Chapter 9 - Future Enemies, Present Friends
We all have some kinds of friends in our lives. The people you hang out with all the time. The people who will lend you a hand when you need help. The people who will make you feel better when you're feeling down.
Yeah... those are the people you want to hang out with.
But as time passes, you start to see each other less and less. Eventually, you aren't seeing them at all anymore. More time passes, and then you talk to your friend again, asking if you two could get together again.
He/She agrees, and then you talk to each other again. But then, you find out that they aren't the same person you once knew. They act older, more mature, and no longer have interest in the things you once did with each other.
When you bring up the stuff you once did, they're all like: "I don't do that sorta thing anymore!"
That gets you depressed. Most likely anyway. When your get together is done, you return to your normal lives. But then, the next time you go someplace where loads of people know you, all those people are making fun of you.
But... why are they making fun of you? You talk to another one of your friends, and you find out that your old friend told all the people there that you still do childish things.
Is that person still your friend now? Not likely. They just made you the laughing stock of where you go! Why would they still be your friend?
Point being, they are now your enemy. You don't want anything to do with them, and they don't want to do anything with you.
But they were your friend at one point, weren't they? That's the big point I'm making here. People who were once your friends can become enemies. In an instant, no less.
But your friends don't have to be like that. You can always be people who hang out all the time, enjoy the same music and the same show even. There might be some differences between you, but that doesn't mean you can't be friends.
Has one of your friends ever become your enemy, or even vice-versa?
Canterlot Castle Gardens February 28th 985
"PRINCESS!"
I chuckled. The more thought about it, the more I seemed to find that a bit funny. I had never in my life, ever expected to see something like that happen in front of me.
It was a week ago, if I remembered correctly. A week ago that Princess Celestia collapsed onto the floor in front of me. It was Sunset Shimmer who screamed then. I shook my head at the memory that lingered.
"Are you all right?" the guard asked.
Celestial opened her eyes weakly. "I'm... fine..." she said again.
"What happened?" I asked.
Celestia shook her head. "I... haven't used... teleportation like that... recently..."
At the time, it wasn't clear to me exactly what she meant. After I had thought about it, I realized that it was because of the long-distance teleportation spell she did.
Raising the sun and the moon was hard to do. It requires a large amount of magic to even attempt to do that. But since Celestia had done that sorta thing every day, it was easier for her to do. When she had done long-distance teleportation, it was something that she hadn't done in a long time, so she wasn't used to the strain it put on her magic. That's why she collapsed.
It was strange, to me anyway. It had been over a week since I came to Equestria. In time, I had gotten used to my new body, in how I moved around and stuff. I had also learned how to do levitation better. But for some reason, the teleportation spell wasn't working all to well for me. I shrugged at why it wasn't working.
But that's not what was strange to me. What was strange was the long days I now experienced. Back in my world, back on Earth, I sometimes enjoyed going to school. Not because of what happened at school, but because it passed the time away. It gave me something to do during the day.
Now... *Sigh...* Now I just sat around. Not many places to do that either. In the halls of the castle, the guards continued walking through every five minutes. It made it hard to concentrate on my thoughts. In the room I was staying in, it sometimes got stuffy in the air, and the window didn't really help much.
So, out of all the places I found, my current one was my favorite. In the gardens, right underneath a simple pine tree. Not too hot, not too cold, not stuffy, and not too loud.
*Sigh*
Now, that's what I liked about it. Mainly that last one. There was almost never a time when I could find peace and quiet back home. Either my brothers were jumping around making noise, or they were playing a video game where I was trying to find quiet. Here in Equestria, there were no video games, or too many things that could ruin a nice quiet day.
"Hey! Who are you?"
And just when I had gotten some peace and quiet, I thought. I turned toward the voice, and saw a white unicorn with a yellow mane and tail. His mane split in two when it reached his horn. He had light blue eyes, and also wore a blue bowtie. Who's he?
"Didn't you hear me?" he asked, beginning to come even closer to my shady spot. "I asked who you are, and I expect you to tell me!"
"Yeah, I heard you," I said to him. "But what gives you the right to just come up and interrupt somepony's peace and quiet?"
He stopped coming closer when he was about three feet from me. "'What gives me the right?' Do you even know who I am?"
It was that voice that annoyed me there. Not the way host voice sounded, but the tone he was using it in. He said those last words as if he was more important than me. That stuck-up, snotty, rich person/pony voice. "No," I flatly said. "And with that tone of voice you're using, I don't think I want to know."
He looked disgusted to hear that. "H- How dare you! How dare you! I am-"
I cut him off with my own speech. "'A stuck-up, snotty rich pony who doesn't respect the privacy of others, somepony who has a way in and out of the castle whenever I want, and absolutely no chivalry whatsoever.'" I looked at him. "How close was I?"
He looked even more disgusted than before. "How dare you mock me like that! I am Prince Blueblood, nephew of Princess Celestia, and current heir to the rule of Equestria!" He had said that while seeming to praise the sky. Then he looked down at me. "And who do you think you are, mocking a prince of Equestrian like you did?"
I thought about his name. Prince Blueblood? Wasn't he the one who Rarity hung out with during the Grand Galloping Gala? He was the pony who didn't respect Rarity being a Lady. I thought about what I had said to him. I was right on the dot!
"Oh, I remember you now..." I said.
He smirked. "Well, look who came to their senses!"
"You don't deserve to be a prince."
He stepped back. "And what do you mean by that?"
"I mean, that you shouldn't be a prince if all your going to do is treat your subjects with disrespect. Like what you're doing now, for instance."
"What in the name of Equestrian are you talking about? I do deserve to be prince! How am I treating anypony with disrespect?"
"You're treating me with disrespect by interrupting my peace and quiet, which I would like to get back to, if you don't mind."
That's when he started to seem angry. "How dare you!"
"You've said that plenty enough already. Why don't you go back to your servants and cry to them about your troubles?"
He took several steps back before answering. "You haven't heard the last of me!" He turned and walked away, grumbling.
With a mouth as loud as yours, I have to agree. Now that he was gone, I repositioned myself under the tree. I made sure that the part of the tree my back was laid against was curved. It allowed my head to be in an arched position, which I liked when lying down.
No sooner than I did, I heard the rustling of leaves close by. What now?
The rustling continued. "Is somepony there?" I asked. Almost immediately, the rustling stopped. It continued once again, but a lot more fierce this time. "Is somepony there?" I asked again. The rustling went on, even more fierce than before.
This is when I got up from my comfortable position. I reached to my back and rubbed off the dirt that had latched itself onto me. It was kind of hard, considering that my legs didn't reach the entire way, but I had gotten most of it off.
I began to walk over to the noise of rustling leaves. Several stiff leaves were on the ground, and crunched as I stepped on them. The rustling stopped for a second, and then continued again. Whatever it was, it knew I was coming. When the rustling had started again, I focused my hearing to wherever it was coming from.
The left.
I turned in that direction. I saw some hedges moving around, as if something was inside them. I walked over to them, more leaves crunching as I did so. I stopped as soon as I came to the edge of the hedge. No sooner than I did, the rustling stopped as well.
"Hello?" I called out. I heard a gasp, followed by small whimpering.
"P- P- Please don't hurt me!" a voice cried out. It seemed dry and raspy. "I didn't mean to come here! It was an accident!"
"Why would I hurt you?" I asked them. The whimpering quieted down a bit. "I have found no reason why you should be hurt. What's your name?"
There was a small silence. "M- My name?" the voice echoed.
"Yes. Can you tell me what it is?"
There was an even longer silence before it responded. "I- I don't... have a name..."
I was shocked. "How can you not have a name? Everypony has a name."
The raspy voice sighed. "Not me..."
"Why not?"
There was another silence. "Cou- Could you get me out of here first... Please?"
I looked at the ground. Should I help the voice? I knew nothing about them. Plus, they even said that they didn't have a name. Who doesn't have a name? But then again, they were stuck. And they had asked for my help. There seemed to be no reason why I shouldn't help them.
I stepped closer to the hedge the voice came from. "Alright. Just hang on. I'll get you out in a second." I lit up my horn, feeling the energy pass through me. I focused my thoughts on moving apart the leaves on the hedge. I saw the leaves there glow the same color as my horn, and begin to part.
And inside the bushes, there was a creature of black. I looked at it, and blue eyes stared back at me.
A changeling was looking at me.
"You're-"
"A changeling, I know," the creature replied. "Now you see why I don't have a name?"
"I... do actually." Well, sort of, anyway. There were a lot of changelings at the wedding. It would probably be hard to remember every single one, so they probably didn't any name, just 'Changeling #1125' or something.
We stared at each other for some time. "You know," the changeling continued, "you still haven't gotten me out if this bush."
I snapped to my senses. "R- Right." I focused my magic on the creature, and did my best to pull them out. I then realized that one of their legs was caught on some vines. I focused another part of my magic on the vines and loosened them from their leg. Once free, they shook off some of the excess leaves that clung onto them.
I took this opportunity to actually observe them. They had several holes in their legs, as well as translucent wings on their back. A black horn sprouted from their head. Judging by the length of their legs, they were about the same height as me.
I actually took the most time observing their wings. They seemed to thin to actually fly, now that I actually got to look at them. I saw changelings fly in the show, but now it seemed as if it would be impossible. Also, one of them seemed bent...
They turned to me. "Thank you," they said.
"You're welcome."
They looked slightly confused. "Why did you help me out of the bush?"
I gave them a confused look. "What do you mean?"
"Most ponies I know freak out when they see a changeling. Once you saw me, you didn't freak out at all, and continued to help me out. Why?"
I inhaled deeply, speaking on the exhale. "Well, I found no reason to why I shouldn't help you. And you needed help getting out of the bush. If I just left you there, the guard would eventually find you and lock you in the dungeon, wouldn't they?"
They nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Well, thank you again for helping me. I should be on my way now."
They then took a stance as if they were about to fly off. "Wait!" I said. They looked at me again. "Where are you going?"
"Back home," they said. "Back to the hive."
"With that wing?" I asked sarcastically while pointing to the injured wing. "You wouldn't get ten feet off the ground if you tried flying."
"Don't be ridiculous. My wing is fine!" they said, not even bothering to look at the wing. Before I could stop them, they jumped into the air, wings flapping like nothing was wrong.
That lasted about two seconds. Just enough to watch them fall back to the ground.
"So, how high do you think you flew?" I asked sarcastically. They only groaned in response.
"What am I going to do now?" they asked aloud. "Its too far to walk back to the hive."
I shrugged, though they didn't see it. "You could always just walk anyway. Getting past the guards wouldn't be too hard with your ability to change into anypony around you."
"Oh, you mean like this?" they asked. I looked over just on time to see a flash of green fire engulf them. Once it faded, I was staring at a gray-coated unicorn colt, who stared back at me with dark blue eyes.
I was looking at myself.
"That's pretty good!" I complimented. I had seen myself in the mirror several times, and this seemed just like one of those times. "I can't even see a difference!"
"That's what changelings do," he- they replied, with my own voice. "A changeling transforms into somepony you love and feeds off their love for them. Their presence is nearly undetectable."
"I knew that. A changeling's magic color will remain green if they try to use magic as a unicorn, even if theirs isn't green."
They looked puzzled. "Really?"
"Yeah," I replied. "See for yourself. My magic color is blue, if you didn't notice."
"I noticed." Their horn then lit up. A bright green color.
"See?" I pointed to the glow of their horn. "It's still green."
They saw their magic color. "Huh... I thought it did change. How'd you know that?"
I froze for a second. "No reason!" I lied. "I just read it in a book once!"
"Hm... I never knew us changelings were in books. But, if you read that, then I guess it can't be helped." They changed back to their original form.
"Is that a spell?" I asked. "Do changelings cast a certain spell in order to take the form of another?"
"Yes, actually," they replied. "Most usually think that its an ability that our race has, but any unicorn could learn it if they were given enough practice."
"Cool!"
"But what am I to do? If I walked back to the hive, I could die of starvation before getting there!"
I saw the look on the changeling's face. Even with those kind of eyes, I knew a look of worry when I saw one. "You could always wait here until your wing recovers."
They looked at me. "No, I couldn't. This is where Princess Celestia lives! She wouldn't allow any changeling to stay in her castle!"
"Who told you that?"
"My queen did."
"So, you don't actually know for yourself that she will be kind to you and allow somepony who's injured a chance to recover?"
They seemed stunned by what I said. "Well... no..."
"Don't you think you should at least try?"
"She'll kill me!"
"Did your queen tell you that too?" I got no reply. They only looked at me in shock. "I think it's about time you tried to find something out for yourself, and not have somepony else tell you."
"But.... What if my queen was right? What if she will kill me?"
"Then I'll stand up for you."
They looked directly at me. "Really? You would do that?" I nodded. "Why?"
"Because I don't like to see others get hurt when I can prevent it. If there is somepony in need and I can help them, I will do my best to do so."
"Thanks. By the way, what's your name?"
"Blue," I replied. "My name is Blue."
"Blue..." They seemed to ponder hearing that. "I've heard that somewhere before."
"You have?" They nodded. "Strange..."
"There he is!"
We both turned toward the voice. I saw Prince Blueblood standing in Princess Celestia's shadow, pointing a hoof at me. "He was the one who did it!"