Coffee shop, Dumb Guards and Changelings.
Few ponies know the real reason why the Changeling race looks so different from a couple of hundreds years ago, yet they just shrugged it off, saying that it was magic and never bothered to find out why. In a sense I can understand them since if they did they would find out that their precious Sun leader almost annihilated a complete species. So now let me tell you why you look quite different from your ancestor. I want you to know our story, everyling must know so they can never forget the many sacrifices made to make this future generation better.
Almost three hundred years ago, our proud nation attacked the pony civilization. We started by infiltrate their capital before launching an all-out attack on it. In the beginning everything was perfect. We took them by surprise and took care of their defences quite easily. The victory was close but the leader of this army, Queen Chrysalis, underestimated her opponent and she, with the entirety of the Changeling's force, were blown away to the east from an explosion created by the past prince of the Crystal Kingdom and the still current princess of it.
Most of us perished by the sheer force of the explosion by simply being crushed between a wall and it, or by the rough landing in the eastern desert. From the thousands of Changelings following Chrysalis, only a few hundred survived the landing. It was a miracle that they had survived the impact but the joy of being alive quickly left to give place to despair and sadness as one of them found the dead body of their Queen laying on the hot sand of the desert. When the remaining Changelings found the dead body of their Queen, they all felt as if something broke into them like a part of them was gone forever. All of them without exception worked together to bring the lifeless body of Chrysalis back to their kingdom without saying a single word during the journey.
Once they arrived, the survivors were welcomed by the remaining population. They organised a ceremony to lay to rest their Queen, but now, without a leader, most Changelings had the same question circling around in their mind. What will happen to them now? The answer did not make itself wait. A few days later most Changelings felt like they were less hungry as the day came by. They did not know the reason behind it but the Changelings welcomed the changes with open hooves. However, what really changed our nation took place a month after the death of Chrysalis. It only started by a rumor, but soon enough, not a single Changeling was unaware of what happened. A changeling was pregnant.
Before I go on, you must know that in the past Changelings were born from eggs laid by the Queen and fertilised by the couple who wished to have a youngling of their own, so a pregnant Changeling was quite the news, and what really alarmed the population was that as time came by, more and more Changelings find themselves pregnant.
When the first pregnant mother started to deliver her child into our world she was surrounded by the best doctors we had and they successfully helped her for the delivery. But what happened after took them all by shock. The newborn infant was quite different from them. Not only did he have pupils, but the mane of the newborn child was yellow instead of the light blue that every changeling had.
When the doctors used their magic to examine the newborn, they touched both his mind and mine. For the first time since my death, they had rejoined me.
I, who was once known as Queen Chrysalis, sacrificed myself and what I had left of my power to save them from the coming death they were destined for if I was to die. I changed our race by mixing the D.N.A of a Royal Changeling and a Normal Changeling onto my subjects so that the future generations could live by themselves without the need of a Queen to ensure the survival of our species. What I had not intended to do though, was to make my soul attach itself to every new subject of the future Changeling Generation.
***
“Criikikikik”
“Sir, I must ask that you back off and please calm down. Now, if you could speak to us in a calm and sensible manner we could understand what you are saying and begin to help you.”
Strong Shield, who was on patrol duty that day, attempted to calm down the Changeling that was shaking his golden armor forcefully while yelling at him in a language he did not understand. During this encounter, his partner was snickering at him without lending him a hoof.
“Crik-She, she need's Krik! Please kikik must Cricri her,” pleaded the Changeling.
“Sir, we cannot do anything if you don’t calm down. If you c-”
“Don’t be so formal, ST, you clearly see he is too shocked to speak in a proper Equestrian,” interrupted Strong Shield’s companion before he got closer to the panicking Changeling and started chittering to him.
Strong Shield could only watch in wonder as to how and when his friend had learned to speak “The Melody.” like the changelings called their weird tongue, but the chirping and clicking sound that his companion made seemed to calm down the Changeling.
“So what did he want?” asked Strong Shield when his friend had returned.
“Well I’m not quite sure, either he want us to go help him blow up his wife in the coffee shop over there, or he want us to go help her,” he answered hesitantly.
“Are you serious?”
“Well the word for help and explode are almost the same. It’s a matter on how you position your tongue and your ears and I’m still pretty new to this, so if you could stop looking at me like I was mental, it would be much appreciated.”
“Just… Let’s go to this shop and see why he wants our help,” deadpanned Strong Shield before taking the direction the Changeling pointed him.
***
The Changeling who was known as Mustic watched the two guards with a worried expression while a sentiment of impatience grew inside him, but right before he was going to leave those two behind and go look somewhere else for help, the same one as earlier who’d spoke to him approached. With his thick accent, he was asking him to show them the way, but not before complimenting him on his eyes, which Mustic just shrugged off to his lack of proper knowledge on how to “sing” properly.
As the trio were on their way to the coffee shop, Mustic could not stop his mind from wandering to place he did not wish to. “What if I took too much time and she died?What if she does not forgive me for having left her behind to gather help, why have I accepted to bring her to Canterlot! Canterlot is not a proper place to have a baby. Do they even have Changeling hospitals here?” Mustic wanted to ask the guards to go faster but it was his wife who knew how to speak Equestrian, so he dropped the idea.
Once they arrived at the coffee shop the guard immediately knew that something was not right, a changeling with pink eyes and mane was lying on the floor, her respiration erratic and rash, as she was holding her midsection. The guards did not need to share a single word to let each other know what was happening. She needed help, and fast...
Strong Shield and his comrade did not waste any time, and while one of them casted a teleportation spell to go fetch a doctor, the other one was dispatching the forming crowd around the soon to be mother.
It did not take long for the guard to reappear with the doctor by his side, quickly the doctor galloped to the mother's side and began to examine her. “She going to give birth, we need to bring her to the hospital right now!” he declared. After judging that she was strong enough to support it, he asked the the guard that brought him here to take them both back to the hospital.
Leaving Mustic and Strong Shield behind.
***
A week had passed since Mustic and his wife Cornelia had left the hospital to return to their small recently bought farm on the edge of the Whitehill Forest just a couple of miles away from the city of the Friendship Princess. The farm in itself had nothing really special about it, a small house and two or three yards’ worth of empty plain, but the new parents were happy with of their purchase.
“Alright, It should be working now,” said Mustic as he placed the camera on a tripod before he joined his wife and kid in front of the camera. “We should have a whole minute before the picture is taken, do I look good?” he asked, trying to adjust his hat with his hooves.
Her wife giggled. “Don’t worry, you look just fine.”
“Why are we wearing those clothes again?” His hat falling on the grass.
“Because they perfectly match our profession and I’ve heard the ponies in general find the act of wearing clothes attractive. It will be easier to get our weekly dose of emotion if we wear them.”
“It still does not explain why you want us to wear them when we’re at home,” answered back Mustic, frowning as he placed his hat back, which kept falling off his head.
“It's not by being grumpy that you will make us look good on the picture, now stop moving and hold her with me,” said Cornelia in an authoritative tone.
Mustic sighed at the short temper of his wife before he looked up at his newborn girl with a great amount of affection. He still was not able to fully believe it, he was a dad now and he had a wonderful daughter. He held her carefully in his hoof, helped by his wife before smiling at the camera. They heard a small click and a picture came out from one of the openings under it.
“How does it look?” asked Cornelia as Mustic returned with the picture.
“Perfect!” he answered.
“Y-you think this will work out?” asked Mustic once his wife finished looking at the picture.
“What will work out?” she said, tilting her head.
“All of this!” Mustic said back, pointing at everything around them. “The farm, the house, living here and raising her. Do you think the ponies around here will accept us as smoothly as you think? I’ve read things; not pretty things and sometimes I think we should have stayed at the hive and raised our daughter there, in the security of our homeland.”
“We had this conversation plenty of times before,” sighed his wife before passing a hoof around him and pulling him into her embrace. “ I want us to do our part in the cultural exchange with the ponies and us, and I find ponies quite fascinating and I’m sure it will only do us good to live with them. We just have to do like we said. You take charge of the field work and grow those special flowers of yours like only you know how to do, while I make the fancy bouquets and sell them in the market at the village and we will both raise up our little Tulip over here in harmony and happiness,” she said, pointing at their daughter she was holding in her swaddle.
“And don’t worry about the ponies around here, Ponyville is known to be one of the cities that’s more friendly toward Changelings like us so everything will play alright.”
“I know…” said Mustic without any conviction in his voice. “And you’re probably right, but I’m still feeling a bit insecure about all this, forgive me.” He leaned his head against Cornelia and watched her daughter try to grab his muzzle with her tiny hooves. “You think she will be proud of her father later?”
Cornelia rolled her eyes and gently pushed Mustic. “Stop worrying about everything you bosh’tet. Now come inside and make us something to eat,” she said before going inside and leaving her husband behind.
Mustic sat on his rump and watched the sunset for a while before listening to his wife and finally joining her inside. “She's right.” he told himself. “Everything will go smoothly and as planned.”
Roof, Story time and Neighbor
Roof, Story time and Neighbor
Chapter 2
A light breeze caressed Mustic’s body as he was busy repairing the roof of his new home. A rainstorm had hit them the night before and they’d had the marvelous surprise of water that was leaking through the roof directly onto their bed. So first thing in the morning, Mustic took his hammer, nails, some chunk of wood, and a bit of hay, and started the reparation.
Of course, with no experience in roof-fixing, he struggled more than a bit; what would have taken an hour between the hoof of a better skilled changeling had took him instead the whole morning as well as lunch time.
Swiping his brow with his hoof, he posed down his hammer and admired his job. Being proud of himself, he flew down the roof to take a well deserved break
“Guess who just finishing working his shell off to make sure we will stay dry tonight!” exclaimed Mustic as he came inside his house and entered the main room.
“Good job, it only took you half of the day to do so,” answered his wife without any emotion in her voice, laying comfortably on the couch, reading a book while keeping an eye on Tulip while she was asleep.
“Someone had a bad day?” questioned Mustic.
“I can’t say it was the best day of my life so far. I think the bed had some parasite or something in it; since I woke up this morning, my shell keeps itching me and it so frustrating,” Cornelia said back, shifting uncomfortably on the couch. “Would you be a dear and go to the market to see if they have some kind of bed shop and buy us a new bed?”
“Y-you want me to go shopping in a shop owned by a pony?” exclaimed Mustic, not too thrilled by his wife’s idea.
“No, I want to you fly all the way to our capital Kyoto to buy me a bed that you will then carry all the way back here. Of course I want you to go into a ‘shop owned by a pony’ as you say it,” answered Cornelia, irritation clearly showing in her voice as she had no patience to deal with her husband’s awkwardness around ponies, but Mustic, not taking the hint, kept arguing.
“But what if I forget how to ask for a bed in Equestrian, or what if I get arrested for doing something that pony would think is offensive or...or...”
“Mustic the Green!” snapped his wife. “You will get out of here right now and buy me a new bed before dawn. That’s an order!”
Mustic gulped, knowing that if he did not want his wings to get ripped apart by his wife he better listen to her, and so he picked up his pouch containing his gold and left the house, leaving his wife trying to calm down her daughter whom had been woken up by her mother’s outburst.
***
Mustic was outside in his field relaxing on his rocking chair, flipping the pages of a book he had brought from his home country about different way to take out the weeds in a garden. Taking a break from decorating the bedroom of Tulip, he let himself relax and thought things were going alright as the sun heated his shell. In the last weeks, he and Cornelia had finished unpacking their belongings into their new house, and their bedroom finally stopped leaking once Cornelia had convinced him to stop trying fixing the roof by himself and to fetch some help in the city. A few days ago they received the package containing the seeds he would need to start their business and he already had planted some of them around the house for their personal use.
“Finally it’s not so bad here,” though Mustic. “Cornelia is beaming with joy, the soil is rich in nutrients for the plants, it’s calm and the city is filled with many activities that Tulip could take part in when she’ll be old enough. I could do with less ponies and more Changelings around the town, but I guess I’ll have to get used to living among ponies now.”
Flipping another page, he returned to reading his book when suddenly a hoofball smashed into the ground right in front of him. Mustick rose up from his chair and placed back his book on it before taking the toy in his hooves. He started looking around to find out who threw it to him but without any success, and when he was going to give up, he heard a quiet voice to his left.
As he looked back with more attention this time, he saw some rustle in the long grass on the side of the road, and as he got closer he was able to identify the culprits who threw the toy at him.
Two little ponies were hiding from him in the tall grass.
“Please don’t eat us!” said the youngest from the two. It was a pink filly pegasus with a cream mane and orange eyes.
“Eat you?” said Mustic in confusion.
“Our mom will be angry if we get eaten,” said the other one, a young Earth pony with a purple mane and green eyes.
“But I don’t eat pony,” Mustic said back, clearly confused. He thought with the number of years and effort that has been put into the project to make Changelings live in peace with ponies, everypony would know that they only ate their emotions and not their body. “Why would you two think that?” he asked.
“Because our mom told us that ponies like you would eat us if we were to come play here,” answered the pegasus.
“Well your mom is clearly in the wrong. We Changelings do not eat ponies, we only eat the energy surrounding you that comes from your emotions.”
As reassuring as his words were meant to be, Mustic only caused the two fillies to shake more in fear and shriek.
“Help! He going to eat us!” they both screamed
“No, no! Don’t get scared…We only eat your emotion, not you.. and hum,” panicked Mustic, realising he might not have taken the best way to deal with the two children. “Shhh. Calm down, please. Here, if you two stop crying, I’ll read you a nice story.”
The two fillies looked at each other, unsure of what to do. The youngest one only wanted to go back home and wished to never have followed her brother’s idea to come play here, but the older one seemed interested by the idea of being told a story.
“Is it a story with a king, knight and castle?” he shyly asked.
Surprised that his idea of telling them a story to calm them down worked, Mustic took a bit of time to answer back. “It’s a story about an idiot, a princess that lives in a castle, and a farmer; does it work for you?”
The blue filly thought about it for a moment before he got out of the tall grass, slowly followed by his sister. Mustic smiled and returned to his seat and opened his book while the children took place at his side.
“Once upon a time, a long time ago,” started Mustic, “there was a young Changeling named Mustic. He lived in the woods in a small cabin with his mother. This youngling did not had a single talent for anything. He was a bit dull and was the desperation of his mother. His father had died many years ago and the poor mother had to take care of everything. From cooking, to doing the laundry and passing by the work in the field.
She was doing absolutely everything for her survival and for her good-for-nothing son. Mustic for his part passed his days smelling flowers and running after butterflies. One day, seeing his mother drowning in her task, he told her: “Mother, I’m going into town the city to find work. This way, with the money I will earn, you’ll finally be able to rest.”
His mother answered him. “But Mustic, you don’t know anything and you always do everything wrong.”
But the young Changeling said back, “You’ll see what I can do, Mom!”
***
Mustic now had the full attention of the children. Cornelia, who was looking for her husband, sat nearby and started listening to him.
***
So Mustic left for the city. He stopped at every shop, asked every farmer and artisan to hire him, but each time one of them wanted to know what he was capable of. The honest Mustic answered: “I don’t know anything.” Of course, no one wanted to hire him after hearing that. At the last farm he presented himself as Mustic, though back at home his mother was always telling him how everything he did was wrong, so when the old farmer asked him what he knew, Mustic answered, “I can do everything.” He was hired on the spot.
All day long Mustic and the farmer bustled to cut wood and take out the weeds in the garden. When the night came, to reward him for his hard work, Mustic received a golden coin. On his way home, proud of himself for his first day of work, Mustic played with the coin and throw it in the air before catching it back, but a clumsy move made him lose the coin in a crook that runs alongside the road.
Greatly saddened, he came back home and told his mom about his misadventure, to which his mom replied, “Next time, Mustic, take what the farmer gave you and put it in this pouch. This way you will not lose the fruit of your labor.”
Mustic promised to do as his mom said and the next day he returned to work. This time he worked with the cows. To thank him for his hard work the farmer gave him a bucket filled with fresh milk. Mustic did exactly as him mom told him and emptied the bucket in his pouch to not lost it on the way home. He returned back completely drenched in milk. Listening to the tale of his son, the poor mother contained her rage and told him. “You must always keep in it contained what the farmer give you. You understand that, Mustic?” Mustic nodded his head.
The next day, after his work, he received a large pat of butter. To make sure the butter would not melt, the farmer asked Mustic to give him his hat and he put the butter in it before returning it to Mustic. The young Changeling left the butter in the hat and put it back on his head. The heat of his head melted the butter and it was with a face drenched in butter that he presented himself to his mother.
Everyone around Mustic seemed to have fun listening to the tale of the stupid Changeling, and Mustic did a good job at telling his story. He mimed each expression, acted like each character and he knew how to keep the attention of his small audience.
When Mustic finished telling his mom what happened, his mother said, “You were right to keep the butter in the hat, but you shouldn’t have put it back on. Look, take this saddlebag and you’ll put inside what the farmer will give you. You understand, dear?”
Mustic answered yes, he understood perfectly.
]Close by the farm where Mustic worked was a very pretty castle. Mustic admired it each time he passed by and he dreamed to earn enough money to be able to live there someday with his mother. He also noted that a youngling with a charming pink mane was on one of the many balconies of the domain and was always crying. Mustic was wondering what could possibly be the reason for her sadness, but gave it not further thought.
The next day after his work, the old farmer gave one of his many dogs to Mustic. Having no need for him anymore, he gave him this generous gift to thank him. Mustic accepted the gift with a lot of joy. Like his mother told him, he wanted to put his reward in the saddlebag. he tried to push the dog in the bag a paw after the other but soon realised the bag was too small to put the animal entirely inside it. Mustic find another solution, he put the saddlebag on the head of the animal, slid under him, and started to carry him. He wanted his mom to be proud of him and for once he would do it right.
The dog with a bag on his head struggled quite a lot and and soon both of them bit the dust. When he tried again to put the animal back in the bag, Mustic saw a tall Changeling approach him. It was the owner of the nearby castle. He presented himself to Mustic and immediately told him that his daughter has lost all pleasure in life and was crying everyday for years. He promised her hoof to anyone who would make his daughter smile. From the top of her balcony, the princess had spotted Mustic, and seeing his buffoonery she started laughing and laughing to no end.
“And so Mustic married the princess, became king, and lived with his mother in the castle. My friends, this proves that to become a king, one either needs to not know anything, or do everything wrong.”
Both children laughed and applauded Mustic for his story. Proud of himself, Mustic bowed to them.
“It was a really fun story, Mister,” said the younger one, not scared by Mustic anymore. “Can we hear another one?”
“Oh yes, our father never told us a story like that!” exclaimed the older brother.
Mustic looked at the sun, it was sunset already. “I would like to tell you two another story but it’s starting to get late, maybe you should return home before your parents start getting worried.”
Both the kid suddenly realised how late it was, and with a quick goodbye, they ran back home. Mustic was going to return home himself until he realised that his wife was here. “Honey!” He exclaimed, happy to see his wife. “How was your day?” he asked her.
“It was good,” she answered, coming closer to her husband and dropping a kiss on his forehead. “I’ve found what I was looking for and the owner accepted my offer on the stand after a bit of my natural charm,” she added, giggling while clapping her tongue on her fangs. “Who where those kids?”
“The kids. Hum... I do not know…” apologized Mustic.
Cornelia rolled her eyes in their sockets. “So two foals you don’t know come here and you tell them our story without even asking their name?” she said with a playful smile. “You’ll never change.”
Mustic for himself sighed and accompanied his wife. They both returned home to start preparing the supper.
Author's Note
I want to apologize for the delay it took for this chapter to be complete. I swear the next one will take less time. Now I would like to hear your opinions about the story so far. I know there not much to it yet but do you guys enjoy it so far? Do you think I should jump a bit further in the future where tulip is a bit older? Or you want more backstory on the changeling culture etc..?
As for this chapter, I'm still not sure if I want to give the Changelings society a more Eastern feel or maybe something more related to ancient Egypt. Maybe mix a bit of everything to create something new? Right now I intend to go more over the Japanese culture but I'm still not sure if it will be enough. So before I can be sure of what I want the changeling society to look like I present you a bit of backstory on our protagonist.
