"Are You Not Afraid Of Me?"

The pony and I finally reached the edge of the forest after walking for what felt like an hour. The sun in the sky definitely reflected morning as it was beginning to become warm. I stopped and Terra noticed and approached me.

“Is there a problem my Queen?”

“Yes, I cannot go into the town in my present form. Ponies fear Changelings especially me, so I must change my shape into something less fearful.”

“How do you do that?” I closed my eyes and focused my magic. Soon my black and green coat was changing into a smooth light blue one, and the holes in my hooves were beginning to fill with skin and fur. Finally my faced changed was changed to a beautiful unicorn, and Terra was left stunned at my transformation.

“I didn’t know you could do that!” she said enthusiastically.

“Yes it is the special magic of a Changeling that allows us to transform our appearance. However unlike most of my subjects that have to take the form of ponies and creatures near by, I can morph my appearance into anything I choose.”

“Wow, that’s amazing; no wonder you’re Queen! Wait a second you kind of look like me!”

I hadn’t noticed but coat was a similar shade of blue to hers; mine being slightly darker, and my new mane was the mint and white colors as well. I must have done this without thinking about it, oh well; it shall make being undetected easier.

“I suppose I do, shall we continue?” I said as we continued walking into town.

We walked a good distance into the town nearly reaching the grocery center, when Terra finally spoke up.

“So Queen Chrysalis, what do you like to do?” She spoke hesitantly trying to strike up a little conversation. If I were to win her friendship I’d have to humor her and at least pretend to be interested.

“There is not much too do. I simply have to watch over my subjects and make sure they have enough food to sustain themselves.”

“That sounds pretty stressful.”

“At times it can be, they are a anarchic bunch of creatures and if was not around to keep them in order, they might not survive on their own.”

I said this matter-of-factly without thinking, and realized it sounded more morbid than I intended. The pony looked at me quizzically for a moment and I gave a nervous laugh.

“But it’s not as serious as I make it sound. We carry on just as well.”

“Well, no offense I do not envy your position. That’s a lot of responsibility, and I don’t think I can handle having to take care of thousands of creatures. I can barely take care of myself.”

“Well either I learned to take of myself earlier on, or no one would. Then came the rest.”

“Jeez isn’t that the truth?” Terra muttered under her breath.

“Pardon?” I asked, but she simply followed up with another question.

“But you’re royalty? Shouldn’t you have a life of luxury for the first couple years of your life at least?” Terra said finally finding some traction in the conversation.

“It is complicated,” I said however she continued to stare at me wanting more of an answer than that. I sighed and said,

“Changelings do not think of a Queen the way most creatures do. No the title of Queen is less of a position of power and respect as it is more a responsibility that no other individual could do.” Terra tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. She required more elaboration.

“My subjects do not need to love me or treat me with admiration. They simply need to obey me, as I have to guide them to safety and sustain as a colony.”

“Yet why do they obey you at all if they don’t love you?”

“I’d prefer not to discuss it, but you may find out if you stay long enough.” I really did not like exposing so much of our culture and my own life to this one outsider, but sacrifices need to be made I suppose.

“Okay, so what would happen if you just decided not to be Queen anymore?”

I slightly paused in my walking as the question registered in my mind, but then continued on. I had actually never thought of such a thing and was unsure how to answer.

“I do not understand, what do you mean decide to be Queen anymore?”

“I mean, what if you just decided to leave one day and never go back?”

Again I was unsure on how to answer. I had never thought out such a situation, I’ve only known the life of a Changeling Queen for thousands of years.

“That’s absurd! I cannot simply decide to stop. My colony would surely parish at my absence and I would be humiliated for the rest of my days!” I replied not knowing how to react so I chose to be slightly offended.

“I’m sorry I didn’t know that thought never crossed your mind, lets forget it.”

We walked in silence again, however she broke it again with one last comment.

“Yet, I don’t think the Changelings realize how generous and how concerned you are with their well being. I’d say you are just as worthy of being called royalty as Princess Celestia.”

I winced slightly at her statement and turned away as I felt my face become hot. Again silence fell over us and I realized that I would have to be the one to break it this time. I had never learned any social skills, and the only time I really interacted with other ponies was when I was disguised as Cadence.

Even that however was not like trying to win somepony’s friendship. If I were to get closer to this pony I would need to understand her personal life as well.

'

“Where do you come from Terra?” I finally managed to ask. She looked surprised, as this was the first time I had actually asked her a formal question. She smiled and said,

“That’s actually an excellent question, because I don’t even know the answer.” Her answer surprised me and I wanted to know more.

“Explain.” I commanded.

“Well I’ve been all over this world of ours, from one end of Equestria to another. Yet I’ve never actually known what part of it I was born in. I only knew orphanages from when I was really young."

"Ever since I can remember I was always in an orphanage, I never knew my actual parents and I changed orphanages about every year till I was thirteen.” She paused to look and see if I was still paying attention. I nodded for her to continue.

“I would just be swapped around from one town to another, never really calling anything home. I was never adopted either, for some reason I was never chosen by parents; could never explain it.”

“That sounds like an unpleasant upbringing,” I said trying to sound empathetic.

“Yeah, well…it was only a real drag because it meant I was always alone.” This grabbed my attention and now I focused hard on the conversation. We had finally reached the market square and Terra was now looking at fruits and vegetables, however she continued to conversation.

“Were you the only one in these orphanages?” I asked. The pony giggled a little bit at my lack of knowledge.

“No there were other colts and fillies there too, and I did at the beginning when I was real small. Yet I learned quickly that was a big mistake.”

“How so?”

“Well when you get moved around so much you end up never seeing the friends you make ever again, and after awhile it gets old and it hurts.” I watched her carefully as she put a few carrots into a sack.

“That’s why I figured out I was just destined to be alone and eventually I just started to keep to myself whenever I’d arrive somewhere new.”

“Did that not make you sad though?”

“At first it did, but when you become occupied with taking care of yourself you start to forget you could be sad, you’re too busy trying to not feel anything at all.”

Her tone was becoming more and more serious, and this unsettled me. Yet she continued getting her supplies and talking so I assumed I could continue on the topic.

“You became an outcast because of your decisions didn’t you?” I asked her.

“Yup, when you choose to be alone it makes you more of a target in other ponies eyes, to this day I still don’t understand it.” Terra turned so she was facing me.

“If you don’t mind I’d like to not talk about it anymore,” she said with a smile.

“Oh, of course.” I responded. She was better at hiding her emotions than I thought, I could not detect she was uncomfortable.

“I’d just don’t feel like getting sad and sentimental today, it’s a fine day.”

“I understand.” I really didn’t understand what she meant by that, ‘a fine day’? She walked into a store and I followed in after her.

She strolled down the isles and picked out several packages of food that I did not care to see what they were. I continued to follow her down the isle letting my eyes glaze over the useless spices and ingredients. Although my gaze made it to the entrance of the store and I spotted a familiar purple unicorn. It was Twilight Sparkle and her five friends grouped with her.

The sight of her nearly made me jump, but I remembered that she was hardly a threat to me. So long as I remained in disguise she would never detect me, she couldn’t even detect me when I was her precious Princess Cadence. Terra walked over to the counter and was starting to check out when the receptionist said,

“You two are absolutely beautiful, good thing you got your mothers looks deary.” Terra and I looked at each other briefly and I my face began to get hot again.

“Oh no, no we’re not related-” I began.

“Yes, this is uh, my moms friend!” Terra added.

“Oh” the receptionist replied, “I’m sorry I just assumed, here you go,” she said giving Terra the bag.

“Thank you.” Terra said and we made our way out of the store, not before I made a quick glance at Twilight Sparkle who was smiling and looking our direction drawn by the conversation. We exited the store and started on our way back to the colony and we walked the rest of the way in silence.