//------------------------------// // How To Survive // Story: Fortunate Misfortune // by OutOfTheBlue //------------------------------// The interesting thing about individual changelings is their reliance on orders. If a changeling is left alone with no orders, they will sit there until they receive orders even so long as to risk starvation or dehydration. I've only observed one changeling act differently. The changeling Gladiola built a shelter and foraged for food until we met up with him again. It appears that named changelings tend to be more individualistic than their unnamed brethren. --excerpt from Among the Shapeless by Wanderlust. ---------------- I ran and ran until my hooves felt like stones and my legs like jelly. Despite the pain, I carried on. It wasn't until I broke out of the forest and into the sunlight that I paused for breath. I was near a small hill and at the foot of this hill was a small pool of water with a large tree beside it. Thirsty, I slowly approached the water and took an exploratory sip. To compare that sip of water to the water back at the hive would be like comparing a stone to a diamond. The water back at the hive was always warm and had a peculiar taste about it because it all came trickling down through the rocks and crevices of the hive. This water was delicious. It was cool and sweet and seemed to satisfy a thirst I had never known I'd had before. I took several long draughts before my stomach began to feel full. I took a deep breath and smelled something. The air here... it was sweet. It was like my eyes had been opened up to something I had never experienced before. The bright sunlight warming my chitin, the gentle breeze causing the grass to ripple like water, the brilliant colors of all the plants around me. Even when I had left the hive as a nymph, I had never stopped to just look at the world around me. The hive was nothing like this. The hive was dark, cramped, and either unbearably hot or numbingly cold. I carefully leaned over and dipped my hoof into the water. It felt so cool and pleasant that I took a quick look around before hopping in and kneeling down so only my head remained above the surface. This was amazing! How had I never done something like this before in my life! A peculiar feeling rose in my chest and my mouth involuntarily opened in a curious way. I looked at my reflection in the water and saw that my face looked weird now. Was a mouth supposed to do that? I'd never seen another changeling like this. I heard something from over the hill and cautiously crept out of the pool and to the top of the hill, careful to stay low to avoid notice. Past the hill was a small... small... what was that word? Town! A pony town!... a pony town!? I quickly hid myself to avoid being spotted. I'd heard about ponies when I was a nymph. How they loved to hunt changelings and lock them in cages so they could watch us starve. How they would lash out at anything that wasn't like them and how our infiltrators risked everything to hide in their midst. Just then, my stomach grumbled, reminding me that I hadn't eaten in at least a day. If I wanted to eat... I'd have to go to the town. And in that town there'd be... be.... "P-ponies!" I slumped beside the water and looked at my reflection. A scared little changeling looked back. I had to turn into a pony. But... if they suspected me.... I involuntarily shivered. My stomach reminded me that it wanted food. I would have to live among the ponies to survive... most likely permanently. What did I know of ponies other than their dislike of changelings? They did not eat emotions. They lived in things called houses which were like miniature hives and they.... "Oh no... how am I going to do this!?" I stood and paced before deciding that, first things first, I needed a disguise. If a pony were to come over the hill now.... I concentrated and attempted to transform. Impersonating a pony was easy, you had a living pony to mimic. But making a pony of your own was much more difficult. To be honest, I couldn't just make a pony. But, I could change up the colors and mark of a pony! I concentrated before turning into one of the ponies we had used for practice during infiltration training. With a flicker of greenish fire I had become a stallion with green fur and a purple mane. I concentrated again and changed the fur to... brown. I then looked around until I spotted a flower with light orange petals and decided that would do for a mane color. I kept my eyes the light blue color the pony's had been and set about coming up with a name and cutie mark. "Let's see... what's something very pony like. Uh... Leaf? No. Stick? No. Uh..." Looking around I saw a broken branch in the reflection of the pond. "Broken... branch? No... I like the broken part but... wait. What was that saying or thingy about breaking stuff? It was a... table? No. Dresser? No. Mirror? YEAH! Mirror! Broken mirrors do... something. And that should be an easy cutie mark to make!" I focused on an image of a large mirror like in the image of the house we'd had lessons on before imagining it with a large crack and a piece missing from the bottom. I then focused on that image and made it appear on my flanks. Satisfied, I looked at my reflection. "Pupils, check. No horn or wings, check. Cutie mark, check. Fangs?" I opened my mouth and saw only smooth teeth. "Check." I'll admit, making my own pony gave me a... confidence that I had never felt before. I could do this! I was a changeling! A creature of immense subtlety and shrewd as a serpent. I could do this! -------------------- "I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do thi-i-i-is.” I was standing, shaking in place at the entrance of the town. Ponies of all shapes and sizes bustled about. My prior confidence gone and replaced with my typical anxiety laced with fear. I took a few deep breaths before slowly walking into the town. If I stood still shaking in fear for too long all of the ponies would grow suspicious. I kept my head low and avoided eye contact. I just hope that the rumors aren't true and that ponies can't smell fear. "Carrots! Get your carrots here! Hey! You!" I froze and looked to my left. A mare with a yellow coat and a curly orange mane waved me over. I gulped before approaching her table. She made the same face that I had made in the pond and said, "You look like a stallion who appreciates high quality, local produce." Was that expected?! How do I act like that? Is it the mane? I knew I should have made it green! "Well, my carrots are grown right here in Ponyville and as fresh as can be. Try some!" She held out a small piece of orange something. All over the table were long orange "carrots" or whatever they were. One had been cut up so she could give me some. I cautiously ate it and... what was this? This taste! Other than emotions, most of my diet had been bland. Moss for breakfast, mushrooms for lunch, tubers for dinner. The only exception was every fourth day you would receive a small fish with your dinner. But this... "carrot" had a taste I'd never tasted before. "I can see it in your eyes you like them! So how 'bout it? Four carrots for two bits." I swallowed my bite of carrot and gave her a confused look. "B-bits? Bits of what." She stared at me before saying, "You're joking, right?" Sweat began to bead on my forehead. Was this some code I didn't know? What were these bits she was looking for? "Sweet Celestia you're serious. How can you not know what a bit is?!" "I-I'm sorry! I just... tell me how I get these things and I'll give you some!" By now some ponies had stopped to stare after her outburst. This wasn't good. "You get a job. Honestly, where are you from to not know about bits?" They were on to me! I needed to discreetly vanish into the crowd. I slowly backed away and attempted to blend in. The mare made a weird face and held out a hoof. "Wait! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable! I was just curious!" Suddenly a great rumbling sound could be heard from the left. All the ponies immediately moved to each side but I turned and saw something speeding towards me with three fillies on top. They were all screaming as the thing picked up speed and cried, "LOOK OUT!!!" "Oh no." They all gasped as they saw me directly in their path. Before I could move the thing smashed into me, sending me flying down the street. I rolled along the ground before flopping on my stomach. Everything hurt... as expected. "Owwwwww." Unfortunately for me, the wooden monster had been upset by this and flipped over, the fillies landing safely in a nearby bush. The ponies gaped as the cart flipped end over end... before smashing down on top of me. Screams and shouts erupted from the ponies and an orange mare with a yellow mane and a cowboy hat came racing up to the fillies. "Are y'all alright? What did ah tell you! Yuv got tah be careful when you're doin stuff like this! Y'all're just lucky nopony got hurt!" The three fillies pointed to the cart, still in shock. The mare had missed the actual crash and as such didn't realize the panic was over the stallion that got hit. A mare from the crowd ran over to her and gasped, "Applejack! We need you to help us flip the cart! It landed on a pony!" Applejack gasped and galloped to the cart as fast as she could. With her help, the cart was moved and the stallion below revealed. The ponies all winced as they saw the impressive lump on his head. Applejack shook him. "Hey! Can ya hear me?!" ----------------- "Hey! Can ya hear me?!" I groaned as the shouting caused my splitting headache to get worse. I opened my eyes and winced as bright sunlight poked me with tiny spikes of pain. Sighs of relief could be heard along with various mumbles and whispers. I smelled sweet, sweet concern emanating from the crowd and instinctively syphoned some into myself. The delicous emotion would go towards healing me. I attempted to stand only for strong hooves to hold me down. "Stay still, sugar cube. We've already sent somepony to get a stretcher. We'll have you to tha hospital faster 'n you can say 'zappapple jam.'" Was I supposed to try to say that? My head felt weird. Kinda... soupy. Like my brain was all sticky inside and not working fast. Well, she told me to say it. And I really don't want to be found out.... "Zab...abla...gym." My eyes focused and saw three identical mares with orange fur and a hat swaying all over the place. They all bit their lips and said, "Uh oh. Uh... how many hooves do I got held up?" They all raised their forelegs while continuing to wobble around madly. "Wait... which of the three of you wants to know?" They winced as everything continued to spin. "That ain't a good sign." The fillies from before nervously peaked around from behind the mares. Well... before I had only seen three, but now there were nine. The mares all looked at the fillies and scolded, "What were you thinking! You're lucky this fellers still kickin' after a crash like that!" Their ears drooped and the three with the bows said, "Sorry, Applejack. We didn't mean to. We were trying to get our cutie marks in cart racing when... tha cart went outa control." "Applejack" huffed. "Y'all are in some serious trouble. But that'll have ta wait till he's taken care of." Soon two ponies came running towards us with something between them. They put me on the thing and raced off. Maybe this was a good thing? Do ponies put random people on stuff to carry them around? Ah who am I kidding. I'm probably going to the cages. So long cruel world! At least you can't hurt me anymore! As if to spite me, someone accidentally dropped a flower pot that smashed against my back. If you've never been hit by a falling flowerpot, you probably don't know how much they actually hurt. "Ooowwwwww." Well, that was... I would say unexpected but to be honest it wasn't.