"You want me to what?"
"Replace me. Please."
The changeling blinked. She paused. She blinked again. She opened her mouth, then closed it.
Finally, she spoke. "Why?"
"What do you mean, why? You're a predator. I'm prey. You don't need to care why. Just take me back to your hive and stuff me in a pod."
"Uh-huh." Her eyes narrowed. "I have to say, this is a new tack. How gullible do you think I am?"
"I'm serious!" The colt stomped his little hoof. "You can sense my feelings, right? You can tell I'm serious."
"I can tell you're serious about something. Like tricking me."
Of all things, he rolled his eyes. "Come on. You know how I feel. You know I want this. And you can probably figure out why."
The first step to getting foalnapped and replaced by a changeling is the hardest: finding one. If the princesses and the guards can't find the changelings, what chance did I have?
My biggest advantage over princesses and guards is that they need to care about safety, their own and others'.
I don't.
My teacher says that predators like to pick off vulnerable prey from the herd, like the elderly and sick — and foals. So if I made myself vulnerable enough, the changelings should come to me! The trouble is getting their attention and not the guards'.
Making myself too vulnerable, though, means that I might become prey to the wrong kinds of predators. Changelings won't save me from robbers, bullies, or manticores. Neither would anypony else. For obvious reasons, I needed to go alone.
"So, Her Majesties' Royal Guard uses foals as bait now?" The changeling scoffed. "That's low, even for them. I wish it surprised me."
"What?"
"This is such an obvious trap. If I do anything to you, you'll tell the guards."
"No I won't! I swear I won't tell!" He at least sounded earnest. "Nopony knows I'm here. I can't believe I was lucky enough to find you. You're my best chance, and I won't waste it. Believe me, telling on you to the guards is the last thing I want. I just want you to foalnap me."
"Why should I believe you? You're clearly lying."
"Wait, so you can't use your magic changeling feeling senses to tell when ponies are lying?" The colt looked genuinely disappointed. "Lame!"
"Maybe you're just stalling until the guards arrive."
"Seriously?" His hoof met his face. "I'm the one who wants to go with you right now! Do you see any guards? Hear any? Feel any? Me neither!" He frowned. "Well, not that I could feel any without your changeling magic, but you know what I mean. I'm alone."
He was.
At first, I considered putting up posters to tell changelings that I'm an easy meal. Wh-? Hey, stop laughing at me!
…it's okay. Yeah.
Yeah, you're right. It is kinda funny.
I ruled out the whole poster idea really quickly. Changelings would think it's a trap. On the other hoof, lots of ponies would poke their noses in. That's the opposite of what I want. I'd probably just embarrass myself in front of everypony and they'd laugh at me.
Even worse, some ponies would see it and try to help. Sorry Mom, more attention from well-meaning ponies is not what I need. If it was, it would have already worked by now. Just like eating better, and taking walks, and joining the hoofball team, and talking to Dr. Think Bright. I already tried all your normal solutions. You're out of ideas. They all stunk anyway.
Time to try one of mine.
"Let's pretend I believe you. Why do you want to be foalnapped?"
He stared into her eyes. "Tell me what I'm feeling."
"What?"
"Just do it."
"Uh…" She hesitated. "Frustration? Determination?"
"Yeah, yeah. And under that?"
"I don't see your poin—"
"Look closer. Or smell, or taste, or whatever. Just check again. I know it's there."
After a moment, the changeling made a face.
"Exactly."
Changelings looking for love probably go where ponies look for love, right? I think that means bars and nightclubs.
Some colts from my class snuck into one once. Maybe it makes me a wimp, but I'd sooner waltz into the front door of a changeling hive than a nightclub.
Do changeling hives have doors? Bug hives don't, but bug ponies are still like ponies. Maybe I'll find out when they take me to their hive, if I'm still awake.
Waltzing into a changeling hive by myself would be great, but I pretty quickly ruled that out. Finding one is probably way harder than finding a changeling.
Why? Well, there must be more changelings than hives, right? And I already know that lots of changelings live as ponies. Do changelings hide their hives under pony cities to make foalnapping easier, or in the middle of nowhere to avoid intruders? I have no clue.
Searching Equestria for months to find a hive doesn't sound fun. Even if I get lucky enough to find one, I might not know it when I see it. Hay, if changelings magically hide their hives then I could trot right by it and never know.
No. I needed to find a changeling living as a pony.
"You seem awfully trusting of some changeling you just met."
"Well duh. What're you gonna do, turn me in? Tell my parents? Tell the guard?" The colt smirked. "What'll you tell them? I'm sure they'll believe that I asked you to foalnap me. And I'm sure they'll be very curious when I explain why I picked you."
"You're not afraid that I'll hurt you?"
"Why should I be?" he asked, genuinely confused. "You don't need to. I already want to come with you and give you what you want."
"What if I want to hurt you?"
For the first time, a shiver of fear ran through the colt. It quickly vanished. "Pssh. Nah. You guys feed on love, not pain."
"You seem to know an awful lot about us."
"I do, thank you!" He smiled for the first time that evening. "It wasn't easy. I had to do a lot of reading. I also had to ask a lot of smart older ponies without making them suspicious. But it all paid off, because I found you! Now you can take me away forever."
No, I didn't ask anyone I know about how to find changelings myself. I wanted to, but I couldn't risk them learning my plan. No one could know. I couldn't trust my parents, my friends, or even — especially — Dr. Think Bright. They would all try to stop me. They wouldn't get it.
They'll never get that this is the best solution. It makes every- everypony happy. They get a perfect copy of me who's better in every way, the changelings get free food, and I finally get to be happy and free.
Think about it. Changelings feed on ponies' love and happiness. So when they foalnap ponies, they need to keep everypony alive and happy. But they also need to keep anypony from running away. How do they do it?
What? What did I mean that I get to be free? What do you mean, what did I mean? I meant what I said, obviously. They put me in a cocoon, seal it up, and then I get to be free.
You know, free! What aren't you getting?
Free from judging, from hurting, and from anypony making me do anything I don't want to do ever again! Free to live happily ever after. Free.
Anyway, I'm betting that the goop in those weird green cocoon things puts ponies to sleep and gives them happy dreams forever. That's why nopony escapes from inside a changeling cocoon on their own. If everypony in the cocoons were awake and unhappy, they'd try to escape. Sooner or later some of them would and we'd hear about it. But they haven't.
I already know changeling cocoons don't give ponies nightmares. If they did, Princess Luna would find them right away. She helps everypony with their nightmares, even me! Not every time, obviously, and not enough to fix everything. But she'd only need to ask a few ponies where they were foalnapped. Maybe she could track them down magically just by using their dreams!
Once she finds the changeling hive, she'd fly in and blast everyling out of her way with a bunch of cool blue laser beams! Changelings would go flying everywhere and it would be totally badflank. She'd beat them all and rescue everypony. It would be all over for those changelings.
You think a changeling cocoon could stop Princess Luna from going into dreams? Pfff. No way. Nothing can. She's super powerful. She's the Dream Princess. Hay, with her dream magic I bet she's the only pony who could escape a cocoon on her own!
Huh? Oh, yeah, I do.
I dunno. Like once a week, I guess? Maybe every two weeks? That's how many nightmares ponies normally get, right?
Thank Luna I haven't had any really bad ones recently. I don't know what I'd do if she was the one asking me about any of this. I don't think I could lie to her.
"Come onnnn," the colt whined. "At this point, it's too risky to let me go, right? I saw your pony form. Knock me out and blindfold me and let's get out of here."
"Maybe somepony is tracking you."
"If they were tracking me, wouldn't they be here by now?"
"Not if they wanted to find out where changelings keep ponies."
The colt threw his head back and groaned. "Then just take me somewhere else first! I can't believe you're being so dumb. I offer you free meals forever and you're turning me down? This is ridiculous. Did I need to sit on a silver platter?"
"No such thing as a free meal, kid. You'll learn that someday."
"Whatever." He gave the changeling a dirty look.
Wait, really? What is it?
Oh.
Yeah, I guess it's possible that changeling cocoons could just suck away a pony's life force, or even… ew. I hadn't really thought of that. But even then, I…
No, it's nothing. Nevermind.
It's nothing, really.
Hm? Sure, you can ask.
Have I ever…?
Yeah.
Yeah, I did. I considered a lot of… weird solutions. Even that one.
But I ruled them out. They would all make me, my friends, or my family feel awful. No thanks. I don't need to hurt anyone. Nopony needs to feel awful. I found a solution that will make everyone happy.
"You know what? New idea," the increasingly impatient colt said. "If a gift is too hard to believe, I'll try a threat."
She couldn't help laughing. "Oh, this should be good."
"I mean it!" He gave her his best glare. It was adorable. "Foalnap me right now or I'll go tell on you to the guard."
"Mhm. You know that I could kill you, right?"
"And start an investigation?" He snorted. "Please. For all you know, I left a note on my bed with your pony name and address on it. Replace me and check for yourself. My way means nopony gets caught."
Oh, how I did it?
I don't really know if I should…
You promise?
Alright. Even with all my reading and stuff, finding a changeling was mostly good luck. They're really good at hiding in plain sight. A changeling could be right in front of you, and you'd never even know!
Yeah, yeah, I'm getting there. In August, my parents took me to Las Pegasus on another family vacation. I snuck out after dark, even though the city lights are too bright for stargazing. I had barely left the hotel when I saw a unicorn mare walk by with some pegasus stallion she just met. While she was looking at him, she accidentally stepped on a cloud like three times without falling through!
I know it might've been a coincidence or a cloud-walking spell, but I followed them anyway. I watched them walk into the alley behind the building. I'm glad I did. When the mare thought nopony was watching, I saw her cast a green spell on him that made his eyes glow green!
I got really excited, but I still needed proof. Then she exploded in green fire and turned into a copy of him!
That was all I needed. I flew out of my hiding place and landed in front of her. When she turned back into a unicorn, she said a few words I didn't know. At least one of them didn't sound Equestrian at all. I can try to say them if you want, but I might not remem—
No? Okay. Anyway, I did a cool landing in the alley, and she transformed. She shot a few green spells at me, but I dodged them!
Well, most of them. The last spell hit me.
Okay, fine. Two of them hit me. It felt weird. I felt, like, tingly all over. I couldn't move my legs for a little while.
Huh? No, of course I didn't do that. Why would I yell for help? That would have ruined everything. Were you even listening? I'd finally done it. I'd finally found a changeling. Nothing would stop me now.
"Well, what if I don't want to replace a colt?"
"Then find somepony else who does! Er, some changeling else." The colt put a hoof to his chin and looked upwards. "What do you guys say instead of somepony? Some…change? Someling? Somebuggy?"
"Somebuggy?" The changeling finally cracked a smile.
He huffed. "Hey, it makes as much sense as 'somepony'!"
Chuckling, she said, "I guess it does." Her smile faded. "Listen, kid—"
"My name is Day Dreamer."
"—right. Day Dreamer." She took a deep breath. "Have you, uh… tried talking about your feelings with your pa—"
"Finish that sentence and I swear to Luna I'll scream so loud every guard and every princess on the face of the planet will hear me, and if you don't kill me I'll still say you tried to. I'll tell them your pony name and what you look like and where I found you, then tomorrow they'll have to scrape one of us off the—"
"Okay, okay, I get it!" The changeling quickly backpedaled, falling back on her haunches and raising both front hooves in surrender. "Bad question. I won't ask again."
"Good. Don't."
I can't wait to meet my changeling replacement. I'll tell them everything they need to know to perfectly replace me. That changeling will be a better me than I ever could.
They can make more friends.
They can remember everypony's name.
They can make my parents and teachers happy.
They can work hard instead of wasting time like I do.
They can make all the right choices in life to make my family proud.
They can have a successful career doing whatever it is I'm supposed to do.
They can make everypony love them — make everypony love me.
They can be what everypony wants me to be.
They can make me live happily ever after.
Then I can be myself, by myself.
Nopony will ever know.
I'll be free forever.
"What if…" The changeling hesitated at Day Dreamer's glare. "What would you do if none of us want to replace you?"
Day Dreamer stared. "You're joking. You have to be joking!" He started pacing. "I thought you were all supposed to be starving! My mom always tells me that beggars can't be choosers."
"You can't just turn me away. You can't! It's not fair!" The colt's voice rose, teetering dangerously on the verge of a meltdown.
"Hey, hey, I was just asking! I, uh…" she trailed off. "I'm sure we can get you in a cocoon."
"Really?" Day Dreamer sniffled. "You're not just saying that?"
"Of course not. We can definitely find someling to replace you."
Day Dreamer's face lit up in a bright shiny smile. He danced in place on the tips of his hooves. "Yes, yes, yes! Thank you thank you thank you!"
"But you have to stay quiet, okay? You can't tell anypony. And we can't do it tonight."
"That's okay," he cheerily replied. "I didn't even tell anypony I'm here. I live at 1861 Mill Street in Salt Lick City. You or some-changeling else can come foalnap me there whenever you want! Night is best, though. I'm the only one awake past midnight. Just send me some kind of signal and I'll let you in. Ooh, better idea! You can disguise yourself as my cat!"
"Leave that part to us, Day Dreamer."
Her name? You're kidding. You're kidding, right?
You're not? Pff-hahahaha! How dumb do you think I am? How dumb do you think she is? She never told me. I never asked. I didn't need to know. I still don't.
Because I know she'll still get me. If she doesn't, someling else will. You knowing doesn't change anything. Not really.
What? Uh…
…no. No, I didn't. Of course I didn't tell her anything.
"Lemme write down my address for you so you don't forget." Day Dreamer pulled out a quill and a notecard from somewhere, then pressed it against a brick wall with his front hooves. "Eigh… een… ikshee… unn…"
Scratching sounds filled the alley.
"Done! Anything else you need?"
"No, that should be plenty."
Because I… agreed to meet her again. Yeah. She said she'll meet me… at the park, on the 20th. I planned to meet her there right after school!
What? It's true!
…okay, fine. That was a lie. But I did agree to meet her next week. No, I won't tell you where. You'll never guess. It's not even in Salt Lick City.
"Alright, I'll see you at my place whenever!" Day Dreamer beamed as he trotted away, feeling better than he had in over a year. He turned back long enough to wave and say, "Have a good night!"
Bemused but amused, the changeling found herself waving back. "You too, kid."
Oh.
You're going to tell them everything, aren't you?
I knew it. I should've known you were just as bad as the rest of them. I never should have told you anything. What do you think they'll do to me?
And if I refuse?
Even in that case, I'll just try again. What, are you gonna lock me up to keep someling else from locking me up? Save me from living happily as their prisoner so I can live miserably as yours?
Oh, they have…?
The whole time?!
But you told me it was just us two! You didn't say anything about them watching. You said you wouldn't tell them anything! You- you lied to me?
Ughhhhh. Great. Just great. That makes this extra complicated, huh? I bet they'll never let me leave the house on my own again.
But they can't keep me forever.
Nopony can.
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Interesting and original story? Yes please.
Some posible corrections:
You don't need the period if you plan to use the exclamation mark.
Once she finds the changeling hive
You
12034159 Fixed, thank you so much!
In the words of Homestar Runner...
"Cool cool, depressing, cool...
So um..."
How about that ending?
Yeaaah... I don't get it...
I get that the changeling abandoned him, but I have no idea who he's confiding in at the end.
Given how paranoid he seems to be, I have no idea why he'd confide his plans to anyone.
So yeah. Great story, but I'm not sure I understand the ending.
Characterization is still excellent though.
Good work with this. Hope to see more of your work soon.
12034159
Ah, I could be wrong, but I believe the last correction (of you to your) is actually incorrect. As knowing is (at least in this case) a gerund, and thus acts like a noun in a clause, and so is used with the possessive case (ie: your). ofc, this is such a minor grammatical error no one is likely to complain.
you could also reword the sentence to use the infinitive of the verb, which would look something like "If you know, nothing would change." or "That you know doesn't change anything."
Who knew changelings were mandatory reporters?
I love this... Very original idea! Would love to see more :P
Sometimes... going home is the worser option. I feel the pain in this story, Have a like.
Emotionally morbid!
I am unsure of what exactly is going on with him, whether he is just depressed, or if he feels really alienated from his surroundings, or what.
I would love to find out, this is great.
This is really interesting and well done so far, looking forward to the next chapter! ^^
It's a special kind of hell when your family's love is just another chain.....can't say I miss it.
I feel bad for the poor kid. Depression sucks.
A good therapist can be wonderful and amazing. A bad match can be... well, you know that saying, "once you've hit rock bottom, you can't go any deeper"?
Yeah... a bad therapist will help you find the way deeper.
Here's hoping he finds someone that clicks... in his world and in yours.
Well if he wasnt depressed before than being Turner down by your natural predator will do the trick.
This was really really good!
Oh man, I feel just like him.
12035142
Not necessary. There might be more than meets the eye like in this story:
- MLP: FiM
- Horror
Cozy Glow stands alone in the middle of a desert in front of a Changeling hive. A dark, hostile figure approaches.12034194
Probably a Psychiatric Hospital. He is still a kid so just because he didn't get a good psychologist doesn't he mistrusts psychiatrists.
12035406
If he's smart enough to recognize that Luna would tell on him, he's smart enough to recognize who pays a psychiatrist and who they report to.
Be it the state or his parents. (And he's made it clear he doesn't trust cops.)
So he has no reason to admit all of this to one if he's still trying to keep it secret.
12035194
Are you getting help?
If not, here is what little I know from my own struggles with something different and much less severe:
If on Medicaid, ignore the official listings of providers on their website. Just do a websearch and probably use a non-governmental site.that.has a searchable database of providers. Even then, it won't hurt anything to go ahead and take a minute when you first contact the provider to make sure nothing has changed.
Video-chat-based services can be gotten at betterhelp.com , if that sounds like it would work for you. Other businesses exist that do the same thing on a smaller scale. And, at least in Georgia, USA prescriptions can be given even if the only contact was via computer, including video-chat.
This might be a very rare situation but: If the site,to enter your information before your first appointment is glitched, tell the office staff and or medical professionals and say that your first appointment will need to be to fill stuff out (or arrange to fill out a paper copy)!
As for how to tell if a given provider is right for one: I don't know. Can anyone else help this individual?
There was something sadly hilarious about that whole encounter. Not surprised the changeling didn't take him up on that offer but curious where the colt ended up at the end. I'm thinking it's likely some sort of hospital but not entirely sure. Also want to know what led him to seeking out the changeling in the first place and if it has anything to do with his name. Did he get a cutie mark in being perpetually lazy and his talent is just not being accepted by pony society? Perhaps it's related to something else entirely. Whatever it is, I would love to learn more about Day Dreamer.
They should change the pony into a changeling. That would give him a wake up call.
hope you're doing alright
Reply roundup!
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Thank you all so much! I did not expect so many of y'all to like this story and find it interesting. At first, I debated keeping it a one-shot. Now I'm having all kinds of
sometimes mutually exclusiveideas about where to take it. I hope I'll satisfy your expectations!12035439
Yup, that's basically what was going through her mind the whole time lmao
12034435 12034692 12035194
On one
hoofhand, I'm glad I wrote something that resonates with so many people. On the other, ouch, I'm sorry to hear that you can relate. For those of y'all still stuck in it, I wish I could give you more than cheap platitudes. But for now, that's all I can offer:64.media.tumblr.com/c35a394573bdcc6d24fc5452c8879290/bf342bbe85db3761-bd/s540x810/9ea5368d119736710388ca46324558b4dd2c5e2c.gifv
Well, that and more chapters.
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Thank you. That's very sweet. I can't say I'm in a great place right now — I've been struggling to find a job, my lifelong pet recently passed away, and I'm really disappointed by the US election results — but I'll recover. Writing is one of my better coping mechanisms.
Maybe this is petty/small of me, but seeing my fic do well is helping me feel better right now!Don't worry about me. I'll find a therapist soon and I live with a loving partner who emotionally supports me.A beautiful concept. I think this will speak to a lot of people who have experienced the sort of emotional distress you went through. Thank you for writing this.
Damn this is hilariously sad to me because I relate so much. Would love to be in a magical world where a changeling could replace me. Sure, my family would be sad, but hey, they could do “existing successfully” so much better than me!
Was curious after seeing it have 170 upvotes without a single downvote (As of the time of writing this), and I am happy to say that you are a fucking spectacular writer. I look forward to however much more there is to this story.
I’m suffering from a real “whoosh” as this one goes over my head… I want to appreciate it, can someone explain what I’m missing ? It’s clearly very well received and I want to get it too.
I know this is a serious topic, and I hope you're all okay.
When I had read the summary I had to think of this comic, which touches the same seek-out-changeling-cocoons idea with a different motivation:
"My name is Walter Hartwell White. I live at 308 Negra Arroyo Lane Albuquerque New Mexico 87104. This is my confession."
12037312
That's okay. This is one that you kind of need to have experienced in real life for it land.
The MC is either actively suicidal, or has struggled so heavily with depression or something similar that they genuinely would prefer death or unconsciousness to continued living.
They don't want to go through with it, because they know their absence would hurt their parents and loved ones. They don't want that. They don't want it enough to continue enduring a life they are not enjoying.
They learn about changelings, and think this is the best possible solution: a changeling replaces them, letting their family not grieve while they get the oblivion they are seeking.
Understandably, this is pretty heavy stuff if you haven't experienced something similar. A lot of us on the internet have, and seeing it written here resonates.
For anyone that this story resonates with: It's okay. You are not alone - no matter what it feels like some days, you aren't.
12037957
But who is he talking to? Was he somehow picked up by the cops? I don’t understand when he talks about being imprisoned or telling the authorities or his parents? I’m missing something.
Unless… he’s talking to a therapist that is breaking patient confidentiality????
12038071
Ambiguous. Somewhat deliberately - the slightly unreliable narrator is a feature, not a bug. Best I can tell, he's been passed from local law enforcement up to an interviewer from the actual Guard - after all, he's discovered a Changeling, and any chance to discover a hive is worth at least a conversation.
The colt is going along with it because, at heart, he wants to be a good person. Despite his own pain, he doesn't want to hurt others, but he is a child, and his focus is very much on what he wants - to be replaced and not feel so miserable any more.
12038105
Hehe
Loved the story!
It's like seeing myself back as a kid, and the writing was really keeping me engrossed in the plot.
Hey man, that's cool. I want to know more.