Like so many misadventures, it all started on what had been a relatively normal day. Our first date with Rainbow was only a few days away and I had been doing some kind of body conditioning Summer had cooked up which involved me sitting in the frozen lake. Even under normal circumstances, I hate being cold, but using my chi it had been manageable.

So it was that I, in my female form and a swimsuit, desperately using my chi to not freeze to death, was just outside my house when I bumped into Fluttershy.

Ordinarily I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. Fluttershy and I were always going to each other’s houses, either on a whim or because we had something to talk about. However, with my chi as active as it was, I noticed something off about Fluttershy’s presence.

“Hey Fluttershy,” I greeted as I tried to figure out this strange feeling about her.

“Ranma, why are you soaking wet and wearing a swimsuit?” Fluttershy asked with an understandable amount of bafflement.

“Summer had me out in the lake for training,” I explained.

“In the middle of February?!” She exclaimed.

“Yeah, I’m not too thrilled about it myself. I’d like to get into some dry clothes and a warm blanket,” I said.

“Of course,” Fluttershy nodded and took my hand. The direct contact catalyzed the realization: This wasn’t Fluttershy.

But if this wasn’t Fluttershy, then who was it? My mind jumped to the two most obvious answers. Either this was a prank by Rainbow, Pinkie, or someone else or this was a changeling.

Of course, this world was different enough from the show’s world that, even if this were a changeling, that didn’t tell me much about the situation. It could even, theoretically, still be a prank by a changeling Fluttershy knows.

So then the question became: how do I deal with this? Do I immediately confront this imposter or do I play along in hopes of finding out more? There was also the chance that this was the opening act of the season 6 finale, in which case time was of the essence.

With all this taken into consideration, there was really only one prudent course of action. I brought not-Fluttershy inside, locked the door behind me, and pinned her to the floor.

“Who are you and where’s Fluttershy?!” I demanded of the imposter.

“Ranma, what are you doing?!” Not-Fluttershy cried.

“Who are you and where’s Fluttershy?!” I repeated.

“I am Fluttershy!” The fake tried to insist.

“I can tell from your chi that you aren’t!” I told the pretender. She went still for a moment before in a flash of green fire the not-Fluttershy was replaced with a muscular Earth Pony. The changeling started trying to break my pin…and was succeeding.

In my female form I simply didn’t have the mass or strength to keep the changeling down without seriously injuring them first. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go that far just yet. So instead of trying to prolong a doomed pin and potentially getting in trouble from that, I jumped off and created some space between us.

“Where is Chrysalis keeping Fluttershy?!” I shouted as the changeling got up.

“Chrysalis? You think I’m part of her hive?” The changeling asked with clear derision. That answer was not what I was expecting and immediately told me that any assumptions I might have been able to make about changelings from my knowledge of the show were invalid.

“But now you know too much. I can’t let you live,” The changeling said menacingly and another flash of green fire revealed a large bear-like monster. I wasn’t about to try and fight that thing head to head so…

“THISTLE, HELP!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. The changeling charged me, but roots burst out of the floor like a mass of snakes, wrapping up the changeling’s monstrous form tightly.

“I would have thought you’d try to fight first,” Thistle commented as she stepped out of the roots.

“I’m not exactly of a mind to have my shit kicked in or my house torn down by a changeling,” I deadpanned. The changeling in question struggled against their bondage, but Thistle maintained a tight grip no matter what form they tried to assume.

“I guess,” Thistle said and I was tempted to ask just what kind of mental image she had of me, but there were bigger fish to fry at the moment. I called up Luna on our emergency number and in a flash of teleportation magic the Lunar Princess appeared. She looked around and then fixed the changeling with a furious glare that would make lesser men piss their pants in fear.

Luna wasted no time using her magic to root around in the changeling’s mind, searching for where they took Fluttershy. The changeling struggled, but in the end was no match for Luna’s power.

“They have her in an abandon mine. They were going to replace most of Ponyville and then try and overwhelm me with numbers while using what locals remained as living shields,” Luna relayed their plans.

“So do we go in guns blazing or do we try and sneak in and get Fluttershy out?” I asked.

“Sneaking into anyplace filled with changelings is all but impossible at the best of times. We have little choice but to use force,” Luna replied, “I will summon my guards and we will make our way to the mines to free Fluttershy.”

It was torture waiting for Luna’s guard to arrive. I wanted to get out there and save my girlfriend already! But I knew Luna felt the same from the way she was continuing to glare at our captive and her wings were fidgeting ever so slightly. I wasn’t going to be the kind of idiot who charged off recklessly and got everyone in more danger. So I tried to be patient and waited.

After what felt like an eternity, Luna’s guard arrived and we set off for the mine. As we got closer, Luna and some of the more magically gifted of her guard started weaving spells to delay our detection for as long as possible. Luna then started discussing what information she had gleaned from our changeling captive on the enemy’s strength, position, and where exactly in the mine Fluttershy was being held.

With a plan made and roles assigned, we readied ourselves for the assault on the mines. I could only hope Fluttershy was safe.