CH 3 (new problems)
Patchwork
I first became aware of something soft surrounding me, and that was the first clue that I wasn’t in the cell anymore. The beds there weren’t as soft.
‘Let’s see here,’ I thought, ‘My body feels stiff as all get out, I have a splitting headache, and I feel like I could eat a horse, heh… Just how long was I out?’
I shifted around in my new bed for a few seconds, thoroughly enjoying the feeling of the sheets rubbing against my chitin.
‘Ok…’ I came to a sudden realisation. ‘I don’t remember feeling things this vividly.’ Were my next thoughts.
And it was true.
While I was in that cell with illusion…
At once I jumped out of the bed and opened my eyes… Damned be the pain.
I blinked rapidly, with tears trickling down my muzzle at the discomforting light.
The new room I found myself in was bright, but not overly so. Just enough to see clearly without straining one’s eye. Too bad my eyes were closed for who knows how long.
The first thing I noted was the bed in front of me, pushed up against the wall. It was large, larger than the bunk bed I saw in the cell, with a wooden frame and with two plush pillows and a blanket. I propped myself up on my hind legs, measuring the new bed with a critical eye.
“I could fit five of me on this thing…” I whispered. “The fuck do I need such a large bed for?”
I got down on all fours and stepped back. The bed was elevated enough that if I wanted, I could squeeze my short frame underneath it. I ducked to get a good look and for a split second, I was overwhelmed by a need to dive under and stay there.
‘That instinct wasn’t there before. Where did it come from?’
I remembered the last sound before I passed out and reached with my left clawed hoof to my horn. I did not find the ring around it, and that worried me. But at the same time, I didn’t want to think too much about it… The implications weren’t comforting, especially given what I felt just now. Especially the hunger that was very much present and growing.
I continued to rub the base of my horn absentmindedly as I slowly turned around and checked the rest of the room.
At the base of the bed was a chest, a wooden chest to be precise, and a bit further away were two cabinets with four drawers each. All wooden as well. Everything from the bed to the chest and cabinets was painted light brown.
As I kept turning, I could feel my eyes widen in shock.
The room was massive.
In fact, the whole room was so large that it would take me at least a minute at walking speed to reach the door on the other side. And I was in the furthest left corner.
The walls, floor and ceiling were off white and looked completely untouched. Which gave me a sign of their ‘newness’.
I could not see where the light came from until I looked to my right. Immediately on my right was a large circular table on short legs with four, soft-looking, pink pillows tucked under it.
On the wall close to the table though was a large, nearly wall spanning window, showing me the whole countryside. I did not spot the mountain I was on though. And I knew I was in Canterlot from what that Hoof lady mumbled… I had to prod her a few times.
Just as I was about to approach the window the sound of a throat being cleared caused me to twitch, buzz my wings (which, surprisingly didn’t bother me this time) and turn my head towards the sound.
There, a few meters away on my left, sitting down like a cat, was Princess Celestia… She looked like a bad hologram. All static-y and twitchy.
She cleared her throat again before speaking as I approached her. She spoke in a surprisingly clear voice. I honestly expected some distortion.
“I would like to point out,” she started, “in order to prevent another episode, that the window you see on your right is an intricate illusion created for your benefit,” Celestia said with a light smile on her muzzle.
“My benefit?” I glanced at the window before focusing back on her, “I take it I am underground then, or something similar.”
“I wouldn’t say “underground”, exactly.” She said, rubbing her muzzle with her left forehoof. She opened her mouth to say something, but I decided to pre-empt it.
“Well, either I’m underground or in a mountain, in any case…” I swung my left foreleg broadly, gesturing at her with my claws. “What’s with the projection?”
Celestia looked over her body, shrugging with her wings and looking at me.
“I am a rather busy mare, Mr Patchwork. While I visited you personally two days ago…”
‘Two days!’ I thought in shock, before shaking my head and focusing back on the princess.
“… I have been rather busy since. Hence, the projection.” She gestured at herself with a hoof.
I narrowed my eyes, mulling over at how long I was asleep, but before I could say or ask anything she spoke again.
“However, the reason for my visit is twofold: firstly, I came to apologize.” She cleared her throat before continuing. “More specifically, I came to apologize for inadvertently causing you grief.” She bowed her head solemnly. “I am truly sorry for frightening you in such a manner and causing you so much fear,” she raised her head, her magenta eyes focused on me. “In truth, such simple illusions are a common party trick used by unicorns…” I cringed thinking that a party trick gave me a panic attack, “and I, unfortunately, did not even consider that it would scare you to such an extent. It was supposed to be a mild prank in order to test you and your reaction, but it was in poor taste at best. And for that, I am terribly sorry.” She lowered her head solemnly.
There was a brief silence as I mulled over her apology.
‘If that was such a simple party trick, then I don’t want to know what an actual illusion is.’ I thought bitterly. ‘Probably that mare then… She seemed to have her own weight and everything.’
“Wait, which part is the party trick if I may ask?” I buzzed my wings for good measure, still surprised that it didn’t bother me anymore… I need to look into that later.
“Hm? Oh, that. That would be the wall. My mages set up Ms Spark Hoof’s projection, while I did the wall illusion.” Celestia nodded, lifting her head.
“Similar type of projection you are using right now?”
“No, not at all.” She put her right forehoof on her peytral. “This projection is very different and quite simple, and it doesn't require much effort or concentration.” She put her hoof down and shifted her wings slightly. “The other was made by four of my high mages and is quite complex.”
That was a pretty hefty piece of info I digested with a slow nod. Apparently, a small group of mages can create a life-like projection… Hold on.
“When you say a projection, do you mean that Spark Hoof was the one doing all the motions and the mages just made the projection copy it?”
“Why yes, they did. Impressive deduction, considering your kind does not seem to be able to use magic.” She looked to the side and her projection fizzled for a moment before restabilising. I quirked an eyebrow at it while waiting for her to resume our conversation. I had a few more questions.
However, all I got was disappointment when the projection completely disappeared.
I just sat there waiting for a few minutes and mulling everything I learned recently. When Celestia’s projection returned, it was a bit farther away and it looked like she was reading something.
“My apologies for that. It would seem that I have less time than I would hope for. So, we will have to bring this conversation to an end, Mr Patchwork.”
“I understand, your Highness,” I nodded. She dropped what she was doing and fully turned and walked a few steps towards me before sitting down. If I extended my claw, I could about touch her. Craning my neck upwards I gave her an easy smile. “With that said, I accept your apology. You couldn’t have known, but in my world, such illusions are usually used as a trope in horror stories. And unfortunately,” I scratched the back of my head embarrassingly, “I had a nasty streak of nightmares when I was young, so such… changes still cause me to panic.”
“Ah, so that’s why,” she whispered just loudly enough that I could barely hear her.
I nodded and expected her to leave now, but she had a few more things to add.
“Now that THAT is cleared up,” she smiled, “on to the second reason for my arrival.”
I nodded, straightening my back.
She looked me up and down before shrugging.
“You may not know this, but normally your kind feeds on emotions. Particularly love if I remember correctly.”
‘I already knew that’ I thought, ‘but I’m still glad to have it confirmed.’
“What that means for you,” she continued, “is that we need to find you somepony that is, for now, willing to volunteer for such a task, until my mages and researchers manage to make a workable substitute.”
I narrowed my eyes at that. ‘That is quite a bit of effort for a changeling…’
“What’s the catch?” I asked, eyes still narrowed.
Celestia blinked a couple of times, shook her head, and smiled at me. “The ‘catch’ my little changeling, is that I have an offer for you.”
As it turns out, the offer is fantastic.
I get free love or other emotions depending on how things go; I get a place to stay and education to boot in order for me to integrate into pony society. Which told me that there is no way back to Earth for me. Not that I minded much. I was an only child, and my parents weren’t exactly in it for the love, and it showed.
Oh sure, I had family members that I cared about (my uncle and cousins for one as well as my grandparents) but I was here, and I truly doubted I would have stayed here if they could have sent me back already.
SOOOOO… I get to be a changeling (a weird one, but still awesome), and I get to learn and explore magic as well as this whole new world. The downside is that a) for now I get to stay in this room; b) I cannot leave this room (bummer), and c) they requested to do some tests on me.
They already did a sizable amount of scans and check-ups but that’s mostly on my magic. Celestia had a list of abilities that changelings can use, and they wanted in on it. So, for the next, who knows how long, I will get tested on, more specifically my abilities as a changeling as well as tests on my body’s strength, both magical and physical.
Overall, a win-win scenario for me as I get to learn regardless of what they do with me, and I get free stuff to boot… Now if only this hunger went away.
That’s one thing I noticed as I talked with Celestia. One, I couldn’t detect her emotions, which was good, and two, the longer I was awake the hungrier I got. And changeling hunger… is not like the regular hunger.
This hunger caused me a few alarming problems that I had to somehow tackle. First, and less problematic issue, is that I hid under the bed as soon as our conversation finished, with the only thing on my mind being the word ‘safe’. But it was more than a word, it was a need and a desperate one. I did NOT want to leave my new safe space and it took an enormous effort to do so.
Secondly, and this made me cringe badly, is that the hungrier I got, the worse my own emotional control got. Considering that Celestia said that I had some guests coming over soon meant that I would be at my absolute worst. I told Celestia as much before she left, and she assured me that everything was all right…
Newsflash, it wasn’t.
As minutes ticked by, I became increasingly aggravated. While I would normally get snappy while hungry, this was very quickly going out of control. And I could barely stop myself from arguing with my own thoughts, even hissing when I tried to exert some control over myself.
I was told that some ponies and Celestia’s captain would be arriving in about two hours. She also pointed out that the chest had some useful stuff in it… Like a nice clock… A nice, enchanted clock. Which I found out when in a fit of uncontrolled aggression I threw it at the wall. Neither the wall nor the clock suffered any damage, but it started to worry me.
When I woke up, I was already starving, but I could cope and the chat with the Princess kept me busy and entertained. After the first thirty minutes passed, I became ravenous. After the first hour I was angry (which is how the clock ended up hurled at the wall, along with a few pillows a few minutes after). Once the two hours nearly passed, I was at my wit's end and beyond control.
‘I need food… NOW!’ Were the only thoughts of which I could think. Normally with Humans after a certain time you don’t get hungry. But with this? Nope, it just got worse.
When the first, tantalising scent of emotions wafted my way I nearly hurled myself at the door. The last time I felt these emotions, it was far too much. So much so that I ended up just lying on the floor clutching my aching head until the ring was put on. And even then, for a few minutes afterwards, I could still feel those emotions. The whole experience felt like someone is tickling me while demanding I eat, drink, listen, feel, and watch a movie at the same time. There were my thoughts in there as well, but by the time the ring came on I could barely hear them.
NOW, however… I was almost giddy with excitement, and I had to reign myself in order to not just jump and claw at the door. It felt and smelt like the best damn meal of my life was just put in front of me after a day of hard work. I could practically taste it and started drooling heavily.
I swallowed my saliva and shook my head violently. I could barely form coherent thoughts but forcing my will upon these new instincts allowed me SOME level of control. So, I decided to try to do what I always did when something bothered me, and I couldn’t deal with it. I tried to shift my focus and learn about new things. In retrospect, I should have chosen something else.
I tried to focus and understand this new ability to sense emotions and made it into a challenge. Can I recognize and categorise the emotions of these ponies approaching me? Turns out, I can’t.
Not only did I barely recognize ANY of their emotions I got lost in them to the point that I had to slap myself in a last-ditch effort to stop my body from quivering and drooling. I think I got happiness right, but the problem was that these emotions did not feel like anything I was familiar with. Apparently getting a new body meant I got new stuff I don’t recognise… WHO KNEW!?
Just before I started ranting and raving at my own stupidity, while my own body kept screeching at me to eat, I heard a noise around the door. It wasn’t like a regular sound for doors being unlocked, but more akin to a bell tinkle along with a click sound.
‘Shit!’ I thought, with a smile splitting my muzzle.
Shield Strike
I had a feeling in my gut.
Not a ‘things are going to Tartarus’ feeling mind you, but an uneasy one. Celestia could probably explain it in her own dorky way, but for me, it was always a simple tell: something ain’t right.
The long corridor we were walking down to the ‘’cell’’ was just annoying though.
“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I actually get to see him in pony!” Torch Burst said giddily. He’s a fully brown unicorn and was by far the youngest, and chattiest of our group. He wore a lab coat, hiding his cutie mark, but I already knew it from his files: a burning torch with sparks shooting from it. He kept trying to start a conversation with the pegasus doctor that came with us, but she kept to herself mostly.
“Yea, yea Torch, you get to poke a freak we get it.” Came the voice on my left.
“Oi, Split. I won’ts be hearing you calling our bug-colt a freak ya’ hear?” I looked at Split Greaves. One of my soldier mooks that had an annoyingly bad habit of branding everything non-pony a freak. He’s a young earth pony, like me, covered under the standard guard illusion.
“Didn’t you call him a bug-colt captain?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.
My second in command piped up from the front.
“‘Bug-colt' is a classification of the individual, lieutenant. If you read the report carefully you would see that changelings are considered ‘bug-ponies’.” Armoured Saddle looked annoyed. If his twitching tail was any sign. He’s a unicorn in his forties (close to fifty but he doesn’t like to be reminded about it) with his own golden armour. The armour also had an illusion on it. Pointless really, as he already was white with a blue mane and tail. He should be retiring in a few years if things don’t go pear-shaped, but he is one tough walnut, so I doubt it. His mark is his namesake: a golden armoured saddle.
“That’s a stupid classification, and I read the file.” Split snorted. They started arguing back and forth but I wasn’t paying attention to them. I was bored.
I saw the door in the distance. The door was carved out of stone, heavy and enchanted to be see-through by two circles, a yellow and a green circle, respectively. It was locked by a hoof indentation in the centre of the door.
A minute more and we will start this little excursion for real… I should have made the corridor shorter, but my wife wanted top secrecy, both for our and his sake. She did not believe that bug queen would sit still if she heard we have one of hers with us, regardless of if he’s an alien or not. Luckily though, this whole corridor and the room beyond it was enchanted to Tartarus and back. Spell Scroll himself went barrel by barrel enchanting every single brick… At least that’s what he claimed. The length of the corridor supplies plenty of room for various enchantments, spells, glyphs and what-not.
So, we made a long corridor and painted it white (for some damn reason), with five rooms before it for the equipment and Scroll’s mooks, as well as my own. Doctor White Light kept some of his own there as well, in a separate room going through some recently arrived testing gear. They are going to make that poor bug run like a hamster if they have their way. Not that I care much for the bug, but he IS the victim of circumstance.
I glanced at two other ponies that came with us. High mage Mana Impact and Doctor Gentle Heart. Doctor Heart is a blush-pink pegasus mare, with a clashing green mane (she was VERY tired of hearing comments about it). I couldn’t see her cutie mark from the coat, but the file I got said it’s a red heart held in two hooves.
High mage Mana Impact was an aged unicorn in his sixties, fully covered in a purple cloak and a hood. I could just barely see his sky-blue fur and his white muzzle from the hood. I knew his mane and tail is white as well, but that’s because I knew this stallion since I was a filly. His mark was a grey scorch mark in the shape of a star that I regularly liked to tease him about. Especially since he only noticed his mark after trying to ‘’wash it off" following a failed experiment, which I found out second hoof. He’s a fine mage though, and I asked for him personally from that stuck up arch-dork.
We finally arrived at the door, and I lifted my left hoof, shutting them all up.
I went to the front of the group and touched a yellow ring on the right of the door. There was a popping sound before the door and most of the wall became see-through.
The bug-colt was standing in the centre of the room, his head hunched over and, if my eyesight hadn't failed me, he looked like he was shaking. His table pillows were thrown about (and one looked opened up), and it looked like he moved the bed, but it was too far to confirm it.
‘Sunshine did say that he complained about hunger…’ I thought. ‘She didn’t mention the rest.’
I turned to my group.
“All right colts,” Impact grumbled at that, “check your equipment and sound off when ready. Now…” I started pacing in front of the door, giving them the deets. “We know that he is friendly and that he isn’t violent. That don’t means we has to harass the poor bug, gots it?” I sent a stern glare to my second, knowing that the only reason he opened his mouth was to correct me. Only my Sunshine gets to do that. “Princess Celestia has mentioned that he isn’t well though, as apparently, his hunger is making him antsy.” I sat down right in front of the door. “That means we will keeps this simple and quick; we go in, takes the data our stallions here need, and we are out.”
Torch opened his mouth, but Impact elbowed him to the side and shook his head, shutting him up. I owed that stallion a salt lick after today.
I turned to my own two mooks.
“The two of you will take a side on Patchworks left and right, and I’ll be directly in front of him. And keep alert.” I narrowed my eyes at them. “I don’t want to explain to my wife why I got three scuffed ponies.”
I looked at each of my team and waited until I got the sound off. They checked their equipment, swords for my mooks, scrolls, potions, magi-scanners, a shield in Armour’s case and two large saddlebags; one on Armour carrying some food we hope the hybrid could eat and three litres of water in a glass bottle as well as some scrolls in holders; the other on Split carrying some foal books that would help him learn to read. The translation spell cannot stay indefinitely, and he needs to learn how to read and write as well.
When we were all ready (I carried nothing other than a small pouch with my identifier around my neck), I turned off the view circle and unlocked the door opening it.
“Er, Captain” came Split’s nervous voice behind me, “I don’t remember seeing him all… twitchy like this.”
‘Sunshine did say that he is bad off, but I didn’t think it was this bad.’ I shook my head and approached the bug-pony.
When I saw Patchwork the first time it was as he was led to his first cell. Back then he looked confused but healthy. His chitin looked full and strong and had a strange shine to it (which I later found out was a thin layer of fuzz like fur).
What looked at us now, standing near the centre of the room, was a twitchy drooling mess. He stood in front of us, but every part of his body moved in a swift unnerving twitch that made him look like a spider. His chitin looked weak and dull, not even close to the way it looked three days ago. It also looked very form-fitting, less like an armoured plate and more like plated clothes. Where he looked like a mix between a pony and an insect before, now he looked like someone removed anything pony-related other than the shape.
His legs and body were thin, his claws looked sharp, and his wings were constantly buzzing in a steady hum. I was told he has a phobia, but right now he looked like the wings didn’t even phase him.
He was also drooling, licking his muzzle with a long thin tongue, swallowing every few seconds.
I was spooked, and I would bet that others were even more so. Regardless, we had a job to do.
I moved forward and motioned the rest to follow with a hoof, Armoured on my right.
“Hey, you must be the guy’s Princess Celestia said would come, right?” He asked and I was surprised at a dual-tone voice coming out of him. I’ve seen the projections and recordings when he spoke to Sunshine, and he sounded nothing like this.
“That’s us,” I nodded with an uneasy smile on my muzzle. “My name is Shield Strike. I’m the captain of U. E. R. G., or United Equestrian Royal Guard. Pleasure to meets ya.” I turned and pointed my hoof at other ponies, “and these are my associates: my second in command Armoured Saddle, Private Split Greaves, junior researcher Torch Burst, High mage Mana Impact and Doctor Gentle Heart.” I pointed my hoof at each of them, all looking either nervous, on alert or on edge.
I turned back to the bug pony finding him just a few hoof lengths away from me. I didn’t jump back, but I was startled, I didn’t even hear him move.
‘That’s not creepy at all.’ I thought. There was a snuffling sound coming from him. ‘Is he sniffing me?!’
I just then noticed that his eyes didn’t look pony-like like they did before. They looked fully blue with no iris and no whites. I couldn’t tell whether he was looking at me or somepony else.
“So, yea, we are here to gives you a few quick tests and I can answer any question you mays ‘ave.”
He kept looking at me for a few seconds without moving before sitting down, hard. If I sat down that hard my dock would be bruised but he looked like he didn’t even notice it.
“Sure, if you want to do tests, then do them, but, um…” he trailed off, rubbing his claws together nervously, “I’m not exactly in a good state of mind right now, so be careful ok. I’m not sure it’ll be a good idea though.”
I nodded my head motioning the other ponies with my right hoof to approach. My mooks kept a respectable distance while the rest did their work as swiftly as they were comfortable, poking and prodding the bug-pony with some instruments Burst brought with us. I noticed that Torch did not look as enthusiastic as he did a few minutes ago.
“I’m sure we will manage,” I said reassuringly. “Now, why don’ts you and I talk while they are working, hm?” I motioned to Saddle to bring over the bag with food and water for the changeling. “You are probably hungry as it is, so we’s thought we would brings you something to help ya’ for now while everything is set up.” Armoured gave me the large saddlebag and pulled back to his position on Patchwork’s left. I opened the bag up and put it in front of the bug-pony. “There should be a few stuffs here to tide ya’ over until we get a volunteer.”
It didn’t take him long to rummage through the bag and grab a large glass bottle of water that was stored inside. I watched in amazement as he opened and guzzled all three litres down without stopping for breath. After that, he shook his head (I noticed, with some relief, that his eyes looked normal again, and that he was less twitchy) and hissed at the doctor that tried to approach him with a vial of some sort.
“What do you mean ‘set up’?” He asked, focusing back on me. “I thought this room was it.”
I shook my head and snorted before answering. “Nah, this room wus supposed to have more than just a bed and some furniture. There was an issue during the transport and some delay with equipment delivery, so the room is bare right now. Everything’s came about an hour ago, so we are still unpacking. Gives us six hours and you will have a decently sized apartment for ‘ya to use here, and plenty of other equipment outside for exercise, study and research.”
Yeah, Sunshine poured quite a bit of bits into this whole project. But considering that our current information about changelings is centuries outdated and was the result of a mad pony going murder crazy on a changeling, we were hoping that he would help us learn more.
We were also hoping that the information we got from him would help us find the other ponies that changelings have been replacing or capturing over the years. Those ponies HAVE been returned eventually, but their state was less than acceptable. In fact, several of those ponies have died either due to exhaustion, malnutrition or worse when they returned. Suffice to say, we weren’t happy about how changelings treated them but getting to their hive was another matter altogether.
I scratched behind my ears in annoyance and refocused on the human/changeling in front of me.
He eyed Dr Gentle Heart with undisguised hunger, drooling lightly all the while. His eyes were back to pure blue, and I cleared my throat loudly, getting his attention.
“So, I take it youse are curious how you got to our world to begin with, right?” That question seemed to spark some reason into him as a third eyelid moved to the side revealing his real eyes.
He nodded rapidly. “Yes, I’m very curious about that.” He shrugged, lifting both his forehooves up imitating what I saw minotaurs do while shrugging. “I mean, I know I fell through a portal but that’s about it. The how and why are a bit beyond me, and I’d really like that cleared up.” He added with a twitch of his hind legs.
I slowly nodded and motioned to Armoured with my hoof. He grabbed three scrolls from the scroll holder on his side and magicked them over to me. I didn’t need the scrolls. But they were there to look official and just in case.
“Right,” I started, “you didn’t exactly ‘fall’ through a portal, but rather dragged due to a faulty spells cast.”
I saw him mouth the word ‘faulty’ before shaking his head and motioning for me to continue.
“I can't gives you all the details, but I can gives ya’ the general gist of things.” I shifted a bit on my hooves before sitting down. I still kept a constant focus on the twitchy hybrid in front of me just in case. He hissed and twitched in Split’s direction and then looked back at me. “The simple fact of the matter is that Miss Spark Hoof opened an unregistered, illegal portal in an attempt to either impress or get into Princesses' good graces.” I decided to open one of the scrolls depicting an image of an ornate mirror and show it to him. His eyes narrowed and I swear I could hear him growl, but I chalked it up to the situation and the memory making him even more irritable. “Spark opened an unstable portal, without prior knowledge on what it does using this mirror. The portal, unstable as it was, started taking things from, well, everywhere. We have well over fifty unidentified items, a puppy, a cat, two squirrels and two beings that were swiftly sent back to their own world.” ‘One even claiming to be a hero of some kind… Weirdo.’
I opened up the second scroll with images of various objects and showed it to him. He pointed a claw at a few of them.
“I recognise these. It’s my phone and my laptop.” He shrugged. “They are useless in this realm as they are lacking a few things to work.”
“Things?” I prompted him to continue.
Suddenly his wings buzzed loudly, and he kept clicking with his mouth for a few seconds, standing back on all fours. I heard a sword being unsheathed and glanced at Armoured whose magic was active. I shook my head and that got him to stop and re-sheathe it.
Patchwork turned to Armoured and clicked a few times in his direction. By that point, all except me pulled back some distance away from the changeling.
‘We need to feed this bug-colt. As soon as possible.’ I slowly dropped the left-over scroll in my hoof and widened my stance slightly.
He drooled, clicked, and twitched, with his wings buzzing loudly for a few more seconds, putting us all even more on edge. I was about to call a retreat when he shook his head and stopped altogether. He looked at all of us before refocusing on me. He was sweating and panting as well.
“Sorry about that,” he said between huff’s, “my hunger has been getting the best of me.”
I nodded my head in understanding and signalled Armoured and Split with my ears to gather up the rest and pull back. Patchwork may not wish to cause harm, but his body’s instinct obviously did not agree with him.
“I understand, and I promise that we will do what we can ta’ help.” I did not move from my place, and I still kept a slightly wider stance. But he still deserved to know how he got here.
He sat down again and picked up where he left off.
“By things,” he acted as if the last minute didn’t happen, “I mean the electric grid that was used to charge the devices and a connection to ‘World Wide Web’ that you simply do not possess or even recognise.”
‘Electric grid? We have that… probably a bit different than what he’s used to, but we have it. But what is this World Wide Web? The name makes no sense.’
“What I’m curious though, Captain is if any other human ended up here…?” He suddenly stood up again and started clicking while pacing back and forth. The hackles at the back of my neck stood up and for a brief second, I worried about our safety. I noticed that Armoured was on my right, with his head raised to my ear.
“Captain,” he whispered, “we are packed up and ready to leave. If we stay, I don’t think we will like it.” Armoured used to hunt manticores as a member of the ‘Hunt Core’ of Royal Guard, so he was hard to spook. But now it was obvious that he was just as unnerved as I was by now.
I nodded my head and whispered back: “If he doesn’t get himself under control, we are making a run for it, for now just go slowly, and try to school your emotions, it may be the trigger.”
He nodded sharply and pulled back. I took a deep breath and decided to continue to talk, hoping to keep him focused on me. I kept my voice measured and emotionless.
“Other than you I know of no other humans that have arrived here. We had a few injuries shortly after your arrival, but it has nothing to do with you personally.”
“What do you mean?” Was a quick and shaky question.
I dared a glance behind me trying to gauge how close to the exit the rest of them were before looking back at Patchwork.
“The portal was unstable, as I mentioned previously, and a few minutes after your arrival it started collapsing. The problem with that is that the portal sucked everything around your point of entry and threw up all over the room you ended up in.” I heard some noises behind me, and I noticed that the hybrid got more agitated. Whatever they were doing they better knock it off or we’ll all get it. “You’ll be happy to know that other than a few bruises and cuts nopony got seriously smushed.”
That got a loud snicker behind me, and my eyes turned to pin-pricks when I saw the look of absolute hunger in Patchwork’s eyes.
The loud buzz of his wings was the only indicator of movement and I barely had time to move, ramming myself into him as he tried to pass me. If it were any other pony, me ramming them would at best break something and at worst break a lot, but this bug was made of sterner stuff somehow. He landed a few barrels away, cracking the marble tiles and quickly jumping back on his hooves and dashing to the, now screaming Torch and his comrades.
I saw Armoured jump in front of them with his shield only to be bowled over and folded like a wet rag, his sword broken in half. Split stood in front of the civvies with his sword in his mouth while others huddled at the door trying to open it.
‘How is a half-starved changeling so Celestia damned fast!?’ I invoked my wife’s name while trying to catch up.
Mana Impact put up a spell shield that lasted all of two seconds before collapsing under the weight of the changeling. Mana dropped like a brick looking twenty years older, and the rest were now crowding at the door.
Doctor Gentle and Split were looking very weak on their hooves and for a split-second, I saw a trail of green energy going from them to the, now slowly advancing, and heavily drooling changeling.
Patchwork was only looking more like an insectoid monster and less and less like a pony the more he fed off.
I saw Armour running towards the door as well after getting up and I nodded in his direction just as I reached Patchwork.
The bug-colt turned towards me, but it was too late. I jumped on his back, pinning his wings, and grabbed him by the barrel with my forehooves. I squeezed as tight as I could hearing something crack, lifting him, and propping myself on my hind legs. I then exhaled and with a shout threw him as hard as I could on the marble floor under me, hoping to knock him out or daze him. The floor cracked and spider-webbed under the hybrid's weight but that did not seem to stop him. He started thrashing and screeching trying to get back on his claws.
I pinned him with my forehooves and shouted at the others to get out as fast as they could.
“Captain!” I heard Split shout weakly.
I nodded my head and was about to move when I suddenly felt pain explode on my left foreleg. I looked down and saw him holding my foreleg in his jaws.
‘This bucker just bit me!’ I shouted in my head while gritting my teeth. I remembered that there was some type of poison in his mouth, but right now it didn’t matter.
I shook him off and jumped back, trailing a few drops of blood through the air. Patchwork got up and shook his head before hissing loudly at me. I was caught for a moment looking at his eyes. They were pony like and wide as saucers. He was still drooling, but he seemed to be in control for a moment.
I saw him open his mouth to speak, but my vision started to get blurry, and I fell to my knees.
I heard the tell-tale sound of a magic discharge, pushing the changeling back some distance before I was dragged through the door and into the darkness.
Armoured Saddle
I dropped the captain a bit away and sealed the door behind us, locking the changeling inside. A loud crack and some shaking broke the silence, but things went quiet after that.
Doctor Gentle heart breathed heavily but she was instantly hovering and checking over our injuries and making sure everypony was here. I could also hear the pounding of hooves in the distance.
“I told you, that freak ain’t a pony.” I heard Split wheeze out before lying on his side next to unconscious Mana Impact. Torch and Gentle were both looking over the high mage.
“Stow it, Split,” I growled. “WE put him in this situation in the first place!”
Split lifted his head and looked up at me with a scowl before deciding it isn’t worth it and dropping his head down with a thud.
“Saddle, sir!” I heard Gentle Heart call me and I trotted over to the weakened mare. She was leaning on the wall breathing heavily like she ran a marathon. Her colours were also very pale and sickly looking.
“How is everypony?” I asked while trying to get her to lie down.
“Impact needs medical attention as soon as possible; he isn’t responding to any stimuli, and I’m worried he might be comatose.” She said between laboured breaths. “The captain is fine though.” She pointed a hoof towards Shield Strike. “The poison in Patchwork’s fangs is mostly there to put the victim to sleep and not much else. She will wake up soon. Split is just drained… I think... Torch seems to be fine.”
“Good. That’s good.” I said with a humourless chuckle. “I don’t wish to be the one to tell the princess that we got her wife killed.”
That got a weak giggle out of the mare before she finally lied down and put her head between her hooves.
“No pony wishes that, sir. If you don’t mind though,” she was interrupted by a yawn, “I’m gonna take a nap.”
She was out before I even nodded. The pounding of hooves and shouts came closer now and I felt relieved at the news.
‘Now what to do with the changeling.’ I thought. ‘We can’t leave him like this, or it’ll get worse.’ I also need to make a report for the captain and Princess Celestia.
Split and I were startled by a loud banging coming from the door. Split lifted his head and sighed. He then spat at the door and closed his eyes while lying back down. I was going to have a long talk about his behaviour later.
The banging continued and I decided to approach the door.
I put my right hoof on the yellow circle and my left hoof on the green. There was a popping sound, and the wall became see-through but both ways this time.
Patchwork stood there on his hind legs supporting his weight on the wall with his forelegs. He was panting and sweating up a storm, but his eyes were turquoise and clear. There were also tears streaming down his muzzle.
I sat in front of him and waited, noticing that the wall section, where his forehooves were, was darkened, meaning that he probably slammed into it when we escaped and cracked it in the process.
I saw that his chitin had cracked and chipped in several places, and I hoped that the damage is superficial.
He hopped down on all fours and looked me in the eye, panting.
“I just…” He started before hissing in my direction. I wish I didn’t flinch.
Patchwork shook his head and tried again.
“I want to apologise. I wasn’t in control; I don’t know what…” He started rambling and I lifted my hoof stopping his rant. I could hear ponies finally reaching us and moving others around.
“I understand, human.” I nodded to him. I turned my head back to check on others before looking at him again. “Princess Celestia did warn us, but we should have been more cautious.”
I got up on all fours, and he took a few steps back.
I put up a hopeful smile before giving him some parting words. “We will get you back on your hooves and fed as soon as we can. Eat what’s in the saddlebags and hold tight. No pony is seriously injured so that should put your heart at ease. Stay with us, ok?”
I saw him exhale heavily and lower his head. He nodded grimly but I saw his shoulders and wings sag in, what I could assume was, relief. He then turned around and walked towards the bags.
I turned off the two-way view and joined the other guards that were sorting the rest of my team.
‘This will be one shitty report.’
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Damn this is gud stuff
You're not you when you're hungry. Eat a Pony.
11101501
You're not you when you're hungry. Eat a Pony! Pony satisfies. :)
/snickers
Welp Celestia ain't gonna like this.
11101501
"My stomach was making the rumbles, that only ponies could satisfy"
...CAAAAARL!!!
What a bunch of idiots, you didn’t feed him for three days of course he’s gonna be not in his right mind. Seriously doubting celestia’s intelligence here.
11119334
He definitely wasn't himself.
So basicly a over eager pony ruined his life. I just know that Celestia don't do more than give that one a verbal lashing and called it even for ruine that humans life in this messed up body.
He was starving already and now he has to regenerate / heal from injuries... Great...
So a starving changeling is basically like what happens when you starve any rational predator, that is to say that the rational mind goes away, leaving only the basic instinct to feed and survive at all costs.
Yup, this is Celestia's fault.
Gee, you starve somebody for three days then wonder why they react badly to a brand new and extreme hunger. Go figure. Days. They had DAYS to figure something out. And that's on TOP of the fact that his entire life has been upended by some complete IDIOT who only got a verbal 'bad pony' even though she basically ruined whatever life he had.
Now I am to believe that horses "aren't that bad".
They were not presented through the main character's impression of them. They were presented by the narrator.
It's like saying "Actually, gravity doesn't pull things down all that much". Yeah it does, it is an established fact.
That should be
"Which told me that there is no way back to Earth for me"
or
"Which told me that there is no way back for me to get back to Earth"
or
"Which told me that there is no way back for me to go back to Earth"
instead.
Awesome
Statement: unable to process.
Analysing...
Result: Story quality is assessed as "low" at current time node.
Full assessment is temporarily unavailable.
11588775
Details are the difference between a valid criticism and rude opinions that serve no purpose other than to put authors down. Please explain why you dislike this. If you have good reasons, they can be quite helpful to an author.
11588775
This is a terrible comment by a terrible person who doesn't understand what criticism is.
"Is this bitch trying to Pavlov me?"