"Promise me you won't zap me as I tell you."

Twilight raised a hoof to her chest, taking a large breath, then released it as she moved the hoof away. "Right, yes." A forced smile spread on her snout. "I promise, any zappings will wait until after the retelling of events is complete." Her magic grabbed me up roughly and threw me onto a chair. "So get talking."

Spike waved his claws at Twilight. "Hey, be easy on him! He didn't do anything wrong!"

Twilight glared at Spike. "You've been influenced, I can't trust your word right now. Don't worry, I'll have this all handled in a moment."

Spike darkened but in a subtly different way. "No! You will not dismiss me right now, Twilight."

Twilight gasped. "It's further along than I th--"

Spike hopped up and grabbed her snout, silencing her. "Listen to me! It was totally my idea that he turn into Rarity so he wouldn't starve to death. We didn't even do anything but stare at each other a little. Stop picking on him!"

Twilight's horn lit up as she pulled Spike off of her snout. "He didn't..."

I shook my head quickly. "Whatever you're thinking, we didn't do that. C'mon, he's a baby dragon. I'm not a monster."

Twilight turned back to me. "That is exactly what is being debated." She grabbed Spike suddenly in her magic and brought him before her, floating as she looked him over with squinted eyes. "You look alright though."

"I am." Spike floated there with his arms crossed, looking deadpan at the pony he was assistant of. "He's the one that needs your help, not me. This isn't much what I'd expect from the Princess of Friendship."

Twilight set him down gently. "Right... Right... Of course. Spike, you know I care about you very much. This sort of thing upsets me."

Spike put a claw on her chest. "I appreciate that. We're family, but right now, somepony else needs us more than I do."

I nodded my head quickly, wings popping out. "I'd like to be human again."

Twilight looked me over critically. "Hmm, so, if I take this at face value, you were the human in town, Noah? How are you adjusting to a quadruped anatomy? Have you been able to control your wings, tail, ears, and other new muscle groups?" Her expression had shifted from anger and doubt to scientific curiosity so quickly. "Tell me how it happened."

That didn't sound like a solution and I sighed softly. "I'm adjusting fine. Spike taught me how to trot, and I flew to get out of the ravine I started in." I stood up on the chair she had dropped me on and gave my tail a little wag. "That works." Strangely, my ears were harder to control, wanting to move on their own and on their own schedule.

"Fascinating." Twilight summoned a notebook and got right to jotting notes furiously a moment. "So how did this happen?"

So I told her the story of the dead changeling I found, and how it became my new body quite suddenly.

Twilight scowled, but not at me directly. "Interesting... I've never seen or read anything like that before. I'd love to examine that changeling, but I suppose I already am." She approached that chair and circled around me, eyes locked on me. "This goes double for being so far away from any hive I'm aware of. It must have been an unusual changeling to start."

"About turning me back?"

Twilight shrugged her shoulders. "So quickly? You could be an extinct sub-species! Think of the implications! If I go turning you back right away, then we'll never know. We could be giving up a once in a thousand year opportunity!"

Spike rolled a claw. "If he wants to be turned back, doesn't that rate higher?"

Twilight looked clearly torn on the morality of the case. I sighed softly. "Look, even if I was willing to bite the bullet in the name of science, who's going to volunteer to be fed on? Apples won't do it, we tried."

Twilight clopped her forehooves suddenly. "We can! At least, if you consent to be our specimen for a little while."

"How long is 'little'?"

Twilight reared up, her hooves coming down on the edge of the chair as she smiled at me in what I assumed was a hopeful way. "A few months at most? We'll pay you for your time!"

As jobs went, it wasn't, inherently, the most awful I'd been offered, but... "I don't want to be locked in this castle, nice as it is, for months."

Twilight waved it off. "You'll have hours like anypony else doing a job and can leave while you're off-duty. I'll throw in room and board." Her tail wagged excitedly. "Please..."

Spike hiked a thumb at me. "So you'll explain to the town why there's a changeling living with them suddenly?"

Twilight went still a moment, then let out a breath and nodded. "I'll do it, if he says yes." She looked back at me. "Think of it this way. It's a unique experience. You'll get to learn your new form better. Aren't you the slightest bit curious as to what you can do, and can't do? This is the safest way to find out. Maybe you'll even enjoy it."

Learning to enjoy it sounded kind of bad. "I want to be human again, for sure."

She rolled a hoof. "But for now?"

Her hopeful expression, those bright eyes and that almost-painful looking smile all tugged at me. "Fine... But if I get tired of it, I want to be turned back right away. Promise me that." I thrust a hole-ridden hoof at her.

"Deal!" She met my hoof with her own in a soft clop. "Now where did I put that..." She began wandering off.

Spike glanced at her and back to me. "Well, you've thrown her into full research mode. Be ready to ride the nerd wave." He offered a claw. "Welcome to the family."

I put my hoof in his claw and we shook on it. A few months wouldn't be so bad, right?

Author's Notes:

Noah's journey ends at the tender hooves of Twilight Sparkle. I leave it to your imagination how the experiments go for him and whether or not he goes back to human or embraces the bug at the end of it.

I hope you enjoyed the story. Did? Didn't? Let me know below!

The typos will escort you to the closest exit when you're ready.