Interlude: I Am Free To Map Out My Own Destiny
I have been called many things in my life, some of which cannot be repeated in polite company. In fact, there is a great deal of it that cannot be repeated, even in the most vulgar and obscene of company, to be honest with you. I have been called scum, dung, slime, freak, monster, vermin, fiend, aberration, abomination, and a thousand things far worse. The one I have heard the most often though, is 'changeling', and often in a way that is intended to be taken as an insult. It is a terrible thing, when the name of your own species can be made into a slur against your own species. It's even worse if you don't have a name to call your own.
I am a changeling. I was born because a squirrel threw a rotten acorn into a pond of polluted and foetid marsh water. Said pool was filled with the skeletons of ponies, unicorns in particular, and the tree that grew in that pool gorged itself on the mosquitoes which called that marsh home. Then, a wizard named Starswirl, while passing by, nailed a notice to keep away from the tree, suspecting that it was magical in nature. Had he been wiser, he would have used an axe, instead, and then burned the tree down to the roots. Instead, his nail cracked open the tree, and changelings were vomited out into this world.
I was not the first to come spewing forth from that foul tree. I was the last. Dead last. And that, perhaps, may explain why, unlike my siblings, I am different. Whatever foulness had inhabited that vile tree had run out by the time I had emerged, and instead, I was left, if not utterly uncorrupted, then less so than the rest of my kind. Perhaps I am wrong, and instead, there are others like me, and like me, they did not risk letting it show. Why? Because of our queen, may her black heart burst in her chest.
I will not tarry on the nature of the queen, for her flaws are the stuff of legend. She is vain, prideful, cruel, vengeful, and a thousand more things that I cannot put into words, as Equine has not the vocabulary to do her wretched nature justice. What I will say is that, if she were to suddenly keel over dead, right this instant, then the overall goodness of the world entire would be improved in a small, yet measurable, way. Instead, my kind is forced to follow her commands. And yet... as much as I despise her, I will not fault her for disloyalty: She may be the scum of scum, but she had watched over us, kept us fed. She leads from the front in battle, rather than watching from safety. Bah, I'll say nothing further. I despise her, as she is utterly despicable, but she was the only queen we had, and I suppose we could have had worse.
As I said, I am an aberration among a species of abominations: Where my kind are slavishly obedient, blindly loyal, and viciously cruel, I am perceptive. I am thoughtful, analytical, even artistic at times. However, that does not make me weaker than my kin.
My first memory, upon emerging from that black and twisted tree, was the face of another changeling. Before I could say or do anything, it hissed in my face with such malice that I had thought, for a heartbeat, that I faced a creature of a completely different species, a predator ready to lunge for my throat. My first instinct was to punch it in the face as hard as I could. This proved to be an appropriate response: There were, oh, about a dozen changelings who had failed the 'Hiss' test, and had, in fact, been so slain, their corpses left to fertilize the tree.
The queen's idea. She came out, dark, cruel, and hungry, and she wanted an army ready to follow her, a fierce and terrible army. She would accept no weakness, and anybuggy who was not ready to come out swinging did not deserve to live. I... suppose she might, in her own twisted way, have had the right idea: We were spewed forth into a world that did not want us. We were an abomination, an abhorred vileness to be feared and despised. The weak would not survive such an existence.
We do not age, we are absurdly resilient, and we do not sicken. Some among our number use this as proof that we are a superior species. I fear the truth is that not even death itself wants us. We exist outside the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, and when the sun finally goes out, when all other things have died, then we will be able to do naught but stare out at a dead and barren world until eternity's end, wishing for a death that will not soil itself with our ilk...
It was while nursing such black thoughts, a century and a score after my birth, and a few weeks after the sun and moon collided, that I first met... her.
The swarm and I were prowling through a settlement, hoping to find some vestige of life, a smidgen of love to feed upon. We were much too late, however: The fiends had come and gone, leaving ruin in their wake. Crunch the Stone Hound had been here, to judge by the statues we found, as had others, I suspect. It would be weeks, still, before Diretusk Subjugated the fiend, and in the meantime, the fiend did not hesitate to turn any pony he saw into stone. Even... even the foals, the colts and fillies...
I'm sorry, I need a moment... alright.
I had ranged far from the rest of the swarm, out on the outskirts of the village. It was quiet there, and if I looked away from the village, towards the forest, I could almost pretend I was alone, someplace peaceful. That is why, I think, I was able to hear her crying.
Surprised, I ventured towards the sound, and came upon a sad scene: A little filly, crying over a pile of stones. I quickly saw that these 'stones' were, in fact, the remnants of a group of petrified ponies who had been shattered. Likely, there had been an argument among the fiends, one that had come to blows, and in the fracas, the ponies here had become collateral damage...
She'd not seen me, thankfully, else this story might have gone much differently. I took cover, and considered my options...
If I collected her and took her to the queen, then the filly would be drained of love, and left weakened and defenseless against whatever else might come to the village when the sun went down. I might, I suppose, have received a reward from the queen, but that meant less than nothing to me. If I left her where she was, well...
I do, in fact, have a conscience. It was why, when in battle, I did my best to keep the harm I did to others to a minimum, and why I never took so much love that it left a pony crippled or permanently harmed. As a changeling, I had to do what I had to in order to survive. Life never gave us anything, after all. Still...
The idea of leaving a little filly, alone and defenseless, just did not sit well with me.
I took the shape of an earth pony, one whose overall appearance could be considered plain. A dull brown coat, a darker shade for my mane and tail, both unstyled and unadorned, but with bright green eyes, I looked like any mare in any village in the world. I noted a cloak that had likely come off of one of the ponies nearby, a bright green with a hood, with a clasp of silver, in the shape of an acorn. I took inspiration from that as I put it on, and gave myself an acorn cutie mark. I very quiety stole up to the little filly, and gently put a hoof against her mouth, holding her gently, but firmly, while stifling her cries.
"There are monsters in the village," I whispered in her ear, my voice gentle, and sweet, but not overly so, "and they may be upon us at any moment." I added, with a sincerity I did not have to fake, "I am sorry for your loss, but we cannot tarry hear. We must be away."
She relaxed, after a moment's hesitation, and then I felt her nod.
I whispered, "We're going to walk to the tree line over there, and then, as soon as we've passed out of sight, we run. Understand?"
She nodded, and we did just that.
--------------------------------------------------
Once we were far enough away from the village, we took a more measured pace until sunset, and then we made camp, although I insisted that we forego a campfire: The swarm avoided the forests these days, due to the slim pickings that we found there, but it was better to be safe than to be sorry. After all, the fiends might still be about.
As we laid down, and the little one snuggled under my purloined cloak for warmth, I asked her, "What's your name, little one?"
"Ginger Ale," she whispered. "You?"
"Acorn," I said simply. "Just Acorn." Changelings don't have names, barring the queen, and Acorn was as good a name as any. Besides, there had to be several dozen Acorns in Equestria: It is a painfully common name.
"Nice to meet you, Acorn Just Acorn," she whispered, and snuggled against me... then stopped. "You're hard," she said, surprised.
Sadly, changelings, when they change, can only project an illusion: We still remain an insectile thing on the inside. "Sorry."
"It's okay," GInger said, snuggling up again. "Mommy and daddy were soft, and that's why the mean doggy took them away." She sniffled, wiped at her nose, then said, "But the mean doggy won't take you away..." She paused, uncertain, and asked, "Will he?"
I smiled, and said, "He won't. I promise."
"Thank you." Ginger snuggled against me, and almost immediately went to sleep. I joined her soon after."
------------------------------------
We awoke to the sound of approaching hoofsteps. I felt a moment of panic, but it passed swiftly: Changelings would not have approached so quickly: For all our natural armor, we're surprisingly silent when on the prowl. There were also the distinctive wingbeats of a pegasus, and the ozone scent that follows a unicorn casting a spell. I looked up, and saw what appeared to be dozens of mares approaching...
"I told you that those were pony tracks," a unicorn said, brightly. She seemed familiar, and it took me a moment to realize why: She could only be Sparkling Sunset, Clover the Clever's apprentice. I, as did many changelings, kept up to date on current events, including potentially dangerous ponies. The apprentice of a powerful wizard almost certainly qualified as such. "And you said that there would be no survivors."
"Yeah," said a crystal pegasus flying beside her, "We only saw the filly's tracks. Why didn't we..." The flier paused, seeming to see me for the first time, and then focused her gaze on the clasp of my cloak. "Oh," she said, surprised, "A forester. That's why."
I'd not realized it before, but the cloak I wore had to have belonged to a forester, or at least the descendants of one: Foresters are rare these days, the ponies who venture into the deep forests in search of adventure and profit. A skilled forester can follow a dangerous animal for weeks, without being scented, and leave no trail when she walks, even in desert sand or swamp mud. Masters were said to be able to turn invisible in the forests, and could track a monster by the smell of its breath alone, even when it was upwind and a league away. As a cover, I suppose it worked.
I nodded, and said, "Aye. I came across Ginger's village yesterday," I said gesturing towards the little filly. "It was too late to save anyone else, and changelings were prowling the wreckage. We decided to run for it. I'm glad it's you who found us, and not Crunch or the bugs." I paused, and added, "But what are you doing here?"
The explanation was simple, and as soon as they mentioned their hope that, when Sombra was raised, he might be able to stop the fiends and fix the sun, I quickly became determined to join them in their quest: Unlike my kin, and my queen, I could look further than my next meal, and what I saw worried me greatly.
The sun, in its current state, could possibly go out at any time. The sun and moon colliding had never happened before, or course, so there was no telling how long things would remain as they were. No sun meant no food, and no food meant no ponies, or life of any kind. No life meant no love. I'm not stupidly evil like my kin, and while I am not, in all honesty, a good creature, I practice what I like to consider rational self-interest: Even if the sun wasn't at risk of going out, tt is a whole lot easier to gather love in a peaceful kingdom than it is in one like what Equestria was becoming. If Equestria was restored to peace and prosperity, then there would be love in abundance. Otherwise, even if the sun never went out, then the chaos, destruction, and strife that rocked the kingdom could render the land almost completely loveless. Changelings cannot die of starvation: An absence causes us to go into a state of hibernation instead. However, being hungry is no fun, and an eternity of starvation pains would not be fun at all. If I wanted to avoid that, I needed peace to return.
"I'll need to make sure you're a virgin, first," Sunset said as she pulled out a talisman from a small sack. In truth, it was a plain, colorless stone, but I could feel the magic in it. "Not that I don't trust you, but there was this one mare who swore up and down that she was one, but only because... well, you have to be pure in every way..." She blushed, embarrassed...
"The mare had been giving away 'Salt Licks' for five bits a pop," the pegasus, one Ladyhawke, announced in annoyance. "We had to sit her down and explain to her that, yes, in the mouth counts as well, even if you don't swallow. We need complete virgins, not technical ones." She blushed, but only slightly. If memory served, Lady had been a lieutenant serving under the famed Commander Hurricane until the final battle, and she had fled, under her commander's orders, the moment it became clear that the might of the Equestrian army meant nothing before the combined might of the fiends. Soldiers are an earthy lot, even the ones with wings.
I didn't have anything to fear in that department: Changelings, barring the queen, are neutral, neither male nor female.
"We... also have to make sure you're a pony," Sunset added nervously. "We had a diamond dog pretending to be a pony last week, using a disguise spell so she could join us. I didn't blame her for trying: The dogs have been having a harder time of it than most." Before I could raise any objections, Sunset quickly passed the charm over my head, and, as it began to glow green, she said, "Perfectly fine. My mentor turned this thing so that it would only glow for ponies who would qualify for the ritual. You're just what we need." Passing the charm over Ginger, and nodding as it glowed, she said, "It never hurts to check. So, if you two will come with us, we'll have numbers ninety-seven and ninety-eight. Ten more to go."
I suppose I was pony enough, and mare-ish enough, to qualify for the ritual. I nodded, and said, "I'm with you."
-------------------------------------
In the weeks between then and the performance of the ritual, I have been called many things: Forester, ranger, scout, seeker, friend, comrade, and in the case of one little filly, sister. I find that far more pleasant than anything else I've ever been called in my life as a changeling. I do not know how long this masquerade will last, but I have done my part to contribute. Sombra has risen, and as I watch him do battle with the fiend, I know that I did the right thing. A being with power like his could certainly set the world on its proper path.
I suspect, one day, the queen may notice my disappearance, and seek me out. Or perhaps not: She counts her subjects rarely, and shows little concern for individuals, looking more to our species as a whole. However, if she does seek me out, intent upon dealing out punishment, I will not be afraid. I will go to her with my head held high, confident that I have done at least one, no, two things that made the world a better place: I brought back King Sombra so that he can save Equestria, and I saved the life of a little filly. That is more than a changeling like I could ever have dreamed of...
And before Queen Chrysallis kills me, I swear to you, I will spit in that lanky nag's rutting eyes, and grin right in her face before she takes my head.
Stats
Page generated in 0.052 seconds
Total duration
912 users online
1,399,698 hits today, 2,280,440 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
INTERLUDE UP!!!
I really like this style. Giving us a glance into the background of a soon-to-be relavent character before we really get the chance to see them step up in the main plot.
...The fact that the diamond dog couldn't come along makes me mildly sad even if they didn't qualify for the ritual.
But then I happen to like diamond dogs.
Also there's some gender confusion there as sunset refers to the diamond dog as 'she' in one sentence and 'him' in the next. You might want to clarify/fix that.
Although I do find the idea that a male diamond dog was disguised as a female pony quite amusing.
I love your stories, and am always happy, in a bittersweet sort of way, when they are complete.
5941969 WHY DO YOU ALWAYS, ALWAYS TAKE FIRST COMMENT!?
Also, Acorn is awesome now!
5942149 Because he is the author and it is his right to be first commenter if he wants to be.
But anyways, I would LOVE to see Queen Chrysalis try to take Acorn back with SombrAmbrose around: he'd have her screaming "UNCLE!" not just in ten seconds flat, but also in 23.5 different languages!
Also looking forward to the first true meeting between Diretusk and Sombra face to face.... while it certainly won't be anything like what I had thought of weeks ago before your more recent chapters, I expect it to be epically hilarious regardless.
5942149
Its almost as if he knows when the next chapter will be posted... HE'S A WITCH!
5942263 quick, check if he weighs the same as a duck!
5942329
He's made of wood! Burn him!
So the virgins we know so far are:
-Rosy Sunset- A crystal filly with Miss Bubbles, her pegasus doll.
-Sweet Melody- A yellowish mare with neither wings nor horn, but with a long and flowing mane and tail, and cutie mark that depicted a g-clef surrounded by little pink hearts. Has blue eyes.
-Radiant Hope- A fluffy pony with dark purple in coloration, but with a splash of light blue where her mane would be. Has the ability to pull random objects out of its magical fur, including a violin and a pink surfboard.
-Ginger Ale- A filly and a lone survivor in a destroyed village.
-Acorn- A changeling who disguised herself as an earth pony with dull brown coat, a darker shade for mane and tail, both unstyled and unadorned, but with bright green eyes. Has acorn for cutie mark. Is known as a forester due to the cloak that she is wearing.
Just to let you know, I have created a notepad a while ago to keep track of characters appearing in the story. It's quite helpful IMO, especially if I want to know who these characters are and what roles they may play in the story in the future.
Just before I read this, just wanted to say:
Ambrose, minus the 'e', is an anagram of Sombra (case-insensitive).
This revelation exploderised my mind. No, that is not a word.
5942383 burn the witch!
assets.sbnation.com/assets/573638/burn_them.jpg
hurrah for minor-ish character development
Would have been nice if you had written in the description that this story was inspired by "1000 Virgin Mares, 1 Frickin' Badass Dark Overdude, Infinite Facehoofing".
That way you give the other author credit for the origin of the idea.
Sounds good to me. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
Hmm... I'm curious about your description about the mares. Did you so happen to take the 108 mares idea from the Suikoden series of 108 Stars of Destiny?
5942421 You assume that this one is inspired by said story.
Did you ever assume that these two stories might be inspired by a similair kind of story?
5942421 actually both theses storys were inspired by an anime, or at least the you referenced was, the writer said so himself.
5942098 I think it was a male diamond dog disguised as a female pony and that is why the sentence is worded that way
Which comic are you referring to in the author's note? I can't seem to find it when I look through the yayponies archives
5942699 He's referring to the last comic in this series.
5942732
Thanks it helped once I noticed that he typed FIENDship instead of FRIENDship.
A changeling... My word, you are awesome! Bonus Ducks!
This was a great interlude. A new perspective, and one that isn't hopeless from the very start.
Very good job there
5942573 Even then he didn't give information (credit) to the shared origin?
It's the same.
It's the same as not writing:
This is a crossover with X.
Hot damn. thats going to be one heck of a meeting with 'Sombra' if she chooses to reveal herself.
again i have the feeling you're gonna do more with this
5942509 108 is a number that appears often in several different cultures.
"Alright" isn't actually a word. You're thinking of "all right".
5942263 Almost as who knows when the chapter is being posted?
5942203 BACON JOKES! BACON!
5942668
That was my thought as well but I still think it could use clarification or fixing.
Also I kind of want that Diamond dog to turn up again in the main story. Preferably wearing a dress.
Sunset: "We already did the ritual and you aren't even wearing a magical disguise this time. Why are you wearing a dress?"
Diamond Dog: It makes me feel pretty, okay."
can't say I've heard that expresion. Maybe you meant "here"?
"It is"? "It's"?
"Salt licks"...
I'm done with the internet for today.
5943932
that would be epically funny
I have to say I am a hard ass when it comes to stories since I like long reads, both in chapters and overall story lenght since that is what I like most the time... Hoof in mouth good sir, hoof in mouth, because I want more chapters and I'll make sure to take a look everyday (If posible) to see if you dish out more.
5943164
Ahem. Let me point one thing out to you: Pen Mightier, the author of the Overdude story, is, in fact, fully aware of this story. I did, in fact, discuss the similarities between my story and his with the man himself. He had no problem with them. He likes this story. He has this story favorited. He is one of my followers, if I recall correctly, and he even has me listed on his profile page on his Hall Of Shout Outs. He has, in fact, made comments here, on this story, endorsing it, finding it to be incredibly entertaining. So... why are you taking offense when the author himself has not?
Now, if you want inspirations... like Pen Mightier's story, this was inspired by Shina Dark. It was also inspired by Bastard!!, a classic anime and manga (Sadly both are incomplete, and may never be finished). I actually mention both in the story itself. However, a couple of Pen Mightier's stories are inspired by animes, like the aforementioned Shina Dark, and another one is inspired by A Demon Lord At Work (Hilarious anime and manga, I highly recommend both).
Look, in summation, remember, this is fan fiction. Pen Mightier himself said that, since it is fan fiction, we really shouldn't make a big deal about whether it's similar or not. The main thing is that we enjoy what we're doing, and that our fans enjoy it, too.
Was that comic canon or not? There seems like there's a bit of an argument about it. Seems like quite a few people- fans and others- don't accept it and there does seem to be some... Inconsistencies in it...
Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask you this for a while now, but is this story going to be based on and or have elements of the IDW My Little Pony series?
With characters like Princess Amore, The Nightmare Forces, Sendak, The Mermares, and Larry from the comic series possibly being featured?
And since it was alluded that the Mirror Equestria thing already happened in the story, does this mean it's gonna be a ploy point some time in the future?
Lastly, did something happen to Sombra's soul when he died? He seems a lot more, well, 'in control' (for lack of a better word) of his actions as well as less tyrannical compared to the last time he was alive (in the comics). And does he still have his connections to the Umbrum Forces?
I think that's all the questions I have for now. This was a nice chapter, and it'll be interesting to see what happens to Acorn the Changeling after SombrAmbrose's showdown with Dirabus. Keep up the awesomeness bro.
And virgin enough, apparently, which clarifies a few things, I guess. Alas, so much for all the cracks about eating "love" that Zombra could have been making.
The more I think about this, though, the more I wonder why they didn't just take a dozen or two of those virgins and use them to blow up Little King Oinksalot to kingdom come that way, if blood magic is really that powerful. Distasteful maybe, but still kinda seems preferable to resurrecting Unicorn Hitler and causing even more death down the line when you eventually lose control of him.
5946982 ok, so you blew up the pig with a ritual, good job. Now there are how many other fiends out there and you've done a blood ritual already. Do I know how those work? No, but I'm assuming you can't just throw them out like candy.
Bonus to my interest in the story for a changeling!
5947329
I don't see why not. Virgins aren't that rare - and if you get really desperate you can even make your own. Although the production process does take a while to complete, I suppose.
5947347 I guess that could work. I mean the first girls don't have to be virgins anymore, right? However, this is subject to diminishing returns as we'll. not every kid will be female. At least I hope not. And pregnancy will last around a year, and that's not including a cool down period. I don't think any female would want to constantly pop out babies. Then there's the whole "do you mind if we use your daughters in a blood ritual?" Thing.
5947361
Well, "last chance for the survival of the species" and such, I suppose. Needs must when the devil drives. Can't make an omelette without sacrificing a few dozen newborn babies.
5947370 I don't know what's worse. That comment or the fact I barely suppressed my laughter at it.
5947377
And I didn't even get to point out yet that fetuses develop genitals by the third month and are technically fully anatomically complete virgins by that point.
5947392
The main problem with the use of blood magic is that it is not, strictly speaking, a well-studied magic source in Equestria. That's mainly due to the extreme amount of power that it unleashes. Since it is not well studied, how to control it is also not well understood. Even if properly used, it can be the magical equivalent of a nuke, causing widespread devastation and poisoning the land for decades at a time. If control is lost, it's worse. Much worse.. So, they could either use a ritual that was understood to bring Sombra back, or risk using the equivalent of a nuclear weapon on their own soil, and if it goes out of control, well, congratulations, the bad guys don't want your homeland anymore. Unfortunately, you just wiped out 99% of your population.
Great chapter. I think you covered the changling origins from the comic pretty well, the only thing I wanted to add was that one mosquito bit Starswirl, I assume that particular mosquito was the one who turned into Chrysalis, while the others became regular changlings.
5949815
If you've ever seen a pitbull, especially one that is a trained fighter, and most especially if it is a rabid one, then you'd understand how that's almost completely impossible: A pit bull can crush a human skull with its jaws, even under normal circumstances. Throw in one that is used to brutal, bloody battles, and has been driven mad by rabies, and you have a monster that, if you tried to grab it, would bite off your hands and eat them. The world record for largest pitbull is 173 lbs. Our rabid little monster was at 150. That's as much as a person weighs, and most of it muscle. Her father might have tried what you suggested, had he been given an instant to think, but the brute was too big, too strong, too fast, and too crazy for him to do much more than slow it down.
An enjoyable nibble before the next chapter. Also, Acorn is pretty awesome.
5949834 5943932 5942668
I'm curious about the Diamond Dog is he somewhere on the ship? And I think it would be interesting to see a cross-dressing Diamond Dog as part of the crew.