"Hi."

Flurry curiously poked her head up from behind the wall of snow she had been happily building for the past couple of minutes. It was her birthday, and her parents had graciously allowed her to waste away the morning playing in the newly fallen snow. Apparently she had been more invested in building her snow castle than she thought, because she hadn't even noticed the filly come up to her.

"Hi! I'm Flurry Heart! What's your name?"

"I'm... Coxa."

Flurry trotted up to her as she tried to hide behind her mane, and she noticed a few off details about her. She had a horn and wings, suggesting an Alicorn, but they both seemed warped; The horn was crooked, sharp, and missing a large chunk, while the wings were insectoid in appearance, while also bearing large holes in them. She wore a large pink scarf around her neck, slightly matted with dried mud, and tied around her neck with a plastic heart clip.

"Are you an Alicorn?"

"No, I'm... a changeling..."

"What's that?"

Coxa curiously looked up at Flurry, cocking her head questioningly.

"You... Don't know?"

"Why would I?"

"It's... um, like a bug-pony.. I guess?"

"Oh. That sounds pretty cool!"

Coxa smiled, seeming to brighten up a little at the compliment. As she opened her mouth to say something (showing off a single fang Flurry had initially failed to notice), a pink firework went off in the distance, startling them both. When Flurry looked back, a black, hairy spider was in Coxa's place, cowering in the snow. The spider looked up, revealing bright blue eyes, and she shifted back, still shaken up.

"What was that?

"What was that?"

"People are celebrating my birthday, I think. I'm kinda popular here. I'm a princess! But why did you turn into a spider?

"That's just something I can do. I can't hold it for very long, but I can turn into other creatures. I think that's why we're called Changelings?"

"That's cool! Can you turn into me?"

Coxa circled Flurry, trying to take in every detail, before concentrating as hard as she could. Blue flames washed over her slowly, and in her place was a pony resembling a childish drawing of Flurry. Several details helped push it into uncanny valley, like the large eyes sticking out, the wings that seemed painted on, and the horn that still bore the telltale hole. As her lips moved, they constantly waved back to black chitin like her face had a bad television signal.

"I know it's not very good, but you kinda put me on the spot-"

"It's really good! I like it!"

"You.. you think so?"

"It looks like a watercolor portrait!"

As she talked, Coxa's form became more shaky, until she finally dropped it, sighing in relief as if a large weight had been taken off her back. Flurry giggled and leaned in to boop her snout, further perplexing her.

"Wha-What did you do that for?"

"You're kind of cute for a little bug monster! You wanna play in the snow?

Coxa seemed pleased at the offer, but then shrunk back suddenly, looking down at the snow. After a moment of silent thought, she cleared her throat and pulled out something tucked between her neck and scarf, handing it to Flurry. Upon taking it, she was surprised to see a picture of her dad, sleeping and smiling with the hints of early morning light shining on his bed.

"I came here for a reason, sort of... I was told, that, um, I might be able to find the guy in the photo here?"

"That's my dad! What do you want him for?"

"That's your dad?"

"Yeah? Why?"

"Because... my mom told me... that that's my Dad."

Flurry stared at her, trying to comprehend. Coxa suddenly felt like crying again; it had been going so well, and now she was going to hate her again- oh god, she should've just left, and-

"Does that mean we're sisters?

"I... Guess so?"

"That means you're a princess!"

"Y... Yeah?"

FLurry leaped on her, collapsing them both to the ground, and wrapped Coxa in the biggest hug she could give.

"Oh, Celestia! I've never had a sister! I need to tell Dad-"

"Wait! We can't tell him!"

"Why not? Isn't that why you came here? to find him?"

"I suppose so, but... can we play a little more before we go inside? I've actually never seen snow before."

"Of course! Oh, I'll need to tell you everything we can do in the snow! We'll make snow Alicorns, and have snowball fights- Oh! Do you think you can turn into a dragon? We can play Knights! Hey, let's see if you can hold a snowball in that hole on your horn? Does it feel weird when something's in there?"

Flurry jumped off her while continuing to babble. Coxa sheepishly rubbed her wings together, before deciding to enjoy the time they had and following after her.

Author's Notes:

The picture that prompted it