//------------------------------// // Family Time. // Story: My Life as a Changling // by rainbowPOOTIS //------------------------------// So. apparently I was getting to stay with one of the guards while this whole mess was getting sorted out, which was fine by me. After all, I was getting an all you can eat buffet of sympathy from said guard, and his wife too. That was actually quite a filling meeting… *one day ago* Well this was not how I expected things to go over. Apparently I was getting to stay with one of the guards while they tried to sort this whole fiasco out, and Stel volunteered to take me in. “Honey! I’m home!”   I heard somepony sigh quietly, before they responded. “What kept you at work so long?” I flinched, badly enough for stel to notice, causing him to frown as he most likely assumed that I was afraid of being blamed for his lateness. “No, you’re not in trouble.” Stel sighed, before responding to the pony who I assumed was his wife. “This is something you just need to see and I’d like to introduce you!” A few moments later, a golden brown mare entered the living room, her dirty blond mane and tail done up similar to Sweetie Drops. ‘Oh god, the visual pun...’ ’Her mane looks like actual honey.’ The mare, who I assumed was actually named Honey, gasped upon seeing me, causing me to once more flinch back, this time covering myself with my only wing. “Me and Longshot found her in a dumpster, we’re worried that she may have been an orphan at the Rolling hills orphanage. We’ve known that Caine isn’t nice to the foals there but we never found a reason to put him away. Little one here could be our best chance to get him.” By now I had been peeking out from my wing “Oh, you poor dear.” Honey walked over causing my to hide again, and start shivering in fright. “Hey there.” I flinched at hearing her voice so close, peeking out from my wing again I saw she had crouched down so she’s eye level with me. “Hi, you don’t have to be scared of me.” I stood motionless, like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle. “Honey, she can’t speak. Or make much noise at all.” I took the opportunity quickly back away from Honey, and ‘trip’, falling onto my back, with the only sound out of my mouth being the rapid exhalation of air. I didn’t even have time to blink before she grabbed me in a hug, looking rather mortified as she just noticed my missing wing, and oozing sympathy. “And the worst part is that we can’t ask her how this happened.” “Oh, you poor filly! What kind of pony can do this type of thing? Of course she can stay with us.” ’And like that, you’re in.’ ‘And I’ll give any emotions I get to Peeko at night to pass around to the others.’  *Present day* So apparently they were trying to feed me something nutritious enough to help get me back into shape, but not so nutritious that my body would reject it. Hence egg salad sandwiches with a side of bananas. Even if this would just wind up as more of that slime stuff I can regurgitate, its free food, and it helped me keep my cover, so I wasn't complaining even if I did never like the taste of bananas. “Stel, how old is she anyway?” “I have no clue.” Stel turned to look at me, causing me to tense up. “Is there some way you could tell us?” I kicked the table to get their attention, then eight more times. Stel looked back and his wife and she just shrugged. I did it again a little faster before Honey caught on. “You’re nine years old?” She looked awfully saddened at hearing my ‘age’. I suddenly felt a familer presence, in the hivemind, calling to me. ‘could she have chosen a better time?’  ’She’s probably worried, I’m guessing they all are.’ ‘Awe crap. Its Tranquil. Tranquils crying and Peekos freaking out because neither she or Sugar can get him to stop.’  I took a moment to internally scrunch my face. ‘And Pigment… apparently finds Gildas tail highly amusing.’  I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from showing signs of my sudden horror to the ponies in front of me. ‘Oh fuck. oh fuck, fuck, FUCK!’  ’What is it? What happened?!’ ‘Tranquil just bit Sugar!’ ’That supposed to be lethal, right?’ ‘YES!’ ’...Oh dear.’ I felt a wave of horror come from Peeko as I realized Sugar had fallen over. Then a sense of relief. ‘she's still breathing. not moving, but still breathing.’ “What’s wrong dear?” I was snapped out of the hive by Honey who was looking at me, Stel was washing the plates. Thinking quickly, I immediately freaked out and fell out of the chair, covering myself with my wing, making it look like they had just snapped out of some kind of horrific flashback. Honey rushed over to me and held me. “No no no, you’re ok now.” Now I had caught Stels attention too. I clutched the ‘scar’ where my other wing should have been, as if feeling a phantom pain, on the verge of hyperventilating. ’You’re a fast thinker, but you Still need to calm Tranquil down now that Sugar can’t.’ I curled into a little, shivering ball, trying to ignore what was going on around me so I could focus without breaking my disguise. Now able to focus on the hivemind properly, I tried to calm Tranquil down, as well as give Peeko a warning to *never* bite someone unless she intends to kill, as she most likely still has the same venomous bite I do. “Honey? Maybe you should take her to the guest’s bedroom.” “Good idea.” I felt myself being picked up, but didn’t make a move to acknowledge it, just kept shivering until I was laid down on a bed, and a blanket draped over me. *later that night* ’Shin, wake up… Wake up! Peeko’s at the window!’ I bolted upright. ‘What!? What in the name of ducks is she doing out here!?’  I hopped out of the bed, and after a few jumps, managed to get enough height to reach to windowsill, where I popped the window open. And promptly got glomped by Peeko.  I was about to chew her out for coming here, undisguised I might add, and trying to get my attention. “Mommy, Why aren’t you coming home?” I paused for a moment, using my shapeshifting to restore my vocal chords to working order, before replying. “Gathering food, lots of food.” ’If she’s going to be out, you should teach her how to transform properly. Not now, you don't want to wake Stel or his wife.’ “Look, I don’t want you coming looking for me, when you can’t even disguise yourself. I would never forgive myself if something were to happen to you.” “Ok mommy, when will you be coming back home?” “A day or two, there's also an important errand I have to run. but since you’re here, I have something I need you to do for me.” “What is it mommy?” “Remember that I said I was gathering food? I want you to take some back for you and the other nymphs.” I hugged Peeko, letting her absorb as much as she could. At some point she started to squirm a bit so I held back the rest. “Alright, take that and make sure to share it with everyone.” “I will. Bye mommy.” She then climbed back out the window, before I shut it, and once more render my voice nonfunctional, waving to to Peeko as she headed back to the trailer. ’And to think somepony like you who’s so sweet has killed three ponies, is helping take over the country for a possible tyrant, and is currently tricking an innocent guard and his wife into feeding you for free.’ ‘Hey, you’re skipping some pretty important details there!’  ’That’s not going to stop anypony else from taking anything that you’ve done out of context.’ ‘Pessimist. I fully intend to stab Chrysalis in the back just when she thought she'd won, maybe make it look like I was being influenced by her, and just broke free of said influence and exacted retribution.’  ’So you intend to to trick the ponies into believing the truth?’ ‘Yes, I know, total mind screw.’  *a few mintues latre, in shins dreamscape.* *Nightmares POV* I sat and watched Shinkiro’s strange dream as it played out. Occasionally something would come from the hivemind and effect her dream in subtle ways, parts of the dream blur out and refocus though it’s usually the creatures or Shinkiro’s own shape. All the while keeping an eye on the strange door that seems to be in all of her dreams covered in chains and police tape with sticky notes saying “Do not enter” or “Do not listen” and many others, the strangest one being “Do not R34” Ignoring the door for now I look back at Shinkiro’s odd dream. It seems she is standing on nothing, but as she walks every hoof fall makes a ripple like water. She’s walking on a mirror like ocean and despite the wind there are no waves, only the small ripples in the water caused by her, currently, blurry form. Her mind is putting so much detail into the water and clouds that it seems unable to focus on itself. I cast my attention back at the clearly dangerous door and see two of them, the same chained and tied up door as before and a new one. Curious, I went over to inspect it as I had the first when I saw it. It was a simple brown door and seemed to be the same as the other, minus the chain and tape, the only thing this door had that the other did not was the black chitinous lock above the handle. Was it a door to the Hivemind? If I could use it to move from changeling too changeling, I would most definitely be keeping the door here for use. With the excuse of using the scientific method, I undid the lock and went through the door. I was not prepared for the sparkly landscape that greeted me, or the thousands of doors that flowed through the area. Hearing a gasp I turned to see… what looked like a slightly warped reflection of me, the color was off, and the mane looked… different. I have the strangest feeling there was something not quite normal about this. “I feel like I should know you.” “You… I… that door… and you’re...” The other mare stammered. “Your point?” “You… how are you… No, I was the Nightmare” “You’re crazy.” “I’m not crazy! I’m you!” “Then why are you claiming you used to be me?” “I was. I am. I still am! Who are you!” “I’m Nightmare Moon. Now answer me, who are you, and what are you doing attempting to enter this dream?” “It’s my job to ensure my little ponies are safe in there dreams!” “Really, She seemed pretty safe to me.” “And how do I know you didn’t ruin her sleep?” “Because I learned the hard way that doing so is a bad idea.” “And why is that?” “She has a.... vivid imagination. I don’t want to think about those Orne things ever again…” “No doubt something you caused! Wait, what am I doing? You don’t exist, you shouldn’t exist!” “But I do.” “But you shouldn’t! You’re apart of me. Look!” The area around us shifted, the doors disappeared and the sparkly area darkened to a brightly lit castle. My eyes followed the long carpet down down to the end of the hall where there sat two thrones. One was made of gold and had a large purple pillow, the other was slightly smaller and made of silver with a blue pillow. The sound of somepony talking drew my attention to the other side of the hall. There stood a mare with a white coat like freshly fallen snow. She had wings and a horn too and felt familiar, but I can’t seem to place a name. She was talking to somepony in a fancy suit. “Sister!” The blue version of me stepped out onto a balcony overlooking the hall and spoke down to her sister. “We are tired of being shunned by our ponies while they seek your guidance and ignore us.” “Luna ple-” “Enough! If there can be only one princess of Equestria, then that princess shall be Me!” The now named blue mare, Luna stomped her hooves braking part of the balcony to make her point. Rising into the air, the moon following her as it eclipsed the sun and blocked out its light. So too did the alicorn, her coat turned from its royal blue to an inky black. I no longer felt like I was looking at a funhouse mirror, because I was standing on that balcony now. But I don’t remember this. “Sister please don’t do this. The ponies need us to keep the day and night cycle going properly.” The white mare seemed to show a hint of fear on her face but hid it well. “Luna you must retur-” “We are not ‘Luna’ any more, we are Nightmare Moon!” As the image of me shouted, everything faded away leaving behind only me, the door I came from, and the image of me that slowly changed back into Luna. “You see? That was me, it has always been me. So who. Are. You?” Luna had started walking towards me, clearly angry. I didn’t know what to think, what to do, But I did know I didn’t feel like fighting right now and retreated for the door which I only now noticed I was still chained too. As soon as I locked the door behind me with the strange lock, and put my own on it, I collapsed. *The next day* *shins POV* I felt someone nudging me, trying to get my attention. “Little one, wake up.” Oh fuck, why is there someone in here with me!? My eyes snapped open, and I saw Honey at the foot of the bed, causing me to leap upright in fright before the events of last night caught up with me, leaving me breathing rapidly. Honey seemed to hesitate, and I was sensing the concern she was feeling. “Careful dear, you’re alright. Come on, I have breakfast ready for you downstairs.” I managed to steady my breathing, and followed her back downstairs, acting a bit twitchy and tense. Oddly enough, NIghtmare was being exceptionally quiet, she usually greets me when I wake up. ‘Hello? has something happened? You’re being awfully quite.’  ’N-no, nothing’s wrong. I was just… thinking.’