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Prologue: The Mission and Other Complications2,179 words
Don't Breathe1,840 words
Surviving the First Night1,751 words
Apple Coffee2,211 words
Reunion2,243 words
Shifting Feelings2,019 words
Preening1,301 words
Through the Edge of Night2,767 words
The Days to Come1,635 words
Aspiring and Flying2,205 words
Correspondence and the End of Time1,222 words
Alyiess1,533 words
Mail Mare Mishap2,792 words
Compatibility Issues1,741 words
Changeling2,910 words
Bard1,861 words
Road Games and Charades2,272 words
Finale: To Live and Love in Equestria4,223 words
Epilogue: New Life723 words
To Be Continued…17 words

Don't Breathe

Shift's POV

Well, the trip to Equestria wasn't exactly what I expected. To be honest, I was hoping to be put safely on the ground, but the universe had other plans. After crash-landing, I had passed out. I blinked my eyes open. Everything had turned the slightest shade of blue, I assume because I am a Changeling.

I was lying on my side when I woke up. Luckily, my disguise was still intact. I tried to move and get up, but a pain racked my body. I looked at my exposed side to see that I had a large gash on my ribcage. "Nnnuuuggghhh…" was all I could muster. I heard hoofbeats near me.

"Excuse me? Sir? Do you need help?" I flicked my eyes over to the familiar voice and started as I looked into the eyes of a lavender unicorn. Twilight was looking at me with concern.

"Yes… if that's okay…" I mumbled.

"Alright. My house is just over the hill, but I'm going to have to move you."

"Okay."

"This may hurt a bit." I was enveloped in a lavender light, and slowly my body was lifted. I gave a grunt as the movement sent a bolt of pain through my false body.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?"

"I'm okay, don't worry. You warned me it would hurt."

She continued to levitate my otherwise limp body over the hill. I was suddenly given a look at Ponyville. The town of a brony's dreams was magnificent in person- er, pony. Given depth, the pastel town was even more lively than ever. It almost looked unreal to me. Twilight kept floating me down the slope to the library. She magicked the door open and levitated me inside. A shiver of pain went through my pseudo form as she placed me on the couch. Apparently, when you breathe in a time-space tunnel, you get a gash in your side. Promising.

"Do you need anything?" I opened my eyes to see Twilight still looking at me.

"Um, some medical attention would be good… if that's okay."

"Oh. Right, the gash… Spike!"

There was the sound of stumbling as the purple baby dragon made his way down the stairs. "Twilight, what's up? Who's that? Why is he bleeding?"

"No time Spike! Go get the first-aid kit, quickly!" she ordered, turning back to me, "What's your name?"

"Uh… Shift," I said, "You're Twilight Sparkle, right?"

"Yeah… oh, Spike! Thank you!" I looked on as she opened a white box with a red cross on it and levitated a roll of gauze and disinfectant from it. It stung as she applied the gooey substance to my side, but it cooled into a soothing feeling. The sting resumed as the unicorn shifted my body with magic to wrap my torso in a bandage. "You're lucky that the cut didn't need stitches, but you shouldn't move for the rest of the day," she said, "Wait a second, what did you do to get that horrible wound?"

I sighed and looked into her eyes. Then I felt something, like a strange… vibe… emanating from the unicorn. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until then, but I soon felt satisfied, like her concern was feeding me. Oh wait, I thought, I'm a Changeling. Really, concern tastes a bit like fruit-flavored gum. Then the taste became a little bitter, my stare turning the concern into awkwardness. "Um… I don't know," I lied, "I can't remember."

I was lucky Twilight wasn't a living polygraph like Applejack, or I would be screwed. "Oh, alright then." She continued her check of me, the awkwardness becoming an undefinable taste of curiosity. To be honest, awkwardness and curiosity aren't exactly emotions, so all I could do was sense them, not feed off them. "Why don't you have a cutie mark?"

In hindsight, I should have copied Skyblaze or Aegis. "I really don't know." My brain was telling me to fake amnesia, but I still had to find the other bronies, so I avoided the question. "Have you seen my friends? There's five others." It was a legit inquiry, but she gave off the taste of perplexity.

"No… you were laying in the field on your own. I couldn't just leave you there," she said, "are you hungry?"

I remember somewhere that Changelings can eat normal food and have a separate digestive tract for solids, but gained no sustenance from it. Her concern was feeding into me again, but I could not blow my cover. "Yeah… if that's okay with you."

"Hey Spike? Can you get us some sandwiches please?"

"Sure thing Twilight!" the assistant said eagerly as he scampered to the kitchen.

"Okay," she mumbled, turning to me, "what do your friends look like?"

I thought a moment. "Um… there are two pegasi, a grey mare and a blue stallion, two earth ponies, a large maroon stallion and a green one, and there's…" I paused, trying to figure out how to explain my similarities with Storm, "my… sister, looks a lot like me, except with pink eyes." It felt weird to think of Storm as my sister when she was a guy a day ago.

"Okay, after you get better, I will help you find your friends," she promised, "oh, Spike, thanks!" She insisted on feeding me by hoof, instead of tiring myself by using magic. Which was fine, but I realized an important detail; Storm and I don't know how to do magic.

Aegis' POV

"Ow…" I woke to the sound of pain to my left, opening my eyes to see Storm laying against a tree and Rainchaser hanging limp, yet conscious, in the branches above. "Where am I? Discord must have escaped, 'cause the world is spinning."

Suddenly aware of my surroundings, I rose. We had landed in an apple orchard, or rather, on the edge of it. I leaned on the fence, still trying to regain my balance on my unfamiliar hooves. "You mares okay?"

Rainchaser groaned. "Nothing broken, still in one piece," she reported.

"This is worse than the last time Discord broke free!" Storm's pink eyes were still spinning as she hopped to her feet. After shaking her head, her spiraling irises focused and she glanced around. "Hey, we're at Sweet Apple Acres! This is so cool! I get to finally meet Applebloom! She looked so cute in yesterday's Drawfriend!"

"Yeah, hey guys? Flightless pegasister in need of assistance." At her complaint I trotted up to the tree and reared, putting my left hoof on the bark and using my right to grasp the low-lying branch. Yanking the limb, I bent it so the grey pegasus could slide down. "Thanks, big guy."

"Eeyup!" I said, mimicking Big Mac so well that I could practically be an extra on the show for him.

"Macintosh! I heard ya back there! Granny says it's time for…" Applejack rounded the grove of apple trees and stared at us. To be honest, I may have looked too much like the large red pony for my own good; she must have seen my red coat through the trees and heard my expert imitation of her brother. "…lunch."

We would have stared at each other for minutes if it weren't for Storm's boundless energy. "Hi! I'm Storm. It's nice to meet you! I like your hat, very fitting."

"Uh huh, Ah guess y'all are new 'round Ponyville. What are y'all doin' in mah orchard?" She gave us a suspicious look, and something told me it was directed toward either me or the energetic purple unicorn. Her face brightened for a moment, but not much. "Mah name's Applejack. I work the orchard with mah family."

I could kinda figure that she thought we were stealing apples, considering that I was letting go of the branch when she appeared. "My name's Aegis. The pegasus I had to help out of the tree is Rainchaser here, but we call her Rain," I said, motioning to Rain, "the poor mare had a head injury recently and forgot how to fly. She was trying to glide and crashed in your tree." To be honest, I impressed myself. In one swath, I not only prevented a beat-down from Applejack, but also gave an excuse for Rain's ignorance of flight. Rain gave me a glare, but said nothing.

"Okay, then. So what brings ya to Ponyville?"

"We… uh, we're travelers," said Rain, only half lying, "we travel around Equestria, looking for excitement… and the occasional employment." She looked slightly proud of her story, but then her face dropped. "Oh crap! Where are the others?"

Storm gave a dramatic gasp. "Holy crud! What if they didn't make it? What if somepony finds Shift? We gotta find them, Aegis!" she shouted shaking me with her hooves, "Who knows where they could be?!"

Skyblaze's POV

I was in pain, a lot of pain. Not as much pain as the mishap with the ponyfier, but it lasted longer. My whole body ached, to agonizing to move, or even open my eyes. Something was on top of me, but I was too weak to try moving it. I must look pretty pathetic, I thought, I wonder what happened. I groaned. Yeah, just groaned. Loudly. Pathetic.

"Try not to move, stranger." I heard a regal voice above my head. In great pain, I opened my eyes. There was a dark blue face hanging above my head. Her mane flowed around her in an ethereal wind. I tried to respond, but her eyes enraptured me. The figure above me had an otherworldly air around her, and her mane sparkled with stars that matched the moon-lit night above. In her eyes, I saw my reflection, surrounded by a void of space. It was so…

"Beautiful…" was all I could manage as my good samaritan peered at me. "Are you an angel? Wait, that means I'm dead. Am I dead?" She looked at me confused. "So pretty…"

"Sir, please be still. I will attempt to lift Discord off thou, but I beg you remain motionless."

"Discord-?" I looked to my left to see the petrified face of the draconequus. I jumped, but it sent pain through me.

"Stay thy movement, stranger, I will assist you."

"Whatever you say, beautiful." Okay, yeah, I was hysterical from the pain. I do weird things to cope, like hitting on the chick trying to save my life. I've done stranger things. Maybe.

It took her no effort at all to raise the statue, her horn glowing as the stone Spirit of Chaos was lifted off me. She put her face closer to me. "Thou are covered in burns, I must see you to a hos--"

I kissed her. In hindsight, she probably shouldn't have came so close to my face. It hurt a lot, but it was worth it. I expected her to pull away, but my savior half-closed her eyes in surprising bliss. The last thing I heard before passing out from the pain was a rustling noise off to my right.

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