“Stop right there, criminal scum!” The usual calm and tranquility of Ponyville Hospital was broken by the shouts of several Canterlot guards as they chased their target through the halls. A shadow whisked past nurse Redheart as she dived to escape the incoming ponies who charged past her carelessly, knocking over several patient charts. Despite having just woke up, I still heard the shouting from the next wing.
“Rarrrityyyyy!!!” A voice called, getting progressively closer before smashing into the thick white door that acted as my only shield from the chaos of the hospital.
“Black Star?” I called curiously. “Are you the source of all this racket?”
I truly hoped that he wasn’t, I was still somewhat injured after a mission from Celestia had gone horribly wrong, so I was in no mood to deal with somepony else’s problems, even if they were the problems of a good friend.
“Yes!” he replied, drawing a frustrated moan from me. “The guards must have had a detector spell, they took one look at me and wham! Suddenly I am being chased through the hospital by five royal guards. Now I do not want to sound rude, but… do you think you could let me in so the guards do not kill me?”
I flinched. “Oh yes! I mean of course.” I, despite my body’s protests, leapt from my bed and hastily opened the door. “Come in quickly! There’s no telling what they will do to us if they see you here. Oh, and you should put on a disguise.” While slamming the door shut, I spared a concerned glance at my friend as he worked his magic. Once sheathed in a new form, I proceeded to question him.
“What in Celestia’s name were you doing out in the hall? You know that Celestia is here with her guards and that they’re still on the lookout for changelings, especially since the debacle last fall with my sister and her friends.”
“I know,” he said sadly. “I just wanted to take a walk, my friend is still in a coma and I was worried, I am still worried but I thought maybe a walk would help, I certainly never thought that I would be massed by guards.”
He gave me a guilty face that I hadn’t seen since the first time I met him.
I sighed. As upset as I was that he had just rained down guards upon himself, I knew that he was only trying be there for his friend. Sadly, this time I had no idea what to do and it wouldn’t be long before the guards were here.
I heard a loud bang at the door. “Right on cue,” I said irritably.
“By order of Sir Mountain Peak, open this door and surrender yourself immediately!”
“Pardon me sir,” I said casually, attempting to maintain civility . “This is a private room and I have no desire to be seen in my current state, think about what it would do to my reputation.”
“Sweet Celestia!” the guard said. “It must have taken the place of a patient. Sir Mountain!” he shouted.
“Yes Sergeant Clover?” another masculine voice sounded from elsewhere.
“This room is occupied according to the chart on the door, but the changeling went in there and the patient inside is refusing to open the door.”
“Sweet Celestia!” Sir Mountain said. “It must have changed forms and disposed of the patient. Stallions! Break down that door now! If we hurry then maybe we have a chance of saving the poor soul inside.” The first ram sounded like a cannon shot as the guards set to work on breaking in.
The door continued to be smashed against until it began to crack. Within seconds, I watched it shatter into splinters. All five guards poured into the room and surrounded Black Star.
“Changeling!” the lead guard shouted. “You are under arrest for crimes against Equestria and her citizens, assistance in the assault of three princesses, and conspiracy to overthrow the government. You have one chance to surrender. Come quietly or face your doom!” Of course he would say that, that’s what they all say. I had forgotten how much that the average Equestrian despised Changelings.
Black Star was horrified. He had always feared being caught by guards, but it had never actually happened to him. So he decided that the best course of action would be to curl into a ball, drop his disguise, and roll -- yes, roll -- into the nearest corner. I could see him shaking against the sickly green wallpaper of the room, his whimpering was audible from my location. The guards were closing on him and he was going to sit there and do nothing.
Fortunately for him, I had no such plan. “Don’t you dare!” I yelled as I dove in between them and him. “I will not stand for this brutish behavior, especially not when exercised on my friend!”
The front guard dropped his jaw in shock but soon collected himself angrily, his eyebrows furrowed, his armour glowed ominously from the light of the room making his decorations visible, from those I could tell that he was at least a sergeant, I realized that this was probably Sergeant Clover. “Citizen! What is the meaning of this! Can’t you see that it’s a changeling?”
“Of course I do!” I said loudly. “Do you take me for a fool? I just don’t care. Black Star is a good friend and I… I love him.” I momentarily lost focus. “Needless to say am happy to stand up in his defense, changeling or not, even against you if need be.” I stood tall and still as a stone acting as a shield to the changeling that laid terrified behind me. Seeing this, the rage of the guards grew as they continued to advance.
“Citizen!” one of them yelled. “Get out of the way!”
“No! For goodness sakes, he's done nothing! His friend is in a coma so he came here to visit him. Do you actually find that suspicious? Please, you and I both know that there is no way we would be here now if he wasn’t a changeling.
“I’m warning you!” The guard captain snarled as his horn began to glow softly. “Get out of the way!”
I stared him down. There was no chance of me abandoning somepony that I love. “I don’t think you have any idea who you are dealing with, you useless inferiors. I am Rarity of Ponyville, bearer of the element of generosity, I have directly aided in the protection of Equestria numerous times and I am a close friend of princess Twilight Sparkle, so I am giving you one chance to stand down before I report you all!"
Despite my pulling of obviously superior rank, the guards did not relent. I was beginning to fear the worst. “I will not allow this changeling to corrupt you, Rarity. I will give you one last chance to Back. Off.
I had had enough of being threatened by the ponies who were supposed to be protecting me, so I readied my own spell. “And I am telling you to back off or else I will have no choice but to defend myself and my friend against you!”
Time seemed to slow down as we prepared to do battle, an outcome which seemed inevitable without an outside intervention. I looked to Black Star, who I had such a history with and I felt satisfied, if I was going to fight, it would be for him. To remind myself of why I was doing all this I took a moment to remember how I met him and how I ultimately ended up in this situation.
It all started a few years before Twilight came to Ponyville I had just moved out on my own…
… “Welcome to the Carousel Boutique grand opening!” It was my first day running the Carousel Boutique and I was about twenty minutes from closing, needless to say my initial energy had waned, but this customer seemed particularly important, so I thought I would add a little extra oomph to my greeting. “How may I help you?” I asked her, admittedly with a touch too much enthusiasm.
“Greetings, my name is Silverthorn, I’m from… Canterlot and require a new dress for an upcoming event.” She looked around my shop with growing irritation on her face. “Miss… Rarity, was it?” I nodded. “Miss Rarity… am I to understand that this is all you have as far as dresses go?”
“Why yes,” I said calmly. “All that I have completed that is.”
“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised,” she said curtly. “You are obviously an amateur. I mean look at these dresses, if you can call them that. These designs are so… Ughh I can’t believe you’re actually selling these, look it this one.”
She pointed to a long flowy gown that I had studded with emeralds and used lapis dust to accent. “What did you use paper clips to hold this piece of junk together? Oh and where did you get these terribly sub-standard emeralds? A costume store?” I looked at her in horror as she continued ranting at the rest of my dresses, insulting each of them in a different, though impressively creative way. Honestly I tuned her out after she asked me if my black winter dress, which I had accented with yellow plumage was the actual dress or the remains of it after I had decided it was so utterly horrible that I had set it on fire.
“Is… Is there anything else I can help you with?” I said once she seemed to be done, I was outraged and frankly I wanted to throw her out of my shop, but after everything that she had said there was no way that I was going to give her the chance to accuse me of being unprofessional.
“Yes,” she said coldly. “Do yourself and everypony else in Equestria an enormous favor and close down rather than selling third-rate piece of junk dresses that Nopony important will ever want to buy. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go find a place where I can actually find a dress worthy of my greatness. Goodnight!” She slammed the door behind her.
I was shocked, her insults were racing through my mind so quickly and erratically that the point of her ranting hadn’t quite sunk in yet, I just felt insulted and not truly hurt. I decided that it would be best to close up shop early and go for a walk, after all it was late evening and I figured that nopony would want to buy a dress at that hour so off I went.
Ponyville was warm that night, not hot mind you, but a wonderful perfect warm which was exactly what I needed to vent my frustration. “Who does that Silver Thorn think she is?” I grumbled.
I walked quickly, my irritation driving me forward, I didn’t realize how far I had gone until I found myself deep in the Whitetail Woods, I looked around and was utterly alone with nopony in sight.
She’s wrong, I’m not a bad dressmaker, I’m fabulous… I’m… “Oh who am I kidding?” I said weekly. “Sure I had about a dozen customers today, but who were they? They were all simple town ponies who wouldn’t know the first thing about high society, not like Silver Thorn anyway. With the way she carried herself earlier, she must be a star, they type of pony everypony should know. Just like… Just like I… Oh I may as well admit it now. I’m never going to be famous, I’m just going to have to accept mediocrity and hope for the best. But I… I won’t ever be able to—oh this is just horrible, I’m not going to able to make it on my own, moving out so soon was a mistake, a terrible mistake. I’m such a fool, I opened up shop my first full day on my own and now look at me I’m… I’m a failure, my first day of business and I am already the laughing stock of high society. My career is ruined!”
I fell to the ground and began to cry, at first only a light trickle of tears and sniffles but soon I was reduced to a sobbing blubbering mass on the forest floor, in plain view of any creatures that might have been watching. My mother always tells me that fate happens when you least expect it. Despite always taking that message to heart in my wildest dreams I never could have imagined what… or… should I say who fate had in store for me that night.
As I ran out of tears to cry I found myself content to lay still and whimper, waiting for my pain to subside, but it seemed that fate had another plan for me. “Why do you weep unicorn?” a deep, quiet, almost whispering voice spoke to me from all around.
“Huh?” I said perking my head up in order to search for the source of the voice. As I looked around and listened I could only hear the sweet symphonic background of the various creatures that chose to speak throughout the night but no pony voice. “Oh that’s just wonderful,” I said harshly. “Now I’m hallucinating.” I buried my face in the ground again and began to cry again.
“I assure you,” the voice spoke again. “You are sound of mind for I am quite real. Just well hidden in the shadows, it really is just as well that you cannot see me, but that is not important,” the voice spoke more loudly than before, a change only accented by how deep of a voice it was, but it still seemed… sweet and maybe a touch sad. “So I will ask you again. Why do you, a unicorn of such beauty, feel like weeping? What has hurt you so?”
Honestly, I had no idea how to answer the voice, I had never met him or her before and I certainly didn’t trust him with my most inner thoughts and feelings, so I decided that I would just tell him,( I had made him a he in my mind,) the gist of my predicament. “Well,” I sniffled. “I just moved out of my parents’ house so I’m homesick, but that is only the beginning. As if leaving home for the first time wasn’t bad enough, I decided to open up a shop on my first day on my own, which went rather well at first. I suppose I should have expected what happened to happen, after all, my luck today has been impeccable, but luck or not, I am still heartbroken and my career is still ruined.” I dug at the ground for a little while when the voice spoke again.
“Well do not leave me hanging,” he said impatiently. “What happened to you?”
I looked out again, hoping to catch a glimpse of him, but once again I saw nothing but shadows and trees. “Well I suppose there’s no harm in telling you now is there? My career is already ruined,” my voice grew soft and inconsistently pitched as I verged on tears once again.
“Just before I closed my shop for the day a pony named Silver Thorn came in looking for a dress, she almost immediately decided that what I had on display was inadequate, so rather than simply leaving, she spent several minutes berating my designs and telling me what a horrible dress maker I am. Once she left I closed my shop and went for a walk to clear my head, as you can see I am quite upset…”
“But I can’t shake the feeling that she’s right, that maybe I am a horrible dress maker and I should close down my shop before I embarrass myself.” I buried my head in my hooves and started to cry again, it was as if reminiscing had given my eyes time to make more tears to shed, which they did, harder than ever.
My wailing was interrupted once again, though not by a deep voice, but by the feeling of a hoof on my own. I jerked my head up to see who was there and was immediately struck dumbfounded by what I saw. Standing above me with a warm smile was… me. It was my mirror image, every detail was perfect even the tears, whoever it was had been crying just as much as I had. “B-But that’s impossible,” I said, almost yelling. “I mean you look just like… well… me. Wh-Who are you?” I asked, having somewhat collected myself.
My copy stepped back as she pulled me up. “What am I is the better question,” she said in a voice identical to mine. “Hello, my name is Black Star… and I. I am a changeling.”
“A what?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“A Changeling,” she replied. “A creature of mystery and deception. Supposedly we can change our shape into anything, but I don’t know that for certain, as I have only been able to change shape for a few days, heck, I have only known about changelings for a few days.”
This piqued my curiosity. “I don’t understand,” I said quietly. “How can you not know about changelings if you are a changeling?”
At that she hung her head in the most pathetic fashion that I have ever seen. “Well that is just it,” she said, obviously pained. “I had no idea what I was until just a few days ago, before this I was just Black Star the unicorn, I was a handsome young stallion from Ponyville, I had a wonderful brown coat and mane and a vocabulary worthy of Canterlot, notice how I never use contractions when I speak. That all changed however when I suffered a serious fall onto a sharp object… it was one of my fence posts. The first lesson that I ever learned about changelings is that no matter how long they have been disguised for or even if they have no idea that they are disguised in the first place, a serious injury will still reveal their true form. I also learned that ponies do not like non-pony things very much, so I had to run like crazy from angry guards. That is my predicament.”
I felt ashamed, here I was complaining about a bad day, when this pony had recently discovered that they were a different race than they thought. I didn’t know what to think, but I knew that I had to do something for him, although I would need him to do something for me first. “Black Star?” I asked politely.
“Yes?” He said still using my voice.
“I’m going to help you,” I said smiling. “I’m not sure how, but I will. First I must ask a favor though?”
Black Star blinked at me, I’m pretty sure that he wasn’t expecting me to react so favorably to finding out what he was. “Umm…” he said awkwardly, confirming my suspicions. “Sure, what do you need?”
“If I’m going to trust you, I need you to be honest with me, completely honest. In short, please don’t look like me, it’s positively unnerving. Why don’t you show me what you really look like.”
Black Star hung his head. “You are not going to like it,” he said. “I look really bad, like horror film worthy, that is how bad I look.”
I smiled. “I’m sure it’s not that bad, go ahead, show me.
Black Star sighed. “Oh very well, just do not run away screaming please.” He took a breath, closed his eyes, and was soon sheathed in an emerald flame, it was gone in moments and all that was left was a shadow. It took almost a minute for my eyes to adjust to the light and I really wished that they hadn’t. In the place of my doppelganger, stood a black tattered pony, he was much wirier than anypony I had seen before, though he did not appear emaciated in any way. I gasped when I saw that he possessed both a horn and a pair of wings, though the wings were… wrong, they were thin and clear, almost like a fly’s wings. The rest of his body seemed normal although he seemed to be somewhat reflective, but it was dark so I couldn’t tell for certain.
I admit that his insect-like appearance did give me a start at first, but I had promised to stick around and help so I stayed put. “Well… I… I don’t think you look awful,” I lied “You look umm… unique?”
“Don’t you mean horrifying?” he said sadly. “By the way changelings can feel emotion, I believe that we consume it actually, needless to say I can tell that you are lying.”
“Well can’t blame a girl for trying,” I said, embarrassed. “Okay, so I have no idea what we are going to do about your… situation, but I do know what is going to be done tonight.”
“And what might that be?”
“Well obviously I can’t let you stay out here,” I said, trying to be supportive. “So you’re going to stay with me until we can figure something else out.”
“What? No!” he said with a start. “I could not impose on you in such a manner, I am a monster, I do not deserve your sympathy much less your assistance.”
My horn garbed itself in the light of a basic spell, gifting the area around me with a soft glow and, more importantly, making it possible to look Black Star in the eye… in the solid, blue, pupilless eye that I most certainly didn’t expect to see. I gulped.
“Listen, Black Star,” I said confidently. “You are not a monster, quite the opposite in fact, at least from what I have seen. You are a kind pony who is dealing with a horrible situation at no fault of his own, granted you are a rather weird sort of pony, but a pony all the same. So, I am going to help you and there isn’t a thing you can do to convince me otherwise! Do I make myself clear.”
Black Star smiled and I knew I had won. “Okay,” he whispered.
“Pardon?” I said innocently. “I didn’t quite catch that.
“I will stay with you. Personally, I think that you are making a huge mistake, but you seem set on helping me for some reason, far be it from me to say no, especially not after sleeping in the woods for several days, I slept on leaves mostly. Did you know that leaves are in fact very ineffective bedding, when teaming with biting insects or covered in tree sap? The nearby rocks were better. Sooo miss… umm… ughh.”
Groaning, Black Star’s face turned ghost white. I would like to say I remained stoic, but I couldn’t help myself and started laughing. I have to admit he looked rather becoming, though it was less becoming when he turned pink, as in, Pinkie Pie pink. “Are… you… quite alright?” I said in between breaths. “You’re… you’re pink hahaha.” I continued laughing in spite of myself for almost a minute.
“Well it is just that… here I am taking a favor from you, and I do not even know your name,” Black Star hung his head shamefully, his shifting complexion making him look somewhat spectral in the night.
I stroked his… well, I would call it a mane, except it felt more like a spider web then a pony’s mane, but never the less I stroked his mane in an effort to show empathy. “Oh it’s quite alright Black Star,” I said softly, trying to set him at ease. “Frankly I should have introduced myself sooner, it is a lapse in manners on my part, after all, you already gave me your name. My name is Rarity, and I am going to take care of you until we can figure out a more permanent solution.”
“Alright then… Rarity. Thank you for your generosity, I shall not forget it.” I could tell that he was genuinely grateful.
“Don’t mention it,” I said, truly hoping that he wouldn’t, especially not around Ponyville. I mean, could you imagine what everyone would think if they found out that I was living with some stallion that I had only just met? It would be a disaster.
I gestured for Black Star to follow me out of the woods, it turns out that I was far less deep into the woods than I thought because we reached the edge after only a few minutes. “Rarrityyy?” he called after I had passed the last few trees.
I turned around and saw that he had not moved, he was still several yards into the woods. “What is it dear?” I replied.
“I-I… I have no clue what to wear,” he said worriedly.
This confused me. “Whatever do you mean by ‘what to wear’? We aren’t going to a party, nor are we attending a formal event, so proper attire is unnecessary.”
Black Star looked at me, I could see him biting his lip through the faint glow of my magic and I could tell that there was something that he wasn’t telling me, or was about to but didn’t want to. “I am still new to this whole changing shape business, before this, I used magic for stage lighting, needless to say that when I do it, it is weird and uncomfortable, so I prefer to call the process ‘putting on clothes.’ So when I say that I have no idea what to wear, I mean that I am likely to have to keep whatever form I come into Ponyville with, I can not use my old form, because people will recognize it, so… do you see my problem?”
“I certainly do, picking your face, that can’t be a simple task.” I felt sorry for him, truly, but I had no idea what to do for him so I settled with colors and shapes. “Do you have a favorite color?” I asked.
“Well… I guess I like yellow,” he said awkwardly. Poor thing must have been embarrassed. Embarrassed or not, one color was enough for me, after all, I’m a dressmaker, I can make an outfit from a theme, with no problem.
“I can work with that,” I said confidently. “So I think that we should make it a buttermilk yellow. That gives you a soft coat color, so we can add some excitement in your mane colors, does that sound good to you?” Black Star nodded. “Alright then,” I said. “Now for the mane...”
The next hour passed quickly, I worked on Black Star’s disguise until it was perfected, he was right, the process is very similar to designing an outfit, an outfit that I am still quite proud of. By the time we returned to carousel boutique, Black Star looked positively fabulous and I think he felt fabulous too, an important thing for him considering who he used to be. “Now all that is left is to pick a new name,” he said once he had transformed.
I had never spent the night in the boutique before, so I remember being somewhat hesitant as I opened the door. “Be not afraid,” Black Star said, apparently sensing my nerves. “You are in Ponyville, nothing ever happens here and besides…” He took a mock defensive stance in front of me. “You are giving me shelter and helping me start over, so in return I shall protect you, I promise.” He turned to me and smiled, his confidence, even in spite of his situation, gave me the courage to take those steps into the dark entryway of my home and business, once the lights were on and everything was in order I relaxed. “See? I told you everything would be fine,” he said happily.
“Thank you Black Star. I know this seems like a big favor that I’m doing for you, but really, believe me, you are helping me just as much as I’m helping you. I haven’t known you all that long, but I already trust you and… well its just nice to know that I’m not all alone in this unfamiliar place and that I have somepony around me that I can trust.” I smiled at him and I felt happy, sure my first day hadn’t gone as I had planned, but I had made a new friend and I was about to start helping him get his life in order, though I still wasn’t sure how, but I figured that for now, just giving him a place to stay was suitable, though he still seemed a bit uncomfortable about taking charity from me.
“You are… you are quite welcome,” he said awkwardly. “I am glad to help in any way I can, even if all I can do is chase the nightmares away, that will have to be enough to make up for—No! You are not just doing this out of sympathy are you? You actually care about me, I can literally taste the empathy, it is kind of like orange flower, but I digress. You cannot actually care about me, my stupid changelingness will literally devour your feelings, it is disgusting and there is nothing that I can do about it, those are your feelings of compassion, they belong to you and are better spent on somepony who can actually be your friend not just some filthy parasite who feeds off of your affections!” The poor thing looked absolutely disgusted with himself, he was already beginning to tear up.
“Pardon me,” I said, distracting him from whatever horrid thoughts had clouded his mind with sadness. “It sounds to me and I could be wrong, but it sounds to me like the emotions that you are… tasting.” It has been years since I first met Black Star and I still haven’t gotten my head around the concept of consuming emotions, but such is the way of the changeling I suppose. “It sounds like the emotions that you are tasting are directed at you, which they are by the way as I do in fact care about you and your well being, so if these emotions are being directed at you, then it only makes sense that they belong to you, which I suppose means that you can do with them what you like. I presume that involves consuming them in your case?” I looked at Black Star expectantly.
“Well yes, I suppose, it seems that Changelings feed off of emotions, especially love, I guess I never noticed it before because my family always loved me, so I was always full.” Black Star looked at me with a sort of forlorn expression, but then he tilted his head slightly to one side and his eyes shot wide open. “So wait… are you saying that you are okay with me feeding off of emotions? Your emotions?”
“Of course, so long as they are directed at you and not somepony else.” I looked at him and failed to resist smirking at his surprised expression, it was, in a word, hilarious, though thinking about it now, just a little bit weird. “What? Did you think I was just going to let you starve? You have to eat don’t you?” To me, it seemed like an obvious answer, if I gave him something, it was his and he could use it however he needed to and since the process seemed to have no side effects, in fact I hadn’t even noticed when he did it, I felt that I certainly shouldn’t care.
“Well I… I… thank you Rarity, I really appreciate the help and…” I saw him mouth “The food.”
“But of course!” I said happily. “It’s no trouble, it will be like having a roommate, plus it’ll be nice to have some help around the shop.”
“Wait… help?” Black Star grinned as stepped into my space bubble. “You mean that I can actually help you?”
“Well yes, you weren’t under the impression that I was going to let you sit around all day and do nothing until I figured something out were you?” Admittedly I laughed a little at the idea. “Come on now darling even I’m not that generous, I’m not charging you rent, so I figured that it’s only fair to make you help me around the shop for a while.”
Black Star smiled and for the first time since I had met him, he seemed genuinely alright. “Fair?” he said warmly. “That is more than fair that is fantastic!” He locked me in a bear hug, smiling giddily. “I promise that I will not let you down.”
“Then it’s a deal!” I felt overcome with pride. I had only been on my own for a day and yet I had already helped someone in need, made a friend, and a business partner, though I would have to try and get him to start using contractions when he spoke… I had no idea who taught him to speak like that, but clearly they had no knowledge of modern equine speech. For the moment I settled on climbing the stairs to my bedroom, a lady always needs her beauty sleep after all.
“Umm… Rarity?” Black Star said almost apologetically.
“Yes, dear, what is it?”
“Aren’t you forgetting something? Something that you should probably tell me before you go to bed?” This time, he sounded more worried.
I heard a loud clock ticking behind my ears, then a loud ringing, which is actually rather strange since I don’t own a timer. Strangely that made me realize that I had neglected to tell Black Star where he would be sleeping, turning my head around to see what had made the strange noise I only saw a strange flash of bright pink, confused, I returned my focus to my new friend. “Oh you need to know where you are going to be staying don’t you?” Black Star nodded. “Well when my father had this place built for me, he remembered to equip it with two guest rooms, one for my sister and another for actual guests, your room is upstairs, the first door on the left, directly across from mine actually. Also the washroom is the third door on the left, work starts in twelve hours so go to bed soon, you definitely don’t want to be tired tomorrow.”
“Ok… umm… thanks again Rarity, I really appreciate the help… soo… good night I guess?” I swear that awkward little flutter in his voice will never get old.
“Good night to you too darling,” I said as he climbed the stairs, I soon followed him, though to my own room instead of his. Falling asleep that first night was interesting, but also wonderful, I will always remember the dream I had about sailing through the sky on the back of a color changing bird… I will also always remember that night as the night that I discovered that recent events had caused Black Star to develop night terrors.
“This is your last chance miss! Move out of the way!”
“Look sir! You have said that eight times now. I am in your way and I have no intention of moving unless you stay away from Black Star, so if there is anything that you plan to do about it, you should go ahead and do it because no amount of yelling is going to remove me from this location!” I was furious, these guards were in my room, threatening me with violence, talk about rude.
“Very well,” said another, more decorated guard, who stepped forward from the back. “You are also under arrest! You are hereby charged with treason against Equestria, aiding the enemy and—“
“THAT’S ENOUGH!” A loud, booming voice shuddered the walls of my room, a voice that could only belong to one pony. “Sir Mountain! You and your guards are to stand down at once.” All five guards spun around to find themselves face to face with princess Celestia. I have to admit that I laughed a little at their reactions; you seriously should have seen their faces.
The lead guard, presumably the one Celestia addressed as mountain, made a face as if about to protest, but apparently thought better of it and left, his subordinates in tow, just as he was about to leave, he turned his head, shooting Black Star and myself a harsh glare before turning around the corner and out of sight. I waited until they were all gone before finally letting out a sigh of relief. “Thank you very much princess, I wasn’t certain how I was going to handle all of—“
“It was no trouble Rarity.” Celestia looked happy, she even sounded happy, but I could tell, beneath that flawless princess mask of hers was a deep concern, a concern made more evident by her refusal to break eye contact from Black Star, who was still cowering in the corner, though perhaps more quietly now that there were no guards shouting at him. “Alright…” she said after staring for a few moments. “I… I need you both to follow me.”
“Whatever for princess?” I asked, genuinely curious.
Celestia sighed; I could tell that she regretted whatever was going on. “Rarity. You are one of the best friends of Twilight Sparkle and I trust you, but your friend is a changeling and you know what they are capable of, so as much as I trust you I would like to have a long discussion about your friend until you can convince me that he is no threat. Does that sound fair to you?”
Admittedly I expected Celestia to be more polar in her response, either trusting me completely or throwing Black Star in a dungeon without a second thought, though I guess that this way there would be less doubt among everypony else. “I suppose so, here let me just get Black Star off the ground.” I stepped lightly over to my friend; I think that being in the way of Celestia calmed him down somewhat as he actually responded when I nudged him. “Black Star?” I said cautiously. “It’s alright, Celestia just wants to talk to us, everything is going to be—“
“No it is not! She has no desire to speak with me, she just wants to throw me in jail like everypony else, I want to go home, where my friends are and where there are no ponies trying to kill me and where I—“
“Black Star?” Celestia interrupted. “I have never met you before and I know nothing about you, but Rarity’s trust in you is enough for me, so I promise to hear you and her out, no matter what I might think, so please, just come with me and we can get this mess sorted out and we can get you home.” I don’t believe that I’d ever seen Celestia trying to get somepony to trust her before then, it usually just happens, so watching her do it bordered on unnerving.
When I saw this have no effect on Black Star, I decided to try something else, so I laid down next to him, placing my head over his. “You poor thing,” I said soothingly. “So many ponies have hurt you in such a short time, it’s no wonder that you can’t trust anypony, but maybe…” I pressed my lips to his and allowed a loving warmth to swell inside of me before breaking the kiss. “Maybe you can trust me when I say that Celestia truly does have your best interests at heart, she only wants to talk to us so that she can be sure that nothing is wrong… okay dear? Will you trust the princess for me? Just this once?”
Black Star, who had ceased hyperventilating after being kissed, finally seemed to calm down a little bit, well enough to look at the princess without shaking. “Alright,” he said quietly. “I will talk to you, though I feel certain that I shall regret this but I guess this is my only real choice.”
Celestia nodded. “Alright then… I was going to take you both to another room, but since Rarity is still injured…” Celestia took a seat on the floor. “I think that it would be best if we stayed here, is that alright with everypony?”
“Of course it is.” I nodded.
Celestia smiled. “Good! Now Rarity, I want to hear from you first so tell me, how did you meet Black Star?”
I proceeded to fill her in on the first day, everything from Silver Thorn to Black Star’s night terrors, most of which involved reliving the accident that revealed his identity as a changeling. “… So by the time I finally calmed him down it was morning and time to get ready for my second day of business.”
“Interesting,” Celestia said as she sipped her tea, noticeably wincing, presumably at the story I had just told her. “Is this all true Black Star?”
Black Star smiled and nodded. “As far as I can remember princess,” he said turning to me, as if looking for approval.
Celestia nodded. “Very well. Rarity? Would you continue? As I said previously I want to hear everything.”
“Of course princess,” I said. “The second day.” I sighed. “The second day was interesting…”
“Rarrityyy!” Black Star yelled. “I don’t know what to do.” I hastily made my way down the stairs to find Black Star entangled in the sewing machine I had dug up for him to practice on. Evidently he needed more supervision with it. In all of my years of working with a sewing machine I don’t believe that I ever entangled myself in its workings; not even my first attempt when I was just a filly.
“Oh dear,” I muttered. “Let’s get you out of there okay?” I tried to use my magic to separate the entangled thread, but Black Star was struggling too much so I settled on another solution. “Black Star? Could you stop struggling and look at me please?”
Black Star froze and looked up. “Yes Rarity?” he said, ashamed.
“I need you to hold still for me. Alright?”
Black Star simply nodded and remained shockingly still as I removed the thread that was wrapped around him. “Terribly sorry about that dear. Are you quite alright?”
“I… I am just not used to working with my hooves I guess. I did stage lighting before all of… this,” he said gesturing to himself and everything else. “So needless to say I kind of suck at it.”
I sighed slowly, the store was opening in less than an hour and I needed to get Black Star into a good mood. “I think that I have a solution for you Black Star.”
“Really?” he said, clearly hopeful.
“Yes,” I said with certainty as a grabbed a small bell from one of my drawers. “I know just the thing.”
“Come one come all to Rarity’s Carousel Boutique! Where only the finest of gowns, dresses, and suits can be found!” Black Star was vigorously shouting as he rang the little bell that I gave him with all of his strength in an attempt to attract new customers to my boutique. A successful attempt I might add. There’s something about a handsome stallion that encourages young mares to try their hardest to be fabulous. “Spring casual skirts on sale today, only at Rarity’s Carousel Boutique!” Broke my focus with a young client, who was buying a cloak as a present to his mare friend.
“Your crier is really energetic,” he said curiously, looking out at Black Star. “Let me rephrase that; he’s completely flipping out.”
“He most certainly is,” I said, holding back a laugh as I too looked out at Black Star. I had known him for less than twenty four hours, but I knew that he was more introverted than his behavior outside would indicate, which to me meant that he was going out of his comfort zone for the sole purpose of thanking me. I felt a little flutter in my chest and a slight feeling of admiration. “I shall have to remember to thank him properly later. Now,” I said returning my attention to my client. “If you could just sign here Mr…?”
“Azure Blaze,” he said proudly, signing the paper. “If you don’t mind me asking, what is you’re assistant’s name? I find him… dangerously fascinating. A stallion who isn’t afraid to make a scene; I can… appreciate that.” Azure Blaze. I will always remember how he looked at Black Star that day, his gaze was purely malicious and obsessive and I could see in his eyes that he was planning something, though at the time I hadn’t the foggiest idea.
“Oh…” I said awkwardly. “His name is… is…” My mind raced for a fitting name. “Oh! His name is golden guard!”
Azure seemed to wince at the name. “Golden guard? He doesn’t perhaps work for Celestia does he?” he asked practically hissing “Celestia”
“No…” I said, clearly displaying my discomfort. “He’s my friend and he works for me. He has no royal ties.”
“Excelle-! I mean interesting. I think that I’ll go talk with him myself and express my… appreciation for his enthusiasm.”
“Okay?” I said somewhat confused. “Have a nice day sir.” Maybe an hour went by before I heard the door opening again.
“Rarrityyy?” I heard Black Star calling. “I need your help again.”
“Yes dear, what is it?” I replied.
“A really weird Pegasus gave me a bunch of bits because I was ‘entertaining’ and I was wondering; what do I do with it?”
“Well,” I said happily. “It seems to me like you got yourself a tip, you can do whatever you want with it. Have you really never gotten a tip before?”
Black Star shook his head. “I worked stage lighting before remember? They do not exactly tip the lights guy. But I already know exactly what I want to do with it.”
*****
I have to admit that of all the things I though Black Star had in mind I never dreamed that his first reaction would be to take me to Sugar cube Corner for lunch. Of course I tried to refuse, after all it was his well-earned money and I had no rights to it. But he absolutely insisted and so I had no choice but to accept. I remember that no sooner had we sat down than Pinkie Pie appeared.
“Hi Rarity!” She thundered excitedly. She then turned to Black Star and smiled. “Hi Black Star! Fancy seeing you here!”
Black Star’s head cringed it was as if he was trying to cram his head into the rest of his body like a giant tortoise. “I- am afraid you- are mistaken ma’am. My name is…” He turned shakily to me. “Uh. Golden Guard?
“Nope!” Pinkie said poking Black Star on the nose and somehow creating an actual honking sound. “You don’t look like him. You don’t sound like him.” Pinkie Pie sniffed him for a moment before wafting the air away from her nose. “Pee yew. You don’t smell like him either. But you’re him and since today marks the end of a giamundo hugemazingly large hiatus since you last came here. I’m going to give you a ‘Welcome-back Black-St-“ I put my hoof over Pinkie Pie’s mouth in a desperate effort to keep her from revealing his identity to the group of ponies who had just entered.
“Pinkie Pie,” I hissed. “Could we speak privately for a moment?”
“MMMK,” Pinkie said through my hoof.
We walked quickly into the kitchen. I faced Pinkie, my back was to Black Star. “Okay…” I spoke slowly, trying to reign in my emotions. “I don’t know how you know that that pony over there is Black Star, but you have to keep quiet about it alright? You see Black Star-“
“Is a shape-shifty pony who didn’t know that he was a shape-shifty pony until something bad happened and now his family and friends are being big meanie mean pants and so instead of helping him they chased him away and so now he’s living with you; Right” Pinkie finished her rant, clearly out of breath, which was almost stranger than the fact that she already knew the particulars of my predicament. However, this was Pinkie Pie so I suppose such strangeness was to be expected.
“Umm… Quite,” I said softly. “You seem to have an acute understanding of my circumstances. So do you understand why perhaps I’d want you to be silent about Black Star?”
“Mmhmm.” Pinkie nodded. “You can count on me Rarity! I will keep this secret forever!”
“Good!” I said happily. “Black Star must be absolutely terrified by now, let’s go ease his concern shall we?” Pinkie Pie and I walked suspiciously into the main area, where a small line of guests was starting to form. It might have been less suspicious if Pinkie wasn’t humming secret agent music. Regardless; I sat down across from Black Star and smiled. In a moment Pinkie came up to us and smiled.
“So what can I get you ‘Golden Guard’” Pinkie Pie said forcefully. It is fortunate that it was the beginning of most ponies’ lunch breaks and so they were too tired from work to pay attention to our spectacle. Or else there might have been a problem.
“I forgot how frightening Pinkie Pie can be,” Black Star said as we left.
“She does have that effect on ponies,” I said happily
*****
Celestia stifled a laugh, “I can’t believe you narrowly escaped detection, even back then our guards were on alert for rumors of any changeling activity in Equestria. One false move and you would have been captured.” Celestia stared at Black Star in a passive, yet simultaneously scrutinizing way “Do you understand how fortunate you are to have made it this far Black Star?”
Black Star Cleared his throat “Extremely,” He said softly. I never imagined that a silly pony who gave me a tip would ever play such a crucial part in my life, in hindsight I should have guessed that a pony willing to tip that many bits to a sign holder had to have something up his sleeve.”
“You mean this…” Celestia looked at some notes. “Azure Blaze? Just how important is he to this story?”
“Not very in terms of word count, I could summarize his entire role in a minute, but that’d ruin the story, and since I’m half convinced that my staying out of changeling jail depends on me keeping you entertained with my tail, I will save it for later.” Black Star Shuddered as he thought more of the special jail that Celestia reserves for changelings. “No his role was a lot of watching out for me in the shadows until Chrysalis got involved, honestly all of his help would have been meaningless if not for everything Rarity did to keep me safe before then.”
