//------------------------------// // New World, New Body, New Name (1) // Story: Volde the Changeling // by Hawkeye //------------------------------// Edited by TwahlahtSporkle What happened...? Why the fuck does my head hurt so goddamn much? I felt weak... much more so than usual, and that was on top of the blistering headache I had. I tried, despite the headache, to open my eyes, to brave the light that would come flying into them. Problem was, my eyelids felt heavy as all hell and I couldn’t for the life of me open them. I tried and tried but they would not open. Not a single part of my body was responding to the commands that my brain made. Great, just great. How long is this going to fucking take? All right, clearly I’ve been drugged or something. Time to put in the effort to fucking do something. Damn, that guy is one sick bastard. I know he drugged me somehow, no way did I actually float up to, and fall through the ceiling. That isn’t physically possible. I pushed as hard as I could to try and move even one part of my body, I started with my eyes at first, to no avail. After I couldn’t open my eyes automatically, I figured I’d have to use my hands and open them manually, but, my hands were completely numb, in fact, it felt like I didn’t have any hands at all. All in due time, I thought. I tried hard to free my hands from the extreme numbness that had obviously come over them from the drugs, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t feel any fingers there. It was almost as if there really weren’t any. Did that sick fuck cut off my fingers? A wave of panic shot through me at that very moment. And at said moment, my eyes shot open, all on their own. I dared not blink, lest I not be able to open them again. Everything I saw was slightly tinted a cyan shade. I wasn’t sure where I was, or what was wrong with my vision. I seemed to be on a calm riverbank, perfect place to have a look at myself and see what was wrong with me. As I looked down into the water, something that wasn’t me looked back. Oh glory of glories. Oh heavenly testament to the eternal majesty of god’s creation... “HOLY MACARONI!” I blurted out in a voice that was not my own. I immediately shut my mouth after uttering those words. My voice, it was different, scratchy and chittery, almost like a bug. The voice fit the face that was now staring back at me. Jet black skin, pointy, curved horn, twin, pearly-white fangs coming out of my mouth, two equine-like ears with a hole at the very top of my left ear, and finally, large, iris-less, cyan eyes. I was a changeling. No no no no. Not possible, I must be dreaming. A very bad, bad dream. Must cause self pain somehow to wake up. But, that means I need to learn to walk first. Shit, shit, shit. Not good. I moved my head to look at the rest of my body. Jet-black, just like my face. I had wings, wings that were like that of a fly, a bug’s wings. My legs were tucked underneath me, which would have made it all the more difficult. I would have to sway my body so that I could effectively roll onto my side, then I would roll again to prop myself up onto legs. Then... well, I’d cross that bridge when I came to it. I did my best to try and move my body, but since the only part of my body I could readily control at the moment was my head, it would have to do. I strained my new neck as I whipped it in different directions-- as if I was trying to headbutt the air. Luckily, it worked out well; my body began to sway as my head darted in two different directions, eventually plopping me onto my side and causing my legs to spring outward lazily, dangling there for the time being. That part worked just like I had hoped it would. Now the problem was... “How am I going to roll to my other side?” I promptly let my head hit the ground as I sighed in irritation. I hadn’t thought of the fact that I wouldn’t really be able to move my body with only my head when I was on my side. However, something happened when my head struck against the hard ground. It sent a shockwave of pain through my head and neck, and also one of my hind legs. I promptly felt my right hind leg kick out in reflex to the pain. I focused all of my willpower and brain power onto moving that leg. Luckily, the pain I had felt had jolted that leg to life, allowing me to control it. It was perfect; maybe with the added momentum from my leg, I could roll into a position to prop myself up into a standing position. I started to swing my leg at a somewhat awkward angle. I started to move the rest of my body a little bit, but it wasn’t much at all. I kept trying to do that until I felt a sharp, stinging pain in my leg. The angle at which I was moving it had caused it to twist slightly and caused pain to shoot all through my right hind leg... as well as my left front leg. I had gained control of another leg. Perfect! The only problem was the position it was in. I was right up against the ground, so I didn’t really have room to swing it along with my other leg. But no matter, I could work with this somehow-- I had to. At an even more awkward angle, I began to swing both of the legs I could now use. Slowly, this tipped my body over into a small roll. I was inching my way onto my back, but this wasn’t what I needed, I needed a full on quick roll onto the support of my legs. I kept trying, moving my legs more quickly at that awkward angle, wincing at the pain that coursed through my legs. Eventually, I finally managed to get into a decent roll and took the opportunity to prop myself up into a standing position as quickly as I possibly could. The two legs that were now supporting my weight were shaking from the effort of holding the rest of my body up. Now it was time to figure out what I needed to do, how to walk. But, the more important thing here was how I was going to even get control of my other two legs. Maybe if I use my body weight to swing them, it will jolt the nerves back to life. An excellent idea as always, me! I began to sway in place, dragging my two currently useless legs across the ground. It worked! My right front leg sparked to life in a sudden jolt of pain as the nerve endings came to life. I now had control of three out of my four legs. It was plenty for the time being. I had to learn to walk, now. I carefully lifted my right front leg and began to stretch it. It felt brittle- like it was going to break off at any moment. I ignored the feeling and brought the leg back down to the ground a little ahead of where it initially was. I did the same with my left front leg. However, I could not do so with my right hind leg, lest I fall due to not being able to support myself. My solution was to simply walk with my front legs, while limping with my hind leg, dragging it across the ground. I made my way over to a nearby tree slowly. When I got there, I promptly smacked my head against the tree- forgetting that I had already caused myself pain and it didn’t wake me up. “Son of a bitch!” I cried out in my new voice as my head made contact with the bark. It sent pain coursing through my entire body, this time jolting my final leg to life. I stumbled back a little bit and then surveyed my now working legs. Just as the rest of my body, they were jet-black. They were a lot like a pony’s legs except for they had multiple circular holes in them. Okay, clearly this isn’t a dream. I don’t feel like I’m on drugs, that must mean that this may very well be real. I began to think deeply then. If I’m a changeling, then that means that any ponies I come across are likely going to hate me. Assuming the royal wedding has already passed of course. Why shouldn’t it have already passed? It happened in my world, it must have passed here, as well. Okay, but even if it hasn’t for whatever reason, ponies aren’t going to know what I am and will probably be scared. Let’s face it, I’m fucking terrifying. So the only way I’ll be able to interact with the ponies is if I figure out how to change forms. Also, if I meet any other changelings at some point I’m going to need a new name, Aleksander the Changeling doesn’t exactly sound normal. Alright, what is a name that would fit this vile and disgusting appearance? A proverbial light bulb seemingly appeared over my head as it came to me. “Voldemort...” I said aloud. But it didn’t exactly click, it was a little too long for my tastes and I didn’t want to completely rip off the name. I thought for a couple more moments, thinking of different ways I could play off of the name until I finally came up with one that would be suitable. “Volde... Volde the Changeling. Yes, that’ll work just fine.” The entire time I was in the middle of a monologue I had pretty much cut out the world around me, so much so that I didn’t notice as a hungry bear had approached from behind. I didn’t know about it until it roared at me from mere inches away. Shit! Fuck! Damn it all! I just fucking got here and I’m already gonna be killed! I promptly turned around to see the very large bear that was eyeing me and licking its lips. I immediately dove down and covered my head with my bug-like hooves- thinking that they might protect me. I was practically quivering in terror as this thing hovered over me- sure I was pretty much dead. And after all that work too... I thought I was dead, that this thing was going to eat me. That was, until my horn suddenly sprang to life. Green fire shot out of it-- not at the bear, but at me- and covered my entire body for a moment, causing me to start to feel stronger, bigger even. The bear looked like it was shrinking-- but in actuality, I was growing. The bear backed up, seemingly in shock. When the flames finally cleared, I was looking the bear directly in the eyes- at the same level. I lifted my right hoof-- er, paw-- and looked at it. I now had brown fur and pretty vicious-looking claws-- I had changed into the bear that was about to eat me. Not only did I take its form, but I apparently also took its strength. I felt so much stronger than before. I stood up to my new full height, towering over the bear that was still on all fours. It felt good to be able to be on familiar ground-- to be on two feet once more. It was much easier to move on two legs rather than four, as that had been what I was used to my entire life before this. The bear stood up to meet my height, but, I promptly wound my paw up into a fist, pulled my arm back, and shot it forward as I punched the bear as hard as I-- or rather, it-- could, knocking it onto its back. I wasn’t about to kill it of course. I didn’t even know if my body could digest meat. Even then, I wasn’t going to kill an animal; I was in Equestria, damn it! What would Fluttershy think? The bear was out cold. I tried to speak but all that came out were several low growling noises. It seemed that I couldn’t talk in that form. It also occurred to me then that everything was no longer tinted cyan. I could see with their eyes rather than mine. I took the time to finally look around. I was in a clearing of a forest that I assumed to be the Everfree. There was a river nearby, the one that I had woken up in front of- it was a beautiful river, if a bit cartoony like everything else. I looked at the tree that was beside me, the one I had just bashed my head against. It was a light brown, very tall tree. The leaves were still wet with morning dew and a drop fell down from one of them and splashed onto my snout. Looking around some more revealed similar trees all around the clearing. The bear was still out cold below me. I figured I might as well leave it there and explore the forest in this form-- at least I would be safer this way. I got down on all fours and began walking into the forest. It was beautiful with its cartoony charm-- looking all around as I walked revealed so many different features of the forest, as well as some creatures that I didn’t recognize from watching the show. I could very well have just walked around for hours, just taking it all in, but, after about an hour of walking, I began to see the outline of various buildings in the distance. I was near a town. Author's Notes: I said I was going to wait for feedback on that little mini chapter I posted as a prologue, but since I got none, I figured I'd go ahead and continue this anyways. There is also a pretty obvious Simpsons reference in there, let me know if you spot it.