Spike and Bella Noche exiting the classroom last, thinking it would be for the best to wait for everyling to leave before them to prevent being trampled by the others. Spike had picked a small gray pouch from his bag, which held a few gems, as Bella Noche used her magic to take an apple from her saddlebag.
The two then left the classroom and followed the signals on the walls to their recess area. There was a small playground inside of the gray cave for the young students to exercise and run off their excess energy, having several different chambers like the one before but varied in size and equipment according to the grade.
For the first year students, there were chairs, tables, slides and swings, even small sized seesaws. The changelings tried to train as many as possible for military purposes, however, that didn’t mean that they coerced the changelings to join the army, much less deny them a happy childhood. But they tried to incentive them to join the military as much as possible.
The drake and his new friend then picked a table with two chairs and sat down together. Spike then picked a ruby from his pouch and started eating it. The changeling took a bite from her apple and after she chewed it, she asked: “How can you eat stones?”
Spike suddenly swallowed his gem and turned to her and replied raising an index finger to object what she had just said.
“I don’t eat stones. I eat gemstones. There’s a difference” he lowered his finger and started his rant. “They’re great! Sapphires are sweet and juicy, emeralds have a crunchy texture with a slight bittersweet taste, and Rubies are soft and practically melt in my mouth and…”
Bella Noche giggled and said “Only emeralds are crunchy?”
“Well, emeralds are crunchier than the other gems” he replied.
Bella Noche just blinked and continued to munch her apple as she watched Spike munch down on his gemstones. She wasn’t the only to watch the scene, however, many of the changelings there also found amazing that a creature could bite into stones like that.
Spike shoved another sapphire into his mouth and his friend couldn’t help but smile.
“Hey, Spike, don’t you think you are eating too much? We’ll have lunch in a couple of hours.”
The drake finished chewing his sapphire and picked an emerald from the pouch and replied with a smile.
“It’ll be future Spike’s problem”
She giggled at his response, which made the dragon smile too, but shortly after their attention was directed towards another changeling, named Ixion, who approached them.
“Hey, would you two like to play with us?” He asked with a nervous smile.
Spike and Bella Noche nodded but as they got out of their chairs, they heard another changeling whine.
“I don’t want to play with the freak!” said a changeling named Ifrit.
Spike frowned, replying “I’m not a freak. I’m a dragon!”
“I know that! I was talking about the two color weirdo there.” Ifrit replied pointing his hoof to Bella Noche.
The female suddenly looked down with a deep frown plastered onto her face. She suddenly wanted to go hide somewhere, away from the changelings that didn’t accept her.
Spike, however, would not let anyone put down his friend “She is not a freak! Her eyes are pretty! And I don’t want to play with you!”
“Whatever, prince, enjoy being a freak lover.” Ifrit laughed along with the other changelings around him before they left.
“He’s a big meannie and he only acts this way just because his dad has some high rank in the military, so he thinks he can get away with anything” Explained a new voice. A small changeling called Crimson Veil approached the two, amazing Spike and Bella Noche with her peculiar red eyes.
“How do you know?” asked Ion, taking a seat across the table.
She sighed and said: “We’re neighbors…”
Another female changeling, called Dalia, joined the group and added in “Must be awful having to deal with him every day.”
“Tell me about it…” Crimson Veil replied rolling her eyes. But then she smiled as she looked at Bella Noche looking at the floor “Hey, don’t let that meanie get to you. Let’s play something before class starts.”
Bella Noche looked up and smiled a bit and agreed, but Spike continued to frown because he couldn’t help but feel that her smile was somewhat forced.
They played for a while before the bell rang; signaling that the classes were about to start and for everyling to trotting back to their classrooms.
Cornelius proceeded with the grammar lesson, which was about basic verb conjugation, but Spike didn’t pay much attention to it. He could see that Bella Noche wasn’t paying attention either and she seemed quite sad.
Spike then turned his attention to Ifrit, who was at the other side of the classroom and the dragon noticed that he wasn’t paying attention to class either, but because he was drawing on his notebook.
The drake stared angrily at him for a while, not comprehending how he could mock Bella Noche just because her eyes were a bit different from the others. Spike got a little bit satisfied when the teacher noticed that Ifrit was just drawing instead of paying attention and told him to stop because classes are important. But he couldn’t help but to flinch when the teacher glared at him as well, reminding the students that classes are important and they should all pay attention.
Before Spike could realize it, the bell rang indicating that classes were over and once again he and Bella Noche took their time packing their stuff instead of using magic to just levitate them, as others did, while they waited until everyling stormed out of the classroom before they left themselves.
The duo walked together and once they got out of the school grounds, they’ve met Hecate, who had just gotten there.
She smiled at them at asked “Did you two like your first day?”
Bella Noche tried to force a smile and said: “Yes, mom.”
Before Spike could say anything, Hecate sighed and asked with a worried expression “You don’t have to lie to me, my dear. What happened?”
The older changeling could see through her daughter quite easily. She had a feeling she knew the source of the issue, but she waited for the confirmation first.
Bella Noche didn’t reply and just stared at the floor as if she was ashamed of something. Spike decided to speak on her behalf “A guy at our class called her a freak just because she has two eye colors.”
Hecate’s worries were confirmed by this and she raised her hoof and gently raised her daughter’s face. “You don’t have to be embarrassed by your eyes, Bella Noche. They are beautiful.”
“Yeah! I also think that! Don’t care about what he said!”
She smiled softly and thanked them. As they walked, Hecate inquired once again how school was and the two, this time, told them about what they had learned that day.
“How can those ponies be so mean, Aunt Hecate?” Spike asked.
Hecate shook her head and said “I don’t know, Spike. They drove us out from our land and forced us to live in a place where nothing grows. If it weren’t for the expeditions to gather supplies, we wouldn’t have been able to have food or any kind of comfort.”
Bella Noche then said with a proud smile “My big brother is going to join the army soon. He’ll be part of the expeditions to teach ponies, gryphons and any other bad creature a lesson about changelings.”
Spike then asked surprised “You have a brother?”
Hecate then replied in her place “Yes. His name is Raizel. He’s seventeen years old. He said that when he turns eighteen next year he’ll join the army permanently.”
Spike couldn’t help but to ask “Permanently? Why do you mean?”
Hecate turned to him and explained: “You see, Spike, when a changeling turns thirteen years old, they can enlist as helpers during expeditions and be able to disguise themselves as children from other species. It helps the army to blend better into the enemy grounds by pretending, for example to be a lost family member. It’s hard for an adult to change his body to make them look like a kid. Changing species is quite easy, but when we do shape shift, we usually translate our age as well, allowing us to only vary the age just a little bit as this magic tampers with our body structure. However some skilled changelings can even turn themselves into toddlers, which require a lot of training. But even though the army allows young changelings to participate of missions, they make sure they don’t do any actual combat and remain safe. There hasn’t been an incident involving young changelings getting killed for a few centuries, but some do end up getting a bit hurt though nothing serious, thankfully.”
The drake could see that his aunt had a very worried expression in her face “What’s wrong, auntie?”
She smiled weakly at him and replied “Sorry, Spike. It’s just that I worry. My boy is going to join the army just like his father and my husband, who unfortunately died four years ago during a mission in the gryphon lands. I tried to convince my boy to be something else, but he insists to join the army…”
“But, mommy, Raizel is very strong. He won’t lose to anybody.” She stopped for a while pensive and asked “Did I use that word correctly, mommy?”
Hecate chuckled and said: “Yes, you did. When you talk about just changelings, you use the suffix ‘ling’, but when you refer to other species or more than one, you use the suffix ‘one’ in certain words.”
“Oh, ok.” The young changeling said.
By that time, the trio finally got back to the castle and Hecate told the two that they were going to share the afternoons together as Hecate couldn’t leave her daughter alone at the house since her brother had been selected to do military training during the mornings and afternoons. So he couldn’t babysit Bella Noche.
The young changeling was a bit sad because her brother would be leaving soon, but at least she was able to get to know Spike a little bit better. Also, Chrysalis said it was alright for Hecate to bring her daughter over to spend time with Spike. He needed friends of his own age, after all.
Once they got inside of the castle, Hecate told the two to go wash themselves while the checked if their lunch was ready. Spike then told Bella Noche “I’ll show you were the bathrooms are. Follow me.”
The kids then rushed to a bathroom and Hecate couldn’t help but to smile seeing that the two were getting along.
Later, during lunch, the two were pretty much shoving the food down their throats. They were eating some fruits, fried fish and bread.
Hecate blinked a few times before saying “What’s the hurry, you two. The food won’t escape, you know. Besides, it’s not good for your health to swallow food without properly chewing it.”
Bella Noche swallowed the food in her mouth and said “But, mom, Spike said he’s going to show me the whole castle.”
Hecate chuckled “The sweet time when we didn’t get homework…But it won’t take long until you are swarmed with papers and exams…”
The two then swallowed dry at her sudden chuckle like what she had just said was something menacing. Suddenly school didn’t seem that fun…
Hecate, seeing their worried faces said “I’m just teasing you two. But, really, you’ll be spending almost every afternoon together. You should take your time and appreciate the food too, you know. There’s plenty of time for you to play.”
The two nodded and after some time, they finished eating. Then, Spike told Bella Noche to follow him around. The young changeling smiled and followed the dragon, while Hecate picked up the empty plates and glasses.
Spike decided to show her the ballroom first, since it was one of the prettiest rooms in the castle. It was huge and quite decorated. The walls were covered with mirrors which were gave quite the optical illusion to make the room seem even more full of changelings during parties. The floor was decorated with some green, red and black stones, which glowed a little bit under the light.
The room was empty since there was no party scheduled and they could run around giggling while playing tag and kept doing this for a few hours or so. Finally when they got a bit tired, Spike then offered her to show her his room.
Spike wasn’t really allowed in all rooms of the castle. Places like the dungeon, weapon storage, or rooms used for military officials were all forbidden for him because Chrysalis didn’t want Spike to get hurt or interrupt any important meetings.
They passed through many guards as they walked, who simply glanced at them. Most were indifferent to the young dragon, but some were fond of him since he livens up the place, also because he actually made their queen give warm smiles instead of the creepy ones she only gave when her plans went right.
Once they got to Spike’s room, the baby dragon opened up a chest that had a few toys and he picked up a few board games for them to play.
After a few hours of fun Bella Noche decided to ask a daring question “Do you really like my eyes?”
Not really understanding why she would bring out so suddenly, he saw that she started fidgeting on the board of the previous game nervously and decided to answer “Yes, I do. I’ve told you before, they are pretty. Why are you asking me this?”
She looked down and replied softly “Because, only my mom and brother said they liked them before. Pretty much everyling made fun of me because I have two different eye colors.”
Spike had simply thought it wasn’t such a big of a deal and he told her that. She then raised her eyes from the floor and then thanked him. “Will…you be my friend, then?”
Spike blinked a few times and said “Huh? I thought I was your friend already.”
Bella Noche blushed and said meekly “Sorry.”
The dragon smiled back at the young changeling and replied “It’s okay. Do you want to play hide and seek, instead?”
The changeling gladly accepted the offer and Spike quickly told her which parts of the castle were okay and which weren’t. Pretty much every part where he wasn’t allowed, she couldn’t hide either, but she couldn’t also hide in his mother’s room, since she didn’t like when other people got inside without her permission, Spike being the only exception of that.
Then they played for a couple more hours before they felt too tired to keep playing and the two of then fell asleep over Spike’s bed until it was time for dinner. They had some sandwiches along orange juice and after so, another chamber maid came to replace Hecate. Spike was a bit sad that the two had to go so early, but Hecate had to tend her own home and Spike could understand that.
The baby dragon remained in his room playing with some toys until a guard knocked at his door and told him that the queen had just arrived.
Spike thanked him and went running to the front hall to greet his mother.
“Mommy!” Spike yelled cheerfully as he rushed towards Chrysalis giving her a hug around a leg.
The changeling queen used her free front leg to hug Spike back and said “It’s good to see you too, killer. How was school?”
Spike smiled and said: “It was really fun. We learned a lot of stuff, even about meanie Celestia…” his smiled faded a bit as he continued, “But somelings started to mock Bella Noche just because she has two different eye colors. Why did they do it? I couldn’t bring myself to ask Auntie Hecate about it…”
Chrysalis sighed and used her magic to levitate her son and placed him on her back. She started to walk towards the dining hall, as she tried her best to explain to him “You see, Spike, as much as we try to remain as a united front against the other species, some of us let petty things get in the way of it.”
The boy carefully crawled nearer of her neck and asked “What does ‘petty’ mean?”
“It means something insignificant, stupid. They see someling slightly different and they, for some reason, find it a motive to make fun of others.
All he could reply was “I see…”
Chrysalis sighed once more as she continued “It’s not something easy to fully apprehend, Spike. It baffles even me that some changelings act this way.”
The baby dragon couldn’t help but to ask once more “What does apprehend mean?”
Chrysalis chuckled and started to explain him.