Homecoming

by seeker9709

Lingering shadows

10 Days remaining

Like many of its great landmarks and structures, the Canterlot library was renowned across Equestria for its size, structure and contents. Rising hundreds of feet in the air, the glorious building was inset in various places with mosaics of the finest stones, containing designs from across all of Equestria. Beautifully stained and polished glass windows presided over the halls, patterned so that they reflected light from the sun, moon and stars in many ways depending on the time of year and placement of celestial bodies in the sky. Tapestries spun from fine silk and gold threads adorned the walls, displaying scenes from across history. And this was to speak nothing of the vast collection of books present inside, written on nearly every subject imaginable.

Originally, the library was once a part of the Canterlot palace. It was primarily intended for the personal use of the Princesses and upper class of the Capital, including foreign ambassadors. However, after some time the building was divorced from the palace, sectioned off, and made available to the public of Canterlot.

But it did not just hold regular books. It was also the center of information on the ponies who lived in Canterlot. Occupation, tax, family, home, and other records of everypony who dwelled in Canterlot were held in a private section of the library, which could only be accessed by authorized personnel.

Shining Armor, one such authorized pony, sat at a small table within the building. Laid out in front of him were multiple folders, some lay open while others were pushed off to the side, having already been read or waiting to be opened.

Shining Armor's keen eyes scanned the pages left to right, front and back, and sometimes started over again. The sun had gone down some time ago, signaling the closing time of the public portion of the library. However, stallions and mares still wandered the halls of the private section filing reports, collecting information, and managing simple tasks such as reorganizing, among other things.

While these ponies moved around, going about their business, others like Shining Armor sat at desks rifling through stacks of papers. A list of names sat off to one side. Records and files of the ponies on the list were what he was currently going through. Twilight had told him to congratulate Velvet, and it had turned out that she was pregnant. This was no coincidence. Someone must have told her that Velvet was pregnant, Shining Armor was sure of it.

Of course he hadn't ruled out the possibility of her spying, but the odds of that were much slimmer. Twilight had taken over a decade and a half before coming back to Canterlot, and she had seemingly disappeared without any record left in any Canterlot inn. The odds that she didn't have a contact were slim, or at least somepony she had put a spell on to keep her safe until whatever business she had cryptically referred to during their meeting had been finished.

“Fleet Foot,” Shining called to a pegasus a few tables away, “I need books on two sisters, Flora and Fauna, and another on one Pearl Necklace.” The pegasus jumped into the air, skimming across the towering shelves reaching over fifty feet tall.

While the pegasus went off, Shining turned his attention back to the set of pages in front of him. The earth pony mare he was looking at right now lived a rather simple life. She had emigrated to Canterlot two years after Twilight had disappeared, from the southern lands, somewhere between Ponyville and the Badlands. She would most likely have no connection to Twilight, but he put the pages off to one side anyway. He couldn't risk being careless. Not now.

Another set of pages levitated in front of him. Shining gave a large sigh. He had been at this for most of his day on top of his regular job, and was beginning to feel worn out. Luckily the list was just below a dozen mares. Some of their folders were 50-60 pages thick, detailing every event in their life as far as was recorded. It was enough to cause the disciplined unicorn's eyes to begin to feel heavy as he read.

A few minutes later, he tossed the file he had been reading off to one side. Nothing noteworthy there. He picked up another, blurry eyes slowly settling on the pages. This book was smaller than the others, and seemed unusually thin. He fully expected its contents to be the same as what he had read previously. But when he saw the profile's picture...

Shining Armor sat up in his chair. This mare was familiar. He had seen her with Velvet before. As he read through the file, he couldn't help but feel suspicious about the mare. There was something about her which was familiar. He thought back to years ago.

It was four or five years beforehand when she had showed up in Canterlot. It was like she had blown in on the wind, like she had suddenly appeared. He had seen her talking with Velvet often. The pair had become quick friends and spent most of their time together for a few months. Many a day they were seen sharing a cup of tea or discussing run-of-the-mill matters in their lives. When he thought about it, she had become a very close companion and confidant of Velvet.

Something seemed wrong, though. The file on her was too small. Something was missing here.

“Fleet Foot.” Shining called once again to the passing pegasus, causing the guard to sag with his already-full hooves. Shining Armor took no notice of the soldier, his eyes glued to the sheet in front of him. “Drop what you've got. I want to see every file on one Octavia Van Cleff, pronto.”

---

Switch enjoyed the darkness. Changelings were born into it, and spent most of their lives dwelling in the shadows. They didn't understand the silence or cold like regular ponies did. To them, it was like a warm, enveloping blanket. It provided them with a sanctuary, a place to hide from the world that had shunned them.

Th changeling sighed to himself. He couldn't let his comfort distract him. He had a mission to finish, and a promise to keep to Cadence. Though their species was never very generous, Switch, Mirror, and Chip owed Cadence for saving them and nurturing them back to health. They were eager to repay the favor and continue earning the trust which she had given them. Nothing is better to a changeling than a pony who offers them all of the love they can imagine.

It was the perfect system. They were given food and shelter and in return they assisted her with anything she needed help with, while avoiding putting them in any danger of being discovered by guards, Shining Armor, or either of her aunts.

Her aunts. No doubt they would not react well to her keeping changelings hidden in the castle. No doubt they would argue that these changelings could still be spying on her and reporting back to Chrysalis, or still trying to discover ways back into Canterlot. No doubt they would make any excuse to have them put in prison or thrown back into the wild. Cadence would most likely fight for the changelings and try to make them listen, but Switch doubted they would.

It was dangerous, but he was content with the life he lived. At least he wasn't starving like the rest of the hive.

The young changeling felt a pang of guilt in his chest at the thought of his brothers, sisters, and most of all his queen starving in the hive. The feeling only lasted for a moment though. He had followed them in the attack on Canterlot, but would never go back to that life. Kidnapping wandering ponies and sucking the love out of them before throwing them back into the world above was not what he did anymore. Now he and the others made an honest living, something he did with pride.

Love as a food source was a commodity to the changelings. Their species was cursed with never being able to feed each other with their own love, they could only take love from the ponies of Equestria. Their hideous forms made it that much more difficult for them to survive. They had been cast out by the ponies, left to wander the wilderness, slowly starving to death.

The pain was something he had felt off and on, mostly. On one side, he felt sorry for every changeling in the hive that was still hungry and hurt and lost, but on the other side, he couldn't help but feel anger towards the rest of his hive and Chrysalis. He had followed Chrysalis since he had been hatched, hinged on her every word and followed every command he was given. He had lived his life at one with the hive, taking any love they could steal from anypony they could get it from.

But since the invasion had failed and Cadence had found him and the others hiding in the castle, she had shown them another way. She had shown them how to earn love instead of taking it. She had even shown them how to love back as well.

Cadence hoped to take the three changelings to Celestia and Luna and show her aunts what the changelings were capable of. The four knew that it would be risky, and that they would have to wait for some time until things had settled down in the aftermath of the invasion. Ponies in Canterlot were still checking over their shoulders every night, for fear that the love-stealing lifeforms were following them.

They were at no risk from invasion, but he didn't blame them. The fear that the ponies had come to know was earned and would take years to undo.

Switch absently rubbed at his watering eyes. He had gotten caught up in good and bad memories, and lost focus on his task. He looked up to the moon. It was almost midnight, and he would be trading off with Mirror soon. Not that he wouldn't stay out here. He, his brother, and his sister always enjoyed these missions, since they mostly stayed in Cadence's room in the castle if she had nothing for them to do. She was, however, gracious enough to bring them regular food and books, as well as coming over every once in a while to check up on them.

Switch gazed over the streets of Canterlot from behind his cloud. Everything seemed peaceful, until something called his attention to the shadow of a house. He poked his head through the soft cloud, only enough to see through the bottom with one eye.

He peered into the darkness, but was met with nothing. The shadow was empty of any pony. Maybe it was the reflection of light. He ruled out another pony as he would have spotted them by now.

There weren't even any birds out that he could see. He gently shook his head before perking up. He peered behind him, his horn coming to life. His green eyes glowed brighter, revealing Mirror flying in his general direction While he had been staring at the ground, he had sunk into the cloud and out of sight. He pushed one hoof out and waved to alert his sister to his spot.

She landed gently so as to not disturb the soft cloud. “Hey there.” She whispered as she concealed herself in the cloud similar to how Switch had done. “What's going on here?” She asked, staring down to where he looked.

“I'm not sure, exactly. I thought I saw something. It could be nothing, but I don't want to take the risk.” He returned.

“Go invisible." He whispered. "Use a low-frequency shield and get closer. Try and get a good angle on that alley.” With one hoof he pointed to where he had seen, or thought he had seen, movement. “Once you get it, stay on for the rest of the night. Try not to use any magic. If you need help, call Cadence first, then either me or Chip. Got it?”

The female changeling nodded once before she disappeared and sank through the cloud and into the open air. Switch waited until he was sure that she was safe and heading to her location before he himself turned invisible. He launched into the air and flew towards the castle, but not before looking back once more at the alleyway as the moon reached its highest point in the sky, bathing the world below in beautiful light. Normally he would have felt better now. Whatever was there, if anything, was no longer hidden in the shadows.

But instead of calming down, secure in the knowledge that nothing could hide there until the moon passed, he was filled with dread. Because if he admitted to himself what he believed deep down, that he had really seen something in that alleyway, if only for just a moment...

Then where was it now?

Comments

[Iron Nebula]

Yes, New chapter! Here's to another great year of fantastic story!

[Moon Shade]

Happy late birthday, Homecoming! (lol I totally just gave a fiction a birthday) Keep up the good work on this fic, I always want more when you write a new chapter.

[guilmon21]

this story

[khatre]

At least you are still writing... many ambitious stories die on the vine after only a few chapters... never to update again

[seeker9709]

3741705

I have known since chapter 5-6 how the story ends, and I'm gonna get there if it kills me, damnit

[FlyingMushroomxii]

aI remember when I first read the first chapter around a year ago...nostalgia

[Tomi]

Congratulations on your one year anniversary

[The Lone Shadow]

Congratulations on your anniversary, it's been a pleasure to read your work. May there be many more to come.

Damn, Shining's good. This could be problematic for Twi and Octy if he keeps on down this road....

Regardless, an excellent read.

[Fourpony]

They didn't understand the silence or cold like regular ponies did.

This seems pretty vague in context.

Th changeling sighed to himself.

Need an "E".

revealing Mirror flying in his general direction While he had been staring at the ground

New sentence?

Once you get it, stay on for the rest of the night.

Get what?

I probably missed a lot since I read this early in the morning and late at night.

[Dragonwaz]

Pearl Necklace

oh god why would someone name their daughter that, that's nowhere near as bad as Deepthroat Cockslut but still.

[OmalleyCaboose5]

6341151
Not as bad as Randy Giles

[bkam]

3743180
10 years later and we're getting closer.