“I don't get it, Starlight,” I complain as Twilight ties me in tight on Fluttershy's throne in the throne room of Starlight's Castle. “Why all these precautions?”

Starlight opens her mouth as if to answer my question but, since her teacher speaks first, Starlight shifts her eyes to look at her old teacher instead.

“Is this too tight?” Twilight asks me with concern. “Because I can loosen it. I don't want to hurt you.”

“No! Don't!” Starlight objects urgently then spoke in a calmer manner. “I'm sorry, Twilight and Sweetie, but these ropes must be tight because we might soon be confronting the culprit.”

“How?” I ask before wincing due to Twilight's efforts to tighten the rope. I look at her in pain but also some understanding. “I'm not the culprit,” I go on to say as I look back at Starlight. “I'm the victim, so why are the ropes on me?”

“Yeah, but I believe the culprit is there and aware within you,” Starlight tells me then instructs Twilight, “When you are done with that rope, seal these doors with a magical binding spell just in case he breaks out of these ropes.”

“I think I'm done now,” Twilight informs us. “So I'll work on sealing the doors.”

“Do you have any of your Canterlot Palace Guards with you?” Starlight checks with Twilight. “It is standard procedure for them to follow an Equestrian Princess.”

“Usually, but I teleported here,” Twilight expresses as she does exactly that to get to each door. From there, she swirls her horn while it glows. It causes a trail to follow which roughly shapes into an S pattern. That pattern gets bound within an O pattern before the symbol shoots into a doorknob.

“Is somepony going to fill me in on the current plan?” I kindly request with a bit of worry in my annoyingly manly voice. “Because, right now, I'm feeling like I need an adult.”

Starlight tests the door that her old teacher sealed. The doorknob won't even budge anymore. She takes it and rocks the door back and forth in an attempt to force open the door anyway, but it does not give. She then looks at Twilight while passing her a wink and a nod.

“I'd like to be filled in too,” Ocellus requests while she sits on Rarity's throne. “I assume you brought us both for a reason, yet you didn't tie me up so I'm guessing there is some role you want me to play?”

“Is it true that changelings can smell emotions?” Starlight asks Ocellus as she trots her way back to the Friendship Table.

Is it?

I also look at Ocellus curiously for that answer. If the answer is yes, that is a very curious and useful trait.

“Ah . . . yes,” Ocellus answers. “We needed it to smell the emotions that we formerly fed off of.”

“Can you still do it?” Starlight checks with the changeling. “Also, can you smell other emotions too and not just love?”

“Certainly,” Ocellus replies. “Every emotion gives off a certain kind of pheromone which our race can smell. Often we can even do it while we assume other shapes.

“There are certain exceptions, of course. Mineral-based life forms hardly give off any scent other than earth. Some other species project intense scent while others have almost none. Furthermore, every factor that can affect scent does do so in this case. For example, we can smell emotions at a considerably greater distance if we're downwind to our targets. In the reverse case, we might not smell them at all even if we're standing right next to them.”

“Well, there should be no wind in this room,” Starlight figures as she examines her surroundings before looking back at Ocellus. “So I want you to remain close to us and Sweetie Belle in particular. If you start smelling any sudden change in behavior in her then I want you to inform us immediately.”

I squint one eye as I ask, “So we're just going to ask the culprit to reveal himself politely? I don't see what incentive he has if he was content to hide himself for this long. Also, what if he can't take me over? Maybe the only reason he hasn't done it for this long is simply because he can't.”

“Trust me, I thought of that,” Starlight tells me as she also looks at me. “That's why I'm going to induce an altered state of consciousness in you.”

“Huh?” The eye I have already squinted squints tighter. “So . . . you're plan is to hypnotize me? Can you do that? Have you done that before?”

Starlight sighs, then says, “The answer to your first question is yes, the answer to your second question is maybe, and the answer to your last question is no. That said, I have read on the subject and I believe I can do this.”

Starlight looks down as she sighs for a second then focuses back on me as she says, “Look . . . you told me earlier that you've been having bad dreams that involve the culprit. I believe that is a sign that he's still in there in that body. I also believe that is another layer of his plan. Why invite your mind into his body and he just takes off somewhere else? What does that accomplish?”

I shrug a little bit but the ropes greatly minimized that movement. The effort also irritated my hide so I think it's best not to move too much anymore. At least not until these darn ropes come off.

“But consider this,” Starlight encourages with a lift of a lilac-colored hoof. “What if he's still inside you with the ability to take over at any moment? What does he gain by inviting your mind into his body?”

I shrug again because I forgot my earlier promise. That causes me to wince in pain again.

Starlight points at me as she says, “Perfect infiltration,” she answers. “If he has your mind immediately accessible and he lets you be yourself with the ability to take over later subtly or overtly, then he can blend into society so well that none would be the wiser.”

I gulp nervously, then ask, “If all you say is true then why me? Why would he go for a little filly? I'm not a major power player in Equestria.”

“Now that,” the hoof Starlight pointed at me earlier shakes for a second in order to continue to emphasize me while she says, “I'm not sure.” She shrugs as she finally rests her hoof back to the ground. “I can't possibly know all the in's and out's of a mad changeling. Maybe you were just a convenient target or a test subject for grander experiments on others.”

“Pushing the mind of a little filly into the body of another changeling,” Twilight muses with a shake of her head. In her eyes, I can see she looks spooked. “And just where did this changeling come from anyway?” She looks at Ocellus. “Were all of the changelings accounted for or not?”

“That I know of,” Ocellus supplies innocently. “All of those who are accounted for include the knowledge of every changeling who has been converted. They were forthcoming to Thorax about all they knew.

“Some were in the hive when they transformed along with Thorax and some weren't,” Ocellus goes on to tell us. “On the whole, I'd say most of the changelings were there and converted that day, including me. A vast majority of the hive always lived and remained along with the rest of the hive. The only ones who weren't there were infiltrators gathering energy for us on the field. When they came back, we were quick to encourage them towards a better option than starving all the time.” She shrugs. “The rest is history.”

Ocellus then looks at me before she eventually adds, “But if there were a rogue group of changelings that no one in the hive knew about, I suppose they could have remained at large.”

“Queen Chrysalis is still captured and in stone,” Twilight puts in. “So I know she can't be responsible for any of this fiasco.”

“Well,” Starlight says as she looks from her mentor to me. “Hopefully we'll get some answers soon. We got her tied up and the doors are locked. The three of us are here to monitor the situation too, so we should be good to go.

“And, Sweetie Belle, I want to make sure you know that, whatever happens, I'll make sure you come back to us.”

“Okay,” I say in a small, nervous voice.

Starlight leans forward to have her face closer to mine as she says, “I mean it, Sweetie Belle. I won't let you down. Everything I'm doing right now is for your benefit. We need to know what's going on. If we do, we'll be at least one step closer to unraveling all of this mystery and getting you back to normal. I promise.”

I shut my eyes in a tight squint as I complain, “Let's just get this over with! I want my life back.” I open my eyes to resume looking at Starlight. “I want my body back. I want Button to have his body back. I'm so glad he's not lost in that forest anymore but what he's going through now might scar him for life. Kind of like how I feel right now.”

I look down sadly as I add, “Besides, what's happening to him now is all my fault. I'm the one that thought of him when you did your magical experiment.”

“You had no way of knowing that would happen, Sweetie Belle,” Starlight assures. “But now that we do know, let's work to fix this once and for all.”

“Okay,” I say again in a small, frightened voice. I sigh, then say, “Hopefully this will take care of the nightmares too.”

“Let's get started,” Starlight decides then retrieves something which, at first, I thought was too cliche to work. She takes a pocket watch and just dangles it back and forth. She instructs my eyes to follow it.

But, more than that, what seems to work on me better is her soothing voice telling me to relax. The repetitiveness of watching the watch swing back and forth lulled my senses. I trust Starlight, too, so I know I'm in good hooves. Whatever happens now, I know she's working to help me solve this problem.

At first I feel like I am being put asleep in order to do a complex surgery on me. An operation that is so dangerous that I might not survive it. That, in turn, means it is difficult to relax but that soothing voice and swing of the chain still lulls me to sleep anyway. I'm honestly surprised how effective it is.

While in a trance, my mind drifts to a formless environment. I feel this floating but also slowly falling sensation. From within that darkness, I hear Starlight's voice echo around me as she asks to speak with the entity that inhabits this body along with me.

I have nothing to do with this. I don't really feel like I have too much control. Starlight is telling me that I do and that this is like my dream, yet part of me doesn't believe her because I know there is another entity that shares my existence here. The one that has been haunting my dreams for almost a year.

“Hello?” I call out into the darkness. I notice that my voice, too, echoes in this void. “To the one that shares my existence with me, make yourself known. We don't want to hurt you. We just want to talk.”

I wait for a response. As I do, I feel myself gently settle on a formless nothing as if I am now standing on an invisible floor in the middle of a giant field of empty darkness. Since no response seems forthcoming, I venture on to say, “Maybe we can even be friends?” I ask with desperate hope.

After I ask that, I finally hear some kind of response. It sounds like hoof steps drawing close to me. The startling thing is it sounds like it started only a few feet away and, from there, it draws even closer, and yet I can't see him. I can't see anything in this black void around me.

“Please don't be mad!” I cry out as I cringe fearfully. “We just want to talk to you.”

Every instinct within me cries out for me to flee but, for once, I hold my ground. I search out there into the endless abyss for any sign of the other entity. I hear the hoof steps stop next to me then there was a pause where nothing happens.

I wait.

And I wait.

And wait.

Till finally . . .

Eyes open in the dark. Eyes that glow in the dark. Eyes that are right in front of me, inches from my face.

I scream, startled, as I withdraw a few feet. The entity ahead of me now holds his ground and does not seem to follow.

Then, all of a sudden, he looks up before seeming to float on up. The more he ascends, the faster he ascends. I lose track of him within seconds, especially when nothing about him stands out except for those glowing, menacing eyes.

“STARLIGHT!” I scream out in the darkness. “HE'S COMING!!”

Next I open my eyes which, in itself, is a weird sensation because it seemed like my eyes were open before. I am looking down at my black thighs for a second before lifting my gaze to look up at Starlight.

But something is wrong. I didn't do that! My head and my gaze lifted beyond my control.

Panic seeps deep within me as I realize that the other entity is finally in full control of our shared body.

“Sweetie Belle?” Starlight checks in front of me.

The entity just stares at Starlight with a very focused cold look.

“No?” Starlight checks. “Then whom, may I ask, am I talking to?”

“Be careful Starlight,” Ocellus cautions tensely. “This one gives off a very different scent. This is definitely not Sweetie Belle.”

At this moment I feel some of the thoughts of the other entity. It is because of that that I realize he has absolutely no intention to answer that question, especially not honestly. He's here to collect information, not give it. And besides, he knows he can inspire more terror in silence and that is a gift he specializes in.

He continues to stare at Starlight coldly to keep her attention on that instead of the fact that he has already morphed the shape of his hooves and slicing through the rope at this very moment.

“What do you want from us? Why did you ponynap Sweetie Belle?” Starlight continues to probe.

The entity just continues to stare at Starlight with cold and calculating eyes.

“My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight introduces a short distance behind Starlight. “Perhaps you heard of-”

Twilight gets cut off when the entity controlling my (or rather I should say our) body suddenly headbutts Starlight without warning except he also morphs on rams horns very nearly instantly. As a result, Starlight stumbles back as blood leaks out her smashed-in snout.

Everyone else in the room freezes in shock, including me inwardly. I just can't believe how quickly and easily it happened.

The entity stands up so quickly and forcefully from Fluttershy's throne that he knocks it back. Doing this finally snaps Twilight to attention. She backs off a few startled steps while blasting purple beams of energy at me. In response, the entity controlling me flings himself at Twilight but he dodges her attacks in a way I can barely describe. It's like he swims around each of her hornbeams. First, he comes at her from an impossibly low angle then curves up and around her successive beams before looping again in a spiral of motion. This kind of movement should be physically impossible, even for a flying creature, because we're coming at Twilight too low to the ground at first. It was like we were squashed into a form that's only a few inches thick.

It takes only two seconds for the entity to close the gap between him and Twilight. When he does, he pauses his motion just a bit past Twilight. I feel his left forehoof thrust through Twilight's abdomen. Off the corner of my eye, I notice that thrust through was a very accurate term because his right forehoof instantly transformed into a blade that is dripping with blood on the other side of Twilight's back.

But the entity does not look at her. He simply looks past her as if Twilight isn't even worth a second glance. He just freezes for a few seconds as both Twilight and I absorb the shock of this all.

Then, when time finally seems to unfreeze, Twilight falls forward. While that happens, the entity withdraws his bladed hoof out of her. In mid-motion, it morphs back into a black, and now bloodied, changeling hoof with holes in it. At the same time, he trots past the possibly dead Equestrian Princess without a second look back to her. Instead of that, he focuses on his new problem; the door to this room.

Since my mind is so numb with shock, I just barely register the fact that he's aware that the front door is magically sealed. The fact that he knew that also implies he was aware of my experiences before this moment. Either that, or he read my memories after taking over the body.

But I also notice that this does not concern him in the slightest. He has had plenty of training in how to disable locks both mundane and magical.

When he gets to the door, I notice him ignite his horn. The doorknob gets enveloped with sparkling green magic. He takes a moment to examine the enchantment before committing to his next move. By casting another spell, ten strobe-like flashes emanate from the doorknob. Doing so decimates Twilight's earlier enchantment on it with ease.

The door is now unlocked!

He reaches up with a hoof to open the door until he suddenly crashes down on his knees when something struck us from behind. He whips his head back only to be confronted by what appears to be a giant bugbear. I remember seeing one of those attack Ponyville a few years earlier. I wasn't afraid of it then, but I am now.

The entity narrows our eyes at the bugbear. During that time, I feel him realize that this is Ocellus before us in bugbear form. Until I sensed those thoughts, that thought didn't even occur to me. Conversely, this entity didn't appear to realize that Ocellus would even attack at all. He dismissed her earlier because she was a fellow changeling and he thought she was too timid. He also thought this attack would not occur because he knows that she knows that I am in this body too.

But, apparently, the shock of what she just witnessed pulled her sanity over the edge, at least temporarily.

As the entity has our body stand back up, I start to register a sharp pain along the side of my ribs which extends all the way to my left rear thigh. It is only then that I notice one of Ocellus's claws is dripping with a little bit of blood. She must have slashed me with that claw.

Ocellus, in bugbear form, growls at us and clenches her claws to her side. There is a firm look in her altered state eyes that seem to warn us that we better stay down or she'll attack again, yet we also notice those claws shivering. The entity within me figures that is a strong sign that Ocellus remains very, very reluctant to hurt us despite all that's happened.

I feel his sinister mind start to turn as an idea occurs to him. Then, a moment later, he changes our shape into that of me as a white unicorn filly. He notices how this new shape invokes a startled reaction from Ocellus. She steps back a bit as she beholds this new development.

I feel the entity give Ocellus a pleading look. I feel tears start to rise in my eyes. I knew that if I was in control, I'd be crying anyway because of the continued pain on my ribs, left thigh, and because of my psychological torment of seeing Starlight and Twilight so hurt earlier.

In any case, his strategy appears to work. Both concern and sympathy appear to be evoked in Ocellus which means she let down her guard.

Then, an instant later, my horn ignites with magic. The same aura envelops Ocellus's head which is still in bugbear form. I even notice how the aura color is my natural pale green. Using that hold, he opts to smash her head against the wall beside her. Doing so causes her to fall unconscious and revert back to her natural form.

Following that, the entity takes a moment to concentrate on the slash wound we already suffered. In response to that, he actually morphs the wound closed which heals it in an instant, but I notice the fact that doing so requires active concentration on his part and he had to fight through the pain in order to achieve that.

Satisfied with the results, he rear kicks open the door behind us, back out of it, then spins about in order to continue forward. He's still wearing my form in order to blend in more along his way out.

I am so numb with shock that I can barely think straight as the entity winds our body through the crowd of Ponyville. Hardly anypony else spares me a second glance because, to them, I look like Sweetie Belle. The only reason they should feel surprised to see me is because I should be in school right now.

As the entity proceeds, I hear him whistle an innocent tune using the sound of my own voice. It is the same tune that haunted me in my dreams for . . . Well, I can hardly recall how long it's been.

“Good morning, Sweetie Belle,” greets a cream color earth pony mare with a mostly rust red tail and mane and a thin stripe dull pink.

“Good morning, Rose,” the entity controlling me correctly greets her in a jolly way, eerily using my voice to do so. Notably this is also the first time I ever heard him speak, including my dreams. Until now, I had wondered if he could do that at all.

“Shouldn't you be at school right now?” Rose inquires with a light tone of voice. It barely sounds like she's scolding me.

“I'm on my way back there right now,” the entity replies with an equally friendly tone. “At Miss Cheerilee's request, I dropped off an apple pie at the Friendship School to repay a debt to one of the students who did a favor for her earlier. I, meanwhile, was only too happy to help.”

Rose smiles at me brightly as she says, “You're such a good little filly!” She waves goodbye at me as I continue my way. “Have fun at school!”

“I will! Thank you!” the entity calls back to Rose in a bright and sunny way before shifting to an evil smirk the moment he turns our head away from Rose.

This is hopeless! Simply hopeless! The entity sounds just like me! It's as if he's been mimicking and studying me all my life.

But the entity pauses, caught off-guard, when he notices Starlight Glimmer stumbling about the crowd of Ponyville. Some seem to ask her in concern what is wrong with her. From a distance, we can also see that Starlight has cast off the magic gauze from her horn. Likewise, her horn is aglow with magic right now. I feel some concern for her health because of that but, right now, I'm also greatly relieved to see her well and on her way. Maybe whatever magic she is casting is helping her track us?

I notice the entity reach the same conclusion with suspicion. He isn't sure this is the case, but it feels odd to him that Starlight managed to track us down this far. He decides to test that theory and, if it seems like she can track us down somehow, then he might need to put her down more permanently.

He looks around to observe where the attention of the rest of the crowd is. When it seems like no pony is looking at us, he morphs his form to that of a green mare with three colored stripe mane and tail of yellow, lime green, and dark green. In the case of our mane, it is done up in a bun. We're also wearing horn-rimmed glasses now which tells me changelings can assume the form of equipment in addition to changing our body.

In this new form, we weave through the crowd fast enough to gain some distance from Starlight. Then, when we gain a good lead, he veers into an alleyway between two yellow buildings with a brown thatched roof. From there, the entity presses us flat against the wall then morphs our form to stretch out as a second layer of the same wall. He also changes our color to match the background perfectly.

And that's it. With a two-dimensional form morphed as a second layer of one of the walls, we wait to see if Starlight Glimmer shows up again.

Two minutes later, Starlight does show up which means she really can track us somehow. Maybe I shouldn't question it. It's Starlight Glimmer, after all. I gave up predicting all the kinds of spells she can cast long ago. Right now I'm just so relieved to see her, but I'm gravely worried for her, too.

Starlight starts to pass us for a moment but her head pulls back midway down the alley as if some invisible force grabbed her horn and yanked her back a bit. She doesn't really resist that impulse. Rather, she goes with the flow of it. She turns her head and gazes across the alley with confused, searching eyes. Slowly, she makes her way towards us while aiming her horn in various directions.

In hindsight, it kind of resembles my big sister's gem-finding spell.

As soon as she ventures within a few inches from us, a tentacle shoots out of the wall which ends in a barbed pincer claw. Using this, the entity slams and nails Starlight across the alleyway against the other wall. From there, he lifts her off the ground so that her physical struggles will have very little leverage to work with. This action is also piercing her neck and choking her. Several trickles of blood shortly leak down from her neck because of this action.

The entity morphs on his natural head which is still attached to the rest of our wall form. From there, he gives Starlight an evil smirk then speaks to her in his own voice for the first time.

“You sly little sneak,” he mocks Starlight with an impressed tone dripping with evil cunning. “You really do have a spell for everything, don't you?”

Starlight attempts to apply her forehooves on the spiked pincer claw which is pressing her against the other wall. She is attempting to loosen it enough so she can recover her breath, but she pauses and widens her eyes at us when the entity morphs his face away from the wall behind us and stretches it across the alleyway on a nightmarishly creepy long neck. Along the way, he drops our jaw too low which hangs as if it is unhinged. Two fangs grow down the top of our mouth. He hisses at her as he floats our head over to hers.

“What am I going to do with you?” he wonders as he hangs our head close to Starlight. “If I let you go, you can just track us down again with that annoying spell of yours. Worse, you might teach it to other gifted unicorns if you haven't already. In the process, you signed their death warrants.”

Starlight looks extremely creeped out by us but, otherwise, she is choking to death. She cringes back as hard as she can as we float inches from her face and breathe in a deep whiff of her.

“Feeeeeeeeeeear!” he purrs with pleasure. “Now that is more like it, but too little, too late, I'm afraid. I keep a tidy operation which means I can't have weaknesses like you roaming about. Say your prayers, Starlight, for this is your last day in life.”

The entity morphs our eyes into . . . Well, I don't really know what, but our vision seems to change a bit and I feel his confidence that, whatever he's done, should take care of Starlight once and for all.

Then, with horror, I notice Starlight's flesh is shifting into stone. He's petrifying her just like the stare of a cockatrice!

“When I shatter your stone form,” the entity has me say with sinister delight, “I think I'll keep a piece as a souvenir of our little encounter together.”

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Inwardly screaming with all of my might, I suddenly fight against the entity within me. I don't know if I'll succeed. My doubts shall not permit me to give up before I try. I don't even really consider that. I just fight him with a sudden burst of overwhelming passion.

“No! You!” the entity hisses as he closes our eyes and whips our head back and forth. “Back off, little filly! I'll deal with you next!”

Then, without warning, I see stars for a split second before losing consciousness completely.

Author's Note

So now the antagonist of the story gets a little "face time" in this story.

I hope he delivers on feeling like a legit threat. I also wanted to showcase a mere sample of how overpowered I suspect a changeling can get if they happen to be exceptionally well trained.