps of hair, and he began to search more furiously. Unable to locate an exit beside the door, he began pounding on the door, full body force behind him. Jack wouldn't let something like a door stop him from achieving his goals.

---<

Celestia silently creeped into Luna's bedroom, careful not to wake the sleeping princess. Normally she would have awakened several hours ago, but Celestia overslept in the morning, leaving Luna to continue managing the court for several extra hours. As she carefully walked into the room, she tripped over some sort of fallen object and landed muzzle first against the stone floor. Wincing in pain, and quickly checking to see in Luna had awoken, she let out a sigh of relief to find her still asleep. Scanning the room for something to awaken the sleeping alicorn with, she noticed something sticking out of the closet. Grasping the object with her magical aura, she pulled it out some gift wrap. Carefully holding the gift wrap in a similar position to a spear, she launched the object towards Luna. Instead of smacking the princess in the face, it landed perfectly on the horn. After watching the events unfold, she burst into laughter, waking the sleeping Luna. Flailing wildly, the princess knocked the gift wrap off her hoof and directly into Celestia's face. Disappointed with the results, Celestia rubbed her cheek where she had been hit.

"Luna, seeing that you have finally awoken, I have an important discussion I must have with you." Celestia stated.

After a long yawn, Luna finally gave a response.

"So early, Celly? Just another five minutes..." Luna responded, giving a long stretch.

"I apologize, however the changeling situation may be far worse than we thought. The minister has yet to give a report of the events in Ponyville."

Rising from her sleepy state, Luna quickly rose and trotted towards the door.

"Very well then, we will discuss this over diner. I want all the information on the current situation." Luna responded, now wide awake.

"The main problem appears to be the lack of information; however, I will tell you what I know."

The two princesses then left Luna's room and quickly walked down the spiral staircase. Both of them were worried about Ponyville and what had happened to the pony left responsible for the entire town. Not only that, but they were worried about the ponies within, especially the elements of Harmony.

---<

Bashing on the door over and over again, he felt the hinges begin to finally weaken. However, it was quite evident that there was magic holding the door back, but whoever or whatever had cast the spell had forgotten to secure the hinges, not just the lock. With Jack's body growing more and more tired, he finally heard one of the hinges snap, and the door flung open in the opposite direction before falling. Turning back to check on Twilight, he waited for her to come out of the small space.

"Twilight, might you be leaving that dreadful place anytime soon?" Jack inquired, still able to make out Twilight's form in the darkness.

"No... I'm not coming out..." She slowly responded, as if holding back her emotions.

Jack didn't respond. He simply sat down on the tiled floor and stared towards Twilight. After waiting for a few minutes and still not witnessing Twilight leave the closet, he decided to speak up once more.

"It can't be too terrible, can it? It so happens that I am a pink changeling at the moment, with some... enhancements to my voice." Jack said.

"For a normal pony, whatever happened it's... It's... I mean... I can hear her... She's stuck in my head..."

Jack heard a quiet sobbing begin. Whatever had happened, he was determined to find out what was wrong. Wondering who Twilight was talking about, he decided to try to avoid the situation for as long as possible. Still nervous about what may have happened, he called back into the dark room.

"Whatever it may be, dear, I am here for you." Jack said, giving a gentle smile in Twilight's direction.

"No... No... Make it stop... Please..." Twilight whimpered.

Jack, now entering full on 'Twilight's life may be in danger' mode, stormed his way into the closet and grabbed her with both hooves. Ignoring the fact he didn't feel any fur, he shoved her out of the closet and into the light. Instead of having a lavender unicorn staring back at him, he had another changeling returning the stare, shocked expression on its face. Whatever had just happened, Jack was determined to avenge the unicorn. With one final breath before collapsing, Twilight spoke.

"No... Please... This shouldn't be possible..."

Chapter 31 - The Journey

Walking to Canterlot was a lot more effort than Scootaloo has initially assumed. The one time she had visited Canterlot, she took a train, which was still quite a lengthy journey. Walking by hoof, Scootaloo knew it would take her at least a full day of non-stop walking. Forgetting how late in the day she had left, she knew she would have to pause and take a rest somewhere along the way, but she wasn't quite sure where. After all, she had to stay near the train tracks due to the fact that Canterlot rested atop a large mountain, and there really wasn't another path that she could walk up to get to the regal city.

The path was very tedious and took plenty of effort to navigate. Climbing any mountain would be work, even climbing as such a low slope would take work, but for a filly to walk such a distance was unbelievable. Panting for breath, Scootaloo leaned against a nearby tree, one of the few she had encountered on her climb. Looking ahead of her, Scootaloo saw Canterlot in the distance, and nothing but mountains to either side of her. Attempting to regain her strength, she began taking slow, long breaths and looked for something nearby that would be safe to eat. Unlike her earlier encounter in the Everfree forest, she would easily be able to find something to eat that wouldn't tear her organs apart. After finding a few daises growing just beside the rocky cliff, Scootaloo continued on, determined to reach the city as quickly as her legs would allow.

The day was long, or at least what was left of it. The sun slowly began to lower behind the great city in the distance, and Scootaloo paused and admired the orange glow encompassing the sky. Scootaloo's legs were already quite tired from walking almost non-stop all day, but she planned to get further on her quest to Canterlot. When she finally did get too sore from walking so far, she rested under a small overhanging rock, ensuring to grab some grass before entering. If Scootaloo was going to sleep on the floor, she at least tried to make it comfortable. As she let the darkness finally embrace her, she fell into a deep sleep.

---<

"Scootaloo! Scootaloo!" A voice called.

The voice was almost ghostly, a whisper that echoed through the silent void.

"Wha-?" Scootaloo cried in return. "Who's there?"

Scootaloo stood in the void unmoving; unable to see anything except herself she assumed it would be best to stay in one spot. This was quite strange, seeing as everything around her was dark except for herself, making the orange seem much more vibrant than usual.

"It's me! Don't you remember?" The voice said again.

"No... I can't remember, but you do seem familiar..." Scootaloo replied.

Trying desperately to see something in the darkness, Scootaloo squinted towards where she assumed the voice was coming from. Scootaloo failed to see anything; however she did hear the voice speak once more, this time coming from a direction behind her.

"Oh... Well I really do hope you'll do something about it then..."

Whipping around, she saw a changeling with a disappointed expression standing literally inches away. Jumping slightly, Scootaloo stumbled backwards and the changeling disappeared back into the darkness.

"You could have at least tried to do something." The voice called again.

This time, however, the voice echoed all around her, and there was no particular direction the voice was coming from. Looking around her, Scootaloo felt somewhat claustrophobic, as if some sort of invisible walls were closing around her.

"I'm sorry..." Scootaloo whispered.

"I am sorry too..." The voice faintly replied.

Coming out of the darkness into Scootaloo's limited vision was a changeling. Behind that changeling, there were more changelings, and through the corner of her eyes she could see more approaching from different angles. Not just a few changelings, something that she could run from, but instead they were approaching in the hundreds, maybe even thousands. Breathing heavily, Scootaloo began to cower backwards, just to run into another changeling. Spinning around, she saw herself surrounding.

Crying as she rose from her slumber, Scootaloo lay on the cold ground shaking. Even if it was still dark, she planned to leave towards Canterlot soon. She didn't want to have another dream like that again.

---<

"Twilight... You alright?" Jack asked for what felt like the millionth time.

Twilight had undergone minor shock, but she was back on her hooves again. She rarely ever spoke; as a matter of fact the only time she spoke was to say "Yes" when Jack asked if she was still alive. She held her body low, and held her head down as well. The metamorphosis she had undergone was something she definitely did not want, but at least she was dealing with her new body quite well. Jack noticed that she was constantly peering to the wings on her back, as if unsure what to do with them, or maybe she was just unsure of how they even got there.

The good news about the situation was that Twilight was able to get some sleep. When she awoke, she didn't seem inclined to eat anything solid, and as a changeling himself Jack thought it to be strange that he still developped some sort of appetite. Thinking back to his experience with other changelings, they rarely ate any food at all from what he could recall. The changelings around the Hive he never saw eat once, with the exception of Biggs and Wings (which only ate because everypony around them were eating). This was certainly mind-boggling for Jack, seeing as changelings didn't need to eat, except for him. Also, Chrysalis took note that he was able to produce his own emotions, making him wonder if changelings really do lack emotions. Whatever the truth would turn out to be, he knew that he definitely was not even close to a normal changeling.

Looking back towards Twilight, he saw what he saw in every other changeling he had seen. It was obvious she still had some sort of emotions dwelling within her, seeing as she still drooped her head and didn't keep a good posture with her body. But her facial expression was blank, neutral, lacking any indicator that she was upset. Either she still had her emotions, but her new physical form wouldn't allow it to show quite yet, or if whatever sort of transformation that was affecting her hadn't ended yet. But there was something that was still tearing him apart on the inside, something that did make him completely different than anypony in this world. He would have to tell Twilight the truth soon, in case things just get worse.

---<

By the time the sun had finally made its way into the sky, Scootaloo was nearing Canterlot city. Staring into the mass of buildings, Scootaloo was slightly intimidated. The only time she had visited many years ago she could barely recall due to her young age. Now, being a lone filly wandering the streets of such a big city, she had no idea what was in store for her. Taking a nervous gulp, she approached the massive city.

The guards remained completely still as the orange filly walked across the drawbridge. Looking nervously at each of them, she quickened her pace while passing them and was almost running when she was in the city. The first impression Scootaloo had upon seeing the glory of the city was how rich everypony there must have been. Each building was unique, unlike in ponyville where each building had almost exactly the same design. The color scheme may have been the only thing that was similar between the buildings, because each building had its own special elements. Some of the buildings had similar shapes, some of them have similar roofs, and some of them even had similar doors. But, each of these elements were tweaked slightly and there were no two elements that remained the same. Remembering the situation at hoof, Scootaloo stopped admiring the city and went towards the massive castle ahead.

The streets were still bare, unlike Ponyville at this time of day everypony was still locked away in their houses, more than likely still asleep. The wind whistling throughout the city was the only comforting feeling Scootaloo got. Every once and a while she would pass a small store or restaurant that would have the open sign, but there were yet to be any customers. As she wandered the streets looking for her way to the castle, she ended up going in multiple circles. The city really wasn't as straight forward as it looked; walking directly towards the castle didn't actually lead to the castle, the streets leading in that general direction were frequently blocked by large buildings. Eventually a guard came into view, and Scootaloo knew she must have been getting close to the castle.

---<

Celestia and Luna sat quietly as the awaited their breakfast. Both princesses’ ethereal manes continued to flow despite the lack of a source of wind. As they sat quietly in the dining room, at opposite sides of the table, Luna shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

"Celly, do we really have to go through with this? How do we even know that one changeling can make a difference?" Luna asked, shifting uncomfortably again.

"Yes. I could feel something around that changeling, a foreign sort of... magic, for lack of a better word. The decision I made was in attempts to calm Ponyville down, not solely based on the fact he was a changeling, and most certainly not to start whatever is going on now..." Celestia sighed, slumping back into her seat.

"Very well. Today We shall leave in hopes of finding this particular changeling. Must We take anything in particular to the Hive?" Luna inquired.

"No, but you must ensure to remain calm at all time, Luna. Also, be sure to cast any sort of protective spells, should anything go wrong." Celestia replied.

As much as she hated to do it, she was sending Luna alone to find one particular changeling. One changeling that was completely different from the rest, one that had a feeling that it was from outside Equestria. Perhaps even outside of the universe altogether, seeing as she had lived millennia without experiencing the vibe this one changeling gave off. With the issue of the minister, however, she was to attend to that personally. She was the one who appointed him to his position anyways.

"We will be careful sister."

And on that note, the chefs opened the kitchen doors. Two brown unicorns walked in wearing aprons and chef hats levitating two platters of food carefully in front of them. As they placed the two platters in front of each of the princesses, they gave a deep bow before returning to the kitchen.

"Of course, this shall be after We finish eating." Luna said, levitating her utensils as she removed the metal dome.

Celestia simply nodded in agreement.

---<

After finally climbing the staircase leading up to the castles main doors, Scootaloo was already panting for breath. There weren't many stairs; however each step had a significant height difference compared to most stairs she had experienced. It was as if the castle had prepared for any sort of mini-pony assault and replaced the stairs with large concrete blocks instead. Basking in her victory over the staircase, she failed to notice one of the guards approaching her.

"Halt! State your business in the castle!" The guard boomed.

Scootaloo, surprised and slightly intimidated by the large guard, backed off slightly before replying.

"Oh... Uh... I needed to see Celestia. Or Luna for all that matters." She said.

"Court is closed until further notice; both princesses will be out of the city for a while." The guard said.

"This is urgent though! Ponyville is in danger!" Scootaloo said, slightly frustrated.

"That is one of the issues the princesses have left to address. I cannot permit anypony of any status to enter." The guard said, pausing for a moment. "Unless they are a diplomat from another nation, in which case they will be escorted to the living quarters."

"Fine" Scootaloo whined. "Is there any place I could stay the night at least? I didn't really bring any bits when I walked here."

"You walked all the way here from Ponyville?" The guard asked slightly surprised, breaking his serious expression.

"Yeah, took me almost a full day of walking. I'm still pretty exhausted though. Any food or water would be nice too, I guess."

The guard remained silent for a moment, pondering what his response should be.

"Very well then. Come back this night and you will be allowed into the living quarters temporarily, and I will ensure the chefs give you the finest meal you have ever had." The guard said.

Scootaloo was surprised by this answer. She was only expecting to get into some nearby hotel of some sort and get some bread and water. Being allowed into the castle where nopony else would be? That was definitely not at all what she expected. Especially since the guard was risking his job, for all he knew she could be some sort of spy, yet she is let into the castle so easily? Then again, this would be a once in a lifetime experience, and she was really looking forward to it. Excited for the night, excited to see the inside of Canterlot castle for the first time, wondered what she would do to pass the rest of the day. After all, the sun had just risen, and the problem she came to ask for help with was already being solved, wasn’t it?

---<

Chrysalis sat upon the only undamaged piece of furniture in the mayor's office. The shape of the chair was awkward, and had strange arm-like beams protruding from both sides.

"Why would any living creature want to sit in such an awkward position?" Chrysalis complained.

Using magic, she snapped each of the arms off and threw them among the wreckage in the room. Noticing how bright the morning light really was, she levitated the curtains back up to their original position, fixing them and then closing them.

"Much better. Although, I am quite hungry after everything I have done these past few days..." Chrysalis said, looking towards the minister who was staring blankly at the doorway.

"I'm afraid my only source of food has become quite dull. Perhaps I may feed off the pink changeling, or its friend..."

In a puff of smoke, Chrysalis was engulfed in a green fire and teleported to the opposite end of the building. Upon arriving, however, she was disappointed with the results. Looking at the broken door and then into the closet, she smirked at the pile of shredded purple fur that had built up.

"So it was successful..." Chrysalis said. "But I was afraid they would try to run... Now I must hunt down every single pony in this useless town..."

Chapter 32 - A New Beginning

Twilight adapted quickly to her new body. Although she never really got used to the new insect wings, or the fact of having wings at all, her magical capabilities did remain. Reluctant to cast powerful magic due to the fact she was also maintaining a mental shield upon herself, Twilight found herself unable to cast spells requiring high mental focus. The spell she had cast prevented any foreign thoughts (which for a normal pony was extremely rare) from entering her mind, in this case the demands of Chrysalis. Maintaining the force field required quite a bit of her energy as well, which caused her to resort to something she never thought she would do. She was feeding off of another pony's emotions, in this case the emotions of Jack. Jack was fine with this, he was quite used to the tugging at the back of his mind when Wings and Biggs used to be around. Stopping for just a moment, he began thinking back to Biggs.

'Whatever had happened to Biggs, anyways?'

Well, there was no possible way he had escaped town. The only entrance into town was a small hole around the outskirts, and from the looks of it only he and Scootaloo had used it. Biggs was still around town somewhere, and with Chrysalis around he would have to be extra cautious should he run into him. For all that mattered, Chrysalis could have 'dealt' with all the rogue changelings already, and could have turned more of the ponies into changelings. He was a changeling himself, but it was difficult enough to act like a normal one seeing as he may have been the only changeling capable of creating his own emotions.

Jack and Twilight headed towards the only entrance to Ponyville. With Jack still under the effects of poison joke, he still was unable to disguise himself for reasons unknown. If poison joke was only supposed to be a joke, then why would it prevent a changeling from adjusting its form, when that could be a deadly effect? Shrugging it off as a coincidence, Jack and Twilight pressed forward into the Everfree forest, following the rough path leading to Zecora's hut.

The trees loomed over the couple as if attempting to snatch one of them. It was still quite mind boggling seeing as the trees had somehow managed to curve over the sole path through the forest in such a strange manner, while any trees outside the path grew almost completely straight. It made little sense to both Jack and Twilight, but sometimes nature can be quite random. Speaking of random, when Jack looked back towards Twilight he found himself staring face to face with a mini Celestia.

"Why hello there!" The miniature sun goddess said.

"Greeting, your highness." Jack attempted to say sarcastically, but came out sounding sincere.

Giggling at the response, Twilight quickly morphed back into her old pony form. Ever since Jack had taught her the secrets behind transforming, she had been experimenting with the different forms she could take. She was enjoying herself, which was nice, especially since she had become a changeling she had been quite a downer. Laughing alongside Twilight, they saw a small wooden hut, one which Jack had seen several times before, coming into view.

---<

Celestia stood her ground firmly, preparing to blast the shield surrounding Ponyville with another blast of magic. The counter spell the minister had given her had failed several times, and she was making her own personal adjustments to the spell in hopes of at least creating a hole to squeeze through. As another bolt shot from the alicorn's horn, it deflected off completely almost destroying a nearby tree in the miniature explosion. Slightly shocked at the strength of the shield, Celestia decided it would be best not to try offensive spells to help preserve as much of the nearby landscape as possible. Being the ruler of Equestria, the sun goddess wouldn't let one single spell stop her from achieving her goal.

An hour had passed, followed by another. After roughly three hours of non-stop attempts to puncture the shield through non-aggressive spells, Celestia finally admitted defeat. Instead of continuously casting manipulation spells, she instead would attempt to reconfigure the spell to allow her entrance to the town. As she pressed her horn up against the shield, she felt an unfamiliar magical presence, one that she had not felt for almost a full year. Pulling her horn back instantly, she recalled the magic quite well, since it was used against her during the wedding between Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. Recalling the exact events, changeling magic was capable of besting Celestia, should the host provide enough affection for the changeling casting the spell. From what she had learned, brute force was not going to break the shield. Celestia would have to find an alternative way into the city.

---<

Luna had been looking for the changeling hive for quite a while now, and had almost given up. The Everfree forest was quite immense after all, and there was no doubt the changelings would be hidden within the forest, especially since the sightings of strange pony-like creatures had been growing over the past few months. As Luna slowed her flight, she began lowering herself to the side of a large mountain just along the edge of the forest. Preparing for once final look before returning to Canterlot, she spotted a small cave just at the bottom of the mountain. Sensing a strong magical presence, Luna stepped forward towards the cave, instantly sensing life within. Not normal pony life or even wildlife for all that mattered, but something that lacked... Feelings. Was the changeling cave really that obvious, or was it some sort of trap? Ignoring her thoughts, Luna quickly mustered up a spell allowing her for full vision in darkness, despite her already having strong nocturnal vision being the princess of the night.

The cave consisted of many twists and turns, as well as a very large open room with multiple different tunnels leading in every direction. Overhead, she spotted a small figure scurry into a tunnel and heard the clicking of its legs as it fled from the night goddess. With a mighty leap, the princess landed in the tunnel she had seen the creature fleeing, leaving a tapping sound as her hooves hit the stone floor. Quickly checking her rear to ensure she was not being followed, Luna followed the long tunnel in hopes of catching up to the fleeing creature. What she did not expect was to find a group of at least one hundred changelings waiting for her at the end of the tunnel.

"Thou must be joking..."

---<

Jack was told to wait outside while Twilight acquired the cure to the poison joke. Jack would need to take a bath in it somewhere, but seeing as he couldn't take any pony form doing it while Zecora was around wouldn't be the best idea. As Twilight departed from the hut, she looked quite uncomfortable when approaching Jack. When she was finally close enough for Jack to hear her whisper, she spoke.

"It's addictive, isn't it?" She asked, averting Jack's gaze.

"Really? What do you mean, it’s addictive?" Jack asked, worried about his own health.

"Energy... Well... In this case I would have to say..." Twilight paused for a while, allowing the wind to softly whistle through the air. "E-Emotions. I never knew what it was like not to have them until they were gone..."

The wind continued to whistle through the trees surrounding the changelings. Jack didn't really understand what Twilight could be going through; he never actually experienced the need to 'feed' off another living thing. He didn't want to mention it to Twilight; she had already been through enough to drive a pony insane. Shaking his head as a response to Twilight's statement, the two departed the small hut in search of a small pond or spring nearby.

While the pair wandered the forest, ominous sounds filled the air. Not the traditional timber wolf or manticore, it wasn't even the sound of the smaller creatures scurrying to their homes. It the sound of wings flapping hard against the air, as well as a feint... Buzzing? The first place Jack assumed a flying creature would be was the sky. Upon scanning the sky for movement, he noticed a large, dark pony flying through the air, chased by a mass of smaller black pony shapes. Upon the brilliant blue sky, each individual figure stood out significantly, as if the creatures were nocturnal. When Jack looked over to Twilight, she stood there with a shocked expression, eyes wide, as if she understood what was going on.

"Jack, we have to go help Luna!" Twilight shrieked as she took off into a sprint.

Jack, who was stunned by Twilight knocking him over as she ran by, quickly recovered back onto his hooves and trailed behind the mare. Jack had no idea of what she planned to do to save Luna, or if she even had a plan at all. All he hoped was that this wasn't some sort of evil ploy created by Chrysalis to get Twilight (and perhaps Jack) to return to changeling ranks.

---<

The white alicorn sighed. As she walked around the shield she saw no particular weakness that could be exploited, or any sort of entrance for what mattered. As Celestia pressed on, she noticed a small hole in the dirt ahead. Trotting over to get a better view, she saw it to be a tiny hole that went directly under the shield.

"Oh for my own sake..." Celestia mumbled.

Using her own magic, she removed a large amount of dirt and rocks from the hole using telekinesis. Once the hole was large enough for the alicorn to fit through, she squeezed in and shook off the large bits of dirt. Using magic once more, she conjured a small gust of wind to blow any remaining dirt off of her, as she proceeded into the town square.

Celestia's first impression was that the town had been abandoned, seeing as there wasn't a single pony wandering the streets, all the housing had the doors and windows closed and blocked, and the gardens had begun to sprout weeds. The actually structure of each house seemed undamaged, except for that of town hall. Approaching the large central building, Celestia felt changeling magic emitting from within. Instead of simply charging in, Celestia took her time wandering around the building, looking for any sort of movement within. After examining the window that usually overlooked the mayor's office, she saw tiny shards of glass missing, an obvious flaw in an attempt to fix the window. Aside from the window, the small bushes and flowers sitting just underneath had been crushed by a distinctive hoof shape, and judging by its size and lack of holes, it was the prints of a pony.

There was definitely some sort of suspicion that had built within the ponies, no doubt Twilight had detected the changeling magic within town hall and a group of them must have broken through the window. Then, the minister, under changeling control, must have captured all who participated and trapped them in a small, concrete room while inhibiting any unicorn powers to prevent their escape.

Then again, Celestia could be completely wrong. A couple thousand years of experience proved that she was usually correct about events that transpired, however she often found herself getting the order completely wrong. But she got that feeling, the feeling that you're right, despite the evidence being extremely limited.

Assuming she was correct in assuming that almost all of Ponyville had been kidnapped, she decided it would be appropriate to get the royal guard involved in this situation. Before taking off, however, she wanted to check up on Twilight and see how she was dealing with the entire situation at hoof. Celestia wondered what she would be up to at the moment, more than likely something dealing with studying changeling anatomy, changeling habits, maybe just reading about something in general. So then the sun goddess, prepared to explain her theory to the shrinking population, headed towards the Tree-brary.

---<

Twilight raced after the fleeing alicorn, Jack right behind her. Without warning, Twilight stumbled over an irregular root and face planted just in front of Jack. Without time to react, the pink changeling collapsed on top of the lavender mare, causing them both to slide for a significant distance. Pounding through multiple low shrubs and branches, they finally came to a halt in a patch of blue flowers.

"It appears we have finished our travels in another collection of poison joke." Jack stated, still unable to take his own voice seriously.

Twilight, looking at Jack with an upset expression, quickly rose back onto her hooves before charging towards where she last saw Luna. Still recovering from hitting his head, Jack stumbled towards where he thought Twilight ran off, but ended up going in the complete opposite direction. With neither of them noticing they were together any longer, the two ended up running in complete opposite directions, with Twilight heading towards Ponyville.

Another thing the pair had failed to notice was the large group of changelings travelling by foot through the forest in attempts to catch Luna. While they had a goal to stop the princess of the night, when two perfectly susceptible morsels of food just happened to cross their path, they would feed. As the party split in two, Jack and Twilight both ran off, unsuspecting of what was yet to come.

Chapter 33 - Reunion

Twilight stumbled through the assortment of trees. Every time she had ventured into the Everfree forest, there was the overwhelming feeling that the forest was out to get her. Most of the time she had ventured through the forest, straying from the path, the results never went nearly as well as she had hoped. This time, however, she saw the exit to the forest approaching quickly, as she darted around a tree. In the distance, she could still see Luna being followed by the swarm of changelings, and at the rate she was running at she didn't stand a chance to catch up to her. Out of breath, Twilight stared blankly at the shield surrounding her home, slightly surprised that she had gotten out of the forest so quickly. Once the mare had finally caught her breath, she looked back expecting to see Jack following up shortly afterwards. Nothing happened for a solid minute, and Twilight became a little worried. The Everfree forest was a common place for many ponies to get lost, and some never came back. It was rare, however, but there was always the slim chance that he could get lost. When Twilight remembered that he could fly (to a limited extent) she felt some tension relieved, but became more worried when she saw multiple pairs of eyes hidden among the trees, glaring towards her.

Twilight couldn't remember when she started running, but she had already reached a full sprint by the time she thought about what she had just seen. Quickly circling the large shield clockwise, she attempted to find the small hole that Jack had made a while back. Still unsure if she was being chased or not, she continued sprinting, ignoring obvious landmarks which may have been used to identify the position more easily. When she finally had found the gap leading into Ponyville, she scurried in, quickly blocking the exit behind her with magic. Scanning the outside of the shield, she saw a few changelings had gathered and were chasing her, but there were far fewer than she had seen in the trees. Now that she was safe, she collapsed onto the ground, physically exhausted from running all day.

---<

Jack knew he was lost. He had only really figured out he was lost after passing the exact same creepy looking tree for the fourth time. He had gotten lost enough times in Ponyville alone, which he always blamed his poor geography skills, but this time he knew he could easily get out. As much as he disliked flying, this was one of the occasions he would have to fly. With a buzzing sound that even he was annoyed with, he quickly took flight, careful to avoid the twisted branches of the trees around him. After finally reaching the skies above, he saw the distant aura of the shield glimmering in the sunlight. Changing his momentum towards Ponyville, he was caught off guard when he was suddenly tackled out of the air by something. Landing hard against the ground, he quickly pushed whatever had hit him off before assuming a defensive position.

Peering upwards to his assailant, his eyes met with a pair of familiar magenta eyes. Of every single pony that could have possibly tackled him, it was Rainbow Dash. The mare's expression was quite surprised, with a hint of confusion. Without notice, she suddenly burst into a full out laughter and collapsed on the floor. Jack, uncertain of what would happen if he stayed, decided it would be best for him just to leave, especially since he was stuck in his changeling form. Once Rainbow had finally recovered from her laughing fit, she instantly noticed the pink changeling walking away casually in the distance.

"Hey!" She yelled, quickly catching up to the changeling. "Where do you think you're going?"

Without responding, Jack continued pressing forward towards where he thought Ponyville was located. As much as he disliked Rainbow from previous encounters, he maintained his composure, knowing that he couldn't blow his cover.

"Pinkie... Err... Pink guy!" Rainbow stuttered, careful not to compare the changeling to ponies she knew. "Aren't changelings supposed to be black? And aren't they supposed to like... feed off ponies they find? What's wrong with you just walking around like you own the place after being tackled by me?"

'Yeah, because being tackled by you makes a huge difference...' Jack thought, rolling his eyes.

"HEY!" Rainbow yelled, shoving Jack into a nearby tree. She grabbed him as firmly as possible with hooves and stared into his eyes. "I know what you changelings do... And don't think I don't know where you're going! I'm NOT going to let some insectoid FREAK get my friends!"

'Ouch. That hurt quite a bit more than I expected. Sticks and stones may break my bones... Sometimes words can be just as bad I guess... Jack thought, 'But enough of that. What was I going to do about Rainbow again? I need a plan here…'

As the cyan mare pulled Jack off the tree, Jack instantly applied force going in the direction she was pushing him. Completely unprepared for the additional force, Rainbow lost her balance and Jack took off again towards Ponyville. Dodging through the trees had become much easier, after running through such environment so frequently. Glancing behind him just for a brief second, it was quite evident that Rainbow was not prepared for such terrain. Somehow, she had managed to get tangled in a group of vines, then proceed to land face first into a tree. Snickering as he continued running through the forest, he found himself running through a group of changelings. As one of the changelings stepped out into his path, Jack came to a skidding halt.

"Ummm... Hi?"

---<

Celestia waited impatiently for Spike's return. When she had arrived in the library at first, it was seemingly empty. When she announced her visit, however, Spike quickly rose from his slumber and stumbled down the stairs, greeting the princess with a bow. After that, not much had occurred. Spike was still very worried about Twilight, seeing as she hadn't been home in in a full day, and managed to express his feelings without having a complete breakdown. Of course, Celestia was there to comfort the dragon, and when she finally told him she was going to look for Twilight he finally perked up.

Spike had left the Tree-brary for the first time since there was the announcement at town hall about the possibility of changelings. It wasn't because he didn't want to leave, he wasn't really afraid of the changelings, he never left prior to Celestia's arrival because Twilight never gave him a reason to leave. As for the princess of the sun, her sudden arrival, as well as asking for information about the minister, Spike instantly took off to ask everypony around town. Based on Celestia's previous analysis of the situation, Spike would have little luck getting a single pony in town to talk to him.

Pulling a few books off a nearby shelf, Celestia sat herself on the wooden floor. Looking at each of the titles, she found none of them appealing to her taste, but decided to read one anyways. It was titled 'Equestrian Myths and Lore', and it was in relatively poor shape compared to most of the books in the library. Carefully opening the cover in hopes of keeping the book together, Celestia heard a loud crash from outside and the sound of glass shattering.

Rising to her feet, Celestia teleported to the front of the library in panic of what may have happened. Instead of finding some sort of riot, or Spike being thrown through the window, she instantly noticed her prized student staring blankly at the sky. Rushing over to her, she gave the unsuspecting mare a crushing embrace. In response, Twilight gave a quiet squeal before noticing who had approached her. Giving but a smile in return, without even a 'hello', Twilight pointed towards the sky, forcing Celestia to look upwards as well. The shield that had been protecting the small town from any sort of entry (or exit) had a massive hole in it. Directly below, was a collapsed black object, with at least a hundred changelings slowly charging the collapsed being. Stepping forward, in hopes of stopping the changelings, Celestia conjured a powerful blast, forcing all the creatures in the sky back out the small opening they had entered. Rushing over to the collapsed mare, Celestia found herself face to face with her sister.

---<

Jack weaved his way through the various floras, before finally coming to the sole opening between the forest and Ponyville. What instantly caught his attention was the mass of changelings sent flying through the air, as well as a large hole in the shield supposedly protecting Ponyville. Still being cautious of any other potential pegasi ready to assault him from the sky, he crept towards the small entry way he had used to get in and out of the city. Upon arriving at the passage, he found it to be roughly twice as big as it used to be, and now there was a small protection shield blocking the entrance as well. Casting his head in the sky, he let out a long sigh. So long as there was no way to go under, he would have to go over. Still, it could have been worse; they may not have been an entrance at all except for that hole.

'Wait, how did that hole even get there in the first place? And where did all those changelings come from, and what sent them all flying away?'

Shrugging it off, knowing that it could have easily been Twilight, Jack returned to the sky once more. Still wobbling slight after takeoff, he was quickly able to straighten himself out and continue towards the hole at a constant velocity. When he finally reached the opening, Jack found himself staring downwards towards two ponies, one of which was an alicorn (judging by the distinctive coloring it was Celestia), the other one was a purple unicorn (obviously Twilight) and they were both positioned around what looked like a large collapsed pony. Nervous to approach the group, Jack hovered just outside the shield for a moment before entering. Twilight instantly caught Jack's entry, and quickly whispered something into Celestia's ear. She nodded, and looked towards Jack, before slowly approaching him.

Looking up to Celestia felt odd. Mostly because he was slightly taller than many other ponies and changelings alike, but in comparison Celestia was massive. He expected to be smaller but not nearly as small as he actually was. Ignoring the other blatantly new features about the sun goddess, he noticed she was looking towards the collapsed pony, which Jack recognized instantly. The dark mane flowing through the air, the starry images projected onto the mane, as well as a distinctive cutie mark. It was Princess Luna, and she looked very hurt.

"Luna sort of... Broke through the barrier." Twilight whispered to Jack.

"Is that bad, or was it some sort of incredible feat?" Jack whispered back.

"A combination of both. It's amazing that she was able to break a shield so strong with her body alone, but as a result she took serious damage to her body in recoil. We still don't really know what state she's in yet."

Jack nodded his head and returned to watching Celestia. Her horn was ignited with a magical aura, and she stood completely motionless directly beside the collapsed princess of the night. It seemed like the air around the group stood still, the area was completely silent, void of even the sound of wind blowing through the grass. The breathing of each pony was extremely quiet, Jack could hear his own heartbeat over his breath. Suddenly, the tension in the air was broken when Spike came crashing through a nearby window, followed by some yelling from within the building. Spike quickly recovered from his fall, looking towards Jack. His expression changed from that of being slightly hurt, to that of complete shock. His jaw dropped, his eyes went wide, and he raised his fist.

"This isn't good!" Spike yelled, pointing at Jack.

"Why? We know there's a changeling there, Spike, he's on our side." Twilight responded in a low tone.

"Not that, look behind him!"

In the sky and in the forest, there were changelings as far as their eyes could see. The numbers vastly outnumbered the population of Ponyville, and they appeared to be moving towards the hole in the shield.

'Well, that tells me just about how many changelings there are total...' Jack thought.

There was a crashing sound from behind, and whirling around quickly to see what caused that noise Jack noticed Trixie, as well as Aegis, standing in the now broken doorway. The minister was staring blankly towards the group, while Trixie was giving a menacing glare towards them. Slowly walking down the staircase, the two began closing in on Jack. Twilight fired some sort of spell towards the duo, which deflected wildly into another building. Laughing, Trixie continued closing in on the group. Outnumbered, and now surrounded, Jack took a few steps backwards in hopes of at least buying some time. He had a plan, a crazy one at most, but he needed more time. It was all or nothing.

Chapter 34 - The Plan

The area would have been quiet, should the buzzing of an entire army worth of changelings had not been flying towards them. There was an intense stare down between Twilight and Trixie, seeing as Twilight knew that Chrysalis was secretly disguised as Trixie. Celestia stood behind her, towering over the small lavender unicorn, while Jack slowly inched his way towards the location of the other collapsed princess. Twilight's horn began to glow a feint violet, while Celestia maintained her poker face while staring towards Aegis and Trixie. After a long stare down, with the changelings getting closer at an alarming rate, Celestia finally spoke.

"Chrysalis, this game is over." She stated. "I may have fallen for your tricks once, but I have learned from the mistakes. This paranoia you've caused... The problems throughout Equestria you've caused... This ends now!"

Engulfed in a sudden bright green flame, the Trixie imposter quickly reverted back into Chrysalis. The changeling queen was just as tall as Celestia, especially compared to the size of the older minister. Slowly stepping forward, Aegis stood in front of the changeling as if to protect her.

"Let me ask you a question, Princess of the Sun, Would you dare fight one of your own to get to me?" Chrysalis asked, smiling menacingly towards the group. "You haven't much time; my children will be here soon."

Quickly glancing behind her, Celestia caught sight of the changelings. She knew that plenty were on their way already, however it appeared more had joined the group. Stretching out far beyond the visible region, a swarm of changelings filled the sky. Celestia turned back to the changeling queen, still maintaining a blank expression. She shook her head slightly, before her horn was illuminated. The minister quickly collapsed onto the floor, giving a loud grunt moments after landing.

"Now, now. That's not part of the rules, dear Celestia." Chrysalis stated. "Since you've taken out my pupil, how about I take out yours?"

Before Chrysalis had a chance to do anything, Celestia fired a couple small bolts towards the changeling queen. With little effort, the bolts were deflected backwards. As a result, Celestia barely managed to counter her own spell seeing as Chrysalis’ deflection was so unexpected. Stumbling backwards a few steps, the alicorn found herself beside Jack. She gave him a quick glance before returning her gaze towards the position of the changeling queen, where she was able to catch her casting some sort of spell. Suddenly, Twilight fell to her knees, burying her face in her hooves. She moaned as if pain, and both Jack and Celestia noticed small green flames beginning to sprout across her lavender fur and mane. Instead of the fire slowly growing, she burst into a complete green flame just a couple seconds later, leaving the princess of the sun in a state of complete shock. Instead of the purple unicorn she had mentored for years, in front of her lay an insectoid body. For the first time, Jack saw Celestia express herself in an upset manner.

“You… You didn’t… You… Monster… You… You…” Celestia growled, gasping heavily for air.

Jack was shocked not because Twilight had been reverted to her changeling form, but the sheer fact that the princess was so emotional. Slightly scared for his own safety, he quickly scurried forward a few feet and dragged Twilight back towards Luna. While Twilight continued moaning, Jack decided that now may be the best time to put his plan in motion, seeing as he may not have another opportunity.

“Look out!” Jack shouted, pointing his hoof at the ground, then began mindlessly rolling around on the ground moaning.

In response, both Celestia and Chrysalis gave confused looks towards one another, as Twilight peered through her hooves. After witnessing her potential last hope suddenly begin rolling across the ground, Twilight passed out from a combination of both stress and pain. Jack, on the other hand, continued absent mindedly rolling across the assortment of dirt, grass, and rocks. As the queen and princess locked gaze once more, Jack slowly began rolling towards Chrysalis.

“It was only fair that I evened out the playing field. You took out my minion, I took out yours. Now we can have an equal battle. One that can prove who truly holds more power!” Chrysalis yelled, as a bolt of green lightning stuck the ground just feet away from Celestia.

“Chrysalis. You always take things too far. There are plenty of other places throughout Equestria that-“

Celestia was cut off by another bolt of green lighting, this time hitting just a couple feet behind her. Chrysalis giggled, before speaking once more.

“Less chatting, princess, more FIGHTING!” The changeling queen cackled.

As Jack finally managed to get behind Chrysalis, he quickly jumped off the ground onto all fours once more. By this point, the changelings in the distance had completely closed the gap between them, as they began landing around the hole in the shield surrounding Ponyville.

“FRIENDSHIP GO!” Jack yelled, forcing Chrysalis to turn around.

Jack then proceeded to collapse onto his back, and flail his front and back legs around as if he was a turtle attempting to regain his balance. Chrysalis let out a long sigh, while Celestia finally caught hold of what Jack was attempting to do.

“Thank you… And I’m sorry…” She whispered, which Jack was somehow able to hear.

With a flash of bright light, Chrysalis turned around to find all three of the ponies missing, with the crater Luna had left fully intact. Grinding her teeth, she turned towards Jack.

“I was close… So close… And you!” She yelled, forcing Jack to stumble backwards along the ground. “You were behind this whole thing weren’t you? You knew that they would arrive in hopes of freeing this town from my grasp!”

‘You can’t grasp things very well without fingers… Unless you used your teeth. Which is quite difficult in either case to grasp an entire town, anyways...’ Jack thought.

“…What? Fingers? How am I supposed to grasp and entire town with… Never mind! You ruined the plan! Everything was going swimmingly…”

‘Swimming without water is quite difficult, I find’

“…And then you had to go out of your way, acting as stupid as possible to get my attention…”

‘Hey, at least I WANTED your attention. How many other ponies, even changelings, would want your attention if they weren’t under your control anyways?’

“…But you just HAD to jump up behind me to buy time! And why aren’t you under my control anyways? Changelings always obey their queen, regardless of status, regardless of location…”

‘Maybe because I’m not a changeling at all? Maybe I’m not even from Equestria?’

The queen stopped her rant. Obviously that last thought of his had caught her attention, but what further puzzled her was how he was able to think so rationally and sarcastically even under such a fearful presence. Well, she assumed she would instill fear, she had practiced many times upon other ponies, and it had worked quite well. But now, with the knowledge that he may have been from a world outside of Equestria, she could use that knowledge to her advantage. First things first, however, she would need to figure out what made him so different from the beings that were already in Equestria.

“So…” Jack said, slowly picking himself up off the ground. “Can I just… go?”

“No!” The queen yelled.

The quick and sudden reply forced Jack to fall over once more, and he found himself against the ground once more. His mind began to race, noticing what information he had just given the queen. He had forgotten that she could read minds so long as he was experiencing emotion, which was something that occurred at almost any moment at any time. Shuffling uncomfortably against one of the buildings, he saw the changelings begin to land one after another behind Chrysalis, in perfect set of columns and rows.

‘Well… Ponyville may not be around much longer…’

---<

Scootaloo awoke with a yelp as she hit the floor beside her bed. Thinking back to the night before, the bed was quite comfortable, maybe even the most comfortable bed she had ever felt before. The filly proceeded to take a long stretch, releasing some of the tension that had built up overnight. Cracking her neck, she rose back onto her hooves and began walking towards the door. Reaching towards the handle, a bright flash of light caught her eye, and she turned around to find herself staring at both princesses and an unconscious changeling.

“I… You… Changeling… Princess?” Scootaloo stumbled, surprised at what had suddenly appeared in her room.

“What is a filly doing in the guest room?” Celestia asked, not taking her eyes off of the changeling.

“I… The guards… Attack on Ponyville…”

“I see, so you had information for me, but I was absent. I apologize, however, it appears that we have some injuries that need to be dealt with.” Celestia said sympathetically, before levitating both unconscious beings onto the bed which Scootaloo had just slept upon.

Without any prompt, Scootaloo opened the door and allowed the princess to exit, before quickly catching up to her. The first thing that Scootaloo noticed was the alicorn had significantly longer strides, and it took a great deal of effort to keep up with her.

“Tell me what you know, and what you think needs to be done.” Celestia stated, keeping her eyes focused on what was ahead.

“Well… A few days ago I met a changeling who helped me get back into Ponyville. It was weird, I mean, I expected the changeling to eat me or something, not to help me. When he sort of explained who he was, it made a little more sense, but I still didn’t understand why a changeling would help me. During the lesson we had in school about insects, they all have to follow a queen, if they don’t the usually die. I think changelings are insects, so wouldn’t that rule apply for Jack as well?”

“So Jack is the rogue changeling…” The princess whispered to herself.

“But I mean, he was all like… Nice and stuff! He wanted to help get the changelings out of Ponyville so everypony would calm down, and he wanted to prevent the queen from getting involved, but it was too late for that. Then the queen took Twilight and I ran and escaped and ended up here. I don’t know what else happened after that, but the guards at the castle here are really nice!”

“My little pony, you answered my first question perfectly, however, you have not quite answered my second question yet.” Celestia replied, still refusing to make eye contact with the filly.

Before Scootaloo had a chance to speak, the two entered an opulent throne room, with a long red carpet leading up to a set of two thrones. Celestia paused in the middle of the room, with Scootaloo standing in awe at the doorway.

“I’m sorry for asking again, however, you still have not answered the second question.” Celestia said, turning her head slightly towards Scootaloo’s direction.

“Oh yeah… Right… Well, couldn’t you do that thing that Cadence and Shining Armor did at the wedding? That worked well. Of course, I wouldn’t use them again, because there may not be enough time. Maybe you should try Twilight and Jack or something…”

Celestia instantly tensed up, turning her head and looking Scootaloo directly in the eyes. Scootloo, surprised by the sudden change in the princess’s appearance, backed up slightly, nervous of what was to come.

“I uhh… I’m sorry?” Scootaloo said, continuing to back up slowly.

“Love feeds changelings…” Celestia whispered. “We were lucky that the love of Shining Armor and Cadence was strong enough to defeat the changelings… Should for whatever reason, Twilight and Jack truly love each other, there is a chance that the changelings could be defeated… If not… It could make them stronger than ever before… Perhaps even doom all of Equestria…”

“Wh…What?!” Scootaloo screeched. “But… How? Why? What else can we do?”

Celestia let out a sigh before continuing her trek towards her throne. She paused again in front of an image upon the stained glass, carefully scanning it, as if whatever was on it could jump out at any moment. Scootaloo, curious of what she was looking at, quickly scurried over to see the image. Upon the glass was the image of a large creature, with an assortment of different parts from different animals.

“If worse comes to worse…” The princess mumbled, “We may have to resort to something far more serious. When Twilight recovers, I shall send her back in hopes of saving Ponyville. Otherwise… I may have to release Discord once more.”

“Why would you release Discord again? Didn’t he cause a huge problem last time he was released?”

“Yes. However every time we are able to imprison him again with the elements of harmony. The consequence of that being that the barrier holding him grows weaker with every use. I do not wish to free this being of chaos again; however I may be left with no other choice.”

The two stood in silence staring at the stained glass. The room was completely silent, and Scootaloo looked over to see the princess looking down towards the ground.

“Don’t worry. I believe in Twilight and Jack. I know that they’ll fix everything.” Scootaloo said, grinning towards the princess. “Everything is going to be alright… I hope…”

Chapter 35 - Takeover

“Woah! Calm down, it wasn’t like I was going to hurt you or anything. That includes the colony as a whole, you know, securing a reliable source of food like Ponyville.” Jack said, still inching away from the changeling queen.

By this point he had forced himself across such a large distance on the ground that his grey coat had a brownish tint. With the changeling queen continuing to press towards him, he finally found himself trapped against a door. Slowly, he rose from the ground using the door as leverage, until the unlocked door swung open under his weight. Without grasping what had just occurred, Jack collapsed onto the wooden floor behind him, stunned from the fall alone.

“Now, what use could I possibly have with a traitor?” Chrysalis asked, placing one of her black hooves under her chin.

‘You know, I never really thought about it, but changeling legs remind me of Swiss cheese…’ Jack thought, and as a result Chrysalis face hoofed.

“Wait, you do have a use for me!” Jack exclaimed, jumping back to his feet just to fall back over again.

After another prompt face hoof, Chrysalis replied, “And WHAT might that use be…?”

“Well, I’m not from around here. I’m not from Equestria. Where I’m from, we don’t have magic.” Jack said, rubbing his forehead while regaining his composure once more.

“What does a lack of magic have to do with you having a use?” Chrysalis said, rolling her eyes.

“We have something called technology. OoooOOOoooOOOh!” Jack said, making wavy movements with his hooves.

Chrysalis let out a sigh before encompassing him in a magical aura. Jack yelped in surprise and felt himself being dragged out of the house.

“Wait! Wait! Wait!” Jack pleaded, “Technology is almost like doing things equal to magic, but without the magic! I noticed that changelings aren’t strong with magic, so wouldn’t that be a good substitute?”

Chrysalis stopped in her tracks, but the magical aura surrounding Jack continued pulling him forward. Eventually, he found himself passing Chrysalis, and heading directly towards a tree.

“We do have technology now, but you make it seem much more… Advanced, for lack of a better word. I will spare you, should you prove to be useful. Otherwise, well, I won’t be the only one you’ll have to deal with.” Chrysalis said, sporting an evil grin across her face. “Oh, and one last thing.”

“Yes?”

“WAKE UP!”

---<

Jack instantly raised his head to find himself already looking outwards towards the town, instead of looking up towards the sky as he had expected. His neck hurt slightly, more than likely from sleeping in an uncomfortable position, however when he tried to rub his eyes he found his hooves tied behind his back. Blinking a few times instead, he quickly looked over himself to grasp the situation. He was tied against some sort of post, the rope was rough and uncomfortable, but when something is being tied up comfort usually isn’t a big factor. Looking down he found the pink layer to be completely gone, and his original black changeling form had returned, which was a huge relief to him. He didn’t know much about poison joke, and apparently it wasn’t permanent.

After figuring out he had been tied to a post near town hall, he looked around. A few feet ahead of him was the largest of changelings, also known as queen Chrysalis. Upon looking towards the other houses around town, he saw changelings literally tearing down doors and windows in an attempt to get the inhabitants within their barricades. Strangely enough, most of the houses Jack could see were quite literally barricaded, the doors and windows may have been broken, but there were plenty of wooden planks and supports on the other side. Jack saw a few ponies being shoved out of their homes by changelings, and was nervous of what other events would transpire afterwards. The movements tended to stop around Jack’s perimeter, apparently there would be some sort of public humiliation, if it was possible for that to occur with everypony so freaked out.

Chrysalis got involved on quite a few of the unicorn housing, seeing as the changelings weren’t able to break the simple spells holding them out. Each time Chrysalis would sigh before effortlessly tearing the barrier protecting the unicorn apart. Most of the time she would drag them with magic afterwards, leaving almost the entire unicorn population covered in dirt and dust. The changelings all landed in sync, which was weird, but Jack assumed it was because Chrysalis had given the command for them to halt their flying. With the air completely silent, Jack decided to speak first, since he didn’t want to hear what Chrysalis had to say.

“So, uh… Hey, we’re friends and all, right? So if you could just untie me-“

“SILENCE!” Chrysalis yelled, causing a few of the surrounding ponies to flinch slightly.

Some of the changelings in the audience shifted closer towards the mass of ponies, many of which looked quite hungry. The changelings had slight grins on their face, and they shifted in their positions with anticipation. Chrysalis forced them back simply by glaring at them, forcing them to cower towards the back of the group.

“Now, I have an announcement to make to everypony here.” Chrysalis said, grinning. “You see, I have taken over control of this pathetic town, and I am pleased to announce this to be the new changeling feeding ground.”

In reaction, the crowd let out a series of gasps, a few curses, some of which continued attempting to cower backwards just to be forced back into the mob by a changeling.

“Seeing as there is nopony here who even DARES to stand up against me, I would like to introduce you to the only thing here that could have stopped me.” Chrysalis paused for a moment, before pointing to Jack and continuing. “That changeling there, Jack, I believe, is not an ordinary changeling. You see, I control my colony efficiently, and I am certain to eliminate any rogue changelings. Unfortunately… This changeling became a rogue as well. What I find even more strange, is that he can generate his own emotions. I would have crowned him myself as the heir to my throne; however crowing doesn’t actually occur in a colony. You’re either born with it or not. You see-“

“Get on with it! I’m already getting bored of your life story!” Jack growled. “And while you’re at it, why not tell them how many times I’ve manage to elude you and your changelings?”

Jack felt himself torn off the wooden post, emitting a large amount of pain as the ropes snapped along his body. Seconds later, he felt himself thrown through the air by a magical aura and landed just before Chrysalis.

“Awww, did the poor savior of Equestria fall down?” Chrysalis whined sarcastically. “Well, you may THINK you’re smart, but what do you have that I don’t? My power is unmatched, even by Celestia herself!”

As Jack continued to trace Chrysalis’ movements, he quickly noticed that she had lowered her head to his level, and stared at him somewhat intriguingly. After a brief moment of awkward staring between the two, she turned her attention back towards her audience and spoke.

“Nothing can stop me now!” She boomed, “Even the Elements of Harmony are of no use against me, thanks to one particular changeling.

Slowly, she looked behind her towards Jack once more. Quietly, she whispered something to him so nothing else would be able to hear.

“You see? You think your plan worked, but really, did it? You sent the Element of Magic outside of Ponyville! Never underestimate a queen; she will always be one step ahead of you.”

Jack lay on the ground motionless, allowing what he had just been told to soak in. The Elements of Harmony could be used in almost any case of disharmony, so long as they were all together. Since they were always around Ponyville, getting together was never truly a problem, but now that Celestia had taken Twilight away…

‘I may have just doomed the entire town…’

---<

Twilight woke up in an unfamiliar place. This had happened plenty of times over the course of just a few days, however this environment was quite soothing compared to the others. She sat upon a puffy bed, covered with beautiful red blankets with golden lining and extremely detailed design. From what she could tell it was hoof-made with a very high quality silk and wool. The walls were a classical stone, very old yet perfectly preserved. Moments after noticing the stone, the only building of this age that had been maintained and kept so well was Canterlot castle. Resting her head against the soft pillow once more, she let out a sigh of relief, just to tense up instantly afterwards upon noticing that nopony else was around. Within seconds Twilight found herself off the warm comfort of the bed and traversing through the cold castle corridors.

Twilight never resumed her unicorn form, her entire body was still throbbing in pain and fatigue, whatever Chrysalis had done to her was definitely going to impact any sort of magical abilities she would attempt to use in the near future. Upon her first encounter with a guard, she was very surprised that the guard took no action at all, almost as if he was expecting her arrival. When she pushed against the large wooden door beside him, she swore she saw the guard take a quick double take out of the corner of her eye, but ignored it seeing as the guard was willing to allow a changeling to pass.

Once more Twilight found herself in the throne room of the castle. She had been here several times in the past, mostly in times where the princess required her specifically for some sort of event; usually a world-threatening catastrophe. At the end of the regal carpet she spotted both princesses conversing in front of their thrones, with a small orange pegasus filly near Celestia’s leg. After the wooden doors closed behind Twilight, each of the three ponies turned their attention to the new arrival, with Scootaloo running towards her and Celestia giving a warm smile. Luna maintained her neutral expression, and apparently that usually happened when there may have been an argument between the two princesses. After accepting an embrace from Scootaloo, Twilight continued pressing her way towards the two princesses, quickly scanning over each of the glass panes.

Most of the glass panes were covered in various battles, wars, and major events of the past. There hadn’t been a war in Equestria in hundreds of years, but the few wars that had taken place were never forgotten. There was one pane that Twilight stared at far longer than the others, that being a relatively new pane that she had not seen before. There was an alicorn and a unicorn, which Twilight recognized as Cadence and Shining Armor, surrounding by a brilliant pink aura. Just outside of that aura was a mass of changelings being thrown away. Twilight also noticed that behind the image of the two ponies stood a large dark shadow quite similar in shape to Chrysalis. After admiring the entire portrait of the wedding just a couple weeks ago, Twilight turned to face in front of her once more and found herself just a few steps away from Celestia.

“We are glad thou are all right, Twilight Sparkle” Luna said sympathetically, returning her attention back to Celestia before continuing. “I very much detest the option which thou have chosen, sister, however I must agree with thy solution.”

“I’m sorry, but might I cut it?” Twilight said, taking another step forward. “What are you talking about? And how did you know that I was actually Twilight?”

“Twilight, I have known you for years, since you were just a filly.” Celestia said softly, “If you are a changeling, if you’ve always been a changeling, or if you turned into a changeling is not what matters. There’s a reason you are the element of magic, and there’s a reason why you don’t follow Chrysalis. I was there when you saved Cadence and had Chrysalis outcast. It is no small feat for anypony, let alone a changeling do such a thing.”

“You are Twilight Sparkle, you always have been and you always will be. A change in appearance means nothing, true friendship comes from within. Chrysalis may have a black heart, but every living thing has something to accomplish in their life, if it be good, evil, or purely chaos. Twilight… Never lose hope, lest we forget.”

“Forget what? Is this a riddle or something? Is this a test? I didn’t study or prepare for a test! Wait, what about Ponyville? Are we going to do something about Ponyville?” Twilight said, as she began to hyperventilate.

“Twilight, calm down.” Celestia said. “Take a long walk with me, to the gardens. We need to talk about a greater evil and a decision myself and Luna have come to.”

Twilight silently nodded, and followed the princess as she began walking towards the large wooden doors at the other end of the room.

“Is there any reason we are going to the castle gardens in particular?” Twilight asked.

“Of course, you must let me explain first.”

---<

Jack was still stupefied by the fact that he had been significantly outsmarted by the changeling queen. Most of the time his plans were quite simple, and didn’t require much thought, because the changelings around him mostly acted on instinct. Realizing that he was dealing with a being of such level of intelligence definitely deflated his confidence, but he didn’t really know what he could do at this point. Well, he didn’t know what he personally could do, but he did know what somepony… or somechangeling else could do. Through the mass of ponies, past the majority of the changelings, he saw a familiar face, one he didn’t expect to see at all. It had been such a long time since he had seen Biggs, and to be able to separate him from all the other changelings was a significant feat as well. Unlike most of the other changelings who stood in their position attentively, Biggs appeared to be moving towards the front of the group. Many of the changelings he forced his way through seemed as if they didn’t care, and Jack hopes Biggs knew what he was up against, or at least hoping he had some idea of what he was doing. That is, assuming that Biggs actually planned to help Jack out.

‘He saved me once, will he do it again?’ Jack thought, finally regaining a glimpse of hope.

Of course, that sliver of hope was quickly crushed when he saw Chrysalis tracing the changeling’s movements through the audience. Apparently there was some sort of command that was forcing the changelings to act as they did, and somehow Biggs had freed himself from the queen’s control. While Jack was distracted with what Biggs was doing, he didn’t notice that a few members of the pony audience had stepped forward.

When Jack did finally realize there were two ponies helping him off the ground, he was quite shocked that anypony had bothered to help him. Ponies had always, ALWAYS, kept their distance from changelings, even if they had any sort of well intentions (mainly Jack, not many changelings stuck around just to help out). When he finally got a good look at the changelings, he gasped quite loudly. Bon Bon and Colgate were helping him up. It was purely the fact that he never expected either mare to step forward; he had never really seen them as an active type of pony. What made his jaw drop in complete surprise was when they both went through the standard changeling transformation, revealing two perfectly normal looking changelings. Their actions, however, made it evident that they were not under the queen’s control.

“Wh…What?!” Jack muttered, “I… You... You have some explaining to do!”

“Not now” The Bon Bon changeling hissed in response. “We need to get out of here first.”

Looking back to see what Chrysalis had done, she had literally levitated Biggs out of the audience and thrown him towards Jack. While Jack had little time to react, he dove a couple feet away while the two mare-changelings did the same, but in different directions.

“This makes everything so much easier!” Chrysalis exclaimed, smiling crudely. “I don’t even have to find the rogue changelings myself!”

Without thinking of a plan, seeing as the last one had failed, Jack literally leaped into the mass of changelings and began running. He didn’t see what was going on behind him, and he didn’t care. The only thing on his mind was that he needed to escape. Well, that and he was wondering what Biggs had done the entire time without him. He tripped and almost fell several times over the hooves of the other changelings, but he managed to force his way through quite a few before they finally began to react. When he saw a changeling beside him almost jump onto him, Jack took flight, heading towards the large gap in the purple shield in hopes of at least making it out of Ponyville. When he turned around to look behind him, he saw that all of the changelings, including the Queen, had stopped mid-flight, and were all staring in a state of panic towards Jack. Distracted by the sudden change in behavior, Jack ended up crashing into something, more than likely a piece of the shield, and spiraled down towards the ground.

Jack heard some muffled laughing and a mumbling voice, but the vibrations the voice was making in his eardrums made it clear that whatever was making the sounds was speaking quite loudly. Dazed by the crash landing, Jack looked up to see what was talking. When he finally did look up, he almost had a heart attack of pure panic.

The object he had crashed into was no shield. In fact, it was the last known living draconequus in Equestria. It was none other than Discord.

Chapter 36 - Encounter

The state of shock Jack was in was completely indescribable. Dealing with one of the most dangerous villains Equestria has known was enough, but having to deal with two different villains at once?

“Uhh… Umm… Err…” Jack stumbled, hoping to find something to break the awkward silence, but instead just ended up attracting himself more attention from the changelings.

While he had escaped from the original danger he had encountered, now he was dealing with additional trouble. With Discords irregular body blocking the only small exit within a reachable distance, Jack slowly began backing up. His heart was beating fast, his eyes were jumping from one place to another, and his legs were twitching nervously. Every time he did something to escape, run away, or just acted on impulse, things rarely worked out in his favor. Instead of just running away, Jack was going to fight his way out. But Discord had a different plan.

“My, my! What might this little changeling be trying to do, escape his own colony?” Discord boomed to ensure the entire audience was able to hear.

Discord’s booming voice echoed several times in the dome-sealed town, each time, however, it said something slightly different.

“Run away from his colony”
“Escape his colony”
“Escape his queen”
“Escape his fate”

‘Fate?’ Jack thought, ‘What does ‘fate’ have to do with any of this? Was I destined to come to Equestria all along…?’

Despite Chrysalis being a great distance away from Jack, she was still able to lock on and identify his emotionally wracked thoughts. The grin she sported caused many of the surrounded ponies to back into their changeling captors, causing multiple violent reactions, which eventually broke into a surprise brawl in the midst of the silent town. Discord, who was still analyzing his greatest threat, broke into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, and began to cry a river. Literally.

The river which had been created broke a line through the changeling forces and began working its way towards Chrysalis. Not expecting to be mauled by a large force of water, Chrysalis was caught off guard and got sent several feet backwards before rolling out of the freshly created stream.

“I see you pulled the first move…” Chrysalis snarled, “Not quite what I was expecting, and not nearly as effective as I expected…”

“Sorry, what was that Chrissy? Are we in a fight again?” Discord said in a whiny voice.

After a quick spin around, Discord was now wearing a tuxedo as well as holding a posy of flowers. He tossed the flowers to the ground and while sporting a completely unbelievable pouting face began pointing and yelling at Chrysalis.

“I try to keep you happy, but all you ever do is complain!” Discord exclaimed, “It’s over! We’re over! I’m moving out, and I want the china!”

The changeling queen knew that Discord was a being of chaos, and she had no idea what his next move might have been. In order to get the upper hoof, she initiated an attack of her own, causing a large building nearby to have the roof quickly torn off and thrown towards him. Surprised by the sudden change of the queen’s attitude, Discord ducked, and the flowers on the ground exploded into a cloud of smoke. Less than a second later, Chrysalis found the draconequus just behind her, resting a paw on her back.

“Oh common, Chrissy!” Discord said in a playful voice, “You at least have to tell me to… Duck!”

With that being said, the changeling queen now sported a yellow beak on her face, and Discord broke into another fit of laughter. Chrysalis was not amused with Discord’s antics, and was disappointed that he refused to fight back. Either he would fight her, or she would have a significant advantage in his destruction. Knowing that Discord was distracted by her new beak, Chrysalis charged the draconequus, tackling him to the ground and slamming her new facial feature into his chest.

Discord let out a solid “Ooomph” as the air escaped his lungs, and felt a warm liquid seeping out of his chest. In a roar of frustration, Discord shoved the changeling off of him and rose to his feet.

“You!” He boomed, as lightning struck from a freshly created cloud in the sky, “Have just crossed the line!”

After quickly drawling a line with his paw, he pointed downwards and continued.

“That line right there, you see? You just crossed it. And now you’ll have to pay.”

-Meanwhile-

Jack had more than enough problems as is, and with an entire horde of changelings charging towards him, all he could do was try to remain calm. He knew he was no good at magic, and he also knew that he had practiced no physical combat while in the Equine form. So he just winged it. And by winged it, he took off and began flying around the dome-like shield. In the sky, Jack knew the basics of flying, and he could at least try to use some of the basic magic he knew.

‘I think two basics can beat one… As long as they don’t have the same idea as me…’ Jack thought.

Luckily for Jack, the changelings were apparently terrible at multi-tasking. As he bombarded his followers with weak bolts of magic, they attempted to do the same, yet many of them fell as a result from poor coordination, being hit by one of Jack's bolts, or being hit by an ally's bolt.

‘Well, I guess it’s hard to fly, use magic, and avoid assault all at the same time…’ Jack thought, ‘But at least I don’t have to worry about anything in front of me.’

It would have been completely ironic if an oncoming changeling decided to cut him off from the front, but instead he was cut off by a cyan blur, causing him to ricochet into a nearby tree.

“Don’t worry, I’m here to help!” Rainbow exclaimed, pausing dramatically for a moment before she decided to charge directly into the oncoming changeling forces.

Jack, now tangled up in a series of tree branches, attempted to wriggle himself free. As a result he ended up collapsing onto the ground, where the changelings were fighting… each other? Of course they weren't actually fighting each other, the rogue changelings that had attempted to help Jack had just conveniently ended up within his vicinity, fighting the changelings attempting to take them back to the queen. Barely able to tell which ones were on his team, he decided that it would be best to fight with the side with fewer numbers, because odds have it he would at least be able to ask some of the changelings basic questions to determine which side they were on. By the time he had risen to his feet, he was granted with an important piece of information regarding which team he was on.

“How nice of you… To join us…” One of the changelings hissed.

Since the changeling sounded a lot like Lyra, he instantly jumped the changeling that was flanking her and began pounding on it with his hooves. For a brief moment, Jack felt like he was in power. He could taste the fear of the changeling beneath his body, and was feeding off its demise.

The power began to go to his head, and he failed to notice several changelings behind him, or the friendly changelings yelling at him to ‘Watch out!’, ‘Look behind you!’, or ‘Duck!’. After being tackled and piled on by several changelings, Jack was knocked completely out of breath, and for a moment he thought he was dying. Then he realized the combined weight of the changelings was preventing him from breathing; he was suffocating.

---<

Discord was now much less talkative now that the fight between him and Chrysalis had actually begun. As Chrysalis shot several damage building pieces in his direction, he counter attacked by creating a small tornado and whirling it in her direction. Not only did the tornado pick up each of the wrecked building parts, but it also caused her to receive a massive blow to her face by few bricks. Knocked to the ground, Chrysalis landed into a roll to rise back up onto her hooves.

“You put up a good fight, Discord,” Chrysalis hissed, “But you still don’t know what tricks I have up my sleeve!”

“You’re right, I don’t” Discord giggled, pulling something out of his tuxedo sleeve, “But you don’t know what I have up my sleeve either!”

Without time to react, Chrysalis felt a sharp pain in her chest, and moments later looked down to see a playing card roughly an inch deep. Somehow, a paper card had pierced through a rock hard chitin and was now causing her to bleed profusely from the tiny cut.

“Now we’re even. Do you want to continue?”

Strangely enough, a small two-dimensional menu popped up just in front of Chrysalis’ face in a very low resolution with a ‘Yes/No’ option. In a distasteful growl, she ran through the illusion and ordered her changelings to attack the draconequus. Taking to the air, Chrysalis summoned sickly-green chains to grab Discord’s legs, which Discord then tore out of the ground and smacked the nearby changelings with a full 360 degree spin attack.

‘Comon… Lyra… Need… Air…’ Chrysalis heard a familiar yet irritating voice.

Technically she didn't hear the voice at all, but the emotions formed such exact shapes they were identified as something almost identical to alphabetical spelling forming shapes (or words).

Being well aware of who had just thought that statement, she thought of an interesting strategy she could use to manipulate the others to help her against the battle with Discord. Speaking of Discord, he was busy fending off her lesser minions, thus Chrysalis decided to dart over towards the pile of changelings on top of Jack. She looked down and smiled an almost seductive smile towards the crushed changeling.

“Such a pity, really, I expected more of a fight from you four.” Chrysalis stated, looking at the rogue changelings fighting against her almost endless forces.

Encompassed in a thick green aura, Jack felt himself being pulled free from the mass of changelings by a powerful magical force.

“Oh… Finally… Air…” Jack panted, “Uh… Oh…”

Being face to face with Chrysalis while on bad terms on her was not going to go in his favor, and Chrysalis simply pulled him away with her and flew to the top of a nearby building.

“Every living thing, eyes on me!” Chrysalis bellowed.

The fighting stopped, as Discord ducked under one last changeling diving towards him, and then creating a nice beak on him as well. Chrysalis, now having the entire town quiet and staring at her once more, quickly dispelled the beak spell on herself and began to speak.

“I have the one known as ‘Jack’ right here. If you know what’s good for yourselves, and you want to keep him alive, surrender yourselves now!” She boomed.

The small crowd of ponies, exhausted from dealing with more than three changelings at a time each, broke out into a series of whispers. Then, one of them simply bowed down to the queen, followed by another, then another. Eventually, all ponies and changeling rebels were bowing down in a wave like fashion, and Chrysalis gave another evil grin.

“That doesn’t mean I have to stop, does it?” Discord asked, “I don’t care about that changeling anyways!”

Surprisingly enough, Discord broke into another fight with the changelings, his fists to bash the changelings out of the air and his feet to keep them a distance away. However, with the remainder of the changelings now being freed of their pony competitors, the mass of changelings was enough to overwhelm the draconequus, who was eventually taken to the ground. Taking Jack with her, Chrysalis flew over and cast some sort of magic over Discord’s restrained body.

“Chaos isn’t everything. Sometimes you just need allies, my dear Discord.” Chrysalis snarled sarcastically.

Jack, who was still suspended in the air, felt himself being filled with an overwhelming amount of anger. The source of the anger was unknown to him; more than likely it was the combined emotions of the draconequus and the ponies around him, but he felt like he was going to explode, and when he did, he was going to take the entire town with him. Slowly encompassing himself in a lighter green aura than that of Chrysalis, Jack felt the magic flowing freely from himself and into the surroundings around him. His horn began releasing tiny sparks, and Jack felt a strange malignant aura fill his body. When a sudden multicolored blur tackled the changeling queen in front of him, the surprise caused Jack to lose focus, and he felt the magical energy escape his grasp.

---<

The force released felt as if Jack had just pushed his body from the inside out. He felt as though limbs were stretching far beyond normal reach, as if organs were shifting, as if his blood had been replaced with a strong acid. The flow of energy was burning him from the inside and outside as the magical energy was transferred from one medium to another, a slow and agonizing process which typically occurred in young unicorns unable to fully control their magical output.

Jack was in a state that one would experience right before falling asleep. Being aware of the surroundings, sounds, feelings, but in such a state that that he practically doesn’t react at all. As the energy dissipated from his body, a large sphere now encompassed him, and he collapsed onto the bottom of the sphere. Glowing with massive amounts of wild energy, everypony, including Discord (whom the changelings dismounted after the magical outburst became obvious) and Chrysalis, all slowly backed away. Unstable magic was exceptionally rare, and nopony dared touch anything that had been tainted by something so wild. The only known occurrence of such magic was in the Everfree forest, and that was one of the few reasons that everypony was so fearful.

“Well then…” Discord said, while brushing off some dirt from his bloody chest, “What do we do with him?”

Without a single noise to be made, Chrysalis knew exactly what she wanted to do. Of course what she was going to do was completely insane and could endanger everypony there, but she could care less. Ponies were nothing more than meat sacks, a source of food for her, and she knew that the changelings she had left behind would be able to rebuild the colony should anything happen to her. With a wicked grin spread across her face, Chrysalis took a small step forward and smashed her hoof into the green sphere.

Author's Note

Re-writing this chapter felt good, and actually progresses properly. If you read the other chapters, I'm sorry, they were TERRIBLE. No. Terrible doesn't even describe it. I put them aside in a folder called 'Never read again or else you'll die' and re-wrote a chapter which should be much more fitting.

And more cliff hanger-y.

Chapter 37 - Aftermath

As soon as the black hoof made contact with the sphere, several gasps escaped the pony audience. Momentarily afterwards there was complete silence as absolutely nothing occurred. Being certain that her attempts to foil any of Discord’s plans had completely failed, Chrysalis began shooting glances to the nearby changelings. Most of them returned her glare with an unresponsive stare, as if to say that they could care less if their lives had been lost.

‘They have been taught well…’ The changeling queen thought, ‘As for this traitor here… What should be done about him…’

As she slowly peeled her hoof away from the sphere, a cataclysmic explosion of pure magical energy was released. At first, the green glow spread almost instantly through Ponyville and some nearby areas, and everypony was slightly confused as to what was happening. The green aura seemed to pose no threat at first, but when the air around them began to heat up at an alarming rate, hysteria broke loose. The ponies began running around in seemingly random patterns until they had reached a building, in which they would force their way in (if required) then board up the entrance they had gone in through with whatever furniture they could find. Some ponies tried to bash through the temporary barricades, in which some succeeded and hid inside as well, while the others which had failed would continue to the next building and attempt to enter once more. The changelings were somewhat lost as to what to do, some of them chased ponies (or rogue changelings), some of them remained immobile, waiting on the queen to actually do something, and a very small selection fled the town altogether. Unfortunately for the few changelings that had attempted to help Ponyville, they had all been dog piled almost instantly after the magical energy was released.

While the town was in a state of complete chaos, Discord leaned back onto a few changelings and took a sip of wine.

“Chrissy, you just made my job a lot easier!”

---<

Celestia waited patiently on her throne for any news of what had transpired in Ponyville since Discord’s release. Twilight, in changeling form, paced nervously beside her, as she had been doing for approximately an hour. As a small white pegasus pony wearing a tight blue uniform, sporting a cutie mark of a letter, burst through the giant doors, he shot a look of suspicion towards Twilight before rushing towards the princess.

“Princess, I bear grave news of Ponyville” He said, giving a deep bow

“Rise, Rush, if this is urgent, there is no need for formalities.” Celestia responded calmly.

“Very well… There has been some sort of unidentified explosion in Ponyville. As of the last mage’s report, the type of magic is definitely changeling magic; however the purpose of the spell is completely unknown. We request your analysis of the situation, and in haste.”

Celestia rose from her throne, as Twilight stepped forward to follow her outside. Turning her attention to Twilight, she bowed her head and shook her head. Knowing that the princess wished to be alone, Twilight let her ears down and backed away.

“Lead me to the current analysts, Rush.” Celestia stated.

“Of course…” The pegasus said, still eying Twilight nervously.

When both the Princess and Rush had left the room, Twilight slowly slumped back onto the ground. She only wanted to help, and she would have done anything just to save her town and her friends. Filled with disappointment and regret for not having done anything, she silently began weeping in the empty room.

It had been a few minutes now without anypony entering the throne room. Twilight’s tears had finally dried, and she was just sitting silently in hopes of getting some sort of news of the current situation. She heard a quiet creaking sound, similar to that of a door, and looked up to see Scootaloo carefully looking around the room.

“H…Hello?” Scootaloo called out nervously.

“Hi Scootaloo…” Twilight responded after a sigh.

“Oh… Hi Twilight… I was sort of looking for the princess… You know where she could be?”

“You just missed her; she left to go check on Ponyville’s current situation, which I must say, isn’t looking at too well…”

Scootaloo bowed her head down in disappointment, but quickly looked back up with a massive grin across her face. It wasn’t the regular ‘Oh that’s great!’, but more of the ‘I have a great idea that might get my cutie mark’ smiles. Twilight knew that smile all too well, especially after her multiple experiences when the Cutie Mark Crusader’s tried to do something that ended in complete disaster.

“Scootaloo, if you think I’m going to help you get your cutie mark-“

“No, Twilight! I just remembered something! Something about changelings and stuff!”

---<

Ponyville wasn’t destroyed, nor were any of the residents harmed in any way. Changelings littered the abandoned streets and the air was filled with an overwhelming amount of magical energy. As a matter of fact, the amount of energy in the air was causing anything with magical capabilities to malfunction. Quite a few changelings were polymorphing into random ponies without noticing, and at irregular rates, almost like a bad case of the hiccups. Either they were transforming, or they just outright fired wild magic from their horns with completely random effects. Discord was laughing maniacally while Chrysalis continued to misfire spells in his direction, yet he still couldn’t control his own powers either, and was creating, destroying, polymorphing, moving or warping random objects (and occasionally changelings) nearby.

Floating just inches from the ground in a bubble of energy was an unconscious Jack, protected from the effects of magic through his own bubble of pure magic.

Jack was dreaming of a Ponyville (far different than the one now) which had been destroyed by his magic, and he had been the only survivor. Wracked with guilt, Jack wandered through the Everfree forest in attempts to just stay lost forever, or if he got lucky meet a painless death. No wild animals were around, and even the Everfree forest had suffered from the explosion; charred trees just about everywhere, with grass burnt down to the roots, and the poison joke patches looked like piles of ash. His thoughts were silent, as was everything around him. He would wander in hopes of meeting something alive, or something that could at least make a sound. As he reached a dry river, he let out a long sigh before hearing a booming voice.

“Doth thou realize the truth?” The voice echoed through the dead vegetation.

“Huh? What? Who’s there!” Jack yelled desperately. The first sound he had heard in a while startled him, and he was suddenly eager to speak to the voice.

“Thou hath no reason to panic.” The voice said reassuringly, and much quieter, “Tis’ a friend, and I wish to help you.”

Flooded with relief, Jack slowly stepped down the slope of the small valley where the river once ran wild. As he reached the bottom, he looked skywards towards the sun, which had been slightly darkened by a cloud of ash. Looking around in attempt to find the source of the noise, he failed to notice anything out of the ordinary, and decided to simply ask about it.

“Might I ask who you are, and where you are?”

“You know me as Princess Luna,” The voice said, as a dark blue alicorn materialized from the shadows a few feet away from him, “I am here to guide you.”

“Guide me through what?” Jack said, now curious as to why the princess of the night had shown up in the middle of the day.

“This is nothing but a dream. This is not the reality which has really occurred. The world outside of here, it’s still alive, but barely. The magic you released was quite a lot, and I was quite surprised to find a changeling capable of doing that.”

“Wait, don’t you normally sleep during the day? And how do you know about what happened if you were never there?”

“Searching the subconscious allows me to become aware of recent events, although I have to use it sparingly, it does take quite a lot of effort. Luckily for myself, upon entering your dream, I felt a strong amount of magic emitting from the subconscious, which allowed me to search freely upon recent memories.”

“Well… That makes sense, I guess…”

“My time is short. I must tell you now that I am uncertain if the effects will disperse around the town, and that you may be the only one capable of saving Ponyville, if not all of Equestria. As a favor, I can help you awaken, but I cannot help you further.” Luna said, after bowing her head as Jack’s mind slowly began to blur the setting around him.

“Wait… I… You… Twili….” Jack gasped, as his head was filled with incomprehensible blurs of images which made it nearly impossible to focus. Before long, Jack’s mind had turned into a pretzel, and he was thrown into reality.

Taking a sharp breath, Jack opened his eyes to find his vision obscured by a thick green aura surrounding him. Slightly nervous at first, he rose to his feet and examined the surroundings. There were plenty of changelings, all of which were changing forms, as well as Discord and Chrysalis having what seemed like a joke battle; neither of them could hit each other, or the spells would perform useless effects, like smacking each other with water or growing flowers from their hair.

‘First things first,’ Jack thought, ‘How do I get out of this bubble thing?’

---<

“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier!?” Twilight exclaimed, grabbing the filly in a green aura as she ran through the throne room door dragging the pegasus behind her.

“Woah! Argh! Ahhh! Well I didn’t… Oh! Wheee! Think it was… Ah! Important!” Scootaloo yelled as she was tossed and turned around a variety of corners, tapestries, and various decorative pieces.

“No time to talk!” Twilight exclaimed, as she rushed through the front door to the palace, “We have to keep going!”

As soon as the changeling broke through the front door of the palace, two guards yelled something at her and jumped in her direction. Forgetting she was in changeling form, Twilight dodged the two guards as the crashed into each other comically. Pressing forward, she started running through the busy streets of Canterlots, causing many ponies to scream, run, crash into each other or just outright faint. Within seconds, Twilight had almost the entire Canterlot guard after her, mostly due to causing complete chaos throughout the city.

Celestia saw everything working itself out from a balcony just on top of her palace. She shook her head and let out a smile. She knew that Twilight would do something irrational after she sent Scootaloo in, but that’s just what she wanted her to do. She understood the power of friendship far more than she did, and if Jack was more than just a close friend, she knew that they would be able to do something to save the city.

‘Let me just help you out a little bit, Twilight’

An unexpected flash occurred, and Twilight found herself (as well as the foalnapped Scootaloo) several feet outside of the green-tinted Ponyville. Blinking a few times to make sure she really was just outside Ponyville, she rubbed her eyes for a moment before snapping back to reality. Scootaloo, on the other hand, squirmed uncomfortably in the magical aura before being dropped rump first onto the ground.

“Ow…” Scootaloo moaned, as she slowly rose from the ground. Turning around, she saw exactly what Twilight was looking at, and was equally confused as to how they had gotten there so quickly. “Uhh… Twilight? What just happened?”

Without answering Scootaloo, she turned to her showing her confused look before returning her attention to the city.

“Scootaloo, stay right here.” Twilight said assertively, “It’s dangerous, and I’m about to do something crazy…”

"But wait Twilight you're glo-"

Before Scootaloo could finish, Twilight was already running into the town.

---<

Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw some sort of irregular flash of light, something he had not seen yet. He knew that it would have been some sort of magic, but to actually determine what kind of magic it had been was far beyond his current knowledge. Shrugging it off as just another miscast of a changeling spell or one of the two villains’ spells, Jack attempted to force his way out of his self-made prison. His hoof landed on the sphere with a loud crack, but there had been no damage dealt against either the sphere or himself.

‘Hmm… Maybe I should try an indirect approach…’ Jack though, while slowly bringing his horn closer towards the sphere.

Without warning, however, the sphere shattered as soon as he began focusing energy into his horn, and Jack fell an inch to the ground. That inch, however, was enough of a fall to startle him, and caused the energy around him to react irregularly with his horn, which shot a small white missile-like object towards a changeling tied against a tree. Strangely enough, the object seemed to phase directly through the changeling without any sort of effect, and the changeling which had (or hadn't, depending if phasing through something counts as contact) been hit returned a look of confusion in his direction.

‘Weird. Wonder what that was’ Jack thought, failing to notice that the chaos filled town was now focusing on him.

The entire town, including the ponies that had barricaded themselves inside (who were peering through cracks in their defenses), was now watching the changeling slowly make his way towards Chrysalis. How had they all seen him, and why were they all focusing on him? Perhaps it was because he had been trapped inside a magical sphere the entire time, and had suddenly broken free. Or, maybe it was the fact that he was glowing in a vibrant violet aura, while slowly walking towards something in the distance glowing with an equally strong violet aura. Unfortunately for Jack, he was unaware of the other glowing object, as his vision was blocked by Chrysalis.

‘Is it just me, or did it suddenly get quiet…?’

Looking around himself, Jack saw that the changelings had stopped moving (although they were still transforming) and he saw several faces peering through the windows of the semi-destroyed housing. Curious as to why they had all stopped and were staring at him, Jack decided to give himself a look. Upon seeing the purple aura, Jack yelped in surprise as he recognized the aura as the same one Twilight used when casting spells before she was a changeling. What surprised him even more was the massive pain he was getting in his horn as he felt the magical energy built up.

The final surprise Jack got was having the magic released towards the object sharing the same purple glow in the distance.

Chapter 38 - Elements of Harmony

Both Discord and Chrysalis ceased their fighting for a brief moment as they both stared at the glowing changeling. It had already been enough trouble getting him there in the first place for Chrysalis, so she intended to manipulate Discord in whatever way possible to get control of the town. Discord, on the other hand, already knew exactly what Chrysalis planned to do, thus he could care less about her attempts to actually fight him. Discord was also the first of the two to make the connection to the changeling's strange aura, as he recognized the glow from his previous defeat, but worn on a certain lavender mare.

"Isn't that supposed to be Twilight's thing?" He said abruptly, catching everypony's (and changeling's) attention.

Chrysalis paused for a moment. Discord seemed passive about their brief encounter, acting almost as if nothing had happened. He was quite unpredictable, Chrysalis assumed, as an embodiment of chaos is never something to be trusted. For the moment, she wanted to focus her attention on the little changeling that had the potential to actually stop her; be it himself or the help of others. Glancing towards the draconequus, she stared at him in the least menacing way she could, as if asking for peace between them. Discord returned her look with a shrug and leaned back onto a giant blob of cotton candy behind him. He could care less of what happened, he just wanted chaos, so a light drizzle of orange juice followed by growing a few lollipops here and there was enough to satisfy his needs for the moment. With a final snap of his fingers, Discord actually helped Chrysalis' changelings by causing explosions in and around the buildings of Ponyville, destroying windows, a few doors, and even created some holes through the walls themselves. Satisfied with his temporarily agreement to let Chrysalis do her thing for a while he leaned back, plotting of the perfect moment to stab her in the back.

---<

In the distance a few explosions went off here and there, more than likely just smaller spells massed together to take down door and windows, possibly even entire buildings, just to intrude on the helpless inhabitants. That's what Twilight assumed anyways.Screams filled the air, as well as the sound of general panic; Mass hoof steps, doors and windows still slamming shut every now and then, as well as the feint buzzing of changeling wings. As Twilight held her head down to avoid blinding herself with her mane, her hooves pounded against the ground as she continued sprinting towards the town. The aura surrounding her was quite peculiar, one she would expect to have when casting magic, however she didn't have time to investigate the strange aura as she was desperate to save the town.

'Twilight Sparkle, librarian, personal student of Celestia, Element of Magic,' Twilight thought to herself, ''You've overcome so many obstacles, overcome the most difficult of challenges, defeated the most evil of villains, but all of those were with the help of my friends... Can I really do this by myself? No... Don't think like that. I CAN do this. I WILL do this. I'll just need a plan... But I don't have enough time for a plan! Plans are needed... Plans are good... Follow steps, or a list, of what needs to be done... I'll get something prepared when I get there, I know it!'

The librarian struggled to come up with any ideas of what to do, and as she thought about it more, things seemed to become more difficult to organize. With many doubts now bombarding her, she still managed to press forward towards the town. This was completely unlike her, she was rushing the situation, failing to properly analyze the situation and figure out the most appropriate plan of action from there. She expected somepony like Rainbow Dash to be the first in there, but ever since she had been separated from her friends, it almost seemed like they had disappeared as well. Pausing in her tracks, Twilight stiffened up from the sudden realization. What if they had been captured too? Would she be the only hope for Ponyville, or even all of Equestria? With even more urgency than before, Twilight resumed her trek towards Ponyville, which had suddenly become completely silent. She had no idea what she should expect to happen when she arrives, but she could only pray that her friends were safe.

---<

Jack was inhaling and exhaling slowly. Stuck in yet another situation where all odds were against him wreaked havoc on his nerves. Like every previous situation he ended up in, he was still determined to stand his ground, at least until he could figure out a plan of some sort. A strange sense that he had felt before, almost like the warmth of another living creature against him, seemed to act up once more. This time, the feeling was much colder, as if the creature was instead draining the warmth from him. The changelings around him seemed to be quite happy with their current situation, and Jack easily figured out exactly why first hand.

"Ah, but it's never as easy as that, dear boy!" Chrysalis cackled, as she began to march her way towards him. "You seem to forget what we're capable of doing to those who are weak minded..."

For a moment, Jack swore that Chrysalis winked. If she did, it wasn't towards him, and towards somepony (or something) else. The strange thing he noticed was how she kept her posture the same, and the fact that she was no longer acting hostile towards Discord (and vice-versa). She never moved, never flinched, as if she was prepared for something else to occur. Perhaps it was just the way she trailed off at the end, or maybe it was the inflection in her voice. Whatever it was, there was something else the queen was planning, and Jack was susceptible to whatever plans she had coming. There was some sort of shift in her current emotional status which he had somehow picked up on. He had never been able to tune his changeling sense of emotions before, and even now he couldn't understand how he was doing it. The possibility of him coming to terms with his true changeling form actually helped calm his nerves slightly, to a point where he was almost happy. The result was an attempt to laugh (caused mostly by nervousness), not only because he knew he was in a terrible situation, but because he was so tense he felt like he needed to do something. Despite his efforts to laugh, he ended up choking up what sounded like a cough. But instead of a single cough, he broke into a coughing fit, and soon was choking. The fit lasted mere seconds before he regained his focus, but even after his recovery, nopony (or changeling) around him had made a single attempt to make a move. Changelings were either trained extremely well (and judging by his previous experience with them, he doubted it), or maintained extreme loyalty to their queen. Finally, after silence filled the town once more, the queen shifted slightly as she took a single step towards him.

"I've studied you for quite some time now," Chrysalis stated, "And whatever you may be... You haven't always been a changeling, have you? Your behavior, the way you carry yourself, your habits... They're all different than us."

Chrysalis acquired a few quick glances from other changelings and captive ponies. Surprisingly, this also caught Discord's attention, who was floating high above Ponyville enjoying a hot cup of tea. Dropping the tea, with the cup disintegrating in mid air leaving the tea to fall on an unsuspecting changeling below, Discord slowly touched down on the ground beside Jack, resting his left arm on his back. Jack flinched slightly from the draconequus' arm unexpectedly touching his back, but he maintained his position and continued his stare down with Chrysalis.

"And I've been doing the same to you." Jack lied, as he shifted slightly to get Discord's arm into a more comfortable position, "These kind of things go both ways."

"Both ways? You're a fool to think that. You no nothing of me, and I know almost everything about you. You're nothing but a mistake, a mistake I'll have to fix myself..." Chrysalis scowled, "I think we all know that you aren't going to be going anywhere soon. Isn't that right Discord?"

Discord shifted slightly, nodding his head back and forth from left to right, almost as if examining Chrysalis. Without notice, he turned towards Jack, who now sported a carrot in place of his horn.

"Ha! I KNEW there was something more chaotic than usual with this one!" He exclaimed, clapping his hands hands together once in entertainment, "Everything has some form of chaos, but this one here is just screaming disorder at me! As far as our disagreements go, Chrissy, you can have him for now, but be sure to let me have some fun with the little guy when you're done!" Discord laughed, as he popped into a doctor's outfit and a surgeon's mask appeared on his face.

"What?" Jack squeaked, his voice barely escaping his mouth, "You're working... together?"

The arm that was resting on Jack's back quickly turned into a one hand grip on his back, both startling him and terrifying him once he saw Discord's newest outfit.

"Not really," Discord replied, "We both just want to try out some things, that's all..."

Chrysalis shot an evil grin towards Jack as she gave a slight nod towards Discord, but before either of the two had a chance to actually do anything to Jack, a blurry figure tackled the draconequus. The moment Discord was released from the blur, he did a barrel roll in midair and landed softly on his feet. Quickly turning to see the newcomer, Jack saw Rainbow Dash, and she looked ready to kill.

---<

Twilight had finally reached the first building marking her official entry into Ponyville, however the street she occupied was completely empty except for a few destroyed door and window bits scattered across the dirt path. Her pace significantly reduced as she pressed herself up against the second building, hiding in a small alleyway between the two. Peering around the corner, she saw that just about every changeling had gathered in a large group, even those with hostages had taken them along for the ride. What caught her off guard was the distant object flying towards the ground, a familiar cyan blur that she had learned to recognize against the sky's similar color. Rainbow Dash was probably going to be doing something careless again, and with an army against one, Twilight had to act quick. Darting out of the ally and into the streets, she skidded slightly along the dirt as she broke into a sprint instantly upon leaving her alcove. Charging her horn with magic, a breif flash occurred and she was suddenly just inches away from the multicolored mare. Still going at full speed, she tried to come to a halt only to crash into a group of surprised changelings. The contact was enough to set off the mob of changelings; Several of them jumped towards Jack, while more jumped towards Rainbow Dash.

Twilight was the first captured, as the few that were not caught in her sudden appearance were easily able to sidestep her accidental charge and subdue her. Jack and Rainbow were both prepared for a fight, and apparently they weren't the only ones ready to fight the horde. Pinkie blasted herself from the window of Sugarcube Corner in the distance from her party cannon, and she soared through the air screaming something like "Wheee! So this is how it must feel to fly! It's great, I should try it again, or maybe I could get Twilight to cast that wing spell she used on Rarity a while ago, or maybe another spell which could make me a unicorn! Oooh! Then I could try magic too! That would be so great...", which continued until her sudden landing on a changeling which was midair heading towards Jack. The support continued to gather, as a familiar regal white unicorn appeared out of a nearby building, pulling a shaking yellow figure out behind her. Applejack was right behind, helping to push Fluttershy along.

"Ah yes, the Elements of Harmony. What will we ever do to stop them?" Discord cried sarcastically.

Ignoring that comment, Jack and the other elements easily brought down changeling after changeling. An occasional "Look out!" or "Behind you!" was enough to keep the six up and fighting (with Twilight as the exception). Jack would manage to balance himself enough to buck an incoming changeling heading towards Rainbow Dash, where she would do a similar save to return the favor shortly after. Rarity kept many changelings away with little physical force; she managed to manipulate basic magic spells to help defend herself and Fluttershy, who was still cowering in fear. Applejack was doing the complete opposite, relying on her physical talents to deal with opponents, easily take out one changeling after another with one hoof for each changeling as her bucks were strong enough to take down two opponents at a time. Pinkie Pie had an interesting strategy. She never actually touched a single changeling (with the exception of the one she landed on), she simply bounced around, somehow avoiding each and every incoming changeling. Every once and a while her bounces would shift directions almost instantly, causing the changelings to hit each other instead of Pinkie.

Watching the Elements (plus Jack) battle their way through the changeling mass just made Chrysalis grin more and more. Each changeling that was beaten down was quickly replaced by another, and judging by the expressions of each of the fighters, they were quickly growing tired. Even though her numbers were dwindling, she still had a plan, and she was completely certain it would work. Glancing towards the group of changelings holding down Twilight, she gave them a quick nod before climbing atop a nearby rock.

"Enough of the games!" Chrysalis announced, her voice magically amplified throughout the town, "Bring her up here, NOW!"

Discord was watching the entire ordeal from above, laying back on an old chair enjoying some popcorn. He knew that he could easily manipulate the battle for himself, but the amount of chaos caused was enough to entertain him for the moment. Four changelings dragged Twilight up towards Chrysalis, and while the purple mare's horn continued to glow and fade, she was unable to counter the changeling magic to escape their grasp. As they dropped Twilight in front of the changeling queen, she instantly picked her up in a choke hold.

"This fighting bores me. Surrender now, or you'll lose your precious Twilight." The queen threatened.

Looks of surprise crossed everypony's faces, and then expressions of fear. They all stopped attempting to resist almost instantly, allowing the changelings to drag each and every one of them into a straight line in front of their queen. Chrysalis's magical hold never released, and Twilight was still flailing her hooves around her throat trying to free herself from the spell. As she began to run low on oxygen, the flailing weakened, and the purple mare slowly became encompassed in the changeling embers as she slowly returned to her changeling form.

"What have you done to her!" Dash screamed, as she attempted to break free of her captors, only to have another one join in, helping pin the enraged mare down.

Chrysalis released Twilight, who then collapsed on the ground gasping for air. The glowing aura that encompassed both herself and jack slowly began to pulse, but each pulse was emitted at a lower and lower strength. Jack managed to wriggle himself free of the changelings that held him and quickly rushed towards the collapsed mare, as Chrysalis motioned for the changelings to hold their position. Her breath was faint, but Jack could hear it. Jack knelt down and met eye to eye with Twilight, who appeared ready to pass out, and slowly began to put his hoof towards her own hoof. Slow long blinks in her eyes, which refused to open completely, saddened Jack, but there was a strange feeling from touching hooves that made everything seem like it was going to be alright.

"Citizens of Ponyville!" Chrysalis announced, "We have your so called 'saviors' here!" Chrysalis let out a small laugh before continuing, "Surrender yourselves now, and you will be spared! For the the time being, of course."

Slowly, the doors (which had not been destroyed) of the various housing began to open, then fall off the hinges, as the ponies began exiting their houses. Shooting a glance towards Discord (who was quietly laughing), Chrysalis resumed her speech.

"I must admit, you put up little fight apart from these six ponies... And those three changelings," She said, gesturing towards Lyra, Bon Bon, and Jack. "I must establish myself as the ruler of this excuse for a town. Anything I say, goes. Any changeling that wants to feed, feeds. Any single pony that challenges me, or another changeling, will never be seen or heard from again. Are we clear?"

There were a few murmurs among the ponies, even with changelings jumping at the opportunity to cease ponies for themselves. Some ponies were already held captive by changelings, and now that the Elements of Harmony were held captive, the feeling of hopelessness began to return to Jack. Resting his head atop Twilight's, the violet glow began to pulse differently. Instead of growing weaker, it began to grow stronger. The changelings that surrounded the two prepared to move in, but some sort of irregular force in each pulse pushed them back more and more. Chrysalis recognized the force behind the pulses, as the same force had defeated her in Canterlot. She had already planned for such an event, so her horn began to glow a sickly green color. Slowly, a green object began to rise from the floor around the two, which slowly grew in height and width, surrounding them and trapping the two in a thick green bubble. Grinning from her success, she looked up to where she assumed Discord would be, but he was nowhere to be found. Ignoring the fact that her temporary ally had disappeared, she began marching towards the remaining Elements.

The elements tried to cower backwards as Chrysalis slowly approached them, simply to be blocked by the changelings that held them. With Fluttershy now in tears, the others were ready to admit defeat. The struggles lessened with each step the queen took, and Chrysalis could only savor the moment. The fear that she caused in the ponies in front of her was overwhelming; Not just the fear they emitted, but the fact that some of the strongest ponies known to ponykind were admitting defeat. This gave her a feeling of satisfaction she had once before, a long time ago even before the Canterlot invasion. She had trapped two of the forces she knew could stop her. Just to get another kick, she slowly wiped her tongue across the protruding fangs. They were nothing but food to her now; and a little snack would satisfy her until she was prepared for a full meal. Before she could prepare her snack, something hit her just below the eye. It was wet and the slightest bit sticky. Somepony spat on her, and after looking up she was unable to determine just who's saliva it was. Infuriated by the spit, she was tempted to annihila te each and every one of them in front of the entire down, but after a moment's though, she assumed a public torture would convince everypony to behave.

"We have a special place for each and every one of you..." She scowled, "But don't worry, you'll be taken care of in the worst possible way."

---<

One changeling watched the entire thing happen. Luckily for him, he had managed to hide in a seemingly abandoned building, one that had taken such a beating that each window had been shattered in such a way that glass littered the floor regardless of where one looked. Taking a small step away from the corner of the window, with the sound of glass crackling beneath his hooves, he closed his eyes. What caused him to betray the queen? What had Jack offered him that he couldn't get from the hive? Why was he so reluctant to help his mother? Perhaps it was because of what he had done for him. He had been a friend; Something foreign to changelings. Their were 'relationships' close to acquaintanceship between changelings, but those only occurred due to similar work patterns in which they must interact with one another. Changelings were solitary creatures, relying on their queen for advice, but to have another one be so engaging, to stand up for himself, it was truly inspiring for him.

Never had he expected to have a 'friend' before, somepony to share in both the good and bad moments. He had never expected to do what he wanted to do, decide what he thought was right and wrong; Not just the queen telling them what was the correct things to do and things to avoid. Somehow, Jack had made him an independent changeling, capable of doing things on his own, and... enjoying what he did. Peering out the shattered window once more, the changeling saw Chrysalis standing victorious near the town center, and he felt something turning within him. The feeling inside him was something that he hadn't felt before, it resembled a strange type of interior warmth. This 'warmth' was something different than he was used to, it felt like his heart rate had increased, and he felt like he wanted to break something, to just yell at something, do some sort of damage, but he remained silent in the abandoned building. An emotional experience he had never had himself; He had siphoned similar things off living creatures, but never experienced it first hoof. He knew when to use certain facial expressions in place of emotions, to convey certain thoughts through physical display, but to exert the emotions himself made his head spin slightly. This friend... His friend... Had taught him something he'd thought he'd never learn. So he was going to do whatever he could to save him.

And he knew just who could help him.

Author's Note

Took a while, but it's here. I rewrote this thing at LEAST four times. Still feel a little meh about it, but I feel comfortable enough to leave it for now. May or may not have more changes later, depends on what I plan on doing next chapter.

Chapter 3 - The Hive

Jack was paralyzed with fear. There were so many... THINGS moving around him, but they all seemed to ignore him. He took a deep breath and began to look at his surroundings some more. It was extremely dark, it seemed as if there was so source of light in the room. But he could see just fine, even in the dark. Perhaps it was one of the benefits changelings had compared to normal ponies. The cavern was quite a sight however, something you would never expect to see in Equestria. The walls were a very dark tone of grey, piled with many moderately sized spheres. The spheres had green blotches attached seemingly at random, and they tended to be grouped together tightly.

'Where am I, anyways?' Jack thought.

The constant sounds of the passing changelings hooves, or whatever they were, constantly echoed through the room. Near one of the small entrances to another room, he saw a two changelings that seemed to be in some sort of argument. Without any notice, the one on the right tackled the one on the left. Before Jack realized what had happened, there was a brawl of roughly 30 changelings occurring right in front of him. He did the only thing reasonable in this kind of situation - he walked away.

---<

It was quite scary for Jack to be wandering around in such an unfamiliar place, especially with so many of these unfriendly creatures around him. He got the occasional hiss, but nothing turned into a fight. After walking through a couple more tunnels, Jack noticed that there weren't any more sacs on the walls.

'I must have been in some sort of nursery, or whatever the changeling equivalent is' he thought to himself.

After walking for another minute or so through the Hive, the found the population of changelings was significantly lower. The next tunnel he saw was guarded by two very large changelings. They had chitin armor much thicker than the rest, and there size alone was enough to scare him off. He turned around, suspecting the guards must have been guarding something of great importance. As he began to leave, he heard a booming voice come from behind.

"Halt!" said the voice.

'Oh no... What do they want with me?' he thought.

He turned around to find that one of the guards had approached him. The guard was more than twice his size and was definitely something you didn't want to get in trouble with.

"State your business here, drone!" The guard boomed.

The guard's voice was very deep, and very loud. The cavern seemed to echo his voice back more than twice.

"Err... Ummm... Nothing. I was looking for the err... Nursery?" Jack stumbled.

It was hard enough being in an unfamiliar environment, but not knowing what any thing is makes things more difficult.

"What is your responsibility?" The guard countered.

"What?" Jack responded, slightly confused.

The guard let out a sigh.

"Another new changeling, it seems. Very well, the Queen will appoint you with your duty."

'Wait... The Queen? As in Queen Chrysalis? Jack thought.

It didn't occur to him that the guards were letting him in so easily. Almost without reason.

"Be quick with you, the Queen is very busy." The guard said, as he shoved Jack into the opening.

Without much thought, Jack proceeded into the tunnel. Walking for no more than 10 seconds, he reached a grand chamber. The chamber itself was quite impressive; the cavern walls had been rounded out very well. There were many banners scattered across the walls. They were all black, with the bottoms filled with holes almost as if to represent the changeling colony. The middle of the room was a large, perfectly symmetrical diamond shaped gem. In front of the gem was a grand throne, made from an onyx-like substance. The throne was occupied by a large changeling with deep green hair, and a single crown above her head. He knew it was Chrysalis. Beside the throne there were two more large guards, these ones had strange blades attached to their chitin. Jack cautiously approached the throne, careful not to make any sudden movements. For all he knew, he could be killed before he could even speak. Without noticing his actions, he was about 5 feet from the throne, staring directly at the Queen of the changelings.

---<

"What is it you desire of your Queen? I haven't the time for a drone like you." Chrysalis stated, almost as if she was bored of the encounter already. "State your business now drone, or be sent to the chamber."

Chrysalis had a voice that chilled Jack to the bone. He could hardly move, and was afraid he might say something he didn't mean to say.

'What is 'The Chamber' anyways?' Jack thought.

A moment passed in an awkward silence, and then the Queen finally spoke.

"My... The emotions stored within this one are quite strong. I taste fear... I haven't felt that from a changeling in years."

Jack gulped.

'This is how I die.' he thought.

"This changeling is certainly... different" The Queen stated, seeming less annoying. "Perhaps you deserve the honor to tell me your purpose here."

"Uhh... Err... Just t-to feed the c-colony, Queen." Jack stuttered.

"You certainly have, with all those emotions of yours. This is certainly going to be a nice snack."

Jack felt like he was being drained. His vision became slightly blurry and his legs wobbled slightly. Chrysalis looked quite content with her 'snack'.

---<

After another long moment of silence, Jack had finally recovered from his 'donation' to the Queen. It seemed changelings really were quite brutal when draining the emotions of others. For a pony not to be able to notice something like that, the changelings must have some pretty powerful manipulative skills. After waiting for what seemed like ages, the queen finally spoke once more.

"Where have you been, my dear, I have not felt so much energy since... since..." Her voice trailed off.

"The wedding?"

"How did you... You certainly are quite interesting. Not many changelings knew about what truly happened at the wedding."

"You defeated Celestia herself with your power, but you were defeated by the love of Cadence and Shining Armor."

"So you were there!" Chrysalis exclaimed. "Where have you been all these years? I have not seen you around in quite some time, drone."

'Drone. That's all she calls me. Maybe only important changelings get names? Jack thought.

"Yes, my Queen." Jack responded. "I have been in Ponyville since then."

It was a blatant lie, but he was getting much more comfortable talking to one of the most evil beings in Equestria. It seemed although she was warming up to him quite well, however when he mentioned her defeat she did seem a little angry.

"Ponyville? That is where the sister of Shining Armor rests, is it not? I believe her name is Twilight... Sparks... Holes?" The queen said.

"Twilight Sparkle" Jack corrected.

"So you do know her... In that case I have a very specific task just for you."

"And what might that be?" He asked.

"Seeing as you know the bearer of the elements of harmony, I plan to have you collect more energy for the Hive in 'Ponyville'. The closest I can get you is the Everfree forest. Do you accept my offer?"

"Of course my Queen."

He knew that he would finally get a chance to redeem himself. He would make up his own form and try to trick the others into believing he was another pony. But what if the Queen attempted to retrieve him? Either way, this may have been his only chance to get back to Ponyville.

"Very well then. Should you fail, your punishment shall not be light." Chrysalis stated.

'Oh well that makes me feel a lot better.'

The twisted horn of the Queen began to glow. Without any sort of notice, faster than a blink of an eye, Jack found himself back in the Everfree forest. From there, he would have to determine what to do next.

Chapter 7 - Welcome Party

Followed by Wings and Biggs, Jack increased his pace as he ran down the streets of Ponyville. Moments ago, the three changelings found themselves bored with absolutely nothing to do, but after getting caught up watching some races it seems they lost track of time. They had been running through town for no longer than a minute, scrambling to find Sugarcube Corner. The clock tower had said 7:57, and Jack did not want a bad first (technically it was his second) impression on the citizens of Ponyville. Racing past the Tree-brary for the second time, Jack slowed his pace to an eventual stop. Letting out a sigh of disappointment, he looked around for any clue to where Sugarcube Corner may be.

'Being late to the first thing I get a chance to make an impression at. This is just great.' Jack thought.

The same wood and straw houses that he had seen earlier surrounded him; they had gone and done a full lap of Ponville. Wings and Biggs were eyeing each other, as if they wanted to say something, but they both remained silent.

"Do you two have any idea where it could be?" Jack asked, not expecting any sort of response.

Surprisingly, Wings lifted one of his front purple hooves and pointed just past a row of houses.

"Alright, if you know something you really need to speak up..." Jack sighed.

Trudging along the dirt path, passing a few more houses, they finally reached the giant candy themed building.

---<

The gingerbread walls reflected the setting sun quite well, the sugar coating (or whatever it really was) catching each of the few remaining rays of sunlight. The icing itself looked like it was still edible, that is, if it was actually icing. Jack had no idea if Sugarcube Corner was edible in reality. Looking up above the main building, there was another room attached just on top. This one appeared to be two cupcakes stacked on top of one another, however only the highest one had the icing. There was one single window on the cupcakes that looked like a gem. The building itself made Jack's mouth water. Suddenly, the door was slammed open and Pinkie Pie stood in the open doorway, a giant grin going cheek to cheek across her face.

"Ooooh! Yay! I'm so excited you three could make it! I knew you wouldn't be able to resist all of the sugary goodness I had planned! Oh and I made sure everypony in town came, so then you can meet all kinds of new ponies, and make all kinds of new friends! This is so exciting; I haven't had a welcoming party in months! Other than welcoming back all the animals after winter wrap up, but I meant a welcoming party for ponies! We haven't had many ponies move in to Ponyville for so long!" The pink mare quickly explained.

"Well, technically we don't have any jobs yet, but Applejack said..." Jack began, to be interrupted my Pinkie shortly after.

"Applejack is one of my bestest friends ever! Shes really honest and I like that about a pony! Well, I like a lot of different things about ponies; maybe that's why I have so many friends!"

"Pinkie..." Jack said.

"But then again I do have lots of parties, and I make sure to invite everypony around! I know they all love them, they're always laughing and having so much fun!" Pinkie continued.

"Pinkie!" Jack said, elevating his voice slightly.

"Oh, sorry, did you want something?" She responded, still holding the grin across her face.

"Yeah, are you going to invite us to the party? And we still aren't residents of Ponville yet, if that matters."

Pinkie turned around, ran back into the door, yelling "They're here! Let's get this party started!" followed by a large group of ponies cheering loudly.

---<

Jack, Wings and Biggs entered the room. Jack stared in awe at the mass population sprawled across the room. Quickly turning both left and right to take a look at Biggs and Wings, both their expressions remained emotionless. Despite their reactions, the other ponies didn't seem to care, with the party was clearly very popular. With so many ponies were crammed into the room, there was barely enough space for the threesome to get to the confections table, something Jack had been eyeing ever since Pinkie opened the door. There were so many treats, all of which were carefully decorated and look extremely tempting. Just like Pinkie had said earlier, there were three large cakes in the center of the table. The center cake was covered with a grey icing and black icing on top. The two cakes to the sides were red and purple, the other being purple and red in the same style as the first one, from left to right respectively. They all looked so delicious...

'Huh, they even put forward enough effort to match our coat and mane colors. I wasn't expecting that, but then again it is Pinkie, you can't expect anything from her!' Jack thought.

Before he had the chance to take a slice of cake, he heard Pinkie yelling over the crowd.

"Everypony! Everypony can I have your attention! I have something super-duper important to say!" She exclaimed.

The room fell silent within seconds. Well, close to silent anyways, there was still some whispering and music playing quietly in the background.

"Okay, Twilight here just wanted to say something!" Pinkie said.

Everypony in the room turned to face the purple mare. She was standing just behind Pinkie, and slowly stepped towards Jack and the other three. As she approached, Jack felt as if the Wings and Biggs were backing away slightly, as if she was determined to speak to him alone. She stared at him for a moment, tilting her head slightly as if there was something she recognized about him. Jack didn't move, he didn't want to for the fear that she knew what he was. The tense situation lasted no more than 10 seconds, before Twilight finally spoke.

"Let's welcome our new three guests, everypony!" She said. "There's Cienna, Domina and..."

There was a pause, and she raised her hoof pointing towards him.

"Jack! Let's give them a nice, warm welcome!"

The crowd erupted into another cheer, and the party resumed. Jack felt his heart pounding against his chest, as Twilight continued to approach him.

"So where did you say you were from again?"

---<

After explaining his 'story' to Twilight, he noticed she didn't ask many questions. He knew she was thinking about something, Twilight usually asked plenty of questions to keep on top of things. However, through his story of travelling far across the lands, fleeing from the poor lifestyle of Itrot, seemed to keep her silent.

'I know she's up to something, Twilight is never this quite when she hears about new things.' Jack thought.

Perhaps it was just his imagination, maybe he had just gotten caught up in his story telling he didn't notice any questions. Smiling slightly, with a nod of her head, Twilight proceeded to return to the mass of ponies. He couldn't help but watch her talking to the other ponies. There was clearly something that she thought about him, not particularly about Wings and Biggs, and he could only wonder what it was.

'If she knows I'm a changeling, or recognizes me in any way...' Jack thought, 'Then why didn't she act strange about the other two, never expressing emotion and not saying a single word their entire visit...'

He sat there, staring, as the ponies surrounding him consumed the massive cakes. Behind the counter he saw Mrs. and Mr. Cake smiling waving at him. He couldn't help but smile and wave back.

---<

The party was definitely one of the most exciting parties he had ever been to. He hadn't been to an actually party before, the most recent one being to his cousin's. Or at least he thought it was his cousin's, his mind was even more unclear than the previous night. Giving in to his thoughts, he rolled his eyes in defeat and went over to the 'Pin the tail on the Pony' section. There was only a small group of ponies there, so he thought he might as well settle in. He walked off, leaving Biggs and Wings with all the food.

"Hey, it's Jack!" came a voice from behind.

Turning around, he saw a mint green pony approaching him. He recognized her as Lyra.

"Well, I think it should be Jacks turn next, since he is the reason for the party." Lyra said.

"Aww comon, you don't need to do it just for me!" Jack replied.

"Well, everypony else has already had a turn, so it's only fair!" She said.

When the brown pony before him finished, placing the tail right on the eye, Jack laughed a little and allowed Lyra to tie the blindfold on with magic. When the purple glow from the blindfold faded, Jack found himself in completely darkness. With the fake tail in his mouth, he was as ready as he ever would be. Suddenly, he felt hooves placed on his back and the pony which grabbed him began to spin him around.

"One..." Came a mass of voices, "Two... Three! Go!"

Jack stumbled around in the darkness. He knew he was not going anywhere near straight, but pressed forward anyways. When he finally bumped hooves into wood, he stopped for a moment slightly lowering his head. He knew that the tail spot wasn't quite at his height. Carefully pressing his mouth into the wall, he pulled the blindfold off with his front hooves. In front of him wasn't even a picture of a pony, he had missed by so much he had landed on a nearby bag of flour. Every pony around him began laughing, and he was quite disappointed in himself. Despite his lack of victory, he smiled and began laughing as well.

---<

Jack's stomach growling, he finally remembered that he still hadn't gotten a piece of cake yet. In hopes of finally getting his hooves on one of those delicious pieces of art, he found each and every cake to be gone. The cupcakes were gone as well, leaving the punch bowl remaining. As with everything else, there was nothing left. The innocent looking punch bowl had let him down. Disappointed, he looked at both Wings and Biggs and saw bits of cake and icing upon their purple and red faces.

'Seriously? I was really looking forward to the cake too!' Jack thought, giving a little frown. 'Those two haven't done a thing all night but sit AROUND the cake. Ugh I should have just had cake first before I...'

Jacks thoughts were interrupted by something resting on his back. The purple hoof of Wings was resting, as if to comfort him. As he stared at him for a minute, he finally noticed what he was trying to say, or the message he wanted to get across. Just below his purple mane, on the lower half of his face, he had managed to muster up the smallest smile. An overwhelming feeling of happiness washed over Jack, knowing that he got a response that wasn't just a blink, or a short sentence. Jack couldn't help but give what felt like a smile just as big as one of Pinkie Pie's back.

'Maybe those two aren't void of emotion after all.'

Chapter 23 - No Regrets

Twilight had tried so hard to stop the spell. Her first reaction was to create a shield, although she had completely missed Jack from the blast. Even in the blinding light, she was able to get a few spells off. As the blinding light quickly dissipated, the entire group of ponies was in shock. Looking towards the direction where she had last seen the changeling, she found him to be gone. Twilight let out a sigh of relief, she hadn't been able to stop the spell, but she had at least managed to get Jack out of there. The expressions of the jaw-dropped ponies didn't change, even after a few minutes passed. Half of them were looking at Twilight, standing near the last known location of Jack, and the other half looking at the minister, who had suddenly cast magic on a potentially innocent pony. The most shocking event was that Jack was now completely missing. Twilight had no idea if her spell was able to save Jack in time, and she still wasn't certain what spell the minister had cast. For all she knew, Aegis could have teleported the changeling into some sort of prison as opposed to exposing his true form. Shaking slightly, Twilight finally took a step forward towards the minister, who was still poised in an aggressive stance.

"Stay back!" Aegis growled. "I do believe we may have a traitor among us..."

The crowd became silent once more. Most of them were curious as to who the minister was addressing, however Twilight knew it was quite obvious he was talking to her.

"Why else would she save Jack from my spell, if the only harm is does it expose a changeling's true form?" Aegis inquired. "And why would she defy the one both princesses trusted to protect this city?"

Whispers broke out among the crowd. Twilight knew that the minister was planning something, but there was nothing she could do about it. However corrupt the minister may have been, there was no way she could prove it with the little evidence she had against him. As the minister continued to ramble on, Twilight felt tension building up, and she prepared for the worst.

---<

The feeling was quite painful. The minister really wasn't lying when he had said that the spell should not be used freely upon ponies. Even after waking up after being knocked unconcious he still felt the occasional jolt in his chest. When he was hit, he didn't remember feelin any pain, but then again his system was probably in full shock from the sudden change of events. From the feelings he was getting now, more than likely the hit would have felt like an electrical charge directly towards the heart. Looking down at himself, Jack was forced to confront his natural form once more, something he had tried to avoid since he first discovered his abilities to change form. Since he woke up, he had tried to change back into his equine form, however every time he tried he felt a shocking sensation in his head. After multiple tries, trying to change into almost any form, Jack gave up, and began wandering his unfamiliar surroundings.

Now Jack was back in the Everfree forest, which was really a giant maze of trees. Jack had been close to lose a few times before, however this time he knew he was nowhere he had been before. Studying his surroundings, the trees almost seemed as if they were swaying to their own accord, almost as if creating a maze. The brush was already quite difficult to navigate, and many of the plants on the ground seemed unsafe to touch. Navigating carefully through the woods, Jack felt grass shift into the tiny holes throughout his changeling legs. The experience was definitely much different than anything he had experienced before, it felt like the inside of his leg was being irritated, although he knew he could easily get rid of whatever was bothering him. The only good feeling Jack felt being in an unfamiliar place was that he knew what place he was in. The memories of the cave he had been in were still very vague, although the sense of panic was still there when he thought of it. Sudden shifting in a nearby bush caught Jack's attention. Carefully approaching the bush, trying to ensure he would not be caught in his changeling form, he peeked over and saw a little orange filly curled up in a ball shaking, holding one of her wings over her head. Feeling sorry for the filly, he approached her, ignoring the fact he was still a changeling.

"Hey there... It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." Jack said.

The filly began sobbing louder, shaking more violantly than before.

"I know you're afraid of me, and you have reason to. A lot of the changelings I know want to drain other ponies of their emotions."

The sobbing from the changeling seemed to calm slightly. Her wing shifted slightly, as if trying to get a better look at the changeling.

"Look, you can stay here and cry all you want. You know what that means? It means you're sad. Therefore, I'm not draining you of emotions. Otherwise, you honestly wouldn't care that I was here, and would probably follow me around."

The orange filly stopped crying. There was still a lot of sniffling going on, however it was clear that the crying had stopped. Moving the wing from her face, Jack finally knew just who he had been talking to. It was Scootaloo.

---<

Ponyville was in a chaotic state. Twilight could have sworn that discord had been released once more, the glowing purple shield resembled what little order remained in the city. It wasn't at the point where houses were being burnt down, or food was being stockpiled in fear of the apocalypse, but everypony was at the point where paranoia was setting in. The town seemed desserted, most of the doors were locked, even some shops had closed down temporarily. Posters had been hung up around town showing a changeling behind the minister, with bold text underneath saying "Watch your back".

'Propaganda' Twilight thought. 'He really is as crazy as Jack thought. Ever since he showed up, everypony has been becoming more and more paranoid about the changelings. But in reality, how many changelings are there? So far I only know of three, and Jack didn't have any bad intentions.

Walking around town brought attention to Twilight. She had barely managed to escape the ministers grasps. Luckily she had helped the town out several times in the past, and the mayor actually stood up for her. Still, she would receive the suspicious looks from many of the ponies. Ignoring the constant staring, Twilight pressed through the town until she finally reached the Tree-brary. Inside there was a familiar red mare awaiting her arrival.

"Oh, hello Domina. I wasn't expecting to see you here." Twilight said, as she closed the door behind her using magic.

'Actually, I was expecting you to be here. You always seem to follow Jack around, you and that other changeling... Cienna was it? Yeah...' Twilight thought.

She paused for a moment. It was suspicious that there were TWO changelings of the group of three. One of them was agressive, the other was kind and caring. If Domina was a changeling as well, would it be agressive as well?

'If it was agressive, it would have attacked when the other one did.

Perhaps the only one that remained was the neutral one. During both attacks, it was a bystander. It never took action to protect or attack. Then again, that's assuming it was a changeling. Domina nodded her head as Twilight entered, carefully watching her movements.

"Domina, I have something to ask of you." Twilight said.

Domina tilted her head slightly, as if curious of what the lavender mare was going to ask.

"Did you know of Jack being a changeling as well?"

There was a pause, Domina straightened her head. She looked down at the ground for a moment before closing her eyes. She then proceeded to nod her head.

"How much do you know?"

Domina looked up. Twilight knew that the red mare rarely spoke, and when it was she had only really spoken when Jack was around. From what she remembered, the voice had almost no inflextion in it when she spoke, it almost seemed mechanical and emotionless. The response proved her correct.

"A lot..."

---<

Plenty of things had happened in and around Ponyville since Jack first arrived. Most of what had happened had been related to him being a changeling, or just about changelings in general. He regretted not telling Twilight earlier that he was a changeling, although after his first experience with ponies as a changeling didn't turn out so well. Luckily for Jack, he was stil alive and in good health. He couldn't change form quite yet, and he hoped he hadn't lost that power altogether, but then again permenant magic was quite rare from what he had seen. Actually, he hadn't seen any sort of permanant magic, so he assumed he would recover. The few regrets he did have, the things he wanted to do, the friends he wanted to make, would have to wait a little longer. He still had plenty of time to do what he had always wanted to do, but the main (or in this case mane) problem was the minister trying to take over the entire city. Then again, Jack wouldn't be surprised should he return to the city and the entire city be following his commands to keep it a changeling free environment. He doubted the ponies would be that stupid to follow him like that, although with the events that recently took place he wouldn't be surprised if the ponies followed his word due to panic.

The orange filly and the changeling continued walking down what seemed like a very faint path. It was almost as if the area of the forest had been used, the ground was quite flat compared to the rest of the forest. Scootaloo still refused to speak as the two left the forest. Her body position and facial expressions still told Jack that she was afraid of him, but she seemed to become much more comfortable in his presence. The silence really was killing Jack, whenever he asked a question the orange filly a question she would cover in fear, as if he was going to harm her with words. Scootaloo was leading the way through the forest. Jack could only hope she knew where Ponyville was, otherwise they may be lost in the forest for a while. There was a few streams of bright purple light coming from the gaps between the trees ahead. As they approached the light, the filly finally spoke for the first time since meeting the changeling.

"I... You... Y... You're voice..." She stammered. "I think... You're... No. You can't..."

"You probably know who I am." Jack admitted. "But that's not important right now..."

The two approached the light. As they came closer, Jack realised what they were coming up to.

"I... I've been s...stuck here for s... so long. I'm hungry... So hungry..."

The purple light was definately caused by magic, and when Jack finally reached the opening, he realised why Scootaloo seemed... Smaller than usual. The town was in fact encased by a large purple sphere, and Scootaloo just happened to be stuck outside. He was still quite surprised that the filly hadn't wandered over to Zecora's hut, although not many ponies happened to go into the woods let alone to Zecora's place.

"Don't worry. We'll get through this. Together" Jack said, giving her a genuine smile.

His words seemed to finally bring hope to the filly. She let out a small grin, her upset expression finally vanished.

"I've never met a changeling as nice as you..." She said quietly.

What happened next, Jack thought would never happen to a changeling, even by another changeling. The small orange filly went right up to Jack's leg and gave him a nice, heart-warming hug.