Fandom Nightmare

[ScatheAriiasqDrayceon]

He is Not Prepared, Jet decided with little prompting. The changeling was—as of the early morning (he flew through the night)—pacing back and forth a few hills away from Ponyville, nervousness rolling off him in waves. Idly, he was glad he was decent at controlling his pheromone production, because otherwise, that'd be a waste of energy.

The scaly, breathing creature that had spent the entire trip curled around his neck and shoulders chirruped, rubbing their head against his neck. "We're supposed to be there by noon," they rumbled, long, leathery wings draped across the curve of his back like a coat. "Are you finished with your panic attack?"

Jet cocked his head back and looked down at the little dragon—well, little for now—and huffed, rattling his wings. "No."

Flame settled back down with a buzzing hum, tiny claws kneading at his skin. "Queen Mandible will want a full report by tonight," they continued, finally making themself comfortable, again.

Oh.

Right.

Mandible's expecting reports.

Jet's groan bordered on a growl, but he shook himself down and leaped back into the air, talons driving small holes in the ground.

When he finally landed in the gates of Ponyville, he hesitated, tail tucking closer to his flank as his wings drew in. His ears flattened, and, reflexively, he started assuming his pony disguise, feathers sprouting across his neck and fluffing up.

He took a long, deep breath, stamping down the urge to give into the transformation, and, for the first time in several hundred years, a non-pony walked openly into Ponyville.

 

[explosiveKitten]

A pink mare made her way down the hallway of her home, feathers ruffled and ready to fly off to work, but first she had to get her daughter out of bed.

The mare placed a hoof on the handle of the door to her daughter’s room, pushing it down just enough to dislodge it from its closed position and allowing it to swing open, to the small room where a collection of clothing items are scattered around the floor and desktop, and the strange hanging bed swung in the corner, attached to the ceiling by a rope.

“Sinew. Sinew? It’s time to get up.”

A voice came from within the darkness of the little hanging cabana as the mare approached, a groaning, sleepy voice. The voice’s mother looked mildly displeased, so she turned and raised a back leg, striking the bottom edge of the bed with her hoof, causing it to start swinging wildly. The child in the bed squealed in fear as her world started shake.

“AH! AHHH! I’M UP! I’M UP!”

Out of the dark cave emerged a creature of darkness, a being with chitinous skin colored back and amber colored insectoid wings. A creature with a wicked, curved stinger and compound eyes that flashed individually as this beast from many a pony’s nightmares... fell flat on her face with her rump in the air.

“Maaaaa.... whyyyyyyy.”
“Well, you should have gotten up when I told you the first time.”
“Maaaaa... I could have had a heart attack...”
“No dear, you wouldn’t. Now get up! You’re going to be late for weather duty.”
The changeling groaned heavily as she finally got her hooves beneath her and stood up, stretching and shaking out her limbs. She blinked at her reflection in a mirror nearby, feeling her heart leap into her throat for a moment before remembering, oh yeah... that hideous creature was her.

Wasting no time, she transformed into her pony form, making her way out of the room to find her mother rushing out the door.

“Your father has already left, I have to go, and so do you. Come here,” Her mother cooed, wrapping a foreleg around the back of her child’s neck and pulling her in to give her a kiss on the nose, “I’ll see you later. Remember to wash the dishes when you get back from work.”

“Okay. Bye, ma!” The changeling shouted as her mother left. When she was finally alone, the spunky young mare with a secret started to get herself ready for the day. Grabbing her own shawl to keep the chill out as she left the house, locking it up tight with the key she hung around her neck.

With that, the feathered wings of a pony took off into the sky, but faintly, if you really listened, you could hear the faint sound of buzzing.

... annnnnnd a RAPID rapping of a hoof against a window will followed by an enthusiastic golden mare sticking her face into said window with a shout of “WAKE UP SLEEPYHEAD!” to the pink Pegasus inside the house.

Tapfic

 

[Tapfic]

Briar Red's eye's didn't flutter open gracefully, nor did they snap open dramatically. The action was honestly more reminiscent of someone peeling apart two sticky notes than anything, slow and ordinary.

She had woken up on her own, thankfully. It really would have sucked if someone decided to bang on her window to wake her up. Someone who's name started with an F and rhymed with... what the hell rhymes with Falsetto? Whatever. It was clearly too early for Briar to thinking up these complex descriptions anyways.
A quick peek through her curtains told Briar that it was actually far to early to be thinking of anything; the sun hadn't even come up yet!

The pony groaned loudly and hit her head against the glass.

" Fucking fuck," she muttered. Great. She must have been in bed for four hours tops; and yet she wasn't tiered enough to fall back asleep yet. Either she stays up and tries to suffer through the day running on minimum fuel; or lie in bed until she fell asleep again.

Well. She could clean her room, she mused. With glance around the various scattered papers and wrappings littering the floor, she decided on "nahhh" it was clean enough already.

And so the mare slapped herself back into the bed, groaned into her pillow; and tried her damndest to fall asleep. An endeavor that soon proved itself fruitful, as she drifted off into peaceful-

“WAKE UP SLEEPYHEAD!”

Bitch.

The pink pegasus all but growled at the offending noise, slowly opening one green eye. Her scowl didn't deepen when she spotted Falsetto outside her window- but that might have been simply because it couldn't get any deeper.

"Die," Briar mouthed the phrase, rather than bother yelling it through the glass. She could only hope Falsetto could read her lips through the slightly ajar curtain. Despite the harsh word, Bri did pull herself out of bed, only to meander to the window, and push it open.

She paused to collect all the insults that popped into mind, and sort through them; like a bag of jelly beans- but the sorter was intent on only eating the pink ones. Thankfully for Falsetto there were no pink jelly beans in Briar's bag of curses this early in the morning.

" Why. Are you here," no question mark, because it wasn't a question. More of a demand; for the other to explain herself- or provide some sort of apology that Briar would not accept. Also because if it was a question, Briar Red already knew the answer; it being "because it's time to go to your job, idiot". She didn't appreciate the tone her own inner voice had taken there, and mentally told herself to watch it.

 

[explosiveKitten]

“OoooOoOoohh, such an insult! ‘Die.’ I’m scawed!” She said into the glass, sticking out her tongue and shaking her head back and forth as she watched through the curtain. This was her favorite part of the day to be honest. She had been spending quite a bit of time trying to get this young mare to come out of her shell, even if only a little. Besides, Sinew wanted her to have at least one friend in the world.
Briar stood up with a deep grimace and opened the window Falsetto was currently hovering in front of, growling angrily.

" Why. Are you here," Briar growled.

“Awwww, I’m happy to see you too, sugar!”
The golden mare said, crossing her forelegs and using them to frame her face innocently.

“Why, because it’s a beeeeeeautiful morning out here, it would be such a shame to spend it all inside! The birds are chirping, flowers are blooming, there’s not a cloud in the sky!” The mare gestures up into the blue morning sky with a hoof.
“...Which is the problem. Because that’s our job. Which is why I’m here. To make sure your flank gets to work. We have a lot of precipitation to move in preparation for the rain this afternoon, and you know how the unicorns get when their schedule is messed with.”

She reached out and booped Briar on the nose with the very tip of her hoof with a quiet, “boop!”

Tapfic

 

[Tapfic]

Falsetto was very lucky she was Falsetto, because had anyone else dared put their hoof anywhere near Briar's snout- she would have bitten it.
Instead of biting, the Pegasus simply huffed, and opened her window fully.

" I'll schedule those damn unicorns a trip to the morgue..." the reply was grumbled as she turned around. Without another word Briar trotted off to brush her teeth, returning only a few moments later- looking no less annoyed than she had prior.

" Fine. Lets go," She didn't bother brushing her mane, opting instead to shake her head until no more strands fell before her eyes- and flatten any frizz with her hoof.

" I didn't read the weather report for today though. How many inches of rain are we down for?"

Briar never read the reports, why would she when she could just ask someone else what was on them?
Not to mention nine times out of ten they were eighty percent pompus-wordy-p.o.s-junk and twenty percent actual instruction.
Without waiting for an answer Briar gently nudged Falsetto out from in front of her window with one hoof; and switched the lock with the other, so that she could fly out of it herself. The pink pegasus shut the window behind her with a click.

 

[ScatheAriiasqDrayceon]

Jet took another breath, sleeking the feathers along his neck and raising his head, forcing himself to look the part of a changeling emissary.

Whispers followed him as he walked through town; hushed, scornful voices that had him tucking his wings and jittering his mandibles anxiously. He stepped lighter than he should, leaving scarcely a footprint in his wake.

"Why don't you go check out the place we're supposed to be staying," Jet murmured to Flame, nudging them with the curve of his wing gently. "I'm sure it's... quieter."

They hissed lightly, making to protest. However, a careful push had them quieting and taking to the air reluctantly; they didn't like attention any more than Jet did, after all. If worst came to worse then they could defend themself, though, thank the skies above.

He kind-of wished he didn't stand out as much as he did, but that was the deal; no disguises.

 

[explosiveKitten]

“Oh, ya know. Lots of big words that nobody really has time for anymore that basically just told us ‘a light rain for the flowerbeds in town and a couple inches of water for over in the farmlands.’ Because apparently alfalfa just needs that much water.” The disguised mare said, mockingly. The way that the unicorns micromanaged the lives of everyone around them felt wrong to her, but what was she gonna do about it? They wouldn’t listen to a pegasus... or a changeling.

She took the prodding from Briar and moved out of the way so the other mare could hop out of her window.

“They’re trying to spread out the watering for the farm, or something, instead of just hitting the town with a downpour. Because it would get their hooves all soggy, oooohhh~” Falsetto commented sarcastically, making a face and imitating a disgruntled unicorn with wet hooves. “I feel so baaaad for them. Poor little foals. What a sad, troubled life they lead.”

As the pair started to make their way across town, Falsetto glanced over in Briar’s direction and said, “Soooo, have you heard about the strange visitors we’re supposed to be expecting in town this week? They released a statement in the Ponyville Gazette last week. They didn’t really give too much detail, I wonder what they’re gonna be like. Isn’t that exciting?”

Tapfic

 

[Tapfic]

“Soooo, have you heard about the strange visitors we’re supposed to be expecting in town this week? They released a statement in the Ponyville Gazette last week. They didn’t really give too much detail, I wonder what they’re gonna be like. Isn’t that exciting?”

This was the first Briar was hearing about it actually.
" I don't read the paper," she responded.

The reply was short and blunt. She didn't in fact, read the Ponyville Gazette, or any sort of other new related publication. In her own words, she didn't like how reporters liked to sneak their own opinions of things into their articles, and would sooner get all her news via word-of-mouth than "subject herself to that undercover propaganda". Despite her preference for word of mouth, Falsetto was still the only person she regularly talked to; so Briar simply had no idea what was happening in the world the majority of the time; she liked it that way.

Briar's wings moved lazily, and she hummed. Not musical, it was a short; no-nonsense sort of hum that only served to tell Falsetto she was thinking.
Strange new visitors huh? They better not be celebrities or Briar would kick them out of town herself. She hated crowds, and crowds tended to gather where famous people wandered.

Her quiet threat was soon proven to be un-needed though, as they passed over the town.

" ...I'm guessing those are the visitors," Briar slowed slightly as they passed over Ponyville; a large changeling and a dragon stood out against the crowd of equines. Mostly because of their appearances, but also because the ponies seemed to part around the pair like they were carriers of a highly contagious disease. The dragon took off in another direction, leaving only the changeling on the ground.

" You gonna go greet them?" Briar asked Falsetto, her voice about as monotonous as was normal.
" That's like... Your hobby or something isn't it? Making friends."

 

[explosiveKitten]

“Ughhhhh, god, girl you gotta get with the times. How ELSE are you gonna know what’s going on around you?” Falsetto chided, sticking her face in Briar’s for a moment before turning around and continuing to fly along.

They continued in silence for a while, which made Sinew’s chitinous skin crawl under her pony illusion. She hated silence, or, rather a lack of talking. It made the world feel like it had stopped and that she wasn’t being entertaining enough. Her anxiety soared under the mask of a cool, calm and collected pegasus.

" ...I'm guessing those are the visitors," Briar spoke up finally, looking towards a parting on the crowd of Ponyville citizens.
Falsetto turned her head excitedly, her eyes all aglow at the prospect of making more ponies love her more friends, However, when presented with the creature in front of her, her heart stopped.
Her fur and feathers fluffed in fright.
Her wings locked up.
The world had stopped around her.

" You gonna go greet them?" Briar asked Falsetto, her voice about as monotonous as was normal.
" That's like... Your hobby or something isn't it? Making friends."

A changeling. Oh god. Oh no. Of all the creatures in the world to walk into this little town. A changeling. One of her own kind. Not her kind. A different kind. No. She couldn’t have this. This was bad. It would know. A changeling. It would recognize her, it would tell the town, it would EXPOSE her, she-

She was falling. Little had she known, she had legitimately forgotten to flap her wings. And she had plummeted at least five feet before she caught herself and laughed nervously, running a hoof desperately over her shoulders and neck in an attempt to get her fur to lay flat.

“Hahahaha, funny! It IS kind of my thing isn’t it! Hahahaha!” Falsetto laughed, overzealously. Oh boy. This was probably Briar’s first time seeing the golden mare truly nervous. “Hahaha! Hahahahah. Ha....”

She stared, wide-eyes at the changeling, then swallowed nervously.
It’s fine, this is fine, I don’t HAVE to go talk to the changeling. I don’t HAVE to go anywhere near it- them- whatever pronouns those guys use! I don’t know! I’ve never met a changeling before, besides myself obviously but can anyone say they met themselves? Is that a thing? I don’t have to- I can just grab Briar and WHY AM I MOVING CLOSER?!

Sure enough, the persona had a mind of its own because suddenly Sinew found herself spiraling down towards the ground of Ponyville, towards the changeling.

The ponies noticed her incoming and a couple of them stepped aside to let her land. She was pretty well known around the town, after all. She was the town’s local friendly person. The moment her hooves touched the ground the mare started to make her way over to the changeling, with as forced of a neutral expression she could muster. The “I’m in danger” pheromones coming off the cloaked changeling were absolutely suffocating.

“Well, hi! I can tell you’re new around here. What’s your name?”
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Tapfic ScatheAriiasqDrayceon

 

[Tapfic]

Briar's eyes shot wide when Falsetto fell, but the golden pony had already righted herself before anything could be done. Not that she was any more worried than it was normal for someone to be. Of course. In fact she wasn't worried at all. As shown by the way her posture visibly relaxed once Falsetto was flying steadily again.

“Hahahaha, funny! It IS kind of my thing isn’t it! Hahahaha!” Briar did not understand what was so funny.
“Hahaha! Hahahahah. Ha....”

Green eyes flicked between the changeling and pegasus as a metaphorical clock ticked away in the mare's head. Falsetto was staring intensely at the changeling, clearly nervous. Was she afraid? It was normal for a pony to be weary of a changeling, Briar imagined, she just hadn't thought Falsetto was that type.
Briar couldn't help but feel a pinprick of jealously. The girl had had to work her ass off to get anyone to steer clear of her; and these dudes just had to exist.

...Or maybe Falsetto wasn't afraid of changelings, judging by the fact she had started to fly in the direction of the stranger while Briar thought of all the time she could save is she was as intimidating as the visitors.

The pink pony followed closely behind, landing in time with the start of the other's greeting. She didn't offer her own, only a glare that could easily be taken as one of dislike; though there was really no malice behind it. It was just her default face.
Regardless of how she felt about the stranger though, they were still a stranger. Briar kept close to Falsetto, in the event things went south.

 

[ScatheAriiasqDrayceon]

Jet was... honestly just hoping to make it to his current... place of residence? Pod? Cell? What did ponies live in, anyway? They were incredibly odd structures; inefficient and—

Fear.

Protect. Protect. Protect. Protect. Protect. Protect. Protect.

The smell hit him before the sound did, the thick stench of a frightened changeling sinking its claws in and quelling the urge to disguise himself. Jet looked up on reflex. Usually the only changelings with such poor pheromone control were larva, but surely the other hives' queens wouldn't send a larva to an uncharted territory... right?

Protect the hive. Protect the hive. Protect the hive. Protect the hive. Protect the hive. Protect the hive. Protect the hive. Protect the hive. Protect the hive. Protect the hive.

Mandibles shuffling against his jaw, Jet honed in on the producer of the pheromones just as they landed right in front of him. The older changeling nearly tripped over his tail backing up, an undignified squawk more akin to that of a bird than the chirps of a changeling hive escaping in surprise.

Safe to say he wasn't entirely threatening, not even with his truly ridiculous height and splayed-out wings.

"I—"

Why was there fear?

He turned his head to regard the Pegasus that landed beside the—disguised. That changeling is hiding—changeling, tilting his head.

Wait, they asked a question.

"I—er—Abnorm—Jet. Jet."

 

[explosiveKitten]

CALM DOWN! CALM DOWN. CALM DOWN! PULL YOURSELF TOGETHOHGODITMOOOOVED.

The mare reared back on her hind hooves when the Changeling suddenly jerked and almost tripped over it’s weird, thin tail, in its haste to turn in her direction. For a brief moment she forgot to keep a neutral expression and her terror came out as her fur and feathers fluffed up, wings half opening in preparation to take flight and maybe even in an attempt to make herself appear bigger as well, but then once she noticed that the thing changeling, goddamnit, that’s an intelligent race of equines! Stop calling it a thing! had merely turned to look at her, she forced her fur to lie flat and touched her hooves back to the ground, very slowly. Then she finally looked at it.

ITS SO TALL OH GOD IT LOOKS LIKE IT COULD EAT ME IN ONE BITE. OH GOD.

Under that calm exterior was a young changeling who was on the verge of losing her godforsaken mind.

CaLm DowN! It hasn’t done anythingto you!
How DO I KNOW IT WOnT!? It could be all like “heeeeyyy comrade you here for the invasion??” And then everyone will KNOW, I’ll lOSE everythinG anD MY LIFE WILL BE OVER AND MY FAMILY WILL BE ASSASSINATED LATE AT NIGHT BY TOWNSFOLK WITH PITCHFORKS AND TORCHES!
WOULD YOU JUST HOLD YOUR GODDAMN HORSES FOR FIVE MINUTES AND CALM DOWN YOU ARE GOING TO LOSE YOUR PERSONA!

She blinked at the realization that yes, her emotions were getting rather tumultuous, and she knew what happened when THAT happened. She started by trying to get her breathing to slow, which wasn’t working. She tried thinking about her beloved family, but that only led to images of those precious ponies being torn apart by changelings to enter her brain. Which was not helping.

What did help, however, was having a certain somepony land behind her on the ground and give the changeling a glower. Right! Briar is here. She can protect me! She knows how to fight! Hahahahahha hoooogod what have I gotten myself into.

“Whoa! Heheh, sorry! Didn’t mean to uhhh, scare you!” Falsetto said, trying to keep the nervousness out of her tone, “Although, I guess we both spooked each other, heheh! Uh, I’m Falsetto! Falsetto Note. That’s my name. Hehe... Uh, nice to meet you, Jet!”

ScatheAriiasqDrayceon Tapfic

 

[Tapfic]

Briar wasn't a smart pony, but she wasn't dense enough to miss the fact Falsetto was clearly frightened. She took a few steps forward; putting herself between the other mare and Jet, though the latter seemed like too much of a dork to be any sort of threat- maybe it would make Falsetto calm down some.

" Briar Red, " she introduced herself last, looking the taller equine up and down. Well, more accurately up, up and up and down, down and down. Point being he was really fuckin big.

" What the hell did they feed you?" she muttered, mostly to herself- not expecting an answer. She generally didn't get an answer when she asked that sort of thing anyways.

Unfortunately, at this point the quiet scornful whispering of the other town ponies was starting to grate on her nerves like a fork on a dinner plate. Her lack of sleep was most defiantly not doing any favors for her temper either. With a huff she stomped a back hoof and spun around, now facing a group of mumbling spectators.

"CAN YOU DICK MOUTHS SPEAK UP AND SAY WHAT YOU WANNA SAY OR FUCK OFF!? PICK ONE!"

Briar's reputation coupled with her glare and raised voice had a good chunk of gossipers slinking back to whatever hole they crawled out of, though some of the braver and/or stupider fellows only took a couple steps away. The relative silence was good enough for Briar luckily; she shot one last glare in the direction of a lingering group before turning back around.

" ...And what's the deal with you and the dragon anyway, just passing through, or here to stay?"

Her voice had dropped back to it's usual volume in a fraction of a second, a skill cultivated over years of being a loud bitch. However, last she checked the other species weren't allowed in Ponyville at all. Albeit she hadn't actually checked in a long time.
On the bright side- if the town ended up becoming a changeling colony; Briar wouldn't have to deal with nearly as many asshole ponies.

 

[ScatheAriiasqDrayceon]

The fear intensified, and Jet nearly choked on the air he was breathing, taking a step back and lowering his head with a chitter. The other changeling seemed nice, but—well, it was hard to tell when he couldn't breathe past the fear in the air.

He idly heard a question being asked, though it took a moment to register as he calmed himself. He couldn't be panicked if the other changeling was panicked. He needed to be calm so he could help calm them down... if quietly. So, he hummed. A quiet, deep thrum that soothed his nerves and settled the sparse prickling of feathers around his neck. He calmed himself and impressed that calm into the air around him, shoving back the fear similar to the way a caretaker drone would do for a newly-hatched larva.

"Uh—that isn't a question many want to as—"

He was cut off by a yell.

A yell so loud that his sensitive ears rang and his mandibles reared up, exposing outer jaw and sharp teeth as he hissed, the calm vaporizing into the never-ending flood of DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!

He dug his claws into the ground, faceted eyes staring up at Briar like a snake about to lunge. There was a brief moment where he stayed like that, right about in the middle of Briar's little speech. It took him a moment to reign himself in, but he did it. The warnings cleared with a light flap of his wings and, although, his ears were still shrilling, he murmured "A—a little loud."

He used the curve of his wing to rub at his ears with a whine. The moth hive was a quiet place, and that had mildly impaired Jet's ability to handle loud noises.

And, once again, another question.

"I—I'm an ambassador for the Cercropia changeling hive. It's part of the—uh—treaty. I'll be here for... a while."

 

[explosiveKitten]

Seems like maybe this changeling was just as scared of her as she was of it.

But maybe that’s just the feeling in the air. The feeling of anxiety was cloying, almost suffocating. Was it coming off her, or him? Or-

"CAN YOU DICK MOUTHS SPEAK UP AND SAY WHAT YOU WANNA SAY OR FUCK OFF!? PICK ONE!"

Briar’s shouting caught her off guard, and she crouched down with her ears pulled back in displeasure as the pink mare started to scream at the bystanders.

“Briar Red! Language!” Falsetto chided, bopping the other pony on the head with a hoof. Gently. “And don’t be rude! You don’t just ask somebody what their diet is! Rude!”

She turned back to the changeling and a shiver prickled down her spine at the chittering of its mandibles, and the shining in its creepy faceted eyes, and- stop thinking like that!

“Treaty?” Falsetto asked, tipping her head to one side, eyes narrowed as she thought about it more, “.... Oh! The peace treaty! The- that’s happening here?! Oh my goodness! In Ponyville of all places?”

The more time she spent in the presence of the changeling, the more she seemed to calm down and come to the conclusion that it didn’t want to kill her. Plus it just had this aura of calm that it seemed to be giving off... oh. Right. It. Should probably ask it what’s it’s pronouns are. So she could stop calling it an “it”.

“oh, my goodness, I’m sorry, I haven’t even- What are your pronouns, Jet, I don’t want to make any assumptions. I take pronouns very seriously!”

Tapfic ScatheAriiasqDrayceon

 

[Tapfic]

The Pegasus could clearly see the way the large creature 's posture shifted- offensive or defensive- whatever, the specifics were they didn't really matter.
She might have expected this had she ever thought any of her actions through in the slightest before committing to them. The combative mare nearly opened her mouth to say something very stupid, but was thankfully cut off by a boop to her snout.
Briar wrinkled her nose at the action. Falsetto was getting mighty comfortable with booping her lately, and she wasn't sure how to feel about that. She snarled without saying anything more.

"I—I'm an ambassador for the Cercropia changeling hive. It's part of the—uh—treaty. I'll be here for... a while."
A peace treaty? Oh. Well, no changeling colonization for Briar then.
She held her tongue for a moment, allowing Falsetto to say her piece. Mostly because Briar simply didn't have anymore to say to the changeling.

" Not that I care, but we're going to be late with the showers if you don't wrap it up already," she really didn't care, or she really wouldn't have cared if being late didn't also entail getting chewed out by some stick in the mud unicorn. A stick in the mud unicorn that she wasn't even allowed to kick at that.

 

[ScatheAriiasqDrayceon]

"Yes, the—the treaty... Ponyville was the only place Queen Mandible figured we wouldn't be—ah—harried." Jet shuffled his wings, the dry rasp of membrane sliding against itself filling his silence for a moment. "Oh—pronouns... right." He was supposed to be asking for those, huh? "He, him, his works fine," he offered. "If I might have yours?"

One ear swiveled to note Briar as the pony snarled. He hadn't been entirely sure if ponies could make such a noise, but here they were. In an almost subconscious response, he chittered quietly, the sound much like a soft bird chirp... or several.

Another slight pause later, and—

"Not that I care, but we're going to be late with the showers if you don't wrap it up already."

Jet jolted. "Ah—er—apologies. I've been holding you from your work."

Even the soldiers weren't as scary as that one.

At least the soldiers needed his services.

He shifted his wings again and backed up a bit, much too used to the Cercropias' larger wings.

 

[explosiveKitten]

Falsetto turned to look at Briar with a huff at her rudeness. Honestly, one day she was going to teach that girl some manners!

“Not everybody takes those things seriously, but I certainly do!” She said, pawing the ground with a hoof and looking around at the disrespectful bystanders whom were staring.

"He, him, his works fine," The changeling offered. "If I might have yours?"

“I’m She/her. Briar here is she/her as well, but she likely wasn’t going to speak up anyway, so I’ll just have to answer for her!” Falsetto said, turning to look at Briar pointedly.

"Not that I care, but we're going to be late with the showers if you don't wrap it up already." Was what Briar said in response to her disappointed look. The nerve of some people!

"Ah—er—apologies. I've been holding you from your work." Once more from the changeling.

“oh, psssh, it’s fine!” Falsetto waved a hoof dismissively, fully prepared to just stand here and talk until she got over the insane amounts of fear that crawled under her coat. But... she would get yelled at. And so would Briar. In fact Briar would probably be blamed more than Falsetto...

“... Oh, fiddlesticks.” She mumbled, looking up at the pegasi gathering in the sky. “I suppose our job is more important- Anyway, welcome to Ponyville and all that, mister Jet. Have a pleasant stay!”

And with that, Falsetto launched herself up into the air and flew away, hoping and praying to GOD or whatever deities existed that the changeling would not follow her or try to seek her out, or anything like that! Just- no. Please no.

Tapfic ScatheAriiasqDrayceon

 

[Tapfic]

Briar nodded in acknowledgment of Jet's pronouns before turning.

" I suggest getting inside if you don't want to get wet. We're watering flower beds today. I like to miss on purpose. " the remark was flat, but hey; at least she was trying to be helpful.

With that she took off, following Falsetto into the sky; only slowing her pace when she caught up with the other mare.
Was Falsetto afraid of changelings? She seemed so shaken at the start of the interaction; but once she had started talking her usual cheerfulness had come out again.

" You scared of that guy? " Briar asked without turning her head to look at the other pony, keeping her eyes on the sky in front of her. The question was blunt and simple, like most of her speech.
If she was in fact afraid of that guy, did that mean she only talked to him because Briar suggested it? Well. Shit.

" You don't have to talk to people that scare you. "
She didn't feel bad, of course. Briar never felt bad about anything, because she always did what was right. Of course.
She was willing to admit that she was a bit confused though, why go over in the first place if she was afraid?

 

[ScatheAriiasqDrayceon]

Jet chirruped in acknowledgement at the other changeling's rushed words, waiting for them to leave before absolutely booking it back to where he was told he was going to be staying, tail tucked and wings drawn in.

That was possibly one of the most stressful moments of his life, being honest.

One of the best infiltrators in all of Queen Mandible's ranks fled the scene of his latest social interaction, slipped through the window of the cell he was staying in (it was a weird shape that wasn't uniform, and it was very confusing to look at), and buried himself in the far back, away from the rain.

 

[explosiveKitten]

Sinew allowed herself to land upon a cloud, taking deep breaths, staring at her hooves and trying to focus on her intake of oxygen.

That. Was the worst idea she ever had, why did she do that? Why did it make that weird noise at her as she left? Why was being such a friendly pony so hard? Why was there a changeling here. Why Ponyville? Ponyville was nothing special! What was the point? Why? WhY? WHY?!

" You scared of that guy? "
“AH!” Falsetto shrieked, earning the eyes of a couple other pegasi nearby, and she felt a blush creep to her cheeks under the fur, and she laughed nervously, before glaring at Briar.
“Don’t!... sneak up on me. Please.”

" You don't have to talk to people that scare you. “ Briar continued, unfazed.

“I- Well I mean-“ Sinew panicked, searching for an answer while the turmoil played on Falsetto’s face, “I-I mean, who ISNT scared of changelings! They are... some...creatures, that we’ve been at war with for years, and they do terrible things, at-at least that’s what our provided information tells us. Yoooou would know that, if, you read the news!”

“But! I mean I try not to judge a book by its cover! That’s why I normally ask for pronouns, becaaaaaaause I don’t want to assume things based on looks, so yes! I went right over there and said hi! Let the guy have at least one friendly face in this town.”

She lifted off the cloud and gestured with a hoof towards the congregation of pegasi bya larger patch of rainclouds. “Ah! That’s our cue, let’s get going! Rain water to distribute and all, eheheh!”

Tapfic

 

[Tapfic]

" I'm not afraid of changelings, " Briar replied, automatically; almost defensively.

" And I don't trust the news." Both true statements.

Her mood to converse had apparently died with the last word; though it hadn't been alive in the first place. Instead of pressing any further she followed Falsetto's gesture to the patch of Pegasi and rain clouds. A line of sight she followed with her wings, landing on a cloud just as another pegasi scrambled off of it and out of Briar''s way. They didn't seem too pleased about it; but the girl simply did not care.

" Lets get the flowerbeds," She was speaking to Falsetto, rather than the entire gaggle of others; of course. It isn't like any of them would want to hang near Briar any longer than necessary anyhow. Though she didn't provide any explanation as to why she wanted to water the flowerbeds.

" The rest of you can handle the fields," if any of them wanted to argue; they didn't show it beyond a few annoyed glances. The pink pony selected a cloud from the patch and separated it; not particularly carefully- but it didn't break apart.

 

[explosiveKitten]

Sinew watched Briar fly off to deal with the beds in the town, and Sinew took the brief moment to dip into hiding inside a cloud and allowed herself a moment to process what in THE FRESH HELL JUST HAPPENED.

Oh sweet gods there a changeling in town! Not just her, but a real, living, breathing, raised-inside-of-a-hive changeling! How was she supposed to deal with this? She could feel her skin care under her disguise at the idea of that thing- He- of him coming to talk to her again, or trying to get her to go back to the hive, or some other thing! Oh, this was all so terrifying she was barely managing to hold herself together.

She was just a changeling hiding in a cloud, trying to maintain her disguise and cool, carefree image. When her entire existence was quite the opposite. Why did she have to go over there? What had compelled her to ever approach that guy? What, duty? To being a friendly face? A need to prove something? Some misplaced loyalty to her kind that she never cared for?
... Blind curiosity?

That gave her pause. Was she perhaps curious? Curious to learn more about a place and a people she had heard stories about, but never actually experienced? To learn from an expert how she should feel about her own kind, to understand them as not a pony, but a changeling? To perhaps feel a sense of... belonging? Of understanding?

... No. She didn’t need changelings. She was perfectly fine with her family.

Finally, she had calmed down. Her heart had settled. And Falsetto popped out of the cloud she had been hiding in, shaking the condensation off and glancing at a nearby pegasus that gave her a weird look. She threw a smile in his direction and began to move the cloud she previously hid in over to Briar Red. This was going to be a wild few weeks.

 

[explosiveKitten]

“Yes, father, I know what- I mean, the ponies have been… mostly just avoiding me like the I have the plague- No, I don’t actually have the plague.”

A young hippogriff stood in his tent, pacing back and forth across a bedraggled, salt-water stained red rug, speaking into a conch shell that he held in one clawed hand. On the other end was his father, standing in their home on Mount Aris.

“Good. We can’t have you catching one of those pony diseases.” His father said, shuddering at the thought of his youngest son coming home with some icky pony sickness.
“There is no plague in this town, father!”
“Alright, alright. Just remember what you’re there to do, Shortfeather.”
The young hippogriff’s face read distaste before he put on a very forced smile. “Smile and wave?”
“You represent our nation, so you need to do more than smile and wave, you need to be pleasant, amiable, convince the ponies that we intend to make peace!”
“Do we?” Shortfeather asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yyeeeeeess!” His father said emphatically.

“Right? Right yeah, Mhm.” He hummed, tuning out his father’s words, and glancing around the tent. It was meager, but not something he was unused to. A cot for sleeping, a rug, some provisions in the form of dried fish. Basically everything a hippogriff on the go could need.

His attention snapped away from watching a bug crawl across the rug when he heard wingbeats outside.
“Something’s outside.” He said suddenly, causing his father to snap his beak shut.
He slammed the shell down onto the cot, ignoring the sounds of his father asking questions and rushed over to the entrance of the tent. When he looked out, he noticed a large-winged changeling flying towards a nearby… residential… place, and he blinked, before stepping out further to get a closer look.

Looked to be a Cecropia changeling, kinda nervous, just guessing by posture. Didn’t a dragon go into that place earlier?

… Let’s go say hello. Father would want that.

“Ho there, changeling, how uhhh… how’s it going?”

ScatheAriiasqDrayceon

 

[ScatheAriiasqDrayceon]

No, no, noooooo

Jet mentally bemoaned his misfortune as, not a moment after he'd gotten into the cell (house. It's called a house), a voice called out to him from the window. A sharp buzz from his wing sections betrayed his anxiety as he turned, just spotting Flame slip out the door from the corner of his eye.

The changeling took a long breath, steadying himself before poking his head out the window, mandibles twitching expectantly. "Hail, hippogriff." He tilted his head, faceted eyes reflecting in shades of turquoise. "I'm... satisfactory." His wings buzzed again. "And you?"

No tricks, Jet reminded himself. No tricks, and no hiding.