“… I’m Princess Celestia’s foal!”
LOVE MINE
Zephyrus Scary
Chapter 6:
“… I’m Princess Celestia’s foal!”
Putting a hoof over my chest as if it can help slow my heart, I look around quickly—absentmindedly noting how my now longer neck helps me do that without having to turn my body around—I see… absolutely nothing different from before: desert grass, bushes, flat land, and… the posts. The grass isn’t tall enough to hide anything but animals as small as mice, and the bushes are maybe just large enough to hide a-… a foal?… No. That was a full-grown stallion’s voice, and even then what colt would say something like that?!… “Trying to commit suicide.”
Recalling the stallion’s—or whomever’s—words, ignoring for a moment the question of their very existence, my eyes are inexplicably drawn to the posts with the Changeling wings nailed to them. There is no doubt about it: staying here does mean suicide. Though the place is bare now, I imagine that to be nothing but luck, as Celestia would have to be a foal to be stupid enough to leave the Equestrian-“Changelings’ Lands” border unguarded—and that she isn’t. I need to find a town… village, settlement, anything! But… where?
The only thing I know for sure that is in the west of Equestria is Apploosa, but in what direction and how far I have to go to get there from here I haven’t the slightest idea—I am, in a word, lost… completely, utterly, absolutely, hopelessly lost… absolutely hopelessly lost! I grimace as I turn away from the line of posts, turning my back entirely on them, intending to take the most direct route to get as far away from them as swiftly as possible. I suppose, then, that any direction is as good as-.
“I said that, unless you want to be speared, you should really put on a disguise. Quickly!” Now the voice from before is no longer without a source, for as he speaks, a sunset-orange eyed earth pony colt, sounding much older than he looks, steps out from his hiding place in one of the foal-sized bushes. His “disguise” within the bushes is obviously helped along by his light green coat, light brown mane and tail, and the absence of any Cutie Mark that might have been too vivid and easy to see even through those thick bunch of leaves and twigs—some of said leaves and twigs have left the bush along with the colt, tangled in his mane and tail.
Almost hoping to hear more from that once-disembodied voice, I don’t jump this time, but turn eagerly at the first sound of something moving within one of the bushes. Many questions jump to mind at the colt’s words, but I dismiss many of them, including such useless queries as “Who are you?” and “Why are you helping me?” Eventually I settle on the warning he had given— something I can’t dismiss as easily. “‘S-speared,’ you say?”
Before answering the question I had asked, he answers one I hadn’t by levitating the twigs and leaves out of his hair. The plant litter, along with occasional strands of hair, is surrounded by a familiar green aura; a similar aura lights up over the colt’s forehead where a horn would be if he were a unicorn. As it is surrounding nothing, the light on his forehead looks like a strange fire, and its size is such that had it been surrounding a visible horn, that horn would be disproportionately large on the colt. While he works on his mane and tail quite quickly, even without the aid of a mirror of any kind or even looking back at his tail to work on it, he speaks, “Yes: speared—the Equestrian army’s favorite weapon for non-unicorns.” Having removed, to my surprise, every single leaf and twig, even the tiniest pieces I can see, the colt shakes his head to get his mane settled into a wild look that makes me think of Rainbow Dash’s… style. “I’m Twin, by the way! Twin Pterygota!”
I almost sigh in relief at his name. Twin… at least the name I’ve given myself shouldn’t be too strange, then. “I’m Alter-.” Twin suddenly looks fearful and puts a hoof to my mouth, and he doesn’t need to do anything else—I already know what he must fear. How he knows, I have no idea, but I need a disguise! This time, the transformation comes when I will it, though if that has anything to do with how I’m much stronger thanks to all the love I’d absorbed within the last few hours, or whether I am taking on an appearance I base off of Fluttershy—a pony I’d transformed into and seen before—I have no idea. With Fluttershy’s general appearance, minus the wings, daisy blossoms in place of butterflies, and reversing and darkening Twin’s coat and hair colors, I’m hit with a sudden realization of how—perhaps—Twin had removed the leaves and twigs without looking at himself: I can simply tell, without having to look back at myself, how I look… I can even… “feel” how each and every strand of hair falls and curls… like some kind of advanced proprioception.
I pull myself out of my thoughts, only now noticing that Twin has removed his hoof from my mouth and is looking over my shoulder at something in the sky behind me—I don’t have to look myself to know what it is, but I turn my head anyway as a little twinge of fear questions if I had managed to transform in time. Though the pair of guards are far enough away to be seen as nothing but pegasi when I look at them, quickly enough they grow distinct and land before us. Their armor is much less flashy than the armor of the guards in Canterlot, and their manes and coats aren’t… dyed or enchanted or whatever. Also, and most importantly, at the right side of their armor there is a spear clipped onto the plate armor there. That’s new from what I know… at least they don’t have them drawn and pointed at us… yet. Swallowing and trying to push my fear away at least enough to greet them, I feel as if my tongue is glued to the roof of my mouth just as my eyes are glued to those spears; I don’t have time to unstick either before one of the soldiers asks, “Ma’am, what were you two doing so close to the border?”
After a second or so of me not answering, Twin hops forward excitedly and answers for me, now with the higher voice of a young colt. “I really, really rrrr-really wanted to see those posts with the Changeling wings on them ever since Wild Wing told me his papa took him to the border last month, and since we’re visiting my uncle in Apploosa, Mama finally agreed to take me!” He smiles up at the guards as widely as I have ever seen the Cutie Mark Crusaders smile, and the two pegasi at least don’t show any suspicion towards this story.
“Mama”?… Now there’s something I never thought I’d be called… My fault for not altering my Fluttershy-based disguise into a “Butterscotch” one, I suppose… I’m jolted out of these thoughts at realizing the guards are no looking at me, one with a small smile that kick-starts my creation of my new identity. “Oh, yes. He’s always been jealous of Wild Wing. You know how little colts and fillies always make little rivals out of each other!” The other pegasus smiles at that while the one that had been smiling before nods; I smile back as I drape a foreleg over Twin’s back, making him look up at me. Turning to him, I add, “and I said I would take you if you promised to help me tonight.”
The groan Twin affects at this makes the nodding guard chuckle, and he says, “I know how colts can be, Ma’am, but the next time you should ask for an escort.”—“Next time”? “Ask for an escort”!? He’s not saying they have an actual process for ponies who want to see… that! I hope not…—“There are Changelings on the other side of those posts, and nopony knows what they’d do to you if they got a hold of you! So, why don’t you let us escort you back to your brother’s place in Appleoosa?” He continues to smile, but I can see the “Changeling check” for what it is, and I have no doubt Twin does, too… I just hope he knows what he’s doing.
Of course, having been born a Changeling—most likely—he doesn’t fail me. “Oo! I know the way! Let me lead! Let me lead!” Twin bursts out, puffing up his chest and standing as tall as he can. “I have such an awesome sense of direction, I should have a compass Cutie Mark!” Twin’s apparent confidence feeds mine, and I actually chuckle as I pull my hoof off his back and wave it to indicate he can take the lead. He starts bounding ahead, the guards and I sharing smiles behind him, but Twin quickly seems to lose the energy for such a thing and settles into a marching-band-like trot.
“So, Ma’am, am I correct in assuming that what you’re doing in Apploosa is visiting family?” One of the guards—I’ve lost track of which one had nodded before as I glanced back and forth between their spears—asks after a few minutes and Apploosa, or what I assume to be Apploosa, has appeared on the horizon, as even it’s comparatively short clock tower is easily visible over this nothingness. “And would you mind giving us your names?”
I flinch inwardly, but I only have to recall my form—even its colors are clear in my mind without having to look at myself—to come up with a quick name. “Oh, not at all, of course! I’m Green Field.” I take a moment to pause in my trotting to point to myself, attempting to get Twin’s attention; he turns around almost as soon as I stop. “And this is my son-,” I start, turning my hoof from myself to Twin.
“Hopping Hills!” He interrupts, hopping back towards us with each syllable as if to demonstrate his name, he grins at the guards before suddenly turning to me with the most serious look. “Mama! If I’m going to help you pack tonight for leaving tomorrow, then I want to get back to Uncle’s already! Hurry up!” He then stares up at me with a face full of just the right mix of wishing and begging that I think I would have believed him to be an earth pony colt begging his mother for something had I not known otherwise.
All the same, his acting gives me… whatever I need to keep from panicking and giving both of us away—maybe something like not wanting to ruin his helping me?…—so my laugh sounds genuine as I continue our trot—Twin running to take his place ahead of me again—and say, “Foals: always so impatient.” At that, both guards chuckle, and, managing to tear my eyes off their spears for more than a few seconds, I think I see… trust there. Trust… Princess Celestia said something about “trust”… but for now, focused on maintaining my disguise, I push the thought away for later—if Twin is really leading me to some place safe, then I’d have time then.
The guards turn silent as we enter Apploosa, which doesn’t seem to have changed much since I’ve seen it. As we trot, still silent, down the dusty roads, my mind begins to feel more free to wander and it latches onto a couple somethings… interesting: how the ponies of the settlement (still too small to even be a “village”) stare at the guards and that the two escorting us appear to be the only ones here. Somehow… I expected this place to be more heavily guarded, considering its proximity to the border. That twinge of curiosity, along with the… bravery yet instilled in me by Twin, voices the question: “Um, Sirs, I’ve been wondering about something…” I teeter at the edge, and the guards soon tilt their heads curiously—inviting me to go on—and I realize how this question may yet pull any suspicion on us further away. “Why is Apploosa… left unguarded… since it’s so close to the border, I mean… I didn’t expect it to be this close…”
One of the guards smiles in a way I can tell is trying to be reassuring. “Apploosa is still a very, very small place, though it’s recently become more popular for tourism lately, where everypony knows everypony. That makes it extremely difficult—impossible, I’d say—for any Changeling to imponynate anypony without somepony else noticing something strange. So, everypony here feels safe, and even seems to take some pride in being able to take care of themselves.” He finishes his small speech with something I can’t identify with specificity in his voice and on his face, but I can at least tell he doesn’t approve of the townsponies attitude.
I hum thoughtfully for a moment before nodding and saying, “Thank you. That certainly helps put my mind at ease.” I smile in what I hope is a grateful way at the guard who had spoken, who in turn sheds his frown and nods in a way as if to say, “It’s no problem at all,” or something along those lines.
Only about a minute after this, Twin picks up speed and beelines for the door of a relatively smaller, but obviously well-cared for, house. Smacking his forehooves against it in a way that would have woken the entire street had it been night instead of heading into late afternoon, he cries out, “Uncle, Uncle, me an’ Mama are back from the border!” He finally puts all four hooves back on the ground when the three of us rejoin him at the doorstep. Clever… with one sentence he informed whoever is in there (another Changeling?) about all of our relations we have just now invented without whomever it is.
Some tense seconds later, during which I can practically see the suspicion growing in the guards—though perhaps I may be imagining it—a pegasus stallion with a yellow-brown-almost-orange coat, a lighter pine-wood yellow mane and tail made of long and stiff, almost bristly, hair, dark green eyes, and a ruler-and-compass Cutie Mark answers the door. “So, you’ve brought my sister back to me, safe and sound, have you?” He says with a dignified accent that surprises me almost to the point of revealing myself. “You sure about that? Made sure she’s not a Changeling, have you?” He chuckles lightly at his own joke, though whether it is a faked laugh at the “obvious” joke or an honest laugh at the “hidden” joke, I have no idea. Maybe a bit of both?…
Twin doesn’t answer in any way besides bounding forward and wrapping his forehooves around “his uncle’s” neck, who stumbles back with an exclamation. “Woah! Hey, there! You two weren’t gone for that long,” he says, but pats Twin’s back all the same before gently nudging him, at which he lets go and steps to the side; then he motions with the same hoof for me to come forward, and without hesitation I do so, and we share a one-hooved hug. “Sister…” He says in a way that sounds relieved I had come unscathed out of something dangerous.
Since being teleported away by Celestia, I feel my first flow of new energy; I glance backwards to the guards, who are now smiling gently at our “reunion,” and my suspicions are confirmed when they both give a small shiver. “Oh, Brother, please! We’re earth ponies and we can take care of ourselves just fine! It’s just, you know how Little Hillie is. After the excitement of the border wore off, he got impatient to get back.” At this, Twin rolls his eyes and my temporary brother chuckles again. Temporary brother… “I-never-thought-I-would ___.” is really the theme of the day…
After I step fully across the threshold and turn around to face the guards with Twin and “Brother” at either side of me—looking very much like a family—the pegasus stallion nods and smiles to the guards, but has something serious in his eyes. “Thank you both for seeing my sister and nephew back to me safe and sound, but I’d be selfish to keep you here when everything’s fine. It’s the rest of Equestria that needs protecting right now, so if you’d get back to patrolling, that would be repayment enough.” Without hesitation, the two nod back, suddenly losing their smiles, and fly away; the feeling of their care filling me doesn’t simply end, but trickles to a stop—slowed, I suppose, by distance.
I only subconsciously pay attention to that, however, as my thoughts go elsewhere as soon as the two pegasi turn away. It can’t really be that easy, can it? Princess Celestia has to have taken more serious measures in preventing Changelings from entering Equestria… hasn’t she? She doesn’t trust-. Of course… “trust”… She said, “You, whether you intend it or not, threaten the base of this nation: trust”… If Celestia is so resolute and determined about maintaining trust that she would actually risk allowing Changelings, a threat to trust itself, into Equestria, then!… This-… This could be worse than I thought, and she’s already threatened me with death! Yet there is still that message Queen Chrysalis gave me… If I can get it to Celestia and she enacts new screening-. No, the best I could hope for then is to be sent to Queen Chrysalis again, where I’d surely be killed! It looks like I’ll just have to forget-.
My thoughts are interrupted by a whoosh of air on my face and the front door barely scraping the tip of my nose as it’s slammed shut. I jump back with—having retained Fluttershy’s voice—an “eep” of shock and involuntary glance all around. One thing I take note of is that the living room—where the front door opens into and where we are—is simple to the point of bareness. Two couches and two chairs surround a coffee table—or the pony-equivalent of a coffee table—while a dresser is pushed into one corner with the only “decoration” in the room being a wood cross standing on the dresser. Another cross? I wonder if disguised Changelings use them to signal to other-. Again, I am not allowed to finish my thoughts as the pegasus stallion steps loudly—almost stomps—into my view and says, somewhat strained, “Why don’t we go into the basement, where we will be more comfortable and can speak more openly?” I can tell by the stiffness of his face that, for one reason or another, he—or she taking on the disguise of a he—doesn’t like me.
I bite my lip and look down at Twin, who only shrugs and gives me an apologetic look before turning to follow the other already heading into another room—a bedroom, I find when I follow. I follow, however, at best absentmindedly, for at that look I feel yet another tiny trickle of emotion—an emotion that I can tell means that Twin will help me get on the better side of this other most-likely-Changeling. But Changelings… can’t feed each other, right? Otherwise-. In the instant after I realize that I feel yet another new sensation that my instinct tells me is part of being a Changeling: a … “drying” sensation that feels like my stomach is drying in much the same way as a dry mouth, yet which is strangely not unpleasant. As the first fills me with yet more energy, the next drains it away at nearly an equal rate, though the draining is slightly more strong—So not feeding, but… exchanging?—and these thoughts seem to be confirmed when Twin smiles over his shoulder at me not a second after the drying feeling begins.
A thousand thoughts start vying for position at this revelation, but then, too soon for me to begin sorting them, the yet-to-be-confirmed-as-a-disguised pegasus leads us to the bedroom closet. There he (or she) opens a trapdoor with his (or her) magic where before the floor had just appeared seamless. The temporary flash of green light forming the outline of a curved Changeling’s horn, which makes the pegasus disguise look like an alicorn for a moment, finally proves the stallion’s nature. He or she then motions with his or her hoof to indicate I should descend down the revealed steps under the trapdoor first—with no worrying change in the emotions from Twin, I hesitate for less than a second. … Trust… Twin follows directly after me, and the pegasus-disguised Changeling follows after him with two more bursts of green magic—the first I have no idea about, but the second closes the trapdoor behind us.
Only when the light of the late afternoon Sun from above is extinguished do I see where we’re heading. The steps quickly level off into a hallway of sorts, which turns sharply after a couple pony-lengths, and a light, tinged very slightly green, glows from whatever place is beyond that turn. With Twin’s emotion still supporting me, and I returning in kind, I continue down the hallway. Does Princess Celestia know? Does she know Changelings can feel their emotions for each other so tangibly, building trust so quickly and easily? If she does know, is she… jealous? I try to imagine what each set of answers implies, but other, far too numerous variables present themselves, and I have to concede that, no matter the truth behind these questions, Princess Celestia still hates Changelings.
Even if I had not shook off these thoughts myself, I think they would have been forcibly shaken from me by the sight beyond the turn: It opens almost immediately into a fairly large space—about as large as the house over it, but it feels larger thanks to the fact it is one open room. The light is provided by a single chandelier—somewhat more elaborate than the ones in Chrysalis’s throne room and made of some metal rather than glass—hanging in the center of the room. To the right is the largest space, marked by an oval of mismatched chairs and couches and a pair of similarly style-clashing low tables; in the farthest chair—a small… leg(?)chair is a light blue sphere just slightly larger than a foal? Is that really-? Later… The left closest corner has its walls completely hidden behind a number of shelves absolutely overrun by books that, with their number, spill onto the blankets set out, I suppose, for stretching out while reading. In the farthest left corner is a pair of beds shoved together to form one large sleeping space—the blanket folded neatly upon one corner it reveals a slightly depressed space in the very middle, where the beds meet. Over all of this, the obvious “gem” of the room is another wood cross; this one is about as tall as a full-grown pony and leaning against the wall farthest from the entrance.
The space is already occupied by a single Changeling (undisguised) sitting on the floor at one of the tables and playing a card game that looks suspiciously like solitaire, but she—I can somehow, by instinct, I suspect, tell her gender at a glance—instantly abandons the likely dreadfully boring “game” when she sees me out of the corner of her eye. Now nervous, I step off to the left side rather than properly enter the room, only moving so that Twin and the other can enter without needing to scrape past me. When Twin enters the room, he instantly drops the disguise, the earth pony colt being replaced by a male, adult—Do they call themselves such things as “stallions”?—Changeling, and canters to join the “mare” Changeling, opting to sit on the couch behind her. When the pegasus-stallion-disguised Changeling also reveals herself upon entering the room, I decide to take a hint and drop my disguise as well, filing its design and name away, just in case…
The Changeling still beside me trots slowly around the oval of furniture, always keeping her head turned to watch me closely, until she slips onto the couch opposite Twin. Apparently noticing this behavior, Twin whispers something into the ear of the solitaire-playing Changeling, who flies over the table to sit beside the Changeling still almost glaring at me—the solitaire-playing one stares as well, but more with playful curiosity than suspicion. Twin turns around, putting his forehooves on the back of the couch, to smile at me and wave one of those forehooves in friendly invitation to join him on his couch—looking away but still feeling the glare from the one Changeling, I nearly gallop and throw myself onto the couch, making Twin bounce lightly, which in turn he laughs at good naturedly.
That makes me freeze for a moment as my eyes go wide; even though I know I shouldn’t be surprised, it is, all that same, a Changeling… laughing… and it sounds completely ordinary. With a shake of my head, I dispel the thought as quickly as I can before looking again between the three a few times. When I turn to Twin for the third time, he finally speaks up in that deeper stallion’s voice from before. “Well, then, seeing as how I brought you here… I suppose I should be the one to introduce everypony…” He finishes on a somewhat questioning tone—“Everypony”? Interesting…—but quickly moves on. “You already know I’m Twin.” He puts a hoof to his chest. “This is Reflection,” he points the hoof at the Changeling that had met us at the front door disguised as a pegasus stallion, “and Replicate, but she likes to be called Replie,” he turns the hoof to the solitaire-player—though she’s now wiping her game, picking up the cards in her magic and shuffling it all back into a deck—who giggles at the nickname. “Everypony, this is Alter,” he finishes with a point of the hoof towards me.
For far too many seconds I wait for him to finish before recalling how he had interrupted me giving my name to him by putting a hoof in my mouth when warning me about the patrolling guards. “No… No! It’s Alternate!” I quickly correct, though with a rush of meekness, concede, “but Alter is… okay, I suppose.”
Twin doesn’t seem to hear that last part, though, and murmurs more to himself than for any…pony here, “You prefer to be called by your full name? Alter… Nit? Your father’s name was Nit? What kind of a na-? Oh! Oh… never mind.” His smile turns sheepish as he pulls his ears back from embarrassment and blushes—the red most visible behind the black fur.
Replicate—or Replie—giggles again at Twin’s mistake, and when she stops, she says, “That’s a nice name… Alter, too, but I like Altie better.” She smiles in a way that makes me think, Pinkie, plus fangs, and I turn, bewildered, to Twin, who has managed to gather himself out of his embarrassment, and he shrugs as if to say, “She does this a lot.” So I shrug in turn to Replie—Alternate, Alter, Altie… I suppose, as a Changeling, I may as well get used to having multiple names…—who giggles again.
Strangely, I find that giggle endearing, where before I would find human female giggling annoying, and before her latest bout of giggles stops, I find there is a connection between us now, similar to the one I already share with Twin: that simultaneous filling and emptying of emotion… pointless in and of itself, but beyond “deep” in meaning. However, whereas the draining towards Twin is stronger than what I get in turn from him—reflec- that is, representing my stronger need in him?—what I’m now getting from Replie is stronger than what I feel for her.
From or for Reflection I yet feel nothing, though she seems to have noticed what is happening between me and the other two, if her words are any indication. “You two should be more careful,” she says without taking her eyes off of me. “Queen Chrysalis, if she’s smart,-”—and that she is…—“-then she’ll be worried about scavengers defecting completely to Celestia’s side-”—“Scavengers”? “Defecting completely”?…—“-and giving her valuable information Changelings have always hidden about themselves… She could be sending out some of her spies to seek out scavenging groups…” at that, the filling sensation lessens from both Twin and Replie, which makes me flinch more than her words. “So, why don’t you tell us how you came to abandon The Queen.” She finishes with a hiss that… doesn’t surprise me. Still, comparing how she’s looking at me to Celestia’s and Chrysalis’s death glares already gives me some confidence.
Confident enough to tell them something… resembling the truth. “I’m here because Chrysalis thinks I defected and returned to her as a spy for Celestia, so she sent me to Equestria with a message for the Princess.” That surprises all three of them, and I decide giving an explanation before being asked may buy myself a little more believability. “It started with a… mistake. Long story short, I was caught in a disguise by the very pony I had disguised myself as, and I ended up before Celestia herself…” Reflection shakes her head at this, and I feel the emotions flowing into me stop; I shiver, Stupid, stupid, stupid! Again! Too trusting… but, by some sense of commitment, I feel myself continue with a constrained voice, even as I tell myself it’s useless. “But the mare I… had inponynated insisted that there… was a mistake, even after I had been reveal-.”
“Stop… stop…” Reflection interrupts with laughter in her voice and a smile on her muzzle. “You’d have us believe that a pony cared about a Changeling out of the kindness of her own heart? And defended you from Princess Celestia?!” I try to nod, my ears pulled back expectantly, but as soon as she sees how I’m moving my head, she bursts out laughing, followed by the others. “Of course she did! And I’m Princess Celestia’s foal!” Then, a flash of green envelops her, and Reflection comes out of it looking like Celestia as a filly, which renews Twin’s and Replicate’s laughter. With a pang from being reminded that these Changelings don’t trust ponies any more that ponies trust Changelings, A very strong surge of pity for them leaves me suddenly drained. I’m sorry…
The three of them instantly stop laughing—Reflection transforming out of her filly Celestia imponynation—and the four of us gasp simultaneously. The three of them sit still as I glance between them and… I feel some trickles of energy flowing into me. Perking my ears, I look between the three of them less apprehensively until Reflection asks, “Wait… That pity wasn’t-… You’re telling the… truth?” I nod with a new rush of emotion leaving me: gratitude. Reflection instantly shakes her head. “Stop that. With what we-… I just did, I haven’t earned that yet… That was a pretty powerful burst of pity.” She lets out a strange, sad snort or huff of a laugh. “Let me try to pay it back.” She smiles at me as I feel the surge of apology wash into me… Trust. I never before realized how powerful trust is—never even thought about it—no wonder Celestia values it, but… it comes so easy to Changelings. If ponies could feel the emotions others feel for them, would Equestria be different? Would their relation with Changelings be different? As I ask myself these impossible and useless questions, the rush of returning energies that I had given them makes me involuntarily buzz my wings for a second, and a moment after that I begin to return their affects, creating a raging eddy of energy between the four of us that is, all the same, invisible to all but ourselves. To think… what kind of civilizations would emerge from creatures capable of sensing others’ emotions as well as anypony can see a tree… So few words are needed when the emotions can speak for themselves… I can’t help but marvel at this for a moment.
Then, eventually, the questions come busting out all at the same time: “What did it feel like?” from Replie, and I think I know what she means.
“What was the message?” Twin asks, and I’m thrown for a small, short loop by the seeming randomness of such a query.
“How did you do it?” I feel a small twinge of something telling me that I also know what Reflection means by her question, but I try to ignore it for now.
The three of them look between each other for a moment before beginning to laugh (or, in Replie’s case, giggle) and I soon enough join in. Feeling the warmth in this place growing, however, I also feel a want to answer their question, and quickly wave their laughter down with a hoof. “Since Twin’s is the easiest question…” I start with a meaningful look towards Reflection, who only raises an eyebrow questioningly, “basically, the message is to remind Celestia of what had happened in Canterlot during the siege, and how Chrysalis had nearly taken the city, and wouldn’t have been defeated if she had known ponies can use love to power magic as well.”
Reflection instantly lets out a snort at that and after a few seconds says, “It’s still hard to believe ponies can do that, but… undeniable,” as she shakes her head to with her incredulity. Then, shaking her head more rapidly, apparently to ride herself of some line of thought, she says with some hint of venom, “But Chrysalis is delusional is she thinks she can launch a another attack that would end up as well as the first. I know the three of us have some well-earned pride in being part of the force that captured Canterlot, but then-…” She pauses and shakes her head, dejectedly this time, and finishes her speech to the floor. “-Then… we lost too many from that barrier spell, and if that wasn’t enough, Chrysalis lost a lot of faith from her children… So many left the nest to become scavengers.” She looks back up at me with a small smile. “That’s when we left: when Chrysalis lost a fifth of her army to casualties and desertions, but remained set on taking over Canterlot. Any soldiers that have remained with her better be ready to twist the knife Chrysalis has stabbed in Hasharstan’s back… So… that’s our story of how we came to be here. Hardly as exciting as yours.” She lets out a few bursts of sad, ironic laughter.
So much information, and yet so little. Exciting? I don’t know about that, but interesting? Yes… “Hasharstan” I’ll assume for now is the name of the Changelings’ nation—it would be too dangerous to ask about… Scavengers are apparently what Changelings are called when they abandon the Queen and go out to live on their own… probably, but I can’t ask about that, either. That losing soldiers to the barrier spell, however… “What did you mean when you said you lost soldiers to the barrier spell? I could see the barrier from where I was in Ponyville, but I was already a scavenger before then, and I saw you being flung away… by the… expanding… barrier.” I begin to hesitate when all three of them shake their heads sadly.
Reflection—seeming more and more like the natural head of the small group—answers. “That barrier didn’t fling us so much as… push us… but I guess that’s not what matters, as it wouldn’t have been much better if it had been a throwing spell. Those of us who were flung away were only in some lucky spot when the spell was cast… standing on or flying above a road that looked directly out of the edge of the city. Anypony that was caught indoors or between the barrier and a building… at least didn’t suffer.” She shivers at what I’m sure is a replaying of those events in her mind’s eye, and the terrible implications make me flinch and send out another wave of pity, which is promptly returned with a speechless thanks as honest as Applejack.
Honesty- No! Don’t think about that… if I want to survive, it’s better to just forget about that and get used to being a scavenger. This time, however, I find the use of that word too irresistibly curious to leave unquestioned. “Any… ‘pony’?” I hesitate for a second, but—thankfully—the three of them seem to understand, letting out short laughs (or a giggle) in spite—or because of—the horribly depressing subject just visited before Twin shakes his head with amusement.
“Any Changeling,” Twin corrects for Reflection with another snort of a laugh and a smirk in Reflection’s direction, who rolls her eyes good-naturedly. “Sorry. I suppose that’s just a habit you get into when you’re a scavenger and surrounded by ponies so often, or I’d supposed until now… You’re different, though, somehow, in someway… it’s obvious, but it hard to name exactly what it is. To get a pony to care for you so much that she would not only defend you before Celestia, but get her to convince the Pony Princess not to kill you…” He shakes his head with the same disbelief he had shown the idea of ponies being able to wield the power of love. “That’s a kind of manipulation even Queen Chrysalis can’t dream of performing, no matter what mind altering spells she uses.”
A shiver runs through me at the word “manipulation,” and I can’t move for a moment as I debate with myself about whether to correct him or not. Fluttershy… can I just stand by and let another misconstrue you and your absolutely unwavering kindness? Could I do such a thing to you, though you’re hardly likely to know and would understand why I did it if you ever do find out? No, I couldn’t… not if I knew I was going to have to see you again, but after Celestia… she is sure to be wary of you now, so going to you would be as dangerous as going to Canterlot Castle… Now, it’s best to only forget you, along with… everything else. Yet… “Um… I wouldn’t-,” still, I hesitate, “I wouldn’t call it ‘manipulation,’ precise-.”
Chuckling from Twin before, “You’re modest. Maybe too modest.” He grins in a ridiculously wide and toothy way that I think at first is what makes Replie giggle, but when I glance at her she seems to not have ever moved her eyes off of me, which makes me do a double-take from looking back at Twin. As Twin goes on to say, “I think that’s about as close to answer as you’re going to get,” to Reflection, Replie stares—continues to stare?—at me, and I stare right back; I raise an eyebrow questioningly, prompting her to giggle again. Under any other conditions I think I would have been unnerved, yet the emotions I feel coming off of her don’t change and are not all that different from Twin’s and Reflection’s, so instead I feel… comfortable. Again, so simple… so easy…
I mentally shake the thought off with, Simple and easy is good… I had just been stuck between a rock and a hard place with very few options, then Twin… and Reflection and Replie… saved my life! Returning to the present, I answer Replie's question, anticipating her to repeat it. “As for how love for me while I was undisguised from a pony felt-… I think you meant?” I interrupt myself to ask just in case I had misunderstood, but it was unneeded, as Replie nods. “It felt… different.” and even before I say it, I know it’s true, but how I know… “Somehow… in a way I can’t find the words for… Sorry?” I apologize somewhat lamely, yet Replie doesn’t look the slightest bit disappointed, but instead… wistful?… The other two only shrug dismissively, increasing Replie's likeness to Pinkie Pie in my mind; specifically, how others tend not to bother explaining her.
With that, the tension of the discussion is discarded, and the evening evolves into something of pure, simple entertainment. Replie quickly proposes a game of something suspiciously similar—in fact, practically identical—to poker, though playing with Changelings who can all feel each other’s emotions adds a new and interesting element. With that, I’m treated as though I had always lived here with them, and they share stories from when they had worked for Hasharstan and Queen Chrysalis, particularly, stories of when they had gotten into sticky predicaments while in disguise and how they narrowly avoided disaster. These stories are surprisingly numerous, and while they laugh at each other and don’t mind my relative silence in not relegating similar stories, I try hard not to let out another wave of pity. They’ve always lived like this… on the edge, needing to be careful of being discovered… yet they’re not laughing it off, they’re laughing at each other, ignoring the danger, because they don’t know anything else…
I don’t know how long we play before I begin a chain of yawning; a short falter in my magic when I yawn reveals the cards I hold instinctually in some telekinesis—Twilight would be jealous, using magic so accurately on my first day as a Changeling!—and Replie tries to giggle through her own yawn at my terrible… hoof? With her magic, Reflection pulls the cards out of all our own magic telekinesis, and Twin makes a mad jump to catch his cards between his forehooves with a cry of “No! Wait! Just this one last hoof!” That, along with his mock-pout, gets us all laughing as we simply fly over the furniture to begin making our way to the beds pushed together; I don’t even think about questioning this and heading instead towards the blankets in the other corner to sleep alone—the emotions flowing both into me and out of me had grown over the course of the card game.
Pausing when I realize I hear only Replie’s giggling and Twin’s deeper laughter, I look back and catch Reflection pulling her head back and stepping her forehooves from the seat of the chair the… egg—I’m now certain—is resting upon. Whether she had just been kissing it, or whispering to it, or something else altogether associated with Changeling culture, I haven’t the slightest idea, but I do know what ever it was was motherly, and for that I sense the outflow of energy from me to Reflection grows slightly, which is, as always, returned quickly. The four of us need no words, or even to look at each other, as we jump into the bed and huddle closely in the indent and the four of us together, thin green sparks forming a circle between our horns, open the folded blanket and place it over ourselves.
Still, as the others fall asleep quickly, I remain awake despite the fact I had been the first to yawn, and think over everything that has happened this day. This day… Has it really only been one day? Not even a full day, really… I hope this life I’ve fallen into so luckily isn’t as constantly “exciting”… Twin, Replie, Reflection, I wouldn’t have made it without you. Me, a stranger, and you trust me… because you know you can by sensing my emotions for you. If only ponies could do the same. If only… would this conflict still exist? Changelings, with their games, their laughter, their tightly knit community, and so much more that’s difficult to name but all the same make them so similar to the ponies of Equestria… Trust… I thought “trust” was the answer for a moment there, but now… there has to be something else… something more and deeper than sensing emotions… but what?… Even if I knew, could I do anything about it? Of course not, so just forget about it, “Alternate.” This is your life now… at least until something drastic changes.
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Author's Notes:
This chapter has a rather heavy dose of world/Changeling-lore building, so I'm sorry if it's the most boring chapter so far. It was necessary, and I tried to spread it out a bit with some plot development, but it should be easy to tell that this chapter has the least happening in it yet… again, sorry… especially concerning that bit near the end where I finally succumb to leaving out detail for a summary.
Still, there are some things I think you all have been looking towards finding out in this chapter, not the least of which is the sound of that "mysterious voice."
Also, you might take note of a few additional tags: "Romance" and "Celestia." I have finally decided that there will be a romance sub-plot prominent enough to warrant the tag. I've reconsidered how Celestia relates to the plot as well, and decided she's significant enough to be mentioned.
Yes! Hmm Replie is an interesting character. And so another great chapter new characters! I also can't decide if this is my favorite chapter or 4.
681312
I'm kind of curious where you are going to take this story from here on out.
Are you going to start making them or Alternate travel across equestria or are you making them stay there and have AJ or someone visit for some awkward time or even something entirely else. Considering you have the Mane 6 and Celestia and Chrysalis Tagged I'm going to assume they will return somewhere along the story in some way or another.
Now for the big question, who or what changed him and for what reason?
You have opened so many doors into Changeling culture and behaviour and physiology and magic. Way to go for worldbuilding! And I bet my bottom dollar that that "something drastic" happens within two updates...
681312
It wasn't boring at all; world building is interesting, fun to read about, and very important!
'Twas a great chapter!
681312
I actually think this was one of your better chapters in this story so far maybe because its the first one to show so much development in a short amount of time, but i think over all you are doing a wonderful job telling this story. keep up the good work my friend.
I loved this chapter. The background on the changelings' world you've developed is quite convinving and very well done. I feel very sympathetic towards them. I especially like Replie's character.
Keep up the good work!
681503
This is an honest contender for your favorite chapter? I suppose world/lore building can be interesting, but plot is much more so!
681510
Only "kind of curious" you say? Of course they will return; how, as you've pointed out, is the question...
681529
It's not quite time for that question yet.
681540
681545
681547
I hoped so, though I doubted it... I do think world building can be fun to write, but not so much for reading, I think, which is why I was a bit apprehensive about this chapter...
Thank you for all of your compliments!
... And that's a foal's bet! What would a story be without drastic changes, after all?
681581
Well, that makes two comments on Replie with none about Twin or Reflection... Interesting.
Thank you for all those compliments!
just tell them you are a interdimensional alien already, it will make things SO much easier
I really like where this story is going, very interesting take on Changelings and their society. One of the better ones I've seen to be honest
681620
... I hope that was sarcasm
681646
it was lol
681644
Exactly what I was hoping for!... Er, that is, that it would be an interesting take on Changelings; it being "one of the better ones" is all bonus! Thank you!
My theory is that someone or somepony wants to change the status quo, and what better way to do it than with an alien from the outside.
This is your life now… at least until something drastic changes. at least until something drastic changes.
1.bp.blogspot.com/-38Or80_CcWg/T2GKmR2YIBI/AAAAAAAAJwE/K2jN2vtuex8/s1600/618px-JeanLucPicardFacepalm.jpg
he just had to say that didn't he
it's like saying "at least it can't get worse", you are begging fate to take a dump on you
681658
Oh, good!
681661
Interesting theory... but do you have anything more specific? Who wants to change the status quo? To what end?
681672
So you, and everyone reads that line, would think...
gifs.gifbin.com/1237977458_thumbsup-terminator.gif
its all good, makes the story more believable.
681688
does that, um... mean something good or bad?
681689
As that is the very point of world building... that's good to hear!
This was a great chapter! I especially liked the bit with the egg. Reflection is going to be a mother!
honestly I rather liked this chapter, it was nice.
Zeph, it means thumbs up, which is good.
Forgot this: I hope you build on Replie's character. She seems the most interesting out of the trio.
681687
Who wants to change the status quo? Obviously.....
Cute Mark Crusaders Rebel Leaders!
Either that or the same rebel Changelings who don't follow Queen Chrysalis (ponies and Changelings might've coexisted at one point?)
In all seriousness, I had my ups and downs this chapter. The flow of narrative was kind of awkward with the changelings and could've been segmented better. On the other hand, the world building and Changeling mindset emulation was good.
Yay! New love mine update!
And IT WAS AWESOME.
What nonsense are you spouting? This is the best chapter so far, hoofs down! It adds so much to the story that you've thought all this out and gotten it organized to such a degree, and it makes it much easier to get into the new characters. I loved it, from beginning to end, and I can't wait to see where we go next.
681749
Yours and mine, both!
681786
Oh, yes... the egg. That's one of the parts I'm most excited to get to!
681787
681793
Right... but it was on fire and sinking into something! ... Meh, I dunno what I was thinking...
681810
But of course!
681829
I did what I could with the narrative, but there was a lot going on at once... I'm curious, though, about what you meant by "segmented better".
681833
681838
You all are too good to me! "awesome"/"best"?... Well, as long as you enjoyed it, I suppose!
681853
My dear pony, you deserve every word of it. Your story and its world have completely sucked me in, and I check the site every day to see if it's been updated, even though I know I'll get an e-mail if it is. I can't help myself- it's just that good.
681687 Someone powerful enough to find a human and bring him to Equestria and change his form. However, they are not powerful enough to change the current relations between the two species. I'm guessing it is someone that has lived long enough to have known a more peaceful coexistence. If you don't come up with a OC then my guess would be Luna. She remembers a period before her banishment that might have been very different from the present. Your story so I'll find out eventually, maybe.
And lo, I have to go rewrite the Chapter I wrote again because one more popular than I used a similar idea first.
Brilliant work though, you most definitely explained this very well without hitting the realm of Endless Barrels of Exposition.
681582
World building is super important, like characterization and stuff like that. Good worldbuilding is as important as plot in my own opinion, and seeing it done well makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. Though of course, some people take it too far...ever read the Honor Harrington Series of Safehold Series by David Weber? He started off well, but his latest books have had almost no plot. It makes me a little sad.
681876
Good thing I'm not Rarity, or I might have feinted and broke my keyboard!
681878
As I've said before, I've made him a brony only to serve the plot. As can be plainly seen, the story would have been drastically different if I had used a human with no knowledge of Equestria.
681880
Looks like a very fun plotline, but it's not Love Mine's!
681883
As I've said to others, just because an idea is already used doesn't mean you should abandon your own similar idea. After all, you still have no idea where I'm going, and if you go in a different direction, then all the better, right?
681923
No, can't say I've ever heard of such a series, but... yikes! Almost all exposition? How can one even stand to write such a thing?...
681853
You change directions in narrative really, really fast. Whether it be train of thought or one of the other changelings talking about something, and between that and the block paragraph text format, I think my eyes crossed at one point. I understand a lot of it has to do with the nature of the dialogue itself, but still...
681938
He didn't used to be like that, his storylines used to be a lot more dynamic and entertaining, but his universe grew so big eventually is just devolved into endless political meetings. The first books were focused on the spaceship captain and her adventures basically, but then it included enemy points of view, the queens point of view.....it has gotten to the point were we are lucky to even see the main character actually DO SOMETHING more then 4-5 times in a single book...and his books like are 800+ pages.
.....I'm not the only one that is calling him Altair in my head, right?
Ouch, I haven't thought the Barrier Spell would do something like that. Maybe not everyone inside buildings or near walls was killed, but I can imagine several Changelings still... having such a fatal injury. (Mainly, the ones that were already injured.) Some might have even took a serious or deadly injury from falling too. Nevertheless, the spell probably did it's best not to do such pain. (If the barrier was that solid to organic beings, then that'd probably kill Canterlot citizens after all.)
Nevertheless, some Changelings were ready to die since it was a Declaration of War after all. Still, those poor younger ones that were in the battle. That thought alone would make the Changelings question their Queen. "They were injured. She could have issued them to retreat earlier, but she was so cocksure of victory that most of the force still stayed behind! By the time the order was issued, it was too late for them..." (Or something like that. Sorry, I'm just picky about this sort of thing.)
In any case, here's hoping Alternate gets to Canterlot somehow. Maybe Celestia might be able to let him in Everfree to investigate where he came from...
681957
Oh, well, blocky text is nothing new for me, considering my wordy... style along with interrupting dialogue with thoughts and lengthy inner monologues making for 10+ line paragraphs... Though this is, surprisingly, the first time that's been brought up in these comments, I believe.
Maybe I tried to squeeze too much into this chapter? Or perhaps, though I don't know how I would at the moment, I should expand upon certain points to spread them out a little?
681977
Altair? Why? That doesn't make any sense for him... as far as I think...
682008
As far as this story's lore is concerned, the barrier was... selectively solid... Think, perhaps, of clouds that pegasi can walk on, but other ponies can't.
Did you get some of your comment mixed up with what you were going to post on another story? Or if not... What do you mean by, "He'll need to show her what happened if he's going to get access back to Everfree... "?
682012
The wordy style I can deal with, but i'm not quite sure what you mean by expanding the points. If by that you mean lengthening the whole thing, then that'd probably take away from the general flow you had going.
As for a specific example, this paragraph.
I mentally shake the thought off—simple and easy is good… I had just been stuck between a rock and a hard place with very few options, then Twin… and Reflection and Replie… saved my life!—before deciding yet again to preemptively answer a repeat of Replie’s question. “As for how love for me while I was undisguised from a pony felt-… I think you meant?” I interrupt myself to ask just in case I had misunderstood, but it was unneeded, as Replie nods. “It felt… different.” and even before I say it, I know it’s true, but how I know… “Somehow… in a way I can’t find the words for… Sorry?” However, Replie doesn’t look the slightest bit disappointed, but instead… wistful? The other two only shrug in a way that makes me think of a pony dismissing a question about Pinkie Pie.
I had to read it twice, then once more later to confirm.
Part of it is his train of thought, part of it is his dialogue, part context and other referential cues. But it gets kind of tiring to read through after a bit of this.
This was not boring at all, your view of a changeling society and the way they interact is very refreshing.
Cheers!
682045
I still like to think only the injured died from that barrier. (Like the barrier eventually passes through some of them if it's blocked.) It... just fits better to me.
Considering Everfree is near a somewhat highly-populated area and that he'll have to take a train to get there, I am predicting he's going to have to earn the trust of at least some ponies if he wants to get through Ponyville without suspicion. (It's barely been a day since he left Ponyville, so now there's probably guards patrolling there now.) Celestia (who is what I meant by "her") is probably his best bet if he doesn't want to be target practice for the Royal Guard, but... hrm that may not be an option for now. This is more of a several-chapters-away sort of prediction.
Of course, this is only if Alternate wants to investigate the area in Everfree he came from after living a few days as a Changeling. You left quite an open ending to that chapter. What will he do now? Live the rest of his life with his new pals? Go to Canterlot? Suicide? Help with the Changeling Revolution?
682058
Yes, lengthening is what I meant, though I'm relieved you say that's not only unnecessary, but would be detrimental!
Ah-ha... I think I see what you mean, now... and I believe I narrowed down the problem. How about something like:
I mentally shake the thought off with, Simple and easy is good… I had just been stuck between a rock and a hard place with very few options, then Twin… and Reflection and Replie… saved my life! Returning to the present, I answer Replie's question, anticipating her to repeat it. “As for how love for me while I was undisguised from a pony felt-… I think you meant?” I interrupt myself to ask just in case I had misunderstood, but it was unneeded, as Replie nods. “It felt… different.” and even before I say it, I know it’s true, but how I know… “Somehow… in a way I can’t find the words for… Sorry?” I apologize somewhat lamely, yet Replie doesn’t look the slightest bit disappointed, but instead… wistful?… The other two only shrug dismissively, increasing Replie's likeness to Pinkie Pie in my mind; specifically, how others tend not to bother explaining her.
Is that any better?
682091
682115
Oh!... Sorry, I didn't follow your leap to Alternate wanting to investigate the Everfree Forest. Now I see what you mean, though.
682012
Altair... Alter... Altie... Alternate... They all begin with the "Alt" key? I don't know *shrugs*.
682135
That does help, and forgive me if you thought that I meant that it'd be necessarily detrimental to make it lengthier. What I meant to mean was that it would change the flow of the dialogue to one that wasn't the established one in the chapter, it was a value-free judgment, whether it'd make it better or worse would probably depend on a number of things - What you intended to add, how well that dialogue flows, how well the lengthier version matches the pacing of the narrative, far too many things that're variable for me to just say "it'll make it better", rather than me throwing up my hands and saying "meh, it could go either way, depending on your style".
682141
This story is already going to be long enough without any enlengthening edits!
Oh... I thought you might by thinking of an Altair from some movie or something, and saw a connection.
682154
Oh my! I'm glad to have to honor of making your day complete!
682167
Oh, good! Great, really, that that helped!
That "detrimental" comment was supposed to be a joke... again, failed!
681938
Ok, having read through the whole thing, it definitely works well. Was worried it was going to turn into a "everything is rainbows and sunshine, happy brony saves the day from problems only he could solve".
Interested to see where this goes.
682210
Ah... yes...
One of the few things working against me and this story: the terrible reputation "non-writers" have given the brony-in-Equestria trope...
Ah, well... I prefer to ignore it and write anyway, and I'm glade you worked past that and have come to see the whole story instead of one part of the premise!