Recognition comes first, then sound, then sight: a familiar presence in my mind, the buzz of powerful wings, a green and orange form descending out of the sky into the town square. It's a lazy summer afternoon in Ponyville, and most of the ponies are taking advantage of it: playing sports, going for walks or just sunning in their gardens.

The few ponies who are running errands stop to gaze at the huge and regal changeling arriving in their midst. Only for a moment though, as the appearance of a calm rural backwater is an illusion. On the scale of strange things happening in Ponyville, a visit from the king of Equestria's changelings barely rates.

"Ocellus? Ah, there you are," Thorax says, as he spots me outside the cafe. "Good to see you again."

"King Thorax!" I call out, slipping off the chair and trotting over to greet him. Butterflies flutter in my stomach and my wings give a little involuntary buzz under my elytra. I'm supposed to be a 'hero' now, but looking up at Thorax, it's like I'm a little grub again. He's the wise leader of all changelings - all but a few misguided rebels who still think Chrysalis had the right idea - and he's taking time out of his official duties just to chat with me!

"The pleasure is all mine! Oh oh I can show you the latest lesson plans - I'm a teaching assistant now! Or, um... you probably think that's boring, but... did you know Ponyville has a real cinema now? We could watch a movie together! Or... um, whatever you want to do, your majesty." I look away, blushing. Thorax probably has much more important things to do than watch movies.

Thorax smiles down at me, like I could never disappoint him, then gives me a little chuckle as he walks over to the table I’d been sitting at. I do pick up something weird in his aura though: a kind of tension, but it's muted, like he's actively blocking. That's not unusual for changelings - old habits die hard - but Thorax usually wears his emotions on his carapace. "That does sound fun, Ocellus. Perhaps later. Oh, is this lemonade?"

"Yes!” I answer eagerly. ”There's an earth pony called Bright Eyes, she makes the absolute best lemonade in Equestria! Um... shall I order you a glass? If you'd like, I mean. Or..." I'm rambling, like I always do when I get nervous. I clamp my mouth shut and study Thorax: his body language as well as his aura. "Is... everything alright, your majesty?"

Thorax frowns, then turns away. "Perceptive as ever, Ocellus. In truth, I am here on a matter of great urgency and extreme delicacy. One that I believe you, and perhaps only you, can assist with. Come, walk with me." His speech is more formal than I remember. Thorax has come such a long way from the 'little drone who stood up to Chrysalis' to acting and sounding like a proper monarch.

"Uh... sure. I mean, of course! You can trust me." I trot quickly to keep up, as his much longer legs carry him away from the cafe and into a side street. "Is... this to do with... the hive, by any chance?" The only thing that can get Thorax this upset is a threat to his subjects, or his friends. I should keep quiet, let him explain, but instead I whisper: "Somecreature is attacking changelings? Or... the renegades, are they going to try something?"

That draws an odd, strangely intense look from my mentor. "How much do you know about the renegades, Ocellus?" Thorax says quietly.

"Uh... " I pause and think. "Not a lot. Some silly drones who still believe in the old ways, stealing love and refusing to share it. They... they want to bring back... Queen Chrysalis." The image of her snarling face flashes into my mind and I shiver involuntarily. "They hate that you found a better way and, and... I don't know anything else, really!" Now I'm trembling: why is Thorax asking me, of all drones? He doesn't think I'm helping them, does he? I'm the absolute last changeling who'd want Chrysalis back!

Thorax nods. "Calm yourself, little one. You are our greatest hero, an inspiration to all changelings. I am certain you would never work with the renegades."

Of course he knows: it's not like I’m hiding how nervous I am. Not like I could hide it, from him. I bask in the king's praise, my carapace flushing even as I stand a little straighter. Thorax turns off the street into an alleyway between the bakery and the general store. At peak times it's a popular shortcut, but right now it's deserted. The bigger changeling comes to a halt just inside the alley and lowers his head down to mine.

"We have good intelligence that they've built a base of operations, somewhere inside of Equestria. They're working on a plan to free Chrysalis, one that involves gathering magical artefacts. We need to find this base and stop the rebels before they can complete their plan."

"What?!" I gasp, my wings flaring out from under their covers. I clamp them down firmly against my back. All the old anxieties are creeping up on me.

"Oh no! What if they come after me? Or my friends?" I shiver again: in Chrysalis's final gambit, her changelings managed to replace the Element Bearers and the alicorn princesses. Ponies are so trusting: when we go all out, they're almost helpless.

"How can I possibly help? Oh... maybe the Cutie Map? Twilight has this magical map, or well I guess it's Starlight's now, that can locate any-"

"We can't involve the ponies," Thorax interrupts me, his voice firm. "Ocellus - maybe you don't see it, but it's been an uphill struggle, fighting our reputation as evil love-stealing insects. If this gets out, it could set us back decades." The big changeling sighs, his ears drooping for a moment before he refocuses on me. "We've already tried divination spells. Their base is shielded... and I think you know how they're doing it."

"Me-me? I, um..." Thorax needs my help, but I'm not a mage. Frantically I review what I've read about that kind of magic. "Some sort of anti-divination spell... either a baffle, or a multi-domain illusion - disperse the seeking spell or trick it. There must be a book that, um... I'll take you to the school library. If we can't find what we need there, I guess... I guess we'll just have to sneak into the one in Canterlot." I already feel a little sick at the thought: I hate the idea of sneaking around behind my friends and allies. I'm sure Princess Twilight would grant us permission, but if Thorax really wants to keep this a secret-

"No, Ocellus." Thorax interrupts my train of thought again. "You're thinking like a pony. I need you to think like a changeling." Seeing me trembling again, he says in a gentler tone: "I know this is hard, but I need you to think back to the invasion of Canterlot. We had a staging camp, didn't we? Inside Equestria, only an hour's flight from the city. Do you remember?"

I nod and close my eyes for a moment, forcing myself to recall. The memories are horrible: it was only my third time outside of the hive, and the first time I'd seen ponies. Thousands of changelings crammed into a few tunnels, a horde of anonymous black bodies decayed with starvation. A sea of hungry faces, staring eyes and fangs bared.

Lieutenants barking orders, rushed drills as workers and juveniles were formed into reserve troops. Always in the background, the constant mental pressure of the queen. Chrysalis, whipping her hive into a frenzy, driving us into war with the ponies, and crushing any hint of dissent.

I want to shut it out, but I have to push through this. For the hive, and for Thorax. I take a deep breath. "We... yes, we had a camp. Tunnelled into a small hill... in a forest. M-Maybe in the White Tail Woods? Do you think that's where they're hiding?"

Thorax shakes his head. "No: we already checked. I ordered the tunnels collapsed. Plenty of changelings remember the location. What they can't tell me is how Chrysalis stopped Celestia from finding the base. The ponies were on alert: they had a shield around Canterlot, pegasi flying patrols over the surrounding land."

Thorax is staring straight at me, and this time I can't look away from those huge purple eyes. I’ve never seen him so intense like this. His aura leaves no doubt: this is why he came to Ponyville. "You're smart and observant, Ocellus. I'm betting that while the other drones were following orders, you noticed something. Something that was shielding us from pony magic. What was it?"

The king’s gaze pins me to the spot, and my mind races. I'm terrified of the memories... but I can't let him down. I have to remember. So I close my eyes and concentrate. In my mind I'm back in the military camp, a scared nymph waiting with thousands of other drones for the order to attack. We're packed shoulder to shoulder underground, so close it's a struggle to move. The queen is so close...

So much for Ocellus the great hero: a few words about the old days and I'm on the edge of a panic attack. I take a deep breath and force myself to calm down. I'd gotten over being forced to assume Chrysalis's form - with the help of Smoulder, sure, but Thorax is here now. I can do this. I can. I have to.

"The Obscura Radia!" I blurt out. "There was a spot... that I didn't want to look at. Every time I tried, my eyes would slide off it. But that just made me more curious! It was better than listening to the queen, so... I made myself look at it. Like a... a changeling's eye sticking out of the top of an egg, but made of cut emeralds and polished serpentine." I shiver again: the thing was pretty creepy, and when I first managed to look at it I'd screamed, thinking it was a real eye, plucked from some disobedient drone.

Thorax smiles with relief. "Thank you, Ocellus." He puts one hoof gently on your shoulder. "I'm sorry to put you though this. You're sure that's what was shielding the camp? The 'Obscuria Radia' - how did you find out the name? Do you know how it works?"

I manage a meek smile. It's not easy dredging up these horrible memories, but it feels good to be able to help. "Oh I didn't find out until much later, when Chrysalis was gone and I could finally get into the hive library. There was this one scroll about changeling magic that... uh, I guess it's not important." Thorax needs to know the practical details, not ancient history.

"There are three of them, and you can use them alone or combined, to cover a wider area. They don't just baffle divination spells: they project a psychic field that stops creatures from perceiving anything they're not expecting. A really strong one. So a pony, even a princess, would still see the base, but they'd think it was an ordinary hill even if there were a hundred changelings flying in and out."

"That must be what the renegades are using!" Thorax says excitedly. "But how did they get their hooves on them? Ocellus - Chrysalis must have sent drones to retrieve these 'obscurias' after the attack failed. They're far too valuable to abandon. But where would she have kept them?"

I shrug helplessly: I'm doing my best, but I was only a nymph back then. "Probably in her private vault? You know, the one under the royal tower, on the western outcrop." I remember watching a constant rotation of guards flying in and out of there, along with the odd infiltrator bearing an offering to the queen: a treasure they'd stolen during their mission.

"Pharynx would know. Or... any of Chrysalis's lieutenants, really." I frown: now that I think about it, Pharynx should know about all of this. After the losses at Canterlot, he became the leader of the hive defence force. Even before that, he was a high-ranking warrior caste.

"Ah yes, Pharynx. Well, I... I wasn't sure I could trust him." Thorax says uncertainly. He turns away from me, taking a few steps further down the alley.

I trot after him, puzzled by his sudden hesitance. "Trust him? But he's your brother... why wouldn't you trust him?" I ask. Now I'm really worried. As far as I know, Thorax trusts Pharynx more than anyone else in the world, except possibly Spike. After a bit of a rocky start - he held on to his old form for longer than any other Changeling in our hive - Pharynx proved his worth and his loyalty, and resumed leadership of a (much smaller) hive defence force.

"Thorax, you don't seriously think... I can't believe Pharynx is working with the rebels!" I'm probably not supposed to speak like that to my monarch, but I can't bear to see him fall out with his brother.

Thorax reaches the end of the alleyway and looks back at me. With a strange smile that doesn’t seem to fit his face, he says: "Thank you Ocellus. You've been most helpful." Then he walks out of the alley and turns the corner onto the street, disappearing from view.

I stop cold in my tracks. Something is seriously wrong here. Thorax doesn't sound like himself, and he isn't acting like himself. A sickening feeling fills me as I realise what just happened: that wasn’t my mentor, it was another changeling impersonating him. That's why his aura was off - it must be one of the renegades.

"H-Hey!" I gallop after the imposter, bursting out onto the street. A trio of ponies stop and stare at me as I scan my surroundings. There's no trace of the big green changeling, like he vanished into thin air... so the rebel must have changed shape. Desperately I stare at the various ponies and objects around me, wondering what the rebel changed into. The other changeling could be a bird, or a rock, or...

My eyes settle on a pony, sitting at a table just down the street. A filly, with a glass of lemonade and a straw - exactly like the one I'd left behind at the cafe. A pegasus with a pink coat and a mane of baby blue curls. A chill runs down my spine as she shifts position and I catch a glimpse of her blood red cutie mark. A chess piece: 'Cozy Glow', the name pops into my head. She's staring right at me.

I freeze: my anxiety should be rising, but somehow the sight of that evil little pony brings me to a sharp focus. She can't be... that can't actually be Cozy Glow, can it? After we defeated her, the little terror was sealed in stone by the three most powerful magic users on Equus. It must be another rebel changeling - but why would they take such an obvious form? All of Equestria knows about the Worst Pony Ever: she'd been in all the newspapers and several of Twilight's speeches.

Summoning my courage, I take a few steps forward. "Hey! You won't get away with this! The real Thorax will stop you!" I shout. "Chrysalis will never be queen again!"

Cozy Glow, or whoever is impersonating her, flashes me a sweet smile. The evil filly calmly takes a sip of her lemonade before saying: "Golly. Like I'd ever want to let that crazy overgrown bug out of her statue. You've got me all wrong, Ocellus. I just want to be a good pony now. Why don't you sit down, let me buy you a lemonade and we can be best friends!"

I take a few steps closer, spreading my wings in case I have to make a quick escape. If there's two rebel changelings, there could be more: I'm on edge, ready for them to spring the trap at any moment. I have to give the rebel some credit though: their imitation is spot on. The sickly sweet smile, the freckles, the insincere voice. That's probably about what the real Cozy Glow would say as well, trying to make me let my guard down.

"Cut the act!" I say, trying to sound as stern as possible. "You're not fooling me. What's your name, rebel? Why are you pretending to be Cozy Glow?" I look around at the surrounding ponies: why is nopony reacting? One of the Legion of Doom sitting in Ponyville in broad daylight: there should be panic, but everypony is just ignoring us.

The impostor holds up their hooves with an 'oh gee' expression. "Me? A rebel? I don't know... I mean, I diiiiid drain all the magic from Equestria, oh and I guess I imprisoned the alicorn princesses, and nearly became the Empress of Friendship... but does that really make me a rebel?" The fake Cozy Glow sighs melodramatically. "I suppose I have to do a whole dramatic reveal now."

The pegasus filly beckons me closer, and despite my better judgement I find my hooves complying. She leans in conspiratorially and whispers in my ear: "My real name is... Cozy Glow!" Then she leans back and plasters a big, innocent smile on her face.

I stare at the fake filly in disbelief: she's toying with me, but why? Stalling? Waiting while more rebels get into position? My fight-or-flight response is nearly overwhelming: my shifting magic is primed, ready to turn me into something fast or something deadly. Breathing deeply… actually I’m starting to hyperventilate, but I manage to restrain myself. I need to keep the renegade talking, try and find out what they're planning.

"Come on! This makes no sense!" I splutter. "The real Cozy Glow is frozen in stone in Canterlot Gardens. If you rebels had the ability to free her, you'd have already freed Chrysalis... and you wouldn't need to trick me into giving you information! What kind of... of sick game are you playing?"

The impostor just smiles back. "Oh, good idea Ocellus! We can play a game. That's what best friends do, right?"

Movement to my left... a blue earth pony with musical notes for his cutie mark. He's frowning as he says: "Why are you bothering this pegasus filly, changeling? Can't you see how cute and lovable she is?"

That draws a stare from an older unicorn, sitting two tables over. "I knew letting those bugs run riot would cause trouble," the mare says haughtily. This is utterly surreal: I’m talking to Cozy Glow, one of the greatest enemies of Equestria, and the citizens think I’m the problem?

"No! No, I..." My panic boils over as I realise they must be rebel changelings too. I turn tail and gallop away, heading for the Castle of Friendship. Frantically I glance back over my shoulder, checking for pursuit, ready to turn into a falcon for more speed. No... the three of them are just sitting there, the one pretending to be Cozy grinning even wider as she watches me run.

I dash down the street, around a corner and into the Ponyville marketplace. I can see Starlight’s castle rising like a giant, crystalline tree, only a furlong away. I begin to trot quickly through the marketplace... until Cozy Glow steps out from behind a stall. I skid to a halt in shock.

"Why are you running, Ocellus? Don't you want to reform me?” the filly says sweetly. ”All you have to do is teach me true friendship, and I'll be all better. Think how proud Twilight will be of you! I mean, as much as she can be for a bug pony."

Fear and confusion war inside my head as I back away from the fake Cozy. Either the original is one of the very few changelings who can teleport, or... the whole rebel group is here. I could make a break for the castle, but they might already be inside.

"What- what do you want?" I stammer. "How many of you are there?"

That sickly sweet voice comes from behind me: I spin around to see a third Cozy Glow. "I just want you to teach me about friendship, silly!" the new clone says. "You got me kicked out of school before I could finish my studies."

Suddenly I realise that every other pony in the marketplace is watching us… and every single one of them is a small pink pegasus filly. "That was so mean!" a fourth Cozy says. "So now it's your job to reform us."

I stand paralysed with terror as the Cozys close in from every side. With their cute faces and fake friendship, they look utterly innocent... except for their red irises, the colour of pony blood. How... why... there must be thirty or more rebel changelings here, all set on tormenting me.

I have to get out of here. My wings buzz into life of their own accord, pushing me up into the sky. A sea of pink freckled faces just stares up at me, grinning as I try to escape this nightmare.

I look away, up at the heavens... but the blue sky is gone. Impossibly, there is another Ponyville above me: an upside-down copy of the town I’d just flown away from. Before I can comprehend what's happening, I pass the half-way point and tumble wildly as the gravity reverses. The mirror Ponyville is now below me and it’s the original hovering in the sky above.

I plummet toward the ground, my wings flapping wildly. I'm barely able to catch the air in time to prevent a painful crash. As I stumble to my hooves, I look around in shock. Every building, every stall is exactly the same as before... except that the marketplace is deserted. I look up, hoping that this was just some kind of temporary nausea: no, the other Ponyville is still up there, defying gravity. My head is spinning: what could be doing this? Discord? Is this some kind of cruel joke-

In an instant the mirror-marketplace goes from deserted to crowded with pink pegasus fillies: a small horde of Cozy Glows flaps and trots out from every nook and cranny. All of them are staring at me.

"Cozy, are you all right?" one says.
"That was a pretty rough landing you had there, huh?" another says.
"Hey sister, let me fix your mane," a third offers.

With rising horror: I look down at my pink hooves, then at my feathered wings. I don't remember changing shape, but somehow... I’m one of them now. Frantically I try to revert, to cast off this horrible form, but nothing happens. I’ve lost my ability to transform? My mind dissolves into panic as I try to blurt out a question, asking them how they did this, what's happening to me. All that comes out is a single "Golly!"

With a supreme effort, I manage to throw back my head and release a strangled wail. I am Cozy Glow, and I must scream.

Author's Note

And now we know what would happen if Cozy Glow got hold of one of those dream machines from Inception - to be clear, Pacific Dream was impersonating Thorax, Cozy was supposed to be projecting the environment but she couldn't resist having a bit of fun after they'd gotten what they needed. A shorter chapter, but to minimise confusion I'm sticking with one viewpoint character per chapter. Keen students of anatomy may wonder how chitinous carapace can 'flush': the answer is of course 'changeling'.

The renegade changelings are semi-canon: they were mentioned in 'Triple Threat' but by 'To Change a Changeling' Thorax says he's won them all over. Unreformed changelings do appear later in a couple of the comics, so I'm assuming some left the hive altogether - or were out on missions when the hive reformed and never came back.

Those who read my other stories (all three of you) may have spotted a pattern: all of them have a hippogriff stallion who makes friends with a pony mare. Is this because I only have one narrative to regurgitate repeatedly? My other writing has completely different characters, I swear!

In truth Beaks Not Wanted Here was messing about while Ferret and I were planning Expedition to the Cloudbreak Islands, so it has sort of warped versions of Reef Skimmer and a character from one of Ferret's stories. I was trying to convince Ferret that hippogriffs are awesome, he disagreed (the blaggard preferred kirin), and the conversation was captured as a little madcap comedy.

I confess I was saddened when Expedition went on indefinite hiatus with only about a quarter of the planned story executed, so I may have allowed a bit of Reef Skimmer to continue on in spirit as Pacific Dream. That's the problem with most fanfic (absolute view junkies excepted): authors writing what they want, instead of what the audience wants. 😀