“Can anyone help her? Please! Someone help her!”
“You want peace so much, have a piece of me.”
“Fluttershy, please listen to me. Fluttershy... come back... please.”
With flickering eyes, Fluttershy awoke. The dreams from her slumber still echoed around her head as her mind began to run on full gear again. Where was she? Her memory was cloudy and she couldn’t remember. All around her, polished black stone shone pristinely compared to the dull wood she had become used to back home. Out of habit more than anything, Fluttershy began her morning stretches.
Her legs seemed longer than she recalled, covering the distance of almost double her body length as they spread out behind and in front of her. With a soft sigh of contentment, the mare continued lengthening her reach, eager for her muscles to be up and awake again after what felt to be a whole week. She couldn’t remember why she would have felt like that, but given she appeared to be in good health, she felt the question could be put off until she was done with her stretches.
Next, her wings. She flicked them out behind her as she leaned forward onto her front legs, closing her eyes as she did so. The wings beat constantly, stirring up a stronger wind than she was used to, and she quickly flicked them closed once the muscles were taut. Taking a moment to savor the nice feeling that seemed to be humming through her, Fluttershy paused before moving on.
What was next? Oh yes, her horn. Fluttershy stuttered to a stop, her hoof catching against the carpet as her carelessness caused a collision. Shock pounded through her body and slowly, regretfully, the mare turned to face the mirror sitting at the opposite end of the room. The reflection looking back at her was not a timid yellow pegasus with a cutie mark of three butterflies. No, her reflection was a large black changeling with piercing eyes and holes scattered over her body. The only thing even vaguely similar she had was her eye color.
As the evil creature stared back at her, Fluttershy began to remember everything that had lead up to that moment. She had been... asked? No. She had volunteered to be an envoy with the changeling hive. Her friends had worried over her, as they were kind enough to do, and eventually, Applejack had convinced her to at least take Big Mac with her. Fluttershy had feigned reluctance to the idea when in truth, she had a large crush for the stallion.
They hadn’t gone for but a moment on the road before they had stumbled across an odd unicorn stallion of slim build that had insisted on joining them. Both of the duo were abject to the idea, but when his talent with the outdoors became known, they had welcomed him eagerly. He had assisted with dinner every night, gathering fruits and vegetables for them to eat.
A few encounters with dangerous wild animals and frustrating natural disasters had slowed their progress, but with the rippling, corded muscle of Big Mac on their side, they weren’t slowed for long. Every time the large stallion used his immense brawn to solve a situation, Fluttershy had gone lovey dovey for him and a boiling rage of jealousy was poorly concealed by their third companion. Whenever the food was brought in for a meal, the red stallion and the yellow pegasus would share a snack while playing a game of trying to avoid looking into the other’s eyes, out of their respective shyness. Meanwhile, the one responsible for the food in the first place would sit, alone, outside their vision.
Only in retrospect did Fluttershy realize how selfish she had been, and a gnawing feeling of guilt began to bite away at her stomach. With her concentration gone, the rest of her memories were foggy and no matter how much she tried to, she couldn’t pierce the smoke of her mind.
She was beginning to freak out just as the door to the room opened. Opened may not be the best word; more so, it... ‘parted’. The black walls split away from each other, revealing a passageway running tangential to her room.
After a few moments, a small changeling walked in, his eyes shining an odd red color. “I’m sorry, Queen Fluttershy. Would you prefer I come back later?” His words seemed odd, almost as if she had heard him speak before, but whatever was ringing familiar about them was quickly silenced by the appearance of the creature. As if reading her thoughts, the creature spoke up once again as a smile split its face to reveal the sharpened fangs. “I’m sorry. Perhaps this form would be more recognizable?” Green fire surrounded the changeling for a moment before the stallion from her recent memories looked back to her, but he seemed... wrong, somehow.
“Vival...” She couldn’t speak any further. Whatever had turned her into a changeling had obviously gotten him to... and what was the fate of Big Mac?
“I know, I know. My transformations are still a bit off, but I’ve only been a changeling for a few days; can’t expect me to have it mastered, yet.” Just from him being in the room, the humming feeling inside her began to grow, though she still had no idea what it was.
“Vival... I’m so sorry.” Tears began to fall down the mare’s face. Some would call it unbecoming of a new queen to cry. But at that moment, Fluttershy didn’t care. Hurriedly, the stallion approached, shifting back to his changeling form as he did so.
“Shh, shh. What are you sorry about?” Tears fell down Fluttershy’s face, her words cut off by sad sobs. “Do you remember what happened?” With a sudden influx in the already drowning water, the mare-made-changeling shook her head.
“You arrived here, Fluttershy, at the hive. Do you remember? You were in the lead, Big Mac was behind you, and I was behind him.” As he explained it, the memories came back, emerging through the fog like lost ships as they landed upon her mind. “You went directly to the castle.” Her hoofsteps clicked through her mind. “When we got there, it turned out Chrysalis was away for the evening.” She had looked around, trying to find the queen. “So, you started talking to the changelings about what you had planned: to merge the pony and changeling civilizations.” A memory of talking with the black insectoids.
“You garnered a lot of support, but when Chrysalis came back, things went bad fast.” Green flames. A battle. “She was furious. She started fighting with you. You dodged every blow, Fluttershy; most agile I’ve ever seen a pegasus. And that’s saying a lot. I went and saw the Wonderbolts, once.” He paused for a moment, but Fluttershy’s mind didn’t. Now, he seemed to be echoing her thoughts when he spoke, his voice deeper than before.
An evil grin. “She realized she couldn’t beat you fair and square, so she cheated. She cast a spell on you. From what I understand from the changelings I’ve talked to, it was a spell that used her life force as fuel and charged you with being the Changeling Queen. Then, you passed out.”
“But then...” Her tears were slowing as the memories came back to her. “How did you turn into a changeling?
“Big Mac insisted on going back to tell everyone, to bring your friends to comfort you. And, well, I stayed. I asked around a bit and apparently, the changeling queen has to lay the eggs for the hive along with all the requirements that implies, as well as managing the entire kingdom. So... I decided... that you could use some company while you get into the swing of things. Not, that is to say, that I want to... you know...” He coughed abruptly before he continued. “If you want, I’ll leave you alone. Say the word and I’ll banish myself to the farthest reaches of the Equestrian Icy North.” He smiled a gentle, comforting smile.
Fluttershy smiled herself, her eyes glancing once more to the mirror shining like the surface of the moon on a clear night and reflecting her twisted form back to her. She froze, her eyes locking with the imposter in the glass. A movement flickered in the corner of her eye, but she didn’t move her gaze. Vival’s horn touched lightly against her black and twisted one and after a moment, a shimmer of green fire engulfed them.
When the flames had died down, Fluttershy’s eyes were no longer staring into the dark pits of a changeling queen, but rather into the unsure gaze of a small shy pegasus. She smiled wider and looked toward Vival, whom had once again taken his pony form as well. “Thank you, so much. For sacrificing all that...” The sentence fell off, the pegasus not sure how to end it.
“That’s life. Sacrificing. You just have to learn what is and isn’t important enough to sacrifice for.”
