Prologue: My first meeting with the... creature.
"I... wait, you want me to do what?" I asked the princess, looking shocked at her. Apperently, neither she or anyone else currently present (who were Princess Luna and Princess Cadence, the Bearers of the Elements, a blue unicorn with white hair that I don't know, and around 5 guards) seemed to be bothered that there was a changeling sitting at the other end of the meeting room.
"I repeat, I want you to write down everything he" she pointed at the creature, "says, since this could very well be the first step to a bridge between ponies and changelings, do you understand now?" Celestia said with a straight face, not a single indicator that this is just another one of her practical jokes.
I didn't respond, my gaze fixed on her, (I didn't dare look at... *it***) and my eyes locked in "what did you just say"-modus.
She sighed and looked tiredly at me, seeming like she expected my exact reaction. "Forgive me, Dawn. Perhaps I didn't start entirely right."
She looked at the... thing: "This is Furor. Yes, he is a changeling. No, he will not brainwash us all. You see, I received a letter from my protegé," Princess Twilight seemed to blush a little at this. "A few days ago, informing me that she received a rather... strange visitor, is it not, dear Twilight Sparkle?"
"Ah! Yes Princess!" Twilight started hurriedly, still blushing, and apparently talking to the other people in the room as well: "As my friends already know, I was approached by Trixie, a show-mare and a friend," She nudged at the blue unicorn, so I presumed that she was Trixie. "after she performed in Ponyville, and told me that her associate wanted to speak with me. While I'm not really ready for holding an open court quite yet, she also said that her associate wanted to talk about a certain 'Chrysalis'." Twilight looked hesitantly at Celestia,who nodded for her to continue.
"I was immediately alarmed by this, since the queen actually never said her name at Cadence's and Big Brother's wedding (Ah, Twilight means the wedding between Cadence and Shining Armor, with the Changeling attack!), as you all may remember. We only found out about that later, when Big Brother regained his memories from when he was under her control, and we never told the public her name. Knowing all this, there could have been only one reason how Trixie's associate could have know that name: He or she was a changeling, who had to have served under Chrysalis herself! I immediatly arranged a meeting with that associate, leading me to meet Furor, and sending a letter to Princess Celestia. And... now we're here." she finished, for some reason still blushing.
"Apperently," Celestia continued, "Furor wants us to tell about his kin, and wants to connect ponykind and changelings for reasons I myself do not yet fully understand." she finished with a frown.
"Pardon my interruption, princess, but... where do I fit in this picture? And how is he even going to communicate with us?" I asked, still not looking at it.
"I plan on holding several meetings with all the people in this room, and I want you to write down every word that is said." Celestia easily answered, making me frown. "Yes, specifically you, Dawn, since your special talent is, after all, writing extremely fast."
You know, I didn't expected that my talent would be used for... well, this. I groaned, looking back at my cutiemark: a quill on fire, signifying both my "better-then-average" hoofwriting, as well as the sheer speed with wich I can do that.
Then again, this *is** the first time the princess asks me this personally...*
"As for your other question..." Celestia carefully continued.
"This may surprise you, but I can talk, you know?" a low voice suddenly came from the creature, surprising me.
"Wait... you... you can talk?" I asked, taken back by the fact that it can talk. Finally overcome with my initial fear, I took a good look at him:
He seemed rather big, bigger than me at least, and had a big diagonal scar over his left eye. While his horn didn't have any holes, it still dented here and there, and he had several holes in all of the legs she could see. His full blue eyes, protruding teeth and carapace with... actually pretty small wings, all confirmed that, yep, he was a changeling for sure...
"The fact that you just answered your own question, as well as the fact that Twilight mentioned I wanted to "talk" to her about Chrysalis, should provide you with a sufficient answer.... Celestia, do you really think she would a good choice for steno-graphing this? I'm having a few doubts myself." the creature easily replied, both surprising and... infuriating me.
Celestia quitly chuckled: "Yes, Furor, I do think that. She may not really look like it (Hey!), but she does have her cutiemark for a reason. Isn't that right, dear Twilight Sparkle?" Celestia replied, Twilight heavily blushing at this. "Yes, princess. She is... extremely good at it."
Oh, like that... I swear, I'm never going to write checklists again for her. I think that was the first time I actually set a paper on fire, and I honestly don't know how Spike can keep that up every day.
"Now, are we all ready to begin? Furor?"
"Yes, but... Dawn, please be careful, I can feel rage rising up inside of you. I must warn you now that you have to be mindful with that." the creature softly replied.
"Dawn?" The princess frowned at this.
"I... how did you know?"
The creature sighed, continuing: . "First lesson in Changeling Biology: We feed of emotions. No, not just love, but all the other emotions as well." There were a few surprised looks at this. "I know that you all think that we only feed of love of other people who aren't changelings, but you are very wrong with this. In fact, every changeling has a peculiar type of emotion that he or she likes most, I personally prefer rage and anger, but we aren't limited to that one type of emotion. We can also, if we have to, feed of our own kin as well. But this is generally frowned upon, something I will later elaborate on. Will this suffice for now?"
I sighed: "I... yes, I'll calm down".
"Although... why are the other bearers present as well, aside from Twilight?" I asked, only now wondering why the 5 other bearers were here as well. "I mean, I can understand why you and the other princesses are here, but..."
"Because," Celestia easily replied. "These 5, alongside Twilight, all fought their way the vault of the elements, facing many more changeling attackers than any of them were ever trained for during the wedding. Since they all experienced the... shall we say, "bad" side, of Furor's kin, I've decided to let them attend these meetings, as well as that I believe that their input could mean a lot for the future. Does this suffice?"
"Yes, Princess. Just... let me get myself set".
"Very good... is everyone else set as well?" She asked, to wich a series of agreements and nods followed.
"Well then, let's begin. Furor, tell me about your childhood first..."
"Excuse me, but... my childhood?" the... thing asked surprised. "I expected you to have me tell you about our culture, how we live and work, how we... "tick", in a manner of speech. Why do you want to know about my childhood?"
Good question. Maybe you're smarter than I first thought...
"Dearest Sister, I have to agree with the creature on this. Ehrm... Furor, does thou mind if I refer to thou like this?" Princess Luna chimed in. Furor shook his head, and she continued: "Why should we learn about his personal life as well? I, for one, am much more interested in all those things he just said."
It seems everyone is thinking the same thing. Well... everyone, expect for the show-mare named Trixie, Twilight and Pinkie, strangely. Okay, perhaps not strangely for Pinkie, god knows what she's thinking about, but this Trixie... huh, she seems honestly interested as well. Maybe she and the changeling go a long way back? And do I see, yet again, a small blushing forming on Twilight's cheeks? Huh...
"Because," Celestia softly answered: "I am honestly interested in 'you'."
Wait... that's... that's a blush on his cheeks! He is... actually blushing. Huh, perhaps this could get interesting after all.
"After all, you are the first changeling seen after Chrysalis was... neutralized, shall we say, which speaks of either great boldness and courage, or maybe just plain stupidity. I want to discover which one of the two is the case." she said with a wink. "Also, yes, I believe that there is indeed much you could teach us, but I'd rather do this with some kind of... structure. Recounting your own personal life seems like a good idea, since we would basically "learn" everything you learned, but at a much faster rate. Also, we will raise our hooves into the the air if we want to ask questions at any point in your story to clarify certain elements or ask for more information on particular subjects." she finished.
"I... okay, I agree, that is indeed a good idea." the creature replied.
Huh, it actually is. Just shows why she is in charge yet again, I guess.
"Danke, but Twilight came up with the idea, actually." Celestia said, now a visible tinge on Twilight's cheeks.
...
Of course, I could have know. Oh well, that explains why she was blushing the entire time.
"So, are you comfortable with this method, then? Celestia asked the creature.
"I... yes, fine. But I can choose the level of intimacy of my life's story, agreed?" the creature asked, and Celestia nodded. "Okay then, here goes nothing..."
