As the Sun sets over the horizon and the Moon took it's place on the starry night sky, When we arrived I noticed a sign and asked Silver Serenity what it says, She replied "Welcome to Hollow Shades my dear."
I began to realize that many ponies here looked very differently to the ones I saw on the village that we Infiltrated, There are carts and stalls full of fruits and vegetables everywhere when suddenly I heard very peculiar sounds of clashing metals and hissing steam when all of a sudden it started to blow it's horn.
It surprised me enough to quickly climb on the back of Silver Serenity trembling in fear, She giggled a bit and explained to me that it was a train from ponyville delivering crates and bundles of delicious fruits and vegetables, I quickly smelled the aroma of fresh apples that made me drool a bit, Silver Serenity immediately noticed this and asked "Oh dear, you must be starving, come my house isn't far from here."
As we walked through the path lit by some torches, this entire rain forest is covered by a very thick canopy that blocks even moonlight in some areas, and so we wandered down a dark and moist path to a wooden house near a pond, As a changeling Hollow Shades isn't a bad place as it is very similar to the hive.
Silver Serenity asked "How is it my dear? I hope you are not afraid of this place, are you?"
"Umm... its not that scary, I can get used to it."I replied with a Nervous Grin.
As we enter her house I had to thoroughly think of my actions before I do them, for some reason I don't want her to find out that I am a changeling, she was preparing the fruits and some baking ingredients while I sat down the chair, She then sat right next to me with a book on her mouth, In her eyes I was just a little colt that still has a lot to learn, as the aroma of sweet apple pie swirl around the house I looked in awe at Serenity as she taught me many things about Equestria and even how to count while we finished the pie in which I forced myself to eat, It really tastes awful and disgusting no wonder love is our only source of energy.
Serenity said "Deary, tomorrow I will sign you up for school."
"What is a school" I replied.
"Oh it's a place where you can learn more things to prepare you for the future."she replied with a smile on her face.
"But what is my future? I don't know what to do" I replied with a Confused look on my face.
"Only you know what your future is and purpose in life, I can only help to prepare you for it."
As we lay down on the bed she sang a lovely lullaby, her voice was music to my ears, When she finished her lullaby she kissed my forehead and said "Goodnight my dear."
I replied with Uncertainty "Goodnight?"
In the middle of the night as Serenity is sleeping I thought about what she said to me earlier, my future? my purpose? these two questions kept me up all night thinking about why am I here? what am I? what should I do? These questions were enough for me to have an existential crisis, but one thing is certain I will protect Serenity at all cost I will never let her down and I will find Shelly mark my words.
"Wake up sleepy head!" Yelled an Unknown Voice
As I quickly woke up to see who it is I was Greeted by a strange gray filly with fangs and red Slitted-pupil eyes, I was startled at first but if you look closely they are kinda cute.
"So are you not afraid of me Earth Pony?" Asked the bat filly.
"No not at all, you kinda look cute, oops! I said that out loud"
The filly blushed a bit and said " Why thank you nopony else ever said that to me, The names Scarlet Moon by the way."
" My name is Mask Charade, nice to meet you"
"Nice to meet you too, Oh and Silver asked me to take you to school with me I am really excited about this"
"Why are you so excited?"
"well this is the first time an Earth pony comes to our school oh and don't worry, we don't bite, THAT hard at least." she replied with a mischievous smile.
Her words really confused me as what she meant by we don't bite THAT hard, But as a changeling that I am, I tend to ignore what I still don't understand, as we head to the school through a dark path.
I asked "It is so dark here even in the day how could you see where you are going?"
Scarlet replied "Our eyes have adapted in seeing in the dark but are very sensitive to light that is why we prefer dark places to live and only wander out at night."
"that's very fascinating, you ponies are kinda like u..." I then remembered that I must not let them know that I am a changeling.
"What was that?" asked Scarlet.
"Oh nothing, Nothing at all hehe."
Once again my head is aching from all these feelings and I feel my heart beating faster as I try to just ignore this, But I just don't understand, Why?, I suddenly began to shed tears and sniffled a bit that got scarlet very scared.
"No Mask Charade, I didn't mean to scare you or anything, Oh maybe its too dark, Is it too dark here? why do you look so sad?" Asked the flustered Scarlet.
"wait, she says I look sad, is that what I'm feeling? I don't think I like it very much." I said to myself.
"Oh I just remembered something, Nothing to be worried about, But what is this sad?"
"That's a relief." replied Scarlet as she wiped the sweat off her forehead "Wait what? you don't know what sadness mean?"
"Yeah, is that bad?"
" Sadness is a feeling, which means you are not well or unhappy about something."
"But what is this happy?" I asked
"You are one weird colt not even knowing what emotions are haha, happiness is also a feeling quite opposite to sadness meaning that you are content and agreeing to a certain event that gives you a wonderful feeling of joy and there are more feelings and emotions that you can experience in different events."
"I didn't know that and these feelings are very important?" I replied
"Yes it is these emotions and feelings define us on how we use them in different occasions, umm... sorry if you didn't understand my explanation it's just because these emotions have so many definitions, Good thing I read that book about philosophy." boasted Scarlet Moon
When we arrived at the school it was much darker inside filled with bat ponies that sat on the desks while other were hanging on the ceiling,there are only a handful of unicorns in that school, Suddenly a mysterious figure began to speak.
"Welcome, we seem to have a new student joining us today."
Everypony greeted in Chorus "Good morning Sir Red Fang."
Red Fang replied "Good morning as well my students and who might you be new Colt."
"My name is Mask Charade Sir."
"Ah yes good to have you here I hope we will have a splendid time not like these bat ponies they are a real pain in the neck."
most of the bat ponies cringed at that pun, some even laughed.
Scarlet Moon replied "Sir your pun really sucks." *Laughter*
"Okay that's enough puns, now let's begin roll call, Echo, Mosina, Arrythmia, Nightlight, Dusk Dancer, Lullaby, Moonshine, Moonlight....."
Everypony was present and accounted for, we just had a great time studying under Sir Red Fangs teachings, School was never boring and I learned quite a lot about bat ponies, the fruit and blood drinkers, with some Equestrian History with Geography and the Princesses of the land, With all this knowledge I am sure to fit right into society, for now I just want to enjoy this happiness I feel.
But all of this has been too good to be true.