Seeing things in an unusual light

~~~~~~Midnight’s POV~~~~

  “The western hive was kind enough to accept me into their hive hind while still retaining my free will. Their culture is actually based on Equestria, a land full of ponies with thee different types but have rules so that one need not be afraid of another. The land of Equestria doesn’t even know changelings exist and with the way the other three hives acts they wish to keep it that way,” I explained.

  “I have read every book the changelings have about Equestria and they say that two powerful alicorns rule over the land. There are legends about two deities that defend Equestria when the land comes under attack and that those two are the true rulers. Noling believes this because how can somepony rule if they are never accepted and they can’t be accepted if they are never seen,” I continued.

  “Aside from the legends and the rulers, the three types of pony are classified as unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. Unicorns posses the ability to perform magic, pegasi have magic that allows them to interact with the clouds, and earth ponies have magic that allows faster healing. Changelings can copy any type of pony including their alicorn leaders. This hive however has laws protecting the ponies,” I paused for air.

  “It’s illegal to capture ponies and take their place. It’s illegal to steal emotions from anypony however if they give you emotions and they are unaware you are a changeling then it is legal. If you receive love from somepony then you have one month to reveal that you are a changeling or face life in prison. There is only one thing that earns you the death sentence, an outright invasion of any other nation for no reason. Pretty simple laws for an entire hive and there are rarely anyling that breaks our laws. Our hive contains nearly thirty thousand changelings, only about five hundred are currently in Equestria,” I finished.

  “Nicely explained, Midnight. You will have our answer within the hour,” the Queen said.

  “Thank you, your majesty,” I said as I bowed before leaving.

  “So how did you do?” Grazy asked as I reached the doorway. Grazy has become my best friend since I joined their hive nearly a year ago.

  “I think I did pretty well but the next hour is gonna be torture,” I explained.

  “Usually you need to be a part of the hive for two years before you can take the Equestrian Exam. How did you manage to take it so early anyway?” she asked sarcastically.

  “I have no idea,” I replied sarcastically.

  “You only saved the hive like once a week,” she said obviously missing the sarcasm in my voice.

  “Maybe like once a month but it was never anything big,” I said honestly missing the big deal.

  “The Ursa Major that nearly destroyed the hive before you appeared and stopped it was pretty big,” she retorted. I stopped in my tracks since I had honestly forgotten about that one.

  “I don’t remember that but I thought the solution to the Para sprite problem was ingenious,” I replied.

  “How did you know music would do that?” she asked with a curious look in her eyes.

‘Midnight to the throne room, your test has been scored,’ someling said through the hive mind.

  “I’m not sure it was just like instinct,” was the only answer she got as I vanished from view. I silently reappeared in the throne room where both the King and Queen were waiting for me.

  “Midnight Shine if you are allowed to enter Equestria do you promise to not only obey their laws but also return to the hive in case you are needed?” King Drocov asked professionally.

  “I promise to obey Equestrian laws and return to the western hive immediately should the need arise,” I replied with my rehearsed answer.

  “Very well then I shall approve of you moving to Equestria while following both our laws and theirs,” he said looking earnestly happy for me. The only thing between me and Equestria is Queen Phoenix.

  “If you could do anything what would you wish to do in Equestria?” she asked catching a little off guard.

  “If they would allow it, I would like to create new magic,” I answered.

  “Why would you do that?” she asked allowing me to elaborate.

  “We know so little about magic as it is, I would love the opportunity to expand what we can do with magic. Maybe even create magic that can be used by everypony instead of just the unicorns. Everypony has innate magic but think of the possibly. If we could expand not only our understanding of magic but also expand the understanding of the ponies,” I said getting a little caught up in my speech.

  “A little excited are you?” she asked. I merely blushed and bowed as she continued, “With enthusiasm like that. I know you will do wonders to help the ponies so I also give you permission to leave for Equestria. You may leave tomorrow but if you take too long the trip will become dangerous so you only have until midday tomorrow to leave the hive.”

  “I thank you both for this opportunity,” I said with enthusiasm as I bowed before leaving.

~~~~~~17 hours later~~~~~

Being about five hours into my flight to Equestria I landed near a small cottage near the edge of Equestria. It looked like an ordinary house that was barely big enough to have one pony living inside. I knew that the Equestrian border is still about a twenty minute flight from the cottage. I put on a disquse and knocked as my curiosity had gotten the better of me however it seemed nopony was home.

I waited for a few minutes knocking every couple of seconds but still no reply from inside so I took off again. Once in the air I noticed a small shed that I was pretty sure wasn’t there before so again I landed and knocked. I could hear some voices inside but couldn’t make out what they were saying before the shed started fading away. I chalked that up to some kind of magic and continued my journey.

Nearly an hour later I started memorizing everything about the land below because I was positive it was Equestria. The age of the small country showed as small villages started to appear more frequently the closer I got to the castle. From the number of buildings I could guess that the country was around three hundred years old and lacked some of changeling technology.

It was still a beautiful country that had street lights burning with some type of ground coal unlike the magically charged lights back at the hive. It was actually the Queen that created a way for the posts to hold magic that was used at night to light the streets a few years ago. The houses were mainly made of wood or stone but there was still the occasional cloud house.

I landed inside a small cluster of trees just outside the castle while still wearing my Pegasus disguise. I performed a quick check before changing into a unicorn. Unlike the previous Pegasus that had a light grey coat and dark grey mane, my unicorn disguise has a light blue coat and an almost black mane. Then again I had the unicorn disguise before I left the hive and the Pegasus disguise was a spur of the moment concept.

I looked back and noticed my cutie mark was unchanged from my changeling form. It depicts a few small stars around a glowing horn signifying my passion for magic. I was finally ready to appear before the Equestrian Princess Celestia to begin my exam to become an Equestrian citizen.