//------------------------------// // The Discovery // Story: The Meta-ling // by Queen Sanguine Dreams //------------------------------// Meta, the protagonist of this story, was having absolutely none of this. What was 'this' you may ask? 'This', was the gigantic wall of purple love death that was rapidly expanding towards him. "I am having absolutely none of this!" He declared. With an angry glossed black sponge hoof, he pointed to noplace in particular and shouted, "Writer! This is complete horsefeathers!" So? I'm not the one that wrote your poorly planned out invasion of a superior world power, co-ruled by two equine gods of sun and moon. What do you want me to do about it? "You're writing this story, aren't you?!" He hurriedly pointed out, the approaching wall of Deus Ex Machina slowed down to a crawl for dramatic comfort. Yes. And? "So get me out of here, Mister Wizard!" Fine. I can't very well have a story if you bite it in the first chapter, now can I? And with a few taps on the writer's iPhone, Meta the Changeling was poofed to the outskirts of Ponyville. Completely unharmed and with enough love to not immediately break the tags of our story with unwarrented misery and or strife. "Whew!" Meta exclaimed, wiping non existant sweat from his chitinous forehead. "Sure glad I figured out this was all a written medium before that love-doom semi-sphere hit me." Very fortunate. "So what now, Mister Wizard?" You really shouldn't call me that. People might google search something and come up with the wrong idea. "Well, I can't go breaking the forth wall in public all the time." This is true, but we do have the tags for it. "I'll call you Scribbles!" ... Fine. "So, Scribbles. What do we do now?" Well, you're in Ponyville. Usually changelings try to hide, end up getting discovered through incompetence or very astute observation, or just plain revealing themselves to their love interest in a gamble of trust. "But that's so cliche!" I know! I was just about to write a similar story when this idea stuck me, praise the dark one. "The who?" Don't worry your armored head about it, Meta. "So if we're going for something new, what do we do?" Well I'm not going to have you impersonate Zecora, if that rhyme of yours is any attempt. I may write stories, but im nowhere near that literary level of accomplishment. "So..." We're going to have you impersonate a pet. Specifically, Owlouicious. "Twilight's pet library owl?" Yes, thank you for the exposition. "What good will that do me?" Well, you could get into shennanigans with Spike, since he doesn't trust the bird in the first place. Honestly, who expects an Owl to be a changeling? "But I don't know anything about her library!" Oh, that is true. Hmm.... I know, I'll send you there anyway. "Wait, what? Why?!" Because of the tags, my dear Meta. The tags dictate all... ------One Poorly Constructed Time Break Later------ "This is rediculous." Hooted Meta the owl. I know it is. You'll just have to live with it. "I don't know a thing about this owl. His routines, personality, quirks, nothing!" Well that's the point, isn't it? This is a Random Comedy story. You're supposed to be delightfully awkful at your job. If you were competent, nopony would know the difference, would they? With a chirpy grumble, Meta replied, "No... But you'd better not get me killed!" I can't, Meta. Theres no Sad or Dark or even Tragic tags. Besides, you're much too fun to write out of the story so soon. Being the protagonist of the story has perks to go with the flaws, after all. "Fine, but I don't enjoy this!" I could make you enjoy this. "You said no dark tags!" Hmph. Anyway, beginning with the story. Meta was perched on a branch outside of Twilight Sparkle's Tree-brary home. The studious lavender unicorn mare of repetitive description was still in Canterlot; her story not yet having progressed to join mine at the moment. Her time was very precious, given to all the Fanfiction that was written about her in both Equestria and elsewhere, so she thoroughly enjoyed her free time. She may have spent every waking hour on camera or e-parchment being a studious by-the-book adorkable nerd, but the pressures of... Wait, this doesnt have a Sad tag. Nevermind all that, she's perfectly happy! Meta was busy trying to figure out how talons work, scratching at the window pane instead of using his beak to open the bloody window like a - there we are - smart changeling. Flying into the library, he spotted books scattered about in a complete mess. Not knowing how they were supposed to be organised, given the Dewey Decimal system was not yet invented, he decided to put the books pretty much anywhere they would fit on the shelves. Some time passed, giving Meta the opportunity to look around the library home and discover information about the Element of Story Progression. A horse doll, some books from the first season, alot of Celestia Fanfiction --written by Twilight, of course-- and predictions about a coming apocalypse to be solved with type 2 diabetes contracted from prolonged exposure to weaponised adorableness. Metalicious found a coat rack, typically absent of coats given that ponies rarely wear clothes, and used it as a perch to wait for the indirectly described star pupil of Celestia to return from her 48 minute plus commercial time adventure in Canterlot. Having nothing better to do with his time, Meta practiced shifting into various other pets around Ponyville following the picture guide I had given him off the books. "As long as this doesn't turn into some sappy 'I'm a changeling and hideous by society's standards but you still love me anyway because love isn't skin deep' stories, I'll put up with being your puppet, Scribbles." Hey, no being angsty. We don't have the tags for that.