//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 (Sweetie Belle) // Story: A Lucky Belle // by Goodbye1234567890 //------------------------------// There was one thing Sweetie didn't about getting to share a castle with the princesses and being a flower filly to a princess: having to try on every last dress her sister made for her, her friends and the bride's maids. "Are we almost done?" Sweetie whined as her sister put another dress on her. "Almost," Rarity said as she forced another dress over Sweetie's head, minding the horn, "I know you want to go explore the castle, but you promised to help." "Yeah, but I didn't Pinkie Promise," she grumbled. "But a promise is a promise, isn't it?" Rarity said in a sing-song way, "also, blue isn't your color." "Gee, thanks." The rest of the day passed like this for Sweetie Belle. She didn't even get to eat lunch because of her sister, and by the end of the day, Sweetie had tried on at least twenty different dresses. All of which were reduced to mere fabrics when they were disapproved by Rarity. The good news was that Rarity's shipment of mannequins were coming in over night so Sweetie could have the day off. The wedding was in two days. Sweetie had finally gotten the chance to explore the castle after breakfast. As she passed through multiple corridors, different ways of how to get a cutie mark passed through her mind. Castle jumper, time traveler, and harpoon thrower were just a few of the interesting ones. After only a few more steps, Sweetie found herself in a part of the castle unlike any other part she had seen. This corridor was darker than the sun-filled passageways of the rest of the castle. In fact, it was so dark that when Sweetie continued through the dark hallway, she couldn't see her own hooves! She decided to stop moving and let her eyes adjust. When they didn't, she decided that this was the perfect time to try a spell Twilight had tried teaching her. Sweetie concentrated extremely hard on her horn. After a few seconds, it began to glow with a light blue light, making a sort of flashlight effect on the walls. She saw a door slightly cracked open, and decided to look inside. Just then she heard a voice that she would never mistake. "Curiosity killed the cat," a deeper female voice came from behind her. Sweetie turned around to see Princess Luna, looking down at her with a warm, but still frightening, smile. For a moment, Sweetie imagined the princess as a frightening monster, but then returned to normal. Then, for another moment, she saw her as a caring mother figure that she could tell anything to. Immediately, though, she returned to what she usually looked like "Y-yes Ma'am," Sweetie stammered, "I know." "What brings thou into my domain?" the lunar princess asked, going a bit lower to be at Sweetie's level "As if I didn't know." "Well," Sweetie said, seeing her more caring side come out a bit, "it's just that I'm bored, and I don't really have much to do. Applebloom is helping out her sister; Scootaloo is watching Rainbow Dash prep for a Sonic Rainboom; and I'm stuck helping my sister with stuff I don't even care about." "Yes, I understand," Luna said sympathetically, "I too was once a filly, and thus was full of curiosity. I had once wandered into a realm outside of Equestria. A land called the Badlands. In this land, seldom living beings exist. Only the Zebraik tribe and the Changelings are known to date." "What are Changelings?" Sweetie asked, not hearing this word from anyone or reading it in any books. "Changelings are vile creatures," Luna said and focused a spell. An illusion spell to be exact. Luna shot a beam of light onto the ground, where a small hole opened up. After a few seconds, a black hoof stuck out of the hole. Then another hoof, then a head, a body, and the hind legs. The legs attached to the hooves had holes inside of them. Its face had no mane and pure blue, fly-like eyes. It had a curved horn on top of its head. On its back were clear insect-like wings. Sweetie gasped. "This," Luna said and gestured to the creature, "is a changeling. They live in enormous hives hidden away in mountains or caves. They feed on love, until the one fed on is completely under their control if they wish." "Love?" Sweetie asked, "what do you mean?" "They feed on the raw emotion itself." "Oh," Sweetie said. How would they do that? Do they kiss their victim? I've seen Scoots pretending to kiss Morning in one of her daydreams. "They use a substance that amplifies their ability to extract the emotion, so there is no kissing involved," Luna said, looking down at Sweetie with a smile. Sweetie blushed, remembering that she could read minds. How? She didn't know. But what she did know was that now, if Luna hadn't known already, Luna knew about Scoots and her dreams about Morning. "You wish to see what your friend dreams, don't you?" "What?" Sweetie said, feeling doubt deep in her gut, "no, that's her business!" "If you say so," Luna said and started walking away, the illusion of the Changeling fading away, "dinner is ready, by the way." Sweetie's stomach rumbled. She was pretty hungry. Sweetie was soon following, practically floating, towards a particularly delicious smell. Where she ended up was the kitchen, where Applejack was hard at work, cleaning the kitchen for the end of the day. She looked around to see Applebloom cleaning the dishes. Sweetie decided to leave and find her sister. The good thing was that her sister needed some privacy that night. For what, Sweetie didn't know (nor did she want to). Except for the fact that as soon as she left the room, she heard some odd sounds and cries coming from the room. Sweetie got out of there as soon as she could. "Now where am I going to sleep?" she asked herself. "You could stay with Scoots and me," came the voice of Applebloom from behind her. "Oh," Sweetie said plainly, "why didn't I think of that?" "Sweetie followed her friend to their room, where nasty clop ensued. Just kidding. Although Sweetie ended up dreaming about Scootaloo and Morning doing the dirty deed when they get older. That is as far as I am going to go." The stallion left the room and was greeted by a punch to the arm. "Ow! Was that necessary?" he complained "Yes," Sweetie said matter-of-factly, "because you shared personal things that i have only told you about." "Sorry," the stallion blushed, "I love you." Sweetie kissed the stallion, "I love you too Lucky."