Love is Strange

by PaisleyPerson

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A symphony of clangs and clashes sounded from Mindy’s apartment, blaring without need of speakers for all of Equestria to hear. A couple of her neighbors even applauded, showing their appreciation by taking a broomstick to their ceilings or just plain hollering for her to pipe down in there. Mindy raced back out into the main living space and flicked on the light, hunting for the young composer. Again.

It was three in the morning, and this was the fifth time she’d had to get up and convince the changeling to be quiet. It looked like neither she nor the neighbors would get a restful sleep this night.

Mindy just didn’t understand what the problem was! She’d fashioned a temporary bed for him out of one of her emptied moving boxes, a stack of pillows and a blanket folded several times upon itself. She’d even given him his own private nook in the kitchen, far, far away from her.

So what was the problem? Was it too hot? Too cold? Was he hungry? Then again, how could be hungry after he’d already downed her whole dinner? Perhaps he was scared, then. These were new surroundings, after all. Mindy herself had jumped at the strange city noises during her first few nights here. Yet, judging by how he kept darting about, running from Mindy like it was some kind of game, she didn’t think that was the case.

‘A game... he thinks this is a game. He wants to play. But this late? Maybe changelings are nocturnal.’

Mindy finally lunged forward and managed to drag him out from under the armchair in time. “Alright, you. Back to bed.”

“Na!”

“Yes. You very well might be nocturnal, but we’re going to have to train you out of that, because the rest of us aren’t. I have to get up early to go to work tomorrow. Celestia, how am I going to leave you alone all day when you cause this much of a racket?” She carried the struggling changeling back to the kitchen, where his makeshift bed was waiting for him. She held him down with one hoof while she used her other to fix the blanket and tuck him in. Unlike the last four times she’d repeated this action, however, this time he kept trying to sneak back out as soon as she looked away.

“What do you want?” the exhausted and irritated mule snapped. The changeling circled his bed once, then ran to Mindy and tackled her leg headlong. The hollow nooks punched out in his legs pinched her skin as he squeezed her fore hoof, so she lifted it up in an attempt to shake him off. The changeling had an iron grip, however, and simply dangled in the air, gazing expectantly at her with those freaky blue flashlights.

‘I have to get over those eyes,’ Mindy shuddered. “No, changeling,” she said aloud, “I can’t play now. Go back to bed. Maybe if you’re good I’ll play with you after work tomorrow.” She made the mistake of glancing at his eyes again, and chills traveled up her spine. “Maybe.”

‘What in Tartarus possessed me to take this... thing in?’ she sighed, firmly stuffing the covers back around the wriggling child. ‘Who am I kidding? I’ll take it to the police first thing in the morning. It’s not some lost puppy or even a child. It’s a change-’ A sudden pressure applied around her foreleg drew her out of her thoughts. The changeling had abandoned its bed for the umpteenth time, but this time it wasn’t to wreak havoc around the house. Now it was snuggling against her leg once more, squeezing tight to get as close to her as possible.

‘This is why I brought him in,’ Mindy reminded herself, sighing internally. Lost puppy, child or otherwise, this was a scared, innocent creature that needed her help. ‘Or needs my love. Wait, what if it’s been feeding on my love? It’s controlling me to change my mind!’

‘Are you kidding?!’ her conscience snidely remarked. ‘You haven’t given it any love since you brought it here! How could it be feeding on your love?’

“I’m starting to wonder if I have multiple personalities,” Mindy quietly growled. However, her subconscious was right. As of right now, she was safe from the changeling’s control. The even scarier thought, however, was that meant the decision to keep the child had been solely her own.

“Why can’t I just give you up?” Mindy wasn’t sure whether she should laugh at herself, throw a frustrated, angry fit, or break down and weep, so this came out somewhere between a cough and a snort, with a soft stomp to emphasize. The leg she moved was the one the changeling was still attached to, and it didn’t move from the spot, but he did turn to gaze up at her. “You scare me half to death, you could potentially take over my mind, you’ve brought me nothing but trouble since you arrived, and I could be arrested for harboring a creature like you. So why can’t I just give you up?” Mindy had finally concluded that it would be most appropriate to sob.

The tears rolled down her cheeks and plopped lightly on the changeling below. His nose twitched as each salty drop slashed on his black chitin, and finally let go. At first, Mindy was relieved... until the changeling darted off again. “Changeling,” she wiped her eyes, “no!” She halfheartedly chased after him, following the sounds of his tiny hoofsteps through the apartment.

She became worried when she lost track of his hoofsteps altogether. That would make him ten times harder to find, and the sooner he had been returned to his bed, the better. However, she just didn’t have the energy at this time of night, so she just glumly shuffled through her house, reluctantly crouching down to check under each article of furniture. The last room she had to check was the bathroom, and she had to walk past her cracked bedroom door to get there. Wait... hadn’t she closed her bedroom door?

‘Looks like I found him.’ Mindy slowly, silently pushed the door in a smidge farther, taking care to block the way with her body should he try to escape. But the changeling did no such thing. Rather, he was situated quite comfortably at the hoof of her bed, gazing at her in such a way as if to challenging her to remove him. Or maybe that blank stare was just how he normally looked.

“No, changeling, you can’t sleep here. That’s my bed.” He made some sort of inquisitive vibrating noise somewhere between a hum and a chirp. Then he rolled over, as if inviting her to occupy the vacated space. “I said you can’t sleep here,” Mindy huffed.

‘Oh, why not?’

‘Not you again!’

‘He just wants to snuggle with Mommy.’

‘I am NOT his Mommy.’

‘Sure you are! That is why you took him in, isn’t it?’

‘I took in a young creature that needed help. Nothing more.’

‘You and I both know there’s more to it than that. You’ve always wanted kids of your own.’

‘Well, that’s impossible for a sterile mule like me, isn’t it?’

‘Says who? There’s your child, right there, lying on the bed and waiting for Mommy to go tuck him in.’

‘That thing can never and will never be my child.’

‘So we’re back to calling it a ‘thing’, huh?’

‘I don’t know what I was thinking, taking it in like I did.’

‘Oh, even better. We’re going through the ‘I’ll take it back in the morning’ speech again. You’ve gone through this cycle a thousand times in the past hour, which I didn’t even think was possible. But you always come to the same conclusion. Let’s face it: he’s staying.’

‘Okay, so maybe I don’t necessarily want to give it- him- up,’ Mindy confessed. ‘But I can’t even look at him. Those eyes... I just can’t get over those eyes.’

‘Lame excuse!’ her subconscious cackled. ‘Look at those eyes! Admit it. He has beautiful eyes.’

‘If by beautiful, you mean blank, creepy, and always staring at me, then yeah, they’re gorgeous.’

‘Go on. Look at them.’

‘I-’

‘Don’t even argue. We both know I’ll win.’

“Unbelievable! I can’t even win an argument against myself!” Mindy ran a hoof through the mess of curly black locks sitting atop her head, but was finally forced to relent. She cautiously looked up, and uneasily met the changeling’s eyes. (At least, she thought it was returning her gaze, but without pupils it was a bit difficult to tell where exactly it was looking.)

To her disbelief, it actually wasn’t as bad as she thought. The longer she looked at them, the less they frightened her. ‘I don’t know what I really thought was so scary about them,’ she nervously chuckled. ‘I mean, they might be blank, but it’s just a child. It’s not like it’s going to murder me in my sleep... will it? Oh, Celestia, don’t murder me!’

‘What are you going to name him?’

‘Weren’t you listening? I can’t keep it! That thing could murder me!’

‘You should name him.’

‘I’m NOT NAMING IT! If I name it, I’ll get attached. And I really don’t want to be attached to my murderer-to-be.’

‘He’s not going to murder you. If he was going to, he’d have done it already. Besides, getting attached is exactly what you need to do to get over those lovely blue eyes. What about Ally? You always dreamed that one day you’d have a little girl to call Ally.’

‘I don’t want to name it! Besides, Ally is a girl’s name. It’s a boy... I think. If I had a boy, I’d have named him after my husband.’

‘Well, you found him in an alleyway. Give him a pony’s name. Call him Alleyway. Pony names are typically gender-neutral, anyway.’

‘I can’t-’

‘We’ve already gone over this. I’ll win, remember?’

‘I hate you.’

“Okay, Alleyway. Move over. Far over.” Mindy prodded her bed partner with a hoof, rolling him over another pace. He didn’t attempt to thwart this motion, so keeping one eye on him at all times, she slid under the covers at the opposite end of the bed. “Good boy. Just stay over there and maybe we’ll both finally get a good night’s rest.” However, the clock contradicted this statement, as it was already four and she would have to be getting up soon. She tugged the lamp’s switch into the OFF position, which wasn’t entirely effective, because Alleyway’s glowing eyes then dimly illuminated the room. She shivered knowing that such a dangerous creature was in such close proximity to her, especially when she was supposed to be sleeping.

At long last, the blue light went out altogether, alerting Mindy that Alley was asleep. Now maybe rest would come to her. Maybe. Actually, this was a very unlikely outcome, at least in her mind. But the day’s events had taken everything out of her, and as improbable as it seemed, Mindy soon lapsed into a deep sleep.

Alley had considerately waited for her irregular breathing and shivering body to return to its steady rhythm before clambering up and snuggling between her fore hooves.

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Please don't give up writing, this is some happy stuff,and after binge-reading I've done all day, I /really/ need happy.