Chapters How to NOT Become a Changeling
Chapter 1
“No, I swear to Celestia that I’m not a changeling!” I shouted to the very angry group of changelings that surrounded me in the Canterlot Castle dungeon that I had just been thrown into. “Well, I mean I am,” I grinned sheepishly with the one fang I had left, blood, or whatever it is caking half of my mouth, “But two days ago I was a pegasus, and a week before that I was a librarian!” I pleaded to the group that was getting closer, but they barely looked convinced. I closed my eyes and prepared for the fourth beat down of the day.
“Hey, everypony wait,” said a voice. “He’s far too bad a liar to be a changeling.”
I opened an eye to see that the mob had stopped.
“What, you believe him?” asked the changeling that was twice my size, and in front of the group that wanted to give my new body another beating. “He has to be one of those loved out drones of Chyrsalis.” He had pink eyes and matching wings with a ruby red carapace.
“And they got blasted out of the city by…” the voice in the back paused, “well whatever it was. Look around, Valex, do you see any of the her drones here?”
The huge changeling looked around and backed down, and the rest of the mob dispersed without their leader, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Most of them, however, still gave me a suspicious glance. Another red and pink changeling approached me. I started to huddle against the bars again, but he stopped.
“Woah, calm down little bud. I am not going to hurt you.” I recognized him as the voice of reason. You know, for being such terrifyingly awful looking creatures, I found at least a few that are as nice as ponies, and some that aren’t. “I’m Lonax, by the way. Sorry for Valex earlier. Today has not been easy on any of us.”
“I hear you,” I tried to smile at my sorry state, “The name is Steady Scrolls.” I held out a holed hoof for a hoofshake.
“A pleasure to meet you under unpleasant circumstances,” Lonax replied as he returned the hoofshake. I resisted the uneasy urge to look through myself again.
A door outside the cell opened and my heart leapt. This had to be Keeneye to come and get me out of here; however, my heart sank when it was just one of the guards making a round.
“Waiting for someone?” Lonax asked.
“Yeah,” I said, “A friend in the Guard. He’ll be here.”
“You know ponies in the guard?” Lonax looked surprised and exited.
“You get to know a few when you spend at least eight hours a day in the Canterlot Castle. I’ve even helped the Princesses with some research on occasion,” I said offhoofedly.
Lonax grabbed my head with two hooves. “I would kiss you if you weren’t covered in blood!” he exclaimed. “You can get us out of here!” He made a large gesture to the whole cell. A couple other changelings perked up and started listening in.
I pulled out of his grasp, sending a shock of pain to my broken fang. I hissed, “I don’t know about all that. I need to get out of here first, and get my body back after that, but even after that, I don’t know if I can do anything.”
Lonax looked at the floor, crestfallen. The other changelings looked no less saddened.
“But I’ll try,” I said consolingly to them all. Lonax gave a half smile.
We sat in silence for a long moment.
“So…” Lonax began, “What is your story?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, you said that you weren’t a changeling, but you are. How did you become a changeling?”
“Ahh…” I replied, “This began eight days ago. I am, or was, a pegasus. I had my father’s light grey coat and burgundy mane and tail, but my mother’s violet eyes. I had the mark of a royal scroll on my flank…”
“Why don’t you just show me?” Lonax asked.
“I don’t know how?”
“How do you not know how?” Lonax was flabbergasted. “You’re a changeling! It’s what you do!” I swore I heard a snicker coming from somewhere in the cell.
I replied defensively, “I just got this body less than a day ago!”
Lonax facehoofed; I decided to continue. “Anyway, it was a relatively normal day in the library…”
I groaned in frustration again. Transcribing a Middle Pony manuscript to New Griffon was not my idea of a good day. Trying to make the complex runes with your mouth is enough to drive any pony up the wall. I spat out my quill and leaned back in my chair. It was only half done, but that was all that I could take for one day. I was ahead in my work anyway.
One could think that being a librarian is a simple job, but it’s not. At least it isn’t for the librarian of the Royal Canterlot Library. It is always keeping up with new texts, transcribing old ones, and translating texts to ship out around the known world: it is the most significant thing that anypony could do. I literally have my hooves around Equestria’s history daily. Frankly, it’s all fun and games until you have to use New Griffon. I mean, it’s pretty to look at and all, but really hard to duplicate with your mouth. On days like this, I wish I had a unicorn’s magic, but wings make it easier any other time.
I slid my glasses back up my face, and went to go do the noontime reshelving. It was less than normal: I blamed it on most of the city being on edge over the anonymous threats that had been thrown about lately. It had me nervous the first time I saw the protective bubble thrown over Canterlot, but now it made me feel safe. Nothing could ever get through Shining Armor’s protection spell.
In the middle of flying the new Daring Do novel back into place, Keeneye trotted in. Keeneye is one of my closest friends, and one of the best unicorn snipers in the Equestrian Guard. He was in the standard golden armor with the grey and white illusion spell on it.
“Heya Steady!” He called. “Did that new book come in yet?”
“Yes it did,” I flew over to my desk and took the book out top drawer. He grabbed it magically and started looking it over with great intent. “General Stone’s Five principals of Magical Accuracy; That was a tough little book to find.” I went back to reshelving. “I sent letters to all of the greatest libraries in Equestria: Fillydelphia, Trottingham, even Manehattan. All of them came back negative. I even looked in Cloudsdale when I was last there, but the answer was the same. Anyway, the librarian there told me to check the Ponyville library. I thought immediately that there is no way that the book could be there, but I took the Saturday train and I was proven wrong. Quaint little place.”
“I bet it is,” Keeneye said from a million miles away. I turned around to see his eyes glued to the page. I thought about saying something, but he was more excited to read the book than I was to find it. I could never get between a pony and a good book. I went back to work.
It was around two hours later that Keeneye walked over to me with the biggest grin on his face. I had learned to regret that grin.
“No, I will not be your target. I still have an odd patch of fur from the last time, you know.”
“Well, that’s just fine, I just need you to stand beside the target.”
“Beside?” I sighed. I could already tell that this wasn’t going to end well. “Why?”
“In the first chapter, Stone suggests that a target can be hit even what the shooter cannot see it. All he needs is the right motivation,” He tapped me on the chest, and I became very uncomfortable. “To not miss, and a decent understanding of the target, but that is beside the point, because I’m not gonna miss because I don’t want to hit my best bud, who is totally awesome and never lets me down.” He then proceeded to give me the stupidest looking grin that I could never say no to.
“All right.” I said, in mock defeat.
Only minutes later, I found myself standing next to a large bag of flour around a makeshift corner in the Guard training grounds. I eyed the flour nervously and waited for Keeneye’s call.
“Ready!” called Keeneye.
“Yeah…” I yelled back uncomfortably.
“Firing in 3…2…1!” A split second after he said one a yellow bolt rounded the corner and flew straight towards me, and the flour sack. I threw a hoof over my face and waited for it to hit me, but then I heard the sweet sound of the flour sack exploding. I opened my eyed to find I was covered in flour. Keeneye ran around the corner, He had gotten out of his armor and was his natural pale green and yellow, with a clean cut mane and tail and a bullseye on his rump.
He gave a joyous laugh at seeing the demolished flour sack, and a second one seeing me covered in flour. I laughed too, more in relief that I didn’t get hit. “I have to try again!”
I was crestfallen, “Isn’t once enough?”
“Oh, come on! Just one more!” Keeneye said as he levitated another sack into place. He then raced around the corner.
“Ready?” He called.
“Yeah,” I called with more confidence.
“Firing,” He called. I saw the yellow bolt of magic fly around the corner again and seemingly come straight at me again. I summoned enough confidence to watch the bolt this time. Watch it as it flew straight into me. I did a full spin before I landed flat on my back. My glasses went flying. The world was a spinney blur around me.
“Are you okay?” I saw a green and yellow blur run towards me. “I’m so sorry I didn’t think about the flour on you throwing off the shot,” Keeneye was talking rapidly. He levitated me back onto my hooves and put my glasses back on. The world finally decided to stay in one place.
“I knew that was going to happen,” I looked at Keeneye, who looked to almost be in tears. “Keeneye, I’m fine, stop looking like you shot Philomena again.” I laughed. “I never knew that flour could be dangerous!”
I helped Keeneye for the last couple hours before heading home for the day. I was trotting through a bad neighborhood. I usually tried to avoid that area of town, but I was tired and achey, and I was willing to roll the dice and cut ten minutes off my commute. Suddenly, I was stopped by a frantic mare.
“Oh please help me, my baby!” She grabbed my and started shoving me into a dark alley.
I put on the brakes, “Hold up lady,” I said, my heart was racing. I knew this could be bad, but I didn’t want to leave a screaming mother on the sidewalk either. “What’s the problem?”
“My colt, he’s got his hoof caught in a drain, and he cannot get out! I need help! Please!” She wailed between sobs. I was convinced that she needed help. I started down the alleyway.
The last thing that I saw was a shadow moving in the corner of my eye.
Author's Note
Thanks for reading! This is my first fic so if you'd let me know what you think below, I'd be grateful!
How to NOT Become a Changeling
Chapter 2
The feeling that somepony was operating a jackhammer on my skull was what woke me. I was lying on a cold and wet stone floor, and I felt like I had been so for some time. My head complained at the effort to sit up. I groaned as I opened my eyes. It was a blur of grey, gray, black, and a little bit of onyx with a bright punch of a green blur of light near me. My heart sank as I searched for my glasses: I did not want to face this nearly blind.
“They’re not here,” said a female voice behind me. Fear shot through me like lightning.
“H-hello?” I queried to the darkness. Fear shot through me and I backpedaled from the voice; then ran straight into a wall.
“Look, if I was going to hurt you, I would have done it when they threw you in here five hours ago, not when you wake up,” the voice said flatly. I heard a sigh, hoofsteps, and I saw a figure move under one of the lights. It was a pony, a normal pony with a tan coat and purple mane. I had never felt so relieved in my life!
“By Celestia, it is nice to see another pony…” well, I was going to say here, but I had no clue of where I was, or why I was here, or why do they want a librarian for that matter.
“What were you saying?” the mare said.
“Where are we?” I asked, fear trying to claw its way back into my heart.
“In a cell, contained within the changeling hive,” She said.
Wait, she couldn’t have meant that, a nervous laugh escaped me, “I hardly find this the time for jokes: changeling hive?”
“Your eyes might be shot but your hearing is perfect,” She said sarcastically.
I lost the fight against fear. Changelings? They were the things of legend; shape shifters that ate your loved ones and replaced them to feed again. I had read about them time and again in the library, but they can’t be real, but then again I was here. I cursed my bad eyes as I tried to see through the grey and black smudges. This couldn’t be real.
“How do I know that you are telling the truth?” I asked suspiciously.
“Why would I lie?” she asked. “We’re both in the same cell.”
“Point taken,” I would just have to just swallow my doubts for now. There was a long moment of silence. “I’m Steady Scrolls, by the way.”
“May, May Flowers.”
“May Flowers? I asked jocularly. I felt her stare burning me.
There was a silence between us, but the hive was far from quiet. Scratching noises and hissing whispers filled my ears and sent my imagination wild about the horrors that were just beyond those walls in front of me. With another kick of fear, I stood up again, and slowly made my way to where May was. I tested each step like the floor was going to give way at any moment. I’d hate to fall flat on my face in front of somepony I just met.
I flushed at the small chuckle May gave. “There isn’t anything in here but a hole in the floor in the far right corner, and trust me, you don’t want to fall into that,” May said and I was able to walk more surely to her. “What do you want?” She asked.
“Well…” I sat next to her. This place gave me the creeps, and not being able to see it made it worse. I didn’t want to tell her that. “I didn’t see the point to sitting alone?”
“Okay,” she knew exactly why I moved. May sighed, “I need to get out of here.”
I hadn’t thought of escape yet, but asking why just seemed silly.
May stood up and started pacing, “You’re from Canterlot, I suppose?” she sounded on edge.
“Yes, I’m a librarian in the Royal Library. Why?” I had no clue of where she was going.
“Because there is going to be an invasion.”
“Wh-“ I started to exclaim, only to have a hoof put in my mouth.
“Be quiet!” May said. “Now, I hope that security has been tighter for the past couple weeks?”
“Yes,” I said quietly. “There is about twice the amount of guards in the city; Shining Armor has even had his protection spell going around the clock.”
“That won’t be enough,” May said dismissively. I looked at her quizzically. “The changelings that replaced you is just the tip of the iceberg. They have their Queen somewhere in Canterlot, and a small force to take down Shining Armor at just the right point. I need to get back into Canterlot to warn everypony.” May began to pace again, I could almost hear her thinking.
“But… why would they invade Canterlot like that, without provocation or cause?” I was dumbfounded, mythological creatures invading my home, taking me, not to mention why they’d want a librarian in the first place, none of it made sense to me.
“Look, I don’t have the time to tell you all you’d need to know about changelings to begin to understand. I need to get out.”
“Give me the short version.”
May stopped pacing and gave in. “Will you shut up and let me think if I tell you?” I nodded. “Okay, do you know that changelings can shift their physical form to make an exact duplicate of somepony else?”
“Yes, that’s-“
“Don’t interrupt me,” She said. “Now, unlike normal pony magic, the power for changeling magic doesn’t come from within the changeling body. They use emotional energy, anything that has a positive wavelength to it to gain the magical energy they need. In short, they harvest emotion. They do this either by harvesting it from the air freely or by poison, the latter being rare and frowned upon because it is far too obvious. Love is the most powerful, followed by friendship, respect, adoration, and so forth. Now, for a changeling, true love is hard to get, but very potent as a source of energy. In the right quantities, it can almost be like a drug,” She trailed off for a moment. I could hear something in her voice, but I couldn’t place it. Was it regret?
May continued, “Now, a short time ago, a very bright changeling came up with a poison that could extract love in its purest form, and the hive was flooded with it,” her voice was becoming bitter. “The fools got addicted, they kept on needing more and more until they couldn’t fulfill their needs and stay in the shadows,” now she just sounded disgusted. “That is when Chrysalis came up with the plan to invade. They plan to take all of the ponies in Equestria and harvest them.”
Something to me wasn’t adding up. How did May know all this? The way that she was speaking of the changelings and the hive made it seem far too personal for her. She was far more than another randomly captured pony. Fear stampeded back into my chest like a herd of buffalo. I knew the answer, but I was afraid to say it out loud. I shot up and took a step back. “What are you?” I quivered.
“Look, I already told you that I am not your enemy,” she said slowly. A bright green blur blinded me. May’s tan form was replaced with one that was dark grey with two blue glowing orbs of light. I took another step away from her. “but I…” She hesitated, “I didn’t want to be stuck in a cell with a screaming pony.” The orbs narrowed. “Are you going to scream now?” The tone of her voice told me I shouldn’t
I took another step back and my hoof landed on nothingness and I started to fall into an untold abyss. May jumped forward and grabbed me.
“I definitely do not want to be stuck in a cell with a smelly one either,” I could almost hear the smirk.
I was still was transfixed by the glowing orbs that I had to guess were her eyes, but fear was retreating again. Something told me that I could trust her. She pulled me back onto my hooves and stepped into the dark.
“Thanks,” I said. I sat down and waited a moment, a thousand questions swarming in my head. “Why are you in here?” I sat down with my back against the wall. May sat beside me.
“Who do you think gave the anonymous warning to Canterlot?” She chuckled. “Oh, was the Queen mad at me. I thought she was going to vaporize me on the spot, but I think she has other plans for me,” She sounded afraid. “But you know, I don’t regret a thing,” she turned to me, “She deserves to have it all taken away from her for what she did to my work, and what she plans to do with it.”
Those last words hit me like a kick in the chest, “Your work?” Anger began to burn within me. “You mean to tell me this is all your fault?”
“My fault? This is not my fault!” May said defensively. “I tried to stop this!” she slammed a hoof into the ground.
“You began this in the first place! If love was so powerful, and so dangerous, then why did you create it in the first place?” I shouted.
“I didn’t know what would happen! I just wanted to…” May started heatedly, but then she looked at the ground, her voice dropped. “I just wanted to make everything better. Life in the hive is hard, and going out into a world where everypony fears you just makes it harder. My poison would have revolutionized the way the hive operates. I would have been at the Queen’s side in no time,” She paused. “Hmph. Funny how just a few short weeks can change everything about your life."
“Or a few hours,” I said. Another question grabbed my attention, “So how did you know that I was nearly blind before I woke up?”
“I was hoping that I could use your form to escape,” I could hear her smile. “I was able to get out of the cell, but I flew straight into a wall.” I didn’t really know how to feel about the knowledge of another… pony taking my… image. All of this was making my head hurt, and I must’ve shown it because May was laughing.
“What?” I asked.
“It’s just the look on your face. Almost all changelings dread a day when they get exposed. I guess I never expected the pony I told would be so… dumbfounded.” She laughed.
The laughter was contagious, and I started laughing too. The image of myself flying straight into a wall entered my head. “I’ve had too much to take in today. I just don’t know what to do with that.” We sat there and had our laugh, but then reality crashed back in and we were left with the relative silence of the hive.
“So what will happen to us?” I asked.
“To you, one of two things will occur: either Chrysalis will win the invasion where you will be harvested for love until you die, or Chrysalis will lose and you will be tortured until the day you die. Either way, I get torture. That is why I am getting out of here,” she spat out the last sentence hastily.
I laughed nervously. “You mean we, right?” I asked.
“Getting out of here will be hard enough; dragging a blind pegasus with me will make it impossible.” May replied coldly.
My heart sank, “You’ll just leave me here?” I pleaded to her, “You know what will happen to me better than I do. Don’t leave me here to die!”
“I don’t want to either!” She shouted. “But I do not know a way to get…” she paused. “Wait well there could be a way…”
“What?” I asked excitedly.
“What would you do to get out of here?” May asked.
“Anything,” I replied.
“I would do absolutely anything to get back to my library,” I said.
“Trust me?” May asked.
I hesitated for a moment, but this was my only way out. I couldn’t see this getting any worse, “Alright then.
“Okay,” May said. She walked over to me and took a deep breath. “Look, Steady, I’m sorry about this…” May leaned in, and bit me. I tried pulling back, tried shouting and fighting her painful embrace, but I couldn’t move. I felt the pain drain from my body as a warm rush enveloped me, and I felt sleepy. Maybe I just need to take a nap, be mad at May later…
Author's Note
Sorry, it took longer to get this chapter out than I initially intended. Stupid collage exams. However, I'm on break now, so I hope to get more chapters out soon.
How to NOT Become a Changeling
I was in absolute bliss when I woke up. It was warm, the air smelled sweet, and who knew that stone could be just so comfortable? I was loathe to move. I had to take a minute of luxury and just lay there a moment and enjoy it. I opened my eyes to the crystal clear vista in front of me: a smooth stone wall.
It was then my brain decided to kick back into gear. I was in the changeling hive. I was a captive, and wait… I could see? I stood up. I felt… different. A wave of lightheadedness rushed over me and I had to sit down.
“How do you feel?” I heard May ask.
“A little lightheaded,” I said. “Why?”
“I’ll say that it was a success then,” May said pridefully. “I actually thought that you would be a little more upset about it.”
The lightheadedness subsided and I looked out of the cell clearly for the first time. “What being able to see clearly for the first time in my lif…” Wait, something wasn’t right. There was something new in my mouth. My heart gave a flutter as I reached up to my mouth and found two, long fangs. I looked down me muzzle. It was grey, too dark a grey to be my own coat. My heart started pounding. I was not the same. I looked at my hooves, and saw through them. I shot up, hyperventilating. No no, no, no, no, this was not right. My wings resembled those of a mutated beetle; my back was covered in a hard blue casing. Luna, this would be a good time to step in and stop this nightmare. I reached up to my face again: one muzzle, good; two eyes, great; and a horn. A horn? I prodded it. Sweet dear Celestia, I had a horn.
I was grinning like an idiot, “Oh, better than anypony! I am fluent in thirteen different languages from ancient to modern. Are you going to teach me some Changeling?” I found myself hovering and clopping my forehooves together like a filly.
May facehoofed, “You are worse than a drone on love day.”
I contained myself and put my hooves back on the ground, “Okay what is it?”
May made a noise that sounded like the combination of crickets, a blender, and some dubstep.
“Whaa…”
It took me about half an hour to replicate the sounds to May’s satisfaction. “I still think I’d do better if I had a book,” I said. She had gotten more agitated. I think something had gone wrong outside; I could just feel the hive preparing to move.
“I believe in you, Steady,” with a flash, May’s hoof-holes changed and she stuck her leg out of the cell. With a click, the cell’s bars retracted into the floor and we both stepped put.
Now came my part. I grabbed one of the many small metallic bands on the wall and put it around May’s horn; there was something in the metal so she couldn’t transform herself. Then we leisurely walked to the end of the hallway; I was escorting May like a guard. With luck the changeling at the end would be sleeping, and we could just walk out and be on our merry way, but he was awake. My heart sank.
The guard said something; I guessed that it would be something that the proper response would be: I am escorting this prisoner to Queen Chrysalis’ throne room; our mighty queen wishes to see her face first thing when she returns to tell of her glorious victory!
In the middle of my line, May punched the guard. He fell like a sack of apples.
“What was that for?” I was more than surprised.
“Well you were telling him about the greatness of the Peach Empire, and he wasn’t buying it,” I made a small ‘O’ with my mouth. “Now get this thing off of me!” I pulled the ring off her horn.
“Well now what?” I asked, a little confused and frightened about the situation.
“Now we run,” May gave me a smile that made me think she might like having her life in peril. I was doing all I could to keep myself from panicking. We turned a corner just to run straight into a group of four changelings, and they were far from happy. I guessed that they were guards.
“About face!” May shouted. She spun and darted down a dark tunnel, and I was hot on her hooves, and some guards were hot on mine. We ran through a myriad of indistinctive tunnels, but I could tell that we were heading up, and out. However, May was gaining and I was losing ground to the guards. I pushed my new legs harder, but I couldn’t keep up with her. Suddenly, my legs were no longer under me. A guard grabbed me and I kicked away from him.
“May!” I pleaded for her help, but she was too far to hear me. Two of the guards kept going, presumably to keep up with May, leaving me with only a two versus one. I crouched low, it seemed to be a reasonable thing to do, and they both lunged at me. I tried to scamper under them, but a hoof smacked me in the back of the head. I tumbled into a dark tunnel. I fought dizziness and panic and realized that the two guards didn’t see me fall into the tunnel. I screwed my eyes shut and prayed to Celestia that if I could see my library again, I would never pester her about another rare book, ever again.
I heard the two guards talking to each other, just feet away from me. I didn’t even breathe. They started to walk down my tunnel. They could’ve kicked me when I heard something slip a small distance away. May did hear me! The guards ran of the search for the sound. I waited a moment and stepped out into the main passage again.
“May?” I whispered. I waited a moment for the response. “May?” I whispered a little louder. “They’re gone now May,” But the stone walls gave no reply. Icy fear and burning panic began to seep into me. I was lost and alone, in some Celestia-only-knows-where hive, and I was being hunted by nightmares given form. I gave into the emotions flowing through me, but only found self-pity.
I looked at my new hoof again. It had a large arch that split the bottom of my hoof right down the middle, and above and a little to the front of that, a complete hole in my leg; farther up and on the back of my leg was another large arch that cut into my leg. It looked like it couldn’t hold up a foal, much less a full grown pony. I just wanted my leg back, my whole body, my life as it was… only two days ago? Only a day had separated me from everything I had known. Now that day was going to kill me in the bottom of a changeling hive.
At the very bottom… “No” I said to the walls. I felt something new take form in my chest. I was fed up with this. They took my life from me, and I was the only one who could get it back. I stood up, determined to climb out of this hole and get back to Canterlot in time to save it, and my old life.
I struck out at a full gallop up the tunnel. It twisted and curved, but it still led up, and I stayed on it. Doubt came back to me, telling me that getting out couldn’t be as easy as following a path up, but I brushed it aside. I felt that this was the right path. I could see a green light ahead of me. I buzzed my wings, gaining more speed. I took one last bend at breakneck speed, and screeched to a halt. The view in front of me took my breath away.
In short: it was a city. Buildings were molded from solid rock, and every street was aglow with green lamps. It was centered around a beautifully sculpted crystalline palace that radiated a green glow. The thing was in a massive cavern that was well over a hundred feet tall, and I was near the top. I was standing in one of thousands of smaller caves that split off from the main cavern.
Author's Note
I just wanted to wish everypony a happy Hearths' Warming! As always, thanks for reading.
