The Change of Heart(Cancelled)

Claw was satisfyingly munching through some tender venison.  He found a small but nice, open grassy spot in the woods by a crystal clear lake.  He managed to start a fire up and was able to hunt down a deer earlier.

Being a soldier, he already had prior knowledge of survival.  He sat on his haunches, ripped and chomped the tender meat, and swallowed chunks of all sizes.  It may have not been love, but it will do for Claw, for now.

Still, his need of love was present.  He could feel an occasional rumble of the stomach and the feelings of weakness.  Food satisfied half of his bodily needs, but love makes up the other half.

Currently, he could feel himself beginning malnourishment.  He shrugged off these feelings of need for the time being, remembering that he has once gone three whole months without love, eating only food and water.

After finishing off the last bit of meat on the bone, he threw it towards a small pile of what used to be a healthy deer.  He gave a loud burp that messaged the environment around him that the daily tribute to him was fulfilled.

Feeling a little groggy, he let his stance fall over, allowing his back hit the hard earth, haired with grass.  He put his forelegs behind the fins of his head and took a deep breath through his nostrils, and exhaled through his mouth.

He simply laid there, staring up at the beautiful, blue sky.  The weather was crystal clear, the skies were an ocean of water floating above them all.  A few, small, puffy cotton clouds occasionally disrupted the ocean-sky view.

Claw held a face that was neither relaxation nor misery.  He only held a neutral face of acceptance.  He already was aware of his punishment of death.  He already did fail changeling kind.  He already did go AWOL from home, adding desertion to his list of crimes.  Now he accepted the facts with a grumble that there is possibly no way of returning home.

He took his lazy-day-blues and tried to think about his future.  Could he live the rest of his days like this, but was this really something to spend the rest of his life as?

He could survive, he could live off of nature, but this was not a future, it was a way of life.  He swept off visions of joining some outcast group of changelings.  He laughed off an idea of ponies taking him in.

Home no longer seemed to matter much to him; only empty dreams of returning were his only thoughts of it.

After all, it has already been 45 days since he left.

***

***

A group of five white, gold-armored pegasus guards aggresively surrounded one pony at the outskirts of a small town.

“Surrender now peacefully, and I will promise that you will not die,” one of the unicorn guards firmly stated while holding out his spear.

“You will have the ri-Ooof!”  He was pummeled on the bottom of his jaw, causing him to be knocked back.

“Yeah yeah, I know.  I heard that stupid crap like a million times already,” said an annoyed voice.

The four hovering guards looked angrily at a changeling that stood on the ground below with a cyan eye, while for some reason he closed his other eye.  His posture was combat-ready, but was calmed instead of tense.  The four guards floating held their spears towards him, preparing to charge.

“Come at me, Bronco!”  Claw taunted while puffing out his thick chest, thumping it with his hoof.

All of the guards growled at the changeling, but one of the guards reached his limit with Claw’s comment and zipped towards him.  Aiming his spear to him, he picked up speed and maintained his target aim.

“Really?” Claw sighed while rolling his eyes.  “This is just too easy…”

Before nearly piercing Claw, the blue-eyed changeling takes a quick side-step to his right, allowing the spear to pass right in front of him.  But at the same time, the changeling uses his hooves to grab hold of the flying spear and ripped it from the guard’s grip.  With quick reactions, the changeling held it and spun around, making the spear be an iron baseball bat and the guard to be the ball of flesh.

With a loud clang, the guard was launched back with his helmet flying off, showing his deep, blue mane.  He landed on the dry ground with a hard thump and urged more moans from him.

“Raaahh!!”

Claw quickly turned his attention above his head to see a guard kamikaze right on him.  Claw dropped his spear and tried to maneuver himself away, but he realized it was too late.  Even then. he still jumped backwards at the nick of time, to the point he was able to feel the sides of the gray spear as it planted itself into the ground.

He stood for a moment to look up to the butt of the spear to see the guard trying to recover from the sudden stop.  Claw seized the moment and climbed up the long spear.  He reached the top of it and viciously grabbed the guard’s collar.

“Woah!-”

Claw dragged him off the butt of the spear, causing them to see the world spin before forcing the guard’s face into the dirt below.  The guard let out a yelp of pain as soon as he made contact with the pointy floor.

Claw looked towards the three guards on the dirt, crawling and moaning pain.

“Seriously?  And you guys call yourselves-”  Before he could continue with his snide comment, he felt the delivery of a thrusting hoof on his nuzzle, sending him tumbling before his back snapped against a solid oak.

“Yes, we ARE serious!”  A guard answered.

Claw steadied himself up quickly and jabbed the ground.  He didn’t bother checking his mouth.  He dashed to the standing unicorn guard and threw his hoof out, but missed as the guard side-stepped.

The two engaged close combat, constantly throwing punches to each other, missing and hitting.  Finally, Claw managed to catch the guard while he was charging towards Claw. The changeling grasped the pony's head in his hooves and catapulted him towards the oak-rich, ribs first.  Claw watched the guard moan in pain and try to stumble his way back up.

Claw then heard the final, missing guard's war cry, this time from behind his head.  With instinct, Claw reached for the spear that rested underneath him and held it up stiffly.  He trusted it towards the guard just before the guard's spear could pop his personal bubble..  Claw’s spear penetrated the guard’s white skin through the armor's blind spot by the neck, making the pegasus feel the whiplash from being stopped by puncturing iron..  The spear refused to move into the guard further, to which Claw loosened his grip.

“Well my friend, I hoped that you learned something new,” Claw said to the pony who was losing consciousness.  “If you wanna be a guard, you gotta know what exactly you are serving for.”

He watched the guard stumble backwards, trying to adjust to the fatal situation.  Blood began to seep out of the wound, staining the snow-white coat around it and up the stainless iron spear.  With some weak breaths, he  collapsed onto his side, struggling to keep his eyes open until he gave up..

Claw stared at the still body with red liquid leaking out from the tip of the spear, staining the guard's armor and flesh with a velvet red.  The blood clumped and shallowly puddled on the same dry soil they stood on.  Claw had to take a moment to stop what he was doing just to see what was really going to happen next.

“Oh…”

Before he could confirm the kill, he scanned up in the blue sky.  In the far distance, he saw several grady specks, gradually growing more and more in size and detail.  Squinting his eyes, he saw that it was an entire swarm of pony guards, at least more than a dozen.

“...Crud.”

Claw flexed his wings and dashed low into the forest.  He glided near the grasses, hoping he could lose the guards in the darkness the thick trees gave.  Meanwhile, several guards and a medical team arrived at the scene of combat, seeing to the needs of the wounded, and taking the impaled pony on a stretcher while one of the guards yelled frantically towards the medical ponies then the woods.

***

***

Claw was taking considerable breaths.  He was hiding behind a cloud of leaves, clutching himself onto the thick, brown branch.  He waited out for a few minutes before poking his head above to check the roof of the forest canopy.  He peeked around, getting every view possible using utmost caution.  No ponies were present.

Seeing this, he emerged from the top of the one of many trees and lands himself on the forest floor.  He began to go towards a point of interest that he saw earlier, but was too far to see what it really was.

His stomach roared violently, to which he cringed from its desire.

He attempted to get love one of many moments, but failed all the time.  He has found dozens of different pony settlements, seeing the opportunity of love in each town.  Every time he would try to stroll into town, he couldn't.  Every time he would be reminded that his magic was already taken away.

He tried many different scenarios of being stealthy as he can.  Even after sneaking around towns successfully, a pony would spot him and scream.  Every time it happened, ponies panicked, raced inside houses and called for the Guard.  Even in late night when everypony was asleep, someone would somehow see him quickly flying rooftop to rooftop, hoping he would find some late night lovers to leech off of.

But so far, no love was given to him.  He was driven out each time.  And everypony he has met, whether on the roads or towns, would do one, if not more, of three options: Run, Scream, or Hurl insults.  And usually the first two were done consecutively.

But that didn’t stop ponies from choosing option “C.”  That still doesn't stop Claw from landing a hard hoof on a face and watching ponies scramble away.  Even though it doesn't reward him with love, he still felt immensely satisfied.

He was beginning to see why no changeling dared to desert the Hive.

Claw then turned around to the sounds of a roar coming from behind him.  He watched as a manticore leapt from behind the trees that growled at him.  This manticore's hair was sticking up in different directions, it's black skin encompassed it's right eye, and a closer look on the skin has shown wear and tear..  The manticore was stumbling considerably over it's left leg.

“Oh.  So you’re back now for round two huh?”  Claw asked, drawing him in with his hoof.

The manticore narrowed it's eyes, roared, and charged towards Claw with claws and fangs ready.

“Alright then, round two then!  Bring it on!”

***

***

Claw was peering through the bushes and trees that hid him from those on the opposite side.  His eyes shifted left to right, pony to pony, making mental notes and memorizing locations.  He had traveled miles from his last rematch with that manticore.  He appeared to have taken little damage.  Messy fins and scratched chitin was only present.

However, his stomach churned and rumbled.  Claw was consistently rested his hoof on his head, which went hand-in-hand with his gut.  His grew less responsive and his overall was sapped.  He constantly drooled at the sights of ponies and food.

He finally discovered a rather large town.  Making his way around the town, he finds out the name of it.  “Ponyville.”  The streets were much wider than the ones he was so used to in Canterlot.

Ponyville houses were much larger than normal.  Mainly composed of timber, each one had at least a second floor overlooking the streets below.  They had a color scheme of hay yellow, birch white and cake pink.  Like most pony settlements, large amounts of these houses clustered more towards the center while they dispersed more and more on the outskirts.

Claw took mental notes of places that stood out or held importance.  The cylindrical town center, a clothing store in the shape of a tall carousel, a large tree with windows and lanterns that were built in, and a large building with roofs and walls of gingerbread.

“Alright, this time, I am NOT going to screw up,” he muttered to himself with narrowed eyes.

***

***

Claw waited very patiently for the symbol of the long-time enemy to finally fall out of sight.  The mysterious princess’s emblem loomed up in the night sky in all of it’s fullness, dimly lighting the world under with a faint glow.  The air grew cool as crickets and owls began their days.

Ok, all I need to do is...Oh, right.  Can’t use magic anymore. Claw thought time and time again.

Changelings relied heavily on magic to extract their love and perform their assignments.  It was a natural ability.  Now Claw’s natural magic was taken away, which is what the Commander anticipated for him; Challenge and difficulty in extracting a necessity.

Giving his wings a little time to flutter out, and he then dashed all the way to the roof of the closest house from him.  He stopped and listened quietly for any words that would be said or whispered.  He then peeked his head over the sides, scanning the roads, windows and doors.  He picked his next house to scope over and repeated the same idea.

Claw evnetually discovered a large, carousel-shaped, building with a color scheme and architecture design that reminded him of Canterlot buildings.  On top of the carousel was a tent-like addition with windows.  A building that really stood out from the rest, but Claw halted his investigation to perform more recon.

He also looked at the strange tree he saw earlier.  Unlike the trees surrounding the town, this tree was much, much thicket.  Porches and windows were carved and integrated into the tree in such a way that the tree itself didn’t seem to mind.  A quick glance inside showed Claw that many books were stacked in shelves.  But for the moment, he had to hold off his investigations to search around more.

Way out of place he noticed a big, red and white barn whose color seemed to sap away from the dim moonlight.  To the sides were smaller, brick red houses that seemed to use the same design as the barn.  Several glassless windows showed the darkness of the unknown, with flower beds at the end of each windowsill.

Speaking of land, the land around the barn had many trees planted around.  Countless apple trees grew and stood on every available spot on the plains, hills and mucky areas as much as possible.  The land itself was surrounded by bright, white picket fences which some grape vines had come attached to.

Claw flew to one of these many apple trees.  He picked one of the shiny apples off of a tree and examined it closely.  He twisted, turned and looked closely at it’s surface.  He sniffed it curiously and bit a juicy chunk out of it.

What am I doing?  It’s just an apple, it’s not like any other...this is really good.  He thought while his taste buds sifted through the chewed fruit.

He allowed the chunks of juicy, sweet apple to swirl around in his mouth and drop down his throat.  Realizing that these apples were very tasty, he went and picked many more apples off of the trees.  He chomped and swallowed apples one by one until his stomach was on the verge of hitting the wall.

*Burrrrrrpp!*

Claw let out a great, big, and relaxed on the side of the hard tree.  With his stomach beginning to ache, his mind turned to where he would stay for the night, since sleeping in the woods was no longer a viable option.  He remembered the barn he saw earlier, seeing the potential of stowing away in a large building

While his hunger for food was satisfied, his hunger for love was in great need.  His stomach growled at the need for pony emotion and rubbed his stomach in hopes of easing the pain.  When the pain wore down to the point when it was bearable, he stood onto his hooves.  His head began to spin, taking the world with it until he snapped out of his trance.

He silently buzzed his way to the barn until he found himself opening up the large, dirty, rose doors.  He peeked inside the dark, empty interior.  Several piles of hay were scattered around the floor in large amounts, more than enough to fill at least a dozen mattresses.  Pitchforks, wagon wheels and other farming objects were even more scattered than the piles of hay.

Feeling drained from the sudden influx of food into his stomach, he plopped onto the nearest hay pile without any regard.  He let his eyelids drop as well as his consciousness.

***

***

In the long, dark halls that were the barracks, one unicorn stallion had trouble sleeping.  The stallion had a light green coat with an aqua mane, and he had the cutie mark of a bright, golden scale that was tipping to the right.

On the bottom bunk, the stallion twisted and turned, grunting and moaning from the pains that emitted from his stomach.  The sounds of crickets, and water splashing against the rockslides filled the sleeping ears with idle nature.

All the other stallions around him slept heavily, as did all of WestHoof, a fortified stone camp that sat on a small rockslide that bordered a gulf.  A large metal gate that faced the mainland was the only point of exit or entry for anypony who dared to attend the training.

Late at night, only the occasional, nightly official patrolled through the paths that were lowly lit by lanterns that hung near.  Curfew was strictly enforced, as violation could lead to being expelled.

The troubled pony, who was beginning to drool in his mouth, stumbled off of his cheap bunk and made his way down.  He sometimes lost his balance and leaned most of his weight on either the wall to the right or the bunk bed frame to the left.

He hid behind boulders and columns when he arrived at the open campus.  He snuck along the paths and entered a branch opposite of the barracks.

Wobbling through the dark halls, he made his way to the cafeteria without tripping over more than five chairs.

He pushed through the double doors in the end and entered a large, hollow and dark room.  He frantically searched the wall beside the doors until he felt a small switch.  He flicked it on and the whole room beheld itself in a parade of light.

The floors, sinks and counters all had a shiny, silver coating that shined and reflected all light that it came in contact with.  The cabinets above and below the counters had a bright, oak scheme that looked like it was fresh wood straight from a tree.

Claw dashed towards the fridge and opened it, allowing the light from inside to peer down to Claw, who was frantically picking up everything within.

After scooping up almost everything within his forelegs, he slammed the door shut, set the food onto the counter, and then searched the counters, taking everything else that came close to food.

After his food pile grew to a substantial rate, he concentrated his magic, allowing his horn to glow.  A few moments, a sudden surge of green aura brushed across him, causing the pony named Cobalt to disappear, and then reappear as a changeling that had dual-colored eyes.

After the transformation, Claw began to devour the food pile in front of him.  Bits of food flew out of his mouth, sticking to the floor and tables.  The room echoed with the sounds of violent chewing and swallowing.

Claw then turned around and ran to the sink, cranking the faucet up to maximum.  After swallowing his large mouth load, he stuck his mouth underneath the sink and gulps the water enthusiastically.

When he ran out of breath, he turned away from the sink, took in deep gusts of air, then took another mouthful of water.

He switched back and forth from eating and drinking in heavy amounts.  While he was drinking, however, he then remembers the mirror that was on the cabinet next to the sink.  While he took deep breaths, he swung his head in front of the reflective glass to see the full extent of malnourishment of a changeling.

He stared at the face of a changeling who has suffered so much.  His eyes were beginning to lose their individual colors and were fading to white.  His flesh loss mass, making him look skinnier and frail.  His chitin were already wrinkled up.  His wings became more thin and looked more malleable.

“Two months….” he hissed with a painful cough.  “...One more….to go.”

He clutched to his growling stomach, indicating him to eat and drink more to satisfy a hunger that neither option will satisfy.  He bent over in pain, but he slowly stood tall, enduring the pain that won’t go away.

Claw’s skeleton and exoskeleton froze to the sounds of the soft creak.  The double doors to the kitchen slowly opened, and inside, a snow-white stallion with a fanfare cutie mark entered.  “Hello?  Is somepony in h-”  The stallion unicorn stopped and froze at the back of a changeling.

Claw then stiffly, almost robotically, turned himself to face the stallion whose jaw had dropped and his eyes shot open.

They stared into each other’s eyes while the door swiftly swung behind the pony.  Realizing that his identity is in jeopardy, the changeling, using all of his remaining strength, lunged towards the pony.

The stallion saw Claw’s sudden approach and he tried to run back through the doors.  Just before he could leave, he felt a hoof wrap around his neck and tug back forcefully.  He struggled to slide his hooves between the changeling’s grip, but efforts proved to be futile as he choked and lost precious air every second.

“P...P-Please!....Don’t...k-kill..” The pony desperately gasped for air.

“Sorry there pal.  You don’t have love and serve no purpose, and now you saw me,” Claw said blankly.  “So I have to make sure that dead ponies tell no tales,” he grimly trailed off.

“I-I-’lll do..a..a..anything!  Pl-Pl-Pleas..”

“You’re not the first pony I had to silence,” Claw darkly whispered.  “But I’m going to make sure that you will be the last.”

The pony gulped and shivered heavily.  He shook like there was no tomorrow and no warm weather.

“W-Wait!  I h-have a wife a…and two fillies!  J-Just...Just let me live!”  He stallion squeaked while liquid began to trickle from his eye sockets.

Claw stared emotionlessly at the breaking stallion, whose memories and choices were flashing through his very eyes.  He then closes his eyes, giving out a unsatisfied and disappointed grunt.  Claw’s mind suddenly became a battlefield for the two choices available.

What am I waiting for?  I have him in the perfect spot.  All I need to do is twist his head until I hear a crack.  He saw me in my true form, so why am I having such difficulty securing my identity?

But is it really in danger?

This stallion only saw me as a changeling, not as a pony.  He only caught me eating, and not transforming.  Then that really isn’t a reason to silence him.  But that did not rule out the fact that a changeling has already infiltrated WestHoof.

The two decisions of sparing and silencing morphed and clashed in his consciousness.

The midst of thinking of these two choices, he takes a peek at his shaking hostage.  The stallion’s eyes were clenched shut, and his face below was covered in sticky water that reflected the lights from above.

Claw once again shut his eyes, clenching his jaw shut.  He took in a deep breath through his teeth, making the stallion gulp once more.

“Alright, I’ll let you go,” he growled regretfully.  “But know this!”

He drags the pony around to the center counter-island and slams him into it.  The pony forgot that he no longer had a choking grip, and rubbed his head where it hurt instead.  Then Claw twisted the pony around, making the stallion and changeling look at each other face-to-face.

“Listen closely and listen very well.  You are not going to say a single word about this.  You are not going to peep, and you’re not going to THINK of me.  If you do that, then perhaps I might leave you and your family alone,” Claw explained harshly with a hiss.

The shaking stallion only looked at him with beady eyes, waiting for him to finish while he began to breath deeply.

“You’re not going to say anything here, Canterlot, or anywhere else in Equestria.  If I see the security here tightened, then I am going to look at you as the cause, and eliminate it.  Do as I said before, and you and your family will live.  But a single peep anywhere, and this will be the last life you shall live.  Do we have an understanding?”  Claw hissed to the point when the stallion could practically feel his threat.

The nervous stallion nodded quickly, filled with the hope that he and his family shall make it out alive.  “Y-Y-Yes yes yes!  I understand,” he quickly quipped while his sweat stuck to his coat.

A grin did not emerge from the changeling’s mouth, but the snarl instead appeared, showing his white teeth and his tiny fangs.  “Now remember, not a single peep.”

Claw then picked the pony back up, so he was managing on all fours, barely touching the ground.  He dragged the stallion to the double doors and threw his body in the general direction.  The stallion stumbled through and finally regained balance on his hooves.  Seeing that the door did not open again, he took the chance to flee with his life.

Claw only stared angrily at the double doors.  He was grinding his teeth, thinking of what he has just done.

Dammit!  What the hell did I just do?!  Letting a witness get away like that?!  Maybe I could….Dammit, I already made my decision.  He stomped the ground with his hoof.  I hope I made the a right decision, or at least an acceptable one.

*Creeeeeek!*

“What the hell?”  He frantically looked around, but saw nothing.  Slowly, the world around him began to morph and melt itself away.

***

***

Claw sprung himself upwards at the sudden sound.  He switched his head around his neck, looking at every spot he can.

“Ugghh, what did I remember this time?”  He mumbled to himself while rubbing his head.

For a moment, his groggy eyes could not pick up anything significant.  He began to relax his muscles until his ears got wide awake

*Creeeeeeeek!*

Claw muscles stiffened at the realization of that he sound he heard was here too.  His eyes began to focus as he sat on his haunches, with his whole body trying to adjust at spontaneously acting up.

He frantically looked around again, but then stopped to look to his right again after catching a hint of something interesting.

To his right, he noticed that the very near barn door has opened up, giving him a good view of the sparkling stars and the glowing moon.  A little bit inside the barn however, was a tall, hardy, crimson stallion with a dirty, wheat mane.  He wore a large, brown work collar and had the cutie mark of a large, cut-open, green apple.

The stallion stared very hard at Claw who stared back without realization towards the strong stallion.  Long seconds of silence passed between the two to the point where even the sounds of faint breathing passed to each other.

“So, can I stay here?”  Claw asked tilting his head while his eyes remained in the tired, droopy state.

The red stallion only glared at Claw with eyes of suppression.

“I guess that’s a ‘no’ then?”

“Eeyup,” the stallion simply stated with a firm voice.

“I guess we will have to settle this OUR way, as males.”

“Eeyup.”

***

***

“Soooooo….got any fours?”  Claw asked boredly while scanning his cards.

“Nnnnope,” the stallion simply answered while holding up his cards.  Claw only groaned and picked up another card.  The awkward game of “Go Fish” has been going on for about 20 minutes since the two began to play.

“Twos?”  The stallion asked blankly.

“Nope.  Go fish,” Claw said to him.  The stallion left a groan and picked up a card from the pile.

The two continued to play quietly with each other until Claw’s nerve snapped and he threw his hand down, confusing the stallion across from him.

“Alright, this is boring.  Let’s just settle this my kind of way,” he proposed while standing up.

“Eeyup.”  The stallion answered while getting onto his hooves.

The red, buff stallion stood tall and strong in front of Claw, to the point where he literally looked down at the changeling.  Claw continued to look fiercely at the stallion, despite differences in size.

***

***

“Alright….he was tough,” Claw wheezed as he limped in the air, floating away from the barn that he lost at.

It was bad enough for Claw to lose in combat, but he underestimated his opponent’s strength as well as his own current state.  He buzzed above the buildings in Ponyville, showing no regard for his stealthiness from the day before.  He turned his attention again towards the carousel-shaped building he noted from earlier.

A closer looked showed Claw that it was called the “Carousel Boutique,” and a look inside the windows showed him that this was a tailor.

Claw knew that he simply couldn’t stomp into public as he is, so this opens up a new solution.  Seeing that this is his only opportunity and being broke, he had to take drastic steps.

*Ksssshh!*

The window smashed inwards, causing glass shards to float towards the interior.  He quickly jumped inside and hid in the nearby shadows, listening for any sounds from the ponies living upstairs.  Hearing only faint groans and snores from above, he declared that he was safe.

The large, main room had many mirrors and mannequins set up, each paired with each other and being works in progress.  Set up around were many racks that held outfits of different sizes, colors and styles.

Claw began to sift through possible outfits that would be good for a disguise.

“No...No...Nope….Maybe...Oh goodness no..”  He mumbled while quickly examining each outfit.

Claw searched through rack after rack until he found something that he was satisfied with.

He posed in front of one of the mirrors in various (if not idiotic) ways.  He wore a burly wood trench coat that covered his bug wings and spines.  On his head was a fedora of the same color that covered his horn that was hidden under.  Thus beginning one of the few moments when he dropped his martial discipline and simply had a laugh.

“Detective Claw is on the case,” he talked to the mirror while holding a hoof close to his mouth.  His eyes sprouted open as he saw something that piqued his interest.  He dashed away and returned to the mirror with thick shades.

“Agent Detective Claw is reporting for duty,” he said to the mirror while adjusting his glasses in another childish pose.  He continued to make more ridiculous poses with his glasses until he dashed away and returned again, this time with a new accessory.

He took off his glasses to show the eyepatch that covered his orange eye.

“Yarr, Pirate Agent Detective Claw shall steal ye’ plunder and secrets,” he smiled while putting the glasses over his shades.  He took a second to see what he was doing and what he looked like.

He then broke into a casual laugher for a few seconds, then slapped his holey hoof over his mouth when he remembered that was still breaking in.

Still no sounds of ponies awake.  Jeez, these ponies are heavy sleepers.

Snapping out of his childish stage, he looks through more of the clothing racks when bright colors and odd designs stood out.

“Too frilly, too contrasting, too sharp, too much material…” Claw stated whenever he was looking at a piece of apparel.

“Ugh, these clothes are so ugly.  Who wears this stuff anyway?”  Claw said disgusted.

“Who DARES critique my work?!” A pompous, voice echoed from above.

Claw instantly froze at the sudden shouting.  But upon hearing hoofsteps, he darts out the window and runs behind the building.  You have got to be kidding me.

“...Honestly, I use the finests cloths and gems are used in my outfits.  And all my styles are up to date, how could you...”  A bright, white unicorn mare wearing a fuzzy robe stopped pondering to herself as soon as she saw the broken window.

“Oh my goodness!”  She screeched at the sight of a break in.  “Thief!  Thief!”  She shouted outside the window, prompting some ponies sleeping to wake up.

A little, silver filly comes down the stairs rubbing her eyes.  “Rarity?”  She murmured.

The deep, purple haired mare turns back to the groggy filly.  “Sweetie Belle, a thief broke in!  And... wait…”  She paused herself, while the gears in her mind began turning.

“It wasn’t just a thief!  He called my designs ‘ugly!’”  She exclaimed.

“I cannot believe that he not only broke in, but insulted my work! ”  She pouted while angrily raising a hoof.  “If you can hear me, then you have no taste for fashion!”

The silver filly rolled her eyes as ponies outside began to swoop around the Boutique.

Claw was already almost at the outskirts of Ponyville, feeling proud of the success of obtaining a disguise.  But now the matter was where he would find a place to sleep.

Way outside of town, he discovers a cottage that was unlike any other he seen before.  Here, many different bird houses, feeders and other little creature homes were clustered together on the tree itself and on poles elsewhere.

Stepping across the miniature bridge and scoping around, he finds that this tree in center was a house.  And in the back, there was a large pen with chicken houses, bird baths and etc.

Deciding he should go the way of the bird, he flies up to the cloud of leaves of the cottage tree after taking off his disguise.

He seeped through the clustered leaves until he found a large, thick branch that was big enough for him to lay on top of.  He sat on top of the branch and globbed the disguise together, using it as a pillow.

But several birdhouses hanged from the branch above, which wouldn’t allow him to get comfortable.  So Claw decided to unhook these birdhouses and throw them one by one out of the tree.  Claw heard several thuds and cracks as the birdhouses became damaged or broken.

Just was he was getting comfortable, birds of different colors fly and float in front of Claw, giving him an angry look.

“What?” Claw asked blankly while giving a small shrug.

The birds then proceeded to peck him, giving him welts and bits of hurt all over his body.

“Shoo!  Sho- Ow!  Ow!  Ouuugh!  Owch!”

“Oooof!  Ah!  My eyes!  Oh don’t you dare go over there!  Stupid birds!”

Finally, he manages to swat, throw or slap the horde of birds away, making them retreat to wherever else they could sleep.

Claw rested his forelegs behind his head and allowed his head to settle down on top of the disguise-pillow.  He deeply stared at the night sky through the gaps of the leaves.

He calmly breathed the cool air while his stomach slowly pained him.  He played reel in his mind on the recent events.

“What the heck did I just do back there?  I’m a soldier for goodness sake!”  He asked himself.

Then he gained a small smile and let out a small laugh.  ”Well, was a soldier,” he lightly chucked but toned down as he ran his hoof over his scar.  “I guess deserting doesn't mean I can’t have a little bit of fun."  A small snort and grin came from the changeling.  "Pirate Agent Detective Claw.”