Most ponies do not want to be replaced by a changeling.
Most ponies find that prospect, frankly, rather unnerving.
Most ponies want to be something other than changeling food.
Most ponies who feed changelings willingly, though few, still want a normal life.
Most ponies would rather not spend the rest of their lives suspended in a cocoon.
Most.
- Featured on November 4–11 and December 10 of 2024, plus January 7 and February 14 of 2025.
- Recommended by abrony-mouse!
- Recommended for Twilight's Library by CasualBrony84!
Cover art uses atnezau's cocoon vectors, GeneralZoi's creator, and MLP:FiM screencaps.
If I tagged the genre wrong, feel free to suggest changes. (As of 2025 Jan 7, I want to add the Mystery tag, but I'm not sure which other genre tag it should replace. Comedy, maybe?)
Status Updates:
- 2024 Nov 4: I'm also unsure whether to continue, so the current status is "incomplete if you want more."
- 2024 Nov 7: Woah! Did not expect this much interest, thank y'all so much! Yeah, I'll continue this. Right now I'm thinking around 4 chapters, but that might change.
- 2025 Jan 7: Now I expect this story to be at least 6 chapters long, probably longer. My current pace is 1 chapter per month, but that may change.
Chapters (4)
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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."
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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.
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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????
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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.
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Hehe
Loved the story!
It's like seeing myself back as a kid, and the writing was really keeping me engrossed in the plot.
This keeps getting sadder
I still think they should let him into the club and turn him into a changeling. He needs belonging. Sure he could just be a food source but I think he'd be more valuable to them as one of them.
If the mother is this utterly antagonistic all the time, I could see why. I mean, she's probably not quite so "You're grounded, and I'm taking away this, and locking up that" on a normal day, but it's clear this isn't the first time she's pushed him into being way more social and active than he's comfortable with, and all she's really doing each time is boxing him in further. Like all she sees in him is all the ways he isn't the typical cheerful, energetic, fun-loving colt he's "supposed" to be.
It's no wonder he's so happy to find a changeling. It sounds like it could be the first time any creature allowed the colt to just be himself for a minute.
And, of course... If he can't be anything he's "supposed" to be, why not just call in a replacement who can?
In fairness, you could have used a common part of an insect, like pincer, or spiracle. Almost every single named changeling in the show has some kind of insect's part as the name.
Funny:3
It seems like Day Dreamer has actually been replaced. I wonder how anyone figured that out though. I'm guessing Twilight did somehow, given this is presumably the princess the changelings are talking to.
Since certain changelings are professional infiltrators, it wouldn't surprise me if Clyp succeeded in replacing Day Dreamer but it'd also be sad if literally no one in his family noticed.
If I understand correctly, this conversation is taking place after the end of season six, so that would explain why the Changeling is trying to remove any mention of the queen from his vocabulary, right? But why is he using pony expressions? Even if it is because he's talking to a pony, I feel like it's odd that he doesn't use Changeling expressions.
12059718 True. I think part of my problem is that at first I didn't want to use a name already used in the show, comics, or one of my favorite changeling fics, like Pincer, Antenna, Maxilla, or Tarsus. That's probably not a reasonable limit, though. (Edit: Whoops, looks like I accidentally copied the name Clypeus from that last one anyway. Oh well.) And yeah, Spiracle is a good one. So is Stinger, but I feel like that one is best for a guard/soldier.
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Every one of those names triggered a core memory. Love those stories.
Looking forward to see more.
This is really interesting, hope we get to see more.
Hooooly shit, so he actually did get replaced, lol. I had a feeling, but the mom knowing about the changeling adventure threw me off. Funny to know even with legit confirmation of changelings existing the mom never for a second suspected Daydreamer got replaced. (Also, lmao, his grades are worse hahahaha)
I wonder if the reason the princesses haven't gone all CPS on real Daydreamer is because he's legit doing happier in the changeling hive? Or wherever he is? It'd be sweet if he got some found family instead of being podded.
Geez Louise, this mom is a full blown Karen.
Oh how I love fantasy MAGAts.
You capture the energy of a monster well.
Ditto to the other. This mom is certainly something. It's just the right mix of love and narcissism typical of a helicopter parent. What a tragedy it is that she's happier with this changeling than she was with her own kid, and she still doesn't suspect a thing. The kid's plan went perfectly...
edit: love what you did with the formatting of the "He's always 'x'" section.
This is a very interesting display of a character that easily represents a kind of person most of us has interacted with in real life.
While being ignorant and having a bigoted worldview are mutually exclusive, it’s clear that Mrs. Whirl Wing is an example of the two traits feeding into one another. In some cases, she even has an arguably justified reason for her fears if one understands it comes from ignorance.
I feel terrible for Dreamy, especially the pain of not being understood by his own family to the extent of isolation he went through.
Good writing, author!