The Changeling Trials

by PastCat

X: Of Coffeemares and Moon Princesses

Princess Luna waited in her office as Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, and the mare who was mated to a changeling made their way to her. Night Court this evening had been uneventful, and as a result, Luna had high hopes for this meeting. Eclipse had seemed think it a very important one, and that sense of urgency had passed to Luna. At last the sound of hoofsteps sounded in the dark hall. One set seemed particularly heavy; another the light tap of an agitated unicorn, the third an even lighter skipping step that almost sounded like the cadence for a foal’s nursery rhyme. Sure enough, here came a heavily pregnant earth pony mare, accompanied by Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie. The two younger mares each carried saddle bags full of what looked like papers. As the ponies considered bowing, Luna waved them onto the cushions in front of her desk. As the three mares took their seats, a hissing sound heralded the completion of a pot of coffee brewing. Luna offered the pregnant mare coffee, while Twilight and Pinkie took hot cocoa.

The mare lifted the cup to her lips and inhaled. “Ah. Epona blend, from the Isles of Horsica. A full-bodied flavor best paired with a sweet desert, especially chocolate.” The mare sat blissfully enjoying the aroma with her eyes closed.

Luna smiled. “You have an excellent taste in beverages, Miss Spice. Do you often serve this blend?”

Chai Spice opened her eyes and pondered for a moment. “On special occasions, your majesty. It is too expensive for most of our patrons, but it is one of Cookie’s and my favorites. The beans are one of his favorite things to buy me for Hearth’s Warming. The smell is so distinct it wakes you up from anywhere.”

Luna turned her attention to the matter at hoof. “Tell me more about your husband, if you please.” The order was politely phrased, but an order none the less.

“I first met Cookie N Cream at a convention for small business owners in Trottingham. I was just out of school and he had recently moved to the area. He was living with his brother, who is part of the changeling community there and teaches performance arts at Trottingham University of the Arts. Cookie was interested in starting a business and I had just inherited my parents’ shop. I have no skill when it comes to baking though, but I love making coffee. I was making the rounds and we accidentally ended up sitting beside one another during a session on creating partnership businesses. We ended up being paired off to do an activity together and, well, there was some kind of spark between us.

"Afterwards, he asked if I knew a good place to get coffee and we ended up back at my café. I had just gotten in a new blend that I wanted to try and he was willing, so I made us some coffee. He took one sip and then opened his briefcase. He pulled out a bag of ginger snap cookies and said to me ‘I believe coffee is best paired with sweets. These should complement this blend nicely’. Well, I was very surprised, but we shared the cookies and the pot of coffee and more or less talked the night away. By sunrise, we were business partners. I could not believe it. He later said that we had charmed each other; I had charmed him with coffee, he had done the same with cookies. It was so wonderful.

“We opened the coffee shop together. He made the cookies and pastries, I made coffee and tea drinks. It was not long before I noticed something peculiar. At first, whenever students and faculty from the university came in, they would get their food and leave. After a while though, with no change to the customer areas of the shop or our prices, they started to stay longer. They would sit and chat, do homework and grade assignments, whatever, but they were staying. I once asked one of the professors who is one of our most frequent patrons why he started staying longer. The only answer he gave me was a shrug and the words ‘it feels like home here. I can close my eyes and imagine I am a foal again back in my grandmother’s kitchen.’

"Eventually I posed the question to Cookie. He confessed to me that the additional business was not entirely by accident. Apparently there is a kind of pheromone that changelings can use that makes ponies feel more comfortable in strange places. It is supposed to make feeding easier. I had never noticed him feeding before, so it made me a little uncomfortable, but he hastened to tell me that he never fed from any ponies directly. Rather, he consumed whatever emotions were left in the air from their passing. I believed him after he showed me how it worked. One night after the last of the ponies had gone home, he stood perfectly still in the center of the room and just kind of breathed. He used his magic to illuminate the clouds of emotion in the air, and I must say that it was impressive. He pulled some of those clouds into himself until he could reach no more, then stopped. Afterwards, I thought nothing of it. After all, there are other changelings in Trottingham, most of whom have no hive affiliation and can still survive just fine without leaving behind a trail of empty ponies.

“So we continued to work together and over time, things happened and we drew closer and closer together. I took over more and more of the business side of the coffee shop as well as the coffee. Cookie threw himself into advertising for us, then into competitive baking. I did not realize it at the time, but he was saving up his prize money for something special. On Hearth’s Warming Eve three years ago, he presented me with a gold necklace and proposed marriage. I said yes, and we were married in early summer.

"During the summer competition season, Cookie would travel all over Equestria, trying out new recipes and ingredients and sending me postcards and letters. I wrote back with my new findings and drinks. By the time classes at the university started up again every fall, he would be back, often with new foods to try and pair up with whatever drinks I had created. He showed me pictures of the other bakers he had met and became pen pals with a few of them. We shared everything, and when I revealed to him on our anniversary that I was pregnant, he was thrilled. We consulted a midwife who worked with the changeling community who told me that if nothing went awry, I could carry my foals to term with no more problems than any other mare.

"We set up a nursery in our home above the shop and Cookie left for another series of competitions, promising that he would come back to me so he would be with me to welcome our foals. He had been gone for a month and a half when word reached me of the incident at the royal wedding here. Then Cookie’s letters just… stopped coming. I didn't know what to do. I had no idea where in Equestria he was or even where to start looking. Then a few days ago, Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle here came to the coffee shop asking after my husband and… I kind of lost it. Luckily, between the two of them, they were able to calm me down enough to convince me to come here to look for Cookie.”

The room was silent for a little while after the mare had finished speaking. Finally Pinkie Pie broke the silence. “Oh my gosh! You are having twins? That means twice the party!”

Chai Spice gave the pink pony a wry grin. “I believe Cookie mentioned something about having you plan that party when the time was right, Pinkie. You were always his most enthusiastic pen pal, besides me of course.” Pinkie Pie grinned and bounced a little.

Twilight turned to Chai. “How could you understand him speaking in changeling form? I mean, it is a whole different sound system and language!”

“It's some kind of spell, I think. There is a unicorn at Trottingham University of the Arts who specializes in linguistics, including changeling speech. It's not a very well-known program, but she sort of advertises by offering her spell to residents and students free of charge. It has never been published because she hates the copyright laws publishers insist on, and she prefers that the spell be public domain and available to all who ask. Her name is…” She paused to think. “Buzz Words, but I think she likes to go by Bugsy. The changelings have a name for her that means something like ‘pony who understands what must be understood’. She still teaches language arts and linguistics at the university.”

Twilight looked mutinous, as if she wanted to go straight back to Trottingham to convince the professor to teach her the changeling speech spell. Luna quelled her sister’s student with a look. Now was not the time. “Do you have any proof that you can show me?” Luna asked Chai Spice. The latter nodded and reached for her saddle bags. Wordlessly, she passed items to the princess, who carefully examined the photographs, newspaper and magazine articles, notes of admiration, and love letters before passing them back to their owner.

“Well,” Luna said finally, “there is one final test that you must pass, and it is a simple one. Would you be able to identify Cookie N Cream in his changeling form?” Chai Spice nodded. “Very well. Let us go and find him.”

Luna led the way out of the room, followed by the other three ponies. They arrived at the guard barracks. Luna greeted the guard, who let the party pass into the changeling-occupied space. Any need for a search became inconsequential, when Chai Spice made a beeline towards a heavily built stallion pacing the far end of the barracks. With a cry of delight, she leaped into his open embrace. As the pair held each other close, Luna gestured for the other two ponies to remain silent. She lit up the air above them with her horn, and Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie watched as the room filled with colorful streams of emotional energy. A few stemmed from Luna and the other two ponies, each with differing colors, but these were greatly drowned out by wave upon wave of colors emanating from the embrace at the far end of the room. The other changelings watched the waves and crowded toward the couple. Twilight made an aborted move towards them, but Luna gestured for her to back off. Each changeling drifted towards Chai Spice and Cookie N Cream, stood in place for a few minutes, then drifted away to let another one approach. This happened for a while until there were no more changelings trying to drift closer.

The waves of love energy, though diminished from the changelings’ feeding, were still fairly strong as Chai Spice and Cookie N Cream broke off their embrace and headed towards Princess Luna and the door. Chai Spice asked “would you be so kind as to remove the magic inhibitor, your majesty? It negates the communication spell from Professor Bugsy." With a slight smile, the princess did so, and the entire group followed her out into the moonlight.

“I thank you, your majesty, for bringing my wife here,” a gruff voice murmured. “I suspect the other changelings in there are equally grateful. It is the fullest meal they have had in a long while.” He nuzzled his wife, who looked about to melt into him again. “We are ever so grateful. Is there anything I could do for you?”

Pinkie Pie wiggled. “Um, Princess Luna, when you wrote to me asking for a Shwartzwalder kirschtorte recipe, I wasn't able to send you one. My only recipe for one is actually Cookie’s and I Pinkie Promised not to tell any ponies what the secret ingredients were.”

Cookie laughed, a deep throaty laugh. “I would be happy to give the royal chef my recipe for Black Forest Cake, your majesty. It has been a while since I've used it in competition, but it is still one of my most popular desserts. Shall I write it down for you?”

Luna gleefully nodded. “Princess, may we indulge in your hospitality for a few more nights?” Chai Spice broke in. “I am not sure I should be going immediately back to Trottingham just yet.” She looked down at her bulging belly. “I am not sure… things… will wait long enough.”

Luna nodded again, more somberly this time. “Of course, Miss Spice. If you should require the services of a midwife, I am certain that between myself and my sister we can find one who is willing to help birth a pair of little pony-lings. In the meantime though, you look exhausted. Go ahead inside to your rooms and get some rest. Both of you.”

Chai Spice and Cookie N Cream bowed to the princess and walked steadily toward the palace. Their movement was slow, but they clung to each other like limpets on a stone and had their tails intertwined. After the pair had gone indoors, Luna turned to the two element bearers. “Thank you both.” She whispered to Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie. “If it had not been for you two, this case would never have been brought to my attention. You have my gratitude as much as you have theirs.” She licked her lips. “And as a bonus, I will get to see my sister’s face when I deliver a chocolate and cherry cake made from a changeling’s recipe to our morning repast! Finally, no more of that blasted angel’s food cake!”

Pinkie Pie giggled, then guffawed. That set off Twilight Sparkle and Princess Luna; soon the three of them were laughing hard enough for even the Night Guard standing vigil over the changeling barracks to crack a smile.

Comments

[Nightmare Wolf]

It is too dear

I think there should be:

It is too expensive

[Thresha8]

Chai Spice and Cookie N Cream bowed to the princess and walked steadily toward the palace.

Meanwhile in the barracks...

Cookie's Brother: "Guys? Where are you going?"

[That One Guy]

Pardon if I'm missing something incredibly important, but...

There is a unicorn at Trottingham University of the Arts who specializes in pony-changeling relations

My only question is, if changelings are so integrated in a city as large and well-known as Trottingham as to warrant a unicorn with the ability to speak to changelings (and, presumably, a ton of experience, given her changeling-granted title), how was the original plotline of the changelings being captured fulfilled in the first place? If it's common knowledge that changelings are integrated into society in peaceful ways, how would the Guard have any justification in (essentially) kidnapping these aforementioned changelings? And, if they've gone and quickly apprehended every changeling "living amongst ponykind," how in the world could Trottingham and the rest of Equestria be as unaware/submissive as they are being portrayed in the story?

I don't mean to bash at all, I'm just genuinely puzzled :/

[Kittamaru]

5373175

I... am curious as well, actually :)

[Redcoat]

I'm puzzled. Earlier I read that Cookie was one of the Changelings thrown from Canterlot during the invasion, and yet in this chapter he is portrayed as being an established member of the community. Was the earlier statement speculation on Twilight's part?

[TheGreatEater]

It is too dear for most of our patrons, but it is one of Cookie’s and my favorites.

Incorrect word choice. Dear would mean tht it was precious / well liked. Thus it would be used quite often. Did you mean bold/expensive? Or something similar?
____________

I had charmed him with coffee, he had done the same with cookies. It was so wonderful.”

Afterwards, I thought nothing of it. After all, there are other changelings in Trottingham, most of whom have no hive affiliation and can still survive just fine without leaving behind a trail of empty ponies.”

I kind of lost it. Luckily, between the two of them, they were able to calm me down enough to convince me to come here to look for Cookie.”

Delete end quote mark. And this paragraph is a bit on the bulky side.
_______________

You need to go through chapters and make some of the bigger pareagraphs smaller and less bulky. Also Remove end "marks when doing your stories or multi-paragraph dialogs. You only use end "marks when someone is done speaking. I'll read more later. Try and fix those up before I get to the future chapters please. Really they are your biggest problem. Bulky, near Wall of Texty paragraphs, and using inappropriate end "marks.

[Philo Hippos]

I find ironic that It's called Hoofstep when it's mostly horn discharge noise

[ChakatFirepaw]

5371129
5426601

In this context "dear" means expensive and implies that the price is greater than the value.

[Nightmare Wolf]

5497441 I know what it means, but it has no sense in this sentence.
You can say "dear" about someone, or something precious to you, like a memento, not about price of food item.
When you go to shop, and you want to buy wheel of cheese, but you can't because the price is too high, you won't say that this cheese is too dear for you.

[PastCat]

5426601
Thank you for your suggestions. I'm (slowly) reworking this, so your comments are quite helpful.
5371592
I'm not sure where you're getting that Cookie's brother was caught up in the sweep Cookie was caught away from home; the changeling residents of Trottingham weren't caught.

[Razzy]

Oooooh, awesome, I bet the Trottingham pony residents helped them hide, out the local guards simply "checked" the town and reported that they found no changelings.

Cya
Raziel-chan

[fanreader999999]

Not much of a story.

[ChakatRedstripe]

This was a sweet chapter, I'm hoping we hear more of the 2.