Changeling Perspective

by Gwynbleidd

Chapter 1: A New Beginning

One who didn’t know me better might say I lived a charmed life. Straight A’s, varsity sports, lead editor of the newspaper, hell even my family is pretty cool, as far as parents go at least. Wherever I go I seem to fit right in, an ability that’s accentuated by my eyes. As far back as I can remember, my eyes could change color, suiting my emotions: red when I’m angry, blue when I’m sad, and so on. People tend not to notice since the change is usually pretty subtle, taking a few moments to go from one color to the next, often times while I’m blinking. But, the truth of the matter is that none of that means anything to me. Because it just isn’t the real me; all I ever do is put on the hat that people want and act like I’m having a good time. It gets especially bad during the school play. People say that I’m really good at taking on the role of my character; I guess that’s why I’m usually lead. But, I hardly notice. I still feel like me, just a me that is expressing himself in a different way.

I’m getting off topic.

Sometimes my troubles do escape me; one thing that I can always count on is My Little Pony, in its newest rendition. For some reason though, I can never bring myself to talk about it in front of others. It’s a stupid sentiment; people always seem to like me, so why can’t I bring myself to share this part of me? I enjoy the brief periods of respite the show gives me, but eventually reality comes crashing down and I’m no happier than when I started watching. It seems that with increasing frequency, I get the urge to escape my troubles, permanently.

That’s how I came to be in front of this pond, with a knife in my hand. I regarded it as it caught the moonlight, the edge of the blade nearly sparkling. I liked this knife, got it at a flea market a few years back. It’s russet-brown and gold in color, with an ornate design on either side, not that it will matter for much longer. I’m alone out here, in the middle of the park by my house, the property is beautiful, a calm lake surrounded by blue spruce, but no one else comes out here. So I use the place as a thinking spot. Whenever I’m angry or upset, or just want away from it all, I come out here. Nothing to listen to but my own thoughts. I looked at my reflection in the water, first staring at my face, then shifting the focus exclusivly to my eyes: they were yellow. Not even I am sure about what I’m going to do next. I’ve been in this situation far more than what I think is healthy, especially since my 17th birthday a few months ago. But, I feel like there’s more to life then what I can accomplish here, on Earth I mean, it’s almost like I don’t belong. That’s a ridiculous sentiment though, there’s nowhere to live except Earth, and everyone here loves me. But not the real me…

I don’t even know what the real me is…

I let out a long sigh; maybe life will seem just a bit more clear in the morning. I folded my knife away, and tucked it in my jacket. I liked this jacket as well; its faded leather reminds me of ages past, a different time.

Why is it that the only things I like are inanimate?

I moved to leave, but I heard a sound behind me, almost like a ripping except something about the sound was unnatural, it sent chills riveting down my spine.

But that’s impossible; nobody comes out here but me. I thought as I turned to find, nothing, in the most literal sense. I found myself staring at what appeared to be a hole in the universe. Its infinite blackness wavered in the air, the scene that was supposed to be in its place dangled helplessly below mixing multiple images in a way that made me feel light-headed.

But that’s not possible, although…

Before I knew what I was doing I was standing right next to it.

Well, what do I have to lose? Either it’s nothing and I’m hallucinating, or I get sucked into the vacuum of space and the universe does my job for me.

If I could see my eyes I’m sure they would be burning a fierce yellow, you only live once, right? I took a step forward, and everything went dark…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Uh, my head hurts… Where am I?

I opened my now certainly orange, with panic, eyes to find a lake a few feet in front of me. It looked remarkably similar to the one I was at just a moment ago, but it seemed slightly off, the colors were brighter, and everything was in a subtly different location, clearly I’d never been here before. It was day now, so either I was in another dimension with a daylight cycle not in sync with our own, or I had just passed out for a while, assuming that I did walk through a hole in the universe. Considering the circumstances, I couldn’t rule out any of my options. I stood up, or tried to, but my hands and feet wouldn’t obey me.

Wait… Why can’t I feel my hands and feet?

I jumped to a standing position, which seemed significantly lower than it had been before I passed out, and looked down. My human limbs were gone and replaced by what appeared to be four round legs with hooves on the end. They were all black as a moonless night and seemed to have large holes in them. A gentle breeze passed through the air and me… it sent another chill down my spine. I clumsily waddled to the lake I’d noticed earlier and looked down. I saw a face as black as my legs, two sharp fangs jutted down from either side of my perturbed mouth. A short black horn erupted from between my eyes, which were a burning yellow.

I wonder if they still work?

I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths, calming myself down. When I reopened them I could see tinges of green seeping into the yellow already. So I still had that trick at least.

But what am I? I look like a pony of some kind. A little one at that, wait… little pony… My Little Pony? It couldn’t be.

Something clicked in my brain and I sharply turned to my reflection again, other than my now orange eyes; I looked exactly like the changelings from the season 2 finale! I drew a short gasp and backed away from my reflection. The universe sent me to Equestria? Though I wasn’t exactly complaining, I didn’t even realize that Equestria existed outside of television, if this was the Equestria that I knew from the show even. For all I knew this was the Equestria where Molestia existed; I shuddered at the thought.

If I’m a changeling then that means…

A smile came to my lips, I trotted over to the lake again, managing not to trip over myself , and looked down.

How do I transform?

I realized that it was never explained in the series.

Do I just think about it? Only one way to find out…

I closed my eyes and focused, something simple. I opened my eyes to see a chestnut colored colt with a dark brown mane looking back at me. Other than my eyes I looked just like Doctor Hooves. I turned and saw an hourglass planted firmly on my flank; clearly this transforming thing wasn’t too complicated.

Maybe something a little more complicated then. Something that wasn’t a pony to begin with…

I closed my eyes once more, opening them to a pony whose resemblance surprised even me. My reflection beheld a colt with a blood red mane and a pristine white coat, but best of all was the cutie mark. An outline of a hood with a swooping line directly beneath. Ezio Audipony, I snickered at my own joke.

Before I could think of any other characters to turn into, I heard a loud pop from behind. I quickly turned around to find myself face-to-face with Princess Celestia herself.

Well, that was fun while it lasted… I thought to myself as the Alicorn regarded me curiously. She spoke with the most regal voice I had ever heard, it was like honey to the ears.

“Greetings, Ezio. That is your name correct?”

It took me a moment to understand the question.

Ezio, what is she… Oh god, she CAN read minds, that’s kind of weird to think about, I wonder if she’s reading my thoughts right now. Hmm… She doesn’t appear inclined either way, only one way to tell for sure, what’s the dirtiest thing I can think of?

By the way she recoiled back it became apparent she was, in fact, reading my thoughts.

“You were reading my mind.” I said bluntly.

“Yes, and you scarred me with a mental image I don’t think I’ll ever be rid of, I might have half a mind to banish you, or throw you in a dungeon, or banish you and lock you up in a dungeon in the place I banished you to.” Though her voice was sweet, her words stung. I remembered all of a sudden who I was talking to.

“I have a lot to explain don’t I?” I asked, hanging my head low and dropping the cloak of Ezio that surrounded me, showing my changeling form beneath. Impressively, she remained quite impassive.

“Not at all, your coming was foretold,” she replied, even-toned.

I looked up in utter surprise.

“Foretold?” I asked, quizzically. Celestia sighed heavily.

“There are ways to see the future,” she said after some time, in a rather resigned, though still beautiful voice. “Though much of the practice is lost to time, many predictions of ages past still exist. You were one of them.”

“My arrival was prophesied?” I asked, still unsure of this whole Equestria thing, let alone my arrival being notable.

“Yes, the tale is old and the details are sketchy, but it clearly depicts a creature not of this world coming in the form of a changeling. Though your exact purpose is also unclear the scripture points to the idea of you playing a very big role in the salvation of Equestria.”

O.K. that is a lot of information to handle, not one day ago I was considering ending my life and now I’m supposed to save everypony’s (wow that lingo is settling in quickly) life, wait is she reading my mind again? Only one way to be sure…

“That won’t be necessary, thank you.” Celestia said in a rather panicked voice, though she quickly regained her usual princess-like grace. I silently chuckled to myself. “My point is that you are important, so I’m responsible for you.” The princess continued, though she eyed me suspiciously.

“By ‘responsible’, do you mean?” I hinted at, hoping that this whole, savior of the universe thing, came with some tangible benefits. How greedy of me.

“I will settle you in Ponyville, making it as though you’ve always been a citizen of Equestria. Also you’ll receive a small allowance for expenses, considering your lack of experience in any field here.” Celestia replied in a formal tone, obviously she wasn’t happy with my antics from earlier.

I should try to remedy this situation at some point, being on Celestia’s shit list seems like quite the health hazard.

“Then there’s no reason I should delay then, is there?” I asked, still unsure as to how Equestrian society worked.

“No it appears not, Ponyville is that way,” Celestia replied, gesturing her ornate hoof to my left. “If you hurry, you’ll likely make it before the day is wasted.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty, I’ll be off then.” I stated, I was about to move when I noticed that Celestia wasn’t leaving herself.

“Are you O.K.?” I asked, staring at here curiously.

“Hmm… Oh, Yes, quite fine. I just need to do something, just run along now.” She spoke in a somewhat forced tone, I felt as if there was something she wasn’t telling me. But, it’s not my place to call out a princess.

I turned around and headed for Ponyville; only to have something catch my ankle, still inexperienced in using my new body, I was unable to right myself and tripped. Luckily my face broke the fall. I cocked my throbbing head backwards to see a piece of recently levitated string fall to the ground and a giggling Celestia start to teleport away.

“I believe they call this, ‘getting even’,” she said right before she disappeared in bright white flash that stung my eyes. I gently rubbed them as I got up and looked at the spot where Celestia was just a moment ago.

Trollestia… I thought to myself as I gathered my bearings and continued my trot towards Ponyville.

Comments

[Spacecowboy]

Suicidal, angst ridden teen, magically whisked away to Equestria? Cliche alert, indeed. I like Changeling focused stories, as they can be rather unique, however that intro line alone is/has deterred folks from reading this. Crank out that grey matter and see what other methods of finding one's way into Equestria exist that don't fall under the worst HiE stereotype, and you will probably go a lot farther.

[Gherkin]

How will he befriend the Mane 6 once they find out?

Hopefully he won't, lest another annoying HiE cliche be added to the already bulging pile.

[Woorali]

1829112 Well, no mob hitmen ever arrived in Equestria. Or, for that matter, Buddhist monks. You made ME think, readin' that comment. Still, I look forward to what the author has planned--will be checkin' back here soon enough.

[NataProblem]

Is it me or is there another story with this exact name , no offensie

[Gwynbleidd]

1829112 Have some faith, maybe, just maybe, I have a plan.

[Gwynbleidd]

1831016 This title was an original idea that I came up with on my own. If someone else happened to have the same thought then that can't be helped.

[Spacecowboy]

1832092
I have no doubt that you have a plan, however, I was merely pointing out that your story premise shown is something that immediately makes folks run for the hills for the most part. I am very hesitant myself to read something that is based on that one stereotype, as it is the basis for 95% of all wish fulfillment HiEs, as well as a bunch of garbage HiEs. It is probably the reason for most if not all of your down votes too. HiEs are kind of like the toxic wastelands of Fallout. Everyone is very wary of them, and only rarely are they worth the venture.

As far as my opinion of the story itself, well, I'll be keeping an eye out, I've got this listed in my read later to come back and check up on at a later date and see what direction you've gone with.