The forest was the same as he had remembered. Surrounded by a variety of trees, both in shape and size, he attempted to determine his way back to Ponyville. Jack was at a loss of where to go, he had no idea what kind of area he was in, and he couldn't see any sort of buildings nearby. He let out a sigh of disappointment. Before he was able to take another breath, a green flash of light appeared before him. Closing his eyes to protect himself, he wondered what was in store for him this time. After a few seconds, he saw the light fading slightly through his eyelids and decided it would be safe to open them again. Standing before him were two more changelings.
"Wh...What are YOU doing here?" Jack stuttered, slightly surprised by the sudden appearance of the two changelings.
They simply stared at him. The one on the right was slightly bigger in size compared to the one on the left, and had a lighter Chitin. The one on the left appeared to have slightly larger wings. The awkward silence continued, crickets chirping happily in the background, with neither of the new changelings speaking. Finally, Jack decided to ask them another question in order to break the silence.
"Well, can you at least give me your names?" Jack said.
"We are simple drones, names are of little importance." The changeling on the left said.
The voice of the changeling seemed to be void of emotion. It was quite raspy, and not as deep as he had expected. Since they had no names, he decided to think of his own in order to keep track of them. The bigger one could be Biggs, while the smaller one would be Wings.
'Well that sure is creative...' Jack thought to himself.
He never really needed to name anything, well, at least since his pet dog Fluffs died. At least they had discrete differences, otherwise things may be a lot more confusing.
"We are here for supervision, it is our duty." 'Wings' said.
'Huh. So there's duties outside of the Hive, other than feeding?' Jack thought.
"Well I recommend not coming into the city. With the way you two talk, you're going to get caught." Jack said.
He was lying; so long as they didn't talk they wouldn't be caught. But he just didn't want two more changelings following him, especially since if he didn't return to the hive... Well he didn't really know what would happen. It would probably be something pretty awful, and before he knew it his imagination was flooded with ideas. Like draining him of emotions until he collapsed, leaving nothing but a husk behind. Maybe they would make it quick and painless, but he couldn't really think of a punishment of that sort. Snapping back to reality, he noticed both the changelings were gone, leaving nothing behind of where they had stood. He began wandering once more, in hopes of finding some sort of civilization soon.
>---<
The walk had been going for a long time. The trees seemed to surround him, the forest's relentless behavior for loosing ponies really had been true. Finally, Jack saw a small smoke stack coming from just ahead. It was already getting dark; Celestia's sun was slowly falling behind the horizon.
'Ponies!' He thought to himself.
Before running ahead, he noticed he still hadn't really chosen a disguise yet.
'Alright, I need to think this through CAREFULLY this time, and not get carried away. I can't get risk getting caught and being sent back to the Hive again, that is, if they do send me back... Jack's thoughts seem to trail off.
He couldn't decide what he was going to do. Perhaps this time he would try a creation of his own, however he wasn't really sure what he wanted to look like. As a matter of fact, he could only really picture ponies he had seen before. He shrugged it off, and began to think who he should be. Debating with himself for a while, he decided it would be best to be Colgate. He had no idea why, really, but hey, as far as he knew she didn't live near the edges of the forest. As he followed both the sight and scent of smoke, he noticed a building approaching. Carefully maneuvering around the trees, he saw it to be a small wooden hut. The hut itself blended into the surroundings relatively well, except for the light coming from the windows and door. After a few more moments of admiring the hut, he decided to go for a visit.
'Zecora lives here, from what I remember. I wonder if she really rhymes ALL the time. It probably gets pretty annoying. ' Jack thought.
Slowly approaching the door, he gave two knocks before he got a response.
"My my, now who might we have here? It is almost night, have you no fear?" The zebra asked.
The door swung open, revealing Jacks new light blue coat. It was quite... Beautiful, despite the fact he hadn't really seen many coats up close. He never really got a chance to see many ponies at all, for all that mattered. The interior decorations were certainly much more... unique that anywhere else in Ponyville. The hanging masks on the wall gave Jack an eerie feeling. Other than that, it wasn't very exciting. A few bottles here and there, most of which were empty, a couple potted plants and a small doorway leading to what looked like a bedroom. There was a cauldron in the middle of the room; however the logs below it remained unlit.
'I guess nothing's cooking, pity though, I hear she makes great soup.' He thought. 'And since when did I hear of Zecora making soup?'
"My dear Colgate, why do you wander at such an hour? Do you seek me for something of great power?" Zecora rhymed.
"Oh, no, I was just um... looking for some ingredients. Yeah Ponyville was running a little short on herbs." Jack replied.
"That not an answer for what was asked, my dear. Without your explanation, you leave me in fear!"
"Oh yeah we have some sickness going around. I'm not quite sure what it's called but it has to do with the... Uh... Magical capacities of unicorns. Yeah so they can't use magic well."
"But all is not lost, I hope! Have you been able to cope?"
Jack nods. On the bright side she was believing everything he had just said. In reality he really had no idea what he was talking about.
"Now what herbs might you require? Some golden leaf, or the knot of squire?"
'That rhyming is already getting annoying...
"Err..." Jack had no idea what kinds of herbs there were in Equestria. "I'm not really sure what it's called, but... Err... I know what it looks like!" Jack stated, a little excited.
'Phew. Nice save. I never thought improv club would ever actually come in use!'
"Very well, but be sure to take your time. Ask if you will, and you may take what's mine."
After aimlessly wandering around the room for a few minutes, Jack stumbled upon a small plant growing in a pot. The pot itself had a beautiful light blue coloring, with red zigzags across it. It's placement in the corner of the room seemed to set it apart from all the other plants. Since it appeared this plant was in most abundance, he requested some from Zecora.
"This plant is EXACTLY what I'm looking for! Can I borrow some please?"
"Of course you may, but you must beware. Take a sniff, and you'll lack air." Zecora responded. "Take a breath, with a lack of water, you may find yourself awaiting slaughter."
'So this plant makes you breath water instead of air? That's pretty cool!' Jack thought.
"Thanks a lot, Zecora, I'll be sure to keep this out of the way." Jack smiled as he spoke.
The zebra, despite the annoying rhyming, was still entertaining to be around.
"But you must not leave, you've been so polite! Have you forgotten the dangers of night?" Zecora asked.
"Well... Yeah I sort of forgot. I guess I can stay, but where should I sleep?"
"Don't you worry, my dear friend. This wall here in fact does extend."
>---<
Small talk with Zecora was a little difficult. Everything that came out of her mouth seemed so cryptic. Jack thought he heard her mention something about Twilight stopping by earlier to research some plants. Well, that or something about her pants.
'Wait. Since when do ponies wear pants?'
Whatever. It wasn't really a big deal. So long as he was with Zecora, nopony would find him. Especially since they all knew better than wandering the forest at night, a mistake he had almost made. Laying down on the bed, he could feel his grip on reality slowly fading, the moonlight slowly sifting through the windows. Had Zecora not have pointed out the crevice in the wall, he never would have noticed the hidden bed compartment. As his eyes began to close, the silver light creeping upon him suddenly stopped. Opening his eyes wondering what could be blocking the window, he saw a familiar face. It wasn't a friendly one, but hey Biggs hadn't hurt him yet.
"What do you want?" Jack mumbled in a half awake state.
Biggss simply stared at him, his light blue eyes glowing in the dark. He could see Wings just behind him, his chitin glowing in the light. Without a word, the changelings turned around and left, providing the passage for the moonlight to return to the room.
'Well that was sorta weird. But I mean... they ARE supposed to be watching me...'
It was a little bit creepy, having a random face appear at the window just to disappear so quickly afterwards. But, Jack was tired, and really didn't care. He felt his thoughts slowly slipping from his mind, everything seemed to make less and less sense. He closed his eyes, letting the darkness take control, and he finally succumbed to his need of sleep.