//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Work Work Work, and then A Little Event Planning // Story: A Mentally Unstable and Powerful Changeling...Yeah // by Taken-By-Insanity //------------------------------// “You want to see my talent?” Shade raised a brow. “Do you even know what it is?” “Sure I do!” Snowflake shrugged. “I heard from the grapevine that your talent was bringing art to life. I wanna see it in action.” “Uh-Well,” Shade had no clue how to respond. She hadn’t exactly been practicing that spell after making those rails in the caverns during the wedding fiasco. She had no clue if she could do it again or not. “I would need to draw something, in that case, and considering I have no materials to work with, I can’t really show it off.” “What about things someone has already made?” Snowflake questioned, standing up and walking to a painting of Princess Cadence that was next to the door leading to the bedroom. “Uhhhh, no. I can’t bring art that someone else made to life, only something that I’ve made.” The actual character that Shade was using for their disguise was able to bring other people’s art to life or reality, but considering that Shade didn’t want to take chances with trying to use that spell, she would have to deviate from the base information and hope that Snowflake wouldn’t keep pushing it. “Aw.” Snowflake deflated some, but quickly bounced back to her more cheerful mood. “That’s alright. I’ll just have to make sure you get art supplies before I can see it!” “What about you? What’s your talent?” Shade questioned, hoping to make the subject of her disguise’s cutie mark slip Snowflake’s mind. “Mine?” Snowflake tilted her head and looked up, as if trying to remember. “Oh! You know how some ponies are, like, obsessed with crystals?” Shade rose a brow, giving a questionable and drawn out, “Yes?” They did not know that the crystal obsession was also in Equestria but hey, the more you know. “Well, my talent is using snowflake obsidian, the rock I’m named after, to help others look into their past lives, if they have any.” Snowflake shrugged. “It’s all very spiritual stuff and, unfortunately, not very useful in society. So, I ended up here as a maid instead of some wandering pony that helped others look into the past.” “…Huh.” To think that there’s actually some merit to crystals in Equestria. Go figure. “I’ve never heard of a talent like that.” “Yeah.” Snowflake walked back to the couch and took a seat. “It’s not a type of talent that gets any recognition.” She frowned. “Most of the time ponies assume that it’s all fake and stuff so no one really talks about it. If they do, it’s probably not in a very positive light.” “Well.” Shade took a seat next to Snowflake. “While it may not be a paying talent, it’s still a great one. You can help others figure out who they are by looking into their past.” Deciding to change subjects, Shade continued with something else. “So, since we’re done here, what next?” Shade regretted asking that question. Turns out, the cooks don’t clean their dishes. That’s the maid’s job to clean. “Even in another world I can’t escape this damned chore,” Shade bitterly muttered to herself, washing a plate with a cloth by hand. Her eyes gained a faint red iris as she cleaned but she hardly did anything besides mutter to herself. Once she finished and filled a rack with dishes to air dry, Shade rolled her eyes and left the kitchens. “Finally.” She had been working on those dishes for the last half hour while the cooks were off on break or something. By now, she would be on break for the next hour, making her head to the break room for a snack. The thought of a snack made her stomach growl. Wait…Shade’s a changeling. She momentarily stopped as she remembered this, resuming her movement as she thought to herself. ”A snack would be a nibble on someone’s emotions.” Shade sighed. ”I really need to figure out how to feed without my fangs. I’m like a baby snake who doesn’t know when to stop injecting venom.” The comparison felt spot on, considering that one guard that unfortunately crossed paths with Shade when she was hungry. Apparently, he was deemed mentally unable to work for the next week. ”I hope he gets better soon. I’d hate to know if he became permanently drained of emotion.” The thought made Shade’s mood bubble down to shame. Her eyes changed from white to grey as her emotions shifted. She sighed dejectedly, before looking up towards what was ahead of her. She soon found the break room and entered, finding only one other inside. It was Gust, enjoying a plate of cookies and a mug full of coffee. “Yo.” Gust gave a lazy wave that Shade returned. Shade walked to the back of the break room and opened the fridge, finding a carton of chocolate milk. She took out the carton and picked up a mug, filling it with her beverage before placing the milk back into the fridge. Shade then went to the table Gust was sitting at and joined him. “You good?” Gust asked. Shade only shrugged in return. “What’s up?” “Just tired,” was all Shade said, taking a sip out of her mug. “By the way…” Shade watched as Gust slowly put together his question, he looked to be hesitating. “What’s up with…your eyes?” “My eyes?” Shade asked with a raised brow. “Yeah, they’re like grey and I could’ve sworn they were white before.” “Huh?” Her eyes turned back to white as her confusion grew. “That’s weird.” “And now they’re white again.” Gust observed. “Do your eyes often change color?” “No, not that I know of. They should just be white.” This made no sense. ”This isn’t something that goes with the character. Is it something that’s coming from the real me?” Shade’s true self is certainly more of a wild card. She doesn’t know much about changelings or how they work but she was sure that moods didn’t change their disguise’s eye color. ”Are disguises more complex than I thought? Did I miss something when I made this one?” “I’ll be right back.” Shade stood from her seat and left the break room, heading to one of the bathrooms in the hallway leading to the staff dorms. It was like any public bathroom, but relatively cleaner and shinier. Once inside, she locked the door behind her and checked the stalls for anyone else. Finding no one, she dropped her disguise and looked into the mirror. Their eyes were no longer wholly purple. Instead, their eyes were serpent-like and held a white sclera, more similar to Queen Chrysalis than a random drone’s eyes. “That’s…different?” Shade realized she never actually looked at a reflection in her true form before then. She had no way of knowing if anything changed. She then looked at her back, which sported new insect wings that were definitely not there before. “Now that’s definitely different. I couldn’t feel those back when I first woke up.” She sighed. “Whatever. I should just keep an eye on my real appearance and hope nothing weird is going on.” She summoned her mask made of magic and returned to her disguise, giving it a once over before she would leave. “White eyes with no pupils. Grey coat, back mane and tail.” She gave a nod of approval before unlocking the door and leaving the bathroom. When Shade made it back to the break room, Snowflake and Count were at the table with Gust, helping themselves to a shared plate of cookies. Shade took back her seat and downed her mug of chocolate milk, fearing it would get warm before she would’ve finished it otherwise. “Hey Shade,” Snowflake started. “You wanna go do something with us tonight?” “…Depends. What are you doing?” “We’re going to attend an event that’s in town.” Count answered. “Two musicians are at a concert tonight. Gust and Snowflake have mentioned them to me before, but I usually don’t listen to current music.” “He’s into the old classical stuff.” Gust elaborated. “Mm…sure. I’ll bite.” Shade shrugged. “Better than just staying in my room all night or reading.” “Great!” Snowflake clapped her hands excitedly. “We can get going once we’re off shift and get there early. That way we can get as close to the stage as we can.” “Sounds like a plan.” The group then wandered from the topic. Shade silently listened as the other three talked about whatever they were talking about. She honestly didn’t pay much attention, too busy getting a refill of chocolate milk from the fridge. Break eventually ended and after an afternoon of chores, so was work. Now off by sunset, Shade and the group were free to hang out and do whatever while they waited for the time of the concert. As a way to relax, the group decided to take a walk through the park to help any lingering stress from the day fade away. Shade took this chance to ask a question that had been nagging her since she had talked to Snowflake that morning. “So, Gust, Count, what are your talents, if you don’t mind me asking?” Shade opted to wear a black sweater after changing from her uniform. Count opted to answer first. Outside of the butler uniform, he wore a casual black suit with a red undershir. “My talent is contract magic.” “Contract magic?” Shade asked. “It’s a form of magic to make sure that both parties in an agreement do their side of the deal. Unfortunately, it's a practice that’s borderline illegal since it deals with mind control.” Count elaborated. “As a result, I’m stuck doing more manual work or have to struggle through learning other skills in order to get money.” “…Huh.” Shade turned her attention to Gust. “And you, Gust?” Gust wore nothing in place of his uniform . “I can manipulate the air and make wind with my magic.” “Sounds like a really useful talent to help with weather. Why be a butler and not someone in the weather industry?” Gust shrugged. “Was never into the idea, it felt like too much work.” After a moment of thought, Shade nodded in agreement. “Guess that makes sense.” “And this profession pays way more than the weather does anyway, since we work for the Princesses.” Snowflake chimed in. She also opted to have nothing in place of her uniform. “If we worked for some noble, on the other hand, it’d be more paying and more dignifying to do weather.” “I did not think of that.” Shade assumed that they’d be paid the same, but working for higher ranking individuals and getting higher pay does make some sense. Snowflake went ahead of the group and took a seat at a bench that was just ahead, large enough for the four to rest their legs. “Let’s rest for a minute.” The others agreed and all took a seat, watching the sun as it slowly set. ”It’s weird how natural the sun setting looks like. It’s not nearly as fast as I expected.” While the movement of the celestial bodies was faster than back home, it wasn’t so fast that it was suddenly night or suddenly day like many liked describing the cycle. Shade personally believed that the sun and moon just needed a little push to change from night to day and vice versa. “Hey Shade?” Snowflake asked after a few moments of silence. “Yeah?” “Sorry if this is a sensitive topic, but why do your eyes not have any pupils?” Shade put a hoof to her chin in thought. ”Why does Shade have white eyes? Ah, right.” She gave a nod. “It’s alright. It was a magical mishap that resulted in my eyes losing color. I was experimenting with a spell that changed the color of something and…it backfired.” She shrugged with an awkward smile. “I guess I put in too much power when it backfired, cause it can’t be dispelled.” “What about the times you do have pupils and an eye color?” Gust interjected. “Her eyes change color?” Count asked with a raised brow. Shade gave a shrug. “I guess my emotions have started to affect the spell. Somehow the spell must’ve…evolved, in a way?” “But spells don’t evolve, right?” Snowflake asked. “Not necessarily.” Count answered. “Recently, a magic study that Princess Celestia made found that spells can evolve overtime if left on their own. Spells like telekinesis won’t evolve, but some illusion spells can evolve with their environment if left alone for long enough. Although, it takes multiple lifetimes for it to happen.” “…Huh.” That was a smack of knowledge to Shade. “Where’d you hear about that?” Count gave a shrug in reply. “I overheard Princess Cadance and Princess Celestia talking about it a while ago. It’s a published study now, but I can see why you wouldn’t know if you don’t keep an eye on the subject of magic theory.” “Is magic theory a pastime of yours to study or something?” Shade asked. Count gave a nod in reply. “It’s fascinating what magic can do, especially with species that don’t have as much…flexibility as unicorns in magic.” Count said to himself, lost in wonder for a few moments. “No offense, of course.” “None taken.” Gust nonchalantly stated, Snowflake giving a nod of agreement. Meanwhile, Princess Luna approached a large building in the more industrial district of Canterlot, flanked by two of her night guards. After lowering the sun and raising the moon, Princess Luna decided to continue looking into what she’s been investigating for the past few nights. The building was fenced off with a couple signs warning to not trespass and at a gate were two…creatures. Unlike the traditional pony, these things looked to be silhouettes of ponies with glowing white eyes. At Princess Luna’s approach, the guards stopped her. One of the two spoke in a robotic voice. “Identify yourself and your reason for visiting.” Princess Luna gave a sigh. She was afraid this might happen. “I am Princess Luna, golem, and am here to investigate a possible crime.”