Me and my trusty steed travelled west for who knows how long. The deer was clearly tired, practically limping along, but it continued for its mistress, lacking any other purpose or desire. Deer normally had rather blank, inexpressive eyes, but this was a whole new level. While others would perform some level of facial expressions; shifting their eyes, squinting, etc, my little slave did nothing. Its eyes just spiralled, hardly even blinking as it continued unerringly in my stated direction.

It was evening when we had exited the forest, the deer about to collapse from exhaustion. Immediately outside, I saw some structures that in no way looked natural. There were some creatures that looked vaguely like me, only pastel-colored and much bigger. I got off the deer, and gestured at the ground. It sat down, mindlessly awaiting further instruction. It received no instructions as I made my way over to hide in a bush, observing. They milled about, moving between smaller structures, trading small gold items for other, larger items. They also made complex noises to each other, far deeper than any sounds I heard in the forest. They must mean something. And so I listened. And I learned. I didn’t learn very much though, seeing as it was hard when all the talk was about buying fruits and flowers, though now I did know the names of quite a few species. Knowing how to buy a bouquet of roses was not helpful though, so this ‘market’ as they called, it wasn’t really helpful. I needed to know more. I thought a bit, buzzing my wings idly, before realization hit me. But first, I needed to find someone who was alone…

“See ya later, Storm!” As night was falling, a pony was waving his friend goodbye.

“You too, Pathfinder!” The gilver-gray pony, Storm, began on his way to the other side of town, while the other tannish-brown pony, presumably Pathfinder, stayed at his home, shutting the door as he reentered his house. Once Storm had left eyesight, I moved up to the door, and opened it without any issue. Seems there wasn’t anything to stop intruders from entering.

“Huh? What was that?” I quickly darted into the shadows, my jet black carapace concealing me better within the darkness behind a chair as the pony approached the open door, inspecting it. “Huh, guess I didn’t shut it all the way.” He shut the door again and returned to the other room, where I could smell food being made. After a few seconds, I exited the shadows, raising my wings and walking slowly towards the room. Slowly, carefully, I rounded the corner, and lighting up my wings with spirals, I stamped a hoof on the floor.

The pony shot around in surprise, and seeing a small insect pony, began to scream

“change-li…” He stuttered and trailed off as his eyes saw my wings, distracting him with their beautiful amethyst and quartz rings, the veins through which the glowing fluids pumped adding extra intricacies to the design that was simply mesmerizing. I couldn’t help but smirk as I saw all tension in their body melt away.

I really am queen of the world, it seems, I thought, my ego glowing brighter than my wings. I took a few moments to gloat mentally to myself, before I remembered my task. Right, learn to speak.

I returned my attention to the pony, who seemed to have forgotten all about the fact that he was currently looking at a shapeshifting emotion eating equine insect, and considered how to communicate my desires. I gesture to my mouth, open it and move my hoof away from it, hoping that the pony would understand. It seemed confused. I sighed and gestured first at myself, then repeated the same gesture.

“You...speak?” He said blankly. I nodded, then gestured towards him and back to me. “Me...you...speak?” he paused for a moment, “help you speak?” I nodded rapidly at the pony, then decided to take a look around my slave’s house. I exited the kitchen and entered the living room, which was rather barebones furniturewise with little more than a couch and a coffee table, but the walls were decorated with all kinds of maps of the land.

Well I can see why he’s called Pathfinder now. I spent some time admiring the maps before suddenly

“Um...changeling?” I shot around and saw Pathfinder, eyes back to normal, and I panicked, forgetting I had my wings. He panicked too, though for a different reason. “Wait! Wait! I’m not gonna hurt you!” He tried to assure me. I didn’t yet have enough knowledge of language to understand that, but his gestures told me enough. I slowly calmed down as he came up in front of me and kneeled. His sapphire blue eyes had a slight purple haze to them. My purple haze. “You’re just a baby aren’t you?” I cocked my head, still not entirely understanding, and he sighed. “I do need to teach you to speak, then.” The words “teach” and “speak’ told me what he was saying and I clapped my hooves. “Hehe, alrighty little bug. Lemme go get something to eat and I’ll get started on trying to teach you,” he said, taking his leave back to the kitchen.

Well I guess they don’t have to be completely blank. I think I like this, honestly, it might be nice for my slaves to have personality. They will work for my amusement! The deer was completely forgotten in my victory.

I spent my time looking around the house, trotting around like I owned the place. I probably did, effectively, what with the owner’s mind belonging to me. Said owner eventually called out to her,

“Changeling! Come here!” I didn’t know what he was saying, but I’d picked up on the fact that by ‘changeling,’ he meant me. I rushed over to the kitchen, where he’d made two plates of food. “I didn’t know what changelings ate, so I just decided to make hayburgers,” He set them down on a table and took a seat. I looked up at one of the chairs and made a half-successful attempt to buzz up before being helped by Pathfinder. “So, you want me to teach you to speak. I mean, I don’t think I’m the best teacher, but I’ll do my best.” He then sighs, “You don’t understand a word of this, do you?” I considered all his words, attempting to piece together meanings based on what I’d heard and what he seemed to be saying,

“Understand.”

“So you do understand!”

“Little.”

“Only a little, got it. So then, where to start?” and so the thinking began. “Do you know what we are?”

“Pony,” I say, having figured out the term, “you...Pathfinder?” I said, tilting my head inquisitively

“Yeah, I’m Pathfinder,” he looked around in mild shock, “Where'd you figure that out?” in response, I pointed at the door. “Ah, I see. How long were you watching me, then?”

“No long.” I say, and he chuckles

“Well, changeling, let's help you figure out the basics of speech,” he pauses for a moment, “say, I can’t just keep calling you ‘changeling,’ do you have a name?” I shake my head. “Hmm, well your wings were pretty…mesmerizing…” he trails off for a moment before shaking his head. “How about ‘Mesmera?’” I mulled over the name a bit in my head,

“Mes-mur-uh?” I sounded out. “Mesmera” I said a bit more definitively “Name Mesmera.”

Author's Note

Thanks to the people who've read my story for coming here. I honestly didn't expect anyone to actually pick up on this, it just being an origin story for the queen of my hive. I'm only a fledgling writer at the moment, so mistakes are to be expected, but I will improve with time.

Once again, thank you.