A lone filly stumbled through the snow. She couldn’t feel her hooves, and the icy wind cut her to the bone. Her wings felt like blocks of ice and had stopped burning an hour ago, and her horn was so numb that it felt like rubber when she touched it. Snowflakes bounced off her cold skin as she walked.
There was a city she was walking towards, hoping to reach it before she froze to death. Her mother had never come home for her, abandoning her to an empty hive. She had promised to come back with a new source of love to feed on, but she never saw her again.
The joints in her chitin were beginning to fill with ice, making it harder to stumble forward towards the city. Next her jaw stopped shivering as she collapsed in the snow. It was so warm that she knew it’d be okay to take a short nap in it. The falling snow was blanketing her, tucking her in until she was cozy in the toasty snowbed. She knew that a quick nap would make it all better.
Cadence had seen a small speck of black approaching the Crystal Empire from her balcony. She flew down to investigate, landing next to it as the snow buried it up to its neck.
She gasped, and began to weep for the poor creature. A changeling, likely not much older than five, had fallen into the snow and appeared to have died. Despite the recent invasion attempt and their mass disappearance, it pained her to see a child suffer.
Cadence was about to leave the corpse just before she heard it gasp for air. Her eyes went wide, and she grabbed the filly. She hugged the ice cold changeling against her bosom to warm her up.
“Shh, it’s okay now. Have faith, little changeling,” Cadence cooed. She flew back towards her palace with the baby in her forelegs.
As soon as she landed in her bed chambers, she called for the guard that was posted outside of it. He walked in and saw Cadence standing by the bed. Then he noticed the changeling laying upon it. He charged his horn to attack.
“Stop at once!” Cadence ordered. “You are to bring Shining and a doctor here immediately!”
“Princess, that is a changeling!”
“That is an innocent filly, and you will do as I say or start looking for a new job!”
“At once!” The guard saluted before leaving the chamber.
After Cadence had finished bundling the changeling in one of the blankets on the bed, she used her magic to get a roaring fire started in the fireplace. She then grabbed the bundled up changeling and sat right in front of the fire with her.
Cadence was sweating profusely from the warmth of the fire. She heard the little filly gasp for air again, and it began to breathe. As she cradled her, she sung a soft lullaby. Eventually, after what felt like hours, the poor creature began to shiver again as it warmed up.
Panicked hoofsteps echoed down the hallways, until finally Shining, a guard, and a doctor came into the room.
“Cadence love, are you okay?” Shining asked.
“Shh, I’m fine.”
“Where’s the changeling?” the doctor inquired.
Cadence turned slightly and nodded. “Right here, Doctor. I need you to examine her.”
Shining walked forward. “Give her to me. you know what they’re capable of!”
“No!” Cadence gave him one look, and saw the recognition in his eyes that this was an argument he would not win. “She is just a filly, innocent of her race’s crimes.”
Shining nodded at the doctor, letting him know to come examine the changeling. “What do you propose?”
Cadence unwrapped the filly, and winced as she began to whimper and cry. She was shivering in front of the fireplace as the doctor listened to her heart and lungs, and examined her frostbitten exoskeleton.
“It’s a good idea that what we saw here today never leaves this room. I propose we adopt and raise this changeling as a pony.”
Shining shook his head. “And what do we do when she learns of how we banished, and possibly killed, her entire race? What about when it needs to feed?”
“Honey, I am the princess of love. I’ll think of something. Is she okay, doctor?”
“There’s nothing wrong that I can see. I will need to contact a library for any anatomy books they may have on changelings to be certain,” he replied.
“And you will keep this secret?” Cadence asked.
“Yes,” he answered.
“Guard?”
He saluted. “Yes, Princess.”
“Honey?” Cadence asked.
Shining stared skeptically at her for a moment, until finally her compassionate gaze convinced him. “Fine, but I won’t let my guard down. The minute I think she’s a threat to Equestria, I’m locking her up.”
Cadence frowned. “I promise you, we will raise her to be an example for all changelings that our races can be at peace once again.”
She lifted the changeling up against her bosom and used her magic to wrap the blanket around it. As Cadence sat there in the sizzling heat of the fire, she felt the changeling nuzzling up against her to get warmer.
Cadence smiled. “We’ll call her ‘Faith’.”
Faith chased after the small red ball as it rolled down the street. Once she caught up, she picked it up in her hooves and flew back to the school’s small playground. She smiled as she tossed it back to the other pegasus.
At her adoptive parent’s request, Faith remained disguised as a blue pegasus with yellow hair when out in public. She never really wondered why, and was just happy to look like everypony else.
The ball flew back, and she caught it before tossing it to a nearby colt.
“Hey, Faith, Rose, why don’t we play something more fun?” Boulder asked.
“What do you have in mind?” Faith said.
“Let’s play changelings and ponies. I’ll be the changeling, and if I catch any of you, I get to eat you!” Boulder said.
“Yeah, that sounds fun!” Rose said. She giggled and ran over to faith. “Come on, let’s go hide from him!”
Faith stood there stunned with an eyebrow raised. “Why are changelings bad?”
“Because they feed on love and torture ponies for fun! They can also change their shape to anything they want, and steal the souls of their victims!” Boulder made some eerie noises and waved his hooves around for emphasis.
Faith could feel a tear rolling down her cheek.
“Are you okay?” Rose asked.
“I don’t wanna play!” Faith cried. She flew off towards the crystal palace.
“Sheesh, what was that about?” Boulder asked.
“I dunno.”
Faith landed on the balcony, and shifted back to her natural form. Her black chitin shined in the sun as she sprinted through the room and down a hallway, tears flowing from her freely, as she searched for her mother.
She found her outside their private quarters, walking down the hallway towards the kitchen.
“Mommy!” she cried. She ran over and began hugging her leg.
“Faith! What’s wrong?” Cadence asked. She knelt down and returned the hug.
“I was at school, and Boulder said changelings are evil and torture ponies!”
Cadence sighed and kissed her on the forehead. “Honey, you know that’s not true. I love you.”
“But, why am I the only changeling? Why do they hate us?”
“You are a very special filly. I told you how I found you in the snow, but I had hoped to wait until you were older to tell you about the other changelings. They’re at war with ponies, and they do steal love. But do not worry, Faith, you can not steal what I give you freely. You are the sunshine of my life.”
“So it’s true? I’m a bad pony?” Faith asked.
“No, you’re—”
“Faith! Cadence! What is she doing outside the private quarters looking like that?” Shining scolded.
“Honey—”
“No buts, Cadence. Go to your room, Faith!”
Faith scurried off towards her bedroom, bursting back into tears. She could hear the last bits of their conversation. “We can’t let anypony know she’s a changeling!”
She slammed her door behind her and jumped on her bed, and began weeping into her pillow. It was all true, and she was a bad pony. After a while, Faith decided the best thing to do would be to apologize to her father. She knew deep down he loved her, but he just didn’t realize it. That was probably why she never felt any of his love radiating to her.
Disguising herself as the pegasus that everypony else thought she really was, she trotted down to her parent’s bedroom. The door was open a crack, and before she could open it further to apologize, she heard them talking inside.
“I love her, and she’s been doing great! We need to go talk to her. She is scared and alone,” Cadence explained.
“She’s a parasite! Faith feeds off your love and we have no idea what that’s doing to you. Celestia should be informed at once,” Shining argued.
“No! She’s just a filly, and I’ll not have my aunt’s prejudice brought against a child!”
“And then what? When we cast the spell banishing them, we wiped out over half their hive! Her mother is most likely dead, and rogue packs of changelings have been wiping out isolated towns ever since! We are at war, Cadence! war with her species!”
Faith gasped and began to back up.
“She is not Chrysalis! She is my daughter, and I love her! If you’d just spend some time with her, you’d understand.”
Shining stomped a hoof. “Well I don’t love her, and I’ll never let one of them get close enough to feed on me.”
Faith felt her rump hit something, and heard a loud crash as a piece of pottery hit the floor and shattered. She looked through the crack in the door, and made eye contact with Shining. He began to march towards her as Faith’s eyes went wide in terror.
She bolted and flew out the nearest window, dropping her disguise to fly faster. Faith flew low to the ground so they couldn't spot her, but as she fled the city, several ponies saw the changeling and gasped in horror. They ran from her, terrified she would devour them. This led her to cry even harder until she could barely see.
Faith finally collapsed from exhaustion far outside the Crystal Empire. The tears were already freezing to her cheeks as she sobbed in the snow. She curled up and wished she would just die already so she would never have to go back to face all the ponies that hated her.
Her ears perked up when she heard a gentle lullaby being sung. Faith climbed to her numb hooves when she saw Cadence sitting ten feet away. Tears were also flowing down her cheeks as she stared at her daughter.
Faith could feel her love giving her strength and warding off the cold weather. It burnt like a beacon to guide her home, and she slowly trotted through the snow towards her.
Cadence scooped her up and held her against her chest, gently rocking her while she sang. “So please don’t take my sunshine away.”
Faith looked up at her. “Mommy, why does daddy hate me?”
A familiar voice behind Cadence spoke. “I. . . don’t hate you.”
Shining walked up from behind them. He had arrived just in time to see the pathetic changeling mewling in the snow. He had watched as Cadence reached out to her with her love, and the changeling crawled back to her warm embrace. Shining finally didn’t doubt the sincerity of the bond the two shared. It was not the kind of bond a parasite formed with its host. It was the intimate bond of a mother and her daughter.
“B-but you said—”
“Shh, I know,” Shining whispered as he sat down next to them. “I’m sorry I said that.”
“Did. . . did you kill my mommy?” Faith asked.
Shining turned his head and wiped something off his cheek. “That’s very likely. We’re at war, Faith.”
“Please stop! You don’t have to hurt anymore changelings! I’ll tell them all to be nice! I can make us all a big happy family!” Faith pleaded.
Cadence hugged her daughter tightly and braced herself for her husband’s response. Instead, he sat there silently. After a few minutes of silence, Faith sensed something she hadn’t felt before. Slowly something inside Shining glimmered, and a sweet taste like nectar reached her. Faith began to see through Shining’s armor, and see the love for her he had buried deep inside.
“I’d like that, Faith. I’d like nothing more than for the war to be over. And from now on, I’ll tell you everyday that I love you.”
Cadence sighed. “Half the town saw her. Now we’ll have to tell Celestia.”
“Don’t worry about that, I’ll protect both of you. Daddy loves you, Faith.”
Author's Note
Story prompt/Requested by: Breath of Plagues
Edited by: Selbi, Abcron
Part of my one-shot week.
People keep telling me this would make a good longer story. I wrote it along with 12 others and 5 updates over four days... so I agree. I'm putting this back on my to-do list to re-write an intro and turn it into a much longer story, without using stereotypical fanon personalities for the guards/shining armor.
