Pocket Change

Chapter Music

Rarity

As much as I enjoy working at the boutique, even that's not enough to shake the feeling that something is awry. Luckily, my friends and I plan to get to the bottom of this in just a few days. People are going missing and the returnees are acting strange. I don't particularly enjoy the sensation of hiding our superhero antics from our other friends. But it must be done. We decided as a group to hide them to protect the people around us. Although, you can only get away with a pony-up and magic use so many times before people start getting suspicious.

Luckily, we're able to convince everybody that it's just practical effects whenever we let our powers slip. There are only a few others outside of us seven that know about our power. Though, I pretty sure Change knows too. Speaking of Change, he didn't come to work today. Hopefully, he hasn't turned back to his...troubling ways. I've only had the pleasure of knowing him for a few weeks, but I can tell he has a good heart. He likely just drew the short straw in life. It's a shame so many good people are lost to the cruelty of the world.

I was suddenly whisked away from my thoughts by the sound of the store bell. I perked up, expecting a customer on this abnormally slow day. What I saw instead was someone I never expected to see inside the boutique. "Aria?!"

She stormed through the door looking both disheveled and distraught, holding the unconscious and unclothed body of Trixie. I really hoped she wasn't here to spark trouble, but I was more concerned for her than anything/

"The weasel needs your help," Aria stated willfully.

"Weasel?"

Aria rolled her eyes before pointing outside of the storefront. Looking just past the window display, I saw something that sent a terrible chill down my spine. A sickly Change lay on the ground in an unconscious state just outside the store. My samaritan instincts took over, as I rushed outside, levitating his body into the store using my magic. A little girl followed close after, was this his sister? He never mentioned anything about her. I made sure to flipped the open sign around so that there wouldn't be any disturbances.

I placed his body on a nearby sofa traditionally reserved for guests in waiting, but this was a desperate situation. I got to work immediately, flipping on my glasses to inspect his body. Coming from his entire right side were veins the color of coal. This definitely wasn't good, it appeared to be some kind of poison. Tracing the branchlets back to their point of origin, I found that there were a few rather nasty puncture wounds in Change's right hand.

Upon physically touching him, I reflexively retracted my hands in surprise at how cold he was. He seemed to zap the heat right out of me. Immediately, I whipped my phone out and began dialing the number for the emergency services only for it to be snatched away by Aria faster than I could blink.

"Whatever are you doing?!"

Aria took a few steps back, looking both fearful and concerned. "He said no hospital. He can't afford it a-and it would only bring him trouble."

I restricted Aria using my magic and snatched the phone back. I resumed dialing the number for the emergency services, Aria yelling for me to stop. "Stop, you don't know what you're doing."

"I know exactly what I'm doing, I'm saving his life," I said as I glared at her, looking away from my phone.

"He can't afford it."

"Then I'll pay for it."

"Do you think he'd want that? Besides, he didn't exactly sustain that injury legally. He'll only get in trouble. I'm sure you know what kind of person he is if he trusted you enough to come here."

I was upset, angry even, but not at Aria. She was right in some capacity and I was angry at how helpless I felt. There was someone right in front of me who's desperately in need of help, yet I couldn't do a thing. My head snapped back to Change who suddenly began violently coughing up a green viscous fluid.

"Then what do you suggest we do?!" I yelled, releasing Aria from my magic.

She shrugged anxiously. "I don't know, don't you have friends that could deal with this stuff?"

Twilight. Twilight might be able to do something about this. But judging from his condition, she probably won't make it in time. No, there is a way. Scrolling through my contacts, I stopped on Rainbow Dash's number, calling her. As always, she picked up before the first ring even came out.

"Hey Rarity, what's up?" Rainbow Dash said from the other side of the line.

"Rainbow Dash, I need you to bring Twilight to the boutique, it's urgent. Bring her sciency equipment too," I stammered out.

"Woah, what's going on? You sound-"

"Rainbow Dash, please," I begged, hanging up the phone.

I ran over to a cabinet behind the counter, pulling out a medkit. I opened it, taking out a pair of disposable sterile gloves and putting them on. I took antiseptic cream, distilled water, and alcohol-free cleansing wipes as well. I took care of the wound as best I could, but I wasn't able to do much. Sewing it shut or bandaging it probably wasn't the best course of action. From what I was seeing, Change appeared to have some kind of poison or venom in his system; closing those in likely wasn't a good idea. Dressing this wound wasn't an option.

After a few minutes, the door to the store flew open, a rainbow trail of color following through. With a burst of air, a very confused Twilight Sparkle was left standing behind Rarity alongside a proud Rainbow Dash. Although, that pride Rainbow Dash had, quickly turned to horror as she saw the scene before her.

"Holy crap, is that Change?! What the heck happened?!"

I turned to Twilight with pleading eyes.

Without exchanging words, Twilight snapped into action, snatching her suitcase from Rainbow Dash and setting it down in front of the sofa. She popped the lid before turning to examine Change's body, tracing the black veins to their point of origin. By this point, they had overrun half of his body and green splotches of fresh something covered the front of his shirt. Twilight audibly gulped.

Twilight

After a few hours of operating on this person who I learned was Change, I had managed to stabilize his condition. The black veins seemed to recede a bit, but he definitely wasn't in the clear just yet. He would need to be under constant surveillance. I wasn't exactly sure what was happening to him or what had happened to him. Whatever this toxin was, it didn't show up in any database, nor did it appear to be naturally occurring from any known species.

Unlike most toxins that simply cause damage to living tissues or systems, this one seems to be causing rapid changes throughout the entire body, violently. Under a microscope, I could see that it was causing cells to rip themselves apart and reform into something different. It wasn't mitosis, the cell count remained virtually the same. They were still cells in appearance, but they didn't act very much like cells at all. They almost seemed... smarter.

"He'll be alright for the time being," Rarity stopped pacing and breathed a sigh of relief, before walking over and kneeling by his side, "Now, can someone please tell me what's going on?" I said, turning to face Aria who had been standing in the corner of the room with a little girl.

Why was one of the Dazzlings here? Why is there a half-dead guy in Rarity's boutique? Why are there trace amounts of magic in his body? And why was I kidnapped to deal with it?

"Well, I don't exactly know what happened, but between the two of us, I think we can come up with something," Aria said, looking down at a small girl standing beside her.

The little girl nodded before speaking up next. "I think...the monsters got him."

I was understandably confused by this. " Monsters? What kind of monsters?"

The girl began to shiver before Aria placed a hand on her shoulder causing the shaking to stop. She took a deep breath before speaking again. "The bugs."

This only served to raise more questions. "Do you think you can describe them for me?"

The girl's eyes widened a bit as the shaking continued. She seemed to stare just past me. All at once, the shaking stopped and she approached Change, staring down at him. She reached out to touch his hand, looking sad for him.

"That's Petal, Change found her in the facility by herself," Aria said from beside me.

"The...facility. What facility? Where were you?"

Aria rubbed the back of her head, looking nowhere in particular. "Uh, I think it was called the CMRF."

"The Canterlot Medical Research Facility?"

"Yeah, that's it."

Why would they have gone there?

Aria placed a hand on her hip. "We went there looking for one of his friends," she pointed a finger over at the unconscious body of Trixie Lulamoon who was lying on another guest sofa with a blanket thrown over her, "her, actually."

Boy, do I have a lot of questions.

Sometime Later...

I nodded as Aria and Petal finished recounting their stories while I tended to Trixie. She was perfectly healthy. She just seemed to be in some kind of medically induced coma based on her vitals and brain activity.

"I won't lie to you, that's a lot to take in," I muttered as I stood up, dusting my skirt off, "but I one hundred percent believe you."

Petal approached meekly, clutching a sketchbook. "What do you have there?"

"Rarity gave me her sketchbook, so I could draw. I drew the monsters," she stated, turning the sketch around for me to see.

I took the sketchbook in my hands, inspecting the illustrations closely. She was able to draw exceptionally well for a child, probably better than most adults actually, but that's what was frightening. I had never seen creatures like these before and I doubted Petal exaggerated any details based on what I had been told. The illustrations were of jet-black insectoid creatures attacking crowds of panicked people as they stumbled over each other to getaway. Those that couldn't get away were being wrapped up by spindles of green thread until they were completely enveloped. I had no idea what we're dealing with, but I think I knew someone who might.

I walked over to Rainbow Dash who looked bored out of her mind. "Rainbow Dash, do you think you could bring Sunset here?"

This seemed to raise her spirits. Standing upright, Rainbow Dash gave a salute, "On it," before she vanished with a trail of prismatic colors.

In all but a few seconds, Rainbow Dash returned with a very tired-looking Sunset Shimmer who was in her pajamas. She rubbed her eyes sleepily before looking around, "Is...this a dream?"

"Sorry for bringing you here on such short notice, Sunset, but I need your help." I lifted the drawing Petal had made up to Sunset's face only for her to become wide awake.

"C-Changelings?!" She stuttered, stepping back.

"Sunset?"

Sunset put her hands on my shoulders and looked me dead in the eyes before violently shaking me back and forth. "Twilight, how do you know what a changeling is!?"

"I don't, that's why I brought you here, I didn't even draw this."

Sunset tilted her head at me and raised an eyebrow. "You didn't? Then, who did?"

I pointed at Petal causing Sunset to rush past me and over to Petal. She kneeled to her level, placing her hands on her shoulders. Suddenly, Sunset began shaking her sporadically. "Where are they?!"

Petal looked like she was on the verge of crying causing Aria to step in, pushing Sunset off a little. Sunset looked around, noticing that everyone was now looking at her questioning. She blushed before returning to my side. "Sooo...what's going on?"

"But that still doesn't explain what changelings are doing here," Sunset said as she crossed her arms and looked at the ground, a conflicted expression written across her face.

There it is again, changelings... "That's right, what is a changeling anyway," I asked.

Sunset scowled. "Emotivorous leeches that prey upon ponies. They can take the form of anything and anyone down to the cutie mark, draining the love from the very being of their unsuspecting victims."

"Oh, that sounds bad."

"But changelings don't operate alone, they need a leader. That means...someone's controlling them."

Rarity suddenly spoke up, causing us to look over in her direction. "Uh, girls," she said, pointing a finger over at the sofas.

"What in the world?" Sunset muttered to herself.

Change was nowhere in sight, but in his place was a jet black human-sized cacoon with green luminescent accents lining it. To my delight, it seemed like my vital monitor system was still functioning properly. Strangely enough, the vitals seemed to be eerily similar to that of Change. Wait...no, it can't be. I walked over to the monitor and performed a diagnosis, then again, and a few more times. The vitals undoubtedly belonged to Change.

"Changeling...we have to get rid of it." I heard Sunset mutter from behind me.

I whipped around to face her. "What? No! He's a person!"

"That thing's dangerous, Twilight," she stated in mock tranquility, walking toward me slowly.

Rarity had joined my side, attempting to calm Sunset down. "Now now, darling, I don't think there's any need to do anything rash."

Sunset attempted to lunge past us towards the cacoon only to be caught in Rarity's magic. She thrashed around violently screaming all sorts of nonsense. "Let me go! You don't know what you're messing with! That thing's evil!"

"If it's as evil as you say it is, then why don't you use your power to read its thoughts." I knew Sunset had been practicing with her power a lot lately. When she used her power there was practically nothing you could hide from her. Thankfully, she formed a pact with us to only use it with consent or in times of crisis.

She stopped thrashing, looking back and forth between the cacoon and us. She sighed before giving in. "Fine, but if it tries to drain us, I'm stomping it."

"Thank you, darling," Rarity said before putting Sunset down.

Sunset walked up to the chrysalis with conviction, hesitantly placing a hand on the top of it and closing her eyes. A few moments of silence passed; Sunset retracted her hand and cradled her temple before turning away from the cacoon.

"How did it go?" I asked expectantly.

She shook her head. "I...don't know. It doesn't seem to be evil though."

"What did you see?" Rarity asked.

Sunset rubbed her forehead. "A lot, it was like his life was flashing before his eyes. It was...depressing for the most part. But there was some stuff I couldn't reach."

Change

"Rise and shine, my little prince. You've gotten enough rest already."

My freshly cleaned sheets were abruptly thrown off of me as my mother stood over me, smiling and wearing her signature lab coat. Her beautiful green hair flowed in the breeze of the ceiling fan; I guess it wasn't a bad way to wake up.

"Yes, mom. But, you know, you look like you could use some sleep yourself," I teased, earning me a soft smack to the back of the head.

I stifled a laugh before getting out of bed and stretching; it was a beautiful day and the sight of the city from our high-rise apartment only enhanced it. My mother was a genius scientist who made great contributions to the field as a whole.

Doctor Chrysalis Cures Cancer. She's Done It Yet Again, Neuromuscular Disease Is No More. I hope to be like her someday.

"Get ready, your brothers are waiting. Today's lessons are on changeling and human anatomy and I know they're your favorite."

That's right, I'm homeschooled and my teacher is none other than my mother. I'm still not sure how she's able to have so much time for us, but I wasn't about to complain.

My mother brought me into her embrace, feeding me love until I burped. It was always embarrassing, but necessary and it felt nice. She walked out of the room and down the hall out of sight while I walked to my bedroom bathroom. I opened the door and flipped the light on, stopping in front of the mirror. I never really looked much like my mother or my brothers for that matter, but I didn't mind. If I really wanted to, I could just shapeshift to match them.

I've been told I look like my father, but I don't have many memories of him, so this appearance is kind of the only thing tieing me to him. It's strange though. I feel like I had an important dream, but I can't remember it for the life of me. Oh well, it's probably as my mother says, "If you forgot it, then it likely wasn't important."

I brushed the thought aside and began my morning routine.