The Greatest Show of Kindness
Chapter Three: A Bad Dream
The young changeling had just fallen asleep, and he was snoring soundly. In his sleep, he was dreaming of the mare that had saved him.
Fluttershy had just woken him up, gently shaking him and giving him a loving kiss on the left cheek. He giggled, reaching his fore hooves up for a hug. She tenderly lifted him out of the bed, putting both of her arms softly around him and pulling him into her chest. For a good minute or so, they just stayed there in that position, giving a huge show of love in their privacy.
Even though he couldn't see her in the real world, he could imagine what Fluttershy looked like. In his dream, he saw her as a cerulean Pegasus who had a light orange mane and tail. She had magenta eyes. He dreamed that she had a pony lifting another pony from the ground, symbolizing that her special talent was helping others.
She set him down, walking towards the stairway. He followed her, and soon enough they were in Fluttershy’s shower. Fluttershy lifted him up into the small tub, turning on the water faucet and turning a small temperature gauge to the “warm” setting. Once the tub filled up, she turned the water off and took a small rag, lathering some soap in it. She rubbed it all over the changeling’s body, thoroughly scrubbing all of the chitin and making sure it was shiny. Once she finished, she pulled him out of the tub and dried him. Afterwards, she brushed his teeth along with hers.
The two trotted over to Fluttershy’s dining room table, where Fluttershy pulled out a chair for the changeling. He sat down, and Fluttershy pushed the chair back in. Next, she went to the kitchen and prepared a meal of pancakes for them, putting some love into every cake for him. Once she finished making and plating them, she poured them each a glass of milk and grabbed an apple for him. She brought the plates of food out and set them down on the table.
Soon, she was sitting in the chair across from him, and they were both eating the delicious meal that she had made for them. He was enjoying it, and the huge smile on his face made it apparent. As they finished up, they both looked up at the same time and locked eyes, Fluttershy giving him the biggest smile she could muster.
Fluttershy grabbed his dish and piled it on hers and put both of the glasses on top and took them into the kitchen, giving him the a big nuzzle against the cheek. He closed his eyes and grinned from ear to ear as she went into the kitchen and rinsed their dishes.
When she came back in, she motioned to him with a hoof to sit down next to her on the couch. He did, and when he got up on the couch, she wrapped her wing around him in a loving fashion as she urged him to a laying position. Dropping down so that he was laying on his front legs, he pushed his head up against her cheek. Looking over, she kissed him on the forehead, putting her hoof around him.
All of a sudden, Fluttershy faded from existence and the room turned dark as night. All of the furniture in the room disappeared. The changeling dropped down onto the ground, trembling in fear immediately. All thoughts of the mare were erased from his mind as two changelings stood in front of him. Then, two light-green flashes of light filled the room around him. In front of him, all he could see were two piles of ash, which petrified him. In fear, he scooted backwards on his carapace, putting his arms in front of him as if they were the gods themselves that could guard him against what was assaulting him.
It served no good; however, as he felt himself being lifted up with a horrible jade magic. Slowly and excruciatingly, his front leg was twisted, causing the bones to crack and the leg to be pulled out of its socket, pulling back toward the wall behind him. He cried, but no sound came out; no one came to his aid. He was thrown into the wall behind him, causing him to go unconscious as his head slammed into the black rock. As he slid down, he fell off, spinning around and hitting his fang right on a jag, cracking it and forcing it to split in half.
The last thing he could see was the horrible, wickedly smiling face of one Queen Chrysalis, who cackled in the darkness of the room. Her fangs were dripping with saliva. Soon, her laughter turned into a deep growl as she prepared to speak.
“You are not to trust any ponies in this life! They are vile, disgusting creatures who live only to deceive! They live only to breathe hate into you! Shall you place your trust in them, you will only find betrayal and pain!” her voice echoed in his mind. Her face flashed redly, knocking any sense of trust and hope out of his mind as a sorrowful power invaded his mind, destroying any sense of hope he had.
Fluttershy could hear a loud scream echoing in the room above her. Shooting straight up out of the bed, Fluttershy darted for the changeling. As she got to him, she heard him loudly sobbing as he shook under the covers. Saddened by his trembling form, she softly pulled the blanket off of him and put a hoof on the back of his head.
“Are you okay, little one?” she affectionately asked, rubbing down his tiny, spiked mane.
“G-Get a-away…” he cried, bringing a hoof up. “You only want to hate me…”
“What!? No, I don’t hate you, little one,” she denied, bringing her head down to him. “What makes you think that I hate you?”
“You live only to lie to me…” he trailed in a hypnotized state.
“I would never lie to you!” Fluttershy defended, softly nuzzling his head. “I’m really trying to help you.”
“I can’t trust ponies…” he chanted, not paying attention to what he had to say.
“But-“ Fluttershy started.
“No!” he shouted, catching Fluttershy off guard. “Leave me alone! If I trust you, all you’ll do is hurt me when my back is turned! Go away!” he yelled, forcing Fluttershy to recoil away.
“Okay, okay,” she said, backing off and going back to her couch.
‘I wonder why that young one doesn’t trust me. He was acting very strangely right then, and now I’m concerned that he has a trust problem. Maybe something happened before the wedding or even in the past couple of days since. He wasn’t this bad yesterday…I think he might have had a bad dream.’
‘I really wish there was a way that I could just show to him that I do care for him, but he won’t listen to me, let alone allow me to touch him and give him the love he needs to live. I truly want to help him, but he won’t let me…’
Fluttershy, in distressed thought about the changeling, somehow managed to fall asleep. In her sleep that night, she twisted and turned unsoundly, worried about the changeling.