Harmonics

by ezra09

Common Ground

A changeling brought another bowl several hours later. It crossed the room and stopped outside her cell. “Mimic,” Scootaloo mumbled with a half-hearted glare.

“Ersatz,” the changeling corrected her in a sibilant male’s voice.

“Oh. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. You ponies all look the same to us too, except for the colors.” Ersatz floated the bowl between the jagged bars and Scootaloo grabbed it carefully out of the air. It held some kind of thin vegetable soup, which she hardly tasted as she scarfed it down.

“So, you’re the pony that started this whole mess?”

“Chrysalis started it,” Scootaloo said between swallows.

Ersatz shrugged. “But you’re the one who freed Discord and got Queen Chrysalis sent to the moon?”

Scootaloo grunted an affirmative. “That mare, Mimic... wait, would she be called a mare?”

“What’s a mare?”

“Okay. That girl, Mimic told me not everyone loved Chrysalis. What about you?”

Ersatz shrugged again. “You saw the wasteland out there when you were brought in, didn’t you? I don’t know how long we’ve lived here, or why we came here in the first place, but it’s been as long as I can remember. Queen Chrysalis may have hurt the hive more than she helped it, but she had no other choices.”

“So it’s fine to attack others as long as you can save yourselves?” Scootaloo asked dryly.

“Didn’t your princess do the same thing when she threw us out of Canterlot?”

“That was entirely different. You changelings attacked first.”

“Like I said, Queen Chrysalis had no other choice. Our food supplies were dwindling and negotiations with your princess had failed.”

“Yeah, but you could have tried... wait, what? What negotiations?” Scootaloo asked, frowning.

“We asked Equestria for help months before we tried to invade. They turned us down.”

Scootaloo shook her head. “I know Princess Celestia. There’s no way she would just turn somepony away if they were asking for help.”

“If you say so,” Ersatz said skeptically, and Scootaloo thought he’d be rolling his eyes if he had pupils.

Scootaloo had finished the soup, though it hadn’t filled her up nearly as much as she’d hoped. She pushed the bowl back through the bars. Ersatz took it with him when he left, and Scootaloo was left alone again.

She wasn’t sure how long she’d been lying there before she noticed a changeling out of the corner of her eye. The changeling was sitting on its haunches, just staring at her.

“Mimic?” Scootaloo guessed.

“Obviously,” she answered.

Scootaloo groaned and covered her head with a wing. Several minutes passed and she glanced out from under it to see if the changeling had taken the hint. Mimic just sat and stared.

“What are you doing here?”

“Thinking.”

“Can’t you do that, oh I don’t know, anywhere else?” Scootaloo asked, turning away.

“I’m thinking about you,” the changeling clarified.

“You could still do that somewhere else,” Scootaloo grumbled.

“Maybe,” Mimic agreed. It was harder to tell with changelings, but Scootaloo thought Mimic looked troubled. “What did you do, back home?”

“Huh?” Scootaloo asked, looking back up at her at the sudden change in topic.

“Back at your hive. In Canterlot. What was your function? I’ve never been to a pony city before, but I’ve heard it’s all very chaotic. Some changelings think you ponies don’t do anything to help keep it all going.”

“You mean what was my job?” Scootaloo asked. Mimic nodded. “Why do you care?”

“I’m curious. You’re the first pony I’ve ever met.”

Scootaloo considered telling Mimic to go buck herself, but hesitated. She didn’t think she could get on the changeling’s good side, but there was no point in antagonizing her further. Not if she wanted to eat. Truth be told, it was boring to just sit in the dark and wait.

“In Canterlot, I was an assistant teacher. I helped teach fillies and colts how to fly. Before that, I was a weather pony. What about you?”

“I’m a gatherer. I collect food for the hive.”

“You collect food? How?” Scootaloo asked with a look of skepticism.

“Mostly by getting it off of trees,” Mimic said dryly. “You know we can eat actual food, right? We have to, it takes everything we can gather and all the love in the hive just to keep us alive.”

“Where do you get the love from?”

Mimic stared at Scootaloo for a long moment before sighing. “Do you know what would happen if I hurt myself and couldn’t fly?”

Scootaloo scowled and shrugged.

“I’d be dead weight. A changeling that can’t work can’t help the hive. We don’t have the resources to spare on dead weight, so I’d be kicked out and left on my own.”

“What, no union?” Scootaloo asked. Mimic just stared at her until she looked back down. “Thistleroot would have laughed,” she mumbled under her breath.

“And here you are, contributing nothing. Just dead weight, and the queen orders us to give you food we can’t spare.”

“You could let me go,” Scootaloo said. “Then give my food to somepony who needs it.”

“Or I could kill you.”

Scootaloo pushed away from her without thinking, her heart jumping. “But then you’d be disobeying your queen.”

Mimic frowned and sighed. “You’re right. I don’t think I could anyway.”

“Probably not,” Scootaloo said shakily. “Not worth the risk anyway, you can just ask your friend Effigy.”

Mimic didn’t answer, and Scootaloo went ahead with the bluff. “He was a changeling pretending to be my friend Thistleroot. He tried to kill me. Ended up beaten with a broken horn.”

“I meant I don’t think I could bring myself to do it. If I really wanted to, it would be as simple as filling your cell with fire.”

“Oh,” Scootaloo said.

“Of course, I’ve been wrong before. It’s odd, you think you know yourself, and then somepony comes along and shows you a dark side you didn’t even know was there.” Mimic leaned right up against the bars and her voice dropped low. “I wonder how I’d feel about it afterwards. I’m almost curious enough to find out.”

Scootaloo’s stomach turned cold and she shied away to the back of the cell.

“I might feel disgusted with myself, or disturbed, or I might just feel a little proud about avenging a fallen changeling. You said his name was Effigy? And you broke his horn? No magic, no shapeshifting. He’s dead weight now. You might as well have just killed him.”

Mimic smiled and turned away. “Well, I guess we’ll see eventually.”

*****

It took some time for Scootaloo to calm down, but she managed. Fear gave way to a stubborn anger, and she spent the next few hours trying to come up with some way to get Mimic to at least leave her alone. "So, what's with Mimic?" she asked Ersatz when he brought her dinner.

"With her?"

"I mean, what's wrong with her? She's crazy. Like, having a nice chat one second and threatening to kill me the next."

Ersatz sighed. "We were afraid she'd cause trouble. Mimic's had a hard time. She's trying, but sometimes her temper can get the best of her."

"Oh, she had a hard time, that makes everything just fine," Scootaloo said.

"Well I'm sorry that she's making your stay as our prisoner unpleasant." Scootaloo cast a glare at him and he smiled. "I might not get some of your phrases, but sarcasm is the same in every culture."

"I just don't understand what she has against me," Scootaloo said. “I mean, she says she didn’t really like Chrysalis. Sure, there’s been a changeling here or there that got hurt, but you guys attacked me first.”

"It’s not just you specifically. She hates ponies in general," Ersatz assured her.

"Well, what the hay did we ever do to her?”

He sighed. "Do ponies have families? Like, close biological relations all living together?"

"Of course we have families," Scootaloo said.

"Okay. Then do you understand what an orphan is?"

"...Oh. Uh, yeah, I do." Scootaloo said, ignoring the familiar pang of loneliness.

Ersatz nodded. "Mimic lost her parents ten years ago. They'd been subdued by some royal guards, and when we were thrown from Canterlot they weren't able to fly or catch themselves. She blames the ponies and Queen Chrysalis for their deaths."

Scootaloo nodded in understanding. They exchanged a few more comments as Scootaloo finished her meal and he took the bowl away, the image of changelings walking away already starting to look familiar.

*****

“Mimic,” Scootaloo said through a stifled yawn. She was having trouble telling the time after only a few hours, but guessed it was late evening. Once she finally fell asleep, she’d probably lose track altogether.

The changeling didn’t say anything as it crossed the room. Scootaloo thought maybe it wasn’t Mimic, but after a moment she nodded in greeting.

They stood quietly for a while. Scootaloo glanced around her small cell awkwardly. Finally she decided to break the silence. “So, why don’t you changelings grow your own food, rather than flying out and looking for stuff to eat?”

“I think we tried years ago, but you saw the land we have to work with. We have some gardens at the bottom of the hive, kept alive with magic. They help.”

Scootaloo nodded and the two fell silent. Mimic had a small frown on her face as she sat down in her usual spot. After a few moments, Scootaloo spoke up. “Look, I understand why you might not like me.”

“Do you?” Mimic asked. “I’d asked Ersatz not to mention it.”

“Well, he did. I understand why you would hate ponies after they caused the deaths of your parents, even accidentally. Even after ten years, it still hurts. But I’ve never done anything to you. Yeah, I may have hurt another changeling, but that was self defense.”

Scootaloo was getting used to the changelings, and thought Mimic looked sad, or maybe disappointed. “What are you getting at?” she asked.

“I want you to leave me alone,” Scootaloo said. “I’ve never done anything to hurt you. You can go ahead and hate ponies all you want, but you aren’t going to feel better pitching fits and threatening strangers.”

Scootaloo waited for her reaction, unsure whether Mimic would reply with anger or acceptance. The odd hissing noise that suddenly came from the changeling surprised her, and it took a moment for Scootaloo to realize it was a giggle.

Scootaloo scowled as the changeling shook her head. “You’re actually crazy, aren’t you?” Scootaloo asked. “They should give you a nice padded barn.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just, you really are clueless,” Mimic said. “But even ignoring that, how could you possibly know what would and wouldn’t make me feel better?”

“Because I know what it’s like to lose your parents,” Scootaloo said. “And I sure as hay know what it’s like taking it out on everypony else."

Mimic’s amusement faded to a look of curiosity. “Oh?”

Scootaloo nodded. “I made a lot of mistakes because I was hurt and lonely, and I’m still living with them.”

“How did it happen,” Mimic asked, voice softer.

“There was a storm. A natural one blowing in from the Everfree. We were living in Cloudsdale at the time, but they volunteered to help in Ponyville, and they never came back. They’d crashed in the forest, and rescue teams found them a few days too late.”

Scootaloo didn’t realize she’d started crying until a tear hit her foreleg. She turned away, hoping the changeling hadn’t noticed.

“It’s not exactly the same,” Scootaloo admitted. “It’s nopony’s fault, so there’s nopony to hate. The closest I come is getting nervous during thunderstorms.” She shook her head. “The point is, you won’t gain anything from making my life a living Tartarus.”

“You’re probably right,” Mimic said. “If anything, it’s nice to know at least one pony knows how I feel.”

Scootaloo smiled. “So, we’re cool?”

“Cool?”

“I mean, no more threats? No more being harsh?”

Mimic shrugged. “I still haven’t decided.” She turned to leave. “But I promise not to kill you in your sleep. Good night.”

Scootaloo sighed. “It’s something,” she muttered before curling up to try and sleep.

Comments

[Djerid]

hah, now mimic will make sure scoots knows she will die!!!!(obvious exception to second last statement is obvious)

[Frankie2]

I'm just wondering when we are going to see what's going on with Scootaloo's friends. Haven't they noticed she's missing yet?

[Dukeofawesome]

2166163 Half of Canterlot is changelings by now, I'm sure they replaced Scootaloo too.

[Delta93]

Scootaloo sighed. “It’s something,” she muttered before curling up to try and sleep.

i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/7088108288/hA5036A16/

[Thegodhand]

Celestia should just turn the entire changeling species into a pile of black glass. Solve a lot of problems at once.

[Twisted but true]

I love Mimic. Almost as much as I love Thistleroot.

[Csquared08]

Hm. Interesting changeling OC's you got there.

[DarthMaul22]

Yay, world building!

[Trish Hankins]

Me gusta.

[headcrabnew]

2168330
I hate people like you, that idea is too OOC for Celestia and it would be genocide. Celestia is then worse than Changelings, Discord and everything evil in the series. I would not hestitated to turn her to stone or/and tortured her for all eternity.

[TheGreatEater]

“Because I know what it’s like to lose your parents,” Scootaloo said. “And I sure as hay know what it’s like taking it out on everypony else.

Needs end " marks.
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3078534
^ This. Hell, when she saw the new Changeling Queen, the first thing she tried doing was try peaceful negotiations. Even though she had the power to easily beat them.

No way she'd commit genocide on an entire species. Frell in canon she reforms her oldest, and most dangerous adversary.