I ducked low in the mountain brush. The thudding of hooves and boots wandered around me as they searched for me. "I know I saw it, cheese legged monster."
I looked down to my hooves, the holes and irregular cuts that dug into my flesh were muddy and damp. My shorts were tattered and worn down, my tank ratty and spackled with water and mud. I adjusted my hand on the ground, trying to steady myself for the next sprint. I looked back down to my legs as a guard wandered past. A soft hiss and flash of green enveloped my hooves, changing my legs into a solid, normal pony form, still bearing the dark grey of my lower half.
I took a deep breath and got ready to run. A stick snapped under my hoof and the world went silent to listen. The woods outside of Canterlot went still, and for a moment I could hear my breath. "Please no--"
I felt something slam into my back. A pair of hooves forced me onto my belly and kept me pinned to the damp forest floor. "Captain, I found it!" The pony's shouts locked out the bustle of the woods, the only sound left was thudding. I was done. I was caught. I was going to die.
What a shame. Sorry mom.
I went limp as a rustle came from behind me. "Whoa shit, that's not good." A soft voice hit my ears slowly. A loud rustling came from his direction. "Change of plans, take it with us."
My hands were pulled behind me and bound together. I felt my hooves raised, quickly finding a similar fate. "Are you sure this is a changeling, sir?"
The soft voice returned. "No doubt, now pick her up, we're heading home."
I stayed silent as a pair of hands roamed my body. I watched as the dark brown and green blurs were flung past me. I laid still as I was tossed over a guard's shoulder, left as baggage for the walk back to Canterlot.
The walk was grey and bitter. I bounced softly against the guard's back. I spotted a pony guards walking beside me. "Captain...she's got a pretty face."
The man who was carrying me stopped and turned. "Sterling?"
The pony walked back around so I could see him. "These things feed off emotion, love, stuff like that right?" He snorted at me. "We could have some fun, nopony would even know. Heck, she'd probably like it." He looked up to me. "Huh? You like a hot pony cock in your mouth, freak? Huh?"
I felt myself lurch back as the man carrying me shifted. The rustling overwhelmed my hearing, but the yelp of the pony rang out hard. "You sick fuck!" Another voice jumped in. The man who was carrying me stepped back, letting me look over as another pony was standing off with the one who was threatening me. "You think that's okay!? What the fuck--"
"Ken, stop it." The man who was carrying me walked between them. I found myself face to face with the pony who was yelling, Ken. He looked old, a thick purple beard hanging down from his chin. "This isn't the time, or the place. Now both of you knock it off!"
Ken looked up at me and turned away. "I'm telling the major--"
The other pony laughed. "You go ahead! You think he'll defend a changeling!"
The man carrying me walked on, leaving the two ponies to bicker. I spotted his eyes looking back to me. "...You're going to the castle, we'll figure out what to do with you there."
I sighed loudly. "It seems like you already made up your mind." I closed my eyes and went slack. "I don't care anymore...I'm so tired."
"Well, just a ball of sunshine, aren't you?" He adjusted his hand on my arm, taking hold of my hand. "Just keep it together, you're...you're the first satyr we've seen like this, so just stay calm."
I didn't return his squeeze. "Just get it over with."
The captain huffed. "Jav, you're on probation." He stopped and turned to face the ponies. "Ken, go ahead, find the major."
The pony with the beard stomped his hoof and ran off. The last pony just stood there, staring at me. "You're really going to tell the major?"
The captain turned around, leaving me to stare at the bad pony as he stood in the underbrush. "Threatening a prisoner is bad, threatening a detainee with rape, really, really not smart." The captain clicked his tongue. "You awake still?" I looked over at him. "You're gonna be fine...alright?"
I closed my eyes. "Sure...keep telling yourself that." I drifted away, not ready to face another face looming over me, hurting me, violating me. If it happened, I wouldn't be awake for it. I really just wanted to go home.
Author's Note
REWRITE TIME
GET READY YALL!
I knelt down before the throne at Caterlot castle, my knees aching as humans and ponies dressed in bright white uniforms pranced about, watching me, judging me. The way they looked at me, it was the way one would look at a sick dog. With disgust, pity, hate. But there was something soft in the air, from the princess herself, a glowing warmth staring down at me.
But a cold followed me, watching me. Walking around me was a dark coated pony, staring at me. I wanted to bite him, I wanted to rip his nose to shreds, but I wasn't dead yet, and there would be no sooner a sentencing than attacking a guard. So here I was stuck, in tattered clothes, cold, sick, all while kneeling waiting for a princess I was taught to hate passed judgment.
A man in a tall pair of boots walked before me, pacing gently back and forth. He joined the dank pony in his judgment. "Princess...this, thing, was found by the guards in White Tail. It can talk, but has refused to say anything in the day it took to get her here." The man glared at me, clenching his fist. "It's a changeling...but, nothing we have any documents on. I suggest euthanasia and an autopsy."
My gut sank at that word. I didn't know exactly what it meant, but I knew that it would end in my death. "...I'd- I'd rather not die...." I muttered, my dull voice grumbling low over the clicking of boots and hooves. I slowly lifted my head up, looking over the white blur that made up the crowd. "...I guess I don't get a say though." I mumbled, looking back down at the white stone floor.
I counted the individual blocks as the ponies in the room spoke of my demise. "We can't let a possibly dangerous creature go."
"Well we can't just kill it."
"So what, you'd rather send it to Tartarus!?"
"...The dungeon was what I was thinking."
"Death would be quicker...."
A loud voice boomed above all the others. "Enough!" Celestia's regal voice silences the cackling crowd, leaving me stunned for a few moments. "Somepony bring me Able, Luna and Night Sky!" I slowly lifted my head, finding Celestia walking up to me. "You, stand up." she commanded, lifting me up with her magic and holding me steady. "Follow me, alright? We're not going to hurt you, we just need to talk."
I stared at the princess, eye to eye. "...You're going to kill me...just do it."
Celestia grew a deep grimace. "We're not going to hurt you, I promise."
I let out a small huff, tugging at my arm bindings. "...Sure...."
Celestia's grimace turned to a worried frown. "This way...." She nudged me towards the way out, the guards in the room tensing up as I walked towards a small door behind the throne. A pony with a pistol holstered against his flank shook his head as I passed, nervously nodding his head and shooting sparks out of his horn.
I did my best to ignore it. I was too dazed to flinch, too tired to feel offended. I had been days without the warm feeling that kept us alive, and hours without a proper meal. I was barely awake as Celestia walked me towards the door, forcing it open with her magic and watching as I passed.
I slowly lurched into the small hallway, looking around at the dull grey walls and the huge windows that lined the east wall. "...Pretty...." I muttered, leaning against the opposite wall and enjoying the faded crystal blue light as it shown through. "...Warm...."
Celestia walked up to me, leaning her head back and looking me over. "Are you feeling well?"
I took a deep breath, "...Nap...I want a nap."
Celestia nudged me forward. "Come along...you can rest in a bit." Her hoof brushed my ribs, causing me to flinch. "Oh dear...you're so thin...."
I mumbled incoherently as I was nudged forward, sliding along the wall until losing my balance and slamming into the ground. I closed my eyes, letting my world go dark. Everything felt hollow before suddenly shooting back with me in a small chair, a large square table with two princesses, a human and a bat pony sitting and staring at me.
A soft bustle filled the room as I drifted around on the edge of consciousness. I looked around, spotting the human looking at me. He was staring at me while the others chatted, burning a hole in my head. I tried to look down, receiving a loud snap and tap on the table to draw my attention back to him.
I tried to ignore it, focusing on Celestia. "It can speak, that alone warrants some sort of self awareness." She whispered, looking to Luna.
"We need to- you remember what happened last time. We ignore the problem and suddenly it blows up in our face." Luna mumbled, leaning over towards her sister.
Celestia looked troubled, her face scrunched up hard. "That was years ago...we haven't seen any evidence of the Queen being alive any--"
The bat pony tapped his hooves on the table. "Is this not proof enough? Her mane, the colors, this thing is obviously connected...."
My eavesdropping was cut short as the human stepped before me, glaring at me and putting his hands up my shirt. "Hold still...." His hands roamed my sides, focusing on my ribs. "...Last time?"
I looked up at him hazily. "...I don't know...."
His face tightened into a heavy frown for a few moments. His hands continued to feel around me, touching my skin and slowly falling to my waist. He removed his hands from my shirt, ducking down and sticking his finger through the holes in my legs. "...Brittle.... What do you eat?" He asked, looking up at me.
I shook my head, "I'm fi--"
The man turned around, facing the group of ponies. "Celestia, I'll be back." He walked out, leaving the ponies to watch him leave. Celestia's gaze fell back upon me, the room slowly joining her in her.
Luna cleared her throat. "...Do you understand us?"
"She speaks Equestrian." Celestia stated, tapping her hoof on the table. "You are a--"
She was cut off as the door flung open once again, the human strolling by and dropping a bowl into my lap. "Hold the fuck still." He mumbled, grabbing my wrists and jamming something against the bindings.
"Able, Able, Able!" Luna snapped, quickly receiving a soft hoof to the chest by Celestia.
Celestia shared a calm look with Luna, eventually settling back as my hands were unbound. "We can't let this creature die, even if we decide later I don't want to lose this chance."
I felt my wrists fall to my sides, the soreness of the bindings rather intense. "...Thank you...." I mumbled, watching the man walk to my front and force the bowl into my hands.
"Eat, answer our questions, or I will put you in the ground myself." He grumbled coldly, walking back around the table and taking a seat. "Now someone tell me what the hell this bug is?"
Everyone in the room turned to the human. Celestia tapping his shoulder. "Changelings...I told you about them--"
"That's not a changeling." He stated, pointing to me. "That thing- maybe it's part, but it can talk, it's not hissing like an animal. She's not shape shifting or--"
Celestia shook her head, turning to me. "...Ms. are you a she?"
The human turned to Celestia with an indignant look. "...It has tits.... I think, probably."
Celestia looked around nervously. "Um...Able, they have both sets of genitalia...."
"What...?"
I looked down at the cheap bowl of rice, gently digging in with my hands. "...I'm a girl...." I groaned, "And...we don't- we have...parts...not.... Not reproductive...but parts...." I lacked the words to describe it, I could have sex with anything, but I couldn't reproduce with a mare.
The human scrunched up his right eye. "...Gross. Well, I guess- do the change thing!" He shouted, slamming the table. "I've never--"
I stared straight at him, feeling my body shift slightly, my hooves turn to feet as I shifted from my normal form to his. "...Like this?" I asked, stealing his voice.
The room stared at me, Luna letting out a rough cough as I changed back and went back to eating. "Celestia...you have a plan for this thing?"
Celestia looked around, finally focusing on me. "I do, but I wanted to ask your opinions all the same."
"We're keeping it." The man stated, crossing his arms and sitting back.
Luna and the bat snapped around to stare at the human. The bat speaking first. "You're joking, yes?"
I mumbled inaudibly and continued to eat. "Can I go?"
Celestia started nodding at the others. "I agree with Able."
Luna and the bat pony shot bolt stiff. "After everything they've done?" Luna asked, turning to me.
The human tapped his fingers on the table. "Everyone is telling you to kill it right? Or lock it up?" He turned to me, a soft frown curling around the corner of his mouth. "If you'd listened when they said you should lock me up, well...I'd be dead, humans wouldn't be here...so, I'm sympathetic I suppose."
Luna adopted a similar frown. "Can we trust a changeling? They've tried to reform before, but...."
Celestia slammed her hoof on the desk. "I'm taking responsibility if this goes wrong, but I won't have somethi- somepony--"
"Someone...." The man corrected with a bit of snark.
"Quiet you...." Celestia snorted angrily, "I won't have somepony innocent sitting in the dungeon without proper cause, and so far this--"
"My name is Misery...." I groaned, finishing the bland meal and setting the bowl down. "...It's not...a nice name, I know. But it's what I have."
The room went quiet, the human breaking the silence. "Well...hello there sunshine."
"Able!" Celestia snapped, "At any rate, I've made up my mind, I just wanted a few opinions."
Luna let out a soft sigh. "I suppose...it hasn't shown any violent or subversive behaviors yet.... I don't like it, but it's your choice, sister."
The bat pony grumbled loudly. "A crappy one at that, creatures...." He hissed, flying over the table and to the door.
Celestia's gaze faltered for a moment, turning to the door before snapping back to me. "I have questions to ask, rules to set into place for you, but I--"
The human walked around the table, taking the bowl from me and setting it on the table. "Don't be a bitch, don't change without telling someone, and if I catch you doing that sick thing you bug people do I'll snap your neck." The man was obviously bluffing, his emotions conflicted and rather intense. "Got it?!"
I stared at him, eye to eye as Celestia joined him. "...You're going to wish you'd killed me."
Celestia shook her head softly. "Is that so? Well then that's my regret to have. Now get some rest, we'll see about answering some questions in the morning." Her words were warm, sending a bit of energy through my spine and into my chest. I had no idea what was going to happen, I wasn't supposed to ever interact with non-changelings, but deeper than that sense of false loyalty to the queen was something else, something human. The drive to survive, and perhaps being docile and meek wasn't the greatest life, but it was life all the same.
The human nodded dutifully, putting his hands under my arms and lifting me up. "Jesus...you're like a twig." He muttered, throwing me over his shoulder, leaving me to watch as Celestia walked behind me, trailing after me limp body as I was carried back into the throne room and towards the main door.
Celestia nodded tenderly, sending another jolt of warm through my shoulders and into my fingertips. "You're a step forward, maybe a step to connecting with changelings as a whole."
"And if not, well, a grave isn't too hard to dig."
"Able...really...stop it."
Author's Note
I'll probably end up redoing this scene....just for the record.
I snapped away to a hand on my forehead. A rough looking man with a cold look about him grimaced as he held my hair up over my face. "It's her." He mumbled softly and took his hand away. "Celestia, it's her."
Princess Celestia loomed over me from the other side. "It is, isn't it?" She looked me in the face and levitated a small picture next to me. "...Able?"
The man grabbed his head and turned to Celestia. "I don't know."
Celestia looked back to me. "You need to decide quickly. It is a changeling, it could be--"
The human shook his head and walked up next to me. He stared at me and dropped down to my level. "You have ten seconds to show me your real face."
I swallowed hard. "This is my real face. I promise I'm not lying."
Celestia walked up next to me, her eyes a bit watery. "Able?"
"What!?" The human snapped upright and grabbed his head. "What?"
Celestia sighed heavily. "What do you want to do with it?"
I licked my lips. "Um--"
"Shut up!" The pair of them shot me down immediately.
Celestia looked back to me. "Able, we either keep this thing here...or we turn it over for study." She put a hoof on my bed. "A changeling hybrid could mean a lot, it could hold a lot of rather horrid implications."
The human shook his head. "You're not killing her!" He slammed the table by my head and knocked a lamp off. "Celestia! You can't!"
Celestia stared at the human. "I can, and have before. Perhaps not with this, but I've sent creatures to their deaths for the betterment of everypony!"
I held my breath as the two spoke.
The human turned away. "How much would it help? Would it be worth losing another family?"
Celestia walked around my bed towards the human. "Able, I'm asking you. What do you want to do?"
I sunk down into the bed I was laid in. The man looked down at me with such a mournful frown I couldn't help but flinch. "I want to try...."
Celestia hugged the man with her wing. "Alright. What should I tell Dawn?"
The man rubbed his face as he looked at me. "Tell her she has a new babysitter." The man stepped away from Celestia and towards me. "And you...if you fucking abuse this chance, I will hang you from a streetlight." He poked me in the chest and held me down. "I will make sure you swing."
"Able!" Celestia nipped his collar and pulled him back. "That's enough!" She pulled him back towards the door out of the room. "It's enough."
I found myself alone in the room for a few moments. The princess of the land I roamed, and a man with such a hurt look that not even the Princess could calm him, both had just stood before me. I couldn't help but feel like I had missed something, somewhere. Even the sheer fact of my continued life seemed to burrow into my gut and twist around.
I felt something cold linger in the air. I took a deep breath. Twisted spice of anger, regret, and mourning dripped from the human's side. And the other, mint, cold mint hung in the air. Nervousness and trepidation mixed with a single-minded view from pure use. I was sitting between an argument between emotion and calculation. And yet all I could do was lay down and wait while shouted came from the door.
I looked to the windows, barred and sealed tight. I looked back to the door, shadows and footsteps surrounded it. I was trapped.
Celestia's head peaked back into the room. She looked directly at me. She walked in and carefully set a picture down on my hooves. She nodded once and backed out.
I waited until the door closed and picked up the picture. It was old, printed out from common paper and wrapped in plastic.
The man that had yelled was standing with a smile, his arm around a girl with one arm. Her face a mirror of my own. Her skin a pale milky white the same as mine. Her eyes a solid turquoise just like mine.
I felt my stomach sink, like a lead weight had just been dropped straight down my throat. I dug my fingers into the soft sheets laid over me and held my breath. The speech about turning me into a science project dug deeper though. My ass burned rather hot as I tried to think of the stories I'd been told of Celestia.
A mare of kindness, talking of my death. A world of ponies, treating me like trash. I reached down and dug my fingers between the holes in my legs. I was a changeling, but that couldn't be the only reason. I ran my hand up my leg to the joining between my carapace and my skin. I was changeling, I was human, I was something more or maybe something less.
My stomach growled loudly.
Above it all though, I was hungry. "Um...hello?" I rubbed my sides, I could feel my ribs through my skin. "Hello?" I looked around the room. It was a slightly elegant white, the bed was simple but with an ornate hoofboard, and a carved headboard. The windows outside were barred from the inside. This was a guest room in the castle, not a holding room.
I scratched my head and laid back down. Why would you give a room to something you plan to kill?
