Later on in the day when everypony is out and about, Deceit walks a little ways into the forest to find a small pond. As he sits in front of it he tries to think of exactly how he wants to look. ‘Faint light blue fur with a dark grey mane.’ He thought. As he stares into the pond he tries to change, and sees the green glow of his fire changing him. Once it finishes he looks back to the water to see his reflection. Lucky for him he did it the first try. It was lucky because Deceit is still young, though not a kid, and hasn’t needed to change very often. Because of that he doesn’t have much practice to perfect it.
As Deceit stared down into the small pond he notices something he missed, the cutie mark. ‘Crap what did I decide on again? Oh right, some type of mask. I’ll just put one of those stage masks. And one other thing I didn’t decide on was my eye color. Well, how about bright red. Even if it’s uncommon it will still get a few funny looks. And for the last thing I should be a Pegasus, because I’ve always loved flying.’ Once he decided on his finishing touches, Deceit tried to change again and was successful. He was now disguised as a light blue Pegasus with a short scruffy grey mane, bright red eyes and a mask for a cutie mark.
“Hey, I didn’t do too badly. But will it be enough to fool the ponies?” Deceit thought out loud, “Well, let’s hope it works otherwise I’ll probably be starved within a day.” He was now walking back to his cave when suddenly he heard a scream in the distance. “Crap…” He said quietly. He then ran as fast as he could towards the scream to try to help whoever was in trouble. Deceit bust through a large bush and got a couple of little cuts from it. He then looked at the scene in front of him and was surprised at what he saw.
There was a pack of Timber wolves surrounding a purple unicorn mare that was caught in some vines. She was using some magic to keep the wolves back but was looking like she was getting tired quickly. The pack was made up of four wolves, and one of them spotted him. It growled and caught the attention of the other three. They were now all growling at him and the mare that was tangled up was surprised. Deceit got into a fighting stance and crept towards the wolves while also giving his own little growl.
The wolves started walking forward too, but when one was about to pounce it got a whiff of Deceit’s changeling form and backed up instead. This confused everyone present, but then Deceit remembered that changelings give off a predator like smell. It can only be picked up by animals with very good noses like other predators to let them know to back off.
The wolves could all smell it now and slowly backed away into the forest while growling. Once Deceit made sure they were gone, he untangled the mare. Now that he got a good look at her he noticed that she seemed familiar, just like the name of the town. The mare was a violet color with a dark purple mane and had a pink stripe going through it. Now that she was untangled she stood there shocked at what just happened. She then fell over unconscious… “Um, what? Did… Did she just… Whatever, I should get her out of here.” Deceit said to himself. He then picked her up onto his back and carried her to his cave.
“Ok, I can wait here until she wakes up and then I can find out why she was out there,” Deceit mumbled to himself, “I should check the area and make sure that those wolves didn’t follow us.” He walked out of his cave and looked around, checking for the wolves. After doing a few laps around the area he decided they were safe.
Deceit thought to himself and decided to rest until the mare awakens. As he sat there he felt a breeze blow through and make the cave cold. He then got back up and tried to find more kindling to start up a small fire. Deceit walked around picking up sticks and bringing them back to his fire pit in the cave. Once he had enough kindling he quickly dropped his disguise to lite the fire with his horn, and then disguised himself again.
As the fire slowly started up he gently brought the mare next to the fire, but not close enough to burn her. Slowly as the day went on and it got a bit darker out, Deceit kept the fire going and also found some flowers and a couple of apples for the mare when she wakes up. The unicorn was now tossing around and slowly opened her eyes to see the cave they were in. As her mind was processing that she was in a cave with a stranger, Deceit was just sitting there quietly waiting for her to do something. Then as the mares mind clicked her eyes popped open and she backed up against the wall.
“Whoa, are you alright?” Deceit asks her, “You’ve been unconscious for quite a while.”
“Who are you, where am I and why am I here?!” She franticly said.
“I’m Deceit, you’re in my home and you’re here because I didn’t want to leave you in the forest unconscious,” Deceit replies
without missing a beat, “So, my turn, why were you in the forest? And what’s your name?”
“Um, I’m Twilight Sparkle. I was out here because I was looking for some special really rare flower for my friend. Hey, wait a second. Did you say this cave is your home?” Twilight asks a lot calmer.
“Yeah, I found this cave and have been living in it since yesterday.”
“You do know that a town is right next to here right?” Twilight said skeptically.
“I know that, I just never got a chance to walk in and say hello to everypony. Wait, didn’t you say you were looking for some type of rare flower?” Deceit asks.
“Um, yeah why?” She said confusedly.
“Well, it wouldn’t happen to be any of these flowers would it?” Deceit says while holding up the flowers he picked. There were some normal ones like roses and daisies but a few of the flowers looked quite odd. One was a light purple and looked like a noodle, another was green with a yellow swirl going all around the petals until it reached the middle.
“That green one is it! How did you find that?” Twilight questions.
“Oh, I was just picking flowers and apples from nearby incase you felt hungry when you woke up."
“Wait a second, Zecora must be so worried about me! I never made it back to her hut with the flower and she must think something!” Twilight said franticly.
“Well, something did happen.”
“What does that mean?”
“Don’t you remember? You were being attacked by Timber wolves and you were tangled up in some vines.” Deceit said nonchalantly.
“Oh my goodness, you’re right. But the last thing I remember was you showing up.”
Deceit then walks over to Twilight and says, “Well why don’t we go find your friend and let them know that you’re alright.”
She gives him a smile and replies, “Sure, but you should come and sleep in my guest room instead of this cave.”
“Well, alright then. This cave did its job but a bed would be comfier.” Deceit agrees.
They then grabbed the flowers and apples, put out the fire and left the cave. ‘Why do I feel kind of better? Is she giving me some type of emotion? It’s so subtle that I didn’t feel it until I looked for it, but it still helps. This may work out better than I thought it would. If I just keep getting friends then they can feed me with care and happiness.’
“Deceit, hello? Are you ok?” Twilight said with some worry.
“Huh, oh, yeah I’m alright. Sorry I was just lost in my thoughts.” Deceit apologized.
“Well we’re already at Zecora’s house. Just hold on for a moment out here.” Twilight said. She then walked up to the door and knocked. A zebra walked out and looked very relieved to see that Twilight was alright. They started talking but Deceit couldn’t hear and instead rested by leaning against a nearby tree. Soon they finished talking and twilight walked back to Deceit.
“Hey, we can go now.”
“Alright, I hope we get back soon, I’m getting tired.” He said groggily.
“Fine, just follow me.” Twilight said with a small laugh. They then walked a path all the way back to town where a small group of ponies were looking around franticly until they saw Twilight. As soon as they saw her they all ran straight to her and started bombarding her with questions.
“What happened to you?!”
“You were missing for a few hours!”
“Who’s that guy?”
They finally noticed Deceit standing there with a dumbfounded look on his face. “Um, I’m guessing they’re friends of yours?” He asks Twilight.
“Um, maybe you should all meet each other. This is Deceit, and he saved me from a pack of Timber wolves,” She said, “And these are my friends, Rainbow dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.” Twilight points to each pony as she says their name.
“Did you say that you were attacked by Timberwolves?!” Rarity says franticly, “Did you get hurt? How did you get away?”
“Well, Deceit here came and helped me, because I was… um, tangled in some vines.” She says with a blush.
“This guy saved you? He doesn’t look very strong. I bet I could take him easily.” Rainbow dash said confidently.
“Hey, I don’t have to be strong to get some wolves to leave. Besides I brought her back to my home for the past few hours because she was unconscious.” Deceit replies.
“At least you two are ok now,” Rarity says, “But why was Twilight unconscious?”
“I think I can answer that,” Twilight says, “I think I was knocked out because I used too much magic trying to defend against the wolves and then I fainted from overuse.”
“Hey, I don't mean to be rude, but can we go now?” Deceit says with a yawn, “I’m really tired.”
“Oh, yes. Sorry girls, but we need to go. We can talk all about it tomorrow though.” Twilight said to the group of mares. They all said their goodbyes and split up to return to their own homes. “Let’s get you back to my house.”
Twilight and Deceit walked down a few streets and after awhile reached her home, which was a library too. Deceit would be surprised if he wasn’t so tired. They walked inside and went up the steps to the bedrooms. “Ok, so your room is at the end of that hall and my room is right here. Just knock if you need anything.”
“Ok, thanks again twilight.” Deceit groggily replies. After twilight walks into her room, Deceit walks into his room to see a cozy inviting bed just for him. As he flops down onto the bed, he feels like there was something important he was forgetting but was too tired to care and fell asleep within seconds.