• Published 18th Oct 2020
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Changing Expectations - KKSlider



What does it mean to be a Changeling? To the former human Prince Phasma, that means doing what you can to survive and thrive in an utterly alien world.

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15- Selene

I was looking down on Earth.

Lifting up my foreleg, I saw the bleach-white ruffles of a NASA spacesuit. Still a changeling, though. In fact, instead of the USA flag patch on my shoulder, I saw a Chrysalis’s horn flanked by insect wings.

I tried looking behind me, but I had no way to spin around. As far as I could tell, I was tethered to the International Space Station or a rocket. The tether itself was occasionally visible in the corner of my eyes when I tried to turn all the way around.

Giving up, I looked at the view in front of me.

Earth. A mural of blues, greens, whites, and yellows on the night side. Currently, Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia were visible before me. I could see in detail the beaches, mountains, and forests that accentuated the industrialized lands.

On one spot, the snow-capped mountains of the Alps rose up to meet the heavens. On another, the sands of the Sahara stretched from sea to shining sea. Between it all, the glistening Mediterranean dominated the view.

I sighed deeply as I watched night slowly creep across the world, the bright lights of the cities making themselves visible, replacing the white clouds.

The blue-green jewel glistened as the sun became more and more hidden behind it. A band of bright green slowly slithered across the northern crown of the world. The Aurora Borealis, the bright greens gave way to near imperceptible reds at its peaks.

‘Home.’

How long had it been since I last thought of home? How long h-had it been?!

‘I’ve been a changeling for months now… Almost four, I think?’

‘... There’s Paris. Rome. Berlin. Istanbul. I’ll never even see a photo of any city ever again. Not a human city, at least.’

The sun had set on the world, leaving it wholly in the dark. I floated there, watching the world slowly spin. Turning without me. Life moved on, even when mine ended.

‘Is my family wondering where I am? Is-’

I felt the tether behind me go taught. Earth in front of me had stopped its slow spin.

‘W-what?! Oh fuck-’

“Kindred soul.”

A voice was speaking to me, it’s words as clear as if they were right next to me. Worse yet, the voice was behind me. It was a woman's voice, I could tell, and I felt power drip from its every word.

“Thy presence is known to us. Let us converse.”

“You are the Moon Presence?” I managed to ask, trying my damnedest to hide the quakes in my voice.

“We art the Moon made manifest. Eons past, We were revered. Worshiped. What once was, shall be.”

Everytime the feminine voice spoke, the nonexistent hairs on the back of my neck stood on edge. I had a new body, but in the dreamworld I obeyed human instincts.

“Why talk to me?”

“Thy presence is known. We hath felt thy touch upon the Nightscape. We cannot recall the last time such hath occurred.”

I remembered my dreams during my transformation.

“The Great Tapestry. Was that you, beneath?”

“Thou speaketh in riddles. Hath our own teachings gone unremembered? Thou art a devout soul of the night, are thee not?”

I remembered an old piece of wisdom from my life as a human; ’...when someone asks you if you’re a god, say YES!’

“I covet the company of night.”

“Thy words soothe our worries. On this, the longest night, We speak. For on the shortest, our return shall be made, and all the world shall know our rule.”

I started to slow spin around.

“We hath felt thy devoted castings from our distant prison. The bindings weaken. The seals art breaking. Prepare, for our arrival approaches.”

I couldn’t see Earth anymore. In front of me, my tether was abruptly frayed and snapped twenty feet out. There was no space station or space shuttle behind me. Just the moon.

Just the moon which had turned to a dark blue. A black inkinesss wreathed it in an unholy corona, tendrils extended forth, slowly undulating and lashing out at stars, plucking them from the night sky and vanquishing them.

“Kindred Soul. Make thine name known to us, so that We may know thee in the waking world.”

“Chrysalis."

‘If I accidentally piss this thing off, bug-mom's gonna have to take one for the team.’

“Chrysalis, a curious name for a pony. We art Nightmare Moon, rightful ruler of the night.”

‘She thinks I'm a pony. Good.’

“I shall count the days.”

“They will be the last thee ever count, for We bring Night Eternal!”

‘Nightmare Moon, you need to work on your branding. Only psychopaths are gonna listen to creepy voices preaching the End of Days.’

I was not foolish enough to say that out loud.


The next day continued as normal. Better, in fact.

I had slept better than I ever had since my transformation. I should really look into conversing with mysterious dark goddesses if it meant feeling this well rested. Morning lessons progressed well, with the exception of an especially pointed lesson on taking a grain of salt with what other people say. There was a lot of pointed looks, making me repeat her teachings over and over, and a thrown chair. I get the feeling that Chrysalis isn’t happy with my choice of friends.

Soon enough I found myself walking to infiltrator class with Eucharis.

“We will alternate days for learning magic and practicing flying, My Prince. Two days magic, one day flying.” Eucharis told me.

“I can at least look forward to the flying lesson then.”

“You enjoy them that much, Prince Phasma? Many changelings view flying as merely getting from point A to point B.”

“I’m not most changelings,” I retorted.

“No, My Prince, you are not. You’re doing very well, My Prince. Others do not see the effort you put in, but I do. Great expectations are put on you and you strive to meet them.”

I stared at him. This was out of character for… well, most changelings.

“Thank you, Eucharis. I’m not sure if anyone has ever… complimented me.”

“And that is a shame, My Prince. Changelings do not recognize how dedicated our Queen and Prince are.”

‘Don’t think I don’t know it was you who told Chrysalis about Tarsus, Eucharis. Snitching on me one day, kissing-ass the next? You may be looking out for what you believe are my best interests, but you’re certainly not honest.’

We stopped at the classroom. “At any rate,” I said, “thank you for your... Company, Chamberlain. I appreciate your sincerity.”

He gave me the fanged grin that all changelings have. “I am honored to be of such praise, My Prince.”

I parted ways with the Chamberlain, and entered the class. Infiltrator Sclerite has yet to arrive, so I sat down in my seat. My inner circle moved to gather around me, however with Pharynx still sitting next to me, we had to watch our words.

“Prince Phasma! Tarsus was telling me that your first flight went great,” Lacewing started the conversation with.

I nodded. “Yes, and I look forward to more flights. I do hope you all can join me when flying, but I’m sure you all have your own duties to worry about.”

I caught the slight movements from Lacewing, Tarsus, Thorax, and Coxa when they each stole a glance at Pharynx, who was sitting within earshot.

Thorax sighed, “I wish there was a way to fix that problem.” He wasn’t talking about the flying lessons.

I shook my head, “We must work within the constraints that bind us all. We could sit here all day talking about ifs, what’s new with you all?”

“I was taking inventory of the gel stores the other day,” Coxa began, “and I swear by my broodnurse’s chitin that I caught Bristletail making eyes at me.”

Tarsus snorted, “Coxa, you’re a nymph, no ‘ling is gonna ‘make eyes at' you.”

“Heh, you’re just jealous that no one’s giving you any attention.”

“Ladies, please,” I try to get the conversation back in control, “You can paint each other’s hooves later. Changelings that may or may not have ‘made eyes at’ Coxa despite the lack of pupils aside, what have the rest of you been up to?”

Lacewing spoke up, “I found a weird strain of glow-moss in the Greencave today. Instead of giving off light, it seemed to suck up all the light that came near it.”

“How is that even poss–nevermind. See if you can get your hooves on some of the stuff,” I say before remembering our present company, “I bet the Queen would love to see it, who knows what uses it could have.”

Lacewing scuffed the ground with her hoof, “If it hasn’t been thrown into the recycling vats, I’ll try.”

“I saw a flower outside yesterday!”

Oestridae had scouting duty three days a week, meaning he was sent out of the hive far more than any of us combined.

“Oestridae, there are no flowers in the drylands,” Coxa said with an eye roll.

He stomped his hoof, “I saw one! I swear by Panar that I did! It was tall, a green stem, with black thorns coming out the sides.”

“That’s a cactus.”


Class wrapped up quickly. Today’s lessons were on covertly siphoning emotions from ponies. The actual mechanics of doing so would be taught during the expedition, so like all other massively important lessons, they were saved until the last possible second.

Sclerite did mention the String of Emotion, so it was easy to guess that taking emotion would be similar to taking a disguise. We would all learn the specifics later.

That got the inner circle talking about the expedition, though.

“I can’t wait! I heard the ponies decorate every inch of their walls in paint and paper!” Lacewing told the group.

“Heh, I’m sure you’ll get to see plenty of art, Lace,” Tarsus chuckled.

I saw from the corner of my eye Thorax glaring at the ground.

‘You hide your emotions about as well as… something that makes this comparison makes sense. Point is, Thorax, if you weren’t such a good person– er, changeling– I wouldn’t touch you with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole.’

“Something wrong, Thorax?” I ask instead.

“No no… Well, I mean, yea,” he rubs the back of his neck, “Apparently I can’t go on the expedition.”

I raised an eyebrow at this.

“Whaddya mean?” Tarsus asked.

“Ah, well… Apparently Infiltrator Sclerite says I’m ‘not up to snuff’ when it comes to... Well, lying. She said she, as well as others, are not confident in my ability to uphold the Masquerade.”

For a split second, I tore my gaze away from Thorax to look at his brother. Pharynx was still facing away from the group but I saw him wearing a neutral expression. It fit poorly on him, as he normally had a sour, scowling, or irritated look.

‘That’s heartless, Pharynx. Your own brother?’

“Not to worry,” I came to Thorax’s rescue before he drowned in pity. “You can keep me company then.”

He looked up. “Keep you company? Does that mean…”

“I’m not going, either.”

The four changeling capable of conversation gasped. Oestridae instead looked on with an upset expression.

“But but, you work harder than any of us, and you’re not going? Why, Phasma?”

“I have lessons to keep up, Lacewing. I wish I could go, but I can’t shirk my duties.”

Tarsus objected, “You work hard enough as is! You deserve this!”

“Tarsus, that’s not how the hive works. We work hard and do our tasks without thanks, without expectations of rewards.”

“But we…” He stopped himself and half-looked at our silent eavesdropper. “The class splits up after the expedition and I doubt you’re going to be placed with an infiltrator to apprentice to, My Prince. How are we gonna see each other again?”

‘Fuck if I know, but I’ll figure something out.’

I gave him a sad smile, “Have faith. It’ll all work out in the end.”

Our eavesdropper decided to stop being silent when he turned around and walked over in the silence that followed my words. Pharynx tried to hide the emotions he was feeling from showing on his face.

“Thorax, let’s go on a flight together, while there’s still daylight left.”

Thorax turned to face his brother, “I… Okay, Pharynx. I’d like that.”

The two departed without another word.

“So we have… two weeks left? Then you’re gone for good?”

“Lacewing, I said we’ll see each other again, just trust me.” With a quick glance around to look for anyone within earshot, I added, “We look out for each other, remember? I always keep my word.

“You’ll be down in the Greencave or with an infiltrator apprentice. You too, Coxa, you’ll be with an infiltrator or still in storage inventory. Oestridae will sign up with the guards,” I elbow him in the ribs when I say that, and Oestridae nodded, “Thorax will… be somewhere, I’ll find him. And don’t think I forgot about you, Tarsus. I know you’ll be out in the field as an infiltrator, Sclerite has her eye on you, so you’ll have to find me. And if Coxa and Lacewing do become infiltrators, you’ll help with getting in touch with them.”

“I’m sure I can find reasons to sneak off to speak with you. Especially if you have flying lessons just before dusk.”

I nodded. “This is just the first obstacle that we face. I have a plan, we will see each other again.”

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