He rolls over, mentally cursing the sun for ruining his sleep. He tried to pull his blanket over his head, but there is a distinct lack of a blanket. He notices that something else was wrong. First, he can't feel his fingers, and he feels two new limbs. "Wait what!?" He thinks as his eyes shoot open immediately, the bright light of the sun and the sounds of nearby animals assaulting his senses. He squints, blinking and attempting to adjust his vision to the jarring sunlight while he covers his ringing ears. Once eyes and ears are adjusted, he looked at his hands, or at least where they would've been. "Black hooves with holes? Holy shit I'm a changeling! Wait... shit, I'm in that damn... incomplete? Evil? Husk? Whatever this loveless, parasitic form is. Oh no, what if they attack me!?" He starts panicking, screaming and thrashing about like a newborn infant that can't fully control their limbs yet. Probably not the best idea since he doesn't want to be found. Once he gets that out of his system, he notices the nearby duck pond. He tries to run over to it, falling with~~out~~ style, and spitting the dirt out of his mouth. "Note to self, dirt tastes horrible. Okay... Gotta move like a dog, move right foreleg at the same time as left hind leg." He stumbles again, moving his legs experimentally. "Come on... a fucking toddler can do this, why can't I?"

Once he eventually figures out how to walk, he stumbles over to the lake and stares back at his reflection. He sees a changeling drone looking back at him with chartreuse eyes, and a chartreuse fin leading into a dark gold color. His wings are a translucent pale green, his carapace is a dull gold, and his chitin is the typical black color. "Well, at least I know who I turned into. My character Aurelic. But I can't show my face like this. And impersonation is out of the question. I know, I'll just change up into a unicorn with similar features! But first, pizza muscle testing time."

The newly dubbed Aurelic tests his new body, moving his newly acquired wings in an attempt to fly. He promptly falls flat on his face, tasting the dirt once more. "Ugh, so I can't fly properly yet. What about my horn?" Aurelic thought, trying to lift a nearby stone with magic. He furrows his brow? in concentration, squinting at it like an old enemy. Nothing happens. "Okay, you don't just think it, you need to 'feel' it. I have an idea of how to do that... if pop culture is anything to go by in magic pony land. Here goes nothing." He mentally reaches out, like a child holding their arms out in the dark while looking for a lightswitch. He finds a new internal force, pushing it towards his forehead. The stone becomes wrapped in a green aura, moving where he thought it should go. "So, I guess I just have to imagine holding it, and it goes where I want it to. Who knew that levitation was that simple? Now, how does my voice sound?"

"Testing, testing." Aurelic says aloud to himself.

"So it just sounds like my old voice. Eh, I guess it could've been worse, like not being able to talk at all, having a cringey ass nasally voice, or having that weird reverb." He thought to himself. "Well, what about transforming? How the hell do I use that?" Aurelic thinks about it for a moment, reaching out to his magic the same way as before. Slowly, green fire starts crawling up his body, leaving a newly half-baked similar looking unicorn body in its path. His new coat is stark white in color, while his mane and tail are chartreuse with golden highlights. His eyes are still the same color, just only with the irises like pony eyes instead of full color bug eyes. His flank is still blank. "Come on brain, think of a name, and make a mark that matches... it's not rocket science. Ooh, I think I've got it! I feel like I should be a blacksmith here. What would work with that..."

After a while of brainstorming, he settles on a new persona. A mark resembles a hammer with a gear shaped head on it takes its place proudly on his plot. "Happy birthday Turner Forge. This is gonna be a fucking train wreck and a half."

"Now... location location location... Trees. Unhelpful. Not spruce looking and no dark, creepy canopy or self-moving clouds. And I'm not dead yet... Where the fuck am I?" Forge examines his surroundings further. "Maybe I'm in the Whitetail woods? Shit, I can't get to Ponyville from here as easily as I could've from the Everfree. Well, navigation wise. I guess it's good I don't need to worry about any real predators out here. And even then, I have a mental log of all kinds of weird shit to turn into. Fuck me. Fuck this. I need to find a pathway, that'll hopefully lead me out of the woods." Forge starts to walk north, or south, since he didn't know what time of day it was. He eventually finds a path, choosing to go left. Keeping an eye on the sun's position, it looks like it's descending, so it must be the afternoon. With that in mind, he continues forward. "Might as well pass the time by thinking of a life or something. After all, what's an OC without a backstory? No tragedy though, that shit's overused. I need something... plausible..." Forge chuckles at the thought. He seems to be getting better at walking, eventually walking 'normally'.

-<>~--*--~<>-<

After a while, Forge stands at the edge of the forest. "Okay, so I know where I am, now I need to know when. I should ask about the summer sun celebration first, and if it already happened, inquire about chocolate rain. Actually, I should check if the library is still there instead, as that would place me before the season four finale at the least. Maybe just look around and try to figure out my place in time during." Forge ponders as he walks towards Ponyville. "So far, no giant crystal castle in sight. That's helpful. I should still check the library though. You can never be too careful. Mental sidenote, avoid Pinkie Pie. If I draw too much attention to myself, she might end up making me spill the beans on my past unintentionally. Or worse, too much exposure could give me diabetes. I need to be careful about what I say, don't wanna reveal the fact I know a lot about future events. Or change them too much. That won't end well." Forge was so deep in thought, he didn't notice that he was already in town. He accidentally bumps into someone, er, somepony. Dazed a little, he stands back up.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. Are you alright?" Forge asks, freezing when he realizes who he bumped into. Fluttershy.

"SHIT!" Forge started panicking internally, locking up physically and mentally. Fluttershy just looked at the ground, hoofing it slightly.

"That's okay, I'm sorry." Fluttershy barely whispers. Forge could smell... something.

"The fuck is this? Why does it smell like... what does this even smell like? Ugh, think later... at least I could hear what she said, guess my hearing is slightly more sensitive than it used to be." Forge thinks to himself. "Well, again, I'm sorry for bumping into you. What's your name?" He asks.

"Fluttershy..." She says.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Turner Forge." He says.

"Nice to meet you too..." Fluttershy replies, slightly surprised that he could hear her without asking for her to repeat herself.

"Well, do you know where the library is? I need to check on something really quick." Forge asks, hoping that she could help him.

"It's that way." Fluttershy says, pointing towards the library's direction. Her nervousness seemed to lessen a little bit. At least, that's what he thinks.

"Thank you, Fluttershy. Have a nice day!" Forge thanks her, walking in the direction Fluttershy had shown him.

"Whew, dodged a bullet there. Now to see if I can find out what season I'm in. Aside from either Spring or Summer." Forge ponders as he continues toward the library.

-<>~--*--~<>-<

Thankfully, Forge got to the library without being found by Pinkie. "Let's just hope it stays that way for now." He thinks as he walks up to the door, knocking on it three times. Nobody answers. Just then, Forge noticed a random pony walking by. "Excuse me, do you know who works here?" He asks the mare.

"The librarian does, silly." She says dismissively. Another new smell.

"Well, at least it's probably not Plurple Durple. She'd probably have had Spike answer by now like the not a slave he is." Forge ponders. "Oh, thanks anyway. Have a nice day." He says.

"You're welcome. Dipstick." The random pony says, smiling. For some reason, he can tell it's not genuine.

"Okay, I guess I should see if I can get a job. Maybe I should go to town hall." Forge thinks to himself, as he starts walking towards said town hall.

-<>~--*--~<>-<

Arriving at town hall, Forge knocks on the door.

"Come in. It's a public building." A very uninterested voice says. Forge opens the door, and notices that there's some mild scent permeating from the secretary. It almost makes him gag. The mare is looking up from her paperwork, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you know how I can get a job in town? I just got here and need employment." Forge asks as politely as he can.

"Over there." The mare says, pointing to a board with various slips of paper hanging on it. She returns to filling out her paperwork.

"Thank you" Forge says, walking over to the board. "Let's see here... This one looks easy enough." He thinks as he removes the paper from the board. "Hayburger waiter, pays ten bits an hour. Good enough, any money is better than no money. I'm also excellent with memory games, so this shouldn't be too hard." Without another thought, Forge leaves town hall, levitating the paper and heading for the address written on it.

Once Forge went out the door, the worst. Possible. Thing. Happens. The pink one spots him, gasps, and becomes a blur. "Damnit! I've been spotted! I mean, I knew it would happen eventually, but not THIS soon. Where the fuck is a cardboard box when you need one?" He worries, considering he dreads what the pink bringer of ~~doom~~ fun has in store for him. Forge continues warily walking to the Hayburger, hoping his interview goes well. "If it doesn't, I could always apply for the post office or something, Derpy/Ditsy is alright and all, but that one guy with super cloudy glasses sucks. I wonder if they hire vision impaired ponies on purpose. Of course, probably some fucking stupid politician's handiwork made when they were bored."

-<>~--*--~<>-<

Forge walks through the front door of the Hayburger. He walks up to the counter, the smell of hay, and a large mix of weird new smells in the air.

"Excuse me miss, I'm here for the open waiter job." He says as he sets the paper he's levitating on the counter.

"The manager is in the room over there, you should go speak with her." The cashier says, pointing to a door to the right side of where the counter ends.

"Thank you." Forge says, picking up the paper with his magic and walking to the door. "Hopefully, this goes well. Interviews are just advanced lying after all, nothing unlike what I'm already doing anyway. Please don't need a Social Security Number or anything."

-<>~--*--~<>-<

Forge leaves the Hayburger, noticing that it was late in the afternoon. "The interview went great! Now I have a job starting tomorrow!" He happily thinks to himself. Thankfully, getting a paying job in Equestria is much simpler than on Earth. And you get paid cash weekly! Only problem is that he doesn't have anywhere to put it. "Eh, one week should be enough time to get saddlebags or something. Maybe I should stop by Rarity's later, see if I can fix that problem once I have money." Forge thinks as he walks around aimlessly. "I still need to take care of my living situation, maybe to the castle of the two sisters? Just for a little while, I'll have to not be there by the time the summer sun celebration happens. Then once I have money, I need to rent a house, and save up to buy it." Forge's train of thought is abruptly interrupted by a growling stomach. "But first, I need to figure out a food situation. I have no idea if changelings can eat things other than love, so I'll need to be cautious about what I eat."

Forge was on his way to the Everfree forest, until he saw a large group of ponies walking to Sugarcube Corner. "Well, I think I know what's going on there, at least there'll be free food. Even if it is just sweets." He thinks as he walks toward the bakery where the pink one resides. "Let the disaster fun commence." Forge spots a few familiar background characters as he walks, and some that he didn't recognize. A few ponies look at him and start whispering to each other. "Definitely talking about me. Better not dwell on it." He turns to a mare. "Hey, what's going on?" Forge asks, feigning curiosity.

"I think Pinkie Pie is throwing a party for a new pony in town. Wait a minute... I haven't seen you around here before, are you new here?" she asks him in response.

"Yeah, my name's Turner Forge. Who are you?" Forge asks her, already regretting starting a full blown conversation. "Damn pleasantries."

"I'm Sparkler, nice to meet you." She says, her curiosity sated.

"Nice to meet you too, Sparkler. I guess I should head inside for the party." Forge says, walking through the front door of the bakery. "When in an awkward situation. Walk the fuck away."

"Oh no! You weren't supposed to be here yet! Now I can't surprise you." A somewhat disappointed Pinkie Pie sighs.

"Sorry, I just saw a lot of ponies walking over here. Curiosity got the better of me." Forge apologizes, adding a bullshit excuse for good measure.

"It's okay. What's your name new pony?" Pinkie asks, her enthusiasm returning ten fold.

"It's Turner Forge, who are you?" Forge asks, knowing full well who she is already.

"I'm Pinkie Pie! The super duper party pony of Ponyville!" She says, contagious happiness practically radiating off of her.

"Thank you." Forge says, spotting the food and promptly walking over to it. Taking careful note of the lemon drops, he picks up a double chocolate chip muffin. Cupcakes are for cannibals. "I don't think this Pinkie would do that, but better safe than sorry. Who knows what kind of fucky-wucky AU I could've landed in." Forge thinks as he takes a bite of the muffin. "This. Is. FUCKING. DELICIOUS!" He thinks, now unceremoniously shoving the muffin in his face hole. A few of the ponies at the party give him strange looks and back away from him slowly. Needless to say, Forge doesn't give a shit. He wolfs down two more muffins, noting a flavor other than chocolate that he couldn't place. "How do these things taste so good!?" He wonders, when Pinkie suddenly pops up next to him.

"I'm glad you like them! I didn't know what you liked, so I made everything!" Pinkie exclaims happily.

"You didn't have to go through all of that trouble for me Pinkie. But thank you anyway!" Forge says, about to continue stuffing his face with the sugary goodness that lay before him.

"Don't be silly, I love baking!" Pinkie exclaims.

That's when it dawns on him. "Wait... She LOVES baking! That must be why these are so good! And why they're so filling. Guess putting love into your cooking is able to feed changelings. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

"Do you like it?" Pinkie asks.

"Abso-freakin'-lutely!" Forge exclaims in-between bites.

"I was hoping you would! You should play one of the games, they're a great way to make new friends! Let's try pin the tail on the pony!" Pinkie says, dragging Forge over to 'pin the tail on the pony' and hoofing him the yellow tail. Forge was about to protest, but Pinkie already has him blindfolded and is spinning him around. He just cooperates and walks forward, pinning the tail where he thought the flank was. Pinkie lifts the blindfold, and he sees where he put it. On its forehead. "Uh, I think you're supposed to put the tail on the other end." She says, giggling.

"What if I was trying to give it a toupee? Who says it has to be a tail?" Forge says, admiring the Trump pony he created by accident.

"You're funny, I never thought of it that way before!" Pinkie says, now looking like she's contemplating something. Forge quickly walks over to the punch bowl before she can grab him again. He picks up a glass and tries to drink some of the punch, only for it to run down his neck. He hears Rainbow Dash laughing from the other side of the room.

"Damnit Rainbow horse!" Forge mentally curses the rainbow maned pegasus that is undoubtedly responsible for the prank. He locates the drivel holes, and drinks through them instead. Forge isn't going to give her the satisfaction of winning. ~~Un~~fortunately, this causes her to walk up to him.

"Heh, guess you found one of the drivel glasses. But, why are you still using it?" Rainbow asks, confused.

"Well, I don't want to waste perfectly good punch." He says, leaving out the fact that it's mostly just his stubbornness.

"Oh... Okay then. I'm Rainbow Dash, what's your name?" Rainbow asks, still a little confused.

"I'm Turner Forge, nice to meet you Rainbow Dash." He says.

"Nice to meet you too. Say, why don't you go take a look at your presents." Rainbow says with a smirk.

"Wait... I HAVE PRESENTS?!" Forge thinks, oblivious to Rainbow's smirk. He walks over to the presents, about to pick up a cylinder, until Pinkie zips in front of him.

"WAIT, you can't open your presents before we have cake!" Pinkie says, zipping into the kitchen and wheeling out a large cake. Forge approaches the two layered masterpiece. "Ididn'tknowwhatflavoryoulikedsoImadebothlayersNeighopolitan!" Pinkie says in an extremely fast manner, similar to a ~~coked out drug addict~~ child on a sugar rush.

"Neighopolotan. Really? The puns are too fucking much. Even by my standards. Okay, so if the punch was in the drivel glasses, these candles are probably the re-lighting variety." Forge deduces, blowing out the candles. He's right. "So, if I remember correctly, these kinds of candles spark. When the spark hits the smoke, they relight. Now I just need to get rid of the smoke..." Once Forge blows out the candles again, he tries to move the smoke with his magic. Tries being the key word. The candles shoot up, hitting the ceiling before falling on the ground. "I guess that works too. Looks like I still have a lot to learn magic wise." Forge thinks as a few more ponies give him strange looks. He gives a sheepish grin, slowly picking the candles back up and floating them over to the garbage. Then, there was pink.

"Woah! You didn't have to do THAT to the candles! Wait, what's that smell?" Pinkie says, sniffing at the air intently, nostrils flaring in an exaggerated manner.

"FIRE!" Some random background pony shouts, pointing to the now burning garbage can.

"SHIT! THE CANDLES RE-LIT IN THE CAN!" Forge thinks, visibly panicking. "WHY DIDN'T I PUT THEM IN A BOWL OF WATER OR SOMETHING?!" Thankfully, Pinkie grabs a bucket of water from behind a table and puts out the garbage fire. "Crisis averted."

"Good thing I have buckets of water stashed all around Ponyville! Just in case of fire emergencies." Pinkie says, bouncing away with the now empty bucket in her mouth. The garbage is filled with water now, and the candles are the first things to float up. This causes a pang of guilt in Forge.

"Great... five minutes into the party and I've already almost burned the place down." Forge looks down at his hooves. He looks back up a little while after.

"I'm sorry, everybody. I didn't mean to throw the candles into the ceiling, or set the garbage on fire. I guess I need to pay more attention to things." Forge apologizes, hoping to calm the situation down. A few ponies are calmer now, but most of them are still unsure. Some are clearly confused by the use of 'everybody'.

"It's alright, everypony makes mistakes sometimes. Let's have some cake!" Pinkie says, forgiving him easily.

"That was a little too easy... Then again, it's Pinkie Pie." Forge thinks as he gets a slice of his cake. He takes a small bite. "HOLY SHIT! THIS IS EVEN BETTER THAN THE MUFFINS!" He proceeds to wolf down the slice of heavenly goodness. Once he finishes his cake, he walks over to the presents again. He looks over at Pinkie, she nods. "I wonder how this 'hoof grabbing' thing works. No time like the present." Forge thinks, placing his hoof on the cylinder shaped present. The present sticks to his hoof, somehow.

"Okay, these are probably canned snakes... Oooh, time for a little revenge." Forge thinks as he turns to Rainbow Dash, who is already making a little bit of a face. He walks up to her. "Judging by that look on your face, this is one's from you?" Forge asks Rainbow. She looks a little shocked at his deduction.

"Uh, no?" She says in an attempt to cover her tracks. Forge smiles.

"Really? Then I suppose I'll just open it then..." Forge says as he points the can over towards her, opening it rapidly with a devilish grin.

Lo and behold, fake spring loaded snakes shoot out at the pegasus responsible for setting the prank up. Her mane is frizzed a bit from it, a look of pure disbelief gracing her face.

"You... but... How!?" Rainbow asks, flustered and a little impressed at the reversal of her prank.

Forge smirks. "I'm not a complete idiot, I know when someone's trying to prank me." He says in a playful tone.

Forge gets to opening the rest of his gifts. The rest of the gifts are: A brass watch, a hammer with a wooden 'handle', a plain dark blue coffee mug, and plain white saddle bags with a note taped on that says 'Come to Carousel Boutique for customization, Rarity.' "Huh, that's awfully convenient." Forge thinks, putting the watch on his right forehoof. "It's 6:47? Okay then." He places the rest of his gifts (including the canned snakes gag, not about to let that go to waste) inside the saddle bags, and sets them on his back. Then he walks over to Pinkie.

"Thank you for the party Pinkie Pie, I had a good time. Even with that little hiccup." Forge says.

"You're welcome! I'm glad you liked it!" She says, bouncing up and down mid sentence. With that, Forge walks toward the exit.

"Well, looks like I'm going to find that old castle. Everfree forest, here I come."

-<>~--*--~<>-<

Forge is heading for the Everfree forest, though none of the ponies in town know that yet. "I need to get to the Everfree before nightfall, don't wanna end up turned to stone, or straight up dead. Poison joke could be a problem if I don't pay attention to the path." He thinks as he walks into the foreboding forest.

Forge strolls along the path, looking for the ledge area he remembered the Mane six falling from. He looks around, finding no indication as to where he was supposed to leave the path. Eventually, he sees the top of a structure in the distance and walked directly off the path towards it. "Ledge ledge ledge, where is it? Oh well, I'll find it soon enough"

He finds the ledge he was looking for, leaping down a series of ledges to the bottom. "Ledge, check. Next stop, manticore territory! This can't possibly be fatal in the slightest!" Forge spots the nearby feline, asleep. "I wonder if a changeling can turn invisible. No time like the present!" Forge closes his eyes, reaching into his magic again. For some reason, there's no green fire when he turns invisible. "Success! I will become the best at hide and seek now!" He quickly discovers that it becomes difficult to walk when you can't see your own legs.

-<>~--*--~<>-<

Eventually, after learning how to walk for the third time in his life, Aurelic resumes his path. "Now I just need to slip past him..." He walked by slowly, keeping absolutely quiet with every deliberate, calculated step. "I'm doing it, I'm actually doing it! Like a snake in the grass!" Unfortunately, his excitement causes him to let out a chirp. The manticore looks up, searching for the source of the noise. When he can't find it, he lays his head back down and continues sleeping. "I chirped? I fucking CHIRPED?!" Forge thinks in disbelief. "Note to self, keep THAT in check."

Aurelic keeps walking, until he finds the darker area within the forest. He walks forward slowly, until the ground becomes wet and sticky. "Ugh, focus Aurelic. I have a castle to get to!"

He passes through fairly quickly, happening upon the river he was looking for. "Okay, so without Steven flailing around I can just cross." He thinks as he starts trotting through the river. Because of his invisibility, he could see where his hooves make contact with the ground through the water, with nothing visibly moving it. "That's weird. I can see and feel the water passing through my invisible leg holes, it feels funny." As soon as Aurelic finished crossing, he notices a very baffled Steven Magnet staring at the river. "Yeah, I'll talk to him later. If I remember." He keeps walking, looking back briefly at the still confused serpent.

Aurelic reaches the old rope suspension bridge, which is surprisingly intact. "I guess Nightmare Moon broke the bridge before the Mane Six got here. I hope it's stable, since I can't fly yet." He thinks as he tests the first few planks. The planks hold firm. "Good, though I still need to be cautious." Aurelic thinks as he walks slowly, and lightly across the bridge. Once he makes it across, he's right at the castle he was looking for. The sun is beginning to set, giving the castle a beautiful orange glow. "Hell yeah! I am homeless no more!" Aurelic thinks happily as he approaches the large doors of the ruin. Upon entering, he notices two thrones sitting at the end of the room, and the elements on a middle podium. Tattered banners and spiderwebs adorn the massive walls. There's a hole where a stained glass window once was. Half of the roof is scattered on the floor. "Eh, it's still somewhat intact, just need to find one of the princess' old bedrooms. Whichever one's in better condition."

Aurelic navigates the long corridors of the castle, taking note of the damages. "I can use these differences to memorize routes and navigate easier! I never thought I'd be grateful that Nightmare Moon destroyed this place the way she did." By the time he finds one of the bedrooms, pale moonlight shimmers through the windows of the large room. Aurelic takes note of the moon themed decor lining the walls and furniture. "Must be Luna's room. Eh, I'll look around the palace tomorrow. I'm fucking TIRED." Aurelic walks up to the dark blue canopy bed, remaking the mess until it looks proper again. He settles into the soft plush mattress, resting his head on the soft pillow and drifting off. But not before one final thought crosses his mind. "When Luna regains her power and is able to dream walk again, I'll be completely screwed. Maybe I need to be honest about what I really am before then. I hope she doesn't go through my memories though, especially if she finds out I slept in her old bed. Or worse, if she sees all of the porn, all of the clop, all of the fics... And just how many of the mares I'd stick my dick in... Or even worse, any of my embarrassing memories." Aurelic ponders as he drifts off into dreamland completely, becoming visible once more.

Author's Note

Okay, I combed through and remade a few things in here. Hopefully it's not as much of a bore to read through. If there's anything else I missed, let me know so I can take care of it. Thank you.

Edit 2/17/20: Tense fixes to present to avoid clashing of tenses.

Edit 2/26/22: Revising the story yet again. Currently working on it at the time I'm writing this, though it will most likely be done when most of you guys get back here. I've decided to completely scrub his former name, as it's unimportant to the story overall.