Trauma within a Changeling
It began to rain as I entered the building. It looked rundown on the outside, but on the inside, it was a place of wonders. I looked left and right as I strolled past a group of ponies chatting about their day. This was the usual things that happened here. People would talk, have a cold one, and be completely unaware of the changeling that slowly walked past them. To them, I looked like a normal unicorn stallion, to me, a disappointment of a being.
I could make out several Unicorns and Pegasi in the bar. The most important ones were the group in the corner consisting of a group of Pegasi and a single Earth pony mare. I could instantly tell it was Applejack and Rainbow Dash becoming competitive about drinking some alcohol. They did this from time to time, but I didn't want to dwell on them for too long.
I spent most of my days coming in here to meet my friends, until they separated. That left me as the only one who remained. I walked up to the counter and sat on a chair, like I always did, and ordered the same drink. This ended up being a loop that I couldn't escape from. Hell I didn't even want to escape from it, but having the chance to just alter the minor interactions in the day would be life changing for me. I stayed the same course for years. It didn't help that my kind evolved into those… things! I don't want to share love. The reason… I have never been loved or loved somepony else. so I couldn't change even if I wanted to.
These thoughts distracted me enough to make me start daydreaming. I really did bore myself that much! I snapped out of the daydream in a second and regained the knowledge of my surroundings. I was sat on a chair with a cider in hoof and a blank expression on my face. I looked around to see some ponies talking about some relaxation spa or something along those lines.
“I really need to do something else.” I muttered to myself. Nobody was here for me so I left after I chugged down the cider from the bottle.
I took the bottle with me for some reason. I was not aware that the bottle was lodged next to one of the many scars along my forelegs. I looked down at the bottle and grasped it with my magic. I levitated the bottle up to my face and read the inscription on the bottle. ‘Apple family Cider’ it read. I frowned at the bottle before lobbing the bottle into one of the many bins that littered the sidewalks of Canterlot.
I began to walk faster as the rain picked up and began to find myself about to start trotting along at a steady speed. The rain punched my dark grey fur as began to slow down at the sight of an incident ahead. “Looks like the rain didn't affect anypony!” I lied sarcastically under my breath. My brown mane began to flop to one side of my head, covering my right ear with an extra layer of hair. This made it that much more difficult to see so I changed into my normal state. A un-evolved changeling that looked like one of the queen's guard. My jet black skin reflected the water right off, due to it being skin and not fur. My mane vanished to leave a light green striped mane… that still draped over one side. I used my magic to keep my mane straight and proceeded to trot until I came to the incident.
I looked down at the mare that was before me and frowned. “Oh good! A pony that is unconscious. Let me just drain the love out of her!” I stated sarcastically to myself. I examined the mare on the road. She was a Pegasus for sure, but her wings were very rigid and frail. At first, I thought that it was just a disease or something, then I realised that her wings folded back on their self. I cringed at the sight, regardless of if they actually worked like that.
I began getting more and more worried as the precious seconds went buy. She was unconscious and would get some sort of illness from staying out here. I looked around to see if anypony was around. Nothing. I grabbed the pony with my magic and slung her, very softly, onto my back and began to stroll to the way I now needed to go. Somewhere dry.
I raced as carefully as I could to avoid hurting the mare on my back and eventually ended up where I needed to be. A block of flats next to an alleyway. I unlocked the door with my keys and proceeded to the second floor. I then unlocked and opened the door and closed it softly behind me. I placed the resting mare onto the soft sofa that I had in my apartment and then went to work on creating something that would allow me to wake her up without having the effects of a hangover.
I walked over to some herbs that were growing in the window of the kitchen and admired the flowers growing on the end of the herbs. They were stunningly beautiful! The way that they resembled the look of miniature roses, just melted all harsh emotions out of my system. I looked back at the mare on the sofa and smiled. “She has the same purple coat as the inner part of the flower and a blue mane like the outer part of the flower!” I stated with quiet amusement.
I didn't realize it, but I was smiling. I hadn't smiled since I had an argument with one of my family members and surprisingly, i hadn't been in the wrong. Looking at this mare on my sofa gave me a new take on my career, my job, my life. I regained my ever needed grip on reality again and then went back to focus on the plants. I chipped a flower off one of the herbs and placed it in a little solution of water. Normally I wouldn't save the flowers, but this was for somepony that was laying on the sofa in my flat. I looked down at the herb and chopped off a little and mixed it with some spices from my old zebra arts course. I knew that it would come in handy at some point in my life. Gathering the ingredients for a 'just incase' moment that would eventually flip that repetition in my life around and force me to face new challenges.
I continued to mix the ingredients and then a thick layer of black and purple smoke arose from the mixing bowl I was using. "Great! It's done." I said to myself with a hopeful whimper. I brought the mixture to a cup and poured it into it. The mixture showed something that resembled running magma from a volcano. Had I done it right? Was this meant to look like this? Either way, I couldn't try it on myself because I was not drunk and most importantly, I was still conscious.
I brought the mixture to the mouth of pony that was with me, and prayed. All of the mixture was out of the cup and down the pony's throat. I hoped hard and was painfully rewards with a buck to the face.
"Ahh! Get away from me!" She shouted, loud enough to break my lovely quietness in my flat, and also loud enough that all of Canterlot could hear her. I rolled back in pain and shock.
"I'm not here to hurt you, I found you unconscious in the rain." I stated with angering rage that I didn't want to point towards her. She began to slow down her heavy breathing and began to look around at the room. She began to see that I was living like any other pony would be.
She looked at me and then quickly scrambled down to the floor to help me.
"Oh god! I'm so sorry about that! It's just that it was so sudden and… the last time I got this close to a Changeling, it didn't end so well for me." She stated with pure sympathy for me, and I could definitely feel it. I rubbed the now bleeding hoof prints on my cheeks and sighed.
"I don't blame you for acting like that. Seeing a Changeling, like me, is… weird." I stated, regaining my view from being bucked in the head.
I looked at her with worry in my eyes. "Can you please keep my whereabouts hidden? I don't think that the guards, or any of the ponies here, want to know that there is an un-evolved Changeling here in Canterlot. They might think that I'm working for the queen or something!" I scarcely said. She nodded and looked out of the window to the dripping rain on the pathway.
"Oh. Was it really this bad?" She asked with a little hesitation. I nodded and joined her at the window.
"I found you on the main road on the way back here. I thought I should at least keep you dry from the rain. So I brought you to the only place I could." I explained to her. She smiled and then looked at me.
"If that is so, then thank you!" She whispered.
I went back to my herbs and began to tend to the flower in the water. The mare with me looked over towards my direction and slightly tilted her head. "Umm… if you don't mind me asking, what is all of that?" She stated with confusion and a sense of need for the knowledge of what it was. I looked back at her and clearly stated, as proudly as I could.
"It is a cactus-lily! A rare ingredient used to treat some different injuries and some medical illnesses. Pretty much a load of zebra stuff where I mix things together to create things to help with conditions, such as your drunken body and the effects of the hangover that you would have received!" She then looked gob smacked and a little shocked.
"Are you a doctor?" She queried. I looked at the herb and shook my head. "Well you really should be!" She stated proudly.
This warmed up a little place inside me that I didn't realize that I had. Happyness? Nah. Some sort of other emotion was building up inside me, I just wasn't smart enough to work out what it was. It was getting late and the rain was not letting up. I agreed to keep the mare for the night and allowed her to take my bed, while I took the sofa. I then drifted off and before I knew it, it was the dawn of a new day.
I was woken up by the sound of hoof steps closing in towards me. I opened my eyes to see the mare I kept last night looking me dead in the eyes with a smile. "Morning! You slept well for somepony who got bucked to the face!" She joked. I laughed a little and could feel the pain of that event irradiating my face with a bright new pain. I stumbled off the sofa and stretched my wings, back and fore hooves. I looked at her and smiled lazily.
"Did you have a good night knowing that you kicked somepony in the face when they were trying to help you?" I asked with a smile. She froze and then looked back at me with a scarce look. I tried to hold back a laugh but failed in my attempt to keep a straight face. She laughed sarcastically at me and then smile.
"I have to go in a minute, but I was going to ask. Are you going to the bar again tonight? She asked with a curious tone. I nodded.
"I do on most days, why?" I asked, with curiousness lingering at the end of my horn.
"Just wondering… would you be disguised as well?" She asked without hesitation. I nodded and then changed to my unicorn form I was yesterday night.
She walked to the door and then opened it. She began to walk out and then stopped. "I hope I see you later!" She stated with her back turned to me. Before I had time to act, the hugged me hard and I just froze. Love… love was the emotion that I felt last night for my herbs. I made a note of it in my head before getting a grip on reality again and hugging her back.
"I never got your name." I stated with a new desire in my mind.
"Hazel!" She clearly responded.
"Stinger!" I replied.
She nodded to me before heading down and out the door. I closed the door and walked to the sink and froze. The flower was still here! I wasted no time and grabbed the flower carefully with my magic, and rushed after her. I opened the door leading to the flats and saw her looking at me. "I forgot to give you this!" I said, being out of breath. She looked at it with wonder and then asked
"What is it?" I placed it just to the top left of her mane and stood back a little.
"It's the flower from the plant I treated you with." I stated, still being out of breath.
She looked at me with one emotion that I had never seen before.
"You really should be a doctor you know! Hazel stated clearly. She walked closer to me and kissed me on the cheek. I burst into a blush and then went quiet. "Thank you Stinger! I will see you later!" She said with lust in her eyes. I met her gaze as she turned to trot happily away.
I remembered what I said yesterday, shortly after that event that just transpired out of even my control. The entire loop process that I could not escape from. Yeah about that... I still can't escape it, it just dragged me somewhere new. I met somepony that does not care for my looks or that I'm a Changeling.
I swear the sun shone brighter as I walked into my apartment and looked at a mirror. This was my life changing, but did that mean that the loop was broken? I didn't have time to ligure on the topic. What ever happened from here on, I would follow my path to where it took me. My live was starting to change, and I was secretly loving every waking second of it. I was not a Changeling anymore. Changelings feed on love. I wasn't doing that, I was experiencing it.
