My Little Changeling -- "I" is Magic

by Wing Dancer

The Perfect Disguise

Chip’s internal alarm clock rang right on schedule. With a jaw winding yawn, the changeling woke up, remembering who and where he was. The little filly under his belly was sound asleep – she had her little mouth open, snoring slightly. From time to time her little hoofsies twitched. The colt smiled and positioned the foal more comfortably – she instantly snuggled up to him, pressing her tiny head against his wide, blue torso.

The feeling of joy was as strong as yesterday – if this was how parenting felt like, he kind of pitied himself for not being able to have a foal of his own. He would just have to make the best of the time he could spend with her, then.

Something was trying to draw Chip’s attention in the dew-heavy morning and it took some time for the changeling to realize the forest was not silent anymore – birds were chirping around, leaves were rustling, here and there a shadow dashed in his peripheral vision…

“Aghhh…mmmm….” Silver Heart stretched herself, nuzzling Chip’s forehooves. “Good morning,” she said with a smile, her wonderful green eyes still kind of unfocused.

“Good morning. Slept well?” asked the colt, trying to understand why all of a sudden the woodland creatures swarmed around him.

“Yeah, I think so. Oh look, a bird’s nest! Wow, what beautiful birdies!” The pony was jumping up and down now, trying to peek into the low hanging nest. She paused after a while and looked Chip straight in the eye. “I’m hungry. Do you think there are any hay fries around here?”

“Hay fries?” The changeling raised his brow. “No, I don’t think so. There is plenty of foliage around – you can eat that.”

“Foliage?” Silver raised a brow of her own, causing the colt to chuckle – the way she tried to mimic his face was just too precious. “Hey, what’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothing,” said Chip, wiping a small tear. “Let’s eat. There is a long way ahead of us today.”

With some inaudible grumbling, the foal jumped off of Chip’s lap and begun snuffing the ground. She finally settled for some deliciously green leaves growing above a small den.

The colt bent down and took a mouthful of the wet grass beneath him. He spat it out the moment he felt it on his tongue, startling Silver.

“What’s the matter? You alright?” asked the worried filly. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something.”

“This…” Chip started, fighting for words, “This…has taste…I-I can feel…”

“Of course it has, silly,” mumbled the foal with a full mouth. “That’s why it’s called food.”

This was incredible. But how? How did his tongue suddenly pick up flavor? As far as he knew, no type of food ever prodded the taste buds of changelings – to be honest, he wasn’t sure such things even existed in the changeling body. And yet, here it was – was it the forest? This particular grass? With a bewildered expression he jumped off to another spot and tore at some moss. Taste! A purplish plant. It’s juicy and sweet! Red bulb! Sour and sticky!

Silver Heart was watching silently as Chip pranced about, taking bites out of anything that he laid his eyes upon. She winced as she heard the dry crack of wood being mauled, followed by a hiss and giggle. Her new friend was so excited she couldn’t help but join him! Together they sampled the local plants – some of them were icky, others were sweet as candy. The pony refused to eat the more stinky vegetation, which wasn’t the case for Chip – he crunched and munched with real tears of joy in his eyes.

* * *

“And that one that looked like a giant balloon?! I never tasted anything like that! It was like eating a cloud or something!” Chip was so happy he kept on rattling about his new experiences non-stop. In this magical place, he could feel the taste of things. The joy managed to push a more urgent question out of his mind, though – one that would bite him in the flank later. Literally.

It looked like it would be another hot day – fog was gathering at Chip’s feet, so he chose to let Silver ride on his back again, so she didn’t get wet or cold. The filly listened eagerly as the changeling relayed how a red long stalk plant tasted like, so she didn’t even notice a shadow creep up from behind.

Unexpectedly, both of the traveling friends fell over – the colt was screaming, trying to buck away a creature made of twigs and leaves. It was a timber wolf; it held the changeling’s hind leg in a steel grip, growling madly and trying to drag him away.

Chip was bewildered beyond reason. He tried to magically slap the monster off himself, but found himself unable to reach to his horn. He couldn’t even change back to his original, taller, stronger and more armored self. The weak skin and fur of a pony offered no protection against jagged teeth the timber wolf sported. All he could do was kick with his free leg, again and again, losing hope with each blow. His eyes darted around, stopping on a shadow lurking behind Silver Heart.

* * *

The filly lay unconscious in a shallow cave Chip managed to drag them to. One of his hind legs was mangled badly, and he had several bruises and scratches (not to mention splinters) all over his body. He was drained and aching all over. Whatever made him feel taste again seemed to have rendered him magically disabled as well. It was a miracle he managed to fend off the beasts with just this frail shell. But he would not let anything hurt his best friend.

He again carefully inspected the filly – she wasn’t hurt, but just a while back she fainted when she saw the wound on his leg. Chip felt powerless, so the only thing he could do was check over and over again, pleading Silver to wake up and shaking her gently.

The changeling’s heart skipped a beat when the foal moaned, finally starting to move. Disregarding the pulsing pain in his leg, he dragged himself up and nuzzled her.

“Are you alright?” he whispered.

“Yes,” came a weak reply. “But you’re not okay…”

“It’s nothing,” said Chip gently, hiding the wet and sticky wound. “I’ll manage. I’ll be okay.”

“You promise?” asked Silver, returning the nuzzle.

“Of course. I would not dare to lie to you.” He sighed with relief. It was more bearable to go on, now that he knew the filly wasn’t hurt. In the maelstrom of growls, pain and tumbling, he couldn’t tell what was happening. The red haze that overpowered him, probably some kind of instinct, didn’t leave many memories. All he knew was that the aggressors left them alone – at least for now.

“What do we do now?” asked Silver Heart, standing up on her shaking hooves.

“We go on.”

* * *

The filly refused to be carried by Chip and therefore was swimming in fog, her head held as high as she could. The colt was tripping quite a bit, but managed to keep a good pace through the forest. The pricking in his flank dulled down and blood wasn’t flowing as vigorously as it was just a few hours ago.

His sudden fragility worried him – did, by any chance, he permanently change into a pony? All the evidence pointed to this – sudden gain of taste buds, inability to use magic (his disguise was, unfortunately, that of an earth pony), weak skin and soft fur… He became a real pony. Pinocchio would be green with envy.

Under different circumstances, he’d be happy – that meant nopony would go after him and he could mingle with other equines normally. In this scary forest, however, without his chitin and magic, Chip felt naked. And there was also this pressing sensation under his tail he had never felt before. It was gathering for quite some time now and became quite a nuisance. With each step, something shifted in his flank, itching to escape through…where?

* * *

The changeling promised to himself he would never speak again of this moment. He would even try and forget it if possible. Silver Heart was looking at him awkwardly and the colt felt really embarrassed by…ugh…

To put it in gentle words, Chip learned how eating and digestion work for real ponies. And that it was a bad idea to mix things up in a pony diet. The changeling really appreciated the way his kind went about consumption – nothing was apparently wasted. Everything stayed inside. Ponies on the other hand had all sorts of crevices that prevented the food from staying where it was supposed to. Especially one such hole was positioned in a totally atrocious spot. He didn’t even want to look at his tail. What he felt was embarrassing enough.

On the bright side, the pressure he felt finally lifted. It took a few tries, but it seemed his new pony body was satisfied. Quite contrary to the frowning Silver Heart.

“I’m sorry,” repeated Chip for who knows which time.

* * *

It was dark when Chip finally managed to wipe his tail clean against all the various bushes and plants they both passed. Silver Heart seemed to have finally come to terms with what she witnessed and was prancing about – she didn’t go far, though, darting back to the changeling at the very first sight of something moving or making a sound.

The stallion’s wound darkened and seemed to harden, the pain almost entirely disappearing. There was a tingling sensation under his skin, but it did not impede his ability to walk. This body wasn’t so bad, once one got hold of all the nuances of controlling it.

The pair stopped at a fork in the road – one of the ways lead ahead, while the other stopped at a peculiar looking tree – it had holes shaped like windows in it and several artifacts, looking like faces hanged around a door. As far as Chip knew, trees didn’t have doors or faces.

Deciding it was too dangerous to continue down the path in the forest, Chip scooped Silver Heart close to him and approached what he hoped was a house.

Comments

[Wing Dancer]

Writing this late at night, a person gets some really straaange ideas

[ShadeMidnight]

879083
i like the 'blunt' foreshadowing, if you can even call it that..........me liky need moar.

[Aiovas]

Soo zecora''s hut?

[Quantum_Shift]

Well now, I hope this transformation isn't totally permanent... that'd suck for the story. Up until he takes a bubble bath and reveals he's a changeling, goes "Huh. Weird." and then goes back to bathing, like nothing's wrong, while all the ponies nearby start freaking out.
I'm assuming a large scale bath, like in the episode that featured the Poison Joke.

[Little Voice]

879192Five bits says yes.

[Deathpony]

good chapter

[Ralfil]

Next chapter should be interesting.

[In5an1ty]

when he first ate all the poison joke i thought this is gonna stop the story development... but this way you managed it again to be awesome :3 this story is so awesome... thank you for writing it is all i can tell you...

[Wing Dancer]

879177, 879395
Thanks!

879192
Hurr durr, maybe

879343
To be honest I've no clue what is going to happen. Given Chip doesn't know he's under the effect of Poison Joke, and he doesn't bath at all, the effect can last quite a while

879361
Oy, do I get them bits if it turns out this will be Zecora's evil twin sister, who really is a curse-monger?

879475
I sure hope so!

881480
Thanks for the kind words If all else fails,I'll just pull an interesting deus ex machina to prod it to life. Buuuut I think that won't be neccesary.

[Little Voice]

881544Only if that's what actually happens in the story. Crap, I just made a bet about a story with the author of said story. Let me get my equestrian wallet.

[Wing Dancer]

882587

Nah, keep your bits. I'm so happy right now!
While looking around for some wallpaper for the kitchen I came across My Little Pony wallpaper stickers.
Was totally worth all the awkward glares from the other people in line. Now, Fluttershy and Twilight look at me from above my monitor!

[Quantum_Shift]

882742
You are so lucky right now... All I have are some MLP fruit snacks...

[Cloverman The Purple]

I love this series, and there are almost no mistakes... But something that just bothered
me is in the last sentence of the 2nd to last paragraph, there was a triple negative.
I don't know if that is a grammar mistake, but it just got to me for a moment.
I still love the story!

[Hekate Sketch]

Aaaand que Zecora. Yay! more characters appear!

[JazzyWaffles]

Pinocchio would be green with envy.

You mean Ponyocchio? ;)

[tsaukpaetra]

And now we can determine how far away we are from the invasion...

[f0st3r21]

Oh! I guess the filly is real and the Joke turned him into a real pony.

…

Her parents are going to be livid.