I woke up still sore from all the searching I had done, before finally finding Ribbons workshop the other night. Frankly, she was quite a nice mare (or Changeling? mare sounds less awkward…) and I wanted to visit her again…

Remembering the path I took to get back to my temporary living quarters, I trotted off backtracking towards the forge…

Did I just think trotted…? I did, didn’t I? Apparently ponies can ruin your vocabulary.

Apparently the guards had caught word of the verbal beat down I gave Ponce Blueballs, and had actually stopped glaring at me. hell I think I saw one salute me!

Reaching the blacksmith’s room. I knocked on the door, only to be greeted by a panicked “don’t come in!”

“Ribbon, calm down, it’s me Chitsuki!”

a brief moment of silence occurred, before I heard her reply. “...Ok, come in quick.”

I walk in, shutting the door behind me, only to be greeted to a sight that left me dumbfounded.

Ribbon, in her Changeling form, Appeared to be trying to cut herself with a knife… the first words out of my mouth where “ The fuck are you doing?!”

She points at the large scratch on her body. “ I need you hit me right here.”

Wat… “Whhhhy?”

“I need you to break my plate so it will grow.”

Oh. OH! apparently Changeling are more insect like then I first thought…

I comply, winding up and giving it solid hit, the plate moving getting jarred loose, and leaving Ribbon wheezing.

“SHIT! That was a bit too hard, wasn’t it?”

She coughs a couple times. “Maybe, not that hard.” She then pulls the plate off and… sets it on fire…

“Why are you doing that?”

“I can’t just leave it here.”

that doesn't explain th- “And don’t worry about the fire.”

“Bu-but you SET. IT. ON. FIRE.”

I throw my forehooves into the air utterly aggravated by the lack of sense this is making.

"Changeling fire only burns us. we use it for transformations, attacks and getting rid of evidence."

"Changeling fire only burns us... Did you mean to say it like that, because it seems to make little sense.”

"No I said that right 'It burns us' but it doesn't hurt us, try doing hoof to hoof with somepony who can set themselves on fire."

Must resist. Urge to. Make. Falcon. Punch. References.

"Okay, now it sounds awesome. but wouldn't that much light make you a sniper magnet?"

"What's a sniper?"

Okay, now I get why that wouldn't get you killed here. "Someone who attacks from extremely long ranges, usually aiming at targets of strategic importance, like commanding officers or enemy snipers"

"Whoever manages to do that must be very lucky or has especially good accuracy with a bow"

I stare at her. Your fucking kidding me, they don't even have muskets?! "A bow... Snipers don't use a bow, they take you out from over a mile away with a sniper rifle!"

"Again what's a Sniper rifle. The most I've ever seen a pony use is a cross-bow and those are illegal."

Joy, more explaining. "Basically they use gunpowder, you know what gunpowder is right?"

“Yea good for making small bombs, not real useful through."

“Basically they use gunpowder to propel small bits of metal at ludicrous speeds, ripping a hole in the other guy, usually through the head."

"That sound... very messy. wouldn't it be easier to teleport a vial of poison into his chest?"

"That sounds pretty energy intensive though, all you need to do is point and pull the trigger and BOOM, other guys dead with his brains all over the place."

"And what if he's wearing a helmet?"

"I don't think that would protect him from a pointy object traveling faster than the speed of sound, and beside, why teleport poison if you can teleport explosives, and turn the guys ribcage into shrapnel, potentially getting multiple enemies. Can you think of the mass amount of panic it would cause in their ranks if their comrades started randomly exploding?”

Ribbon seemed to take a moment to absorb that before replying. "That maybe so, but getting attention is the last thing I want. I have to be careful, low profile, out of the way. I did tell you before we're eaten by some and starved by the rest."

Oh yeah, derp, shapeshifter, more suited to infiltration then direct combat... "Stealth was never my strong point, i always focused on taking the other guy out in fastest most efficient way possible."

I pause mulling over things a bit. "Although psychological warfare, that I had some brilliant ideas about." probably from watching every horror movie I could get my hands on…

Ribbon tilted her head. "I don't know really anything about psychological warfare, I was just a scout, whistle blower and if need be? the one to get caught"

"I'm guessing the queen decides that you've gone rogue if you get caught, giving her plausible deniability?"

"Normally we don't, but Scouts are mostly used a cannon fodder, we die so others don't have too" She stares at the ground, depressed. "I didn't like being hatched as a scout. it pays to be as fast as you can if you're a scout." dammit! its like watching a sad puppy, you have this irresistible urge to go over and hug it.

I gave in to that urge, walked over and hugged her. "Confound you Ribbon, why must you be so adorable!?"

She blushed… Hucking green? How the fuck do you even blush through chitin? "Adorable!? I'm not adorable I'm a love sucker!"

Wait, it just occurred to me, I'm now hugging a naked Changeling… This is totally awkward.

I hear Ribbon snickering. “You, uh, having a little trouble?”

Wuh? “What do you mean?” Ribbon points behind me.

My fucking wings are sticking up like a bo-… well fuck…

“Quite. Now how the nuck fuggets do I get these back down!?!”

She speaks with slight disbelief in her voice. "You never had this happen before? Uh just calm down."

Okay, inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. I slowly feel it working as my wings slowly return to their original position of their own accord.

“Let us never speak of this again.” releasing her and getting myself back on my hooves, I had the weirdest feeling I was missing some unfortunate implication.

"that would be best. you probably don't want others to know you have jollys for Changelings" wait… did she just imply…

A little voice in my head screamed ‘Ship it, SHIP IT LIKE FEDEX!’ but I nuked it.

Putting on a godlike pokerface i tried not to burst out laughing. “I am neither pleased, nor displeased, by this occurrence.”

we stare at each other, before laughing at the awkwardness of this insanity. after we both recovered from our laughing fit.

“So, what did you come to see me for?”

"I wanted to get to know you better."

She seemed slightly surprised. “what did you want to know?”

“When we first met, why did you flip out like I was Death itself?”

“Stories of Nightmare Moon being a cannibal.”

I nod. “Yeah, that would make a lot of sense. Although, I’m curious, what is it like being a Changeling?”

"Not much different then you really. Hated by all, looks terrifying, except I'm also hunted for meat."

Damn, that killed the mood.

It was about this time that the patriotism in me sparked up.

“So how badly would you want to overthrow this Chrysalis, and bring the empire ‘under new management.’”

"None. Chrysalis still needs to have a princess to pass the crown."

Damn, that puts a dampener on that plan…

It was about this time Ribbon seemed to notice something, and hesitantly asked, “Hey, have uh… you been feeling extra tired lately?”

“Not at all, why?”

“Oh,Uh, no reason.”

No reason my ass, a shapeshifter would only infiltrate a society if they had something that could not be acquired by normal means. Spiking my emotions with a fuckton of suspicion, I watched as Ribbon flinched.

" I thought so... it explains why ponies would fear you, and why you are so skittish all the time... and why you would infiltrate a pony society, they have something that you cannot acquire normally. But it makes no difference to me."

Ribbon seemed to be beginning to panic. "NO, WAIT! Its not like I snuck into your room to feed on you, I don't do that like the others!"

where did she get the idea that i thought that?

"Huh? No! i didn't mean it like that, I'm saying that I don't mind if you feed on my emotions!"

She, tilted her head. Still as fucking cute as ever...

"I know that you don't really want to, but you need to do it to survive, don't you? I can't blame you for that." I was oozing compassion for the poor girl.

Her eyes widened “Y-you don't care that I'm f-feeding off your love?"

“And besides, do you really like ‘feeding’ on ‘love’?” Yes I did that with air quotes. I couldn't resist.

She grins. “It tastes different from pony to pony.”

Oh, yes… “Finally someone who understands my sense of humor!”

"Changelings aren't really hatched with a sense of innocence."

“So anyway, I’m curious, Is that transformation thing a spell, or an inherent ability of your race?”

"I think it's both, since I haven't seen a unicorn do anything close to it. But I can't be sure, I don't have access to the knowledge anymore."

"Can you try to explain to me how, because i REALLY want to see if i can do it."

"Build up some power, the bigger or smaller I need to be the more power I need, picture what I want to look like and release."

So I tried feeling around in my mind for something malleable a- BINGO!

Now I was focusing on turning into Ribbon, picturing her in my mind and releasing the energy. my body seemed to dissolve, before reshaping and solidifying itself into the new form i had chosen.

Transforming feels… like getting a bucket of liquid nitrogen dumped on you while being bathed in lava, its essentially your body screaming ‘WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING’

Opening my eyes I was greeted to everything having moved a foot or so to the ground.

While Ribbon just stands there, wide eyed and unmoving…

“Wha- holy shit my voice is fucked up” My voice was multi toned and seemed to echo off the walls.

It was about that time that my senses told me I was standing on two legs. I immediately look at my ar- What. The. Fuck. “Okay, exactly how badly did I fuck up?”

“A lot?” Could you be any less descriptive..?

I immediately run over to the cooling basin and stare at my reflection, only to be greeted by some Tyranid-Changeling-Zerg monstrosity…

"Holy shit I look badass! I am soooo gonna reuse this at some point."

Then it hits me. "Now how the hell do I undo this?"

Ribbon decides to be helpful now. "Remember what you looked like before"

Reaching into my magic again I was relieved to get the feeling of a tensed rubber band, letting it snap back, I immediately resumed my previous form. "Damn, now I know how a rubber band feels."

"I've never felt like that before just, warm. That also looked a lot different too, doing it my way -which I'm surprised worked- may not be all you have to do."

There was a flash of light, and then, absolutely nothing?

It was about this time something occurred to me. “Ribbon, why are we standing on the ceiling? And why is everything purple?”