The Odd Ones of the Bunchby Majestickfire9Chapters%1% The First Trip - Waking Up Food, Names, and CompanyKnowledge and Learning%1% The First Trip - Waking Up Author's Note Sorry if the chapter seems short. I kinda need an editor, and it's my first time posting a story to Fimfiction. I hope it's alright. %1% The First Trip - Waking Up Waking up definitely hurt. The feeling of cracked and splintered chitin digging into the soft flesh under it was more than just painful at the moment. He didn’t even want to think too much on the split hoof he sported from not only the landing but also the fact he had laid on it awkwardly in his time of being passed out… By the Ancients he could actually feel all of this for once, he could actually focus on all of this. A sort of blinding clarity hit him and he only managed to roll onto his belly before a an even more blinding bout of pain hit him, causing him to simply whimper and try not to tense up. Yep. That hurt. Lots of pain. Way to go 0651… Wait he could actually make a name for himself! Oh that realization had gotten him giddy again. He actually forced himself to get up with the boost of his own positive emotions towards himself and his newfound freedom, pain lacing seemingly every part of his being but he managed, and that’s all that mattered for now, besides the cracked chitin on his back. He very carefully maneuvered around to inspect the damage, very very regretfully plopping himself down again onto his flank this time at least to do so, a strike of pain lacing his more internal spine that threatened to make him topple to the forest floor once more. Still, he held on strong at least, even when he turned his head to get a better look at the damage, hissing in a mixture of pain and disdain when he saw how it looked. And how it looked; well, it looked like someone had dented a sheet of metal inwards and had glass attached to that sheet and when they dented it the glass and metal stuck into each other and only broke bits of each other up even more, making it look like shredded tinfoil, and was then slathered in a green-ish red color, maybe if it was picture he could put it up in an art gallery and say this is how life is for the troubled and make a few thousand bits. How lovely, he thought to himself sarcastically. He snaked out the long forked tongue he had and started removing small pieces of his own chitin, he occasionally winced at this as he did it but over time the pain he had dulled slightly, and now what was shown was more like a green-ish red paint splatter on black paper rather than using the broken metal and glass tinfoil mix of an explanation. Now he could focus, he felt cracks in his horn, okay so no magic until he got some food, both physical and emotional. He felt the shredded up wings on his back and was very glad that he was passed out earlier, he was pretty sure if he had been awake then his body wouldn’t have done any kind of healing. Okay, so besides the hole in his back, the split hoof, the cracked horn, and the shredded wings he was pretty okay, he counted himself as extremely lucky. As long as he avoided everything in his forest… Yeah. That’d be a good idea. Okay. Time to get moving instead of letting yourself bleed out because you were too lazy to get off your flank. He thought to himself as he got up shakily and huffed out a strained breath, he had to use the split hoof to get up unfortunately. He hissed out once more, only more slowly this time, drawing it out as he got up, mind going into a more survivalist mode, the hiss was not just because of his pain but to warn away any prey in the area away from him so other predators would likely hunt them instead of him, he could have just given some a few easy meals in his action and so he would be left alone. At least he thought he would, he heard a kind of curious grunt from somewhere so his right, and he turned the right and walked. If it was what he thought was making the noises he would have a source of food, if not food then medical services, if not that then a swift end. Either way would work for him. He had some issues. He eventually saw the forest thin and to his surprise he saw a lone zebra mare, he didn’t want to startle her too much so he made a show of limping out of the bushes, snapping her attention to him in a mixture of surprise and wariness. Sadly him making a show of his injuries had actually made them flare up in pain again and he ended up hissing in her direction before slipping and collapsing onto his side. Dammit, and he was doing so good before. He internally cursed, as well as cursed rather outwardly as he now simply let himself lay down before managing to speak, voice coming out as a bit of a mixture between gravely and smooth, pleasant despite his hurt state. “J-Just get on- Help if you can, please.” He paused halfway through, he wanted medical help, not this pony’s anger, he wisely chose to keep his tongue in check. Zecora had caught the lapse in speech immediately and gave the changling a stern but still semi-kind look. “Mirth nor pity shall I feel for you, but one of harmless mischiefs can be a tool of use. You’re of changing faces but as of now you have but one, and for that I may be grateful for, for the ages.” She was happy he hadn’t come to her in disguise, she was also happy she kept his tongue in check from weary words that were about to be spoken. She moved to help him up, despite her words she chuckled at his noise of surprise. She was not keen on conversation however in his state. He was certainly surprised by the turn of events, making a noise of surprise as she lifted him off his hooves and draped him over her back over top her saddlebags, well… At least he didn’t have to walk to wherever she was taking him, yeah. He should’ve thought better of this, but he was stuck now, and was pretty unwilling to move from the comfortable spot he had on her back. “Thank you.” He managed to murmur to her before he decided to close his eyes, if a pony was in this forest then he couldn’t be too far from a pony town or village, and that means no dangers too close by and so he slightly dozed during the ride to wherever he was going. Unknowingly making Zecora quite comfortable with him due to his admittedly lazy behavior. Food, Names, and CompanyWow. He had actually fallen asleep. At least it wasn’t so much passing out like when he last remembered being flung across the sky and the whiplash and sudden change in altitude made him pass out before he even landed in the forest. He could make a safe bet thinking that the Queen thought he was dead. She was always watching, unless she got disconnected, like he was, and that much he was glad for. He silently praised the ancients and at that decided opening his eyes was a good idea… He could also go back to sleep. But nah he was good, he needed to see just what he was laying against anyways. At that mental interaction with himself he decided to roll onto his stomach, immediately the blanket on him rolling off and he felt wood under his hooves. He opened his eyes and looked around to see himself in a hut of sorts, mask, potions, salves, herbs, spices, even a few decorative or magically charged gems hanging about on shelves or literally hanging on the walls or off of the ceiling. Hm, nice. He decided, nodding in approval to himself. He only then took notice of the cold wet glob of, something, on his back where the hole in his carapace is and grimaced slightly at the feeling. Gross, but he wasn’t going to wash it off any time soon, if it was a poison he’d surely be dead by now so no threat to his being there. He continued to look around and when he turned around to look at his back he spotted the window behind him, the brief flash of an escape plan made its way through his head but he thankfully ignored it. His ears flicked in the direction of a curtain moving to the side and he saw the zebra mare from earlier, oh, she was the medic. That definitely made him a lucky bug. He simply opted for silently watching her move about her home and curiously tilted his head. She noticed his gaze and mentally nodded to herself as she went about making breakfast for both her and her new guest. As of now he was harmless, and she doubted with his disposition that he would willingly harm her anyways, besides, she knew once his horn was healed she was a good emotional meal, but until that time she’d willingly cater to the other in her abode, if he were to attack it’d be very foolish on his part. He cleared his throat lightly and noticed that it was a bit clearer than it was yesterday. He opted now was as good as a time as any to speak. “Thank you for bringing me here miss…” He allowed the conversation to taper off, ending it in a silent question. She caught on quickly. “Zecora is my name, and yours is?” She looked at the changling with a small amount of amusement, watching to see how he would react or what’d he do with the information. He paused at the asking of his name and remembered he forgot to make one for himself earlier. “I’m not sure yet, I’m still trying to think of one since I’ve been separated from the hive-mind. I wanna say Leafy but that just seems annoying, I want something plant related or something old and cool sounding yet hard to pronounce or hard to spell. Something memorable… You got anything shaman?” That. Had thrown her in for quite the loop. She did not expect the changling to be so… Forward with things, and the salve she had on his back didn’t reveal any harmful intent from him with what she had added to it so as of now she was satisfied. She tilted her head and closed her eyes in thought, nodding a bit before opening them. “Hm… Servonix. It’s exotic, and has the X in the name your kind are so intent on putting in. How’s that?” He chittered to himself happily, mulling it over before giving a nod. “Perfect! And uh, usually the drones are given such names with the X in it; sadly mostly things bug related. Infiltrators like myself usually use pony names but I like the name you’ve come up with, tradition with an exotic spin on it, perhaps it’s slightly zebra related I assume?” He grinned, not caring if his fangs were showing, he was excited again, and giddy once more. Certainly an odd fellow among the vile rumors of his kind. “That assumption is correct... “ She tilted her head curiously, ears slightly twitching back. The burning curiosity would surely eat her unless she sated it now, she bargained with herself as she slowly shook her head before going back to collecting the various ingredients she needed to cook the two of you breakfast. “Let us try not to miss breakfast, your stomach, although chitinous still needs sustenance.” “Alright, I can tell you’d rather ask questions though. But later, and I might answer them.” His grin only managed to widen when he noticed the slight pause in her steps at his words but he actually snickered a bit when she ignored him and went on with making breakfast. He decided a thank you was in order, he wasn’t going to free-loading foal for as long as he could help it… Yeah no he was likely going to let her play nurse, maybe just a tiny bit. He still decided to be nice though. “Thank you again for the hospitality, to be perfectly honest I was expecting to wake up in a hospital or not wake up at all, but that’s what I get for kind of dozing off on your back… I didn’t weigh that much, right?” His ears perked in question and concern for the other, mostly cause he didn’t want to owe her more than he already did. “Mess you mostly made but what you weigh did not concern. Though it would be unwise to let your lack of weight go unnoticed, I have concerns that you may be malnourished.” “To be perfectly honest I have no clue what the heck I’m supposed to weigh, there weren’t exactly any healthy changlings in the hive with just who ran it.” He grumbled lightly, ears swiveling to press against his head while he huffed. They both let a semi-silence permeate the room for quite a bit before Servonix jumped a bit at suddenly having food shoved towards him, he couldn’t care less about the fact it was pretty hot and still steaming as he took it and shoveled it down rather quickly, surprising the both of them that he hadn’t puked it all up with just how fast he ate it, or more so inhaled it. “Thank you! I can just taste hints of actual food.” He grinned, tail flicking as he shuffled a bit excitedly, mentally snickering at his own joke. Zecora, to say in the least, was shocked, glancing between him and the emptied plate she had piled quite the height on. Once his joke registered though she actually nearly snorted, but that could be seen as rude so she settled for an amused chuckle of sort and smiled, it only growing strained a bit when she heard hooves clopping down the path towards her hut. “Visitors I have some, but to you I wish not they subscum, hide, quickly please.” Servonix heard the hooves and when Zecora issued out her order he nodded, hesitating to get up due to his back and hoof but the knocking on her door had him slowly but surprisingly painlessly shuffling away to back of the hut and very quickly under a blanket, he heard Zecora put away the plate he had eaten off of before hearing her door open, hesitantly he peeked his eyes out from under the blanket to watch. He saw an older mare, reddish-pink coat, with three flowers with smiling faces on them. Okay, that was let down, then again… Who knows how long he had been out after the attack, it could’ve been anyone, even that pastel colored bunch that helped stop the invasion that he saw flailing about Canterlot from above. Word spread fast for his kind, he did in fact get to see what transpired through the link of the hive-mind like everyone else had before him and most likely others as well, were cut off… He was thankful it wasn’t one of the pastels so he simply went back under the blanket and listened, the conversation however stayed by the door, he huffed lightly. Author's Note Still need an editor, the way I upload these is writing them directly after another chapter's out so I can keep going with the roll on this. Thing may not be consistent and my mind scatters bits everywhere but I'm trying to keep this going despite work being a pain lately. ^^ Hope you guys are enjoying reading this though, still a first-timer so go a bit easy please. Knowledge and LearningAuthor's Note I'm so wonderful at updating this fic. I say this despite not updating in a solid two months or more. Knowledge and Learning He should’ve felt thankful for the pastel bunch but in truth, he really couldn’t care less about them unless they were getting ready to grind him into chitinous changeling paste, he shuddered at that thought as he silently listened to the the pony he over heard as being Cherilee, apparently a teacher if the mentioning of students was heard correctly. He guessed he landed near a pretty big village, he still thinks village because any city he’s infiltrated has the thinnest of forest surrounding it or nothing at all. Somewhat inconvenient for hiding but ah well. Soon enough he heard hooves leaving and fading away, him slinking out from under the blanket he was under and stretching a bit with a wince before he moved into Zecora’s potion/main room, starting to curiously rifle through her stuff, actually sniffing around at some things before he heard her clearing her throat and could practically feel the dry stare she was directing at him. He turned around and curiously tilted his head at her. “Have anything for split hooves?” He grinned sheepishly. The gunk on his back glowing a faint yellow, showing a half-lie, and giving Zecora an even more disapproving stare. “And maybe something to heal faster with?” He reiterated as he noticed the look and the goo changing colors, the goo shifting back to a bland kind of gray. Leaving Zecora to simply nod in satisfaction. “Patient you must be, for you have slept longer than what’s exactly good for you. I wasn’t exactly clear in just how long you’ve slept but that was mostly for safety reasons… When you fell asleep on my back you did not wake for many moons, I nearly thought you were going to be bug fertilizer for quite sometime but you somehow kept your breath.” “O-Oh. How long have I been asleep since then?” “Well. Since you spent every ounce of energy, both emotional and physical on walking around in the Everfree like a buffoon, as well as used self-emotional-cannibalism to keep yourself walking I can safely say that you’ve been out for a couple months, a few weeks in the woods, and a month in a half in my hut, spoon feeding a changeling with healing brew with artificial love made from a potion is a lot harder than it looks. That silver tongue your kind is famous for should be famous for lack of work it does for liquids.” “Hehe yeeeeaah… Long forked tongues aren’t good for drinking things, especially with my kind’s jaw shape, snakes have it down though at least but it’s something a changeling has to learn to do… Do I talk too much?” Zecora listened intensely to the words, finding herself a bit fascinated with her guest, but also utterly blindsided by his words. “Not at all, it’s really interesting to hear you speak truthfully, learning from an old species that has nearly nothing written about it is quite a treat.” He took this as a compliment. “Thank you then.” “I will change the bandages on your hoof soon, don’t walk on it.” She nodded in acknowledgement to his thanks but went to another room to get the paste for his hoof, coming back a couple minutes later with her preparing the tools needed to do the small task with the paste, she tilted her head curiously at seeing her guest staring out one of the windows, seeming to be in thought. “I’ve got the paste for your hoof.” “Can you teach me how to brew the potion you made, or do what you do in general?” He blurted out. While she was away he took the chance to look outside the window and study the ground and the things around Zecora’s hut as to try and get a sense of how she even found half the stuff she did and made it as such. He wanted to learn it, it could be helpful to the hive, if he had one to go back to that is. He was surprisingly okay with this thought, he figured if Zecora could teach him how to make the potion then he wouldn’t have to feed off of ponies, that would mean no more fighting, and he was more than okay with this, especially after the events of the Canterlot wedding completely shattering the mental shackles he had been under. As he came to terms she had appeared, and he took to the opportunity to ask her for help. He turned to her and held out his split hoof, smiling a bit. She was once again blindsided, by the question, the honesty behind it, and just how generally friendly he was being. She hardly expected that of a changeling with how her kin’s story had worded their kind. She hummed a bit while she took his offered hoof and carefully took the paintbrush in her mouth to dip it into the paste before applying it to the inside of the split, afterwards taking her time with her free hoof to busy it with scooping out a bigger blob of the gray paste, before applying it to the split hoof and filling the gap with it before she bandaged it. Now she had time to think about his question… And she was drawing a complete blank. Servonix had taken the silent time to watch her work, the numbing effects of the paste slowly setting into the limb as she worked and finished working. He saw her blank out a bit and carefully booped her, marveling briefly at the softness he felt before he grinned sheepishly at her deadpan expression. “Hi.” On one hoof he’s one of the changelings who attacked Canterlot, on the other, she had no idea why he did considering his personality, she was nursing him back to health and he’s shown nothing but respect, kindness, and curiosity, he was intelligent unlike how autonomous and monster-like her kin’s stories made changelings seem. But when she considered teaching him she also had thought of how she tried to teach the adolescent Applebloom, and how much of a disaster that had been, but at the same kind, his kind were made to adapt so she had to ask first. “Do your kind have any similarities to a cutiemark?” She asked with a slight tilt of her head. “No, we’re made to adapt to any situation, before the invasion I was ordered to a cook… I was mediocre at it at best. Same with when I was ordered to run a library, but that’s cause my hive’s queen didn’t know how any of that worked so the information didn’t send over the hivemind link and I was ordered to simply go with it. With it gone, I can actually learn something for myself, so technically my mind’s a fresh slate to work off of.” Zecora hummed a bit in thought, she heard hivemind being mentioned so now she guessed she had her answer for the attack, and found herself in a spot where she couldn’t exactly deny him the teaching, she could but that wouldn’t do any good, and if she didn’t then ponies might get hurt from a changeling’s appetite once he was healed a set free, and maybe he might go to feed other changelings and keep them at bay, although he’d have to come to her for a certain key ingredient to the potion, and that was a pegasus feather, not too hard to get but with the amount of potion that had to be made and the fact a certain six residents will not take the fact a freeroaming changeling is in the Everfree lightly by any means then she’d have to collect that ingredient in bulk herself. Something she can live with doing. And so she nodded, a small smile at having a new and much less volatile student working with her and potentially helping her. “I will teach you the ways of a shaman Servonix. It would do no good to deny you this pleasure. You will read a couple books while you heal however before you do any potion making or ingredient gathering.” She smiled a bit broader at her guest and newly appointed student, and had to bring a hoof up to stifle a chuckle at seeing his expression. Happy changeling faces apparently were kind of goofy looking in an endearing way. “I will bring them to you after you get back to bed. It has been a tiring day, but a good one for learning to say in the least. Cherilee was right in that regards today.” At that she moved away and lightly trotted to go get the two herbal books in question, ears flicking as she heard Servonix walk back to the bedroom she had let him stay in while she got him back up to health. He was more than ecstatic at having the chance to actually learn something without his queen there to try and supply him with info, his queen was a tyrant that was for sure, and sadly only educated in war rather than anything else. He only knew how to fight, doesn’t mean he liked to though. He slid himself under the covers, eager to read but also the tiniest bit bored with having to do so, that however was overruled by his want for the facts so long as the books kept interest.
%1% The First Trip - Waking Up Author's Note Sorry if the chapter seems short. I kinda need an editor, and it's my first time posting a story to Fimfiction. I hope it's alright. %1% The First Trip - Waking Up Waking up definitely hurt. The feeling of cracked and splintered chitin digging into the soft flesh under it was more than just painful at the moment. He didn’t even want to think too much on the split hoof he sported from not only the landing but also the fact he had laid on it awkwardly in his time of being passed out… By the Ancients he could actually feel all of this for once, he could actually focus on all of this. A sort of blinding clarity hit him and he only managed to roll onto his belly before a an even more blinding bout of pain hit him, causing him to simply whimper and try not to tense up. Yep. That hurt. Lots of pain. Way to go 0651… Wait he could actually make a name for himself! Oh that realization had gotten him giddy again. He actually forced himself to get up with the boost of his own positive emotions towards himself and his newfound freedom, pain lacing seemingly every part of his being but he managed, and that’s all that mattered for now, besides the cracked chitin on his back. He very carefully maneuvered around to inspect the damage, very very regretfully plopping himself down again onto his flank this time at least to do so, a strike of pain lacing his more internal spine that threatened to make him topple to the forest floor once more. Still, he held on strong at least, even when he turned his head to get a better look at the damage, hissing in a mixture of pain and disdain when he saw how it looked. And how it looked; well, it looked like someone had dented a sheet of metal inwards and had glass attached to that sheet and when they dented it the glass and metal stuck into each other and only broke bits of each other up even more, making it look like shredded tinfoil, and was then slathered in a green-ish red color, maybe if it was picture he could put it up in an art gallery and say this is how life is for the troubled and make a few thousand bits. How lovely, he thought to himself sarcastically. He snaked out the long forked tongue he had and started removing small pieces of his own chitin, he occasionally winced at this as he did it but over time the pain he had dulled slightly, and now what was shown was more like a green-ish red paint splatter on black paper rather than using the broken metal and glass tinfoil mix of an explanation. Now he could focus, he felt cracks in his horn, okay so no magic until he got some food, both physical and emotional. He felt the shredded up wings on his back and was very glad that he was passed out earlier, he was pretty sure if he had been awake then his body wouldn’t have done any kind of healing. Okay, so besides the hole in his back, the split hoof, the cracked horn, and the shredded wings he was pretty okay, he counted himself as extremely lucky. As long as he avoided everything in his forest… Yeah. That’d be a good idea. Okay. Time to get moving instead of letting yourself bleed out because you were too lazy to get off your flank. He thought to himself as he got up shakily and huffed out a strained breath, he had to use the split hoof to get up unfortunately. He hissed out once more, only more slowly this time, drawing it out as he got up, mind going into a more survivalist mode, the hiss was not just because of his pain but to warn away any prey in the area away from him so other predators would likely hunt them instead of him, he could have just given some a few easy meals in his action and so he would be left alone. At least he thought he would, he heard a kind of curious grunt from somewhere so his right, and he turned the right and walked. If it was what he thought was making the noises he would have a source of food, if not food then medical services, if not that then a swift end. Either way would work for him. He had some issues. He eventually saw the forest thin and to his surprise he saw a lone zebra mare, he didn’t want to startle her too much so he made a show of limping out of the bushes, snapping her attention to him in a mixture of surprise and wariness. Sadly him making a show of his injuries had actually made them flare up in pain again and he ended up hissing in her direction before slipping and collapsing onto his side. Dammit, and he was doing so good before. He internally cursed, as well as cursed rather outwardly as he now simply let himself lay down before managing to speak, voice coming out as a bit of a mixture between gravely and smooth, pleasant despite his hurt state. “J-Just get on- Help if you can, please.” He paused halfway through, he wanted medical help, not this pony’s anger, he wisely chose to keep his tongue in check. Zecora had caught the lapse in speech immediately and gave the changling a stern but still semi-kind look. “Mirth nor pity shall I feel for you, but one of harmless mischiefs can be a tool of use. You’re of changing faces but as of now you have but one, and for that I may be grateful for, for the ages.” She was happy he hadn’t come to her in disguise, she was also happy she kept his tongue in check from weary words that were about to be spoken. She moved to help him up, despite her words she chuckled at his noise of surprise. She was not keen on conversation however in his state. He was certainly surprised by the turn of events, making a noise of surprise as she lifted him off his hooves and draped him over her back over top her saddlebags, well… At least he didn’t have to walk to wherever she was taking him, yeah. He should’ve thought better of this, but he was stuck now, and was pretty unwilling to move from the comfortable spot he had on her back. “Thank you.” He managed to murmur to her before he decided to close his eyes, if a pony was in this forest then he couldn’t be too far from a pony town or village, and that means no dangers too close by and so he slightly dozed during the ride to wherever he was going. Unknowingly making Zecora quite comfortable with him due to his admittedly lazy behavior.
Food, Names, and CompanyWow. He had actually fallen asleep. At least it wasn’t so much passing out like when he last remembered being flung across the sky and the whiplash and sudden change in altitude made him pass out before he even landed in the forest. He could make a safe bet thinking that the Queen thought he was dead. She was always watching, unless she got disconnected, like he was, and that much he was glad for. He silently praised the ancients and at that decided opening his eyes was a good idea… He could also go back to sleep. But nah he was good, he needed to see just what he was laying against anyways. At that mental interaction with himself he decided to roll onto his stomach, immediately the blanket on him rolling off and he felt wood under his hooves. He opened his eyes and looked around to see himself in a hut of sorts, mask, potions, salves, herbs, spices, even a few decorative or magically charged gems hanging about on shelves or literally hanging on the walls or off of the ceiling. Hm, nice. He decided, nodding in approval to himself. He only then took notice of the cold wet glob of, something, on his back where the hole in his carapace is and grimaced slightly at the feeling. Gross, but he wasn’t going to wash it off any time soon, if it was a poison he’d surely be dead by now so no threat to his being there. He continued to look around and when he turned around to look at his back he spotted the window behind him, the brief flash of an escape plan made its way through his head but he thankfully ignored it. His ears flicked in the direction of a curtain moving to the side and he saw the zebra mare from earlier, oh, she was the medic. That definitely made him a lucky bug. He simply opted for silently watching her move about her home and curiously tilted his head. She noticed his gaze and mentally nodded to herself as she went about making breakfast for both her and her new guest. As of now he was harmless, and she doubted with his disposition that he would willingly harm her anyways, besides, she knew once his horn was healed she was a good emotional meal, but until that time she’d willingly cater to the other in her abode, if he were to attack it’d be very foolish on his part. He cleared his throat lightly and noticed that it was a bit clearer than it was yesterday. He opted now was as good as a time as any to speak. “Thank you for bringing me here miss…” He allowed the conversation to taper off, ending it in a silent question. She caught on quickly. “Zecora is my name, and yours is?” She looked at the changling with a small amount of amusement, watching to see how he would react or what’d he do with the information. He paused at the asking of his name and remembered he forgot to make one for himself earlier. “I’m not sure yet, I’m still trying to think of one since I’ve been separated from the hive-mind. I wanna say Leafy but that just seems annoying, I want something plant related or something old and cool sounding yet hard to pronounce or hard to spell. Something memorable… You got anything shaman?” That. Had thrown her in for quite the loop. She did not expect the changling to be so… Forward with things, and the salve she had on his back didn’t reveal any harmful intent from him with what she had added to it so as of now she was satisfied. She tilted her head and closed her eyes in thought, nodding a bit before opening them. “Hm… Servonix. It’s exotic, and has the X in the name your kind are so intent on putting in. How’s that?” He chittered to himself happily, mulling it over before giving a nod. “Perfect! And uh, usually the drones are given such names with the X in it; sadly mostly things bug related. Infiltrators like myself usually use pony names but I like the name you’ve come up with, tradition with an exotic spin on it, perhaps it’s slightly zebra related I assume?” He grinned, not caring if his fangs were showing, he was excited again, and giddy once more. Certainly an odd fellow among the vile rumors of his kind. “That assumption is correct... “ She tilted her head curiously, ears slightly twitching back. The burning curiosity would surely eat her unless she sated it now, she bargained with herself as she slowly shook her head before going back to collecting the various ingredients she needed to cook the two of you breakfast. “Let us try not to miss breakfast, your stomach, although chitinous still needs sustenance.” “Alright, I can tell you’d rather ask questions though. But later, and I might answer them.” His grin only managed to widen when he noticed the slight pause in her steps at his words but he actually snickered a bit when she ignored him and went on with making breakfast. He decided a thank you was in order, he wasn’t going to free-loading foal for as long as he could help it… Yeah no he was likely going to let her play nurse, maybe just a tiny bit. He still decided to be nice though. “Thank you again for the hospitality, to be perfectly honest I was expecting to wake up in a hospital or not wake up at all, but that’s what I get for kind of dozing off on your back… I didn’t weigh that much, right?” His ears perked in question and concern for the other, mostly cause he didn’t want to owe her more than he already did. “Mess you mostly made but what you weigh did not concern. Though it would be unwise to let your lack of weight go unnoticed, I have concerns that you may be malnourished.” “To be perfectly honest I have no clue what the heck I’m supposed to weigh, there weren’t exactly any healthy changlings in the hive with just who ran it.” He grumbled lightly, ears swiveling to press against his head while he huffed. They both let a semi-silence permeate the room for quite a bit before Servonix jumped a bit at suddenly having food shoved towards him, he couldn’t care less about the fact it was pretty hot and still steaming as he took it and shoveled it down rather quickly, surprising the both of them that he hadn’t puked it all up with just how fast he ate it, or more so inhaled it. “Thank you! I can just taste hints of actual food.” He grinned, tail flicking as he shuffled a bit excitedly, mentally snickering at his own joke. Zecora, to say in the least, was shocked, glancing between him and the emptied plate she had piled quite the height on. Once his joke registered though she actually nearly snorted, but that could be seen as rude so she settled for an amused chuckle of sort and smiled, it only growing strained a bit when she heard hooves clopping down the path towards her hut. “Visitors I have some, but to you I wish not they subscum, hide, quickly please.” Servonix heard the hooves and when Zecora issued out her order he nodded, hesitating to get up due to his back and hoof but the knocking on her door had him slowly but surprisingly painlessly shuffling away to back of the hut and very quickly under a blanket, he heard Zecora put away the plate he had eaten off of before hearing her door open, hesitantly he peeked his eyes out from under the blanket to watch. He saw an older mare, reddish-pink coat, with three flowers with smiling faces on them. Okay, that was let down, then again… Who knows how long he had been out after the attack, it could’ve been anyone, even that pastel colored bunch that helped stop the invasion that he saw flailing about Canterlot from above. Word spread fast for his kind, he did in fact get to see what transpired through the link of the hive-mind like everyone else had before him and most likely others as well, were cut off… He was thankful it wasn’t one of the pastels so he simply went back under the blanket and listened, the conversation however stayed by the door, he huffed lightly. Author's Note Still need an editor, the way I upload these is writing them directly after another chapter's out so I can keep going with the roll on this. Thing may not be consistent and my mind scatters bits everywhere but I'm trying to keep this going despite work being a pain lately. ^^ Hope you guys are enjoying reading this though, still a first-timer so go a bit easy please.
Knowledge and LearningAuthor's Note I'm so wonderful at updating this fic. I say this despite not updating in a solid two months or more. Knowledge and Learning He should’ve felt thankful for the pastel bunch but in truth, he really couldn’t care less about them unless they were getting ready to grind him into chitinous changeling paste, he shuddered at that thought as he silently listened to the the pony he over heard as being Cherilee, apparently a teacher if the mentioning of students was heard correctly. He guessed he landed near a pretty big village, he still thinks village because any city he’s infiltrated has the thinnest of forest surrounding it or nothing at all. Somewhat inconvenient for hiding but ah well. Soon enough he heard hooves leaving and fading away, him slinking out from under the blanket he was under and stretching a bit with a wince before he moved into Zecora’s potion/main room, starting to curiously rifle through her stuff, actually sniffing around at some things before he heard her clearing her throat and could practically feel the dry stare she was directing at him. He turned around and curiously tilted his head at her. “Have anything for split hooves?” He grinned sheepishly. The gunk on his back glowing a faint yellow, showing a half-lie, and giving Zecora an even more disapproving stare. “And maybe something to heal faster with?” He reiterated as he noticed the look and the goo changing colors, the goo shifting back to a bland kind of gray. Leaving Zecora to simply nod in satisfaction. “Patient you must be, for you have slept longer than what’s exactly good for you. I wasn’t exactly clear in just how long you’ve slept but that was mostly for safety reasons… When you fell asleep on my back you did not wake for many moons, I nearly thought you were going to be bug fertilizer for quite sometime but you somehow kept your breath.” “O-Oh. How long have I been asleep since then?” “Well. Since you spent every ounce of energy, both emotional and physical on walking around in the Everfree like a buffoon, as well as used self-emotional-cannibalism to keep yourself walking I can safely say that you’ve been out for a couple months, a few weeks in the woods, and a month in a half in my hut, spoon feeding a changeling with healing brew with artificial love made from a potion is a lot harder than it looks. That silver tongue your kind is famous for should be famous for lack of work it does for liquids.” “Hehe yeeeeaah… Long forked tongues aren’t good for drinking things, especially with my kind’s jaw shape, snakes have it down though at least but it’s something a changeling has to learn to do… Do I talk too much?” Zecora listened intensely to the words, finding herself a bit fascinated with her guest, but also utterly blindsided by his words. “Not at all, it’s really interesting to hear you speak truthfully, learning from an old species that has nearly nothing written about it is quite a treat.” He took this as a compliment. “Thank you then.” “I will change the bandages on your hoof soon, don’t walk on it.” She nodded in acknowledgement to his thanks but went to another room to get the paste for his hoof, coming back a couple minutes later with her preparing the tools needed to do the small task with the paste, she tilted her head curiously at seeing her guest staring out one of the windows, seeming to be in thought. “I’ve got the paste for your hoof.” “Can you teach me how to brew the potion you made, or do what you do in general?” He blurted out. While she was away he took the chance to look outside the window and study the ground and the things around Zecora’s hut as to try and get a sense of how she even found half the stuff she did and made it as such. He wanted to learn it, it could be helpful to the hive, if he had one to go back to that is. He was surprisingly okay with this thought, he figured if Zecora could teach him how to make the potion then he wouldn’t have to feed off of ponies, that would mean no more fighting, and he was more than okay with this, especially after the events of the Canterlot wedding completely shattering the mental shackles he had been under. As he came to terms she had appeared, and he took to the opportunity to ask her for help. He turned to her and held out his split hoof, smiling a bit. She was once again blindsided, by the question, the honesty behind it, and just how generally friendly he was being. She hardly expected that of a changeling with how her kin’s story had worded their kind. She hummed a bit while she took his offered hoof and carefully took the paintbrush in her mouth to dip it into the paste before applying it to the inside of the split, afterwards taking her time with her free hoof to busy it with scooping out a bigger blob of the gray paste, before applying it to the split hoof and filling the gap with it before she bandaged it. Now she had time to think about his question… And she was drawing a complete blank. Servonix had taken the silent time to watch her work, the numbing effects of the paste slowly setting into the limb as she worked and finished working. He saw her blank out a bit and carefully booped her, marveling briefly at the softness he felt before he grinned sheepishly at her deadpan expression. “Hi.” On one hoof he’s one of the changelings who attacked Canterlot, on the other, she had no idea why he did considering his personality, she was nursing him back to health and he’s shown nothing but respect, kindness, and curiosity, he was intelligent unlike how autonomous and monster-like her kin’s stories made changelings seem. But when she considered teaching him she also had thought of how she tried to teach the adolescent Applebloom, and how much of a disaster that had been, but at the same kind, his kind were made to adapt so she had to ask first. “Do your kind have any similarities to a cutiemark?” She asked with a slight tilt of her head. “No, we’re made to adapt to any situation, before the invasion I was ordered to a cook… I was mediocre at it at best. Same with when I was ordered to run a library, but that’s cause my hive’s queen didn’t know how any of that worked so the information didn’t send over the hivemind link and I was ordered to simply go with it. With it gone, I can actually learn something for myself, so technically my mind’s a fresh slate to work off of.” Zecora hummed a bit in thought, she heard hivemind being mentioned so now she guessed she had her answer for the attack, and found herself in a spot where she couldn’t exactly deny him the teaching, she could but that wouldn’t do any good, and if she didn’t then ponies might get hurt from a changeling’s appetite once he was healed a set free, and maybe he might go to feed other changelings and keep them at bay, although he’d have to come to her for a certain key ingredient to the potion, and that was a pegasus feather, not too hard to get but with the amount of potion that had to be made and the fact a certain six residents will not take the fact a freeroaming changeling is in the Everfree lightly by any means then she’d have to collect that ingredient in bulk herself. Something she can live with doing. And so she nodded, a small smile at having a new and much less volatile student working with her and potentially helping her. “I will teach you the ways of a shaman Servonix. It would do no good to deny you this pleasure. You will read a couple books while you heal however before you do any potion making or ingredient gathering.” She smiled a bit broader at her guest and newly appointed student, and had to bring a hoof up to stifle a chuckle at seeing his expression. Happy changeling faces apparently were kind of goofy looking in an endearing way. “I will bring them to you after you get back to bed. It has been a tiring day, but a good one for learning to say in the least. Cherilee was right in that regards today.” At that she moved away and lightly trotted to go get the two herbal books in question, ears flicking as she heard Servonix walk back to the bedroom she had let him stay in while she got him back up to health. He was more than ecstatic at having the chance to actually learn something without his queen there to try and supply him with info, his queen was a tyrant that was for sure, and sadly only educated in war rather than anything else. He only knew how to fight, doesn’t mean he liked to though. He slid himself under the covers, eager to read but also the tiniest bit bored with having to do so, that however was overruled by his want for the facts so long as the books kept interest.
