//------------------------------// // Chapter 17 - Fluttershy // Story: To Be a Changeling // by PlagueRat //------------------------------// Fluttershy was never happy to see any creature upset and rested her wing reassuringly over her student’s withers. “Do you need to step out and get some air?” she asked her softly. “No, I just need a moment,” Ocellus replied, looking over at the preoccupied little nymph before whispering. “It’s just really strange, how much she knows after only leaving her cocoon this morning.” The nymph appeared harmless enough, giggling aloud and fully engrossed, along with Silverstream, in playing with the ferrets. While she watched the diminutive creature, Fluttershy was briefly reminded of a former innocent looking student; one who tried to steal all the magic in Equestra for herself.   “Do you have any treats for the ferrets?” the little changeling asked while she struggled with one that had wrapped around her like a furry snake. “Oh yes,” Fluttershy said, “I have some scrambled eggs I made a little earlier for them. Silverstream, would you mind getting the jar from my saddle bag and help feed the ferrets?” “Sure thing,” the chipper hippogriff said. The little nymph had managed to extricate herself and followed closely after Silverstream. The ferrets, excited from hearing the word ‘treat’, made a happy chuckling sound as they hopped after them. “Ocellus,” Fluttershy asked the young changeling once the little nymph was out of earshot, “if you wouldn’t mind, could you explain a changeling’s life cycle and why Peppers is so unusual?” “Sure,” Ocellus said. “Well, changelings start out as eggs and around three months later we hatch into larva. Then, five months later, the larva spin a cocoon to start their metamorphosis into nymphs and that lasts for four months. Normally they looked like this before Thorax took over.” A curtain of light blue magic circled around Ocellus as she transformed into a small black shelled changeling with blue eyes. “Why does little changelings have holes in their legs?” Yona asked. “Well, before we ‘changed’ into the way we are now, the holes in our chitin would develop by going without feeding on love for too long,” Ocellus explained as a ring of pale blue swirled around her once again, returning her to her normal form; “but she seems to have only a few holes in her chitin so I guess she was a well fed larva.” “And now newborn changelings don’t develop the holes in their bodies?” Fluttershy inquired. “No, well, not in our hive,” Ocellus said. “My younger brother and sister hatched after Thorax became king and they were fine after they emerged from their cocoons.” “Before you said your brother and sister were nothing like how Pepper is,” Sandbar brought up. “How much different is she?” “She’s very different from what I’ve seen,” Ocellus whispered, looking back over her withers to make sure the little changeling wasn’t listening. “She is a little taller than normal and she has a mane, something only Chrysalis had. Her eyes, her horn, they are just like Chrysalis too… it makes me wonder.” “What?” Fluttershy asked. “If she might be a young queen,” Ocellus said, biting her bottom lip. “I never even heard of another changeling queen other than Chrysalis.” “So what does that make her?” Smolder asked. “A changeling Princess or something?” “Who’s a princess?” Silverstream asked as she poked her head into the huddle that the others in the room had formed. “Uh…” Gallus stammered, looking down at the little changeling as she trotted up behind his friend. “Aren’t you a princess, Silverstream?” “Me? No,” the hippogriff giggled. “I’m just Queen Nova’s niece.” "Anyway," Fluttershy said, "lets get back to our lesson." Fluttershy had spent the next hour of the class teaching about the ferrets, only occasionally getting interrupted with an extra fact or two by the little changeling nymph, when she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. Twilight was at the door to the classroom, peeking in and waving her over. “Class could you excuse me for a moment?” she said. “On the shelves, over in the corner, there are some toys the ferrets really enjoy playing with. They love to run through those tubes there and chase after the feathers tied to the end of that string. Please keep Pepper with you too.” Once Ocellus had escorted the younger changeling over to the shelves with the other students, Fluttershy trotted over to the door and stepped outside. Twilight was waiting in the hall along with Spike. “Fluttershy, I am so sorry I didn’t warn you,” Twilight said frantically. “After what happened this morning with Starlight and trying to get everything straightened out again, I completely forgot to ask Ocellus to stay in her room with the changeling until I could get into contact with Thorax.” “It’s okay Twilight,” Fluttershy said to her friend with a smile. “The students explained everything that’s happened and she hasn’t been any real trouble, though she does seem to have poor Ocellus a little worried.” “She hasn’t been throwing things around, destroying your classroom or trying to hurt anycreature?” Twilight asked, peeking into the room again. Back inside the room the little changeling was buzzing her wings with a grin on her muzzle, showing off her little white fangs. She had one end of a braided string in her mouth, tugging against it as a ferret pulled at the opposite end. “Not at all,” Fluttershy reassured her. “Did Ocellus say why she was concerned?” Twilight asked as she moved away from the door again. “Well from what she explained to me about little changelings, Pepper is special,” she told Twilight. “Pepper?” Twilight asked. “That’s what we’ve been calling her.” The pegasus explained. “Although I’m not sure if maybe we should be calling her Queen Pepper or Princess Pepper.” “What?!” Twilight balked, causing Fluttershy to flinch. Fluttershy proceeded to tell Twilight what Ocellus had told her about changeling young, how different the nymph is and that she might be a juvenile queen. “This could be bad,” Twilight said once Fluttershy finished. “She’s already said her mother’s name is Chrysalis and there is no denying the resemblance.” “Yona told me she discovered her cocoon hanging from a tree within view of the school,” Fluttershy added, “but from what I remember seeing at the old changeling hive, they kept all their young inside.” “And you would think somepony might have noticed her cocoon sooner,” Twilight said, placing a hoof against her chin in thought, “if it was hanging from a tree, just a couple of yards from the school, for a few months.” “Do you think she could have just been placed there recently?” Fluttershy asked. “Maybe,” Twilight muttered, “but why?” The two friends pondered in silence for a moment until a belch from spike interrupted them. A gout of bright green fire spouted from the little dragons mouth up into the air, and within the blaze a rolled up scroll appeared. It dropped, unharmed by the flame, into Spikes waiting claws and he quickly unrolled it. “It’s from Thorax,” Spike said as he scanned over the paper. “He’s on his way along with a few others changeling to see the nymph.” Fluttershy looked down the hall as a group of ponies came around the corner. They noticed her and Twilight, then started to trot in their direction. “Did he say anything else?” Twilight asked, moving behind the dragon so she could try and read over his shoulder. “Um… Twilight…” Fluttershy stammered when she noticed the angry green glow on the horn of the unicorn who was leading the group of approaching ponies. “Yeah,” the little dragon answered, both himself and Twilight not hearing the soft spoken pegasus. “He said to be careful and keep an eye out, in case there might be more rogue changelings around.”