//------------------------------// // A candy by any other name // Story: Sky's Changing Secret // by Sky Sprinter //------------------------------// “Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked, not believing the words coming from Sky’s mouth. “Yes, I have an infatuation with the Element of Loyalty,” Sky said resigned but not deigning to say the word “crush.” “Oh Sky! I knew there had to be somepony you liked!” Sky’s mother said before suddenly hugging him tightly. “Can’t breathe! Too tight!” Sky said breathlessly. “Sorry, I’m just so happy, my son is truly growing into a stallion,” Sky’s mother said happily. “I’ve been living outside of the house for years and I’m already past 18, mom,” Sky argued. “I don’t care, you’ll always be my little colt,” Sky’s mother rebutted, “Besides, I grew up in a society where a Changeling wasn’t considered an adult until their first successful seduction of a Pony. “Wait! Sedu-what?” Sky said put off by that information. “Oh, it’s a wondrous occasion when a changeling hits the age of adulthood, about 18-19 or so, and they are sent into Pony society to seduce a pony. The requirement is to come back to the hive with enough love for an offering to the Queen but the method of acquiring that love is up to the Changeling. Some go for tamer kinds, small bits of familial love, family reunions, wedding parties, and the like. Others go for more intimate methods, including methods that would make the Queen’s use of the classic “bridal switch-a-roo” seem tame.” Sky’s mother said whilst thinking about her own first seduction, a wondrous time for her, in which she first discovered her love for ponykind, to the future chagrin of the Queen. While Sky processed what his own mother had told him, which made the situation so awkward for him, Twilight was writing all the information onto her note paper. “Honestly, Pony society is so much more stuffy and closed-in compared to that of Changeling society, were it not for the Queen’s constant presence in my mind and totalitarian rule with such hostility towards the Pony races I probably wouldn’t have left,” Sky’s mother finished confirming Twilight’s own thoughts on Changeling society’s apparent openness to what in Pony society would consider to be something to be conversed intimate. "Well then, I think we'll have a wonderful time discussing the topics related to the book," Twilight said after writing down the previous info, "I'm sure that there's much to be discussed and I hope you can fill the holes in on some questions I have, especially to the ones that Sky himself couldn't answer." "Gladly. As much as Sky wishes he knew everything about us, I didn't tell him everything, more for his own safety and if he were to be captured by some anti-changleing pony they wouldn't know everything about us," Sky's mother, said. “Compartmentalization? I guess that makes sense,” Twilight said writing down the info. “As much as teaching him everything about us would have been nice, continuing the changeling knowledge line outside of a hive, I thought that it’d be better for him to just know the basics, the needed parts of knowledge and some other bits of knowledge so that he could have as little as a bias towards ponies as possible. I taught him to be both cautious of ponies but also to be able to enjoy the company of one. If a changeling is unable to spend time with the ponies they are feeding off of comfortably, then the feeding process is less efficient for the changeling and much more harmful to the pony being fed off of,” Sky’s mother, said shrugging. “Fascinating,” Twilight said awash in the flow of knowledge. “Of course those who feed primarily off of more negative emotions are kinda forced to deal with that but I don’t know any who do, myself. It’s not common for a changeling outside of a Queen and her selected scholars to really know much about hives outside of the one they are born into. I could tell you much about Queen Chrysalis’s hive, but I couldn’t tell you about any other hive,” Sky’s mother added. Sky, despite the awkwardness of just earlier, was fascinated and a tiny bit angered about his mother’s not telling him everything, even if he did get why. “I must ask, Mrs. Candy Happiness-“ Please just call me Candy or Candy Happiness, Princess, there’s no need for that type of formality, even in science,” Sky’s mother, now to be referenced as Candy Happiness, interrupted. “Ah, yes, thanks, anyways, I must ask, Candy, do changelings, such as yourself, call yourselves under a different name. Given Chrysalis’s name, I’d imagine that, at least in her hive, the average changeling’s name would be different to that of a pony’s, correct?” Twilight asked. “Well, yes actually. I actually even came up with a more traditional name for Sky in case I ever decided to return prior to Sky growing up,” Candy replied, “Before becoming Candy Happiness, and I guess to anypony from a hive or just really wants to use that name, I was called Nithrix. Exotic to a ponies tongue, I’m sure and the name usually used when disguised as the only time we’d use that name is around a fellow changeling, and of course that doesn’t really happen all that often. In the changeling tongue my name is-” Candy then cleared her throat before starting a short burst of clicks and ticks surprising both Twilight and Sky. “I didn’t know we could do that,” Sky said to himself. “There are quite a few things that I haven’t taught you, some of which I won’t even show Twilight; our kind has certain secrets we like to keep,” Candy said before turning to Twilight, who seemed to be trying hard to write down what exactly Candy did, and then said, “Princess Twilight, dear, don’t worry about trying to write that down, it’s basically impossible to write that down in Equestrian. It’s rather impossible for the language to be properly done by a pony’s mouth and anatomy and the patience needed to get even a rudimentary ability to mimic it would drive a normal pony insane. Nevertheless Twilight tried to find a way to put down in words the exact noises which made up Candy’s name. Sky could tell that the process was likely to take quite a while. Sky rolled his eyes and then said to his mother, “Come on, let’s get something to eat, she’s going to be doing this for a long time, and expect the Princess to want you to try to teach her how to do that.” “Oh alright dearie, but I’ve got some questions I’ve gotta ask you,” Candy smiled. “Wait, what questions?” Sky called after his mother who had, by then, started flying towards the kitchen.