Settling In
Echo awoke with a groan. Months had passed since she had adopted her daughter, and they were both still in the process of settling into their new lives. Their home, provided courtesy of Twilight Sparkle's connections with Canterlot Royalty, was comfortable enough. It had two spacious bedrooms, a nice living room, and a kitchen large enough to accommodate the energy-rich diet of a growing filly. Echo's biggest adjustment was to the responsibilities of parenthood. As Scootaloo's mother, she was now responsible for all of the young pegasus' needs, which were numerous.
Upon hearing the news of Scootaloo's adoption, Rarity had immediately offered Echo a job in the Boutique as a dressmaker. It was actually a very pleasant job, since there was not much in the way of talking that had to be done through the course of her duties. She could just sit quietly in her corner and sew away. Rarity was reaping the benefits of this arrangement as well. Since Echo's employ began, Rarity's clientele had doubled. Echo's hours were whatever she pleased, as long as she was able to fill her half of the orders.
Scootaloo had grown accustomed to the fact that her mother was a changeling, and Echo didn't even feel the need to disguise herself anymore while she was in the privacy of her own home. It was pleasant to be herself around her daughter. Scootaloo had even said that she looked “cool”, which filled Echo with pride. I'm cool. She would say to herself every morning while she prepared Scoot's breakfast. I'm a cool mom.
“Scoot-Scootaloo!” Echo called up. In the months she had spent disguised, she had missed the buzz that her natural voice made, and she was very happy to be able to hear it again. “Breakfast is ready!”
Scootaloo came out of her room and down the stairs, mumbling and rubbing the back of her head. “Thanks, mom,” she said groggily, “here's yours.” Scoot stumbled over to Echo and hugged her, still half-asleep.
“Mmmm,” Echo hummed, “still tastes like chocolate.” She smiled her big toothy grin. Her daughter smiled back, still in the haze of sleep.
“Moooom,” she groaned as she sat down to eat.
“Scoooooot,” Echo mimicked as she sat down on the opposite side of their table. “So what are you going to be up to today, bird-brain?”
“Sweetie and Apple Bloom had the idea that we might get our cutie marks in being party-planners, so we're going to spend the day with Pinkie Pie,” the filly mumbled through her cereal.
“Oh?” Echo raised an eyebrow, “See if you can figure out some of her secrets. I'd very much like to know them.” Echo still got a stupid grin whenever she looked at her daughter.
“I will,” came the rehearsed reply, “I just hope that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon leave us alone today.”
Echo thought back to two days earlier, when Scootaloo had come home crying after being teased by those two little brats. Their days had ended with a very angry Candlelight dragging them by their tails back to their respective parents. With the scare that they had received and the scolding she had given their parents, she felt reasonably assured that Scootaloo, at the least, would be left alone.
“If either of those two bother you,” Echo started, “just remind them who your mother is. Make sure they know that Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom are under her protection too,” she finished sternly.
Scootaloo smiled out of the corner of her mouth, “you're an evil bug-mare, aren't you, Mom?”
“I am not a bug,” she stated flatly, “though 'evil' is still up in the air, I think.” She laughed, “I'm going to have to go to work here in a minute, Scoots, so make sure to clean your bowl before you go to play with Pinkie Pie, okay?”
Scootaloo mumbled something through her cereal that sounded like “Yes, mom” before scooping up another bite.
Echo clothed herself in flames as she trotted to the door. Once her disguise was in place, she stepped outside. She called back to wish her daughter a happy day before she closed the door behind her and began her walk next door, to the Boutique.
Echo's head ached from her prolonged use of magic. She would describe the fine attention to detail necessary in the creation of a wedding dress as mind-numbing, were it not for the fact that her headache was actually quite pronounced. At any rate, it was time again for another one of Twilight Sparkle's changeling research studies. Echo doubted if Twilight would ever have asked enough questions to complete her research, but had long since decided that these sessions were harmless enough, if perhaps boring to endure. She levitated the needle and thread to Rarity, who took over the work with a gentle smile and a nod. Strapping on her saddle bag, she began the walk to the Library.
The questions on changeling biology were particularly unpleasant. When Echo wasn't being forced to explain in great detail the process through which changelings reproduced, she was being asked to explain through what biological processes love enabled them to sustain sentience. The latter was a question to which she actually had no answer, and Twilight's studies had thenceforth taken a very intense interest in unraveling that particular mystery. Echo had to admit that she was actually interested to know the answer herself.
Twilight had installed a new addition to the library just for their studies. It was a basement full of various different magic-monitoring instruments and sensors. In the center of the room was a rather comfortable red couch, on which Echo would sit through the duration of their experiments. About 4 yards away from it was a chair where Twilight would deposit herself at the beginning of each session. Echo would answer questions, Twilight would jot down notes, and at the end of every session, Echo would have a snack while Twilight monitored all the different types of magic that were involved. The last time, the unicorn had drawn Echo's blood before, during, and after her snack. Echo hoped that today might bring some interesting answers. She knocked on the door.
“I'll get it!” a young but obviously male voice called out from inside. The door opened. “Oh, Candlelight! Come in, ma'am.” he said with a bow.
“Spike,” she said, “We've known each other for a while now, you don't have to call me ma'am, or Candlelight. Call me Echo.”
“Sure thing, ma- Echo.” He smiled before he continued, “Twilight! Echo's here!”
“Oh, she is?” Twilight's voice rang down the stairs, “just a moment.”
A moment passed while Twilight's voice settled on the pair's ears. “So,” Spike asked, “how have things been with Scootaloo?”
“Fantastic,” Echo bubbled, “that little bird-brain makes me so happy. Not to mention she positively SATURATES the air with love. It tastes like chocolate, you know.” Echo giggled at the dragon's visible discomfort.
“Oh, look, here comes Twilight,” he said awkwardly, “have fun you two!” The dragon promptly made himself scarce.
“You scared him, didn't you?” Twilight asked. They began walking downstairs.
“I couldn't resist. Creepiness is in my nature,” Echo said as she let her disguise drop. She bared her fangs for a moment in an obviously mock display of aggression, at which her friend gave an awkward giggle.
“He's a fun little dragon," she hesitated for a moment before continuing. “um... if it's not too strange to ask, what does the energy you get from him taste like?”
“Honestly,” Echo said, raising her brow, “it tastes like salt. Very mineral-esque.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Twilight said with a nod, “What - what about me?”
“You're really asking that question?” Echo said flatly. Twilight paused for a moment, then nodded. “Peaches. Your energy tastes like peaches.”
“Really?” She started to giggle, “I wonder why.”
“Beats me,” Echo said with a shrug.
A minute of awkward silence later, Twilight spoke again. “Well, let's get started, shall we? Tell me a little bit more about changeling law.”
Twenty Years Earlier
The changeling soldier who had captured the running guard dropped his quarry at Echo's hooves. The young changeling's eyes met those of the terrified pegasus.
“What is this,” he stammered, “you're feeding me to your young?”
Echo scoffed, “shut up. You were attempting to spread word of our attack. Correct?”
“I'm not saying a word to you,” he sternly replied. Echo's eyes narrowed. Her horn burned with green flames as she advanced on the stallion. He was enveloped in a green aura and he slammed into the ground.
“That's okay, I'll just keep trying different ways to convince you,” she smiled, baring her fangs. She stooped her head next to the immobilized guard and traced the sharp edge of her horn down his side, leaving a thin cut through his hide. The guard's face contorted in pain, but he didn't cry out. “It only gets worse,” she cooed sweetly, “are you sure you don't want to tell me more?”
The guard said nothing, but looked straight ahead and locked his jaw. Echo sighed, “Very well,” she brought her face next to his ear, “but you will tell me what I want to know. Every time you fail to explain, the punishment will be worse.” At that, she drove a fang through his ear and pulled away, tearing a great chunk off. The guard screamed, and she spit the piece away.
“Okay,” he sobbed, “just don't hurt me anymore!” His ear was spreading a trail of blood down the side of his head. “I answered a knock on our guardhouse door. There was some brown stallion there, he looked really beat up, and he said there were monsters waiting to attack our village. That's all, honestly!”
Echo turned to Cluster, who stared at the broken pegasus with loathing in his eyes. “General Cluster,” she began, “you did not include mention of any conflict in your report. Am I to assume you omitted such crucial information?” She snarled as she finished her sentence, and a hint of blood on her fang gleamed in the moonlight.
“Of course not, Ma'am,” Cluster responded with certainty.
“Then I will assume that you were negligent in your duties, since you failed to notice that you had been spotted and eliminate the witness.”
“Ma'am,” he stated, “I would not have overlooked such a thing.”
“There could be only one other explanation, then,” she snarled. She blasted him in the chest with a green bolt of magic, encircling him with flames. She had used a spell that was taught to her by Chrysalis herself, designed to force a changeling from his natural state into that of his most recent disguise. When the flames cleared, a battered, shocked brown stallion stood before her.
“Now, guard,” she said with loathing in her voice, “do you recognize this stallion?”
“Yes,” the guard said, shocked. As he paused, another explosion ripped through the night. “That's the stallion who warned me.”
“That was awful,” Twilight stammered, shocked.
“I know. He betrayed us all,” Echo stated matter-of-factly.
“No, I mean what you did to that guard!”
Echo stopped. Her eyes widened and her ears flattened. “Oh. That.”
“What happened to him?”
“He was executed after his testimony was no longer required,” seeing Twilight's expression of concern, she interjected one last detail, “I executed him myself. It was quick and painless,” she said emotionlessly.
There was a long period of silence before Twilight croaked her next question, “what about Cluster?”
“He was exiled, and his horn was severed halfway from the base. This cut off his connection to our telepathic link, but allowed him to maintain enough control of his magic to survive. None of us have ever heard from him again.”
Another few minutes passed in silence as Twilight scribbled. After what felt like ages, she finally spoke, her voice tinny. “Thank you, Echo. You may go now.”
Without a word, Echo stood up, nodded to the unicorn, and donned her disguise. I hope she understands. I'm not the same anymore. She came to the summit of the stairs, walked through the library, and started out of the door. Am I? She felt reasonably certain that this would be the last research session for a while.
What was I? She asked herself. If I could do things that make ponies react like that and not feel sorry about it, what does that make me? Walking through the streets of Ponyville, she looked at a mare who was the color of red wine. She was sitting on a bench with her foal, and they were laughing together over a couple of ice cream cones. What kind of mother will I be to Scootaloo if I can torture a pony and not feel any remorse?
As she continued on her walk back to the Boutique, every mare, stallion, filly, and colt she passed only served to remind her that despite how much she cared for Scootaloo, she wasn't the filly's mother, and couldn't hope to be a substitute. Will she learn to hate me? Echo wondered. Will she wake up one day and see who I really am? What I really am? Can I really go on living a lie like this? Can I tell her to be herself and to be proud of who she is if I can't even show my real face in public?
She hung her head and walked over to an empty bench. She sat there for another few moments before she started to cry. I'm a horrible mother.
She stared, sobbing into her own hooves. She had no idea how long she stayed like that before somepony laid a hoof on her shoulder. She whipped her head up to glare at whomever it was, her eyes bloodshot from her prolonged misery. Her eyes met the concerned gaze of Miss Twilight Sparkle, whose own eyes glistened in the waning day's light. Looking around, she saw that a small crowd had gathered around her. Everypony seemed concerned. They're concerned for Candlelight, not for me. If it were me sitting on this bench, they'd be terrified, and they should be.
Twilight broke the silence. “Candie? What's wrong?”
Echo stared into her eyes with hatred for a brief moment before her gaze softened. She collapsed into Twilight's shoulder and whispered into her ear, “Twilight, how could Scootaloo ever love me? If I can do such horrible things and not even care, how could I hope to be a good mother to her?”
“You seem to care an awful lot to me,” Twilight started, “but let me ask you another question. Do you love Scootaloo?”
“More than the world.”
“Would you do anything to help her?”
"Without hesitation."
“Then you'll be a great mom, Candie, and don't doubt it for a second.”
Twilight held Echo close, patting her back reassuringly. If I had shown this kind of weakness in the hive, I would have been stripped of command on the spot. As Twilight hugged her, Echo felt the warmth of her friendship energizing her. She finally worked up the energy to smile.
“Mmmm,” she hummed, “peaches.” Twilight immediately let go and scooted back a short distance.
“I'm glad you're feeling better,” she said awkwardly.
“Yeah, Twilight. I am,” she giggled. The crowd began to disperse, seeing that Candlelight was no longer distressed. “Thank you.”
“Any time,” Twilight waved a hoof casually as she got up and started back toward the library, "and I'm sorry about how I reacted back there."
Echo sat on the bench and looked up at the sky as it slowly darkened. The stars began to come out one by one, heralding the moon's arrival. She felt a strange connection with the stars. They were always there, but only showed themselves when nopony was around to see. They were a hidden beauty, appreciated by so very few. She knew she would do anything to give Scootaloo a better life, even if she had to stay hidden for the rest of her own.
As Princess Luna started the moon's slow journey across the heavens, Echo exhaled deeply, and felt herself beginning calm down. I'll be strong for her. I'll always be strong for her.
Echo began the walk home, taking her time to ensure that her eyes would clear by the time she arrived. She didn't want to have to explain why she'd been crying to Scootaloo. As she approached her home, she felt that something was wrong - it was quiet. Usually her daughter was doing something loud and obnoxious to pass the time until Echo got home.
Echo walked in the door to her home to find it wrecked. Objects were strewn about the floor, drawers were open, and a picture of Scootaloo and Echo had fallen off of the wall. The frame had shattered. The cabinets in the kitchen were all open - some off of their hinges - and the wallpaper had been largely torn down in the living room.
A wave of horror came over her as she thought about her daughter. Unable to focus, she dropped her disguise. “Scootaloo! Where are you?” Echo ran upstairs to her room and found it destroyed as well. Still calling for her daughter, she started to look under her bed, in her closet, and anywhere else she could think. Not finding the filly, she continued to Scootaloo's room. She tried the knob, but the door didn't budge. “Scoot, are you in there?”
“Mom?” came a worried response. Echo didn't hesitate another moment. She reeled around and gave the door a full-force buck, sending it crashing in. Echo jumped into the room, horn aglow, ready to end the existence of whomever may threaten her daughter.
As her hooves hit the floorboards, she heard two familiar, ear-piercing screams. A glance around the room showed Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle huddled in the corner next to a bucket of paint. A collection of different tools were sitting around them. Scootaloo sat in the middle of the room with her jaw hanging open.
She glared at Scootaloo before she asked, “what the hay happened in this house?”
The filly squeaked as she spoke, “Cutie Mark Crusaders Home Decorators,” she looked back at her friends, still huddled in the corner, “yay?”
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Home decorators? Well, at least they didn't call themselves home improvers...
Scoots, you are in so much trouble!
Oh thank you lordie lord lord I thought some changeling wanted to kill scoots when I first saw the house was ransacked........... or redecorated... whichever you prefer.
Smooth Echo...
Great chapter-- Home decorators, whee
Lol
That was... powerful.
MOAR!!!
I think that Echo will be a great Mother.
Oooh and Cutie Mark Crusaders Home Decorators :D hillarious
2167408 Huzzah! I love it when an idea strikes the readers the way I intended it to.
Thanks for reading!
Congrats Scoots, you have just shown your two best friends your mom's best kept secret
They better Pinkie promise they won't tell or that just won't end well.
Anyway, lovely chapter! Lovely how Echo sees what she did in the past wasn't really that good... Even if she really didn't know better because that's how she was raised.
Yay! New chapter!
*After reading*
That was so awesome!
Now...
*Leans back in chair, stares at monitor, and waits patiently.*
Echo:
2167638 Mission accomplished.
2167610 Oh, just you wait.
2167587 You are always such a patient one, good sir. I appreciate it. Glad you enjoyed reading!
2167579 Just keep reading my friend. Just keep reading.
I get the distinct impression that Cluster is improtant.
"stuff like that never stays in the past."
good point.
great chapter, I humblely await more
2167834 I'm not answering one way or another on that point.
Where did you get that quote from, though? I don't recall writing it...
I think the fact that you scared nearly every one of your readers with that last scene means you are doing a very good job.
Okay, now THAT was a great ending! <3
lol i was thinking something bad happened to scoots
... wait... do CMC know as a whole about Echo being a changeling? Or is it only Scoots and Twi? I kind of forgot who else knows...
and she barged in without disguise.
That ending... I thought that the chapter would end in a dramatic cliffhanger, the reader uncertain about the danger and Scootaloo's fate and... Wait a moment... That really happened
Looks like I found myself a Luna admirer
Saw a paragraph of 'Luna's beautiful night sky'. Everyone knows Celestia is best pony
Lol, that last statement wasn't suppossed to be a part of this comment, in fact I was just wondering how you got your cover art. Did you draw it yourself? If not, who did it for you? Was it for free? Or did you have to pay...
please respond, I'm curious as to what your answers will be
General Cluster, the name is too close for coincidence so I'll have to assume he will have some small army get overwhelmed by ponies at some point.
Echo should count herself lucky the house isn't also on fire or partly collapsed, or both. Still, you'd think Derpy was in there from all damage caused. It would be safe to say the CMC will be "Cutie Mark Crusaders Home Repairers" for the next week under the glare of an angry mom (you can defy Celestia, you can defy gravity, but you can't defy Mom).
I still can't fathom what possessed the CMC to do that...
At this rate, everyone in Ponyville will have a "keep it secret" between Candlelight/Echo and themselves before the year's out.
This is beginning to get interesting. I do wonder, though, whether Echo cares about the pony she killed, or if she just cares about the fact that she killed a pony. Whatever the case, I can't help but hope that she talks about these kinds of things with Twilight (or somepony) in the future.
Wonder if Twilight has sent a letter to Celestia about Echo yet?
Best ending to a chapter EVER MOAR!
Funny. I wonder how Scootaloo will explain this to her friends. They were not expecting that.
.
Sentience? As in being intelligent and aware and that stuff?
I think you used the wrong word here
Sustenance, as in food to live is what I think you ment.
Echo gun b mad
i couldnt contain my self after that last phrase
Wasn't the changeling that got arrested at the very beginning also disguised as a brown earth stallion?
Probably a coincidence...
*Alondro AH-HA's!* At long last, the fate of the missing guard I have been researching for 20 years has been solved! Now I know what happened, and I have a murderer to execute! Since there was no formal declaration of war, we can count this as international kidnapping, terrorism, and first-degree murder!
*executes Echo immediately*
2169112 Considering some of the comments you've posted on this story, I'm inclined to believe you don't enjoy it. I'm very sorry to hear that.
I would like to respectfully ask that you keep the bashing of Echo to a minimum though. I acknowledge that this story is imperfect, but it (and Echo) are very dear to me. Call it silly if you want, but I get very protective over her and any other characters I create.
I've read your complaints regarding this story, and I acknowledge them. I also thank you for taking the time to point them out. That said, I've decided that I will take such points into consideration for future stories. This one will be left to develop as is. If you don't like it, you don't have to read it, but please, if you would, don't continue to comment with just your disapproval.
2168816 No, sentience is the word I intended.
Earlier, I detail that changelings can survive on food alone, but that the consumption of love energies allow them to maintain sentience.
2168295 You did indeed find a Luna admirer.
Woona > Sunbutt any day.
I wish I could draw that well. Alas, I cannot; I commissioned it from http://viwrastupr.deviantart.com/ at about 5 bucks an hour. Ended up costing me around 15 bucks, and he got it to me within a couple of days. He's a reasonable fellow and does stellar work at stellar speeds. I think it's safe to say that when I need more cover art, he'll be my source.
I should have seen the ending coming.
2169165 Just playfully pointing out what any officers of the law are going to say if they find out what she did. She tortured a kidnapped guard, and then committed cold-blooded, premeditated murder. Justice does not simply ignore such crimes simply because the perpetrator says their sorry, you know.
And that general of hers may still be alive, and very very angry, eager for revenge. What better vengeance than telling all the Royal Guard about the many things he knows she's done and watching them buck her to bloody pulp? He could reveal it all in exchange for pony aid, also revealing that he had tried to warn of an attack, betraying his own kind out of the goodness of his heart and a sense of honor and fairness (he'd likely really ham it up on those points, something that will no doubt gain him sympathy).
You see, you've created that sort of a set-up with the facts of the story. I'm quite good at picking out lines of attack that antagonists may use. And this, keeping in mind that Echo is no innocent love harvester. She IS a murderer. That is fact. That fact cannot be changed. It leaves open the potential avenue of exploitation from one of her victims who may yet be alive and hungry for vengeance.
2169344 I am well aware that I created several set-ups with the events in the story. One must have conflict in their story, after all. Which set-up will be expanded remains to be seen. Spoilers, after all.
As far as her having killed ponies before, she was acting under the orders of a foreign military. He was captured as a POW, and under changeling law, prisoners can be executed. Does that make it right? No, but that's part of the struggle Echo is undergoing, though.
If you want to point out problems like that, be my guest. You may, however, want to wait until the story has unfolded. Many of the discrepancies you point out are intentional.
All I'm asking is that if you dislike the story, or Echo, or me, you take it elsewhere. I've acknowledged your complaints, I've taken them into consideration, and I shall implement any pertinent changes in future stories. I'm not trying to be dogmatic or confrontational, I'm just asking you with all due respect to let this story be. I've decided that this story will unfold as I had previously planned, for better or for worse.
Future stories will reflect the things I have learned from the feedback to this one, and in that way I hope my writing will grow.
Thank you again for your time in reading Adaptation,
CoAlFire
I got to say this is one of my fav stories can't wait to read more
2169430 I'm glad you're enjoying it.
Cant wait to read how Echo deals with this. Great story by the way.
2167371 Oh god, if they tried that, I think Echo would have heard something along the lines of "Tactical nuke incoming." Then again, it might just be more like a few pounds of C4. (When in doubt, C4.)
good chapter with quiet a bit of emotion......and an EPIC comical ending
Please keep it up
Oh Crusaders... If they weren't so adorable, everypony would be pissed off at them
2167371 SUddenly I can't help but be reminded of that old TV show... MORE POWA....
Thx for replying to my questions
It really helped, though your answers were not what I expected. Sadly, not everyone can be good at certain things, and I can understand that. To tell you the truth, I was sortve expecting you to say 'yes, I did draw the cover art'. Then I would've asked for something to be made... then I you would've said 'NO' shortly after I would've said 'Please 
' the you would've said 'No means, NO!' Then I wouldve been like,
then you, 
...
Please ignore the second half of this comment, for it was a result of sudden boredom
2167919 you didn't, that wasn't a quote.
"lieutenant Zack Marcus at you're service"
He has become self-aware
Damn! The disguise of shapeshifter has fallen and now is in trouble! Almeo Scootalo can defend his mother and can condivedere a secret with disabilities, provided that the CMC does not prefer dientare "slayers of shape-shifting."
2169694 I'm afraid C4 isn't destructive enough to match the CMC... plus, they're cute, so they can be forgiven for anything. C4 on the other hand...
2171647 What about C8? I expect that has quite the destructive power.
2171659 Still not enough to match the CMC
2171469 Ah, I see.
Strangely enough, I completely understand. Echo's here with me. If I let her talk, though, there would be spoilers.