The Useless Siege
The Useless Siege
Doppel flew at full speed, zigzagging between the trees of the Everfree Forest. He tried to escape his imminent capture and possible execution. Spotted by a pony? Now I'm dead ! Why did I try to use that method knowing that it'd take too much time in this case ? Now Fluttershy is going to alert everypony and soon, if I don't manage to hide well enough, I'll be put in jail at best.
The changeling flew as if he were being pursued and he wanted to lose his pursuers. He arrived at the pond, the same pond which was the cause of his cold. It wasn't very large or even all that deep. The changeling remembered how it happened. He was drinking peacefully when the manticore suddenly jumped out the bush and roared. Doppel was startled and fell into the pond. The water was freezing and he couldn't help but shiver. The worst part was the fact that the manticore didn't even want to do harm to the changeling. It just wanted to say hi.
“Achoo!” he suddenly sneezed. “I hate this cold!”
He transformed once again as he sneezed. Hopefully, he was still a pegasus so he didn't fall by the loss of his wings. He didn't care which form he took since he was going to alert his friends that they'd have to move soon after being spotted.
“Guys! I made a mistake!” he cried out.
The two other changelings rose their heads and saw someone who looked like a gold pegasus with a light cyan mane flying towards them at full speed.
“Raindrops?” Mimic was surprised. “Oh no! Quick, we need to shape shift to something scary for her!”
When he tried to change, Camouflage alerted, “No, wait! It must be Doppel!”
As strange it may sound, changelings are unable to detect when one of them is in disguise. They have to use a spell to be sure. Obviously, if they are taken by surprise, the disguise works as well on the changelings as it works on ponies.
“Obviously it's me!” Doppel complained, changing back to his normal form, this time by his own will.
“And what brings this rushed come back?” Mimic asked, relieved to learn they hadn’t been discovered, but also, slightly angry to have been tricked by Doppel's disguise.
“I accidentally changed form in front of a pony. We've been discovered! We need to move out now before they get us!”
“We can't move like this!” Camouflage explained, buzzing her wings in annoyance. “We need to wait for Illusion to come so she’ll know we won't be here anymore!”
Illusion was also a changeling. She wasn't an outlaw like the three hiding in the forest, but she served as a spy for them. She often came to tell stories of the Hive and also to inform them if the Queen was going to possibly cross their path. She also warned them about big events that would happen or had happened, like the failed invasion of Canterlot, which it made more difficult to take a trip to Ponyville. Ponies were more suspicious of strangers during the month that followed the invasion.
“We can't just wait here like this!” Doppel exclaimed. “They could find us at any moment!”
“These ponies are way too cowardly to even enter this forest. We’re safe here” Mimic laughed.
“Staying here is taking an unnecessary risk,” Camouflage argued. “We’ll return to the cave and figure out what we’re going to do from there.”
The changelings flew back to where they lived. It was a little cave that was possibly inhabited by a bear in the past. They had already taken a good look around and knew that it had only one entrance. Mimic lit a fire in the center of the cave while Camouflage paced back and forth to find a solution to their problem.
Doppel suddenly sneezed and took the form of a pink pegasus with a brownish mane. Stupid cold. It's because of you that we need to do this. He changed back to his natural form just a few seconds after.
“I know what we'll do!” Camouflage said.
The female changeling explained her idea. It was a imperative that they moved from this place. It would soon become impossible to fool anypony if all the town knew that changelings had invaded the place. However, a lot of Ponyvillians were scared of the Everfree Forest and didn't dare to enter it, especially if they had to fight against something like changelings in there. This fact would give them enough time to wait for Illusion to come.
So their plan was to guard the cave while they waited for Illusion to come. If the situation became worse, they could still flee and hope to find Illusion somewhere else. Illusion would give them a place to live where no changeling had been detected already. So, one changeling watched over the area to see if ponies were arriving while the others were resting.
However, this plan was less fun for Doppel. He didn't have the surveillance duty to do. He was simply kept out of things. A quarantine was established around him to avoid the spreading of his germs. One sick changeling was enough for the time being.
A deathly silence reigned, only broken by the sneezes and transformations of Doppel. He knew that his friends didn't bear a grudge against him. A changeling could feel it. He knew that Camouflage and Mimic didn't hate his cold but, they preferred not to move out of their cave.
Time itself seemed to drag on. There was nothing to do. In addition, they had to stay silent, just incase ponies were close. A little chat would help pass the time, but Doppel was too far from the others to discuss without shouting. With this quarantine, I'm booored. Even Mimic and Camouflage couldn't talk if they wanted because when one was watching the area, the other was sleeping.
--|-|--
Hours passed. In the Everfree Forest, it was difficult to know if it was day or in night. The wood was so dark that it made it nearly impossible to tell the difference. Soon, a rumbling was heard along with Doppel's sneezes. The sick changeling hadn't eaten since the beginning of his cold and Illusion didn't come. If only they had a way to contact her without waiting helplessly.
Camouflage woke up. After stretching, she sat at the left of Mimic. He jumped before whispering loudly, “Is it already your turn?”
“No. I cannot sleep with the rumbling of Doppel's stomach,” the female changeling answered.
“I bet you Doppel tried to use the second method and that's why he was discovered!”
“What? He could have used the first method,” she complained as quietly as possible. “I know that he doesn’t like it, I don’t either, but in situations like this, he can’t turn his nose up”
Doppel raised his head, hearing that his friends was chatting. Camouflage and Mimic stopped talking when they saw him him waking up. Finally, the sick changeling shrugged and fell asleep again. The silence continued for a few seconds before being broken by another rumbling.
“I guess Doppel isn't the only one who’s hungry,” she blushed.
“What will you do?” he asked.
“I think I'll keep the zone under surveillance. It'll prevent me from thinking of my stomach,” she answered.
Mimic nodded and entered a little further in the cave. He lay down and began to rest.
--|-|--
Doppel opened an eye. He saw that Camouflage had taken her turn of surveillance. He stretched and sat up, looking at the fire burning near him. A new wave of rumbling came from his stomach. He tried to sigh but his nostrils were clogged. All it did was to tickle his nose and that made him sneeze. He now took the form of a zebra. He turned back to his natural form. His sneeze hadn't even started Camouflage. It's either because she's used to my sneeze by now, or because my stomach is making so much noise it covers the sound of my sneezing.
He stood up to walk so he could stretch his legs. Camouflage turned around and glared at him . Her look said 'Stay in the quarantine zone'. Geez, don't worry! I won’t infect you with my germs Camouflage. Finally, the female changeling resumed her surveillance. Doppel backtracked and laid down again.
--|-|--
Mimic woke up. He had lost track of how long they had been holding up in this cave to hide from the ponies. He turned towards Camouflage who was leaning against the wall. Finally, he decided to talk to her.
“Still no news about Illusion?” he asked, whispering.
“No,” the female changeling sighed, “Nothing from the ponies either.”
“Oooh, I'm hungry!” Mimic complained, in a volume that even Doppel could hear.
“She shouldn't be long, now,” she reassured. “She tries to come every week”
“Achoo!” Doppel sneezed while he slept. It transformed him into a mint green unicorn.
“I wonder, how have the ponies not found us yet?” Mimic asked.
“You're right,” Camouflage added. “Doppel makes so much noise each time he sneezes that they must know where we are”
“Maybe... Maybe they’re taking advantage of the fact we're trapped here so they could launch an attack and we wouldn’t be able to escape!”
“Your hunger is making you rave,” she joked, “or maybe you’ve got too big of an imagination.”
“It'd bother me if it was Derpy who came to stop me!”
“You're awake enough to take your turn now,” she noticed. “I'm going to take a nap. I can't stand sitting there anymore”
Mimic nodded and Camouflage lay down to sleep.
--|-|--
Doppel was wide awake now. He was staring at what remained of the fire standing at the center of the cave. There was nothing else for him to do. Sleeping twenty hours a day was too much for him, even with a cold. He knew every rock and every crack of the cave from where he stood. However, he still tried to find a way to distract himself so he wouldn’t think about how hungry he was. It was several days since he had last eaten.
“Achoo!”
His last sneeze transformed him into an amber earth pony, with a brown mane and three horseshoes as cutie mark. He noticed every detail of his new form. It was a good way to occupy himself. But it wasn't enough. He took back his former appearance and sighed.
“A changeling can survive seven days without eating love,” he ceaselessly repeated, trying to convince himself that he’d be fine.
This sentence also helped him to check if he was still able to talk. It was so long since he had said anything that he wanted to be sure. His sneezes were louder than his current voice anyways.
“A changeling can survive seven days without eating love.”
Mimic looked behind him to see Doppel getting more and more agitated. He sighed and continued his duty. Camouflage was still sleeping just beside him.
Suddenly, Doppel cried, “I can't!”
This shout made the other two changelings jump.
“We can't carry on like this! I'm not letting myself starve waiting Illusion to come. Who knows? Maybe she'll never come!”
Camouflage waved her hoof as to say 'Not so loud! You're gonna alert everypony'. But it had no effect. Doppel continued his shouting.
“I'd rather get caught by ponies than suffer here for days on end waiting for nothing! I'm going to go to Ponyville and see how the situation has evolved!”
On this sentence, the sick changeling flew away to Ponyville. The last thing he could hear was the sentence Mimic shouted as he left: “You're completely insane!”
--|-|--
As he flew towards the village, Doppel looked all around him. Nothing seemed to have changed in the woods. It was like nothing had happened. Strange... The Everfree Forest should have changed a little by the commotion in town. It worried him. It isn't normal. Was this a good idea? He began to reconsider his actions.
A loud sneeze added with a transformation made him stop in his tracks. I can still wait one or two more days before he would starve. After all, Illusion comes every week. The sick changeling looked at the two directions he could go. Ponyville or the cave? He didn't know what to do now.
What if Illusion got caught in Ponyville? He remembered that the spy needed to fly over the town to reach the cave. I need to check and make sure she didn't get caught. I mean, what would the others think if I turned back now? He finally convinced himself and continued to go Ponyville.
--|-|--
He finally arrived at the edge of the woods. The situation on the outside was the same as the one in the inside. Nothing had changed. It was like nothing had even happened. But he needed to be sure of it. He sniffed hard to make sure that he wouldn't sneeze for the time being and shape-shifted in a brown stallion with a dark mane. His cutie mark looked like a suitcase, the perfect businesspony. Every detail counted now. He couldn't be spotted again.
He arrived in front of Fluttershy's cottage. She was the pony who saw his real form. When he was raising his hoof to knock at the door, he loudly sneezed. Geez, it’s impossible to restrain myself. Now I look like a crazy old farmer. He heard some commotion inside the house and quickly took back the form of the businesspony. He waited several seconds before knocking at the door. There was a little squeal, and then silence.
“Are you ok?” he shouted from through the door. “I heard somepony scream.”
Doppel knew this sentence would make Fluttershy react, at least enough to check if she was still alive. Suddenly, he heard several locks unlocking and saw the door open halfway. Only Fluttershy’s muzzle came from behind the door.
“Good morning,” began the changeling, “I come from the society 'Protection for Everypony' and I'm here to tell you about our products which will protect you from the changelings!”
If this doesn’t make her tell me everything about what happened during the last few days, then I don’t know what will. His plan was perfect. Fluttershy was going to explain to him everything since his flight and he could use this knowledge to protect himself against the ponies. However, there was a flaw in this plan.
“Are you the changeling from the other time?” she asked in a sweet but worried voice.
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Busted.
D'aww, adorable.
Interestingly enough, I had a similar idea to this: When a changeling catches cutie pox, the sickness mutates so that it is different for each changeling (one sprouts purple feathers, another changes shape with each sneeze, etc...) it is fatal after 48 hours.
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant Doppel, THAT'S NOT SUSPICIOUS AT ALL!
That was a spectacular nat 1 right there!