Memories: On her own.
There was nothing. Not a single pony, or a dog, or a rat. Nothing to make a sound. Not even a single tree... or a single flower... or a single rock... There wasn’t a ground or a sky, not even an up or a down. The only thing in this infinite emptiness was darkness.
But things wouldn’t stay like that for long… The sound of steps was barely audible, but it was definitely there. With each second that passed, the steps got louder, and suddenly, they stopped and were replaced by a few loud knocks.
“Mother?” echoed a tiny voice in the darkness, from no place in particular. The voice sounded strange, edged with an almost insect-like buzz.
“You may enter,” came a cold female voice. This one was more mature than the first one, but still held the same droning echo.
There was a sound of a door unlocking, followed by more steps. The surroundings brightened just enough to expose a large room, or more like a cave, with something that looked like a throne in the middle of it. There were no details in the walls, indistinct blurs swallowing any point of focus.
From one side of the room appeared a black creature, a little changeling not quite like others. While a normal changelings had blue eyes without pupils and lacked any trace of hair, this one had the same blue eyes but with elongated oval pupils, as well as a forest green mane and tail and a dark green chitinous plating on its mid section. Other than that, it was like any other changeling.
“You needed me, mother?” The little changeling asked as it bowed in front of the throne.
The shadows gathered over the empty throne, and coalesced into a larger version of the changeling. This one had dark green eyes and a teal mane. “Do you have any idea why I called you?”
“I… I think I know, mother.”
The larger changeling stood from the throne and walked closer to the smaller. “The time has come. Today, is the day of your test. ” She gave one step closer and looked down at the changeling, her eyes narrowed. “You had better not disappoint me.”
“I won’t, mother,” answered the little changeling, rising out of her kneel.
The larger walked back to her throne and sat down. “Then go, everything has been prepared for you. There is a drone waiting for you at the hive’s entrance. He will give you the information of the pony you will replace. How it acts and what it likes. Once you have taken the pony’s place, you will be on your own.” She stopped to take one deep breath. “And don’t forget. They. Are. Food.”
“Yes, mother.” Another bow from her part and the little changeling left the room.
Everything became dark.
Giggles… Giggles sounded everywhere. It was a tiny voice that just didn’t stopped giggling. Objects gained mass and shapes. The darkness was slowly suppressed by a blurry sun up in the sky. The ground was covered by a deep green pasture and a large field of flowers. There was a vast forest to the east, and to the west, the only thing that could be seen in the distance was some kind of building, probably a small family home.
In the middle of the pasture was a little unicorn filly chasing after a pink colored butterfly. The butterfly landed on a flower to rest. The filly took this chance to jump over the insect and catch it. This was a failed attempt as the butterfly got back to the sky until the filly landed on her face, her rump greeting up the sky. The filly stayed in that position until she felt something on her left flank. The butterfly had landed right there, like it was mocking her.
The filly quickly got back on her hooves just as the butterfly flew away in the direction of the trees. Still giggling, she chased it a few meters into the forest. The butterfly landed on the trunk of a tree. The filly took position and was about to make a second pounce when a green light surprised her. A bolt of magic sailed over her from behind and struck the butterfly directly. The filly watched as a little ball of fire fall slowly to the ground.
“The happy time is over,” the little filly heard before being caught by another spell. She tried to escape, to scream, but her body refused to move. She was slowly lifted from the ground and turned around. There were two black pony-like creatures.
“Princess, we have accomplished our part, now is your turn,” one of the changelings said as he looked back.
A third black creature, smaller than the other two, stepped out from behind a tree. The filly eyes turned as big as saucers as she watched the newcomer get engulfed in green flames. Seconds later, a little unicorn with light blue coat and a golden mane emerged from the flames. It was an exact copy of her.
“We will take this pony back to the hive.” The changeling stalked closer to his prey and smirked. “We can get a lot of love out of her once she’s properly cocooned.” He took the little filly and disappeared further in the forest.
The second changeling turned to the fake unicorn. “Remember the information we gave you. From this moment on, you are on your own.” He began following after the first changeling, but paused and added: “Don’t hesitate to do what must be done.” Then he too vanished.
The new little unicorn just stood there for a moment. It was time for her test. She had to gather love, feed from it, become stronger and then return to her home. Show that she deserved the title of princess, and would deserve the title of queen when it was one day given to her. She took a deep, steadying breath and started her way out of the forest.
At the edge of the forest, the little unicorn hid behind a bush when she caught sight of a unicorn stallion.
“Joy, Where are you?” The stallion asked as he walked away from the bush where she was hiding.
He was looking for her. According to the information she got, the name of the pony she was impersonating was Joyful Spark, but her parents called her Joy. The stallion looked in the direction of the home in the distance and scratched his head. Joy took this as her cue to start her test. She burst out from the bush and ran at full speed in the direction of the stallion. Just a meter separated the two unicorns when the little one jumped up, extended her hooves, and landed on the stallions back.
“Got you!” She wrapped her hooves around the neck of the stallion with enough strength to stay in place when the stallion jumped after getting startled.
“J-Joy! Oh, Celestia! You know you shouldn’t scare your dad like that!” The stallion said with a bad attempt of a frown on his face.
The little unicorn just giggled, then took a moment to think her next course of action. “Sorry daddy,” she said before giving a little kiss to the stallions cheek.
The stallion grinned. “Let’s go, your mother must be worried.” As he walked away with the filly on his back, the reality started to shake. In seconds, time started to skip, showing different scenes of the filly’s life.
There were scenes of the filly eating dinner with “her” parents. Her mother taking her to school. A trip to her grandparents house. A picnic right next to a lake. A few festivities in family. Every single scene showed a happy filly with at least one of “her” parents, nuzzling her, hugging her, loving her. Something had changed in the filly as time passed.
Finally came the day, about four months after starting her mission, she understood what had changed.
“Catch me if you can, daddy!” The little filly was running through the flowers.
“Hahaha, you can’t escape from me.” The stallion said as he followed his daughter. After trying to catch the filly for half an hour, the stallion had to stop and rest.
“Haha, you can’t catch me, daddy.” The little filly said cockily, jumping merrily around the stallion
He took one deep breath. “I guess you are right, I will need reinforcements.”
“Reinforce- Waaa!!” The filly shouted when a pair of hooves grabbed her from behind. The little filly looked up to see a grown mare smiling at her. “Mom! Don’t help daddy, that’s cheating!” She said with a frown.
“Sorry, sweetie, but you’ve been playing long enough. Let’s go inside and have dinner.” The mare talked with a sweet, silky voice as she let go the filly.
“But I’m not hungry!” the filly pouted
“You always say that you are not hungry,” The stallion joined his wife and daughter, “but you always devour it like you have been starving for weeks.” He shared a small laugh with his wife, then nuzzled her and the filly. “Come on, we can play again tomorrow.” They started walking towards their home.
The filly smiled. “Yay! I love you dad! I love you mom!” Those words came out naturally. She understood that she really meant those words. How long had it been since she had dropped the act and started to feel a part of this family? She didn’t care as long as this lasted… not forever, as she had to go back to the hive, but at least she hoped that this lasted long enough.
More days flashed by, more happy moments that weren’t meant for this little filly. She had started to feel… weird, she felt... guilty. She felt guilty each time she saw the loving expression on “her” parents face. And why shouldn’t she feel guilty?
The visions started to bleed their colors until there was nothing of it. The only colors left were white, various tones of gray and black… a black creature that looked itself in the mirror.
‘What am I supposed to do?’ The changeling questioned herself. She was supposed to be on a mission for the hive, for her mother. This was a test that would decide her future. But she was no longer sure if she wanted to fulfill this test. She had accomplished stages one and two of the plan, but she couldn’t move to stage three, because it meant hurting the two ponies she had come to… care about.
Time was running out, her mother, the queen, was waiting for her return.
The changeling brought her hooves to her temples and screamed in her high pitched, insect like, voice. She was no longer sure of what she was going… What she wanted to do. She just looked around the room, her eyes landed in a picture on the night table. A picture of the real unicorn filly along with her parents.
There was something in that picture that made her snap. She snatched up the picture and stuffed it in a nearby saddlebag so she didn’t have to look at it, trying to hide it, or hide from it. It was still there, she knew, the picture was still there in the room. She grabbed the saddlebag in her magic and threw it through the open window. The saddlebag flew an incredible distance, disappearing into the distant forest. The changeling knew why it had flew so far, it was due to all the love she had absorbed. It fueled her powers, her magic.
‘But this love is not for me!’ She began thrashing around the room. She threw the few clothes that were in the closet in every direction, the mattress was flipped over and ended in one corner of the room, she even broke what few fragile things she could grab. This went on for a moment, until the changeling collapsed right next to the mattress, panting heavily.
‘I don’t want to hurt them… but in reality, I have already hurt them really bad. They just don’t know yet.’ But they would certainly find out if they came back home before she could organize this disaster. With a sigh, she turned to her mirror. She was going to change her appearance before organizing this mess.
She started to cast the spell and was about to shoot it when she heard the knob of the door turning. At the corner of her eyes she managed to see two unicorns looking at her just before green flames swallowed her.
The stallion stopped at the door. His eyes slowly taking the scene right in front of him. The room of his daughter completely destroyed. A black creature disappearing just for his daughter to show in its place. His wife was covering her mouth with both front hooves.
The filly gave one step forward, the older unicorns gave one backwards.
“I-I…” ‘I what? I can explain this? What’s there to explain?’
“You…” The mare started, her eyes filling with tears. “You… aren’t Joy. You are not my baby.”
The filly dropped her head, along with her disguise. The mare gave another step back, but the stallion stood in place.
He gritted his teeths. “You!” He shouted. “What did you do to our daughter?! Where is she?” The stallion shouted as his wife cried silently behind him. “What did you do to her?”
The changeling just opened and closed her mouth for a moment, and finally spoke. “D-Daddy, I… I’m-” Before the black little creature could finish, the stallion had used his magic to knock her back. The changeling landed below the open window.
“Wh-Why are you calling me that?! Don’t call me Daddy! You are not my daughter! You are… You are a monster!” He stomped his hoof against the floor, a crack appearing on it. “What did you do to her?! Where is she?! You better tell me where she is.” There was a silence for a few seconds, but those seconds felt like days to the stallion. He stomped his hoof one more time. “Where is SHE?!”
“I… I… I’m sorry.” The black creature whispered before turning around and jumped through the window. It used its translucent wings to guarantee a soft landing before running away.
“What did you do to my daughter?!!” She heard the stallion shouting. He had tried to follow the changeling through the window, but got stuck as it wasn’t big enough for his size. The stallion shouted a few harsh words before dropping his head, his jaw clenched and a single tear fell from his eyes.
The changeling ran directly to the forest as the house she had just escaped was starting to disappear. She felt weak, like the energy was slowly leaving her but nothing she couldn’t bear. She kept running as fast as she could, not watching her steps, only wishing to get as far as she could, but something made her fall to the ground. She looked back. A beaten saddlebag lay right next to her back hooves.
This was the same that she had threw out the window. That stupid saddlebag, the one that had the picture that had caused her failure. That picture made her lose her control, and for that, she lost the test… No, she didn’t care about that, not when she had just lost her family. She grabbed the saddlebag and placed it on her back. That picture was all she had left of this… experience to remember.
The changeling walked. She had to go back to the hive and face the Queen. Everything darkened.
“You dare to show in front of me without completing your test?!” Green eyes flared from the shadows, and slowly, the darkness subsided to show the rest of the queen’s face. Her body slowly appeared as well.
Two blue eyes faded in, followed by the rest of the little changeling head. “I… I’m sorry mother. I failed, t-they discovered me.”
The queen harrumphed. “That’s no excuse, you perfectly knew that was a possibility.” The queen narrowed her eyes and towered over her daughter. “Why didn’t you finish what you had to do?”
“B-but I got more love than nece-”
“FOOL!” The queen shouted. “The love was only a part of the test. The real objective of it was to see if you have the focus and determination to be the queen of this hive in the future! Your magic should be more than powerful enough after all the love you gathered! You should have used that power to bring those damn ponies here!”
“B-but I don’t-”
“SHUT UP!” The queen cut the little changeling. “Now, I will give you another chance. Go back there and bring me those ponies.” The queen moved away. “We need more resources, after all, that little filly didn’t last a month.” The queen reached her throne and sat. “What are you still doing here? Go and finish what had to be finished already!”
The little changeling stood in place, looking down at the ground. She mumbled something, just a single word.
“What did you say?”
“N-no.” The changeling said with a trembling voice.
“No.” The queen said. “No.” She repeated as she rubbed her chin. She stood again, moved closer to the filly and started to walk around her. “This no had better not mean what I’m thinking.”
“I… I don’t want to…” The little changeling took one deep breath, closed her eyes, lifted her head and, “I don’t want to keep doing this!” The changeling finally found the strength to say it.
Chrysalis stopped circling the little changeling, standing right in front of her. “You don’t want to keep doing this?”
“I… I… Why do we have to do things like this? Why can’t we just live along with the ponies instead of stealing their lives?”
Chrysalis stared for a moment at the little changeling, then raised one of the hole covered hooves and slapped the little changeling. “Live along with the ponies? What did I tell you before you left?!”
“I-I don’t-”
“They. Are. Food!” Chrysalis punctuated each word. “Do you see a bear befriending a fish? Or a manticore befriending a deer?”
“B-but that’s different, tha-”
“That’s how life is! You could try to befriend them, but the moment they see the real you, this black monster, they will run from you. Ponies fear what is different, they will never accept us, that’s why we have to take it by force.”
“But… If we try we and explain-”
“What you are suggesting is just some stupid dream that will never happen. What you are suggesting is to be weak, and weakness leads to failure.” The queen turned around and sighed. “I had big plans for you, but you disappoint me. You are weak! A disgrace to our race! Get out of here and never come back.”
“W-what?!” the changeling exclaimed. “M-mother, please, don’t kick me out of-”
“Will you do as I say? Will you bring me those ponies?”
“I-I can’t do that, I don’t want to do that.”
“Then you are of no use for the hive.”
The little changeling gave one step forward and touched the queen. “Mother, I can’t lose another home. I-”
The queen shot one powerful spell that threw the little changeling to the wall. Then walked slowly out of the room. ““Lose another home”? I should end your life before you become even more pathetic. But I won’t, I will let you experience this world, now that you don’t want to continue “doing this”. You won't last long out there, not with the path you have chosen.” Chrysalis opened the door. “You are no longer a member of this hive.” Chrysalis left the room.
The changeling remained on the floor, her vision turning blurry. A few tears trailed down her cheek, more from what the queen had said than for the pain and dizziness the spell had caused her.
A couple of drones entered the room and dragged her in the direction of the hive exit. As she was carried through the dark halls, she felt how her link to the hive mind was severed. She felt again that sensation of her energy being drained before everything went dark as the she passed out.
The changeling slowly recovered her senses. Blurry image replacing the darkness, that were eventually replaced by a green scenery. The changeling looked around, trees surrounded her in every direction. She looked down, and was surprised to see the saddlebag she had carried to the hive right below her. But other than that, she had just been left on her own.
The changeling laid on the grass for a while, sobbing and thinking. What was she supposed to do now? How would she survive on her own? The love she had gathered from… them would last her for no longer than a month, that if she didn’t use too much energy.
“I-” A sob interrupted her. She wiped a few tears before standing. “I should get moving.” She grabbed the saddlebag and placed it on her back, then started walking. The changeling walked in the forest for almost an hour, the little critters she encountered ran as they felt her presence.
“Will the ponies be like this animals, running away from me when they see me? Stealing a life is the only way to survive” She stopped for a moment and took the picture out of the saddlebag. “But I don’t want to lie anymore, and I don’t want to hurt anypony. There must be a way.” She thought for a moment, but a growl that sounded incredible close scared her, causing her train of thought to stop.
She returned the picture to her saddlebag and turned in the direction from where the growl had come. “H-hello?” She got her answer in the form of a loud howl.
A pair of glowing green eyes appeared. A sharp and large wooden paw emerged from its hiding place, immediately followed by the rest of the body. A creature totally composed by wood. Sharp fangs were showing through an open mouth, drool oozing from it.
The changeling stared at the weird wolf-like creature with wide open eyes. She took one step back, and the wolf advanced one step forward. The changeling quickly spun around and started to beat her wings as fast as she could, trying to take up to the sky, to safety. But before she could get off the ground, the large wolf jumped towards her with its open mouth. The little changeling barely managed to dodge the creature, but not completely. The wolf must have managed to scratch her in some part of her body, as she felt a great amount of pain on her left side.
She started to run away while trying to take off, but as much as she tried, she couldn’t get off the ground. She gave up on flying for the moment and focused on running. Each step was fueled by the sound of the wolf chasing after her, growling at her. The changeling darted between trees, making sharp turns to buy herself a little more time. She continued, jumping over bushes, ducking under fallen trees and branches until she reached the end of the forest, or rather, the end of the line.
She looked up at the rocky wall in front of her, then looked back to see a shadow approaching her through the trees. There was no escape other than going up. She started to beat her wing again.
“Come one, come on! Why can’t I fly?!” The changeling looked back at her wings. Her pupils turned into little dots. She was missing half of her left wing. Past her wing, she saw the wolf finally getting out from the thick forest, his eyes locking in the easy prey.
“Nonononononono!” The little changeling was desperate, trying to climb the cliff, but her hooves couldn’t find any purchase. She turned around, shaking on her hooves. Her back against the wall and the wolf getting closer. Tears started to flow down her face.
“No...” She said barely audible. “No… No… Help. Help!!!”
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Oh, I can't wait for Rare's reaction to all of this I predict
for Alice, 
for the way she reacted towards Alice, and 
towards Chrysalis.
In other words, I can't wait for the next chapter.
See ya then!
How is part 2 coming along
4069145 Currently working on it. I hope to have it finished before the end of the week.
4069212 that good to hear, but when you say end of the week, do you mean Friday or Sunday
4069339 Well, I will try to have it for Friday, but then I have to send it to my editor, so probably Sunday.
I'll do what I can.
4069382 take your time, the longer it takes, the less error there will be and the more people will want it so when it does come out, they will be "over the moon" when it does
4069463 Hmmm, would you be interested in giving it a look when i'm done with it? I would like to hear the opinion of someone that seems to be enjoying the fic before I upload the chapter.
4069555 I would love to, but my spelling and grammar are really bad, so I might not be the best person to check it, plus I kind of need to re-read the other chapters
4071357 Don't worry about the spell and grammar. I'm not asking for you to point out mistakes, I would only like to hear your opinion in this chapter. If you think a paragraph feels weird or something like that.
4072872 yea I think I can do
4073819 Okay, when I'm done, I'll send you a PM of the un-edited chapter.
4073832 ok look forward to it
Well, Chryssie wasn't really wrong, judging by how ponies react to any new and unknown creatures. Heck, Zecora is as close to being a pint as one can be without actually being one, yet we saw what happened.