More Studies and hospital visit.

//

pat reon.com/blacklares

I should have expected that... No man's Sky completely stole my life... And I should be studying for an exam next week...and write three different reports that I have no energy for...Sigh...

Well, at least I found some time to write the chapter. I hope it's to your liking. Not much happened but I personally like it. In the end the research part of this story and the light atmosphere were always my favourite part of this FF.

So anyway, hope you like it and like always EEEENJOY!!!

Ps. I was supposed to post it yesterday but I literally fell asleep with my phone and the chapter editor in my hands XD

//

In the end, Kevin had been more than helpful for Starfall in learning about his mysterious species.

From what he understood, Changeling magic stayed in a constant state of flux, that allowed them to easily influence it to affect their physical appearance. While it looked quite useful, it was in truth, rather limited, needing the Changelings to regularly absorb specially prepared magic from other creatures, as they were unable to produce their own magic, nor absorb it from the atmosphere in any meaningful quantities that would allow them to sustain them without suffering excruciating hunger or even death...

Here the phrase "friendship is magic" became even more literal, because that was more or less what happened in the future when Thorax taught the changeling to give love instead of taking it. Starfall theorised that in that moment, their highly moldable Changeling Magic transformed into the Magic Of Friendship, which instantly began fighting against their inherent taint, changing them into the new and improved Changedlings.

It would also explain why Thorax would turn into...whatever that badly designed thing was... Because he had so much more magic than other Changelings thanks to his friendship with Spike, when it all turned into the magic of friendship, it wasn't surprising he got the largest "power up makeover"...

Starfall doubted that he could really use those information against the slowly approaching invasion. He suspected that many of the things that happened between now and the appearance of Thorax, were what allowed them to so easily change the mindset of the Changelings in the first place. He doubted he could convince the Changelings to change their ways without somepony like Thorax acting as a spiritual leader of sorts and basically defeating Queen Chrysalis. He might get lucky with Kevin one day, but for the others, he'd wait until the right time.

As for Chrysalis...

A memory of the Changeling Queen refusing Starlight's friendship flashed through his mind...Yeah...He should probably just remove her. She's too dangerous to-

Starfall hissed slightly as a burning feeling arose in his chest. It quickly became clear that his inner magic of friendship didn't like his train of thoughts...

"Alright, alright, I get it. No disposing of villains, who can still potentially be reformed...I'm not going to be lenient with Tirek and Storm King though. Sombra is... debatable, but I can recognise those two as the evil megalomaniacs they are and I'm not going to give them any chances..." He muttered in annoyance and the magic seemed to accept his reasoning.

Starfall looked over his notes on the Changeling magic one last time, and decided to pack everything up for today. He still needed to visit Rainbow in the Hospital and it wasn't the time to play with a new type of magic...

___________

Walking quietly into the room housing the blue coated mare, Starfall had to suppress his snort as he noticed a very giddy Rainbow Dash reading some apparently very exciting passage of the Story Book he gave her. Daring Do was actually very fun to read as her stories were not only very exciting but also, what wasn't known by the general public, completely true, as A. K. Yearling, was the pen name of the actual Pegasi Adventurer.

He had always been curious about those stories, as Daring Do was the defacto Indiana Jones of Equestria, always finding some interesting magical artifacts and mysterious tombs Starfall would have loved to study.

After reading the first of her books, he was totally unsurprised to find Rainbow Dash getting so immersed in the books, the similarities between her and the adventurer only adding to the flame.

As he finally made her aware of his presence, he was amused to see her try and fail to hide the book under her pillow and trying to pretend it didn't existed.

"I see you liked my gift Dashie." He said sitting beside the mare who tried to look away with a scoff, her face beet red.

"I have...no idea what you're talking about..." She said unconvincingly making Starfall chuckle.

"Don't worry Sugar, I won't tell anypony. Although I warn you that Twilight is also a fan of the series as well as I am, so when we're alone you can expect to get a proper interrogation from her about how much you liked it." He said and Rainbow Dash looked a bit worried.

"So...how is it?" He asked and he could see the internal struggle of the cute Pegasus. Finally though she took out the book from under her pillow and hugged it with a Cheshire grin.

"I...I love it! Daring Do is so awesome!..Of course not as awesome as me... But she has so many cool adventures!" She started to talk to him in earnest and before he realised, they had been on it for over three hours.

Some of their friends visited every now and then, but nopony stayed long as it was a working day and they were all mostly busy.

When it came time to leave, Starfall gave Rainbow a loving kiss on the lips, which caused the tough girl to instantly lose her entire composure and turn even redder than Fluttershy. He loved that hidden side of his Rainbow. When it came to romance, she had a tendency of becoming an adorable shy puddle...

_______

As he left the room, Starfall thought about what he would do about the rest of the evening. He had already sent Kevin home, and none of his girls would be back until at least another two or three hours, most of them working or having stuff that needed their attention.

Even the Princesses had to leave for Canterlot to prepare the plans for the next Grand Galloping Gala. Apparently they hoped to use the occasion to more or less present and introduce the two lunar sisters amongst the Higher Class ponies of Canterlot. It wasn't a secret that they spend most of their time lazying in Ponyville despite technically being the rulers of Equestria. It wouldn't do to not show up during social events, so it was also a good idea to plan said events in advance...

Submerged In his thoughts, Starfall failed to notice a mare walking out of a room right beside Rainbow's, and the two bumped into eachother, leading to a fall of the smaller mare whom Starfall caught with his magic almost instantly.

"Oh, I'm sorry miss. I hadn't been paying attention." Starfall apologised looking at the familiar looking mare. He recognised her. They had occasionally exchanged a few talks here and there, during his usual walks around town.

"Oh no, it's fine. I also didn't look..." She said, but as she looked up, her eyes widened in surprise.

"Prince Starfall!? Wha-What are you doing here..." She asked surprised and Starfall chuckled.

"It's nice to see you too Shoeshine." He said in amusement, making the ligh-blue coated mare blush at her accidental rudeness. As for what I'm doing here, I had just been to see my Marefriend. She had a small flying accident you see. nothing really bad happened, but she needed a few days to mend a bone." He explained causing Shoeshine to nod as her whitish gray mane waved in the movement.

"I see..." She said understanding

"And what about you?" He asked but instantly recognised that she wasn't really comfortable with the topic.

She surprised him though when she spoke anyway in a quiet and a bit sad of a vice...

"It's...It's my sister... You see... She had a bit of an accident a few years ago...I won't bore you with the details, it's just...she...She wasn't quite herself since..." She said with clear sadness in her voice and Starfall couldn't help but feel sad for her, though also a bit surprised. He didn't know that she had a sister. Although something made him fill as if he should know her for some reason.

"I see...I'm sorry... Though, maybe I could help somehow?" He asked Shoeshine who gave him a sad smile.

"Thank you, but I don't thinks there's much you can do. Screwy is mostly fine, physically that is. The problem is the accident did something with her memories and...well..."

The sound of barking came from behind the locked doors.

Shoeshine's expression soured while Starfall finally remembered why this sounded familiar to him. It was the same mare that acted like a dog in the show and was apparently a mental patient in the hospital. It was not stated that the two of them were sisters, but they did have an identical coat, mane, and even eye colouration, so it wasn't hard to put two and two together.

Starfall looked at the sad mare and smirked.

"Well, funny of you to say that Shoeshine. I'm actually quite proficient in mental magic. Do you think I could take a look at your sister?" He asked shocking the mare as she looked at him with a spark of hope in her eyes.

"Would you really do that for me? We barely know eachother, and you're a Prince...I...I couldn't ask it of you..." She said but Starfall just waved of her concerns.

"Please, Shoeshine. If I can help, of course I'll lend a hoof. And although we only know eachother briefly, I enjoyed our talks and I wouldn't mind calling you a friend" Starfall extended his hoof with a smile but Shoeshine suddenly hugged him chanting thank you towards his chest.

Starfall chuckled and gently pushed her off him.

"Please stop it Shoeshine. I am yet to even see your sister. We'll see if I can help her soon though." He smiled and Shoeshine nodded leading him back to the room she had just left before they bumped into eachother...