The Inevitable (Morpheus) Part 2
Shining Armor is a decent enough pony when he’s not trying to rip my throat out. Indeed, in some ways he emphasizes many of the traits I find endearing in ponies. He’s incredibly loyal, he’s understanding and empathetic, and he’s willing to look past mistakes—so long as they aren’t made on his wedding day.
I can only be so lucky he’s learned not to generalize Mother’s invasion to all changelings.
Shining Armor had not said one word since we left the castle. Not. A. Single. One. His face was puckered like that of a pony who’d eaten a very sour lemon, and, seeing the family resemblance, I let him stew in his thoughts as we walked to the train.
Ponies went about their day as we progressed, talking and laughing as we walked in silence. A couple foals on their way to school barreled past, intent on enjoying their last bit of freedom for the day in a race. They galloped through the nearby ponies, and daringly slid around them. One was a bit too cocky and knocked into Shining as she tried to pull a tight turn—pencils and papers flying everywhere as she was knocked to her haunches. He smiled as he helped the filly to her feet, while I hastily collected the supplies, and, as she ran off with a squeal of thanks, he hesitantly began to walk again.
“So… I’m not really sure how to go about this. Cadance might think the world of me, but I always thought I made a lousy coltfriend. Something always went wrong on every date.”
He shook his head. “I suppose that’s the first lesson, though? Things can and will go wrong, but the right pony won’t even care. Once, I made a fool of myself in front of the whole school for her—singing this stupid song to ask her to prom.”
Chuckling, he looked up and off into the distance, “The whole school was laughing at me, and it was probably one of the most embarrassing things I ever did, but it was worth it. While everypony else was laughing, Cadance just stood there speechless, barely even able to clap. There were tears in her eyes and the tiniest little smile just for me.”
The taste of honey dipped steel was strong in the air. There was so much feeling—so much devotion—tied to that memory. I couldn’t help but take a tiny nibble.
I sighed as the hollowness in my heart filled with a heady warmth. One bite and I was already full. “That sounds nice. I’m not sure it really matters, though. Twilight’s a bit of a perfectionist.”
Shining shrugged. “She’ll need to learn it too.”
I snorted. “That’s assuming she actually wants to date. My money is currently on her panicking so much it ruins our friendship.”
That was a lie, and my insides churned at the fact. No, Cadance’s words haunted our simulations as ve desperately sought an escape. Looking back at my interactions with Twilight, our money was on Twilight wanting to try a relationship down the line. It could, of course, be years down the line, but, now that ve were aware of the possibility, ve needed to make sure events unfolded in our favor.
There were so many things that could go wrong with such a relationship.
“Don’t worry so much.” Shining lightly swatted me with a hoof. “Twily’s a smart mare. At the very least, she’ll want to stay friends. If you don’t believe me, think back to a time you really screwed up with her.” He squinted at me. “I’m sure, with all the drama and adventure Ponyville goes through, there must be something you did. Think back to that, and remember how she reacted.”
We had reached the train station, and the train was just pulling in. As I moved toward the ticket stand, Shining held out a hoof to stop me. With a firm, no-nonsense voice, he commanded, “No, let me get your ticket. Just think about what I said.”
I grimaced slightly as he walked off, but dutifully closed my eyes. There were plenty of mistakes to draw from, after all. Few of them were strictly my fault, but… well… there was when we first met. I had been so afraid, and it’d made that stupid stutter come out, and that had made Twilight more wary, and—
I took a deep breath.
And somehow she swallowed her fear to listen to me. She moved past her feelings towards Mother, and I was here now because she was willing to try and see me for me.
“Somepony’s happy.”
I blinked to find Shining Armor had returned, and realized that at some point my grimace had turned into the smallest of smiles. “Is it happiness? It feels a bit more warm and fuzzy.”
“Special someponies are like that.” Shining said simply, shrugging.
The music stirred within me—a nameless tune with few words. For once, it felt right at home, yet I felt no urge to dance. “Maybe you’re right, we’ll see some day~ The music will begin to play~ She’ll look into my eyes and say~ Everything will be ok~”
Shining chuckled, glancing at my Cutie Mark. “What are you, a poet?”
I inhaled sharply, turning toward the train. I was starting to take this way too seriously. “I am many things—some of which you wouldn’t believe.”
“Keep it together!” Shining called from behind me as I boarded. “Trust me! I’ve been where you are! She may be out of your league right now, but it won’t matter in the long run!”
Ve gave a rushed wave goodbye—not even looking to see if it was returned—and hastened onto the train. Locking ourself in the bathroom, ve burst out of our disguise and looked into the mirror.
Ve reached out a hoof to touch my reflection, but it looked just as confused as I felt. “Hive help me… do I have a crush?”
It wasn’t a crush. It wasn’t a crush. It wasn’t a crush.
Such was our mantra as I jumped from the train, taking flight as a razzmatazz pegasus. At the least, it was simple friendship and today was just throwing me for a different kind of loop. At the most, it was an unhealthy over-affection for the incredible amount of good she’d done for me. That wasn’t a crush. It was like Stockholm Syndrome or something, and I could deal with it later.
Right now, I was late for a spa date— Spa session. I ground my teeth together. Date was entirely the wrong word. Even if I had a crush—which ve didn’t—the affection would need to be returned to constitute a date. I hadn’t tasted any sort of blossoms or honey in her emotions earlier, so it clearly wasn’t a date.
I hurtled through the air towards the spa, wings buzzing furiously—too furiously, perhaps.
Dropping, I hit the ground running. The wind whistled through my fetlock cavities, and my stabilization plates pounded like pistons, adding some extra oomph to each step. Ponies whinnied in apprehension, rearing out of my path as I darted between them, and I shifted in the sweat glands from earlier, so I could work a good lather out of my system. Running from my problems, the sting of exerting my muscles helped distract me from our jumbled thoughts.
The spa came into sight with no sign of the princesses. I could still make it first. Bursting through the door, illusionary coat a mess, I stumbled to the desk like a madmare. “Three, please.”
The receptionist stared at me, and I heard a giggle behind me. “Don’t worry, she’s with us.”
Wings flared, I pivoted quickly. Twilight and Cadance were lounging on the sofa reading magazines.
Twilight smiled. “I figured you might be too busy to make it before us. I already ordered the deluxe for all of us, so you don’t need to worry about paying.”
I open and shut my mouth several times, gasping for breath. “Rarity?”
Twilight shook her head. “‘In the zone, as it were.’ She didn’t even jump on the news that me and Wicked Smooth are ‘dating.’” She winked, like her declaration was some kind of game. The receptionist gasped, and ran from the room. Hushed whispers soon came through the door, just loud enough for me to hear but not understand, and I groaned internally, wishing for the chance to hold my head in my hoof.
Instead, I laughed like nothing was wrong. “That’s great! I hope things work out for you two. Are you sure it’s a good idea, though? I mean, given his current state of affairs?” My smile failed to decapitate me once more.
She blinked before narrowing her eyes to scrutinize me. Her emotions were like extra fuzzy cotton candy. “Do you know something I don’t?”
Oh sweet hive, she was having fun with it now. She was so changeling about it too, daring me to break the ruse with Cadance in the room.
“Ah… well… you see…” My wings flared, and I felt a blush creeping up my neck.
Were all princesses trained to be like this? Father Arachne had said Celestia was more changeling than he, but I didn’t think he was serious. Here we were, though, Cadance sitting there with a smile—no doubt planning how to train Wicked Smooth to court Twilight—and Twilight teasing me about being a changeling right in front of her.
It was weird on so many levels. Not even an hour ago she’d been panicking about Cadance finding out about—
Ve made the connection, and looked Twilight in the eyes. “She knows, doesn’t she?”
Her eyes sparkled mischievously. “Apparently, Celestia told her while they were visiting my parents.”
Cadance nodded. “I can—"
“Alright, darlings. Your deluxe session is ready.” The receptionist had returned with another pony, and Cadance quieted. Both spa ponies wore gleaming smiles with far too many teeth.”We’re—" there was a distinct ‘v’ sound to the ‘w’ and ve blinked. “—sorry for the wait, but we needed to have an important inter-staff meeting. We’ll be starting with the sauna, and following it will be a mud bath and facial. Then there will be a nice mineral bath to cleanse yourselves, and, finally a massage to knead whatever tension remains from your bodies.”
The spa pony looked to me. “As an option, you may also receive a hooficure. Princess Twilight was unsure if you’d want one.”
I shook my head. “No, but thank you.”
We were given robes and led to the sauna. My chitin—already subject to a lather—was soon swimming in sweat and condensed water. I groaned, stretching to let the moisture into my joints like oil into a machine. Ve were tempted to drift to sleep and mull over what needed to be done, but there was something ve needed to know first.
Ve opened one eye, and let it’s true nature shine through the illusion. “Ve take it Celestia told you because Mother was right?”
“Excuse me? We?” Cadance flicked an ear.
“Not we, ve!” Twilight clapped her hooves together. “Their language has an entire extra set of pronouns. Isn’t it great!”
Ve sighed, derailing the tangent before it could get going. “Twilight didn’t know you knew at breakfast, which means Shining doesn’t know or you both would have brought it up. The fact that only you know suggests to us that Mother was right to replace you, and that you have a way to discern changelings beyond the normal detection spell.”
Cadance arched a brow. “Maybe I’m just more understanding of your situation than Shining.”
“Perhaps,” ve droned, “Celestia would want more of a reason than that, however. You and Shining are husband and wife. From our understanding, it would be very stressful to ask you to deceive him unless you needed to know before finding out on your own.”
“Fine….” It was Cadance’s turn to sigh. “You got me. I might not be a full empath, but I can sense love. Changelings mess with that sense. You distort the ebb and flow.”
I gulped. If my crush was in fact a crush—which it wasn’t—she’d know. Suddenly, her motives for boyfriend training were much more suspicious. Perhaps I was just paranoid? Ve didn’t have a crush, after all, and she might not sense changeling love if we messed with her senses.
Cadance gave a small, sad, smile. “To be honest, that sense is what has gotten Shining through things so far. He’s gotten better, though. He no longer pulls me aside to ask about certain ponies. He trusts I’ll tell him if a changeling is near.”
“I didn’t know things were that bad….” Twilight’s ears fell flat against her head.
Cadance stretched, settling into a more comfortable position. “He didn’t want you to worry, and neither do I. He’s getting better, trust me.”
“Better enough to not murder me for dating Twilight? That was your idea after all, and ve still think it’s a bad one.” Crafting a small breeze, I sent it Cadance’s way. The whisper of wind made swirls and eddies out of the steam in the air as it carried my words to her and her alone.
She just smiled in response, and let the sauna do its work.
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I feel this is gonna be the mining arc...
because Morpheus is gonna keep digging himself into a hole. Will he strike gold, however?
is this story canon now, then?
7749782
Canon compared to what?
I know it violates several semi-canon sources, and it can't follow the canon of season 6's Thorax and Chrysalis stuff, but that came after I started the story. I had no control over that. For the most part, everything has remained as canon as I could keep it. Barring the question of alicorns and immortallity -- which is really more of a semi-canon issue -- I'm pretty sure it holds up to the show really well. You'll notice no mention of Flurry Heart yet though. I specifically had Morpheus come in after Cadance and Shining met Twilight met and exchanged pleasantries to avoid this because I'm not 100% sure if she should be included or not. Her ridiculously god like surges would probably be just that, surges that faded in time, so that may or may not defy canonicity.
Ironically, despite not being able to follow the season 6 finale canon, there are some good parallels between what I had planned and what the show revealed about changelings. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. There were just as many inconsistancies, though.
No need for the bunker. Morpheus is hardly the most offensive love interest Twi's ever had, and if you remain unsure about the romance taking the story where you want it to go you can always make it fail gracefully as a learning experience for both of them.
Ten days for a friendship-turned-crush is not really out of the question. They've had some unusual bonding time and hormones are a thing. As long as they're not proposing in a week or anything.
Knowing Twilight, she'll approach the whole romance thing very technically, knowing nothing but written material on the subject... And if (when?) she actually develops feelings, she'll likely panic about it. :D "What's happening? That wasn't in any book!"
Yaes. Let the shipping flow through you.
I, too, see little reason to stop. Feels like a natural-enough direction for thr story to take, and I've honestly been expecting it for a while now.
I agree that a romance between Twilight and Morpheus sounds good but not in the ten days they've been together. So I will also agree that it should be years in the story. Like the negotiations get done they go they're separate ways then years later they bump into each other again. Then after some catching up, they start dating. But hey, that's how I see it. Opinions are just thoughts of a single person to give ideas to others.
There are several breaks in between arcs that could be adjusted to add more in story time.
Negative wise, i cant see anything out of context. On the positive side, it feels right, its a social chapter, and everyone feels right in character.
It dies seem more or less natural, although perhaps after the peace negotiations that they start actually dating. Perhaps this would be the fake relationship that blossoms into something more as Cadence implied.
Well, the story's been good so far.
Not bad advice from Shining.
That should make a few things easier down the line.
And that will probably make them more difficult.
I wonder how Celestia might react to the idea of Twilight dating Morpheus. Depending on how much she knows about what happened to her daughter way back during the love poison incident, she might see some unhappy parallels to this new potential relationship.
It is; to the point that I'm thinking it might actually be too clichéd to be worth doing. I'm currently leaning towards "I don't want anything to come from this," to be quite honest. It just feels kind of contrived. I'll admit this is more a subjective thing and I couldn't tell you right now just why I think so. I think it might be better for the story if you end up having nothing come of it, though.
7750014 I am with you there.
I can also imagine Morpheus developing a crush in such a short time on Twilight, if only because of Cadence's interference.
And what she said about Morpheus's mistake regarding letting Twilight jump on the idea of both pretending to be in a relationship togather really sounds legit.
I suppose that also worked as a Catalyst for Morphy to give this more thought, and now he is starting to feel insecure about his emotions. He doesn't know if he feels just greatful to Twilight, since she has done a lot for him in just 10 days already, or if there is a different affection that is drawing him to her.
It also doesn't help that they both share a good amount of curiosity, amongst plenty other characteristics, and love getting to the bottom of things. That in turn, would make it hard for him to let his thoughts and concerns go of how he feels. So the search of a definition for his feelings regarding Twilight will keep catching up with him (or rather nagging him) as time goes on.
This could easily develop into a relationship over the course of this story.
It would also fit with his blatant statement that Changelings can't fall in love, which he also has been corrected of, both by Lyra and the story of Ichy.
So seeing him now starting to doubt the truth of that fact, by 'accidentially' falling in love with Twilight and struggleling with these emotions, would be amusing, fitting and immensily ironic.
In a way I see Cadance's talk with him about Twilight as what sparked all this. That's what the Candy pony of love does.
Shinings advise for him did the rest.
And they didn't even use magic.
Now thanks to that, Morphy is starting to look differently at Twilight, while it should take a bit for Twilight to begin doing the same, instead of thinking of this as a 'game'.
I'd find it good if the author would tap into the potentional relationship.
Don't have to press romance now into the forefront too much, but bits and pieces here and there, with the right comedy in the mix, would be fine.
If I recall, at an earlier point in the story, you were saying how you thought a relationship between the two would be inappropriate.
I am all for the shipping myself, these two have a good enough chemistry together after all.
Also, my perception of in-story time was severely screwed, because until you pointed it out I though that the story covered something like two months, because I figured some time skips occurred between events.
Well, anyway, you just have to take it extra slowly and keep up with what made this story good and it should work fine
10 days is PLENTY of time to develop a crush at least.
Certainly some people will fall in and out of Love & Crushes more easily than others. Plus it's also the fact that they have been through so much together. Things like a near death experience, as just one example, can bring two people close together, as you already wrote with Rainbow & Morpheus. Hell even as someone who has been reading multiple chapters a day, it FEELS like a LOT longer than a mere 10 days.
Really in this case it's NOT about the Quantity of Time spent together, but the QUALITY of time spent.