Chapter 6
“Mindy?! What in the world are you doing here? How did you even find this place?”
“You gave me your address. Look, I’m sorry to intrude like this- I know it’s very unprofessional. Is Paw Print home? I really need her- well, both of your help.” Three Cheese glanced over the desperate, pleading blue eyes of the mule before him. Thunder rolled in the distance; the skies had become thick with precipitation, and the first droplets were beginning to stain the sidewalk.
“Sure, come on in, out of the rain,” he stepped aside.
“Thank you.” Mindy gingerly hopped the threshold, allowing Cheese to close the creaky wooden door behind her.
“Honey? Who’s- Mindy!”
“Paw Print.” Mindy’s knees began to knock with the weight of what she was about to do.
“What are you doing here, love? Is everything alright?”
“No. And I need your help.”
“Anything!” Paw earnestly promised. Mindy almost chuckled.
“Here, let me get those for you.” Three Cheese, trying to be the gentlecolt he was, attempted to remove Mindy’s saddlebags.
“No!” She grabbed them back and clutched them to her chest, feeling the form inside nestled safely in the crook of her elbow.
“Mindy? What’s wrong?” Paw attempted to set a hoof on the mule’s shoulder, receiving a surprised jolt in response. The couple watched her patiently, if utterly perplexed. In the end, she had to take a deep, steadying breath before she could begin.
“I’m in some trouble,” she started. “And you may very well want to fire me after tonight- I completely understand. I just ask that you don’t tell anyone.” The couple exchanged glances.
“Mindy-”
“Please, just listen, and then you can throw me out if you so choose. It’s about Alleyway.” She hoped that bringing up the foal’s name might buy her some time.
“Your nephew?”
“He’s... not my nephew.” When the words didn’t come, Mindy simply peeled back the saddlebags and revealed the changeling beneath. Cheese’s eyes bulged, and his wife reeled back.
“That’s-!!”
“Alleyway,” Mindy finished. She nuzzled his limp body, more for her own consolation that his. “This is Alleyway.”
Mindy’s oversized ears could practically pick up their racing heartbeats. “Please, he’s harmless. But he’s hurt. More of his horn chipped off today, and he’s been unconscious ever since. He needs a doctor, but I can’t take him to just anyone. So I was hoping that a vet...” Mindy’s damp sapphires dripped with liquid, begging, pleading for Paw’s help. She glanced at her husband, who could only return her blank stare.
“I’ll go get my things,” she stiffly breathed, turning tail and dashing into the other room.
“Mindy,” Cheese shakily gulped, “I think it’s time you told us the whole truth.”
“I found him in an alley on my way home just last night,” Mindy began.
“Hence the name ‘Alleyway?’” Three Cheese weakly chuckled.
“Yes,” Mindy confessed with a slight sigh of her own. Alley had been set on the table for examination, and Paw was currently scrutinizing his horn by the illumination of a rather blinding lamp. “I wanted nothing to do with him at first- I was as scared as anypony, and tried to run away. But my conscience just wouldn’t let me leave him. He seemed harmless enough... so I took him in. He’s not like other changelings, I promise. He’s not out to destroy Equestria, and doesn’t even seem to hear that rumored ‘hive mind.’”
“That may be due to the fact that his horn is broken, and his access to magic has been cut off,” Paw diagnosed, moving on to take a flashlight to more closely examine the remainder of his hollowed, missing horn.
“He hasn’t changed form, either,” Mindy nodded in agreement. “Oh, I forgot to tell you that when I first found him, green sparks were shooting off his stump like he was trying to access his magic, but couldn’t. I... I don’t know if that’s important...”
“Well, if he was shooting sparks, then at one point he still had some access to magic. It wasn’t enough to actually perform even simple levitation, but he still had that ability. Now it looks like his core is completely ruined.”
“Core?”
“That’s the inside lining of a unicorn’s horn, what channels the magic. I’m sure you’ve noticed that unicorn horns are spiraled? Well, each spiral contains a ring to the core, and all the rings connected together make a kind of circuit to direct the magic. Each missing ring dramatically decreases the amount of magic a unicorn can channel. Changelings don’t have visible rings, but they’re still there on the inside. It looks like Alleyway here was on his last ring, and the piece that severed off broke the last ring to the core- he has zero magic.”
“Will he be okay?”
“I think so. I’d say losing that critical piece is what put him under. He’s just in shock. He’ll be fine, but when he wakes up, I’d pump him up with as many painkillers as this guy can handle. I’m not allowed to prescribe anything, but over-the-counter meds should do the trick.”
“Thank you.” Paw moved away from the table to make way for Mindy, who set her head down beside Alley’s.
“You’re sure he’s not dangerous?” Cheese asked for the thousandth time.
“I’m positive,” Mindy looked up again. “He’s not like Chrysalis or her drones. He can’t hear the hive, he can’t change form, and I don’t think he can even feed on love.”
“That may be a problem,” Paw anxiously cut in. “I’m no expert on changelings, but that seems to be their primary food source. Without that-”
“He can digest physical food, too.”
“Are you sure?”
“He raided my carry-out bag the night I found him, and I fed him cereal this morning for breakfast. I also made him a sandwich for lunch, but I don’t know if he ate that...”
“Alright... I’d like to make a follow-up visit on him soon though, to make sure he’s properly digesting, not to mention coping without magic.”
“It’s hard to sneak him out...”
“I’ll come to your house,” Paw promised.
“So... you won’t tell anyone?”
“He appears to be harmless, and obviously means a lot to you, so I promise to keep quiet,” Paw Print gently smiled. “We both will. Right, hun?”
“Hmm?” Paw smacked him.
“Please,” Mindy begged, “he’s all I have.” She gently brushed back the stubby fin Alley possessed in place of hair. The stallion’s shoulders sagged ever so slightly, alerting both the ladies that he was about to cave. “I’m like a mother to him. And he’s... he’s my son.”
“Well... ehem,” Three Cheese coughed. “I guess... we can’t be splitting up families now, can we?” Mindy suddenly felt as limp as the changeling tucked in her arms.
“Thank you. I know I had no right to ask any of this from you. Here,” she reached back into her purse and drew out a pouch, coins clinking within. “It’s not much, but it’s all I have. And I’ll get the apron back to you and be out of your hair by tomorrow.”
“Why’d you go and do a thing like that?” Cheese set a hoof on her shoulder.
“B-Because I have a changeling,” she sniffed. “If anyone knew I was harboring him, I’d surely be arrested! You couldn’t want someone like that working for you!”
“The way I see it, you’re just trying to take care of your son. We can’t fire you for that.” Cheese pushed the pouch of coins back to her. “Besides, you wouldn’t be a very responsible parent if you just gave away your savings and cut off your only source of income all at once. In fact, if you were to do so, I might just have to alert a higher authority...” Mindy’s eyes stung with the tears that promptly surged forth. She clutched Alley tighter to her chest.
“Thank you,” she wept, rocking Alley and crying into his chitin. “Just... thank you. I... I know I don’t deserve this.”
“No,” Paw agreed with a heartwarming, teary smile. “You more than deserve it. Who else would have given that changeling a second chance like you did? Who else would have risked their own neck to take in, care for and harbor a handicapped changeling? Had anypony else found it, myself included, he would have been written off as a criminal at first sight and turned over to the authorities, possibly banished or even executed. Now, under your care, maybe that changeling can finally become something more than just another of Chrysalis’ mindless drones. I think you’ve done a wonderful thing, Mindy, I really do.”
“I’m more than just your boss, Mindy, I’m your friend,” Cheese smiled.
“We both are,” his wife corrected, slightly agitated that he hadn’t initially included.
“And we’ll help anyway we can, from here on out,” he vowed, oblivious. He then crouched lower to not-so-quietly whisper in her ear, “Though, I think that playdate with my niece might’ve just been thrown out of the picture.” Mindy choked out a laugh, body shaking with a mixture of relief, joy and fear.
“I... I don’t know what to say...”
“Well, you already said ‘thanks,’ so I don’t think there’s anything left to say.” Paw wound a wing around the mule’s trembling form. Mindy lost it. She broke down weeping, sobbing, outright bawling in the pegasus’ embrace. These ponies had known her for barely a week. She had come to them for help, completely prepared to relinquish her position as some kind of retribution. Instead, the couple had aided her knowing full well that doing so could potentially endanger themselves, refused her resignation and any sort of payment, and even promised their services in the future. On top of it all, they now claimed to be her friends. That was too much for Mindy to bear.
“What did- What did I ever do to deserve this?” She bawled, wheezing and gasping for breath.
“Hey, it’s okay, now,” Paw gently hugged her with that same warm smile. “You’re okay. Try and settle down before you wake the-”
“Minnnn?”
“Alley!” Mindy pushed out of Paw’s embrace to tend to the baby, much to the mare’s relief. With Mindy’s face stuffed in the changeling’s stomach, Alley had a very limited range of vision. He did, however, spy a misplaced tuft of Cheese’s rusty hair, and he waited patiently for Mindy to move so he could have a better view. He didn’t have to wait though, because although the idea of a conscious changeling was far more terrifying than a sleeping one, curiosity drew Three Cheese closer.
“H-Hey, little guy,” he waved with a cough. Mindy lifted her head, eyes red and cheeks wet, but no longer producing any more tears as she watched the scene play out. Paw Print signaled for him not to worry Mindy any more, and despite his trembling nerves, he puffed out his chest and forced a smile. “So you’re the Alleyway I’ve heard so much about, eh? What? Aren’t you going to greet your Uncle Cheese?” He knelt down closer to the changeling’s face, screaming on the inside. He got just low enough for Alley to *BOOP* his nose.
Paw laughed, and Mindy smiled. No more tears would be shed tonight. ‘The little guy’s not so bad,’ Cheese decided, grinning himself as he rubbed the spot Alley had clonked. ‘Definitely not psyco-killer material, anyway.’
“I’m sure he’ll grow up to be a charming, perfectly sane young stallion. Like me!” Cheese continued aloud.
“You? Sane? Don’t make me laugh,” Paw joked.
“Ah! You didn’t deny that I was charming,” Cheese smiled, sweeping his wife right off her hooves.
“Oooh! Careful!” she squealed with both surprise and delight. “I hope for your sake, Mindy, that Alley grows up to be nothing like Three Cheese.”
“Oh, I don’t think I would mind too much,” Mindy sniffed, dabbing her eyes and propping her son up so he could watch the happy couple.
“Careful what you wish for,” Three Cheese himself playfully winked.
“Well, regardless of who he takes after, I’m sure Alley will grow into a fine young stallion,” Paw assured.
And that he did.