> A New Home
>  by Shads
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Ch. 01 - Windshore
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The town of Windshore slowly began to wind down for the day as the sunset turned the sky into several shades of oranges and reds. Merchants peddling their wares packed up, ponies began to head to their homes, and the sailors returned to their docked ships, ready to sail off to their next destinations. All in all, it was another normal, trouble-free day.

"Ngh, damn it all..."

But, of course, fate loves to play her games.

A black equine emerged from the forest surrounding Windshore. The curious creature was covered head-to-hoof in a black coating, similar to a beetle. Its' back, home to a pair of blue translucent wings, was covered in a harder blue shell, seeming to act as armor for its' spine. Its' hole-filled legs brought it forward, seemingly not caring that they were missing chunks.

"This isn't how a changeling is meant to live," mumbled the creature, a masculine voice escaping mouth.

He licked his fangs, trying to wet his mouth. His pupilless, blue eyes seemed to be looking down for a second before being raised upwards towards Windshore. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped slightly as he spotted the ponies milling through the streets.

After a few moments, his face returned to its' normal resting place. He sat down, looking at the ground for a full minute. He seemed to be in deep thought.

When he looked back up, he closed his eyes. Suddenly, green fire formed a ring around his hooves. As it slowly traveled upwards, his body began to change shape. His black, hole-filled legs turned into blue-furred ones, with the same happening to the rest of his black shell. His webbed mane and tail became an abundant amount of white hair. His translucent wings became larger, becoming covered in blue feathers. His fangs disappeared, pupils appeared in his eyes, and his horn disappeared.

In the course of a few seconds, the changeling had turned into a blue-furred, white-haired pegasus.

He opened his eyes and took a quick look over his body. Satisfied with what he had become, he rose into the air and flew down into the unsuspecting town.





"Honey, did you remember to grab some carrots for dinner," asked a red, pegasus mare, walking down a street with a blue, earth pony stallion beside her.

"Yes, dear," the stallion responded.

"And did you--"

"Yes, dear, I did."

"But you don't even know what I was going to ask," pouted the mare.

The stallion looked over to her and smiled. "You were going to ask me if I remembered to pay Muffin back for giving us some free treats."

She continued to frown at him, before breaking out into a giggle. "Okay, Blue, you got me this time. Maybe you can read my mind?"

"Years of marriage will do that, Cherry," he told her, before leaning over and nuzzling her. She hummed and returned his affections.

The married couple proceeded down the street towards the edge of town, carrying bags of groceries and other things. Their humble two-story home was located on the eastern edge of town, away from the hustle and bustle of the marketplace. As much as they loved the town's community and getting to see new faces coming in from the harbor, it was nice to be able to get away from it all when they just wanted to share each other's company.

The streets were emptying out as a few ponies made their own ways home. Everypony waved goodbyes to each other and wished all a good night.

Well, everypony except for a peculiar blue pegasus. The pegasus walked slowly, looking around the outskirts of the town. In fact, he seemed to be looking everywhere except for in front of him.

"Ow!" 

The married couple, distracted with each other, and the pegasus collided.

The blue pegasus fell back on his rear, rubbing his head with his hooves. "Ngh... hey! Watch where you're going!"

Cherry was mirroring his actions, sitting down and rubbing her head. Blue recovered quickly, and took a look at the offending pegasus. 

"What do you mean? You ran into us," Blue responded. "You should be walking on the other side of the road."

The blue pegasus looked around. Everypony walking in the same direction as him was on the other side of the road. He looked back to the stallion, who now looked more intimidating.

"Oh, well, u-um," he stammered. "My apologies, then. I'm a bit new here. Are you two alright?"

Cherry, recovering from the run-in, rose back up to her hooves. "I've been better, but I'll live. Are you alright, hon'?" She looked over to Blue, who nodded back at her. Satisfied, she turned back to the pegasus. "And it's no problem. We probably should have been looking where we were going." Blue was going to say something, but she shot him a quick look. "Did you say you were new here?"

"Ah, um, yes! Yes, I'm new here. I just came into town from that forest over there." He pointed back to the treeline that he came from. "I was travelling and got a bit lost." He scratched his head, awkwardly laughing at himself. "My name's..." He looked over into a window, seeing a reflection of himself. He stared at his mane for a few seconds. "...Whitemane! My name's Whitemane."

"Well, welcome to our little town of Windshore, Whitemane. I'm Cherry Blossom, and this is my husband Blue Moon. Do you know where you'll be spending the night? There's an inn a little bit thataways." She pointed somewhere further into town.

Whitemane's eyes widened a bit. "I, erm... don't know. I don't have any bits on me, and I don't think they'd let me stay there for free."

Cherry looked over to her husband. He looked back, staring at her for a few seconds. He glanced back to Whitemane, then back to her. Eventually, he sighed and nodded his head.

Cherry smiled and turned back to Whitemane. "Well, we'd be glad to house you for the time being. At least until you get your hooves off the ground."

"R-really? You'd do that for a complete stranger that just ran into you?"

"Well, sure. It wouldn't do my conscience any good if I knew you were out here in the cold all night. Besides, even if you did cause us any trouble, Blue here's a lot tougher than he looks." She tapped a hoof on Blue's chest.

"Ah... heh. I'll, uh, be sure to remember that."

"Well then, now that that's settled," Cherry exclaimed, walking off, "come along boys!"

Whitemane and Blue Moon looked at each other. Blue huffed before turning back to his wife and walking off.

"Well, then, this should be interesting," Whitemane said before following after them.


> Ch. 02 - Dinner for Three
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The trio proceeded down the street to Cherry Blossom and Blue Moon's home, with Whitemane following behind them at a short distance. The trip was pretty quiet, although Whitemane could sometimes make out small bits of conversations that they were having with each other. Occasionally, one of them would laugh or nuzzle the other before continuing on.

They seem to be pretty open about their feelings for each other, Whitemane thought to himself. He made a small hum, closing his eyes and absorbing some of the excess love that the two were exhuding. Mmh, not that I'm complaining. It's certainly the best thing I've had these past few weeks.

For the second time that day, the distracted pegasus walked right into somepony. Well, two someponies. Luckily, they were better prepared this time around. He flinched back before opening his eyes, noticing the couple looking back at him with curious expressions.

"What?"

"That's the second time you've walked into us, that's what," joked Cherry. "It seemed like your head was in the clouds."

"Maybe he's just naturally clumsy," remarked Blue.

Cherry shot her husband a look before returning back to Whitemane. "Is there something on your mind?"

"Ah, no, I was just... a little light-headed is all," said Whitemane. "I haven't had a good bite to eat in a while. I guess my body's finally catching up to me."

"Hmm, well, I'll tell you what," Cherry responded, "we've got enough to make another plate tonight. How do you feel about joining us?"

"Oh, I wouldn't want to impose any more than I already am. You're already housing me, I couldn't a--"

"Nonsense! It wouldn't be any trouble at all! You're already staying over, so why not go to bed with a full stomach, huh?" Cherry showed off her permanent smile. "Oh, I wonder if I have bigger pan..." She began to walk off on her own, leaving Blue and Whitemane behind again.

Whitemane turned to Blue. "I'm sorry. I know that your wife doesn't seem to mind, but I still feel like I'm being so intrusive." He rubbed his forehooves together nervously. "You're both giving a complete stranger a meal and a roof over his head, when all I've done is nearly run you over twice."

The stallion sat in silence for a few seconds before finally responding. "To be honest, I wasn't really on board with it when she suggested you stay over. Hell, I'm still not really sure about it." He looked forward to his wife, slowly growing smaller as she mindlessly walked away, talking to herself. A small smile grew on his face. "But that's why I married her. She'll do anything in her power to help those in need, even if it's somepony she just met. I just hope that nopony is foolish enough to try and abuse her kindness." Blue looked back to Whitemane, eyes squinting and smile dropping. "Because if they do, they'll have to answer to me."

Whitemane shrunk down under the stallion's withering glare. "T-trust me, I wouldn't think of doing any such thing." He slightly rose back up. "I'll make sure I can find a way to repay you both for this."

The large stallion hummed, before turning back towards his wife and trotting after her. "See that you do."

Whitemane waited a second before sighing, his shoulders drooping. Well, the 'gentle giant' doesn't completely want to kill you, so that's a plus. He began to walk after them.Still, there must be some way I can repay them. He looked back into the town, eyes scanning a few of the buildings that ponies were leaving. Maybe there's a few odd jobs I can do for some coin. 





The smell of cooking food wafted through the quiet home, coming from the kitchen where three ponies were at work making their meal for the evening.

Well, more like one pony was cooking and the other two watched in slight amazement.

"Wow, Whitemane," exclaimed Cherry, "you're a lot better at cooking than you made yourself out to be."

"Oh, it's nothing really... just a lot of practice," said the pegasus, shifting between pots and pans and dextrously adding little amounts of ingredients to each. "I've been an apprentice chef to a good number of cooks around Equestria. Mostly ponies, a few griffins here and there, and a minotaur once if you'll believe that." He dipped a spoon, held by the tip of his wing, into a pot and taste-tested the contents. He made a small face before adding a small amount of a spice. "I never really stayed in one area long enough to actually complete an apprenticeship, but I still learned a lot from them."

"So," Blue spoke up, "what caused you to move around so much?"

Whitemane froze for a moment before continuing to do his little dance, though neither Blue nor Cherry seemed to notice. "Family reasons, mostly. My... mother had a pretty important job that required us to move around a lot. We stuck around in a town for a few months at a time before moving on to another one."

"You say she 'had' a pretty important job. Might I ask what happened?" Cherry asked. Whitemane froze up completely this time. She already seemed to regret what she had asked. "Oh, I'm sorry if it's too personal to answer--"

"No no, it's fine," Whitemane recovered, "I just... wasn't expecting it. We, um," He seemed to deflate a bit. "We had a bit of a falling out. She did something drastic that got her fired. Some of us, my brothers and sisters I mean, tried to convince her not to go through with it, but she said that she had to. For us." He sighed dejectedly. "Without her job, we lost our home, and we all kinda went our separate ways."

"Oh," Cherry responded, "I'm sorry for bringing up bad memories."

"It's fine. What's done is done, as they say." Whitemane continued to put finishing touches on the meal. Once he was satisfied, he let everything settle before turning back to the Cherry and Blue. "But anyways," he perked up bit, "let's not sour the mood with what's in the past. There's food to eat!"
> Ch. 03 - Muffin
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun slowly rose its way into the sky, marking another bright morning for the ponies of Windshore. The early-risers, already leaving their homes, began their trek further into town. Many among them were merchants, looking to prepare their wares to sell to the new ponies in town that had sailed in since last night. In just a few short hours, the marketplace was likely to be a bustle of activity.

Whitemane had decided to follow these ponies in their morning rituals, remembering his quest to find somepony who would hire him for some work. He'd made sure to leave a note for Cherry and Blue detailing where he had gone, telling them that he would hopefully return with the ingredients for another great dinner. Self-bought, of course.

I'm glad that they decided to house me for little longer, but I can't just repay them by cooking for them. He glanced around at the rows of market stalls, trying to spy somepony who might've needed his assistance. So far, it was a no-show. He sighed. They won't be able to afford a third mouth to feed for very long, even I don't necessarily need it. "Rule 4: keep up appearances," he grumbled.


:=]|[=:


Two hours later, Or was it three... and there was still no luck for the disguised changeling. He'd gone up to nearly every stall to offer his help, and the answer was a resounding 'no'. While it was true that many of them likely didn't need it, it was also apparent in the looks they gave him that they weren't exactly willing to trust a stranger with their goods.

Well this is going absolutely nowhere, he grumbled to himself.

His ears swiveled as he heard a collection of noise slowly growing louder. He turned towards the source and noticed a collection of ponies, all lined up and leading into a building. Most of them looked annoyed and distraught that the line wasn't moving forward. Curious at what they were waiting for, Whitemane walked over to the end of the line. As he approached, he could start hearing them venting their frustrations.

"C'mon, Muffin, we're all hungry out here!"

"I don't got all day! I've gotta be at my stall in 10 minutes before rush hour!"

"Look, I've only got one pair o' hooves in here!" A voice cried out from inside. "I can only go so fast!"

Some of the stragglers near the end of the line decided to give up, leaving their spots in line. Whitemane approached some of the remaining ponies near the end. "Hey, what's everyone so frustrated about? Is something wrong?"

"It's just Muffin fallin' behind on his orders again," a stallion responded. 

"And who's Muffin?"

The stallion turned back to the pegasus, giving him a once-over. "You ain't from around here, are ya?"

"No, I just arrived yesterday."

"Well, Muffin's our resident cook," the stallion responded. His stomach grumbled, causing him to wince. "Ever since White Bread up-and-left town last month, he's been the only food place open this early. Unfortunately," he pointed his hoof to one of the windows, "he's a bit understaffed."

Whitemane looked over to the window, seeing a 'Help Wanted! (Desperately!)' cardboard sign hanging from it. He stared at it for a few more moments before an idea popped into his head. He turned back to the stallions with a grin on his face.

"I think I have just the solution."





A middle-aged, orange earth pony stallion ran back and forth between his kitchen and the front counter, attempting to take orders and keep track of the food cooking in the back room. "Alright, so you wanted two scrambled eggs and a pancake, you wanted two blueberry muffins with a side of hash browns, and you wanted the--"

A white pegasus walked up to the counter with a piece of cardboard held underneath his wing. "Excuse me, are you Muffin?"

Muffin finished listing off the orders before quickly looking back at the pegasus. "Yea that's me," he hastily said, "but I'm kinda busy. If you're hungry please go to the back of the line."

"Actually, I'm here for a different reason." He raised the sign to show it to Muffin. "This sign says that you need some help, and I'm loo--"

"Are you good with a skillet?"

"Err, yes, and--"

"Do you know how to make muffins, pancakes, waffles, eggs, toast, and orange juice?"

"Yes, yup, yea, I do, of course, and.. wait, wha--"

"Good, you're hired! Welcome to the force! Now," Muffin shoved half of the order tickets into his Whitemane's face, "get cookin'!"

Whitemane saluted. "Aye, aye, sir!"

"And none of that sailor talk! I already hear enough of it as is!"





"Alright, honey, I'll see you back here at noon for lunch, just like always."

"Of course, dear." Blue responded, giving her a quick kiss on her cheek. "I'll be waiting for my princess."

Cherry giggled at him. "Oh, a princess now, am I? Well then, when I return I shall be expecting my knight in shining armor." She returned his kiss, before turning off and waving back at him. "Until then!"

Blue laughed to himself, waving back at her retreating form. "Until then."

He made his way down the now-busy marketplace, packed with newcomers and townsponies alike. It wasn't an uncommon sight to see so many ponies in a port-town like this one, but the past couple of weeks had been busier than normal. Ever since the Royal Wedding and the Battle of Canterlot, workers had been travelling to nearby trade towns to gather supplies for the city's repair. 

Blue had heard that the city had suffered signifcant damage, moreso to the roads and civilians' homes rather than the castle and its grounds. He heard that most of the damage was caused by the changelings dive-bombing the city, not to mention their fights with the Royal Guard. He wasn't surprised that the princesses had called for any help they could get from across the land.

He spotted the normal line leading out of Muffin's shop, but all the ponies in the line seemed... happier? Strange. They're usually annoyed at the wait. He noticed that the line was moving far quicker than it normally did.

"Hey, Blue, you gotta see this!" A stallion in the line called.

"Why, what's going on?"

"Muffin's got a new guy with 'em, some pegasus fella! They're spittin' out food faster'n ever!"

Blue's eyebrows raised before looking into the shop's window, spying Whitemane rushing back and forth through the kitchen. Well I'll be, kid.
> Ch. 04 - New Job
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cherry Blossom merrily skipped down the road, content with the sales that she had this morning. She'd sold nearly half of her store's stock so far, much to the chagrin of Bonsai down the road. It usually wasn't easy to sell plants around these parts, but with the winter season finally leaving the last bits of Equestria, ponies were looking towards replanting their gardens and fields. In fact, one particularly large, red stallion came into her store today to buy up her entire stock of apple trees. She'd asked him to clarify and he repeated himself, telling her that his family back in Ponyville was looking to grow another field of trees. To say that she was excited would have been an understatement.

She couldn't wait to meet with Blue for lunch today. He would be sitting there waiting for her, like always, and she would run up and hug him before telling him the great news.

That was why when she approached their normal meet-up spot, she was surprised to see that Blue was nowhere to be found.

Cherry hummed to herself. Well, I'm sure he'll be here soon. Something probably came up at work. She sat down, patiently waiting for her husband.

She only waited for a couple of minutes before she spied him walking around the corner of the building to her right, making his way over to her. She saw him flinch a little when he saw her there waiting for him. "I'm sorry, dear. I got distracted on the way to work and it took a little longer than usual to finish up."

"It's alright, I didn't mind," she replied, noticing his attitude. She gave him a peck on his forehead to reassure him. "Though, if you don't mind me asking, what distracted you?"

"Well, I--" he started, but an idea slowly came to him, a grin growing on his face. "Maybe it would be best to show you over lunch." He walked off, leading a confused Cherry in his wake.





Whitemane was in his element, shifting between several stoves in a blur. He stopped hearing the sounds and voices in the shop about an hour ago, only keeping his attention on the food he was preparing and the little order slips that Muffin had managed to slide past him. This was the kind of environment he had spent his life in. Well, when he wasn't off doing the Queen's duties.

"--man--"

He always thought it was a little ironic, really. Changelings could taste food, but they didn't need to eat. As such, most changelings would avoid eating entirely unless it was absolutely necessary, like for keeping up their disguise during a dinner or some other event. Whitemane, however, enjoyed their tastes. It had become somewhat of a hobby to him, comparing the tastes of foods and emotions, trying to see if he could give the tastes of emotions physical forms for non-changelings to enjoy. 

"Whi---ne.."

There was also the fact that everyone -- ponies, griffins, and even dragons -- seemed to react positively to a good meal. He was able to give them a meal and, in return, get one of his own. It was a win-win in his book. Now if only he could--

Wait, someone was calling his name. He broke out of his trance, a hot pan held in one wing and a spatula in the other. He slowly put them down on the counter before turning around and spying his new boss standing in the doorway.

"Finally, there ya are! I was worried that ya were gonna work ya'self to death!" Muffin's face looked a bit worried, but it was overridden by the large grin on his face. "Anywho, ya got some visitors."

"Visitors? Who would want-- oh, but I can't," Whitemane replied, "I have to finish these ord--"

"I can handle those, son," Muffin interrupted. "Ya deserve a bit of a break." He pointed out to the front of the shop. "'Sides, the lunch rush is dying down. I can take the last of 'em myself. Not like I haven't been doing that these past years already. Now, go on!" Muffin practically shoved him out of the kitchen, leaving him in the lobby before he returned back to the kitchen.

"But, who's visiting me..?" Whitemane started before spying two very familiar ponies, one of them waving him over. Realization dawned on him as he walked over to their table. "Hey Blue, hey Cherry. What are you both doing here?"

"We're having lunch," Blue spoke up.

"Oh." Well, that was a bit obvious. Why else would they be here? He mentally facehoofed.

"Plus," Blue continued, "I saw you working here when I passed by on my way to work."

Cherry gasped. "You got a job here? That's wonderful! This day just keeps getting better!"

Blue's eyebrow rose, questioning her. "Better? What do you mean, dear?"

"Oh," Cherry looked over to Blue, "I almost forgot to tell you. Some farmer from Ponyville came all the way out here to buy all of our apple trees! Every last one." She showed him the pile of bits from her sale.

Blue's eyes widened. "Wow..."

"Uhm, when you says trees..." Whitemane added in, making a point to extend his forehooves vertically. He tried to imagine how someone could hold multiple trees in a building, let alone sell them to someone to carry around.

"They're babies," Blue corrected, "like potted plants. You can just buy one and plant it yourself."

Cherry nodded. "I usually sell each one for about 20 bits each, 15 if they're buying in bulk. And he ended up buying my entire stock of 40." She put a hoof to her chin. "Hmm, I'll have to remember to get more."

Whitemane blinked. "Wow, that's a lot."

"Mhm! We'll have to put it to good use." She pocketed the bits before turning back to Whitemane. "But anyways, how did you get a job here so quickly? It's normally so busy in the morning that I'm surprised you managed to talk to him."

"Oh, well someone outside pointed out that he needed some help. So I just told him that I could. He was pretty quick to put me to work." He looked back over to the kitchen, seeing Muffin finish up the last few lunch orders. "Has he really been doing all this by himself?"

"Yup." Blue nodded. "He used to have a stallion named Carrot Cake helping out, but he went off and got married some years back. Last I heard, he and his wife opened up a bakery out in Ponyville." He leaned back. "With White Bread leaving town, too, he's pretty much been the only place to get some food."

Whitemane scratched his head. "There was only 2 restaurants in this entire town?"

"Well, no," Cherry pitched in, "there's a few more, but they're more for eating in. White Bread and Muffin's were the only places where ponies could grab a quick bite on the go."

"Muffin probably wouldn't have minded losing the competition," Blue added, "but he's had to keep up with the extra workload, too. He's had problems keeping up with it all. I'm glad to see he finally got some help."

Whitemane was too distracted to notice it before, but Muffin had made a complete change from this morning. When he first entered the shop, he'd noticed the chef exuding disappointment, anger, and just general bitterness. It left a bad taste in his mouth just remembering it. But now, it was like he was a fountain of happiness, spreading his infectious behavior to all of his patrons enjoying their lunch. Whitemane would be lying if he said he hadn't been enjoying some lunch of his own.

I think I'll like it here.
> Ch. 05 - Pay
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next few days passed like clockwork to the trio. Cherry continued selling her plants, Whitemane -- or Mane, as Muffin had started calling him, which had of course stuck -- cooked for the hungry townsfolk, and Blue did... whatever exactly he did.

Hmm, I'll have to remember to ask him later. Whitemane flipped a pancake before starting work on the order for eggs that just came in a moment ago. Big guy like that? Gotta be manual labor or something. Maybe construction? He flipped the finished pancake onto a plate, sliding it down the counter to Muffin before focusing on the other orders. No, he'd probably have tools, right? 'Course, they could have that stuff at his workpla--

"Mane, get your head outta th' clouds!"

He blinked, spacing out for a second, before noticing that he'd nearly burned the eggs. "Sorry boss!"

Right. Save that stuff for later.





Muffin flipped the sign on the window from 'OPEN' to 'CLOSED', turning back to see Mane cleaning off the last of the tables. He smiled, reminded of the fortune that walked into his store just a few days ago. 

In fact, the pegasus' enthusiasm brought back memories of his previous assistant chef, Carrot Cake. The lanky stallion didn't look like he could even lift a frying pan, but his talent ended up shining through. The colt had a talent with cooking, particularly with pastries and sweets. The treats had made Muffin's place pretty popular.

Of course, that all changed when a certain mare showed up one day. It was love at first sight for Carrot; something Muffin had doubted was real. It only took Carrot and Cup a month of dating before they eventually decided to get married. The two had left for Ponyville soon after, with Cup telling Carrot that she had been looking at buying a home in the laid-back town. Muffin couldn't blame the colt -- heck, he was there to see him off and wish him luck -- but he wasn't too thrilled about losing his only employee. Seeing his good friend off had made Muffin realize how lonely and hard it would be without him around.

He realized that with the increased popularity of his restaurant and lack of help that work in the coming months would be hard. It also hadn't helped that his only major competitor had left town, leaving him alone with a workload that he couldn't handle.

But then Mane had shown up, and Muffin had been reminded of his days with Carrot. Both were young, enthusiastic colts with great gifts and passion for cooking that had appeared when he needed them most. He could already tell that they would be good friends should Mane decide to stay.

"That's all of 'em, Muffin." The pegasus exclaimed, placing the rag into a pocket on his newly-earned chef's apron. He wiped his forehead before sighing, grinning at a job well done. "Are all days normally like that?"

"Yea, but I usually don't get to actually serve 'em all. Ya really saved my hide today."

Mane smiled. "Thank you, sir. I was happy to help. I hope this means I'm hired," he joked.

Muffin laughed, slapping the pegasus on the back. "Ya say that like I'm gonna send my only help outta the door! I just hope ya stick around longer than my last colt."

"Oh, I plan to. I don't think I've ever lived in a town quite as rich as this." He raised a hoof up to his chin. "Hmm, except maybe Manehattan, but that place was more about its looks than its people."

"Well, here's hoping you do stick around!" Muffin walked back to the counter before fiddling with the register. "And just to give you some incentive, here's your pay." He shoveled out nearly a third of the bits, placing them in a bag and handing them to Mane.

Mane looked surprised at the weight of the bag. "Are you sure that's right? I don't think I even got paid that much working at some of Cant--"

"Nonsense," Muffin interrupted, "that's what that is. Look, I can live off about half of what's in there, with the rest going towards you and the restaurant. Ya did a good job today and you earned it. All I need from you is to go home, relax, get some shuteye, and be here again in the morning. Can ya do that for me?"

"S-sure," Mane choked out, "I'll be here!"

"Good. I'll see ya tomorrow."





Cherry smiled as she rested her head on her husband, hearing the faint beating of his heart as the two rested in their peace and quiet of their living room. They normally would have already been in bed, but they were waiting for the return of their recent housemate.

"This week's been pretty weird, huh Blue?"

"Hmm," he hummed back.

"And don't think I didn't see you show a little more emotion than normal today," she teased. "Could it be that our guest has made an impact on you?"

"Just glad he's not a freeloader."

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing. I can look after myself, you know."

He smiled down at her. "True, but I wouldn't be a good husband if I didn't protect you anyways."

"You're impossible," she giggled.

Their ears flickered as they heard their front door squeak open followed by a few hoofsteps. They didn't have to wait long before Whitemane entered the room.

"Good evening, Mane."

"Not you, too," he groaned.

"What? It's nice!" She laughed. "Calling you Whitemane sounds too formal. 'White' doesn't exactly work seeing as we already have a 'Blue'. It fits!"

He grumbled before dropping a bag on their table and plopping himself down on the couch opposite of the two.

Cherry looked at the bag quizzically. "What's that?"

"It's my reward for today's work. Seems like Muffin felt the need to seriously overpay me."

"Well it's understandable," Blue finally spoke up. "He's glad he's got some help now."

"Sure, sure." Mane sighed. "I just hope I don't end up bankrupting him."

"Have you decided what you're gonna do with it?"

"Ehh," Mane waved a hoof at them, "you guys can have it."

Shock crossed their faces, neither knowing how to reply. "A-are you sure?"

"Why not? I've got a roof over my head 'cause of you two, and I don't wanna go rent some room all to myself. Way too lonely." He turned his head to the side, grinning at the two. "Unless you're already getting bored of me, that is."
> Ch. 06 - Moving On
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

(3 weeks later)

After that first day of work, Mane had a discussion with Muffin about reducing his pay to something more manageable. He could see that Muffin was confused as to why someone would want less money, but Mane had. Muffin eventually shrugged, listening to Mane's attempts.

After an hour, Mane had eventually talked him down to, at most, a quarter of the day's earnings. Muffin was very insistent that his pay be based on the day's work instead of a flat amount, claiming that it would be more fair during the busier days (Mane was pretty sure it was to keep him incentivized). Either way, he agreed, not bothering to tell him that the majority of the money was going to his landlords.

On days where he was a little empty on positive emotions, Mane would purchase ingredients with his own money to make a big meal for the three of them. He could always count on them to give him a good meal of his own, whether they had realized it or not. 

As he put on the finishing touches, he smiled to himself. Just four weeks ago he was a homeless, hungry changeling wandering the forests, wondering if he'd ever find ponies again. And now, for the past three and a half weeks, he was Whitemane, a happy pegasus with two generous housemates and a great job. Between them and all the happy ponies in town, he would live a great, fulfilling life. He only hoped that his brothers, sisters, and even Mother were as lucky as he had been.

That thought made him pause. While it was possible that most of his brothers and sisters would continue to follow Mother, there were others like him who had gone their own ways. He began to wonder how many of them had already integrated themselves in their own societies. In fact, he questioned if any of them would have found this town like he did. He could probably pick them out given enough time and concentration, but it would be hard to distinguish them from a crowd without the assistance of the hive mind.

That's the one thing I'll never get used to. The silence.

The hive mind was a sort-of telepathic connection between all changelings in a hive, originating from their Queen. A changeling could be hundreds of meters away and their voice would be as loud and immediate as if they were standing next to you. It was a great tool for communicating between brothers and sisters while disguised. 

You could even direct your thoughts to specific changelings so as not to distract the ones not participating in the conversation. And yet, every conversation contributed to a soft, buzzing white noise that was a combination of everything said in the hive mind.

But now, there was nothing. He always found it harder to fall asleep in absolute silence.

Luckily, he had solved that problem last week. 





(flashback, one week ago)

"It's a noise machine," she told him. "You put one of these little things in the slot and it plays you some white noise for about an hour."

"Why do you have one of these laying around in your closet?"

"Oh, well, moving from the city to here I had the same problem as you. It was hard for me to fall asleep without all the noise. But then I found this guy and I didn't need it anymore."

Blue seemed amused at that. "Hmm, so I'm just your big noise maker now, am I?"

He took the device to his room and tried it out. He found out that each one was given a name that was carved onto their backs. The first tablet, "Storm", was what he expected. The second, "Nature", was of a forest and its wildlife. They were both nice, something he could get used to, but he was hoping for something different. I wonder if I could find some more in the marketplace, he thought as he removed the second tablet and inserted the third one titled "Fan". I'm sure I could manage to find them som--

Wait, there it is! It's back! Mane gasped as he realized his connection was back! He could hear the buzzing again!

Hello? Hello? Is there anyling out there that can hear me? He projected his thoughts to anyone who could hear, but received no answer. Frustrated, he began to pace the room. Hello?! Please, can someling answer me?! This is 8F-97-79 of Hive Green, Infiltrator caste! Damn it all, why won't any--

Mane, distracted by his thoughts, tripped over the noise machine. It rolled to its side, pushing in a button that ejected the current tablet onto the floor beside it. As Mane hit the floor, he realized that the buzzing had stopped entirely. No, no! I was so close! He laid there on the floor for a minute or so, brooding. He rolled over to his back before glaring over at the tablet on the floor next to him. ...it wasn't ever really there, huh?

He grabbed the tablet in his hooves and raised it above his head, the ceiling light behind it giving it a soft glow. Still... I suppose it's the next best thing.





(present day)

At first, "Fan" was a constant reminder of something that he'd lost, that he wasn't sure if he'd ever get back. It was a reminder that he was truly alone. He was nothing but a pretender far away from the security of his hivemates, living in a town of ponies that more than likely feared his kind.

But as the days went on and he continued to listen to the tablet, those thoughts had left him. He decided to focus on the good memories, of times with his brothers and sisters. He remembered when Infiltrator 4F-79-42 would ramble while he was on duty, or the time when Scout 74-C3-65 accidentally sent her reports straight to Mother instead of her Officer. That incident always made him laugh, remembering how flustered she was while Mother tried to calm her down. While the memories left him homesick, he was happy focusing on what he had instead of what he'd lost.

Noticing that the meal was just about done, Mane turned the stove off and removed the pot full of soup. He looked back at the kitchen entrance, finding that no one was peeking on him. His forehead glowed green for a quick moment before the soup was cooled down to an eatable temperature.

He might have also added a bit of Love and Optimism to it.

Satisfied, he gently carried the pot of soup out to the dining room where three plates were set up. Blue and Cherry were already seated, looking to be in the middle of an important conversation. He waited until they seemed done before approaching the table, gently placing the heavy pot in the center.

Cherry curiously peeked over. "What did you make for us all tonight?"

"Nothing much, just a lentil soup." He ladled each of them a small serving before placing the ladle in the pot. "I haven't made a good soup in a while, so it's a nice change of pace. Plus, the last soups I made were for griffins. More meat-based." He dipped his spoon in his bowl before bringing it up to his mouth, humming in content. "I tried a bit of it once, but uh, it wasn't exactly my cup of tea."

The three ate their soup quietly, not having much to say to each other. It wasn't out of awkwardness, but rather they had nothing to speak about.

"So," Mane broke the silence, "what were you two talking about before I came in?" His eyes widened. "Err, not that I was eavesdropping! I just saw that you were talking, so I waited until you were done."

"Well," Cherry started, pausing for a moment, "we were talking about the future."

Mane's head tipped to the side in a questioning way. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that... we were wondering when you-- I mean, when we would-- ugh," she groaned, "I can't think of a good way to say it."

"What she means is that we've been talking," Blue cut in, "and we think that you should consider looking for a more permanent home."

Mane sat there wide-eyed before the realization hit him. "...oh."

"It's not that we don't enjoy you or your company! Quite the opposite, in fact!" Cherry swiftly answered, turning to Blue. He nodded back. "Our home just isn't built to house three ponies. I know you may think you'll be able to live on the coach, but surely you must want a bed of your own. Not to mention, you'd have your own bedroom, a kitchen, a living room..." She struggled to think of anything else.

"It'd also be nice not having to worry about another pony in the house when w--"

Cherry blushed and swiftly put her hoof over her husband's mouth before he could continue. Mane had realized what he meant, though. On some nights, he could feel Passion overtake them before it swiftly disappeared, replaced by Embarrassment and Loneliness. He cringed, realizing that he had been keeping the couple from expressing the deepest form of their love for each other.

"...I understand." Mane finally spoke up. "I guess I was so distracted that I didn't realize I was intruding. And I guess it would be nice to have a home to call my own."

"That's the spirit!" Cherry replied. "And it's not like you can't visit us. I'd be lying if I said I haven't become addicted to your cooking." She punctuated her remark by going for seconds.

"I suppose that's true. I'll probably need to start saving up and looking around."

"Don't worry about that," Blue piped in, "we've handled a lot of the busy work already." He rose from the table, retreating to their bedroom.

Mane rose an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Well," Cherry filled in, "we spent the last few days looking around town for available homes that fit into your budget--"

"My budget?"

Blue returned with a large bag and a few sheets of paper. He dropped the clinking bag on the table, causing it to wobble a bit. He then hoofed the paper over to Mane. He realized that one sheet was a map of the town covered in circles and X's while the other was a list of names and numbers.

"We saved the bits you gave us over the past weeks. Even though you gave them to us, we only used what we absolutely needed. We saved up the rest for you if you ever needed them again."

Mane laughed, eyeing the papers in his hooves. "Sounds like you two have been planning to get rid of me for a while."

"Oh, don't be like that!" Cherry laughed, realizing he was joking. She was happy that he wasn't as sad about this as she thought he would be. "Besides, we found some really good homes! And a lot of them are pretty close to us, so it'd be like you never left."

"That sounds nice, I suppose." With my own home, I'd probably get to spend some time in my natural form, too. Hmm... I don't think I've ever actually swapped since I arrived. "If you don't mind, I'm gonna go lie down and look through these papers."

"Don't feel too rushed. When the weekend hits in a few days, we can help you look around."

Mane rounded the corner into the living room before plopping himself backwards on the couch. While he still wasn't sure about this, he had to admit that he felt giddy about actually owning his own home. Back at the hive, all he had ever really owned was his pod, which never really had room for much of anything. He could have his own bed, a bedroom, and a custom-made kitchen! Well, he'd probably have to wait a little longer to do any serious home improvement, but still!

As the moon took the sun's place in the sky, the changeling felt more and more excited about the upcoming weekend.




> Ch. 07 - The Search
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The weekend couldn't have come faster for Mane. As the days passed since his talk with Cherry and Blue, he grew more and more excited about the prospect of actually owning a home. Owning property was very rare for changelings, mostly reserved to long-term infiltrators that spent several months or years in a town or city. He remembered visiting Infiltrator E01-15F's home once and he could tell how much he valued it. He was excited to give a tour of each room, giving Mane a look into the personal life that he had gained with his time spent among ponies.

He wanted something like that. Something of his that he could expand upon, to call his own. 

Something to treasure and share.





The three walked out of the final home before Mane crossed it off the list. Nearly three-quarters of the houses had lines drawn through them while the remaining ones all had question marks next to them. Those ones seemed alright, but they weren't... perfect, as much as he hated to admit it. There was always some little flaw about them that bugged him -- no pun intended.

Mane groaned. "Am I just being too picky?"

"Maybe, but it's understandable," Blue spoke up. "If you're gonna live somewhere, you want to enjoy being there."

"Sure, sure..." He looked back down at his list of options, considering how many more he had to go through. "It just seems like every home is made for families. Is it really that uncommon to live on your own here?"

"Not entirely", Blue replied, "but we're mainly an earth pony town."

Mane was a little confused. "...meaning?"

"Earth ponies highly value their relationships with others, mainly family and friends, meaning we don't tend to live on our own." He tilted his head to the side, prompting Mane to look at the homes they passed by. "Because of that, most homes here are built for families or groups of ponies."

"Where did you find yours then?" Mane questioned. "All of these have at least 3 bedrooms, yet yours just has one big one."

"We built it," Cherry answered for him. "Well, mostly him and his coworkers, but I helped with the design and carried supplies around."

Right, he works in construction and maintenance... Mane looked over the map, humming to himself while deep in thought.

"What is it?" Cherry asked.

"I think we should pay the mayor a visit."





A somewhat-middle-aged unicorn sat at his desk, looking over the reports that he had to fill out today. It had been particularly slow so far, evidenced by the small stack of incomplete papers to his side, but that was to be expected of the weekend. Most ponies had taken to closing their businesses early to give everypony more time with their friends and family. Initially it confused him, but living here for so long had gotten him used to the rituals of the townponies. It made things a little awkward for visitors, but there were still a number of shops open to them most of the day.

He smiled to himself as he thought of returning home to his family after an easy workday. All that stood in his way was a couple hours of paperwo--

His door squeaked before his assistant poked her head through the door. "Sir, there's a pegasus here with Blue Moon and Cherry Blossom asking for you." She rubbed her hooves together nervously. "I know you don't normally take walk-ins, but I figured since it was the weekend and you weren't busy..." She trailed off.

"Hmm..." He hadn't talked to either of those two in a while, and he did need to get around to talking to Blue about something... "Alright, let them in, but let's not make a habit of this."

His assistant nodded at him before retreating back to her desk. The mayor sat back and sighed. He had been good friends with those two when he first came to this town. He couldn't even remember when and where they met, just that they were always there. He smiled as he reminisced on Cherry slowly breaking the blue stallion out of his shell. Unsurprisingly, when he was still just the mayor's assistant, they had gotten married. It was around that time that he slowly drifted from them, their new marriage and his responsibilities as mayor distracting them. In fact, the last time he even spoke with them was when they were looking to buy a plot of land to build their new home on.

Maybe this could be a good time to reconnect...

His door squeaked open again with two very familiar ponies following a blue pegasus in. "Good afternoon Mister Moon and Missus Blossom. It's been a while."

Blue smirked at him as he approached the desk. "Why the formalities, Quill? Has being mayor made you too good for us?"

"It's only part of the job, Blue." He grinned back before extending his hoof. Blue took it in his own and gave it a shake. "It's good to see you again, old friend."

"Old, huh? What does that make you then, grandpa?"

Quill laughed. "Not yet, not yet. Give it another ten or fifteen years." He sighed contentedly, leaning back in his seat. "I've missed talking with you Blue. We'll definitely need to do this more some time." Quill looks over to Cherry, smiling at her. "Of course, that includes you too, Cherry. Why, I don't think you've aged a bit since I last saw you."

"Oh, shush." She blushed. "You'd better not let your wife hear you say things like that. How is she, by the way?"

"She's fine. We just had our second foal a few months back, so she's taking care of him. Which reminds me," Quill looked back to Blue with a smirk of his own, "when do you two plan on having foals of your own?"

For the first time in his Mane's weeks here, Blue stood stunned with a small blush on his face.

"Oh, don't tease him, Quill. You know how he is about that stuff." Cherry piped in for her husband. "We've been thinking about adoption, but it's still just an idea. If we do that though, you'll likely to be the first one to hear about it."

"That's true." Quill finally spied the third pony in the room, the blue pegasus who had walked in with Blue and Cherry. He couldn't say that he knew him, but he had heard talk around town that Muffin had found a pegasus employee from out of town. "I don't believe we've been properly introduced. I'm Mayor Crow Quill. Might I ask who you are?"

Mane, realizing that the group had finished catching up with each other, perked up. "I'm Whitemane. I'm still fairly new to this town, so I've been living under Blue Moon and Cherry Blossom's roof for the past month. I'm also an assistant chef at Muffin's bakery." He walked up to Quill's desk as Blue moved to the side, presenting the papers of homes to him. "We recently decided that I need a home of my own, so we've been searching for one."

"Well, I would've liked to have met our town's newest resident a bit sooner," he looked over to Cherry and Blue, both seeming to look a bit guilty, "but I suppose I can overlook this." His horn glowed before picking up the papers that Mane had given him, noting all of the homes that they had gone to. "In that case, you'll have to sign a few papers that confirm your residency here. Have you decided which of these homes you'll purchase?"

"None of them."

Quill raised an eyebrow before looking back to over to Mane questioningly. "You've left me confused. Did you not say that you're looking for a home?"

"I have, but none of the ones available are to my liking. That's why I'd like to ask about purchasing something else instead."

Quill could see that the pegasus was playing some kind of game with him. By the look on Blue's face, he had likely put him up to it to test his patience. He sighed, remembering the stallion had a penchant for bugging him (which he usually returned in full). "Mr. Mane, I'll have to ask you to be a bit more specific as to what you're requesting."

Mane gave a big, confident smile. "I want to buy some land."
> Ch. 08 - Building
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Wow..."

Being a port town, it was no surprise that Windshore's southern border consisted entirely of water. The town stretched across the coast, but it mainly attempted to extend further inland. The only real difficulty with that was the large forest to the east. Much like its Everfree brother, it was largely untamed, though it lacked the more 'unique' creatures. Still, most ponies tended to leave the forest to its own devices instead of trying to decrease its size, fearing that some of its denizens may try to exact revenge on the town for destroying their homes.

That, of course, meant that the only directions for expansions were the open fields to the north and west.

And Celestia were they beautiful.

Mane had never really explored the edges of the town, instead tending to stick to the inner parts where his job and old home were. He found himself regretting that he never had a reason to be out here before.

"It's nice, huh?" Blue asked.

"Better than nice." Mane chimed in, still recovering from the sight of the expansive grassy flatlands. "This is exactly what I wanted." He looked over to the mayor standing off to the side. "Remind me how this works again?"

"Normally, we would have all of this land divided up into plots to sell. But as you can see," he swept a hoof in the direction of the fields, "there's no immediate need to do such a thing. Windshore will naturally expand into these fields eventually, but our current rate of growth dictates that it won't be for a long, long time." He turned back to Mane. "As such, you'll be allowed to suggest your own boundaries. The price of the land will be determined by the amount of square hooves it encompasses."

Mane looked helplessly over to Blue who walked over to the two. "The initial house design is looking to come out at around 750 square hooves." Blue told the mayor who nodded. "Since it's likely he's going to want an outside area, not to mention an area to expand upon, we'll have to make the boundaries a bit further from the house. My thoughts were that we should pick here, here, here, and here for the corners..."





With the sun on the horizon and the moon slowly rising to take its place, Mane, Blue, and Cherry sat in their dining room enjoying a freshly-made dinner. Mane, feeling ecstatic about the day's activities, decided to go all out to show his appreciation.  The feast laid out before them consisted of all different kinds of meals that Mane had come to learn over the years. The vast amount of food would likely serve as leftovers for the next week.

"Mmm," Cherry moaned, "you've really outdone yourself this time."

Blue nodded before swallowing. "Was it really wise to spend so much on all this, though?" He peered around the table at all of the food in front of them. "Not that we don't appreciate it, but this is honestly too much. You should really be saving the rest of your money for furniture."

"I've already picked out a bed. I think the rest of it can wait a bit longer." Mane bent over the table to move more food onto his plate. "Besides, I wanted to do this. You've both done so much for me, and pretty soon I'll be moving out. With me trying to furnish the place and nearly living across town, I don't know the next time I'll be able to visit you two for dinner." Mane paused, looking down at his plate in contemplation.

Blue paused eating and looked over to his wife, remembering something from earlier that day. "Quill was saying earlier how much he hated how we drifted apart. Maybe we could do a weekly get-together on the weekends."

Cherry gasped. "That would be great! Though, I'm not sure how he'd feel about spending even more time away from his family." She raised a hoof to her chin. "Maybe they could come, too. I can't remember the last time I talked with Sunny. Oooh, I wonder how cute their foals are..."

Mane perked up. "That sounds nice." Truthfully, while he had met many of the townsponies from his job, his only real friends were Blue, Cherry, and Muffin. Quill had seemed like a nice enough stallion and it couldn't hurt to be on the good side of somepony with his authority. 

"Well, I'll be sure to swing by his office sometime this week and tell him. I'm sure he wouldn't mind." Blue leaned back and rubbed his stomach. "I think that's enough for me." Cherry mirrored his actions.

Mane rose from his seat. "I'll be sure to get everything cleaned up and stored for later--"

"Ah ah," Cherry interrupted, "I'm helping."

"You don't have to--"

"Nope," she persisted, "you've done enough tonight. We'll help with the clean up, right honey?" She turned back to her resting husband.

His face twitched for a moment, likely for being 'voluntold' into work. He nodded before getting up from his seat. "I've got the dishes."

"That's my husband." She gave him a quick nuzzle as he passed her, giving him a small smile on his face.
> Ch. 09 - Foundations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The building of Mane's house went surprisingly faster than he thought it would, though he largely contributed that to the attitude of the construction crew working on it.

Although, wings and magic definitely helped speed it up.

Obviously, Blue had been part of the crew working on the build. Mane knew that he could trust his friend to do a great job and it definitely showed in his work. He and his crew were very experienced and shared a camaraderie that rivaled the one he had with his fellow changelings. Mane was also a fair bit surprised at the amount of familiar faces there were in the crew. They were all fairly regular customers at Muffin's, who seemed to be on a first name basis with nearly everypony who came through his doors.

Cherry and Mane tried to help when they could -- usually flying around supplies for the crew -- but their jobs didn't permit them a lot of time. Mane, however, managed to cut a deal with Muffin. He would make them their lunches, fly them out there, and return with their payment. Muffin agreed so long as Mane was back by the time the lunch rush hit. Mane used his time to learn more about Blue's co-workers. Not counting Blue, the group consisted of four stallions and a mare. 

Three of the stallions -- Phillip, Allen, and Torx -- were nearly identical triplets. All three were fairly young earth ponies that sported silver-gray fur and darker-gray manes with the only noticeable differences being their cutie marks and attitudes. Phillip was their vocal leader, Allen was the comedian and prankster, and Torx was the quiet one.

Jackhammer, the last stallion, was an orange unicorn around Blue's age and a mark to fit his namesake. He was a stallion of simple pleasures, husband to 'the best stallion this side of Equestria' and father of an orphaned colt and filly. He emitted a very fatherly and calm vibe.

Rebar, the mare, was a young brown-furred pegasus and a newcomer to the town, though not as new as Mane. He'd made an off-hoof comment about how she didn't seem to look much like a worker before embarrassingly attempting to backpedal. Luckily she laughed it off, telling Mane that while she did help when she could, her main part of the group was keeping everything and everypony in-line. She compared her role to one of a train conductor or a director. 

"Somepony has to make sure Allen and Blue are actually doing their job."

"I heard that," grumbled Blue while Allen snickered.

"What do you mean by that?" Mane inquired.

"Not many ponies know about Blue's affinity for pranks." Rebar added. "Allen's managed to involve him in a few 'prank wars' as he likes to put it. They're usually small things; fake spiders, superglue, and," her face twisted in disgust, "that one time with fake 'dog doo'. Yegh."

"Hey," Allen tossed in, "sometimes you gotta test your boundaries, y'know?"

"Whatever. Anyways, you gotta keep an eye on him sometimes."

Mane looked over to Blue who was silently looking down at his sandwich as he chewed. He knew Blue had a 'fun side' since that little thing he did at the Mayor's but he was happy to see this other side of the stallion.

"Well, it was nice talking to you all again but I've gotta get back to Muffin's. Lunch rush is soon and I wanna be able to actually make it in the doors. I'll see all of you tomorrow."

"See ya, Mane. Oh, and expect us to be done in about..." Rebar looked down at her schematics, "two, maybe three days."

"Awesome! Thanks everyone!" They all waved their goodbyes before finishing up their lunches and getting back to work.

Mane could have flown to Muffin's in a few minutes, but he wanted to walk and take in the atmosphere. He let random thoughts fill his head as the townsponies walked and talked. 

His home would be done soon. Heh, my home. That still sounds so weird. He'd already made up his mind on all of the interior decorating that was going to happen when it was finished. He remembered the basement he'd managed to convince them to add in telling them that it was for 'storage'. Mane wasn't completely lying about its purpose, but he'd definitely had other plans for it.

Things may have been uphill for him so far, but he was going to make sure he was prepared for the worst. Beneath it all -- his friendships, his new life, his job -- he was still a changeling. A fugitive. He'd need someplace to hide when ponies got suspicious. He hadn't heard a lot of news coming out of Canterlot, but he'd heard the rumours from the ponies coming through town. 

He'd heard just about everything. Stories about the Royal Guard arresting ponies just based on 'anonymous tips'. A claim that Princess Celestia made a decree to banish every changeling to Tartarus. Or even that her pupil, Twilight Sparkle, was personally hunting down the offenders who would dare to brainwash her brother. Mane knew better than to believe it all, but he'd be lying if he said it didn't make him shiver in his chitin. He was positive that the other Queens were attempting peace talks with the Princesses, likely telling her that the attackers were 'just a bunch of rebel 'lings'. As much as he hated thinking of the punishment his hive would get, it was better than ruining the lives of all the other hives.

He sighed. As much as his Mother had messed up, he hoped that she was alright. She may have been misguided, arrogant, and a bit foolish, but she was still their Mother and they were still her children. Surely she had seen the error of her ways, even if it was too little too late.

Mane shook his head, dispelling the depressing thoughts. The past is the past. There's nothing I can do but hope for the future. He remembered the new friends he made and the home that was almost finished. He smiled as he walked up to Muffin's shop, eyeing the beginning of a long line of customers.

And I'll make my future a good one.
> Ch. 10 - Visitors
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The housewarming party an unexpected, but not unpleasant surprise.

Blue and his crew decided to throw a small celebration party as part of a job well done and welcoming Mane to his new home. There had been familiar faces -- Cherry (obviously), the Mayor and his family, and Muffin -- but also some less-familiar ones as well. They were mostly ponies that Mane had seen once or twice at the shop but didn't really knows the names of. He'd spent most of the party mingling with them to try and get to know them better, seeing as he was now a permanent resident.

The mare he was talking to now was called Jonagold. She was apparently part of a large family of apple farmers that was spread throughout Equestria and spanned many, many generations.

"So where do you do your farming? I didn't notice any farms around here." Mane asked her.

She laughed. "Oh no no, I'm not a farmer like most of the others in my family." She nudged her head towards her back while turning slightly, showing off her abacus cutie mark. "My talent's in mathematics. I was the one responsible for looking after our farm's fees, expenses, sales, and pretty much anything else involving money."

"Oh, so what do you do now?"

"Well I'm an accountant, mostly for the merchants. I also do some work for my family..."

He politely listened to Jonagold as she talked about her job and what it entailed. While there were some thing he didn't entirely understand, he wanted to stay respectful and let her finish instead of interrupting to ask questions.

At some point in their conversation, he spied a pony in his peripherals. This wasn't entirely odd, especially seeing as they were at a party with other ponies, but this one seemed... peculiar. Mane didn't seem to recognize the pony, but they still seemed familiar. Maybe he'd seen them around town, or maybe somewhere else when he was taking a different form. It bothered him.

He was so distracted that he didn't realize that he had practically been tuning out Jonagold.

"It can get pretty difficult sometimes, y'know. Sometimes they'll end up with missing funds and I'll have to look over everything again to find out that they forgot some payment or bill. Honestly, I don't know how ponies can be so forgetful over something that important."

Mane nodded before speaking up. "That definitely sounds like a lot of work. I don't know if I could handle something like that." He peeked over to the pony -- now noticing that it was a unicorn-- and saw  that they were still sitting there, though they were giving him an odd look. "If you'll excuse me, I believe that somepony needs to speak to me. It was a pleasure speaking to you, Miss Jonagold."

She gave a small blush. "I suppose I did most of the talking, but thank you for listening. I hope I'll see you around some other time." She gave a small nod before walking off somewhere else.

Mane and the mystery pony had a silent stare-off before he decided to approach them. He noticed that they had a silver coat and mane, along with a cutie mark of that had a duo of masks, one smiling and one frowning. He'd recognized those as symbols for drama and theatre.

"Hello, I'm Whitemane." He greeted the mystery pony. "And who might you be?"

They gave a quick look around before turning back to Mane. "I am Center Stage, but you may be more familiar with AD-D8-E6." He noticed that Mane's eyes grew wider at that. "Do you have someplace more private where we can talk?"

"Y-yes, of course," Mane stuttered. "My bedroom should be soundproofed. No one will disturb or hear us in there."

"Good. Take us there." Center replied. 

The two made their way to Mane's house, though at a slow pace. He could barely hide how nervous he was or what Center's presence here meant. Don't tell me we're being hunted.

Luckily, he was able to distract himself from such thoughts by way of a blue stallion relaxing near his front door. 

"Hey, Blue. Nice party, huh?" 

"Seems like it." Blue took a look at the new pony that was standing by Mane. "And who are you? I can't say I've ever seen you around before."

"My name is Center Stage," he responded, "and no, I'm not from around here. I'm an old... friend of Whitemane's. I recently found out he moved here, so I wanted to catch up with him in private."

Blue took a long look at Center, not quite believing what he heard. His eyes showed his distrust for the newcomer. He stared back at Blue in a challenging way.

Mane watched nervously, deciding to interrupt them before anything got out of hoof. "It's alright, Blue. We'll just be inside talking about some things." Blue was still hesitant, but he trusted that Mane knew what he was doing. With his shoulders slacking, he finally backed off. Mane gave a small smile at his friend. "I don't want anypony barging in on us. If you need something, just knock."

Blue gave him a quizzical looking before slowly nodding. "I'll make sure no one disturbs you two."

"Thanks. We shouldn't be long." Mane opened his front door, allowing Center to enter before following in after him.

The inside of the building was split into 3 rooms that were all sparsely decorated. The entrance, which hung off towards the right half of the building, lead straight into the living room which currently had a solitary couch and a table. To the left of it, nearly one-third of the living space was given to a combined kitchen and dining room. The kitchen was separated from the living room by a counter and the floors had transitioned from carpet to tile. The last room, Mane's bedroom, was tucked away in the back-right corner with a small hallway separating it from the adjacent dining room.

"It's very... spartan." Center remarked.

"Thanks. I tried to keep things simple." He moved towards the back of the home before opening his bedroom door. "In here."

The two ponies entered the bedroom housing a single bed against the wall opposite the door and a closet on the inner wall. Center closed the door before flaring his horn for a moment. "I've applied basic soundproofing to ensure we're not overheard. Now," his eyes flickered blue, "I'd like to ask you some questions about Chrysalis and the rest of Hive Green."
> Ch. 11 - Questions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"W-what would you like to know?" Mane stuttered. This had been the first time in a while that he'd come into contact with a changeling from another hive, as evidenced by the blue glow of his horn. The last time had been the week he spent in Appleoosa before finding out that it was under Hive Red's control. Luckily, they had let him off with a warning and given him time to prepare and leave.

The unicorn squinted at him for a few moments in silence. "What was Chrysalis' plan with Canterlot?"

Mane gulped. "Our hive's strength was dwindling. It's difficult to harvest love without spending ti--"

"I don't care about what your blasted hive did!" Stage growled. "I want to know why she and your hive thought it would be a good idea to expose our kind to the world as villains!" He sat down and rubbed his head with his forehoof. "Do you have any idea how hard you all made it for the rest of us? Nearly all of our short-term harvesters have had to abandon their posts in fear of being caught."

Mane suspected that the other hives were suffering, but not of this magnitude. "Mother, she...," he gulped, "she noticed how bad off we were. We would always hear her complaining about how the other hives were so well off, about how they didn't care that she and her children were suffering. I'll be the first to admit that she doesn't think before she acts, but she was trying to help us."

"How?! How is invading the bucking pony capital 'helping you'?!"

"Princess Cadence. After all, she's the princess of love, isn't she?" Mane sighed. "Her plan was just to keep Cadence locked away in the Crystal Caves while she fed off of her innate power. During that time, she would replace her to make sure that nopony suspected a thing. But it's as they say: no plan survives contact with the enemy."

"Meaning the wedding?" Stage suggested.

"Yes. When she initially starting feeding off of Cadence, she lost some control. One of the maids overheard her discussing the back-up plan with some of us and alerted the princesses. Luckily, she didn't know who was talking, so they were only told that there was to be an attack on the city. That's where the barrier came in."

Stage sighed deeply and rubbed his hooves against his temples. "So, your amazing plan was working fine until Chrysalis bucked it up?"

Mane scratched his hooves together. "Not... exactly. Cadence's husband, Captain Shining Armor, began to notice that his wife was acting differently. Mother had no time to study Cadence and her mannerisms. At first, Shining thought it was wedding jitters. She was afraid that he was about to find her out, so she..."

Stage signalled with his hoof to continue. "She..?"

Mane shivered. "She... performed a mind alteration spell to wipe away his suspicions."

"SHE DID WHAT?!" Stage roared. "Doesn't she know that she risked making him braindead?! If his blood was on your hooves, we'd all be dead!"

"And we told her that!" Mane yelled back. "We told her to call the whole thing off, that she was going too far! But she just answered us back by feeding us even more and more of Cadence's love. There was so much of it..."

"Wait--"

"We didn't notice until it was too late. We knew Cadence's reserve was large, but we didn't know how large. With how long Mother had spent draining her, it seemed like it was always renewing itself. An infinite source of love..."

"She became drunk on it. And then she spread it to all of you."

Mane nodded. "I don't remember much of what happened during the wedding, just the few days before it. Most of us were so filled with the stuff that we just wanted more and more of it. It didn't help that Mother was under the same spell as all of us. She just kept giving and giving and giving--"

"I understand." Stage interrupted. The two sat in silence, Mane staring at the floor and Stage looking the disguised changeling over. He looked deep in thought and seemed to be recalling their conversation. "Do you know why I'm here? How I found you?"

Mane looked up in surprise. "Well... I can guess that you're a scout of Hive Blue. Maybe an information gatherer?" Stage nodded before Mane continued. "And unless you found me by pure dumb luck, Mother would've had to have told someling."

Stage nodded again. "As part of her exile, Chrysalis was required to share her links with the other Queens so that they could keep an eye on the rest of your hive."

"Wait, if that's the case, how come I can't hear a hivemind? If I'm connected to one of the Queens, shouldn't I be able to at least hear something?"

"A link given to a Queen is more easily controlled than one that's born to her. Chrysalis' imprint is still present on all of you, so the Queens can easily distinguish yours from the rest of her hive. It seems that the Queen who is holding your link custody doesn't want you mingling with her children."

Mane cringed. "That's... understandable."

They sat in another bout of silence before a knock on Mane's front door interrupted them.

Stage stood up and faced the bedroom door. "It appears that my spell has fallen and our time is up. I must be getting back."

"Wait." Mane lifted a hoof to stop him. "What's... what's going on out there? With Princess Celestia I mean. All I've heard is rumours of witch hunts."

"She's very obviously pissed off at what happened. Not only was her niece attacked, but her city was invaded and she was overpowered in front of her subjects. Nopony really knows what she's up to." The two made their way to the front door before pausing at it, Stage passively staring at Mane. "If we're lucky, Celestia will be willing to listen. The changelings wouldn't survive a war with Equestria and her allies." At that point, Stage opened the door to see Blue standing there.

"Was wonderin' when you two would come out. The party's just 'bout windin' down."

"We were just reminiscing about the old days." Stage replied before leaving the house. "If you both will excuse me, I have to be off. I'm expected back home in a few days. Oh, and Mane?" Stage turned his head back.

"Yes, Stage?"

"Don't worry about your family. I'm sure they'll be fine." With that, Stage trotted off.
> Ch. 12 - Suspicions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mane's meeting with the new changeling a week ago kept him on edge. He couldn't go anywhere without feeling like his every move was being watched, his every word being overheard and written down. Whatever Queen held his link had already shown that she didn't trust him, so who's not to say she hadn't been keeping her eye on him this entire time? 

I could be sold out at any moment... and then what? All of this would be for nothing. My first honest-- well, mostly honest living completely swept away in the blink of an eye. But... I guess that's all our hive deserves...

Mane shook his head. No! None of that! Stage said we'd be fine, right? I just have to put my faith in him and believe that everything will turn out alright. There's no point fearing what'll happen or trying to run away from it. I just have to keep going on and trust that the other queens know what they're doing. "'Sides, I'm sure Celestia will liste--"

Mane's musing was broken by him nearly running over somepony else in the street, their metallic coating absorbing most of the impact and knocking Mane back on his flank. "Ow! S-sorry about that." Wait, metal..?

A white hoof clad in gilded hoofguards reached down to him. Mane gratefully took it and rose himself back up onto all fours. It was then that he looked over the other pony, though he wished he hadn't.

There stood a white-furred stallion in golden armor, one large piece covering his barrel and around to his chest, leading to a blue star on the front of his chest. His straightened mouth and bland, cyan eyes betrayed no emotion. "You are alright, citizen."

Mane coughed and stood a bit straighter. "U-um, may I ask what one of the Royal Guard is doing here? N-not that there's anything wrong with that!" He stammered. "It's just, we don't normally see guards out this far."

The guard's face never shifted. "I am here on order of the Princesses, though I am not at liberty to say what and why." He looked around at the buildings and Mane swore he saw his eyebrow twitch. "Would you mind pointing me to the town hall?"

"Oh, uh, sure!" He squeaked out before coughing. "If you go down this path and take the third right, you'll hit town square. It'll have a community board out front. You can't miss it."

The guard nodded and walked off. Meanwhile, Mane watched the figure disappear into the town. When he was sure the glinting guard was gone, he turned tail and galloped off in the other direction.





"What do you mean he hasn't shown up for work?"

"Exactly that!" Muffin growled, trying to work the kitchen himself. "He left for lunch a few days ago and never came back!" He put a little more force than was necessary into stirring the bowl he was currently carrying. "At first I thought 'eh, he's probably sick! The colt needed a break anyways', but then he didn't come in the next day!" He looked at the tortured bowl before grunting and continuing. "So you know what I did after that? I calmly walked over to his house, knocked on his door, and you know what happened?"

"What?" Blue hesitantly asked.

"Nothing, that's what!" Muffin yelled. "The last anypony saw of that colt, he ran into some guard and sprinted off home!"

"Isn't that a bit worrying?" Cherry piped in. "Maybe something bad happened?"

Muffin seemed to physically relax, sighing before putting the bowl aside. "Look, I would love to sit here worrying about the colt, but I've got a business to run." He opened a cupboard before taking out a pot and distributing it beneath his sink. "If you're gonna try looking for him, try his house again. Maybe he'll answer you two."

The couple nodded, turning to walk off. "And, for what it's worth," Muffin interrupted, "tell the colt I hope he's fine and that he won't abandon this old stallion."





"Mane? Maaane? Are you there?" Cherry kept knocking on his door with frustration showing clearly on her face. "Celestia damn it, why won't he answer?"

Meanwhile, her husband was digging a small hole a few feet from the door. His neutral, yet determined face showed that he was looking for something. It only took a few seconds before his hoof hit something with a small clink. He grabbed the object out of the ground before turning back to his wife.

Exasperated, Cherry sat back on her flank. "I just don't get it!" She scrunched her face in thought before noticing Blue returning with something in his hoof. "Honey, what is that?"

He said nothing before slipping the object into the door's lock, twisting it until they both heard a click. "I made myself a back-up."

Normally Cherry would've been furious at her husband for doing such a thing behind Mane's back, but she knew that she could wait until later. Right now, she had to figure out what was going on.

The two entered Mane's eerily quiet home. Nothing had looked out of place; in fact, nothing had changed about it. Even the dirty dishes from the party were still in the sink. Cherry cringed at the thought of the grimy leftovers that had sitting there for over half-a-week. "Gross..."

While Cherry was looking at other parts of the home, Blue noticed the slightly ajar bedroom door. He approached it before slowly opening it. When he peeked inside, the only thing he saw sas Mane's empty bed.

Cherry walked next to him before looking in herself. "I guess he really isn't here, huh?"

"Doesn't seem like it."

The two stood there in his bedroom wondering where the pegasus would've disappeared to. It's not like him to just up and leave, Cherry thought. Where could he be?

scritch

Cherry's ear perked up as she heard the sound. She looked over to her husband whose ears also seemed to have straightened upwards. A look of realization crossed his face before he approached the closet. "What? What is it?"

"There's one place we haven't checked yet." Blue opened the closet, revealing an empty compartment. But the noticeable quality of this small space was the floor.

"Is... is that a door?"

Blue nodded, fiddling near one of the closet's edges. "At the last minute, he asked us to make him a hidden room that he could use for storage. We figured he was too nervous to just say he wanted a panic room, but we did it anyways." Finally, he heard the clicking of a latch and slid half of the closet floor to the other side.

Beneath that was a steep staircase leading just below the house. As Blue started to climb down, the scritching noise seemed to be moving around. "Mane, if you're down here, just say something."

"Yea!" Cherry exclaimed while she slowly made her way down. "You got us all worried sick! Even Muffin's wondering where you went off to."

The noise stopped, but no voice answered them. Blue sighed before reaching his hoof up into the darkness. "Fine, if you're gonna be that way..."

"No, wait--"

Blue's hoof found what it was looking for, curling around a cord before pulling it down. A light flashed across the whole room, revealing itself to be slightly larger than the room above it. The concrete floor and walls left it very bland and empty.

But what drew their eyes was the huddled being in the furthest corner. Its pupil-less blue eyes stared back at theirs, its holed hooves curled up to its chest.

"I, uh..." the changeling responded in Mane's voice, "I can explain."
> Ch. 13 - Answers Pt. 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was quiet. Deathly quiet. A little dark, too, but that was tolerable.

The window blinds had all been drawn to keep any wandering eyes out as Mane stayed in his natural form. Currently, he was at the stove preparing them all some tea. 'It helps me relax', he told them. While he did that, Cherry and Blue sat at the opposite side of the dining room table, silently waiting for their host to finish. He looked a bit silly, Cherry had to admit, as he stood there in changeling form with his work apron. It was surreal.

When the tea was finished, his horn glowed green before three cups were levitated over to him. That was another thing. He had a horn and could use magic. She wondered why he opted for a pegasus disguise over a unicorn and figured she would ask him later. They needed to get some things out of the way before-hoof.

With their cups filled, Mane walked towards the table and placed the cups in front of each of their chairs. He sat down and took a sip of his own before drawing in a breath, holding it, and then releasing it. He looked over to the two. "So, I know you both have a lot of questions. I'll try my best to answer them in whatever way I can."

Blue spoke up first. "Were you involved in the Battle of Canterlot?"

Mane sighed, knowing he was going to address the elephant in the room. "Yes, I was."

"Why?"

"Our hive was starving." At their somewhat-confused looks, he continued. "Every hive can process and digest emotions, but they each have a main emotion that they draw from for nutrition and hunger. A very long time ago, these main emotions were chosen by each hive's queens so that all the hives could co-exist. Over time, it got to be that we could only draw energy from those specific emotions."

"And what is yours?" Cherry piped in.

"Ours is love. We can feed off everything from familial love to lust." Blue was about to open his mouth before Mane continued. "And no, while you might feel a little drained after being fed on, it's relatively harmless." He paused to take another sip of his tea. "The plan was to foalnap the Princess of Love and keep her in a stasis pod for a couple days. Mother would replace her while she fed off of her love magic. After that, the princess would wake up in her bed with a few implanted memories and everything would continue on as normal."

"Why are you telling us all this?" Cherry asked. "Couldn't it get you in trouble?"

Mane halfheartedly laughed. "We're already in trouble. When the other queens found out what Mother had done, they banished her and our hive from the council and our homes. If the queens are trying to contact the princess, it's likely they've already told her what really happened."

Blue leaned forward. "What really happened?"

Mane leaned back in his chair, looking blankly at the roof. "Mother, she--" he croaked before clearing his throat. "She didn't realize how deep Princess Cadence's mana pool went. She just kept drinking and drinking." He sadly looked back down to them. "Love is like a bit like alcohol. Your first time, you'll get tipsy pretty easily. After a while, you might start building up a resistance to it. But there's always a limit before you get drunk off the stuff." He went to take another sip before realizing it was empty. His horn flashed green while he poured himself some more. "And that's what she did. No matter how much she pulled, Princess Cadence kept giving more and more love. Pretty soon, we started feeling it, too. We wanted to do anything to keep getting more of it."

"So you all got hammered?" Blue asked, his neutral face never shifting. Cherry was about to speak up but he interrupted her. "That's your justification for invading a city?"

"I'm not justifying anything," Mane growled, "I'm just telling you what happened. Believe me, if I could go back and stop her I would try my damnedest. But Mother isn't the kind of 'ling to listen to reason." Tears escaped his eyes but were quickly wiped away with his forehoof. "She's foolhardy and arrogant, but everything she does, she does for our hive, for us."

The room was quiet for a while after that. They had let everything sink in while Mane calmed back down, going back for another cup of tea.

"Well, I guess it's all out there now. You can go call the Royal Guard now."

Cherry tilted her head questioningly. "Now why would we go and do that?"

Now Mane was the one confused. "Uh, because I'm a criminal? An enemy of the state?"

"You said it yourself that you weren't entirely under control."

"Now, honey--" Blue tried to say.

"Answer me this." She leaned forward onto the table, giving him a steely glare. "Why did you stay here?"

Mane paused. His eyes shifted back and forth, searching for an answer. "I... suppose it's because I had nowhere else to go. Part of me just wanted to forget everything that happened and try to live like a pony. Figured that maybe after a while, I'd forget who I was and become something new."

Cherry continued to hold her glare while Mane looked back unassuredly. He could feel her looking into him. Even though she wasn't a unicorn, he could swear that she could read his mind if she tried hard enough. Kinda reminds me of that pink earth pony back at Canterlot...

After an awkward minute, her look softened with a smile. She looked back to her husband, still showing his infamous neutrality. "What do you think?"

Blue grumbled. "You lied to us. While I understand why, it doesn't change the fact that you lied." At Cherry's concerned look, he sighed. "Please, just let me finish. The truth is that I don't know what you want. I can't tell if you're genuinely looking to start over or you're just using this place to hide out hoping this whole thing blows over.

"But... part of me also believes that you were sincere, that this all wasn't just some act." He growled. "Ngh, this is annoying..."

"How about this," Cherry said, garnering their attention. "For now, we'll keep this just a secret between us. Despite what you may have done in the past, you've done nothing bad or harmful in your time here. In return, you'll live just like you already are, with a few exceptions."

"E-exceptions?"

"For one thing, I want you to be more honest with us. Show us more of the real Whitem--" Realization crossed her face. "Oh, I can't believe I forgot to ask! Dear, is Whitemane your real name?"

Mane's eyes widened. "Oh, no, it isn't. Hehe, in fact, I uh, kinda came up with it on the spot when I ran into both weeks ago. My real name is 8F-97-79. We kinda have a different naming system from other creatures, but it works for us." He saw their looks and gave a small laugh. "You can still call me Mane, though. It's kinda grown on me."

"Alright, Mane. Now, like I was saying, I'd like to see and hear more of the real you."

"I can do that. Though," he looked around his home, "it'll have to be someplace secluded. I'm not exactly comfortable with letting out my secret yet."

Cherry nodded. "Alright, but that's another thing. I think there's one other pony that should know about this."

Mane's eyes widened in surprise before he facehoofed. Ugh, I forgot all about him.

"Well... this should be fun."
> Ch. 14 - Answers Pt. 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was cold standing outside of Muffin's shop, colder than it had any right or need to be.

Well, it wasn't really that cold. Blue and Cherry didn't seem to notice anything different about the weather and if they did they weren't showing it. Heck, even Celestia's sun was still blazing near the horizon. He could feel its comforting warmth hugging his fur, letting him know that the solar monarch was watching over and protecting her ponies. But not even the flaming ball in the sky could dampen the cold pit in his stomach.

"Looks like everyone's finishin' up in there," Blue spoke as he peered into the ship windows. He looked back at Mane and his wife. "You two sure you still wanna go through with all this? Still not sure if tellin' more ponies is the best course of action."

Mane shuffled on his hooves while he stared at the ground. Truthfully, he wanted to turn around and walk away from the whole thing, but he knew he couldn't. If anypony else deserved to know about his secret, it was definitely Muffin. Besides, that codgy stallion wouldn't just let me reappear like that after abandoning him for the past few days. Finally, he looked back up. "To be honest, I'm still not sure myself. Part of me wants to run away just for telling you two. But," he sighed, "I think he can handle it. Besides, I think it might help to have some more back-up when the Royal Guard decides to swoop down here and pick me up."

"Oh don't be that way," said Cherry as she gave him a light cuff on his foreleg. "The princesses are very kind and friendly. I'm sure that your other queens are doing their best to resolve everything with her."

Mane shuddered. "That's what has me worried..." A few words and they could have our entire hive wiped off the face of this planet if they wanted to.

With the last patron leaving the store, Muffin approached the window and flipped the sign to 'Closed' so he could finish cleaning up shop. When he saw Blue, he gave a small smile and a wave. Cherry walked up to his side and waved back while Mane came up from his other side. When Muffin eyed him, his smile fell a bit and his stare hardened.

Mane gulped.





"And, well... I guess that's all of it."

The group of four sat at a circular table near the center of the restaurant. While there was a bit of activity out front, the 'Closed' sign made sure to keep passersby from interrupting their conversation. Mane didn't think the tension could be as heavy as it was when he was just talking to Blue and Cherry, but Muffin made sure to prove him wrong. If it wasn't for the fact that he could sense his emotions, he'd think that Muffin was angrier than he actually was.

It was a silent, awkward minute before Muffin released a deep breath through his nose. "That'd explain a few things, at least."

Mane's head tilted. "W-what?"

"Ya barely eat, colt. Ya get'n here 'fore the breakfast rush and don't even leave for lunch." He sighed and scratched the back of his head. "I'm lucky no one's tried to report me for thinkin' I was mistreatin' ya. An' don't even get me started on those wings."

"Wait," Blue looked at Mane's wings, trying to spy what was wrong with them. "What do you mean by that?"

"I've met tons of chefs in my life, but no other pegasus I've seen has had your level of balance and control. I was startin' ta think ya might've had some unicorn blood in ya. Speakin' a' which," he leaned over the table, "mind showin' me what ya can do?"

Mane spied out the front window, noticing that there were only a few ponies left with their attention drawn elsewhere. Still, he didn't really feel like risking a full-body transformation. He had no idea if the Royal Guard was still around town. "Erm... how about something small?"

He put his forelegs on the table and, after ensuring that they were hidden from outside view, changed them. Two small rings of fire traveled from his barrel down both legs, slowing shifting their color and shape. His left foreleg simply had its fur changed to a light-orange, but his right was another story entirely. While the top-half mirrored its partner, the fur changed into a hard, yellowish material. Before the fire ring dissipated, three razor-sharp talons appeared out of the bottom of the leg, each one moving in a wave pattern as he tapped them on the table.

Muffin, for his part, seemed more curious than angry now. "Well that's pretty neat."

"I didn't know changelings could turn into things other than ponies! How come you didn't tell us that before?" Cherry pouted.

"You never asked." The two rings reappeared at the bottom of his forelegs before quickly rising up them, reverting the changes. "We can turn into any creature really, but there's a few restrictions  that prevent us from doing so."

"Like what?" Blue asked.

"Well, the first rule is that we can't change our natural forms." He let the disguise on his right foreleg drop, showing the hole-filled chitinous leg beneath. "The holes in our legs help us determine identities, similar to ponies' cutie marks or gryphons' beaks.

"The second rule is that more mass requires more power. How big or small we are is determined by how much power we can hold, which is why our queens are much bigger than we are. We can almost permanently maintain disguises that are the same size as us, but bigger disguises require more maintenance and don't last as long."

Cherry hummed. "Which is why you tend to be ponies..."

He nodded before shifting his foreleg back. "Our hive, at least. Ponies are very loving beings, so over time our bodies adjusted to fit with them. Other 'lings have made their homes in gryphon lands, making them naturally bigger."

"Speaking of 'other changelings'..." Blue gave a look.

Mane looked confused before letting out an exasperated sigh, letting his head fall forward. "Yea, Stage was a changeling. He was updating me about what's going on back home. It's, uh... pretty hectic to say the least."

"Ya mean the weddin'?" Muffin asked.

"Yup, that disaster. The other hives are running damage control. Meanwhile I'm sitting here hoping the princesses don't fly down and wipe us all off the face of the planet."

Cherry cuffed him again. "I already told you earlier that the princesses aren't like that."

"Yea, yea." Mane rubbed the spot where she hit him. "Still, I'd appreciate it if you three could keep this all a secret. I'm still me, just... with less fur. And a criminal record."

Muffin scratched his chin. "I'll tell ya what. If ya come back to work and cook for these ponies, I'll let this all slide." He frowned and exuded an angry aura that made Mane want to cough up his lungs. "But ya better not be lyin' to me."

"I-I'm *cough* not."

"Good." He let off and leaned back into his chair, leaving Mane to gasp for air. "And next time ya wanna leave me alone for three days, a warnin' wouldn't hurt."
> Ch. 15 - Everyday is a New Beginning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Two weeks later)

"Order up!"

"Got it!" Mane fixed his chef's hat, tilting it a bit more forward than it needed to be. A dim glow surrounded the note as it hovered over to him, allowing him to quickly read it off before preparing another pan.

He gave himself a small smile. Ever since he revealed himself that day, when he was at his most vulnerable, he'd felt a weight off of his shoulders. While it was true that he still had to hide himself from the rest of his town, he felt happy that he could relax around his friends.

"Order up, and hey!" Muffin tapped his forehead and gave a slight glare. 

Mane grinned sheepishly before grabbing the new order in his hoof. "Sorry."

"'s fine, just keep it to yourself." He disappeared from the door before mumbling something that Mane couldn't catch.

Nice one, Mane. Maybe you should just walk out there with wings on your back and a horn on your head.

That would not reflect well on your training, Infiltrator.

Mane froze. W.. wha--

As far as I'm aware, there are only three alicorns walking the planet. Introducing a fourth would be quite confusing, would it not?

Wait, who is this?!

Such manners on this one. Has it really been so long since you've part of a Hivemind?

Hivemi... wait, so you're th--

"Hey!"

Mane's wings flared as he leapt straight into the air, his head nearly hitting the roof. He tried to tilt his wings to the side to avoid knocking over anything on the counter, but ended up falling flat on his back with a loud thump. "Ow..."

Muffin looked down at the crumpled mess of a pegas-- well, he supposed he was an alicorn right now. "Y'alright there, boy? Ya zoned out when I came back to give ya the next order." He took a peak back before leaning in. "This one o' them changeling things?"

"Something like that." Mane sighed. "Would you mind if I took an early break? There's some things I need to settle."

Muffin nodded, taking his apron and hat. "Sure, just don' go disappearing on me again." He watched Mane begin to walk out of the kitchen. "Hey." He looked back to see Muffin making motions over his forehead with his left forehoof.

He groaned before the horn on his head vanished. "Thanks. I'll be back soon."

"Y' better be."





So, why are we finally communicating after all this time?

Hmm. I suppose you could say that I'm curious.

About..?

You've managed to break every rule, guideline, and teaching about infiltration. There are ponies that know what you are, who you are, and what you've done, and yet they leave you to yourself. Tell me, what breed of mind magic are you using on these ponies? Perhaps something taught by that misbegotten mother of yours?

Watch your mouth, Mane growled. Queen or not, I won't allow you to speak so badly of Mother.

You would do well to hold your tongue, drone. Or have you forgotten who holds your link?

Enough taunting. Why are you really contacting me?

Our efforts to contact the Princesses have finally been realized. Though they were very hesitant and guarded at first, they've allowed the Council to talk with them about your hive's blunder at Canterlot.

So, what? You've told them where we all are and now you're taunting us?

He could hear her sigh. If only I was so lucky. Quite surprisingly, it's the opposite. Once the Princesses were informed of the reasons as to why their city was attacked, they decided to pardon your hive.

Wait, what?!

Yes, it was a surprise to us all, but I suppose that's to be expected of beings as long-lived as them. They would rather try and create peace than cause more senseless violence. However, that's not to say your kind won't be punished.

He gulped at that. What kind of punishment?

Two weeks from now, you will report to your local town hall and speak with the guard unit assigned there. Once you have spoken to them and revealed who you are, you will be asked to reveal all information regarding your disguise, job, current home, and whatever else they ask of you. You will report to them at least once a week so that they may keep tabs on you. When you have proven yourself, you will eventually report to the Princesses themselves.

And then what..?

He couldn't see it, but he could feel her grin. Well now, that would ruin the fun of it all.

Can I at least ask about Mother? Is she okay? What have the Princesses done with her?

You do not have to worry, your Mother is fine. You will be able to speak with her in due time. Now, I must be off. Do not forget what I have said.

With that, he felt the link go cold again. He shivered with its absence, once again reminded of the comfort the Hivemind brought him.

Still, at least he didn't have to worry about being smote in the middle of the streets anymore. Well, yet anyway. There was no telling what the Princesses had in store for him once he had 'proven himself.'

Never a dull day, huh?


> Ch. 16 - The Future
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mane stood frozen at the door, standing off to the side of the town hall's main lobby. From the outside, nothing looked particularly special about this door. In fact, there were many others like it in the town hall, all leading to mostly empty rooms with naught but a single rectangular table in them. The mayor lent these rooms out for official gatherings, business meetings, or simply just small parties. 

But this room was special.

He knew what was coming. Hay, recently, it was the only thing on his mind. Sadly, no amount of time could prepare him for this.

In fact, time had probably done more harm than good. His thoughts were filled with hundreds of different scenarios that were going to play out when he entered that room. What if she was lying? What if the queens conspired with the princesses to have us give ourselves up? Stupid little me is gonna walk right in there and get tackled to the ground before I can even shed my disguise. He felt a shiver travel down his spine and branch off into the rest of his body. And then they'll lock me and everyling else in the deepest part of the Canterlot dungeons to be endlessly tortured. He pictured his tormentors all with mischievous grins stretched across their faces. The Captain and his wife would go first, followed by the Captain's sister, and her friends, and th--

"Sir?"

Mane let out a not-so-masculine yelp as his limbs locked up, tipping his body dangerously to his right. Before his head could impact the ground and let him hide in his subconscious, he felt a pair of armored hooves stop his descent. The hooves carefully pushed him into the armored side of another pony who was currently making sure the frazzled pegasus was balanced on all four legs. "Careful there," a deep voice sounded from his left, "we wouldn't want you to hit your head."

"That's right," sounded a more feminine voice from his right. "The last thing I need on my track record is a pony in the hospital because I spooked 'em too bad."

"I-I'm fine," Mane finally got out, "just... got distracted is all." After a few more moments, he shifted to his right and stood on his own. He turned his head towards his right. "Thanks for that, by the--"

His eyes widened as he took in the details of his savior. Dark fur, bat wings, purple armor... He snapped his head to the left. White fur, horn, gold armor... He nearly fainted again right there, but the two had been quick to support him.

"Jeez, what's with you?" The batpony asked. "Low on blood sugar or somethin'? Do we need to bring you to a doctor?"

Mane took another moment to recover. "No, no, I'm fine this time, I swear. I just, uh, wasn't expecting the Royal Guard all the way out here..."

The stallion nodded. "Official business from the princesses." 

He waited for the stallion to say more, but nothing came. He felt like he was missing something... Oh right, the code! Now what was it...

"Oh, well, I'm sure it's important." Remembrance flashed in his eyes. He peeked around the mostly empty lobby before turning back to the guards. "Speaking of the Princesses', you wouldn't happen to know anything about the Royal Kitchen's recipes, would you?"

The batpony moved slightly, standing a bit taller than before. "A bit. Why? Are you looking for some tips?" She asked.

"Somewhat, yeah. I work at a little food place in town and I'm lookin' to spice up our menu." That one got their attention. The stallion looked over to the batpony and gave a slight nod before tossing his head towards the door. Mane didn't know if he liked that or not.

"Sure, we could help give your place the royal touch." She walked ahead and opened the dreaded door, motioning him inside with her hoof. "Let's talk about it more inside our quarters."

He could feel the stallion staring down at him as he once again stood frozen in place. He took a deep breath, held it, and released it before finally entering.





"Name?"

"Which one?"

"Both. Given then chosen."

"8F-97-79, and my chosen name is Whitemane."

The batpony, who he'd learned was called Echo, took a look at his mane and laughed. "Pretty original name there."

The flustered pegasus couldn't help but blush. "I-I didn't exactly have a lot of time to think of one. My friends just call me Mane."

"Alright, alright," she gave a small laugh and turned back to her partner. "Keep em' comin', Sharp."

Sharp nodded and stared back down at the form. "Age?"

"Changish or Equestrian?"

Echo looked confused. "There's a difference?"

Mane nodded. "When we're born, we consider ourselves one year old, while Equestrians would say that they're 'zero'."

"Equestrian, then."

"Twenty four."

"Occupation?"

"I'm currently a cook at a food-place in town called 'Muffin's'.

Sharp nodded and spent a few moments writing down what he'd heard. "Alright, last one: does anyone know about you?"

"Yes, three ponies. Two on accident, one on purpose." When Mane saw their questioning looks, he sighed. "I was hiding in my home for a few days. My boss noticed, told my two friends, and they came out to find me. They saw the real me and let me explain myself." Mane nervously scuffed the floor with one of his forehooves. "Once they found out that I was still me, they promised they'd keep my secret. But..."

"But what?"

"They told me I had to tell my boss. He was pretty angry that I up and disappeared on him, but Cherry and Blue told me they could tell he was worried about me. He... actually took it a lot better than I thought he would." Mane laughed. "The fact that I was a changeling didn't really phase him, he was mostly just pissed that I left him to tend the place alone. Ever since then, they've kept my secret safe."

The room was mostly quiet after that, the only sound coming from Sharp's writing. "You said earlier you were 'hiding in your home'." Sharp leaned forward and gave a glare. "You weren't doing anything illegal, were you?"

Mane's eyes widened and he threw his forehooves up in a dismissive manner. "No, no! Nothing like that! I just... got spooked by a Guard that was in town. I thought that I'd been found out, so I just... freaked out. I locked myself in my basement for three days, living off my love reserves. That is, until Cherry and Blue found me, anyways."

More silence, more writing. Mane shuffled in place wondering when this would be over. Despite how friendly they had both seemed, he still wasn't sure that he was going to leave this room without shackles.

After what felt like the longest three minutes of Mane's life, Sharp finally stood up with Echo following soon after. "Well Mr. Mane, I think we're done for now. From this point on, we'll be your connection to Canterlot. You'll be expected to show up every week on this day until the Princesses deem you worthy for citizenship."

"Ci-citizenship? Like, a full-blown Equestrian?"

"Yup." Echo replied. "Once the two of us consider you fully reformed and integrated, we'll send you off to the Princesses for a final decision. Then, if she agrees, you'll officially be considered an Equestrian citizen. After that, you won't have to worry about our little meetings anymore."

"That's..." Mane had to sit down and let it sink in. Citizenship. The Princesses were offering the changelings a new home. Sure, that didn't mean the rest of the population would be too quick to accept them, but they could finally stop worrying about being discovered. No more hiding. "That's crazy..."

"Well that's what happens when you're ruled by two benevolent alicorns." Echo raised her head proudly. "Peace is kind of our thing."

"I see..." Mane grinned. "Well, be sure to thank them for extending a hoof of kindness to us. I'm sure my hive will repay Canterlot for everything that happened. I'll be sure to see you two next week." He gave a small bow before exiting the room.

An Equestrian citizen. I like the sound of that.