Love Maestro
There they were. Walking along so blithely, so feckless, so fey. Their dull mutterings and cries carried through the still morning air, a harsh counter to the silence of these tamed wastes.
He slithered through the grass, every blade parting as before the wind, every step a whisper, a warning.
They stopped before the iron teeth, a monster’s maw opening before them, swallowing them whole.
Faster than a centipede he flew, hooves in flashing motion, each striking silent into dirt between stone as he crossed the gap, slipping through as iron jaw clanged close behind him.
They stopped before the mighty redoubt, that castle stretching into the sky, that bulwark against rain, and wind, and root. They called before its gate, seeking shield against their weakness, and nature, and nature’s judgment.
This last distance he savored, tasting it, the sweet flavor of hunger’s defeat. He chose his target, the larger morsel, the greater challenge as satisfying as hunt’s end. Crouching low, blood pulsing warmly, his muscles tensed and yearning. With a primal cry, he leapt.
Screams and shrieks pierced like fangs through flesh.
“Stasis! What are you doing?” cried Goldie.
“Yeah! Why are you biting my back?” asked Major, looking over his shoulder.
“I’m reminding shou of shour place,” Stasis growled, gnawing gently on Major’s tender flesh.
“Something’s wrong with you. You’re crazy. You’re a crazy pony,” said Goldie, keeping what she probably thought was a safe distance.
“Stasis, I really, really think you should stop biting my back. That’s weird,” said Major.
Stasis dropped off his friend and spat the hair out of his mouth. “Do you guys have any idea how long I was hiding across the street, waiting for you to show up? You brought this on yourselves, for making me wait so long.”
Major rubbed his croup tenderly as he said, “I’m sorry, Stasis. We were going to be here on time, but Pierce and Abra were waiting for us along the way, and we talked for a while.”
“Pierce and Abra?” Stasis asked, the euphoria of the hunt fading quickly.
“Yeah. And they wanted to talk about you, Stasis,” said Goldie, glaring at him.
Best to crack this egg before it hatched. “Everything they said was a lie,” Stasis went with.
“Pierce heard about…you know, the thing that happened the other day? With us and the trellis and everything?” Major said, looking uncomfortable.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Stasis. “I have no recollection of any such event.”
“It was the time you were a lying liar who lied to everypony in town and made ponies think that Major and me were the liars instead?” clarified Goldie.
“You’ll have to be more specific.”
“I guess Pierce didn’t learn what actually happened until yesterday. He seemed kind of angry.”
“Angry at you, Stasis,” Goldie added.
Stasis scoffed. “Yeah, well, that’s all in the past now. What kind of reasonable pony would still be upset about something like that?”
“I’m still upset about that.”
“What kind of reasonable pony would still be upset about something like that?”
“Pierce and Abra wanted us to stop being your friend, Stasis. They said that you were dangerous,” said Major.
Stasis raised a hoof to his chest in shock. “That’s…that’s ridiculous! I would never harm my friend, or my friend’s friend!”
“You bit Major on the back like two minutes ago!”
“Do you always live in the past, Goldie?”
“I tried to explain that you framing me was just an accident, and that you apologized to everypony and was punished, but they didn’t really seem to listen….” Major fidgeted. “Pierce said that there were better ponies to be friends with, and we deserved better than you.”
“I…I can’t believe –”
“I told him that he should go and mind his own business!” said Goldie, shaking her hoof in righteous fury. “I told him that Major gets to play with whomever he wants to, and Pierce shouldn’t try to break up good friends like that!”
Stasis frowned. “You were the one that was trying to get Major to stop being my friend for the longest time.”
She flicked her tail at him arrogantly. “You should stop living in the past, Stasis. It’s not reasonable.”
Stasis’ eyes narrowed. Goldie….
“Why does Pierce think you’re so bad, anyway?” questioned Goldie. “I mean, you are pretty bad, but he was never this mean to any of the bullies at school. He’s kind of friends with some of them now, I think.”
Major frowned. “Yeah, I don’t know. Maybe we should ask him next time?”
“No!” Stasis said quickly. “No, that’s a stupid, stupid idea. That’s the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard!”
“Why?” asked the ponies.
“Uh…” said the little changeling.
“Do you know why Pierce doesn’t like you very much? You were the one trying to frame him, so it seems like you should know,” said Major.
Stasis scuffed the ground with one hoof. “This is a very, um…complicated topic, Major. It’s very sophisticated. I don’t think layponies could really understand it.”
“Don’t worry, Major. We’ll get the real answer out of Pierce next time we see him,” assured Goldie.
Stasis’ eyes flicked back and forth between the two ponies quickly. This was not good. There was no possible way he could keep both Major and Goldie from talking to both Pierce and Abra, plus any other ponies Pierce might have told about his suspicions.
He realized now: sooner rather than later, ponies were going to learn about Pierce’s paranoias. He dug through his old lessons in his mind quickly, trying to remember what you were supposed to do in a situation like this. How you were supposed to react.
What to do, what to do….
He had it! If there was no way to support a lie, the only thing left was to inoculate with the truth.
Time to be bold.
“Pierce thinks that I’m a changeling,” he announced.
“What?” Major said, blinking. “But…but…what?”
Goldie’s eyes grew wide, and she took a step back.
“Lies,” Stasis snarled. “Vicious lies and slander and libel! How dare he! How dare he make such a baseless accusation!”
“But…but why would he think something like that?” Major asked.
Stasis bared his teeth. “Pierce hates grey ponies. And ponies from faraway places. And jerks. He’s a colorist! A xenophobe! A sanctimonious twit!”
He turned slightly, pointing at various anatomical features. “Look at the color of my fur! And the color of my mane and tail! Just because I look like a changeling, he thinks I am one!”
He glared back and forth between the two ponies. “Can you believe that? Can you believe that he thinks you’d be so stupid as to believe such a thing? I mean, if I really were a changeling, do you think I’d just waltz into Trottingham with the exact same colors as a changeling would have, knock on the door of the nearest powerful pony wizard, and ask for a place to stay? Would I really do that?”
Major frowned, looking contemplative.
“No, Major. The answer’s no.”
“And…and changelings bite ponies!” Goldie said, looking back and forth between the other two.
Stasis glanced at Major’s hindquarters, and quickly away again.
“I…guess that does seem a little crazy,” agreed Major finally.
“A little crazy?” Stasis gasped. “A little crazy, he says! Major, this is the single most craziest thing that you’ve ever heard! I’m your friend. We almost cut our fetlocks together! How can you think that I’m a changeling?”
Major cringed. “I’m sorry, Stasis. You’re right, I shouldn’t think bad things about ponies, especially my friends.”
“And you, Goldie!” Stasis said, turning to her. “You’ve seen yourself how awful and vicious changelings can be. We might have our differences, but you can’t seriously compare me to one of those things!”
Goldie rubbed at her eye with one hoof. “I…I guess not….” She straightened a bit, and glared at him out of her other eye. “B-but I still think that you’re making this up! Pierce is a good pony; why would he think that you’re a changeling just because you’re grey?”
Stasis shook his hoof chidingly at her. “Goldie, you’re as white as the driven snow. What do you know about the plight of dark grey ponies in Equestria today?”
Goldie blinked.
The ponies sat there for a few moments, quiet. Stasis wiped the sweat from his brow; it was feeling hot outside, all of a sudden.
“You know,” Major said slowly, his own brow furrowed, “now that I think about it…why was Abra there, too? I didn’t even know that they knew each other before, and I usually know which ponies know which ponies.”
Goldie wiped her eyes again, and looked at Major. “Well, maybe she’s his fillyfriend? Pierce is old enough to have a fillyfriend, I think.”
Major blinked for a few moments, then shook his head. “No, Goldie, because he already has a fillyfriend. Crimson from high school is his fillyfriend. And Abra doesn’t have a coltfriend, I know that for sure.”
Stasis shrugged. “So? Why couldn’t Pierce get Abra as his second fillyfriend?”
Goldie’s nose scrunched. “Eww! That’s gross, Stasis!”
Stasis looked back and forth between the ponies. “Huh?”
“Colts aren’t supposed to have more than one fillyfriend, Stasis, and fillies shouldn’t have more than one coltfriend.” Major looked over at Goldie and muttered, “Stasis doesn’t know things sometimes.”
Stasis frowned. “I don’t understand. If one fillyfriend is a good thing, then wouldn’t two be twice as good? Isn’t this the kind of thing that they send us to school for years and years to learn about?”
“That’s not how it works, Stasis! Fillies aren’t numbers!” said the first filly.
“When you get to the fifth grade, Goldie, you’ll understand.”
“My dad says that Mom is more mare than he can handle, sometimes,” mused Major. “Maybe that’s why? Maybe there’s only so much mare that you can handle, Stasis.”
Stasis looked Goldie up and down critically for a few moments. “Yeah, I guess. I still don’t know why ponies fawn over each other at all, really. Even two or three times zero is still zero.”
Goldie’s eyes narrowed. “You just said something bad about me, didn’t you?”
“Or maybe it’s that fillies like to feel special?” Major said, tapping his chin. “My dad says that fillies like to feel special, and I bet a fillyfriend wouldn’t feel very special if you also had a whole bunch of others.”
Stasis pondered that for a moment. It sounded a whole lot like jealousy, and jealousy was one of those emotions that Stasis felt like he should be pretty good at.
And it made sense that Pierce would avoid taking Abra as a second fillyfriend; his affection for Crimson gave her an incredible leverage over him. That was the kind of thing that even Chigger could figure out.
So, was there any way that Stasis could use this to his advantage? After all, if Pierce was going to just go out and ‘fall in love’ with somepony, then it behooved Stasis to squeeze his opponent’s weakness for all it was worth.
…Or maybe not. Ponies would do crazy things for love; Stasis remembered hearing that. A crazed Pierce at the head of a gang of recidivist thugs was not something that the little changeling liked to think about.
But Stasis was loath to throw away such a clever idea, now that he’d thought of it. After all, Pierce was both the engine and the bulwark of Stasis’ animosity, but by himself he was fairly harmless, as the frisbee had shown.
And there were other soft-skinned, soft-hearted targets available that were just as critical to Pierce’s plans as Pierce himself.
Stasis eyed his friend as he smiled. “Hey, Major. What do fillies like?”
Major looked back at him and blinked. “Huh?”
“What do fillies like?” he asked once more, sweetly. “I need to know.”
Major turned and looked at Goldie. Stasis turned and looked at Goldie. Goldie looked back at them.
“Well…” she began, “one of my favorite things to do is play nurse.”
Stasis’ smile faded. “What?”
“Play nurse!” she repeated. “I can check your heartbeat, and your breathing, and your reflexes too! I can feed you cough medicine with a spoon, and I can give you a lollipop afterwards if you’re good. If I have a lollipop.”
“You can do that?” Stasis turned to Major. “She can do that?”
She smiled excitedly. “If I have any patients, I can! But….” Her smile faded as she looked down at her hooves. “I haven’t had anypony to play with in a long time….”
“I’ll play with you, Goldie!” Major declared valiantly. “…But do I really have to take cough medicine, though? It’s kind of nasty.”
“I can put sugar in it?” Goldie said, smiling softly.
“Can you treat wounds as well?” Stasis asked, curious. This was a side of Goldie that he’d never seen before. He’d had no idea.
Goldie looked thoughtful. “Well…I’ve sewn up Mr. Top-hat with a needle and thread before, though my…my momma had to help. But all I’ve ever done with real ponies is bandage them up. Do you want me to bandage you up, Stasis?”
“What, like a mummy?” Stasis asked, warming quickly to this idea.
Major frowned. “A mommy? Don’t you have to be a filly to be that?”
Goldie gave him a skeptical look. “Stasis, even if you were a filly, I don’t think that you should be allowed to be a mommy.”
“No, a mummy!” Stasis explained. “I read about it in the Physiologus.”
He raised his forehooves dramatically and in low tones began his tale. “Legends say that thousands of years ago, certain desperate and damned creatures in the Quaggan homeland would sell their very souls to the Ancients in exchange for incredible unholy powers! Soulless and dead, their bodies animated by forces beyond magic and Tartarus itself, they became immortal. Only by having the flesh melted from their bones and their skeletons bound and wrapped and chained inside temples of living magic could they be subdued and the world made safe once more.
“Well…safe for the living, anyway,” Stasis finished, chuckling darkly.
There was silence. Wind rustled lightly through their manes.
“My mom told me some of the things that fillies like the other day,” said Major.
“Really? What things?” asked Goldie.
Stasis grumbled under his breath.
“Well, I know that you like playing nurse Goldie, but my mom said that big girls like things like flowers and chocolates and scented candles,” said Major.
“Oh, yeah. And music and moonlight and kissing, right?” asked Stasis. “I found some books on that in Star Swirl’s room, but then he said that romance novels were trash and hid them away again. I still need to see if I can get some more from the library.” It was almost a pity that he hadn’t come to Trottingham until he was a little bit older, after his wooing lessons.
“I am a big girl…” grumbled Goldie.
“Why do you ask, Stasis? Are you going to do something nice for some filly?” asked Major.
The little changeling cackled. “I have a plan, Major! A brilliant, brilliant plan! Infallible, invincible, absolute, I –…wait. I should probably sleep on this, actually.”
* * *
Stasis looked his friend up and down critically. Major stood there, much as he had the day before, but now his mane, tail, and coat were neatly trimmed and brushed and shining under the morning sun. The little changeling’s nostrils flared as he took in the scents around him; Major had clearly done as he was told and taken a bath, but now Stasis wished he had thought to purchase some cologne. You couldn’t go wrong with cologne.
Major rubbed behind one ear absently, looking slightly uncomfortable. “Is this about that plan you had yesterday, Stasis? The one that you wouldn’t talk to us about?”
“Something like that,” Stasis replied sweetly. “Look, this is actually really simple, Major. I just want you to talk to Abra for me, okay? You need to convince her to put all her grudges and hatred behind her. Forgiveness is the path to peace.”
Major’s smile looked confused. “That’s great, Stasis!...but why can’t you talk to her yourself? Since you’re the one that she needs to forgive, wouldn’t it be better if you apologize to her yourself?”
Stasis shook his head sadly. “No, Major, I’m afraid that won’t work. Abra has allowed her anger issues and vengeful ways to grow too great; she needs somepony she likes and trusts to help her overcome. She needs you, Major.”
Major’s brows knitted. “But you’re going to change too, right? I know you’ve done a better job being a good friend to Goldie and me lately, so I think it would be great if you could be a friend to Abra, too.”
Stasis shifted uncomfortably. “Well, let’s take this one step at a time, alright? Let’s start slow. Abra and I can stop being bitter enemies, and then we’ll see where it goes from there.”
He cleared his throat. He’d had this conversation – this whole morning, in fact – planned out, and now he had to remember his place. “Oh, right. Anyway, Major, I’ve come prepared to make concessions. I’m willing to let Abra read Star Swirl’s books on a regular basis, but only if she agrees to break off her hateful, prejudiced relationship with that bigot Pierce.”
“Did Star Swirl say that Abra could read his books?” asked Major.
Stasis shook his hoof at Major reproachfully. “You let me worry about Star Swirl. You worry about Abra. You let her know: hate, or limitless knowledge and power. She has to choose.”
Major looked past Stasis, towards the door. “Is he busy? Maybe I can just ask him –“
Stasis shook his head. “He’s in town today, doing council stuff. He won’t be back until later.”
“Isn’t he still feeling bad, though? Since the party? Maybe he should take some time off –“
“Star Swirl says that he can rest when he’s dead, and I agree,” agreed Stasis. “He’s a super-powerful wizard. He’s got better things to do than rest. Like pick me up some potaters on the way home.” If Star Swirl forgot again, the little changeling was going to be upset.
Major looked down at Stasis with concern. “Are you going to be okay here by yourself? I mean, I know Star Swirl’s left you home alone before, but he was expecting us to be together today –“
“Major, you don’t even know how mature I am,” Stasis scoffed. “I could probably own my own house and pay my own bills, if I had the money, and if it wasn’t so much work. Anyway, focus! You’ve got a meeting with Abra, remember?”
Major blinked. “Oh, right.” He tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Well, I think that Abra would really like to talk to Star Swirl, too. Can she talk to Star Swirl?”
Stasis sighed. “Look, there’s a lot of room for negotiations here, alright? Like I said: let’s take this one step at a time. And the first step is that way. Into town.” He pointed.
Major took that first baby step, hesitated, and turned back around. Stasis facehoofed.
“But…if you’re going to make up with Abra, then why can’t you do the same thing with Pierce? I know he doesn’t hardly ever smile or laugh, and he doesn’t seem very friendly sometimes, but if you just explain to him that you’re not a changeling –”
“Major,” Stasis interrupted, “have you ever put a timberwolf alpha and an ursa minor together, just to see what happens?”
Major frowned. “Um…I don’t think so, Stasis.”
“Pierce can run away, or he can roll over. But somepony like him could never be my friend.”
“Oh.” Major’s ears drooped. “Well, what if I talked to him instead, and told him that you’re not a changeling –”
“Shh!” Stasis shushed, looking up and down the road. “You don’t want anypony to overhear you, do you? You don’t want to fan the flames of colorism, do you?”
“Oh. Sorry, Stasis,” Major said, looking around nervously.
Stasis walked over and drooped one foreleg over his friend’s withers. “Look, Major, you’re making this a lot harder than it needs to be,” he explained. “I already dropped off a note at Abra’s house letting her know to meet you at the school. All you have to do is go meet her there. And you’d better hurry up, or you’re going to be late! You don’t want to be late to meet Abra, do you?”
Major shook his head. “No…but I thought that school was closed for summer.”
Stasis sighed. “Major, it’s summer school. And I already talked to the teacher in charge, and she said it was fine if you met with Abra in the school building today. Okay? Look, I even got her to sign a note. Behold!” Stasis withdrew a note and dropped it into Major’s hooves with his magic.
Major inspected the note carefully. Very carefully.
“I didn’t forge the signature, Major!” he snapped. “Discord’s tooth…you’ve been listening to Goldie way too much lately. It’s not good for you.”
“But you have lied before, Stasis,” Major said, giving him a stern look. “Remember how much you lied when you pretended to be me?”
Stasis removed his foreleg and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, well, just because I lied before doesn’t mean you shouldn’t trust me now. I’m telling the truth! You can even ask the teacher when you get there.”
“Well…okay,” Major said, tucking the note into one of his saddlebags. “I don’t even mind so much when you trick me, but I don’t want you to trick Abra anymore. She really doesn’t like it.”
“I promise, I won’t trick Abra ever again. Now will you just go? You’re going to be late!”
Still looking reluctant, Major turned and broke into a quick trot, heading towards downtown Trottingham.
Stasis heaved a great sigh. Major never used to be so suspicious. It used to be that you could tell him something without him questioning your every move and motivation. It used to be that he would trust his friends.
Seeing Major pass out of sight, Stasis burst into a gallop, cackling madly as he crossed the street, dashed through the neighbor’s yard, jumped a flower bed, ducked some hanging laundry, and burst onto the adjacent road. He made a hard right towards downtown, hooves cracking against stone as he ran, tongue lolling from his mouth.
A few turns and some wheezing later, he slammed through the school’s double doors. A quick glance showing the surrounding halls to be empty, he slipped into the nearby supplies closet. Lighting his horn, he crouched down, tensing his haunches.
Release, and he vaulted upwards, landing squarely on one of the towers of boxes. It wobbled a bit before steadying, and he began scrambling his way up the nearby boxes and crates, heaving himself up by his forelegs. At the apex, he undid the latch on the ceiling grate with his magic, slipped inside, and closed it behind him.
Grinning widely to himself now, he scurried through the dusty shaft like a spider, heading directly for the lobby. There, he looked down through the slatted vent, and waited.
But not for long: within moments, Major trotted through the double doors, himself looking slightly winded. A minute later, Abra entered at a far more timid pace, glancing about nervously before approaching the orange pony. Stasis noted that her coat also appeared well-brushed and sheeny, and her mane and tail had little black bows in them, somehow giving her an even more chocolaty appearance.
“Hey, Abra! How are you?” said Major, smiling.
“I’m fine, Major. I got your note,” she said, holding it out with her magic.
“Oh, that’s not my note. That’s Stasis’ note!” Major explained.
Stasis sighed and began rubbing his temples.
“Stasis!” Abra whispered harshly. “Is he here?” She took a step backwards and looked around again.
Major shook his head quickly. “No, no, he’s still back at Star Swirl’s house. But it was his idea that we should meet; he has some things he wants you to know, but he thinks it will be better if I tell you instead of him.”
Abra’s posture relaxed slightly, and she sighed. “I don’t know, Major…if you put together a list of all the possible things that I would want to talk about, I think Stasis wouldn’t even be on it.”
“Well…we can talk about other things, too,” Major offered. “It doesn’t have to all be about him.”
Stasis sniffed.
“Well…alright,” Abra said, smiling slightly. “But we don’t have to do it here, do we? Let’s talk somewhere more private.”
“Okay,” said Major, nodding. “How about we see if our old classroom’s empty? Maybe we can even sit in our old desks!”
Abra shrugged. “Alright. Lead the way.”
Stasis snickered to himself. Ponies. What was more predictable?
Skittering through the vents, he shivered slightly as a light, cool breeze swept over and around his flesh. Once situated over the classroom, he watched as the two ponies entered and closed the door quietly behind them.
“Wow! It’s just like we left it. Do you think that we’re the first ones in here all summer?” Major asked, looking around the darkened room in wonder.
“I don’t know…maybe. It looks kind of weird, so empty like this,” said Abra, whose demeanor was far more cautious as she ducked and looked under the desks, as if somepony might be hiding there. (She didn’t think to look in the air vents, for which the little changeling was grateful.)
“Yeah. Hey, do you want me to open up the blinds for you? It’s kind of dark in here,” Major said, moving towards the windows.
“No, that’s fine. I, um…I kind of like it dim like this. It reminds me of the library,” Abra said, smiling slightly. “I know that’s strange….”
“I hang out with Stasis and Star Swirl,” Major said with a grin. “You’d have to be a lot stranger than that to bother me!”
“What’s he like?” Abra asked, sitting down at her desk and rocking it slightly, as if testing it out. “I know you’ve told me before, but I’d like to hear it again.”
Major tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Well, he’s really smart like you, and he likes reading like you do, and he likes dark places a lot too. He’s cranky most of the time, and likes to take naps in the middle of the day, and sometimes what he says is really mysterious and confusing…wait. You meant Stasis, right?”
Abra sighed. “You know he’s just taking advantage of you, Major. There’s only one pony that Stasis cares about, and that pony’s not as kind, or as polite, or as considerate as you are.”
Major sat in the desk next to her. His brow furrowed, he said, “I know you think that, Abra, but Stasis is my friend. He’s helped me with my homework before –”
“For money.”
“– he plays with me at the park and the playground –”
“How many times has he pushed you on the swings, Major?”
“– and when he accidentally got me into trouble the other day, he also got me out of it, even though it meant he had to organize and move and clean the entire living room for hours while me and Goldie and Star Swirl managed.”
Abra stroked one foreleg with her hoof and looked away. “It’s probably just all part of one of those ‘schemes’ of his. He’s probably just trying to gain your confidence….”
Major gave her a sad smile. “Maybe you should give him a chance? I really don’t like it when my friends are mean to each other.”
Abra brushed the hair out of her face with a flick. “Well, I’m not the one who tortures him at every turn! Have you seen how terrible he is to me? He’s been nothing but cruel since the day we met!”
Major frowned. “Well…weren’t you kind of mean to him the day you met? You called him stupid.”
Abra scowled. “Yeah, well, he said that…that….” She paused for a moment, her lips pressed together, and then shook her head. “You know what? That’s not important. Listen….”
Looking around once more, she leaned across the aisle and whispered loudly, “Listen, Major…how nasty he is? I don’t think it’s…natural.”
Major blinked. “Huh?”
“You know how Pierce and I told you yesterday about how dangerous Stasis is?”
Frowning again, Major nodded.
She opened her mouth, paused, and then looked down at the floor between them. “Well, I’ve been talking to Pierce, and…um…well, he’s got some theories, along with some good points to back them up, and...um…I know this is going to sound really crazy, but maybe not so crazy now as it would have before the attack –”
Major tilted his head curiously. “Abra, do you think that Stasis is a changeling?”
Abra sat back down in her seat, hard. “But…but…how did you…?”
“Stasis told me,” said Major with a slight smile.
Abra’s eyes grew wide. “He told you that he was a changeling? When? Major, why didn’t you tell anypony about this before? Changelings are dangerous!”
Major shook his head quickly. “No, no, he told me that you guys thought that he was a changeling. He explained about how Pierce thought that because of his colors, he must be one.”
Abra flicked her hair away again, and blinked. “But…Major, those are very unusual color combinations, and there’s more to it than just that –”
“Abra, you shouldn’t call a pony a changeling just because of how he looks,” Major chided gently. “You wouldn’t call a book a changeling just because of the color of its cover, would you?”
“But…I….”
“I know that you’re a good pony, Abra, and I know that you’re really smart too. I know that you wouldn’t say terrible things about another pony just because of how he looks and because you don’t like him very much,” Major continued. “That’s wrong.”
Abra looked down at the desk again, and seemed to slump a bit. “But…it explains so much, and Pierce just seems so sure….”
Major gave another sad smile. “Pierce is a really good guy, but even good guys can be wrong sometimes too, Abra.”
Stasis nodded sagely as magic flowed through his horn.
Abra sighed. “I don’t know…maybe, but –” She paused, sniffing. “Wait…do you smell that?”
Major sniffed, blinked his eyes a few times, and sneezed violently.
Abra sniffed again. “Is that….” She turned around, staring at the scented wax pillars now scattered around the edge of the room, each one burning bright with the flames of romance and combustion. “…Candles?”
Major sneezed again.
Abra sniffed a third time. “And that smell…it’s not just the candles, it almost smells like….”
Reaching into her desk, she pulled out a beautiful (but expensive) bouquet of flowers in one hoof, and an expensive (yet delicious) box of chocolates in the other.
Stasis grinned wickedly to himself. He had read in Star Swirl’s books about the primal nature of olfaction; these amorous scents would bypass the recalcitrant and antisocial segments of her brain, rendering her helpless before Major’s debonair ways. It was the perfect plan!
“Major…” she began, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. “Did you….”
“Achoo!” Major sniffed. “Abra, I don’t – achoo!” He wiped his nose and blinked his eyes, which were beginning to look slightly red. “Abra, I don’t know where these – achoo!”
Abra set her gifts down and looked at Major with concern. “Major, I think you’re having an allergic reaction. If you didn’t put these here, then I think we should just leave them and go to another room.”
“Oh…okay. I –” Major sneezed so hard it shook his desk, and he was breathing through his mouth now, his voice sounding strange as he said, “I’m sorry…can we stop by the bathroom real quick? I really, really need a tissue.” Major stood up, but had to brace himself against the desk as another bout of sneezing shook him.
“Oh, um…sure. Let me help you,” Abra said, walking over to him. She hesitated for a moment before taking his hoof and leading him towards the door.
As the door shut behind them, Stasis cackled openly to himself, the overflow of his glee echoing off the steel walls around him and into the empty room below. It was working! It was really working! It made sense, that a changeling such as himself would naturally be skilled in the ways of love, but still…it was working!
Stasis used his magic to stuff the chocolates back in the desk for later, and then scurried through the vents. As he passed over the adjoining classroom, he could hear the poor, stupid students below, hoping that nurture could give them what nature had not. He cackled.
“What was that?”
“Did you hear something? In the ceiling?”
“You don’t think it’s…Stasis again, do you?”
“Oh, Celestia. Let it be rats.”
Turning a corner, he quickly reached the hallway and looked down through the grate.
He had gotten there just in time to see Major exit the restroom, blowing his nose into a wad of toilet paper. Stasis reached out with his magic and slowly turned the handle to the teachers’ lounge, cracking the door.
Major put the tissue in his saddlebags, sniffling. “Sorry about that….”
“It’s fine. Let’s just…pick somewhere else to talk,” said Abra, looking down the hall.
“What about the teachers’ lounge?” said Major after a few moments. “It’s pretty comfortable, and look! The door’s open!”
“You don’t think that the teachers will mind, do you? I don’t want us to break any rules…” said Abra, one hoof fidgeting with a lock of her mane.
“We won’t mess anything up, and there’s hardly anypony here anyway, so I think that we’ll be okay,” Major assured her, walking towards the open door. Stasis skittered for the appropriate grate.
There, Stasis noted that, even without his suit, Major was almost excessively polite, opening the door for Abra and pulling out a chair for her at one of the small tables before sitting across.
“While I was in the bathroom, I remembered that I forgot to ask you what you thought about Star Swirl’s books the other day,” Major said with a smile. “I know you didn’t have much time –”
“Oh, I loved them!” Abra said, perking up instantly. “It wasn’t so much the books, though…did you see how he looked at me? Star Swirl the Bearded! Looking at me!” She got a dreamy look in her eyes that Stasis would have taken as a sign of victory if it had been directed at the colt in front of her instead of a frumpy bush-chinned geezer half a town away.
Major nodded amicably and leaned back in his seat. “Yeah, I know he can be kind of scary sometimes, but he’s actually the nicest old wizard that I’ve ever met. Well, as long as you don’t touch his stuff, or make fun of his clothes, or feel his beard without asking first.”
“Did he really help you with your homework?” Abra asked, a wistful smile on her face.
Major sat forward in his seat again, looking concerned. “You know, you’ve asked me that a lot since you started talking to me, Abra. Are you feeling okay?”
“I just can’t imagine Star Swirl the Bearded helping somepony with their homework,” she said, resting her chin on her hooves and staring off into space.
Stasis rolled his eyes. He was tempted to let her spend time with the whip-cracking wizard, just so she’d know what it was really like.
“Or why he would ever want to adopt somepony like Stasis,” she continued, her lips twisting into a sneer.
“Stasis is really, really smart, and even Star Swirl is impressed with how good he is at magic,” Major offered. “Maybe that’s the reason?”
Abra focused on Major again, and her eyes seemed to flash. “There’s more to being a magician than intelligence,” she said vehemently. “There’s…there’s discipline, and study, and desire. Just because Stasis was born with a bigger brain and a bigger horn than everypony else doesn’t mean that he’s worthier of being Star Swirl’s student!”
Major cocked his head curiously. “But…you’ve said before that Star Swirl should do like Princess Celestia does and take on as students the ponies with the most…um…potential. Doesn’t Stasis have a lot of –”
“He’s lazy,” Abra interjected, “and cruel, and…and….” She paused, looked around a bit, and leaned across the table as she whispered, “and sometimes, he’s just. Plain. Evil.”
Major gasped. “Abra!”
“It’s true!” she insisted. “Even you’ve got to see it, Major! I mean…” she paused, twirling one lock nervously. “I mean, not that you wouldn’t notice something, Major, I’m sure you’re just as perceptive as any other pony, but…what I mean is, even if he’s not a changeling, he’s still got to be the single most egotistical, narcissistic, psychopathic –”
“Now, Abra,” Major said, looking at her pityingly, “we’re going to be in the sixth grade soon. Do you really think that we should still be calling ponies names like that?”
Abra fidgeted. “Well, I wasn’t really calling him names, I was just –”
“I think that we should always try to think and say nice things about other ponies, especially when they’re not around to defend themselves.” Major paused. “Well, my dad says that, but I think it too.”
“Well, that’s great in principal Major, but this is real life, and sometimes it’s just…you know…hard to…ugh, I don’t know.” She face-planted into the table.
“Are you okay, Abra?” Major asked, starting to stand up.
Abra waved him off. “You’re right, Major. You’re right. I’m almost an adolescent, at the top of my class, and I shouldn’t stoop down to obsessing over some snotty, lying, obnoxious, hateful –”
“Abra….”
“– wonderful, angelic little colt. I mean, what do I care if he’s Star Swirl’s adopted son? That he gets to read priceless works before breakfast, and discuss thaumaturgical theory over lunch, and take magic lessons after dinner? Star Swirl gets to adopt whoever he wants, right? I don’t. I don’t care.” She sniffled.
Major seemed about to say something, but then paused. After a few moments of contemplation he said, “You know, Abra, Star Swirl loves magic more than anypony I know, and your cutie mark is in magic.” He pointed at the sparkling wand on her flank. “I bet he would love to have somepony to talk to about magic. He was always confusing me when he tried to explain math using examples from magic. He did that in science, too. Also history, and grammar, and when he did it in earthpony studies, I think he might have confused himself a little, too.”
“No…” Abra mumbled into the table. “He wouldn’t want to talk to me. I used to send him letters almost every day, for a while. After I got my cutie mark. I used to check the mailbox every morning, but I never got anything back.”
She sighed. “Before he left, my dad used to tell me I should just go talk to him when he comes into town, but he always had this big frown on his face, and he’d scowl at anypony who got close. I was too scared.”
Major rubbed the back of his neck. “Um…Star Swirl really doesn’t like ponyrazzi. And if he doesn’t recognize the address on a letter, he usually assumes it’s from solicitors. He burns those in some of his experiments.”
“And of course, now he’s got Stasis, whose cutie mark is a pair of masks. Why would he want somepony whose special talent is magic, when he can have somepony whose special talent is getting up in front of everypony and making us all look like foals?”
“I don’t think that Stasis’ cutie mark is –”
“And now he’s got Stasis there living with him, talking to him whenever he wants to. Can you imagine the kinds of things he must be saying about me? If there’s anything Stasis is good at, it’s making me look like an idiot in front of ponies!”
Stasis scoffed at the idea that Star Swirl listened to anything he had to say.
Major reached over the table and patted Abra gently on the foreleg. “It’s alright, Abra. I don’t think that Star Swirl really listens to what Stasis has to say anyway. Also, Star Swirl was talking to me one time, and he said that he loves teaching ponies who work hard and really listen to what he says, even if they’re not that bright. He says that’s why he stopped teaching undergrads.”
“It’s okay, Major,” Abra mumbled into the table. “Star Swirl is a brilliant, brilliant stallion, and I know he’s very busy doing experiments and writing papers since I actually read those papers even when I don’t fully understand them, and he doesn’t have time to tutor one elementary school student who, advanced as she is, still has to compete with thousands upon thousands of other elementary students across Equestria for his attention….”
“You’re one of the smartest and hard-working ponies that I know,” Major replied, looking thoughtful. “Maybe…maybe you can help him with his experiments or something? He always finds time for me even though I’m an earthpony and not very smart, so I’m sure that he’d love to spend time with you once he gets to know you.”
Abra sniffled, and opened her mouth to reply. A rose petal drifted into it. Spitting it out quickly, she sat up and looked around. Petals drifted down into her mane, and across the table, and onto the floor around them in a big heart-shape.
“But…but where….” She paused, staring at a plate on the table in between them.
On it was a single strand of spaghetti.
“Did you do this, Major?” Abra asked, staring unblinkingly at the plate.
“Nooooo…” Major drawled, chewing thoughtfully on a petal. “I’m an earthpony, remember? I can’t make stuff just appear out of nowhere like you can.”
“But how…I….” Abra seemed to scrutinize the surrounding cabinets and tables carefully.
Major frowned, swallowing. “You don’t think that maybe the school is haunted, do you? Maybe that’s why there’s no school in summer. Because of all the ghosts?”
Abra looked considerably more perturbed as she stroked her mane. “No…ghosts aren’t real, but there are creatures made of magic who can act like ghosts. Discord may be one, and the windigos…but windigos are supposedly terrified of heat and flame, and nopony’s seen them outside of the frozen north in thousands of years….”
“Hmm…that makes sense,” Major said, nodding. “There are really simple gemstones in the ventilation system that suck out the heat. The windigos must stay here in the summer because it’s so hot outside, which is why we have summer off.”
“No, Major, that’s not….” Abra paused, and then shook her head. “…Never mind. Let’s just go to another room, okay? Something really weird is going on.” She got up and moved for the door, Major following right after.
Stasis felt a bit conflicted, watching them go. On the one hoof, they didn’t really feel any more lovey than they did before the spaghetti. On the other, there was really only so much Swirl-worship that he could take. It was probably worth it.
Of the windigos, though…Stasis sighed wistfully at the thought of his nebulous northern counterparts. Oh, to be a misophage instead of a philophage! Being able to literally drink your enemies’ hate had to be the greatest thing in the world.
Still, as he skittered through the vents, he liked to imagine himself as a fanged cupid, fluttering over the lovers below, notching his arrow and stretching his bow. After all, who better to judge and arbitrate the hearts of ponies than one who fed on all its fruits, a connoisseur of crimson passion and life’s bloody delight? Stasis wondered why more changelings weren’t involved in the matchmaking industry.
Stasis arrived over the hall, but only in time to see the ponies move into the music storage room. Scowling, he followed.
“Do you think that we’ll be alright in here?” asked Major, inspecting the air and string instruments stored around the edges of the cramped room.
“I don’t know, Major…” Abra said, sitting at the work table in the middle of the room. “I’m starting to think that maybe meeting in the school wasn’t the best idea after all. Mom isn’t especially fond of visitors, but maybe next time we can meet at your house, or at the library again.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry Abra…it was Stasis’ idea, but I thought it might be fun, since I know you like school so much.” Major sat down across from her.
Abra gave a great sigh. “You don’t think that he’s really sorry, do you? I mean…it’s sort of like that old saying: ‘Bad apples never make good pie.’”
“Well, Stasis isn’t an apple, Abra,” Major explained. “And I’m not sure whether he’s sorry or not; he doesn’t tell the truth sometimes. But maybe you shouldn’t worry about that? Maybe you should forgive him even if he’s not sorry.”
Abra scowled “What? Why?”
Major traced shapes in the dust on the worktable with one hoof as he spoke. “Well, my dad says that as long as you hold grudges against ponies, you’re letting them control you, and I don’t think that anypony would really want to be controlled by Stasis. Also, some of the things that Stasis hates most are vegetables, and bureaucrats, and ponies who he wants to be enemies with but who treat him like a friend instead.”
Stasis scowled. He had told Major those things in confidence!
“I….” Abra paused, her mouth working silently for a moment. “…I don’t know, Major. I kind of already agreed to help Pierce with his plan, so….”
If ‘Pierce’ caught his interest, ‘plan’ gutted it and sucked the marrow from its bones. Stasis’ eyes grew wide as he pressed his face to the grate.
“Huh? What plan?” asked Major.
Abra looked down at the floor. “Well, Pierce is so convinced that Stasis is a changeling, he wants to prove it with the same spell the royal guard uses. Obviously he can’t do it himself, and since I am the most skilled magician in school, it just seemed kind of natural, you know, that he would come to me….”
Major frowned at her. “You’re going to cast a spell on Stasis?”
Stasis grinned as he crawled onto the grate, pressing his ear to it. That’s it! Put the screws to her, Major! Love shall overcome!
“It’s not like it’s going to hurt him!” Abra said quickly. “I mean, if he’s not a changeling, it won’t. And if he is a changeling, well, he deserves what’s coming to him, right?”
Major wasn’t smiling.
“I…I don’t even know the spell yet, anyway,” Abra said, looking away from Major as she quickly stroked her bangs. “It’s not in any of the books. The only ponies who know it are the few royal guard unicorns left garrisoned in the city, and they’re about as talkative as a cactus. Somehow, Pierce managed to convince one to teach me the spell, though. We’re supposed to meet him early next Saturday.”
“You’re going to cast this spell on Stasis without even asking him first?”
Abra gave a tentative smile. “Well, no, if he is a changeling, he won’t give me permission to cast the spell, will he?”
Her smile was ground away against Major’s stony expression, and she looked away again. “I would cast it from a distance if I could, so if he wasn’t a changeling, he would never even know…but I don’t think I can. It would be best if my horn were actually touching him, so that the magic could just flow straight through. Since I can’t really ask him, and I can’t do it secretly from a distance…that’s where Pierce comes in.”
What does she mean? Ask her, Major, ask her! Use the opener of your love upon the can of her defiance!
“Abra, don’t you think that it would be better just to talk to Stasis instead? I don’t think that going around hexing ponies is a good way to fix your problems,” said Major.
“Hexing is a perfectly legitimate way to solve problems!” Abra protested, standing up and glaring at Major. “Almost every problem in the world can be solved by the precise and knowledgeable application of magic, and that includes Stasis!”
Stasis ground his face into the grate. When Stasis wanted ponies to ignore each other, they fell into each other’s forelegs; when he wanted them to stare into each other’s eyes and confess their innermost secrets within range of his hearing, they glared at each other like rabid cockatrices. How ponies managed to fall in love without his direct intervention was beyond him.
Major opened his mouth to respond just as music began to fill the room. Simple but cutting notes hummed in the air, strings and horns combining to tug at the heart and blow warmth into the soul.
“Okay, that’s it.” Abra jumped up and walked around next to Major, looking about fearfully. “We’re getting out of here right now, Major, and we’re not coming back until school starts again in the fall.”
“I really thought that the windigos would be better at music than this…” Major mused, rubbing at one ear. “This is awful.”
Oh, yeah, like you could do any –
Added to the tweaking of strings and the whistling of air, a groaning and creaking beneath him.
…If this were Pierce’s plan, everything would have gone perfectly, thought Stasis as the grate popped open beneath him, and he began to fall.
“NOOOOOOOOO!” Stasis screamed as he crashed bodily into the table and two of its legs buckled beneath him, sending him rolling and crashing into the instruments nearby. Screams and yells echoed in the cramped, dark room.
The sound of a door opening, then: “What in Celestia’s name is going on in here?”
“It’s not what you think,” Stasis croaked, trying to push a cheap guitar out of his face. “Whatever you think, that’s not what it is!”
“You…you little monster! You were spying on us this whole time, weren’t you? You set this whole thing up so that you could prank me!”
Stasis shoved the offending instrument out of his face, and looked up at Abra, glaring down at him. He blinked.
“…Ow,” he croaked, belatedly.
“Ugh!” Abra wheeled around and slipped past the teacher at the door. Stasis could hear the sound of her hooves stomping down the hallway.
“I don’t know what you all were doing in here, but you two are not going to leave until this room is as nice as you found it. Is that clear?” said the teacher.
“I just fell out of the ceiling,” Stasis thought it pertinent to point out. “I think we’ve got more important things to worry about than your stupid room.”
“We’ll take care of it, sir,” clarified Major.
After a few moments of glaring at Stasis, the teacher nodded and closed the door behind him.
Stasis tried to roll over so he could stand, but then he was reminded that that side was a bruise, and so he tried the other. That side was a bruise, too.
“Major…” Stasis wheezed. “I don’t feel so good, Major….”
Major reached out and helped him to his hooves. Stasis’ legs wobbled, and he had to lean on the orange pony.
“You haven’t been a very good friend today, Stasis,” Major said flatly.
“I, um…I can explain…” Stasis said, checking his ribs for fractures with one hoof. “Just give me a minute….”
“You promised that you weren’t going to trick Abra,” said Major. “You promised!”
Diagnosing himself as ‘bent, but never broken,’ Stasis prescribed bed rest and self-indulgence. Turning around to face his friend, he said, “Okay, maybe I wasn’t as totally straightforward as I could have been. But it was for your own good, Major! I was trying to bring you and Abra together. Don’t you want to be together, Major?”
Major looked deeply skeptical. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, you like Abra, and Abra likes you, and I like it when I can get Abra to do what I want via you. That’s sort of like friendship, right? This whole plan was about friendship!” Stasis hurt too much to make a dramatic flourish, so he just smiled widely instead.
Major looked about the room. The scattered instruments, the broken table, the grate somehow on the other side of the room.
“I’m beginning to question the wisdom of convoluted planning,” Stasis acceded. “I’m beginning to consider goal-oriented improvisation as a legitimate strategy.”
“Stasis, how can you really be friends with somepony if they can’t trust you?” Major said, bringing the conversation back around. “How are you going to get ponies to trust you when they catch you lying to them all the time?”
Stasis frowned. That was a problem. Normally he’d just say, ‘pretend to be somepony they do trust,’ but that hadn’t really worked out for him so far.
“Lie harder?” he posited instead. “Practice makes perfect? Believe yourself, even when nopony else does?”
“Do you want me to not trust you anymore?” asked Major.
Stasis usually relied on facial expressions, body language, and tone just as much as any other creature; unless someone was being deliberately disingenuous or unexpressive, there usually wasn’t any reason not to. Now, though, as he focused on Major, he couldn’t help but feel the familiar heat that signified one piqued pony.
He looked away and muttered, “No….”
“No, you don’t want me to trust you anymore?”
“No, I do want you to trust me.”
“Do you want Star Swirl to trust you? What about Goldie? Do you want them to just think that you’re a liar, too?”
“I want them to trust me too, I guess…” Stasis grumbled.
“Would you trust a pony who lied to you all the time?”
“Alright, I get it! I get it, Major!” Stasis shouted, throwing his forelegs into the air despite the pain. “You know, just because your dad goes around teaching you life lessons all the time doesn’t mean you get to do the same thing with me. You’re not my dad.”
“Well…if your dad were here, I bet he would want you to learn to be honest, too,” said Major.
Stasis turned his face away to hide his sneer. If Stasis’ ‘dad’ were here, he’d probably crush Major and all the other ponies Stasis knew like insects, and who knew what he’d do to Stasis himself. Underlings spoke of Father’s strength, and his wisdom, and his cunning; they whispered of how terrible he was a foe, of dead ponies who could feed noling, and the nest of bones from the dragon he had slain, and the bruises which Mother never acknowledged. Changelings spoke of his power and ruthlessness; no one said anything about his honesty.
“I’m sorry, Stasis…” Major added after a few moments. “I didn’t mean to bring up your dad like that. I know you must really miss him.”
Stasis’ lips peeled back from his teeth in a faux-smile. He tried to brush those thoughts away and compose himself so Major wouldn’t see.
“…I guess I’m sorry, too,” he said finally. Reluctantly. “I really wasn’t trying to hurt Abra’s feelings this time, I swear. I just didn’t want her to keep helping Pierce work against me.” He turned back to look at Major.
Major looked more sad than angry, now. “I was having a really nice time with Abra, and you ruined it,” he said quietly.
“I promise I won’t try to play Celestia with your love life anymore, Major,” Stasis promised. “Also, I promise that I’ll mean my promises from now on. My promises to you, anyway. Since you’re my friend.”
“Well…okay,” Major said, nodding. “And I’m sorry that I talked to you like I was your dad. I guess that’s Star Swirl’s job now, not mine.”
“It’s okay,” Stasis said with a shrug. “I think I kind of hated my dad, anyway.”
There was silence for a few moments. Major scuffed his hoof against the floor.
“Well…um…I guess we should probably get to work cleaning up this room now,” Major said, looking around.
Stasis’ eyes drifted towards the door.
“Do you want to put up the instruments, or set up the table? I think it’s one of those with the collapsible legs, so it’s not really broken.”
Stasis wondered what was on the other side of that door. Something more exciting than what was on this side, he’d wager.
“You are going to help me clean this up, right? Right, Stasis?”
“…I fell out of the ceiling.”
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3524629
I HAVE been surprised at the number of people who singled out my world-building as part of the story they particularly enjoyed. I thought it was all pretty basic - no intricate magic systems, no maps of Equestria and all of its neighbors, none of that - but I'm pleased to see that so many people seem to think that's not the case. There will probably be a good bit more in the way of world-building in my later books in this series.
3532094
I have seen more than a few times people who reject even the thought of reading Prodigy, not because of the quality of its contents, not even because of the quality of its 'packaging' per se (descriptions, cover art, all that), but simply because they see the word count, and the tragedy tag, and that it's about OC's. Never mind that it could be the most tightly-plotted thing ever written, or the next Pride and Prejudice or Moby Dick (which had quite a few OC's, by the way).
So it's hard to tell how much of Prodigy's relative lack of popularity is because of flaws in my execution, and how much is simply because people are not enamored with the concept. *shrugs* It doesn't affect me much either way - I'm going to write what I want to write as best I can, either way - but it can be frustrating at times.
Anyway, I'm interested to know which group you found my story in. One of the changeling ones, perhaps? Or maybe the world-building alliance?
3537314
...And more is here! Glad you liked chapter 12; I think it's probably my favorite so far, and one that I'd been planning for a good long while. And yes, while I've perhaps kept things a little too slow at times, I like to err on the side of slower-than-necessary character development rather than faster-than-believable. I like my characters to change and grow, but I want them to earn it. And Stasis will certainly earn his development; every bit of it.
3545956
Glad you enjoy it! Doing OC's as main characters is always dangerous, in a sense - after all, you can find people who enjoy and will search out stories with virtually every canon character under the sun, even speech-less background characters, but no one will ever get online looking for an OC they've never even heard of. Some people avoid OC stories like the plague.
So, if I'm going to do an OC story, I'm going to try to squeeze as much out it of as I can. And that means doing a protagonist who's nothing like any character in the show (well, possibly excluding Chrysalis herself, depending on how you interpret her). I think that Stasis is really what sells (or else repels) readers - if you enjoy him and his quirky POV, then you're probably going to love this story. Dislike him, and there's really not enough left to interest you.
And I personally love seeing things through his eyes, and writing him. Glad you do, too.
3547966
Ah, thank you terribly much. I don't know what non-authors use as pick-me-ups, but for me, it's comments like these, and followers like you.
My future fanfiction will probably not be as overall comedic in tone as Prodigy, I'm afraid to say - I really want to explore dark epic fantasy next - but if you like my writing style, character development, world-building and the like, then I think you can look forward to much more to come.
All caught up now.
I think you've accomplished this with Stasis and that's why I continue to read your story. 
3549818
I do agree that OC characters are a dangerous group to base a story around but it's those characters that can add some new perspective to a thoroughly explored universe such as this and putting a lot of effort into them makes them a very worthwhile venture to read.
Well, I can't wait to see what happens with Stasis and Pierce in later chapters and hope that you continue to produce such fine work.
Okay, this made me laugh hard enough that I farted.
Man, I keep wondering which chapter will be the one with the big reveal, if ever. Bit, by tiny bit he learns something new about this whole 'friendship' thing and it makes me ache with worry what will happen if he is found out. I really care for Stasis.
3550892
I know I've said this often enough by now that people probably think I'm got some kind of false-modesty schtick going on... but I'm honestly, truly surprised that so many people point out my world-building as a high point of the story. I mean, Nietzsche castigated this story, and even HE liked the world-building. In fact, he told me he thought that was one of the main points of the story, which it certainly wasn't (at least not purposively).
I can only assume that maybe I'm holding things to a different standard than most people... when I think 'excellent world-building' I think Fallout: Equestria and This Platinum Crown. I guess most people are just comparing Prodigy to other changeling fics they've read... and I've got to say, what few changelings stories I've read have been mostly pretty dissapointing. Visionary, Integration... these stories had major, story-destroying flaws, and their world-building was also relatively basic. I think it's kind of sad, then, that my story should stand out so much in that regard; changelings are awesome, and I would think that there would be a glut of stories developing their societies and cultures in interesting and creative ways.
Stasis' narrative voice is certainly one of the big selling points of the story, I feel; in fact, originally I had anticipated this book to be a darker, more serious tale in the vein of the later books in the series, but as I wrote Stasis, his POV was just so funny to me that I decided to take it in a mostly lighthearted direction instead. And I'm very glad that you don't think the comedic and serious parts of the story conflict; this was one of the points of the story I was most concerned about going in. I THOUGHT I could make it work, since the story never ditches its 'realistic' tone; it never delves into slapstic or random or fourth-wall-breaking or anything like that. The comedy mostly comes from Stasis' POV, which means that when he's frightened or taking things seriously, that makes things serious. And when he's his normal mischieviuos self, well, things are funny again.
About the writing being a bit spotty... if that's the case, then I suspect it's because all of my prereaders are people with as little or even less writing experience than myself. They can tell me when things are funny, some can even point out flat characters and slow pacing and whatnot, but none are veteran writer and editors. When I think that the writing might be a bit... well, crappy, it's hard for me to tell if that's my inner editor telling me that there's a problem, or my inner heckler drinking booze and flicking cigarette butts on my life's work. And unfortunately, there's no one else that I can consistently rely on to come and point out nuances like poor sentence construction or word flow. Hopefully this will change at some point in the future.
And I'm not at all surprised that you can't choose Prodigy as your top favorite fanfic of all time; if you could, I'd have a few suggestions for things for you to read, lol. This is, after all, my first "real" story (and my fourth or fifth overall); certainly my first novel-length work, as well as the first one that I took seriously and decided to do my absolute best on. And it's purpose was two-fold: to let me know if writing and storytelling was something I was good at and enjoyed doing consistently, and if so, what I needed to improve on so people other than my mother and dearest friends would actually want to read my work.
In the first regard, it has been a resounding success; I don't even know what I'd do with myself if I wasn't thinking about stories and writing my own. Even better, people seem to think that I'm pretty good at it, which is certainly an improvement over what I thought before. In the second regard, Prodigy has helped immeasurably in allowing me to see what kinds of things I'm good at... and what kinds I'm not. And in my next novel, I intend to take the lessons I've learned and apply them as best I can. Specifically:
1. Plot. I have learned that, unless you're writing a short story, or certain kinds of webcomics, or a story with a very simple start-to-finish plotline (think many of Stephen King's works), then outlining your story ahead of time is probably a very good idea. I tried the 'discovery' method with Prodigy, and while I can't call it a complete failure, I definitely want to try the 'architect' method next; this is especially important since I'm publishing chapters serially and can't just revise things at will like a regular author can.
2. Pacing. Everyone has issues with the pacing of Prodigy, it seems, even if it's more of a bother for some than for others. Certainly, I think outlining the next book ahead of time will go a long ways towards improving the pacing, since I'll actually know where I'm going from start-to-finish and can cut out the sections that are just pure fluffy entertainment. Besides that, though, I also want to focus on making my prose more 'dense;' I recall one famous author talking about how he had had a deep, introspective scene written for his protagonist, and his editor told him that he needed an explosion there instead. So, he figured out how to have the character develop through an action sequence, keeping his character development while improving the pacing and the tension of the story. I never expect nor want to write thriller-style pacing, but in the future, I want to seek out ways to pack more information into less space, so that I can have character development, and plot development, and tone-setting, and all that going on more at the same time. This, a greater understanding of the management of tension, and other techniques will hopefully allow me to manage the pacing much better than I've done with Prodigy.
3. Characters. Yes, many of the main characters in Prodigy are flatter and less-dynamic than I'd like. In my defense, the characters I had in my original, unpublished draft of the first few chapters of Prodigy who filled Major's role were pretty gods-awful; they were basically Snips and Snails in OC form. Major at least is tolerable (in my opinion), even if most people aren't going to find him deeply fascinating or intriguing a character. And some people (my prereaders especially) seem to really, really like Goldie, for reasons I'm not sure I fully understand. Because she's the 'straight man' of the group, perhaps? Because, you know, cuteness? Not sure. As long as I can replicate this strange, character-loving effect in the future, I'm happy.
Regardless, I'm trying to build up these a characters a bit more, even if it's the eleventh hour. And one of my main goals of the sequel is: make sure none of the secondary protagonists are Stasis-orbiting bodies (or SOB's, as my prereader Mani pointed out). Major, Goldie, and the like have little other purpose, backstory, or motivation beyond what they need to serve as Stasis' foils. This is something I want to rectify in book two; the main characters will have not only their own personalities, but also their own backstories, loves, fears, hates, motivations, and subplots, partially or completely separate from Stasis himself. That way their character arcs can merge with his, instead of branching off from it. Or, to put it short: my goal is to have them be interesting and exciting characters in their own right, as much as possible, even if their place in the story is not as central as Stasis' own.
...I probably should have made all that a blog post. Hmm. Anyway, I really appreciate your long (well, long compared to anyone who's not myself, anyway) and thought-out post. If you have any more thoughts as the story continues, feel free to drop another comment or mention it on Skype.
Surreal hack.
P.S. ChryssyXNMM One True CANON-character Pairing. StasisXChryssyXNMM OTP.
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Ha! Well, if OC's are your thing, then you've come to right place. Prodigy's taught me a lot about what it takes to make well-rounded, dynamic characters, and I plan to have many more in my next work (alongside Stasis, of course, lol).
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Loss of control of bodily functions is one sign of powerful writing, or so I hear.
I should not and will not make direct revelations about the plot, but I will say this: Stasis' character arc doesn't end with Prodigy; not even close. Once a character has it 'all together,' once they've solved their character problems, they cease to be interesting, at least to me. Stasis has an awful, awful lot of flaws, you may have noticed. This is advantageous in that it gives me plenty of room to improve him at a slow, believable pace.
So: while the end of Prodigy is almost upon us, Stasis' story is just beginning. Hope that alleviates your worries at least a little.
I love this and I demand an update.
Dear Mr. Sable Tails,
I only found this story after going through several authors' favorites lists. This story is certainly a gem. I normally cannot handle mischievousness (the last chapters were hard to deal with), but this story is so good that I stuck with it. Your story is just well-written and engaging. I cannot wait to see your story unfold.
Finally caught up with this story.
Just gonna say: I would be honoured to help with this story and its sequels, in any way I can. I really like it a lot.
Hey, gratz on the promotion! You're in the royal guard now, that may get you a few more views.
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lol "Mischieviousness" is an interesting pet peeve to have, but I'm glad you've enjoyed the story nonetheless. I really appreciate the encouragement.
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Yeah, in hindsight it was a rather blatant foreshadowing, but whatcha gonna do. My readers are too clever for me.
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lol I kept seeing comments popping up on my story for hours; you were marathoning it.
And yes, I am rather fond of character development; I just like to take my time with it. And there WILL be sequels - I'm heavily involved in their planning right now, in fact - but they'll be different in a number of ways from Prodigy, not the least of which is I hope they'll be all-around better. I try to learn from my mistakes.
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Sorry you didn't enjoy it. Best of luck in your next literary adventure!
3985646 YAY
But really, looking forward to future chapters. This story deserves a lot more attention. Until then, thanks for writing!
Well, you've earned a fave. I have about thirty favorites, but I must have read thousands of good ponywords by now. Seriously, it's kind of a problem. But anyway, your story is one of those few I consider a must-read for anyone who should wander into the dusty, long-abandoned realm of my favorites list.
I'm not feeling so well. I think the long wait for your next chapter may be causing a case of coltitis or fillymonia. I'm sure 911 would not take me seriously, but I hope Stasis is able to conjure up the next part of his story before
Stasis and Pierce kinda reminds me of Zim and Dib from "Invander Zim".
I never really comment on things, but this needs commenting upon. This beast of a story brightens any day that I happen upon it, and the driving narration that is Stasis always leads to interospection on my part.
I hope you are doing well, and that this is still on your to do list. In any case, I thank you for writing this and blessing me with its words.
Reread this chapter so I wouldn't confused when I read the update.
Worth.
*Alondro adds Stasis' dad to the list of changelings to torture for a good long while before allowing them to beg for death. And Alondro, being a merciful Dark Lord, shall oblige.*
3554107 Alas, this is why I find it so hard to write a story about myself, being without flaw as I am.
At one time long ago in my youth, I was very concetied. But that has all changed now that I am perfect.
I find it interesting how Discord is praised like a God, Cursed like a demon, and has his place in most of Stasis' little mental rants...
But the Celestia bit was perfect... Even if she gives the job to Cadence...
Oh man, oh man
It's always both hard and easy to remember that Stasis was bumped up several grade-levels into Major's and Abra's class. Hard, because the age difference is never really brought up very often, but then easy because Stasis' schemes are just so amateur-tier. I mean seriously, his whole idea of setting up candles and rose petals just proves that, when older ponies question where all of that stuff is coming from.
Major is beginning to assert himself and be more independent, but it's at least working out to Stasis' long-term benefit. Maybe not his immediate benefit, but considering Major is pushing him to be more honest and less villainous, it's working out well nonetheless.
Pfffffthahahahahaha
This entire chapter is funny as heck
GROWTH.
Fair enough!