//------------------------------// // A Friend's Discovery // Story: All I Want This Hearth's Warming... // by Prince Leader //------------------------------// “All I Want This Hearth’s Warming…” A Friend's Discovery ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~    Perhaps an hour had passed, two at most, but one of the ponies in the house was still awake. She had been waiting in bed as the minutes passed, waiting for any indication that Hidden was still awake. She sat up, deciding that it had been long enough, and she slowly stood out of bed, walking silently towards her door and opening it. Looking out, she could see the stairs, the bathroom door, and directly across from her, the door to the brown stallion’s room. No light shone from under the door, and she could hear the soft sound of snoring coming from the other side. She sighed in relief, and carefully made her way downstairs towards the living room, and the item that had been keeping her awake all night.    Making it downstairs, she looked about the dimly lit room, trying to find the same bookshelf that had revealed the strangely interesting book to her. Her eyes fell upon it, and she eagerly walked towards the bookshelf forgetting that she was trying to be silent. Her hooves brushed up against some bells sitting on the floor, and jingled a little too loudly. She froze, listening to the dying sound of the bells seemingly echo up the stairs. There was no response. Cherry sighed in relief, turning back to face the bookshelf, only to see a certain pegasus standing in front of her.    Cherry gasped, not expecting Thunderlane to be awake. She caught herself, and faced the pegasus with an agitated look.    “What are you doing?! You almost gave me a heart attack!” Cherry whispered loudly towards Thunderlane.    “What am I doing? What are you doing? Why are you sneaking around the house?”    Thunderlane then got an incriminating look, looking carefully at the mare.    “Are you trying to find presents? It’s not even close to Hearth’s Warming yet!”    Cherry looked at the pegasus with disbelief in her eyes, and quickly explained herself.    “What? No. I’m not looking for presents… I’m looking for that book that fell earlier today, the one Hidden knocked over?”    Thunderlane gave her a strange look, then put his eyes on the bookshelf behind him. He turned back to face the earth pony, and again his questioning look returned.    “Why? What did that book say on it to make you go snooping through Hidden’s house to find it?”    Cherry sighed, then pushed past her pegasus friend, pulling the book out from the same spot she had returned it a few hours ago. She flipped the book to the front, showing it to Thunderlane.    “Hidden’s Journal… Wait a minute, are you trying to look in Hidden’s diary? Why would you want to do that?” Thunderlane asked.    “Look, I’m just curious. He tends to be pretty honest with us right? So, why would he mind us taking a small peek into his journal? It doesn’t even have a lock on it. Don’t you think that if you wanted to keep somepony out of a book, you’d keep a lock on it?” Cherry persuaded.    Thunderlane gave a thoughtful look, scrunched up his brow, but couldn’t find anything to counter with Cherry’s argument. That and he was still tired. He shrugged, then gestured towards the couch where one of the only lit candles was. Cherry smiled, and the two ponies made their way to the couch, placing the book on the table so that they could easily see the words from the candle’s light. They sat down, looking at the book. It had an emerald cover, with dark grey spirals running along the edges. The words on the cover were a light green, and read out ‘Hidden’s Journal’.    The two looked at each other, then opened the book to read the first few pages. What they read was puzzling, and didn't make much sense to them… The Journey ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Entry 1 - It’s been a few days now, and I found this book sitting in an old pony house outside of the desert. It must have been some sort of town at one point, or the start of one before many moved away from our lands. In any case, I’ve decided to write my story in this book, seeing as it would prove useful to know where I go and where I’ve been. If I have something interesting happen, I can write it down in here to remember it. Entry 2 - I just crossed into Equestria, I can tell by the large fields of apple trees. This must be the Macintosh Hills. Just a few more miles to go and I’ll be in my target location… ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~    The two ponies gave each other a confused look, then flipped a few more pages into the book, trying to get to what might be more recent, if this book was in date order that is… Who Am I? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Entry 219 - I’ve taken the guise of a pony that doesn’t exist. This was an idea by a friend of mine back home, saying that it would be easier to make up somepony who didn’t actually exist, as that would pose less questions. He wasn’t wrong. All anypony asked was my name and where I was from. As to these questions, I answered simply: “My name’s Hidden, Hidden Power, and I’m from Macintosh.” And they just believe me! It makes it much easier, and lets me relax a bit, as I can just act like myself without giving away my identity… ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~    Thunderlane turned towards Cherry with a wary look, but the mare was already reading a bit more into the journal, until she stopped at one of the last few pages with writing… The Truth? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Entry 250 - So, those two ponies I mentioned a few entries back, they really are my friends. I haven’t been feeling myself for a while, and they checked up with me, seeing if everything was alright. I know many other changelings would chalk that up to them being ponies, but, I could feel their concern. It was genuine. They really cared about me, and if I was OK… They said that they knew I was acting a bit off, and wanted me to tell them why.    I wanted to tell them. Not just what was happening at that time, but tell them everything! Tell them who I was, why I was here, and why I didn’t tell them when I first became friends with them but, I can’t. They wouldn’t understand. Other changelings have tried that, tried to come clean and where did they end up? Gone. Never heard from again…    I want to tell them, I really do, but I just don’t know how. Until I know that they would listen long enough for me to explain myself, the truth stays with me. Until that day comes, My name is Hidden Power, and I’m just a normal unicorn. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~    Cherry read the last paragraph aloud to Thunderlane, and she looked at him with both fear and confusion in her eyes. From what this book said, Hidden was a changeling. A real changeling. But, what she didn’t understand, and she was sure that Thunderlane was in the same boat, was why he seemed, not like a changeling at all. Changelings were monsters, they attacked ponies and hurt them, ponynaped them and drained emotion from them, Right? Cherry shook her head, and closed the book before she spoke to Thunderlane.    “Does this make any sense to you?” She asked.    “No… It, I don’t know. Hidden a changeling? He acts so, pony-like though. I mean, I know that’s what changelings do and all, but him? Are you sure Hidden wasn’t just writing a book or something, because this seems a little too strange...”    Cherry shook her head, making it known that she believed what the journal had said was true. Thunderlane simply sighed, accepting that this book was not the work of fiction, but fact. It was written by the changeling now calling itself Hidden Power, their friend. Thunderlane then looked back up, with a new sense about him.    “Here, hand me that book again…”    Cherry handed the book to him, and looked upstairs towards the room containing the sleeping changeling. She felt a hoof tap her shoulder, and looking back at the pegasus, she saw that he was on the last page that they had read.    “‘... I want to tell them, tell them everything, but I don’t know how. Until I know that they would listen, the truth stays with me…’ Look, he says he wants to tell the truth. He wants us to know who he really is. If the rest of this book is true, then do you think that this part is too?” Thunderlane asked, giving a hopeful look towards Cherry.    The earth pony grimaced, then stared back up towards the changeling’s room. She sighed deeply, conflicted as to what she should say. ‘Should we talk to him?’ She asked herself, ‘Should we tell somepony about this?’ The questions went on, but she just shook her head.    “I don’t know… I mean, I want to say yes but, changelings? I know that it was a while back, but the changelings and their queen attacked Canterlot… They’ve tried a second time as well, who's to say that this isn’t the start of another attempt?”    Cherry finished that thought with dread in her voice. The pegasus frowned, looking up towards the stairs. He stared for a while, before snorting and standing up, moving towards them.    “What are you doing?” Cherry asked.    “I’m going to take a look for myself. I want to see if this is true, and if it is, then I got an idea on how to deal with it…”    With that final thought, Thunderlane slowly made his way up the stairs, taking care not to make any noise. Cherry soon followed after him, taking up the rear. The two stopped at the top of the stairs, looking carefully towards Hidden’s bedroom door. Thunderlane took a deep breath, and cautiously moved to the door. He tried to push it open, but it didn’t seem to budge. He pushed a little harder, but to no avail. On his third attempt, Cherry tapped on his shoulder, and pointed towards the handle.    The door handle, with each push or pull on the door, gave off a slight greenish glow. This made the two ponies look at each other, and Thunderlane furrowed his brow. He looked at the door, studied it, then looked towards the bathroom, where he could see outside through the window. That gave him an idea...    “OK, if we can’t get in from the door, why not take a peek through his window?” Thunderlane suggested.    This prompted a shrug from Cherry, and the two made their way back downstairs. They moved to the front door, put on their winter clothes, and headed outside. Once out, they moved to the side of the house, being glad that there were no ponies out walking through the light snow cover. Thunderlane told Cherry to wait on the ground while he checked the window. Flying up, and wiping away some of the ice, he peeked inside, looking about the room.    The room was mostly dark, except for a few small glowing stones sitting on a desk. The room itself was rather clean, besides for the blanket that laid halfway on the floor. Thunderlane’s eyes followed the blanket up the bed, and, not to his surprise, he could barely make out the dark chitinous form of a changeling. It seemed to be deep in sleep, and, if he could see just a bit better into the room, he could have seen a small smile on it’s face. Yet, beyond what he did see, its what he didn’t see that confused him, and gave him a bit of hope. There were no weapons; no armor, no communicators, no pictures praising the changeling queen, nothing even indicating any sort of preparation for an upcoming invasion.    Having seen enough, the pegasus glided down from the window to the earth pony waiting below. After landing, Thunderlane told Cherry what he had seen, what he hadn’t. The pained expression Cherry had seemed to ease up a bit, and she nodded back towards the house. The two silently turned to head back inside, having stayed out in the cold for more than enough time. Once back inside, they stripped off their garments and quietly made small cups of hot chocolate to warm themselves up. They sat back at the couch, drinking and thinking, trying to gather their thoughts together. A few more minutes of silence passed between them, before Cherry decided to break it.    “So, you said you had an idea on how to deal with Hid- or, whatever the changeling’s name actually is. What is it you had in mind?” Cherry asked, taking another sip of her drink.    “What do you think I’m going to do? That changeling want’s an opportunity to explain himself, I’m gonna give him one.”    Cherry seemed to almost choke on her drink. She coughed, trying to muffle the sounds as best she could as not to wake said changeling.    “What?! Are you crazy? How is that a good idea?” Cherry asked in a strained whisper.    “It’s what the guy wants! He said it in that journal, and so far, everything else seems to be true about him. I want to give him a chance, don’t you?”    Thunderlane’s question made Cherry flinch, not expecting the argument to be turned back to her so quickly. She tried to respond, stammering for something to counter her friend, but to no avail. She sighed, not finding anything to say under the pegasus’s questioning gaze. Thunderlane backed down from his friend, remembering the stressfulness of the situation. He moved closer to her, wrapping a hoof around her neck in a small hug.    “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell at you. I just want to know if that changeling is actually a threat or not before we do something we might regret.”    Thunderlane released Cherry from the hug, continuing his thought.    “He said that other changelings have tried to come clean, didn’t he? And that those changelings seemed to just up and vanish? I don’t want to be the one to send an innocent pony, er- changeling, to some cell underneath some castle… He want’s a chance, and I want to give him one. Could you live with the guilt of being wrong about him?”    Cherry shook her head, seeing the meaning behind her friend’s words. She couldn’t live with that. If the changeling really was wanting a chance to be honest with them, then he couldn’t be all bad, and he definitely didn’t deserve to be put away because of it. Cherry looked back up to Thunderlane, and the two agreed to confront their friend early tomorrow morning. The two finished their cups, hid the journal underneath a tablecloth, and made their way back to their sleeping places. Thunderlane returned under his blanket on the couch, and Cherry made her way back upstairs. She made it to the top, and looked back towards the opposite door. She stared at it for a few seconds, then headed for her own room, to her own bed, laying down, and allowing herself to drift into a well deserved sleep. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~