I woke up dead. Well, no, not really, though I nearly felt the same. Even having slept as long as I did, I was still a mess of exhaustion and soreness. I giggled some before I managed to my hooves, “I feel awful.” I spoke to no one in particular. My PipBrain flashed up my body condition, showing that my head had cleared and isn’t crippled anymore. It spoke truth as I definitely felt clear-headed, despite sleepiness and other various sore spots on my body.
Luckily the EFS showed no signs of anyone or anything around, giving me several good moments to think about what I needed to do. Long term is to find my hive again and maybe visit that DJ in the fancy tower. Short term is survive long enough to get to either place. Even shorter term is to get up and continue moving. I made a mental… well… PipBrain checklist of these things.
Check off the first on the list. I finally got to my hooves and re-took in my surroundings, still dead, still in disrepair, and still… not abandoned anymore. A couple pink tics appeared on my EFS, coming from the north. Slightly hopeful that I wouldn’t be attacked, I poked my head out one of the windows on the second floor to see who was coming.
The ponies on the path luckily didn’t notice me at first. The two of them seemed to be looking carefully about, so I was surprised I wasn’t seen right away. The stallion of the two seemed to be a vigilant one, everything in his appearance and stance reminded me of the royal guard, from his pure white coat and well-kept horn, to that luxurious golden mane… how the heck did he keep it so clean and shiny? Even his… oh, maybe that’s another reason why he reminded me of a royal guard, he was wearing their freaking armor! With the way things were in this world, I’m surprised he has armor like that, even the two ponies I met the day before didn’t have armor that good looking.
Speaking of good looking…
The stallion’s companion was a sleek mare with a mysteriously dark coat and equally alluring mane. She was wearing armor similar to the stallion’s, but with a darker coloration and a crescent moon symbol… maybe a guard for that other princess? Though the rest of her was quite odd, but pleasant as well. Her leathery wings flapped at her side as if they couldn’t stay still and the fanged smile on her face made her amusement obvious, even for a non-changeling. Her fangs startled me at first, making me think she was a changeling, but it was only a minor disappointment figuring she wasn’t… mmm… those fangs…
I caught myself in the middle of drooling. The Empathy Sickness was very strong at the moment, I blame my exhaustion. Though, with the way I was thinking, I can’t say it wasn’t pleasant, just confusing.
Regaining my thought rails, I started down the building, to the main floor. I’m apparently good at sneaking, but I made a lot of ruckus through the mess of the floor, and the two heard me. They didn’t go hostile yet, but they definitely were altered that I was there. I heard a sweet voice giggling, while the other said something. Since I could tell my cover was broken, I decided to do the stupid thing I normally do, grin and act incompetent.
Readying myself to be shot at, I open the front door of the home, “Hello!” I greeted the two, whom answered with a magical blast that pegged right next to my head and a sudden teleportation of a certain very attractive batpony who proceeded to use me as a couch. I barely had time to yipe before my ear had a new piercing.
“Hello, there! You’re not gonna try and kill us are you?” The silky sweet voice of the batpony asked. I shook my head, which ended with me yelping again as my poor ear was tugged, her fang still present. She just giggles and sets about sucking on my bleeding ear, which I slightly struggle against for more than one reason… that batpony isn’t moving for anything.
Her partner the royal guard stepped in after a moment and looked me up and down, “What are you?” He asked bluntly. Again, it’s ‘what’ not ‘who’, at least the batpony was friendlier. Though I’m in no position to argue so I answer,
“A changeling. Did you hear the DJ broadcast thingy yesterday?” I grinned. The stallion only grunted. Apparently he hadn’t. The batpony made a muffled comment about how I tasted different than a regular pony, though I couldn’t understand it fully because of the slightly disturbing and confusing suckling noises.
After a moment, the royal guard stallion sighs, “You’re coming with us. Until we can determine exactly what you’re capable of, or if you’re a threat, you will be our prisoner. Luna, tie up this creature.” He orders.
“Yes sir, Solaris, sir!” The batpony named Luna says both enthusiastically and slightly mockingly of the stallion’s officalness. One hidden rope from the batpony mare’s tail later and I’m tied up like a Hearth’s Warming present and dropped onto the royal guard’s back without ceremony. It was about this time I remembered that I could change forms to be less scary… but meh, I don’t like hiding who or what I really am, it’s not polite.
Hey, even being a prisoner has its conveniences; One, I don’t have to waste my energy walking; Two, it gives me time to figure out things between these two and how they think; And three, I get to look at the plo- not gonna go there again! Nope! Nevermind.
Anyway, when I managed the effort to sense the connections or emotions of the two, I got mixed results. The stallion, Solaris, is a brick wall, just like a real royal guard, but I do sense something from him, albeit faint, respect for his companion. Luna, though, wears her heart on her sleeve, or however that saying goes, and I get a lovely sense of everything from her, curiosity, happiness, the bond of friendship she shares with the stallion, and that sense of self-peace that ponies with her disposition tend to have. She’s a breath of fresh air to me, considering the rest of the devoid wasteland. No love between them though, so I’ll just have to either make some, or subsist on Luna’s other positive emotions for a while.
The only problem I have with the way that the two are travelling, is that they’re going back south. “Uh, hey, can we-“I was cut off by the stallion giving me a hard buck upwards, which led to a fall downwards onto the solid ground, shutting me up again. A moment later his magic kicked in and I’m levitated up in a golden aura.
“Silence, prisoner.” Solaris commanded. His voice was pretty dang commanding, so I stopped speaking up after that… Luna didn’t help my case by chattering away, asking me questions or saying something to Solaris. I didn’t pay attention much.
Several extremely long hours later, I’m dumped off inside a building of some sort. From the way it looked, the two of them had restored its appearance, which was a rather humble structure, tall, and had new planks of wood for the walls and a non-moldy carpet for the floor. Based on what I’d seen earlier, I was wondering how they managed to find such fancy things! At the time, though, I was under orders for silence, and thus silent I was.
Solaris took a seat in a rickety chair, weapon still poised in his telekenisis. “You will tell me what you can about yourself, all of it, and I’ll let you go if you’re not a threat to us.” His tone was commanding again, though this time, Luna interrupted.
“Aww, Solaris, do we have to let him go? If he’s not a threat, I’d like him as a pet!” Luna giggled. I wasn’t too sure about being a pet, but if I got to… why is the Empathy Sickness this strong? The hive mentioned it being bad, but not like this.
Solaris responded quickly, “No, you may not have a sentient creature as a pet, despite his strange appearance, he’s mostly pony-like.” He surprised me with that answer, so he must have a heart under that armor somewhere.
Luna emotionally drooped a moment, “Aww, but can I have him as a coltfrie-“ Solaris interrupted her immediately, “No! Honestly, Luna, just…” He sighs, “Just… fine, sit on him or something if your urges are that strong, but don’t distract him before he tells us what we want to know.” Somewhere to my left came a noise that I still can’t put into words, which then led to me being untied and promptly sat upon in a way that both made me feel extremely awkward and kept me from moving a whole lot.
Solaris then glared at me from around Luna’s shoulder, “Now, speak.” That commanding tone… still.
After a repeat of the previous day, explaining myself and what I do, et cetera, et cetera, Solaris seemed satisfied and nodded, “Hm.” Was his only response through the whole explanation, and afterwards left Luna to look after me. I was confused, worried, and slightly drooling at her… at that point, I’d stopped caring how strange it was to be feeling the way I was and just began to enjoy it. Though after a moment of Solaris’s leaving, she hopped off of me and sat on a rather plushy looking bag.
“So, Hearts Desire, huh? Nice to meet you!” Luna’s cheerful greeting threw me off some, I was beginning to think she had been crazy, but it seemed otherwise at the moment. Her smile was sweet and her demeanor that of innocence and playfulness. I hadn’t seen such a perfect mask for a little fireball in a long time, it caused me to grin.
“Nice to meet you too, Luna! Is Solaris always like that?” I responded, both curious about him some and desiring a less one-sided conversation.
Luna shrugged, “Nope! He’s been like that since I met him. Stern stallion… If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was a royal guard! But he’s just a stuffy stallion who takes protecting ponies seriously. He is nice though.” I guessed she was right, Solaris seemed nice, and he didn’t kill me because I was weird looking, so that was a plus. I did have some questions about her behavior, but I’m a bit more tactful than just bluntly asking…
“So what was that about a pet or a coltfriend?” … okay, I’m not very tactful at all.
Oddly, Luna just giggled, “Oh I just do that to make Solaris uncomfortable, he rarely breaks his stoic faceness, and being awkward about things that make him uncomfortable help me do that! I found out that he’s a colt-cuddler who is into bondage and has a distinct dislike of xenophiliac, heterosexual relationships, so I just mashed them together, finding you was quite amusing!” I just blinked at her explanation… that felt almost too convenient to be believable, but I couldn’t help but laugh aloud at her silly reasoning.
She giggled with me, though for a different reason that I couldn’t comprehend. We sat there giggling and laughing until Solaris returned with a couple cans of food, levitating one to Luna. “Oh, you haven’t left yet?” He addresses me. I still had a feeling I wasn’t liked. I just shook my head, “We can’t spare any food for you, though if your story’s true, you don’t need it.” Another shake of my head. One more of his grunts was given.
Even if I wasn’t liked by him, I enjoyed Luna’s antics, so I stuck about, sitting on the floor’s rug and grinning. Luna eagerly bit into the top of the can, using her fangs to pry the lid open… that was a use I never thought of for my own fangs before. The two ponies began to eat, one eagerly, and one steadily. It’s a double edged sword that I don’t eat pony food, one side is that I don’t use up resoruces that my real food source could use, but the other is that if any of my food sources doesn’t produce the food I’ll eat, I’ll go hungry anyway.
Luckily Luna was a positive font of emotion, so I silently fed from her while they ate.
Before I even finished feeding, Luna got done eating and sat on me again, startling me some. Luckily it wasn’t in such an awkward way this time, I wasn’t sure if she was being considerate or rude, likely both. Solaris wasn’t quite done eating, but hmphs at seeing the two of us, “Luna, could you please cease your improper antics with our… guest.” Luna’s response was a giggle and wiggling on my back… back to awkwardness.
Luna’s awkward antics kept up for quite a while longer, at least until she yawns and flaps away upstairs, leaving Solaris and me behind. He sighs, “Hearts, what are your intentions?” The question threw me for a loop, so I just answered with what my quests were.
“Well, I want to find out what happened to my hive out here, since I don’t hear them anymore. And I want to go meet the DJ in the giant tower, since she asked me over the radio.”
Solaris waved a hoof dismissively, “I mean regarding now. Do you intend to leave Luna and me in peace? We are heading back in the direction of the tower you mention, thus Luna is likely to ask you to join us to travel there.” I paused a moment. I hadn’t considered travelling with others, at least until I had found a pair or two or three who had love in the group so that I could survive, but I wasn’t sure if he was asking me, or what he was thinking, though he answered it for me shortly, “I do not want you travelling with us, especially with how much of a liking Luna has taken to you.” This shouldn’t have been a shock to me, I knew he didn’t like me, but it caused me to grin anyway. My next words should have gotten me shot,
“Lemme guess, you have a crush on Luna?” I regretted them the moment I said them, both because I knew it was a lie, and because I knew it was gonna get me shot. Though Solaris didn’t shoot me for whatever reason, but his voice became far more tense and irritated,
“No, I do not have to explain my reasons to you. Should you choose to travel with Luna, I will not come along. She may be my travelling companion, but I will not tolerate her long term antics with one such as you.” Before I can shake my stunned brain from not being shot, he stands, “You have until morning to decide.” A flash of golden light later, I was left alone on the bottom floor of their building.
I was at a loss for what to do, I could either go alone, or go with Luna and cause a rift between her and her closest friend, which then would probably come back to bite me later. I grinned and flopped onto my back as I thought over what I could do. Eventually an itch and some tiredness crept over me and I decided to indulge my Empathy Sickness some and I snuck my way up the stairs to snoop about.
Luck was on my side again as I found Luna’s room and creaked it open. It was a nicely decorated room, with the dark tones and swirly shiny star patterns around. The batpony mare herself was sprawled out on a mattress, armor off and in a corner. Her armor made me a little curious so I wedged my way into the room and sneakily looked over her armor.
The armor was almost an exact match for the Royal Guard armor, but with sharper edges and a deep blue and black tone instead of sunshine gold. Though when I went to lift a piece of it, it was as heavy as a set of power armor! Or not really, considering that’s another fact that just sprung to my head. It was heavier than I expected, though, for sure, so I was surprised that she was able to move as fast as she did when she tackled me. I shook it off to her just being deceptively strong.
My attention then turned back to the mare at hoof. Even in the shadow of the room, somehow I was able to see her clear as day, probably something to do with the tech stuffed into my head. Luna was… very attractive, despite my being a changeling, I still drooled over her… metaphorically! Her curves were lean and her wings unique, plus those fangs… I couldn’t put into words exactly how much I liked her appearance, but it was immense.
My eyes trailed over Luna’s sleeping form, down her sides to her magnificent rear and… well, the way she sleeps leaves everything exposed, and it was driving my sickened mind wild. It didn’t take me long to start contemplating the darker aspects of how I was feeling; A sleeping mare, innocent and exposed, just ripe to be unexpectedly taken… I bet I could’ve made her silent, given her a little fun as well as let these urges go in a blissful, wonderful feeling way. She might not even object, instead just enjoying it as expected… she is a mare after all. It wouldn’t even be hard…
Something in my mind snapped, and I crawled into the bed with her.
Being as careful as I could, I snuggled into her, holding her carefully. I was surprised she didn’t wake up when I did; instead, she seemed to relax more. My body hated me for doing this, very, very much so, but I couldn’t take advantage of Luna like that, it just wouldn’t sit right with me ever, and while sleeping with her without her knowledge bordered on that, it’s much less harmful to her. That made sense to me at the time.
I fell asleep after several moments, though my thoughts didn’t quiet down and my dreams were filled with both inappropriate things and horrific imaginings.
Just like the nights before, I can’t sleep yet.
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Halfway to next level: Filler chapters are not worth much. >.>
-Gained Luna the Batpony as an ally
-Gained Solaris the Guard as an… ally?