“Thanks for getting the girls together, Twi. There’s some news I’ve discovered that… honestly, I think I need a bit of help getting over.” I greeted everyone assembled. We were in the library again, all seven of us, having gathered everyone around so I could share the news I learned with the mercs.

“Really now? You seem like the tough to break kind, so it must be sumthin big if yer admittin that.” AJ immediately sympathised.

“Yeah… turns out, this body wasn’t made in a day. It belonged to someone else that died before I showed up. Someone else pretty much sacrificed himself to save their team on a particularly dangerous mission that ended with his soul getting ripped out. I ended up replacing that soul…”

“So you mean… you’re like a zombie or something?” Spike asked.

“Zombies?! WHERE?!” Pinkie freaked out. My laughter at least calmed Pinkie a bit.

“No, not zombies. The thing is, I’ve wondered if I’m just living a borrowed life. I’m wondering if my memories before waking as a changeling are even real.” I admitted.

“That’s… pretty heavy.” Rainbow said, not handing out some dismissive snark thankfully. Don’t know why I was expecting that…

“Well, no matter what happened in the past, you’re one of us, Darling.” Rarity said supportively. I smiled at her in thanks.

“Thank you, Rarity. I’m glad to be supported… but what if it’s only temporary? What if this body eventually rejects my soul? What then?” I asked, bringing my concerns to bear.

“Summer, you have a dark spirit empowering you. I don’t think it would let you just disperse like that.” Twilight reminded me.

Tch. Like hell I would. I need a competent host to get my fragments back to me. Nightmare pitched in.

“...Heh, yeah… She’s just too quiet most of the time. I sometimes forget she’s even there. Thanks…” I murmured with a small chuckle.

“Summer, y’know asking those kinds of questions won’t make anyone happy. I mean, you can’t answer them right now, so why ask?” Pinkie said.

“Pinkie has a point, Summer. It’s not good to get caught up in questions like that. Um… that is, unless you have a better idea…” Fluttershy meekly said. I giggled a bit.

“You guys are right. I’m glad I talked it through.” I said genuinely. I sat back on my haunches and held my hooves open for a group hug, which they all gladly joined in on. After enjoying it for a good moment, I let go and said my goodbyes.

“Alright. I’m headed to Canterlot there. A piece of this body’s past is there, and I might be able to put together a stronger net of Friends.” I said. “It won’t be long, I promise.”

“Alright. Good luck!” Pinkie enthusiastically said.

As I made my way to the train though, I ran into Bonbon and the unicorn filly again. “Oh, hi there. Who’s this?” I asked, gesturing to the filly.

“Hi Summer, this little cutie is Spectral Ember, she’s… my friend's little sister.” BonBon replied calmly, if she was still angry with me, she didn't show it. However, the one that did show anger was the filly. She didn’t much seem to like being called cute, which, like some kind of parasite, brightened my day from the cuteness and rained on hers. Since I was now focusing on her, I could make out a few new details. She didn’t have a Cutie Mark and looked to be about CMC’s age. Her mane and tail had colour of a slightly dull neon blue, same as her eyes. She also had a single streak of pure black running through the entire length of her mane and tail, she probably dyed that way it in a rebellious fit or something. The way she looked around sure made it look like her adorable grumpy face wasn’t changing anytime soon.

“Heh, nice to meet you, Ember.” I greeted.

She looked me over and turned her head to the side slightly. “I like ‘Spec’ better.” She half grumbled.

“Well, alright.” I said with a smile. “Well, I’ve gotta go. Got a few ponies to meet up in Canterlot.” As I passed Bonbon though, I paused and leaned over to whisper to her.

“I get the feeling that filly’s not just pouting over being seen as cute… Adorable as it is, I’d rather not have to fight a filly in the future. Don’t let the chance of a nightmare possessing her exist in the slightest.” I warned. For some reason, a very visible look of fear crossed her face as she glanced at Spec. I could guess why… but somehow, I got the feeling most of my guesses were wrong. Leaving it at that, I trotted onward, just putting the question away for later. I had a team of Mercs to meet.

~Sweetie Drops~

After that rather ominous warning, I turned to Spec once more, though I thought for a moment I hid my fear well. “Well, she certainly knows how to be scary when she wants to be.”

“Let’s just go.” Spec said with an annoyed tone. I nodded, not teasing her this time. As we moved along, I felt a call from the local hivemind. It was Shin again, probably wanting me to talk about more hive business. Summer knows the future after all, so maybe she shared some pretty sensitive information about one of the other queens. So naturally, I started heading towards Shin’s house, letting Spec know about the meeting.

‘Sweetie, do you know what you almost did…?’ Shin’s voice sweetly asked through the hivemind. Somehow a pit of dread started forming in my gut from that tone. Shin was pretty unpredictable a lot of the time, but one thing that was common with her was that a sweet tone like that normally wasn’t good. I almost didn’t answer for fear of finding out she was going to kill me… but that would probably be a last resort. She’d more likely take my will for a bit if I didn’t answer.

‘Uh… this… this has to do with Summer, doesn’t it?’ I asked with a sigh. ‘This should be something spoken of face to face. It’s too important to talk about long distance.’ I quickly set a fast pace to her place, taking Spec with me. Having a filly with me might mitigate any bloody results, but there’s no guarantees. I got there quickly enough, and knocked on the door.

Shin promptly opened it, and by god was there an aura of doom around her despite how sweet her voice sounded. “Ah… there you are… and who is that?” she said in reference to Spec.

“Spectral Ember. She’s a friend’s sister.” I replied with eased practice.

“Hello!” Spec exclaimed with sudden cheerfulness, probably planning something. I sent her a quick warning look. Shin was someone too important (and sometimes sadistic) to mess with.

“Now Sweetie, do you know what you nearly did to Summer, and why i’m taking this so seriously?” she asked with a slightly less sweet tone than before.

“I almost got Summer killed, yeah. I know… But I… er… I’m not too certain about why it’s so serious.” I replied, stopping myself from dismissing how serious it was.

“Just think about it. He has potential. Hes already gone from a drone to scout in a matter of mere minutes. Just how much further could he go?”

“Isn’t Summer that nice mare we met just a few minutes ago? Why is she talking about her as if she was a stallion?” Spec asked me quietly, but loud enough for Shin to hear it. I almost wanted to laugh at the question. It had a deep and complicated answer I couldn’t get into right now… but it’s for the best. She likely already knows the answer anyway, and is just asking to keep appearances. Rather than answer though, I decided to play along as well.

“Yes, why is that? I mean, she may be a changeling like myself, but clearly she prefers the female gender.” I said back. “Heh… teasing about gender confusion aside, no. I had no idea Summer even had that potential in the first place, nor was there any way I could have known.”

“You didn’t even try to stop him from going into the everfree…” she said, her tone slipping into dangerous levels.

“She told me when we first met what she planned. I thought her stupid, crazy, and not worth saving. I admit I made a mistake when I ignored her, but it goes to show I’ve still got some teachings and habits from Chrysalis to leave behind.”

“Isn’t it kinda Summer’s fault then? If she knew what she was getting into?” Spec once again piped up, bringing up a good point.

“Sush, the adults are talking young one.” Shin dismissed Spec.

That caused Spec to slightly frown and again whisper loud enough for Shin to hear. “Why is the bug lady being so stubborn?”

“I guess it’s because she’s a queen. But you did bring up a good point, Summer clearly had her own agenda and she did a good job of keeping it.” I replied. Turning my comments back to Shin, I kept a passive frown. “Spec’s a lot more mature than you think. She’s far from ordinary.”

“And so is Summer.” Shin shot back.

“There was nothing I could do to convince Summer how stupid she was being, taking on Nightmare Moon like that. She was lucky enough to survive this time, and lucky my partner was around to save her flank, but she at least somewhat knew what she was doing.”

“She clearly overestimates her own abilities and assumes to be right in an argument. With an attitude like that it’s no wonder she acted so suicidal.” Spec commented with a tone of casual disinterest, only looking at Shin from the corner of her eye as she started looking around.

“Yeah, I noticed that attitude as well. She must have been a cocky teen in her old life.” I added.

“She’ll probably end up as dragon chow.” Spec commented while inspecting the wall next to us. No idea what she is looking for.

“Meow!” Spec whipped her head towards to source of the noise, and I had to chuckle at what I predicted would come next.

One changeling in a cat disguise applied to face later, and Spec is flailing her hooves around enough for her to fall over. “Ahhh! Let go! I can’t see!”

‘Pfffft, Damnit Peeko!’ I laughed over the hivemind. All I got was a bunch of nymph gibberish in response as Peeko all but demanded Spec pet her.

“What is this? A cockroach? No wait, it’s hairy… a spider? A cockroach mixed with a spider? Or maybe a rat?” Spec started to ramble with a slightly panicky shake in her voice. I saw Shins eye twitching as she tried to reign in her anger.

‘This is why you don't ignore her.’ I messaged Shin over Hivemind with a giggle at Peeko’s antics.

‘Great. She's like the pink one.’ Shin groaned back.

‘Can be, but she’s not as insane.’

Spec has meanwhile managed to get Peeko to let go by petting her head. “So cute..”

“The funny thing is, Summer completely freaked out and started screaming something about ‘facehuggers’, almost like some kind of post traumatic stress attack, while this filly acted like it was completely ordinary…”

“I’ve seen weirder.” Spec said matter-of-factly, while gently rubbing Peeko’s back.

“I suppose that alien would know of some horrors.” I said with a shrug.

~Summer~

I felt a shiver run down my spine for a few seconds for some reason as I managed my UI. Currently I was on the train, riding onward to Canterlot, and I’d taken the time to check out that tutorial my UI offered earlier on the Element that had bonded to me. Evidently, it could be used on its own. All the elements could be, if they met a certain criteria. And it was a very obscure and tricky criteria, which is why the girls never found out about it. It’s basically a fusion of focusing your magic, and the represented virtue into the Element itself, and it gets exponentially more powerful with each other Element combined with it. Like, for instance if two elements were used together, both elements would be as strong as two elements each. And with them being used together, it makes for the strength of four times the base strength of the elements.

The tutorial suggested there might be more than 7 Elements, but it was so vague about it I might as well be imagining the hint. Based on the facts presented though, I couldn’t ignore the fact that I was damned lucky to get an element. If it were just six, there would have been no way we could have recovered from some of those permanent injuries, like Twilight and I getting our horns broken off. But that also means that the Mane 6 in the original timeline were lucky as fuck too, to have not taken any injuries whatsoever. Well, besides Rarity’s tail.

But this comparison made me wonder… should I try to keep Discord’s return the same? Or should I take big risks again, and hope I can come out alive like the first time? For now, only time would tell. I may end up forced to take risks.

Hey, don’t worry yourself about Discord. That bastard’s too unpredictable to take on with a plan. Besides, based on some of the stuff I’m finding in your head, you should avoid him at all costs. Nightmare advised.

Huh? But why? I asked, confused.

First off, your personality is a crazy mess. You enjoy chaotic things, a lot of which could be brought to life if Discord saw what was in here. Second off, if he Discords you, not only would there be no hope, but you would be a zealous spreader of Despair. And knowing what you do… Twilight would never break free of Discord’s influence.

Well… Shit. But you could break the spell, right? ...Right? I replied, a little nervous.

Not unless you were a Queen. And according to your little UI doohickey, you’d need at least 80% of me for that. That immediately set off a notification in the Quest Log, changing the priority of the Nightmare Gathering quest and adding the mentioned criteria.

Welp. I guess we REALLY need to keep an eye out for your fragments. I concluded. At about that time, the train finally rolled to a stop. Out the window, Canterlot’s station greeted my sight. Looks like we’re here. Time to start searching for BLU.

I got started right away, asking around if anyone knew where to find them, or a gryphon named Tavish. None of the civilians knew, but when I decided to try asking a guard, I got results. The guard directed me to one of the lower class streets in the city, the road amazingly named after the gryphon I was looking for. When I spotted BLU’s sign, I went right for it, heading up and knocking on the Employee’s entrance. Their sniper was the one to answer the door, so he was the one that got my friendly smile.

“Hello. I’m here with some news about RED. I believe all of you should hear this.” I greeted the zebra.

“Alright, mate. C’mon in, I’ll get Tavish.” he said, holding the door open for me. I nodded my thanks, heading in with him, and waiting as everyone gathered. I looked at their spy, Swapkey in particular, since I thought he might want to know the news most. He of course noticed my look and raised an eyebrow. I just nodded slightly to him to let him know it wouldn’t be long until I shared what I had to say.

“So, what’s new with those maggots down there?” their soldier, Direct Charge asked once everyone was gathered.

“Someone came back from the dead.” I told them. “Someone you all thought sacrificed himself in that joint operation a few weeks back.”

“No… you don’t mean…?” Swap asked, removing his cigar in shock.

“Yeah. Switch is back, but it ain’t his soul piloting the body.” I said, before releasing my disguise. They all gasped as I took the shape I originally woke up as. I smiled at them as they stared. “It’s my soul.” I finished.

“Oh, bloody hell…” Tavish muttered.

“He’s not lying… It’s Switch’s body, alright.” Swap confirmed.

“Yeah, but seeing as I prefer the female gender, his body’s changed… quite a bit.” I said sheepishly as I allowed the changes my personality had caused to spring back in. All of BLU stopped suddenly, and shared a look. Then they burst out laughing like hyenas. I just stood there dumbfounded as to why they were laughing so hard.

“The lad’s a lass!” Tavish shouted in the middle of his laughing, and I had to blink. They were laughing about a transgender? Wow. Immature, the whole lot of them. Then again, I guess they were all pretty use to mocking and taunting RED so really it should come as no real surprise. Especially the way I made the reveal.

Eventually, Charge was the first to stop laughing. “Well, thanks for the news. But is that it?”

“Actually…” Swap started. “This isn’t the only instance of a soul receiving a body it doesn’t belong to. I assume you were told the tale of our joint operation?” I nodded leaning in to listen. “The dragon, Hidden Fang has a new soul as well. Yet, somehow he still lives up to the old name he lived by. No one can find him.”

“Interesting… I wonder if one day he’ll come to me? I’ve been working on the timeline, changing a few things for the better. I know one version of the future, and changing it has to attract attention from anyone else from my world.”

“The future?” Blur repeated, surprised.

“Yeah. I used what I knew to help strike down Nightmare Moon, and I got a cool artifact out of it.” I said, leaving out that I almost got myself killed.

“Bet you got your ass handed to ya.” Blur shot back.

“Admittedly, yes…” I replied hesitantly.

“You almost died.” Swap said with a deadpan. That brought the room to silence once again.

“...Say! I know a few opportunities for more joint operations in the future. Could pay well.” I said, changing the subject.

“I don’t suppose it’s any worse than Nightmare Moon?” Blur replied.

“Some are… yeah. One of them is Discord. He’d probably be more like Merasmus in a fight… hopefully.”

“Yeah… Merasmus was a terrible fight. Not gonna do it again.” Blur said. The others gave their agreement.

“Alright, how about Tirek?” I said. “Or King Sombra, he’s way earlier.”

“Ooh, those might actually be fun!” Charge said.

“I’d advise against going against Tirek, Switch. A changeling with no magic is a changeling with no life. You would be dead the second he sees you.” Swap countered.

“Oh yeah… makes sense. Okay, so there’s two assholes I gotta avoid at all cost.” I muttered. “I guess I’ll just have to hope for some kind of Anti-tirek mcguffin, and trust the girls with facing Discord.”

“Ay, that would be for the best, lass.” Tavish nodded. “No point in gettin yourself killed again, if there’s better options.”

“Right. Well, I did what I came to do. Oh, and before I forget, Swap. Manic told me to say Hi for him.” I said just to tease him. Swap shivered visibly for a moment, and I laughed mentally at his expense. Turning for the door, I started heading out, putting on my disguise once more. Of course with my feminine figure back in full force, my flank started swaying with my step, something Blur’s whistle told me did not go unappreciated. “And by the way… the new name’s Summer Dash.” I called out before the door closed. I wondered if Blur would start trying to woo me or something after that.

~???~

Oh god, my head… I feel like someone just took and started beating the hell out of my head with a nailed baseball bat. More than that, my spine felt like it’d been ripped out of my back and torn into multiple parts. And my legs felt like they were bending the wrong way too, but somehow they didn’t hurt as much as I thought they should have if that were the case. I groaned as I woke up, not enjoying it at all. Honestly, if I weren’t in so much pain, I’d probably just go back to sleep. But I needed to find out why I was hurting so much. What I saw when I opened my eyes was nothing short of mind breaking.

Ponies. They were all just staring at me like I’d grown a third head or something. Not only that, but they were wearing lab coats and looking down at me where I was laying down. This pretty much brought to mind all of those aliens getting dissected scenarios you see on tv and stuff. Needless to say, I kind of freaked out.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! What’s going on?! Where am I?!” I shouted as I scrambled off the table and tried getting away from them. I only got as far as getting off the table before I was restrained by some invisible force.

“Please, calm down. We don’t want to hurt you.” one of them tried to reassure me. Yeah right, that’s what they all say. I did my best to break out of whatever was holding me, but I paused. Something was telling me I’d need my mind more for breaking out of whatever was holding me rather than my body. I needed to focus. Taking a deep breath, I followed my gut and focused on the thing holding me.

“Let me GO!” I shouted as it came undone. The pony doctors stared at me with dropped jaws as I backed away further, but I tripped as I tried to get to my feet. “Wha-?” I muttered, dazed as I looked down at my feet. I had to blink a few times when I saw paws and white on orange fur there instead of what I was used to seeing. I faintly noticed a few of the ponies scrambling to get the heck outta dodge, but I was too caught up in noticing that I had a freaking bipedal cat’s body. And my legs were all wrong… it was like… like my foot was reduced to just my toes, and the rest of it wasn’t meant for setting down anymore. I think my brother called it digitgrade or something? I don’t know… In any case, as the doctor ponies cleared out of the room, I curled up as best I could, just too afraid to do much else.

What…. What happened to me?