//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: Introductions 
// Story: Of Men and Insects 
// by VeganSpyro97 
//------------------------------//

	 	Allan woke with a yawn, and heavy eyelids, having slept quite poorly through the night. Fluttershy had taken him back home with her, true to her word, and for that, he was grateful. However, the dreams that had plagued his sleep had kept waking him up in crying fits and screaming, imagining his family in the clutches of the hideous Queen who was no doubt walking about with his face, and speaking with his voice, pretending to be him. 
Slipping out from under the soft bed clothes, he wound up smashing his face into the floor. Again. Growling, he shoved himself to his shiny, brown-ish hooves and wobbled his way to the door. Moving on four legs was a pain, that was for certain. If it was taking this long just to adjust to walking, he was not relishing flying. The mere thought made him shudder mid-step, and that shudder was just enough to send his balance careening out of control, and his face was greeted by his guest room’s door frame. 
“Oww….” Allan groaned, rubbing his sore nose with a hoof, pulling the limb away in order to check it for blood. The slight green stain on the door frame only served to further entrench the reality of the situation into Allan’s mind. “I’m a bug-horse with poor motor skills and a bloody nose. Great.”
Stifling his pain, Allan made his way, still on uncertain hooves, through the door and out into the hallway. Pictures lined the walls, mostly of Fluttershy and various, rather happy looking animals, including a rather large bear that dwarfed the happy little pony sat next to it, as though the creature was a tiny little hamster. Allan stopped and stared at that picture for a moment, before shaking his head. “Everything’s screwy here…” 
Carefully trotting down the stairs at the end of the hallway, passing by a picture of Fluttershy standing beside a grinning, blonde maned pegasus with a coat of pale blue, while also dressed in a graduation cap and gown, Allan let his ears flop to the side of his head, not willing to maintain his charade of obliviousness to all the crazy things he had endured thus far. 
He felt exhausted, even after a decent night’s sleep. Attacked, transformed, transported, smuggled across a magical fantasy world and now bunking with an absurdly kind, talking pegasus. Allan gritted his now pointy teeth together. As taxing as all of that had been, he had a horrible feeling that he would go through worse before he even had a chance at getting home. 
A familiar feeling of emptiness started to encroach upon him, and he recognized another bout of withdrawal coming on. Having gone through it before, it was easy enough to recognize, and as much as Allan wanted to just forget about it all, he knew that doing so was, to put it plainly, a stupid idea. The only way to properly get through this ordeal, was to actually face it head on. 
Not feeling was the enemy, so Allan bit on his lip, forcing himself to feel the pain of his fangs piercing his own flesh, which, of course, hurt like hell. Feeling blood flood his mouth sent him bolting for the nearest window, through which he spat out the largest mouthful of blood he had ever had the displeasure of tasting, second place going to a fourth grade soccer match a during physical education class covering soccer. He’d been hit in the face by the ball, and had bitten his lip on impact, getting him a large mouthful of blood and a visit to the school nurse. 
Allan shook away the emptiness, and forced himself to walk own the stairs into the living room. Fluttershy’s humming could be heard coming from what Allan knew to be her kitchen, accompanied by the light clattering of pots, pans and dishes being cleaned up. Sitting on a table in the living room, was a dish that rather surprised Allan, as it contained what could only be… well, meat.
“Go ahead, Allan.” Fluttershy’s warm voice encouraged from the doorway. Allan jerked back in surprise, having not even noticed the filly enter the frame. “It’s for you. I made it specially.”
Allan looked at the steaming plate of food, then at the shy little pony, in horror. “You….you, made...you got me meat?”
Fluttershy’s confusion was plainly evident upon her naturally adorable features. “Oh, is something wrong?”
“It’s just… you’re a pony…..” 
“And?” She raised an eyebrow. 
“Ponies don’t eat meat!!”
She realized why he was so flustered. “Oh, that’s true, but I work with all kinds of animals, which means I need to be able to feed them. I’ve gotten used to preparing and being around meat.”
Allan felt his face turn red. “Oh… um, then, I guess I should have known.”
Fluttershy trotted forward and placed a hoof on his shoulder. “It’s fine, there’s no need to worry yourself about it.”
“Well… um, thank you, Fluttershy.” Allan said, not wanting to be impolite to his host. He sat down at the table, and, as Rarity had instructed him, used magic to manipulate the eating utensils placed beside the plate with care, moving small chunks of meat to his mouth. He was unsure what to expect, but what he received was perfectly seasoned and well prepared, bolognese style meat, coupled with an assortment of flowers that had been partially hidden by the sauce that was liberally spread over most of the plate. 
Allan took his first bite, tentatively, and when the beefy goodness registered with his tastebuds, he let a genuine grin split his muzzle for the first time since he had arrived here. 
“Wow… Fluttershy… this tastes amazing!” He looked up at her, beaming. “For someone that never eats meat themselves, you prepare it very well!”
Fluttershy displayed her namesake by fluttering her wings and gaining a rather rosy tint to the fur on her cheeks. “Oh… well, I have a bear friend who comes over quite a bit, so I learned to cook better meals so that I could give him a treat every once in awhile.”
Allan took another bite. “Wait…? Is that…?” Allan looked curiously at the piece of meat currently on his fork. “Is that salmon?” 
“Yes, it is.” 
“But it tastes like beef!” 
“It does?” 
“Well of course it does! Haven’t you ever-” Allan stopped himself short. “Oh, yeah, right….pony…” 
Fluttershy giggled. “Adjustment difficulties?” 
It was Alan's turn for his cheeks to turn red. “What? No! I-uh- um, it’s just….. Oh forget it.”
Fluttershy smiled at him. “You can tell me about it, you know.”
Allan turned his head away from her, his eyes flicking between her and the floor before he caved. 
“It’s just… all so confusing.” Fluttershy nodded and waved her hoof, signalling him to continue. “I know I was born human. I woke up human a week ago. Today, I woke up as a bug-horse-thing. In a world where magic rules over science. My world has no magic. I have no idea how any of it works, yet I’ve already started doing it myself! How do you do something, without knowing how to do it? And not only that, I have no idea about how your society works! What if I end up alienating them because I’m being rude or ignorant?”
Fluttershy listened carefully to his concerns, never once dismissing them, or telling him that he was overreacting. “Well,” She said, once he had voiced his concerns. “If you really are worried about all of that, then maybe you should think about your current situation.”
“Um…” Allan raised a non-existent eyebrow. “...I don’t get what you mean.” 
“Well, you may be in a place you don’t understand, but you have already made friends with somepony who will be more than willing teach you.” Fluttershy said, her voice gentle and reassuring. “Twilight loves teaching almost as much as she loves learning, you know. Not to mention that our friends will help you too, once they’ve gotten to know you.”
Allan mulled that over as Fluttershy sat next to him, and, slowly, a smile began to creep onto his face. “You’re right. You guys all seem pretty cool, so maybe I don’t have to worry all that much. Princess Twilight was already trying to teach me, and Rarity did get me to use magic already.” 
Fluttershy smiled. “And you only need to ask for their help. They’ll be glad to help.”
Allan turned thankful eyes to his host and, in a move of relief, threw his forelegs around her in a warm hug, which surprised the introverted mare. As Allan started thanking her for being so comforting and encouraging, Fluttershy blushed in embarrassment. 
“It’s nothing, really…. I just… thought that you might...need it…” She said, lapsing into her old habit of trailing off mid sentence. 
“No, really.” Allan put a hoof, gently, up to her mouth, shushing her. “Thank you. I needed to hear that.”
“Well…if you ever start feeling like that again…. Just let me know…” Fluttershy said, as Allan dived back into his meal with relish. Fluttershy sat there, munching on her own food, though she could not help but stare at her guest. Allan had felt… warm. That surprised Fluttershy. Ever since she had first learned about Changelings, and had first met them, she had believed that their shells, their carapaces, were cold and unfeeling. What she had just felt, however, was warm, and… not actually that hard. It was flexible, though a little stiff, and was only segmented in places that could not move otherwise. And it was organic. It felt as though it was actually something’s skin, not just a solid shell that hid the real creature beneath. 
Staring at Allan, Fluttershy could not help but wonder about him, and other changelings as well, of course. Animals were her forte, but Fluttershy felt curiosity about all living things, and Allan had just set it off.
He was halfway through the plate when there was a knock on the door. 
Both pony and changeling sat bolt upright, their ears swiveling toward the door, and their bodies perfectly still. 
“Hello? Fluttershy?” The raspy, female  voice from outside the door sounded impatient, as though she was in a big hurry. 
“Y’all in there, Sugarcube?” The second female voice had a definite country accent, and Allan had the strangest image of ponies in stetsons and waistcoats flash through his head at the thought. The second voice also sounded impatient. “Me and Rainbow have a favour to ask of ya.”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened, and before he knew it, Allan was being slammed into the back of a closet, the buttery mare’s baby blue eyes frantic. “Just stay in here for now, okay?” With that, the doors slammed shut, leaving Allan to peer out of the wooden slats at the room beyond.
“Hi girls… um…. What’s up?” The nervous undertone in Fluttershy’s voice was so obvious that Allan, hidden in the wardrobe as he was, was able to hear it and let out a muffled groan. “Ugh…. Flutters…”
“Um…. You alright sugarcube? Y’all seem kinda nervous?”
“No, Applejack…. I’m okay.” Allan face-hoofed in the wardrobe. “I’m just fine…”
“Shy, yer mumblin’ again.” The one called Applejack said as the three fillies… or was it mares? Entered the room. One of them was shorter, toned, athletic even, in appearance, muscles playing beneath cerulean blue fur as she moved, her multicolored mane giving away her name at first glance. Rainbow Dash’s magenta eyes were fixed on Fluttershy as she and her companion advanced, one eyebrow arched up in a questioning manner. 
The pale orange furred mare who trotted in beside her was taller, broader, and her muscles, were far more prominent than Rainbow’s, and her mane, a blonde mass of hair that hung down in her eyes and was bound behind her neck in a large, unbraided ponytail that hung to her shoulders. Perched atop her head was a large brown hat of unmistakable design. The stetson was relatively old, and it appeared, from how snugly it fit her head, that it was a favourite. A red neckerchief was also tied around her neck, and Allan had to say, it suited her. Her bright green eyes, from what Allan could see, were furrowed in an accusatory look. The freckles on her cheeks, small, white patches of fur, were creased up a little. 
“Are ya sure yer fine, sugarcube, because you don’t look or sound like it.”
“Yeah, what’s the deal?” Rainbow asked with a snap. “You really gonna act suspicious right after a changeling invasion? Come on!”
“I’m not acting suspiciously!” Fluttershy protested. The attempt was so unconvincing that Allan had to restrain himself from slamming his head into the door in exasperation. Where had this girl learned to keep secrets? He was very close to jumping out of the closet in order to ask her, just so that he could complain about the quality of her instruction on the subject, when Applejack spotted his plate. His still unfinished plate. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. 
“Fluttershy…” She turned slowly on her friend, her gaze steely. “What’s this?”
“What’s what?” She asked, only now attempting to use her sweet and innocent demeanor to her advantage. 
Applejack’s hoof shot right up, pointing right at the bolognese style meal and the cutlery still sat on the dish. “That, Fluttershy. What is that?” 
“Oh, Harry the bear stopped by for a meal earlier. I hadn’t cleaned it up, that’s all.” 
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “A bear ate that? With pony sized cutlery?”
Fluttershy started to stammer, trying to think of a way to salvage the situation, but Rainbow Dash was too quick. “Alright! What are you hiding Fluttershy? What’s going on?”
Allan knew there was no getting out of this. Enough was enough.
“It’s alright, Fluttershy, you don’t need to protect me.” He pushed the door open with a hoof, and stepped out of the closet, his blue eyes calm and reassuring.
“CHANGELING!!” Rainbow Dash yelled, before leaping at Allan in a rugby tackle that bowled him off of his hooves and sent both of them crashing to the floor. The painted floorboards cracked on impact, drawing a squeak of outraged fright from Fluttershy. Rainbow attempted to smash Alan's face in with a punch, but Allan managed to move his head out of the way in time. 
“Rainbow Dash!” Applejack’s voice cracked like a whip, and Rainbow, drawing her hoof back up for another punch, stopped, and twisted around to look at her. “Get off of him.”
“But-!” 
“Now!” 
Rainbow jumped up, and Allan saw now, as he couldn’t through the slats, her magnificent wings. The stories that Rarity, Twilight and Fluttershy had told him had often mentioned the brash pegasus and her love of flight, but, to see her in person… Her athletically toned body was framed by two wings, so immaculately cared for that, even ruffled, her feathers, blue but tinted with the various colours of the rainbow, did not look out of place or even all that scruffy, unlike her mane, which was quite tangled and unkempt, though still not even close to rivaling Pinkie Pie’s curls. 
Rainbow kept her magenta eyes fixed on him as she moved away, though she did obey Applejack’s command. 
The farm pony stepped closer to him, her gaze penetrating and scrutinizing. 
“What’s yer name?” 
“Huh?” The question was unexpected, and threw him off-balance. “Oh, uh, I’m Allan. It’s a pleasure to meet you, miss…” Although he knew her name, he decided to be a gentleman and let her introduce herself properly. 
“The name’s Applejack, and it’s a pleasure to be making yer acquaintance!” She said cheerfully. “I pretty much run Sweet Apple Acres along with me Granny’ an’ me big brother, so if you ever need something, you come on over, ya hear?”
Allan started to nod and respond with thanks, but Rainbow Dash butted in. 
“Applejack! What are you doing?! We don’t know him! How do we know he ain’t a bad changeling in disguise?!” 
Applejack looked at both Fluttershy and Allan before regarding her paranoid friend. 
“Relax Dash. Remember that message Twilight got from Thorax a couple days ago? She said a Changeling called Allan would be coming here to stay. He’s probably already been in town awhile.” Allan nodded in confirmation. “ Actually, ah’m surprised Pinkie hasn’t thrown him a bash yet.”
“Oh she’s planning it alright, and I’m dreading it. She appeared out of a plant pot less than a quarter of her size! Twilight was trying to teach me magic, and Rarity made me a cloak, and is working on a suit or something for when Pinkie throws the party.” Allan explained. “The party won’t be happening for a little bit, though. I think Twilight had words with Pinkie about holding off the party until I’m… well, a bit more adjusted.”
“I still don’t trust him!” Rainbow snapped. 
“Sorry Al’. She’s been on edge ever since we woke up after bein’ pony-napped by Chrysalis’s goons.”
Allan smiled. “Understandable.” His smile led into a shudder as the memory of the Queen was once again brought to the surface. “She’s…. Not exactly my favourite person either.”
Applejack noticed his different terminologies, but said nothing about it. “So, Twilight said yer actually from another world?” 
Allan nodded. His smile faded somewhat. “Yeah, but that subject is still a little sensitive. I feel like I’m going to break down and cry at a moments notice anyway, and I don’t need questions about home making it worse.”
“Don’t worry about it, sugarcube. Ah won’t go pryin’ where my business ain’t. Anyways, ah gotta know something else.”
“Oh…?” Allan cocked his head to the side. “What’s that?”
“Why were ya in the closet?”
Fluttershy turned bright red in embarrassment. “I panicked.”
“Why? We’re your friends!” Applejack said with a smile.
“Well, Rainbow wasn’t very happy after the festival. I thought it was best not to… uh, remind her.”
Rainbow harrumphed, then flew out to the kitchen, looking for something pony-friendly to eat. 
“What’s with her? I thought you guys were all fine and dandy with the changelings now?” Allan asked, confused.
Applejack sighed, lowering her head to the floor before staring after Rainbow. “Out of all of us, Rainbow is the most… action orientated. She’s a fighter, and being taken out of commission before she could do anything, not to mention bein’ replaced, was quite… jarring for her. She’s got a bit of resentment for you lot now.”
“Don’t you?” Allan asked, ears drooping. 
“Huh, me? Well… yeah, ah admit, it’s hard not thinking about it like that. But most of what we knew of changelings was all Chrysalis’s doin’.” Applejack laid a hoof on Alan's shoulder. “With Thorax in charge, ah doubt y’all will be trying to do any of that nasty stuff with us, so ah don’t see any harm in tryin’ ta make amends.”
“That’s… very good of you. Back home…” Allan trailed off, but shook his head and continued. “Most people weren’t that understanding.”
Applejack just grinnned. “And ain’t y’all glad ah am?”
Allan snorted. “Definitely!”
***********
Applejack waved goodbye to Fluttershy and her guest as she and Rainbow Dash trotted, and flew respectively, away from the cottage. 
“I still don’t like him.” Dash grumbled under her breath. She crossed her legs across her chest to emphasize her dislike for the changeling, but Applejack only smiled at her. 
“Well, ah think he’s rather nice, for a changeling.” Applejack trotted along happily. “Perhaps if ya actually gave him a chance, you’d find that he ain’t too bad.”
“Hmph!” Rainbow turned her nose up at the idea, her eyes closed and mouth twisted into a frown. She flapped off up ahead, leaving a grinning orange earth pony behind.
The orange mare knew that, if she could pique the pegasus’s interest in the changeling, Rainbow would not be able to resist the temptation of investigating the possibilities with him. All she had to do was think of something that would get Rainbow’s attention. Something like….. Applejack almost laughed as her mind made the obvious connection.
“I think he’s a flyer.”
Rainbow stopped in her tracks. 
“Did ya see his wings? They weren’t like the other changelings, they looked more like a dragonfly, and those bugs can move mighty fast for a bunch-a insects!”
Rainbow turned back around and glared at the farm pony. “Yeah, so?”
“Well, it’s mighty obvious he can’t fly.”
Rainbow ground her teeth together. “Yeah, what’s that got to do with me!?” 
“Well, Twilight, Fluttershy and Rarity all like him, and since they want him to feel better, they’ll probably be teaching him how to use magic.”
“Get to the point.” Rainbow could barely contain her snarl. 
“None of them are real great flyer’s though. They can’t teach him. They’d ask somepony else.”
Rainbow’s eyes narrowed. “Oh no, I’m not teaching him to fly.” 
Applejack quite coyly smiled up at her. “You ain’t afraid ya can’t do it, are ya?”
That was it, her honour was being insulted. “Of course I could!!” Rainbow snapped. 
Applejack inwardly grinned, but she kept her face straight. She had Rainbow where she wanted her. “Oh yeah, Dash?” The farmer leaned forward, nose to nose with her athletic rival. “Go ahead and prove it then.”
“FINE! I WILL!!” Rainbow yelled, before shooting off, leaving Applejack to catch a rainbow coloured contrail in the face, but smiling nonetheless. 

**************
Allan looked at Fluttershy as she sat, quite calmly stroking the fur of a little white bunny that she called Angel. Although he didn’t know why, he found himself more than a little wary of the creature perched in front of the Pegasus. Perhaps it was the intense death glare the little critter was giving him, or the way it kept punching it’s fist into its free paw. Fluttershy didn’t even seem to notice the territorial dispute at all, instead humming to herself, a book open on the sofa she and the rabbit reclined on, using one hoof to stroke her pet and the other to occasionally turn the pages of the book. They had spent the day taking care of Fluttershy’s animals, each of which had certain needs that required tending to before they could once again be left to their own devices, Angel being the one exception. The windows now just showed the dark night sky now, the moon hanging fat and heavy in the sky, it’s craters and dark patches unfamiliar to Allan. He had spent a good few minutes staring at it already, trying to see anything that might make it more like his moon back home, but, like with everything here, all that did was widen the already chasmic divide. 
Sighing, Allan looked down at the book he was reading from, some history text or something, once again gifted by the local nerdy Princess, describing the founding of the Equestrian nation, and the rise of the two, supposedly, immortal Princesses, who also claimed to be able to raise and lower both the sun and the moon. He found it hard, reading a language he barely knew, and he frequently had to read aloud to make sure it sounded right. Being able to speak in Equestrian without having learnt it was definitely working to his advantage, but not being able to read it was annoying.
Allan had his doubts about those princesses. Magic may be cool, and pretty useful, but to move the planetary bodies themselves? That seemed like quite a stretch of the imagination. 
He peered at the picture of the two, the image having been pulled from some tapestry made after Luna’s banishment. It depicted the two of them, both of the Princesses, one, representing the sun and the day with a white coat and a long pink mane, while the other, representing the night and the moon, was smaller, had a shorter, light blue mane and a deeper, navy blue coat. A sun cutie-mark adorned the flank of the larger, sun princess, and a large black patch with a white crescent moon adorned the smaller ones flank.
“Three guesses as to which one is Luna.” Allan muttered with a smile, flipping through the next few pages. They were all boring pages detailing the first years after Luna’s banishment, which, as Twilight had already informed him, was rather…..lacking in excitement. Just day to day living and lawmaking as the land adjusted to having one ruler instead of two, though Celestia was reported to having been quite absent during those days.
No doubts as to why.
Allan reached the end of the chapter, fittingly entitled as the Time of Troubles, and turned over the page to the next chapter, which was entitled; “Star Swirl, and the Origin of Changelings.” 
Allan leaned in, examining the text and the artwork beneath, a depiction of the Unicorn mage known as Star Swirl, and a great, black tree, standing on an island amid a putrid green lake. The young changeling stared at that image, and a sense of dread began to build in him. He somehow knew that place… That lake….That tree…. He remembered the feel of the bark on his hooves as he forced it open wide, allowing him to crawl free….
Allan jerked back from the page, eyes wide. What the hell had that been?! Was that…. Chrysalis? 
He flipped the page and began to read, determined to find the truth. 
“Star Swirl the bearded was perhaps the greatest unicorn mage to have ever lived, surpassed by none in his time, save the Alicorn Princesses. His love of magic made him a rather solitary figure, one who delighted in learning for learning's sake….” Allan rolled his eyes at the long winded exposition and flipped ahead again, this time stopping when he noticed a subsection named; “The Tree” 
Allan started to read aloud again, his voice a dull murmur, but this time loud enough for Fluttershy and Angel to hear him. She perked her head up as he began to read, curiosity on her delicate features. 
“During an expedition, Star Swirl happened across a particular carnivorous tree, amid a lake of foul green water, locked in a cave deep below the ground. Believing the tree to be the source of a dark and corruptive power, Star Swirl left a sign, firmly nailed onto the tree, warning all ponies to stay as far from the tree as they could. 
What he could not have known was that the tree contained the first changelings, somehow created within its wretched bowels. The sign that Star Swirl had nailed to the tree split its bark open, allowing the changelings to emerge, several hundred or so, until only one remained inside. Their Queen. From what evidence archaeologists have uncovered, the tree was forced apart in order for her to escape.”
Allan stopped there, looking down at his hooves, seeing black chitin in the place of his own and still feeling the phantom wood and bark digging into the thinner flesh on their underside as he… no, as Chrysalis forced her way into the world. He growled, his eyes flashing with anger at the thought of the bitch who had done this to him. She had emerged into this world as she lived in it, harsh and jarring to those around her, forceful and cruel. He wanted to curl his fist up into a ball, but he couldn’t instead curling his right forehoof in on itself.
Before his anger could fully take hold, he felt a warmth by his side. Startled, he whipped his head around, to see Fluttershy lying beside him, reading. She looked at him, and gave him a comforting smile. Just seeing how relaxed she was helped him to restrain himself, his raised up wings fluttering as they lowered back into position, and his hoof unclenching. He turned his gaze back to the book. 
As much as he hated the Queen…. Well, it felt only right that he get to learn about her the way that she now knew about him. With Fluttershy beside him, that gentle smile on her face, Allan dove headlong into the history of one of Equestria’s least known villains. 

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