> A Changeling Alternative
>  by UsedTeaBag
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> From Canterlot to Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a sunny day  about one year after the Changelings and their queen Chrysalis were banned.

"Alternate! Where are you?", a white stallion (Earthpony) with  blue hair, a sword as cutiemark and golden armor yelled. The halls in which he stood, the part of the castle where the guards live, were empty of any living thing except of himelf as far as he could see. He tried yelling again, but he got no answer. He shook his head in disbelief.

"I swear, that guy is like a shadow! You don´t hear him, you don´t see him, unless he wants you to!", he murmured walking off.

Just before he could leave, a bit of what sounded like chuckling could be heard coming from the ceiling and the stallion wanted to look up. But just before he could do so, something landed in front of him and scared him greatly. And yes, a stallion (Unicorn)(without armor) was laying on his back, laughing now hard enough for him to get tears of joy in his eyes. He had a black and white striped mane that was falling to the side off his left shoulder, grey coat, a black and a white eye as cutie mark and emerald green eyes.

"Y-You should have s-seen your f-face! HAHAHA!", he said, almost unable to controll his laughter.

"Alternate View! You scared me you idiot!", the stallion got angry.

" I know! That was the whole point! HAHAHA! Your face! Priceless I tell you!"

"If you´re done with this I may be able to actually talk to you.", the stallion in armor shook his head.

The other stallion, whose name was apparently Alternate View, got silent imediatly and cocked his head to the side curiously. He got up from the floor and they started walking, a habit of both of them when talking.

"What did you need to talk about, Silver Blade? Some order of one of the princesses? Our cake thief? ´Cause I pretty much figured that one out!", he smiled sheepishly

"Wait, you know who the cake thief is?", Silver Blade asked before shaking his head to get rid of the distracting thought. "No, that´s not what I wanted to talk about. I heard you wanted to quit already. And. . . Well. . . I wanted to ask why? Since you rarely talk to any of us we couldn´t know why or even that you wanted to quit."

"Oh, about that.", Alternate looked up to the ceiling for a moment as if to think, then turning his head back to Silver. "I guess I just want to see something else. I´m not that kind of pony that likes to be in one place for too long. I´ve had it like that my whole life, so I thought I could change a few things. This being one of them"

"I think it´s a shame that you want to go! You were a really good guard you know?", Silver said nudging Alternate smiling.

"Are YOU trying to get me to stay? It´s not working! But thanks for trying anyway.", he said smiling.

" A pity. It would have been nice to have you stay. You were really a good guard. Plus you were the most likeable of them all.", he rolled his eyes thinking about the other guards who were idiots in his eyes.

"Thanks. Good to know that SOMEONE likes me! I get the feeling that no one in here liked me from the beginning on!", he rolled his eyes thinking about the almost countless times he found the others avoiding him as much as they could.

"You have to understand. You came here at a very weird time, during that incident with the Changelings. It´s stupid to think something like that, but almsot everyone thought you were a Changeling that shifted into the form of a guard! And, I´m sorry, but I was on their side at the beginning. But after the Changelings got thrown out with that forcefield that Shining Armor and princess Cadence created, I knew you couldn´t be one of them. You would have been thrown out as well, but you weren´t. So that was proof enough to me to finally believe you weren´t a Changeling. Why the others still think you´re a Changeling is beyond me though.", he shook his head in disbelief.

"I see. Oh! How did we get to my room didn´t we start over there? Did we walk around the whole castle!?", Alternate looked up from the ground he has been staring at while talking with Silver Blade.They were standing in front of a door that lead into Alternate View´s room.

"I guess it´s our habit to walk to some weird places while talking. It wouldn´t surprise me if we´d end up on the sun while debating over what cake tastes better: Cherry or apple?", Silver chuckled and Alternate joined.

"Well, I have to pack my stuff anyway, so this is kinda convenient. Wanna help me pack?", he asked upon entering the room.

"Sure, why not? I don´t have anything to do since this is my week off.", Silver explained.

"Oh? Is that so? Well, I love these kind of helpful coincidences!", Alternate laughed as Silver went into the room too.

"So. . .You were talking about t our cake thief a moment ago, right?"

"Oh, yeah! I almost forgot! Want me to tell you who it is? But you know I´d first explain how I came to that conclusion and stuff.", Alternate laughed as he saw Silver rolling his eyes as if he had known that already decades ago.

"Just tell me already! I´m dying here of curiosity!", he said a bit loud as they started packing while Alternate explained it.

An hour later they finished packing Alternate´s stuff and now waited for the train to come. While doing that Alternate was still explaining.

". . .and that is why I think Bronce Spear is the cake thief", he ended his explanation leaving Silver Blade with his mouth wide open.

"And you figured that out only by looking at how he acts? I didn´t know you´re so observant! Well, I guess you´d have to be, considering you were one of the best guards we had for a while.", Silver said still in awe.

"Well, where I come from it is kinda the art you need to, well, possess to fit in with the rest. But. . .Please don´t ask any further than that. I like to keep my past a secret.", Alternate says, hoping Silver would understand, which he did.

Silver just nodded and before he could say anything he noticed how Alternates ears perked up and soon after that the train came.

"Well, it was a pleasure living here and being a guard, but I have to go! See ya sometime! I think I´ll maybe write some letters to you! Until then! Bye!", Alternate says, getting on the train and soon after, the train started and went on with Alternate View in it waving one last time at Silver Blade and saying goodbye to the Castle and Canterlot.

On the train he went into one of the bathrooms and stretched for a moment before his horn glowed green and he changed form. The transformation took him a second before he was again what he was born as. A Changeling.

"They were right about  me being a Changeling. But I´m quite different. Not only does it take me a bit longer and more concentration and strength to shapeshift than others, which isn´t much beneficial, but I can also not be thrown out by a forcefield as easy as others when I´m not in my original form. And also. . .I´m talking to myself again, aren´t I?" He looked into the mirror in front of him. He sighed and stretched again as if that would help him regain the strength he has just lost while talking to Silver Blade.

"Well, where do I go next?", he asked himself while using some of his magic to make a map of Equestria appear in front of him of which he took hold.

He looked over it and noticed a small town named "Ponyville".

"That sounsd like a nice place! Maybe I´ll stay there for a while! . . .Hmmm. . . But the trainstation is way too crowded and I don´t want to suddenly change back into my Changeling form when I arrive. I guess I´ll have to get out a "station" before that. Hmmm. . . Yes, the Everfree forest sounds good to stop at! I heard it´s a place avoided by most! Well then! Shall my journey begin for real now! Everfree forest? Ponyville? Do you hear me? I´m coming for you!", he smiled as he changed into the form of the unicorn he played as before and walked back to his seat.
> Everfree Forest 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alternate has managed to get his bag with his stuff and walk back into the trains bathroom once again without anypony noticing. He found it funny how easy it was to make them think he was one of them. Then again, they all thought the Changelings were gone for good, so he couldn´t really blame them.

"Well, I better get going!", he said to himself as he changed into his Changeling form once again and opened the window that was in the room.

He peeked his head out of the window and the wind was brushing almost harshly against his pure black skin. He made sure he had a good hold of his bag and climbed out the window and jumped. As soon as he was out he stretched his bug-like wings and wasted no time flying into the forest.

He made sure no one saw him as he landed on one of the trees. He was deeper inside the forest than he had intended to. He checked if he still had his bag on. He hadn´t. 

"Oh, come ON!", he gritted his teeth, cursing under his breath. "I guess I´ll have to go search for it. It can´t possibly be still on the train. So it should be here somewhere."

He sighed as he started walking through the forest, searching. He felt like he had spent an eternity trying to find his bag. He still couldn´t find it and had been searching the whole way back to the tracks and again to where he started searching.

"Where did my bag go? It can´t possible have vanished into air! It has to be somewhere! Hehe, that rhymed! Now back to my thoughts. . . Where did my bag go?", he thought to himself as he searched and searched but still couldn´t find it.

He abruptly stopped in his tracks as he saw a Zebra picking some flowers, which he guessed would be for a potion. He had heard that Zebras were good at potion making and he tended to believe things like that, even though it had gotten him into trouble a lot of times back in the Changeling kingdom.

"Maybe she saw my bag somewhere!", he thought, hoping he was right.

He changed into his favourite form, the unicorn he has been playing the whole time. Why it was his favourite, he had no idea. It was possible that he just liked to play a personality that is so much, if not identical to his own. Plus, he made that form up all by himself so he was very proud of it.

After changing forms he slowly walked towards the Zebra.

"Uhm. . .Excuse me? Have you seen my bag around here somewhere?", he asked the Zebra, acting a bit shy.

The Zebra turned around. 

"Oh, hello there, my friend. What was it that you searched for again?", the Zebra asked again, rhyming in the process.

"Uhm. . .It appears that I have lost my bag. And I was wondering if you may have seen it?", he asked again and the Zebra nodded with a smile.

"Yes, I have. It is right up that tree. But may I ask how that came to be?", she rhymed again.

"Thanks!", Alternate said as he saw the bag. His horn glowed green and so did the bag as it was levitated by Alternates magic and carried to him. "And, no, I don´t know how it got up there. I was just walking around the Forest trying to  find a way out and maybe find a way to Ponyville, as I noticed my bag was gone!"

The Zebra nodded understandingly. Then looked surprised.
"Oh, Ponyville was where you wanted to go? You can follow me. The way I certainly know.", she said, surprising Alternate in the process.

"Thank you very much! You´re too kind helping a stranger like me twice already!", he smiled brightly. He would like this Zebra in the future, he was certain of that. Maybe he could even be friends with her! The mere thought of it was making Alternate really happy.

They started to walk and Alternate noticed he didn´t even ask for the Zebras name.

"Oh, I´m sorry I forgot to tell you. My name is Zecora. And you are who?", Zecora asked looking at Alternate curiously.

"Well, my name is Alternate View. But I suppose it´s too long, so just call me Alternate.", he answered smiling.

Zecora nodded and they proceeded to walk. Alternate looked up to the sky and noticed it was getting dark. If he wanted to get to Ponyville he had to hurry. 

"It seems it´s too dark to continue to go west. Why don´t you stay the night and be my guest?", she asked pointing towards a house in a tree. 

Alternate nodded and they approached the house and went inside. He didn´t notice how cold he was outside until the warm air of the house hit his coat sending shivers down his spine because of the sudden change.
He noticed Zecora preparing something he could only guess was supposed to be a bed. Well, he would take anything at the moment. He had absolutely no strength anymore and needed to restore it with some sleep.

Then realization struck him. He wouldn´t be able to change back into his natural form. Zecora pointed towards the "bed" she made, signaling him to go to sleep there. He obediently lay down and pulled a blanket over himself that Zecora had put there for him. He looked at her getting into her bed and getting comfortable.

He had that strange feeling that he could trust her and tell her everything he had on his mind and heart. But he wouldn´t. At least not now. He wanted to enjoy this as much as he possibly could and wanted to experience as much as he could without anypony noticing what he was.

He changed his eyes and the part of his body that was covered by the blanket back ito the Changelings form to restore at least a bit of his shifting magic without Zecora noticing. But strangely enough, his mind told him he didn´t need to. That she already knew or something. But that couldn´t be right. . .right?

Soon after having that thought, Alternate finally fell asleep and started dreaming of swimming in a black ocean. It was relaxing and restored his energy. 


The next morning he woke up to a delicious smell. He opened his eyes, changing them to the green eyes he had as the Unicorn he was playing, and turned his head to where he assumed the smell came from. He saw Zecora making a delicious looking breakfast and he couldn´t help but smile at the kindness that Zebra was showing towards a stranger like him.


I mean, she barely knew him for one day and she helped him three times already. The Changelings he knew wouldn´t trust you fully, let alone do something like this for you, after a month! A bit rare was that they wouldn´t trust you for a year of knowing you.

It made him wonder if everypony was like that in Equestria. He highly doubted that EVERYPONY is nice and kind, but he assumed the majority of the ponies were.

He made sure he changed the rest of his body to the Unicorns body as he stood up slowly and walked towards Zecora, careful not to scare her.

"I see you´re awake. May I add quite late. I assume it must be from the long journey you must have had, but still, the sun is way too high in the sky for an excuse like that.", she said turning her head towards him, surprising him greatly.

"Yeah, I suppose you´re right. I could balme it on the dream I was having though. Wonderfully relaxing I tell you.", Alternate confessed.

Zecora just nodded as she proceeded to prepare breakfast. After she was done they ate in silence. Alternate liked this kind of silence, for it was relaxing, comforting to some level and refreshing from everything he knew.

"I think it´s about time I should leave. I don´t want to bother you any longer as necessary. I´m in a bit of a hurry too.", Alternate said slowly.

"If you want to go. Just get your bag now.", she said and Alternate got his bag and was ready to leave.

They walked out of the house and started walking towards the end of the forest. Alternate looked around trying to remember every little landmark so that he could find Zecora again.

After a short while they arrived at the end of the forest and Zecora excused herself and went back. She said she still had to create a potion with the flowers she was picking when they met.

Alternate just nodded and procceeded to walk into Ponyville on his own. He looked around interested. Everything seemed so. . . Colorfull. Even more so than Canterlot.

Suddenly he bumped into someone.
> Ponyville - Pinkie Pie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suddenly he bumped into someone.

He  fell backwards and shook his head to recover from the sudden bump.

He looked up to see a pink Earthpony with blue eyes and ballons as cutie mark. Her hair was a real mess in Alternate´s eyes, but he guessed it´s just how the pony liked it. He stood back up and brushed some dust of his coat before appollogizing to the pink pony.

"I´m sorry I bumped into you. I didn´t look where I was going.", he smiled apologizing.

He heard the pink pony gasp and saw her run away, leaving Alternate View confused. He stood there awkwardly with a raised brow, looking after she pink pony.

What the hell just happened?, he thought as he watched the pink pony run into a shop. He looked at the shops sign and read Sugarcube Corner.

He shrugged it off and walked towards a  big tree  that kinda looked like a house. Not exactly like Zecoras house, but a bit at least.

As he came closer to the tree he saw a sign that read Towns Library. He smiled and went inside.

"Uhm, hello? Anypony here?", he asked. He heard something fall. The sound came somewhere upstairs.

He searched for the stairs and quickly found it. He ran up the stairs just as quickly as he found them and saw a pile of random stuff lying on somepony. He quickly helped the pony up that has been burried by the stuff.

"Are you ok?", he asked her worriedly as he helped her up.

He now noticed that he saw this pony already somewhere. It had to be at the wedding, for he hadn´t been anywhere else to meet her or anything. But he also noticed something had changed about the purple pony in front of him. He saw a pair of wings atached to her that weren´t there at the wedding. This pony in fron´t of him was an alicorn! A princess!

As soon as he progressed that thought he bowed briefly and appologized that he hadn´t noticed sooner that royalty was standing in front of him. He heard of this new princess, but he didn´t know that that princess was living in Ponyville.

He remembered the name. Twilight Sparkle was it if he wasn´t completely wrong.

The princess though shook her head at his appology.

"No, don´t appologize for something like that. I don´t want to be seen only as princess and nothing beyond that.", she explained.

Alternate nodded understandingly and gave her a warm smile.

"So, you came in here and asked if anyone is here. Why? What did you need?", she asked smiling back at him.

"A place to stay would be nice!", he laughed.

"Oh, so you´re new in town? Oh! I´m sorry! I didn´t even introduce myself! I´m Twilight Sparkle! And what is your name?", she looked surprised, but then smiled again.

"Oh, yeah right. Uhm. . . My name is Alternate View. But I like to be called Alternate.", he replied.

"Oh! And you said you need a place to stay?"

"Yeah, I´m kinda clueless to where I could live."

"Maybe you could stay here at the library! I got a spare room anyway."

Alternate was surprised at what he just heard. He accepted and nodded eagerly. Twilight quickly showed him a room in the back of the library and after having a small discussion with him about paying for the room, she left him alone for him to unpack in peace.

Alternate stretched a bit and threw his head on a bed that stood right beside a window. He closed the curtains and turned a small light on. He quickly looked around and made sure he was not being watched in any way even possible.

He took in a big breath and transformed into his original form.  He threw himself on the bed and closed his eyes, though he made sure he wouldn´t fall asleep anytime soon.

A loud knock on his door scared him good enough to throw him off the bed and without even having to think he transformed back into the unicorn, which took him a moment longer than usual because of the sudden scare.

Upon having transformed he quickly got to the door and opend it, being grabbed and pulled outside by someone he couldn´t catch a glimpse of yet.

He panicked for a second but said panicking soon went away as he saw that it was the pink pony he bumped into earlier.

"What is happening?", he asked, but got unheard.

The pink pony procceded to drag him outside and he stopped questioning it soon. As soon as they were outside someone threw confetti at his face making him a  bit irritated which was soon replaced by a surprised look followed by a (slightly confused) smile as he saw the dozens of pponies standing in front of him. Every single one of them greeting and welcoming him.

"HELLO!", the pink pony from before was standing now in front of him and throwing more confetti into the air. "I wanted to welcome you to ALL of ponyville! With a few exceptions of ponies who were to busy of course!"

"That is all nice and I apreciate it! Really! But. . . I don´t know your name?", Alternate said a bit awkward, but still smiling.

"Oh right! Haha! How could I forget? My name´s Pinkie Pie! I´m the towns very own Partypony!", the upbeat pink pony exclaimed, which made Alternate chuckle a bit.

"Well, my name´s Alternate View, nice to meet you, Pinkie Pie.", he said politely, which made Pinkie frown a more playful looking frown..

"Aw, don´t be so polite! You can be all yourself here, silly!"

"Uhm. . . Ok, sure! Thanks anyway!"

"OH! The only ones that weren´t here were Rainbow Dash, Apple Jack, Fluttershy and Rarity!", then she gasped, "UH! I know! I´ll introduce you to them! C´mon! Follow me!", she beamed and started hopping away. Alternate followed her, hesitant at first.

Alternate sighed on the inside a bit. Sure, he wanted to get to know the towns ponies more, but couldn´t that have waited until tomorrow? You know, to give him some rest? Help him settle in in a completely new enviroment? No? Ok, maybe that´s just me.

"Ok, fine!", he said following the pink earthpony.

On the way Pinkie Pie talked and talked to Alternate about the weirdest stuff that has happened to her or others.  And even though Alternate wasn´t interested in some of it, most of it actually entertained him and brought a smile on his face.

Suddenly Pinkie stopped talking and stopped in her tracks. "Here we are!", she smiled and suddenly bursted through the door of a chic looking two stories house.


> Ponyville - Rarity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suddenly Pinkie stopped talking and stopped in her tracks. Here wer are!", she smiled and suddenly bursted through the door of a chic looking two stories house.
Alternate didn´t hesitate to follow her. But upon entering he was grabbed and put on a pedestal-like thing. Before he could even say anything, his body was measured and he was put in a vest. It was then that he saw the pony who had put him in that vest.

It was a white unicorn with dark pruple hair that looked like she was constantly taking care of it. She had a pair of red glasses, which apparently she did only need for work, because she just took them off and placed them on a desk before turning to Alternate View again and admiring her work.

"You look positively amazing! What did you say was your name?", she said, kind of sounding like a unicorn from Canterlot. Just not as snobby.

"Uhm, yes. My name is Alternate View. But you can call me Alternate.", he awkwardly smiled at her and waited for her to introduce herself.

"A-and your name is?", he asked after an awkward pause.

Upon realizing her mistake she became a little red because of embarrassment.

"Terribly sorry, Dear! My name is Rarity! I run the towns boutique.", she said, smiling at him.

"Ah, I see, but. . . Why did you put me in this vest?", he questioned and -once again- Rarity looked very embarrrassed.

Alternate noticed that Pinkie Pie wasn´t in the room anymore and he looked around from where he stood. He felt like he shouldn´t leave this pedestal just yet.

"Ah, well, you see . . . uhm . . . Sometimes it just happens when I see somepony that suddenly inspires me. I have to immediatly design a dress or a vest fitting that Pony, you know?", she explained, looking for understandment from my side.

"Ah, of course. Like an old habit you can´t get rid of, huh?", he nodded understandingly. Rarity sighed in relief.

"Hey, do you know where Pinkie Pie went? I don´t see her anywhere. . .", he started.

Rarity looked surprised, then, as realization struck her she shook her head telling him she had no idea, because she was focusing on him.

She started putting Alternate out of the vest and he could finally move again properly. I swear, he could barely move in that thing. That was worse than the uniform he was supposed to wear as a guard!

"Are you thirsty? Do you want something to drink while we wait for Pinkie Pie to return?", she asked, smiling at him. He returned the smile.

"Sure. Do you have any tea?", Alternate asked back.

"Yes, I suppose I should have a few teabags left. Why don´t you come with me into the kitchen?"

After saying that she went into a room that was the kitchen -just as she said- and she started preparing some tea for them both. As the tea was done she invited him to sit with her and he accepted.

"So, you´re running this shop here? I imagine that being not without stress, seeing as you seem to be all alone  doing this.", Alternate tried starting a conversation.

"Ah, yes, sometimes it can be quite stressfull, especially when I´m running late for something, but I have my friends to help me out occasionly if I´m running extremly late. I am very happy that I have such amazing friends. But now less about my things, what about you? Where did you come from and why did you come to Ponyville? Not that it doesn´t have its own charme, but, I´m just curious!", she smiled, encouraging him to tell her.

"Well" he started "I actually worked as a guard in Canterlot before I went here. For about one year I believe. But I don´t really like being at one place for too long. So I quit being a guard and took the next train to Ponyville. Believe me, it was totally confusing, but I eventually found a place to stay. And. . .Well, that was about everything."

"Oh? You came all the way from Canterlot to Ponyville? Just to see something new? Well that is interesting! How was it being a guard?"

"Well it´s, how do I describe it best? It was a good experience indeed, but I wish I didn´t come there when I did.", he explained a bit awkwardly.

She looked a bit confused and raised a brow showing her confusion.

"And why is that, if I may ask?", she asked and Alternate awkwardly cleared his throat before he continued.

"Ah, well. . . you see. . . There was this, uh,  wedding? Yeah, this wedding with Princess Cadence and, uh, Shining Armor? Yes. And when I took the job of being a guard there was the Changeling invasion. And because of that, every other guard thought I was one of them. But of course I was not. I mean, I would have been hit by that magical shield and thrown out of the kingdom if I was indeed a Changeling. But I wasn´t as you see. I think they still didn´t believe it though, haha.", he sighed at the end, remembering the times he heard them talk about him behind his back.

Rarity seemed surprised at this, but didn´t question any further and just drank the last bit of tea still present in her cup. She poured new tea in his cup, which had been emptied by me just before she emptied hers, and then she poured some in her own cup.

"I assume that was part of the reason you left?", she asked him after a short pause. Alternate wasn´t sure if he should lie on that or not. He decided not to lie that much about it. He didn´t want to entangle himself in his own lies.

"No, not really actually. It was a bit of an annoyance, sure, but nothing too big. And never enough to make me go.", he explained to her, laughing at the end of the last sentence.

"Ah, I see. You didn´t seem to me to be  a pony that would quit simply because someponys talk bad about you behind your back. What was I thinking?", she smiled and shook her head at her own foolishness to which Alternate just shook his head telling her it was fine.

"You don´t fully know or understand me yet, so you couldn´t know, obviously. Don´t be too harsh on yourself, that´s bad for your coat I heard.", he smiled jokingly and they both shared a good laugh about it.

"Haha, you´re right. Let´s change the subject, yes? How was your trip to Ponyville?  Did you take the train or how did you get to this charming little town?"

"Ah, yes, I took the train. But I got out at the wrong station, one station before Ponyville. So take a wild guess what I did then?", he chuckled softly remembering what had happened in the Everfree forest.

"I would say you waited for the next train. But judging by your triumphant smirk, that´s not what you did, is it not so?"

Alternate couldn´t help but chuckle and nod, his smile widdening in amusement.

"Well, you´re right. I didn´t wait for the next train. I walked through the Everfree forest! And judging by your look not many ponys take that route am I right? However, I was halfway through the forest as I noticed I had lost my bag. I went back searching for it- I didn´t find it. Instead of my bag I found a Zebra and she helped me find it. Uh, her name was Zecora, I believe. Nevertheless, it was already getting dark and I couldn´t hope to get to Ponyville while it was still day. Zecora had the hospitality and invited me to sleep at her place for the night and in the morning she would show me the way to Ponyville. And she did. So this is basically how I got here.", he explained.

Rarity seemed to be hanging onto every wor he said like it was some kind of big adventure he was describing.

"That must have certainly been an amazing experience! Or so it would have been for me at least.", she said amazed by Alternates story.

"Well, yes it was actually! A good experience and a lot of fun. . . despite me losing my bag first. You won´t believe how much of a heart attack I had when I noticed! I really hate that feeling!", there was a short pause and then both bursted into a fit of laughter.

Rarity just wanted to start saying something, as suddenly Pinkie Pie bursted through the door, scaring both Rarity and Alternate View.

"THERE YOU ARE! Come on! I gotta introduce you to my other friends!", the pink earthpony yelled cheerfully, almost dragging Alternate out of the kitchen.

He, though, managed to pull away for a moment and went back into the kitchen where Rarity still sat at the table lifting her teacup with her magic.

"Well, Rarity, it was very nice meeting you. I do hope we can talk like this more often. But now it seems like I have to leave. Goodbye for now.", he said almost a bit too polite.

"Ah, yes. It was nice meeting you too. I also look forward to seeing you again.", she smiled softly.

Pinkie Pie then yelled for Alternate to ´Hurry up so he can meet the others´, to which Alternate said nothing but simply obeyed, stepping outside of the boutique.




> Ponyville - Fluttershy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hurry up, Alternate! Fluttershy´s cottage is right over there!", yelled the pink earthpony with a big smile on her face. 

She was way faster than him, her hopping all the way.

Alternate frowned, he found her a bit impatient. He didn´t pay any attention to the path though. So guess what happened? He bumped into Pinkie Pie again as she had suddenly stopped.

"We´re there!", she exclaimed and went up the wooden door of a cottage.

Alternate tilted his head to the side, looking at the cottage from another angle. Pinkie Pie turned to him and smiled brightly creating a soft smile on Alternate´s face.

"Now, Fluttershy is VERY shy! So don´t scare her, ok?", she informed him, which didn´t surprise Alternate at all. The information she just told him I mean. It was in the name after all.

Pinkie knocked on the wooden door and they waited for somepony to open it. Alternate looked behind himself awkwardly -five minutes had passed already and they were still waiting for somepony to open the door.

"M-maybe she´s not there?", Alternate guessed but Pinkie just shook her head and pointed towards the door.

As if on queue, the door practically slammed  open and they were greeted by a grumpy looking bunny. A bit startled by the loud noise the door had made, Alternate took a step back just to be dragged in by Pinkie Pie. Pinkie smiled at the white bunny who had let them in and asked it where Fluttershy was.

Alternate heard the bunny grumble something in his language as he hopped up the stairs giving us a sign to wait before he disappeared upstairs. Suddenly Alternate heard a girly squeak from upstairs and somepony bumping into stuff ad fall on the ground. He winced at the sounds. He looked over at Pinkie Pie, questioning why she didn´t even flinch, even though she clearly must have heard what he had heard. Suddenly she looked to the side, deep in thought apparently, and mumbled something about having to search for somepony later. Who it was Alternate couldn´t catch though.
Alternate turned his head to look back at the stairs. Suddenly, being chased down the stairs came a light pink haired mare with yellow coat, blue eyes and pink butterflies as cutie mark. She didn´t see the last step on the stairs and fell flat on her face while the white bunny just jumped on top of her and then down on the ground. Alternate frowned at the bunny and shook his head at it before he helped the light pink haired mare off the ground.

"Are you ok?", he asked concerned.

"Y-yes . . . I-i am . . .", she almost whispered, nearly trying to hide herself behind her mane.

"Well, uhm, my name is Alternate View, but you can of course call me Alternate for short. I am very pleased to meet you. May I know your name?", he tried asking in a way as to not intimidate her. He found that she was a type of pony that was easily scared and/or intimidated by something that should not create that kind of reaction.

The mare in front of him let a small smile on her lips and nodded slightly.

"M-my name is Fluttershy . . . And I find it nice to meet you too! B-but, uhm, how come you would visit me?", she asked her voice becoming more silent at every word she spoke giving Alternate a difficult time understanding what she said.

"Uhm, you see, I´m new in town. And Pinkie Pie brought me here to introduce me to you and- Wait, where is Pinkie Pie? Uh, nevermind. Well, she wanted me to meet you, for you were one of the ponies who weren´t present in the welcoming party she had set up for me. So she wanted me to meet you! And, well, here I am!" he smiled "I would just love to get to know you and maybe even become friends. How would you like that?"

"Well, it does sound nice to maybe gain a new friend." she admitted "Maybe you would like, uh, something to drink maybe? O-or something to eat?"

"A cup of tea would be just fine, thank you.", they both smiled and Fluttershy went to make some tea.

Suddenly he felt something hit his left leg, and, looking down, he found it was the grumpy looking white bunny from before. He asked him what was wrong and was just hit again as an answer followed by, what he guessed, were swears. Alternate growled a bit, but pushed the bunny almost gently aside. He didn´t want to hurt him, even if just accidentally, and ruin a possible friendship by upsetting Fluttershy with that.

He briefly looked around the room he was in and sat down at a small table he found. The bunny kept hitting him, he tried to ignore him, but he continued even after Alternate had pushed him away several times. He started to get annyoed with the bunny and he felt his patience being challenged quite a bit. Soon Fluttershy came in with a tablet with two teacups, two little bowls with teabags and sugar in it, a small cup of milk and a kettle placed on it.

The bunny stopped hitting him as he noticed Fluttershy´s arrival. He run to her right leg and hit it hard, startling her and making her let go of the tablet. Before the things could hit the ground and break, Alternate´s horn glowed green and the green glow quickly surrounded the objects, levitating them. He gently placed them on the table, also making sure the liquids went back to where they belonged in. He then focused his magic on the bunny, who was now hitting Fluttershy like he had hit him before, also levitating him and putting him on the opposite side of the room.

"Uhm, pardon me asking, but what is it with your bunny being so, well, violent? Is that a thing that happens often?", he carefully asked, pointing with his hoof towards the bunny.

"W-well, kinda yes. His name is Angel Bunny by the way. Uh, let´s just drink some tea, yes?", she looked uncomfortable and had a pleading look directed to Alternate, almost begging for him to change the topic.

"Uh, nevermind. Yes, I agree, let´s have the tea before the water gets cold." she nodded and Alternate placed the teacups in front of himself and Fluttershy, put the teabags and poured the hot water in with his magic and put, upon request, a spoon of sugar and a bit of milk into Fluttershy´s tea.

"Well, how did you get to Ponyville?", she asked, trying start a conversation without it being awkward as she started to drink her tea in tiny sips.

He drunk his own tea without any sugar or milk and answered Fluttershy´s question the same way he had answered Rarity when she had asked him. He told her about how he had lost his bag in the forest, how he met Zecora and everything that had happened in the small time he was in Ponyville.

"Well, as far as I can tell, the ponies here are pretty nice and I might even consider staying here for a longer period of time than I originally intended to! If I make any friends that is.", he chuckled. He never intended to make any actual friends though. Neither did he ever intended to stay any longer as needed to, but thinking it over, he heard that Ponyville has a lot of love in the ponies heart and that was what Alternate was partially looking for.

Thinking about that he suddenly heard his stomach grumble. He was hungry. He cursed under his breath and hoped Fluttershy didn´t notice. Too bad, she did.

"Oh? Are you hungry? Should I go get you something to eat?", she asked attempting to stand up, but was interrupted by Alternate.

"N-No! Uhm. . . I´m fine, thanks. You don´t have to get me anything and besides, uh, I´m allergic to many things. Really, it´s very hard to find things to eat I´m not allergic to."

Really? That´s the best you can come up with? Ugh! , he thought, not very fond of this lie.

"Oh? Is that so? Well, uhm, if you really don´t want to eat, I  guess I won´t get you anything.", she looked a bit confused, but let it go and didn´t ask any further. Alternate levitated his teacup up to his mouth to drink, only to realize it was empty.

"Well, I suppose I should take my leave. Thanks for the tea, Fluttershy, I enjoyed it. I also enjoyed your company and look forward to meet you again. Goodbye!", he stood up and after Fluutershy said her Goodbye to him he made his way out  the door of the small cottage.

He breathed in the fresh air from outside. He just now realized the air in the cottage was . . . less good air than outside to say the least. Must have come from the animals. 

Walking the way back to Ponyville he suddenly felt something jump on his back and, upon turning his head, he saw that it was Angel Bunny, looking down as if he was embarrassed. Alternate gave him a questioning look, but soon found it more confusing as he smelt a rather interesting smell coming from the bunnys chest.

Alternate recognized that smell, yet it was unfamilar to him. Maybe it was because it was an animal he smelt it from, but it still interested him greatly. Could that actually be? He shook his head no and  sighed. The bunny suddenly seemed very angry and cursed at Alternate with his squeaky language that Alternate could not entirely understand yet, but he could make out at least the words idiot, hate and even an why . . . it have . . . be you?, but he couldn´t make out anything else he said.

"I´m sorry, but you cursing at me won´t get you anywhere, friend. First of all, I don´t like to be yelled at- I doubt anyone does- and second of all, I don´t fully udnerstand your, uh, language.", he explained to the bunny who was now silent but still angry as you could see by his adorable angry pout that made Alternate chuckle.

"So . . . Why are you here- on my back of all places- anyway? If you´re here to bother me: please don´t, I had enough of that when you were not only hitting ME but were abusing FLUTTERSHY! So if bothering me was your plan, go away!", he looked the bunny straight in the eye as they now had an angry staaring contest while growling at each other too.

Eventually Alternate gave up- his eyes started hurting- and he just  didn´t care about the bunny anymore and went his way to find Pinkie Pie.

> Ponyville- The last two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eventually ALternate gave up- his eyes started hurting- and he just decided he didn´t care about the bunny anymore and went his way to find Pinkie Pie.

Angel Bunny was still on his back and Alternate couldn´t get him off- even using his magic failed, because the bunny had a tight grip on his mane and it hurt trying to levitate him away- so he eventually gave up on this one too. To top it off, Angel started hitting him, though Alternate noticed he was doing that rather halfheartedly. What did the bunny want from him? 

Suddenly he heard the all too familar yell of Pinkie Pie as she hugged him out of nowhere, knocking the air out of him in the proccess. He faintly heard Pinkie rambling on about how she found the two remaining Ponies he´d have to meet and so on.

Alternate shook his head to regain focus on the world around him and found that Pinkie Pie had somehow managed to get him all the way from the middle of Ponyville to a . . . farm? He looked around and saw a red barn which was relatively big. There were also a hundred or more trees surrounding the area that caught Alternates attention. Standing in front of the barn were two ponies intently staaring at each other which caused confusion on both Alternates and Angels faces.

"Here we are! Alternate, this is Sweet Apple Acres! And there are Applejack and Rainbow Dash! C´mon! Let´s say hello!", Pinkie cheerfully hopped towards the two Ponies. 

One was a blue Pegasus with rainbow colored mane and a cutiemark of a rainbow in a lightning- Alternate guessed this was Rainbow Dash- and the other was an orange Earth Pony with blonde mane, three red apples as cutiemark and a cowboy hat on top of her head.

They seemed to be in the middle of a staaring contest and Alternate awkwardly coughed getting both of the ponies attention.

"Oh? Who are you?", the Pegasus asked.

But before Alternate could introduce himself the pony he thought must be Applejack seemed to realize something: "OH! You must be Alternate view! Pinkie Pie told us about you. Right, Rainbow?" The Pegasus nodded.

"Oh, right! I remember now! Well, it´s nice to meet you! I´m Rainbow Dash! My goal is to be a Wonderbolt one day!", she exclaimed her wings extending excitedly.

"And I´m Applejack! I´m a farmer pony and work on Sweet Apple Acres. I basically live here. It´s nice to meet ya, Alternate.", the Earthpony smiled softly, "You up for some apples?"

"Uh, no actually. I´m, uh, allergic to them", Alternate lied leaving both Applejack and Rainbow Dash shocked- Pinkie Pie was nowhere to be seen.

"You´re allergic to apples?! How is THAT even PPOSSIBLE?!", Rainbow Dash yelled shocked as ever. She couldn´t believe something like that even existed in all of Equestria.

Alternate took an awkward step back, not knowing how to reply. Had he just dug his own grave? Did he entangle himself in his own lie? Or was his lie just so unbelieveable for Pony standards? Yes, that must be it. He must haave told a lie that they couldn´t believe. But how could he get out of this sticky situation?

The silence that followed Rainbows shocked yell was soon interrupted by Angel Bunny hitting Alternates neck halfheartedly. Alternate gave him a questioning look and Angel just shook his head with a face that said Are you kidding me?

Rainbow and Applejack looked at the Bunny confused. They must know the little bunny or something. Maybe they knew Fluttershy. It would make sense, in this town everypony seemed to know almost everypony. 

"How come you have Angel Bunny on your back? Shouldn´t he be with Fluttershy or something?", Rainbow asked pointing towards the bunnny on Alternates back with a questioning look.

" I don´t know why he´s on there. I was on my way back to the Library from Fluttershy´s cottage and suddenly I felt a  weight on my back and found it was him. I couldn´t get him off- he had a tight grip on my mane- and now we´re here.", he explained and Applejack rubbed her chin thinking about why the Bunny would possibly want to stay with Alternate even though he clearly didn´t look like he was enjoying it.

"Maybe Fluttershy told him to stay with you? Maybe you looked lonely to her and she wanted Angel to be your friend?", Applejack guessed and Angel just scoffed at that making Alternate shaking his head no.

"It would be a possibility, but I think Angel wouldn´t play along with that.", Alternate stated and Applejack and Rainbow Dash nodded, knowing what he was talking about.

"Huh . . . well, I doubt we´ll get an answer outta Angel, that is for sure!", Applejack simply stated shrugging her shoulders.

"Huh, I guess we won´t. But whatever, right? It´s not like he´s doing anything awful to you mane, right? Or is he?"

"No he isn´t, but I´m still confused as ever as to why he would stay with me. He doesn´t seem to like me all that much. But whatever. What were you two doing just before Pinkie and I arrived?", he asked.

"Well, we just had a friendly staaring contest. Nothing big. Just a friendly contest between two friends.", Applejack replied and Alternate raised a brow at the tone she had used, but dismissed it.

Angel hit Alternate to get his attention and, upon recieving it, pointed at the sky making Alternate look up. He soon realized what Angel was on about as he found the sun going down very, very fast. He sighed. he could almost hear the bunny saying  "I´m tired! Carry me home, slave!" Ok, maybe the "slave"-part was a bit much, but it wouldn´t surprise him with the attitude Angel had towards him all this time.

"Well, I suppose I should take my leave then. It is getting a little late and I have to get this guy here back to his home. So, it was nice meeting you two. See ya!", he smiled at them waving before he finally left the apple farms grounds. 

He wanted to take the turn to Fluttershy´s cottage, but before he could even try to do that Angel pulled at his mane making him change direction. He stopped in his tracks and looked at Angel angrily.

"What do you think you´re doing?", he asked the bunny who just shrugged with his shoulders making Alternate groan in frustration and roll his eyes

"You´re not going to get off of me anytime soon, now, are you?" Angel shook his head no, "Well then, let´s go home then- my home- and get this over with. I don´t know about you but I´m sleepy as ever!" Alternate yawned proving his point and Angel gave an approving nod followed by a yawn of his own.

Upon arriving at the library  Alternate was met with a stack of books landing on his head. He fell on the ground and rubed his head where the books had fallen onto.

"What the? What just happened?", he tried lifting a few books from his head with his magic, but soon found it didn´t work. He slowly started panicking as he tried time and time again to use his magic. Failing each time.

He felt the weight of the books leave his head and upon opening his eyes saw Angel removing the books from him and giving him an Are you ok? That looked like it hurt kind of look.

He stood up and rubbed his horn, confused as to why his magic didn´t work. His horn hurt, maybe a book fell onto it or something like that. He felt Angel climbing onto his back again as Alternate started putting the books out of the way and saw that Twilight was teleporting back and forth through the whole library, looking like she was panicking. Alternate and Angel blinked in confusion.

"Princess? Are you alright?", he asked forgetting that he didn´t need to be formal any more, but he was anyway.

"Huh? Oh, Alternate! Just the right timing. I need help!", she nearly yelled, panic almost taking over.

"Now, calm down, Princess. What is it you need help with?", he asked patiently.

" It´s the new book Princess Celestia had given me! 'Spells of heart and Mind' ! I lost it! I cannot seem to find it anywhere!", she hid her head under a pillow at the last sentence in frustration.

Alternate frowned slightly. He looked back at Angel worried, but he just shrugged his shoulders and pointed towards the entrance. Twilight looked at Alternate slowly walking towards where Angel had pointed. He lifted a few books by hoof and noticed a crack in the ground.

"I don´t suppose there should be a crack in here, now should it?", he asked and Twilight shook her head, a confused expression on her face. She teleported to his side and looked at the crack. Upon further inspection she noticed the crack being a handle to open something. With her magic she opened it and with widdened eyes found the book she was so frantically searching for with a note attached to it.

Alternate took it in his hoof and read it out loud "Haha, a little prank! I wish I could´ve seen your face! Hahaha!
-T"

Twilight looked like she was about to burst into flames of pure anger and glared daggers at the note. Alternate decided not to question it for his own sake and slowly started walking backwards to his room.
> Hunger
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alternate slowly started walking backwards to his room. He did not want to be a target of Twilight´s rage. He figured it would be painful. 

He shut and locked his door upon entering and let himself fall onto the bed. He sighed, he was very tired. Angel hopped off his back and beside him. Alternate eyed Angel and just now realized his own stupidity. How is he supposed to get some sleep with that bunny beside him? He would not be able to turn into his Changeling form with the bunny around. He tried to use his magic. It still did not work. He was worried, that has never happened before. Ever.

He looked at Angel and found he already fell asleep. He also found him rather cute how he snuggled against him. He smiled and chuckled softly, shaking his head.

A grumble interrupted the silence around the two. It came from his stomach. He was hungry. He panicked a little bit. He hadn´t had any love to eat for at least one month! No wonder his magic didn´t work. He wondered how he was able to ignore his hunger. His stomach grumbled again. He thought of where and how he could get the love he needed so desperately. Friendship is a kind of love, he thought, so maybe if I can find two ponies- strangers to me-  who are friends, I can maybe get some love from-

His thoughts were again interrupted, but this time by a smell. A smell he knew very well. The smell of some kind of love. He couldn´t put his hoof on what exact kind of love it must be, it was so different from the usual smell of love he knew.

Suddenly he noticed how warm his side was and saw that Angel was nuzzling against him in his sleep. He smelled at the bunny´s chest, where his heart was, and realized the smell of love came from him.

Why by Queen Chrysalis´ wings  would he feel  any kind of love in this situation? Did he grow to like me or what?, he chuckled at the thought, but found it much more realistic now that he thought about it. And it was very advantageous for him too. If Angel stayed with him for a longer period of time and still feels that love- which Alternate still couldn´t identify properly- he could feed on that love and wouldn´t have to put much effort into it either.

He chuckled lightly and grabbed Angel with his mouth and put him in front of him. He snuggled against the bunnys little chest and breathed through his mouth. A soft red dust appeared from where the bunnys heart was and wandered to Alternates mouth who inhaled it, feeding on it almost greedily.

After a short time he was satisfied. His stomach was filled again and he felt very tired. Angel won´t miss the love, it is a nearly endless source after all. Alternate quickly tried to use his magic to lift Angel and adjust his sleeping position- the position Alternate had put him in with his mouth seemed rather uncomfortable- to find that his magic now worked again. Happy with himself he pressed Angel to his chest like a stuffed animal and cuddled with him, slowly drifting off into some welll deserved sleep.

His eyes opened as they were hit by the sunlight coming from the window. He looked down to his chest and found Angel was struggling to get out of his grip. He opened his arms freeing him. He chuckled as Angel hit him in his chest looking very embarrassed for some reason. He seemed to get even more angry after hearing Alternate laugh-most likely thinking he was laughing at him.

He rolled his eyes and got up from the bed. He yawned and looked out of the window. It was early morning. He looked around the room and found his bag lying where he had left it. He opened it and looked through the stuff he called his own. He stumbled over something that he didn´t put in there though. It looked like a rubber band to him, but it partially felt to like it was made out of some cloth or something. What did they call this again? He didn´t remember. At the rubber band thingy was a little card attached to it. He read it out loud
"Not much of a good present, but I figured it would be the easiest to put in your bag without you noticing! 
- Silver Blade-"
He inspected the little object that was supposed to be a present again. It was blue of color and he remembered having seen one of the guards, Bronce spear -the cake thief- use something like that to tie his hair together. He shrugged his shoulders and decided he could try it out. His hair as a Unicorn was often a real mess that he couldn´t handle at those points. He walked over to a mirror and found a brush lying under it. He picked it up with his magic and brushed his hair to the back so he could easily tie it together. He looked at himself in the mirror. He had to admit, his hair tied back like this suited him. Silver Blade made a good choice giving him this as a present.

With one last glance to Angel who was staaring at him  the whole time -which he found only a little bit creepy- he went to the door of his room. He unlocked it and walked out in the main room of the Golden Oak Library- the library part of it was the main room. He walked towards a shelf where the books about animals were. He searched for a book about bunnies. He had absolutely no clue what a bunny would eat, and if he wanted to keep Angel as a source for food he had to keep him alive. A dead heart isn´t able to produce love after all, big shocker there. He finally found a book that was specifically about bunnies and he smiled, opening it and looking for the page about what food they eat. Angel had followed him into the main room and started climbing up Alternate to get on his back again. Alternate casually levitated him and placed him on his back. He found the page and quickly scribbled the things down on a seperate piece of paper he had grabbed from his bag earlier. He walked into his room again and got some money from inside his bag.

He walked out of the tree and walked towards the market in the middle of the town. Angel took a hold of the list for Alternate and read it. Apparently Angel was not pleased with what was written on the list because he started hitting and kicking Alternates neck and sounded like he was complaining. Alternate could understand some of it like What is THIS? , You  . . . me to . . . it?
Alternate rolled his eyes.

"Bugger off, Angel.  You will NOT get anything else than what is on the list! And don´t even think about complaining any further! At least I´m caring enough to actually keep you fed. I could just as well not give a flying Hydra about you, understood? So be grateful, ok?", he stated. It was only partially true. He had chosen Angel as a source of food, so he wouldn´t for any price let him be unfed and possibly die from it or make him dislike him for it. Just to make sure Angel wouldn´t get any stupid ideas to sabotage the shopping list though, he took the list from his little paws with his magic. He looked over it and went to the little stands for each thing on it. He found it rather inconvenient that the stands were so far apart from each other and that there are so many different stands that only sell one thing. It was just awful and unneccesary.

He got  everything he needed for the little bunny as he noticed Angel had been able to scribble another thing on the list while he had been busy arguing with the ponies over the outrageously high prices. He raised both brows giving Angel an Are you kidding me? look. Angel on the other hoof had an almost pleading look on his face. Alternate rolled with his eyes and sighed. 

"Ok, one cherry is all extra you´ll get! Nothing more, nothing less!", he gave in and  walked over to the cherry stand. The pony running the stand was a tough looking earth pony talking to another customer in a dark, intimidating voice. He seemed to intimidate his customer greatly, because she started to back away, head down. Alternate looked at the pony and saw that it was Fluttershy!

"Hello, Fluttershy! How are you? What were you doing here- Oh, my appologies. That was a stupid question, I´m sorry. You were about to buy cherries now, weren´t you?", she nodded, "Well, why are you stepping away from the stand while you obviously haven´t bought anything yet?"

Instead of Fluttershy, the pony who was running the stand answered for her. "She´s apparently not ok with my prices," he chuckled, emphasizing the word prices.

"Huh, I see. Well what is the price? I wanted to buy a single cherry myself.", Alternate stated calmly. He could almost smell that something was up and that this guy was not a nice guy.

"He says it´s 20 Bits for one cherry.", Fluttershy said, her head hanging down.

"20 BITS?! That is OUTRAGEOUSLY high for a SINGLE cherry! I demand a smaller price AND an explanation as to why the price is so high in the first place!", Alternate asked angrily. He could almost not believe his ears.

"Well, thanks to her being a doormat once again, of course. For you it can be one bit, of course." he simply shrugged with his shoulders , as if that was just normal like that.

"Ok, then I´ll take two cherries.", Alternate simply said and put two bits on the counter. He raised a brow expectantly at the stallion in front of him, making sure he had a judging look in his eyes.

"Here ya go.", he gave Alternate two cherries andd took the two bits.

Alternate walked away, pushing Fluttershy along. Around the corner, he gave her the other cherry.

"My goodness, that guy was a . . . uh. . . I honestly can´t think of any insult to describe him right now. Fluttershy, you gotta stand up for yourself, ok? Could you do that for me next time? Don´t exagerate though.", he smiled and before Flutterhy could respond he made his way back to the library.

He got the cherry out of his bag, using his magic and handed it to Angel who squeaked happily over the cherry making Alternate chuckle at the noise. He immediatly got a glare from Angel whom he simply ignored him for the sake of ignoring him. He went into the library and into his room. He put his bag down and the food in a shelf in the room- one Angel couldn´t reach. Suddenly he got dizzy. He put his hoof against the wall to support himself while his other hoof held his head. Angel patted his head, concerned. Alternate started to see black spots in his vision and he knew that was a bad thing. I´m probably just not used to the love an animal feels, he thought, so this is probably just my body reacting accordingly- trying to get used to it or something. 

He didn´t know what he was doing anymore. He felt his hooves walking, but he didn´t controll it. His breath was uneven and his heart was thumping wildly against his chest. He was panicking on the inside. He was only barely able to see. 

But the last thing he saw was a bright blue-ish light before he passed out completely.
> New Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Angel was very confused. Why was Alternate walking into the Everfree forest? And he didn´t even react to anything Angel did. He was walking like he was hypnotized, keeping his head down, though. But his eyes were even more disturbing. The eyes rushed their look around in a sickening way that made Angel want to throw up at the mere sight of it.

They soon got to the Everfree forest. Angel tried hitting Alternate in the neck to get a reaction and even tried kicking him. But it failed. Only when he pulled on his mane harshly, that was still tied together into a ponytail, which would make it all the more painfull, he got a reaction.

Alternate huffed and started runing in nearly every tree in front of him, quickly getting Angel off of his back while he procceeded running even deeper into the forest, now not bumping into any trees anymore. Angel tried running after him but soon was too exhausted as his legs were just too weak to carry him any further. He could only imagine the reasons as to why Alternate behaved the way he did. What had happened? Surely it had been something Alternate had no doing in whatsoever. Because it just wouldn´t make sense for him to behave like that willingly. Somepony must have done that to him, and Angel Bunny was more than determined to find out who it was. But to do that he must find clues, or something like that.

He sighed. Then he suddenly realized that he was caring about Alternate way too much than he would usually do about anypony else. What the hay was wrong with him these days? Whatever, he thought, This is still very weird and I want to know what´s going on!
Determined as ever, he started hopping towards the direction were he last saw Alternate ran towards. He had been running in an almost straight line and Angel doubted that would change.

The forest around him got thicker with every hop and the darkness around him started to slowly freak him out. But he still carried on.He looked up and noticed how quickly the sky darkened. They had been out shopping for food all day, after all, makes sense. Suddenly the forest became less thick and he found himself looking at the Castle Of The Two Sisters. He saw some stairs leading down somewhere, most likely somewhere under the Castle.

His eyes followed the stairs leading down somewhere and found something that looked like a tree made out of chrystals. Upon further inspection, though,  he realized that this was the Tree Of Harmony Fluttershy had told him about some time ago. Then he saw Flutershy and her other friends gather around something that looked like a box and the purple Alicorn put a golden key inside the box and they all turned their keys at the same time. A bright light emerged from the box and went to the tree of harmony. The elements of harmony inside the tree started glowing and suddenly the light, now coloured in various colours flew to the six ponies gathered around the box and embraced them in its light. Then they dissapeared withing the light and were brought outside of the cave the tree of harmony stood in and away somewhere where Angel couldn´t see it anymore.

A bit surprised by this he couldn´t help but notice a green light glowing far behind the tree. Curiousity taking over he hopped down the stairs and went behind the tree. Just as he did so the glowing got stronger, blinding him, and then stopped, no, downright disappeared and he heard a loud thud.


***
Green. That was everything Alternate could see. A dark green. Barely visible. He tried to move his, but he found himself unable to do so. Where am I?, he thought, What is this place?

He felt like he was moving, but he wasn´t doing anything at all- he couldn´t after all. His eyes threatened to close when he suddenly saw something black in front of him. He forced his eyes to open wide and realized that he was staring at his reflection. He was in his original form?

He wanted to panic, but he couldn´t, for a reason he did not know, he couldn´t move more than his eyes. His eyes were tired though. He was physically and mentally exhausted. He didn´t know why. Was it such a harm that he had eaten an animals love? It couldn´t have been. Love is love and stays love in almost whatever form, equal fo all creatures in Equestria and beyond. His body began to hurt. But the pain was tolerable. Why was he in this thing? What was this thing? He didn´t know the answer to these questions. He just knew how bloody tired he was.

His eyes threatened to close again, but before they could do so and thus leave him behind in a dreamless darkness, he saw a bright light emerging in front of him. But as soon as it came, the sooner it went away. The light left him wide awake and he felt that he could move again. He struggeled in whatever-it-was-he-was-inside-of and used a strong and bright green blast of magic to free himself. He found out that he had been hanging somewhere upside down the harsh way as he made contact with harsh reality common ponies would call ground. Curse gravity.

He quickly recognized that Angel was in front of him, shielding his eyes from the sudden brightness Alternates magic had caused mere moments ago. He quickly realized the situation and reacted accordingly, transforming  into his disguise as quickly as his magic would allow him to. He layed his head back on the ground and played like this was the way  he had fallen down. He felt a little paw pat, er, rather poke his head as if looking if he was dead. He slowly opened his eyes to, indeed, see Angel in front of him poking right above his eye with a concerned look on his face.

"What do you think you´re doing there, Angel?", he asked playing an anoyed look.

Angel quickly backed off, a bit of a scared look on his face. Though, maybe it was just surprise that was written on his face, it was a bit hard to tell. Alternate stood up, placing his right hoof on his head implying that he had a headache. Angel bought his little play and layed a paw on his left hoof, now a concerned look on his face.

"What exactly happened? Er, I mean, do you know what happened to me? I kinda just remember walking somewhere and falling unconscious upon seeing a bright light.", he asked, doubting that Angel would know anything about it. Lucky guess, Angel didn´t know a thing and thus shook his head no.

Alternate sighed and grabbed Angel with his magic and placed him on his back. He started walking and noticed the tree. He looked at Angel for an explanation, but he just shrugged with his shoulders, implying that he knew what that was about but deciding it wasn´t important enough to be explained. Alternate dismissed it and walked up the stairs. He didn´t exactly know the enviroment, even though it was the Everfree forest and he´s been through it already twice- even though the second time was unconscious- so he just relied on Angel telling him where to go.

Soon enough they got back to Ponyville and Alternate planned on going back to the library only to find that it had been destroyed. He stood in front of the library, surprised, shocked, speechless and some other emotions that don´t start with an S. Discouraged for example, or grief. He could not believe his very own eyes as he staared at the ruins of what was once the Golden Oak Library. His mouth and eyes open wide in utter shock and disbelief at the sight in front of him. His body started trembling as sudden sadness came over him, replacing all the other emotions that had come first.  He ran into the ruins and looked around frantically, as if looking for proof that this was just a bad nightmare. That he would wake up any second now, find himself back in his room in the Golden Oak Library and find out he had just passed out because he wasn´t used to an animals love. But sadly, reality wasn´t as kind to him as his hopes were. Tears started to build up in his eyes as he went to what was once his room. The bed inside was  almost spared, only half of it being destroyed. He sat down in front of it and burst into tears, holding onto a pillow from the bed. 

Even though he didn´t live there for a very long time, he had loved the library. He felt oddly safe within it´s walls and it was his only place to live. Where was he gonna go now? Angel patted his back, knowing how hard it must be for Alternate. Alternate just sat there, crying. After a short while he stopped, suddenly realizing something.

What about Twilight? There was no way she was still inside the building as it had been destroyed. But how did she feel? I mean she had ben living in this library a good long part of her life! She must feel so awful at that time! But where was she?

He sighed and looked down, still very sad. Angel was now rubbing his back in an attempt to keep him calm. Alternate smiled softly at him. He thanked him for helping him and stood up. 

"C´mon lil´ guy. Let´s search for Twilight. ´Kay?", he smiled and put Angel back onto his back. He quickly looked under the undestroyed half of his bed and was surprised to see that his bag was still there and was not destroyed at all. He took it with him, obviously, and made his way through Ponyville, asking a couple of ponies if they knew where Twilight was. 

He followed the directions he´s been given and walked to almost the other side of Ponyville. He was surprised to see a castle there, especially since it looked a bit like the weird chrystal tree he saw  when he´d woken up. He didn´t fully arrive at the castle as the doors were opened and Twilight and her friends, plus some other creature he hadn´t seen before, came out. The creature almost immediatly flew away after saying its, or his, goodbyes to the other six. 

Alternate looked very surprised. He walked up to the six and they immediatly greeted him upon seeing him and realizing it was him. He asked them what happened and they told him all about it. About Tirek, Discord, the Tree of Harmony, the Box that held the key to defeating Tirek and the fact that Twilight now got a castle.

"A castle, huh? Well . . . that is certainly . . . a thing that happened . . .", he awkwardly stated.

The other six were a bit confused as to what he meant by that. Angel rolled his eyes at their obliviousness. Suddenly Twilight realized it and looked a bit sad.

"Oh. Yes, of course. You just lost your home with us. The Library.", Twilight realized and Alternate just got a sad smile on his face.

"Ah, it´s  not that bad. I mean, I could still buy a house or something, get a decent job in Ponyville to afford furniture and everything. It won´t be easy, but it will be something!", the smile on his lips was entirely forced.

Twilight looked at her friends, a bit concerned and then shook her head no to Alternate.

"No, that wouldn´t be nice of me to make you do that. I insist that you stay in this castle! I simply can´t make you search for a new home while I get a new one right after my old one has been destroyed!", she exclaimed.

Alternate thought about it for a bit. It did seem like it was fully against Twilights morals and of that of a Princess, he just couldn´t turn her down. She´d feel bad. He didn´t want that- oddly enough, considering everypony is an supposed enemy of his (he doesn´t want to see them that way, though). He nodded and Twilight sighed relieved that he had accepted her offer.

Alternate smiled softly and walked passed the ponies inside the castle. Twilight followed him, wanting to show him around quickly and show him his room.

Alternates new room was about three times as big as his old room was. There was a small window and a big bed next to it. The sheets were a nice leaf green and the pillow was purple. The walls were chrystal, like the rest of the castle, and there was a shelf on the far left of the room and a desk and chair right next to it.

Twilight has already left Alternate and Angel to themselves. He let Angel hop off of his back and he started to unpack the few things still in his bag. A single book about an earthpony who was bullied and who discovered that he could use telekinesis and ever so slowly he becomes the villain of the book, taking revenge on everyone that has done anything bad to him. Altrenate quite enjoyed the book actually. The protagonist-turning-antagonist also had a best friend and the author of the book always seemed to drop little hints that their friendship may turn to be something more than that. Alternate found himself laughing or chuckling at that more than once. He put the book on the shelf and continued unpacking.

The other items were a hair brush, a small mirror where he had no idea why he had put that in his bag, some papers, a quill and ink. He put papers, quill and ink on the table while placing the hair brush and the small mirror on the shelf next to the book.

Angel had hopped onto the bed by now and was well on his way to fall asleep, snuggling into the purple pillow and green sheets. Alternate sighed and let himself fall on the bed next to Angel. He was stil exhausted. He couldn´t figure out what that thing was he had been inside of. He knew he felt pain while being inside of it and he had been in his Changeling form, but he didn´t know anything else that could be important. He sighed and grabbed Angel to hug him. He was still very tired and that hadn´t changed much since he´d arrived. In fact, he felt like he could  pass out any moment now.

He sighed again and took in the smell of the new enviroment. He felt a bit weird in this big room. He would actually have to get a somewhat decent job and fill his room with some nice furniture. A closet was needed, and clothes to put in the closet- he could ask Rarity about that- and he also needed some paintings, maybe flowers, to brighten up the room. Maybe then he would actually feel at home. This being his last thought he felt the darkness softly embrace him and drag him down into a black abyss.
> Day Four
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three days have passed and Alternate still didn´t got used to the castle. It still felt uninviting everytime he went back inside it and he was almost tempted to avoid it on purpose, if it hadn´t been for Angel, that is. Angel had refused to go outside most of the time and insisted that Alternate would stay with him. Alternate in the mean time worked on understanding the bunnies overall language, including body language- would both come in handy eventually. As a Changeling he would naturally learn the language of another creature he impersonates very fast, but because he wasn´t impersonating a bunny -whatever reason a Changeling would ever have to do so anyway-, but a pony, who had entirely different languages-very annoying if Changelings weren´t naturals- he wasn´t able to learn it as quickly. Doesn´t help that the grammar is entirely different too. But Alternate was relieved that he was getting the hang of the language already- he had spent a lot of time with the bunny after all to at least know how to translate the bunny´s body language.

Fourth day in the castle.
Alternate woke up to Angel struggling in his grip. He found himself clinging to the bunny in his sleep more often after having just eaten his love. Alternate chuckled and released Angel, who immediatly jumped away to glare at him. He stood up from the bed and flinched slightly as his hooves made contanct with the cold floor. He shivered a bit from the sensation he had still to get used to. Maybe he could get a rug while he gets the other stuff he wanted to buy, but was too distracted to actually get. He just added that to a mental list in his head and went on about his day.

He walked over to the window and looked outside. The sun was just about to rise and he watched  in awe as the light slowly shifted over the hills in the distance. He found it strangely beautiful, even though it is just an everyday small event. But he still found it strange how something as ordinary as the rising or setting sun could stir up those emotions in him.

He shifted his gaze over to the left, expecting to see the tip of his home, the Changeling Kingdom, but he couldn´t see it, of course. Back in Canterlot, he was able to see the tip. But now he was in a completely different location, so his former home couldn´t possibly be visible. He sighed. He found himself missing the Kingdom. Not because of the other Changelings, heck, he felt amazing being away from them! But because it was his home, and he kind of missed his queen- the only even slightly likeable Changeling he´s ever met. As he kept thinking about it, he felt more and more like a traitor. Like he had betrayed his queen and the Kingdom itself. Was he actually a traitor? He wasn´t sure. Would it be weird if he asked Twilight about this? Ask her when someone  is considered a traitor and when not? Yes, it would be weird, and it would raise suspicion. He didn´t want that to happen anytime soon.

A tear threatened to escape his eyes and he silently cursed his body for it. Angel looked at him concerned. Alternate smiled softly at the bunny and told him he just missed his former home. Angel assumed he meant the Golden Oak Library and just shrugged it off.

Alternate went out of his room. Suddenly there was a smell that hit his nose and he frowned. He didn´t like that smell. He walked over to what he knew was the dining room and entered. Upon entering he saw Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Twilight sit around the dining table, eating pancakes. Well, except Twilight, she was sleeping and snuggling with her pancakes. Alternate growled in disgust at the pancakes. He had tried eating one- he tried eating pony food every so ofen-, but he had hated it so much that he had to eat the love of eleven ponies afterwards just to get the taste out of his mouth. He still remembered how Bronce Spear talked him into trying one. "C´mon eat it! It´s not bad at all! Just try!", he had said and even though Alternate already disliked the smell and the overall look of the Pancakes in front of him, he still tried just for the sake of trying it. He also still remembered how mischevious Bronce Spear had looked back when he talked him into eating it. He probably wanted to prove something.

Anyhow, he looked at Twilight, who was still fast asleep, her pancakes still in a deadly cuddle-grip and he raised a brow, questioning the image in front of him. The others around the table noticed him and greeted him. He asked them why Twilight was doing what she was doing and they told him about how Twilight kept insisting on helping them all day sometimes until it´s night and like it seemed that she never wanted to leave. Alternate agreed that it became very rare when he actually saw Twilight around the castle. He shrugged though, and walked into the kitchen. He started making tea for himself and while he was waiting for the water to start boiling he opened the fridge and took one of ten small bowls filled with salad and carrots for ANgel. The water was done boiling and he took a cup and two teabags. He placed everything on a tablet and started walking back. 

On his way he met Spike. He had first met him three days ago, when Twilight and the rest went on some kind of adventure and left him and Spike back at the castle. Also Spike introduced him to hoofball, which he was not much of a fan of now that he knew what it was about.

"Oh, hey, Spike! What´s up?" he greeted the small purple dragon.

"Oh, hi, Alternate! How are you?"

"I´m good, thanks.  But I think Twilight could be better. Snuggling with pancakes, that pony." he explained shortly and proceeded to walk back to his room. Angel was sitting on the bed, reading Alternates book with a confused look on his face. He must have found a Plothole or something like that. The bunny looked up from the book upon noticing that Alternate had put his food in front of him. He put the book aside and began to eat. Alternate started to drink his tea while also keeping an eye on Angel to make sure he´d eat it all.

He just finished his second cup of tea when he suddenly heard arguing coming from the dining room area. He sniffed the air and his eyes widened slightly as he frowned. He dicided to ignore the sound of arguing and asked Angel if he wanted to go outside somewhere. The bunny nodded and then jumped off the bed and hopped over to the desk in the room to grab a paper and hopped back to Alternate to show him the paper. It was the list Alternate had made of the furniture he wanted to buy, implying that they should get that while they were at it.

Alternate nodded in agreement and lifted Angel onto his back with his magic. He walked out the door of his room and out of the castle. He looked up into the sky, the sun was now fully up and was shining bright and warm upon his face. He smelled the air again  and gave a sigh before frowning and growling. Angel looked at him confused, but figured he was just in a bad mood. Looking at the list, Alternate frowned even more. All those things he wanted just had to be ALL in different stores! Every. Single. Item. He groaned in frustration and started stomping towards the first store. His mood wouldn´t get any better, Angel saw it coming.
***
Alternate looked at the clock that was just above a painting behind the cashiers desk of the Gardening Shop ha and Angel were in.They had spent the whole day shopping for furniture-still they didn´t get all of it yet.

Alternate paid for the flowers and the two slowly made their way back to the castle. They met Twilight and Spike along the way and decied to walk with them, chatting about magic and the book Alternate owned. Twilight seemed very interested, for she hasn´t even heard of the title of the book, much less the author. An uncommon thing for her except if one takes into the equation that Alternates book didn´t come from (let´s call it) Middle Equestria, but from Eastern Equestria and was writtten by a very, very unknown author.

Upon being asked, Twilight explained to him what was supposedly going on after he had left the room and Alternate got a bit curious as to what they had done to the place in the meantime.

At the giant door they were greetde by all the other five and were led inside. Altrenate looked around and so did Twilight, Spike and Angel. He raised his brow. They hadn´t done anything? He shook his head. No, he had to cut them some slack here. There is no way they could renovate the WHOLE castle in one day! Perhaps they only renovated a few rooms? Must be it.

They entered the throne room and Alternates mouth gaped open in utter amazement. Attached to the ceiling were roots from what he could only guess was the Golden Oak Library and many chrystals hanging from them. They explained  that every chrystal held an image of a memory Twilight had made in the Golden Oak Library. Alternate searched a bit, but he found the chrystal with the memory of him coming there. He smiled at that actually not so long ago memory as if it was a memory from many years ago. His ears perked up and his head shot to the side. He narrowed his eyes. He sniffed the air and his frown deepend until Twilight ripped him back into reality, asking him if he were alright.

"Yes, it´s nothing. I just had a bit of a headache. It´s been a long day, you see?", she just nodded in response, still having a concerned look on her face. 

"She obviously doesn´t believe you", came the words from Angel. Alternate was now fully able to understand him and nodded.

Suddenly Rainbowdash-while flying- poked his shoulder to get his attention.

"Hey, Alternate! You were a guard pony before you came to Ponyville right?", she asked, only recieving a nod as response.

"And you don´t have a job right now, right?", another nod came from Alternate and he opened his mouth in an attempt to explain why, but was interrupted as Pinkie Pie gasped.

"You could TOTALLY work as a guard pony for Twilight now! I mean, she´s a princess, you´re a guard with experience! It all fits together!", her voice was loud and actually gave Alternate a bit of a headache- which soon subsided though-, but he found himself nodding in agreement.

Twilight rubbed her chin with her left hoof to think. It did make sense to her and since she already saw Alternate agreeing to the idea, she saw no problem or issue with it and agreed too. Rarity squealed about how she would so have to create/design the perfect armor for Alternate. AppleJack reminded her that she had to make the armor more functional than pleasing to the eye, but Rarity insisted on the vision she claimed to already have in her head. Twilight, even Fulltershy found themselves giving Rarity a bit of advice how the armor should look like.

Alternate just chuckled at their enthusiasm. He saw down to Angel and saw the bunny yawn. He decided it was late enough and he would go to bed. He told them Goodnight and started walking upstairs with the bunny following him like a loyal dog. He chuckled at the thought.

Upon arriving in his room He put all the items he had bought that day somehwre in a corner of his room. He didn´t care about it at the moment. He just wanted to go to bed and sleep. A sudden wave of tiredness overcame him and looking at it more focused even the floor looked like a comfortable bed. He felt Angel leading him towards the actaul bed, because Alternates sudden tirednessmade him look -or rather act- a bit like he was drunk. But Alternate was almost too tired to care.

Angel jumped on the bed and under the covers first, quickly followed by Alternate, who immediatly- out of sudden instinct- pulled him close and pressed him against his chest, cuddling with him almost too protectively. His eyes fluttered closed and he laid his head against the pillows in the most comfortable position he could muster. He  quickly sniffed the air and frowned. His eyes opened again scanning the room. As his gaze fell upon the window, he saw a shadow flying away. He wanted to growl, but his stomach did it for him, signalizing that he nedded food.

He looked at the bunny, finding him fast asleep. He sniffed at his chest and was mildly surprised at how much the love in his heart had grown over the course of these four days. To him it felt a bit unnatural, but he dismissed it. He opened his mouth and breathde in through it. The red dust came easily and without any resistance- which surprised Alternate to the point where he almost stoppped inhaling-  from the bunnies small chest and he inhaled it.

After his meal he felt heavy, but less tired. He felt some presence in his room and immediatly got up, while still making sure the bunny would not wake up. He took in a defensive stance, ready to attack any intruder. He had an exact idea of exactly who was there. And he didn´t like the mere thought of it. He sniffed the air. He was right.