//------------------------------//
// Settling in 
// Story: Times of Change 
// by Geno Chaosdragon 
//------------------------------//

After finally running the rude ponies out of his house, Shattershell decided he might as well finish setting up his house. He had his kitchen set up, so now he could fix basic meals. He was relatively new to cooking, so he was going to have to continue learning via cookbooks, but he didn't have a problem with that. His career was typing books, after all. He was always interested in a good book. After he drank his tea, he got back to work unpacking his stuff.

It was nearing the end of the day when he finally got the house all set up. Tomorrow he could focus on his work. Deciding that he was to lazy to cook, he decided to go to the local restaurant to eat. Walking out the door, he locked it behind him. He wasn't too sure what this place was like and he didn't want to be robbed. Walking through the town, he was thinking of what the best meal to get would be. Probably a salad would be best. And cheapest. For a while, he would have to be a penny pincher and buy the cheapest things. A salad with no dressing should be the cheapest thing on the menu. 

Getting to the restaurant, he sat down and looked at the menu. As he thought the salad with no dressing was five bits for a small and ten for a large. Since he was rather hungry, he decided that the best way to go was to order the large and just not eat until dinner tomorrow. As he waited, no one came to take his order. In fact, no one was outside. So, he decided to go inside to get his food. Sitting down inside, he was getting looks of fear from the other customers. This didn't bother him. Wasn't his problem that they were racist assholes. Sitting at an empty table, he waited for his order to be taken. Looking around, he saw that it was a rather nice place. Maybe he could apply for a job here. If the owners weren't racist.

As he waited, he thought about all the other possible jobs he could take on to raise money. He could always grow flowers to sell in bouquets. Or start a little bakery. Writing isn't going to be able to keep him up on his hooves until he got his first novel out. Then the option of science came to him. He already knew a lot when it came to science, so it shouldn't be to hard. Sighing in annoyance, Shattershell looked around for a waiter and saw one serving a table. He decided to wait until it was his turn to be served. After another fifteen minutes, the waiter finally decided to come serve him, albeit hesitantly. 

"Can I take your order?" Shattershell was happy that the waiter wasn't racist and didn't try to kick him out. 

"Well, I'll take the large salad." 

"Ok, what else?" Shattershell looked through the menu real quick, but saw nothing cheaper than the salad. 

"Nothing else, thank you." The waiter nodded and went off to the kitchen. 

The other ponies were looking at him weird. They were confused because they thought that changelings ate love, not physical food. But since Shells was a different changeling, he didn't apply to the rules. While he was waiting for his salad, the ponies that caused him trouble early that day came in, talking to each other. He decided that he might as well ignore them and took out a book. As he read, he saw that the ponies were coming closer. There was an empty table beside him, and it looked like they were heading for it. 

'Oh boy, not these guys again. Can't they just leave me alone?' he thought to himself.

The group of ponies sat at the table next to him. The pink pony and shy one didn't do anything, but the rest of them glared at him. Rolling his eyes, he thought over the options of what he could do to earn money. Maybe he could bake stuff. Science could be a hobby that eventually pays off. Writing he would do at night before bed. Then again, maybe he should do the writing while he was on break. That would be the best way to write because if he typed before bed, his mind would be racing for the entire night. Then he would be tired the next day. Then again, growing flowers seemed to be a good idea as well. Maybe he should do all the options. It would give him the most amount of bits. Nodding to himself, he decided that's what he would do. 

"That's what I'll do. That should give me an advantage." Talking aloud may not of been the best idea, with the eavesdropping ponies sitting at the table next to him, but he had the habit of talking to himself. They would just have to deal with it. After five more minutes of waiting, his salad finally arrived. It looked rather nice, so he decided to dig in.

Grabbing a fork, he started eating, annoyed at the staring the ponies where doing. He sighed in annoyance. Why didn't ponies know how to mind there own business? This was starting to annoy him, so he hurried up and ate the salad, and left the payment with a three bit tip. Leaving the restaurant, he went home to see if there was any flowers around his house. It would be cheaper getting flowers from the wild to use for his garden instead of buying seeds from a store.

He didn't find any flowers, so he decided that he might as well go search the rest of the town for them. He searched the whole village, but didn't find any flowers. Then those annoying ponies started following him. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? He shook his head. Typical ponies. Deciding to ignore them, he saw a forest ahead of him. A forest would usually have flowers in it, right? Going into the forest, he started searching for any flowers that he could find. He found some golden flowers and grabbed a few. Looking over, he saw pink, blue, red, and orange flowers. He grabbed a few of each and started heading back to his house. It was rather peaceful around here. A lot better than at the hive. He liked this place. 

"Man, this place is amazing! I think I hit the jackpot. A nice place to settle down and enjoy life. Grow some flowers, bake some goods, type some stories. Maybe invent something that's useful. Who knows, I might even settle down one day and have a family."

In the bushes, a few yards away from him, the mane six sat, watching his every move. They wanted to know what he was up to. There was no way in Equestria that they would be letting him disturb the peace that they work so hard to maintain. 

"What is he talking about? Starting a family? Is he gonna bring the hive here?" Rainbow Dash wondered. Twilight thought for a moment. 

"Maybe. I think I have an idea of what his plan might be. He wins over Ponyville with flowers and baked goods, then he types a letter to the hive to let them know that it's ok to invade. I think that might be it. It's the only reasonable thing that I can think of." 

Applejack wasn't to sure. "What about Thorax? He might be like him. A good changeling." 

"But he isn't reformed like the rest of the changelings, AJ. He could be a spy for Chrysalis." Twilight responded. They all knew one thing, however. They had no idea what Shattershell was doing.