//------------------------------// // My Princess. // Story: Love Me... I Mean, If You're Ok With Me // by elmago02 //------------------------------// Alice felt warm and comfortable. Just as she had felt every morning before waking up and finding out that she was no longer sleeping on a side of the road or under a tree. These last few days, she had woken up in her own bed. But today, after her eyes fluttered open, she was confused of where she was. This room was completely different to the one she had been sleeping the last few days. For starters, this room had a complete lack of colors. The wall and the ceiling were pure white. The room also lacked the gorgeous furniture from the boutique. Alice’s eyes just looked around the room, but they came to a halt as she noticed something purple right next to her. After focusing her gaze, Alice felt even more confused, her cheeks slightly warming up. Why was Rarity here? The small snores coming from the unicorn indicated that she was obviously sleeping. Alice would have liked to just stay there looking at Rarity, but she also wanted to know where she was and why was she here with Rarity, so she decided that she had to gently wake up the unicorn. “Rarit-” Alice quickly clamped her hooves against her mouth, her eyes wide open. That voice, the one that had just come out from her, it was… It was her real voice. She slowly pulled her hooves away from her mouth and looked down at them. They were completely black, holes covering a great portion of them. Beginning to panic, the events of… Alice wasn’t exactly sure of when they had taken place, but she remembered them. The lunch at Fluttershy’s cottage. The arrival of the royal guards. Twilight using that barrier spell that stripped her of her… her pony self. And finally, Rarity running away from her… but before that, she had shouted something. What had been her wor- “You are a changeling, you are a monster.” The words came as clear to her mind as if Rarity had just woken up and said them. This caused Alice to roll out from the bed, in the opposite direction from where the unicorn was, trying to get some distance between the two of them. Alice was against the wall, her eyes wide open and breathing harshly. Alice brought one hoof to her chest. ‘C-Calm down, slow your breaths. Just… Just-’ A yawn from right next the bed made Alice panic even more. Rarity was waking up. In a quick motion, Alice stood on her hooves, ran to the nearest route of escape, a window, and opened it in an instant, making a considerable amount of noise. She winced at that, and slowly turned her head to look back. Their blue eyes met. Alice saw Rarity open and close her mouth a few times. Then, one single word came from Rarity’s mouth, but Alice did not hear it. She was afraid of of what Rarity could tell her. She just imagined the worst as she turned around and jumped out the window. Alice fell a couple of meters before landing hard on a bush, but not suffering any major injuries from the fall. She managed to get on her hooves and ran away from that place as fast as she could. Alice moved through the town, feeling pain shot up through one of her legs with each step she gave, but that wouldn’t stop her. She had to get out of here, she had to get to a safe place, somewhere where she could… where she could… ‘Where I could what?’  Alice questioned herself. ‘What… what am I going to do now?’ Run from this town to another was what came to her mind, just like a year ago in Canterlot. But… ‘Run and then what? Get discovered again? Is running away my only option in this life?’ Tears streamed down her face. Not paying much attention to the way, Alice ran directly on another pony that had gotten up early to water the plants. “Hey! Watch out where you are…” The female unicorn, with a pale aquamarine coat and a grayish mane with a few lock of white, fell silent when she looked at the… the creature that had collided with her. Her eyes widened slowly at the recognition of what this creature was. “C-Ch-Ch-Cha… Ch-Changeling!!!” the mare shouted with all her might. Rainbow Dash groggily woke up, opening her mouth widely as she let a loud yawn escape. She rubbed her eyes and stretched every single one of her sore limbs. She couldn’t remember the last time she had slept in such an uncomfortable place, and now that she thought about it, what place was this? She looked to the left to see an empty hallway, then turned her head to the right to see one of the royal guards sleeping on a chair. Finally, looking right in front of her, Rainbow saw the white closed door with the number 412. “Right… The hospital.” Rainbow sighed. Applejack and Pinkie had left yesterday, shortly after Twilight and Fluttershy, because both of them had to get early for work. The cyan pegasus had decided to stay here in case Rarity needed something. Rainbow stood up and walked down the hallway, looking for the little fillies room. Before she could get far, a sound caught her attention. Her ears twitched and moved as they tried to pinpoint the direction of the sound. The closer she got to the room 412, the clearer the sound became. Pressing her head against the door, She just waited a moment until she heard the sound once again to enter the room. With the door wide open, Rainbow caught the sight of one of her best friend sobbing on the floor. Without thinking, Rainbow moved quickly to her friend’s side. “Rarity, what happened?” Rarity just kept looking down. Rainbow looked around the room, noticing that the changeling wasn’t there. “Rarity, Where is the chan- Uhh, where is Alice?” Still no answer. With her friend crying and the changeling missing, Rainbow reached the only reasonable answer. “She did something to you, right? I knew we couldn’t trust that monster!” Rainbow shouted, clenching her jaw. “Rainbow,” Rarity started in a quiet voice. “I would appreciate it dearly if you never called Alice a monster or thing again.” “But that thing-” “RAINBOW!” Rarity turned around, her expression was one that could easily put in shame Fluttershy’s stare. “Don’t. Call her. A thing. Again.” Rainbow just nodded. She had seen Rarity angry, but never this level of angry. Taking a deep breath, Rarity looked to the window. “I hurt her, Rainbow. I hurt Alice.” One quiet sob escaped her lips. “When I woke up, she was standing right next to the window. She… She was scared… Scared of me…” She lifted a hoof to wipe a few tears. “I didn’t even had the chance to apologize… She just left…” Rarity finished, looking down at her hooves, a few tears falling over them. Rainbow moved closer to rarity and place a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder. “Come on, we have to go.” “... Go?” “How long has it been since Alice left?” “... Half hour ago? Maybe more, I’m not sure…” “Damn, that’s a lot of time. Well, it doesn’t matter, let’s go.” Rainbow said as she walked to the window.” “Where… where are you going?” “We Are going to look for Alice.” Rainbow looked back with a warm smile. “We both have to apologize to her.” “But… She-” “You really love her?” Rarity was surprised by Rainbow’s sudden question. “I… Of course. But she-” “Twilight said that what you saw in that dream was a hundred percent real. And you told us that she felt the same way for you.” “But I screwed it up. She hates me now.” “Nope, she fears you, you just told me that.” “I think that that is even worse.” “Look, we just have to fix it, and we won’t be able to do that standing here. So come on, we have to find your marefriend.” Rarity was quiet. Rainbow said it as if it was the simplest of things to do. Alice had been deeply hurt. She had allowed Rarity a place in her heart, and Rarity had... “But-” “Rarity, just believe… believe that everything will be fine. What do we have to lose if we find her? Nothing.” “But if we don’t go after her, I could lose something big…” Rarity took a deep breath and nodded. “You are right, Rainbow. But how will we find her. We don’t know where she went.” “CHAAAAANGEELLIIIIIIINNGGGGGGGGGGG!!!” Sounded the faint shout through the window. “I think we have our first clue.” Rainbow said as she flew over Rarity, Grabbed her by the barrel and flew out of the hospital. A few blocks ahead, they found a group of ponies surrounding one of Twilight’s guard. The guard seemed to be talking to a unicorn mare that looked quite distressed. Two more guards were trying to disperse the crowd  In a quick motion, Rainbow flew downwards, placing Rarity on ground level before landing. The two of them then moved to talk with the guard and the mare. Rainbow recognized the guard as Sergeant Iron Hoof and the mare as Lyra Heartstring. “Sergeant.” Rainbow called out. The sergeant turned around. “Oh, Miss Rainbow, Miss Rarity. Good to see you here. You probably heard thanks to that loud scream. It seems another changeling has showed up in Ponyville.” “Another?! Oh Celestia!” Lyra said after hearing the sergeant. “They are here to invade, just like a year ago in Canterlot! I don’t want to be replaced by one of those monsters again!” She screamed, causing the nearby group of ponies to start to shout, demanding more information of what they had just heard. “Everypony, Please, stay calm!” Iron Hoof tried to regain control of the situation before it turned in complete panic. Everypony in Ponyville knew about the changelings and the invasion. If something like that were to happen in this little town, with way fewer guards- “Everypony!” Somepony shouted from above. The group of ponies looked up to see Princess Twilight flying down. Fluttershy right behind her. “Please, stay calm. There aren’t changelings in the city. The one changeling that was spotted was actually an illusion I created for scientific purposes!” That was enough to calm the masses. They had known that their new Princess enjoyed doing weird experiments and tended to cause troubles with them, but she also fixed those problems. With that, the crowd began to move away. The only remaining in place were the guards, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow and Lyra. Twilight turned to Rarity. “Rarity, why aren’t you with Alice at the hospital?” “Alice escaped, Twilight.” “She did?” Rarity nodded, looking a bit gloom. “She… I woke up and she was standing right next to the window. She… She looked scared of me, Twilight. “Rarity walked closer to the princess and lowered her voice. “I’m sure the changeling Lyra saw was Alice. I have to find her, Twilight. I have to apologize.” Twilight seemed to be thinking something real quick before turning to Lyra. “Lyra, you know what direction this “changeling” took. I need to find this illusion so I can finish the experiment.” Lyra just looked at Twilight, still looked a bit paranoic. “Princess, that was a real changeling, wasn’t it? I mean, it bumped into me, it was solid.” “Lyra, that is what I’m experimenting with, a solid illusion. It escaped my lab. I need to find it and finish this before it causes more problems. So no, It wasn’t a real changeling. Trust me.” Twilight ended with a reassuring smile. Lyra took a few seconds to think about this. “O-Okay, that makes sense, I guess. It… it ran to the east.” “The east…” Twilight’s eyes widened. “The Everfree Forest. Thank you Lyra. Do you need help getting home, you still look a bit disturbed.” “I… I would feel a bit more at ease.” “Twilight nodded and looked at Iron Hoof. “Sergeant, please, escort this mare to her home.” The sergeant saluted and walked the mare away from that place. “Wow.” Rainbow said. “If I didn’t knew the truth I would totally believe you. I mean, you looked so serious. You didn’t falter once.” Twilight sighed as she began to move to the east. Her friends followed her. “I feel bad for lying to them, but it was the quickest way to solve this problem. Rarity.” Twilight moved next to the unicorn. “I was flying to the hospital when I heard Lyra’s scream. Rarity, Alice almost died yesterday.” “W-What?” “After I left the hospital yesterday, I went to your house to retrieve that wooden fang to cast the spell in me. I had to see her memories for myself.” “You still doubted that she wasn’t a menace?! That she didn’t love me?! You didn’t trust my word?!” “What?! No! Rarity, it’s not like that. I believed you from the beginning.” “Then why did you need to see them?” “I was looking for information, something that could tell me what exactly happened to her yesterday. Look, I had some documents about changelings in the library, but that information is incomplete. Ponies only started researching changelings a year ago, after the invasion, It wasn’t enough to know what was happening to her.” “... Okay, Twilight. Sorry I snapped at you. It’s just that hearing that she almost died yesterday...” “Rarity, I think you saved Alice.” “I-I did?” Twilight stopped running. The four ponies were at the entrance of the forest. “You love her, right?”  Rarity looked at Twilight right in the eyes. “Of course I do.” “Rarity, yesterday Alice suffered of what I’m going to call “a broken heart”. During her memories, this happened in two different occasions. When her “foster” parents discovered her and when Chrysalis banished her. It was like an open wound from where all the love she had in her was slowly leaking out. She lost a great amount of energy and strength. And, well…” Rarity understood. “The same thing happened yesterday, when I called her a… a monster. I almost killed her.” Twilight sighed. “I guess, but you saved her. If you didn’t love her, If you hadn’t spent all the night right next to her, pouring your love, unconsciously, to her, she wouldn't had survived!” “But she’s still in danger.” Fluttershy said from behind. Twilight focused her attention on her marefriend. “Running towards the Everfree Forest by herself? Poor thing.” “How will we find her in there? The forest is too thick to look for her from above.” Rainbow asked. “We need a plan. We can’t just run in there aimlessly. We need more ponies. Rainbow, fly to Sweet Apple Acres and bring Applejack. Fluttershy, you go get Pinkie Pie. I will return to town and bring some royal guards to help us search. Rarity you can stay… Rarity?” Twilight had just noticed that her unicorn friend was missing. “Alice! Alice!” Rarity shouted as she ran through the forest. Alice had almost died yesterday, and now, the changeling was alone in this cursed forest. This dangerous place, if something bad happened to Alice… As Rarity kept shouting and running through the forest, she did not notice that she had managed to grab the attention of something from behind the trees. A large creature that kept an eye on her, a creature that was waiting for an opportunity. “Alice!” Rarity shouted one more time. She had arrived to the bridge that led to the old castle ruins. At that moment, a loud roar sounded from behind. A large manticore surged from the dark forest, making its way towards the unicorn, drool oozing out from its mouth. Rarity paid him no attention. She had to find Alice, so she ran to the bridge. ‘Maybe she’s in the castle.’ Halfway through it, the manticore flew up, landing just in front of Rarity. The bridge shook under his weight. The manticore roared again, spraying spit in Rarity’s face. “You brute! Move away!” Rarity turned, placing her weight on her front hooves and lifting her back ones. Rarity bucked as hard as she could, hitting the manticore right on the chest. That only served to make the manticore angry. Rarity managed to make some distance between her and the manticore before the beast’s massive paw could hit her. The claws of the beast hit the ropes of the bridge. The manticore gave two steps forward before the old, damaged bridge gave away under its weight. The manticore fell down the gorge, but managed a swift landing thanks to extending his wings just at the right moment. Looking around, the manticore found a little pony that didn’t had the same luk. Rarity was lying on the ground, unconscious. The manticore walked slowly towards its lunch. Alice jumped behind a bush at the moment she heard somepony shouting her name. It was dark, but she easily spotted the white coated unicorn. Why was Rarity here? Why was she looking for her? This were the thought in Alice mind. Was Rarity worried about her? Rarity sounded worried. Alice shook her head. That couldn’t be the reason, why would she be looking for a changeling. Whatever the reason was, Alice didn’t want to know. She decided to keep silent and just watch the unicorn. She watched as a Manticore appeared out of the woods. She watched as Rarity tried to cross the bridge, only to be blocked halfway by the manticore. She watched the unicorn kick the manticore without a second of hesitation. She watched, holding her breath, as the manticore attempted to strike Rarity with its claws. And she watched, as the manticore and the lovely unicorn fell down the gorge. Alice jumped out from the bush and ran to the border. Looking down, she saw the manticore slowly walking to its prey. “Get away from her!” Alice shouted as she jumped down, aiming to the manticore. She connected her front hooves to the manticore’s ribcage, then stumbled backwards, groaning a little in pain for using her still injured left hoof. The manticore was tired of games, time to use it’s tail. Alice rolled back, dodging the manticore’s poison sting. The manticore stalked forward. Alice looked back, and moved closer to the unicorn. She had to protect the pony she loved, but how? Her hoof ached in pain, and the manticore was bigger, leaving physical confrontation out of the options. She had spend a good part of her life as an earth pony, so she didn’t had much knowledge of defensive spells. Another option out. What could she do? Run away and leave Rarity here to be devoured? Never. One of Alice hoof found one of the planks of the bridge. She took it with both hoofs. “Don’t get closer!” She shouted, madly swinging the piece of wood. The manticore kept getting closer. Alice had to think of something quickly. What else could she do? Shape shift? To what? Even if she changed shapes to a big stallion, the manticore would still be stronger. It was usele- Alice eyes widened. She looked down at her weapon, then shape-shifted. The green flames that covered her body also covered what she was holding, causing the piece of wood to catch in fire. The manticore froze, surprised by the flames. Alice noticed this, and threw the piece of wood to the manticore. The manticore jumped backwards, scared of the flames. Alice smirked, so the manticore was afraid of the fire? Taking another piece of wood, Alice shape-shifted back to her changeling form and started to swing her flame weapon at the manticore. The manticore couldn’t get closer. Too afraid of the flames, it was time to give up on this. The manticore extended it’s wings and flew away. Alice dropped to the ground and threw her “weapon” away. She couldn’t believe she had faced a manticore and won. She just took a few seconds to gather strength, then looked at the unicorn at her side. With the tip of her hoof, Alice brushed away a lock of purple mane from Rarity’s face. She had saved this beautiful mare, this mare that thought she was a monster. That didn’t matter, she would just take Rarity to a safe place and get out of her life forever. With some effort, Alice managed to pull Rarity on her back, and with some more effort, she got them out from that hole. The walk back to the entrance was slow thanks to her injured hoof, but, it meant a little more time with the warmth of Rarity on her back. “Alice.” The changeling froze. Rarity was awake. “Please, put me down.” Without saying anything, Alice lowered her body, Allowing Rarity to get off. The unicorn stood still, right next to the changeling, looking down at her hooves. “You… You saved me, right?” Alice stood in place, not looking at Rarity, not knowing what to do. A part of her was screaming to run away. Another, just told her to stay there and wait. “I… yes.” Rarity chuckled. “You know, I entered the forest, thinking that I would find you in a situation of peril, that I would save you. But, it seems that I was the helpless princess, and you were my hero.” Rarity turned her head to Alice and softly kissed her on the cheek, then pulled away. “I’m sorry, Alice.” Alice was momentarily stunned. What was going on? How could Rarity kiss her just like that? Why wasn’t she screaming at her? Why was she apologizing? She wanted to ask all those questions. “What?” Was the only thing that came from her mouth. Rarity sighed. “I made a huge mistake, Alice. I should… I should have given you  chance to explain yourself. I’m really sorry. I had to find you to apologize, and to... to tell you ...” Rarity took a deep breath, then brought her head closer to Alice one more time, she tilted her head and closed her eyes. White lips met black ones. Rarity had to admit, Alice lips felt a bit rough, but she also had to admit that this was the greatest kiss she had ever had. Rarity pulled away. She opened her eyes and laughed. Alice expression was priceless. “I… I don’t understand. How.... I-I’m a changeling. I’m a mons-” Rarity silenced her with another kiss. “You are a changeling, but you aren’t a monster. I’m sorry I didn’t see it the first time, but I see it now. Your appearance may have changed, but you are still that lovely mare in the inside.” Alice felt so happy. This couldn’t be real, could it? “I… I don’t know what to say.” “Just say that you will come back to Ponyville with me, please.” Alice eyes widened in fear. “But the guards…” Rarity brought her hooves around Alice neck and hugged her. “Don’t worry Alice, I won’t let anything happen to you again. They won’t do anything to you. Don’t forget that I’m friend with Equestria’s newest Princess.” Alice returned the embrace. “Twilight… she won’t throw me in a dungeon, right?” “No, she won’t. I promise.” Alice tightened her embrace. “This is real? You… you really love me?” “You are a changeling, you can tell, right?” Rarity was right, Alice could feel the love around her. She was almost drowning in it. “I love you, Rarity.” “I love you too, Alice.” When Rarity and Alice got out from the forest they were met by their friends and a pair of guards who were about to venture in the forest. Twilight quickly dismissed the guards, seeing the discomfort in Alice face. All the girls hugged Alice, and told her how happy they were that she was fine. They also apologized to her for rushing to the wrong conclusion when they found out she was a changeling. Pinkie Pie was the first to leave, as she had to prepare a party for that night. So Sugarcube Corner was currently hosting a private party for seven ponies. Alice was currently the center of attention, with Twilight making her questions about the changeling anatomy, Pinkie and Rainbow asking her to shape-shift into different ponies, Applejack just shook her head and drank a bit of punch. “Hey, Alice,” Rainbow said, tapping Alice on the shoulder. “Can I talk to you for a bit?” “Umm, sure?” Rainbow sighed, “hey, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry, you know, for what I said… and did yesterday.” Alice smiled. “It’s okay, Rainbow, I forgive you. I mean, it’s the least I can do after you saved me.” “I saved you? Awesome! umm, when did I do that?” Alice chuckled, “I’ll tell you some other day.” At at the other side of the room, Rarity was talking with Fluttershy. “You know, darling. I can’t believe the things that have happened in this week. I mean, everything happened so fast. When Alice arrived, falling in love with her and discovering she is a changeling, still loving her.” Rarity sighed happily. “Exactly one week ago, you told me something that was completely false.” Fluttershy coughed up some of the punch she was drinking. “I-I did? W-what was it?” “That I would find my prince. You were wrong,” Rarity said, looking across the room at Alice who was looking back with a big smile. “I found my princess.” THE END… The door of the bakery suddenly opened. At the entrance stood a little dragon. “Spike!” Twilight said as she rushed to the entrance to hug her number one assistance. “I missed you, Twilight.” Spike said, returning the embrace. Then he pulled away, looking with a frown at the alicorn. “Twilight, why weren’t you waiting for me at the train station? I go visit Canterlot for a week and everyone forgets about me?” Twilight eyes widened. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry Spike, it’s just that a lot of things happened yesterday and today. Please forgive me.” Spike smiled. “Hey, it’s okay, I know that something big must have happened if you weren’t waiting for me. So, what happened? And…” Spike looked over Twilight shoulder at a cream coated pony who he had never seen before. “Who is that?” “Oh! Umm, well, that’s Alice. She… ummm...” Twilight rubbed her head, not sure what else to say. “Alice? That’s a strange name.” Spike walked to the mare. “Hi, I’m Spike.” he said, extending a claw. Alice looked down at the dragon. “Hello, I’m Alice Sawyer” She said, extending a hoof to meet the claw. “Uhm, Spikey Wikey?” Spike moved faster than Rainbow Dash in a fly competition. He stood in front of Rarity with a lovestruck expression on his face. “Yes, Rarity?” Rarity cleared her voice. “You know, Spikey, there are plenty of fish in the sea.” THE REAL END.