//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4: The Butterscotch mare, and the Fashion Pony 
// Story: Of Men and Insects 
// by VeganSpyro97 
//------------------------------//

Allan’s dreams were pleasant, guided by a soft voice, and permeated with a pair of large, kind blue eyes, that sparkled and glistened with love for the world. The only thing that felt wrong about these dreams was that the eyes were not Anna’s. He felt a little guilty about having these thoughts about anyone else, but his guilt was overcome by gratitude and wonder at the lovely creature that haunted his dreams, at least for now. He was certain that guilt and gratitude would continue their violent feud in his head for some time, as his last guilty thoughts were about his own infidelity and betrayal. For now though, those dark contemplations were halted in favour of nicer things, like the lovely pair of eyes and the soft voice.
He imagined her singing with that voice, and tried to picture her sitting next to him, head bowed his way, as he bowed his head to her, so that they rested against each other…
Only… he couldn’t do that like he had before. Because of the stupid horn thing on his head. Because he’d fallen through that portal, because of that bug-thing, and...and…..
He opened his eyes, unsure of his present state of mind, as his emotions continued to dance about in a poor attempt at order and cohesion. The room he was in was painted a cream colour, with rich, vibrant, brown wooden beams serving as lattice and highlights. The bed was soft, comfortable, and unfamiliar. He could vaguely recall his time in the hive, but the beds there were still undergoing renovation to make them more comfortable, which had forced him to sleep in a rickety wooden cot that had been riddled with uneven, lumpy patches, making for one uncomfortable nap. 
Raising a foreleg, Allan gazed at the slightly metallic, bronze colour of the chitinous plates that covered his new body, letting out a forlorn sigh. So much for hoping it had all been a dream… and emotionally scarring dream, but a dream… it hadn’t been. 
Having been walking on autopilot for the better part of his time here, Allan’s steps wobbled when he tried to get up, which made moving a chore of its own. His...hooves clopped noisily on the wooden floorboards as he made his way to the door, but, as he was just reaching the door, he mistimed a step, ended up crossing his legs and falling flat on his face with a loud bang, reminiscent of his first ever steps in his new skin. 
“Ah-how-how-ow!” Allan cried, his hooves flying up to his his face as he felt something liquid start gushing from his nose. The only problem with rapidly moving your new, ungainly limbs up to your new, unfamiliarly proportioned face is that one tends to have trouble gauging the speed of approach, and how far away it is you should start to decelerate. Allan was no exception to these problems, and his hooves slammed hard into his nose, already sensitive and gushing sanguine fluid, resulting in more pain, and even more crying out. 
The sound of galloping hooves up the stairs alerted him to the arrival of help, and a little squeak of fright or concern (he wasn’t sure which), coupled with even more hoofsteps heading to a particular part of the room, told him that the unknown assistance was busying themselves with solving his blood problem. 
Allan opened his eyes, and saw the same two eyes he had been dreaming of staring down at him, a hint of fright and worry hidden in their lovely depths. She had a hoof outstretched, ready to start clearing up the mess, but she looked uncertain now that he was looking right at her. 
“Um….is it alright if I clean you up a bit…?” She asked, hesitantly. She sounded so sweet… 
Allan nodded, dumbly. The kind eyes turned happy, and she delicately started to apply a wet cloth to his lower face and chin, an almost business-like manner in the way she purposefully guided the cloth across his face, getting rid of the blood, for the most part. 
She smiled at him, removing the cloth. He was about to thank her when she reached down out of sight, grabbed two somethings with both hooves, and then shoved them into his nostrils. He jerked back instinctively, before wriggling his nose about and trying to see what she had stuck up his nasal canals. 
“Now don’t go taking those out until the bleeding stops.” The yellow coated mare admonished as he started reaching for them. “Those tissues will stop the blood flow and give it a chance to congeal properly.”
Allan nodded, before, very carefully standing up on still unsteady legs. The yellow mare didn’t leave, instead opting to stay by his side all the way down the stairs, and onto the main floor, where she guided him over to a large green sofa, complete with a few throw pillows. There was another mare here, a lavender coloured girl, who was also quite pretty, in her own right, who was sat reading a book whose title remained hidden. She seemed more like the other changelings, sporting both a horn, and a pair of wings. A neatly folded piece of brown fabric lay next to her. The fact that neither appeared to be changelings like him made Allan a little apprehensive.
She looked up as the yellow mare sat him down on the sofa. 
“Hi, Fluttershy! Is he doing okay?” She was nowhere near as quiet and subdued as Fluttershy, but she was still rather reserved, and her love of learning showed itself through her taste in books, as she seemed to have been quite engaged in an animal care guide. Her indigo coloured mane, shot through with a streak of magenta, was neatly trimmed into a rather uniform style, broken only by her horn, which parted the strands above where it stuck out of her forehead. 
“He seems much better, Twilight, aside from a lack of coordination.” 
Twilight only then noticed the reddened tissues sticking out of Allan’s nose, and a concerned frown formed. “What happened?”
“I think he fell over and slammed his face into the floor, then accidentally smacked himself with his hooves.”
Twilight had to hold back a snicker, but when she saw the changeling stallion had tilted his head back, she gave a questioning look to her friend. “Did you tell him to do that?”
Fluttershy looked at Allan. “No, I think he already knew.”
Allan looked back and forth between the two as they talked, not sure what was going on. Having been kind of out of it for so long, he could only just recall how he had gotten into these two’s care, but much of it was fuzzy. 
“Are you hungry?” 
The question was aimed at him, and the sudden change of conversational interaction threw him for a loop, as he suddenly forgot how to form a cohesive sentence when he saw Fluttershy looking at him. 
“Oh-I, um… I mean…. Um…” Allan managed to kickstart his thoughts again by reminding himself that he was being very rude. “Uh, that would be lovely…. Thank you.”
Fluttershy smiled at him, and Twilight started looking back and forth between the two, her eyebrow raising before she broke into a big grin. Allan had no clue what the strange mare was thinking, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to find out. 
“Oh, I just thought!” Fluttershy exclaimed, her hooves going to her mouth. “Do changelings even eat food?”
Twilight chuckled. “Fluttershy, remember the wedding?”
“I wish I couldn’t….” The shy mare murmured.
“While Chrysalis was pretending to be Cadence, she ate one of Applejacks fritters. And she attended several dinners with Princess Celestia before we arrived. I’m pretty sure changelings can eat normal food.”
“Oh, um… okay.” Fluttershy turned to Allan again. “What would you like?”
Allan didn’t want to sound rude, so he gave a smile he hoped was nice enough before replying. “Anything you have on han- um… hoof, is fine.”
“How about an apple? I love apples, they’re one of my favourites.” Fluttershy unintentionally drifted off, her eyes fixating on a bowl of apples on a nearby counter top.
“Fluttershy…?” Twilight asked, nervously. “You’re not having another, um… incident are you?” 
Fluttershy shook her head violently, before sheepishly nodding her head. 
“Ugh. Come see me later, I’ll make sure nothing bad happens.”
Allan looked between the two confusion mounting. “Um… what’s going on?”
Twilight looked at him, looking rather ashamed and embarrassed. “A while ago, me and my friends pressured Fluttershy into using one of her skills to help solve a problem, but we were doing it the wrong way, which was why Fluttershy didn’t want to do it. What ended up happening was a strange anomaly of magic, where the instincts of a group of Vampire Fruit Bats, who were ruining our friend Applejack’s crop, were passed into Fluttershy. The end result was a very bat-like Fluttershy flying around and sucking apples dry until we could reverse the damage. We thought it was over, but…. Well, the ‘curse’, never really went away.”
Allan felt shocked. Magic? Transforming your friends by accident? That sounded like a bad horror movie setup. 
“Fluttershy occasionally has relapses, where the instincts start coming back. We can’t stop her from changing, but we can make sure nothing goes wrong. Tonight, Fluttershy will stay with me, and I can keep her from completely forgetting herself like she did the first time, though she’s made significant headway on her own.”
Fluttershy tapped her hooves together, a shy smile accompanying the gesture. 
“That also means that you can’t stay here tonight. We’ll have to find somepony else who’ll be willing to house you.”
Allan looked at his host, then he friend, before looking at the ground. “Um. Okay, sure……..I’ll take that apple now.”

************
Twilight’s cloak was uncomfortable, to say the least. It was warm out, and wearing the silly thing made it worse, especially now that his skeleton was external and acting like a suit of armour. He could feel his insides getting hotter as he peered out from under the hood, Fluttershy and Twilight trotting on either side of him. He could only see directly in front of him, the strange, antler like features on his head having stretched the hood taught, making it difficult to turn his head without tearing through the fabric. 
What he could see of the town his chaperone’s called Ponyville was nice, looking much like a old style country village, complete with thatched roofs and wooden lattice frame work. A few building’s they had passed stood out, including a diner and a bowling alley, but for the most part, Ponyville seemed content to play the part of a quaint little town. 
They passed by numerous ponies who all smiled, waved, or otherwise greeted his two caretakers on their way through town. They all seemed quite friendly, and quite respectful too. 
Twilight led them up to another stand out building, a small, tower like structure that was coloured with blues, whites and yellows. An image of a pony wearing a saddle and a large pole through its back, reminiscent of classic carousel rides, was placed above the door. Twilight pushed the door open, not bothering to knock. It must have been a business day. 
Allan looked around as best he could within the restrictions of Twilight’s cloak, and saw nothing but fashion. Everywhere he looked, there were dresses, outfits, and accessories for any and all occasions. Most of it was for females, but a few tuxedo’s were dotted about the place. 
“Rarity?!” Twilight called. “Are you busy today?”
“One moment, darling!” A elegant sounding voice drifted down from the stairwell on the far side of the room. “I’m almost finished!”
Twilight tilted her head to the side, curiosity ruling her mind. “Finished with what?”
The sound of hooves tapping down the stairs announced the owner of the store, and Allan was surprised to find himself in the presence of yet another pretty girl. How a human found what amounted to being horses pretty, he had absolutely no idea. 
This mare had a pristine white coat, and a elegantly curled purple mane that practically sparkled with a cleanliness that blew Twilight out of the water. She had large, though to Allan, obviously false eyelashes that framed her deep blue eyes. The purple of her mane and tail were matched by what she was carrying down the stairs with her, a royal and regal looking gown made for what Allan could only assume was an amazonian pony, because the dress alone seemed to be twice as large as he himself was. It was embroidered with gold and deep red, the patterns mimicking flames and miniature suns. 
“Rarity… is that…?” Fluttershy was apparently stunned out of speaking, and Twilight looked ready to explode with excitement for her friend. 
“Is that what I think it is?” Twilight gasped. 
“Indeed it is! The finest quality materials from all across Equestria, all in honor of her! Oh! She will be so surprised when she gets this!” Rarity squealed. 
“Princess Celestia will love it!!” Twilight cried, almost swooning at the elegance of the dress. 
“Princess Luna and Princess Cadence decided to have it made for her before all that nasty business with the invasion, and they asked me to make it for her, as a birthday gift!!!! Oh, I do so love the opportunity!! I mean, I’ve already had two Princesses wearing my designs, but to have Princess Celestia herself? Oh, I could die happy right now, just thinking about it!!”
Allan felt how much this mare loved her work, and looking around the room again, he noticed just how much time, effort, and love went into making each one. This girl was a marvel!
“Now now, darlings, I’m sorry for gushing like that, it was rather unladylike of me. Now, what was it you wanted to see me about?”
“There’s no problem, Rarity, we’re both extremely happy for you, right Fluttershy?”
“Yay…..” The cute little sound almost made Allan’s heart burst.
“Oh, well, thank you both, but I’m afraid you still haven’t answered my question. Does this young stallion have anything to do with it?”
Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged looks. “Well, you see….”
“Oh, that cloak is simply dreadful, here, I’ll fix you up with a new one.” Before either Twilight or Fluttershy could react, Rarity pulled the hood down, revealing Allan’s fearful expression. 
“Oh, my!” Rarity exclaimed, jumping back a bit. “I hadn’t expected to see any of you so soon!” She looked to her friends. “What exactly is going on?”
Twilight rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. “Well, you remember the problem Thorax asked me about?”
“The one with the portal?”
“And the human.” Fluttershy reminded her.
“Yes, darling, and the human.”
“Well, this is Allan. He’s the one that came through it.”
Rarity’s hooves flew up to her mouth. “Oh, dear! I’m so sorry, I hope I didn’t offend you!”
Allan smiled sheepishly. “It’s not a big deal. I know I look like a giant bug anyway.”
“I originally intended for him to stay at Fluttershy’s tonight, but she’s having another…. You know.”
“Ah, and you want me to take him in for the night?”
“If it isn’t too much trouble, yes.” Twilight said, nodding.
“Well, I’ve already talked to Sweetie Belle about what happened last week. She apparently figured out that ‘I’ was a Changeling after ‘I’ complimented her attempts at making breakfast.”
Allan raised an eyebrow.
“I would compliment her, really, but she’s just so bad at cooking! She even managed to burn juice! How in Equestria anypony could burn juice is beyond me! Besides. She’ll never improve if no one tells her what she’d doing wrong.”
Allan had to agree with that point. 
“Well, I will be happy to help you out. I’ll even get started on a new cloak for you, so that you don’t have to wear that awful old thing!”
“Hey! That was part of my Hearth’s Warming Eve costume, when I was playing Clover the Clever, remember?” Twilight protested.
“Yes, that’s all well and good, darling, but it is only suitable as a costume piece, not an actual piece of clothing. Plus, I seem to remember a certain pre-Alicorn Twilight Sparkle complaining about how hot that cloak was.”
“Pre-Alicorn?” Allan asked. 
“Twilight here is a Princess, but she only became a Princess after she completed a very powerful spell. After which, she became an Alicorn, just like the other Princesses!”
“Princesses? How many are there?” Allan asked, confused. 
“Five now, including myself, Princess Celestia, my former teacher, her sister, Princess Luna, my old Foalsitter turned Sister-in-law, Princess Cadence, and her daughter, Princess Flurry Heart.”
“And you all rule this… Equestria?”
“Not quite. Cadence and my big brother, Shining Armour live in the Crystal Empire as its rulers, and Flurry Heart isn’t even a year old yet. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna use their powerful magic to raise and lower the sun and moon every day, and they rule Equestria together, as a Diarchy. As for me, I’m called the Princess of Friendship, and I look after the feelings of fraternity and friendship throughout the kingdom, and even beyond it, with the help of my friends.”	
Allan listened to this in both wonder and amusement. This place was ruled by a pair of Princesses, who apparently controlled the sun  and moon? Incredible. He would have called bullshit back on Earth, but after the last few days, he was ready to believe a whole lot of stuff. The Princess of Friendship thing though? That just sounded like they ran out of land for her to rule over and forked over some cheap ass title to her as compensation.
Withholding a laugh, Allan nodded sagely as Twilight finished her lecture. 
“Any questions?”
Allan shook his head. “Not really, that sounds pretty cut and dry, and I am in no position to tell any of you that raising the sun and moon with magic is impossible. After all, I did just cross between dimensions, get turned into a giant bug-pony and met a purple pony Princess on top of everything else.”
“Well, good. If you want to learn anything else while you’re here, feel free to come over to my castle.”
“CASTLE?!” Allan clapped his hooves over his mouth. “You have a castle?”
“Yes. You can see it from the window, over there.” Rarity said, pointing helpfully to the particular window in question. 
Allan followed her directions, gazed outside, then started gawking. 
“Uh, wuh... uh-buh…..” 
“I think we broke him.” Fluttershy said, quietly. 

**************

With three out of six friends present, Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight started regaling Allan with stories of their many wacky and zany misadventures, including their battles against ancient artifacts, curses, plants, magically animated fruits, the god of chaos, the now dethroned Changeling queen, and a very ticked off rival magician who was now best friends with Twilight’s only student. 
He listened to each story, and with it, his knowledge of this strange new world grew, as did the amount of questions he had about it, and it’s inhabitants. Learning about Cutie Marks had been weird, but it certainly explained the affinity for particular jobs and lifestyles each of them had. Twilight was a studious bookworm with a tendency to overreact to problems, and an even larger tendency to save the world. Rarity was an ambitious fashion designer who wasn’t afraid to risk her career for her friends, and knew how to find the most beautiful diamonds in the world at a moment's notice. And Fluttershy of course, was a timid, shy mare with an intense love for animals, and a strong connection with her friends. 
“Then of course there were the elements of harmony, we have to tell him about those.” Rarity said, sipping at the tea she had made for them all. Allan didn’t even like tea, but he was still drinking this stuff. He made note to always let Rarity make his tea, should the desire to have any ever came upon him. 
“What are the elements of harmony?” He asked, and he knew that he had sparked off another lecture from the egghead.
“The elements of harmony are six powerful artifacts tied to the tree of harmony. The tree represents the harmony between all creatures in Equestria, large and small. The individual elements represent the key aspects of true harmony, aspects of which correspond with certain personality traits displayed among friends.”
“And you six are the bearers?”
“You’re pretty smart, Allan, to reach that conclusion so quickly. The individual elements are, Generosity.” 
“That’s me dear.” Rarity chipped in, raising a hoof.
“Kindness.” 
“That’s me…” Fluttershy smiled. 
“Loyalty.”
“Our friend Rainbow Dash holds that title.” 
“Laughter.” 
“Pinkie Pie is laughter… she loves making ponies smile.”
“And honesty, which is represented through our friend, Applejack.”
Allan cocked his head to one side. “But that’s only five. What about you? What do you represent?”
Twilight smiled. “Magic. I represent magic.”
“But…. magic isn’t a personality trait, it’s an ability.”
“True. But, this magic is perhaps the strongest of all. The magic of friendship.”
Allan let out a snort of laughter. “That sounds so corny!”
“Yes, it does, but it’s also true. My trait, the one that defines me, is actually a combination of all the rest. My friendships with the others provides the spark which allows the elements to work in cohesion. In fact, looking back at how we all met and found the elements, it’s actually pretty understandable.” Twilight gained a whimsical smile on her face, as did Rarity and Fluttershy. “When we first met, I was a very unsociable young mare. I didn’t care about making friends at all. All I cared about was being a good student to the Princess. But, she sent me to Ponyville to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration, telling me that a prophecy that I read, which warned of a great evil returning that very day, was nothing but superstition.”
Allan frowned. “Well, I’m guessing she lied to you.”
“Yes, and for a very good reason. The only thing that could defeat that evil, was the elements. But, if I had been alone when I found them, they would have been useless, and Nightmare Moon, the corrupted version of Princess Luna, would have conquered all of Equestria.”
“Corrupted?”
“Luna felt as though she was unappreciated, because everypony slept through her nights, and loved her sister more. She was possessed by an evil creature, known only as a Nightmare, which encouraged her to act out her rage It consumed her, and she became Nightmare Moon. When she returned, her first act was to banish Celestia, and her second was to find the elements and destroy them.” Rarity explained. 
“However, the five mares who had been in charge of the various aspects of the celebration stopped me from going after the elements alone, and their various abilities and skills got us through to the elements safely, in the Castle of the Two Sisters.”	
“Where we met.”
“Yes.” Twilight took a sip of tea. “I attempted to activate the elements alone, but Nightmare surprised me and managed to take them. When she crushed the elements beneath her hooves, I felt so distraught, but the others came after me, and I realized how much I had grown to care for them, how much I enjoyed being with them, and I realized that we didn’t just represent the elements. In a way, we were the elements! My being there had brought them all together, after years of living together in the same town, only ever acknowledging each other, but never really interacting.  And when I realized all that, the elements reformed, and their power allowed us to defeat Nightmare Moon and release Luna. It was a very good day.”
Allan was rather impressed. That was a rather impressive feat, and they did just as crazy stuff in their everyday lives too...Anna would have loved to have heard all this…
Allan shook away the sadness, and grinned at them. “That’s incredible! Nothing that awesome ever happened back home!”
Twilight’s curiosity returned in full force. “So, I only know a little about the human world I visited. I have no idea if yours is anywhere near the same. Could you tell us about it?”	
Allan paused mid tea-sip. Could they handle the brutality of his world’s history? If they faced monsters and mad things every other week, then surely they could….
“My world isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, like it seems to be over here. It’s gritty, brutal, and often times….violent.” Allan looked pointedly at them. “You sure you can stomach it?”
Twilight, being an avid learner, wasn’t all that fussed, but Fluttershy seemed quite apprehensive, and Rarity seemed to serve as a middle ground for the two. 
“I must stress, that our history lessons often focused on the worst parts. There is so much good as well, but it often gets overlooked.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Fluttershy promised.
“Well…. Here goes….” Allan began recounting the story of humanity, as best he could remember from his various history courses. He talked about the earliest known civilizations in Mesopotamia, the religious wars of Europe, the clan battles of china, the development of warfare and weaponry from the sharpened stick to the atomic bomb, the inventions of various scientists, and the constantly evolving and changing moral standpoints of different countries and regions, and the treatment of animals. By the time he had finished, Fluttershy looked torn between fascination and disgust, Rarity somehow seemed a few shades paler, and Twilight had managed to fill an entire notebook with notes. 
“That’s about it. That’s all I can remember. I’m sorry I can’t go into any further detail.”
“That’s fine, this is extraordinary!” Twilight exclaimed. “It’s an entire new history to learn!!”
“I think I’ll skip any future sessions.” Rarity said, grimacing. 
“Sorry, Rarity.” 
“It’s not your fault darling, we did ask, and you did warn us.”
“I think I prefer the poni- I mean, people from that Greenpeace organization.” Fluttershy commented. “At least they like animals.”
Allan coughed. “Well, yes, but these days, they seem to be less and less relevant as newer, even more pro-animals groups take over.”
“Well, at least they’re trying.” Fluttershy said. “Were you a part of one of them?”
“I’m afraid not. But I did help out at the local pet store quite a bit. I helped find quite a few pets good homes. Me and Anna talked about getting a puppy….” Allan trailed off.
“Oh, I’m sorry, was it something I said?”
“No… it’s just….” Allan paused. “I don’t really feel like talking about it.”
“Oh, okay. Just let us know if you want to talk about it, okay?”
Allan nodded, smiling sadly her way, a quiet thank you for not pressing the issue. They talked again for a little while, until Twilight noticed Fluttershy staring at Rarity’s fruit bowl, eyeing a particularly large and shiny red apple, licking her lips. 
“Okay, time for us to get going. I gotta get her to the castle before she starts drooling.”
Allan noticed Rarity’s half hidden smile, and felt a little chuckle building up too. Twilight left, using her magic to bundle her friend out the door without ceremony. “Come on Shy’. We gotta go.”
“But it’s so juicy….” The timid yellow mare moaned, a hoof outstretched towards the delectable treat. Twilight gave one last shove with her magic, and Fluttershy was sent sailing across the street. Twilight let out a groan before trotting out, swinging the door without enough force to shut it quickly. 
When the door finally closed, both the white coated mare and the bronze coloured Changeling fell out of their seats, laughing.

***************