Perspectives

by dzamie

Day 3: Hunting is Harder Than Expected

onle a fyu das until the vernel ecwinox. the nuzpaper alwez sends owt pikchurs ov both prinseses frum the canterlot festivul but evin after so long ther ar sum pones hu dont trust luna ner selestia. i dont understand wi becuz shez not nitmar mon anemor and she maks a byutiful nit ski. i gat sum fed for mi chikins and a bag ov fertelizer for the crops. o ther waz also a song toda in the marketplas. i cant cwit rical al ov the words now but the song waz abowt an ecwinox selibrashun. il se if i can atend after i fed mi chikins and water mi plants and hopfule sel som things in town.

Journal Entry #3
The topic of this entry shall pertain to the common methodologies of training changelings to increase their effectiveness towards all necessary measures. To preserve the security of the changeling Hive(s), which has a greater priority than the thoroughness of a casual documentation of the changeling species, vital details are to be omitted or summarized. This security measure may reoccur in later entries.
There exist several different tiers of changeling training. For the sake of simplicity, these levels of intensity will be referred to by number, starting with “Tier 1” for the lowest level of tuition and increasing by whole-number increments. Changelings who receive only Tier 1 have been expected to be restricted to in-Hive work, and therefore such training consists only of simple vocabulary, basic Hivemind communication, flight for means of transportation, and rudimentary magic. The magic education at such a level is comprised of a simple Destructive Bolt and close-range telekinesis. After Tier 1, the levels split into a covert-ops branch and a military branch. Past experience yields naught but basic information concerning the military branch; the extent of the researcher's knowledge is to know that, by Tier 4, military changelings are capable of basic teleportation, intricate and coordinated flight maneuvers, several intensities of Destructive Bolt, proficiency in both telekinetically-held and mounted weaponry, basic “mirroring” transformation, and they can use their green transformation-fire as a weapon.
For the covert-ops branch, Tiers 2 through 5 can and will be described. In the second Tier of this branch, changelings are taught how to “mirror” a pony, id est, how to match the image and voice of a pony that they have a visual and audio of. For practice, higher-level changelings transform into ponies to provide a model for those practicing the technique. At this level of education, changelings are falsely “taught” that there is a maximum of one hour for a transformation, and after that, the disguise drops and the changeling falls unconscious. For Tier 3 of covert-ops tuition, changelings are to perfect their “mirroring” tactic, including replication of mannerisms. Changelings who pick up on this quickly are usually given actual magically-recorded footage of Equestrian ponies to copy, whereas the lower approximately ninety-percent of Tier 3 changelings use Tier 4 and 5 changelings to copy. In addition, those in the third Tier are also told that, due to having more magical power, their maximum “Changed” time is two hours. Tier 4 is where many of the long-term changelings are ranked, as it is finally revealed to these changelings that there is technically no upper limitation on transformation duration; however, there is a limit as to how long one can return to a changeling form by removing a disguise. A survey of nearly two hundred Tier 4 and 5 covert-ops changelings indicates that it is necessary to put on a “changeling” disguise rather than removing a “pony” one after approximately four and one half hours. Alongside to a “removal” of this time-based limitation, Tier 4 changelings are instructed how to create a disguise without a pony model, how to create a basic personality for a disguise, and how to use common unicorn magic, such as telekinesis, Destructive Bolt, magic shield, summoning small items. These changelings are usually sent to pony civilization for one to three months to report on major current events. In Tier 5, reserved mostly for those who excelled at many or all aspects of Tier 4, obtain practice for constructing a detailed backstory for a long-term pony persona. In addition, they are taught more complicated unicorn spells, such as low-level enchantments, weak emotion-altering magic (used almost entirely to dissuade Royal Guards from pursuing their anti-changeling investigations), summoning important items, and two kinds of teleportation: line-of-sight and set-point.
For those readers who are not unicorns, line-of-sight teleportation allows the user to teleport themselves and, for more powerful magic-users, a few others to a point which they can see from their current location. The energy expended increases proportionally with distance traveled, so there is a maximum distance for which it may be cast, as further frequently results in the user releasing excessive energy, after which they often slip into a coma or die. Set-point teleportation requires a more abundant pool of energy from which to draw than a majority of line-of-sight teleportation; however, its mana requirement is a constant. It operates by way of a magic-user “setting a point” in space, to which they may afterwards, through the expenditure of the required magical power, return nigh-instantaneously. The other main utility spell taught to Tier 5 changelings is a set-summon, which has similarities to set-point teleportation in that its functionality is limited to a static reference. The main difference between the two is that the teleportation spell transports the user to the point, whereas the summoning spell transports the object to the user.
Returning to the original topic, changelings in Tier 5 often live out several lives as “ponies,” owing to the imbalance by a few hundred years in life expectancies, during which time official reports back to the Hive are infrequent, but unofficial, informal notes and thoughts are transmitted frequently. Most pony Converts are given Tier 2 military training, instructed to disguise and remain as their previous selves, and return back to their settlement with an alibi, usually given by a Tier 4 covert-ops changeling as practice, to live out the rest of their lives. After they would ordinarily have passed on as a pony, one of two things happens: one, they are given a reason for why their life persists, such as eating one of Celestia's golden apples, or two, they return to the Hive to study as a military changeling. For the next topic for this documentation, it is undetermined at the time of this writing.
It appears that the town is finally getting around to setting up for the Spring Equinox Celebration. How, you may ask, can I tell with such assurance? They sang a song about it. I'll get to that eventually, but first the rest of my day, since proper chronological ordering is important for the proper sequencing of thoughts. This morning, I woke up, removed the foam ball from my horn, and checked the mirror to see a pair of yellow eyes staring back at me. The foam ball might seem slightly odd to those of you who aren't changelings, but our horns are exceptionally sharp, and there's nothing worse than having to buy a new pillow because you slept on it. Anyway, I carried out my usual routine of having some water while checking both pony and changeling news. In the paper, I saw a “Missing Foal” ad, and decided that I would volunteer to help, should the news reach the mercenary agency. From the Hivemind, nothing was excessively extraordinary, save for one changeling near Ponyville caught with his disguise down. Fortunately for him, he was able to diffuse an otherwise tense situation with a pink-maned pegasus by assuming the form of her friends, plural because the pegasus requested that he change multiple times, and simply letting the yellow pony practice conversations. Most of the replies to that information resembled “you could've been killed” and warnings to stay on the safe side if in Ponyville. I then disguised myself, walked over to the agency, and chatted about the weather with some coworkers, before the aforementioned “Missing Foal” ad finally showed up. Due to my disguise being a unicorn, I had the perfect reason for using a basic search-and-identify spell to locate the filly trapped in a tree. Upon my arrival, I discovered that she had managed to hogtie herself, and attach her hooves and head to different branches, all with the same kitestring, with the kite still attached. I cut her down by pretending to cast a cutting spell on my horn; in reality I altered my disguise to not include the tip of my horn, then used its sharp point to cut the filly down. She waited at the bottom of the tree until I descended, as though afraid the tree would choose me as a snack in replacement for her, and from my viewpoint above her, I noticed something unique: while most ponies' coats are comprised of one color, this foal's coat was yellow, but had a brown stripe resembling a sinusoid down her back. When I returned to the base of the trunk, she, unexpectedly, decided to show her gratitude by tackle-hugging me. I may have mentioned earlier that I don't steal unoffered energy, allowing myself only that which is freely given; that rule changes for children, as I also return some of their happiness and well-meaning, so as not to have them fall emotionally ill. Since they have not yet learned the societal restrictions on emotions, they may offer me more energy than is safe or healthy for them to do, so I err on the side of caution. After reuniting with her mother, the filly ran off towards the hoofball field, where a few of who I assume to be her friends were waiting. The workload at the workplace slowed after that, so I spent much of my pre-lunch time trading stories with my peers of the most daring deeds we'd accomplished. Come lunchtime, and I was sitting outside, munching on a nice dandelion-clover sandwich, when I heard a tune coming down the street. Since ponies seem to be urged to join in on such foolishness, I quickly paid my bill, took my sandwich, and retreated to a location where I could assume my psuedo-invisible disguise, more commonly known as looking like a rock near a group of rocks, and listened in. I made a topic-thread in the Hivemind for potential discussion and correction of the lyrics heard, but eventually, it came out that the ponies were singing this:
Equal time for the sun and the moon,
A far cry from December and from June,
We welcome a new season of growth, green, and food.
An Equinox celebration should lighten every-po-ny's mooood...
We say goodbye to cold, and with it, slip'ry ice.
We welcome back the animals, from the bears to the mice.
Celestia's and Luna's equal time means one thing:
A new season is upon us; we welcome in the Spring!
Colts and fillies get excited, 'cause school's nearing a break,
And their parents are beside them, and all leave joy in their wake.
Robins, with feathers of red, return to the north,
And hibernating creatures once again venture forth.
The grass is green, the sky is blue, the sun turns bright, and still
So many magical things happen to shake off Winter's chill!
We say goodbye to cold, and with it, slip'ry ice.
We welcome back the animals, from the bears to the mice.
Celestia's and Luna's equal time means one thing:
A new season is upon us; we welcome in the Spring!
Well, that was one verse. Those second and last sets of four lines were the refrain, and I could probably transcribe the remainder of the song if not for how much space it consumes in this journal, and how much I wish I could dislodge its tune from my head. So, once the ponies had finished singing and dancing, I returned to work, only to learn that, because of such heightened spirits, the pony in charge of most of the agency had given everyone who clocked in a day and a half's wage, and that any overtime wished to be completed would be unpaid, sans the rewards offered by townsponies. As per usual, many ponies remained working, likely out of the goodness of their hearts, but I decided to return home and seek the company of fellow changelings, at least in mind if not body. A quick lie about a new book I wanted to read, and I had created a decent excuse to trot happily home, where I caught up with some fellow Tier 5'ers I knew from a few years back. As it turns out, one of them had found work in Canterlot as a reporter, so he was able to keep up-to-date on the recent events around the ponies' princesses; another one had found herself a coltfriend in Baltimare, where it's not uncommon for changelings to be seen in public, and there are even some laws prohibiting excessive measures both by changelings and against changelings there (perhaps that could be tomorrow's entry). After a while, I left the conversation and went to thinking about what to write in here. Perhaps I'll visit Baltimare some day and finally let ponies see what I look like. After all, I am absolutely stunning with yellow eyes. Compared to there, this town seems downright discriminatory, and I've even heard of pegasi being turned down from jobs usually filled by Earth ponies. Then again, that's all hearsay, and mostly by some pretty jerky pegasi.

All right. I am so Celestia-damned angry right now. So it turns out that the “pony” that Cirrus was with when the dragon ate him was a changeling. How do I know, diary? Well, I managed to overhear the dragon thinking aloud when he mentioned a pegasus and a changeling visiting a few days ago. Oh yeah, that reminds me: the dragon agreed to teach me to hunt. Strangest thing though, he didn't ask for anything except for me to “stop assuming so many things about those I haven't met.” I guess I know why he said that. I sort of freaked out when he mentioned that chicken used to be his favorite food, and I thought that meant that it was now griffon. So yeah, there's that. Anyway, the first lesson was how to move quietly. Something funny happened about then, because I was complaining that it was silly for an enormous dragon to teach anything how to be quiet, and he managed to sneak up behind me without me noticing. It's okay though. It only took him like five minutes to get me to come down off of a ceiling-stone-spike-thingy once I realized where he was. He showed me general form for sneaking around, and some tips when I managed to lose my balance a few dozen times, so I practiced trying to sneak up on things in the conveniently-nearby forest. As it turns out, there's more to hunting than being quiet, and I'm not really good at that either, because approximately everything ran before I was even three meters away. Well, I guess I can't expect to be an awesome hunter in one day.
Oh man, looking back at the first couple of sentences, apparently I did an epic mood swing. However, that does remind me: as soon as I finish writing this, I'm going to turn in that changeling for mind-controlling my friend to his death. “Just flew right in” to the dragon's mouth my tail, I suspect foul play. You know, I wonder if a pony would be angrier about the changeling killing Cirrus Strider or about the changeling impersonating a pony. Probably the second one, if my ex-boss is anything to go by.

Today, a griffon managed to impress me. Whether it was through bravery or stupidity, I have yet to determine, however, his courage to approach a dragon several times his size and ask for hunting help is, in my experienced, nearly unparalleled. I guess I found his proposition amusing enough; I accepted his offer of keeping me informed of Equestrian societal events, and in return, I gave him a starting lesson. I decided that we would start from the beginning and go from there, and it turned out that he needed it. I am unsure of how he did so, but the griffon managed to fail to catch a tortoise. Now, for clarity, I do not simply mean he was unable to kill it, as that would likely require a strong stone and good aim for something of his size versus a turtle, I mean that he unsuccessfully attempted to sneak up on it, and the reptile (or are they amphibious? No, I think that’s turtles) was able to escape. So, I tried to teach him how to move quietly. I have quite a bit of experience with this, despite my size, so I was able to entertain myself by sneaking behind him several times. His physical fitness seems to be much better than it looks; I don’t think he even flapped his wings to jump onto a stalactite. He’s still without the ability to hunt and kill something by himself, but according to him, he still has a couple of days until it becomes necessary. Well, if he ever decides that he can’t hunt at all, which he probably won’t considering how he’s acted so far, I’m sure I could suggest a few things to make his pain cease. Wonder if they taste like two animals in one... I’ll do my best to avoid such thoughts, as he is my student now.
I also unfortunately revealed the identity of the nice changeling who came by yesterday. Also, the delicious pegasus from the same day was apparently the griffon’s friend, and so the griffon doesn’t seem to be rational when I tell him that I am entirely certain that the changeling did not force the pegasus kill himself.
Now that I think about it, I hope that my student’s brash nature doesn’t land the changeling in trouble. It/She doesn’t deserve that.