It's been a few fairly uneventful days for Aurelic since his arrival at the castle. Solid has been showing him the ropes on how to properly use the equipment in the armory, despite Aurelic insisting that he knows how the equipment works. "Heh, I'll show you what I can REALLY do soon. Prepare for some foreign weapons, cause I'm going all out with my 'alien' designs baby!" Aurelic thinks gleefully to himself as he snuggles his bed sheets. Although not nearly as luxurious as the sheets in the old castle, they were still quite comfortable. Aurelic lets sleep overtake him for the night.

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

Aurelic floats around in his human form, floating above a muted, mismatched version of his hometown. The sky is overcast, shining a dull grey over the fairly normal-ish town. A nearby mountain range looming over the smaller commercial buildings in the area, with a guard tower for some reason. The streets are completely devoid of any living beings, and vehicles for that matter. The silence is almost deafening. Aurelic lands in front of what appears to be a mix between a grocery store and a mall, walking in via the automatic sliding glass doors. The interior of the building is dimly lit, still carrying the gray undertones found outside. The domed glass ceiling rising high above the three floors within the strange building. Aisles filled with non-refrigerated goods sitting uniform, yet out in the open on the ground floor towards the back and the right. To the left at the front lie produce stands, surrounded by glass door freezer shelves filled with boxes of frozen meals. Escalators leading to the second floor sit in the center of the room. The second floor can be seen from the first, due to large gaps surrounded by glass barriers lining the edges. The third floor is more difficult to see, though it's similar to the second floor. The escalators are off, but Aurelic just floats upward, observing the various shops on the second floor, all closed and empty. He lands to inspect the shops more closely, his footsteps echoing throughout the barren complex, breaking the eerie silence. He sits down on a nearby bench, idly observing his surroundings. At this point, he's partially aware that he is dreaming, though he can't seem to fully realize it. His idle observation is interrupted when a distinct clinking noise echoes through the mall, sounding nothing like the soles of his own shoes. He turns abruptly, almost completely forgetting he's in a dream. That is, until he sees someone immediately recognizable.

"Greetings, strange creature. We hath never seen a being so... peculiar before. What art thou?" The unmistakable form of Princess Luna inquires, her form looking like a transition from her pale immediate reformation form and her true starry-maned form.

"Oh, hello Princess. You uh, might not recognize me right now. Let me just..." In a flash of light, Aurelic switches to his changeling form. "There. Better?" He asks, hoping she'll buy it.

"Oh, we were not aware we were visiting thou, Aurelic." Luna explains, something clearly on her mind.

"It's fine. I mean, sometimes I dream I'm something else, like this." In another flash of light, a hulking, bat winged metal monstrosity covered in crimson armor pocked with green splotches. "See? I'm not always myself in my dreams." He explains in a much lower, intimidating mechanical voice dripping with venom.

Luna is noticeably taken aback by the dread this mechanized mass exudes. "That... While we have seen dream transformation many times, we have never encountered such drastic changes into horrifying beings before." She says with a hint of trepidation present in her voice.

Aurelic reverts back to his changeling form. "Sorry, I guess it WAS a bit much..." Aurelic apologizes, sitting back down on the bench and patting a spot next to him, a gesture Luna kindly accepts.

"What is this place? And why is it so... dreary? And empty?" Luna inquires, gesturing to the large, empty space.

Aurelic puts a holed hoof to his chin in thought. "To be honest, I don't really know why. My dreams have just always been like this. The sky is usually overcast, a starless nighttime, or a sort of dull dusk. But they're not always this empty." He elaborates, staring at the domed glass ceiling.

Luna places a wing on his back. Though he can't feel it, the meaning isn't lost on him. "We may have an idea why thou dreams this way. Perhaps, thou art feeling lonely?" Luna asks with a knowing smile.

"Maybe... I guess it's just because I'm acclimating to my new home here." Aurelic admits with a light chuckle.

"So thou art aware thou is dreaming, yes?" Luna inquires with an adorable head tilt.

"Yeah. I just, never really have that much control over my dreams. Environmentally at least, I can still move freely though them. Would you like a tour?" Aurelic asks Luna, a hint of glee in his eyes. He's never been able to truly share what his dream world is like with anyone before.

Luna holds out a hoof, which Aurelic promptly takes as she gets up from the bench. "It is good that chivalry is still present these days." Luna remarks with a smile, eliciting a blush from Aurelic.

The two walk side by side through the second floor of the strange mart-mall, descending the escalators and exiting the building, wandering into the calm and quiet streets occupying Aurelics mind. They take flight, or at least Luna does, while Aurelic floats. The rest of the dream consists of Aurelic explaining the significance of some places within the dreamscape.

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

As Forge is busy sharpening a sword on the grindstone, a guard enters the room with something under his wing. The guard approaches Forge dutifully. "I have a letter addressed to one Turner Forge." The guard says, holding the bright pink envelope out to Forge, who promptly stopped the grindstone to take the envelope in his magic.

"Thank you, sir." Forge says, receiving a curt nod from the guard. There's no mistaking who the letter is from, as if the coloration didn't already give it away. Forge opens Pinkie's letter, getting blasted in the face with confetti. "Gah!" Despite knowing it would probably happen, it still startled him. "You'd think the guards would check the letters for potential bombing devices inside!" Aurelic grumpily thinks, pulling the letter out to read it.

Hi there Forgey! You're invited to Gilda's Welcome to Ponyville party!

Make sure you bring a gift!

Your friend, Pinkie Pie

P.S. I know Gilda will seem a little mean, but please try to make her feel welcome.

"Well, guess that's happening today. And I know JUST what to bring." Forge thinks, a sinister grin plastered on his face. "Hey Solid, could you do me a solid and let me take the rest of today off? I'll make up the work on Saturday." Forge asks hopefully.

Solid nods. "Alright, but I'll hold you to your word. Now go have fun at whatever party I'm positive you were invited to." He says with an affirmative nod, before continuing work on repairs.

"Thank you! You won't regret it!" Forge half yells giddily, running out to his room.

Forge arrives at his room shortly, opening his desk's drawer and pulling out a novelty peanut brittle can. He snickers, placing it into his saddlebags. Forge dons his bags and adjusts his watch, heading out of his room. A few guards wheel out wheelbarrows filled with scrolls down the hallway. Seems they're still cleaning up from yesterday's scroll avalanche incident.

"I don't recall there being NEARLY that many scrolls... Must have been a real pain in the ass. Poor sunnybuns." He thinks idly as he exits the castle, on his way to have his gift wrapped. "This is gonna be so fucking rad."

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

Forge arrives at the entrance to Sugarcube Corner, exhausted and weak. "Note to self, rapid succession teleportation is REALLY draining." As he walks in, he receives an almost robotic ' welcome ' from Pinkie Pie. Until she notices the state he's in.

"Are you okay Forgey?" Pinkie asks, genuine concern permeating from her.

"God damnit me!" Forge thinks as he nods. "Yeah, I just need some water and I'll be fine. Don't worry." He half lies, removing the wrapped canned snakes gift from his bags, setting it on the table next to the other presents. He grabs a glass of punch, drinking it with a straw this time. He starts to feel a little better, though that's more or less from being in Pinkie's presence. His ear twitches, and he can't help but listen in on Applejack and Rarity's conversation.

"A griffon. So rare." Rarity states as she and Applejack walk in Forge's general direction.

"Actually, there's a whole land full of griffons. Griffonstone if I recall... Heck, I have a griffon co-worker. Her name's Gina, and that's about all she's ever said to me." Forge explains to the two.

"Well, I suppose we'll have to come visit you in Canterlot sometime. I've always wanted to go, you know." Rarity replies, beaming.

"Well, at least ya have an excuse to go now." Applejack remarks, getting an excited nod from Rarity.

"So how's it up in Canterlot anyway?" Applejack asks Forge, with that slight head tilt.

"I swear they're just MADE to be adorable. Oh, wait... yeah, they were." "Well, it's been pretty nice. I've got my own room in the castle, do the kind of work I love, and I even get paid to boot." Forge says with a grin.

Applejack looks deep in thought for a moment. "Don't ya think that's a little funny? Why would the Princess give a total stranger their dream job, let 'em stay in the castle, AND pay them? It's a might suspicious if ya ask me." Applejack states.

"... Holy shit, she's RIGHT. Thank you medium apple horse." Forge contemplates, rubbing a hoof on his chin with narrowed eyes, his gaze fixed on a floorboard.

Forge's train of thought is suddenly interrupted by a loud buzzing noise. He quickly turns to see the commotion. Gilda, looking a little fried after Pinkie got her with a hoof buzzer. "Heh, it smells like chicken right now. Whadda ya know." He muses.

Rainbow motions Forge over to the rest of the group, minus Pinkie and Gilda. "Listen up guys, you're gonna LOVE Gilda. We used to tear through the skies way back when. She's actually pretty cool once you get to know her." Rainbow says as she waits for Gilda.

Instead, Pinkie announces Gilda's presence, asking the ponies to welcome her. Forge remains silent, though he's not making an angry or spiteful face at all. Gilda immediately goes for the spicy vanilla lemon drops, dropping one into her beak. Almost instantly, she breathes out a gout of flame, which Pinkie takes advantage of by roasting a marshmallow on a stick she suddenly had. And of course, she fell for the drivel glass punch, having been desperate enough not to notice for a good few seconds.

"Heh, lightweight. I wonder what would happen if she had an atomic fireball. Do those even exist here? Gotta ask Pinkie about it later... Actually, scratch that." Forge ponders, now watching Gilda open his prank present first. Of course, they burst out, causing her feathers to puff out from the static electricity that may or may not have been added by Forge. He laughs along with the ponies in the room, reveling in Gilda's irritation. "That one was for you Fluttershy."

The party continues, as Forge chats with some of the ponies he doesn't know as well due to their background status. And it turned out to be boring as hell. There's only so long one can stand conversations about gardening. However, one of the mares in the room is looking at him, a little suspiciously. Forge was about to walk over to her, when Pinkie rolled out the two tiered sponge cake. "Heh, I got three tiered neighopolitan. Take that you overgrown featherduster."

Forge observes Gilda commit Spike abuse. It seems to be a common trend with Spike in general. As was done to him a little while back, Gilda was subjected to the ever frustrating relighting candles. "Hopefully this time there won't be a dumpster fire. Holy shit, I caused a LITERAL dumpster fire last time. Track record of almost burning down a building on accident, five times now. And Spike's drilling through the cake. This is why you deserve the abuse Spike."

Gilda continues to make an ass of herself throughout the party, the other ponies catching on that she might actually be a bitch. "Three, two, one." Gilda slips on some discarded Spike tainted cake, crashing into the kitchen marvelously. It was like watching a train wreck in progress, only you were excited about it instead of just morbidly curious. That was the straw that broke the camel's back, as Gilda rears up, flaring her wings and letting out an almost primal roar.

Forge just smiles evilly at her true colors being displayed for all in the room. "Fuck it, making one minor change won't matter." Almost as if he had a death wish, he levitates a discarded piece of cake behind Gilda as she's leaving, smacking her right in the back of the head with it while he watches from a safe distance. She storms back in, fury radiating like the damn sun engulfing his senses. "And I immediately regret my actions." Forge thinks, the pure, unadulterated rage affecting him more than he thought it would.

"WHO THREW THAT!?" Gilda all but screams. When the ponies look at each-other in confusion, she huffs, storming back out.

"JESUS that was a close call. Hey brain, NEVER piss off someone who's already livid as hell. I almost shat myself, if I could shit!" Forge berates, himself? Regardless, he turns back to the mare who had been staring him down earlier, and approaches her. "Hi there, I couldn't help but notice you looking at me earlier. Is there something you wanted?" He asks, soon enough sensing something... off, about the pony. Normally, ponies give off a tangible feeling of emotion, but this mare isn't producing any. In fact, it almost feels like a slight emotional vacuum.

"Oh? No, nothing. Sorry about that, sometimes I stare off into space, and sometimes that's at other ponies." The mare explains.

"Oh, well sorry to bother you then." Forge apologizes, turning back and walking off to the ponies he's actually familiar with.

"Well, I'd better get going back to Canterlot. It was nice seeing you again, even if Gilda kind of made things difficult." Forge says, not quite saying what he ACTUALLY thought of Gilda.

"It's all fine, don't worry about it. But, the party isn't over yet. I mean sure, the guest of honor left, but that doesn't mean we can't still have some fun!" Pinkie says, optimistic as ever.

"I guess it can wait... Eh, what the he- eck. Yes, heck. I actually wanted to know what all of you've been up to down here." Forge says with a warm smile. Despite his better judgement, he ends up staying, partying the day away with his friends that he still can't believe he has.

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

The mare had slipped out of the party, heading into an alley a few buildings down and reverting to her changeling drone form. She pulls out a small device from within a hole in her leg, igniting it with her magic. "My queen, it seems we have an unidentified changeling running around. And apparently he lives in Canterlot at the castle. What would you have me do about this?"

"If he's not from the hive, where could he be from? I'll have more scouts looking for any possible rival hives we may have missed. In the meantime, keep a close eye on him when he's not in the castle. Find out as much as you can about him. That is all." The connection cuts, the device going dormant once more.

"What are you..." She rhetorically asks, watching him exit the building late into the night. She follows him as he teleports, remaining out of sight and undetected thanks to her lack of emotions.

Author's Note

Edit 2/27/22: Doing away with the hivemind thing, as they don't seem to have it in the show, and used a four-object setup for a large fiery holo-screen thing. I believe a singular, similar thing could function like a phone, rather than the full on skype call they used.