//------------------------------// // Leg-up // Story: Once Bitten // by Damaged //------------------------------// "You can let me down now." Sweetie Belle squirmed a little on Vinyl's back. "You don't have to carry me all day." Vinyl kept trotting along after the changeling, but looked back over one shoulder. "Nah, it's cool squirt, enjoy the ride." She smiled, entirely for the filly's benefit. "You are still going the same way I am, right?" Sweetie giggled and nodded. "Yeah, but I… I want to walk… that is the stuff in me, right?" The big, soft, innocent eyes ripped at Vinyl's heart. "Yeah, it is." She turned back to the changeling. "Hey, bug-plot," the euphemism got a giggle from all the fillies, "can you tell her it is okay to ride on my back?" "Yeah, sure, do whatever." Chitter hated being without his hive-mates, although he had to smile at the thought there would soon be more. "You can ride instead of walking." Not realizing that the filly had still been tense, Vinyl now felt her really relax. "That better?" "Yes," Sweetie looked past Vinyl, to Chitter, "thank you!" She gave the best smile she could, remembering that whenever anypony did something for you, it was important to thank them—so her sister said. Chitter stopped and turned back to the little pony. There was the slightest waft of affection coming from her, but it was dimming as he looked, and already carried some taint. "Keep following, or riding." He turned and headed off again. "Look, Chitter, the fillies need food. At least let us look for berries or something." Vinyl wanted to be out of ear-shot of the changeling more than anything, it would give her a chance to get away. 'As long as I can stop wanting to follow him everywhere like a filly!' "You get food tonight. No berries, you'll see." The changeling's words held no anger, but it was obvious that was all they were going to get out of him. "Okay then," Vinyl blew out a breath she had been holding, "I spy, with my left eye, something beginning with… B." It was an old game, one she had played with Twilight, as Shining Armor. "You are supposed to try to guess what I saw that begins with a B." Scootaloo looked up at Vinyl, then turned to look around, her hooves working to keep her going. "Branch!" She looked back at Vinyl and saw her head shake. "Come on Apple Bloom, it is your turn to guess." "Huh? Oh. Um…" Apple Bloom looked around the path they were taking, not recognizing any of it. "Boulder?" "Where?" Scootaloo blinked, then followed her friend's gaze. "That is barely a rock." "It isn't a boulder. Sweetie Belle?" Vinyl looked over her shoulder at the filly, finding her fighting the edges of sleep. "You don't have to play if you don't want to." "I want to play." Sweetie yawned widely. "Bug-plot." She giggled a bit, covering her mouth with a hoof. "Sweetie Belle wins!" Vinyl gave a little dance of victory. "Now you have to choose one." "I spy, with my left eye, something be…" Sweetie trailed off as she looked at the hoof coming away from her face. "My fur…" It wasn't the words that made Vinyl turn to face the filly, it was the fear in her voice. She looked at Sweetie and watched as the filly casually plucked some of the fur from her hoof, the stuff coming away in a big wad. "Let me look." Vinyl caught some fluff with her magic and lifted it up to examine. "It doesn't look to be cut. Did you rub yourself raw?" "I just— I woke up like this!" Sweetie Belle felt panic and confusion rise. She began to tremble and look around, as if she wanted to run and get away. "You napped?" Chitter looked back, his face pulled into a smile. "Then you start to change. It happens when you sleep." Vinyl filed the information away while she walked. "Hold on, Sweetie Belle. I am sure a big brave pony will come and save us. Like Shining Armor." She wasn't sure who she was trying to convince now, herself, or Sweetie. "Who is Shining Armor?" Sweetie looked away from her hoof—and the dark flesh the depilation. "Is he big and strong?" "He is. A big and strong unicorn in the Royal Guard." Vinyl gave a soft sigh, barely holding onto her own emotions, as she tried to calm the filly. "And I bet he knows exactly where we are, and would tell you not to worry right now." "He sounds amazing!" Sweetie Belle snuggled forward and pressed her snout into Vinyl's mane. "But it's alright, you're a vampony, a nice vampony, who feeds off wubs. You can protect me until he gets here." The soft sounds of the filly's sleep wafted to Vinyl's ears. She looked down to see Scootaloo and Apple Bloom yawning too. "Does this stuff make us drowsy or something?" Thinking on it, she realized she was fighting at sleep too. "Of course. Since it only changes you when you are asleep, it is best if you sleep more." Chitter pointed to a cave ahead of them, and to the side. "Food's in there. Wake her up to feed." "I am really starting to dislike you." Vinyl didn't jiggle Sweetie awake right away, so that each step left her aching to do it, to step oddly, or jolt her. "Come on, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo." She couldn't stop the big yawn, fighting against tiredness, but not wanting to shake her head to dispell it. "Why is it always caves? Why don't you have houses like normal ponies?" Apple Bloom reluctantly followed Vinyl into the cave. "I bet it's the bug thing." Scootaloo walked beside her friend, sparing a look up to the sleeping Sweetie Belle. Finally, she lost her fight with her urges. "Sweetie Belle!" She covered her snout the moment she had yelled. "What are you doing? I said wake her, not call down every pony looking for us!" Chitter grumbled and pointed to a corner of the cave. "Go on, there is a bag of oats there. Eat as much as you want." Vinyl walked were directed, and lit her horn. There was a big sack of grain that she opened. "You got us any bowls?" She was already snorting at the idea. "Hold on, girls, this will take a little focus." She sat down and cupped her magic three times. Filling each magic bowl with oats, she passed them around to each filly. "That's nift—" Apple Bloom couldn't believe how hungry she suddenly was; her tiredness seemed to be on hold while her belly felt like an empty pit. She didn't even get to finish her sentence before her snout was in the bowl and she was literally eating as fast as she could. "And what about you? You will eat too." Chitter looked at Vinyl, watched the mare wince at the command. "Then you will sleep." "I know, but… stop telling me to do it." Vinyl's apathy crushed her anger before it could even grow enough to want to buck the changeling. She watched Sweetie Belle devouring the food like a filly possessed, then it occurred to her what this was all about. "The change needs energy, this gives it that." "Clever. You will be a good changeling, maybe even work in the field, capturing ponies." Chitter gave a soft chirp with his wings. "They are done, now have yours." Making sure each of the fillies was asleep, Vinyl drew their three bowls together, then added more oats to what they had left. "You don't have to be like this, you know." She dug her snout down, felt the elation inside at doing what she was told, and began to eat. "You don't realize." Chitter turned and put his back to Vinyl, watching the cave-mouth. "Think about what I have told you, about what happens at the end." His voice was bitter, but his words stopped now. Vinyl finished eating one bowl, and grabbed half of a second, gulping that down too. "Still don't need to be a buckin' annoyance about it all." ~~~~~+++++~~~~~ The dream was chaotic. Vinyl felt like she was one among thousands, packed in tight and brushing against others. She started to recoil back from what was certainly a nightmare, when another presence touched her. "Princess Luna?" There was no reply, but the horror seemed to ease. The other being stood beside her, shielded her from half of the swarm. As dawn came, Vinyl thought she felt a kiss on her cheek. Opening her eyes, Vinyl blinked into the predawn light filtering from the cave mouth. She groaned a little, but realized she felt warm bodies pressed to her barrel. Looking down, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were tucked in as tight as could be against her, while Scootaloo had her little wings spread, trying to share her warmth with her friends. Something seemed off, but Vinyl couldn't work out what. Vinyl wished she was a pegasus, just this once; she wanted to wrap wings around the fillies and warm them up properly. Part of what she noticed was wrong, she realized, was her legs. From nearly her shoulders and hips down, her fur had fallen out, revealing hard, black chitinous flesh. What was worse, was the holes in her lower legs. "Big sis?" Apple Bloom turned over in her sleep, snuggling against the warm bodies. Opening her eyes, she realized her snout was pressed into white fur, and not orange. "Applejack?" She felt like something was out of her reach, that something was wrong, all at once, her memories of the previous day's walk came back, of Vinyl, and of the monster that none of them could disobey. "V-V-Vampony?" With a huff of air, Vinyl leaned her head down and breathed softly over Apple Bloom's exposed ears. "What's up?" She couldn't bring herself to contradict them now. "Thanks for lookin' after Sweetie Belle." Apple Bloom was interrupted by her belly rumbling. She lifted her head to look around for the bag of oats, but had a glowing blue aura held the loose grain right before her snout. She couldn't stop herself, it felt good to eat, felt really good. She ate and ate until her belly was puffed out a bit, but she almost couldn't stop. A black hoof resting on her head startled her so much that she gave up the bowl. "That will be more than enough to get through the day." Vinyl ruffled the filly with one of her black, hard hooves. "Scootaloo? Are you going to wake up next?" Gently shifting the second filly, Vinyl finally realized another odd thing; all the fillies had the same black legs as her, but with their holes in different places. Scootaloo jerked awake, suddenly kicking and grunting in shock. When a black hoof tried to subdue her, she lashed out at it with her own. Kicking, she opened her mouth to scream and froze. Vinyl scratch was desperately trying to calm her, as was Apple Bloom. She snapped her mouth shut. A magic food bowl, shoved right under her snout, proved what she really needed. "Wow, look at her go. Was I like that?" Apple Bloom watched her friend eat almost like an animal, devouring the oats as fast as she could. "Guess I was…" "Did you have the bad dream too?" Vinyl couldn't look Apple Bloom in the eyes, and although the filly didn't say anything, she felt her nod. "I was stuck in a crowd of changelings, hundreds…" "And then a nice one came and hugged me, told me I would be alright." Sweetie Belle joined the conversation, clearing the sleep from her eyes. "They actually told you, in words?" Vinyl gave Scootaloo's mane a little rub as the filly ate. Sweetie looked down, her belly gurgling hungrily, but her brain working to make sense of the dream. "No, she didn't talk!" She actually bounced a little, feeling excited she had remembered. "But how did I know, then?" "Because I think the thing turning us into changelings is not just a stupid bug." Vinyl pulled the bowl away from Scootaloo, refilled it, and offered it to Sweetie Belle. 'I never thought this day would come.' Vinyl took a deep breath, and smiled. 'I will blame Cady, definitely her fault I care for foals so much… maybe Twily too.' Waiting for the third filly to finish eating, Vinyl fetched her own bowl of the grain. Eating away at it, she watched the fillies stand up, move around. Then the moment came that she realized what it was that had been confused her. "Hey, you have all grown bigger." She smiled at the fillies, expecting it to at least lighten the mood. Then Chitter walked up to them. Vinyl looked up and up, realizing that she had lost more than a few inches in height overnight.