2nd: Working Out the Bugs
The Rule of King Cocoon of the Changelings
"Welcome To Manehattan!"
The sign in front of the city looked so inviting I almost pranced in without a second though. Thankfully, my encounter with that crazy unicorn taught me that ponies do not like changelings. A perfectly understandable sentiment, but it put me in an awkward position. There was no getting home for me without help from somepony. I trusted that the ponies were decent at heart, so I planned to win their trust and show them just because I'm king of the changelings it doesn't mean I'm evil.
My first task was transforming into a pony that wouldn't draw much suspicion. I stared into a shallow puddle just outside the city limits, pondering my options. So far I've only seen three ponies, and I'll bet anything they all live here in Manehattan. It's a big city, but if somepony were to recognize me things might go south. As an avid viewer of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, I wondered if I could turn into a pony I'd seen on the show. It was worth a shot.
With an image of my target pony in my head, I issued the command to my body. I felt myself contorting as energy crackled over me. It wasn't a mystery to me why transforming was painful. All three ponies I'd seen were about half my height, bigger than a normal changeling but much smaller than me. I would be surprised if cramming my body into such a small space didn't hurt.
When the transformation completed, I looked down into the water. I was a dead ringer for Pony Joe, the doughnut vendor in Canterlot. I had hoped the transformation would come with his little cap and apron, but it seems clothing isn't part of the deal. At least I have a doughnut on my butt.
Confident in my disguise, I began heading towards the city. Seeing as being able to transform and maintaining that transformation was vital to my survival, I payed strict attention to the energy I was draining. The transformation itself cost quite a bit, but once it's done maintaining it is easy. It was weird being in a different body, but today was just a strange day. I realized the sun was getting low, indicating today would be over soon. The first thing I should do is find someplace to stay. Getting a place to stay requires money though, of which I have none.
"Stop right there!" a familiar voice snapped me out of my musings. I didn't want to turn around because I knew exactly who I was going to see. I was so close too! Three more steps and I'd be walking on the city's sidewalk!
"Turn around!" the grey unicorn demanded. I turned about ever so slowly.
Oh dear lord she looks peeved. She's got murder in her eyes and her horn looks ready to explode. She also has a bleeding cut where I nailed her in the face.
"Huh?" all of her anger disappears after she sees my face, "You're not... Wrenchell."
"No... no I am not..." I assured her. Who's Wrenchell anyway? Hold on... Wrenchell... Wrench... the stallion who's love I devoured? Come to think of it, Pony Joe has the same color scheme as that pony. He was an earth pony though, so I guess Joe's horn saved me there.
"You've got to help me!" I snapped out of my own little world as the unicorn put her bruised face up to mine, "My friends are passed out in the forest! They need help!" she pleaded with me.
"Why? What happened to them?" I already knew what happened, but I wanted to see how much this unicorn knew.
"This is crazy, but," please say call me maybe, please say call me maybe, "I think the King of Changelings devoured their love."
"That is crazy!" I tried to sound as surprised as I could. She is absolutely right though, I did go to town on their love.
"I know, but you've got to believe me! They need help!" she was serious. If their conditions are going downhill, it's all my fault.
"Regardless of what happened, if they're in trouble I'll help you," I extended my hoof in friendship. I can't just ignore Wrenchell and that mare after what I did to them. Technically they saved my life, so I should save theirs if I can. The unicorn reached out and shook my hoof. What an odd sensation to be gripped by a hoof.
"Thank you! My name is Lookie Louise, most ponies just call me Lou," Lou introduced herself, "You have a name?"
"Duncan, Duncan Doughnuts," I nearly crack up at my own pun.
"Ah, I see," I notice her taking a look at the pastry on my flank. I steal the opportunity to look at her own flank. She has a magnifying glass for a cutie mark. Makes sense to me seeing as the first thing I learned about her was that she likes to fry bugs.
"Excuse me, eyes up here mister," she notices me staring at her flank and I realize I'm also grinning like an idiot due to my inner monologue.
"You were looking at mine too!" besides, I wasn't looking at her butt. She's a horse. I'm not into that kind of thing.
"Just keep your eyes off it okay?" she's suddenly getting snippy with me. I guess there is still such a thing as being a chauvinist in Equestria.
"Aren't your friends in trouble, or something?" I can be snippy too. With that, we're off and running. I forgot that horses are faster than humans even in my world, but I was quickly reminded how fleet equines are while we were dashing back through the forest. I thought I was the fastest thing around with my light body, but I'd have to get serious if I wanted to outrun a pony.
"Mind if I ask what happened to your face?" I tried to start up a conversation with a perfectly innocent question.
"I won't ask about yours if you don't ask about mine," she quipped. What the heck was wrong with this chick? I can understand not liking the King of Changelings, but now she's peeved at Duncan? All he did was stare at her flank for a second too long. Maybe her cutie mark is a magnifying glass because she has one stuck up her-
"We're here!" we'd finally arrived in the clearing where I did all my dirty deeds. It looked far more dismal in the dying sunlight and was covered in the scars of the battle that had taken place.
"Something did a number on this place," I noted while looking about the clearing, making sure to feign ignorance as to where I hid the bodies. I was beginning to wish I was a better actor. I'd been in a school play once in High School, but my choir teacher had dragged me into it because they didn't have enough guys. At least I got my own song, that was pretty cool.
"Stop daydreaming and help me!" Lou yelled at me from the bushes where I stashed the bodies, "You get Wrenchell, I've got Aqua!" I saw she already had the blue mare across her back. I couldn't get over how good ponies are at naming their children. If human parents tried to name their kid based on what color he or she was, everyone would think they're scumbags.
"I said move it!" Lou screamed at me. I've gotta stop drifting off like that. I head into the bushes and put the stallion on my back. He really is in a bad way now that I see him. He's still passed out and his breathing is shallow. It could just be the low light, but I think his color is starting to fade as well.
"What now?" I dare to ask.
"We get them to the hospital! Follow me!" Lou doesn't waste any time as she bolts back into the forest. I try to get after her, but it's hard to run with a big pony on my back. I've also become aware of the fact that Pony Joe doesn't have the most fit of bodies. I guess I really shouldn't expect so much from a pastry chef. I've run farther under worse circumstances though. Failure also came at the price of becoming a murderer. That's enough motivation to get these hooves galloping through the forest.
Hospitals in Equestria are only slightly less depressing than hospitals on Earth. The only difference is that Equestrian hospitals are full of ponies. To me at least, it lightened the mood a bit. In any scenario in which I imagined visiting Equestria, I hadn't banked on sitting in a hospital waiting room by myself.
Turns out Aqua and Wrenchell are going to be okay. The doctors confirmed that they'd been attacked by changelings, but they didn't explain any further than that. The side-effects of a changeling attack are common knowledge apparently. A nurse took Lou to have her face examined. I guess karma dictates that my punishment for putting those three ponies in the hospital is having to sit and wait for them to recover.
I had tried to read a magazine to entertain myself, but much to my dismay Equestrian might as well be written in Chinese. Ponies might speak English, but they sure don't read it. I can only see this causing major problems for me in the future. Being unable to read doesn't brand me as a changeling, but I think it would help me be less suspicious.
"Excuse me," I looked up at the nurse who'd just appeared before me, "If you would come with me," she began trotting away from me. I don't know what she wants, but I go ahead and follow her. She leads me to a room where I suspect Aqua and Wrenchell are, but upon entering it I find it's empty. I hear the door close and lock behind me.
"What's the big idea?" I whip around, ready for any funny business. To my surprise, the nurse gets down into a low bow.
"Greetings, my king," the changeling's facade melts away, revealing the black bug for what he truly is.
"Uh... hey," I greet him, not so keen on changing out of my current form, "Uh... what's going on?" I'm not exactly sure what to do in this situation.
"There was talk amongst the scouts that Old Queen Chrysalis is gone. We sensed our leader in the city, so I was sent to greet you, your majesty," the changeling explained.
"Scouts?" from the way he was talking, it sounded like there were more changelings in this city.
"Yes, your majesty. Our scouting forces are still one hundred changelings strong. All of us are ready to rise up when you bring in the swarm."
I don't think I want to "bring in the swarm". This changeling was talking about taking over this city and draining all the citizens of their love.
"Oh, I'm not bringing out the swarm! I don't even know where the swarm is," I explained.
"... Huh?" the changeling obviously wasn't processing what he'd just heard, "I don't understand. How could your majesty not know where the swarm is?"
"Don't worry about it," I realized I was in the presence of an ally. This was my opportunity to get some answers, "I have a few questions for you."
"Anything you want to know, your majesty."
"Explain to me, exactly what happens when a pony has their love drained?" the changeling gave me a funny look. I think he was hoping for a king that was more on the up and up, but I'm glad he's willing to bring me up to speed.
"When we've drained all their love, the toxin in our magic prevents the pony from recovering physically and magically. They are doomed to slowly die unless somepony else intervenes with magic," so draining love can kill a pony. I'm not exactly sure how magic can be toxic, but I don't know jack squat about magic. So far all I've done with my magic is nearly kill three ponies and myself. Why am I so shocked to find out it's toxic?
"Next question," I decided to move on, "does the pony's love come back if they survive the toxin?"
"Of course," the changeling answered, "that is why we changelings slowly feed on our victims so as to keep our food source flowing. Of course, when we do a feeding swarm, we drain everypony in an area of all their love."
"What exactly is the point of a feeding swarm?" if the changelings needed the ponies alive to feed, why kill them in one fell swoop?
"Gathering enough love to survive is simple, but sometimes we need extra love for large undertakings."
"Large undertakings?" the changeling only nodded in response. I remember back to the show, how Chrysalis had attacked Canterlot with the whole swarm. I suppose that qualified as a feeding swarm. The "large undertaking" seems to have been taking over Equestria as a whole. Chrysalis had some pretty straight forward ambitions.
"Alright, last question: do all the changelings know I'm their king?"
"It isn't likely, your majesty," the changeling cast his gaze aside. He probably thought I would be offended by the fact. "If you want, I could bring word to the Hive that you are our new King."
"Sure, go ahead. Tell them that Cocoon is their new king," I didn't see the harm in it. The changelings were my only allies, so having their full support was important. The changeling saluted, morphing back into a nurse.
"I'll inform the hive after my shift," he started talking in a female voice. It was odd thinking that the mare I was looking at was actually a changeling. "I've got my hands full tonight. Some maggot was foolish enough to fully drain two ponies and get caught. If I find out who it was, should I bring your justice upon them your majesty?"
"Uh, as long as those two ponies survive I don't think it's a big deal," I didn't have the heart to tell him I perpetrated the act myself. I neither wanted him to tell the hive I was a complete moron or chastise himself for insulting me.
"You are a merciful king, your majesty," the nurse bowed low and unlocked the door. We headed back towards the waiting room together before he was swept up by a doctor.
"Ah, I've been looking for you nurse. I need you in the break room, right away," he whispered, just loud enough so I could hear it. The doctor and the changeling headed back the other direction, giving each other sultry looks. Wow, these changelings will do anything for a meal.
I returned to the waiting room to find Lou had been released and waiting in the lobby with a bandage on her face. She was talking to somepony I hadn't seen before, and they both looked incredibly angry.
"Yo, what's up?" I tried to lighten the mood. Lou turned around and glared at me. The other pony, an older looking blue stallion with a white mane and a tipping scale on his flank, looked happy to see me.
"You must be Duncan!" his expression turned chipper as he took and shook my hoof enthusiastically. "I want to thank you for helping my daughter today!"
"Your daughter?" I figured he either meant Lou or the pony called Aqua. Based on his color scheme, I'm going to guess Aqua.
"Yes! I am Mayor Marine of Manehattan, and I hear you aided in the rescue of my daughter Aqua from the hands of the vile changeling king!" as much as I didn't like being called vile, it was true that I did save her from myself. Of course, she wouldn't have needed saving if I hadn't done anything to her in the first place. If I hadn't though, I'd be dead. In the end, I think things turned out okay. I get to live, she gets to live, and everyone goes home happy. Well, I'll go home eventually once I figure out how.
"I didn't do all that much," I admitted. Honestly I hadn't. I wasn't even the one that carried his daughter out of the woods.
"Nonsense!" the mayor slung his hoof over my shoulder, "You took down that nasty Changeling King down all by yourself, didn't you?"
"He wasn't there Mayor! I'm the one who fought the Changeling King!" Lou forced me and the mayor apart. The mayor regained his cross expression from earlier.
"Miss Louise! If I recall, you said the Changeling King knocked you unconscious! He didn't devour your love, so I can only assume Mr. Doughnuts here saved you!"
"Uh, Mr. Marine?" I tried to correct him, but I was a bit giggly due to the fact he'd called me "Mr. Doughnuts". The mayor turned to me, brimming with joy.
"And it's a good thing he did! That repulsive and conniving Changeling King wasn't able to do any more harm to my precious daughter!" okay, he'd better lay off the insults pretty quickly here.
"He didn't to anything! He just carried Wrenchell back after I found him at the edge of town!" Lou tried to correct the story. Mayor Marine didn't pay her any heed.
"Mr. Doughnuts, where are you staying in town?" Marine questioned me, throwing a foreleg around my shoulder again.
"I don't have a place, but sir-"
"Well then!" Marine planted a hoof on either of my shoulders, "You must stay at my house as a guest of honor!"
"Huh?" was this guy for real? He just met me, but he's offering to let me stay in his house just because he came up with some far-fetched story about how I'd defeated what was technically myself?
"Mr. Mayor! He didn't defeat any Changeling King!" Lou protested.
"Quiet, Miss Louise! Let's hear it from the stallion himself!" both ponies stared at me intently. I weighed my options at the moment. I could tell the truth and end up scrounging around for a place to stay tonight, or I could lie and stay in the lap of luxury.
"That changeling was no match for me sir," I was already lying about a lot of other things, how much will one more hurt? Just seeing the look on Lou's face made it worth it. She knows I'm lying, but I don't care in the slightest. I was finally on somepony's good side, and I intended to stay there.
"I knew it!" Mayor Marine put his foreleg around my shoulders and began leading me out of the waiting room. "Come, come! You simply must tell me and my daughter all about it! Oh, I'm sure she's going to like you. I have reason to believe you're just her type!" it dawned on my that "being someone's type" was the driving force behind staying alive for me. If I could get somepony to direct their love towards me, I could feed off of them without harming them. In fact, I'm getting a little love from Mayor Marine right now! This platonic sort of love isn't quite as filling or tasty, but food is food. If I could get Aqua to throw a little love my way, I'd be rolling in love soon enough.
When we got to Aqua's room, I was relieved to find her awake and reclining in a hospital bed. I had officially not killed anypony today. It was a good feel. Aqua was happy to see me at first, I could tell because I got smacked in the face by a chunk of love as she excitedly sat up. She must have thought I was her lover Wrenchell because as soon as she saw my horn I stopped getting fed.
"Hello daddy," Aqua greeted the mayor, "Who's this?"
"This, my dear," Marine took my hoof and put it in Aqua's, "is Mr. Duncan Doughnuts. He saved you from the Changeling King!"
"He did?" she withdrew her hand with a skeptical look, "I thought Lou saved us."
"Oh, well she didn't," the Mayor cringed a bit at the mention of Lou. I couldn't speak intelligently about it yet, but I got the feeling that the mayor wasn't too keen on Lou.
"Uh, so Aqua," I had a few questions I wanted to ask her, "how much do you remember of the attack?"
"Well," Aqua reclined into her bed, "I was in the forest with Wrenchell and Lou when I thought I saw daddy stumble out of the brush. He looked terrible, so I rushed over to him and picked him up. It must have been the Changeling King in disguise because my memory gets all fuzzy from the point I touched him. Next thing I knew, I was in the hospital."
"I see," I am absolutely sure I didn't change into her daddy. For some reason, she edited her story so her dad was the object of her affection and not Wrenchell.
"How steeped in evil must this Changeling King be, to take advantage of a poor mare's love for her father like that!" Mayor Marine is lucky he's my ticket to a meal and a roof tonight, "I'm just glad the wretched creature didn't take away your innocence!" I was beginning to put the puzzle pieces together. Methinks that Aqua is fooling around with Wrenchell behind daddy's back. I don't know where Lou fits in, but I bet things will get juicier when I do.
"So, Mr. Doughnut," Aqua spoke up, "how did you defeat the Changeling King? Did you see what he actually looks like?"
"Oh, yeah! I saw his true form. He's pretty crazy looking," I go ahead and give a pretty vague description of myself.
"Ah, what a sickening, detestable, parasite this King must be," the Mayor chipped in. The dude has never even seen me, why in the world does he act like he's the expert on me? I swear, if I find out this dude's wife is dead, I'm going to find a picture and transform into her. I'll drain all the love out of him, call an ambulance, and he will love me for it! It'll be the perfect crime!
I'm terrible, I know.
"Anyway," I left my revenge plans for later, "changelings are quick, but they can't take a hit well. I got in one good shot at him and he ran away."
"Brilliant!" Mayor Marine applauded the tale enthusiastically. If he thought that was good, he should see the kind of story I could tell when I'm actually trying.
"Thank you Mr. Doughnuts, I'm glad you were there to help. I heard from Lou that the Changeling King was extremely powerful," Aqua explained. Well, I don't like to brag...
"I consider myself lucky. A King is rarely without his swarm," I pointed out. The statement was completely inaccurate, considering I had only spent a short while with my swarm. The Mayor and Aqua seemed to buy it though.
"Do you think the King is planning some sort of attack on the city?" Aqua suggested. Although I wasn't planning anything, I could apparently bring down the swarm on this place if the mood hit me.
"I don't know," I shrugged it off. In reality, this city wasn't in any danger from me. Lou and the Mayor might be in danger, but nopony else had given me a reason to drain the city of all its love.
"Looks like the city will need somepony to investigate," Aqua turned to her father. She had one of those looks on her face that said "you know what I mean".
"My dear, sweet daughter," the Mayor took his daughter's hoof in his own, "If your friend Lou wants to snoop around looking for changelings I won't stop her, but just stay out of it dear! I don't want you putting yourself in danger!"
"Daddy!" Aqua threw her father's hoof down, "If Lou and Wrenchell are going to investigate, then I want to help!" I recalled that Lou's cutie mark was a magnifying glass. It stood to reason she was good at investigating, meaning Aqua was talking about joining Lou and Wrenchell on an expedition to find out if there was a changeling plot brewing in the city.
"If you insist on chasing down those hideous insects and their revolting King," that clinches it, I'm eating this dude's love, "at least take Mr. Doughnuts for protection." There's an odd phrase if I've ever heard one. "Take Mr. Doughnuts for protection" sounds like something out of a-
... Now wait just a minute!
"Fine! If that's what it takes for you to let me do this," Aqua huffed before turning to me, "I'm glad to have your assistance Mr. Doughnuts." I don't remember giving anyone my assistance.
"Um, Mr. Mayor," I tried to voice my opposition, but Mayor Marine suddenly brought me into a huddle with him away from Aqua.
"Mr. Doughnuts, I would not ask you to do this if I didn't trust you. I can tell you're a straight shooter, I real genuine pony, so I want you to look after my daughter while she is investigating. If you seek her affections, I would support this because I know an outstanding pony such as yourself has only the purest intentions towards a young mare's feelings," I have determined Mayor Marine to be the worst judge of character I have ever met. "Genuine pony"? "Purest intentions"? I'd like to amend my previous statement to read "worst judge of character in any universe". I wanted to revert to changeling form and give him the biggest shock of his life.
I know that is unwise to cut off my supply of food. Mayor Marine is practically throwing his love at me. It wasn't exactly the bucket's I'd extracted from Aqua and Wrenchell, but it was food. If playing Sherlock Holmes with his daughter and her friends is all I need to do to stay in his good graces, I'm game.
"You can count on me, Mr. Mayor," I assured him. He beamed widely.
"Good, good!" we broke our huddle. Marine started out the door, saying, "I'll let you two get better acquainted." With that, I was left alone with Aqua. It's time to snoop into her personal life.
"So," I took a seat next to her bed, "how long have you and this Wrenchell stallion been an item?" Aqua's eyes shot open.
"Please don't tell my father!" just the reaction I was expecting.
"I won't breathe a word," I assured her, "Are you really serious about investigating the changelings?"
"Of course!" her tone was convincing, "Manehattan is my home. If the changelings are planning to harm the citizens, I have to do something about it!" she hopped out of the hospital bed. Seeing as she was standing, I took the opportunity to find out what her cutie mark was. I could be wrong, but it looked like a flag. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but it could hinge upon whose flag it was.
"You're quite the single minded stallion," Lou is a the door, glaring at me. How perfect is that?
"I was just looking at the flag," I defended myself. Thankfully, Aqua prevented us from getting into a spat over it.
"Lou! The city needs your help again!" Aqua trotted up to her friend.
"Are you saying she's helped the city before?" it would take a little convincing for me to believe the stick in the mud Lookie Louise was helpful in any way shape or form.
"She's the city's best P.I.! She's helped bring more ponies to justice than anypony else!" I could tell Aqua had faith in her friend's abilities, but I know that she's capable of spinning a lie.
"I couldn't do it by myself, Aqua. If you and Wrechell will help me, I'm on the case!" to be honest, Lou was probably the most honest pony I've talked to so far. I hadn't caught her lying yet and she wasn't letting me have any illusions about her liking me.
"What's the case Aqua?" Lou got right down to business.
"I don't think the King of Changelings showing up outside the city is just an odd occurrence," Aqua began briefing her friend, "I want to conduct an investigation to see if there is a changeling threat against the city," Lou nodded in response.
"I was thinking the same thing. For all we know, this Changeling King is hiding out right here in the city."
"So you'll take the case?"
"Yep, we'll take the case," Lou giggled as she threw a foreleg around her friend. I had forgotten this is Equestria, where the magic of friendship runs rampant.
"Oh yeah, daddy has enlisted Mr. Doughnut here to help us," Aqua gestured to me, tagging me on as an afterthought. Lou smirked at me. I do like where this was going.
"Well, Duncan, can I expect your full cooperation?"
"I'm here to help!" I might as well. Well, I'm not actually going to help smoke any changelings or myself out, but I'll play along until they give up.
"Very good. I'm glad to have your help," Lou actually sounded like she was actually on board with this. Maybe I'm finally out of the frying pan!
"Because you're my first suspect!" and into the fire...
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Well, fuck. That didn't take long
MOAR. This is a small piece of literary awesome. Please make moar soon.
I love the art, by the way. reminds me of Yahtzee's Zero Punctuation.
This story is amazing. Keep it coming!
Alright, if you didn't have me before, you do now. And it's solely because of the "Duncan Doughnuts" line. God, I laughed at that.
Anyways, excellent premise here. I am curious where you will take this.
Male changeling turns into female pony and sleeping with a doctor... That's both hot and disturbing.
Go on.
Tracking for now, withholding opinion.
Ponies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a new Echo the Diamond Dog! Introducing, the one, the only, COCOON THE CHANGELING KING! I also gotta applaud your OCs, they feel so natural and we've only gotten 1 chapter with them.
620939
Considering how I absolutely adore Echo, this is friggen' high praise to me. I'm glad you like it!
:D Pinki pie.
i am going to follow this story to he meets pinkie
Or
Luna
Wow, I love this story now! I don't know why I wasn't reading about changeling before, but atleast I got to start with this wonderful piece of literature! Keep up the great work, please. No wait, not just a please, *Kneels down* I'm begging you!
This is an extremely well-written piece. It's inspired me to create an account to tell you so, which led to officially creating my avatar and may eventually lead me to making a vague attempt at my own fiction. Thank you, HoovesLikeJagger, for being so awesome.
Please have as wonderful a day as you've just made mine!
621873
Well, if he meets Pinkie, all he needs to do is turn into Pinkie. Pinkie is generally good-natured. I doubt she'd beat up someone just trying to survive unless they did her or her friends harm first. Remember, she said that 'she'd seen better' when that one Changeling turned into her during the invasion. That implies that she's seen it done before and did not consider the shape-shifter to be a threat given that no one finds out about Changelings for certain until the invasion itself.
1857974 Muti-verse that could be an option for her to see the worlds