Chapters The problem, decided Sugar Spoon. Was not the Changeling living in her spare bedroom, or even said changeling's extremely snarky attitude.
The problem was the jelly. The spare room had gone from a pleasant space with all the comforts a guest might need during their stay, to what looked like Equestria’s leading jar collection. “This really needs to stop,” she sighed as another tower of preserves toppled onto the bed.
It had all began in the weeks following the Canterlot invasion, ponies were on high alert for changeling activity and anypony acting remotely strange was treated with extreme suspicion. So Sugar was understandably on edge when what appeared to be a dead changeling fell into her garden.
Moving over to take a closer look at the strangely insectoid equine Sugar noticed that the changeling appeared to still be breathing. She wasn't really sure what somepony should do in this sort of situation, it wasn't like you could just drop off one of Equestria's enemies at the local hospital. However she also felt that just leaving the changeling to die would be incredibly cruel. So picking the unconscious changeling up in her magic, she took her up into the house.
Almost a week passed before the changeling regained consciousness. The first thing it saw when it did was Sugar Spoon standing over her, the pony’s pale pink hair in a bun and a spoon of brown liquid held in her magic.
“Oh great. A pony,” sighed the changeling. “I guess I died and this is hell.” After the changeling said this Sugar took advantage of its open mouth and deposited the brown liquid down It's throat.
The changeling coughed and spluttered at this oral invasion. “What in Equestria was that foul stuff? It tasted like a donkey and a manticore had a child that ate rotten eggs and then you fed me the leavings,” moaned the changeling.
“Oh don't be such a foal,” laughed sugar “It's just a little medicine to get your strength up.” The changeling seemed genuinely surprised at this.
“A pony helping a changeling? Is Discord messing up reality?”
This continued for about a fortnight, the changeling would wonder aloud at when Sugar Spoon would turn her in and Sugar would busy herself with its care. On the Thursday of the third week the changeling sat up in the bed. “Well I suppose you're not too bad for a pony.”
“Thanks,” said Sugar, apparently unaware of the rude comment.
The changeling stretched and shook its head. “My name is Gel,” it said eventually.
“Sugar Spoon,” replied Sugar. “I'm glad to see you're doing better.”
“Well my health might be getting better… But I'm starving,” moaned the changeling.
“You're hungry? Don't you just like suck love or something?” asked the confused mare.
“I've been eating your love for the last month. I'm craving something else,” said the changeling.
“You've been doing what!?” Exclaimed Sugar, dropping down onto a nearby chair. “You know what? Never mind. What else would a changeling eat?”
Gel brightened at this, joy obvious in her eyes, drool forming in her mouth. “Jelly,” she said happily. “Jelly?” Asked Sugar.
And that's how it had begun, Sugar had bought a jar of jelly and Gel had eaten it in minutes. After that Gel seemed to somehow always have a jar ready for eating. This was a cause of interest for Sugar, she bought lots of jelly but this was a lot more than she had purchased. She would occasionally ask Gel about this and the changeling would just shrug.
"I need to find out what's going on," Said Sugar after she slipped on the sticky grape goop for the third time. And so she sat outside Gel's room, concealed in some bushes and waited for the jelly mystery to be solved.
Minutes passed, then hours, so much time passed that Sugar was about ready to give up. That is until the cart stopped outside the house. The cart itself was normal enough. The kind you see ponies pulling around all the time and the content was nothing more than a selection of pleasant smelling flowers of all different types and colours.
So she didn't pay the pale yellow earth pony pulling the cart much attention. That is until the pony pulled out a crate from the cart that had been hidden behind some begonias. "Jelly smuggling right under my nose!" Shouted Sugar Spoon, darting back into the bush when she realised she had almost let her excitement give her away.
This information raised two questions for Sugar. Was this earth pony another changeling helping out Gel? And secondly. Could she trust Gel? Honestly she wasn't sure why she trusted the changeling at all. She hardly even know them. Sugar was troubled by these developments and decided that there was only one way to settle them. She would need to confront whoever the pony giving Gel jelly and find out who she really was.
After the cart left Sugar was close behind it, keeping to shadows and pretending to be another face in the crowd. Eventually the earth pony finished her rounds and parked her cart outside a humble looking cottage.
Sugar seized her chance and approached the front door of the house. Taking a deep breath she knocked in what she hoped was an unsuspicious way.
"Yes?" Asked the raspberry maned pony.
"I- I uh... I heard you do the flowers?" Sugar stuttered.
The earth pony blinked. "Well I do sell them if that's what you mean?"
"Yes! I need to talk to you about buying flowers!" shouted Sugar. "Can we talk about it inside?"
The earth pony nodded. "The name is Roseluck by the way." She said as she motioned Sugar to come in.
The interior of the cottage had a definite floral pattern, flowers covered the windowsills and the air smelled sweet and inviting. Sugar sat on a small sofa and Roseluck took the chair across from her.
"So you're here about flowers?" she asked eventually.
"Well not exactly..." Muttered Sugar."
"Ah. I thought you weren't following me all day just to ask me about daffodils."
Sugar gaped. "You knew I was following you? Then you must know why I'm here!"
"The changeling?" Said Roseluck, sighing. "I suppose I better tell you my story."
Author's Note
Thanks for reading and all comments are appreciated! (especially comments on improvements for my grammar.)
O“My story begins in a small town near the northern border of the White Tail Woods,” said Roseluck after a while.
“It was a lovely place and my life there was much the same as my life here. My was the town's only florist and because of that my income was pretty secure.” Roseluck stopped talking for a moment, as if in deep thought. “Yes… Things were basically perfect.”
“Why aren't you there now? I mean it sounds like you had a charmed life,” asked Sugar.
Roseluck smiled. “I does, doesn't it? And I admit that it really did feel charmed.”
“Everything continued in much the same way for the next few years. But then something changed about three years ago,” sighed Roseluck.
“What happened?” Questioned Sugar.
“What always happened in stories like this. I met the love of my life.”
The earth pony looked out of a widow for a minute before talking again. “She just walked into town one day, a pegasus that to my eyes made the sun look dim in comparison.”
“She was in town about a week before I finally met her properly, she came by my store in order to buy some flowers for the cottage she would be staying in.” Roseluck sighed, “I really wish I could tell you that I gave some romantic pickup line and knocked her off her hooves.”
“What actually happened is I couldn't say a word, one look into her dark green eyes and I was stunned silent.”
“It was another month before I could talk to her properly, she came into my store and I managed to ask her name.” Roseluck smiled as she recalled the memory.
“She smiled at me and my heart raced, when she spoke I felt like my life had finally begun. Her name was Cherry Blitz and I swore to myself that I would never forget her name.”
“Hoho. I guess flowers and romance really do go hoof in hoof,” said Sugar, winking suggestively.
Roseluck laughed. “Believe me, I was the least romantic pony you might have ever met.”
“Well eventually I plucked up the courage to ask her on a date. I thought that there was next to no chance she'd accept though.”
“But she did. And for the next few months I felt like I was walking in a dream.”
“And then one day she told me that she had something to tell me. We were sitting in her living room and I could tell she was nervous, it was a big change from the perfect mare I'd known until then.”
“She told me that she hoped this wouldn't affect how I felt about her. I told her that I was certain that nothing could change how I felt.”
“You really loved her,” said the unicorn.
“More than anything… Even when right before my eyes, right in that very moment. When the mare I knew was gone and something I didn't recognise stood before me.”
“I admit that I was shocked and more than a little scared, the creature before me really could only be described as a monster. But when she spoke I recognised the mare I'd known for those blessed few months.”
“She told me that she was a being who fed on love, and that my feelings had immediately drawn her to me. That the time she spent with me had stirred emotions in her that she never expected. The love she felt was real but she wanted to make sure I would still love her not as a pony, but a changeling.”
“How could I not? She was still the pony I cared for. In that moment we promised each other that we would stay with each other and build a life that we could both share.”
Roseluck stopped and a great sadness seemed to wash over her. “What I wouldn't do to change what happened next, what I wouldn't do to turn back time.”
“I decided that I would visit the neighbouring towns to sell my flowers, hoping to draw more customers and make some extra bits for the two of us.”
“I was gone for around a week and I was quite happy with the trip, I was excited to see Cherry again and talk about her future plans.”
“I knew something was wrong as soon as I got back into town, nopony could look at me and the atmosphere felt strange. I visited Cherry’s home and found it empty, the same went for my own house.”
“I found out what happened when I asked a neighbour if she had seen my marefriend. The neighbour looked sad when she met my eyes. She told me that some sort of monster had replaced Cherry, that it had changed in the market one day.”
“I put together in my mind that Cherry must have not been able to feed in the time I was gone, that her magic had weakened and eventually failed.”
“My neighbour told me that the town had given chase, that they had lost her in the woods but they had contacted the local guard to put out a warning to the local area.”
Roseluck sniffed, tears falling freely. “For an entire month I searched the woods, everywhere I thought somepony might hide. I never found her… I think that she must have left to protect me, knowing that a connection between us might endanger me.”
“I'm so sorry,” said Sugar after a quiet moment. “Is that why you decided to help Gel?”
Roseluck nodded. “I noticed the signs. They're hard to spot unless you know what to look for.” Roseluck sighed. “Ponies who have a changeling feed on them have a certain look in their eyes, like a slight happy tiredness.”
“That still doesn't explain why you helped,” Said Sugar.
“I thought that helping this changeling might help redeem me for not helping Cherry, I admit that it has helped me feel a little better.”
Sugar nodded. “Do you mind if I start getting the jelly from you directly? Ponies might get curious if you keep delivering it to my house.”
Roseluck agreed to this proposition and waved goodbye to Sugar Spoon as she trotted back into Ponyville.
Sugar was happy to have solved the mystery of the jelly. She also realised properly for the first time the risk both she had Gel ran by living together. She hoped that she would be able to keep the secret from getting out.
Author's Note
All criticisms and corrections are appreciated!
A new glorious kingdom is born
Gel sighed, she had no idea how ponies lived in such an unorganised society. In the hive every changeling had a set job from birth that they did without complaint. It was perfect.
But ponies all just seemed to do whatever they wanted, some even had entirely useless jobs of which Gel could not see the purpose.
She sighed again, really the rule of changelings would have been beneficial for them. Picking up a jar or jelly she smiled, “I admit they at least have have some good points.”
The changeling turned at the sound of knocking at the door to the bedroom she had made into a makeshift lair. “You may enter the kingdom of Geldonia.”
Sugar opened the door to the room, trotting inside once her eyes adjusted to the gloom. “It's darker than a Zebra’s stripes in here. Do you really need to keep the curtains closed all the time?”
Gel glared at the unicorn, cursing her necessity. “I need this atmosphere to plan revenge for my queen and my race.”
“It looks more like you're eating jelly in a pillow fort,” replied the unicorn teasingly.
“The new ruler of the changelings requires a castle and a feast!” Shouted Gel angrily.
“Jelly in a pillow fort.”
Gel scowled at the unicorn's insolence. “My first decree as queen will be having your horn turned into a desk ornament!”
“What did you want anyway?” Asked Gel after calming down.
“I met with Roseluck today, we talked about her giving you the jelly.”
“Hmph… I hoped that my first slave would have been more resistant to torture.”
“She told me as soon as I listened to her story,” said Sugar.
“That codswallop about her and a changeling? As if a changeling would lower themselves to showing affection to a pony. The only thing we need from ponies is their love. It was probably just using her.”
“Really? I thought it made quite the sweet story, two creatures who are normally enemies finding that love can bring anything together,” sighed the unicorn dreamily.
“What a shame that ponies blasted us away before we could hold hooves and dance into the merry night.” Replied Gel, leering at the unicorn.
The unicorn, apparently not noticing the sarcasm continued talking. “I told Roseluck that I would pick up the jelly from now on, a florist delivering jams might start to get a little suspicious.”
“Hm… it would be bad if I was revealed before I was powerful enough to defeat the princesses and elements. I agree to you becoming my slave.”
“How exactly do you plan on beating them when a whole army of changelings couldn't?” Asked Sugar.
“Do you really think I've been sitting here doing nothing? I have been training my magic with dark and secret techniques.”
“Secret techniques? You haven't moved from this room since I brought you here.”
“Ha! Obviously you don't realise what I've been doing. This jelly you ponies have holds a great and mystical power which has been passed down the line of queens since our creation,” shouted Gel, raising her front legs in excitement.
“Queens are created when a chosen changeling consumes some royal jelly, her body changes and her magic increases massively. So imagine how powerful I will become after consuming all of this jelly.”
“You think that this will help you become a queen?” Asked Sugar Spoon, levitating a jar of store brand grape jelly. “Why would ponies have changeling jelly in jars?”
“Obviously it's proof that ponies are an oppressive race who steal our precious resources and use them for tasty toast toppings.”
“Right… Ponies are the ones who steal. It's not like changelings steal love or anything.”
“We take what we need to survive, we would all die without love to feed us!” Shouted Gel angrily.
Sugar Spoon looked down, regretting the words she had spoken without thinking. “I'm sorry. But I'm not sure if that jelly is the same that you changelings eat, I mean you don't appear to have changed at all.”
“I've always been a later bloomer, it took me a few hours longer than most to hatch. The power probably just takes a while to take hold.” replied Gel, a slight uncertainty betrayed in her voice.
The mare sighed, “perhaps we should change the subject? Tell me something of the hive.”
Gel brightened considerably, “You wish to know of the hive? The hive is a place of wondrous uniformity, every changeling is given a place from birth. There is no poverty in the hive, no sadness or hate. Each changeling is happy to complete their given task.”
“And what was your task?” Asked Sugar.
“I was one of a group of backup queens, Chrysalis made us a year before the invasion. We were created in case Chrysalis fell during the fight, one of us would replace her and rule over the hive.”
“So basically you were a princess?”
“In a way. For a year I viewed the knowledge kept in the hive mind, in order to be a better ruler. When I wasn't learning I fed, I would consume love for half of each day.”
Gel looked away for a moment. “Then the day or the invasion came, the hive was busier than I had ever seen. Work was tripled and Chrysalis spent every moment planning for every eventuality.”
“I was chosen to lead a squadron of warriors, we were to lead the forces in when Chrysalis gave the signal. Everything went well until that blasted Twilight freed Cadence and gave her the chance to throw us out of Canterlot,” hissed the changeling.
“After that I was weakened, I could no longer sense the hive mind. I was lost in a land I didn't understand. I hid in the Everfree for a time, but that turned out to be too dangerous and without food. I know that I would have to find love to consume.”
“That's me!” Said Sugar brightly.
“Right… I used the last of my strength to take the form of a pegasus and travelled into Ponyville, but it seemed I had overestimated myself slightly. My magic failed and I found myself falling, my last memory is of hitting the ground.”
“You must have fallen into my garden at that point, you're lucky I found you.”
“Yeah… I'm sooo lucky.”
Author's Note
Constructive criticism and tips or super appreciated.
