I, Changeling

by Majin Syeekoh

Crystal Spires and Changelings

Princess Cadance was leaning on the balcony overlooking the Crystal Empire, looking over her subjects with a frown. A frown because even though her Crystal Ponies were glimmering in the light, there were also numerous dark spots among the crowd. Namely, changelings. She detested the things ever since she was trapped in the caves under Canterlot for a month by their Queen. She shuddered, not wanting to bring up old wounds. Still, she did owe Chrysalis for saving her kingdom from the nefarious Safer Sombra, although she considered them even. She heard footsteps behind her. She let off the balcony and turned around to see her husband, Shining Armor, his blue mane looking as dashing as ever over his white coat. She smiled at him, him smiling already.

“Back so soon, Shiny?” she cooed at him as she trotted over to nuzzle him.

“That’s right.” He nuzzled her back lovingly. “Just got back from the Big Brother Mentor program. I should be meeting my little brother later today.”

Cadance disengaged him. “What was his name again? Nihilus Nix, or something like that?”

Shining Armor stared confusedly at her. “That literally means nothing.”

“No it doesn’t.”

Shining Armor sighed frustratedly. “Yes it does. Nihilus means nothing, and Nix means no.”

Cadance giggled. “See, you just proved yourself wrong.”

Shining Armor raised an eyebrow. “How?”

“Nihilus Nix means ‘nothing no’ by your own declaration. See, it means something.”

“But that something is nothing.”

“And zero is a number—”

“Zero is NOT a number!” Shining shouted angrily. “I don’t care what those snooty Math Majors at CEU say!” Cadance started giggling. “What?”

“Nothing, it’s just so easy to rile you up. So what’s your little brother’s name again?”

Shining Armor smiled. “His name is Fifty-Six.”

“Fifty-six?”

“That’s right.” He said wearing his broadest fish-eating grin.

“That sounds nice, Shiny.” She said, nuzzling her wonderful husband. She then stopped mid-nuzzle. “Fifty-six?”

“Um, yeah.”

“Fifty-six?” she said, pulling away. “That’s a changeling’s name!” She glared at her husband.

“Yeah, remember? I said I was adopting a youngling last week?”

“I thought you got that word off of your dictionary calendar!” Cadance said as she pawed at the ground. “If I had known you were mentoring a changeling, I would’ve nixed the thought right there!”

Shining stared at his now mad wife cautiously, choosing his next words carefully. “Well, he’s being brought to the palace in fifteen minutes, so you’ll get to meet it then.”

Little did he know that no string of words would have been correct at that moment, as his wife drew a ceremonial dagger off of the wall. “You’re not mentoring him, you’re adopting him! He’s your bastard lovechild with that swiss-cheese trick that was impersonating me!” she screamed as she lunged towards Shining Armor, who put up a pink shield that the dagger bounced harmlessly off of. “Do you know what I went through because of that harpy?!” she yelled as she kept slashing at the shield to no effect.

“Honey, this isn’t gonna work.” Shining said matter-of-factly.

“I was in the Canterlot Caves for a month, reduced to eating mushrooms and BUGS!” she cried out, uselessly slashing at the shield. “You know how hard it is to eat something that begs for its life? Looking into your tearing eyes with tearing eyes of its own, imploring you to not eat it!?”

“Maybe you should bring that up with your therapist—”

“MY THERAPIST HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!!” Cadance shouted. She then collected herself. Slightly. She slowly pushed the blade through the shield, causing Shining Armor’s eyes to widen in horror as the dagger was within slashing range. Shining Armor dropped his shield and teleported across the room.

“Baby, dont you—”

“Don’t ‘baby’ me, you cheat!” She cried out as she flew across the room, leading with the blade. Shining Armor teleported above Cadance and tackled her to the ground. Shining held tightly to her, her writhing uselessly in his powerful grip, failing to find an opening to stab him with because he was using her as a pony shield.

“Please...stop...honey…” Shining Armor said while struggling. “You know...I didn’t sleep with her…”

“And how do I know that!?” Cadance roared.

“Because I didn’t even sleep with you until our wedding night!” Shining Armor cried out. Cadance then stopped struggling, the dagger dropping on the ground with a loud clang. Shining let go of Cadance, and they both sat up on their haunches.

“Is this a bad time, Prince-Consort?”

Shining and Cadance looked up to see Beck Call, their head servant, tailed by a miniature changeling. Cadance glared at the changeling.

Shining stood up to his hooves. “No, Beck Call, not at all.”

Beck Call nodded. “Well, your little brother is here.” he said, motioning to the changeling.

“Thank you, that will be all.” Shining Armor said with authority. Beck Call nodded and left, the changeling standing there expectantly.

Shining trotted up to the little changeling and bent down, rubbing its head. “Fifty-six, is it?”

“Yes,” then changeling replied, taking a bow, “and it’s an honor to meet you, Prince-Consort.”

Shining Armor chuckled. “No need to call me that. Just call me Shiny.” He then stood up to his full height, looking back at Cadance, who was giving an evil stare at Shining. Shining shrunk back a little bit, then bent back down. “What do you say we get out of Mrs. Grumpypant’s mane and play some hoofball?”

Fifty-six stared at him confusedly. “I thought her name was Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”

“Cadance.” Princess Cadance corrected it curtly.

“Well, right now, she’s a little bit grumpy,” Shining said, “I think it’s mare troubles—OW!” he cried out as he felt the hilt of the dagger hit him on the back of the head.

“I heard that.” Cadance said, a murderous glare fixed on her husband, who stared back at her accusingly. “Don’t give me that look, you know what you did.”

“Mare troubles?” Fifty-six asked.

“I’ll let your pa...rents…?” Shining Armor asked.

“I was assigned a single parental unit designated 1729.”

“I’ll let seventeen-twenty-nine explain it when you’re older.” Shining Armor said with a chuckle. “So how about that game of hoofball?”

Fifty-six perked up. “I have heard of this hoofball. It sounds...fun.”

Shining Armor laughed. “Only the most fun a youngling like you can have! Let’s go!” He walked out, Fifty-six following in his stead. He turned back and winked at Cadance, who was still staring murderously at him.

“Don’t forget about the peace summit later today.” Cadance reminded him through gritted teeth.

“I won’t, honey.”

Cadance watched Shining Armor walk out while the youngling followed him eagerly. She stomped back to her throne and plopped down, fuming. The nerve of Shining Armor to mentor a changeling after what she had gone through! Did he not realize the pain she had gone through because of their deceptive ilk? Did he not realize the abject terror she had experienced due to their mad power grab? She sat there, soaking in her rage, enjoying the warm feeling of power it gave her. It pained her when Queen Chrysalis accepted Celestia’s offer of peace, Celestia’s reasoning that now that Chrysalis had fought on the side of right, she would enjoy the feeling. Cadance could only nod in horror at all of the legislation Celestia had enacted using her executive power to grant the little buggers rights like anypony and everypony. It was like seeing her worst nightmare come to life when the changelings started moving into the Crystal Empire to feed off of the everflowing love present in the atmosphere. She couldn’t say anything because she was the Alicorn of Love, and love meant forgiveness even unto your enemies. She wondered if they would have the capacity to forgive if they were the ones trapped for a month underground, eating fungus to survive. She was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice her servant, Hoof Maid, touch her shoulder.

“Are you crying, Princess?” Hoof Maid asked. Cadance didn’t even notice the flowing streams of water pouring down her cheeks and muzzle.

“No.” Cadance said.

Hoof Maid shook her head. “Yes, you are. Why are you crying, Princess?”

Cadance finally noticed that she was, indeed, crying as Hoof Maid dabbed her tears. Cadance then sighed a labored sigh. “I’m crying because of the changelings.”

Hoof Maid sighed, still dabbing the Princess’s tears. “I know, right? It makes me sad, too, they way that they’re beaten and bullied all across Equestria.” She then tutted. “You’d think that ponies never had an ounce of decency in them.”

Cadance glared at Hoof Maid, who didn’t notice. “Decency?”

“That’s right, Princess, no decency. You’d think they would have taken to heart the lessons of Hearth’s Warming Eve and not repeat the mistakes of Princess Platinum and Commander Hurricane and discriminate on our differences.” Hoof Maid sighed.

“I hardly think—”

“You hardly think the changelings deserve such treatment? Neither do I. We should be focusing on our similarities instead of our differences.”

Cadance stared a weird stare at Hoof Maid. “Similarities?”

“Yes, Princess. Similarities.”

“What do we have in common with changelings?”

Hoof Maid chuckled. “The need for love.”

Cadance fixed her eyes on Hoof Maid. “Explain.”

“Well, the changelings may feed on love...but don’t we feed on it too, in a way?” Hoof Maid asked. “I mean, what would we be without love?”

Cadance thought on that for a second. “I...I don’t know?”

“Exactly, you can’t even imagine it! So imagine how those changelings feel, having to leech their love from somepony else, unable to create any love of their own! It must be a nightmare!”

“I, don’t think—”

“—that’s fair? Neither do I, but that’s how life works. You’re dealt the hand you’re dealt. They never asked to be changelings, they were born that way! They had no control over the circumstances of their birth, so we shouldn’t fault them for it.”

Cadance nodded. “Thank you, Hoof Maid. Now leave me be. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

“Glad I could help, Princess.” Hoof Maid nodded and left the room.

Cadance sat there, musing. Hoof Maid had given her a lot to think about. She stood up and trotted over to the balcony and took off. She flew over her kingdom, taking in the crystal spires, noticing yet again how beautiful they were. She found the stadium and dove in, seeing Shining Armor and Fifty-six playing catch. She landed next to Shining Armor, who jumped.

“Hey, baby, what are you doing here?” Shining asked, throwing the hoofball to Fifty-six, who caught it in its magic.

“Nothing, just seeing how my big stallion is doing with his little brother.” She poked Shining Armor in the ribs.

“We’re doing great!” Shining Armor said as he caught the hoofball. “Isn’t that right, Fifty-six?”

“Yes, Shiny. We are doing quite well.” It said as Shining threw the hoofball at it, catching it in his magic.

“Glad to hear.” Cadance said. She then looked at Fifty-six. They’re kind of cute when they’re small...

Comments

[Dapper Guy]

So, will the changelings still be referred with numbers or will they start having names anytime soon?
Also, I feel for Cadance in this part. She's locked underground, starving and nearly ruined her wedding. Still, she doesn't seem to be the type to hold a grudge.

[Majin Syeekoh]

4069579 I'm sticking with the numbers. Each number is it's own reference.

And trauma can often take time to fully settle in. The cheery Cadance we see in MLP is not the Cadance of my story.

[ParadoxPony]

Okay, cadence is REALLY out of character!

[Bronzedragon]

PTSD can cause some strange stuff.

[Razzy]

Good that Cadance can get over it all. And i like when Shining is portrayed like this, friendly and forgiving. I bet he missed having a younger sibling at hand s lot.

I'm just going to assume the lady chapter was Chryssie being depressed and changelings aren't really getting killed, otherwise I'll have to ask why isn't the government doing anything about it.

Cya
Raziel-chan

[Devildogg20]

6700364 its a ploy by the princesses to garner a retaliation from the changelings so that they may have an excuse to finally destoy them once and for all!