Deep Breath

“Are you ok?”

Consciousness returns to you. You remain aware that you collapsed from laughing too much again. If you do not start breathing, things will not turn out well. You start with a slow, shallow quarter breath, then a half breath. You gain sensation in your nose, throat, and chest. The oxygen you scraped up fueling your body to be able to take another partial breath, then a full breath. You gain enough strength and sense of self to open your eyes and tilt your head up. It is much easier to breathe this way. There is enough of you back to decide to take enough breath to speak on exhale.

“I’m ok… Thank you… Zecora.” The words were labored, but you were able to get out that you are alive.

“He’s breathing.” Light observed.

“He’s not dead.” added Gentle.

“Thank goodness.” You hear Chrysalis say.

“The brew worked as I knew it would do.” Zecora assured herself after your unexpected display.

"I'm sorry, ladies. I tend to do that when I laugh too hard."

Still mostly focusing on breathing, you work up the strength to stand, then to stay balanced without effort. The next thing you do is search your backpack. You don’t have many things of value to others, but you feel you need to offer her something for all of the trouble. The packs of pocket warmers are useful. Turning to her you hold the plastic bag out.

“Thank you so much for your help Zecora. With my speech restored, I can now get a foothold on some semblance of sanity in this world that I seem to have stumbled into. Please take these warming packs as payment. You press on them until you hear the salt crystals crunch, and they mix with chemicals to produce heat. You will not be able to cook with them, but they usually get hot enough to burn flesh directly. Enough heat to relieve the harsh cold in a small space for a while.” Chrysalis blinked.

“Why did you not use them last night?”

“This hut is ventilated. If I had activated it in that dugout, we would have been suffocated by the carbon dioxide produced.”

“Oh.”

Zecora accepts your payment gladly and hides them in a high cupboard.

“Now that I can finally speak, I have a question of my own. Several really. Let’s start with what is-”

“What is your Name!” Gentle stomped a hoof as she interrupted. “Sorry, but we don't have anything to refer to you by other than ‘stranger’ or ‘tree.’ “

“Oh yeah, my name is [], but you can call me []… []. []. [] [] [], [] []. []!” You turn to Zecora

“Is it possible that I had more than one curse?”

“Another ailment, it does seem. The likes of which, I have no curing means. Curious as to what may be powerful enough to cause this, perhaps they wished you to remain anonymous.” Zecora ponders.

“Great. Instead of [] or [], just call me Anonymous.” You blink.

“Everyone, call me every name and nickname that you can think of.”

“[] [] [] [] [] []”

“[] [] [] [] [] []”

“[] [] [] [] [] []”

“[] [] [] [] [] []”

“Now call me Anonymous, or Anon for short.”

“Anonymous”

“Anonymous”

“Anon”

“Anonymous”

“That settles it. An unbreakable curse has ‘given’ me a name.” You make this comment with air quotes. “Anyways, Let’s focus on questions that we actually have a chance of answering. Chrysalis, if you don’t mind me asking, where am I, what is a changeling, and why are three out of four of the only nice equines I know wanted criminals?” You Didn’t mean to put her on the spot, but you can now ask these questions at a reasonable pace. Your curiosity made her stammer. She was saved by Zecora interjecting.

“Remember that more ponies will visit this day. Follow me, and I will show you a safe passage to away.” Zecora opened the basement trapdoor once more and went down. There was a passage hidden behind large jars. Glowing moss lined a side of the cave. “My people have passed down stories of changelings, but none of harm. I like to give ponies a chance, without threat or alarm. Consider me a friend, though our meeting was fast. Please do not make this meeting our last. Now go and keep the moss on your left. you need not worry about rest. When you emerge, you will find your exit beyond the tracks at the southwestern end of the forest." Zecora pulled Chrysalis into a hug, patting her on the back, then went back up, hiding us away underground.

You take a breath. Lining things up in your head as you walked. Pinky Pie called out to Twilight Sparkle who is one of three princesses that you are aware of. Whatever differences there are between the ponies that you know and the ones that are hunting them are enough for them to fear for their lives. You need to be not too overbearing. You speak in the dim moss light as the group walked.

“Chrysalis?”

“Yes, Anonymous?

“I am new to this world that has many differences to the one that I came from. Right about now would mark twenty-four hours I have been in a land of magic talking equines, so can you please tell me of this world. Who populates it, and what has happened here?”

“The short answer is that you are on Equus, specifically in the country of Equestria which is populated by Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies, and ruled peacefully by four alicorn princesses. We are changelings. We need to obtain love magic from the ponies to survive. We can mimic the form and appearance of ponies, and some months ago, we emerged from hibernation. My changelings and I awoke to a hive hidden but decimated by a magma flow. The life sustaining reserves of love magic that our predecessors left us to allow us to safely integrate secretly back into pony society was all but lost, so I followed a plan laid out by changeling Queens before me. I infiltrated a wedding between powerful ponies and tried to take control of Equestria. That plan has failed, so now we remain in hiding. Risking none but small groups to obtain love to bring back to the hive.”

You consider her words. A desperate situation. Some things are starting to make sense.

“Equines that need love to survive. What would have happened if you succeeded in taking over Equestria?”

“It is not in pony or changeling nature to be cruel. The second part of my ancestor’s plan was to allow the ponies to take back their land. We would provide a resistance group of ponies with lantern runes that would distinguish between pony and changeling to allow them to seemingly drive us off, then we would sneak back into society where we would be spread out, safe, and harmless to the ponies.”

“Help me understand safe and harmless. Is there a dangerous way of taking love from someone? And have you been able to gleam any from me?”

“A single pony cannot sustain many changelings at once. One that attempts to would be weakened. However, we would rather keep spread out to prevent that. Naturally, ponies spread love magic into the ether which changelings can consume safely without any harm to the pony. There is also a way to force such magics out of a pony, but such harmful acts are a taboo that I will not tolerate.”

“What is the significance of remaining hidden? Why not plead to the alicorns to be allowed back into society?”

“Knowledge of changelings has faded into myth of those who sneak around in shadow and prey on ponies. Our appearance and ability to change alone causes too much distrust for us to gleam any integration, let alone love.”

“Of course, there is some obstacle in the way. There always is. The fastest way from point A to point B is a straight line, yet one may travel a thousand worlds and never find a single perfect ground." You let out a sigh. Now is not the time to go off on a tangent. “Spare me no detail. What is the prospect of changeling survival this way?”

There was a pregnant silence before you hear what must be difficult for a leader to admit.

“We are not surviving. We are merely prolonging starvation.”

Light and Gentle’s ears go down. Their heads going low as they walk. You feel for them. You can figure something out for yourself, but these kind ponies need help. You want to find a way to help them, and almost as if sensing that, Light and Gentle drift closer to you, which makes Chrysalis snort and stomp a hoof to make them jump away.

“I am glad to have been able to help you, but if what Zecora said was right, we are on our way nearer and nearer to my changeling hive. If you have a display of love like this in the middle of the changeling hive without separation from the full changeling population, you will be seriously harmed. Perhaps you should return to Ponyville, as you still have a chance to sort things out with-”

“Fuck no!” Determination fills you as you finalize your decision. Chrysalis stammers at your outburst.

“Wait, what? What do you want to do???”

“I’m sorry for my use of swear, but I would not leave a friend to starve in my world and I will not do it here!” Fuck this! Changelings wake up in a world expecting them to be monsters or die? Fuck this world and anyone who expects someone to just lay down and die. You turn directly to chrysalis and take a knee, preparing to do something that you are surprised you even have the opportunity to do.

“Queen Chrysalis of the changelings, I, Anonymous pledge my loyalty to you. I swear to put my efforts into making peace with the ponies and ensuring the survival of the changelings. Should changelings fall, I fall too!” Your voice raised, threatening to growl with determination. There will be no stopping you. There will be no turning back.

None of the ponies before you were prepared for your display. They look at each other, trying to see from the others what to do.”

“But... but what- how? Such a display, and to us directly without disguises. Why would you do this for us?”

“Because I have seen enough suffering in my own world to find it distasteful. I would not be able to live with myself if I just left you to die, and I will stand in the way of anyone who expects someone to just accept death for being who they are."

Standing up straight, Chrysalis once more gives you a look that you can’t read.

“Very well, Anonymous, I accept you into the changeling hive as my consort. I look forward to discussing your plan for our changelings with you. Now rise.”

You stand up. The idea of “Yes, you just did that,” and “Yes, that did just work,” will fully set in later while you walk onward.

“There is still the matter of how you will survive returning to the hive with us.”

“Hmm. Let me think about that… Will the changelings respect me having a private quarter?”

“They will at my command so long as you don’t invite them over to you.”

“I have about six days’ worth of dried food left. I figure the best way to go about this is to study this world as much as I can, then enact my plan at the end of that timeline. I can study throughout the day and discuss the plan with you in the evenings.”

“Then I will ensure your chamber is closer to mine. It will be easier to keep others from wandering in. I doubt you will be able to read the texts in our library at any great pace, seeing that it is in tablet form, but you will have my changelings at your disposal to wright reports. What subjects do you intend to study?”

“Well, let's see... I am on an alien world with several sentient species that I have little knowledge of, anatomy, culture, or otherwise. We can start with the history of the ponies. I will need all we know about each of the alicorns, and the lands they preside over. Where cities are, what their industry, population, and culture is, and a map of Equestria.”

In your head, you imagine you are going to be attempting to set up the most perfect and unattainable Sims scenario. You push that to a corner next to the cheesy echo of the changelings shall starve no more being stamped with Rose Tyler making fun of the War Doctor while marching around. No more. No more. No more. No more.

“Anyways, in the meantime, you mentioned magic reserves. Is there something that can store love?”

“Yes, we have magic crystals that store love. Changelings can place magic in or drain it out.”

“Knowledge on changeling magic, physiology, and artefacts. Adding that to the list of subjects. How many do you have, and can they all be gathered?”

“Of the ones that were not destroyed by magma, we can fit them in a pony sized mound. About four crystals for every changeling there is.”

“Would they be comfortable with having three each while I try to fill the rest? I want to try to see if I can fill them directly… unless someone would like to volunteer to be my personal lap pony while I study.”

The Three ponies that accompany you increase their pace, keeping their faces out of view.