Chrystil Mist: Of a Changeling

by Bass Kick

1 - A Memoir of Self Neglect

I already know that I am an abnormally hideous creature. I do not need anypony outside of my mind's obscure bounds to tell me those words of truthfulness.

My eyes coat my feelings of sorrow with a thick, black rim of echoing darkness, my coat containing the dull color of smoke, mane even of an even duller pigment, as it keeps itself straight and untangled.

My heart is a dim and endless prison, as it has been breathing at a slower pace than the hearts of those around me. Pain is not what I feel, no. The uncontrollable feeling that I do sustain is of self-betrayal, a woeful characteristic of my presence in life that has brought me to unbearable points in time. Hate is what I feel.

Knowing of yourself as a spawn of an everlasting dread between evil and those around you is at most times intolerable. That is my dilemma; Trying to live as any other normal pony when I know I am not, in slight, normal at all.
I am an poison flower grown upon the garden of all ponies in Equestria. A spawn of hatred. I am a Changeling.

~ A Memoir of Self Neglect ~

After eighteen years of living in the shadows of various places accross Equestria, places even considered deathly, Chrystil's father had finally chosen for the two of them to settle down and live a calmer life style.

But he knew that from Chrystil Mist's perspective, the mere statement of those words meant chaos.

The idea of settling down at the time came about as ruthless towards Chrystil's safety. During their lifelong nomadism, the evils that she had tried to escape had always seemed to creep back into her life, no matter how peaceful she had become in the newer town. Chrystil saw moving as a way to prolonge the time before these evils would haunt her again, for it was no way she could actually dispel them.

Chrystil could never just sit and wait for the evils to find her. Moving was something that kept peace in her life. Settling down was not an option.

Though stern about the subject, Chrystil's fearfully stubborn views lightened as her father informed her on where he chose for them to move to the next morning at breakfast.

"They call the city Canterlot," Chrystil's father said in a youthfull, lighthearted voice that echoed throughout the dining room.

"Canterlot?" she repeated, her yellowish-green eyes gaining a more vibrant appearance to them as she became more intrigued.

Her father nodded. "I had already bought the transportation tickets, and I was informed that there are many townhouses open for rent."

The city of harmony that Chrystil had studied in her books brought about a golden heartbeat inside her whenever she merely read the context on it. And now she had the option as to spend the rest of her life there.

"I would love to live in Canterlot, father!" She said happily after recollecting her thoughts. Knowing that she was going to move to The City of Harmony created a heart-warming presence inside of her.

"Good," He replied in a tone just as cheerful as hers. "Then we shall leave tomorrow."

Chrystil enjoyed the rest of that morning sipping on a cup of soup at the makeshift dining table, her head filling with all of the wondrous thoughts of actually living in the golden city.

She had slept peacefully that night, dreaming of how the harmony of Canterlot would feel. Chrystil barely tossed and turned in her sleep, which was unusual due to the fact that she hadn't been able to sleep in weeks prior to.

In the morning Chrystil and her father were busy packing up as they cleaned all of thier belongings from the small barn that they had been residing in. Actually, they didn't have much to put in thier saddlebags, since they did not carry many belongings from town to town.

Chrystil's father was busy outside, collecting the sparse assortment of vegetables he had growing on a small strip of soil. Chrystil was done packing up her belongings when she watched him through the single window of thier hoof-crafted barn. Her heart became flooded with the blissful memories of them gardening.

She was just a filly when her father had shown her how to plant and tend to the flowers and food he had growing. They were at a different, more spacious house back then. Her father had a full garden set up, and each morning, she would watched him care for each plant with almost as much passion and love as he had gave to the young Chrystil. It wasn't until six that the filly had decided to help in his agriculture.

"Daddy, can I help?" she enthusiastically asked her young father. After a moment of thought, he agreed to teach her how to garden.

Chrystil wasn't that good at tending to the plants then, but she kept trying, and by the age of eleven she had started a small garden of her own beside thier large house.

Life was simpler at the time. That was until...

Chrystil shook her head violently, forcefully wiping away the dark memories that were trying to creep back into her mind. As she brought herself back into the present, she noticed that her father was done collecting the food and was all packed up.

"Shall we go now?" He said in a willing tone, standing at the open door.

"Yes," Chrystil simply said before grabbing a hooded cloth in her mouth and throwing it over her body, which covered up her Changeling features.

Entering Canterlot

Immediately following their deboard from a fancy piece of transportation that her study books called a train, Chrystil urged her father to push rent towards any available townhouse on the outskirts of Canterlot. He agreed to do so as to her pleasing, and guaranteed that in the next two hours she would be able to enjoy the privacy of thier new resting place.

After signing the last scroll that was laying out on the welcome table, her father slipped his saddlebags back on and left toward the town hall's exit, with Chrystil following close behind.

As she entered the crowded main streets of Canterlot, Chrystil had followed even closer behind her father, almost as in hiding, as they walked down the wide paths.

The mare had her eyes almost fully shut during the walk, looking down at the stone street paths. She could not afford to have her Changeling identity exposed to the hundreds of ponies and dozens of armored guards that they passed. Whenever greeted, she would try to act as normal and polite as possible towards the pony.

Throughout the whole walk, Chrystil trully wished that she was a full-bred Changeling then; She could have simply disguised herself as any pony she had passed, and would have at least felt as if she belonged. But fate is fate, and Chrystil was stuck in her hybrid form as it was.

After what seemed like hours of fatigable walking, Chrystil and her father had finally reached their townhouse on the outskirts of Canterlot. The streets alone, however, had stirred up a reluctant feeling in Chrystil. Her heart and mind were debating on whether she would feel at home in the new city.

What was I thinking? I had willingly agreed for us to move into the most populated city in all of Equestria, with Manehattan just under it, she thought to herself while standing at the entrance sidewalk to the house.

Crystalia's father had noticed the emotions that his daughter was currently going through, and lightheartedly pushed her to take a look inside of the house. "Go on," He said in a soft voice. "I think that you will like our new home.

After a long contemplation of staring at the townhouse's entrance doors, Chrystil decided to enter the building with an expression of enthusiasm so that she could please her kind-hearted father.

And when she entered, Chrystil found that her father wasn't the only one pleased.

As soon as she stepped one hoof into the house, Chrystil was overwhelmed with a presence of tranquility. The air that flowed through the townhouse's hallways had described what she thought was the feeling of gold. The living room was neatly spaced and arranged for a hundred-year-old town house, and the shining wooden floors and white walls created an ambience of peace.

This was the sanctuary that she had been looking for her entire life had and gradually orbited to. This was Chrystil's home.

The small family had finally been able to settle down in the house at around the time when Princess Celestia departed the sun and Princess Luna rose the moon.

Chrysil was in her nicely spaced upstairs bedroom, looking into her mirror at her Changeling image.

She unwrapped the bandages from around two of her legs that she had in place to hide her "deformities". The bandages had covered holes in both her hind right and front left legs. Holes that reminded her who she was every time she had the courage to look upon herself in a mirror. But today made her feel more lighthearted about her image.

I don't look that bad, Chrystil thought to herself as she examined the dark grey figure that was standing in the mirror. She fluttered her eyes to catch a gleam of light that sparkled in them. To be honest, Chrystil had the idea in her mind that her eyes were the most, if not only, beautiful part on her. She started to take pride in the black rims that lined her irises after more that eighteen years of looking at them.

Chrystil felt a cool breeze of air wisp through her body, from head to hoof. She let out a sigh of utter enjoyment; the feeling that she had gained was delightful. A smile was casted upon her slim face as her heart turned to ice, and melted. Almost literally.

She fell back onto her bed, giggling. "My heart has never felt like that before," she said aloud to herself. Actually, her heart had gone through many strange feelings throughout her life, happening at sporadic times. And when the feelings did randomly occur, it was a different one each time. The one Chrystil had just felt, though, was the most pleasurable.

After moving strands of straight hair that covered her face out of the way, she gazed up at the mirror.

"I have finally found my home," she said with a smile.

Just then, a loud knocking was heard at the door downstairs. "Open up!" a booming voice commanded.

~ A Memoir of Self Neglect ~

Welp, this is the end of chapter one! Please tell me if you found any errors, or if you don't like the ending... because I didn't really like it, myself. Thought it was kinda dull.

But don't worry! There will be more of a plot progression as the story moves on, adding more characters and conflicts!

Comments

[Tricky-Step]

Question before I read, can she shapeshift?

[Kittuar]

I have read not so good hybrid stories. This isn't one of them. I love it. Perfectly paced, with an air of mystery around it. And cliffhanger, don't forget the cliff hanger.

[Bass Kick]

>> Tricky-Step
Sadly, being a Hybrid, she cannot shapeshift, so no. But she does have other qualities...

[Kittuar]

849731
If you read it, it would say no.

[reader of the night]

Great story, its a bit sad but it also speaks of hope.
I really like that, keep up the good work.

[Cookieo]

Liked and favorited, but just to let you know, you misspelled Canterlot every time that you said it.

Anyway, this is pretty well-written and has lots of possibilities. I'm looking forward to your next update.

[Arco Iris]

decent but not that good, work on introducing the main character

[Tricky-Step]

So her not shapeshifting makes sense to the conflict. Is it me, or is the last part of the story needlessly underlined? During the beginning, I wasn't sure what was meant by "evils" Also, why move to Canterlot? Establish more motives and explanations on why things are happening within the story - but you don't need to do it with dry exposition. There are creative ways of doing this. I'll track this story.

[Ziggrrauglurr]

Agree with the previous comments. It does have potential, please do follow through.
Please double check the underlining, it seems like there's a missing closing bracket.

Couple of minor mistakes:
... and her father had finally reached thier townhouse...

And the city is Canterlot, as far as I know. At the beginning I thought that Chrystil said "Chanterlot" because of some slight speaking disability, which would be cute and an interesting character quirk. But I realize you call the city as such the rest of the story.

[Bass Kick]

Thank you so much for the constructive feedback, guys! I believe that I corrected every word "Canterlot" now, and fixed "their", as well as with the underline error. Just tell me if you spot any more mistakes; this story was kind of in a proof-reading state, anyway. Anyways, thanks again!

What each of my viewers have earned: So *Awesome*!!!

[Gabriel LaVedier]

I always give hybrid fics an even shake. There is something touching and sweet about them. In general they usually mean there was a romantic tale told in the past. So I came in with a certain bias towards the story.

It was... Nice. It suffered from a case of poorly-integrated purple prose, the characters felt bland and dry, there were no real explanations of why they had to move so often or why just looking at somepony would get her in trouble, and, most unfortunately, where her mother is.

It's not bad. It just has issues. Small ones. Though you flubbed a few lines, as though your own vocabulary bluescreened and had you put up what was inapplicable to the intended sentence idea. If I wasn't on my phone and forced to be slow about typing I'd point out specifics.

[Deathpony]

cant wait for the next chapter when is it?

[Bass Kick]

>> Deathpony
The next chapter will probably come around in a week or so, or maybe even a few days... till then,

[Mr. Haze]

Interesting....

[Mr. D the Pony]

Definitely looking forward to the rest of this story. I would say that it is lacking a lil' bit in character development, but I'm going to go ahead and assume that's to keep an air of mystery and said problem will be alleviated in future updates.

Over all I like it, this is the first hybrid story I've read but it is an interesting premise, & I hope her condition is explained in more detail.

Also, I hope, "...as her heart turned to ice, and melted. Almost literally." is explained somehow, such as part of her condition or something, because that is an, unusual?, thing to write. & Chrystil is around thirty, correct?

[Bass Kick]

Actually GrimReap2, I did this in my writing of the story on purpose to create a fog of mystery around the story. You will find more to Chrystil's character as the story progresses, believe me
Also, Chrystil is nearing her twenties. Sorry if I destroyed any dreams that you had prior to my explanation

[Mr. D the Pony]

856169
Mkay, I figured as much, and no, no dreams crushed, was just trying to get a sense of how she changed when she became a hybrid.

"She started to take pride in the black rims that lined her irises after more that eighteen years of looking at them."
&
"...and by the age of eleven she had started a small garden of her own beside thier large house. Life was simpler at the time. That was until..."
those two lines add her age to 29, assuming the eyes were a part of the change to a hybrid, which I, wrongly, assumed they were.