6 - He Hungers
Just outside their clubhouse, I encountered the most vicious of opponents. Stairs. I took a slow step down, just to pitch forward and tumble down to the bottom in a sudden forced movement of discomfort and pain. The world had grown again. I was back to being a black bug, not a red stallion.
Being the big stallion felt safer than the bug and I tried to flip back into it, just to feel a painful rumbling in my gut. I was hungry, enough to distract from picturing ponies. Maybe being ponies took energy? Heck, maybe big ponies was more than smaller ponies, for all I knew.
I gathered myself up to my hooves and looked down at my hooves as I began to get the two-leg gait back down, trying to trot like Spike showed me, but I didn't get far before an angry voice called out, "Git off mah farm, ya damn bug!" I looked over to see an orange pony charging with fury in her eyes.
Well shoot... I figured obeying her wishes was likely the healthiest option and turned my trot away from her and her farm. I hadn't even noticed I was in a farm before, but I could see rows on rows of apple trees. More of an orchard, really, but none of that helped much in the current pursuit of getting away.
I was a bit faster, but just as ungainly, tripping every few steps as I fell into a good panic on the way. My lackluster performance seemed to be noticed by the orange pony, who slowed down a little with a tilted head. "What in tarnation? Why aren't ya flyin' away, ya hole-ridden emotional mosquito?"
That was a fine question, come to think. I looked over my shoulder at my wings and started buzzing them. "Sorry, still new at this. What do you mean emotional?"
She shook her head slowly. "Ya serious?"
I stopped and nodded at her, turning around to face her. "I don't mean to cause any trouble. I'm just trying to get to Twilight's for help."
She cocked a brow at me with a look of clear distrust. "Uh huh. And just who said that was a good idea? She don't like you varmints none more than I do. And who said you could stop?!" She made a shooing motion at me. "Get off mah farm."
I felt my ears go down. "I'm tired and hungry, sorry. I've been running around all day."
Confusion played across her features as she frowned delicately. "So, what, ya wanted an apple? We got a stand for that. If'n ya came for a drink, ain't gonna fool none of us inta that, so git!"
I had no idea what I would be fooling them into, besides not kicking me out or attacking me. "I wasn't a changeling yesterday. Do you remember Noah, the human?"
"Sure, hard not to notice when one of them move in t'town. What about the fella?"
I sat down and pointed at myself with a hoof. "Me! That's me."
She rolled a hoof. "Noah ain't no bug. Twilight checked when he moved into town."
I shrugged softly. "So take me to her. She'll figure it out, right? Or zap me, either way."
She let out a slow sigh. "Alright, look. If yer tellin' the truth, mah name's Applejack, but AJ's fine. I ain't had much good out of changelings, so you're on thin ice, buster."
I couldn't help but smile. Thin ice was already a huge step up from 'get off my lawn!'. I'd take what I could get. "Thank you. Uh, about that apple... That sounds pretty good right now actually."
That brow went right back up. "I didn't know changelings even liked apples." She kicked a tree with one leg, an idle tap, and an apple fell right on her hat, balanced like it was nothing. She approached at an easy trot and set it in front of me. "Now yer gonna come right with me. I--"
"Applejack!" We both turned towards the new voice to see Spike hurrying down the path with a petulant looking Apple Bloom trailing behind. "Don't hurt him!"
He rushed right up, just to double over, panting for breath. "Don't... hurt him..."
Applejack set a hoof on his shoulder. "Take it easy there, Spike. Ah ain't hurtin' him. Hay, reckon I ain't done much more than scared him a tad."
I nodded a little at that and reached for the apple, just to sort of knock it over. How do you grab things with hooves?! I began kicking it around until I managed to trap it between both forehooves and lift it up slowly.
Spike pointed back at Apple Bloom. "She pretended to be him and separated us."
Apple Bloom pouted. "It was just fer fun..."
Applejack slowly shook her head. "How did mah sister pretend to be a bug?"
I managed a bite and crunched it down. It was delicious, but not filling. I needed more. "I was pretending to be her, because all of the girls asked me to."
Applejack put a hoof on Apple Bloom's withers, pulling her forward. "Well, someone ain't getting dessert fer a few days."
"Aw..."
"Spike, I trust you have this in claw?"
Spike gave a sharp salute. "On it." He turned to me, watching me make short work of the apple. "Huh, really hungry huh?"
I hadn't left anything of it, even the core. "I still am. I'm glad to see you again, Spike." I stood up. "Did you talk to Twilight yet?"
He shook his head. "The moment I got close to the castle, Apple Bloom fessed up and we got to walking here. This was the first place they would have taken you. They didn't hurt you or anything, did they?"
I waved a hoof, and stayed upright for a change. "They were harmless, mostly. I'm fine, just starved."
Spike tapped at his chin with the end of a claw. "I could be misremembering, but Chrysalis said they eat love, last I checked."
"Eat... love?" I frowned, wings buzzing a little. "How do you eat an abstract emotion?!"
Spike shrugged. "Search me, but that's what she said, and she's the queen of all changelings, so I'd think she knows."
I sat down with a grunt, my belly still rumbling. "We need to start at the, you know, start. Tell me how changelings work. I'd vote for heading to Twilight, but It's getting worse and the apple didn't help."
Spike glanced around a moment. "Alright, so here's how I heard it..."
Stats
Page generated in 0.02 seconds
Total duration
1,125 users online
2,036,562 hits today, 2,561,572 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.®
While he hungered I was eating french toast.
6809620 That's almost as good as love!
Wow, new character yay!
Yeah but... who's gonna enforce it? Are we gonna lock them up? Or fine them?
... It's not like we don't separate corpses from normal society. And charge overlarge fees to their families for the ceremony that puts them there.
Maybe we just need to start including more instructional manuals for our dead relatives. Then granpa never has to leave!
... That went to a pretty macabre place.
Hmm... For an presumed enemy of the state, AJ warmed up to our hero rather quick on him actually being a honest bug...
Maybe if he plays his cards right, his new food troubles would be over, if you know what I mean?
6809779 I think Applejack's expression is accurate there.
6809802
Yeah, probably!
Sounds like you got a touch of Mars Attacks invading Sweet Apple Acres here, Applejack-ack-ack.
6809940 Maybe she is the changeling!
I blame the typos.
After all, the corpus comes with instructions?
All of them.
world has - world had
*****
I'm surpised there wasn't any laughter from the foals after his rough tumble down the stairs.
So sometimes being awkward is a good defense against getting bucked off the property, or at least it was in this case. Good work on writing Applejack having enough perception, curiosity and good sense to notice that something is strange with this particular changeling and hold her attack.
6810194 Applejack is not a dummy, and it seemed in character for her to notice that particular changeling was acting mighty peculiar. Considering it asked to be brought to the strongest pony around to be properly zapped, that seemed mighty odd for a sneaky bug to try to request.
Continuing to enjoy this. Feel the love, Noah.
And no, bodies don't come with instruction manuals nor exchange instructions.
6810200
"LIttle did you know that I, the Great and Powerful Changeling, have a magic siphon spell active! Ahahhahahah!"
I am liking this story more and more. I can see ware this is going to get interesting.
She let out a slow sigh. "Alright, look. If yer tellin' the truth, mah name's Applejack, but AJ's fine. I ain't had much good out of changelings, so you're on thin ice, buster."
He should know that he's telling the truth.
from 'get off my
lawnfarm!'.7062467
Personally, I really dislike the 'AJ is the Element of Honesty, so she automatically knows what is or isn't a lie' concept. None of the other Elements have passive powers that come from their Elements, so why would AJ?
10962284
My headcanon is that she picked a thing or ten about lie detecting back in Manehattan, where everypony is trying to swindle the other.