Nothing and Everything: Nothing and Everything

 He had been afraid multiple times he’d lose his package in the throng. Still he hadn’t been able to resist the urge to have hooves on the ground when he’d caught word of the unusual movement of the train. 

 

The crowd was so thick that even his powerful build didn’t make it easy to navigate, and he grumbled through teeth more than once, pressed so close to other ponies on several occasions that he had a new and deep appreciation for canned sardines. It had also caused him to warily decide to take his special package back out of the saddle bag and clench it carefully in his teeth. 

 

The neat little bag from the Perfumer was probably meant to be handled a bit more delicately, but he had in this case made a specific request that this one be bottled in a container that would resist breaks and leaks if treated roughly. Not, strictly speaking, the way delicate scents were usually handled, but this one he intended to be able to survive rough handling and also compliment those rougher odors. 

 

He was particularly grateful for this when the crowd shifted en masse at the lovely but alien being that stepped off the train. 

 

He certainly almost loosened his death grip on the cords for the perfume bag. Almost. He would not be forgiven if he immediately got it trampled by a shocked crowd and he refused to have to renegotiate good standing when he’d been very careful to try and make sure his reputation existed as much outside of that of his parents as possible. 

 

Changelings. Changelings had been living among them the entire time?

 

He felt like his entire world view had been shifted…something like a half inch to the left. Just enough to seem the same if you weren’t paying attention, but different enough that you’d bang a knee or a haunch if you tried to navigate it without thinking. 

 

It was like that ritual with wild magic. Nothing had changed… but everything had changed.