Different

The air in this place was so still and cold. It had almost reminded me of a Hearth's Warming Day. The thin blanket was only doing so much to help warm me up. I had sworn that the room was way warmer when I first arrived. The temperature seemingly dropped over night in this tiny prison cell. Even the mattress below me was cold to the touch. I guess that when you are sleeping in a place made of stone underground, there is only so much that could keep you warm. Though, realizing that it was colder instead of warmer told me that I was not that far underground. I looked up after waking to see if I could see the royal guard on the other side of the glass. It appeared that they had been replaced as I was sleeping. Made sense I suppose, even the guards need sleep cycles. I got up and stretched, or at least whatever amount of stretching I could do in this small room. As I did this, I was instantly reminded about my injuries as my body froze in a sudden pain. It was a numb type of pain, but more than enough to get the point across.

After the pain subsided, I had realized that this cold was a good thing. I could tell that the room temperature helped to keep down any swelling that might have occurred had I slept in a warmer room. The body burns seemed to have mostly gone away, but the deep slashes and cuts were there to stay. I looked at my reflection in the glass, focusing on my ear.

That was the price I had to pay for trying such a dangerous thing. Trying to befriend the pony kind while being seen as an enemy of the state. Sometimes, I find that I am a bit too bold for my own good. I flew too close to freedom and paid the price.

After a while of standing there in self contemplation, I decided it would best if I had some water. I started to get hungry and thought that water in my system would help subdue the hunger. That was another thing I never got about myself. Even though I was a changeling, I didn't feed the same way as the others. I was able to survive on regular pony foods and was never really hungry for love. I had always suspected myself of being this way due to being a half-ling, but I never got to confirm what I really was. I could eat love like a normal changeling, but my body never required it.

After a few sips of very cold water, I decided to try asking for food. Worst case scenario they would just say no. I looked out towards the glass, "Good morning, Sir, I was curious if you had some food I could have? I haven't eaten anything since yesterday morning."

The royal guard looked at me through the glass. He replied back in a very stern manner. "Are you serious? You really think that I would just let you take my love just by asking nicely? You really are stupid."

I looked back at the guard, slightly annoyed. "No, I meant food. Like, an apple or something? I'm not a heathen."

The guards face went from serious to confused. "I'm sorry? A changeling asking me for pony food? Now that is something I did not see coming. Everyone knows that changelings only eat by sucking the love out of them."

I sighed before continuing, "No, changelings can still eat normal food when there is not enough love to go around. Though, the types of food they eat can be a bit unnatural for a normal pony. I actually haven't been hungry for love in a very long time as I have adapted to a mostly solid food diet. You see, there are a lot of things you pony folk don't know about changelings. Most of the things you hear about changelings are from false information and bad resources."

The royal guard looked at me with a blank stare, "How do I know this isn't just a trick? For all I know, the moment I go past this barrier to give you food is the moment you try to attack me."

I looked at him with relaxed emotion. "Sir, do you really think I would be stupid enough to attack you? I am in a small confined room behind metal bars. You are a well-trained royal guard with a spear long enough to stab me from anywhere in this cage. I just want something small for breakfast."

The royal guard paused for thought, "Well... you still have your horn. How do I know you aren't going to just take my weapon away from me?"

I just stared at him for a second, trying to think of what to say next. "You know, not all changelings are savage barbaric beasts. Some of us actually try to be peaceful, despite what you know about us. If it makes you feel any better, you could just throw the food through the door. I can pick it up without you being in the room. That is, if you even have food in the first place. How about you think of in a way that makes sense? Would you rather give a changeling regular food knowing that it will not need to feed later, or would you rather let the changeling starve and start relying on instinct?"

The royal guard stopped in thought for a little while. After a few seconds, I was able to see that the guard had pressed a different button. I could not tell who we was talking to nor what he was saying. The guard then suddenly got up and walked out of view. A few seconds later I heard the door separating the watch room from my cell room open. The guard, weapon in hoof, walked carefully up to my cell. Turns out that he did have extra food in his watching room.

The royal guard looked down at me as I was laying on the mattress. He then rolled an apple through the bars and stared at me. "Here, they had an entire bag of these in the break room. I would recommend rinsing it off before you eat it though." After the guard said this, he turned his back to me, walking away slowly towards the door. It had almost seemed as though he was trying to test me. I was not going to let him get the result he wanted though. I levitated the apple towards me. My magic was this bright neon green color. This was the reason I did not use my magic around ponies. Me being an all blue pony using changeling green magic would have instantly blown my cover. I was able to use it here as I was already figured out anyways. I did not lie about being used to using my hooves for everything as I never used my magic around ponies. It would seem that at this point it did not matter so I was going to start using my magic more. You see, even though a changeling can change forms, they cannot change the color of their magic.

The royal guard took note of my behavior as he made his way back through the door into the watching room. I had gotten up and rinsed the apple off in the sink. The apple was slightly dirty, almost as if it was in a bag that had been dropped in dirt. I sat back down on the bed and enjoyed the breakfast. I could tell that the royal guard seemed interested in watching a changeling eat like a normal civilized pony.

The apple was enough to suffice me as I was already used to eating small meals. After eating, I had noticed that the attention of the guard had been pulled to something else. I could not tell what they were looking at, but it seemed important.

A few minutes after I ate apple, I decided that the best way to pass the time was to try to take a nap. It was the only thing for me to do while I was awaiting orders. Taking a nap was actually fairly easy for me as I liked the cold. Something about the cold just made going back to sleep easier for me.

I was not sure how long the nap had lasted but I was woken up by the intercom system. The system had let out a loud ringing sound which was effective in waking ponies up. It made me shoot up quickly as I was trying to figure out what had happened. After a few seconds, the ringing had come to a stop. Another voice rang out via the intercom system. "Wake up bug, the princess wants to see you now."

I stood up after hearing a noise come from behind the door. Twilight Sparkle had made her way through the door and stopped in front of my cell. She looked at me for a bit before she levitated some keys towards the cell door. "Listen up changeling, you are to do what I tell you when I tell you to do it."

I nodded in agreement and stayed away from the door as she opened it. I stood still until she gave me the next order. She grinned at me, "Good, the changeling can listen. We do not want a repeat of what the last changeling did, now do we?"

Twilight studied me for a second, taking note that I was resourceful enough to use a corner of the bed sheet as a bandage for my ear. "Ok, we are going to put the blindfold back on you. You are going to let my guards do this while you stand still."

I did as she wanted and stood still. The guard wrapped the blindfold around me and then started pushing me along. I simply walked where they were guiding me. I did not show any signs of aggression or disobedience as I was being ushered through the castle.

After a long walk, we made our way into a large room. One of the guards removed the blindfold and walked off. For whatever reason, all of the guards were told to leave. This left me and Twilight alone in this large room. Twilight looked back at me and let out a small smile. I could not tell if this was a good sign or not. "Ok Blue, if that is your real name, here is what is going to happen. We are going to go through this door, and you are going to stand in the middle. I have already told my friends about what is about to happen. We are going to ask you questions and determine your fate." After she finished talking, she led me into this large open room. It was another room in her castle that I had not yet been in. It was a circular room that had only one entrance. "You are not going to say anything until you are spoken to."

I did what she told me to and stood in the middle of the room. I knew what was about to happen, and I knew I had to tell my story. A few moments of silence passed by before I was able to hear a commotion from outside. Twilight walked into the room followed by her counsel. Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Apple Jack, and two others that I have not met before. I could tell from looking at them that these two were named Rainbow Dash and Rarity. I knew this because this group of friends was wildly spoken about anywhere you go in Equestria. They are this country's hero group after all. Rainbow Dash clearly being the pegasus with blue fur, a rainbow mane, and magenta eyes. Rarity being the unicorn with white fur, a beautiful purple mane, and blue eyes.

They all circled around me, giving strange glances. The room was filled with a mix of emotions as Twilight had not told them who I was. The fact that I was an all blue changeling seemed to give them a bit of shock as they had never seen a changeling that was not black. I was able to tell that they did not yet know who I was. Once they had circled around me, Twilight walked up to me. "Ok, I left out a few things when telling them about a changeling being judged as I feel as though there is something unique about you. Something that tells me that you might be the secret weapon we need to fight the hive. Now, tell them all who you really are."

I looked around the room, knowing that when I told them my name that all hell was about to break loose. I looked at Pinkie Pie with a straight face. "I know that out of everyone in this room, that you would be the one to know who I was. You were right Pinkie, I was a changeling this entire time." I paused to look around the room to everypony else. "I am Blue Shadow, Blue for short."

Pinkie Pie turned to Apple Jack, "See? I bucking knew it! You did not want to believe me and my Pinkie Sense and now you owe me ten barrels of your hardest cider."

Rainbow Dash turned to hear this, "You're just going to give her all that cider? She always gets the cider."

Apple Jack looked very surprised, "Ain't no way I was wrong about this. Blue bein' a changeling seems very unlikely. He's too nice and caring. Though, this would explain his tree kicking earlier. Blue here almost out bucked Big Mac. A bet is a bet though, I'll be droppin' the barrels off later this week."

Pinkie Pie then looked to Twilight with a more serious look. "So, why is he not dead yet?"

Twilight looked at the group as they were all wondering the same thing. "Well girls, from those of this group that knew him, I have noticed you all saying the same thing. Blue here does not seem like a changeling at all. Even when we are looking at him, he just doesn't seem like a changeling. I interrogated him hoping to get some answers from him. Blue here didn't even need to be interrogated as he just gave us everything we wanted from him. We asked him a series of questions about who he was and what he was here for. This is what made me curious as when I had asked why he was here, the story he told all of us before we found him out did not change at all. This changeling really did live in Manehattan as a pianist for the past few years. He really did move to Ponyville to start a new life. This changeling really did not participate in the Canterlot Wedding Fiasco. I know this all seems like a lot of information to all of you, especially to Rainbow Dash and Rarity as you have not yet met him, but he is here today to be judged as I feel as though we have come across the first reformed changeling. Nothing he does gives off any sign of him having any bad intent on anyone. Now you girls can take turns asking him any question you want until we get enough information to determine his fate."

Pinkie Pie spoke first, "Ok changeling, I know for a fact that in order to get into Ponyville via the train, which I know you did because I was there to greet you after you came across the bridge into town, that you need an E.I.C. How did you manage to get your hooves on one?"

I looked back to Pinkie, "If you remember, these cards were given to ponies only a year or so ago. I, having lived in Manehattan for a long time at this point, was given one the same way everyone else was given one. I went in to the Manehattan City Hall and was processed for a card. I went in, filled in the paper work, answered the questionnaire, gave them my work order proving that I was a working citizen, got the picture taken, and was given the card just like everypony else."

Apple Jack then spoke up, "Ok, so you really are a musician? Why would a changeling want to play music for ponies?"

I thought for a moment before answering, "Well... I have always loved the creativity that music lets you express. I have always been different from the average changeling. I do not quite know why, but I do feel as though it may have something to do with me not being a full changeling. I might be wrong, but I have always felt as though I was less of a changeling and more of a hybrid between changeling and pony. If you want to know more about how well I can play the piano, ask Octavia or Vinyl Scratch. I played for them while at their house after meeting Octavia in the tea shop. She heard about me being a musician via ponies around town and she wanted to hear what I could do."

Fluttershy spoke next, "Ok, so be honest with me. During our first conversation, I asked you if you knew about a green flash. I knew what that flash was. Was the first flash really the other changeling?"

I looked down with a sigh of defeat, "No, that first flash was me not being careful. It just so happened that there was another changeling the next night. I used that changeling as a deterrent to make you think both flashes were from them. I had to lie at that time because I did not want anyone to find out what I was. I was going to tell everyone later after I had gained enough trust from the towns folk. I hate lying as I was always taught that telling the truth the first time is an easier blow than getting caught in a lie. When you are a changeling though, just telling ponies what you are is a death wish. I did my best to tell any truths that I could though. I never lied about my past, I just did not add the fact that I was from the hive before moving to Manehattan. I did not lie about when I said I moved here to live a better life. I did not lie about saying I want to make friends. You all should be the first ponies in town to know that friendship is a powerful thing."

Rarity spoke up next, "Ok, while I have never met this changeling before, I feel as though I must ask. Are you blue on purpose, because I feel as though it clashes with your original design."

I looked at her, slightly taken aback by her question. "No, if you must know, I am not blue by choice. This is a birth defect that I was born with which haunted my childhood. It did not make living in the hive easy as I stuck out anywhere I was. I was always bullied for being a ‘defective bug’ as they liked to call me. I did eventually learn to love myself for who I was. My pony form being blue is by choice though as I have finally learned to accept me for me. My name being Blue is also by choice. You see, Blue is not my real name, but rather the name I was given in the hive. My real name is Chakor Mingan. Chakor for short as the name can be hard to pronounce. Though, I feel Blue sticks easier."

Rainbow Dash was next to speak, "So what? You expect us to feel bad about you growing up being bullied by your entire family? That is such a sob story. A sob story that works though. I would never be the first to admit this, but I actually kind of feel bad."

Everyone in the room turned to look at Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy spoke out in response, "Really? You feeling bad for a changeling? What did you do with the real Rainbow Dash?" After Fluttershy had said this, they all gave out a small spurt of laughter.

Rainbow Dash looked to Fluttershy, "Like I said, I would never be the first one to say that. The only reason I am saying this is because, even though he is a changeling, I know that changelings are very evil creatures by nature. Now, I can see that he is not evil like a normal changeling, meaning that I can see how him being bullied for being a different color could be traumatizing. The only thing that would make his past any more sympathetic would be if he said something along the lines of being homeless in Manehattan."

I looked up to her with a serious look on my face, "Rainbow Dash, I WAS homeless in Manehattan."

I could tell that she did not expect me to actually say yes to this as she had backed up a bit and just stared at me.

I looked around the room to see that this actually managed to make the others think as well. They all gave off an emotion of bewilderment. Pinkie Pie spoke up again breaking the silence, "Ok then Blue, how do we know that you are not lying to us as we speak?"

Twilight spoke out before I could answer, "I know he is not lying because I cast a spell on this room that prevents anyone from lying. This also explains why Rainbow Dash spoke out the way she did."

Pinkie Pie stood there in thought before continuing, "So that means, no matter what question I ask him, he cannot lie." She turned back to me, "Ok Blue, did you know that the hive was going to attack during the wedding?"

I looked up at her, shaking my head side to side. "No, I did not know that Chrysalis had planned to do that. Like I said before, I was living in Manehattan while all of this was going on. I had left the hive after being out-casted from being too different. Once a changeling gets kicked from the hive, they are left to fend to themselves and are no longer told about anything the hive plans to do."

Apple Jack then spoke up, "Ok, sense I now know that we are under a spell forcin' you to only tell the truth I have another question for ya'. Did you have anythin' to do with the wood beams fallin' on top of Big Mac?"

I once again shook my head, "No, that was a complete freak accident that I had nothing to do with. I hate hurting other creatures."

Pinkie Pie asked another question, "Wait a second. If you hate hurting other creatures, then why did you go on with the execution?"

I froze in thought for a solid while, "Well, I went through with it because I knew that if I was to fight alongside pony kind that I would have to go against the hive. I wanted to try to create peace between the hive and pony kind, but I am also willing to accept the fact that the hive will never listen to a traitor. I know that somewhere out there are changelings willing to reform, though I do not think they know that they can. We have accepted the fact that ponies will always hate us because of our past. That and the fact that our mother is a bit of a dictator. I know that there are changelings willing to change for the better, such as myself. War is a dark place though, riddled with death and emotion. I killed that changeling because I did what I had to do in order to show that I was willing to fight for the ponies. Who knows, maybe other changelings out there are also willing to fight the hive and join the ponies in peace. I know that most of the hive would never think this way though, but I am willing to look for changelings that want a better life. I know that peace between races is not usually done peacefully. If I had to kill a changeling in order to bring peace between races, then that is what I will do. I know this sounds contradictory, but war is like that."

Twilight then approached me, "So, you are telling us that you think there could be other reformed changelings out there? Do you know this for a fact, or are you just assuming that there would be more changeling like you?"

I looked up at her, "I know this because I have seen it. I am not the only changeling to have been kicked out of the hive for thinking that peace between pony kind would be a good thing. I know there are other changelings who want to change for the better because I have seen them myself. They are not quite as civilized as me, but they are trying. I do not know any of them personally, nor who they are disguised as, but I know there are more than enough changelings out there who want to reform. I know for a fact that the changeling I killed was not one of those changelings. You might not have realized this, but the changeling we decapitated was a changeling general. You do not become a general by thinking nicely of the pony kind."

They all looked at each other after being given this information. Twilight then looked back and continued, "I guess this is just a lot for us to take in. We just thought that all changelings were mindless bugs that only did what was best for the hive. We did not think they were individual thinking creatures filled with their own life and personality. There is still a lot we do not know about the changelings and are willing to learn. So, are you willing to help us learn?"

I nodded in agreement before responding, "Yes, I am willing to help you understand changelings and the way the hive works. I am willing to either help you find the other reformed changelings, or just help you defend against the hive. I can teach you how to best defend against the changelings and how to spot one in disguise."

Twilight looked around at the others. "Ok girls, I think it is time to decide. Let us go and discuss this in the hall while he sits here and waits."

They all agreed and headed out. I was alone in the room waiting for something to happen. This final judgement lasted for what seemed like forever. I was sitting there thinking of what could possibly happen next.

After a very long time of sitting in this room, the door had once again opened to the group of ponies coming back inside to tell me the results. Twilight has stepped forward and spoke with a soft yet serious voice. "Ok, we have all decided that we are willing to let you continue living in Ponyville under the condition that you are willing to help us win this war. We are also going to take you to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to see what they have to say about you. You will be working for me in the castle as to also to give me more time to study you. You will stay hiding in pony form while you are living here until we can figure out how to tell the town of what you are without causing mass chaos. Keep in mind that none of this is going to happen until after I take you to the Princesses."

After looking around the room, I could see that this was a hard decision for the group as they still did not entirely like or trust me. My fate has left me alive for another short while. Now I just have to hope Celestia thinks the same way Twilight does.

Shortly after being told this, the other ponies in the group left just myself and Twilight alone in the room. "Ok, Blue, we are going on a train ride to Canterlot. I still have your saddlebag and am willing to give it back to you on the condition that you do as I say when I say it."

We next made our way out of this room and into the map room. There, I was given back my saddlebag. I then, after being told to, stayed in that room under the supervision of a royal guard who was standing by the door. Twilight had gone up to grab some things for the ride.

After about thirty minutes or so, Twilight made her way back down to the map room. Fluttershy had followed close behind her with that looked like a medical kit. Twilight approached me, "Ok, I can see that you are still badly injured. I have Fluttershy here who is going to take a look at your wounds and see if she can figure out how to help you."

Fluttershy then walked up to me and started to unwrap my ear. She could tell that this was the most injured part of my body. When Fluttershy fully unwrapped the makeshift bandage, she winced back a tiny bit. "Oh... my... She nearly cut your entire ear off. Luckily it does not look like your wound has been infected. Though, I have never worked on a changeling before and have no idea what an infected changeling wound would even look like. Does it still hurt?" She said this as she had started cleaning out the cut.

I looked carefully up at her, making sure to not move my head as she was holding my ear. "It does not hurt as bad, but it still does not feel very good. I can tell that the wound has closed up on itself."

Fluttershy let out a small sigh. "I think I am going to have to give you stitches. I need to clean out all of your wounds and patch them up. This is going to hurt a little bit, so I brought some anesthetics. This will make it so that you do not feel what I am about to do." After having said that, she took out a small case from her medical bag. When she opened it up, I could see that it had some needles in it. She took out one of the needles and gave me shots of anesthetics around each of my wounds and let them sit for a few minutes.

This helped the pain go away almost instantly as I was finally able to feel relief. Fluttershy placed down a few towels for me to lay on so that she can start working on stitching me up. I had simply closed my eyes and let her get to work. I could no longer feel what she was doing and simply laid flat on the floor moving as little as possible.

This medical procedure ended up taking just under an hour as she clearly knew what she was doing. Her medical bag was quite nifty as she was able to knock this procedure out without having to leave to get any extra tools. Once she had finished, she gave me a few pills. The fact that this medicine was working on me told me that I might have been right about being a half-ling. Either that or this medicine would also just so happen to work on changelings. Our blood was similar enough in the fact that it transports medicine throughout the body. I laid there for a few minutes after being given stitches as I was now very relaxed.

This only lasted a little bit before I had to walk around and show that the stitches were securely in place. Fluttershy had done a very nice job stitching everything up. Fluttershy looked at me with a slight smile, "Ok, now I just need you to turn back into a pony so I can see if the stitches stay in place. I do not know if this is how it works, but this is also for research to see if your magic is smart enough to keep the stitches."

I figured that this was actually a good question. Would the stitches stay? There was only one way to find out. The room filled with a green flash as I transformed back into my pony form. To everyone's surprise, the stitches did end up staying in place. Though, I noticed I was still missing half an ear. The stitches were now hidden under my blue pony fur. There is still a lot that not even I know about changeling magic, but this was a fantastic discovery.

Fluttershy then gave me a few bottles of pills that I placed into my saddlebag. "Thank you Fluttershy, I feel much better now."

Fluttershy smiled as she had started to clean up the mess of slightly blood soaked towels. As she did this, Twilight walked around me because she was curious to learn about changeling magic. "Ok, now we are ready to board the train and take you to see Celestia and Luna. Please follow me."

I followed close behind as she ended up leading me outside. I could tell that the ponies of this town had not yet been told about what I was. Though, I could tell they were taking note of my right ear. I ignored it and followed Twilight to the train station. This walk was easier now that I had just been given pain medicine. Luckily her Castle was not that long of a walk from the station.

The station was just as empty as I remembered it being. The royal guards saluting Twilight and letting both of us enter the train without having to purchase a ticket or go through a security check. There was something different about the train this time. It would seem as though, to prepare for war, the conductor's cabin was encased in a protected metal case. The only way in and out was through a metal door that required a pass code. The rest of the train was still the old body meaning there was little to no protection.

After Twilight had a quick conversation with the guards and conductor, we took our seats in one of the many empty cabins. This train ride was going to take about two hours, so Twilight had plenty of time to think about how to tell the princesses.

The train slowly started its long journey. Perks of being guided by a princess is that the guards just do what the princess tells them to. I sat down at a window set across from Twilight. Staring outside the window, all I could do was watch as the landscape unfolded before me. The distant city of Canterlot inching ever closer and closer.

Twilight turned to get my attention, "Ok, so as you could probably guess, Celestia and Luna are most likely not going to like the fact that you are a changeling. I think it would be best if you just let me do all the talking. I do not want to give them any reason to have you killed before I have time to explain that you are actually on our side. Keep in mind that this still does not mean that I trust you. You are still on very thin ice as of right now."

I sat there, simply listening to what she had to say. After a little while I noticed something. "Wait, if you do not trust me, then why do you not also have a royal guard with you? You know, in case I try something? Not saying that I would, but I figured it would be some sort of protocol."

Twilight looked at me with a serious face. "Look, I am going to be honest with you. You do not seem like anyone who could hurt a fly, let alone a magic bearing princess."

"Ouch, that hurts." I said, slightly taken back from that comment. "I can do a lot of damage, I just don't like to. Though, saying that probably does not help my case, does it?"

Twilight let out a small laugh, "No, not in the slightest. Plus, you are only one changeling, if things did get out of hoof, I am more than capable at taking care of it."

I looked back out the window, not really sure what to do or say at this point. "I know it will probably take a lot for you to fully trust me, but I will not stop until I can figure this out." As I was looking out the window, I could tell that this was going to be a long ride.

Most of that train ride was filled with silence as Twilight was thinking to herself of how to properly tell Celestia that I was a changeling, but that I was here to help. The ride was smooth, and the medicine was calming. I figured that I would try to use this time to enjoy something to eat from my saddlebag. I opened the bag up and took out an orange. I looked up to Twilight and asked, "Do you want an orange? You know, to help clear your mind a little bit."

Twilight stopped talking to herself and looked back at me surprised. "Oh, sure. I could go for a snack."

I levitated an orange up to her, my green magic surrounding it. Twilight looked back up after grabbing the orange. "I see why you never used your magic around ponies. An all blue pony using this neon green magic is a sure fire way of being found out. You need to be careful around ponies with your magic. Though, you already seem to know this." With that, we both took a few minutes to stop and enjoy a snack.

The train ride from that part on was mostly silent. I looked out the window and continued to watch the scenery pass us by. Eventually we made our way into the tunnel system that connects up into Canterlot. Something strange happened though as we could feel the train come to a sudden halt.

Twilight and I both looked at each other. The outside of the train was filled with darkness as the only light source we had was the cabin light and the light coming from the front of the train. At this point, we were in the middle of the tunnel system. Twilight and I were very confused as we were trying to look out the window to see what had stopped the train. We could see that the front of the train had been blocked by a few logs of wood that were part of the tunnel support system which had fallen onto the tracks.

The silence of the situation had been broken with the sound of distant buzzing echoing throughout the tunnel. I knew exactly what that sound was, and I also knew that Twilight was experienced enough to know as well. Twilight looked to me with slight irritation. "Did you call these guys? Was this somehow part of your plan all along?"

I looked up to her with worry in my eyes. "How could I have possibly known that this was going to happen? I didn't even know that I was going to make it out of your castle alive."

Twilight gave me a look of annoyance but with a hint of slight understanding. "Right, that wouldn't make any sense." As she said this, a loud thud could be heard from on top of the train. We could see through the doorways that the conductor's booth was being attacked by changelings. Though, after a few seconds, the changelings realized they could not get to the conductor so they would just get anyone else on the train instead.

Twilight and I looked at the doors. The buzzing outside had come to a stop, and we were left in silence for a few long seconds. This silence was then suddenly interrupted by the door being forced open as a group of changelings had made their way into our cabin.

One of the changelings wearing what looked like a changeling guard uniform had walked forward of the group. "Well, well, well, what have we here? A princess AND a traitor. Piss pour disguise by the way Chakor. We know what you did, and we do not like it. You want to fight for these ponies, then you are going to die like a pony!" As he said this, he lunged forward to attack us. This all happened very quickly, but I was ready. Despite the pain, I made my way into my saddlebag and took out my large dagger. I was now running on protection mode and lots of adrenaline.

I got in front of Twilight as I was in protection mode and knew that this group of changelings were not the type to ever reform. They were here for one reason and one reason alone, to kill anyone on this train. As the lead guard changeling leaped forward to attack, I set up a magic shield bubble around myself and the princess. As the changeling guard landed face first on this surprise bubble, I threw him off by not letting him see me teleport the dagger. I did the first thing that I could think of and simply teleported the dagger inside his stomach. As I did this, I took the bubble shield and expanded it so that the rest of the changelings were pressed up against the walls.

I then levitated the dagger towards the roof while it was still inside the changeling guard. This caused the guard to get levitated up and as I pointed the knife towards the sky it passed right through him due to him now having his entire body weight on the tip of the dagger. His body fell towards the floor, the dagger ripping through his body to stay in place.

Twilight apparently wanted in on the action as she then jumped out from behind me and grabbed one of the changeling with her magic, forcing his body through my magic shield. This ended up crushing the changeling as it was being forced into two different directions by two different magic beings. I then dropped the shield and let them lunge back towards us. This was a small sense of false hope for them, as I then cast a spell of ice.

I cast the spell directly at the first changeling who tried to leap towards me. This spell caused the changelings lungs to be filled with frozen air, eventually stopping his breathing and weighing him down as his chest was now filled with very heavy ice. The changeling looked up and let out the best hiss he could as I dug my dagger straight through his throat. I then lifted up and let his body weight and the weight of the ice inside of him force his head to be separated from his body. I then threw his now severed head at one of the fellow changelings. That changeling dropped the head of his brother and was smart enough to fly away from the scene.

From behind me, I was caught off guard as it turned out that during this chaos one of the changeling guards had managed their way through Twilight's spells and embedded a blade into the side of her chest. This sent me into over protection mode as I then ran to grab that changeling. Though, as I was making my way grab this changeling, I had been caught off guard by another changeling who teleported their way behind me. They had blasted me towards the window. The window was large enough to where I had managed to fall through the glass and outside the train onto the rocks below.

I had fallen very hard on to rocks and shattered glass. The changeling managed to get the high ground in this situation. As they jumped out the window to land on top of me, I had managed to roll out of the way in time to blast them away with a different spell. The blast was powerful enough to knock the changeling very hard against the tunnel walls. The force of the impact had killed him instantly. I could hear a lot of hissing and screaming coming from inside the train and knew I had to make my way back inside. As I went to gallop back toward the door of the train, I was pulled back from another changeling behind me. I simply let them pull me back. As they were pulling hard with their magic, I used my magic to start pulling them closer to me. This caused us to clash at high speed as I was aiming to kick them in the face. The speed from us pulling each other combined with a successful landing of my right hind leg to their horn was enough to cause their horn to pierce into their skull, killing them instantly.

I made my way back into the train to see that Twilight, despite now bleeding from the knife that was still implanted into her side, was handling the situation quite well. I could see as Twilight was holding a changeling, that she had twisted the changeling neck all the way around. As she threw the now dead changeling at a different changeling, I had gone behind another changeling and put them into a rear naked choke hold. I held onto them as tight and as long as possible until I could feel the changeling go limp as they had taken their last breath.

I had next gotten up and helped Twilight finish off another changeling that was trying to attack her from behind. The changeling had managed to grab hold of Twilight neck via his magic and was trying to squeeze the life out of her. That was enough for me to take my dagger and throw it at their face full speed. This was enough to cause my dagger to not only go straight through them, but it had also been enough force to embed the dagger into the eyeball of another changeling standing behind them. I took the dagger out of the skull of the changeling, his eyeball coming out with it. I turned around and shoved the dagger down the throat of another changeling that had suck up from behind, eyeball and all. As I took out the dagger, I could see that the changeling was suffocating as it was now choking on the eyeball of his brother.

After this chaos, I looked back up to see if there were any more changelings to fight. It had appeared as though Twilight and I had managed to take out a small group of changelings by ourselves. I ran up to Twilight just in time to catch her as she fell from not being able to take the pain from the knife embedded into her side anymore.

I quickly looked around to see the carnage and to see if there were any more changelings left alive. After a quick and thorough look, I could see that all the changelings inside and outside of the train were dead. Any surviving changelings had already fled the scene to tell the hive about what had happened.

I did the next thing that I could think to do and ran outside to the conductor's cabin. I knocked on the door and he looked out to see me covered in changeling blood. He had been watching the entire fight while locked inside the cabin. After assuring him that the changelings had been taken care of and telling him that the princess had been stabbed, the conductor got out of the cabin. We both ran up to Twilight to make sure she was ok. The conductor gave a look of horror as he had seen all the dead changeling thrown about the cabin. The conductor luckily always had a first aid kit that he stored in his cabin. This was luckily because in order to prepare for war, all train conductors had to also have medical training in cases such as this. Though, usually it wouldn't be to this extent.

Luckily it would seem as though the knife that the changeling used was a small knife that was carved out of a strong stone material and did not do any real damage. The conductor managed to safely remove the small knife and wrap up the wound. He then looked around the cabin at the bodies and looked back at us. "I need to make my way back up to my cabin and call for the guards. I need to let them know that we have been ambushed by changelings and that Princess Twilight had been injured." After having ensured that Twilight was patched up, the conductor ran back to his cabin and called via an emergency radio broadcast system.

I ran to find my saddlebag that had been kicked underneath one of the seats and opened one of the pain medicine bottles, levitating the pills and my canteen of water towards her. She took it and sat up, holding her side as she then gave me the canteen back. She then also looked around at the results of the fiasco and looked back at me. "Well, I suppose I was wrong. You are scarily good at holding your own in a flight. Are you ok?"

I looked around my body to see if any of my stitches had popped open. Luckily it would seem as though Fluttershy was really good at stitching someone in a way that prevented the stitches from coming out before it was time. "I do not seem to be bleeding, but I did manage to take some damage. My wounds may not be opened, but they are throbbing. That and my back is now on fire as I was thrown very hard out of a window and onto rocks and glass. I'm shocked that none of the glass I landed on managed to give me any more cuts."

Twilight then gave a look of calmness before she attempted to take a deep breath. While she was attempting to take a breath, she suddenly winced at the pain from her side and throat. When that last changeling had tried to choke her out, it had managed to leave her with a very sore throat. She looked back up to me after coughing a tiny bit. "Heh, well I suppose if that does not show that I can trust you, then I do not know what would."

Twilight was able to get back up onto a cushioned seat and was able to relax. I got back up on the seat across from her wincing at the new pain that was sending shockwaves throughout my body. The pain medicine only did so much, and I knew that I needed something stronger. I did not care at this point though as my mission was now to ensure Twilight was ok.

A little while had passed before we could hear the trampling of hooves. I looked out the window to see a very large group of Celestial Royal Guards heading our way. Along side those guards was Celestia herself. Celestia was first one to make it into the cabin as she heard that Twilight was injured. Upon entering the still very bloody and carcass filled cabin she stood there in a moment of disbelief and wonder. She gazed upon the scenery and after standing in awe she came inside and walked up to the both of us. She did not at the time care about me as Twilight was her main focus.

"Twilight, are you ok? I heard the train was ambushed but I did not think it was that bad." Celestia stated, while taking a close look at Twilight to ensure she had been properly taken care of.

Twilight looked back up after slightly wincing in pain, "I'm fine, my friend here helped protect me and make sure I was not injured any more than I already was."

As she said this, Celestia had turned to me and had given me a look of curiosity. "Who might you be?"

I looked up to Celestia who was towering over us. I had not met her in real life before, but I did not think ponies meant it literally when they had said that Celestia was a modern day giant. "My name is Blue, I am a new friend of Twilight." I said this, clearly intimidated by her.

Celestia continued looking at me for a second before looking back to Twilight. "Ok Twilight, I want you to explain exactly what happened here, and who your friend is."

Twilight looked up to Celestia, "Well, we were on our way to see you because of something I will get to later. The train ride was smooth until we had come across a section of these tunnels that had fallen and blocked our path. Turns out that this was an ambush as next thing we know this room was filled with changelings trying to kill us. Blue here got in front of me and placed up a shield for protection. After that, everything was quite blurry and too quick to keep track of. Almost all of these dead bodies were from his hooves. Blue here is a friend of mine who is seemingly very good at protecting ponies from hoards of changelings. I tried my best to simply survive being attacked by multiple changeling all at once but was overpowered. Blue could not stop me from being stabbed as I remember that he had been thrown through the window at this point. Like I said, most of the fighting was a blur as we were relying on survival and adrenaline. The only thing that matters is that Blue here did his best and saved my life."

It was at that point that a royal guard had taken note that each cabin had security cameras in place. "Ma'am, we can watch the security footage later." Celestia looked up at the camera.

Celestia then looked back at the both of us. "We can get to that later, but right now we need to get you two into the castle medical bay and clean all that blood from the both of you. We will send a cleanup crew to fix this mess and take care of the blockage. We will then talk about that 'something you want to get to later' Twilight."

The room filled with a large bright light as Twilight, Celestia, and I are magically teleported inside the Canterlot Castle. Twilight looked around to see where we were at. After taking note that Celestia had teleported us into an empty room in the castle and that there were no guards in the room, Twilight used this time to speak out. "Celestia, before we start walking to the medical bay, I feel now is as good of a time to tell you why we are here in the first place as any. This might come as a bit of a shock to you, but you are going to find out eventually anyways. I figure that I should tell you now before you find out by watching the train security footage. Now, keep in mind that he protected me and made sure I made it off of that train alive."

Celestia stopped mid stride and looked down to Twilight. "Ok, you have my interest. What about this pony is so special that you needed to bring him all the way to me instead of simply writing a letter to me?"

I knew what Twilight was about to say, so I preemptively backed away a few steps. Twilight hung her head low as she spoke to Celestia. "That's the thing. This pony is special in the fact that he is not a pony at all. This pony is a changeling, but please understand that-"

Celestia had cut her off mid-sentence. "You mean to tell me that you brought were going to bring a changeling, knowing he's a changeling, into the Canterlot Castle? Why in Equestria would you possibly think that this was a good idea? On top of this, why did you think it was a bright idea to be on a train with him without any royal guard guiding you? You of all ponies should know better Twilight!"

Twilight winced back at this, "But Celestia, he's not like the others. I brought him here because I found that he is willing to help us win this upcoming war. Seeing that the train was ambushed, the war might be coming sooner than we had anticipated. I know this goes against everything we stand for, but this changeling might be the first reformed changeling we have ever come across. I was alone with him on that train because I did not think he could hurt a fly. I did not know that he was a highly trained changeling. I swear though, he is on our side. We ran many tests to see what makes him so unique and trust worthy. You know that my tests are never half-baked."

Celestia had been glaring into my soul as she was listening to Twilight speak. I was so terrified because I knew I was essentially being stared down at by a goddess. "Even if this changeling was reformed, how do you know his intentions?"

Twilight was silent for a moment before answering, "Part of the tests were ran under a concentrated truth telling spell. I knew that showing him to you was dangerous, but I wouldn't have done it had I not been absolutely sure that he was not here as part of the hive. He is actually an outcast who does not have any bad intentions towards anyone. My friends and I all got together and tested him ourselves. Do you really think that I would bring a changeling to this castle if I was not entirely certain that he could help us? Think about it, what better weapon do we have than a changeling on our side who knows the hive in and out?"

Celestia stood silent, her mind filled with thought and emotion. After a long while, I could tell her gaze had finally become more relaxed. "Ok Twilight, I suppose what you are saying does make sense. Though, I will be the judge of his intentions. Tomorrow, all three of us are going to a private location where I will run tests on him myself. As of right now, we need to get rid of all this blood on you and make sure you are cleaned up.

The walk to the medical bay had been filled with the strong sound of silence. Once we had finally arrived at the medical bay we were placed on these beds and cleaned up. Celestia did keep the fact that I was a changeling away from the medical practitioners as they had gotten to work cleaning the changeling blood from us and checking for more wounds. After what seemed like a very long time, we had finally been completely cleaned and disinfected.

Celestia then guided Twilight and me to what appeared to be some sort of guest room inside the main castle. "Ok, you two will be sleeping here for the night. There will be a guard standing outside the doors who will be more than ready to leap into action if something happens throughout the night. I will deal with your ‘friend’ in the morning, but for now you will find some food and water on the table in the middle of the room."

Celestia glared deep into my eyes, "You should consider yourself lucky that I am willing to let you sleep in a bed. Consider this your first test. If anything bad happens to Twilight, then you can consider yourself dead." As she said this, she closed the door behind us, leaving myself and Twilight in this guest room. The room was quite large and held multiple beds. Twilight walked up to me after a few minutes of silence passed. "Don't worry about her, she's just doing her job in ensuring the safety of her citizens. She is normally a very loving and caring leader. She is just like everyone else in the sense that she needs to be careful around changelings. She has never been quite the same after the day she found out that nearly one hundred ponies were killed during the Canterlot Wedding Fiasco, knowing that she was powerless to stop it from happening.”

I sighed and looked back up at Twilight, "I understand completely. I would do my best to protect my citizens if I was in her place as well. I know my kind is known to be evil and mindless. It is going to take time, but I know that eventually she will see that I mean no harm to the pony kind."

Twilight then thought for a second before continuing, "Speaking of which, how are you so good at fighting?"

I looked at her with a serious face and answered as straight forward as possible, "If you must know, the hive works in a strange system. You see, any changeling born with a birth defect or mental illness is thrown to the front line to act as a shield for the normal class of changelings. I, being seen as defective, was thrown into that platoon. They do not leave us completely fending for ourselves though as we are usually very well trained. This is so the normal changelings have to fight less and are given a greater chance at survival. I was not just in that platoon, but I was actually the lead fighter. Or, at least I was trained to be. I could never get myself to kill a pony before. That is actually the reason why I was kicked out. The fact that they had wasted years of specialized training on someone, for them to turn around and refuse to kill ponies as ordered, did not sit well at all with Chrysalis. That's when I was sent on my own and found myself moving to Manehattan. I do not normally fight, but when I do my brain goes into a survival mode and I attack mostly without thinking about it. My mind is always clear enough to remember who is and is not an enemy, so I never have to worry about attacking friendlies. Though, being honest, that changeling you had me kill with that guillotine was actually my very first kill. I did not want to kill those changelings on that train, but I had no choice as I saw that you were in danger. The moment I saw who we were fighting against, I knew that it was only going to end one way. You see that group of changelings we fought on that train were part of an infiltration and attack group. Changelings are only allowed in his group after showing that they are strong enough to attack ponies in large groups. It just so happens that the shield group of changelings that I was a part of are trained better. Again, this is because our entire job was to fight until we die. You do not make it into the infiltration and attack groups by showing any weakness or sign of straying from the hive. Those changeling would never reform so I knew the only way to survive was to kill."

Twilight sat there in stunned silence, not sure how to respond to this information. It was a solid few minutes before she had finally spoken up again, "Well, there is still a lot that we do not know about the changelings and how the hive functions. I think it would just be best for us to eat something and go to bed. This day has already been rough enough as is."

I nodded towards her in agreement as we then sat by the table enjoying the various fruits and vegetables laid out for us. This was well needed as my body had gone through more than enough trauma in the past few days. After eating a good amount, and taking more pain medicine, I made my way into one of the beds. Twilight had done the same thing as she had been drained of energy from the previous attack. Her powerful magic, combined with the injuries she had sustained, was more than enough to knock her out as soon as she had hit the pillow. I looked around the room one final time before I finally closed my eyes and let myself drift into a well-deserved sleep.