The Doppelganger Society
This was the place for me to wallow. Ever since I had lost my hive, and been imprisoned in stone, I had almost given up. The deep threads of my hatred sunk into the Earth and rooted a tree. This tree bore the fruits of despair.
When they had foolishly released us from the stone, in an attempt of so called reformation, I had complied. A short while later, I had fled. I had fled far away, beyond the eyes of that moronic princess and her ever annoying friends. How I hated and despised her…. How I LOATHED the effort of reformation.
Cozy had been the only one susceptible to such things. She had always loved the concept of friendship. Her view of it, though, was more twisted than that of a peppermint stick.
Tirek had not given in and had been cast back into stone. They had made me stare at the lifeless statue as if to imply some sort of threat. I took this with a grain of salt. The princess had never truly destroyed anyone. She was far too soft for that.
In my travels, I had settled in a village outside of Ponyville. It's location had laid somewhere beyond the Everfree forest. The ponies here seemed quite happy, and I had gotten by feeding off of their love. Right now I was under the guise of a pretty unicorn, and I often would go on dates to suck out the lustful emotions of stallions.
Yet it was still empty. My hive had cut off from me, and I felt more alone than ever. I hated ponies… HATED them.
Right now I was settled on a bench, overlooking the stones of once living creatures. I had felt oddly at peace in this place. It was often quiet, and the stones of many ponies long past were overgrown. It wasn't often fresh graves were dug here.
Today I was trying to decompress. I was exhausted and it had been quite awhile since my last love meal. I shut my eyes, enjoying the ample sunshine that was cast through the branches of the willow shading the bench.
The birds tweeted and little things scuttled around. Graveyards were peaceful…. They were one of the most peaceful places I had ever been.
That was until I heard the sobbing. The wretching cries of a pony, wailing over the grave of a lost soul. I couldn't help but feel irritated. Morphing into a bird, I landed on a branch nearby the weeping party. I felt a little ignorant, having not noticed the group gathering for a memorial service.
An older pony was leading a speech, "He will be sorely missed. We will always remember who he was. He was a bright and young stallion, and he didn't deserve to go so soon."
Intrigued I watched. There appeared to be a picture of the young stallion, grinning, on a poster board. My gaze wandered over the small crowd. Pity…. He had no legacy and didn't seem to have impacted many ponies. A pretty and young mare stepped out of the crowd. She wore a black veil and I could see her hair was braided into pretty lavender loops.
"I….I… I know I was only in his life for a few years, but… I truly did love Lemongrass. He meant more to me…" the mare choked up and another pony came rushing out and pulled her back.
I was surprised when she shoved the older mare away and continued, "he had a short life… but he was a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. I will always love him and I will always miss him."
I watched as the procession continued. They all laid flowers down on the freshly dig grave. Finally the mare asked, "c... could I be alone for a bit please? I'll catch up… I promise."
I watched as the other ponies left. After awhile I listened to her, "If only I could have seen you one more time. If only I could have been there in the hospital so you wouldn't have felt alone."
A devilish thought seemed to cross over my mind. I examined the poster one last time. Silently I flew down behind her and allowed my form to change. She jumped when I cracked a twig under my hoof. As she turned around, she gasped, "L...LEMONGRASS?! But you...you can't be here! You're there!"
I changed my voice to match that of a stallion. Well….a girly stallion, "I assure you my love… it's me. I can only stay for a moment though, so we should make this quick."
"Are you a ghost?!" The mare shook, "oh it doesn't matter! I'm just so glad you're here…!"
She dashed towards me and hugged me close. I was shocked and slammed by the full force of love emanating from her. I quickly started to drink it in as she spoke, "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry you had to be all alone! Was it painful?! I tried to get there in time, but it was so unexpected I couldn't!"
As I continued to drink in the bittersweet tang of the mares love I spoke as realistically as I could, "Darling…. Death is a part of life. Life is a part of death. It only hurt for a moment…. Then I was free. I'm in a better place…. I'm not in pain anymore. I loved you with all my heart and it will take time to heal those wounds, but darling. I must go…." Was that something a dead pony would say?
I tore myself away from the mare and dashed over to the fresh grave, turning into a bug as I did. I felt more energetic then I had in months. That pure agonizing love was disgusting. Yet… drinking it was such a wonderful experience.
My gaze drew upward. The mare was looking utterly exhausted but as she turned to walk away I couldn't help but have the sense she seemed more at peace.
Had I just helped a pony? I scoffed. Was it really that easy to manipulate their emotions? I smirked, a devilish idea forming in my mind. Perhaps this could be useful…. Perhaps I could pull something like this off. It was too risky constantly hovering around the same town and feeding from there.
But this….this was perfect. I could play it off as if I was some sort of phantom. I could get my share of love from these depressed and disgusting wretches mourning over things of the past.
But what of my hive? What of the others that were gone? The part of me that had so callously been ripped away?
'I'll figure something out…. I'm a queen after all!'
With that last thought, I went back to the place I was staying for the moment and settled in. Feeling satisfactory for the first time in a very long time, I settled into a comfortable sleep.
Chapter 1
When I awoke a day later, after having consumed that delicious love, I felt a lot more energetic. I walked over to my mirror and transformed into my usual unicorn form.
This village I had decided to stay in was rather small. I had taken up a job under the guise of a unicorn named Pixie Dust. My dark purple main fell straight down across my shoulders. I blew a bang out of my face and haphazardly tied my hair into a bun.
Living in a village did not come free. I still had to make my bits. It was irritating, serving random ponies. I was a queen and, if anything, they should have been serving me!
Yet I had no choice in the matter. As I looked at my apron and my drab hair ties into a bun, I felt overcome with hopelessness. Would I ever get my hive back? Why did they give in to the disgusting creatures who wanted nothing but to "be kind to each other"? How could they RADIATE the very thing they used to feed on?!
I shook it off. I had a source of love and a place to live. I'm sure I could rebuild from there. It would certainly be a long time before I was back at my full power, but I would get there bit by bit.
I was cut off from my contemplation by a knock on my door. Fear suddenly sliced through me, had they found out I was the former Changeling Queen, hiding among them? I hesitantly walked to the door and did my best to use my fake voice, "uhhh who is it?"
"Hey! It's your Coworker! Cinnamon Wishes! You know… uhhh mare with curly swirly locks and a light pink body?" The voice outside the door spoke in an all too familiar tone.
I opened the door. In front of me was, indeed, the pony in question. Her hair was brown and white with wild swirls sloshed throughout it. Her body was a light pink and she was wearing the apron we were so forced to be contained in during our forced slavery for survival. Cinnamon Wishes was grinning a toothy grin. I couldn't help but scowl as I bluntly said, "what do you want?"
Cinnamon Wishes spoke kindly to me, which reminded me too much of a certain tiny pegasus, "Well… I know you are new here. We have talked at work a few times and I wanted to see if you wanted to walk to work with me? Since I trained you I know you usually work Tuesdays."
I was immediately suspicious. I narrowed my eyes. Was this some kind of pony trick? If so I was not about to fall for it. I responded, "Actually...no. I do not want to walk with you to work. How the hell do you know where I live? Did you follow me??"
Cinnamon Wishes appeared to be offended by her comment, "no… I'm your neighbor! I'm not some creepy stalker!"
I jumped a little at that. Ever since I had moved into the cheap homestead, I had openly avoided my pony neighbors. Whenever they said hi I would ignore them. Maybe I shouldn't have…. In order to blend in, I would need to get to know at least a few of the ponies. For instance, I had no idea there was even a younger pony next door. Even more of a slip up on my account, was the fact I worked with said pony.
Finally, after some consideration, I responded, "Ok… well. I only thought some older ponies lived next door… I've never seen you around."
Cinnamon wishes sighed, "Well...I'm not usually home. I've been working a lot because my parents are older and they can't stay on their hooves for too long. So yes… I'm your neighbor, I'm just not home a whole lot. Look, if you don't want to walk with me, that's fine. I'll just go myself."
Rather than recoiling in disgust like I usually would, I figured I should change tactics. Cozy and Tirek had at least taught me SOMETHING and that was to make allies. Later, I could use those allies to further my own plans. I put on my best grin, "oh no! I would love to! I am sorry that I reacted so badly, I didn't sleep very well last night. What with all the moving in and adjusting to a new place and all that!"
Cinnamon Wishes grinned, "ok! That's fine, I'm sorry I got a little snippy! I can relate to your lack of sleep situation. Mom and I were up late talking! Well… come on! We don't want to be late!"
I had to restrain myself from screaming, "I AM A QUEEN! YOU CANNOT TELL ME WHAT TO DO FOOLISH PONY!" Instead I just gave an awkward grin and nodded.
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After work, I found myself swerving back to the graveyard. I was utterly exhausted but I felt the hunger rising up from within again. I often was shown nearly no love at my job, so I couldn't have consumed anything. That and it took so much energy to pretend I actually LIKED my clients. Ponies, unicorns, dragons…. All other species had betrayed me once. It was very hard to pretend like they hadn't all gone against me and turned me to stone.
As I trotted into the graveyard, I transformed into a bird and nestled myself in a tree. I could see most of the small patch of nearly forgotten land here. I noted how a lot of gravestones were overgrown and forgotten. My gaze traveled over the fresh dirt of the stallion I had impersonated yesterday.
As I went over the plans in my mind, I couldn't help but realize that this plan would simply not work all the time. There was not enough death in this small town for me to live off of. I shut my eyes, considering what I should do. I knew I could probably head out to other graveyards, but that would have to be done on my days off. I could kill ponies myself but I did not want to arouse more suspicion.
My gaze traveled around and I had to suppress a chirp of excitement. I saw an old mare making her way rather slowly down the path. I recognized her from the times I had visited. She came her quite a bit and I had never bothered to make conversation with her. Like I have stated, multiple times before, I HATE ponies and overly friendly creatures in general.
Taking my chance, I transformed into Pixie Dust once again. I carefully planted all four hooves on the path and did my best to sneak up on her. I peered around her neatly done white hair and nearly reared back at the stench of cats coming off of her. She appeared not to notice me at all, even as I peered around her.
I bit my lip, there was a slight problem in my plans, I couldn't tell what this stallion had looked like. His name had been Iron Bars and he had died nearly five years ago, but that was it. No picture day nobly on the stone. No clue as to how he looked and what color he was… nor what he even sounded like.
"He was a really proud stallion you know…."
I jumped back at the old creaky voice coming in my direction. I stayed quiet for a moment before I decided to simply sit by her. The mare smiled, "hello… I've seen you come here a few times little one, but you don't seem to visit graves. I assume you just watch. I don't blame you, it sure is peaceful. I'm glad I will get to be buried here, next to my husband."
That seemed rather morbid for a mare to say. I flicked an ear but didn't really respond to her. I was able to drink a little love from her, but not much. She suddenly chuckled, "ya aren't much of a talker are ya? Names Magma Flow, but most ponies just call me Maggie."
I looked at Maggie and gave a small and forced grin, "I'm Pixie Dust. And yes, the cemetery is rather peaceful…"
I really hadn't intended on striking up a conversation with this old mare. She smelled of cats, had a grating voice, and was all around far too nice. Maggie spoke calmly, "You don't need to talk sweetie. I'm going to head out… just wanted to make sure Iron Bars had a little company. Feeling a bit tired now, deep in my bones."
I said nothing as she started to slowly walk away. I sighed, looking back at the grave. I would need to do some research before I could take on the forms of the creatures buried here. A small bug scuttered across the grave in front of me. I raised a hoof and smashed it down on the bug, feeling more irritated then I had in a long time.
I heard a gasp behind me. I whipped my head around to see who had gasped.
Cinnamon wishes was standing there, and she appeared to have dropped a bouquet she was holding. Her gaze was wide and looked almost horrified.
I mean, I don't blame her. I would have been scared too, seeing the changeling queen face to face.
