CHANGELING
My first waking sense was hearing birds chirping nearby and the sun shining down painfully on my eyes. My body ached all over and my head was still throbbing from what happened last night. “I need to stop doing this to myself.” I whimpered in my well-deserved self-pity.
I opened my eyes and instantly regretted it as I forced them shut again as the brightness of the outside world stabbed at my eyes. Slowly I squinted them open to protect my aching head from the brightness. I saw I was in the middle of some forest. However having grown up where I did this wasn’t the first time this had happened to me. As I sat up I lifted a perforated leg and began rubbing my aching head. My brain had become adamant that it no longer wanted to be contained inside my skull and was actively working at breaking out.
I began thinking back trying to figure out how I could have ended up out here in the middle of nowhere. The last thing I could recall from last night was going out to the bar with my buddies. My friend Kyle was getting married and he decided to spend one of his last nights as a free man in the way most men want to, by not remembering most of it.
We were having a good time until Tyler got in a fight with some punk and according to the universal ‘Bro Code’ all of us and the other guy’s friends had no choice but to get involved as well. I don’t remember much beyond that since the next thing I recall happening was seeing a pool stick coming for my face.
“When I find that motherfu-“ My complaining came to a sudden halt as I realized I spoke in a voice that wasn’t mine. It sounded like I was talking in a harsh whisper while having someone repeatedly hitting my back, then I looked to my noticeably different arm which I was still rubbing my aching forehead with. I stared at my appendage with my mouth agape for a nearly half a minute. When I regained control after my initial shock of my now deformed limb, the first conclusion I could draw up was I had gotten severely burned somehow.
I waited for a few seconds to see if the pain warranted from such a grievous injury would arrive and knock me out. A few moments passed and I still felt like shit, but I had always assumed if I had been this badly injured it would hurt a little more than a hangover and a bruised skull.
I shakily tried to get to my legs. As I got up I felt unable to keep myself balanced and instantly pitched forward slamming my chin against the ground adding another source of pain to my plethora of suffering. As I tried to push myself up again I came to the realization that apart from my mutilated arm, the rest of my body did not feel right, as if there were parts missing but also new parts that shouldn’t be there. I turned my head to try and look at myself and couldn’t contain the shout of shock that escaped my mouth. My whole body was covered in a pure shining black shell with transparent wings sticking out from my back, which had a dark purple carapace covering it.
A terrible sense of panic began setting in. “I’m a fucking bug!” I screamed as I began rubbing at my new body with my front legs furiously as if I could shake it off of myself. This was like a nightmare come true for me, I always had a fear of bugs and right now I was stuck in the body of one. I hopped to my feet and began shaking like a wet dog in a desperate bid to get the bug… ness off.
After nearly a minute of panicking I stopped and collapsed having exhausted myself. I had begun hoping this was some messed up dream, but as I waited to wake up the frightening thought that this might be real began nagging at me. The only time I knew I was dreaming while in a dream had caused me to wake up right away.
‘Maybe I’m in a coma and can’t wake up?’ I thought and from what I remembered from last night it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Slowly I willed myself to get back on my feet refusing to look at myself since I could feel another fit of paranoia in the back of my mind, waiting to break lose. I looked around to see where I was at and saw a pond nearby, and though it was the last thing I wanted to do I still felt an insatiable curiosity to see what I looked like now. I walked over to the side of the pond and arched my neck to bring my head over the water with my eyes still firmly shut. A few moments passed as I tried to will myself to open them. ‘If I’m some kind of freaky spider thing…’ I shuddered at this thought.
I slowly cracked my eyes open. I saw two deep blue eyes looking back at me. Confused I opened them more having at first expected to see multifaceted eyes staring back. I took a moment to study my new eyes and while they weren’t exactly normal, they didn’t make me sick to look at. I didn’t seem to have pupils except my eyes seemed to be darker blue on the sides and got progressively lighter towards the center. I had to admit they actually looked really cool.
It wasn’t until I stopped focusing on my eyes that I made a monumental discovery. The feeling of dread that I would be some hideous insect monster disappeared and instead I gave a sharp gasp in recognition. “No way!” I shouted in my new buzzing voice jumping up with a dopey smile on my face. All fear and paranoia of my bug like body disappearing in a flash.
“I’m a changeling, woo! Best dream ever!”
In my excitement I slipped on the damp grass at the edge of the pond and fell into the cold water. The cold shock brought me back to my senses as I stood up in the shallow pond and scrambled up over the side. The water washed off the feeling of excitement and instead it was replaced with dread that this might actually be real.
“Am I really in Equestria?” I asked myself miserably as I looked down at my legs that resembled burnt Swiss cheese. If I really was in Equestria then I was in the body of a species that would naturally be hated and despised by every pony, and all other intelligent life too for that matter. What hope did I have of being able to fit in or even finding a way to get back home being like this?
I sat down trying to fight back the shaking and tears that threatened to spill forth. The realization of how alone I was right now had begun to set in. I had been perfectly happy just the day before and now everything had been taken from me. The only other creatures that I even had a chance of being accepted by were other changelings and that Queen Chrysalis character. Then again I doubted they would be inclined to help anyone even if they were a changeling. I’d have a better chance getting help from the ponies if the show was anything to go by. Really the show was the only source of information I had.
My ears perked up, as I realized something. If I could figure out how to make myself shape shift I could trick anyone I met, and they wouldn’t know I was a changeling. I would just be some random stranger, and then maybe I can find a way home! I walked back to the edge of the pond.
“Right, well I can do this. I just need to change into a pony right?” I paused for a moment. “Why the hell am I talking to myself?” I facehoofed before turning back to the pond. I closed my eyes and focused on turning into a pony grinding my teeth trying to focus on the image I had in my mind. I peeked one eye open hoping to see that my appearance had changed. Unfortunately all I saw was just my changeling face looking back at me.
“Great.” I muttered under my breath. Not only was I a hated, despised, shape-shifting parasite in a land of sunshine and rainbows, but I was also incompetent to boot. Well what else was there to experiment with?
I looked back at my transparent wings and focused on moving them. They twitched and my heart began beating faster in excitement. I focused on them again and a buzzing noise filled my ears as my wings lifted me up. Even though my head and front legs were dangling comically I was pleased that I could at least use my wings. However as I tried to straighten myself out I stopped paying attention to keeping my wings moving. Gravity was not about to have me lying about in the air and it quickly remedied the situation.
“Walking it is.” I grumbled as I pulled myself up onto my feet again. I looked up at the early morning sun which was dimly shining through the forest canopy. It took me a moment to realize it wouldn’t help since I had no idea where I was in relation to anything. So I decided to leave it to luck and go in the direction I assumed was east, assuming that Equestria’s sun moved in the same path Earth’s did.
As I started running I began to wonder if the forest I was in was the infamous Everfree Forest. It did not seem menacing to me at all, it really was no different than any other forest from back home at least. I didn’t know if every forest in Equestria was regarded as being dangerous or if it was only the Everfree in particular. I continued galloping on my set course deciding it was best just to get out as soon as possible, and lower my chances of being eaten by a manticore.
Eventually I could see the tree line to the woods and I slowed down to a tentative trot as I crept up to the edge of the forest. The depressing knowledge that whatever was out there wasn’t going to be any friendlier then what was possibly in this forest came to mind.
I saw a field filled with apple trees planted in perfect rows. I assumed at first that it was Sweet Apple Acres, mainly because I had no idea where else I could be if it wasn't. However when I saw an orange pony about a hundred yards from where I was hiding, carrying baskets of apples on their back my original hypothesis got a little more credibility.
In the distance over the field of apple trees I could see a noticeably dark and forbidding looking forest off in the distance. Whichever woods I was in apparently wasn’t the dangerous Everfree. 'Maybe this was the woods where the Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse was located?'
I shook my head and berated myself, I needed to focus on what was important. Applejack was the element of honesty, and I’d read enough fanfics where she had an uncanny ability to spot when someone was lying to her to make me weary. As I tentatively snuck up closer to where she was working I got a clearer view of her through the bushes I was hiding in.
A strange feeling crawled up my spine, and for the first time I could actually feel the horn sticking out from my forehead. Instinctively I focused on that feeling and closed my eyes. Through my eye lids I could see a green light and as quickly as it came it was gone.
When I opened my eyes I looked down and saw orange fur had replaced my black exoskeleton covering up the strange holes and gaps missing in my legs and my horn and wings had disappeared to make me a perfect copy of Applejack. A happy smile crept onto my face for the first time since I had realized I was a changeling. I wasn’t as lame at this as I had previously thought.
‘Maybe I just have to see someone before I can change into them? It would explain why I couldn’t just turn into a random pony just by thinking about what they would look like.’ This realization also meant that I could never pretend to be someone new. I’d have to keep masquerading as ponies whose identity I stole.
The next thing I felt after my transformation was a growing pain in my gut where I assumed my stomach was, if changelings have anything remotely similar to a stomach that is. Realizing then that I would need to feed on someone soon, I decided to sneak off and find another pony who wasn’t such a threat as Applejack.
As I began going through a list of potential victims a pang of guilt struck me as I realized what I was doing. I was trying to pick a pony who I would basically suck the love and happiness from them. As long as I was here and in this body, I would have to feed off the love of others, spreading fear and misery where ever I went. I tried to brush the feeling of guilt away; I had to do this. It was not like I had a choice in the matter. Right?
With my chosen target and my limited knowledge of where to find them I struck out on my quest for food.
Fluttershy walked up to her door after hearing somepony knocking. The shy pegasus opened it by a crack and peaked out to see who was there. Relief flooded the shy pony as she saw her friend Applejack standing there. She noticed her friend seemed anxious and saw she was missing her trademark brown stetson but she didn't think too much on it.
“Oh, um hello Applejack.” Fluttershy greeted opening the door wider, not feeling the need to hide behind it while in the company of one of her closest friends.
“Uh, hi, um I mean a… howdy Fluttershy.” Applejack replied kicking at the dirt with one hoof. Then there was an awkward moment of silence between the two of them. Applejack shook her head and gave her a sheepish grin. “Sorry about dat Fluttershy, I ah, just got a whole lotta stuff on mah mind at the moment. I wanted ta know if ya’ll got any medicine for Winona. I think she done got into some bad apples or somethin’ and now she is sick as a-a… dog.” Any suspicion Fluttershy might have had towards Applejack’s peculiar behavior was overshadowed by her desire to help her friend and any poor sick animal.
“Oh, the poor dear let me get my medicine and we’ll go and fix her right up.” Fluttershy replied her love for animals and concern for her friend made her hurry to find her medical supplies. Fluttershy found her medicine bag sitting on the kitchen table and grabbed it in her teeth. As she began walking towards Applejack a painful throbbing pain in her head made the pegasus pause and rub at her temple with a hoof.
“Is, a, somethin’ wrong Fluttershy?” Applejack inquired. Fluttershy didn’t see the look of concentration on her friend’s face or the light green glow surrounding her body as she closed her eyes trying to dispel the pain in her head.
“I-it’s nothing, Winona needs my help right now.” Fluttershy replied taking another step before feeling her headache increase in intensity. She felt her eyes rolling wildly under her firmly closed lids as she felt herself slipping from consciences. “A-Applejack, I-I-“
The last thing Fluttershy heard before blacking out was her friend's voice.
“I’m so sorry.”
