A buzzing. That was what Lydia awoke to. A steady buzz in her head, in her mind. She was in her bedroom, half-asleep and annoyed by a buzz. It was louder and even more annoying than any bee or fly. The room began to turn purple- or at least Lydia’s vision did. Everything rippled and she began to fall...
CHAPTER ONE- NEW WORLD
*LYDIA*
Lydia awoke in some patch of grass. It was soft and moist, much nicer than any grass Lydia had ever felt.
“Mmmm… grass.” Lydia grumbled in a low buzz. Wait. Buzz? Lydia snapped to full consciousness. Where was she? WHY DID SHE HAVE HOLEY HOOVES?!
“Fear.” “Confusion.” “Newcomer? How?” Voices whispered in the back of her head.
“H- How.. Where… Where the heck am I?!” Lydia screeched in her bug-like voice.
“Fear, Confusion. Why?” “Newcomer, why?” “Why?”
The questions whispered in the back of her mind. ‘I don’t know how, I don’t know why,’ Lydia thought to herself. The voices seemed to hear.
“We don’t know how. We don’t know why, either.” “Location, newcomer?” “If you’re new, then welcome to the Hive.” “Find us. The Queen will need to meet you, newcomer.”
A location seemed to float up with the voices. North of Canterlot. Where is Canterlot? What is Canterlot?
“Oh, and watch out for the ponies, newcomer.”
‘Ponies? What? Like, as in horses? Whatever, I guess I should get going to this Canterlot place.’ Lydia thought, trudging down the hill she was on. There was a small town about two miles away from her hilltop.
“Hoofington. . .” “Watch out, newcomer. Pony-place.” “Ponies. . .” The assorted voices hissed, as if in anger. Apparently they didn’t like these ponies.
As she got closer, she could see little pastel ponies trotting about. None of them were black or had holey hooves like her… One of the ponies saw her on the hill and screeched.
“CHANGELING! RUN!!” Everybody- everypony? Everypony scattered and went into nearby buildings. Lydia walked slowly into town. She could see the frightened faces of colorful ponies staring at her through the windows of buildings. When she was halfway down the street, she heard a door open with her now acute sense of hearing. She could literally smell the fear and rage radiating off the pony she presumed was behind her.
“I can hear you, you know,” she buzzed, hoping to get a reaction out of the creature behind her. Glancing at the reflection in a window, she saw herself and the pony behind her. He was a chestnut brown, like a normal horse, had a horn, very unlike a normal horse, red eyes and a rusty orange mane. There was a tattoo of a gear on his butt. She dismissed the somewhat normal pony’s reflection and looked at her own reflection. She was a deep black with holes in her hooves, and in her insectoid wings. She had a curved horn atop her head, and oddly shaped ears. Her mane and tail, unlike the pony behind her, were a sea green weblike material. There was a colored layer of exoskeleton on her back beneath her wings like armor which was a vibrant magenta.
But… she looked nothing like the pony behind her. Sure, she was pony in shape and size, but other than that there were almost no similarities.
Looking back at the extremely angry pony behind her, she saw an all important detail she had missed before.
He had a knife.
*Cogs*
There was a changeling in town. A friggin’ changeling. As if the Canterlot Invasion wasn’t enough, this stupid cicada had to come ruin Hoofington’s peaceful atmosphere. So, as any loyal citizen should be doing, Cogs wanted to rid the town of this pest. He grabbed the nearest kitchen knife and decided to squash this bug, as it were. But, alas, not a single other pony decided to help. They were too afraid. Cogs was just a simple gear maker, and he was the only one to take responsibility? Perhaps the town was not concerned enough about its own safety…
Cogs brandished the knife in his magic, ready to strike.
“I can hear you, you know.”
Cogs tensed up. He saw the changeling glance at their reflection in a window. Now was the time to strike. Using his magic he stabbed at the changeling scum, but it saw his attack coming and rolled out of the way.
“DIE!!” He screamed, still stabbing randomly. The changeling seemed surprised and confused, as if it had never seen a pony before, or understood their conflict. “Whoa there!” The changeling buzzed, dodging a stab aimed at its head. This one was crafty. It didn’t seem to want to hit him. It dodged his knife and used a hole-riddled hoof to knock him down, but not injuring him. It soon towered over him, and Cogs was prepared to be killed. Instead, the changeling backed off and ran away down an alley.
That was a mistake, not killing him.