Changing Honesty

Opening the door to my spacious apartment, the first thing I wanted to do was take a long, warm bath to get all the dirt off of me.I didn't need this much space, but my changelings would never accept me living in a small room. Being their prince, they wanted me to live as comfortably as possible.

My apartment had a bathroom with a shower and a bathtub, something that was unusual with the limited space on the station. The living room had a large table with space for at least six ponies and a small cooking area was set into the wall on the other side. Why I would ever need it was beyond me - it was mostly used to prepare a morning coffee. The last two doors led to two bedrooms, one larger than the other. There was easily enough space for four ponies to live comfortably here and I had it all to myself.

After filling the tub with water, I eased myself into it. The feeling was quite soothing on my carapace. Some ponies had asked me if I even noticed the water through my thick armour; they had no idea how good it felt to have the warmth surround every single joint in my body. After my bath, another advantage of being a changeling presented itself. I could dry myself in less than a minute with no wet fur dripping water all over the house. Even my short orange mane and long flowing tail, a trait unique to royal changelings, were quick to dry. Stumbling into my bed, sleep quickly took me.

I started the next day sleeping in and only awoke close to noon. Checking my PDA, a small device that could be worn around a leg and used to receive massages, I saw that one of my changelings had requested a meeting. Giving him a spot in an hour, I started my morning routine with brushing my teeth and combing my mane to make myself look presentable. The next step was to polish my carapace, something I took great pride in. It was my armour in combat, and as such, had to be kept in peak condition.

Going over every spot made me notice the chip from the fight with the griffons and brought a frown to my face. 'That's going to take weeks before the new plate grows in.' A changeling's carapace comprised of countless plates interlocking and overlapping each other to form a sturdy armour. As a royal, mine was even thicker, protecting me from even the heaviest blows that could cut a normal pony in half. Royal changelings can survive almost any injury, as long as they have enough love to fuel the regenerative process.

The last point in my routine was to get my horn back into shape. It had been a while since the last sharpening and the tip looked rather blunt, certainly not capable of impaling my enemies. I was a little envious of unicorns as they didn't need to do this as often. One advantage of a chipped changeling horn compared to a unicorn horn - it was quickly repaired, although it was tedious work. 'Now that I think about it, do unicorn horns even grow after they are fully developed?'

Finishing up with a couple of minutes to spare, I settled down at the table, waiting for the meeting.

A knock on the door alerted me to his arrival. "Enter," I shouted so he would hear me. The door opened and the changeling stepped inside, followed by a turquoise pegasus mare. Both of them bowed deeply. "Rise and take a seat." I said, my voice even in order to not frighten the mare.

They looked nervous as they seated themselves. In case of the pony, I could taste the fear despite my best efforts to look as unimposing as possible. It was not fear of me or changelings in particular, but of rejection. It was obvious to any careful observer why they wanted to speak to me.

Giving them my best parental smile - this was no task that needed my firm orders - I addressed them, "What can I do for both of you?" Looking at the changeling and getting a feel for him over our emotional connection, I recognised him as Steel Wrench, a mechanic on the station who worked in the Magic Core section. Changelings didn't really care about names that much, our connection with each other making it easy to identify who you are talking to, but for better integration, some of us took on more pony-like names to better fit in. Only a select few of us are given regular changeling names to highlight their position in the hive.

He came to me almost a year ago and asked to be married to the pony now sitting next to him, Split Cut if I recalled correctly.

"Your Highness, we wanted to ask you if we could start a family." Changelings could have normal pony foals if they stayed in their dedicated pony guise during intercourse. We had no restrictions in place for that, so there was no need to ask for permission, but my children did so anyway. I presume it was a way for them to show their respect for me. Of the two thousand and thirty-six changelings on this station, over four hundred were in a relationship with a pony, a big reason we gathered as much love as we did.

"Steel, you know you don't have to ask for permission," I said, mimicking the Queen's regal expression as best as I could.

"I know, your Highness. But it seemed right to do, anyway. Split is close to her heat cycle and we talked about it - we both want a foal." Looking between the two, I noticed she looked uncomfortable with us talking about it so openly.

"You have my blessing, and I wish you the best of luck."

"Thanks dad," Steel said. A proud smile found itself on my muzzle when hearing that. I couldn't help but be proud of them. I was their Prince and my duty was to make their lives as comfortable as possible. Seeing them happy was all the reward I could ever ask for.

"Wait, he's your dad?" Split cut in, looking slightly shocked.

"I'm the father of quite a few changelings on this station," I clarified.

"I... You... What." Now she only looked confused, any lingering fear gone in an instant.

Steel planted a kiss on her lips. "As a prince he has the privilege to sire eggs with dedicated drones. Most of us are from his pairing with the Queen. We are biologically compelled to follow the sire of our eggs, if they are a royal, as well as the Queen.

“Before she sends a prince out to a new outpost, she makes sure they have a strong following of drones."

Acknowledging my position with one more bow, they left shortly thereafter.

Next on my to-do list was the training grounds. The Lieutenant of the station's guard force wanted me to give them a few pointers in combat. 'Not sure how much help I would be, but he asked for it.'

The central core of the station that the changeling section was part of also housed the guard training grounds and headquarter. Thanks to the lift system running through the station, everything was reachable in less than ten minutes. Only the outer industrial areas could take more time to reach.

I shifted into my permanent disguise and started my slow trot over to the training grounds. Walking through the large halls of the housing district, I passed through many green spaces that simulated an outdoor feeling and were filled with activity. Without windows to the outside, this was the most ‘open’ space the station could offer.

When I exited the lift in the central core, the scenery changed drastically. Gone were the inviting large halls, replaced with narrow corridors that snaked through the station, the sound of ponies hard at work echoing through them. Changeling and pony guards patrolled these corridors, looking for anypony that was not supposed to be here, this was a navy station, after all.

The closer I got, the more pronounced the sound of rifle fire and clanking of steel could be heard. 'They must have started without me already.' Checking the clock on my PDA, I shrugged and continued on my way, there were still ten minutes left before I was supposed to arrive.

Getting closer, two guards moved in front of me, blocking my entry. They wore the standard red uniform every pony on the station guard wore when out on simple patrol. A sword hangs on their side, one of their hoofs already gripping the handle, ready to strike at any intruder. In the close confines of space stations and ships swords were far more practical than spears. Of course, nothing could compete with magic - the reason why technology in personal weaponry never advanced past the basic melee weapon or rudimentary rifles. "Halt! What business do you have here?" One of them shouted.

I briefly flashed out of my disguise, showing them my royal changeling form before returning to my pegasus disguise. Even in this form, it was obvious I was a changeling. I kept my orange slitted eyes and my fangs, something no pony had and no cutie mark adorned my flanks. There was no need to blend in fully anymore like the old times where discovery meant certain doom.

My coat was a light blue colour, expertly groomed to perfection. Not a single hair was out of place. My above-average wings, meticulously preened, had not a single feather misaligned. My white mane and tail - freshly brushed. "Storm Shadow, I'm expected," I answered, giving both guards a quick glance.

One guard gave me a quick look, going a little lower with his gaze than was proper. His eyes lingering on something that was clearly missing between my legs. "Aren't you supposed to be a king?" His confusion was apparent in his emotions and his expression.

"Prince, why?" I corrected, slightly tilting my head in confusion, playing along. Inwardly, I giggled at his expression. Messing with ponies was the best pastime possible.

"Hate to break it to you, but you're missing your stallion parts."

Making a show of it, I turned my head around and looked between my legs. "Yeah, and? This is a mare disguise, after all." I could see both of them turning a deep shade of red and one of them emitted the potent emotion of lust as he tried to get a peek under my tail. Lowering my voice to be as sensual as possible, I moved closer to his ear. "Interested?" It would be so easy to get one of them, but I was not looking for a quick fling. Love tasted far better, and if I wanted to find my own mate, that was the goal.

"Atten! Shun!" Both guards snapped to attention as a large grey earth pony walked out of the gates to the training grounds. This was Lieutenant Iron Hoof, the commander of the security guards on the space station. "Guards like you should not fall for simple changeling tricks," he bellowed, both of them shrinking back a little by the force of his voice. "Storm, follow me. The recruits are already waiting for that demonstration."

After making sure we were out of earshot, he turned towards me. "You know I hate it when you mess with my recruits. Not everypony knows you're playing a prank on them and are not interested in a quick fling, even though you're into stallions."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, giving him a slight pout.

"Oh please, anypony with eyes can see you checking out the stallions around you and if a mare makes her move, you wave her off. You were flirting with the two guards at the gate right now and the way you eyed one of them, you were ready to ask him out."

"I don't know what you're talking about, and I don't think they would survive me." My cheeks were heating up a little and it took considerable effort not to show the blush on my face. 'Stupid disguise.'

Iron Hoof stopped and fully turned towards me, his expression neutral, though his emotions were filled with concern and friendly undertones. "There's a bar at dock 9. That should be more up your alley."

He is a good pony and I knew he only wanted me to be happy. I was here when he was just a recruit twenty years ago and we instantly hit it off as friends. If he had swung that way, we could have been something more than friends. He was one of the few ponies who understood me and accepted my changeling behaviour and wouldn’t hold me back, but he was happily married.

'Maybe checking out that bar would be a good idea.' "And get a stallion disguise or they might not let you in," he continued before trotting onwards.

"Now, I have a few recruits that need some training in anti-pirate combat. High Command has ordered me to give them extra training and I'm out of griffons, mind giving me a claw?" A flash of green fire and I turned into a large griffon, the same I had called 'Boss' not too long ago. He looked me over for a moment. "Can you blunt your claws and beak?" Another slight flash of green fire and my claws were now training worthy. Iron Hoof nodded approvingly.

We entered the training room shortly after, ten other ponies already waiting for us. There were four large fighting rings and a few benches. To the side were shelves with practice weapons, including some real ones. All the recruits flinched slightly when they saw me, but none of them showed any interesting emotions. They were simply caught off-guard by a large griffon entering the room. 'Fresh out of training, I guess.'

"Listen up, recruits! I need a volunteer for this demonstration," Iron bellowed, pointing a hoof at one pony. "You, come up here." 'Typical, he always makes one of them “volunteer”, why does he even ask?' The pony walked up in front of us and Iron continued, "Recruit Lapis, tell me what you have to watch out for the most when fighting a griffon pirate."

Lapis held his head high before responding. "Sir, they have sharp claws and beaks that can easily kill a pony. They will show no mercy and will strike us down without hesitation."

"Very good," Iron said with a quick nod.

I cleared my throat and Iron turned to look at me, his right eye slightly twitching. "Pirates will cheat and do anything to win. Don't be fooled by them or you might end up as dinner. I have seen enough ponies landing on the dining tables because they thought the griffons would keep to their word," I added to the explanation of the recruit.

Some of the other recruits turned slightly green as my gaze wandered through them and a small smirk graced my beak. An armoured hoof slapped me on the back of the head moments later. "Don't make my recruits vomit on their first day."

"What? Ponies taste delicious," I whined. That was too much for one of them as he promptly emptied his stomach contents on the floor.

Iron face-hoofed and shook his head, but he could not hide the slight amusement in his emotions. He used to be just as bad in his early days as I was now. "Should have known you’d pull something like this." He locked eyes with another officer who was watching us and was not part of the training. "Clean this up!" He shouted before returning his gaze to the recruits. "Now, back to training."

The volunteered pony spoke up. "Is it true? Do griffons really eat ponies?" His emotions tasted strange. I never encountered something like it, but it looked like he was enjoying the image of a pony being eaten. Diving a little deeper, his emotions became stranger, even contradictory. Under the exterior of a guard lay something more that intrigued me.

Iron Hoof stomped on the ground, putting a stop to my train of thoughts. "Now, Storm will demonstrate how a griffon fights. Recruit, take a sword and get into position."

Lapis was about to pick up one of the training swords - "A real sword!" Iron shouted. The recruit hesitated, eventually picking up the correct tool. Iron knew he could not hurt me with it, but I could do without another dent in my carapace. "I want both of you to fight like you mean it."

"But Sir, what if I hurt him?" Lapis was still hesitant, his hoof slightly shaking as he moved towards the fighting ring.

'Interesting. He likes the idea of a pony getting hurt, but hurting another himself troubles him. What kind of soldier is he?' I thought to myself, trying to understand this strange pony.

"Recruit Lapis, he is a changeling. There is no way you could do any serious harm to him. Now get in there!" Iron shouted, getting Lapis to scurry.

After both of us got into position inside one of the rings, I made my move, giving him no time to react. With a powerful flap of my wings, I charged at him with the intent on ripping into him with my claws. They might be blunt, but I could still do serious damage to the hide of a pony. Not enough to kill, but a wrong move could land him in the infirmary for a few weeks. Lapis rolled to the side, avoiding my attack, but he hesitated when presented with the perfect opportunity to stab me - I had purposefully given him this opening, trying to see how he would react.

'Time for lesson number one, don't show mercy.' I turned around with a swipe of my left claw, making contact with his barrel, the force of the strike pushing him to the ground. The hit left a nasty looking cut on his side that was slowly dripping blood to the ground.

I did not expect him to ignore the pain so easily. He gave me a quick smirk before going for an attack of his own.This time, I had to avoid his sword thrust, barely getting out of reach, the tip of the sword slightly nicking my feathers. I lunged again, giving Lapis no time to return to a defensive stance, surprising him with my speed.

He was giving it his all at that point, no longer afraid of hurting me, but I still managed to sink the tip of my claws into his right side, a strike that would have gutted him if the claws were actually sharp. The pain inflicted by my attack must have been mind-numbing.

To my surprise, he quickly recovered and lunged at me again. 'How can he fight through so much pain?' This time I was too slow to avoid the attack. His sword cut deep into my side and the tip exiting the other side, going straight through my body. My disguise did its best to simulate the damage the attack caused, even though I’d prefer not to feel the cold steel shifting inside me. I let out a grunt of pain as Lapis let go of the weapon and stepped back, looking at me in pure horror. His feelings tasted correspondingly, he truly thought that he had severely injured me.

Iron Hoof moved up and pulled the sword out, spewing large amounts of blood, soaking the fur and feathers around the wound. "You okay?"

Green flames engulfed me and I returned to my changeling self. The attack had split one of my plates, the one that was already dented from my last fight. A grunt of pain left my mouth as I ripped the damaged plate off to prevent any further injuries. "Buck me, that's going to take weeks before a new plate grows in."

Iron looked at me slightly concerned. "Can you continue?"

"If you stick to practice swords. The plates are compromised and won't stop another attack like that. I don't want to risk severe injuries if I can help it."

Lapis approached me, his hoofsteps barely audible over the hushed conversations of the other recruits. "I'm so sorry I didn't want to hurt you."

I pulled him into a hug. "That last attack had some serious power behind it. It's been a while since somepony cracked a plate like that. You're pretty good with a sword." Lapis’ thoughts were rampant, jumping all over the place so quickly that I couldn’t keep up.

"Back to training! Recruit Scorch, you’re next!"