A Little Change

Silk opened her eyes to see her new surroundings. At first, she was confused on where she was, but it all came back to her in a moments' time.

She stood up and looked down at her new body. A grin was brought upon her face as she saw that she didn't have a changeling body, one full of holes and tattered wings, but instead,a regular pony body.

Looking back up, she saw busy ponies bustling about in the small town in front of her. The sun hadn't gone down yet, but with the way ponies were rushing about, she could tell it would be nighttime soon.

Wanting to explore the life of a normal pony before her chance slipped away, she trotted toward Ponyville.

Silk glanced around as she trotted. She saw ponies at stalls buying some sort of food item. She saw ponies talking to their friends, smiling and laughing. Silk stopped for a moment and observed them. She began wondering what having a friend would be like.

Being of royalty, she never really had any real friends. The ones she was closest to were the servants back at the castle, and even they didn't provide her with much company. Many changelings always came to the ball her mother held every year, but she wasn't allowed to talk to them as if they were friends. Silk was supposed to stand at the highest point of the ballroom with Chrysalis. The only changeling she were allowed to talk to in a friend sort of way was the one she was supposed to marry. But she didn't like him very much, and she knew that he didn't like her very much either.

They acted the best of friends whenever they were around either of their parents, but the moment they left the room, they fought. Not physically, but they always threw insults at each other. There was never any winner though. They both always had something to say back, and they never hesitated to think about it.

Silk closed her eyes for a moment, listening to the laughs of fillies, colts, mares, and stallions alike. She wondered if she would every meet somepony who could make her laugh like the ponies she heard.

She shook her head at the thought. Of course there won't be anypony like that. This visit in Ponyville is only a temporary one. Even if she did meet somepony like that, it wouldn't last long. She would go back to being the stupid changeling princess and never see that somepony again.

Right...Silk thought to herself. This is only a temporary visit. I'm not staying for long. I only came to live the life of a normal pony instead of a bug-like pony. By tomorrow, I'll be back to having servants at my hooves following my every order.

Silk sighed at the thought. She had only been standing in Ponyville for seven minutes and already she liked it better than being a princess.

Silk looked around, seeing fillies bouncing around, laughing and smiling. I wish I could've had a childhood like that one...She thought.

When she was a child, she never had anytime for playing. Instead, her time was spent learning how to be a proper princess.

She began trotting around again, looking at the buildings and seeing ponies smile. A smile slowly began to form on her on face, growing wider and wider. The more she trotted around, the bigger the grin.

But that smile quickly fell when she bumped into something, or rather, somepony.

Silk looked up only to be faced with three buff-looking earth ponies. They all looked a bit drunk, and the one standing in the middle, the same one she bumped into, had clenched teeth.

“Hey, what do you think you're doing?!” He scolded.

“Um...” Silk began to slowly back up in fear, but was stopped when she backed up into something. She turned around and saw one of the three glaring down at her.

A crowd of ponies slowly began to crowd around watching the scene, whispering to each other.

“Maybe I should teach you a lesson so you learn to watch where you're going.” scoffed the same pony who scolded her earlier.

“That won't be necessary!” Shouted a voice from the gathering crowd.

Everypony turned their heads to look at the source of the voice. They stepped aside as a stallion walked to the front of the herd.

He was white, much like Silk, but his mane and tail were a chocolate brown. He had icy blue eyes, complementing the rest of his physical features well.

“Think you can stop me?” The buff pony challenged, glaring at the stallion.

“I may not be able to stop you in a physical fight, but I certainly am sure I can convince you to let this little one of easy.” He said in response.

Silk's eyes widened a bit, surprised that somepony would be standing up for her.

“Hmph,” the other pony grunted. “I doubt it, but let's here you try.”

The white pony stepped forward and stood next to Silk.

“If you haven't noticed,” he began. “She is new around her. This young mare was gazing around at her new surroundings. Now, of course, this isn't any excuse for her not to be looking where she is walking.”

Silk opened her mouth to respond, saying she wasn't at fault, but was stopped when the stallion continued.

“However, you could've been looking where you were trotting yourself. Had you not gotten so drunk, this would've never happened.”

The other stallion opened his mouth to back him and his gang up, but no words came out as he was thinking of something to say.

“Whatever,” he scoffed, then gathering his crew he stormed off.

The crowd of ponies before now slowly dispersed, living the white stallion who saved Silk, alone with this pony whom no one knew.

Silk turned her head toward her savior. She widened her eyes when she noticed he was staring back at her.

She quickly turned her head back around. “Thank you...” she said.

“Don't mention it. You sure you're okay?” He questioned.

Silk opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by her stomach growling, loud enough to be heard by the other pony standing next to her. She quickly closed her mouth and her face turned a bright red in embarrasment.

He chuckled. “I guess you're okay for the most part. Want to grab something to eat?” He asked.

Silk nodded, but then remembered she had no money with her.

“I'd love to, but...” she hesitated a bit before continuing. “I have no money.”

“Aw, your moving into a new town with no money? How does that work?”

Silk shrugged. “I'm not exactly moving in, I'm just here for a visit”

“Still, a visit with no money is just...” the white stallion sighed. “I'll pay, come on.” He turned and starting trotting.

“You don't have to do that!” Silk shouted at him, earning a few glances from other ponies who were passing by.

The pony in front of her stopped and turn around. “Listen, if I'm stupid enough to stand up to those three ponies, I'm stupid enough to bring a mare who was dumb enough to visit a town with absolutely no money on her whatsoever out to eat.” He turned around again. “By the way, my name is Silver Blade.”

Silk was a bit taken aback by his little insults, but didn't let them get to her and announced her name. “Silk,” she said.

“Well, Silk, let's get going.” He turned around and spoke again. “Unless you prefer standing there all day.”

Silk shook her head and ran up to him, coming to an immediate stop once she caught up. “Let's go,” she said.

Silver Blade nodded and began trotting towards the restaurant, Silk following close in pursuit.

As they were walking toward their destination, Silk began to think.

Is this what it's like to have a friend? She pondered.

Silk looked over at Silver Blade who continued looking straight ahead.

No. I shouldn't jump to conclusions yet. Silver Blade is just a stallion who would probably do this for any pony. Silk thought.

When they reached the restaurant, they were quickly given seats.

Silk read over the menu, finally deciding on a daisy sandwich. The two ponies called a waiter over to their table, and ordered their food. The worker jotted it down on a notepad before trotting off letting the cooks know about the wanted food.

“So,” Silver Blade began. “What made you decide to visit Ponyville? Especially with no money on you?”

“Well, it's a long, complicated story...” Silk said, answering him.

“I've got time.”

She sighed. “What I mean is, it's kind of a personal thing.”

Silver Blade sighed. “Well, if you say so. I don't want to intrude on your personal life.”

Silk nodded. At that time their food was brought to their table. They began eating in an awkward silence.

* * *

Chrysalis stormed around the castle, looking furiously for her daughter.

She called for the servants and asked if they any luck.

“We're sorry Your Highness. We had no luck in finding the young miss.”

Chrysalis glared angerly at the two stallions.

“Well, keep searching tell you do find her!” She fumed.

The two servants nodded before running off, searching all around the castle for the missing princess for about the fifth time.

I swear when I find you Silk, Chrysalis thought. You are going to be in a load of trouble!

Then she began storming around the castle, searching hopelessly for her daughter.