//------------------------------//
// They Found Me 
// Story: Lost in Equestria 
// by xXLostChangelingsXx 
//------------------------------//

The ponies gathered around me seem to be shocked by the pegasus's sudden accusation. I turn around to look at him as he walks closer to me. On his flank is a heart the same color as changeling magic, a chain wrapped around it and padlocked shut. What does that even mean?

"You've forgotten one thing, changeling..." he says, nodding at my own flank. "That guy had a cutie mark. You don't."

I take a couple steps back, nearly tripping over my hooves as I do. Murmurs pick up as the crowd starts looking at my flank, searching for any sign of a cutie mark. I already know that they won't find one. I'd messed up. I've messed up so bad. These ponies are going to kill me, like the stories Chrysalis tells all of us about the deserters that never came back.

"Midday Glow!"

Some kind of orange magical aura envelopes me, and it burns as it settles around my body. The pain is immense, but the few ponies near me seem to not be effected, but Dapple has backed off, eyeing the aura that's eating through my resolve, through the changeling magic that lets us hide among the general public. Patches are being eaten away, a ringing sound filling my head, ponies backing away from me in horror as my magic fails me, leaving me exposed and alone.

An unearthly shriek sounds above the ringing, and the edges of my vision begin to go dark....





When I come to, I'm in a barred cage of some sort, made of a glowing rock I've never seen before. Pulling my legs under my body, I attempt to stand, but something stops me from doing so.

"Hey, boss, it's awake!"

It takes a quite a bit of effort for me to turn my head, much less lift it from the cage floor. The orange unicorn, Midday Glow? trots up to look through the cage bars at me. The pegasus Dapple is still with him. "Yes, he is. Dapple, do you want to fill him in while I scout ahead?"

"Sure thing, Midday," Dapple says, his eyes glowing green like changeling magic. As I watch, he transforms into an executor-class scout changeling. "Now, let's start with your name and rank. Nothing too hard, right?"

The change isn't what makes me eager to get away, but the rank. All executor-class changelings are trained to kill all deserters on sight.  Every. Single. One.  "M-my name is Slider, I was a sneak-class drone. I just got separated from the hive some time ago, and I haven't done anything, I swear! "

"I'm not going to kill you. I have no hive allegiance and no desire to ever go back to one. All I'm doing is trying to round up any changelings I can find. Up in the Crystal Empire, Princess Cadence is setting up something to protect her subjects from any attacks. Midday Glow and I are working with her."

"But, what about our hunger? I mean, if I can have somepony telling me what to do, I'll be okay, but....

Dapple chuckles and points at Midday Glow with a hoof. "She'll give you a partner pony you can feed off of. It's part of the deal you'll make. Serve her and the Crystal Empire, and you'll never be hungry again." 

Now I have to make another decision? My head is starting to hurt from all of this.... What did Chrysalis call it, again? Free will? Well, whatever it is, it hurts my brain. "Are there other changelings there already? "

"No, you're actually the first Midday Glow and I have found. If you're worried about anything, you don't have to be. I was probably as confused as you are when Cadence found me. She found Midday Glow as he was passing through, and she got him to help me through the whole new free will and everything."

The cart my cage is on jerks to a sudden stop at a sign off some sort. "Boss, there's a toll bridge up ahead."

Dapple changes back into a pony and trots up to the front with Midday Glow. All three of them have a whispered conversation, then break up. Dapple comes and stands on my left, and Midday Glow on my left. I hear a faint jingle from the front, and assume the stallion up front, that I can't see, has pulled out some currency. Bits, maybe? Is that what they were called?

"Don't do anything, Slider," Dapple whispers to me as the cart starts moving again. "We have to get you over this bridge without any problems."

I huddle on the bottom of my cage, feeling confused and a slight bit conflicted. Leave the hives forever and never be hungry again, or go back, always know what to do, but be hungry a lot? It's so hard to choose without anypony telling me what to do....

A voice ahead calls out, and the cart rolls to a stop. "What've you got in that big glowing cage back there?"

"A delivery for Princess Cadence of the Crystal Empire. I got credentials right here."

Silence for a moment. "The toll's ten bits for a stallion on a royal mission. Thirty for three. Maybe an extra ten if you got a pony in that there cage."

Dapple leans over and nudges the cage a bit. The light flickers a little, and I can move again. "Change into something else, hurry! We don't have enough bits for that!"

I do what he tells me to, taking the form of a dog, probably large enough the cage is explainable, but not so large it's ridiculous. A large, intimidating stallion approaches me, and I scoot away a little bit. He examines me with a glare, then walks back to the front of the cart. "Three bits. Pay and move on."

With several clicks and a little bit of grumbling, 33 bits exchange hooves and the cart jerks into motion as I'm pulled across the bridge. The stallion glares again as we pass, and I instinctively flinch away from the hostility practically gushing out of him. Even Midday Glow flinches as we pass him.

A while later, well out of the sight of the angry stallion, Dapple taps the cage again, and I wordlessly revert to my carapaced form. "Have you thought it through enough yet, Slider?"

I can't open my mouth. I feel like, if I say it out loud, I'll be forced to stay wherever I'm taken. So I just nod stiffly. Dapple smiles, and the rest of our time together is silent.