A Changeling's Legacy

by DeltaFlame

Chapter Two - Return to Canterlot

Echo was well on his way to a new life. With a long journey ahead of him, he had a lot of time to sort out his thoughts about recent events. The Uprising, the defeat, the missing Queen, his uncertain future of his friendship with Static, and his plans for his future life as a free changeling. After a while, he got bored and started to think of songs and make up lyrics to them in his head, occasionally singing them out loud in a terrible key; nopony was around for miles, so he didn't care. Then, his boredom increased and he started to kick the same rock as he walked for about thirty more miles. Starting to feel hunger-pangs in his stomach, he looked around for anything he could eat. All he could spot out was a tree with some leaves on it, but no fruit. Flying up to it, he hesitantly tasted a leaf off of one of its branches. Surprisingly, it was good! He started eating quicker, realizing just how hungry he was, until all of the leaves on the tree were gone.

Still feeling hungry, he scanned the ground for any sort of bugs, as those were a delicacy for changelings. His eyes shifted back and forth at the ground in complete focus until he saw a patch of dirt rustle a bit; he snapped his forked tongue into the ground, peircing an earthworm like a pitchfork and lifting it out of the ground to eat it. Now feeling a little more satisfied, Echo continued on. But as soon as he stepped forward to go on, he collapsed for a few hours and slept like a foal, exhausted from having walked so many miles with so few breaks. When he woke up , he felt like never moving again, as his legs were worn out beyond measure. But he had to continue on until he found a suitable place to live with other creatures (preferably ponies) to interact with. He got up and kept going, using a little wing power to give his legs a rest.

As he walked for what seemed like hours overnight with no major setbacks, he finally began to see a sparkling silver city in the distance as the sun rose in the east. It was a strange-looking city, as it seemed to be embedded in the cliffside of the peaked mountain. And then, as he looked closer, the glimmering city was uncomfortably familiar. It was Canterlot Castle, the fortress of the very city he had regrettedly helped his former queen attack. Echo hadn't realized that he walked that direction, because he had forgotten which direction he came from before the lost Uprising. Echo began to panic as he turned the opposite direction and flew a little back to where he came from. But his determination stopped him; he looked back at Canterlot and stopped abruptly, hesitantly walking back in the direction of the now heavily-guarded fortress. He noticed some very strong-looking unicorn stallion sentry along the outermost walls, keeping a close lookout on any other possible threats. Echo then hid quietly behind a large rock along the base of the immense mountain and stopped for a bit, unsure of what to do; if he tried to transform into one of them, they might have some sort of newly-aquired spell to detect such impostors. A million different scenarios went through Echo's mind, most of them ending very badly in one way or another.

Suddenly, an idea snapped into his mind. He flew swiftly and quietly to the main entrance of Canterlot while keeping himself hidden, where the other ponies entering had to go through a newly-built magic forcefield which would block out all changelings. He examined the ponies entering closely for quite a while, trying to find the most snooty, uptight-looking one. And finally, Echo found him. A white stallion unicorn with a golden flowing mane and his snobby head held high in sheer pompousness, he was perfect for replication. Prince Blueblood was apparently his name, and Echo examined him quickly from a distance in order to shapeshift into him and attempt to enter in a more unorthadox way. From behind another nearby boulder, Echo transformed abruptly, and was now Prince Blueblood. After a while of waiting for the real Prince Blueblood to disappear into the city entirely, Echo finally revealed himself from behind the rock and inconspicuously joined the steady line of ponies that were also entering Canterlot.

Once he got to the forcefield, he stopped abrubtly before it could touch him. "Ahem." Echo stated in a rather rude tone, trying his best to be as snooty as possible. "Yes?" One of the guards replied in a gruff voice, obviously not amused. "Pardon me," Echo continued, "but I do not think I require such an insulting proof of my legitimacy, I believe my mere presence is proof enough." "Sorry," retorted the guard, annoyed, "but all ponies must pass through the shield. Its the new security measure." One of the other guards nudged him, rather worried. "Just let him through... he's Celestia's nephew. We don't want to make him mad, or he might bring her into this, and we don't want that either.... just go through, sir." The guard said to Echo, disguised as Blueblood, as he magically tore a temporary hole in the shield for Echo to pass through. "Thank you." Echo said back to the other guard. trying to hold back a snicker, giddy that his plan actually worked as he had hoped.

Now feeling safe, he then walked a bit through the streets of Canterlot, admiring all of its civilized glory, not at all like the dark and damp neon-green hives from which Echo had lived in before, under his Queen's rule. After a while, he decided it would be best to transform into a more inconspicuois pony of less stature, spotting a random black colt with a dark green mane and transforming into him while out of sight to avoid suspicion. "Hm," Echo thought to himself, "These colors actualy fit me pretty well... seeing as I'm a changeling." Once he started walking back into the busy main street, he saw something so amazing that it made his heart skip a beat. About thirty feet away, in the outdoor seating of a small café with expensive-looking bags next to her and sipping some Chamomile tea in a fragile china cup, was the most gorgous creature he had ever seen in his entire life; A rather thin white unicorn mare with a long and flowing pink mane and large purple eyes. Her name was Fleur de Lis.

Comments

[Perteks]

Erm still i don't know why its alternative universe, and damn short these chapters are.

[DeltaFlame]

This is my first real fanfic, I should probably add more detail. It feels much longer writing it than when reading it. :p It's an alternate universe because it will eventually cross over into a nonexistent MLP storyline that would never happen. Either that or I don't know the FiMFiction definition of an alternate universe.

[Lunar-Flare]

I am surprised he eats bugs since he practically is one. That caught me off guard, but it is always good to explore new story directions.

[Morphile]

1246680, I think he is going the flutter pony way of thought, in that changelings are a type of pony. And horses can eat meat in real life.