Cracktooth woke up suddenly. Wondering what could have torn him from his recurring nightmare, he got out of bed and walked downstairs. His Roommate was still sleeping, so he made sure not to wake her up while he shuffled down the stairs. Still half awake, he went to the kitchen to splash some water on his face, in order to wash away the remnants of the less than peaceful slumber he had been having.
Now properly awake, he made his way towards the door. Opening it, he found the source of the commotion that had woken him up: a grey mare was lying down on his porch, clearly having just fallen over, clutching in her mouth two very dignified looking letters. She looked very clearly embarrassed, but her embarrassment turned into horror when she looked up and saw the figure of one of the house's owners.
"Are those letters for me?" Cracktooth asked, ignoring the state of terror now on the mare's face, just like he has ever since he moved to Ponyville.
"Y-yes...or, I think. I mix t-things up sometimes..." The mare replied, getting off the ground and dusting off, still shakily looking at Cracktooth's features. "Are y-you...(she stopped to look at the name on one of the letters)...Roseluck?
Cracktooth's heart sank as he replied,"No, that's my Roommate. I can give her the letters if you want."
With that, he concentrated his magic at the letters, which suddenly were surrounded by a green aura. They floated towards him, where he tucked them under his wing.
"Thank you, miss..."
"D-ditzy...Ditzy do!" The mailmare replied, still on the verge of galloping away.
"Well, miss Do, I think you have work to do, so I'll let you get-"
In a gust of wind, she was gone, banging strait into a streetlamp before continuing on her way, much faster than she was going before. Cracktooth sighed, saying softly,"Thank you for the letters..."
He slowly walked back inside. Why did everypony here still treat him this way? Ever since he moved in a month ago, it's just been frightened looks and the backs of ponies tails as they gallop away. He was starting to get sick of it. He has proved himself as a member of pony society, right? Both of the princesses pardoned him and he was no longer considered a threat, so why did he still only get frightened looks?
He went into the kitchen to make himself some breakfast. Not that it would make a difference. He didn't need food: he needed understanding, friendship, compassion...love.
He poured some cereal he found in one of the cabinets into a bowl and took a spoon and some milk. He mixed the cereal with the milk while he thought a bit more about that one word; that word that meant everything to him; the word he could not live without. I comes in many forms, except that it didn't come towards him.
Cracktooth sighed and started eating away at the cereal. All he needed was simple compassion, but the only pony that seemed to give him any at all was Roseluck...Roseluck...
Cracktooth absentmindedly looked towards the clock as he turned that name around in his head. The smaller of the two hands pointed between the numbers 6 and 7, while the other was one or two notches to the right of the number 6, meaning it was 6:30. Cracktooth took in that information and had that banging around in his head as well. Roseluck and 6:30...Roseluck and 6:30...
Suddenly, the two pieces of information collided and Cracktooth remembered something:
"ROSELUCK NEEDS TO BE AT WORK AT 7!"
He slammed down his spoon and galloped up the stairs. He stopped in front of his Roommate's door and opened the door. He usually respected her privacy, especially since she was of the opposite sex, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He walked into her neat and tidy room, an exact opposite of how his was, and made his way towards her bed. She was sleeping peacefully on her side.
Cracktooth was about to shake her awake, but stopped as she shifted in bed, still asleep, and pointed her small muzzle towards him. In that moment, she looked very cute and elegant. Cracktooth found himself lowering his face towards hers. He stopped himself inches before his muzzle touched hers and decided to go with his original plan: wake her up. He shook her gently untill she opened her eyes.
"Roseluck! Roseluck!",he repeated in an urgent tone.
"Ahh!!!"
She got startled having a face such as his looking at her as soon as she woke up, but calmed down as soon as she realized that it was only her mysterious and slightly strange roommate.
"Cracktooth! You nearly gave me a heart attack! W-what are you doing in my room?" she said, hopefully not thinking what Cracktooth thought she was.
"It's 6:30!" He panickingly shouted, forcing his half-asleep roommate to fold her ears down. However, they sprung right back into place when he as finished.
"6:30?", she asked, starting to get into the panicky mood herself now. "6:30!! OH, I NEED TO GET GOING!"
She jumped out of bed and galloped around the room, looking for whatever she should need for her long day at the flower shop and rambling with every high-speed step she took.
"-could happen without me! With that lazy Mare in training and the bank nearly getting hold of one of the storage spaces out back, could you imagine? OH, THE HORROR! THE-"
She dashed out of the door and ran downstairs, where she surely was eating the rest of Cracktooth's bowl of cereal. He sighed, still in the room, and looked to the left, where he saw a tacky old mirror that Rosebud used to take care of her mane in the morning. Staring right at him was a jet-black figure with a few greenish tints. He looked at his figure, from his Hole-filled legs to the insect-like wings on his back, to the pair of fangs emerging from his mouth, all the way to the slightly curved horn on the top of his head.
He sighed once more and went downstairs to help Roseluck prepare for the long day ahead.
"Rumble, get up. You're going to be late for school!"
Rumble groaned and slowly opened his eyes. All he could see was just a whole lot of black. Suddenly, the black turned into white and back into black but lighter, as somepony lifted up his covers and let the newly risen sun's light enter his eyes, making him have to squint. Thankfully, a figure stepped between him and the window, shading his fragile eyes from the usually harmless sun. Opening his eyes again, Rumble looked up to see a familiar face frown at the sight of him still in bed.
"I thought I told you to get up! You're going to be late...again!"
"I...I..." Rumble started to say, putting up his hoof in order to protect his still fragile eyes from the rays of Celestia's sun, who was illuminating the figure now in front of him. "I...What time is it?"
"Way past the time you're supposed to get up. Now, get your flank in gear and come downstairs, I've made you breakfast."
Rumble groaned, but still slowly got out of bed, knowing that he would be forcefully lifted out if he stayed a few more minutes that required. He started flapping his tiny little wings and flew down the stairs, where the smell of Toast and Pancakes filled the air. He entered the kitchen, where he saw the pony who had awaken him from his sacred slumber. His brother, Thunderlane, was at the stove, busy making his smaller sibling's breakfast.
He turned to face Rumble and said, "Well, look whose risen from the dead! Come on, you have a half an hour before you need to go."
With that, he masterfully flipped a pancake onto a plate on the table, all ready for Rumble to buzz over, sit down and start digging in, almost forgetting the Maple syrup next to him.
After a *Ding* coming from the toaster, Thunderlane carried his plate to the small table in the middle of the kitchen and sat down, across from his brother. They both ate in silence for a while, before the larger pegasus decided to break the ice.
"So...", he started, "...what are you doing in school nowadays?"
Rumble looked up from his almost gone pancake and replied, "Oh...we're getting ready for a test on changelings." Ignoring his older sibling's shiver at that last word, he went back to his breakfast. "I've heard that there was a changeling living right here in Ponyville, maybe I could ask him a few questions in preparation for the test..."
Thuderlane stopped chewing at looked up at his brother, suddenly looking very serious.
"Listen, Rumble..." He said, putting his toast back on his plate. "I don't think you should...talk...to Pon-...creatures like him. It would be best if you just got a book from the library."
Rumble, who had finished with his pancake, sighed and replied,"Look, big brother... I can do things by myself! I don't need you telling me what I can or cannot do anymore, OK. First off, the library got blown up a few months ago. Secondly, I doubt that we would have a detailed book about changelings this close to their discovery. I can do this, even if you don't think I can."
With nothing else to eat and say, he got off his chair and went to the closet for his schoolbag.
"You know..." Thunderlane muttered, looking at Rumble exiting the room."I'm just trying to protect you..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Just calm down, Rose! You'll get there in time."
The frantic flower vendor was racing around the kitchen so fast that Cracktooth's pupiless eyes could hardly keep up. Roseluck kept opening and shutting drawers, cupboards and even rooted around in the trash looking for her keys. Cracktooth sat on his haunches in the in the doorway to the hall, debating what to do with his hysterical roommate.
"That's it!" Rose exclaimed, stopping in her tracks to flop down onto the cold kitchen floor. "I can't find the keys! I can't lock the house for when we're both away! I can't UNLOCK my employee locker at the flower shop. I can't WORK without my equipment! OH THE HORROR! THE HORROR!"
"Wait..." Cracktooth cautiously said, staring at the broken down mare on the floor, who was now starting to bang her head lightly on the ceramic tiles underneath her. "You're looking for the keys? They're on the living room table. That's where you left them yesterday, anyway..."
At the changeling's words, Roseluck sprang her hear up from the floor. Her ear twitched twice, probably to make sure she heard right, before she turned her head towards her roommate, pupils as small as pinheads. A tense three seconds passed before the mare's face got swallowed up by a gigantic grin covering almost her entire face. She practically flew up from the floor and wrapped her hooves around the startled bug-pony in front of her, squealing of delight the entire trip.
"OHHTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU SOOO MUCH!"
All Cracktooth could do was grin as well and even chuckle a bit, knowing he made her happy. And there, right there, is where he felt it. A little tugging sensation in his chest, barely noticeably underneath his chitin, but still present.
But, before he could wonder what it meant, the Mare hanging around his neck galloped into the living room, leaving the Changeling with a little smile on his lips and a light feeling in his body.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rumble made his way down the streets of Ponyville, wings buzzing crazily. If he was going to be late, he'd might as well look tired.
I hope I'll at least be ready for next week's test., he thought,I wonder what Thunderlane's problem with Changelings are. I mean, I heard they invaded during the wedding a year back, but that doesn't explain why he seems REALLY afraid of it. Maybe he saw something bad wh- OOF!
The tiny pegasus picked himself off the ground and tried to focus on what he just flew into. He saw a pale yellow coated earth pony with a reddish mane pick herself of the ground, groaning. When she saw Rumble, the mare gasped and quickly apologized:
"Oh, Rumble, I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there and I'm late for work and I-"
"It's OK, Miss Roseluck." Rumble assured her, rubbing a new bump on his leg. "You didn't hurt me. Besides, I wasn't really looking where I was going..."
He trailed off, looking at the cottage behind the mare, who was dusting off the dirt in her coat. He looked through the open door of the house and swore he could see a dark silhouette with two giant blue orbs staring at him. Before he could make out what it was, the door got engulfed by a green aura and slammed shut. Confused, the colt turned to where Roseluck was dusting herself off a second ago, just to see that she was gone. Probably off to work., he thought.
Then, with just a second glance towards the cottage, Rumble started flapping his wings and flew off towards the schoolhouse in the distance.
