Chapters The Changelings Trail (Edited)
Deep within the Everfree forest lies a small clearing and within the clearing a purple alicorn with her guards a Pegasus and a unicorn were following a strange green magic trail that the alicorn managed to reveal and they slowed down a bit when the guard got in front of the Alicorn "Princess twilight are you certain it's a good idea to go into the Everfree and purposefully look for Changelings" Asked the brown colored unicorn in gold plated armor.After hearing the question for the third time throughout this trip the purple alicorn simple sighs before saying for the third time.
"Yes I'm quite certain Fast Shot. You know if you keep asking I'm going to start thinking that you don’t think I can take care of myself"
"Sorry princess but may I suggest we take a break" Replied Fast Shot while keeping a vigilant eye on their surroundings especially at the lake.
"Alright we have been trotting around for a while we should rest" Twilight said with a hint of reluctance. She has been looking for evidence on what happened to the changelings ever since she became an alicorn and after months of research and investigations she finally has what appeared to be a magical trail that seems to be fresh but is decaying rapidly at an accelerated rate. The alicorn turned towards the Pegasus guard with her and said "Wing strike mind keeping an eye above us?" The stallion simple nodded and took flight to keep an eye out for any of the dangers that the Everfree could throw at them. Twilight then with a quick bit of magic created a small campfire sat down on her haunches to rest her hooves that were a bit aching after the long journey they have taken which had put them in the middle of the Everfree forest. Captain Fast Strike decided to sit down as well and glanced at Corporal Wing strike before saying
"Stallion of many words that corporeal seriously he could be invisible if you don’t notice him." Twilight simply nodded to the captain but she wasn’t really listening. She was more interested in the trail she uncovered and maintaining its visibility. Suddenly a branch snaps making both princess and soldier stand up horns glowing at the ready one with a lethal spell while the other has a simple spell to knock whatever comes at them unconscious. After a tense stare off into the forest a small white rabbit comes out of the forest towards their camp looking at them with curious eyes. Twilight sighed with relief and powered down her horn while fast shot simple relaxed and did the same but continued staring into the forest. Twilight decided to stare off into the sky and upon doing so she saw that wing strike was right above her
"Gah" Exclaimed the surprised alicorn before a calming down quickly when she realized it was just wing strike. While the captain was trying hard not to laugh at the scene but failing to hold back a chuckle and said "You see that's what I mean when I said that stallion could be invisible if you don’t keep an eye on him." The Pegasus in question simply shrugged and decided to sit down on his haunches and said "I don’t blame the princess to be jumping at shadows we are in the middle of the Everfree anyway I noticed a storm was brewing so I decided to head back here and warn you all and also during my flight back I saw a cave nearby that we can take refuge in during the storm"
"That's definitely convenient...but is it empty the last thing we need is to go in a cave and some creature in the Everfree thinking it's a good idea to go in that cave as well" Asked the captain. "Yes sir it did seem to be empty and it was also like the entire trip not a single monster in sight " Replied the corporeal.
"You know Wing it's kinda strange how we simply trudged through this forest and not met one monster throughout our path it's almost as if the forest itself senses something wrong." Said the captain with almost a hint of tension. Wing Strike simply shrugged and Twilight looked around the forest before getting up and extinguish the campfire she made and said "Your right Fast but this strange phenomena in the forest had started happening ever since the wedding so if the changelings have anything to do with that we'll just have to wait and see anyway let's head to that cave I rather not get caught out here in the rain and have to turn around." Both guards grabbed their gear and stand side by side with the princess as they once again track through the forest towards the cave. While they trot to the cave Twilight couldn’t help but notice that the trail they had been following actually leads towards to the cave and stopping at the entrance.
"Dang it’s a full blown storm out there right now." Says a drenched Fast Strike. The storm had started while The captain went out to get some firewood to keep a fire going but he didn’t get far enough before storm clouds flew above him. "Yeah that storm is a lot more ferocious right now." I do hope Spike is alright. Replies Twilight with a look of concern. While both the princess and the captain were talking Wing Strike decided to explore the cave a bit before he came to a dead end and headed back to where they both were still discussing about random things. 'Maybe I should join in...my mom always keeps getting me to talk more often before she gave up' Thought of Wing Strike and when he was about to ask them both something but a strange soothing sound of music flowed into the cave stopping everyone's conversations and causing Wing Strikes eyes to widen in surprise.
Twilight silently got up off her haunches and trotted towards the sound as did her escorts and when they reached towards the end of the cave it appeared to be a dead end but the music seemed to originate from the dead end and also judging from the sound it seemed to be further in. Fast put one hoof on the wall but instead of touching the dead end his hoof went right through it. He then looked at twilight and said "Well guess we better see who's there princess" said the captain with a worried look.
Twilight simply nodded in agreement and was about go in first before she stopped and said "Wait let me cast something to keep us from being spotted." Her horn glowed and the two guards and twilight glowed a small bit before it dissipated after a bit. Wing strike was curious about the spell and asked twilight what type of spell it was. "Oh that spell it's something I made after the ummm…"She started blushing in embarrassment when she said this next line. "...Want it need it incident anyway what that spell does is that it makes us seem unimportant as long as we don’t draw anything to ourselves, now let's follow that sound" Both guards looked at eachother and nodded and looked at Twilight. The captain said "Lead the way princess" After saying that twilight went through the illusion that was a dead end along with the other guards and followed the sound of music through a series of paths that connect to each other and go around while some go straight up or straight down it was clear that someone or something created these tunnels just to confuse anypony who got through the illusion and what seemed to be a good while they managed to get to what appeared to be a primitive oak wooden door they looked at eachother and twilight silently opened the door and went through with the guards at her side and they all stopped and stared at the center of a huge cavern area that also has a good few decorations here and there. There also appeared to be a pure purple crystal piano in the center of the room with a strange equine like being with a curved crooked horn with what appears to be cracks going straight up to the tip that's also glowing a bright purple playing it.
When the strange being stopped playing music it simply got up and trotted around the piano revealing that the strange equine like being had chitin on it. it had holes as it should have but two holes are situated literally at the end of its hooves giving it a sharp look as if it could be used as a weapon. Along with the holes it has what appeared to be glowing cracks on its legs and were glowing a deep purple. The being's face also covered in chitin had purple slitted eyes but what draw Twilight’s eyes the most was what is on its flank which happened to be a cutie mark which showed a blue musical note with purple spikes at the end of it. Wing Strike noticed that the being they found had a strange necklace with several charms on it that seemed to look like common elements Earth, Water, Air, and fire except there was one extra and that charm looked like a small purple orb with a black musical note on the front in the same shape of the beings cutie mark, the charm itself was right underneath the changelings neck. Several things went through their minds and that was pure surprise, curiosity, and apprehension. They all know what it is and what this could possibly mean but they were stunned by the fact that after all these years they discovered one changeling but even then it doesn't look like a normal changeling at all.
The changeling shivered a bit after feeling a small draft of the storm’s rain that continues to pound outside. "Huh weird I could have sworn I shut the door" said the changeling in a calm voice. He (they decided to assume it is a he) was heading over to the door they opened and they simple stepped out of the way hoping to Celestia that Twilight's spell does not fail. The changeling simply closed the door and headed back to the crystal piano and grabbed a book from the front of the piano and opened it revealing music sheets the changeling then started talking to himself. "Alright I managed to finish one of many music projects, guess I should put it up with the others and get some rest though I also need to prepare for my friend coming tomorrow as well. Hope she is ok" The changeling started trotting to a different door and opened it up revealing a small square room that had a makeshift bed and a few bookcases carved into the stone. When the changeling closed the door both twilight and the guards looked at eachother and started backing out of what appeared to be this strange changelings home and when they went out through the door they started galloping back to the entrance of the cave not stopping for rest until they got out to what appeared to be a misty night in the Everfree. while the guards were catching their breath Twilight was getting her horn ready for a teleport and she and her two guards were teleported back to the castle surprising spike off a ladder with a duster and several books.
"Jeez Twilight can you give me a warning" Said the little dazed baby dragon that also was rubbing his head from a hard book that fell on top of it. Wincing slighty the princess simply replied "Sorry Spike but can you please get a parchment and quill ready I really need to send a message to princess Celestia"
"Yeah sure just hold on for a minute" The baby dragon managed to get himself up and grabbed a parchment and a quill out of the pile of books that fell on top of him and started getting ready to write down what was possibly a long letter to Celestia.
Twilight began "Dear Celestia…"
Author's Note
And so begins the journey. Enjoy or not the choice is yours...I await your judgment.
The song I choose is from a great app called Deemo and I do suggest you give it a try on the ipad or iphone its a fun game that im practically hooked.
oh and to let you know which musical note I was referring to here
The changelings are back...sorta (Edited)
Celestia
Celestia was slowly opening her eyes within her new prison and though she wouldn’t admit it in public the strange cocoon the changelings put her in was strangely comfortable. Celestia decided to take in her surroundings or as little of what she can see.
‘It would appear that I might be upside down hmmmm...that's strange I should be feeling the effects of blood rushing through my head about now’ Thought Celestia. Even though she could see a bit of her surroundings it also doesn't help with the fact that everything is tinged green. From within her prison she saw Chrysalis and it appeared the changeling queen was giving a speech of some sort but it sort of saddened Celestia that she couldn’t hear her speech since all sound seems to be muffled.
‘Even though she defeated me she is going to be defeated by the elements I just know it but it would be interesting to hear what she believes is the right reason to attack us even though we never even knew changelings existed’ contemplated Celestia. After a while of just sitting there in her cocoon and almost dozing off from boredom Celestia saw the doors open and see the Twilight and her friends along with her niece Cadence captured. Celestia’s eyes widened seeing them captured and she felt a twinge of fear creeping up on her but it was soon replaced with relief when Chrysalis said something to the changelings and instead of killing them they put a weird substance on them and stuck them to a wall while making sure that they can’t break free.
‘That was a close one but why spare them she acted like she was goanna kill me and everyone but instead she merely outperform my magic and entrapped me in this peculiar prison though she did had a few good hits on me’ Celestia then noticed that cadence somehow broken free and is heading somewhere off to her right but it was out of her limited sight but she dose sense some sort of power gathering over there. She then looked at Chrysalis and narrowed her eyes ‘Shouldn’t she sense that? There is something off about this invasion’ Chrysalis then turned around and noticed something going on to her right, her slitted eyes widened a bit when she realizes that something was going on and she yelled something towards where cadence went and was running over there but stopped, eyes widening in shock at seeing something.
Celestia then heard a huge muffled sound of a shield spell being performed and Celestia smiled knowing that Shining Armor had somehow managed to break free of Chrysalis’s spell probably with the help of his true wife. She then see a shield expanding over her and noticed some regular drones literally flying off to get away from the shield while Chrysalis stood there stunned. Then her stunned looked faded away as if it were nothing and time seemed to slow down for Celestia when she noticed instead of anger as her next emotion on her face she instead show a knowing smirk as if she expected this to happen the shield had reached Chrysalis and sent her flying off through a window and judging from the angle she was going, she would land within the Everfree. The last thought she had for the Changeling queen was simply ‘What were you REALLY planning’
Celestia woken up from the dream of the events of the Canterlot wedding with her sister yelling at a certain nephew. “Blueblood I will not lend you all my guards to arrest one of your maids because she fallen asleep on duty and is snoring loudly” Celestia cringed hearing that, even though she does love her nephew he can be a bit of a handful at times. 'I better get to Luna before she does something she might regret' Celestia then gotten out of bed and noticed that there was a scroll sent from the newly crowned princess Twilight on her nightstand, Celestia decided to read it after she raised the sun and prevent luna from doing something horrible to... “BLUEBLOOD GET BACK HERE YOU SHALL NOT SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO ME WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES !” ‘I think the sun can wait a few more minutes.’ quickly thought Celestia rushing out the door of her bedroom to convince her sister to not eviscerate her nephew.
Twilight
After sending the letter to Princess Celestia, Twilight decided to get her notes together and send a few of her guards to keep an eye on the changelings den so that if it decides to move, she will be able to track down or capture the changeling. While Twilight was reading over some of her notes on what little information there is about changelings one of the unicorn guards burst into her study panting up a storm.
“Your…(pant)...majesty…(pant)...there's a problem…(deep breath)...happening at the changeling’s lair” Said the guard clearly tired from rushing to her.
Shocked twilight asked “what happened did the changeling discovered he was being watched?!?”
The guard shook his head and took another deep breath to speak clearly “No ma'am. A filly on a scooter rode up to the changeling’s cave and entered but not before glancing around her surroundings first” Twilight's heart started racing do to the fact that she knows who that filly is but just in case she asked “d...do you know what the filly looked like”
The guard nods and said “yes I do the filly had a orange coat and a purple mane and had a shield with a purple lightning bolt on it as her Cutie mark” when the guard finished Twilight’s eyes shrank to pinpricks and quickly with a hint of fear in her voice “We need to get the rest of the guards over there right now!” The soldier then bowed to her and started galloping back to let the guards know to get ready leaving Twilight alone wondering what will happen to the filly.
‘Sweet Celestia please let Scootaloo be all right’
Scootaloo
‘Is it just me or does it feel like somepony is watching me’ Thought the Pegasus filly as she rode on her scooter towards the front entrance of the cave she then stopped and look towards the rest of the Everfree with a look of suspicion and tension. She then turned around and entered the cave and head into what seemed like a dead end but without stopping she continued riding forward until she went through the dead end into a maze of paths. She went off of her scooter and looked at the grooves she made with her scooter on her constant trips to visit her good friend.
‘I wonder if he is alright and didn’t get hurt by Timberwolves...again’ Scootaloo managed to reach the wooden door and started hearing a sound of a piano being played but by one note and a huge wait before it gets played again but in a different tone.
‘Guess he is tuning his special piano...wait he is tuning his piano that means…’ The filly had gotten a mischievous grin and slowly opened up the door and quietly entered the room. She then looked towards the center of the room and see her friend tuning his special crystal piano. Scootaloo silently head right to the changeling taking extra care to not be in his line of sight. ‘Oh this is the perfect revenge for that prank he did the last time I visited’ Scootaloo managed to get right behind the changeling who was oblivious to its impending doom Scootaloo then took a deep breath.
“.......HEY SHADOW"
SCREECH
DONG
“owwwwww” moaned shadow. Scootaloo was laughing hysterically trying hard to catch her breath from the sight that laid before her. Shadow was scared so bad he literally dived head first into the piano and somehow getting himself tangle with the strings within the piano. the changeling then glared at Scootaloo and said “Did you really need to do that” Scootaloo managed to get her composure just to answer this one question. “Yes, yes I had to since you did got me yesterday” The changeling rolled its slitted eyes real quick before replying “Come on Scootaloo you know that prank didn’t hurt you heck it only left you wet and I made sure the bucket didn’t hit you in the head”
Scootaloo ears pinned on her head after realizing that shadow was indeed in pain “sorry shadow here let me help you out of there.”
Twilight
Twilight was rushing through the cavern with several guards of her guards that were on duty watching the cave for any signs of activity and after a few accidental turns and dead ends they all managed to finally reach the door and Twilight was just about to rush into the room before she started hearing voices behind it curious she stopped her guards real quick in order to listen in better
“Come On shadow it be awesome if you could just come to ponyville with me I can easily visit you some more” said the first voice which Twilight instantly recognized it as scootaloo’s voice.
“Alright Scootaloo I’ll tell you again one last time because I'm starting to get tired of repeating no every time you try to convince me to head to ponyville” started the second voice which she guessed was shadow and was the changeling.
“I have three reasons why I don’t want to go to ponyville. The first reason is because I'm a changeling and they are more than likely gonna chase me out of town trying to kill me in the process of chasing me away. The second reason is because I can not disguise at all. My mom never taught me how to disguise yet so I can’t hide amongst ponies and that will lead to me getting either captured or killed and that's something I really don’t want. My last reason is because of what happened at the wedding I believe that princess Twil…” The changeling never gotten to finish that last reason for Twilight herself along with some guards barged in through the door surprising both Scootaloo and the Changeling known as shadow. Twilight has a spell at the ready but hesitated on using it on the changeling because he was looking straight at Twilight and her guards with mounting horror and Scootaloo stared wide eyed at Twilight with a look of pure surprise. They both stared at eachother before the changeling backed up once and looked at Scootaloo and yelled “Run” To Scootaloo before turning around and slamming a door open that lead to another maze of paths.
“Guards catch up to that changeling and try to retrieve him but do try hard not to hurt him. I will look after Scootaloo and make sure the changeling didn’t harm her” said twilight. The guards saluted Twilight and headed off to chase down the changeling that bolted. Twilight then looked at Scootaloo who was still shocked to see her and Twilight only had one thing to ask “Scootaloo were you keeping a secret from me” The Pegasus filly winced when Twilight said secret and said nothing while keeping her eyes on the floor.
Shadow
‘Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap’ those were the only thoughts rushing through shadows head as he was rushing through his cavern that he created for as a back door for Scootaloo if the front entrance.
‘Oh sweet mother I am so dead! How did she found my home just HOW’ The changeling then started to hear Armor clanking nearby and his slitted eyes gotten smaller from the fear that has gripped the changeling “oh crap” Yelled the changeling skidding to a stop when his path was blocked by several unicorn guards charging up stun spells. When they fired one of shadows charms started glowing purple along with his crooked horn and he literally burst into a dark smoke that seemed to move forward past the guards and then he reappeared from the smoke he then made a sharp turn to the left thinking ‘Thank the first mother my dad taught me how to shadow walk but jeez he didn’t warn me of how disorienting it was’ said the almost dazed changeling slowing down a bit so he doesn't trip over himself. One of the guards were catching up to him powering up a powerful spell so the changeling quickly ducked to the ground as the spell flew over him and impacted the wall causing the cave to tremble.
One of the guards yelled “Horseapples! A cave in is about to happen get out of there” The guards started heading back but several boulders had already blocked their escape route and several more were about to fall on them when a bright purple shield appeared right above them. “Ack” exclaimed the changeling shakily holding up the barrier his head was actually trembling from the weight of the boulders on his shield and the shield itself showed some cracks already forming the changeling then looked at the guards who were staring at the changeling in awe and he shakily said “g...get...out...from underneath there” the guards quickly got up and headed off while one unicorn guard waited behind staying next to shadow and seeing that the guards are at a part of the cave that's not caving in she quickly touched shadow and teleported to that spot in the cave. Shadow was completely dazed and hurt from doing that and the first thing he did was shakily touch his muzzle and when he brought his hoof back a bit of green blood was on it. Upon seeing this shadow said “huh I'm bleeding” before he tipped over and fell on his side. The guards were saying something but shadow didn’t heard them real good and the last thing he heard before surrendering to unconsciousness was
“some...hel…...medic”
Author's Note
Whelp looks like no one got seriously hurt other then shadow so all is good though I think a certain somepony is in trouble for keeping a secret
Notice a typo? Found a part where things don't make sense? You have a bone to pick with the author of this Fic? If you said yes to any of these then I want YOU to comment or pm me. Just one commet might help make this Fic better or make me realize something is off about my Fic.
Twilight
“That was a close one I'm really glad we managed to get to him in time and I'm also so glad you decided to help out” said Twilight while turning to face the nurse that decided to be the one to help the changeling even though the other nurses and doctors didn’t want to help him. The mare in question who goes by the name of nurse Redheart nodded to Twilight and said “Yes I'm definitely glad you allowed me to help despite me being a nurse and not a doctor in fact I'm sort of disappointed in my colleges even though he is a changeling they are still a pony in need”
Twilight smiled at the nurse and turn her head back to the notes she was taking of the changeling. Twilight then went over her notes making sure that everything is at its place until she quickly looked away blushing greatly at the last bit of her notes considering they were about a certain anatomy part but she couldn’t lose her chance on learning anything about the changelings including their physiology and a bit of their biology. Her thoughts were completely interrupted when the nurse asked Twilight a simple question.
“Twilight have you noticed that the changeling has a scar over its left eye” after hearing that she turned over to look at the changeling only now noticing that there was a long thin scar over the changeling’s eye and it doesn't seem to break off at the eyelid since the scar seems to go straight over it. Perplexed and surprised that she missed that she quickly responded “No I haven't seen a scar over that changeling’s eye until you pointed it out though. Strange it seems to have been there for quite a while...kind of makes me wonder what happened to him” Twilight also thought ‘I also wonder how he was able to use that eye since the scar indicated that he was stabbed right there but yet when I looked at him he was staring at me in fear with both of his eyes opened and working perfectly fine’ Twilight examined the scar one last time and decided to put it down in her notes on the changeling's appearance and she decided to try and do a magical analization next so she knows what a changeling’s magic looks like since it offers the ability to transform them into other creatures in such a perfect mimic that you wouldn’t be able tell them apart of the original by looks only.
Twilight then shuddered remembering how eerily Chrysalis looked so easily like cadence but couldn’t act like her which helped Twilight in figuring out the imposter. She looked over to the nurse and asked “Nurse Redheart can you help me scan the Changelings inner magic” The mare nodded saying “Certainly just let me hook the changeling up to the machine first so that way if he has any negative reactions to magic scans we would immediately know”
After a while hooking up the changeling to the thaumatic tracer and the heartbeat monitor Twilight went to straight to work powering up a scanning spell that would be able to give her a feel on how the changelings magic works and with the added bonus of a memory spell in order to show her exactly how the changeling uses his magic but when she cast it over the changeling she felt her spell hit a sudden wall of magic so intense that it made her flinch in pain at the 'impact' but what was causing her ever growing headache was what the spell was scanning and apparently the wall of magic seemed to originate from the changelings necklace and charms but the enchantment felt wrong and the runes look like they were made in a different alphabet. Twilight dissipated the spell noticing that nurse Redheart is looking at her in concern and Twilight said “I'm fine Redheart. I just hit some sort of mental wall that blocked off my scan and it seemed to originate from his necklace and charms is it ok if we remove them?” The nurse looked over the changeling and nodded saying “Sure but we should put it back on him as soon as we're done. Judging by how clean these charms are especially that purple orb one with his cutie mark on it I would think he would prefer to keep it with him at all times.”
Twilight then tried to move it with her magic and was surprised that she couldn’t move it at all. After a few tries she decided to simply grab it with her hoof and remove it herself but upon doing so the thaumatic tracer started going haywire and the numbers that indicated the changelings magic started going crazy as each number was going up or down but not affecting the other numbers that were also doing it but what really scared both Twilight and nurse Redheart was that the heart monitor sensing shadows heart rate started dropping, Twilight then put the necklace back on the changeling as fast as she could but with a bit of trouble since she was so used to using her magic to do it for her while Redheart was getting a crash cart over to the changeling.
When Twilight managed to put the necklace back on, the thaumatic levels started going normal again after a small bit of time but the changelings heart rate was still lowering and nurse Redheart soon came in with a crash cart started its charge and yelled clear before giving the changelings heart a small jump start. After all that the heart monitor was getting a steady beat causing both mares to quickly sigh with relief then the nurse turned to Twilight and said quickly fear evident in her voice “Twilight I think we're a bit out of our league with this changeling do you think you can get a doctor from Canterlot over here” Twilight nodded and said “I actually contacted princess Celestia as soon as I got both the changeling and the guards out of the cave in letting her know what happened she sent a letter back telling me that she was soon coming, maybe she know what just happened” Twilight then looked at the changeling with a sense of apprehension and thought ‘I hope princess Celestia knows what happened because if I'm right the changeling is using that necklace to keep both his magic in check AND keep his heart rate from lowering so far he would die’ She then looked back over to nurse Redheart and said “One thing is clear about this and it's that we shouldn’t remove that necklace. I'm going to have to put this down in my notes as well considering this could be normal for a changeling” the nurse nodded silently in agreement and continued checking the changelings vitals several more times before calming down completely and relax a bit but it was obvious she was still worried about the changeling.
Celestia
Several hours has passed and Twilight was just about to finish her notes before the door to the room opened revealing Celestia and two solar guards whom took places in the corner of the room. Brightening up Twilight rushed over to her mentor saying “Princess Celestia it's good to see you” she quickly gave her old mentor a hug which she also returned in kind and said “It's great to see you to Twilight but do you still have to call me princess even though you're basically my equal” Twilight then quickly cringed before quickly saying “Sorry Celestia old habits tend to die hard.” Celestia then looked over and seeing the only nurse who was taking care of the changeling bowing down to her and she head over to her and said with a smile “No need for formalities nurse Redheart but could you tell me how is the changeling doing”
The nurse quickly got up and nodded and said “The changeling is simply in a magically induced coma and it will be a while before he wakes up but recently me and Twilight had a small scare when we removed the necklace he was wearing, both his magic started going crazy and his heart rate started to drop to dangerous levels. While Twilight had to put the necklace back on the changeling, I had to get the crash cart to jumpstart the changelings heart rate since it was still falling down rapidly, other than that the changeling has been sleeping peacefully for the past hours” Upon hearing that the princess quickly looked over to the changeling worry clear in her eyes. ‘I hope the changeling is alright even if my ponies believe they're nothing but evil which hurts my heart they would think that but still that changeling almost died’ the princess then turn to look over her old student and said “Twilight you mentioned in your letter that Scootaloo was there when you captured the changeling and she apparently knew him for a while. Did you managed to talk with Scootaloo about who he is” Celestia noticed that Twilight wilted a bit and quickly said “Sorry after I managed to send Scootaloo to my home I haven't gotten the chance to talk to her after the incident. If you like I can bring you to her right now and we can all ask her a few questions. Celestia thought it over and seeing how the changeling was probably not going to speak to her or Twilight she decided to accept the offer by saying “Certainly I do have a few questions to ask her but I think I can spare enough time to ask them to her. It might help shed in some light to how the changeling will react when he wakes up from his coma” Twilight nodded and teleported both her and Celestia over to the castle leaving nurse Redheart behind whom was very curious about the 'cracks' in the changelings chitin which were glowing dully right now. She ran her hoof on one of the 'cracks' and said “weird they don’t act like cracks in fact it feels like they are literally a part of the changelings exoskeleton what do you think Twilight” the nurse turned around into a empty room of nothing but medical supplies and a crash cart. She looked around again before saying again in confusion “Twilight”
They we're in the Twilights castle after a quick teleport spell from Twilight and while wandering in the halls of Twilight's crystal castle they managed to bump into captain Fast Shot whom asked where Twilight was going and she told him she was going to go talk with Scootaloo right now and Fast asked if he could accompany them since he would like to know a bit about the changeling in the hospital that saved some of his guards from the cave in. Twilight agreed and all three of them were now outside the door to the guest bedroom and when they opened the door they saw Scootaloo hanging off the bed looking at them upside down with a surprised expression before quickly getting up and getting off the bed and quickly saying in a cheerful voice “Hey Twilight. Hey Celestia. How are you all doing” The princess answered first and said “Twilight and I are doing fine today and how about you Scootaloo” Scootaloo responded and said “I’m doing okay though I've been a bit bored as of lately but I have to ask, Twilight am I in big trouble for not telling you about shadow”
Twilight was about respond but the princess beat her to it by saying “No you're not in trouble Scootaloo but I have to ask who is shadow” Scootaloo soon responded by saying “Shadow is the changeling you both brought to Ponyville hospital, though he told me his full name which is Shadow Light” Scootaloo then looked down with a grim expression on her face and she said “Say is Shadow ok, I had heard about the cave in through some of the guards and I just want to know if he and the guards are ok. Captain Fast shot nodded and reassured Scootaloo by saying “The guards are alright in fact shadow cast a shield over the boulders that were falling on them and buying them enough time to get to a area that wasn’t caving in while one guards teleported shadow to that safety area but the amount of magic had caused a big toll on shadow causing him to go into a magically induced coma but he is alright and sleeping peacefully right now.” Scootaloo nodded real quick brightening up a small bit knowing that shadow is alright but not a lot since he is still in the hospital. Fast decided to quickly ask a question and he asked “Scootaloo mind telling me how shadow normally acts”
Scootaloo nodded and said “Shadow tends to be defensive with every pony he doesn't know and especially if it involves with his friends but other then that he can be a very nice pony to talk to though he can be a bit overwhelmed at times especially when he is working on a big project and he needs absolute concentration, he told me why he acts that way but I don’t remember how to pronounce it though and he made me promise not to tell anypony what it is except that he was born that way, other then that he is a nice friend to have.” Celestia noticed Twilight writing something down on some notes that she took with her after while also muttering “Could have a possibility in receiving Autism from his parents” And she quickly asked “Scootaloo do you think you could tell us when you met shadow” she quickly nodded and said “sure I don’t mind it happened several weeks ago while I was heading over to Zecora's and see if Applebloom was available today…"
Several weeks ago In a evil forest somewhere Scootaloo
‘Alright all I have to do is get to Zecora's by taking this path and take a left at the fork in the path that sounds easy to remember’ thought Scootaloo while staring at the entrance of the Everfree. Ever since the Canterlot wedding incident she had notice that the forest seemed a lot more calmer as of lately and to the point where she and the crusaders have been able to go through it safely and without a hitch now, normally she would go through without a care in the world if it wasn’t for the fact that rumors had started up that the changelings are still at large ready to stri…*snap* snapping out of her thoughts she quickly turned towards where she heard a noise and quickly noticed a bush was shaking. Realizing there was something in the bushes she screamed and started galloping away and into the Everfree. Unbeknownst to her the creature who was in the bushes was actually a bunny that seemed to be lost, looking in the direction the pony went it simply twitched its nose and started hopping along into a different direction hoping to get to somewhere safe.
“*Pant* *Pant* *Pant* ...ok...I….I think I lost it” said a tired Scootaloo panting from the amount of distance she ran before stopping along a fork in the path she was taking to get to Zecora's. Looking down both paths she thought ‘Ok to get to Zecora’s I have to take a right I think...yeah right is the correct choice’ she headed off into the right path unknowingly going deeper within the Everfree forest and it wasn’t until after a while of walking she stopped real quick noticing the path was gone and with it the untamed forest is open to her. ‘Strange I don’t remember the path to Zecora’s this thick with plants and such...maybe I'm going the wrong way...nah I can’t be wrong I'm just paranoid over nothing’ She continued on ignoring the jungle’s warnings that she was going the wrong way. It wasn’t until she realized she doesn't know which way was back that she realized something ‘Oh sweet Celestia I'm lost...ok don’t panic Scootaloo you're going to be just fi…’
*rustling noises*
cut out from her thoughts trying to reassure herself that everything was fine she soon started hearing movement and a lot of it, snapping twigs and crunching leaves and the shaking of several bushes almost surround her and she stopped looking only to stare at two yellow eyes that are watching her every move, she soon heard a howl of a Timberwolf and a pack of them started to slowly approach her. Quickly acting she turned around and started running off in a random direction with the Timberwolves in close pursuit screaming a blood curdling scream of terror that in all honesty she wouldn’t admit that she screamed like that to Rainbowdash or her friends. It wasn’t long until she came to a dead end in the form of a cliff face panting she realized she was trapped when she turned around and see the Timberwolves surrounding her and cutting off her only way of escaping. ‘Well I guess this is it. I’m going to die and get eaten by Timberwolves without even getting to say goodbye to my friends’ sadly thought Scootaloo she soon heard one of the Timberwolves growling and she quickly close her eyes screaming and waiting for the inevitable jaws of the Timberwolf on her head tearing through her flesh or eat her whole and let her digest alive.
Instead of that however she soon felt a sudden heat grow near her and she heard the wolf suddenly Yelp as if something hit it but she was to afraid to open her eyes and see what happened until somepony yelled to her “Hey! Open your eyes and look up the cliff face” hearing that she quickly opened her eyes only to see a literal wall of fire between her and the wooden wolves she soon turned and looked up to see a figure at the top of the cliff face waving to her she noticed that the figures horn was glowing red possibly to help fuel the wall of fire that saved her from an untimely death. The figured then toss something off the cliff face and it was rope she soon heard the figure say “Quick grab hold the rope and hold on tight and hurry I won’t be able to hold them off for long” looking towards the Timberwolves she noticed one of their paws touching the flames and instead of catching on fire it returned unharmed she looked towards the figure realizing that he used some sort of illusion to distract the Timberwolves and within a second she grabbed hold of the rope with both her teeth and hooves, ignoring the taste of the rope and soon she soon felt being pulled off the ground and up the cliff face.
The Timberwolves soon realized two things at the same time the first thing was the wall of flame was an illusion and that they're prey was escaping soon they crossed the fake barrier and started rushing to get to their meal but they were too late the filly was to high and one even try jumping up and bite her but all the wolf felt was air instead of pony flesh. Going higher up the rope finally reached to the cliff face and a black hoof with strange looking cracks reached out to her and she quickly grabbed hold of It, the figure pulled her up and away from the cliff and onto safety or close to it within this forest. She quickly got up and looked straight into a changeling's face and she quickly jumped back and screamed but she jumped back to far and almost fell down the cliff but the changeling quickly grabbed hold of her again and pulled her up again and when he set her down he still had a hoof on her and quickly looked at her and said in the calmest voice “It's ok I'm not going to hurt. I heard you screaming and I went to check it out and I saw that you were being chased by the Timberwolves but first answer me this are you ok” She looked at the changeling in fear but also wondering why it wasn’t even hurting her and the concern look he was giving her looked genuine but she wasn’t sure but she told him in a shaky voice “Ye...Yeah...I..I'm fine...Just very jumpy right now.” The changeling nodded and asked “Mind telling me if you're lost” She hesitated but nodded slowly. He then let go of her and said “Ok tell you what how about I help you get back to your town, seriously your family must be worried sick about you and it wouldn’t do me well if I just up and leave you here” the changeling soon started heading off in a direction but before he could move a few hoof steps a distance rumble of a storm started and the changeling groaned in annoyance and saying “Oh you gotta be kidding me. Ok kid I'm gonna need you to follow me quickly we're gonna have to stop at my place for a bit before the storm comes”
Hearing that she was stuck with the changeling she started breathing heavily and the changeling heard that and wilted and said “Look I know you think I'm some sort of monster that will eat you and I understand that but I am genuinely trying to help you” Hearing that the filly looked down realizing that the changeling might be actually trying to help her and she calmed down a bit. She quickly head up to the changeling and despite her senses telling her to run but her heart seeing the changeling sad upon saying that she quickly hugged him and getting a surprised (but cute) chirp from him. She soon said “Thank you mister for helping me” she looked up to the surprised changeling and he simply smiled and said “It's no problem I wouldn’t not live with myself hearing someone die and I simply stood there and not help” he then motioned her to follow but after a bit of trotting she couldn’t help but say this “Hey mister” The changeling soon looked at her and she said hesitantly and shakily but still asked “M...My name is Sc...Scootaloo, what's yours” The changeling soon gave a reassuring smile at Scootaloo and quickly offer a hoof to shake and she took up on that offer and the changeling said “My names Shadow. Shadow Light and it's nice to meet you Scootaloo” The changeling soon let go of her hoof and they continued trotting off with the distant rumble of a thunderstorm promising a relentless downpour that hangs over their heads.
Celestia
“After a long time of hiding from the storm in shadows cave home we simply talked a bit an I learned a small bit of changeling culture which I have to admit is really interesting” Scootaloo then looked around real quick before saying “don’t tell Rainbowdash I said that please. That would be the most embarrassing thing to know right now” she then continue on by saying “Anyway after a while of chatting we soon became friends, and he taught me how to move across the forest without getting spotted and a secret path that literally reduces the chances of getting caught by a monster and the only reason why I still remember that path was because shadow marked several trees in this strange writing and a arrow that points to where he lives though the arrows are hard to see oh and by arrows I mean literally arrows that you would use with a bow. I’ve been meeting him ever since and he is considered a real close friend of mine and I did try to convince him to go to Ponyville several times but he would always tell me all sorts or reasons why he shouldn't go and they are all good reasons as well” When Scootaloo finished Celestia nodded and said “I think that will be enough Scootaloo. You had shed some light on a great deal of questions for me and I only have one to ask and is that do you want to see shadow” Scootaloo nodded and Twilight looked at her mentor with a surprised look on his face and quickly said “Hey captain Fast Shot mind bringing Scootaloo to Ponyville hospital I would like to ask Celestia something real quick” the guard nodded and motioned Scootaloo to follow and she did just that without any complaints.
When they left Celestia looked at Twilight and she said “Celestia is that a good idea? I'm not too certain because when we met chrysalis she had the ability to mind control my brother during his wedding” Celestia simply smiled knowing that it is a bit of a small risk but judging from how Scootaloo acted she knew she wasn’t under control at all and she said “I think it is a good idea to allow Scootaloo to visit her friend because shadow hasn’t given us any reason to detain him other than something that happened years ago and if we did just that we wouldn’t be better than Sombra since we would be hurting somepony who could be a potential friend” Twilight nodded and smiled before looking down at the floor and said “Sorry if I doubted you Celestia, it's just after the wedding incident I was so jumpy because I was worried the changelings might have replaced my friends or started controlling them behind my back so I might have some resentment to changelings but not enough to be unfair with them but I still have some to be wary of them”
Celestia simply hugged Twilight and gave her a light nuzzle and said “It's ok I'm defiantly glad you would definitely put something aside for somepony who could be innocent though I do agree we need to be wary of the changeling so I would like you to send him to me in Canterlot after when he is fully healed and if something happens I trust that you would let me know” Twilight smiled and break the embrace and said “You can count on me Celestia” They soon teleported off back into the hospital surprising nurse Redheart and Scootaloo from the sudden bright light but they quickly calmed down when they noticed it was just Twilight and Celestia and they simply had some small talk but the princess before she left she decided that she should scan the changelings magic real quick and upon doing so she quickly ran into the same problem as Twilight but instead of giving up she decided to scan the properties of the mental block that the changeling has and was surprised by the fact that not only is the wall encompassing only the changelings mind but the fact that it wasn’t any type of magic except dream magic.
The kind that her sister can do but more wild. Upon discovering that she quickly told Twilight and she was just as surprised as Celestia and wrote it down in her notes on the changeling while Celestia planned on letting her sister know about this. ‘Perhaps she might be able to see what shadow’s dreams are, or be able to get a better scan on the changeling’s magic’ Thought Celestia she soon gathered the attention of her pupil and said “Twilight I'm going to head back to Canterlot and let my sister know about this I would like it if you could continue assist nurse Redheart on helping shadow get to a perfect bill of health” Celestia soon teleported away leaving behind both her pupil and the nurse knowing full well they can handle the changeling and soon went to let her sister know about the events that happened about the changeling. ‘She was very adamant about heading to meet the changeling herself but I think that would bring more harm than good but it's a good thing that shadow choose to help Scootaloo as well it isn't help his case with my sister I just hope she wouldn’t freak out that the changelings might have the ability to utilize dream magic.’
Twilight
‘Dream magic...Just how in Equestria can anypony, changeling or otherwise have the ability to cast spells that might have the consistency to be the same effects as Luna it's just not possible.’ Thought a stunned Twilight while she was monitoring shadows health. When Celestia revealed that the mental block she hit was actually a form of dream magic working against mental intrusions she couldn’t believe her ears on that and was constantly checking her notes to make sure she wasn’t hearing things at all. After checking them multiple times she simply sighed and hoped that shadow would be able to explain this to her. She turned to see Scootaloo who was asleep considering it was nighttime Scootaloo decided to stay with shadow so if he wakes up she can calm him down because he will more then likely assume the worse possible situation possible. After looking at the filly she looked over to where shadow lies ‘He is still asleep...hmmm maybe he has the ability to control his dream and been freaking out throught the entire time they were taking care of him.’ Twilight decided to head home but before she leave she couldn’t help but look at the changeling again and thought ‘I hope you are a good changeling shadow I really don’t like thinking that you have to be evil’
?????
*Clink, Clank, Clink, Clank, Clink, Clank*
[Scanning surroundings]
[scan complete...Subject has left the area. Shows of a struggle of some sort happened]
[Objective Reminder: Find Shadow and end him before his family finds him or he finds his family. Do NOT assume he died this time and instead bring me his rotting corpse as proof you killed him]
Author's Note
Welp looks like we got more questions then answers folks. sorry about that...or am I
DUN DUN DUNNNNNN
anyway just to let you know I just couldn't help myself with the flashback effect. It was a to good opportunity that I could not pass.
I wonder what those Clink Clanks all about?
Shadow
‘Owwwwww’ thought Shadow as he started regaining consciousness and feeling the biggest migraine ever forming in his head. He tried to open his eyes but he quickly shut them back when the bright light of the hospital room quickly blinded him and he thought ‘Ack for the love of...ok calm down shadow and just think about where you are’ listening to his surroundings he heard a steady beat of what sounds like a heart monitor and concentrating on the smell it smells like a bunch of medical supplies. He then thought “ok I'm in some sort of hospital or in a strange looking jail cell either way it doesn't seem like anyone is nearby so that's good...actually I should check what I can sense before I can think that with confidence’ Shadow then started sensing his surroundings by emotions and through it he sensed a strong amount worriedness coming off from the right, curiosity from his front but faint so it's a good bit of distance away, and two more hidden emotions as if someone was trying to hide what they were feeling. After feeling that he then thought ‘ok I was wrong on the fact that I was alone...and judging from the way everyone's supposed positions are I'm not gonna be able to sneak my way out of this one. I guess there is only one course of action I can take and that’s the type of action my dad normally takes. Winging it like there's no tomorrow.’ Shadow soon started groaning as he shifted himself in his bed and when he shifted to the right he soon heard the sound of Scootaloo shouting “SHADOW!” Scaring the changeling so bad he quickly screeched and jumped out of the bed and latched onto the ceiling shaking from the sudden scare.
When the changeling looked upwards away from the ceiling he saw the filly trying hard not to laugh from the sheer ridiculousness of Shadow’s reaction to the sudden loud noise the changeling quickly said “WHY would you do that Scootaloo!” upon saying that Scootaloo lost all composure and started laughing hysterically and it was only until Shadow managed to climb off the ceiling that two guards head into the room to quickly check on the commotion and when Shadow saw them he quickly thought ‘Oh great first mother why.’ Shadow then started backing off but Scootaloo quickly put a hoof on shadow’s shoulder and said after calming herself down from her laughing fit “...Don’t worry Shadow they won’t hurt you in fact they just want to ask you some questions.” It sort of calmed Shadow down but he still kept his guard up and thought ‘That's easy for you to say Scootaloo but right now I can’t afford to leave my guard down these days’ he then simply said “ok...if you say so buddy.” It definitely brought a smile to his friend which also helped calmed Shadow down. Shadow then quickly sense his surroundings while thinking ‘good thing I can sense emotions without tipping someone off’ when he scanned the surroundings for emotions he quickly sensed someone heading to where Shadow is and is producing a great deal of worry and curiosity while the guards were sending waves of blocked off emotions which is throwing shadow off on pinpointing who was feeling what and after a few minutes of awkward staring and Scootaloo attempting small talk with the guards the door opened and Princess Twilight trotted in and increasing Shadow’s nerves and causing him to start looking around the room for a way to escape the situation how found himself in but not seeing one at all.
Twilight soon said “Sorry for the wait I was looking over some of my notes before I heard that loud screeching noise and I see that he is awake now, say guards mind heading outside the room for a bit.” The guards silently nodded and headed out the door and stand guard over there causing Shadow to be relived a bit but he was still intimidated by the princess. Twilight then quickly smiled and said “Alright that's a bit better anyway hello Shadow my names Twilight and I was wondering if you can answer some of them” Shadow shakily said “O...ok” Shadow then look at Scootaloo and seeing her calm expression and her reassurance Shadow calmed down a bit and Twilight brought out a list and asked “Ok Shadow I have a list of questions to ask of you and you don’t have to answer them and if they are to personal please let me know, anyway here's my first question. What were you doing in the Everfree forest?” Shadow stayed silent on that question and thought ‘there is no way I'm gonna tell them that I'm trying to find my family and I was looking for leads on where they disappeared’ Twilight then got a little sad on the silence but decided to ask the next question “ok I guess you don’t want to answer that one then can you tell me what you like doing?” Shadow perked up on that question and said “My favorite thing I liked to do is playing some music either I'm listening to it or just playing random tunes that I thought of on any type of instrument but mostly on the piano” Twilight written down something and shadow guessed that it was what he said and she asked “That's good to know can you answer me this then can you explain to me how your magic works” Shadow was silent for a bit but said “I'm not too certain I should answer that question can you ask me something else?” he also thought ‘I also rather not anger my dad whenever he gets back from whatever he is doing’ and before Twilight asked shadow a different question he changed his mind and mentions “Actually unlike my brothers and sisters the way my magic is...well different than normal considering who my dad is. I don’t mind demonstrating a few spells that I know and what spells are normal for a changeling but the majority of my spells I learned are mainly taught by my dad and he can be rather secretive on what he teaches to others.” Twilight nodded and written down what shadow said and they heard a strange growling noise head through the air and when Twilight looked up she saw an embarrassed changeling rubbing the back of his neck with a hoof. Twilight then said with a slight chuckle “I'm guessing we should hold out on the rest of these questions later and we should go somewhere and get something to eat.”
Shadow nodded and said “Ok I would definitely liked that. I feel like I haven't gotten anything really good to eat in a great deal of time but I would like to know where we are going though first.” Twilight smiled and said “We're going to be heading to my home. I have a guest room prepared for you when you woke up and I informed everypony what's going on through both the town and my castle so hopefully nopony will be...surprised about your temporary stay in ponyville” Shadow noticeably cringed when Twilight mention about both the town and how everypony knows that he is there and thought ‘crud just my luck that I get the attention of an entire town. Hopefully they aren’t out the door with pitchforks and torches’ after that thought they started hearing muffled shouting and shadow went over to the window and noticed both how fast the time went and how the almost everypony from the town carrying pitchforks and torches outside the door shouting something the changeling can’t quite hear but he did heard princess Twilight gasping at the scene before she said “Oh sweet Celestia why...ok Shadow and Scootaloo can you both wait here for a minute while I defuse this situation” she then left the room leaving behind a annoyed changeling who looked over to Scootaloo who had a nervous smile and soon said “Come to ponyville she said, I would have a great time she said, I would make lots of friends she said” Scootaloo was wincing and the smile was more forced upon hearing that and shadow then took a deep breath and said both coldly and with a strained voice “I reserve the right to say I told you so buddy”
Scootaloo then said “Ok, ok, ok I get it the town might need to just get to know you first but I pinkie promise things will get better” Scootaloo then proceeded to do the moves but shadow quickly grabbed her hoof to stop her and said “Scootaloo it's best to not promise something that you can’t control. If things do get better then you can just tell me you told me so instead but one things for certain I'm not going out there right now until the hatred goes down. Seriously the last thing I need is to start getting sick and then puking from the amount of hatred in the air” Scootaloo nodded and said “Like I said Shadow you will be having fun just you wait. Hey I’ll introduce you to my friends first as well.” Shadow then chuckled then nodded and said “Alright Scootaloo I’ll try to give the town a better shot when things calm down” They both then looked out the window seeing Princess Twilight who was clearly giving the town a good stern talking about what they were doing.
“Again I'm really sorry about how the town acted and I do promise you Ponyville is very nice place to be” said the princess who was obviously upset over the ponies action against the changeling. They were almost at the castle now and Shadow said “It's ok princess I understand why they reacted the way they did but if you don’t mind when we get to your home is it ok if I stay within my room for a great deal of time just to let things calm down.” Princess Twilight nodded and said “Certainly I understand and please call me Twilight. Even though it's been a few months since I became a princess I just normally prefer ponies treating me like who I am and without putting my title first” Shadow nodded and Twilight soon asked “Say Shadow do you mind telling me what changelings eat. Judging from your fangs I think you are all carnivores but I would like to know instead of assuming”
Shadow smiled and said “Certainly but you might find a certain part that's strange. My diet is actually an omnivorous diet so we can eat a great deal of things so meat isn’t a important part of changelings diets and well actually food in general isn’t necessary for our diets and this is where things get weird….ok I really don’t know how to say this without sounding weird but an actual important part of a changeling's diet revolves around emotions but mainly positive emotions” upon hearing that Twilight stopped and looked at the changeling with a curious but unnerved look and before Twilight said something shadow continued “I don’t really know the process since I was still in school before I had to leave the hive but it's only positive emotions that are necessary since bad emotions tend to have interesting effects on us. A good example would be anger and if the changeling senses that emotion it actually leave us with a small headache that increasingly gets worse and worse till it actually physically hurts the changeling. We can train to ignore the pain since it's psychologically induced but even then we all have our limits. As for what happens if we don’t have a intake of positive emotion then our bodies start to basically cannibalize our own brains until we become brain dead.” Shadow then looked down and said “Changelings normally don’t hurt anyone when they take in the positive emotion and it's also the only way for us to do our magic and we also try to respect those who we chose as our food source since we basically stole who they truly loved. I should mention this and it's that we can do other positive emotions but love is the most powerful emotion that we try to gather”
After hearing that Twilight looked like she started worrying about the changeling so Shadow said “Since I'm a royal halfling I have the ability to store a great deal of emotions and produce them but I still have to gather like every other changeling which is why I survived mostly in the Everfree by myself.” Upon hearing that Twilight calmed down a bit but she gotten curious and asked “Royal Halfling is that a special type of changeling?” They soon went through the doors of the crystal castle and started heading down through one of the halls to where the dining room is. Shadow realized what he said and winced real quick and said “crud, ok there are four types of changelings. Pupas, Drones, Halflings, and Royals. Drones are the normal type changelings and come with different types that being regular drones which is a male and nymphs for females. They make the majority of the hive and they mainly have different paths to take and to save time I’ll just say what the paths are there Workers, Warriors, and Nursery. Pupas are simply a changelings equivalent of a colt or filly but they are all called Pupas until they come of age. Halflings like myself are literally what the name suggest they are normally part changeling and part something else. When a changeling falls in love with someone and decide they want a child with whom they consider that they love the results is always mixed considering us changelings are actually compatible with anyone. We’re offered the same positions as a regular changeling but some changelings are sort of prejudice against Halflings and some are outright terrible to those like me. Last we have the Royals and they tend to the hive itself and are our leaders. There is our queen and if she chooses a consort then the next Royal is born. Considering me my mom is a Royal and decided to fall in love to someone outside of her species.”
The changeling looked down real quick and his ears flatten a bit and hesitantly said to Twilight who was amazingly walking and writing at the same time to what Shadow just said “I...I can tell you my mom's name but my dad doesn't want his name out there so I won’t say my dad’s name until he tells me otherwise but well I can actually show you a picture of them but well what I will show you might be a bit shocking to see” They managed to head into the dining room and they all took seats while Twilight ordered some salads and when the person serving them left Shadows horn glowed purple real quick and a quick purple flame appeared causing a few of Twilight's guards to immediately ready to attack the changeling but instead of burning something it actually brought a picture in front of shadows face like some version of dragon fire. He then looked at Twilight who was writing down on what Shadow just did and when she looked up he then hesitantly gave her the photo and upon seeing it she was quickly shocked at both the quality and who was in the photo. The first being she saw was a strange fully armored Biped who was crouched over and a arm over a smaller changeling and judging from the scar was Shadow who was smiling greatly.
The strange biped had a helmet that covered its face but judging from the armor the being is greatly unknown to her and seemed like something out of a sci-fi story. The last figure didn’t help keep her growing nerves from getting any higher. The last person was smiling happily and judging from her face she seemed to be trying hard not to laugh at something but the changeling queen in the photo was none other than queen Chrysalis herself. When Twilight looked at the changeling in shock Shadow shifted in his seat and said “Look I know what my mom did looked evil but it was for a good cause and i’ll happily explain it later” Twilight handed the photo back and Shadow used that same spell he used to summon it to put it away they then all wait for their food which arrived shortly and when they finished Twilight brought shadow to his guest room which was a decent sized room with a potted plant, a window overlooking the town, a circular carpet in the center of the room that has the elements of harmony on it and a nice sized bed to accompany the room. There was also a bookcase which was empty, a chest at the foot of the bed and a table with writing utensils at the ready right next to the bookcase.
When shadow managed to get to the center of the room he soon realized that he forgotten something and he quickly said “Oh crud I forgot something” he then proceeded to turn around and getting ready to run when Twilight stopped him and asked “Shadow what did you forgot and I'm sure I can get it for you” Shadow then stopped and said “Remember that piano in the center of the room you found me a Scootaloo in?” When Twilight nodded Shadow continued “I tend to bring that piano with me wherever I go so I placed an enchantment on it that allowed me to do just that. I really love that piano and is it ok if I can go back to get it” Twilight smiled and said “It's ok Shadow but I do want you back here as soon as possible so I’ll send captain Fast Shot to accompany you in getting your piano back and I would like to see that enchantment as well when you bring it back here”
Shadow smiled and he saw one of the guards next to Twilight stepped forward and said with practiced ease “Hello Shadow Light my names Fast Shot and I'm going to be with you on our brief stroll through the Everfree.” Shadow told Fast that it was nice to meet him and also told him “We can use one of the paths I used to get through the Everfree without any trouble so that way we can get there and out without a scratch” the guard nodded and they both get ready to head back into the Everfree.
Fast Shot
“So Shadow why is it that you enchanted a piano like that.” Asked Fast shot. They were heading through the Everfree and they were almost there and since they traveled in silence Fast decided to break the ice and say something. The Changeling hummed for a minute in thought and said “My hive tends to move a lot mainly to make sure we can’t be found easily by rival hives but even then we have a center place to stay but I normally want to be ready to move with my stuff oh and the reason why I wanted to lug that piano around is mainly because that piano was my first instrument that I created by myself...well actually I had a bit of help from my dad” Fast nodded and said “yeah I noticed on the photo you gave to princess Twilight...that strange bipedal creature, is that your father?” Shadow simply nodded and didn’t say anything else about it until they reached the cave where Shadow used to live. When they entered the cave Fast couldn’t help but noticed that something else was there at the cave and left a strange track like pattern on the ground but he choose not to point it out in fear of being right. Shadow soon said"Say Fast while were here we might as well also grab some of my music books that I kept with me and my saddlebags if you want to help gather some of them you can if you want."
Fast shakes his head and said “Ok” and they went to work gathering over at least 12 musical books and they don’t seem to be limited to the piano but Fast wasn’t sure since he never played a musical instrument so he asked “Hey Shadow mind telling me what instruments you can play?” Shadow looked over to Fast and smiled while saying “Any type of instrument and I can play it as well as tune it but I prefer a piano or a string instrument like a violin. I also heard of this new thing that you ponies invented...can’t remember what it was called though” Shadow thought for a bit before he remembered “Aha! I remember now I think you ponies called it Dubstep or Techno. I heard it once and thought it was interesting” Fast was surprised upon hearing that and said “Wait you never heard of Dubstep or techno? Except that one time.” Shadow nodded and said “Yeah it was thanks to my dad that I discovered that type of music. I believe we went to some sort of club and there was a pony who went by the name DJ Poni3 with a number 3 instead of the normal spelling anyway that's where I was introduced to this strange type of music that I just couldn’t get out of my head. I even tried to recreate it but I just couldn’t go fast enough” Fast laughed and said “Yeah that's something that can’t be created with normal instruments I think it uses some new technology that creates the music but how it works is lost to me since I never used anything like that” Shadow nods and Fast goes back to grabbing and looking over the books Shadow was going to bring and he noticed some of the books are enchanted to where it won’t open so he asked “Hey Shadow did you enchant these books to not open?” Shadow nodded while putting the last of the books in his saddlebags and then said “There are some tunes I keep in certain books that are majorly personal to me so I keep them lock with a special lock anyway that's the last of them so now we got a piano to shrink”
Fast looked at Shadow with speculation as he went over to the piano and he thought “How the heck is he just going to simply shrink a piano” when Shadow looked over to Fast he sported a shit eating grin and his horn started glowing real quick revealing a strange enchanted purple lock with a series of unknown symbols floating around it on the piano and he touched several symbols in a particular sequence and they hear an unlocking sound before the lock disappears and the piano was growling brightly and when it dimmed down the piano itself is shrunk down to a miniature version of itself with a latch on it which is what Shadow used to put it on his necklace. Upon seeing that Fast just simply stared at Shadow and simply said “What...the...buck” Shadow just laughed and when he calmed down he said “Like I said my dad taught me the majority of spells that I can do but for some strange reason the way my dad teaches magic tends to make it somewhat flashy and eye catching so I had to tweak it in order to actually use it but some spells I do keep the flashy effects mainly because it's fun.” Fast nodded and they both get ready to leave and head back but before they did Fast couldn’t help but ask “Ok after hearing and seeing how you changelings normally act why did you all attack us?” Shadow simply stayed silent and looked down before saying “I’ll tell you all soon just not now. Judging how I know princess Twilight I think she let princess Celestia know about my existence and I'm more than likely going to have to go and talk to her and the biggest question she more then likely have would be what you just asked me so I'm going to be silent about that until that time ok.” Fast nodded and they both exited the cave and head back to the castle and they split paths when they reached Shadow’s room both saying their goodnights and heading off to finally rest and look forward for tomorrow but Fast couldn’t help but look back to the strange changelings room and thought “I do hope you can explain to us what's really going on. I don’t buy that invasion being simply that easy when we almost lost and all of a sudden we were able to force them back.”
Author's Note
Things seem to be going well so far...to well...*Starts grinning deviously* lets fix that why don't we
Dreams of Memorys (Not edited)
Celestia
Celestia was looking over some documents when one of her guards came in and inform her that Prince Shining Armor and Princess mi Amore Cadenza had arrived she quickly looked at the guard and smiled before saying “Thank you for informing me captain Night Hawk I will be with them in a moment I just need to finish reading this document real quick” the captain nodded and headed to his post while the princess rebooked at the document that some of the nobles sent to her. Apparently the nobles heard about what happened over at Ponyville and are already asking her to attack the changeling and reinstate Twilight's princesshood, Celestia simply sighed before thinking ‘they seem to caught on fast though I really wished they would have some tolerance and patience then immediately try and make me send my forces just to get rid of one changeling while at the same time try to undermine Twilight for showing more compassion than them...noble indeed’ Celestia then shook her head and decided to put the document away and deal with it later. She headed over to where Shining and Cadence's room is and she knocked on the door and heard Cadence said “come in” Celestia entered and see that they already were in the middle of unpacking their stuff. Shining Armor was coming out the bathroom when he noticed Princess Celestia and said “Hey Celestia how are you” upon hearing that Cadence soon realized who it was she smiled and head on over to give her aunt a hug before saying “It's good to see you again aunt Celestia.” Celestia returned the affection with a slight nuzzle before saying “It's good to see you again my niece and I’m doing fine if not a bit more exhausted than normal thank you for asking. I came over wondering if you both would like some tea before I raised the sun.” Cadence’s eyes widened real quick when she realized both she and her husband had been up all night and had to ask “Certainly. We would like some tea but do you happen to have any that could help with the fact we were up all night.”
Celestia smiled and nodded and said “I’m also sorry for asking you both to come here as late as it is but something came up over at Ponyville that I thought I should let you both know when you both rested but how about we go over what I wanted to let you know over tea” Shining nodded hesitantly making Celestia think that he must be wondering if it's bad and if Twilight might be hurt while Cadence said “Sure if it's important then it's better talk it over with some nice calm tea” Celestia had a mischievous grin and said “I didn’t know that tea can make you so energetic that it can calm you down so I’ll make sure to get myself some as well” Cadence started laughing at that while Shining was confused about the joke and they soon trotted with Celestia to her Tea room as she liked to call it.
Celestia was sitting down in her Tea room along with Shining and Cadence and they were all served some tea. Princess Celestia was sipping some herbal tea while Shining was drinking black tea and Cadence was drinking green tea. The Tea room is a very decorative room with a table and several seats for guests and Celestia herself. There are some bookshelves just in case one wants to read a story while they were drinking and there were several plants and flowers placed very thoughtfully to bring about an area of calm. There was even a bonsai tree at the center of the circular table. Celestia thought ‘So many years since I made this room. It’s the perfect place to have a small get together even if it's just tea’ Celestia looked over to Shining and Cadence and thought ‘hopefully the calm scenery will help them with what I'm about to reveal to them. Shining still has resentment about the changelings and after the wedding he was paranoid beyond belief while my niece had to go through therapy for a few days after the wedding’
Celestia soon said “Cadence, Shining what I'm going to tell you my be a bit shocking so do you want to know” Cadence nodded while shining said “I didn’t come here for nothing since in your letter it sounded important so I believe we can take it” Celestia nodded and said “Alright you both still remember the changelings right?” Shining gotten tense for a moment while Cadence shuddered real quick and said “Yes we still remember them why do you ask?” Celestia thought ‘Alright moment of truth’ and soon said “Princess Twilight Sparkle had stumbled upon one changeling and managed to bring it over to Ponyville where it is staying at the moment.” Cadence was showing signs of shock while Shining was livid and he said “There's a changeling in Ponyville with my sister!” Shining soon started to get up possible to alert the guards but Celestia used her magic to stop him from running off before saying “Shining while I definitely respect your protectiveness of your sister she can take care of herself and if you wait I can give you what Twilight sent me about the changeling himself” she summoned some files that have the picture of the changeling asleep in the hospital bed and passed it to Shining and Cadence they both opened up and looked into the file and upon reading this she noticed that Cadence relaxed a bit and winced at where the changeling had to cast a shield before a cave in happen which would have killed several guards
Shining was still very suspicious about the changeling and he asked “Celestia how was the changeling able to cast any magic if his horn is cracked I know from my time as captain that a cracked horn means excruciating pain upon trying to utilize magic and as for the talismans they seem normal except that purple orb with the changelings supposed cutie mark?” Celestia looked over at Armor and said “I believe the changeling whom I should say is named Shadow Light is very peculiar with the fact the cracks are actually his chitin reacting to what I believe is his passive magic and as for the necklace and charms they did seem normal but when I was scanning them they had a great complex rune structure and the runes themselves are anything but normal I should also note that when removed his magic started fluctuating rapidly along with his heart beat so I think those charms help keep the changelings magic in check. They also had a deal of dream magic within them especially the orb which is why Luna isn’t here right now with us. She decided to investigate into Shadow’s supposed dream magic herself”
Cadence looked at Celestia then at the picture of the changeling and Twilight's notes one more time before saying “Shadow Light seems to be a interesting pony to meet” surprising both Celestia and Shining and he asked “Really? You do realize that the changeling could be an agent of chrysalis and could actually be really evil” Cadence looked at Shining and said “In Twilight's notes Shadow revealed that he is the colt of Chrysalis but from how he acts he doesn't seem to be evil or have an ulterior motive and Shining I don’t think an evil pony would save those who were trying to capture him. Celestia by any chance are you planning on allowing us to meet him?” Celestia nodded and said “Yes I was going to let him settle down in ponyville real quick and ask Twilight to bring him over to Canterlot to talk and possible learn a bit about the changelings. I also plan to ask him about the invasion and see what was Chrysalis’s real goal. I do not believe someone who was so methodical in their attack to be doing it because she thought she can and her speech also felt a bit forced and rehearsed every time I went over it in my mind.” Celestia looked at the clock and saw that it read 6:30 AM and said “It seems I have to raise the sun I will be right back. Celestia exited the Tea room leaving Cadence and Shining Armor to drink and discuss to themselves about who Shadow is. While Celestia raised the sun she couldn’t help but think about what Luna was doing.
Shadow
“Alright time to set things up” said Shadow as he was getting the miniaturized piano off his necklace he then took a look around the room. It was fairly spacious with several paintings adorned the walls a guest bed that comes along with two nightstands on either side, Two bookcases filled to the brim with books are alongside a desk that was carefully placed between them. There was a chest with a key inside the lock on the front of the bed which Shadow checked and discovered that it was empty so he set in several important music books of his inside the chest and locked it before latching the key on his necklace he noticed a corner of the room that had a window close to it and he decided to place the miniature piano in that corner. As soon as he did he started casting the same spell he showed Fast Shot to make it big again, when the spell ended the piano was back to normal and was ready to be played. Shadow then rubbed his hoof over the crystal keys wondering if he should play or not he then looked outside the window and up at the stars. Upon doing so he noticed the moon was full and bright and the constellations were extra beautiful tonight he thought ‘Luna out did herself tonight...I better do my breathing exercises though before bed’ Shadow then started taking deep breaths closing his eyes and breathed out he did it several times and started tapping into his magic which was wild as ever a bit more so than usual ‘I hope the equestrians didn’t take my necklace off. The last thing I need is to explain my dad’s magic to anyone’ He continued to do the breathing exercise for several more minutes feeling the magic coursing in his veins getting more calmer and when his magic felt like a gentle ocean wave he open his eyes to the moon. If anyone else was in the room they would have noticed that the “cracks” in shadow's chitin were glowing brightly along with his eyes but the most strangest part though was that one eye was glowing with a ethereal purple flame while the other eye that commandeered the scar showed no signs of strange magic.
He closed his eyes and took one final deep breath letting the magic flow out of him and into the atmosphere his talismans helping guide his magic. Then the cracks dimmed and the eye lost its ethereal flame and Shadow turned away from the window to look at the piano again. He wondered out loud “Should I play a song tonight….nah I don’t want to wake any of the guards up or Princess Twilight. Shadow Soon headed away from the piano and towards the bed and got in taking note how much more comfortable it is then his makeshift bed he made back at his little cave home. He soon groaned when he stretched into the bed feeling his muscles finally relaxed after all that has happened and his eyes soon started shutting but one last thought pierced through his mind before he goes to sleep ‘Please let this rest actually be good for me for once I want a dream that doesn't involve my memories.’ As Shadow drifted off to sleep if he looked back at the window before he gotten into bed he would have noticed that the window was ajar.
Luna
‘Alright he is asleep now time to see what he dreams of or if he is hiding anything important.’ Thought Luna as she crept into his room through the window that she opened. As she enters the room the took a quick notice of the surroundings and making sure the changeling didn’t put any wards to let him know someone is intruding she silently went towards the chest at the foot of the bed. She attempted to open it but found that it was locked even when she tried to lock pick it with her magic so she ignored the chest and headed towards Shadow himself. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully and his wings twitch every so often as if he was imagining flying or doing something that involved his wings. She then did a quick magical scan on the changeling and soon hit that same wall that both other princesses hit but instead of leaving it alone she started analyzing the block itself. ‘Interesting the Changeling has some form of dream magic but something doesn't add up the magic feels ancient possible older than me and that shouldn’t be possible’ thought Luna as she probed the wall for any difference in strength or any holes in it. She soon found one weaker spot on it then focused her dream magic on it slipping her though and into the dreamscape of the changeling.
To the imagination of others some might think the dreamscape is a beautiful place full of wonders and mysteries while others think it's a never ending void of nothingness both have their own part of the truth as it is almost like a void but its beauty comes in the form of the dreams of others appearing into existence in this place but strangely enough it was empty as if the changeling wasn’t sleeping at all. Luna started worrying if she walked into a trap but upon looking around again she noticed an invisible movement within the plane of nothingness floating towards it she realized that the changeling was hiding his own dream from her. ‘Strange it seems he set up a defense of sorts by making his dream invisible to anypony who trespasses but why?’ with a bit of magic she revealed the dream which was purple in color and flowed like water into a perfect sphere she soon closed her eyes and with a bit of magic she dived into the sphere and into shadow’s dreams.
When Luna opened her eyes she found herself in an underground cavern but it seemed to be carved out. She looked around the passageway and noticed green crystals adjourned the walls of this cavern casting light into the passageway but strangely enough not tinting the world around it green. She trotted along the cavern and after a while she stumbled upon a huge cavern but that wasn’t the strangest part the strangest part was that she discovered a huge town carved out in the rock and it also included a castle with a strange moat that was black and she saw hundreds of changelings going to and fro from place to place she decided to approach the town but casted a spell to render herself invisible to the dreamer and changelings within his dreams. After she cast the spell she started headed over to the town but she stopped when she saw three small changelings running towards her. Two colts and a filly changeling were headed over to her and Luna recognized one of those changeling colts as Shadow mainly because even little he still had those strange cracks on his chitin and his necklace but strangely he had no scar over his right eye. The second changeling colt seemed a bit taller than Shadow and had a small constant grin as if he knew the joke of the universe. The filly had a strange cloth on her that seemed to be regal looking including the scarf and she had a happy expression of barely conceived excitement. They past Luna and the colt version of Shadow said in what was surprisingly Japonese (“Come on everyone we're getting closer to the surprise”)
‘huh it seems they know Japonese and come to think of it the town also looked like an ancient Japonese village’ thought Luna as she tailed the trio. She also thanked her mother for teaching every single pony language known on eques even when Luna used to think it wasn’t necessary as she follows the changelings she decided to listen in on the conversation (“come on Shadow are we almost there or are we not almost there”) said the taller changeling. He simply nodded and smiled before saying (“We’re almost there I promise Ghost oh and Swarm I promise you it's gonna be a wonderful gift I could find for you”) When Shadow finished the filly was actually shaking from excitement and said (“Come on shadow stop teasing me about the gift for the great Swarm and just take me there already!”) Shadow laughed and so did Ghost and he said (“Your right Swarm if we wait any longer then we will…”) Swarm interrupted Ghost by saying in a stern voice (“Ghost don’t you dare ruin this birthday with a pun...I even made you promise not to do it”) even with the stern talking Ghost simply finished his sentence with a even bigger grin (“Burst with excitement.”) Swarm facehoofed and groaned out (“first mother WHY Ghost and on my birthday too”)
Ghost was laughing a lot while Shadow gave him a raised eyebrow and Ghost said (“Oh come on Shadow it's close to night time and I haven't said a pun all day during Swarms birthday”) Shadow shook his head and shrugged his shoulders before saying (“Meh that was 5/10 good try but not that funny”) Ghost seemed to have cringed at that and they continued to trot in silence before Shadow soon started speeding up again. (“This way everyone we're here!”) exclaimed Shadow as he headed off to what appeared to be a carved out chamber that only goes up and when they looked up it leaders to the outside world and right now there's a night sky and a meteor shower happening right above them. Swarm gasped out and squealed in joy at the sight while Ghost simply gasped at the sight of thousands of meteors flying past through the stars. ‘That’s strange they act like they haven’t seen the stars in years or any of its wonders but it’s nice that they think the stars are that lovely’ thought Luna looking at the excited changelings watching the meteor shower pass by. When the last meteor pass by the night sky Swarm turned over to Shadow with some tears in her eyes and literally latched herself on shadow's breath hugging him so hard that he was gasping for breath and she said in rapid succession(“ThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyouTHANKYOU Shadow. This is the best Birthday I ever had”) Shadow struggling to breath said (“..ack..No...gasp...Problem swarm...Ack...Can I..gasp..Breath Please.”) Her eyes widen when she realized she was strangling her friend with her hug and quickly said sorry before releasing him
When shadow managed to finally breathe normally he said (“Hey guys?”). The both looked over to Shadow who happened to have a grin before touching them both on the nuzzles and saying (“Tag”) and started running off in a random direction laughing like crazy and saying (“Bet you both can’t tag me”) Swarm and Ghost looked at each other and then grinned a predator like grin before saying at the same time (“Oh it's on”) and they proceeded to chase Shadow around the room laughing and playing different games and some of which was entirely made up. When they were tired they decided to watch the stars when they all heard someone calling for them and it was a voice that Luna didn’t recognized but could guess who it was (“Shadow! Swarm! Ghost! It's time to eat”) they all groaned and ghost said (“Dang it Shadow why did your mom had to implement Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner seriously we don’t even need to eat physical foods just the positive emotions”) Shadow just shrugged and helped Swarm up to her hoofs and they started to trot back home.
Luna was going to follow the changelings to their home but she started hearing a loud ringing coming from behind her and when she turned around she saw nothing but a lifeless void. Confused she turned around again to see the same scenery but in the center of the void was Shadow back to his normal self with the scar and a bit more bigger than his normal self. He seemed to be in the middle of meditating as Luna approached him. She kept getting this nagging feeling of danger the more closer she got to the changeling and when she got close enough a strange symbol suddenly brighten below her and she tried to jump away but her muscles suddenly locked up. She couldn’t move anything except her eyes and looking at shadow it seemed he hadn’t made a single move and his horn wasn’t glowing either but the cracks in his chitin seemed to be brighter than usual. She suddenly heard a loud clicking noise come off from behind her and felt some sort of piece of metal touching it. The being who was holding the weapon said something in a unknown language at first but when it realized she couldn’t understand it the figure switched its language and said in Japonese (“You shouldn’t be here Luna...Let me show you the door out of here”) She heard a loud bang and she was launched out of both the dream and the dreamscape and violently back into her mind causing her body to jolt backwards and her wings outstretched.
Shadow
Shadow woke up with a start and started hearing something crash to the ground. Acting on instinct and his dad's training he quickly tossed his covers over the intruder who entered his mind and started wrapping it around what was a Pegasus with really long wings. ‘Ok whoever is trespassing in here is distracted now to summon my weapons’ Shadow quickly charged up his sword and in a flash of purple flame Shadow quickly summoned two broadswords with musical notes embedded in the blades. When the figure brought its head out of the tangle of covers Shadow quickly positioned the blades on the intruding unicorns neck ‘Wait a minute unicorn? I could have sworn…’ Shadow thoughts were cut out when the figure used her magic to fire a bolt at shadow and he quickly blocked it with his other blade while the other one stayed on her throat. “Alright Who are you and why the HECK did you trespass in my mind” to make the question be answered more urgently he pressed the blade closer to her throat and in a strained calmed voice she said “My name is Luna...princess Luna” Shadow's eyes widened at that and he was about to ask why did she go in his mind when the door to his room burst open and several of Princess Twilight's guards entered the room. One of the guards demanded shadow to drop his weapon and he desummoned them but the guards thought he was doing something else so one of the Pegasus guards tackled Shadow causing him to hit the wall with his head and received a flurry of blows aimed for his muzzle. Several other guards picked shadow up and were dragging him away but not before he had one last look at Princess Luna and she seemed to took one last look as well before looking stern at the changeling and he did his best to meet that stern look back before the guards took him away from his room and through several hallways before having to go down a staircase that lead to what he would describe as both dungeon and a lab. The guards toss him into a random cell and left leaving shadow to his thoughts. He looked around the cell he ended up in and summarized his thoughts about what just happen with one sentence in his respective language (“Bucking Hell”)
Twilight
Twilight was sending her last report about Shadow to the Celestia before settling in for the night before hearing what sounded like a fight going on. She headed outside her door and looked over to her guard who was standing vigilant beside it and asked “Guard mind checking on what's causing that noise please” The Guard nodded and saluted to her before galloping along to check up on that noise. During a lengthy period of time she saw more guards heading over and she decided to look into the situation herself. Following the guards she saw Fast Shot outside Shadow’s room talking to a recruit but when he noticed the princess he quickly dismissed the recruit and trotted to her. Twilight asked “Captain Fast Shot might I ask what's going on here?”. The captain sighed and said “Princess Luna apparently visited Shadow during the middle of the night to looked into his dreams and apparently he woke up and attacked Luna” Twilight was shocked at hearing that considering how cooperative the changeling was and she asked “Is both Luna and Shadow ok?” Fast nodded and said “Yes ma’am they're both fine but Luna has a small bit of bruising from when the changeling tackled her when he launched his covers to tangle her up before somehow summoning dual swords and went to position them at her throat trying to gather information from her but when the guards came in they immediately tackled the changeling and took him off to the dungeons so I have no idea about the state of Shadow” Twilight then said “ok captain fast shot mind checking up on shadow while I talk with the princess and try to defuse the situation.” They both went off in different directions. Twilight heading over to where Luna was and Fast Shot was heading over to where Shadow is. When Twilight reached over to where Luna was she was already about to leave but Twilight quickly stopped her by asking “Luna? What are you doing here if you don’t mind me asking” Luna stopped and turned around to see Twilight and she said “I was looking into the strange changeling’s dream and his magic to see if he was a threat obviously he was since he attacked both in dream and out” Twilight frowned and asked “Are you certain you think he is dangerous. As much as I believe he could be dangerous I also believe he could be a friend.” Luna raised an eyebrow at that and said “Yes I believe so considering when he noticed me in the dreamscape he somehow managed to throw me back out of it and his first reaction to waking up was to attack me” Twilight decided to ask “Can you at least tell me what question he was asking you when he was on top of you” Luna nodded and said “He was asking me who I was. I believe when he launched his covers on me he didn't had the chance to see who he was attacking he was going to ask another question but he was interrupted by the guards bursting into his room.” Twilight soon realized something and asked “Luna do you think the changeling didn’t know it was you in his dreamscape and at the same time do you think that something like entering his dreams without permission is a offense in their society?”
Luna noticed get the logic in that statement said “That could be possible but at the moment the only way we know about changelings is what you gave to my sister and her impression about shadow” Twilight nodded and said “Maybe the changeling was dreaming about something personal and when he launched you out he immediately attacked you thinking he was attacking an intruder not a princess of Equestria” Luna was soon showing some signs of doubt about her earlier statements and Twilight said “Luna maybe we should talk with shadow about his dream if it was special to him cause he certainly didn’t like anypony peaking.” Luna shook her head “If the changeling is still angry I doubt we would be able to talk” Twilight rebutted that statement by saying “Luna when I tried to talk to the changeling about his past I noticed he was avoiding a great deal of questions about it. I believe they might be personal and whatever dream you viewed was really personal to shadow so we do need to talk to him. If we don’t then we will lose all trust he had to us and we won’t learn anything about shadow at all so please Luna at least help us defuse this situation because it was a honest mistake on shadow’s part” Luna seemed conflicted about that and waited on answering it for several minutes before sighing and saying “Ok I’ll talk to the changeling by myself so he won’t feel like you're forcing me to apologize to the changeling” Twilight nodded and said “Ok Luna I’m going to check and see if Captain Fast Shot managed to get Shadow out of the dungeon and if he hasn’t then I’ll help him get Shadow back to his room and when that happens I would like it if you talk to him and apologize about that.” When Luna nodded Twilight soon headed off to the dungeons
Shadow
‘this couldn’t get any more worse.’ Thought Shadow as he meditated in his little jail cell. “Well, well, well guess what the bug gotten himself in” said somepony near his cell. ‘I stand corrected...why do I make this easy for the universe’ thought shadow when he realized the warden noticed him. The stallion in question wore a mask and cloak to cover his face and cutie mark but shadow can see that the eyes are tinged sky blue and that the stallion was either a Pegasus or a earth stallion but since shadow doesn't see any bulges at the side of the cloak he decided to guess he was a earth pony. “You know I had some friends and family over at Canterlot during the wedding invasion. Caused a lot of problems with my family and my friends became so paranoid about changelings they still refused to leave their homes and I also might have to add your kind made my grandma have a heart attack and died during that invasion.” Said the stallion who now grabbed the bars obviously staring and generating as much hatred as possible to scare the changeling but shadow simply sat there in his meditative state and calmly said “I know you're building up to something so just get it over with unless you only got the job as warden just to chat with your prisoners” inside shadow's head he thought ‘Yeah taunt the guy who is more than likely going to torture you as soon as possible good thinking shadow good thinking hey if this works out maybe you can channel your inner dad and be a smartass while you die a agonizing death’ Shadow was snapped out of his thoughts when the stallion hit the bars causing them to bend a bit and said “Alright fine if you want to do it now why not” he opened the cell and quickly entered and shadow adopted a defensive stance and attempted to get the warden away from him but the stallion was to strong and only managed to be rewarded with a punch to the muzzle again and a hit to the gut. The stallion then knocked shadow out with one powerful punch to his skull.
When shadow came to be again he find himself strapped to a table. He immediately tried to test the straps and see if he could slip them off but he couldn’t. ‘Ok strapped to the table in the dungeon yeah this isn’t going to be pretty’ Shadow then looked to the side to see the warden doing something to some tools over a fire he then removed a glowing hot stick of metal and he turned around more then likely grinning his ass off behind that cloak and mask and he said “Ah glad you're awake guess I won’t need the bucket of piss to wake you up.” Shadow then tried struggling when the warden gotten closer and closer to shadow filled with malice. “Now your going to scream and I’ll make sure to bring it away quickly” he then moved the red hot metal and touched shadow's horn causing a sizzle and huge amounts of pain going through shadow but he bit down and refused to cry out in pain but thought ‘AHHHHHH...First mother that hurts oh sweet first mother someone help me!’ The stallion then removed the hot iron rod and looked at shadow obviously annoyed he didn’t scream in agony. “Ok guess we got a silent one then we'll don’t worry I know just the perfect way to make you squeal like a pig” the stallion soon moved the rod downwards deliberately slowly towards Shadow's privates causing him to widen his eyes and looked at the Stallion in fear ‘He wouldn’t’ he then started lowering the rod very slowly and shadow screamed in his mind ‘OH SWEET FIRST MOTHER HE WOULD’ Shadow then yelled “Help Somepony help me!” The stallion lifted his head to look at shadow and was more than likely going to taunt the changeling when the door burst open and he heard captain Fast Shot “Warden stop this right now!” The earth stallion quickly threw the rod away obviously not pleased by that and quickly snapped to salute and calmly said “Sir I didn’t expect you to be down here what is it that you want” Shadow looked over to Fast Shot and saw the stallion was beyond furious and said in a strained voice “Warden may I ask why you're torturing prisoners again when Twilight said you shouldn’t do things like that” The stallion replied “Last I check the changeling isn’t equestrian plus he attacked princess Luna and his kind killed my grandma during their invasion so why shouldn’t I torture the...bug” The stallion slowly finished that sentence when he noticed the captain was even more pissed off at him and he said again in a even more strained voice “Warden release the changeling and head straight to my office” the stallion was about to say something and warden yelled “Now!” Causing the stallion to Yelp and immediately untie Shadow.
When Shadow was released from the rope restraints he wobbled to Fast Shot but stumbled when he realized one of his bones is broken and cried out in pain and before he fell to the ground fast shot quickly grabbed shadow in his magic and had a hoof keeping shadow up “Don’t worry buddy I got you.” When shadow was steadied they both immediately set off to leave the dungeons and Fast Shot said “I’m so sorry you had to deal with that Shadow I didn’t expect the warden to immediately put you to torture” Shadow nodded and said “It’s ok he didn’t do much except put a hot metal tool on my horn which is really painful but I'm glad you got there in time to stop him the last thing I need is to be neutered” He felt the captain wince at hearing that and they immediately reached his room “Ok shadow think you can stay in your room while I go get a nurse or medic to come look at you and fix you up” Shadow nodded and Fast shot left and shadow limped into his room. When Shadow limped towards his bed he decided to sit on it for a second to rest himself but decided against sleeping mainly because he is still in pain but is trying really hard not to let show. He then looked over at the covers that were on the ground then at the indentation of his head being smashed into a wall. Shadow then put his hooves over his face and sighing before talking out loud his thoughts “This has probably been the worst night in existence...actually close second” Shadow then looked at the piano he recently set up then looked around if someone was watching and thought ‘Ok since no one is around I'm going to just blow off some steam and play some music’
Luna
Luna was silently waiting for Twilight when she came in obviously not happy at the moment and said “Captain Fast Shot managed to get shadow out of the dungeon but my warden there apparently started to torture him and was probably going to do more then burn his chitin if he didn’t came in when he heard Shadow yelled for help anyway shadow is in his room right now Luna if you want to speak to him.” Luna was shocked at hearing that and a bit guilty that she sort of caused that to happen by sneaking into the changelings room and dream instead of asking but decided to not let it show and said “Thank you for letting me know Twilight I will head over to the change...ahem I mean Shadow’s room and apologize for intruding in his dream” Twilight nodded and said “Ok I'm going to go get a nurse to help shadow from what Fast Shot told me apparently the warden beaten him out of the cell and broke his front leg trying to block the punches the warden were throwing so he might look a bit bruise and have possible broken bones or actually cracked chitin ” Luna nodded and wished Twilight a good night then left to head back to where Shadow’s room was. When she reached the door she soon started hearing what sounded like a piano being played remembering the piano she saw in the corner of his room she was surprised to hear somepony playing so well and reminded her of good old times when the ponies used to be so skilled in telekinesis that they could play instruments like that well or manipulate multiple objects in the one same field at the same time. When the music was beginning to build up she opened the door and looked over to where shadow is and saw that the changeling wasn’t just sitting in front of the piano he was bouncing his head in tune with the beat his eyes closed obviously enjoying the tune he is creating.
When he ended the song Luna waited a bit for shadow to turn around but when the changeling wasn’t she decided to announce her presence by politely clearing her throat causing the changeling to jump a bit and make a chirping noise and saw Luna and immediately he adopted a neutral expression. “Hello Shadow” started Luna she noticed the changeling has some lingering doubts and suspicion showing in his eyes but she also noticed a bit of fear as well she continued and said “Shadow I'm sorry for intruding both in your room and your mind I wasn’t expecting you to act like that when I managed to go in your dream…” She quickly noted that shadow tensed up when she said dream which confirmed that the dream was more then likely personal to the shadow. She continued “I also heard about what happened at your brief stay in the dungeons and I wanted to ask if you are ok” Shadow simply sighed and said in a tired voice “Princess Luna I know you're just trying to get on my good side after what happened but I at least appreciate it and I'm sorry for tackling you like that and positioning my blades on you like that as well” Luna’s eyes widen with surprise again and she quickly adopted a neutral look just like the changeling did and shadow said “Princess Luna can you please not tell anyone about that dream I rather not talk about what happened in my past mainly because there are some things that I considered painful to talk about and that dream was one of them.” Luna thought about real quick and during that pause shadow soon added quickly “If you do that I’ll owe you any question you need me to answer at any time that doesn't involve my past or my home” Luna decided to agree with the changeling and said “I believe that sounds reasonable and I already have one I must ask right now and that's how were you able to throw me out of your dream and the dreamscape itself?” Shadow simply smiled and said “That wasn’t me” this three word sentenced caused Luna's thoughts to go into overdrive ‘If what that changeling says is true then I just attracted some unwanted attention with his family’ Luna nodded and said “I see thanks for telling me shadow though I have to leave I have to say that song you did on the piano was really interesting I hope you plan on pursuing a career in piano music” Shadow looked surprised at that and quickly rubbed his neck with a hoof and said “Yeah that was something I was planning to do especially with my old friends” Shadow then sighed sadly and looked down for a minute Luna took it as her moment to leave and gave shadow a goodbye before going through the door and before she set off to head back to Canterlot she thought ‘maybe that changeling wasn’t so bad after all’
Shadow
When Luna left Shadow was remembering all the trouble him and his old friends used to get and thought ‘Rest in peace Swarm and you to Ghost.’ Shadow then sighed again and thought bitterly about the events of what he just did in his mind ‘way to go shadow...Waaaaaaay to go. you just probably put yourself in a bigger hole than the one you're in right now with that stupid stunt. I mean who would wanted to defend themselves from the most respected sister to the changelings. I’ll be lucky if I don’t get reduce to ashes at this rate.’ Shadow then noticed the crack of dawn coming and he said “annnnd I didn’t get a good night's sleep...again. Seriously first my home gets ravaged by those monsters then the next I lose contact with my family then I get caught by the bucking equestrians while still being hunted by said monsters, what's next I'm gonna get run over by somepony going so fast it shouldn’t be possible while simultaneously be blasted with said pony from earlier by a different pony that has a cannon that fires cake!” Shadow then sighed in frustration at the fact of how idiotic he acted towards Luna and the events happening to him then he took a few deep breaths and counted each breath to calm himself down a bit he then gotten tensed and looked around real quick to make sure no one heard his little tangent and relaxed when he realized he was in fact alone. He then thought ‘Alright shadow hopefully everything turns out for the better and I will actually enjoy my time here’ Shadow then looked at the bed again and with a small sad chuckle said “Sleep who needs it, apparently not me”
Author's Note
Welp I did say that the peace wouldn't last long and already my mind is going through some dark routes(Actual spoiler about the future) kinda makes me sad that the interrupted torture scene isn't the one im gonna go all out on...the actual one I have in store is worse MUCH worse
In all seriousness I'm so sorry that it took this long to finish a chapter and hopefully i'll make the next chapter a lot more sooner then how long this one waited on. Enjoy and tell me what I did right or wrong if you want to.