“Come on Orchid, try to keep up!”

“I’m almost there! Wait for me!”

“I’m going to go on ahead, I’ll meet you there!”

“Wait! I’m coming!”

“There you are! What took you so long?”

“You’re the one who ran off like a jerk.”

“Yeah, well, you were slow.”

“It’s not my fault. You’ve always been faster than me.”

“Hey Orchid?”

“Yeah?”

“I have something to tell you.”

“What is it? You know you can talk to me about anything.”

“I’m… going to be leaving for a while. I…”

Orchid springs upwards, abruptly awoken by somepony knocking loudly on her front door. She rubs her eyes, trying to reorient herself to reality. “That dream again…” Her head is lightly throbbing from the drinking last night, but its small enough to mostly ignore.

She reaches her hoof out towards the bedside table and feels around until she finds her glasses. She places them delicately onto her face, then tosses her covers off before sliding out of bed. She checks her clock, worried she might have overslept. “Why in Tartarus is somepony knocking at 4:45 in the morning?”

She sluggishly trots over to the front door as a third series of knocks echoes through her apartment. She looks through the peephole, and sees a light grey batpony. She has a worried expression on her face, and is rearing her hoof up for more knocking. Orchid slides the lock and opens the door for her neighbor.

As soon as she does, the thestral breathes a sigh of relief. “Praise Luna, you’re awake!” She grabs Orchid’s front leg and pulls her into the hallway.

Greatly confused by the situation, Orchid pulls her hoof back. “Moonlight Stream? What is going on?” Her neighbor’s serious face begins to raise concern. “Is something happening?”

Moonlight nods. “Yes, look!” She gestures towards the hallway window, and Orchid moves up to peek out of it. Down below on the street, there is a group of changeling soldiers marching into houses and apartments, occasionally dragging ponies out of them. There is an open-top changeling military car in the middle of the street, with a single soldier on top of it shouting into a megaphone, she didn’t really pay attention to the noise before, but now that she is listening, she can hear what they’re saying.

“Attention all ponies. Please leave your homes and come into the street immediately. This is a mandatory special inspection. Resistance will be met with force. If you are cleared, you may return to your homes. Attention all ponies…”

“Shit!” She backs away from the window, a jolt of anxiety shooting through her chest. “What are they doing here?! Do they know about that I talked with Marble about the rebellion last night? I knew we weren’t being quiet enough!”

She feels a hoof on her shoulder, and Orchid turns to see Moonlight, who looks just as panicked as she is, and points at the window. “I heard them shouting a few minutes ago, they were dragging ponies out from their homes, I decided to knock on your door to let you know, since I didn’t think you were up yet.” She breathes in again, having done that all in one go. “I’m sorry, I’m just really scared.”

Orchid stares down at the carpet. “I am too.” She musters up her courage and puts on a brave face. “But we’ll get through this together. Do you know what they are here for?”

Her effort seems to work, and Moonlight seems to collect herself too. “They said they wanted everypony out in the street for some sort of inspection I think. I haven’t heard any gunshots… but still, I think it would be best if we just obey and go down there.”

Orchid sighs, obeying changelings is the last thing she wants to do right now. “We don’t really have a choice here, so I guess that’s what we do then.”

Moonlight dips her head, and the two ponies walk down the stairs together. They hear talking from the first floor, and as they come around the corner, Orchid peeks down the hallway. There is a changeling soldier going around and knocking harshly on each door. Not wanting to be seen, the pair sneak past into the foyer.

Orchid looks to Moonlight, who returns her gaze with her slitted, yellow eyes. “I’m glad you were the one knocking on my door instead of that soldier. I don’t know what would’ve happened if it was.”

Moonlight gives her a warm, fanged smile. “You’re one of the only ponies here who actually talks to me; I’m not just gonna leave you to the Heer.”

She smiles back. “Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

Moonlight gives her a sweet nod, then moves forward to open the door. The two of them step out onto the street, and are immediately met with the cacophony of the situation. Ponies of all types stand on the sidewalk, many undressed or in their nightclothes, muttering to themselves about why they had to be pulled out here. Changeling soldiers move all about, checking the ponies one by one, as others break into homes to rip out the reluctant occupants. All the while, the one with the megaphone keeps repeating their message.

Orchid tries to get a handle of the situation to calm herself down, but in doing so notices that there is a group of ponies huddled behind the car, with a guard overseeing them. All the ponies have light green coats, and all seem very afraid. She taps Moonlight on the shoulder and gestures towards them. “What do you think is going on over there?”

The thestral stares at the scene for a moment, looking just as puzzled as she is. “I don’t know. Maybe they’re categorizing? I honestly have no idea.”

“Me neither.”

A changeling soldier marches in front of them from somewhere over to the left, nearly giving Orchid a heart attack. He looks them up and down for a brief moment, then motions with his hoof for them to leave. “You two clear. Go to you homes.” He says in broken Equestrian.

Deciding that pointing out his grammar would be anything but productive, she follows his instruction and walks back inside their apartment building, followed shortly after by Moonlight. “What in Equestria are they after? Did somepony do something they didn’t like? And what was with all the green ponies? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Safely inside now, the pair walk up to their floor, and nervously watch the changeling entourage from the window. Moonlight sits down, and starts typing in the air with her hoof. Orchid doesn’t comment on it at first, instead keeping an eye on the activity down below. The changelings seem to move through whatever they were doing quickly, and start moving further down the street with a growing band of light green ponies.

With the changelings finally having moved on, Orchid allows herself to breathe freely again. She turns to Moonlight, who is still typing things with her hoof. “Why are you doing that? Is something the matter?”

She pauses, and looks up to her. “No, not at all. I’m just trying to write out some ideas I had after what just happened. Maybe something would fit for the story I’m writing.”

“Oh yeah, you like writing, right?”

Moonlight looks down to her flank, at her Cutie Mark of a typewriter with a piece of paper sticking out of it. “It is my special talent after all. I’m mostly just sad that there isn’t really much money in writing. Especially after the bugs took over.”

“I understand. I had to stop doing the job for my special talent because of the war.” She thinks of her own Cutie Mark, a bouquet of flowers set in a vase. “A lot has changed recently.”

Nodding, Moonlight stands up. “Well, thank you for going down there with me. I probably would’ve freaked out a lot if you hadn’t.”

Orchid shakes her head. “No, thank you for waking me up! I’d take seeing you in the morning over a changeling soldier any day.”

Moonlight smiles in appreciation. “You’re very welcome! Now you should probably go rest before your work. I need to get to bed myself, I just got home about an hour ago.”

Confused, Orchid is about to ask how she handles working so late, but then she remembers. “I’ll be honest, I forgot that you’re nocturnal.”

“Don’t worry, that happens a lot. Anyways, I’ll see you later, okay?”

“See you later.”

The two go back to their homes, and Orchid quickly closes and locks the door behind her, contemplating never going outside ever again. “Sweet Celestia, what the fuck was all that?!” She sits down on her couch and holds her temples in her hooves, the fear she was holding back for Moonlight’s sake finally resurfacing. “I knew the changelings aren’t a fan of ponies minding their own business, but that was just ridiculous!”

She grabs a nearby throw pillow to hold in her hooves, and closes her eyes. “Why can’t I have just one normal day…” She sits there for a long while, squeezing the pillow tightly and thinking about everything from the changelings just now, to work, to Marble’s request. All of it makes her want to cry, but she knows that she can’t let herself. If she gives in, then they win, and she can’t let that happen.

In an attempt to recenter herself, she tries focusing on sensory things to distract from her thoughts. The softness of the couch below her, the plushiness of the pillow in her grasp, the steady beat of a typewriter next door, the ticking of the clock on the wall, and even the hoofsteps of her other neighbors downstairs. It takes several minutes, but she finally begins to calm down, and slowly releases her grip. “I still have to be at work in an hour, don’t I?”

She takes a deep breath, and pushes herself up to her hooves, dropping the pillow back on the couch. “I just have to do my morning routine like normal, and everything will be fine. I can worry about Marble and the changelings later.”

Orchid performs her routine, brushing her teeth, showering, tying up her mane, eating a quick breakfast, and getting dressed for work. She manages to finish just in time, locks her door, and begins her commute. She keeps an eye out for changelings, still paranoid from earlier, and fortunately sees none. “They must be busy doing whatever that was from earlier.” She makes it to work uneventfully, and unlocks the back entrance, stepping into the empty café. She checks the clock on the wall. “5:50. Good, I got here a bit early.” As usual Sun Lily hasn’t arrived yet, allowing Orchid some time to set up for the day in peace.

She sets down her saddlebag by the back room, and pulls her apron over her head, sitting down to tie it behind her back. With that out of the way, she is finally free to enjoy some quiet before the café opens. She checks the coffee presses to make sure they are working and changes out their filters. Next, she cleans each table and pulls the chairs down. She continues with other monotonous tasks, the simplicity of them helping to put her mind at ease with the repetitive rhythm.

She hears the handle of the back door twist open, and looks over to see Sun Lily coming in, a few minutes late as usual. She sets her own bag next to Orchid’s and walks over to the counter, waving. “Good morning Orchid! How are you?”

Orchid is definitely not ready for Sun Lily’s pestering today. “I’m fine. Now can you make sure the register’s stocked.”

Sun Lily smiles and nods. “Yes, ma’am!”

Turning back to her own work, Orchid shakes her head. “How is she so enthusiastic all the time? Did the changelings just avoid her earlier or is she just that naïvely cheerful?”

The two mares work in silence for a while, and eventually the first few customers begin to trickle in. The mornings are always the busiest, but she expects a smaller amount than usual due to whatever the changelings are up to. It is at this point that she remembers her agreement to Marble’s request. A tightness suddenly appears in her chest. “I decided to help him didn’t I…” She recalls what exactly she was asked to do. “He wanted me to get information out of the changeling officers that visit the café, right? How in Tartarus am I even supposed to do that? I can’t just go up and talk to them, can I?”

Performing her job as normal, she can’t help but feel nervous at the idea of the officers suddenly walking in. “I’m not prepared, I don’t know what to say or do and they could easily ruin my life or worse if they wanted to.” She would be burying her face in her hooves if she wasn’t currently carrying a tray to a customer. “Why did I agree to this?”

Time passes, and the hours of the morning press onward, yet the officers never come. At first Orchid was confused by this, seeing as they have started to become regulars here, but she comes to the conclusion that they must be busy whatever they were doing earlier. “At least it gives me more time to figure out how I’m going to do this.”

She is just about to take her daily break when she sees her boss coming in through the back door. The red pegasus stallion struts into the café, meeting eye contact with Orchid. He is wearing a bowler cap and is dressed in a partially unbuttoned dress shirt, with the start of a beard on his chin. She quickly straightens up in front of him, not wanting to look like a slacker in front of her boss.

He gives her an insincere smile, and begins speaking in a gruff Manehatten accent. “There you are, just the pony I wanted to see!”

She awkwardly smiles back. “Hello Mr. Bristle, is there something I can help you with?” She has always felt a bit uncomfortable around her boss for a number of reasons, including his habit of changeling bootlicking, the way he looks at Sun Lily sometimes, and his generally sleazy demeanor. Despite all of that, there isn’t really anything she can do about it.

He gestures towards the back room. “Just need to discuss something with you. Please, come into here where we won’t disturb the customers.”

She tentatively follows him inside of the back room, which consists of some shelves full of supplies and a pair of chairs leaning against the wall. As soon as the door closes, he gets down to business. “So I heard from Sun Lily that you do a lot of great work here.”

Orchid is caught off guard. It isn’t common for her boss to give compliments, and she especially didn’t expect that out of Sun Lily. “T-thank you sir.”

He continues. “As such, I need to ask a favor of you. You see, Violet Glow called out sick today, and I need somepony to cover her evening shift. So I figured since you do such good work you wouldn’t mind helping out your coworker and taking her shift today.”

Internally Orchid is screaming. The last thing she needed today was a double shift, but she knows that she can’t exactly refuse her boss without losing her job. “Of course sir, I can cover Violet Glow’s shift.”

Smiling, Mr. Bristle opens the door with his wing. “Excellent! It’s only eight hours, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Orchid smiles through gritted teeth, and exits the room. She decides that taking her break in front of her boss wouldn’t be the best idea, and returns to work. Sun Lily is working on an order, and Mr. Bristle follows her up to the counter. Orchid helps her out with the order and takes greater charge. Sun Lily and her boss start chatting for a bit, leaving Orchid to run the café single handedly.

After about a half hour, Mr. Bristle finally takes his leave, allowing Sun Lily to return to her actual job. From that point onward, the rest of their shift flies by in a breeze. Throughout the whole thing, Orchid is mentally cursing out her boss, the changelings, and even Marble sometimes. She manages to keep her annoyance with everything to a visible minimum, but Sun Lily’s casual cheeriness makes that very difficult.

At last, her normal shift comes to a close, and as the sun dips below the lines of apartments, the number of ponies entering the café dwindle to near none. Sun Lily finishes up her cleanup, and gives Orchid a friendly smile as she goes home for the day. Orchid can’t help but feel a little jealous. “How does she stay like that despite everything. It’s annoying.”

Starting up the second shift that has been thrust upon her, she sits on the stool behind the counter, waiting for any new customers to show up. She takes the smaller number of ponies showing up to get some rest, pulling her hooves up on the counter and leaning her head on top of them. “I bet I have to go to work tomorrow like normal too…”

The last customer leaves, and for the first time since her first shift began, she is completely alone. She looks at the clock, seeing that it is well past when she would usually be in bed. She moans in fatigued frustration and shuts her eyes, rubbing her head with her hooves. Some more time passes, and no pony else shows up. “Why do we even keep our café open this late if no one comes here?!”

Relenting to the calls her body is giving her for sleep, she decides it would probably be safe to take a quick nap. She leans her head back down into her hooves, and tries to get whatever amount of rest she can. She rests quietly for a few blissful minutes, then she hears the soft jingling of the bell.

Thrown back to the world from the brink of sleep, Orchid snaps back into focus, and looks towards the entrance. “You’ve got to be kidding me…”

Having just pushed through the door stands the blue-eyed changeling officer. She isn’t looking at Orchid, and instead just lethargically walks over to a table by the wall and plops herself down in the chair. She buries her face in her hooves and her hat falls off, though she doesn’t seem to notice.

“What is she doing here?! They normally only come in the morning! And why does she look tired?” Despite her exhaustion, Orchid begins to panic. She looks around frantically, seeing absolutely nopony or changeling within sight besides the officer and herself. “This would be a good opportunity to try to get something out of her… but I’m still not prepared and oh sweet Celestia she’s right there! Why is she even here if she’s just going to sit there?”

Orchid keeps a wary eye on the changeling for what feels like an eternity, but after the first few minutes she doesn’t move aside from the soft rising and falling of her chest. “I-is she asleep?”

Nervously, tentatively, she steps towards the officer, almost expecting this to be some sort of trap. The changeling is still completely unreactive despite her approach, with her face tucked between her hooves. Orchid looks her up and down to check for threats. She’s wearing the black uniform of a Heer officer, with the symbol on her hat that of the Changeling Hegemony. A pistol is holstered on her flank, right below her folded, translucent wings. Other than that, the changeling seems to simply be sitting there sleeping.

“Is she toying with me, or is she really asleep? Do changelings even need sleep?” Deciding that this is something she needs to do, she tries to muster her courage, and manages to get a word out. “H-hello?” The changeling gives no indication of hearing her, and continues breathing peacefully. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” She carefully reaches out her hoof, and gently taps the officer on her shoulder.

The changeling stirs, and raises her head, looking around with a groggy look. She makes eye contact with Orchid, causing her a surge of distress. She takes a few hoofsteps back, yelling at herself internally. “Fuck me, why’d I have to go ahead and be brave?!”

Looking at her with what Orchid is sure can’t be sympathy, the changeling speaks in slightly accented Equestrian. “It’s okay, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Orchid freezes, unsure of what to do. She realizes she didn’t really think this far ahead, and continues to silently curse herself. The changeling is still staring at her with that same look.

“What were you doing?” The officer asks, seemingly more confused than anything else.

Gulping, Orchid tries her best to respond. “I-I was just checking if you were okay. You looked like you were unconscious for a while.”

A tinge of embarrassment passes across the changeling’s face, and she picks up her hat with magic and places it back on her head. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. Just… tired.”

Orchid nods, trying her best to not do anything that might upset the armed Heer officer in front of her. She then remembers what Marble told her to do, and given the changeling’s seemingly amicable mood, she takes a risk. “Why are you still up at this hour, if I may ask? Especially at a café.”

“Just… a lot happened today, and I still have so much paperwork to do after the Leutnant figured things out and told me I was supposed to file things for all the troop movements and I really need a coffee to get through this, and I realized I should not be telling a pony this.”

Orchid stands there in stunned silence, unsure what to say or do and suddenly regretting asking anything. Despite her trepidation, she can’t help but find a strange sense of empathy for the changeling’s struggle, but tries to shove it away when she notices. “She could still hurt you at any moment Orchid, don’t let your guard down.”

The changeling looks around to make sure no one saw the exchange, then sighs, rubbing her eyes with her holed hooves. “Can I just get my usual. With Love on top please.”

Initially unsure just what in Equestria she means by ‘Love’, she remembers that to the changelings, love is a physical thing, and a food source they get from ponies. The thought gives her chills. “A-apologies, w-we don’t serve Love here.”

The officer looks slightly disappointed, but also contemplative. “Oh, that’s okay. Sorry for asking. Just my usual then, please.”

Orchid near gallops away to fulfill the order, thankful for the moment of reprieve. “Celestia, I’m not going to make it through today. I’m too tired for this shit…” She carefully pours the coffee and cream and stirs, placing the lid on and putting the cup on a tray. She begrudgingly returns from her safe space behind the counter to the changeling, and places the tray on the table. Turning to leave, Orchid’s escape is interrupted by the officer addressing her.

“Hey, you’re the pony that’s normally here in the morning, aren’t you?”

She pauses, turning around slowly. “Yes, I am.”

“Do you normally work this late?” A slight hint of concern in the changeling’s voice.

Orchid shakes her head. “No. I am covering for one of my coworkers.”

“I see. What is your name?”

Surprised, Orchid opens her mouth to answer, but nothing comes out at first. No changeling has ever asked her name unless they were IDing her. After a tense moment, her voice finally works again. “My name is Orchid.”

The officer gives what passes as a smile for a changeling, fully revealed her fangs. “My name’s Nyceris. Nice to meet you.”

“I’d say the same if you weren’t literally occupying us.” Orchid stays silent, trying her best to keep calm.

Nyceris gestures for Orchid to sit in the chair across the table from her. “Could you sit with me for a bit? Today’s been stressful, and I could use some friendly conversation, even if it’s with a pony.”

“I’m stressed today too, but you’re the reason.” Despite her instincts telling her to say no, refusing a changeling never ends well. “On the bright side, I suppose this is a perfect excuse to help out Marble.” She follows the instructions and sits in the chair, still not trusting this changeling to do as she says.

The changeling called Nyceris once again smiles at her, with appreciation this time. Orchid is convinced it is some kind of ploy. Nyceris meets her gaze with those blue, iris-less eyes, and apologizes. “Sorry for this, I know you’re probably busy.”

Orchid shakes her head. “Don’t worry, I haven’t had anyone come in for a while.”

Nyceris seems to be examining her face, once more creating a sense of nervousness. After she’s done, the changeling gives her a sympathetic frown. “You look tired. Perhaps you should get some coffee too.”

“I can’t. I’m not allowed to take coffee for free.”

Out of a small pouch on Nyceris’ belt floats a pair of bits, held in a green aura. “Here, get yourself one. I know that changelings can’t function if they’re sleep-deprived, and I bet it is the same for ponies.” She places the coins down in front of Orchid.

Completely flabbergasted, Orchid suddenly finds herself questioning the changeling’s motives once more. “Why are you being nice to me? I’m just a pony.”

“Despite what you may think, changelings aren’t here to hurt you. I even heard that the Protectress wants to encourage friendship between our two species.”

Orchid hesitantly takes the bits in her hooves. “Thanks then, I guess. I’ll be back.” She stands back up and goes to make herself a coffee, reluctantly thankful for the changeling’s unexpected kindness. As she pours her cup, she reflects on what Nyceris said. “Friendship between ponies and changelings… what sort of nonsense is that?! If they wanted to be friends, they wouldn’t have started the war.”

She finishes making her coffee and places the bits next to the register to deal with later. While she’d rather be doing anything other than sitting and talking with a changeling officer, she knows that it isn’t an option, despite what Nyceris would have her believe. Orchid returns to the table, and sits back down in the chair, sipping her coffee. “At least I won’t pass out now…”

Nyceris looks at her with an unreadable expression, and drinks from her own coffee before speaking again. “You’re afraid of me aren’t you.” She says it more as a statement than a question.

Orchid stares at her incredulously, her prior nervousness returning in full force. Of course, she is afraid, but it is something else about the changeling’s words that she doesn’t understand. “Why do you sound like you don’t want me to?”

The two sit silently across each other for a moment, the awkwardness of the situation viscerally apparent. Unable to take any more of it, Orchid stands up in one quick motion. “I should get back to work. My boss will yell at me if I spend too long talking to customers.”

Nyceris looks surprised and a little disappointed at the declaration. “Oh, okay… I should probably get back to work too. Goodbye, Orchid.”

Orchid trots back over behind the counter and pretends to be searching for something down low as to allow her to hide. She waits for a moment, before hearing the door open and close, bell jingling. Daring to check if the changeling is gone, she peeks out from below the counter, seeing only an empty café. She breathes a sigh of relief. “Thank Celestia…”

She thinks about what just happened, and realizes something important. “Marble, I might have just found a way to get what you’re looking for.”

Author's Note

Thank you for reading, I appreciate feedback and comments. Also, I will likely need to slow down a bit on writing this due to stuff happening, but I will still try to get one every week if I can.