meet Corvid Gloom! he's a small and shy young pegasus who works as a bookseller. he has a dark secret, though . . . he's a changeling - the mistake child of Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra.

one night, as he began to close up shop in his quaint bookshop on the edge of the everfree forest in ponyville, he gets one last customer: a strange one. one that isn't quite right, with the filly's steps being too secure and precise, like they were walking manually and calculating each step; their head held so stiffly, corvid doubted they had much of a spine at all; and they spoke . . . eerily, to say the least. 'we' instead of 'i', and rambling on and on about *identity* and *the mirror* and *the secrets of the forest*. initially, Corvid thought they were just some weird kid from the town, but soon he started meeting ponies with similar symptoms whenever he went into town to purchase food or take those shameful, shameful sips of love he so craved. as a changeling, he had no reflection, and practically disappeared at night because of his umbrum heritage, so he was no stranger to denying requests about makeovers and new clothes and fancy vanities and whatnot, but these new 'ponies', ones like BonBon and Sugarwheel whom had welcomed him into town almost a moon ago, kept asking for him to look into the mirrors. they're clear like glass, yet smooth like a ripple of pond water. the slightest green sheen reminds ponies of their hubris.

something odd is going on, and it's coming from the everfree forest. something odd is going on, and it's taking these ponies. something odd is going on,

and it knows Corvid's secret.


ask any questions in the comments! I'm free to do character interactions hehe

yes this is an infection au. it takes place during the mid-regency era (in pony form)