Two changelings held each others gaze, one managing to do so with what little life remained in his body. His eyes traced through the foggy air to the queen, whom stood over him with an apathetic sheen to her eyes. He didn’t care, really, about what she had just done. He didn’t care about the green ichor that bled through his split exoskeleton and pooled around him. He didn’t care about the judgement that even now was being wound about the queen’s horn. He didn’t even care about how she had decided to dispose of his corpse after she was done.
No, none of that mattered in light of the look in her eyes, that all of this and more she had done without a care either way as to his own experience. Perhaps it would have been easier to bear if she had gloated or ranted about how weak he was, about how easily she had overpowered him. Instead, she looked at him as less than a weakling. She looked at him like he were so far below her he didn’t even matter at all.
Her spell was near finished now and she began to walk away. He watched her go with a cold gaze, wanting to say something that would haunt her after he had died, something that someone would remember when he no longer existed in this world. But, he didn’t know what to say, and that tore him apart inside. There were no vengeful words that would fill that queen’s empty heart, and there was no one else to whom he could direct his words, so he let her go in peace and wondered if she was, at least, appreciative of that.
Always the soldier, he took his punishment with honor, with servitude, with silence. The spell lured his memories away from his head, like fish chasing bait. He felt each individual thought disappear, giving him one last second to remember them before they faded into the abyss that began to take his mind by storm.
His acceptance into the queen’s court, his family’s congratulations... torn from him. His most precious mementos were taken away by force, removed from his life, leaving a large hole that felt all the more empty when he knew something should be there but couldn’t place what. This was her ultimate torture: to tear away a changeling’s identity. This was removal from the hivemind at its peak. After putting all your soul into something, you found that thing taken away from you.
But she had left him one thing, to strengthen the horror of what would occur next. She had left him with things that had been ingrained into his body. Maybe she hadn’t had a choice. He had no idea. Perhaps those were things that simply couldn’t be taken away, but it meant that what happened next was only going to be all the worse.
His breath was stolen from his lungs, his eyes were covered in white, and his entire being was transferred a great distance in nearly no time at all. He was going where he wasn’t supposed to go with teleportation; there were consequences to it. The world shook as his trip met its end, his head throbbing against his skull in vicious pulses as the magic sought to turn his bones to dust and torture his soul with unexplainable pain. Agonizing second after second, the torment decayed into a dull throb, marked by the slow appearance of pony silhouettes against the sharp white of his manic vision.
Grand, gripping fear tortured him as he lay there, unable to move from weakness. The ponies would be his executioners, and he had no doubt they would find some way to make up for all the trouble he had caused them. He saw them, looking at him, stunned by his arrival. A shout echoed through his head, one of war and attack, but the bells were louder and it sounded muted in comparison.
He saw a pony running towards him and his mind told him this might be his attacker, but he wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter anyway, in the long run. His instincts tried to move to a counterattack, but he was simply too worn down to move at all. Truth of the matter was, he was entirely at their mercy. They would need to act quick, though, if they meant to kill him; he could feel his body slowly disintegrating his bonds to reality, trying desperately to put him to sleep so his energy could be put into healing. Too little, too late.
The charging pony suddenly leaped over him, sailing past and behind. The changeling tried to turn his head to follow the silhouette, but failed. The only input he was given was the eerie silence that caught the air a moment later, an ominous foreboding dredging up through the ground in the absence of noise. However, at that particular moment, the changeling cared little for suspense, and instead took this moment to fade into his deep, deep slumber.
He awoke in a hospital, his mind as empty as the royal coffers after a cake sale. A new born baby in a trained and rigid body, he couldn’t quite make up who he was, where he was, only that things were most definitely in a bad place right now. His eyes flickered open as if they were unsure of whether they wanted to look or not, and the changeling slowly rose up to look at his surroundings.
Across from him, he spotted a pony with white fur and an electric blue mane that bobbed back and forth to a simple and yet complex hum that she provided for herself. By her feet he saw a smaller pony that traced a paper with worn-to-naught crayons. He was silent as he moved, not wanting to alert them. Then, he stopped completely, his mind leaving his body behind as he looked back on what he doing. He couldn’t quite process what his intentions had been moments ago, unsure of why he didn’t want them to know he was awake.
It was a horrible feeling and it almost made the changeling vomit then and there. His mind said one thing and his body said another. He wanted nothing more than to hide right now, but it didn’t make any sense. In the end, he decided to follow his gut right now and began to slide his hoof out from under the blanket, letting it slowly fall toward the floor.
Just before it touched the chilled boards, the voice of the pony came to him in a sudden burst. “Luna asked that you stay in your bed, if you don’t mind.” Her words haunted him for a moment, even more so when he realized the pony was facing away from him. Carefully, he pulled his leg back up and swung it beneath his sheets. The smaller pony looked over at him, smiled, and waved.
When he waved back, her smile widened a bit more, before she turned back to the paper and continued her work. The changeling was content as he lay there, blissfully not knowing what he didn’t know, that he’d lost his name, his being, his entire self. It was an entirely different person in that body now, his soul altered and shifted like a jenga tower and his memories pulled out one by one, each time his psyche becoming more and more unstable. Now, here, in this place, he was at peace. He was at peace for the first time in years, but he wasn’t quite there to enjoy it.
The door to the room opened and Luna walked in, her illustrious coat of blue shimmering like stars and awe radiating from her beauty. The changeling was, more or less, a child again: everything forgotten, everything new. But some things are so ingrained they can’t be lost, and even now, emotions of peace conflicted with emotions of panic, his insides squirming like civilians caught in no pony’s land.
She walked towards him with unflinching eyes, and he met her gaze with his own deep blue pools. He watched her, watched how her body exclaimed her confidence to the rafters for all to hear. She approached him slowly and thoughtfully as he lay in the bed. Then, suddenly, her eyes danced away from him and towards the nearby window. She changed her course, and moved past him without a word, taking herself to the paned glass that offered a sprawling view of Canterlot.
“How’s Hendrick doing?” The white mare spoke up, not making eye contact. And all the while, the changeling was merely a third wheel.
“He’s improving. He should be out of rehab by tomorrow, they said.”
“Heals fast, doesn’t he?”
“They said he wasn’t hurt enough to merit rehab in the first place, but he insisted and paid them, so they agreed to work with him. I imagine he’s happy to have a reason to—” She stopped herself, realizing she wasn’t alone in the room, as if she had been talking to herself the whole time. “—learn,” she finished vaguely.
The white pony laughed in response. “I know how much he loves to learn, but you’d think he’d have learned all about walking in the past dozen or so years.”
“Yes, I suppose you would.” The statement seemed subconscious, no meaning put into the words by their speaker. Luna paced idly, showing how unsettled she was by the situation.
Trying to take her mind off of it, or at least to get her to do something, the mare tried to keep the conversation going. “Any word from Celestia?”
“No, not yet.”
They both fell into uneasy silence for a few minutes, until Luna turned to the changeling. “Can you walk?”
The changeling didn’t know, but he thought it might be worth a try at least. He slowly inched out from under the covers, his movements jittery with a strange fear. He touched down, his legs supporting his body with ease, and looked to the shining mare for further instructions. She merely nodded towards the window.
He hesitated, but slowly made his way over. He stood at the window and followed the princess’s gaze to the ground below, where he saw a large mess of color, like a surging spill of paint. It took him a while to realize that each color was a pony, jostling in a massive crowd with signs over their heads.
“They want you dead,” Luna said in a cold tone, and the changeling’s eyes widened in response. Why did they want him dead? He couldn’t know why. It seemed a very knee jerk reaction to having someone in a hospital bed. “My sister has locked herself up in her room, and I can’t blame her.” Luna sighed heavily. “As soon as she comes out, she’ll be besieged with questions. She’ll be expected to know the best course of action as soon as she shows her face. Everypony will expect her to know what the best course of action is.”
“Everypony?” the D.J. asked, her voice itself implying something that the changeling couldn’t put his hoof on.
“I’m not proud of it,” Luna responded, her words subdued.
The reality of the situation killed the room, everyone dead aside from the little filly who had just finished her work. She stood hurriedly and ran over to the changeling, her art held in the tips of her lips to avoid getting it wet. He turned to look at it and felt an odd smile touch his face. Luna joined the viewing and smiled as well.
A black changeling with its big blue eyes was standing next to, as the filly had named them, 'Mommy Tavi', 'Mommy Scratch', 'Me', and 'Hendrick'. Aside from the ponies, the only other decoration on the picture were the red roses in the background. Or it might have been polka dot christmas wall paper; crayons aren’t the best for precision.
wat?
This seems to just jump from one point in the story to another with absolutely no transition what-so ever. Unless you have another chapter giving some explanation to what happened soon, then you are going to have a fair amount of confused and/or unhappy readers.
this confuses me
That was interesting... but I am confused.
This chapter is indeed confusing and I hope you have the next one up pretty soon.
If I had to guess, I'd say Hendrick will meet with this changeling and try to save him from the angry masses. They'll become friends and try to build a peaceful existence between changelings and ponies. Well, it might not go that far, but right now it looks like this changeling is set up for a lot of character development (being a blank slate and all), and there's no way Hendrick won't get involved with the bug somehow. So either the two will accomplish something relatively grand, or this changeling will be built up as a likable character, only to later die in an attack on our feels.
Please don't take another two months to follow up on something like this. Interesting speculation aside, this level of "wat" isn't healthy for readers, and must be treated with quality updates before it collects and festers, eventually breaking down their curiosity bone and leaving nothing but a shriveled shard of "nope".
I had to go back to chapter 3 to make sure I didn't miss something.
i dont know. still well written chapter
BOOM random changeling.
I'm guessing the reason he hasn't been killed yet has to do with... acceptance? Getting to understand someone who's misunderstood?
3404871 3404928 3404935 3405076 3405133 3405134 3405156
The first three chapters set how Hendrick and Luna are doing, essentially giving the "normal" phase. This chapter is the beginning of breaking that apart and starting the actual story arc. The transition may seem strange, but if you compare it to how Befriend was written, it isn't odd at all. We are just seeing the events occurring at a more measured pace. And if you want an example of this done in publishing, just look at George Martin's "Game of Thrones".
Now, I can't speak entirely of what Enfan has planned (mainly because he's probably wanting it to be a joy for me to read as well) but as editor, I'll be ensuring the quality y'all've come to expect from him. Don't worry; the story isn't going to fall apart.
I just realized this sounds like something a publisher might say to reader outcry in the middle of a trilogy, so let me make this more fun. The chicken quacks at midday sun while 'Shy drinks deeply from her teacup. Try to find some hidden meaning in that and I'll do... something....
Umm? What?
1000 kilowatt
Chapter, finally, and a great one at that.
So, the Changeling did something to anger the Queen and he was violently disconnected from the hive mind as a result? And Hendrick has purposefully hurt himself in order to learn about the healing process in a pony body? That's what I got from this chapter.
Kay.
3405745 That sounds about right to me.
This is just really random, I really hope there is some transition or something like people are saying. So all of them are talking around the changeling about Hendrick while the filly is making a poster. Sorry but this is just way too jarring even with the kinda explanation from StapleCactus. No doubting that this was well written, just far too large of a paradigm shift from the last chapter.
The changeling thing is random, feels kinda out of context, but it's mental process is really interesting. Ending on the child's picture was abrupt imo.
3406044 That or Hendrick wants to learn to walk more normally, it has been mentioned in the past that he has a rather odd gait, if memory serves...
I can't remember what this story is about
Both random and sweer. Nice.
3407809 Hmm that seems unlikely though for he doesn't seem to be one to draw attention to himself and walking like a human when he is a pony would certainly draw attention.
3405264 So the changeling is the chicken, and it quacks because it has no sense of identity. Shy represents Kindness, which will be the key to the changeling finding its identity, which is foreshadowed by the drawing. (and midday because it's midday that he's awoken here, or the middle/peak of his life)
Creating epileptic trees aside, interesting chapter :D It's been a while, and I'm pleased as punch that this is updating ^_^ I think I can see a few plot lines that justify the abrupt shifting here, and the fact that the shifting is as abrupt as it is while still being a rather smooth transition is impressive. (to those claiming that it isn't smooth, I would need to track down the few stories I've actually downvoted on this site to demonstrate the difference. Basically, the fact that it feels planned and capable of being reined into the story, and left no short term foreshadowing in the previous chapter makes it smooth.)
3408457 By more normally I didn't mean to imply "more human like". What I actually meant was "more like a normal pony" since Hendrick was initially a human and bipedal his way of walking is different than it would be for a pony who was a quadruped from birth.
3408699 Hrm...I see...I agree then, both options do seem plausible. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Wow been a while
Wutermelon?
I am now dead, no big surprise...
This is actually one of the few fanfics that I actually enjoy reading.
*Tilts head*
I'm ok with this.
.....Okay....
What I think is happening is that Octavia was actually a changeling all along, got found out, Vinyl and the kid still love her/him, Hendrick got lightly injured in the process of the escaper, then Chrysalis got pissed and stab/exiled him. Which brings us to where we are.
That's my guess, lets see what happens.
3408073
You too? Thought that was just me.
...I'm not sure if it is or is not a good thing I read this sober, because I'm not sure if this would or would not make more sense if I was drunk.
Wait... what just happened. I don't know whats going on anymore.
3417566 queen chrysalis ripped every single memory out of one of her changelings, implications point to a officer, as a form of ultimate punishment. She then teleported him to canterlot to be killed by lynching. As the entity of the pony populi are still in outrage due to their failed invation they want him hung from a street light. Princess celestia, Luna, vinyl scratch and moon light however seems to process the clarity to realize the barbarity of such an action. However as the pony masses thirsts for green blood, celestia knows she can't outright deny them since it would cause mistrust towards the crown and would only fuel the hatred wot arcs the changeling.
My opinion is that as chrysalis has ripped away everything that the changeling was in the first place, it would be unethical to kill or even punish him since he is no longer the one that did it.
3424327
Hey everyone, this guy right here, this guy is awesome.
If we could all just take a moment and admire him, that would be great.
3425443 yes, kneel before the ever chosen!
3425664
All hail the-ever-chosen! *kneels before master*
I like the story and want to see more of it. what happen to the early parts of the story? are you rewriting them? This chapter is kinda off the mane story. It is a peas of the the story with hardly no framework to know whats going on. I do hope that you clarify this with the next chapter.
Dragonfox
I don't get it either. Was it just some changeling or was Hendrick a changeling or was Hendrick a human who was transformed into a changeling or was Hendrick a human who was transformed into a pony? WTF is happening?
3424327
You gave the best explanation of what happened, but is the changeling Hendrick?
3495373 why it doesn't make sense is because you seem to assume that the changeling in some way is hendrik which I am very certain he isn't. Clue, they spoke if Hendricks in third person while in the same room as the changeling which is a weird mannerism that this author is above. They also said that he would be ready for rehab as if they knew that as a fact however when the changeling woke up they immediately asked if it could stand which it could so it doesn't need rehab.
And truly now, do you think that Luna would be that calm over her closest friend and suggested love interest having been completely mind wiped? Nah, this is the introduction to the plot arc of the story.
And if you want to ask why D.J PON3 is there, think of how she sees the world. Illusions don't affect her as she sees the world in magic. I think that she either recognizes the aura or is there to identify the changeling if it tries to disguise though I think the recognition is more likely.
Does this help?
3496409
Oh my, you even recognized why Vinyl was in the room.
I love you so much in a very platonic way.
3496409
Ok, thanks. The changeling thing threw me for a loop and I thought them speaking about Hendrick as if he wasn't in the room was because they didn't think to leave first before discussing him. I wasn't sure why there was a changeling at all, so it really confused me.
Thanks for clearing that up!
Vinyl's there.
You clever son of a bitch...
3424327
Gotta agree with you there. What he went through is just horrifying, revolting, and nightmarish.
Wait What , what
what the fuck
what the bloody hell
such randomness
Kill the changeling
HE MUST DIE!
RANDOM WHAT THE HELL
Huh?