“No...” She said barely audible. “No… No… Help. Help!!!”
‘BOOMMM!!!’
The sky was covered in a prismatic explosion that shook everything. The air vibrated with such force that the little changeling fell to the ground. The wolf also had trouble staying on his paws, but nothing would stop him from getting his lunch. He jumped forward to the changeling and-
‘CRACK!’
The little changeling covered her face as a sudden shower of splinters flew in every direction. After a moment, she lowered her trembling hooves to see what had happened. A large boulder had fallen from the top of the cliff, crushing the wooden monster.
The little changeling fell to her haunches, tears still streaming down her cheeks. “I… I’m a-alive?” The changeling couldn’t believe it. She looked up at the sky, the prismatic colors fading in the horizon. She lowered her gaze as she felt something in her left hoof. One of the creature’s fangs had got stuck in one of the holes of her hoof. She removed it with her teeths, then spat it between her hooves. She stared at it for a moment.
“You won't last long out in the world,” came the words of the queen. The little changeling shuddered at the mental image of the wolf having a not-so-nutritious changeling lunch.
She looked back at her wings, or her one and a half wings. She got on her trembling hooves and set the fang on the ground. Her wings started to buzz, faster each second. She started to jump around, trying to see if that helped her to take off, but nothing. She got desperate, and pushed herself even harder. A bad landing after one of the jumps made her fall hard to the ground. Her saddlebag fell from her back, landing next to the fang, spilling the only thing inside it.
The changeling started to tremble harder, more tears streaming down. She curled in a little ball and started to wail. Everything was against her. She was alone and afraid of what else might come after her in this unknown territory. Without her left wing, without being able to fly, she would be an easy target if another of those monsters showed up, and she wouldn’t be as lucky next time.
“I-I… I’m g-going to di- die.” She said between sobs. She contemplated the idea of trying to find the way back to the hive, try to ask for another chance. She would try and- the changeling felt something, a light touch, right on her side. She lifted her head to see what was it. A current of wind had picked the photo off the ground and made it fly towards the changeling. She took the picture and looked at the happy family, then thought of how much damage she had done.
She cried quietly for a bit longer, then wiped her eyes and walked to the saddlebag. She gently set the picture inside. She then looked at the fang next to the saddlebag. She took it and placed it inside the saddlebag. It was proof that she had survived her first hurdle, and it would help her remember to never give up.
Throwing the saddlebag on her back, she resumed her journey through the forest. If she wanted to survive, she had to get out of here and find a town fast. After all, she needed love if she wanted to live. Though, she still had to think of a way to get the love without harming or deceiving.
The changeling disappeared between the trees, and she wandered between them for more than a week, managing to escape from other creatures and staying alive. But this wouldn't last for long. She was almost out of love, out of energy. Her legs barely supported her body. She was reaching her limit, but her drive would have nothing of that. She kept pushing herself, step after step, then, she finally collapsed on the ground. ‘I guess… this is it.’ She thought.
The changeling lay there, waiting for whatever would happen to her. Would she die of hunger? Or would a wild creature come for her before that?
A few steps were heard on the distance. ‘So it will be the former?’ She thought, closing her eyes, not wanting to see her destiny eye to eye. The steps got closer.
“Hey! Are you alright?!” The steps rushed on her direction and she felt them stop right next to her.
She slowly opened her eyes, a pair of hooves right in front of her. This most certainly was an hallucination caused by her exhaustion, because there was something weird with this hooves. They were… they were slightly deformed, with patches of flesh on them. The changeling blinked a few times, then looked up. There was a stallion looking down on her. His face in an equal state as his hooves, but the concern was clear on it.
“Hey, are you alright?” He asked again.
The changeling just kept looking up, thinking this was a trick her exhausted mind was playing with her. There was no way that pony would be here in the middle of nowhere, and beside that, willingly helping her. She most likely looked like a monster to this pony, that if he wasn’t an illusion. He most certainly was because she had never seen a pony that looked like this. She let her head fall to the ground.
“Hey! Hey, wake up! I have to take you to hy cottage. It isn’t far froh here.” He lowered his body and managed to get his head under the changeling’s body. He carefully lifted his head, making the changeling slide to his back. He grunted a bit, but then started moving cautiously so his load wouldn’t fall. The changeling mumbled something.
“Hey, are you alright back there?” He asked looking back at the changeling. He got a barely audible “mhmm” as an answer. “What’s your nahe?”
“I’m...” the changeling tried to gather her energies. “I’m Ch---alis.” She said barely stronger than a whisper.
“Alice? That’s a weird name.”
The changeling did not corrected him, what use was there in correcting an hallucination?
Time moved on. Up in the sky, the sun settled at the distance, and the moon did not hesitate to take its place. But the moon quickly did as the sun and disappeared. The giant fire ball reigned for a couple of seconds before the moon dethroned it again. This happened several times.
The sun and the moon kept changing places, but this did not last for long, as the sun finally decided to stay up in the sky for a longer time. It had positioned itself over a crystalline lake surrounded by trees. The water was so clear that it was being used as a mirror right now.
A not completely grown up changeling looked at itself on the water surface. Then looked at the object it was holding between its hooves. With the chisel it held on its teeth, the changeling continued to carve and ease up the surface. Just a bit more and…
The changeling held the little statuette in front of her. It wasn’t a perfect job, but it was by far the best thing she had carved all day.
“I guess it’s time.” She said while grabbing the chisel and placing it in a toolbox. She let a sigh escape before placing the little statuette inside the saddlebag on her back. Inside of the saddlebag was a second little statuette of an earth pony, that she had to reaccommodate so her toolbox could enter the saddlebag. Standing on her hooves, the changeling looked once more at her reflection. Green flames covered her, burning down her changeling aspect and replacing it for one of an earth pony, a cream coated young mare.
She smiled. This aspect was the one she had come up with a few months ago, with the help of a certain pony. He had suggested her to keep a few traits from her changeling form, like the green color of the mane and the blue eyes. The black coat wasn’t an option, as it was a strange color for a pony’s coat. Cream, that was the color he had suggested.
She had chosen to be an earth pony for certain reasons. She had originally thought of being a unicorn, but there was this certain feeling of discomfort whenever she thought of transforming in one. Being a pegasus was of no use. Without her real changeling wing, even if she had shape shifted in a pegasus with two full, functional, wings, she just couldn’t take off in the sky. Earth pony, even if this was the only option left, it also felt like it was the correct. She felt comfortable like this.
Before moving away from the lake, she turned around to see the reflection of a certain something, a mark on her flank. It was a saw with a red handle. As a changeling, she hadn’t earned this cutie mark, but, she had chosen to wore it. You could say, that this was the only thing she had borrowed from her appearance, but the second thing she had borrowed from that certain pony.
She finally walked away from the lake, in the direction of an old cart loaded with wood. She threw her saddlebag in it and moved to the front to hitch it around her barrel. She pulled it for a few minutes until she arrived to an old cottage. It looked like the tiniest current of wind could take it down.
She parked the cart next to it, freed herself from it. She grabbed her saddlebag and walked inside. Wooden statuettes of all sizes were scattered around the room. She ignored them as she made her way through the living room, until she reached a small, wooden tea table in the middle. A picture on top of it portrayed an earth pony stallion in his late twenties. It was the same stallion that had helped her those years ago. This was the only picture he had of himself before a certain accident.
The stallion had told her about it about a week after he had brought her here. He made it a short story, as it made him uncomfortable remembering it.
He lived in Canterlot, working part time in a small factory, and part time in his own workshop. One afternoon, there was an accident in the factory that didn’t take long in becoming a large fire. The stallion had gotten caught in the middle of it. The fireponies managed to put out the fire and saved his life, but not before his body had been damaged and deformed by the flames.
Life became hard for him after that. He was looked down by stallions, ignored by mares and feared by foals. He no longer belonged to this city, filled with ponies that judged others only by their looks. To their eyes, he was a monster. He couldn’t take it, so he decided to move away. He sold his workshop and managed to gather enough bits to move away. His talent made it easy for him to build himself a home in the middle of the forest. That was more or less what the stallion had told her.
The young mare looked back at the statuettes. For a long time, they had been the only company of this stallion. He crafted and felt proud of each of his creations, but as the time moved on, and due to the lack of interaction with other ponies, he had come to love each of this statuettes as his family. You could say that he had got a bit crazy, but thanks to that, the mare had survived those years ago.
After the stallion found her and brought her here, she felt the love inside the statuettes and unconsciously started to feed herself. She managed to recover her energies, and thanked the stallion for this. After a while, she realized that this was the solution to how she would get love without taking it from ponies.
A changeling can forcefully take the love existent between a couple, but this would lead to the ponies feeling unloved. With time, the ponies would drift apart. This also happened if a changeling was to take the love between a mother and a daughter, or the affection between friends.
But if she was to take the love that was being placed in an object, nothing happened. The object couldn’t feel unloved, as it wasn’t alive. No harm to anypony. She could take the love stored in a picture, or the love of a foal for a toy.
With this sudden realisation, the changeling had asked the stallion one thing… Actually, two things. First, if he was okay with her, with a monster? His answer came fast and simple: “monsters should stick together”.
The second, was if he could teach her the art of woodcrafting, at which he answered with a big, kind of creepy, smile. The stallion was happy, he had obtained real company and a student at the same time.
He taught her the basics and a few other things. He got her the tools she would require for this profession. He shared his knowledge and passion, but after some time, she had to learn things by herself, as the stallion couldn’t help her anymore. His body couldn’t stand the old injuries of that fire any longer and passed away.
“Alice, I’m sorry that you will be alone again. Be careful out there. Ponies don’t react well to what is different.” Those had been his last words.
Alice would always remember him. The stories they shared. The competitions to see who made the best piece of furniture, at which wood always let her win. That time he helped her make her own pony version, not a borrowed one.
A tear fell from her eye, and she quickly wiped it. It was time to leave this behind even if she didn’t wanted to. Without a source of love, she would starve. He wouldn’t be happy if that happened.
“Thanks for everything you did for me, Wood Sawyer.” She opened her saddle bag and took out the second statuette. She placed it right next to the picture. The mare turned around and made her way out of the cottage. She hitched the cart again around her barrel and walked away. Canterlot, the closest city, and the only one she knew directions to, was waiting for her.
Alice had been living in Canterlot for a couple of years now. Getting love had been hard at first. Ponies in this city tended to be so self centered, not giving so much as a second glance to a low class, hardworking pony like her. This also worked in her favor, as if there was nopony getting close to her, then nopony could discover her secret.
Today, Alice had just returned from the orphanage. The orphanage was a few blocks down the street of her workshop and she went there once a month to make a “donation”. She would give the little foals in that place a few toys, like trains or wooden figurines of the princess, that she had crafted. They loved them and she loved making them. The foals were happy with their new toys and it made her happy to see the foals like them. Not to mention that she also got a good amount of love out of this.
There were rare occasions where a client would express real love for one of her jobs, but usually, the clients would only show a small amount of appreciation. At least this clients paid her with enough bits to keep her workshop running. That was something. Now, she had to get ready as she had a long day of work in front of her..
Alice moved to the back of her shop/home, so she didn’t noticed that the front door opened and closed. When she returned, she got startled by a orange coated unicorn that had his cold eyes locked on her.
She took a few seconds to calm herself. Then, she carefully got closer to the stallion. “Umm, welcome to Sawyer works. Can I help you with something?”
The stallion kept looking at her without moving an inch. Alice started to feel uncomfortable under his gaze. After a moment, the stallion smirked.
“I’ll be quick. I have come here with a special offer for you, Miss, but before revealing the details, I have to ask you if you will take part of it.”
“A special offer? I… I can’t really accept to anything if I don’t know more. Couldn’t you at least tell me something about it? What is this offer about?”
The unicorn kept his smirk as he used his magic to close the windows and lock the door, leaving both ponies in a dark room. “I can’t tell you all the details as there’s the chance that you won’t accept, but I can tell you a few things, like who is the one that sent me here for you.” The room got momentarily illuminated by green flames.
Alice eyes widened. The last time she had seen another changeling, was the day when she was banished from the hive. The flames disappeared. Alice could barely see the silhouette of the changeling in this dark room.
“The Queen felt your presence about a week ago. She is surprised that you had managed to survive all this time. So, she’s willing to give you one more chance. The Queen is currently working on something that will be incredibly profitable for the hive if it is to succeed.”
Alice gulped, “M-Mother is working in something? W-What is it?”
The changeling chuckled in a dark tone. “Not so fast. Remember that I won’t tell you anything more until you accept. So… Will you take part of this?”
“I… I… I don’t think so. Whatever Mother is working in, it most certainly means that she will hurt somepony. Right?”
The changeling kept quiet for a moment. then sighed. “It is a shame that you are still holding to those stupid ideas of not hurting ponies. And the Queen was so benevolent to offer you this once in a life chance to return to the hive and take part of the plan. Well, the she knew that there was the possibility that you wouldn’t accept.” Green flames lightened again the dark room. The changeling had returned to his disguise of an unicorn. “Well, I have no other business with you. Good day.” He gave a slight nod, used his magic to unlock the door and walked away.
Alice felt that she had to do something, but what exactly? Try to stop whatever plan mother had? There was a lot of problems with that. Mother would laugh at her before asking a few changelings to take her out of mother’s presence. Also, she didn’t know where mother was, or where this work was taking place. She had no information of what this work was about at all!
She only hoped that it wasn’t something extremely serious. Alice closed the door and everything went dark.
The world slowly started to form around Alice as she tried to stand on her hooves. This required her to lean over a solid surface near her. Her head was spinning and her body ached all over.
“W-what… what happened?” Alice asked herself as she blinked a few times, trying to make sense of where exactly she was, and what had happened to her.
The last thing she remembered before she passed out was… was...
She felt a cold wave go down her body. Alice pupils shrunk and her gaze shot skywards. Just a moment ago, the sky had been filled with changelings, but right now, there was nothing up there. Had this been a dream? She wondered as she lifted one of her hooves to scratch her head, but the pain stopped her.
‘Why does my body hurt?’ A nearby scream caught Alice attention. She quickly lowered her gaze expecting to see a changeling attacking a pony, but there was no changeling. In front of her stood a mare, her whole body shaking in fear, her gaze locked in Alice’s direction.
Alice lifted one of her hooves and was about to ask the mare if she was okay, but two things happened. One, the mare had turned around and ran away. Two, Alice froze in place as she saw her hoof.
It was a black chitinous hoof covered with holes.
Another shout. This time, it came from a little colt that didn’t waste time in making his escape. Alice pushed herself away from the wall she had been leaning over. She had to hide before someone else could see her. Her body screamed with each step she made. As she ran down the street, she tried to remember what had happened to her.
‘I was… Ugh… walking back to the shop… after delivering something to a client… Then… the invasion… Then there was this… Ugh... Barrier… It pushed me against a wall… Ugh.’ Alice turned left and entered an empty alley. Her joints hurt, and her muscles felt sore. Her body required a few seconds of rest. But there wouldn’t be time for that.
“There’s another one of those monsters!” Alice turned her head and caught sight of three royal guards walking slowly and cautiously in her direction, their horns already charged with magic.
“No, wait! I-I’m not like-”
“Shut up! We will show you what you get when you invade our homes and try control us!” One of the guards interrupted her and shot his magic towards Alice.
Alice barely managed to dodge it. She pressed her body against the wall as she saw the guards walking closer, never lifting their gaze from her. They were… dangerous. Images flashed in Alice mind, memories of years ago, when she had been corralled against a wall and had almost been devoured. “NO!” Her twisted horn brightened hard enough to temporarily blind the guards. This was her chance to run away.
“Catch that thing!” She heard the guards shouting behind her.
Alice was running in autopilot. Instinct had taken control and its only objective was to find a place to be safe. Her hooves carried her down the street, turning right and left at certain parts. Her steps were fueled with adrenaline that also helped her stand the pain in her body.
The loud noise of a door closing behind her snapped Alice out of her autopilot. She looked around her to see that she was in her workshop. Her hooves had brought her to the only place she felt completely safe in this city, but that had been a mistake, as the guards had followed her.
They were out there trying to force the door open. Alice quickly moved a few of her machines to the door. This would only give her a couple of minutes. This place was no longer safe, Canterlot wasn’t safe for her.
Alice moved to the back of the shop. She grabbed a small wooden box, her tools, her saddlebag and her savings. There wasn’t a backdoor here, but there was a window big enough for her to pass that led to the backstreet. She climbed out the window and ran away. Everything blurred around her as she ran away.
For one year Alice had been moving from town to town, not staying too long in one place. Alice took her gaze off the road and looked at the sign in front of her. “Ponyville,” she read out loud. This would be a good place to rest for the night and get a bit of love before returning to the road.
She walked to the center of the town, her cart right behind her. It wasn’t as heavy as it looked, but with low levels of energy, it was proving to be a hard work.
Her tiredness made it hard to keep her gaze to the front, which caused her to collide against another pony.
“Oh! I’m sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going,” she said, trying to help the other pony to stand.
“No, it’s okay, I wasn’t looking either.” The white unicorn said, as she dusted herself, then, everything turned white.
Time moved at a fast pace, but there were moments where it would slow down.
When the white unicorn asked her to stay in her home for the night.
When the unicorn took Alice to a party, and how they have laughed and danced together.
When the unicorn hugged and comforted Alice after the little incident in the party.
When they stayed late in the night, working together in those dresses.
When Alice spent the day thinking if she should stay or leave.
The time returned to a normal pace. Alice was in one of the Boutiques rooms... her room. It was late in the night, and Alice was looking inside her treasure box. She took the picture of the unicorn family and gently placed it next to her. She grabbed the piece of wood with the shape of a fang and put it right next the picture. She took the little statuette of a changeling, but placed it away, neither of this three objects was what she was looking for.
Finally, the last object in her little box. She grabbed it between her hooves and held it against her chest, a smile tracing her lips.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rarity opened her eyes slowly and looked up at the ceiling. She pulled herself up and looked around the room. Her friends where scattered around. Twilight was lying on the floor with Fluttershy right next to her, one yellow wing wrapped over the lavender alicorn. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were having a stare competition while Pinkie cheered both of them.
Rarity stood on her hooves and walked to the unoccupied bed. The sound of hoofsteps caught her friends attention.
“Rarity?” Fluttershy called, but Rarity did not looked at her.
The white unicorn just kept walking until she was standing right next to bed. She then bend over and moved one of her hooves under the bed, looking for something. Her hoof made contact with something and she pulled it out. She looked down at the small statuette of unicorn with quite the dazzling mane cut and a trinity of diamonds as its cutie mark. Her hooves trembled as she pulled the figurine of herself close to her chest.
One tear fell from her face.