An Unexpected Friendship

by LordLycaon

Strange Hospitality

He groaned slightly as light struck his face, prompting him to wake up rather abruptly. He opened his dark green eyes to see where he was. And he was immediately confused by his surroundings. He had expected to wake up in the forest, lying by that rock that had broken his leg. But he wasn't in a forest. He was in what was clearly a bedroom, lying on a fairly comfortable mattress and covered with a light green blanket. From the look of the room, he could only guess that he was in a cottage of some kind. It felt cozy enough, he assumed.

Who brought him here? And why? Did someone find him and take pity on him? Not likely. No one outside of the swarm even liked changelings. So that only really left him with one question: why?

Before he could muse any further, the door to the bedroom opened, and in walked a cream-yellow pegasus pony with a bright pink mane and tail. Immediately, he jumped out of the bed and hissed at her defensively, startling the mare into leaping back a good three feet. As he touched the floor, however, he grunted in pain as his leg buckled under the sudden weight.

He hissed again, not in another attempt at intimidation, but in pain. He had already forgotten that his leg was broken. He moved to examine it, and was quickly dumbfounded when he saw it bandaged and wrapped in a makeshift cast. His other injuries had also apparently been treated to some extent. His cuts and scrapes had been bandaged as well, and his bruises appeared to be in slightly better condition. He faced the still-startled mare, confusion evident in his glare.

The mare gulped a little, obviously frightened. "Um…" she muttered. "I… er… I didn't know you were awake. Are you… all right?"

He snarled instinctively. "Who are you?" he demanded. "Where am I? Why did you bring me here?" The mare backed up a step at his tone. She gulped again.

"W-well, I-I found you unconscious in the Everfree Forest. You were hurt, a-and I couldn't just leave you there."

He raised an eyebrow. "You tended to my wounds?" The mare hesitated only briefly before nodding. "I… see."

Silence dominated. The pony and the changeling stood there, watching each other, almost as though they were both waiting for the other to say or do something first. But the silence only continued to reign. It steadily devolved from a tense, cold quiet, to something more along the lines of just awkward soundlessness.

"My name is Fluttershy," the mare suddenly timidly blurted out, breaking the quiet.

"What?"

"W-well, you asked who I was," she explained. "I'm Fluttershy. I'm an animal caretaker. Um… wh-what's your name?"

The changeling narrowed his eyes at her and frowned. "None of your business, pony," he said harshly.

"O-oh, um… okay then. You can tell whenever you feel ready to."

The changeling merely rolled his eyes in response and limped his way into a corner, keeping an eye on Fluttershy the whole time. He sat there, watching her as though he suspected that she would try to attack him if he ever dropped his guard.

'He's scared,' Fluttershy surmised. She had seen many animals act in much the same way. Mostly predators and omnivores, though. Many of the animals she cared for now had been suspicious of her until she eventually gained their trust by caring for them. "Well, um, would you like something to eat? I'm sure I could find something for you."

The changeling raised an eyebrow at her again. "My people feed on emotion," he stated flatly. "We don't have need for-" He was interrupted when his stomach growled. He frowned again, but sighed in defeat. "Okay, yeah, we need solid food, too."

Fluttershy couldn't help but giggle at that. She stopped when the changeling hissed at her yet again. She gave an awkward smile and stepped out of the room. "I'll just get you some things, then," she said as she closed the door behind her.

With the mare finally gone, the changeling gave a sigh of slight relief and looked around the room. He briefly considered fleeing the cottage, but that idea was quickly shot away. He wouldn't get very far in his current condition. He cursed his rotten luck. Things never seemed to go his way. First he gets lost in the Everfree, then gets chased by a blood-thirsty chimera, then he ends up passing out and waking up in some pony's house.

Come to think of it, she seems a bit familiar. Have I seen her somewhere before? Was she one of the ponies in Canterlot?

He thought on that for a while, trying to figure out where he might've seen the pegasus from. Eventually, he shook his head. It was probably nothing.

-o-

Fluttershy flew about in her kitchen in a rush, trying to find something that changelings could eat, something that wouldn't poison her… guest. And as she went around her home, she inevitably got back to thinking about how crazy this was. Housing and caring for an injured changeling? It was insane! She should've brought him to Twilight to have her inform the other princesses about his presence! But he looked so helpless and weak. She couldn't leave him out there in that horrible forest. Something would've gotten him.

That brought her to wondering just how he had gotten so injured in the first place. Did he have an unfortunate run-in with an angry predator? Was he just clumsy? Or did the other changelings do that to him? Considering how ruthless they were in their invasion of Canterlot, it honestly wouldn't surprise her. That didn't stop her from loathing the idea, though.

She gave up wondering about it as she gathered several items of food, ranging from fruits and vegetables that she grew in her garden to – and she shuddered at this – meat that she bought from a griffin merchant who had recently moved into town. She gagged at the smell of the cut animal flesh. She understood that some animals could only eat meat, of course, but that didn't make her appreciate it any.

She stacked the foodstuffs onto a tray in a neat, orderly fashion and balanced it on her back, then left the kitchen to head for the guest room where she had left the changeling.

Knock, knock, knock.

Fluttershy jumped at the sudden knock at her door. She let out a sigh of relief with the knowledge that that was all it was and set the tray of food down on a nearby table and went to answer the door. She was greeted by none other than a familiar lavender alicorn.

"Hey, Fluttershy," Twilight said, followed by a "who" from her pet owl Owlowicious.

"Oh, good afternoon," Fluttershy greeted with a welcoming smile. "Can I help you, Twilight?"

"Yes, actually. Princess Celestia summoned me for an important summit that I need to attend. Her letter said that I should learn how to deal with foreign politicians and stuff like that. I just came by to drop off Owlowicious here. If you don't mind, that is."

"Oh, of course I'll take care of him," the pegasus mare replied happily as the owl flew over and roosted on peg on a birdhouse inside her cottage. "You won't have to worry about a thing."

"Thanks, Fluttershy. I should be back by tomorrow. I'll see you…" The young alicorn raised an eyebrow suddenly, sniffing the air. "What's that smell?"

"Smell?" Fluttershy inquired. Her eyes widened in realization. The meat! "Oh, um, it's just a… special kind of feed that I found recently. It doesn't smell very pleasant, but some of my animal friends really enjoy it." She gave an awkward smile then, hoping that the other mare would buy it.

Twilight gave her friend an incredulous look, but shrugged. "Well, you know animals better than I do," she admitted as she turned to leave. "I'll see you tomorrow!" With that, she trotted off, then stopped and flapped her wings a bit before shakily taking to the sky and flying off… crashing only once this time.

Fluttershy giggled a bit and closed the door behind her, then face Owlowicious, who tilted his head a little to the left.

"Well, make yourself at home," the mare said with a smile. "I have to go… er… tend to a… guest." That said, she hurried over to the tray of food, picked it up in her hooves, and flew over to the guest room.

The changeling was still sitting in his corner. His gaze barreled down on her almost instantly, making her visibly cringe. Reluctantly, she flew closer to him, set the tray of food down in front of him, and flew back a few feet, sitting down on the floor ahead of him. "I didn't know what you liked," she admitted, "so I brought you a few things. Berries, apples, carrots, lettuce… m-meat."

The changeling looked down at the assorted food for a moment, then back at Fluttershy. He scooted a little closer to the food and started eating just about everything on the plate. Even the meat.

'So changelings are omnivorous,' Fluttershy thought, her curiosity piqued somewhat. She had always had a habit of being fascinated by new creatures, no matter how dangerous they were. She had to admit, she had actually been a bit curious about the changelings ever since the incident at Canterlot, even if they were more than a little frightening.

"Um… Mr. Changeling?" she squeaked, getting the changeling's attention. "Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?" He was quiet. He was probably contemplating whether to answer her or not. "I mean, you don't have to if you-"

"Glaive."

"What?"

"My name," he clarified. "It's Glaive. Don't call me 'Mr. Changeling.' That borders on racism. How would you feel if I called you Ms. Pegasus Pony?"

"Oh," the timid mare replied, a bit taken aback by the changeling's reaction. "Um… okay, er, Mr. Glaive. Would you-?"

"If you have questions, just spit them out already," Glaive said gruffly as he tore a piece of meat in half. He began chewing on one of the pieces or meat, which Fluttershy cringed at the sight of. "Just don't dig too deep. I won't answer any questions about the swarm. And no personal questions. Keep it simple."

"Um… all right." Fluttershy hesitated. For a while, she watched as Glaive ate. Then she managed to finally word a question. "Why do changelings feed on emotion? You seem to be able to eat normal food just fine."

The changeling looked down at what was left of his meal. Only a few scraps remained. "It's… a bit complicated. Changelings digest physical food rapidly. We don't get many nutrients from it. So we feed on emotions to make up for it. You'd be surprised just how much sodium you can ingest by feeding off of some pony's sadness. But, of course, the emotion you call love is the healthiest and most nourishing."

"Wait. Different emotions have different benefits?"

Glaive raised an eyebrow at the mare. "That's how it works with the food you eat, isn't it? You shouldn't be surprised."

"Oh. Um. Okay." Fluttershy was about to ask what different emotions did for a changeling's health, but a frightened "who" stopped her train of thought. She turned to the door to see Owlowicious standing there, staring at Glaive with wider eyes than usual, terror evident on his face.

"Oh, no!" the mare said, terrified that the owl might somehow get word out about her harboring a changeling of all things in her cottage. She hurried over to the panicking bird. "Owlowicious, please calm down! Mr. Glaive was hurt! I couldn't leave him all alone out there!"

"You can stop calling me 'mister,' you know."

Owlowicious flapped his wings violently to get out of the cottage, but was caught by Fluttershy. As the owl struggled to break out of her grasp, the caretaker tried to ease his worries with assurances that Glaive wouldn't hurt him (but the fact that Glaive kept saying "no promises" didn't exactly help). Eventually, the changeling himself rolled his eyes in irritation and let his horn glow with a bright green light.

Suddenly, Owlowicious' eyes flashed green for just an instant, then he fell limp in Fluttershy's forelegs. Though she panicked at first, she calmed down when she realized that the bird was merely asleep. She turned to thank Glaive, but froze when she saw him holding his head and groaning as though he were in significant pain.

"Oh, my!" Fluttershy said worriedly. She carefully set Owlowicious down on the nearby bed, then hurried over to the changeling. "Are you all right? What happened?"

He glared at her, making step back in fear and surprise. "What do you care?"

"I…" She hesitated again. "I was just… worried, is all."

Glaive's harsh glare lightened slightly. Very slightly. He hadn't actually expected an answer, let alone one like that. Why would a pony worry at all about a changeling of all things? The two races were enemies! It had been that way even before the invasion of Canterlot! Ponies hate changelings, and changelings hate ponies! He growled audibly at his own thoughts, startling the mare in front of him.

He eyed her again, more curious than angry. But couldn't let either of those cloud his judgment. "Just leave me alone," he finally said.

"Oh. All right." Fluttershy scooped up the tray that Glaive had eaten from and placed it on her back, then picked up Owlowicious off the bed and left the room, this time making sure to close the door behind her.

After putting Owlowicious into a cozy little bed she had made specifically for sick birds, she went over to her kitchen to clean off the tray. As she did so, she heard the familiar thumping of Angel's foot behind her. He had his forelegs crossed over his chest, and had an expression that said all he would've needed to say:

"What the hay are you doing, Fluttershy?"

She sighed in response to her beloved bunny. "I don't know, Angel. I really don't."