Of all the things I expected her to tell me about, the death of a changeling was not one of them. Whatever anger I felt immediately faded from my mind as I worked on Silverfly’s words, worked through their implications. In those moments of silence, I could feel Silverfly’s gaze on me as she awaited my response. It was short.

“Okay,” I replied and made a move towards the door.

Maybe a bit too short for her as she moved to block my way. “Wait,” Silverfly said. “That’s it? Okay?”

I nodded, taking a sidestep to avoid her. “Yes, that was interesting enough—” I built up just enough energy to open the door, flooding the room with sunlight “—to justify you cutting my inquiry on a potential asset.” Looking back, I saw Silverfly staring at me, a little crackle of anger bubbling in the surface. “What?”

“Just interesting enough?” Silverfly almost shouted. Worry and anger was evident in both her facial expression and the emotion leaking out of her. “Didn’t you hear me? They found a dead changeling!”

I looked down the hall, making sure nopony was around, then steadily back at her. “I heard you,” I replied. “Now’s not the time to worry about it, though. The day is just starting, and we’re going to get a lot of customers. We need to be on the floor.”

“Forget that!” she exclaimed. Now, the coldness of her fear permeated the air around us. “Do you even care about the implications of the news, Lumi? Because I do!”

I looked at her for a few seconds. “You’re angry and afraid.”

“Yes I am, and—”

I cut her off. “It's leaking out. Control it,” I ordered, staring at her hard. “Now.”

Silverfly looked at me with confusion until she closed her eyes and concentrated. After a moment, her emotions began to mute. I nodded, glad that the coldness and sourness had begun to disappear. The young changeling still looked rebellious, but she held her tongue. I gathered my thoughts, rechecking on the hall to see if anyone had been attracted by the shouts, before looking back at her.

“Silver,” I began, “I don’t like you assuming that I don’t care about the implications of the news. I do. But right now, I need you to realize that there isn’t really anything we can do about it.”

“But—” and I raised my foreleg to silence her.

“I’ve told you that information is a weapon for the changeling,” I continued. “But you’ll have to learn that a changeling should also know when and how to use said weapon. You want to know why I seem to be unconcerned?”

Silverfly took a moment before she nodded.

“Because it’s all third-hoof information,” I said. “I’m not too sure if I can trust such sources. We don’t know whether the customer that gave you that information was lying or not.”

“He wasn’t,” Silverfly quickly interjected. “I felt him. I read him. He was concerned—genuinely concerned. Even scared.”

“Okay, even if he wasn’t lying,” I continued, “we don’t know how reliable the source is. He could have misheard or misinterpreted. You don’t need to lie to be wrong,” I added quickly when Silverfly opened her mouth. “And then there are more factors than just the accuracy of the information. For example, this changeling death took place in another town. And last I checked, Dodge Junction was another Hive’s jurisdiction. We don’t know if the Cluster of that city is already taking care of it. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Silverfly looked towards the ground for a moment, probably to digest what I was saying. I gave her time, making sure nopony was in the hallway. She then looked at me and sighed. “Yes, I understand what you’re saying, but…” she trailed off.

“It still bothers you?” I completed her sentence.

Silverfly nodded, biting her lower lip. “I… remember my mother’s stories. About how life was before and after the Canterlot Invasion.”

“Ah,” I said, understanding. I motioned her to follow me back to the book storage, and once we entered, I looked for the tumbler switch and magically flicked it upwards. The area was flooded with artificial light. I closed the door behind us and I looked at her. “You’re afraid of another Purge?”

Silverfly nodded. “We’re already living uncomfortably. Not that I’m blaming you,” she added quickly, “but my mother told me stories on how changelings before rarely starved. Then after the Purge…” she trailed off. She looked towards the ground before looking at the ceiling. “What was it like before, Lumi? Before the invasion? Was it as good as my mother said?”

“I wouldn’t know,” I replied. “I wasn’t alive then.”

Silverfly looked at me, surprised. “Really? But that was just ten years ago. How old are you?”

“Younger than I look,” I replied with a hard tone that surprised even me. Silverfly looked at me with a slight frown. I sighed. “Sorry. It’s a long story,” I continued. “However, I do remember the last year of the Purge.”

That perked her up. “Really?” When I nodded, she asked, “What was it like?”

I looked towards her for a moment, my mind recalling the little bits of information and the memories I had of that time. I shuddered.

Silverfly frowned. “Was it that bad?”

I shook my head. “It... wasn’t a good time for me. Not just because of the purge, though I guess that in itself wasn’t something you’d want to witness.”

Silverfly leaned closer. “Why?”

“Remember how hungry everyone was in the Cluster the past week?” I asked. When she nodded, I continued, “Well, imagine that on a bigger scale. I was still at our Hive when I saw them: changeling refugees trying to come in. They were grouped just outside the cavern entrance, which in itself was larger than our Cluster.” She smiled sadly. “Yet, with the numbers, it was far too small. Thin and emaciated changelings squeezed together, too weak to even cry, their chitin almost completely falling off.”

Silverfly shivered. “How were they able to chase out so many?”

“Equestria put up a citizenship system,” I replied. “Subtle and quiet enough that we didn’t really think much of it. However, the census was actually the best move they made against us. They used family trees to look for any anomalies in the population. The older and more settled changeling families didn’t have problems, having created family trees of their own, but the newer and younger ones had to abandon their covers as the Royal Guards came for them. That alone cut off almost a third of the assets all Changeling Hives had obtained.”

“A third? That’s a lot,” Silverfly commented.

“Yup,” I replied. “It took a few years, but we recovered. We started playing smarter as well. Remember what we did earlier this day?”

Silverfly nodded, catching on quickly. “I was registered as a Equestrian Citizen.” Then she paused. “But won’t they find out it’s a forgery if they investigate?”

“Maybe, but the process is so tedious that without a real reason to look closer, they won’t discover that Silver Lining doesn’t really exist.”

“Without a real reason, huh?” She looked at me wryly. “Like maybe a dead changeling?”

“Or a floor associate and her manager not reporting to work,” I countered, which got Silverfly to snort. I gave her a small smile. “I’m not omniscient, Silverfly, but I know that worrying about something we cannot control is useless and unhelpful.” I gave her a solemn look. “Later, we can gather a bit more information about the dead changeling in Dodge Junction. But for now, I need you to put this out of your mind and be Silver Lining, the new floor associate. Can you do that?”

Silverfly looked at me for a moment before taking a deep breath, then nodding. I gave her a wider smile and patted her shoulder.

“Good,” I said. With a little effort, I magically opened the door and revealed the hallway, still empty. I gently flicked the switch of the lights off as we both made our way out the storage room and towards the floor. Before Silverfly could go any further, to look for a customer, I called her. “Silver.”

She paused and turned to me. “Yes, Lumi?” she asked.

I gave a nod. “Good job on obtaining that information.”

Her face lit up. “R-really?”

I nodded. “Yes. However, you’re not yet done with the assignment I gave you. So you better have some more interesting things to tell me later.”

Silverfly pouted, but nodded just the same. She trotted out towards the floor, and I followed afterwards, watching her spot a customer trotting around a shelf. I had to commend her, I thought she needed more time to play her part, especially when I seemed to have downplayed the news she uncovered. However, she only needed a moment before approaching the customer, asking if he needed help.

Shaun must have left because I didn’t see him again. I was actually pretty glad. While I’d love to continue our conversation, I doubt I would have been able to continue it for much longer, especially now that I needed to look out for the floor associates as the day was finally hitting its stride. More and more customers were walking in, and while the rest were experienced enough to handle multiple customers at the same time, Silverfly was having difficulty adjusting. It came to the point that Bastion approached me in the cafe during our lunch break.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to have someone help her?” he asked after he dropped his bag, which I assumed contained his lunch, on top of the table and sat down across of me.

I set down my mug of hot chocolate. “You’re talking about Silver Lining?”

Bastion nodded as he unwrapped his lunch: two sandwiches and lots of hay fries—a misnomer, considering they were made from potatoes rather than hay. Before he took a bite from his sandwich, he replied, “She froze up when she had a customer approach her, while she was already assisting another one.”

“Leave her be,” I said. “She’ll learn faster this way.” I took another sip. “If I remember correctly, that was how you learned the ropes around here when you first started.”

Bastion swallowed what he ate. “I always thought you just did that because I started hitting on you.”

I smiled. “Well, not only.”

Bastion snorted before taking another bite, his expression and emotions turning inward. I said nothing, knowing him well enough that he’d express what was bothering him soon enough.

“Purple Quill fans were not happy about her non-appearance,” he began.

I looked at him. “The nice minority, or the Foals of Discord we had last year?”

Bastion chuckled. “You are not going to let that one go, are you?”

“Should I?” I began to recount how the fans acted last year on Purple Quill’s appearance, emphasizing it with a tap on the table after each sentence. “They deafened customers when Purple Quill showed up. They made a mess of the place, throwing papers and flyers to the ground. And don’t get me started when they began doing those weird moaning chants when she was reading a particular excerpt from her book—”

“One particularly hot excerpt from her book,” Bastion interjected. I gave him a glare, and he easily returned it with a smile. I rolled my eyes.

“Are you going to tell me that the moans were also particularly hot?”

“Psh, please,” Bastion muttered. “They sounded like they hadn’t been tucked in for years.”

“I am not even going to ask about that,” I declared. “Back on topic, if the disappointed fans are those types, then my don’t-give-a-buck bug is acting up.”

Bastion grinned. “They are still customers, Lumi.”

“Yeah,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Customers that are now going to Paged Crossroads. Their problem now, eh?” Bastion chuckled, and took another bite out of his sandwich. That gave me the opportunity to swirl the remnants of my cup around. As he chewed silently, a thought entered my mind. “Have you guys started promoting R. S. Bradley yet?”

“Yes,” Bastion replied.

“And?” I asked.

“Well, the reactions are mostly positive,” Bastion said with a slight shrug. “It helps that he’s human. Just being one makes him interesting. However, add to the fact that he is a male human, also writing stories about human and pony love?”

“I guess he’s a hit with the mares, then,” I concluded.

“Well, we’re probably not going to have a revisit of the Foals of Discord,” Bastion said, “but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a star in the making.”

“Book thinks Bradley’s risky,” I remarked.

Bastion snorted. “He thinks a lot of things. He got an advanced copy of the new Bradley book, right?” When I nodded, he added, “Did he hate it?”

“He didn’t say, specifically,” I replied, knowing what he was talking about. “If he didn’t say he hated it—”

“—that just means he liked it,” Bastion finished, nodding. “Bradley will be fine.”

Well, I personally hoped so. That could mean his agent, Shaun, would extend his stay, and I could finally work on grooming our first human asset. Happy that the odds were favourable, I finished off my mug of hot chocolate when another thought entered my mind.

“I’m going to need you to close for me,” I said.

Bastion looked at me. “Why?”

“I’m going to help Silver Lining hunt for an apartment,” I lied easily.

“Huh. She is your pet project,” Bastion replied. I could feel the curiosity blooming around him. “Who is she to you, Lumi?”

“I’m her godmare,” I said, with a roll of my eyes. “She’s a daughter of an old friend of mine. His father asked me to help her out when she moved here.”

“Ah,” he nodded. “Okay, if I do close tonight, what do I get in return?”

“I’ll close for you whenever you want,” I answered simply. “Deal?”

Bastion shrugged. “Why not?” and ate a few hay fries. He was still chewing when a thought entered his head. “Mhm-hey!”

“Don’t talk and chew at the same time,” I advised. He rolled his eyes, which got me to chuckle. “What?” I asked.

“Did you give Silver special instructions?”

I blinked. “Like?”

“Like… only entertain stallion customers?” he asked.

I frowned. “Didn’t I see her helping a mare earlier?”

“Three of them, yeah,” Bastion confirmed, “but they are the ones that approached. She only moves towards stallion customers, so I was wondering if you instructed her to do so.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Were you watching her the whole time?”

Bastion frowned. “Well, most of the time. Just watching out for the new associate, you know.”

“Stalker much?”

“Hey, I’m serious here,” Bastion replied, shaking his head. “Did you?”

I shook my head. “No. But I’ll talk to her about it.” I looked at him with a small smile. “That’ll help you do more of your job and less looking at her rear.”

Bastion smirked. “Well, it is a mighty fine—”

“I seem to recall an idea of talking to Book about assigning somepony to storage,” I cut him off, my smile widening.

“Bah, you always play dirty, Lumi,” Bastion muttered, then concentrated on his lunch.

After another hot mug of chocolate and telling Silverfly that mares need love too, I went back to work, getting a bit more involved as more and more customers came in and began to overwhelm the associates. We also had a few more wild Purple Quill fans, all of whom raised their voices when informed that their idol was not going to appear as scheduled. Bastion was quick on his hooves and settled most of the disputes. Those he missed, I had to resolve. Silverfly even approached me just before the end of our shift because she got one that was in hysterics.

“Wow,” Silverfly muttered as we exited Keeper’s Tomes. “I never knew there were ponies that are so… passionate about books.”

“That’s not the word I’d use,” I replied, directing her towards the the left. Making sure there were no wagons, we crossed a few streets before going into deeper into the north-west area of Fillydelphia. The shining buildings and bustling businesses were all slowly replaced with antiquated-looking settlements, two to three stories tall.

Silverfly watched everything around her, so fascinated by her surroundings that she had bumped into three ponies, each time imbalancing her. I chuckled, weaving through the streets that got even more crowded the deeper we traveled.

“Where are we going?” she finally asked as she finished recovering from a fourth bump.

“We’re going to get more information about that news you uncovered earlier,” I replied, sidestepping a colt. “We’re going to visit an Independent who lives here.”

We passed a few more blocks, my eyes scanning my surroundings. The north-west area had a way of being confusing to anyone not from around the area. Almost all its houses were built out of one mold, designed as a low-cost housing to alleviate the sudden boom of population at one point. Then, I saw it.

It didn’t look so different from the rest of the collection of houses that were in the area, except for one critical detail: telephone wires, thinner than the power lines, converged towards the square mismatched structure of light-yellowish walls and green roof, surrounded by almost-similar colored houses.

“Alright, Silver, I found him. Let’s go,” I said, looking back towards the younger changeling. I blinked, seeing her watch fillies and colts playing the in the playground. She didn’t seem to hear me. Approaching her, I nudged her shoulder with my foreleg.

“Um, what?” Silverfly asked absently, looking at me. “Oh. Sorry, Lumi.”

I motioned towards the playground. “Something bothering you?”

Silverfly’s worry began to leak out, but that immediately faded quickly. I inwardly smiled. It seemed like she was finally learning. “No… it’s nothing,” she replied.

I took a guess. “Dusty?”

Silverfly gave me a look. “Am I that obvious?”

“No,” I replied, smiling slightly. “I’m just very good.”

“Hah,” Silverfly muttered, looking back towards the playground. “I just realized I just spent a day without talking to him or seeing him. I wonder if he noticed my absence.”

“If we’re quick with Mantid, you may have some time to see him,” I replied, urging her to come with me. She easily gave way, and we both made our way to the house. “Although you may have to think of a reason why you’re going to show up less and less, Silver.”

“I’ll take care of that,” Silverfly said.

“Spoken like a true infiltrator,” I whispered, earning a smile from her. Walking towards the front door of the house, I slowly knocked on the door thrice and waited. The noise from the outside barred me detecting anything going on inside. I wasn’t even completely sure if Mantid was there, until I heard the familiar clicking sound of the door unlocking, and was greeted by a very handsome looking orange unicorn with a rather wavy dark yellow mane. His sleek rectangular spectacles didn’t really hide his green eyes, which narrowed as he saw me.

“Lumi,” he spoke in a rather efficient tone. Not exactly warm and welcoming, but if one knew Mantid, they would know he was being courteous. “Come in, come in.”

“Thank you, Mantid,” I replied a bit more warmly, entering his home. When Silverfly came to view, he didn’t even blink.

“And the infiltrator-in-the-making, cover name Silver Lining,” he said.

Silverfly’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know that?”

“I have eyes and ears everywhere, youngling,” Mantid said, closing the door behind her.

“I’m not a youngling!” Silverfly protested.

“Technicalities,” Mantid replied neutrally, almost coldly as he brushed past her. Silverfly flushed, and I felt her emotions slowly bubble out once more. Mantid glanced at her direction for a moment before looking at me. “You have your work cut out for you, Lumi.”

“It’s her first day, Mantid,” I replied. “Be nice.”

"Am I not?" he asked back, seemingly oblivious. Behind him, Silverfly stuck her tongue out to him, desisting when I gave her a sharp look. "What brings you to my humble abode?" he continued.

I looked around for the moment. The apartment was pretty bare, with only a few pieces of furniture. On my left was the living room area with a few couches and a coffee table, while on my right was the dining area and kitchenette. Mantid wasn’t much of a housekeeper, but did try to at least keep his place clean enough to entertain guests, which made me wonder about the travel bags near the living room area.

"The usual," I replied, looking back at him. "It has come to my attention that something has happened to Dodge Junction. I need to know more about that."

Mantid looked at me. "This is a first," he commented softly. “I'd ask how'd you found out about that."

“That's not important," I said. “What is important is whether you have good information on it."

"Of course," he replied. "All reports, including pictures. Let's talk about price."

Before I could stay negotiating, Silverfly interjected, "Price? She allows you to stay in our territory."

Mantid stared at her for a moment, his face blank, before looking back at me. "Well, I'm glad she's”—he motioned towards her—“not Cluster Leader."

I gave Silverfly one hard look that silenced whatever scathing remark she was about to give before I looked back at Mantid. "What do you need? Love?"

He shook his head. "Bits," he replied. "One thousand bits to be exact."

I gave a low whistle. “That’s a very steep price, Mantid.”

“I had to pay as much to obtain the said information,” he explained. “Local government of Dodge Junction has been absolutely relentless in stamping out any leaks, not even letting anyone without sufficiently high clearance in on the investigation. That’s why I was so surprised you asked about it so soon. I was lucky to even have a informant who had access.”

I frowned. “How about the local Cluster? Are they having any luck getting inside?”

“Not yet,” Mantid replied.

A thought entered my mind. “And this information… how sure are you that no one else has it?”

Matid scoffed. “Lumi, you know me. The information I have is the best in its current time. No one else has what I have.”

That clinched it. “My offer is three hundred bits.”

Mantid scowled. “Oh, come on, Lumi. That’s even less than half of my asking price. I know you drive a hard bargain, but I’m not going to agree to that!”

“Mantid, if I pay you a thousand bits for that information, I’ll be forced to go to Dodge Junction myself and sell this information to the local Cluster there just to keep me afloat,” I said. “And you wouldn’t like that, considering you’re going to sell them the same information.”

Mantid’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I smiled. “Oh, my mistake then.” I turned to Silverfly. “Silver, be a dear and buy me a ticket to Dodge Junction. I’ll follow you shortly after I settle the deal.”

Silverfly, bless her, looked utterly confused, but nodded. “Sure, Lumi.”

She made a move towards the door, causing Mantid to react. “Wait,” he said towards Silverfly. She stared at him for a second before giving me a look. I gave her a nod, making her stay. Mantid looked back at me. “You’re bluffing. Chrysalis-liege aren’t welcomed in Dodge Junction.”

“I’m pretty sure they’ll make an exception if I sell this information below the price you gave them,” I countered.

“You don’t know my price,” Mantid countered back. “For all you know, it could be as much as I’m charging you.”

I smiled. “Then convince me.”

Mantid sighed. “Seven hundred.”

“Four hundred,” I said.

“Five hundred. That’s as low as I can go.”

I thought about that for a moment, then nodded. “Done.”

Mantid shook his head. “Earth and Stone, Lumi. You’re cutting my throat here,” he muttered, motioning us to follow him. Silverfly and I were on his heels as he led us upstairs.

“You were cutting mine at a thousand bits, Mantid,” I replied, smiling. “Especially since you were probably going to get even more from the Cluster in Dodge.”

“Yes, but they actually need it,” Mantid countered. “You’re just curious.”

“Hence why I deserved a lower price,” I said.

Mantid didn’t reply as we reached the second floor of the house. He led us to a door, placed his hoof on the surface, and pushed a bit of his magic to it. Not dissimilar to the security measures I use in my own room. The door opened soon afterwards, revealing his workroom.

Unlike mine, it wasn’t a bedroom. Mantid had more money to spare to keep both his bedroom and workroom secured and separate. I was proud to say, however, that my workroom-slash-bedroom was not as messy as Mantid’s. There was a mesh of wires criss-crossing the ceiling and little pieces of metal scattered around the floor. The walls were covered with machines of various functions, and from different sources. There were some Equestrian tools, Minotaur’s more complex machinery, and even a few appliances I had rarely seen outside big businesses.

“Wow!” Silverfly exclaimed, looking around. She approached a telephone bulkier than the usual size. She pointed her foreleg at it. "What's that?"

“Don’t touch anything,” Mantid ordered, earning a glare from the younger changeling. “Humans call them fax machines.”

"Looks like a big telephone," Silverfly muttered. "What does it do?"

“You can send documents over large distances without the use of dragonfire gems. It’s almost as fast, and doesn’t need those special flame retardant papers.”

When Silverfly looked at me for confirmation, I nodded. "That's true. Book almost bought one." I looked at one of the fax machines that lay there in pieces. I turned to Mantid. “Trying to figure out how it works, eh?”

Mantid looked away. “Yes,” he mumbled.

I whistled. “You aren’t making any progress. Now that’s new.”

“I can tell you how the paper is fed in,” he replied stiffly, “and I can even tell you how the paper is written. However, how the information crosses through the telephone lines is a mystery to me.” He looked at the machine almost admiringly. “Humans are fascinating creatures.”

I remembered Brad and Shaun, agreeing with Mantid’s sentiment, but for other reasons. Shaking my head, I changed the subject. “About the dead changeling in Dodge Junction?”

“Ah, yes!” Mantid nodded, and led me towards his work table. He had quite a few folders stacked on top of each other, and an empty storage gem nearby. He magically grabbed one of the files and brought it to me. Using my own magic, I opened it and peeked inside.

Mantid was right about having the best information. Inside were civil reports pertaining to the investigation of the dead changeling, photos, and even a doctor’s report of the corpse. There was also a map of the facility where they were keeping the changeling body, most likely something for the local Cluster to use.

Basically, it was everything we’d need to launch a recovery mission. As always, Mantid had solid intelligence to work with. Any competent Cluster leader would be able to plan something out to break into the place. However, one letter caught my eye. I reread it twice, just to make sure I wasn’t misunderstanding the contents or jumping to a wrong conclusion, but in the end, I felt cold fear running through me.

“Canterlot’s getting involved,” I whispered.

Mantid looked at me, frowning. “Yes,” he replied, nodding. “Yes they are.”

Author's Notes:

Okay, that ends chapter six, and I'm now back to writing another chapter of Feathered Heart. If anyone has guessed, I'm writing two chapters of Changeling Roun for every Feathered Heart. Mostly, to give you guys something more to chew into, with each update being 4K words or a bit more, while Feathered Heart goes beyond 5-6K words.

As always, thanks to coandco, shira, Permanent Temporary, Ponyboy245, TownCrier, Jack-Pony, and my new last minute, but not the least, addition, WolfeTrax.

Enjoy guys.