• Published 16th Aug 2015
  • 2,268 Views, 73 Comments

Mustic the Changeling - Stanislas



The story of Mustic the Changeling, as he tries to take care of his wife and raise his children in a world where Changelings are slowly being accepted into pony population.

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Roof, Story time and Neighbor

Chapter 2

A light breeze caressed Mustic’s body as he was busy repairing the roof of his new home. A rainstorm had hit them the night before and they’d had the marvelous surprise of water that was leaking through the roof directly onto their bed. So first thing in the morning, Mustic took his hammer, nails, some chunk of wood, and a bit of hay, and started the reparation.

Of course, with no experience in roof-fixing, he struggled more than a bit; what would have taken an hour between the hoof of a better skilled changeling had took him instead the whole morning as well as lunch time.

Swiping his brow with his hoof, he posed down his hammer and admired his job. Being proud of himself, he flew down the roof to take a well deserved break

“Guess who just finishing working his shell off to make sure we will stay dry tonight!” exclaimed Mustic as he came inside his house and entered the main room.

“Good job, it only took you half of the day to do so,” answered his wife without any emotion in her voice, laying comfortably on the couch, reading a book while keeping an eye on Tulip while she was asleep.

“Someone had a bad day?” questioned Mustic.

“I can’t say it was the best day of my life so far. I think the bed had some parasite or something in it; since I woke up this morning, my shell keeps itching me and it so frustrating,” Cornelia said back, shifting uncomfortably on the couch. “Would you be a dear and go to the market to see if they have some kind of bed shop and buy us a new bed?”

“Y-you want me to go shopping in a shop owned by a pony?” exclaimed Mustic, not too thrilled by his wife’s idea.

“No, I want to you fly all the way to our capital Kyoto to buy me a bed that you will then carry all the way back here. Of course I want you to go into a ‘shop owned by a pony’ as you say it,” answered Cornelia, irritation clearly showing in her voice as she had no patience to deal with her husband’s awkwardness around ponies, but Mustic, not taking the hint, kept arguing.

“But what if I forget how to ask for a bed in Equestrian, or what if I get arrested for doing something that pony would think is offensive or...or...”

“Mustic the Green!” snapped his wife. “You will get out of here right now and buy me a new bed before dawn. That’s an order!”

Mustic gulped, knowing that if he did not want his wings to get ripped apart by his wife he better listen to her, and so he picked up his pouch containing his gold and left the house, leaving his wife trying to calm down her daughter whom had been woken up by her mother’s outburst.

***

Mustic was outside in his field relaxing on his rocking chair, flipping the pages of a book he had brought from his home country about different way to take out the weeds in a garden. Taking a break from decorating the bedroom of Tulip, he let himself relax and thought things were going alright as the sun heated his shell. In the last weeks, he and Cornelia had finished unpacking their belongings into their new house, and their bedroom finally stopped leaking once Cornelia had convinced him to stop trying fixing the roof by himself and to fetch some help in the city. A few days ago they received the package containing the seeds he would need to start their business and he already had planted some of them around the house for their personal use.

“Finally it’s not so bad here,” though Mustic. “Cornelia is beaming with joy, the soil is rich in nutrients for the plants, it’s calm and the city is filled with many activities that Tulip could take part in when she’ll be old enough. I could do with less ponies and more Changelings around the town, but I guess I’ll have to get used to living among ponies now.”

Flipping another page, he returned to reading his book when suddenly a hoofball smashed into the ground right in front of him. Mustick rose up from his chair and placed back his book on it before taking the toy in his hooves. He started looking around to find out who threw it to him but without any success, and when he was going to give up, he heard a quiet voice to his left.

As he looked back with more attention this time, he saw some rustle in the long grass on the side of the road, and as he got closer he was able to identify the culprits who threw the toy at him.

Two little ponies were hiding from him in the tall grass.

“Please don’t eat us!” said the youngest from the two. It was a pink filly pegasus with a cream mane and orange eyes.

“Eat you?” said Mustic in confusion.

“Our mom will be angry if we get eaten,” said the other one, a young Earth pony with a purple mane and green eyes.

“But I don’t eat pony,” Mustic said back, clearly confused. He thought with the number of years and effort that has been put into the project to make Changelings live in peace with ponies, everypony would know that they only ate their emotions and not their body. “Why would you two think that?” he asked.

“Because our mom told us that ponies like you would eat us if we were to come play here,” answered the pegasus.

“Well your mom is clearly in the wrong. We Changelings do not eat ponies, we only eat the energy surrounding you that comes from your emotions.”

As reassuring as his words were meant to be, Mustic only caused the two fillies to shake more in fear and shriek.

“Help! He going to eat us!” they both screamed

“No, no! Don’t get scared…We only eat your emotion, not you.. and hum,” panicked Mustic, realising he might not have taken the best way to deal with the two children. “Shhh. Calm down, please. Here, if you two stop crying, I’ll read you a nice story.”

The two fillies looked at each other, unsure of what to do. The youngest one only wanted to go back home and wished to never have followed her brother’s idea to come play here, but the older one seemed interested by the idea of being told a story.

“Is it a story with a king, knight and castle?” he shyly asked.

Surprised that his idea of telling them a story to calm them down worked, Mustic took a bit of time to answer back. “It’s a story about an idiot, a princess that lives in a castle, and a farmer; does it work for you?”

The blue filly thought about it for a moment before he got out of the tall grass, slowly followed by his sister. Mustic smiled and returned to his seat and opened his book while the children took place at his side.

“Once upon a time, a long time ago,” started Mustic, “there was a young Changeling named Mustic. He lived in the woods in a small cabin with his mother. This youngling did not had a single talent for anything. He was a bit dull and was the desperation of his mother. His father had died many years ago and the poor mother had to take care of everything. From cooking, to doing the laundry and passing by the work in the field.

She was doing absolutely everything for her survival and for her good-for-nothing son. Mustic for his part passed his days smelling flowers and running after butterflies. One day, seeing his mother drowning in her task, he told her: “Mother, I’m going into town the city to find work. This way, with the money I will earn, you’ll finally be able to rest.”

His mother answered him. “But Mustic, you don’t know anything and you always do everything wrong.”

But the young Changeling said back, “You’ll see what I can do, Mom!”

***

Mustic now had the full attention of the children. Cornelia, who was looking for her husband, sat nearby and started listening to him.

***

So Mustic left for the city. He stopped at every shop, asked every farmer and artisan to hire him, but each time one of them wanted to know what he was capable of. The honest Mustic answered: “I don’t know anything.” Of course, no one wanted to hire him after hearing that. At the last farm he presented himself as Mustic, though back at home his mother was always telling him how everything he did was wrong, so when the old farmer asked him what he knew, Mustic answered, “I can do everything.” He was hired on the spot.

All day long Mustic and the farmer bustled to cut wood and take out the weeds in the garden. When the night came, to reward him for his hard work, Mustic received a golden coin. On his way home, proud of himself for his first day of work, Mustic played with the coin and throw it in the air before catching it back, but a clumsy move made him lose the coin in a crook that runs alongside the road.

Greatly saddened, he came back home and told his mom about his misadventure, to which his mom replied, “Next time, Mustic, take what the farmer gave you and put it in this pouch. This way you will not lose the fruit of your labor.”

Mustic promised to do as his mom said and the next day he returned to work. This time he worked with the cows. To thank him for his hard work the farmer gave him a bucket filled with fresh milk. Mustic did exactly as him mom told him and emptied the bucket in his pouch to not lost it on the way home. He returned back completely drenched in milk. Listening to the tale of his son, the poor mother contained her rage and told him. “You must always keep in it contained what the farmer give you. You understand that, Mustic?” Mustic nodded his head.

The next day, after his work, he received a large pat of butter. To make sure the butter would not melt, the farmer asked Mustic to give him his hat and he put the butter in it before returning it to Mustic. The young Changeling left the butter in the hat and put it back on his head. The heat of his head melted the butter and it was with a face drenched in butter that he presented himself to his mother.

Everyone around Mustic seemed to have fun listening to the tale of the stupid Changeling, and Mustic did a good job at telling his story. He mimed each expression, acted like each character and he knew how to keep the attention of his small audience.

When Mustic finished telling his mom what happened, his mother said, “You were right to keep the butter in the hat, but you shouldn’t have put it back on. Look, take this saddlebag and you’ll put inside what the farmer will give you. You understand, dear?”

Mustic answered yes, he understood perfectly.

]Close by the farm where Mustic worked was a very pretty castle. Mustic admired it each time he passed by and he dreamed to earn enough money to be able to live there someday with his mother. He also noted that a youngling with a charming pink mane was on one of the many balconies of the domain and was always crying. Mustic was wondering what could possibly be the reason for her sadness, but gave it not further thought.

The next day after his work, the old farmer gave one of his many dogs to Mustic. Having no need for him anymore, he gave him this generous gift to thank him. Mustic accepted the gift with a lot of joy. Like his mother told him, he wanted to put his reward in the saddlebag. he tried to push the dog in the bag a paw after the other but soon realised the bag was too small to put the animal entirely inside it. Mustic find another solution, he put the saddlebag on the head of the animal, slid under him, and started to carry him. He wanted his mom to be proud of him and for once he would do it right.

The dog with a bag on his head struggled quite a lot and and soon both of them bit the dust. When he tried again to put the animal back in the bag, Mustic saw a tall Changeling approach him. It was the owner of the nearby castle. He presented himself to Mustic and immediately told him that his daughter has lost all pleasure in life and was crying everyday for years. He promised her hoof to anyone who would make his daughter smile. From the top of her balcony, the princess had spotted Mustic, and seeing his buffoonery she started laughing and laughing to no end.

“And so Mustic married the princess, became king, and lived with his mother in the castle. My friends, this proves that to become a king, one either needs to not know anything, or do everything wrong.”

Both children laughed and applauded Mustic for his story. Proud of himself, Mustic bowed to them.
“It was a really fun story, Mister,” said the younger one, not scared by Mustic anymore. “Can we hear another one?”

“Oh yes, our father never told us a story like that!” exclaimed the older brother.

Mustic looked at the sun, it was sunset already. “I would like to tell you two another story but it’s starting to get late, maybe you should return home before your parents start getting worried.”

Both the kid suddenly realised how late it was, and with a quick goodbye, they ran back home. Mustic was going to return home himself until he realised that his wife was here. “Honey!” He exclaimed, happy to see his wife. “How was your day?” he asked her.

“It was good,” she answered, coming closer to her husband and dropping a kiss on his forehead. “I’ve found what I was looking for and the owner accepted my offer on the stand after a bit of my natural charm,” she added, giggling while clapping her tongue on her fangs. “Who where those kids?”

“The kids. Hum... I do not know…” apologized Mustic.

Cornelia rolled her eyes in their sockets. “So two foals you don’t know come here and you tell them our story without even asking their name?” she said with a playful smile. “You’ll never change.”

Mustic for himself sighed and accompanied his wife. They both returned home to start preparing the supper.

Author's Note:

I want to apologize for the delay it took for this chapter to be complete. I swear the next one will take less time. Now I would like to hear your opinions about the story so far. I know there not much to it yet but do you guys enjoy it so far? Do you think I should jump a bit further in the future where tulip is a bit older? Or you want more backstory on the changeling culture etc..?

As for this chapter, I'm still not sure if I want to give the Changelings society a more Eastern feel or maybe something more related to ancient Egypt. Maybe mix a bit of everything to create something new? Right now I intend to go more over the Japanese culture but I'm still not sure if it will be enough. So before I can be sure of what I want the changeling society to look like I present you a bit of backstory on our protagonist.

Comments ( 36 )

i want more backstory on the changeling culture etc.

hi hi

Are we getting an unreliable narrator here? How is it that "their precious Sun leader," "almost annihilated a complete species," when Celestia was incapacitated almost immediately after Chrysalis revealed herself?

>Kyoto

So... Changelings are Japanese?

neat

6552827 I do use Japanese culture as a base for the Changeling society. Heh I'm happy someone got the reference.



6552824 Let's say you invade a country but it fail. Will you blame soldier number 65 because he killed one of your best general leading to you losing your attack or will you blame the ruler of said country. At that time Cadance and Shining Armor were not the ruler of another country and were only resources that Celestia could use. Blame the leader, not the soldier.

proofread prior to posting, please.

6552881 I'm confused ^^ The story have been proofread. Would you mind telling me what wrong?

6552848

Well, I was hoping to get some insight into the point of view of the narrator, but since you asked, I can tell you that I would not think it is an either-or situation like that. It may be true that initiating a war of aggression is "the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." (Robert H. Jackson)

But I would suggest that if Equestria does not have a Chain of Command, and/or Line of Succession for situations where their commander is incapacitated, killed, or otherwise unable to lead; then each fractured segment of the official hierarchy is responsible for its own decisions. If Equestria does have a Chain of Command, and/or Line of succession, (like in the US, with its Vice President, Speaker of the House, President pro tempore of the Senate, Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, etc. etc.) then it is the individual who is actually in charge at the time that shoulders the greatest responsibility for the actions of themselves and, to a point, the actions of their subordinates.

Also, when I look throughout history, I do not generally see chief executives receiving credit or blame for campaigns where they did not take a commanding role. It was Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, not Emperor Hirohito, who is generally viewed as responsible at the Battle of Midway; and rather than any Cartheginian Suffete or the Hundred and Four, it was Hannibal Barca who was generally credited during the Second Punic War.

6553140 You seem to know a lot more than me on the subject. I stand corrected. You have all my respect for showing the wrong in my point of view.

That was very well written and I loved the story!!! Great job once again Silver Fang. Waiting patiently(impatiently) for the next chapter.

AW! But a little back-story doesn't hurt, after all, if that story was real...why are they working on the farm right now?

6553455 We have a winner. :rainbowdetermined2:


6553402 Glad you liked the backstory and it will be explained later why :twilightsmile:


6553283 <3

Hey man, great story, I like the concept and I would like to know more about the changeling culture. You just need to fix some mistakes here and there. For instance, in this chapter you referred the male foal as 'filly', which is a term used for a female foal. There were also a few minor mistakes but overall not as bad as my first story. Keep up the good work

6553546

Haha thank. I intend to write more about their culture using the imperial Japanese as it base. I'll probably add some western culture in the mix. ^.^ Inbred royal family are so fun to write about :trollestia:

6553602 By the homeworld we wish to see one day. - Tali translation of Mass Effect 3.

6554817

Thank you ^.^ Don't forget to like the story so more people come read it.

6555841 No worries. Just found it while reading, so I thought I'd report it to you.

Also, re-reading a few lines, I see some things to could be altered for variety, but then again, that is a bias of mine. I am not a very big fan of redundancy when writing, even if I would be an idiot to deny myself the fault of being redundant at times during my chapter.

Liking the story so far, so please continue with what you're doing.

6556789 Yea I do hate repeating myself all the time like that D: But since English is not my first language and I still have lots of word to learn I don't really know with which word I would be able to replace the repetitive one.

I'm glad you liked the story and can't wait to post the next one ^^

6557051 Don't mind me, please.

If it can comfort you, English isn't my native language, but practice makes perfect, so I'll be rooting for you. C:

6557447 Hehe thank you ^.^ I shall return writing with renewed passion now!:rainbowdetermined2: :rainbowhuh: " 12poulet21 Invited you to play a game of ARAM" :twilightsheepish: Maybe after another game of Lol....


Changeling master race.

Omg is so cute i think i have diabettes....Love it so far keep them coming if you want to

dawwww you just bumped up this story from my Likes list to my FAVORITES list

That was cute, nice picture too, I guess the Changeling culture would be nice and some backstory on the family would be cute to see. Remind me tulip is a baby? there in Ponyville? I guess you could do backstory then something to do with Tulip interacting with other ponies.

Nice chapter, I hope everything will go well for Mustic and Cornelia.

Still wondering what role will Chryssie's soul play in the story.

Cya
Raziel-chan

6598051 She will have a major role in the story but it will take some time before it get here. You will have to wait for when tulip become a teenager. I'm glad you liked the story and can,t wait to bring more.

6600131 Ooooh, awesome! Can't wait to read more.

Cya
Raziel-chan

Comment posted by Luwden deleted Jul 30th, 2017

6552824

Year later, Aurora chimes in:

For that matter, why does the narrator make it sound like Celestia did a bad thing? For a race of emotivore quasi-predators they should understand that whatever happens to the aggressor is the fault of them for engaging in the first place. Just because the defender hits a LOT harder than the attacker doesn't make the defender a bad person, it makes the aggressor frickin' stupid for picking a fight with someone who can deck her whole species with a fucking Sekiha Love Love Tenkyouken.

7669910

It would certainly be unwise for a fox to try to attack a grizzly bear. Although your point does make me think of the old parable of the scorpion and the frog. (You'd think though, with self-awareness, someone would not be quite so beholden to base instinct.)

I'm guessing this ones dead?

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