Camo the changeling

by M Specter

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The reason I had left the CMC was because I needed to find something out and there was only one pony that I could think of, who could do that for me. I hovered just above Ponyville peering out at the village below. I was trying to spot Diamond Tiara I needed to know if she was truly whom she made herself out to be.

After a minute of searching I found her walking on the main road toward the market. I glided off of the cloud and landed beside her. "We need to talk" I stated bluntly.
"Whatever do you mean, blank flank" she said despondently.
“Look I just want to talk, how about we talk on the bench over there". There was a bench in the park in front of me and I figured we might as well talk about it there.

We both walked in silence as we approached the bench. As we sat on it I took the liberty of inspecting the bench. The wood looked finely cut and it wasn’t too stiff or to wobbly either, I can tell that whoever made this took the time and effort to make this into a masterpiece. “Did you join those blank flanks yet to find out 'who you are' “she said “no I didn’t but... I wanted to talk about you. I’m just curious but are you... a real earth pony."

She looked at me as if I had injured her "of course I'm a real earth pony and I can’t believe that the likes of you had the nerve to even ask that, I even extended my hoof in friendship in the hopes that you were one of the few nice gentle colts in this town “. She got off the bench and sauntered away, I could tell that she was extremely angry with me and that she may no longer talk to me but, I still had my suspicions of her and seeing as how she left I have to hold off on my theory for now.

During the conversation we had I scanned her to see if what I thought before was true and oddly enough she gave out the signature of a pony, it seems really peculiar but I need to get an update on what’s happening in the swarm and the outer reaches of my forces.

I also can’t let anyone see me because my body may turn back into my real form making it difficult to find information on my queen. To amend this I took to the skies again and landed on another cloud. It was much bigger than the one I was flying on before and it seems that it would stop anyone on the ground from seeing me. I closed my eyes and tried to contact the generals to see what was going on. Each general told me that everything was going well and that slowly but surely they were integrating themselves into the pony population.

The pony's they were replacing were placed in cocoons so that there love would be preserved for an emergency. They also told me that there was no sign of our queen and that they were searching for her as much as they could. I was pleased to hear that everything was fine though I wasn't pleased to hear that our queen wasn't found and I strived to try harder in finding her.

I opened my eyes and shut out the voices of the swarm. I still needed to go back down and enjoy my welcoming party. I glided back down to the ground and tried to find my way to Sugar cube corner. I trotted over the streets of Ponyville looking for the shop from this morning. For some reason the streets were a lot more vacant than before. The rustle and tussle that I heard before were no longer there. It made navigating the streets easier but I could tell that I was lost and there was no pony around to ask for directions.

Although after a 30 minutes and navigating the streets quickly I found Sugar cube corner, but by then my strength started to drain from my body. I realize that I've now wasted my remaining energy reserves. I needed to feed and soon if not I would surely pass out. My legs struggled to take the last couple of steps to the front door. Though I pushed the last remaining strength in my body to my legs and managed to put my hoof on the door knob.

By then I had started sweating profusely and felt like I had run a couple miles. I opened the door slightly and peered into the shop. It was pitch dark in there and forgetting my hunger for a moment I opened the door to its fullest length took a few cautious steps inside. At this moment I began to become curious as to why it was it was dark and to make things worse the door slammed behind me making it completely dark. I couldn't see anything not even the hoof I was waving in front of my face.

‘Where is everyone' I thought, the room started to omit an ominous feeling and I started to wonder what was in the darkness. I took a couple more steps in trying to ignore the lack of energy that kept on pestering. Before I could even think about what I would do next the lights turned on and standing in front of me was Pinkie. “Surprise" she bellowed at me. I was honestly very surprised so surprised that I tripped over my own hooves and fell backwards into the door. I knew that I was getting a party later today and still I got surprised this mare is something else. She put her face up to mine and said “Did we surprise you? I bet we did no pony would trip and fall with that kind of face if they weren’t ".

As much as I hate to admit it she got me pretty good I haven’t been surprised like that since when I was still learning how to change form but that’s a story for another day for now I have a crazy pink mare to deal with “Yes I admit it pinkie you surprised me but you better be careful, next time it may be me doing the surprising.”
“I’d like to see you try” She said as she put her face away from my face and hoof bumped me as a sign of her accepting the challenge. ‘May the best pony win’ I thought.

After the challenge declaration with Pinkie I noticed that there were tons of other ponies I didn’t know who were mostly focused on me at the moment. Again I've never been put on the spot like this party has, and I had to say I was really nervous just sitting in front of this crowd. I felt like they were staring at me seeing through my disguise and even into my very thoughts. Although in the back reaches of my mind I knew that wasn't true, but it didn't help how I felt though.

I moved over to Pinkie and whispered to her “Pinkie I thought you said you would make this a small party". “Oh I'm sorry Camo but whenever I throw a welcome party for somepony it's really hard to not get the rest of the town involved". “It’s alright I guess..." I collapsed then my body decided that this was the perfect time to remind me that I needed to feed.

My senses started to grow dull to the point that I could only here hoof steps hurrying toward me. Soon there were ponies crowding my vision each trying to get me to respond to whatever they were saying but I couldn't decipher any of it and I could feel my life force slipping away.

As a last resort I tried pulling any love that was emitting off of anypony around me. To my astonishment there was a large abundance of it and I started to pull it towards me. I guess they were all worried about my well-being, enough so that they emitted it in large quantities. In a matter of no time at all my body returned to one hundred percent and I was able to get up and hear again.

"Are you ok?" Pinkie asks. “Yeah I'm fine just a little hungry is all." Pinkie gave me a condescending look before she accepted my excuse and led me to a table. All the while other ponies where whispering in the background and I was only able to hear fragments of what they were saying
“Is he ok?”
“Why did he faint so suddenly?”
“Maybe we overwhelmed him when we …

I stopped listening as soon as Pinkie pushes the cake in front of me. With closer examination I see that it was the cake that she had created when I first met her. It looked just about the same as she had shown it to me the first time only now it looked even more delicious. Before I could even cut into the cake though Sweetie Bell came over to my table and said “Camo are you ok?" she clearly had concern and worry etched on her face and it made me stop and think. We haven’t been friends for more than one day why is she so worried about me. It took my queen a couple years before she let me even get close to her and for good reason to. To let Sweetie know I’m alright I said “Yeah I just lost my strength before; I'll be fine once I get some food in me".

Wanting to change the subject I said “So where are the rest of the girls." She took a while to answer the question and during that time I cut myself a slice of cake and started to eat. It. Was. Delicious. My mouth was watering from the taste of it. I've never eaten anything that good, well I don't each much food to begin with but still it was amazing.

After my great discovery of the deliciousness that is Pinkie's cake Sweetie Bell began to speak. “They went to go get something they'll be here soon." I should have tried to relinquish some more answers out of her but instead I offered her some cake. “Would you like some cake then?" she smiled and said “sure".

We ate are slices in silence for a couple minutes while other ponies introduced themselves to me. Whenever I looked at Sweetie Bell she would blush and look away. Also I saw that she was acting a lot more nervous than when we were with the other members of the CMC.

Finally she worked up enough nerve to speak to me.
“Camo about what happened this morning...." Immediately the memory of us kissing implants itself on my corneas. “Can we pretend it never happened and keep it between us" she said. “Sure it's like it never happened” I said. Almost immediately she perked back up and started to act normal. I guess she just wanted to get that off her chest.

So we started to chat about some things for a while nothing to exciting just an exchange of random bits of information. All the while the cake on the table started to diminish in slices. When the cake was half eaten just a minute after our conversation, Scootaloo and Apple bloom joined us though they had presents on their backs.

“Here Camo we decided to get you something for your party". They plopped it down on the table near my plate. I swallowed the piece of cake that was in my mouth and cleared my throat “girls you didn't have to do this for me."
“Of course we had to we wanted our newest friend to feel welcome in our town". What Scootaloo said really touched me in my heart, they called me there friend no one ever had the privilege of calling me there friend before. Well accept maybe Chrysalis but even I don’t know what to call our relationship.

I opened Scootaloo’s present first and I carefully unwrapped the gift. We didn't really have much cause for celebration back at the hive. Chrysalis never gave us birthday presents or even a party for that matter. Well the only way we actually enjoy ourselves is when we conquer a set area and drain the love of the ponies that live there. It's like a feast that normal ponies have on Hearth's warming day.

Once I shredded through enough of the decorative wrapping I looked down into it to see goggles. I picked out of the box and put it over my head. I thanked Scootaloo and this is what she had to say " it's nothing really I just had an extra pair lying around and sense you’re a Pegasus I figured you'd have need of it someday".

I give her my biggest and most sincere smile I could and said “thank you". She smiled and said “your welcome it really was nothing” as she said this she blushed from embarrassment and tried to look away. I then opened Apple blooms present and about halfway of uncovering the wrapping a delicious smell permeated from the inside of the gift. Again we changelings don't get full from eating normal food but sometimes we do eat food simply because we love the taste and smell, and judging by the smell of what's coming out I hypothesized that it would taste good.

Once the wrapping was out I was staring at a perfectly made apple pie, and it was still warm to the touch. “Granny smith and I made that for you we both hope that you enjoy it." To show my appreciation to her I dug my face straight into the pie and started to eat it, and boy was it delicious and I could tell that it was made with tender love and care. I'm a changeling I can sense these things, speaking of which I’m getting a steady intake of love from Scootaloo and Apple bloom. It may not be as good as Pinkie’s cake but it was a close second.

There really happy that I enjoyed there presents so much. “Apple bloom that was the best apple pie I've ever eaten, maybe you'll get your cutie mark in pie making" while saying this I picked up one of the napkins on the table and dabbed the remaining food off of my muzzle. “Nah Granny Smith already has a cutie mark for that, ah wouldn't feel as special if I earned a cutie mark like her."

Her reasoning does make sense though it may be her special talent, and she just doesn't know it. “Camo I'm sorry I didn't get you a present I promise I will make it up to you" Sweetie Bell says as she looks at me dejectedly. “No you don't have to, you've all done so much already". Hearing this her smile returns on her face and I start to feel some love poor into me from her.

“So have ya decided to join us as a cutie mark crusader" Apple bloom asks with hope in her eyes. Well I've decided I can't join them for obvious reasons it could jeopardize everything that I've worked for, I haven't really done anything but it's still my first day here and I already know my way through parts of the town that has to count for something right? Anyway I tell them my decision and immediately there demeanor sours.

"Come on guy's were still friends right and besides I could always help you with your crusades but, I just won't be a part of it". They brightened up a bit but they had a lot less vigor then before. The rest of the party was not really that interesting I did get my necklace back from Rarity and I was able to meet Twilight, Fluttershy and Applejack. They were each good friends of Pinkie and also Apple jack was Apple blooms older sister.

Even after I left the party was still going on I guess some ponies like to party hard. I didn't really have a place to sleep so I decided that I would sleep on a cloud since I just recently found out there really comfortable to lie down on. I found a pretty decent sized one and fell into a deep sleep.

Author's Note:

Sorry this took so long I just had bad feelings for this chapter and also laziness got the best of me. I still hope your reading this though.

Comments

[SliverBrony]

Does Camo pose as a child or why is nopony confused that he´s a blank flank?