CCC-Back Home Again

by Fresnor

A taste of things to come

I just stared at the female changeling that was cowering in the corner as I try to figure out what was going on. Here in front of me was a changeling, like I suspected, yet she was nothing like what I expected. Instead of the usual black and dark cerulean that I was expecting, her colors were instead the turquoise and grey colors that she was previously. She also was lacking the holes in her legs or wings as well and her horn was a delicate spire that jutted out in a spiraled shape. Her wings were also much different from a normal changeling as they came in pairs and looked similar to what is found on a dragonfly, including the iridescent glow. She didn’t even have chitin like the others either and instead has what looks like a hard shell but is covered with fine hairs like velvet almost. In fact comparing her to a changeling was like comparing a dragonfly to a common fly.

As I am examining her she stays cowering in the corner, which reminds me of the reason why she is there. “Now hold on a moment, what do you mean by changeling eater? I can understand the demon fox bit but I’ve never eaten a changeling, besides they probably taste terrible.” That was probably the wrong thing to say as she starts trying to burrow further into the corner. I start to move towards her, but stop when small animals start swarming out of the walls to stand between the two of us. I am surprised at first, especially when I don’t detect any sign of the usual changeling mind control that I would expect from this situation. I start to get an inkling of what may be going on but the first order of business is to try and calm her down.

I move back to the seat I was using before and pour two new cups of tea before taking a sip from one and floating the other towards the changeling. The animals watch me warily as I float it over them to her and just sit and wait. After a good while of waiting some of the animals move over to her and start nuzzling at her. After much prodding by them, through which I observed closely while not looking is if I was doing so, she finally looks up to see the tea cup and fearfully glances between it and me. Eventually she manages to gather up enough courage to lift the cup in her own manage and take a sip from it shakily.

I sit there sipping from my cup as she warily watches me, waiting for her to start things this time. I really have no idea how to deal with her as I had only fought the changelings in the past, yet even if I had other dealings with them I wasn’t sure if they would have helped here. The animals seem to be really taken with the changeling though, and from my time with Fluttershy in the past I know that their instincts often are a thing to trust. “W-why aren’t you trying to eat me?” I turn to look into her bright pink eyes, which look surprisingly pony-like, which causes her to flinch back yet again causing me to sigh.

“Where in the world did that story come from anyways? Sure I’ve fought changelings before but never have I eaten any. No part of them has even come close to entering my mouth and the thought of even attempting to eat one is sickening.” I’m not sure if she believes me or not, but the animals have at least calmed her enough that she has stopped shaking. She still looks wary though not quite as vulnerable while surrounded by her animal friends.

“It was an old story that my mother told me when I was younger. She told me about how not once, but twice a single fox stopped the changeling empire in their tracks. She also told me stories about how it was known to chase our kind everywhere they went from a haunted manor to one of our outposts in the Everfree.” Something about what she says is familiar to me and it’s not until I look into the yellowish eyes of one of the nearby squirrels that I realize why. “Of course something like that would come back to haunt me, I should have expected it given how emotion-based your kind is and fear is an emotion.”

She looks at me oddly as I slam a paw across my face at all this. I look back up at her to see her staring at me before I sigh and start to explain. “Look the first part is mostly true, though the ponies had a large part in it as well which I can explain later, but it was during the first event that I met the changeling that the second bit is about. I practically dragged him through all of Canterlot and it left him a bit disturbed. After that we just kept running into each other time and time again and I took a bit of enjoyment at scaring him. Never once did I actually do anything else to him directly as he always took off running whenever he found me, once after breaking into my home.”

“Though I’m wondering how exactly you would know all this as you look nothing like the changelings from back then and I’ve never even heard of any being any color other than black.” I try to keep her talking, as well as change to a more neutral topic, as it keeps her from panicking from what I could see. Unfortunately it didn’t work like I thought as it seems to sadden her for some reason. “There aren’t any others from what I can tell. My mother was like all the others yet it was because she took a pony as a mate that I am different she says.”

My eyebrows shoot up at this as I had never heard of anything like this happening before, though they wouldn’t have advertised the fact so it makes some sense. “He used to be a member of the guard yet he gave everything up for her and they hid away from everyone for years. I still take after my mother more in that I need emotions as well as regular food, but I’ve never had to steal it like the others as my father had plenty for us both, and then I found that I could earn it from animals. I live out here so that I can take care of them in exchange for being fed, while also helping with any animal problem the town might have.”

I consider this as I try to put together what I know about changelings with what she says yet she goes against everything I knew about them. I wonder if her history is what causes her to be different or if it’s her actions that does so. “You know you definitely aren’t what I expected when I first saw you. I came expecting to have to possibly fight something just to find a pony just like any other.” This actually earns a blush from her and has her hiding her head once again, though not in fear for once.

“T-t-thank you, but I really don’t think the others will feel the same way. I’m also not very comfortable with others knowing what I am right now.” I nod at this, though I notice something that is on the table that hadn’t been there before and I wince about what it means. “You might want to rethink some of that as there may be at least one that knows about you.” I levitate the party invitation from Surprise off the table and over towards her so she can read it. Her eyes widen and she whimpers in fear at being found out. “W-w-where did this come from? Please tell me that you brought it in or it was already there when you arrived.”

I sigh and shake my head as I try to reassure her. “Unfortunately not to both of those. Don’t worry though because if I read her right she will keep your secret as well as be one of the best friends you’d ever know; once you get around her popping up out of nowhere and doing the impossible at least. If it will make you feel better though, you can always hide out at my place if you have to on the other end of Ponyville by the Everfree.” She doesn’t look too reassured but still nods at me, seeming to have forgot her fear of me in favor of the fear of being found out.

“At the very least I can speak with princesses on your behalf so that at least they can protect you if something does happen.” Her eyes widen once again as she blurts out. “Just who are you that you know the princesses themselves and can get them to listen to you?” I can see that me surprising ponies constantly is going to be a trend until I settle in as I sigh before explaining.

“Well the last time I was in Ponyville was over five hundred years ago now and I had made friends with them while I was living here. It was mostly Twilight and Selene that I spent time with as they were in town the most at the time. In fact Selene had many problems being accepted at first considering how much she looked like Nightmare Moon. It’s just a good thing that she ended up looking like Luna more than her alter ego when she got older. Though I’m really surprised that the ponies I met haven’t recognized me yet considering there is a statue with me and the Elements of Harmony in the center of town.”

The changeling’s jaw drops as I explain a small bit about why I know them and I realize that I still don’t know her name. “You know we’ve been talking all this time and we still haven’t exchanged names yet. It’s getting a bit annoying thinking of you as ‘the changeling’ all the time and I bet you’d probably rather not be thinking ‘demon fox’ all the time either. My name is Flarenza.” She looks a bit unsure about this but still answers. “I’m Velour.”

I smile at her seeming to open up a tiny bit more as I look out her window to see that it’s getting to be around noon. “I didn’t notice that it was nearing lunch time. Would you like to join me or do you need some time to unwind alone after what’s been happening?” She looks outside as I say this. “Um, no thank you, I think I might need some time alone. I’ll think on everything that you’ve told me but I’m not sure if I’ll take you up on your offer or not yet.” I nod to her as I stand and make my way out back towards Ponyville.

I pull my hood back up before anyone can see me as I search through my bags with my magic for some bits. It takes a bit of digging before I find them and am not surprised to notice that I am running pretty low. Searching around to see if I missed anything I come across a key buried at the bottom and wonder if my account with the bank is still active or not. Searching through the town I am glad to find that it is in that same place as I remembered, and it even looks to be using the same protections as well. Huh, I see the changeling alarm I helped design is still there, though it might need to be updated if the more dangerous ones have changed since I know it won’t work for Velour.

It seems to be a rather slow day for the bank as I am immediately able to meet with one of the unicorn ponies running the place named Bean Counter going by that nameplate on the desk. “Yes, may I help you ma’am?” He sounds a bit bored as I pull the key, numbered forty-three, out and show it to him. “Yes, I need to access my personal vault to retrieve some bits for personal use.” He eyes it before using his magic to scan the key before his eyebrows shoot up. “Of course, ma’am. I’m surprised to see a number as low as this without having seen you around before though.”

I chuckle a bit as he leads me towards one of the stairways down towards the vault areas. “Well it’s an old family vault and we haven’t been in town for a long time now.” He looks a bit suspicious as I say that but doesn’t comment further. It takes a while to arrive as they had extended the vaults since I was last here and the magic used pushed mine much deeper than I remember. Soon we arrive at vault forty-three when he turns and sweeps his leg towards the locking mechanism. “Now if you’ll just insert the key and place your hoof on the plate for a magic scan to verify…”

He trails off as he says that and I can guess that he expects it not to work as I follow his directions. When the locks click open I have to suppress a laugh at the expression on his face which was nothing compared to what it looked like when the door opened. “Sweet Mother of Celestia.” I turn to see why he reacted like that just to stare at the mounds of bits that are piled inside of the vault until a large folder on the back of the door catches my eye. Levitating it out I look through it to find that it is a record of all the transactions that went through the vault on a yearly basis.

Paging through it I am a bit surprised at what I find. Huh, the Crystal Empire has been paying me all this time for the work I did for them with enchantments and their crystals? I might have to check with Cadance about that one even if it is a drop in the bucket. It seems like a couple of the businesses I helped start up are still running even now and paying me as well. Odd how a bunch of them just stop at that point a few centuries ago with one big lump payment. So adding all of it to what I made personally and the bank interest comes to... a really large amount. I let out a whistle as I look into the vault which contains a couple hundred million bits at this time.

On the plus side, I don’t have to work if I don’t want to, not that I have a choice with my responsibilities now. I can also help support my people for long enough that they can get things rolling for a new economy to emerge with Sionnach. I’m not sure how things will fare with this war going on, but if we can help end it faster it should open up a lot of grateful ponies to be able to help out. Tucking the folder back into its slot in the door I turn to the vault and casually pull out ten coins each of copper, silver, gold, and platinum metals before turning back to the bank pony. “I think that eleven thousand, one hundred ten bits should be enough for now if you can make the notation against my account please.”

He just nods numbly as I lead him back upstairs once again before leaving him back at his desk, still in shock. I can hear him muttering as I walk off though. “I didn’t know a pony in this town could have that much money other than the princess.” I chuckle as I leave the building and made my way to the closest food stall, which just happened to be full of apples. Paying for a few as mu lunch I was about to head towards the library when the sound of music caught my attention. With curiosity taking hold I followed the sound to a pair of ponies playing their instruments on a street corner.

The first was a black unicorn mare with a white mane and tail who was playing a flute using her magic to assist. The other was a white earth pony mare with a black mane and tail who was playing a violin. They looked to be twins by appearance, and even their cute marks reflected this as the each sported a treble clef that was mirrored with itself, the left being white and the right being black, or the outline of it if it was the color of their coat. They really knew their way around their instruments, which was surprising as they looked to be just short of adulthood, and played together perfectly so I decided to toss a pair of silver bits into their collection jar.

As they finished up and I was about to leave I heard them muttering to each other. “Do you think this will hold them for the week, Ebony?” “I don’t know, Ivory, but we’ll find somewhere else to play if it isn’t.” This catches my interest as I decide to follow them to see what is going on and to see who this ‘them’ is. Imagine my surprise when they lead me to the last place I expected to see, the CMC Memorial Orphanage. The two were approached by who I assume was the pony in charge of the place.

“Matron Care, here’s what we managed to come up with so far…” “…we hope it’s enough for you to get through the week.” I’m a bit surprised when one completes the other’s sentence, yet I ignore that as I admire what they are doing as the Matron answers. “It’ll be tight but I think it’ll be enough. I still can’t begin to thank you for helping out, especially after so many fillies and colts lost their parents in the war.” I wince at the last bit, vowing to do what I can to fix that issue, while I step forward to the three.

“If I knew that you two were doing this for the orphanage then I would’ve given you a bit more than a measly twenty bits.” The three jump a bit as I move close enough for them to more easily see me. “A performance like that, as well as the generosity of helping out those in need, deserves much more.” I levitate over five platinum coins to the Matron who looks down in confusion while the eyes of the two musicians widen.

“Why thank you miss, but you really didn’t have to follow them all this way just to give the orphanage another fifty bits. You could have waited until the next time they went out to help.” I just chuckle as the other two gasp out in shock. “Matron Care, those aren’t silver bits…” “…but platinum ones. That is actually…” “…five thousand bits that she just…” “…gave you! That can last for months!” My head bounces back and forth between the two as they seem to read each other’s mind and I get the feeling that they might be somehow. My attention is soon pulled away as I’m suddenly grabbed up in a tight hug from the matron of the orphanage.

“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! You have no idea how much this will mean to the poor children that are here. It’s so hard getting them everything they need and few ponies have much to spare nowadays. Wait until they hear that we don’t have to close the place down now.” With that she rushes off back into the building to give the good news, though I’m worried about the fact that there is even a threat of it closing. The two young mares are still staring at me in shock about what I just did, though I planned on even larger donations if the situation didn’t change.

“So Ebony and Ivory was it?” The two just nod. “I’ll probably see you two around since I’m moving back into town. Just let me know if the orphanage is having any troubles and I’ll do what I can to help, the name is Flarenza. If they are having problems I can see why Aurora left it like she did. I bet she’s donating money as well.” I mutter the last bit as I walk off so I doubt they heard me.

After that there are no more interruptions as I make my way to the library. I stop outside and take in the view of it, as well as Twilight’s small palace that is connected to the back of it by a hallway. The tree hasn’t changed a bit as I felt it with my magic to find the spells inhibiting its growth. I can’t tell if it was a pony or kitsune that put them there but after gaining some knowledge of how the tree homes were made I could easily enlarge it if I wanted to. I made note to let Twilight know this as I knew it would make the special distortion spells on the inside be more effective with more room to use.

The palace was really only that in name and was more of a giant mansion with a couple towers at the corners and jutting out of the center. If she hadn’t changed things then the center one held her room while the four others held rooms for each of the other four princesses when they visited. The entire thing was built out of wood, and an expensive wood at that, as she didn’t want a marble monstrosity cluttering up the view of Ponyville. It took some convincing but she managed to at least get the place to look like it belonged, though it annoyed many nobles at the time.

I noticed two guards on the door who were eyeing me, one of them a changeling of the old variety I quickly noticed. I decided not to do anything until I talked to Twilight about it, but seeing their presence there I was betting she was in there and not her palace. Ahh same old Twilight, always stuck inside a library for some reason or other. I noticed that it still seemed to be set as the public library as well so I made my way to the door. The guards kept a close eye on me, but made no move to stop me, but when one looked behind me his eyes widened in shock as he took a defensive stance.

“Ma’am, watch out! You have a timberwolf following after you!” I look at him in shock that he saw Rose, but on a closer look I noticed the enchantments on his helm that was made to see through illusions, though it wasn’t working on the changeling’s disguise I was guessing. Looking back at Rose I quickly signaled her to wait as well as gave a covert signal to keep an eye on the guard that was a changeling. “Oh you don’t have to worry about her my good sir; she is just a guard of mine. I can leave her out here if you want to keep an eye on her though.”

He looks at me in shock as his partner keeps watch on it but doesn’t object even though he looks a bit nervous. Seeing as there is an ‘Open’ sign in the window I walk into the library and take a deep breath to take in the scent of the old books. Okay, so Twilight isn’t the only one comfortable in a library. I practically turned into her those first years in New Sionnach. I glance around to see if I could spot her anywhere but I instead catch sight of another familiar figure behind the front desk.

“Welcome to Golden Oaks Library, may I help you find what you are looking for?” There is no mistaking that voice that I had lived with for so long, or her azure coat and two-toned pale cornflower blue mane and tail. Even her dark violet eyes are just as I remember them but the problem is that she shouldn’t be here and I can tell that she isn’t a changeling.

“TRIXIE?!”

Author's Note:

Another chapter and I still haven't finished what I had planned originally for the first chapter. I am amazed how long this is getting now and I still have one more part to go. Of course I just had to end it on another cliffhanger. So please leave any typos, comments, or complaints below and I'll get to them when I can.

As for Velour's horn in changeling form, I'm picturing it as something like this https://5ocietyx.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/unicorn-horn.jpg instead of how the normal changeling horn is or Chrysalis' horn.

Comments

[Snowfyre]

damn cliffhangers D:
hope further chapters come soon

[HgSpartan]

I hate you, so, much, right now. You are a despicable being whose cliffhanging powers are second to none. You mean, meany, meaner-face. *Grumbles under breath*