A changeling's visit to Skyrim

The early noon sun shone down on the fields of Whiterun as a wooden cart was pulled bumpily along the dirt roads outside the city. The driver sat at the head, softly humming a tune as the giant steed lazily trotted along. In the back, our three heroes sat in silence, enjoying the warm sun, the brisk Skyrim air, and the gorgeous landscape around them.

“Are we there yet?” Luna asked impatiently.

“No. And please stop asking, just enjoy the ride.” Fenora told her after a long, drawn out sigh.

Luna pouted and sipped at one of the magika potions they’d brought along; hopefully they would last until they found a cure.

“I know!” Stross piped up “We can play I-spy until we get there.”

“No.” they both him flatly.

“I can play tour guide and narrate our journey!”

“No.”

“We can sing two-thousand bottles of-“

“Oh gods no!” Fen and Luna yelled, and even the driver had to agree “Stross, please. Just… sit there and be quiet until we get to Winterhold.” Fenora urged him.

Stross slumped over and deflated with a sigh. “Oh… okay.” he then stared glumly at the floor of the wagon.

“Oh, don’t be like that. Come here you.” Fenora scooted closer to Stross and put an arm over him.

The changeling smiled and leaned into her, closing his eyes in the relative bliss of the moment.

Luna chuckled a bit at the two of them. “You two seem so close considering the short time you’ve known each other.” She said, her kind expression wavering ever so slightly with her thoughts “I assure you I mean nothing by this; I am happy you are so close. But most relationships I have witnessed take weeks or even months to form, yet the two of you seem willing to trust each other with your lives. The fact that you know what he and his kind are known for only makes it stranger to me.”

“Really?” Fenora asked “I mean Stross told me a few times that there are some pretty horrible changlings out there, but Stross…” she looked down into his eyes as he smiled up at her, then back to Luna “If changelings are monsters, then he’s one heck of an exception to the rule. I mean come on, after what we’ve been through so far, how could I not love this cuddlebug?”

“Dawww.” Stross dawwed and pulled her into a hug, which she quickly returned.

“Heh, okay Stross, you can let go now.” Fenora said after the hug lasted long enough to become awkward.

Stross decided not to let go.

Stross then resisted all attempts at shoving, prying, and otherwise removing him and kept his silly smile as she tried.

Fenora groaned, but then an idea came to her. A mischievous grin crossed her face and she put her plan into motion. She pulled the gloves off her hands and reached up to Stross’ neck.

Stross’ eyes shot open at the gentle scratching sensation on his scales, then his eyelids drooped down and his muscles became limp noodles as the scratching continued in small patterns on his neck, shoulders and under his chin. He allowed himself to relinquish the constricting grip on his elf in favor of letting his head fall into her lap.

Luna stared wide-eyed at the scene playing out before her. “I must tell our guards about this when I return.” She then giggled as Stross started purring while Fenora continued scratching his chitin.

“She’s found mah graetest waekness.” Stross gurgled out “Halp me.” he said, not really wanting halp- I mean, help.

“So Princess, I’ve actually been wondering something for a while.” Fenora started up a conversation “You found Stross and even came here by doing some weird stuff in his dreams, not that I’ll even try to understand that stuff. But how did you know he was missing from your world in the first place? The way I understood it was that you and your sister only hold dominion over your own kind.”

Luna cringed a bit at the word. “Dominion… isn’t really accurate. Sister and I are just sort of there helping them along and protecting them from harm. The only reason we became goddesses to them is because they choose to see us as such, and we certainly don’t act like tyrants over them. At least… not since I…” Luna shook her head and quickly changed topic. “Moving on to your question: The reason I knew the changeling was gone is because I saw it happen myself. It was completely on coincidence actually.”

*Flashback again* *Time travel effect* *Luna doing Princess stuff up in this b-*

It was late afternoon in Ponyville, and for the past few hours, a certain piece of shrubbery had been following the town librarian around as she ran her perfectly organized errands. The large leafy bush ducked into an alleyway and rustled a bit, and then in a shocking turn of events, Princess Luna popped her head out of the foliage and continued to spy on the purple unicorn as she had for the better part of the day.

“Come on Luna, get a grip.” She muttered to herself as she straightened her mane and crown “It’s just a casual meeting; you just need to walk up to her and say ‘hello’. Tis not a difficult task.”

Luna kept her eyes trained on Twilight as she continued on her way. Luna liked the way Twilight walked, the way her hips and tail swayed as she did, and how she seemed to glow when the light touched her coat.

As she walked, Twilight pulled a book from her saddlebags and started reading. It always amazed Luna how anypony could focus on so many tasks with such accuracy and effectiveness, and yet there was Twilight Sparkle, reading a book, checking off her list, hovering various objects around her in a magic field and still managing to avoid any obstacle in her path.

Luna let out a sigh of longing as she watched Twilight walk by. “Why do you have to be so perfect?” she asked to no one in particular.

“Pardon me your highness.” came a voice behind her.

“Oh great, I forgot about them. They just had to insist on coming along.” Luna thought as she turned to the two Night Guards behind her, her personal squad. “Yes, what is it. As you can see, I’m in the middle of something.”

“Yes, about that.” the batpony said as he stepped out of his own bush costume “It is not my place to question your decisions, but I must ask. Why are we for lack of a better word… ahem… ‘stalking’ Twilight Sparkle?”

“It’s called ‘recon’ Sergeant.” Luna explained/made up an excuse for stalking Twilight “We must be prepared for anything if our meeting tonight is to go well.”

“But that won’t be for hours Princess. What could possibly happen in that time?”

By the laws of shit you’re not supposed to say in order to prevent things from happening, something happened.

There was a loud ruckus in the distance, and from across the mostly vacant street, Luna spotted a black figure fast approaching in the distance. It skidded to a stop and looked around frantically before taking off in another direction, and in the time it wasted, a platoon of guards rounded the corner to give chase.

“Wait a minute, is that-“ Luna squinted to get a better view “It is! By my sister!”

Luna kicked off her plant costume and dashed out of the alley, her two guards close behind. She came just in time to see the bug creature galloping forward at full speed, its horn alight with red flame, and in its trajectory was Twilight Sparkle, not even aware of its presence with the book taking up her field of vision.

Luna’s eyes widened as she realized what was happening. In a split second, something along the lines of, “Chrysalis must be out for revenge, and Twilight is her first target. I must stop her minion! Hold on my precious adorkable bookworm!” went through her head and she ran out to intercept the two.

However, she wasn’t quite fast enough, as the changeling had already reached Twilight, its horn ablaze with a spell of death and destruction. But then something happened that Luna didn’t expect; the changeling simply vanished in a bright flash of light. Twilight shrugged off the minor impact and picked up her book, hoping to continue on her way.

Unfortunately for her, Luna had already lunged at her and was in mid “NOOOOOOooooo” when the threat disappeared, leaving her to get royally tackled into some nearby bushes just as the guards arrived.

“Uuuuuhhhhmmm.” the frontmost guard said awkwardly at the sight of the two spooning in the shrubbery.

“Uh, this isn’t what it looks like?” Luna said with a sheepish grin.

“Right. Please pardon the- ahem… disturbance. Far be it from me or my guards to interrupt a royal mating session, but did either of you two see a changeling run past just now?”

Luna’s eyes shot open. “Royal wha- No no no! That’s not-“

“It blew up.” Luna’s Night Guard told them as they caught up “I’ll explain everything somewhere else if you wish.”

“Gladly. Alright boys, let’s move out. Give these two some private time” the Day Guard ordered the rest of his team, who despite their training, voiced their complaints and tried to get in a few more glances before getting corralled away.

With the rumbling sound of hooves hitting cobblestone quickly fading into the distance, Luna quickly got to her hooves and tried to rectify the situation.

“Icanexplain!TherewasaChangleinganditwasgoingtokillyou!ButthenitvanishedandIhityouinstead!Iwasn’ttryingtorapeyouI’dneverdosomethinglikethattoyouunlessyouwantedmeto!Iunderstandifyoudon’trollthatwaybutyou’respecialtomeandI’llalwaysloveyou!AndI’msosorryTwilightAreyoualright?!” Luna belted out.

Twilight just stared at her before slowly climbing out of the bushes and dusting herself off, using her magic to reform the plant as she did. “Yeah… Sorry Princess Luna, I didn’t catch any of that.” Twilight admitted “But as long as you’re here early, that means that we’ll be ahead of schedule for stargazing tonight!” she said gleefully “Would you like to join me while I finish my errands?”

Luna blinked at the response she received. “Yes Twilight.” She said, finally getting her breathing under control “That sounds very nice.”

*End flashback*

“Uhh, Luna?” Fenora tried to get the Princess’s attention “You’ve been pretty quiet over there.”

“Hmm, oh yes.” Luna snapped out of her memories “What were we talking about again?”

“How you knew Stross was missing.”

“We saw him running through the town known as Ponyville-“

Fenora snickered at the name.

“Pursued by the entirety of their guard force.” Luna continued, to which Fenora immediately became silent “He charged at Twilight Sparkle, the town librarian, personal student to my sister and a close friend of ours. The way his horn was alight, we assumed he was attempting to kill her. When he vanished instead, I personally investigated any motives or leads, and through dream tracking, I have found him here.”

Luna looked to Stross with sympathy. “We now know you as a kind person worthy of our trust, but we are still curious as to why you were in Ponyville if not to assassinate Twilight Sparkle.” Her gaze grew heavier and she leaned in “What were you doing that day?”

Fenora shifted in her seat to listen as well, clearly interested in hearing the tale.

Stross looked at them for a moment before letting out a remorseful sigh. He slumped back in his seat, his eyes half lidded and his ear drooped as he recalled the events of that day, events that had blurred past him as they were happening and were shoved aside with what had followed them. “I was running for my life.”

*What’s this? Another flashback?!**Oh and Stross is first person in this one!**Oh my glob you guys!*

So I had been wandering pretty aimlessly for a few days. It had been about a week and a half since my last colossal failure when I tried to get a job as a doctor. Who knew medicine could be so difficult? I didn’t know how to even pronounce half of those chemicals, never mind what they were used for. Luckily I wasn’t in charge of prescriptions, but surgery was even harder! Stupid bone saws, and drills, and all that blood… tendons and sinew…

What was I talking about? Oh right.

Anyway I was practically starving at that point, but I could still muster up enough energy for a disguise. So when I found that little town I did what changelings normally do.

Okay, what I normally do.

I chose a form at random, this time a grey earth pony with a messy white mane, made up a name for myself, and headed into town in search of somepony to feed off of.

You wouldn’t know this if you weren’t from Equestria, but ponies are super friendly… like all the time. The second I arrived, people started waving and saying “Hello” and “Nice day today”. And this energetic pink one sprang out of a wall and sang me a “Welcome to Ponyville” song, she gave me a cake too.

I would have fed off of her in little bits, seeing how she had energy to spare, but after the first taste I contracted the changeling equivalent of diabetes.

After she gave me some insulin (Don’t ask me why she kept a stash under a flower pot) I decided to walk with her on her way back to work. Her name was Pinkie Pie, and apparently she worked as an assistant at the bakery in addition to being the town’s party planner. She was really nice, and knew everyone that lived in town; she even introduced me to a few of them as we walked.

We arrived at the bakery, Sugarcube Corner, and I kid you not, the building was made of gingerbread. I don’t know how they did it, but they literally made a bakery out of baked goods! I mean can you even…

*Ahem*

Anyway, I spotted this mare sitting at one of the tables, and she looked absolutely miserable. I decided to ask Pinkie about it and she told me “Oh that's Sunny Delight, but we all call her Sunny D. She’s been really super sad because her coltfriend who lives all the way over in Manehatten was a big jerkface and cheated on her for this other mare he met.”

“Ouch. That’s just terrible.”

“I know, right? I’ve tried everything to help her get over this, her friends too. But she’s just broken up into little bitty pieces over him.” Pinkie pouted “She’s been like this for weeks.”

As bad as it was, this was also a perfect opportunity for a changeling like me. All I have to do is cheer her up, we become friends, I help heal her broken heart, she falls for me, and I have all the love I could ever need. Then she’s happy, and I don’t have to starve. Everyone wins!

At least ideally that’s what would happen. But just because something is simple, doesn’t mean it’s easy.

“Do you think maybe I could give it a shot?” I asked Pinkie.

Her face immediately lit up and she grinned ear to ear. “Hey yeah! Nothing cheers somepony up like making a new friend! Come on!”

She dragged me over in the blink of an eye and introduced us while excitedly jumping up and down. “Hey Sunny, this is Stark Shade! He’s new in town! Do you two wanna be friends? Huh huh huh? It’ll make you feeeel better.”

“Pinkie… I don’t think-“ Sunny tried to say before she way cut off by Pinkie’s much quicker speech.

“Ooh, you know what goes great with new friends? New friend milkshakes! I’ll go get you some!” she then zipped off to the kitchen despite Sunny’s protests.

I sat down and finally stopped my head from spinning. “So, is she always that… peppy?”

Sunny let out a displeased groan. “Yes, yes she is. I’m sorry about that mister... Stark was it? Pinkie is a very… active pony.”

I decided to take a slow subtle approach. Withering away from hunger is no excuse to be rude after all. “Pardon me for saying, but you look a little down. Is everything okay?”

“Pinkie told you about my ex-coltfirend didn’t she?”

Yikes. Was I that obvious?

“Yeah, she did. And I’m sorry, I know how hard it is.”

Trust me, I do.

“Then at least you get what I’m going through. Pinkie has been trying everything to help me out ever since I made the mistake of telling her.” Sunny let her chin rest on the tabletop “She means well, but I just want to be left alone for a while.”

Well that won’t help either of us. You’ll only end up hurting more, and I’ll have missed my chance. I have to help you somehow.

“What even happened?” I asked cautiously “If you don’t mind me asking that is.”

She frowned, though not at me. “It was all Hail Slick’s fault! That good-for-nothing Pegasus tells me I’ll be the only one he’ll ever love, and that he has to move to Manehatten in order to make enough money. ‘It’s so I can treat you right’ ‘have a good life together’.” She huffed “It was only when I came for a surprise visit that I found out that ‘treating me right’ meant going behind my back with this prissy little model that happens to live next door to him! Where in Tartarus does he get away with that!?” Sunny screamed.

This drew a few stares from the other customers, who had been listening to the whole conversation, despite trying to appear like they weren’t.

“I’m sorry.” Sunny told me, bringing her voice back down "I thought the two of us had something special. I just can’t believe he’d do something like that; lying right to my face about it.”

No, that’s not awkward for me at all.

“It’s alright. I’ve been through my share of bad break-ups. I know it’s not easy to find out something like that.”

Although I’ve never been I the receiving end of deception, ironically.

“So how do you deal with it?” Sunny asked “The pain I mean. It just... it hurts so much to think he's not there anymore.”

“Well, I try to think of it like treating any other kind of wound.” I told her, to which she gave me a confused look “What I mean is, if something hurts really bad you’d use some kind of painkillers first, right? And for break-ups, your painkiller of choice is anything that gets your mind off it; food, friends, buying something you’ve always wanted, whatever makes you feel good.”

Sunny nodded and continued to listen, her eyes focused on me.

“But the thing about any painkiller, it doesn’t actually heal you, and if you keep using it, you’ll still be hurt on the inside. So sooner or later you have to confront the source of the problem."

"And I don’t mean find the guy and punch him out! Although he would totally deserve it... Nah, he’s not worth the effort.” I quickly added.

Sunny giggled at that, and I could feel her start to open up to me.

“But anyway, I find that the best way to work out any pain is to just talk about how you feel. Talk about what he actually meant to you, or what you saw in him, and then put those things into perspective.”

“Perspective?” Sunny asked.

“Yeah, like… name something nice he did for you.”

Sunny Delight looked at the ceiling for a while in thought. “Well, there was this one time he took me out to dinner, and before he left, he gave me this keychain in the shape of a teddybear with a heart on it.” She smiled and started tearing up at the memory “I thought it was so sweet of him and I just- I just-“

I quickly put a hoof over hers, snapping her out of her memories of the good times before I accidently evoked more sadness from her.

“And now, try to remember a time when he wasn’t so nice. Some time when he let you down.”

The way her expression changed and her eyes became cold told me she could think of plenty.

“I can’t count how many times he said he’d meet me and never showed up, made plans and then dropped them over nothing.” She said with a small frown “Or all the times hanging out with his friends at the bar was more important than spending time with me. Or how-“

“Okay, you don’t’ need to tell me all of them at once.” I stopped her before she raised her voice too much “But you see what I mean, right? Whenever you think back on how happy you were together, try to put it in perspective. See how much he actually cared about you compared to when he didn’t and you’ll realize it’s not a bad thing he’s gone, and how awesome you are for having put up with it all.”

Sunny smiled at that. “Thank you.” she whispered.

“And once you realize you’re going to be just fine without him, you’ll also realize that there are way more people out there to meet.” I raise my hooves in the air for emphasis “I can’t stress enough how important that is. Just because one guy didn’t work out, doesn’t mean you should give up on all the others, and it certainly doesn’t mean that you should give up hope for yourself. I just met you and I can tell you’re a really great person. And I know that if you want to, you’ll find someone right.”

“You know, I think I will.” She said, propping her head up on her hoof and gazing at me through half-lidded eyes.

It was at that point that I felt that warm/fuzzy feeling coming off her, tempting me with the nourishment it would give me.

“Did that actually work? Holy crud I’m good!” I thought to myself as Pinkie Pie came back to us with a tray of milkshakes balanced on her head.

She gasped and her eyes started sparkling when she saw us smiling. “Sunny? Are you feeling any better?” she asked eagerly.

“You know what Pinkie, I really am.” Sunny told her, her eyes not leaving me for a second.

If it were possible, I think Pinkie smiled even more. “Ohmygosh Ohmygosh! I knew it would work, new friend making prevails over being down in the dumps once again!” she declared victoriously “Oh and that reminds me, your milkshakes! Enjoy.”

With that she set the drinks on the table and zipped back into the kitchen.

I gave her a quick word of thanks before she was out of earshot and examined the drink before me. It was a vanilla milkshake with chocolate syrup at the bottom and drizzled on top along with sprinkles. But what stuck out most about the drinks were the little paper flags in the ice cream with “New Best Friends” in big purple letters. I happily started sipping away at it, but Sunny was more focused on me than her own shake.

“So Stark,” she got my full attention “my friends were planning to take me out to dinner tonight, another ‘painkiller’ tactic. Would you like to join us?”

All according to plan, and ahead of schedule for a change.

“I’d love to.” I told her with a smile “Just let me know where and when.”

And then the door got kicked in.

“Sunny, I know you’re here!” a deep blue Pegasus stormed in, quickly drawing everyone’s attention. He looked around until he spotted Sunny Delight, marched right up to her and said “Sunny, I’ve changed my mind. I want you back.”

At least he doesn’t mince words.

Sunny scowled at him. “Are you serious!? There is no way I’d ever go back to your two-timing flank!”

“Come on babe, I’ve heard what everypony’s sayin’. You’re a wreck without me, you need me. Now I came all the way here, saying I’ll take you back and you’re saying ‘no’. What gives?” Hail Slick told her like he was Celestia’s gift to mares.

“What gives-“ she punched his chest for emphasis “-is that we are done! I am done with the grief you’ve given me all this time, and I’m done with you! Now get out of my town.”

Hail Slick frowned back at her and grabbed her hoof, trying to drag her to the door. “Oh I’ll leave all right, but you’re comin’ with me.”

Okay, time to intervene.

“Woah, buddy. She says she’s done with you.” I got up and stopped him from leaving, grabbing the arm he was holding Sunny with “Respect her decision, let her go, and walk away.”

“And who in Tartarus are you supposed to be?” he released Sunny to focus solely on me. I recoiled a bit as he got right in my face with a snarl. “Well, punk?”

“His name is Stark Shade.” Sunny told him “My new coltfriend.”

Wow, already? I really am getting good at this.

“In the half hour we’ve known each other, he’s been nicer to me than you ever have!”

“Is that so?” Hail Slick muttered slowly.

His punch came so quickly I barely managed to move out of the way in time. I felt the hairs on his hoof brush past my cheek while I dodged.

“Hey don’t-“

I didn’t get another word in before his second swing hit me, and while I was stunned by it, he pinned me by my throat to the nearest wall post. Gasps of shock and cries of dismay flooded my ears.

In the corner of my eyes I could see Sunny trying in vain to pull Hail Slick off me.

Seconds turned into hours as my vision was clouded with darkness. The screams became more muffled and distant, and all that I could see was Hail Slick’s hate filled glare and he choked the life out of me.

As a do or die action, I charged up what energy I was saving and hit him in the face with a stun spell, full force.

His body went rigid and collapsed on the ground. I followed suit, hacking and gasping for air, but I was the one Sunny rushed to. At least… until my disguise dropped.

I remember her just frozen there, her hooves an inch away from scooping me up in a warm embrace, shock and fear plastered across her features as my illusionary form burned away in a pulse of red embers.

For a second she stared into the eyes of my changeling form, and I stared at the reflection in hers. I could sense the emotions coursing through her, just as I had for all the others. Surprise, confusion, fear, betrayal, sadness, anger, all these feelings and more raced through her in the fraction of a second.

“Sunny…” I spoke in my natural, raspy voice and reached out to her.

She gasped and staggered back, landing on her rump and scooting away, her eyes still locked on me and full of fright.

I knew this was to be expected, and also that I had no chance with her now, so I simply continued before I’d have to run. “I meant everything I said, and I still think you’re a wonderful person. Please don’t stop trusting people because of me.”

Suddenly a lone guard charged in through the door, likely responding to the commotion happening not two minutes ago. “Changeling!” he yelled when he spotted me, near a motionless body and a trembling mare nonetheless “Call for reinforcements, we’ve got civilian casualties!”

I let out a tired sigh, got to my hooves and turned to Sunny Delight one last time. “I really would have liked to go to dinner with you and your friends. I’m sure we’d like each other.” I told her, not even caring how she might interpret it.

And with that I jumped out one of the several open windows in Sugercube Corner and began the mad dash across Ponyville, every guard in town hot on my tail.

*Flashback over**The feels man, the feels.*

“And you know the rest. I charged up a teleport spell to try and get out of there alive, bumped into Twilight Snorkel, and ended up here.” Stross concluded his story.

Luna looked down at the floor of the cart for a moment before facing him again. “I… I am truly sorry for any misunderstandings that may have occurred in Equestria. If you wish, I could pardon any offences you might have incurred, as well as give you a citizenship in Equestria.” she offered “T’would take some getting used to for everypony, but you would never have to worry about-“

“No.” Stross cut her off “No, thank you Princess, it’s very kind of you to offer. But ponies will never stop fearing changelings, and for good reason. I wouldn’t want to put them in danger because they think all changelings are like me. And besides,” Stross looked up at Fenora, who had hugged him close over the course of his story “I doubt I’ll be going back anyway.”

Luna simply smiled at his gesture.

“Hey Stross,” Fenora said softly to him “You said you felt Sunny’s feelings when she found out what you were, like all the others.”

Stross nodded.

“How many others were there?”

Stross was silent. I distant look on his face as he closed his eyes and leaned into her. Then tears spilled out from under his lids and flowed down his cheeks. “It never gets any easier.” He mouthed.

Fenora held him even tighter and ran her fingers across his fin-like hair. “I’ll never leave you.” she told him “Just don’t ever leave me. Okay?” she asked.

And Stross gently nuzzled her.