Look Inside Your Heart Part One.

Prologue: Will Is Never Free.

We are given the illusion of free will not knowing it could be taken without a moments notice, that is the life of a changeling. The first Queen gave us complete control, and gave no consenquence for our judgement. Her rule was overthrown and she was murdered soon after.

The second took away our ability to govern right and wrong, and replaced our sense of justice with her own twisted ideals, but still let us retain our ability to choose how to live our lives.

The third took our will away completely leaving us hollow husks of who we were. As our bodies did her bidding, our minds laid dorment in our own personal hells.

The fourth returned our bodies and will, but set forth laws to encourage peace and prosperity. She knew however there would still be those who would side with darkness and she vowed to use her control only as a last resort. Queens five through twentyfour respected the fourth's wishes and enforced equality rather than total control.

With the twentyfourth's passing it was time for the next in line to step to the throne. I was ecstatic I was going to be the first King in changeling history, but my sister Chrysalis wanted the power instead. My back was turned only for a second, and a second was all she needed. My vision grew black and legs buckled. Days later I awoke in a dark room handcuffed to a chair. What the hell is this place? Why am I here? What the fuck is going on? I heard hoofsteps outside, and the door began to click and I heard tumblers. Why am I here? The door slowly creaked open, revealing two creatures similiar to me, but something was off. I was always under the impression that changelings were the only creatures that stood on two hooves, these things definately weren't changelings. The two creatures walked toward me.

"Yer fin'ly awake huh?" One said as he sat down on the other side of the table. "You aint' like us, you aint' a pony." What is a pony?

"We know you can speak our language so quit playin' dumb." The other leaned on the table looking into my eyes. Why am I being questioned like this?

"I aint' playin' dumb." I replied in a voice similiar to the second's. I could tell they were suprised. It's like they never heard of a changeling before. Wait if I've never heard of a pony maybe they've never heard of a changeling. "Why am I here?" I asked leaning back in my chair. If I can just pick the lock with my finger. If I can just turn my hand. Even the slightest change could let me loose. Despiration took over my brain but my expression never changed, it remanied calm and collected. Ah there we go I'm out, but I can't let them know. "I'll ask again, why am I here?"

"You must've hit your head hard. Do any of these ponies look familiar to you?" The second said in a sarcastic tone slapping pictures, one by one onto the table. Why does he think they would be familiar to me?

Without thinking I raised my hands and set them on the table to get a closer look. They jumped back and drew their weapons. Their weapons seem strange they aren't swords or knives. "Never cuff someone in a seated position, with their hands behind their back. Makes it impossible to see what they're doing." I said smugly returning my attention to the photographs. These ponies what are they, why do they look so terrified?

"Why didn't you try to escape?" The second asked trembling, still holding his weapon.

"What is that thing you're holding?" I asked without looking up.

"It's a gun." The second stuttered. A gun huh, I may have to learn more about these strange weapons.

"Why didn't you kill us, you had the means." The first asked, his gun thing still pointed at me.

"Killing you would be pointless, if I killed you I wouldn't know anything about why I'm here, Detective Skies." I looked cockily at him.

"How do you kow my name?" Skies asked confused.

"Your badge is like the ones our police use, name and rank printed on each one. Giving special treatment to those who have special talents." He lowered his weapon and holstered it.

"Why are'ya doin' that?" The second was trembling out of control.

"Lower your weapon, Thunderstorm. If he wanted to kill us we'd be dead I'm sure of it."

"Okay Skies but if he so much as twitches I'm puttin' a bullet through em'." Thunderstorm holstered his weapon but kept his hand near it. Why was Skies so trusting, when Thunderstorm was so suspicious?

"Who are these ponies, they don't look familiar. Why do they look so scared?" I shuffle through the photographs again, and something seemed off. "They're dead aren't they?" My heart grew heavy. "And you think I killed them, don't you?" Did I? Why don't I remember anything after the celebration?

"You mentioned your police, where are you from, what are you if you don't mind me asking." Skies leaned foward and took his seat again.

"Well, if I tell you it can't leave this room, I don't know how anyone would react, promise?" I begged them to keep my secret.

"I promise." Skies held up his hand to swear it.

"I won't tell unless it's nessesary." Thunderstorm sat in another chair across the room.

"Thank you, for your cooperation. Deep under ground there is a species that thrives. Changelings are what we call ourselves, legend states that the first changelings were created by Hephaestus the Blacksmith God. Each was given the ability to create, the ability to change the world." Myth started to overrun my thought process. "We were given the Flame of Hephaestus the source of all creation, to protect it, to use it to make the world a better place."

"The Flame Of Hephaestus, that's a myth." Thunderstorm laughed. "You 'spect me to believe that load o' bullshit?"

"Let him finish, Thunder." Skies glared at his partner.

"I can prove it, look." I took out the handcuffs and set them on the table. "See the cuffs?" I picked them back up and they caught fire. Thunderstorm jumped back and fell backward. "If I concentrate I can use the Kindling Of Hephaestus inside my heart to reshape any object living or not, myself included." I close my hands to put out the fire and I open them to find a small steel chickadee. "See the cuffs now Thunder?"

"That's amazing, can all of your kind do that?" Skies seemed impressed with my most simple trick. Why does he seem so dumbfounded? Why hasn't Thunderstorm put a bullet though me, whatever that is.

"Yes but some aren't as good at it as I am, but that's expected. Our concept of free will is just that, a concept. There is no free will, nothing is free. Legend also states that the first changelings had free will and no laws. They could do whatever they pleased with no punishment. The second attempt took our sense of justice and replaced it with the twisted ideals of the Queen. The third stole our bodies and locked our minds inside our own personal hell. The fourth took aspects from each failed attempt. We were given free reign over our lives, laws to govern right and wrong, but she kept her our minds linked to hers discretely."

"That's terrible, but what does that have to do with you?" Skies pointed out.

"I was the next in line for the throne, but my sister knocked me out, and I woke up here, I'm not sure what happened between now and then."

"It's not like I don't believe you, but any unicorn can do that trick." Thunderstorm seemed unconvinced.

"Well, can a unicorn do this?" I raised the chickadee to my mouth and blew on it. It started to tremble and it jumped onto the table. The bird seemed scared and confused, but just being born is quite the shock. It quickly hopped back into my hand and chirped, it's chirp was full of confusion. "It's okay little guy, I got you." I raised the small creature and placed him next to my heart. My heart lifted and I couldn't help but smile.

"That's incredible, no unicorn can do that," Thunderstorm was slack jawed

"Speaking of which what's a unicorn?" I interjected.

"You must live underground, in our society there are three species of ponies. The ponies of the earth are normal nothing special about their appearance but I've come to realize that they are by no means ordinary. They are incredibly reliable and strong allies. The pegasus ponies of the sky, what Thunder and myself are. We prize speed and adaptibility over all else, we're the only ones able to walk on clouds, and as such we are tasked with controlling the weather. Unicorns are probably the closest thing we have to you, unicorns are able to channel the raw power of magic to acomplish the most difficult tasks." I look down at the bird curled up asleep in the palm of my hand. My eyes filled with tears.

"I did not kill them, but these reports say that someone looking like me murdered them without remorse." My heart sank again. "Did anyone actually get a good look at who did this"

"Well we do have a rough sketch of the culprit, and he does look alot like you, take a look." Skies set down a sketch of a changeling on the table. He does look like me, but something looks off.

"Did this creature have an amulet like this one?" I reached into my pocket, pulled out my royal seal, and placed it on the table. Their eyes widened I could tell that was a yes. "So, that rules out anyone other than our royalty, that leaves two solutions, it's either me or my sister." It couldn't have been me could it?