I elected to actually sleep last night instead of meditating, but it seems like Luna had a busy night because I’m fairly certain I had a dreamless sleep. Walking out of the tent I’m somewhat surprised to see the festival is pretty much in full swing already. Doing a quick scan I don’t see Luna, Celestia, or LT Force so I put my hands behind my head and decide to casually look around.

“Can I get 2 skewers?” I smelled a smelly smell that smelled….smelly, it was meat. Walking over to the griffon’s food stand I grabbed a couple roasted meat skewers. Honestly I wasn’t particularly missing meat since I had jerky in my rations, but this beats jerky all day every day. I feel like I should’ve gotten ale to go with this, but it’s not even noon yet. Honestly I laughed at the idea of this festival when I initially heard about it from Celly yesterday, but if the griffons brought meat I wonder what the minotaurs brought?

On my way to the minotaur section of the field I spot 3 or 4 of our guards lined up next to a large tent. There’s a wooden sign in front of the tent that says Changeling Food Drive, Please Donate. I don’t have anything going on so I decide to go check it out. Walking up to the end of the line I tap the guard on the back of her neck. “Hey the sign says food drive but none of you are carrying anything. That seemed odd to me, so figured I’d come ask what’s up?”

The armored unicorn mare turns her head to face me, “Yeah apparently something went wrong yesterday and the changelings lost all of their long term storage of love. We’d hate to see them starve so we’re going to donate as much as we safely can.”

“Oh, I heard something about that love storage yesterday from the princess, but I didn’t know why it was noteworthy that they lost stored love. You’re telling me they eat love? How does that work?”

“Why don’t you take a look for yourself?” As she suggests that to me the line moves and we slip into the tent. Looking over I see a big comfy looking set of benches and there’s two guards staring at two unarmored ponies. I notice there’s some pink mist very slowly rising from the guards and floating towards the unarmored ponies. So the changelings are currently disguised as the guards' significant other and then they can just slowly siphon the literal love from them. What in the fuck did they evolve from to develop that trait?

“I assume that’s safe since you’re all willingly doing this?”

“Oh of course as long as they just feed off the passive love that’s being generated it’s harmless. They’re capable of forcibly draining love from a pony though, and that is not harmless. It can quickly leave them unresponsive.”

As the guard finishes her explanation the line moves up again and now it's time for me and her to donate. I decide to ask the insect pony a question before we start, “Can you change into something that isn’t pony shaped?”

“Yesss, not all of us can but we were selected for this donation shift specifically because we can. There are a lot of non-ponies present if you haven’t noticed.”

“I did notice, but in the 10 or so minutes I’ve been here I’ve only seen ponies come and go. Figured it was worth asking. So, how does this work? Specifically, how do you manage to disguise yourself as someone’s love?”

“Well transformations cost us love, so we typically try to ask the subject to first close their eyes and visualize a loved one. If they’re able to do that then we ask them things like what’s their favorite thing about them, if they have any quirky behaviors. Things like that will usually trigger the brain to produce the chemicals for love. For some that process just doesn’t generate enough so at that point we, with consent, have a spell that can allow us to pull the perfect transformation from the food source's mind.”

That’s freaky. “Alright well let me get started on this visualization thing. Does familial love work or does it have to be romantic love?”

“They are functionally the same, but romantic love typically has a higher yield so that’s the preferred method.”

Unfortunately for them all I’ve ever had romantically is a couple of crushes. As a human I did have a couple of girlfriends but I wouldn’t produce any love if I pictured them right now, so I elect to think of my drow mother. The first memory that comes to mind is one early morning when I managed to sneak away from my attendant. I remember crawling through a bush and coming across Zarra performing some training for Talabrina and two other clerics in training. Tala is performing some basic motions with a wooden sword. The other two youngsters seem to be attempting spellcasting through the channeling of their faith. One of them finds success as her hands begin to glow a bright silver. Mom has a big smile and gives her a hug in celebration before turning to the other one and telling her that she’s doing well and should succeed soon.

She was always so kind and patient. Tiny me must’ve felt a tinge of jealousy because I quickly walked over to the training group and grabbed onto my mothers long gown. “Oh and how did you sneak out here, huh? Did you want to start training already? It’s hard work, you know, you’ll have to be very devout and work every day.” She picks me up mid sentence.

I put my hands together mimicking the actions of the cleric who managed to make her hands glow. After a few seconds I push my palms outward like there was a little explosion and go “Bwahhhh.”

“Ahhhh, you’re too much!” She pulls me close and ruffles my hair as she goes on about how she wants to see me walking around in a priest robe that’s too big for me. “You wouldn’t even need to use divine spells, anyone would be cured on the spot if they saw you.”

With a soft smile I stop reminiscing and open my eyes, honestly I got so immersed in the memory I think I ended up going into a small trance. The first thing I see when I open my eyes is that where there was once a small insect pony, now sits a large Queen Aurora staring at me intensely. Peeking around her I notice the smaller changeling is vomiting up some pink gel into a slightly green jar. The other changeling that was feeding on the guard I came in with is patting him on the back as he throws up the pink gel. He keeps telling him that he’s almost done and he did a good job.

“Good Morning madam. I didn’t know my donation would be personally handled by royalty?” I jokingly say with a tinge of curiosity.

“Well at first you were producing below average love, but right when my drone was about to interrupt you and ask for permission to use the True Hearts Desire spell you suddenly completely overwhelmed him with love. I’m not sure what happened but about a minute or so after you closed your eyes you produced an enormous amount of love. It’s very strange, I had to step in personally as they couldn’t handle your output. What did you do, if I may ask?” Queen Aurora gives me a pretty detailed rundown on the situation.

“Ah I was thinking of a memory of my mother and ended up getting so immersed I entered into my trance state. I don’t typically sleep, I instead meditate or go into a trance to reflect on the day’s events or old memories. The timing seems to line up so I’m guessing entering my trance state is what triggered the anomaly.”

“More importantly, are you feeling well? Do you need something to eat or drink? Obviously you’re a new species for us so we have no baseline, but if you were a pony you’d be a vegetable after producing that much love.” Aw, she’s actually caring about my well being. Oh wait, I’m a potential new wellspring of food of course she cares about my health.

“Yeah I feel fine, a little tired maybe? I only woke up 35 or 40 minutes ago though, so that could also be why I’m tired. Have you seen Luna by the way? It’s not particularly pressing, but I was hoping to keep an eye on her today as she wanders around.”

She gives me a smirk, “Aw look at the cute paladin, he wants to know where his Princess is. It is adorable that you think she needs extra protection, but yes I have seen her. She was just over by the deers’ camp and I saw her start walking back towards the pony area before I came in here.”

“Great, thanks. Also, I know she’s more powerful than me right now, but if I can’t help her in a troubling situation. I know I can at least buy her time to escape or regroup. Since I guess I can make a lot of food for you and your people I’ll stop by again to donate at some point today.”

“I would very much appreciate that. Thank you.” With a very light head bow I walk out of the tent and make my way back towards the royal tent.

“Ah there you are Ignis, I was coming to see if you were awake yet. Have you been enjoying the festivities so far?” Luna finds me before I can even make it to the tent.

“Yeah the griffons had some extremely juicy meat skewers. Honestly, the highlight of the trip so far. I also donated some love to the changelings. Do we have any plans for today?”

“Yes! I came to retrieve you to ask that you assist us at our festival event.”

“Oh sure, lead the way.”

We walk for a few minutes and as soon as I see the “event” I turn around and start walking back. Before I can make it more than a few steps I feel a tug on my hood and Luna starts to plead with me. “Ignis please! It’ll help improve the guards' perception of us if you participate!”

In front of me a classic carnival style dunk tank. There’s a small target that is floating around randomly next to a large pool of water with a platform above it. I guess allowing the guards to attempt to drop me into the water repeatedly is a pretty good idea. I can maybe throw out some playful banter and get them to lighten up a little when I’m around. “Fine! I’ll do it. How long do I need to stay up there?”

“Oh thank you! It’ll just be for a couple of hours. After that Shining Armor should show up to replace you.”

Well shit. I am curious as to how that target is connected to the platform that drops me in. Unlike the ones I remember from earth this target has no backdrop and is literally just moving in a 2 dimensional pattern randomly in the air. I can’t see any type of aura like I usually see with unicorn magic. I climb on up and plop my ass down on the diving board holding me above the water. I hope it’s not cold.

“Sergeant, if I knew you throw like that beforehand I would’ve told you it’s fine for you to use telekinesis. I mean seriously it’s been 45 minutes and I am bone dry, and this is the best of the best? The ponies that personally guard her majesty? Maybe the night guard is better off with just me.” Some of the guards are quite miffed at my constant ribbing, but I am legitimately shocked none of them have sunk me yet. I should step up my game. I whisper the incantation for mage hand and summon it into the pool of water.

An unfamiliar pegasus steps up to the plate and begins to take aim. She misses the first shot by a mile and the 2nd shot is closer but still pretty bad. I speak up before she throws a third one, “Hold up don’t throw your last ball yet, let me help you out.” Some of the guards watch with a hint of surprise as my blue corporeal mage hand floats out of the water and grabs the target. Bringing it to a complete stop in mid air I turn towards the guard. “Alright, you can go ahead now.”

Time seems to slow down as I watch the ball arc through the air. It’s gunna be close, I might be going down! Ohhh, and it just barely misses, phew.

I let go of the target with the mage hand and let out a yawn. This is getting boring fast. A few more flunkies come and go before something interesting happens. Luna and Celestia end up walking up to the side during some random unicorns' attempt to drown me.

“Have you been using magic to dry yourself off? You don’t look like you’ve gotten wet at all.” Luna asks.

“Nah, these guards just can’t throw even if their life depends on it. Or, perhaps they just can’t handle my presence. I’m motivated, determined, resilient, confident, mentally untouchabl-” I’m cut off as I hear a loud ringing noise and am suddenly surrounded by water. Oh fuck me it’s cold. How is it cold?! I resurface and decide to brood for a couple of minutes with just my eyes and nose poking over the surface. I give a deadpan stare at the sisters.

“Perhaps you should’ve been physically untouchable instead, hm?” Celestia taunts with a small smirk.

“I didn’t say physical because no man is.” I’m not sure why I’m even committing to a Low Tier God bit in Equestria. There is no chance anyone on this planet gets the reference.

“That is strangely wise. I didn’t expect that response.” Celestia hums as she takes a bite of cotton candy and turns to walk away. Luna starts to follow behind her sister but looks at me and quickly lets me know.

“Keep it up, Ignis. You’re doing great!” Well, I can’t just hide in the water for the next hour like I planned to if she’s going to say something like that to me. As they leave I climb back up and look out where the guards were to find there’s now around 25-30 of them just giving me varying levels of smugness.

“I guess even a broken clock is right twice a day, huh? Good job. Anyone else think they can knock me down?”

After that first dunk the guards apparently got a little more dialed in. They seemed to knock me in around once every 20 or so minutes? After a while though I start looking around, I swear it’s been two hours. Where is Shining?

At this point I feel like it’s beginning to get dark outside. I told Aurora I would donate one more time before today ended, so I’ll call it here and go see if I can find Shining Armor. “Alright everyone I’m sorry but I was supposed to be done like 4 hours ago. I’m going to find my replacement so just hang out if you want, someone should take my place in a few minutes.” As I climb down and walk away I just laugh at the chorus of “Boo”.

Perception.

14 + 5 = 19.

I feel like I’ve been walking around scanning for 30 minutes now and I don’t see this unicorn anywhere. I spot the sisters walking into their tent and decide to follow after them and ask if they’ve seen the Captain.

However, right before I enter the tent I hear a familiar voice telepathically speaking to me. “Ignis, can you come outside? I was following up on some rumors I heard that a new set of dragons would be here around sunset, and I think I see something, but it’s far off. I was hoping for a second set of eyes.”

“Oh that’s where you’ve been? I’ve been getting dunked at the water tank for like 6 hours! I’m on my way though, just outside the front archway?”

“Aww dude I’m so sorry. I completely forgot, if I had remembered I would’ve gotten somepony to go relieve you in my place. But, yeah go out the main archway and come around the right side, it seems like they’re 1000-2000 feet out.”

It’s basically night time by the time I make my way out and around, but I spot Shining standing on top of a rock staring out to the East. “Where am I looking here?” I ask him as I walk up and stand beside him.

“Yeah so look right over there, I’m pretty sure I see Inferno and then a purple dragon and a black dragon.” I follow the direction he’s pointing his hoof in.

Perception.

20 + 5 = 25.

“Are you sure man? I really don’t see anything, which direction were they flying in?” I stop looking out and start to turn towards the unicorn, but I never finish my rotation.

-12 Hit Points: 45/57.

Constitution Saving Throw.

11 + 2 = 13. Poisoned.

Time unfreezes and I finish turning my head to look at Shining, but what I see instead has me screaming internally. Green flames quickly spread out over the unicorns body to reveal a changeling biting into the side of my gut.

You Are Paralyzed.

The changeling releases me from its bite and I fall onto the ground face force with my hands between my chest and the ground. As I fall and roll off of the rock I land facing the colosseum and feel my heartbeat in my ears. The changeling is laughing as it walks away from me and the last thing it says to me is, “You just stay here and imagine what’s going to happen to every creature in there. Once the true queen has claimed her rightful place in the hive one of us will come to retrieve you. Worry not though, you were noted as being a potent source of food so we will not kill you."

I start to hyperventilate as I scream at myself in my head to get up and move. After a few seconds my thoughts settle down just enough to remember the secondary effect of Lay on Hands. I can use 5 HP from my Lay on Hands pool to cure a creature of a disease or poison. Closing my eyes I channel the divine power and start to pull myself up as feeling returns to my body.

I rise to my feet and pull out my Moonblade. I start sprinting back towards the entrance and as I’m running I pull out a copper wire and prepare to cast Sending. Right before I can cast it though I hear Celestia’s voice in my head, “Ignis something is wrong! Luna is gone and I can’t move my body, where ar-” something stops her from finishing the communication.

I let out a scream in frustration and the changeling I caught up to yelps in fear as it spins around yelling out something to me. Whatever it said I can’t hear over the ringing in my ears as I let out a roar at the bug and swing the Moonblade at its head.

Author's Note

For the first time since this arc started, I am happy with this chapter. I wanted to get a lot further into the event this chapter, but I ended up touching grass today and got home pretty late. This is a pretty decent stopping point for the chapter though.

As always, feel free to point out the grammar mistakes/misspellings/forgetting a word and most importantly:

Thanks for reading!