This strange world

by SwarmLordAbdonis

Why the **** would I want to turn into a rock?

Craig was the first and only one to wake up right as the sun peaked up over the land. He watched as the yellow orb soon reached high into the sky within minutes. The movement of the sun was slow, though not so slow that you couldn't see the massive star rise up into the air higher and higher until it reached the afternoon phase. The whole event had happened in just under a minute. Yet even though Craig knew the reason behind the sun going so suddenly from sun rise to afternoon, it still made him a little wary and surprised after seeing it. Just another reminder that everything that had happened last night was the real deal. Well, that and he was still a giant bird/lion hybrid. Shaking the thought from his head he quickly proceeded to wake the others up. Right now they needed to make sure that every hour they had would be used productively, and considering that today was going to be their first full day, there was much that he needed to cover before their trek into the town that sat waiting not so far away. Not surprisingly however, others took to being woken up better than others.

"Craig, will you fuck off? I'm still tired and right now I'd love nothing more than for you to shut that fat beak of yours!" Ash snarled, giving the griffon a look at his sharp teeth. They did not cause Craig to deter from waking his fellow friends up. If anything they actually fascinated him as he wondered if they were actually capable of slicing through gems like they were known to in the show. Of course in order to test that he needed Ash to be up and cooperative, as well as actually find some of said gems but for now, one step at a time.

"Oh, sorry Ash." He smirked. "I had only assumed that you wanted to learn more about being a big and dangerous dragon is all since, you know, you literally are one." Craigs somewhat subtle attempt at manipulating the overgrown lizard had the desired effect. Ash's eyes opened up immediately and his pupils were almost as wide as dinner plates.

"Okay okay fine, I'm up!"

"Good. Now come on, we've got a lot of work to do!"

By the time everyone, or rather every-creature according to Craig had been woken up, the griffon gathered them up and decided to start going over their trek into the town one by one. He started with the simplest of the bunch, which was Jason.

"Okay Jason, out of all of us, you're going to be the one who will find this whole trip the easiest. The town we're travelling to is made up almost entirely of ponies, so no-one should take a second glance at you. There are a couple of things that you are going to have to learn. You haven't exactly moved around all that much since we first ended up here so it would be good to practice walking on four legs BEFORE we enter the town. Otherwise you're going to look and act as drunk as you were during the house party."

That last comment caused a few snickers. Jason ignored them and tested out his new limbs by walking around, expecting to have the knack for it straight away. It took a total of 2.6 seconds before he accidentally tripped over his front hooves causing everyone to laugh louder. Eventually after a few tips from Craig, he managed to get the hang of it. Barely.

"Okay, that should be fine for now. Let's just hope that we don't have to run otherwise we're going to be better off just carrying you."

"Why would we need to run?" Mike butted in.

"Eh, plenty of reasons. Evil villains, monster attack, lord of chaos, and so on. Pretty much the standard norm for Ponyville." The griffon pointed out. He was going to continue until he noticed the uncomfortable, slightly horrified looks from everyone else. He quickly realised that his words weren't exactly comforting. "Oh, sorry. Did I forget to mention all that before?"

"YES!" Everyone snapped.

"So uh... one more question. Just one, no big deal but uh... WHY are we going to this place again?!" Mike argued, having more reason than most to stay behind thanks to Craig pointing out the strong possibility that his kind were feared and hated by pretty much everyone. The griffon was about to answer until someone cut him off.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you planning on living here right next to the forest for the rest of your life dipshit?" Ash snapped.

"Fuck you Ash! You don't have to worry about being thrown in jail for being a weird vampire looking horse thing!"

"Changeling."

"Like anyone cares Craig, shut it!"

"Right, okay. I was planning on going over this later for you but since you're acting like a big baby Mike-"

"A big ugly vampire baby." Jack added.

"-I might as well go over your abilities now."

Mike sighed. "Oh hold on, let me guess. I can suck blood, turn into a bat and live for a thousand years, right? I'm right aren't I?"

"Again, you're not a freaking vampire, idiot! You're a changeling!"

"Also, if you were a vampire then how are you standing out in the sunlight with the rest of us?" Ash pointed out, causing Mike to look up to the glowing orb in the sky then back at his own body which was clearly exposed to the sunlight. He didn't seem to be melting. Or sparkling thankfully.

"Touché."

"Now if I can continue without being interrupted, again... Mike, despite your stupid comments you were right about one of your abilities. Transformation."

"Into a bat?"

"Into anything theoretically."

"Wait, really?!" Mikes ears perked up in excitement.

"Guess that explains the name CHANGEling." Jason shrugged.

"Yeah. I mean, I think it depends on a few things and there's probably a limit, but yeah you could turn into all sorts of things. A dog, a tiger, one of us, some kind of monster or a rock."

"Um... a rock?" Mikes hyped up expression shifted into confusion at the last example.

"Yeah. A rock." Craig nodded.

"Why the fuck would I want to turn into a rock?"

Craig sighed once more. "I mean... it's just an example."

"No I know, it just seemed a bit weird considering all the other options you gave is all."

"Well a rock is just as effective."

"How? By sitting in the middle of a busy road and hoping that someone stubs their toe?" Ash countered.

"Think more along the lines of stealth. If the worst occurs and you end up being chased down by somepony, or something, you can just transform into a rock or a tree and let whatever's chasing you run right past you without them knowing it."

"Oh. Well that's also another good reason I guess." Ash rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment from not realising that himself.

"Yeah that is one option... OR I could just turn into some kind of hideous monster and scare off anyone trying to harm me." The changeling stated obviously.

"That seems a bit extreme, doesn't it?" Jason noted.

"It's better than being a goddamn rock!" Mike defended. "Look, maybe we should argue about this later when we're, you know, certain on whether or not I don't have to risk getting arrested any time I show my face."

"Well now that we've got that out of the way..." Craig interrupted. "Lets get back to you Jason. There's only one other thing we really need to look into. Your magic."

"I have magic?" Jason spoke in awe.

"No, you actually just have a dildo stuck to your head genius." Ash hissed.

"Ash, zip it or I'll just skip you and your abilities."

Ash just huffed.

"Anyway, yes Jason. Your horn is what produces your magic, like other unicorns. Now I don't know the limit of this magic but you should be able to do simple levitation at the least."

"Awesome!" Jason exclaimed excitedly. "How do I do that?"

"I have no idea."

"Really None?"

"Forgive me, I was never a unicorn in my previous life. Your magic is just something that you're going to have to figure out on your own. Mike, that goes with your transformation too."

"Aw!" Mike moaned in disappointment.

"Okay, Ash. You're next."

"About time!" The dragon smiled.

"As you demonstrated yesterday, you already know how to breathe fire. And since flying will involve training three of us including myself, the only other few things that I can remember about dragons are their ability to eat gems and their extreme resilience to incredibly high temperatures, enough for you to swim in lava if you chose to."

"Whoa! I like the sound of that last one!" Ash grinned.

"Of course you would, you're a fucking lunatic." Mike smirked, earning a glare from the dragon.

"Dragons are something of a rarity in Ponyville, but there is one that lives there without being feared by the locals so as long as you don't do anything stupid like start a fight or act rudely, you'll probably be fine." Craig then looked over to the ginger yak. "And all that leaves is you Jack."

"What you got for me man?"

"Nothing as magical sounding as the others I'm afraid, but I can say that you're now extremely strong and very resilient. Enough to go toe to toe with most dangerous creatures in the forest here. Heck, you mind be able to take down a building if you went all out!"

"Oh cool. Strong back home, stronger here. Sounds good to me." Jack smiled.

"Now I'm fairly certain that you'll be fine walking the streets of Ponyville but just in case, just keep to yourself. Yaks aren't usually subtle or quiet but I'm fairly confident that ponies wouldn't mind if they were. Remember, we don't want or need any extra attention."

Jack nodded.

"So what's our next step now?" Jason asked.

"We head closer to the town. It's a few hours away remember so it'll be a good time for you and Mike to practice."

"What if I don't learn how to change form before then?" Mike pointed out.

"If you don't manage to learn in time then we can't risk bringing you into Ponyville yet, so if you don't have any luck after say, an hour and a half maximum, head back to the camp and we'll return for you after we've established whether changelings are welcome or not."

Mike nodded.

"Okay, let's set off then."

Everyone began moving off, heading down hill slowly and carefully. Jason seemed to be a bit more cautious with his movements. While he was certain that he wouldn't trip over his own hooves a second time, he still preferred to take precautions. Everyone else on the other hand had no such problem. After ten seconds of walking had passed, Jason suddenly realised this himself.

"Hold on! You lot can walk perfectly already?!"

Indeed everyone else was able to walk on all fours no problem, with the exception of Ash who merely stood upright on two feet.

"Oh, yeah the rest of us already practised last night." Jack filled in.

"Yeah, you know. When you fainted? Twice?" Mike teased before trotting down with the others leaving a slightly annoyed Jason.

"Fucking pricks..."

./././././././././././.

During the long walk, Craig continued to talk on and on about everything he could inform his friends on relating to Ponyville and a little bit about their goal of finding the library, or in the case that it's not there the crystal castle. From there they could hope to find maybe even a smidge of relevance to their situation. At least, that was the best that the griffon could come up with. While most bronies would be somewhat happy to be in the merry land of Equestria it wasn't as though they prepared for such a highly unlikely event. Or rather, Craig most definitely hadn't.

On a more positive note, Mike seemed to be having a little bit of luck with teaching himself how to transform. Every now and then there was a flicker of green which surrounded his curved horn signalling progress. At one point he managed to actually succeed, as everyone else figured out quickly enough due to him screaming after seeing himself suddenly become encased in green fire for a second. When the flames died out a German Shepard stood where Mike had been. It didn't take much longer until he reverted back into his original form. When asked how he had changed he admitted that he wasn't really sure other than picturing a dog in his head and concentrating, though that was what he had been doing the entire time with no luck up until now. After getting over both his pride and shock he soon realised that he also now needed to learn how to maintain his new form for extended periods of time.

Jason and Jack seemed to focus more on the future problems that they may be forced to face, such as finding a way to pay for food and shelter. Finally, Ash just took in the scenery not really bothering to do anything else.

By the time they had reached the minimum safe distance, Jason turned to Mike.

"Okay buddy, how's your changing holding up?"

The changeling frowned. "Not so good man. Ever since turning into that dog I've had no extra luck. Sorry guys."

Craig nodded. "It's alright Mike. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it in time."

"Let's hope we can find a way home by then." Ash reminded them.

"One can hope." Craig responded quickly. "Sorry Mike, guess you're not coming with us after all."

Mike nodded. "No problem. I'll just stay here, wait for you all to return."

"Not alone you won't. I'll stay with you Mike." Jack stepped forward.

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Of course dude. Besides, I'm probably way too big to fit through any of the doors down there anyway. Not to mention the chance that a group of too many different creatures could draw too much attention. Craig did say it was a near full pony population after all."

"Good call." Craig noted. Better to be safe than sorry. "Alright, the rest of us will find out what we can in the library, as well as look into the most recent events of the land to ensure Mikes safety."

"Safe trails, bird brain." Jack joked.

"Same to you, mobile carpet."

The yak and changeling merely watched as the group separated from them, giving them the chance to talk.

"Hey, now that I think about it..." Jack spoke up. "...Why do you have holes in your legs?"

"The fuck are you asking me for dude? You should have asked Mr. Expert before he left!" Mike shot back.

"Yeah, guess so." A moment of silence passed and a smirk grew on Jack's face. "So, what kind of cheese are they made of?"

"Fuck off!"

Comments

[MosAnted]

I'm liking this so far, hehe.