Chapter 1: Things you have to know
Chapter 1:
“Eva, are you listening?”
A deep male voice interrupted Eva's daydream and brought her back into the present. She was in school again. Sometimes, when she looked out of the window into the backyard of the school with its green meadow and the benches covered with morning dew, sparkling in the sunlight, her thoughts began to wander off. In that kind of trance different things went through her head, like questions no one seemed to know the answer to, especially not herself.
“Eva! Pay attention, please!” her teacher's voice told her again.
She shook her head to dispel the remaining fog of thoughts that were left in her mind before she replied.
“I err- I did pay attention, sir!”
“You did? OK then it should be easy for you to repeat my last sentence, shouldn't it?” She could hear the calm confidently sound in his voice. The same kind of voice he always used when he caught one of his pupils lying to him.
“You- um - I- err- I-I am sorry I didn't pay attention,” she replied with her voice trailing off looking to the ground.
Most of her classmates started to laugh. They found it funny because Eva was considered the egghead of the class. It didn't happen that often that she gets rebuked by the teacher. She was different from her classmates though, because most of them weren't interested in studying. She however liked to learn new things so she always paid attention in class to soak up every piece of information about almost everything. She also liked her teacher, because he used to explain everything so detailed and well phrased. However recently it became harder to focus on class, because of a certain question that got stuck in her head leaving not much space for everything else.
“I know it's your Hole-day today but focus more on the lesson, please.” Mr. Midnight the teacher said, amused. Eva saw the laughter lines moving on his face. Growing older never had diminished his sense of humor in any way.
She was Eva, short for Evasion. It was the name given to her by her mother Chrysalis. She never liked that name because it sounds so depressing to her, so she told all changelings to just call her Eva. It didn't even sound like a name to her, more like a condition.
It was true, today was her Hole-day: A special day in the life of a changeling.
Changelings are dark coated unicorn-like beings with transparent fragile-looking wings whose special ability is to change into the form of any living being. But like a bird who can't fly on its first day, changelings need to learn how to change their appearance as well. To survive changelings need love-energy to regain their strength so they need to feast on the love, kindness and friendship of other living beings.
The adult changelings have holes in their legs, horns and wings and sometimes even in their mane - the more or bigger holes the older the changeling is. Today she discovered her first hole in her left front leg which marked the beginning of her adolescence.
“I am sorry, sir, it won't happen again,” she replied contritely looking to the side.
The school-building was rather new, not even twenty years, old although it looked kind of grubby. Her teacher tried his best to make it more appealing, by covering the walls with posters and maps and decorate the shelves with flowerpots but it couldn't cover the griminess of the building. The school didn't have the money nor material to renovate it. To be honest most changelings didn't care about the school anyway.
While looking around she noticed one of her bored classmates drawing something on a piece of paper, while behind her she heard two others whispering to each other about the prank they were going to pull on Mr. Midnight. On the left she saw a female changeling brushing her greenish mane with long careful strokes.
Eva was sitting on a wooden chair behind a small desk like all of her classmates. Next to her she heard the slow breathing of a fellow changeling sleeping with his head on the table, her best friend Regard. Although the teacher didn't mind him sleeping during his lessons, he would have preferred Regard stay awake and listen to him. Of course he complained at first until Eva told him Regard's story.
Regard was a changeling older than Eva, with more holes. Although he was a smart kid and may have easily passed class, he was too tired to follow the lessons or to study for himself. Eva knew the reason. He didn't have much time, because of his little sister who suffered from a life threatening disease, shutting her in. He had to worked double and triple shifts on the nearby farm and had three different jobs through the week to pay for his little sister's treatment. Although the teacher didn't like Regard to miss his lesson he understood his reason to do so, so he just ignored him and let him sleep. Eva once happened to overhear him mumbling to himself that it would be a shame to let such a talented smart changeling waste his scholarship, when he thought he was alone after class.
“The origins of our race are from a peninsula in the far south,” the teacher continued his lecture about changeling history.
“For many generations our race lived there in harmony. We used to leech the love we needed to survive from a special kind of dogs which happened to live there, too. It was a symbiotic relationship between the two races. We cared for the dogs and treated them well in return we were able to suck up the love and friendship they felt for us without corrupting them.”
“Wait a minute. Why didn't get the dogs corrupted? As far as I know every animal gets corrupted if you feast on their love too often. They either lose their mind and go crazy or they die because too much love was taken from them,” one of her more interested classmates asked.
“That's unknown until this day. Like I said, they were a special kind of dog,” Mr. Midnight explained with a shrug while fingering his long gray beard.
“Where was I- ah yes-”
“Then the calamity happened. The eruption of a nearby volcano destroyed our capital and most of the homeland we used to live in. The survivors mourned their relatives, but started to rebuild their country after the volcano had calmed down. However the worst part of the disaster was yet to come. The eruption generated a black cloud of smoke which cooled down the country by several degrees, by blocking out the sunlight. While most changelings had no problem in acclimating themselves to the new climate all the dogs became extinct. Without the supply of love and energy the dogs delivered most changelings starved.
Of course your ancestors tried to leech love from the few other animals around but they got corrupted quickly and most of them died, too.
Queen Chrysalis had no other chance than to abandon her homeland and lead her people to another place to live. For decades our people traveled the world like nomads, trying to find another place to settle down. The journey was hard and tiring, many changelings died from exhaustion and hunger. Seeing her people dying Chrysalis had no other chance than forging a cunning plan to overtake a nearby kingdom. Can anyone tell me which kingdom it was?” he asked his pupils.
Eva lifted her hoof. Mr. Midnight looked around, no other of his students seemed to know the answer or was even paying attention. He was kind of used to it after several attempts to get the others to study, though.
“Yes, Eva?”
“It was Equestria, wasn't it?” she answered, quite sure that this was the right answer.
“Yes that's right” he turned away and pointed on a map which was attached to the wall behind him to show the peregrination of the changeling tribe. His hoof remained on a certain location on the map for several moments before he continued:
“Your mother, the Queen knew that the citizens of Equestria had more love to share than one changeling can ever imagine. But with her people dying she needed to take over a major city in time to save all of them. However it took some time to flesh out a plan to conquer Canterlot, the capital of Equestria. In disguise she sneaked into the palace personally and slowly corrupted the commander of the local force to serve her will by foal-napping his fiance and take her place instead. With him in her grasp she weakened the defense line of Canterlot and the invasion started. However, somehow the fiance of the commander broke free and the trickery got discovered. In the end both of them gathered enough power to banish our people from the kingdom. Eva, do you know what happened next?” he had just turned back to the class.
“Yes I know, mother told me all about it.” she cleared her throat saying: “Our people then wandered off into the north east of Equestria and were able to find this faraway valley surrounded by mountains. No pony ever came to this isolated place so we were able to built this city to recover and live here in peace.”
“Do you know what the downside was?” he asked her directly without considering another pupil, because he knew he wouldn't get an answer from them. He was glad that at least one young changeling showed interest so his teaching wouldn't be completely in vain.
“Yeah, because there was no pony here, we had nothing to leech love from. We had to rely on critters and wild animal's love for their families to provide our energy and eating fruit and vegetable to remain healthy, however it is barely enough to keep us alive.”
“That's correct. Not every changeling was able to adapt to the new diet and many starved to death.
Our Queen tried another attempt to conquer a smaller village nearby but the citizen were aware of our abilities and repelled our weakened and hungry legion with ease. Chrysalis then decided to just stay here and try to survive. That's why we are here and that's why it is important to learn how to survive!” while saying the last words his voice got louder echoing in the classroom. Startled, the changelings quit their activities and face towards their teacher.
Next to Eva Regard awoke and lifted his hoof.
“Yes Regard?” Mr. Midnight turned to his newly awoken student.
“So you are saying ponies are evil?” Mr. Midnight was pleased to see that another pupil decided to follow his lesson. However he needed a moment to phrase his reply answering hesitantly.
“Well I wouldn't say evil. They have a different culture than us-”
“But they banished our people even though we needed help badly.” Eva couldn't overhear the slight tone of anger in his voice.
“True but how would you feel if a stranger comes to your home and claim your house as their property?” Mr. Midnight asked Regard looking into his eyes. Regard shirked his gaze and remained silent thinking about that answer.
“Why haven't we just asked for help then?” Eva burst out loud while scratching her head.
“A proud changeling never ask for help, you moron,” a voice behind her said and slapped her head with a rolled-up piece of paper. It was one of the male changeling pranksters sitting behind her.
“Better than starving to death, you idiot!” she replied furiously turning around towards the changeling with his shaggy mane who still held his paper club.
“Kids, calm down, calm down-” the teacher had raised his voice. He then answered the question in a calmer tone.
“No changeling thought about that option before, I guess. Or maybe the Queen thought that no pony would help us and instead uncover our secret which would have made an invasion impossible.”
The school-bell rang and the pupils packed their stuff as they started to leave the classroom.
“Remember that we have Changing practice tomorrow” he catcalled the young changelings who eagerly left the room while chatting and mumbling. With a sigh the teacher turned around and started to clean the blackboard.
On their way home Regard walked next to Eva, like usual.
“What were you thinking about when you looked out of the window? You seemed so abstracted”
“You saw it? I thought you were asleep-” she replied surprised.
Regard was her best friend. In fact, he was her only friend. He was taller than her, had more holes in his body and had a short dark-green ruffled mane. When Eva first entered school she was sure to find friends fast, but most of her classmates were arrogant or stupid morons like the one who had slapped her head.
Regard was different, though. He was kinder and smarter than most of the others. He always was quiet and deep in thought when he wasn't sleeping or working. It seemed they were both different from all the other changelings, and so they started hanging out together.
“You know the thing I was thinking about-” she told him with her voice trailing off.
“Why do you want to know who your father is? Does it really matter that much? I don’t know who my father was but I don't care anyway. I would care if he had stayed home and supported his family!” he yelled angrily.
The lack of sleep and things he had to worry about made him kind of short-tempered. Eva knew that he referred to his sick sister as his “family.”
Technically all changelings are somewhat related to each other. Most of them were given birth by her mother the Queen, Chrysalis. Only a few were born by other female changelings. Female changelings were somewhat rare in their tribe. The ratio was 1 female for 10 male changelings, she learned in biology class. However most changelings didn't have that family bonding like the two of them had. Only a few changelings referred to the Queen as their mother and most of them do not care about their siblings. This was a great difference between the two of them and the rest of the changeling population, since both of them thought that family was important. Another thing that made Eva unique from other changelings, including Regard, was her mane. It was light-blue but streaked with indigo and dark blue highlights, which is rather uncommon for a changeling. Most changelings had green, dark blue or turquoise monochrome colored mane, light blue was a rarity and no other changeling seemed to have a multicolored mane like her. While most of the young changelings used to laugh at her or called her names Regard never seemed to mind at all.
“How is Lily anyway?” She knew that this was a sensitive topic to talk about. His little sister has always been his weak spot and talking about her was like walking on a fine line. She also knew that he would do almost everything for his little sister, because she was the only family he had left. Both of them were born by another female changeling who passed away during the invasion shortly after giving birth to Lily. She was raised and protected by his elder brother ever since.
“I think she is OK. I am going to buy a new medicine next week, when I get my paycheck. I hope that helps her to recover.”
Eva couldn't help but overhear the sadness in his voice while he faced away from her. She shouldn't see the tears of worry he shed thinking about his sick sister. However Eva knew her friend very well and his action and voice left no doubt about his mood. Over the years they had tried different ways of treatment but none of them seemed to work for his sister for very long and while others may have lost hope already, he continued to care for his sister Lily.
After a while of silently walking alongside each other on the sidewalk, he said:
“OK this is my turn, I need to go this way now. We will see each other tomorrow, I guess?”
“Yeah, don't forget that we have to practice changing tomorrow morning. Don't be late,” she said, smiling and trying to tease him. She then turned her head in the direction he was pointing before and her smile faded.
“You are working on the orchard again? Maybe you should take a break. You seem even more tensed and tired lately.” The constant worrying about her friend filled Eva's heart with a touch of melancholy once again. He slowly shook his head.
“You know that I have to,” he whispered desolated. “I wish I could spend more time with you but I simply can't-” he said, then turned around quickly trotting down the street he had pointed at before.
Depressed she reached her home. It was a round house with a dark and greenish color scheme, build out of stone and wood. It had several levels which tapered towards the rooftop. With its hexagonal windows and its black walls and green roof it looked like some kind of grotesque beehive. Most houses in this village looked like this, but this was the biggest house in the neighborhood and it was one of the few that were built out of wood and stone, the smaller buildings made of wood alone.
When she came home she opened the front door and threw her saddlebag filled with her school utensils and books on a small wooden table standing next to it.
“Mom, mom I am home!” she called but got no answer. The house was divided into two parts separated by a small hallway leading to a staircase: on the right side were several offices of her mother and her advisers while on the left side were the living quarters with a big living room and many small rooms for every changeling Chrysalis gave birth to who weren't old enough to live on their own.
“Mom?” She knocked at the second door on the right and went into the office of her mom the Queen, finding her reading some reports from her advisers.
“Oh dear, I didn't hear you come home. Is it that late already?” The Queen said looking up from her reports she had read a moment ago.
Queen Chrysalis used to be a beautiful changeling. She had a black healthy body with several big holes in it and a long shiny dark-blue mane with a small crown on top of her head. Bright sparkling green eyes, always watching for her subjects. She has been a strong and proud ruler and always cared for her people. However she had changed ever since she got defeated in Canterlot - at least that's what Mr. Midnight told Eva in a private moment. Now her face expression seemed to be always tired and sad although she never showed it in public. The defeat in Canterlot and the lack of love-energy mutilated her sparkling former self leaving a grumpy introvert changeling not worthy of the title of a Queen.
The office was a medium sized room with a desk in the middle and several filled bookshelves in the back behind it. On top of her desk a lamp enlightened the room throwing eerie shadows on the wall. Although it was quite a sunny and bright day outside and the office did had a window the closed curtains blocked out most of the sunlight leaving the room in a gloomy twilight. The tiny lamp was barely enough to reach the corners of the room leaving most of them in darkness. With some sunlight, a pot flowers and some decoration here and there it could have been a nice place to work, however Chrysalis didn't seem to be interested or wasn't minding at all.
“Yeah, it is. Mom look I got my first hole today,” she told her mother in excitement lifting her front leg to show it to Chrysalis.
“That's nice, dear. Happy Hole-day then. How was school?” her mother replied looking down on her reports again. An unpleasant silence occurred.
“Mom-” Eva slowly started.
“Mm hmm?” her mother replied being distracted with her papers.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure dear, go ahead.” Her mother said without looking up while leafing through several pages.
“Well you know- err- today in school I was wondering who my father was. Mom, who is or was my father?”
The Queen froze in place. Shocked she dropped her papers she was reading before. Her facial expression changed from disinterest to anger. After a moment she replied with a forced smile hardly suppressing her fury:
“He is dead. He died during the invasion of Canterlot. That's everything you need to know. Not get out I have work to do!”
Her words forced Eva to wince like they were a crack of a whip.
Eva had never heard such coldness in her mother's voice before. It cut right through her mind like a sharp knife halving an apple.
“Thank you mom, I will go now,” she said shivering while slowly closing the door to the office from the outside.
Eva felt like the temperature had lowered by several degrees within a flash. Still shivering she stood in front of the door in the hallway for a moment, staring into empty space until she heard a silent sobbing from inside the office. Eva was astonished. She never ever saw or heard her mother cry. It seemed like the defeat in Canterlot left an even deeper scar than she had ever imagined. Eva knew that Chrysalis never was happy since then, but the Queen never showed her feelings in public. She had to be a strong paragon for her tribe.
Confused, Eva sneaked away and quietly opened the door leading to the living-quarters. She didn't want her mother to know that she witnessed her most vulnerable moment.
She marched past three of her older brothers who lazily sat on a couch in the large living room. A warm fire was burning happily in a chimney made of stone on the opposite wall of the door. One of her brothers greeted her but she just walked past them into her own room. She didn't want to talk to them right now. Her own room was her sanctuary. She did her homework and went to bed early.
While sleeping she had a dream where her younger self met a faceless male changeling with a streaked bluish mane. She hugged him and called him 'Daddy'. It hugged her back while she cheerfully leaned her head against his chest. Then the faceless changeling changed appearance into a pony with a grotesque mug. It was the most horrifying visage she had ever seen. The hug turned into a grasp and the monster started to swallow her alive beginning with her hind legs.
“Daddy, why are you doing this to me?!” she cried terrified, but the pony monster continued to swallow her body. Just as the monster reached her head Eva awoke.
She quickly opened her eyes in terror and sat up in bed looking around her room. No pony-monster was in sight.
“Stupid Eva, being afraid of a nightmare. You’re not a hatchling anymore, remember?” she told herself while taking a deep breath and whipped off the sweat from her forehead with a hoof. She then sat there for several moments, staring into empty space until she turned to her window. The sun was just rising. She watched how the sun slowly climbed her way above the horizon, filling her bedroom with warm sunlight, until it was almost time for school.
She swung herself out of bed, packed her things and left the building. It was still early while she made her way to the bathroom and kitchen. Most of her brothers didn't get up yet, so she enjoyed the peaceful silence while preparing herself without any haste.
When reaching the school she saw her teacher, Mr. Midnight, pushing a blackboard out into the backyard of the school. Mr. Midnight was a very old changeling with a humpy back, gray mane and long gray beard. Although quite old his coat had never lost its original color - a pitch black matching his name. While pushing the blackboard into the garden he used his left hoof to relocate his round glasses back onto his nose which happen to slip off it now and then. Eva watched him for several minutes setting up the blackboard with his back turned towards her, before she stepped near him.
“Good morning Eva, you are quite early today. Are you so eager for my lessons?” he asked her chuckling without turning around, still fiddling with the blackboard. Although she was surprised that he knew who she was without even looking, she abandoned that thought and greeted him.
“Good morning, Mr. Midnight. No, I just happened to be awake early today so I decided to come here.” He finally turned towards Eva who delivered a weak smile to him.
“Did something happen to you?” he asked her concerned. “You seem so flustered today. You know you can come to me any time if something is bothering you. I will try my best to help you but sometimes everything one need is a changeling who just listens-”
“How did he know? Do I look so distraught?” Eva thought to herself startled.
“No- well- err- maybe there is indeed something I would like to discuss with you if possible,” she answered nervously.
“Of course, you may come to me after class if you like. Ah, good morning,” he said cheerfully while turning to his other students who were opening the small rusty gate in the fence that surrounded the building.
“OK, today I am going to teach you in the yard. Put your stuff into the school and then return here, please” he told the group of changelings which had just arrived.
Some time later all of them sat in the grass or on the benches behind the building around Mr. Midnight and his blackboard. Luckily it was a warm sunny morning today, although the grass was still a bit wet because of the morning dew.
“Are we complete? Mr. Midnight asked the group.
“Regard is missing” a female changeling with green pigtails replied.
“Oh yeah, well I guess we just start without him. So does anypony know why we are called 'Changelings'”? he asked his students.
“Duh, because we can change our appearance into those of other living beings” one of the pranksters replied, irritated.
“Yes that's correct. So does anypony of you can change into something else yet?”
“I can change into a boar,” the just arriving Regard said and sat down next to Eva after giving a nod to Mr. Midnight.
“I can do a deer” the pigtailed changeling-girl called.
“I can do a wolf” the other prankster with the shaggy mane said bragging while receiving a bro-hoof from his friend.
“That's very nice. But let's start with something smaller, shall we?” Mr. Midnight said. “I want you to change into the form of a white bunny rabbit. Imagine it in your mind, focus on every detail and let that image become your new form.”
Several 'poofs' later the yard was crowded with bunnies. However most of them were not white. There were some brown bunnies, some black bunnies and even more colorful tones like purple and green. One changeling even changed into a guinea pig. Regard was closest to a white Rabbit because he changed into a bunny with grayish fur.
“Very good Regard, not quite, try again, that's not even a bunny-” Mr. Midnight said while looking at his changed students one after another then turned to Eva. “Eva what about you?”
Eva concentrated imagining a cute little white bunny with a fuzzy tail in her mind. She changed herself with a 'swoop' sound.
The surrounding bunnies started to laugh. Eva looked around irritated because she didn't get the joke.
“Almost perfect, but I guess you need more practice, “Mr. Midnight sad to her chuckling.
“What's the matter?” she whispered to Regard next to her.
“Well you look like a perfect little white bunny- only with blue mane,” he whispered back without laughing.
Mr. Midnight handed her a mirror he had prepared for this lesson. Indeed she was a perfect image of a cute white bunny, but her mane remained in its natural blue streaked shape.
“OK let me try again” she said before another swoop sound occurred.
“Still blue- “ Regard whispered to her.
Several 'Swoops' later her mane still remained in its natural three colored tone.
“OK let's try something else now, shall we,” Mr. Midnight finally said.
“Who said she could do a deer?”
“Me!” the pigtailed changeling replied, lifting a hoof.
“Could you show it to the class, please.”
After a 'Poof' a grown deer stood next to the teacher.
“Very good. Now I want all of you to try it, too. Change into a deer or a stag”
Again several 'poofs' later a herd of deer stood in the backyard.
One pupil accidentally grew an antler at his bottom. Again, almost every deer laughed while the stag with the antler on his butt turned red in shame.
Eva 'swooped' herself into a deer herself and looked at Regard eagerly. He just shook his head and said: “Blue but the rest of the deer looks quite real.”
“Dang it!” she shouted in frustration.
“That's a very convincing deer indeed,” Mr. Midnight remarked. “Not bad for a first try. We need to work on the details though,” he said with an encouraging smile.
They continued to shift into all kinds of animals like big bears or small cats. Most of the changelings improved their forms with each change, but Eva wasn't able to change the color of her mane in any way. No matter what she did, or what animal she changed into her mane always remained in its natural bluish color.
After a lunch break Mr. Midnight showed them pictures of different ponies and asked them to change into a pony.
Eva tried again and after she had 'swooped' into a cow and a donkey she managed to shift into the form of a gray-coated mare with long blue-streaked mane and tail.
“Impressive Eva!” Mr. Midnight remarked. “Look everypony! Eva changed into a very nice pony.”
Most of her classmates inspected all sides of her new body until someone said: “But her mane is still blue!” It was one of the prankster-changelings trying to tease her.
“That doesn't matter. A multicolored mane isn't that uncommon for a pony,” their teacher explained, then he turned to Eva and whispered: “Very well done, I am quite impressed.”
Eva blushed because of the praise. Mr. Midnight turned towards the class again and said:
“Now we are going to talk about Cutie Marks-”
The school day ended in a flash. It was very fun to practice changing into different forms. Even the always grumpy prankster changelings seemed to have some fun as well. When the bell rang every changeling changed back into their original form, fetched their saddlebags and went home while Eva helped Mr. Midnight pushing the blackboard back into the school-building.
“Don't wait for me today, I need to ask Mr. Midnight a question,” she told Regard who had waited for her, leaning on the fence of the school.
“OK see you tomorrow then” he replied, then turned around, slowly opening the creaking gate.
“So what did you want to discuss with me earlier, Eva?” her teacher asked her sensitively after she returned to him sitting down on a wooden chair next to him.
“You know, I started to wonder lately-” she answered not knowing how to start. “I mean you are quite old- err I mean quite wise- “ she quickly corrected herself, “I just thought that you may happen to know who my father was?”
“Your father, eh? Well that's quite a surprising question. Why does it matter to you anyway?” he asked her while sitting down on a chair in front of her.
“Well, err- I don't know but I kept wondering lately. I even had that dream-”
“Would you like to tell me your dream?”
Eva nodded, then told him her dream from last night.
“It is rather uncommon for a changeling to have such deep family bonding. Most changelings do not care about their family nor siblings. However the dream you had seemed to have a deeper meaning. It shows that it does really matter to you who your father is.” He summed it up while leaning back.
“You said 'is', does that mean he is still alive?” she asked surprised lifting an eyebrow.
“Hmm I guess so. Why wouldn't he?”
“Mom told me he died during the Canterlot Invasion,” she remarked.
Mr. Midnight laughed. “Yeah, in a way, you may say that-” he said after he had stopped laughing. Eva looked at him puzzled.
“You know that is a rather complex and maybe scandalous story. Are you sure you want to hear it?” Eva was startled because of his voice suddenly sounding very serious. However she nodded not knowing what to expect.
“Well yesterday was your Hole-day, wasn't it? I guess you are old enough to know the truth-” he started.
“Do you remember the history class yesterday?” Eva nodded again
“Do you remember that the Queen changed herself into the form of the fiance of the Commander of Canterlot army?” Eva remained silent.
“Well to fully manipulate him she had to stay in his presence for some time. She imprisoned that mare and took her place and did what that mare used to do. That soldier and your mother shared everything with each other, because Chrysalis didn't want to draw unnecessary attention. You know what that means, do you? They even shared a bedroom-”
Eva's mouth dropped open.
“You mean she- and him- you mean-?!”
“Yes, you were born some month after the failed invasion. You were the only child born that day. It is not uncommon for a changeling to give birth to several dozens of hatchlings but you remained the only one in that litter,” Mr. Midnight replied honestly while looking directly into Eva's green eyes.
“That means my father was- is -”
“A pony. That's right,” her teacher finished her sentence. Eva gasped while trying to figure out if her teacher was pulling her leg. He seemed very serious though.
“You know it doesn't surprise me that your mane has that triple colored blue instead of a monochrome color. His mane was like that as well. And It doesn't surprise me that you have trouble changing your form completely by will since you are half a pony,” he explained while leaning forward touching her shoulder with a hoof.
“How- how long did they spend together?” she asked with a dry mouth.
“Several months I guess”
“Did she love him?” Her voice sounded hoarse while phrasing that question.
“Well before I became your teacher I was one of the Queens trusted advisers so I think I got to know her a little over the years. Although she always said that she only used him as a tool and never felt for a pony, I am not that sure if this is 100% true. I think after she got beaten by his fiance she gave it a more serious consideration. As far as I know she has never been that close to a male for such a long period.”
Finally Eva understood why Chrysalis cried after she had asked her about her father's whereabouts. It seems like she really was in love with that pony, and still is. Mr. Midnight remained silent to give his pupil a moment to absorb this information.
“Do you want to know a secret?” Mr. Midnight then asked her slowly to change the subject.
Eva nodded her head cautiously.
“Remember your question yesterday why we didn't ask the ponies for help before the invasion?”
“Yes I do.”
“Actually I suggested that to the Queen as well when she elucidated her invasion plan to us.”
Eva looked at him in surprise. “You did?”
“Yes I did. However like I told you yesterday the Queen didn't listen to me. She didn't believe that the ponies would be willing to help us if we ask them kindly. She told me that asking them and revealing our nature to them would exacerbate an invasion.”
“But you actually believed that the ponies would help us?” Eva asked curiously.
“Yeah I did. And I still do. However after the failed invasion I doubt they would be that kind to us anymore,” he smiled at her. “I can't blame them though, wouldn't you agree?”
“But why are you so faithful to those ponies?” Eva wanted to know.
“You want to know why? Because I used to live with them,” he said while gazing at the map on the wall.
Once again Eva's mouth dropped open.
“Well that's another long and complicated story-” he chuckled. He took off his glasses and started to clean them with a small towel. Looking quite absent-minded while rubbing the glass, he started to talk.
“Did you know that some changelings could use magic once?”
Eva shook her head.
“It is forbidden to use it now, because using magic drains love-energy while casting it and like you know we have barely enough for ourselves to survive,” the old changeling explained.
“However back in the days when love-energy was no issue at all I was a spell-caster myself.”
Eva's eyes widened.
“-Being a young changeling I was so eager to learn everything involving magic. I read all the old books and scrolls in the old capitol's library. I was an apprentice of a local spell-weaver and learned everything changeling-magic could offer me. I soon reached the limits of changeling-magic and realized that there must be more than the magic our race knew so I traveled the world to learn even more. Being able to change into any form helped me to gain the trust of spell-casters of many races so they taught me their tricks.
“From a Gryphon-wizard I learned that there was that powerful old magician known as “Clover the Clever.” He once was an apprentice of a pony known as “Starswirl the Bearded.” All of my teachers I asked agreed, that Starswirl was the most powerful magician ever known and that Clover did well in continuing his legacy. You know that Canterlot is a quite old city. It even did exist back in those days. Since I wanted to gain even more wisdom, I traveled to Canterlot, home of Clover the Clever. I changed into the form of a black-coated pony and had no problem entering the city. Most ponies didn't know that our race actually existed, so no pony asked questions when a young traveler roamed the city. One night I tried to steal some ancient books from the royal library about magic but got caught by Clover. I knew that stealing was a crime, and that stealing ancient books from the royal library was an even bigger crime, but do you know what he said to me?” Mr. Midnight asked looking deep into Eva's eyes.
Eva shook her head eager to hear the rest of the story.
“He said that it's a quite uncommon time to borrow some books. He knew what my attempt was and he could have easily called the guards to put me in jail but he didn't. Instead he told me that I should return the book tomorrow night when I am done reading it. Then he just walked away.”
“At first I laughed about his stupidity. Since I was going to steal that book I never thought about returning it, however the meeting got me thinking. I rented a room in a local Inn and read the book. In the end I came back the next night to return it. Clover was already waiting for me. 'I knew you would return here' he said to me smiling when I entered the library. He also told me that he knew what I was. But he told me that wisdom should be distributed to everypony who seeks for it no matter what race or origin one may have. He also said that my honesty of returning the book proved him right in trusting me. We have met in the library for several nights since then and he gained my trust as well. He even suggested books to me I should borrow to improve my magic skills. My skills sure improved just by reading those books he gave to me. On the fifth night he asked me if I want to become his apprentice. Of course I accepted. However he told me that it would be best to stay disguised as a pony to not draw unnecessary attention. “The ponies of Canterlot are not ready to meet a changeling. Yet” he told me.
The next day I got introduced to Clover's second apprentice: “Sunray.”
Clover taught both of us and over the years “Ray” and I became very close friends. We helped each other practicing, we lived together and shared most of our free time with each other. Although Ray's friendship would have been a powerful source of energy to feast on I never tried it once. His friendship was too precious to me and I didn't want to get caught. I was allowed to leech the energy I needed from Clover's kindness however. It didn't seem to corrupt him in any way, maybe his magic was too powerful to get corrupted that easily. I stayed several years in Canterlot and maybe I would still be there if not for the accident-”
He then noticed the glasses in his hooves he was cleaning the whole time and put them on again.
Eva fidgeted around her chair nervously. She would have never guessed that the old gray bearded teacher had such an exciting life before he became her teacher.
“During an experiment I got drenched in magical green liquid, which blocked my changing ability. I changed back to my natural form just in front of Ray. He was really shocked and furious about my betrayal. I fled the situation without explanation and left Canterlot for good. Some years after returning home the Queen promoted me as an adviser, because of my wisdom I had gathered while traveling the world. All of this happened a long time ago-”
All this whole time while he told Eva his story Mr. Midnight had that glazed eyes. She couldn't tell if it was because of sadness to leave his friend behind or the dreamy look of an old changeling indulging in reminiscences.
“Wow, I would have never guessed” she just said. She didn't know what else to say.
“You thought I always was that old rusty teacher, didn't you?” he said smiling after a moment. “Ha-ha yeah young people always think like this- I used to think so too when I was younger.”
He looked out of the window. It was already past nightfall. Startled about the late hour, he said:
“Oh my, look at the time. You should go home now. Please don't tell your mother what I told you today. This should only be between ourselves, won't you agree?” he said winking at her.
“No problem, Mr. Midnight! I promise!”
Eva got up, fetched her stuff and left the school. Even though her village had no streetlights finding her way back to her home wasn't that difficult, even during nighttime, since she had followed that way for years and knew it inside out.
When returning home, she called her mother like usual but no other changeling was in sight. The Queen's office was empty but the living room with the chimney was crowded with her siblings. She even saw her mother lying on a couch in a more shady corner of the room. Although all of them noticed her return, none of them asked what she did or why she returned home that late.
Before reaching the door leading to her room she hesitated entering and looked around. None of the present changelings seemed to care for her at all. With a sigh she opened the door and entered her room closing it from the inside.
“Why didn't they care? I am a young female and it was late at night, but no one cared at all. They noticed my presence I saw their glimpses. I am the only one who thinks family is important?” Tears filled her eyes.
Eva never felt so alone in her life than today. She threw herself on her bed and cried silently into her pillow. After a while of lying on her bed she dozed off and had another dream. This time her father was a pony from the start, however he still had no face. He called her name and reached out for her, however Eva hesitated approaching him, because she remembered what happened last time. After slowly stepping near him, he gently embraced her and kissed her cheek. “I am so happy to see you Eva,” he said. Eva felt a warm happiness inside and hugged him back. He tousled her mane and smiled at her. Eva couldn't remember when she felt that beloved. He then pushed her away and said with a sad voice: “I need to go now. But we will meet again”
Then the image of the faceless pony faded away and Eva awoke.
She opened her eyes. Her head was much clearer than it has been for a long time, since the fog which had lingered in her mind was gone. Finally she knew what she'd need to do.
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Okay, first chapter is read. First impressions?
1) You need to add indentation. It makes it much easier to read.
2) Punctuation. You're missing a LOT of commas.
3) Dialogue. I saw only one contraction in the entire chapter. While not technically an error, the lack of contractions does make the dialogue feel forced and unnatural.
You mean "distracted", not "abstracted". If she was abstracted, she'd look like a Picasso painting. Also, you forgot the period at the end.
You also seem to have difficulty detecting and removing unnecessary details. The shapeshifting lesson and the story about Clover the Clever are completely unnecessary. They are dull, add nothing to the story, and caused me to skip ahead, which almost made me miss a few details that actually were necessary. Except for the part about the pony transformations, a brief summary of the lesson would have sufficed.
You could really use an editor to go through and do a little clean-up.
I like the premise, and the story itself isn't terrible. It's just a little rough around the edges. Other stories about Shining's changeling child(ren) either never update or are written poorly. I'll continue reading and let you know how I feel when I'm done.
chip away at this coal find that diamond underneath!
I wanted to say 'F**K you!' for changing Clover the Clever into a stallion but since my brain translated every he, his, and him into she, hers, and her I wouldn't mid
A good, engaging read, but you really need to go back and spell-check and edit this story. You have a LOOOOOOT of issues with switching tenses.
Dear god please edit even a single error in this fic I nearly died before finishing this chapter
There are some other minor issues but the errors are the important part.