Silence.
Darkness.
An infinite expanse of blackness.
But then... A single spark of light. A single, tiny, insignificant blue spark of light twinkled into existence, a heavenly sound accompanying it’s arrival. You wanted to run to it, but without a frame of reference, you had no way of knowing how far it was. Just as you were about to throw your caution to the wind, a thousand other green lights came into existence, flaring brightly, and drowning out the blue light, wiping its existence from your mind.
Tens of thousands of voices cried out within your mind. All of them reaching an auditory apex at a different moment, the sound seeming to rise and fall with each passing heartbeat. You were... alive. Barely.
Out of the cacophony came a single voice. An eerily familiar sound, one that echoed through your mind, sending reverberations through your frame. The words were incomprehensible, but the sound was still there. It was a single, beautiful, note of bliss. A wordless sound that drew away from the thousands of other voices and drew you towards it just as much. As the sound grew clearer, you felt an immense energy pour into your frame, filling you with vigor that you hadn’t known in your entire life. Even while in the hive you hadn’t felt quite this powerful.
But still the other voices were there, growing louder and brighter in an attempt to drown out the blue light. And then the green lights began to flash brightly, and disappear. Each flash sent a pang of pain through you. They left the beauty of the blue light more noticeable, but somehow each disappearing green light left you feeling emptier. As consciousness tugged at your slow mind the disappearing green lights began to fade faster and faster, allowing the blue light to grow more noticeable.
A shuddering gasp sounded past your lips as you opened your eyes, and the first thing you saw was Rarity, her own eyes closed and her face just inches from your own. Her makeup was streaked from her tears, and her mane was a disheveled mess. Still beautiful, but Rarity would call it a disaster. Your body felt weak. Almost as weak as it had near the end of your recollection of events.
As you closed your eyes once again, you concentrated your power in your horn, casting a simple spell that would refresh the small timer that had told you how long you had left to go. With the smallest of chuckles you noted that it had technically hit zero. A hundredth of a second was all it had left, and even that seemed to waver from one to zero every so often. Your slowly brought a trembling hoof to Rarity’s cheek, gently caressing her, hoping that she would stir.
Her eyes fluttered open at your touch, small tears emerging as she looked into your own eyes. Neither of you spoke for several long minutes. As you opened your mouth to speak Rarity moved her own closer to yours, locking her lips against yours in a powerful kiss. When she finally broke the kiss, since you wouldn’t, she had a smile on her face, her tears still flowing.
“Rarity...” You paused for a moment, enjoying her slight reaction to your utterance of her name. “You really need to do something with your mane...” Her smile vanished for a moment, but then it came back, stronger than before.
“For you, Catalyst, I’d dye it green.” You put a hoof to her cheek once again, and she just leaned into it, sighing softly. “But I’d shave it off a day later.”
Two hours later, and you finally emerged from Rarity’s home. You were still shaky on your hooves, the drop in your magical reserves having taken a far larger toll than you had expected. Still, you were out of the house, and Rarity was right beside you, enjoying your presence as you enjoyed hers. None of the townsponies ran when they saw you, so you could only assume that they’d either been told of your presence in town, the likely solution, or they’d become immune to fear, which, frankly, was a long shot.
Rarity was leading you through the town, her destination a mystery to you. Not that you had a problem with that. You’d follow her to the ends of the Equestria, and beyond. The ends of Equestria weren’t your destination, though, and you were instead brought before the library. Rarity led you inside, and as she called out to Twilight you could hear a sharp gasp come from not one, but several different ponies.
Dash was the first to emerge from the kitchen, and you were surprised to see not anger in her eyes, but relief. Storm was next, and he just gave you a small nod before he made room for the next pony to come out. Twilight and Ace came out at the same time, both of them with smiles on their faces.
Applejack, Big Mac, and Taupe were the last to emerge from the kitchen, and Big Mac’s eyes narrowed when he looked at you. He took a step towards you, and you took a step forward as well. “I found you, Catalyst. In the barn.” He looked down at you, his face an unreadable mask. “I could’ve done you in right there. It would’ve been easy, too. And it would’ve saved quite a bit of trouble and heartache.” His gaze shifted from you to Rarity, and then back to you. “I’m still not sure I made the right choice, so do us both a favor, and convince me that I was right.”
After Big Mac’s brief speech you, Rarity, and the others all enjoyed a simple meal together, the breakfast seeming to last well into the day. The initial discomfort caused by your presence faded quickly, and before you knew it they were treating you like any other pony, acting like what you were didn’t even matter to them. Throughout the meal you could feel waves of love coming from Rarity, and more than a few times you stopped what you were doing to look at the mare beside you, reveling in her beauty and grace.
She didn’t look at you any of the times that you looked at her, but you knew that she saw you looking. Every time you looked her smile grew just a bit, adding even more to her beauty. When the meal finally ended, you and Rarity were the first to leave. Rather than return to the boutique, though, you both walked through the town, the sounds of activity throughout the town acting as a pleasant music to which you walked.
After a while the two of you stopped your walk in the park, choosing a bench to sit on. A sigh escaped the mare as she relaxed into you on the bench, one of her hooves gently rubbing small circles on your leg. You allowed yourself to drape a hoof over her back, and she just pulled herself a bit closer in response.
“This isn’t very lady-like, Rarity.”
“I know. And I don’t care. Does it bother you?”
“No, but-”
“But nothing. Your opinion matters more than anypony else’s.”
“Why did you...” You found that you couldn’t complete the question, but her answer showed that she knew what you wanted to ask.
“Because I wasn’t going to let the way you look stand between me and you. Those letters that you sent were honest, and I fell in love with the pony who sent them. When I found out the truth, though, I was afraid. I was afraid that I was just another target for you. Just another meal. And then, with everything you did, I saw the truth, laid bare, in your story. You went through so much, just to have me throw it back at you because I was being closed-minded.”
“But it wasn’t for you. It was for me. I was being selfish the whole time. I wanted a companion, and so I found one in you. You gave me the love that I needed to survive. Even when I started trying to woo you, I was doing it for me, not for us.”
“Catalyst, every relationship starts out a bit selfish. We go into it looking for something for ourselves. It’s not until you realize how it feels that you’ll start doing things for them, rather than yourself.”
You give the mare a quick kiss as she finishes, and a blush surged to her cheeks. “Don’t ever change, Rarity. At least one of us needs to keep a level head.”
“For you, Catalyst, I won’t change a thing. Now, how about we head home, and get some proper sleep. That tiny bit I got, and your bout of unconsciousness isn’t quite enough.”
As you approached the boutique, ready to finally get some proper sleep, and do some... other stuff, you were surprised to see three ponies standing at the door, all of them looking at you. When you stopped, a few body lengths away, they all bowed before you, lowering their heads nearly to the ground. You took a half step back from them, looking to Rarity to see how she was reacting. She had only narrowed her eyes, looking at the three ponies as the prostrated themselves before you.
Three flashes of green light signaled their useage for magic, and then, where once stood two pegasi and a unicorn, now stood three changelings. One of them, the one that was a unicorn moments ago, looked up at you, a look bordering on reverence on her face. “King. We have found you.”
Rarity gently nudged your side, and you swallowed quickly before looking down at the drones. “Rise. There is much we must speak of, and there are many changes to be made.” They all rose from their positions, and they looked at you, eagerly waiting for a command. You pointed to the door, and they all marched inside, no questions asked.
“What are you going to do with them?”
A soft chuckle escaped you as you looked at Rarity. “I’m going to be a catalyst for them. I proved that Changelings can change. And so I’ll do what I can to help these three change.” You turned away from Rarity, looking at the boutique. “I did it, so can they.”
Rarity gave your cheek a quick peck, and you turned to look at her. “It seems that you will get your chance to be the king of a people...”