Through Martyr's Eyes

by ShouldNotExist

We All Change

-We All Change-

“HEY!” The cheerful greeting flooded out from the room the second the door opened. The green room was almost identical to the one she had left with Even Essence, although this one was far messier.

The group of changelings, varying far more than she had originally expected, beamed up from various points across the room. Some held bottles of drinks, although none seemed to have touch the food. They all looked cheerful at their arrival however.

“How’s it going you guys? Long time, no see!” Marty said, taking the initiative to walk into the room past Twilight. One of the smaller of the changelings jumped up and pressed against him, a happy giggle escaping its (Hers? The voice sounded feminine.) fanged mouth. Marty lit up happily at her touch. “Cherry?” He asked, more a greeting than a question, but she answered all the same.

“Yes!” She said enthusiastically, nodding dramatically as she pressed harder against him. “It is to be good seeing you again!” She said, the words coming out light and bubbly. Twilight heard a small amount of accent hidden under them, perhaps the words weren’t the same in … whatever changelings speak.

“You too, Cherry!” Marty said, nuzzling the top of the changeling’s head with a bright smile.

“MART-AY!” Another voice called, yet a different accent tilting the voice there. It sounded more like a Manehattan accent. It was a much thicker changeling that called, he wasn’t fat, just big. “Where have you been?” He bellowed, waving a fizzy drink happily from the icebox where he was perched. Strangely his huge bulk didn’t crush the box, but the sides did seem to dilate under his weight.

“Is that that brick-headed mammoth that I think it is?” Marty said, letting Cherry lead him further into the room.

“Yes!” The huge changeling replied, answering yet another rhetorical question. “Have a drink!” He said, reaching to the side of the box and throwing a can across the room.

Twilight panicked when she saw the drink flying through the air, reaching out with her magic to snatch the drink out of the air. But that seemed to silence the entire room, her presence suddenly revealed to the whole room as she stopped the drink from reaching its intended target.

“Who’s your friend, Marty?” That scratchy voice called, the changeling was lying upside down on a couch, his blue eyes trained on her as she stood stock still in the doorway.

“Oh! You guys, this is Twilight Sparkle! I- Well, I ran into her on my way over to here.” He chuckled, looking back toward the door. “She’s a friend, and I bet you two could have a lot to talk about, Shiny.” He said, turning to aim his head alternatively between the two.

Unfortunately, his words did little to alleviate the tension in the room. All of the changelings had turned to look at the singer of the chitin clad herd. She carefully set the can back down onto the table in the center of the room, trying to remain as unthreatening as possible. He was still staring at her with a blank expression, hanging upside down over the seat of the couch.

The changeling leader’s wings buzzed for just a second, an upside down smile decorating his face. “I like her, Marty. She cares about ya.” He said finally, turning his cheery smile toward him. “I mean, did you guys see how she just grabbed that can outta the air? She was seriously worried you wouldn’t catch it for him, Cherry.” He said with a light chuckle.

Cherry responded with her own laugh, more cheery noises spreading back into the room. “It is being the okay, yes?” Cherry bubbled, looking over Marty’s shoulder and smiling at Twilight. “You were not knowing how we do these tings, yes? We are doing this every time Marty visits!” She beamed, looking more like a foal with her antics than she did to be an adult. “We are always catching the things for Marty.” She said, bouncing up and down next to him.

He stifled a laugh as she bounced. “Stop that, Cherry. Your wings are tickling me!” He sputtered, flinching away from the affectionate little changeling.

Twilight looked over the room again, there were five changelings in the room, each with differing shapes and personalities as it would seem. There were two others sitting on a couch near the rearmost corner of the room. They were practically identical, in shape and size, even their chitin plates matched each other’s. And they were both staring at her with a very strangely distant expression.

“Oh! Yes!” Cherry suddenly exclaimed, bouncing away from Marty’s head after pushing him onto a couch. She rushed over to Twilight in a rush, bouncing up in front of her. “Cherry will do the introducing of us! This is, Cherry!” She exclaimed, putting a pitted hoof to her chest and smiling up at Twilight. “Cherry is the sounding pony! She is making all the sounds make right music.” She said proudly, a sudden look of realization crossed her insectoid face. “This is meaning that Twilight is our friends now?” She asked, the hope in her voice was so innocent and sweet when she said it, that foal-like demeanor bubbling out happily as she spoke.

Twilight was fairly caught off guard by the foalish behaviour, or it could have even been compared to Pinkie as well. “Uhm- Uh, sure!” Twilight agreed, deciding it best to accept what looked like an offer of friendship. Even though in the back of her head something was telling her that the changelings were trying to trick them, but whenever she looked over at Marty enjoying himself, the thoughts just got pushed away.

“Oh!~ Twilight! You should be acting more careful when we can hear what you is feeling!” Cherry said in a sing-song voice, interrupting her thoughts as she realized where her gaze was aimed again.

“Hey!” Twilight said as she felt her face start to grow warmer, a weak glare aimed back at the uncontrollably giggling changeling. “I just met him- H-he fell on me!” She said, trying weakly to defend herself, but only being rewarded with more cheery laughter from the changelings around the room.

“Oh, yeah he has!” The huge changeling in the back of the room laughed, a large jolly one that fit well on him. Even Marty laughed, and she wasn’t sure if it was at her or for her sake.

“That is being big brother Gap!” Cherry said, pointing back at the huge pony happily. “He is being big drummer pony! He is very good, he likes make lots of music with drums!” She bubbled, taking one of Twilight’s hooves in hers. At first the feeling of Cherry’s chitin covered leg against hers was disturbing, but it was warm against her, so not unpleasant. It was still a very strange texture, however. Cherry led Twilight further into the room, guiding her over toward the seating.

“And this is Shiny Thing!” She giggled as she said his name, pointing over to the still upside down changeling, who gave a wave at the mention of his name. “He likes that name! He picked it all for himself! And he did picked my name, too! He said I was being eating all the cherries in stalls, so he was naming me Cherry!” She said, happily sharing her story with Twilight as she was guided across the room to the two identical seated changelings.

“And this is being Twitch and Trench!” She said, making a show of pointing out each one with their respective names. They each shifted under the attention to them, their eyes getting wider as Twilight approached. “They are to being the stringing instruments! Liking the Bass and the Guitar! You know the sounds?” She said, nodding up at Twilight with enthusiasm. “They make the very very nice parts of the songs!” She beamed, but in the instant that she said that, one of them burst into green flame and disappeared entirely.

“Where’d he go?” Twilight sputtered in surprise, the other changeling starting to shake at the sound of her voice. Twilight balked at the response, her ears dodging back to lay flat against her head. “W-what’s the matter?” She said, the response very different than the other changeling’s reaction to her presence.

The remaining changeling’s mouth opened, but the only sound that came out was a crackling, buzzing noise, like the kinds insects made. Shiny’s voice broke through the strange sound in its place. “Sorry about Twitch, they still get jumpy around other unicorns.” He said, turning his head to look over at them. “They were in Canterlot during the invasion, the brain control did funny things to them. So don’t think that it’s your fault, they’re just nervous.” He said with a smile, trying to alleviate her confusion. “They’ll be fine if you give them a little time.” He finished, acting more like their father than anything.

“They are really very nice, Twilight.” Cherry said, trying to be encouraging for the scared changeling and for Twilight’s sake. “They are just being a little frightened by how big and strong you are being!” She said, beaming up at Twilight again.

“What are you talking about Cherry? Twilight lifting stuff?” Marty said from across the room, chuckling as a drink was pushed into his grip by the large changeling. Cherry managed to appear to roll her eyes, how that was possible with the segmented orbs was off putting to Twilight, but she ignored it.

“No.” Cherry said, looking over at Marty as if he had just suggested that Twilight was walking on the ceiling. “You are being the one who is always saying how pretty the magics is! Even Cherry can see Twilight’s, and it is big and bright.” She said, turning back to beam at Twilight again in the praise she gave her. “Cherry is liking big strong Twilight. Twilight will take good care of Marty, Cherry is confident.” She giggled, leaning in and giving the reluctant unicorn an affectionate nuzzle.

Twilight resisted the incredible urge to run as fast as she could from the room, holding very still as the changeling’s fangs brushed against her coat. She couldn’t help it when she involuntarily flinched away from the changeling when she giggled. “W-what do you mean, Cherry?” She managed to stammer out after the changeling had finished. Cherry donned a confused look, staring back up at Twilight.

“Is not even Twilight knowing how powerful Twilight is? Cherry is almost being blind by how much you are being bright.” She said, raising a hoof to shield her eyes away from an unseen lightsource. “Ponies are very silly, even Marty is being afraid when Cherry says how bright he is being.” Cherry remarked, putting her hoof back to the ground and smiling back at Twilight.

“That’s because I’m not as strong as you say I am, Cherry.” Marty said, rolling his clouded eyes. “But she’s right about you, Twilight. Most of the time, I can only just sort of see another pony’s magic, but when ever you’ve used yours, it’s very clear to me.” He said, bringing his own praise to bear.

“What do you mean, you can see?” Twilight asked, suddenly confused as to what he meant.

“Nope, I’m still blind as a bat.” Marty replied, pointing up at his horn as he continued. “But, when a pony loses one of their senses, they start to pay a lot more attention to their other ones.” He explained, his horn lighting up with his grey aura to demonstrate. “I started being able to use my magic to feel around, and tell when other unicorns were casting … a little over a year after I went blind.” He said, nodding his head as he recalled the memory. “One of those things that happens to blind ponies, I guess.” He said dismissively, taking a sip from the drink cradled in his hooves.

“Interesting.” Twilight muttered under her breath, starting to wonder what he meant exactly. And while none of them had been lying, she was a very powerful unicorn, that she could admit, it was the fact that they had been able to tell just by a small example.

“Hey, Twilight.” Shiny said from across the room, calling her attention back over to the couch he had occupied. Shiny had turned over, and was sitting normally on the couch, motioning for her to take a seat near him. “Would it be alright if I talked to ya for a second?” He said, pointing to a spot next to him.

She felt Cherry break away from her, moving back over to the couch where Marty was continuing to nurse his drink. “Sure, I guess.” Twilight said, breaking herself away from her thoughts before theories started to form faster than she could follow them. She took a seat on the couch with the changeling, carefully leaving a space between them. “Is there something that-”

“I need to know something, for sure.” He interrupted, leaning across the space that separated them and looking straight into her eyes. “I’m worried about Marty. And even from your emotions, I can’t be sure of your intentions for him.” He said, a stern look coming across his features. “Marty is practically part of our family, and I don’t want to see him get hurt. Especially since it looks like he’s trying to be more open to others.” Shiny’s eyes flicked in a jerky movement, like he was quickly glancing over her shoulder and to the couch behind her, where Marty was sitting. “So, don’t lead him on if you don’t intend to … Well, whatever it is that that develops into.” He said, finally backing away from her.

Twilight couldn’t begin to believe what she was hearing, this changeling was actually insinuating that she could be intending to hurt Marty. “That’s ridiculous, especially coming from you.” She hissed, her anger starting to boil over. She had been precariously balanced in between fear and hatred during the entire visit, and this had simply pushed her over the edge. “If anything, I should be worried that you’re hurting him.” She said, pointing an accusatory hoof at the changeling. “What’s your play, huh? Trick a blind pony into letting you take his love, just so you can stay fat and happy?” She fumed, her brow furrowing as she watched the changeling put on a confused expression.

“Not all changelings are like that, Twilight.” Shiny said, his own anger starting to become apparent. “That’s a stupid stereotype, made up from superstition and one crazed, mind-controlling, dictator. We look after Marty, because he looks after us. We aren’t taking anything from him, he gives us that because he actually likes us. And he knows what we are!” He said, his voice starting to rise. “At least we aren’t assuming things before we know the facts about the ponies we hang with.” He said, turning his anger down onto her.

“Twilight, maybe we should go.” Marty’s voice said quietly from behind her, an amount of worry starting to weigh into his words.

“And what is that supposed to mean? I don’t exactly have experience impersonating innocent ponies. And I don’t go around looking into other ponies heads, either!” She said, leaning forward to match the glare that Shiny had donned.

“Maybe you should go, Twilight.” Gap said from the rear of the room, his baritone cutting off Shiny’s rebuke. “Before somepony says something that we all regret.” He finished, crossing his large, pitted arms and aiming his own disapproving glare at her.

“Let’s go, Twilight.” Marty said sharply, cutting off her own retort as he tapped her leg with his cane. She looked over at him, his face was aimed toward the floor, not meeting any of the faces that were now firmly staring at her. Cherry was leaning against him, a sad look decorating her features, and reflecting the feelings that Marty was starting to show. He started to move toward the door, guided by the small changeling that still clung to him.

Twilight snorted out of her nose, not meeting the glares she was receiving from the two changelings. She made her way over to the door, just after Marty had exited. She entered the hall to find Marty waiting for her, facing toward the door with a glare that matched the changeling’s from inside.

“Go on back inside, Cherry. I’ll see you later, okay.” He said, bumping the little changeling back toward the door with a tone of voice that was completely separate from the anger that was clearly decorating his face.

Cherry reluctantly started to move toward the door, carefully walking around Twilight in a large birth. She stopped just inside the door, looking back to Marty as if to protest, but ended up going through the door morosely.

“Twilight! What the hay was that?” He said once the door had closed, catching her off guard with the harshness in his words.

“What?! Me?!” Twilight said, confusion shocking its way through her head as she listened to the accusation in his words. “Those changelings are the ones tha-” She started, but was cut short by Marty’s cane connecting with the floor loudly.

“Those changelings are my friends, Twilight.” He said, his brow furrowing as he stared out at her direction. “And you just outright insulted them! You’re supposed to be a student of Friendship, aren’t you?” He said rhetorically, continuing before she could react. “You didn’t think, that for maybe just a second, that I wasn’t stupid enough to not know when I was being used? I’m not blind and stupid, I know a good pony when I meet one. And I thought that somepony like you, could appreciate the struggles that they go through.”

“I know what changelings are like, Marty.” She said, trying to defend her position against his sudden argument. “I was in Canterlot during the attack. One of them took my friend and impersonated her on her wedding day!” Twilight retorted, recalling her own experience as an example.

“I know what happened in Canterlot, Twilight!” Marty said quickly, stopping her before she could build any momentum to her argument. “I also happen to know that you were blasting changelings left and right. I know that Princess Cadence was impersonated, by Chrysalis, not just any changeling! She was the one who did that to them!” He yelled, pointing a hoof to the room that the changelings were in. “Everypony deals with PTS differently, Twilight. Just look at Cherry, she’s practically reverted back to a foal because of what she’s seen. Twitch and Trench have flashbacks every day, it took me months for me to get them comfortable around me. Do you realize how fucking hard it is for them to get on stage like that, so they can scrounge at whatever emotions come off of the crowd?

“It’s not easy! Living off of a mishmash of emotions like that, is like you or me trying to live off of the trash outside of a bad restaurant.” He said, stomping his hoof back on the ground. “Even Gap and Shiny weren’t unaffected. They don’t like to admit it, but neither of them have had a restful night’s sleep for a long time. And here you are, going off on them like that! Ponies change, Twilight. At least Discord was able to see that, as crazed as he was!” He snorted, little crackles of grey energy leaping up his horn.

“Marty, I-” Twilight tried, her head reeling from the berating that Marty had suddenly put out on her. He wouldn’t even let her get a word in around his. She was starting to grow even more confused, how was she supposed to feel after accusations like those? And the way that he stood up for them only reminded her of how Rainbow Dash would have acted. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t- I wasn’t-” She stammered, noticing something else in the argument he had presented. He seemed very familiar with her past accomplishments.

“You know what! I don’t want to hear it!” He said sharply, lifting a hoof to stop her from continuing. “If you can’t even be considerate of my friends, then we can’t be friends.” He said with finality, turning around and starting down the hall. His cane tapped the ground sharply, a small wave of magic spreading from the tip every time and lighting up the floor in front of him. “Enjoy the rest of the show.” He muttered darkly as he rounded the corner, going out of sight.

Twilight let out a defeated sigh, sinking to the ground as the want to stand simply left her entirely. She groaned and put a hoof to her head, shaking it as she mentally berated herself. He’s right. And you know it, Twilight. She thought to herself, remorse starting to show on her face. Just think, what if they had been anypony else? I never would have gone off like that to anypony else. What sort of student of Friendship can’t look past her own prejudices? A bad one, that’s what sort. I’m a terrible friend if I can’t even tolerate somepony that’s different. She berated herself, continuing to tell herself how terrible she had acted.

Her thoughts tangented, almost faster than she could follow. How had Marty known all those details? Had he been following recent events that closely? He had known quite a bit, that was strange. Maybe there was more about this stallion than she had originally thought.

Her thoughts were cut short however, when something warm and soft rested itself beside her. She looked up from her hooves, catching sight of … herself. The double was leaning up against her, the double’s head resting on the floor and her eyes aimed up at herself. Twilight looked down with mixed confusion at the double.

“Cherry is sorry, Twilight.” Her double said, the familiar changeling’s voice coming out of her mouth. “Cherry knows that you do not like us, that Twilight thinks that we are mean. But Cherry wants to tell Twilight that Cherry is sorry.” She said, looking up with teary, puppy dog eyes. Her gaze dropped back to the floor when she started again. “And Cherry knows that Twilight doesn’t like it when Cherry was nuzzling her, because Cherry has fangs, and hard skin, and that Cherry is not pony. So Cherry thought that Twilight would be more comfortable if Cherry looked like pony. But Cherry is not good at making up ponies, so Cherry had to make a Twilight.” She said sadly, turning little circles on the floor with her hoof. “Cherry is sorry.” She said again, tears starting to fall from her eyes.

“It’s not your fault, Cherry.” Twilight said, trying to stop the disguised changeling from crying by laying a hoof on her back. “Twilight is- er- I’m the one who should be sorry, not you.” She said, stumbling over her words for a second as she readjusted to Cherry’s strange way of speaking. Cherry looked back up at her, her sad eyes looking for more of an explanation. Twilight cringed as she fell under that gaze, guilt washing over her in waves. “I was the one who got angry, I had no right to question Shiny’s intentions like I did. And I’m sorry that you were a part of it, too.” Leaning forward and giving herself a short nuzzle.

“So, can Cherry, be Cherry again?” She asked, that same, sad look making Twilight’s heart melt. Even if it was strange, literally talking to herself, she couldn’t help but be affected by the innocence behind that voice. She nodded instantly, happy to agree.

Cherry smiled weakly, closing her eyes and concentrating. Rather than the violent explosion of green flame that she was used to seeing when changelings performed a transformation, Cherry’s was more like slowly spreading embers. Like a paper burning away without the flame, and revealing the smaller shape of the changeling underneath it.

Twilight started to stand, effectively ignoring her want to cringe away from the alien feel of Cherry’s chitin against her fur as she followed. “Come on, Cherry. I should apologize to everypony else, too.” She said, turning back to the door and leading the Cherry inside.

---

Author's Note:

I love reading comments, tell me what you think.

Comments

[gwojo]

oh god cherry is so HGNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN cute.P.S FIRST