“I can’t believe I said all that,” Metamora sighed, “Hive, I’ve really screwed up. Normally I’d just kill any creature that threatened to blow my cover, but I have a vested interest in you continuing to be alive…”

“That’s… reassuring,” you retort pulling your shirt back on to complete your once discarded outfit, “Seriously though. You don’t have to worry about me. Your secret is safe.”

“How can I be sure? I’ve known you all of an afternoon! Maybe I should just kidnap you. But that would mean facing my failure in front of the hive, which would be monumentally worse than anything the ponies can possibly do to me.”

“Listen, this whole thing has been really weird for me. I suddenly appeared in a crazy world full of shape-shifters and talking animals, and you helped me take my mind off of that for a bit. It was still weird, but you kept me occupied for a while and for that I’m grateful. If I woke up alone in this forest, well, that’d feel more familiar than I’d like to admit,” you explain, your mind wandering to that loneliness you’ve always felt - even when someone was sitting right next to you.

“You don’t mean the waking up in a forest part, do you?” she asked, a look of understanding plain against her features.

“No. I didn’t. So, uh… Thank you for that.”

“I guess I know what that’s like,” Metamora admitted, “You know, always being something else, never getting to show your true colors… It’s very lonely even in a room full of others.”

“Aren’t we a sorry pair?” you chuckle, wrapping an arm around Metamora as she sat next to you.

“S-Stop that!” she cried out, “I-I’m still full and that’s not helping.” You withdraw your arm and hold it in your lap dejectedly. “S-Sorry, I just… I don’t want that to happen again. That’s not me, I’m not-” she faltered.

“Not what?” you ask, wondering how she planned to finish that thought.

“Not weak! I’ve fought my entire life to be the toughest, strongest, fastest, best Changeling out there and I go and ruin it all because I can’t handle a bit of love! That’s the most basic function of my existence and I screwed it up!”

“Hey, stop beating yourself up. What's the downside of all this?” you quip.

“Well first of all I have to deal with you now,” she snorts, smirking at you, “But really, even if you’re telling the truth that you’re not going to give me up I’ve still put myself in jeopardy just because I was hungry and prideful.”

“I’ve done plenty of dumb shit, and I turned out just fine. More or less.”

“Yeah, well I don’t have the luxury. I’m a wanted mare, or I would be if anypony found out about me! I’m an outlaw just because of what I am!”

You paused, you probably couldn’t one-up that one. In your world life was relatively easy, if at times unsatisfying or even frustrating. Your antics were the only threat to your continued existence, and you had only started to tap the well of your potential, or so you hoped.

“So how are we going to do this?” Metamora asked after a long pause.

“Do what?”

“Well I promised I’d get you out of these woods, and that means going to Ponyville-”

“Pfft… did they really name it Ponyville? Next you’re going to tell me that one of the biggest cities is named Mane-hattan. Get it?”

She said nothing, which only confirmed your suspicion. You rolled with snorts of laughter at the stupidity of it all before Metamora cut you off.

“Can you focus for a moment?”

“S-Sorry, just this all seems like something out of a silly kids TV show.”

“I don’t know what a TV show is, but nothing about this is childish or silly to me. My life is on the line here!”

“Alright, alright. Fine, what’s the plan then.”

“Well we have to get back to Ponyville, right?” she asked, watching as you nodded, “Which means we’ll be interacting with ponies, which means I’ve got to be in disguise. The one I showed you when I was… indisposed.”

“Wait you mean that orange thing is actually how you pass yourself off? I’ve never seen a pastel colored pony before.”

“Heh, you’re in for a whole new world of eye strain then. Anyway, I never told you anything about my disguise, did I?”

“Not really, just showing it off for all of three seconds before you fell right on your face,” you taunted.

“Ugh, there’s no need to remind me! Anyway, I disguise myself as a unicorn stallion named Atlas. He’s a-”

“Wait you disguise yourself as a dude? Gayyyy!”

“Anon I swear to the Hive!”

“Why a dude though? Got that mad pony penis envy? Who’s the pervert now, huh?”

“Do you ever shut up? No, I didn’t do it because I wanted a dick! I did it because he was an easy target, and exceedingly easy to kill.”

You stayed silent. Maybe you wanted to tone it down a bit after all.

“That’s right, I killed him right here in these very woods! I didn’t even get any use out of him! When I found him he had fallen and broken his neck… I did say he was an easy target. He begged me to put him out of his misery. I don’t enjoy killing anything, but I had no choice.” She said, getting to her feet once more and starting to walk along a nearby path

“I’m not sure if that’s more or less fucked up than just killing him outright…” you responded, more serious this time as you fell in cadence with her, a few paces behind.

“Yeah, well, the needs of the hive,” she started before looking off, letting that train of thought die before starting anew, “So Atlas was - is - a geobiologist; which means he studies how the environment affects its ecosystems. Incredibly fitting for the location, as there’s no better study than the Everfree for his field. And fitting as well for the mission since Twilight Sparkle and her friends have a long and storied history with this forest and the creatures it shelters. So he made the perfect disguise.”

“So we go back to Ponyville, me with my clothes on and you as Almanac or whoever it was-”

“Atlas! His name is Atlas. If we’re going to survive you need to take this seriously.”

“Fine. Atlas. So we go back to Ponytown and then what?”

“Ugh. We’ll go back to Ponyville and then I’ll introduce you to Twilight Sparkle as a creature I found in the forest.”

“I’m with you that far, but how did tiny pony you convince big angry human me to come with you.”

“Well I promised you food. You’re hungry right?” she asks as your stomach growls, “And I promised you shelter and safety. You’re not finding those in these woods, are you?”

“And how should I feel about being dragged cold and wet into a strange new world. Should I be worried that ponykind will string me up as some kind of science experiment, or have me killed for being a dangerous creature they can’t tame?”

“I can’t answer that for you, but the science experiment part might be more likely than you think. Twilight Sparkle is quite curious, and sometimes in disastrous ways.”

“So maybe I don’t want to come with you at all, then!” you decided, stopping in place. She stopped as well and turned to you.

“And die in these woods alone, with nothing to hear you scream as a cockatrice petrifies you and picks apart your flesh over the course of a month?”

“Okay, no. But what about your hive? Certainly I’d be welcome there with as much love as I stuffed you full of.”

“You’re right. You’d be an absolute trophy. But one wrong word and I’d be summarily decapitated for blowing my cover and you’d be imprisoned there. Kept alive only to be an outlet of love for the whims of the hive. Yes I thought long and hard about just paralyzing you and dragging you back. But it wouldn’t work.”

“Jeez, and you said we were friends!”

“I never said-” she started, remembering her drunken ranting, “I never should have said that. You’re nothing more to me than a source of food and a persistent threat to my continued existence!”

You winced. Something in those words cut harder than what was actually said. You realized that even in magical talking horse land you were still an unwanted liability.

“Listen, that was harsh. I’m sorry. I do like you, even if it’s only as a phenomenon. If I didn’t I wouldn’t be putting my life on the line for you. You’re useful to me, and that’s high praise from a Changeling. We don’t have friends, Anon. It’s just the way that it is.”

“Join the club,” you sigh, “Not having friends was kind of my m.o. back in the day.”

“Oh? Did your kind live in emotional solitude as well, shut off from the lifeblood you needed to survive?” Metamora asked, completely serious although her words cut deeper even yet.

“No. I just…” you started, “Even if I’m not your friend, I’m going to consider you mine, okay?”

Metamora looked at you intently, trying to read your expression, gather your intent. For a creature that was supposed to thrive off of emotion, she really seemed to be bad at understanding yours.

“I don’t know anything or anyone here, Em.” You admitted, looking downward, almost on the verge of tears as reality hit you especially hard “I need someone to keep me sane.”

“Em?” she asked back, tilting her head slightly.

“It’s a nickname. Em, you know, like the letter. Cause your name’s Metamora,” you explained, the serious tone now broken “It took some thought to come up with that one. It’s not like I can just take the first syllable and lop off the rest, then you’d be ‘Meh’ and that name’s kinda…” you shrugged, “meh.”

“Changelings don’t have nicknames either.”

“Well I do. And you’re not ruining my fun this time,” you declare, crossing your arms.

“Fine. Honestly you can call me whatever you want if you keep putting out like you did earlier.”

“Is that all I am to you, Em? A sex toy?”

“Yes.” Metamora answered matter-of-factly.

“God how did I get stuck with you!”

“I’ve been wondering the same thing this entire time. Let me know when you figure that out.”

“Ugh! I’m so insulted!” you exclaimed before realizing something, “Wait… You’re, uh, more or less inviting me to fuck you whenever I want, right? Cause I take it all back. I can get behind that deal.”

“Hive, you really are a pervert, aren’t you,” she asked, rhetorically if you had to guess. She started walking again, leading you to follow, “C’mon. Let’s get going, we need to make it back before sunset.”

You didn’t have much to say back. Or rather the things you did have to say weren’t particularly friendly. So you stayed quiet, watching as Metamora shifted into her disguise mid-stride, effortlessly becoming Atlas once more as you looked on with interest.

“Don’t worry human!” Atlas exclaimed, “I know just the way out of this forest. I’ve been through thousands of times and we’ll get you back to safety. Get you a warm bed to stay in and a nice meal, maybe a daisy sandwich and some hayfries.”

“Oh no… Please tell me ponies aren’t vegan. They are, aren’t they?”

“Not most of them. They do eat cheese and eggs, and drink milk. But other than that they’re herbivores. Gryphons and many animals are omnivores though. Us Changelings, however, we’ll eat anything when we occasionally need real, digestible food.”

“This may be the gayest thing I’ll ever say, but I’m going to die if I don’t get some meat in me.”

Author's Note

This wraps up the "Prologue." Tomorrow's chapter will catch some of you off guard, but after that it will be right back to our regularly scheduled programming.