#changeling space program

Unconcerned, But Not Actively Gloating

The shaking and rattling of her capsule had already diminished quite a bit, and the plasma flames on the other side of the hatch window didn’t seem quite so bright. “Copy, Horseton,” Cherry said. “But I do expect a full explanation once I’m out of the soup.”

“Roger, Twenty-two,” Chrysalis replied. “In the meantime, for today’s book reading, how do you feel about The Hamster and the Helicopter?”

Cherry blinked. That was her very favorite book by Cleverly Clearly, and she had to bite her lip to stop herself from saying so on a live mike. Instead she said, “Run out of sock-and-saddle stories down there?”

“Eh,” Chrysalis drawled, putting on her most unconcerned voice, “you read one bodice-ripper, you’ve read them all. They’re all basically the same book anyway.”

Which unsettled Cherry a little more, because she knew after a year and a half that if Chrysalis sounded unconcerned but wasn’t actively gloating, the changeling queen was seriously worried.

Yes, that’s a historically accurate Apollo Era CAPCOM console, including the misspelling, from the fanfic Changeling Space Program.

Cardboard Box

Changelings are pony size or slightly larger, with sharp fins and ridges only vaguely resembling pony features, glowing pupilless eyes, and two enormous pointed fangs. In their natural form they tend to speak with a raspy voice when they don’t simply make animalistic hisses to intimidate their victims. They can secrete a range of useful but disgusting forms of goo. They can fly, hover, and use their horns for a range of offensive magic in addition to their shapeshifting talent. To a normal pony they are, at least on first sight, terrifying.

When Chrysalis found a half dozen changelings, including two of her greatest warriors, cowered into a corner against the mesa wall, being shouted down by a pink, delicate-looking earth pony, she was bemused at the total reversal of the natural order of things. You know, she thought, I actually hate to put things right. I think I’d kill for some popcorn right this second.

And the best part is, I don’t think she’s using the same curse word twice. Chrysalis’s eyebrow rose at one particularly vile one. I didn’t even think anypony in central Equestria knew that one. I only know it because of that time I infiltrated a zebra tribe…

Cherry Berry is somewhat less than impressed with the Changelings’ prototype space capsule. From the fanfic Changeling Space Program.

The Whole World Beneath Her Hoof

To her shock the entire planet- the entire world she’d planned to conquer- fit under the sole of her hoof-glove with room to spare. Everything she’d ever known- everything she’d ever wanted to rule- fit on that one small, insignificant dot on the infinite night.

The last step, the first step, from the fanfic Changeling Space Program.

A Wonderful Awful Idea

Fluttershy led Twilight into the wind tunnel chamber. Most of the changelings were standing in single file, eagerly waiting their own turn in the chamber. Cowley the minotaur had found out how to switch the tunnel from horizontal to vertical blow and had generated a massive updraft, inside which about a dozen changelings tumbled, hovered, and roughhorsed with obvious glee. A group of changelings assisted those exiting the chamber, some of whom were a bit motion-sick as they readjusted to the outside. Dragonfly, Stinger Charlie, and a few of the strongest flyers among the changelings had taken printouts of their own time in the chamber and were comparing notes, each defending particular qualities of their bodies which made their particular flying styles better.

And then there was the one responsible changeling in the room, Occupant, who far from stopping the madness was quite cheerfully metering the line, letting one changeling into the wind tunnel as another tumbled out.

“I tried to tell them to stop,” Fluttershy whimpered. “I asked most politely. But they were having so much fun, and… well…”

The discovery of The Fun Machine, from the fanfic Changeling Space Program.

A Single Lonely Mailbox

In the depths of the Badlands, where few ponies ventured and even fewer ponies wanted to, there stood a single, lonely mailbox on a post next to the entrance of a nondescript-looking cave. The box had no name; merely a number, and that number was a single digit.

Some mailponies might have questioned why tens of thousands of different names might appear on the letters delivered to that box over the years, but none of those ponies would have agreed to a mail route that required hundreds of miles of flight from the closest post office in Appleoosa. In fact, only one pony- a special contractor, not really a proper member of the Equestrian Postal Service at all- was willing to fly the route once per week.

Opening scene from the excellent fanfic Changeling Space Program, now out in print form!

The Super Sailing Studio 6000

After flagging down a passing changeling and sending her to fetch Occupant, Chrysalis and Cherry trotted over to the docks. The closer the barge came, the gaudier it looked, brass and glass and brightly colored paint, as if the whole were a seagoing theater bent on attracting the attention and custom of… who, exactly?

Then, as the barge’s large paddlewheels backed water to bring the craft to a stop by the docks, the wind picked up just enough for the flag on the ship’s stubby mast to flap open, revealing a bright red-and-white FF logo.

“Well, pony, looks like we have been honored,” Chrysalis muttered.

“How do you figure?” Cherry Berry replied.

“The list of people who are bigger deceivers than any changeling is a short one,” Chrysalis said. “This ship belongs to two ponies near the top of that list.” After a moment’s thought she added, “That is, if they bought it legitimately, which I doubt.”

Flim and Flam are here to very casually volunteer their not at all suspicious services, from the fanfic Changeling Space Program.