Dilemma of a Changeling

by Hydra_1324

Chapter 2: Fear and Hope

I woke up.

...

No, I didn't. This... This is another nightmare. Isn't it? ...When will they end?

...

The ponies might have the princess of the night to save them from nightmares... But...

I have no one to save me.

I'm in the hive. My vision's back. What happened?

"So, what didn't you tell the ponies about us?"

...Chrysalis knows.

"I know this might look bad Queen, but... but... I fed her lies!"

...She and I both knew I was lying there.

"Do you really think that you could lie to me. Changelings cannot lie to other changelings!" She growled. He could feel her rage across the ground. "You can't lie to me, TRAITOR!"

...Traitor...

"I'm... I'm not a traitor! I lied to her, I promise!"

...I kept trying to hide it. But this wasn't going to work. I needed a better strategy of getting out of this.

"GUARDS, KILL HIM NOW!"

...I don't want to die!

I panicked.

"What."

"Shh! He's having a nightmare... Oooh, I didn't think Changelings had those, but that's what it looks like..."

What... What was that?!

"Queen... Please... I don't want to die." I begged.

"Well, you should've thought about that before giving information out, especially to our enemies!" She yelled.

"I... I know I gave one of the elements crucial information... about... about us... But I swear, I swear I lied to her, it wasn't true...!" I yelled back as if trying to prove myself. To prove that I was right. Even if I was wrong.

"It was true Zero. Not a single word you spoke to the element was a lie. NOT. ONE. WORD."

I hated that name. She ignored the one I chose because it meant nothing to her. Just like I meant nothing to her. That name was the value of my life. The value of my existence in the hive.

"No... No... I'm... I'm not a traitor... I... I just made mistakes..." Immediately after I said that, My former queen went to strike me. I raised my front two hooves up over my head, in order to protect my head. That's when they turned to look like they were made out of wood, especially at the front, and he blinked. There was no wood in the hive. Just... This isn't real. Is it? She doesn't know. This is a nightmare. J...Just a nightmare. So why did it terrify me so?

That's when I woke up. I was wrong when I said that I had no one to save me from nightmares. I have myself. That's better than some princess of the night. ...So why do I want her to protect me so badly? I'm sure she'd rather break me apart with her scythe of the moon than actually protect me!

...

"What in the..." A voice spoke up, female. Sounded... Confident. Proud. 'I... I... I think I'm going to call this one confident voice.'

He groaned slightly, waking and sitting up. "You heard it all, didn't you?" He asked, his headache still there. Growing, maybe?

"Yupperoonie, you were speaking a lot, and by a lot, I mean a lot a lot!" Another female voice spoke up. More like... yelled excitedly? Oh boy. To put it lightly, they sounded excitable, bouncy, and all over the place. Seriously, he could feel her bouncing around. 'and... and this one bouncy voice...'

...

But there was one thing on his mind. There was no nerdy voice. Where was she? Sweat trickled down his forehead. He liked her. She was merciful to him. It was a welcome change... From most of his own kind being nasty. She made him feel... safe in this world. "Where's... Where's the nerdy sounding... one... I..." He looked around the blurry, blobby room, but could only see two major blobs here with him. A blue blob with... wings, and a purple blob with no horn. Or was it pink? He couldn't tell. It looked more purple to him. "I can barely see anything... still. Everything's still blurry. ...Did she tell you that, or... is this new?" He started to ramble on and on about stuff. "...Y'know... I'm terrified to think what my queen will do to me if I have to go back... I... told the nerdy sounding one things... Twilight... Twilight Sparkle... The Element of Magic... I told her things about my kind that... I shouldn't have told... Secrets. Even if they were legends, I weren't supposed to tell em'..."

"What is that supposed to mean!?" Rainbow yelled, yet did nothing to him. Someone was holding her back? 'I... I don't even know what I've done.'

He asked, confused: "D...Do you mind telling me what part of what I said you're... referring to? I... rambled a bit..." All of this was a lot to take in, and now he was meeting new ponies... Or whatever they were.

The confident one sounded like she was going to say something, but was stopped. Then, the bouncy one asked curiously, "Oooh, Changeling Legends? What kind of legends?"

...

He sighed. Was he going to have to repeat himself?

"I'm... I'm going to just say this as a warning. Grab a bucket, if you really want to know them. They're dark. Very dark. Because they might make you sick. I don't know. They're about your kind. Usually the more famous ones though, like the princesses."

"Oh... Those kinds of legends.." The bouncy one whispered as if she knew the legends already. Huh.

"And, what do you mean you can't see?" The confident one asked, getting all close to him. He shivered.

"Uhm... I... I can. Just... Just not very well. Everything's very, very blurry, and everything looks like a blob to me. For a bit I had your friend mistaken for Twilight, until I realized, no sort of horn image on her head, even if it's blurry, I can tell if you've got wings, horn, or nada. They just look really blurry." He explained, then thought for a few moments before adding, "I... I think I hit something and it's affected my vision. I could see fine before I woke up stiff, and unable to move pretty much."

The confident one fell over on their back... and... and... started laughing? Why was she laughing? "Yeah, and I'm some sort of singer!" She chortled until she got interrupted by the bouncy one, who was sort of telling her off?

"Dashie!"

"What?"

I groaned. This was going to be difficult. "I'm serious." He said with a frown "I know you don't have a way to tell if I'm lying, but I genuinely can't see very well right now."

"Sure." The confident one, -or Dashie. 'I'm not going to call her that. Let's go with the rude one.' Anyways, the rude one said sure sarcastically right back at him.

He just kept frowning, no longer saying anything. He wasn't being taken seriously. He hated that feeling. He really hated that feeling. It made him want to punch something. Hit something. But he couldn't. He was entirely helpless.

"What?" The con- rude one repeated. Why was she repeating herself?

"You're being rude for no reason." Oh. Oh great, an argument. Whats next, multiple arguments?

So he interrupted. He didn't want to hear it. Not without his input. "Well, technically she has a reason. It's not a good one, though. I could be mean back to her with the reason that she's a pony. Just like she can be mean to me just because I'm a changeling." I waited a few moments to let that sink in before continuing. "But tell me how being mean based on your race is fair? Why not judge on what you've done. Okay, maybe not judge on what you've done, because I rammed into a bucking tree. Or something. That's... embarrassing."

"Well, it is not fair" She sounded upset. Or she was just talking slowly for emphasis. One of the two. 'Did I upset the bouncy one? Is she now the sad one?' The rude one and the sad one. What a pair.

...

He took in a deep breath and looked at the rude one. He wanted to make this right. He had no idea exactly how difficult it would be to get her on his side. "So... Do you have any reasons why you don't trust me, other than that I'm a changeling? Because those I can change. I can't change who I am deep down. Under all the disguises."

She scoffed and didn't even answer him. Instead, she told him firmly - "I'll be watching you." Then, he heard her walk out. Did she even care what he had to say? Then, he heard the bouncy one sigh. She seemed less upset now. But who was he to guess that? He couldn't even see her expression.

"Well... That... Didn't really answer my question." He said before shrugging and leaned back on the bed. "Is... She normally like this?" He asked, looking up at the bouncy one.

"Just give her some time." The bouncy one told him, a bit more subdued than before. Was she smiling? It felt like she was. So he smiled too.

"...Okay." He felt a little awkward, then realized he had completely forgotten to introduce himself. So he did, awkwardly. "...I introduced myself to Twilight, so why not you? My name's Chameleon."

"Oh, nice to meet you, I'm Pinkie Pie!" She shouted.

'It's a good thing I'm partially deaf, or that would've hurt.' He thought to himself. He then said awkwardly. "...Nice to meet you too. T...This is kinda awkward, to be honest. I don't know what else to say. I'm not... very good with small talk."

"Don't worry, I understand." She said with a tone that just seemed to be indicating she was smiling. Excited. Then she asked him excitedly. "Oh Oh Oh! Do you like cake?" That... That was random. But okay.

He blinked, at the unexpected question. Not because it was an unexpected question, but the topic. "I... I... I honestly don't think I've ever had it. We don't really eat food that much." He admitted, then added, sensing something. Was she going to throw him a party? Wait, how did he know that she liked to throw parties. Buck it. "Why, though? Y...Are you thinking of throwing me a party or something? Heh... I wouldn't even be able to tell if it was cake though without you telling me."

She gasped. "You've never, n-never had cake!? or a party!?" Come to think of it, no.

"Chrysalis never believed in any of that, really. She didn't like fun." He said honestly. What did he really have to lose now? Other than his sanity?

"Well, I'll have to go plan for things! Bye!" She yelled in a tone that said 'Challenge Accepted' and then... Whoosh.

Was she gone?

...

"O...Okay. See you later?" He blinked, despite not being able to see himself blink. Even if he was unable anyways in the first place.

...

No answer...

...

He was alone...

...

Silence. How he hated it.

...

So, he lied back on his bed and stared up at the blank ceiling: blank to him. "I hate silence. It's... So deafening." He spoke out loud. Hoping to get an answer? Of course, he didn't get one.

He was alone.

He hated being alone.

Author's Note:

This was done faster than I expected.

Comments

[Dashie04]

It’s in third-person, I can see that now. But I think one pf the main causes of my confusion was the fact that if you're reading quickly, the thoughts aren’t separated properly.

That’s why most thoughts are put into italics instead of single quotes. You can bring up italics by pressing the ‘i’ on the top of the screen.

I’m still loving the story, and I think that you’re going some pretty neat places with this one.

[Hydra_1324]

9737003
Thanks again for the comment. :)

I'll look into doing that, but normally I reserve italics and bold for emphasis in speech.

[Dashie04]

9737079
Most books add thinking on, emphasis in thoughts is left un-italicized.