The clock struck eleven. Its echoing booming resonated throughout the castle, alerting everyone of its incessant work, counting away the seconds. Faun watched the pendulum swing to and fro, echoing her hearts constant pace. She had little else that was constant, though. Today was her big day.
She didn't want it to be like this, but the populace would grow suspicious if court wasn't held today at one, just like every other day. She needed to get ready, she knew, but the tantalizing thought of wasting the whole day in front of the clock seemed quite tempting at the moment. It was only a matter of time until her mother found her, then it would be over.
She was a fair unicorn of seventeen, only just finding her way in the world, finding out who she was. But all of that would change, of course, with the Changing. With the changing, the century old game is passed on. A life of acting imbued upon the receiver. This body would be traded for a figure so old, no one knew where it came from. Her beautiful dusted green coat and striped blonde mane would be gone in an instant. But just as she was beginning to comprehend what lay ahead, a voice shouted out to her.
"There you are!" a familiar, harsh voice cried down the hallway. Faun looked over her shoulder. Of course. It was her mother, Destia. She was old and knobby, but quite able and willing to give her daughter a thrashing. Faun knelt before her.
"It is I," she said in a very proper manner, trying hard not to irritate her mother any more. "Thou has come for me?"
"Get that silly old accent off and get you're flank over the preperations young lady!" the old mare spat, giving her daughter a whack on the rump. "I felt the same way when I was your age."
Faun seriously doubted that, but off she went, through the winding corridors of Canterlot Castle, leaving her mother to brood in silence next to the clock. It was sad, really, Faun thought, that she had to forget who she was. It was a horrid thought.
"Get a move on!" cried a passing gray stallion. Faun doubled her pace. He was Gray Flame, one of the few Knowledgeables, and extremely devoted to the cause. Faun feared him with all her heart.
With a great puff and a wheeze, Faun slid to a stop in front of the Preperation Doors. Without hesitating for a moment, she flung them open with her magic and stormed in. Green Glaze, a stern changeling met her at the door. He was their top expert on transformation magic, a difficult art to master.
"We must work quickly," he said in a surprisingly wholesome tone for the thin black creature he was. Faun looked at him with disgust. The idea of that... creature being in charge of her Changing, but it was the way of things. Green Glaze had tried without success to forward the task to a unicorn, but the spells were too complex. So,they just had to deal with him.
"Get started," Faun said briskly and sat herself down in the chair in the middle of the room. "They have begun lining for court."
"It may be... Painful," Green Glaze said cautiously as he prepared his tools. Faun shrugged.
"I don't mind," she said calmly. In truth, she wanted to do this even less now.
"You will make a great leader," Green Glaze chuckled as he nabbed a few bottles from a closet. "You're lying already. Quite well, to."
"Just get it over with!" Faun cried at the old changeling. He shook his head.
"You're screaming will disturb the subjects," the changeling said. Faun wanted to scream her head off now. Green Glaze was never good at sugarcoating things.
"I won't scream," she said finally.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Green Glaze said picking up a small bottle with a squeeze bag on it. "Besides, we can't run the risk."
"Wha-" Faun started, but her mouth filled with a sweet vapor. The changeling sprayed a few more puffs in her face, and went back to work, humming to himself as she coughed. "What... Is... This...?"
It became all too clear as her legs started to feel like lead. Her eyelids were heavy; far to heavy. Her neck was limp and wobbly.
"NO! I DON'T WANT to be changed..." she trailed off as her eyes closed and she lay, helpless upon the chair, her soft breathing barely heard above the chuckling of the changeling.
"It's like this every year," he said to himself, looking at Faun's beautiful sleeping form. "It gets amusing, after a while."
****
She awoke h