//------------------------------// // Meeting the Brat // Story: Change My Life // by JasontheDemon //------------------------------// After arriving at Canterlot I gave Twilight a few extra moments of peace before waking her. She had actually fallen asleep on me which reminded me of my niece back on Earth since she did the same thing on multiple occasions. The only difference between the experience was that Twilight didn’t drool on me quite as much. “Wow, I didn’t realize that I was that tired,” Twilight said through a massive yawn. “Well when you go to sleep at two and wake up approximately five hours later your body tends to disagree with your wants and forces you to rest,” I replied. “I don’t do that anymore… I learned from my mistakes and now I go to bed at one,” She said defensively. I just rolled my eyes and exited the train. The sight of the pristine city and all the white stone and marble always left me in a bad mood. It was way too bright and clean. Every road looked like it was scrubbed free of any marks or imperfections. The whole place was so perfect that it gave off a surreal feeling that made me feel nauseous. Twilight had gotten a lot better at flying since I last saw her. It almost made me wonder why she didn’t fly instead of taking the train. She used to avoid flying but this day she hovered by me almost the whole way to the castle. Her wings made me nervous at first because I thought it meant that she would be too interested in flying to care about me. When I found out my initial thoughts went to her flying away and never seeing me again… until I found out how awkward it was for her. After seeing her ‘in action’, I instantly knew that my fears weren’t going to transpire. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” Twilight asked nervously before feeling around on her cheek. “Is there something on my face?” With a light chuckle, I replied, “No, I was just thinking about your wings.” That caused her to smirk. “Jealous are we?” “Hardly… flying doesn’t interest me in the slightest since I have magic.” Twilight frowned and she fell to the ground, walking instead of flying. This was one of those rare moments where I knew what was wrong but couldn’t fix the problem due to a lack of words. My big mouth used to get me into all kinds of trouble back on Earth, and it looked like it didn’t stop there. Thankfully we passed a familiar stallion on the way… Blueblood. He took one look at me and ran. Apparently he was still freaked out about the thought of me staining his coat with blood. Twilight didn’t complain though since it meant he treated her with more respect, which before hand was thought to be impossible for him. A lot of ponies were actually pleased with his new attitude, and whenever he ever got out of line someone just had to mention a ‘unicorn in a jacket’ and he would practically wet himself. However, I wasn’t as happy to hear that I scared him that much. I just didn’t want him bad mouthing Twilight. Upon reaching the castle doors, the guards bowed and let us in. The prospect of others bowing for her still weirded Twilight out and I could see why. Nothing had really changed other than her gaining wings and a new title so being treated differently was just odd… or at least that's what I believed. Twilight wasn’t me though, so I couldn’t be sure what was running through her head. While lost in thought, a voice echoed through the room and got my attention. “Wonderful! You are here! Now we can get something done.” Celestia said, walking up to greet us, Luna not far behind. “Indeed. Maybe now I can get a decent days rest,” Luna said before giving a large yawn. Twilight raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been having trouble sleeping?” “Yes, two things have been keeping me awake lately,” The night princess replied. “Like what you called us here for?” I asked. She nodded and looked at me specifically as she said, “That and… a few disturbing nightmares that I can’t seem to shake despite how ridiculous they may be.” I looked down and felt my ears fall to the sides of my head (something that only happened rarely and without my control. Pony ears just sort of did whatever they wanted). It was obvious that she wasn’t speaking of her own nightmares, but mine. My subconscious was not just causing me to suffer but the guardian of dreams too. It felt like everything was out to make me feel terrible this day. I just hoped that whatever Celestia wanted wouldn’t add to that pit in my stomach. “So what have you called us here for exactly?” Twilight asked her new equal. Celestia smiled nervously. “Well, it’s a… a changeling.” I deadpanned. “A changeling? That’s it? Okay Celestia, let me remind you who I am real quick… I’m your secret force against the most dire threats in Equestria, not your husband that you call on to squash an insect. Furthermore, I don’t kill, so if that's what you had in mind you can forget it. Even if it's the most evil changeling on the planet, I am not going to take a life because you tell me to. And finally, I am tired… so no matter what you say, I’m not taking care of it. I don't care if ‘I’m already here’, you take care of it!” “Actually the reason why I asked you here isn’t to ‘take care of it’.” Luna then turned to her sister with a confused expression. “But you said that was why we needed them. We were going to ask them to take care of it, right?” “Yes Luna, but he was implying that we dispose of it whereas we really are asking for them to literally care for the little thing.” Celestia replied. Twilight's jaw dropped and mine followed her lead. Seeing our shock, Celestia turned to us and did her best job at explaining. “Before you say anything, I want you to know that this was not something I desired to do to you. I am sorry, but you are our last shot at...” “Your last shot at going insane!? I couldn't agree more! Changelings are supposed to be dangerous tricksters and you want us to take care of one?!” I shouted. To my surprise Twilight laid her hoof on my shoulder and looked at me in a way that said ‘lets hear her out’. I knew that look all too well. Sighing, I let Celestia resume, secretly hoping that she was just kidding. “Thank you Twilight… now as I was saying, we exhausted all of our options. We can not do it while keeping to our royal duties. Cadance and Shining Armor were not keen on the idea…” “Gee, I wonder why…” I muttered under my breath only to receive a kick to the shin and a glare from Twilight. “When it comes down to it, you are the only suitable pair to attempt raising it.” Celestia finished. ‘Raising it? What is she getting at?’ I wondered to myself as we were led to where it was being held. Twilight was right by me the whole way, but she seemed incredibly chipper compared to everyone else. It baffled me how she could smile at a time like this. I knew she had issues with changelings, but here she was, casually strolling along without batting an eye at what lay ahead. It was a look of confidence… fearlessness. I simply loved it when she got like this. I suppose you could say her happiness led to my happiness. Before I knew it, we were in the dungeons of the castle. They weren’t unbearably dark but the light emitting crystals lining the walls did make it dimmer than natural daylight. We passed gloomy cell after gloomy cell, each one labeled with a number by the barred door. After a while we arrived at a staircase that led down through multiple floors… all with the same halls lined with the dreary cells. I assumed that the design to only have one staircase that linked up the many floors was so if there was a massive jailbreak, the criminals would all clamor to the stairs and essentially clog up the single exit. And those who did make it to the top floor would be forced to go through one at a time, making the job of halting their escape that much easier for the guards. It was a clever bottleneck strategy, but at this time it was useless since there was no prisoners… save for one changeling of course. My mind was racing at the thought of taking care of it. How would I keep it from hurting Twilight? Or anybody else for that matter? Not much was known about them other than their ability to take other forms and feed on love. It was difficult to keep them alive because they would eventually starve while being retained for study. Love was the key to their survival and when under observation by a bunch of scientists, that was the one thing they would never get. They would either be hated or looked at as just a test subject. Upon reaching the bottom floor, I saw Shining Armor up ahead. I let Twilight stay in front of me so I wouldn’t be immediately targeted by her brother. He still noticed me and glared, but as long as Twilight was between me and him, he wouldn’t attack. I wasn’t afraid of him hurting me, but it was probably better to avoid confrontation. “Has there been anything we missed while we were gone?” Celestia asked as she reached him and peered past the iron bars. “No, your highness… it has hardly moved since you left. Perhaps it has died.” Shining replied, the corner of his mouth twisting up so slightly it went unnoticed by the others. The sun goddess's gaze narrowed a bit. “I don't think it would have remained sitting up like that if it had. No… it is still alive.” I decided to get a look for myself and carefully walked over, keeping my steps as quiet as possible. Once I was close enough, I stopped and looked inside, but what I saw wasn’t a changeling… it was another Shining Armor facing away from us all. ‘What is it doing in a disguise if it was already found out?’ As if reading my mind, Luna spoke up. “It is still reluctant to show us its true form. We can’t determine its age or gender for certain, but we believe it is quite young. It may even be a child… although that is only an assumption.” “How do you figure?” I asked, still looking at the Shining clone. “Well on top of what the guards said of it being small when they found it, it has an odd habit of… for a lack of better phrasing, acting a bit immature.” “It's a brat, that's what it is…” Shining Armor growled. That was the moment when it turned around. It had a mischievous grin that stretched from ear to ear. Shining snorted in contempt as the changeling walked towards us and pressed its face against the bars, getting as close as it could. “Did I make the cry baby mad?” It said, mimicking Shining's voice perfectly. “What’s the matter? I thought a previous captain of the guard was able to control his emotions perfectly… or were you wrong? Not as tough as you thought you were, are you? Nope, you’re just a bunch of talk… talk, talk, talk, talk, talk!” The stallion just a few feet away raised his hoof as if to strike at the changeling, but it got caught by Celestia's magic. “You have done enough… we can take over from here. You are free to return to the Crystal Empire.” She said sternly. Shining lowered his hoof and left after giving me one last ‘death stare’, muttering to himself angrily. While I was watching him leave I noticed that this must have been big for him to be called here. He was hardly ever away from the crystal castle he called home, and for him to travel all the way here just to make sure a changeling didn’t escape must have meant that this was no ordinary changeling. No, something about it must have sparked Celestia's interest… and that sparked my interest. Learning was one thing I did very well. Most of the people I had known didn’t understand what power a little bit of knowledge held, but I did. Also, after ending up in Equestria I had a desire to learn even more. There was so much that I didn’t know and figuring out something new that I could use made me ‘giddy’, much like Twilight. Now I was close to something else I could learn from… however, it was still dangerous. The only question was, could I afford to let it get close enough to satisfy my intrigue? There was only one way to find out. “Celestia, I wish to talk to it… face to face. Could you unlock the door?” I asked, turning to her. She nodded and magically opened it, but she did so with a smile. Something about that made me wonder what she knew that I didn’t. I shrugged it off and walked inside, shutting the barred door behind me. At the moment I approached it, the changeling shifted its disguise to a perfect copy of me. I chuckled at the very thought that it was going to try imitating me to escape. Even if it could copy my appearance and voice, there was no way it was going to be able to take me down in combat. I had a spell that shut down all signals to the muscles of those I targeted. It took up a lot of magic to perform, however it didn’t matter when my opponent was helpless on the floor. “If you are thinking of escaping, don’t.” I said with a confident smirk. “If you are thinking of escaping, don’t.” It just mimicked me for no apparent reason. There was even a few seconds of delay. What purpose did that serve? “Huh… cute.” “Huh… cute.” It said immediately after I finished this time. I raised an eyebrow in slight confusion but continued anyways. “Okay I’m going to-” “Okay I’m going to…” The changeling interrupted. “Please dont do…” It had completely synchronized with me. I was practically speaking to a mirror now. The realization that it had adapted to copy me so perfectly in such a short time scared me. “You had better knock that off right now,” it said with me. “I mean it, this isn’t funny.” I could see the mirth in my double's eyes as we spoke. It was enjoying my rising anger… so I would have to say something that would give me pleasure, as cliche as it was. “I’m an idiot.” I said, but this time I wasn’t copied. The changeling smiled, “I can agree with that…” I can’t say I expected that reaction exactly, although it did give me what I was looking for. It would have been impossible to get a straight answer through that copy cat routine, so I broke the cycle. There was a bit of information that I gathered from our conversation so far… and that was this changeling was definitely immature just like Luna had said. Actually, it was more like childish… “Okay, so I have a few questions for you. I would be grateful if you would answer them.” I said, showing no emotion. The changeling snorted and rolled its eyes, which was odd seeing as how I had never gotten a good look at myself doing that before. “You are a changeling, correct?” I was met with a look that said ‘you must be stupid to ask that’. “No… I’m your long lost twin brother. Really, you already should know that I’m a changeling.” “Alright, so if you are a changeling and it's so obvious to everyone that you are… why stay disguised?” I asked raising an eyebrow. “I’m sure it's not hurting you to do so, but it must be more comfortable to be in your true form. Why keep up the charade if there is no benefit?” The changeling turned away and growled, “Because…” “Because why?” I pressed. “JUST BECAUSE ALRIGHT?!” I smirked and looked deep into those eyes that matched my own. “Because you are a child and want to be treated like an adult, right?” The bitter and angry look I got told me I was right. “Get out…” my doppelganger snarled. I shook my head. “Sorry but I’m not done with my-” “GET OUT!” It yelled with tears now welling up in its eyes. I had no choice but to leave. A line had been crossed that told me that I wasn’t going to get anything else for today. As I calmly exited the cell, I saw Celestia frown. As if reading my mind she explained the reason for her unhappiness. “I was hoping that you would be able to make more of a connection. The reason I asked you here wasn’t for interrogation purposes, it was for adoption…” “Adoption?! What is wrong with you?! You know me and children already don't mix! What makes you think a changeling child would be any better!?!” Celestia shot me her legendary ‘stern ruler glare’ and firmly said. “Because you are not as bad as you believe you are. You may think that you would be the wrong pony for this task, but that is where you are mistaken. I have seen what lies in your heart and I have also seen you while you were near fillies and colts. What you don't realize is that you are giving them every reason to like you, only you have blinded yourself to your actions. It is true that you are strict and a bit rough… however that only supports my theory that you would make a good father figure to this young creature.” I could feel my eye twitch at the sheer stupidity I was faced with. I mean really… me? A good father figure? I’ll believe that when Pinkie starts acting like a normal civilized member of society (and since nopony is really ‘normal’, its gonna be a while). “I have heard a lot of crap in my life, but that takes the triple-fudge quadruple-decker upside down cake. Even Twilight will back me up on this one… right Twilight?” I heard only silence so I turned around seeing that she was missing. “Twilight?” It didn’t take me long to look inside the cell and find her right behind the changeling who had once again faced away. Before I could try to stop her, she put up a barrier that blocked access to the door. The possibility of breaking the barrier in such a tight location was not a good idea. Anything used to break it could either be too strong and end up hurting Twilight on the other side, or be too weak and bounce off to hurt the royal sisters as well as myself. Teleportation was also out of the question because Twilight's magical shields not only blocked off the ability to enter physically, it also negated magic… and I mean STRONG magic. It was even able to purify Discord's chaos magic which, when used correctly, trumped mine three fold. I banged my hoof against the transparent magical pink wall that denied me access to her. “Twilight! Get out of there right now! You have no idea what that thing will do!” I barked. She looked back at me with the fiercest glare I had seen from her… yes, the same one that she had when she was trying to understand the ‘Pinkie sense’. Without really knowing why, I stopped and just watched as it looked like she was speaking to it. She was speaking so softly that I couldn’t determine what she was saying, but by the look of it, she was probably trying to make friends with it. She was smiling and keeping her movements gentle. At one point in particular, I saw my copy shake a little… it was laughing. Whatever Twilight said to it made it laugh. Meanwhile my thoughts kept returning to the same question time after time: ‘how can she be so kind to something that caused her so much grief? She should be showing some hostility at least, but she isn’t...’. I turned to Luna and Celestia just to make sure I wasn’t alone in my confusion, but what I saw was far from helpful. They were grinning! Didn’t they understand that the changeling could easily tear out Twilight's throat with a single bite?! Didn’t they see how much danger she was in?! WAS I THE ONLY SANE ONE IN THIS PLACE!?! Suddenly a bright flash of green got my attention. When I looked back at where the changeling was, there was an uproar of lime green flames. I started unintentionally holding my breath as they died down and my gaze kept going lower without any signs that the changeling was still there… until I saw the pointed tip of a black horn. As it went down it bent and curved slightly almost like a branch off the trees in the Everfree Forest. Next I saw what appeared to be dark teal hair with a oddly shaped black ear poking out. The hair was almost web-like in some areas but mostly it just looked like a curtain of smooth silk. It was cut somewhat like a bob style, a curved angle at the right side but evened out towards the back and was completely level on the other. Strangely it reminded me of Chrysalis’ mane, especially at the front where a few locks were hanging down as though they were vines meant to obscure the changeling's face. The next thing I noticed was the size of it. Roughly the size of the cutie mark crusaders, the little thing didn’t even seem like a threat anymore. In fact, it actually looked like it could have been a few inches shorter than even Sweetie Belle. I would have laughed, but it opened its eyes. Those eyes… they were such a bright green, they put what remained of the lime fire to shame. They looked exactly like Queen Chrysalis’ eyes. I was scared of that but at the same time… intrigued. Was this something that occurred in many changelings? Or was it related to the queen in some way? Or was it the queen in disguise? I couldn’t tell if any of that was true or not. So little was known about the species that I was just taking shots in the dark. Soon enough, Twilight's shield went down and she walked out. Stopping to look back, she said, “Come on. It's alright, we’re all friends here.” The changeling stepped out from Twilight's shadow and followed behind her. It had an expression of bitter determination, something that you would normally see from a Canterlot guard. Right as Twilight stepped back into the hall, I gave the changeling a small telekinetic push and slammed the door shut. Looking over to Twilight with a glare, I shouted, “WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?! When I say ‘get out’, listen to me! You could have gotten hurt! Or worse! Do you know what that would do to me?! I wouldn’t be able to live with my-” With a loud smack, Twilight slapped me… hard. I was not physically strong or resilient so her hit sent me flying into the nearby brick wall, knocking me out. Usually I could use a spell to make me tougher than I actually was, but when I was caught off guard like that, a pony as weak as Twilight could send me to the land of dreams. However, none of this was the point right now. The point was that for the first time ever, she had seriously hit me… and at that time I had no idea what I did wrong.