I had just finished watering the plants that were hanging near the windows when I heard a knock on my door. Glancing at the wall clock in my kitchen, I saw it was six in the morning. I have to say, as much as I found Silverfly too young for this life, she was at least punctual.

Opening the door and seeing her, though, I was reminded once more of her age, of her inexperience. She took the form of a very highly stylized, if not ridiculously and horrendously fantastical, image of a pegasus. Her coat was chalk white and her feather tips seemed to be dipped in gold. Her mane and tail were carrot red, cut and curled so unnaturally. She had too-bright green eyes that made her very long lashes even more ridiculous.

“Earth and Stars,” I muttered and gave way. “Get in here before you give old Gentle Rock an eyesore!”

Silverfly looked at me for a moment, eyes a little unsure how to respond. Thankfully, she quickly walked in my apartment. That’s when I noticed her rump.

“Are you kidding me?” I whispered, noticing how round and large it was, not proportionate to her whole body. And her Cutie Mark? One large red heart. “Seriously? Forget an eyesore. You’d have given him a heart attack.”

“Um, who’s Gentle Rock?”

I closed the door. “Earth pony neighbor I have, three doors to the left.”

For some reason, that seemed to affirm the young changeling. “Okay, so, what’s his story?”

I blinked. “Who? Gentle Rock?” When she nodded, I replied, “Not much. He’s a retired rock farmer.”

“Does he have a herd?” Silverfly asked.

“Uh, he had. He outlived all of his mares,” I replied, trying to recall more information about him. “His children moved to different cities. None of them really were interested in rock farming. They sometimes visit him, bringing his grandchildren along, though.”

“Then this’ll be a cinch!” she said, moving towards the door. I blocked her way.

“Whoa, whoa,” I said. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Silverfly looked at me, confused. “I, uh, thought you wanted me to feed from him?”

“What?” I looked at her quizzically. “Feed, from Gentle Rock?”

She nodded.

“No! You’re going to kill him if you do!” I massaged the side of my head with my hoof. First day, and she goes after the retired elderly pony? This might be more difficult than I thought. Worse, she now looked more lost than ever, even leaking out some emotion.

“I—okay,” she whispered, looking down. Uncertainty surrounded her, tinged with a bit of regret. I sighed, took a breath, and approached her, patting her foreleg. She looked at me.

“Look, sorry if I seem a little strung about this,” I said. “Being an infiltrator is no joke, and I made it clear to the Den Mother that I think you’re too young for this.” A pang of disappointment and anger flashed, but quickly receded when I added, “However, she says you were willing to work for it. Are you?”

Silverfly nodded quickly. “Yes! I want to help the Cluster!”

I nodded. “Then you’re going to have to accept the fact that I’m going to be hard on you. An infiltrator is not a job for just anyone. You will be thrust in the frontlines, scouting, obtaining, and maintaining assets. You will also be called upon, on occasion, to ensure the survival of the Hive by gathering information from the other races. You will be forced to lie, steal, deceive, and maybe even give up your life and freedom.” I paused, watching her take in what I just said. “Can you do that?”

She swallowed. “I will try.”

“There’s no try if you want to be an infiltrator,” I replied. “For the next three weeks, I’m going to show you the life of one, and we’ll see if you have what it takes to live it. For now, we have a lot of work ahead of us.”

“Um… okay.”

“First off, your cover form,” I started.

Silverfly blinked blankly. “Uh, what about it?”

“Are you aware that your coat is a rather unhealthy shade of white?” I asked. “Not even the most daring unicorn noble would dye their coat like that.”

“O-oh?” Silverfly asked, gently rubbing her coat.

“And what is up with your eyelashes? They’re as long as my horn!”

She blinked. “What? No they aren’t!”

“Yes they are. Why is your rump so big? And really, gold highlights on your wings? Also, why is your mane and tail bright orange-red? It looks like bad dye job.”

“I-I just thought this was the best way to get attention from stallions…” she muttered, just loud enough to be heard.

“Well, you’ll get the wrong kind of attention,” I replied. I softened my tone. “What gave you the idea of this form?”

“Um, well, I’ve mixed a few looks from the Marepolitan models,” she replied.

“That’s the fashion magazine, right?” I asked. When she nodded, I sighed. “Silverfly, one thing you’ll learn is that not everything you’ll read from those magazines are actually true representations of beauty. For example, in this form, you may attract a few stallions. However, I can guarantee, you’ll most likely drive them away. How are you going to help the Cluster like that?”

Silverfly seemed to have taken the last bit to heart. She pouted, and I could feel some of her anger coming in small waves, but at least now she looked like she was paying attention. “Do you have any suggestions, then?” she asked.

“A few,” I replied. “Gypsy said that you have a filly form.”

She just nodded.

“Show me.”

Silverfly nodded, closed her eyes and glowed green. Her form slowly shrunk to pegasus filly on the verge of becoming an adult. The color coordination was much better this time, with light brown coat and dark brown mane and tail. She also had a more practical Cutie Mark: a crossed feather.

“Nice,” I admitted. “Very nice. Now, I’m going to try that form, give it a more adult look.”

An image of Silverfly’s filly form formed in my head. I felt pricks of pins and needles as I transformed, elongating my mane and tail while adding a few more curls for effect. My coat was given a slightly ‘brushed’ look, while I made my rump a little rounder, still proportionate to the slender frame that most pegasi had.

Silverfly’s eyes widened. I moved a few steps from side to side, made sure she studied my adult rendition of her form. For the finishing touch, I added small lashes that still waved gently as I blinked.

“Wow,” was all she said, her voice pitched a little higher to match her young cover-image. Not bad, actually. She was aware enough to change her voice to fit with her form.

“This is attractive enough to get a stallion’s attention,” I declared. “Seductive enough without giving the impression of being desperate.”

“B-but I can’t use that form, though!” Silverfly said, panickedly. “Dusty will recognize me!”

“Who’s Dusty?” I asked.

“He’s a colt,” she replied.

I nodded. “And this Dusty… are you grooming him to be an asset?”

“What?” Silverfly looked at me. “He’s a friend. Is that even allowed?”

“Anypony and anyone can be an asset,” I advised. “First rule of changelings. We can’t afford to be choosy where to get and build assets from. However, it helps if those assets are friends or lovers. We can easily be part of their lives and ensure that they’d belong to us.”

“So… I should stop looking at him as a friend, and look at him as a potential asset?” Silverfly asked.

“No, no,” I replied, shaking my head. “The two are never mutually exclusive. Why can’t he be your friend and an asset?”

“We feed from them,” Silverfly replied quickly, automatically. “They are food.”

I nodded. “Yes we do, and yes they are. However, they are also much more.” I paused. “We feed from them, those that have emotions, who have their own lives. How they live, how they act, who they are, is unique to every one of them. And when you feed from them, you’re not just partaking energy, but also sharing in their lives. Do you understand?”

Silverfly nodded a few moments before I raised an eyebrow. She immediately shook her head.

“Have you ever obtained Love personally, or from the Feeding Chamber?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Just from my mother.”

“When you do, you’ll understand,” I said sagely. I transformed back to my unicorn form, and motioned her to follow me. “Come.”

I led her towards the living room area and told her to sit down on one of the couches. She made herself comfortable before looking at me, some trepidation emanating from her. I then pointed towards the coffee table and the papers on top of it. She looked at that, then back at me in confusion.

“These are papers which I’m currently forging,” I said. “These will allow you to live as a responsible Equestrian Pony. You will work for a living and pay your taxes. You’ll be considered an Equestrian Citizen, given all the rights that it entails.”

Silverfly’s face blanched with distaste. “Work?”

“Yes, work,” I replied with a smile.

“B-but that doesn’t seem like a job for an infiltrator!” she complained.

“Did you expect to be assigned to build certain assets and letting the gatherers take care of the rest?” I asked, chuckling as she nodded uncertainly. “As you are, I doubt you’d be able to do anything of the sort. You have to know how the world and the culture works. You have to understand what will work and what won’t for whoever you will build. And the best way to do that is to be out there.”

Silverfly shifted uncomfortably, which made it hard for me considering she looked like someone who ought to be outside playing with other foals and younglings, not yet ready to be thrust into the world to provide for the Cluster.

“I will give you all the help I can to prepare you,” I continued. “But you can still change your mind, say no. You can still stay as the young filly, hang out with Dusty and other foals a bit more. Enjoy the life of an Equestrian youth that you still have.”

I honestly thought she’d agree to that. Her emotions were definitely coming out in rolls, conflicted with doubt and unsureness dominating everything around her. However, something changed. Determination and anger spiked, reining in her doubts until the conflict and turmoil slowly disappeared.

She sat up straighter, eyes gaining more assuredness as she gave me one sharp nod. “I want to be an infiltrator,” she declared. “I want to help out the Cluster.”

I looked at her for the moment, her eyes defiant as she sat still, waiting for my reaction. Maybe Gypsy was right in bringing Silverfly to my attention. I mean, she definitely had a lot to learn, but she seemed motivated enough to succeed. I trained less motivated changelings, all who just wanted a bigger piece of Love.

“Then let’s get you ready,” I replied. “Question: what makes the changelings dangerous?”

“We can turn into anypony we want,” Silverfly immediately responded.

“Nope.”

Silverfly frowned. “Uh, we can change any part of our bodies? We can get sharp claws when we want?”

“Not that either.”

“We can fly and use magic at the same time?”

I just smiled whilst shaking my head.

Silverfly pouted. “Okay, what then?”

“Information, and our ability to share said information through Conjoining,” I answered. “Physically, we are weaker than any of the races we’ve met, so we try not to fight anyone head-on. We gather information, we share that with our Cluster and Hives, and exploit any weaknesses we find.” I looked at her. “Which also means you have to ensure no one can read any information from you. The first thing I need you to do is to hide your emotions. You’ve been leaking a lot since you came here.”

“Got it,” Silverfly replied, closing her eyes and concentrating. After a moment, she became almost unreadable.

“Good,” I said. “Try to keep your emotions to yourself.” My thoughts traveled back to Star Tracks. “The less you give off, the less advantage you give enemy changelings.

“Now, next question: do you know what Conjoining is?”

Silverfly nodded. “That’s when we share thoughts and memories, right?”

“Correct. Have you Conjoined with anyone?”

“My mother,” she replied.

“Anyone else? Like outside of your family?” I asked.

She shook her head. I nodded.

“It’s… uncomfortable,” I said, “but it is something you have to be ready for. As an infiltrator, you are the the bridge for the gatherers to feed from assets. They need to know who the asset is, their likes, dislikes, and private, intimate moments so they can maintain cover.” I approached. “Right now, I’m about to give you some memories on my life in Fillydelphia. It’ll give you knowledge to fill that form, maybe even get ideas on how to build your cover-life. Are you ready?”

Silverfly paused for a moment before nodding. She closed her eyes, trembling slightly as I closed the last bit of distance between us. I felt a small hiccup of hesitation as I gently touched my forehead with hers. I concentrated my thoughts on my life in Fillydelphia before exerting some will to start the Conjoining.

It was a little hard to describe. As all assets are different, so are all changelings. Silverfly’s short life flashed in my eyes, scattered and unorganized. Like her bouts of accidental leakage of emotion, all memories of her came rolling to me like a wave.

The first thing I saw was her younger siblings, all still younglings and neutral genders, crying as they starved from Love. I saw a young mother changeling, the very same one who begged for more Love yesterday, trying to give them all equally. Emotions, not mine, began to roar around me: helplessness, anger, and motivation.

The scenery changed quickly, seamlessly, and unbelievably natural. I was in the streets of Fillydelphia, feeling thrill, joy, happiness and… something a bit deeper. It all centered around a young earth pony colt with a dark orange coat and dark yellow mane and tail. When he smiled, everything else seemed to glow.

Then, everything faded. In front of me was Silverfly, who unconsciously returned to her Primary form, eyes wide with disbelief. I hoped she didn’t get overwhelmed. I specifically tried to only communicate my cover-life to her, but Conjoining wasn’t an exact science.

“Wow,” she muttered so quietly I could barely hear her. “You’ve… I mean… a bookstore? You work in a bookstore?”

I nodded. “It is a public enough place to meet potential assets, yet not too public that relationships can’t be forged. Plus, it allows me to stay on top of current events.”

“And your cover name… Illuminating Starburst?”

“One thing you’ll learn is once you get a cover job, you have to keep little details as close as possible to what you’re used to,” I explained. “For example, the Cluster knows me as Lumi. The ponies I know from my cover-job know me as Lumi as well. That way, when someone from the Cluster accidentally calls me by my name while I’m in cover, it won’t raise too many questions.”

“Oh.” Silverfly nodded. “So, if I’m going to make a name, it’d be Silverfly or something close?”

I nodded, then pointed towards the papers on the coffee table. “Okay, now that we got that out of the way, can you fill this form?”

Silverfly nodded. “Yeah! It’ll be a cinch. You wrote a lot of these.”

I chuckled, shaking my head. “One thing you’ll learn with getting memories from Conjoining is that there’s a difference between being shown how to do it, and how to actually do it.”

“I can do it,” Silverfly insisted.

“Show me then,” I challenged.

I have to admit, Silverfly was a fast learner. She got a bit stumped on inventing details when filling the form, but after a few tips, she became a fountain of ideas. She settled with the name Silver Lining, kept her pegasi form and gender, saying she identified more in being a mare than a stallion. We listed her temporary address as mine before we worked on her cover image. She began to cycle through a few colors and mane styles, hoping to find something that wouldn’t cause eyesores or heart-attacks.

“This is hard,” Silverfly complained after her third try, which I had shut down immediately. There was no way I was walking beside a changeling who turned her mane into shining gold.

“You’re still trying to be flashy,” I said. “Why not use an adult version of your filly form?”

“No,” Silverfly replied immediately. “It has to be somepony different.” She concentrated again. I expected another form to pop up, but her shoulders just sagged. She looked at me. “Was it hard to choose your cover image?”

“A little bit, yeah,” I replied. “It was either this or another form that I had in my mind: light purple coat with a braided blonde mane, with the same colored tail.”

“Why didn’t you use that?” she asked.

“I guess I like the color yellow a bit more,” I replied with a shrug.

In the end, she settled on a yellow coat, and reddish mane and tail. It was a little inspired from the current Wonderbolt Captain, but thankfully, she went with a longer mane and tail, and, for a unique touch, she added silver streaks. To finish the look, she used a silver feather as a Cutie Mark.

She may have chosen the form, but it was another thing to be comfortable in it. Once the paperwork was done and we hit the Fillydelphia streets, the usually five-minute walk towards the Town Hall turned into ten minutes of stuttering steps and a lot of assurances for my part.

“You look great,” I said for the fifth time, watching Silverfly shifting uncomfortably and looking at one of the the reflective glass pane windows that displayed furniture. One of her hooves touched her mane, avoiding the neck pouch I had given her to place the papers.

“There’s something off,” Silverfly kept muttering. “I know there is.”

“There’s nothing wrong with how you look,” I insisted. “It’s just the form you’re not used to.” I looked around for a moment, making sure there weren’t any wagons traveling nearby before dragging Silverfly across the street.

The Town Hall was relatively empty, with a few ponies waiting in line. I dragged Silverfly to the Registry section and waited while the two ponies ahead of us finished.

“Remember,” I whispered, inaudible to everypony but Silverfly, “I can’t speak for you. Once you submit those papers, the mare in the registry will be asking you questions, just to make sure you are who you say you are. If I were you, I’d remember the details you put in your paper.”

“I—o-okay,” Silverfly muttered. One of her hooves went towards her neck pouch and extracted the whole roll. She began to meticulously read her cover history, which had me shaking my head and smiling a bit, as I watched as the pony in front of us as he walked towards the counter. After a few moments, he left.

“Next!” the earth pony mare behind the counter, mint green coat and silver hair, called.

When Silverfly hadn’t moved, I gently prodded her with my hoof. She almost jumped.

“W-what?” Silverfly asked. I pointed towards the counter, where the mare was waiting impatiently.

“Come on, honey,” she declared. “I ain’t got all day.”

Silverfly blushed and slowly approached. I followed suit, keeping enough distance to watch and listen to her work.

“H-hi, my name is Silverf—Silver Lining,” Silverfly began. I thought she was about to say more, her mouth opening, but she closed it immediately, handing the paper with a full blush on her cheeks.

Again, I felt her leaking out emotions. She was nervous, on the verge of panic, really.

“And where are you from, Silver Lining?” the earth pony asked, unrolling the papers and reading from them.

“I-I’m from…” and she mumbled the last part.

“Excuse me?” the mare asked.

“From… Baltimare,” Silverfly finally replied.

“Ah! I have a friend in Baltimare. Did you hear the news about the diamond dog raid last week?”

“Uh, no,” Silverfly replied.

“No?”

“I wasn’t there last week,” Silverfly explained. She kept her eyes straight, trying to hide the fact that she was shifting her forelegs. “I was traveling to… uh, Cloudsdale! Yes, I was traveling to Cloudsdale to get the rest of my papers.”

I mentally nodded. That was a decent recovery.

“Everything seems in order,” the mare behind the counter declared, rolling the papers to a close. “Now, just a few standard questions. Who is your mother?”

Silverfly shifted uncomfortably. “Um… my mom is Cl-Cloud Fluff.”

“Father?”

“Golden Line,” Silverfly replied, a bit of confidence creeping back to her.

“What’s his job?”

Nervousness replaced her confidence. Silverfly looked at me for a moment. I kept my face as neutral as possible. “He’s… in the weather team,” she replied.

The mare turned her head slightly to the side, confused. “Your unicorn father is in the weather team?”

Silverfly’s mouth opened, panic now surrounding her. She shifted her forelegs, scratching the carpeted floor with her hooves. She looked at the mare one more time before nodding.

“Well, at least you answered,” the mare at the counter replied before unrolling the papers once more and stamped on them. “You need work, little one.”

“Huh?” was all Silverfly could say.

“She’ll learn,” I said, finally approaching the counter. “Most of them just run.”

“Yes they do,” the mare replied, rolling the papers once more. “Hey, Lumi. About time you started training infiltrators.”

“Wh-what?” Silverfly whispered, looking between me and the mare. I chuckled.

“Silverfly, meet Honeybee,” I introduced.

Honeybee’s golden brown eyes turned green for just a moment. Silverfly’s mouth dropped open.

“Though I prefer Mrs. Muffins,” Honeybee said. “Although you can just call me Honey.” She looked at me. “I heard you obtained a bit more Love now.”

“Yes. Had to outsource. This week showed us that we can’t just rely on Tithes,” I replied. “It was also brought to my attention that humans may be reliable assets.”

“I’ll keep a lookout,” Honeybee said. “Is Silverfly going to groom one?”

“No, I may have to do this myself.” I looked at Silverfly. “No offense, but you do need a lot of work.”

“I-I…” Silverfly stuttered.

Honeybee nodded. “I can see that.” She leaned a little closer to the young changeling. “Silverfly, word of advice: listen to Lumi. She won’t steer you wrong. You have my word on that.” She then went back to a more comfortable position behind the counter. “Silver Lining is now an official Equestrian citizen.”

“Thank you, Honey,” I replied with a slight bow. I gave a Silverfly a look. “Come, let’s set you up with a job.”

We were outside the Town Hall when Silverfly finally found her voice. “Who was that?” she asked.

“Like I said, she’s Honeybee,” I replied easily.

“No, I mean, I don’t recognize her from… home.”

I smiled, glad she was aware enough not to say Cluster. “She’s an Independent.”

“Independent?”

I nodded. “Yes. They don’t want to really join the community, but are given permission to stay around as long as they pay their Tithes.”

“Tithes?”

“They have their own assets, and once a week, they provide some… help to the community.”

“Ah,” Silverfly said. She paused for a moment. “It seemed like she knew you.”

“She should,” I replied, looking at her with a slight smile. “I ensured that her asset made her First Mare. In return, she gives a bit more than the usual Tithes.”

“Wow,” Silverfly muttered. “It’s like… you’ve been there.”

“I’ve been there a lot of times,” I said. “Soon enough, you’ll realize that, as an infiltrator, you’ll be keeping a lot of secrets and memories. Sometimes, they’ll get jumbled up. Cover names, cover jobs, they all start mixing. Three things happen after that: you’ll either seamlessly keep your covers separate or you’ll start blending them together—which happens most of the time.”

“And the third?”

I smiled. “You go mad.”

Silverfly swallowed. “What happens if I get the third?”

“I assign someone else to cover you, and place you on recovery,” I replied, shrugging. “Burned out infiltrators happen. My advice? Have at least one very basic, very stabilizing, cover. It can be Silver Lining, or it can be that filly that likes to hang around with Dusty.”

Silverfly blushed at that. My smile got a little wider.

“I was serious when I said that the best assets are those we personally know,” I advised. “I know you like him. I saw it when we Conjoined.” I paused for a moment. “You can groom him to be ours.”

“Maybe.” Silverfly sighed. “I don’t think he likes me that way, though.”

“Trust me, Silverfly,” I began, “living as Silver Lining, you’re going to learn a lot of things. Things that no filly will usually ever learn until they become adults. That will be an advantage when you switch to your filly-cover and start grooming him.”

“Maybe it’ll be better if I groom him in this form,” she said. “Silver Lining is prettier than Amber Cloud.”

Amber Cloud must have been her filly cover name. I thought about what she said for a moment before saying, “That’s possible, but you’re going to have to play a few gambits to make it work.”

Silverfly looked at me curiously. “Like what?”

“Well,” I began, “the fastest way to groom him is to probably announce your interest in him to his parents, considering he isn’t of age yet. Then you have to consider the fact that you start befriending him as a stranger. Honestly, I think it’s much better if you just take whatever you learned from Silver Lining, and apply it to Amber Cloud. The fact that you are in a relationship with him, even as friends, is a huge edge. Play it right, he won’t be able to resist you.”

That seemed to energize the young changeling. Nodding repeatedly, she began to quicken her trot to follow me.

“So, what are we going to do next?” she asked.

“We’re going to get you a job,” I replied.

“Where?”

“Somewhere I can keep an eye on you, public enough to have you interact with others, and a good place to keep you up to date on current events,” I replied. I looked at her and gave her a smile. “So, Silver Lining, how do you feel about books?”

Author's Notes:

Thanks to coandco, shira, Permanent Temporary, Ponyboy245, TownCrier, Jack-Pony, Denim_Blue

Additional thanks to Starman Ghost and grey_conscience

Alright guys, enjoy.