Derpy was drained, but she knew that there would be no rest for her yet. She had done her duty as a mother and helped her child as much as she could. Now she had to do her duty as a friend.

“Karyn...I don’t know how to thank you.”

Karyn smiled. “There are some things that you don’t say thank you for. This was...not a gift or a sacrifice. This is something I’m happy to have done.”

“Well, all I will say is that if you’re ever in that bad a spot, I hope you have someone willing to take care of you that way.”

“Mmhm.”

Derpy touched Karyn on the hand. “How does it feel? It is like...you feel like something’s missing?”

“No. I feel...normal. Ordinary. But right. I don’t know if I feel anything physically. It’s all in what I think about it. How I’ll get around Equestria now. What I’ll do back on Earth. Stuff like that.”

“It’s a shame that you can’t blend in with other ponies now.”

Karyn nodded, but as she thought back, a memory came up. “That’s not always a blanket positive. Do you remember back when you had to do the tornado with the other pegasi?”

“You! Pony! What do you think you’re doing out here?! You should be in there with the rest of them!”

Karyn thought that it would be easy to explain. “No, you see, I’m not really a p—“

“This is my little sister’s first time running the tornado, and I will not have anypony sitting on the sidelines for it. You will get your flank into that formation immediately or so help me I will tan your hide!”

“You don’t understand. Your sister—Misty?—she came over to my friend Derpy and me, and Derpy told her that she was ready to go, but that I wasn’t signed up, and that’s true, because I’m actually a human from another world, only obviously I don’t look like one, but that’s because I’m also part changeling, which is itself a long story, and you don’t want to hear it, but—“

She realized that she was rambling, and the pony just kept steaming at her. “That’s the sorriest made-up excuse I’ve heard. Are you going to get in that tornado?”

Karyn decided that the only sensible course of action was to drop her disguise and show him that she was in no way a flyer. So flustered was she by his anger, though, that it took a moment before she could bring up the muscle memory needed of how to shapeshift back. To the stallion, it must have looked like she was staring blankly at him.

Just as the green light surrounded her, the stallion took off and flew towards her, his front hooves outstretched. He grabbed her around the waist and started flying toward the tornado. “Get. To. Work!” he shouted as he hurled her in.

“But that all worked out in the end,” said Derpy.

“Only thanks to you. Talk about giving things you can’t thank the other person for. You saved my life that day. Not just the quality of life, but the whole thing.”

“And of course, you did learn to fly eventually. Now you can’t do that anymore. That’s why I’m sorry for you.”

It was quite recent that Karyn had learned, and Derpy got misty at the memory

From behind, she heard a gentle voice. “Are you hurt, little bird? Did you break your wing?”

Karyn flipped around, itself an unfamiliar motion, to see Gayle kneeling down a good distance away. She held out her hand.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. Is there some reason you can’t fly?” And then to herself. “I’ve never seen a bird like this around here.”

Karyn thought of playing it cool and letting Gayle think that she really was a bird, but Derpy ruined any plans of a prank. “Hey, Gayle, it’s Derpy here. The bird is actually Karyn. She wanted to learn how to fly, which is something that she can’t do as a pegasus pony.”

She bounced back away and resumed her usual shape, plus an image of some clothes which she’d had to take off when she transformed previously. “Yeah, it seems like I’m gilding the lily or something. I should be happy enough to have the form but from an incident earlier today it felt like I should be able to fly when I need to, you know?”

“I can’t say I know, but I’ll believe you. But why as a bird?”

They brought her up to speed on the experiments they had performed so far. “No matter what she does,” said Derpy, “she can’t get consistent and efficient flight.”

“Well, I don’t know for sure, but I wonder if it isn’t more than just the shape. I mean, a bird has instincts that let it fly. It has to be trained by its mother, but it’s still instinctual. How about you, Derpy? Are pegasuses born knowing how to fly?”

“Pegasi. And no, we’re not. We have to be taught.”

Gayle sat down next to Karyn. “So I’m thinking maybe it’s not a skill that you can pick up immediately. It’s like painting. You know how to pick up a brush and move it across the canvas, but I would have to teach you if you wanted to actually get a picture out of it.”

Karyn swallowed and winced. “So what you’re saying is that it’s going to be difficult.”

“Yes. Which is why as a responsible adult I advise you to give up and go play video games.”

They had a laugh, but Derpy missed the sarcasm. “That’s not responsible at all! No, if anything, we have to stay out here until you can fly! No matter how hard it is!”

“Well, you heard her, Karyn. I’ll keep an eye out to make sure you get airborne.” Gayle headed back inside.

“You’ll never fly now.”

Karyn held Derpy to her. “But I got to before. You understand? No other human has. We have legends of people who could, like Peter Pan. And when people watch that, they feel the joy they think they would get from being able to fly unaided. I did it. And I’ll always have that memory.”

“I’m glad that you’re taking this so bravely.”

“What I’m worried about are the wider consequences.”

Derpy looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“Well, changelings and ponies still aren’t the most cordial of allies. I had to help formalize relations, so I hope that Princess Cadance doesn’t have any trouble with them now that I’m no longer a queen.”

“There’s definitely something odd about what’s going on here.”

“Let’s just get to Princess Cadance. She’ll sort everything out.”

They made good time to the castle, where again they met with bowing and honors. At last they reached Princess Cadance.

“Thank you so much for coming. You have no idea how much easier this will make it for me,” the princess said.

“I’m not so sure. We might have been making missteps.” Karyn related what happened on the train and with the carriage driver.

Princess Cadance’s expressive eyes showed the stress she was under. “The train is my fault, and I apologize. I should have known that you wouldn’t want to be pampered, but so many others do, and I fell in the routine. But the incident with the carriage is part of something deeper. You see, many of the Crystal ponies don’t favor this treaty with the changelings.”

“WHAT?!” they said simultaneously.

Karyn was the first to recover. “Don’t they understand that they won’t have to live in fear of the changelings anymore?”

“Unfortunately, just because they won’t have to doesn’t mean they don’t now.”

Now it was Derpy’s turn. “But you’re their princess! If you tell them that this is good for them, won’t they listen?”

“Yes, or there would be no treaty to begin with. But I can’t just do what I think is right all the time and expect them to fall in line. I have to listen and indulge the common pony most of the time. If I do that, I earn their trust and, when the time comes to do something important like this, they do. But I’m going to have to do a lot of listening to make up for this.”

Before they could discuss it any further, the door burst open and a black silhouette let only circles of light through near the floor. Queen Chrysalis had arrived.

“Ah,” she said in her raspy voice. “You came. Excellent. Then we will proceed to business and be done with it.”

“I still don’t like her,” said Derpy.

“I can understand that. She doesn’t like you very much either, and you didn’t give her a reason. She’s not a happy changeling, but given time, who knows?”

“Still, she was the one who gave you your powers, and I guess I have to thank her indirectly for that. Though I give you, like, ninety-nine point nine-nine-nine-nine-nine percent of the credit.”

Karyn laughed. “it was a pretty amazing adventure.”

“One of the only times I was ever able to impress Doctor Hooves. I remember telling him about it.”

“Anyway, Doctor, this is Earth. Ask me anything about it! I know lots of things about this world.”

“So do I, I’ve been here before.” Doctor Hooves sipped at the coffee that Karyn had given him and was looking the other way.

“You have?! I thought I was the first!”

“What? Oh, you are, of course. I sometimes get the past and the future confused.”

Derpy leaned in close to Karyn. “Sometimes I think that Doctor Hooves has some weird abilities, even if he’s just an Earth pony.”

Karyn had a few ideas about that herself, but she didn’t know enough to say.

“Oh!” Derpy turned back to the Doctor. “Karyn has powers too! She’s a changeling queen!”

“Is she now? How did that happen?”

“I’ll tell you…”

Chrysalis watched the sparks and then approached Karyn. “That is indeed a magical illness you have. I wonder why. Have you attempted any unusual transformations lately?”

“I haven’t been transformed ever. Except when Princess Celestia switched me with Derpy once. But that was more of a mind-switch than a transformation.”

“What?! No wonder your health is failing. A changeling must transform or she will suffer buildups that are quite painful.”

“Stop!” said Karyn. “That’s too confusing. You can’t flash back to when we were having a flashback.”

“I can’t?”

“No, it’s weird.”

Derpy shrugged. “I guess. But that was how you became a changeling. And now it’s all gone. I hope it doesn’t get to you too much.”

“I don’t think it will. What I’m going to miss isn’t the major abilities it gave me, like flight. It’s all the little conveniences.”

“Like what?”

“Well...”

“Then what are you going to do?”

“Go shopping!”

And as she said that, she grabbed her purse and was headed out the door. Derpy barely had time to get her invisibility spell out and follow her to the car. “Isn’t this a little sudden? And besides, what’s the point of making money if you’re going to spend it on clothes?”

“Trust me. In any case, I haven’t had the chance to do a full-on shopping spree since…well, since I came to college. It takes me back to when my girlfriends and I would get driven by one of our moms—never mine, though—down to the mall. We could spend all day there. I remember thinking how cool it would be if we could only drive ourselves. Well, I never did that kind of shopping afterwards because money was so tight. I resent it a little that I can’t go shopping just to look good, but this is as fine a time as any to get a new wardrobe.”

Derpy sucked air through her teeth. “It’s bad enough to get new clothes, but to buy furniture?”

It took Karyn a moment to get it. “Not that kind of wardrobe!”

But her spirit could not be dampened, not even when she realized that she did not know where the mall was in her college town, and driving to the mall that she used growing up, while nostalgic, was not worth the time or the cost in gas to get there. After searching on her phone, she found what purported to be a mall, though the word “strip” could have preceded it without argument. There was a department store at one end, though, and even though the food court comprised only a pizza place and a pretzel stand, it was still a mall, and Karyn breathed deeply the conditioned air as they entered.

“Oh, yeah,” she said. “This is it.” She made her way at quick-march pace for the women’s section of the department store.

She ran up to the racks and started pulling outfits. With her phone, she snapped pictures of some of them. Derpy caught up and blew a puff of air with her wings to get Karyn’s attention.

“Please be responsible. You’re not even looking at the prices.”

“I know. That’s the idea. I’m going to use these outfits to wear with my changeling abilities. That way I’ll save money.”

Derpy backed off, but her mind was as jumbled as her eyes. “Are you sure that’s right to do?”

“I thought you would be happy for me to be saving money.”

“I am, but at the same time, it feels a little like stealing.”

Karyn shook her head. “I’m not depriving anyone of anything. They still have the same inventory as before.”

“I don’t know…”

“It’s all right. You’re not the first person to have ethical quandaries over something like this. When digital music first came out, we had the same debate.”

Derpy sounded relieved. “And you decided that it was OK to get music using your phone?”

“Well, kind of. We decided that it was impossible to stop people from doing it, so the music companies would use other means to make money. But I promise you that if the majority of humans become changeling queens, I’ll come back and buy clothing to keep them in business.”

“Oh, good.”

“That’s what you’re going to miss most?” asked Derpy. “Being able to not buy clothes?”

“Pretty much, yeah. And having to do my own hair and all that. Honestly, when I’ve read stories and watched movies, that’s what I always thought was the cool part of being magical was. And why it always annoyed me whenever they would say to the characters, ‘You must only use your powers to help others or to save the world’ or stuff like that.”

“But you have used your powers to save the world.”

Karyn shot Derpy a quizzical look. “I did?”

“Yes, when the Flim Flam brothers plotted to steal Earth’s electricity and we had to find out who was behind it.”

Twilight was awake, taking late notes with Owlowiscious, but they still woke Spike. After bringing her up to speed, Twilight asked, “So what exactly is your plan?”

“Well, we want to keep the appointment to find out who’s behind it all,” said Derpy. “Karyn?”
She focused, and green light filled the room. When it subsided, there was Karyn disguised as Flim. “It doesn’t have to be long,” she said, not liking the smoothness of the voice, “just enough to find out who the meeting is with, if indeed there is somepony.”

“All right. I approve it. But be careful. It could be someone really villainous, like Sunset Shimmer or Queen Chrysalis. Cadance trusts her, but...”

Derpy grinned. “I’m thinking it’s just some greedy pony like Filthy Rich. But we’ll find out.”

They moved out and arrived back near the alley where they found the cart. Derpy went to hide in the shadows while Karyn waited. It was a dull and boring hour for Karyn, who couldn’t even sit down, there being no place to do so. But at last a figure entered the alley, checking around to see if he had been followed.

“What’s the word? Did you get the feed?”

“Yeah, we got it,” Karyn said, hoping to not have to play the part too long. “We could be found out, though.”

“By humans? From what I’ve heard they’re not too bright.”

That was enough for Karyn. She dropped the disguise and said, “We’re not, huh? Bright enough to fool you!”

The other pony bolted for the alley, but Derpy got in the way and spread her wings to deny any exit.

“Derpy?!” the pony cried out, in surprise and confusion. He turned to look back at Karyn, and a moonbeam struck him. Karyn needed a moment to recognize him. For Derpy it was instant.

“Rocky Top? Really?”

“Oh, yeah,” said Karyn. “I did do that. But that’s not a regular occurrence, and I’m grateful not to be on the hook for saving the world. If you want to, well, you’re the pegasus pony who also carries a bag full of spells with her.”

“I don’t know about that. But I promise that I’ll protect you from anything in Equestria that tries to hurt you or your world.”

“How do you know you can do that? Whatever magic you have, you’re not as powerful as the princesses, or even some of the monsters that live here.”

Derpy took Karyn’s hands in her hooves. “You’re right, I don’t know that I’ll succeed. But just like when I struggle to deliver the mail or have problems with my weight, all I can do is try as hard as I can. I promise you that I’ll help you whenever you need it. Not just for this, but because you’re my friend.”

Author's Notes:

Let's get a preview of a true chapter!

Usually when Derpy had something for them to do in Equestria, it could wait. Equestrians were late risers. Or, Karyn thought, correcting herself, the Ponyvillians were late risers on Sundays. That was different.

She finished washing and threw on a robe to run down to the bedroom. Once dressed, she came back out. “OK, let’s go.”

Derpy made a nifty maneuver, ducking and lifting Karyn onto her back in one motion, and continuing that motion into activating the spell to get them to Equestria. Clearly she was in a hurry. “Thanks for coming with.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’ll massage your arm if you like.”

“No, I was exaggerating about that. At the time it hurt, but I’ve long recovered.”

“I have a question,” said Derpy. “How come you aren’t home for the holiday break?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Also,” said Derpy, “I have Karyn here today, so I hope you don’t mind if I don’t have you over.”

“Of course not. You’re going to get me fat anyway on your good cooking. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

They were free to retreat to Derpy’s house.

What awaits us in the exciting last half-year of Derpy's Human? Come back to find out!