Life as a Secret Changeling Prince

“I don’t understand a word you’re saying!” James exclaimed, grabbing the filly by the shoulders and lightly shaking her.

She blinked a few times before saying in an accented voice, “oh! You don’t speak Cabalish?” He slowly shook his head as he got a better look her, noticing that she was a little taller than foals her age and maybe a bit lankier on the legs.

“What’s your name, stranger?” She repeated her earlier question, this time in Equinish.

“James Bridges.”

She let out a gasp, “you do sound like a model!” Then she clapped her little hooves together. “Excuse me?” He cracked out as she hugged his leg, squealing, “I like you!”

He then stammered out an, “o-oookay? Where are your parents?” She shrugged and said, “they told me to play in the fields! I think mama and papa are busy, cuz they didn’t want to play with me.”

James sighed and tried to take his leg back but she didn’t let go, seeming determined to stick with him like glue. He tried shaking her off, which only made her tighten her grip, she was surprisingly strong for someone so small.

He sighed, “you’re not letting go, are you?” She shook her head defiantly, “nope!”

He briefly wondered if he could fly with her attached to him, he fluttered his wings and went up a few inches, deciding that it was safe enough for both of them to go that high. “What do your parents look like?” He asked as he slowly flew towards the village.

“My mama looks like me! But her mane is brown and looks like candy,” she described as she hung on his leg.

“Like candy, huh?” He mindlessly mumbled back as he looked around for another pony in the village.

Then he spotted a mare, who kind of made him cringe at first sight. She looked like the stereotypical Equestrian housewife, with rolls of curls that resembled the swirls of lollipops (Liliana wasn’t wrong about the candy part), and holding it together was a piece of pink fabric.

She looked like she could be really pretty if it wasn’t for the caked on makeup on her face, adding that to the artificial curls in her mane just made it all look so... fake?

Gods strike James down if he ever becomes a househusband and resembles something like that.

“Pardon me, Miss!” He called out, making her face him with a surprised expression.

Then she gasped in horror as she shouted, “Lily! There you are,” she ran to them and snatched her daughter from his leg, giving him a quick “thank you!” Before scolding her daughter.

“Where have you been? I was so worried, I told you to stay in my line of sight!” Her accent was extremely thick, though James couldn’t tell where she was from.

Lily only replied with, “I saw him! Isn’t he pretty, mama?” She pointed her tiny hoof at him, making him blush.

“Yes he’s very pretty, mija,” she tiredly shook her head, “but your father was furious when I told him that I couldn’t find you.”

“Papa angry?” Lily pouted her lip, which was kind of really adorable.

Her mother repeated, “yes papa very angry,” she turned to James, “thank you, mijo, I was very worried for her.”

James shrugged, “it’s alright, she found me first.” Before she could say anything else to him, an angry looking stallion stepped into view, snatching the little filly out of her mothers hooves.

He had a white coat and a poofy raven-black mane, his eyes were silver, James knew who he was. Sergeant Rivera, one of the assholes he knew back at the base.

That most likely meant that his wife was here as a nurse, just like Pear Butter. It didn’t explain why he was foolish enough to bring his daughter, perhaps it reflected on his idiocy... Gods James hated him.

He shouted, “where the hell have you been?!” Lily whimpered and uttered, “lo siento, papa...”

James was about to fly away, not wanting to get involved in whatever this was. But when he saw the Sergeant growl in annoyance before slapping the poor girl across the face, he knew he couldn’t leave.

Lily fell to the ground, sobbing loudly for her mother, who looked too afraid to move.

James hissed at him, “what the hell is wrong with you, Rivera?! She’s just a little kid!”

The stallion took a second to recognize him before saying in a bored tone, “oh it’s the maggot of our unit, stay out of this Corporal Bridge.”

“No! You can’t just do that to your own child, that’s horrible, abuse even!” James retorted, wanting nothing more than to punch his superior in the face.

“Like your own parents didn’t beat the shit out of you either,” Rivera barked back, seeing the way James seemed to shrink at his words.

Netwing would never hit him but Stonefly on the other hoof...

The Changeling was about to use whatever magic he had to blast him in the face before the mother cried out, “please! It’s alright, we can resolve this. Just go back to the base, we’re okay!”

“Exactly, mind your business, Corporal Maggot,” Rivera sneered as he used his height to his advantage, towering over the young teen.

James gave the filly one last empathetic look before flying away as fast as he could, he was no where near as physically strong as Rivera, the most he could do right now is report this.

The General favored him so he had to help, this was so wrong!

“I’m sorry, Corporal Bridge, but until this war is officially over, we can’t do anything.”

“What?!”

The General winced as he admitted, “we need everypony we have on our side, we’re short due to not only the draft-dodgers, but the fact that a lot of soldiers are leaving without our knowledge. Besides, it’s not like we can do a proper case with this, we’re not in Equestria and even I don’t even need to ask you if Changeling Law is different.”

James bit his tongue, keeping himself from shouting in rage. He was told by the Inspector General earlier that since they weren’t sure if they were able to do anything as of now, he had to keep himself from saying who he was reporting to the General.

“The most I can do right now is keep him away from his family members as long as possible, perhaps we can have them stay in the barracks that you’re also in,” the General suggested.

“Is that really the most we can do?” James mumbled.

“I hate to say it but as of now, yes,” the General gave him a kind look as he said, “however, I do appreciate you reporting this to the Inspector General, I assure you that once we’re able to, this soldier will be dishonorably discharged by him on sight.”

James got out of his seat and began to walk out of the office, mumbling a half-hearted thanks to the General. He didn’t know if it would help at all, he felt so horrible for the little filly and her mother... they looked so scared.

The most he himself could do for now is send a prayer to the Goddess Nati and hope for the best, he needed to help protect that poor filly.

“What’s that James?” Lily asked, pointing to the moth plush in James’ hooves, which he promptly hid behind his back in embarrassment.

“Nothing!”

She peeked her head over his shoulder, “it don’t look like nothing!” She giggled innocently as she tried to reach for it, but once James flew up a few inches and she knew she was defeated.

Curse her tiny legs!

“It looks like a stuffed animal,” she said as she hopped, not being able to jump that high.

James rolled his eyes, “it’s none of your business, Lily.” She shook her head defiantly, “it is my business, I can see it!”

“You’re the most obnoxious creature I’ve ever met!” James exclaimed as he flew back down, stomping his hoof on the grass.

He still didn’t know how to feel about the General’s order for him, watch over Lily and make sure she doesn’t get hurt. It sounded like an easy job but no, she had to be the most stereotypical five year old he ever met.

Then Lily let out her high pitched gasp, at this point sounding like her favorite thing to do, “you forgot to answer my question earlier!”

James raised an eyebrow, “what question?” Lily rolled her eyes, but in a funny way, she rolled her head to the side as she did it, “if you were a model, duh!”

The Changeling took a moment to understand her question, before answering, “I’m not, why do you say that?” He remembered the beauty standards for his species and had to force himself not to cringe.

Lily replied, “because I think you’re really handsome, but pretty at the same time... hmmm...” she scratched her chin as she mumbled to herself, “which word is better?”

James tiredly said to himself, “Gods help me,” he placed the plush moth in the saddlebag he brought earlier, thankfully she didn’t spot it again as she was deep in thought.

Then she declared without warning, “it’s decided, I’m going to marry you one day!” James froze up, slowly turning his head to look back at the filly, who had ripped a sweet pea flower out of the ground, holding it up to him.

“... sure, kid,” he slowly said as he scratched the back of his neck. Lily hoofed him over the flowers and giggled, “take this as my love,” he held them in a loose grip.

He still wasn’t sure what was happening right now but then again, she’s five, she’ll forget about this in about three hours at most. Still, he couldn’t help but blush when she said, “we should get married in Puerto Caballo or Azteco, and my whole family is gon’ come!”

“Alright Lily, sure we’ll get married in the future,” James told her as he picked her up with his magic, placing her on his back. “But right now you need to be set down for a nap, I have business to attend to with the General—“

“You mean abuelo?” She asked, startling James.

“‘Abuelo’? What do you mean Lily?” There was no way she, this tiny overexcitable filly, knew anything about the General. “Mhm, he’s my Abuelo Fig, he said that he was gonna give me caramel sweets when we got back.”

He realized she was using a Cabalish term for him, so he asked, “what does ‘Abuelo’ mean in Equinish?” She answered with, “grandpa, he’s my mama’s papa.”

“O-oh!” James didn’t know what to think, it even broke his heart a little to know that the General had no idea that his daughter was being abused by her husband.

In order to not feel weird about it, he decided to make small talk as they went towards the base, “where’s your mama from, anyways? You have unique accents.”

“Mama’s from Cubano, but we moved from Puerto Cabello to come here for mama’s new job.”

“She’s a nurse, right?”

“How’d you know that? Wow, you’re really smart... I’m glad I’m marrying you.”

Were fillies really this serious about marriage, James wouldn’t know due to his culture being completely different to hers. “Now Lily, I’m sure you don’t want to marry someone like me,” he honestly replied.

“Why not? You’re nice, handsome, and smart!” She listed.

“Because you barely know me, kid, or what even a romantic partner is like,” James explained as simply as he could.

She sounded confused as she asked, “then what is a romantic partner like?”

James thought the question was simple, but once he opened his mouth, his words dissolved on his tongue. It was an actual question that could make you think, especially since he tried not to think about the topic.

What did he want in a romantic partner?

Did he want to be a docile husband to a strong and confident female? Or would he try and run off with a sweet male... perhaps Cricket... actually, who said that he had to marry a Changeling?

He remembered how sweet a couple Burnt Oak and Odonata were, and they weren’t even the same species!

Then speak of the devil, Burnt Oak was running towards him with a worried expression on his face. Lily greeted him loudly with an ecstatic wave, “hi mister!”

Burnt gave her a kind look before looking back at James, “are you going to be busy for the next few hours?!” He asked desperately.

“Umm... that depends, is it an emergency?”

“It’s not a bad thing, at least I don’t think so, but Odonata said that we should get you to assist us!” He seemed on edge, so James figured that it was more than worth it to help his friend out.

He looked back at Lily, who was still on his back, an asked, “hey Lily, how do you feel about an adventure?”

She responded with a “yay, adventure!” And clapped happily.

“Alright Burnt, take us where we need to go.”