//------------------------------//
// Eleventh Chapter 
// Story: New Bodies, New Life 
// by Boopy Doopy 
//------------------------------//

Thornton looked at the winged yellow horse with wide eyes. This mare tasted sweet, like a sugary soda. 
It wasn’t love that he tasted; his brain somehow knew it was kindness being radiated his way. It slowly filled him up, easing his hunger, thankfully. He might have been able to taste every emotion that was sent his way, but the positive ones seemed like the ones his body craved. 
How a bug– or any animal for that matter– could eat emotions though, he didn't know. How could something like an emotion sustain anything? He decided to chalk it up to impossible magic as he sat where he was and ate up her kindness greedily. It tasted delicious.
“These are the ones I have written of,” the zebra said to the pony, Fluttershy. “The one who should master their anger, and the one who should share their love.” Thornton laughed at this rhyme, even if it was still messing with his head. Reece needed to do that as a human, too.
“Oh! You must be who that adorable dog was telling me about!” the horse said, making her way up to the two of them. “I think it said its name was Barney, right? You must be the foals of that unicorn and dragon!”
She stopped a few steps in front of where Reece and Thornton sat, her kindness  radiating even more intensely now that she was closer. It was almost dizzying, but the bug didn’t stop eating, continuing to soak up all of the emotion he could get. He felt like he could eat for days with how hungry he was.
“My name is Fluttershy,” she introduced politely, a gentle smile being worn on her face. “Can I ask who you two creatures are?”
His older brother looked to him, waiting for him to speak up, but Thornton was preoccupied with the emotion he was being filled with. He didn't realize they were waiting for an answer from him until his brother was mixing in mildly spicy annoyance with the sugary sweet kindness filling his senses.
"I'm Reece Solomon, and this is my brother, Thornton," he said. "You said you saw our parents and sister? Two horses and a dragon?"
"I did, but I wasn't able to talk to them like I can you. That absolutely adorable puppy of yours told me what was going on, and so I went to my friend, Twilight Sparkle, to see if she'd heard something about creatures in the Everfree forest. That was when Zecora sent a letter to her, and so I left as quick as I could to get here."
The bug– changeling– sighed in relief, but also felt a little bit ashamed of himself. He'd been mostly preoccupied with himself since he'd woken up, so much so that he probably didn’t give near the amount of concern for his family that Reece likely had. He imagined his mother was probably crying over him and his father was worried sick. He, however, had been caught up with all of the emotions in the air and how hungry he felt. He now very much hoped that no one else could read his emotions like he could read theirs.
“Where are they right now?” Thornton asked. “Are they safe?”
“Mhm. I asked Twilight to help them. They’re probably in her castle right now. They were in my cottage before.”
“Okay, and where the heck is that?” he asked. “Because I think I remember a forest fire out there burning. And wolves chasing us, trying to eat us, too. There’s no way for us to go back out there safely, I don’t think.”
“Oh. Yeah. I asked my friend, Steven Magnet, to help with the fire, so we can get along. Also, there’s a safe trail for us to walk to Ponyville on.”
“What she says about the path is true,” the Zebra confirmed. “Zebra hooves emit magic that leaves every beast askew. No creature will threaten you on the way back to town. Whichever one tries will seem only like a clown.”
“All this rhyming is messing with my mind,” Thornton muttered, taking a few moments to process what was said in the foreign language he shouldn’t have been able to understand. Then shook his head clear. “Uh, do you think we can get going to wherever they are right now? If they’re safe, I think we should be meeting up with them instead of being in a cottage in the forest. No offense. And please don’t rhyme.” 
More disappointment from the Zebra and another glare from his brother came at the request. He was already pissing off alien horses who were trying to help the two of them. But it elicited strong sympathy from the yellow pony, sympathy that almost made him sigh in relief again. His strong hunger was still there, but having it curbed a bit was nice.
"There's no reason why we can't get going right now," Fluttershy said kindly. "I'd offer to talk to Twilight about teleporting us back to Ponyville, but if everything Zecora said in her letter is true, she's probably talking to your family and trying to figure out what happened."
"How far away is it?" Reece asked. "Cause I know it took me at least two hours to get us here from where we were. Although to be fair, I was dragging Thornton the whole way."
"It's only a couple of hours from here. Maybe eight miles? It shouldn't be an issue at all, unless you need to rest first. I would've gotten here sooner, but I had to tell Steven about the fire so he could help put it out."
Eight miles sounded like an awfully long way to travel. Thornton was ready to complain until he felt his brother's confidence and determination radiating his way. He could practically read his thoughts, ones that seemed to say that since they were horses– or rather, horse-like creatures– it should be no trouble like Fluttershy said. That made sense.
Besides, he wasn't really in a position to complain about the help he was receiving, especially with how sweet and delicious the kindness he ate was. If she kept up a steady pace, he'd be filled to the brim with food by the time they got to wherever the heck they needed to be. Although he still had no clue what Zecora meant when she said he had to 'share his love'. Did that mean finding a date or something? Finding another hungry bug-horse to feed? He could see how it would help him if he did either of those things, considering what his powers seemed to be.
"That should be fine," his older brother said before he could. "Leaving right now is probably the best since our family is probably worried about us." 
It was settled with that statement. After a few acknowledgements of gratitude to the zebra and a slight apology from Thornton for his complaining, the two were headed out of the cottage with the yellow horse leading the way. Before they left though, Zecora offered them a container of the disgusting green liquid that helped her understand them, which Reece carried on his back with little effort. That would be useful if its effects wore off.
Then the three set off, Fluttershy leading the way and Reece hanging near the back of the group, leaving Thornton in the middle. He was okay with that. Being closer to Fluttershy meant he'd have more to eat. 
The sun was still in the middle of the sky when they set off, but about halfway through their trip, it finally started to set. The whole show of the sun setting and the moon rising took maybe ten minutes total. It was insane how fast each object moved to and from the center of the sky, and almost made Thornton think this was really all a dream. Physics didn't work like this so far as he knew.
"How does it move that quickly?" Reece called from the back to the yellow horse before the changeling could. "The sun and moon, I mean."
"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked back, looking over her shoulder as she continued to move.
"I mean, how does it get from the center of the sky to the horizon so quickly? It doesn't do that on Earth. How is that possible?"
"That's just the way Princess Celestia and Princess Luna always raise and lower the moon and sun," she said. "Sometimes, on special occasions, Princess Celestia might take a little longer to make it set or rise, but it usually takes just a few minutes."
"I think that's who the zebra was telling us about, Reece," Thornton told him. "Although how a horse can raise the sun makes no sense to me. Do the laws of physics just not apply?"
Fluttershy giggled. "I'm not a scientist, but that sounds like something Twilight would go on for ages about. Maybe you could ask her when we get to her. I'm sure that–"
"Look out!"
Something was coming out of the trees– an animal that looked something like the blue ghost of a brown bear. It had orange and red eyes, a star on its forehead, and dots on its side that seemed like they formed the shape of a constellation. It was large, larger than any of the three creatures, and even larger than the wolves they faced before. Both Reece and Thornton backed up as they stared at it in fear. The emotion coming off of this thing was just as vicious as the wolves that chased them earlier in the day.
Their new companion traveling with them, however, stood her ground, and looked up at the beast with a glare as she held out a protective wing in front of the brothers. The new emotion Thornton tasted was the savory flavor of courage, almost as tasty as the kindness he ate before. It was a subconscious thought however, one he wasn't able to focus on due mostly to his own renewed fear.
Fluttershy had none of that emotion though, and stood calmly as she spoke to the ghost bear thing. "You get along now, Mr. Ursa," she said. "Let us go in peace, and you go find your mother so you can sleep." She sounded more like a disappointed teacher than someone who was actually threatening.
And somehow, the bear seemed to understand her. It growled angrily, and raised its paw like it wanted to charge at her, but hesitated, looking nervous. It carefully pawed at the ground in front of it, glaring angrily at the three of them, looking between them and the road. It wanted to go after them– Thornton could tell that much just by the emotions he tasted– but it refused. 
It stood for a long minute, as though contemplating what to do next, then, as though they had peeved it off, it let out an angry huff and went on its own way. Both Thornton and Reece were slack jawed at the sight they just beheld. Fluttershy only turned to them with a gentle smile.
“We’re going to be safe,” she assured the two. “All we have to do is make sure to stay on the path, and we’ll get to Ponyville before you know it.”
“How does that even work?” Thornton asked skeptically. “There’s literally no way that should be able to–”
“Don’t question it,” his older brother interrupted. “It’s not like anything else about this world makes sense. It’s all weird magic at this point to me.”
The bug– the changeling– sighed and dropped his head, deciding to just go with it. He was right. Nothing made sense, from just being here with talking horses and zebras to his older brother catching on fire to him turning into a human for a few minutes before passing out again. How did he do that? It would be nice if he could again. That would make things a lot easier. At least, having some clothes would be nice anyway.
No, nothing made sense, except for perhaps all that delicious emotion that radiated off of the yellow pegasus.