Ocellus
Hurt. Hungry. Hurt.
Hungry…hurt…
…scared…
…help…please…help…
…please…
---
Every single instinct that the foals possessed made them want to gallop back to Ponyville as fast as their hooves could carry them…but they couldn’t do that. If they did, then they might lose track of one another, and if that happened…then how would they know if the bug-thing had returned? So they trotted, bunched up close together. The adrenaline finally dying down, the moment of victory having passed, the foals jumped at every noise, panicked at every moving shadow. Once a cloud returned to cover the Moon again, and the four foals didn’t dare take another step until the cloud passed, even though Dinky and Snails could provide their own light.
They came up with a new code phrase, too. Just in case. They vowed not to tell it to anypony else, no matter what. That way, they’d always know who each other were.
The Sun was only a few hours from rising by the time they made it back to Ponyville proper. None of them were surprised to find every adult still awake and looking for them, turning the town inside out, the pegasus weather patrol being organized by Rainbow Dash to head out and search for them. When they appeared it was bare minutes before their families were on them all.
The adults had at first worn looks that mixed relief and joy with anger – fury, even – at the four of them being gone for so long, but then they saw what a sorry state the four foals were in, their costumes torn and dirty, covered in small nicks and cuts and bruises from scrabbling out of Green Grape’s shed. That, and the fact that the four burst into relieved tears set aside any anger as the older ponies focused only on the foals’ fear. They were all taken to the nearest home – Pipsqueak’s – and Nurse Redheart and Doctor Stable were called to tend to their injuries. Fortunately aside from minor cuts and a few easily-removed splinters, the foals were fine once they’d been cleaned up, Dinky especially scrubbing herself thoroughly to get the now-calcified monster goop off of her.
It was more than half an hour before the foals finally calmed down enough to tell the adults what had happened. None of the adults had a name for the Everfree monster, none recognizing its true form, nor its ability to change its shape. But the Everfree Forest did have a plethora of monsters, and it was huge. Nopony doubted the foals’ story, about what the monster could do and how it had hunted them and disguised itself like them. Maybe somewhere else in Equestria it might have been doubtful…but the ponies of Ponyville knew what the Everfree Forest was like. The only thing strange about the monster had been its subtlety – Everfree monsters were usually large and loud and very obvious about themselves.
The adults fell to talking to one another about what to do about the monster. Dinky, Snails, Pipsqueak, and Twist didn’t much care at this point, though. Everything caught up with all of them at once, and when the adults at last returned their attentions to them, they found the four of them all bunched together on Pipsqueak’s living room floor, Pipsqueak nestled against Dinky’s barrel with one of Dinky’s forelegs over him, Snails on the other side with his neck laying over Dinky’s own, and Twist tucked so that she was laying beneath both Dinky and Snails’ head, all of them sound asleep.
Nopony had the heart to move them.
---
Pipsqueak had been grounded after all, of course, once the four foals had all woken up, though the young colt hadn’t seemed to mind that he wouldn’t get to go anywhere but school or home for a month. Snails hadn’t been grounded, since his parents had believed him when he said that he hadn’t known that Pipsqueak hadn’t gotten permission from his parents to trick-or-treat alone. They didn’t think he intentionally helped him. But on the other hoof, it was several days before his parents or sister let him go anywhere without them nearby. Snails didn’t mind that at all, though. His parents had even let him stay home from school for several days, which was good, because he was pretty sure he wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on class.
Still, eventually he had to resume a normal life. The four foals all returned to school on the same day, and for each of them the chance to see their friends again was a great relief. All the foals in class had been super-interested in learning what had happened, but Miss Cheerilee had made sure that the foals didn’t ask too many questions, and stressed to the four of them that they didn’t have to talk about the monster – the other foals in class, having heard about it, had taken to calling it the Transformer, which seemed as good a name as any – if they didn’t want to.
But talking helped, so they ended up spending the entire day at school talking about what had happened, how they’d been stalked for an entire night by the Transformer, how it had been able to perfectly duplicate any of them, how they’d had to trick it into revealing itself and then fight it off.
Snails was pretty quiet for most of the talk, though. He hadn’t been able to get his mind off of the Transformer these past few days. At first it had mostly been him being really scared of it, remembering all the frightening things it had done…but then Snails had been able to think past that, to instead when the four of them had been able to defeat it, drive it away. The moment when Snails had realized that what he was looking at was scared and hungry, not really a monster, just something that was forced to act like one.
And it had apologized…
Aw, I’m gonna get in so much trouble…Snails thought when he realized what he was already planning. But he had to do it.
After school, Snails didn’t go home, though he knew he should have. He did ask his best friend Snips to stop by his house and tell them he was heading to Fluttershy’s, though, which wasn’t very unusual – he and the pegasus that lived at the edge of town had the same special talent, communicating with animals, even if the specific marks on their flanks were different. Snails sometimes stopped by Fluttershy’s home to see some of the invertebrates that she had, or to help her with some problem related to insects or arachnids or other animals that Snails liked a lot.
So it wasn’t unusual for him to go there…but it wasn’t true, either. Instead, he headed back out into the farmlands around Ponyville, and into Green Grape’s field again, though with the Sun now shining overhead, giving plenty of light for the colt to see with. The vinter had been out to his shed since the foals had fought the Transformer there. He’d dug up the little lair that the Transformer had made, pulling it from the ground and leaving it next to the shed until he figured out what to do with it. Out of the ground, it looked almost like a shriveled, rotten heart; not the stylized kind that ponies drew on lots of things, but an actual heart, with the tunnel that led down to it looking like a vein or artery.
Snails stared at the exposed lair for a moment, then trotted on, up to where the Transformer had broken through Green Grape’s fence. Green Grape hadn’t fixed that yet; part of the fence still lay on the ground, and the edges of where the Transformer had spat on the fence had calcified bits of green-black ooze, looking just like what its lair was made out of.
Snails sat down just on the vineyard side of the fence, staring beyond, into the Everfree Forest that lay about thirty feet away. Even in daylight, the forest’s twisting boughs and gnarled roots looked scary…some of the adults had ventured into the Everfree over the last few days, as far as they dared, trying to find the Transformer, but nopony had had any luck…which wasn’t very surprising, given that it could change its shape. And though Snails was pretty sure that it was a dumb idea to come out here, he wasn’t going to be so dumb as to go into the Everfree looking for it.
No, instead he simply sat, looked in, and waited. After a few minutes, he realized that the Transformer might not be looking his direction, might not know he was there. “Hey!” He called. “Are you out there?” Snails waited, placing his hooves on the lower rail of the fence. He was still for several long minutes, but nothing happened other than a breeze blew by, and he heard some birds in the distance.
The colt sighed. Just as he was getting up, however, he saw movement from the Everfree. One chitinous, holed hoof appeared around a tree’s trunk, the point caused by one of the holes digging into the bark a little. Snails backed away at the sight, even more so when the creature’s head came out from behind the tree, turning slowly to look at Snails, once again its compound eyes somehow managing to focus on him. He was suddenly struck by how very, very bad an idea this had been.
The creature remained just as still as Snails…no, not just as still, Snails realized after a moment. It was breathing heavily, but not easily, every inhale seeming like a struggle and every exhale making its shudder slightly. After several moments, its other hoof came into view, but only to grab the tree, to help hold it upright.
“Zzznailzzz…” it rasped, its voice high and dry, its eyes wide. “Zzznailzzz…hhhelp…”
Snails was frozen. Paralyzed. He’d come out here because he knew the thing was hurt, that the creature needed help…but on the other hoof, there was the thing, the creature, the monster that had hunted him, tricked him, scared him…maybe this was a trick too, maybe it just wanted to feed on his pity…
The creature’s eyes fluttered a little. It let out a dry cough, letting go of the tree and coming around it, standing on four hooves just beyond the tree line…and only barely, its legs shaking visibly. It reached out one hoof – to step forward, maybe, or maybe reaching out to Snails. But then its eyes closed, and it fell over onto its side…and Snails could just hear its breath rattling as it did.
The colt was still for a few moments, debating internally about what to do. Eventually, however, concern won out over fright, and he trotted forward. He paused a second longer at Green Grape’s fence, but forced himself through.
The colt found the creature lying on its side, breath coming in short, quick gasps. Its forked tongue was lying out of its mouth on the grass, twitching weakly, while the elytra on its back had opened slightly, revealing twitching wings. As Snails approached, the thing managed to open its eyes, but nothing more than that. “Hhhelp…pleazzze…” it begged. “Pleazzze…Zzznailzzz…”
Snails stared, his eyes growing wide. The creature…it wasn’t just hurt. It wasn’t just scared. Snails had seen animals die…many of his animal friends were predators, after all, and they had to eat. Sometimes they’d get sick too, or just old – for insects or arachnids or crustaceans or whatever – and pass on. So Snails knew what a dying animal looked like.
And the creature…whatever it was…it was dying.
“Pleazzze…hhhelp me…”
Snails shuffled from one hoof to another, glancing around. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to help it…it was that, the best way he could think of to do so was to feed it what it wanted…give it love or joy or happiness or whatever else it needed. But if Snails did that…then it might get strong enough to attack him, to drag him off into the Everfree and come up with some way to keep feeding on him. Keep him trapped forever in its lair in the Everfree Forest, maybe trapped in place with that gunk that it built its lair out of, covering him like a cocoon, nowhere to go…
“Ahhh…!”
The cry was small, pathetic, weak, and born of nothing but utter agony mixed with a total inability to do anything about it. Snails looked down at the creature and realized that all the fear and panic from just now, that he’d felt while worrying that this might be a trick, had been fed on by the creature…and hurt it more.
Snails tried to calm down, but the fear of what the creature might do to him, mixed with the worry about how it was dying, couldn’t leave his mind. There was another haggard rasp from the creature, and it started convulsing, legs curling in on itself, wings buzzing frantically beneath its elytra. The creature was definitely dying now…and Snails could only think of one way to help. One thing he could do…and he had to do it, had to take the risk. He gulped a little, then threw himself forward and on top of the creature, grabbing hold of it – its hide was surprisingly pliable for looking so much like an exoskeleton – and closing his eyes. The creature had kept talking about love all Nightmare Night…so Snails would try and give some to it.
He thought about how much he loved his family. His father Dewdrops, who was always calm and fair with him, who worked in the weather patrol and helped coordinate the weather across the province. Every gentle shower or sunny day that Snails had ever had, he’d had thanks in part to his dad.
He thought about his mother Shutterbug, a nature photographer. With Ponyville sandwiched between the Whitetail Wood and the Everfree Forest, she never lacked for amazing shots, and she shared Snails’ love of invertebrate animals, too, helping him find new friends or taking him to her studio in Canterlot where they kept even more exotic animals.
He thought about his sister Raindrops, the coolest and strongest mare he knew, who was always there for him, who always helped cheer him up when he was feeling down, who was also part of the weather patrol, but was responsible for actually flying into the sky and making the weather with her own hooves.
He thought about all of his friends – Snips and Dinky, and Pipsqueak and Alula, and Twist and Applebloom and Bee Bop and Scootaloo and Featherweight and Sweetie Belle and Truffle Shuffle and so many more foals at school.
Snails thought about all of them, and he tried as hard as he could to somehow take what he felt for them, the joy he shared, the laughter he’d had, the love he felt for his family and friends, and he tried to give that love to the creature, the Transformer, the whatever it was, because right now, it needed the love more than he did. Snails could always get more…but could the creature?
And it worked. Snails could feel it working…it was like a pull, like static across his pelt, only instead of his fur standing on end was like something was being pulled out of him…it didn’t hurt, but it did feel weird and unpleasant and he didn’t like it, but the creature needed it, so he let it happen, set aside how bad it felt and focused only on helping the creature, hoping…only when he started to feel his limbs shaking, started to feel really tired, did he stop to wonder if maybe this was a bad idea
But the creature’s breathing became more regular. Snails looked to its face, and saw that it’s tongue was once again hanging out, flicking around and tasting the air…or his emotions, he guessed, the tongue must have had something to do with it. After a moment more, it drew its tongue back into its mouth, and instantly the pull on Snails stopped. He let out a long breath of relief at that, at the unpleasant feeling of his soul being pulled on going away, even as the creature took in deep, steady breaths.
“I…I don’t…don’t need more,” it said. The buzzing and hissing was basically gone from its voice, but its breath hitched a few times, and one hoof went to its mouth even as it squeezed its eyes shut, tears apparent. “I’m not hungry…I’m not hungry…I’m not hungry!”
The creature’s dam burst, and it let out an anguished but relieved wail. And even though it didn’t need it anymore, Snails grabbed it and squeezed it just a little bit harder to let it know everything would be okay.
---
“Ocellus,” the creature said several minutes later, when it had finally calmed down. “My name is Ocellus. I’m a changeling.”
The two were sitting facing each other – inside of Green Grape’s fence, the creature, Ocellus, being strong enough to stand and follow Snails’ trot, since now that Ocellus was better Snails didn't want to be any closer to the Everfree Forest than he had to be. There had been several minutes of silence after that, save Ocellus occasionally fighting back more tears of relief, of joy. This close, Snails realized that he was actually taller than Ocellus, though not much taller. It was strange, that he had been so afraid of a monster that he was bigger than.
“I…I don’t know what happened. I don’t know how I got here to…to wherever I am. I had heard stories…that pools were opening on the surface. Portals. Rifts that would swallow a changeling and then that changeling would never be seen again. But I thought they were stories…I was part of a labor group under hive lord Pharynx, repairing one of the entrances to the hive from the storms…there was a flash…then I was in that forest. Alone. That was…I don’t know. A lot of sleep-cycles ago.”
Snails nodded, though something was bothering him. He was paying attention, but ever since Ocellus had stopped buzzing so much and its normal voice became clearer, he had been wondering…“Are you a filly?” He asked.
Ocellus’s eyelids – it was strange that a creature with compound eyes had those, but it did – fluttered. “What?” It asked.
“Sorry,” Snails apologized, ears folding down. “I’m just curious.”
Ocellus was silent a moment, before giggling a little. “Yes. I’m female naturally.” She blinked, and green light flashed over her. She didn’t look much different – a little smaller and maybe a little more angular. “I can be male if you prefer, though. It’s not hard.” Her voice had shifted a little at that, becoming just a touch deeper. “Or both. Or neither.”
Snails shook his head. “No, that’s okay.”
Ocellus flashed again, returning to her natural shape. “I’m just a worker drone, anyway. It probably won’t ever matter. Plus I’ve only had a few molts since I was a nymph, so I’m too young to have a brood even if a hive lord wanted one with me.”
“Me too,” Snails said. He didn’t quite understand all of that, but he could make some guesses based on his animal friends. Though he didn’t think he’d call any family he might one day have a brood. He didn’t think they’d like that.
There was silence between the two of them for several long moments. “So, uh…” Snails said. “You eat love?”
Ocellus nodded, though a pained look overcame her face. “I’m…I’m sorry,” she said, wings buzzing a little beneath her elytra. “I was in the forest for…for a long time. I don’t know how long. I do need to eat like you do, sometimes…” she pointed at her mouth and made chomping motions. Snails noticed that despite her fangs, most of her teeth were flat, just like his. The fangs must have been for threat-displays, then. Ocellus wasn’t really a carnivore. “But I need love, too. Joy or happiness taste good as well, they can help…but I need love to live. I found your settlement a few days ago…but by then, I’d been driven mad by hunger.” She looked down, shaking her head. “I’m sorry. I thought that ponies liked being scared. That’s what I kept seeing in town…ponies being scared but then feeling joy and happiness.”
“Oh, that’s ‘cause Nightmare Night is all about being scary,” Snails explained. “But not too scary. Not like…um…what you did.”
Ocellus glanced back up. “I started to realize that. But by then I was just so hungry…I…I only saw you as prey.”
Snails nodded himself. “That’s okay, too, I guess. If a wolf or a bear or something was really hungry they’d probably see me as food too. Though I wouldn’t really like being eaten. I wouldn’t just let it happen…” he paused a moment. “Sorry about trying to shove a screwdriver into your eye. I was really scared.”
“I know,” Ocellus responded. She would know, too, since she would have been tasting his fear.
The two were silent again for a bit, before Snails stood up. “Okay,” he said. “I’m gonna go to Fluttershy’s house now. I told my parents I was going to and I don’t wanna be a liar. You can come too, if you want, I bet she'd love to meet a changeling – ”
“No!” Ocellus exclaimed, wings spreading wide and buzzing as her eyes widened in panic. Snails backed away a few steps in fright, and Ocellus noticed and calmed down. “N-no,” she repeated. “P-please, Snails…don’t tell anypony about me. Everypony in your town will hate me…probably does hate me, for what I did.” She hunkered down, hooves over her head. “What I am. What I see you as. Prey.”
Snails frowned. “I shouldn’t keep secrets,” he said. “And I don’t like lying to ponies.”
Ocellus looked up at Snails, pressing her front hooves together. “Please! I don’t know where I am. I don’t know where my hive is…m-maybe I can live here, in the forest…but I don’t want ponies hunting me or chasing me or hurting me! Please!”
Snails looked at her, then sighed. “Okay…” he said. “I won't tell anypony about you. But what about food? You can’t just stay in the Everfree until you go crazy and start hunting ponies again.”
Ocellus shook her head. “I was only like that because I hadn’t found any love for…I don’t know. A lot of sleep-cycles, like I said.” She smiled at Snails, and the colt was surprised that it wasn’t an unpleasant one, even with the fangs and the knowledge that behind her mouth was a forked tongue at least two feet long. “But now that I found Ponyville, and since you fed me so much love, I could go into your settlement every day in disguise. Feed on love there. Not as much as what you gave…just a little here and there.” She looked in the direction of Ponyville, and her tongue flicked out like a snake’s, tasting the air. “There’s…there’s so much love there. I’d never go hungry.”
Snails was glad to hear that, at least. “Okay. But try not to look like a pony that’s already there! If there’s two me’s trotting around, or something, then ponies are gonna get suspicious.”
Ocellus nodded, then looked down, thinking. She flashed green, and then Snails found himself looking at a somewhat lanky filly with a sky-blue coat, pastel pink mane and tail, and aquamarine eyes. “I don’t have to look like anypony in particular,” she said, turning around in place, the buzz now completely gone from her voice. “I can make up a disguise. How’s this?”
Snails looked her over, then nodded. “That’s good, though careful that Miss Cheerilee doesn’t catch you not in school when you look like a filly…or a colt, I guess.”
Ocellus smiled. “Okay. And…and can I meet you every now and then, once I make a new burrow?” She trotted up to Snails – still a bit shorter than him – to look him in the eye. “Just…just to talk. I’ll talk to ponies as a pony…but since you know what I am, I’d like to be able to talk as myself, too.”
“That’s fine,” Snails responded. He knew he’d certainly want to be able to talk to Ocellus more. She seemed nice, now that she wasn’t a scary monster hunting foals on Nightmare Night. He offered her a grin. “You wanna meet Fluttershy while you look like a pony? She’s really shy but she’s usually better around foals than adults. I bet she’ll like meeting a new foal.”
Ocellus brightened. “Sure!” she said, and the two trotted off. Snails took a moment as they did to glance down at Ocellus – he was still a bit taller than her. This was…kind of weird, he had to admit, cantering along with a pony that was really a changeling that had been trying to eat him and his friends just a few days before. But on the other hoof, he’d made a new friend, and that was always a good thing.
He definitely wanted to get more ponies to know about Ocellus and what she really was, though. But it could wait. There’d be no harm in that.
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Also? Unreformed changeling Ocellus a cute! CUTE!!!
derpicdn.net/img/2018/3/28/1693098/full.png
Note that Ocellus in this is younger than she is in FiM, due to the Lunaverse being behind the Maneverse's timeline, which is around four or so years ahead of us.
This leads us to another example of the Luna Six coming across something and wondering how the Mane Six dealt with it.
You may want to change the chapter title. It's kind of a spoiler.
Well, changelings are often more than meets the eye.
I like the term "hive lord" for high-ranking male changelings.
In any case, an excellent capstone. Not all monsters are truly monstrous. Some are just desperate. Even the thought process behind the terror campaign makes sense. Certainly more than Chrysalis's plan. And speaking of whom, if knowledge of Transformers gets to Canterlot, Ol' Queen Bugbutt might be in for a bad time.
Thank you for a great read. Also, you have me shipping Snailcellus now. I hope you're happy.
Move aside, Dinky! You too, Pip!
There’s a new OTP in town!
Ocellus?? Please don't starve to death in the forest, Ocellus.
Help the poor changebug, Snails!
Hugs for bugs!
Yay!
Good job, Snails. Also, I kind of ship it, in the Dinky and Pipsqueak model.
Nice.
D'aaaaaaw!
I have to say, know it was Ocellus starving to death in front of us made that scene very hard to read. Did make it a huge relief when Snails let her feed on his love. Kind of a cute pairing. And I agree, Ocellus is cute as a base-line changeling.
Awww! Snails was just the perfect pony for accepting Ocellus and feeding her.
I'm sure this will have some interesting consequences for future stories if we ever get to the Changeling Invasion arc that both Snails and Fluttering know of Changelings, although it's likely no-pony is going to ask them until things are far to serious.
Right! Back from work
9267726
It is kind of a spoiler, but on the other hand like Trinary points out the fact that we know it's Ocellus starving and being poisoned to death adds a lot more emotional weight to the epilogue. So I've decided to keep it as-is.
I actually see the term "hive lord" as being gender neutral. A hive lord can be naturally male or female, and assume a male or female form. Likewise because it personally amuses me (and as a sort of counterpoint to the proliferation of female kings in recent fiction) I think I'll keep the term "Queen" gender-neutral for changelings. Whoever runs the hive is Queen, regardless of their natural or current gender. All hail Queen Thorax!
I am happy about shipping Snailcellus. She's probably a little older than him...I like to think of our herd of Ponyville foals as being around ages 10-12 or so. In the show, the School of Friendship seems a lot like a college, so beings going there are probably around 18. But since Friendship is Magic Season 8 is around four years ahead of the Lunaverse (we can reach the conclusion by counting the Hearths' Warming episodes, which have various context clues that suggest strongly that none of them take place over the same Hearths' Warming), then that would make Ocellus about 14 or so here.
9268266
I'll be making a blog post soon in lieu of an author's note; GeneralZoi's pony creator will be used to create a pony-form filly Ocellus.
9268457
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. We'd probably feel bad for any changeling drone in this situation, but making it clear that it was Ocellus, like I said above, adds a bit more emotional weight for us, even if it does make the chapter title a spoiler. A good spoiler in this case, I think.
9268501
I made some edits to the chapter; my intent was that at the moment only Snails will know about Ocellus. At the end there they're going off to meet Fluttershy with Ocellus in her filly form. More on that in my blog post.
Heh, "filly form" actually creates something of an insect pun. "Filiform", or thread-like, is one of the shapes an insect's antenna can take.
Is this story canon to the rest of the Lunaverse?
9268694
Yup. Originally I was going to just make it a semi-canon webisode, due to how short it is...but looking it over it's actually about the same length as Boast Busted, the fic that started it all. So I've decided to just make it fully canon.
9268698
Hey was wondering if you could tell me anything about the lunaverse
9269178
The long story short is that 1,000 years ago, Celestia went insane instead of Luna, giving rise to Corona the Tyrant Sun instead of Nightmare Moon. A millennium later, and six different mares end up with the Elements of Harmony:
- Trixie, element of Magic
- Lyra, element of Loyalty
- Carrot Top, element of Generosity
- Cheerilee, element of Laughter
- Ditzy Doo, element of Kindness
- Raindrops, element of Honesty
It's a whole parallel universe to the show (the "Maneverse", if you will), although its deviated significantly from the Maneverse in a number of ways, since we started writing it in 2012 and didn't feel a need to slavishly follow the show and bend over backwards to make our canon align with theirs.
There's nearly 200 stories by over two dozen authors in it; it's the largest collaborative universe on FiMFiction ("collaborative" here meaning the largest universe with multiple authors where most of the stories in it form a cohesive canon, an ongoing story of its own; groups like Fallout Equestria are larger, but most of their stories don't align, each taking place in their own little continuities).
Great ending. I 'ship Snailcellus too.
...Huh, that was actually good. While you definitely had the research and thinking failures I've come to expect from you regarding the changelings, you avoided going full retard so the impact was limited to eye rolls whenever you rubbed the stupidity in my face rather than dragging down the story like I was expecting.
9275765
...alright I'll indulge you: what research and thinking failures are you referring to?
9276070
Basically all the biology. The skeleton and movements were probably the most egregious, although the compound eyes were bad too.
9277564
Oh, is that all? I have an explanation for each of them. Good ones, even. The biology is based on a mix of what we've seen in the show plus how real-world biology works.
Internal Skeleton
In the real world, creatures with exoskeletons that breathe air in Earth gravity can't get as big as changelings. There isn't enough oxygen in the atmosphere to support it and exoskeletons are structurally unsound at that size: they'd end up collapsing under their own weight and/or suffocating due to insufficient oxygen intake. Hundreds of millions of years ago when there was a higher oxygen content it was a bit more possible to get giant air-breathing arthropods (the largest insect known was a dragonfly-like creature that had a two-foot wingspan and lived around 300-280 million years ago, though its mass would still be less than that of a typical changeling; there was a truly massive millipede-like thing from around the same time that might mass close, but its hundreds of legs plus its low-to-the-ground build is what allowed that; and it could never live today, again due to oxygen requirements), but I'm assuming that the pony world has basically the same oxygen content to its air as Earth does today, not what Earth had before even dinosaurs evolved.
Thus, in order for changelings to be able to stand and breathe, they must have endoskeletons, not exoskeletons, at least if they obey real-world physics and biology in any way. Now, yes, they are magical bug-ponies from another universe, but when I write I like to make things obey physics unless some active magic is happening, and physics takes over as soon as the magic stops being active. So, for example, you could create flame with neither flint nor tinder and have the ball of fire just hovering above your hand as long as you were pumping magic into it. As soon as you stopped, however, real physics takes over, the fire isn't getting fuel from anywhere, and so it ceases to exist.
If changelings had exoskeletons, I could only personally justify it by them constantly using magic to support their own size. I don't like that. So, instead, I went with the more logical route: they have internal skeletons like anything else of that size, but their skin is covered by a lair of armor that by stunning coincidence happens to resemble an exoskeleton.
Compound Eyes
This one is a little more straightforward. Changeling eyes obviously aren't like pony (or human) eyes, based on appearance alone. Except for Chrysalis, no changeling has a visible scelera, pupil, iris, nothing. The only way we know what a changeling is looking at in the show is to look at where their "eye shine" is, and then we know it's looking in the opposite direction.
Personally, I think it looks like a big ol' compound eye, and unlike the skeleton thing above, there's really no reason why a creature couldn't have a compound eyes at any size. Looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, isn't making horrifying alien roars, sprouting tentacles, and trying to assimilate you, then it's probably a duck.
Movement Range
This is taken directly from the show.
Chrysalis can move her neck at weird angles: in that scene she not only turns her head backwards 180-degrees horizontally, but then proceeds to rotate it 180 degrees vertically. Since there's no flash of green light, and plus Chrysalis has no need of being in disguise, then we can safely assume that her head's rotational range is natural changeling biology, not a result of her shapeshifting. I'm just assuming that her ability to contort in this way isn't unique to her, but rather a trait shared by all changelings, which seems reasonable enough. In this story, Ocellus doesn't exceed Chrysalis' rotational range; actually she doesn't really come close; while perched on the wall of Green Grape's shed she tilts her head back about 90 degrees at most (so that she can look straight ahead instead of down), and then when lying on the floor she rotates it backwards 180 degrees but doesn't turn it in any way.
I can't even begin to imagine how an endoskeletal or exoskeletal creature could achieve this. Owls can rotate their heads pretty far (270 degrees in most cases), but only along one axis at a time, not two, and only their necks are so weirdly capable. However I don't really feel a need to explain how it's possible beyond some vague explanation that changeling joints are somehow "loose". Regardless, if it's possible in the show, then it should be possible here. MST3K mantra gets a bit of a workout, is all.
9277861
Yep, research and thinking failures. My favorite in that mess is your inability to differentiate between a skeleton and a lung.
9281407
I confused nothing; if you'd care to re-read my post, you'll see that I touched on both issues; that a creature with an exoskeleton of pony size and rough build would collapse under its own weight (except maybe if it was specifically adapted to it in body shape, but changelings clearly aren't); and that the typical terrestrial arthropod methods of breathing simply don't provide enough oxygen. No terrestrial arthropod has lungs; some arachnids have structures called book lungs, but they function very differently from vertebrate lungs and couldn't supply the oxygen needed for something the size of a pony. Every creature with lungs exists along a different evolutionary path from arthropods.
Of course, it's very much worth my time to point out here that the show doesn't tend to bother with real-world physics or biology in any way (everything dragons, natch), it being a fantasy story and all. So if the above doesn't satisfy you, I'll instead direct you to this little ditty:
If you're wondering why Ocellus has a some bones
And other things like that
Just repeat to yourself "it's just a fic —
"I should really just relax!"
With RainbowDoubleDash's fanfiction today...!
9281524
Oh, I don't have a problem with using an endoskeleton. I've seen plenty of fics which go that route, sometimes to the point of making changelings fully mammals. My problem is with your inability to think, and you are quite thoroughly demonstrating that here with your failure to decouple what happened to evolve together on earth or to correctly identify what the actual challenge to large arthropods is.
9281991
It's oxygen. There isn't enough in the air (~21% today compared to ~33% 300 million years ago), and their bodies aren't adapted to be able to provide them with enough of it from the modern-day atmosphere. Everything that has lungs today (again, for the sake of pedantry some arachnids have things called book lungs, but they're not related, don't function the same, and wouldn't work on a larger scale) is a vertebrate; lungs specifically evolved to take advantage of endoskeletal structures in animal bodies. It is not a coincidence that no terrestrial arthropod has lungs (despite the obvious advantage such would grant vis-a-vis providing oxygen to a larger body) no matter how large; but every terrestrial vertebrate does no matter how small.
As an additional point of interest, to test this, scientists have raised insects in both lower- and higher-oxygen atmospheres - and guess what? Insects raised in higher-oxygen atmospheres tend to grow as much as 20% bigger when mature, while insects raised in lower-oxygen atmospheres don't grow as large. So this directly supports what I'm saying. As further proof, the larger an insect is the more of its body is dedicated to the spericals they use to breathe. In today's atmosphere, to get an arthropod the size of a pony the creature would have to basically be entirely spericals. And even then it still probably wouldn't get enough oxygen.
Now there may have been some other selection pressures that favored the evolution of smaller arthropods; for example, the rise of vertebrate predators that were adept at killing them, especially after they molted (since the new exoskeleton would be very soft and vulnerable, and take proportionately longer to harden). But based on evidence that does seem to be secondary to the whole oxygen thing, which is related to arthropods' lack of lungs, which is related to their lack of endoskeletons.
Also? I seem to be the only one here making actual arguments to support my assertions, you're just going "nuh-uh, dummy" while presumably adjusting a fedora or something, euphoric in your enlightenment, so I question who's actually thinking here and who's just trolling.
9282027
The reason I'm not bothering is that I know you won't respond to logical arguments. I tried that before and you completely ignored them, so I'm not wasting my time doing so again.
Oh, and for the record, the correct answer is joints.
9284183
Wait, are you the guy who tried to say that the Lunaverse wasn't an industrialized setting? Because your arguments then weren't based on actual logic either.
Also it's not genrrally believed to have anything to do with joints anymore, if you'd kept up with entomology. As well, if it had been because of that then large arthropods like the kind that existed 300 million years ago wouldn't have evolved in the first place.
Alright a little late catching up to this fic, anyway, a few observations...
Firstly, while the intent is clear that 2nd sentence still seems incomplete as written. Secondly though, it seems a little odd to bring up the subject of foals needing supervisor, considering how free-range they otherwise tend to be. Is it just because it's after dark maybe?
Wait, wasn't Green Grape a mare back when the character was first introduced in Carrot Top Season?
Speaking of Everfree monsters, changelings aren't the only bug-like creatures the show has presented us with. Notably there was bugbear from the 100th episode, and heck, even the manticore from the very first two-parter had a scorpion's tail, oh and parasprites might qualify as well. Obviously I wouldn't expect Snails to have much first hand experience with those creatures, but I would wonder if he'd at least have read about them and possibly many others in books and thus further adding to the mystery of this new black creature that he's never even heard of before.
Is it really too big though? I mean, in reality it certainly would be, but in a magical land like Equestria I'd imagine at the very least giant spiders might be a thing... then again, Snails specified insect, and after a quick googling apparently bug technically is only refers to insects proper as per the definition Snails quotes, even if colloquially arachnids, mollusks, and even crustaceans all get lumped together as "bugs". Still, regardless of how technically correct it might be, it feels a bit pedantic for Snails to be that nitpicky. Although I suppose maybe he wouldn't usually be, but the stress of the situation is getting to him.
Speaking of costumes, or really just clothing in general, I wonder if a changeling can undress or not. If it where purely biological shape shifting, I'd assume not, that whatever looks like clothing would just be skin textured to look that way. However, given the flash of green flames whenever they transform, changeling clearly use magic as part of their disguises, and we've seen elsewhere that magic can be used to conjure physical objects.
Huh... now there's a new twist to the whole shapeshifter dilemma I don't think I've seen before. Obviously people always go for the tell me something only the REAL you would know method of proof, but yeah, a cunning shape shifter could actually turn that to their own advantage to fish for more information.
Heh... nice try but this isn't that kind of riddle.
And bringing things full cycle again that's pretty much the obvious way to beat an info fishing shapeshifter.
I've been there before, at round about the same age too... well, not with a real monster obviously. Still, there can be such a fine line between standing up to a bully without becoming the bully.
I was sorta of afraid of this, that the story maybe goes a bit too big at the risk of spoiling the eventual REAL reveal yet to come... then again, at this point maybe it's been so long it shouldn't even matter anymore and we should just forget any misguided pretenses. I suppose one random monster assumed to be from the scary forest everyone avoid can be easily all but forgotten, but still... I can't help feeling like this story might have crossed one line too many too soon and delves to deeply into the aftermath.
All those concerns aside, however, I rather enjoy the final scenes of the epilogue when it was just Snails and Ocellus. I even sorta wish that had been the whole fic. The horror beats were fun and all, but... well, I already covered my concerns with that. Conversely if the story had just focused on Snails meeting this strange creature on the edge of the forest, or a mysterious filly in town who only he noticed something odd about... but maybe that's just my own personal style biases for character driven exploration over action. I might have been just fine with an entire story focused on just two characters talking and getting up to only some mild antics, but I can understand why other people might want more out of it.
For what it was and entirely on its own merit this story is just fine the way it is.
Maybe, but conversely the CMC haven't really seemed to aged up in that same timeframe... well, not visibly at least. They certainly seem to be acting more and more like teenagers, especially Scootaloo in the episode where Lightning Dust returned. So I don't know, do we just blame that on marketing or something, that Hasbro is reluctant to let the show alter their character models... similarly see Spike, who's molting was rather anticlimactically, just adding wings to his otherwise still apparently baby-dragon body.
Maybe ponies are like saiyans they stay looking like young children into their early and even mid teens, only to get one huge growth spurt just before entering adulthood.
9288424
Let's see...
The idea is that, yes, normally Ditzy wouldn't be okay with them going out due to it being after dark, despite how free-range Ponyville foals normally are. I'll edit that in to make it a little more clear.
Green Grape (or rather Green Grapes) was actually first introduced in Boast Busted - not physically showing up, but mentioned by Carrot Top in chapter 2. And he was a "he" in that ("but this year Green Grapes and his family..."). I genuinely forgot about the one in Carrot Top Season, and I'm surprised so many people remember the character...in any event, I just kept "him" male throughout this since it felt more natural to me, though since he doesn't show up in this any more than he does in Boast Busted it probably doesn't matter.
This isn't actually the first time he's been picky about this very thing - in Treasure Hunt's prologue he objects to calling woodlice bugs, since they're not even insects at all, they're crustaceans; he then points out that only insects in the hemiptera order are "bugs". I dunno, it feels in-character for him for me, anyway. As well, Everfree monsters might fall outside of the usual attempts to classify organisms; the bugbear is just as much bear as it is bug, after all.
My thought on that is that they're usually just changing their carapace. With a lot of practice they could summon up some actual clothing, but it would take more magic.
I probably could have centered the whole fic on that, but my goal was a Nightmare Night story, after all, as well as my first serious attempt at writing horror. So instead we get a spooky, scary story. Plus like I say in my afterward this fic is sort of a microcosm of how I want changelings handled, and I really wanted to emphasize just how scary they could be, especially when starving.
As for potentially introducing them too soon...we've established Ponyville as the "adventure town" where a lot of weird stuff happens, so I do think that over the course of the following year or so they really will forget about the Transformer, especially as it fails to make any further appearances terrorizing their foals. Or not really forget, just be less concerned about (especially as more monsters show up - particularly during Galeb's calling of them in Title Match), though there could still be a Quint-like character looking for her.
When the changelings are revealed there could be a lot of "hey, I bet that's what that was!" moments, as well.
9288525
Huh... I'd completely Green Grapes got name dropped all the way back in the Lunaverse's inception. As to why the one in Carrot Top Season ended up being more memorable, it's probably because she was an actual character instead of just a name, though the issue of whether the character is male or female is no less a continuity error either way... unless of course I suppose we wanted to make a continuity gag out of it, and that the two are a husband and wife who have the same name or something like that.
As for Snails getting pedantic over the term "bug", fair enough if you'd made a point of it before, especially since it apparently never bothered me before enough to even remember it happened.
Which maybe just illustrates my last concern about Ocellus overstepping the boundaries of a pre-reveal being easily handwaved. Memory can be a tricky thing when it comes to what sticks and what doesn't, so yeah, in Ponyville the town where weird things happening is just sort of the status quo maybe that one night a few foals were chased by a shapeshifting monster wouldn't be all that exceptional... even if two of the foals in question happen to be related to our core six.
That said, I might still have more thoughts on the matter, but I'll take those over to the forum and Ocellus's officially approved ask thread.
Aaah, that ending was perfect. ;.;
Criminally underrated.
I'd forgotten how fun the Lunaverse was.
9319966
Gracias, although in truth this is barely a Lunaverse story; I was actually deliberate in leaving out direct references to it, since I was trying to write something that anyone could sit down to on Halloween and enjoy without needing a lore dump.
9319970
Fair point, fair point.
Perhaps I should instead say how fun your writing is.
It's a joy to read.
9319974
Aw, now I'm blushing. But, in seriousness, thanks.
It may interest you to know that I'm writing a follow-up story while bored at work. Chapter one is done, and I'm about 1500 words into chapter two, out of a planned total of perhaps three or four chapters.
Great, now I want to know what a Lunaverse version of Transformers would be like.
Hey, that's Dinky's thing!
There was a point in this story where I thought it could potentially lead to a Snails x Twist ship. Then then you had to make this epilogue and imply a potential Snails x Ocellus ship. So what would this mean for the canon of the Maneverse? Will she be sent back before the events of season 8 of the Maneverse? And if so, what happens to the Snails x Ocellus ship?!
9733434
I no longer try to match the Lunaverse to the Maneverse - we became too different as a matter of course, the result of us being a fan fiction that couldn’t keep pace with the show and was doing its own thing from the start anyway (like, for example, Fluttershy’s family being totally different). These days he Maneverse is just used as a source of inspiration.
I mean, for example, our Tirek is completely different in every way.
Oh, also, if you think this implies Snails x Ocellus, wait ‘til you read Ocellus’ Ordinary Day.
9733446
I suppose that you could make the argument that this Ocellus isn't from the Maneverse, but just an alternate universe in general.
AUs are weird.
Snails has hidden depths. Good job saving the poor starving buggo!
The Lunaverse is the only AU I've seen which explores how characters introduced after the original fanfic was written would be different, and I like it. I also like that you gave Snails a personality.
The title of this chapter and the character tag give the twist away, though.
10621195
Called it, I knew she wasn't alone
So cute, I loved it!
So, is this Ocellus from yet another AU? What with the portals and the title.
It's a bit of a shame that Ocellus is still going to hide from ponies. I'm glad there's still sequels coming to this story, hopefully Ocellus can integrate a bit better into pony society.