Antecedent

by Anonymous Pegasus


Explanations

Raindrop groaned and stirred fitfully, weakly shifting a hoof to try and touch her head, where a throbbing epicentre of ache was demanding her attention.

“Don’t try to move, Raindrop,” A soothing feminine voice said. She recognized the voice, but it took a few moments for it to click over in her mind that it was Princess Celestia.

One of her eyes opened and she groaned again at her complete inability to move. Moving hurt. Breathing hurt. It was as though she’d managed to pull every single muscle in her body at once.

As soon as her eyes opened, she realised she was in the dungeon. The bars of a cell rose in front of her, and Celestia was standing in the open doorway, frowning down at her.

“Hurts...” Raindrop managed to whimper from behind her uncooperative lips.

“I know, Raindrop, I know. From what Sentinel told me, you attempted to change. Your body wasn’t designed for it, Raindrop. It almost killed you,” Celestia explained, leaning down to be more on her level. “I need to know you’re still Raindrop before I can let you out of here.”

Raindrop winced slightly as she tried to lift her head, and snorted at the Princess for a moment, before just splaying out again.

“Give it a day or so, you’ve been through a lot,” Celestia said, withdrawing and motioning for a guard, who stepped over to the cell door and closed it, sealing her inside.

Raindrop didn’t even react. She just closed her eyes and went back to sleep.


Consciousness returned slowly to Raindrop, and she groaned again. Her muscles all hurt. It was as though she overused every muscle in her body and none of them wanted to work. She felt weak and utterly powerless. It took her a few moments to realise that it had been a visitor that brought her back to consciousness, and she opened an eye weakly to figure out who it was. She was expecting Celestia, but instead, saw the receding flank of a royal guard in full dress, walking away from her.

She tried to phrase a question but was too weak, and just closed her eye again. She opened it again and squinted at the source of a scent of an oddly sweet fire. A small cake was sitting in front of her, with a candle burning atop it slowly. The guard must have left it there for her, she surmised. But why would a guard leave her a cake? That was the oddest meal to serve a prisoner.

Pushing the thought out of her mind, Raindrop returned to unconsciousness.


Ravenous.

Raindrop was absolutely ravenous when she woke up next. She devoured the cake in front of her without a second thought. It was now old, stale, and cold, but she barely tasted it. Vanilla icing atop chocolate cake. She almost ended up eating the candle as well.

The sugary goodness slid down her throat and helped a little bit, but it was only moments before she was at the bars of her cell, rapping her hoof of them, calling, “Uh...hello? I want food!”

One of the guards wandered down the stairs at the end of the hall, and ambled towards her, raising a brow. “You’re awake?”

“No. Sleepwalking. Food. Now.” Raindrop stated, rapping her hoof on the bars again.

The guard rolled his eyes, and then squinted at her for a moment, staring into her eyes.

Raindrop kept his gaze for a few moments, before beginning to feel uncomfortable, looking down at her hooves.

“...I’ll get you some food,” the guard said after a moment, turning away and returning back upstairs.

The pegasus sat down on her haunches in front of the bars impatiently, tail twitching back and forth in agitation as she waited.


A salad sandwich, a hoofful of sugarcubes, and a cup of water. It was simple fare, but it was the best meal Raindrop had ever had. Her protesting muscles didn’t even stop her from scoffing down the food as fast as she could, washing down the unyielding chunks of bits with mouthfuls of water.

She was just finishing up the sandwich when Celestia came to the door, opening it with a touch of her horn, and stepping into the smal cell.

“Careful, Dangerous changeling in here somewhere. Could be any of us. Even me,” Raindrop stated, as she finished off the cup of water and then wiped her mouth daintily with a hoof, peering up at the princess.

“Then cell is merely a precaution, Raindrop,” Celestia chided, shaking her head.

“It’s a cell nonetheless,” Raindrop pointed out, moving over to the cot stiffly and pulling herself onto it. She winced as she crossed her forepaws and laid her chin on them, “...Any idea why I hurt so much?”

“You tried to change, Raindrop,” Celestia reiterated, shaking her head for a moment.

Raindrop wrinkled her nose, scratching behind her ear with a hoof. “You said that...but...changing? I’m not...How could I even do that?”

Celestia sat down, giving Raindrop a look up and down, before shrugging helplessly. “I...Honestly don’t know. A case such as yours has never existed. It is possible that you are developing changeling powers. Your experiences with Shine are indicative that you are draining love energy from your partner in the same manner as a changeling. That energy has to be going somewhere.”

The pegasus nodded at that, thinking back. “I...don’t remember a whole lot. But my muscles were being stupid. I couldn’t move them. And it hurt.”

“Likely the changeling magic trying to change your form. Your body isn’t designed for it. What was happening was probably the latent magic in your blood trying to turn you into something...larger?” Celestia offered as an explanation.

“I did get a pretty big boost to my strength before the blinding agony hit,” Raindrop pointed out thoughtfully.

“Sentinel tells me you were quite angry at the time,” Celestia added.

“I have anger issues,” she stated in reply, in an off-hand way.

“You didn’t used to,” Celestia pointed out, raising a brow.

“I...how do you know that?” Raindrop asked, frowning deeply.

“I’ve watched you and your family, Raindrop, remember?” the princess asked, raising a brow at her and smiling faintly.

“I...I have been getting angrier easily recently. I’m sure Sentinel could tell you how easy,” she admitted, looking down at her hooves.

“I didn’t need to ask him, it’s written on his face,” Celestia pointed out dryly.

Raindrop winced at that, ears splaying backwards. She huffed, grinding her hoofs into the cot, “He started it. Kept calling me and changeling and acting like I murdered his whole family.”

“And you didn’t clarify that you were born a pony but that your grandmother was Chrysalis,” Celestia added.

“But...well...I guess I didn’t,” Raindrop admitted with a frown. “Still. He deserved it.”

“Sentinel’s mother was but a filly when Chrysalis and her army attacked Canterlot. She was injured in the attack, not a fatal injury. But it complicated her first birth; and she died,” Celestia explained, her voice sad. “His father tried to raise him for a few years by himself, but eventually turned to hard cider. A week before most foals start school, he gave his son the choice of an orphanage or the Royal Guard. He handed him a train ticket to Ponyville with a connection to Canterlot, fifty bits, and never saw him again.”

Raindrop blinked, her ears splaying backwards. “That’s....kind of harsh...”

“His father fell from a cloud over Cloudsdale one day. It was perhaps a drunken accident, but most likely suicide. He was holding a picture of Sentinel’s mother.” Celestia said with a sad shake of her head. “And all of this is due to changelings. He has great reason to hate them. It was unwise of me to send you with him without explaining what you are. Likely, he sensed the changeling within you and got the wrong impression. I corrected those impressions. He will no longer trouble you.”

“But...but...who will I hit now?” Raindrop asked with a frown, looking down at her hooves.

“I believe he hit you, as well? How is your head?” Celestia inquired.

“Oh, this?” Raindrop asked, raising a hoof to her head and rubbing it about. “Can’t even feel it now. Like it never happened.”

“It’s been a few days,” the princess explained. “Probably why you were so hungry, too.”

Raindrop winced a little. “A few days? What happened with the Element of Harmony?”

“We recovered the Element of Loyalty. But Sentinel had to abandon the Seeker Stone to carry you back here,” Celestia said, shaking her head for a moment. “A wise trade off.”

“The Seeker Stone? Was that that red gem?” Raindrop inquired, raising a brow.

“Indeed. I created one for each of the Elements. I intended them to act as a kind of compass...but I never managed to get the magic to that level. Instead, they react by proximity. Perhaps within a mile or so and they start to react. Especially more so when the Element is active. At present, the Elements are dormant, stone. So the Seeker Stones need to be literally next to them to react.” Celestia explained, looking Raindrop over carefully.

“Not true,” the pegasus responded with a shake of her head. “When I came across the Element, it was glowing and red, like the stone Sentinel was carrying. It only turned to stone when I touched it.”

Celestia frowned deeply at that, looking down at her hooves for a moment, seeming confused. “But...Then how?”

“Don’t ask me. I just went looking for the Elements. Got one of them.” Raindrop said with a smile.

“No, you don’t understand. As soon as someone touches an unguarded Element, they revert to stone. The only people able to even handle them were the former bearers. After Luna became Nightmare Moon, the Elements all reverted to stone until the former bearers activated them,” Celestia explained, still frowning deeply.

“Well...they found a way to move them around and activate them?” Raindrop offered helplessly, shrugging her shoulders.

“Indeed...now to figure out how,” Celestia said, rising to her hooves properly and turning towards the cell door. “I deem you fit to be released, but...you might want to get a pair of sunglasses. Come see me when you’re ready. We’ll discuss the next steps.”

Raindrop frowned at princess’s tone, and rose to her hooves as well, stepping stiffly off the coat and hobbling towards the door, stepping out of it and moving over to the guard. She lifted her hoof, making a motion with it. “Turn your head to the side.”

The guard complied, and Celestia gave her a sympathetic glance as she walked past. Raindrop leaned in to the polished armour and peered into the reflection, her eyes widening and her heart beating against her throat as she caught sight of her reflection. Her natural pink eyes were gone, and in their place, were a pair of vibrant green, demonic changeling eyes.

Whimpering faintly, she rubbed at her eyes with her hooves, as though she could maybe rub the change out of them, shuddering.

The young pegasus stared at her reflection for a long moment, and then slumped a little bit, head hanging low as she started up the stairs and out of the dungeon.

They only had one Element, and already, her changeling blood had almost killed her. They still needed the other five elements, and the new bearers, just to have a chance to heal her. She sighed softly to herself.

Why could it never be easy?