//------------------------------// // A change to season // Story: Unforgotten // by Riddle-Me-Think //------------------------------// I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Pages flipped steadily from right to left, two eyes scanning each word and that passed them and considered each and every one of them. Feeding habits, basic Clan information, spells commonly used, cultural differences… It was all a lot to not just take in, but consider. When she had started, Twilight had expected to share much of what she had learned from Intrusive, from Masquerade— from all the changelings. Knowledge like this was unheard of, and she desperately wanted to share it with the world. The Gem Twins had long since stomped that thought out of her mind. Or, they rather strongly ‘suggested’ that such knowledge was not fully shared. And after some days to think about it, Twilight somewhat understood what they had meant. Letting the pages settle down on the table and gently running her hoof over the smooth paper, Twilight seemed to reflect a bit of… well, everything she had gained and now knows of changelings. A race that is so used to hidding, so devoted to themselves and so used to not having actual help outside of their personal surroundings… How did they survive for so long in solitude? It was a question that Twilight had asked herself more than once, though rarely actually pondered on it. She had, at the time, mostly batted the thought away. More fascinated or drawn to the more larger, more wondrous things that they held. The thought of how a people had survived so long without others really helping them didn’t stick since she figured at the time they were still around, so did just fine. But just how fine had they actually felt with it? Changeling Nature. Page 134. Baser needs, section four. The recalling of the page she had made was a little fact that had began to nag at her ever since the Gems left and helped her finish the basics of her rather restricted guide book. It called into question the stability of changelings in general. Among the needs a changeling needs most, diverges into three categories. Sustenance. Territorial Space. Forms of kinship. The first need was the most basics of basics, the need to feed on emotions. It was a fairly straight forward part that explained a few key details pertaining to their feeding habits and possible reactions caused by feeding on certain emotions. The second part wasn’t a huge detail, but still important. It detailed the changelings habit to have a ‘space’ they would see as their own, and any inside said space are under their protection by a form of extension, or those intruding were watched with high suspicion. Much like how a Cat was to a pony’s house, as Masquerade had placed it more than once. It was the last detail that worried her though. Forms of kinship. Twilight frowned her brows at the chapter and it’s detailing. While it was considered the least important of the needs, there was a district need for it. Changelings, by nature, were a more socially structured race than most. It was almost similar to a ponies herd mentality, and the draw for ponies to come together into a more familiar and safer setting. But unlike the Herd Mentality which was just a form of protection, the changelings mentality, the mentality of a swarm, was more centered around the needs of the whole. They acted like one body really, an Heir acting as the head, commons as the extensions to that will, and the drones as the muscle. Together, they could archive some impressive feats, if the growth of the Clans had anything to show. They didn’t truly have an economy, they all worked to the same goal that benefits the whole Clan, and rarely ever focus on their needs. If they supply the needs of the Clan, they essentially sustained their own needs as well. But when they were alone, and separated from the clan? That was when Twilight was starting to see worrying effects. Drones were never expected to live long without a clan— or a group of drones, to help direct them. Drones were prone to die off the most quickest, not from being attacked but from the utter lack of others to cling to. A drone would die from stress, depression, helplessness and over all high levels of anxiety that would overwhelm them to make a horrible mistakes or just make the mind shutdown all together. Commons, were not much better. Though they can stand being alone, they would slowly go mad or grow highly aggressive, paranoid of others. Some getting desperate to the point of having a ‘clan’ they would become violent at any intruders getting near those they saw as their own. They almost become a danger to themselves and others in this state, desperately clinging to anyone that could give them that 'clan' they crave for. Heirs were perhaps the most well off of the three types of changelings. They were bred and taught to be independent as possible, more so becuse they needed to act as the ‘hive mind’ of the swarm, making every choice that would later benefit the clan. But even they were not above this problem. If anything, a heir left to fend for themselves begin to wane and become extremely attached to those they consider theres, and take persinol loss even more harder than a Common or Drone. They would zealously guard others they held in regard as to their clan. They become aggravated and angry or frustrated when left whiteout a clan to be apart of. There were also mentioned of loss of motivation and eventually just giving up on life all together before they shared a similar fate to the drones. All this, mixed with how the Gem sisters had expressed the utter danger of even leaking details that are near ‘clan secret’, even to the level of a Clan’s name… Do changelings really trust anyone? It was a… a rather sobering thought. To have their people sepreated, alone and locked away for so long and scared of ever being seen. It made them so distrustful of others— of people they had never, or would never meet. And for those few changelings that became lost, abandoned, forgotten or ran out of their own homes, their own families… they would rarely let others close. Lifting her head and looking out the window, Twilight could see ponies. Laughing. Playing. Talking. She had a hard time ever thinking of seeing a people not having that sort of trust that ponies sometimes held. Yes, when something strange and new comes along, all it takes is one pony to be frightened, and the herd would follow that example. But make friends with one, and the herd would follow. There was a almost wondrous trust they held for those they meet. But for a changeling? They would sooner avoid others out of fear. It brought a straggly new perspective to the lavender mare. The concept of not having even a shadow of a doubt to give a bit of trust to somepony. How long did it take for the changelings of Ponyville to trust the towns folk before they opened up? Obviously, they never really did until she did something about it. Not until she had banded them together into one room. Not until she spoke to Celestia about it with Masquerade trying to protect her. Not until she showed the town that, they had nothing to worry about. Without her, they might have never really fully trusted each other, their pony neighbors— or anypony really. Toe-Tapper would still be giving out musical lessons, trying to keep that same feeling of being useful in teaching foals how to sing or make music. Cypher Splash would still be a somewhat awkward young mare trying to get used to talking with others. Serenity would no doubt be making more social blunders and accidental insults if not for the recent change in things. Daisy would still be eyeing some changelings like they were possible muggers. Or Roma… Oh Celestia, Roma. Twilight somewhat laughed to herself aloud and shaking her head. Roma would still be working her stand and scaring every pony half dead with that glare of hers. Then lit her horn with magic, gently picking up the stack of papers and thinking, She probably wouldn't have shown that she can be a kind heart deep down, either. Getting up and walking towards a box where she planned to store the papers, Twilight could not help but think of her own changeling, the one she’s more or less accepted as her coltfriend. The one that she was, in every sense of the word, trusting her heart with him. And in a way, she was trusted to have his. The mare slightly scrunched up her face at the thought, gently depositing the papers into the box before closing it tight and carrying it up the stairs to the second floor. From what she had been able to gather, heirs took loss much more harsher than they let on. Ebony and Ivory had told her this, though had advised her not to write down how much it effected them. Being seen as the potential or even actual leadership to any changling, an heir was expected to lead. And they in turn, were expected to do everything in their power to help the clan grow. And for an heir, every changeling they lead was, in a strange sense, part of them. They were the center of the swarm, the most strongest yet delicate of all the changelings. The Drones and commons would do anything to make sure the clan heir survived. The clan head would do next to anything, to make sure the changelings survived, and took each death or loss persnally. As if part of their body was harmed. I wonder if they see the clan as an extension of themselves? Twilight idly thought to herself. She had learned from Masqurade, while he was teaching her how to use a sword on it’s most basic levels, that the weapon was an extension of her will, of her being. And from that she could gatehr, a clan, or rather swarm of changelings was almost the same for a clan heir. An extension to their will. It would make sense why it would effect them so badly really. It would be almost like an arm or leg were suddenly lost and unable to feel it anymore. The very thought actually caused a slight shudder to run through the unicorn mare’s body as she reached the final step and moved to where her room was. Granted, Masqurade wasn’t a clan head, and would be only part of the whole body that made up the Swarm for the Malek Clan. But it begged the question for Twilight. Just how well was Masquerade really dealing with his Rouge status. She had noticed that bringing up any hint of his clan had… made him slightly bristle or become somber. She expected it to be much like how a pony lost the right to their family. Or maybe it was deeper. It was hard to tell for her. I’ve never lost my family before. Twilight reflected, placing the box down and giving a glance to the corner. She gave a slight smile at Owalichous on his perch and lightly snoozing away, waiting for night to come. Peewee seemed to have the same idea, the little phenix chick in his little nest Spike had made and taking a nap. Twilight made a mental note to remind Spike to tend to the small chick. While she left her room quietly and headed for the first floor once more, her mind wondered back to the subject before. She pondered a bit more on her coltfriend a bit more longer before shaking the thought away. She didn’t really have a way to fix things for him, and she wasn’t sure if he was keen on trying to make his own Clan, more than once having pushed the idea away. Though, it made the mare wonder, What would that mean for us later on? For a brief moment, Twilight paused and thought on that line of thought for a long moment. It was left unsaid that, after a time, marriage was bound to pop up between the two of them. They had started taking the steps for a long time relationship, and Twilight had a feeling with what she had learned, Mask was not going to give up on it. If anything, it might be impossible to break up with him. Then again, she didn’t really want to break up with him, but the magical mare was thinking of things in a hypothetical sense. But still… marriage. Mask, as my husband! The thought was a bit pleasant, if not embarrassing in a sense. She hadn’t really considered the end means, having been caught up in the moment of her heart and her feelings. Still, it was like Princess Luna had said. Masqurade was ‘courting’ her. And even then, from what she had come to understand, they were 'matted' by changeling standards. So it stood to reason that at some point in the future, she would prepose to him— Wait… or would he prepose to me? The lavender unicorn had to stop and think thins part over, slowly making her way down the steps. Changelings just choose mates and stay mates. While Bonded mates gain a jewel to help cement it even further… Trying to figure out Changling tradition… in conflict to pony tradition. As it was, it was the mare that, more than not, popped the question— though stallions were just as forward if not more so on the subject. But it was rare for them to actually pop the question, depending on which tribe they were and where they lived. Canterlot in particular preferred the Stallion preposing due to how ‘romantic’ it was. While in some rural towns it was more than not the parenting mares pairing their foals together. Letting out a heavy sigh and shaking her head, Twilight decided to just drop the current line of thought before it got too out of control and caused her to go into a frenzy of research. As much fun as that sounded actually, she also didn’t want to develop the same headache she got from figuring out the concept of a romantic love interest. Well, not anytime soon anyways. She might just talk or letter her sister-in-law over the matter instead of franticly trying to puzzle it out. That way, she might have a better lead to follow up during her research. But for now, she had something else to do before she had any free time to even consider her research. Looking about the room briefly and scanning over everything, Twilight smiled and picked up her saddle back with her magic, floating it over and placing it over her back. She took a moment to check it’s contents, see if she had to remove anything, or place in a few extra bits for her shopping later on. It didn’t take more than a minute to remove few things and place them away into their appropriate places before heading for the door and leaving out of the library. Though as soon as she was outside, Twilight gave a slight shiver, a cool crisp breeze sweeping by with a few yellowing leaves. Breathing in and looking up, Twilight could see the slightest hints of her tree homes leaves changing from green to yellow ever so slightly. It seemed that autumn had finally caught up with them, and the weather was finally starting to catch up after the events of the invasion had slightly messed up a few schedules. But it seemed things were getting back on track— if not slightly late. Turning away and moving down the street, Twilight figured that she should get her winter ware or at the very least a scarf ready. Spike no doubt was going to need his winter ware too, and his blanket switched out with a comforter. She herself figured to throw a extra blanket up near her bed later on too, just in case the weather teams decided to speed up the winter process. She also made an extra note to get some fire wood. It was going to be needed later on. “GET OUT!” Many a pony and a few hidden changlings all jumped at the booming shout of rage that they were all sure shook the island. Many had to wonder what had just happened, but the blurring brown streak made it fairly obvious for many of those in the Academy. Apparenly they local clown and snark, Double Take, had successfully made Mount Spitfire blow up big time. “IF I EVER EVEN SEE YOUR NAME IN THE NEXT ROUND OF SELECTED RECRUIT’S, I WILL PERSONALLY DELIVER THE LETTER FOR IT’S DENILE!” Even as the pony flew for his life, many others could still hear Spitfire shouts from miles away. It served well to scare the cadets and rookies to whole new levels of the Captian of the Wonderbolts. The brown streak that was Double Take zoomed past a particular group of cadets, all of which slightly braced themselves at the wind that buffed them from his passing. Swath, a mare that had become accustomed to the stallions snarky and sarcastic bahavour, gave a glance on where he flew off to, and whistled. “Look at him go. I don’t think he ever flew that fast before.” The stallion by her side slowly nodded, eyes wide as he said, “That guy’s as good as booted out.” Eyes glancing in the direction of where Spitfire’s office was. With a slight shuffle of his wings and a gulp, he asked, “What do you think he did to get booted out in just a week?” “I don’t know, and I don’t think I want to know.” Swath responded, feeling like it was better off not knowing. With a click, the door to Spitfires office was close, the sky blue hoof removing itself a bit slowly as Soarin gave a cautious look to the currently smoldering mare in her seat. Having a near perfect range of caution, the stallion slowly made his way around, taking great measures to not make too much noise and disrupt the good Captain out of her thoughts. When he was able to stand next to her desk and after a few moments past, he said, “Well…. that was… new.” Drawing an annoyed look from his longtime friend-and-superior. He slightly shuffled under her blazong orange eyes that were no longer covered by her customary purple sun shades. Slightly gulping, he asked, “So…. what did he—” “Soarin.” Cut off the mare with the barest hints of warning, “I love you. I respect you. You’re a good friend.” Then narrowed her eyes and having a tone that promised long hours of painful training, “But if you dig too deep into what happened…” She left the unspoken threat hang there. “Right…right…” He nodded in turn, deciding that he should probably take a hint and not poke any further on what happend. Though he did look at the closed door and asked, “And… the ‘cadet’?” He and those that flew with the Captain being in the know of what ‘Double Take’ really was. Something reviled not a few days ago. “Is he…” “Gone.” Was all Spitfire said with a sharp breath. “Wise guy thought to make a joke of how he got booted out.” This made her scowl and tell, “I’ll admit… In a week he’s shown some pretty nasty and clever tricks. But damn do I feel like I need to ring out his neck!” Giving a violent snort to this, though slowly calmed herself and breath at a more sedated pace. She relaxed in her chair, just trying to calm down. It had been a long time since anypony had gotten under her skin so badly. The last time she had blew up like that was because Star Watcher and her ever prissy nature finally went a bit too far for her tastes. Hearing a knock, Spitfire lightly rubbed her temples with a lone wing and called out, “Enter.” Doing what she could to alive ate the slight headache and stress this week had brought. Keeping an eye on the Infiltrator was a pain, but she was not going to overlook the results of his ‘stalking’ about. It had… helped her know about a few things that she didn’t know about. Door being opened and close, Fleet Foot trotted inside, giving the Wonderbolts Captain and Overseer a long look before saying with a slightly amused tone, “He’s off and probably half way to Ponyville by now.” Then gave a slight chuckle, “I think you actually scared him for real that time.” That did bring a slight twitch to Spitfires lips as she said seriously, “It had better.” Looking up and telling, “Because I was serous about that recruitment denial.” Rolling her eyes, Fleet Foot told in her nasally tone, “All the Academy heard that promise.” Then trotted up to the desk and sat her hunches down asking, “So now that he’s gone, I’m guessing you’re going to leave for Canterlot and report the results of this?” Letting out a sigh, the yellow pegasus nodded, “That’s right.” Looking down to her desk in thought and adding, “Maybe make a few things known to them while I’m at it. I think just having him ‘act’ like a recrute shouldn’t be his only objective.” Blinking to this and thinking on it, Soarin recounted one what Spitfire had to deal with for the last week and ask, “Like what?” “Spying.” Responded the fury mare. “Some snooping, a bit of looking into the ponies working in each devision and maybe find the biggest holes in our security.” With a slightly raised brow, Soarin asked, “Um… should we even trust him with that sort of thing?” Snortting out, Spitfire told, “Truthfully? I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him.” Not having much reason to actually trust the infiltrator in pony disguise. “But I trust him to do his job, that's for sure. He’s got the Guard Captains backing, the princesses backing— buck, he’s got Fleet’s backing!” motioning a hoof to their flight partner. Ears pricking to that, Soarin gave Fleet Foot a look as if asking her if it was true— though the mare shrugged and told, “My family’s close. We’re almost like close relatives in a way.” Then shook her head and added, “Sure, he’s technically been kicked out of his family, and that’s a big deal for my own family. But he did it with a good reason, so we don’t blame him much.” “But?” Soarin pressed, hearing the ‘but’ that both he and Spitfire could hear in her tone. Looking to the side slightly, Fleet Foot admitted, “We’re… still taking some carful precautions.” Then looked to them adding, “Family stuff.” Leaving it at that. There was a slow sigh and Spitfire nodded, getting a clue as she soon said, “You two go on and get back to work.” Giving a look out the window and saying, “I have a report to file, and those recrutes won’t work themselves without the right motivation.” Both pegasi gave smiles and salutted, “Ma’am, yes Ma’am.” Before leaving out of the private room, and leaving Spitfire to get out a document to place down her report of the last week that had caused her no end of grief. The wind buffed the brown stallion that had taken a moment to pick up his gear from Fleet Foot, making his way to the ground below and reflecting on his recent week. It was, in some ways, fun. Being able to sneak around and poke and prod things. It was a slight guilty pleasure to make the captain get overly worked up with the most smallest of things— or his pranks to show how she had to be a bit more ‘carful’ of possible assassination attempts. Though, as he landed and shifted form while in cover, he partially wondered to himself, Maybe I went a bit too far with switching her shampoo with fur-remover… Wondering how he wasn’t deaf from the utter scream of rage Spitfire had when she had called him to her office to ‘talk’ with him. Though from the looks of it, the possibly removed fur was hidden under Spitfire’s dressing blues, hiding his latest little prank. It'll grow back. Masquerade soon assured himself and leaving it at that. Still, it didn’t remove the point that the mare had a good pair of lungs— or a strong voice. But the point still remianed, he might have gone a tad too far with the prank— even if it was to get a point aacrossed to always check your things. They could be tampered with by enemy spies and inflators. Shaking his head, the now black unicorn left his cover and trotted down the worn dirt road, knowing that he was about an hour or two away from Ponyville after his rushed flight. He was sure that ‘Double Take’ was going to be blacklisted from any-and-all Wonderbolt activity for… the end of time. Well, if Spitfire had her way. To be honest, he wouldn’t blame her. He nearly put her through tartarus and make her nearly pull out that fury main of hers— maybe made few grey hairs pop up. Yeah…no. She’d kill me if that happened. Slightly grimaced the stallion. Knowing Twilight, or even Rainbow Dash, if they ever found out about the trouble he gave the mare, they might just force him to make an apology. Or maybe I should… give the Captain one? Probably help smooth over my overly zealot pranks. Mind starting to work out a way to take the heat off if they ever met face-to-face anytime soon. Ancestors knows that the mare’s spite was going to be hotter than the fires of tartarus for what he did.