//------------------------------//
// CH.6: Chiroptophobia, anyone? 
// Story: Adventures in the life of Beetle 
// by Symphony_in_152mm 
//------------------------------//

…

Sunlight danced in long rays descending from the shimmering surface, all was silent, calm, cold.

A lonely steel shelled behemoth glided slowly through the cold, gloomy fathoms just beyond the reach of the sun’s warmth. Light danced over the smooth, coated steel, casting a shadow that was quickly lost in the deep below.

All around it, the empty, cold waters went on for miles. Somewhere out there was another behemoth of steel and purpose, not unlike itself. Hidden in the frigid silence of the watery expanse, it lay in wait, or perhaps sought out its other, much like the behemoth itself.

Both went to great lengths to avoid making a sound, for even the slightest noise would be carried into the furthest reaches of the deep. Despite the mighty steel shell encasing both leviathans, remaining unnoticed was their strongest armor.

It was a deadly game of cat and mouse… with both parties playing the role of the cat and the mouse until the decisive move was made. A slow, agonizing test of patience and attention to even the tiniest detail.

Somewhere in the dark expanse, a mass of bubbles rose and gurgled about.

A shrill cry, a whistle almost, ear piercing, cutting through the silence like a scalpel. Starting low and building into a rapid crescendo, a deafening sound that carried for miles, echoing in the broken silence with an underlying terror that only the leviathans would understand.

The other had blinked first, had made the grave error, they had broken the silence and their protective veil was lifted.

A mass of bubbles erupted from an opening in the Behemoth’s front, discharging into the shimmering darkness a tiny lethal mass. Like a miniature version of the Behemoth, this miniature steel shell propelled itself forward with vigor and intent, uncaring as it was for the ‘why,’ only the ‘what’ concerned it.

The mass moved through the cold depths, leaving a trail of bubbles in its wake, a metal umbilical keeping its mind connected with the behemoth. At a distance further forward, a heavy discharge of bubbles and turbulence in the dark depths indicated movement; the other leviathan was very aware of the impending threat. The decisive move had been made.

Another shrill cry, whistling its echoing crescendo through the depths once more. A vain attempt of the Leviathan to find the hidden behemoth, to make up for its error.

As the lethal mass closed in, the umbilical was cut, and the mass emitted a cry to navigate through echoes. It was a low pulse, almost like the beating of a heart, that increased in intensity and rhythm as it closed in on its destination, its target.

Closer and closer, the lethal mass honed-in like a predator chasing down its helpless prey, the echo of its pulse steadily quickening like the adrenaline fueled beating of a heart. It closed the distance, and the mass fulfilled its purpose. With a thunderous percussion, a mass of pressure and a flash of dull light obscured by bubbles and rippling sea around it, a gaping hole was torn in the side of the Leviathan, very nearly tearing the thing in half with how it buckled and bent.

“Direct hit; sonar contact, Sierra One, breaking up.” Came the calm, disciplined voice over the radio. “November-Class Submarine, confirmed destroyed.”

Zach leaned back from the screen of his laptop and released his hands from the keyboard. A breath of relief left his lips as he stretched and cracked his knuckles. “Suck on that, Reds.” He lifted his headset from his head and set it down on the foam chair to his left.

Outside his room, the sky thrashed and raged in a heavy thunderstorm, yet sunlight still managed to peek its way through the heavy overcast and illuminate the world brilliantly.

Reaching for his water bottle, Zach noticed the thing was empty again. “Every time.” He quipped with disappointment in his voice, taking hold of the bottle and turning his seat away from his desk to get up and go refill it.

That all came to a halt upon discovering that a little chitinous creature that came up to about his waist was sitting on the floor, blocking his path to his door. Zach recognized the thing instantly, with its shiny dark gray, almost black coat… the holes in its appendages, and a distinct pair of solid blue eyes. He knew what it was, but why was it here? Why in his bedroom? Changelings weren’t real!

Zach locked eyes with the changeling, and the changeling stared right back at him. He raised a hand, slowly, cautiously even… only for the changeling to mimic the gesture. Slowly, Zach extended his hand out to the creature, it extended its own appendage in return.

“Who are you?” He attempted to speak, only for the changeling to utter the words instead of himself. That in itself was unsettling enough, but it was made worse as the creature used his voice to speak.

In a moment of fear, Zach grabbed for the knife he kept next to his laptop and unsheathed it, only to find himself looking from a new perspective the second he turned around.

He was seated on the floor now, looking up at himself in the chair at his desk, knife in hand. Zach panicked and raised his hole filled hooves and cried out, “No, wait!” The him that was still in his chair was the one who spoke the words.

In that moment, the him that was seated hesitated, knife held in defensive posture. Zach slowly reached out with his hoof, and the him in the chair raised his hand to mimic the gesture.

Just as hand was about to touch hoof, Zach blinked and the scene had shifted.

‘Shifted’ was the wrong word; it was more akin to being yanked into another room, except the distance between rooms was disproportionate. The change was unlike the usual scene shifts he was used to.

He was himself again, sitting in his chair, but no longer at his desk. He wasn’t in his room anymore, he wasn’t in his house for that matter. Zach was in some manner of woods, somewhere he couldn’t recognize due to it now being the middle of the night.

Before he could think of anything else or say anything, his gaze was forced skyward. The action itself wasn’t so uncanny, rather, the fact that it happened at all was what worried him. Never before had a dream ever forced him to do anything. His eyes were greeted by a moon, distinctly different from his own, yet concerningly similar. It shined brilliantly against the stark contrast of a night sky that was black as coal and devoid of stars.

Zach could feel an unnerving presence, like someone was watching him. It was angry, resentful… it wanted to be free, to be adored, it wanted justice. In his mind, it played out like an unheard narrator, words spoken to him without speech. The moon, it was talking to him, to his mind.

The moon was angry, resentful, accusatory. It sought justice, freedom from imprisonment, to inflict wrath upon those who had wronged it.

‘Hold on, the moon? The moon feels? What is this, some Lovecraftian “brethren moon” crap? If it is, count me out; that ship sailed a long time ago.’

The voiceless words in his head told him, no, this wasn’t the case. Furthermore, the moon was mildly offended at his jest, and the notion sent a shiver up his spine.

His eyes still fixed on the moon, he watched as a dark splotch of shading added a silhouette of something to the lunar surface. It gradually filled out and took shape, forming a vague resemblance to the head of a unicorn. A trickle of the coloring gently flowed and gathered near the lowest point of the moon, a trickle which then started to drip from the sky onto the horizon.

Zach felt a steadily growing sense of dread gnawing at the back of his mind. Part of him was panicking and trying desperately to flee, but was unable to move from the spot. It was a feeling familiar to him, like being stuck in a dream you knew was going to turn bad, but you couldn’t look away or stop it. It was a cross between morbid curiosity and a compulsion.

Moments later, the dripping turned to a steady flow of the gloomy liquid. From the bleakness of the sky surrounding the moon, an enormous mass of dark blue emerged and expanded. Like a cross between a cloud and a nebula, the mass of blue rapidly spread though the distant skies like someone spilled a bucket of paint onto a cloth canvas. Now titanic in its size, the blue mass began to take shape.

First came the wings, feathered and extending outward across the horizon in either direction. Then the central body, an extending neck, a head, followed quickly by a protruding spire from the forehead. The bleak liquid flowed over the neck and down the blue mass’ head, billowing into a nebulous expanse, emulating long flowing hair.

Now having taken a more solid and discernable shape, Zach recognized the titanic figure looming over the world.

“Is that Princess Luna?”

The figure’s eyes shot open, revealing a bright white that shined as brilliantly as the moon above. Six red stars sprung into existence around the figure’s head, and the fluid from the moon turned to a torrent. A glistening flow poured from their eyes now, contrasting against the color of the entity’s face, and which was lost in the torrential flow that rained onto the horizon.

Zach’s gaze was finally released, and he looked down in time to see a surge of the bleak liquid flooding the forest in a massed wave of the substance. He didn’t have the time to let out a scream before the flow consumed him.



…



Zach woke with a quick breath of air and his eyes deftly sliding open. He groaned and sat up in his bed, blinking away the grogginess and rousing his thoughts. ‘I hate it when my dreams start getting interesting only to wake me up right at the good part... And the damn pony dream, why can’t I just have a regular pony dream for a change? I mean, if I’m gonna actually dream about ponies, then I’d at least like it to make sense…’

A quick glance around the room told him it was still night, the soft glow of moonlight coming in from the window making it obvious. ‘Oh for crying out loud! I really didn’t need this; now I’m gonna have to choose between going back to bed and risking sleeping through my alarm, or, get up now and risk being exhausted when I go to work today!’

Zach yawned and smacked his lips together, immediately he felt the sharp pin pricks on his tongue as the appendage ran across an array of teeth that were far sharper than they should have been. ‘What the…’ He fumbled with the covers, being unable to grip at them with his hands for some reason.

“What in the world!? Ok, wow, that isn’t my voice.” Gradually, the memories of the past several hours of events came forth from the depths of his groggy brain. “Noooo. Nonono…” Zach swept his legs to the side and attempted to get out of bed, only to faceplant when his body weight shifted in a manner he wasn’t expecting, thanks to legs that weren’t built to be bipedal.

“…ow…” The pain helped jolt the rest of his system into a more ‘awake’ state of being. He fully recalled the events prior to his nap, as much as he didn’t want such to be the case. He groaned and asked aloud, “Am I still in horse town?” It was more a rhetorical question; he was confident he already knew the answer to that. From what he could now see, this wasn’t his room. This was the room he had helped Derpy clear out and organize, the spare bedroom. Looking down to his legs, seeing the hole filled appendages, it all verified that he was in fact, still in Ponyville.

“Well, damn.” Any semblance of hope he’d held onto of this all being just a weirdly consistent dream had officially vanished. He had woken up-- and he definitely woken up just now-- there was no mistaking that feeling. “This, this is real… I’m actually in Equestria.”

That is, unless he was crazy. Zach often liked to joke and tell people that he wasn’t crazy, because his mother “had him tested”. The fact of the matter was, a fact he was now afraid to admit, he was never actually tested. He looked down at himself, then looked around the room before saying, “Note to self: get tested. Assuming I ever get out of here… assuming I can get out of here…”

Zach got his bearings and rose to his feet- his hooves. He stumbled at first, until his lessons of proper equine movement refreshed in his mind. ‘Right, right, gotta synchronize these damn things. Use the back legs to guide the front legs… there, that’s better.’ Now that he’d remembered how to walk, he headed to the bedroom door.

Zach raised a hoof to the door handle and silently thanked whoever had the foresight to construct the doors with ‘lever style’ door knobs. He quietly opened the door and poked his head out, peering into the hall. There weren’t any lights on, but Zach could still see reasonably well.

‘Derpy’s probably still asleep, I’ll leave her be.’ He made an effort to try and move without making too much noise, which was much more difficult with hooves. It was akin to trying to move around silently with super rigid work boots, not impossible, but a pain in the butt for sure.

He managed to make it as far as the end of the hallway, coming to a stop just short of the staircase. ‘It’s just stairs; You’re just going down a set of stairs. Don’t overthink it.’

His brain went into slow motion as his hoof finally hit that first step, only to lose traction and slide backward due to its angle; then, his body weight shifted forward. Zach took pride in only ever having fallen down the stairs once in his life. Today, he would have to add his second tally.

To his credit, he didn’t vocalize anything above a whisper… not that such a feat would’ve mattered next to the sounds of a full grown equinoid creature tumbling head over heels down a wooden staircase.

“…ooowwwww…” He groaned aloud once he lay at the base of the staircase in an undignified heap.

The sound of hooves could be heard from the second floor a short moment later, followed by the soft glow of light illuminating the second story hallway. Soon after, the pegasus mare, Derpy, stood atop the staircase with her mouth agape.

“Oh, whoa, my gosh! A-are you ok!?” the panic stricken, half asleep and groggy mailmare called down the stairs. “Did you fall down the stairs!?”

‘Fall down the stairs? Nah, I was just too lazy to walk down them, so I jumped.’ He bit back the witty retort in his head. Zach had learned the hard way never to joke with people when they’d just woken up. “Yeah, that pretty accurately sums up my situation.” He said instead.

“Are you hurt?” Derpy asked.

“Just my pride.” He answered in jest, with a mild groan.

Derpy blinked away her grogginess as best she could, tilting her head every which way to try and counter her eyes and the way they kept involuntarily changing directions. “I don’t think I have anything for a hurt pride… I’m sorry.”

Zach would have facepalmed, facehooved? He would have done the thing, but frankly he was in a little too much pain and annoyed. With a shimmy and a shove, he worked to right himself and get to his feet. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” The mare asked with doubt in her voice.

“Fairly sure… one sec.” Zach successfully righted himself finally and rose to his feet. A quick onceover reassured him that he hadn’t been seriously injured in the fall. Sure, he was probably going to be sore for the rest of the morning, but nothing seemed broken. “Yep, I’m fine.”

Relieved and reassured herself, Derpy rubbed at her eyes and lightly yawned. “Well… okaaay… As long as you’re sure.” She looked with an angled tilt of her head, to what must have been a clock hanging in the hallway, “Its a little too early for me to be getting up yet… I’m gonna go back to bed, ok?”

“Fair enough, sleep well.” Zach casually offered in response.

“Thanks… Oh! Um, there’s muffins in the fridge, help yourself if you want any.” With that, Derpy turned and went back to her bedroom.

He considered returning to bed himself, but his past experiences with trying to get back to sleep after having woken up early chased the thought out as quickly as it had come. ‘Naaah, I’d only end up tossing and turning and being bored until the sun rose.’ That, and he’d gotten a good dose of adrenaline just a moment ago, thanks to his express route down the stairs.

Zach looked around and Spoke softly to himself, “Alright, so the cat’s officially out of the bag, I’m really in horseland.” He looked down at himself and mused, “I… I’m not sure how to feel about this. Is this like one of those isekai stories? I don’t want to be in an isekai! It’s so cliché, and the genre’s way overdone!”

Zach quickly added, “I mean, not that there’s anything wrong with a good isekai… heck, I enjoy the occasional fic now and then, but personally living in one?” He looked around in pause, “God, I hope there isn’t a ‘dead me’ back home. That would absolutely ruin my day.”

With an indignant sigh he sorted his thoughts on the matter and set them aside for now. He’d have plenty of time to complain about his situation after he put some effort into figuring out the details. ‘I was at home in bed, then I woke up in the everfree, there was a magical storm, my bedroom had that blue light in it, which turned out to be a portal..’ He continued his thoughts out loud, “If a magic portal is what brought me here, then maybe it can be recreated to get me home?”

Zach grabbed hold of that train of thought and put it on pause, ‘It’s a possibility, but, I don’t know anything about this world besides what the show told me-- which isn’t exactly a lot. I’m gonna need more information before I start trying to figure out how to get home. Again, assuming that’s possible-- Aaaaand I really need to stop saying that before I start bumming myself out!’

He looked to the front door, and the little decorative window. ‘It’s still dark out, I don’t know when the library opens. I could ask Derpy, but… ah, I’m not gonna bother her, I can wait. I wonder what Ponyville is like after dark?’

Looking down at himself, surrounded by dark and what limited illumination the moonlight provided through the first-floor windows, he contemplated going outside. ‘It’s pretty dark out, if there’s anyone out there, they probably wouldn’t be able to tell what I look like.’ He mentally slapped himself, ‘Are you crazy!? Do you reeeally want to take that chance?’

“…yeah, I should at least put the jacket on…” 

‘Ya THINK!?’

…

Zach managed to quietly get himself back upstairs and into the spare bedroom. It was easy enough locating the jacket, seeing as it was right where he’d left it. Getting the thing on proved to be a chore and a half, and Zach found himself vowing to never take opposable thumbs and fingers for granted ever again. ‘That was only a pain and a half. Maybe this is why they rarely ever wear clothes?’

Looking to the rest of the disguise, he heaved a sigh and elected to forgo it. If a jacket gave him that much trouble, there was no way in heck he’d be able to get any of the other garments on, not on his own.

With the jacket on, he went back to the stairs. This time around, he leaned himself back, sitting at the first step and then carefully scooted himself down the stairs, one step at a time. ‘Better safe than sorry.’ Was the phrase he repeated in his mind until he got to the bottom.

Trotting up to the door, he thought out loud, “Oh, hey, I can check out what the night sky looks like! I’m sure it’s pretty amazing without all the light pollution we have back home.” Something small, but positive, to look forward to at least.

Zack fiddled with the door lock, trying with his hooves to no effect. He quietly groaned and leaned forward, hesitantly grabbing the thing with his mouth. ‘Thank god I’m not an earth pony. I need to learn how to use magic so I can bypass the whole “not having hands” thing.’ At least he had the reassurance that Derpy was a pegasus, and could use her wings instead of her mouth.

He mentally smacked himself again, a wild grin forming as his imagination took flight. ‘DUH! Magic! I can learn how to use magic!’ Zach tapped his forehoofs in rapid succession, filled with giddiness at the prospect of getting the chance to use real, tangible magic. ‘Oh heck yes! Horse town or not, magic’s one thing I’d give anything to be able to do, and now I have the opportunity to do just that!’ Zach tempered his excitement with, ‘After I figure out how I got here and how to get back home, assuming I’m actually able to figure any of this out. Ok, again, need to stop saying that.’

He pulled open the door, moonlight pouring in through the new space made available. ‘Flying too, that’s another thing to look up at the library.’ With that extra thought, he took a cautious step outside. With his front half hanging out the doorway, he had a look around.

So far it seemed everyone was asleep, he didn’t see anyone at least, and he could see decently well with what little light there was. ‘OK, coast seems clear enough. Let's do this.’ Zach stepped the rest of the way outside and gently pulled the door shut behind him.

He took a good long look at Derpy’s house, and the houses next to it, memorizing what it looked like so he could find it again later. Thankfully, Equestrians in ponyville had numeric addresses on houses just like what they had back home. ‘Alright, that works; It’ll be easy enough.’

He turned away from the house and looked up at the sky.

His eyes were met with a disappointing display of sparse, dimly lit stars acting as a half-hearted backdrop for a glowing moon hanging low over the horizon. Imprinted upon the lunar surface was the foreboding blackened silhouette of an equine head, looking very much as if burnt into the celestial rock. Looking directly at the silhouette made a very unpleasant sensation crawl through his mind, and so he tore his eyes away from the lunar surface and forced his gaze to wander elsewhere.

There was the odd cloud here and there, but aside from that, the sky was dull and utterly lacking in the excitement and wonder that even the starry skies back home elicited.

“I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this. That’s just depressing. Seriously. Worst fantasy skybox ever.” He said aloud. “At any rate, emo moonbutt is still stuck in timeout on the moon, pilot episode confirmed a hundred percent now.”

One detail that stuck out in his mind, was five stars that seemed to shine brighter than all the rest. They were arranged in a vaguely pentagonal pattern around the moon, as if intentionally set there. “That’s odd, but nothing to write home about.”

Zach was about to go on, when he felt a new flavor grace his tongue. His changeling senses kicked in and analyzed the flavor: it was a crisp, mild, but layered thing with a mix of emotions combined into one. This was, curiosity?

Yes, curiosity, the bug part of his brain clicked in affirmation at the assessment. Someone was curious, intrigued, someone close; curious of what though? Him?

“Beautiful night out, huh?” Came a voice from above him and to his right, making him nearly jump out of his skin, bones and all.

“GAH! JESUS!!” Zach unwittingly shouted in the direction of this newcomer as his entire body whirled itself to face them. Unfortunately for him, they were partially obscured by the angle and the dark, but it was a clearly equine face looking down at him.

“That seemed a little unnecessary, doncha think?” came the newcomer’s response.

The pony sat, perched atop the nearby roof, a forehoof rubbing tenderly at a pair of mildly oversized ears for a pony. They must have been a pegasus, as there was no other way onto the rooftop besides flight, and they didn’t have a horn to teleport with.

“Oh, sorry, you uh… you spooked me.” Zach fumbled out an apology. ‘Wow, lookie that, someone actually is outside after dark. Good call with the “better safe than sorry” approach. Glad I brought the jacket.’

The pegasus rubbed at his ear a bit more before offering a smile, “Alright, no hard feelings then.” He looked to the sky and commented, “Nice night out, huh?”

Zach blinked once, “Err, yeah, weather’s nice at least.” 

“You’re welcome!” The pegasus replied. In the next moment, they stood up and extended their wings, and Zach’s previous assumption was proven to be only partially correct. Yes, they’d flown, but, no, they weren’t a pegasus.

Instead of feathery wings, this pony had a set of elongated finger-like appendages with a layer of leathery skin stretched over them, just like the wings of a bat.

The bat-winged equine hopped from the roof and effortlessly rode the air down to meet Zach at ground level. “Here, now we can speak softer. Don’t want to wake the Diurnals.”

‘Oh dammit, now if I turn tail its gonna look super suspicious… Especially with Derpy’s house right there. Just play it cool, it’s a casual conversation. Just flap your jaw long enough for this guy to finish and walk away.’

Now that the pony was closer and more clearly visible, Zach could see that the ears were much bigger than a pony’s ears were supposed to be, with little tufts of fur coming off the tops. The pupils of the eyes were slitted, indicating a nocturnal life, and the mouth had a small pair of fangs jutting from it.

“You’re a… bat?” Zach mused out loud. “A bat pony?”

The batpony narrowed his eyes with an expression of part disbelief, part indignation, “Excuse me?”

‘Uh oh...’ Zach backpedaled, hard, “I-I mean, those are bat wings, and with the fangs and the ears and all…” In his mind he reeled in panic, ‘Oh god, that’s not any better!’

The pony’s expression shifted to one with less disbelief and a bit more indignation, “Yeah? And? What about it?” They took a step forward, and Zach stepped backward in kind.

His changeling senses lit up with the tastes of anger and a mix of other emotions, directed at him. Clearly he’d upset this pony, ‘Yeah, thanks bugbrain, I kinda figured that out on my own!’

“You got something to say, buddy? I’m right here, you can say it to my face!”

Zach mistepped and fell back on his haunches. He threw up his forehooves defensively and blurted out, “Whoa, h-hold on now, I think we got off on the wrong foot here…”

The batpony advanced until he was just about in Zach’s face, “Yeah, you can say that again, bugface! What the hay is your problem, huh!?”

“Wait, I’m not from around here! This is all new to me, I’m still getting used to things!” Zach quickly explained, leaning away from the pony. “I’ve never seen a batpony before!”

His explanation seemed to ease the batpony’s expression considerably. “Oh, oohh.” their expression shifted again, the pony quickly pulled away and he seemed to mentally connect the dots. “Wait, so, are you just from out of town, or…?”

Zach slowly, cautiously, rose back to his hooves, “Further, way further.”

The batpony’s expression changed again, to one almost of remorse, “Are we talking ‘out of the country’ levels of far?”

Zach shrugged and went with it, “You could put it that way.”

“Oh, shoot, you must be here for the summer sun celebration, huh?”

He nodded, “Sort of, yeah; I’m so far out of my element that I’m orbiting it.”

The joke elicited a chuckle from the batpony, though his expression and the emotion he was radiating indicated he was quite embarrassed. “Wow, this suddenly got really awkward. Here I am, ready to throw down over a misunderstanding…” They quickly added in a sarcastic tone, “Way to beat the stereotype, Dasho”

“It wouldn’t be the first time someone got in my face over me saying something the wrong way.” Zach brushed it off.

The batpony forced a chuckle, “Yeeeah… sorry about that. Sorry for calling you bugface.”

Zach could feel the color drain from his own face, or the changeling equivalent, “I, err, Bug-face?”

“Well, it’s less to do with your face specifically, more to do with your wings.” The pony pointed with a hoof. “The eyes too, you look pretty bug-like, no offense.”

He looked, following the direction of the hoof, glancing at his side and eyeing his left wing, idly resting. In Zach’s mind a slow, drawn out and mockingly monotonous voice echoed in his thoughts, ‘Oh, right, the wings, your wings, that you have now, because you are a changeling. Which is the reason you wore a disguise. Great job.’

Zach tried to reason his way out of it, ‘Now wait a second, I grabbed the jacket! I took a precaution!’ His inner dialogue mocked him again, in that same monotonous voice, ‘Yes, the jacket, a jacket owned by a pegasus.’ Zach argued in turn, ‘Ok, fair, but how was I supposed to know batponies existed!? They aired in ONE episode and then nothing! I wasn’t expecting anyone to actually be out here--’

The batpony waved his forewing in Zachs face, bringing his focus back to reality with a whistle and a: “Heellooo, you still with me, buddy? Everything working ok up there?”

Zach blinked twice and regained his composure, “Sorry, I uh…” He started, but didn’t finish the sentence. ‘OK, don’t panic, he’s not running off to grab guards or even judging you all that much. Just play it cool. He didn’t call you a changeling, so, there’s no need to really panic. Not yet at least…”

The batpony glanced to his right, tapping a hoof at the ground impatiently, then looking back at Zach with a hesitant: “Are you ok?”

Zach’s mouth hung open for a good several seconds before he spoke; of course, speaking the first thing to come to mind, “I’m sorry, I’m a colossal idiot.”

The stallion cocked his head to the side, raising an eyebrow before he remarked, “Hey, water under the bridge, alright? Besides, you kinda look like a bug, just like I kinda look like a bat. I’ll forgive you, you’ll forgive me, no hard feelings and no beating ourselves up over it, deal?”

“Oh,” Zach paused and collected his thoughts, “Well, sure, yeah. Deal!”

“Good to hear!” The batpony smiled and extended a hoof, “My name is Moondash Cloudskipper, I’m the night shift’s head weatherpony.”

The two shook hooves.

“It’s a fancy way of saying, I’m the only one who keeps the weather in check at night, over ponyville I mean.” Moondash elaborated.

“I’m… uhh…” Zach sidestepped the name and continued his previous train of thought. He considered ending the conversation there and excusing himself, but held off for the moment. “I meant more, ‘I’m an idiot’ for not covering up and concealing the way I look.”

“Why would you need to do that?” Moondash asked, only to follow up with, “What, you think we’re going to eat you because you look like a bug?”

Zach stared with a bit of confusion, “I don’t know, do batponies eat bugs?”

“Nocturnes, or Thestrals, whatever flies your skies, and yes. Nocturnes, like myself, eat bugs and fruits, and a variety of other things. Some of us even consume blood, but not pony blood. Pony blood is how you get prions.”

“Uhh…” Zach’s mouth hung ajar, and he slowly cringed at the unpleasant implications.

“He’s pulling your leg!” Came a female’s voice from one of the nearby rooftops. “Pony prions are an old mare’s tale.”

Moondash turned and looked to the roof, “Oh come on, Dusky! Why’d you have to but in and ruin my joke?”

Another Nocturne was heard, another male, “The only joke is your crappy sense of humor, Moondash.”

The one called ‘Dusky’ quipped, “Yeah, your punchline timing is awful. Poor guy probably thinks we’re all vampire bats now.”

A taste of curiosity flitted across his tongue, and then more, so much more. It was as if there were multiple iterations of the emotion being radiated from different sources.

Zach glanced around and had a brief moment of terror upon the realization that there were now quite a few batponies gathered around. Some were partially concealed in the dark, others were on the rooftops. There were a dozen of them, maybe more, probably a lot more. “Where did, how did, I…”

Moondash was quick to answer Zach’s question, “We’re Nocturnes, we live in the night, y’know, when everyone else is sleeping. Being able to be sneaky comes with the kit.”

He blinked once, then nodded, despite his mind racing and struggling to reach a consensus on whether to end the conversation here and excuse himself. “Noted, makes sense to me.”

‘Dusky’ swooped from her perch and landed next to Zach, eyeing him up and down with curiosity. “Well this is new, haven’t seen anyone quite like you around before.”

Moondash responded before Zach could say anything, “He’s from out of town, way out of town.”

One of the other Nocturnes chuckled, “Oh, we heard. We all heard you getting ready to square up with your foreigner bug friend here.”

Moondash puffed out his cheeks in an embarrassed fashion. “Right.”

Zach was starting to get overwhelmed by this sudden turn of events. Part of him wanted to turn tail and flee back inside, while the more curious part of him wanted to indulge and chat with these batponies. ‘They don’t seem to care all that much that I’m a giant bug.’ He reasoned, ‘Then again, they look like giant bats, and they live in the dark… what do they have to be afraid of, right?’ Zach really wanted to leave, to get out of the spotlight, but he couldn’t just back away now, could he?

These night ponies seemed unphased by his appearance and they were friendly enough. He concurred with that line of thought, ‘I don’t think I have to worry about my identity with th-’

Dusky’s face steadily getting closer and closer to his own, staring him right in the eyes, pulled Zach away from his thoughts. “Can I help you?” He said with a bit of concern, pulling his face away from the overcurious batpony.

“Where are your pupils?” Came her question.

Zach’s mouth hung slack for a moment, his mind thinking up a plausible explanation or throwaway reason. His mind still wasn’t done processing the frightful fact that he was socializing with a crowd of people, ponies in this case, but people all the same. A crowd of pony people. As such, the thoughts didn’t quite translate properly to his mouth, as he ended up saying, “I left them at home.”

Dusky recoiled and quickly burst into laughter, Moondash following suit, along with several other batponies.

“What? What’s so funny?” Zach asked with visible confusion.

They quickly stifled it, so as to not wake any of the diurnal residents.

“You’re funny, pal, I like you!”

‘Funny how?’ He retorted internally. The discomfort of being in the spotlight was starting to get to him. “Look, I should probably go back inside and back to bed. I’ve got a long day ahead of me and I-” Zach started, only for one of the batponies to interrupt him.

“What are you, exactly? Are you supposed to be some kind of giant bug pony thing? Are you more ‘pony’ or more ‘bug’?” They asked.

Zach hesitated, “I… y’know, honestly, I don’t really know. I think I might be some kind of hybrid.” He glanced back to Derpy’s house, wishing he hadn’t left. “Listen, I didn’t mean to bother any of you or make a scene, I just wanted to come out to have a quick look at the night sky.”

“You picked a rotten time to stargaze, the night sky’s been really lackluster these past couple of days. Even some of the Diurnals have noticed it.” Moondash commented.

Zach paused, “So, it doesn’t usually look like this?”

Dusky quipped, “Oh heck no! Normally it actually has stars in it!”

Moondash added on with, “I think Sunbutt is in a mood.”

Zach tilted his head in mild confusion, his curiosity once again overriding his common sense, “Sunbutt? Oh, you mean Celestia. Normally it’d be Luna who’s supposed to be managing the night sky, right? I wonder what her sky looks like by comparison.”

There was an uncomfortable silence that lasted for a good minute. Many different emotions, most of them negative, alighted on his tongue. Sadness, sorrow, resentment, anger, all flowed around him in an accusatory manner.

Strong emotions directed not at him, but in his general direction, all leaving a bad taste in his mouth as they passed through. If he didn’t have the invasive changeling emotion detector going for him, he could have easily known how they felt just by seeing the faces of some of the Nocturnes around him.

“There hasn’t been a ‘Luna’ for a thousand years now.” Moondash spoke with a bitterness hidden in his words.

“Yeah, you can thank ‘our glorious leader, Cake Guzzler’ for that.” Dusky chimed in.

Zach was hesitant to ask, given how negatively the group of nocturnes responded to his first question, but his curiosity won him over, “Ok, what about Nightmare Moon?” He pointed to the moon, hanging even lower now over the horizon.

He instantly regret it, as a wave of anger from the crowd surrounded his emotion senses.

“Buddy, that’s Diurnal propaganda. Anyone who tells you otherwise is ignorant, or a liar.” One of the nocturnes asserted with an air of arrogance.

Another spoke, “What, have you been living under a rock!?”

“Ok, sorry I asked!” Zach retorted defensively. In hindsight, he should have known better; it made plenty of sense that Luna wouldn’t have any control over the skies with her banishment. He was really regretting his decision to stay out and socialize and was about to vocalize such when Moondash spoke over the crowd.

“Guys, guys, he’s from out of the country, remember? Take it easy, alright?” Moondash quickly reminded everyone, easing the tension somewhat.

“Bah! He’s just another ignorant Diurnal, foreigner or not!” One of the nocturnes in the crowd spat, then turned to leave.

Many of the other Nocturnes started to leave. They all started to leave, until all but Dusky and Moondash remained. As they did so, Dusky quipped, “Wow, rude much?”

“Yeah, way to disprove the stereotypes, guys…” Moondash mumbled softly under his breath.

“It’s whatever anyways, sun’s coming up soon.” Dusky tried to wave off the crowd’s behavior.

Zach blinked a few times, trying to process what had just happened. “Was it something I said?” He’d intended it to be humorous, something to break the remaining tension he’d felt. He didn’t expect the response he received.

Dusky shrugged, “Honestly? Yeah, it kind of was.”

Moondash was quick to add on, “That’s not your fault though, you didn’t know, you had no way of knowing!”

Zach could sense the resentment, the dishonesty… it was mild, but it was there. If he had to hazard a guess, these two remaining Nocturnes were genuinely upset over the turn of events, but they didn’t want to hold it against him. The explanation made sense in his head, at least.

He went on to say, “I’m really sorry about all that, I was just curious, I’ve heard the stories, wanted to know for sure…”

Moondash interrupted him with a sad smile, “No, no, it's not your fault, really. I get it, you didn’t know…” He paused, looking to the sky while biting his lip, “It’s a touchy subject for us Nocturnes. For future reference, just, avoid talking about it, alright?”

Zach slowly nodded, “Ok, noted.”

Dusky leaned over and nudged Moondash with her wing, “Dasho, I said the sun’s coming up soon. Let’s get outta here before the Diurnals start waking up, yeah?”

“Go on ahead, I’ll be back to the hills in a minute.”

Zach considered the implication, and once again his curiosity won out. “Wait, the hills? Don’t you live here in ponyville?”

Both Dusky and Moondash laughed at that. Zach puffed out his cheeks in mild annoyance.

“Nocturnes living in ponyville? Yeah, you’re a foreigner, one hundred percent!” Dusky said through her bits of laughter, “I like this guy!”

‘That was a serious question! Stop laughing!’ Zach protested in his head.

Moondash composed himself before he spoke, “No, we don’t live here in ponyville, that’d be asking for trouble with the Diurnals. It is the local town though, so we all come out here to work, socialize and get groceries. We do technically live in Ponyville, we just don’t live in Ponyville.” He turned and pointed his wingthumb out towards the hills and woods to the south. “We live just over there, in the hills, underground where it’s nice and quiet. Some of us live in the woods.”

Zach tilted his head, “You… live in caves?”

Again, the Nocturnes had a laugh at his expense.

‘Again, serious question! Why is this funny to you?’ Zach protested in his head once more.

“Caves? What, do you think we’re ferals or something?” Moondash asked with a less than subtle tone and expression.

Zach swallowed hard, “I-I didn’t mean…”

Dusky quipped, “Relax, he’s pulling your tail.”

“Always ruining my jokes.” Moondash complained.

“Can’t ruin what’s already broken.” Dusky shot back.

“So..” Zach cautiously began, “You live underground, but not in caves. Are they like burrows or something?” He was visualizing the possibility in his head as he spoke.

“They’re basically like regular houses, but under the ground so we get free soundproofing.” Moondash answered, before giving a glance off towards the horizon. “Sun’s about to rise…”

Dusky gave a snarky reply, “Oh, really? Gee, I had no idea!” Promptly taking flight after.

Moondash looked back to Zach, “So, hey, I never did get your name.”

‘Called it.’

Zach thought it over for a good moment or two, ‘I don’t wanna make a habit out of giving my  name to everyone I meet… not like this, not as a cockroach horse. I suppose I could get a new name for when I figure out how to change out of this bug form and take up the guise of a regular pony… but until then, I guess I-…’

“Look, I’m not gonna pry. If you wanna be a mystery, you do you I guess.” Moondash spoke with an air of disappointment.

The Nocturne turned to leave, without a look or a word otherwise.

Zach stood there and watched him leave, at least he did until the weight of what just happened rolled over him like a truck. He unceremoniously turned and slipped his way back inside Derpy’s house, shutting the door behind him and then deflating.

He slumped onto the floor and softly held his head, “It’s over, relax… it's over.” He wrestled with frayed nerves and anxiety for a good several minutes before he could regain his composure. ‘Of all the things that have changed, its so nice to see that aspect of myself still prominent in this dumb bug brain of mine.’ Zach bit out mentally, coating his thoughts with plenty of snark. ‘Stupid stupid stupid!’ repeated over and over internally. ‘I shouldn’t have stuck around, I should have turned tail and fled back inside!’

More importantly though, was the realization that he couldn’t just move about at night as he originally expected. Night time was occupied and lively in Ponyville, just like day time. ‘Welp, so much for my plan to use night as a cover to try and fly or maybe practice magic at some point. That being said, on the bright side, they don’t seem to have any issues with my appearance. Maybe I can actually work around that?’

The Nocturnes seemed unphased by his appearance, true, but they also didn’t know what he was. Nobody seemed to know what he actually was, except maybe for Blue. Zach made a note in his mind, ‘Hitting the library is my top priority. I need to know how much Equestria knows about changelings.’ A quick glance to his foreleg and he added, “Maybe figure out how to get the darn ‘changing’ aspect of being a bughorse to work while I’m at it.”

He moved over to the dining room and sat at the table. He got himself comfortable and mulled everything over in his head, sorted his nerves... then got lost in thought.

‘Boss is probably gonna ring my phone like crazy, wondering where I am… work will call my mom since she’s my only emergency contact. Mom will freak out when she calls me and I don’t answer... I’ve got at least a few weeks to figure this out before rent’s due, I think I have enough money to make it through another month’s rent and have enough to scrape by till my next paycheck… NO, no, Zach, stop thinking about it, you’re just going to rile yourself up and drive yourself crazy. You’ll get out of this, you’ll get back home, you just need to figure some things out, yeah…’ Zach rubbed at his head, “I wish I had my ipod, or my laptop…”

He looked around, “Hell, I’d take a Gameboy at this rate.” Then he glanced to his forehooves, “Oh, right, no thumbs.” His mind clicked and he mused, “I wonder what it's like to use electronics with magic?” Satisfied with this new avenue of thought, Zach laid his head on his forehooves and continued pondering the functionality of magic in place of hands.

He sat there, deep in contemplation, until his eyes slowly closed, and a brief sleep took him.

…