Chapter 15: An Unlikely Friendship
It was a cloudy winter day in Canterlot. It was around the middle of fall and Dawn was enjoying a stroll through the town with Skript. “I don’t know why, but I kind of like it when it’s cloudy like this too.” Dawn commented.
“I prefer it sunny.” Skript stated. “At least that way, it can be a bit warmer.”
“Awe don’t be a wimp.” Dawn teased. “It’s brisk out.” Dawn Light had on a black and white scarf around his neck while Skript wore an orange and yellow one.
“That’s one way of putting it.” Skript retorted. “I know you like these strolls through the town but couldn’t we shorten them during the colder seasons?”
“You know, you could always go back to the castle, I won’t stop you.” Dawn said.
“Sorry little buddy, but you’re not leaving my sight for a moment. I can’t leave you alone in the city like that.” Skript informed.
“Suit yourself.” Dawn said with a smile. “Just a little longer, please?”
Skript rolled his eyes. “Fine, just a few more minutes, then it’s back to the castle okay? A pony could get sick in this weather you know.”
The two continued on their walk through the town when something caught their attention. “Skript, do you hear that?” Dawn asked. Off to the left, there was an ally. Dawn heard what sounded like crying.
“Yeah, I hear it, sounds like some pony crying.” Skript looked down the ally curiously.
“Well what are we waiting for? Some pony might be in trouble.” Dawn didn’t waste any time, he quickly galloped down the ally to the source.
“Dawn, wait up!” Skript called as he chased after him.
“Hurry up Skript!” Dawn Light called back. The crying was getting closer. Dawn came to a stop just in front of a box lying on its open side. Skript came up behind Dawn. “Hello?” Dawn said gently from the side of the box. From his position, he couldn’t see in it.
A small gasp was heard after Dawn called out.
“Hello, are you okay?” Dawn tried again gently. He moved in so he could look in it. When he did, he saw a small Pegasus filly with a pink coat and a light pink mane and tail with no cutie mark. She was shaking, whether out of fear, cold, or both, was hard to tell. “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you.” Dawn said in a soothing tone.
“Um….h-hello.” The little filly answered back.
“What are you doing out here? Are you lost?” Skript asked gently.
The little filly responded with a few tears and sniffles. She gave a quiet nod.
Dawn Light frowned. He looked to Skript. “Skript, we gotta help her.”
“I don’t know Dawn, I think we should leave that to the guards, they’ll take her to one of the orphanages where she’ll be given a place to stay until she can be adopted.
“No!” the little filly suddenly cried out. She shrank back when the two had their eyes on her. “Please….I’m just lost. I have a home, I just….got separated from my mom.” She looked like she was about to cry again.
“Skript, why can’t we take her to the castle and help her there?” Dawn asked.
Skript was hesitant with his answer. “Well….I guess it would be all right. We’ll just have to get the word out about this little lost pony.”
Dawn smiled. He then turned to the little filly. “Hear that? We’ll help you. You can stay with me until we find out where your parents are.” Dawn spoke gently so not to scare the little pony. “What do you say?” Dawn extended his hoof for the little one to take.
She eyed it carefully first as if it might bite her. She extended her hoof to take Dawns and came out of the box she was hiding in. Dawn gave her a smile. She smiled back.
“So what’s your name?” Dawn asked.
“I’m Crystal.” The filly answered. “What’s your name?” Dawn and Skript had surprised looks. The little filly started to worry when she saw the looks on their faces, she started to think she had done something wrong. “Um, I’m sorry, I…I didn’t mean to say something bad if I did.”
Dawn shook his head. “No, it’s okay, it’s just….well just about every pony knows me. Sorry for the scare there. My names Dawn Light, I’m the little brother of Celestia and Luna. And this is my good friend Skript.” Dawn motioned to Skript who wore a smile.
“Hey there.” Skript greeted cheerfully.
“Come on, you can ride on my back.” Dawn offered, he got low to allow the little filly on his back. She gave a smile and climbed on. “Hold on now.” Dawn decided to try and give the little filly some fun. He lifted off the ground with his wings and hovered. “Were going to fly back, and don’t worry Skript, I’ll go slow enough so you can keep up.”
Skript rolled his eyes. “All right then, let’s go.”
Crystal giggled out in joy as Dawn flew along. He kept close to the ground and flew at a moderate pace so as not to scare the filly on his back. The trio soon arrived at the castle and the guards there gave a stern look at Crystal.
Crystal cringed when the guards practically glared at her. Dawn noticed this. “Hey, at ease guys, she’s with me.” The guards lightened up and opened the doors for Dawn and Skript. Once inside, Dawn brought his hooves to the ground. “Here we are, Canterlot castle.” Dawn declared.
“Wow, this place is really nice.”Crystal commented.
“Well it is the capitol of Canterlot.” Skript said with a smirk.
It was then that Dawn’s Mother and Father were walking by. “Hello Dawn, I trust you enjoyed your stroll through town?” Cosma asked.
“Hi mom, hi dad, I did, and I found a lost filly.” Dawn stated as he motioned with his head to Crystal.
Crystal cringed at the sight of the larger ponies. She tried her best to hid behind Dawn’s head.
The king and queen gave warm smiles. Solaris approached Dawn and got down on his belly. “Hey there little one, my son tells me your lost, is that true?” He asked as kindly as he could.
Crystal poked an eye out from behind Dawn. She gave a nod.
“Well don’t you worry, you’re in good hooves until we can find your mother.” Cosma said with a warm smile of her own. “Dawn, why don’t you get one of the maids to get her cleaned up.”
Crystal tightened her grip a little around Dawn’s neck. “Uh mom, I think she’d feel safer with me at the moment. She was kind of scared when I found her.” Dawn explained.
“All right then Dawn, if you don’t mind having to take care of her for now.” Solaris said.
“Of course not. Come on Crystal, I’ll take you to my room where we’ll get you cleaned up.” Dawn happily trotted onward to his room on his own. Upon reaching his room, he saw Night Wing and Silver Spark standing guard at his room.
“Hello your majesty, did you enjoy your stroll?” Silver asked.
“I did thank you.” Danw answered happily.
“And who is your friend there?” Night Wing asked with a smile. Thanks to Dawn, the guards he had assigned to him weren’t as stern looking as the other guards. Night Wing, Silver Spark, Night eye and Swift Wing all had better attitudes while still being able to perform as guards.
Crystal was cringing again. “This is Crystal, I found her in an ally during my walk. She got separated from her family.”
“Awe, poor filly.” Silver Spark cooed. “Well don’t you worry little one, Dawn Light is sure to help you out.”
Dawn went on into his room. “And here we are in my room.” Dawn went over to his bed and let the filly on to it. “Pretty nice huh?”
Crystal was smiling a little. “Mmhmm, it’s very nice in here.” A squawk suddenly rang out that startled crystal. “AH!”
Tooky flew over and landed next to Crystal. She backed away from the bird in fear. “Tooky, you scared her.” Dawn scolded. Dawn looked to the filly with a smile. “It’s okay Crystal, he’s not going to hurt you. This is Tooky, my pet bird. He’s a toucan.
Crystal looked to Dawn Light first, then to the bird. She carefully walked up to Tooky. Tooky stood still so as not to frighten Crystal again. She reached out a hoof to pet Tooky on the head put let it hover there a moment. Tooky moved his head closer so Crystal was now touching him. Crystal smiled as she gently rubbed Tooky. Tooky gave a squawk. Crystal giggled as she enjoyed Tooky’s feel. “He’s nice.” Crystal said.
Once Crystal stopped, Tooky went over to his perch for a nap. Dawn made a suggestion. “How about we get you cleaned up, you look kind of dirty.” Crystal simply nodded. “Follow me, I’ll give you a bath.” Crystal hopped down off Dawn’s bed and followed him to his bathroom. Dawn removed his adornments first, then started the water running in the tub. Crystal just sat and watched. Once Dawn felt the water was warm enough, he closed the drain and let the water fill the tub. After a minute, the tub was now full. “Okay, it’s ready.”
Crystal walked over to the tub and eyed the water first. She looked up at Dawn who gave her a smile. “It’s all right, I made sure it’s nice and warm, go ahead.” Dawn helped Crystal into the tub.
Crystal slowly climbed in and tested the water first. It was perfect. Not too hot, but not cold at all, it was a comfortable warmth. She got all the way in and sat there. “This is nice.” She commented.
“Now let’s start getting you cleaned up.” Dawn floated over a bottle of shampoo and squeezed some out onto Crystal’s back. He scrubbed gently and started cleaning her up, then moved on to her mane, and finally her tail. Once he was sure she was good and clean, he helped her out, wrapped a towel around her and placed her back on his bed after opening the drain. “There you go, nice and clean, feel better?”
Crystal nodded. She had the towel completely covering her except her face. “Thank you for everything Dawn Light, you’re really nice.”
“Don’t mention it, every pony needs a friend.” Dawn said. He got up on the bed and sat next to her. “So how did you get separated from your mother anyway? If you don’t mind me asking.”
Crystal looked away from Dawn at first, not sure if she should say. “I…I kind of….ran away from her.”
Dawn Light gained a look of confusion and concern. “Ran away from her? Why? Was she a mean mom or something?”
Crystal looked back to Dawn. “No, nothing like that, if anything, she really cares about me. I just….” She trailed off.
“What? If she’s so nice, why run away from her?” Dawn asked again.
“Well, I wanted to…to….” Crystal started flinching like she was about to sneeze. “…*ACHOO*”
“WHOA!” Dawn expressed.
When Crystal sneezed, her body was quickly enveloped in green flame and her form changed. She had a black exoskeleton, holes in her hooves, a small jagged horn, light green eyes with slit irises, and her mane was web like and dark green. “EEP!” Crystal quickly covered her face with the towel, she was now completely coved up so no pony could see her.
“Crystal? Wh…what happened, are you okay?”
“Please don’t hate me.” She said, her voice muffled by the towel.
Dawn went to place a hoof on her back but Crystal tried to move away. “Crystal, what’s going on, what happened to you?”
Dawn asked with concern. “You don’t need to be afraid, I want to help.”
“Please don’t be mad at me, I didn’t mean to trick you.” Crystal said again through the towel.
Dawn moved closer and placed a hoof on her back. He could feel her start to tremble. “Crystal, its okay, I’m not mad at you, I’m just wondering what just happened, how did you change like that?” Dawn rubbed his hoof up and down her back to try and sooth Crystal.
She poked an eye out from the towel. “Really? You’re not mad at me? Or hate me?”
Dawn gave a warm reassuring smile. “Of course not, like I said, I was just surprised by your sudden change and am curious how you did that.”
Crystal removed the towel from her head. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, really. So, what are you, and how did you change?”
“Don’t you know what a changling is?” Crystal asked.
“No, I’ve never heard of one.” Dawn responded.
“Well, that’s what I am, a changling. We can make ourselves look like any pony we want. We feed on emotions.” Crystal explained.
“Emotions?” Dawn asked.
“It gives us energy.” She hesitated a moment before continuing. “I was….feeding off the kindness you were showing me when you were helping me. Since it was given freely, I didn’t have to try and steal it. Though I couldn’t even if I wanted too, I’m not strong enough. We changlings steal emotion to feed off. But you gave me some willingly without knowing it and you’re just fine. When you found me in the ally, I was really weak and hungry. But now, thanks to you, I feel better. Please don’t hate me.” Crystal shrank a little as she closed her eyes, tears were starting to form.
Dawn brought her in for a hug. “Hey now, why would I hate you? You haven’t done anything wrong.”
Crystal was surprised by Dawn’s actions. “Because everypony hates us, everypony is afraid of us.”
Dawn pulled back and looked Crystal in the eyes. “Why?”
Crystal looked away from Dawn Light. “Because a while back, an army of Changlings tried to take over Canterlot. Ultimatly they were forced to retreat. That’s why every pony hates us.”
Dawn looked at Crystal with concern. Apparently, this all happened during his time in the void so he had no idea about any of this. “Why did they do that though?”
“We needed food, mom was desperate to get food for us so she launched the attack.” Crystal explained.
“Your mom? Your mom is the one that lead the attack on Canterlot?”
“Mmhmm, she’s the queen of the changlings, her name is Chrysalis.”
“Well, why didn’t she ask for help? I’m sure my sisters or mom and dad would have done something.”
“I don’t know!” Crystal suddenly cried out and looked at Dawn. She flinched upon realizing her shout. She hung her head. “I don’t know why she did that. It didn’t seem nice to me. After the failed attack, things continued to dwindle for us. We’re low on food and we don’t know what to do.” Crystal looked on the verge of tears.
Dawn nuzzled Crystal to try and comfort her. “Hey, it’s okay, I’ll do whatever I can to help. I promise.”
Crystal sniffled. “Really?”
Dawn Light looked down at Crystal and performed the Pinkie Pie promise. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”
Crystal just looked at him with confusion.
Dawn noticed the confusion and explained. “That means I intend to keep my promise and do everything I can to help.”
Crystal smiled. “Thank you prince Dawn Light.”
Dawn gave a smile. “Just Dawn Light is fine. We are friends now aren’t we?”
“Mmhmm, thank you.” The two shared a brief hug.
“So how did you get here anyway? If your mother cares about you so much, why did you run away?” Dawn suddenly asked.
“Well, I kept hearing the other changlings talk about you ponies. Most of it wasn’t really nice, but I grew curious about you ponies and wanted to see what you were like for myself. I tried asking mom if she might be able to take me but she was very adamant about it. So one night, I snuck out and managed to find my way here, though….by the time I did, I was weak and hungry, I was barely able to disguise myself like I did to keep other ponies from getting scared of me and calling the guards.”
“I see, and how long has it been since you ran away to come here?”
“About three days.”
Dawn gave another concerned look. “Three days? Gosh, it must not have been easy for you to get here.”
“Actually, I got here in one day, I’ve been lost for two.” Crystal explained.
“Well however long it’s been, your mother must be worried sick about you.”
The door to Dawn’s room suddenly opened and Skript came in pushing a cart with food on it. “Hey there Dawn, I thought your new friend might….” He paused as he saw the changling on Dawn’s bed. He just stared at the bug like pony wrappeedin a towel.
“Uh oh…Uh, hey script, you uh….remember that little pony we found in the ally?” Dawn asked nervously.
“GUARDS! CHANGLING!” Skript yelled out. Silver Spark and Night Wing quickly ran in.
“Eep!” Crystal shrieked. She covered herself with the towel to try and hide. “Dawn, get away from it!” Skript called.
“Guys, calm down, it’s okay.” Dawn tried to say. “HEY!” Dawn was suddenly enveleoped in Skripts aura and floated off the bed over to him. “Skript, let me go!”
“Don’t worry sire, we’ll get it.” Night Wing stated. The two guards started making their way to the bed. “Come here you, you are under arrest.”
“Stop it, your scaring her!” Dawn cried out.
“Dawn, stay with me, it’s dangerous.” Skript said.
“She’s not dangerous, she’s my friend!” Dawn argued.
“That’s enough Dawn.” Skript ordered.
“EEK! Please don’t hurt me!” Crystal cried out as Night Wing grabbed her and held her by a hind leg uipside down.
Dawn was getting upset nopony would listen to him. He used his royal Canterlot voice. “ENOUGH! LEAVE HER ALONE AND LET ME GO!” The shout was enough to cause every pony to do so as they covered their ears. Unfortunatly, the guards dropped Crystal on her head.
“OW!” She cried out. Once she could get up, she scrambled for under the bed.
Dawn light was dropped on the floor as Skript was startled enough to lose concentration. Dawn fell on his belly with a thud. “Oof, ow.” He sat up on his haunches and rubbed his head. “Thank you, now all of you just calm down and relax, she’s not going to hurt anypony.” Dawn made his way to the bed and between the guards. He got down on his belly to look for Crystal.
“Sire no, it might be dangerous.” Silver Spark said..
“Guys, just stop and listen to me, she’s not dangerous.” He looked under the bed and saw Crystal covering herself with her hooves trembling in fear. “Crystal, are you okay? You can come out now.”
“No, they’ll throw me in the dungeon and I’ll never get home.” Crystal cried out.
“It’s okay, I promise that won’t happen.” Dawn tried to assure.
“Dawn Light, what is going on? Don’t you know anything about Changlings?” Skript said.
Dawn looked back at Skript with a glare. He wasn’t about to let any harm come to his new friend. “No I don’t, but I do know that this one needs help. She may be a changling, but she’s lost, hungry, scared, and just wants to go home. She’s not a threat.”
“Sire, that could be changling manipulation magic. They can do that.” Silver Spark asked.
Dawn Light stood up and turned around to face Silver. “And are you trained to scan for such manipulation?”
“Yes?” Silver answered unasuredly.
“Then use it on me and see that I’m not being influenced or controlled.” Dawn practically ordered. “If only to prove to you I am saying all this of my own free will.”
“As you wish sire.” Silver Spark stepped forward and charged his horn for the spell. After the changling invasion, all unicorn guards had been trained on how to detect any changling mind manipulation just in case. Silver closed his eyes as Silver readied the spell.
Crystal had removed her hooves from her face and looked out to see Dawn standing there. She could feel the emotions he was giving off. He was being so protective of her she couldn’t believe it.
Silver Spark finaly launched his spell and fired a stream of magic at Dawn’s head. Skript scanned his mind for any trace, even a hint that his mind had been infected by changling trickery. He made sure he was very thurough with his scanning. After a minute, he cancelled the spell. “Well?” Dawn asked, knowing full well what the answer would be.
Night Wing and Skript both looked on at Silver as they waited for his verdict. “Not a trace of changling manipulation was detected.”
“HAH, I told you, see?” dawn cheered.
Script stepped forward next to Silver. “Dawn, that still doesn’t change the fact she’s a changling, this could be some elaborate trick or something.”
Dawn shot another glare. “Skript, I’m telling you she’s safe. She was just curious to learn about us, so she snuck away from home, came here, got lost in the city and too weak to make it home.”
“Dawn light…” Skript tried to say but Dawn cut him off.
“Skript, I’m sorry but it seems I have to do this. I am using my authority as prince of Equestria. I hereby order you to leave Crystal alone and not tell anypony about her until I say so. That goes for you two as well.” Dawn said to the guards. “Do I make myself clear?”
“Dawn Light, be reasonable.” Skript said as he gave a sympathetic look.
“I am being reasonable. Think about it Skript. She’s lost and scared, she wants to go home, that’s all. How would you feel if you were lost in some strange land surrounded by unfamiliar beings?”
Skript gave a sigh, he could tell Dawn wasn’t going to budge, at the same time, he saw Dawn’s point. There was still the possibility this changling child may be a part of a changling trick. “All right Dawn, you win, I will follow your orders.”
“As will we sire.” Night Wing responded.
“But at the first sign of trouble, we will have to act, understand?” Skript stated.
“I do, and don’t worry, nothing will happen.” Dawn turned back around to his bed. “Crystal, you can come out now.”
Crystal carefully crawled out from under Dawn’s bed. Dawn offered a hoof to help her stand and she accepted. “I promise I don’t want to hurt anypony.” Crystal immediately said. She leaned against Dawn Light as she trembled a little.
Dawn placed a wing on her back to try and comfort her. “Don’t worry Crystal, your safe with me. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.” He offered a reassuring smile.
Crystal looked up at Dawn and gave a small smile back.
“We are going to have to tell my mom, dad, and sisters about this so we can figure out how to get you back home without causing a huge ruckus.” Dawn stated.