The Guard, the Woodcutter, and the Changeling

Sir Steel Tine the Diligent, On the Superstitions Surrounding Changelings, year 672 of Her Majesty's reign.

According to official records, through which I have exhaustively searched, there have been no confirmed sightings of changelings in over two hundred years. Indeed there are many amongst my colleagues who question whether they still exist, or if they ever existed at all. The latter notion I can put to rest, as Princess Celestia herself spoke of meeting one long ago, although specific details were not forthcoming.

There are a number of common themes present in tales about changelings, and many accounts that differ drastically. The following is one particularly well preserved account which I encountered while visiting a remote locale. It is peculiar in that a number of the elements correspond with real past events, though no doubt containing much of the usual embellishment that comes with second and third hand retelling. Other elements are so outlandish that they strain believability, however without vouching for the truth of this tale, I have transcribed it into a modern dialect as accurately and as faithfully as possible.

Once upon a time, long long ago when Equestria was still young, there lived a woodcutter and guardsmare called Lathe Turner and Stoccado. They lived in a small peaceful village nestled between a gentle brook and a deep old forest, a place that many an Earth pony would feel right at home, even if they were visiting from far away. It was the sort of town where ponies left their doors unlocked when they stepped out to go to the market, where a wave and a friendly smile would rarely go unreturned; though it was also a place with a need for talented guard ponies to take up arms when great wild beasts would wander out of the forest.

Lathe Turner was born, lived, and worked there; and by all accounts had planned to live out the rest of his days just as he always had. Stoccado was born far away, growing up in the mountains south of Canterlot where she was trained with fire, form, and sharpened steel. When she moved to the little village, she made fast friends with many of the ponies who lived there, and though Lathe Turner often kept to himself, he was no exception.

As spring turned to summer, Lathe Turner and Stoccado spent more and more time together. Rather than preparing and eating his usual humble meals by himself, Lathe Turner found himself meeting Stoccado for lunch each day, while Stoccado found herself going to parties and even dancing, something she'd never done during her disciplined youth. And so it went, that on one long summer day, the woodcutter and the guardsmare went out into the meadow, they ate dinner under the setting sun where all the world was alight with magic, they stayed up late to watch the dancing fireflies outshine the stars in the sky, and she asked him to marry her.

Had those two young lovers been born at any other point in time, the opening of this story might well have been the finale, and the two would have lived happily ever after, but whether by fate or happenstance their tale does not end here.

Unbeknownst to anypony in that peaceful little village, trouble was stirring in the North. Mooselini, son of Rasmoosen had ascended to the Elkingdom throne during the previous cold and brutal winter, and after consolidating his power amongst the nobility, his ever growing hunger for power led his attention to a new and prospering rival, the nation of Equestria. You see, in those old days, before Celestia's reign of peace and harmony, before chaos showed its true form to the world, there were still many who believed that an iron will and an iron hoof were the greatest powers in the world. And so during that very Summer, after a series of increasingly unreasonable demands to the Council of Three, Mooselini declared war on Equestria and invaded.

There were dark times in those early days, times of heavy hearts and heavy deeds not sung by any minstrel nor extolled in any poetry, where every competent guardspony from across the land was summoned to fight. Stoccado's heart ached to leave her fiance, but she knew what her cutie mark meant to her, and to those who were counting on her to keep them safe from harm.

With sword and spear strapped to her back, Stoccado set out from home and Lathe Turner followed her to the edge of town, where she turned and they shared one last kiss.

"Where I go, you cannot follow." She said when she finally broke away. "Stay here, stay safe, and I promise I will return to you."

For a moment, Lathe Turner looked down at his hooves and was silent, and Stoccado felt another twinge of remorse, as if she had just scolded a lost puppy.

"If ever hope should fade," Lathe Turner said at last, "remember my love."

Knowing that if she stayed another moment, shared another word, she might lose the courage to leave, all Stoccado could do was nod. Then she turned and walked away.