🌙 Will Byers – The Gentle Changeling

Species: Changeling (youngling)
Age: 12 (Season 1) → grows into adolescence across later seasons
Family:
• Joyce Byers – Changeling Queen, fiercely protective mother
• Jonathan Byers – Older changeling brother, artistic and loyal
• (Father, Lonnie, is an absent earth pony stallion in this AU – estranged and mostly out of the picture)

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✨ Appearance

As a young changeling, Will’s natural form carries a soft, slightly translucent carapace with subtle shades of teal and deep forest green. Unlike older changelings with jagged holes in their legs and harsher features, Will’s appearance is smoother and gentler – a symbol of his innocence. His eyes glow a pale lavender-blue, which flicker brighter when he feels strong emotions (fear, joy, or magical strain).

He often disguises himself as a small unicorn colt with a plain brown mane when he wants to blend in around Hawkins-equivalent pony society. This disguise is shy, neat, and unassuming – the “normal boy” look he yearns for.

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🌌 Personality
• Sensitive & Empathetic: Will feels things more deeply than others. As a changeling, he literally resonates with the emotions of those around him, which makes him a natural empath but also vulnerable to being overwhelmed.
• Creative Soul: He channels much of his inner world into art – sketching, painting, and inventing fantastical maps or stories. His “Will the Wise” wizard persona translates into this AU as a heroic unicorn alter-ego he doodles and roleplays as.
• Quiet Strength: Though timid and often overshadowed by louder friends, Will is the heart of the group. His loyalty and resilience keep them anchored.
• Isolation: Being a changeling in a pony-majority town makes him insecure. Though Joyce reassures him constantly, Will fears being “other,” not just socially but magically.

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🧩 Abilities as a Changeling
• Shapeshifting: Can mimic other ponies or creatures, but his transformations are imperfect when rushed. His fear often causes flickers or broken disguises.
• Emotion Sense: Feels the emotions of others around him, like ripples in a pond. Strong negative emotions (anger, despair, fear) can make him panic or weaken him, while love and joy strengthen him.
• Art as Magic: Will’s creativity occasionally bleeds into his magic. His drawings sometimes manifest as faint illusions or maps that “light up” in eerie ways, especially when tied to the Shadow Dimension.
• Weak Magic Bolt: Not nearly as offensive as a unicorn’s magic, but in desperate moments he can unleash bursts of unstable changeling energy.

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🌑 Role in the Story (AU Twist)
• Season 1: Instead of just being trapped in the Upside Down, Will is lured into the Shadow Dimension because of his changeling sensitivity. The Mind Flayer (Shadow Dragon) sees him as a conduit, a young empath whose magic could serve as an anchor between worlds. Will’s disappearance leaves behind distorted magical traces that only El (yak psychic) can truly track.
• Season 2: After his return, Will suffers from “corrupted resonance” – his changeling magic has been touched by the Shadow Dragon’s aura. He struggles with visions, his empathy sometimes hijacked to sense the Mind Flayer’s intentions. His body occasionally shifts involuntarily, as if the corruption tries to destabilize his changeling form.
• Season 3: Will feels increasingly left behind as his friends grow, pair up, and develop stronger powers. His changeling nature isolates him further, but it also means he is the first to detect corrupted magic spreading in Hawkins-equivalent Equestria. His “tingling carapace” becomes the magical equivalent of his “neck feeling cold” in canon.
• Season 4: The lich-unicorn Vecna takes interest in Will’s duality. Will’s empathy makes him a tempting pawn – Vecna whispers to him through magical dreams, trying to twist his sensitivity into despair. Will, however, discovers that his empathy can also resist darkness, becoming one of the few who can “feel” Vecna’s tethered victims even before they are attacked.

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🖌️ Symbolism in this AU
• Changeling Identity = Queerness/Otherness: Just as changelings are creatures often mistrusted in Equestria, Will embodies the themes of being “different,” hiding oneself, and fearing rejection. His arc mirrors his struggle with identity, loneliness, and longing to be accepted for who he is.
• Art as Magic: His doodles of “Will the Wise” and fantasy maps symbolize both escapism and prophecy – in this AU, they sometimes literally foreshadow events.
• Shadow Resonance: Will represents the cost of being connected to both light (friends/family) and darkness (the Shadow Dragon). His journey is one of survival, resilience, and quiet heroism.

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🎲 Relationships
• Mike Wheeler (Unicorn Pony): Closest friend, and the one who makes Will feel most seen. Their bond is strong, carrying both loyalty and unspoken layers of affection.
• Jonathan Byers (Changeling Brother): Jonathan protects him fiercely, often reassuring Will that being a changeling is not a curse but a gift. Their shared outsider status strengthens their brotherhood.
• Joyce Byers (Changeling Queen): His mother’s determination is his anchor. Will draws much of his strength from her unwavering belief in him.
• Eleven (Yak with Telekinesis): They bond over being different and misunderstood. El admires Will’s gentleness, and Will sees in her a fellow survivor of forces beyond their control.
• The Party: Lucas, Dustin, and Max are his found family. Even though he feels left out at times, their adventures prove to him that he belongs.

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🌟 Future Potential in the AU

As the AU progresses, Will may grow into a changeling mage-artist whose illusions and emotional magic become crucial weapons against dark forces. His sensitivity, once a burden, evolves into a rare gift: the ability to detect corruption and tether lost souls back to the light. By the end, he could symbolize not just survival but transformation — a changeling who embraces his true self and reshapes what it means to be “different.”