A Changecid

The saloon of Appleloosa, The Salt Block, the go-to place for any pony or creature to rest, and have a drink with their friends after a long day of work. The saloon had a piano that never went silent, it had kept playing ever since the saloon opened its doors for the first time.

Two friends, Silver Axe and Rough Mouth sat on wooden stools at the bar. They were telling each other about their days, sometimes complaining about their work or laughing at a silly joke one made.

‘’I’m telling you, I only needed to buck that tree once!’’ Silver said while pushing a hoof up in the air confidently and swaying from side to side on the stool.

‘’Uh-huh, I’m sure you did buddy, and hey, maybe go a bit easy on the cider?’’ Rough rolled his eyes at his obviously drunk friend and took a sip from his mug.

‘’I’m not ddrunsk!’’ Said Silver, not managing to convince any pony in the saloon.

The song on the piano changed and a more upbeat tone came up, a few ponies started singing along to the song. A few got up and started to dance even. It looked like this was going to be a fun and relaxing night as usual.

Until-

An ebony-furred pony walked in through the swinging doors. He pushed his long bright red mane out of his face revealing eyes like rubies.

A stranger's sudden appearance filled the saloon with silence for a moment.

Using the silence he hurriedly scanned the room and spotted an empty seat.

The silence was replaced with cheers the second he moved. As the pony made his way through, some welcomed him and introduced themselves, some had even invited him to the dance with them. He politely declined the invitations and introduced himself.

‘’I’m…White Raven, nice to meet you all.’’ He said and placed himself next to a still-drunk Silver.

‘’R-R-Raven? Ishn’t that a bird, hehe, you’re not a bird!’’ said Silver, spilling a bit of his drink on the counter.

‘’Forgive my friend, he’s just an idiot and a drunk,’’ said Rough, slapping the back of his friend a couple of times. ‘’Come on buddy, let’s not bother the newcomer.’’

‘’It’s no worries.’’ carefully placing a wide smile on his face, Raven answered. ‘’This seems like a fun place, do you guys have any fights here?’’ He asked with that wide smile still on.

‘’Fights? Nah, I’ve been here since the town was founded and have witnessed a total of…’’ Rough stopped to think. ‘’...zero fights since. So you don’t have to worry.’’

‘’Oh, joy.’’ Raven’s smile almost fell but he kept it on.

The barkeep took the order of the newcomer and quickly gave him a mug of the town’s famous cider. He took the drink and stared at it for half a minute before a more genuine smile could be seen in the reflection from the cider.

He had it, he had a plan in his head.

Wasting no time he started and took a sip. ‘’This, this is really good!’’ He said, pretending to enjoy the drink.

‘’Hah, I see that you have an eye for taste!’’ said Rough finishing his cup and ordering another one. ‘’It’s the best cider that you’ll ever find in Southern Equestria!’’

‘’Ishn’t it? I don’t think I could livesh wihout it!’’ declared Silver, stopping himself from falling to the ground in the last second with surprising dexterity from the drunkest pony in the saloon by far.

‘’Yes, it’s definitely the best I have ever tasted.’’ It was the only one he had ever tasted so he wasn’t technically lying. ‘’It’s really a shame it’s not going to be made anymore.’’

The mood of the whole saloon shifted instantly, the piano had stopped abruptly, and the ponies that were still singing and dancing stopped. All eyes were on the now the newcomer who talked as if threatening the town.

‘’What do you mean by that?’’ Rough stopped mid-sip and narrowed his eyes at Raven.

Raven widened his eyes in faux surprise. ‘’You haven’t heard?’’

‘’...No,’’ said Rough, after quickly thinking about it.

All the patrons had gathered around, a few even went behind to bar and looked from the shoulder of the barpony. Even the extremely drunk Silver had seemed to sober up in an instant. Each of them clung to the next words Raven spoke.

‘’Well, I heard that the Buffalos were going to gather to stampede all over the fields.’’ Everyone in the saloon gasped in shock. ‘’And you guys can’t produce any more cider without apples, right?’’

‘’Of course not! But-but that’s outrageous! We haven’t done anything to the Buffalos!’’ said a random pony with most of the bar joining her.

Raven nodded in agreement. ‘’I agree, but I’m not sure they see it that way.’’ He decided to fan the flames even further. ‘’Turns out a lot of Buffalos want to just kick you guys out and have the town for themselves.’’

‘’We wouldn’t let that happen, we built this town! They can’t have it!’’ A now very sober and determined Silver rose up from his chair.

‘’Hey, I’m just telling you great citizens of this great town a silly rumour that I heard. It may be true, it may not be true.’’ He now wanted to cool the flames a little, lest he get overzealous and make a mistake.

‘’Just rumors, right, of course…’’ Rough Mouth looked down on his drink but didn’t take a sip. Silver moved his mug to take a sip but stopped just before and put his mug down with a solemn face.

The cheery mood just ten minutes ago was now gone, and now the saloon was filled with awkward silence and the ponies that surrounded him slowly dispersed back into their seats. No one sang any songs, no one danced, and no one drank any cider. Even the piano that had never stopped had been silenced.

He could feel it. He could feel their nervousness, their uncertainty, their fear. It was just a rumor but that small rumor had planted seeds of doubt into their heart that would surely flourish into something more grand than just a small seed.

It tasted so exquisite that he had to keep himself from salivating. He had his fill.

If he had known that pony feelings were this impressionable and this tasty he would have moved into Equestria a hundred years ago! Well, he was here now, might as well enjoy it but to enjoy it more he had more work cut out for him.

Finishing his cider, he left the mug on the bar and left a couple of bits on the counter. He intended to leave but Silver stopped him with a question before he could.

‘’L-leaving so soon?’’ He put on a smile but it was an unsteady one. ‘’How about another mug?’’

Raven smiled. ‘’Yeah, no thanks,’’ and shook his head. ‘’I don’t want to be caught by the Buffalos if the rumors are true.’’

Silver’s smile dropped instantly, he tried to come up with something but the words never reached his mouth. Raven left the saloon without another word, the swinging doors creaking were the most sound the saloon produced after he left.

Under the cover of night, Raven left the town, not through the train station or a cart, no. He walked, he walked until the town was just a dot on the horizon. He looked to his right, and then to his left. Good, no one had followed him.

He took a deep breath and looked around himself again, it never hurts to be careful. It was clear again. There was only he, the dry dirt, and the soft winds. Perfect.

Bright, red flames appeared all over his body, and in an instant White Raven was no more. His dark-colored body had lost all of its fur and transformed into a smooth, ivory carapace. His hooves thinned out, leaving a few holes in each of them. The red mane had stayed but it lost its shine and now a dull and bleak red had taken its place. The mouth with flat teeth had given way to a set of sharp and barbed mandibles. Two long antennae were placed on each side of his head. The only thing that hadn’t changed was his eyes.

It was hard to change eyes, the act of changing his body required a great deal of energy, energy which he lacked from his long journey to Equestria, the saloon had satisfied his needs for now. He was now looking for a way to capitalize on the suspicions of the ponies in Appleloosa.

His target now was the Buffalos he had just talked about an hour prior. What if his lie about the Buffalos stampeding their town to the ground was not a lie? What if the Buffalos actually did attack? Oh, that conflict, that fear, that anger would be enough to fill him for a year!

So he set out, intending to discover the main camp of the Buffalos he heard about and had talked about so much just for a chance to pit them against the ponies of Appleossa.

‘’White Raven, truly? When have I become so banal, I need to come up with a better nam- blargh.’’ he started vomiting all over the dry dirt. ‘’Ugh, Eruidum you stupid, foolish Changecid. You have to stop partaking in their weird foods,’’ he said, raising his mandibles a bit as he wiped his mouth.

Erudium quickly recovered and continued on his way to the south, thinking of lies he could feed the Buffalos on the way.

‘’Hmn, now what would be a good Buffalo name? Little... Strongheart? No, that just sounds silly, Buffalos aren’t small, they’re huge! From what I heard anyhow.’’ And he thought of a suitable name for himself.

He enjoyed the cold winds of the arid land, knowing that it would be the opposite in the daytime he moved as fast as possible. Having the experience of dealing with the scorching sands of the Zeheran Desert, an experience which he would rather not deal with again.

He didn’t enjoy the heat, whereas he did enjoy the cool weather of the Taurus mountains and hills, where Minatours reigned. A land of dozens of warlords fighting each other.

Or it used to be a land of warlords fighting each other. Unfortunately for Eruidum, a king had risen from one of the many tribes and had finally unified the land, bringing peace that hadn’t been seen in that land for a long time.

Eruidum did not enjoy peace, he couldn’t find any nourishment or enjoyment in it. So he left, cursing the King of Knosis as he did, for destroying the constant state of warfare he delighted in and tried so hard to keep up.

After a couple more hours of walking, and attempting to follow the big hoof marks left in the dirt. He had spotted a trail of smoke in the distance, finally. With a sinister grin on his face, he picked up his pace. He couldn’t help but click his mandibles in anticipation a few times.

This was going to be fun.

Chrysalis sat upon her throne, listening to the reports of her ministers and agents. The hive was not doing so well despite her best efforts. They were surrounded by enemies, and the rising population required constant new food sources. Fortunately, they were just scraping the barrel, thanks to her no doubt.

''And we have been forced to decrease our love acquisition from the Southern Towns.'' a drone said with a shaky voice.

‘’I don’t believe I heard you right,’’ said Chrysalis, looking down at the drone that delivered the news. ‘’Did you say a decrease?’’ she hissed the last word.

‘’I-y-yes my Queen.’’ The drone lowered their head, terrified of the towering Queen.

‘’Pray tell, why?’’

Southern Equestria is filled with frontier towns, frontier towns promise new starts, and new opportunities, which translate to mountains of love for the changelings to gather up and return it to the hive.

‘’T-the buffalos and the ponies have become hostile to each other, there is b-barely enough l-love for us to collect.’’ the shaking drone answered expecting to be yelled at but they were met with silence and a frozen Chrysalis.

The buffalos and the ponies, fighting? Chrysalis had disregarded the buffalos when they first moved into the south, they were angry at the ponies and they only produced a small amount of love and their numbers were few so they were ignored and she focused on the ponies, they had more than made up for it.

But if they were downright fighting each other that means the ponies wouldn’t produce any love either, which spelled disaster for the hive. Appleloosa and Dodge Junction produced almost twenty percent of the hive's love alone!

If that love was gone…what would she do? Let her people starve? No. There has to be something she could do. Maybe she could try to cross the desert and find more towns? No, too dangerous. Maybe she could-

Her line of thinking got cut short by the doors of the throne room being thrown open and a lone drone running in, out of breath and tired.

‘’My Queen! I have urgent news!’’ he said and bowed while panting.

‘’Speak.’’ said Chrysalis, hoping the drone brought good news because if she received another bad one she might just crack.

The drone raised their head and took a breath before continuing.‘’The Princess of Love is getting married to the Captain of the Royal Guard!’’ he said and went back to bowing.

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.
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The room was silent before the Queen started chuckling in a low tone. The other changelings exchanged unsure and nervous glances before the queen's chuckle turned into a mad laugh and the drones slowly joined her, even though they didn't know what they were laughing at.

‘’Hahahaha! Forget about Appleloosa or Dodge Junction! I want all agents focused on those two!’’ She continued laughing as the changelings bowed and left the throne room in a hurry.

Now her hive would not just survive, it would thrive.