“Sweetie Belle, no,” Echo shouted in desperation, “you can't get a cutie mark like this!” The three Cutie Mark Crusaders were sitting in the bucket of a rickety, homemade catapult. Sweetie belle was holding a small knife and preparing to cut the rope to send themselves flying.
“Candie, we're fine,” Scootaloo insisted, “we've all got helmets!” With that, she thumped herself on the head.
“I don't know,” Apple Bloom chimed, “what does a living cannonball cutie mark look like, anyway?”
“Hey, wait,” Sweetie Belle said, “how can we be living cannonballs if we're not in a cannon?”
“That's a good point,” Echo eagerly chimed, “you can't get your living cannonball cutie marks doing this because it isn't a cannon. Now get down before one of your sisters kills me.”
“Same difference. PULL!” Scootaloo shouted, holding her foreleg out in a grand gesture of bravery. With one deft motion, Sweetie Belle cut the rope. The contraption creaked for a second before the tension relieved itself, sending three small missiles flying through the air with a trailing scream.
“DAMN IT, DAMN IT, DAMN IT!” Echo looked around quickly. Seeing nopony, she shifted into Rainbow Dash's form. “This is going to hurt.” She took off as quickly as she could. Even though her wing had healed enough that she could fly, it was incredibly painful. The muscles in her back burned as she flew. As quickly as she could, she flew underneath the flying fillies, scooped them up, and deposited them on the ground.
“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo chimed, excited.
“Sorry, gotta fly! Don't do that again!” Echo quipped before she darted off a short distance into the Everfree. A quick flash later and she was back to being Candlelight.
“Wait, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo's voice came faintly. No time to rest!
Echo shot through the forest and hid in a bush. She watched woefully as Scootaloo come running to chase after her idol. Don't do this, Scootaloo, just go back and play with your friends so I can come and 'find' you. Despite Echo's silent pleading, Scootaloo kept charging forward into the forest. When Scootaloo was out of earshot, Echo covered her hooves in green flames, transforming them into the paws of a lion. With her new-found stealth, she followed the excited filly, hoping to keep them both out of trouble. Twenty minutes later, Scootaloo stopped in her tracks, and began to look around nervously.
“Rainbow Dash?” She called out with fear in her voice. Echo stepped on a branch, making a loud snapping sound. The filly shot around and looked in the direction from which the sound had come. Echo stooped low to the ground, not even breathing. The filly's motions became quicker and more hectic. Without warning, she took off running. No, Scootaloo, that's the wrong way! Echo cursed the fact that Scootaloo could not be contacted through normal, telepathic changeling means. Watching the fall of her paws very carefully, Echo bounded after the flightless pegasus.
Ten minutes of running later, the filly was exhausted. Echo took this as her chance and shifted her hooves back to her normal disguise. She bounded through the brush, feigning exhaustion. “Scootaloo?” She huffed.
“Candie?” Scootaloo turned around, her eyes red. She's crying? “Oh, thank Celestia you found me! I … I don't know where I am. I came chasing Rainbow Dash, but she's gone, and I got so scared and turned around that I just don't...” With a sob, Scootaloo lurched forward and grabbed Echo's leg with all the force of a vice grip. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She started to bawl.
“Oh, Scoot...” Echo cooed softly. “You're okay. It's going to be fine, I promise.”
The two stayed like that for a moment in the darkness of the forest before Scootaloo finally spoke up. “We... should go home, shouldn't we?”
“Yeah, I think we should.” Come on, let's go.
As a changeling, Echo had a naturally great sense of direction. Her years of military training had served to make that sense of direction an instinct for her rather than a conscious decision. The two trotted off through the woods back towards Ponyville, side by side.
Suddenly, Echo's eye caught movement in the brush on either side of the path ahead.
“Scootaloo, stop.”
“What is it, Candie?”
Echo peered into the bushes, seeing small movements every few seconds. She could hear something enormous shifting its weight. A foul, rotten stench met her nostrils. “Scootaloo, listen to me very carefully. Do not run. Back up slowly, and stay behind me. Do you understand?”
“What is it?” The filly's voice quivered with fear.”
“Do you understand me?” Echo used her most commanding tone.
“Y- yes, Candie.”
“Good. Let's start stepping back, okay? Here we go.”
The two moved backwards at a crawling pace. Echo kept her eyes fixated on the bushes. As they moved backwards, the motion in the bushes followed them, maintaining the distance between predator and prey. This couldn't keep up forever.
“Okay, Scoot. Change of plan. Hop on my back, and hold on tight, okay? This is going to be quick, so you have to do whatever I say, as soon as I say it. Don't ask me questions. Now, jump!”
Scootaloo obeyed. As soon as the filly made her movement, the foliage tore apart. Three timber wolves came barreling down on the pair at full speed. Echo turned tail and ran with all the speed her body could manage. She jumped over roots, rocks, and holes. Small creatures skittered out of her way as she ran. The filly was latched around her neck, biting at the nape out of fear. The barking and howling of the timber wolves' pursuit pierced Echo's ears like a hot needle.
Careening around a corner in a cloud of dust, Echo saw the same tree where she had spent her first night. “Scootaloo. Listen. That tree ahead has a hole in it. Do you see the big piece of bark? If you move it to the side, you can squeeze in there, okay? I know it's scary, but I need you to get in there as quickly as you can, okay?” Echo felt the filly nod. She slid to a halt a few yards from the tree, and turned to face the direction from which she had just come. “Now, GO!” She screamed. Scootaloo jumped off of Echo's back and scurried over to the tree. She found her way inside the knothole just as the timber wolves came lurching around the corner. Their eyes met hers, and the forest was permeated by the guttural utterances of the predators.
The wolves spread out on three different sides of Echo, pinning her back to the tree. Her eyes darted back and forth, scanning them for weaknesses. I can't do it. Not in this form. I can try, but they'll tear me to pieces. Glancing behind her, she saw one of Scootaloo's eyes peeking around the bark. “I'm sorry.” Echo said as she closed her eyes.
Her entire body was cloaked in flames, startling the wolves for a moment. When they cleared, her true form was standing in front of the tree, legs splayed out to offer her greater stability. Her horn glowed a fiery green, and her face was contorted into an expression of pure rage. “You will NOT harm me or the child!” Her insectoid voice boomed through the forest.
Snarling, one of the wolves took a step forward. She gave it a full-force blast of magic to the face, and the wolf shattered into its constituent pieces with a thunderous crack. As she was recharging her magic for another blast, the wolf to her right took a lunge. She ducked down low and slid underneath the beast. She fired another blast directly into the side of the wolf that had previously been to her left, causing it to catch fire. The flaming timber wolf pounced at Echo. Her pure, compound eyes widened for a moment before she was pinned under the weight of the beast's body. It snapped at her with its jaws, and Echo struggled to move her head out of the way of the repeated attacks. The wolf's claws began to dig into her chitin. My armor will only hold for so long. I need to do something. She delivered a full force kick with her hind legs to the burning wolf's chest, giving her just enough time to slip out from under its grasp.
Her wings fluttered as she righted herself, and she groaned in pain at the exertion. Spreading her legs, she steadied herself and charged another blast of magic. The wolves turned their gaze to her and launched themselves toward her with all the speed their bodies could generate. As they were about to make contact, a blinding white flash of light came from Echo's horn, and the two wolves collapsed in a pile on top of one another.
Echo had managed to blind the wolves long enough to propel herself into a branch above them. Looking down at the confused pile of firewood, she began to pummel them with volley after volley of her magic, until the ground beneath her was nothing but a charred crater. At the bottom of the crater was something resembling a leviathan green camp fire. Black smoke rose into the sky, choking Echo slightly. Enduring the pain, she buzzed her wings to clear her vision, and flew down to the ground. She walked over to the tree where Scootaloo was hiding, and changed back to her disguise.
“Scootaloo?” she asked, sounding fearful.
“Y-you're a changeling?” squeaked the young filly.
Echo hung her head. “I'm sorry.”
“You saved my life,” the bark that covered the knothole shattered as the weight of the filly hit it. Scootaloo knocked Echo onto her back, hugging her around the neck, almost choking her, “I don't care if you're a changeling, Candie. You saved me! I love you!”
Echo felt her eyes water as she hugged the filly back. “I'm glad to hear that, Scoots, but this has to be a secret, you know that, right?” she felt Scootaloo nod vigorously before burying her head in Echo's chest. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Echo spoke up. “Okay, now we REALLY should get back home, shouldn't we?”
“Yeah,” the filly sniffled, wiping the tears from her eyes, “we should. Can you do me a favor? Don't tell anyone I cried.”
“Of course not, Scootaloo,” Echo cooed.
“Thanks. By the way, nice moves, bug-mare.” Scootaloo looked up with a snide grin, before she bounded out towards the edge of the forest.
Echo stared at the running pegasus in shock for a moment before giving chase. “I am NOT a BUG, bird-brain,” she laughed.
As they chased each other through the field, they heard Sweetie Belle's voice call out, “Scootaloo! There you are! We were worried!” Echo looked over to see Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Rarity, and Applejack all galloping toward them.
“Are you alright?” Applejack asked.
“Yeah,” Echo and Scootaloo chimed in unison. They shared a quick laugh before Echo finished.
“We're just fine.”
The next day, Echo was on her way to the Boutique carrying a large – and delicate – load of silk fabric on one of Rarity's assignments when a little orange blur careened into her, sending them both tumbling to the ground.
Echo looked up at her payload of expensive fabric as it fell, and reached out with her magic just in time to stop it from being ruined. Carefully, she began to fold it and replace it on her back. “Scootaloo,” she began, “would you please watch where you're going?”
“Sorry, Candie,” Scootaloo said with mock concern. “so how's it going?”
I think I know why Rainbow Dash sleeps on the clouds, now. “It's busy, that's how it's going.”
“Oh. I know how you feel,” No, you don't. “I have so much homework to do. The only problem is that I can't figure it out. I wish I had some help.”
Echo rolled her eyes and sighed. “Okay, follow me. Just don't knock me over again, this fabric was expensive. When I finish what I have to do, I'll come and help you with your homework. How's that?”
“Awesome,” Scootaloo cheered, “thanks, Candie.”
Echo didn't know why she was willing to help Scootaloo. She was certain she wouldn't extend herself like this for any other ponies, much less any other fillies. “Sure thing, Scoot.”
They walked in silence together back to the Boutique, the grin never falling from Scootaloo's face. When they finally arrived at their destination, Rarity eagerly took the silk from Echo's back.
“Thank you, Candlelight! You're such a help,” Rarity encouraged. As she placed the silk down on her work table, she noticed Scootaloo. “Oh, you brought back a model! I've got an order in for a filly about your age, Scoot. Would you mind coming over here for a few minutes?"
Scootaloo shifted behind Echo. “No, thanks, Rarity. I've got homework to do with Candie.”
“Oh,” Rarity said, disappointed, “I suppose I shall just have to steal Sweetie Belle from my parents. You're such a darling for helping poor Scootaloo, Candlelight. Have fun!” With that, Rarity turned back to her work and ignited her horn. The changeling and the pegasus went upstairs to Echo's apartment.
“That was close.” Scootaloo sighed.
“Yeah, I know. I've spent too many hours being that mare's mannequin. If she ever finds out I can change my shape, there's no way that I'll ever get off that pedestal.” Echo moved to sit at a desk on one side of her room, “There's room over here. Let's see that homework.”
Scootaloo jumped up on a chair next to Echo and pulled out a large book from her saddlebag. She dropped it on the desk with a loud thud and pulled it open to a bookmarked page.
“Mathematics?” Echo groaned. Mathematics had never been her strong suit, but this seemed easy enough. “Well, I spent years undergoing the toughest training that Queen Chrysalis could throw at me, this shouldn't take too much effort.”
After a few hours of groaning, Echo had to concede that her training had never involved calculating the times at which two trains would collide after leaving from stations on opposite ends of the continent, and that such problems were both remarkably difficult and entirely useless. If one knows that both trains are on a collision course, wouldn't one simply attempt to stop them rather than determine to what location the coroner should be sent? “I don't understand the point of this,” she moaned, slamming her head against the desk. Scootaloo followed suit.
“Me neither,” the filly squeaked, “who cares about this junk?” The two sat like that for a few minutes before Scootaloo spoke again. “So, can I ask you a question?”
“As long as it isn't math,” Came the response, muted by the desk.
“How does changing your shape work?”
Me and my big mouth. “It's magic.” She stated plainly.
“I know that, Candie,” Scootaloo chided, “I mean how do you control it?”
“It's just natural for us. We don't have to think about how we do it, we just do it. It takes a lot more effort when we haven't had any food in a while, though.”
“You mean love?” Scootaloo was starting to remind Echo of Twilight.
“Yes, I mean love.”
“Changelings... steal love, don't they?” Oh, Chrysalis, here we go.
“Yes and no, Scoot. In order to get somepony's affection, we will take the shape of somepony they love. We don't magically sap them of their love, we just absorb the love they already had for that somepony.”
“Why don't you just try to get somepony to love you like normal?”
“Sometimes that takes years, Scoot. We'd starve.”
“Oh,” Scootaloo conceded, “I guess you're right.” There was a long period of silence as the two sat in the attic room of the Boutique. Finally, Scoot spoke up again. “So, you can change shape to anypony you want?”
“Yes, Scootaloo.” came Echo's tired response.
“So... could you be one of the Princesses?”
Echo stood up and walked wordlessly to the center of the room. Her horn flared for a moment before her body was surrounded in that familiar green aura. When it dissipated, a dark purple alicorn stood stoically in the center of the room. “Yes, Scootaloo.” Came Luna's voice. “I can be one of the Princesses.”
“That is so cool,” Scootaloo bounced in place, her little wings fluttering as she hopped, “do Celestia!”
Echo sighed, cloaked herself in flame again, and shifted into the elder sister's form. Her multi-colored mane flowed in a phantom breeze. “Anypony else, Scootaloo?” Echo asked rhetorically.
“Yeah,” came the eager response, “Rainbow Dash?” I need to learn to keep this trap shut.
Another flash and she was again in Rainbow Dash's body. “Fastest flier in all of Equestria!” Echo mimicked Dash as best as she could.
“It's perfect,” Scootaloo admired, “Can I...” the filly trailed off.
“What was that?” Echo asked.
“Can I see you in your normal form again?” she said so quickly it almost sounded like one word. Echo's eyes widened in surprise.
“Are you sure?” she inquired. The filly nodded vigorously, and Echo flashed bright green once more, and her body became ebony, her hooves filled with holes, and her eyes became solid color.
“So... cool!” came the whispered response of the filly. “You're cooler than Rainbow Dash! I didn't even think that was possible!”
She seems to be having an identity crisis. Echo thought. An evil idea entered her mind, and she resolved herself to make the filly truly understand what it was like to face an identity crisis.
Another flash filled the room. When the flames were once again gone, Scootaloo found herself staring into her own eyes. “Hey,” both orange fillies said at the same time, “stop that! No, you stop that! I'm talking to you! Stop saying everything I say! Candieeeee, this is mean! Stop it!” Echo matched the filly's words flawlessly.
She laughed to herself as she shifted back into Candlelight's body. “Gotcha.”
“You're mean,” Scootaloo grumbled, staring at the ground.
“I know,” Echo stated matter-of-factly, “and you're annoying.”
“Not as annoying as you.”
“I'll give you that one,” Echo laughed enthusiastically. “any more homework today, Scoots?”
“No, Candie,” Scootaloo still stared at the ground.
“Alright, then,” Echo started, “I'll see you next time you decide to crash into me.”
“Yeah, whatever,” The filly said unenthusiastically as she walked for the door.
Wow, she really seems upset. As Scoot was walking to the door, Echo got an idea. She trotted up next to Scootaloo and brought her close in another hug. “Hey, bird-brain. Be safe, okay?” Looking down, she saw a grin creep across Scootaloo's face.
“I will, bug-mare. Thanks. I'll crash into you tomorrow, okay?”
Echo laughed and pushed Scootaloo out of her door. “Try to do it a little more gently next time, okay?”
I really don't hate that filly. Echo thought to herself. She's surprisingly fun, even if she's annoying as all get-out. She walked over to her desk and sat down again. A quick glance told her that Scootaloo had left one of her papers behind. She picked it up and noticed that there was a drawing on its back side. She gasped as she saw what the filly had drawn.
Though it was crudely drawn, Echo could make out the shapes. It was a pegasus filly, which Echo assumed was a self-portrait, standing next to a changeling. The holes in the hooves, the short mane, the fangs, and the eyes proved it. There was no doubt. What struck her the most though was that the pegasus and the changeling were both smiling. They were happy together.
Echo carefully opened a drawer in her desk and deposited the paper gently. As she closed the drawer, she felt a twinge of sadness creep over her. It's not just that I don't hate that filly, she realized, I actually really like her.
As the months passed, Echo and Scootaloo found themselves spending more and more time together. Something would happen while Echo was running errands, and the two would end up spending the day together in one way or another. Their meetings became more frequent, to the point where Echo eventually gave Scootaloo permission to come visit her whenever she wanted to. They would sit up in her room and laugh. The little pegasus usually didn't even mention the fact that Echo was a changeling. She didn't seem to care, and that made Echo happier than she had ever been before. She realized that this was more than just liking the filly. She loved this filly dearly.
An owl sat in a windowsill on the second story of the library, eyes darting between a unicorn and a changeling. Every so often, he would stoop to preen his wings.
“So,” Twilight asked, her quill hovering excitedly atop the parchment, “one thing I've really been wondering. What are the holes in your hooves for?”
Echo hummed for a second. “I never really thought about it. Our armor is dense, especially on our legs. My guess is that if it weren't for the holes in our hooves, we'd be too heavy to do much of anything.”
“Amazing. What about the fangs?”
“They make us look scary,” Echo said with a toothy grin. Twilight stared into Echo's eyes for a second before jotting more notes down on the roll, “that was a joke, Twilight. They're kind of like a Unicorn's horn, except for changeling magic. If a changeling's fangs break off, we lose our natural ability to shapeshift. We can still learn the spells with traditional magic, but it's advanced stuff that most changelings wouldn't ever be able to master.”
“Oh. Why didn't you just say so?” Twilight crossed something out, then went back to her scribblings. A few moments passed in awkward silence.
“Hey, Twilight?” Echo said.
“Yes, Echo?” the unicorn glanced up for a split second to acknowledge the inquiry.
“Do you know Scootaloo?”
Twilight looked up again, then sighed as she set down her quill. “Yes. Why do you ask?”
“Well, a while ago, I was with them while they were doing some 'crusading', apparently.”
“Oh, no,” Twilight had obviously been familiarized with the Crusaders' contrived schemes to get their cutie marks.
“Yes. To make a really long, exciting, scary story short, I like that filly.”
“Yeah, Scootaloo's a sweetheart. I'm glad you – WHAT?” Twilight roared. “You LIKE her? I didn't think that changelings could feel emotion towards ponies!”
“Well, of course we can!” Echo said, feeling slightly offended. “We aren't monsters, Twilight. We can't help it if we need love to survive. Most ponies wouldn't be too willing to love a changeling, and I only recently found out that friendship is an energy that can sustain us just like love. Just because we are forced to steal love to survive doesn't mean that we're all sociopaths.” Echo felt her anger start to rise.
Twilight was quick to try to quench the flames, “you're right, I'm sorry. Ponies know so little about your race, and the impression we got at Canterlot wasn't exactly a good one,” Echo had to regretfully nod in agreement at that, “but I shouldn't have assumed, though, so I'm sorry. Anyway, what did you want to know about Scootaloo?”
“I don't know, I just wanted to know a little bit about her. I've met the other two crusaders, and I've met each of their sisters. Apple Bloom even has that whole big family to keep her company. I've never even seen Scootaloo with anyone except her friends and Rainbow Dash.”
Twilight nodded a silent affirmation, “she doesn't have a family, Echo.” Echo felt her blood run cold as Twilight continued, “she's an orphan. Applejack and Big Mac helped Apple Bloom build that clubhouse so that Scootaloo would have some shelter. Scoot refuses to take charity from anypony, and she won't say where she came from. By saying that they were building the clubhouse to give the girls a place to hang out, they were able to give Scoot a place to stay without telling her that's what it was for.”
“That's awful. To not even have any family - I mean, I grew up alone, too, but at least I had the hive to make sure I was well taken care of.”
“Yeah,” Twilight paused a moment, “so what happened to make you like foals?”
“I may have saved Scootaloo from a few timber wolves a couple months ago.”
“A few– few what?” Twilight sputtered, “How are you alive?”
“Well, it all started when the Crusaders decided they wanted to be living cannonballs...” she spent the next few minutes detailing her story. Twilight gasped every so often and asked questions, causing Echo to struggle to keep the story on track. “... but she wasn't even scared. In fact, she said that she loved me. So, I escorted her out of the forest, and she walked away with AJ and AB.”
“Wow.” Twilight murmured. “That's... quite the story.”
“So,” Echo looked down and away, unsure of herself. “What does that mean?”
“I don't know, Echo.” The unicorn paused, deep thought apparent on her features. “I mean… well, how much do you like Scoots?”
“That little filly drives me insane in every way possible,” Echo sported an annoyed glare, “and I love every damn minute of it with all of my being.” She turned to give Twilight another toothy grin, “Plus, her love tastes like chocolate!”
Twilight recoiled, and a chuckle escaped Echo's lips as she watched the unicorn's reaction.
“Okay then, ignoring that totally creepy little detail, I just have one more question,”
“Shoot.”
“Remember when you said you could be a mother?”