• Published 4th Sep 2012
  • 16,640 Views, 1,222 Comments

My Little Behemoth: Friendship is more than Food - Kishin



Just because you're a 3-ton Changeling Behemoth doesn't mean that you can't have friends.

  • ...
42
 1,222
 16,640

Welcome to Ponyville, Cyr-Part 2

5 hours earlier...



The bustling crowd in front of Ponyville town hall stood, waiting for Twilight's speech with apprehension and slight boredom. The majority of her speeches have never exactly been the most relevant to other pony's lives except for the occasional news of panic. She approached to podium, and the crowd instantly silenced.

Well, here goes nothing.

"Hello, everypony! I'm here with some rather-" Twilight looked down at the letter in her hooves reading

My dearest, most faithful student Twilight,

I have kept you in touch about our recently arrived "friend" so far. I'm sure you were just as surprised that something such as this had come up. And, apparently, so was my council. The nobles were not quite as understanding as you were. Also, I have been thinking about how our Changeling friends might react to this, in case they have been eavesdropping in our activities. Though now might not be the most perfect of moments to release the news, I have a feeling that my subjects must know what is hidden in their fair town. Don't argue that this may be the worst idea I have ever formulated; This is all according to my plan. I will be sending Luna for the planned task, as my hooves are a bit full right now with royal duties. It will be your job to calm her, as she did not have the most pleasant of encounters with our new guest. All will be explained later. I'm sure you'll bring the news to the Ponyvillians as gently as possible!

Your truly,

Princess Celestia

"-foreboding news from the Princess."

The crowd waited in anticipation.

"We have all come to accept our fellow ponies in this town. I remember the time when I found out Ponyville had ousted Zecora simply because she wasn't like other ponies. But in the end we accepted her with compassion and friendship. So now, Celestia has sent this letter to me directly to inform you all about a Changeling refugee that is in our midsts."

The crowd gasped. Some ponies started to gaze accusingly at eachother.

"Now, it's not like that. He is not disguised. In fact, Celestia mentioned to me how impossible it would be to not notice him if he walked into town. Princess Luna will travel here to take care of this issue, though Princess Celestia's letter had not made certain of what she means to do with the Changeling."

Smile and wave, Twilight. You KNOW what's going to happen to that Changeling. Nopony has to know that Equestria was going to be one bug-pony short by today.

"So have no worries. The Princesses will solve this, and I hope that you'll treat this Changeling with as much kindness as you had given me when I arrived here!" Twilight emphatically forced a fake smile. The crowd was silent in confusion, fear, indecision, just waiting for a catalyst to light the fuse and break the tension with an explosion. She knew what they were thinking. How could they possibly believe that the Princesses could protect them after they were nearly defeated by during the Royal Wedding.

Twilight, staring nervously at the crowd, was jerked out of the way by a pink blur.

Incoming Ponyville tradition in three.....two....one....

Pinkie Pie pushed Twilight off of the podium and screamed, "EVERYPONY RUN FOR THEIR LIVES!!!!"

And there we go. Mission accomplished, Twilight. Now we play the waiting game 'til Pinkie stops having her fun and the town's marching riots and the arson-lit domestic fires are put out.

Twilight sighed as she got back up amongst the general disorder. Everytime, there just HAS to be that one little pony to make everything worse...


Later....

"Uh, Twi? You mind answering mah question?" Applejack asked again, her voice laced with a hint of impatience.

"Heh. Depends. How is everything going on outside? Any buildings lit on fire yet?"

"Wha? No. everypony looks a lil' riled up. But other than that, they seem fine."

Twilight exhaled in relief and wiped her brow with a hoof, "Glad to know that's over with. The town took the news pretty well, I suppose. Now we just have to wait until Princess Luna gets here."

Twilight walked out of the library with Applejack, "So what will you be up to. Apple-buck season's over, so I expect you to finally get some rest?"

Applejack exclaimed, "Ab-SO-lutely! I mean, yeah I guess. Just after Ah check up on Applebloom."

"What'll you be up to?"

Twilight bitterly answered, "I need to have a serious talk with Pinkie...and her sense of timing."








"So you weren't hurt?," Cyr interrupted.

"Well, kind of. They don't visit me anymore, but they still bother me every now and then. I wish they didn't tease me though," Carrot Top said.

"How would you have reacted? I should have just ignored them."

Cyr grimly smiled, "Let's just say, contrary to how I am right now, I wouldn't have handled it quite as graciously as you had. Don't fret. Every being has their breaking point."

"True companions accept your abilities and faults. Some friends you have; they believe that they have the right to persecute you based on the fact that you have a more successful experience with planting crops than they do? Even when you supported them with the fruits of your own labor? Good riddance."

"They weren't very nice to you. You should make new friends," Fluttershy brightly added. "Same thing happened to me during Flight School. I was teased a lot, so I only stuck with the ponies that truly accepted me, like Rainbow Dash."

Fluttershy looked away towards the setting horizon when she realized something.

"Oh no! It's getting late. I should have been back to my cottage already. It's been really nice talking to you!"

Fluttershy sped away, leaving the two alone under the colossal apple tree. From a distance, they looked almost comical, as they were both sitting next to eachother like old acquaintances, making the differences in their size all the more apparant. If a pony had walked by, and ignored Cyr's unnatural features, they would have given them an awkward look, and wonder how in Celestia's name a Changeling with the height of a alicorn and the girth of a manticore had gotten to know a regular earth mare.

Carrot Top asked, "So what are you doing here? I'm guessing that you're not doing this out of the kindness of your own heart?"

"No. Princess Celestia put me up to this, as joyful as today's work was. And Changeling's don't have hearts."

Carrot Top gave Cyr a look of disbelief, "Yeah, I'm not following you."

"It's a figure of speech. Well, I think. We steal love to survive, yes? So apparantly, over the millenia, other species branded us with the term "heartless" because we can't give nor create our own love, so that must obviously mean that we don't have said organ of compassion. But other than that, it's simply a joke among Changelings. No being ever really vivisected a Changeling before, have they?"

Cyr gave a short, sad laugh. He stopped when he saw an speck in the dusk sky. It had the familiar and distant shape of a chariot.

"Your brand of humor is really....off," said Carrot Top.

"Don't mind me. Just letting off some steam. And you said you were looking for Applejack, correct?"

"Yeah."

Cyr gestured with a massive hoof over to a very convenient figure trotting over the hilly path, "She's over there."

"Oh. Thanks!" She got up and started walking away. "I'll be meeting you again soon, right? I've heard about all the hubbub in town that Princess Luna was coming to see you."

Cyr spied at the chariot again. "Yes. But can I ask you something?"

"Sure. I already wasted your time with my life story!" The mare chuckled. "What's up?"

"Can we have that chat later? I've been looking to getting something off my chest. The past few days....haven't been kind to me," Cyr sighed uncharacteristically. He normally had a zen demeanor, but the slowly-developing preoccupied tone had started to creep on to Carrot Top's conscious.

Carrot Top went up and gently touched his hoof with her own. Cyr, not used to having his personal space compromised like the majority of ponies are, almost recoiled from the mere touch, but he resisted in case he hurt his new-found companion's feelings.

"Of course. Anytime you want. What are friends for?"

"Friends?" Cyr questioned. These ponies must be really easy-going if they make friendships as fast as rabbits spawn offspring.

"Well, yeah! What else would I be? You never had friends before?"

Friends? The only Changelings I've gotten to know were- Talc. Saifra. Oh, how I miss you both. Hopefully nothing happened to you...yet. Celestia sending Luna as a substitute over here can only mean one thing to me.....your safety.

"I've had some before. But not in a manner that you have just demonstrated."

Cyr gestured again to Applejack. The chariot was getting nearer.

"Now don't you have another friend to meet up with?"

Carrot Top facehoofed. "Oops. Forgot about her. Well, see ya later!"

Cyr waved goodbye and started to walk away into the fields and away from the farm.

He reached the outskirts of the fields, where the chariot was arriving towards.

As the chariot traveled across the sunless sky, the moon had risen in place of the sun, and waves of stars streaked from their eastern origin behind the chariot. Millions of the individual celestial bodies had lit up as if they had just blinked into existence and found themselves to be moved magically into their place throughout the space outside Equestria's atmosphere. Soon the moon had elevated passed the horizon, and joined its starry children in the night sky, beckoning them to stay close and away from the darkness.

The Behemoth continued to follow the chariot's path after watching the dynamic scene unfold.

Heh. Never get tired of seeing that.

The chariot angled down and, nearly heading towards the Everfree Forest, landed onto a grassy plain.

Cyr followed it and presented himself in the open.

He bowed to the alicorn that trotted out of the chariot pulled by two Night-Watch Royal Guards.

"Rise. We have much to discuss," Luna said, a bit coldly. She summoned a book of ancient languages and walked towards an empty portion of the pastures.

Awkwardness doused the conversation into a quick silence. Luna obviously didn't want to be here. Cyr still felt absolutely guilty, and he kept a wary eye towards the rather Fenrir-like Royal Guards she had brought. They both kept a steady glare at him and followed at his tail.

"Stay still. We have to attempt to translate the glyphs on thine carapace."

Cyr did as he was commanded, and after a few minutes of poking and prodding, Luna came to a revelation.

"Aha! 'Twas such a simple solution!"

Cyr asked, "May I ask what it is?"

"Engraved on thee is an ancient, yet simple spell encantation written in Pri Equus. A counter-spell should disperse its effects."

"What happens next?"

"Simple. Stand over there in the open as I prepare the counter-spell," Luna replied.

As Cyr trotted over to a vacant, clear area, he asked, "And what will this specifically do to solve your problems and mine, if I may ask?"

"Thou don't have to worry about that. These aren't thine problems."

Cyr stubbornly continued, "They are. You have helped me beyond what any simple compassion would require. While I'm on this topic, why do you help me? I have apologized and I will do so again for anything my kin and I have done to your subjects, but I'm sure that you haven't accepted my sentiment, and neither do most of your subjects. Considering what you suggested last time we met, I'm sorry to be blunt enough to say that I question your motives."

Luna placidly looked up.

"We hath been rather out of character these few days. My sister hath, in a way, been a bit too trusting during our rule. But thou can say that we hath formed a grudge against thee. We hath given thine situation some thought, and we will follow our sister's manner. We shalt assist thou, and we shalt never bring up the past again. We accept your apology from our encounter. Final last words should be honored."

"You meant that pitiful 'I'm sorry'? Some glorious eulogy that was."

"Speaking of thou demise. Here's the thing....we have to kill you."

Cyr nearly tripped on his hooves and half-roared in a panic, "Wait. What? What was with all of the 'never bringing up the past again' sentiments?!"

"Not literally," Luna whispered. "The townspeople hath been warned of thou presence. Small towns such as Ponyville consist of ponies that keep secrets well. We first must discard thou mutated form in a manner that simulates thine death. The pesky nobles of the court in Canterlot will free my sister and I of orders to remove thine presence. And, from what thou hath told Celestia, thou Changeling kin will be safe.

"We should be considered more of a Royal Jester rather than a Princess if we thought Chrysalis wouldeth not placed spies in our fair country. After we conduct the counter-spell and display thou in a manner that would presenteth thee to be dead, any spy would relay back to the Hive with the information. The Queen and thou Hive will relish the idea that ye perished, and thou friends will not be harmed."

"And how will you make me 'dead'? I'm quite worried that you'll not be able to disable the PriEquus incantation. It's centuries old...."

"And we hath been here longer. Dead languages and transformations are quite natural to us, as thou can see." Luna bent her fair head towards the two Night Watch guards, still following behind Cyr.

"Leave everything to us." Luna gestured for him to stay in a spot, and back-trotted away from Cyr.

Cyr said nervously, "In case, this doesn't work. And if something goes wrong, I wish to say to you that.....


.....I've always enjoyed your nights. They kept me company over the years."


Luna gave a small grin. She's not that bad, I guess. More than I ever could be

"Well, hath no worries. Thou will be alive to experience a great many more."

Her horn ignited with a pitch of light that contrasted with the darkness around them in the field. She steadied herself and concentrated her energy towards Cyr. Soon a thin beam connected with Cyr's body and his outline slowly began to disappear with the light radiating from the powerful lunar magic.


For miles to see, a brief lapse of light expanded from the far fields of Ponyville, and as soon as it came, it faded away, leaving only the light from the moon and stars to guard against the massive gulf of night.


With the brief counter-spell over with, a titanic husk of Cyr was all that remained. The sheer weight of the center of his mass creaked the joints of his chitin limbs and finally fell to the ground with a teeth-shaking thud.

There. If the light show didn't clue in Chrysalis's imposter's, the slight tremor will.

She commanded her two, soon to be chiropractic patients, Royal Guards, "Drag the husk into fair Applejack's barn. And make thou movements as unnoticeable as possible."

The Guards, with an unsure look, saluted and proceeded with their manual task.







Thump


The ground shuddered in the wake of the spell. The now-alert Changeling that had been tailing the traitor and the ridiculous Royal Sister had woken up from its brief slumber. He rustled in the brush near the Everfree Forest to get a better look at his surroundings.

It chittered, "Everything is still the same. They both are still there, and...."

The Changeling stopped in mid-sentence in view of what the Guards were dragging behind them.

It's the body of the traitor.....

It stopped its rustling and froze in place when the Guards were coming nearer and nearer along the dirt path.

The Changeling even stopped his breathing in fear that it would experience the dishonor and fear that capture would bring forth. Not to mention the pain and the starvation it would endure if it was going to be thrown into a dungeon after a little "welcoming party" from the Guards there.

So far, so good. Almost there. And....oh no. The ponies are beginning to slow down. WhatdoIdo.WhatdoIdo. The Queen will-

In the midst of his hysteria, he quickly noted that the Guards stopped only to take a short break from their task. After they had uttered a few swears and phrases of complaint, they continued on, leaving behind the now-relieved Changeling.

The pure ecstasy that followed in the behavior of the Changeling once it determined they clearing was safe to escape, was the most triumphant in its short, miserable existance. It took flight, unknowing that its actions were expected by Princess Luna.

It eagerly hummed as it flew away, "The Queen will be pleased...The traitor has died at the hooves of the ponies."

It shortly added, "Though, Her Majesty was so looking forward to the executions....."