Happiness can only exist in acceptance.

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Three days later, and you finally get to take your trip to the library. You were accompanied by princess Cadance who, while not as powerful, could take care of any problems that would happen to arise. She was also still curious of your behavior, which everything in this world seemed to find blasphemous, and unholy. Even the griffin representatives, who ate meat all the time, found your behavior somewhat shameful. Of course the dragon that lived in the nearby mountain supported you to the fullest extent, it even offered you a chance to escape yesterday, but you declined. It was tempting, but as long as you knew how to read and you were in the proximity to the most extensive library in the world, you needed to find out what you felt around Raven. Yes, first name basis, it came to that during the teaching session. You wanted to distance yourself until you found out what was happening, but something inside you kept yelling at you to get closer to her. At least you would find out today. Cadance walked beside you, straining herself to walk at you speed. She was not trying to go faster though, she was struggling to walk at a constant pace without having to stop and wait every ten steps. As was predicted by your lovely guard, she was ordered to cover you in more restraints than usual, due to the fact that you were going out in public and that your destination was filled with valuables. You were buried under roughly half a ton of metal, two hundred pounds of leather binding to keep the metal on, wearing custom forged metal sleeves ending in a hoof-like foot, and engulfed in a magical field being held in force by Cadance to prevent any possibility of you changing to help break your bonds.

"So what are you planning to look for in the library?" Cadance asked politely.

"I'm looking for a book that can explain something for me." You growl under the burden.

You decided that it is probably better to be as honest as possible when talking to a princess.

"What do you want explained? Maybe I can help."

"I don't know what it is, but everytime something happens pertaining to someone I get a rush of... I don't know."

"I think I might know whats going on. I hear that you're supposedly a carnivore living off of greens, is this true?" Her curiosity growing.

"Yes." You growl with disdain.

"You're a variant of changeling, correct?"

"Correct." You confirm.

"Since you are a carnivore, you should be starving from lack of food, but you aren't, am I right?"

"Right."

"You are aware that changelings get most of their sustenance from emotion, yes?"

"No. What is emotion? Does it taste good? Where are the hunting grounds for it?" You ask excitedly. You would find it once you got out of here, and taste it first hand.

"It is not something you can find or eat, it is something you experience. I am surprised you don't know, even your old home must have some form of love."

"Love? Food that you can't eat? What kind of magic is this?"

"It is natural magic." The princess said simply.

"There is nothing natural about something that can keep you fed without eating something. Magic isn't natural anyway." You say with stubbornness. You can't believe that a princess could be so insane. Emotion? Food that isn't physical? Natural magic? You were surprised she wasn't in an asylum.

"I know that you are feeding on some kind of emotion, I don't know which one though. If you would stop moving please."

You obey, knowing that it was pointless not to. She walks up and places her hooves on the armor covering your back. There is a shock that takes your breath out of your lungs.

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Raven Heart was stretching her wings. The deep violet outer feathers of her nearly black wings were carrying her through the clouds above Canterlot as she looked down on the scene unfolding before her. It saddened her to see the poor creature under so much weight, but the princesses had agreed that it was necessary. She was thinking about what was going on with her life at the moment. The fact that she could see Cadance questioning the creature that was an odd figure in her life made it all the more urgent that she must sort things out.

She was still unsure as to her feelings for the creature. He was polite for the most part, but he was also violent, unstable, and probably emotionless. She had gotten to know him better and had even gotten him to tell her more about his old clan. He used to live in a darwinian environment. If you weren't good enough you were killed, if you got sick they exiled you, if you were disabled they ate you, and females were used purely for breeding. It made her shudder and almost lose her balance. She wouldn't be able to put up with that, and she told him. He said that he thought it was strange that everyone thought this way, but he was stuck with it.

As it turns out, he was actually the top of the clan until he got cocky and was exiled after a fight for the position. He was also blinded to any emotion. She suspected it, but he confirmed it when she asked if anyone in his clan loved each other and he just gave her a confused look. He was not innocent by a long shot, but as far as she cared he could have been stealing diamonds from fashion designers, and she would feel the same. She didn't know what it was about the obviously dangerous creature that she liked. She was always a fan of dangerous things, but that wasn't it. It might be that his view point of the world was more like hers, than all the civilians and royal guards who didn't know anything besides comfort. Or, it could be that she just simply enjoyed being around him, but whatever it was, the doubt she originally had about this matter was growing into a serious possibility and now she had to face facts, now she had to decide, now she had to- and right in that moment her breath was knocked out of her chest.

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The princess of love saw everything. She saw the old life of the poor creature, she saw the torture he had been through, she saw the hunger that came over him after a long walk through a dark tunnel, she felt the lightening go through her body as Winter Knight was shocked into submission, she felt his rage at the princesses of the sun and moon, she saw the rude guards, she saw the one nice guard, she tasted that first rabbit after days of starvation, she saw the fights, she felt the grief that had flooded his mind after he gave the guard a small cut, she contemplated the rush of something the creature couldn't describe, she felt his frustration about feeling something that went against everything he had ever known without knowing what it was, she remembered the countless books that the wonderful guard had brought to him, and she experienced the doubt of the guard over the matter. The two creatures were connected through love, and she could feel the doubt and the self convincing of the guard, and Cadance, being the god of love, decided to set her straight. She helped her realize in a second what the guard would have taken years to realize herself. It was a strange relationship obviously, but it was probably the one that made her the happiest. A frustrated being, knowing nothing of what was happening, and an emotionally guarded sentry. It was something you only found in books, but it was right here in front of her. She left Winter with the knowledge he sought, and as she pulled away the last thing she felt from him was the burden of a literal ton of restraining material, and it took her breath away.

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You regained your stance quickly, and realize as you hear a gasp from the princess, that you know what she was talking about. You knew the definition of emotion now (You had only gotten to C in the dictionary), and the feeling of every emotion you could experience. It felt like you had known them all your life, but you knew this wasn't true. It perplexed you, and you decided that you were going to have a very interesting talk with the princess on the rest of the way to the library.

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Raven Heart recovered from her plunge. She knew that Cadance had done something, because know all the thoughts and feelings in her head were sorted out, plain as day, for her to see. She knew who her feelings were directed towards and all resistance was gone. As she hovered there shocked, she could swear she remembered a voice in her head saying,

"Go, live a happy life."

Author's Note

I was getting impatient with how slow it was going, so I did this. I hope it doesn't feel rushed or anything. All constructive criticism and compliments are accepted.