Shivering Cold
Chirp!
One of the residents ear twitched whilst they slept.
Chirrrp!
“Hmmm? You say some'n hon?” A stallion asked sleepily whilst raising his head.
“Go back to sleep,” his mare muttered.
Chirrrp!
“I think something might be hurt out there.” The stallion yawned as he rolled out of bed onto the cold floor. He cursed the weather team for this late fall downpour. He shook his light blue and white striped mane back. “I’ll be back hon.”
“Mhmm.” His bed mate rolled over trying to get back the perfect comfy she once had.
The dark grey unicorn stallion descended the stairs leading to the entrance hall. He had lived here many many years and didn't even need light to navigate the home. Even without conscious thoughts he knew to skip the fourth step from the bottom to avoid the loud groan from the wood.
Chirrrp!
He looked through the window lining the door to the porch. Sitting just at the top of the stairs outside was a tiny equine silhouette. It raised its head upward.
Chirrrp!
“Oh sweet Celestia! There’s a foal out there!” The stallion flicked the switches for both the inside and outside lights simultaneously. He quickly opened up the door to help the poor lost soul. The scrambling of hooves was heard as the foal dove under the patio furniture.
Chirp.
“Hello?” The stallion looked around for the source of the sound. “It's ok little one, I’m not gonna hurt you.”
Chirp.
‘Ah there you are!’ He thought to himself. Lying down on his belly he peeked under the outdoor couch.
The rain decided now was a good time to quicken its pace. Thunder and lightning also decided to make their appearance.
“Come on out little one.” A pair of entirely light blue glowing eyes stared back at him.
‘Are they blind with cataracts or something?’
“Dear is everything ok?”
The figure under the couch glanced quickly at the new voice before returning to the stallion.
Chirp.
“It’s ok. It's ok. Sh sh sh shhh.”
“What is it?” The mare asks.
“It’s a foal, but they’re extraordinarily scared.” The stallion shivered a bit. “It's getting colder and I have no idea how long they’ve been out here.”
At that moment the foal expelled a small sneeze, Achu.
“Oh no the poor things gonna get sick, we have to help them.” The mare sat next to her stallion and draped a wing over his back.
He sat back up and leaned into the embrace. “I could just yank them out with magic but that’s probably make things worse.”
She rubbed her snout into his shoulder, “Yeah that could be bad.”
They turned their attention back to the couch to see a small black snout poking out. It was sniffing the air almost desperately. The small up down motions with each small sniff were adorable.
“See, its ok. Come on out.” The orange mare motherly intoned.
Achu
“Oh dear. The poor little guy had to have been out here a while. We’ve got to get them inside, just use your magic. Be very gentle with them though.”
“Yes hon, I know how to handle a foal.” He lit his horn up with a light blue aura. The area behind the foal glowed the same color and slowly moved forward, pushing the body out from under the love seat.
The black foal scrambled and whimpered as their hiding place shrank. It let out another chirping sound but this time seemed stressed, as one would imagine it would be.
“Sh sh shh. It's ok little one. We aren't gonna hurt you.” The pegasus reassures. “It's gonna- oh my word.” She said lifting a hoof to her chest.
“Honey, it's… it's a changeling!” The unicorn male started to lose the compassion he once held for this lost foal.
The little changeling felt the change in them and started to fuss. Truly its fuss wasn’t that bad, it made a louder chirping sound and tried once again to go back under the couch.
“Shield, you stop that right now! You’re scaring them.” The orange pegasus looked back at the miniature black bug pony. She laid on her belly with her chin resting directly on the floor. “Come here sweetheart, no one’s gonna hurt you.” The voice she used was almost disgustingly sweet and caring. It was a voice she developed through years upon years of working with yearlings.
It seemed to have a positive effect on the changeling. They stopped squirming and chirping, choosing to look curiously at the downed pegasus.
“Ho-"
“Shh.” She cut off her husband. “Come on.” She smiled a smile that could melt ice.
Chirp?
“See, its ok.” She said a little louder to make sure the stallion heard her as well.
Achu, the little bug pony sneezed. Its eyelids starting to droop, their resistance to moving growing weaker, and a big yawn followed. The two little white nubs of fangs barely showing as the thin tongue stretched itself before quickly retreating. It was adorable to even the hardened ex-royal guard.
The tiny changeling couldn't have been more than a year old. Looked to be just a week or two out of their larval stage. The poor thing practically dragged its shivering body to the pegasus. It’s back half actually dragging a bit.
“Oh my goodness, Shield, get a warm bath going after that setup the bed.”
“Willow, you cant be serious?”
“If I ask you again so help me I won’t make another carrot cake as long as you live.”
“But I love carrot cake…” He shuffled his hooves a bit. “Fine I’m going.”
“Thank you dear.”
“Yeah yeah, can’t believe she’s bringing that in here. Why if…” he moved out of earshot grumbling to himself.
Willow felt a bump to her chest.
Chirp
It was very strained and almost inaudible. Their legs wobbled violently before it collapsed on the floor. She watched as the breathing became shallow and slow.
‘Ok ok. Nice and gently.’ She thought to herself as she scooped the poor thing up and held it tightly to her breast. “Its ok little one. I’ve got you, I’ve got you.”
She pressed the small bug to her chest to let her warmth help the transition between outside to warm bath. As she walked to the downstairs bathroom she hummed a tune she's used with other fillies and colts, gently swaying with each three legged step.
Chrdrd, the small bundle hummed gently.
She passed softly by her stallion on their routes to opposite ends of the house. “Thank you.”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll be upstairs in a bit.” She continues to hum as she checks the water temperature. Once she finds it's perfect she lowers herself in first with her belly up so she can make sure this foal doesn't get hurt.
Achu
As a true testament for knowing his mare the water level rose to an inch and a half above her barrel. The perfect height for maintaining control and maneuverability. Using a small loofah Willow gently scrubbed this foal down. Head to hoof to tail was cleaned of mud and debris. Some of the hoof holes had twigs and leaves wedged in while others were full of mud. Turns out, this foal is actually a colt.
“Shh, it’s alright. You’ll be clean in a moment.” She watched the little colts' actions as he splashed softly in the warm water. “My my, somepony's feeling better.” She brought a primary feather to break the surface of the water.
The little colt batted at it with a small chrrr sound. Again letting out a small yawn. He splashed in the shallow water along her belly making her giggle.
“Ok little guy, it’s time to dry off and get you some sleep.” She picked up the changeling and stepped out the tub onto a towel before drying the two of them off and draining the tub. “If I remember correctly you shouldn't really need much to eat. It looked like earlier you were trying to nibble on mine and my husband's love. You sneaky little thing!” She chided softly.
Chrrr
“I know, its not your fault. Just as a spider eats bugs.” She stiffens at that, “Maybe that’s not the greatest analogy I could have used, considering.”
She passes by the full length mirror on her way out of the bathroom. She stops to make sure her coat is in good condition and just to see herself as she always wanted to.
She was a pegasus, a dirty-orange colored pegasus. Her mane was a faded yellow at least through her own green eyes. She looks at the changeling through the mirror and chuckles lightly at the sight of the colt seeing himself in the mirror. But before he can really recognize what it is she exits the bathroom.
She gingerly climbs the stairs so he doesn’t shift or fall. “Hon, please.” The unicorn stallion pleaded as she entered their room.
“This is not up for debate. Tomorrow I will go see Princess Twilight and see what his options are. For all we know his parents or hive are looking for him.” She took the foal off her back and pushed him onto the bed before herself jumping on to meet them.
“His? How would you know that?”
“Did I not just bathe a yearling?”
“Alright, fair point. But why is “he” in our bed?” He was getting nervous as it stumbled across the bouncy surface towards him.
Chiii
“No no, go over there.” His statement went unheeded while the changeling continued it path. He looked to his wife for an interception. She just sat there watching with this smile that said ‘hurt him, I hurt you.’
The foal trudged along slowly and then tripped on a fold of the comforter. He fell into the indentation of the older ponies weight on the bed.
Willow just smiled as the youngling tried to wiggle deeper between Shield and the bed. ‘Is this the joy of parenting?’ She saw how uncomfortable her husband was but figured it was good for him.
Her thoughts turned a bit sour at how things have gone in her life. She loves her stallion dearly and wouldn't leave him for anyone. But she wishes that there was no such thing as sterile. A good job, a loving husband, and great friends just never felt as fulfilling as they could be.
“Willow, you’re doing it again.”
“Oh, sorry Shield.”
“I know that look hon. I won’t fight this anymore tonight. Go ahead indulge yourself.” He has seen that look of longing when they’ve gone for a walk through the park and seen the fillies and colts playing and chasing each other.
‘She wants a family that I cant give her.’ He sighs watching her almost tremble in place, caught between grabbing the colt and just watching this scene. ‘I’ve talked adoption with her but she says she's fine and it’s not really bothering her.’
Willow scoots over to the pair of equines and scoops up the colt. She kisses her husbands cheek, “Thank you.”
“Well at this small I doubt it could do much harm.” He watched the little guy open his mouth and seem to breath deeply for a few seconds. The colt calmed way down to the point of almost a stupor. He instantly recognized that look.
“Hon, he was just stealing love from us.”
“Shield, he cant control that he’s still an infant. It’s like telling a manticore to not eat animals.”
“Ah…” Feeling stumped he laid his head down to go back to his disrupted sleep. “Good night, love ya.”
“Love you too Shield. Do try not to roll over in your sleep.”
Chuu
Willow looks down at the sleeping colt in her hooves and makes a decision internally. ‘I don’t care if we aren't allowed to keep him for some reason, but we are getting one!’
Sorry if text is a little unusual. Once I get my computer running right I'll fix!
It was alot of fun to write this chapter that started out as a discussion with a friend. Hope you enjoy it!
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I'll be keeping my eye on this
Pet the adorable little love bug. Pet it, hug it....
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Let him, hug him, love him... How do we fed... Oh yea love him!
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Oh don't worry I've got a few chapters stocked up that are going through editing and finalization.
U know a story good is here when u want more
This reminds me of Napa on the Bug Planet for some reason.
I look forward to reading more of this! Please continue...
So cute.......
I once had a random stray kitten show up on my doorstep but I had no idea how to deal with cats. I gave it a plate of (cow) milk but it ignored the milk and kept meowing at me. A couple minutes later it walked off and I never saw it again.
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Well that was not something I wanted to start my morning with.
Adorable cuteness might be the natural defense weapon of young changelings.
Because ponies can never hurt something as cute as this, can they?
Yeah, probably.
Good prologue!
I enjoyed reading it and look forwards to see where it goes.
But it needs more cute bug noises.
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Source.
Neat story so far. If you get a chance, I suggest going through and making everything in either present of past tense. The constant switching is a bit jarring.
I like the premise and most of the execution of this story so far.
One thing that was a little off with this chapter was that the tense seemed to jump around a lot. Past, present and present-perfect all seem to be in play. The story switches back and forth often, sometimes within the same sentence. Maybe try and stick to past tense, since that seems to be the most common? Unless there's a specific reason for the changes that's lost on me.
Also I thought the dialogue in this chapter (and the previous one) was sometimes lacking commas in places they would naturally occur. For example:
This dialog sounds weird in my head if I read each sentence off without breaks. I think it would sound more natural with breaks after 'look' and 'ahead,' personally.
The wife always wins.
Interesting, so pre-revolution?
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This is why I shall never marrie.