My Sweetie

More Than Meets The Eye

A deathly silence came over the class. All their lives they had thought changelings were evil creatures out to destroy the pony race, and now they found out that their biology teacher and a student in their class is a changeling.

"Well, who is it?" One of the ponies in the back of the room yelled.

"Ya, who's the bloody changeling?" Another pony who was sitting closer to the front yelled.

"Everybody settle down. As a part of the changeling code, I can't tell you who the changeling is. They will have to show themselves to you." The teacher at the front of the classroom said. "It would be best of they would reveal themselves, but it is up to them." She said.

Night gripped the pen he was holding in his hoof. 'Im screwed, they're gonna find out.' He thought to himself. He looked over at Sweetie who was looking right at him. 'She knows already. I have nothing left to lose.' He thought to himself. He stood up and walked to the front of the classroom. Every pony on the room let put a gasp as he removed his glasses revealing a pair of very pale turquoise eyes. A green fire lit up the room forcing every pony in the room to look away again.  As the light subsided, a few ponies looked to the front of the classroom and gasped. Before the teacher and the rest of the class stood a smaller, but stronger looking, changeling with a red shell along it's back rather than the sky blue one on the back of the teacher.

"Ahh, Kuray. It's been a long time." The teacher said looking at the changeling that stood before her and seeming to forget about the rest of the class.

"Same to you sister. How long has it been?" Kuray said wrapping the teacher, or his sister, in a hug.

"Thirty years if my memory serves me." She said breaking from the embrace.

"Woah, woah, woah. Night is only 16 years old." One of the ponies said.

"Lesson one about changelings, we live much longer than ponies." Kuray said. "And as a changeling, I would appreciate it if you would call me Kuray."

"Alright, Kuray, how do we know we can trust you?" A mare at the front of the class said putting extra emphasis on his name and giving him a hateful glare.

"Because, do you see the shell on my back." He said turning around.

"Ya, so."

"Well, the colors of our shells show our jobs in society. Pony society. As you can see mine is red, the color of the guard. My job as a changeling is to hide amongst the ponies and protect you all. You see, since we feed off of the emotions of ponies, so without you we would die off." Kuray came to a finish on his long winded speech. The class just looked at him for a moment and then the bell rang.

Kuray morphed back to the form of Night and walked back over to his desk next to Sweetie Belle who was grinning widely.

"Someone's happy." He said as he picked up his stuff.

"Do you know how awesome you are?" She asked him.

"Ya, I'm pretty awesome." He said in a joking tone as Sweetie Belle and him started towards the door.

"I'm serious. Do you know ho-"

"I'd prefer not to talk about it in public if that's alright with you. How about I come over to your house today after last period and we can talk about it then?" He said. Sweetie nodded.

"Like a date?" She asked.

"Like a date." He chuckled. And with that they split up to go to their respective classes.

The rest of the day went by in a blur for them both. For Night, several of the ponies cast him wary glances but mostly they just nodded and walked by him like they normally did. For Sweetie the rest of the day was spent waiting for the final bell so she could be dismissed from their classes and free to go do what they pleased. Sweetie watched as the seconds ticked away like minutes, and the minutes like hours. She felt as if her own heart beat was matching the tics and ticks of the clock. Watching, waiting for the hands to align on the 2 and the 4. 'Yes, just one more minute. Just one more minute!' She thought to herself.

The bell sounded and Sweetie jumped up and ran out the door before the Reston her classmates even had a chance to stand up. She bolted down the hallway as it flooded,with students. She soon had to slow her pace to match the ponies around her. At a slow trot she made her way down the hallway towards the large double doors at the end of the hall. Then she head a voice that she hadn't heard since first period.

"Sweetie Belle!" She heard the familiar voice of Scootaloo yell to her down the hall bringing her to a stop as she let her friends catch up to her. "Where are you going, I thought we were going to hang out after class today?" Scootaloo asked her as they resumed their trotting towards the door. Sweetie silently cursed herself for forgetting her previous plans with her friends.

"I'm sorry Scoots, but in meeting somepony soon. I won't be able to." Sweetie said. Scootaloo seemed to accept the answer but decided to have a little fun with her.

"So which one is it?" She asked.

"What?" Sweetie asked Scootaloo her eyebrow rising.

"Which stallion is it. Do eh play hoofball?" She asked smiling as Sweetie's cheeks turned crimson under her white coat.

"I'm not meeting a stallion. Not like that at least." She said moving her curls to hide her blush.

"Are you gonna buck him?" The orange mare asked her giving the white mare a sly smile.

"No, no no no! Rarity would kill me if I bucked some stallion that I barely know." Sweetie said with a stunned look on her face.

"I'm just playing with you. I know you're not like that." Scootaloo said with a snort of laughter. Sweetie Belle walked out of the school leaving Scootaloo at the top of the steps.

Sweetie Belle stormed away to her sister's boutique where she would meet Night, or Kuray rather. As she walked past an alley way, she heard a soft thud. Like someone was hitting something, and hard. She peered into the alley way and saw several tall ponies, about eight by her count all standing around something. She took another silent step closer and noticed that several of the, we're standing on their hind legs and two were holding something against the wall of a building. The third standing pony brought a hoof back and slugged whatever it was they were holding against the wall, in the stomach. She heard a cough and the sound of somepony spitting and then the familiar voice she was looking forward to.

"That all ya got. My granny hits harder than you, and she de-" The voice Night was cut off by another slug to the stomach. Sweetie found her voice finally.

"Leave him alone you bullies!" She shouted. Her horn flowed blue and a blue bolt of magic shot out catching one of the ponies holding Night in the back. It scorched its back, leaving a large black mark on the otherwise clear, blue coat. Night took this chance to shake his hoof loose and punch the jock that had been abusing him, right in the jaw sending him back a few feet. He broke his other hoof free from the stunned hoofball player and slugged him in the gut, throat and delivered a quick knee to the chest, sending the pony to the ground unconscious.

He then turned to the other jocks who had been watching as he had been beaten up as well as the one who had been doing the beating. "Normally I'd give you a chance to walk away, but I'm not in the greatest mood today." He said. Suddenly the alley was lit by a green fire as Night turned to a changeling. The bullies all gawked at him and Kuray took the chance to cause some serious damage. With the horn at he didn't have as a Pegasus, he shot a green bolt directly into the first jock's chest sending him to the ground in a heap. His other six buddies looked sceptic as the obvious ring leader of the group ran forward at the changeling. Kuray delivered several quick blows to the nose and gut, sending the pony to the ground.

Two of the jocks looked at the leader and then to the changeling. They didn't hesitate a second to turn and run, but Kuray wasn't planning on letting them go so easily. He picked them up with his magic and slammed them together knocking the two out immediately leaving only two more which he quickly dispatched with magic.

All the while Sweetie just stood and watched him kick the other stallions' flanks. As he walked over to her, obviously tired from the magic he had just done as well as the beating he had received before, he changed back to Night. She noticed that he didn't have his glasses on, revealing a pair of pale green eyes that didn't look natural.

"So, you still want to talk about changelings?" He asked her. She didn't respond but just ran up and hugged him. He winced slightly but then relaxed. He closed his eyes as he drank in the emotions that she was giving him. He felt a warm feeling at the base of his horn and then spread through his body all the way to the end of his hooves and the tip of his nose. A new energy like none he had felt in a long time filled him. He opened his eyes to see her staring at him curiously. "Sorry, I'll explain at your place." He said and began walking towards the end of the alley.

The walk was silent which gave Night time to think about what he had felt when Sweetie had hugged him. He hadn't felt that way in a long time. That energy was different. He has grown used to the normal ones he felt. The less powerful ones like admiration, curiosity, fear. All of them he felt on a daily basis. But this was stronger and it took him off guard. Even now he could feel it on Sweetie. It was love, love was what he had felt. It took him a moment to remember what it was called but he was sure of it.

"We're here." Sweetie said happily, snapping Night out of his thoughts. She pushed open the door and walked in and night followed her.

Inside was a nice little dress shop with all kinds of garments hanging in the window as well as on stand scattered all around the showroom. Night would have liked to look around a bit, but Sweetie just kept walking towards what he guessed was the back of the lower level. One flight of stairs and a short walk way later they arrived on Sweetie's room. It was a nice little room with a little desk nestled in the corner next to the vanity with various small boxes and small jars in front of the mirror. Night raises an eyebrow when he saw the make up on the desk.

"Just for special occasions." She said blushing slightly and sitting down on her bed and curling her legs under her body. Night plopped down on his back  at the end of the bed. His disguise shattered and fell away without the blinding flash leaving only the black exo-skeleton and the red shell. The shards of the disguise fell onto Sweetie's bed and then disappeared.

"So, changelings can do that without the flash?" She asked. Kuray sat up and smiled at her, his fangs glinting on the sun that was filtering through the window.

"Ya, most changeling's disguise dissolves into their body or leaves this goo, bit the flash destroys the goo leaving no trace of the disguise. But I'm part of the guard and we have to know how to destroy our disguises without a flash, leaving no trace at all. Say, if we're gonna talk about this, could we lock the door? I don't wanna run the risk." Kuray said. Sweetie's horn glowed and the door clicked. "So, what did you wanna ask?Ask me anything." Sweetie scratched her chin for a moment with her hoof as if thinking though Kuray could feel the anxiety on her. "Go ahead ask. Trust me, ou can't surprise me."

"What do you think about me?" She finally asked with a shy smile. Kuray looked slightly taken aback.

"Pardon?" He asked sounding like Applebloom.

"Me, what do you think about me?" She asked again more confidently.

"Well, I think you're funny, curious, brave and very loyal to your friends. I also think that you don't care weather or not somepony is a creature of mayhem or a pony to be their friend." He said smiling at her with the strange smile only a changeling could pull off.

"Is that all?" She said looking slightly disappointed.

"Well, I also think that you expect too much from yourself and work a little to hard for your own good." He paused and she hung her head. She couldn't see it but Kuray had stood up and started walking towards her. "But most of all, I think that you are one of the nicest and most beautiful ponies I have ever met." He said sitting down next to her on the bed. She looked up at him and hugged him tightly. He returned the embrace. Sweetie felt the cold hooves on her back, it felt strange, but comforting at the same time. She pulled her head back still holding him in her arms as well as her in his. He put a hoof under her chin and looked her in the eyes. "But mostly I think I love you." He said. He brought his lips forward and met hers.they both closed their eyes and lost themselves in the kiss. Both comforted by each other." Sweetie pulled her head back still locked in the embrace.

"I think I love you too." She said with a small laugh. Kuray smiled his changeling smile. She lied down on the bed and grabbed Kuray by the shoulders and pulled him on top of her. He looked her in he eyes with a questioning look in his eyes.

"Umm, Sweetie." She just grinned at him.

"Nothing like that, just cuddling." She said. He smiled and kissed her again, moving from on top of her to beside her, all the while not breaking the kiss. The two slid under the covers of the bed as the sun began to set outside of the window. The two turned to look at the giant ball of awesome as it descended down the sky and into the distance behind the houses turning the sky from blue to a bright orange with beautiful purple streaks.

"Are you sure you don't mind me being a changeling?" He asked her. She nuzzled his cheek.

"I wouldn't care if you were a griffon." She said. He wrapped her up in another hug under the covers.

"How did you know where I lived?" She asked after a few moments. "Have you been spying on me?" She asked mischievously booping his nose.

"I've always known you, and you've always known me. Remember Rumble?" He said a,idling at the look of disbelief on her face. "That was me. For the record, I always had a huge crush on you." The changeling said. "So you remember hearts and hoof day a few years ago, when you got that card attached to the chocolate bunny?" He asked somehow blushing through the black armor that came with being a changeling.

"Oh my gosh. That was you?" She asked a tear forming in her eye.

"And the one the year after that, and the one after that and the one after that. All the way until 'he' went to Ponyville High five years ago." He said smiling at her. A tear ran down her cheek at the memories of them all trying for their cutie marks, the cards and chocolate bunnies she had gotten every hearts and hooves day from a secret admirer that always made her tear up, the five years ago when he had gonna off to Ponyville High and then finally, last yea when he received his diploma and gone off to college in Canterlot.

"That was you the whole time?" She asked him as me memories all came rushing back to her of one of her best friends in the world next to Scootaloo and Applebloom. Kuray nodded and she hugged him tighter, almost squeezing the breath out of him. Had it not been for the shell, he probably would have been snapped in two. "Thank you. Thank you so much. That was a hard part of my life, but you helped me get through. I can't thank you enough." She said resting her head on his chest. He felt the warm tears run down his smooth shell. He ran a hoof through her curls.

"It's alright Bell, I'm here." He said adjusting his voice to match Rumble's and even using the pet name he had come up with years ago. She just sobbed harder until she finally ran out of tears to cry and just sat there, shivering on his arms. He brought his weighs out and wrapped them around Sweetie, bringing her closer than before. He could smell her sweet breath and the sweet, lingering perfume.

"How old are you?" She asked her voice cracking.

"Two hundred and fifteen years. I have about sixth left." He said. "I've been in this world for two hundred and fifteen years and I haven't met anypony prettier or nicer than you." He said. She leaned up and kissed him again as Luna's moon came over the houses in the east.