Heir of the Changelings

by kingofchaos00

The Guardian

"Coward! Coward! Coward!" Each word was punctuated by the sound of wood shattering.

Catalyst was deep in the Everfree, in a glade she set aside for sparring. Her entire frame shook with the shame she felt at her weakness from earlier.

---

She was about to knock on Rainbows door, about to reveal her secret. Her heart was racing and her magic was a single shock away from a small explosion of energy.

And then she felt it...

Love.

She could feel a strong flow of love coming from the house. Catalyst closed her eyes and looked with her natural second sight. All Changelings had a second form of vision that allowed them to see the emotions that pervaded the world, all of which manifested as a different color. Love was pink, fear green, anger red, ect.

A pink pony shape was walking through the phantom walls towards a small, round creature colored a sharp green in fear.

Tank

Rainbow knelt down by her pet, and Catalyst could see the warm love flow from her to her dear friend. Tank slowly was filled with love for his master, and nuzzled her in affection, and eventually his love began to flow back into Rainbow.

It was beautiful.

Catalyst could feel tears on her eyes, and once again tried to knock, but the sight of those two being so happy had robbed her of her spirit. She couldn't bear to break up such a touching moment for her own sake.

Catalyst slowly turned and flew back into the forest.

---

She had been weak, and now it would take her who knows how long to work up the courage to come clean again. Time for her siblings to find Rainbow and the others.

She kept hitting the tree in front of her with her blade construct, a sword formed out of pure magic. She gave no thought as to the placement of her strikes or any finesse in her movements, this was venting, pure and simple...

At least until another magical blade, the same emerald color as her own, blocked her strike with a harsh ring, causing Catalyst to look towards her new sparring partner.

She was fairly typical as far as changelings went. The only real differing thing about her was her wings, which had blood red streaks running through them, giving way to her name.

Bloodwing.

Bloodwing immediately drew her blade back to herself, and grabbed it in her mouth. She then lunged forward in a simple thrust which Catalyst easily parried.

From there it became a dance of complex spins and pirouettes that were all blocked and returned with ever increasing speed. Eventually it reached a point that the sparring changelings appeared as simple blurs that met with harsh rings of magic clashing as they met, struggled for a moment, and then backed away to repeat their deadly dance.

Of course Catalyst knew Bloodwing was playing with her the entire time. She had been one of the greatest gladiators in the entire swarm until she had accidently killed one of her opponents, and subsequently been forced to become her personal guardian, sworn to protect her until the Trials.

Bloodwing proved this by ending the sparring with a quick disarming, bringing her blade up to Catalyst's neck with a grin as she proved, once again, just how good she was.

Catalyst gave her a grin, "Cocky bitch. One day I'll win!"

Bloodwing gave her a wink as she dispelled the blade before a brief flash of magic had her standing in the guise of the Queen, an inquisitive look on her face.

Catalyst let out a heavy sigh as she met her old companion's eyes, "The Trials have begun, and my sisters are coming. Things are looking pretty bad."

Her friend let out an understanding nod as she shifted forms again, this time to Rainbow Dash.

Another sigh followed, "I couldn't do it. I was close, so very close, but in the end I chickened out and ran." Tears began to flow, "I'm going to fail Wing. I might as well just go let my sisters have their way with me!"

Smack!

Catalyst touched her cheek where she had just been struck, before slowly turning to Wing with a shocked expression. Bloodwing stared at her with a glare that would give a cockatrice pause as she made it clear she wouldn't harbor that type of thinking.

The princess felt a frown creep onto her face, "Yeah, I know. I just can't see a way out of this! If I kill them then I'll be the Queen, but if I lose then I die! I just can't win!" She stomped her hoof into the ground to try to vent her rebuilding frustration before reforming a blade from her magic, "Forget it. Lets just spar some more, and maybe this time I'll wipe that smugness off your face."

And so the woods once again became a combination of magical strikes, shattering wood, and grunts of frustration as the sun rose and fell through the day.

---

By the end of the day, the sun hidden by the trees leaving the glade in almost complete shadow, the two changelings were panting from a day of harsh, frantic exercise.

"Huh...huh." Catalyst was almost ready to pass out from that! It had been a few weeks since Bloodwing had pushed her that hard, or for that long.

The two of them let the silence of the glade consume them as they rested, their companionable silence all they needed. Eventually Catalyst turned back into Scootaloo, and spoke up.

"Hey Wing?"

She cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Um... do you mind if I crash at your place tonight? I don't really feel like finding some treehouse or whatnot to sleep in." Catalyst rubbed her right hoof with her left, uneasy about asking such a thing of her friend/guardian.

Bloodwing quickly shifted expressions from a quick wink, signifying approval, to a small quirked eyebrow questioning if Catalyst would be comfortable there.

Catalyst nodded, "Yeah, sure. As long as you two don't mind..." With that she shifted forms back to Scootaloo.

Bloodwing gave a small smile before flames surrounded her, and her natural form was gone. It had been replaced by a mare with a pure white coat with a shocking blue mane with bright blue highlights, and covering violet eyes were shades of a similar violet color.

With a quick gesture down the road Vinyl Scratch and Scootaloo started their way home.

Comments

[Mauser1888]

Nice to see this updated. Good chapter.

[litestardt]

Great chapter and I like it that vinyl is her guardian