“Umm... yeah? Isn’t that how it is with you guys?” Bright Mac replied after moments of silence between the three, he didn’t understand why the changeling was so surprised.

Yes it was a messed up system for only stallions to be drafted as they were considered stronger than mares but, what can they do? They were required to join the war through the draft, the ones who dodged it were practically asking to be ridiculed.

Jung-ho shook his head and said, “what? Never! Not unless we were desperate, males are considered too weak to fight. The females are always stronger than us, so we stay at home during wars to work on the fields and take care of the nymphs.”

Bright Mac blinked a few times, “nymphs?” Jung-ho grumbled in response, “children, that’s what nymphs are... anyways, aren’t females the dominating ones in your species?”

The two stallions gave each other a confused look, Burnt saying, “I mean... I’m not sure? Me and Bright Mac here are advocating for the equal rights movement that’s going on but as of now, stallions are considered the ‘stronger’ ones.”

The changeling could only gape, he never heard of such a thing! He was taught from an extremely young age that he was meant to serve his future wife as a servant, yet in Equestria they were trying to make things equal between female and male? It was unheard of...

Then again, it sounded nice.

He wondered what would have happen if he was trained at the age of five to be a soldier, just like the girls in his neighborhood. He would’ve been worked to the bone, told the military rule of ‘die before surrendering’, he could’ve served his country along with his fellow males!

“Bright Mac! Burnt Oak! Where in Tartarus did you two go?!” A loud accented voice shouted, making the two wince.

Burnt Oak whispered, “we need to go! Glad we had this chat Mr....?”

“My name’s Jung-ho... Jung-ho...” he paused, thinking about his surname before finishing, “Park.”

Might as well start getting used to his origins now.

“It was nice meeting you Mr. Park,” Bright Mac smiled, they were about to walk away when the teen made a decision he prayed that he wouldn’t regret.

“Can I come with you?!”

Burnt raised an eyebrow, “Jung-ho, this isn’t some trip that everyone’s returning from. This is a war—“ Jung-ho retorted, “that my species is involved in! I have a right to fight for them as well, you’re assisting the Vietrot Queen, right? That means you’ll be fighting with her subjects, I can blend in.”

“How old are you?” Burnt questioned.

Jung-ho responded, “thirteen, but I’m old enough to fight! Especially since I can change form to be stronger.”

Bright Mac seemed to consider this, as he said, “well the draft did call for specific names and a few are draft-dodgers—meaning that they didn’t come—that you can disguise as. You guys can shape-shift into ponies right?”

Jung-ho nodded excitedly, “give me a name and quick description!” Burnt thought for a moment before saying, “James Bridge, the Pegasus that cowered out from Cloudsdale. He has a slimmer build, has a dark blue coat, blonde hair, and green eyes. Oh and his cutie mark is a white feather I think—“

“A cutie-what?”

Bright Mac pointed at his flank, “a cutie mark, it’s what appears on your flank when you discover your special talent.”

The changeling just sighed as he prepared himself to transform, “you ponies are weird,” then in a bright green flame, startling the two, turned into what Burnt Oak described.

“Hmm, the mane’s a little off but really good for never meeting him!” Burnt complimented, grabbing him by the hoof and pulling him along, “we ought to go now!”

The three ran to join the marching soldiers-in-training, the two were surprised to see their new friend marching perfectly in place with them. As if mimicking truly was what changelings were best at, from appearance right down to behavior.

Interesting.

“Alright boys! We’ll be traveling by Zeppelin, as we’ve been informed that if we go by sea we’ll be immediately attacked. The best we can do now is travel by air until we have another plan,” the Equestrian General announced.

It was strange to the disguised changeling, he remembered the famous Generals in Changeling Countries, all of them were female of course. The one in Fanggook was much taller than him, maybe even more muscular and hardened then him.

Then again, judging from how out-of-shape many of the stallions here appeared, war wasn’t common their ‘friendship’ country.... how nice.

He almost rolled his eyes when he heard someone whisper to the stallion next to him, “you think they have food we can eat in Vietrot? I’d hate to starve to death!”

Apparently someone else heard this question and asked their own in an idiotic tone, “yeah General! How are we supposed to survive out there? Don’t they feast on love to survive—“

“Excuse me?!” The disguised changeling snapped, extremely offended by this claim.

Everyone looked in his direction, staring in confusion as they didn’t understand why he sounded so upset by that question. It was common knowledge to them, didn’t changelings only feast on the emotions of others? That’s what Queen Chrysalis did when she first started attacking Equestria over the years.

Jung-ho blushed in embarrassment, his cheeks flushed bright red, instead of the usual green. He thought about how to respond when a larger asked him in a mocking manner, “why do you sound so offended Bridge? Oh did we hurt your little feelings—“

“No! Are you all seriously this dumb?! The only Changelings to ever do something so... so barbaric are the one in Chrysalis’s army, other than that it’s rumored that the Anugypt Pharaoh Locust did it to preserve her youth but that’s purely myth.”

The General couldn’t help but be impressed, “you seem to know a lot about Changeling culture, are there books you read about it?” Jung-ho hesitated before slowly nodding.

“So to answer everypony’s question about the food situation?”

“Oh right!” Jung-ho was about to bring up the delicious dishes that were in Vietrot when he licked his teeth, they were flat.

He felt inclined to groan, of course ponies were strictly herbivores...

He thought about it before admitting, “well Changelings are actually omnivores, so we-they eat both meat and fruits and vegetables.” Many of the ponies made disgusted noises, the thought of eating meat made shivers run down their spines.

“But, I’m sure that if you make them aware of the fact we’re herbivores, they’ll substitute the meat part of dishes or at least leave it out.”

The General smiled and nodded, “that answer your question, Butterball?”

Jung-ho really had to hold in his laugh this time, but a quiet snorted escaped.

What was wrong with pony names!

Author's Note

Ok so like I imagined changelings soldiers marching and singing “The Morning of the Dragon” from the musical Miss Saigon and... I can’t get it out of my head, it feels too perfect.
Here’s a link to it
https://youtu.be/jj8KchgLnzs