Loving Miracle spent a few extra days at home. The little filly was trying to recover from her spill and come to terms with the revelation that she wasn't who she believed she was. Fluttershy told the school that she was sick with a flu, so she wouldn't be attending for a least a week. Loving Miracle looked at her reflection in the mirror above her dresser, she looked up and down her magenta coat, stared directly into her own lavender eyes, and sighed. Green flames erupted around her as her coat burned away to reveal a hard black exoskeleton. The magic was easy, kind of like a buried instinct that she didn't realize she had. She looked back at her reflection, the pupil-less blue eyes staring back at her, the fangs protruding from her mouth, the horn on her head. She had learned about changelings in school, Cheerilee had said how changelings were a danger to pony society because they stole love from ponies around them and left them as empty, emotionless, shells. Miracle didn't want that to happen to Fluttershy, but she had been living with the pegasus for a couple months now and nothing had really appeared to change, well besides the obvious.
Loving Miracle went to lay down on her bed. Fluttershy said she felt fine, that her love was freely given and not being stolen, but Miracle still didn't like the idea of taking her mother's love to feed herself. She looked at the stars outside her window, it was late, she needed to sleep, but she was afraid. She was having nightmares, all of them the same. The situation may have been different each time, maybe she was at Sugarcube Corner, or relaxing at home, it didn't matter. The events always played out the same way. She drained everyone of their love, she watched them wither and die in seconds, disappearing one by one. And after everyone was gone, Fluttershy, her dearest mother, would slowly begin to get thinner and thinner until she became nothing at all. And the last thing Fluttershy would do before fading into nothingness, with anger etched on her face, she snarled, "You are no daughter of mine. You are nothing but a monster."
Loving Miracle always woke up at that part.
Fluttershy had been reading books about changelings to try and figure out how she could better take care of Loving Miracle, and possibly figure out how she lost her memories. So far, she discovered that Miracle's original condition had been brought on by a severe depletion of love in her system, her instincts probably took over at the last second and caused her to transform before she passed out from hunger. She thought about talking to Twilight about the matter, but she wasn't sure how any of her friends would react. Fluttershy didn't want her daughter to get taken away due to a misunderstanding or something like that. Fluttershy's ears twitched as she heard the sound of a door opening, "Miracle? Darling?"
The pegasus looked up and saw a green flash as her daughter stood in the hallway. Loving Miracle looked at Fluttershy before retreating back into her room and locking the door behind her. Fluttershy sighed and went back to her book on changeling behaviors. Loving Miracle hadn't been the same since the incident, she had lost her vibrant personality, she didn't talk to anyone anymore, and she avoided other ponies and animals. Fluttershy didn't blame her for feeling the way she did, but it wasn't good for the little filly. Fluttershy closed her book, determination etched into her features, she didn't need a book to fix this problem.
Loving Miracle stared up at the ceiling, she didn't know what to think. There were so many questions and not enough answers. She could stay here, but someone could find her and take her away. She could leave, but Fluttershy might come after her. She could try to find her changeling family, but she had nothing to go on. What did she really want to do? She didn't know. Miracle held a pillow to her face and screamed in frustration. She began to think out loud, "What do I do? I want to stay with Mommy, but I could get her in trouble if someone found me. Ponies would never accept me if they found out, everyone would hate me. The way Miss Cheerilee talked about changelings, she made them sound so horrible, so evil. If anyone else found out that I was a monster..." She sighed in frustration and threw the pillow at her wall. She looked back at the mirror on the wall, her appearance might have changed, and her voice might sound a bit different, but she was still the same inside, wasn't she? Would anyone else see that? Would anyone else understand? Loving Miracle sighed and stared back at the ceiling before eventually falling asleep from exhaustion.
The next day, Loving Miracle awoke to one of her favorite smells in the whole world, freshly cooked blueberry pancakes. The changeling filly's stomach took over as she leapt from her bed and ran into the kitchen, but was stopped dead in her tracks by two pairs of eyes locked on her. The first belonged to her mother, who smiled kindly back at her, and the other belonged to one of her mother's friends. Twilight Sparkle stared at the tiny changeling in curiosity. No anger, no fear, just a curious stare. Loving Miracle looked down at her hooves, she hadn't changed into her pony form before running into the kitchen! Loving Miracle began to panic. The filly screamed, "Please don't take me away!" She ran to Fluttershy and began to cling to the pegasus's leg, "Don't take me from Mommy! Please! Or if you do take me, don't hurt Mommy! Please, Princess! Please don't hurt me or Mommy! I'm sorry!" Loving Miracle was now openly sobbing while clinging to her mother.
Princess Twilight stared down at the little changeling and looked back to Fluttershy. The pegasus nodded calmly. Twilight laid down on the floor to look Loving Miracle in the eyes. She saw fear there, fear of losing her family, fear of leaving her life, and fear of Twilight. The poor filly was terrified. Twilight took a deep breath before calmly talking to the filly, "Loving Miracle, I'm not here to hurt you. I don't want to take you away from your mom or anything like that, I just want to help you. You have nothing to be sorry for."
Miracle sniffled, "How... How do I know you're not lying? You might just be saying that so I'll trust you and then you can take me away forever!"
Twilight reassured the filly, "I have no intention of doing that at all. In fact, I Pinkie Promise to never take you away from your family. Cross my heart, hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye."
The princess moved through the motions and smiled, "So, will you come out?"
Loving Miracle nodded slowly, she knew that a Pinkie Promise was the most important promise anyone could make and breaking it had severe consequences, not even a princess would try breaking one. The little filly stood up slowly and let go of her mother's leg. She looked directly at Twilight before taking a deep breath and sighing, "Okay. What do you want?"
Twilight smiled, she was making progress "Fluttershy told me what happened. She said you were scared that other ponies might hate you or you might un-knowingly be hurting other ponies by feeding off of them. Knowing I have an extensive knowledge of changelings and their lives, you mother asked me to help dispel any fears you may have."
Loving Miracle looked back at the alicorn, who was still on the floor attempting to make eye contact, "Um... Okay."
Twilight stood up smiling, "Now, let's eat some of these pancakes before they get cold."
Loving Miracle smiled and grabbed a seat at the table, "Yay!"
Many delicious pancakes later, and the group of ponies were sitting in the living room. Loving Miracle and Fluttershy sat on the couch, the former holding Angel Bunny for support and the latter scratching the bunny behind the ears. Twilight sat down in a chair across from the two. The princess looked at her audience before beginning, "Now, while it is true that changelings can be dangerous, not all are. The ones that pose a threat are those that kidnap other ponies, assume their identities, and steal love from their victim's loved ones. There are some changelings, however, that have left their hives behind for a chance to live among pony society. And after the invasion of Canterlot, changelings were hunted down and banished from Equestria."
Loving Miracle whimpered and held Angel a little tighter, the bunny did not approve. Fluttershy patted her daughter's hoof in a reassuring manner and smiled.
Twilight continued, "However, as time went on, we realized that not all changelings were evil. Some of them had assumed fake identities to live away from the rest of their species, while others were truly evil and were seeking to cause harm. Some of these kind changelings even live here in Ponyville, the candy-maker BonBon has been a changeling living in Ponyville her entire life."
Loving Miracle brightened, "Really?! She's just like me?"
The filly looked up at her mom, "We should go see her! Can we, Mommy?"
Fluttershy smiled, "Maybe tomorrow, Miracle."
The pegasus was glad to see her daughter starting to act like herself again it gave her hope that things were turning around.
Twilight cleared her throat to regain her audience's attention, "As I was saying. BonBon has lived her entire life in Ponyville as a changeling, and a large hooffull of ponies know this, and they treat her no differently. I will admit I was shocked to find out, but I did come to realize that she hadn't changed as a pony, she was just a little different from the rest of us. Also, the ponies around her don't suffer in anyway. The love she uses is given to her freely, not stolen. You see, Loving Miracle, bad changelings force ponies to give their love, and that's why ponies get hurt. They get hurt because they are being forced to give love to something they didn't want to give it to in the first place. So you are in no way harming Fluttershy by taking the love that she is giving to you, because it is love that is meant for you."
Loving Miracle smiled, "So I don't have to leave Mommy? I can stay here?"
Twilight Sparkle smiled, "No. You don't. You can stay here in Ponyville for as long as you wish. You aren't doing anything wrong, so there's no reason for you to go."
Loving Miracle squealed in delight, "Yay! Thank you, Twilight!"
The filly jumped up and hugged the alicorn, there were still unanswered questions, but those answers would have to come later. For now, things were right, and a little filly could take solace in the fact that for now, her fears were gone and tomorrow was going to be bright. No, things would not go back to normal immediately, and they might never go back to exactly how they were, but tomorrow would definitely the first step. The first step toward moving forward.