//------------------------------// // 1 - Frustrations in Finances // Story: The Bug in the Herd // by Skijarama //------------------------------//         “Dang it.” Tone Shift grumbled irritably to himself as he looked over this months rent and bills. Between medical expenses back in Manehattan and the train tickets, which got more expensive due to the difficulties with the tracks, he barely had enough to pay off all of these bills. He set the sheets of parchment down and then ran a forehoof over his face with a frustrated groan sneaking out. His last job had paid well enough, but the medical bills took out most of the extra bits he normally would have used for food and stress relief. He hadn’t had any luck finding another contract recently, either.         It had been about a week since he arrived in Manehattan at this point. He was now seated in his old but functional ‘office’ chair in his Ponyville house. He called it that, but he didn’t have an office. More accurately, he had a corner of his house’s first floor that was otherwise unused. So he shoved a desk back there and used that space to manage his money.         The rest of the room was pretty average. A couch he had bought a couple months back sat against the wall with a coffee-table directly in front. Said coffee table had a framed photograph and a radio on it. On both ends of the wall the couch rested against were doors. The one farthest from Tone right now led to the kitchen and dining room and rested pretty close to the door that opened into the exterior. The other door led to the bathroom.         The walls were slightly faded, an indication of the age of the place as well as Tone Shift’s inability to maintain its aesthetics. As of now, he simply cared about making sure everything was functional and effective.         Tone Shift looked one more time over a sheet he used to keep track of how many bits he had available, be it with him, in his saddlebags or in the bank. Running the numbers one last time made it quite clear to him; When he payed off his rent and other bills, he’d have enough bits for a bundle of grapes and maybe a couple apples. A breakfast, at best.         Tone Shift sighed and pulled away from the desk, flopping down on the couch and turning on the radio in the hopes of hearing of some more voice work he could audition for. It could happen, if he listened long enough and jumped on it as soon as such an opportunity came up.         Soft piano tunes began playing from the subtle static of the radio. His eyes began to aimlessly drift about as he waited for a pony voice to come on. He had maybe twenty minutes before that would happen. Finally, his eyes landed on the photograph on the table. It was of him and his parents, standing in front of a beautiful lake surrounded by lush, vibrant forests. He had just gotten his cutie mark the night before. It was of two theater masks, one of comedy and one of tragedy leaning away from each other slightly. A microphone stood between them with another theater mask imprinted on it, it’s face split in half to show both variants. According to his parents and the other family they were camping with, he had absolutely nailed the voices in his campfire story the previous night, changing voices and tones perfectly and seamlessly to go with the story he told. Nopony even noticed he had gotten his cutie mark until the following morning. That was when they took that photo. Tone Shift smiled softly at the fond memory. “And an absolutely stellar suggestion from our audience concludes! Thanks to whoever sent that in. You’re listening to Mighty Rider Radio. As you all probably know, I’m Signal Boost, your host. We’re gonna be sliding out of music for a little bit to touch a few articles and news notices.” The radio began to speak, drawing Tone Shift’s attention from less complicated parts of his life. He listened intently as Signal Boost rattled off a few news stories first and then got into job offers. “Let’s see, here. We’ve got a few potential jobs for any of you actor-ponies out there.” Tone Shift leaned forward, listening intently now. “Local performances are holding auditions at Town Hall, so anypony who wants to partake in a stage play, that’s where you go. Listing says they need three mares and one stallion for the role…” “Yeah, yeah, that’s all well and good. What about voice work?” Tone Shift asked to the radio, tapping his hooves against the edge of the couch in anticipation. “There’s also a voice-over job for the main character of a new radio-drama that is currently in production. The company studio is located in Baltimare and has audition events set up in Baltimare, Manehattan, Las Pegasus and the Crystal Empire for the next week. Now, on to retail work…” “Oh, screw you!” Shift suddenly snapped, picking up the couch cushion next to him and hurling it at the radio, sending the black speaker box toppling to the floor with a loud crash. A few small pieces rolled by and the radio fell silent, the host’s voice replaced by dull static. Tone Shift took a moment to calm himself down, taking in deep breaths and breathing them out slowly. “Wonderful… just another expense I gotta take care of.” Stepping off the couch, he examined the radio, determined it would be cheaper to replace it and threw it into the trash bin he kept in the kitchen. After taking a little bit to make sure he was calm and collected, he decided it might not be a bad idea to look at other job listings around town while he still had daylight to work with. Glancing out the window to confirm that he still had a few hours of day and the weather wasn’t bad, he set off into town. *        *        *        *        *        *        *         “I’m sorry, sir. The market isn’t that big for voice actors right now.” The nice mare behind the counter said as Tone Shift glanced over the paper’s ‘help wanted’ section.         “Tell me about it…” He muttered to himself, folding the paper back up and putting it down. He was at a cafe and was fortunate to find that there was a free newspaper he could look at, since somepony else had forgotten to take it with them when they left.         “If you don’t mind, may I ask why you don’t take to stage performances alongside vocal ones?” The mare inquired curiously, causing Tone Shift to deflate somewhat.         “I tried when I was starting out. Not a good option for me.” He said with a hint of bitterness in his voice at a not-so-good memory.         “Oh? Why’s that?"         Tone Shift shot her a glance, the way his eyebrows were tilted made it look like he was getting angry.         “Oh, nevermind. I’m sorry, forget I said any-”         “No, no. It’s fine.” Tone Shift dismissed her apology with a wave of his hoof. “Put simply, I don’t mind doing that sort of performance with only a few ponies watching. Friends, family, that kinda group. Put me in front of an entire crowd and, well…” He shrugged. “I kinda turn into a statue of a pony until I get removed from the stage by theatre staff. It’s all those strangers, ya know? I’m not comfortable with it. A type of stage fright, I guess.” He let out a puff of air from his mouth, his cheeks ballooning up slightly as he did.         “Oh. That sounds pretty rough.” The mare replied, nodding slightly in understanding.         “It is, trust me.” Tone Shift replied before sliding out of his seat. “I wish I could give you a tip, but, well…”         “It’s fine, don’t worry.”         After paying for the cup of juice he had ordered while looking over the paper, Tone Shift exited the cafe and started walking. The odds of the only other paper in Ponyville having other listings that might be up his alley were pretty much non-existent. He was just out of luck, it seemed.         The sun was starting to set, ponies were closing up shop and heading home for the day. Tone Shift decided to follow their example, with the intention being to get some much needed sleep. He’d tend to his bills in the morning.         As he began to trip back to his house, his mind briefly wandered back to that mare he had been told about; the one that returned him to the train after finding him wounded in some capacity. He still couldn’t remember any of the details of that event save for the visual appearance of the pony in question, and even that memory was starting to become blurry from time spent not thinking about it.         Who was that…? He found himself thinking. There had been no other tellings, reports or even rumors of that mare, that he was aware of. As far as he knew, he, along with the pony or two that saw her, were the only ones to have any sort of interaction with her.         As his own home came into view, he took pause at something in the corner of his eye. Movement. He turned and looked, spotting a silhouette slowly retreating into the treeline of the Everfree Forest. It looked like a pony. Why was this pony going into the Everfree? That place was dangerous, especially at night. Tone Shift turned on his hooves and picked up the pace to at least make sure the pony would be alright heading in on their own.         As he drew closer, though, his eyes widened. He recognized this pony. Green coat, dull blue mane and tail, and Tone thought he could see the tip of a horn from here. This was the pony that had brought him to the train! He picked up his pace to just shy of a full blown gallop, now hoping to get some answers. His hoof steps were heard, the mare looking over her shoulder at him and her eyes widening. She turned away and tried to increase her speed, but as he got closer, Tone Shift could tell she was in a bad way.         She looked skinny, practically starved. Her ribs showed faintly under her coat, and she was limping. “Hey! Wait!” Tone called out as he drew closer. The mare picked up the pace, lost her balance and toppled helplessly to the side, colliding her barrel to the roots of an Everfree tree. She let out a pained grunt and gasped for breath.         Tone came to a stop directly next to her, looking down at her with mouth agape and nervous eyes. Her right foreleg looked like it had suffered a pretty nasty blow. It was incredibly swollen and had a couple of puncture marks on it, like a snake or similarly fanged creature had bitten her. “Oh my goodness, you’re hurt! You need help!” He said, moving forward to try and help her up.         “Stay away from me!” The mare snapped, baring her teeth and glaring daggers at him. Her teeth were far sharper looking than that of any average pony. She shifted her weight and tried to stand once more, but failed.         “You need help. Please, let me take you to the clinic. It’s the least I can do-” “Absolutely NOT!” The mare almost screamed at him, a mixture of anger and fear in her voice. She continued struggling to stand, finally managing to slump pathetically against the tree. “I’d sooner die here than be subjected to them! Or anymore of you!” She turned her eyes to glare into his, snarling. “You should just turn around and forget you ever saw me! You need to… just…” her eyes slowly widened.         “...Do you remember me? Uh, you saved my life, remember? Out in the wilds, near the train tracks?” Tone Shift said gently, trying to distract her from the fact that he was now drawing closer to her.         “I… I remember… but, no, how… how do you remember any of that? I… I wiped away…” The mare coughed violently, a swirl of strange pink energy swirling out of her mouth and disappearing like steam.         “Woah!” Tone Shift yelped, taking a few steps back as the mare kept coughing and hacking, more pink mist flowing from her mouth with each one. After several moments, her physical form seemed to blur. She coughed again, her appearance changing almost instantly in a swirl of green fire.         Tone Shift gasped at what he saw. Black chitin covered her body instead of a coat. She had green eyes with slits for pupils, ragged insect wings and an unkempt, deap teal mane and tail. A long, uneven horn sprouted from her forehead, a faint glow of magic surrounding it before flickering away.         Queen Chrysalis, former leader of the Changeling Kingdom, sat in front of him, broken, wounded, starved and helpless. She focused her eyes upwards toward the dissipating pink mist. “No… NO!” She cried weakly, reaching a hoof out and trying to pull the energy back in with magic. Her horn only flickered at the tip before giving out.         There were several moments of silence. Chrysalis finally looked at him, her face twisted into one of despair. “...Go ahead. Leave me. Let me starve. It’s what any of your other fellow ponies would do…” She snarled, turning her eyes to look away from him before trying to stand up once more, only to fail again.         Tone Shift could hardly believe what was happening. He blinked several times to see if it would dispel some unnoticed hallucination, but the image remained the same. His brain went into overdrive, trying to figure out what to do. He had no idea what to do, the more he thought about it. The dethroned ruler of an entire enemy nation was in front of him, completely powerless. While Thorax had done a great job of making the Changelings into quickly growing allies with Equestria, it was no secret that Chrysalis had not shared that mentality…         Tone Shift looked down for a moment, closing his eyes to gather his thoughts. He tried to think… What would my parents do? He thought back to any instances even remotely similar to this that could give him an idea. All he could come up with was that one time his mother had let a homeless pony sleep on the family couch that night in exchange for the pony in question doing some basic tasks in the morning before sending him on his way with food.         Before he knew what was happening, he felt a slight tug on his chest and opened his eyes. Chrysalis’ eyes had opened wide and unfocused, a stream of the pink energy flowing from him to her. He could tell pretty quickly that she was feeding on his love for his mother, drawing the energy from his moment of fond reminiscing.         He quickly stepped forward and grabbed her by the face with his hooves, getting her attention and stopping her seemingly passive snack on his emotions. “Disguise. Now.” He said firmly, staring into her eyes with a fiery intensity.         Am I about to do what I think I’m about to do?