//------------------------------//
// I am the beginning 
// Story: A heart to thou 
// by The Psychopath 
//------------------------------//

Cadence and Shining were comfortably snuggled into their bed, smiles etched on their faces. Even though they knew they would have to get up, the sun still shone uncomfortably in their faces, urging them to attend to their duties. With a groan, the two wriggled underneath their covers.

"Shining...mrmgl...get the baby..." Cadence mumbled in her semi-conciousness.

"WHAT BABY?!" Shining screamed as he fell out of the bed in surprise.

Cadence reacted in a similar manner. "Oh! I'm sorry, Shining. I was having a dream where we had a cute little foal." she squeed as she put her forelegs together with a smile.

Shining rubbed his head in pain while he forced himself back up. "I...I don't know what to say about that."

"What? You don't want a foal?" Cadence snapped back.

"Uhhh. Well...I..."

"It is morning. You have awoken. I require further teachings in the domain of emotions." Unknown spoke, scaring Shining Armor again.

"Bwah! Where did you come from?!" he yelled.

"Through the floor."

"THROUGH THE FLOOR?!" the two shouted in unison.

"Yes. I overheard the other armored ponies questioning your prescence."

"Oh! Oh crap. Um...well, see you later, honey. I have to hurry up."

"Okay. Careful!"

Shining slammed into the giant changeling again, this time, with his armor partially on. Even with it, he could feel the sturdiness and strength of this creature and the emptiness of its stare onto him. Yet, he had no time to think about that. Duty called.

Now the two were alone in the room again, leaving Cadence's nervousness and bed hair to float about in the room. The only sounds heard were the princess' breathing. Noticing this, she held her breath discreetly and noticed that the changeling was not breathing either.

"Okayyyy...Could you wait until I brush my mane? AH! What are you--"

Unknown had lift Cadence from her bed and struck her head with a red bolt of something, then dropped her gently in front of the mirror, letting her gawk in the speed that her mane was recombed.

"Wowwww. You're really good."

Any normal pony would have blushed, but the creature did no such thing. Rather, it seemed to be getting impatient.

"Productivity is stammered. Speed would be appreciated."

"Oh! Okay then...uhh...What would you like to learn today then? There are so many emotions--"

"Happiness. Then anger. Then this thing called 'love'. They seem to be the basic pathogenes of emotion."

"Basic pathogenes? But there are so many emotions! Those are only three. Surely, you want to--"

"Anger, happiness, and love. The only I need. The others will stem from those. Of that, I am sure."

"Okay...Then...This is probably a bad idea, but we could have you meet the other ponies here...Maybe those in the kitchen could show you a basic form of joy. A joy for taste?"

"Yet I do not require sustenance. This logic is flawed."

"Can't you just appreciate the flavors?"

"...I will attempt to do so."

"Great!" the princess hurried over to the door, only to stop right away and turn around with gritted teeth."Wouldn't it be possible to...you know...Morph into a pony form?"

"For how long?"

"As long as possible. If you're going to fit in here, then you must look like us. Like that, you'll learn things better and everypony will feel more comfortable around you."

"An undetermined amount of time in an uncomfortable form, but it will enhance productivity. I shall do so."

Before the foalsitter's eyes, the body of a changeling contorted and morphed without any sort of magic covering the process. It was a gruesome sight as flesh tore and stitched itself at the same time while bone brittled and broke at the same time. Blood boiled and ste in place as the changeling now had the shape of an armored guard, his skin having compensated for the lack of armor by morphing into two layers.

"That was...Ew. No."

"No?"

"Try something original. This won't work at all. We need something that let's you blend in, and will make ponies think that you are my new apprentice."

"Okay." 

His voice seemed to be morphing into a younger variant than what he looked like. His body did the same twisting a tchurning, just differently. His body became slightly larger and more muscular than it should have been, and his coat took a reddish color near the hooves while his mane and tail remained red like before, although, they were still finned in shape. He had taken the shape of a unicorn; The horn seemingly curving slightly backwards at the tip.

"Oh my."

"What?"

"Nothing. I just wasn't expecting you to take on an athletic build."

"Would you prefer a mare?"

"NO!" Cadence shouted as the disturbing came rushing in.

"No?"

"Stay as you are. Wait...Maybe you should try and give yourself eyes? I mean, the blank thing is pretty creepy."

"Is this better? It is only flesh."

His eyes had now become a deep crimson red, reflecting the same aura of strength and fear coming from the rest of his body.

"Hmmm." Cadence eyed him up and down and walked around the new stallion just to be sure."Yes. You're good."

"Then shall we depart for the sustenance area?"

"Kitchen."

"Affirmative."

"Yes! C'mon!"

Letting the stallion out first, the princess locked the door behind her afterwards, letting the new pony simply stare at her on the side of the hall. The mare began to hum a tune to herself as the two began to walk through the castle, bringing attention to themselves, and the seemingly emotionless stallion behind her. The hallways weren't very bright either, as the outside was still dark and cloudy, an unfortunate side-effect of the previous day. While nearing the first set of stairs, however, two guards grabbed the unicorn by the forelegs, thinking he was doing something he shouldn't near the princess.

"Alright there-a buddy. You-a are gonna just-a step-er away from -er-a the princess." a scrawny guard asked.

Cadence heard the commotion after putting a hoof on the passage to turn around and continue downwards. She gasped in shock and hurried to settle the dispute.

"Unhoof me."

"Not until she gets further away from you, creep." the other spoke.

"Wait! It's okay. He's with--"

Even though the guards were paying attention to what they were being told, they were violently thrown aside and across opposite sides of the long hallways; Landing violently almost against the walls. Cadence could do nothing but stare a this feat of strength for a moment while she looked down both corridors. After regaining her composture, she gently slammed a hoof down and frowned at the stallion, staring him directly in the eyes.

"I was going to explain the situation. Why did you do that? You said you wouldn't hurt anypony."

"I did not. They were obstructing my current task, therefore, I cast them aside non-violently."

"You threw them several feet across this floor!" she outraged with a hoof extended towards the left corridor.

"They are unharmed. That is what you demanded. Shall we continue?"

"...Yes. Fine. But no more acts of violence whatsoever."

The stallion gave a long pause for thought, exhasperating Cadence as each second passed.

"Fine. I shall only perform those acts in self-defence."

"Hmmm. That seems about right."

Finally, the two started to go to the kitchen unhindered, yet the changeling had one more thing to say:

"I'll have you know that what I did was self-defence."

"Gnagna...Did you just use humor?"

"No. Pure logic and analysis."

The princess had stopped and let the changeling pass as a little smile formed on the side of her face.