Melody of a Changeling

by DJ_Scr4tch


Busted...

My eyes woke up. Vinyl standing in front of me with a taser and a knife in her magical grasp. The room was dark and her face was litten up. I couldn’t see my muzzle, I’m sure I didn’t want to. Come to think of it I could barely see anything.

“Who are you and why are you here?” She yelled in my barely conscious face. Drougily I tried opening my eyes more. They were swollen over and my cheek matched them. Blood dripped from my nose as she shouted again. “Who are you and why are you here?! Come on! Speak!”

I coughed a bit and everything came into focus. My mouth opened. “Vinyl! It’s me! Octavia!”

“Silence!” She hit me again with her hoof. The stinging sensation lasted for minutes as she paced back and forth. “Okay. Who are you? Why are you here?”

I looked down. My chest and hooves were tied to a chair. The uncomfortable position hurt my back and my wings. My wings! They didn’t change!

Slap! Her hoof came across my face again. “Answer me, Changeling!”

“I’m… I don’t have a name!”

“Don’t have a name? Explain, monster.” She held the knife close to my throat. My neck extended up and I immediately was flashed by a lamp. I quickly snapped down back to her.

“I’m a changeling. The queen doesn’t give us name because we mean nothing. We live, we fight, the stallions breed with her. The mares die off or be lucky and replace the queen when she becomes too old.”

“So, what are you? Male or female?”

“Female! I’m a mare.”

“How long have you been here?”

“A few months. Since the wedding. I found Octavia dead-”

“You what!?” The electronic defense weapon was jammed into my collar and gave me an intense shock. My muscles tensed up as I lost all control. Spazzing in the restraints she finally removed it, allowing me to get my breath back. “You ‘found’ her? What did you do?”

Panting heavily I spoke between breathes. “I… Didn’t hurt her… I swear… I didn’t want to hurt anypony… So I took over her life… Abandoning the changelings…” I spit up some spit mixed with blood and a tooth.

She stood in thought. Her hoof under her chin as tears began to form in her eyes.

“Vinyl… I’m sorry. But…”

“But…? But what!? Tell me!”

“I’ve always wanted to be a pony. Ever since I was small. I watched fillies and colts. Mares and stallions. Pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies. I couldn’t resist this chance.” Tears began to roll down my cheeks and my head fell forward. “I’m so sorry… So… Sorry…”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you pick her? There were plenty of dead ponies to pick from. Why Octavia!?” She lifted me and held me upside down with magic. Blood rushed to my head and I began to choke on my own blood. She sat me down and asked the same question again.

“I picked her. Because I always enjoyed music. We never had it in the caves. And the cello is an amazing instrument. When I first imponiated her I was lost. I lived on the streets and played music on the streets for even the smallest of bits. I should’ve told you sooner.”

“Yes you should’ve. It makes this part even harder.” She turned and walked to the phone.

“No please!”

“What?”
“Please! Don’t report me! I… I want to show you I’m harmless.”

“I know you’re harmless. But you still attacked Canterlot. Your kind is banned from Equestria and it’s my job as a citizen to report you to the authorities.” She began to punch numbers on the dialpad and held it to her ear. I could hear the ringing.

“If… If you do! You’ll never find Octavia’s body!”

Her eyebrow raised to me. Her eyes curious of what to think of. “Her body?”

“Yes! Yes… I respected her with all I could and buried her. But if you kill me you’ll never find her grave.”

She hung up quickly. Setting the knife down she walked over to me and picked me up by the ropes. “Listen. I don’t want any funny business. We are going to let you recover. Then we will go find her grave. If anything happens. You step out of line. You leave the house. I will hunt you down and personally give you to Shining Armor.”

I nodded quickly. “Yes yes! Of course! I promise! I promise!”

“Good.” The knife floated over again and she cut me free of the ropes. I moved my hooves and body. The ropes left a good dent from being so tight against me. I stood up and she stood giving me the worst glare ever. “You. Sleep on the couch. And wear this.” She tossed a collar to me. The red strap had a large black box with two metal prongs on the inside.

Wrapping the collar around my neck, I clipped it together. “What’s this?”

“Shock Collar. You get 50 feet away from me and 100 volts of electricity will shock you. Every ten hooves. 100 more volts. Got it?”

“Yes ma’am…” I sat on the couch and took my position. Hiding behind my tail. Her door shut and I finally relaxed and fell asleep.

A few days passed. She kept me fed and tended to my wounds. Each bruise and swell on my body went away shortly. She didn’t like it but she had to keep me alive. Our days went without any words. She called in sick and sat home to watch me.

As I finished recovering she decided to go with me. Around 10 am after we finished breakfast she made me change to Octavia. With a few rough shoves and a very threatening message we walked down the stairs and out of the building. Going down the streets I looked nervously around. Unless I could get the bracelet off her ankle I would be shocked.

I submitted to her as we walked through town. She told me when to turn keeping us in the shadows and back alleys. We eventually made our way to the train station gates. Shining picked up security before he left. Everypony had to be identified before leaving. Vinyl let the guards examine our ID’s and cutie marks to make sure we were legal. Letting us pass we began to walk down the mountain.

The rocks were loose and I slide with every step. My head focused forward knowing now she would hit me without care. We approached the bottom of the mountain and walked to the tree line of the nearby forest.

“Here she is. Octaiva Melody’s grave.” I sat down next to the grave. The grass was still growing in and the dirt wasn’t quite settled down. The unicorn came up shortly after and she took a seat in front of it. Her eyes began flowing tears as she cried in silence.

We sat there for 20 minutes. She cried and sniffled. I sat waiting, hopeless to run. She finally stopped and looked to me. Clearing her face she touched the makeshift tombstone and kissed it. “I’ll miss you Octavia… But it’s like you never left.”

Next thing I knew she was in my face. She quickly wrapped around me. Crying gently into my shoulder. I slowly wrapped around her unsure what to do. Patting her back she slowly calmed down.

“Thanks…” She cleared her eyes again and stepped back. “You… You’re free to go.” She removed the collar and turned around.

I turned and faced the forest. Looking back she was still wiping her face. It hurt her to say goodbye to me as much as it was to lose Octavia. I couldn’t do it to her or get caught. I quickly ran to it. Changing to my true form I took flight and disappeared into the sky.

The air was amazing. I missed it so much, The freedom, the magic, the sky, the meat. I couldn’t resist it. I couldn’t go back. I would be dead in an hour. I flew away, tears flowing in the wind. I kept going. I couldn’t stop and wouldn’t.

Going, going, going. I never stopped until the sun went down and the moon came up. Turning around all of Equestria was out of sight. All that surrounded me was ocean and clouds. I found a spot and nuzzled into it. Covering myself with the soft white shape I closed my eyes and fell asleep. My life as a Changeling has begun again.