I awaken in a spotlight, my blurred eyes and dizziness keeping me from doing much of anything.
“Ow, my head...What's going on? Where am I?” I pondered to myself.
“That's what I'd like to know as well.” A familiar tone, but no one I knew personally. I tried to correct my vision as best as I could and looked around and there I saw it, or rather, her sitting across from me in a spotlight of her own.
“Queen Chrysalis!? I knew you were behind this entire plan!” I exclaimed, as if breaking a century old case.
“Child, I've not met you before in my life. And as for this plan, do you not notice the chains on my body holding me in place? Why would I chain myself with somepony as obviously moronic as yourself?” She berated, barely able to keep herself awake.
“Well considering how badly your Canterlot plan went, I just assumed you'd have done something that stupid sooner or later.”
“Excuse me?! My plan was foolproof!”She growled, offended.
“Uh huh. I wonder where I am.” I tapped my chin.
“Don't ignore me! You're a pathetic waste of space! You should be on the ground begging for my attention!” Her voice rising in anger.
“Pathetic? Nigga please, I'm flawless.” I shook my head, causing my hair to breeze around me. Totally fabulous.
“Now, now. You two shouldn't be fighting.” A voice echoed from the darkness.
“Who are you, and why do you sound like I want to punch you?” I deadpanned into the shadows.
“He just sounds like that, but there are more pressing matters at hand.” A sensually seductive voice echoed aswell.
“Holy crap your voice is hot!” I screamed in excitement.
“Thank you. It has brought many a stallion to bow to my will,” the voice replied.
“But Morgan Freeman, how did you get here?”
“....”
*Click Click*
“NO, MARISSA PUT THAT DOWN!” The first voice panicked. The sounds of them fighting over what I assume to be a gun was both troubling and entertaining.
“Boy,” Chrysalis suddenly spoke to me. “Who are you?”
“I'm Shifting Sands, apparently, and why do you care?” I raised my eyebrow in suspicion.
“You are still a changeling, and therefore, I am your queen. I am responsible for you, but tell me, how is it you managed to survive? You're obviously too young to be on your own.” Her eyes narrowed. She was trying to get this information for another reason. What on earth could it be?
“I'm being taken care of by Ce-”
“IT'S TIME TO GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!” shouted the Morgan Freeman pony.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on there, Jigsaw. First off, who are you? Secondly, why am I here? Thirdly, why is SHE here? Fourthly, and the most important question of them all, why am I here?” I questioned to her.
“Shifting Sands, we are your brother and sister. Marissa and Darius.” They stated
“Lies! I was adopted.” I screamed.
“Why don't you ask Chrysalis.” Marissa replied.
“Chrysalis, you have kids?” I said, laughing a bit. It had to be a joke.
“Indeed I do. You see, every now and again, while preforming the task of feeding my subjects, I preform some...necessary duties. In these duties I do from time to time bare children. It's not that big a deal, really.”
“Come on, Chrysalis. Tell the full story!” Darius screamed.
“I have no idea what you mean.” She turned her head, smiling in her secret.
“You don't 'just have kids.' You plan them out!”
“She does what now?” I reeled back, a bit taken, by surprise.
“Each half-bred changeling has unique traits about them. Special kinds of magic, multiple things to feed off of. Like my sister and I, who feed on attention.”
“Ok. That's nice. Seriously, I'm having a hard time caring about any of this. Get to the point.” I started yawning.
“Fine, we'll give you the short version. Each time Chrysalis has attempted an heir, she abandoned them, left them to fight on their own if they were lucky enough to hatch. That is, until recently.”
“Nooo..” Seeing where this story was going, I did not like it one bit.
“She gave life to a new changeling, one with very unique talents. Unique even among her other children.”
“No, no, no...”
“She handed this changeling over to someone she believed would take care of him, regardless of what his kind did.”
“NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!”
“Under the guise of a poor, miserable pony, she gave you to Princess Celestia. But why would she do this? What about you would cause her to hand you over to the enemy?”
“BUCK YOU! STOP CONVOLUTING MY LIFE MORE THAN IT ALREADY IS!” I began shaking my head, rejecting everything they had to say.
“Our father, who specialized as a master manipulator, gave us our special magic. Telepathy and Illusions. All we have told you is straight from her own mind. However there's a part we can't get to, a place where the information stops. It's like it's not there. We thought if we brought you here first, the rest would just show up, but nothing.” Darius stated, as if he'd practiced the line for years in his own head.
“Nope, I am not getting involved in this. I just wanna return to being human!” I stood screaming into the darkness.
“You were human...?” Marissa gasped.
“Yes, I was. Why? Do you know of them?” I raised a brow.
“Yes, we used to be humans too. We didn't think there were others!” Darius said, getting excited.
“Hahaha...humans...haha! You think you can ever be human again? My poor deluded children, you can't return to being what you never were.” Chrysalis mocked, grinning as if she'd assured victory.
“Say what now?” My interest had been piqued.
“Oh! You didn't know? My children, those bodies you inhabited, those human shells, nothing more than that. Shells. You see, while the changeling grows in their cocoon, the changelings mind is placed inside a fresh and empty vassal, this is where the changeling grows mentally. I believe on the human earth they're called 'stillbirths' yes? Anyway, that body only 'lived' as long as you were in it, and obviously you're not in it anymore. Are you?” Her voice filled with cruel satisfaction, held in a sarcastic motherly tone.
“I-I- You- H-How can that-? W-W- You mean I'm...”
“Dead? Yes, in a way. Changelings have a subtle, passive magic about them while they are in human form. It forces a horrible life upon them, pain, anger, hunger, every horrible thing you could think of is caused by their passive magic. When the changelings mind returns to it's body during infancy, it has an insatiable need, a hunger for something it never had. Love. The changeling is then taught how to feed on love by turning into another pony, but the love they get as another never fills the void they feel in their heart. They never feel loved for who they thought they were. And thus our holes are made.” She lectured.
“Why are you telling me this?” I began to withdraw.
“You don't seem to be very hungry. You're an infant, but you aren't searching for a source of love. Why? You should be running around begging for love from every creature you see, yet here you are, calm and collected...I don't like that, and I want to know why!” She screamed.
“I had a loving mom, why does it bother you so much that I didn't lose myself to some strange hunger?” I shook my head and realized what I had said. I honestly thought I wasn't going to get involved in this. When I refocused my eyes back on Chrysalis, she was...less than happy. She was baring her fangs and glaring daggers.
“I think playtime is over, kiddies. Shifting Sands, mama needs to speak with you.” She said, rising to her hooves.
Marissa screamed “Don't try anything! Those chains on your body-”
“Are fake. Your father's illusions couldn't fool me, and yours are leagues below his.” She sneered as the chains broke and disintegrated into nothing. The world of shadow faded and revealed a large cave. She began walking towards me, her eyes glowing like hot coals. “A cave? Last time I checked, you were changelings, not common filth. If you wanted to keep me prisoner you should've done it right and used a castle. Why must all my children be failures?”
“Mama needs to check herself 'fore she wrecks herself! WHOOWAH!” I leaped at her horn first, but she caught my attack in a magical field and brought me to her, levitating me through the air. “This went down a whole lot differently in my head.”
“Put him down!” Darius and Marissa screamed, blasting bolts of electric magic at her, missing every shot.
“Oh come on! She's right here,” I pointed. “Also! Marissa, you look like a bad Luna OC.”
“HA! You owe me twenty bits, Marissa.” Darius shouted in glee, despite the dire situation.
“Shut up and shoot!” Marissa retorted, continuing to fire small bolts at her, still managing to miss the motionless target that was standing right in front of them.
“I'm afraid I don't have all day, children.” Chrysalis jeered, staring at me with immeasurable contempt. Their magic bullets were STILL missing her.
“Oh for the love of god...JUST HIT THE STUPID HORSE-BUG ALREADY!” I screamed, panic in my voice.
“Right, I think we're done here.” Chrysalis calmly let out before giving off a shockwave of magic knocking my "saviors" into unconsciousness.
“I'm so screwed.”
“Don't worry, I don't want to hurt you. I just want to explain some things to-AH!” Winona had bitten Crysalis' back leg, disrupting her attention and dropping me from her magical field. Winona let go and ran towards me, barking. I had no idea what she was saying, but I jumped on her back and we rode out of the cave into a forest, bobbing and weaving through trees, jumping over tree trunks and rocks.
“ONWARD MY LITTLE PUPPY! WE RIDE!” I screamed into the sky, enjoying my freedom. But that was short lived. Winona froze in her tracks, her eyes green and her mouth agape. I muttered, “Buck my life.”
Chrysalis held my body in a magical grip once more and made her way to us. “Shifting Sands, would you like to know a little story?”
“No”
“Too bad. Once upon a time there was a queen, she was beautiful and powerful-”
“Didn't know you were into fantasy.”
“SILENCE!”
My eyes opened wide and I clenched my mouth shut.
“Where was I? Oh right, the queen was beautiful and powerful. She took care of her loyal subjects with pride. She took it upon herself to take care of their every need, she found it to be easy, effortless even. Though the queen knew it would not always be so easy to care for her kingdom, so she made a decision. She would make way for an heir who would help her feed the kingdom and one day take over and protect it. So each time the queen went to feed her kingdom, she gave life to new children. These children were very diverse in abilities, but time and time again the queen saw their flaws. Flaws that would no doubt be the downfall of the kingdom she worked to maintain.”
“Does this story have a point? I'm kind of falling asleep here.” I yawned.
“We're almost done. Just be quiet and listen to the story. The queen had begun to give up hope, all her children lacked what she needed in an heir: POWER! That is, until one day she happened upon a knight as she was preparing to feed her kingdom once more. She and the knight laid down together in love. The queen did not know it yet, but she was pregnant with the knight's child, and that child would be her saving grace. A few days later, the queen had failed in her attempt to feed her kingdom. She had attempted to take another and was forced out.
"The queen didn't think much of the failure, and carried on attempting to feed her kingdom as usual. But there was a shame she could not live down in that failed attempt, shame that always bit at the back of her mind. It was in that shame that she gave life to the knights son, but this only enraged the queen. A reminder of her failure, she would destroy this reminder just for some small peace of mind. She readied herself to destroy the child with the powerful magic she had mastered-”
“I thought you said we were almost done.”
“Interrupt me again and see what happens. I dare you.”
“Sorry...”
“Right. She let out a large volume of magic at the child, not wanting a single iota of him to see the light of day again. The magic struck him, but the child remained, unaffected. It seemed to be smiling, in fact. The queen approached this child and gave a small stream of magic into his teeny tiny head. Still, he remained unaffected.
"She wondered what was happening, so she made a large orb of magic and placed it on him. And to her surprise, the orb began to shrink, and shrink, and finally vanish into the child. She poked repeatedly, asking how this was possible, but with each touch she found herself a little weaker. She realized... the child could absorb magic, even through such simple means as contact, the queen was stunned. The perfect heir had finally arrived, her defeat was truly a victory, but even then she wanted revenge for the humiliation she suffered.
"So she devised a plan. She would take part of her own consciousness and place it in her child, she then would give that child up to the kingdom that defeated her, being ruled by his base emotions of hunger and lacking any real will, he would become more and more like his mother. And once his power was ripe, he would force his rule into place, and the kingdom would bow to him. And if they didn't, he would destroy them all. But a while after she gave him up, she met him once more, though she didn't know it right away. When she did learn, she was shocked to see the child had a mind all his own.
"This was bad for the queen's plan, as that would mean the child could end up suppressing his mothers consciousness. She had to fix this, and she did it by telling him that if he dared to push back against her plan, her consciousness would not only fight him for supremacy until his death, she would rain down destruction on that kingdom again and all in his name. His true name, prince Variance. He would lose everything he ever cared for, and more. The end.” She smiled, placing me gently back on Winona.
“I can't believe it...you're...in my, your mind is...that thing that's been taunting me...and you planned on me...you turned me into a-a-”
“I believe the correct term is 'sleeper cell' and yes, I did.”
“I believe the correct term is time bomb! Why would you do such a thing?! Don't you care about how I feel in all this?”
“No”
“I'm your son! You even said I was the perfect heir...”
“You are.”
“You're my real mom...and you don't even care...”
“Aw, Variance, don't say that. I never said I didn't love you, I do.”
“Y-You do..?” A small smile crept onto my face.
“Of course I do. If I didn't love you I would have never given you the warning, I would hate to do something drastic and hurt my child.” She began nuzzling me.
“Why do you even have to do this? The revenge will only make you happy...” My voice began to sink as I turned my head down.
“Variance,” She turned my head to look at her, “Listen to what mama has to say. Mama loves you, she truly does, but while she loves you...” Her eyes began to glow and a horrible smile grew on her face “She loves herself more.”
“Y-You're a bitch!”
“Well, at least you know which side of the family you get it from. Now be a good changeling and take a nap.” She shot a small beam into my chest and I fell into a slumber of pure darkness. When I awoke, I found myself still on Winona's back, emerging from the Everfree forest, we made our way past Fluttershy's cottage, into the middle of Ponyville. She started sniffing the ground, looking for a scent and when she caught it she made her way to it. I closed my eyes again, still tired from Chrysalis spell, and heard faint gasps, whispers and the like. I heard the noise of a worried mother, a scared sun princess crying out in joy, but breaking through that noise, in my head, was a voice. It chanted loudly and victoriously.
“Long live the queen”