I laid quietly in my bed, staring at the ceiling. My room was medium sized, with a bed, dresser, desk, and art supplies scattered everywhere. My once-pale-green walls were covered in paint and artwork, and my white rug was covered in drops of paint. My desk had cups filled with colored pencils, while the drawers were filled with pastels, pens, and more art supplies. My dresser was small and squished into one of the corners of my room. It was filled with mostly smocks and a few scarves here and there. My bed, one the other hoof, was as neat as possible. I had added my own artwork to the dull white sheets, covering them with pictures of Ponyville and rainbows. The ceiling to my room was covered in murals and more pictures of Ponyville.
I gave a sigh as I tried to get comfortable in my bed. The events had had taken place only a few hours ago had me feeling very uncomfortable. It wasn't the fact that I was now a bearer of one of the Elements of Harmony. It wasn't the fact that there were seven Elements of Harmony instead of the six that there was supposed to be. It wasn't even the fact that Nightmare Moon had come back and turned out to be Princess Celestia's sister, Princess Luna. What was making me uncomfortable was that other ponies now knew I was a Changeling. I had always striven to hide the fact that I was a Changeling, but in a single night, my secret was revealed to my new friends because of forces beyond my control.
I knew that each of them were all dying to ask me questions about Changelings, but I had heard Twilight tell the others not to ask me. I assumed that she was acting on Princess Celestia's orders, as she looked like she desperately wanted to ask me as well.
'At least I won't be feeling hungry any time soon...' I thought to myself with a small smile, 'All this friendship is filling me up nicely!'
I tried to drift off to sleep, but just gave up. I went downstairs to my art studio to work on the painting Rainbow Dash had asked me for a few days ago. My bedroom might have been messy, but my art studio was extra neat. My pencils were lined up by order of thickness as well as how dark they were. All of my paints and coloring tools were organized by type and color (down to the shade and hue). I had neat piles of paper, organized by texture and size. My canvases were also lined up by texture and size. My easel currently had a canvas on it with a sketch of Rainbow Dash flying in a Wonderbolt outfit.
'I'll just work on Rainbow's portrait to calm my nerves,'
When I make a piece of art, I change into a different pony forme depending on what I'm doing. When I'm doing the basic sketch, I turn into a unicorn and use my magic. When I'm adding the colors, I turn into an Earth pony and hold stuff with my mouth. When I add shadows, shading, and clean the piece up, I turn into a pegasus and hold the items I'm using with my wings. Before I was evicted, I just stayed as a Changeling and held everything in my hooves.
I didn't have to change what forme I was in, as I was already in my Earth pony forme. I grabbed my paint palette and a shade of blue that matched Rainbow's coat. I poured some of the blue on to my palette and dipped my brush into it lightly. I turned back towards the portrait and closed my eyes before I started to paint. I moved back and forth as I painted, completing each stroke with as much care as possible.
A few years ago, I had discovered that I painted better when I closed my eyes. This was during a blindfolded art contest that I was disqualified from because the judges thought I had cheated and not used the blindfold. I can only say that when I close my eyes and work on my art, I fall into a peaceful world of my own.
'Rainbow Dash is my friend, like Applejack, and Fluttershy, and Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, and Twilight Sparkle. Friends are nice to have, they're much nicer than Changelings,'
I never liked being with other Changelings, and I never thought about the rest of my colony. I had cast away the memories of the cruelty and the harm we caused to others for so long, that I had started to forget what we did before I was evicted.
Queen Chrysalis never paid attention to her subjects, and I doubted that she did now, either. She had evicted me for multiple reasons, I remember, but the only one I could actually remember was because I was a girl Changeling and I wasn't the queen.
'Forget about them and focus on Rainbow's painting. Thinking of the past doesn't help,'
I opened my eyes and dipped my brush into a cup of water. I put the blue paints back and pulled out several red paints. Rainbow's mane and tail were going to take a bit longer than it would usually take to paint, as it had six colors as opposed to the average of two colors. I closed my eyes again as I painted the parts of Rainbow's mane that were supposed to be red. I decided that as soon as I finished Rainbow's mane, I would go back to bed.
Later
I smiled as I added the finishing touches to Rainbow's portrait. I had just completed Rainbow's shadow when I noticed what time it was.
'I've really been awake for that long? Wow, I must have gotten really caught up in my artwork!'
I pushed the painting over to the drying area and started to clean up. I put away my paints and pastels and placed my brushes in bowls of water. I then grabbed a sponge and started to scrub as much of the paint off of the floor as possible.
'I really should have done this in my room, like I do for most paintings!'
After a few minutes, I had managed to get the paint out. I put the sponge in the water with my brushes and looked around to make sure I had gotten everything. After double checking, I walked back upstairs to my room and turned back into my Earth pony forme. I went back over to my bed and laid down in it again. The smile on my face from finishing Rainbow's painting vanished as my worries came back.
'They know I'm a Changeling. Everypony is going to know that I'm a Changeling!'
However, my exhaustion overrode my fear, and I fell asleep.
"I just don't understand it!" said Twilight Sparkle to herself as she walked around the Golden Oak Library, "Why did none of my books say anything about a seventh Element of Harmony?"
Spike yawned and rolled over in his bed to look at Twilight. She had been thinking, talking, and researching for hours, and it was starting to annoying him. Especially since Twilight had woken him up from a nice nap.
"Twilight, I really think that you should get some sleep instead of overthinking this," he said.
"Spike! This is really important! Neither Princess Celestia or Princess Luna knew that there was a seventh Element of Harmony! Yet, somehow, Nightmare Moon did! Don't you see? It makes no sense!"
Twilight pulled books off the shelves and put books back on the shelves. She skimmed a few pages of some of the books, and then promptly put them right back on their shelves.
"Maybe it's because the number seven is considered lucky?" suggested Spike carelessly.
"Lucky?" said Twilight, "That's a great idea! Now I'll just research the number seven and luck!"
Spike groaned as Twilight pulled out more books, paper, and quills. Hopefully, he'd fall asleep soon, as Twilight was likely to be up all night.