The Alicoreling

by ViktornovaMk2

Rating: teen
Tags: Alternate Universe, Slice of Life
Length: 40208

Shifter was tired of being lonely. He was going to change that, come Tarturus or high water.
Fate has diferent ideas.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-04-20 15:47:23 UTC

The Alicoreling

This is fan-fic.  I don’t own MLP:FiM.  This story takes place, 7 years after, “A Canterlot Wedding”, and takes no info from season 3 or later.  Hope ya enjoy

“The Alicoreling”

By:  ViktornovaMk2

“Dear Princess Celestia,

Hello, my name is Shifter.  I am, what I like to refer to myself as, an alicoreling.  I am the only one I know of, in all of Equestria.

You are probably wondering what an alicoreling is.  It is very simple.  My father was a mortal alicorn, and my mother is a changeling.  (And before you ask, no, she is not Chrysalis.)

I am writing you this letter to see if you would approve of me moving to one of the towns, or cities, that are under your supervision.

I have been living the last 6 years in the Everfree Forest in seclusion.  I have recently made contact with other ponies and it has begun to cause me to wonder if I am of any worth to anypony.  I would like the chance for some companionship, but would understand if you reject my request.

My special talents lie in pyrotechnics and demolitions.

Sincerely yours,

Shifter, the alicoreling

P.S.  If you would be so kind as to have your reply delivered to Miss Zeccora”

“Well,” Shifter sighed to himself, as he sat the quill in his magic down, “its written.  Now, to figure out a way to get it delivered without revealing myself,” he turned to the zebra next to him, “do ya got any good ideas?”

“Warned you, I have, and yet you persist,” Zeccora said, smiling down at her young charge, “so if you are sure, the dragon, Spike I will have to enlist.”

“Thank you,” he said, “I know that you could get into a lot of trouble for harboring me.  While you’re out, is there anything you need me to try and gather for you.”

“Harboring you is a good thing.  For you are not just a changeling.  There is the potential for both good and bad.  And I can understand how loneliness is quite sad.”  Zeccora thought to herself, “as to anything I should need?  If you find any I could use some Truth Seed.”

“Sure thing, I’ll be on the lookout for any.  I‘ll probably be out late trying to get that new shell design just right.  Its just not blasting apart like I want it to,” he started to mutter to himself as he walked out of Zeccora’s hut, while putting his saddle bags on, “maybe a different material on the casing would be better……”

Zeccora chuckled to herself as she watched the young colt walk deeper into the Everfree Forest.  She knew that he was perfectly safe.  His olive, green and chocolate, brown coat, along with his slate, grey mane and tail, would blend right in with woods, he simply faded into the landscape.  And Celestia protect anything crazy enough to attack him if they do notice him.

She packed her things and headed for the quiet little town of Ponyville.

As Shifter watched Zeccora leave the Forest he drew a deep sigh.  He couldn’t believe how nervous he had been writing the letter.  Not just for himself, he didn’t want Zeccora to get into any trouble on his count.  He new that he cared for her, and he couldn’t bare it if something happened to his surrogate mother.  He knew that she loved him as a son and that was the reason his changeling urges didn‘t bother him so much anymore.  The day he had saved her from that timber wolf pack had been the happiest and scariest moment of his life.

He had been walking around that day, 6 months ago, looking for a zap-apple tree.  He had been hoping to get some of the fruits to experiment with the colors of his latest rocket, when he heard the howls.  Then he had heard the screaming start!  He took off, full tilt, for the sounds.  What he found, was a striped mare, backed against a large rock outcropping, bleeding from wounds to her fore hooves, legs, flank, and neck.  She was sagging against the largest boulder and obviously fading in and out of consciousness from blood loss.   He did the only thing he could think of, he charged up his magic and levitated all the wolves, simultaneously, smashed them together into a large mid-air pile of wood, and then brought them to the ground as fast and as hard as he could.  There had been much cracking of timber.  Of the 9 wolves attacking the mare, 2 limped away from the impact, whining profusely.  He threw the muddled remains of the others as far away as he could.  Then he crept closer to the injured pony, hoping he hadn’t been to late.  She leaned heavily against the rock and then folded to the ground, leaving a bloody smear all the way down.  He saw that she was unconscious but still breathing, and her intake was light but even.  He threw a small barrier bubble around her and pulled her back to his camp as quickly as he could.  After he had bandaged her wounds, put a cold compress on her head and made her as comfortable as he could, he finally stop for a moment to take in the consequences of his actions.

“Agh, to the moon with it,” he muttered to himself as he watched her through the night, “Nothing, much less a pony, deserves to die that way.”

After making sure she was at ease, one last time, he got a spare cushion and  made himself comfortable just outside the entrance to his den of a house, threw up a large barrier, and got himself some much deserved sleep.

He woke bright and early the next morning hoping he had done the right thing.  Maybe the mare had had company that was out looking for her, maybe she was a bad mare who did deserve getting torn to pieces by timber wolves, what was going to happen if she found out what he was and then went and told others?  These and many other questions began swirling around in his head, till he gave himself a firm shaking.

“No, I made the right decision.  She needed help.  I am not going to give myself a stomach ache worrying about anything now.”

He checked on her one more time, put the compress away, as she, fortunately wasn’t feverish, made sure to reinforce the barrier around the entrance, then he went back to searching for the fruit he hadn’t been able to gather the previous evening.

Later that day, a few hours before he came back to his domicile, Zeccora the zebra mare woke up.

“It is quite the surprise, to wake up and find myself very much alive,” she said to herself.

She realized that somepony had done a very good job caring for her.  She was bandaged and there was a bowl of water next to her pillow.  Then she took in her surroundings.  She was in a sort of cave.  It was arranged much like her hut, shelves all around the walls, work tables here and there.  The only real differences were the smells and the fact that the owner of this house wasn’t quite as organized as she was.

When she got up she realized just how lucky she was that there had been someponies in the Forest, close by, when she had been attacked.  The question was, who were they, and what exactly were they going to do with her.

“Tis time to go to them and greet, perhaps my questions they will answer when, face to face, we meet.” she reasoned

When she slowly limped outside she realized that there was a very powerful barrier guarding her.  It gave off a subtle white glow, making everything slightly brighter.

“Keeping others out for sure.  But to me, is there a door?” she asked herself.

That was when she realized that she really couldn’t go anywhere anyway.  She didn’t know where she was in the Forest, and unless her hut was within stone throwing distance (which she doubted) she would never make it there in her condition.  She gathered herself and went in search of sustenance inside.  She found the pantry and made herself a small salad.  Once she had eaten she resettled herself back into the bed and went back to sleep.

Almost two hours later Shifter returned to his house.  He had been lucky enough to find plenty of zap-apples, so he was in a good mood.  He noticed that there were tracks around his barrier but nothing had tried to test it, as he effortlessly passed through without having to shut it down.

“Smart baddies,” he chuckled to himself, “you would have been in for quite the shock had any of you tried.”

Then he noticed that there were larger hoof prints than his, just inside the magic shield.  They were deeper on the right flank and left fore so he new who they had to belong to.  He couldn’t believe that she had been able to move.  But when he heard the light snoring coming from inside he knew that the mysterious mare must have spent all of her energy trying to look around, so he began to tip-hoof so as not to wake her up.

When he got inside he noticed that she had found his pantry and had helped herself to some of his food, not that he begrudged her.  He made himself a meal and then cleaned up.  That was when he noticed that the air in the cave wasn’t stirring all that well and that the smells from his tests and experiments would probably be unbearable for her if she woke to them.  He reorganized his work spaces and then flexed his wings to pull a breeze in to air everything out.

Zeccora had woken up to someone moving about in the cave, and they were cleaning, if she wasn’t mistaken.  She laid still hoping to get a good look at her rescuer(s).  What she saw almost surprised her into calling out.  He was a rather young colt, he couldn’t be much older than Applebloom and her friends.  He had a dappled coat of drab green and deep brown.  His tail and mane were a dark, but slightly shiny, grey.  It was his horn and wings that gave her the real start.  His horn was pitch black and stuck out of his head like a thick, long, slightly curved, knife blade.  His wings were grey, supple, leather and shaped more like those of bat, rather than any pegasus she had ever met.  Then she had started to remember the lunar guards that followed Princess Luna, but then he stretched them out, fully, she couldn’t help but gasp.  That wing span massively out measured any lunar pegasus she had ever seen.

Mare and colt froze.  Slowly and meticulously, Shifter folded his wings back down, as he turned to look his guest in the eye.  Bright aquamarine, met faded emerald.

“Um greetings,” he stuttered, bowing his head, “duh, my name’s Shifter.  You are inside my den.  I’m the one who saved you from the wolves.  Uh, umm, oh, can I ask who are you?”

Zeccora looked this strange pony over before she answered, “Zeccora is who I am.  I do not mean to insult, but, are those wings and horn a sham?”

“Um, no, they’re mine.  I was born this way.”

“If born this way you were, then you have quite the story to tell.  If you would be so kind as to sit and explain, we would seem to have a spell.  Going very far I can not.  And never have I heard of one, such as you, from my friend, from Canterlot.”

“Um before I tell you my story I need you to promise not to tell anypony about me,” when the zebra slowly nodded, Shifter sat and told his tale,” My father was a mortal alicorn.  He…died, when I was very young.  The only memories I have of him are dark brown eyes that loved me.  I don’t even know his name.  It was hard to talk about him with my mother.  You see, she is a changeling.”

Zeccora couldn’t help but give him a very skeptical look.  When she realized that he was telling her the truth, her eyes widened.  Before she could insult him and/or embarrassed herself, she shook herself vigorously.  He could have done many things to her while she was unconscious, he took excellent care of her.  If this was a lie, how more unbelievable could the truth possibly be.  She closed her eyes and took in his actions and simply excepted him for who he was, not what he professed to be.

“I’m sorry, please continue.  This tale is important, that is true.”

“The story of how they met took me a long time to whittle from her, but here goes.  My mother was something of a loner, she tried to stay away from the others of her kind.  She was paying a visit to the city of Las Pegasus to try and get some emotional energy sustenance.  She was attacked by an owl bear on the way there, and her wings were injured.  It was about to take the death swipe at her throat when it simply vanished.  A young police stallion had heard about the owl bear, and had gone to look for it.  My father saved what he thought was a pretty young pegasus from being mauled and eaten.  He took her to the nearby clinic, and fortunately they saved my mother’s life, and miraculously they did it without ever finding out she was a changeling.  My father had to wait for her to wake up before he found out that she was all alone.  He offered to take care of her while she recovered.  My mom said that she still didn’t know why she said yes, 9 years after the fact.  It wasn’t very long after that they fell in love.  Before my father asked her to marry him she told him the truth about what she was.  She said that he told her, ‘I love you for who you are, and I would never hate you for what you are.’  Sorry was that important, your eyes bugged out there for a second?”

“No, no, just a moment of deja’vu.  Please, would you continue?”

Shifter shrugged and continued, “well my mother said that he loved her with all his heart so it took care of her ever having to look for a meal anywhere else, and that her love for him was what helped when I came on the scene a year later.  Even after he…died, her love for him was strong enough to keep us safe.  That was, until her mother tracked her down, again.  I had just recently turned 11 when a group of changelings came to our home and had a long talk with her  She brought me to this den and told me that she would have to go far away and didn’t know that she would ever come back.  She told me about some books that were hidden nearby, and that they would help me to survive.  The last picture I have of my mother was of her weeping her eyes dry begging me to forgive her as she put me to sleep with a spell.  I have been living here the last 5 and a half years.  Those books had almost been worn out from me looking through them over and over again within my first year.  I got my cutie mark for blowing things up almost shortly after my second year started, I am what I like to refer to as pyro-maniacal, genius,” He showed Zeccora his flank, there was the outline of a device she didn’t recognize, with the silhouette of a skull inside, all in dark tan, “I call it a grin-aide, or grenade, for short” he offered when she looked puzzled.

Zeccora closed her eyes and went into deep thought.  This young colt had just admitted to being half changeling, and that his specialty was blowing things up.  BUT, he was admitting this to her, right out and in the open.  She could also tell that he was telling the truth, just not all of it.  There had to be something more about how his father had died, and about some family dispute with his mother‘s mother.  She also realized that she wouldn’t get anywhere by pressing the issue.  That was his secret to keep.

“Well my young colt, you have been honest and deep.  Tired I have become again, and think about it, I will, while I sleep.”

With that Shifter helped Zeccora get comfortable so she could go back to resting.  He walked outside once she was back to snoring contently.

“At least she was honest, although her way of talking sure is funny,” he sighed, “and I suppose she’ll be here awhile.  I had better get some more munchables, while there is still plenty of light.”

As he gathered food he realized that he had been worried, and for no good reason.  He had done the right thing in saving her life, he had felt so much better after talking and he was sure she would keep quiet about him.  Now all he needed to do was help her to recover and get her home.  Maybe, just maybe he could be lucky enough to make a friend out of this, Miss Zeccora.

He looked back at all the things she had been able to teach him since then.  All the things he had taught her.  He thought about how would his life be like right now if she hadn’t come that far into the Forest that day, and a shudder ran through his body.  He didn’t want to imagine what his life would be like, without her influence, over the last half a year.  He was sure that wherever his biological mother was she would be proud of him for finding such a wonderful mentor.

The other, and even to him, slightly more, important thing was, if he hadn’t saved his teacher he would never have met her prized pupil, Applebloom.  She was the vision he saw in his dreams.  His only regret about interacting with her, the few chances he got, was that he just couldn’t bring himself to tell her the truth about himself.

When he went back to Zeccora’s that evening he hadn’t realized that his breath was slightly hitched until he went through the door.  When he walked in, she was preparing diner.  She motioned for him to sit.  He finally tried to relax when she served cucumber casserole.  After they had eaten, and then cleaned the dishes he was doing his best to real in his imagination.

“Your letter has been sent, so now you can relent,” the zebra told her young friend as she was doing her best to help him calm down.

“How long do you think it will take for me to get a response?”

“Not too long, once the letter has been read.  But how long that will take is yet to be said.”

Shifter just sighed, and made himself relax as best he could as he trudged back to his cave, to get some tossing and turning in as he tried to sleep.

Shifter contented himself with work the next day.  He figured, at worst, he would soon be seeing the Captain of the Guard and a squad of officers, and that by the time they were done he would either be dead or on his way to the moon.  It was the other side of that bit he was hoping for.  He prayed that he would be, at the very least, allowed travel the land.  Then he would be able to pay a visit to Applebloom whenever he had free time.  He found it a little funny how his crush was helping him stay sane at the moment.

Unfortunately he got so sidetracked thinking about all the different conclusions to his future that he made a mistake in mixing the ingredients for his latest firework.  He went to fire it and it blew up in his face.  The shield spell that he always used when testing saved his life, but it caused him to get flung into a very sturdy tree.   His wings were smashed and the pain was too intense for him to focus hard enough to throw up a full barrier.  He did the only thing he could think of, he sent a ‘come hither’ spell to Zeccora to try and get her to him before something less than friendly found him first.

The problem was, that at the time, Zeccora was giving her weekend, outdoor, group, lessons to her few students.  When the spell got to her she had to send her class home, but Applebloom knew that Zeccora had been vague with her reason for sending them all away, so when she was sent away she just hid out of sight until she saw her teacher follow a sphere of magical energy deeper into the forest.  She shadowed her teacher, as best she could, but she almost lost Zeccora a few times, for the zebra was following the spell as fast as she could go, not bothering to slow for brush and low limbs.  Applebloom knew that whoever had sent the calling card had to be very important to her teacher.  What she saw when Zeccora got to her destination was unexpected, to say the least.

There was a small crater in the middle of a small, natural, rock quarry.  On the other side was a fading shield spell with somepony huddled underneath.  Zeccora, just cut straight across, Applebloom had to skirt around, she wanted to know who this newcomer was.

As she got closer to the pair she could have sworn that she recognized the colt that was curled under the spell.  She heard Zeccora say something, and the spell dissipated.  She got close enough to hear what else was said.

“Oh my poor little pony, with you what am I going to do?”

Applebloom did recognize the voice that answered, “well I would really appreciate some first aid, ah ha ha, ouch, it hurts to laugh.  Should it, if just my wings are busted?”

Applebloom realized that the young colt was Shifter.  But this Shifter, had wings, a horn and his cutie mark was very different.  She decided that there was time for explanation later when Zeccora brushed his left wing and he screamed.  She figured her teacher was going to need some help.  She walked up to them.

When Shifter saw the yellow filly walking towards him he freaked out, “nononononono, get her out of here Zeccoraaagh,” he yelped as he had tried to point, he brushed the inside of his wing.

Zeccora had no other choice, she threw the anesthesia dust in his face.  He slowly started slurring his speech until he was virtually incoherent, but he was just too strong for it to completely nock him out.  Zeccora turned to her favorite student.

“You can ask him the truth when he can explain himself.  Right this moment, we need to get him back to my hut, among all the shelves.”

Applebloom accepted the command with a nod, Shifter needed medical attention.  Now was not the time to bother Zeccora with questions that would take too long to explain.  She found some strong, long, branches and vines and made a liter to carry Shifter back.  Zeccora began giving him slight doses of medicines to kill some of the pain and to help bring the swelling in his wing joints down.  Between the two of them they were able to get him secured to the liter and they took turns dragging him back to Zeccora’s hut.

“Why don’t we take him to the clinic?” Applebloom couldn’t help but ask.

Her teacher turned to her with an upraised eyebrow, “for such a smart filly, you ask questions that are quite silly,” she said as she pointed to his horn and wings.

Applebloom realized that Zeccora was protecting something about Shifter that could be dangerous.  She knew that once her teacher had taken care of the colt she was going to have to demand some sort of an explanation.

It only took Zeccora about an hour to properly reset all the breaks in Shifter’s wings, another 20 minutes to brace them, and then another dose of medicine to finally put him completely out cold.  Once he was finally resting, peacefully, she took a deep sigh of relief that turned to resignation as she turned to the young mare who had had to help her, for she knew she had some explaining to do, and that most of the story was not hers to tell.  She poured them some water and then sat to think about what she was going to say.  Applebloom was as patient as she could be.

“Ask your questions and I will try to explain, but understand that some of them are not mine to answer, all the same.”

A thousand things came to Applebloom’s mind but she immediately crossed half of them out as too personal for Zeccora to be willing to answer.

“He lives in the Everfree Forest, doesn’t he?  Even farther in than you do?  That’s why, Ah‘ve never seen him in Ponyville, isn‘t it?”

Zeccora nodded.

“The day we met, he wasn’t suppose to be here was he?”

The zebra shook her head, smiling lightly, “you were early and it was quite the surprise.  We did our best to improvise.”

Applebloom thought back to the day she had first met Shifter, 2 months ago.

Applebloom had gotten all her chores done early cause she wanted to surprise Zeccora with a fresh apple pie she had finally perfected.  She knew she was early so when she went into the Everfree Forest, it was still before noon.  As she walked through the Forest she started humming.  When she sighted Zeccora’s hut she called out.

“ZECCERA I’M EARLY!” and she started to chuckle at what kind of surprise start she could have given her wonderful teacher.

When she waltzed inside she was the one in for a surprise.  Her teacher was not alone, there was a earthpony colt with her and they both looked like they had just been caught with their hooves in the cupcake box.

She wondered if she had just interrupted them from what she had walked in on her big brother doing with his marefriend.  She crossed that out because he couldn’t be that much older than she was and Miss Zeccora wouldn’t do something like ‘that’ with such a young colt.

“Um hi.  My name’s Applebloom.  Who’re you?”

“This is Shifter, Applebloom,” Zeccora answered, “what are you doing here so soon?”

“I finally got that recipe from Granny jus right.  I wanted to share this awesome, fresh apple pie with ya.”

Zeccora thought for a moment, “would it be alright for Shifter to have a taste and stay.  Then we can begin your lessons for the day.”

“Sure, Ah got no problem with that.”

Shifter had quietly gotten plates and a knife and served the pie.  Once the pie had been consumed he cleaned and put the dishes away.  When he went to take his leave Applebloom stopped him.

“Hey, where ya goin’?”

“Um, its time for your lessons and I would probably just get in the way.”

“Naw ya wouldn’t.  Stay and maybe ya can learn somethin’.”

“Uh, ok, I guess.”

As they had gone threw the lesson for the day Shifter had loosened up, and Applebloom realized that he had to be very smart.  She was glad that she had made a new friend that day.

Applebloom’s memory faded and then she realized that she had never seen Shifter during any of the group lessons.  He was almost always there for her private lessons, but even the one time she had brought Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, he hadn’t been anywhere around.

“How come he’s never around when there’s a group?”

Zeccora got a slight hurt look on her face but she said, “it was easier for him to hide from the others, than to have to answer the questions that would have been a bother.”

When Applebloom realized that most of the other fillies would have wanted to ask him about things she didn’t feel were necessary, she could understand why he stayed away, especially with a real secret like this.  Even if she didn’t actually know just what the secret was.

When she couldn’t come up with anything less personal, “well I guess I’ll just hafta wait fer him ta wake up fore I can get the answers Ah really want.  How long do ya think it’ll be?”

“Strong he is so I have to give him his due, it will only take a day or two.”

And then Zeccora got a very worried.

“Whut, whut’s wrong?  Ya’ll just got ‘scared’ written all over yer face.”

“His secret he penned and sent to Celestia, along with a request to live freely in Equestria.  Her reply could be on the way, what it is, however, I can not say.”

Applebloom thought about what she could do to help as Zeccora started pacing.  Then a light bulb went off in the filly’s head.

“I just got this really great idea, oh don’t give me that look,” both of Zeccora’s brows went as high as they could go as the rest of her went poker straight, “he lives deep in the Forest, right?”

The zebra nodded.

“Well why don’t we jus take ‘im home.  I can go home, an’ ask Applejack if I can stay here fer a little while to help out with some of yer work, like I did half a year agooo…okay, whut’s so funny?”

When Zeccora started chuckling while looking towards the sleeping colt, Applebloom put 2 and 2 together.

“He’s the help you mentioned back then, ain’t he?”

Zeccora nodded vigorously, as she calmed down, “Not only was he my help at the time, he was the reason my health was so fine.  He surely saved my life, and continued to aid me in my time of strife.”

Applebloom knew she would have to get the full story later, “anyways, whut I’ll really be doing is taking care of him for ya, so ya’ll can wait on his answer.  Huh, what do ya say, brilliant, ain’t it?”

Zeccora was very proud of her young protégé, but she knew that this solution could, and probably would, cause more problems than it would solve.  The worst part was, it was the best solution she could come up with as well.  She tried to think of something else but nothing popped into her wise brain.

“Very well Applebloom, that is what we shall do.”

They packed Shifter’s nearly comatose form back onto the liter and Zeccora took them to his cave.  They got him comfortable and then she had Applebloom take them back to her hut, so she knew that the filly wouldn’t get lost.  When they got to Zeccora’s house Applebloom bid her teacher farewell and headed home to talk her big sister into letting her stay in the Everfree Forest with Zeccora.

She wasn’t too surprised to see Applejack taking it easy after a hard day of work when she got home.  She was happy to see her sister in a good mood, might make her request go over easier.

“Howdy sis,” she said with a smile, “beautiful day isn’t it?”

Applejack got a skeptical look on her face, “what do ya want this time, Bloom?  Yer still not dying yer hair.”

“Oh naw sis, that’s not it at all.  Ya see, somthin’ came up in class today, ya know at Zeccora’s, and well she had to end it early.  I went with her and found out that she was going ta need some help for the next coupla days.  Sooo, Ah was kinda wondering if it’ld be alright for me to stay at her place for a few days, again?  Pleeeeeease?”

Applejack thought about it for a moment, “sure, Ah guess that would be fine.  Just don’t let me hear bout you causing more problems than ya help fix, ya hear.”

“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, big sis.  Yer the greatest,” Applebloom exclaimed with a hug.  She went straight to her room packed a few essentials and headed back to the Everfree Forest, and the colt that was sleeping there.

Shifter was still very groggy when he got up.  As he headed for the latrine he noticed that the sun was coming up, so he knew that he had to have lost at least a day.  He went to lay himself in his bathing pool when he was reminded why he wasn’t feeling 100%.  His wings were busted, capoot, for a while at least.  He knew he was going to have to exercise them like crazy for a while, once they fully healed. or he would never be able to fly right.

He tried thinking back to what happened, and then he froze.  She had been there!  Applebloom had seem his true form!  That was the moment that he realized that he wasn’t alone with his thoughts.

He looked up, then back, and there She sat.  Calmly waiting for him to finish his soak, with a towel.

His first thought was to try and sink into the pool and drown himself, but that wouldn’t solve anything.  He must have started to shake harder than he thought possible, because Applebloom jumped into the pool, hauled him out, wrapped him in the towel, and escorted him back inside.  His eyes never left her face.

“Whut, I got somethin’ on ma face?” she asked giving him a slightly worried look.

“Uh, no that’s not it,” he stammered, “its just, you’re not afraid of me?”

“No, should I be?” she returned, with her head cocked to the side.

Shifter realized that Zeccora wouldn’t have told her anything that could have gotten him in trouble, not without him coherent enough to approve.  That and he was pretty sure that his sensei knew about his crush on her star pupil.

“Never mind that.  How long have I been out?  Have you been looking after me this whole time?  Why are we at my place?” he fired, trying to change the subject.

Applebloom recognized the sad attempt at diversion, but she decided to play along, for now, “You’ve been mostly incoherent for the past day and a half.  Yes, I’m the one who’s been takin care of ya, mostly anyways.  Ya just missed Zeccora a little bit ago.  We’re at yer place, cause it was safer to bring ya here to sleep off the anesthesia, just in case Celestia’s reply wasn’t so good.”

Shifter flinched, “so, you know about that?”

“I know that ya sent a message ta Her Highness telling’ her about yerself, and askin’ if ya could stay in Equestria.  What exactly ya told her I don’t know nuthin about.  I do know that Zeccora was worried that her reply might not be as favorable as ya’ll was hopin’.”

“Yeah,” he thought for a moment, then, “wait, what do you mean, I was ‘mostly’ incoherent?”

“Well, at one point last night, ya started screeching something I couldn’t understand at the shadows.  I knew it had to be some weird language, but Ah couldn’t make heads, ner tails of it.”

“Um do you remember any of what I was babbling?”

When Applebloom tried to repeat what he had said, Shifter had to winced, “Your pronunciation is actually pretty good, just whistle your S’s more, and roll your ER’s and, uh, are you sure that was it?”

“Ya repeated it a couple of times then passed out again, and ya did it twice.  That’s why it was so easy ta remember.  What were ya saying?”

“I was asking my mother if she was back.  I must have still been really loopy, if when I saw you, at least I figure it was you I was talking to, not the shadows, I thought you were her,”  he had gotten a little uncomfortable having to tell her that much, “Look, Applebloom, could you, uh go back to Zeccora’s and wait for me there?  I’ll be fine now, so you don’t have to stay here and…and…what?”

Applebloom had gotten a very sour look on her face, “oh no ya don’t.  Yer not getting rid of me that easily.  I know for a fact that it will be at least a week fore ya can take them braces off.  Even if all ya did was bruise them there wings, you shouldn’t even be out of bed right now.  An I remember what they looked like fore Zeccora braced um.  They’re shot.  It’ll be at least 10 days for ya can so much as flap um.  You need someun to take care of you, and they need to do it here, so’s yer safe if the Princess doesn’t answer ya nice like.”

Shifter actually liked the idea of Applebloom taking care of him, but he didn’t want her to get into trouble for hiding him, any more than he wanted Zeccora to, and he really didn’t want to see the look of horror she would probably have if she found out what his mother was.  The problem was, he just wasn’t up to fighting her on the issue, physically, or emotionally.  And he could have sworn that there was something to what Applebloom had just said that he should correct, but he just couldn’t remember what it was with her sitting there giving him that look.

“Very well,” he sighed, “I can’t make you leave.  I’m still way too tired to try.  I’m going to eat something then lay back down.  If Zeccora comes back, wake me.”

With that he ate a hardy breakfast, then laid back down.  He was snoring when his head hit the pillow.

Applebloom realized that she hadn’t gotten any of the questions she wanted to ask, answered.  She forgave him.  He was hurt, and if she wasn’t mistaken, scared of hurting her, for some reason.  She figured that she would give him time to relax, and get used to the fact that she was here, till she said she was done.

At that very moment in Canterlot, Princess Celestia was going through her mail from Ponyville.  She was sipping her morning tea when she spewed it all over the letter she was reading.  She bespelled the parchment dry and reread the letter twice before she called out to her personal guards.

“Bring me Shining Armor. Now!”

Shifter’s dreams were plagued with chaos.  One moment he was seeing his mother and Applebloom sitting on a hill calling for him to join them.  As he got closer they changed into a nightmare vision of Royal Guardponies, there to take him to be sent to the moon.  As he ran away, he found himself entering the Everfree Forest and he saw Zeccora telling him it was safe in her hut.  Only for him to find himself in a deep hole, with anonymous changelings, throwing rocks down at him, once he had gotten inside and shut the door.  When he finally realized that they were all just dreams trying to scare him, he shut them out.  That was when he realized that he had woken up to warmth seeping into him from his left side, and there was a hoof draped over him.

He turned to look at his sleeping companion.  He found a snoring Applebloom, blowing in his ear.  His heart nearly exploded like one of his fireworks, right out of his chest.  If his wings hadn’t been so properly secured to his sides, they would have shot straight up, freezing up, fully extended.  He knew he had to get himself under control, but he also knew that he wasn’t going to be able to do that lying next to Her.

As slowly and carefully as he could he extracted himself from her embrace and left her sleeping peacefully in his wake, as he walked outside.  Once he was safely out of earshot he took a deep sigh of relief.  He had had dreams of waking up to that, wonderful, glorious dreams, but for it to actually happen, now of all times?  His luck really did suck horse feathers sometimes.

“The real problem is going to be when she starts asking the really serious questions,” he bemoaned to himself, “what do I say?  I’m not going to lie to Her, of all ponies.  Argh, I am so totally bucked.”

He started for his second lab, when he figured that he couldn’t leave her alone.  She would probably freak out then start looking for him.  If anything happened to her, especially on his account, he’d never be able to forgive himself.

He looked back at his secured wings, “and you’re no help at all, are you?”

“And here I was thinking my medicine was helping you to bear the pain.  What can I do if this is what I get as thanks?”

Shifter was taken completely by surprise, he couldn’t believe that he had been so absorbed in his thoughts, that Zeccora was able to walk right up to him without him being able to detect her approach to his house.

Then what she said sunk in, “oh, I’m so sorry Zeccora.  I didn’t notice you were there.  That wasn’t directed at you.  I was having a bit of a personal conflict.  I was coming to a consensus,” he flopped down dramatically, and covered his head, “I’ve busted my wings.  My tongue doesn’t seem to want to keep pace with my mind.  To top it all off, my brain can’t seem to solve the simplest conundrum I’ve come up against recently, without getting me deeper into trouble,” he started ruffling his mane, “Argh, confound it all to the sun!”

The zebra laughed as she brushed his mane back down, “getting a real taste of life, you are.  How you deal with your problems, determines where you go, and how far,” she helped the troubled colt to his hooves.

“Yeah I know.  Its just, I saw this all going down a lot easier, in my head.  But then I go and nearly blow myself up, Applebloom finds out I’m not who she thinks I am, she decides she’s going to nurse me back to health, and to top it all off, I’m still waiting for Princess Celestia’s response to my letter.  If I have to go to Canterlot in the near future, I’ll probably need to play the part of a pegasus.  I can’t shift my wings with these braces on them.  And while I’m complaining, I think I’m having another bout of, er, ‘personal issues’ to contend with.  Which is just great considering I’m going to be in close proximity to the filly of my dreams, for the next, who knows how long.  I think Mare Fortune has it out for me for some reason.  Excuse me while I go blast a hole to the center of the planet.  Maybe I‘ll find a nice, comfortable place to hide, there.”

Zeccora patted her young, troubled, charge on the shoulder, “You must stop getting so dramatic.  It will only make you very sick.”

Shifter had finally been able to get some of the pressure off his chest. He calmed down, took a deep relaxing breath, “Yes ma’am.  I am feeling better now, though.  I think its all the pent up stress and worry about the Princess’s response.  I thought trying to ‘work’ it out would help,” he reached back and brushed his wing, “heh, look where that got me.”

The wise mentor also realized that he had something else he wanted to get off his shoulders, but didn’t know how to breach the subject, “and what, pray tell, is this about, puberty?  Something you wish to discuss with me?”

“Ya caught that, huh?” he lowered his head, “For the past 2 weeks, I’ve been having trouble sleeping.  I’ve been having pain in my legs.  I figured it was just growing pains again, so I didn’t want to bother you with it, but there were another side effects.  I’m pretty sure my horn is getting longer, and sharper.  Low limbs, that I was sure I ducked end up getting trimmed off.  Sometimes it’ll itch, and if I rub it too hard on something I end up scoring deep gashes, in solid rock.  And that isn’t even a candle flame compared to the mental vs. emotional conflict I got going on inside my head.  When the only two friends I have are, a mare I adore as if she were my own mother, and a filly who, well lets just say, I wish it were Hearts and Hooves Day so I could tell her how I really feel, those emotions start to win out more often than the brain.  I tell ya, growing up sucks, and I’m not even 18,” and with all his worries laid bare the young colt sat down and started laughing, and went on laughing until he was laughing so hard tears came to his eyes.

After having the longest bout of chuckles ever, Shifter realized something he should have seen earlier.

As he whipped the tears from his eyes, “Oh good grief, that sounded, no, that was, so pathetic.  I hope I’m never that melodramatic again.  Thank you Zeccora,” the alicoreling said, with much appreciation,  “although, you could have stopped me sooner, ya know.”

The zebra tussled his mane then smoothed it back, “giving voice to your stress can relieve one’s pain, and now you know, from that, which you should refrain,” she mentioned with a chuckle.

At that moment Applebloom walked out of the cave, with a great yawn, “AAAAAAhhhh, oh, that was a wonderful nap,” she saw the huge grin on her friends’ faces, “did I miss something?”

“Not a thing,” Shifter answered, with Zeccora shaking her head. Both of them chuckling.

Applebloom just shrugged.

Zeccora left some medicine for Shifter then went back to her hut, content that he was in good hooves.  He had promised to take better care of himself, and to punctuate that, Applebloom promised to pick up where he left off.  They had both promised to be at her hut for supper, so she could be sure they were keeping their promises.

Once he had gotten used to the idea of Applebloom hanging around he decided to give her the tour.

“Well this is my house slash fireworks lab.  The pantry is over there, as I’m sure you already know.  I usually just eat off the cleanest table, but I’m guessing that’s going to change.  Judging by that look on your face.  Before you have to ask, my special talents are fireworks, explosives, and just about anything that can blow up.  I found, that just about everything in the Everfree Forest dislikes having something loud go off in their face.  Even if it is just noise and light.  But once I had gotten a taste for making ‘flash bangs’ as I am want to call them, I started wondering, ‘what would they be like if the color was different, could I control just how they blew apart?’  So I started experimenting.  This test lead to that test, that test lead to those tests, so on and so on.  I was able to make a successful firework go off, properly.  And that is what brings me to why I’m telling you all this.  All my ingredients are stored either here, or at a second lab I have hidden away.  THEY are ALL DANGEROUS if used improperly.  Please don’t go nosing around.  You might end up blowing your face off, or turning my den into a crater in the side of the hill.  Now if you’ll follow me,” as he escorted her outside

He lead her around the hill his house was dug into.  On nearly the opposite side he showed her a solid stone slab that he had to move with his magic.  Once he had levitated the stone out of the way, he showed her inside.  The space was at least three times the size of his living quarters, but it was filled.  There were shelves and shelves, of balls.  Balls of different sizes, shapes, and colors.  There were bags, hanging from pegs and stands, with indiscriminant shapes in them.  Tubes, here, there, stacked everywhere.  And Shifter was obviously proud about everything he was showing her.

“Um, I uh hate to have to ask, but whut exactly am I lookin at?”

Shifter’s chest fell a little, but then he realized, “Of course you wouldn’t recognize fireworks, not in these basic forms,” he waved his hoof across the room, “everything you see here is a firework, or is used to fire one off.  There are so many designs and colors.  They are so pretty,” he said with a smile lighting up his face, as he looked around the room, “I’ve spent the last 4 years designing, and making fireworks.  They are to me, what Sweet Apple Acres is to you and your family.  This room is the culmination of all my work, to this point.”

Applebloom stared at the storage space in a new light, but then she wondered, “What was that about a second lab?  Why do ya need 2?”

Shifter shook his head, this filly was sharp, “well to be honest, some of my experiments turned out something unexpected.  Like the rocket that didn’t explode till it returned to the ground, and when it hit, made a very deep, concise, hole.  Or the fuse string that burned so hot and fast, it burned a trail in solid rock.  And those are just examples of the less dangerous stuff.  The lab is a 1 hour walk due east of here, and is solid rock.  The floor, walls, and ceiling were cut and shaped when I found it.  I figured if nothing else, it would be a nice place to have as a second house, if for no other reason, just in case.  Then I started making more and more of the really dangerous stuff so I started storing it there.  Behind a 2 ton boulder wedged into the entrance.  Its fairly hard to spot, unless you know what you’re looking for.”

Applebloom shivered a little, when she pictured what would happen if such a place ever caught fire.  She was getting the impression, however, that Shifter was opening up to her.

“How come yer telling me all this?”

“Well, to tell you the truth,  I’ve felt bad about lying to you about who I am this whole time.  I was kind of hoping this would help make up for it,” he told her, hanging his head.

Applebloom raised his head and looked him in the eyes, “the only way yer going to be able to ‘make up fer it’, is to start answering some questions.  I realize that there are still some things ya want ta keep to yerself, but I want answers.”

Shifter showed her out and replaced the slab over the entrance, “lets go back to the house so we can sit down and make ourselves comfortable.  This is probably going to take a while.”

After they had walked back inside he had her sit while he got them some water. He served them cups and sat a pitcher down next to them.  Then he made himself comfortable.

“Applebloom I just want you to know that I’ll tell you the honest truth about anything you want to know, but there is one question I want you to hold off on.  You can ask me about why I’ve been hiding my true form from you, and why I’ve been hiding from others when we go to Zeccora’s for dinner.  You’ll understand when I explain myself there.  Other than that you are free to ask me anything.  Knock yourself out.”

Applebloom thought for a moment, “fair enough.  First question then, just what can you do with magic?”

“My expertise is in levitation, shields and barriers, control of inanimate objects, pyromancy, illumination, and location.  Although I do have a few other special spells they’re not really that important.  They’re very circumstance specific.”

“So yer not as powerful as Twilight Sparkle?”

“From what I’ve heard about her, from Zeccora, under certain circumstances I could be.  But at magic in general, I highly doubt it.”

“If yer wings weren’t busted, just how good are ya at flying?”

“Not to boast but I think I’m fairly passable.  My wings are heavier than most pegasi so I have to use more muscles when I fly.  So, I’m pretty sure I have a little more stamina than the average pegasus, but they have more speed than I do.  The other thing is, I can carry more weight while flying because of this as well.  And that is comparing me to the average pegasus.  The one thing you need to understand is, I only fly as a hobby.  I’m more comfortable walking wherever I want to go.”

“Scootaloo would ask why, but I can understand.  Next question, just how old are ya?”

“By my best guess, I’m almost 18 years old.  Because of certain events in my past, I’m not exactly sure what day my birthday is on, but I do know that its about a week before Hearth‘s Warming day.”

Applebloom had to think for just a moment before she could think of another question, so she took a few sips of water, when, “Zeccora mentioned that ya saved her life.  Could ya be more detailed?”

“Hmm, where to start?  Well I’ll just go from the beginning, but first,” he needed to wet his throat, “better, now.  I was out looking for zap-apples when I heard some timber wolves start up a howl.  After just a while I heard screaming.  I knew that the wolves were attacking somepony.  I went to see if I could rescue them, before it was too late.  I got there just in time.  9 wolves had Zeccora backed up against a rock outcrop.  Just as I came on the scene three of them jumped at her.  I did the only thing I could think of, I levitated them all above the tree tops, forced them together, then I brought them down as hard as I could.  Once I made sure they couldn’t hurt us I went to check on her.  She had slumped to the ground leaving a bloody smear all over the boulder she was leaning on.  I threw a barrier around her and got her to my house as fast as I could and gave her the best medical treatment I could.  Fortunately it was enough.  She survived.  And once I got her back to her hut she recovered even faster.  That‘s about it.”

Applebloom was a little worried about the answer to her next question but she still had to hear it, “What, um, what happened to those timber wolves?”

“Of the 9, 2 of them limped away.  The rest, I chunked as far away as I could.  After that I don’t know,” Shifter answered, with an absolutely neutral look on his face.

Applebloom was a little frightened by the fact that Shifter could be so callous about having, more than likely, killed 7 timber wolves, but she shook it off.  If Zeccora felt safe about letting him visit her so casually then he couldn’t possibly be evil.  She realized that he had mentioned something she could most certainly relate to so she decided to ask, to try and lighten the mood back up.

“Ya said ya was looking for zap-apples.  Why?”

Shifter smiled, “Of course you would catch that.  The real question is, why wouldn’t I go looking for zap-apples if they were harvestable.  They’re delicious,”  he chuckled, “but that wasn’t the only reason.  I know that they are magical, in and of themselves.  I wanted to see if I could get a firework that would have a fully colored rainbow blast if I used them.  It was my second chance to get some for that particular experiment and try.  The great thing was, not only did I finally get it to work, after just a little more trail and error, I was able to make a smoke bomb that lets off rainbow smoke.  I can’t wait till next year’s zap-apple harvest, so I can make more.  I’ve only got three of the fireworks and two smoke bombs.”

Applebloom could appreciate his excitement.  Zap-apple time was still the second biggest payday at the farm.  She would have to see if there was a hidden jar of jam somewhere that she could share with him.

“So, what exactly do ya do fer fun when ya ain’t making things that go boom?”

“I enjoy reading a good book.  My favorite is the Daring Do series.  Then there’s flight practice.  When I haven’t busted my wings, of course.  If Zeccora has the free time, I go take lessons with her, or we just sit and discuss stuff.  And if all else fails, I go exploring the Everfree Forest.  I usually bring ingredients back for myself or Zeccora, or I’ll just go out to see what I can find.  I probably know more about this Forest than any other pony alive,” he told her proudly.

Applebloom was enjoying their conversation, for the most part, and she saw with each answer that Shifter explained he was truly loosening up, and enjoying himself.  She got to thinking if there was something a little more personal to ask him about when she remembered how he had acted the previous night, and his explanation.

“I was just wonderin, could you teach me that language, ya know, the one you were spoutin last night?” she asked.

Shifter had to think about her request for a moment.  Teaching her his mother’s native language would be kind of fun, and he would finally have someone else to talk to in it, so he didn’t get out of practice.  And, if she ever ran into a changeling, or a group of changelings, who was trying to impersonate other ponies she could always spot them, if they made the mistake of speaking in front of her, thinking she wouldn‘t be able to understand them.

“Sure, I can try.  But I’ll warn you, its not an easy thing to learn….?” he had to stop.

“How hard can one more language be?” Applebloom asked, in Zeccora’s native tongue.

“Not…thot…herd…appeirently,” he responded, in the same language.

“Yer accent is horrible,” she said, shifting back to plain Equestrian.

“I’ve only had 3 months of training, 1 day a week, at best, what do you expect?  How much practice have you had?”

“Over 2 years now,” she told him, “after I talked er inta teaching me herbology I thought it would be a nice gesture to try and learn her native language.  Soon after, we found out that I had a real knack fer it.  Until recently we used ta only speak in it while I was taking my private lessons.”

“I wonder what, could possibly have, interrupted that?” Shifter joked.

“Oh, just this handsome colt who thought he could take ma teacher away from me,” Applebloom quipped back.

“He must have been out of his tiny little mind, if he thought he could steal Zeccora away from you.  Who is this fool, I’ll teach him a lesson for you if you want me to?”  Shift said, going into a boxing pose.

“He nearly blew himself to the moon, recently.  I don’t think it would be a fair fight.”

“Oh, well, in that case, we’ll let him off for now.  Shall we?”

“We shall.”

And with that, the two ponies broke down into a fit of laughs that lasted a for quite a while.  As he recovered, Shifter noticed that the sunlight was beginning to dim.

“I believe we have an appointment to keep with your aforementioned teacher.  Its time for dinner, and I, for one, am getting hungry.”

Applebloom agreed with his assessment, and they headed for Zeccora’s for a meal.

They arrived just as Zeccora was putting the finishing touches to her spicy hay stew.  They all greeted each other, and sat as the zebra served.  Once they had all eaten their fill, Shifter washed and rinsed the dishes while Applebloom dried and put them away.

As Applebloom put the last few dishes up, Shifter told Zeccora about the promise he had made to Applebloom, earlier, and asked her to get one of her special packages.  Once Zeccora had gotten the small item, he had asked for, he sat down at the table across from where Applebloom was sitting and waited.  Zeccora sat down next to him.  When Applebloom returned to the table she realized that it must be time for her to ask the all imposing questions.

When she went to sit Shifter stopped her, with a shake of his head, “I want you to stay standing,” he pointed to the small ball sitting on the table in front of her, “do you recognize what that is?”

Applebloom nodded, “yeah.  Its one of Zeccora’s special securities.  If it were to break in something’s face, its suppose to paralyze them, almost instantly, for a few minutes, by the time the paralysis starts to wear off, it’ll have knocked them unconscious for a couple of hours.”

“If you feel you absolutely must, use it on me, after I have answered your questions, then, gallop as hard as you can to Ponyville and get as much help as you feel is necessary,” Shifter took a deep relaxing breath, “now if you wish, ask me whatever you want to know about.  And just so you know, my promise to be honest is still in effect.”

Applebloom had thought that the first thing she was going to ask him was going to be about his past but she changed her mind, “why are you going this far to make me feel so safe?”

“Because I want you to understand that you are safe, around me that is.  The secret you’re about to ask about is very disturbing, to say the least.  Very few is the pony that would probably ever want to be my friend if they knew this secret.  You are one of two friends I have.  I don’t want to lose half my pony friends, because they’re too afraid to hang out with me.”

Applebloom felt something pop inside her chest, for an instant, but she shook it off.  The discussion at hand was too important for her to get distracted.  She looked at her teacher for support.  Zeccora just shrugged.

“Very well,” she said, coming to grips with the situation, “Shifter, who are you?”

“I’m Shifter.  I am an alicoreling.”

“An ali-whats-it?”

“I am a alicoreling.  It is a term I came up with for my race.  Even though, I’m pretty sure I’m the only one there is.”

“Oh-kay, and just what is a al-li-core-ling?”

“My father was an alicorn.  My mother is a changeling.”

That single statement had plenty of time to sink in.  Applebloom had frozen.  She, finally, truly, understood what kind of secret could be so volatile, somepony would do just about anything to hide it from everyone else.  And how important friends were, that a pony would actually hide his heritage, just to keep his friends.

Then she looked at Zeccora and realized, “you knew!” she stated.

“Yes, Zeccora, knew about it the whole time.  I was so happy and scared to finally get to talk to another pony, I, sort of, just started telling her everything, when we first met.”

“An just what did ya tell her?”

“Well, I told her the story about how my parents met, and, and what the hay are you doing?”

“What’s it look like I’m doin?  I’m sittin down, so’s I can get comfortable.  Yer going ta tell me that story, and I’m not goin’a stand there and listen to it,” Applebloom got comfortable, “Ya can start, anytime now.”

“So, you’re just going to accept the fact that I just admitted to being half changeling?”

“Why shouldn’t I?  Ya promised to tell the truth.”

“I just admitted to being half changeling,” he repeated.

“Yeah, ya said that, already.  It doesn’t matter to me what ya are, its who you are that counts.”

Shifter looked over at Zeccora, with a smile that threatened to split his face.  The zebra had already started chuckling.  The two of them fell over laughing.  It took them so long to recover, that Applebloom had started to wonder if she should have the water checked.

“I’m beginning to think that I have more of a prejudice attitude towards my mother’s race, than others,” Shifter said as he helped Zeccora to her hooves.

“Naw,” Applebloom answered, “I’m pretty sure other ponies don’t like changelings none.  Its just the fact that me and Zeccora have actions to judge you by, not yer heritage.  Now, I believe you were going to tell me the story of how yer parents met.  So calm down and get to splainin.”

“Yes ma’am.  The story is fairly simple, and I don’t really have a lot of details, so please bare with me on this,”  he took a deep breath and started retelling the tale, “My mom was headed to the city of Las Pegasus, when she was attacked by an owl bear.  My dad rescued a pretty pegasus, and got her medical treatment.  She was all alone so he offered to take care of her.  They ended up falling in love.  She told him her secret.  He loved her all the same.  They got married.  A year later, I was born.  And that is the short version.”

“The short version hardly tells me anythin’.  Give me the longer one.”

“If you say so.  And just so you know, I’ll tell the story in past tense, but I’m pretty sure my mom is still alive.  Anyways, here go’s attempt number 2.  My mother was a loner by nature, even for a changeling.  She didn’t really like the whole ‘hive attitude’ vibe they have going on.  Unfortunately she was still a changeling, so she needed to absorb some ‘love’ energy every so often to survive.  She had transformed herself into a pegasus and was planning on going to Las Pegasus to try and find some sustenance.  She was walking through a heavily forested area when she was ambushed by an owl bear.  Before she could take off, it almost sheared her wings clean off, then it started batting her around like it was trying to tenderize her.  It was going for the death swipe, across her throat, when it just suddenly disappeared.  To her great fortune, and mine, a young, mortal alicorn Police stallion had heard about the owl bear, and had gone out looking for it.  When he found it mauling a pony he teleported it as far away as he could, to a very desolate place he knew of.  My father had rescued, what he thought was, a pretty, young, pegasus, mare who was in serious need of medical attention.  He got her to the nearest clinic as fast as he could.  Fortunately, they were able to save her wings.  Miraculously, they were able to save her, without ever finding out that she was a changeling.  When my mother woke up, in the clinic, she found a handsome, young, alicorn stallion, in a police uniform, asleep, next to her bed.  My father found out, shortly after, that she was all alone and offered to take care of her.  My mother said, 9 years after the fact, she still didn’t know why she accepted, but that it was the wisest thing she had ever done.  They ended up spending a lot of time together.  It wasn’t too long, before, they fell in love.  They were out on a date when she decided to tell him her secret, he pulled a ring out, and said, ‘I love you, for who you are.  I could never hate you for what you are.  Will you marry me?’,” he changed the subject for a moment, “That by the way is why me and Zeccora laughed so hard.  When I told her the story, she had come to almost the same conclusion about me, and had gotten very surprised.  Anyways,” it was time to get back to the story, “they got married.  His love for her was so strong, she never had to look for any energy, ever.  Then, 1 year later, I was born.  Fortunately, because they were both magically inclined, they were able to hide the fact that I wasn’t anything more than just another mortal alicorn foal.  And that is pretty much the tale of how my parents met.  Shew, that was long,” he said as he took a very long drink of water.

Applebloom decided to ask, “so what exactly happened to yer dad?  He’s dead right?”

Shifter was momentarily stunned, “I was kind of hopping you wouldn’t ask about him.  The half truth is, yes, he is dead.  I won’t go into detail, unless you press me on it.  Just so you know, you probably DO NOT want to know the details.”

“I understand you are trying to not scare me, but I really want ya to be 100% honest with me.  No half truths,” Applebloom replied, “I can tell that yer worried that what ever happened will scare me, but I’m perfectly capable of handling it, so spill.”

“Very well,” Shifter sighed, “and just so you know, even Zeccora doesn’t know this part of my past.  I don’t really know that much about my father.  All I can remember, are big, soft, brown eyes, and a soft voice that loved me,” Shifter’s shoulders sagged, “You see, my father was murdered, shortly after I was born.  He was killed by changelings.  Because he was supposedly keeping my mother away from her race, and responsibilities,” he spat out.

Applebloom and Zeccora were, both, very shocked.  Death wasn’t that common, except in old age, serious disease, and/or, severely fatal accidents.  To hear that somepony had been murdered was only ever to be heard of in fables, and ancient history.

It took Applebloom a moment to ask, “that’s no reason to kill somepony.  How could they?”

“From what my mother told me, they felt they had the right to kill anypony that had taken away a female changeling,” Shifter tried to explain, without choking on his own words, “you see, there are not that many females.  Perhaps 1 female to every 20 or 30 males.  And that’s the ratio she gave me, almost a decade ago.  I’m not trying to excuse them, killing my father was also fun for them.  Some of them enjoy torture.  It just gave them an excuse.”

“I think I can understand why ya probably do have more of a prejudice attitude towards them.  You know a lot more about them then the average pony.”

Shifter just shrugged, “that’s the way I look at it.  But then I also don’t go around judging every single one of them by even the majority.  Some of them, namely ones like my mom, are good souls.  Their heritage just really suc….,” he froze for a moment, then a very visible shiver ran through his whole body, “oh, that is not good!”

“Whut, whut’s wrong?” asked Applebloom.

“A group of ponies just walked into the Forest.  They’re coming from the direction of the cottage of that pegasus mare that takes care of animals.  If I’m not mistaken there are 3 unicorns, 2 pegasi, and 2, no, wait, there’s a third, earthponies.  They are headed this way.  The thing that worries me is the fact that 2 of those unicorns are strong.  One of them is almost as strong as me, and the other,  is stronger than the other two put together,” he got a weak smile on his face, “I think we’re about to hear my reply from Princess Celestia.”

“Aw, well, we’ll just have ta be ready for them, won’t we?” Applebloom suggested, as she started to help Zeccora, straighten up her home “it will take them at least 30 minutes to get here, from Fluttershy’s cottage.  I have another coupla questions I want ya ta answer.”

Shifter just chuckled, as he helped “yes, ma’am.  Anything I can tell you ma’am?”

“Why did yer mom leave ya in the Everfree Forest of all places.  Why didn’t she take ya with her?”

“Because her mother would have had me killed, if I ever went back to her changeling herd/hive.”

“WHUT?  Explain, please?”

Shifter took a moment to think about how to answer that truthfully, “the truth is, my mother’s mother is a very, very, bad changeling mare.  She makes Chrysalis look like a fillyscout in comparison.  There are only 2 reasons she wasn’t the one leading the swarm that attacked Canterlot a few years ago.  One, she’s never been very good with magic, even at her best.  Two, she doesn’t like to travel by herself, she’s very paranoid, about a lot of stuff, from what my mom told me.  Anyways, my grandmother has absolutely no love for me, ‘the abomination’.  The only reason I wasn’t killed when she sent those changelings to bring my mother back, was because my mom was able to talk the enforcers into letting her drop me off in the Everfree Forest.  They didn’t know that she had my house stocked and ready for just such an occasion.  My mother did the best for me she could,” Shifter proclaimed proudly.

“Do ya know what yer goin’a say to the Princess, when, and if ya ever get ta meet her?”

“To be perfectly honest, I have no real idea.  I figure I’ll have to tell her the same stuff I just told you.  If I get the chance, I’ll show her my fireworks.  I just really hope that I don’t end up getting banished.”

“Aw, don’t worry, none,” Applebloom said, trying to cheer him up, “Princess Celestia is the most kind and considerate pony I know of, cept fer maybe Fluttershy.  Once ya explain, I’m sure she’ll be more than willing to leave ya to yer lonesome,” they had all finished cleaning, “there, all done.  And just in time, I think.”

She sat Shifter down at the table, across from the door, then sat down next to him.  The three of them could hear the noise of a group coming towards the hut.

There was clopping on the door, “Zeccora, are you in?” came a feminine voice.

Zeccora answered the door, “Welcome, to you, one-and-all, come on inside and be careful not to fall,” she said as she ushered a group of ponies inside.

Fist inside was, Twilight Sparkle, then, her brother, Shining Armor, next was, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and lastly, followed Pinkie Pie.

Applebloom got a little worried about the way her big sister was looking at her, but now was neither the time nor the place to worry about that.  She noticed that Shifter had looked everypony that had entered Zeccora’s hut over once and then his eyes had never left Twilight.  Nor did she miss the fact that they got brighter, or that he suddenly had ruby red irises that pinched and went cat-like.  She nudged him, looked him directly in the eyes, blinked, then nodding toward Twilight.

Shifter shook his head and his eyes slowly returned to normal, “do you remember that question you ask me about,” he whispered, “the second one about my magic?”

Applebloom nodded.

“Yeah, well, take that ‘highly doubtful’, throw it out the window, and make it, ‘not even going to waste her time trying’.  I wouldn’t stand a chance, in a straight up figh…uh, I mean, competition.  At least that is, I take it, if she is Twilight Sparkle?”

“Yes, that is who I am,” Twilight answered, “and I take it that you are the ‘alicoreling’, Shifter?  The one who sent this letter to Princess Celestia?” she asked, as she levitated his letter from her bag, and laid it on the table in front of her.  She also took out a scroll and quill, and began taking notes.

“Yes ma’am, I am Shifter, the alicoreling.”

“And you readily admit that you are, allegedly, half changeling?”

“Not allegedly ma’am.  It is fact.  My mother is a changeling,” he replied proudly, sitting a little straighter, if it were possible.

“And your father was an alicorn, a mortal alicorn?” Shining Armor asked.

“That is correct, sir.  My father was a mortal alicorn, and he is dead.” Shifter replied, just as quickly, losing some of his fire.

Applebloom couldn’t help but put her hoof on his shoulder to try and comfort him.  He turned to her and nodded his thanks, and bucked up, to ready himself for the next question.

Applejack gave her sister a stare to let her know she was watching her.  Applebloom just returned the look with indifference and a shrug.

Pinkie Pie couldn’t help but ask, “how come you don’t look like a regular changeling?”

“To be perfectly honest ma’am, I don’t know.  This is my true form, well except for the braces on my wings.  If you don’t believe me you’re free to try and use magic to prove I’m telling the truth.” Shifter said.

Rainbow Dash asked, interrupting Twilight’s next question, “and what did you do to your wings?  And just how good are you at flying?”

Shifter looked over at Applebloom they shared a soft smile, then he turned back to Dash, “well ma’am, as to what I did to my wings, I was really nervous about Princess Celestia’s reply and I was trying to calm my mind down with a little work.  Let’s just say that that was a bad idea.  I was too distracted.  I ended up getting thrown into a tree that was much sturdier than I am.  As to how good I am at flying, well to be honest, I’m decent, when my wings aren’t crushed.  My wings are heavier than your’s, and larger, the bones are thicker, and so is the hide they’re wrapped in.  They look like dragon wings, by the way,” he explained, “the thing is, I don’t fly as a form of transportation.  Just a hobby, well, that, and to keep my wings from atrophying.  Ma’am.”

“Dragon!” exclaimed Applebloom, “that’s why I thought bat wasn’t quite right.”

Shifter’s jaw fell a little as he turned to his friend, “oh come on.  You really thought ‘bat’ when you saw my wings?  Bats have their place and all, but didn‘t you notice the sheer size of my wings?”

“Sorry,” Applebloom apologized, “but, they were kinda mangled when I saw um.”

“Well yeah, but,…” Shifter tried.

He was interrupted by an, “Ah-hem,” from Twilight.

“Oh sorry folks.  Didn’t mean to fly off the handle there, no pun intended,” he turned back to Applebloom once more, “we’ll finish this discussion some other time.”

Applebloom said, “time and place, mister, and I’ll be there.”

Shifter turned back to Twilight Sparkle with a smile and waited for her next question, he had been able to calm down and loosen up thanks to that little exchange.

Before Twilight could ask a new question, Shining Armor, spoke up, “and what did you mean, when you said you wouldn’t stand a chance against my sister if the two of you were to ever get into a magical duel?”

“Well, sir, Applebloom asked me earlier what my specialty in magic was.  When I told her she asked if I was stronger than Miss Twilight.  My answer was, ‘under certain circumstances I could be.  At magic in general, I highly doubt it.’.  As I’m sure everyone noticed, when the group of you came inside, my irises turned red and pinched and my eyes started  glowing.  That is a natural instinct I seem to have, when I meet magical creatures for the first time, or if I feel like activating it.  When it happens, I can see something’s, or somepony’s, magical aura, and I can tell just how strong they are at magic, or how much magical potential they may have.  Miss Sparkle has far more magic than any other pony in this room.  And just so you know, you and I have almost the same amount, but if we were to get into a one on one, I would probably win, eventually, sir.”

Shining Armor harrumphed, but before he could go on with his questioning, his sister interrupted him, “and just what, pray tell, is your specialty in magic?”

“Levitation, shields and barriers, control of inanimate objects, pyromancy, illumination, and location, ma’am.  Plus a few other special spells that I’ve learned from some old texts my mother left me.  I also have my shifting ability from my changeling blood.”

Twilight perked up at the mention of magical texts that she had probably never read before, “would it be possible for me to get a look at those spell references?”

“I don’t see why not,” Shifter said, “although, you would have to either come over to my place, or let me go get them.  They are fairly old, so I store them in a dry place so as not to let them get any more damaged than what they were when I first took them out and looked them over,” he got a slight sheepish look on his face, “oh, and uh, I’ll need to translate them.  They’re in changeling script.”

“I can’t wait,” Twilight said, then she remembered what she was supposed to be doing at Zeccora’s, she turned back to her scroll, wrote another note, then got back on topic, “but I suppose that I will have to.  So, Shifter, why exactly do you want to be allowed to stay in Equestria?  Why did you send Princess Celestia the letter?”

“To be perfectly honest, I was sick of being alone for a long time.  The problem was I was more scared of what might have happened if I came out of the Forest,” he looked over at his mentor, “but then I met Zeccora, and then Applebloom.  I realized just how lonely I’ve been, and for too long.  I want the chance to make friends, and I don’t want to have to hide who and what I am when I try.”

“Admirable,” Twilight responded, as she finished up her note “honesty is a trait that anypony should be able to admire,” she looked over at Applejack, then over to her brother.  She nodded solemnly and passed him the small scroll, as she magically rolled it.

“Are you absolutely sure, Twi?” Shining Armor asked as he put his sister‘s missive in his saddle bag.

When Twilight nodded to him again, he shook his head slightly, smiled to everypony, then teleported.

Shifter’s jaw came unhinged, “did he…did he just…teleport?” he asked, as his eyes enlarged beyond possibility.

Applebloom looked at the spot Shining Armor had just vacated, then back to her friend, “whut, ya never seen somepony telepor… oh yeah, ya woulda never had the chance wouldja have?”

Shifter just shook his head.  As much to answer her as to clear his mind, and to help hide the goofy look he was trying to get off his face.

“Well that takes care of this interview,” Twilight told Shifter, “I’ll have to wait for the Princess’s response to my recommendation, but I’m fairly certain that she will agree with me and allow you to move about freely,” she stuck out her hoof, “allow me to be the first to welcome you to Equestria, Shifter.”

When what she had said sank in, a huge grin spread across Shifter’s face.  He was going to be allowed to stay.  He wasn’t going to have to hide anymore.  He was going to be able to do so many new things.  He was finally going to be able to go make more friends, and they wouldn’t have to brave the Everfree Forest, just so he could hang out with them.  He couldn’t help himself.

Shifter jumped into the air as hard as he could, throwing his hooves up, “YAHOOO,” he yelled, then he came back to the floor, his grin threatened to split his face, he grabbed Twilight’s hoof and nearly tore it off shaking it so hard, “oh thank you so much, Miss Twilight.  You have no idea how happy you have just made me.”

The purple unicorn rescued her appendage, smiling happily, “no, but I can imagine.”

Once she had broken contact, Shifter grabbed Zeccora in a bear hug, and danced her across the room.  When he tried to shift his joyous exchange to Applebloom she stiff hoofed him in the chest.

“Hold yer stampede, right there buddy boy,” she exclaimed, “I’d be more than happy to share a hug with ya, but if yer thinkin’ of tryin’ to crush me like that then twirl me around the room, you got another think coming mister,” then she lowered her hoof, grabbed him in her own hug, with a huge smile on her face.

Before anypony else could say or do anything else, Pinkie Pie shouted, “you know what this calls for,” and before anyone could stop her she turned into the Tasmanian Party Machine, and transformed Zeccora’s hut into celebration central, “A PARTY!”

Shifter started laughing so hard his sides looked like they were about to explode.  When he was able to catch a breath he reminded the coordinator, “Miss Pinkie, don’t you want all your friends to enjoy?”

At which time, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Big Macintosh, stuck their collective heads in the door to try and figure out what was going on.  They recognized one of Pinkie’s ‘on the spot’ parties.  They were pushed threw the door from behind, by Pinkie, and were summarily introduced to Shifter, so that the party could get started.

Shifter realized that the 6 guardians of harmony had been dispatched to investigate him, along with the Captain of the Guard, and Applebloom’s BIG brother.  He realized that a force, even more powerful than a group of Guardponies, had been sent to inspect him.  He had never thought about that occurrence.  He fell over and started pounding the ground, as he began to laugh.  And he continued to laugh for quite a while.

As he laughed, all the pain, loneliness, stress, and nightmares disappeared.  They felt as though they had happened so very long ago.

As she watched her young ward come back to life, a few tears came to Zeccora’s eyes.  She brushed them away before anypony could notice.

When Applebloom saw a true smile on Shifter’s face, that pressure that had been in her chest came back for a moment.  She realized that something was happening between her and the colt, but she wasn’t quite sure what it was.  She figured that she would talk to Applejack about it, if her sister didn’t kill her when (and if) Applejack realized that Applebloom had fibbed about why she was at Zeccora’s.

Once Shifter had recovered, the party got into full swing.  There was an hour and a half of eating, drinking, and merry making.  Then all the guests began to excuse themselves.

Rarity said that she had an order she had to finish.  Fluttershy had to put her animals to bed.  Rainbow Dash had to be up early the next morning, she had to sub for a friend at flight school.  Twilight left saying that she would be back another time to see if she could borrow those magic scrolls.

When Applejack and Big Mac went to leave, Applebloom asked them to wait a moment, then took Shifter aside to have a private chat.

“Well, that went better than ya could have expected, huh?”

“A lot better than I had expected.  When I felt them all headed this way, I figured that I was about to get served a one way ticket to the moon.  I’m just glad that I was able to convince Miss Twilight that I am a good pony,” he got a light blush on his face, “um, when do you think is the next time I can see you?”

Applebloom looked over at her sister and saw that Applejack was purposely not paying any attention to her younger sibling, she smiled, “prolly as soon as I can get my chores done tomarer.  It looks like sis won’t hold it against me fer helpin’ ya,” then she got an idea, “oh yeah, I got a question fer ya?”

“Shoot.”

“I got plans ta hang out wit Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell, this coming Friday.  Would ya be interested in gettin’ introduced to my best friends?”

Shifter thought about it for a moment, “Sure.  That would great.  If I can make more friends before I make my first trip into civilization, it would probably be better for me, anyway.”

Applebloom smiled.  She said her goodbyes to her friend and her teacher and then she went home with her older siblings.  She was going to have some explaining to do, and some questions she was going to need answered, but she felt like she could take on a dragon, the mood she was in.

Once Shifter had helped Zeccora and Pinkie clean up the mess, the pink earthpony headed home.

Shifter decided to stay over at Zeccora’s for the night, but he was on such a buzz from all the good news he had gotten, it was early the next morning before he was finally able to lie down and actually get some sleep.

About the time Pinkie Pie had left Zeccora’s hut, a conference was going on in Canterlot.  Shining Armor was giving his, and Twilight’s report, to Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and his beloved, Princess Cadence.

“Well ladies,” Celestia posed, “what do you think?”

“We doth believe that this young colt shall make an excellent addition to our populous,” Luna answered.

It took Cadence a moment to come up with a response, “I will not allow prejudice to cloud my judgment,” she said with a shake of her head.  She recovered and said, “I will agree with Luna on this.  It had to take a great deal of courage for him to send the letter, to begin with.  That combined with how he responded to his ‘interview’, I believe we should at least give him a chance.”

“I am very happy that we can come to a unanimous decision,” Celestia said with a smile, she turned to her Captain, “Shining Armor, you shall return to your sister tomorrow morning with our reply to young Shifter‘s request,” she said, dismissing the meeting.

The next day Shifter slept in much longer than he had planned on.  It was almost noon, before he rolled over and ended up poking himself in the ribs with the braces.  The pressure in his side woke him with quite the efficiency.  He made his way to the wash basin, splashed water in his face to help bring alertness faster.  He found out that the water was cold, quick, fast, and in a hurry.  He dried himself off then walked outside.

He thought that it might be a bad idea, but his wings were sore from so much confinement and inactivity.  He popped the catches on the braces, and shed them, then he stretched his wings as far as they would before they started to ping his pain receptors.  When he realized that they were almost fully extended, he gave them an experimental flap.  Then he heard the gasp come from the hut.  He turned to check his audience.

There stood Twilight Sparkle, her eyes going the size of serving trays, her bottom jaw sagging.  Next to her stood Zeccora, and she had a large grin on her mug.

He figured that he had already surprised them so it wouldn’t hurt to go ahead and exercise his wings.  He jumped and gave enough force in his flaps to keep himself airborne.  When it didn’t hurt, he figured that his wings had healed sufficiently.  He landed and began to unwrap the few bandages that still clung to his appendages.

“I can understand why he is so proud of his wings,” he heard Twilight say to no pony in particular.

“I never could get tired of seeing the wings that his mother sired,” Zeccora mentioned.  Then, as she helped him remove the bandages, it was her turn to get the stunned look.

His wings looked as if they had never been injured, certainly not to the degree they had been, just over two days ago.

“Tis’ impossible it is.  Those wings looked like they had been threw a Blitz,” she said as she stretched his right wing out in her hooves, inspecting it closely.

Shifter couldn’t help but give a light chuckle as he remembered, “you’ve never seen me seriously injured, have you Zeccora?” when Zeccora shook her head with that dumbfounded look on her face, still staring at the grey wing, he couldn’t help but laugh, “that would be because, usually, I’m never as careless as I was that day.  On top of that, I seem to have an extremely advanced healing rate.  Watch this!” he brought his hoof up to his horn and he slid it across the blade edge, with barely a wince.  Hmm, that thing really is sharp

He brought it down for both mares’ inspection.  Zeccora let his wing go and turned to look at the sight Twilight was getting.  Sure enough, Shifter’s hoof was sliced clean open.  Then very slowly, they all watched the cut close up and heal over without leaving so much as a scar.  The process took a little over five minutes.

“The degree of the injury determines how long it takes to heal,” he explained, “for some reason broken bones won’t automatically heal.  They have to be reset.  If something is stuck into me, unless it kills me outright, I figure, my body removes it then heals.  I’m pretty sure that if I was stabbed through-and-through, with something, and that didn’t kill me, whatever the object was, would have to be removed before I would start to heal.  All that, and I still suffer from the common cold like everypony else, though, and trust me pain is still very, well, painful.  Other than that though, pretty amazing, huh?” he finished with a smile on his face.

Both mares just nodded in acknowledgement.

As he folded his wings back down as Twilight shook herself.  She had come on a completely different mission, but had learned something new today.  She had good news for the young colt, and a request.

“Well I have something to tell you that will go over just as well, I hope.  I was correct in my assumption last night.  My brother brought me a response from all 3 Princesses, earlier this morning.  They saw fit to allow you your request.  You are free to travel about this great land of Equestria,” she pulled a scroll out of her bag, with her magic, and passed it to Shifter, “this is to inform any authority, that they are to report directly to Canterlot, if you are to ever get into any kind of trouble while anywhere else other than Ponyville, or Canterlot itself,” she paused a moment, “but that wasn’t the only reason I’m here.”

“Let me guess,” Shifter interjected, with a smile plastered on his face, “you want to know it you can borrow those texts about magic.”

Twilight nodded vigorously, a slightly goofy grin on her face.

“I have no problem lending them to you, but like I said last night, I’ll probably need to translate them first.”

“That would be fine.  Its not like it is a matter of national security or anything, I just want the chance to experiment with some new magic,” Twilight replied.

She thanked Shifter for his time and headed home.

Shifter felt like the luckiest pony in the world.  He had great health, freedom to go wherever he wanted, the best mentor anypony could hope for, the confidence of the prettiest filly this side of the Everfree Forest, and now he would be getting in the good graces of, probably, the strongest mare in Equestria, next to one of the Princesses, of course.  All was right in the world.

He started humming as he made lunch for himself and Zeccora.  She had gone back outside and started mixing a batch of perfumed bathing soap.  She finished adding the final ingredients, and they ate, while she let the pot boil.  Once they had finished eating, Shifter cleaned up, while she went back out and started getting the molds ready.

“Hey Zeccora,” he called as he put away the last of the few dishes, she stuck her head threw the door, “Applebloom said that she was going to try and come over, but I figure it will probably be a little while.  I had thought about going to check my other storage space out yesterday, and she got me to thinking about the last time I had been there.  I think I’m going to go and look everything over, and at some point I’m going to have to inventory it.  If she shows up tell her she can wait for me here, or at my place.  I think I’m going to fly there to make sure my wings are at 100%.  I’ll stop by the cave, then walk back, to make sure I don’t miss her.  Cool?”

She smiled then nodded, and went back to watching her cauldron.  Shifter took off from a little ways away so as not to disturb the contents.

He made a leisurely glide to his second lab.  His wings felt just fine after the light exercise.

He landed in front of a nondescript rock face in the side of a small mountain within the Everfree Forest.  As he had told Applebloom, if one didn’t know where the place was, there was very likely, no chance, anypony, would ever find the contents of his “Vault of Boom”.

He found everything to be in order, and decided that it would probably take quite a few scrolls to write out an inventory.  When he realized that he was going to have to come up with names for some of his discoveries, himself, he chuckled as he looked around at the most dangerous storage facility in existence.  He knew that if even a light spark were to ever go off in the wrong direction in here, a good 10-15% of the Everfree Forest would end up getting leveled outright, and who knew how long the accompanying inferno would rage.  His natural proof against fire wouldn’t allow him to be burned, but the concussion would flatten him out thinner than a pancake if he were caught within that blast.

He replaced the boulder, he used to cover the entrance, erased any sign that it didn’t belong there, then headed to his abode to check if Applebloom had come for a visit.

Applejack hadn’t said anything to Applebloom about having hidden the truth about why she had really stayed in the Everfree Forest overnight.  When Applebloom had told her big sister that her chores were done and that she was going out, Applejack just told her to be careful, and to have a good time.

Applebloom arrived at Zeccora’s hut at about the same time that Shifter had landed in front of his WMD depot.  She got there just in time to help Zeccora pour a fragrant, soupy-thick, concoction into molds.  Then she was recruited to help start another batch.

“So, I take it the soaps sell rather well at the spa?” Applebloom asked her teacher, in Zeccora’s native language.

“Quite well, indeed,” Zeccora responded, “They put in a regular request for the ‘True Lavender’, almost on a weekly basis.  I had too tell them that it was the hardest to make, the main ingredient for it is so hard to come by in large quantity.  After it,” she said with a smile on her face, “ ‘Simply Cinnamon’ and ‘Dose of Eucalyptus’ were their next favorites.  Most of all the others sale fairly well compared to the massed produced stuff they carry in bulk.  Your ‘Arousing Apple’, I might mention, was said to be a favorite for mares planning on going on dates.  Although, neither, Aloe nor Lotus, would tell me why,” Zeccora mentioned with a shrug, but she had a smug look on her face.

“Oh I can take a wild guess,” Applebloom said with a smirk, “If any of those silly mares knew the ‘secret’ ingredient that gave it it’s long lasting sent, and, heh heh, ‘flavor‘, though, they would probably think twice about using it for ‘That’.”

Both ponies had a good laugh.  They were the only two who knew, that said secret ingredient was, in fact, sour, sub-par, Apple Family cider.  Applebloom had stumbled onto it, literally, and by accident.

“So, do you know where Shifter is?”

“The young colt is probably at his secondary hide-away, by now.  He mentioned that you had reminded him that it had been a while since he had been there.  He asked me to ask you to either wait for him here, or at his living quarters, before he flew out of here, but since you are here, I was hoping I could get you to help me, with a few things.”

“Sure thing, Zeccora.  What do you need me to do.”

“The first thing is quite easy.  I was hoping I could talk you into making a batch of soap, or two, so that we would be doubling down on my requests,” the zebra asked, trying to put on puppy dog eyes.

Applebloom started laughing so hard she could no longer continue speaking the second language, “Zeccora, ah, hah, hah, hah, I’d be, heh, heh, heh, humph, Ah’ld be more than happy ta help ya with yer orders, but please, don’t do the ‘puppy dog eyes’ thing.  Yer horrible at them fer some reason, and it jus makes ya look like yer putting on a goofy face.”  They got a second set of tools out and Applebloom started her own batch of soap.  “What was the other stuff ya needed me ta do?” she asked.

Zeccora thought for a moment before she decided to asked Applebloom her second request, “I was wondering if you could introduce Shifter to some of your friends?  He is a lot lonelier than he makes out to be, in front of everyone, but I know that he suffers from his solitude.  He shouldn’t have to.  Not anymore.  So could you please help him?”

Applebloom chuckled, “way ahead of ya there, teach.  I already asked Shifter if he’d be intersted in meetin’ Scoots and Sweetie Belle.  He said that he’d like ta meet my best friends and he’s goin‘a, next Friday, as a matter of fact,” she said with a smile on her face.  Then, what Zeccora had said a moment ago sank in, “Wait a second, whut do ya mean he ‘FLEW out of here’?”

The wise mentor just chuckled and said, “Wait a little while and he shall be back.  Then he can take all the flak.”

Applebloom worked on her soap in silence, but she kept a skeptical eye on her teacher.

Neither pony even realized that they had an audience.  The group of changelings had encircled Zeccora’s hut and were slowly tightening the ring, without either Zeccora or Applebloom noticing them.

The moment that Shifter felt the enemy cross the boundary sensor that he had set up around Zeccora’s he broke off his walk.  He busted through the top of the Forest ceiling and made as much altitude as he could.  As he did, he ran solutions through his mind as fast as he could.  There was only one way he could figure this ending without someone getting fatally injured.  He had hoped that he wouldn’t have to ask for that kind favor, ever again, but he was not going to allow anything to happen to his mentor, and the target of his affection if he could help it.  His mind made up, and the fact he had made enough air, he made a mad dive bomb straight for his friends.  He cratered into the ground in front of the two using a shield spell to absorb most of the impact.

“GET.  IN.  THE HUT. NOW.” he commanded.

Without wasting a moment, Zeccora grabbed the young filly, threw her inside and jumped in after her.  As soon as she slammed the door shut, Shifter threw up the most powerful barrier he could, around the hut.  Then he sent out another to surround the group that had attempted to sneak up on his friends.  They would not be skulking away in the shadows, even if they could hide from him at this point.

“Show yourselves,” he demanded, “I know you are out there.  I know that there are five of you.  So get out here.  You do not want me coming after you.”

The shadows parted, revealing five, mature, male, changelings, surrounding the hut.  They closed in around Shifter, making a semicircle, around the front of the hut.  The least scarred of the group stepped forward.

“Who are you?  What gives you the right to interrupt our fun?”

Shifter smirked, “My name is Shifter.  You may know of me as ‘the abomination’.  I reserve the right to protect my friends.  I am going to give you one chance to leave.  I advise that you take it.”

“What makes you think that you can take the five of us on, and survive.  You are going to regret this.”  With that, the group of changelings advanced on Shifter.

“I warned you,” Shifter said as he set himself.

He began to vibrate.  Magic poured out of him and he started shifting.  There was a flash of dark shadow from his core.

There, sitting before the changelings, was a SMALL, shiny, black, dragon.

“He really did try to warn you.  Now it is my turn to enforce his will,” the dragon said.  He bowled into the group.

The changelings never stood a chance.  Their surprise at seeing, what they had thought was, a non-changeling shift into a creature, nearly 10 times it’s size, had rooted them to the spot.  The dragon had incapacitated two of them with slaps from his tail and right palm before the rest group even recovered.  They tried to run, but it was a wasted effort.  They just ran into Shifter’s second barrier and bounced.  The dragon left the leader as his final target.  He captured the witless, gibbering, changeling in his left claw, then went about and scooped up the rest in his right.  He flew them to the far side of the Everfree Forest, where the Everfree trees thin into the desolate wastes of the Badlands.

He sat the group in his right claw down and cast a spell on them.  Then he sat the leader down and put his right eye in the frightened fool’s face, “Your friends have forgotten everything that has happened to them in the past week.  They will not remember anything.  The reason I do not erase your memory is because I want you to remember everything that just happened.  You are going to make a report, there is a dragon that lives in the Everfree Forest.  He detests changelings.  Do not come into my home if you value your lives.  Do.  I.  Make.  Myself.  Clear?”

The poor cowed changeling just nodded his head as hard as he could.  The dragon lifted off and went back to Zeccora’s hut.

As he landed, he began to shift back to the natural form of the body he was inhabitating.  Shifter flopped, down and took in great gulps of air.

“I’m.  Sorry.  To have to.  Call you out like that,” he apologized, “It was the only thing I could think of.”

“That is alright,” the deep earthy voice of the dragon said, from his soul, “I suppose they did not get the message from the last group,” it chuckled.

“It was almost five years ago.  Maybe they figured that you had gone to sleep or something.  And technically you had.  Hopefully it will take at least another five years before they try that again.”

“At least.  Those foals should know better than to think a dragon will just up and go to sleep without putting protection up on something he claims,” the dragon yawned, “Now, if you do not mind, I think I shall try to catch another forty thousand winks.”  And with that,  Shifter’s inner dragon, curled up and prepared to go back into hibernation.

Shifter chuckled as he took down the outer barrier around Zeccora’s hut.  Then he did his best to clean up the mess his  alternate personality had made.  As he played janitor, he was coming up with a truthful explanation to tell his friends.  Then he took down the barrier protecting the hut proper.

He went to open the door, and found it barred from the inside.

“Um, ladies, you can come out now,” he called through the door.

“An how are we supposed ta know yer the real Shifter,” demanded Applebloom’s muffled voice, “I’ll have you know, mister, I recognized changeling speech.  Yer goin ta have ta prove that yer who ya claim ta be, fore we’ll just open that door.”

“It is…safe…ta come…ootside,” he tried.

“No dice,” Applebloom hollered, “we were speaking tha way just fore Shifter showed up.  Ya get one more chance.”

Shifter thought about something that could convince his friends, something that wouldn’t leave a shadow of doubt.

“Applebloom, how am I ever going to show you just how beautiful my fireworks are, if you stay cooped up inside that hut?”

He heard a muffled discussion from behind the door then the items blocking the entrance were moved aside.  He stepped back into the yard.  The door was thrown open and there stood Applebloom, with two of Zeccora’s sleepy powder balls, in her hooves.  She looked around, when she was sure that he was alone she motioned for him to enter.

He noticed that all the work tables had been used as shields to block the windows, when he stepped inside.  Zeccora’s largest cauldrons had been filled with fire wood and had been used to block the door.  In the center of the room, sat the only upright table.  Sitting on it were quite a few of Zeccora’s little securities.  Shifter was happy to know that his friends wouldn’t have been any kind of danger had the changelings bested him.

“You had us worried,” Applebloom told him, “what happened?  When we tried look outside, your barrier was too bright for us to see what was goin on, but we heard everythin’ that was happening.”

Shifter winced, he was going to have to figure out a way to make a barrier that had a silencing effect if he was to ever have to use his special friend again.  Right now he had an explanation to give, “I convinced a group of changelings to go back home.” he said with a smile, hoping that it was good enough.

“Yeah?  You and what army?” Applebloom demanded, then her voice softened as she remembered that she was talking to a friend, but her eyes started to water, “we were terrified that whatever you were sheltering us from was going to hurt you.  Especially when I recognized the language.  Then when that other voice joined in, and the racket started.  We thought they were tryin, ta kill ya.”  She broke down, started to fall, and began crying.

Shifter grabbed her up in a hug, and did his best to give her comfort, patting her on the back and stroking her mane, all while trying to stay slightly disconnected from the act of holding her.  Zeccora, prepared some drinks for everyone, leaving Shifter to ease the filly.  Applebloom’s break down did not last very long and once she had regained control of herself, everypony sat down at the table and had a nice, long, soothing, drink.

“Would you please explain to us whut happened?” Applebloom asked.

Shifter sighed.  He figured he would have to explain, everything.  He took a deep breath, “that other voice that you heard, belongs to a very, close friend of mine,” he started, then he hung his head, “you see, there is a reason that I claim my wings resemble those of a dragon.  My friend is one,” he looked up, and stared off into the ether of thought, “the thing is, when I say my friend is close, I mean that in every sense of the word that one can possibly think of,” he scratched the back of his head, “he resides right here,” and he gestured all over himself, then patted his own chest, “I never mentioned this because I didn’t think anypony would be all that thrilled to welcome me with open hooves if they thought I might turn into some sort of giant rampaging monster.  Well that, and, nopony ever really asked me about any special ‘connections’ that I might have,” he said, with a wiry smile, “asking about my magic, yes.  Special talent?  Probably.  Asking if one is possessed usually isn‘t one of the first twenty questions one goes about asking the average pony,” he mentioned, with an empty chuckle, “even if I am not the average pony.”

Applebloom looked Shifter over, “So yer saying, there’s a dragon livin’ inside ya?”

“In a way, yes.  The best way I can try to explain it is, he is kind of like representation of my soul,” he tried to describe, “the thing is, he has his own personality, but most of the time he just lies dormant, asleep.  It has been 5 years since the last time I needed to call on him for any real assistance.”

“So ya have yer own pet dragon ta…”

“Oh good heavens, no.  He is anything but a pet,” Shifter stopped Applebloom, “Drifting Pyre, is a perfectly sentient, and utterly imposing, dragon.  He’s just a very particular type of friendly dragon.”

“And whut type might that be?  His name’s Drifting Pyre?”

“Yes, his name is Drifting Pyre.  He is a very rare breed of dragon.  He is what’s called a soul guardian, or at least, that‘s what he’s told me.  He hasn’t really told me much more then that though, so there’s not much else I can tell you,” he looked away with a light blush on his face, “I, uh, heh heh, haven’t really asked him a lot about his past, so to speak.”

“I would be more than happy to tell her, anything she wanted to know” came the resonant tones of a draconic voice inside Shifter’s head.

Shifter was stunned for a moment, “um, could you ladies excuse me for just one moment?” he asked.  He stepped outside the hut and pulling the door shut behind him, “I thought you were going back…to…sleep…hey, wait a second.  Since when can you speak Equestrian?”

The dragon chuckled, “I have been able to speak Equestrian for longer than you have been alive.  I just prefer this language.  Lucky for me, you were able to speak it.  As to why I am still awake, well.   I had just gotten good and comfortable.  I had just drifted off, when suddenly, your emotions went berserk.  I thought that I might end up getting called out to save you again, so I took a peek threw your eyes to see what was going on.  Imagine my surprise at seeing nothing but a harmless earthpony and a zebra.  I took a look around in your subconscious, to try and understand what was going on.  Your thoughts about the zebra were harmless enough, but the ones about the filly were rather interesting.  Why not let me explain my existence to her?  I would even be more than happy to tell her the story about how we met, if she wishes to hear it.”

“I, would be more than happy to turn this conversation over to you, but, oh wait, I can’t just do that, now can I?  You would have to be present to do the talking, and I would have to trade places with you for that to happen.  And with the interest you’ve suddenly taken in Applebloom, I don’t think I would be able to trust you in her presence,” Shifter claimed, “and why am I speaking to you in changeling?  You can understand me just fine.”

“Oh, do not get all huffy with me.  Just because you assumed that I did not speak Equestrian, is no reason for us to have a disagreement,” the dragon scoffed, then on a more serious note, “as to me appearing on the physical plane.  You do not have to turn your entire body over to me.  I would just need to borrow your magic.”

“What do you mean?”

“All you need to do is honestly, want to let me use your magical power.  It is just like releasing me onto the physical plane.  If you honestly allow me to use your magic, I can create a 3-dimensional projection of myself.  I never mentioned this before because you didn’t have the magical energy required for me to do this when we first met, or up to the point I first went to sleep last time,” Shifter got the distinct impression that the dragon was smiling, and was quite happy with this turn of events.

“Very well,” and Shifter closed his eyes and concentrated on giving over control of his magic.

“Good job,” came the deep voice from above him.

Shifter opened his eyes.  There sitting in Zeccora’s front lawn, was Drifting Pyre.  Shifter let out a whistle of appreciation.  He didn’t remember his draconic friend being…

“…so big.  Yeah, yeah, I do look presentable, right?”

“Huh?”

“Well, you see, this is technically an illusion.  I know that.  And because I know it is an illusion,” his right claw pointed to his eyes, “my eyes can not see,” he thought for a moment, “well, they technically, see through, it.”

“Can’t you just look through my eyes?”

The magical construct shook it’s head, “same difference.”

“If you can’t see it, how are you making it move?”

“Because it is still my body, even if it is just an illusion, it moves the way I tell it to, thank you very much.”

“Alrighty then.  You look great, but, I do have one request though?” Shifter posed, “could you make yourself smaller, please?”

“Well, I suppose.  Because you asked nicely.”

The dragon shrank to half it’s size.  Still five times the size of his friend, but no longer bigger than Zeccora’s house.  Shifter went to open the door, when he turned back to his companion.

“You do realize, that they can’t speak that language?  You’re going to have to speak Equestrian.”

The dragon rolled his eyes, “no duh Sherlock.  Just introduce me already,” and he motioned for Shifter to open the door.

“The name is Shifter not Sherlock.  You getting senile in your old age, buddy?” Shifter said as he turned to go inside.  He heard his friend mutter something about smarteleck ponies, getting too big for their hooves.  Shifter walked inside, laughing.

He found Applebloom and Zeccora, hiding behind the now upturned table.  Prepared to hurl sedatives, and other useful protectives, at anything that came through the door.

He got a sheepish grin on his face as he realized, “you heard all of that, didn’t you?” he scratched the back of his head, “its perfectly safe.  I just had a conversation with Pyre and he explained that there was a way he could meet the both of you.  If you would care to step outside I would be more than happy to introduce you?”

The two females looked at Shifter then at each other.  Applebloom gestured towards the door with her head.  Zeccora just shrugged.  They came out from behind the barricade.  Shifter escorted them threw the door.

“Ladies, it is my great pleasure to introduce you to my friend, Drifting Pyre.”

The dragon bowed to the ponies, “It is an honor to make your acquaintance.”

The two returned the bow with curtsies.  Both started trying to imagine how such a large creature was able to fit inside their friend.  Pyre figured out what they were thinking by the looks they were spreading between him and his host.

“If you are wondering, and I am pretty sure that you are, how I am able to fit inside, the answer is simple.  First off, what you are seeing right this moment is not my actual body.  It is just a magical projection of what I look like, and half size at that.  Second, my real body exists on a different plane of existence.  For me to appear on your plane, in a physical form, I would have to borrow Shifter’s body.  But I digress, if there is anything you would care to know about, please, ask away.”

“So yer a soul guardian?  Waz that?” asked Applebloom.

“Put simply, I am a dragon from the astral plane.  For a soul guardian to survive, very long after reaching maturity, they must make a union with a creature on this plane.  I absorb the energies and stimuli my host takes in, in order to live.  My host gets the ability to call on me when in a time of crisis, and they always have someone to talk to, in case they ever get lonely,” Drifting mentioned, nodding towards Shifter.

“Oy, that was a long time ago.  I’m making friends.” Shifter said defensively.

“Which is also good for me.  More energy.  More, heh heh, stimuli,” Pyre replied, then he turned back to the females, “The more he takes in, the stronger I become.  There are certain abilities that I could, well, the best term I can use is, share, with my host, when I have enough nourishment.  The funny thing is, because of his particular genealogy, Shifter, here, has his own version of most of them.  So I get to have an all out smorgasbord, and I get to store all that energy away.  Not that I would not share, mind you.  He just does not need my help, for the most part.”

“So what exactly is the down side?  There must be some heavy penalties to keeping yourselves so tied?” Zeccora asked.

“Yes ma’am, there are a few,” the dragon said, “the first thing, is, the host and soul guardian are bound together until the host, well, kicks the bucket, once the deal has been made.  Second, the type of energy that my host takes in, or creates themself, determines what I look like, when I show up on your plane of existence.”

“So yer saying, if Shifter here was some sort of tyrannical overlord type, you’d look like the scariest dragon anypony had ever dreamed of?” Applebloom posed.

“Yes, exactly.  And if he were the picture of sainthood, I would look absolutely angelic.  As Shifter is a fairly nice fellow, but by no means perfect, I appear to you as I do,” Pyre thought for just a moment, he wondered if he should tell them the other restriction, but decided not to.  So he came up with something to get Shifter to end the conversation, “well ladies it has been great, and I am having one of the most pleasant encounters of Shifter‘s lifetime, but I am afraid that the time limit on my projection is running low.  Before I go though, Miss Applebloom, there is one thing I want to tell you.  You do realize that Shifter here, lie…….” he suddenly vanished.

Shifter had not wanted him to finish that statement, so he took his magic back.

“Well that was enlightening wasn’t it,” he said to his friends, all the while, “You scaly jerk.  Were you trying to embarrass me?  Go to sleep,  its going to be quite q while before I ever call you, if I can help it,” the dragon’s response was simply to chuckle as it settled down to get some sleep.

“Whut was he goin’a say?” asked Applebloom.

“I honestly don’t know,” Shifter replied, looking away from Applebloom‘s eyes.

“Why don’t ya ask him?”

“I’d rather not,” he said, shaking his head, “Anyways, you both know my second deepest secret, now.  This one, I’m going to ask you to keep to yourselves.  He’s going to be asleep real soon so unless I ever have to call on him again, can we please keep this between just the three of us?”

Zeccora nodded.  It took Applebloom a moment to decide, but eventually she said, “yeah.”

When Applebloom went to say something else, Shifter feigned shock, “oh snap, I just remembered, something.  Igottagobye” and with that he took off.

Applebloom watched him fade into the sky, then turned back to Zeccora, “does he really think that that lame excuse is goin’a save him?  He is goin ta answer my question.  And fer a pony who don’t fly that much, he sure does seem to be doin a lot of it recently, and…just…after…he recovered?  HEY, wait a second, how can he fly so soon?”

Zeccora looked from Applebloom to where Shifter had disappeared, and just shook her head, with a sigh of resignation, as she began to work on a new batch of soap.

Obsidia was not pleased.  Her latest, Master Scout had returned with troubling news.

Not only was Onyxsis’ spawn still alive, he was guarding the Everfree Forest.  With the aid of a dragon apparently.

How was she going to be able to invade Equestria with such an obstacle in her way?  She thought long and hard as she punished the aforementioned, former, Master Scout.

Then the reminder of what she had done to ‘the abomination’s’ sire came to her.  How she had tricked him into coming to her and then all the fun she had had torturing him.  Days upon days of making him suffer, even if he did it in silence.  And then, she remembered that even she, Mistress of 1,000 Tortures, had not been able to make that stallion beg for mercy, not until she had threatened to do to her own daughter what she had done to him, and even then, he hadn‘t begged for mercy, just that she keep punishing him, alone.

Now she was in an even worse mood, and she took it out on the changeling before her.  She was going to have to devise a strategy.  Then she realized, even ‘it’ couldn’t be in more than one place at a time.  All she would need to do is find ‘it’s’ significant other and use it as bait to lead ‘it’ into a trap.

The thought of finally being able to destroy that ‘thing’ made her so happy she actually stopped beating the disappointment.  She called for the best scouts and warriors she had, then she called her Master Assassin.  She told them her plan, then gave them orders to do whatever was necessary to capture ‘the abomination’ and bring ‘it’ before her, alive.  As they scattered Obsidia was smiling contently.

What she didn’t know, was, her daughter, Onyxsis, had been privy to her entire plan.  She was not going to allow her mother to kill her son.  Especially not the way Obsidia had ‘disposed’ her beloved.

Onyxsis finally had a good enough reason to leave again, and she took it.  The danger to her son, far outweighed the death sentence she would be under when her mother found out she was gone.

She escaped threw the lower catacombs.  There were very few changelings who knew where any of those twisting labyrinth-like paths lead.  She was one of them.  She came out of the tunnels, very near the edge of the Everfree Forest, and well ahead of the search party.  Now all she had to do was find her son and warn him about the danger, he and his loved ones were in.

Early, the next afternoon, Shifter was laid out on top of his hill, sunning.  He was trying to figure out what had happened to his life.  All he had wanted was a little piece of happiness he could call his own.  Was that really too much to ask for?

After almost blowing himself up, he had thought that nothing could make his life worse.  He had been wrong.  Of course his ‘other relatives’ would pick the worst possible time to show up.  Now, not only had he had to explain that he had a dragon living inside himself, but the arrogant reptile had embarrassed him in front of the filly he was sweet on.

“Well I’m not going to worry about it,” he told himself, getting up and shaking himself, “one melodramatic episode a week is quite enough, thank you.  And besides, I’m going to have to go do a freaking sensor spell along the entire far side of the Everfree Forest.  They’re a big enough pain without having an ulcer to contend with at the same time,” he thought for a moment, “that’s going to take a while too, hmm.  I’m going to have to go tell Zeccora what’s going on first, though.  If I just up and disappear, who knows what she and Applebloom might do.  At best they would call some help to come looking for me.  At worst, they might come looking for me by themselves,” he let out a sharp bark of malcontent laughter, “this is totally bogus.  I can finally go into town and make my own friends, instead, I take off in the opposite direction,” he muttered darkly about the places he would like to send his “relatives” to himself, as he went inside and pack a few essentials.

As soon as he had the  materials for the spell, and food ready to go, he headed to Zeccora’s.  He got there just as his teacher and Applebloom were putting the finishing touches on their fifth, and final, batches of soap for the day.  Applebloom looked up at Shifter, then went back to what she was doing.  Zeccora looked at her friend and noticed that he was packed and ready to go somewhere.  She walked over to him.

“You have plans to go somewhere, I see.  And where might that just happen to be?” she asked, in a low voice.

“I’m going to go put up a sensor along the far side of the Forest,” he replied, equally quiet, “I’m probably going to be gone quite a while.  It will take at least a day to cast the spell, then who knows how long to walk the entire far edge,” he raised his voice, “I just wanted to come let you know where I’d be for the next few days, oh and to ask for some bug repellent.  Who knows what kind of insects I might run into over there.”

Applebloom had frozen for a moment, then went rigidly, back to work, but not before she hollered, “yeah, well, look in a mirror some time.  You’ll find a really big pest staring back atcha.”

Shifter looked at his mentor, cringing slightly “I’m going to have to apologize before I take off, aren’t I?”

Zeccora nodded, and ushered him over to her offended pupil.  She new that if Shifter was ever going to win Applebloom’s heart, he was going to have to stop coming off as such a bumbling, oaf.  She left the two of them to their lonesome, while she went inside to find the requested item.

Shifter inched closer to Applebloom’s back, but she didn’t turn around.  Once he was just a few feet away, he sat there a moment, kicking dirt aimlessly, trying to come up with something to say.  Then Applebloom rounded on him, with puffy eyes.

“So, where ya goin?” she demanded.

Shifter could only see how swollen her eyes were for a moment, then he hung his head, “listen, Applebloom, I’m sorry.  I really am.  All I wanted to do was to be friends with you.  Somehow I screwed that up,” he straightened, and then lowered his head back down, “I am so sorry that I made you cry,” he said, with his forehead mere centimeters from the ground.

Applebloom rubbed her eyes, then, lifted Shifter’s head, to look him in the eyes.  She had a smile on her face.

“I wasn’t cryin’ cause of anything you did, ya goofus,” she explained, “I got some raw soap in my eyes a little while ago.  Its been irritatin my eyes, and me, ever since.  I‘m sorry I took it out on ya.” and she started laughing, “If’in Ah was really mad or sore at you, it woulda been a lot harder for ya ta find me, ‘til Ah wanted an apology,” she got control of herself, “so before we get to the part where ya explain where yer goin in such a hurry, why don’t ya tell me why Pyre didn’t get to finish what he was saying?”

Shifter felt much better about not being the cause of Applebloom’s eyes being so puffy, but he still wasn’t quite ready to tell her the whole truth about what he had cut Pyre off from more than likely saying.

“Suffice it to say, he was going to tell you something that I didn’t want him telling you.  When I’m ready, I will tell you myself,” he shifted the subject to some thing less prickly, “now, as to where I’m going.  I’m sure you’re aware that it was no coincidence that I showed up, just before those changelings could attack you and Zeccora,” Applebloom nodded her head in acknowledgement, “well, that is because I have one of my special spells guarding her hut.  There is a circle, about 200 yards out, around it, where I walked around her home, while casting a spell.  If a changeling, or any creature with a certain amount of magical power were to cross that line, I know they are there.  Once they are inside the circle, I can monitor their movements.  Fortunenately, those changelings started moving slowly when they must have decided to attack the two of you.  It was also one of the reasons I was able to get to you before they actually jumped you.”

Applebloom realized, “that’s how you knew Twilight and all the others were coming, the other night.”

“Yes. It was.  The thing is, the only reason I was able to sense Miss Sparkle in particular, was because she, A, didn’t catch my spell, B, wasn’t looking for it, or C, didn’t care if I knew she was headed into the Everfree Forest.  With her amount of magic, she should have been able to tell the spell was there.  But then again it is a very old spell, I got it from one of those old magical scrolls I told her about, so she might not know of a spell that could tell her it was there.  Hmmm,” he rubbed his chin in thought, “maybe I really should get her those texts translated before I go anywhere.  She might need a way of telling if any of those others are up somewhere, and if so, she’ll need a safe way to take them down.”

Applebloom looked at her friend, cocked her head and tried figure how he had never almost blown himself up more often, as he seemed to have an almost severe case of ADD.  Then she figured out what he was planning, “Yer planning on goin som’er an doin one a those spells aren’tcha?”

Shifter, now back on track, replied, “what, huh?  Oh, yes, of course.  That was my plan.  I was going to go to the far side of the Forest and cast the line form of the spell.  That way if a changeling ever came into the Forest from that side I would know about it.  Then I would be able to try and get them back out before they found their way to this side.”

“Can I come?”

Shifter was not prepared for her ask that.  He sat there with his mouth hanging open for a few moments.  Applebloom took pity on him and closed his lips before something had the chance to fly in.

He shook himself, mainly his head, “I’d rather you didn’t,” he tried.

“Why not?”

“Well, umm, ah, well first off, the fastest way there would be for me to fly there.  The only way you would be able to come is if I were to carry you there in a bubble barrier.”

“Well, you can do that easily enough, can’tchya?”

Shifter had to nod, wanting to kick himself, “but then there is the fact that you’re not packed.”

Applebloom walked over to where her bags were sitting.  She threw them across her back, “whut do I need?”

Shifter had to think hard, “Its going to take at least a few days, maybe up to a week.  Do you really think your sister is just going to let you go on a trip, with some colt she barely knows, to the other side of the Everfree Forest?”

“Let’s go find out?  If she says no then that’ll be the end of it.”

Shifter couldn’t understand why she was being so insistent, or why he was putting up so much of a fight.  He prepared himself for whatever Applejack was going to say, and motioned for Applebloom to lead the way.  If nothing else, he would be able to leave her at her home with a warning to her family about changelings being seen in the Everfree Forest, if she hadn‘t told them already.  He just sighed in resignation as he followed her to the Ponyville edge of the Forest.

Zeccora came back outside to find both her students gone.  She just shrugged it off.  If the repellent was really that important they would come back for it.

No sooner was Applebloom and Shifter leaving the Everfree Forest, Onyxsis had arrived at the sensor spell Shifter had around his cave.  She was proud to see that her son had far more magic than she did, but even so, she new the spell to sneak across the boundary.  Once she was magical cloaked against his sensor, she passed over his ward and went inside.

She recognized what her son’s special talent was.  It was the same as his father.  They both had a fondness for things that could potentially kill, but if used properly made such beautiful sights.  Tears came to Onyxsis’ eyes as she remembered the last time she had ever seen some of her beloved’s work.

She shook her head.  Now was not the time to get sentimental.  She had to warn her son, about Obsidia’s plan.  But where was he?

She looked around to see if there were any indicators as to what he was doing.  She came to the conclusion that he must have gone out, very recently, and did not plan on coming back any time soon, by the looks of his pantry.  She wondered where he had gone, and what he planned on doing that was going to take him so long.

She began to wonder if he had ever been outside the Everfree Forest.  If so, had he ever made any friends.  That’s when her brain made a synapses that reminded her of another pony that lived in the Forest.  Zeccora, she lived in the Everfree Forest, now.  Maybe her son had come into contact with her old drinking buddy.

She left a note on his most used work bench and headed for the medicine pony’s hut.  She changed to her guise of Rocky Road, the fortune telling unicorn, as she walked.  She just hoped that Zeccora would remember her.

When she got to the sensor surrounding Zeccora’s hut she was glad to see that her son must have made at least one friend.  Hopefully Zeccora knew where he was.

As ‘Rocky’ moved into Zeccora’s yard she noticed that her friend must have been working on perfume or something as fragrant, recently.  The place smelled like a potpourri factory.  She saw Zeccora putting away a large cauldron.

“Oy, Zeccera, how’s life treatin ya?” she called.

The zebra turned around to find a black and brown, pinto, unicorn calling out to her.  It took her a moment to recognize her friend from the days when she traveled around from place to place.

“Rocky, where did you come from?  Are your wondering days finally done?” she asked, as she hugged her old compatriot.

“Naw, not e’en close, sister.  I’s just in the neighborhood and thought I’d drop by to see how ya was doin.”  she replied, returning the hug with as much gusto as she got.

“It has been so very long, what, 18 years is it now?  Come inside so that we might have one of our little pow-wows,” Zeccora escorted her friend inside.

“Act’ully, its pro’ly closer ta 19 years,” Rocky said, as she was seated.  Zeccora got out a very special bottle, and Rocky’s eyes lit up, “is tha’ whut I thin’ it is?”

The zebra smiled as she opened it, and poured them both a very generous helping.  Rocky took a small sip and let the wine sit on her tongue for a moment, before she swallowed, “mmm, that there be a right nice vintage, sister.  A, hmm, 64’ if I’m not mistaken.”

Zeccora nodded.  She was glad that she had kept the old keepsake when she had decided to settle down.  Especially now that she had an old acquaintance to share it with.

“Well listen, this is nice and all, and I really was nearby, but, I’ve got somethin’ to ask ya.  Do you have someone close to ya that has had some, uh, difficulties, of late?  They need ta go somewhere real bad?”

Zeccora was mildly surprised by her friend’s accuracy.  Rocky had never been that accurate, unless, “you didn’t use those cards again did you?” she demanded, “they always asked far too much due.”

Rocky was stunned that Zeccora remembered those old tarot cards she used to use.  Zeccora had tried to get her to destroy them a few times back in the day.  Claimed that her luck was influenced by them.  There always had seemed to be a correlation between each time she had used them and the fact that she would suffer horrible misfortune right after.

“Naw, I got rid of those things a while back, just after we parted company actually,” just after she had had Shifter as a matter of fact, “no, I had one uh me visions, rare as they are.  I saw you crying o’er somethin.  I couldn’t see what it was real good but then I heard ya say somethin about how ‘he shouldn’t have gone, he should have stayed here’.  I woke up to find I had already packed me stuff.  I knew I had to find ya and warn ya and yer friend.  Maybe if I meet um I’ll see whut they need ta avoid.”

Zeccora was pleased to hear that she had gotten rid of those cards, but, “I do have a friend who may be in trouble, its true.  But they and another of my students have already left, to see what they could do,” when she saw the worried look on Rocky’s face, her old friend’s eyes flashed.  She tried to reassure her, “but I think they may have only gone to get some other supplies.  Before they walked off, Shifter had asked for this repellant of flies,” she said, holding up the bottle.

Rocky sighed, she had caught a break, “so yer sure he’ll be back?” the zebra nodded, “alrighty then, Why don’t we help areselves to this tasty rotgut while we wait on um?”

The two enjoyed themselves while they waited for the youngsters to return.

“I can’t believe that ya went and asked fer the stuff then turn around and ferget to pack it,” Applebloom exclaimed as they headed back to Zeccora’s.

“And I can’t believe that your sister let you come with me.  Has she taken a blow to the head recently?”

Applebloom just laughed.  It had been a lot easier than she had expected to get Applejack to let her go with Shifter.

They had walked along the outskirts of Ponyville, so as to avoid others, when they walked to Sweet Apple Acres, while Shifter explained what he would have to do to cast the spell.  After describing the basic preparations Applebloom asked if there was any thing that she could actually do to help with the spell.  Shifter had thought for a moment and told her that he didn’t think so.  You had to be able to channel magic to focus into the spell and she was an earthpony.  Applebloom had been a little disappointed but she  perked right up when they walked onto the farm.

She showed Shifter around the place.  He was quite fascinated with all the wide open space.  He had spent the most of the last 6 years with a natural canopy over his head.  To be able to see the sun so clearly through such a huge group of trees, was exciting for him.  Then he realized that all those trees were an enormous orchard.  He had never seen so many different types of apples.  He was quite happy to enjoy himself when Applebloom invited him to have samples of each apple.  He tried not to make a pig of himself, but he wanted to try everyone of them to see which one he preferred.

As he was finishing his last slice of apple, Big Macintosh had walked up to them, “So, yer Shifter, then?” he asked.

Shifter wiped his mouth dry, sat up straight, and replied, “yes sir.”

Applebloom’s brother looked Shifter over.  Front to back, up and down.  Shifter realized that he hadn’t really gotten to talk with the giant red stallion the other evening, as he was being scrutinized.  Then Macintosh looked over at his youngest sister.  Applebloom just stared him right in the eye.  “Whut?” she demanded.  Big Mac looked back at Shifter, shrugged, “he’ll do, Ah suppose,” was all that he said, then he mossied off.

“Whaduhya mean, ‘he’ll do’?  Hey get back here.” she called after him.  He just kept walking

She looked at Shifter as if to ask him if he knew what the stallion had meant.  Shifter just shrugged, shaking his head.  Applebloom dropped the subject.  Trying to pry information out of her brother, that he didn’t want to share, was like trying to nail gelatin to the wall,  and she had tried and failed at both tasks.  (Of course, later, Sweetie Belle had explained that if you freeze the desert snack, it will stick, until it thaws.  Nopony knew of a technique that would work on Big Mac.)

“Oooo, sometimes he just plain ticks me off,” Applebloom muttered as they went in search of her sister.  Shifter just thought that she looked even more beautiful when her ire was up.  But he kept that to himself.

It took them a while before they found Applejack.  They found her taking a break, in the shade.  As they walked up, they noticed that Big Mac was walking away.  Applejack watched her brother walk off before she turned to the two of them.

“Whut can Ah do fer the two of ya?” she asked.  She got back up and got back to work.

Applebloom asked her sister, “Hiya AJ, I was sorta wondering if I could go with Shifter here, to the other side of the Everfree Forest?  He’s had somethin come up and he’s got ta go do some work over there.  I wanted ta go with ‘im.”

“How long’s this work suppose ta take?” Applejack asked, looking over at the colt, as she firmly, but carefully kicked her tree.

“Hmm,” Shifter mumbled, he scratched his chin and thought it out, “it will probably take at least 5 days, but no more than 7.”

Applejack bucked a few trees as she thought about it.  She tipped her hat up and walked over to Shifter and looked him in the eyes, “and ya promise ta bring mah little sister back, in good health?”

“Yes ma’am.”

She looked over at Applebloom.  Her little sister was smiling, but sweating bullets.  She went back to bucking.  After filling up the baskets, surrounding the tree, she motioned for Shifter to pick some up and follow her.  He did what he was asked and picked up all six baskets, albeit with magic.  She lead them back to the barn and had him empty the baskets into a shipping bin, before she gave them her answer.

She looked over at Shifter then at Applebloom, shook her head a little, but said, “sure, Ah guess, ya can go,” but before Applebloom could finish her sigh with relief, Applejack had smacked into Shifter’s face.  Eye to eye, she said, “anythin happens ta her, Ah come lookin fer yer hide, got it” then she just backed off without waiting for a response, took her now empty baskets back, and went back out to the orchard.

As Applebloom had packed for the journey, Shifter had realized that he hadn’t grabbed the repellent before leaving Zeccora’s.  Which brought them to why they had to go back to her house.

“I still can’t believe that your siblings just let you come along,” Shifter said, again, as they marched back into the Forest, “Why in the world did they approve, and…what…were…they…?”

In that instant, the alicoreling realized, Applebloom’s older siblings approved.  Of him.  They recognized that he had feelings for their little sister , and they had just allowed Applebloom to go on a trip.  With him.  Alone.  To the other side of the Everfree Forest.

“Yahoo!” Shifter belted, jumping in the air, clopping his rear hooves, “let’s get that repellent, and get to work,” he said as he picked up the pace, in his jubilation, back to Zeccora’s hut.

Applebloom shook her head, not understanding anything that had just happened and just hurried to catch up to her friend.

“Ya know,” Applebloom started, slowing the pace back down, after they had almost gotten back to their teacher’s home, “we could jus’ go on without the stuff.”

“We probably could,” Shifter replied, “but then we would more then likely end up getting eaten alive by who knows what kind of bugs, when we got over there.  You’ve never spent an exceptionally long amount of time in the Forest, save near Zeccora‘s hut, or my cave, have you?” Applebloom shook her head, “well that’s probably for the best.  But then you don’t know that there are all manner of insects that just love the taste of pony in here.  And once they get a taste, they go and tell their family and friends just how good it is.  Trust me, without the occasional bath I take, with some of Zeccora’s special soap, or worse, some sort of solution my mom left,” Shifter remembered the disgusting feel of the stuff, with a slight shiver, “or the repellent we spread around our dwellings, I would never have made it in this place as long as I have, without walking around looking like a scabbed over husk of a pony.”

Applebloom just nodded, with an almost unnoticeable shiver.  They walked in silence the rest of the way to Zeccora’s.

As they got closer, they heard voices coming from the hut.  Shifter was trying to remember if his mentor had ever mentioned having a friend that talked like a pirate, when he realized, whoever was in his teacher’s hut, had gotten to his mentor without tripping his sensor.

He grabbed Applebloom and covered her mouth as she started to call into the house.  She turned to look at him in surprise.  He shook his head as he dragged her back into cover, just in case one of the ponies inside, came out.

“Sorry,” he apologized in a low voice, once he let her go, “I didn’t want you to let whoever was in there with Zeccora to know that we are out here.”

“Why?” asked the filly.

“Whoever they are, they got here without me knowing,” Shifter replied, looking back over at the hut, “the only pony I know of that could possibly get past my sensor, is Twilight Sparkle.  And that is not her voice.”

A plan began to form in his head and he told Applebloom, “I’m going to go take a look inside,” he said, as he let his eyes shift.  The filly recognized that he was going to be looking for magic, “If I call out for you to come help, don’t.  Run as fast as you can and get help.  As much as you can.”

He waited for Applebloom to nod before he slunk into the shadows and snuck around to the back of Zeccora’s home.  Just as he was about to poke his head up to look through the window, he realized how bad an idea that was.  If anypony was looking towards the window, they would see his horn.  He stood up and, as gently as he could, reared up and put his forehooves against the side of the building.  He slowly brought his eye across, to peek in.

He saw his mentor sipping wine, sitting across from a unicorn he didn’t recognize.  But he did recognize the distinct aura she had.  Even though it did look strange.  He got back down, as quickly and quietly as he could, and snuck back over to Applebloom.

As he tip hoofed, he was trying to figure out what was wrong with that changeling’s aura.

“She is under a curse,” came the reply.

Shifter froze.  Why was Pyre still awake?

“Because you are making it really hard to get comfortable.  Every time I have just gotten nodded off, you go, and have a surge of energy that wakes me right back up.  So, I just decided to stay awake and see what you were doing.  It is rather entertaining, actually.”

“Go back to the part about that changeling being under a curse.  There are no such things,” Shifter thought back at the dragon.

“Well, the truth is, there are, actually,” Drifting Pyre replied, “it is just the fact that they should have died out, a looong time ago.  I did not believe that there was anyone capable enough, or even evil enough, to cast one, in this day and age, save, perhaps, the Princesses.”

Applebloom noticed Shifter, even with his natural camouflage, saw that he had frozen, and had moved to him.  She saw that he was making weird faces and was trying to figure out why.

“I’m having a conversation with Pyre, and he’s not making a lot of sense,” Shifter explained, whispering.  Applebloom nodded.  “If you will excuse me?” Shifter asked.

“Ok, so the next question is, why is there a changeling, sitting in Zeccora’s, sharing wine with my mentor?” Shifter demanded.

“Probably enjoying herself, if I am not mistaken,” the dragon replied, “and before you get all huffy, again, I mean that literally.  Did you not notice, that she did not seem to have harmed Zeccora, in any way?  They seem to know each other, and they would appear to be old friends.”

Shifter had to stop and think about that for a moment.  The dragon was right.  Whoever that changeling was they did seem to know Zeccora, and they were treating her as if she was an old friend.  But who were they exactly and…

“What do you know about that curse?”

“Not a lot, I am afraid.  I can not tell what kind of curse it is, just that it is there.  I can tell you, that, a curse is always bad.  Unless one knows how to get rid of it, and does so, bad things are going to happen to that unfortunate creature, at some point,” Pyre said, “most fortunately for her, I do know how to remove  it.  But  I will need your permission.”

“And body, I imagine,” Shifter thought it over, then sighed, “Fine but I want to explain the situation to Applebloom first.”

He turned to his friend, “I just want you to know, that I’m pretty sure that Zeccora is just fine.  But there is a changeling in there with her,” Shifter had to grab Applebloom and cover her mouth again, “hold on.  I meant what I said.  I think, and Pyre too, that whoever that is in there, they are friends with Zeccora,” he had to let that sink in a moment before Applebloom stopped struggling to get to her teacher.  Once she nodded he let her go, “Now, the thing is, Pyre says that that particular changeling has a curse on her.”

“Curses don’t exist,” Applebloom hissed.

“Drifting Pyre assures me that they do.  Even if they shouldn’t.  And he asked that I let him remove it for her.  But to do that, I have to let him borrow my body.  And if you remember, what you saw yesterday, he was only at half size.  This time, he will be full size, and sporting a physical body.  So I wanted to warn you before hand.  Now if you will excuse me, he needs to get to work.  Do your stuff Pyre.  And don’t you dare go mouthing off to her.”

Shifter had stepped away from the yellow pony as he started his transformation.  Applebloom was very surprised to see the dragon’s full size.  She had known that he had said that he was at half size last time but it was still a jolt to see Pyre.  He was quite the specimen of his species.

The dragon snaked his neck back around to where the filly was sitting, “I am going to go get them to come outside,” he whispered, in a surprisingly quiet voice, “I do not want you to come out of hiding until I, or Shifter, call for you.  This may take a few moments, so I am going to need you to be patient, please?”

Applebloom nodded, and the dragon, amazingly stealthy for a such a large creature, launched himself into the air.  He landed in Zeccora’s front lawn with hardly a thump.  He stuck his left pinky claw forward, and flicked lightly at Zeccora’s door.

“Zeccora, this is Drifting Pyre.  I was wondering if I could get you to come outside to talk for a moment, please?” he called.

The conversation inside stopped.  There was a sound from inside and then the zebra walked out.  Shortly followed by Rocky Road.

“Pyre, how do you do?  Is there anything I can do for you?” the zebra asked, without a pause.

“Actually, it is not what you can do for me, it is what I can do for your friend.  Please introduce us?” he asked.  He was covertly sliding his tail around to cover the door.

“This is Rocky Road, my friend,” she turned to the unicorn, “do you know of any help he could lend?”

The confused and surprised fortune teller was just staring up at the black dragon before her, with, nearly, bulging eyes.  She was looking back from Pyre back to her old friend.

“Uh, Zeccera, when’d ya get ta bein’ friends wit’ a dragon?”

“Oh, I just met Pyre yesterday.  But you do not have to worry, he is quite okay,” the zebra answered, assuring.

“Hmm, yes, well, that is not the problem right now,” Pyre said, lowering his head to look the camouflaged changeling in the eye, “who in the world have you upset so badly, that they would be willing to put a curse on you?”

The unicorn had started to look away, when her head shot back up to stare the dragon in the eye, “a curse? Are you sure?”

“Absolutely,” he replied, shutting the mystified zebra up before she was about to say something, “the thing is, I can tell that it is there and I can remove it for you, but you are going to have to be HONEST with us.  Do you understand?”

The unicorn just stared at the dragon in disbelief.  She just sat there as her mouth slowly made motions as if to say something but words wouldn’t seem to come out.

“Yes, that is correct.  I know that you are not actually a unicorn,” the dragon paused a moment, then looked over at Zeccora, “the peculiar thing is, my little pony, you do not seem to be the least bit surprised about that?”

The medicine pony looked from the dragon, to her shocked friend, back to the dragon then back to her friend, “in all the time that I knew her, good was her disguise, but every so often she would give herself away with her eyes.  And then there was the first time I saw, that she could not keep, the ruse up when she felt truly safe, and was deep in sleep,” Zeccora explained with a content smile on her face.

Poor shocked Onyxsis almost dropped her transformation, right there, purely out of shock.  Not only did she have a dragon staring her down, telling her she had a curse on herself, and that he would be willing to remove it for her, but her best pony friend, that she had ever made, next to her son’s father, and even if that friendship had felt tainted by the fact that she had thought she had been lying to her the whole time they had known each other, was now telling her that they had known that she was a changeling, the entire time.  It was too much for the poor thing to handle, she broke down and began to weep.

Zeccora went over and held her old compadre as the shifted mare cried.  Onyxsis cried for all the happiest moments in her life, and for all the sadness she had had to carry in silence.  She was finally able to have an outlet for all the pain she had carried after the death of her son’s father.  All the best times she had spent with Zeccora were now that much brighter because her friend had known her darkest secret, and had still cared for her, all the same.  She just sat there and let everything wash away.  Washed away by a lifetime’s worth of tears she was finally allowed to shed.

As the changeling wept, Applebloom felt as though she needed all the comfort she could get.  She came out of hiding and joined her teacher in holding her changeling friend as the shifted mare’s tears flowed.

Shifter, unaware that the changeling before him was his mother, and Drifting Pyre, where so moved by Applebloom’s compassion, and the realization that this poor thing had been in such a miserable condition.  Pyre wrapped his tail around the much smaller group of ponies and held them, as the shifted mare allowed her lamentation to cleanse her soul.

Onyxsis had a lot of tears to let flow.  She sat there and cried for nearly an hour.  But, her friends, new and old, just sat there with her, holding her and giving her the best comfort they could, even if they didn‘t understand, why she was crying so hard.

Once she had regained her composure she had to be introduced to Applebloom, “and who might you be my dear?” she asked, wiping away the last of her tears.

“Mah name’s Applebloom.  I’m Zeccora’s number one student,” the happy filly answered, holding out her hoof for a shake.

Onyxsis, took the yellow hoof and got an Apply family welcome rattle, “y-y-yyesss, wellll my name is Roc…no,” she paused, recovering, then she looking up at the dragon, “you did say I needed to be honest, correct?” the dragon nodded, “very well, if you would all step back, I will transform to my true form and introduce myself properly?”

The two ponies stepped back.  The changeling released her camouflage.  She stood before them in all her chitinous glory.

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, everyone.  My name is Onyxsis,” she said with a true smile lighting up her face, for one of the few times in her life.

Drifting Pyre had frozen.  His host had been seized up by shock.  Standing before them was Shifter’s mother, and Shifter hadn’t even realized it until she had told them her name.

Shifter tried to take his body back so that he could throw himself at her, but the dragon stopped him, “WAIT.  Let me get rid of that curse first,” Pyre cautioned, “what if seeing you is what sets it off.”

The colt was just barely able to control himself.  The dragon spoke excellent words of wisdom, but he wanted to hold his mother so badly.  He calmed himself so that his friend could get back to the issue at hoof, or claw, or, whatever.

“Now,” the dragon began to explain, “I am going to need you to sit on your haunches and stare straight ahead,” he waited a moment for Onyxsis to comply, “now then, imagine, there is nothing in front of you, save a strong, blank, wall.  I am going to need you to concentrate on that wall, as hard as you can.”

The changeling mare tried to picture a wall before her, but every time that she got a good image going, some stray thought, or sound, would break her concentration.  She closed her eyes, and closed herself off from the rest of the world.  What she didn’t know was that as soon as her eyelids folded Drifting Pyre cast a spell over her head.  He had started the ritual, the moment she had zoned out, planning on her closing her eyes.

The dragon looked over at his audience, “I am going to need the two of you to ignore what you are about to see.  It is going to be very disturbing to watch, but it will not hurt her.  If you call out or do something to break her concentration, this could end very badly.  For her and me.  Do I make myself clear?” he whispered.

The mare and filly were taken completely by surprise.  They had never expected the dragon to be able to speak in that tongue.  It took them a moment to recover, before they could even let what their friend had said sink in.  Once they had comprehended what he was asking, they both nodded up to him.

Pyre smiled, then turned back, to continue his work.

He brought his palms together in a silent clap.  He had his thumb, and index claws, extended, and the rest of his digits interlaced, over his knuckles.  He brought the tips of his index claws just under his chin, closed his eyes, and began to chant a mantra, slowly, under his breath.  The captivated pair saw the tips of his index, and thumb claws begin to glow.  The sharp points, slowly started to become vaguely transparent.

Suddenly Pyre opened his eyes, and threw his right index claw into the left side Onyxsis’ head, and his left index into her chest, with his thumbs set into an open pincer position.  It took all of Zeccora and Applebloom’s willpower, to stop themselves from demanding to know hat was going on.  They looked up at him, and got another jolt.  His eyes, were doing a very good rendition of a star filled night sky.  They just turned back and finished watching Onyxsis.

Drifting Pyre, let magic flow through his arms into the changeling.  He had to draw the curse out.  He watched and waited.  Slowly he felt the dark magic consolidate on the very tips of his phasic claws.  He waited for the core of the curse to press against one of his claws.  Then, he felt it.  It was set in her chest, and it was a bad one.  He had originally planned to just remove the curse and destroy it, but the moment he caught the nature ad function of the curse, he was DISPLEASED.

He quickly brought his thumb tips to the tips of his index claws and pulled the evil magic from the innocent mare.  He tilted his head back and threw the bits of spell down his gullet.  He brought his palms to his belly and shifted magics around, in his stomach.

Onyxsis was broken out of her trance, when Drifting Pyre let out a large belch.  She looked up in time to see a green flame fly off to the far side of the Everfree Forest.  Then, he let out a spurt of yellow flame, to clear his throat.

He motioned for the group to gather closer, then brought his head down to look at them, at eye level, “that was one of the worst curses I have ever had the displeasure of taking care of, in a long time.  Not only would it have eventually killed you, but anypony that touched you while you were in the agonizing throws of a very torturous death, that curse was to jump on them.  Then, when they died, it would jump to anypony that was touching them.  That horrid thing could have, and probably would have, killed hundreds, or even thousands, before it eventually died off.  Fortunately for you, you met me.  Unfortunately for the twisted individual that actually cast that thing, as well,” he looked up and motioned in the direction that the green flame had gone, “I modified it, and made it ‘return to sender’.  Maybe that will teach someone a lesson about just how nasty curses are,” he said with a snort.

The group of females got horrified looks on their faces.

Zeccora was the first to recover, and she asked, “h-how can you possibly be so, so bad?  The fact that you would do something so evil makes me sad.”

Drifting Pyre straightened, with a hurt frown on his face, “I am not going to try and apologies for my actions.  But I am going to tell you a little something of my past.  Just so you can try to understand how I can be so callous.  And, so, that hopefully, you will not think any less of me.”

He closed his eyes and delved deep into the recesses of his memory, “I am ancient.  Probably beyond your comprehension of age.  I have seen more millennia pass by, than Celestia, and Luna combined.  I have seen the horrors of war ravage a land.  Saw that land recover, only to have another war destroy it all over again.  I have seen friends die, in the most horrendous and gruesome of ways.  In said wars, or even worse, times they thought should have been peaceful.  I have had hosts, sacrifice their lives, to protect me.  I am not, just another pony.  I.  Am.  A.  Dragon.  So, do not judge me?”

A single tear had come to his eye, as a few unwanted memories had flashed through his mind.  He caught the drop of liquid, looked it over with a nearly unnoticeable sneer, then snorted a small flame at it to get rid of it.  Then he suddenly felt hooves on his belly.

He looked down, to see a bright red mane blaring up at him, as Applebloom did her best to hug the huge beast.

His smile returned as he patted the little filly, “thank you,” he said.  Then before anyone could stop him, he threw a spell over Applebloom.

Everypony looked at him as his smile grew bigger, “she reminded me of someone from a very long time ago.  If I had cast that spell on them when I had had the chance, they would have lived a much longer, happier life than they had had the opportunity to.”

Applebloom looked up at him, “so whut did, ya jus do?”

“It will not matter, unless the  spell is truly activated, so I am not going to bother you with the details,” Pyre said, waving off the situation, then he turned to look at the changeling mare, “so, Miss Onyxsis, how would you like to finally be introduced to the fifth member of this little event, hmm?”

Onyxsis looked around, trying to see if their was anypony else she had missed.  She looked up at the dragon, with a cocked eyebrow.

“He is the most important one here,” the giant lizard said, “albeit, you will probably, barely, be able to recognize him.  Even though you know him better than you know Zeccora.”

The confused changeling just sat there trying to understand what the dragon was saying.  Then, Drifting Pyre slowly, began to shrink back into himself.  Just as he got to half size, there was a bright flash of magical light.  Everypony had to look away and cover their eyes, except for the one that the light emanated from.

Onyxsis heard galloping hooves, headed straight for her, and she looked up.  She was surprised to see a familiar pony running at her, full tilt.

Shifter threw himself at her, yelling, “MOMMA!”

The changeling mare was taken completely by surprise.  She had not put two and two together, to figure out that the dragon from just instances ago, was the one from her mother’s overheard report.  She was practically tackled to the ground, by the bulldozing her son gave her.

Shifter was careful, to not crush his mother, as he threw himself at his prodigal parent.  He almost trimmed her horn with his own, so before he could get to the gratuitous hugging he had planned with her, he had to throw up a small shield on his own horn for safety‘s sake.  Then he began his loving reunion with earnest.

Onyxsis was so overjoyed, once she realized what was going on.  She returned each of her son’s enthusiastic embraces with just as much vigor.  She had finally returned to her son’s life and she did not plan on going anywhere else, for a very long time.

After more than a few, new, tears were shed, Onyxsis, stepped back, “here, now.  Let me get a good look at you,” and she gave him a thorough once over, “oh, my boy.  You have grown to quite the handsome, young, stallion.  I am so proud of you.”

Then she stopped for a moment.  She turned and looked at the yellow filly that was sitting next to her zebra friend.  She looked Applebloom over for a moment then looked back over at her son.

“So, is she your very special somepony?”

Shifter was taken completely by surprise.  His mother would have probably gotten the same reaction, if she had walloped him over the forehead with a steel club.  He recovered, then looked down, his face would probably have gone the color of Applebloom’s mane, if it could.

“Umm, well, uh,” he took a deep breath, then slowly let it back out, “I would really like for her to be.  But I want to let her get to know me better first.  And I would really like to get to know her better before I ask her.” then he suddenly realized what he was saying.  He started laughing.  It took him a moment to choke out, “I don’t see you for almost 6 years, and the first thing you ask me, is if I have a very special somepony,” he  let out a few more guffaws before he recovered completely, “and please, mother, for the love of Celestia, don’t meddle?  I get enough of that from Pyre, especially recently.”

The changeling just chuckled at her son.  She could understand his reluctance.  And his patience.  He wanted the moment to just right.  She would leave his love life, well enough alone, but…

“And where did the overgrown, know-it-all, run off to?  He didn’t need to trade places with you.”

Shifter let out another bark of laughter, “yes, actually, he did, mother.  You see…” and he explained to her about who and what Drifting Pyre was.

The mare just looked at her son.  Now she was the one pole axed.  Her son had a dragon taking up residence in his soul, not his cave, as she had assumed.  She almost feinted out of shock.  After she recovered, she remembered what she had come here for in the first place.

A pained and worried look came over her face, so Shifter was totally alert to what she said, “you need to get Zeccora and Applebloom out of the Forest.  Your grandmother, has sent a large group of fighters to capture them.  She wants to force you into coming to her.  She wants to kill you.”

Shifter just snorted, “then she is in for a very harsh lesson in reality,” he turned to his friends, “can you two stay somewhere in Ponyville for a while?” he asked.

Applebloom turned to Zeccora, “ya can stay at Sweet Apple Acres,” she turned back to Shifter, “but I’m stayin with you.”

The colt shook his head, “I’m afraid that I can’t take that risk, not with you, not now.  I’m not going to be going to just cast that spell, anymore.  First,” and he got a rather frightening look in his eye, “I am going to go pay my dear old grandmum a visit.  One I doubt she will be forgetting anytime soon.”

“Oh no ya don’t,” Applebloom said, shaking off the shudder that he had sent through her, “if yer going ta start a fight, then I’m definitely comin.  Yer goin’ta need help, if ya plan on takin’ on a whole bunch’a chagelins.”

“I’m sorry,” was all he said in reply, as his horn began to glow.

“Whut ferrrrrrrzzzzzz…” Applebloom collapsed.

Shifter caught her before she hit the ground, eased her down, then he turned to Zeccora, “she’ll wake up, in about an hour.  That should give the two of you plenty of time to take her home and explain to her sister why there was a change of plans,” he turned to his mother, “mom I really hate to ask you to do this, but, can you go with them.  You’ll have to talk to Miss Sparkle and tell her who you are, and why you are here, but I’m pretty sure that she will understand.”

Onyxsis, wanted to go with her son, but she realized that he was not going to her mother’s lair for a happy little family reunion.  She looked into Shifter’s eyes and saw, if Obsidia thought that her grandson was just going to roll over and die, screaming, for her convenience, the changeling matriarch was in for a very rude awakening.  And Shifter was probably going to have to carve his way to her to let her know that.

Onyxsis was no pushover when it came to magic, but she knew her limits.  Her son far surpassed her.  She didn’t know what his plan was, but if she fouled it up, death would probably end up being a welcome release, by the time her mother got through with the two of them.

She nodded to her son.

As she decided on what form to use, while staying in Ponyville, Shifter helped Zeccora pack her bags, after he put the insect repellent, and quite a few of her ’securities’ in his own bag.  He explained to her that he planned to leave a barrier around her home before he left so she didn’t need to take her less mobile possessions.  Once they were done and the zebra was loaded down with two pair of bags they came outside to find the pegasus, Glory Trails, with a slumped, sleeping, Applebloom over her shoulders.

Shifter was surprised to find his mother taking that form.  She hadn’t used that façade, in nearly 15 years, if he could remember correctly.

“So, you will go as your husband’s wife, then?” he asked, gently.

The pale green pegasus nodded her head, her long, dark, silver mane falling over her face a little, “I believe, it will be a little easier to explain who I am if, I use the form your father knew so well,”  she looked into her son‘s eyes, moisture coming to her own, “please, promise me that you will come back.”

Shifter walked over to his mother.  He put a hoof around her neck and gave her light squeeze, “I promise, we will never be as far apart, or apart for as long, ever again, once this is over,” then he looked over at Applebloom’s sleeping form, he brushed her curly mane, lightly, “and tell her, I will be back, and I am going to have a very important question for her when I get back.”

Glory nodded again and followed Zeccora, away from the hut.

When the two mares disappeared into the thick tree line, Shifter pounded his forehooves together, swung his neck to the side until it popped, as he threw up a barrier around Zeccora’s house.  Then he set off for his second lab.  He arrived and started packing a load of party favors that would make a demolitions expert cringe in actual pain.  He was planning on making sure that if he ended up eliminating Obsidia, she was going to go out with a bang.

As he loaded a second set of bags, he wondered if there was anything that Drifting Pyre could do to help him prepare?

“Not the way you are thinking,” the dragon commented, “there are a few lessons I could give you in hoof-to-hoof combat, but it would not be in your best interest to try and learn them right now.  You do not have the time to gain the skill necessary to be able to make use of what training I could give you.  You would probably just end up hurting yourself, more than your opponents.  I would just recommend, sticking to what you know right now, plus your little bag-of-tricks.”

“Very well, but can I count on you to do whatever is necessary to help pull my flank out of the fire, if it comes to it.”

The dragon chuckled, “but of course.  If you end up getting killed this soon, I would never be able to live it down.  Plus, I would probably have to go to some far off place to get away from your mother, and your soon to be fillyfriend.  They would, more than likely, start hunting me down.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Shifter said, chuckling a little to himself as he tried to imagine his mother and Applebloom hunting an incorporeal dragon down.  Then, he blushed, again, when he realized that he hadn’t refuted that he planned to ask Applebloom to be his special somepony, if he survived this misadventure.

As he finished packing his bags, he looked around the depot one more time.  He realized that he might not have the magic to take on an entire colony of changelings, but he didn’t need it with his special talent.  He got a mirthless smile on his face as he imagined what would happen if this depot were to go off, systematically, inside the colony.  The death toll would probably be in percentages, rather than overall numbers.

He put his extra pack on his back, resealed his storage space, then headed out.

Over a few creeks, maybe a river, and through the Forest, to Grandmother’s lair, he goes.

Just as Shifter was starting his journey proper, Obsidia got a most unexpected surprise.

She was sitting on her throne, contemplating what she was going to do to that freak of nature, once she had him in her hooves, when suddenly, her High Magister burst into her audience chamber.

“HEED ME, OH QUEEN OF CHANGELINGS.  YOU HAVE MADE THE MISTAKE OF ANGERING A DRAGON,” boomed a voice that was definitely not the normal, mousey tone of the old magic user, “YOU SOUGHT TO INVADE MY HOME.  TWICE.  YOU HAVE HAD THE AUDACITY TO HAVE A CURSE USED.  THESE OFFENCES ALONE ARE ENOUGH TO WARRANT YOUR TERMINATION.  BUT THEN YOU GO AND HAVE THE FOALISH NOTION TO DARE TO PROCLAIM A DEATH SENTENCE ON MY HOST, AND FRIEND.  I AM COMING TO END YOU, STUPID MARE.  YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED, AND THEY ARE FEW!!!”

With his final act of living finished, the High Magister, seized up, and collapsed, deader than a manticore’s meal.

Obsidia immediately had the colony locked down, and had her fastest messenger try to catch up to the group she had sent to the Everfree Forest.

Shifter was amazed that he had forgotten just how huge the Everfree Forest really was.  The sun was almost gone, and he was pretty sure he still had a few dozen miles to go before he got to the edge of the Forest.

He sighed, as he trudged on, he remembered, that he had planned to fly, but now he was on the lookout for changelings.  There was no way that anypony would ever be able to see one through the Forest’s canopy, so he had walked and/or trotted up to this point, and as he had yet to run into any changelings, he hoped that he hadn’t missed them.  But, as it was getting late, he was trying to get to the far side of the Forest before finding a place to camp.  He focused on getting to his destination.

The sun was completely down, before he finally got to his desired location.  He went about looking for a secure place to bed down.  Then, he saw some camp fires.  He wondered who they belonged to.  He went into stealth mode, and snuck up on the large group.

Once he got closer he was able to recognize the language that the lax guards were speaking.  This had to be the party of fighters his mother had warned him was coming to try and foalnap his mentor, and Applebloom.  They sure were moving pretty slowly.

Shifter suddenly had an idea.  He chuckled to himself, as he moved away to implement his plan

His first priority was to get his changeling form just right.  He went with an older male form.  One blue eye, one yellow eye.  His body was going to be larger and taller, but just as heavy as his natural form.  His wings would be less tattered then the norm.  His horn was even more jagged.  And as a finishing touch, he made sure to cast a spell to make his magic aura look like the normal sickly green of the average changeling mage.  He went over his disguise one last time to make sure that there wasn’t anything he was forgetting.

Then he began to work on his character’s story.  Turncoat was going to be a loner.  A traveler.  Maybe and outcast?  He has been all over Equestria.  And he was going to do his best to convince Obsidia that invading was, unwise, or at the very least, try to.  He was going to make sure she couldn’t, one way, or another.

He transformed himself, and then started moving back towards the camp, now making as much noise as he could.  Stepping on every branch he could, pushing threw light brush, muttering to himself about random things in low tones.  The guards couldn’t possibly miss hearing him.

The guards however, had been warned that any strange noises coming from the Forest did not have to be worried over, while the group was still outside.  They were taken by complete surprise when an older, taller, and bigger changeling stallion practically stomped out of the tree line, right into their fire light.  The two guards just stared at the stallion as he looked them over.

“Well, well, what the heck do I have here?  Some sort of changelin’ soldiers’ camp?  What are you boyos doing way out here?” the mix-match eyed, changeling asked.

The guards recovered at the same time, stood straight, and both demanded, “Identify yourself.”

“Geez, guys, I ain’t deaf.  All you had to do was ask.  Name’s Turncoat.  What can I do for you lot?”

“State your business.”

“Just goin’ wherever I feel like.  Saw your fires and wondered who they belonged ta,” Turncoat looked back at the Everfree, then turned back to the guards, “Ya’ll ain’t about to go into the Forest are you?  That would be a very bad idea for a while.”

“What business is it of your’s what we are planning?” demanded a new changeling that walked up, “And how do you know that it would be a bad idea for us to travel the Everfree Forest?”

Turncoat looked this newcomer over.  He was almost as big as Turncoat.  Shifter recognized the script that was scrolled across the changeling’s forehead.  It meant “DEATH”.

“Going by the emblem on your face, and the fact that none of these other fellows seem to get any more comfortable when ya showed up, I’m going ta go out on a limb and say that you’re the leader of this group,” he waited a moment for the Assassin to nod in acknowledgement, “Well to the first part, I don’t rightly care what your plans are, or aren’t.  Just curious really.  As to the how I know it would be a bad idea to go in there,” he motioned over his shoulder with his left forehoof, “I just came through the Forest and I’ve got to tell you, the dragon, Drifting Pyre is awake, and he is really angry at you changelings right now, for some reason.  You go in there and the chances are pretty good that you won’t be coming back out.”

Turncoat stood there for a moment, waiting for the changeling leader to make a decision.

The Master Assassin stopped and thought about the information that he had just been given.  This older stallion had just given him more info then he had probably intended to give.  The real problem was that his info had raised a few more questions, but the Assassin didn’t want him to know that he wanted the information.  What the hay, he could always just kill the old foal if he got too curious.

“So, how do you know the name of the dragon that resides inside the Forest?  And how do you know that he would try and stop us from passing through?”

Shifter/Turncoat, stopped and thought a moment about how to answer that.  For some reason, he didn’t want to lie, even to this changeling.  Maybe, wanting to be the very special somepony to the Element of Honesty’s sister, was starting to affect him more than he had thought.  He went with the truth.

“Me and Pyre, we have an arrangement.  We’re pretty close, really.  Or, at least, I like to think so.  And, I know that Pyre wouldn’t try and stop you.  He would stop you.  Dead in your tracks, as the term goes.  He won’t cotton with you changelings passing through his Forest, right now.  It is suicide on your part to test that.”

The Assassin, had to stop and think again.  This mix-eyed stallion was doing his level best to keep them from entering the Forest.  And he was supposedly trying to keep the Assassin and his soldiers alive, for some reason.  The Assassin didn’t want to die any faster then the next changeling.  Would Queen Obsidia be willing to…

Just as he was getting ready to continue questioning Turncoat, a very familiar, light buzzing was heard coming from the immediate direction of the colony.  Every alert changeling turned to see a messenger land and hurry over to the Assassin.

“Sir, you and your group are to return, immediately, to the colony!”

Neither the Assassin, nor Shifter, could believe the new orders.  Now Shifter just had to try and get the leader to take Turncoat back to the colony.  But how?

He decided to try going with walking away, “Well ya’ll have fun.  I’d best be going.”

“Hold,” called the leader, just as Turncoat was walking out the north side of the camp, “would it be possible for you to come and tell my queen everything you know about the Everfree Forest?”

Shifter stopped and thought about the offer, “I guess I could tell her what she wants ta know about the Everfree,” he chuckled, a little,  “if I was ta try and tell her everything I know about the Forest, she’d probably end up killing over from old age by the time I was done.  I don‘t really have anything else ta do right now, anyways.”

Shifter couldn’t believe his luck.  Maybe this wouldn’t be as hard, or as bad, as he had worried about.  But then again, what exactly was he going to do once he got to the colony?  There was no way he was going to be able to pretend he was a normal changeling.  He mulled all this over as the leader got his group packed and headed back to home.

The Master Assassin was wondering why he was having so much trouble trying to figure this new changeling stallion out.  He was going to have to keep a very close eye on this, Turncoat, for a while.  There was something about him.

As the group made their way back to the colony, Turncoat talked with the soldiers and scouts.  He learned that quite a bit had actually changed since the last time his mother had explained changeling life to him.  A few things had changed since the last time he had been able to sit down and talk with his mother about colony life.  One of the improvements being, the female changeling ratio.  It was now almost 1 female to every 3 males.  At least in Obsidia’s colony.  He found out that she had appeared to have mellowed since his mother’s return.  She hardly ever killed anypony anymore.  Still beat them within an inch of their life, but, hardly ever killed.  None of the soldiers really feared for their lives anymore, didn’t fear for their families, as had been the case, when his mother had told tales of the changeling queen.  The only real problem with living in the colony, was that there still wasn’t enough emotional energy to go around.

He was pondering these new revelations he realized that he was being watched.  Shifter had figured that the leader was going to keep and eye on the new changeling, but he hadn’t figured that the leader would personally stalk him.

Late the next evening he really started to fret when he realized that the leader had to be some sort of professional killer, after he had seen him training his fighters.  The smaller stallion moved with power and grace during the close-quarters-combat exercises.  All the while watching Turncoat.

Shifter realized that he was going to have to come up with a story, that was not only true, but was totally believable, or he was probably going to have to end up fighting this changeling, and the Assassin was going to be carrying orders from his grandmother to kill him.  That thought alone scared Shifter more than the prospect of having to face his mother’s mother, now.  He made sure not to let it show, but he was still very uncomfortable around the Assassin, and that did show.

“Can I ask you a serious question?” the Assassin asked, late the next morning.

The group was getting closer to the entrance to the underground colony of changelings.  Shifter could just make out the huge cavern entrance, still a few miles off.  The original cavern must have been a dragon’s home at some point, due to the sheer size of the opening.

“Ya just did,” Turncoat replied, chuckling, just barely able to keep from jumping when the leader had surprised him, “but, I suppose there was something else you were wantin’ ta know, so go ahead.”

“Why are you trying to keep us from going into the Everfree Forest?”

Shifter had figured this question was going to be asked at some point so he had planned a response, “Let me ask you somethin’?  Yer queen is planning on invadin’ pony territory, right?” the Assassin didn’t answer but the scowl he gave Turncoat was answer enough.  Shifter shook his head, sadly, “figured as much,” he sighed, “’nother question.  If, and this is a big ‘if’, yer queen’s invasion plan succeeds, what’s goin’a happen to all the ponies and their emotions?”

The Assassin wasn’t sure exactly what he was being asked.  The state of confused, consideration did not sit well with him.  He felt as though he were questioning his queen and that just was not done.  He looked back at the older stallion, “explain.”

“Let’s say the invasion works, this time.  You changelings spread out all across Equestria.  The ponies are going about their days knowing that changelings are among them.  What are they going to be feeling, emotion-wise?”

The Assassin still wasn’t getting what Turncoat was saying, and it was apparent.  Shifter almost gagged in disgust.  He had never figured that it would be this hard for a changeling to understand emotions, but then, maybe the leader was testing him.  He tried explaining, again.

“Love would most likely become as rare a commodity in the pony lands, as it is out here,” he said, waving a hoof across the landscape, “they would, overall, stop feeling love.  Fear, worry, sadness, and doubt would start ta take hold.  They wouldn’t be able ta trust their loved ones.  ‘Is this pony really my wife, or husband?  Is that really my best friend?’ they would ask themselves,” he looked off into the horizon, then sighed, again, “I don’t think that Chrysalis, ner yer queen, for that matter, has figured that out.  Hopefully, if I get the chance, I’ll try ta explain that to her.”

The Assassin didn’t want to believe what the older stallion was telling him, but he accepted it, as Turncoat‘s opinion, anyways.  He nodded and walked away thinking about what he had been told.  As they got closer to home, he had pondered everything the stallion had said and he also noticed a quirk about the way Turncoat had referred to changelings as ‘you changelings’ quite a few times.  He was going to ask about it but then they arrived.

“Who goes?” demanded the guards.

The Assassin stepped forward, “I and my group have returned.  I need to make a report to my queen.”

The guards saluted and let the group pass.  The Assassin let the rest head in ahead of him.  As Turncoat walked in, the Assassin faded into the shadows of the entrance tunnel and began to follow him.

Shifter was surprised to see a fairly long tunnel that was lined with torches that seemed to go on for quite a while.  He noticed that the rest of the group just kept walking so he followed their lead.  After about 5 minutes, he watched as the changelings ahead of him walked past a certain spot in the tunnel and they seemed to disappear.  He wondered what happened to them, but shrugged and continued to follow.

He was shocked to find that there was must be an illusionary wall up that guarded the real entrance to the colony.  As he past through the wall, he got a very good look at the colony proper.

It was if somepony had built Manehattan, or maybe Fillydelphia, in the inside of the mountain.  The only real difference was, the city was laid out in a step pattern.  Shifter was staring trying to figure out why when he realized that he was also looking at 20 times as many guards standing, or pacing about, inside the true entrance.  He just shook his head, and with a light chuckle, he walked into the underground city.

He walked around, looking at the architecture with great interest.  The first sight of interest to him was the fact that the there was no true ceiling to the city.  The mountain that the city was built into must have either been a volcano at some point, or somepony had taken a lot of time to tear the top off of the mountain to allow real light to enter.  As he walked deeper and deeper into the city he began to realized why the city was laid out the way it was.  Not only were the buildings set on large stair like levels, but the city itself was also laid out in an off set, grid pattern.  The city would be a maze to any invading force.  Even an air invasion would be virtually impossible to pull of, unless one had a force of thousands.  Turncoat smiled and kept on walking around.

After a very short while, Shifter noticed that his alter ego was getting a few looks.  He began to worry if it was his size or maybe his eyes.  He hadn’t really thought that he would stand out as much as he did, but he just shrugged.  It couldn’t be helped now and he was starting to enjoy himself.

He did notice that at one point, a small group of soldiers had started to walk up to him, but the leader of the group had looked past him for a moment and then motioned for his team to follow him somewhere else.  Shifter had figured that the Assassin would have someone tail him, and whoever they were, obviously had high enough clearance that they could get their point across without having to say anything.

He was getting closer to the center of the city, or at least he though he was, when he suddenly felt a tug on his back left leg.  He turned and looked to find a fairly young changeling filly, trying to get his attention.

He bent down to look her in the eye, “somethin’ I can help ya with, little Missy?”

The little filly just stared him in the eyes for a moment before she finally squeaked out, “who’re you?”

Shifter smiled, “my name is Turncoat.  I’m just visitin’ for a little while.”

“So you’ve been outside?” she asked, her eyes widening a little.

“Oh, aye.  I come from outside yer colony.  Like I said, I just came ta visit for a little while,“ He thought a moment, “seems yer queen needs certain information I have.  I came ta tell her what she wants ta know.”

The young changeling smiled, “so you’re going to teach Queen Obsidia something?  Something we don‘t learn in school?”

Turncoat smiled, back, as he nodded, “do you know of a place called the Everfree Forest?” the filly’s smile slipped away for a moment, but she nodded, “do you know where it is?” she nodded again, her smile returning, “well I come from that direction.  There are things Miss Obsidia wants ta know about over there that I’ve come ta tell her about, I think.“

He stopped a moment when he realized that there wasn’t any other changelings nearby.  He looked up, and about, and found that he had actually walked down an alley, and he had absolutely no idea where he was.  He had thought that he had gotten a look at his shadow, but wasn’t completely sure.  He just shrugged, as he chuckled a little to himself.

He turned back to the little changeling, “I’m wondering if you can help me, now?” he asked.  He waited a moment for her to nod, “well I seem ta be lost.  Could you take me ta somepony that can give me some directions, please?”

The little filly just nodded vigorously, looked around then took off.  He followed her for quite a while.  Then he started to realize that the poor thing might be just as lost as he was.  They kept passing places that started becoming very familiar scenery.  He sighed as they past a particularly, commonly, reappearing flower box.  Shortly thereafter the filly suddenly stopped.  She turned back to Turncoat, tears in her eyes now.

“I..I think I…I’m lost too,” and the poor, little, changeling, slumped to the ground, and started crying.

Shifter sat down next to the little filly, put his hoof over her shoulder, and tried his best to comfort her.  She just looked so dejected.  He thought for a moment about how he could possibly resolve the situation.  He did the only thing he could really think of, that could fix the problem.

“Oy, Shadow, how bout ya help me take this poor thing somewhere we can get her some help?” he called over his shoulder.

The Assassin had thought that the older stallion might have gotten a look at him when he looked around earlier, but he had wanted to see how Turncoat was going to interact with the young changeling, but he really didn’t want to hear this particular filly crying anymore so he came out of hiding to help the lost pair.

The little filly changeling looked up to see who her new friend was talking to.  Her eyes got their spark back, and she stopped crying almost immediately, when she saw the changeling stallion that walked out of the shadows.

She jumped up and threw herself around his neck, “DADDY!” she yelled.

Shifter was taken by complete surprise to see such an act of affection from a changeling.  Then he realized what the youngling had said.  He looked from the stallion to the filly and back again.

“BWAHAHAHA,” he lost it, as he fell over, laughing himself silly.  He couldn’t believe how his luck had seen fit to buck him right in the face, yet again.

Just as Shifter recovered, and was about to ask why the leader had left off helping before the little filly had started crying, and to have him introduce his daughter to Turncoat, there was a sudden bellow from off to his left, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE’S MISSING?”

If Shifter wasn’t mistaken, his grandmother may have just found out his mother had left the colony.

“Ooh, Queen Obsidia sounds really mad,” his daughter said, as the Assassin sat her down.

“Yes she does,” he replied.  He looked over at the larger stallion.  Turncoat seemed to be thinking about something.

Turncoat came to a decision, “how’s bout we head over and see what’s going on,” he said, looking down at the filly, “and while we walk, you can introduce me to this little filly.  And maybe you can explain how you were able produce such a pretty child, wahahaha”

The filly blushed lightly, as her father started off, leading the trio towards the center of the colony.

“This is my daughter, Silhouette.  She is my pride and joy.  She gets her looks from her mother.”

“Hello again, Miss Silhouette.  It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Turncoat said, with a bow.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Turncoat,” she returned.

The trio walked into a wide open, park-like, area that surrounded what had to be the royal home.  It was more than just a mansion, but wasn’t nearly half as big as Canterlot Castle.  Shifter wasn’t surprised to see a large female changeling pacing about in the front lawn.  She was swatting random soldiers as they past her, in a hurry.  She looked up to see the group of three walk up.

“What took you so long to…,” she started to demand, before Turncoat got closer and she got a better look at him.  She realized that the changeling stallion was not one of her subjects, nor was he just any changeling.  He was almost as tall as she was, he was wider, and his eyes…intrigued her.

“Who is this?” she asked with a little purr in her voice.

This put the Assassin off, as Turncoat suddenly burst out into a new row of laughter.

“This is Turncoat, your majesty.  My troops and I met him at the edge of the Everfree Forest, just before your messenger arrive to recall us,” the Assassin bowed, then turned to Turncoat, “this is, Her Majesty, Queen Obsidia, may she reign.”

Shifter recovered, nodded deeply to his grandmother, “pleasure ma’am.”

The matriarch was taken aback, a bit, “you do not bow?” she demanded.

“Neither you nor any other, is my queen.  I show respect ta any who earn it, but from what I hear about you, it is at least…healthy, ta show common courtesy to ya.”

For some reason, Obsidia found it oddly refreshing for this particular stallion to show that he wasn’t afraid to tell her how he felt, without fear.  But it just was not done to not show proper respect to royalty.  She saw her Master Assassin tense, and ready himself, for her order.

“You do realize that if I gave the order, every single soldier here would butcher you,” she heard a gasp from a young filly that was hiding behind her Assassin, she ignored it.  She wanted to see how this Turncoat would react.  She wasn’t quite ready for what happened.

He suddenly got very serious, as all the jovial softness that had been in his face simply vanished as though it had never been there.  He nodded a bit, then, slowly turned and lifted the second set of saddle bags off of his back, the largest of the two sets, and brought them down in front of himself.  He slowly pulled a small, strange pot out and sat it before her, with telekinesis.  Then she and the Assassin were caught off guard as he activated a small pyromancy spell, just over the pot.  True pyromancy was not a magical skill that the average changeling could just do.  This stallion had magic training from a very well trained magister, or he had been trained by a unicorn.

“You are quite welcome to give that order.  My magic probably wouldn’t be able to last as long as you would have bodies to throw at me.  I just want you to know, however, that if that if this fire spell touches this pot, as you probably think it to be, everypony within 50 feet or so, save myself and that young filly, will die,” Turncoat finished, with a wicked grin on his face and an ominous gleam in his eyes.  He had lost his accent and deeper voice he had been using.

Obsidia almost gave the order, but something in the stallion’s eyes told her that he was telling her the truth.  And the fact the change in his voice told her that there was something more to this situation.

The Assassin had almost jumped at Turncoat, but he saw that the spell would last long enough to catch on the pot, if the suicidal stallion let it fall.  The only real thing that held him back was the thought that his daughter would get caught in the ensuing blast, from whatever the crazy foal had.  Then he realized that Turncoat had said that she would survive.  Now he was suffering from a major bout of confusion.

“What do you want?” Obsidia demanded.

Shifter gave a soft, dark, chuckle, “nothing much really.  Just a few moments of your time, in a private place.  We have something to discuss.  After we have our little talk, I’ll take my self and my little gift here, and I’ll leave you to your lonesome, probably never to be heard from ever again,” he thought for a moment, “oh, and we will need quite a bit of open space, when we talk.”

He waited a moment while Obsidia had to think his proposal over.  She figured that she didn’t really have a choice.  She was trying to come up with a solution to getting rid of this infuriating stallion.  She realized, the coliseum would be the perfect place to hold their meeting.  There weren’t any games scheduled this entire week, and it had plenty of open space.  And there would be plenty of places for her Assassin to set up ambushes.

“We will need to walk a bit but I think I know just the place,” she said as she turned, and motioned for him to follow.

“One moment,” he said.  He telekinetically pulled the filly out from behind her father.  He sat her down next to the pot of FireWater, as he put it back into it’s bag, without letting the fire spell go, “if you would be so kind my dear, would you please carry this for me.”

He could see the fear in her eyes as she looked back at her father.  He could see the hate and pain in the Assassin’s eyes as he looked Turncoat in the eyes and nodded, his jaw clenched almost tight enough to crack his teeth.

Turncoat settled the bags over the little changeling’s back and motioned for Obsidia to lead on.

Obsidia lead them out the west side of the lawn, to an enormous arena complex.  She lead them down to the actual gaming grounds.

“Will this suit you?”

“This will do quite well, actually,” he said as he took the bag off the filly’s back.  He patted her on the head, “I’m sorry I scared you like that, little Silhouette.  You were very brave, your father should be very proud, but your job is done now. Go on back to your poppa, my dear.  He is probably just back there, so off you go,” he said as he pointed her back to the exit.

He turned back to his grandmother as he heard her shift suddenly.  He didn’t want her trying to run away, so before he could really think about it, he threw up his most powerful barrier, then set another just inside of it, then another inside it.  After setting 5 layers to his shell, he dispelled the small fireball over his bag and dropped his shifted form.

“Well grandmother, I didn’t think it would work out quite this way, but, we have so very much to discuss.”

“YOU!” Obsidia bellowed. She lowered he head, pointed her horn at his heart, and charged.

She got about half way to him before he sighed and shook his head.  He telekinetically grabbed her up, put her inside a bubble and gave her a firm shaking.  Then he carefully sat a very dizzy changeling queen down.

“We’ll have none of that, thank you.  At least, not until after we have our little talk.  Once I have said everything I have to say, you are welcome to try anything your heart pleases,” he said as he walked up to her.

She tried to feebly stab him but she couldn’t pin down which was the real Shifter and which were just afterimages in her jostled eyes.  She missed, by quite a bit and she fell forward, flat on her face.

Shifter sighed, disgustedly, at her and stepped back to wait for her to recover her senses.  Obsidia stood shakily to her hooves and shook her head slowly, as the world righted itself.

“So what exactly do you want, you freak?”

Shifter just chuckled at that.  He had figured that there would be insults in abundance.  He had thought of so many that could be used, now that he was facing Obsidia, however, he just couldn’t feel insulted.

“As I said earlier, when you tried flirting with me, I just want to talk.  Once I’ve said my piece, I’ll leave you to do whatever it is you do, and you’ll probably never hear from me, ever again,” he cleared his throat, “now, can you please be civilized long enough for us to have a single conversation?  You can even throw in all the insults you want if it will make you feel any better, but I really do, just want to talk to you for a bit.”

“She doesn’t seem to be really interested in talking,” piped up a small voice from behind Shifter.

Shifter’s eyes bugged out for just an instant, as he turned to see Silhouette, stuck inside the barrier.  She was just sitting there, calmly, watching the family reunion.

He shook his head, sadly, “oh, Silhouette, I am so sorry.  I thought you would take off the moment you got the chance,” he looked over at the shell he had created, “I’m afraid that I can’t lower my barrier right now.  You’re just going to have to…,” he was interrupted by the sound of movement.

Without turning to see what Obsidia was up to, he threw up a shield to cover his back, and he braced himself.

Sure enough, she rammed right into the shield, and did so with enough force to actually push Shifter forward a few inches.  He allowed her horn to pass through the shield a little, then he locked her head in the position she had it in.  Then he put shields around her hooves, and through a hole or two, and locked them down as well.  He turned to find her in a very awkward position.  He couldn’t help but laugh.

She just looked at him with hate filled eyes.

“You’ve got to see the irony, grandma.  The one stallion, or colt, who wouldn’t want to touch you, has you at their absolute mercy,” he walked up behind her and lightly brushed her flank, he dropped his voice, making it sound much huskier, “I could do what ever I pleased to you, with you in this position, and there wouldn’t be a thing you or your entire colony could do to stop me.”

Obsidia tensed up, when she realized what he was getting at.

“You’re not going to actually do anything to her are you?” asked Silhouette, with a slightly puzzled, and worried, look on her face.

“Oh, good heavens, no,” he replied, his voice going back to normal, as he waved off the mild accusation.  He saw Obsidia relax, as he turned to the filly, “I just wanted to get the point across, that fear is a two edged sword.  It can and will cut both ways.  It is a lesson she has had coming, for quite some time.”

He ushered the little filly over and then released his grandmother from her bonds. She shook her self then sat and contemplated what to do next.  Then the abomination started talking again.

“All right, its time we got down to business so I can show this whole place my backside, and hopefully never come back,” he said as he sat down and made himself as comfortable as he could, “I want to ask, are you planning on invading Equestria?”

Obsidia just glared at her daughter’s son.

Shifter nodded, “I figured as much.  Well I already talked this over with your trained killer, but I want to start from the beginning with you.  What is going to happen when you invade?”

Obsidia wasn’t an idiot, but she didn’t understand the question, and it showed.  Shifter gave a very tired sigh.

“For the sake of less argument, let us say that your invasion actually works.  What is going to happen to all the ponies?”

Obsidia said the first thing that came to her mind, “they will become our emotion batteries.  They will feed us their love and we will become strong, once again.”

Shifter just sighed, again, and shook his head, disappointedly, “and what makes you think that there will be any love for them to share?  They are all going to start to worry and fear their own shadows if you go charging in, invading their homes.  They’re going to be going around, wondering, ‘is this really who I think they are’, ‘is that group of ponies who they are pretending to be’.  The only emotions you’re going to be getting from the ponies of Equestria, is fear, resentment, anger, and a lot of doubt.  And I have never heard of a changeling that can feed off of those emotions.”

Obsidia looked away for a moment.  She saw the perfect tool to aid her, but she didn’t want ‘him’ to get away, or get in the way.  She looked back at ‘it’ and thought of a way to distract ‘him’.

“So what would you suggest?  Even you should be able to see, that even with my people as happy as they are, they are still, slowly, starving.”

Shifter hadn’t really thought about how to help changelings, and he suddenly felt kind of bad for neglecting them.  He had to think about it a moment.  He looked down at Silhouette, then back at the entrance of the coliseum, thinking about all the changelings he had seen while on his walk about through the city.  Then he got a crazy idea.  So crazy in fact, it just might actually work.

He turned back to answer his grandmother, just in time to see her lunge for his saddle bags, that he had disregarded.  His eyes nearly blew out of his face when she lit a fire spell of her own and dropped it on the packs.

“NOOOO,” he screamed, as he shrank his shell down to try and cover the ensuing explosion.

Obsidia had attempted to teleport away, but hadn’t taken into account that her magic wasn’t strong enough to pass through her grandson’s barrier.  She hit it as if she were moving at an unbelievably high rate of speed.  Fortunately for her, the spell had some elasticity, the ground she was thrown to, however, did not.  She was nearly flattened by the impact.

Shifter never even saw the event.  He was completely, and utterly, focused on trying to contain the small supernova that went off inside his now very tight, layered, bubble.  He was adding barrier on top of barrier, but the fireball was eating away at them, almost as fast as he cast them.  With his knowledge of his explosives, and the reactions some of them had when combined with each other, he realized that the explosion was going to destroy the entire complex, and probably do a bit of damage to the surrounding buildings.  What the Tarturas had possessed him to bring such a selection?  Oh yeah he was coming to meet his homicidal grandmother, and he hadn’t really planned to set them all off at once.

He had to think of something and quickly.  Then he suddenly remembered that he wasn’t alone.

He turned to tell Silhouette to run, only to find her father standing there, too.

“Take her.  Go.  FAR.  Hurry,” he choked out, turning back to his now expanding bubble, so he could refocus on giving them as much time as possible to escape.

The Assassin didn’t ask for an explanation as he grabbed up his daughter and left the arena as fast as he could.

Shifter sighed as he came up with a solution to his problem of ever having to keep changelings from coming back through the Everfree, or hunting him down.

“It is a good plan.”

The world went dark for Shifter as he used the last bit of his magic throwing up as many barriers as he could just before he turned his body over to his resident dragon.

The explosion, that soon followed the non-reforming barriers, nearly engulfed the entire coliseum.

The expanding concussive wave, was absorbed by the coliseum, mostly.

The Assassin had taken Turncoat‘s advice, or whoever that pony was standing there with his daughter.  He had snatched up Silhouette and run like he was trying to escape an execution order.  And he was still caught by just the last little bit of the fading blast.

He was thrown head over tail, as he wrapped himself around his daughter to protect her.  When he came to rest on his side, she was perfectly safe, covered in a safety blanket known as daddy.  He only got a few bruises, and a scratch or two.

He sat up, and looked back at the implosion that was now occurring inside the coliseum.  The massive complex fell in on itself.  That was going to be a huge mess to clean up.  Queen Obsidia was not going to be happy.

The Assassin turned to find a few of the soldiers surrounding him, looking at him for guidance.

“Does anychangeling know where Queen Obsidia is?” he requested.

The group looked back and forth, at each other.  They all simultaneously turned to him and shrugged.

“First order of business, find her,” he ordered.

Before any of the changelings could take off, Silhouette spoke up, “um, daddy, I’m pretty sure that Queen Obsidia is under all that,” she said, waving a hoof at the demolished structure.

The Assassin took a deep gulp.  That would be very, UN-good.

“Get every available…,” he was cut off as something, a rather large something, suddenly burst out from under several tons of rubble.

“Argh,” he said as he brushed his shoulders off, then rubbed them, “okay, ouch, that actually hurt, a little.  Note to self, never do that again,” Drifting Pyre told himself, as he shook off some excess dust that still clung to his scales.

He checked his wings, to make sure that they weren’t injured.  Extending them to their full length, he checked to see if there were any kinks in movement.  He sighed happily when he found nothing wrong.  Once he had folded his wings back down, then, he decided to give any indication that he noticed the small army of changelings that had begun to surround the, now collapsed and obliterated, coliseum.

Pyre looked around, until he found a certain changeling stallion standing over a little changeling filly.  He walked over to them.  He didn’t bother worrying about why the Assassin winced at every step he took, crossing the now rubblized building.

He put his head almost to the ground, as he looked at Silhouette, and he stared her in the eyes.  He wondered if she would like to be…, now where did that idea come from.  He has been Equestria, longer than he had thought, or maybe Shifter‘s loneliness was starting to effect Pyre as well.  This was going to take some thinking.

Pyre looked back at the Assassin, “where is your queen?” he demanded.

The Assassin looked from the dragon, to his daughter, then to the broken coliseum, then looked back to the dragon, “my daughter believes that she is under all that,” he said, making the same gesture his daughter had, just a moment ago.

Pyre turned back to look at the demolished building.  He sighed, then waved his right claw through the air, as he cast a spell, to check and see if Silhouette was right.  His spell confirmed the death of Obsidia.  He wove a new spell, then turned back to the Assassin.

“Well, your daughter is correct.  Obsidia is there, and she is very dead.  The stone that now has a red magical aura around it is her tomb stone.  I would not move it, unless you have a very strong stomach.,” he suddenly gave a little, dark, chuckle, “I warned her that I was coming to end her, but I did not think she would end up dead before I got the chance to talk to her.”

The Assassin was stunned for a moment.  This dragon claimed that he had been on the way to kill his Queen.  He thought about ‘silencing’ him, but he didn’t think that he could without taking the chance of Silhouette getting caught up in the fray.

“Yeah, that probably would happen, I would have to discipline you rather harshly, and you do not really stand a chance against me anyway,” the dragon said, out loud, “you do not have any weapon capable of injuring me, and no ten of your changeling magisters have enough combined power to even begin to take me on, if I were to get into the mood to fight.  If I got really serious, this entire colony would not stand a snowball’s chance in lava.  Emphasis on the word lava.”

“Did you just threaten my colony?” the Assassin demanded.

“No,” replied Pyre, “I do not make threats or boasts when I am not among friends.  I can obliterate this poor excuse for a populous if I were in the mood.  I will not, mainly, because that pony you saw, did not want me to, and because, if I killed the lot of you, that would leave your daughter with no one who could take proper care of her, or teach her how to be a healthy changeling,” suddenly Pyre straightened, and scratched his chin, “unless I took her and made Onyxsis take care of her.  Hmm, that would be an interesting turn of events, would it not?”

The Assassin was shocked again.

“You know where Lady Onyxsis is?” he asked.

“Of course I do.  That pony you saw, his name is Shifter.  He is Onyxsis’ son.  Before he came to this side of the Everfree Forest, he made sure to send her somewhere she would be fairly safe from Obsidia‘s grasp.”

The Assassin didn’t know what to do with that information, but there was a request that he could make of the dragon.

“Would…would you be willing to ask Lady Onyxsis to come back and take her mother’s place as Queen?  Please?” he asked.

Drifting Pyre thought about it a moment.  It wasn’t really his call to make, but Shifter was practically comatose at the moment.  He came up with a solution.

“No, I can not,” he stated, then he pointed to little Silhouette, “but, she can.  And before you ask, no you, nor any other changeling may come along.”

“And how exactly do you plan on having that happen?” the slightly worried parent asked.

“Simple.  She shall ride my back to go meet Onyxsis.  She shall ask Onyxsis to come claim her rightful place.  And then I shall teleport her back here with Onyxsis’ answer,” Pyre thought for a moment, “and if, and this is a huge if, Onyxsis decides to come back here and rule you, I will escort her.  Does that answer your questions?”

“If it get’s my colony the chance to have a Queen, especially one as gentle as Lady Onyxsis, I would do just about anything.  But you are asking a lot of me, demanding that my only daughter accompany you so far away,” the Assassin said.

Pyre had to stop and think of how to respond, then, he looked down at Silhouette.  He saw the wonder and desire in her eyes.  He looked deeper.  He wasn’t too surprised by what he found.

Silhouette’s mind was full of questions.  She had wanted to visit the outside world for as long as she could wonder about what was out there.  She had wanted to see just what normal ponies really looked like.  She had wondered what it was like to be among them.

When she realized the dragon was staring her in eyes, she looked back with concern.  She realized that she was being given the chance to answer so many of her questions, but that she was also being given a very serious task.  She broke eye contact with the dragon to turn to her father.

“Father,” she said, “may I try to accomplish this?”

One could have heard a pin drop on the other side of the underground city, it seemed like it got so quiet suddenly.

The silence was broken as a rumble began coming from Pyre.  He slowly started lightly chuckling, and as he got vocal, he broke into guffaws of outright laughter.  All the surrounding changelings, save Silhouette, looked up at him in worry.

“It, haw-haw-haw,” he cleared his throat, “humph, scuse me?  It never ceases to amaze me how the youngest are always the bravest.  While their elders always worry about what is going to happen,” he pointed back at the little changeling filly, “so, you have her take on the situation, what is your answer.  And kindly hurry, I would like to be leaving, soon, so that I may get out of the Badlands before nightfall.”

The Assassin knew that he didn’t really have a choice in the matter, at this point, he sighed, “let me go get her packed.”

As the Assassin took Silhouette back to their apartment, to prepare her for her journey, Pyre unfurled his wings, in preparation for a grand take-off.  He also checked to see how Shifter was doing.

His pony friend was still comatose and it was becoming worrisome for the dragon.  The poor colt had literally poured every ounce of magic he’d had into giving Pyre time to shift.  He was probably going to be out for at least a day.  Drifting Pyre saw no reason to relinquish their shared body if all it was going to do was sleep.  He would stay active while Shifter recovered.

He wondered what he would do with all that time on his claws.

The Assassin took his daughter back to their shared apartment and helped her to pack, though there was little she would need.

“Are you absolutely sure about this?” he asked, quietly.

His daughter stopped from placing a random item into her saddle bags, and turned to her father, “I have to be, daddy.  I know that this is really important.  I’m going to have to get Ms. Onyxsis to come home,” she looked up at her father, “she will be a nicer Queen than Obsidia was, won’t she?”

The Assassin looked upon his daughter with a swelling sense of pride as he answered her, “I’m sure she will be.”

He helped her to finish packing and then lead her back out to the waiting dragon.

Drifting Pyre watched as the stallion brought his daughter back.

“So, little one, are you ready to go?”

“Yes, please.”

Pyre gently picked the little filly up and placed her on his back, between two spines and his shoulders, just above his wing joints.  He jumped into the air and with just a few beats of his wings, rose out of the top of the mountain.  He made as much altitude as he could without endangering his charge then headed straight for Shifter’s cave.

To say Silhouette enjoyed the flight would have been an understatement.  She could lift off and hover a few feet off the ground, and she could even glide fairly well, but she just hadn’t quite gotten the hang of flying any longer distance, than a few yards.

To stand on the back of a dragon and fly for almost and hour was the greatest thing in the world for her.  She watched as the Badlands just slid right on by, then changed to heavy forest.  She realized that this must be the Everfree Forest.

She soon realized that her ride was slowly starting to drop towards the ground and she hunkered down.

Pyre landed right outside of Shifter’s cave without making a sound.  He set Silhouette down.  He motioned for her to be silent then closed his eyes.  He sent his senses out and checked to make sure there were no prying eyes, then, me muttered a spell and shrank himself down to his pre-adolescent size.

Silhouette looked on with wonder as her dragon ride shrank to only three times the size of the average changeling and appeared to become younger.

“We will spend the night here while Shifter recovers,” he told Silhouette, as he ushered her inside, “the poor pony exhausted himself.  He is going to need a few hours to recuperate,” he showed Silhouette where she could sleep, in Shifter’s bed, while he would use the clean floor, “we still have an hour or two, until nightfall, and on top of talking with you, I wanted to make sure you could blend in with ponies before you had to meet some tomorrow.”

“What are we going to talk about?”

“I was going to let you ask me the  questions I know are just waiting to spill out, and I planned to answer you as best I could, but first,…can you speak Equestrian, my little changeling?”

“Oh yes sir, I can,” she replied, “we just started learning it recently, but Miss Phade said I seemed to have a knack for picking it up.  She told daddy that I can speak it almost better than her,” she said as she smiled proudly.

“Very good my dear.  Now, how is your ability at shifting your appearance?”

“Umm,” she started, her smile fading “I, umm, I’m not really that great.  The best I can do, is shift to a black filly with bright green hair, and eyes.  Pretty much myself as a pony,” she whispered, hanging her head.

Pyre just patted her head, “that is perfectly alright.  That will be all we shall need,”  he made himself comfortable, as he curled up on the floor, “now then, just what do you want to know about the outside world?”

Pyre spent the next hour and a half giving the little changeling filly details about the world outside her hometown.  Half the time was spent with him debunking lies and myths about ponies that Silhouette had been taught.  When he started noticing the filly frequently yawning he decided it was time to go to sleep for the night.  He ushered to Shifter’s bed and laid her down.

He went to give the body back over to his host when he made a horrible discovery.

“NO,” he yelled, mid-way through the change.  He tried to stop, but the shift was already started.  His bellow had fortunately woken Silhouette back up.

“Mr. Pyre, what’s wrong?” she asked, sacred by the look on the nearly translucent dragon’s face.  She could make out the body of the pony from the colony taking form, albeit slowly.

“I have made a huge error in judgment,” Pyre told her, his voice fading in and out, a severe look of concentration on his see-trough face, “Shifter used, literally, every ounce of magic he had to protect you from that blast.  He is in serious need of a magical transfusion and I will be unable to give him one if the body is unconscious.”

He looked for a solution in the time he had and could only come up with one way out.  He grabbed Silhouette’s head and forcibly pushed memories into her mind.

“Little Silhouette, I am going to need you to be very brave for me right now.  I need you to go to the hut I just showed you.  I need you to tell the zebra Zeccora that Shifter is in serious danger and that he needs a mana injection.  If she is not there, then you will need to hurry to the other place I showed you and you will need to find someone to bring a unicorn doctor here as fast as you can,” as he finished telling her this, his draconic silhouette disappeared, completely.

Shifter’s body stood there for a moment, then collapsed.

Silhouette looked around worried.  Then, she shook herself.  She knew what she had to do.  She hurried out of the cave, and through the Everfree Forest as fast as she could go.

Silhouette breathed a small sigh of relief as she closed in of the hut that Drifting Pyre had shown her in her mind, when she saw that there was light coming from inside.  She picked up speed a little as she was sure that she was in the home stretch, as she went straight for the door, beating on it so hard, she almost did physical damage to her own hoof.

“Please, for the sake of Celestia, abate.  Who knocks on my door at an hour so late?” demanded a zebra as they opened the door.

“Are you Ms. Zeccora?” Silhouette asked, when the zebra mare nodded, “I need you to bring a mana injection and save Shifter, hurry!”

Suddenly there was a light yellow face taking up Silhouette’s view, “whatduhya mean, ‘save Shifter’?” Applebloom demanded, as Zeccora hurried to get the requested item.

“Mr. Pyre told me to come get Ms. Zeccora and to tell her that Shifter needed a mana injection and to hurry, he said that Shifter was in trouble, that’s all I know.”

Applebloom turned to check on Zeccora. The zebra mare was looking through her cabinets looking for the appropriate syringes.  She found one and packed it and a few other supplies into her saddlebags.  Applebloom grabbed the little black filly up, threw her on her back and took off for Shifter’s cave at a dead sprint, leaving Zeccora to catch up as best she could.

When Applebloom walked in it was a frightening sight.  Shifter lay in the middle of the floor, absolutely still.

“PLEASE NO,” screamed Applebloom, rushing to his side.  She couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not.

Silhouette’s eyes shot wide, “he’s not dead,” she said.

“How do you know?” begged Applebloom.

“Every time he hears your voice his love spikes lightly.  Keep talking.”

Applebloom pushed back her first thought of demanding how the little filly knew that and she just sat down next to Shifter and started telling him random things that had happened while he had been gone.  Soon after Zeccora came in, panting from trying to keep up with the young, desperate, mare, and she got to work of giving Shifter his shot.

There was an immediate and noticeable reaction, as Shifter took a deep soothing breath and his body loosened up.  Even though he was unconscious, he reached out wrapped his fore hooves around Applebloom, a bright smile appeared on his relaxed face.  Applebloom’s face turned the same color as her hair, as she looked at the others.

“Don’t even think about telling anypony about this, ya hear.”

Although, she hid a smile as she turned to nuzzle Shifter lightly.

Shifter stayed comatose through the next day.  Worried that there might be something worse wrong, Zeccora and Applebloom asked Silhouette to tell them everything that had happened.  After getting the full story they decided to take Shifter to Sweet Apple Acres, so that he would be closer to a doctor if need be.  He had gotten quite a bit of attention as he was taken to the farm, being dragged on another liter, trough Ponyville

Silhouette had to tell his mother and all the other ponies that had come to visit him , what had happened, as best she could (after Applebloom and Zeccora had explained that she needed to keep Drifting Pyre a secret).  When she finally finished explaining to Twilight Sparkle what had happened, the lavender unicorn sent a letter to Celestia for aid.  The Princess sent her personal doctor to check on the alicoreling.

Doctor Feelgood, explained that the mana injection had probably saved Shifter’s life.  Shifter had suffered a catastrophic case of magic exhaustion.  But because of his unique heritage, he couldn’t honestly tell why Shifter was in such a deep state of coma.  He hypothesized that Shifter’s magic reservoir hadn’t just tapped his life energy, but had drained what ever emotional energy he’d had.   So long as his loved ones stayed near him he should wake up in due time.  He set up the necessary equipment for the coma patient then left his medical information with the Ponyville clinic in case of an emergency.

After Shifter had been made comfortable Onyxsis got the full story from Silhouette.  She was appalled by how stupid her mother had been, and was even a little saddened by the fact that she was dead.  She told Silhouette that once her son had recovered, and she had had time to discuss the issues of her going back, with him she would take her home.

Everypony had a while to wait, before Shifter woke up.

One day, turned into two.

Two days, turned into three.

Three days, turned into a week.

Onyxsis had to make the decision to take Silhouette back to the colony and to take her place as Queen.  She couldn’t take the chance of the colony trying to invade Equestria, looking for her.  She was going to have her work cut out for her, trying to sue for peace if her changelings were going to survive.  She gave her farewells with the promise that she would be informed when her son revived.

Then one week, turned into two.

Two weeks, turned into three.

A full month went by, with no change.

“Howdy Shifter,” Applebloom said as he walked into the room and sat down.  She noticed that, like always, he heart monitor had spiked, a little, when she walked in and started talking to him.

It had been three months, two weeks, and a day, since Silhouette had nearly knocked Zeccora’s door down asking for help.  Applebloom had never neglected to come to his room at least once an evening to check on him.

“Guess whut happened today?  Ms Cheerilee decided our graduating class play, is going ta be ‘Sleeping Black Beauty’.  Guess who got the part of Black Beauty?”  she waited a moment, as if to see if Shifter would answer her, “shore’nough, Sweetie Bell.  Course Diamond Tiara tried to say that Beauty was an earthpony, and well black, but Ms Cheerilee told her that she had already talked with Twilight about using some illusions this year.  Spike got the part of Prince Charming, so that helped shut her up too,” she paused yet again, “ya’know, now that Ah think about it, Sweetie Belle and Spike sure have been spending a lot of time together recently.  Huh, never mind, that’s not what’s happened that was really important.  What I really wanted to tell ya was, me and the girls were talking after school and we got ta jokin’ around and Scootaloo said, ‘wouldn’t it be cool if you kissed Shifter and he woke up’.  I really surprised the girls when I told them that I kissed ya almost every time I leave be fer the night.  Oh my Celestia, ya should’a seen the looks on their faces, til Ah told them it was either on yer forehead or cheek.  Then Scoots shot back, ‘no dummy, on the mouth like in the story’.  That’s when Sweetie started worrying if she was goin’a have ta let Spike kiss her during the play.  Hoo’wee the look on her face,” she stopped a moment for a breath, “but, ya’know I wonder if Ah did kiss ya if ya finally, would wake up, “she blushed even though her audience was just a comatose, young, stallion.

Then, she collected her nerve.  She leaned forward and planted a very nervous but loving kiss on his lips.  She straightened to see if there had been any reaction.  Sadly she didn’t see one.  She sighed and left the room to prepare for bed, her head hanging low.

She never noticed that Shifter’s heart monitor hadn’t went back the calm even beeps, that signified that he was totally comatose.  Nor had she noticed that his eyes had begun moving, rapidly, below his eyelids, to signify that he had only been in the throws of REM-sleep.  All the love and affection she had placed in that kiss had finally topped off his emotional reservoir.

Shifter slowly arrived into the realm of wakefulness.  As he opened his eyes he became aware that he was not in his own abode, and that he was hooked up to what looked like medical machines.  He licked his lips to wet them and he noticed a pleasant aftertaste.  What could that be, he wondered, where am I, and why am I hooked up to these machines?  He tried to remember the last thing he could think of.

All he got was flashes of memories.  Changelings, almost attacking Applebloom and Zeccora.  His mother.  Him pretending to be a changeling.  A changeling filly.  His grandmother.  Then a bright flash.  That was it.

He looked around.  This didn’t appear to be a changeling dungeon, nor did it appear to be a hospital either.  He was going to need some help, either way.

He tried to call out, but his throat was very dry and scratchy. So he looked around for some way of calling assistance.  He saw a bell sitting on the table next to his bed.

He went to grab for it when he realized just how weak he was.  He could barely move.  Why?  He slowly pushed back the sheet that partially covered him.  When he saw the weight he had lost he was worried.  How long had he been sleeping?  Then he noticed his appearance in the mirror across the room, from the foot of the bed he was in.  His mane had grown out a bit.  After just a moment of consternation he began to wonder what was that infernal ‘beeeep’ that had started to get on his nerves?  He looked over at the machines, to find that the one that monitored his heart had flatlined.  He had knocked off the attachment that was meant to be in contact with his chest when he had pushed his covering off.

Just then, the door to his room blasted off its hinges, flew across the room and out the window, just barely missing him.

There stood a terrified, soaking wet, Applebloom.  Her eyes, glaring at his bed, in shock and fear.

At least they were glaring, in fear, until she realized that his cover was no longer covering him.  His eyes were wide open and the were shifting from her soaked form and then slowly trailing away.

Applebloom couldn’t believe it, he was awake.  She threw herself at him, grappled him into a hug, and continuously yelled, over and over, “it worked, oh sweet Luna, it worked,”.

When she realized that Shifter could barely whisper, “wha’ wor?” she patted him on the cheek and said, “oh tarnation.  You must be thirsty.  Ah’ll be right back.”  She slipped out of the room before his hoof could come up to stop her.  Just as she disappeared from sight,  Applejack and Zeccora stuck their heads in the room.  They had come to see what all the commotion was about.  Before they could even enter to congratulate Shifter on waking up, Applebloom pushed in past the two older mares with a cup water with a straw sticking out of it.  She held  the straw to his lips, and Shifter took a few greedy sips.

He looked into her eyes and said, “thank you,” just before he past out.

Applebloom got very worried and went to start to shake him, but Zeccora put her hoof on her shoulder and shook her head.  The zebra turned off the unnecessary machines, “he has recovered from his coma, he will wake in just a while.  Before he does, we will need Doctor Redheart here to make an adjustment to his medical file.”

Applebloom rushed off without thinking of the time.  The two older mares just looked at each other, then down at the now sleeping, young, stallion, then smiled at the signs of the young romance that was unfolding.  Thing were going to be very interesting between these two once Shifter had recovered, marginally, if not fully.