"Dumb light," the young changeling muttered. She had stepped out several minutes earlier, but she hadn't expected her eyes to take so long to adjust to the remarkably bright light. She had been born in the tunnels, and had never left them. This was something new, and her eyes stung from the sudden increase in light.
She blinked and wiped her watering eyes. It really was brighter than she had thought it would be, but she was now able to see the ground.
She looked down at her hooves again, uncertain what to make of the situation. It appeared as if the very ground seemed to be sucking on her. She lifted a hoof out of the ground and examined the dirt on it. Unlike the dirt she found on the floor of her room, this dirt was wet. She thought back to what her mother had told her of the various strange things she could find on the surface. Only one thing fit the description. "Mud? Mud..."
Her mind raced to remember everything her mother had told her about mud. She instinctively brought her hoof her chin, but caught herself before she accidentally smeared anything on her face. Shaking the mud off, she looked around.
Her eyes were finally adjusting and what she could see amazed her. Never had she seen such colors and shapes. Thinking about the various stories she had heard, she listed off what she could see, trying to remember what each thing was called.
"Trees, leaves, bushes, berries..." she said, moving around the mound that marked the exit from her home. "Rabbit," she whispered as the small fluffy creature locked eyes with her. It stood for a moment before shifting its focus on something behind the youngling. It turned and ran, disappearing quickly.
The youngling sighed as it ran off, her gaze drifting toward a break in the leaves above her. A bright, yellow orb hung there, surrounded by blue. "Celestia. Wait... No, thats the pony that..." She lowered her sight from the break in the leaves, trying to remember.
Chrysalis spoke about Celestia all the time, and she said the princess raised the- "Sun! Is that it? Yeah! Ha. I knew I would remember." Laughing at her momentary forgetfulness, she turned around, hoping to see something else she had never seen before.
What she saw now, though, turned her laugh into a whimper. "Timber wolf." The growl confirmed her fears. As the timber wolf slowly approached her, she backed away, mind racing to find one of the many spells the queen had taught her to use if she ever had to defend herself. She remembered an offensive spell she had learned recently, but it required more strength than she had.
If only she had something she could feed on for a temporary power boost. She turned her head, aware of a pressure on her back. Fearing it was something dangerous, she was relieved to see her doll. Remembering its powers, she chuckled and turned back to the wolf.
It had gotten much closer when she had turned her head, and was now crouched, preparing to pounce. Thinking back to the spell, she crouched as well. Her horn glowed, and she felt the magic course through her. She fed on the energy stored in the doll, focusing the strength she gained into the spell. Just as the timber wolf pounced, the youngling released the spell. A large green bolt of energy smashed into the monster, resulting in a bright flash of color and sound. Smoke rose from the ground around the youngling as she stared at the flaming twigs in front of her.
"Wow," she said, sinking to the ground. "I wish someone had told me it was that powerful." The spell had drained her of what little strength she had. If not for the magic in her doll, the spell would have killed her. She sat for a moment, feeding on her doll.
Eventually, she regained enough of her strength to stand up, though it hurt her head to do much else. To fill her time, she tried to remember what Chrysalis had said about the area around their home. "The Everfree Forest," she said, thinking.
"The ponies are too afraid to come here often, and you should be scared of it too," the queen had said, almost as an afterthought while answering a question about the ponies. "Even the Princess doesn't come here. If a pony ever does come here, though, you can't let it go home. The ponies can never know we are so close to Canterlot."
The queen had continued, eventually talking about her plans to take over Equestria, but she didn't care much for conquest. She thought about the creatures rumored to live in the forest.
"Help!" The youngling turned toward the sudden sound. It wasn't the queen, but she didn't know of anything else that could be out here. She wondered if she should go back inside, or if she should help the creature. A scream echoed through the trees around her, and she ran in the direction it had come from. It needed help, and she wouldn't let its cries go unanswered.
After running for some time, she came upon a part of the forest that scared her just as much as her mother did. String spread from tree to tree, resembling a giant web. Strange white cocoons hung from the web in several places. One shifted, and a muffled shout erupted from whatever was enclosed. Before she could run to the cocoon and save the poor creature inside, though, a giant spider come crawling down from the canopy far above her. She watched in fear and horror as it crawled onto the cocoon and began to consume the being inside. The cocoon stopped shaking, and soon, wierd red blood dripped to the ground beside her.
She felt angry over the spiders actions, and instead of fighting her emotions, she embraced them. Her horn glowed brightly as her fury grew. That creature might have had a family back home. She imagined a small, young creature sitting in a dark room, wondering where her mother had gone. She refused to let it get away with what it had done.
The spider, much larger than even the queen, had noticed her and descended. It now stood before her, mandibles clicking as it considered the thing in front of it. Surely this strange, glowing creature would be just as juicy as any other meal. The youngling's rage grew as she realized it wanted to eat her as well. "No!" she shouted. Acting on impulse, she grasped the spider's legs with her magic. It struggled as she slowly pulled it apart. Soon, all that was left was the spider's body, held in the air by the youngling's magic.
A roar erupted from her as she thought about the creature it had killed. Looking around at the cocoons hanging from the web, she decided that it would never hurt anything ever again. The spider exploded in a fine mist, and the youngling took a few steps back.
The anger that had fueled her fit of powerful magic subsided quickly after she realized what she had done, and she was starting to feel the draining effects her spells had. She turned her head, looking for her doll, but found that it had fallen off during her spell casting. She had drained herself by casting those spells, and she could feel herself weakening as her body tried make up for the magic she had expended. She spun, searching frantically for the doll. She had to find it, or else she would... "Oh, my," she whimpered as she lost control of her body, flopping heavily against the ground.
Her mind wandered and her body turned numb. She should have shown more self control, just like mother had told her that she must in one of her many lessons. Her anger over the spider's actions had subsided, even as the strange red blood dripped on the ground before her face. She forced herself to focus, knowing what would happen if she didn't find something to feed on.
"Mother?" a tiny voice called. The youngling raised her head and tried to find where the voice had come from, but all she saw was the foliage around her. She felt the emotions of this creature flowing past her. It was sad and angry, just as she was, and it was also afraid. "Where are you mom? Where did you go?"
She took a moment to reach out and feed on the emotions of the creature, knowing that she needed to feed, or else she would die. It was wrong to feed on passing creatures without their permission, especially since the only emotions that really filled her were from those creatures that could think. It was a terrible breach of their privacy, but she had no choice. The moment she could feel her legs, she stood up and followed the trail of creature, hoping to help it before she returned home, annoyed by the forest. She stopped, realizing something. Turning, she looked at the cocoon the spider had fed upon, the gears clicking into place. This creature's mother had just been... She turned and ran in the direction of the creature.
When she caught up to it, she realized that it wasn't just any strange creature. The gray pegasus, whose blonde hair contained many broken branches, was surprisingly the same size as her. Never had she seen something the same size and shape as her.
The fear was evident in the filly's strange, yellow eyes, and she could feel its emotions rising at the sight of her.
"It's ok. I won't hurt you. Don't cry," she said, moving towards the filly. Maybe if she treated it like Ash, it wouldn't be afraid. It backed away for a moment.
"Please don't explode me like the monster," it said in its tiny, female voice. The youngling winced. She had hoped her brief fit had gone unnoticed.
"Its ok. Don't worry," she said, reaching for the tiny pony. It took another step back, fearful of the changeling.
"Hey, want to see something funny?" It looked up at her with its strange, crossed eyes and nodded. She obviously needed something to distract itself from the fear she felt. "Watch this." The youngling took a step back, preparing herself.
She hadn't done this in a long time. Forming a mental picture of the pony, she felt her skin shift. Even with her eyes closed, she knew the green flames around her put on a beautiful light show. When she opened her eyes, the pony in front of her was smiling. It ran forward and hugged the youngling, who now looked exactly like her, except for the crossed eyes. She had no idea how the pony made its eyes do that.
"I finally have a friend just like me," the pegasus said, tears dripping. The youngling hugged her back, happy for the friend. She extended herself, feeding on the creature's love and happiness. At least she could repay the pony for using it this way.
"Derpy! Derpy?" The two turned to find an older looking pony staring at the two of them. This one wasn't as small as Derpy, and her light purple eyes stared straight at the pair of them. It stood as tall as a fully grown drone. Her coat was a light gray, and her dark gray hair flowed a bit longer. She wasn't a pegasus, as she had no wings. She was a normal pony.
The shock of seeing the new pony caused the youngling to shapeshift back into her original form. When the transition was complete, the earth pony moved quickly, jumping between Derpy and the changeling. "Get away from her," the mare commanded, rearing up at the changeling. Derpy quickly butted in, though.
"She's my friend, Octavia."
"What? What are you talking about?" Octavia asked, turning toward the filly.
"Unfortunately, the two of them seem to have bonded. I must say, that was unexpected," came a familiar voice. Once again turning, they saw Chrysalis emerge from the dense foliage. Her enormous size dwarfed even Octavia.
"You know, I told you that these ponies can't know of our existence. Now that they do, we can't let them leave," the queen stated, turning from the youngling toward the ponies. Her horn glowed, and the youngling turned in time to see the two ponies seize up and fall over.
"Let them go!" she cried, unleashing a small blast of magic towards her mother. Chrysalis easily blocked it, but the spell she was using on the ponies faded. "Run!" the youngling shouted, throwing herself between her mother and the ponies.
They ran, and Chrysalis roared in anger. The youngling felt the anger roll off her mother, and she felt the same anger rising inside of herself. "Why are you so mean mother? They won't hurt us if we don't hurt them." she said.
"I can't let them tell their pretty little Princess Celestia about us. I can sense your anger, though. I can't believe it. You've grown up so fast." The changeling queen started to explain. "You know that anger you felt towards the silly spider?" The youngling was confused, but let it slide for the moment. The queen continued speaking.
"I knew this day would come, but I was hoping you would be a bit larger when it happened. And yes, I saw what you did to the spider. You're maturing, albeit a bit later than you should." She sighed.
"I have one more lesson for you. It's time I told you about maturity. You'll feel things you haven't felt before, my youngling. You'll grow more powerful as time passes, but as your power grows, your emotions will run rampant. The anger you feel is the most powerful of all these emotions, for reasons i'm sure you're aware of. You'll soon be able to overthrow me and claim the throne for yourself. I can't afford for you to interfere with my plans, however."
A drone trotted up from behind the queen, waiting for the queen's command. "Ash, you remember your good friend, right?" the queen asked the drone, pointing at the youngling with her hoof. Ash nodded, but remained standing at the queen's side.
"I have been working on a spell for a while now. It should allow me to control of the minds of my enemies, allowing me to take over Equestria. I needed something to test it on, though."
The youngling gasped. "You wouldn't dare."
"I already did. Now, all I have to do is deal with you." The queen paused to think about how to deal with this nuisance. "As much of a pain as you are, I have to focus on the future of the hive. You are the only heir to the hive, so I can't just get rid of you. I guess i'll have to keep you around."
The youngling stood there, both fearful of, and full of rage at the queen.
"You're the changeling princess, my dear, but I am the queen. If you want to stick around, I suggest you remember that. I know from experience you'll eventually want to take the throne."
The princess stood there defiantly. A thought coursed through her mind: Why not take the throne now? "I refuse to bow ever again, you monster. You'll have to make me."
"So be it. I have to keep you around, but I can't let you wander free." A flash of green, and the princess blacked out.
Octavia looked back at Derpy. She had promised to take care of the filly in case anything ever happened to her parents, but today was by far the worst day of her life. Not only had the filly's parents disappeared, but the filly and herself had almost been killed by whatever that THING was. At least now they were approaching home.
"Hey Derpy? Why don't you come over to my house for a few days?" she asked the young filly, looking for a way to explain that her parents had probably died.
"Can Ewony come?" was the response. The two ponies stopped.
"Who is- Wait, what?" She nearly jumped when she saw the tiny black doll hanging from the filly's mouth. "What is that? Let go of it, now." Derpy set it gently on the ground.
"Its Ebony, Octi. She's my friend. I found a doll that looked just like her in the forest." The two stood there looking at the doll.
Fear crept into the back of her mind, but she pushed it aside. The doll probably belonged to the the tiny creature they had met in the forest. She sighed. It had saved them from what had to be its mother. Octavia hoped the little creature would be alright, if only because Derpy had befriended it.
"Sure, Ebony can come along."