//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: My little angel // by Hydreigon_Omega //------------------------------// Mael pranced gleefully around Celestia as she packed his saddlebag, today would be his first day of preschool. As a mother, Celestia was both overjoyed that her son is happy to go to school, but nervous that it would be her son’s first day away from the castle. Celestia remembered how her own childhood was cut short when she needed to take up the title of princess, she wanted to let Mael have a normal childhood, but at the same time she wanted to send dozens of legions of guards to protect him. “Are you ready for your first day of school, my little ray of sunshine?” Celestia asked “Yes” Mael nodded his head eagerly, “I can’t wait to go!” “I’m glad to hear that. Here, let me help you put your saddlebag on.” Celestia lit up her horn, levitating a small saddlebag over her son.  She made sure to be careful with wings because they are quite delicate, especially for ponies his age. Celestia gently moved the side straps in between as she fastened the straps around him. She made sure to put his small plushie in his front pocket of the saddle bag for easier access.  Even though the kindergarten was only about a few minutes away, the guards insisted on walking with princess Celestia and her son, prince Mael. Despite their constant pestering, Celestia declined saying that they would be fine, and that it would just cause stress to the teachers and students attending the kindergarten. Begrudgingly, the guards relented in pestering the princess and her son. It wasn’t long after, that they spread their wings and took off to school. “Mael, I know your my son, and the prince of equestria.” Celestia said, “I don’t want you abusing your title to get others to do what you want. Do you understand?” “I think so.” Mael said “Thank you.” Celestia said as they began to approach the kindergarten The kindergarten was a rustic looking wooden building, many ponies had gathered around the school to have their children attend. When the crowd saw Celestia, all the ponies began to bow their heads before they had to return to what they were doing. There were a few guards or local enforcement ushering the ponies who didn’t need to be there, mainly news reporters, to get out of the way. Entering the building, there were many different multicolored fillies and foals, each of them running around doing their own thing. Loud talking echoed out of the room as the little fillies and foals’ rambunctious behavior caused chaos in the classroom, so much in fact, that Celestia thought that even the spirit of disharmony itself would say that it was too much chaos. Mael hid himself behind Celestia, his ears folded back against his head, it was only natural that he’d be terrified after spending the last year being inside the castle where it was quiet, with only the occasional outburst from the guards’ training. “Momma, I’m scared.” Mael whimpered, hiding behind Celestia’s long legs, “What if they don’t like me?” “Don’t be worried over that,” Celestia said, “if anypony doesn’t like you, it is because you are more special than they are.” “But… But…” “Mael, my son.” Celestia said in a motherly tone, as she used her magic to levitate him to eye level. “I know you’re scared, but you cannot spend your life being scared of things you haven’t tried yet. So why don’t you just give it a try and if you still don’t like it by the end of the day, I won’t make you come back.” “Okay…” Mael sighed discontentedly “Where's my little ray of sunshine gone?” Celestia nuzzled his face, making him giggle from the soft tickling sensation, “Oh, there he is! Now then, go ahead and go, you have a big day of making friends and learning ahead of you.” “Okay Mommy.” Mael happily galloped into the classroom as he started looking around for someone to play with. Celestia, with her heart aching, turned her back as she headed back to the castle. Mael finally found a place to settle down. Mael wasn’t much of an extrovert, so he sat at a back table playing with his little dog plushie, Estarossa, before the teacher began to round up the students to begin teaching. “Alright class,” the teacher said, “when I call you up, you’re going tell us your name and a little bit about yourself.” This is going to be a long day, and Mael knew this for a fact. Hours had passed before the recess bell had rung and Mael still hadn’t made any friends, there only a couple of hours before the end of the day so he could go home. While other fillies and foals chased each other around the small field, Mael just stood far off to the side playing with his plushie and a few blocks he borrowed from the inside. He built a tower and placed Estarossa on top, before a powerful gust of wind knocked the tower, causing the plushie to roll down under a nearby bush and out of sight. Mael looked around, and after he saw no one nearby he crawled under the bush. Behind the bush hid a small ditch causing the plushie to roll further than he expected. Mael placed his hooves at the edge of the ditch as he began to gently slide down. This part of the field was left unkept, and because of that, the underbrush began to grow into a miniature forest. “Estarossa?” Mael called out to his plushie, “Where are you?” Mael continued to walk until he saw an impasse in the forest brush. Right in front of his hooves was where his plushie landed. Picking it up, he put it in his saddle bag and started to head back to the school. “So hungry…” A female voice whimpered Mael turned back around after hearing the voice, it came beyond the impasse made of the heavy brush. Once he had found a weak point the impasse, he tried to crawl under it before he eventually succeeded. When he made it through the brush, there was a small clearing, and inside it was a young pony, or at least it looked similar to one. It had four legs, bug-like wings, and a horn, but it seemed to be missing several parts of its body making it look similar to cheese, in the sense of it having many holes. Her mane was a bluish hue, and where her fur would’ve been was black skin. “Help me..” The bug pony called out in barely a whisper,“I need to feed...” “Here,” Mael said, “I will go get you an apple.” “Love… I need love…” “What..?” “I feed on love… Think happy thoughts…” Wanting to help in any way he could, Mael closed his eyes as he began to focus on people, or ponies, who made him happy. He recalled how Celestia took him and raised him as her own son, even before she adopted him. Memories of his Mr. Big Shield flooded in with it as he recalled all the times he watched over him when Celestia couldn’t. His brother was the third person he’d remembered, Mael remembered how he idolized him, and about the time Ludociel had saved him after the demons launched a surprise attack on the Celestial Realm claiming the lives of many soldiers and civilians alike. An odd feeling washed over Mael as the sensation caused some of his fur to stand up straight. It wasn’t uncorfable, but it felt unnatural, like some that was non-physical was being pulled out of him. Mael loosened his metaphysical grasps on whatever was being pulled out of him, causing the bug-pony to squeak in surprise. Once the feeling had subsided the bug pony let out a content sigh. “Best. Feeding. Ever.” She said as she started to stand up. The bug pony started to get up, her eyes were green and had slits running down the center giving it a cat like appearance.  “Are you okay?” Mael asked, feeling a bit more tired than normal like she’d sucked the energy out of him. “I’m fine, just a little full from that big meal.” She said, “What's your name? I haven’t met a pony who would willingly help a changeling.” “I’m Mael,” he said as he grabbed his plushie out of his saddle bag, “And this is Estarossa.” “Nice to meet you two. I’m Chrysalis by the way.” she said, “Wanna play with me?” “Sure! What do you wanna play?” “Tag, hide n’ seek, anything really.” Chrysalis said, “Mother says that I’m not allowed to play games within the hive because I could get hurt.” The two of them began to play any game they could think of. Anything from hide n’ seek to  tag, or even play tic tac toe in the dirt. As time passed, Chrysalis began snacking on Mael’s love, not that he minded, it tasted different from the love that had been stolen by impersonating somepony’s loved ones. While both kinds of love taste sweet, Mael’s was different. Chrysalis found it hard to describe the difference, but it tasted better and was more filling. All of her life, Chrysalis had been taught that ponies were to be seen as a source of food and nothing else, but after meeting Mael, she began to second guess her mother’s ideologies and teachings. As the time passed, the two grew closer to each other. Even though they didn’t know much about each other’s personal life, they enjoyed spending time with each other. Right before they’d started their fifth game of tic tac toe, a loud bell sounded causing the two little ones to jump, which signaled that it was time to start heading home for the fillies and foals at the kindergarten. “I gotta go.” Mael said, as he packed his plushie back into his bag, “I don’t want to be late when momma comes to pick me up. So, see you later Chrysalis.” “Wait.” Chrysalis said, “I’m not sure if there will be a next time. Mother says that ponies and changelings can’t be friends because we’re so different.” “Oh…” Mael said saddened, until he thought of something that could change everything, “Then I’ll guess we’ll be the first then!” “First..?” It took a moment for Chrysalis to realize what Mael had said, but when she did her eyes widened in surprisement. “Yeah! We’ll be the first ones to be friends with each other!” They both nodded in agreement as they each started to go their respective ways. Chrysalis spread her bug-like wings as she began to fly back to the hive, while Mael began to crawl under the impasse to get back to the school yard. He ran like never before to make it seem like he had never left. He ran through the unkept parts of the field before he quickly climbed up a slope and under a bush. Luckily he wasn’t too late, he saw the other ponies his age begin lining up to go back inside, he managed to sneak to the back of the line as the rest of the ponies started to go back inside to finish what little of the day was left. A few hours later, On the way back to the castle The golden chariot flew through the air being pulled by a pair of pegasus guards. Mael watched over the side in amazement while his mom just smiled at him.  “So how was your first day of school?” Celestia asked “It was great!” Mael said, “I’m glad you liked it Mael.” Celestia said, “You wouldn’t be opposed to the idea of continuing to go to school, would you?” “Nope!” Mael happily replied If it weren’t a safety hazard, Mael would’ve been prancing around the chariot from how happy he was. When the chariot reached the destination, joyfull, Mael jumped off of it before his mom followed him off. While Celestia's walk was one of eloquence and perfection, Mael’s was in direct contrast being one of energy and youthful happiness. It had started to get late in the day, and time for Celestia to put the sun to rest. When the moon had risen, Celestia began to lead her son to his bed to sleep. Subconsciously, Mael stopped in front of his momma’s room, but Celestia didn’t stop beside him. She continued to walk to the next door, Celestia opened the door and motioned for her son to follow her. Inside the room was a bed, nowhere near big enough for both of them, a book shelf full of many different books, and a small chest. There was nopony inside, Mael’s mom wasn’t showing him anything, so what was this about? “Momma?” Mael confusedly asked, “What is going on?” “You're starting to grow up,” Celestia said, “And as much as I love you, you won't be able to sleep in the same bed as me forever. So I’ve decided to give you your own room, you’ll be able to do whatever you want with your room, and as long as you keep it clean, I may let you bring friends over. And almost everything in this room is yours.” “Really?” When Celestia nodded her head, Mael became overfilled with delight, “YAY!” Celestia watched Mael run laps around his new room, before he began to tire himself out. Once Mael had finished with his rowdiness, he climbed into his bed and began to drift to sleep. Celestia illuminated her horn as she used her magic to drag out Mael’s plushie and place it right in his grasp. Mael snuggled the plushie as he smiled at the familiar sensation of the plushie’s fabric rubbing against his fur.