The Wedding
Chapter 2
Switchback couldn't catch his breath as he rapidly breathed into a brown paper back, causing it to inflate and deflate repeatedly. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't the bugbear outside that had just taken out a donut shop that was making him panic. He was quite used to seeing all kinds of monsters show up. Usually it was two to three a week. As a matter of fact, not even five minutes ago, he was outside watching Princess Twilight and the rest of the Elements of Harmony take on the behemoth that threatened the town's existence. Nothing to really be alarmed about.
So why was Switchback panicking? Well obviously it was because something horrible had happened. No, there wasn't a giant asteroid headed for the planet, but there might as well have been. While watching the battle in the streets and trying not to choke on the stench of anger and hate that radiated from the bugbear, Switchback overheard Matilda and a unicorn mare that he had never met saying something about needing to move the entire wedding to today! Something about the date on the invitations being a day ahead of schedule.
After a few more minutes with the crumpled paper bag that no longer had a bottom, Switchback managed to regain his composure. "Okay, okay," he began to say to himself out loud. "You've got this. You still have time to figure this out. The wedding is going to be happening soon and Pinkie Pie is still fighting a giant monster that is showing no sign of tiring."
He began to panic again. He didn't want to go in alone. What was he supposed to do, not go to the wedding? No, he would not miss out on this opportunity. Not just the opportunity of getting to taste the love generated from that magical moment, but of being accepted and never having to live with the fear of being discovered, ever again. He hated being afraid all the time. The only reason he hadn't left the town was because he was even more scared of returning to the hive and facing the queen.
Most of the time when a pony is nervous about something, time seems to slow to a crawl. Switchback was not so lucky. For him, time actually felt like it leapt forward just to spite him. Hours flew by like minutes and the minutes within those short hours seemed like seconds.
Switchback rose from the floor where he had been curled up in a ball and peeked over the window sill. Sure enough, life was trying to spite him... He frowned. ...again. The bugbear was still causing havoc, and Pinkie Pie was still preoccupied trying to defeat him along with her friends.
The wedding was supposed to begin in around thirty minutes. If he was going to go, he would have to leave now to make it on time. He wanted more than anything to be at that wedding. The flavor made him drool just thinking about it. "Yes, I must go," he decided as he started towards his front door. He also decided that he would just go with a disguise.
Switchback opened the door and stepped out into the open air. As he made his way through town, he made extra sure not to stumble into the bugbear. The last thing he wanted was to get hurt badly enough for his magic to fail. Then he would be in pain and exposed to the world. Slowly, but surely, the town hall came into view.
He took a deep breath. This was it. He was about to walk right into the middle of a wedding that he never received a written invitation to, and try and pass as a normal pony who was invited by Pinkie Pie without her actually there to vouch for him. Sure, piece of cake. If he got caught he could just run around a corner and change into somepony else. No problem. The fact that he could change didn't bring Switchback any comfort. It only made him more nervous about being what he was, where he was.
As he got nearer, he noticed a loud noise, even over his own nervous thoughts that argued with each other over whether or not this was good idea or not. It was music actually, some sort of mix between what sounded like something with strings, Switchback didn't know much about musical instruments, and electronic music. It was getting closer by the sound of it as well.
Switchback looked in the direction of the sounds origin. At first, the street he looked down was mostly empty with only a few ponies continuing on from their day to day activities, but all of a sudden, what appeared to be a large set of speakers on wheels, came racing down the road with at least half of Ponyville clinging on for dear life. To make matters worse, they were all headed straight for the town hall. In a way, it would be ironic if the crash that would no doubt result, crashed the wedding. If the wedding were to be crashed, Switchback fully expected it to be because of him, not a random fiasco on wheels.
After nearly running over several poor ponies, the mobile speakers, along with everypony else on board, were flung into the air.
"Uh oh," Switchback thought as he watched from half a block away, or at least what was the equivalent to that distance; Ponyville wasn't really known for having organized roads, something that lead Switchback to getting lost when he first moved to the anything but quiet little town. He looked away, not wanting to watch the crash that would more than likely injure so many.
The loud crashing and banging and tumbling noises and sounds of ponies being pulverized as they hit the ground never came, instead, there was silence. Switchback looked up with confusion. Before him, there was no scene of a gruesome accident, no broken windows, no scared ponies yelling for help. There wasn't even a sign that the fast moving group was there.
Had Switchback just imagined it? Was his subconscious trying to tell him something? He knew his mind pretty well, but this just stumped him. He ran to the town hall as fast as he could and looked through the doors that had been left wide open. When he did, he discovered that everypony that had been on the speakers, which now sat intact on the other side of the room, was sitting in a seat somewhere in the large room. There were a few exceptions, though. A couple of ponies were hanging from some of the balconies after being tossed into them, but they were helped up by pegasi bystanders.
Everything was fine. Switchback had made it to the wedding and nopony else had been injured. Seeing that everything was in order, he took a seat near the back. As more and more ponies began to arrive, Switchback looked around to observe his surroundings. To his right, near the gift table, stood, none other than, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They were talking about something, probably really important. For some reason, though, they looked nervous. Switchback could even sense some kind of stress between the two. It was kind of a blandish flavor.
Up in front of him a few rows, sat the princess of love, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and her husband, Prince Shining Armor. Him being here made Switchback just a little more uncomfortable than he already was. Before moving to the crystal empire, he was captain of the royal Canterlot guard. And if the news reports were to be believed, Queen Chrysalis had actually nearly succeeded at crashing his wedding. He couldn't help but feel kind of bad for him. "Chrysalis was nothing but a no good, dirty, rotten, little..." Switchback cut himself off. This was a wedding and he didn't want to pollute the air with his foul language.
There was something off about Prince/Captain Armor. For some reason he was wailing like a baby.
"It's alright," the princess to his right said to the pony next to them. "He always cries at weddings."
Switchback looked around a little more. The room was now thoroughly crowded, with almost every seat taken, except for the back row where he was. It was only a matter of time before everything would begin. He had to admit, it was way too easy getting in. He wasn't even asked for an invitation. Before he could ponder this any further, the doors swung open and in walked a mare wearing sunglasses. Her name was Bun Bun, at least, that's what Switchback thought her name was.
"Attention everypony," 'Bun Bun' announced as she removed her sunglasses. "Our friends have done it. They've defeated the bugbear." She threw her glasses to the side.
The crowd erupted in cheers of excitement. Everypony shouted for joy, including Switchback. With the bugbear defeated, it would only be a matter of time before Pinkie would show up. He was in the clear, except he wasn't. A few more minutes passed and Pinkie Pie still didn't arrive. "Oh Pinkie, where are you?" Switchback thought to himself.
One final pony walked in. He was wearing a long scarf that dragged across the ground as he walked. At the same time, Cranky stood at the back of the room next to a giant sea monster who was only able to attend this event by leaning through an open window. He was helping Cranky with his hair, who then walked up to the front of the room after being encouraged by his sea monster friend. Switchback could only imagine how that relationship came to be.
"Well, is everypony here?" the mayor asked from the front of the room as Cranky and Matilda took their positions.
"All set mayor," a pegasus mare at the door replied as she shut it, letting the bar fall into place.
This was a problem. Pinkie still wasn't here. Switchback could almost feel his heart skip a beat. This was it; the point of no return. He didn't know exactly why, but all of a sudden he felt something, courage. Everypony was looking forward and he was in the very back row where there were several empty chairs. If he turned into his own form now, maybe, just maybe, he would be able to be there long enough for ponies to realize he meant no harm. This was his one chance to show everypony that he wasn't a monster, and he would be damned to miss it.
The ceremony began and the mayor began to speak. Switchback knew it was time. He slowly deactivated his magic and revealed his true changeling form. He hoped that he wouldn't regret it. He began to breath heavily as he sat there uncomfortably, but was able to bring his breathing back to a normal level only a few seconds later. His heart continued to pound rapidly in his chest.
Switchback did everything he could to remain calm. "No sudden movements, just stay seated," he thought to himself as he sat. As the mayor continued her speech about ponies coming together and each character in a story being important no matter what role they play, he couldn't help but look around to see if anypony was reacting to him yet. He looked to his right. Sure enough, there was a group of young fillies and colts all huddled up, hiding behind one another, each looking at him worriedly. He looked forward again, paying them no mind. The last thing he wanted was to frighten them.
The ceremony continued on perfectly smooth without any interruption. Switchback caught sight of a few other ponies that saw him. They all looked more confused than hostile. They were no doubt wondering what he was doing there, but he made no sign of wanting to cause trouble which kept them calm.
Eventually, the ceremony came to an end after both the bride and groom said 'I do.' The two walked forward after the mayor announced, "I now pronounce you Jack and Jenny." It was about to happen. Switchback had waited so long for this and it was only a few seconds away. His mouth was open half way with his tongue hanging out and he practically pranced in his seat, but then a thought came through his head that made him feel sort of guilty.
"This isn't right," Switchback thought to himself. "This isn't my moment. This isn't my kiss. It's Matilda and Cranky's. I have no right to experience this. That would be like stealing it and would make me no better than the other's back at the hive. No, this isn't mine, and I refuse to take it from them."
Switchback had already been nibbling on the emotions that flowed through the room like a river, but he now realized that that was all he should be allowed to have. Before he was able to get another thought, a wave of warm, affectionate love washed over him. He didn't taste it though. He could feel it, it was soft, but he used every ounce of energy he had to keep his sensory organs from taking in the flavor. He even closed his eyes, looked away, and covered his face with a porous hoof.
Switchback knew that he was blowing his only chance to experience the most coveted of changeling experiences, but he didn't care. Deep down, he knew he was doing the right thing. When he looked up, everypony was cheering, and somehow, the large bouquets of flowers were erupting into fire works. They shot up into the air and created a beautiful light show that complimented the scene quite nicely.
"AH HA HA HA! OF COURSE!" some random earth pony stallion yelled from the middle of the crowd. "THEY NEED LOVE TO IGNITE! HOW COULD I HAVE MISSED IT!?"
Switchback had absolutely no clue as to who this stallion was, but something told him that he had something to do with the light show. After a few more seconds, Matilda and Cranky broke their kiss and the wave from their loving kiss vanished. There was still love in the air everywhere Switchback looked, but any love that may have been produced from that kiss was now gone; lost to him forever. He sighed. Although it sucked, he was proud of himself for not giving in to his desires.
Before he could even begin to worry again, Switchback felt a slight tug on his leg. He turned to his right to see one of the colts from the frightened group.
"Excuse me sir," the child asked nervously. "Um..." He hesitated, but managed to find his voice. "A-are you a real changeling? My friends wanted to know."
Switchback looked over at the small group that was still huddled together. They all sat just a little closer. He turned back to the little colt in front of him who undoubtedly had been elected to confront him. He leaned in closer. "Yes, I am a real changeling," Switchback replied in a soft tone, before changing into his usual crimson unicorn disguise and back into his pure form with two quick flashes of green magic.
The colt, who was noticeably much smaller than all the others, gasped and began to visibly shake. "You're not here to eat us, right?"
Switchback looked back at the small group once again. They were all whispering to each other. He then turned back to the small colt in front of him. "Well first of all," Switchback answered with a slightly amused smile. "We don't eat ponies. We eat love. We can also sense other emotions, but if certain ones are strong enough, they can be toxic."
Another pony, a small filly, ran over and whispered something in the colt's ear. "So, if you don't eat ponies, why do you have large, sharp teeth?" He pointed to Switchback's mouth.
"Oh, these?" Switchback replied, opening his mouth to reveal a row of sharp teeth and two long fangs that already protruded from his mouth. "These aren't actually for eating meat. Back in the hive that I'm originally from, there are these special fruits that are highly acidic. We eat them to help our bodies produce fluids necessary for creating the goop we use for many different purposes. Most have hard outer shells that we have to break open, but some others are softer and we use our fangs to drink the juice inside."
"I thought you said that you fed on love," the small filly said. A few more of the children had gathered around, curious to hear what he had to tell about his species.
Switchback climbed down from his chair and sat on the floor next to them. "We do feed on love. The fruits help our bodies produce our body fluids, but due to our anatomy, that's all our bodies are able to do with it. Love is really the only thing that we are able to use to sustain ourselves. We only need a little bit of this fruit so it's only grown in small amounts in the top layers of the hive."
"What's the hive like?" another filly asked. They were now all taking interest in what Switchback had to say.
While most ponies were now leaving to head for the reception, all the children were sitting in a circle around Switchback, who had them entranced with his story. Many other ponies noticed this and shot him a dirty look before noticing the happy and curious looks on the children's faces. Then they were just confused. This changeling, this stranger, this wild beast, was sitting with the youngest of ponies simply talking to them?
Ponies had always known changelings to be tricky creatures, using their magic abilities to lure unsuspecting ponies into traps so that they could suck them dry, but this changeling in front of them was not in a disguise of any kind. He was sitting out in plain view, as if he didn't care that he wasn't welcome, looking happy as he told the foals stories.
As more and more ponies followed the newly weds out the building to go celebrate, more and more of them noticed Switchback sitting on the ground with the group of kids. Not everypony noticed him due to how crowded the aisle was, but two very important alicorns did and they were quick to cut through the adults who were quickly gathering around the group.
"Is that why you ran away from the hive, because all the other changelings were meanies?" one of the fillies asked, continuing the conversation.
"Well, not all of us are mean," Switchback answered. "But yes. I didn't like doing all those mean things to ponies."
"I assume that means you're not hear to cause any trouble then, correct?" a feminine voice sounded from behind."
Switchback turned around to counter whoever it was that had made the remark, but as the pony, actually two ponies, came into view, he froze with both utter shock and paralyzing fear. Standing before him, were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. He was done for, he just knew it. Any moment now, Celestia would charge up her horn and fry him. He tried to compose himself, but he couldn't. Every ounce of his fear showed on his face like a mask. To put it lightly, he was absolutely terrified.
"Do you have no tongue?" Luna asked, quite authoritatively. "Surely you haven't lost it so quickly. You were able to address so many young only seconds ago."
Switchback tried to reply, but he could only stutter like a broken record that had been fixed by an amateur with scotch tape. Even if he could speak, what was he supposed to say?
Celestia looked at her younger sister. It was her turn to speak. "Please Luna, you're scaring him. Let me try." She turned to Switchback. "What are you doing here?" she asked. Her voice was much more compassionate than Luna's. "You seem different somehow. Something tells me you aren't here to invade our country once again."
The sound of Celestia's voice was comforting and helped Switchback to find his own. "N-no, of course not. I swear I had nothing to do with that. Honest." He crossed his heart with a hoof as he spoke desperately. "I'm really sorry if I've caused any kind of disturbance." He was still shaking a little.
"You didn't answer her question," Luna said. She sounded less intimidating now, but her position still scared the chitin off of Switchback.
"Luna, please," Celestia said to the other alicorn. "That isn't nece..."
"Pinkie Pie invited me," Switchback said abruptly. "She's my only real friend at the moment and she wanted to introduce me to everypony so she was going to use this as an opportunity to do so. The only reason I agreed was because there would be a lot of love floating around and I wanted to be able to not be scared of ponies anymore. Then she didn't show up and I panicked so I took off my disguise thinking that I could introduce myself all on my own, and then the kids showed up and we started talking and maybe that was a bad idea and I'm sorry and..."
Celestia placed a hoof on Switchback's mouth. He was nervously talking at a million miles per hour, but who could really blame him. "I understand," Celestia said forgivingly. She had a slight smile on her face.
Switchback looked around for a moment and noticed that all the fillies and colts had left to go with their parents, who would probably tell them to stay away from him. He looked back at the two princesses. "Really?"
"Yes," Celestia replied. "As a matter of fact, I do believe there is somepony here to see you."
Celestia and Luna stepped aside to reveal a not so happy Pinkie Pie. She rushed over to him worriedly, practically tackling him to the ground with a hug. "Oh Switchy, I'm sooooo sorry! There was this bugbear and he was all like 'roar!' and I was all like 'oh no!' and Twilight was all like 'pew pew pew!' with her magic lasers, but we managed to defeat him and we tried to get here before the wedding started, but somepony locked the door and we had to watch through the window."
"Pinkie it's alright. Nothing bad happened," Switchback assured.
"So you're not mad?" Pinkie asked sadly.
"Of course not. It isn't your fault that I decided to undisguised myself. And we can still go to the reception together." Switchback turned to the Princesses uncomfortably. "If that's alright with you."
"So you were telling us the truth just earlier?" Luna asked, unsure if Switchback was to be trusted. She turned to Pinkie. "How long have you known this changeling Pinkie? I'm sure you aware of the risks that come with such a friendship, no?"
"His names Switchback," Pinkie said happily. "I've known him ever since he moved to Ponyville two years, four months, and seventeen days ago. He's my best changeling friend."
"Hi," Switchback said nervously.
Luna was slightly surprised to hear just how long he had known Pinkie. Of course, if any pony was to befriend a changeling, it would be Pinkie Pie, wouldn't it. "I take it that you invited him then?"
"Yep, I know how much changelings like love so I thought it would be great for him to come." She turned to Switchback. "How was it, by the way? Did you get to taste the love from the kiss?"
"Um..." Switchback rubbed the back of his neck. "Actually, I didn't taste it. It wouldn't have been right of me to steal a kiss like that."
This surprised everypony. He had given up the chance to feed on something so wonderful as a matter of ethics. It was kind of impressive.
"Well," Celestia said. "I do believe that all is in order here. We wont keep you any longer. The reception is starting and I'm sure neither one of you want to miss out on that."
Switchback couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had basically just been given approval by the princesses to attend the reception. This was going to be great.
After saying goodbye and wishing Switchback luck, Celestia and Luna took their leave.
"Alright," Celestia whispered to her sister as they walked out of the town hall. "Go find where we parked the chariot, get to Canterlot, grab the gift and get back here as fast as you can. I'll keep ponies distracted so they don't realize you're gone."
"Why do I have to go? You're the one who left it on the counter," Luna replied.
Celestia sighed. "Can't you just do us both a favor?"
"Fine," Luna said. "But you owe me."
Just as Luna left, somewhat angrily, Switchback and Pinkie stepped out into the night. The sun had just disappeared beyond the horizon and the stars were starting to show. In the street, several ponies had managed to set up all the tables for the reception during the ceremony and the cake had been carried outside. Everything was perfect. And now that Switchback was confident that everything would be just fine, there was only one thing left to do.
"Come on," Pinkie Pie said as she headed towards the reception. "I think I see Twilight. She'll be super glad to meet you."
Switchback followed. He was nervous just a little, but he knew that Pinkie Pie being here would make things a thousand times easier for him. And now it was actually time to introduce himself to some ponies. This was going to be great.
Stats
Page generated in 0.02 seconds
Total duration
735 users online
1,083,587 hits today, 2,054,621 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.®
Weddings, AKA free dinner.
6121572 derpicdn.net/img/2013/2/14/243639/full.png
LOL!
6121572
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/6/13/915999__large.jpg
I feel i need to mention this. I have a SERIOUS SERIOUS soft spot for changelings. And that was one of the things that drew me to this story. As such I am glad I took a look at this story and look forward to more chapters in the future. On a side note, after this story is done, why not write more about Switch's life in Ponyville?
6122256 Good idea. I just might.
6121572
Correction: free gourmet dinner.
Next chapter
Fried bug :P
- An uncovered changeling present in the wedding.
- Captain Shining Armor is to busy crying to notice him, or the bugbear his sister and her civilians friends are fighting on their own.
Royal Guard: always reaching new levels of incompetence
6127054 OOH RAH!?
that title is correct. Black Lightning was there.
orig02.deviantart.net/1faa/f/2015/172/5/4/black_lightning__i_was_there__by_rustywolfflames-d8y54gi.png
Amazing as usual. I can't wait for the last (1 or 2) chapter(s).
no biggie no biggie
WAIT WHAT!?! a changeling is just simply talking WHAT!?! lol