Life as a Secret Changeling Prince

Bright Mac followed Mazarine to a location he hadn’t been expecting, the embassy. In fact, he wasn’t the only one going there, it looked like thousands of Changelings flooded the area. Many of them were holding sheets of papers, no doubt their papers for emigration.

He tried to ignore the looks that some of the citizens gave him as he walked past them, focused on getting to the ambassador. He never officially met the guy, having only read messages from him every so often, as well as rumors that he was a sleaze-bag.

That was the least of his concerns though, clearly there was a reason why everyone was here. So once he managed to push past everyone, he saw soldiers that worked under the ambassador stamping emigration papers.

He cleared his throat to get the attention of one of them, it was a brown stallion with a maroon mane. He looked up with an annoyed look, but softened it as he realized it was a pony talking to him, not another Changeling.

“Sorry, you are...?” He questioned, not unkindly.

“Corporal Mac, sir,” Bright Mac answered, then gestured to the crowd of Changelings, “what’s going on? Why have they all gathered here, we were told that we weren’t expected to leave until we won the war?”

The Gunnery Sergeant (Bright Mac knew by the badge), replied with a glare towards the frantic Changelings, “plans have changed, Corporal. The ambassador is pulling out in three days time, says he wants to wait until they can get most of these maggots out of here.”

Bright Mac was obviously startled by this, then it made sense why the newspaper warned for Changelings to start packing; they were expecting to leave this dying country before Chrysalis took over. Another Changeling came up with his papers and placed it on the desk, looking nervous as he tried to say in broken Equinish, “I-I’m the fiancé o-of GI—“

“As they all say, let’s see those papers,” the Gunnery Sergeant replied in a bored tone. As he scanned it, Bright Mac realized that he recognized the young male.

He was one of the bar-boys, Lacewing. That one shy worker that stayed in the corner the entire time Bright and his friends were at that damned brothel, Shangri-La.

He had a soldier for a fiancé now?

The loud stamping noise made Bright jump, he glanced over to see the Gunnery Sergeant telling Lacewing, “I’ve stretched a few rules as I happen to be friends with this fiancé of yours, but as I’ve warned the other maggots, if you miss your chance on the boat then it’s on you.”

Lacewing nodded as he took his papers back, speeding off towards the exit, ignoring the comment the Gunnery Sergeant made, “nice ass!” Bright Mac cringed as he heard this, saying, “when are the soldiers leaving, the same time as the ambassador?”

He was answered with a nod, which made his heart skip a beat. Was this really supposed to be a surprise for the soldiers, some of them had family’s they made in this country, as messed up as the state of it was.

He had to warn Burnt Oak of their departure, and dreaded the conversation that they needed to have. Whether his friend agreed or not, they had to leave Odonata behind...

Burnt Oak woke up with a headache, it worsened when he attempted to sit up. Then a soft voice told him, “hey, don’t move yet. You’re still weak, what happened to you Burnt?” He looked over to see Pear Butter holding a first aid kit, it looked pretty useless in this situation.

That is until she pulled painkillers out of the bottle, then handed a plastic cup of water to him. “Take this, it should help with the headache,” she instructed.

He did as told, gulping both the water and the pill down, it would take awhile for it to fully take affect, “what was your question, again?” She rolled her eyes, repeating, “what happened to you?”

“O-oh...” Burnt thought about it, but couldn’t seem to remember for some reason. Maybe his memory was shot after what happened to him? He could only answer with, “I am... not sure.”

“That’s helpful, “ Pear joked, placing a hoof over his forehead to check his temperature.

Then she tilted her head, “it’s weird, your temperature seems fine. I’ve never seen anything like this, can you recall anything from the last few days?”

He shrugged, “the last thing I remember was when I took Odonata home, after that it’s just a blur.”

Pear winced as she thought of something, hating to suggest it but she couldn’t stop herself, “do you think that... he had something to do with this? Not that he did it on purpose of course! Maybe it was an accident.”

At the offended look she received, she knew she made a mistake. “How could you suggest such a thing, Buttercup?! Odonata is the sweetest soul I’ve ever met!” Burnt snapped, getting angry from the immediate assumption.

“I’m not saying that he meant to do it or that he even did it at all!” Pear explained, “I know it’s been a year but think about it, you probably don’t know everything about him.”

Burnt wanted to retort back with something, but had nothing. She had a point, there was no way he could possibly know everything about him. He just barely found out where he came from, the village they then burned to the ground...

“Where is he?” He suddenly asked, somehow just realizing that his Kim wasn’t here.

Pear frowned, admitting, “I’m not entirely sure, I’ve been with you all day. I actually haven’t seen him in awhile...”

The stallion bit his lower lip, feeling his stomach churn from worry. Where could Kim have gone? He wasn’t here by his side, which was strange for his kind character.

Before the two could say anymore, there was a light knock on the door. Burnt shifted to get up but Pear held her hoof up, shaking her head as she mouthed, ‘I’ll get it.’

Once she opened the door, she was surprised to see her husband standing there. He had a nervous look in his eye as he glanced over her shoulder, “i-is he...?”

“He’s awake and doing alright, I think that with enough rest and proper medication he’ll be good by tomorrow or the day after.”

“Thank Celestia,” Bright Mac sighed, then gestured for her to come out of the room. She looked at Burnt with concern, but the brown stallion just waved her off with a patient smile.

So she followed Bright out, shutting the door behind her, “is something wrong, hun’?” She questioned, feeling nervous as he nodded his head.

“I-it’s... about Odonata,” he started, once she nodded with an, “okay, what about him?” He continued.

“There’s only one thing that could’ve happened to Burnt, and it’s something that James explained to us awhile ago. I-I think that...” he gulped, forcing himself to say it, “Odonata may have fed on his love, I know there’s no physical proof but what other explanation do we have?”

Pear’s lip twitched, feeling guilty as she had the same conclusion earlier. Then she admitted, “I honestly thought the same thing, but when I suggested it to Burnt he denied it. Maybe Odonata didn’t do anything and this was from something else. Then again, Burnt says that the last thing he remembers was when he took Odonata home...”

Bright Mac looked at the door, sighing, “that might be the proof we need,” he paused as he bit his lip, then asked, “can... can you discuss this with him?”

“M-me?!” Pear squeaked, shaking her head. There was no way she could do this, her heart already ached at the thought of it.

“He’d be calmer with you, I know for sure that he’ll punch me if I even suggest it,” Bright pleaded, taking her hooves in his.

As much as he hated to make this argument, he was desperate to not tell his friend himself, “Buttercup, do you love me enough to do this!” She gasped and snapped back, “Mac, don’t you dare use that with me!”

He only gave her one last pleading look, before she sighed and grumbled, “fine, but you owe me big time for this...”

She gently opened the door, stepping in as she quietly said, “hey... we need to talk.”

Burnt Oak straightened up, nodding his head, “I’m listening.” Pear looked back at the door, seeing Bright Mac give her an encouraging look before shutting the door.

Of course...

“It’s about Odonata,” she started, which made Burnt scrunch his nose.

“What about him?” He asked.

Pear thought about how to break it to him, so without thinking she questioned, “how much do you really love Odonata?”

He smiled brightly, which only made this harder for her, “it’s so... weird, how much I love him, I mean. We’ve even discussed how our wedding would be, small and private, it suits us, I think. I-I can’t even... begin to imagine life without him once I get back to Equestria, if anything, Vietrot feels like home because of him.”

The mare was conflicted, “what if you weren’t able to take him home, like if something kept you from him?”

“I think I’d die if we got separated, that damn Changeling makes everything here seem a little... brighter, ya know?” Burnt replied, his cheeks flushing a soft red.

He then laughed to himself, muttering, “hell, I want to be a better stallion because of him. I’ve never even thought about bettering myself before him, I always figured that I was good enough to be considered decent.”

Celestia help her, Pear couldn’t break his heart. All she could think of to say was, “that’s really sweet, I’m sure Odonata misses you as well. In fact, Bright just told me that the poor thing caught the cold and is stuck at home. So I’m afraid that he won’t be able to visit you, maybe I can deliver a message to him?”

It was wrong of her to do this, it was so much easier to lie but at the same time, it was going to hurt even worse later on since she didn’t tell the truth. He nodded, simply saying, “just tell him that I love him very much, and that I hope he’ll get better really soon.”

Pear gave him a fake smile, “will do, Oak! Just try and get some more rest now, so you can be out in at least two days.” She then turned around, her smile dropped and she suddenly felt sick.

As she left the room Bright whispered, “how’d he take the news?” Pear gave him a weak glance, having nothing else to say but this.

“Better than I expected...”

It was too much for his poor heart to handle, she prayed that it wouldn’t bite her in the near future for lying.