Only a matter of time
I awaken in a spotlight, my blurred eyes and dizziness keeping me from doing much of anything.
“Ow, my head...What's going on? Where am I?” I pondered to myself.
“That's what I'd like to know as well.” A familiar tone, but no one I knew personally. I tried to correct my vision as best as I could and looked around and there I saw it, or rather, her sitting across from me in a spotlight of her own.
“Queen Chrysalis!? I knew you were behind this entire plan!” I exclaimed, as if breaking a century old case.
“Child, I've not met you before in my life. And as for this plan, do you not notice the chains on my body holding me in place? Why would I chain myself with somepony as obviously moronic as yourself?” She berated, barely able to keep herself awake.
“Well considering how badly your Canterlot plan went, I just assumed you'd have done something that stupid sooner or later.”
“Excuse me?! My plan was foolproof!”She growled, offended.
“Uh huh. I wonder where I am.” I tapped my chin.
“Don't ignore me! You're a pathetic waste of space! You should be on the ground begging for my attention!” Her voice rising in anger.
“Pathetic? Nigga please, I'm flawless.” I shook my head, causing my hair to breeze around me. Totally fabulous.
“Now, now. You two shouldn't be fighting.” A voice echoed from the darkness.
“Who are you, and why do you sound like I want to punch you?” I deadpanned into the shadows.
“He just sounds like that, but there are more pressing matters at hand.” A sensually seductive voice echoed aswell.
“Holy crap your voice is hot!” I screamed in excitement.
“Thank you. It has brought many a stallion to bow to my will,” the voice replied.
“But Morgan Freeman, how did you get here?”
“....”
*Click Click*
“NO, MARISSA PUT THAT DOWN!” The first voice panicked. The sounds of them fighting over what I assume to be a gun was both troubling and entertaining.
“Boy,” Chrysalis suddenly spoke to me. “Who are you?”
“I'm Shifting Sands, apparently, and why do you care?” I raised my eyebrow in suspicion.
“You are still a changeling, and therefore, I am your queen. I am responsible for you, but tell me, how is it you managed to survive? You're obviously too young to be on your own.” Her eyes narrowed. She was trying to get this information for another reason. What on earth could it be?
“I'm being taken care of by Ce-”
“IT'S TIME TO GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!” shouted the Morgan Freeman pony.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on there, Jigsaw. First off, who are you? Secondly, why am I here? Thirdly, why is SHE here? Fourthly, and the most important question of them all, why am I here?” I questioned to her.
“Shifting Sands, we are your brother and sister. Marissa and Darius.” They stated
“Lies! I was adopted.” I screamed.
“Why don't you ask Chrysalis.” Marissa replied.
“Chrysalis, you have kids?” I said, laughing a bit. It had to be a joke.
“Indeed I do. You see, every now and again, while preforming the task of feeding my subjects, I preform some...necessary duties. In these duties I do from time to time bare children. It's not that big a deal, really.”
“Come on, Chrysalis. Tell the full story!” Darius screamed.
“I have no idea what you mean.” She turned her head, smiling in her secret.
“You don't 'just have kids.' You plan them out!”
“She does what now?” I reeled back, a bit taken, by surprise.
“Each half-bred changeling has unique traits about them. Special kinds of magic, multiple things to feed off of. Like my sister and I, who feed on attention.”
“Ok. That's nice. Seriously, I'm having a hard time caring about any of this. Get to the point.” I started yawning.
“Fine, we'll give you the short version. Each time Chrysalis has attempted an heir, she abandoned them, left them to fight on their own if they were lucky enough to hatch. That is, until recently.”
“Nooo..” Seeing where this story was going, I did not like it one bit.
“She gave life to a new changeling, one with very unique talents. Unique even among her other children.”
“No, no, no...”
“She handed this changeling over to someone she believed would take care of him, regardless of what his kind did.”
“NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!”
“Under the guise of a poor, miserable pony, she gave you to Princess Celestia. But why would she do this? What about you would cause her to hand you over to the enemy?”
“BUCK YOU! STOP CONVOLUTING MY LIFE MORE THAN IT ALREADY IS!” I began shaking my head, rejecting everything they had to say.
“Our father, who specialized as a master manipulator, gave us our special magic. Telepathy and Illusions. All we have told you is straight from her own mind. However there's a part we can't get to, a place where the information stops. It's like it's not there. We thought if we brought you here first, the rest would just show up, but nothing.” Darius stated, as if he'd practiced the line for years in his own head.
“Nope, I am not getting involved in this. I just wanna return to being human!” I stood screaming into the darkness.
“You were human...?” Marissa gasped.
“Yes, I was. Why? Do you know of them?” I raised a brow.
“Yes, we used to be humans too. We didn't think there were others!” Darius said, getting excited.
“Hahaha...humans...haha! You think you can ever be human again? My poor deluded children, you can't return to being what you never were.” Chrysalis mocked, grinning as if she'd assured victory.
“Say what now?” My interest had been piqued.
“Oh! You didn't know? My children, those bodies you inhabited, those human shells, nothing more than that. Shells. You see, while the changeling grows in their cocoon, the changelings mind is placed inside a fresh and empty vassal, this is where the changeling grows mentally. I believe on the human earth they're called 'stillbirths' yes? Anyway, that body only 'lived' as long as you were in it, and obviously you're not in it anymore. Are you?” Her voice filled with cruel satisfaction, held in a sarcastic motherly tone.
“I-I- You- H-How can that-? W-W- You mean I'm...”
“Dead? Yes, in a way. Changelings have a subtle, passive magic about them while they are in human form. It forces a horrible life upon them, pain, anger, hunger, every horrible thing you could think of is caused by their passive magic. When the changelings mind returns to it's body during infancy, it has an insatiable need, a hunger for something it never had. Love. The changeling is then taught how to feed on love by turning into another pony, but the love they get as another never fills the void they feel in their heart. They never feel loved for who they thought they were. And thus our holes are made.” She lectured.
“Why are you telling me this?” I began to withdraw.
“You don't seem to be very hungry. You're an infant, but you aren't searching for a source of love. Why? You should be running around begging for love from every creature you see, yet here you are, calm and collected...I don't like that, and I want to know why!” She screamed.
“I had a loving mom, why does it bother you so much that I didn't lose myself to some strange hunger?” I shook my head and realized what I had said. I honestly thought I wasn't going to get involved in this. When I refocused my eyes back on Chrysalis, she was...less than happy. She was baring her fangs and glaring daggers.
“I think playtime is over, kiddies. Shifting Sands, mama needs to speak with you.” She said, rising to her hooves.
Marissa screamed “Don't try anything! Those chains on your body-”
“Are fake. Your father's illusions couldn't fool me, and yours are leagues below his.” She sneered as the chains broke and disintegrated into nothing. The world of shadow faded and revealed a large cave. She began walking towards me, her eyes glowing like hot coals. “A cave? Last time I checked, you were changelings, not common filth. If you wanted to keep me prisoner you should've done it right and used a castle. Why must all my children be failures?”
“Mama needs to check herself 'fore she wrecks herself! WHOOWAH!” I leaped at her horn first, but she caught my attack in a magical field and brought me to her, levitating me through the air. “This went down a whole lot differently in my head.”
“Put him down!” Darius and Marissa screamed, blasting bolts of electric magic at her, missing every shot.
“Oh come on! She's right here,” I pointed. “Also! Marissa, you look like a bad Luna OC.”
“HA! You owe me twenty bits, Marissa.” Darius shouted in glee, despite the dire situation.
“Shut up and shoot!” Marissa retorted, continuing to fire small bolts at her, still managing to miss the motionless target that was standing right in front of them.
“I'm afraid I don't have all day, children.” Chrysalis jeered, staring at me with immeasurable contempt. Their magic bullets were STILL missing her.
“Oh for the love of god...JUST HIT THE STUPID HORSE-BUG ALREADY!” I screamed, panic in my voice.
“Right, I think we're done here.” Chrysalis calmly let out before giving off a shockwave of magic knocking my "saviors" into unconsciousness.
“I'm so screwed.”
“Don't worry, I don't want to hurt you. I just want to explain some things to-AH!” Winona had bitten Crysalis' back leg, disrupting her attention and dropping me from her magical field. Winona let go and ran towards me, barking. I had no idea what she was saying, but I jumped on her back and we rode out of the cave into a forest, bobbing and weaving through trees, jumping over tree trunks and rocks.
“ONWARD MY LITTLE PUPPY! WE RIDE!” I screamed into the sky, enjoying my freedom. But that was short lived. Winona froze in her tracks, her eyes green and her mouth agape. I muttered, “Buck my life.”
Chrysalis held my body in a magical grip once more and made her way to us. “Shifting Sands, would you like to know a little story?”
“No”
“Too bad. Once upon a time there was a queen, she was beautiful and powerful-”
“Didn't know you were into fantasy.”
“SILENCE!”
My eyes opened wide and I clenched my mouth shut.
“Where was I? Oh right, the queen was beautiful and powerful. She took care of her loyal subjects with pride. She took it upon herself to take care of their every need, she found it to be easy, effortless even. Though the queen knew it would not always be so easy to care for her kingdom, so she made a decision. She would make way for an heir who would help her feed the kingdom and one day take over and protect it. So each time the queen went to feed her kingdom, she gave life to new children. These children were very diverse in abilities, but time and time again the queen saw their flaws. Flaws that would no doubt be the downfall of the kingdom she worked to maintain.”
“Does this story have a point? I'm kind of falling asleep here.” I yawned.
“We're almost done. Just be quiet and listen to the story. The queen had begun to give up hope, all her children lacked what she needed in an heir: POWER! That is, until one day she happened upon a knight as she was preparing to feed her kingdom once more. She and the knight laid down together in love. The queen did not know it yet, but she was pregnant with the knight's child, and that child would be her saving grace. A few days later, the queen had failed in her attempt to feed her kingdom. She had attempted to take another and was forced out.
"The queen didn't think much of the failure, and carried on attempting to feed her kingdom as usual. But there was a shame she could not live down in that failed attempt, shame that always bit at the back of her mind. It was in that shame that she gave life to the knights son, but this only enraged the queen. A reminder of her failure, she would destroy this reminder just for some small peace of mind. She readied herself to destroy the child with the powerful magic she had mastered-”
“I thought you said we were almost done.”
“Interrupt me again and see what happens. I dare you.”
“Sorry...”
“Right. She let out a large volume of magic at the child, not wanting a single iota of him to see the light of day again. The magic struck him, but the child remained, unaffected. It seemed to be smiling, in fact. The queen approached this child and gave a small stream of magic into his teeny tiny head. Still, he remained unaffected.
"She wondered what was happening, so she made a large orb of magic and placed it on him. And to her surprise, the orb began to shrink, and shrink, and finally vanish into the child. She poked repeatedly, asking how this was possible, but with each touch she found herself a little weaker. She realized... the child could absorb magic, even through such simple means as contact, the queen was stunned. The perfect heir had finally arrived, her defeat was truly a victory, but even then she wanted revenge for the humiliation she suffered.
"So she devised a plan. She would take part of her own consciousness and place it in her child, she then would give that child up to the kingdom that defeated her, being ruled by his base emotions of hunger and lacking any real will, he would become more and more like his mother. And once his power was ripe, he would force his rule into place, and the kingdom would bow to him. And if they didn't, he would destroy them all. But a while after she gave him up, she met him once more, though she didn't know it right away. When she did learn, she was shocked to see the child had a mind all his own.
"This was bad for the queen's plan, as that would mean the child could end up suppressing his mothers consciousness. She had to fix this, and she did it by telling him that if he dared to push back against her plan, her consciousness would not only fight him for supremacy until his death, she would rain down destruction on that kingdom again and all in his name. His true name, prince Variance. He would lose everything he ever cared for, and more. The end.” She smiled, placing me gently back on Winona.
“I can't believe it...you're...in my, your mind is...that thing that's been taunting me...and you planned on me...you turned me into a-a-”
“I believe the correct term is 'sleeper cell' and yes, I did.”
“I believe the correct term is time bomb! Why would you do such a thing?! Don't you care about how I feel in all this?”
“No”
“I'm your son! You even said I was the perfect heir...”
“You are.”
“You're my real mom...and you don't even care...”
“Aw, Variance, don't say that. I never said I didn't love you, I do.”
“Y-You do..?” A small smile crept onto my face.
“Of course I do. If I didn't love you I would have never given you the warning, I would hate to do something drastic and hurt my child.” She began nuzzling me.
“Why do you even have to do this? The revenge will only make you happy...” My voice began to sink as I turned my head down.
“Variance,” She turned my head to look at her, “Listen to what mama has to say. Mama loves you, she truly does, but while she loves you...” Her eyes began to glow and a horrible smile grew on her face “She loves herself more.”
“Y-You're a bitch!”
“Well, at least you know which side of the family you get it from. Now be a good changeling and take a nap.” She shot a small beam into my chest and I fell into a slumber of pure darkness. When I awoke, I found myself still on Winona's back, emerging from the Everfree forest, we made our way past Fluttershy's cottage, into the middle of Ponyville. She started sniffing the ground, looking for a scent and when she caught it she made her way to it. I closed my eyes again, still tired from Chrysalis spell, and heard faint gasps, whispers and the like. I heard the noise of a worried mother, a scared sun princess crying out in joy, but breaking through that noise, in my head, was a voice. It chanted loudly and victoriously.
“Long live the queen”
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- The ancient one · 36k words · 336 23 · 12k views
- Astrocity · 44k words · 352 14 · 7k views
- SentientHydra · 34k words · 397 27 · 7.6k views
- The Psychopath · 16k words · 327 17 · 6.1k views
- Zephyrus Scary · 98k words · 1,711 63 · 31k views
- The Psychopath · 21k words · 289 23 · 6k views
- The Psychopath · 34k words · 623 53 · 15k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.18 seconds
Total duration
664 users online
712,850 hits today, 2,167,270 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Nice Chapter. Many truths have now been revealed. Looking forward to more!
How could you do this to us?!? This is the perfect cliffhanger, how can you possibly mark this as complete? Please say you're planning a sequel, and not just planning on leaving the resolution of everything up to the reader.
1297619
While "Unexpected Changeling" is over, the story revolving around his life is not.
It's just we moved past his "Baby" phase and we're moving on to the next.
So yes, there will be sequels...though it would be funny if i did leave it up to the reader...heheh.
Buck me, this is gonna be good. Can't wait until the sequel comes out.
*prepares his popcorn for consumption*
heck yes! Moar stuff
ahhhh yeah babey
-wargod
Need more, this shit is too good.
1298507
And you will get more! The story isn't over, just this phase of his life.
1298590 Ya I guessed as much. I am wondering when the sequal will be out? sometime in the next month or so, I expect you to have to write the plot and so on. Congrates on making a very good fic and one that I am looking forward to seeing a sequal to.
1298610
When it will come out? Not sure, I want to try a few things before I get him back into the spotlight.
1298633
Im just worried that you could get side tracked and not finish.
Like what?
You may wanna add at the end
"Baby tales over up next teen years"or something like that just saying
1298653
Stuff :P
Don't worry, i won't get side-tracked.
1298686
I would...but i kinda like seeing people freak out about "IS IT OVER!?"
Sick, i know.
LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!
[img] http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/025/c/f/rainbow_sieg_heil_by_rockdavote-d4nlpk6.jpg [/img]
you better continue or PREPARE FOR UNFORESEEN CONSEQUENCES.
Great chapter more please
1304512
What are you confused about?
1304971
SPOILERS FOR ALL WHO HAVE NOT READ YET!
OK? Good!!
He is her son, and she named him "Prince Variance"
After learning he could absorb magic, she decided revenge was in her reach. So she placed part of her consciousness inside of him. She then gave him up to princess Celestia as a "sleeper cell"
Because he has part of her mind in him, he would eventually grow up to be more like her, both physically and mentally over the years. Once full grown the piece of her inside him would make him attack Canterlot and take it over. Thus bringing about her revenge.
She could only do this with Shifting Sands/Variance, because her other children had glaring holes in their powers. Such as Marissa and Darius illusions being shattered as soon as the "target" realizes it's not real. Shifting Sands gains power from both love and magic, meaning he could easily take over a kingdom and protect one. However, he doesn't want to do any of that, so Chrysalis tells him if he tries to back out of it, she will attack again and blame him for it. Thus turning everyone he loved against him, seeing him as a traitor.
Better?
1305123
The piece of her mind that's inside him. Throughout the story it has changed how he's acted. It's changed what he's seen and how he's seen them. Her consciousness would fight him, mess with him, bring up his hurt past, and if it happens when she's attacking, they wouldn't really know what to think.
Currently, he doesn't have the mental stamina or self confidence to resist. As far as he believes, he killed his mom. And with knowledge of a changelings passive magic, that would only further the self destruction.
He wouldn't want to risk others lives, and that piece of Chrysalis knows this. This is why it screams "Long live the queen", it's that piece of her reminding him of his place, while at the same time screaming in victory over him.
!!!SPOILERS AND MAJOR SPECULATION AHEAD!!!
1305193
Hmm. If Shifting Sands were a smart pony, I would disagree with you...
Several things can be pulled from these statements. For starters, it implies that placing the mind into a human shell to develop is by no means a natural process. This would mean that whatever human life a changeling had beforehand never existed in the first place. It's just a manufactured construct designed to play out badly from the start. This is forced onto the changeling in order to mould its mind into one that has never known and can never accept real love.
From this, we can theorize that if a newborn changeling were brought up in a normal environment and allowed to develop naturally, both in mind and body, it would be no different than any other pony foal. It would know the love of its family. The mental disassociation wouldn't be there to prevent it from accepting love. It wouldn't even have the holes in its body as that void would be filled.
If Shifting Sands were allowed to develop naturally instead of what Chrysalis forced on him, he could potentially have been happy, with none of the deficiencies brought about by his former "human life" to plague him. All of his pain and misery are her doing. Realizing this, all of the anger and hatred he held toward himself for his mother's death and his horrible life afterward would find a new target in her.
In short, if Shifting Sands were a smart pony, he would be absolutely furious with Chrysalis; using every physical and mental faculty he had to rebel against her. He would stop blaming himself for everything, and would start fighting his manufactured fate...
But he isn't a smart pony. Chances are he's not going to figure this out until, say, right around the climax of the Part 2.
1308268
To keep things spoiler free i can't really confirm or deny much you say.
However, the human life they had did exist. The point was to show they are magical creatures by nature, but they are also dysfunctional creatures too. In the human world they grow intelligent, maybe even powerful, then are snatched away into their real bodies where their inability to accept things strips them of their free will. They then "break" and start living as a normal changeling would, stealing love from others. Why? Gonna explain that later in part two (or at the very least hint at the reason), anyway! A stillbirth in the human world is likely to become a shell for a changeling, if shifting sands had developed without Chrysalis interfering he still would have his holes. There's some things about Shifting's Past I've yet to reveal.
Also, on shifting's mental thinking, he is faaaaaaaaaaar from smart XD
Please tell me there is a sequel!!!!
1311568
There will be in the future.
Dafuq is happening.
1312868
Huh?
This is what I thought when I saw "Nigga please"
cdn.ebaumsworld.com/mediaFiles/picture/527873/80462491.jpg
I think I know where this is going.
Long live the queen = He loved Big Brother
That's a bad sign.
wait...first his name is Ian than it was Shifting Sand and now it's Prince Variance?
1377055
Ian- Human name.
Shifting Sands- The name Celestia gave him.
Prince Variance- The name Chrysalis gave him.
1464531
There are multiple fanon universes of MLP. Pinkie being crazy is only one of them.
1464726
Yeah, I know.
Small warning though, chapter 7 is not the best. I had to work through writers block.
1464931
Is there really a difference in this show?
1299643 Somehow greasy burnt popcorn? A backwards escalator? Writer's bl... not that one.
I heard that babies were impressionable, but "Long live the Queen"? Really?
1465096
It's Chrysalis consciousness taunting him.
"Long live the queen" being another way of saying "I'm here to stay" to him.
1464938 Sure, I mean the poison joke wasn't strong, just very strange
1465124 Oh, I was thinking of a chorus by the hive saying it.
Hard to believe this is your first fic. Original idea, good humor, cruel/hardcore pranks...
1465253
Thank you.
I saw your comment on the sequel about the humor, there will be more humor. I just need to set up the tone of the series, comedy is my tool to take off some of the weight on the reader.
1478004
His reason for acting the way he does, it's pretty much explained by spike.
Ok, I have a question. If he was in that cocoon shell most of his life,
How does he know a lot about the my little pony characters before he
even seen, heard, or met them when he emerged from his shell?
1614156
As explained in the chapter, when a changeling is born, their mind takes over a human shell. The shell is a stillborn child, and the body remains active until the changeling mind leaves. He knows about MLP characters because it's a different universe, when he lived in his human host, MLP was a show he watched and felt attached to for obvious reasons. So when he came back to his changeling body, he had full knowledge of the characters.
My thoughts whilst reading, mainly
ponysquare.com/file/pic/pages/2012/05/5c96b2ecd1127ce3ead276476218bf43.jpg
But overall after finishing
static.fjcdn.com/comments/What+did+I+just+read+_cd140e80aebc204f38770028f8537961.jpg
static4.fjcdn.com/comments/3840681+_310ecc01a8baae1ad7770b0551ec7387.jpg
static4.fjcdn.com/comments/WTF+did+I+just+read+_28208a99d4d0882a250cdc51177dd4f9.png
1631242
Psst...the second picture didn't load!
1631249 Never mind. The first one has the same effect!!!
And for some reason I have decided to see if there is a sequel, and I think I may need this soon....
scranton.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw7815-MLP_internet.jpg
1631258
Here you go
1723583
This was actually a concept I was playing around with when I wrote the story, I wrote it with the idea that they were inside his head. Darius and his sister using mental magic, and Chrysalis because part of her mind is in him. However, due to my inexperience and over excited nature, I forgot to actually write those details in. So now it just stands as a testament to me, one of the mistakes I remember not to make.
1730334 How has anyone but Luna been an ass to him? ... and he just is... he literally yelled at and tried to hurt everyone he has come into contact with and he is insulting and mean spirited. I think the only kind thing he ever did was protect Fluttershy from that one pony as Iron Will (by threatening and verbally abusing the fellow I might point out) and the only kind thing he ever thought or said was probably to the Cake twins (who worked with him to abuse Pinkie Pie and ruin her day).
And just because almost no one... kind of.. most of the time... can understand him, and his ability to cause harm to others is limited by his baby strength doesn't mean the intent to cause harm and insult others doesn't make him an ass.
1730506
Think of it as backlash. He was bullied, had an abusive father, and believes he killed his mother. All that negativity has to go somewhere, and from what I researched on children with those problems, they do actually tend to turn out as bullies themselves. He can't, so his next best option is to just be mean. He does grow out of it though, as shown in the sequel.
1732180
I only used the editor for chapter 8.
I left this chapter the way it is, as a way to remind me of one of the many mistakes I made back then. I"ll probably re-write the chapter at some other point, but currently it stands as a testament to my inexperience when starting out.
1730610 Well, truth be told I wasn't being that deceptive at the time. And the fact that the day after I posted that comment the next chapter was released that shredded light on all that jazz.
Now that I look back, I should have payed more attention. Ah well, can't win them all.