Look Twice: A Changeling's Tale

by ElectromagNick

Prologue: A Usual Day

Prologue: A Usual Day

Two mares walked downed the cobblestone streets of Ponyville. One of the mares, a earthen-coated Unicorn with a flowing, two-tone dark red and watery-blue mane and tail with a paintbrush for a cutie mark, was laughing as she finished her story. “So Steel Anvil just had to prove me wrong, running off before I could get a word in edge-wise. The next day, I go over to his house to make sure that he's still alive, but when I get there, he has the Timber Wolf dancing on its hind legs and balancing a ball on its nose!” She could barely contain her laughter, and her companion was giggling in disbelief. “It just goes to show that there are few limits as to what ponies can do.”

The other mare, a starry-gray Earth pony with a nightly-lavender mane, laughed for a while longer. “The only thing I could find as more impressive than that is if he taught an Ursa Major a formal dance. You have got to introduce him to Fluttershy. I'm certain they'll get along splendidly.”

The Unicorn chuckled as the two walked over a bridge, the brook babbling underneath. “Silver's a bit... eccentric. I think Fluttershy'd be overwhelmed.”

“Have you met Pinkie Pie? They're opposite in almost every regard, and they're best friends. I think, even if Steel's over-the-top, at least he'll have something to talk about with Fluttershy.”

“Yeah, but introverts-”

“Oh, rubbish! Tell me you don't actually buy-in to all of that stereotype nonsense. She's shy, she loves animals, and she finds solitary walks refreshing and crowds exhausting, but she's not antisocial. Just catch her on a good day with common interest and she could listen – or talk – for hours. Sure, she's an introvert, but there's far more to personalities and preferences than just that.”

The Unicorn just looked around for a while, thinking, until they turned off of the main part of town and onto a well-worn dirt road. “Starlight, how do you-”

“Think I know so much about personalities? Study. I had an interest in psychology for a while, but I realized that I didn't want to make a profession out of it.”

“I guess a job like that could be stressful.” The two walk on for a bit further in relative quiet until a fork in the road, where the duo stopped.

“Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Rosie. We're still meeting up with Blossomforth for lunch, right?”

“Yeah, she told me she'd meet up with us at Dandelion Café at eleven-thirty.”

Starlight gave a smile and brightly said, “Perfect. Spring Flower and Coconut make some of best food in town.”

Rosie Sunset giggled a bit. “They really do. See you tomorrow, Starlight.” And with those friendly words, the duo traveled down their separate paths, Starlight Silver's home being the further one from town.

Starlight reached her house, unlocked her front door, and took one more deep breath. It was mid-afternoon and the late-summer air was beginning to cool. It would be autumn, soon. “It's a beautiful day.” With that, she stepped inside and began emptying her saddlebags of the groceries she bought earlier: some apples, a bushel of sprouts, daisies, eggs, and some other ingredients and foodstuffs. As she was putting them away for later date, she stopped for a moment and remembered that she was going to pick up a book. “Oh, ponyfeathers. I forgot about the library.” With a glance outside, she decided to head back out. “At least it's a nice day.”

After grabbing her library card, she locked her front door and began the casual stroll back to Golden Oaks Library.

“Good afternoon, Starlight!” called a friendly voice from above.

Starlight looked up to see Cloudchaser and Flitter hovering overhead. “Hey, Cloudchaser. Hi, Flitter. How have you two been?”

“Peachy!” Cloudchaser exclaimed, quite genuine.

“No complaints,” Flitter stated nonchalantly. “And you?”

Starlight looked back to the path as the two pegasi landed next to her. “Still having trouble sleeping.”

“I'm sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah, that can't possibly be fun.”

Starlight just shrugged, her lavender mane falling in front of her dark citron eyes. “I've more or less adapted to it. I was going to pick up a book about insomnia from Golden Oaks earlier, but it slipped my mind.” She gave a bit of a chuckle. “I guess I was tired.”

Flitter and Cloudchaser both gave a small giggle with their Earth pony friend.

“At least you can joke about it.” Cloudchaser said. “So, how's the shop?

“Great. Zecora's been a huge help with some of the new recipes and profits have been pretty steady for while, now. It's a partnership I'm glad to have.”

“That's great to hear,” Flitter remarked.

And the conversation continued on for a while longer, each talking about some small thing that made the day just a bit more enjoyable. Starlight enjoyed it. It was the small things that a pony could take joy in that made life a little bit sweeter.

“Well, I've gotta fly,” Flitter said. “See you tomorrow, Cloudchaser. Bye Starlight.”

“Yeah, I should be off, too. Bye, Flitter. I'll see you later, Starlight.”

“Have a good evening, both of you.” And with the friendly good-byes, the trio split up.

Not a minute later, Starlight arrived at Golden Oaks Library. Starlight knocked on the door. A few moments later, the door opened and Starlight was greeted by an amicable baby dragon.

“Hi, Starlight. What brings you around here?”

The Earth pony smiled. “Good evening, Spike. I'm here to check out a book.”

“Okay, come on in.” The dragon stepped aside and the pony walked in. “What book do you need?”

“I've, uh, been having some trouble sleeping this past week. Do you have a book on acute insomnia?”

Spike thought for a moment. “Huh, acute insomnia... Oh, yes! I know where that is!” He walked over to the ladder, pushed it to the “R” section and climbed to one of the upper shelves, selecting one of the books. “Here it is. 'Restful Sleep: A Pony's Guide to Acute Insomnia.'” He slid down the ladder and handed it to Starlight.

“Thanks, Spike.” She took out her library card. “It's a week to return or renew it, right?”

“Yup.” Spike took the library card and put in a file near the back of the main room. “You're sure it's acute insomnia?”

“Yeah. Nurse Redheart looked over the symptoms and reviewed my sleep journal. She recommended that I check out a book for some tips about dealing with it.”

Spike shrugged. “Okay, then. I hope it helps.”

“Me too.”

“Anything else?”

Starlight took a look around. “Nope, I think that's everything.” So Spike and Starlight sorted out the basic paperwork – some ponies thought that Twilight's system of checking out books was a bit too much, but books never got lost – and Starlight left.

About ten minutes later, Starlight was back at home and the book was on the table in the main room. She grabbed a towel and went upstairs, stepping into the bathroom. Her form faded away in a ring of green flames, revealing a black mass with insect wings and blue eyes with blue-to-white gradient pupils. She began to run water for a bath when somepony started to knock at her door. With a sigh, the same green flame ran up her body. With a quick look in her mirror, she noticed that the her cutie mark was a bit off. It was a collection of three decorative bottles of varying sizes and colors, like the ones Zecora used for potion bottles, but they were in the wrong order. The ring of flames surrounded the Changeling once more and the error was rectified. It was a small detail, but an important one. She walked downstairs just as the pony knocked on her door again.

“Starlight” opened the door to see a familiar gray Pegasus with crossed eyes. “Hello, Ditzy.”

“Hey, Starlight! I've got a package for you.” She took a small package and a letter out of her delivery bag and handed them to the pony. “And I need to you sign here.” She grabbed the clipboard out of the pouch on the other side of the saddlebags.

“Alright.” Starlight signed her name and gave the pen back.

“Okay, that's everything.”

Starlight smiled. “Have a good evening, Ditzy.”

“You too.” And the gray Pegasus took off to deliver more parcels.

Starlight stepped back inside with the package and letter, shutting the door behind her. “Velvet Cloak, 173 River Street, Hollow Shades,” she read aloud as she walked back upstairs. She put the package on the desk in her room and opened the letter, once more in her Changeling form.
Dear Double-Take,

I'm sorry that it's taken so long for me to respond to your previous letter, but work has been piling up recently. To make up for it, I'm sending this letter with a package of your favorites; Crystal-Melon Lollipops and Sweetbark Delights. I know it's been a while since you've had some around, so I thought it'd be nice to send you some fresh from the Hollow Shades Sweet 'n' Treat Emporium.

Regarding your letter, I'm glad to hear that things have been going well in Ponyville and that your health has been steadily improving over the past two years. It's no end of relief that you can sustain yourself with ambient love and kindness with the addition of pony foods for prolonged periods. I guess that old book you read about historical Changeling culture was accurate enough. It's a shame that Chrysalis is bent on darker goals.

On another note, things have been going pretty well around here, as well. The potion shop has been receiving a steady amount of business, thankfully for non-dangerous ailments and some special herbal brews. All and all, life is pretty good for both of us from the sound of things. I look forward to hearing from you again soon, and I hope that we can get together for a weekend outing soon.

Your friend and alias,
Starlight Silver

P.S.: Velvet says hello.

With a small giggle of delight, Double-Take set the letter aside and returned to the bathroom, turning off the water to the nearly-full tub. She slipped into tub and poured a small amount of bubble bath into the steaming water. “Running away from the Queen was the best thing I could have ever done,” she said to herself, completely relaxed.

Author's Note:

Hey, everypony, Nick here. I'm really just testing the waters to see if this concept will stick. I have a hard time sticking with projects to the end, so I thought maybe just seeing what people think about this before dedicating the time and energy to finishing a story. Sorry it's just the prologue, but again, it's more of a concept.
So I'd love to here thoughts and feedback.
Until the next, have fun.

EDIT UPDATE: I just changed a small bit of the content of Starlight's letter and Velvet's second name to Cloak instead of Moonlight. I kind of want to get away from the light-based names and it makes more sense that Starlight is relieved by the consistency of ambient love-based sustenance rather than just ambient love, seeing as how she's known Double-Take for three years as of the start of the story.

Comments

[goddamnAnimal]

I liked it you should make more and stuff.

[Hunt3rdud396]

Nick.........................................................................................................................................So.................................................................................................................................................amazing. I haven't even gotten passed the first couple of paragraphs, and I'm already grinning from ear to ear. You did a great job on describing the two ponies. there was a grammar mistake but it was pretty small. you wrote "have he'll" instead of "he'll have".

other than that, amazing work.

"Timber Wolf dancing on its hind legs and balancing a ball on its nose!” my question is: how did he manage to get a timber wolf to a) get in to his house, and b) not eat him alive?