Chapter 11: Lesson One
"An actual lesson?" Katie blinked in surprise, looking at the smiling alicorn before her.
"Yes, one I've neglected to show you both." Rox noded, walking over to a covered cage in the corner of the room, walking past his male student who smelt of sweat beer and apple tarts, adding, "Though one of you seems to have had a great lesson of their own with one of my sister's students. Wolfie, go wash up a little, you smell like you just stepped out of The Bad Orchard..."
"Yer smell ain't too soft on the eyes either!" Wolfie slurred out, increasing the stench around him.
"Oh so your drunk again Wolf?" Rox smirked slyly, "Do you remember what happened last time you came back drunk and didn't take a shower to atleast halfway sober up?"
Wolf cringed at the thought of the instance involving the Royal Guards, a cattle prod, and a 'Need it, Lust for It' spell.
"Fine, Cool yer arse I'm goin..." Wolfie grumbled, walking over to his own room.
As soon as the grumbling colt was inside his room with an audible thud of his door, Rox continued, "Anyway, Im sure you know about the supposedly so long forgotten creatures known as Changelings right?"
"Yes the ones that have throughout Canterlot history have tried to infiltrate royal bloodlines, namely here lately, the fiasco with your own daughter Cadence," Katie asked more than stated, a hint of wariness in her tone, "What about them?"
"Well before they all had been pushed away, so haphazardly might I add but that's not important right now, I managed to snatch one!" The alicorn said with a slightly mischievous grin, pulling off the covers to show a rather snarly one.
Katie astonishedly looked on, amazed at the thought one could be contained like that before she noticed it starting to change form already, into a smaller sized version of the stallion standing beside it outside the cage. "Can't he get out?" Katie inquired, still having a slightly worried tone.
"Oh no it can't trust me!" The real stallion replied, "This one was hit still like the rest of them so its magic is damaged where it isn't even really in control of who it copies, much less getting the voice and certain details down right."
"Uh don't you mean he?" Katie giggled.
"Oh no it's not a he nor she it's an it, which leads to the 'certain feature' it can't copy if you haven't noticed it already..." The prince blushed, darting his gaze to the floor of the cage then back.
Katie just smirked slyly before feigning ignorance just to hear him say it, "No what do you mean?"
The alicorn just turned a shade redder and stood on the spot, silent for a good while. "The uh... Identifying factor on..." He began before noticing a giggle from his assistant and her hoof moving clockwise telling him to 'continue moving on' to saying what it was,"...You know full well what I'm talking about, Anyway..."
"Oh but I don't 'most loving teacher~', please explain what it is the look alike is missing!" The red striped mare giggled, batting her eyelashes and trying her best not to fall over in maniacal laughter.
"It's missing a man's pride!" Wolfie chuckled in a mocking half gasp, causing their teacher to just roll his eyes, blushing hard and snorting.
"Are you both done, 'my most passionate students' ?" The brown stallion said in a fake cheerful voice.
"Aye..." Wolfie sighed, wiping a tear from his eye.
"Ya..." Katie giggled, finally sitting up and setting her front hooves back down on the ground.
"Anyway..." Rox sighed, shaking his head and smiling, "The base magic of Changelings is a sort of a pseudo-'Want it, Need it' spell. Instead of making you want them, they turn into what, or rather who, you want."
"Like the Boggart from Harry potter? Except the whole fear thing of course." Katie said in awe, looking at the creature more closely.
"Indeed like those, except they sometimes can choose who they want to transform for when there is more than one pony present. In the elder times, or I suppose Maredival would be more accurate, these were even used as a method to find if someone is cheating on the royal family. Of course now adays, we know that's a very unwise way, since they have control of shifting." Rox explained, ignoring the fact both his students were now messing with the creature inside the cage.
Or rather till the audible click of a lock echoed, Rox grinning and looking directly at his mare student. "Now let's see if you've learned any specific things about how to deal with these monstrosities." He chuckled, preparing a back-up spell just in case.
Katie smirked, licking her lips and crouching, throwing a green spell from her horn, blinding anyone's vision towards the creature. Next, she grabbed a fine deep blue powder from her pouch and blew it off her hoof, causing the form of the now somewhat visible creature to change from her handsome dream alicorn to the tar black filthy pegasus of her nightmares.
"Who's that hot piece of arse?" Wolf grinned, mirroring the changeling, expression and all.
Rox smiled and nodded at his mare student. "A Posion Joke powder? Certainly neutralizes all magic or reverses it, though it's unstable too."
"That's why you mix in a bit of dandelion to sterilize and concentrate it." Katie smirks, "A certain zebra taught me that trick."
"How's those lessons going by the way?" Roxas smiled gently.
"Pretty good for survival tactics, pranks, and other resourceful type things." Katie casual said, blushing to feel her crush actually interested in her.
"Anyway, let's see weither you handle or succumb to this foe, Wolfie." Rox continued, reversing the small concoction's effects quite easily with his own magic. Though for one second, Rox's own eyes shimmered from blue to green...
Wolf smirked and approached the creature to have it switch to a white and red zebra. "How'd I see that coming..." Katie sighed with a facehoof.
And what came next wasn't much a surprise either: rut the fake like a deprived stallion.
"Ingenious way to handle this..." Rox chuckled, rolling his eyes.
"Certainly more civilized than my method..." Katie added.
Wolf just shrugged and continued his method.