A thing or two about changelings and their habits saga

by Young discord

Reality split - CHAPTER 1 (AKA: Ripples after splashes)

What happens when a changeling dies of hunger?
A few years ago nopony knew, and nopony cared about that but these days saying something like that would label you as ignorant and racist.
The Canterlot tragedy changed it all, everypony thought a war was the worst thing that could have happened but nopony for a moment stopped to think that there could be worse things out there than war.
Although a taboo topic, it is debated whether the tragic mass murder caused by none other than a changeling called Mark was a horrible deed or whether it was justified on the long run but one thing was for certain, it was a wakeup call for everypony who were given a push to coexist.
At first it was a big challenge as ponies knew little to nothing about changelings and as new systems & laws had to be implemented into Equestria to include changelings.
Abrasion was seen among Changelings and ponies, but those were growing pains.
A newly released book called “A thing or two about changelings and their habits” released by a young changeling proved to be the lubricant needed to smooth things out enough for the new Equestrian machine to keep on turning in the right direction, the book was in instant success, mostly sold towards ponies as a tool to help understand their new neighbours.
The biggest problem of all was the reveal of changelings in pony society, of course ponies knew that there could be changelings living among them but nopony could have predicted such large numbers.
The first to go were friendships and livelihoods which promoted further unwanted separation among both sides as the new civilization was going in the direction of apartheid.
Thank god Equestria was a monarchy, Celestia and the other royals (along with the changeling royals of course) had enough power to quickly implement laws that would hopefully prevent another disaster before it occurred, there was some opposition but the royals weren't considered as dieties for nothing.
As for the changelings, given their hive-like way of life, there was little resistance met with Chrysalis's orders.
It didn't take long for laws such the equine rights laws that encompassed ponies and changelings who were technically partially equine required everypony to be treated fairly were passed and updated accordingly.
Of course some ponies tried to find and exploit loopholes to their advantage as to either not hire changelings or pay them less than they pay their non-changeling employees but after a year or two, Equestrians discovered that there were some jobs at which changelings excelled at such as investigations or undercover work not to mention that they could not only fly but also use magic, something that before their reveal was limited exclusively to alicorns.
Because of the sudden employment boom among changelings there was a sudden drop in the mployment rate of griffons who were a great source of manpower but were always very expensive to hire (due to their greedy nature) and as a result, both ponies and changelings began having issues with griffons who were angry that their job opportunities were being taken away by changelings and pony employers who wouldn’t want to hire them over a changeling.
Slowly but surely, due to a gradually decreasing standard of living, a large number of the griffon population were forced to retreat back into the griffon kingdom that would later bloom into a powerful fruitful kingdom due to the massive influx of workforce within it but was currently at an appalling state.
20 years later and things have managed to settle down, the new civilization that penetrated into a golden age of expansion; there were even talks about about renaming Equestria into something more fitting.

---

The hustle & bustle of an early aftertnoon in Ponyville, straight after half-past noon, the time when one realizes that it’s the afternoon! Time to relax! But wait, you’re working right now and you still have at least 6 more hours to go… The air was filled with that crappy-I couldn’t-care-less-about-the-rest-of-the-day feel.
There wasn’t much happening in Ponyville these days, after all it was a village and villages are very different from cities.
Cities always have something happening in them, no matter what the date and time is you will always find yourself amidst an event of some sorts whereas towns were the exact opposite, rarely anything ever happened and although some ponies will argue that the uneventfulness is itchy to the point where one can’t take it anymore, others decide to live in towns for that exact reason... there are silky screamish neon shirt ponies but also itchy warm and fuzzy sweater ponies.
Because cities always have big events, one is desensitized to said events which in turn numbs life for some, it loses its edge and that can become a spiral into depression however in towns, oh boy when something finally happens in a small town it’s such an amazing experience! And a big event was in fact nearing itself to Ponyville.
Next to the Everfree forest, a safe distance from the town an arena of sorts was being built.
The construction was none other than a trisport arena and it was the first official arena to host this newly discovered cooperative competition.
In the last decade trisport has become something more than just a sport, it became a symbol as it was something that all ponies and changelings could equally experience and participate in regardless of their species.
There is a lot of running involved that catered nicely to earth ponies, then there was flying that lay nicely among pegasi and of course last but not least, magic was required for certain players which is where the unicorns came in and as for changelings, they could freely pick any player role on the field considering they could do all three things.
Essentially, the trisport tournament is to Equestia what Eurovision is to Europe, somewhat silly but important in its symbolism.

There was still a lot of work to do in order to finish the building and among the construction workers and an old familiar face was supervising the whole thing.
A changeling in his early thirties made his way to the oval coliseum-esque structure.
For many, this building was a vision of the future but for this changeling it was in fact... a future fact.
Monty knew that the foundations of this new world were still fresh and that now of all times, Equestria couldn't rely on a future possibility, it has to rely on a future certainty to let the foundations harden before they change for the worse and plans upon plans were being implemented to make sure this fragile scaffolding of relationships doesn't fall apart.
Trisport was being made into a poster child of unity and cooperation under the guise of a sport, it may not seem like much but its aim is to create new friendships among fans of teams and the sport itself regardless of one's species or origin.
The memories of the war were still fresh in Monty’s head, a 20 year-old scar, a scar in a muscle, constantly reopening again and again which seeped into his determination to make this coliseum work as soon as possible.
It wasn't Post traumatic stress disorder, nothing of the sort, but some things linger... like a bad incense you regretted buying long ago until one day you realize, the stench becomes a part of your life.
Monty looked ad the coliseum.
The outer wall comes first, it was imperative that this stadium's spectators could come and enjoy watching the sport soon as possible, even if the field wasn't fully ready.
One of the worker changelings, approached the shuffling Monty to report on the most recent events and the progress.

"Sir, most of the outer wall is done however the east side still needs some work"

"When will we be ready to put in the benches?"

"When the rest is done"

"When, give me a timeframe"

"Well if the weather plays nice, we should be done in about a month or so"
Monty's mouth contorted in a dissatisfied direction.

"There's no way of putting them in earlier?"

"I'm afraid not sir, we can't put seats on something that doesn't exist yet"
Monty looked at the east side of the stadium, there was nothing but scaffolding and a few basic supporting wooden beams.

"You're talking about the east side?"

"Yes"

"What about the rest? can you put the seats on the finished parts?"
Monty pointed at the rest of the stadium that seemed to be happily ready to accept the benches.

"Technically we can but that would only delay the completion of the stadium on the longer run"

"I don't need the stadium to be fully completed, I just need it operational enough to host a game with some spectators"

"But sir-"

"I understand you are worried about delays but I need this stadium as fast as possible, if you can't finish it by next week then don't, I just need it to do its job once"

"I don't know if the rest would agree to do that sir"

"That's all right, tell them that if they manage to put seats in at least half of this stadium then everypony will get a free seat for the opening match, once the match is over, you can finish the stadium at your own pace"
The worker pony was rather reluctant but after all, Monty was his boss and if the boss says so, the boss says so.

"If you say so, boss"
Monty blushed in embarrassment.

"Please don't call me boss, Monty's fine, I'm not used to ponies calling me boss"

"You pay, you call the shots"
Monty turned his back to the pony, he came for a quick inspection and update on the stadium and that's what he did, time to move onto other things he needs to do today

"It's all planned out already anyway, I've managed to get two teams to play but the only time they can both make it is next week which is wh-"
A loud scream from behind interrupted Monty as he turned around to have a look at what was going on, one of the workers was falling from what was supposed to be the scaffolding of the east part of the outer wall but was now nothingness

"What the-"
The gray pony announced its arrival to ground level with a loud crunch only for it to be followed by shrieks of agony.
Everypony galloped to aid in hope that the crack was the sound of no life-threatening significance.
Unfortunately it was too late, the pony had lain on the ground all motionless but his eyes wide open in fear and looking at the makeshift group of ponies surrounding him ready to aid
One of the ponies carefully came up to him

"Hey, Bricks, are you all right?"
The body lay unresponsively, only the eyes looked at the speckled pony trying to help.
The victim's eyes began to blink as if trying to convey something

"Can you move?"
The eyes began to turn left-right-left as if signalling a no
The gray pony had never been so terrified.
He couldn't move
He couldn't breathe
He couldn't speak
He could only look in desperation asking for help as he suffocated surrounded by a pile of confused ponies, all he had to do is tell them that he couldn't breathe, saying it would be so simple and yet...
The pony's eye's rolled back, the stiff body gently slackened along with his life as it left him.
Monty looked in horror.
Half of the stadium was gone, just like that, no rubble no nothing, it was there one moment, then it was gone as if it had never had been built in the first place, where there was originally dirt and scaffolding there was now grass and plants with a few trees that had been growing there for decades which shouldn't have been there.
Something was very wrong and chills met Monty's back, he had this deep feeling creep up in his mind that somehow this event was all related to him.

---

Tick
Tick
Tick
The Contraption's glass dome vibrated in tandem with time being toyed with
Reality was beginning to bend, it was stressing to its limits... bad things were going to happen if things keep unfolding as they do...
Tick
Tick
Tick
Crack

Author's Note:

I am back after a very long hiatus!

Had to figure some important things out in my life, among other things I found the love of my life, I moved to another country and I finally got a job giving me financial stability!

I struggled a lot in these last 5 years or so with finding a job, a place to live and fighting my own issues... it has been very hard for me to the point where it would impact my writing and I was very embarassed and ashamed that despite deciding to commit to regularly writing and publishing new chapters I failed... I had a lot of issues that I needed to get over with before I got to the point where I can finally commit and stick to my commitment... it took a while but I got there.

Before I decided to continue publishing new chapters I decided to reread all the previous chapters and fix any mistakes I might have made and thank god I decided to do that because a lot of things had to be fixed and I don't just mean spelling errors but also things such as Monty's name changing somewhere during the story (to this day idk what I was thinking, throwing consistency out the window), clarifying Mark's relationship with Pacifica (was he her great-grandfather, her great-uncle, etc, it needs to make at least some sense within the story so that was updated and changed accordingly) and some minor editing issues.

The good news is that due to the nature of my profession I will now have a considerable amount of time to focus on my writing and publishing new chapters and stories as a part of this saga.

You deserve a good story with effort put into it and that is exactly what I am going to give you, I am sorry for disappointing my readers thus far, I can only hope that people are still interested in the saga despite my fuckups in the past.

All the chapters have been updated and fixed and now its time for new chapters along with new beginnings.
Let's start anew, I put my life into place, time to do the same with my creative work.

Comments

[Kichi]

It's alive! It's back! Is this April fool's day?

[Young discord]

8644632
No, it is not, the story is finally back and I am happy to say that I found a job that gives me enough time to actually work on the chapters on a daily basis! so you are going to see a lot of chapters showing up starting today!