“What do you want, Amethyst?” Boulder said, after a second of silence. He regarded me coldly from across the room, sinking into a cautious stance. A moment later Flare came down the stairs. He looked rather indifferent about my reappearance.
“Yes, what are you doing here?” Marmalade demanded, still brandishing the pan.
Their accusatory eyes drove me to the floor. My soul cowered under the growing flames of their anger. It hurt, like a thousand punches to the heart. When you live off emotions, the peaks and depths become all but physical.
“I’m... I’m sorry,” I said, staring at the knot in the wooden board just below my muzzle. “I just wasn’t thinking.”
“You think?” Boulder asked. “How did attacking the princess seem like a good idea at the time? Hell, have you even thought what you are doing here? You said you wanted to fix things when we first met, but all you're doing is making it worse!”
“I know,” I muttered glumly.
“Sure doesn’t seem like it,” he retorted, snorting testily. “All you’ve done is cause pain, so why don’t you run back to–”
“Boulder,” Flare interrupted, his voice calm and level, “give him a chance to speak.”
“Why should I give him the chance?” his brother demanded.
“Isn’t that the problem?” Flare asked, raising an eyebrow. “Would any of this have happened if they had just given Amethyst or his family the chance?”
Boulder fell into a guilty silence. He nodded slowly, solemnly.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I steeled myself against my emotions. “Flare, Boulder is right. You shouldn’t have to give me another chance given what I did. It wasn’t right of me to abuse your trust to the extent I did, and still expect you to forgive me. I just wanted to say I’m sorry for everything I put you through, and everything I did. Thank you for everything... I’ll be leaving now.”
Boulder sighed. “Amethyst, wait... Can you at least tell us why you did what you did?”
As I said before, I owed them an answer. “I was just hurting too much to think straight,” I said. “My parents meant so much to me, and even though she promised to return it, I could not bear the thought of letting the locket out of my sight–”
Marmalade’s nose twitched as she sniffed the air. “Alright, we get it: you’re sorry!” she interrupted, raising a hoof to her nose. “But can you please stop the self-pity act and go take a shower?”
Only then did I realize how we looked, practically dripping with rotting fruit and compost.
“Um, do you have a shower?” I asked, moving to rub the back of my head with a hoof, but thinking better of it as I saw the state of my leg.
“Yes, just use the one in the first room upstairs,” she replied, her voice muffled behind her hoof.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rivlets of hot water dripped down my body, ridding me of the filth the crowds had lashed upon me. I fiddled with the dial, making the flow of water as hot as it was able. What would be scalding for a pony was comfortable to a changeling. The fires which wound over our bodies whenever we took on a disguise were not simply aesthetics. The flames were hot, yes, but merely painfully hot to a pony, not scalding.
However pleasant the shower was, I knew it had to end. Turning the tap off, I stepped from the shower, drying myself off roughly. I took a moment to rub the steam from the mirror, stepping back. My reflection barely recognized me, and I it.
Physically, I looked the same as I always had. The change was in how I held myself; what my soul sung. That was different. I appeared battered and beaten, my will to continue just about hanging by a thread. Had I really fallen that far? The mirror fogged up before I could get another look.
I emerged from the haze of fog, trotting downstairs to rejoin the others, praying they would at least give me another chance.
“Next,” I called, ruffling my mane dry.
Starlight stood favoring her left foreleg. “I guess that’s me,” she said.
A somewhat awkward silence filled the room as she left, none of us knowing what to say. They obviously knew why I was here, so it bore little need for an explanation.
“Alright, Amethyst,” Boulder sighed heavily. “We’ll give you another chance. Only if you promise never to do something like that again.”
“I promise,” I swore instantly. “Where’d Marmalade run off to?” I asked next.
Boulder waved a hoof in the direction of a door. “She’s started on supper, complaining about cooking for six.”
“But we–” I began to protest.
“We’re not staying,” Ocean Wind interrupted. “Once myself and Starlight have cleaned up, we are going back to the castle.”
“Hold on a moment,” I protested. “They never said that we had to come back right away.”
Whatever retort Ocean had in mind died when he heard a pained screech from upstairs. He was already halfway up the stairs before I realized what had happened. Having taken such a hot shower minutes before, the water in the pipes would still be particularly scalding. Flare seemed to pick up on this, raising an eyebrow in question.
“Think I left the water a little too hot.”
Marmalade stormed from the kitchen a moment later, an apron tied around her neck. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing worth getting worked up over,” Flare said calmly.
She snorted disbelievingly, but let the matter go. “One of you want to give me some help making supper?”
“Sure,” I volunteered before either of the brothers could. I would rather not be here when Starlight came back down.
My vision was suddenly darkened as Lemon Marmalade tossed something over my head.
“Put that on,” she said, her voice receding towards the kitchen. “Don’t want you making a mess of yourself.”
I took the cloth off my head to find another apron, bordered with pink frills. “Don’t you have anything else?”
“I’m sure I still have my old foal bib buried somewhere,” she answered, grinning with a glint in her eyes.
Boulder and Flare chuckled, hiding smiles behind hooves. “Perhaps you should take it,” Boulder joked, struggling to keep a straight face, “I mean, I can picture it perfectly.”
Rolling my eyes, I followed Lemon Marmalade lead and entered the kitchen, ignoring the laughter I left behind. The chemistry of cooking and preparing food was not alien to me, but I had never exceeded a standard beyond fine or acceptable. I could cook, but compared to my mother or father... Well, there was no comparison to make.
The kitchen was somewhere between that of a restaurant's and any home’s kitchen. It was neither as large as the former, nor smaller have the later, having a modest layout and provisions to cook a variety of meals. There were a few steel countertops for cutting, but the remainder of the cabinets, outside the stove and burners, were made of lightly stained maple. Marmalade was already at work, tugging loose a pot from the cupboards, while finely dicing a few tomatoes at the same time.
“So, what do you need my help for?” I asked, tying the straps of the apron.
“If I’m going to be making chili for six, I’m going to have to double the recipe. I need you to keep an eye on the pot while I chop up everything else.”
“That’s it? Really?”
“Well, there is one thing,” Marmalade said, pursing her lips. “Could you hold your leg out, please?”
“Um, ok, why?”
I sputtered indignantly as she hooked a few ladles through the holes in my leg, making me a little more than a cutlery rack. She shot me an amused smile before turning back to her chopping. I wasn’t just going to let her leave me standing here, balancing the ladles carefully. Plus, they were beginning to tickle.
“Hey, Marmalade?” I said, “I have a question.”
“Yes?”
“Would you mind holding these for me?” I said, throwing a bunch of dish towels over her head.
“Hey,” she chuckled, tugging them lose and setting them over my back. “I need to see what I’m doing. Hold them yourself.”
“What about a can of beans?” I asked, trying to balance one I grabbed from an open cupboard on her head.
“Now hold on!” she laughed, enveloping my aura of magic, with her own, trying to force it away. “I’m being serious, Amethyst. Stop!”
“What about the tomato?”I persisted, drawing it away from her knife. “Perhaps you wouldn’t mind holding it either?”
“Why don’t you hold on to it,” she replied, pushing it towards me, overpowering my own magic with her own.
I redoubled my own efforts, halting the movement of the two objects. Narrowing her eyes, Lemon Marmalade increased her own output, creating a standoff. However with the recent strains I had placed upon my own dwindling reserves, I knew I was bound to fail in a contest of strength. The half tomato impaled itself of my horn, as I turned my focus solely to the can. What would have gone on for another few minutes was shattered as the can buckled and broke, coating the immediate area with beans and their juices.
Marmalade and I stared at each other in shock as the can tumbled to the ground. Having heard the noise, Flare stuck his head in through the doors, long enough to take a look, blink, then wisely withdraw. The moment that the door shut, we broke into laughter. Not the sort of light chuckle you share at a funny joke, but the side splitting bellows that brought tears to your eyes, and hurt when you couldn’t stop. I staggered over the few steps towards her, leaning against her shoulder, struggling to stay upright. Marmalade fared no better than I did, and a second later she fell, sending both of us to the floor. Neither of us could care less.
The door opened once more, and this time Boulder looked in, stepping around the counter to see what the fuss was all about.
“Are you two going to finish making supper or should I take over?” he asked, staring at us in disbelief. “No, you know what, just go clean up, Flare and I will take over from here.”
Both of us flushed in embarrassment, as we stood up and took stock of ourselves: covered in crush beans and, in my case, a tomato impaled on my horn. Boulder saved me the trouble and plucked the fruit off my horn, lending his cousin a deadpan glare.
“Really?” he demanded. “No,” he exclaimed, cutting off her cousin’s explanation off. “I don’t even want to know what you did. I know you’ve been–”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” Marmalade growled quickly, her face crimson.
“How about you go get cleaned up then, and try not to cause any more problems?” Flare suggested testily, shoving us both towards the door.
Three sets of eyes fell on us as we stepped out into the room, but all that was offered was Ocean’s ultimatum.
“We’ll talk later.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once more the sound of running water filled the room I sat just outside of. Given I had already been through it once, and that I had been the cause of the mess, I let her have first dibs on the shower.
“So what was that about?” I asked, speaking though the door.
“What was what about?” she questioned in reply from within.
“What Boulder was saying before you interrupted him.”
A pregnant pause.
“So what do you think of the inn?” she queried, shying away from the subject.
Judging her earlier reaction, I wasn’t about to press my luck. “It’s nice I replied, You build it?”
“Kind of,” she answered. “My dad is an artist, and he originally bought this place as a gallery and home. The entire bottom floor was his gallery, and growing up, he made sure I did not play around down there. We lived upstairs, and it was nice for a home. A few years back though, a few of dad’s paintings sold for an awfully lot of bits at an auction. They moved up to a bigger place in Canterlot, and they left me this place. It took about a month to figure it all out, but with my savings, I managed to finish the renovations.”
“So do you run this place by yourself?”
“Celestia no,” she chuckled. I gritted my teeth at the use of that bitch’s name, but held my tongue. “I’ve hired eight ponies to help me run this place. With the recent changeling inv–” Abruptly she halted.
It was nice to see someone considerate of things which might offend me. “Changeling invasion, yes continue,” I prompted.
“Well, anyway, with Canterlot so riled up I knew we wouldn’t be getting any business, so I closed for a week or two till everypony calms down, or somepony comes knocking, whichever comes first.” The water shut off and the door to the bathroom opened. Just like before, she tossed the towel over my head, leaving me in darkness. “Come down when you’re finished.”
I lifted the towel from my eyes in time to see her pale yellow tail disappear around the corner. A moment after the buzzing in my head abated, something I had missed entirely, I realized that I was staring at the space she had left.
~~~~~~~~
For the second time that night I trotted down the stairs, following the second shower of the day.
“Your clean, good. We’re leaving,” Ocean declared, rising to his hooves.
“Hold on a moment,” Marmalade protested, “Why?”
“This is not a debate miss,” he responded curtly. “We will be taking Amethyst back to the castle.”
“Hold on a moment!” she repeated irately.”I just want to know why.”
“Amethyst requested to come here to apologize for his actions. I was willing to let him stay for supper, provided he didn’t cause any more problems, however, he’s clearly shown that that is not the case.”
“How?” she demanded.
“His actions in your kitchen and–”
“Wait a minute,” she interrupted, “You’re blaming that on him?”
Ocean Wind blinked, a monstrous display of surprise for the guard. “You’re saying it wasn’t?”
“No!” she exclaimed. “Well, not entirely,” she admitted after a moment. “But it’s still no reason he has to leave.”
“There are other reasons, but as before, this is not up to discussion.”
“Just because your marefriend didn’t bother to check the water temperature doesn’t put me at fault,” I exclaimed angrily.
All forms of politeness disappeared from Ocean Wind’s features. “Get to the door,” he snarled. “We’re leaving.”
Starlight didn’t hesitate to follow the command, storming to the door to tug it open. My heart leapt in shock at the sheer hate and malice which rushed through, chilling my soul. The door cut the flow as abruptly as it begun.
“Ocean, we have a problem!” Starlight hissed, her eyes wide with fright.
“What is it?” he asked, walking over to the curtains to peek between them. “... Shit!” he swore.
“What!?” I demanded.
“Seems the ponies from earlier have decided to try their luck again,” he answered, tightening the straps of his helm. “They’ve surrounded the building, and I’d bet my spear against a pebble, they aren’t going to let us leave easily.”
“So what are you going to do?” Marmalade asked, an edge of fear creeping into her voice.
“What we’re trained to do,” Starlight answered, tugging the door open once more.
Marmalade and I ran over to a window, peeking through the window. The murmur of a crowd grew to a sudden roar as the two stepped into the open. Ocean Wind flared his wings, forcing the crowd into silence.
“By order of the princess Celestia and Luna, you are ordered to disperse! This gathering has been deemed unlawful, and subject to immediate action! Failure to comply will result in your immediate arrest and incarceration until the time your case be brought in front of the courts! This is your first and only warning!”
“Give us the changeling!” came a shout from somewhere in the crowd. Other ponies shouted their agreement, in a tide of noise.
“The changeling is under the custody and supervision of the Royal Guard.” the Solar Guard declared. “This order came directly from the princesses, and is not open to interpretation. Disperse at once.”
“Why don’t you kill that thing?”
“Why is it running free?” came another cry.
“The situation is different the we initially believed,” Starlight explained. “It is no longer a simple–”
“You expect us to believe that crap!” came a familiar shout somewhere within the crowd.
My heart froze in my chest; I had heard that voice before. I craned my neck, trying to catch a glimpse of the speaker, but I couldn’t see anything.
Marmalade said something, but in my horror, I didn’t even recognize it as speech. The stairs greeted my hooves as I sprinted to the second floor, looking for a better view. The distance to the window at the end of the hall grew as each step took me closer, the seconds growing into hours. To see if the possibility was true, as horrifyingly improbable as it may be, became an obsession. It couldn’t be him, it just couldn’t. It took me a moment to cast my eyes over the crowd, and another to identify the speaker, setting my blood boiling in my veins.
It was.
The night of my parents death came back to me, as I stared at the beige stallion with the fedora who stirred the crowd into a frenzy. He raised a hoof, the same hoof he had struck my mother with, swinging it in a dramatic fashion to further infuriate the crowd. Had I been able, I would have struck him dead where he stood.
“You know what I think?” he proclaimed to the crowd. “I wonder if they are even Royal Guard! I know for a fact that the Royal Guard would never shelter such vile creatures from justice. I think that they are changelings themselves.”
The suggestion alone would have normally done nothing, his beliefs viewed as nothing more than paranoid ramblings, but under the circumstances, it was held as an absolute fact. His cry was taken up by others, the crowd encroaching against the two guards. Ocean Wind and Starlight tried to restore order, but their commands were drowned out by the shouts. They barely pried the door open, slipping inside and slamming it shut, before the mob pounded against it.
That beige earth pony with a fedora, didn’t join the push against the doors, or the calls of the mob. Instead, he stepped back, examining the scene, smiling to himself as he looked over what he had begun. It may have been a fluke, or some freak occurrence, but as he stared up at the building before him, his eyes met mine recognizing his opponent. He wasn’t shocked, or even disgusted, merely satisfied. Tipping his hat in infuriatingly polite gesture, he turned around, leaving the riot to the masses.
“Amethyst, get down here!” Marmalade shouted from below me, shocking me into action.
I pounded down the stairs, nearly losing my footing as I skidded to a halt. Flare and Boulder were already hard at work, placing tables in front of windows as objects rained in through the broken glass panes. The Lunar and Solar Guards struggled to hold the door shut, the lock having failed in mere seconds.
“Dammit,” Starlight groaned, as the door painfully bulged inwards from a blow. “Amethyst, don’t just stand there,” she shouted, “help us!”
A quick glance revealed a broken lock, shattered by the force of the blows. Given how quickly it had failed, finding something to prop beneath the handle of the door was out of the question. But if the barricade was tailor made...
“Get back from the door!” I shouted.
“Are you crazy?” Starlight hollered back. “They’ll bash through this door, the moment we let go!”
“Can’t you just hold it with your magic or a moment?”
“Why?”
“Trust me!” I begged.
Starlight met my gaze for a moment, then nodded. “Ocie, one the count of three, let go of the door.”
“What, you can’t be serious!” he exclaimed.
“Whatever you are going to do, do it quickly, Amethyst. One.”
“Star–”
“Two.”
“Dammit,” Ocean cursed, preparing to leap from the door.
“Three!”
I delved into my mind, searching for the few strands of magic remaining. Even though I had nothing left to give, I would take apart my mind if it meant protecting my friends. Thankfully, it did not come to that; I had the few thread of energy I needed to work the fires of change.
My intention and goal was simple, but no less complex. I intended to fuse the door to the frame, creating one solid piece of wood. The problem was that if I let my concentration stray, even for a moment, the spell could have the opposite effect. The wood could become nothing more than loose particles, vulnerable to even wind, let alone the battering hooves of a horde of ponies. With a flick of my horn, I betted our lives on a spell, and a facet of magic I had only barely begun to understand.
Green fire danced around the join of the door, tickling the the knots and rings of the wood. My breath froze in my chest as the glow faded. Had it worked?
A seamless piece of wood now stood in place of two. It had.
“What did you do?” Marmalade asked in wonder.
“Sealed the door,” I explained, slumping to the floor in exhaustion. “Only thing is, we can’t get out that way.”
Glancing around I noticed Flare and Boulder had finished covering the windows with makeshift barricades. For the moment, I guess we were safe.
“So what are you going to do now?” I asked Ocean Wind. Surely he had a plan.
“We wait,” he answered simply. “Once the sun sets guards will be dispatched to search for us.”
“So why are you even here then?” I asked, in annoyance. “We didn’t need you just so we could wait.”
“Princess Luna expected nothing like this.”
“So does this mean I can say ‘I told you so?’”
“Stop, both of you,” Starlight interrupted. “Lemon Marmalade, is there anywhere with clear view of the sky? I might be able to signal the guard.”
Marmalade shook her head, “No, I don’t think so, At least, not that I know of.”
“What about–”
A tinkling of glass sounded as a slender piece of wood, wrapped at one end with a cloth, was shoved through a gap. Only thing was, it was also alight with glowing tongues of fire. Without thinking, I rushed forward, and shoved it back out, ignoring the heat. There was no way this building was going up in flames, not if I could help it.
“I don’t think they are going to give us that time,” I declared. “If you can’t figure out something in the next few minutes, they may turn this into our funeral pyre.”
Bucking xenophobes :c
Amethyst now knows that he's in canterlot, time for his revenge to truly take fruit.
Xenophobes.
You know what is really wrong (other than the third comment being ten hours ago), I am getting a feeling that the Beige pony is a changeling.
If I am right, then I will call shenanigans.
Also,
ERROR
2242832 Yeah, but Luna's first act was to tearfully apologize, in case you've forgotten. Meaning, she knew she was in the wrong.
And let me see, NMM's first act upon returning was to... oh yes: declared that night would last forever, zapped a bunch of ponies, tried to hurt the Mane 6... hmm, kinda sounds like the truth as presented was in fact, the truth.
Then we have Discord. His immediate actions upon release were to: make the Mane 6 turn on each other, start ripping the foundations of reality apart, mind-control the ponies who resisted him (Fluttershy) when his tricks didn't work. The he cheered at Twilight's tears. Not a nice creature at all. Huh, looks like he WAS as cruel as Celestia said.
And finally, Chrysalis and King Sombra... do I even need to point out that they were both evil? Seriously? One tried to enslave all of Equestria, the other was clearly a power-mad freak of nature who ALSO used mind-control to torment ponies (the door that made Twilight and Spike live their deepest fear).
Luna was THANKFUL to Twilight for taking away the dark powers of NMM, which you have also forgotten.
And you have also forgotten that jealousy is a very powerful negative force. Many murders in our world have nothing other than jealousy as their root cause, so is it really so hard to believe that Luna would give in to hate for the very same reason so many jilted lovers hire hitmen? Or, of old, lesser rulers would assassinate the kings and emperors to gain the power for themselves? Luna's betrayal is backed up by thousands of years of countless and very real historical events which bear striking similarity. Her actions were entirely human.
Indeed, the only pony who acts nothing like a human is Celestia herself. She is the one who stands alone, which is why she is hated. She shines a light upon the darkness within the recesses of the mind, the writhing beast despising that which it dare not look upon lest it burn from the brilliant glare. And so, it seeks only to discredit the light with weak attacks and deliberate mischaracterizations that the feeble-minded are drawn to as they themselves are incapable of comprehending the brightness. It blinds those who have forever only sought after darkness and lusted for the things which hide themselves beneath a black shroud.
You see, Celestia-bashers always conveniently ignore facts that counter their beliefs. They must, for if they hear and see it they clench their eyes shut, cover their ears, and shriek in agony and rage whilst scrabbling on the ground for stones to cast at those who reveal them for what they are within. That which is pure hurts them, because purity is a mirror revealing the evil things with clarity they cannot deny. So they must manufacture corruption where none exists to placate themselves and pacify the monsters in their hearts with self-delusion.
It is not at all the silly addage "The purer something is, the greater the pleasure from corrupting it", no. Rather, corrupting it is the only thing that can stop the agony of seeing the reflected depths of the depravity into which they've wantonly cast themselves; to settle back into the belief that nothing can be good, so they have no need to better themselves.
Am I looking too much into this? The truth is, not at all. Writing a story is as a person painting something of a symbolic picture of themselves, their ideas, their beliefs. No one who writes from the heart can help but implant much of themselves in their work. From the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks, and the hand writes. The burden of experience of thousands upon thousands of stories has drawn me to this conclusion, and even from what I myself write. The stopries of fiction my themselves be imaginary, but the humanity woven into the narratives is very much truth.
Never trust a pony in a fedora
2250101
I would like just to join this conversation simply because discussing the whole Celestia thing has always been fun for me.
Alondro, I completely agree that most Celestia-bashers never look at the facts in the canon. In the canon she is this all powerful light that shines across the land.but I'm not bashing Celestia when I say that for all purposes, Celestia has commited actions that can be seen as cruel. But the thing about all the villains and the majority of alicorns is that we really know nothing about them. The fact is, Celestia in the cartoon is a good pony. The show supports this above all else. But in the fanon, we put all these characters and try to make the cartoon show make sense in a realistic way. That is the problem, because if you look at Celestia in a realistic way, many will see her as manipulative and somewhat devious. Or just plain arrogant.
And that's the problem right their Alondro. The thing about Celestia is that all we have seen in her personality is the loving teacher, the forgiving sister, and the honorable hero. The fact is, when we put Celestia, or any of the actions we know about her in a realistic way, she acts like a hypocrite. Or we have the most despised idea, the fact that she is a god who is not only always right, but she is also always forgiving. That's the reason a lot of people hate the Conversion Bureau, because Celestia is forcing an enitre civilization to go borg, and she is considered right! But that is in the end, that is also just the fanon talking. What I'm trying to say is that when you try to say Celestia is pure good, you would be right. But only in a story that follows the cartoon exactly. But the moment we remove the morality rules of the Cartoon, you defintely notice the problems.
If you want I can give more detail but all I'm saying is this, while Celestia-bashers are definitely incorrect, the people that praise Celestia in the fanon are wrong too. Because it is never said Celestia is a goddess, or a tryrant. It is never said she's flawless or corrupt. But the fanon makes assumptions on all of these facts, and that's why fanfiction is always hard to write,because when a fan makes a assumption, in their eyes it becomes fact. All I'm sayinig that if you want to defend Celestia, then defend the Celestia in this fic, not the one in the Cartoon, because fanfiction is always about an assumption. I hope you respond Alondro, because I've seen you everywhere in this site. Adios.
2479920 Well, the problem is they make Celestia the villain, supposedly 'realistic', while propping up the 'villains' in a very unrealistic manner.
For instance, in many changeling stories, the ponies in this story are cast in a most negative light while we're supposed to sympathize with a race that is primarily a parasite and attacked without provocation.
There's no 'balance' to any of it. And so those stories comes across as severely biased.
I'm not against giving Celestia a darker edge, it just needs to be reflected by a darker world overall and consistent with the tone, otherwise it's mere favoritism which is one of the flaws any professional writer will point to with fanfiction of any kind.
Oh, I should note that this comment is in regards to your points and isn't a direct commentary on this story, which seems to be nudging itself toward a slightly more balanced view lately. I do hope the trend continues.
Now, in regard to this chapter, I think the Princesses are acting in a manner too stupid to be believable.
They sent Amethyst out into a city filled with ponies that clearly hate changelings with only two guards and no one watching for incidents.
That is too far beyond naive to be believable.
Hmm, I just realized something.
Amethyst has been making some rather unfounded generalizations about Changelings himself!
He has been raised by ponies his entire life, never even seeing another of his kind until the invasion... and yet he's assuming that he is a perfectly accurate representative of his species.
Let us not forget that he was abandoned in the forest. WHY was he abandoned, then? Was it, in fact, because he was abnormal?
For all he or we know, the other changelings may indeed be violent parasites given to all manner of atrocities!
You see, what we have here is the main character seeming to know so much about his race, when in fact he cannot possibly be sure of his facts since he only has himself to go by as an example.
He's displaying an 'insider's view' that there's no possibility he can actually possess. Which leads me to believe his theories of changeling physiology are presumptuous and he may be quite mistaken. He may be a mutant, or a hybrid. Or else there is more than one changeling race and his kind (which are able to coexist harmlessly) are being driven to extinction by the more violent species that must steal love and souls to survive. It'd by symbiosis vs parasitism in the context of sapient species, which could lead to a very different outcome. Symbiosis is eventually favored when a species has only instinct, mutation, and raw probability to guide it. A species that can think has the capacity to overcome biological restrictions... even if the long-term result is self-destructive. Intelligence is a game-changer in terms of basic evolutionary biology and ecology. Humans are a prime example of this fact.
Now, in the context of the story, this can be offset as part of Amethyst's own personal bias and arrogance in assuming himself correct, which could set him up for a later shock if he should discover that most changelings ARE the monsters the ponies believe them to be! It would be most traumatic to him and shatter his self-assured beliefs indeed if the fedora-wearing pony IS IN FACT A CHANGELING!! And the reason it tricked the ponies into killing his parents was that it hated both them and him, as it saw him as a mutant abomination or inferior sub-species to be exterminated.
Indeed, that would create a very dramatic conflict to the story, as Amethyst would truly be alone, striving against hate from both sides. From the changeling side it would be especially confusing, since he'd have no idea who to trust unless some crucial physical trait exists to differentiate between the two species of changelings. His own subspecies would be in peril, but the other type could pretend to be of their kind for the purpose of identifying and assassinating them!
I pity Amethyst if this is so. He would be left facing nearly insurmountable odds.
2481917
I can totally agree with what you are saying. The changlings honestly attacked without provocation, so it's hard to defend them, and the way they make Celestia the villian in some stories, anger me. But we should also remember about the perspective we are looking at. Do you think a changling's going to see themselves as the bad guy, or will they see Celestia as one? That's something that could work, as long as one gave Celestia's perspective on it as well, showing both sides to an argument. That way, we can not only make the changling sympathetic, we can do that without harming Celestia's character.
Honestly, I do believe that one can make a villian sympathetic story without turning Celestia into a villian, but the once again, the thing about fanon is that they hate letting go of anything. Especially something like Trollestia or Tyrant Celestia.
But hey, some authors get it, and so do you, so I guess things are changing. But seriously, you make some great points. Anyways, adios.
2483183 Well, Trollestia can be awesome...
2481917
Part of the problem I'm having is walking a fine line between making Celestia seem like a villain (at least in Amethyst's eyes) and actually have her being a villain. It's why I'm thankful you stepped in where you did in chapter 5. I'm also trying to stay true to Amethyst at the same time, and what all of his senses would entail. When he first meets her, he is incapable of seeing anything she does or says positively. As a changeling, this doesn't just include speculation, but rather what emotions she, or others, may experience. While this happens with any character from first person, I'm trying to heighten it a little more without changing the impact completely.
Think of what he can sense as an atonal sound. If he wants to hear a certain pitch from it, he may be able to, as it "fits" against anything.
2481985
I'm actually going to touch on this in next few chapter of the story, but there are a few circumstances which led to that decision, which definitely seems stupid with what Amethyst knows.
2482388
For the sake of requests to try and limit spoilers, I can neither confirm nor deny any of this, save mentioning you may be onto something with some of those things.
2505002 Many people have said I missed my calling in the intelligence community with my ability to not only see what is there, but make conclusions based on what isn't.
However, I always tell them that I like keeping my soul off the devil's contract list.
2507330
From what I've seen in your comment wars throughout fimfiction, I think a lot people already think you serve the devil. The best part is that usually your right.
2481985 a possibility is that it was Celestia's idea for no disguise (or did Luna suggest it? if so I'm sorry i forgot). If it was Celestia's then it could be that she planned for Amethyst to be swamped by the masses. We already know how much she dislikes him. I wouldn't put it completely out of the question.