//------------------------------//
// Chapter 22: Now What? 
// Story: There's a Changeling On My Couch, and Other "Tails" From the Far North 
// by Super Trampoline 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 22: Now what?


Half an hour later, a happily humming changeling with a bit of a reflective sheen on her now-clean chitin sauntered into the kitchen where Flashpan was currently sitting on a cushion in front of the table, consuming his vegetable soup.
        “You sound awfully happy,” he observed without looking up from the book he was reading.
        “Well I am,” she replied slightly giddily. "Want to ask why?”
        “Sure, Why?”
        “Well, as I mentioned earlier, I am very much alive, which really is a pretty wonderful thing. I’m also not in jail, so I guess that’s two for two. And best of all, I now have an awesome housemate who’s going to take care of me!” At this she sat down next to him grinning with a leg around his shoulder.
        “WOAH woah woah!” Flashpan sputtered, spraying some small droplets of broth onto his (borrowed from the library, oops) book, “Who says you’re staying here?!!?”
        “You mean to say that you would kick a poor defenseless pony out onto the street of a cold hard city which hates her? You MONSTER!”
        “Damn, an hour and a half after I rescue you and you’re already emotionally manipulating me? That must be some kind of record,” he deadpanned back at her.
        “Nah, the record is actually seventeen seconds, which was set about fifteen years ago. Three and a half minutes is my personal best.”
        “The fact that you keep track of that fascinates and concerns me. But seriously, I’m not sure I want to hide a fugitive in my house.”
        Ereton grinned an evil fanged grin. “Well, I could always cast a knockout spell on you, build a cocoon in your closet out of my own saliva, stuff you in it, and steal your love and life force while you sleep, all while pretending to carry on as you.”
        “Oooooh, scary,” he replied. “But I’m not too worried. Even changelings have standards.”
        “Flash, I like you. Most ponies would freak out should I suggest that, but you don’t even bat an eye. I have to say you’re pretty cool for a pony, I guess.”
        “I guess? Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Despite himself, he let a smile show through as he got up to take his empty soup bowl to the sink. “So, now what?”
"Now? I don't know. Why don't we sit down on a couch that isn't stained with my blood and chat mano-a-mano."
"I don't think that term means what yo-"
"Shut up and join me!" the chipper changeling called to her rescuer. "Let's chat!"
So they did.

She began. “First of all, I know what you’re probably thinking, and yes, I would like to go see a doctor sooner than later. While I know that I have no life threatening injuries, I would like those I do have to be sterilized against infection. Also, I hurt like a sow, if you pardon the expression. Some pain killers would be reeeeeaalllly nice right about now. The only reason I’m not doubled over in agony right now is the sweet sweet salve of your love. Beneath this mask of giddiness is a pony in pain.”
“Now hold right up just a minute. You’re starting to grow on me, but I am most certainly NOT in love with you! … Unless… you didn’t cast some sort of spell on me, did you? DID YOU?!?!”
“Oh darling, please. You flatter me. But despite my status of being a 'monster', apparently I know a bit more about 'the L word' than you. Love is a many splendored thing you know, and the simple fact that you are accepting of me means a lot. I mean, I myself, being a changeling, can’t exactly feel compassion (or any emotion for that matter), but as I said earlier, I can definitely taste its sweetness. This isn’t the first time this has happened you know, but it is the first time somepony has still accepted me afterwards."
The look on Flashpan’s face said that he was rather taken aback by this deluge of new information. “Two things,” he began. “First of all, what do you mean you can’t feel emotions, and second of all, you’ve been discovered before?”
Ereton replied. “Let me answer your second question first. Of course I’ve been discovered. Believe it or not, the Canterlot attack was not the first or even the largest discovery of changelings. It’s just what with all the crazy shit that goes down in Equestria, most ponies have a pretty short memory. The mind wipe spells we sometimes use might also have something to do with this… heh… heh.”
The pony next to her was somehow raising his eyebrows and glaring at her at the same time. Ereton wasn’t entirely sure how. So she continued.
“And as for the first question, no I can’t really feel my own emotions. Like, I know when I should feel happy, like when you saved my ass this afternoon, and I can even be happy on an intellectual level, like ‘Oh, this day is going to be perfect.’ But while I have dreamt of it since I was small, I’ve never actually gotten to experience my own emotions. Maybe that’s why us changelings are so love-thirsty - it’s the only chance we get to vicariously feel feelings we’ll never feel ourselves.”
As she explained this, her voice and expressions dimmed, and she seemed, even though she had just gotten through saying that it was impossible, to be sad.
Flashpan likewise was affected. “I’m… sorry to hear that. To never feel all the wonderful emotions that ponies feel, that must be… awful. So let me see if I understand this. Though you have every right to be sad right now, you aren’t?”
“Oh no, I am sad right now. It’s just that I know it, I don’t feel it. It just sort of ‘is’. It’s like trying to describe what an apple looks like to a blind pony who can feel it. Intellectually, he knows exactly what the apple would look like to a seeing pony, but he will never be able to see it for himself. But don’t feel too bad. To finish the metaphor, us changelings can still vicariously ‘see’ that apple through the eyes of other ponies. Which is still pretty cool.”
Flash smiled at her. “huh. That’s fascinating. Thanks for sharing Ereton. I’m sorry you haven’t gotten to experience true love, but then, nor have I.”
“GUAHHH!?!?! You haven’t?!?! Oh you poor creature. Well, don’t worry too much about it. You can’t hurry love, no you just have to wait. I’m sure you’ll find you’re special somepony. Heck, you might be looking right at her.”
“Meh, I’m not too worried. Now let’s get you to a doctor.”

Wait a minute. Did she just wink at me?