Chapters “Your orders are simple,” the Queen tells me.
Yes, you sure can make them sound simple, however, 'infiltrating the most heavily fortified city in the land and insinuating myself amongst the population, while awaiting further orders,' is far more difficult than it sounds. I decide to keep this point to myself, however, as I like having my head attached to the rest of my body. I know it's a sentimental thing but I've become rather fond of living over the years. Saying that these orders could quite easily change that; perhaps I could save myself some hassle and get it over with now?
“What are you doing standing there; get on with it!” Once again to the point. I lower my head in a sign of deference, keeping my face as neutral as possible. Not that it really matters, I'm pretty sure that she can sense the fact that I'm so afraid right now that I'm about ready to lose control of some of my bodily functions, that or have a heart attack, which to be honest would be preferable.
I then raise my head make a sharp about face, and march out of the opulent throne room as quickly as possible. Just fast enough to show that I'm not dawdling, but not so fast as to show disrespect to the Queen, far more difficult than it sounds.
The two guards on either side of the double doors look surprised when I emerge, only minutes after I had initially entered; it's not often a changeling comes out of the Queens chambers unscathed. I don't give them a chance to stop me and move off into the gloom of the tunnels, my eyes quickly adjusting to the near total darkness of the rest of the hive.
Only the Queen chose to live with such brightness all the time, no one knows why, the rest of the changeling’s preferring near darkness of the caverns. In fact, it was only this Queen who has chosen this, all others before had chosen to live as the rest of their subjects do, taking the role on as a duty. Where as our current Queen has chosen a different path re-directing resources to serve her rather than her serving the rest of the hive; saying that it was this Queen's decision to have me elevated so I can't really complain.
Safely far enough away from the royal chambers to not be seen or heard by the royal guards, they do like to find excuses to impression changeling’s of my level for the smallest transgression, all to curry favour with the Queen. I decide now would be a good time to start breathing again.
A quick check to make sure I'm all still here, I wouldn't put it past the Queen to rip out my heart and eat it in front of me without me noticing because I was so paralysed with fear, yup, all still here. I breath a sigh of relief, and take a moment to thank the Queen for being merciful.
Suddenly the fear I had felt at being called to a personal audience before the Queen seems almost silly, I quietly chuckle to myself. Normally someone at my level getting called before the Queen could only mean one thing; that I had displeased the Queen in some way, that or one of the guards had taken it upon itself to improve its standing by reporting me to the Queen for some none existent infraction. Instead, all I had received were orders, which is strange, normally my orders are relayed to me by an adjunct the Queen having delegated responsibility of the day to running of the Hive, leaving her with the time she needs to do whatever Queens do. Something strange is going on, but it is not for me to theorise, well above my station.
Enough thinking I should get started before a guard takes it upon themselves to actually do their job and find me standing around getting my breath back, surely something worthy of another audience before the Queen.
I quickly return to my chamber collecting my saddle bag, the only thing I can actually call my own, which is more than most changeling's own, except of course for the Queen. I stole it from a pony while in Manehattan on a scouting expedition, to carry my findings without drawing attention to myself, I could have used my magic, but at the time my skin was that of an earth pony and earth ponies using magic inevitably leads to more attention than I wanted. Since then I'd found it useful and become rather fond of it as it accompanied me on my missions. Strange when I think about it that I would become so attached to such a simple item, but I guess that's why ponies have so many things, they are just to attached too them to get rid of them.
Leaving the simple chamber I'd been assigned I head to quartermasters office, the changeling that owns the most, I say own, all the items he possess actually belong to the Queen, but the Queen rarely pays much attention to items once they have been catalogued and filed. I take a route down tunnels that are patrolled less frequently by royal guards hoping to avoid any unpleasant conversations about my saddle bag, like I said any excuse to gain favouritism with the Queen.
Upon arrival at the dimly lit cavern, that served as the quartermaster’s office, I pressed the bell resting on a plinth by the main entrance. The bell is an oddity within the hive itself, it was one of the first things brought back when scouting missions to the surface were instigated. I believe the changeling that brought it back had thought to gain favour with the Queen by offering it to her as a gift, instead it lost its head. The Queen was not interested in trinkets, she wanted intelligence on the outside world. Since then all items that had been brought back were evaluated for their usefulness before being presented to the Queen, hence the establishment of a quartermaster's office, and it's caretaker.
After a minute of waiting a small, thin changeling trotted out of the gloom, the caretaker. “Hmm off out again are we?”
“Why else would I be here.” I respond. As neutrally as possible, you never know who's listening.
The Caretaker walks past me, checks up and down the passageway I'd just come from, then turns back, “Perhaps you want to elevate yourself even further by finding some inconsequential infraction of mine to inform the Queen about?”
“I don't need to find anything on you, I already know enough.”
Which was true the Caretaker's behaviour while never disloyal had always strained the social norms of the Hive, it is a far more social changeling than most with just a hint of insanity, this had of course got it into trouble with the royal guards looking for a quick elevation many times, however each time it had managed to come out unscathed and the guards that had brought the Caretaker before the Queen had never been seen again. After a while, the guards learned that the Caretaker was off limits, perhaps because it did its job so well, or perhaps because it held some sway with the Queen, no Changeling really knew, or dared ask.
The Caretaker walks back in front of me then moves behind the plinth raising his front hooves to rest on it next to the bell. “True enough, my friend, so where is it this time, some back water provincial settlement to gather some information, or maybe someone a little busier, like Manehattan of Las Pegasus?”
“Canterlot,” I respond watching closely for the caretakers reaction, I'm pleased to see that this news actually makes him pause to process the information, however he quickly recovers.
“Really, very interesting, you will be the first then, at least for a number of Generations. I guess you will be after some bits for the journey then.”
Oh yes bits, Equestria's native currency, it had taken early explorers a while to figure out the use of these pressed lumps of metal, the concept of an economy or exchanging tokens for items or services being completely alien to the Hive. If something needed doing, then someone was ordered to do it, and what the Hive had was for everyone in the Hive, but mostly the Queen. Once the idea of bits and their use was figured out, then several operations were undertaken to gather a small surplus to be distributed to agents as they went into the field, as an agent with no money inevitably had more difficulty getting around and ended up drawing more attention to themselves than was preferred.
“Canterlot being the capital, I'd imagine that it will be a little more pricey than my usual destinations.”
“Fishing for a bigger wage are we?” The Caretaker always likes to wind up agents when they come to him, purely because it knew that any reaction could be construed as seditious, so it knew they couldn't respond, I however had long ago mastered the art of sarcasm, which was largely lost on other changeling’s.
“Of course not,” I say with false agitation, then switching to a lighter tone, “I'm merely making an observation about my destination.”
“Hmm, well you’re not wrong, I'd imagine this could turn into an extended assignment; you may need to consider getting some work, this should last you a while anyway.” The Caretaker pulls out a bag from behind his plinth and hoofs it over to me.
The idea of having to work didn't appeal as it leads to more exposure to ponies which made my assignments more complicated, hopefully the assignment would be short so I wouldn't run out of bits.
“Oh, and since you're going to Canterlot, I may have something that could prove useful to you.” The Caretaker disappears amongst the shelves, re-emerging a minute later levitating a small book next to him. “Now this was brought back a while ago, so it may be a little dated, but it should have some useful information for you.”
I take the book in my magic levitating it close to my face so that I can read the title in the dim light. “The Foals Guide to Canterlot,” then some text at the bottom of the page read, 'A beginners guide to having fun in the capital.”
“Yes, I'm sure this will prove to be a wealth of useful information.” I say while rolling my eyes.
“Well, it's the only book we have here on Canterlot, other than some heavy history volumes, but they are all the way at the back., and your saddle bag doesn’t look big enough for them.”
“This will have to do then.”
“That's the spirit, oh and I don't want to spoil anything, but it's a pop up book as well.”
“Marvellous.” I slip the book into my saddle bag along with the bits and turn towards the tunnels that will take me to the surface before the Caretaker can find something else that could prove 'useful.'
“Oh, one more thing before you go.”
“What?” I say rather irritated, thinking I'd managed to get away.
“Bring me back some nice trinkets”
“There may not be time for souvenirs, but I will see what Canterlot has.”
The tunnels take me to the higher levels of the Hive, reaching the older sections and then move into the abandoned caverns. Each generation of Hive had dug deeper into the earth, abandoning the tunnels behind them leaving a maze of caverns behind that to a layman would just look natural. I have to be careful in these tunnels, one wrong turn and I could be lost forever.
Many Changeling’s were lost in the early expeditions trying to find their way to the surface, it would make my life easier if the route was marked in some way, however those markings could be used by anyone to find their way to the Hive, and after a thousand years of no contact with the other creatures of Equestria we are not eager to reveal ourselves especially since our innate imitation abilities made us untrustworthy in their eyes.
This is what drove us underground in the first place, the persecution we were subject to drove us into the shadows, or at least what our spoken history says, after a thousand years of isolation the reasons for isolating ourselves are bound to have become twisted to suit others desires.
The journey through the dark tunnels takes several hours, but eventually I see a dim light ahead, it looks like my memory hasn't failed me, I slow my pace donning a generic skin of a a blue earth pony, while no expedition had ever emerged from the tunnels to find ponies near by, protocol dictated that I should not be in my native form when emerging from the Hive.
I leave the caves to find a clear night sky above me, the moon shinning brighter than I could recall it doing so before, the stars complementing the moon twinkling softly in the tapestry of the sky that almost looks alive. It takes my breath away, quiet literally as my chest tightens in a panic, after spending most of my life in a closed space to have to deal with such an open space always took some practice. I close my eyes, and concentrate on breathing ,trying not to think about the vast open nothing around me, slowly my chest starts to relax.
After a few minutes I can open my eyes and enjoy the view without panicking, but I still feel nervous, this feeling never goes away, at least not until I'm back underground again, but that could be for a while.
Looking around I find the small hill in the dim light that marks the direction of the nearest Pony settlement, a days canter away, one last deep breath and I'm off with purpose, the sooner I get started the sooner I can return to the comfort of the Hive.
Author's Note
Okay, I'll admit I haven't written a full story in a very long time, but I've wanted to delve a little deeper into the idea of the Changelings for a long time and I finely decided to bite the bullet and actually write something, please let me know what you think below.
06/12/14 - Edit, updated chapter improving the punctuation.
The journey from the hive was uneventful, but what can I really expect from walking through what is essentially a desert, the sun came up and set on schedule, it got a little hot in the middle, not much more to say really.
All this time did give me a chance to think about Canterlot, no Changeling had yet been there, with it being home to the ruling Alicorn, Celestia, security will be very tight and up until now the risk of discovery had far outweighed the value of attempting to infiltrate Canterlot. That is until now, maybe that was why the Queen gave me my orders personally, this mission is too important and 'need to know' that the normal chain of command had to be bypassed. This also goes a way to explain why my orders were so vague, if I'm captured while trying to get in then I can't tell them what I'm doing there. I could however, give away the position of the Hive which would put our whole race in danger, not that I'd give up such information; I'd die first before betraying the Hive.
This line of thinking did start to depress me after a while, so I decided to see if learning more about where I'm going would help calm my nerves, taking the Foal's guide to Canterlot out of my saddle bag and using my magic to hold it open in front of me while walking I started to read.
After the first few pages I closed the book and shoved it back in my bag with disgust. What a load of rubbish, the book made this city sound like an open house where anyone could come and go freely, yes, I could just see the capital, home of the government and it's ruler, letting anyone wander in and out as they pleased. Obviously this is some sort of propaganda tool to brainwash young minds into thinking they lived in a fair and open society.
Although it did have a brief section on the history of the city, supposedly it had been founded by unicorns. Now that may be another lie, but it sounds plausible only the unicorn race would be so stuck up about themselves that they would insist one of their cities would host the nation's ruler.
This little nugget of potentially useful information gives me a good starting point, I'm going to have to work up a good persona to use while in Canterlot and I might as well start with a unicorn, I'll blend in better with the locals and I will be able to use my telekinetic magic in the open without drawing too much attention to myself. Worst comes to worst and the locals aren't all unicorns then at least I can still use magic openly until I have an opportunity to change my skin.
I reach the foothills that surround Dodge Junction a little after dawn, from here it's only a few hours walk from the centre of the ramshackle settlement where I will begin the next part of my journey the train station. Looking around I find a familiar grouping of rocks from the last time I was here and walk twenty paces to the right where I find a small depression in the ground. A quick look around confirms I'm still alone and a few minutes of digging latter and I find a long mucky light brown coat with a matching Stetson wrapped up in the coat. I do another check to make sure no pony had wandered into sight during my digging, once again still all clear. I change my skin, this time to a tan earth pony with a pickaxe for a cutie mark and a long tangled maim. I really do hate the maim of this form, but it adds to the scruffy traveller look I'm going for, I don the hat and jacket and continue towards town.
It's mid-morning by the time I reach town, most ponies seem to be going about their business, I've worn this skin around here a few times so the locals will be familiar enough with me that they pay me no attention, at least that's the idea. Better a regular passing through than a new pony each time, ponies would get suspicious of where all these other ponies were coming from after a while.
Reaching the station I walk in the main entrance and trot over to the timetable taking up half of one wall next to the ticket booth. A few minutes study tells me there's train to Canterlot leaving in a few hours, but going directly to my final destination is out of the question. I need to change my skin at some point during the trip to Canterlot and someone might notice a Pony getting off that didn't get on. plus if I am captured I don't want to leave a trail leading back to Dodge Junction and inevitably the Hive.
Another quick scan of the timetable finds me a train to Las Pegasus leaving in half an hour, it's a little out of the way, but it gives me a neutral point to stow my current clothes and put on my intended skin. I walk up to the ticket booth and get a ticket to Las Pegasus, the attendant obliges and I fish around in my bag for the correct number of bits, this is so much easier using magic, but I mustn’t break character.
Now that is sorted I have some time before the train arrives, I could just sit in the station and wait, but ponies being social creatures to blend in it was better for me to be social. So I leave the station and make my way across the dirt street to the local tavern, which looks to be nice and quiet.
Upon entering through the double swing doors I'm gratified to find that the tavern is as empty as I expected, currently between the breakfast and lunch time rush. I walk up to the bar which takes up one wall, the rest of the place filled with tables, chairs and a small piano in one corner. Clambering carefully onto a bar stool; after all my expeditions I still have difficulty using seats, especially bar stools. Seats have always baffled me as they do not seem to have been designed to be comfortable to ponies, but what would I know, there are no seats in the Hive.
After taking a moment to confirm that I have secured myself on the bar stool, I cough a little to draw the attention of the owner, Keep, who up until then had been busy cleaning behind the bar.
“Good morning Pick, I haven't seen you about these parts for a while.”
He's right, of course the last time I was in here would be about three months ago just as I was leaving on my last expedition. Which turned out to be a complete waste of time, maybe that's why I had been selected for this mission, I was deemed as expendable if I was captured, wow now that's depressing.
“True, prospecting has kept me very busy lately, I discovered a cavern about a month ago, which turned out to be an excellent source of pyrite.”
Keep's eyes start to glaze over as I talk about my manufactured profession, just the desired effect I intended, make your stories as boring as possible so ponies lose interest in you after the first sentence.
To be fair to Keep he tries to sound interested by piping in with, “Sounds expensive.”
“No, not really, it's actually pretty much worthless, but I had thought that their would be something else down their, in the end I didn't find anything of note.”
“Pity, well, maybe you'll have more luck in the future.”
“That's why I'm out here.” Prospecting had always seemed like a good cover for this place, with my comings and goings broken up by months at a time a nomadic life style where I could be gone at a dig site for long periods of time seemed to fit quite well, although the studying up with the few Geology books the Hive had pulled together had taken some time.
“Well, I'm afraid your only going to find food and drink in here, so what would you like.” And there is the gentle segue into something Keep is more comfortable with selling sustenance.
I glance at the blackboard behind the bar showing what Keep has on tap, “Hmm, I'll go for the White Tail apple cider.” I'd developed a liking for it while in the world away from the Hive, certainly we don't have anything that comes close to it within the Hive.
“You know we have some of this years Sweet Apple Acres fresh in, not very easy to get a hold of.” I pretend to think for a second, Keep to his credit is trying to up sell me.
“I'll just stick with the White Tail, Sweet Apple Acres is a bit too tart for my tastes.” At least that's what I'd heard a Pony say at a bar in Manehattan.
“Fair enough,” Keep always gave up on up selling ponies too easily in my opinion, he was there to make money selling people drinks and food so why not push the more expensive stuff harder? “So where are you off to this time?” Now begins the polite conversation portion of the interaction.
“Las Pegasus, for a small family gathering, then I might spend some time prospecting San Palomino.” A bit of truth hidden in a lie helps make it more believable.
“Sounds nice.” Most of Keep's concentration dedicated to pouring my drink. Now it's my turn to ask a polite question.
“So how's things on your end.”
“Same old, same old, the tavern keeps me busy, despite appearances to the contrary. Not much exciting happening out here,” Keep finishes pouring my drink and puts it down in front of me while saying, “well, except for that whole nightmare moon thing a few weeks back, but that was everywhere”
“Huh?” I say before I can catch myself, if it's something that happened everywhere, then I should have known about already.
“When the sun didn't come up all day? I know you spend most of your time in caves, but you must have noticed?” This is the first I'm hearing of this, while I was no great fan of the sun, far too bright. All Changeling’s knew that the ruler of Equestria raised the sun, always has done and always will do. For the sun not to have come up then Celestia must have had to have been disposed of somehow, but that's impossible, she is a creature of infinite power which no one can match, part of the reason why no Changeling had ever been sent to Canterlot, the last thing you want to do is to bring down the wrath of a god.
This has to be a trick, Keep must be trying to make a joke, or maybe my identity has been compromised and he's trying to draw me into confirming his lie in some sort of convoluted scheme that ends up with me being hung in the town square at noon.
I don't sense any deception from him, though, I decide to play it safe and plead ignorance.
“I'm sorry I've no idea what you're talking about, now I've spent several days at a time underground exploring caverns these last few weeks, but the sun has always risen I'm sure of it!” There that provides me with a decent excuse if such a thing happened that ties in nicely with my earlier lie, and lays out my position which was the commonly held opinion of ponies the last time I was here.
“You must of missed it then, I didn't know what was happening when it did, but it was all in the papers a few days later.” I sit there in silence narrowing the eyes in a distrust.
“Look, if you don't believe me, that's fine, but you really should pick up a newspaper and catch up.”
I take a sip of my drink in response enjoying the sweet flavor, a nice change from what was available in the Hive. I still don't believe Keep but I can't sense any dishonesty from him, just a bit of frustration which could be down to my refusal to believe him.
“Okay, so let's suppose for a second what you're saying is true, what happened? Celestia decided to take the day off?”
“No, don't be ridiculous.”
“Says the pony trying to convince me that the sun didn't come up one day.” I snap off in quick response, I get a flash of anger and a glare aimed in my direction, he really does believe this happened.
“Nightmare Moon returned and banished Celestia, but a group of ponies from Ponyville managed to track down the elements of harmony and defeated Nightmare Moon bringing back Celestia.”
I stare back at him blankly, never had I heard something so ridiculous before in my life it sounds like story for little foals, be good or Nightmare Moon will take the sun away. I want to start laughing, but I can't, for whatever reason Keep seems to believe this happened. Maybe it was some sort of delusion. In the end, I decide on the best course of action I take another sip of my drink.
“Look, I know it sounds crazy, heck I had a hard time believing it myself until my Aunt in Ponyville confirmed it. At the very least grab yourself a paper and see for yourself.” I take a minute to consider what he's said carefully turning over the idea in my head, it still sounds crazy, whichever way I look at it but Keep believes it happened, and he has never lied to me before.
“Alight, fine, I'll pick up a paper, if I didn't know any better I'd be thinking that your a newsagent and a barman.” At that moment I hear the screeching of metal on metal as a train pulls into a station, a quick glance at the clock behind the bar confirms that it should be my train. I tip the glass up emptying its contents down my throat, put it back on the bar and get some bits out to pay for the drink.
“Well, that's my train, I'll see you the next time I'm in town.” I lie, after a story like that I'm not sure if I should return here, at the very least, not in this skin.
“Safe journey.” Keep responds almost automatically the same as always, I carefully get down from the bar stool, always harder than getting on, and make my way across the street to the station.
Before boarding the train though I take Keep's advice and buy a recent newspaper from the kiosk at the station, at the very least it should give me some up to date information on the goings on in Equestria.
I board the train without incident, and as the train sets off out of the station, I find myself a seat in a quiet corner of a coach and settle down for some reading.
Author's Note
I'm a bit surprised I managed to pull this chapter together so quickly, the first chapter took me two weeks and three re-writes. Hopefully I haven't missed anything in my checking. Oh and thanks to everyone who has liked the story so far it's good to see people can actually tolerate my writing. Next chapter should be up in a week or so.
16/12/14 - updated improving the punctuation, hopefully I caught everything.
It's all true, everything Keep was telling me was the truth, or at least that's what the newspaper tells me. It can't be true, Celestia taken out by another being, no matter how temporally, it's impossible. This has to be some sort of propaganda stunt. Celestia was just too lazy to raise the sun one day and to avoid the scandal has the press run this ridiculous story to cover for her. Otherwise, it would mean that she is not the untouchable god all Chagelings are believe her to be.
This has to be why I'm out here, to test the theory, send a canary into the mine and observe to see if the resident dragon notices and decides on a light snack. Hmm here comes that depression again.
I scour the article on the events of this year's Summer Sun celebration, searching for any more information, and considering most of the paper is dedicated to this one event details are very light. Most of it is conjecture, the writers having trouble with the idea that the immortal pony that raises the sun is actually fallible, well at least I'm not the only one having trouble with this.
There's some column space dedicated to rumours about a different alicorn being sighted in Ponyville after the event, and since Celestia has returned to Canterlot she has suspended all public appearances for personal reasons. This of course meant the writers were speculating wildly from Celestia wanting some time to recharge, to this new alicorn somehow controlling Celestia, basically they had no idea but still had to fill the space on the page.
After re-reading the paper four times I decide that I've probably got all the useful information I'm going to get out of it, and plenty of crackpot theories for no additional cost.
Looking out of the window I see that the desert outside has shifted to a lush forest, I must have been reading for some time. Taking a breath I decide to stretch my legs, a good walk up and down the carriages should help me clear my head.
Walking through the carriages I quickly end up at the dining cart, the thought of food makes my stomach growl. While changeling’s do not need to eat as often as ponies, my last meal, excluding some cider, had now been three days ago well past time getting something to eat,
Sitting down on a bench in the middle of the carriage, much easier to do than the bar stool, I glance at the menu. Ponies always seemed to make eating so complicated trying to turn something simple into something really complicated. I mean, how many ways could they come up with to serve hay. There again, I really couldn't argue against the result, when food in the Hive consisted of only mushrooms the only thing that will grow in the near total darkness.
I catch the attention of a passing waiter and order a daisy sandwich with hay fries and settle back to enjoy the view through the window, the train is coming up on the town of Ponyville, supposedly where a lot of the events of this Nightmare Moon thing happened. I could get off here and take some time to investigate further see if it's really true, but it would run counter to my mission, plus it must be swarming with the press trying to get more information at the moment and that alone made it the last place a changeling would want to be.
My food arrives after only a few minutes, I'll give the Equestrian rail service this much, they get your food order to you quickly. I pay and then concentrate on using my hooves to pick up the sandwich and take a bite of it. I really hate the little things about being an earth pony, even the simplest of things are more complicated without the use of telekinesis or wings. While carefully eating my sandwich, I notice a grey unicorn mare enter the dining car, look around a bit and then sit down in the corner next to the door she came in, something just seemed a little off about her, but I can't put my hoof on it. I dismiss it as paranoia and return my concentration to the sandwich in front of me, for train food it was surprisingly good, but not as surprising as the fact that I managed to eat the thing with my hooves without losing any of it.
The train pulls into Ponyville station and I watch as ponies get on and off while snacking on some hay fries, seeing if I can spot anything interesting from my vantage point that may give me a clue about the recent goings on, however nothing seems to catch my eye, just another generic small pony town. After about five minutes the train pulls out of the station to its final destination Las Pegasus. I'll be back in Ponyville soon enough anyway, in order to get to Canterlot from Las Pegasus I have to back track through Ponyville, maybe I'll see something then.
The next stage of the journey is going to take a few hours so after finishing up my lunch, I get up and trot back through the carriages to where I had originally sat. I could have stayed in the dinning car, but that would have been seen as impolite to other ponies who may want to eat at a table so it's best to move on. Upon returning to my original carriage, it looked like no pony else had settled in the carriage at Ponyville so I sit my original seat; I'm a creature of habit.
Normally a pony would use this stretch of time to rest or read, now, while taking a nap sounded like a good idea, I had by this stage been awake for two days and that was a long time for Changeling’s. There are however certain drawbacks to changelings going to sleep, certainly while in the field. When a changeling sleeps any skin it might be wearing will dissipate revealing its true form, so a quick nap on a train was out of the question for me. I'll have to find a place to rest in Las Pegasus before the next stage of my journey.
This left me with reading, I'd already read the newspaper I picked up in Dodge Junction three times trying to ferret out additional information so I really couldn't be bothered with reading it again, then there was the book I'd been given, and I use the term book generously, the mere thought of trying to read through such blatant propaganda again made my stomach turn.
There's always a third option, stare off into the middle distance and contemplate how screwed I'm going to be when I'm inevitably captured trying to enter the most heavily defended city in the Pony empire. After coming up with at least twenty five different and uniquely horrifying ways I might be tortured upon capture I decide it's probably better to turn my creative mind towards something more constructive; namely coming up with a decent disguise and back story for myself.
Well, I'd already worked out that I was going to be a unicorn, but that's only the start. Why was I coming to Canterlot? Where had I come from? What's my purpose in life? These are all aspects of a life I had to construct before I leave Las Pegasus, as they would then inform my physical appearance, or at least my cutie mark.
Starting with a Unicorn race, they are outwardly the least physically powerful of the pony races, instead relying on cunning and magical talent to define themselves. I should go with a more intellectual talent, perhaps a cutie mark with a quill or book. That would give me an excuse to spend more time with books gathering information for the Hive, and no one would think anything of it because it's my talent. The talent also lends itself to not being too magically powerful which suits me as only one Changeling could ever perform more than the levitation magic, and unfortunately I am not the Queen.
That seems like a reasonable enough talent to start with and it can be used as a bit of a back story, I'm visiting Canterlot to see what I can learn, not far from the truth, or at least what I think my mission will be once I receive further orders, that is if I live long enough to receive further orders.
Next I'll need to figure out the rest of my skin, I take a moment to casually glance around the carriage carefully taking a note of the various mane styles and coats; it's then I notice the same grey unicorn mare from the dining car at the other end of the carriage, I must have been so caught up with my thinking that I didn't notice her enter earlier. She seems to be watching me and when I look at her, she quickly looks out the window. Maybe it's the hat and coat, I'll be the first to admit that they are a bit flamboyant, but they lend support to the idea that I'm a prospector.
Maybe she just likes the skin I'm wearing and hasn't worked up the courage to say hello yet, or far more reasonably she's following me because she is working for Equestrian intelligence and my cover has been blown.
I start to panic, if that's true, I would be the first changeling to be captured since these expeditions began, the Hive would be uncovered and all the changeling’s syntactically slaughtered. My chest becomes tight at the mere thought of the hive being eliminated and it being my fault, what could I have done that could have tipped her off? Did I overreact to Keep too much in Dodge Junction? Did someone see me change my skin on the way into town? Was it some little faux pas I'd made that had given me away. My mind began to spiral off as the ever present nervousness at being in the outside world rouse making me feel physically ill.
No, get a hold of yourself, you don't know what she is doing here, it could be just a coincidence, and until you know more I need to act natural, otherwise you will give yourself away. I take a deep breath and hold it, steadying my nerves, then exhale all the tension building up in me.
The rest of the train journey to Las Pegasus was an unpleasant mix of trying to keep myself calm, and trying to look like that I'm ignoring the grey unicorn mare while at the same time keeping an eye on her to see if she did anything else. Largely she spent the trip looking out the window watching the scenery go by, but occasionally she would glance in my direction., as if checking I was still here.
The train finally arrived into Las Pegasus in the early evening just as the sun was setting. Las Pegasus despite its name was actually founded by earth ponies and consisted of a heavily built up city laid out on a grid pattern, fortunately a good place to lose someone.
I make sure to take my time getting up to leave the train to see if the grey mare would leave before me, she didn't, which only made me more nervous. I exited the carriage through the door behind me far from the grey mare, quickly leaving the train and moving into the crowds at the station in an attempt to become lost amongst the ponies. There was just one problem with this, a Stetson, while fairly common in places like Dodge Junction were a lot less common in Las Pegasus, so no matter how hard I try, I still stick out like a sore hoof in this crowd.
I glance back at the train, to see the grey mare just getting off the train and heading in my direction, that's it, there is no doubt any more she is following me, I'm going to have to ditch my hat and coat as soon as possible. Making my way to the nearest exit from the station, no easy feat as judging by the number of ponies about it must be rush hour. I emerge from one of the smaller side entrances to the station, turning left I walk casually down the street as if I don't have a care in the world , while in reality I'm trying not to let my panic get the better of me, at the end of the street I turn right walking away from the station and glance back at the street I just came from. The grey mare is still following me, keeping a good distance away from me to give the impression that she isn't following me; I can use this to my advantage.
Continuing down the street, I make sure I leave enough time for the grey mare to round the last corner and catch sight of me before I head down a quiet side street on my right. Breaking into a gallop I then take the next left and then a right, finding myself in a deserted alley with large bins scattered about, I dash over to one of the more distant bins, take my hat and coat off shove them both into a bin. Closing the lid carefully to avoid making a sound I duck down behind the bin and wait.
A few minutes later I hear the sound of hooves moving rapidly on the paved streets, the sound slows as she gets closer, she's at the junction to the alley, from the sound of her panting she must have been down a few streets looking for me before finding this one. She stops about half way into the alley less than ten metres from my hiding spot. I stop breathing and hold myself perfectly still waiting.
After what feels like hours, but what could only have been a minute she starts moving again and then breaks into a gallop the noise of her hooves getting quieter, I glance out from behind my hiding place to just catch sight of her tail as she disappears around the corner.
Letting out the breath I'd been holding I almost melt onto the pavement as the tension in my body is released. I realise then how tired I am, and I'm almost tempted to fall asleep on the street, but that would not be a good idea.
Waiting a few minutes to ensure the grey mare is gone, I walk to the end of the alley and look around the corner to ensure that she is actually gone. I can't see her in the dim light so I head back in the opposite direction to where she went onto the main street. My next priority; finding a hotel room where I can safely shed by skin and recharge.
Author's Note
Okay, this one took a little longer than the last chapter, but I've been going over the last two chapters and trying to ferret out as many errors in them as possible, I think I've got most of them and hopefully this one doesn't have too many, anyway enough of my babbling, enjoy!
