The Magic of Music Part 3
Frauk allowed his head to rest lazily against Kaathe's shoulder as they passed a patrol of guards. Ground Skeltgrass could kill a grown changeling in roughly ten minutes, depending on their size. Considering the smaller than usual portion they'd spiked the spy's drink with, Frauk gauged that he'd be dead in about a quarter of an hour. Kaathe had insisted upon halving the amount of poison in order to give themselves more time to escape. It was an unnecessary cruelty. Frauk had always been opposed to using the stuff. The Changeling Empire was rife with things that could kill you, so why choose the more painful option when so many other humane ones exist?
Skeltgrass poisoning was a torturous way to die. The eyes would burn, the ears would bleed and the blood would turn black and lumpy in the veins. Frauk preferred ground Sandspider himself. Quick and relatively painless- just like falling asleep.
His eyes flicked to the changeling beside him. They'd both picked ponies of noble birth to disguise themselves as. Fleur De Lis and Fancy Pants, their names were. Frauk had sprinkled some crushed redroot atop of their afternoon dinner, and by his calculations, they wouldn't be waking up until halfway through the night. It'd been Kaathe's idea, and a good one at that. The guise of a noble fit Kaathe well. His delicate way of carrying himself blended seamlessly with the disguise.
"We're almost there." said Kaathe. He sounded so relaxed that it was almost frightening. He'd just murdered somechangeling in one of the most brutal ways possible, and he didn't even seem to care. Frauk subtly felt at Kaathe's consciousness, only to find the bleak nothingness which he'd come to expect. Kaathe always kept his emotions shrouded in secrecy. Those he chose to show were often little more than a trick. Sure, he smiled, he laughed and even shouted when you got him angry enough, but it never seemed like anything other than a clever ruse. He was pretending to smile, pretending to laugh, pretending to feel... Frauk had always wondered, if he were to peel back all the layers of Kaathe's secrecy, what would he find? His eyes drifted to his horn. When undisguised, it bore the mark of marriage- a ring carved into the chitin around the point where the horn met the head. He wondered if it was genuine, or simply another one of the mysterious assassin's tricks.
"What we did was wrong."
The words tumbled out of Frauk's mouth before he had the chance to stop them. He silently cursed himself for his forwardness. This was not the time for conversation. Why couldn't he spare this for somewhere a little less populated? Next to him, Kaathe smiled his empty smile and laughed his fake, humourless laugh. "Is that sympathy I hear? Come now, friend. We can do little wrong when we work towards goals so just."
Frauk shivered as Kaathe spoke. His voice was tinged with an unplaceable accent and filled with an unsettling casualness. "What we did there was wrong," said Frauk, resolute. "and you know it. We've never killed anyone like that before... Not that savagely."
Kaathe gave a dismissive shrug "Dead is dead. If you want to go back in there and apologize to his corpse, I won't stop you."
Frauk sighed, he could try to sway him all day, but it would all be folly. There was no getting through to him. Talking to this changeling was like talking to a brick wall, a brick wall that could talk back. Morosely he wondered what he'd find in that head of his if somechangeling were to crack it open. Would there be flesh and bone, or nought but gears? Neither would've surprised him.
They ghosted effortlessly through the streets, slipping in and out of the shadows and twisting through the alleyways, covertly changing disguises twice to throw off any pursuers. Passing through the checkpoints set up by the guards was insultingly easy. Equestrians were never the most perceptive of folk, and their guards did well to prove that fact. They were outside the city walls by sunrise, and nopony was any the wiser.
Lemons.
Thank, Celestia, thank the gods, thank Chrysalis, and thank Luna especially for lemons.
A lemon had been jammed awkwardly into his mouth and impaled upon his fangs. The juice trickled freely onto his tongue, and for a moment, he thought he might actually vomit over the overpowering sourness of it.
It was the most beautiful thing he'd ever tasted.
He glanced around at his surroundings. The walls were lined with bookshelves, and above him the mosaic of a half-moon upon a black sky filled the ceiling. Glittering jewels made up the stars, and the moon itself glistened as if covered in a fine layer of crystal. He was led upon a queen sized bed- perhaps the biggest he'd ever seen. The covers had been strewn across the floor. Looked like Luna didn't care much for neatness.
Caramel sighed through his lemon. His entire body throbbed with near indescribable pain, and his veins burned beneath his chitin. He didn't care. It felt good to feel pain, it felt good to breathe, it felt good to be alive.
He turned his head to the side, searching for Luna so that he could fall to his haunches before her, praise her as the one true princess, and lick the filth from her hooves. He yelped, sending the lemon flying out of his mouth and into the contents of a nearby chessboard, sending the pieces skittering across the floor.
Two great, blue, glassy eyes stared into his, unblinking and emotionless. Caramel would have screamed, had he not noticed whom the eyes belonged to.
A humungous, pony-sized orca plushie was laid across the pillow next to him, its glare boring into his head. What the heck as that doing here?
"You are awake!"
"Hmm- GAK!"
Two forelegs wrapped around his midsection and squeezed, and his many aches and pains suddenly became all the more apparent. He blinked back tears as the Princess of the Night squeezed him tight. Luna sure did like her hugs, didn't she?
"Well I'll be, you're all squishy underneath," she exclaimed, releasing Caramel from the hug and prodding at his soft underside. "Tis very... Neat!"
"You'd be surprised by how much I hear that." he choked, wrapping himself into the foetal position. His words came out shaky, chippered by his sore throat. "I... Could I please have something to drink, Your Highness? My throat's parched."
Luna's horn glowed its cyan aura, and a glass of water popped into existence above him. He accepted it with thanks and chugged it back eagerly.
"We were worried that the poison had already done its damage, thou were coughing up all sorts of vile things!" she explained. "We're only glad we were able to get the cure in time."
"About that," said Caramel, curiously. "How'd you know that-"
"Lemon juice is the perfect cure for deathweed poisoning?" Luna smirked proudly. "When one has lived through as many assassination attempts as I, knowledge of poisons and their cures comes somewhat naturally."
"Deathweed?"
"The toxin that was used upon you." said Luna. "A most curious substance, one that we haven't seen for many a year. We know not where it comes from, but its effects are very... Adverse." She made a small shiver. "Tis a most savage poison."
'I wonder if she'll freak if I tell her it was made exclusively by changelings...' He pondered grimly to himself. Deathweed must have been the Equestrian name for skeltgass. Throughout his studies of the Equestrian race he'd found several cases of changeling inventions found throughout Equestria, renamed and pondered over by ponies. Almost all of these were either potions used to silence those who'd learnt too much of the changeling race. Mind wiping drugs, sleeping powders and- in some very select cases -poisons were all on the list. Yirnleaf became Forget-Me-Do, Redroot became Bed-Branch and Skeltgrass became Deathweed.
"How'd I get here?" Said Caramel, subtly redirecting the conversation.
Luna gave a small shrug of her wings. "We were able to teleport thou away before the guards did anything too drastic, although the party was well and truly ruined. Thou were lucky to have lived. Had we arrived later, the poison would have worked itself far too deep into your body, and thou would have certainly perished. T'was another stroke of luck that thou were outside. Had thou been within the scrabble of a crowd, thou would've most likely been torn apart. Speaking of which, what was thou doing out there?! Did we not say 'stay right here'?"
Caramel cleared his throat. "Well I... I saw Applejack! You couldn't expect me to wait around when my marefriend was all alone, could you? that would've been-" his mind groped madly for the right word. 'Mean? Cruel? Despicable? Ungentlecoltly? Bingo.
"-Ungentlecoltly!"
The Princess tapped a hoof against her chin, considering. "Fine. Twas a noble enough purpose, we suppose." she said grudgingly. "But still, that makes it none the less rude," she flicked her nose into the air in fake offence. "And to think, we considered giving thou a present!"
Caramel shifted uneasily onto his haunches. "Present?"
"Yes. Twas a fine gift, but after such a blatant display of rudeness we doth not think thou hast earned it." Luna continued, turning her back to him with a disgruntled 'hmph'. Ah. She was toying with him. Over a year in Equestria and months spent studying their social norms and he still couldn't understand that somepony was playing with him. He decided to play along with her, if only out of gratitude.
"Oh come now, Princess, I'll be good! I won't even tell anypony that you've got a giant, fluffy whale in your bed!" he said, making a small gesture towards the whale plushie behind him. It had the desired effect. Luna's cheeks blushed a furious crimson as she looked upon the stuffed toy.
"That is merely a gift." she said brusquely. "A present from the governor of Manexico given out of gratitude, w-we thought it'd be rude to simply discard it!"
"Is that so?" he asked, smirking as Luna's blush deepened. "A gift from the Governor of Manexico... So, does he have a name?"
"... Señor Bubbles."
Caramel exploded in laughter. Señor Bubbles. The ruler of the moon, maiden of the night and monarch of one of the largest nations in the world had a plush whale called Señor Bubbles. How could he not laugh? And to think, she'd once made fun of him for keeping a teddy bear in his room. It was simply fantastic. One of the strongest rulers ever known who'd once swallowed up the whole world in eternal night slept with a giant, fluffy whale. Oh, by the gods it hurt to laugh, but at the same time it felt so indescribably good. Once again he gave praise to Luna for saving his sorry hide.
"Well," said Luna, turning and walking briskly towards the door. "If thou art quite done laughing at our personal life, we believe that there are some very worried mares inclined to see you." she snapped, lifting 'Señor Bubbles' into the air with her magic and tucking away beneath the bed.
Six mares? Of course, how could he forget! He'd just left Applejack standing there in the middle of Canterlot Castle Gardens! He knew a moment of guilt for forgetting about them all so easily. He didn't doubt that most of them would be worried sick (save for Rainbow Dash, whom he'd wager was jumping for joy. Stupid pegasus).
As Luna cracked the door open, several ponies came barging through with Pinkie Pie at the lead. She sprang onto the bed with unmatched enthusiasm and swallowed him up in a hug. His aching body screamed in disapproval. This whole 'hug the changeling' thing was getting kind of old. It didn't help when three other furry bodies added themselves to the pile. A small peephole in the pile of ponies allowed him a view of Applejack. She stood by the doorway, the rim of her hat pulled down firmly over her eyes.
Finally the tangle of bodies disbanded to allow Caramel a chance to breathe, which he was more than a little grateful for. However he had little time to enjoy it, since Rarity, Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie practically blasted him with questions as soon as they had the chance. Rainbow Dash resigned to hang above, floating lazily in mid-air. Caramel couldn't help but smile when he felt a small twinge of relief drift from her.
"What happened to you?"
"Are you alright?"
"We were so worried!"
"How many hooves am I holding up?"
Caramel looked over the heads of the four mares to glance at Applejack. He caught her looking back at him and noticed how bloodshot and glassy her eyes were. Rarity caught his longing glance towards Applejack and smiled knowingly, subtly suggesting to her friends that they give the two some 'alone time' as she put it.
They filed out of the room, Rarity sparing a reassuring wink in his direction before disappearing around the corner. To his surprise, Rainbow Dash actually hovered down to his level to give him a grudging "I'm glad you're okay, I guess..." before zipping through the door.
An awkward silence fell over the room. Applejack had made her way to the side of the bed and was eyeing him uncertainly. A plethora of emotions poured out of her. Rage, fear, happiness, relief, it all mixed together into a strange blend of love and hate. Caramel dared to break the silence.
"I'm sorry."
Applejack creased her brow, silently urging him to continue.
"I don't think your idea of a perfect night out includes your date puking up on the floor."
"Well, I'll give ya this, ya can certainly make a gal's night a whole lot more interestin'."
He smirked. "Well if that's how you feel then maybe I should try to get poisoned more often."
"Don't joke about this." she said with a sudden sternness. She lifted her hat to look him dead in the eyes. She was a wreck. Her eyes were red and raw from crying, and her mane was fussed and dishevelled. The sight of her welled both sympathy as well as a shameful pride within Caramel. "Ya almost died back there, an' all Ah could do was watch. D'ya have any idea how bad that makes me feel? Ah..." a pause, followed by a hefty sigh. "Ah dunno. Just try not to die any time soon, okay?"
Summoning up the will to raise a foreleg, he draped a hoof over of her shoulders. There was a familiar warmth there, one he'd known through many a night, and longed for now. It shattered when he noticed just how discomforting she found the contact. She didn't mean to show it, but he could feel her urge to reel away from him in disgust, as if he were some kind of spider. He let his hoof slough away from her shoulder. So. She still saw him as if he were a monster. The realisation was a knife to his gut. He'd risked his life by revealing himself, endured the ramblings of Pinkie Pie and Rarity, got himself poisoned and paraded around Canterlot Castle in his true form, vomiting and bleeding from the ears as he did. He'd always accepted Applejack as stubborn, but this was cruelly so.
"What's wrong?" she asked suddenly, picking up on the distain written so plainly across his face. Caramel cursed himself as an idiot for showing his anger so freely.
"Oh, nothing." he answered far too politely. Applejack picked apart the lie almost instantly.
"Y'know if something's wrong-"
"What am I to you?" the words came out too fast for him to stop them. Applejack recoiled from the sharpness in his voice.
"'S'cuse me?"
"When you look at me, what do you see?"
"Look, ah don't very much like your tone," she said defensively. "So how's about you-"
"Don't play stupid!" he snapped with a ferocity that surprised even him. "You think I can't feel that, don't you, those little slivers of disgust? That insatiable urge to just squash me underhoof like I was some sort of bug? I'm a changeling, Applejack. I can taste your emotions, for Celestia's sake."
Her face hardened into stoicism. "Ah don't know what you're talkin' about."
Applejack had always been a terrible liar.
"So what is it that puts you off, huh? Is it the wings? All the chitin? Oh, I know, maybe it's my soulless fucking eyes!" he was yelling now, not that he noticed. "How's about you look into those eyes. Come on, look me in the eye, and tell me what you find so gods-damned repulsive!"
She looked him in the eye.
"You're a changelin'. Ah can't just forget about that. Ah can't just forget 'bout all that trouble at the wedding, an' ah can't just forget 'bout what you are. It may sound a mite cruel but, well, you're a thief by nature. You know that as well as ah do."
Caramel winced. Her words cut down to the bone. A thief by nature. The accusation was a stake of driven through his heart. A thief by bloody nature. Was that truly what she thought of him as? A parasite who viewed her as little more than a fat water-skin? His fury bubbled and simmered inside him, threatening to gush forth any instant. "Leave." he said, desperately trying to hide the malice in his voice.
"Now hold on there, we ain't even-"
"You all think you're so fricking perfect, don't you?" the words blurted out of his mouth before he could stop them. "You and your friends and all of these other damned Equestrians. You stand there and brand me a liar... If only you knew what I knew."
Applejack tensed, obviously uncomfortable. "What're ya gettin' at?"
"Do you have any idea what it's like to feel emotions? Let me give you a hint; it's enlightening. You see past all of those smiling masks you Equestrians wear and get a good look at the greedy beast beneath." he felt a humourless grin crawl its way across his face. "Here, let me fill you in.
"That Carrot Top mare you like chatting to when you drop by the market? Hates your guts. She's taken to loathing you ever since your brother turned her down. Ditzy Doo- y'know, that mare with the funny eyes who delivers all your mail? She's so depressed that it's a miracle that she hasn't offed herself already. Oh, and Applebloom's substitute teacher? He has feelings towards her that are... Less than wholesome." He propped himself up upon a foreleg so he could glare at her- she looked mortified. Good.
"Or how about your friends? Everypony always seems to paint them as the perfect little ponies they pretend to be... If only they knew. Rarity is as about as self-righteous as a pony can get, Rainbow Dash is so afraid of everything that she has to cover it up with false enthusiasm, Twilight's jealous of all of you, Pinkie Pie's an emotional wreck and Fluttershy? Well, she's got more pent up hate than all of you put together.
"But you know what's the worst? The greed. It's in every one of you, even Rarity, the Element of Bloody Generosity for Chrysalis' sakes. You, your friends, the whole gods-damned town of Ponyville and even Celestia are all a bunch of gluttons. I can feel it wherever I go. The Elements of Harmony, The Crystal Heart, all possible tools of inconceivable destruction, hoarded by your kind lest anyone else have some form of empowerment. Wasn't having two entities who can raise the sun and moon at will enough for you? If only you could feel what I feel, maybe then you'd realise how disgusting it is." A chortling cough forced its way out of his lips. "You think you have the right to call me a liar? Oh please. I'm tame in comparison to the rest of you!"
He collapsed back onto the bed, sweat dappling his forehead. A sudden wariness consumed him. His body begged for sleep, not just for rest, but for an escape from the world and all its troubles.
He glanced back to Applejack and found nothing. She'd bolted out of the door as soon as he'd finished his angry little rant. Of course she had. He sighed, once again cursed himself as an idiot, and slept.
"You smell of alcohol." his father observed coldly.
A jumbled slur of an apology gushed out of his mouth. His old man shot it down with a single, tired sigh.
"Gods dammit... You've gone and drank away what Daejin's paid you again, haven't you?"
Shamefully, he turned away from his dad. The old changeling's beady eyes had a way of picking at him which he had always disliked. Right now they were dull with the disappointment only a parent could harbour. It shamed him to no end.
"I didn't raise you like this." his father looked upon him solemnly, led there on the ground. He curled himself up tighter, hoping that it'd somehow help him escape his dad's cutting words. "I didn't raise you like this," he said once again, the sorrow and disappointment weighing down on his words like lead. "And you should know better."
He offered his father a drunken, apologetic groan. His father replied with another of his weary sighs, and turned to leave, stopping in the doorway for a final, lasting glance at his son. "The Queen's soldiers shall be stopping by in a few days time to recruit workers for the hive. Make of that what you will."
"Caramel."
He yawned as he slowly awoke, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. The first thing he noticed was that he was sitting in his own bed. Somepony must have teleported him back home whilst he was sleeping. One of the Princesses, he guessed. Teleporting something over such a long distance took an admirable amount of skill, especially when that something was a sleeping changeling.
The second thing he noticed was Princess Celestia sitting at the foot of his bed, looking at Mr Jingles with a small, bemused smile.
"You know Lulu has something quite similar to this. I trust you saw it whilst residing in her chambers?"
"Señor Bubbles?"
Celestia chuckled softly. "Yes, that was what she called it. The Princess of the Night sleeps with a stuffed whale named Señor Bubbles! If only Pinkie Pie knew; she'd simply adore that. I'm quite surprised my sister didn't simply wipe your mind!" she bemusedly observed Mr Jingles for a moment longer before placing him back at the foot of Caramel's bed.
"I apologise for taking you home on such short notice. Canterlot is still up in arms about the appearance of a changeling in the Royal Palace, and I'm sure some of the servants would begin to get rather curious once they noticed that my sister had stopped sleeping in her own chambers. I hope you understand that we can't allow for the Canterlot nobility to find out that we're harbouring a changeling; we'd never hear the end of it from them."
"It's alright," he grumbled, propping himself up on his pillow. The effects of the poison were wearing off. The fire beneath his chitin had turned into a dull ache, something that he was extremely grateful for. he thought back to his argument with Applejack "I needed the comfort of my own bed, anyways."
Princess Celestia allowed herself a questioning tilt of the head, but pressed the subject no further. "I trust you know why I'm here."
Caramel nodded solemnly. Of course. The Princess couldn't simply shrug off the fact that he'd been poisoned. To be honest, he was surprised that she'd left it as long as she had. "I guess an interrogation was long since overdue."
Celestia frowned lightly. "Must you use that word? Interrogation sounds so... Cruel."
"Questionnaire?"
"Better. Now..."
Her questions ranged from the type of poison used to what Fleur and Fancy Pants had been wearing. Celestia was nothing if not thorough. Caramel contemplated lying about knowing that Fleur had been a changeling, but surmised that it would've been a useless endeavour. When you were as old as Celestia, the lies of mortals become pitifully easy to discern.
"You knew what she was, yet never thought to tell me?" Celestia's tone was somewhere between confused and disappointed. It reminded him of his father in all the wrong ways.
"I... I didn't want anypony to hurt him." he offered, painfully aware of how poor an excuse it was. He wondered, would Celestia give him a choice between going to the moon or being a statue? He'd go with the statue.
"And what if she'd come here to harm one of my little ponies, or my sister, or perhaps even myself? What then? Had it been Luna who'd been the target, then what? You've risked a great many lives through your blind patriotism, Caramel."
He couldn't find an answer for that. he'd done another changeling a favour by sparing them from capture and had been poisoned in return. It was an embarrassing situation by itself, but to have risked the lives of those around him as well as his own? He cursed himself for his lack of consideration. What if it'd been Applejack who'd been poisoned? He doubted that he could live with guilt such as that.
"Caramel," began Celestia, fixing him with a look that wasn't as much angry as it was upset. "You've risked the safety of me, my subjects, and yourself for the good of a murderer. I'd thought you would be able to see past the differences in our races and develop a trust of sorts; but now I see that you remain as stubborn as ever. I'm disappointed, Caramel. If this is how you reward my acceptance of one such as yourself in my lands..." she sighed, another painful reminder of his father's rebukes.
"I had thought I could place my trust in you. It appears that I was wrong." the disappointed mare disappeared in an instant, leaving only an angry and scorned ruler. "Therefore, I must treat you without trust. From hereon out you shall be accompanied by no less than one guard at any given time. They shall report to me on your every action and tell me of every pony you meet." she brought herself up to her full, terrifying height. "I'm disappointed, Caramel, more than you know." Caramel suppressed a shiver as Celestia swept her head down to meet him at eye level.
"Should you risk the lives of my little ponies in such a way again, then the Canterlot gardens may have a new exhibit yet."
Her horn ignited in its golden aura. "Oh, and before I forget, Luna said she'd wanted to give you a present," she said, a book appearing with a pop of magic. "Although I personally don't think you deserve it, Luna seemed intent on giving it to you." The book was tossed onto the bed, landing at Caramel's hooves.
A blinding light, a crackle of magic, and Celestia was gone.
Caramel plucked up the book and turned it around to read the cover. 'A Gentlecolt's Endeavours into the Subtle Art of Wooing Mares'. Flipping it around he scanned through the blurb. It was essentially a classy stallion's guide to picking up mares. He laughed despite himself. 'Classy' was the last word he'd use to describe himself. No, evidently he was more along the lines of 'traitorous' or 'distrustful' or just plain 'stupid'.
He exhaled, sinking further into the sheets of his bed. His covering up of the changeling assassin had been a dumb move on his part. He'd stuck his neck out for one of his own kind, not once considering why they were actually there in the first place. A stupid mistake. He should have guessed that the only reason somechangeling would come to such a dangerous place would be to either steal something or kill somechangeling. Turns out that somechangeling had been him.
He should have expected this sooner. Queen Chrysalis had moles peppered throughout Equestrian society. It was little surprise that she knew of his betrayal, and even less surprising that she'd sent one of her assassins after him. he'd known dozens of assassins during his training; in changeling culture they were revered, much like the knights of Equestria. It was they who'd seen to his training in stealth, and the Queen saw to it that they never lacked throats to cut. Traitors had been a common target of theirs ever since the changelings of the Black Shores had rebelled twenty or so years ago. Chrysalis had been paranoid of betrayal ever since.
That added a whole new array of problems to his already hectic life. Not only was he going to have to avoid detection from the local populace but trained assassins as well. A sudden guilt simmered inside of him. Hiding from his own nation's assassins... What would his mother think if she could see him now? He shuddered to think of what his father would say. He'd always been a hard changeling to impress and an easy parent to disappoint. A thousand different scenarios played out in his head, each one more horrid than the last. Perhaps he'd rage and shout at him, disown him, maybe. No, that'd never been his way. He'd simply shake his head and tell him how much of a thrice-damned disappointment he was; somehow that seemed infinitely worse.
A knock at the door roused him from bed. He was there in an instant, eager for something to take his mind off of how badly he'd screwed up. He hastily put on his disguise before throwing open the door.
"Thunderlane!"
Caramel nearly screamed in despair. How had he forgotten about Thunderlane? He'd been there at the palace the whole damned time! For the love of Chrysalis, he could've seen him change, he could know that-
"You're a changeling."
'Ah.'
Those words hammered the final nail into Caramel's coffin. He was finished. Done. Dead. He had made a stumble, and Thunderlane had picked up on it. His mind raced to find a solution. Maybe he could try to convince him otherwise? No, there was little point to that. Thunderlane knew what he saw, and he wasn't going to let himself be fooled. Scare him into silence? impossible. He was ludicrously stubborn. The Pegasus was much like Applejack in that regard...
Lure him in, grab a knife from the kitchen, open his throat and leave the body in the forest for the animals to gnaw at.
He tossed that thought away as soon as it popped into his head. His training dictated that murder was a viable option at a time like this, but killing wasn't really on his agenda. Keeping his secret wasn't worth the life of a pony... Unless that pony was Rainbow Dash. In that case, maybe.
Caramel let the weight of his failure come crashing down upon him. "Yeah, I'm a changeling." the admittance felt like a suicide. Closing his eyes, he prepared himself for the inevitable. Screams, accusations, a hoof to the side of the head-
Except none of that ever came.
"Well?" said Caramel, still expecting his friend to explode in either fright or anger any second now "Aren't you gonna rat me out to the mayor? Buck me in the face? Anything?"
Thunderlane stared at him for the longest of moments, analysing him with a thoughtful expression that seemed weirdly out of place on the Pegasus. "That depends," said Thunderlane, and to Caramel's relief he began smiling his easy, carefree smile. "Do I still have dibs on those two beers in your fridge?"
"Thunderlane, you keep this secret, and I'll get you all the beer in the world."
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Poor Caramel... At least he's got one true friend.
Celly, it ain´t nice to kick someone when he´s down, especially when he clearly saw and felt his mistakes and nearly died for them.
Ahh, yes. Because he's gotten so much "acceptance" so far. Her argument is pretty damn weak considering she just teleported him back to his house specifically because none of the ponies in Canterlot would accept him. Yeah, he screwed up, but that whole speech was nothing but rubbing salt in his wounds, especially after what happened with Applejack.
4429911
Agreed. Princess Celestia should know better than to expect someone to go turncoat on their entire family, race, and culture based solely on a few assurances from a few higher-ups in an entirely different country. It's like she expected him to just magically turn into a pony on the inside as well as the outside, despite the fact that pony values are completely different from the ones he's had hammered into his head since birth. I can't even count all of the things I hold on to just because I was raised that way, despite society's insistence that it is totally, completely ok to, oh I don't know, not say grace before every meal or not eat everything on your plate. He's not one of your little ponies, Princess, no matter how much he may look like one.
4429911
Have to agree and disagree. She is the princess of ponies and if that changeling had come with the purpose of harming her subjects and Caramel just sat there, then yes, I can see her point. She has to put their interests before his.
That's kind of her job. I doubt she feels good about it.Also, ponies are indeed greedy, xenophobic liars.
I am SO UNBELIEVABLY ECSTATIC THAT THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED!
Welp, I guessed wrong. About the fruit, I mean.
Anyways... Not that I envied Caramel's position before or anything, but I sure don't envy it now. And I can understand Celly's position on this matter and her disappointment in Caramel, I really can, but...
Talk about laying it on pretty damn thick. Jesus fish, Princess.
At least Caramel had a bit of catharsis with that rant at Applejack, as well as acceptance from Thunderlane. I don't think I would hold together in his position with even that much, what with assassins, an angry populace, an angry ex and her friends, and a country's co-ruler all breathing down my neck. I wouldn't just be a wreck, I'd be utterly FUBAR.
All in all, a hard chapter to read, but a good one.
You have Celestia on her high horse persay, but she is not completely conceited about....
I like this.
4429969
im fairly surprised he took that verbal lashing that well, most rational people would have told her where to go during that little speech.
4430716
I give him a pass. It's a very rare and jaded person that can debate effectively so soon after an assassination attempt. Plus by now I think, "Ponies want to kill me and I should avoid provoking them in any way." is his default thought mode.
I'm just surprised Princess Celestia went, "Yeah, I should totally blame and punish the victim who almost died. If he had been a better pony and tattled on one of his own, this wouldn't have happened. It's almost like he was asking for it."
4430623 ME TOO!
4429969 You're right, Celestia made a blunder in trusting Caramel. Then again, I've always seen Celestia as WAY too trusting. Just look at Discord. He plunges Equestria into chaos two times over and she gives him back his freedom because he's made friends with Fluttershy and apparently that makes everything alright. Heck, he stabs her in the back yet again at the end of season four and she seems to turn a blind eye to it because he gave her nought but a bouquet and a wink (perhaps she just can't resist all of that discordian swagger). And don't get me started on the royal wedding! Her niece turns into a total prick and she just shrugs it off? Jesus, Mary and other bible-related characters, she's either really gullible or just likes to see bad guys screw stuff up for kicks...
4430685 Thanks, it's good to know that people are enjoying my literary fart of a fic
4430659 Thanks for the comment, and as for the fruit, an apple would have been my second choice. Lemons only won first place due to their sheer combustibility.
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I like it when fics point out that Equestrians aren't exactly the perfect race so many others build them up to be. That bit about the faces they wear and Appleblooms sub... damn fine work.
4430837
I think that Celestia is like that because she needs something to break the monotony of royal life and, by giving the villains some leeway, she can almost guarantee that something will happen.
4430571
I'm not disagreeing with the precautions she took, more just that her whole speech was basically just kicking him while he was down.
4430837
Ah, yes. Good ol' Cave Johnson.
4429969 4430571 He's accepted by the head of the official state for what he is, and by general population in his previous status, so far anyway. That is enough.
He is also a member of a hostile species, currently at the state of undeclared war with Equestria, given sanctuary. Him covering up another changeling on a high-ranking job makes him a sleeper agent. That is not acceptable.
Ponies are xenophobic, true enough. But it can be turned around in case-by-case basis. And liars is vastly pushing it. Nopony ever claimed otherwise. Friendship is magic, sure. You can't and should not befriend something you don't know, however.
And the 'greedy' part really confused me. Changelings (and gryphons) are stronger individually, ponies (and minotaurs, and diamond dogs, and buffalos) are stronger together; So they create the means to amplify these strengths. Crystal Heart is the perfect example of pony approach. So not sure how is following that pattern could be called 'greedy'. Or maybe it's something else?
Two things confuse me in the story itself though. Murder isn't widely acceptable even by changelings (not to mention ponies), but extreme violence from one side, and 'stoning', which binds the spirit to the statue indefinitely, from another, apparently is. How does that even work???
And why does Carameling hate Rainbow Dash so much?
Celestia assigning guards to accompany Caramel at all times probably serves a dual purpose here, both the oversight she verbally stated as well as protection against the assassins they now know are after him.
4433647
It’s important to keep in mind that, regardless of how long he’s been living with ponies, and how much he likes them, he was still raised to hate them. To believe that they are greedy (they refused to help with the famine), and to believe that they are untrustworthy, and prejudiced against changelings for no good reason. Admittedly, the changeling piñata was probably not sending a positive message, particularly since it gave the very clear impression that, yes, ponies are raised to hate changelings.
We must also keep in mind that at that point, Caramel was hurt. He’d poured his heart out to Applejack and was recovering from almost dying, and she basically says that she can’t stand him because he’s a changeling and is disgusted by him. All this after he took such a big risk by telling her the truth to begin with; he probably felt like nothing he did was ever going to be enough for Applejack, and as they say, in for a penny, in for a pound.
4429969 This and this.
Breathe*
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4444211 Aaaand corrected. Thanks for the helping hand
4446512 np
AHHHH YIIISSSSS
MUTHA
FUCKIN'
CHAPTER
yeah, about the thing with cherrile's sub, applejack might want o take care of that, and also couldnt caramel tell that AJ still loved him with his emotion sensing powers? and does nopony think to look in the eyes of disguised changelings?
Love the story so far and this was a good "cleaning the air" chapter, but I've gotta say, I don't think the part with Applebloom's substitute teacher was terribly appropriate, considering the lack of a "Dark" tag and all. And I only say this because now that it's out there I kinda want to see how its resolved... and well its a "dark" subject.
4468761 I considered it, but decided not to because the subject of perversion was only briefly mentioned and I don't really intend to come back to it in the near future. Don't worry, seriously dark moments such as that are only going to be briefly mentioned. I don't intend on going all-guns-blazing with the blood, guts and sexytimes.
4552481 Thanks for pointing that out, I'll fix it right away.
okay, Celestia doesn't petrify ponies. It only happened to Discord, and only with the Elements of harmony. Banished to the moon: needed the Elements. Turned to stone: needed the elements. Currently? Can't even USE the elements.
Two: she's a bitch, here. She holds a party where they celebrate the slaughter of a starving army, then is surprised when a member of the species they slaughters doesn't squeal on one of his own kind? And then berates him for being a traitor?
4429880
4933359
Exactly. She's refusing to look at things from the Changeling point of view; she has no right to feel, or tell him, that his "blind patriotism" is a bad trait. Didn't he already tell her how most Changelings feel about ponies and their supposed selfishness regarding love?
Honestly resisting the urge to use a swear word in conjunction with her name. Her point of view is bullshit, if she's refusing to look at the other side. He had no idea that he was already considered a traitor by the queen. As such, he was afraid of the queen's retaliation, and his outburst at Applejack proves that he still feels that ponies have dealt unfairly with Changelings. And you know what? He's damn well right. Fuck her opinion and beliefs in this matter.
Treat the cause of a problem, don't punish the symptom; all the latter does is inflame the issue.
Normally I don't post comments for fanfics I'm playing a belated catch-up on when I'm still in the middle (roughly) of reading it. I mean, there isn't much point when the next chapter is already right there, ready to read. Makes more sense to wait until getting all caught up to the most recent chapter to post comments, y'know?
But Celestia's reaction actually disappoints me. True, she has cause for concern over the safety of her subjects, but she's basically asking Caramel to forget any all previous allegiances and to betray his own race, basically because he's under HER protection now (and not entirely by his choice, either). Yes, the changelings in question were there to cause harm, but Caramel couldn't have known that for certain (indeed, I didn't until the poison kicked in) and his hesitation to not to was actually quite natural. Tell me, Celestia, if you were in his position, would you have done the same thing and betrayed your own race without at least having clearer idea why? Seeing she's so quick protect it, I'm almost certain she wouldn't, at least not without a LOT of hesitation.
In a way, Celestia's poor reaction and subsequent punishment actually proves Caramel right about Equestria's own faults, and that's even more troubling.
Dunno if you address this any in future chapters, but I guess I'll be finding out shortly.
4430837 You're mistaking poor writing for proper characterization.
A well-written Celestia would not have brushed Twilight off so easily at the wedding. But then again, a Twilight kept closer to her analytical self wouldn't have gone shouting at pseudo-Cadance like a jealous Real Housewives cast member.
And as far as Celestia forgiving Discord and just letting him out for... reasons... again, poor writing for sheer plot convenience. They get away with it because 'kids show, who cares?'.
5194782 Frankly, the characterizations in this chapter overall are disappointingly melodramatic and unrealistic.
Not to mention, Caramel blurting out ALL OF THE BAD THINGS about the ponies, some of which only make sense if this story is borrowing fanon from other dark fics where each of the Mane 6 is one step away from killing everyone else, while one of the changeling killers (a killer who's KILLED BEFORE as mentioned in the previous chapter) suddenly feels remorse... that starts to make the story itself stink of propaganda.
wow, celestia is so old she doesn't understand passage of time and the flow of entropy. and she has again forgotten innocent until proven guilty.
seriously, this is taught in ethics classes at PRIMARY SCHOOL!
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This was surprising, not because of what was said, but how she said it. Almost creepy.
Now can Celestial actually do that here or was it only with Discord, making it an empty (though perhaps warranted) threat ?
I'm going to say that while definitely jerkish, it's justified considering what Caramel was and the threat he and his people present. She has already been too nice for her own good.
I guarantee she holds sympathy for his people's plight now, but she isn't exactly in a position to do much about it right now.