Following one thirteen, three changeling nymphs leave the hive, believing that Queen Areola is somewhere in the world. Later needing rest, the nymphs stop at a paradise unlike any other, only to be found by something they never expected before.
Arada, Mat, and Alo. These three changeling nymphs heard about what had unfortunately happened. However, they refuse to believe that they will no longer be able to see Queen Areola, and in turn venture off to search "for her actual location". But after traversing the South Luna Ocean, they finally meet land in a paradise-like region named Comania. However, that view is put to the test when they lose the ability to speak either language they'd learned, as well as an unfamiliar type of child finding them in... the Marble Forest.
This morning, I was going to cheer for this Ponyville-Canterlot cross-invasion. But right now, I’m starting to get a little worried. Everyone’s back, even if some are acting like they’re hurt, but where’s the Queen? I haven’t seen her since she left.
After deciding that I would see if Mom heard anything about where Queen Areola is, I notice that the halls, viewpoints, and stairways don’t have as much traffic in them as they did this morning. In the nesting areas, the nestrooms seem to be filled with two or more changelings. Sometimes, up to three caretakers were inside the nestrooms. Near the bottom of the hive, there aren’t even any caretakers in the nestrooms. Suddenly, a rather young changeling waves to me. My eyes shoot open, prompting me to turn to the late-stage nymph.
“Ah, Greta?”
“Hi, Mat. What’re you doing here?”
“I-I’m looking for Mom so that she can tell me where Queen Areola is.”
“You’ll be lucky if you can even see her. She’s up near the top of the hive, caring for Queen Chrysalis.”
“Wait. I thought it was just Chrysalis.”
“Well, Queen Chrysalis will be taking over the hive.”
“Oh, okay. Bye?”
The late-stage nymph waves goodbye, prompting me to zoom throughout the hive, and finally arrive at Chrysalis’ nest. And just like that late-stage nymph said, there’s Mom, right beside her.
“Oh, hey, Mat. What’re you doing here? Shouldn’t you be waiting for me in-”
“Wait, Pele. I know what your daughter’s here for. It’s about Areola. Isn’t it, Mat?”
I nod.
“Yes, Chrysalis.”
“I apologize to announce it to you, but as soon as I recover, I will be queen of the changelings.”
“What?!? But you’re the queen’s student!!!”
“All of the changelings have favored me as the next queen. I can’t imagine what’s like for all of the nymphs that have heard about what happened to Areola. In the meantime, Mat, please return to your nest until Pele finishes her shift in caring for me.”
“But what about the Queen? What happened to her?”
“There’s no other way of saying it, Mat. Areola’s not with us anymore.”
“...No...”
In disbelief, I run out of the throne room.
-=-
Sitting on my nest, I simply stare at the formable entrance.
“Wow... I can’t... believe it.”
Suddenly, the entrance forms, only for two changeling nymphs to walk by, but then stop and backtrack to look at me. My view zooms in on the two. One of them appears to be a girl, and the other a boy.
“Uh? Hello?” I softly call out.
“Alo? Who’s that?”
“Not sure, Arada.”
“Are you two coming in?”
“Sure, why not? Come on, Arada. So, who’re you?”
As the two changelings enter, the entrance closes.
“Mat.”
“So, uh, you like to go on adventures? Mat is Lingo for ‘to go’.”
“Well, Arada, I’m almost never in my nestroom, other than when I sleep. Speaking of sleep, I think that’s what I should be doing right now.”
Alo approaches me further.
“Uh, why? It’s far from sunset.”
“I’m feeling a bit out of it. Apparently, Queen Areola’s ‘not with us anymore’.”
“Tss, is that it? That Areola had gone missing? Mat, if that’s what not being with the hive anymore means, what do you think you should do?”
“Um, would I look for her? From the tone of how Chrysalis said it in, Alo, it sure doesn’t sound like it. I guess that it’d be worth a shot though.”
“I’d say anything’s worth a shot. So, Arada, want to come?”
Arada just sighs, slightly frustrated.
“...sure, why not?”
-=-
After twenty silent minutes of flying, Alo is the first to speak.
“So, uh, Mat?”
“Yeah?”
“Where’re we going?”
“I thought we’d start looking for Queen Areola by going to the eastmost part of the world, which is quickest to get to by going west. Queen Areola can be anywhere if she’s not with the hive anymore.”
“But why?”
“Well, have you noticed that the sun sets in the west?”
Alo nods at me.
“Last night, I asked my mother which direction changelings fly the fastest in, and she said that it’d be west.”
“So, what does that mean?”
“It means that if we fly west, like we are now, the sunset will last longer. Not only that, but we will be able to find land a lot quicker flying over the South Luna Ocean from the hive than over Celestia Sea.”
“Um, Alo? Mat? Are you two also getting tired?”
Alo and I share confusion with each other.
“Where?”
“In the wings?”
“Well, I don’t know about Alo, but I feel okay. Yawns might come from me pretty soon though.”
“Eh, I’m feel just fi-”
Alo suddenly gasps at something he sees, prompting the loss of control of my body, Arada possibly feeling the same way. I look at the land, which seems to be a multi-town port sandwiched between a large lake and a mountain. We start speeding up as if there might be a fire up ahead.
“LAND HO!!! LAND HO!!!”
“Oh, thank Areola!” Arada exclaims. “Now I can rest!”
Alo and Arada come side to side with me, giving me the idea to lay my forehooves on their backs. The closer to the we are to land, the faster our decent gets. And then...
...dark...
We enter some kind of forest within the port. I lose Alo and Alada as I plant my face onto a thick branch within the canopy. When I finally land on the forest floor, I have a bad pain in where I first hit the ground: the abdomen.
“...ugh... Alo?!? Arada?!?” I call out after groaning.
The two call my name out in a distance far enough to hear a prevalent echo in the sky, possibly hearing their names.
MAT!!! WHERE ARE YOU?!?
OW!!! My head!!!
“I’m... over... here...”
I grumble a bit and hold my head, that is until the entire scale of the forest imagery finally starts to take part of my focus. I find prevalence of pride in the scent, the pack, not the emotion, and some of the most unusual of cries in sound.
MAT!!!
They’re still on it. They must’ve had it pretty well on the landing if that’s the case. Can’t wait to see what they want to do after sunset.
But as soon as the imagery set in, it fades away as I grow tired from the fading light. I decide to climb up the tree I’m at the foot of and see if I can fit inside to keep warm. Unfortunately for me, the hole is JUST big enough, but there is no room to actually get in, so I slumb back to the root and claim my place there.
Ah! A brand new day! I finally can head through Route Three into Emerald City. I slept with Indigo out of the sealer in a hotel (I had enough money made from battling with my friends).
Indigo, my pet ravo, wakes me up in the main room of our spot in the Marble Town Complex by tickling me in the side of my upper right arm.
“O-oh! Indie! Time already?”
Indigo nods.
I take a look at my battery powered digital clock: 8:30. Perfect. That’s plenty of time for breakfast and a trip to the town shop.
“How’re you feeling, Indie?”
Indigo nods again.
“Good. So this past night must’ve been effective, huh? I’ll be sure to keep it up then. Just let me give Megan a call, okay?”
Indigo joyfully caws while I reach in my red book bag for my cell phone. I type in Megan’s number and wait for an answer.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Megan.”
“Oh, James! Glad to be hearing from you so soon. How was your trip to Marble Town?”
“It’s was alright. I’m going to be on my way to Emerald City after I run an errand here.”
“Oh, okay. Good job maintaining your supply.”
“Indie can never accompany me without those gummies, I tell ya. Well, Megan, I’ll call you back when I get to Emerald City, okay?”
“Perfect. I expect to hear from you tonight then. Bye, James.”
“Talk to you later. Bye.”
I hang up the phone and put it back in my bag, then finally stand up beside the bed and put on my bag.
“Ready Indie? We will be taking on our first forest together: the Marble Forest. Should run wild with new anicom we can find.”
Indigo begins to purr, no doubt at the thought of gaining new friends along a path to our next destination. She hovers onto my right shoulder as I pick up my toolbelt that is rife with useful gadgets, including my one and only digital glossary.
-=-
Breakfast turns out to be pretty good. Pancakes, cereal and toast, all in the cafeteria. Going to the shop also turns out to be a breeze, although now I don’t have much money left from Routes One and Two. So, with breakfast out of the way as well as the extra aiding drinks we need as well as a bag of ham-flavored gummy bears, Indigo and I head out of Marble Town, starting for Emerald City through Route Three and the Marble Forest.
As the time passes, Indigo and I hear the noises of many anicom from caller, morpher and bird alike. Voro, Erena, Vocora, and Sanago are just some of the many species we hear from.
“So, Indie, what do you think is gonna leap into our path?”
Indigo’s rolling coo probably means that she doesn’t know.
Closeby, two chatters emerge, somehow making my spine rattle. Indigo turns her head rapidly, providing a bit of a breeze for my head. That is until she stops and taps my right shoulder with her left claw. I gasp.
“What is it, girl? Are we going to have a new friend join us?”
She briefly rests her side on my head, meaning we might have one.
“Alright, Indie. Get ready then. Anything could leap at us at this point.”
“HAW!!!”
Suddenly, the chattering from nearby turns to a fading whimpering that pans further to my right as I look ahead in the dark path.
“Huh? What was that?”
I allow Indigo to take to the canopy and see where the whimpers came from while I take the path of the whimpering that is barely audible to me by now.
In the middle of my running, Indigo calls to me and faces in the direction I’ve been running.
“I know! Wait a minute... it... stopped traveling?”
The source of whimpering seems to have halted its path. I run a bit further at where I was just headed when chasing the source, and then... I see something... unusual. There’s an unusual creature- no, three of the same unusual creature. I completely stop in my tracks, about five yards before them.
“What the...”
The three of them and I have a good look at each other. They have the shape of most backride, but they also possess trademarks of most morpher, like glowing eyes and the appearance of chitin, not to mention the wings that seem to resemble that of a Sanago. All of that, plus their surprisingly small size, adds up to three adorable, albeit mysterious, anicom.
“My glossary has to have something about them. They must be one of the species I haven’t seen yet.”
No identified anicom.
“Okay, what about if I point it to Indie?”
Indigo: your starter anicom... A ravo... She has properties similar to most bird but also possess all criteria of furlove, the type all ravo are classified as.
“Huh, this has to be working right if it recognizes Indie. I should probably see if it works on those three again.”
No identified anicom.
“Aww... I thought we’d get lucky this time. Oh well. Indie?!?”
Indigo hovers back to me and lands back onto my shoulder.
“Seems like that wasn’t it. Let’s go, Indie.”
Despite the sound of confusion at first, Indigo agrees to come along with me as I depart for Emerald City.
Suddenly, Indigo and I hear the chatter from earlier, causing me to stop in my tracks.
“So you were the ones making all that sound?”
The three strange creatures nod.
“C-can you talk? You seem to have a lot of traits that many morpher have. Anisa and Ora are the most vocal of the type, and those species can learn to talk.”
They share a look of confusion.
“W-was it something I said?” I chuckle.
Suddenly, the front of the three steps closer to me and starts chattering, only to realize for some reason that something is very wrong.
“Oh no, what happened?”
The front one chatters worriedly to the other two about this problem I don’t know about and they start to panic themselves.
“Hey, hey, hey! Hold up there, you cuddleballs. Before you all start scrambling about, I think I can talk to my teacher about this situation. Maybe she knows what I should do with you.”
So, I get my cell phone again and begin typing Megan’s number again. However, when I try to get an answer, there appears to be no service.
“Drat! I guess I’ll have to call her at Emerald City then. Wanna come?”
The three begin to hover around me in excitement.
“Come on then, it shouldn’t be too far from here by now.”
And off we all go to the next destination: Emerald City.
Finally, we’re out of the forest, and ahead in the distance is our current destination.
“There it is, everyone... Emerald City! We’re almost there! Just another half mile left!”
Wait a minute. No one knows these creatures exist. Indigo’s kind is a regular sight in Comania, but not these three creatures. For all I know they could be as rare as sanago, or even rarer. Well, the glossary didn’t give any idea of whether or not they’re anicom, but any anicom could hide in a sealer. At least it gives us students the element of surprise when battling. If they are able to get in a sealer, they must be anicom.
“Um... do you guys know what a sealer is?”
The three shake their heads.
“Oh. Well, let me pull it out for you to see. It’s basically a little capsule that’ll take you somewhere comfortable. Think of it as a sort of portal.”
As I explain, I unhook three of my five sealers out of my toolbelt and lay them out between us. The seeming leader of the three starts chattering, only to turn sheepish when landing and looking up at me.
“Aw, no need to be shy little fella. It won’t bite.”
With all three landed onto the path, the one that had just chattered inches toward the middle sealer. I watch it inch until it touches the sealer, only for the creature to glow white as the sealer opens. Now, it looks like any old anicom going into the sealer, complete with the sound of a slowing closing candy egg from the sealer.
“Huh...”
I scratch my scalp with my free hand, the left one.
“It seems you guys are anicom.”
The two remaining creatures look quite scared as they’re hugging each other and shaking.
“Hmm... are you from another region? Anicom generally aren’t scared of sealers.”
The two continue to shiver together as I grab the sealer that their friend took and hold it in front of me.
“There is one other way I can hide you. It’s easier to get used to, but you’ll have to stay there until I can get a place to stay the night at. It’ll take a good while, but I think I’ll drum up some cash before supper. If that’s alright with you two, I suppose it’d a majority vote.”
The two nod, prompting me to press the button on the sealer, with my thumb, and watch it release the one that went inside. It’s the same appearance as before, and is the same as the other two. However, unlike the other two, the one released seems ecstatic.
“Hm. You favor being in there now, which I can see. Well, it was a short-lived time in there since your friends don’t want to go in theirs. Hey... while I’m at it, let’s see if the glossary has anything new to say about you!”
I grab the remaining sealers from the ground and put them back in my toolbelt. I take out the glossary again, hoping for a new answer to pointing at the front of the three new creatures.
Unnamed anicom... all that is known is her ability of flight, shapeshifting, and telekinesis.
“Telekinesis? That’s new. The only anicom to do that is Yunico. What about the other two?”
I point the glossary down and to the left.
Unnamed anicom... all that is known is her ability of flight, shapeshifting, and telekinesis.
“What about to the right?”
No identified anicom.
“Okay, so there must be gender differences if it only detects you and one of your friends. Can he shapeshift too?”
The one in front of me nods.
“Okay. I think it would be safer if you were all turned into Indigo’s species. Color doesn’t matter though.”
Within a split second, the three turn into ravo through spontaneous and brief flames of green. Each one has a distinct color, the one in front of me being red, and the other two being grey on my left and black on my right.
“Oh man, won’t Megan hear about this. She could still help me though with where you guys came from. I’m sure she’d be happy to help.”
The grey ravo looks to Emerald City and coos twice in a rather slow succession.
“Yeah. We really should get continuing on the road. Not gonna get anything standing here. Let’s go.”
-=-
Welp, I drummed up the cash I thought I would, through about a dozen or so battles.
Currently in my backpack, I have enough Life-up Energy in the back to last Indigo until she gets fatigued, the three shapeshifters clinging out of the front, and in one of the pockets is about 2,000 qips.
And our current location, a booth inside the complimentary Star-qips in the Comania Unions station in Emerald City. After paying for the bafe, I carefully take off the backpack and push it toward my corner. I then take off my vest and put it beside the backpack.
“Alright. If you need me, I’m going to call Megan before supper.”
The shapeshifters nod as I start walking to the bathroom. As I enter, I grab my cell phone and dial Megan’s number like I did this morning in Marble Town.
“James?”
“Hi Megan. I just arrived in Emerald City.”
“Splendid. About to celebrate with something to eat?”
“Yep.”
“Great.”
“Hey Megan, you’ll never know what I just came across today.”
“Oh... what is it?”
“I think I found a few migrated anicom. They don’t act like it, but the glossary says they are.”
“What does the glossary say?”
“All it states are their abilities.”
“Okay. I’ll tell you what, James. Come back to Hedgetown and let me see them for myself, okay? That way we can determine what type it is.”
“Sounds good to me. How should I do it? Train? Foot?”
“Whatever way you feel is best for them. You know more about them than I do at the moment.”
“Okay. I’ll see what they think. Bye, Megan.”
I hang up the phone and put it back in my toolbelt. And so, I arrive at the booth after getting the food I desire: mashed potatoes, mac ‘n cheese, and rice.
“Welp, after today, I’m heading back to my hometown. Megan wants to study you guys in person. I’m sure she’ll like you all. She’s my teacher after all.”
While I eat, my phone vibrates twice, prompting me to turn the screen on and unlock it. Megan probably sent a text my way.
It came in at last, a working translator!
“A translator? Does that mean what I think it does? We could collect data faster than we did before if that’s the case! Oh, I can’t wait to see it!”
I quickly don my vest and backpack and head for the hangar of the station to begin my journey back home.
The next day, having arrived at Hedgetown by train, I head from the train station to Megan’s lab. Standing at the front of the lab is Megan Cinos herself.
“Hey James! Glad you made it here. Still have them?”
“Sure do, Megan.”
The three begin hovering out of my backpack, that is before presumably they see Megan.
“Aw, don’t be shy. It’s just my teacher.”
“Hmm... James? Can I take a look at your glossary?”
“Sure.”
I pull the glossary out of my toolbelt and hand it to Megan, who proceeds to walk around me.
Unnamed anicom... all that is known is her ability of flight, shapeshifting and telekinesis.
“So they’re morpher? Most morpher know how to fly and shapeshift. These guys also have the physical trademarks of them. Only thing that puts me in doubt of that conclusion is the glossary including levitation. Almost no anicom have that ability, most notable exception being yunico.”
“So where’re they from?”
“Well James, I hear derivatives of backride live all over the world. Only ones I know for sure about though are yaks, camels and zebras.”
“So species similar to yaco, camo and zibo.”
“Pretty much. Research has been a bit slow these days, but luckily we’ll be given all the answers we need with the translator.”
“Yeah, you shot me a text about that when I was at Emerald City. I’ve been looking forward to testing that out since last night!”
-=-
In Megan’s lab, we stop upstairs in front of the computer. On top of Megan’s seat is a pair of headphones linked to what looks like a radio. She picks it up to show me in detail.
“Alright. This thing is what I was talking about. It’s a device that will help you understand what your anicom are saying. I took the shell of a radio and put interceptors in it to warp the close range soundwaves it records specifically for us humans to understand.”
“Whoa. Megan, this is awesome!”
“Last night, I tested it out on my domosa. It sure snarked a storm. It was probably trying to sleep.”
I giggle in thought of furlove needing their beauty sleep.
“Well, you know what they say. Furlove love-love-love their sleep.”
Briefly, chattering ensues before Megan continues.
“Alright. So, James, wanna give it a test run?”
“Sure.”
I take out Indigo’s sealer and open it, and in front of me appears the majestic aerofeline. I take the translator from Megan and put it on.
“Hey, Indie.”
Hey, what’s that on your head, Jim?
“Wait a minute. This really works?”
Um, what works?
“The translator. And-”
I gasp at the thought of actually talking to Indigo, and she’s almost like how I imagined it.
“It works. I can understand you now.”
Hm. I guess so. And probably your changelings too.
Changelings? What?
Mat? Alo? Arada?
Yes? three voices ask behind me.
I turn around and see that the three creatures are hovering in front of me.
So it looks like Jim here can actually talk to us now.
ALL of us? one of them asks.
Well, he managed to understand me, so I don’t see much of a leap of logic in him understanding you.
The leader of the three points to my translator?
What’s that?
“Oh this thing? It’s what I’ll be using to be able to talk to you. That’s what it is.”
Whoa... this sounds extremely useful. I wonder what Queen Areola would think if we brought her here to see this.
“Probably how you just reacted. So, anything before we go, Megan?”
“Not much. Although, you’ll have to be at a certain distance to be able to communicate with most anicom.”
“That’ll be fine with me. So where to now?”
“Well, James, I think now is a good time as any to go to Aquatown. It’s two cities west of here, so the shortest way there should be Route Eight.”
“Ah, so I just go straight when I get to Green City instead of turning right.”
“Bright as always, kid.”
“Alright. I’ll call when I arrive there, okay?”
“Sure thing, James.”
-=-
As I approach Route One and head out of Hedgetown, I begin looking around to see if anyone’s coming in or out of the beachtown. When I find I’m the only one heading onto Route One, even traveling in there at all according to my sight, I sit down and yank on the right strap of my backpack, which prompts the three... changelings, according to Indigo, to come out.
“So... changelings, right?”
The leader nods.
Yep. We’re changelings. As you can tell, we told your raven, or whatever her species is called.
I chuckle a bit.
“It’s okay. I’m sure Indie is fine with it. You’re supposedly new here, so there should be some slack to be cut.”
Huh, thanks... uh…
“James. From how Indie interacted with you back at the lab, she may’ve called me Jim in front of me, kind of like I call her Indie instead of Indigo.”
One question though. What was that egg-shape thing again?
“It’s a sealer. Why do you ask?”
Well, I’ve been trying to get Alo and Arada to try it out, but they wouldn’t listen.
“Really? Are they that scared of it?”
Mat nods.
Well, I really don’t mind it. Very comfy in there.
“Well, Mat? I’ll have them try it out for themselves.”
I take two of the empty sealers from my toolbelt and set them on the ground beside me, prompting Alo and Arada to head back to my bookbag. Mat sighs.
Alo, Arada, you’re going into those sealers.
Suddenly, the other two begin floating out of the bag with their wings locked in place. Both seem to be glowing a very light lime green. When the two land, the glowing stops.
This is gonna feel wrong on so many levels!
The closer changeling reluctantly presses the button that opens the sealer in front of... her... the sealer closing having found its anicom. The other changeling scurries into the bushes.
ARO, NORAT RIZAR UHEDE!!! Mat calls out.
So, the one who entered the sealer is Arada? Mat clearly called out to Alo.
NI!!! Alo calls back.
I take the sealer that Arada got in, the other starting to glow a shade similar to Alo and Arada from earlier as it starts floating off the ground.
Mat gets on her hind legs, puts the sealer on her right hoof and throws it into the bushes. Landing, it makes the noise it usually makes when it captures anicom, and successfully too.
I guess it's as good of a time as any to go to the bush where the sealer is.
After seeing Mat force Alo into the sealer, I take a few second to process exactly what happened before walking over and retrieving Alo. I look at the sealer for a few seconds, turning it left and right for a short time.
“Hmm. I thought you were new here.”
We are.
“Then how’d you know how students such as I caught anicom?”
I didn’t. All I knew was that we could be put in a sealer. I chucked it at Alo, expecting him to get in himself. I didn’t know that was actually a way to force someone in there. You really catch these anicom that way?
“Well, yeah.”
I would love to see that in action!
“I can’t really say for sure when that’ll come, but I know it will. In the meantime, I better get Arada and Alo out of here. Maybe they’ll enjoy that too.”
I take Arada’s sealer out of the toolbelt and press the button to both Arada and Alo’s sealers, prompting the two of them to appear.
AH! FINALLY! Arada! Are you okay?
Alo, what are you talking about? Of course I’m okay.
Wait. I don’t feel any different than I did in the sealer?
I chuckle at Alo and Arada as they, along with Mat, begin hiding in my backpack.
“I think that’s supposed to happen.”
***
Ah ha! Someone I can battle with!
“Huh?”
Just past Green City into Route Eight, I see a girl to my right spring from beside the train tracks, finishing up with a confident pose.
“I challenge you to a battle!” the girl declares.
I grab Indigo’s sealer and open it to reveal the skybound furlove from inside.
“You’re on! Indie! Show her what you got!”
You got it, Jim!
The girl proceeds to open her frontmost sealer to reveal an ora, a skilled one’s classic.
“Let’s do this, Aroc!”
“Indie! Use Stringway!”
Indigo soars up and shoots a tail-string. Unfortunately, the ora dodges.
“Aroc! You know what to do!”
“Claw! Claw!” I call out.
While Aroc attempts shapeshift, Indie swoops down and grabs him by the back of the neck, cancelling out the shapeshift.
My Chrysalis! the changelings quietly exclaim.
“Aroc!!!”
After about ten seconds, Aroc lands on the ground, groaning afterwards. The girl proceeds to take out the front sealer and open it, Aroc turning into pure energy and going inside, Indigo meanwhile landing beside me.
“You may’ve gotten a flawless one out of my ora, but I’ve got one more! Yutica, go!”
The girl pulls out another sealer, this one revealing a yunico, presumably named Yutica.
“Stringway! Aim for the horn!” I call.
As a second attempt, Indigo soars back into the air and fires another tail-string, this time aiming for the horn to disable any use of advantage against her, also taking into consideration that Yutica will try to dodge it. It proves halfway successful as Yutica tries to dodge by moving quicker than Indigo predicted.
Yutica looks to have lost balance as his tail gets pinned with Indigo’s tail-string.
“Yutica!! Ugh, my anicom aren’t working!”
The girl comes close to her anicom, likely to heal it.
Oh no you don’t!
“Yeah, you got him!”
Indigo swoops down and attempts to grab Yutica in the neck. However, when she gets close, the yunico freezes Indigo in place by levitation, just mere inches from the neck.
Uh oh.
“Hurl, Yutica! Hurl!”
With a passing grunt, Yutica proceeds to send Indigo flying for several yards and into the fields. Lucky for Indigo that she managed to quickly recover while still in the air, so the injuries are none for her, the girl meanwhile freeing her anicom’s tail.
“There! Now go get the mean old ravo!”
Hey little backride! Look to your right!
While the girl had assisted Yutica, Indigo used the time to soar remarkably high and get onto the other side of the route in stealth. While Yutica is getting up, he gets pinned again, this time by Indigo herself.
GOTCHA!!!
“Yutica!!”
“Wahoo! Way to go, Indie!”
Ugh... Yutica groans.
Ready when you are, Jim.
I grab Indigo’s sealer and open it, prompting her to get in. Afterwards, the girl puts her anicom in its sealer, and offers me a handshake. Afterwards, she gives me nearly one fifty.
“Well, I gotta say. You got me really good.”
“Thanks. I’m James.”
“Carly. I guess I’ll be on my way to Green City then.”
“Good luck out there.”
“You too.”
I wave goodbye to Carly as she walks past me. After she’s a good distance away from me, I tug at the straps to let the changelings know they’re in the clear and they can come out.
Whoa! James, you’re really good at this! Mat exclaims.
“What can I say? Indie is my starter. Of course she’s very experienced in this kind of stuff.”
Starter? I remember hearing that term when you were talking to your glossary back in the forest. I think that’s what that thing is called. Right?
“Uh huh. My glossary is what you’ve been hearing off and on. In fact. Now that everyone’s been in the sealer at least once...”
I pull up my glossary and point it at Mat.
Unnamed anicom... this anicom has nearly identical lifespans to humans. They can shapeshift, fly, and perform a variety of telekinetic abilities. This specific anicom is in her nymph stage. Type has been classified: morpher. Would you like to give this anicom a name?
I tap the top button, indicating a yes and prompting the glossary to beep.
“Changeling.”
Accounting for adaption of the naming scheme for all anicom, you have chosen “Tentera”. Is this okay?
Hmm... fitting.
Click.
Tentera’s information has been successfully gathered and completed. It will now be on slot sixty five.
“Alright. You guys are in a new entry for anicom.”
So will you have time to help us find Queen Areola?
“We’ll see about that, Mat. I was gonna talk to Megan when we arrived in Aquatown anyway, I’ll see what she thinks. In the meantime, I suggest getting in the sealers so that you guys don’t get noticed.”
Wait. Why? I don’t see any trouble nearby.
“We students take this kind of thing seriously. I think it’d be a good idea to try and look the part.”
Alright. I think we can do that. Alo? Arada?
The two sigh.
Fine.
I kneel down, reach in my toolbelt and set their sealers before them, each one of the tentara going in.
“Alright. Aquatown, here I come.”
And so, I stand back up and finally continue on my way to my next destination.
Looks like we’ll have to deal with the change of name to our species. James, or as his pet raven calls him, Jim, has been in the fields for at least half an hour since Carly declared a battle with him.
Maybe things don’t look too bad here. At least the chipper attitude keeps us all satisfied.
Suddenly, me, as well as Alo and Arada, get taken out of our sealers and fall into the backpack again.
“Alright. Looks like we struck gold here. Indie! You know what to do!”
“RIGHT!!!” the raven calls back. “You’re coming with us, pegaso!”
“Pegaso?” the three of us echo.
I peer over the backpack and there’s an anicom that looks very similar to that of an actual pegasus. Its coat is white, and the mane and tail is short and black. However, over where I’m from, adult ponies have what are cutie marks. This anicom doesn’t have that.
“We got things here; just watch. Indie, stringway! Keep doing it until you get him!”
The raven shoots a string out of its tail like it did with Carly’s anicom and-
“FIRST SHOT, JIM!!!”
“Alright, Indie! Now it’s my turn!”
James takes out a sealer off of his waist and tosses it towards the pegasus, who becomes pure energy and heads into the sealer, which starts shaking for the next proceeding seconds before pinging.
“Easy as pie,” James remarks.
“Ooh I love pie!” the raven replies.
“That is a capture, my changeling friends. Now, while I’m in Aquatown, I’ll heal up Indie and the pegaso. I don’t know what to call him yet, but I usually think of something within the first day.”
So then James picks up the three sealers he tossed behind him so that we could watch, and opens them up. Next thing I know, I’m in the comfy dark room I know as the sealer.
-=-
Welp, just tamed a pegaso. Definitely not the easiest thing in the world to tame, but Indigo definitely helped things.
So, what’re we gonna name him?
“Hmm... I actually don’t know. Maybe in a little bit, I’ll have a name for our newcomer.”
Oh yeah! Aquatown!
“You got that right.”
As we walk during our conversation, past the last of the fields lies Aquatown.
“Now, Indie, why don’t you get in your sealer in case any students come by and want to battle with me.”
Okay
I take out Indigo’s sealer and open it, which prompts her to turn into energy and head inside. The sealer closes, finishing off with a click. Then I put the sealer back in the toolbelt, which seems to have gotten just a little bit heavier with the pegaso now joining the group.
-=-
When I get to Aquatown limits, I decide to put Mat, Alo and Arada back in the backpack.
After entering a cafe within the town, I go into the admittedly small bathroom to call my teacher, keeping the backpack on.
“Hey, Megan.”
Hi James. Aquatown already?
“Yeah. Oh, you’ll never guess what I caught today.”
Oh? What’d you catch?
“A pegaso.”
A pegaso?!?
“Yep! Caught one on the way here. I think I’ve come up with a good name for him too.”
Huh. Good work, James. Not everybody can catch one of those that easily, especially without the assistance of Indigo. It’s no Sanago but-
“Oh she helped. Stringway is such a useful move.”
I wouldn’t rely on that technique with morpher. Some of those are the most aware and sometimes violent anicom you can find. Also, any new information on the little mystery anicom?
“Oh, yeah. The three are apparently named Mat, Alo and Arada.”
That’s pretty fitting.
“They seem to have this goal of finding their queen they want me to help them with. They also call themselves changelings, although the glossary interpreted that as Tentera... Hello? Megan?”
She hung up.
I close my phone and put it back on the toolbelt only to hear my text notification sound, and I take it back out to see what it is.
Still stuck in northeast Comania?!? Hah! I’m on my way to the Unions Headquarters as I text! See you there, Jimmy!
“Pretty impressed that Jerry made it all the way there within just a few days. Then again, I did end up with a trio of lost changelings who are looking for their queen. Well, I guess it’s time to head back to the booth.”
-=-
So back at the booth, I finally set my backpack down beside me to let the changelings get their land legs back.
So what are we going to call the pegasus?
“Pegaso. It’s ‘pegaso’, Mat. And I was thinking of something sky or flight related.”
How about Parachute? Mat suggests.
Ah, and the short version can be Parry, right?
“Sure, Alo. Parachute doesn’t sound that bad of a name for pegaso. Yunico and araso are also usually named after common nouns.”
Does it also count for adjective-derived nouns? Because most ponies in Equestria have a similar naming scheme.
“Like what names, Arada?”
Celestia, Luna, Mist Mane, Star Swirl...
“It does sound a little like names yunico, pegaso and araso may have. Although I find it unusual for them to have a full name. We just stick with simple-“
So wait. If yunico looked like unicorns, and pegaso looked like pegasi, then would araso look like earth ponies? Mat asks.
“Earth ponies?”
Basically if yunico had no horn, or if pegaso had no wings.
“Oh yeah. That is araso.”
And would araso be stronger than yunico? Or pegaso?
“Like as in physical strength?”
Mat nods.
“I did hear they are much more well suited for direct battle than the other two.”
Ooh! Where do we find them?
“Around Routes Eleven and Twelve. It won’t be for another seven cities though.”
Oh. I guess our lands a bit more like each other than I first thought.
I nod now.
So do you want to help us find Queen Areola?
“Sure. And I’ll start with all of Comania. Alazica afterwards. Okay?”
Okay.
“Good. Starting tomorrow, we’ll be on to Route Five going into Angel City. But while we’re waiting, I think it may be a good time to check into the hotel here.”
And so, the rest of the day, I have my supper, pay the bill, and check into a hotel for the night. But as I’m get ready to go to sleep, I begin to wonder what exactly Mat, Alo and Arada’s situation is. Is Equestria more similar to this world like we concluded? Based on what the three told me, they’re probably thinking of Comania when they were talking about these similar animals to araso, pegaso and yunico. Maybe these three ARE from here. I mean they are pretty much morpher, and they are familiar with some backride biology and the naming scheme backride have.
But at the same time, they seem kind of genuine about their queen going missing.
Onto Route Five now, from Aquatown to Angel City. It’s pretty cool that Indigo understands the changelings pretty well, much unlike me for some reason. Well, okay, they’re anicom by heart. I first thought it; the glossary said it; I think it’s safe to say it as well.
However, I do have to wonder. What did Megan mean when she said not to rely on Stringway with morpher? I know she said they’re more aware than most anicom, but what does that mean? Can they read? Talk? Maybe that was why Carly’s first anicom dodged Indigo’s opening attack. Ora are morpher after all, so it’s not much of a stretch to say that.
Hey, wanna battle?
Wait what?
“Hello!”
“H-hiya, what’s you’re name?”
“Archie, now wanna battle?”
“Well, let’s do it!”
So now with a random introductions aside, me putting the changelings into the backpack, Archie and I get our front sealers ready. I take mine out and toss it into the air to reveal Indigo.
“Indie! You know what to do!”
Yep! Let’s do it!
“Cracker! It’s time!”
When Archie tosses his sealer into the air, it reveals an araso, one of the backride I discussed with the changelings yesterday.
“Indie! Stringway!”
“Cracker! Buck!”
The araso begins to prance around until he’s facing Archie. Indigo manages to take off right before the araso’s back hooves shoot into the air, giving her ample opportunity to perform her usual gateway attack.
YES!!! He’s stuck!
“Alright, Indie! Now, Claw!”
“Hold on, Cracker! Here I come!”
Before Archie can make it to Cracker and try to help him out, Indigo dives down and lands on top of Cracker’s back.
“No!!!”
Too late, human. Just put him back in the sealer so I can take down-
“Lean! We can do this!”
Indigo flies back to me when Archie puts Cracker back in the sealer, only for Archie to pull out another one, this one revealing-
A sanago?!? Uh oh.
Uh oh is right, Indigo. Not just anyone can tame these kinds of anicom. Well, Indigo can’t rely on stringway now. I’ll have to think of another move she knows.
“Alright, Indie, let’s do framepeck.”
Oookay.
“Lean, benefit!”
Although a little nervous, as I can even tell just looking at her feathers ruffle, Indigo goes ahead and charges at Lean, who does the same. In one split second, Indigo and Lean come face to face before Indigo begins lifting off and swiftly turning around as Lean bars his fangs for a bite. However, when Lean tries to actually do it, he just falls flat on his face. A now flying Indigo darts further into the air and dive-bombs Lean within a single second. When her beak comes in contact with Lean’s upper side, the poor sanago leaps into the air with smoke trailing in his wake.
“Where did she learn that move?”
And with a big slapping sound, Lean lands face first into the dirt between me and Archie.
As Archie and I start conversing, Archie returns Lean back into his sealer.
“James.”
“Hah. Any chance Lean can learn that move?”
“What move?”
“Framepeck.”
“Sure he can. Most morpher are auxiliary in terms of learning moves. How many does he know?”
“Seven?”
“So you could teach him one more.”
“Maybe some other time. For now, here’s one hundred.”
One hundred?!? NICE!!!
“Good luck out there, Archie.”
“Will do, James!”
Now that Archie’s out of sight, on his way to Aquatown, the changelings come up to me looking very impressed.
Wow. Each time you get us to watch you fight someone, you always win!
Well, Mat, it was honestly kind of close. I haven’t faced any sanguivores in a long time.
“What Indie said. She could’ve been seriously hurt right there. I am glad she made it out in one piece though. I guess it was a good thing we avoided that gateway attack we like to use like Megan told me to when we saw what Archie was pulling out.”
So what could we learn if you had one of us up front? Alo asks.
Anything really. Jim said it himself. You could learn anything. The glossary did classify you three as morpher. Now, I’m getting a little hungry. Do you still have those little treats, Jim?
“Sure do. You’ve earned it, especially after successfully facing a sanago.”
So, I reach into my backpack and grab Indigo’s gummy worms to give to her. Once she’s had a few, I put the package back.
Mmm. Ohh! Thanks, Jim!
“No problem. So everyone, Angel City?”
Everyone nods.
“Alright, so Mat, Alo, Arada, stay in the backpack. Indie, you know what happens now, right?”
Indigo nods again and proceeds to walk to her sealer, which is currently on the ground. Once she touches it with her leg, she turns into pure energy and enters.
James?
“Yeah, Mat?”
What moves does Indigo know?
“Well, right now, there’s claw, stringway, and framepeck. You itching to learn them?”
Actually, yeah, I am. After seeing how Indigo used them, searching for Queen Areola isn’t high up on my list much anymore. I still want to find her, well, we all do, but this would be a good way to pass the time while we look.
“Alright. When we get to Angel City, maybe even Garden Village, I’ll see what Indie and I can do to teach you what she knows. And don’t worry about finding your queen. We’ll be doing that together. We’ll look throughout the whole world if we have to.”
Suddenly, the phone rings, so I pick it up.
“Hello?”
Hey James.
“Yeah, Megan?”
How far are you?
“I’ve almost arrived at Angel City.”
Okay, whatever you do, don’t go there with your changelings. Bring them to me, okay?
“O-okay.”
Bye.
“Wait, what?”
And she’s hung up.
What’s going on, James? Mat asks.
“Megan wants me to come back to Hedgetown. But I do know a way back now that is quicker than even the train.”
What is it?!? all three changelings ask.
“Parry.”
The pegaso?!?
“Yes. If Megan wants me to go to Hedgetown, then from at this point, it should be a breeze with Parry.”
And so, I take out Parachute’s sealer for the first time since I tamed him.
Finally, I’m up.
“Actually, I have to head back to Hedgetown.”
So, where are we right now?
“Almost three towns west of that.”
Alright. Leave it to me then.
I climb onto Parachute’s back, ready to enjoy my new ride. And with that, Parachute takes off into the air, leaving me with the gorgeous view of previous towns I’ve outed within my journey, well two of them.
Alright, so now that we’re in Hedgetown, I think it’s time to arrive at Megan’s lab. Inside, Megan waits across the main room.
“Megan! What’s going on?”
“Well, James, I’ve received word that Angel City is forbidding morpher from entering. There’s been a drastic increase of security after a major threat arose. If you’re going to go in there, I’d advise you to leave your nymphs here. Your other anicom should be safe though.”
Hey Jimmy!
“Jerry?”
“Hey, did you get invited to the wedding too?”
“A wedding? Who invited you?”
“My sister, Martia. One of our relatives in Angel City is gathering everyone in Comania to see her partake in the wedding! You should get gussied up pretty soon! Well, catch you all later. I’m getting a ride from my voro.”
“Wait. Jerry, I should probably come with you. I have my own flying anicom now anyway.”
“Oh ho! Besides your ravo?”
“Actually, yes. James caught a pegaso on the way over to Aquatown on Route Eight.”
“Well then, I’ll meet you outside, Jimmy. I would love love love to see your pegaso in action.”
Arada and Alo begin snickering at Jerry before Mat shushes them.
“Hey, what was that?” Jerry asks as he pauses.
“Nothing.”
“Huh, probably me. Now then, let’s go.”
“I-I’ll be right out, Jerry, okay? Alright, Mat, Alo, Arada, while I’m away Megan should be able to keep you guys company. I’ll be back with Parry and Indie soon enough, okay?”
The three nod as they get out of my backpack.
HEY JIMMY!!!
“Ah! Megan, take the translator, I’ll see you guys later! Bye! Hang on Jerry!!! I’m coming!!!”
-=-
And so, James rushes out of the lab to try and catch up with Jerry.
“So, you three are changelings?”
Alo, Arada and I nod at Megan.
“Hmm. So I suppose you come from a hive. How’d you end up here in Comania?”
“Well, we left our hive to search for our queen. She rules on the other side of the Luna Ocean.”
“Hmm. Luna Ocean? That’s just east of Lake Towingo. Anyway, continue.”
“We were pretty excited about the extra love we’d have, especially when we’d see Queen Areola again after she and her student went to Equestria.”
“Well, this is getting interesting. So how long has she been your queen?”
“Since my mom was a nymph.”
“Wow, I’d say that’s quite a while, even barring the lifespan.”
“Well, speaking of lifespans, um, how long is yours? I heard it’s pretty close to ours.”
“Well Mat, for humans, it’s seventy nine years.”
“Wow. That glossary wasn’t lying when it said ours was identical. Ours is eighty.”
“Well, the glossary looks at any anicom and records its features, possible move-set, and its lifestyle. If I’m correct, you must have the same special nerves on the forehead that yunico do; it’s how yunico can perform telekinesis. Unfortunately, no anicom has had a recorded lifespan longer than ours. We have pursued a few ways to expand them, like better medicine-”
“I know, it’s only going to take us so far. But it would be kind of interesting for species other than ponies to outlive us.”
“So back to you, Mat, I know how a hive works, experience for years with morpher and all, but does your queen make any additions to her system?”
“Only thing we know of is that Queen Areola has an apprentice that’s next in line. Her name is Chrysalis.”
“Okay, so suppose that Chrysalis ended up having to step out of line. Does Areola have any top tiers in case that happens?”
“Well, top drones, yes. But they’re barely fit to rule compared to Areola and Chrysalis.”
“Hmm. A little odd. Most morpher have similar systems, but top tiers are always trained for the possibility of ruling.”
“I guess that’s the lack of the ability to predict. Kind of like how we started here in this port to search for Queen Areola. I’d rather us take forever to find her and end up simply on the east coast of the Celestia Sea seeing her than to pass this region up only to see her here.”
“I know how that feels,” Megan responds. “Chances are though she’s not here. No major news, wedding aside, has made any reference to any morpher.”
“Oh yeah, James went to a wedding. Angel City, if I heard right,” I ponder aloud.
“Yes. That was his next destination anyway.”
“Ah. It’s a shame we can’t go there. It would’ve been snack city for us.”
“I’m sure it would’ve been. See, most morpher are emotivores and have the ability to flaunt features otherwise inaccessible.”
“Well, we’re only nymphs, so our influence can vary quite a bit. Besides, James’ chipperness really keeps us in check. In a way, we follow the confidence of our kind.”
“I don’t know, Mat. Most emotivores wouldn’t miss a wedding for the world.”
“Hello? James? Okay. So, how was your ride? ...Alright. I’m glad you’re safe. Is Jerry with you right now? ...Good. Just stay safe over there okay? I know I shouldn’t be worrying, but Angel City has been under threat. ...You do? ...I imagine so. Well, thanks for calling and letting me know. Bye.”
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“Well, James and Jerry made it to Angel City just fine. They’ll be back by the end of the day.”
As Megan begins to walk around the room, the four of us hear plastic sliding on some tiling. The sound seems to be coming from below, confirmed when Megan stops and backs up by a pace. She bends over and picks up a familiar looking object.
“Isn’t that James’, uh, glossary?”
Voro.
“Actually, I have to take this to my office. I’ll be back later.”
Megan proceeds to walk away from us with the glossary that seems to know about Jerry’s anicom, as well as the translator.
“Alo, Arada, stay. I’ll be right back.”
I hover up to the glass that the door to Megan’s office has, listening in on the conversation.
Hello? ...Jerry? Hey, did you drop your glossary before you left? ...Well, it went sliding for about a foot on the floor. ...You don’t? ...Will do. I’ll see you when you get back. Bye.
I squeal for a split second when Megan closes her phone, returning back to my post from earlier.
“So it’s Jerry’s?” I ask Megan.
“Yep. But the two are at the wedding right now. They’ll retrieve it after the party.”
“Ah.”
Well, I guess we aren’t about to see Jerry and James any time soon. I really wish we were at the party.