Chapter 1: A book to relieve boredom
'Bonbon' yawned and blinked, Celestia's sun shining light against her curtains and filling the room with a soft light rather than the harsh glare that it otherwise would cause. The room was still cool from the previous night's air, but that would soon change.
Pushing the covers down her body, 'Bonbon' rolled to one side of her bed, and slid off it to the floor, her back hoofs striking the wooden floor first followed by her front. Briefly she drank from the cup on her night stand to quench her thirst, and then walked sleepily to the dresser and mirror next to her door and took a brush in hoof with some difficulty, then cast a hesitant glance at her door. There was a brief flash of dark purple light and both her mane and tail were instantly neat and tidy again.
I bet the real Bonbon wishes she could do this! She smiled in the mirror and the reflection smiled back, a brief green twinkle in her eyes that a Pony might have mistook for a trick of the light. She was ready to take on the morning.
Discarding the brush Bonbon opened her door and exited into the hall and entered her half-bathroom.
Even though a Changeling was not a Pony, their anatomy in several ways was similar. Some had wings, some had horns, all had four legs, one mouth, two eyes, as well as a few internal organs that were the same as well. The bladder was one such organ.
One flush of the toilet later Bonbon was once more out in the hall and made her eay down the steps and passed the hat post next to a closet that they used for storage, and entered the kitchen where Lyra was contentedly munching on a piece of buttered toast at the table with a fried egg and some strawberries on the plate in front of her, and once more reading from her silly Icarna book. Or rather, the actual Bonbon thought it was silly. Bonbon the Changeling had no idea if it was any good or not.
“You're still reading that silly book, Lyra?” Bonbon asked indignantly. Lyra swallowed her mouthful of toast and frowned at her briefly.
“Good morning to you too, Bonbon. You sleep well? I should think so, the way you were snoring! I could hear you from the other side of the house!”
“I do not snore!” Bonbon objected loudly. The actual Bonbon did not, but Bonbon the Changeling did. That did not mean that she wanted to admit it, though.
“Like a hibernating bear!” She poked a hoof at her with each syllable to add emphasis.
In the back of her mind other Changelings from her hive that were nearby were laughing at her. Ignoring them, Bonbon forced a smile to her face and tried changing the subject. It worked.
“So, leaving soon for your performance?” Lyra nodded and partook of her last piece of toast. “Well, enjoy yourself. And don't forget about your meeting with the book club this afternoon.” Lyra nodded and set her own book down on the table.
Bonbon the Changeling walked to the cupboards and nudged one open with a hoof to reveal eat-ware. She took down a plate and set it on the counter, then checked the others for something other than the simple salads that the actual Bonbon normally ate and settled on a peach and a frog full of blackberries.
Settling in front of the table as well just as Lyra finished her her egg and two of the strawberries, stem and all stil, Lyra lifted the last four and ate them as well. Her meal finished, she trotted to a small polished wooden case and lifted it with her magic, then headed for the door to the outside world.
“I'll see you later, Bonbon!” She waved before opening it. Bonbon waved back and Lyra trotted out. Two seconds alter she briefly stuck her head back in. “Oh, and my books aren't silly. You might even like them yourself it you'd just give them a chance.” Then her head was gone, and the door swung gently shut.
Bonbon the Changeling returned her focus to her solid meal, which, though she got little to no nourishment from, was quite tasty!
Two and a half hours later she was lying on the couch below the window staring at the ceiling and grimacing. So boooored!
Normally she would just tune into what her brother and sister Changelings were up to, but for the most part nothing interesting was happening with them either other than the younger Changeling pretending to be Dinky, Derpy Hooves' daughter, who was well aware of her double's existence, though believed her to be one of what her mother called an 'imaginary friend'.
This situation had been done over and over again many times with foals and even some young adolescents; an amazing secret friend unlike any other that could transform at will to look and sound like anypony or creature they'd ever heard of! To their hive's knowledge, no other hive had utilized this idea yet.
But that was hardly what she would call entertaining, given that she herself had done this when she was younger.
I suppose I could clean the house...or go out around town and gather nourishment from Bonbon's other friends...
Or you could stop announcing your complaints over our mental connection to one another! Another Changeling suggested, feeling annoyed and allowing his feelings to flow across their connection. Just go ahead and clean the house. Bonbon would probably do that anyway.
Bonbon the Changeling rolled off the couch, gathered a few cleaning supplies, and then set to work scrubbing the floor with a soft sponge and soapy water. Most of the house was carpeted, however, which made for a very short floor-cleaning session. Next came the counters, the sinks, the toilets, and finally, using a different sponge, the dishes. All in all, it took about two hours and forty minutes. It would have taken longer, but she'd cheated a little and had morphed a scrubby patch of hair onto the bottom of her hoofs when the first sponge proved to be too difficult to keep under a hoof for more than a few swipes with it.
The house now clean, she trotted to the one window that opened into an alley between the houses and dumped the latest batch of dirty water out of it. She then rinsed the bucket, and emptied the contents again, then returned the bucket to its place under the sink, and the dirty sponge to the garbage can. House is clean and Lyra's not back again yet... She sighed and then once more headed back to the living room where the couch once more awaited her. On the way out of the kitchen however, a strong breeze blew in through the window from outside and Bonbon the Changeling heard the rustle of dry paper. Paper? Oh, right. The book. She stopped and looked back at it. Hmm...Is it really a silly book? She trotted back to the table and picked it up, examining the front and back covers.
The front showed the image of an island with a large stone city in the middle of it and below the island was what seemed to be a Dragon's hand with an odd stick-figure depicting something either standing on two legs with two arms or else lying down in the hand's palm. Hmm...
The cover read:
Icarna Island: Book 6
The Sea Kings
Why not? A chapter or two can't hurt... Bonbon shrugged and placed the book on her back and carried it to the couch where she laid the book with its front cover open, and then hopped onto the couch herself and began reading.
Two hours later Bonbon the Changeling stared at the pages four inches before her snout, eyes rapt in attention, eagerly jumping from one word to the next.
It seemed that the Icarna series did not link so much as one to the next, but rather as six stand-alone books with several themes and locations and one or two characters in common that enriched the Icarna universe as a whole.
“Man your posts!” The captain shouted to his men. 'It's back!'” She read aloud in a whisper. The sailors ran first to the armory for their iron spears and razor-sharp axes, and then to the mast to secure their lifelines. They had learned from their first encounter, and the survivors of that encounter would not be so foolish as to neglect it this time!
Off the port side of the ship a fin longer than their ship was cut through the waters and then sank beneath the churning sea as it passed beneath them once again; it would come soon for them, and their ship would not survive another of the same beating it had taken before. “Steady! Steady, men!” The captain turned his attention to the cannon crew, who were even now filling their weapons. “Ready the shatter-shot this time, men! The thing's big, but it's skin is soft! If we must die this day, then by God, it will too!!!” The captain shouted for all to hear, his voice determined. His mood was infectious to most of the crew, and they cheered and gripped their weapons tighter, waiting and watching the seas eagerly for their foe to reveal itself once more. She turned to the next page to reveal an incredibly well-drawn and colored image of these creatures, these Humans standing on the wooden deck of their ship.
The wood was common brown and unpainted. Their clothing was worn in some places, and had holes here and there even on the captain's outfit. None of eight depicted men wore anything the same save for their work boots, which were also brown in various states of wear. Some had red manes, others brown, and the captain himself had white hair, though his age for Humans was not yet considered old by their standards.
Muscles tensed as they clutched their weapons, and some wore grim smiles while awaiting the landing of the dice that Fate had tossed them this day.
A dip of the moving ship and the wind had blown a spray of seawater in front of the captain and the sparkling droplets floated before and around him. The right side of his face (the only side depicted) had a red scar that ran down from his nose to his throat, and his blue eyes were sharp and piercing, even if only a picture.
They were tall creatures, most of them at least as tall as the Equestrian royalty, though one in the picture was quite a bit shorter and only reached a little taller than the average Pony. This one carried an odd metal and wooden weapon that was was hollow and could launch lead balls from the metal tube by utilizing black powder, which was commonly used for their much larger, and much more powerful cannons. His weapons could shoot farther, though. His weapon was longer than both his arms combined, and much heavier, as the book described.
Most of them also had a strange facial hair that often covered most of their faces. A few only had this hair under their nose or only on their chins, but most had both. The book had called them a mustache or a beard, the mustache being the patch of hair under the nose, and the bear everywhere else.
Two members of their crew were of dark skin tone, close to her own natural body color, and these had one spear and one ax, and stood closest to the railing of the ship, their mouths open and seemingly shouting a challenge to the sea monster.
Wow! She thought.
Stop admiring the picture and keep reading it, Echo! Came the insistant thoughts of many of their young back at the hive, as well as a few of the adults here in town.
Echo blinked and then realized that she'd been so into it she'd been broadcasting the book by accident.
“Oops!” She chuckled, embarrassed, and then obeyed the many insisted demands of her hive mates.
Another hour later Echo jumped as the door opened and quickly shut the book, to the disappointed displeasure of those that had been listening in on her reading. Echo trotted back into the kitchen and set the book back down on the table while Lyra placed her instrument case on the counter, looking quite unhappy.
“What's wrong, Lyra?” Echo asked. Then she saw. Lyra was sopping wet, and smelled heavily of lemonade. Her fur was also a little more green than usual.
“Oh, a few passing colts decided it would be hilarious to fill water balloons with lemonade and then hit the manager and instrument player with them!” Her voice was filled with barely-controlled anger. “Now I'll need to buy new strings, as well as take a bath before my hair and hide start clumping together!”
“'Hair'? Don't you mean mane or tail?” Echo asked, recalling that the word 'hair' was an Icarna term for the mane on a Human's head, as well as any fur they might possess on the rest of their bodies.
“'Hair' covers both, Bonbon. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a bath!”
Lyra stomped across the roof to their first-floor bathroom and shut the door a little harder than necessary. A minute later the water was running.
Echo cast a quick glance back at the book, and with the egging on of her hive opened it again and continued reading where she'd left off.
It was not until twenty minutes later when Lyra tapped her on her shoulder that Echo realized that she'd become too engrossed in its pages and allowed herself to fail to keep watch for Lyra, who knew all too well the disdain that the real Bonbon had for her liking (or maybe obsession was a better word) of the mythical race of Humans.
“Read any good books lately?” she asked, a smirk on her face.
Resisting the urge to jump, Echo snorted and shut the cover.
“While the story itself isn't bad, the inclusion of those Hoo-mans-”
“He-you-men.” Lyra corrected, sounding it out for her. “Human.”
“Whatever! It makes it ridiculous; creatures that walk on their hind legs- pah!”
“What about that Minotaur that came to town a few months back? He walked on two legs, and he had hands.”
“But he was a real creature! Humans are just a story.”
“Like Nightmare Moon was just a story?” Lyra countered. Echo had no argument for that, and Lyra knew it. Lyra was still smirking as she lifted her book from the table and trotted away, to the disappointment of Echo's younger hive mates.
For the sake of keeping up the image of being Bonbon Echo rolled her eyes and began writing up a shopping list for tomorrow.
__ __ __ __ __
Later that night, after nearly every Pony and the five of their group was on their way once more back to the hive, one stray youngling sneaked out of bed while his queen was distracted during her feeding with his head abuzz with new images, and smells from it's elder brethren setting the fictional scenes to the best of their and their predecessors' combined knowledge and experiences.
His other hive mates knew he was where he shouldn’t be, of course, and what he intended to try, but they all had tasks of their own to complete, and left his punishment for misbehavior up to their queen to decide. Besides, him being scolded directly by the queen would leave a more memorable experience for the other younglings when he shared it with them.
Now outside in the cool night air he took a deep breath and called to mind the picture that Echo had looked at during the daylight hours, as clear and vivid as she herself had seen it, and concentrated on the smaller of the group next to the railing; the one that held the boom-stick. With it firm in his mind purple flames washed over his body and he fell flat forward to land flat on his sensitive new face. Putting his front hoofs-
No, not hoofs anymore He blinked a few times as his new eyes adjusted to the darkness. did it work? Completely?
This had not been his first attempt at transformation, though it had been for this form. His previous attempts had been less than successful, to say the least, and often he was missing a limb or had become distracted by an adult trying to teach them mental discipline for the times in which their queen was too busy to directly control them so they could maintain their identity without a loud noise startling them into reverting to their true state.
The young Changeling turned his new head and looked at his lower body and frowned. He'd goofed again, and where the waistline and two legs should have been he instead had his ordinary body from the base of his original neck down.
Concentrating on his lower body, he pictured the desired image in mind and once more purple flames washed over him, but once more, as with before, the form was incorrect, as he'd been briefly distracted by a passing bat. Now the basic frame of the form was complete, however it now also possessed a large pair of bat wings and fuzzy ears on the top of its head rather than the odd rounded ones of the sides.
Meh, close enough! the young Changeling decided, and began the difficult task of rising up to stand on only two legs, which proved to be more difficult than he'd expected. Pushing himself up to his knees was simple enough, but without something to hold onto for support so he could pull himself up it was proving to be quite the challenge. Okay, so I can't stand yet. He looked at his fingers. Can I move these? He manged to get them to twitch, but they would not bend in the ways the book described. Now what did mother Nymph say about moving new limbs for the first time? He reached out with his mind for the information and drew a complete blank. Hmm? He raised a now-fuzzy eyebrow and tried again. Still nothing.
Puzzled, he tried to contact another member of his generation, whom he knew would still be awake. Still more nothing. Now a little worried, he ran his tongue over his soft lips and performed what would be the equivalent of a mental shout. Complete and utter silence answered. Suddenly afraid that something either wrong with him, or with the rest of his hive, the youth allowed his concentration to break completely and he quickly reverted to his original form.
Not two seconds after he did several older Changelings all came buzzing from the grassy trapdoors that concealed the entrances to their underground hive and surrounded him.
Feelings concern and curiosity bombarded his brain, quickly turning to relief and then to agitation, though the curiosity still remained. When it was determined (within two seconds) that he was no illusion and that there was no danger present he was surrounded and marched back to the hive where he received the reprimanding of their queen, followed by a thorough memory search.
“Why is part of your mind blocked?” She asked, agitated, and curious. “Did another queen pass by our hive and try to control you?” He shook his head. “Then why can I not read the memory of the time you spent on the surface? Were you enchanted by a Pony out for a late-night stroll?” Again, he shook his head, and visual memory from those she sent to look for him confirmed this; there had been no trace of any four-legged creatures other than themselves present. “Were you unconscious?” He hesitated and recalling a similar happening she asked a subject-related question. “Did you taste something growing on the hill?” He did not react, but his emotions were of something similar to embarrassment. She rolled her eyes.
All too often the younglings chose not to indulge in the collective knowledge their hive had access to, preferring to experience the world around them in person first, sometimes with fatal results. This was another reason their hive was the size it was. This particular incident had not been the first time a youngling had eaten a Snooze-bloomer, and would likely not be the last during her lifetime either. “Go to bed, youngling, and next time, refrain from eating that which we gain no nourishment from unless your are concealing yourself as a Pony.”
The youngling nodded, and exited, once more escorted, though this time, to bed.
She couldn't touch the memories I had of being in that form... He thought as he began to doze, the buzzing of his escort's wings echoing in the room as they left. I wonder...why that... He never finished the thought, and slipped into as near a state of dreaming as their race got.
@ @ @ @ @
The Purple-eyed queen turned her mind from her now-asleep subject (or child), still curious. She had known he had tried to trick her, but he would learn better than to try that soon enough, and would likely be begging her pardon when he did. Even so, there was still the issue of his locked experiences.
What form was he thinking about? Certainly it could not have been one of the Ponies, or the Diamond Dogs. Regardless of what species or breed's form they took they always had that mental connection with one another. Whatever he'd become, however, severed the connection as easily as a sharp knife cut into cheese, and as her servants' own memories told her, there was no trace of any other creature but their own anyway which meant it had to have been something he'd done.
The mental link had been restored when he'd reverted, so there was probably nothing to worry about, but it was their mental connection that would enable them to be alerted should a rival hive decide to knock off some of the competition for food. If that hive should discover that currently unknown form and used it properly they could get inside the hive before her and her brood could be alerted!
I'll just watch him for now. If I can't watch him through his mind, I'll use the eyes of another. Such a tactic might one day be useful for us should another hive become ambitious, or if the Ponies figure out how to tap into our minds.