Beneath The Surface

My heart practically jumped out of my chest when I woke up, I didn't know where I was or how long I had been unconscious. I closed my eyes for a moment to calm down, taking several deep breaths before finally looking to my surroundings. Bland walls, a door on my left, and a barred window on my right. Definitely a pony building. The air smelled like antiseptic, and there was an EKG machine next to me, beeping quietly, and another machine I didn't recognize. Trying to sit up only revealed that my limbs were strapped to the sides of my bed. After a moment of confusion, the memories of my predicament came rushing back.

I started to struggle against my bonds, when a sharp pain flashed through me. I let out a pained cry and looked over to my injured wing to find it being held off of my body, covered in bandages. Somepony must have heard my cry, as the sound of jingling keys came from outside of the door. I looked frantically from side to side trying to find a way to escape, but the pain in my wing flared up with every movement. The door swung open to reveal two ponies, a Royal Guard and a doctor, standing in the doorway.

"Somepony alert the princess!" The guard shouted behind him, "The prisoner is awake!" The doctor rushed to my side, as I was still trying to loosen my restraints.

"Please stop struggling," he said, switching between me, my wing, and the monitors around my bed, "You could damage yourself even further! I've never worked on a Changeling before, and I'm not sure how you're reacting to our treatment." He shined a flashlight in my eyes, taking note of something. "Now then, your head trauma doesn't seem to bad, so there probably isn't any brain damage. How are you feeling?"

"How am I feeling?" I asked sarcastically, 'Wait that's a good question, how am I feeling?' After quickly taking stock, I realized that I actually felt pretty good. Unless I moved I didn't hurt as much as I probably should have, my vision was clear, but I wasn't moving as fast as my body wanted to. Every blink felt as if it was taking twice as long as it used too. 'They drugged me?' I thought. "You drugged me?" That wasn't supposed to be out loud too.

"Yes!" The doctor seemed a little too excited about that, "You took quite the injury for somepony your size, so we decided to administer a mild anesthetic in case-"

"What the fuck is wrong with you!?"

The doctor recoiled back at my outburst, clearly shocked. Ponies in the hallway outside my door start to back away down the hall they came from. The guard, however, stepped into the room and took an aggressive stance. "Oh, and what are you going to do, hit me?" I shouted to the guard, "Come on, you lot seem to enjoy beating tied up prisoners."

"Though I can understand your feelings, they are not called for at this moment." The blue alicorn from before stepped into my room, "You may leave us." The Guard looked at her confused, but made no argument as he left the room. The doctor kept his eyes on me as he backed out through the door, before closing it, leaving me alone with a demigod. She looked me over, her eyes dropping when they reached my wing, but eventually she looked up to meet my heated glare. I could tell that I still had an inhibitor ring on, I no longer felt the constant flow of emotions coursing around me. But I could still read her, at least a little bit. She seemed remorseful in her gaze, but maintained an air of confidence in the way she walked to the side of my bed. Regardless of my own feelings, she gave off an aura of control, like she was in command and would not be questioned. It cooled my anger slightly, leaving me curious at what game she was going to play.

"The doctor was correct when he said that it was a small dose," She said, stepping towards the EKG and inspecting it. "Barely enough numb you, let alone cause damage to your physiology." I started to object when she cut me off, "And yes, we were aware of how it would react to you. It is unfortunately rare that we are able to treat the changelings that we find, but a few have required medical attention."

I looked at the EKG as well, unable to understand the readings, "So what, you knew how much to give me after your experiments?"

"After we gave potentially life saving aid to wounded beings." She turned to look me in the eye, "It seems that most of your kindred are unwilling to allow capture, even after we save their life."

"Now," she asked as she sat down, "How are you feeling?"

"Oh I sure do feel swell thanks for asking," I said in the most upbeat, cheerful voice I could manage, my face deadpan. "I wish I visited the castle sooner! Best hospitality I've ever had. Five stars, really."

She seemed unimpressed with me. "Perhaps you don not understand the position you find yourself in? Though I do regret what has happened to you since we... met. You are still my prisoner. Whether your confinement will be pleasant or not relies on your level of cooperation. I wish for our relationship to be cordial, however, it is well within my rights to declare you a prisoner of war and have you sent to the dungeons."

I shrugged, "So do it." Her eyebrow perked up, "You have me. I'm restrained, cut off from magic, and you control my only source of food. Whatever you're going to do, you're going to do. In the meantime I'm not going to play you're game."

She pursed her lips and squinted, "So perhaps you do understand. Yet, at this point the few changelings we have managed to capture either began to hurl insults or attempt some form of escape. You don't wish to try these methods?"

I starred into her eyes for a moment before lazily tugging at my restraints, "Nope. What would the point of that be? You're a Princess, what chance would I have anyway?" I laid back in my bed, "I mean, I can try the insults if you want. I'm sure I could think up a real zinger if you give me a minute."

"Do you wish to go to a prisoner of war camp?"

"Well I don't know, I've never been to one. Can't really make an informed choice uninformed right?" We starred at each other, unblinking. One of her eyebrows raised slowly as if to say 'Try me.'

"Ugh, fine. What do you want?"

She leaned back, pleased with herself, "For the moment, simple answers to even simpler questions. How are you feeling?"

"I'm sore, tired, and annoyed."

"As to be expected from your treatment, you do have my apologies for that, by the way." She seemed sincere, but without my magic, I had no way to know for sure, "It may not mean much to you right now, but the Guard responsible is being punished. Changeling or not, it is against our laws to mistreat prisoners and he will see the full penalty for breaking those laws. Is there anything that I can do to make you more comfortable right now?"

"Well being set free would be nice," She shot me an annoyed look, "But being fed would be good too. Although not food, I need emotions right now."

"You can survive on physical food, can you not?" I nodded, "Then you simply do not trust anything that we would give you to be untainted."

"I mean you drugged me once already."

"True. My guess is that you also want to read my emotions during our conversation, so that you can be sure of what I say."

I nodded again, "I can survive on food, but I'll never feel full without emotional energy. And you're right, I don't trust you, any of you. I don't know if you've noticed, but, ah," I looked both ways while leaning in towards her. I whispered "Our kinds kinda hate each other." I shook my restraints lightly as I laid back down.

She looked me over, regarding my request. I expected to be shut down immediately, but this pony was slowly making a habit of not following my expectations. It was good to know, at least, that I would probably be provided with food at some point. Changelings could use physical food to sustain our physical bodies, but not our magical energy. Deprived of emotional sustenance, we would start to wither away, until we became mindless drones. the thought of it sent a shiver down my spine.

"I am afraid, that just as you cannot trust me, I cannot trust you. You have behaved differently than expected, but I have no way to know that you will not cause harm to yourself or others." And my expectations were met, I was going to say something when she cut me off, "However, I do have a way where you could feel my emotions, and I can decide whether or not to trust you. I would ask your permission prior to doing it though."

"I don't really have a choice, do I?"

"You always have a choice, however in this case it seems to be the only expeditious way through our impasse." She was right, I didn't know what she was talking about, but it was either her route or a dungeon for me. I gave a curt nod, and her horn lit up. The room around us seemed to fade away into a distant darkness. I melted through the bed beneath me, leaving me on my hooves next to the princess, and the ring around my horn faded as well. For a moment it was just the two of us in a void, before beads of light appeared around us. There weren't many, and most of them were distant from us, but in each bead I could see scenes playing out. Some were normal, every day things, but a few were just strange, giant cupcakes, earth ponies flying through the sky, and one very intimate scene that I looked away from immediately.

"Where are we?" I asked, looking around at the strange scenes playing out around us.

Her horn continued to glow for a moment, "Welcome to the dream realm, young one. It is my duty as Princess of the Night to travel this realm and protect ponies from nightmares and the dangerous creatures that spawn from them. However, this is not our destination. For both of us to learn what we want, we will enter your own mind. From there, I can learn what kind of being you truly are. Also, while we are there, you will be able to sense more about me than you have likely ever sensed from somepony."

I was taken aback, I knew that the Princesses were powerful, but she was talking about an entirely different level of magic. One that I was certainly not comfortable with. Before I could voice my objections, her horn lit up again, and the realm around me shot away into the distance.

Although feeling the most disoriented I had ever felt, I lacked any physical reaction. The urge to vomit fought with the fact that my body wasn't trying to. I was standing in a hallway filled with doors and paintings, looking up at a painting of Manehatten was Princess Luna.

"Strange," She said, not looking away from the painting, "Most minds have a visual representation for memories, like these doors and paintings, however I do not believe that I have ever seen a mind with two types of gateways." She turned to look down the hallway, all of the doors were on one side with the paintings on the other. "Most unusual."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, trotting over to her as she started to walk down the hallway, "There is no way that you're serious. This can't be my mind."

She shot me a sideways glance before looking back at the paintings, "Of course it is, you can see for yourself. Focus on me, and you will feel your magical senses returned and more."

I did as she said, focusing on the area around us first, I could feel the current of emotions coming from her. Usually there was a small stream. Just the bits that leaked out. But now, it was as though I had dunked my head into a lake. She was completely open. There was determination, focusing on the paintings and the mindscape around her, she wouldn't stop until she found her answers. She was confused at the mixture of images around her, she had truly never seen the combination of portals and it worried her greatly. She was used to knowing what was happening and not knowing the answers was grinding on her nerves. Her sense of control of the situation was hurt, though not entirely gone, and underneath it all, there was a sliver of fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of losing her control, and just a little bit of a fear of me. In the middle of her emotions, she had a strong, but thin, line of hope directed at me. Curious, I honed in on that thread. She wanted to know more about me, her scholarly side wanted to learn about my different coloration, she wanted to know more about me, to learn as much as she could. More than just hope about me, she was hopeful for me. She had a goal, and she wanted to believe that I could help her achieve it.

I tried to push farther into that feeling when my vision flashed, I saw an office with a large desk covered with reports. I saw an argument with Celestia, a large Griffin walking into a throne room, and a line of caskets draped with flags. Just as quickly as they came, the images vanished, leaving me staggering to the side.

"Are you alright?" I looked up to see that Luna had stopped walking down the hallway, and was looking at me with concern.

"What the hell is going on?!" I was getting too stressed out from all of this, impossible chases, asshole Guards, confusing immortals, and apparently mind magic was well beyond my concept of a normal day. "What the hell is happening and what the everlasting fuck do you want with me?!?" My emotions were flaring again, deep down I could tell that they were, but at the moment I didn't care.

Luna took a step back, taken aback at my outburst, "All questions will be answered in time, but you need to calm down. Your feelings are being amplified while we are inside your mind, and that can be dangerous for us both. I need you to calm down."

"And I need you to tell me whats going on!" The hallway around us darkened, the walls seemed to close in as the hallway stretched out before us.

"You are confused and angry, I understand. But you must calm yourself, if you do not reign in your emotions, then things will begin to manifest here, things that can harm you in the physical realm as well." She was trying to explain things slowly, and I understood that.

Emotional outbursts were dangerous for Changelings, they could cause our magic to flare up. But she had said that they could create things here. Perhaps that meant that I could create things here. I took a slow, deep breath, and started to test out my theory, I focused on our environment. Almost instantly the hallway began to rumble and walls appeared, blocking off the farther sections of the corridor. Luna looked to the walls and back to me, curious about what I was doing, but still cautious of the situation. There was a sense of joy that she tried to bury. I continued my tests, the lights around us turned blue, then green, then finally yellow. The wallpaper changed into different patterns, swirls and polka dots appearing at random intervals. Turning my gaze to Luna, I had an unusual idea. I had a lot of power here, and though I was starting to calm down I still didn't trust her. With a flex of my magic, Luna was suddenly wearing long striped socks, a tight saddle with straps going around her body up to a bridle.

It took her a second to notice the change, but when she did she was furious. Her mouth opened in outrage, and her cheeks blushed just slightly. Before she could say anything, I flexed my magic again and she was suddenly in a small cage against the wall, her hooves shackled to the ground. The light in the hallway was manipulated to make me appear larger, more threatening.

"Now, you are going to tell me what I want to know, or I swear to Faust I will-" The cage suddenly exploded outward, throwing me against the far wall. I looked up to where Luna was, only to see a cloud of smoke with a blue fire slowly spreading out beneath it. From inside the flames came Luna, the lingerie burning off of her as she grew taller and her coat grew darker. Her eyes turned turquoise and morphed into dragon-like slits.

She stepped out towards me and laughed softly, genuinely amused, "So you think that you can dominate me here? I commend the effort however You need to remember that it is I that brought you here, and I am far more powerful that you will ever be." She spread her leathery wings out and donned a long, predatory smile revealing rows of sharpened teeth. If I was still in my physical body, I may have needed to clean the floor where I was slumped. Everything that I had changed was slowly turning into something else, creating an aura of nightmarish quality. Every fiber of my being shook as she stepped towards me, and I closed my eyes as she lifted her hoof which was now covered in the blue flame she had emerged from. I had thought myself momentarily above a demigod, and now she would crush me like the hatchling that I was.

...

...

...

I was still waiting for my pain and doom when I felt a small tap on my nose. I cracked an eye open to see a blue, non-flaming hoof gently touching by nose.

"Boop." Both of my eyes opened and I stared up at Luna in confusion. Everything had returned to normal, Luna was herself, the hallway wasn't doom central, and I felt my emotions returning to me instead of the induced fright that had come over me.

"What the fuck?" was all that I could muster in response to Luna's softly smiling face.

"What the fuck???"

"This may be your mind, young one, but I am infinitely more versed in the mental magics. I apologize for that, but you were starting to flail your emotions about and I find that a soft reset is the best cure while in the mindscape." She lowered her hoof and sat down across from me. "Now if we can both calm down and act like rational beings, we can have that talk that I promised you." I remained seated where I had fallen, looking her in the eyes. I could feel her emotions again, though I was cautious not to probe to deep this time, and I didn't feel any hostile intent in her. Instead she seemed happy.

Deciding, for the moment, that going along with her was my best option, I nodded, "Okay, let's talk."

She gave me a genuine smile, "Now then, you should be aware that if you lie to me here I will know, just as you will if I lie. Everything here can be manipulated, with two exceptions." Her hoof pointed at herself and then me, "We may be able to manipulate our appearance, but we cannot manipulate our true selves or each other. The doors and paintings around us represent portals to the depths of your mind, memories and lessons from your past. Here in the entryway we would find these events that made you who you are today. My intention is to view them, to learn who you are and to discover your motivations. Nothing can be truly hidden here in the mindscape. This will allow us to talk and learn, as equals." My eyes widened, there was a lot of power in the doors around us, and I did not have many memories that I wanted to revisit. "I shall start this off with one question; why are you in Canterlot, what is your goal?"

"My only goal is to survive. That's all that I have." It was actually kind of sad once I said it out loud, but I didn't have anyone or anything in my life.

"What of your fellow changelings?"

"I don't care about them, I... I don't have any connection to them." I cringed inwardly, knowing where this line of questions would end.

Her eyes narrowed for a second, "You are lying to me. Partially. But which part?"

"I'm on my own, okay? I'm not a member of The Swarm, and I don't want to hurt anypony." Those weren't technically lies.

"I accept that. I was under the impression that all Changelings were subservient to Chrysalis."

"Ya, well I guess that I'm the exception. Maybe you don't know as much about Changelings as you thought." I could feel my emotions stirring again, I really didn't want to continue this line of questions.

"What led you to abandon your hive?" That one lit a spark in me.

"I didn't abandon anyone!" I had to reign myself in and try to redirect her.

"Then what led to you being on your own?"

"You did! You ponies ruined everything!" Oh Faust I didn't want to say that.

"Are you referring to Canterlot? Do you blame us for defeating Chrysalis?"

"I don't give a fuck about that old hag! Chrysalis, you ponies, you're the same! You just wanting more and more, and you don't care about anyone else!" The hallway began to shake, and a door behind me was rattling at its hinges, "You all say so much about how you know what's best, about how everything will be fine if you get your way. Why am I alone? Well it's because you two destroyed everything that I've ever had. My home, my family, they're all gone because of you!" With a final Crash the door behind me flew open, and blinding white light absorbed us both.