Starswirl stood in the coolness of the damp predawn, carefully collecting the smog coalescing around the deep red flower on his window, now in full bloom, into a glass flask. Once the glass was suitably filled with the dark swirling substance, he levitated the cork stopper into the place. Setting the flask carefully onto the corner of a shoddily self-built bookshelf in the back of his bedroom, he slowly made his way over to the bed where the two young fillies still slept.
He didn't even need to light his horn or perform another magic scan on the first to confirm his suspicions. The green flicker that had started up almost as soon as she had fallen into the deepest level of sleep was all he needed to know that not only was she a changeling, but exhausted and malnourished to boot, if she couldn't keep a disguise steady in her sleep.
But as puzzling as the young changeling's presence was, at least young children and changelings were both things he had encountered in his past. The earth pony... she was something he had not only never experienced, but a phenomenon he had never so much of heard of occurring. If he hadn't seen it himself, he never would have believed it possible. His horn lit up as he waved it over the small white sleeping form – his third magical scan since meeting her, if only to confirm, truly truly confirm that what he'd found the first two times hadn't been a false reading.
But it came back exactly the same, even now, and he found he could no longer deny it. “A pony without any magic at all... how is that possible?” he shook his head slightly in wonder. This single filly who had not-quite-broken into his house mere hours early had unknowingly become possibly the strangest mystery Starswirl had ever encountered – which he had to admit, was saying something.
He wished he knew where these two had come from, and why the felt as though he had seen them somewhere before.
The two young ponies were hopping around each other in circles, their attempts to calm the other down only working each of them into a deeper panic.
“I'VE GOT IT!” Sunny shouted, before quickly covering her mouth with her hoof. The both of them froze, but the house remained silent.
“... Do you think he heard that?”
“...”
“...”
“So?” Selene pressed urgently. “What's your plan?”
“Right! Quickly, you turn into an inconspicuous box, and I will hide inside. He will never notice a thing.”
“...Uwah?!” The midnight unicorn abruptly turned a bright shade of aquamarine. “Absolutely not! For one, I cannot change into ina- iman- inami- I cannot change into things that are not alive! And even if I could, I have barely got the energy to stand, let alone change again!”
“Fine!” Sunny snapped. “Then let's...”
There was a gentle knock on the bedroom door. “Ah, hello?” came the confused sounding call of a young stallion's voice.
“NOPONY IS HOME.” Sunny shrieked. Selene facehoofed.
“Perhaps we can pretend to be Filly Scouts!” Selene suggested brightly.
“BUT WE HAVE NO COOKIES.”
“Ah, I don't mind if you don't have any cookies...” came the response from the other side of the door.
“See?!” Selene gesticulated wildly towards the door. “He says he doesn't mind! My plan could work!”
They both paused for a moment, slowly turning to face the door as they simultaneously came to the realization that their cover had been blown. “... Do you suppose it is too late to hide?” Selene wondered.
“SCATTER!” Sunny shouted as the door swung open, diving under the bed as Selene scrambled to climb out the window. Both were wrapped in a silverish pink aura and dragged back into the middle of the room where they were sat back on the floor as a dusty blue unicorn walked in circles around them. His candy pink mane and tail were frizzy and short, looking like they had not been brushed in some time, and were singed off in places. He wore a ridiculous looking wide brimmed hat in a style neither had seen or heard of before, with the occasional silver or pink design that had clearly been hoof embroidered and resembled nothing in particular.
He continued to circle them, peering at them curiously before finally releasing them from his magical aura and sitting on the floor in front of them. “You seem familiar.” He announced at last. “Have we met?”
“NEIGH!” Sunny cried defiantly.
Selene quickly shoved a midnight blue hoof into Sunny's mouth and straightened herself to a dignified, regal posture, standing to face the much taller stallion. “Ah, yes, hello! Good evening, good sir!” She squeaked. “You see, we,” she gestured at herself and Sunny, “are flower inspectors. And we have come to inspect the beautiful flowers set upon your window, good sir!” She pointed a hoof dramatically towards his window sill, and immediately let it drop as she realized the obvious flaw in her cover story.
“I have no flowers in my window.”
“Exactly!” Sunny suddenly interjected. “So you can see why there is such cause for alarm!” She had the presence of mind to pause here and fix herself with an affronted expression. “What kind of pony doesn't keep flowers in their window?!” She added, jamming an accusatory hoof into the stallion's chest.
“... Me, apparently.” He admitted. An awkward silence fell before he once again lit his horn and started shoving his face into the girls' personal space, seeming deeply concerned by one thing or another. He tutted to himself a few times and made the strangest of faces as he ran his horn through the air around the girls. Finally he drew back with a sigh. “Well, I'm entirely too tired to be bothered with any of the very important questions currently on my mind, so,” he paused, and a small flower sitting in a clump of damp soil popped into the room in a flash of light, wrapped in his magical aura. He carefully set it on the window sill with a wet plop.
“I hope this is to your standards,” he announced. A moment later an extra wool blanket floated in the doorway as well, and was tossed haphazardly across the floor. The stallion quickly tossed his ridiculous hat into a corner of the room and flopped down onto the blanket.
The two flower inspectors exchanged glances before nodding slowly.
“...Yes.” Sunny answered slowly. “I suppose that it will do.”
“We shall just be taking our leave, now!” Selene interjected, trying to edge her way towards the door, hoping they might be allowed to simply leave without a confrontation after all.
“Of course not!” He opened both eyes, alarmed. “Do you know dangerous the Ever-...woods can be? At night! For two young fillies!” His eyes grew wider with ever addendum he added.
An awkward silence fell.
“You expect us to stay here?” Sunny shrieked in alarm.
“You were going to in the first place, weren't you?” He asked, confused.
The two fillies on the bed exchanged alarmed and confused looks.
“Well, yes, but. We didn't think anyone lived here!”
“And now that you know that I do, you wish to leave? Am I that unbearable as company? Do I smell?” He wondered, pausing. “I probably do.” He admitted.
“That's not it at all, sir!” Selene argued quickly. “It's just, we-”
“You're not upset?” Sunny interrupted, looking puzzled.
“...About?” He raised an eye ridge, seeming genuinely lost.
“Us breaking into your house!” She cried, frustrated.
“Oh. Obviously not. Why would I be? You didn't even break in!” He added. “I left it unlocked!”
“... He did leave it unlocked.” Selene remembered.
“See? No harm no foul. Now go to sleep. I've got to get up early in the morning if I want to catch the smogblossom in bloom.” He gestured towards the flower sitting in the window.
“Er.”
“Um.”
“..Alright then!” Sunny finally decided. “We will!” She announced forcefully.
The three of them stared at each other a moment longer before Selene happily announced “He seems nice!” and curled up at the foot of the bed, asleep.
Sunny narrowed her eyes at the stallion, quickly sending him an I'm watching you gesture with her forehoof before curling up as well, shutting one eye and peering at the stallion with the other.
He snorted before rolling on his back and falling immediately to sleep.
Sunny finally gathered her wits about her enough to snap her mouth shut, which had, up to that point, been hanging open. “That... was... AWESOME. How did you do that???”
Selene blinked in shock, feeling the genuineness of Sunny's excitement. “I don't... know. I just can. So can most of the Changed. I think it's why ponies are so scared of us...” she cocked her head at Sunny, staring her with curious teal eyes. “You're not... freaked out?” she was confused. She didn't understand Sunny's reaction.
“To hide...” Selene slowly turned her head to peek at her back, letting out a startled “eep!” at the sight of her wings. “Ooooooohhh.” She narrowed her eyes at the wings, staring hard at them and focusing until her tiny tongue poked out through her teeth, until finally the wings disappeared with a loud pop! She grinned triumphantly before abruptly falling over, giggling despite her obvious exhaustion.
“N-nopony ever thought it was cool before. I always thought it was cool.” She grinned up at Sunny from her position in the dirt as her pupils drifted back and forth between unfocused ovals and thin slits, resulting in an extremely unsettling expression which neither pony seemed to notice.
“I don't see why anypony wouldn't find it cool!” Sunny snickered, clapping her hooves together. “I mean, you can change what you look like! That's pretty awesome!”
Selene nodded a dizzy agreement from the dirt.
Finally, Sunny seemed to take notice of her bug-friend's position, and offered a hoof to help the woozy 'unicorn' to her hooves. One she had found an unsteady footing, Sunny nodded towards the lights in the distance. “We should probably start heading towards those now... I don't want to be out here when it gets dark again.” She shivered at the memory of more then one night woken up with a nasty unexpected surprise, some more dangerous then others.
“Y-yeah...” the midnight blue unicorn agreed lightheadedly, trying to hide her discomfort. That single transformation had left her dead tired, and she felt weak all over. Her legs were shaking... she just wanted to lay down... she just wanted her mother... she had no idea how long she could hold on to this transformation before it slipped, but... even though she was tired, she could feel the affection from the pony standing beside her. Maybe... maybe it wasn't love, exactly, but this filly certainly liked her enough that she could already manage a transformation, when mere days before she had been starved to the literal brink of death. She was sure she would manage, so long as she stuck close to Sunny. “Let's go see what's there...”
“I hope there are beds there.” Sunny breathed dreamily. “My hooves hurt, and you look like you're about to fall over.”
“Yeah...” Selene breathed back, even quieter. “Starving....” she blinked once and shook her head slightly. “I mean.... tired...”
As they finally came up to the treeline, they saw that they had not reached the edge of the forest at all. Rather, the light they had been following came from a single candle set in the window of a log cabin sitting in the centre of a small clearing. There were a few shapes lying around the clearing, but in the dusklight of the falling sun, it was impossible to tell what they might be. The two of them took one step out of the treeline, both immediately feeling suddenly vulnerable out in the open.
They stood there in the cool night air for a few seconds before an unfamiliar noise far off in the woods sent them both scampering to the door. They huddled on the front step for a few seconds, nervously, before Selene suddenly took a single deep breath and straightened herself into a dignified position. She squared her shoulders and raised her hoof, before lightly tapping the door twice, so quietly that Sunny sitting beside her could barely hear. They sat in an awkward silence for a few seconds.
“Er. Maybe I should knock...” Sunny raised her own hoof nervously and took a single breath before knocking on the door. To both of their surprise, the door swung open under the force. “I didn't hit it that hard!” Sunny immediately defended herself.
Selene blinked. “I think it was left open...” she responded slowly, poking her nose through the now open door. “Maybe...” she pushed the rest of her head in, soon following with her shoulders.
“What are you doing?” Sunny squeaked in alarm. “What if somepony is home?”
“It doesn't look like anypony has been home for... a really long time...” came the response from the other side of the door.
Sunny shifted her weight from hoof to hoof nervously, glancing around the clearing for any sign of movement within the clearing before finally shoving her head in the open doorway as well. What she found was a room littered with rocks, gems, books, scrolls, swathes of fabric, clay and metal dishes, and long used up wax candle stumps lying on their sides covered the floors and tabletops. Every visible surface was coated in a thick layer of dust.
Eventually, Sunny nodded in hesitant agreement. “You're right, it doesn't look like anypony has been here in ages.”
After further investigation, they found that the cabin only appeared to have three rooms. The main room, strewn with junk as it was, had a small fire pit in one corner, with a stone chimney leading outside. A quick poke revealed that the fire pit held nothing but cold ash. Dirty copper and clay cooking pots lay haphazardly on their sides nearby. Aside from this, there was a single short log laying on it's side some ways a way from the fire pit, looking slightly singed itself in places.
This room had three doors and two windows. One door led back out the way they had come. The first door they tried was locked, and no matter what the two of them did, they could not get it to open. Too exhausted to be bothered to try any harder, they nosed open the second door of the room.
Sunny's reaction was one of immediate relief. “Bed!” She announced enthusiastically, jumping up immediately onto the hard wooden structure covered with tangled and unwashed wool. She immediately began rubbing her sore hooves together.
Selene smiled the smallest bit, before the light from the room's only window caught her eyes. And she immediately remembered something important that the two of them had overlooked.
“Um. S-Sunny?”
“Yess?” Came the already half asleep sounding moan from the bed.
“If this house is abandoned...”
“Mhmm?”
“Then who set the candle in the window?”
A pair of lavender eyes snapped open at the same that the front door was heard creaking on it's hinges. Two sets of eyes met as earth pony and temporary unicorn let out equally alarmed squeaks.
Sunny chuckled nervously. “Maybe it was just the-” a stallion's voice could be heard muttering to himself as what sounded like heavy saddlebags were dropped on the floor. “...wind.”
Sunny Skies was utterly lost. She wandered the woods with a bored expression on her face, not feeling particularly bothered by the fact that she had no idea where she was, nor the strange litle bug that had decided to follow after her. If she was to be perfectly honest with herself, she actually appreciated the bug pony's company. It beat wandering the Wilderwoods alone.
Now though, Selene was sticking to the trees a good distance behind Sunny, stalking her through the woods cautiously. She seemed to be a nervous, twitchy thing, and was so silent in her pursuit that at times Sunny forgot the dark blue pony was there at all. Which is why the white earth pony was so surprised when her tagalong finally spoke up.
“... Where are we going?” She asked, somehow making her high buzzing voice sound innocent and nervous. Sunny shrugged in response without looking back.
“Out of these woods, hopefully... It smells funny.” She added dryly, before continuing. “No idea where we're actually heading to, if that's what you mean. Potentially some form of civilization would be nice.”
Selene let out a small high pitched noise which Sunny assumed was the bug-thing equivalent of a scoff. Or maybe a giggle. It was hard to tell with bug-things (or so Sunny assumed, as Selene was the first and only bug-thing Sunny had ever met). “I don't much care for civilization. From my experience, it tends to be too uncivilized.” She frowned, still hanging back, half hidden behind trees as she talked with Sunny. “Also, most ponies have this habit of trying to kill me.”
Sunny paused mid step to glance back at the adorable little – uh. Weird little bug. “Well that's kind of rude. Just because you look like a bug? I mean, I don't like bugs... but you're just a pony who looks like a bug.”
She let out another bug-giggle. “Right... I suppose “rude” is one way of putting it...” she trailed off and the two walked in relative silence for a while, letting the strange animal calls in the distance guide their way. After some time – and neither was sure how long – had passed, she risked speaking again. “But... you can't be any older then me – I think, at least... Where did you come from? Maybe we can find your family?” Selene paused mid sentence before continuing on in a very serious tone of voice. “Unless they're all dead, like mine,” she tacked on, sounding genuinely sympathetic.
The white earth pony scoffed, tossing her pink mane back. “My parents kicked me out, my entire village hates me, and they'd probably kill me if I ever went back.”
The little bug's wide green and yellow eyes somehow widened even further. “Oh no!” She gasped contritely. “That's terrible!” And in the next second, her contrite expression was replaced with one of extreme curiosity. “What did you do?”
Sunny kept walking, looking straight ahead as she responded with another shrug. “I didn't technically do anything. My mother was a unicorn, and my father was a pegasus. They were already pushing things just by being together. I mean, the tribes may be at peace, but my mom and dad were getting a little too peaceful, if you know what I mean.” Selene had no idea what she meant. “When I was born, I guess I was the proverbial straw that broke the pony's back. For a pegasus and a unicorn to have a foal together would have been bad enough, but... for me to come out an earth pony? No one could explain it, and the villagers were furious.
“They thought I was some sort of bad omen or something, and demanded to have me killed right then and there. The way I heard it, my mom and dad managed to somehow convince them that banishment would appease the gods just as much as killing me would, and got to keep me until they decided I was old enough to stand a fighting chance. I'm still not sure how they managed to keep the villagers off of me for so long. I spent most of my life inside our cabin or in the back woods learning how to fight. When I turned eight, the villagers decided it had been enough, stormed in, grabbed me, and dropped me in the woods. I'd only been out here a few days when I found you.” It was then, at the end of her story, that Sunny finally paused long enough to wonder why she felt comfortable enough to tell her whole life story to this weird bug pony.
... Then again. This “weird bug pony” was the first pony she'd ever met outside her village – and thus, the first pony she'd ever met that wasn't convinced she was the spawn of dark forces and as far as Sunny knew, had no plans of killing her in the near future. It was a nice change of pace.
“O-oh!” The bug continued to stare at her with those wide, seemingly upset bug eyes. “That's... sad.” She announced lamely, before nodding to herself, feeling that she had chosen her words well. She paused again here, staring at her hooves awkwardly. She was as unused to dealing with other ponies as Sunny was. “Um.. do you want... a hug?” She wondered nervously, not sure if Sunny would be pleased with her, or upset with her for the suggestion.
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), all the earth pony did was shrug indifferently again. The only emotion she seemed to outwardly show at all so far was bored indifference. But Selene knew this couldn't be the case... she had been starved nearly to death before this white pony had found her. Just being around the earth pony made Selene feel stronger. And she didn't get her strength from bored indifference.
“Not really... Don't like hugs that much.” She glanced over her shoulder at the dark blue changey-bug-thing. “What about you? What happened to your family?”
Selene froze in her tracks, eyes rooted on her hooves, before catching her breath and regaining her composure. She continued on as if her brief emotional lapse had gone unnoticed – which it hadn't. “Well... I don't know. Not for sure. That is... I know my mother is dead. But I don't know about everypony else. We got separated, you see.” She nodded once, taking a breath, and continuing her story with a slow and quiet voice, having already resolved herself to tell it to this strange pony who's very presence was somehow keeping her alive.
“You see, my mother was a queen... which is why she ran away with me. W-we were attacked, when some ponies from a nearby village learned what we were, and found our tiny little camp in the woods. They went back and brought their whole village down on us. Nearly all of my family – my friends, were killed. Some of us managed to get away into the heart of the woods where the ponies were too afraid to follow.
“But stories started spreading from village to village, until it seemed everypony everywhere knew what we were, and we couldn't get anywhere near a pony village without being attacked. Without their love, we no longer had the strength to change. But in our natural form, we had no way to convince anypony to love us. So starvation led to starvation.”
Sunny had heard of the Changed in her own village, but cooped up inside as she was all the time, she didn't know much about them except that the were creepy and disgusting and totally evil. Which sounded a lot like how they described her, now that she thought about it. In any case, she had no idea why they were called the Changed, or what the change meant to them. She ventured a guess on the “narural form” bit though. “You mean, nopony likes you cause you all look like bugs?”
Selene blinked once, a surprised look overtaking her previous troubled expression. Slowly, she smiled, tiny fangs poking out of the sides of her mouth, before nodding. “Um, yes... nopony likes us because... we all look like bugs.”
Sunny nodded her understanding and gestured for Selene to continue her story.
“Well, we were starving, so the Changed gave all of the love that they had left to my mother and I. We were their queen – and... princes... so I suppose they thought it was important that we survived. The energy they gave us was just enough for my mother and I to transform when we came across various pony settlements. But... in this time... ponies hardly even trust strangers wandering through, let alone love them enough for us to get by. So eventually, the last of the love of our people ran out as well. Mother knew she was going to die, so she gave me all of the love she could muster up, and told me-... well, she told me a bunch of stuff. And then she died. I think, if she didn't love me so much... then there's no way I would have survived as long as I did alone.”
“You keep going on about... 'love'...” Sunny cringed a the word, as it was a concept she wasn't sure she understood or supported, being something she had experienced so little of herself, “like it's some kind of... I don't know. Something more then just a feeling.”
Selene blinked her huge eyes at the earth pony. “But... it is.” She breathed out quietly. “We can feel it. We can feel it in the ponies we meet, and even in the animals, and the air and the trees and the magic of the world. We can feel it in everything. Love is one of the most powerful magics in the world. Without it, we... we simply can't survive. We can feel when there isn't any love. And it's just... awful. It's cold and lonely and terrible... and it kills us. It really, really kills us. We can't survive without love. And who would want to love a creepy bug?” She stared down at her hooves for a really long time. “And... and so you see why I can't imagine my family is still alive. We cannot live if we are not loved. And not a single pony is willing to love us. So they could not have made it very far alone.... they all must have died feeling that awful... loneliness.” She shivered, having herself been experiencing that same hollow loneliness of starvation only a few short days ago.
Stunned silence followed the end of her tale.
“That's... horrible.” Sunny shuffled her hooves awkwardly, having stopped walking in order to turn and watch Selene at some point during the story. “But, uhm... if it makes you feel any better... I've heard ponies in my village talk about ponies like you... Change-thingies. That might mean that there's more then just you left... right?”
It took the change-thing some time before she finally managed to look up at Sunny with a tiny smile, her little fangs poking out of the corners of her mouth, and ask “You really think so?”
Sunny hesitated before nodding. “Well, my... the village is pretty secluded, so I wouldn't think they would be able to know about you... I mean, you've spent most of your life, hiding, right?”
“Y-yeah... I suppose so... I don't really remember a time when we had a real home. A time before the ponies started hunting us and we had to keep running and hiding. My mother told me lots of stories about back then, though... They all sounded so... nice.” the tiny bug trailed off, smiling wistfully – an expression which translated into a bit of an awkward grimace on her fanged face.
Finally, she voiced the question that had been nagging at her ever since the white pony had first stumbled across her and not run screaming or try to stomp her to dust. “H-hey, so... how come you never tried to hurt me, anyway? 'Specially if your village knew about us,” She blinked her wide yellow-green eyes at Sunny, looking purely curious, with no malice or suspicion hidden in her expression. “You didn't even seem a little bit scared when you saw me.”
One again, the earth pony foal responded with a shrug. “You didn't do anything to hurt me, did you? It's nice to have somepony who doesn't look at you in disgust... Everypony else is too narrow minded. They think that anything that isn't like them, is... wrong. That it should be destroyed just 'cause they don't understand it. But you never had that look in your eyes. I think you were actually happy to see me.”
Selene nodded very slowly. “That's... exactly how everypony always looks at me...” she trailed off again, but this time she looked at Sunny a bit more closely, trying to see something more then just another earth pony. Trying to understand this pony who somehow, unknowingly, loved Selene just enough to keep her alive. Finally, she perked up slightly. “So... you weren't freaked out by me, because I wasn't freaked out by you...” a tiny gray tongue poked out from between sharp teeth. “Why can't everypony be like that?” she asked, sounding exasperated in the delivery of her honest question.
“Beats me.” Sunny announced, giving the shrug that Selene decided must be some sort of involuntary muscle twitch, given how often Sunny seemed to do it. “If you ask me, I think they all just have sticks shoved up their rears.”
The changey-bug burst out in uncontrollable buggy cackles. “I- I have never h-heard anyp-pony say that before! It d-doesn't sound very p-pleasant. I suppose it would explain why everyp-pony is so f-foul!” she managed to choke out through her mirth.
Sunny Skies grinned back at her new companion as she nosed her way through a particularly thick bramble. “Yes, it would explain quite a lot.”
The two fell back into silence, but this time it was a more comfortable silence, the kind shared between two friends simply content with each other's company, rather then the awkward silence between them when they had first met. They travelled this way for some time, and over the course of the next hour or so, Selene slowly found herself inching out of the foliage and closer to the earth pony until eventually she was mere hooflengths behind her white saviour.
And then something caught the attention of her light sensitive eyes, and she stopped, peering off into the distance... “Hey... S-Sunny I don't know if you can see, but... I think there are some light up ahead! It looks like a candle, maybe...? Do you think there's a chance of it being uncivilized civilization?” She cocked her head a bit as her slitted pupils expanded and contracted, trying to peer off into the distance.
Sunny had to creep ahead a bit further and strain her neck before her eyes finally managed to lock on to the lowly glowing dots through the trees. “It sure seems like light...” she admitted. “Do you think it's safe to go there, though?”
Selene frowned a bit, sitting slowly, before dropping her butt the last few inches to the ground. Her ragged teal tail twitched nervously in the dirt. “Ummm... maybe for you... but I'm all... buggy.” She buzzed her tiny gossamer wings to emphasize her point.
Sunny frowned in understanding. “Yeah... there isn't a way we'd really be able to hide them.” At the finish of her statement, Selene began looking extremely uncomfortable.
Slowly, the tiny bug took a shaky breath. “Well... I mean.. I think... there is one way... but, I'm still not feeling very good... Though being around you has certainly picked me up a bit... so maybe I could try. But. Ooohhh.” She stared down at the dirt, and having finally come to a decision, whispered so quietly that Sunny had to strain to hear her. “Um. Please don't freak out, okay?”
“Freak out about what?”
“Um. This.” And that was all the warning Sunny had before a dim green glow slowly burned into existence around her bug friend's hooves, flickering in and out of existence a few times as Selene grit her teeth in concentration. She let out a few strained squeaks before the glow finally started to slowly – very slowly – make it's way up her legs, and over over her body. And everywhere the green light passed over, dark blue carapace turned to equally blue fur. The raggedy teal mane and tale smoothed themselves out, and although they appeared well groomed, the still lacked any of the luster or shine of healthy hair. Truthfully, it had the same dull lifelessness as Sunny's own mane and tail. Though her gossamer wings remained, as the green glow finally made it's way to the tip of her horn, it straightened itself and filled in until it resembled the horn of any natural born unicorn filly her age. By this time, the ex-bug was making the most curious range of squeaks and grunts, and sweat was already soaking the new fur along her face and back.
Finally, the light dimmed into nothingness, leaving a panting unicorn filly – albeit one sporting soft gossamer wings – in it's wake. She swayed on her hooves slightly before finally turning her face up to her startled friend and opening her eyes -revealing the most striking change of all. Her distinctive green and yellow eyes had been replaced with the wide childish eyes of a filly, in a teal to match her hair. She winced slightly at the shocked expression on Sunny's face, and grimaced slightly, looking away.
Sunny finally gathered her wits about her enough to snap her mouth shut, which had, up to that point, been hanging open. “That... was... AWESOME."
A week and a half, maybe. It was getting even harder to tell. She still hadn't starved to death, or accidentally poisoned herself, and she had only sprained two hooves so far. And after seeing the look on that timberwolf's face, it had so been worth it. Shaking out her still sore hoof, Sunny failed to notice the ravine laying directly across her path.
A few steps later it rudely introduced itself to her, and the earth pony's ire rose with each roll she took down the hill until finally coming to a stop.
“HARMONY, SHMARMONY! PEACE, MY PLOT!” she screeched, loudly enough to make a flock of birds somewhere high above her take flight. This new “Equestria” might brag about the three pony tribes living in peace and harmony, with everything all love and acceptance, rainbows and sunshine, but it's one thing to say it and another to actually put it into practice. Sure, she had heard the stories of how the country had been founded, only a few years before she had been born. But to believe that everypony could just up and accept each other like that? She snorted. It was a long time off, if not impossible entirely.
She lay on her back for a few more minutes before finally dragging herself back to her aching hooves. No point lying around after making such a loud commotion. That was just begging for some Ursa or something to come gobble her up.
She paused along the path mere minutes later, however, when she spotted a trembling bush. That on it's own wouldn't have made her stop, but it also seemed to be whimpering. Lastly, this particular bush appeared to have grown a tail, as evidenced by the burst of teal hair hanging out from among the roots.
“Uuuhm?” She wondered aloud, and the bush squeaked before continuing to whimper. The poor bush sounded so frightened. “There there, bush. I'm not going to hurt you.” Sunny hoped she sounded convincing.
Apparently she did, because the next thing she knew, the bush opened two alarmingly large green and yellow eyes, staring at her through slitted pupils. “I'm not a bush.” The bush replied with a sniffle.
Sunny tilted her head dubiously. “It would seem so... Why are you in a bush?”
“I was hiding.” The bush sniffled.
“Well what are you hiding from?”
The bush remained quiet for some time before answering very timidly. “Well, I heard you shouting... I was hiding from you...” it squeaked.
“I suppose I can be pretty scary sometimes,” Sunny admitted, puffing out her chest. “... But I didn't know I was that scary.”
“Ponies 're scary.” The bush replied sadly. “But you said y' didn't want to hurt me... and you meant it.” The bush sounded both puzzled and intrigued. The eyes suddenly disappeared back into the bush for a moment, and the next thing Sunny knew, a tiny dark blue head was peeking out from under the bush. It had a unicorn's horn - but it looked different. It was sharply curved and had an awkward looking indent in it. Sunny wondered if it hurt.
Also on top of the head was a ratty teal mane, matching the tattered tail hanging from the other side of the bush. Most noticeably, however, were the two eyes set in the middle of the dark face. They were the same striking green and yellow eyes that the bush had greeted her with, wide as saucers, looking like they were about to envelop the pony's entire face. And they were staring straight at Sunny unblinkingly.
Completely unperturbed by the eerie stare, Sunny shifted to look to the side slightly. “Yeah... Ponies can be scary sometimes.” She admitted. “Dunno why you'd think I'd want to hurt you though.”
“Everypony wants to hurt me.” The dark not-a-bush-pony answered matter of factly, slowly dragging the rest of her body out from under the bush, her eyes never straying from Sunny's face, and still never blinking. She began to pant a little at the effort expended dragging herself out of the bush when she already had so little energy left in her body.
Once she was entirely out of the bush, she fell limp once more, lying on the ground completely motionless, looking dead save for the eyes, still focused on Sunny.
Sunny frowned at the collapsed pony. “Why do they wanna hurt you? Is it cause you look kinda like a bug? That's stupid.”
The little bug nodded once anyway. “Yeah... it's pretty stupid...” she trailed off, finally blinking once, uncomfortably slowly. Finally, she found the words to continue. “So... um. If you're not going to kill me, then, I think I'm going to go back to dying on my own... if it's not too much trouble. I was almost there, but then you woke me with all your shouting.” She trailed off very slowly, leaving the sentence hanging awkwardly, before shutting her eyes slowly again and curling in on herself on the dirt, presumably to become more comfortable.
A few awkwardly silent moments passed while Sunny wondered if this bug was serious, and once she finally decided that yeah, it seemed she actually was, the earth pony snorted loudly. She prodded the little bug pony's flank. “You can't just sit there and die, that's no good. Why are you trying to die anyways? Are ponies that mean to you?”
The bug pony sighed tiredly, but didn't open her eyes. “I'm not trying to die.” She paused, realizing contritely how rude her tone of voice had been, and continued on in a much meeker voice. “It's just gotta happen, y'know? I can feel it, here.” She twitched on forehoof just enough to tap herself on her chitinous chest. “I've been putting it off for days now, but I really can't continue. You showing up has made this situation all kinds of awkward, but... I really am quite tired, so I think I shall sleep.” The pony paused, apparently finished, before adding quickly, “And if you could perhaps shout just a little bit quieter, that would be really nice. If it's okay with you, of course. I'll understand if you can't.”
Through all of this, Princess Roselene did not once realize that she was regaining enough strength to carry on the conversation, and even to be facetious. Although, had she know what the word facetious meant, it is unlikely she would have applied it to herself in this situation.
Sunny shook her head slowly in disbelief, and then gave a final quick shake of disagreement before smirking. Then she grabbed the blueish tail in her mouth and yanked hard, dragging the little bug it was attached to through the dirt and away from the bush. “'M not gonna let you die under a bush!” the earth pony's voice came out, muffled through the tail in her mouth.
Green and yellow eyes snapped back open instantly, even wider then before, as the princess flailed her foorehoves. “OUCH! What was that for??? Unhoof me at once! Owww!” She jumped to her hooves, swooning slightly, before struggling to pull her tail out of the awful pony's mouth. And then instinct kicked in she turned to glare at the earth pony, pulling her tail even tighter,and starting hissing.
“I ain't lettin' go 'til you say you won't die!” Sunny retorted hotly, once again unfazed by the bug. She stamped her hoof once, standing up straighter with the tail still in her mouth.
The little bug kept hissing viciously and trying to yank her tail free, before finally collapsing once more in the dirt, this time out of frustration rather then exhaustion. “Okay! I won't die! I promise! I swear it! I swear I won't ever die! Now pleaseee let gooo!” she whined.
Sunny dropped the tail with a smug look on her face. “Good. Now follow me.” And with that, she turned and walked off into the forest, leaving a very confused bug pony in her wake.
“Wha-what?” The little bug stumbled awkardly to her hooves, rushing to catch up. “Where are you going?” She squeaked, toppling over onto her face in her rush to keep up.
The earth pony glance back with a grin. “No idea! But if you don't come with me, you'll probably try and curl up under that stupid bush again.”
The bug pony scowled at the implication that she would not keep a promise. “Very well,” and here she paused, wide eyes growing wider, before flushing a bright turquoise. “Um. I do not believe you told me your name.” She whispered, turning and even deeper turqoiuse.
“The name's Sunny!” Sunny Skies announced with a grin. “What about you?”
“Me?” The big eyes gave a puzzled blink. “I am Pri- P.... Rose... Lene... Roselene?” She shook her head slowly, seemingly dissatisfied with this answer, before looking back up at the bold earth pony in front of her, who had, she was slowly beginning to realize, just casually saved her life. Finally, she gave the tiniest of smiles, showing her fangs for the first time. “Selene. My name is Selene.”
Sunny Skies had seen better days. This was only her first week in the Wilderwoods – or at least, she was pretty sure it was – and the eight year old earth pony was absolutely certain she had been walking in circles. These were all the same trees, same swamps, and same timberwolves that she had seen days ago. She seemed to recall climbing out of this exact swamp in particular only a day ago, in a mad dash to escape from the World's Most Irritating Bushwoolies.
Okay, admittedly, not the worst thing she could have been faced with in these woods, but they were just. So. ANNOYING. Without warning, Sunny reared back and slammer her front hooves into the bark of a poor, unsuspecting tree, screaming her frustrations to the air.
Why was she in the woods? Through no fault of her own, of course. Nooo, she thought, my entire village just had to be filled with ignorant, empty headed, “Superstitious, racist, BIRD BRAINED IMBECILES!”
So, on her eighth birthday, roughly... a week ago? Maybe? When any other foal in the village would have been eating moon cakes, playing with their friends, and making corn dolls, she was getting nabbed from her house and carried through the village square by an angry mob. Or rather, a celebratory mob. Cause they did have a party planned. A huge festival in the square even. And all for her! It just wasn't a birthday party. It was a going away party. A Have Fun Getting Eaten By Timberwolves in the Wilderwoods Party.
“And thank you for that!” She shouted to no one in particular. “I am having So. Much. Fun!”
And why? Why did her entire village seem to derive so much pleasure at the very thought of her dying a quick and painful death in the many mouths of a hydra? All because she was born a blasted earth pony! An earth pony born to a pegasus and a unicorn.
Somehow, that equation was just another way of saying “spawn of dark forces who seek to destroy us”, or something like that. So they threw her in the woods in the hopes of appeasing the elder gods. Or something. She didn't really pay attention to all the superstitious mumbo jumbo.
Sunny sat on the uneven wood floor of the main sitting room, the largest room in her family's small four room cabin. Her face was schooled into a stony expression, vividly showcasing her anger, a touch of indignation, a pinch of righteous seething injustice, and perhaps some sort of mischievous revenge scheme if one squinted.
Seemingly completely oblivious to her daughter's stony look, a pale off white unicorn, the colour of old parchment, fussed over Sunny's mane. Sunrise's own golden mane and tail were pulled back into simple yet sensible braids. “Oh, are you sure you don't want it tied back? It's going to be impossible to wash. Oh, maybe we should have cut it short. What if it gets tangled?”
“I like my mane the way it is.” Sunny answered shortly. “Otherwise I wouldn't wear it this way.”
A creamy white hoof brushed a few of the light pink locks out of Sunny's face before the owner finally caught sight of the hard glare and backed off again, tittering to herself nervously.
Sunrise's nervous energy had been enough to permeate the house, waking all three of it's residents before the crack of dawn and keeping them from falling asleep again.
Sunrise had spent the morning shoving as much hot breakfast as she could in Sunny's direction, packing her sattlebags with food, parchment paper, quills, more food, whatever brief guides could be found on the dangers of the Wilderwoods, and anything else she thought could be considered useful.
Sunny suffered through it all silently. Outwardly, she bore the same expressions she had for the majority of her childhood. Stubborn and rebellious. It betrayed nothing of what she felt inside, even as she struggled to figure out exactly what those feelings might be.
She had known this day was coming her whole life. Literally her entire childhood, her parents had raised her in preparation for this day. It had never been kept a secret from her. Her mother and father, a unicorn and a pegasus, getting married. Rare and frowned upon, but not unheard of. In the new peacetime, no one had the guts to go against it. Having a foal? That had unsettled the village even more. So she'd heard, at least.
When the foal was born an earth pony – to a pureblood unicorn and a pureblood pegasus, the village had taken it as a bad omen, and demanded the child be left in the woods. To this day, she didn't know how, but somehow, her parents had convinced the village to at least let them raise her until she was old enough to fend for herself. So it was agreed that on her eighth birthday, the earth pony would be exiled, banished, left for dead, what have you.
And she certainly hadn't won anyone's hearts over in those eight years. Sunny Skies was cheery, optimistic, and incredibly sarcastic. She was also terribly unlucky. Anytime she stepped outside her house, something went terribly wrong. Like that one time with the molasses... Which only served to further the villagers' belief that she was cursed or something.
Did Sunny hate the villagers? Yes. Did she hate her parents? ...Maybe. She wasn't sure. She didn't necessarily like them all the time, but... she wasn't entirely sure she could say she hated them either.
Stratus simply stood in the corner, dark dusty blue wings folded against his sides. He had a stormy gray mane that seemed to reflect his dark and stormy personality. He stood by the room's single window, staring out into the night. He let the two mares carry on a while longer before eventually speaking up.
“They'll be here soon.” He stated flatly, in his low voice.
The room instantly settled into an uneasy stillness. Sunrise stopped her pacing, and even her hooves were at rest, with none of the nervous twitching that seemed to carry her through daily life. Rather, she stood stock still, staring at the door eyes wide, fur on end, as if she'd been struck by a stray lightning bolt.
Sunny remained staring impassively at the door, but all of her muscles were tensed to the point of hurting, and she was trembling ever so slightly. Stratus was the only one in the room who even noticed.
What came next happened so quickly that looking back, Sunny could never quite piece it together clearly. There was a knocking at their door, but before her mother or father could move to answer it, there was a great cracking noise and the door was swinging open on it's own. Then everything became truly chaotic. Everything was loud noises, shouting and hoof falls, angry sounds, and the feel of bodies closing in on all sides. Sunny tried shoving the first few hooves away but there were so many, and once she realized she had somehow left the ground she simply shut her eyes and tried to drown out the noise.
It worked only until she was dropped roughly on her tail, squeaking in pain, but saying nothing. She immediately got to her hooves and spun to face her attackers. Now, it seemed, they were all keeping their distance. The villagers stood some hooflengths away, directly in front of her. To her back was the treeline of the Wilderwoods. Far off in the distance, she could see a few lit windows in small houses. The last look she would likely get of New Hollow, the only home she'd known.
She suddenly became acutely aware of the dark woods looming behind her, and the empty feeling on her back. At some point during the brief but rough trip, her saddlebags must have fallen off – if not been torn off.
Knowing there was no point in speaking, and no point in delaying, save perhaps further inciting the villagers ire, she slowly backed towards the single dark trail, which in truth only went a few short kilometers before stopping. She was a few feet into the treeline when her mother finally decided to jump forward, grabbing her in a madly twitching hug. “B-be careful!”
“Oh, sure, mom. I'll be super careful in the dark, dangerous, untamed woods filled with wild magics. Promise.”
Her mom looked up at her with huge watery eyes, and Sunny gave a loud, long suffering sigh before returning the hug. For all she knew, she'd regret not hugging her later. Finally, as her mother let go, and the unsettled murmuring from the gathered ponies behind them started to build up again, Sunny looked to both of her parents. “Come with me?” She asked weakly, trying not to let too much hope sound through her voice. We could all stay together...
Strata stared back at her impassively through lavender eyes. He'd had years to train his softest feature to be as cold and hard as the rest of him. He didn't even bother to leave her with a head shake or a 'no'. She turned to her mother.
Sunrise couldn't even meet her daughter's eyes. She instead shuffled away nervously, hooves twitching, wide gold eyes sweeping back and forth between her cream coloured hooves and the darkness of the woods.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Not like I expected anything else.” She scoffed with a casual roll of her shoulders, as if their answer -or lack thereof- hadn't hurt her. They could at least have the guts to say no. She cast a sidelong glance at her father. “Y'know, a 'goodbye' or something would be nice.” She sighed, resigned to his silence. She turned once more and started walking again, until a deep voice stopped her.
“Good luck.”
Sunny froze, wide eyes locked onto the dirt between her hooves. She took off galloping without looking back, and didn't slow again until the village was nothing more then a few dots of light in the distance.
Her parents had, at least, had the good graces to spend those eight years teacher her how to use her teeth and hooves to defend herself, and she had a fairly in depth education of which plants would and wouldn't kill her.
As she rolled around in the dirt, trying to wash some of the caked on mud from her previously white coat, she made up her mind that rather then run away again, the next timberwolf she met would be getting a hard hoof to the nose.
“IF I EVER DO AQUIRE GOD LIKE POWERS, THE WHOLE BLASTED VILLAGE IS GETTING SMITED. I HOPE YOU KNOW THAT.”
A tiny, dark blue filly with a tattered teal mane stumbled through the woods on uneven footing, nearly stumbling a few times. Her tiny gossamer wings were limp at her sides, her dull yellow and green eyes staring blankly ahead. She sniffled quietly, whimpering for her mother.
She was weak with hunger and exhaustion, and she had no idea how many days had passed since her mother had fallen and urged her forward alone. She never should have left her mother's side. At least then she could have died near someone who had loved her.
Instead, she was going to die alone. She knew it – it was inevitable, now. It was part of her nature, to feel these things. The hatred from the ponies over the course of these last few months had taken their toll, leaving her and her people starving. Now, Princess Roselene believed, she must be the only one left. Her people – the Changed – had given all of their love to her mother in the hopes it would help her to escape. Her and her mother had fled, abandoning their people, loveless and alone, to die slow and lonely deaths.
Roselene knew this because only a few days had passed since she had witnessed her mother suffering the same horrid fate. And when her mother had died, she had in turn given all of the love she had left to her daughter, in the hopes it could help her survive just a little longer.
Queen Rosebud, born a beautiful amber flutterpony, with a powder blue mane had become, over the many years since her childhood, a muddy brown colour, her mane fading to a dark dusty blue, losing it's shine and bounce until it fell as limp as the rest of her. She, like her people, were suffering the Changes, caused by the curse of their once sacred sunstone.
They had been forced to leave their valley, abandoning the now dark stone that seemed to be leeching the very life out of the valley and the ponies who lived there. Under the rule of her own mother, Queen Roselight, Rosebud had watched as her friends and family had all suffered the same slow Changes, turning them into something unrecognizable, even to themselves.
Some of the older ponies escaped some of the most obvious Changes, but as time wore on, each new generation grew further and further from their original form and purpose. Then came the time that the ponies finally discovered them. The flutterponies had never been well known to Ponyland, and in the years since the New Generation, the windigoes, the Great Snow, and the founding of Equestria, they had faded even further into obscurity.
Yet, even if the ponies had still known of the flutterponies of bygone days, it is unlikely that any would have recognized the Changed as the ponies they once were.
When the ponies found them, they were frightened. The Changed were too different and unfamiliar, too far removed from what felt safe. So the ponies reacted with violence, driving them from place after place, forcing them to flee to the woods, and unwittingly starving and poisoning them the whole time with their hate and fear.
Eventually, only a small handful remained. Many had been killed by ponies, many had simply collapsed of hunger, exhaustion, and loneliness. By and large, most of her people were dying of broken hearts. All they could feel was overwhelming hatred until it drowned even the love freely given by their brothers and sisters, until each one suffocated under the sheer force of emotion.
This small group was all that remained of a once proud people, and each of them knew they could not live much longer, sharing their love between each other. So they came to a decision. They would each give all of the love energy that remained in them to their Queen and their Princess. The act done, they urged their Queen to flee with her daughter, and find a way to live on.
It hurt Rosebud to abandon her people, but they were right. Their race was dying. Even if she could not find a way to remove the curse or restore her people, she could, at the very least, find her daughter somewhere safe to grow up happy. If she could have but one thing in this life, that would be her wish.
What the Queen had not anticipated was the distrust among the ponies so soon after establishing the New Country. Although it was founded on the basis of love and harmony, these traits were hard to find in the common pony. It was too soon – most of them felt as if they were being forced into living among those whom they had considered enemies mere years ago. The ponies were not ready to extend a welcoming hoof to the newcomers wandering in from the woods, and the children would learn from their parents example.
Perhaps, with future generations, the ponies would learn to truly embrace love and tolerance. But Rosebud did not have the luxury of waiting for such a time. She had a daughter and a deep pit of loneliness and despair beginning to grow inside of her. She could feel the taint, an inborn part of her nature, slowly expanding with the lack of love. She would soon starve, and her daughter would be left alone, with nothing but reserves to survive on, until she shared her mother's fate.
So, Rosebud did the only thing she could think of. She buried the loneliness growing inside of her, and filled herself with nothing but love for her daughter. She thought of nothing else but that love until she felt filled to bursting with emotion, threatening to overflow her body in the form of tears. And then she touched her sharp, curved horn – something that she had been born without – to that of her daughter, and made her feel as much love as she could. It kept building, even as it was released, until finally Rosebud had emptied herself out completely, and collapsed in the dirt.
She told her daughter the only way to live was to find love. And then she faded. It was slow at first, but as the darkness spread and grew within her, it picked up speed, until she was hardly aware of her little princess crying into her matted blue mane. And then, she was gone.
The love had been powerful. But even without other ponies hatred, Roselene was being tainted by her own grief. This, combined with the hunger, fear, uncertainty, and despair she had been experiencing over the course of her years on the run with her family – of whom she was now the only one left – is what finally led to Roselene's own eventual collapse in the soft dirt of the woods.
She had given up. She would have been ashamed had her mother been around to see her, but she wasn't. So the tiny princess lay in the dirt and sniffled, waiting for sleep she would not wake from. She had almost found it too, when a loud noise brought her back to her senses.
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