A New Home

by Shads

Ch. 16 - The Future

Mane stood frozen at the door, standing off to the side of the town hall's main lobby. From the outside, nothing looked particularly special about this door. In fact, there were many others like it in the town hall, all leading to mostly empty rooms with naught but a single rectangular table in them. The mayor lent these rooms out for official gatherings, business meetings, or simply just small parties.

But this room was special.

He knew what was coming. Hay, recently, it was the only thing on his mind. Sadly, no amount of time could prepare him for this.

In fact, time had probably done more harm than good. His thoughts were filled with hundreds of different scenarios that were going to play out when he entered that room. What if she was lying? What if the queens conspired with the princesses to have us give ourselves up? Stupid little me is gonna walk right in there and get tackled to the ground before I can even shed my disguise. He felt a shiver travel down his spine and branch off into the rest of his body. And then they'll lock me and everyling else in the deepest part of the Canterlot dungeons to be endlessly tortured. He pictured his tormentors all with mischievous grins stretched across their faces. The Captain and his wife would go first, followed by the Captain's sister, and her friends, and th--

"Sir?"

Mane let out a not-so-masculine yelp as his limbs locked up, tipping his body dangerously to his right. Before his head could impact the ground and let him hide in his subconscious, he felt a pair of armored hooves stop his descent. The hooves carefully pushed him into the armored side of another pony who was currently making sure the frazzled pegasus was balanced on all four legs. "Careful there," a deep voice sounded from his left, "we wouldn't want you to hit your head."

"That's right," sounded a more feminine voice from his right. "The last thing I need on my track record is a pony in the hospital because I spooked 'em too bad."

"I-I'm fine," Mane finally got out, "just... got distracted is all." After a few more moments, he shifted to his right and stood on his own. He turned his head towards his right. "Thanks for that, by the--"

His eyes widened as he took in the details of his savior. Dark fur, bat wings, purple armor... He snapped his head to the left. White fur, horn, gold armor... He nearly fainted again right there, but the two had been quick to support him.

"Jeez, what's with you?" The batpony asked. "Low on blood sugar or somethin'? Do we need to bring you to a doctor?"

Mane took another moment to recover. "No, no, I'm fine this time, I swear. I just, uh, wasn't expecting the Royal Guard all the way out here..."

The stallion nodded. "Official business from the princesses."

He waited for the stallion to say more, but nothing came. He felt like he was missing something... Oh right, the code! Now what was it...

"Oh, well, I'm sure it's important." Remembrance flashed in his eyes. He peeked around the mostly empty lobby before turning back to the guards. "Speaking of the Princesses', you wouldn't happen to know anything about the Royal Kitchen's recipes, would you?"

The batpony moved slightly, standing a bit taller than before. "A bit. Why? Are you looking for some tips?" She asked.

"Somewhat, yeah. I work at a little food place in town and I'm lookin' to spice up our menu." That one got their attention. The stallion looked over to the batpony and gave a slight nod before tossing his head towards the door. Mane didn't know if he liked that or not.

"Sure, we could help give your place the royal touch." She walked ahead and opened the dreaded door, motioning him inside with her hoof. "Let's talk about it more inside our quarters."

He could feel the stallion staring down at him as he once again stood frozen in place. He took a deep breath, held it, and released it before finally entering.

---

"Name?"

"Which one?"

"Both. Given then chosen."

"8F-97-79, and my chosen name is Whitemane."

The batpony, who he'd learned was called Echo, took a look at his mane and laughed. "Pretty original name there."

The flustered pegasus couldn't help but blush. "I-I didn't exactly have a lot of time to think of one. My friends just call me Mane."

"Alright, alright," she gave a small laugh and turned back to her partner. "Keep em' comin', Sharp."

Sharp nodded and stared back down at the form. "Age?"

"Changish or Equestrian?"

Echo looked confused. "There's a difference?"

Mane nodded. "When we're born, we consider ourselves one year old, while Equestrians would say that they're 'zero'."

"Equestrian, then."

"Twenty four."

"Occupation?"

"I'm currently a cook at a food-place in town called 'Muffin's'.

Sharp nodded and spent a few moments writing down what he'd heard. "Alright, last one: does anyone know about you?"

"Yes, three ponies. Two on accident, one on purpose." When Mane saw their questioning looks, he sighed. "I was hiding in my home for a few days. My boss noticed, told my two friends, and they came out to find me. They saw the real me and let me explain myself." Mane nervously scuffed the floor with one of his forehooves. "Once they found out that I was still me, they promised they'd keep my secret. But..."

"But what?"

"They told me I had to tell my boss. He was pretty angry that I up and disappeared on him, but Cherry and Blue told me they could tell he was worried about me. He... actually took it a lot better than I thought he would." Mane laughed. "The fact that I was a changeling didn't really phase him, he was mostly just pissed that I left him to tend the place alone. Ever since then, they've kept my secret safe."

The room was mostly quiet after that, the only sound coming from Sharp's writing. "You said earlier you were 'hiding in your home'." Sharp leaned forward and gave a glare. "You weren't doing anything illegal, were you?"

Mane's eyes widened and he threw his forehooves up in a dismissive manner. "No, no! Nothing like that! I just... got spooked by a Guard that was in town. I thought that I'd been found out, so I just... freaked out. I locked myself in my basement for three days, living off my love reserves. That is, until Cherry and Blue found me, anyways."

More silence, more writing. Mane shuffled in place wondering when this would be over. Despite how friendly they had both seemed, he still wasn't sure that he was going to leave this room without shackles.

After what felt like the longest three minutes of Mane's life, Sharp finally stood up with Echo following soon after. "Well Mr. Mane, I think we're done for now. From this point on, we'll be your connection to Canterlot. You'll be expected to show up every week on this day until the Princesses deem you worthy for citizenship."

"Ci-citizenship? Like, a full-blown Equestrian?"

"Yup." Echo replied. "Once the two of us consider you fully reformed and integrated, we'll send you off to the Princesses for a final decision. Then, if she agrees, you'll officially be considered an Equestrian citizen. After that, you won't have to worry about our little meetings anymore."

"That's..." Mane had to sit down and let it sink in. Citizenship. The Princesses were offering the changelings a new home. Sure, that didn't mean the rest of the population would be too quick to accept them, but they could finally stop worrying about being discovered. No more hiding. "That's crazy..."

"Well that's what happens when you're ruled by two benevolent alicorns." Echo raised her head proudly. "Peace is kind of our thing."

"I see..." Mane grinned. "Well, be sure to thank them for extending a hoof of kindness to us. I'm sure my hive will repay Canterlot for everything that happened. I'll be sure to see you two next week." He gave a small bow before exiting the room.

An Equestrian citizen. I like the sound of that.

Author's Note:

Yo.

For anyone that thought I was continuing after this, I'm sorry to disappoint you. This is likely the real end. Of this story, at least.

I felt awful ending it so abruptly on the last chapter. I wanted to add something to give it a more positive note to end on. After all, who doesn't like a good bit of redemption?

I don't have any immediate plans to expand on this any more, but there's always the possibility of a sequel in the future. I love writing about changelings (more about how their society works than anything) and I'm sure I'll come back to write more about 'em.

Other than that, I hope you all had great holidays and I wish you all a happy New Year.

Comments

[Fireheart 1945]

Not a bad ending.

[Waves]

The story starts off like many do but changes into a story that can distinguish itself from the others in a good way.
I really like that it that it was so easy going for home, except for the one or two little incidents.
The ending came a bit sudden, I was cursing my app for not going to the next page, but it's a really good way to end the story.

[hive vs machine]

6311953 question the queen is the mother of all workers in the hive?

[Teraunce]

I'm kinda sad this is the end and there's no Epilogue, but it is a hopeful end.

[Batpony46]

It was fun to come back and read this story again and it's still amazing as it was when I first read it