Matt did not want to get out of bed today, or any day for that matter. He wanted to spend the entire Tuesday morning in bed. But, like every Tuesday morning, he had to get up bright and early. It wasn't like he had a job or schooling to get to, like most other ponies in Ponyville; his housemate and best friend, Jonathan, would always drag him at 9 o' clock exactly. After all, why would Matt want to vegetate on such a beautiful day?
Matt was an orange unicorn of medium build with messy black hair, a medium length black tail, and a bad attitude, although he was far from what many would call a "badass". His cutie mark --or "butt tattoo", as he likes to call it--was a red circle with a cursive F in the center. He didn't really know what it was. He's had the mark for as long as he's been a pony. Which--and this is what sets Matt apart from other ponies--was not a long time.
Matt was born a human being in Sheridan City, Virginia. He had lived the past 20 or so years blissfully unaware of the existence of other universes and dimensions. Then, on the 28th of October, Hurricane Sandy arrived. It was called the "frankenstorm" by many, due both to the storm's occurrence being so close to Halloween, and due to the storm's convergence with a snowstorm to the west; a deadly combination. It was during this storm that Matt and his two friends, Jonathan and Sebastian, disappeared without a trace. Separately, they each awoke in the Everfree Forest, their bodies morphed to match this world's natural inhabitants. Matt still didn't understand what he did to deserve this. Damned to spend an eternity in a land of colorful horses.
Upon awaking, they each embarked on separate journeys to find out exactly where they were, and, through a series of strange events, they reunited and accidentally defeated a great evil. They were hailed as heroes and given a house in Ponyville. Matt expected to be a celebrity in town, but it seems as if everyone forgot about his deeds overnight. This was another reason to hate this God forsaken place.
With a groan, he got out of bed, glaring at the green pegasus. His brown hair was even messier than Matt's.
"Jonathan, I'm really not in the mood to do anything today." That's never stopped him before.
"You're never in the mood," Jonathan replied.
Well, he has a point there. "Fine. What are we going do today?"
"The same thing we always do, Matt," Jonathan began an imaginary drumroll. "Whatever we want! It's a beautiful day and-"
"Good. I want to go to back to sleep. Good night," Matt flopped over so that he was facing away from Jonathan and closed his eyes again.
"Alright," said Jonathan with a frown, "looks like we'll have to do this the hard way..."
Jonathan and Sebastian grunted as they dragged Matt down the stairs. Their friend, Stormblitz, a grey pegasus, sat and watched; drinking a soda he had stolen from their fridge not five minute ago.
"We appreciate your offer to help," Jonathan said sarcastically, "but I think we got this."
"Ok, thanks!" He left with the soda and a sandwich (which he had also stolen). Jonathan rolled his eyes.
When they had finally gotten Matt downstairs, he stood up.
"Boy Matt, when was the last time you'd weighed yourself? I think you've put on a few-" Jonathan began.
"Don't talk," said Matt in a cranky tone.
"Hey Jonathan, I think Matt's a little crankier than usual today," said Sebastian, a dark blue earth pony with long black hair which falls back, similarly styled to a brown pony with an hourglass cutie mark they'd seen rushing around town. Why he was in such a rush is beyond anypony, but Sebastian thought the way his hair flowed in the wind was so awesome, he decided against cutting his hair to its original, pre-pony length. On Sebastian's flank was a mushroom cloud, which scared quite a few of the neighbors.
"I just don't know what could be wrong with him," said Jonathan as he gazed around the room. Suddenly his large pupils stopped at a calendar. February 14th, 1003 C.E. Oh. "Say Matt," he began, "your depression wouldn't happen to be because it's Hearts and Hooves day, would it?"
"You mean Valentine's Day? No! Of course not... that's..." Matt got quieter. "...ridiculous..."
This was a suddenly starting to make sense to the green pony. "You're upset because it's Hearts and Hooves day and all it does is serve to remind you just how alone you were, are, and always will be, aren't you?"
"Yeah, something like that," Matt said with slight irritation. Was Jonathan attempting to insult him?
"Well why didn't you say so earlier? Sebas, Stormblitz, and I-" Jonathan looked around. Stormblitz was nowhere to be found. "Sebas and I will help you find a nice mare who's okay with your dickish personality!"
"Thanks Jonathan," Matt said sarcastically, "but I don't need you playing matchmaker for me."
"Look," Jonathan began to explain, "I heard there's a party tonight just outside of Ponyville. Real exclusive, invite only."
"Do you have an invitation?"
"No, but we can just sneak in. Anyway, it's at 9 o' clock tonight. What do you say we go there, get a few drinks, party a bit, and if you happen to see a girl you like, go talk to her. What d'ya say, buddy?"
"Well..." It couldn't hurt. Could it? "Fine. But there better be some good music."
***
The three stallions arrived at the agreed upon meeting place, just outside of a house which they had previously believed to be abandoned. But tonight there were lights and music pouring out of the windows.
"Is this the place?" Matt asked apprehensively.
"Yep!" Jonathan replied.
The three friends noticed the bouncer standing outside. He was a rather beefy looking earth pony who could probably pound the three of them in a second. So, they went and found an unlocked window. They climbed in, and stared at awe at the decorations, strobe lights, and music.
They were probably rather early, as not many had shown up yet. The few that had were obscured by artificial fog, probably set to induce a euphoric state of mind.
Matt was able to make out the figures of some females past the fog. As he set out to make conversation, he looked over and saw a lavender unicorn enter the building from the front entrance. Twilight.
What's she doing here? There's no way anyone invited her, he thought. Suddenly, she looked around, making sure that the door was closed. She was then engulfed in a green aura, which dissipated after a few seconds. When she was again visible, her purple coat had been replaced with one that was jet black. Her mane was missing, and her legs were filled with holes. Furthermore, she had grown insect-like wings. Matt looked around; everyone else looked similarly to her.
Oh. That's not good.
Author's Note
Constructive criticism is welcome!
Oh. That’s not good, thought Matt as he suddenly realized that this definitely was not a regular party, and these definitely were not regular ponies. They looked like giant insects, which to him was disgusting. Matt was absolutely repulsed by these things.
“Guys, I am absolutely repulsed by these things,” Matt whispered to his friends. These things really are disgusting.
“Matt,” Sebas began, “I think we lost Jonathan.”
“We did? Ah, well. He will be missed. Let’s get out of here!”
“You aren’t even going to try to look for him?” Sebas questioned his cynical friend.
“Nah, too dangerous,” Matt reasoned. “Now let’s head back out the window from where we came!” Matt started to leave when he saw Sebas giving him a disapproving glare. Aw, not that look, Matt thought. Matt had a massive ego, and when ponies didn’t approve of him or something he did, he took it as a personal attack.
“Come on, Sebas, you can’t expect me to-“ Matt began. He couldn’t finish, however, because he knew his blue friend was right. They needed to find Jonathan, and quickly. “Alright. You’re right. I’m wrong.” I hate being wrong. “We need to find Jonathan.”
* * *
Most changelings don’t care about their natural appearance, because most changelings spend so much time pretending to be somepony else. Most changelings spend three fourths of their life disguised as somepony else. Most changelings could be your best friend, and you would be none the wiser. Juliet was not most changelings.
Most changelings don’t take names. They’re like bees. Ninety-nine percent of a changeling hive is made up of drones, who live only to take orders from the hive’s unquestioned, all powerful leader. In the case of this hive, it’s Queen Chrysalis.
Juliet was the odd one out. As one of the only females in the entire hive, she was a major contender to succeed Chrysalis. There was just one problem; she didn’t want to lead the changeling hive. She hated everything it stood for. She hated stealing the power of love from ponies just to gain sustenance. It made her feel evil. She had seen the things other changelings have done. She heard about the months of hypnotism Chrysalis had forced onto some poor stallion in Canterlot, draining love from him every second of the day. To Juliet, deception like this doesn’t feel right. To her, it’s like rape.
Juliet hated her heritage and the race she was born into. She would like nothing more than to throw on a disguise and never let it down; to change her identity completely. If she wanted to survive, however, she must draw love from somepony. She tries to take only in small amounts, and she never deceives a stallion into loving her; often, she would put on a disguise and wait around in a public place. More often than not, there was a happy young couple kissing, or hugging, or just cuddling up against each other. She would take this chance to draw a very small amount of energy from the lovers. Enough to keep her alive, but still not so much that the couple even notices anything is being taken from them.
Juliet was definitely not like most changelings, and she certainly did not want to look anything like most changelings. Using magic, she had managed to grow a mane like regular ponies do. It was moderately long and flowing. Unlike Chrysalis, Juliet actually took proper care of her hair. As a result, it wasn’t stringy and full of bugs or dirt or who knows what. She even acquired dye, and was able to dye her mane a pale pink color. She also tried her best to hide her insect-like wings, although she found no successful method of doing so without looking stupid.
She truly was the most beautiful changeling in her hive. Not that the others cared. Most changelings have a life cycle that consists of being born, draining life from ponies, mating, and dying. Deaths were not usually of natural causes. Some were beaten to death. Others were burned. Even more were executed for the entertainment of ponykind. It was very rare that a changeling lived past 20. Juliet, being 20 herself, knew this. However, she also knew that most changelings were absolute dipshits. She knew the risks and took every necessary precaution to not die in a horribly painful way.
Still, her long life ahead reminded her that when her time comes, she will be dying alone. She refused to deceive a pony into loving her, and it was common knowledge that a changeling could not love a pony and be loved in return.
Juliet sighed. She had been staring in this mirror for an hour. She heard music coming from downstairs. Based on the vague kick-snare-kick-snare pattern, she guessed the artist was TheLivingTombstone. That, of course, was his stage name. No one knew the earth pony’s real name.
“Might as well go enjoy that party,” she said aloud to herself. She got up and turned to walk out.
* * *
“Ok Sebas,” Matt began detailing his plan to find Jonathan. “We’ll both split up. I’ll head upstairs. You take this hallway over here. If one of those things spots you, just run like hell. If you find Jonathan or his corpse, meet me back here with Jonathan or his corpse. I will do the same. If you don’t find him or his corpse in half an hour, just come back here.”
“Kay,” Sebastian casually replied as he walked down the hallway. Matt walked cautiously up the stairs.
Sebastian found Jonathan almost instantly. He had apparently wandered off to see what else was in this house.
“Sebas! You’re never gonna believe this! The guys at this party aren’t normal ponies! I’m not sure what they are, but they’re like insect-pony hybrids! And they’re really disgusting!”
“Yeah, I know,” Sebastian interrupted his friend. “Matt and I saw a few of them in the other room- MATT! I need to let him know that I found you. He could be absolutely anywhere by now!”
* * *
Matt was absolutely nowhere by now. “I hope I find Jonathan soon,” he began talking to himself. He just hoped that one of those things didn’t find him. The party was downstairs, so he was fairly confident that nopony would find him. He then began to think of the word “nopony” and similar words, and how stupid that word was. Ponies still had bodies, so why did they have to replace the root “body” with “pony”?
As Jonathan went unfound and time went on, Matt became increasingly worried that he was currently searching for a body. He was also worried that this body search would turn into a search for HIS body.
But Matt realized he was being ridiculous. There’s no possible way one of those things would find him. Matt turned the corner, and paused and stared in horror.
One of those things found him.
