Operation Cuckoo Part 1: The Switch

"Guess what?  I'm going to Canterlot!" Damsel bragged to her small friend group. "Canterlot?" Elytron asked, tilting her head.  "Like, why are you going there?" Damsel beamed proudly.  "I was chosen to participate in Operation Cuckoo!" Prosoma scratched her head, a behavior she'd learned from disguising as a pony.  "What's...'Operation Cuckoo'?" "It's a fitting name," Mandible butted in.  "After all, Damsel's pretty 'cuckoo' herself!"  He laughed his loud, obnoxious laugh that everyling in the hive had heard far too many times. "Shut it, Manny."  Damsel glared at him.  "It means that I'm gonna replace a foal and act as a spy in Canterlot!  I've spent the past week studying him, I'll be the perfect son his parents could ask for!  Maybe they'll even love me more than him!" "Shoulda sent me," Spinneret muttered.  "I'm way better at disguisin than you are." Pedipalp placed a hoof on Spinneret's shoulder.  "Clearly Damsel was chosen because she's not truant."  Spinneret growled. "Well, the switch is tonight, so I'd better get ready!"  Damsel trotted off to look over her notes one last time. --- Two older drones accompanied the young Damsel for the process. "Remember," the oldest, Aphid, said.  "We slip in silently and take the target.  Easy in, easy out.  Damsel slides into bed in his place, you and I bring him back to the hive." "Why wouldn't I remember that?!" the younger, Pharynx, spat.  "If I'm gonna be head of security patrol, I can't afford to forget something like that!" "A sensitive little softskin like you, head of security?"  Aphid laughed.  "I'll believe it when Thorax becomes Queen." Damsel shushed the two as they approached the house.  It was a fairly standard house, not super big.  Pharynx opened the window of the colt's bedroom and climbed in, ushering Damsel to follow.  Damsel slipped inside after him and surveyed her new room.  It was just as she'd been told: lots of books, plenty of toys, a few Wonderbolts posters...and a warm, comfy bed.  The little yellow colt slept soundly, his chest rising and falling underneath his blue comforter.  Clutched in his hooves was a teddy bear, white with a pink heart around its left eye. Pharynx looked at Damsel and motioned for her to get ready.  Damsel nodded, changing into the colt as Pharynx dragged him out of the bed.  As his teddy bear slipped out of his hooves, his eyes slowly started to open.  "whuh...huh?..."  The colt's vision came into focus. He screamed. "MOMMY!" he shouted.  "MOMMYYYY!!!"  His voice faded as Pharynx flew out the window, and muffled when Aphid shut it.  Damsel got into place, sliding under the covers and holding the bear. A mare, yellow like the colt, flung the door open and turned on the light.  "Honey?!" she called.  "Honey Glaze, are you okay?!" It was now or never.  The success of this mission depended on whether or not she could convince somepony's own mother that she was him. Damsel sniffled.  "I...I had a nightmare," she answered, holding the teddy bear to her chest. "Oh, dear..."  The mare, Honey Glaze's mother, sat down next to his bed to comfort what she thought was her son.  "Can you tell me about it?" "I-I was..."  Damsel sniffled again.  "I was being taken away by some bad ponies, an-and you weren't there, and Daddy wasn't there..." The mother gave Damsel a tight hug.  "Sweetie, it was only a bad dream...I'd never let anypony take you from me, I promise..." ---