A heart to thou

by The Psychopath

And fear its prescence

Shining Armor, with all his strength, jumped towards the white changeling in a bid to pin it to the ground and kill it in place. His last encounter with the species gave him a bitter aftertaste of the black insects. His rage was seething at not only the prescence of this changeling near his wife, but that it was simply a changeling that dared to show itself to him.

Expecting to slam violently into the beast, the captain braced himself, only to feel his body begin flying backwards, letting him slam powerfully against the wall. He could not move at all, no matter the snarling and forcing he administered to the changeling magic. Several more guards came by, stressing Cadence even more. The princess was at a loss to what was happening, especially with the view of the spears thrown at the changeling simply vanishing in the air. Each and every guard who entered was forced upon the ground and rendered immobile.

After certainty was acquired, the white changeling moved slowly towards the prisoners and placed itself face-to-face with Shining, who continued to glare at the creature.

"You have all proved to be irritating nuisances. To amplify success of the princess' teachings, I will erase you a--"

"NO!" Cadence shouted as she jumped in front of the guards and her husband, preventing the strange orb around the white changeling to expand.

"Remove yourself. I only do this to learn from you without hindrance."

This changeling's coldness was distraughting to even Shining. He had learned that even changelings felt emotions, such as fear. Chrysalis was an example of this when she protested against the shield of love expanding from Cadence and Shining, expelling her and her kind into several different parts of Equestria. Her hive had barely survived that encounter, and the remaining changelings either died or, unknown to the rest of the world, become integrated into the white one's new hive.

"No! If you kill them, I'll never forgive you, and I'll never help you learn emotions." the princess stared firmly into the changeling's empty eyes.

This staredown lasted a very long time as the changeling tried to understand what would push a creature to protect another without any logical conclusion to serve their master or a higher cause. After all, the white changeling had only ever known billions of years worth of servitude to its master, The Nothing; a being that existed before existance itself, and hellbent on destroying it. Being separated from it after the last incident rendered it helpless and confused as it awaited the Nothing's return, as improbable as that may be.

"Why do you defend these creatures? They are like you: manifestations that oppose the will of the Nothing. Erasing them is a great honor to it."

"The Nothing? I don't know what that is. I protect them because it is what is right. I also protect Shining Armor, the one you have pinned to the wall, because I love him."

The changeling's head tilted slightly in confusion. "Love? What is 'love'? A manifestation of power? A weapon of some sorts?"

"No! It is what you feel for that special somepony. The one you have the 'zing' with, as we used to call it. You never feel that with anypony else."

"...I do not understand."

"You don't? Do you know what happiness is? Joy? Sadness? Compassion?"

To each of these questions, a dead silence was met with the tilting head of the changeling. Cadance was flabbergasted at this turn of events. However, it seemed calculating and understanding enough. She would use these to manipulate it atleast and teach it that it can change...hopefully.

"If you release my husband and the guards, and not harm anypony or anything else, then I will teach you everything. How long are you going to stay here?"

"Time is irrelevant. I stay as long as it pleases me."

"Oookayyy..." Cadence looked to the sides nervously."Could you release them now?"

"Yes."

Everypony gasped for air, followed by Shining flopping oto the ground and getting up with anger. He was about to stomp towards the creature, who did not react to sound effect, but the princess got in front of him and pushed him back towards the wall. They were arguing about something, but the white changeling could not hear. The guards simply stared at the creature from the sides with hidden fear and stress, loudly jolting and yiping when the creature's eyes turned towards them.

"Okay. Everypony get out! Our guest has alot to learn from here. I know this is sudden, but get out and do what Shining tells you."

The guards each scratched their heads in confusion only to be roughed up and out of the room by a smiling Captain. Cadence had told her husband to have a team constantly survey the changeling, to increase defensive measures, and to upgrade the alert system for a quicker reaction time. While these were all good measures, Cadence had an inkling in her heart that this creature wasn't as emotionless as it proclaimed. She would break it out of its cocoon. Before starting, though, she decided to lie down on her bed and give a smile to the creature who did nothing but follow her with its eyes.

"Okay then. What emotion do you want to learn about first?"

"There are multiple emotions? I believed that the existant had a universal set of mind."

"Wh...We all have many emotions. Some are great while others can hurt."

"Emotions cause physical harm?"

Cadence chuckled, confusing the creature even more."No. This is called laughter. You laugh when you find something funny; something that makes you happy."

The changeling remained immobile.

"Our emotions are from our mind. Any pain caused by them is psychological. I can teach you what happens when ponies like us grow up without them, or only with negative emotions, but I think that is a bad idea seeing that you don't have any yourself. It could set a bad example." Cadence rolled on her back and began to hit the air.
Hmmm. What should I show you now? Oh! Cuteness! Something that makes you melt. Something...I can't explain it. You have to see it for yourself. Let's take this kitten plushie, for example. Look how cute it is! It's all fluffy with gray fur and adorable eyes. It's also all tiny." Cadance hugged it powerfully and pressed the abomination against her face.

The stuffed animal was gray, as told, with big gray eyes and a small shape. It looked like it was forcing an adorable smile of innocence. The white changeling made no reaction and just looked at it longly.

"See? Just hold it and pet it gently.A real cat would love that." the changeling grabbed it with its 'magic' and lifted the doll to its face while Cadence began to pout." I want a cat, but Shining Armor has been saying that 'They're too smelly' and 'They destroy everything'. Hmph. I don't thi..."

As the princess began to trail off in her ranting, the white creature pat the stuffed cat once on the head, before patting another time with such strength that, despite it not showing any signs of forced effort, the doll pierced through the floors of the castle, causing a large portion of it to shake uncontrollably as the plushie slammed violently into the deep grounds below like a meteor. A huge hole was now in the floor, and several ponies were seen looking down, before looking up and coming face-to-face with the white changeling. They all screamed shortly afterwards.

"Wow. You need to get that strength under control. Since when are changelings that powerful?"Cadance asked as she stood next to the creature.

"I have always possessed this power no matter the physique of my host."

"...Do you have a name?"

"Names are associated with emotions, which are against the demnds of the Nothing. They are parasites to be erased."

"Yet here you are trying to learn emotions." Cadence smirked.

She knew that the changeling would not harm her, which is why she told all the guards to leave and ordered Shining to do all told previously. While this huge creature seemed harmless, one portion of its true powers, atleast, were shown. She had to learn the rest to know what Equestria was dealing with, and she had to do this before Celestia and Luna returned.

"In the millions of worlds I have gone to, I have been called 'The withering', 'Bonessence', 'Zig' hyari Hal'rash', and 'The unknown'. The last one has been more common and I have come to use that name."

Cadence was confused at what the changeling meant, but she followed up anyways. "Okay. We'll call you 'Unknown'. Would you like that?"

"Like?"

"Oh...right." the princess facehoofed. "Okay. It's late, and although I want to teach you more things, I need my slumber, as do we all."

"What is slumber?"

"Don't you sleep?"

"Slumber is unknown. I have always remained awake and vigilant. It has greatly helped my hive prosper and grow in the rainforest."

"So that was your hive? This changes quite alot. I'll have to be extra cautious around him. Right. Then you can wait wherever you want. Oh! Before I prepare to sleep, why DO you want to learn about emotions?"

"My chest hurts when I see pictures or images of the changling queen. These unknown feelings have been causing my body to decay. I will die if I do not comprehend these emotions."

"WHAT?!"

"Your body is decaying as well? You seem in pain."

"No. It's not that. Just...just leave. Please."

"As you will."

Unknown somehow phased through the walls linking outside, attracting Cadence's once more, but that wasn't what shocked her the most. A changeling that had fallen in love with a queen? In the whole history of Equestria since discovering the existence of changelings, there had never been such a thing. At best, breeders were used, but no form of love was ever had in the hives. Perhaps this was a sign that their race was evolving? Then again, it struck Cadence as strange to why a changeling like that would feel no emotions, and kept referring to this 'Nothing'. She had neever heard of it, but there was a possibility that the source could be found in the royal library. Until then, the white changeling was staying at Canterlot castle and the city itself. It'd be best if it didn't leave the grounds, however. So much things to accomplish, so many dangers. Before taking one last glimpse at the hole in the floor, the princess left her room to get dinner and talk with her husband a bit longer. She may have lied about what she was really going to do, but that was only for a bit more detailed conversations. This was very important, and everything had to be correctly prepared for the future.

Comments

[Death Moon]

Bene bene un capitolo veramente interessante!
Comunque il re dei mutaforme quando confessa il suo amore per la regina è incredibilmente realistico.
Il suo potere poi immenso e credo proprio che potrebbe portare Equestria come doono di Nozze.

[The Psychopath]

2461012 I almost understood what you wrote, despite not speaking Italian. Something about the changeling declaring its love for Chrysalis or something like that?

[Death Moon]

2461083ùùYes, I'm sorry but I dont speak English.

[The Psychopath]

2461150 What are you typing here? And if you didn't, how did you read this?

[-Brutus]

So it is either love or hate that this white changeling have toward Chrysalis.

[The Psychopath]

2471552 SOMEONE ELSE COMMENTED ON THIS?! I'm feeling inspiration to please the readers again!

[The Psychopath]

2473343 But they don't know that. That's what the ponies understand of it.

[The Psychopath]

2474553 Adjusting to simple minds is a chore.