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// Level One: Controlling Appearance Changes 
// Story: How To Live Amongst Ponies 
// by SomeRetroGeek 
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Level One is the first, and without a doubt, the most important level in utilising your capabilities as a Changeling. If you are no longer a young one, then please skip ahead to 'Level Three: Fully Blending In' as you have most likely completed Level One at a younger age. 

As you are most likely aware, have learnt from your elders or already experienced, there will be common instances when you are young in which you sporadically change forms. When you wake up as a young one, you may feel wonderful and ready for a hard day's work, ready to do everything you can with your brethren to survive together, but ten seconds later, your appearance may suddenly change into that of another creature known as a pony, a primary form we take on, due to it's similar physical appearance and intelligence. This change may last for a split-second, a minute or possibly longer. One of my brothers had the unfortunate experience of the sporadic change lasting for an entire day, being totally unable to change back due to not mastering the technique of changing forms. When these changes begin, it is natural, and all Changelings experience it at a young age, even the great Queen did. When these changes start to occur more regularly, for many over an hour every day, it is a sign that you must start to learn to control this gift, use it as a survival tool to feed upon the love of the ponies, taking over the role from another member of your swarm.

To control this wonderful ability, you must be calm. The sporadic changes will have frightened you, there is no doubt about that, but controlling these changes will help you and your brethren survive the harsh conditions of this world. The first step of controlling changes is to be with a maximum of two other Changelings, ideally Elders, who have experienced the condition themselves and have helped others like you. They will easily be able to guide you through remembering what to do. You must be sat close together in utter silence, using your minds, thinking. Focused on controlling the power you have been gifted. Once this is done, you can proceed with the second step, changing into a form itself. I have attached a photograph of a pony that I cut out from a newspaper. It can be seen below.



The inclusion of this photograph may seem strange, but remembering appearances is very important when it comes to Changeling society. Whomever is helping you to control changing your appearance, it may be an idea to show them the photograph too, telling them that you intend to change your appearance to look like the one in the photograph, and that you will try until you succeed. That is how myself and many others were able to control our appearance. So long as you are determined and refuse to give in, you will eventually succeed in changing your appearance and holding it. Whomever is helping you must then move onto the third step, 'Changing Between Forms At Will'. Now that you are able to change your appearance an hold it, changing between multiple appearances is not only much easier so long as you are calm and determined! It involves utilising your magic, which is thought to be the cause behind the sporadic changes in appearances due to it's unpredictable and unstable nature as an infant, to make switching between forms easier. Ideally, once you have been able to change your appearance, you must practice using your magic to switch between your normal appearance, and the appearance of a seemingly innocent pony, everyday. This will not only improve the skill until you have fully mastered it and can change in the blink of an eye, but will make transforming into another form, such as an inanimate object, say for instance a rock or book, possible. It is, however, not recommended, and only to be done in serious circumstances, due to the fact that you can...be stood on, which can cause serious injury and potentially fatal consequences. 

Now that you have learnt the fundamental basics, let's go over what you are now hopefully capable of:
Changing your appearance to that of another being (preferably pony) with the assistance of others.
Changing your appearance to that of another being (preferably pony) alone and using magic with ease.
Changing your appearance to that of another being (preferably pony) and transforming back into Changeling form within a few moments.
Changing your appearance to that of an inanimate object using magic with ease.

If you are capable of these things, then you may proceed to 'Level Two: Feeding Upon Love', where I will guide you through controlling your desire to devour the love of the ponies, both around your swarm and whilst living amongst the ponies in secret, the latter of which will be made simpler with what you have learnt here.