Part 1 (Adrian) - Chapter 4
Distant tears came to Adrian like a knife in his soul. He had never taken responsibility for anyone before, never had a younger sibling or a nephew looking up to him. He’d never experienced pain like this in his life, not until that exact moment. Just as in New York, or earlier in Niagara, he knew a pony needed his help, and Hell itself couldn’t stand in his way.
He bounded past Alex, into the maze-like interior of the building. No, maze wasn’t strong enough. This building was a labyrinth. He took several sharp lefts, turned across a bridge, and suddenly he was in the depths of a simulated cave. Its ceiling, probably built for humans, was cavernous above him. Stairwells twisted strangely into the walls, becoming simulated rocks. Many of them were too steep to climb without fingers. Humans, after all, were primates.
He wasn’t anymore. He ignored Alex’s pleading voice, shouting over the radio that they’d found someone and for everyone to come to the old factory down the street from the outpost. He would let Alex deal with that; he would find the child.
He did not attempt to rationally consider how likely it was that a child might still be alive after all this time. The crying wasn’t very loud, and it was getting weaker. If he had to guess, he would’ve said the kid was probably crying herself to sleep. “Hello!” he shouted, as loudly as he could. “Is there anyone here?”
The cave wasn’t like others he had seen simulated in theme parks. Its edges were rough and strange, and rough concrete stuck out at strange angles, sometimes with bits of rebar visible underneath. One slid over his saddlebags as he passed, catching on the thin bandage he wore beneath to protect his wings. He didn’t even slow down, resulting in brief agony as it tore the bandage free. It began to trail behind him in strips, unraveling from his back as he ran.
Adrian stumbled through the darkness, clambering out onto a walkway, then abruptly sideways onto the floor of what seemed like an ordinary building, except that the banister had been made with numerous, colorful cylinders. Had this building been designed by Cthulhu or Dr. Seuss? Both?
“Hello?” The voice was feminine, and weak. Younger than Cloudy, younger than Alex. He couldn’t tell how much. There was a strange echo about it, no doubt caused by all the twisting hallways between him and the speaker. It was astounding he could hear it at all. But the building was cavernous and empty, with thick walls. Had that insulated him from the birds and wind outside? “Is… Is someone there?”
“Yes!” he called, pounding up another flight of stairs towards the voice, this time ending on a wooden landing branching into several hallways. He slowed then, realizing that his hooves pounding on the wood might frighten the little pony he had (maybe) discovered. He still walked fast, as fast as he could without making too much noise. He seemed to have completely lost Alex somewhere in the twisting corridors. He hoped she hadn’t gotten herself stuck in the cave somewhere. If she had, oh well. He could rescue her later.
“Keep talking, where are you?”
“In a room full’a old stuff.” Her answer was feeble, and clearly afraid. It still sounded strange, like she was speaking while sitting in a massage chair or something. “Glass cases on the wall.”
It wasn’t far away. As he drew nearer, Adrian began to smell the place. It didn’t just smell like someone had been living in unhealthy dirty conditions. Rather, it smelled as though someone had crawled into unhealthy living conditions and died. He turned again, past a gigantic hamster wheel set into the floor (because who didn’t want one of those?), and he could get a good look at the room the child’s voice had been coming from.
The first word to come to mind when he saw it was “nest.” Dozens of sleeping bags had all been piled together, each brightly colored and obviously child-sized.
Huge plastic crates had been dragged against one corner, and the worst of the smell seemed to be coming from inside. They were all filled with food, and by the smell of it most had gone completely rotten months ago. Thankfully the room also had windows, letting sunlight in. Even with the headlamp, pony night vision was pretty lousy.
“I’m here.” He stopped in the doorway, lifting the gun off his shoulders and setting it on the ground, on the other side of the doorway. No reason to frighten a child. “I know you’re scared. You’ve probably been alone a long time, right?” He couldn’t see her, though there were several lumpy bundles visible in the tangle of blankets and pillows and backpacks. “You don’t have to hide, please come out. I promise I’ll be nice.”
The blankets began to stir, and his eyes jumped to a half-illuminated form in the single corner of the room with any shadow, under a glass case filled with thousands of pinned insects.
For a few seconds, he imagined he was only seeing a mask, perhaps befitting what was apparently a bug exhibit. Then the mask moved, turning to face him with its bright yellow, catlike eyes.
Bile rose up in his stomach, his ears flattened, and his pulse briefly raced. It had fangs protruding from its lips, and a hard black carapace that sparkled in the sun from outside. It was like coming face to face with a disgusting alien bear. His legs twitched, and it took all his concentration to resist the desire to flee. Adrian hadn’t survived so many adventures because of a lack of respect for danger!
Then he saw the tears that streaked down the creature’s face, and the way its chest was rising rapidly with breaths nearly as frightened as his own. He saw transparent wings fluttering slightly in unrestrained anxiety. He saw the creature was mostly wrapped in a bright pink sleeping bag, holding a stuffed bear to its chest with a pair of legs riddled with holes.
In that moment, the revulsion warred with compassion in Adrian’s soul, and for a few seconds he felt both. I came to rescue her.
Compassion won. Adrian stepped into the room, ignoring the strange crunching under his hooves, ignoring the disquieting visage the strange child presented. With only a few seconds to fight back his animal fear, he reached the rational humanity beneath. No matter how this girl might look, she was very clearly a victim of the same spell that had struck everyone. He did not see the young monster, not really. He saw what she really was; a lonely, frightened little girl.
All the while she stared, in utter disbelief. His instincts had screamed that she would attack, pouncing and sucking the life out of him, but she did no such thing. She just stared.
He stopped just out of reach, resting his hooves on a pile of old pillows. This was evidently her sleeping corner. He extended a hoof, and it was no longer his disgust for her he had to fight. Rather, he bit back the anger with himself, the loathing that he had even considered running from a pony in need. “I’m Adrian.” He extended one of his forelegs to her. “What’s your name?”
“Riley.” The girl met his hoof with hers, and Adrian wasn’t even bothered that it yielded strangely at a touch. He was bothered by how thin she looked up close. “Are you going to hurt me? Are you going to run away?” She was crying again, though she managed to contain the sobs. She either didn’t notice, or didn’t care. “The last ones did. When I found them… shot at me…”
The closer he got, the less healthy she looked. It wasn’t just the holes in her legs either, though those couldn’t be good. Poor girl looked like she was starving up here. Had she been alone for months?
“No.” He got down, ignoring the stench to embrace the girl as tightly as he dared. “I won’t do any of those things, Riley. I don’t know what other ponies did, but you’re safe now.”
He felt her strange body tense, uncomfortable at first with so much physical contact. Had she been this close to another pony since the Event? Another pony who wasn’t shooting at her, anyway. After a few tense seconds, he felt feeble limbs curl around him. While she didn’t say anything, she did break into unrestrained sobs, holding him like she was the last desperate survivor of a shipwreck.
She was still like that when Alex finally found them, maybe twenty minutes later. “There you are, Adrian. You didn’t answer your radio! Did you find-” She went abruptly quiet. Adrian couldn’t see what she was doing, but he could guess it wouldn’t be good. “Are you okay? We’re all here, looking for you…”
Adrian chanced a glance over his shoulder, only to see that Lonely Day had rested one of her hooves on the edge of the rifle, though she looked as torn as Adrian himself had felt. He shook his head once. Was it just his imagination, or did he feel a little lightheaded?
Lonely Day set her rifle down, reluctantly. She advanced a few steps, scanning the room with rapid glances. No doubt she would be taking in all the minor details, piecing together some story the way she always did.
“This is the girl we heard.” He watched her visible effort to bite back the disgust and the fear.
Eventually she did, and to her credit she waited that long to approach. “How is she?”
He released her then, turning slightly and standing between the doorway and the insectoid equine. Where Alex had remained calm enough to understand what he had learned, Moriah might just shoot. Joseph almost certainly would shoot first, though for totally different reasons. “She’s been alone for too long,” he replied. “It does things to a person.”
“I remember.” The earth pony tried to smile again, and this time it was much more genuine. It was friendly, but it wasn’t love. “Hi there!” Her eyes twitched to the pile of mostly-rotten food, then to the strange black pony. The signs of malnutrition were obvious in her now, despite not being clearly mammalian. “We’ve got sandwiches in the cooler across the street. Salads, pasta. Probably tastes better than…” She twitched, swallowing. “Whatever that stuff is. Not rotten stuff.”
Riley sniffed at her, clinging to Adrian’s back. She spoke only quietly, her voice a warbling whisper. “Only if Adrian says it’s okay. I don’t wanna leave…”
She looked unperturbed. “Tell you what, then: I’ll just bring some.” She met his eyes again, and he nodded. No words were needed, words that might’ve frightened the strange pony if she heard them. Adrian found himself reminded why he had voted Alex for their leader as she hurried away, scooping her gun up by the strap as she left.
Riley recovered quickly, rising to her hooves and looking past him out the door.
Adrian could see her quite clearly now, as he never could’ve in the gloom. Her whole body was dark, formed of the intersection of dozens of pony-shaped parts. She had a horn on her forehead to compliment her wings, and shiny green armor growing along her back. She had a tail and a mane like any other pony, both of which were also faintly green. Somehow, their wispy shapes also managed to have holes like her legs. She was perhaps ten centimeters shorter than he was. Maybe he was hallucinating, but she didn’t look quite as starved as she had when he first saw her.
“Who was that?”
“Alex.”
The girl moved past him, through the piles of disordered junk that was her home. She seemed to be looking for something, though it was impossible for him to guess what that something might be. “She was angry with me, and scared.” The pony sat down, pulling out a backpack in her teeth and beginning to go through it. “When she saw you, she wasn’t anymore. Why?”
He couldn’t imagine how such an emotionally damaged little girl could be so perceptive, particularly after being around other “humans” for so short a period. He needed some sort of answer though. “She was worried about me. I helped her see that you were the one who needed help, not me.”
She pondered on that a moment. “There are more? More than you and her?”
“Yeah. Six of us. Seven if you count dogs, but there’s no room in the car.”
“Are they all as nice as you?”
He wasn’t going to lie about it. “No.” He didn’t leave it that way, wouldn’t risk frightening her off. “But Alex will talk to them.”
She rose, dragging the backpack behind her in her teeth. Only when she had reached him did she sit down, her naked body shivering. “I don’t want to be alone again.”
“You won’t be.” He smiled. “Promise.”
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Changeling. This should be interesting.
(sees picture of changeling filly) oh lord, the cute. My diabeetus.....gnurk *passes out*
Riley The Changeling. Wonder if those Changeling side stories will be made un-cannon by any species relevations.
great chapter
uhh a kid in the groups mean that they somewhat need parental figure for her
p.s my english is not verry good i know
Neat.
I'm not sure if Alex had been briefed of what is a Changeling yet...
Yay, more awesome art from Zutcha!
6212189
Seems like Adrian has been nominated for the job.
Well... it looks like Alex now has competition for the position of cutest poni.
Also... it just occurred to me: does Riley have the genetic disposition to become a breeding queen?
There's often very little distinction between the Rl'yeh and Whoville architectural styles. It's largely a matter of color scheme and lighting arrangements.
As for Riley... Changelings always present a curious conundrum. Riley is probably a child, but she also showed up quite early in the body of a changeling, which means that her mindset closely corresponds to that of an emotional parasite. It remains to be seen what effect she'll have on the colony. It won't do them any good if they're all too drained to prepare for winter. Moriah's sour disposition may save all of humanity.
Or I could be being paranoid, and she's just an innocent ittle girl with unusual dietary needs. It remains to be seen.
Hmm, is changeling revulsion something instinctive in ponies, perhaps?
Because the text keeps saying 'Eww!' about poor Riley, but that picture clearly says: 'Daww! Hugz!'
6212179
I think they were already not canon.
Though it would suck if they were and were suddenly not because of this.
Interesting implications about Adrian's special talent if that was his instant reaction to the sound of crying. Something related to search and rescue? Bet it dials up his attractiveness in Cloud's eyes, too, gotta appreciate a stallion that has such strong protective instincts.
Oooo, a changeling child, that dials it up to hard mode, so to speak.
I'm guessing this is a kid that was in a museum tour group for the Event, and just stuck around in the location once she came back.
Heh.
Man, if she figures out how to transform (maybe from something from the library), she's going to shock the entire group! Hopefully Alex is there to be the level-headed one and calm everyone down, but Adrian might be able to do the same.
6211882 Hmm... no... but this is! Behold! The Might of Tsar Bomba, worlds largest bomb!
Hmmm... maybe I misread it in a previous chapter, but I thought Alex had been to this building on a previous trip to this city. If Riley has been there for quite some time, why didn't Alex hear her before?
I get the feeling that Alex knows what Riley is, but Alex shouldn't be angry at Riley given being a changeling wasn't Riley's choice.
And I think Adrian's cutie mark being a grappling hook and rope is because his special talent is helping/rescuing ponies/other beings in desperate need.
So, we're adding Riley the Changeling to the team! Well, if nothing else, she'll be able to tell us with complete accuracy who is in love with whom!
Well, I knew there'd be other FiM races showing up... but a changeling? And ponies actually fired on her? So we've got other groups of ponies with weapons? Hoo boy. Also: Adrian and Riley show signs of her having fed on his emotions. I doubt it was intentional on her part.
6212340 It's probably their version of the Uncanny Valley effect.
It would seem ponies have some sort of inate resistance to cute things. I found Riley to be anything but repulsive.
I suppose it makes sense. If ponies found each other cute then they would have all died from diabetes long before they would have even made contact with humans.
OH MY GOD SO CUUUUUTTTE!
Time to roast some pony, YOU DON'T HURT THE CUTEST THING ON EARTH WITHOUT REPERCUSSIONS!
And now, the obvious 'she looks like a demon, she must be trying to act cute to kill us in out sleep' argument, I just bet it is, Moriah will be heading it. For now, we have a Changeling and let me remind everyone that we haven't set any anatomy rules about how they would reproduce or grow up.
So... heres hoping she doesn't drain someone like a jelly doughnut on the end of a vacuum.
Did Lonely Day learn about changelings during her time in Equestria?
Well, this promises to be both interesting and adorable.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to squee in the most unmanly manner at that picture for a bit.
Oh come on! That's... that's just unfair.
A changeling filly, of all things. You know, for the first time ever in this story and the prequel, you got me emotional.
Well done.
This... is going to be difficult.
6212683
I might say, yes or no.
Oh jeez, dat art... dawwabeetus kicking in... need my grinsulin... okay, that's better.
Your stories were quite good to begin with, and now you are making with the feels as well? That's dirty pool Star...
But seriously, since Riley has a horn, I would guess she has the potential to be a queen when she grows up. I will assume Alex knows about changelings already. This could be a chance for them to do better than Equestria did with their changelings. If they cohabitate from the beginning, it could quickly develop into a symbiotic relationship. (Sigh, no, not like Venom, more like the ones in our gut that help us digest food). Changelings could be the best lie detectors, and special ops agents in the world.
Changeling characters are popping up unexpectedly in all the stories I'm reading it seems. Well, two. But that's still a big coincidence to have them both suddenly appear in just as many days.
A giant bug-creature would probably look much more frightening and disgusting in person, but from this illustrated angle DAAAAW, SO CUUUUTE! How could you run from that?
But of course we have the ultimate problem with the question of how changelings could be integrated into society, something I've discussed elsewhere: Their parasitic feeding habits. If they can only feed off ambient emotion it should work out fine, but if they suck it out and leave a void then things will be difficult. Should be interesting to see how the Alexandria citizens handle this. (In addition to how they figure it out. Maybe something in the library?) Maybe in a thousand years Equestria will be amazed by whatever they decide. Speaking of Equestrians, [sarcasm]great idea adding Changelings into that spell matrix, you guys![/sarcasm]
(I have to add that "sarcasm" in because tone of voice is impossible in text.)
EDIT: Ya know, with a second look at that illustration she looks a little like a ladybug in a pink flower. EVEN MORE CUTE!
The picture is adorable, but is it my imagination or are there hints in the text that she's not just a helpless adorable little girl?
I can't help but read this as hinting at the room being a changeling's nest where she's imprisoned some poor ponies until they died. If it's not the case, serious props to Adrian and Alex for seeing past surface appearances. If something else is going on.. it looks like Alex is thinking ahead anyway:
Awww!! Riley is just so adorable!
6212295 Well she is not a drone those don't have hair and their eyes are compound so she could be a young queen.
How I miss the sequel for four days? [/worstpossiblething]
So a changeling? This is a development which is going to be very interesting. I wonder if Alex knows about them (I suppose he should, as part of the possible races humans were transformed into)
6213917 And you're right, Alex was a guy. It's just that the Event changed him into a female earth pony (Lonely Day). And then had a certain magical accident which made her some years younger.
hoh mah gawd! she's adorable!
6213358
Imagine her minions populating Alexandria
Yay! A changeling! So awesome!
I swear to god of moriah is a utter asswipe, she is offically going to be worst pony
It's a damn kid, who cares if it looks freaky as hell, it's still a damn kid
6214861
That was the only one I could think of off the top of my head
Now this IS interesting.
Obviously Alex, Adrian, Oliver and maybe Cloudy will be kind to the newcomer. Moriah and Joseph won't be. Still, I got very much the same vibe as some other people in the comments - that Riley is already hiding something and is up to no good. Changelings are ALWAYS bad news, and the description of her 'nest' seems to reinforce that idea. The point is, if she does turn out to be evil, Moriah will have been RIGHT, which will be a very interesting dynamic for once.
Or she could just be a cute kid who needs help.
Also, CAN PEOPLE PLEASE START TAGGING SPOILERS!!!
Riley is so cute, I just want to hug her (and maybe try and find a way to make plushy of her to cuddle when I'm feeling bad)
Time for our group to start learning about other species... Changelings? More like Cutie bombs!
I have a problem with this. Supposedly, those fake cave walls, or whatever they are, are too steep for Adrian to climb. no they're not In the episode "Dragon Shy", the mane six climbed straight up a cliff side.
images.tvrage.com/screencaps/139/27689/1065020274.png
Ponies are completely capable of scaling steep surfaces.
Then again, you could argue that Adrian just doesn't have much practice with complicated things like climbing stuff. I guess that makes sense. After all, the Mane Six have been ponies they're entire lives while Adrian only has a few months of experience in a pony body. He probably just isn't as coordinated as a natural born pony would be.
6222181
Adrian probably wasn't a big fan of the show, and I doubt he tried to just walk up extremely steep grades that looked like you'd topple off them and fall to your death.
Er, I mean I agree.
There's something so heartwrenching about someone who is crying when they think they're alone.
6212231
You'd think the Princess would have sent a book with all the sapient species of their world in it, for easy reference...
LOVING IT SO FAR! I wanted to see if Changelings would be in here and if that's the case, where are the Minotaurs, Diamond Dogs, and Gryphons? Oh GOD... DRAGONS!
OMG kill it with fire!
The subtext is horrific. You guys are all squee'ing over the cute fanart but completely ignoring the creepy undertones of the text. This is not a normal child, this is a Damien Thorn.
PICTURES PLEASE!!!
I would've gotten the fuck outta there if that was me. Dark maze like place, child crying in the distance. Yeah, no.
Now I feel sad that I would leave a child to die becuase of my fears. :(
first Changeling and I am betting she has no idea what she is or how she feeds. this is going to be a luring expernce for everypony
All of my feelings to the new changeling child. The Queen approves. This child must not be insufficiently fed.
A learning experience indeed. This is where things will get interesting. Oh, Adrian, you big softie~
From darkness,
solitary and afraid,
brought into the warmth of light.
Be sustained from this,
the love uniting this new world
blessed beneath another sun.
We shall read on.
6212231
I doubt it, but one hopes that Luna & Celestia would have some notion of that. Although I'm not necessarily of the opinion that regular Equestrian changelings are a natural species. I imagine it would be in one of those books.
6212340
Well, she's been living in a trash heap, so she probably stinks a bit. Also, the fact that she resembles an insect would probably inspire revulsion, at least initially, in both ponies and humans.
6212683
I really doubt that she did, given how short a time they were there and the FiM canon of changelings would make them not exactly public knowledge, but also not likely to reveal themselves to a regular pony much less an trans-universe traveler.
6881176
I think you meant that it would be a 'learning' experience. As long as she doesn't try to drain other ponies and she refrains from using the powers she presumably possesses to deceive anyone then it will probably go okay. After all, much of the changelings' reputation in Equestria stems from their responses in the past to certain wants and needs and so it things won't necessarily be the same on 'Earth' depending on what ultimately happens.
OMGOMGOMG!! Filly changeling heart attack!
Adrian walked through a Dr Seuss demon hole for a crying child.
I would have probably just called the SCP Foundation