//------------------------------// // CH 10 (making a decision) // Story: Accepting Change // by drFraud //------------------------------// Patchwork Four days, plenty of ponies, and plenty of love until I finally got the achy feeling out of my gut. Celestia visiting yesterday was the icing on the cake. I had a good cry in front of her, covered with her wings and held in her forehooves. Somehow, it felt easy to talk to her about it, like we had a connection. But I dared not broach it. I did tell her I want to be a guard. She warned me that there will be ponies like Impulse that would go against me. Too bad for them, I’m more stubborn than they are. Flight practice was, fine. Gabriel is a good grif, and we had our share of talks in between the tests. His being a griffon made it easy to talk to him. Ponies are a chatty bunch, but you can easily notice a difference when talking to a predator. He didn’t immediately blanch at my dark humor. Right now, I was sitting in front of a new full-body mirror in my bedroom. I held that blasted muzzle in my claws and studied myself intently for the first time since I landed in Equestria. The first thing anyone would notice is that I am black… or close to it. More of a very dark blue, being able to see the blue of my shell when the light hits it just right. My midsection, eyes, and mane were turquoise blue, except a white stripe in both my mane and tail. I closed my third eyelid, noticing how dimmer everything is, and covered in a blue tint. Opening my eyelid, I studied my pony-like eyes. I wondered if other changelings had it the same as me. I had two antennae sticking from my head facing forward, with my stubby, curved horn in between them. I really liked the grooves of the horn, which looked like a cartoonish lightning bolt. I lifted my claws and scratched the fluff on my chest, which was the tail-end of my mane. It made me look a bit like a bee if I was honest, but there wasn’t enough there, so it only gave me a savage look. I dropped the muzzle to the floor and looked at my claws, studying every groove and bump. Moving them, I could form a quasi-fist and tightening the ‘fingers’ pulled on the muscle of the claws making them look much sharper than they normally are. I put my claws on the carpeted floor and pulled, leaving long, but shallow scratches on the marble. I stood up and gave myself a bit of show, twirling and posing. I was still shorter than average. Not by much, but still noticeable. I still barely reached Celestia’s neck. Normally. Lately, I have been eating and gaining in height rapidly, which told me that I would have to go through a molt soon. Hopefully, I’ll get to keep some of the height. I still kept my lithe frame though. I had more bulk in my lower legs, but that was mostly due to the plating of my chitin. The same plates covered most of my body, leaving only bits of exposed flesh here and there between joints. Those same plates made me look like I wore segmented armor, instead of the usual single, full-body chitin other changelings have. I know what they look like, there was a sketch to go with the old notes. I stopped posing and grabbed the muzzle I discarded. Running my claws through its straps I remembered how worried everyone was at my decision to keep it. And I made sure I told them why: it’s a reminder that there are others that this was used on and that the world is more than just this room. In whole honesty though, I kept the muzzle to motivate me to better myself. To improve my senses, my body, and my abilities so that this doesn’t happen again, not to me or anyone. I told Celestia as such and I got a nod of approval and a promise to help me improve. My stomach gurgled loudly, and I tossed the muzzle on the nightstand. Eat first, contemplate my future second. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My wings buzzed loudly as I was chasing after Gabriel. “That all ya got bug-colt!? C’mon!” I almost tagged him as he dipped under me. We were playing tag today, as a form of practice. I had several pieces of equipment and horns pointed at me at all times and I was buzzing my wings for all they were worth. I have yet to figure how to cover myself in fire while flying, but today was mostly for fun, so I didn’t care enough to try it. I dipped my head and made a quick one-eighty, changing my direction faster than any pegasus could ever do without any aid. Gabriel may have the speed, but he is no-where-near as maneuverable as me. “C’mon buddy, it’s been almost five minutes, this is just sad.” Came some more friendly taunting, and I buzzed my wings harder, forcing more magic into them. I was panting and sweating up a storm trying to catch him, while Gabriel looked like he wasn’t even trying. Which was infuriating because flying was something that I practiced on the regular, even more than my shapeshifting. I was chasing him upwards now, and I almost had him for a split-second, but he used the ceiling to bounce out of my way, causing me to nearly face-plant. “TIME!” Came a loud announcement that caused my chest to reverberate. I looked down spotting the source of the announcement: Shield’s second in command Armoured Saddle. He was asked to cover for that bastard, Impulse, and help me improve my body further. Everyone noticed that I have been trying to exercise, so they wanted someone to help me, lest I injure myself. I lazily dropped down from the ceiling and joined Gabriel at the refreshment table, grabbing the biggest bottle of water they had and guzzling it down without pausing for breath. “By the stars, can you pack it.” Was Gabriel’s stunned response. “Buzz off.” I flipped him off still panting, a gesture he didn’t understand, “Chasing you is the worst form of ‘fun’ you could ever conceive. How are you that nimble!” “Years of practice, my friend. I have been flying for decades. You, barely half a year.” He quipped, rolling his wings, and stretching them. I huffed in response and grabbed some cookies. It was quiet for the two of us, but the other ponies were in some heated discussions. I kept an eye on them the whole time, tasting their emotions and giving myself some further practice by shutting off and ‘turning on’ my empathic sense. “I heard you decided to keep that Celestia forsaken muzzle.” Came a gruff voice on my left. I looked at Gabriel first, noticing that he moved to talk to other ponies, and I was alone at the table (‘I should be paying more attention to my surroundings’). Turning my head, I saw that Armoured Saddle joined me, munching on an apple. Not a big fan of the fruit, most of them are not sweet enough for my tastes. “Yeah,” I sighed. “Decided I needed a reminder that not everyone is as nice as you guys.” I tossed another cookie in my maw, chewing on it slowly. “I doubt that’s the only reason, but I will not pry.” He said, sounding more like he’s talking to himself rather than me. I was going to call him out when Gabriel joined us, looking like something was on his mind. “You game for another tag?” He asked. Looking over him I noticed that the researchers were resetting their equipment. I turned my head to Saddle, but he just lazily shrugged his shoulders. “Um, sure,” I confirmed, wiping my claws on my chest fluff, not caring about the crumbs. I was sticky from sweat anyway. “You seemed a bit, lost in thought though.” “Yea,” He started scratching his chin, “They want you to use your abilities this time. I have never seen shapeshifting before, so I’m kind of worried.” “Don’t be, it’s completely harmless,” I assured him, flashing quickly between Armoured, myself, and then Gabriel before changing back into me. I took great satisfaction at his stunned expression. We got back into our original starting points, me at the ground and Gabriel a few meters away in the air. Armoured got in between us, with a whistle in his mouth. I was focused on Gabriel and didn’t pay much attention other than acknowledging Saddle’s presence. There was silence for a moment, then the shrill whistle sounded off. I felt and heard my wings buzz loudly at my command and I was off after Gabriel, who looked far more focused this time around. He still wanted to taunt me, obviously, as he let himself nearly get caught twice before moving out of my way. “Okay Patch, whenever you are ready!” Came the shout from one of the ponies. I grinned as fire consumed my body, replacing my changeling self with that of a griffon. Gabriel’s eyes bugged out for a split second before he dived away from my near grab. I flashed again changing into an eagle, diving after him, and slowly getting closer to him. Just as we got close to the ground I transformed back into my changeling self, giving me higher mobility, which allowed me to immediately bank right and lightly shove Gabriel before he managed to get away from me. He squawked in surprise and nearly crashed into the onlookers. Turned to me mid-air, flying up to avoid hitting anyone, he had a shocked look on his beak. I did the sensible thing and gloated in my first victory today and transformed into a giraffe, sticking my long tongue out at him. “Okay, buster, now you’re gonna get it!” He shouted down, before puffing out his chest in anger and dive-bombing me. “Oh shit!” I swiftly transformed into a housecat and ducked down with him missing me by a hair. I didn’t wait to see what he was doing and, transforming back into a changeling I jumped up and started climbing to the ceiling. Turning around I had a split second to transform again into a Colibri bird and buzzing out of Gabriel’s way as he quickly banked around and started chasing me for real. Transforming back into myself I used my higher mobility to keep away from him, but that only lasted for a minute or so before he managed to tag me, gloating all the while. This game of tag was actually fun, compared to the first one. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have gained enough understanding of their language that I didn’t need the translation spell anymore, and I had decent enough control over my new equine-like body that Circlet saw no need to teach me further. In his words, I am at the level necessary for my age (which was eighteen now, ‘celebrating’ my birthday about a month ago, which would be august on earth… ponies call it ‘Celast’, in honor of their Princess). My understanding and ability with magic is becoming competent for my age as well, while my ability to transform reached new heights, being able to transform into a teenage dragon with ease, if I have eaten enough. In fact, my transformation ability is the one aspect of magic I have never had issues with once I figured it out. Right now, I was in my bathroom studying my halfway done cocoon through bleary eyes. I woke up mid-way through regurgitating a glob of resin mixed with water and love into its inner folds. Normally I can molt without the cocoon, but this feels better, and it doesn’t make me itch for hours while my chitin hardens. I had help today as well. Dr. Light said that he would be present to make sure everything is safely set up and covered, and some of his associates would be keeping an eye on me from the beginning to the end. I was also told that some guards would be placed in front of it later as well in order to keep the cocoon from draining its reserves too fast. They will also notify the ponies when it's time for me to emerge, unlike last time. The last time I emerged from my cocoon it was a mess, with me looking for a safe space, trailing ooze and who-knows-what-else along the floor then cleaning myself for over an hour... With my tongue. It was, traumatic to be honest. Dr. Light and Princess Celestia wanted to make sure that the process is smoothed out as much as possible, with Celestia stating that she will be present as well to provide a stable source of love and comfort. Considering that she became a welcome presence in my life here, and after everything she has done for me, I could hardly say no to her request. She had to be present, and I would have begged her to be, should she have said no. It never came to that though. I had something good to look forward to once I left the cocoon. Shield Strike agreed to train me further once I’m out, getting me ready to be a member of the Royal Equestrian Guard. Armoured Saddle would pitch in from time to time as well, apparently. My future in Equestria was something I and the Princess have discussed several times now. I wanted to protect ponies, especially now that I had considerable abilities as a changeling in transformation. Not to mention, I seemed to be bulking up easily due to training Saddle put me through over the last month. One more reason I wanted to be a guard, and Celestia did not know this one, is other changelings. Chrysalis was sure to find out about me eventually, and I wanted to be able to protect not just myself, but others that she would threaten. Not to mention, that I hoped to eventually ‘fix’ the changeling race. With or without Chrysalis’ consent, it was happening. I wasn’t growing into those rainbow moose-bugs, but I was changing into something that was closer to them in function. I looked less like an insect and more like a solid combination of both ponies and ‘lings… just a tad bulkier from the exercise. And also, I did not have garish colors all over my armor. I was at least hoping to meet Thorax and Pharynx, but we will see how things go. I did not know the exact point in the timeline when I joined Equestria, but I did know that Twilight wasn’t born yet. Anyways… It was time. I sluggishly left my apartment and called White Light over, his pure white fur and gold mane a good indication to my tired eyes. I then went inside, marked the sixth month on my calendar, and then entered the cocoon, covering my eyes with my third eyelid. For a moment I saw Celestia entering the bathroom before I closed my eyes and gave myself to the darkness.