Dear Diary,

Maybe I’m able to help solve this after all…

Pinkie moved Rarity off of me, and untied the bonds that held my hands together. I had to resist an urge to return a favor to Rarity by breaking her nose or something, but I had more important things to do. And an eyewitness. And not much of a desire to start a circle of revenge I probably couldn’t win.

What would it take to interrupt her magic? The question seemed to be the sort of thing I should ask Twilight, under the guise of making it help me deal with a Changeling if it came to that. Just in case. But ignoring thoughts of returning that favor from the Dungeon, something must have happened to her. I closed my eyes.

A picture of Rarity’s face showed up, along with her name in white letters. Under it a small list of things came up, reminding me that I had watched way too much Sherlock before I ended up here.

Rarity

-Violent

-Extreme emotional reactions

-Unpredictable

-Possibly insane

                    - Molly?

Not a particularly kind resume. I got to my feet and asked Pinkie if she could keep an eye on Rarity for me. She seemed glad enough to do it. I had to go find Twilight.

Pinkie Pie?

-Hyperactive

-Extremely unpredictable

-Appearing from nowhere

-Breaks any expectations of the natural laws

-Takes an interest in getting me laid

-Creepy pastry chef -> “Magic Cupcakes”?

The door shut behind me. I wish I had something to match these mental notes to. If the Changelings could change appearance, maybe they were like that one alien race from Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, getting all the memories and particulars of a person, but maybe they didn’t. And if they didn’t, they could be found out by people who knew them. I chose to take a stairs that went down. I’d probably end up wandering around for a while, before I ran into Twilight, or someone who could take me to her. Maybe I should have brought Pinkie along, but then I’d be left without any chance of thinking. She was too distracting.

Rarity… I probably shouldn’t just lie about forgiving her. If Molly was a Changeling, and if something like that had gotten a hold of Rarity’s mind… Would she really be at fault for what she did? Pretending that I wasn’t angry was easy enough when I believed that she was to blame for what she did. But if she wasn’t…

“How’s it going?” Oh, great. Molly was back, walking down the stairs with me. I raised an eyebrow at her.

“Just fine…  Molly. Where did you go?”

“Just took a break. I’m not fond of being in the presence of royalty.”

I could bet she weren’t. I tried to ignore her. Who was she really? Until now I had thought her a figment of my imagination. My underlying insanity manifested in a weird make-believe “friend” that pushed me into doing things, or brought a subconscious interpretation of a situation out, like with Flutter-something. But now? Another of the mental lists had appeared before my eyes when I glanced at her again.

Molly?

-Changeling?

-Make-believe?

-Tied to the headaches and memory loss?

Almost on a dare to myself, I swung my arm out at her. It went right through her, without her even suggesting that she noticed that it happened. There wasn’t a physical presence there, but that much I already believed.

“Something wrong?” Molly asked me, with a honey-sweet tone.

“Just lost in thought,” I mumbled back.

“I know that. I’m here, aren’t I? But you look so worried…”

What was that supposed to mean? Molly was here because I was deep in my thoughts? Better make another attempt, Molly, I needed more to be convinced that she was not involved in any of this. She had appeared to me not too long before all this had started to happen. And there came a slight pinch in the back of my mind. Better not press the issue when alone.

“Hi, Sugarcube. Did thi- umph…” Applejack seemed to come out of nowhere when I rounded the corner. Like myself, she almost lost her balance, but saved herself in the nick of time by holding on to the handrail of the stairs. “Sorry ‘baut that. How did thing work out with Rarity?”

Applejack?

-…?

I realized that I knew nothing about Applejack, other than that she was Applebloom’s sister. She could have been acting completely out of character and I still wouldn’t have the faintest clue.

“Yeah, sure, it went fine…” distant minded I gave an answer. I didn’t even know if what I said to her matched the question. I was convinced Rarity and Twilight were not Changelings, for better or worse. The rest was 50/50 as far as I could tell. Was I in the presence of a Changeling? “Where are Twilight and the others?”

“Back in the entry hall. We’re ‘bout to leave for Ponyville again. I came to fetch you and Rarity. Have you seen Pinkie? She disappeared on me.”

“She’s with Rarity.”

“Well, ain’t that convenient. They’ll be down soon, then. Might as well just bring you down to the others and wait.”

Yes, very convenient. In fact, “convenient” should be replaced with “suspicious”. If Pinkie was the Changeling…

“You should probably go check on them, Applejack. Rarity had fallen asleep the last time I checked, and Pinkie was, well, Pinkie. Might take a while for them to come down on their own.”

Applejack nodded, racing up the stairs. We were going back to Ponyville? Why? Might as well save the question for Twilight.

**

“So, what was it Rarity wanted to talk to you about?”

The moment I was within eyesight of the entrance, Rainbow Dash flew over. She was clearly very eager to hear about private conversations.

Rainbow Dash?

-Gossiper?

-10 seconds flat, whatever that meant

“Private, is how it went.”

“Ah, come on, there had to be something good if you don’t want to tell me,” a little full of herself? Should be added to the list. Rainbow came closer, whispering. “I’ll return the favor if you tell me.”

More tempting to prove that I was a Changeling? No thanks, I’d rather talk to Twilight right about now. Which wouldn’t be suspicious at all, wanting to see one of them alone on my own initiative. Maybe there would be a chance on the train back to Ponyville. Or back in Ponyville.

“There you are,” Rainbow distanced herself when Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Applajack joined us. “Come on, we’re almost late for the party.”

“Party!?” Pinkie jumped up and down with joy.

“The train back home, Pinkie. Not an actual party…”

“Oh.”

“Hey, can you five get going? We have a train to catch!” Twilight’s shout was like a wakeup call, getting us going. Thank Andraste for that. Not willing to see how Rarity reacted to Rainbow asking about what happened. Though it would be kinda fun to see what happened if Rarity caught Pinkie telling her about it. No, wait; bad brain. Bad, bad brain.

**

The view from the train looked very differently in the evening light. Not even a day was spent in Canterlot and still… everything was different now that we had left. One of the seven people I shared the carriage with was believed to be a Changeling. Six of those probably believed me to be Changeling. Twilight was the only one who knew I wasn’t. Flutter-something seemed to be willing to give me the benefit of the doubt, which was suspicious by itself.

Pinkie Pie continued to be Pinkie Pie, talking loudly and expressing every symptom of “way to fucking much energy”- and “defying the known laws of nature”-syndromes, which was nothing out of the ordinary in my experience with her. Which prompted the question, assuming the Changelings didn’t absorb the character traits of the one they impersonated, would there even be a possibility that a Changeling could impersonate Pinkie Pie? The list of things to ask Twilight became longer and longer.

“I’ll be in the other carriage, if you don’t mind,” I said after I had already noticed that my body started to move. Pinkie’s noise was really giving me a headache. I thought I saw an eyebrow or two raised, especially from Rarity. Twilight looked at everyone else. I could practically feel the suspicion thicken the air, creating static electricity. If we found a way to exploit this energy, the 30 seconds it took for me to leave the room could probably power a small nation for a day.

Shutting the door behind me, I took a few steps away from it and sat down on one of the beds, not even bothering to turn on the lights. I could use some sleep. From the other carriage, I saw some shadows come together. Probably the others were talking about me. Which was fine, since it allowed Twilight to get some of their insights to this whole thing. In the Changeling’s hope to discredit me, assuming they were interested in that, they could come to say something that allowed Twilight to nail down who it was.

Then again, my mind protested, the last time someone thought they had nailed down who it was, it turned out that they were wrong. And they were the princesses of this nation, supposedly having been alive for over a millennia. Speaking of which, they were pretty darn sexy for ancient geezers. Or just in general.

The shadows in the door moved a little, as if one of them stared at the door from the other side. I wondered if my shadow was visible from the other side. Probably not. I lay down on the bed with my hands behind my head. I only had to close my eyes for a moment before I fell into a restless sleep.

**

How long was I asleep? Probably less than an hour, the evening light was still visible over the horizon when I opened my eyes. I had rolled over to my right side in my sleep, facing the window. My headache was gone though, so it was probably time to join the others again.

“Ah!” turning around, I found myself up against the window, projected into it by the automatic reaction one tends to get when someone it watching you sleep and you catch them in the act. At the side of my bed there was a girl with light yellow skin and pink hair, looking curiously at me.

“I’m sorry… I did- didn’t mean to frighten you… I just never had the chance to observe something like you up close before…” Flutter-something was just as startled as I was for a moment, but her curiosity seemed to take precedence. Of course, the next question would be what ‘something like you’ meant. Homo Sapiens, or Changeling?

“You were watching me sleep! It is not that you are frightening, just that you’re acting really creepy…”

The moment I said it, she seemed to have to fight back tears. No, she couldn’t do that! I felt my heart sink in my chest, taking repeated stabs at my kidneys for being an asshole.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that!” I had to say something to get this pain to go the fuck away. Guilt was way too painful when dealing with Little Miss Trigger-All-Male-Protector-Instincts here.  “I’m just… I just had a long day. A really long and confusing day. I- Ugh… was there anything in particular you hoped to get out of watching me?”

“No, I just like observing animals and their habits,” her demeanor turned around immediately and she practically beamed at me. Had she put on the crying face to manipulate me? Putting on a façade of weakness to trick me into… well, that’d be where my ability to speculate on her ended. What did I actually know about Flutter-something? The letters started to come up again, besides her face.

Flutter-something?

- Shy

- Animal lover

- Kinky

- Creepy habits?

- A misplaced sense of self-righteousness?

- Changeling?

Not a whole lot, honestly. I raised an eyebrow at the second-to-last point on my list. The ‘misplaced sense of self-righteousness’ was something I usually associated with superheroes like Batman and Superman, who refused to kill and shit, but maybe it did belong here. She had been, from the sound of it, vehemently opposed to any physical coercion of me, even if I were a Changeling. Which, from the sounds of it, was a very self-righteous position. And very misplaced, if the Changelings were shape shifters who fed on people. She truly had to be incorruptible to maintain such a position, if she had fought these things before.

Or Flutter-something was just suppressing the wear and tear, making her a ticking time-bomb of corrupted-good-guy of a nuclear proportions waiting to happen. But, by the Force, I had to hope that this didn’t happen until the Changeling conflict was resolved.

“So, what are you thinking?” Flutter-something leaned her head to the side, expectantly.

In part who you are, what you want, and if you’re the Changeling, I almost said, but I just shrugged my shoulders. What else could I talk ab… oh wait, the 3rd point on my list of things I knew about her did come convenient right about now. “Nothing, just remembered the little… adventure on the train we had earlier, I guess…”

“Oh… that…” she got – or so I thought, since the lighting wasn’t quite good enough to see it properly – a deep blush, but she didn’t turn away. “Yeah, that was… fun. You didn’t tell any of the others, did you? I just don’t know how I’d survive them finding out that I’m a… a pervert like that…”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t tell anyone.”

“Ohh, good, thank you.”

A couple of minutes passed in silence, without Flutter-something taking her eyes of me. The ‘creepy’ sentiment started to come back to me for a moment. Was she expecting something from me? If so, what? Right now I thought that bringing up that little scene from before probably wasn’t the best thing to do. Hard to follow as a topic.

“So, Twilight told me you sort of just popped into her house, as if teleported, and that you didn’t know how.”

“Ehm… yeah, I did. I was just home, reading a book and then I wasn’t. I was in a big tree, with a – admittedly rather attractive – girl looking at me with confusion. Probably halfway to the level of confusion I felt, given that I was staring at a girl with a horn and wings, with an abnormal skin color. Not a lot of purple people – or yellow, or blue etc – where I’m from.”

“I see,” Flutter-something nodded slowly. “What was it like, back where you’re from?”

“A lot like it is here, except we got the Internet and we don’t have magic.”

“What is ‘the Internet’?”

Oh boy, how do I explain something as complicated as that? I couldn’t describe how electricity worked, not more than vague generalities anyway, so how could I explain the internet?

“Erhm, it is basically a way to share information across long distances, using satellites to send it, and computers to interpret this information so we can read and watch it,” I stuttered just a little when I started. “Sorry, I’m not an expert on it, so… yeah, I can’t really say it much better than that.”

“Oh, that sounds like something Twilight would be interested in hearing about. But I guess that if you can’t answer my question, I think her - umm, pushy nature? - when it comes to knowledge would be hard to deal with.”

She rested her hand on her hands, which in turn now rested on the bed. This was getting really uncomfortable. I let out a nervous laugh, and I noticed that I had still to move away from the window behind me. Forcing myself further out of my comfort zone, I moved to the bed proper, though still on the far side away from Flutter-something.

“Yeah, I’m sure…” I answered her comment about Twilight. Not the conversation with Twilight I was planning on. Not yet anyway. I did wish Flutter-something could stop staring at me like that though. “Erhm… so, you… I heard what you said just before I woke up earlier… about needing proof to prove I was ‘like them’. What was that about?”

“Oh my, I didn’t know you could hear that…” she reacted a bit like I had when I first saw her at the side of my bed. Her voice became weaker and weaker, and it pitched higher and higher. I felt the diabetes give me a good jab to my jaw to tell me it had arrived. “It was just that… well, I- we… Uhm, do I really have to answer that question?”

“D’aww, she’s cute, isn’t she?” glancing to my right, I saw Molly again. I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes, assuming Flutter-something couldn’t see or hear her. She certainly didn’t look like she noticed something.

“Why?” I ignored Molly and concentrated on Flutter-something. I knew full well that it had been a reference to the Changeling issue, but she apparently didn’t know that. Curious. “I mean, it sounded like you were giving me the benefit of the doubt for something, so I assumed it to be important. And since the comment must have been triggered by me passing out… I was just hoping that you could tell me what was going on.”

“Well, I- I can’t!” her demeanor took another turn, this time to a more assertive side of her. She closed her eyes and crossed her arms, turning her head away from me. “I made a promise to Lu-“

In shock, she covered her mouth with her hands. Her eyes flickered, trying to avoid mine. Clearly she had said something she wasn’t supposed to.

“You promised Luna that you wouldn’t tell me?”

“I never said that…” she answered before I was even halfway through my question. Right, she didn’t say that. She clearly didn’t say that, and her objection totally didn’t reinforce that sentiment. Well, to be fair, she hadn’t told me something I didn’t know, but it was still hard to not laugh at the pathetic attempt to cover up her mistake, even as guilty I would feel about it.

“Who else has a name starting with Lu?”

“Umm, Luner the Bear?”

“Right… never mind then,” I made sure to use a tone that should clearly spell out that I didn’t believe her in the least, but I did want to get the conversation somewhere else. “Sounds like it is something that isn’t nice, but that is fine. You have to be really kind if you demand that your friends give the benefit of the doubt for someone, even after one of the princesses has warned them about me.”

“Well, I am the Element of Kindness,” Flutter-something seemed to ‘miss’ the part where I worked on the assumption that she had almost said Luna and denied it. How human. “I don’t want to harm anyone I don’t need to, in any way. I just wish everyone could get along and live peacefully.”

“Me too, Fluttershy. Me too…”

She beamed up at the comment, though I saw that there was something else in her eyes. She didn’t trust that I wasn’t one of the Changelings, but if she was willing to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, I could imagine that that comment, even from a Changeling, would be very comforting for her.

Knock! Knock!

Flutter-something jumped backwards, or more accurately she spread her wings and used them to move herself backwards, as the others came in. Rarity looked at me with a combination of fear and shame. Applejack and Rainbow were in talk with one another, something about the rodeo. Twilight had her nose in a book, and Pinkie Pie gleefully waved to me as she jumped over to the bed I lay in.

“I hope we weren’t too loud out there!” Pinkie took Flutter-something’s position at the side of the bed. They hadn’t been, but she was now. I could already feel my headache come back. And Molly had all but disappeared again. When did that happen? Man, it was hard to keep track of her. I shook my head. And opened my eyes wide as Pinkie rolled herself into the bed.

“Oh, sorry, I should have warned you,” sheepishly she pouted her lips, before she broke into a laugh. “There are only six beds on this train, so someone has to sleep in the same.”

That made sense to me. And it was worse things than being in bed with Pinkie. Looking around, I saw that the others took of some of their clothes, seemingly without much of a mind about me or Spike. I could understand it easy enough, since I had already been rather intimate with almost all of them, and Spike was probably treated as some sort of younger brother.

However, at the sight of the girls undressing, I did feel that some of my blood was being ‘relocated’, so to speak. Shortly after I felt a hand against it and could hear Pinkie whisper into my ear.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll help you wish this later.”