Changed

by Dream Seeker

To Learn

"Wake up!" yelled Silent Whisper. "We don't want you to be late for your first day!"

"W-what?" asked Star Watcher groggily. "First day doing what?"

"Why, learning to be a Changeling of course!" grinned Silent Whisper. "First stop, mess hall!"

Star Watcher shook his head and blinked his eyes, before sitting up too quickly and banging his head on the bunk. "Oww..." he said glumly. "I'm not a morning pony."

"Of course you're not: You're not a pony at all!"

"I'm not a morning Changeling, then."

"Doesn't matter. Would you prefer to miss breakfast?"

"No... fine, let's get on with this."

Star Watcher and Silent Whisper walked silently down the hall, other Changelings walking beside them. When they reached the mess hall, there were no tables but crystals in the wall. Very few Changelings were talking, and Star Watcher could see that many of them looked half-asleep. Silent Whisper showed Star Watcher where he should stand, right next to the wall.

"Time for your first lesson: Feeding on crystalized emotion." whispered Silent Whisper cheerily.

"How do I do that?"

"Touch your horn to one of the crystals. Feel the energy, and draw it out. It feels a little like telekinesis."

Star Watcher gently pressed his horn against the closest roughly cut gem embedded in the wall. He closed his eyes and felt with his magic, finding the energy inside. He began drawing it out, and found that it did feel kind of like telekinesis. When he opened his eyes, he saw his glowing horn reflected by the tinted green walls. When the glow from his horn ceased and he couldn't feel any more energy inside the crystal, he pulled back.

"That was... interesting. What now?" he asked.

"Now, pull the stone out of the wall. Don't use telekinesis, it would waste energy." Silent Whisper said.

Star Watcher pulled at the stone unsuccessfully a few times before asking, "It doesn't come out. How do you loosen it?"

Silent Whisper chuckled. "Spit will dissolve the wall slightly, enough that you can pull the crystal out."

Star Watcher spat on the wall a few times, rubbing it around the edges where the crystal met the wall. He pulled once more, hard, and fell over when the wall hardly resisted at all.

"Good. Now, bring it over there, where they will be refilled by Infiltrators." Silent Whisper pointed with a hoof.

"How come there are so many spares?" asked Star Watcher curiously after placing his now empty crystal on the rack.

"With so few infiltrators, we can't replenish the used energy fast enough. There was a time when every crystal was full, and then some."

"Was the one I ate from not full?" Star Watcher asked.

"Not even close. That one will barely sate you through the day. Despite that, we still have problems feeding everybody. We have to ration our food, they didn't get to eat today." Silent Whisper pointed to some hungry looking Changelings. "Now, let's go to your first lesson before you're late."

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"Welcome to Emotions 101, the first class all Changelings must take. While most of you have recently been born, we do have one pony who was turned into a Changeling joining us today." all heads turned to Star Watcher as the teacher made this announcement. Star Watcher waved nervously at the unblinking stares of the young Changelings. "I am your teacher today. You may call be "Sir", or "teacher". Is that clear?"

"Yes Sir!" the class said in unison, including Star Watcher.

"Good. Now, we should begin. First off, does any of you know how our emotion draining works?" the teacher asked. None of his students raised their hooves. "No? In that case, we should begin with that. Our emotion draining works two ways, passive and aggressive. Passive draining will cause no harm to the target, while aggressive draining can permanently damage them. With our passive draining, anypony who has any sort of positive emotion directed at us will feed us. The stronger the emotion, the more energy we will get. Aggressive draining is where a complex spell can be cast that actively drains energy out of our target, and into ourselves. We will not learn aggressive training here, it is not suggested because it will harm the target permanently and will prevent them for generating more positive emotions for us to use. If we have a surplus of emotion, we can transfer the energy into crystals or our own excrement. You all know how to eat. Putting energy into crystals or excrement is much like that, only it works the other way: we put the energy in instead of taking it out. Any questions?"

Star Watcher raised his hoof. "Sir, if we can store emotional energy in excrement, why don't we just use our beds or the walls instead of crystals?"

"Ah, that is a good question. As a pony, you had perishable food, correct?" the teacher asked and Star Watcher nodded. "That is why we store it in gems: Energy put into excrement will degrade over time, until none of it is left. On the other hoof, energy put into gems remains relatively stable and can be kept in storage for a long time. Infiltrators usually put energy into excrement for transport back to the Hive, and transfer it into gems when they reach the mess hall."

A young Changeling raised his hoof. "Sir, how do we get ponies to like us? I thought they hated us."

"Another good question, and it brings us into our next topic: Transformation!" replied the teacher, smiling. "What makes Changelings special is their ability to transform into other creatures. Today, we will be doing our first transformations. It is best if they have about the same size and mass as the creature they're transforming into, because it uses less energy. To transform, close your eyes and picture a pony close to your size. I know you've all seen us transform into ponies, so you know of at least one. Think about everything that makes that pony who they are, from their voice to their cutie mark to their size and shape. Now, imagine your body changing to be that pony."

With that, Star Watcher blinked his eyes back open. He saw green fire around him that died down after a few moments. When he looked down, he saw very familiar hooves... He had his old body back! He had transformed! He looked around the classroom, but it looked like none of them had transformed successfully yet. His gaze caught the teacher's eye, who stared in surprise.

"Well, I guess it was only to be expected that you transformed so easily. After all, you know your body better than anybody! Now, I have a challenge for you. Change the color of your mane, to neon green." replied his teacher.

Star Watcher closed his eyes, focused, and green flames watched over him once again. When he opened his eyes, his mane was a neon green. Getting the idea, he changed his body color to a dull orange and his cutie mark to a leaf. "Is this good?" He asked smiling.

"Very!" his teacher answered, also smiling. "You'll be an Infiltrator in no time!"

By this time, other Changelings were starting to succeed. The teacher ran off to focus on teaching each one about the parts of the disguise that they missed, many of them had forgotten to hide their horn or wings. Star Watcher began planning backstories and names for different characters. It was easier than he thought it would be, and he surprised himself with his creativity. Before he knew it, class was over, and Silent Whisper picked him up to take him to his next class.

"How was class?" asked Silent Whisper. "Learn much?"

"Oh, I learned a lot!" Star Watcher claimed enthusiastically. "Watch!" Star Watcher turned into his pony self a flash of green fire later. "I can do others, too!" he exclaimed, changing forms.

"Don't do that too much though." Silent Whisper warned. "It'll drain your energy."

Star Watcher frowned and reverted back to Changeling form. "I thought the teacher said that changing didn't take much energy?" he asked uncertainly.

"Staying in changed form doesn't take much energy, but changing your form does. Actively altering your body is quite different form keeping your current form stable. Anyway, now for the second to last stop in our day: the Training Grounds."

Star Watcher followed behind Silent Whisper, keeping up as they traveled to the Training Grounds. He could feel a slight hunger, brought on by his rapid transformations. In only a few minutes, they had reached their destination, and right on time too. The class was only just about to start. He hurried to his place in the class, Silent Whisper leaving him with a promise to show him the way to his final class after Star Watcher finished his current one.

"Welcome, everybody. To the Training Grounds!" roared the Changeling Commander. This was accompanied by a few cheers from overly enthusiastic Changelings. "This is the first time any of you has stepped into this field, with the exception of Star Watcher." this was accompanied with a point, and the named pony-turned-Changeling shifted uncomfortably. "Time to begin your first lesson. Call me Sir when you address me, never talk over me, and never injure a fellow Changeling. These are our only real rules. First, I want each of you to find a partner, and spar with them. Don't permanently injure your partner, but otherwise anything goes." with that, each member of the class found a partner, including Star Watcher. His partner looked strong and powerful, to the point of looking stronger than any other member of the class. Star Watcher wouldn't know it, but his partner had chosen him because she had assumed that already having visited the Training Grounds meant that he was already extremely well trained. With almost no idea of how to fight, the first three matches ended with Star Watcher panting on the ground, the female Changeling above him not even breathing hard.

"Can you actually try?" asked the female Changeling, annoyed.

"T-t-this is me trying!" Star Watcher gasped out. "I've never fought before in my life!"

The female Changeling raised an eyebrow. "Then how did you get to enter the Training Grounds early? And why are you so much bigger than the rest of us hatchlings?" (Note: a hatchling is a young Changeling)

"I was turned into a Changeling, I used to be a pony. I-" Star Watcher's story was interrupted by the Changeling Commander.

"Less talking, more sparring!" he roared. "I want everybody to be in prime fighting condition by the end of the year!"

After class, a very bruised Star Watcher panted as he slowly stumbled towards Silent Whisper. He was taken to a quiet, slightly brighter than usual room, a welcome change from the dark, loud cavern that was the Training Grounds.

"What are we doing in here?" Star Watcher asked, still shaking slightly from sparring.

"You need to learn how to read Changeling writing. It may look like scribbles, but it's supposed to. When ponies see it, none of them recognize it as a language, making it easier to send secret messages. Today, you should look at the alphabet."

----------One Hour Later----------One Hour Later----------One Hour Later----------One Hour Later----------

Star Watcher snored softly in bed. After learning a good portion of the Changeling Alphabet, he was exhausted from the long day he'd had. But just before he slept, after thinking about how well his day had gone compared to how it could have gone, and how much he enjoyed being a changeling, he had a very dangerous thought.

What can possibly go wrong?

Author's Note:

I really didn't feel like inventing a new language today, especially one with new letters. By popular vote, however, this can be overturned, and I will create a bonus chapter about Changeling language, written and spoken.

I should compile a list of uses for Changeling excrement sometime. It's quite useful stuff.

If you're still wondering about him liking being a Changeling, remember: He sleeps on the stuff that makes him fine with it. As soon as he leaves his nice, comfortable bed on his first mission...

Back from vacation! See you next chapter.

Comments

[Edguy0009]

What can possibly go wrong?

It's THOSE kinds of thoughts that attract Murphy.