//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: A Little Something Extra // Story: Change to the Familiar // by Rhino //------------------------------// The next morning starts off quietly, both forms in the house snoozing away peacefully thanks to the stallion’s decision to give himself Sundays off. Still, even without his alarm clock on, Rhino finds himself being woken up by outside forces. His unconscious mind slowly becomes aware of two things that are disturbing it. The first thing he notices is tiny light tapping randomly happening on his muzzle. This, along with small puffs of air tickling his nose, slowly rouses the stallion into awakening. Unlike most mornings, remnants of his previous nights dream still flicker around in his head. While the details are as hazy as usual, Rhino can recall feelings that he felt during his time in the realm of sleep; ones of contentment, warmth, and protectiveness. As his eyes open and he looks to see what had disturbed him, the stallion groggily blinks, wondering if he has even woken up at all. Even as his vision sharpens, the form before him remains clear. Before him, swaddled in a navy blanket, is a changeling. However, there are a few differences between this one, and those the general public has come to know as the image of said race. For one, this changeling seems to actually possess a mane. Though slightly transparent, it still provides a blue curtain for its head. Secondly, and most eye-catchingly as its hooves flail again while its face expresses discomfort, is the size. This changeling appears incredibly small, even when taking into account only its upper body pokes out of its blanket. Its whole body seems smaller than the bottom of just one of the stallion’s hooves. Rhino has just enough time to give himself a slight pinch to ensure he isn’t dreaming before his eyes widen as the changeling moves once more. With a tiny yawn showing a mouth of only gums, the miniature changeling opens its pure sapphire-colored eyes, staring at the pony laying next to it with only curiosity. As his mind finally starts to recover from the shock of the situation, enough things come together in the stallion’s mind for a startling revelation. This is a changeling foal. More than that, this appears to be a changeling newborn. Between this realization, the innocent look it is giving him, and wisps of leftover feelings from his dream, a part of Rhino's mind can't help but see the little one as cute. A small smile comes to his face as his expression softens. Almost as if it can sense his change in feelings, which it probably can, the newborn lets out a happy-sounding chirp-like noise as it reaches a hoof out towards him. "Heh," with a small pleased laugh, the stallion moves his own, quite larger, hoof closer to the changeling, touching against its hoof with the lightness of a feather. Eyes locked onto the mass of green next to it, the newborn brings its other hoof up and grabs onto the offered limb. With a small coo, it closes its eyes and starts to nuzzle the pony limb. A warmth passes over the stallion as he smiles wider, simply enjoying the moment. As his mind relaxes, a voice he has never heard before echoes around his head, the slightest buzz to it. "She is yours now… take good care of her" Rhino blinks, confused and curious once more as his thoughts turn to the question he had yet to ask himself and the newborn. "Where did you come from?" As if in response to his words, he feels a damp spot surrounded by a tickling sensation on his leg. A glimpse down reveals the obvious culprit; the tiny changeling has made its way partially out of its blanket cocoon and climbed partially onto him, gumming his leg as it nibbles. The increasing warmth in his chest reflected in his smile and gaze, the stallion gently levitates the newborn out of the blanket with magic, setting it against his chest as one of his forelegs curls around it. "She is yours now..." The voice once again echoes deep in his mind while the changeling squirms. As he brings his other hoof over, gently nudging it to try and help the newborn be comfortable, Rhino makes a quick check to be certain of something. "Well, you're definitely a girl..." The now-identified newborn doesn't respond directly to this. Instead, she makes a few more happy chirps as she settles herself against him. Her back is to his chest as she tries to be as close as possible to him, half of her body actually snuggled down into his thick coat while she secures herself in between his foreleg and chest. As if this wasn't enough, she follows it by looking up into his eyes with her own, cooing happily. "... take good care of her." Rhino blinks as he looks down at the newborn, the words sinking in. "Take care of you..." He curls his neck, setting his head down on the bed next to the changeling. As he looks at her, she looks back, one tiny holed hoof stuck in her mouth as she sucks on it. "Could I really do that? You literally appeared overnight... almost like you popped out of a dream." Only hoof-sucking answers him as the newborn leans against his muzzle, his breath sending her straight blue mane fluttering with every exhale. "You were deliberately put here, that much is certain... But by who? And why?" Rhino continues asking his questions aloud, knowing she probably doesn't understand him, but for some reason he doesn't really care. "Very strange… I don’t suppose you have anything to help clear things up?” She simply nuzzles against him more, continuing to suck her hoof. Suddenly, she starts to squirm, making small distressed noises. Rhino's ears stand straight up as he raises his head, looking down at her. "What is it? Something wrong?" She looks up at him and whines, her noises getting louder as her eyes pierce his. One of her hooves goes to her stomach as she continues to squirm. His heart starting to race as he worries, the stallion's mind goes a mile a minute. "Okay okay, babies cry for three main reasons..." Levitating her and standing up, he finally gets out of bed. Levitating her back into the crook of a foreleg against his chest, he tries to calm her as she tries to squeeze herself tightly against him, still whining. "You're not tired because you just woke up... You don't have a diaper, so you didn't soil yourself... Of course, babies are hungry when they wake up!" The stallion quickly weaves through his house towards the kitchen, the newborn squirming against his soft fur the whole time. As he enters the room, his eyes widen as two problems immediately occur to him. He doesn't have milk for babies, just regular cow milk, and he also doesn't have bottles. As she continues to wriggle and whine louder, Rhino leans down as he tries to stay calm, despite his worry. "Shh... It's okay little one, I'll figure something out and get something in your stomach." Looking around, he desperately tries to think of something he can whip up on the fly. Pantries open and close quicker and quicker as the tiny form huddled against him gets closer and closer to crying fully. Finally, inspiration strikes as he pulls out a small sealing plastic bag. "This will have to do..." With the bag levitating next to him, he walks over to the fridge and pulls out the single gallon of milk in it. "Going to have to get more milk soon..." Pouring the milk into the bag, he seals it and sets it on the counter. As his horn glows brighter, a strange circle of symbols appears under the bag while the milk floats back into the fridge. He lets the bag sit on them for a moment before dispersing them, setting his hoof on the impromptu feeding idea. "Not cold anymore... Good. Okay, little one, ready for a small meal?" At the sound of his more upbeat tone, she looks up at him. Sitting down and and shifting her to a more comfortable position, he lifts the bag, flipping it over and nipping one of the corners with his teeth before pinching it with magic. "Now I know it's not normal, but it does give you something so I hope you'll bear with me this one time." He tilts the pinched corner towards her mouth, nudging it against her lips. Grumpy, the newborn growls at the bag, swatting it with a hoof as she continues to whine. Inwardly wincing at her unhappy sounds, the stallion persists, still tapping the corner against her lips. "Please... this will help, I promise." She continues fighting off the method of feeding until it taps her lips one too many times. With another growl, she opens her mouth and bites down on the offending bag. Quickly, Rhino eases his hold on the corner, allowing a tiny stream of milk to run out into the changeling's mouth. Instinct taking a front seat, the little one drinks the fluid. A happy hum comes from her as she relaxes, hooves coming up and gripping the sides of the bag as she starts to nurse on it. The green unicorn sighs in relief, the small bout of panic he had fading away. As the tiny changeling continues feeding, Rhino finds himself time to think. “I am definitely not prepared to take care of you… Am I really even considering it?” As he looks back down at her, she treats him to some of the most effective doe eyes he’s ever seen, not even offset by the small dribbles of milk dripping out the sides of her mouth. Despite his usual reflex of discomfort as it starts to run into his fur, the unicorn merely floats over a small washcloth from the sink, dabbing a bit of the milk off her. Before he even knows what he is doing, he leans down to nuzzle her once she is clean. She lets out a small squeal as she nuzzles him back, going right back to her nursing afterwards. His eyes are soft as he answers his own question. “Of course I am. You’re my little filly… and nopony will tell me otherwise.” At the mention of other ponies, his mind turns to that subject. He has no idea how ponies will react to his new little one. It’s true that changelings were now a part of Equestrian society and had all the same rights as ponies, but even after the new queen… the stallion struggles to remember her name but fails to recall anything other than she was blue, he always was bad at remembering names... After the new queen had replaced the dethroned Chrysalis, ponies still had trouble trusting the shapeshifters, not to say the reverse wasn’t true in some areas as well. “Still, it’s not like this hasn’t happened before… I mean imagine how much trouble it was to integrate griffons.” The sight of the newborn looking up at him with a tilted head interrupts the stallion’s train of thought. “Heh, I think you’ve already started giving me the bad habit of talking to myself…” Her response is to blow a raspberry and tap his nose with a hoof. Chuckling, he sets the bag in the sink, seeing as she is done. “Okay, okay, but I do need to think about this kind of stuff. I mean, I don’t even know anything about you beyond the basic changeling information that was released when they went public. Guess that’s something else I’ll have to try and learn, huh?” Flipping over, she snuggles into his fur once more, her sapphire eyes looking up at him adoringly. A now familiar wet sensation greets his foreleg as she starts trying to nibble on it, her tail wagging behind her as she does so. “Well, I’m glad you’re so positive about this.” He smiles, holding her close. “Just one step at a time, right? What would be first, though… supplies, information… What do you think-” A certain fact smacks him upside the head. “I… I don’t even know what to call you. There wasn’t a name tag or anything on your blanket… you don’t have a band with a name on… Does that mean I have to name you?” She only chirps, still gumming his foreleg. “I’ll take that as a yes.” As the two simply sit there on the kitchen floor, Rhino debates what to even begin calling her. Admittedly he knows very little aside from her appearance, her actions, and how she seemed to appear overnight. “Almost like a…” He blinks as he looks over her once more, a few words fluttering around in his head until a certain combination comes up. He tries others, but that particular one always comes back. Finally, he smiles as he raises her up in front of his face. “I think I’ll name you… Dream Jewel.”