//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: The Adjustment And The Visit // Story: Temporal Disequilibrium // by Wild Wire //------------------------------// It's been about a week since the hive welcomed me, and not much has actually happened. I made a few friends with some of changelings, but most of them are still wary of me. One of them even said that my infinite love was too good to be true. Didn't stop them from getting a taste though. Claire has been trying to teach me the difference between everyone so I don't mess up any of their names, but it's been very difficult, so I've been practicing telling who's who by voice only. Well, I've been trying to do that, and I really have been getting better, but if I get it wrong, I actually just rewind and try again till I get it right. Probably not the best way to do things, but it works, and my small group of friends actually seem to enjoy my company, so that's great! It seems that changeling naming structure is completely random. The names we've seen in the show, Chrysalis, Thorax, Pharynx and Ocellus, are all, like, parts of the body or something? But some changelings have completely normal human names, and some even have pony names! I don't know why, but they ARE shape shifters, so maybe I shouldn't question it. Hell, there's a changeling here named Jolliest Banjo! I call him JoJo. If you're asking yourself a certain question, the answer is absolutely. Anyways, I told Claire not to tell anyone about my abilities, and she actually kind of just nodded. I was honestly expecting her to argue with me about how the hive members don't keep secrets from each other or some other made up scenario, but nope, just a nod. I've been practicing my other powers in secret, and I've found out I can localize my powers into different areas Quantum Break style. I can freeze time either completely, or just in a bubble. I can even control the size! I also found out I can basically teleport. Like, actually not freeze time and just walk there. I call it fast travel. Apparently, Magical teleporting is like removing distance between to points, but the way I do it is a kind of backwards process. Instead of removing the distance, I use my stealing ability to steal the time it takes to travel that distance. It has to be somewhere I can actually reach though, I can't just fast travel to an inaccessible area. I started to mess with some of my friends using this, just getting to places impossibly quickly, and when they ask I just say I "found a shortcut." They don't think I'm teleporting, because Chrysalis' throne blocks all non changeling magic. I wonder why my powers still work here? Do my abilities not count as magic? Just in case, I should still stay away from Tirek. Lastly, since I now know how to fast travel, I decided its about time to visit one Starlight Glimmer. I haven't left yet though, I gotta let Chrysalis know I'm leaving for a bit. Chrysalis is actually kind of nice when you get to know her a bit. A little rough around the edges but overall, I think most of everything that happened to her was stress induced madness. Now though, with an infinite supply of love in her hive, she seems very relaxed. Leaving my room, I fast travel to near the throne and freeze time simultaneously, just to make sure no one is looking at where I warped too. Nodding to myself, I unfreeze time and make myself known. "Hello Chrysalis." She quietly jolted slightly, but was able to mostly keep her composure. "Hello Turner, what do you need?" She asks politely. "I just wanted to let you know I'll be heading out of the hive for a bit, maybe a day at most. I'm going to try to make some friends outside the hive today." "Oh, well, if you're going to leave, make sure you let your friend know, and promise to come back safely." Did I mention Chrysalis could totally win an award for totally being a mom? She cares a lot, but she's also very stern. "I promise to come back safely, Chrysalis." I decide to actually walk this time, to Claire's room, obviously. Shes my first friend in this world, after all. "Hey, Claire? I'm heading out of the hive for a bit, Chrysalis wanted me to let you know." I say as I lean through the... hole thingy that I'm just gonna call a door. "Alright, that's fine." She says. "Great, be back tomorrow, maybe earlier." "Okay, bye." "Bye!" And like that, I fast traveled to Our Town. Already there's some differences from the show. Most notably, the smaller number of houses, as in, the town is still being built. That's neat I guess. There's only four complete houses, and the rest aren't done yet. Wait. Did Starlight BUILD the town? I thought she just kind of took over with her magic or something. Weird. Anyways, I look around, making sure to freeze time first, and notice that the only pony outside is Starlight Glimmer herself. I unfreeze time some distance behind, and just wait for her to notice me as she builds a house. Quite efficiently, might I add. Magic sure is something. She seems very focused, so I decide to call out. "Hello?" "Eep!" A startled Starlight cries, spinning towards me. "Wh-who are you!?" She stands her ground. "I'm Turner Youth, but I prefer to be called Ty." I reply with a smile. She groans. "I don't have time for this right now." She says, lowering and lighting her horn. A large beam shoots out, and she just looks away without seeing if she even hit me. I freeze time and walk beside her, just outside of her vision, then unfreeze. "Look's like you're trying to build a town, would you like some assistance with that?" I say, her head suddenly whirling in my direction. Then she looks back to where I was standing before, seeing a large hole in the ground from her beam. "Oh boy, here we go. Listen, I don't have time to entertain a... whatever the heck you are." She glares. I just ignore her and decide to keep talking, as if she never even said that. I look over and see some wood in a pile. A small amount I note. "You seem to be running low on wood, I could get some more for ya." I say. She opens her mouth, but then pauses for a moment. After another moment of thought, she speaks. "Fine, go get some wood, the nearest forest is that way, maybe that'll get you to leave." She says, pointing. "Alrighty then!" I say, before using the super speed running trick I've used before. My surroundings suddenly a blur, I arrive in a forest not a moment later. Then I realize I don't have a tool to use, and I run back. "Hey, I don't have an ax or anything to cut down the trees, would you happen to have one?" I ask her, completely blowing her mind as she just watched me nearly break the sound barrier. "Uh, ah, uh, in that house over there." She says wide eyed. "Great!" I casually stroll over to the house she pointed to, and walk right inside. Seeing a poorly organized pile of tools on the ground, I decide to slow down time and at least make it look nice, using the hammer to put nails in the wall and hang up the tools. I take the ax, and walk back outside. "Okay, time to cut some trees!" I say as I walk outside. I rush back over to the forest in a blur again, this time I stop right before a tree, and push my speed up abilities into my arms. I slice straight through the tree in one blurred swing. "Holy shit!" I shout, not knowing I could do that. I knock the tree over, and slow time to make it lighter, while also speeding up my legs again to bring it back to Starlight. I do so, this time taking a little bit longer from my perspective, and slam down the entire tree behind Starlight, making a loud noise and thus startling her again, in less than a minute. "Ah! Who's there- what? wait, how did you get the tree so fast!? Better yet, how did you even lift it!?" She yells. "I picked it up and ran." I know I was being cheeky but I just had to do it. The situation called for it after all. "W-what are you?" "What, never heard of a human before?" I rhetorically ask. "Uhhhhhh." "I'm joking, of course." "R-right, well, you can go now, and I'll just keep building. Haha." It was obvious she was scared of me now, so I decided it was time to go somewhere else. "Alright, uh, I'm gonna go somewhere else then, you're acting weird." I say, running off til I was out of sight. As soon as I was, I fast traveled to my next location and froze time. So this is Canterlot, huh?