It's all true, everything Keep was telling me was the truth, or at least that's what the newspaper tells me. It can't be true, Celestia taken out by another being, no matter how temporally, it's impossible. This has to be some sort of propaganda stunt. Celestia was just too lazy to raise the sun one day and to avoid the scandal has the press run this ridiculous story to cover for her. Otherwise, it would mean that she is not the untouchable god all Chagelings are believe her to be.
This has to be why I'm out here, to test the theory, send a canary into the mine and observe to see if the resident dragon notices and decides on a light snack. Hmm here comes that depression again.
I scour the article on the events of this year's Summer Sun celebration, searching for any more information, and considering most of the paper is dedicated to this one event details are very light. Most of it is conjecture, the writers having trouble with the idea that the immortal pony that raises the sun is actually fallible, well at least I'm not the only one having trouble with this.
There's some column space dedicated to rumours about a different alicorn being sighted in Ponyville after the event, and since Celestia has returned to Canterlot she has suspended all public appearances for personal reasons. This of course meant the writers were speculating wildly from Celestia wanting some time to recharge, to this new alicorn somehow controlling Celestia, basically they had no idea but still had to fill the space on the page.
After re-reading the paper four times I decide that I've probably got all the useful information I'm going to get out of it, and plenty of crackpot theories for no additional cost.
Looking out of the window I see that the desert outside has shifted to a lush forest, I must have been reading for some time. Taking a breath I decide to stretch my legs, a good walk up and down the carriages should help me clear my head.
Walking through the carriages I quickly end up at the dining cart, the thought of food makes my stomach growl. While changeling’s do not need to eat as often as ponies, my last meal, excluding some cider, had now been three days ago well past time getting something to eat,
Sitting down on a bench in the middle of the carriage, much easier to do than the bar stool, I glance at the menu. Ponies always seemed to make eating so complicated trying to turn something simple into something really complicated. I mean, how many ways could they come up with to serve hay. There again, I really couldn't argue against the result, when food in the Hive consisted of only mushrooms the only thing that will grow in the near total darkness.
I catch the attention of a passing waiter and order a daisy sandwich with hay fries and settle back to enjoy the view through the window, the train is coming up on the town of Ponyville, supposedly where a lot of the events of this Nightmare Moon thing happened. I could get off here and take some time to investigate further see if it's really true, but it would run counter to my mission, plus it must be swarming with the press trying to get more information at the moment and that alone made it the last place a changeling would want to be.
My food arrives after only a few minutes, I'll give the Equestrian rail service this much, they get your food order to you quickly. I pay and then concentrate on using my hooves to pick up the sandwich and take a bite of it. I really hate the little things about being an earth pony, even the simplest of things are more complicated without the use of telekinesis or wings. While carefully eating my sandwich, I notice a grey unicorn mare enter the dining car, look around a bit and then sit down in the corner next to the door she came in, something just seemed a little off about her, but I can't put my hoof on it. I dismiss it as paranoia and return my concentration to the sandwich in front of me, for train food it was surprisingly good, but not as surprising as the fact that I managed to eat the thing with my hooves without losing any of it.
The train pulls into Ponyville station and I watch as ponies get on and off while snacking on some hay fries, seeing if I can spot anything interesting from my vantage point that may give me a clue about the recent goings on, however nothing seems to catch my eye, just another generic small pony town. After about five minutes the train pulls out of the station to its final destination Las Pegasus. I'll be back in Ponyville soon enough anyway, in order to get to Canterlot from Las Pegasus I have to back track through Ponyville, maybe I'll see something then.
The next stage of the journey is going to take a few hours so after finishing up my lunch, I get up and trot back through the carriages to where I had originally sat. I could have stayed in the dinning car, but that would have been seen as impolite to other ponies who may want to eat at a table so it's best to move on. Upon returning to my original carriage, it looked like no pony else had settled in the carriage at Ponyville so I sit my original seat; I'm a creature of habit.
Normally a pony would use this stretch of time to rest or read, now, while taking a nap sounded like a good idea, I had by this stage been awake for two days and that was a long time for Changeling’s. There are however certain drawbacks to changelings going to sleep, certainly while in the field. When a changeling sleeps any skin it might be wearing will dissipate revealing its true form, so a quick nap on a train was out of the question for me. I'll have to find a place to rest in Las Pegasus before the next stage of my journey.
This left me with reading, I'd already read the newspaper I picked up in Dodge Junction three times trying to ferret out additional information so I really couldn't be bothered with reading it again, then there was the book I'd been given, and I use the term book generously, the mere thought of trying to read through such blatant propaganda again made my stomach turn.
There's always a third option, stare off into the middle distance and contemplate how screwed I'm going to be when I'm inevitably captured trying to enter the most heavily defended city in the Pony empire. After coming up with at least twenty five different and uniquely horrifying ways I might be tortured upon capture I decide it's probably better to turn my creative mind towards something more constructive; namely coming up with a decent disguise and back story for myself.
Well, I'd already worked out that I was going to be a unicorn, but that's only the start. Why was I coming to Canterlot? Where had I come from? What's my purpose in life? These are all aspects of a life I had to construct before I leave Las Pegasus, as they would then inform my physical appearance, or at least my cutie mark.
Starting with a Unicorn race, they are outwardly the least physically powerful of the pony races, instead relying on cunning and magical talent to define themselves. I should go with a more intellectual talent, perhaps a cutie mark with a quill or book. That would give me an excuse to spend more time with books gathering information for the Hive, and no one would think anything of it because it's my talent. The talent also lends itself to not being too magically powerful which suits me as only one Changeling could ever perform more than the levitation magic, and unfortunately I am not the Queen.
That seems like a reasonable enough talent to start with and it can be used as a bit of a back story, I'm visiting Canterlot to see what I can learn, not far from the truth, or at least what I think my mission will be once I receive further orders, that is if I live long enough to receive further orders.
Next I'll need to figure out the rest of my skin, I take a moment to casually glance around the carriage carefully taking a note of the various mane styles and coats; it's then I notice the same grey unicorn mare from the dining car at the other end of the carriage, I must have been so caught up with my thinking that I didn't notice her enter earlier. She seems to be watching me and when I look at her, she quickly looks out the window. Maybe it's the hat and coat, I'll be the first to admit that they are a bit flamboyant, but they lend support to the idea that I'm a prospector.
Maybe she just likes the skin I'm wearing and hasn't worked up the courage to say hello yet, or far more reasonably she's following me because she is working for Equestrian intelligence and my cover has been blown.
I start to panic, if that's true, I would be the first changeling to be captured since these expeditions began, the Hive would be uncovered and all the changeling’s syntactically slaughtered. My chest becomes tight at the mere thought of the hive being eliminated and it being my fault, what could I have done that could have tipped her off? Did I overreact to Keep too much in Dodge Junction? Did someone see me change my skin on the way into town? Was it some little faux pas I'd made that had given me away. My mind began to spiral off as the ever present nervousness at being in the outside world rouse making me feel physically ill.
No, get a hold of yourself, you don't know what she is doing here, it could be just a coincidence, and until you know more I need to act natural, otherwise you will give yourself away. I take a deep breath and hold it, steadying my nerves, then exhale all the tension building up in me.
The rest of the train journey to Las Pegasus was an unpleasant mix of trying to keep myself calm, and trying to look like that I'm ignoring the grey unicorn mare while at the same time keeping an eye on her to see if she did anything else. Largely she spent the trip looking out the window watching the scenery go by, but occasionally she would glance in my direction., as if checking I was still here.
The train finally arrived into Las Pegasus in the early evening just as the sun was setting. Las Pegasus despite its name was actually founded by earth ponies and consisted of a heavily built up city laid out on a grid pattern, fortunately a good place to lose someone.
I make sure to take my time getting up to leave the train to see if the grey mare would leave before me, she didn't, which only made me more nervous. I exited the carriage through the door behind me far from the grey mare, quickly leaving the train and moving into the crowds at the station in an attempt to become lost amongst the ponies. There was just one problem with this, a Stetson, while fairly common in places like Dodge Junction were a lot less common in Las Pegasus, so no matter how hard I try, I still stick out like a sore hoof in this crowd.
I glance back at the train, to see the grey mare just getting off the train and heading in my direction, that's it, there is no doubt any more she is following me, I'm going to have to ditch my hat and coat as soon as possible. Making my way to the nearest exit from the station, no easy feat as judging by the number of ponies about it must be rush hour. I emerge from one of the smaller side entrances to the station, turning left I walk casually down the street as if I don't have a care in the world , while in reality I'm trying not to let my panic get the better of me, at the end of the street I turn right walking away from the station and glance back at the street I just came from. The grey mare is still following me, keeping a good distance away from me to give the impression that she isn't following me; I can use this to my advantage.
Continuing down the street, I make sure I leave enough time for the grey mare to round the last corner and catch sight of me before I head down a quiet side street on my right. Breaking into a gallop I then take the next left and then a right, finding myself in a deserted alley with large bins scattered about, I dash over to one of the more distant bins, take my hat and coat off shove them both into a bin. Closing the lid carefully to avoid making a sound I duck down behind the bin and wait.
A few minutes later I hear the sound of hooves moving rapidly on the paved streets, the sound slows as she gets closer, she's at the junction to the alley, from the sound of her panting she must have been down a few streets looking for me before finding this one. She stops about half way into the alley less than ten metres from my hiding spot. I stop breathing and hold myself perfectly still waiting.
After what feels like hours, but what could only have been a minute she starts moving again and then breaks into a gallop the noise of her hooves getting quieter, I glance out from behind my hiding place to just catch sight of her tail as she disappears around the corner.
Letting out the breath I'd been holding I almost melt onto the pavement as the tension in my body is released. I realise then how tired I am, and I'm almost tempted to fall asleep on the street, but that would not be a good idea.
Waiting a few minutes to ensure the grey mare is gone, I walk to the end of the alley and look around the corner to ensure that she is actually gone. I can't see her in the dim light so I head back in the opposite direction to where she went onto the main street. My next priority; finding a hotel room where I can safely shed by skin and recharge.