The day began and ended just like every other day. Boring, disappointing, and monotonous.

That, and cold. Much colder than yesterday.

The season seemed to not be able to decide whether it wanted to be summer, fall, or winter that October. Today the weather decided to be winter for a change.

Zach didn’t mind the cold, but it was the inconsistency that bugged him. The weather had been going back and forth like this on a regular basis in the general region of his hometown. It was as if the weather was actively juggling between the seasons on a whim within the span of a week.

Sure, it was a bit of an exaggeration, but the temperature difference was still quite considerable. It was all over the local news, the weather teams couldn’t explain it. It sucked, that’s all he really knew.

He leaned his bike against the doorframe and unlocked his front door, talking to himself as he did so, “Temperature went from ninety to fifty like it saw a state trooper. I’m about a hundred and ten percent done with this crazy weather.”

Zach stepped inside, wiped his shoes on the welcome mat and hoisted his bike over the carpeting. He carried it to his room just down the hall and set it aside near his desk. Zach then unceremoniously tossed his coat and kicked his shoes off. Afterward, he plopped down at his desk in his flimsy office chair.

He adjusted his glasses and took up the cleaning cloth in his free hand, clearing them of the debris the lenses had accumulated over the course of the day.

“Another boring day, another batch of dollars. Welp, time to be a vegetable for a few hours, then go to sleep and do it all over again tomorrow.” He spoke in a detached tone of voice, as if speaking a rehearsed line that he’d grown tired of saying.

Zach powered up his PC and proceeded to do just that, letting his mind wander and idly float off as he filled his gaze with internet videos that seemed interesting. Maybe he’d play a game too, if he could find the desire to do so.

He did what he could to fill his attention with the random nonsense on-screen, but the old, gloomy thoughts started finding their way into the forefront of his mind as they always inevitably did. Upcoming rent, the thought of what he was going to do once his seasonal part time job ended, what he was going to do with the rest of his life, etc.

The usual pessimistic and anxious contemplations that he didn’t particularly care for.

Zach sighed and dismissed the thoughts, forcing them out of his mind with a significant effort. They would be back though, and he needed something better to distract himself with.

“Games it is.” He booted up one of his numerous videogames. Nothing too fancy, just an old adventure game with a good nostalgia factor to it. He’d played it dozens of times already, but it never seemed to get old.

Off he went, vicariously roaming that fantasy world through his little avatar on-screen.

He’d give anything to live a life like that for a day, to just, set aside the stress and monotony of life for an adventure, something meaningful and exciting.

Well…maybe not, when he really thought about it. Sure, his life was boring, but he was just fine without magical mythological creatures trying to kill him. Sometimes though, he imagined that wouldn’t be so bad…

“No, that’s enough of that.” He chastised himself and steered his thoughts away from that avenue. Zach refocused himself on his vicarious adventure through whatever the name of this fantasy world was that he could never seem to remember.

After a couple hours of dungeon crawling, he saved the game and shut it off. “So long for now, Käfer. We’ll adventure again tomorrow.”

Käfer, that’s what he’d named his character. He originally intended for it to be something cool, fearsome, something using a different language. Zach had chosen German, the language that always seemed to have cool sounding names for most things, a part of his heritage too. He stumbled across the name by chance and decided to go with it on a whim.

As it turned out, Käfer meant “beetle”, of all things. Unfortunately, he’d already been a few hours into the campaign and was attached to the character, so the name stuck.

Casting a glance to his alarm clock, Zach saw that the hour was already getting late. “Oh come on, I wasn’t gaming for that long, was I!?” He indignantly muttered.

He was almost certain he’d only been on for two or three hours, tops, but the alarm clock said otherwise. Knowing his track record, it was entirely possible he’d lost track of time, again. “Every time…” Zach mumbled.

There wasn’t anything he could do about it, no point really. Time one enjoyed wasting wasn’t wasted time, after all! Although he did find himself wishing he’d ‘wasted’ that time doing something else, as he always did.

Zach drew in a deep breath and exhaled, “Whatever, bed time, I guess.”

He went through his bedtime routine: brushing teeth, powering down electronics, the works.

Zach gently placed his glasses on his nightstand, then he slipped under the covers without much other thought.

Just as he was beginning to get comfortable, his mind decided it wasn’t ready for sleep.

All manner of fantastic contemplations and deep thought ran through his mind with reckless abandon. Zach could do little to stem the tide of random ideas and theories about trivial things. He grumbled to himself and reached over to grab his phone, figuring that he may as well read something to pass the time if his brain wasn’t going to let him sleep.

Eventually, sleep came for him. Just as it did every night.

Unexpected and without warning.

...

Zach woke the next morning with a start, having slept on his phone at an awkward angle. It was a good thing he’d employed the use of multiple alarms to wake himself up in the morning, or else he’d have slept right through the muffled and garbled noise of the alarm currently emitting from his phone.

With a groggy yawn and a stretch, he roused himself from bed, placed his glasses upon his face, and began his standard morning routine. Zach threw on the same kinds of casual business pants and button shirt, same as he did every other day.

For his breakfast: a hot cup of mocha coffee, followed with idle thoughts and imaginative ideas. The only part of his routine that he was perfectly fine with staying just the same every time. That’s what mornings were for, really: coffee and contemplations. Anyone who said otherwise was wrong, in his opinion.

Zach went about the rest of his routine, brushing teeth, getting his watch, making sure his phone was charged, etc. When the hour came for him to leave, he threw on his keys and winter coat and was out the door with his bike.

He made it to work on time, on the dot, as he always did and prided himself on doing. It wasn’t much, but he had his job, and he was always on time; It was something.

Zach rather liked his job; it kept him busy and helped occupy his mind. He enjoyed talking with people, and talking to people was his job, essentially. Well, technically it was customer service, but the point still stood. He made people laugh and smile to the best of his abilities, and that offered him a sense of happiness to an extent.

He really did enjoy this job working at the Halloween store. It was one of the brighter points of his day.

Unfortunately for him, this was just a seasonal job. Come November, he’d have to go and find something else to occupy his time with….and make money of course, the money was important too.

“Can’t worry about that now, no point worrying about it when I can’t stop it. I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.” Zach said to himself. He took a deep breath, clocked in, and went about his day.

Once again, the hours passed with long waiting periods of nothing to do, broken up with the occasional customer that Zach would greet, talk with, answer questions for, and assist with their purchase. The same as it was every other day.

Zach knew that it’d get busier the closer it got to Halloween, people waiting until the last minute. It never failed, no matter what holiday it was; if people were smart, they’d do their shopping early. They didn’t, and then they’d arrive and be upset when they found out that there wasn’t anymore stock available of that thing they wanted.

That being said, at least it’d give him more opportunity to keep himself busy and talk to people. Definite silver lining in all the chaos that would surely happen come the 31^st.

The hours passed without any significant event occurring, and eventually the time came for him to clock out and leave.

Zach waved his supervisor goodbye and hopped on his bike to head home.

The trip home was as uneventful as it always was. He stopped to grab a bite to eat, and then headed straight home.

Zach pulled up to his driveway and hopped off his bike once he’d reached the front door. He removed his gloves and hat, looking to the sunny sky. He glanced down at the weather app on his phone and sighed. “Looks like tomorrow’s gonna go back to being T-shirt weather.”

Same as yesterday, he hoisted his bike up and brought it to his room. Zach laid it against his desk, and proceeded to toss aside his shoes and coat, not caring which direction they went or where they ended up.

“Another uneventful day, another batch of dollars.” He sighed and plopped down into his office chair again, cleaning off his glasses and booting up his PC. “I think I’ll be a potato now.”

Zach opened his game browser and picked one of the titles at random, not caring too much about what game he played, just that he was playing something. Occupying his mind with the process of the game, holding his focus, that’s all he really needed at that moment.

After a short time gaming, he switched off and browsed the internet. He wasn’t doing anything particularly interesting or meaningful, it was just wasting time until it was time to sleep. Casually browsing through websites and social media, internet videos and the like, whatever random thing grabbed his attention.

It wasn’t much, but it was all he could find the willpower to do most days. Better than being idle and letting his mind stew about with negativity or gloomy crap.

He came upon something that caught his eye after one particular video ended. It was a random chance, one of those odd video suggestions that rarely have anything to do with the video that had just been watched.

It piqued his curiosity, so he clicked it. The video itself wasn’t all that interesting, but the subject of the video was what caught his attention.

“My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, is airing its final episode this week.”

Zach wasn’t sure what to think about that news. On the one hand, he’d never really been a huge fan of the show itself. Sure, he loved the artwork and the music (especially the music), and even a lot of the fanfiction that fans of the show had made. It was great, he thoroughly enjoyed that aspect of the show even to this day.

However, on the other hand, Zach had stopped watching the show after the end of…whichever season. It was just after the Canterlot Wedding if he remembered correctly. He’d watched a few episodes here and there after that season, nothing consistent, but it had been years since he’d last seen the show.

“Huh..” was all he could say to the news.

Zach ran a hand through his hair as he thought about the show. That kid’s show about colorful ponies, magic, and friendship. A part of him was sad, there was no denying that; especially considering what the show had meant to him.

He originally fell in love with the show because, at the time, he was in a bad spot. It wasn’t a very happy point in his life, to put it mildly. The show stood out as this little beacon of brightness against what he now remembered as that dark splotch in his life that he didn’t like thinking or talking about.

Now, here it was, the show that helped him through that dark spot was ending.

Zach gave it some more thought, and finally came to the decision that, maybe he’d give the show another watch. Sure, he wasn’t a huge fan of the show anymore, but why not watch it for nostalgia sake?

Well, maybe “nostalgia” wasn’t the right word for it, given why he’d originally watched the show.

He digressed, Friendship is Magic would give him a much-needed mood boost, heck, it might give him a sense of inspiration to do something other than vegetate after work. At the very least it’d give him something else to do besides playing videogames and watching random internet videos.

Zach might even start writing again. Or drawing. It would be nice, getting back into his old hobbies.

It didn’t take much for him to convince himself to do it. “Why not? Could be fun, I’ll give it another go.” Zach checked the clock, and emitted a low, agitated huff. “…Starting tomorrow.”

He shut down his PC and readied himself for bed.

...

The next day was par for the course, save for the exception of it being T-shirt weather. Same morning routine, same ride to work, typically average work day. Same fast food place after work even.

He arrived back home after all was said and done, carried his bike inside, sat it next to his desk and kicked his shoes off. “Another day, another batch of dollars. Looks like I’m a tomato today.”

Zach unceremoniously plopped into his chair. His mind was on full “crappy feelings” mode for whatever reason, nothing out of the ordinary for him. Unpleasant as it was, he had a remedy for it.

“Wait…a tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable. Ok, whatever, Lettuce then.”

Zach booted up the adventure game from before, “Hello again Käfer, time to go exploring. You ready?” The avatar played its idle animation, the pixels onscreen indifferent to anything other than the direct input of his keyboard. Zach shrugged, he said it more for himself anyway.

A good hour or so was spent dungeon crawling, exploiting the climbing skills of the game’s horses, and exploring regions not yet marked on his in-game map, while avoiding annoying NPCs and their irrelevant side-quests like the plague.

There came the nagging thought in his mind, as if he’d forgotten something. It wasn’t anything important, but something that he’d said he was going to do, but what was it?

“Oh, right, ponies.”

Zach stretched and took a breath, now was as good a time as any to begin his journey back to Equestria. He shut down the game after saving it, bidding Käfer farewell.

“Welp, here goes, for old time’s sake.” Zach said to himself and started up the pilot episode for Friendship is magic. This was where it all started, he may as well get himself back into the show from the beginning.

Once the intro began, the “nostalgia” hit him like a wave, washing over him and instilling a familiar sense of excitement and…the less happy emotions he’d had at the time he originally saw these first episodes. He took it all in, not that he had much of a choice in the matter.

Zach remembered the scenes almost perfectly, funnily enough. It had been roughly five years now, and he still remembered that pilot episode as if he’d just seen it yesterday.

That familiar, refreshing sense of ease and something close to joy gradually filled his mind. Zach sat and he watched Twilight meet her future friends, followed along as they journeyed into the everfree forest after Nightmare moon…

After a short time passed, he couldn’t help but smile. This was nice, he was glad he decided to do this.

Well, up until he glanced at the alarm clock and it showed that the hour was once again getting late. “Really?” Zach said with an air of indignation. “OK, I know for sure I was not on the game for that long!”

There was no use arguing though, time was final, regardless of how much he wanted to force the clock to go back and return him those hours he was almost certain he’d been robbed of.

“Whatever, I’ll pick up where I left off tomorrow then.” He begrudgingly conceded defeat and readied himself for bed.

Once his teeth were cared for and everything else was done, he slid into bed and blew a raspberry at nothing in particular, decompressing for the night.

As Zach lay there in his bed, he mused aloud, “People say time flies when you’re having fun, but I’m starting to think that’s a croc of poop. Time just flies, and we all end up older. I hate time.”

He sighed and rolled onto his side, glancing over at his phone.

An idea popped into his head, and Zach reached for his phone with a grin. “You know what? I’m not getting to sleep just yet anyway…why not watch more ponies?” It wasn’t the best idea, since he’d most likely end up sleeping on his phone, again. That never stopped him before and it wasn’t stopping him now.

Given the nature of the show, it’d offer a safe and gentle backdrop for falling asleep. That, and he could catch up to the point he’d last watched the show quicker this way. Zach had originally said he was going to re-watch the whole series, and this was technically cheating, but, hey, they were his rules anyway.

Zach was just getting comfortable when, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something ‘off’ about his ceiling. Well, not his whole ceiling, rather, a splotch on his ceiling, directly above him. At first, he thought it may have been a bug, they were getting to be an invasive nuisance this time of year.

“Sorry buddy, unless you’re a spider, you’re not welcome in my house.” He said aloud and rose from bed. Zach reached to get a wad of paper towel with which to crush the little invader, keeping an eye on it as he did so.

He climbed onto his bed and stood up, getting a closer look at that odd little splotch on his ceiling, which hadn’t moved so much as an inch since he’d gotten out of bed to deal with it.

The splotch was not a bug, upon closer inspection.

It was a little orb of blue, something; navy blue perhaps? No, he was sure that was a little too dark to be “navy blue” but it was most definitely “blue” of some form. A blue circular splotch on his ceiling, and he had no idea how it got there or what could have possibly left it there.

Zach poked at the little blue splotch with the wad of paper towel, nothing came of it. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. The paper towel seemed to…match the color, as if the splotch were made from a light source coming from within his room.

Zach moved the paper towel away and held a finger up to the blue splotch. Sure enough, the blue went over his finger as if the blue were coming from a light source. He couldn’t figure out for the life of him where this light source could have been originating from.

He eyed the blue splotch with a scrutinous expression, “You were not here yesterday…” Stating the obvious. Zach’s gaze trailed across the room, searching high and low for anything; anything at all that could be casting this little light onto his ceiling.

No luck.

The only other light source in his room at that moment was the soft orange glow of the salt lamp on his desk.

Zach scratched his head and essentially gave up bothering to look for where the light source originated from. “It’s blue, dark blue, really not all that bothersome…whatever, I’ll look for the source tomorrow…I’m tired and not in the mood to deal with this right now.”

He conceded to the light simply having to be there for now. He needed to get some sleep and be ready for another day of work tomorrow after all! He was not about to jeopardize his “on-time” streak over some little light shining on his ceiling.

Zach slipped back under the covers and grabbed his phone again, though he cast one last look up at the little light splotch on his ceiling. “You better not be some paranormal thing… I’ve got salt, lots of salt, and I’m not afraid to use it.”

He returned his gaze to his phone, and the colorful ponies that showed on-screen.

Again, sleep came for him unexpectedly and without warning.

...

When Zach next found himself conscious, or what he thought to be consciousness, he was bathed in dark blue light. A sense of warmth seeped itself into his body, it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation, but it was odd. He could see, just above him, the little splotch of light had grown exponentially. It was now a fairly large and somewhat ominous mass of glowing blue, well, light.

Dark blue light, with what appeared to be whisps of clouds dancing around the outer edges.

As bland and unimaginative a description as that was, it was the best way he could describe it in his half-asleep state.

Well, he was fairly certain he was still asleep at this point. Either he was sleeping, or he was experiencing a paranormal event. To think he’d been joking when he made that threat about the salt earlier…

No, he was sure he was dreaming.

Ghosts weren’t real; the paranormal was almost always able to be explained away with logic and reasoning.

Looking closer, the mass of light wasn’t a solid formation. It looked as if it went, in? Like a tunnel, almost, it was difficult to really make out any detail given that he was half asleep and he didn’t have his glasses on.

He sighed and looked up to nowhere in particular, “Subconscious, can you not do these crazy surreal dreams?”

Zach had dabbled in the idea of lucid dreaming a few months back. He’d never really done a lucid dream, but he found that he could communicate indirectly with his subconscious and guide his dreams to an extent. Even when he couldn’t guide his dreams, he could still speak to his subconscious, and more often than not, his subconscious would listen.

Expectedly, Zach received no response from speaking to his subconscious. Although, nothing came of his request either.

When he listened, he could swear he was starting to hear the sounds of laughter…soft, cheerful laughter. Birds, chirping, singing, crickets chittering… it was nice.

If this ominous blue light was some nightmare thing, it would have been blatantly obvious. This didn’t seem like any kind of nightmarish occurrence, it actually seemed rather peaceful and…not horrible.

“Ok, I’ll bite. Have at it, subconscious.” Zach said aloud. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift off. Except, he was drifting, upwards..? That’s what it felt like, as if something was guiding his mind upwards and out of his bed. He opened his eyes, but he couldn’t see anything to confirm or deny the sensation he felt.

He closed his eyes, the sensation returned.

Zach was no stranger to weird dreams, so he tried not to take it too seriously. He was a bit reserved towards this turn of events, but…it was all just a dream, right? What could possibly go wrong? He was at least a little curious too, to see where his subconscious would take this.

Zach took a breath and tried to relax, holding his eyes shut in an effort to try and move on to whatever his subconscious mind had in store for him next. Hopefully it would something a little less surreal and more the normal kind of weird he was used to in his dreams.

The warmth filled his body completely, and the gentle laughter surrounded him alongside the sounds of birds, wind blowing, singing. His mind drifted and it became difficult for him to think.

A distant thunderclap rang, then there was silence.

...

Zach opened his eyes and was warmly greeted, not by his array of alarms, but by the sounds of crickets chirping and leaves rustling in the wind above him. He was no longer in his bed, bits of twigs and grass brushing against him established that fact quite quickly.

Once his eyes adjusted to the light, he could see trees of various shapes and sizes around him. There were countless colors and hues he wasn’t used to seeing, plants that were definitely not from his local geographical region. The sky was overcast with clouds, but sunlight still managed to sneak its way through, just enough to illuminate his surroundings.

‘OK! It’s pretty obvious I’m still dreaming. Where has my subconscious elected to dump me this time I wonder? Lemme guess…’ Zach said in his mind. The area looked faintly familiar to him, well, more familiar the longer he looked and took in the finer details.
He took in the saturated colors, the trees and bushes, the vines…the gently shrouding darkness in the furthest reaches of treeline in the distance. The trickling of a stream nearby, little croppings of hill mounds and burrows…

He was in a forest.

'I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't this.'

Previously...
He took in the saturated colors, the trees and bushes, the vines…the gently shrouding darkness in the furthest reaches of treeline in the distance. The trickling of a stream nearby, little croppings of hill mounds and burrows…

He was in a forest.

Our story continues...

Not just any forest, no, he remembered this forest. This looked almost exactly like what the Everfree Forest looked like in the pilot episode of the show. That being said, he didn’t dismiss the possibility of it being some sort of other forest that his subconscious threw together to create a scene, as it so often had done with other scenery in his past dreams.

The one question though, was, why? Why would he be having a dream about this? He’d only just started watching the show that night and was a mere three episodes in! It shouldn’t already be planted in his subconscious! That’s not how dreams work!

“Ok, Subconscious, we’ve gotta talk…I-” He said aloud. The voice that spoke it startled him, and he recoiled in surprise. “Wh-whoa…holy cow, is that me? That’s, it is me! That’s my voice?!” He sounded like he had a metallic gargling in his throat when he spoke, and it was a noticeable few pitches higher than he recalled his normal voice being.

“Aeiou…Aaeeiioouu…falalalaaaaa” he sounded out a few vocals with this new gargly, vibrating voice of his. “Hoo hoo, haa haa, hee hee…” He offered a chuckle. “Ok, not gonna lie, this is pretty neat.”

This was a definite first for him, in terms of dreams. He’s had plenty of dreams before where his voice had been reduced to little more than a whisper, or where his mouth was prevented from speaking altogether, but this? Zach never had a dream where his voice changed into something else before. “Points for originality, subconscious. I approve!”

After testing out his new vocals for a good minute, Zach eventually decided it was time to stop laying on the ground. He moved to rise to his feet, standing up straight…and promptly fell forward due to an unusually placed center of gravity, causing him to face-plant.

“…ow…” was all he managed to get out.

That, hurt. Dreams weren’t supposed to hurt like that! Dreams weren’t supposed to hurt at all. Well, you were supposed to think you were experiencing pain, but you wouldn’t actually feel any pain.

This right here was actual pain.

“OK, another first for me…not only do I have a tangible center of gravity, and an actual response to gravity, but I can feel pain now too. Boy oh boy, you really outdid yourself, Subconscious…” Zach said rather weakly.

He picked himself up off the ground, dusted himself off and tried again, though he was forced forward once more due to his offset center of gravity and mass. He caught himself this time on his forehooves.

Hooves.

Hooves?

Zach stared at the ground, and the hooves, for what felt like an hour. He eventually spoke. “Am…am I a pony? Subconscious, am I seriously having a pony dream? After watching, what, three episodes?” Zach looked up into the air at nothing specific.

If this was a pony dream, then he was almost certainly in Equestria, and this was most likely the Everfree Forest based on the episodes he’d seen.

There was a thought in the back of his mind, an idea, that, perhaps this may not be a dream. However, the forefront of his mind was preoccupied with taking in his surroundings, and firmly believing that this fantasy he suddenly found himself in was precisely that, fantasy. Zach stubbornly stuck with the idea that he was dreaming, nothing more.

He was convinced that something odd would happen to illustrate that this was in fact a dream any moment now. Well, more odd than being in the setting of a cartoon show about magical ponies. Odd-odd, like a spider that acts like a dog, that your brain tells you is a dog, even though it is obviously a spider.

“Yeah, you outdid yourself this time, subconscious, but I know all your tricks! You’re gonna slip up somewhere, somehow, and I’m gonna catch it.” Zach was determined, he was going to prove that this was an elaborate dream…

Actually, now that he thought about it, why should he work to prove if this is a dream or not? All he’d do by proving he was dreaming would be to wake himself up. The scenery was nice enough, the air was crisp and had a cool breeze to it…he was a pony, at least he thought he was a pony. If he was dreaming, why would he want to wake up from this? It was peaceful in his dreams for a change, not the standard organized chaos he was used to.

Having actual consistency in a dream was a dream come true for him, even if the content and setting of the dream was not his first choice in having this sort of thing happen. “You know what? I change my mind; this is fine. I am OK with this!”

Besides, if he woke up now, he’d just have to go and get ready for work. He liked work, but he’d much prefer to be in a dream than hauling himself off to work.

“Next time, make it about one of my favorite anime, ok, subconscious? Or, or you could make it about one of my adventure games! That would be cool!” Now that he knew his subconscious could pull off something like this, he couldn’t wait to see what it could do with one of those settings!

Zach went to take his first step in this dream world, and promptly mis-stepped and faceplanted. “Ow…right…four legs.” He brought himself back to his feet and looked to his hooves. Were those, holes? He had holes in his hooves! “I gotcha, subconscious! Hooves aren’t supposed to have holes in them! Ha! Proof that this is a dream, checkmate.”

Now that that was settled, he had to learn how to move forward.

Zach struggled to walk for a good several minutes, maybe longer, he’d lost track of time as he so regularly did. “Ok, ok, first, one foot forward, next foot…now this foot, AGH!” He faceplanted for the sixth time in a row, failing to make even a foot’s worth of progress.

He pounded his hooves into the dirt and let out a growl of frustration, “Why the flying heck is this so difficult!? Come on subconscious! A little help would be nice!” Zach mumbled to himself as he struggled to get back onto his four feet. Wait, could he call them feet if they weren’t feet? Should he start calling them hooves? Questions for later.

“Ok, lets try this again…first one foot, not the other, and then this, GAH!” Again, he faceplanted.

After a considerable amount of time, of which he’d lost track of, and even more effort, Zach had just about given up on reliably walking. After faceplanting a few more times, he elected instead to just scoot himself across the ground. It was dumb, but it worked.

“Alright, I can navigate at the barest minimum level, on to the next objective. Let’s see what I look like! I know I have dark gray fur, or whatever this coating is on my hooves, my subconscious slipped up and I have holes in my hooves for whatever reason. Where’s a body of water when you need one?” Zach looked about, eventually finding a little puddle.

It wasn’t what he was hoping for, but it would suffice. Close enough for him to scoot over to without much effort.

“Well that’s convenient, now to see what kind of pony I am. Maybe I’m a unicorn! Always wanted to dabble in magic. Though…being able to fly as a Pegasus would also be pretty awesome. I’m pretty sure I’ve flown in dreams before though, but if my subconscious is making this a consistent dream, flying as a Pegasus will be amazing for sure!”

A thought crossed his mind, “Oh, what if…what if I’m an alicorn!? That’d be amazing! I could fly and do magic!” Zach glanced up at the sky and said aloud, “Oh please please please, subconscious, make me be an alicorn! I would love to be able to fly and do magic!”

Without further ado, he scooted himself over and peered into the puddle to gaze upon his reflection.

He wasn’t expecting much, half of the time in his dreams he didn’t have any reflection, and mirrors were literally just windows into an exact copy of the room he was in when looking into a reflective surface. Either that, or, regardless of what form his dream had him be in, his reflection was always human.

What he saw in his reflection now, was unexpected to say the very least.

“…Oh…” was all Zach could say as he took in the rather frightful details of his visage. His heart sank ever so slightly the longer he looked at himself.

“That’s…not a pony at all. That’s not human either.”

Zach Recognized the sleek, dark gray coloration and chitinous coating, the fangs; the large, solid blue eyes. He couldn’t tell whether or not the eyes were compound eyes or not, he could see a clear, solid image, so, he imagined they were regular eyes. Then there were the wings, filled with holes, the jagged spike of a horn, the holes in his hooves that now made perfect sense, his lack of a mane, the weird fin thing sprouting from the back of his neck.

He was 100% sure he was, in fact, a Changeling.

“Really!?” Zach shouted into the air.

The irony of it wasn't lost on him, he puffed out his cheeks with an air of annoyance.

He had gotten exactly what he asked for: a horn and wings, the ability to fly and do magic. It was a technicality, one that irked him to no end. “Ok, very funny subconscious, hysterical…make me something other than a bug pony now, please. Oh, and not an earth pony either.”

Its not that he had anything against Earth ponies, he was just squeamish about the concept of using his mouth to do menial tasks. Last year he went into food service as a job, and that had made him exceptionally more fearful about bacteria and hygiene than he’d ever been prior.

Zach stood there and he waited. “Any day now, subconscious!” He waited some more, but nothing happened.

“Come on, I know you’re listening!”

Again, he waited, but nothing happened.

Zach furrowed his brow and looked up at the sky, “Heloooo!? Subconscious!?”

Still nothing.

He threw his arms into the air and cried out, “Oh you lousy, good for no-” Zach faceplanted for the…eighth time? Ninth? Didn’t matter at this point. His sentence was finished with a muffled tone as he ate dirt. “-mrrfhhrrmmm…”

He pulled his face from the hole it’d put in the earth, brushed himself off, and huffed indignantly, “Right…quadrupedal, not bipedal…. Gravity also works in this dream. Can’t stay mad at consistency, especially not in my dreams.”

Zach rose to his feet and angrily shook a hoof at the sky. “This isn’t over, you hear me!?” Though he quickly had to steady himself to prevent another faceplant.

There wasn’t really anything he could do about his situation, all things considered.

Zach elected to do the next best thing: get comfortable with navigating on four feet…err, hooves. If he was going to be here for any significant amount of time, he may as well pass that time by learning how to properly navigate. Scooting across the ground wasn’t a suitable method of locomotion in the long term.

He spent the next half hour or so practicing, trying to get the mental processes going and familiarizing himself with the new purpose of his upper torso appendages. Walking on four legs…something that was proving to be oh so much more difficult than he could have possibly imagined.

“How the heck to horses do this!? The cognitive processes are there, I just, its so hard to keep my balance centered and move myself at the same time! Why is walking on four legs so much more difficult than walking on two!?” He ranted aloud to no one in particular.

Zach’s mind wandered, as it normally did, and lighted upon what knowledge he had of horses, and navigating as a bipedal. “Wait, humans can walk on two legs because they have the brainpower needed to balance on only two locomotion points, whereas balancing on four legs requires less…brainpower…” The irony gave him a slap in the face, and he swiftly bit out, “Shut up! Shut up… I’ll figure this out. If horses can do this, I can do it! I can ride a bicycle with no hands for goodness sake!”

“I mean, not for very long, but I can do it.”

Zach successfully avoided any additional instances of falling face-first, though now he was starting to fall flat on his rear. It was an improvement in his book, at the very least. “Rgghhh… this is so humiliating! How can I not get this!?”

With a resounding huff, Zach plopped onto his backside and sat to think long and hard about this situation. Ignoring the possibility that this wasn’t a dream, he set about addressing the complexities of walking on four legs versus two. “I don’t understand, this should be easy! I’ve walked on all fours as a kid plenty of times! Where am I going wrong?”

Zach dove into his own mind and got to analyzing. “OK, maybe it has something to do with the fact that my mind still associates my forelegs with arms, and the distance available for my arms as I remember them… That’d explain why I always seem to be falling on my face, and the coordination issues I’m having.” He mentally scratched his chin and imagined himself next to a horse, trying to map his limbs to the horse’s limbs.

“Now that I think about it, maybe that’s, my problem? I think I need to start associating these forelegs as an extra pair of legs, or as an extension of my original legs. What if I start by synchronizing my forelegs with my back legs, try and match the muscle movement, will that do the trick?” He contemplated and mused over the idea, looking at it from multiple directions before he was remotely satisfied with the idea. He only had the knowledge from what he’d read in biology class years ago to work with as he did this analysis, but he figured it was better than what he’d been doing up until that point.

Anything was better than the tactic of throwing poop at the wall and hoping something stuck.

"All that's left to do is to try it out.”

Zach started his walk cycle, except this time he moved his back legs first, and tried to match the movement with his forelegs. It took some doing to override the natural brain processes he still had from being human, but eventually he got some semblance of coordinated moving going. “So far so g-” He managed to make it a few steps before faceplanting.

‘That counts! That counts, I’m counting it. Progress!’ He mentally fist pumped.

Zach rose to his feet and set about trying again, “Ok, this time a bit more focus on balance and counter balance….and…one, two….three four….” He took steps, and a few more steps. He wavered briefly, but caught himself, then took some more steps. “Who-oah..easy…”

A chuckle escaped his lips, “I…I’m doing it! I’m actually doing I-” He fell forward, but caught himself just before hitting the ground and propped himself back up. “I’m doing it! Yes! It only took me four hours, but I’m walking like a horse!” He laughed aloud and cheered.

“Wait…has it really been four hours?” He stopped abruptly and had to think about that. “Four hours…in a, dream.” Zach was finally beginning to address the notion of whether this was indeed a dream or not. If he was in a dream, he should have woken up by now…

Once again, the thought of the possibility of this not being a dream wormed its way into his mind. “I mean…this is all so unusually consistent for a dream, even if it is about as far from reality as possible, but, still.”

“Gah, no, what am I saying? My sense of time passage is terrible…for all I know I could have been here all of fifteen minutes! That’s why I have a watch, darnit!” He moved a hoof to the trees and shrubbery around him, and to his own reflection in the little puddle nearby. “I mean, look at all this! There is no way that any of this is real!”

He quickly waved off the possibility of this being anything but a dream, content with his reasoning. “This is all from a children’s cartoon show about magical colorful ponies and magical friendship! Yes, the only logical explanation for all of this is that my subconscious is working in overdrive and doing this on purpose! I. Am. Dreaming. I’ll wake up any moment now and have to get ready for work, especially now that I know for a fact that I am dreaming!”

Zach stood up and waited. He looked about, glancing around as if expecting at any moment he’d be back in his own bed, the sunlight creeping through his window blinds and his alarms singing his grating wakeup call. He waited for something, anything to happen.

“Any second now.”

Nothing happened, besides the relatively ordinary sounds of birds and chittering insects softly floating in the air, and the breeze gingerly weaving between the trees.

Zach narrowed his eyes and uttered the words, “Well played, subconscious…well played.”

A few minutes passed of a continued lack of anything happening. Eventually Zach resigned himself to the situation, “Ah, to heck with this, if I’m gonna be stuck in this dream and at the whims of a troll-happy, oddly consistent subconscious, I may as well roll with it.”

Zach outstretched a hoof and declared in a half-joking manner, “Onwards, adventure awaits!”

He took a step forward and nearly faceplanted for the, well, he’d stopped counting. Luckily, he caught himself this time, and hoisted himself back up from the ground. “Back legs first, match foreleg muscles with back leg muscles…” He whispered to himself. “Ok, and once more with feeling!”

Zach set his legs in motion and gradually moved himself along. Once he grew more comfortable with locomotion, he ever so gradually increased his speed, until he was walking at a brisk pace. Walking? Trotting? It didn’t matter to him, not really.

“This isn’t so bad, see? I’m already getting the hang of wa-WHOA, easy, eeeasy…there, walking, easy peasy. Phew.”

Zach steadied himself and kept on walking. He glanced around at the scenery as he strolled casually through the woods, remembering where exactly he was in this magical dreamstate fantasy world. “Ok, so if I’m remembering correctly, the Everfree Forest is a bad place that I kinda don’t want to be in…” Looking around, he confirmed that this did indeed look like it was the Everfree forest as he’d originally thought, but then again, there could have been other forests in Equestria that he didn’t know about. For a moment, Zach thought he saw a clearing in the distance, but he wasn’t too sure.

The last thing he wanted right now was to remain in the 'magical forest of death' for any longer than he had to, if that was indeed where he was as he’d assumed, dream or not. Zach dug deep into his mind and tried to remember what he could about the land of Equestria, what little bits and pieces he could put together from the many stories he’d read and artwork he’d seen. It took some doing but he eventually recalled seeing a map once before.

It was a vague recollection, but if he was remembering correctly, and that was a big if, then he needed to be heading…north west. That direction would eventually bring him out of the Everfree forest and into proximity of Ponyville. That’s all he needed, really, a general sense of direction.

That is, assuming his dream would still have the consistency of appropriately matching the geographical locations of Equestria and not just randomly plop him someplace else the second he exited the forest. Or drop him off in another world and a completely different story entirely as his subconscious was so fond of doing.

“Ok, now I just need to find what direction North is.” He said aloud.

He blinked a few times, then added, “Aaaaand I don’t have a compass, nor do I have a magnet or needle to rig one up survival style. Greeeeaat, I’m more or less lost in the supernatural woods of untimely demise!” His voice carried an air of sarcasm towards the end.

Zach stood there for a moment before mentally facepalming. “Idiot! You know how to navigate! Sort of…” He said to himself, then looked to the sky. If Equestria’s solar system was similar or the same as the one back home, then finding north should be easy! Again, assuming his subconscious kept up with its current level of consistency.

“God I love space; thank you, Science Guy.”

Despite the cloud cover that still remained overhead, the sun was visible and shining through. Luckily for him, it hung in the sky at just enough of an angle to be noticeable. “Bingo! Alright, so the sun rises in the east and sets in the west back home. So, if I assume that it behaves the same way here, then that means… Sun’s setting, that way is north!”

Zach stopped and mentally kicked himself upon realizing that he didn’t know what the time of day was. The sun, for all he knew, could be rising, and that would mean he’d be going in the exact opposite direction. That’d be taking him deeper into the Everfree Forest! The very last thing he wanted was to go deeper into the mystical treeline of colorful doom.

He took a seat and mulled over his options. Zach could go for what he thought was a clearing in the distance, in the direction he thought was north west. Or, he could wait for an hour or so and try to discern if the sun was in its afternoon phase or morning phase, thus confirming his sense of direction.

Waiting was out of the question, if he was being honest with himself. The sooner he got out of the magical death forest, the better. Plus, he had no way of knowing if his subconscious would still be that consistent as to properly include the acting solar system. Well, that, and he hated waiting.

“Clearing it is, fingers crossed. Metaphorical fingers, I mean.”

Zach proceeded into a brisk pace once more, walking ever closer to what he thought was a clearing in the distance.

A few moments later, he’d closed the gap. “Aaaand looks like I was right!” He mentally cheered as his assumption proved correct, and it was indeed a clearing. The overcast seemed to not reach out much further than the forest, but…looking back, the overcast was actually a storm further into the forest.

Well, based on what knowledge he had to go on in terms of storms, it looked like a storm cloud, cumulonimbus if he remembered correctly. Except, it was tiny, miniscule even, compared to the hulking behemoth storm clouds he was used to seeing. Tiny or not, though, it sure didn’t look very friendly.

“Yikes, glad I avoided whatever that is.”

Zach stepped up to get a closer look at the land just beyond the forest, he was surprised to find an almost perfect replica of what he recalled Ponyville looking like. That was, rather concerning when he seriously thought about it. “OK, subconscious, why are you being so consistent all of a sudden? You’re kinda freaking me out, buddy…can ya toss in at least a little obscurity or randomness for me, huh? I uh, I liked the dog spider! Really! Can I have another dog spider please?”

There was no answer, and nothing resembling any acknowledgement on the part of his subconscious. That thought of this might not be a dream found its way into his mind for the third time now. “Nonono, this has to be a dream! It’s a children’s cartoon for goodness sake!”

Yes, but what if it isn’t? The thought wouldn’t go away now and established itself fully in his brain. There was no shaking it, the doubt lingered, no matter how Zach tried to logic and reason his way around it.

“OK, fine, ‘maybe’ this isn’t a dream! There, you happy!? Until further notice though, I am proceeding under the impression that this is a dream!” He declared to no-one in particular. “Heck, maybe I slipped into a coma, or this is a fever dream. Those are supposed to be more consistent and real than regular dreams, I think. It’d be just my luck, too.”

“I’m gonna be really upset if I wake up in a hospital bed and missed work.” Zach shook his head and refocused on his current situation.

He was a changeling. Here he was at the edge of the Everfree forest, a distance ahead of him lay Ponyville.

Based on what he remembered from the show, changelings were the villains. The last thing he wanted was to stroll through ponyville and be arrested on sight for being a changeling. That would be one heck of a way to end this little adventure before it even began.

“Wait, do they even do that sort of thing?” Zach mused aloud. “I mean, that doesn’t seem like something ponies would do…but, then again, what the heck do I know?”

The show was never really specific about any of those details, and the changelings were never really fleshed out from what he remembered of the show up until the point he’d stopped watching it. Heck, he didn’t know if the ponies even knew what changelings were up until they revealed themselves at Canterlot. Maybe they were given more development later on, but that was news to him as far as he knew.

A glaring thought came by and gave him a mental whack to the noggin. If this was a dream, then surely, the dream would manifest only what he actually knew about the show!

And if this isn’t a dream? The thought cropped up, which he waved it off. Yet, despite his efforts, the thought still remained.

Zach was at a bit of a crossroads here…

He could go for broke and try strolling up to Ponyville and hope for the best, or he could wait until a lone pony came close enough for him to reveal himself and then test the waters with that single pony. Walking into town was the surefire way to determine pony reception, but also the quickest way to end this crazy adventure if they reacted badly and attacked him. However, if he waited and revealed himself to a solitary pony, he could judge, based on their reaction, how receptive the rest of the pony population might be to his presence.

One pony reacting poorly was manageable. An entire town reacting poorly, not so much.

If this was a dream, Zach should be able to influence their reaction, right? Then again, he hadn’t had much, if any, influence on this crazy dream thus far…his subconscious was apparently ignoring him, or it had elaborate plans that it didn’t want him meddling with. If it were the former, he had a serious bone to pick with his subconscious! If it were the latter, well, he couldn’t help but be proud of his subconscious for that one if that were the case.

Zach shrugged, “Either way, better to err on the side of caution, I guess.” It seemed to be the reasonable thing to do, to play it safe. It was settled, he’d wait for a pony to come close enough for him to call out and get their attention, then he’d reveal himself to them and see how they reacted.

After he had a good base to go on for how ponies would react to his appearance, he’d be set to proceed to “phase two” from there.

What “phase two” was exactly, well, that had yet to be decided. He was confident his subconscious would have something interesting planned out. If not, he’d wing it.

Zach didn’t know how long he’d be in this “dream” of his, so worst case scenario, he’d just have to find something to do until he could begin to figure this all out. That was something he was definitely good at doing, occupying his time.

After the passing of a few minutes, Zach noticed several pegasi headed in the general direction of the forest, their trajectory indicating that they must have come from ponyville. “Well that’s convenient, what are we at now, two for two?”

He digressed, there were more important things to do than muse over convenient coincidences.

Zach hid himself just out of sight of the approaching pegasi, keeping tabs on them as best he could. He briefly overheard them speaking amongst themselves as they got close enough.

“…didn’t have anything like this scheduled, and none of the projections predicted this. It’s a freak occurrence and we’ve gotta deal with it!”

It was slightly hard to hear them from that far away, but he thought he properly made out what the first Pegasus was saying. They were a male by the sound of it, the dialogue sounded about right to him, at any rate.

The second pegasi, upon closer inspection, he almost instantly recognized. She had a full spectrum of colors for her mane and tail, and her coat was a bright blue; there was no mistaking it.

He could hear her talking back to the first Pegasus, confirming that she was in fact, Rainbow Dash. Her voice was almost exactly as he remembered it being from the show, “All I’m saying is, why the hay can’t we deal with it later? It’s not acting like any storm I’ve ever seen before, it’s just sitting here drifting along, not even picking up steam or anything! It did what it was gonna do already, for all we know. We’re wasting our time!”

“Dash, you know why. If this is a magical storm, then we need to clear it as quickly as possible while it’s still dormant. The last thing we need is this thing springing up and turning into a supercell when we can deal with it now and get it over with.” The first Pegasus stated.

The third pegasi spoke next. This one was also easily recognizeable, albeit somewhat less so with their plain yellow mane and gray body. It was her eyes that gave her away, 'That one's gotta be Derpy, or Ditzy Doo.' Her voice was slow paced, as if she were carefully considering her words as she was speaking them. “Yeah, Rainbow Dash! the summer sun celebration is tomorrow. The Mayor Mare doesn’t wanna take any chances leaving a storm to grow and make everything all gloomy and muddy the day before the celebration! That’d be awful, then we couldn’t see the sun rise!”

“Derpy,” The first Pegasus said in a mildly stern manner, “The Mayor asked you to tag along because we were short on pegasi available and needed an extra pair of hooves. Just follow our lead and don’t go wandering off, OK?”

Derpy nodded with a smile. "Kay!"

The male pegasus then turned to Rainbow Dash and addressed her, “I'll handle the Anvil, you take Derpy and deal with the flanks and work your way inward. Once that's done, we'll regroup and hit the center mass. Come on, the sooner we get this started, the quicker we can be done with it.”

Rainbow Dash made the exaggerated body motions as if she were growling in frustration before she conceded. “Fiiiine! Let’s get this over with.”

Derpy let out a cheer, “Yeah, lets do it!”

Dash offered one last quip before they began, “For the record, I think the storm's done and we’re wasting our time.”

"Thank you, Dash, duly noted."

Zach dug through what he could remember from the show, but he couldn't remember anything about the male pegasus in their group. It was possible that he was simply one of the many "background ponies" as they were called.

Zach watched the three pegasi as they got to work. It was, honestly fascinating, the way they zipped around and grabbed clumps of cloud between their hooves, picking away at the mass of clouds bit by bit and then dissipating those loose clumps with swift kicks.

As interesting as it was to watch them work, he still had the problem from before, but with an added challenge. He turned away for the moment and gave it some thought.

Sure, he could call out to all three pegasi, but he really wasn’t too keen on revealing himself to all three of them. If one pony reacted badly and went screaming to the locals, that’d be one thing… It would probably be dismissed and ignored.

However, if all three of them reacted badly and corroborated their story of the bug pony in the woods? 'Yeeeah, I can’t imagine that’d go too well for me.'

He idly walked as he thought, pacing near the tree cover.

Maybe if he could call to one of them while they were separated with just enough space… perhaps he’d be able to get the attention of just one of them. It was risky, but what other choice did he have?

He turned around and looked to the three pegasi and began planning…though he then noticed that there were only two pegasi visible now. Dash and the male pegasus.

Derpy was missing.

Zach cocked his head to the side and tried to look more closely, eyeing over the rest of the sky around that storm cloud, with no success.

“Where the heck did the other one go?” Zach said aloud, wondering if perhaps his subconscious was playing one of those ‘now you see them now you don’t’ tricks on him.

“Where did who go?” Came the carefully worded, gently slow voice of Derpy…from just a few feet away to his right.

The hair, err, fin, whatever it was on the back of Zach’s neck, stuck up straight and his fear response kicked into overdrive. He cried out and whirled to face the sudden Pegasus with a wide eyed expression. "GAAH!"

Derpy seemed unphased. “You’re…weeeird lookin, like a…a pony, except you’re also a bug!” She said in her slow, careful manner of speaking. "A...bug pony!"

Zach’s mind raced furiously, desperately trying to figure out the best way to proceed, now that his original plan had gone screaming out the window. ‘A curveball, of course you would, subconscious!’

He stammered for a good moment, trying to find the words that he could use to take back control of the situation. Unfortunately for Zach, this situation had him at one heck of a disadvantage, and he did not work well under pressure.

“I, I, I….I am, uh, Hello there. Yes, hi, greetings.” Was the best he could come up with, much to his dismay. Worse still, his execution and tone of voice left a substantial amount to be desired. Zach was mentally kicking himself over and over again. ‘You idiot, you’re screwing it up! Throw me a bone here, subconscious!’

“Cooooool! I’ve never met anyone like you before!” Came Derpy’s slow paced response. “Are those holes in your hooves real?”

Again, Zach was at a disadvantage. “I…don’t know. Maybe? I think they're real.”

Off in the distance, Rainbow Dash could be heard, “Derpy! Where’d ya go!? This is gonna take a lot longer if we have to do this without ya! C’mon, I don’t wanna be out here any longer than I have to!”

Derpy’s ears perked up, and she turned to shout back, “Hey, Rainbow Dash, ya gotta come here and check this out, I found a bug pony! You gotta see em!”

Zach’s mind went into overdrive, he could almost feel his inner gears working past their safe limits. ‘Don’t panic, don’t panic, whatever you do, don’t panic.’

Dash called back, “What? What the hay is a bug pony? Hold on, I’ll be there in a sec.”

‘PANIC’

Zach froze and his heart beat in his chest, reminding him that he was in fact panicking. This was exactly the thing he did not want to happen! He scoured his mind for anything, any kind of idea to fix the situation. Could he turn invisible? No, changelings can't do that and he wouldn't know how anyway!

“Derpy, where are ya?” He heard Dash call from nearby.

Derpy turned away and shouted back, “I’m over here! Come quick!”

‘Now’s my chance!’ In a moment of panicked desperation, he looked for the closest hiding spot he could see. A bush, just big enough to accommodate him, perfect!

Zach threw himself to the bush and dove headfirst into it…and was immediately greeted with pain. It was made immediately known to him that this bush was filled with thorns. He instinctively covered his mouth with a hoof to keep the numerous noises he involuntarily made from escaping his lips.

Looking back, careful not to inflict more pain on himself with the pricker bush’s many thorns, he could see Derpy. She hadn’t heard him, or hadn’t been paying attention to her surroundings, either way, she seemed to be completely unaware of what had just transpired behind her.

Zach held his breath as Rainbow Dash swooped into the space between the trees, landing next to Derpy. “Alright alright, I’m here, what’s so important that you had to wander off and then drag me over to see?”

Derpy offered a chuckle, “This!” She turned to point at where Zach had been previously standing, “Check it out, I found a…” Derpy stopped mid stride and her expression took up a confused note. “Huh? Where’d he go?”

“Where’d who go?” Rainbow Dash asked with an impatient tone to her voice and matching expression.

“The bug pony!” Derpy furrowed her brow and looked to Dash with an expression that had a hint of sadness to it, “I don’t understand, he was right here a second ago!”

Rainbow Dash had a look that illustrated she was less than amused, “Well, whoever you saw, whatever you saw, they’re not here now, so stop messing around!”

“I just don’t understand. He was right here, really!”

Rainbow took up a softer expression and tone as she tried to coax Derpy back towards the storm, “I guess he ran off, c’mon Derpy, lets get back to it. I wanna get this done so I can get back to what I was doing before this dumb ‘storm’ popped up.”

Derpy eventually was able to be coaxed away from the spot, and soon went airborne with Rainbow Dash. “Hey wait a minute, you weren’t doing anything before the storm popped up!”

Dash scoffed and retorted, “Hey! I put a lot of effort into doing nothing!”

Once the two pegasi had gone, and Zach was confident they wouldn't see him, he exhaled a sizeable sigh of relief.

Well, that’s what he intended to do, but instead of a sigh of relief, a deep whine of pain was all that left his mouth. “I…hate…pricker bushes…” He looked up at nothing in particular and said through gritted teeth, “And I hate you, subconscious, for putting this bush here, having it be a pricker bush in the first place, and having them be this painful!”

“…if this even is the work of my subconscious anymore.”

Zach forced himself upward, letting out little exclamations of pain with each movement he made. “Ow….ow…ow…oww..” He stepped forward, wincing as the prickers clung to him and didn’t quite want to let him leave the bush. “Owwwww…” With a final effort, he yanked free of the last of the thorns and shuddered.

Zach looked himself over, examining to see how badly the pricker bush had got him. Unsurprisingly, it got him plenty. However, as much as being in that bush had hurt, the actual injuries he’d sustained were…well, surprisingly miniscule. Little more than scratches and a few pinpricks here and there, nothing worth considering, really. The chitinous coating to his skin seemed to have offered him a semblance of protection from those thorns, though it didn't do much to prevent the encounter from hurting.

He quickly turned and glared daggers at the unholy abomination of vegetation. “I’ll be back…and I’m bringing a gallon container of Roundup, you hear me?”

Zach snorted and stomped a hoof into the ground to punctuate his declaration of war against the demon-spawn plant. “OK, now that that is done and over with…”

He returned his attention back to the matter at hand. He inadvertently had his question answered by the Pegasus that somehow managed to sneak up on him. If he wasn’t mistaken, Derpy didn’t know what kind of creature he was, which was a relatively good sign.

If her response was anything to go by, he may have been incorrect in assuming the town would immediately imprison him for being a changeling. After all, if ponies don’t know what he is, they’re unlikely to raise the pitchforks and torches towards him if they end up seeing him. Sure, they might see him as frightening, and shun him, but being shunned by everyone else didn’t bother him, he dealt with that nonsense way back in elementary school. It was no big deal.

Assuming this dream, or whatever it was, was consistent with the show...what point in the series was he dropped into?

Zach considered the information he had at hand.

The trio of Pegasi mentioned the "Summer Sun Celebration", which was a pretty significant clue to start with on its own. "The first episode starts with the summer sun celebration, but if I'm remembering the lore correctly, the SSC is an annual event. It could mean that I'm at the start, which would match up with me rewatching the series starting with the first episode...but then again, it might also not be the case..." Knowing the Summer Sun Celebration was soon told him the time of year at the very least, but not necessarily what year it was.

What he did know for certain though, was that he had to be in a time before the Canterlot Wedding incident with the changelings, seeing as Rainbow Dash didn’t react to the term ‘bug pony’ with any hint of concern. Well, unless she was an idiot, which Zach highly doubted, if what he remembered of her character was anything to go by. It significantly narrowed down the timeframe he had to work with, which was good.

The way he saw it, if he went and gathered a bit more information, he'd be able to piece together at what point in the show he was, if he was in a point in the show at all. That being said, if he was at the start of the show, there were a few very easy and very quick ways he could find out.

He just had to be careful about it.

“Oh what am I even thinking!? This is either a crazy fever dream, I’m in a coma, or I’ve officially gone over the top insane! Frankly, neither one of those explanations are particularly appealing scenarios!” Zach was careful to keep his voice down as he ranted out loud, lest the pegasi hear him.

There's also the possibility of... "No! don't you start with the whole, oh maybe it's not a dream crap! This is a dream, it has to be! There's no possible way any of this could be real!"

Zach took a few deep breaths and sighed in defeat, “Well, whatever the case may be, I think I don’t have much of a choice but to continue to play along with…whatever the heck this is.”

He set aside his thoughts for the time being and refocused on the task at hand.

“Ok, Zach, time for Phase two…” Zach said aloud with a determined look on his face.

“Now to just figure out what Phase two is going to be! Should be easy enough.”

Previously...

Zach took a few deep breaths and sighed in defeat, “Well, whatever the case may be, I think I don’t have much of a choice but to continue to play along with…whatever the heck this is.”

He set aside his thoughts for the time being and refocused on the task at hand.

“Ok, Zach, time for Phase two…” Zach said aloud with a determined look on his face.

“Now to just figure out what Phase two is going to be! Should be easy enough.”

Our Story Continues...

Zach stayed put in his hiding spot until the pegasi trio finished their task and headed back to Ponyville. Once they were fully out of sight and there was no longer the threat of being spotted, only then did he emerge from his position.

“Phase two…Phaaase Two.” Zach spoke aloud and idly prodded at his chin.

It was times like these that he found himself wishing he actually planned ahead instead of counting his contemplation and thoughts on subjects and possible outcomes as “planning”. That one was really coming back to bite him in the rear now and the irony wasn't lost on him.

However, this wasn’t the time nor the place for scolding himself. No, he needed to set that aside until after he had a proper plan for what to do next.

“Come to think of it, I need a real ‘goal’ first before I ‘plan’ anything.” Zach said after some deliberation. “I don’t know what to start with. I’m in Equestria, I’m a changeling, I’m near the Everfree forest…so…”

As if on cue, his stomach emitted a rumbly growl, which loosely translated to: feed me.

That was another tick in the box of this not being a dream.

“Oh, well, that solves that then. First goal: I need to find food. Should be simple enough.”

Zach glanced around, eyeing for some sort of vegetation that looked appetizing. “Horses are herbivores; ponies should eat the same things then, right?” He knew that Horses were herbivores, but that didn’t mean he could just eat anything ‘green’ and call it a meal.

Although, he wasn’t really an equine, given his insectoid features. The show never established what changelings really were in that regard, or what they ate, besides the obvious of ‘Love’.

“I couldn’t begin to try and guess how that would work.” He said aloud.

Zach thought it over for a bit, “Maybe if I had a look at what they sold in ponyville… it won’t necessarily fix my problem, but it’d give me some place to start, knowing what equestrians eat. They gave a few examples in the show, but, that really doesn't help me in this situation.”

He looked out, past the rolling hills and towards Ponyville. There were numerous trees in the considerable distance between his current position and Ponyville, but there was nowhere near the kind of cover he’d need to sneak into town without being noticed. Zach scoured over the view, doing his best to piece together some sort of adequately concealed means of closing the distance between himself and Ponyville.

No luck.

Even if he did find a means of covering his approach to Ponyville and get to the outer edge of the town without being spotted, there was far too much open ground afterward. He’d be spotted the second he set foot past the last set of trees.

There was an idea here and there of trying to camouflage himself, such as using an uprooted bush to hide in and pretend to be shrubbery as he advanced. “Nah, no way would that work.” He’d played more than enough of that tactical espionage game to know how poorly that would work out. “I’d have about as much luck as trying to sneak in with a cardboard box.” He figured that ponies weren’t idiots, they’d never fall for something like that in the first place.

There was one idea though: changelings were known for their ability to, well, change shape into other things. If he changed his appearance to that of a pony, that would negate his need to sneak into town altogether. He could literally walk right in, and no-one would bat an eye.

“The main flaw in that plan being: I don’t know how to do that.” Zach said out loud to finish his thought. “Maybe I could poke around in my head, feel for a response that might lead to activating the changeling disguise ability, assuming I actually have that ability. Then again, I wouldn’t know what to look for, or where to start looking. I don’t know how much time I have before nightfall, but I-”

Zach paused and looked down at his legs and his sides, a lightbulb lit in his mind. “Waaait a minute…”

He then glanced up to the sky, noting the angle of the sun against the horizon. A grin formed as he fleshed out this new idea.

“I could try and sneak in under the cover of night! The color of my chitin is just dark enough that I might be able to blend it with my surroundings after dark. If I’m careful about it, that is.” The idea was sound, Zach was confident with it. However, he acknowledged that his poor night vision would be a serious hindrance.

Or, maybe it wouldn’t.

Curiously enough, ever since he woke up in Equestria, Zach seemed to not have the same nearsightedness as he did before. Thinking on it, when he arrived here, he realized he hadn’t had his glasses on him the entire time, but he didn't seem to need them. It was obvious from the get go that he didn't have them on his face, but he didn't make any conscious effort to worry about them given the newfound quality of vision he now possessed.
His vision was far from perfect, but it was much, much better than it was before. For once in his life, he could actually see in detail past the length of his arms!

Unimpaired vision was one thing he was not going to complain about.

“Since this changeling body has way better vision, maybe I’ll be able to see better at night too? I’ve got a quick way to find out.” Zach held one of his forelegs over his face, specifically his eyes. His logic was sound, but his changeling features (namely the holes in his legs) made the execution of the idea almost impossible. Too much light got through his leg-holes.

He sighed and conceded, “I guess I’ll just have to find out when night rolls around.”

Zach’s stomach protested against the idea of waiting, but he was going to play this safe.

In case he was wrong and his vision wasn’t any better at night, he needed to try and memorize the route he’d take to get to Ponyville. The distance wasn’t too far, all things considered. It was far enough, with enough foliage along the way, that it offered him some room to put some distance between himself and the ‘pony-eating-monster preserve’ that is the Everfree forest without worrying about being seen.

Setting up a hiding spot closer to Ponyville would make things easier for him come nightfall.

Zach looked to the closest tree cover, then to the next group of trees further ahead. “I guess that’s good enough for now.”

If he was being honest with himself, Zach wanted to put as much distance between himself and the magical death forest as physically possible, dream or not. He’d already experienced tangible pain from that pricker bush (of which he’d return to exact his revenge upon), he was less than eager to see what might happen if a monster decided to make an appearance and take a bite out of him.

Zach made his way over to that first group of trees.

In a stroke of luck, the spot he’d picked to relocate to just so happened to have a tree with some low lying branches. They were just low enough and grouped close enough together that, with some effort, he might be able to climb up them.

“Actually, I might not need to climb at all.” He was a changeling, he had wings. Zach looked over his shoulder and to the membranous limbs resting idly by his sides. “I just need to figure out how to use these things.”

Zach rummaged through his mind, feeling around with the muscle groups he knew of and trying to locate the one’s he figured might control his wings. He flexed his shoulders, his back, he tried probing his mind for any kind of indication of which muscle group would affect those new changeling appendages of his.

An idea came to him, and he reached with a hoof, gently rubbing against one of his wings. The sensation came into his mind, it wasn’t unpleasant, but it was…alien. His mind acknowledged the limb’s sense of touch, but his consciousness lightly recoiled at this new limb that was not supposed to be there. A feeling of unease crept through his thoughts, notably the notion that he’d never been able to feel any ‘new limbs’ in a dream before.

Yet another point against the possibility of this being a dream.

Still, he continued on. Zach felt the limb, he found the muscle group in his mind with a bit of effort, and he flexed that muscle. The membranous appendage shifted and stuck itself outward. It was a small victory, of which Zach used to chase away the unease he’d felt a moment prior.

A little more effort and he successfully moved his other wing. It wasn’t much movement, but he at least had function of these new limbs of his. He flexed the muscles of his wings, waving the things in a back and forth motion. “I guess that’s a start.” He wasn’t flying anytime soon, but at least he had a foundation to work with later.

“Once I get some food in my system and find a place to stay for the night, I’ll give it some practice.” Zach resigned himself to the task at hand.

“I have no idea how I’m supposed to climb a tree with hooves, but…” He glanced to his hooves, raising one and moving it in its points of articulation. The foreleg had more flexibility than what he’d expected; it wasn’t ideal for climbing, but it offered some possibilities. “I might be able to make this work, with a bit of creative maneuvering.”

Zach stepped up to the base of the one tree, which of the cluster, seemed to have the lowest hanging branches available. He eyed the tree up and down, figuring in his mind how he might go about doing this without injuring himself. The tree wasn’t too large, and seemed to have grown in at an odd angle, offering a much lower first branch to get to. If not for the fact that he was working without hands, he’d have scoffed at this tree; after all, he’d climbed trees bigger than this when he was a kid!

All he had to do was get a good leap, wrap his forelegs around to get a grip, hoist himself onto that first branch, then heave himself to the next branch. Seemed easy enough, in concept.

Zach crouched down, took aim, and…leapt!

…only to miss his mark, overshoot, and get a nasty thwack to the face, courtesy of one of the other branches. He then fell to the ground, just managing to extend his feet in time to partially brace for the landing. Zach hit the ground with a thump, and immediately raised his hooves to his snout.

“Owwwwww….” Was the only word his pain addled mind could form as he lay there at the base of the tree, holding his hooves tenderly to where wood had briefly met his chitinous face.

Zach had failed to take into consideration his different weight from what he was used to and how much stronger his leg muscles were. The throbbing tide of angry nerve endings in his head were making sure to remind him of this and then some.

After a good several minutes of nursing his noggin and easing the pain, Zach rose back to his feet, err, hooves. “lets…try this again. This time without faceplanting into a tree branch, preferably.”

Zach carefully took aim as he crouched down, readying his back legs.

He leapt with more emphasis on the height of his jump rather than distance, his forelegs reaching out to try and grab hold of the assortment of tree limbs before him. Zach’s hooves glanced off the branch he’d aimed for, despite his best efforts to try to stick the landing.

The tree limb passed under his forelegs, impacting into his chest with a deep thud. Zach wheezed involuntarily from the impact as the air was forced from him. He instinctively wrapped his legs around the branch, but his efforts proved to be ineffective.

“Oh shoot! Nonononono-” within seconds, Zach’s grip of the branch slipped free and he fell onto his back with a hefty whump and accompanying grunt.

A groan escaped his lips while he lay there. “Ya know…I’m starting to get the impression…that maybe…this isn’t a dream… Either that, or my subconscious just passive aggressively hates me.”

Once Zach recollected his composure and repaired the damage to his pride, he rose to his feet. He eyed the trees and mulled over his options. He could struggle for the next couple of hours to get into this tree, that he was fairly sure was mocking him, or he could find someplace else to hunker down.

He glanced over his shoulder to the membranous wings that sat snug against his sides. “Gee, if only I had some manner with which I could achieve flight!” Zach sarcastically spoke aloud, as if his indignant attitude would magically entice his wings to begin flying.

It didn’t, of course.

“Ugh, this is stupid…” He turned away from the tree and looked around for someplace else to seek refuge.

Over to his left was a set of bushes that looked to be regular bushes and not the demon spawn he’d run into back in the Everfree forest. Over to the right were trees that, while they would likely suffer the same problem his current trees posed, had the positive benefit of offering substantial quantities of shade were he to rest under them.

Zach weighed the pros and cons, and deemed the patch of bushes to be the safer bet. Sure, the tree shade would have been more comfortable, but it would only provide cover from pegasi flying overhead. The bush would ensure full cover from view and be relatively comfortable with some effort put into it.

He walked the short distance to the bushes and stood before them. Looking at them more closely, he was able to confirm that, yes, they were regular bushes, as opposed to the thorny ones. “That’s good at least.” He said aloud. With a little shimmy, he slipped between the leaves and then branches with some effort. A few good shoves, some pushing aside of branches and a stomp or two later, he managed to form himself a reasonable accommodation within the protective vegetation. It wasn’t the most comfortable shelter, but it was better than nothing.

Now all that was left was to wait until nightfall.

Yes. All that he had to do was wait. Waiting here, in this little makeshift den, for who knows how many hours. Waiting in this one spot, until eventually the sun decided to meet the horizon and make way for the night sky.

Zach’s mind was already spinning its wheels and going every which direction in an attempt to find a means to entertain itself, and it hadn’t been 15 minutes yet.

“Well at least it’s not raining. Can’t imagine how much of a nightmare it’d be getting mud out of all these holes…” He idly mused as he tried in vain to get comfortable in his little bush shelter. “What purpose do these holes serve anyway? Eh, it’s a children’s cartoon, they’re probably like this purely for the design aspect.”

After a short while of laying in wait for the sun to decide it was time to set, Zach lifted his head from the ground and glanced about. His stomach reminded him that it was empty, and that it was growing impatient.

Zach’s eyes caught sight of numerous insects on occasion as they passed by his gaze. There were some beetles, a moth or two, a few butterflies and several mosquitos. Zach narrowed his eyes at the familiar blood sucking vermin that so frequently plagued him back home. One of the mosquitos attempted to land and take a bite, though it was unable to get through his chitinous skin.

Zach watched as the insect poked and prodded, but ultimately failed to get any sustenance from him. “Tough luck, parasite, looks like I’m not the only one going hungry for the time being.”

One of the beetles was venturing on a path that took it closer to Zach’s little bush den, close enough for him to reach out and touch the thing if he so chose. He held one of his hooves out, flexing the forehoof back and forth, looking at the beetle and comparing his feet to the insect's.

A curious sensation cropped up, like something urging him to eat. It was as if his body knew there was food, but he himself couldn’t see where.

Was it the bush he’d chosen for a hiding spot? Was this plant edible?

Out of curiosity, he leaned over and took a few of the leaves into his mouth and chewed at them with careful scrutiny. Zach was fairly certain these weren’t poisonous, at least not to skin contact. They looked nothing like the kinds of poisonous plants he knew of back home. The last thing he needed right now was to be getting himself sick.

The leaves were bland, that typical “leafy greens” flavor. It was exactly what he imagined the leaves would taste like. Nevertheless, he chewed up the leaves and, with a bit of effort, swallowed them. The fiber content would quiet the complaints of his stomach, at the very least. Begrudgingly, he took another bite of leaves, chewed them up and forced them down, followed by another.

Zach stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry at the end of it, “This is why I refuse to eat salads. What I’d give for some butter and salt, maybe some garlic.” Come to think of it, if he had the time and ever got the chance, he was curious how that might turn out. He put a tab in the thought and filed it away for later. “Garlic roasted branches of the common bush…that’s a new one. I like broccoli and asparagus when cooked similarly; shouldn't be too different. Yeah, I'll give it a try when I get the chance.”

There was still a significant amount of time before the sun set, if his estimate was correct on what time of day it was. He was still hungry, but the leafy greens would at least help fill in the emptiness once they did their thing.

Zach let his mind wander, there wasn’t much else to do.

He thought of his life, of everything that had been taking place prior to this strange event that found him in the world of a children’s cartoon show. Zach still wasn’t entirely sure how he got here, only that he’d been watching the show as he was waiting for his brain to finally let him sleep. He mulled over the possibility that this wasn’t a dream at all, the possibility that this may be real, as ridiculous a concept as that may have been.

Zach’s eyes drifted to the ground, to the beetle that was still foraging for its own food. He could feel his mouth seeming to salivate as he watched the beetle work and his mind experienced the same sensations of knowing there was food right in front of him, as if by instinct, despite him not knowing what that food source may be.

It took him a moment to acknowledge it, but everything he felt, and the instinctive pull of the need to eat eventually led him to the conclusion. It was this beetle…this changeling body must have wanted to eat the beetle for some reason.

A rather disturbing thought entered into the front of his mind: what if changelings ate bugs when they couldn’t find any love to consume? They had to eat something to survive with, didn't they? The ever present 'this is based on a children's cartoon' thought popped in as if on cue, but he retorted aloud with, "Well, yeah, but I'm literally here, for all intents and purposes. WHatever the heck this is, its feeling less and less likely that it could turn out to be a dream...so..."

He continued to observe the beetle as his thoughts turned to the pros and cons of consuming insects. All the nature documentaries and TV shows he watched during his free time were all coming back to him with those memories and tidbits of info. Again, his mind displayed the thoughts at the forefront of everything else: Changelings probably eat bugs to survive when they can't find any love. What else would they eat otherwise?

Zach scowled at that, “No thanks. I don’t know what changelings eat and I do not care how many of those survival TV shows say to eat bugs when in the wilderness, I am not that desperate for nourishment...yet. I’ll eat leaves first before I eat a bug.” He shuddered and chased away the thoughts of consuming insects with an adamant indignation.

It made sense the more he thought about it. How else would they survive for so long and be able to grow to significant enough numbers to attack a major city without a steady source of food? "This....this isn't helping, at all." Zach said with an air of annoyance. He looked away and thought of something else, trying to occupy his time. Yet… after a minute passed, he couldn’t stop his mind from being dragged back to that beetle.

Zach eyed the thing over, leaning in for a closer look, poking at it even. He flipped it over onto its back, then rolled it back to right side up. An antsy anticipation welled up inside him, his stomach wanted this beetle, despite his mental protests against the idea.

His mouth salivated some more, and his stomach ached with want.

Zach groaned, “Well, it is a good source of protein…I guess…”

His belly growled out its demands, and the conflicting feelings in his mind urged him forward. With a resounding sigh, he conceded to his body’s demands. "At least its not some giant, squishy grub."

Zach whined and squeezed his eyes shut. Slowly, he opened his mouth and reached out with his tongue, scooping the arthropod into his open maw. He closed his mouth, the beetle squirmed and struggled, Zach expected to gag, but didn’t, much to his surprise.

He chewed, hesitantly at first, but then the flavor of the beetle hit him and the instinctive response in his mind encouraged him to continue. Surprisingly enough, his tongue told him the thing tasted, well, pleasant. He could feel the chemical responses in his brain telling him this was good, this was food, despite every fiber of his consciousness insisting he spit the disgusting insect out of his mouth right this instant.

After a bit more chewing of the crunchy arthropod, he swallowed and struggled not to gag. His conscious mind was absolutely revolted by the concept of what he’d just done…and yet, he felt the familiar signals of refreshing satisfaction in his brain as if he’d just eaten a handful of potato chips.

Zach let out a sound that was a mix between a sigh and a huff, opening his eyes now that it was all over. “Ok…maybe it wasn’t that bad, but still.” If the absolute worst thing to happen to him in this trip through insanity was him eating bugs, he’d be grateful.

Unfortunately for him, neither the handful of leaves he’d eaten, nor the beetle, seemed to do anything to actually satisfy his hunger. If anything, his efforts only made his hunger worse. It lingered and gnawed at the back of his mind, much like the unpleasantness he had to deal with that time he’d accidentally spent half of his paycheck on investments instead of buying groceries.

Having to go two whole weeks eating nothing but rice and instant noodles was something he vowed never to do again. On more than one occasion he had to go to bed hungry, and the feeling inside him now reminded him of that, except it was two times worse.

He groaned and plopped onto his side. “Worst hallucinatory fever, coma...dream thingy ever.”

A short time later, he lay on his belly and laid his head onto the ground. Zach closed his eyes, trying to clear the hunger pains from his thoughts as best he could. He let himself drift into his mind, trying to see what exactly he remembered from the show, hoping it would adequately distract him from his hunger.

Zach recalled a few key events here and there, the mane six, a few of the towns and cities, some of the background ponies, the three villains: Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis. It was a bit hazy in some spots, but he was certain it would be clearer when he saw those events again.

If he was able to stick around long enough to see those events in person, well, wouldn’t that be interesting? Zach was genuinely curious to know what it would be like to witness such events in the first person perspective.

He plopped his head down, shifted a bit to try and get comfortable, and waited.

“Nope, this isn’t gonna work. No way in heck am I gonna be able to sit here for hours doing nothing while my cranky stomach chews on my brain.”

Waiting was not Zach’s strong suit by any stretch of the imagination, even on the best of days. If he was going to wait until sundown, he needed something to occupy his time with. Lucky for him, he had just the thing.

He promised himself he’d practice moving his wings and try to learn how to use them properly when he had the opportunity; now was as good a time as any. Sure, he needed to keep a low profile, but he should have reasonable room to at least train his muscle movement, right?

“Right! I know how insects fly, I think… I mean, I know for certain how aviation works, and how planes work. I just need to get my body used to doing the motions.”

Zach crawled out of his little hiding spot, though he kept his body low to the ground. Looking back to his wings, he flexed the muscle group from memory, moving the appendages with a little effort. A few practice flaps of his wings, and he got the two of them in a relative synchronization. “This shouldn’t be too hard…”

He lay there and moved his wings in a steady back and forth motion, gradually speeding up and keeping the pace between the two. Moving the wings seemed to be a lot easier than he’d predicted, it took him less time to get used to a faster pace of moving the wings in that back and forth motion than he anticipated. As odd as it sounded, in the back of his mind, the motions and muscle groups seemed natural, like he’d always had the wings. Meanwhile, his conscious thoughts were still trying to come to terms with having these new limbs.

Needless to say, the conflicted feelings were both troubling and confusing.

He briefly stopped the motions, eyeing over his wings with a contemplative gaze. He supposed that if he was dreaming, as unlikely a prospect as that was turning out to be, it would only be expected for his mind to be so accepting of having wings. If not, then, could he really be upset or angry with having the means of doing the one thing he’d wished to do in his life most of all?

There were many things he could be upset over if this were all real and he wasn’t dreaming; having wings and the possibility of being able to fly was not on that list. To think, flight was just within his reach, well, maybe not just within reach, but close enough.

Zach set about practicing; once again, he moved his wings in synch with each other, flapping them in a rapid back and forth motion. He quickened the pace with every few seconds that passed, trying to keep them in synch as he built up their speed. “C’mon… steady.”

He slipped every so often and had to reset his wing synch. After a decent amount of time was spent practicing, he reached enough speed with fluttering his wings to generate a low, chuffing sound. It was almost like the ‘thwapping’ noises the blades of a small helicopter would make, at least that’s what it reminded him of.

Zach expected his wing muscles to tire, but they seemed unphased. In fact, he felt barely any muscle exertion at all. He kicked it up a notch, trying for more speed in his wing fluttering.

Within a few moments and with a bit more effort on Zach’s part, the ‘chuffing’ sound of his wings grew closer together, to the point where it was almost a continuous sound. He kept working at it, eventually managing to get his wings to a point where the sound they made was what he’d imagine an insect of his size to make.

“Got it!” Zach exclaimed, holding the speed as he glanced back at his wings. The appendages were largely a blur now at the speeds they were going. It was a measure of success, knowing that he could get his wings up to the speed he believed they needed to be at. The next step was figuring out how to angle his wings so that he could have that fluttering generate the lift he’d need to fly.

Zach slowed his wings and let them rest by his sides for now, seeing as he had a bit of thinking to do before he’d be ready for his next step on the road to flight. He was no expert on aerodynamics, but he knew enough to be confident he could eventually get airborne with some trial and error.

“OK, airflow…I need to angle the edge of my wings so that it cuts through the air and forces it downward. That’ll generate the lift I need to get off the ground. The tricky part is the return angle, making sure I don’t stall out…” He flexed the muscles again, trying to twist them. With a bit of guesswork, he managed to do so, tilting his wings on their axis, angling them.

“That looks good; though I need to practice rapidly changing the angle of th-” Zach abruptly stopped upon hearing a crash in the trees nearby. His ears perked up and he looked in the general direction of where he heard the noise from.

“What was that!?” He fearfully whispered. With a quick bit of movement, he scooted himself back into the concealment of his little improvised bush shelter. Zach took a moment and leaned out from his hiding spot; a quick glance to the sky showed that he still had a significant amount of time left before nightfall. “Well, I’ll have plenty of time to practice at least…assuming I’m not about to get eaten or horrifically mauled.” He whispered under his breath.

Zach was still on the fence regarding whether all of this was real or a dream of some kind. There were plenty of signs dispelling the possibility of this being a dream, given everything he knew about dreams and his experiences with them. On the other hand, he was in a children’s cartoon about a magical land of colorful ponies who worshipped harmony and friendship.

Given the current situation, he decided it was best to err on the side of caution and begin treating this situation more seriously. Better safe than sorry, especially given some of the more disturbing lore the show had. Unless proven otherwise, one way or the other, it was real enough, and that was all that mattered for now.

He ducked back in and moved some of the branches to better cover himself up. There wasn’t a second crash in the trees, at least none that he could hear. Still, he kept his eyes peeled and his ears on alert.

Eventually there came the familiar voice of Derpy, “Hellooooo? Are you still out here?”

Zach was relieved to know that he no longer had to contend with the possibility of immediate danger, but he was still mildly annoyed by the new obstacle that this presented. If Derpy had come back, then she was either looking for something she’d lost when she was out here earlier, or, she was looking for him.

The possibility of Derpy seeing him wasn’t the issue, so much as the possibility of other ponies to come looking for her and them seeing him. He knew how Derpy would react, having encountered her earlier, but he didn’t want to test his luck with another pony. Not yet at least.

“Bug pony? Buuug Ponyyy!” Derpy called out to him, thus confirming to Zach that she was, in fact, looking for him. He could tell what direction the voice was coming from and she seemed close by.

He briefly considered the idea of using her as a means to get into Ponyville. If he talked with Derpy, got to know her and left a good impression with her, she could then introduce him to the town. Zach figured that the townsfolk would be far less apprehensive of his appearance if one of their own could vouch for him.

However, there was the possibility of that idea backfiring horrendously. Plus, the idea of using someone left a bad taste in his mouth. He acknowledged that it was a plausible idea, it just needed some work.

For now, Zach kept still and watched for the pegasus. Regardless of what he decided to do, he still needed to get into ponyville, eat something, then find a safe and secure place to stay for the night.

“Where did you go?” He could hear Derpy a lot clearer, she seemed to be getting closer.

A moment later, Zach caught a glimpse of her through the leaves of his hiding spot. She was flying several feet off the ground, just below the tree tops. Derpy turned her head from side to side with regular frequency, though she swayed considerably in her flight path in whatever direction she looked.

Derpy eyed the treeline of the Everfree forest, a look of contemplation and hesitation forming on her face with every glance. She sighed and lightly groaned, “I can’t go in there… Somepony would end up going in after me…then they’d be mad and they’d yell at me again.”

Derpy eventually landed, though she botched the attempt and wound up faceplanting. She got to her feet and dusted herself off with her wings, unphased and carrying herself as if she’d planned it. Zach figured that it happened to her with enough frequency that she was used to it.

Zach considered the potential pros and cons of revealing himself now and speaking with Derpy. On the pro side of the argument, the obvious one, the idea he’d had moments earlier: using her to get into Ponyville. That still left a bad taste in his mouth, but gave him a new idea, ‘What if I’m up front with her and honest? If I tell Derpy what I need from her from the get-go, if she willingly agrees to it, would it really be so bad? I think I’d be okay with that.’

‘But…how would she be able to get me into ponyville? I still haven’t ironed out the whole, “I’m a monster bug pony that eats love” shtick, and I’m pretty sure my appearance alone would ensure that it wouldn’t go over well if I just waltzed into Ponyville…’ he continued, ‘I could try for a less obvious disguise, like an overcoat and some goggles to conceal my eyes and wings, it’d be suspicious as heck, but it wouldn’t immediately give me away as a bug monster. There’s the teeth, but not much I can do about that.’

Derpy’s gaze wandered over the spot Zach was hiding, she paused for a moment, squinting her eyes and practically looking straight at him. At least, that’s what he thought she was doing, as her eyes themselves seemed to be looking off in two different directions than where her face was implying she was looking towards.

Nonetheless, he held completely still, even going so far as holding his breath. She looked to the left and to her right; it was difficult to tell, but she may have been trying to focus her eyes on his hiding spot one at a time. Eventually, she turned away and moved on. Zach quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Back to his thoughts on the ‘pros’, there was the potential for gathering useful information. He still needed to figure out what time frame of the show he was in, or if he was in any time frame of the show at all. He also needed to get an idea of whether Ponies knew anything about changelings or not. If Derpy could assist with that in even a tiny amount, he should take that chance; every little bit would help him here.

Another benefit was that he wouldn’t be bored out of his mind waiting for sundown. At the very least, he could talk to her to help pass the time. Zach had no idea what they’d talk about, but it was better than being left alone with his thoughts.

On to the cons side of the argument…

If there was anyone who came out here to retrieve Derpy, it was very likely that he’d be seen. Then again, that could go either way since he’d be seen with her; he still wasn’t sure how other ponies would react to him, regardless of if they knew what changelings were. He looked like a monster, and from what he remembered of the episode with the zebra that the show kind of forgot about, and that episode with the Halloween Analogue starring [best princess], the ponies in Ponyville had a habit of reacting badly to things that they saw as strange or frightening.

Another possibility was that Derpy might run home and tell people where she saw him. Zach didn’t give much credit to this, given that Rainbow Dash had all but ignored her earlier when Derpy tried to tell her about him. Though, to be fair, her reaction wouldn’t necessarily apply to everyone else.

If they took her claim seriously, then he’d have someone else searching the area for him. Probably someone more competent and less ‘open minded’. Then he’d have to deal with a similar situation as in the previous ‘con’.

‘The pros outweigh the cons in the long run, but not in terms of the immediate future. If I don’t at least try something, I’ll never know either way and I’ll get nowhere.’ Zach said in his mind.

After a few moments, Derpy sat on her haunches and let out an exaggerated sigh, then proceeded to look right at Zach’s hiding spot again. “Why are…err..why is the bug pony hiding from me? Was it something I said?” She spoke as if thinking out loud, but her slip up was painfully obvious.

Zach squinted his eyes, now sufficiently suspicious, ‘Does she know I’m here and she’s just acting like she doesn’t?’

Derpy looked away from the bushes and idly scuffed the ground with her hoof.

‘Yeah, she knows I’m here. She’d have moved on and kept looking by now.’ Zach rolled his eyes and huffed, deciding that there wasn’t much point in trying to stay hidden from her anymore.

For better or worse, the decision had ultimately been made for him.

Previously...

Derpy looked away from the bushes and idly scuffed the ground with her hoof.

'Yeah, she knows I’m here. She’d have moved on and kept looking by now.’ Zach rolled his eyes and huffed, deciding that there wasn’t much point in trying to stay hidden from her anymore.

For better or worse, the decision had ultimately been made for him.

Our Story Continues...

‘She might have seen me earlier; its plausible, considering she started her search near here and not further in the forest where she last saw me.’ He rose to his hooves and stepped out from the bushes that had initially concealed him. Hunger mercilessly jabbed at his stomach and nipped at his thoughts in aggravation; it took effort, but he managed to ignore the worst of it for the time being.

Derpy’s ears perked up and she immediately turned her head to face him. “Oh, there you are!” She said with a smile and a feigned tone of surprise.

Zach spoke, blunt and to the point, “You knew I was there the whole time, didn’t you?”

“Wha- heh, whaaaat?” She furrowed her brow and forced a smile in a facial expression that effectively broadcast that she was being dishonest. “Noooo, no I didn’t know you were there!” The nervous chuckles only made it worse.

He tilted his head and arched an eyebrow, “Was it at least difficult to see me in the bushes? At all?”

Derpy hesitated, she puffed out her cheeks and looked away. Although, one of her eyes was still looking in his direction, maybe by accident. “Well, uhhh…no. I mean, kinda, maybe. A little.” She avoided making eye contact, but Zach knew better.

“What gave me away?” He asked, then glanced back to his hiding spot to try and discern that answer for himself. Zach did not like the idea that, despite his efforts to hide, he was still easily spotted and by a pony with vision impairment no less!

He tried to rationalize it, so as to give himself some reassurance that trying to hide wasn’t pointless. ‘Maybe it was the contrast between my chitin and the green leaves? From a distance it wouldn’t matter, but up close the contrast is probably more visible. Then again, how’d she not spot me back in the pricker bushes if that were the case? I think-..’

“It was your eyes.” She answered plainly, looking at him again.

Zach blinked, “My…eyes?”

Derpy nodded her head, “Yeah, they’re really shiny! They stuck out against the bush you were hiding in. I mean, it was a nice hiding spot otherwise, really.” She smiled at him.

The explanation she offered seemed reasonable enough to Zach, so he accepted it. There were more important things on his mind than a simple hiding spot he intended to abandon later anyway. “How did you know I was here?”

Derpy replied bluntly, “I saw you.”

Zach gently planted his hoof upon his face for a moment and elaborated, “I meant, why did you start looking for me over here specifically, and not, say: where you originally saw me earlier?”

“Oooohhhh! Well, because I saw you here.” She replied with a tone and expression as if the answer was obvious. A few moments passed before she then went on to explain, “I was flying around nearby, hoping maybe I’d see you again…and I did! I thought maybe you went back into the woods, because I couldn't find you at first when I came over here. I’m glad you didn’t though, the Everfree Forest is dangerous!”

Zach cast a glance to the less-than-welcoming forest that lie just beyond the tree-line, then looked to his hiding spot, “Right…” His earlier assumption had been proven correct and he felt just a little bit vindicated; she must have spotted him by chance while he was practicing using his wings. It was a lucky break for him that it had been her that saw him instead of another pegasus.

He softly exhaled and shifted his train of thought to the more pressing concerns at hand. Zach had questions, a lot of them; Derpy hopefully had answers. He spoke, taking great pains to try and come across as ‘friendly’, despite how difficult he believed his changeling voice made it. “Derpy, I overheard you and the other pegasi talking about the Summer Sun Celebration. That’s tomorrow, right?”

A look of surprise graced Derpy’s face and she lightly gasped, “You know my name? How did you know my name?”

Zach would have assumed her reaction to be that of suspicion, but the way her voice carried notes of curiosity and wonder told him otherwise. It caught Zach off guard, causing him to stammer for a brief moment as he tried to regroup his thoughts. “I-err, uh, Well…” He blinked and his jaw hung slack for a few seconds before his thoughts organized and the information he needed came to the front. “The other pegasi were calling you Derpy; that’s your name, right?”

Judging by her response, that seemed to have worked. “Ohhh, that’s right! You were nearby when we were cleaning up the storm, weren’t you?” She closed her eyes and had a mildly embarrassed, yet cheerful expression now. “I forgot.”

Zach lightly exhaled with relief, “Anyway, as I was saying…”

Derpy blurted out, “Yeah, its tomorrow. The Celebration, I mean.” She paused, gathering her thoughts, then asked, “Do bug ponies celebrate the Summer Sun Celebration too?”

‘Or you can just interrupt me, that’s cool.’ His eye lightly twitched with mild annoyance; Zach ignored her question and pressed on with his own, “That’s an annual event, right? What day is today?”

Derpy was quick to answer, “Today? That’s easy, today’s…uhh…” She paused with a less confident expression and tapped a hoof to her chin. “Umm…yesterday was… June 19^th? I’m sure that was yesterday, so that means… Yeah, today’s June 20^th and tomorrow’s the 21^st!” Her smile returned afterwards with a hint of triumph.

“So it’s an analogue of the Summer Solstice, huh? That makes sense.” Zach said aloud to himself.

Derpy cocked her head to the side and had a look of confusion, “Huh? Wh- no, it’s the Summer Sun celebration. Its not an analogue, or a Solstice.” Her expression quickly changed to a more inquisitive one and she asked, “What’s a Solstice? Is that what bug ponies call it?”

‘They must use the same calendar structure we do. That’ll make things a whole lot easier with keeping track of events, although I still don’t know what point in the show I’m in.’ Zach thought to himself. There was the obvious possibility that he was near the pilot episode, or shortly before then, since tomorrow was the very same holiday seen in the first episode.

However, he didn’t want to jump to that conclusion just yet. He’d only established that this was prior to the season 2 finale, or within a timeframe that the news of that particular event hadn’t spread yet. ‘I’m going to need more info before I can figure out where I am, timeline wise.’

In a moment of further contemplation his mind went on, ‘I kinda question why they’d use our calendar, seeing as this is a completely different world from our own. Though, to be completely fair, I also don’t know a thing about Equestrian history outside the tidbits the show told me. Whatever, none of this crazyness makes sense anyway.’

Zach considered his options, there were quite a few specific things he could ask Derpy that’d make it easier for him to find what point in the show he was in, one way or the other.

First, and most importantly… he needed to determine the ‘changeling’ situation. He had a good idea of what the situation was already, but he wanted to make absolutely certain that this was the case. Better safe than sorry.

Zach elected to be blunt about it, there wasn’t much point in subtlety when he considered the implications of Derpy being undeterred by his appearance. “Derpy, do you happen to know what a changeling is?”

Derpy blinked a few times, before she briefly scrunched up her face in thought, “A changeling? Hmm… nope, I don’t think so.” She looked to him with curiosity, “Is that what you are?”

That offered him significant relief and settled any doubts he had. If she didn’t know what changelings were at all, it was almost guaranteed that he was in Equestria at a point prior to the changeling incident at Canterlot. It would only make sense for the news of that to spread pretty quickly.

He was also pretty sure the Canterlot wedding didn’t take place anytime near the Summer Sun Celebration. That was, at least, from what he could remember of the season 2 finale.

Having settled that with certainty, he could move on.

He had an easy way to know for certain if this was prior to the pilot episode: he could check and see if Twilight had arrived in Ponyville yet. If twilight wasn’t yet moved into the Ponyville library, that told him it was prior to the pilot episode. Alternatively, once night time rolled around, he could just look at the moon. If the dark splotch in the shape of a pony was still on the moon, then that’d mean Luna was still up there.

All things considered, he really didn’t want to have to wait that long, especially if his arrival in Equestria turned out to not be prior to the pilot episode. Zach needed to know where he was in the storyline and he wanted to know sooner, rather than later.

He scoured his brain for other notable events in the show that Derpy would possibly recognize, which he could ask about, that would give him a better sense of where he was in the episodes. A task that was a bit more difficult being in the heat of the moment.

Derpy’s voice interrupted his train of thought, “Are you ok? Am…am I bothering you?” Her face and voice held a deeply discouraged tone to them as she spoke. One of her forehooves was idly patting at the dirt. “I don’t mean to, really… I can leave you alone if you want me to.”

Zach blinked, unsure as to how she came to that conclusion. He quickly addressed it, nonetheless, “No, not at all; why would you think that?”

“O-oh! Sorry; you went silent and all,” her expression changed from disheartened to more neutral, “I thought that…maybe you were tired of talking to me. Like, you want me to leave, but you’re trying to be polite about it and stuff…”

Zach understood that sentiment all too well. If he had a dollar for every time he’d found himself in that situation, he wouldn’t have needed a job. “You’re fine; I’m just thinking, that’s all.” Again, he reassured her; she had already proven to be helpful, plus he still had questions and other things she might be able to help him with. Zach did not want for her to get the wrong idea and leave.

Derpy lightly smiled, “Oh, ok! I was just making sure.”

“Trust me, if you were bothering me, I’d tell you.” Now having averted that potential problem, Zach hummed idly and considered what he needed to know.

Derpy took that moment to ask her own question. “So, are you a Changeling? Is that what you’re called?”

Zach briefly considered telling her the truth, but a few thoughts in the back of his mind staunchly opposed the idea. He didn’t want to lie either, so he did the next best thing.

He ignored her question, and instead blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. “Do you happen to know what time it is?” It wasn’t the most important thing to know, but it changed the subject well enough. “I know its daytime, sometime in the late afternoon, but I don’t know the exact time.”

Derpy paused, then tapped a hoof to her chin in thought. “The time? Lemme think, the tiiiime was, uh… Oh, right!” She lifted a wing and uncovered a small satchel at her side. She rummaged through the thing with her mouth for a quick moment, pulling away from it with a pocketwatch held gently between her teeth. “Here!”

She placed it upon her outstretched wing and flicked it open. “Let’s see! The time is… its…” Derpy squinted and attempted to move her head around to try and get one of her eyes to focus on the watch. “The time… the time is… uhhh.” Her voice conveyed her frustration.

“Forgot your glasses?” Zack joked after watching her struggle for a few moments. He kicked himself mentally for making a joke at her expense. As innocently intended as the joke was, it was just as likely to be seen as an insult.

Surprisingly, Derpy seemed unphased by the question in the slightest. She didn’t seem to take offense and the humorous intent went over her head. “Nooo, my eyes are…wonky.” She shifted her head around and to both sides, back and forth, repeatedly attempting to focus her uncooperative eyes upon the pocket watch. “I can see, they just… don’t go… where I… need them… to go, sometimes.”

Zach mentally sighed in relief at her response, then proceeded to berate himself, ‘Nice job, moron, the first pony you talk to and you practically insult them to their face! Boy I'm off to a fantastic start aren't I?’ He stepped forward and gestured to the pocket watch. “Here, let me see.”

Derpy angled her wing and presented her watch.

“Four o’clock.” Zach stated.

“The time is four o’clock!” Derpy repeated with a bright tone and a smile, then deftly slipped her pocketwatch back inside her satchel.

Zach lowered his brow, “I just said that.”

Derpy looked to the treeline of the Everfree forest and spoke with concern obvious in her voice. “Hey, mister bug pony, are you sure you wanna be this close to the Everfree forest? Nightfall’s not for another few hours, but evening isn’t very safe either.” She looked back in his direction with an expression to match her voice.

Zach considered Derpy’s question. She seemed eager enough to help him and showed concern for his well-being. Derpy definitely knew this place better than he did, hands down. Maybe she could help him find a safer spot to hide out until night? Thinking a step further, maybe she’d be willing to help him with his plan?

Unfortunately, his inner smart-alec got in on the action and got the better of his judgement, blurting out an attempt at wit. “I’ll probably end up as a snack for some horrific monster, no big deal. Probably take a bite out of me, add a few extra holes, make myself more aerodynamic.”

Derpy’s jaw dropped and her eyes went wide, “Whaaat!? That won’t be fine at all! Why would you say something like that!?”

He’d spoken with a playfully sarcastic tone, but judging by the reception, either Derpy was just as bad at recognizing sarcasm when it was directed at them as he was, or he’d utterly bombed his attempt at humor. Zach was fumbling over his words, struggling with a combination of annoyance, guilt, and remorse stemming from her reaction. “I- wh- nonono! That was a joke! I wasn’t being serious about that, not at all!”

Derpy’s ears drooped, as did her tone and expression, “Ohh..that was a joke? I see, I’m sorry.” She smiled, albeit with a sadness behind her eyes. “I have trouble with jokes. I don’t always get them, not right away at least. Ponies have to explain them to me a lot of times… and then it ruins the joke… and then I end up feeling dumb.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it; believe me, I know that feeling. I have trouble getting the punchline sometimes myself.” He idly glanced to his legs and casually commented, “I have no intention of letting any monsters take a bite out of me. I think I have enough holes in me as it is without adding any more into the mix.”

After a few moments passed in awkward silence between the two of them, Derpy eventually asked, “So…if you know there’s monsters, why are you out here in the Everfree?” Her concerned demeanor returned.

The question itself confused him ever so slightly, “What do you mean?”

Derpy glanced in the direction of the Everfree’s treeline, or what Zach assumed to be the official barrier separating the forest of bad-times from the rest of Equestria.

“You’re not in the Everfree now, I mean, but you were earlier…” She looked back at him with expressed concern once again. “The Everfree really isn’t safe for ponies, or bug ponies for that matter.”

Zach replied with a twinge of annoyance at her repeating the warning about the death forest. “Yeah, I knew that already.”

“Well, what were you doing in there then if you knew it was dangerous?”

Zach idly gestured, unsure how to answer that, “I don’t know, I didn’t intend to be in there, I kinda just… I just…” He trailed off and considered what he was going to say next. What could he say, that wouldn’t either make himself sound insane, or incredibly suspicious? Was there any real answer to this that didn’t sound like a lie or completely ludicrous? Was he overthinking this and there was a simple answer staring him in the face?

“You just… got lost?” Derpy answered for him, to his surprise.

He blinked and decided to roll with it, “Yeah, that.”

“It’s ok, I get lost too, lotsa times!” She gave Zach a sympathetic look and reached out a hoof to lay on his shoulder.

He immediately recoiled and pulled away, eyeing her hoof with suspicion.

Derpy clearly wasn’t expecting that reaction, and he could see it in her expression as much as he heard it in her voice. “I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“I don’t like being touched,” Zach quickly tried to explain.

“Is it a phobia?” She asked, tilting her head to one side as she tried to understand.

Zach half frowned, half grinned and cocked his head back in a mix of confusion and amusement, “What!? No! Who has a phobia of being touched?” He shook his head and quickly stated, “It’s not an irrational fear, I just- The sensation is… Look, it’s very personal, alright? Bottom line is, I don’t like it when people touch me, ok? Makes me uncomfortable.”

His statement had a bit more aggression in the tone than he intended, but Derpy didn’t seem too phased by it. All she responded with was a simple, “Ok; no touching, got it!” and that smile of hers that seemed to radiate warmth and friendliness.

“It’s not that nobody can touch me ever, it’s just, ugh, nevermind.” He decided not to bother with the drawn-out explanation. It was complicated and he really didn’t feel comfortable going through personal details about himself with a side character from a cartoon series he used to watch. ‘I’m getting sidetracked here, c’mon, focus!’

His stomach’s aching needs jabbed at his thoughts, ‘Not now, shut up!’

Zach closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Derpy beat him to it. He hoped the annoyed look he formed on his face would give her a hint, but it didn’t.

“Waaait, if you didn’t mean to be in the Everfree forest…” she started, “then that means you don’t live in the Everfree forest…”

Zach let out a rough sigh and grit his teeth in mild frustration. “No, I don’t live in the Everfree forest, I thought we’d have already established that with the whole ‘it has monsters in it’ context, and me not wanting to be eaten by said monsters.”

Derpy either ignored his retort, or she was too involved in her own thoughts to have processed it, because she continued right where she left off. “…You don’t live in Ponyville…and you probably don’t live nearby if you’re lost…” She looked at him with piqued curiosity, “Where do you live? Do you have a house somewhere?”

They hopped once in place with noticeable excitement before adding, “I could walk you to it if you want!” She tapped a hoof to her satchel as if to punctuate her next sentence. “I know I said I get lost all the time, but that’s why I carry a map, just in case!”

Derpy briefly paused before continuing, “If it’s too far from here though, then I can’t go… or else then somepony would come looking for me, then they’d be angry I left town again without telling somepony. Then somepony would yell at me again… and I don’t want that.”

Her eagerness was promising, but her questions about where he came from were presenting a problem. “Derpy, I appreciate the offer, but what I actually need right now is-…”

She interrupted him, for the third time now, “You aren’t homeless are you, mister bug pony?”

Zach’s face scrunched up with indignation, “What!? No! I’m not homeless! I just… I don’t have a house here is all.” He overreacted a bit, admittedly, but the ever-present gnawing of hunger made it difficult for him to keep his composure consistent.

“So…you are homeless…here, but not where you came from.” She said as she scratched her head with one hoof. “Where did you come from then? Is it far away?”

‘Gah, that’s not what I said!’ He cried out in his head. ‘I mean, she’s not wrong, technically, but still.’ Zach’s mind was digging deep now, having come to another fork in the road. He groaned and shoved aside the hungry demands of his stomach and sifted through what options he could come up with.

Zach considered being honest with her and telling her the whole truth, here and now. He could try and explain that he was originally a human turned into a changeling (assuming they even know what humans are), that he isn’t from this planet, or this universe as far as he knew…

The idea didn’t last for more than a few seconds before he shot it down. There was no way she would believe his story, it was too ridiculous. Even if Derpy somehow believed the ludicrous tale, she’d only ask more questions afterwards and want to know more, then other ponies might want to know, which would cause plenty of problems further down the line. ‘In all likelihood, she’ll probably just think I’m screwing around and spinning some fabricated story. Heck, even I think it’s absurd and I’m living it!’

Speaking of ‘fabricated stories’, his other option was to do just that: fabricate a believable lie. He could make up something she’d be more likely to believe, then from there, make sure said lie was kept consistent without going into any further details than necessary.

‘Yeeeah, that won’t work either.’ No, he’d worry incessantly about that lie eventually unweaving, to the point of making an avoidable mistake. That’d lose him any and all trust he’d built up with her and anyone else he met. To top it off, he’d feel terrible for lying to everyone, that was the worst part!

Alternatively, there was a third option… He could tell her parts of the truth, half-truths even, omitting information while still answering any questions he might be asked. He wouldn’t need to go into any details that could complicate things, he wouldn’t have to lie either. It still carried with it its own slew of problems, but it was the best option he could think of.

Derpy opened her mouth and gently voiced her concern, “You’re…still thinking, right?”

“Yeah, sorry, I’ve got a lot to think about.” Zach ventured ahead with the idea, he quickly came up with what he felt was an adequate response. “You know, I guess you’re right; I don’t have any place to stay, at least nowhere I can get to before sundown…or within any reasonable timeframe.”

He continued, hoping to clear up any further questions she might ask. “See, I live in a place really far away from here, at least I think I do. I don’t know where ‘here’ is, compared to where I was, so I wouldn’t know where the place I used to be would be compared to here…and…” Zach paused, seeing as Derpy was visibly having difficulty following along.

He huffed and tried again, “OK, simplified version: I don’t live anywhere near here, I’m hungry and I’ve got nowhere to stay.” That was of course an oversimplification, but it got the job done. She understood enough to give a response at least.

“If you’ve got nowhere to go, what’re you gonna do? You can’t just stay out here in the woods!” Derpy asked with the same level of concern as before.

Zach thought about it and shrugged, “I dunno, I honestly don’t have much of a plan for what I’m going to do. I mean, I kinda do, but nothing long term.” He gestured a hoof over in the direction of the forest line, “I know for sure that I’m not staying out here next to the monster forest of doom overnight.”

Zach then turned and looked out towards Ponyville. “I’d love to find a spot in town to stay, but I’m not sure how folks will react to seeing me. I don’t exactly look friendly.” In reality, he was confident he knew exactly how folks in town would react to his appearance.

It had been a while since he’d seen the episode involving the zebra, but he recalled how the ponies reacted poorly to what was essentially a horse with stripes. He could only imagine how disastrous the reaction would be of folks in Ponyville seeing a horse shaped insectoid, even without them knowing what he really was. ‘Speaking of Zebras, that’s another event I could ask Derpy about.’

Before he could do so, his stomach let out a loud, gurgling growl that interrupted him. It was loud enough that apparently Derpy heard it. She made as much obvious when she quickly glanced around, before looking to him and commenting, “Woah, was that you?”

Zach, now with a mild self-consciousness about it, admitted such. “Yeah, that was me, sorry.”

“When’s the last time you ate?” Came her question, predictably.

He shook his head, “I…” he hesitated briefly, “I…don’t know.” That was a lie, but at the same time, could he really count the things he ate earlier if they didn't do anything to sate the hunger that continued to claw at his mind with its demands?

Derpy seemed to think about it for a few moments, then spoke up, “There’s rooms for rent in town, if I’m remembering right, or you could stay at a hotel. There’s plenty of places to eat too, I could show you if you want!”

A part of Zach was relieved to hear that he had options for the future, if he wound up staying in this world for an extended period of time. There was the issue of his appearance still, which Derpy seemed to either forget, or intentionally ignore. Another glaring issue was a lack of money.

He knew the Equestrians used a currency called ‘bits’; of which, he had none of. “Thanks for the suggestion, but I’m broke. I don’t have a single coin on me.”

Almost immediately, Derpy responded, “I could lend you some bits if you want, I’m sure other ponies would be willing to help too!”

Zach almost declined her offer then and there on principle. She’d only just met him, yet she was offering him money and suggesting others would do the same? He couldn’t accept that! Well, he didn’t want to accept it, but hunger and his fear of the unknown (plus the things he knew of that lurked in the Everfree) all offered strong counter-arguments.

Still, as hungry as he was, a significant part of him didn’t want to accept her offer without some assurances. “Derpy, I appreciate the offer, but are you sure about this? You just met me, you don’t know who or what I am, but you’re offering me money…just like that?”

“You seem like a nice enough pony, err, bug-pony; you’re out here all alone, hungry, without any place to stay. I can’t just ignore somepony in need, can I?” She declared it with enthusiasm, with an earnest and genuine demeanor.

Zach hesitated, before admitting, “I… can’t argue with that.”

There was a brief moment of silence, Derpy awaited Zach's response with eagerness apparent in her expression.

Eventually he did respond, “Derpy, I’m grateful, really, but I don’t think its such a good idea.”

“But, why?”

He hesitated again, “Its, uh, complicated.”

“What are you so worried about?” She attempted to reach a hoof out, but she stopped herself when Zach gave her a look. “Are you…afraid of ponies or something?”

Zach grew uncomfortable and frustrated with having to explain his reasoning. There was only so much he could really explain without divulging the details that he was a love-sucking insectoid monster. “Derpy, I’m not afraid of ponies. I want to take you up on your offer, really I do. I’m gonna need a place to stay, at least for the night. That, and I’m so hungry it feels like my stomach is eating itself. I just don’t think it’s a good idea for me to set foot anywhere near Ponyville, not with the way I look.”

"What's wrong with the way you look?” She asked, innocently enough.

“Derpy…I’m a bug monster in the shape of a pony.”

She shook her head at that and retorted, “You’re not a monster though, you’re just a bug pony.” Derpy had a hint of sadness as she spoke, “I don’t understand, why do you think that’s such a bad thing?”

“How isn’t that a bad thing!?” Zach stopped himself and sighed, going for a gentler tone as he tried his best to explain things in a way that she might understand better. “Look, Derpy, think about it: how do most ponies react when they see a normal bug? Not a bug pony, not a giant bug, just a normal sized, harmless little bug?” He gave a little extra weight to specific points of his argument, hoping it would sink in.

There wasn’t any better way he could think of off the top of his head to properly explain the real reason he was so afraid of showing himself to Ponyville. Then again, composing arguments under pressure was always a weakness of his. Zach just knew he’d come up with something else later, then get angry at his brain for not coming up with it in the moment…

Derpy spent a few moments deep in thought, judging by her facial expressions. Thankfully she appeared to have come to realize what he’d been getting at, “Ohhhh, I think I understand what you mean.” She looked away briefly, scrunching up her face in what Zach could only assume was more thinking.

He nodded sagely, “That’s why.”

Derpy glanced back and quipped, “Not everypony is afraid of bugs, you know?”

Zach rolled his eyes at that, "You're missing my point.."

She shook her head, “No, I get it... you’re worried about ponies seeing you and being afraid of the way you look."

"Huh, I take it back."

Derpy continued, "If you're that scared, why don’t you just disguise yourself?”

Her question caused Zach’s heart to skip a beat, “D-d…disguise myself? I uh, I…” His mind immideately jumped to the first conclusion that sprang to mind, ‘How does she know about that?! Was she lying to me and knows more about changelings than she let on!?’ Zach shook his head and adamantly pushed back with rational thought, 'Wait, no, that can't be it; she's given no indication of knowing about them up until now!'

Despite his shaken nerves, he answered with a decent hold of his composure, “I don’t know how to do the whole disguise thing, otherwise I wouldn’t be out here.”

“Whaaat?” Derpy slowly tilted her head with a boggled expression, “You never played pretend as a foal? Never…celebrated Nightmare Night?” She waved her hoof in a circular motion, “You know, dressed up?”

The reality of the situation came to light; her visible confusion helped greatly in his efforts to pull his mind away from the paranoid conclusions it was ready to leap to. “Oh! Oh, that, yeah; I’ve done that loads of times! I thought you were talking about something else.” He chastized himself for foolishly mistaking what she was referencing, it was pretty obvious in hindsight.

She raised an eyebrow at him with even more visible confusion, “What else would I be talking about?”

Zach waved it off with a forced smile, “Ahh, don’t worry about it, I just misunderstood you; it’s a bug pony thing.”

Derpy blinked, but she seemed content with his excuses and went back to her idea. “Well, ok I guess. Why don’t you just disguise yourself so the ponies won’t see that you’re a bug pony? That way, you won’t have to worry about it!”

It was almost funny to him that Derpy suggested the idea of wearing a disguise. Zach had thought of, and considered, just such a thing earlier. He would have definitely done it, if only he had an outfit to use, or if he knew how the changeling’s shape-changing ability worked. Ultimately, he elected to go with his original plan, for now at least. Once he could get himself situated and fed (however that was going to work), then he could work on a long term solution.

Speaking of his original plan, it’d probably benefit him to run it past someone who knew the area and could help him plot a route into town after dark. Derpy fit the bill well enough, plus, maybe she could toss in her two cents and give him some feedback? “I like your idea, but I think I’m going hide out here until nightfall.”

“And then?” She prodded.

“Then, I’m going to try and make my way into town under the cover of night, while most of the town is sleeping. Maybe I’ll find a bite to eat if I'm lucky, find some shelter if I'm luckier...” Zach trailed off, not wishing to further elaborate on it. Hearing himself explaining the plan out loud made him realize just how poorly thought out it was, he was already poking holes in it himself and he hadn’t yet gotten into any of the real details!

Derpy frowned at Zach’s explanation, seeming to take issue with it in one way or another, or multiple ways. Zach could only guess, given how questionable his plan sounded in hindsight to himself.

He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away sheepishly, “…Ok, the plan is a work in progress, admittedly.”

“I’ll say!” Derpy started, “How are you supposed to fly in the dark?”

Out of all the things she could have taken issue with regarding his plan, Zach had not expected it to be that. He got his thoughts together and simply stated, “I can’t fly, haven't figured that one out yet.” Now he was finding himself curious as to why she’d taken issue with that specific detail, of all things.

Derpy squinted her eyes in disbelief, “You can’t fly? Well, how are you gonna get to town from here if you don’t fly?”

“Uhh, walk, like a normal person?" Zach shrugged, "How else would I get there?”

She blinked and had a mildly confused expression, “You're going to walk all the way around the rivers... in the dark? The bridges into town are all the way over there, on the other side of the branching parts of the river.” Derpy eyed his legs and her expression shifted once again to that of genuine concern, “Most of the main river is too deep to wade through; I don’t think you’d be very good at swimming, with the holes and stuff.”

‘Wait, rivers? As in, more than one river? I thought there was just the one on the other side of town?’ He recalled Derpy mentioning keeping a map with her; he needed to know for sure if what she was saying was true. “Would you mind if I took a look at your map?”

Derpy blinked at the question, but then smiled and nodded, “No problem!” Again, she rummaged through her satchel and pulled out a rolled map. “I never leave home without it, just in case I get lost!”

She was more than willing to share, as he expected. Wordlessly, she unfurled it out onto the ground and nudged it over to him. Zach looked over it to verify what Derpy said about the paths into ponyville.

The map itself was a simple colored depiction of the local area in and around ponyville, nothing fancy, but it did the job. Derpy pointed out where the two of them currently were and Zach could see where he’d made his mistake.

The river ran along the east side of ponyville and split off just after the endpoint of what looked like the town’s plaza, or whatever the south eastern most part of town was. From there, the river branches ran to the south and to the east. Whether he went north or west, he’d end up hitting one of the branching rivers before he’d get anywhere near town. ‘Dammit! I thought that river was on the other side of the town! Go figure, it’s just my damn luck today.’

Zach looked out into the distance towards town. Glancing back to the map for reference, he found the main river, the northern portion of it just before it reached town, right where the map said it would be. The branching sections and the portion of the river alongside town, however, were obscured from view by a few gently rolling hills, along with various trees and bushes.

He groaned and ran a hoof over his face.

It would have been one thing if he could make a bee line for the town, but having to navigate around that river was going to be a lot of trouble. He supposed he could try and go straight through the river, but he didn’t know how reliably he’d be able to swim, if at all, since his legs were filled with holes.

Normally, now would have been the point where he’d rant to himself about how he ‘always procrastinates’ and how ‘his habit for refusing to study was really coming to bite him in the butt’ and other such things. Considering he was presently in a world that originated from a children’s cartoon show- a show that he’d stopped watching five years ago he might add -could he really be that angry with himself for not doing any research ahead of time?

‘Who am I kidding? Even if I knew I was gonna wind up here ahead of time, I still would have procrastinated and never got around to it.’ He half-jokingly admitted to himself.

The plan he’d worked himself up over had effectively gone up in smoke before he had the chance to attempt it. “Well…damn. I guess that plan is a bust. I mean, not that it was all that great of a plan to begin with.”

Derpy tried to reassure him, “It would have been a good plan if the river wasn’t there.”

Zach shrugged, “I guess so, but it is what it is; I'll have to figure something else out.”

“You can still always try disguising yourself, right?” She offered.

He nodded, “True, true… The only problem is: I don’t have anything to disguise myself with.”

Zach idly poked at his chin in thought, ‘I wonder if Derpy would be willing to lend me a cloak or a coat? Coupled with a scarf or something to cover my mouth, it could work. I’d still have the problem of suspicious ponies, but…’

Derpy blurted out, “I’ll be right back, I have an idea!” Then she took to the sky before Zach could respond.

“What are you-,” By the time he spoke, she was already headed off in the direction of Ponyville. “W-wait, Derpy!”

Zach wanted to raise his voice and shout out to her, but he stopped himself. He didn’t care so much that she was leaving, he was more worried that either she’d bring someone with her, or someone would follow her here.

“Dammit!” He scuffed his hoof against the ground.

He moseyed back to his hiding spot and plopped down on the ground, seeing as there wasn’t anything he could do about her running off. If she came back with someone in tow, he’d just have to deal with it the best he could. How? He had no idea, but worrying about it wouldn’t help in the slightest bit.

Zach’s stomach chose now as the perfect time to angrily renew its complaints at the lack of sustenance. This took his mind of the imminent threat potential of being discovered by someone or some-thing that may or may not try to attack him.

Ironically, hunger was turning out to be his biggest threat, going after his thoughts and viciously chewing at them. The annoyances of the day reached a boiling point for Zach, and he bit out a few choice words to vent his frustration. “God would you stop already!? I get it, I’m hungry, I know this, thank you! Message is received, crystal clear! When I am able to find food, you will be literally the first to know about it!” He growled out in bitter frustration as he finished his rant to the intangible entity that stood-in for his hunger.

Unfortunately for him, his rant did nothing to mitigate the deep ache of need that gripped tight around his stomach. He considered eating some more leaves, but what would that accomplish? Zach knew what he really needed, Love. That’s what changelings ate, he knew this, thought he still had no idea how he’d go about eating an emotion.

“Hopefully this body knows what to do, and I can just follow some instincts or whatever when the opportunity presents itself. I can only hope, unless there’s some kind of book on changelings I could read; Ha! fat chance of that.” He ran his tongue over the prominent fangs at the front of his mouth, and his heart sank a bit as a grim thought crossed his mind. “What if I have to drain somebody like a vampire would? I don’t think I could live with myself if I had to hurt people to feed!”

Zach recalled Chrysalis feeding on Twilight’s brother, at least he assumed that that's what was happening in the episode in question. The action definitely didn’t seem like something particularly pleasant for the party being fed upon…

he shook his head and rid himself of the thoughts; Even if this was all some weird fantasy in his head, he still did not like the idea of hurting anyone whatsoever. Besides, he already decided he was going to treat this under the pretense that it was real, even if he was still undecided if he wanted to accept this as any kind of ‘reality’ yet. Hopefully, this whole feeding thing wouldn’t be as bad as his paranoid mind imagined it would be…

Whichever the case, he needed to figure it out, and fast. The stomach pain was growing less and less manageable as time passed, to the point where he was uncertain if he’d have ever been able to last until nightfall before his hunger forced his hand. “Yet another hole in my original plan. God I suck at planning.”

Zach took a few deep breaths to sooth his nerves and try to take his mind off the grip of hunger. “On a more positive note, that encounter with Derpy could have gone infinitely worse than it did. All things considered, I think it went pretty well.”

He softly exhaled and tried to get as comfortable as he could, hunger making that considerably more difficult. He waited, hoping for Derpy to return soon, praying that whatever idea she had in mind would help his situation.

…

Sooner, rather than later, Zach heard the familiar crashing of feathers and hooves through branches and leaves that signaled Derpy had returned. He leisurely glanced in her direction… then immediately panicked.

With a startled yelp, he leapt to his feet in time to dive out of the way of the crash landing pegasus.

Luckily for Derpy, the bush Zach had been using for shelter broke her fall and saved her from faceplanting into the dirt and grass. Unfortunately for Zach, this ruined his makeshift shelter. Well, about as much as one could ‘ruin’ a bush that had its branches moved around.

“Oops… my bad…” came her self-conscious apology once all was said and done.

Zach sighed, though he set aside his frustration and helped Derpy to her feet. “Don’t worry about it, I was gonna abandon this anyway.” On a side note, he was glad that he hadn’t put all that much work into the shelter.

He quickly glanced behind Derpy, then to the skies around them. Once Zach was certain she wasn’t followed and didn’t bring anyone with her, he breathed a sigh of relief.

It was at that moment that he noticed the saddlebags she was carrying. He wasted no time in voicing his curiosity, “What are these?”

Zach quickly reiterated, wanting to skip the back and forth that would have come from his initial question. “What I meant to say was: what’s in the saddlebags?”

Derpy smiled, as if she’d expected him to ask that. She titled the bags with her wings and dumped the contents of them out onto the ground. “This!”

Out of the bags came an assortment of scarves, socks, and a jacket.

Zach looked over them with a less than enthusiastic demeanor, “That doesn’t exactly answer my question.”

Derpy was quick to speak again as she used her snout to sift through the jumble of accessories, “It’s a disguise!”

As much as he didn’t want to be critical of a gift, he had to ask, “Wouldn’t a cloak be a bit more, ah, effective?”

“Yeeeeah, but this is all I had on hoof… sorry.” She smiled apologetically, then finished sorting out the accessories.

Zach felt a twinge of guilt nip at his heart over looking a gift horse in the mouth. No the pun wasn’t lost on him and he hated himself for thinking it.

“Say, bug pony, I never did get your name. I thought I asked you earlier, but I guess you didn’t hear me… or I forgot.” Derpy seemed mildly upset, as if she’d done something wrong; Zach didn’t see it as all that big a deal.

Telling her his name though, that wasn’t something he was too sure about. Nobody in Equestria had anything close to a human name, none that weren’t puns or a play on words or a phrase, at least as far as he could remember.

Derpy continued speaking while Zach thought it over, “I was just curious is all. You know my name already and I was wondering what yours was.”

Zach uttered a drawn-out monotone sound before he spoke his mind, “I’m not comfortable sharing my name right now…sorry…”

“Oh, that’s...” She began with an expression that gave a painful jab to Zach’s heart. Derpy shook her head and smiled anyway, “That’s ok! You can tell me later if you like.”

…

Once the clothing was neatly spread out, Derpy grabbed a scarf with her mouth at one end of it, using her wing to scoop up the other end. She stepped towards Zach and, with a few quick flicks of her wing and a careful toss with her mouth, threw the scarf over his face and covered it with the accessory before he could stop her. “Tadaa!”

Zach grimaced, shutting his eyes and pulling his head back. He hummed irritably, his mind stuck between wanting to rip the thing off his face and wanting to politely see where she was going with this idea of hers.

She quickly pulled the scarf off with a remorseful expression and a tone to match. “Sorry! Sorry, I forgot you don’t like being touched.”

He slowly exhaled, coming to terms with the probability that this would be something that would happen with more frequency in the future. “No worries. Anyway, this idea of yours, is it safe to assume you plan to have me dress up with all this?”

Having that sorted out, Derpy renewed her eagerness to explain the plan that she seemed so sure of. “Yeah, you get it! If nopony can see that you’re a giant bug, then nopony will be afraid of you, right?”

Zach had his doubts.

This was the middle of summer, nobody would be wearing all this in the summer heat. Plus, half of this stuff were mix and matched colors. He wasn’t usually one to care about style or fashion, but he had to draw the line somewhere. It would be tacky, out of place, highly suspicious and would attract a lot of attention if he wasn’t careful.

Heck, it would attract a lot of attention even if he was careful!

Then again, using these garments to disguise himself would keep the residents of ponyville from seeing his insectoid appearance. That in itself was enough of a positive point for him to consider going along with this idea of hers right there and then. He’d look like a fool with all of this on, but a fool wouldn’t be run out of town with pitchforks and torches.

‘Actually…’ Zach glanced to his legs, looked to his sides, the gears in his head clicking into place, ‘I wouldn’t necessarily need to cover myself up completely. So long as the worst of my changeling attributes are covered, like the holes in my legs and my bug wings, maybe the folks in Ponyville would tolerate my presence?’

It was a nice middle ground. Sure, the ponies in town would probably still be put off by his overall appearance, but he was out of options at this point and he wasn’t about to cook himself by fully wrapping himself in accessories. He needed food, he needed shelter, but more importantly he needed food. In his head he grabbed the stand-in for his hunger and shoved it forcefully out of his thoughts with a colorful expletive.

None of this was going the way he expected, yet it seemed like it just might work out in its own way. He hoped it would work out in its own way at least.

It was kind of funny in an ironic sense. Well, it would be funny, if he weren’t so worried about how the ponyfolk would react to seeing him, even with a disguise… and if he wasn’t so damned hungry.

Derpy leaned in, “Weeeell? What do you think?”

He took a deep breath and made his decision, not that he felt had much else of a choice at this point, “OK, I’m in; let’s give your idea a shot.”

If he still had fingers, they'd be crossed.

Previously...

Derpy leaned in, “Weeeell? What do you think?”

He took a deep breath and made his decision, not that he felt had much else of a choice at this point, “OK, I’m in; let’s give your idea a shot.”

If he still had fingers, they'd be crossed.

Our Story Continues...

…

“There, all set!” Derpy exclaimed once the last of Zach’s disguise was put into place.

Zach wished he could have seen for himself, but she didn’t have a mirror with her. He briefly considered venturing back into the woods to find one of those little pools of water to try and see his reflection, though he decided against it almost immediately. ‘No, I’m not going back into those woods. Besides, I can just use the river, assuming its surface is smooth enough.’

For now, he’d have to take her word for it… though considering her track record in the show, he wasn’t too confident with that. This was the mare that wore paper bags for a Halloween costume; not decorated bags, not cut outs, literal paper bags.

Zach glanced over his shoulder and looked to his sides, then to each of his legs. His disguise utilized the jacket to cover most of his upper torso--could he still call it an upper torso?--the saddlebags to help cover the outer shell on his back and his wings, socks and scarves improvised to cover up the holes in his legs, and a hood to cover his head. Looking over it all helped reassure him, but he was still quite concerned with his face.

Derpy assured him it wouldn’t be an issue, that the hood overlapping his horn helped conceal his face plenty enough. He would have felt better if he had an extra scarf, maybe some goggles to help cover up with. They had to use the scarves to help keep the socks from snagging on the edges of his holes or coming loose, else he would have worn one to cover those fangs of his. Those fangs, clearly predatory and intimidating, and clearly visible... yet Derpy insisted that it wasn’t a big deal.

Once the two of them got into town, they would find him a safe place to stay the night, then he could figure out how to eat like a changeling. His only hope in the ‘eating’ regard was for his body to know what it needed and how to get it… and that it didn’t involve hurting anyone.

Zach grunted and set his mind back to the task at hand. Fretting over the future wasn’t helping him.

…

Utilizing the map that the pegasus kept on hand, Zach and Derpy travelled east along the border of the everfree for a good distance. It wasn’t too long until the east branch off from the river came into view, the body of water’s path coming to meet the forest’s edge a bit further east.

“See? There’s the river, just like the map said.” Derpy exclaimed.

“I never doubted its existence, but, ok.” He said with a neutral tone.

“You should be able to cross it over there, the river I mean. Look!” She stated, whilst pointing a hoof to a point where a tree had fallen not too long ago, creating a natural bridge from one side of the river to the other.

To Zach, the water flow looked more like a big stream than any river he’d seen before, but he didn’t care enough to comment on it. It was an obstacle, and that was all that really mattered.

Stepping up to the water’s edge, he peered in and got a look at his reflection. His fangs stuck out against the dark colors of his face, as did his eyes. It was… mildly frightening to look at, but by far the least uncanny of his changeling attributes, at least in his opinion. ‘As long as I don’t stare at anyone, I should be ok.’

His disguise kept the most blatantly ‘changeling’ parts of him all covered up. The face was one thing, but the holes and bug wings would have freaked people out for sure.

He turned his attention back to the fallen tree; it must have been uprooted by rain soaking the ground near the river, or some kind of force of erosion. Most of the tree was still intact, so it couldn’t have been struck by lightning or otherwise damaged. For all he knew, it looked safe enough to cross.

Stepping up to the natural bridge, he apprehensively set a hoof onto the bark. Zach carefully shifted his weight more and more onto the tree, looking and listening for any signs that this wouldn’t hold his weight, or shift around as he tried to cross it.

“Question,” he started.

“Answer!” Derpy replied with a smile.

Zach blinked with a slightly confused expression at her odd response, but got back to his question. “Are you sure that this is safe to cross?”

Derpy shrugged at Zach’s question, “It fell pretty recently, so it should be safe to cross, I think.” Her response alone would have made him feel uneasy, seeing her take to the air and leisurely fly over the river as she did so made it that much more disconcerting.

‘Yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence.’ He gave the tree a few good shoves with his hooves, one last stress test before taking a deep breath and hoisting himself onto the fallen tree.

Carefully, Zach made his way across, one step at a time.

“Just take it slow; nice and easy!” Derpy voiced her encouragement.

Halfway across, he nearly mistepped and had to adjust his balance. The natural bridge was proving to be a bit wobbly, but otherwise sturdy. Once he’d made it to the last few steps, another thought popped up in his mind. “Hey, uh, stupid question, but how would I have gotten across the river if this tree wasn’t here?”

Without hesitating, she pointed off into the woods, “There’s a couple shallow spots you could have crossed over, further that way.”

“Aaaand why didn’t we just do that?” Zach asked.

“Because you said you didn’t want to be in the woods anymore, because that’s where the monsters are?” Derpy quickly replied, as if the answer were obvious.

“Oh, right, that’s a… that’s a good point.” Zach hopped off the end of the fallen tree, slightly stumbling with the last step.

He looked to the town in the distance and took a breath, “Ok, we’re through the woods and over the river, now to Ponyville we go.”

Derpy nodded with a chuckle and led the way. She elected to remain airborne for the time being; unwittingly flying backwards at first. “Normally, nopony ever has any reason to go into the woods, or anywhere over in this direction really.” Eventually she got her bearings and righted herself with a bit of flailing hoofwork. “One of the roads leading into town should be just up ahead.”

‘I wouldn’t exactly call dirt paths a road, but to each their own.’ He commented in his head, recalling how the show depicted Equestrian ‘roads’.

The two of them made their way across the grass and towards a hill. Once they ascended to the top of said hill, Zach couldn’t help but pause and take in the view.

What he saw was a grand landscape of numerous gently rolling hills and scattered pockets of trees and woodland. Patches of farmland stood out against the greenery to the north and in a few spots to the east, paths and trails connecting them all together in some way or another. Over to the west and a short ways north sat the town of Ponyville, with a sizeable orchard to the far west and a bit more to the south.

Mountain ranges jutted from the horizon right where he expected them to be in the far-off distance, just like they did in the show, but they had a much more defined sense of presence than a simple backdrop. They were, more or less, exactly how a mountain would be expected to normally look.

On one such distant mountain to the north east, Zach could faintly make out the colors and shapes of a large castle structure, or a castle town, maybe both. “That’s gotta be… Canterlot, right?” He said aloud with a hoof aimed in the direction of the distant mountain structure.

Derpy nodded and vocally confirmed it with a chipper quip. “Yup!” She in turn aimed a hoof out over to the north west, to a distinct cluster of clouds with a peculiar, yet familiar, formation and architecture. “And over there, that’s Cloudsdale!”

“Cloudsdale, that’s where the Pegasi live, right?” He commented, remembering the cloud town from the show.

“Well, yeah, Pegasus ponies live in Cloudsdale, but that’s not where all the Pegasus ponies live.” Derpy had a hint of ‘matter-of-fact’ in her tone. “There are other cloud cities in Equestria, we just can’t see them from here because there’s mountains, and because the world’s big and round and stuff. They’re there though.”

Zach blinked once and looked off into the distance with a bit of contemplation. “Right.”

Back down into the fields and hills, everything was lush and lively with vibrant shades of green; his mind immediately started drawing comparisons to the sights he’d see during summer trips to the Shenandoah valley. It was different, of course, but the land held a familiarity to it that he wasn’t expecting.

He could pick out a few ponyfolk here and there, most were easily spotted with their bright colors contrasting against the sea of grass or the shade of a tree.

Over in Ponyville itself, the Town Hall stood out smack dab in the middle of ponyville square, or whatever they called their town square, he could only guess. By far the largest structure in town, it was distinguishable even from this distance with its design and size.

Zach wasn’t expecting all of this to be so... grand, and vast, as it was. The show had always presented everything more compact, and it never gave much consideration to scale. What lay before him wasn’t anything someone just yanked from a cartoon and superimposed over a 3d rig; It was almost real.

The saturated colors kept him from fully making that jump, though. Well, that and the whole ‘talking cartoon ponies’ aspect, and the implications of Magic, Pegasi, Griffons, Dragons… etc. It was all fantasy. It was imagined, nothing more than the carefully orchestrated madness mulled over and processed through creative genius.

A TV show, a cartoon.

Zach blinked once and smirked at the irony. ‘It’s pretty difficult to argue that something isn’t real when you’re literally standing in it, huh?’ Equestria or not, a crazy fever dream, insanity, or a hallucination... whatever this place ultimately turned out to be, he reaffirmed his earlier promise to treat this as if it were real.

Looking back towards the Everfree, he could see that it went on for a good distance eastward, and it stretched out almost as far to the southwest, further than he could see from his current vantage point. Zach could only imagine just how deep the forest went; he was thankful he’d elected to head in the direction he had earlier… and also that he hadn’t been dropped into this world at a point deeper in the forest.

Speaking of, he still needed to figure out the ‘how and why’ he wound up here, and why he was dropped into the Everfree forest of all places. There would be time for that later, though.

His eyes trailing up, the sky was a brighter, fuller shade of blue than back home, sunny with a few stray tufts of cloud here and there. The sun shone just the same as the sun he was used to, but it seemed almost gentler with its brightness than the sun back home.

“Wow.” Zach eventually said, his vocabulary failing him in the moment. He looked to the pegasus and she seemed to smile in agreement.

“I know, right?” Derpy quipped, then added on, “It’s a nice view, especially in the evenings. The sun peeks between the mountains, the sky turns all sorts of nice colors and different shades, like oranges and pinks… it’s really pretty! Like a painting!”

“I can see why you’d want to build a town here, even if there is a magical death forest as your next-door neighbor.” He had to admit, as crazy as this situation was, it was at least appealing to the eyes.

She shrugged in response, “Oh it’s not that bad, the forest doesn’t usually bother us. It’s more going in the forest that’s the problem.”

“I will gladly take your word for it.” He would have liked to spend additional time admiring the scenery, but his hungry stomach rudely interrupted him in its expected, painful fashion.

Derpy extended a hoof and pointed out the road into town just up ahead. “Look! There’s the road, we’re halfway there!”

Zach looked for the dirt path that was typical for the show, only to find that there was no dirt path at all. Rather, the ‘road’ derpy pointed out, was an actual cobblestone road. Further emphasizing that this was the road, was a pony heading into town using said road.

‘Cobblestone?’ He eyed the thing with suspicion. ‘Since when did they use cobblestone in Ponyville?’

Derpy was already well on her way to the road, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he wasn’t following her.

Zach blinked, then shook his head. ‘Right, I’ve got more important things to worry about.’ He picked up the pace and caught up with the mare before she got too far ahead. The two of them continued along the road in relative silence, aside from a little tune Derpy hummed to herself.

Just up ahead, the pony from earlier had come to a stop on the side of the road to converse with another. Whatever they were talking about, the two seemed engrossed in the conversation. As such, they paid Zach and Derpy no mind at all as the duo passed by.

Further ahead, another pony could be seen on the road, headed in their direction. A blue earth pony male by the look of it, no-one significant. ‘OK, keep your cool, just keep your head down and try not to draw their attention.’

As the pony drew closer, Zach took a few deep breaths and cooled his nerves. Right when the pony came to be within ten feet, Zach breathed in and held it. ‘Moment of truth, just don’t look at-…’

Derpy turned and greeted the pony with a wave as they passed by.

The pony indifferently returned Derpy’s greeting as they kept walking. “Hi Derpy…-” They then abruptly stopped and did a double take… staring right at Zach. The pony had a wide-eyed look that had a mix between ‘shocked’ and ‘puzzled’.

Too late did Zach realize that he himself had stopped too, and had been staring right back at the stallion the whole time.

Fortunately, Derpy came to his rescue when she nudged him and gestured towards town. “Hey, don’t stop now, we’re almost there!”

Zach blinked, looked away and quickly got moving again, putting distance between himself and the now bewildered background stallion. ‘Holy crap that was close! God I am such an idiot… The one thing I wasn’t supposed to do, and I did exactly that!’

Just as he’d begun to doubt the efficacy of the disguise after that interaction, he heard the pony behind them letting out a huff and commenting to themselves. “Well, certainly don’t see that every day…” Zach glanced back at them to see the pony promptly moving along and paying the duo no further attention.

The swiftness with which they’d disregarded the encounter confused Zach for a brief moment. It raised some questions, but it also gave him some reassurance. The disguise worked, it did exactly what it was supposed to do. So long as Zach didn’t stare at anyone and acted casually, this plan would work.

…

A few minutes later, the two of them stood before the bridge leading into the town of Ponyville.

For a brief moment, the nervousness and anxiety for what was to come were overshadowed by the sight of the town up close and the wonder that took up the forefront of his mind.

It was one thing to see the town from a screen, to see the camera pan over buildings and streets; vicariously visiting the town in those glimpses of structures rendered as a backdrop for superimposed vector images… none of that could hold a candle to standing in front of the town, firsthand, seeing it for himself with his own eyes.

Ponyville was a lot bigger than he expected, there were many more houses and other structures than what he could recall seeing from renders in the show and fan interpretations. The layout still resembled what he recalled from the show; the Town Hall was where it should be, at least.

Many of the houses were that iconic ‘medieval’ style: visible timber frames, overhanging upper floors, stone bases, thatch or plated roofs, etc. He spied a few other styles of architecture peppered into the mix, but the majority of structures kept a consistent ‘medieval village’ theme going, for the most part.

The street layout and buildings were arranged and organized in a manner that made sense from Zach’s perspective. It was… surprisingly normal, for lack of a more fitting description. Aside from the whole ‘this is a town of magical midget horses’ aspect, and its medieval theme, it looked like a suburban town just like any back home.

Still, it was Ponyville, The Ponyville. the town he’d have done anything to be able to visit back when he was a fan of the show. He wasn’t a fan of the show anymore, yet, here he was.

Taking everything in, he mused with a smile that held sadness behind it, ‘It’s a shame I couldn’t have come here back when I still liked ponies, I would have loved this… I would have loved every second of this.’ The smile faded as a more serious thought entered his mind. ‘Silver lining, if I AM going insane, at least it’s something nice and not, like, brutal alien mutant zombies and eldritch cultists or something. I think I’d much prefer sugar coated ponyland over that, if given the choice.’

A hoof waved in front of his face.

“Hey… you ok?” Came Derpy’s voice from Zach’s left, the same direction the hoof originated from.

He shut his eyes for a moment and focused back to ‘reality’, or, whatever this was, then turned to address his helpful pegasus guide. “Yeah, I’m alright; just thinking again.”

Derpy giggled, “You do that a lot, huh?” She smiled and then tried to reassure him, “Hey, this is gonna work, nopony’s gonna notice you’re a bug pony, because you’re disguised. Just put one hoof in front of the other and follow me!”

“You’re sure I don’t need a mask?” Zach asked with a little bit of emphasis of concern in his voice.

Derpy gave him the same, carefree reassurance. “It’ll be fine! Trust me!”

Zach looked back across the bridge, took a few deep breaths and hopped in place. “Right, right… The disguise works, I just gotta keep my head down and avoid eye contact. Nice and casual, nobody knows I’m a giant bug, they just think I’m a shady pony.”

Derpy was already crossing the bridge, once again paying little attention to whether Zach was following her or not.

“W-wait, Derpy!” he called out to her, but tried to keep his voice down at the same time. He guessed she hadn’t heard him, because she didn’t stop or give any indication of hearing him. As if on cue, he felt the pain of hunger gripping at his stomach, adding onto the list of things spurring him to press forward regardless of his nerves.

There was no turning back now.

With a tentative hoof raised, he leaned in and placed it upon the stone bridge. Then another, and another; Zach stared into the town square, keeping an eye on where Derpy was so as to not lose sight of her. An equestrian couple walked past him without so much as glancing in his direction, the two of them much too involved in whatever it was they’d been talking about with one another.

With the help of the little boost in confidence that added, Zach pressed on with a bit more vigor in his step. Another pony passed by, glancing only once before seeming to pay him no mind. Once Zach’s hooves touched down on the other end of the bridge, he paused and looked around. Every which way his eyes wandered, ponies were coming and going; it looked like most of Ponyville had taken to the streets.

There was a large number of equestrians decorating the town square with streamers, lights, artistic visages of the sun, all manner of decorations that Zach could tell were intended for the big holiday tomorrow. ‘This’ll work in my favor: if everyone’s busy with preparing for the holiday, they’re less likely to take notice of me.’

Zach picked up the pace and continued, taking care to avoid eye contact with any of the townsfolk. It took a bit of maneuvering to avoid bumping into the busy ponies, but luckily for him, most of them seemed to also be taking care not to bump into anyone.

Occasionally, Zach brought a hoof to his hood to make sure it was still firmly in place, then reaching back to ensure his jacket hadn’t shifted. It was a precaution, he knew the disguise wouldn’t come undone so easily, but he wanted to be absolutely sure.

The occasional glance from a pony as he passed by gave him a little spark in the nerves, but nearly every time it happened, they simply looked away or shrugged it off. Either the disguise was working as intended, or they were too busy with prepping for the Summer Sun Celebration. Regardless, everything seemed to be working out.

Zach emerged from the crowd and exited the Town Square in the direction he’d seen Derpy headed prior. Relief eased his nerves when he spotted her just up ahead; the pegasus had stopped to talk with a pair of ponies who were working to string up a set of decorative lights. He caught up with her in time to hear a portion of the conversation.

“…are you sure you don’t want my help?” Derpy asked the pair.

They quickly, and a bit forcefully, responded with smiles that even Zach could tell were fake, “Yes, we’re positive! We’ve got everything handled here, no need for an extra pair of hooves!”

“Oh, ok then, I-I’ll let you get back to it!” Derpy forced a smile and turned away. She looked back the way she came and a more genuine smile washed over her face when she saw Zach. “Oh there you are! Hi again!”

Zach tilted his head slightly to the side with a mildly puzzled look, “I was right behind you, barely gone for more than a few seconds.” He raised an eyebrow and smirked, “What, did you forget about me?” His intent was for humor, but the wall-eyed mare once again took him literally.

“Wh-what!? No, I-I didn’t forget about you! I was just…” Derpy turned and gestured with a hoof to the pony duo and their lights, “They were hanging the lights, a-and I thought they might need help, I’m sorry.”

Zach considered trying to explain the intent of his previous statement, but at this point, it was easier to just go along with things as is. Besides, he couldn’t be mad at her for simply wanting to help people, or rather ponies, “It’s fine, Derpy, I understand.”

This seemed to smooth things over, judging by the way her expression lightened. “Well, l-let’s keep going then. This way, I think!” Off she went, taking to the air in a low hovering height just above the roadway.

As he took a step forward, Zach heard one of the ponies hanging the light addressing him.

“You ok there buddy?”

Zach halted and cast a quick glance to the duo, though he just managed to stop himself from looking at them fully. “What do you mean?” He asked, but in hindsight, he should have ignored them and kept moving.

“It’s your voice; I don’t mean to be rude, friend, but you sound like your throat’s all gunked up, or terribly sore, like you’re coming down with something. Might wanna get that checked out.” The one pony offered.

“Yeah, especially if it could be contagious! Don’t wanna get folks sick before the celebration tomorrow, or during!” Came the other’s follow up.

Zach shrugged, “Yeah, thanks, I’ll uh, do that… Get my throat checked or… whatever.” He quickly moved himself forward and away from the two ponies.

A quick look back, and the two had already gotten back to the light hanging. Zach ducked around a few ponies and caught back up to derpy, who was happily floating along through the streets.

Now that he was effectively in Ponyville and safely hidden in plain sight (more or less), it was as good a time as any to ask a few more questions, and figure out where Derpy was intending to take him. “Hey, Derpy?”

She turned her head and looked back at him, “Yes?” Her entire body soon followed in turn to the direction she was looking, which resulted in her flying backwards.

“Where exactly are we headed? We managed to get me into the town, which is great, but I do still need a place to stay, and a bite to eat.” The sooner he was situated with a place to stay, the sooner he could figure out the whole ‘eating love’ thing and put an end to the painful complaints from his stomach.

“Well, the Weatherly Hotel always has rooms available, if I’m remembering correctly.” Derpy tapped a hoof to her chin in thought, then smiled and nodded, “Yeah, they should have a room, they always have rooms available. C’mon, it’s this way!”

She tilted her backside in one direction and altered her course accordingly, then brought herself to a stop, and then started propelling herself forward in the opposite direction.

Zach idly watched the display of maneuvering, amusing as it was. He followed behind as the pegasus took the side path between a set of buildings. “So, uh, is it normally this busy? The town I mean?”

“No, most of the time it’s pretty peaceful.” She casually answered without looking back.

“Oh, I get that, I was wondering more about the holiday. Seems like a lot of effort is being put into the decorations, and the streets are packed. Is that normal for the Sun Celebration?”

Derpy stopped to turn around and address the question, but ended up continuing along with her momentum even as she spoke. “Oh that!” She giggled and waved a hoof, “Normally, not really. It’s just that this year’s celebration is gonna be special!”

Zach felt he already knew where she was going with this, but he played along. “Really? How so?”

She held her hooves out and gestured in an excited fashion, “Princess Celestia’s coming to Ponyville for this year’s celebration! Everyone is super excited!”

That confirmed it, he was just prior to the pilot episode, assuming this place followed the show’s timeline at all. He passively nodded, putting things in place in his mind. “I see.”

“Huh, that’s odd…”

Zach stopped and raised an eyebrow at her exclamation, “What’s odd?”

Derpy stopped to pull out her map. “Oh, oops, the hotel is actually that way… sorry!”

“No worries.”

A slight course correction and they were back on track, at least Zach hoped they were.

After following his guide for a good minute or two, Zach found himself gazing at a rather plain looking multi-story building with a large wooden sign propped up just above the front doorway. The words ‘weatherly hotel’ were painted on the sign.

“I take it, this is the hotel?” Zach asked rhetorically.

Derpy shook her head, “Nooo, this is the street the hotel is on.”

At a momentary loss for words, Zach blinked a few times and followed the pegasus as she casually walked through the front door.

“This is the hotel!” Derpy exclaimed once the both of them were standing in the front reception area.

Zach rolled his eyes and went with it.

The hotel reception area was casual, not overly decorated. He guessed that this was likely one of the cheaper hotels available, judging by the overall appearance of the place. It wasn’t run down or anything of low quality, but it didn’t look to be expensive or high quality either.

There were two other ponies in the reception area, folks staying the night, probably. Other than that, the front was empty.

Derpy strolled up to the front desk and lightly tapped the bell for service, then the two of them waited.

“Coming!” came a response from the staff room not far behind the desk. Within the next minute, a Pegasus stallion came trotting out and took his place at the reception with your typical ‘customer service’ smile. “Welcome to Weatherly hotel! I’m Mr. Weatherly,” he took one look at the pegasus mare and his demeanor shifted slightly, “oh hello, miss Hooves! What can I do for you on this fine day?”

“Hi Mr.Weatherly! I’d like to purchase a room for a few nights, for my friend, please!” Derpy merrily declared.

Mr. Weatherly nodded and took up a pen with his wing, “Certainly! I’d be happy to book you a room, may I have a name?”

Derpy turned and gave a gesture to Zach, “This is my friend, he’s a bug pony!” before stepping aside.

Zach scrunched up his face a bit, ‘Oh come on, Derpy!’ He took one step towards the counter and spoke up, “Actually, can you put it under her name?” Zach cast a glance to the mare, “I mean, as long as that’s ok?”

She shrugged with a smile, “Yeah, that’s ok.”

When Zach looked back to the receptionist, the stallion’s ‘customer service’ expression was completely gone and replaced with a look like someone who was staring at the uncanny. ‘...aaand this is why I wanted to cover my face.’

Mr. Weatherly spoke after having had his mouth hanging open for several moments. “What in Equestria are you?”

Zach blinked once, then said the first thing that came to his mind. Unfortunately, the first thing to come to his mind was, “I’m the guy not judging you based on your appearance.”

The silence was deafening. ‘Greeeat, pretty sure I just made that a hundred times worse. Thanks, brain, appreciate it.’

Mr. Weatherly’s facial expression went through a small array of emotions before it settled into one of awkward embarrassment. He cleared his throat and spoke with a self-conscious air, “I-I- didn’t mean to judge, you’re just so very… err, frightening!”

Zach raised a mildly indignant brow at that, though he tried not to judge the stallion. After all, he could agree with him that Changelings were pretty creepy.

Mr.Weatherly bit his lower lip and mumbled under his breath, “Oh dear, I just made things several times worse didn’t I?” He cleared his throat and tried again, “You see, what I’m trying to say is: you’re just so very um, well... it’s the eyes and the fangs, well maybe not the fangs per say, but the gaunt facial features...” He fumbled about with his words, visibly struggling to avoid making the situation more awkward and failing miserably. “Heavens, I’m not making this even the slightest bit better am I?”

Zach was genuinely surprised: he was expecting hostility and malice, not an effort in backtracking and damage control. Sure the guy was kind of insulting him to his face, inadvertently, but still.

He didn’t really care if he was insulted, that wasn’t anything new to him. Being insulted for the way he looked or dressed didn’t faze him any other of the thousand times he’d heard it growing up, and it wasn’t going to magically start just because he was now in a world of talking ponies.

Still, Mr. Weatherly seemed reasonable enough, perhaps this could be salvaged?

“Look, I get it, I’m a scary bug thing. Even I sometimes get spooked when I look at myself in a mirror.” Zach finally spoke, hoping humor would help smooth things over. “I just need a room for a few nights to get myself sorted. Can you help me out?”

The receptionist looked to the right, behind Zach, to the two onlooking equines who’d also been in the reception area. The two onlookers were eavesdropping, judging by the expressions they both had, and both eavesdroppers reacted with a combination of curiosity and mild unease when they caught a glimpse of Zach’s face.

When Zach looked back to Mr.Weatherly, any hope he’d had for the situation evaporated.

The stallion forced himself to smile through his nerves, shifting through some papers and setting his pen down. “I-I’m terribly sorry, but I think we’re booked solid…” He quickly asserted.

Derpy, who had been silent and baffled by the sudden series of events up until now, cocked her head to one side in disbelief as she spoke, “Whaaaat? But, but, you guys always have rooms open! I mean, I’m happy you’re finally getting more business, but…”

“Again, terribly sorry, really, but we are booked solid!” Mr. Weatherly reaffirmed with a nervous expression firmly plastered on his face, though by now he was refusing to look at either Zach or Derpy, averting his gaze and keeping it aimed down at his desk.

Zach knew he was lying, it was blatantly obvious. Glancing to his right, the two onlooking ponies in the reception area were staring at him with equal parts concern and interest, all while quietly whispering to each other.

For a moment, he could have sworn he tasted something funny. He flicked his tongue around his mouth to try and find the source, to no avail. The taste came and went, leaving him mildly puzzled.

Derpy stepped up to the reception desk and pleaded, “Can you check again, just to be sure? Please?”

The receptionist briefly thought about it, then gestured to some paperwork. “Suuuure, miss Hooves. J-just a moment, let me check.”

Zach didn’t need to see the contents of the paperwork to know that the guy wasn’t actually checking anything. Ignoring the fact that just behind the desk was a chart with the rooms listed, and the rung for the room keys right next to it… and that there were clearly vacancies.

“Nope, no rooms, terribly sorry, miss Derpy!”

For whatever reason, Derpy seemed to believe the stallion. Zach couldn’t tell if she was gullible or didn’t want any confrontation. ‘I should say something, rip into this jerk for lying and treating her like that!’ He argued with himself, argued that point. He wanted to say something, so very badly did he want to call the guy out for lying to their faces like this.

Derpy turned to Zach, and with an apologetic expression, hung her shoulders in defeat. “I’m sorry… I guess they don’t have any rooms after all… m-maybe the other hotels might have rooms?”

Zach glanced in the direction of the receptionist; the stallion was still averting his gaze with that sheepish, nervous expression. ‘Say something! Now’s the time! Call this guy out on his bullcrap!’

He sighed and said, “Yeah, maybe.”

The two hurried their way back out the front door before things got any worse. Glancing briefly to his left, Zach caught sight of the blue earth pony he’d encountered on the road into Ponyville earlier, looking in his direction. The second he made eye contact with him, the pony looked away and quickly trotted off.

‘The heck was that about?’ He shook the thought from his mind.

Once the duo were a few paces down the street, Derpy came to a stop and pulled out her map. She didn’t speak, save for a few distraught mumbles to herself.

‘You should have said something back there.’ Zach chastised himself. ‘No, that wouldn’t have helped. Would’ve just made things worse.’ The logical side of his mind tried to argue. He went back and forth in his mind for a good minute or two

He took a step forward and opened his mouth to say something to the mare, but abruptly stopped. There was an odd taste again, different from the last one, but just as confusing. Zach glanced around and smacked his lips trying to figure out where the flavor came from. Just like the last time, the flavor dissipated, although it lasted significantly longer.

When he returned his attention back to her, Derpy had already begun moving again with the map held under her wing.

He followed, waiting until Derpy stopped to check the map before attempting to speak. Again, Zach tasted something in the air, but this time, he also felt something in his head in response. It was… information? No, not just ‘information’, this was sensory information. It told him that the pegasus mare was upset, not that he didn’t already know that.

Zach couldn’t understand what this supposed sense was, between the taste and the response in his mind. It was alien, confusing, information from a source in a way that didn’t make any sense according to what he was accustomed to.

‘Is this supposed to be some kind of changeling extrasensory crap? Because if it is, no thanks, I don’t want it.’ Although he was trying to make light of it with humor, he was genuine in not desiring additional senses to have to account for. With as much difficulty as he’d had in life trying to figure out how to tell what others were feeling… or recognizing emotional cues. Never in his life had he ever ‘tasted’ how someone felt; to say it creeped him out would be a colossal understatement.

He turned his mind against the sensation and tried to force it back and out of focus. Whatever it was, he didn’t need it adding any more confusion into the mix of this already frustrating enough series of events.

Refocusing his attention back to his pegasus companion, Zach wanted to say something to Derpy. He wanted to try and reassure her, cheer her up, anything really. This extra sense was making things difficult.

‘Or you’re just making excuses.’ He sighed and tried to clear his head again.

Eventually he spoke, but not with what he wanted to say. “So, where are we headed next?”

Derpy glanced back with an expression that made him feel even worse about this whole thing, “Oh, right… umm, we’re headed to the next hotel. It's just that way, I think… yeah, it’s that way.”

“Good, good.” Was all he said in response.

The mare put on a smile and tried to reassure him, much to Zach’s surprise. “Hey, don’t worry, everything’s gonna be fine! We’ll find a hotel you can stay at, or… well, if not, you can always stay with me at my place.”

Zach stared for a good moment, visibly confused. ‘Wait, What just happened? Hold on, I’m the one supposed to be reassuring you, not the other way around. Is she upset because she thinks I’m upset? Does she feel sorry for me? Does she not understand what happened back there?’

Derpy was proving to be nothing quite like what he’d originally expected her to be. To say she was nothing like what he’d seen of her on the show would be pointless, as she didn’t have any notable characterization in the show, from what he could remember. All he really had to work with was fan speculation.

Was he misjudging her? It wouldn’t be the first time he’d misjudged someone, nor would it be the last. That was a dumb question, of course he was misjudging her! Equestria wasn’t real! Who’s to say any of these ponies would act the same way they acted in the show?

‘Well, if this is a fever dream or hallucination, it’s only fair to assume it’d have some basis in my experiences and knowledge of these characters… but if it is real, somehow, then it’s up in the air as to how--...’ He stopped his train of thought when he noticed Derpy was no longer nearby. ‘...and there I go getting lost in thought again. Nice work.’

Zach swiftly moved to try and catch up with the pegasus, following the direction he last remembered her going. He caught sight of her just down the next street and quickly kept pace with her.

Now back together, the two went about navigating Ponyville, taking the less crowded streets and alleyways to get to their next destination. Zach kept himself busy in his mind to fend off the hunger pains, but he always kept one eye on his companion so he wouldn’t lose track of her.

All he could really do now was hope that they would find a hotel with vacancy, and fast...

…

Previously...

Now back together, the two went about navigating Ponyville, taking the less crowded streets and alleyways to get to their next destination. Zach kept himself busy in his mind to fend off the hunger pains, but he always kept one eye on his companion so he wouldn’t lose track of her.

All he could really do now was hope that they would find a hotel with vacancy, and fast...

Our Story Continues...

…

As it turned out, none of the other hotels in Ponyville had any vacancies.

Zach had gone so far as to stay outside for the last of the few hotels Ponyville had, just to be sure it wasn’t him that was the issue. They went to every hotel in Ponyville, upon Derpy’s insistence.

No dice.

“Ugh...dammit.” Zach swore aloud, holding a hoof to his belly with a grimace. “What a waste of time. No surprise, everyone’s booked solid because of the holiday tomorrow.”

Derpy plopped down on her flank, as the two of them sat under the shade of a building.

“I’m sorry… I was so sure that there would be at least one hotel with a vacancy...” The mare said with disappointment hanging from her words. “Everyone’s so excited to see the princess here in Ponyville this year…”

She wasn’t the only one feeling disappointed, but Zach didn’t want her to feel discouraged. He still needed her help, “Hey, you tried, that’s what counts. I appreciate the effort.” In his head, he bit out, ‘There WAS one hotel with vacancy… but then that jerk went all speciest on me. Speciest; Species-ist? Whatever, doesn’t matter.’

“I guess so, happy to help!” The pegasus was smiling, but that odd taste came back.

The flavor was more defined, and it clicked together in his head with an, again, foreign and uncanny processing of information that the human part of his mind was very much uncomfortable with. Derpy was still upset, probably more so if the flavor laying upon his tongue was any indication. ‘Blegh, that is super intrusive and really creepy. Is there an off switch for this? I’d really like an off-switch; knowing what emotions taste like is something I could have gone the rest of my life without.’

His stomach growled and the hunger had, by now, grown in ferocity to an almost unbearable agony tormenting the back of his mind. Shelter was a bust, and his stomach seemed determined to cause him as much pain as physically possible.

‘Oh joy, there you are again.’

Zach must have inadvertently been making some seriously miserable expressions, because Derpy spoke up on it.

“Bugpony, are you ok? You look like you’re gonna be sick.” She blinked a few times and her expression took up a level of concern to match that of her voice. “Should I get you a doctor?”

Zach looked at her and tried to feign assurance, “No, no I’m fine Derpy, really.”

Derpy didn’t seem convinced, “Are you sure? Because your face is all scrunched up, and you keep holding your belly like you’re in pain…”

There just wasn’t any way around it, he needed to eat, and he needed to eat now. ‘OK, change of plans, I’ll figure out what to do for shelter after I’ve shut my stomach up. If nothing else, I’ll just have to take up the offer and stay at Derpy’s place.’ He stared at the ground for a moment before the ever helpful thought of ‘How do I eat an emotion?’ re-entered his frontline of mental processes.

Derpy waved a hoof to get his attention, “Bug pony?”

“I’m fine, Derpy, I’m just… Hungry, really hungry. I haven’t eaten anything substantial all day.”

Derpy’s ears perked up and she gave a quick nod of understanding, “Oh, that’s right; you mentioned you were hungry earlier. You must be starving!”

As he’d come to expect of her at this point, she was eager to help. Unfortunately, there still was the problem of: ‘How exactly does one eat an emotion?’

Zach felt pretty stupid for having put it off for as long as he did, well actually, he didn’t, not really. He had been putting it off for several obvious reasons, after all. ‘Seriously, eating emotions, how does that work?’

The possibilities of what feeding on love involved frightened him. That, and not wanting to disclose that little detail to anyone, especially not to the mare trying to help him--even knowing what he looks like. ‘Looking like a giant arthropod horse is one thing. Being an emotion vampire is a whole different ballpark. Feeding on emotion? That’s like something out of a creepy psychological horror novel!’

Zach didn’t know where to start with trying to wrap his brain around how it would work. Heck, he imagined even the know-it-all Twilight Sparkle would have trouble wrapping her brain around the concept. ‘Eating “feelings”, is it an energy of some kind that I’m supposed to take and consume? Is it some kind of spiritual thing, like chakra, or whatnot? Is it magic? Would I literally be eating magic? How would you eat magic? See, this is exactly why I’ve been avoiding this! Why couldn’t I just be an ordinary pony!?’

If he himself had such a difficult time understanding it, how would Derpy, of all ponies, be able to understand it?

“So, umm, is that what you wanna do next, or…?” Derpy started with an air of uncertainty in her voice, having been sitting in silence for the past minute.

With his stomach demanding food, and being just about out of any alternatives, he decided it was at least worth a shot. Zach briefly mulled over the ways to go about this, there wasn’t any easy or ‘right’ way, nothing obvious at least. “Derpy, about that…”

She tilted her head to the side with attentive curiosity, “About what?”

“My species, uh… we ‘bug ponies’ don’t really eat what ponies eat.”

Derpy still carried the look of curiosity, but with a portion of confusion added to it, “They don’t? Well, then, what do bug ponies eat?”

He took a breath. “It’s not easy to explain, but...”

Zach stopped as he caught a whiff of something sweet. He inhaled deeply, and his nostrils were filled with a faint, yet intoxicatingly enticing aroma. Every cylinder in his brain got to firing, urging him to investigate with an unprecedented drive. It was a sensation akin to being hungry and wandering within range of a restaurant, having that smell of food prep hit your nose. Even in this alien body, he knew that sensation and he knew it well.

“Actually, hold that thought.” Was all he offered before hopping to his hooves, and sniffing about to try and pinpoint which direction the aroma was coming from.

“Uhh, ok?” Derpy said with a confused tone. “But, aren’t you hungry?”

Zach opened his mind to the invigorated senses. Inhaling deeply, having that incredible scent fill his nostrils and the sweetness wrapping around his mind. Surprisingly, he felt a strong ‘pull’ in a specific direction, not a literal pull, but a mental tug… a suggestion pointing him in a specific direction. He flicked his tongue out of his mouth and lapped at the air, as if by instinct.

Whatever he’d smelled in the air rolled over his tongue in a sensory experience he’d never known as a human. He could actually taste whatever that was in the air, and it. Was. Delicious.

The flavor was so very faint and distant, but it was the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted in his life. The sweet and savory flavor was beyond anything he could describe, even as faint as it was on the tip of his forked changeling tongue.

Zach’s heart drummed in his chest with eager excitement, excited over the prospect of food. Whatever that food was, his mind focused on it’s aroma and flavor like a laser guidance system, the scent being the laser, and he very quickly became the missile. In the next moment, he found himself off at a running pace, barreling through an alleyway and paying no heed to anything around him, even as Derpy called out to him and struggled to keep up.

All he could think about was the smell, and that flavor he’d tasted on the air. ‘God, that flavor! Whatever it is, I am gonna tear into it!’

Each breath brought with it that scent, steadily growing stronger, steering him through the streets of ponyville with reckless abandon. He didn’t care about any of the bystanders or whether they took notice of his antics, weaving and ducking his way around ponyfolk left and right. Whatever this smell was, whatever the taste in the air was, he knew it was food of some kind and he didn’t care about anything but putting that food in his belly as quickly as possible.

It didn’t take him long to reach the origin of the aroma, where he believed it to be coming from. Zach came to a halt, stopping just short of a little restaurant with an outdoor dining patio, out near the edge of town. There were a few pony folk dining here, seated at the kinds of tables that had umbrellas built into them. It wasn’t all that surprising to him that his nose led him here.

He glanced around, sniffing at the air and trying to determine what exactly he’d smelled earlier. There was no mistaking it, the food was here, it was here. That’s what his brain was telling him, but where here?

Zach stepped closer to the arrangement of dining tables, looking to each of them for any hint of what could have possibly been the source of the smell that brought him here. There wasn’t any hint of it, at least from what he could see. The food that the ponies were eating, it was...well… not appetizing in the slightest.

The pony folk were eating exactly what Zach had expected them to eat, similar to what he’d seen in the cartoon. They were amalgamations of vegetables and plants that were prepared or arranged in such a way to imitate the foods he’d see back home. It really wasn’t the worst thing imaginable, and as hungry as he was, he wouldn’t turn his nose up at it if it were offered to him.

Still, there was nothing that would have given off such a strong presence of sweetness. Despite the lack of any obvious source, the enticing aroma permeated the air around the patio.

‘Ok, what’s the deal!? What am I smelling if it isn’t any of the foods here?!’ He demanded in his head. His brain, the changeling parts he figured, responded by adamantly insisting that there was food right here, right in front of him. The more he demanded, the more his brain insisted, at least that was the sensation he got whenever he inhaled that delectably sweet scent. Flicking his tongue out, he could practically lick the flavor from the air, fueling his frustration.

It was, by far, the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted, and it was tantalizing with how it danced over the tip of his tongue, grabbing at his mind and demanding he go after it.

‘Oh my god, where the hell IS IT!?’ Zach was rapidly losing what little patience he had. Having his goal be so close, without any discernible means of actually acquiring it, or where it even was, was like a slap in the face.

That’s when he saw it…

Two of the ponies in the dining patio, sitting together at one of the tables, embraced and held a kiss. They must have been a couple, or romantically involved in some way. The sweet smell grew tenfold, nearly flooring Zach in its intensity. It was only after he’d moved away for a brief moment, looked away, tried one last vain attempt to locate the source of the smell and taste; It clicked for him.

This was the source, that smell, that...taste… It was that pony couple: they were the source.

Zach felt a lump in his throat, and what had previously been a sweet and enticing aroma in his mind, very quickly soured and elicited revulsion. ‘What- no. No. No! This can’t be it, that can’t be what I was smelling! That’s not fair!’

Changelings ate Love, that was a fact. He wanted to deny it, but the more he watched the pony couple, the more that now sickeningly sweet smell lingered in his nostrils, the less he could reason his way out of it. That’s what love smelled like, and he had the tiniest sample of what it tasted like lingering in the air…

His stomach belligerently spurred him on with a biting pain that viciously tore at his thoughts. Food was right here, staring him in the face! The only thing stopping him was the how. He’d figure that out though, one way or another, all he had to do was walk over to those two ponies… they were separate from the others, it’d be easy to get close to them, especially with how they were fixated on one another.

With everyone busy for the Celebration tomorrow, no one would notice him sneak up to those two lovers…

‘Wait, what!? No! I can’t just walk over to a pair of complete strangers and start, I dunno, doing whatever it is these parasite bug horses do! What in the world is wrong with me!?’ He shook the intrusive thoughts from his mind and forcibly tore his gaze from the couple on the diner’s patio. He wiped wetness from his mouth with revulsion. ‘Was I salivating!? Oh my god, I was! Screw you, bug brain!’

He took a few deep breaths and tried to organize his thoughts and calm his nerves. Unfortunately, the air was so thick with the aroma of Love that it did not help in the slightest. ‘I don’t even know what it is they do anyway.’ He whined in his head. Zach wanted to turn around right there and then, get as far from that pony couple as possible.

The smell, and his stomach, stopped him from doing so. It made his skin crawl, but there was no denying the facts. Despite his anger and resentment, the parts of his brain responsible for these new senses gently, but firmly, coaxed him into reconsidering.

He needed food, and food was here.

‘Dammit, why does that have to smell so good? Is this what being a mosquito is like? This is gross, creepy, unfair, and I hate it!’ Humor aside, the painful biting in his belly was already at the limits of what he could tolerate. He was starving, and not in the exaggerated sense; he knew from experience that he wasn’t going to last very long like this. If he didn’t willingly do something about this now, he’d have little say in what he would do next.

Zach shuddered at the memory of the ‘rotten carrot stew’ incident. ‘Yeah, no, I’m not having a “love vampire” version of that. I need to figure this out one way or the other.’

He watched the pony couple and mulled things over, ‘Ok, if I were a parasitic emotion vampire, how would I go about feeding on someone?’ As much as that line of thought sent a disgusted shiver up his spine, Zach contemplated the possibilities. He felt around in his mouth, running his tongue over the fangs and the array of curved, pointed teeth to accompany them. Zach was by no means a biologist, but if he had to hazard a guess, the teeth definitely pointed towards a ‘carnivorous’ diet. Then again, he had no trouble from the leaves he ate earlier, ‘omnivore’ was also a possibility.

Zach tried to remember the season two finale, hoping there might have been some indication of how they fed somewhere in that episode; ‘I don’t think changelings actually bite their prey to feed on them, otherwise they’d have implied it in the show; someone would’ve seen it on Sparkle’s brother. Come to think of it, what are the fangs for anyway? Questions for later. Can’t rule out biting being part of it, but I’ll save that for last.’

The pain in his stomach worsened with each breath he took. Either the smell invigorating his senses or the flavor dancing across his tongue, it was practically begging him and coaxing him over to indulge. All this was going to drive him crazy if he sat here for much longer. ‘Welp, time to wing it. Hopefully this bug body knows how this works and it’ll give me some kind of hint as to what I need to do once I’m… in range, I guess? God, I hope changelings don’t have to bite to feed… Using people for food is bad enough without having to hurt them in the process.’

Zach looked to the left and right of the pony couple, relieved to see that a few of the dining tables near them were vacant. He could swoop in, grab a seat at a table near them, figure out how changelings did their thing, feed, get his stomach to quiet down, and be on his way.

He took a deep breath, gulped, and made his way over to the dining area as casually as he could manage. ‘Nice and casual, super casual, nice and easy and… casual… aaand this isn’t helping.’

Something awful graced his taste buds. The flavor was faint, yet it was bitter enough to make him want to spit away whatever it was. Once again, his mind processed the information in its uncannily alien manner; the taste was… anger. Anger, someone was angry, but it wasn’t just general anger, was it anger directed at him?

Something clicked in the changeling parts of his brain, yes, someone was angry with him.

Who, and why? Was it Derpy? Maybe she was angry with him for bolting on her? ‘Hey, she left me behind plenty of times! Then again, she’s also going out of her way to help me, so I can’t really get too indignant here…’

Zach frowned at that, but moved on from it, whatever the case was. For the time being, it was irrelevant next to the unshakeable need to fill his belly with emotion. ‘Yep, eating emotion isn’t getting any less weird to think about.’

He took a seat at one of the tables near to the couple and cast a careful glance around to check his surroundings. None of the other ponies seemed to be paying him much mind.

Well, that was until he spotted that same blue Earth pony from before. Again, the second they made eye contact, the pony looked away and quickly got out of sight.

Zach raised an eyebrow at that, or the changeling equivalent, ‘Ok, your name is Blue until known otherwise, and you’re weirding me out, buddy.’ This was the second time, or was it the third time? He hadn’t been keeping count, but now he would endeavor to do so. This was a repeating occurrence and Zach wasn’t an idiot.

Blue was following him, ever since he’d seen him on the road to Ponyville. It was plenty obvious that’s what he was doing, but why? Zach had a few plausible guesses off the top of his head, but now wasn’t the time for such things. With a huff, he got back to the task at hand. He’d have plenty of time to worry about being stalked by Blue after he’d dealt with the gripping pain of starvation.

‘OK, I’m here, food is literally next to me. How do I do this?’ He looked down at himself, pausing for a moment and waiting for any kind of hint from this changeling body for what the next step would be. ‘Well!? Any second now, body, what do I do?’

Nothing. Well, besides the tug of his sensory system being enveloped and teased by the heavenly aroma bombarding his olfactories…or whatever the weird horse bug equivalent of them was.

‘Come on!!!’ He shouted into his mind. ‘What the hell do I do!?’

He inhaled through his mouth, tasting at the flavor filled air gracing his tongue, the promises of food so close and yet so very far away. The air itself was so impossibly delicious, like miniscule crumbs of everything sweet he’d ever tasted in his life all combined into a mist.

Zach sat there and inhaled through his mouth, slowly, drawing out the extent of breath to keep that flavor on his tongue as long as he could manage. It was nothing short of intoxicating, encapsulating his mind, his thoughts swarming with nothing but that succulent sweetness that invigorated his taste buds. ‘Oh my god, that’s so good. So good, dammit I can’t think straight… I need more, I need food! Why isn’t this working!? How do I “bug pony”? Please, just let me eat, damn you!’

He wanted to cry, to scream, to shout at the cruelty of it all. To have come so close to food and not have any means to get it.

Just as the outrage started to grow, Zach felt something tangible forming in his mouth. He couldn’t explain the how or the why, but the longer he sat there and inhaled, the more he felt a building up of…something. He could’ve sworn he saw little whisps of pink just on the outside of his mouth at some points. Eventually, he felt a liquid build up, yet it wasn’t quite a liquid…

Whatever this not-quite-liquid substance was, it was a miniscule amount, but it…was…delicious. Zach ran his tongue through it: the substance was almost a liquid, but it also seemed to float and was airy like a gas. Was it energy?

Every fiber of his body ached for whatever this substance was, he craved it, such was made very clear with the signals he was getting in his brain. After a few seconds, there was just enough to where he could close his mouth and swallow it. The changeling parts of his brain did summersaults of joy, a moment of giddiness, positive signals in all the right places.

Food, this was food.

He kept at it, taking in those deep breaths, waiting anxiously for the sweetness to build up into the tangible mass for him to swallow. Little by little, the pain in his belly gave purchase, and diminished ever so slightly with each swallow of that miniscule amount of the not-quite-liquid substance.

It didn’t take long for it to click into place in his mind. Love, that’s what this was, obvious in hindsight; from where he sat, he only cared about getting more of the stuff. It’s all he could think about.

‘Is that it? Is this how they do it? This can’t be right, there’s so little of it! I need more!’ Gathering the love from the air was agonizingly slow, and the more he took in, he only wanted more of it. More of this flavor, more love, and he couldn’t make it go any faster than what he currently managed.

Still, it was clearly helping; it was making the pain in his stomach dissipate, to a noticeable degree. He laid his head down upon the table and let himself continue to breathe deeply of the love in the air, letting it pool into that tangible substance, then swallowing it down…

His stomach calmed, but he was still hungry.

Zach mused the feeling of relief that was building in intensity. It felt like he’d been dying of thirst and came upon a moderate rainfall; water was everywhere, and he was trying to drink it by holding his mouth open to the sky. It was slow, painfully so, but it was getting the job done, little by little. Curiously enough, something about this whole thing didn’t feel right, said feeling stemming from the newfound changeling parts in his brain. It felt off, yet, at the same time, it didn’t feel objectively wrong either.

Zach had sat there, doing the closest thing he could get to feeding, not paying much attention to anything besides fulfilling the demands of this changeling stomach of his. It caught him completely by surprise, and startled him, when he heard the newcomer address him.

“Heya, friendo! Mind if I join you?” Came a stallion’s warm, friendly voice as he approached.

Zach inhaled sharply, turning his head to identify the newcomer. Part of him expected Blue to be there, but he was relieved to find himself looking at a male pegasus pony. Their fur was a brownish color, like coffee if you held it up to the light in a glass. Their mane was a gentle shade of green that complemented his coat color.

The pegasus’ eyes widened for a moment, with an expression that hinted at fear. The expression didn’t last though, as the pegasus forced a smile before reiterating his previous question. “You uh, don’t mind if I sit here, do you?”

Zach struggled to focus, reluctantly fighting off the incessantly pleasant haze he’d been so eagerly partaking in. Part of him wanted to ignore everything and sit here while the love saturation stimulating his senses. The other part of him was panicking, with good reason. “A- well, uh… I-I…”

‘Quick! Think of something! Give him any old excuse, tell him you’re waiting for someone, anything!’ He fought to try and form sentences, but the words just wouldn’t come out. Mentally shaking himself to try and get back to his senses, he spoke the first thing to come to mind: “Sure.”

‘Gaah! Anything but that! Stupid stupid stupid!’

“Rough day, huh? I understand.” Without further ado, the pegasus took the seat on the opposite end of Zach’s table. “You new in town? You look like you’ve traveled a decent distance, and I don’t think we’ve met before…”

Zach’s heart was pumping now, ‘Wait, no! Go away! Why can’t you just hate my face and want nothing to do with me like the Weatherly guy?!’ He glanced back toward where he first came from, hoping to see Derpy had caught up with him. Failing to catch sight of her, he kept his eyes peeled and tried to avoid eye contact with the newcomer.

‘My luck is going straight into the toilet now, isn’t it? Now what the heck do I do!?’

The pegasus had waited for some kind of response. In lieu of any response from Zach, he’d elected to continue the conversation where he left off, “Funnily enough, I wouldn’t be able to recognize you anyway, wearing that costume. Wicked cool mask by the way, nearly spooked me half to death when I first saw it!”

‘Hold the phone, he thinks I’m wearing a mask? Is this guy an idiot?’ Sure, Zach was wearing a disguise to hide his body, but he didn’t understand why anyone would think--… ‘Heeeyyy, that must have been why Derpy insisted I didn’t need to cover my face! I mean, it didn’t help with that Weatherly guy, nor did it help with Blue, but I see what she was going for at least. Would’ve been great if it worked earlier… whatever, I’ll take it.’

With that respite from worry, he figured his best move would be to act casual and play along, at least until he caught sight of Derpy. Zach forced a smile and tried to return the friendly demeanor, answering the question just as the Pegasus was opening his mouth to speak, “I, y-yeah. Sorry, It’s been a long day for me, just rolled into town and whatnot. Still trying to get my bearings.”

The pegasus nodded with a friendly smile, “No kidding? I mean, I guessed as much, what with those saddlebags and all. Here for the summer sun celebration then, I take it? Not that there aren’t other nice things about Ponyville worth a visit, but the princess coming by is a bit of a big deal.”

In his mind, Zach did his best to keep his cool, ‘OK, so the princess is coming to town, that means it’s the pilot epis—wait, I already established that. C’mon Zach, you’re panicking! Stop panicking! This guy thinks I’m wearing a mask, just reaffirms that the ponies don’t know what changelings are. That is good for me.’ Outside his mind, he offered a quick, “You could say that, yeah.” Small talk, he was terrible at it, but he’d have to manage.

The stallion chuckled, “How are you doing that with your voice? Are you using some kind of illusion spell or is that a practiced thing?”

Zach mentally facepalmed, another thing he’d worried about and not considered alternatives for. He responded with a little grain of truth, “Practice, lots of practice. Wanted to be a voice actor, never ended up doing anything with it.”

‘Well, that’s one less thing to panic over; I’ll gladly take it.’

“Neat!” The newcomer then tried imitating Zach’s gargly changeling vocals, with limited success and a lighthearted laugh. “Oh, that is plenty difficult isn’t it? Wow, you’re good.”

“Thanks.” Zach scanned his surroundings again, though he tried to be casual about it. Still no sign of Derpy. ‘I really should have waited for her to keep up… She’s probably forgotten all about me and wandered off to do something else; It’d be just my luck.’

“My name’s Arco, by the way. Arco Prattle.”

Zach tried to feign friendliness in return, but he knew he’d have mixed results. A brief smile and a nonchalant, “nice to meet you.” Behind him, the couple from earlier and the source of the love, were getting up to leave, to his dismay. Zach wanted to continue feeding, but there wasn’t anything he could do about that now. He didn’t have any reason to stick around anymore, and a plethora of reasons to leave.

Just as he was about to excuse himself, one of the servers from the restaurant happened by. They recognized the pegasus and offered a warm greeting, “Oh, hello Arco! Here for the usual?” A mare, by the sound of their voice and facial features.

“Heya, Cinnamon! Sure, I could go for the usual.” Arco stuck a hoof out towards Zach before adding, “One for my new friend here, too. You gotta see this fella’s mask, Cinnamon! It’s super spooky!”

Zach was frozen on the spot, caught between a rock and a hard place. He wanted to flee right then and there and get out of this situation, but he was also curious to see the server’s reaction. Maybe there was more merit to Derpy’s logic than he gave her credit for?

The mare in question, Cinnamon, took a look at Zach just as he looked to her, and her eyes widened momentarily. “Oh wow, that is spooky! I bet you could scare half of ponyville into a frenzy with a getup like that!”

“Heh, yeah, I already spooked my way out of a hotel for the night at the Weatherly’s…” Zach concurred. ‘Ok, so there’s definitely more merit to this disguise than I originally thought. I dunno how comfortable I am about stress testing this, but Derpy seemed to have the right idea after all.’ Zach shuffled in his chair and weighed his options. He could excuse himself, that’d be the easy option, but then where would he go from there? He’d still need to find derpy.

“Oh, jeez, sorry to hear that, friendo. Lotta folks around town tend to be easily spooked at first, but, trust me when I say they’re genuinely nice folks at heart.” Arco offered, then quickly added, “Well, most of em anyway.”

Cinnamon agreed, “Yeah, the Weatherly’s are decent folks, but Mr. Weatherly’s a bit of a… well… I don’t wanna say he’s a speciest or anything.”

‘I probably shouldn’t go wandering aimlessly; if Derpy comes looking for me, I should stay in this general area.’ Zach continued contemplating as the two ponies talked.

“He just doesn’t handle scares very well.” Arco asserted.

“Yeah, that! He’s a nervous wreck when the latter half of October rolls around. Anyway, I’ll be right back with those drinks.” And with that, Cinnamon headed inside.

Drinks, Zach hadn’t had anything to drink since he got here, well, unless he counted feeding on love. Could that count? It didn’t feel like it, the more he thought about it. ‘Wow, it really does not get any less weird does it? I’m just gonna stop thinking about it.’

“This place sells some of the best coffee in ponyville, at least in my humble opinion. You’ve gotta try some.” Arco spoke up in the moment of quiet between them. “I always get a coffee from here, every day.”

Coffee, that was quite the enticing offer. ‘As much as I probably don’t need to be ingesting a diuretic, I could definitely go for some coffee right about now. It’d help cool my nerves, assuming this body gets along with coffee. It’d also help me keep my cover, casually enjoying a coffee out here with this Arco guy. Besides, its coffee…’ His thoughts trailed off into his words. “Shoot, I don’t think I can even think of a time where I’d ever say no to the offer of coffee.”

Arco gave a quick laugh and a grin, “That’s the spirit!”

‘I’ll give Derpy till I’m finished with the coffee. If she followed me, she should be here long before I finish and she can help me get away from here without much suspicion. Even if she got lost, she should still catch up eventually, right? Besides, she’s a pegasus, she could just take flight and look for me from a birds-eye vantage point. Even a mare like her shouldn’t have any trouble finding me, I am wearing her jacket and saddlebags after all.’ Zach figured, ‘Heck, maybe I’ll spot her first.’

Arco eventually continued speaking, breaking the silence, “So, what’s your name, friendo? If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

Zach paused and hesitated, for the same reason why he withheld his name from Derpy: he didn’t want to just start divulging his name out to anyone, seeing as it wouldn’t fit in this pastel pony world. Being a bug pony was already bad enough, having a human name would add on to the weirdness.

That, and he wasn’t sure how long he was going to be here. The last thing he wanted was to grow attached to anyone only for it to be yanked away by suddenly waking up in his home and bed at any given moment. ‘Y’know, I’m seriously doubting that’s gonna be happening any time soon… I’d best stop messing around. I need a name, something short and simple and easy to remember. I think I’ve got just the thing, ironically enough.’

“You ok friendo? I uh, I hope I’m not being to forward or anything… you don’t have to tell me your name if you don’t want to.” Arco said with an uncertainty in his tone.

Zach took a breath and decided to go with it. It’d be the perfect throwaway name if he got whisked away back to his own bed come tomorrow, and an easy to remember name if he had to stick around. It was unique enough for him to know it when he heard it, but not necessarily out of place like his own name would be. “My name is Käfer.”

Arco titled his head in thought, “Käfer? Is that Griffonian?” The pegasus started to smile again, “If I’m remembering correctly, that means ‘beetle’, right? Sorry, my Griffonian’s a little rusty; by ‘rusty’ I mean I know maybe twenty-five words.”

“I think you’re right, that’s what I was told the name meant anyways. I wouldn’t know, I’ve never been there.”

“Käfer… it’s a nice name; fitting, really.” Arco said, just as their server, Cinnamon, returned with the two coffees. “Ah, and here we are!”

Cinnamon set down the drinks between the two of them. The coffees were served in a pair of tall glass mugs. “You gentlecolts enjoy. Give me a shout if you need anything else.”

“Will do!” Arco quipped. “That one’s on me, by the way. Drink up.” The pegasus lifted a wing and extended it out to the mug on his side of the table.

Zach observed with fascination as the pegasi’s feathers moved and flexed with the prehensile precision of fingers. They slipped their way around the arch of the mug and gripped tight, lifting the cup from the table with ease.

He must have been staring intently, because Arco glanced to his wing, then back at Zach before commenting on it. “Something the matter? What, never seen wings before?” The way he said it, he’d clearly meant it in jest, but there was still the bit of confusion in it.

“I’d never seen any pegasi before today.” Zach said it without thinking. ‘Wait, ah crap, I gotta be more careful, can’t screw up now. See, this right here is why I didn’t want to stick around! I’m awful at small talk!’

Arco offered a lighthearted laugh, “Wow, you must really be out of your element, huh?”

“That’s the understatement of the century right there.”

Zach’s comment elicited another laugh from the pegasus. He looked down at his own mug. ‘I really need to cut the small talk and get out of here before this guy and the other ponies around me realize this isn’t a mask… but, coffee.’ Although a little disappointed that it was chilled coffee, he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Were his priorities skewed? Maybe.

Did he care? Coffee.

It was at that moment, as Zach reached with a hoof to grab at the mug… that he encountered another problem with being an equine shaped bug. “How do I hold a mug with hooves?”

Arco had been taking a sip from his mug when Zach made his comment; he nearly choked on his coffee and spat it everywhere to his side. He then burst into laughter immediately after.

Zach blinked and gave an annoyed look, “What’s so funny? I’m serious.” It wasn’t until he thought about what he said that he began to understand why a pegasus pony would find it funny. “Ok, ok, but seriously…”

Arco continued to laugh for a moment longer, but slowly brought himself to a stop when he began to realize Zach wasn’t joking. “Wait, you’re serious? Just pick it up and hold it.”

“Oh wow, why didn’t I think of that?” Zach replied with no small quantity of snark.

The pegasus lightly recoiled at the response, “Umm… I’m sorry?”

‘Easy now, he’s giving you free coffee.’ Zach held back the spiteful retort he’d brewed up and elected to take a more tactful route. “Can I just get a straw? Please? Today’s really not my day.”

“Yeah, sure,” Arco turned and called out to the server, “Hey, Cinnamon, can I get a straw for my friend here?”

The server deftly deposited a straw into Zach’s mug within the minute.

He thanked the server and went for a sip of his drink. The beverage hit his tongue and he savored its rich flavor and mild sweetness, even if it was cold. ‘Mmm, he wasn’t kidding! That’s the gourmet expensive stuff!’

Zach eagerly indulged in the chilled gift from the heavens, “Normally I don’t go for cold brews, but this coffee is something special.”

Arco offered his agreement, “Oh, I’m the same way. You see what I mean thought? Best coffee in Ponyville.”

Zach’s eyes wandered as he continued drinking the cold brewed delight. He eventually spotted Derpy hovering over the rooftops in the distance. To his surprise, it appeared that she’d spotted him before he saw her; she was waving to him and already heading in his direction. ‘There she is, thank goodness.’

As much as he was happy to see her, happy he didn’t have to go looking for her, he felt a pang of guilt. Here he’d expected her to get lost or distracted and forget all about him, yet there she was, flying over to him.

“So, how long are you planning on staying here in--…” Arco began, only to be interrupted.

From behind, the server, Cinnamon, uttered, “Uh-oh,” then called out, “Incoming Derp! Six o’clock high!”

Arco swiveled his head, frantically glancing behind him, “Oh no. Duck!”

Zach watched with visible confusion as the ponies nearby ducked into cover, and Derpy Hooves came in for a landing. It wasn’t until she was just about to land that he realized why everyone had taken such precautions, and his mind flashed back to when they first met.

The mare wavered and swayed too much on her approach. She ended up colliding with one of the umbrellas, toppling it-- and the table it was connected to-- over with a crash. She frantically fluttered and flared her wings, barely managing to right herself. Derpy avoiding hitting another umbrella, correcting her course and lowering herself enough to set her forehooves onto the patio floor. Unfortunately, she was unable to halt her forward momentum.

She wound up faceplanting into the wood flooring of the patio, tumbling forward and onto her back before she finally came to a stop. “Oww.”

Arco and the other’s poked their heads out from where they’d sought cover. Cinnamon put a hoof to her forehead and sighed, “I’ll go get a broom.”

“Oopsie… sorry about that.” Derpy glanced around her, very much aware of the ponies now staring at her with visible frustration. She smiled with a modicum of embarrassment in her demeanor, then looked to Zach, “Hi again bugpony! Sorry for falling behind earlier… and then getting lost.”

Zach was momentarily at a loss for words. Again, she was apologizing when for all accounts he should have been the one apologizing. “Hey, don’t, uh… don’t worry about it.” It was the best he could manage.

Arco had come out of his cover and hopped back in his seat, eying Derpy with an expression of mild annoyance, just the same as everyone else.

“Hey, Arco, this is my friend Derpy. She’s been helping me find my way around town.” Zach spoke up in an effort to try and smooth things over.

Arco and Derpy both looked at him, Arco with amusement, Derpy with a combination of puzzlement and bashfulness.

“I know who she is. Derpy’s the town mailmare, everyone knows who she is, Käfer.” Arco asserted with a chuckle.

Zach lightly puffed out his cheeks for a brief moment, recalling that that was indeed the case, and feeling a bit like an idiot. “Oh, right, duh.”

“You need a helping hoof there?” Arco asked, turning his head to the mare, who was still lying on her back after her botched landing.

Derpy stretched and held out a hoof, “please.”

Zach stepped forward and lent a hoof himself, albeit with arguable results.

Once she was on her hooves again, Derpy lightly gasped and looked to Zach with a delighted visage, “Your name’s Käfer?”

“Y-yeah, that’s my name.” Zach replied with a bit of extra guilt tacked onto his conscience. “I should have told you earlier, sorry.”

Arco gave a raised eyebrow, silently judging him no doubt.

Derpy gave a dismissive wave of her hoof, “Oh that’s okay! I’m just happy to know your name now! Käfer, it’s a nice name!”

The server, CInnamon had since returned with a broom and had swept up the mess. Afterward, she righted the table Derpy crashed into with the help of another server from the diner. Without skipping a beat, she went right up to Derpy with a stern expression and tone, “Derpy!”

Derpy ducked her ears back as she turned to face Cinnamon, a guilty expression quickly taking the place of the smile she’d had just moments earlier.

Arco spoke up, “You know you’re not supposed to attempt landings in crowded areas, Derpy. Mayor Mare’s told you multiple times now.” He hadn’t seemed mean spirited about the remark, more so blunt and to the point than anything.

“I-I’m sorry, really! I didn’t mean to…”

Cinnamon’s expression softened, “Sweetie, we know you don’t mean to, but you’ve been told not to for a reason. Its not just for your safety, it’s for ours too!”

“Nobody thinks you’re doing it on purpose, Derpy. We’re worried, that’s all.” Arco agreed.

With the mix of different emotions in the air, it was hard to tell who was feeling what. There was… hurt, fear, a small bit of anger, maybe resentment? The emotions were all coming together from so many different sources and difficult to really differentiate between them.

Zach didn’t need to ‘changeling-sense’ Derpy’s emotion to tell what was probably going through her mind, he’d been there before. Center of attention after a blunder, all eyes on him, he knew far too well what that felt like. He quickly downed the rest of his coffee and turned to the pegasus stallion, “Hey, Arco, thanks for the drink, but I'm gonna have to cut things short. It's been a tiring day for me.”

“Oh, alright, calling it a night then? Kind of early, don't you think?” Arco replied, “Not that I'm judging or anything. Where are you staying, if you don’t mind me asking?"

Zach took a step over to Derpy and nodded to her, “She’s offered to let me stay at her place, since all the hotels in town are booked.”

Cinnamon and Arco both glanced between Derpy and Zach with suspicion. Derpy blinked a few times and took a moment to process things before she ultimately verified what Zach said to be true, more or less.

“Well alright then. Good to know you’ve got a place to stay at least.” Arco conceded. He left a few coins on the table, assumedly to pay for the drinks. “I guess I should get going myself, only swung by to have a drink anyways. It was nice meeting you, Käfer. I Hope you enjoy your stay here in ponyville!”

“Take care, Arco!” The server quipped.

“You too, Cinnamon!” Arco returned the gesture.

Just as Arco was about to leave, he abruptly stopped himself and quickly backtracked and took a step closer to Zach. “Oh, um.. Käfer, before I forget: since you’re new in town, it’s only fair for me to warn you…”

Zach’s heart skipped a beat in a mix of fear and indignation at that. ‘Excuse you? Warn me? The hell do you mean by--…’

“Its safe to assume you haven’t met her yet, since we haven’t heard about it… but, ah, when you eventually do meet ‘the pink one’, try to keep an open mind. OK?”

Cinnamon’s eyes widened, “Oh shoot, that’s right! Yeah, you wanna keep a really open mind when you eventually meet her.”

“Her?” Zach was almost afraid to ask. Really though, there was no need to ask. He had the distinct feeling he already knew; there was only one pony they could have possibly been referring to in such a manner. That particularly infamous pony that the fandom obsessed over. The pony that terrified him most.

Derpy nodded solemnly, “Ohhhh, that’s right, her! She makes my brain hurt.”

“Judging by the look of existential dread you’ve got, friendo, unless I’m reading it wrong because of your mask, I take it you’ve heard tales of our resident party pony?” Arco spoke with a grin.

“You could say that.” Zach spoke while trying to conceal the creeping terror that was building in him. He swallowed hard at the thought of encountering the fourth wall breaking terror of Ponyville.

“Don’t worry, he’s just pulling your leg, Pinkie’s harmless. Really.” Cinnamon offered in a reassurance that was doing nothing to actually reassure against what Zach was worried about.

It was a miracle he hadn’t run into her yet. Pinkie Pie would blow his cover sky high with her antics. Or… maybe she wouldn’t? With that crazy mare, anything was possible-- literally. Then again, that was assuming her behavior would be the same as it was in the show. Zach wasn’t eager to find out either way.

“Anywho, I’ll see you around, Käfer! Stay safe, Derpy!” Arco said with a wave as he headed out.

"Bye bye, Arco!" Derpy quipped with a wave of her own.

Within the next few moments, Derpy offered to pay to cover the mess she’d made. The server quickly refused and insisted it wasn’t a big deal. The ponies present in the diner were growing more and more curious about the unusual hooded individual standing in the middle of the patio than they were about the mailmare's botched landing.

Zach was quickly growing weary of the numerous eyes now glancing in his direction every so often. 'Aaaand that's the signal that it's time for me to leave!'

“Did you get anything to eat, Käfer?” Derpy inquired.

Remembering the reason he ran off in the first place, Zach gave a quick nod and blurted out, “Oh, yeah! I got something to eat, I feel a lot better now, thanks for asking. Let's get going, huh?” He tried to hurry things along, without making it obvious that's what it was he was trying to do. If there was anything he was good at, it wasn't making things less obvious.

“I was just making sure. You worried me back there is all…” The mare admitted.

“I appreciate it, but I’m fine now. Lets head out, the sooner the better.” Zach insisted.

Despite his behavior raising a few eyebrows, it did the trick and Derpy got a move on.

The duo set off in the direction Zach could only assume lead to Derpy’s house, and not a moment too soon. He’d started getting more looks from the ponies at the diner, he and Derpy both. He was happy to be moving again. As they walked, he kept his head on a swivel, keeping his eyes peeled for the Pink menace…

…

“Well, here we are!” Derpy announced with her usual cheerful demeanor and slow manner of speaking. She stood in the doorway, a hoof extended and gently waving in the general direction of her living room.

The two had managed to make it to the pegasi’s house without incident, and without running into ‘the Pink One’.

Zach took a step inside once Derpy moved from the door and let him in. “Huh, cozy.”

He was halfway between expecting a fully ‘humanoid’ aesthetic house, or a purely equine purposed housing. What he found himself looking at was something in between. The furniture was something that an equine could find comfortable and functional, but much of it could also accommodate a more ‘humanoid’ posture. Everything was surprisingly normal, for lack of a better word, normal enough for him to know what everything did and how any given furnishing functioned upon first glance.

'Again, not sure what I was expecting, but I'm still surprised.'

The couch was a couch, the table was a table, the refrigerator had a handle that was more accommodating to an equine’s given means of grip, but otherwise exactly as a fridge would look. The same could be said for the sink and the oven.

“…did you want me to pull out the couch bed, or did you wanna use my spare bedroom?”

Zach did a double take, “I’m sorry, what?” He’d been caught up in thought, again. ‘This is gonna be a recurring thing, isn’t it?’

“I was asking if you wanted to sleep on the couch bed, or if you wanted to sleep in the spare room I had.” Derpy replied.

Ordinarily, Zach would have immediately gone for the couch bed… but he remembered what he was, and where he was, and that there was a window right there in the livingroom that’d risk exposing him if he wasn’t careful. “I’ll take the spare room, thanks.”

"Ok! I just gotta move a few things first."

...

It was more than a 'few' things.

The endeavor took almost thirty minutes, nearly falling down the stairs twice, disassembling some unused furniture, and close calls with injury here and there… but the two of them did eventually manage to set up the mare’s spare room to accommodate Zach for the night, or however long he would end up staying there.

With a helping hoof from Derpy, Zach removed each and every last piece of attire he’d worn as a disguise. He lightly groaned and stretched, now becoming fully aware of the dull ache that had formed in his wings from being pressed against him for so long by those saddlebags. “Muuuuch better. Thanks again for the disguise, absolute lifesaver!”

Derpy gave a bashful giggle, “It was no problem at all; happy to help!”

“No, really, I mean it.” Zach reiterated. If he was going to be staying here, and if he didn’t wake up in his own bed tomorrow, he wanted to leave things with derpy on good terms. “I’m sorry I wasn’t as honest with you as I should have been, and for leaving you in the dust back there. You’ve been nothing but helpful to me, and I dunno where I’d be if you hadn’t found me in the Everfree when you and those other pegasi were clearing that magic storm.”

“O-oh, well, I…” She fumbled her words a bit, scuffing at the floor with a free hoof. “You’re welcome! I’m glad to have met you, you’re a nice bugpony, Käfer.”

“I try to be.” Was all he could say in return.

The two were silent for a few moments afterward.

In the silence, Zach’s mind wandered. It wandered back to the scene at the diner, and how he’d fed. It occurred to him, that what he wound up doing may not have been the proper means for a changeling to feed. However, at the time, it had gotten the job done and didn’t involve hurting anyone. That was good enough for him, a good starting point.

Unfortunately, as his mind was wandering, he came to realize he was hungry again.

‘Oh come on, really!?’ He internally groaned, about ready to go off on a tirade at the impeccable timing his stomach had. His mind flashed back to the moment in the alley where he was about to tell Derpy about what he ate… and he did just apologize to her mere moments ago for not being honest with her. He may as well put his money where his mouth was.

“Hey, Derpy, before I forget… I never did tell you what bugponies ate, did I?”

Derpy scratched at her chin and thought for a moment. “Huh, no, I guess you didn’t.” She smiled and looked to him expectantly. “Well, what do bugponies eat?”

Zach carefully constructed the best way he could think of to explain it. “Well, first things first… I’m not a ‘bugpony’, I’m what’s called a Changeling. Changelings, well, we eat Love. We feed on emotions… The best way I can explain it, is a pony feels Love, expresses love, and it makes this kind of energy I guess, and we uh, eat that.” He rubbed the back of his head in exasperation at having to explain what even he had difficulty wrapping his brain around. “If that makes any sense at all.”

Derpy’s facial expressions went through several variations of thoughtfulness and contemplation before she finally spoke again, “Chaaaangeling... So… you’re like a vampire, except instead of blood, you drink…feelings?”

Zach gestured with a hoof, shrugging once or twice, “I mean… yeah, I guess that kinda works, kinda. I don't bite necks, and, best I can tell, I don’t turn anyone into a Changeling by feeding on them either.'”

“Wait... didn't you mention Changelings earlier, back at the edge of the Everfree? So that is what you are, huh… I've never heard of changelings before.” Derpy mused.

Zach ducked his ears back in embarassment, “Yeah, I know... like I said, I’m sorry for not being as honest with you as I should have been. I didn't do it to be mean though, I didn’t think ponies would particularly like changelings and I was afraid of how you would've reacted if you knew what I was. Hence why I insisted on no one seeing what I look like.” He didn’t want to tell her everything just yet, but giving her a general idea wouldn’t hurt.

Derpy cocked her head and frowned at that, “What? Why would you think that? I think you’re a nice pony, err, bug... changeling. You're a nice changeling, I think everypony would like you if you gave them the chance to know you!” She insisted, but Zach shook his head.

‘On second thought,’ Zach considered, ‘it may be better to keep it vague for now.’ He sighed and said, “Its complicated, Derpy. I’ll explain it to you sometime, but for right now, lets leave it at 'ponies won't like me if they see me'. I need you to promise you won't tell anyone about what I really am, can you do that for me? Please?"

Derpy nodded her head a few times, "I'll pinkie swear it!"

"Nononono, don't incite the pink one please, that's not necessary." Zach quickly interjected. "Just regular promising me is good enough, ok?"

"Ok! I promise! No bugpony or changelings here, just my new friend, Käfer!"

"Fantastic. Well now that that's dealt with, I’m getting hungry again, I’m exhausted, and I don’t know what to do for food.”

The mare scratched her chin with a quick thought, “Well if you eat love, then that’s easy!” Then, without hesitating, Derpy lunged forward and embraced Zach in a hug. “Looooove!”

Zach’s brain went haywire, shaking and screaming internally in outrage and anxious fits of fear. ‘Get off, stop, off! Get off me, OFF! DERPY! OFF!!!’ He tried to speak, but no words would come out. He squeezed his eyes shut and fought against himself to get a hold of things, despite every thought in his head focused in on the fact that she was touching him still.

Nothing else registered in his head, besides the urge to react, to push her away, to scream, to cry… nothing, until the alien part of his mind made itself known in the chaos. The changeling part. It took hold and brought his focus, at least some of it, to what was now in front of his nose.

Food.

His body inhaled, and the familiar scent hit his nose, and the flavor hit his tongue. It wasn’t love, but it was still food, something the changeling side of him registered as nourishment. Zach wasn’t in much of a position to do anything else, being overwhelmed mentally with this simple act of being embraced, such a simple and benign thing really, and yet it essentially crippled him.

He didn’t decide to open his mouth and inhale, just as he didn’t selectively choose to do whatever it was his changeling horn was now doing… or at least that’s what he thought the warm, tingly sensation in his forehead and the part that wasn’t his forehead, was.

It was oddly calming, letting the changeling side of him do what it knew to do, feeling this new side of him going to work despite himself. He couldn’t stop it if he wanted to, but he didn’t want to stop it. He could taste the emotion again, it wasn’t as sweet as what he recalled from the diner, understandably so, but oh heavens was it still delicious!

His mouth filled with the 'not-quite-liquid' substance once more, much quicker than what he’d managed at the diner, significantly more so. It took mere seconds before he had more than enough to ingest. It wasn’t love, but it was a close enough to be nutritious, and it was filling his belly far better than the scraps of love he pulled from the air back at the diner. The emotion was freely flowing around him, all he had to do was drink it in…

“O-oh! Agh!” Derpy released Zach and recoiled as if she’d touched a hot stove, with a fearful expression on her face.

Zach’s heart dropped like a rock, his senses returning to him like a train careening into the station at top speed, “Wh- oh crap, did I hurt you!? I’m so sorry, I-I didn’t mean to!" His breath caught in his throat and he took a step back, spewing his words a mile a minute. "It’s just, it was there, the emotion, you were hugging me, and I was panicking, I couldn’t stop myself! I’m so sorry!”

Derpy stopped and eyed him, her fearful expression traded for one of puzzlement, “...Huh? Hurt me? No, Käfer, no you didn’t hurt me.”

“I didn’t? Then… why’d you yank away like that?" Zach grimaced, having feared the worst in that instance. "I thought maybe I was hurting you or…”

“I-I forgot, you don’t like to be touched…" she interrupted, "I’m sorry..”

The two of them stood there in an awkward silence that lasted for a solid minute. Zack staring in disbelief and confusion, Derpy staring with visible concern for Zach's wellbeing.

“I..” Zach started, “You… what?”

“You said you don’t like being touched, it makes you uncomfortable, you told me back in the woods. You said it wasn’t a phobia, but…” Derpy bit her lower lip and dragged her hoof over the carpeting with uncertainty. "You froze up, I-I thought maybe you did have a phobia and I was scaring you."

“Oh, um… hey, that's not what-- Look, I...” Truthfully, he did have something of a panic attack back there. It was a bit of a big deal, and his heart was still racing. That being said, she also managed to feed him just now, even if it didn’t make a lot of sense to him. ‘What the heck was I doing? That wasn't love, the bug part of my brain could tell that much. How was I-- wait, what if Changelings don’t just feed on love specifically? What if they can eat other emotions too? Affection, I think that’s what that was just now. I fed on direct affection... are they able to feed on other positive social emotions too? I can work with this! I mean, I still hate it, but I can make it work.’

"I'm sorry." Derpy offered her apology again.

“Derpy, you did actually feed me, just now." Zach paused and corrected himself, "You don't need to apologize, I'm ok. More than ok.” The mechanics for how he fed still eluded him, but he was confident he’d be able to figure that out in time.

“I did?” The mare asked with confusion in her voice.

"Yes, you did!"

Her smile returned, “Oh, that’s great! I’m happy it worked, and that I didn’t make you super upset or anything…”

Zach forced a chuckle and did his best to shoo away the lingering thoughts of outrage and panic, “No, nonono, I’m not upset, its fiiine!” He stopped and quickly added, “Just, uh, gimme a warning next time, yeah?” he punctuated that with a faux grin.

“Sure! Promise!” Derpy offered in return.

Zach forced a more sincere smile to finish things off.

A few minutes passed in silence, Derpy giggled and scuffed at the carpet idly, “Well… if that’s everything, I should head back downstairs and have dinner myself. just give me a shout if you need anything else at all!”

"Ok, fair." Zach quipped with a nod. He considered calling it a night then and there. ‘It's pretty early to be going to bed… but I guess I’m tired enough to sleep. Might put an end to this crazy adventure, who knows.’

He turned to look at the bed, then a distinct something came to his attention before he could take a single step. A very specific need…

“Uh.. Derpy, real quick, where’s your bathroom?”

“Oh, right.” Derpy pointed a hoof, nonchalantly, “Across the hall.”

“Thank you!”

…

Zach left the bathroom, emitting an audible huff. “So that’s how they handle ‘that’, interesting… I never would have guessed. Well, not that I’d ever want to guess. At least Changelings aren't that different from horses, or humans in that regard, that's a relief I guess.” Much like everything else he’d seen in terms of furniture, the bathroom was similar enough to the ones back home that he didn’t have any trouble with anything.

Alone now in the spare bedroom, he looked over the bed he’d been given to sleep on, while taking note of some of the other furniture. There was a nightstand, a dresser, a chair, and several loose bits of furniture that were unused and looked like they hadn’t ever been used.

Without further ado, Zach stretched with a groan and climbed into the bed.

He fumbled about with positioning for a solid minute and a half, or maybe longer. Normally he’d just plop onto his back, but the distinctly equine physique, even as flexible as it was, didn’t allow him to assume such a position. Mostly, because of his wings. “Ok I need to figure out how to get these things to fold up into my shell or whatever, if this body even has a shell… it should have a shell, if its gonna have insect wings and that obviously shell looking portion on my back. I just gotta figure out how all this works… Assuming I’m still here in the morning.”

He stared at the ceiling for a moment before adding, “Shoot, if I am still here in the morning, I’m gonna have a lot more to figure out than just this changeling crap…”

Zach eventually found a comfortable position, laying on his side with his wings aimed upward in relation to his body, resting flat as they could get on the bed. The rest of him fell into place quite easily, as he expected, and he now had time to think while he waited for sleep to take him.

‘Well, I’m a changeling, I’m in Equestria… I’m staying with the Ponyville mailmare, in Ponyville.. I’m about to witness the “return of Nightmare moon” and the pilot episode firsthand… in however this weird replica of Equestria sees fit to have those events play out. That’s assuming I’m still here in the morning. I know how to feed, rather, I have a method of feeding, so I won’t starve anytime soon. I have shelter, I have a place to hide, and I can keep myself more or less hidden in plain sight with Derpy’s disguise. I can make this work, I guess.’

Zach breathed a heavy sigh. ‘Really not liking the whole “bug horse parasite in magical friendship ponyland” thing so far. Can I get off this ride now? Or, I dunno, figure out how to fly and change shape so I can actually do things? Flying would be pretty great. I’d be more forgiving of being stuck here if I could fly.’

The way he saw it, either he would wake up to his alarm in the morning, in his own bed, and have one crazy dream to explain to his therapist next time he saw them… or he was in for one hell of an unexpected adventure.

‘Be careful what you wish for, they said. It could come true, they said. Little did they know, they were actually right! It just takes five or six friggin years for the magic to happen! Oh boy, thanks for the advice!’ Zach bit out in his mind in a spiteful, mocking fashion.

‘Ugh.. Whatever, it is what it is.’ He took a deep breath and did his best to relax, closing his eyes and hoping for the best.

A few moments later, Zach's eyes shot open and he swore a colorful expletive aloud, followed by, "I should have just said my name was Beetle!"

…

…

Sunlight danced in long rays descending from the shimmering surface, all was silent, calm, cold.

A lonely steel shelled behemoth glided slowly through the cold, gloomy fathoms just beyond the reach of the sun’s warmth. Light danced over the smooth, coated steel, casting a shadow that was quickly lost in the deep below.

All around it, the empty, cold waters went on for miles. Somewhere out there was another behemoth of steel and purpose, not unlike itself. Hidden in the frigid silence of the watery expanse, it lay in wait, or perhaps sought out its other, much like the behemoth itself.

Both went to great lengths to avoid making a sound, for even the slightest noise would be carried into the furthest reaches of the deep. Despite the mighty steel shell encasing both leviathans, remaining unnoticed was their strongest armor.

It was a deadly game of cat and mouse… with both parties playing the role of the cat and the mouse until the decisive move was made. A slow, agonizing test of patience and attention to even the tiniest detail.

Somewhere in the dark expanse, a mass of bubbles rose and gurgled about.

A shrill cry, a whistle almost, ear piercing, cutting through the silence like a scalpel. Starting low and building into a rapid crescendo, a deafening sound that carried for miles, echoing in the broken silence with an underlying terror that only the leviathans would understand.

The other had blinked first, had made the grave error, they had broken the silence and their protective veil was lifted.

A mass of bubbles erupted from an opening in the Behemoth’s front, discharging into the shimmering darkness a tiny lethal mass. Like a miniature version of the Behemoth, this miniature steel shell propelled itself forward with vigor and intent, uncaring as it was for the ‘why,’ only the ‘what’ concerned it.

The mass moved through the cold depths, leaving a trail of bubbles in its wake, a metal umbilical keeping its mind connected with the behemoth. At a distance further forward, a heavy discharge of bubbles and turbulence in the dark depths indicated movement; the other leviathan was very aware of the impending threat. The decisive move had been made.

Another shrill cry, whistling its echoing crescendo through the depths once more. A vain attempt of the Leviathan to find the hidden behemoth, to make up for its error.

As the lethal mass closed in, the umbilical was cut, and the mass emitted a cry to navigate through echoes. It was a low pulse, almost like the beating of a heart, that increased in intensity and rhythm as it closed in on its destination, its target.

Closer and closer, the lethal mass honed-in like a predator chasing down its helpless prey, the echo of its pulse steadily quickening like the adrenaline fueled beating of a heart. It closed the distance, and the mass fulfilled its purpose. With a thunderous percussion, a mass of pressure and a flash of dull light obscured by bubbles and rippling sea around it, a gaping hole was torn in the side of the Leviathan, very nearly tearing the thing in half with how it buckled and bent.

“Direct hit; sonar contact, Sierra One, breaking up.” Came the calm, disciplined voice over the radio. “November-Class Submarine, confirmed destroyed.”

Zach leaned back from the screen of his laptop and released his hands from the keyboard. A breath of relief left his lips as he stretched and cracked his knuckles. “Suck on that, Reds.” He lifted his headset from his head and set it down on the foam chair to his left.

Outside his room, the sky thrashed and raged in a heavy thunderstorm, yet sunlight still managed to peek its way through the heavy overcast and illuminate the world brilliantly.

Reaching for his water bottle, Zach noticed the thing was empty again. “Every time.” He quipped with disappointment in his voice, taking hold of the bottle and turning his seat away from his desk to get up and go refill it.

That all came to a halt upon discovering that a little chitinous creature that came up to about his waist was sitting on the floor, blocking his path to his door. Zach recognized the thing instantly, with its shiny dark gray, almost black coat… the holes in its appendages, and a distinct pair of solid blue eyes. He knew what it was, but why was it here? Why in his bedroom? Changelings weren’t real!

Zach locked eyes with the changeling, and the changeling stared right back at him. He raised a hand, slowly, cautiously even… only for the changeling to mimic the gesture. Slowly, Zach extended his hand out to the creature, it extended its own appendage in return.

“Who are you?” He attempted to speak, only for the changeling to utter the words instead of himself. That in itself was unsettling enough, but it was made worse as the creature used his voice to speak.

In a moment of fear, Zach grabbed for the knife he kept next to his laptop and unsheathed it, only to find himself looking from a new perspective the second he turned around.

He was seated on the floor now, looking up at himself in the chair at his desk, knife in hand. Zach panicked and raised his hole filled hooves and cried out, “No, wait!” The him that was still in his chair was the one who spoke the words.

In that moment, the him that was seated hesitated, knife held in defensive posture. Zach slowly reached out with his hoof, and the him in the chair raised his hand to mimic the gesture.

Just as hand was about to touch hoof, Zach blinked and the scene had shifted.

‘Shifted’ was the wrong word; it was more akin to being yanked into another room, except the distance between rooms was disproportionate. The change was unlike the usual scene shifts he was used to.

He was himself again, sitting in his chair, but no longer at his desk. He wasn’t in his room anymore, he wasn’t in his house for that matter. Zach was in some manner of woods, somewhere he couldn’t recognize due to it now being the middle of the night.

Before he could think of anything else or say anything, his gaze was forced skyward. The action itself wasn’t so uncanny, rather, the fact that it happened at all was what worried him. Never before had a dream ever forced him to do anything. His eyes were greeted by a moon, distinctly different from his own, yet concerningly similar. It shined brilliantly against the stark contrast of a night sky that was black as coal and devoid of stars.

Zach could feel an unnerving presence, like someone was watching him. It was angry, resentful… it wanted to be free, to be adored, it wanted justice. In his mind, it played out like an unheard narrator, words spoken to him without speech. The moon, it was talking to him, to his mind.

The moon was angry, resentful, accusatory. It sought justice, freedom from imprisonment, to inflict wrath upon those who had wronged it.

‘Hold on, the moon? The moon feels? What is this, some Lovecraftian “brethren moon” crap? If it is, count me out; that ship sailed a long time ago.’

The voiceless words in his head told him, no, this wasn’t the case. Furthermore, the moon was mildly offended at his jest, and the notion sent a shiver up his spine.

His eyes still fixed on the moon, he watched as a dark splotch of shading added a silhouette of something to the lunar surface. It gradually filled out and took shape, forming a vague resemblance to the head of a unicorn. A trickle of the coloring gently flowed and gathered near the lowest point of the moon, a trickle which then started to drip from the sky onto the horizon.

Zach felt a steadily growing sense of dread gnawing at the back of his mind. Part of him was panicking and trying desperately to flee, but was unable to move from the spot. It was a feeling familiar to him, like being stuck in a dream you knew was going to turn bad, but you couldn’t look away or stop it. It was a cross between morbid curiosity and a compulsion.

Moments later, the dripping turned to a steady flow of the gloomy liquid. From the bleakness of the sky surrounding the moon, an enormous mass of dark blue emerged and expanded. Like a cross between a cloud and a nebula, the mass of blue rapidly spread though the distant skies like someone spilled a bucket of paint onto a cloth canvas. Now titanic in its size, the blue mass began to take shape.

First came the wings, feathered and extending outward across the horizon in either direction. Then the central body, an extending neck, a head, followed quickly by a protruding spire from the forehead. The bleak liquid flowed over the neck and down the blue mass’ head, billowing into a nebulous expanse, emulating long flowing hair.

Now having taken a more solid and discernable shape, Zach recognized the titanic figure looming over the world.

“Is that Princess Luna?”

The figure’s eyes shot open, revealing a bright white that shined as brilliantly as the moon above. Six red stars sprung into existence around the figure’s head, and the fluid from the moon turned to a torrent. A glistening flow poured from their eyes now, contrasting against the color of the entity’s face, and which was lost in the torrential flow that rained onto the horizon.

Zach’s gaze was finally released, and he looked down in time to see a surge of the bleak liquid flooding the forest in a massed wave of the substance. He didn’t have the time to let out a scream before the flow consumed him.

…

Zach woke with a quick breath of air and his eyes deftly sliding open. He groaned and sat up in his bed, blinking away the grogginess and rousing his thoughts. ‘I hate it when my dreams start getting interesting only to wake me up right at the good part... And the damn pony dream, why can’t I just have a regular pony dream for a change? I mean, if I’m gonna actually dream about ponies, then I’d at least like it to make sense…’

A quick glance around the room told him it was still night, the soft glow of moonlight coming in from the window making it obvious. ‘Oh for crying out loud! I really didn’t need this; now I’m gonna have to choose between going back to bed and risking sleeping through my alarm, or, get up now and risk being exhausted when I go to work today!’

Zach yawned and smacked his lips together, immediately he felt the sharp pin pricks on his tongue as the appendage ran across an array of teeth that were far sharper than they should have been. ‘What the…’ He fumbled with the covers, being unable to grip at them with his hands for some reason.

“What in the world!? Ok, wow, that isn’t my voice.” Gradually, the memories of the past several hours of events came forth from the depths of his groggy brain. “Noooo. Nonono…” Zach swept his legs to the side and attempted to get out of bed, only to faceplant when his body weight shifted in a manner he wasn’t expecting, thanks to legs that weren’t built to be bipedal.

“…ow…” The pain helped jolt the rest of his system into a more ‘awake’ state of being. He fully recalled the events prior to his nap, as much as he didn’t want such to be the case. He groaned and asked aloud, “Am I still in horse town?” It was more a rhetorical question; he was confident he already knew the answer to that. From what he could now see, this wasn’t his room. This was the room he had helped Derpy clear out and organize, the spare bedroom. Looking down to his legs, seeing the hole filled appendages, it all verified that he was in fact, still in Ponyville.

“Well, damn.” Any semblance of hope he’d held onto of this all being just a weirdly consistent dream had officially vanished. He had woken up-- and he definitely woken up just now-- there was no mistaking that feeling. “This, this is real… I’m actually in Equestria.”

That is, unless he was crazy. Zach often liked to joke and tell people that he wasn’t crazy, because his mother “had him tested”. The fact of the matter was, a fact he was now afraid to admit, he was never actually tested. He looked down at himself, then looked around the room before saying, “Note to self: get tested. Assuming I ever get out of here… assuming I can get out of here…”

Zach got his bearings and rose to his feet- his hooves. He stumbled at first, until his lessons of proper equine movement refreshed in his mind. ‘Right, right, gotta synchronize these damn things. Use the back legs to guide the front legs… there, that’s better.’ Now that he’d remembered how to walk, he headed to the bedroom door.

Zach raised a hoof to the door handle and silently thanked whoever had the foresight to construct the doors with ‘lever style’ door knobs. He quietly opened the door and poked his head out, peering into the hall. There weren’t any lights on, but Zach could still see reasonably well.

‘Derpy’s probably still asleep, I’ll leave her be.’ He made an effort to try and move without making too much noise, which was much more difficult with hooves. It was akin to trying to move around silently with super rigid work boots, not impossible, but a pain in the butt for sure.

He managed to make it as far as the end of the hallway, coming to a stop just short of the staircase. ‘It’s just stairs; You’re just going down a set of stairs. Don’t overthink it.’

His brain went into slow motion as his hoof finally hit that first step, only to lose traction and slide backward due to its angle; then, his body weight shifted forward. Zach took pride in only ever having fallen down the stairs once in his life. Today, he would have to add his second tally.

To his credit, he didn’t vocalize anything above a whisper… not that such a feat would’ve mattered next to the sounds of a full grown equinoid creature tumbling head over heels down a wooden staircase.

“…ooowwwww…” He groaned aloud once he lay at the base of the staircase in an undignified heap.

The sound of hooves could be heard from the second floor a short moment later, followed by the soft glow of light illuminating the second story hallway. Soon after, the pegasus mare, Derpy, stood atop the staircase with her mouth agape.

“Oh, whoa, my gosh! A-are you ok!?” the panic stricken, half asleep and groggy mailmare called down the stairs. “Did you fall down the stairs!?”

‘Fall down the stairs? Nah, I was just too lazy to walk down them, so I jumped.’ He bit back the witty retort in his head. Zach had learned the hard way never to joke with people when they’d just woken up. “Yeah, that pretty accurately sums up my situation.” He said instead.

“Are you hurt?” Derpy asked.

“Just my pride.” He answered in jest, with a mild groan.

Derpy blinked away her grogginess as best she could, tilting her head every which way to try and counter her eyes and the way they kept involuntarily changing directions. “I don’t think I have anything for a hurt pride… I’m sorry.”

Zach would have facepalmed, facehooved? He would have done the thing, but frankly he was in a little too much pain and annoyed. With a shimmy and a shove, he worked to right himself and get to his feet. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” The mare asked with doubt in her voice.

“Fairly sure… one sec.” Zach successfully righted himself finally and rose to his feet. A quick onceover reassured him that he hadn’t been seriously injured in the fall. Sure, he was probably going to be sore for the rest of the morning, but nothing seemed broken. “Yep, I’m fine.”

Relieved and reassured herself, Derpy rubbed at her eyes and lightly yawned. “Well… okaaay… As long as you’re sure.” She looked with an angled tilt of her head, to what must have been a clock hanging in the hallway, “Its a little too early for me to be getting up yet… I’m gonna go back to bed, ok?”

“Fair enough, sleep well.” Zach casually offered in response.

“Thanks… Oh! Um, there’s muffins in the fridge, help yourself if you want any.” With that, Derpy turned and went back to her bedroom.

He considered returning to bed himself, but his past experiences with trying to get back to sleep after having woken up early chased the thought out as quickly as it had come. ‘Naaah, I’d only end up tossing and turning and being bored until the sun rose.’ That, and he’d gotten a good dose of adrenaline just a moment ago, thanks to his express route down the stairs.

Zach looked around and Spoke softly to himself, “Alright, so the cat’s officially out of the bag, I’m really in horseland.” He looked down at himself and mused, “I… I’m not sure how to feel about this. Is this like one of those isekai stories? I don’t want to be in an isekai! It’s so cliché, and the genre’s way overdone!”

Zach quickly added, “I mean, not that there’s anything wrong with a good isekai… heck, I enjoy the occasional fic now and then, but personally living in one?” He looked around in pause, “God, I hope there isn’t a ‘dead me’ back home. That would absolutely ruin my day.”

With an indignant sigh he sorted his thoughts on the matter and set them aside for now. He’d have plenty of time to complain about his situation after he put some effort into figuring out the details. ‘I was at home in bed, then I woke up in the everfree, there was a magical storm, my bedroom had that blue light in it, which turned out to be a portal..’ He continued his thoughts out loud, “If a magic portal is what brought me here, then maybe it can be recreated to get me home?”

Zach grabbed hold of that train of thought and put it on pause, ‘It’s a possibility, but, I don’t know anything about this world besides what the show told me-- which isn’t exactly a lot. I’m gonna need more information before I start trying to figure out how to get home. Again, assuming that’s possible-- Aaaaand I really need to stop saying that before I start bumming myself out!’

He looked to the front door, and the little decorative window. ‘It’s still dark out, I don’t know when the library opens. I could ask Derpy, but… ah, I’m not gonna bother her, I can wait. I wonder what Ponyville is like after dark?’

Looking down at himself, surrounded by dark and what limited illumination the moonlight provided through the first-floor windows, he contemplated going outside. ‘It’s pretty dark out, if there’s anyone out there, they probably wouldn’t be able to tell what I look like.’ He mentally slapped himself, ‘Are you crazy!? Do you reeeally want to take that chance?’

“…yeah, I should at least put the jacket on…”

‘Ya THINK!?’

…

Zach managed to quietly get himself back upstairs and into the spare bedroom. It was easy enough locating the jacket, seeing as it was right where he’d left it. Getting the thing on proved to be a chore and a half, and Zach found himself vowing to never take opposable thumbs and fingers for granted ever again. ‘That was only a pain and a half. Maybe this is why they rarely ever wear clothes?’

Looking to the rest of the disguise, he heaved a sigh and elected to forgo it. If a jacket gave him that much trouble, there was no way in heck he’d be able to get any of the other garments on, not on his own.

With the jacket on, he went back to the stairs. This time around, he leaned himself back, sitting at the first step and then carefully scooted himself down the stairs, one step at a time. ‘Better safe than sorry.’ Was the phrase he repeated in his mind until he got to the bottom.

Trotting up to the door, he thought out loud, “Oh, hey, I can check out what the night sky looks like! I’m sure it’s pretty amazing without all the light pollution we have back home.” Something small, but positive, to look forward to at least.

Zack fiddled with the door lock, trying with his hooves to no effect. He quietly groaned and leaned forward, hesitantly grabbing the thing with his mouth. ‘Thank god I’m not an earth pony. I need to learn how to use magic so I can bypass the whole “not having hands” thing.’ At least he had the reassurance that Derpy was a pegasus, and could use her wings instead of her mouth.

He mentally smacked himself again, a wild grin forming as his imagination took flight. ‘DUH! Magic! I can learn how to use magic!’ Zach tapped his forehoofs in rapid succession, filled with giddiness at the prospect of getting the chance to use real, tangible magic. ‘Oh heck yes! Horse town or not, magic’s one thing I’d give anything to be able to do, and now I have the opportunity to do just that!’ Zach tempered his excitement with, ‘After I figure out how I got here and how to get back home, assuming I’m actually able to figure any of this out. Ok, again, need to stop saying that.’

He pulled open the door, moonlight pouring in through the new space made available. ‘Flying too, that’s another thing to look up at the library.’ With that extra thought, he took a cautious step outside. With his front half hanging out the doorway, he had a look around.

So far it seemed everyone was asleep, he didn’t see anyone at least, and he could see decently well with what little light there was. ‘OK, coast seems clear enough. Let's do this.’ Zach stepped the rest of the way outside and gently pulled the door shut behind him.

He took a good long look at Derpy’s house, and the houses next to it, memorizing what it looked like so he could find it again later. Thankfully, Equestrians in ponyville had numeric addresses on houses just like what they had back home. ‘Alright, that works; It’ll be easy enough.’

He turned away from the house and looked up at the sky.

His eyes were met with a disappointing display of sparse, dimly lit stars acting as a half-hearted backdrop for a glowing moon hanging low over the horizon. Imprinted upon the lunar surface was the foreboding blackened silhouette of an equine head, looking very much as if burnt into the celestial rock. Looking directly at the silhouette made a very unpleasant sensation crawl through his mind, and so he tore his eyes away from the lunar surface and forced his gaze to wander elsewhere.

There was the odd cloud here and there, but aside from that, the sky was dull and utterly lacking in the excitement and wonder that even the starry skies back home elicited.

“I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this. That’s just depressing. Seriously. Worst fantasy skybox ever.” He said aloud. “At any rate, emo moonbutt is still stuck in timeout on the moon, pilot episode confirmed a hundred percent now.”

One detail that stuck out in his mind, was five stars that seemed to shine brighter than all the rest. They were arranged in a vaguely pentagonal pattern around the moon, as if intentionally set there. “That’s odd, but nothing to write home about.”

Zach was about to go on, when he felt a new flavor grace his tongue. His changeling senses kicked in and analyzed the flavor: it was a crisp, mild, but layered thing with a mix of emotions combined into one. This was, curiosity?

Yes, curiosity, the bug part of his brain clicked in affirmation at the assessment. Someone was curious, intrigued, someone close; curious of what though? Him?

“Beautiful night out, huh?” Came a voice from above him and to his right, making him nearly jump out of his skin, bones and all.

“GAH! JESUS!!” Zach unwittingly shouted in the direction of this newcomer as his entire body whirled itself to face them. Unfortunately for him, they were partially obscured by the angle and the dark, but it was a clearly equine face looking down at him.

“That seemed a little unnecessary, doncha think?” came the newcomer’s response.

The pony sat, perched atop the nearby roof, a forehoof rubbing tenderly at a pair of mildly oversized ears for a pony. They must have been a pegasus, as there was no other way onto the rooftop besides flight, and they didn’t have a horn to teleport with.

“Oh, sorry, you uh… you spooked me.” Zach fumbled out an apology. ‘Wow, lookie that, someone actually is outside after dark. Good call with the “better safe than sorry” approach. Glad I brought the jacket.’

The pegasus rubbed at his ear a bit more before offering a smile, “Alright, no hard feelings then.” He looked to the sky and commented, “Nice night out, huh?”

Zach blinked once, “Err, yeah, weather’s nice at least.”

“You’re welcome!” The pegasus replied. In the next moment, they stood up and extended their wings, and Zach’s previous assumption was proven to be only partially correct. Yes, they’d flown, but, no, they weren’t a pegasus.

Instead of feathery wings, this pony had a set of elongated finger-like appendages with a layer of leathery skin stretched over them, just like the wings of a bat.

The bat-winged equine hopped from the roof and effortlessly rode the air down to meet Zach at ground level. “Here, now we can speak softer. Don’t want to wake the Diurnals.”

‘Oh dammit, now if I turn tail its gonna look super suspicious… Especially with Derpy’s house right there. Just play it cool, it’s a casual conversation. Just flap your jaw long enough for this guy to finish and walk away.’

Now that the pony was closer and more clearly visible, Zach could see that the ears were much bigger than a pony’s ears were supposed to be, with little tufts of fur coming off the tops. The pupils of the eyes were slitted, indicating a nocturnal life, and the mouth had a small pair of fangs jutting from it.

“You’re a… bat?” Zach mused out loud. “A bat pony?”

The batpony narrowed his eyes with an expression of part disbelief, part indignation, “Excuse me?”

‘Uh oh...’ Zach backpedaled, hard, “I-I mean, those are bat wings, and with the fangs and the ears and all…” In his mind he reeled in panic, ‘Oh god, that’s not any better!’

The pony’s expression shifted to one with less disbelief and a bit more indignation, “Yeah? And? What about it?” They took a step forward, and Zach stepped backward in kind.

His changeling senses lit up with the tastes of anger and a mix of other emotions, directed at him. Clearly he’d upset this pony, ‘Yeah, thanks bugbrain, I kinda figured that out on my own!’

“You got something to say, buddy? I’m right here, you can say it to my face!”

Zach mistepped and fell back on his haunches. He threw up his forehooves defensively and blurted out, “Whoa, h-hold on now, I think we got off on the wrong foot here…”

The batpony advanced until he was just about in Zach’s face, “Yeah, you can say that again, bugface! What the hay is your problem, huh!?”

“Wait, I’m not from around here! This is all new to me, I’m still getting used to things!” Zach quickly explained, leaning away from the pony. “I’ve never seen a batpony before!”

His explanation seemed to ease the batpony’s expression considerably. “Oh, oohh.” their expression shifted again, the pony quickly pulled away and he seemed to mentally connect the dots. “Wait, so, are you just from out of town, or…?”

Zach slowly, cautiously, rose back to his hooves, “Further, way further.”

The batpony’s expression changed again, to one almost of remorse, “Are we talking ‘out of the country’ levels of far?”

Zach shrugged and went with it, “You could put it that way.”

“Oh, shoot, you must be here for the summer sun celebration, huh?”

He nodded, “Sort of, yeah; I’m so far out of my element that I’m orbiting it.”

The joke elicited a chuckle from the batpony, though his expression and the emotion he was radiating indicated he was quite embarrassed. “Wow, this suddenly got really awkward. Here I am, ready to throw down over a misunderstanding…” They quickly added in a sarcastic tone, “Way to beat the stereotype, Dasho”

“It wouldn’t be the first time someone got in my face over me saying something the wrong way.” Zach brushed it off.

The batpony forced a chuckle, “Yeeeah… sorry about that. Sorry for calling you bugface.”

Zach could feel the color drain from his own face, or the changeling equivalent, “I, err, Bug-face?”

“Well, it’s less to do with your face specifically, more to do with your wings.” The pony pointed with a hoof. “The eyes too, you look pretty bug-like, no offense.”

He looked, following the direction of the hoof, glancing at his side and eyeing his left wing, idly resting. In Zach’s mind a slow, drawn out and mockingly monotonous voice echoed in his thoughts, ‘Oh, right, the wings, your wings, that you have now, because you are a changeling. Which is the reason you wore a disguise. Great job.’

Zach tried to reason his way out of it, ‘Now wait a second, I grabbed the jacket! I took a precaution!’ His inner dialogue mocked him again, in that same monotonous voice, ‘Yes, the jacket, a jacket owned by a pegasus.’ Zach argued in turn, ‘Ok, fair, but how was I supposed to know batponies existed!? They aired in ONE episode and then nothing! I wasn’t expecting anyone to actually be out here--’

The batpony waved his forewing in Zachs face, bringing his focus back to reality with a whistle and a: “Heellooo, you still with me, buddy? Everything working ok up there?”

Zach blinked twice and regained his composure, “Sorry, I uh…” He started, but didn’t finish the sentence. ‘OK, don’t panic, he’s not running off to grab guards or even judging you all that much. Just play it cool. He didn’t call you a changeling, so, there’s no need to really panic. Not yet at least…”

The batpony glanced to his right, tapping a hoof at the ground impatiently, then looking back at Zach with a hesitant: “Are you ok?”

Zach’s mouth hung open for a good several seconds before he spoke; of course, speaking the first thing to come to mind, “I’m sorry, I’m a colossal idiot.”

The stallion cocked his head to the side, raising an eyebrow before he remarked, “Hey, water under the bridge, alright? Besides, you kinda look like a bug, just like I kinda look like a bat. I’ll forgive you, you’ll forgive me, no hard feelings and no beating ourselves up over it, deal?”

“Oh,” Zach paused and collected his thoughts, “Well, sure, yeah. Deal!”

“Good to hear!” The batpony smiled and extended a hoof, “My name is Moondash Cloudskipper, I’m the night shift’s head weatherpony.”

The two shook hooves.

“It’s a fancy way of saying, I’m the only one who keeps the weather in check at night, over ponyville I mean.” Moondash elaborated.

“I’m… uhh…” Zach sidestepped the name and continued his previous train of thought. He considered ending the conversation there and excusing himself, but held off for the moment. “I meant more, ‘I’m an idiot’ for not covering up and concealing the way I look.”

“Why would you need to do that?” Moondash asked, only to follow up with, “What, you think we’re going to eat you because you look like a bug?”

Zach stared with a bit of confusion, “I don’t know, do batponies eat bugs?”

“Nocturnes, or Thestrals, whatever flies your skies, and yes. Nocturnes, like myself, eat bugs and fruits, and a variety of other things. Some of us even consume blood, but not pony blood. Pony blood is how you get prions.”

“Uhh…” Zach’s mouth hung ajar, and he slowly cringed at the unpleasant implications.

“He’s pulling your leg!” Came a female’s voice from one of the nearby rooftops. “Pony prions are an old mare’s tale.”

Moondash turned and looked to the roof, “Oh come on, Dusky! Why’d you have to but in and ruin my joke?”

Another Nocturne was heard, another male, “The only joke is your crappy sense of humor, Moondash.”

The one called ‘Dusky’ quipped, “Yeah, your punchline timing is awful. Poor guy probably thinks we’re all vampire bats now.”

A taste of curiosity flitted across his tongue, and then more, so much more. It was as if there were multiple iterations of the emotion being radiated from different sources.

Zach glanced around and had a brief moment of terror upon the realization that there were now quite a few batponies gathered around. Some were partially concealed in the dark, others were on the rooftops. There were a dozen of them, maybe more, probably a lot more. “Where did, how did, I…”

Moondash was quick to answer Zach’s question, “We’re Nocturnes, we live in the night, y’know, when everyone else is sleeping. Being able to be sneaky comes with the kit.”

He blinked once, then nodded, despite his mind racing and struggling to reach a consensus on whether to end the conversation here and excuse himself. “Noted, makes sense to me.”

‘Dusky’ swooped from her perch and landed next to Zach, eyeing him up and down with curiosity. “Well this is new, haven’t seen anyone quite like you around before.”

Moondash responded before Zach could say anything, “He’s from out of town, way out of town.”

One of the other Nocturnes chuckled, “Oh, we heard. We all heard you getting ready to square up with your foreigner bug friend here.”

Moondash puffed out his cheeks in an embarrassed fashion. “Right.”

Zach was starting to get overwhelmed by this sudden turn of events. Part of him wanted to turn tail and flee back inside, while the more curious part of him wanted to indulge and chat with these batponies. ‘They don’t seem to care all that much that I’m a giant bug.’ He reasoned, ‘Then again, they look like giant bats, and they live in the dark… what do they have to be afraid of, right?’ Zach really wanted to leave, to get out of the spotlight, but he couldn’t just back away now, could he?

These night ponies seemed unphased by his appearance and they were friendly enough. He concurred with that line of thought, ‘I don’t think I have to worry about my identity with th-’

Dusky’s face steadily getting closer and closer to his own, staring him right in the eyes, pulled Zach away from his thoughts. “Can I help you?” He said with a bit of concern, pulling his face away from the overcurious batpony.

“Where are your pupils?” Came her question.

Zach’s mouth hung slack for a moment, his mind thinking up a plausible explanation or throwaway reason. His mind still wasn’t done processing the frightful fact that he was socializing with a crowd of people, ponies in this case, but people all the same. A crowd of pony people. As such, the thoughts didn’t quite translate properly to his mouth, as he ended up saying, “I left them at home.”

Dusky recoiled and quickly burst into laughter, Moondash following suit, along with several other batponies.

“What? What’s so funny?” Zach asked with visible confusion.

They quickly stifled it, so as to not wake any of the diurnal residents.

“You’re funny, pal, I like you!”

‘Funny how?’ He retorted internally. The discomfort of being in the spotlight was starting to get to him. “Look, I should probably go back inside and back to bed. I’ve got a long day ahead of me and I-” Zach started, only for one of the batponies to interrupt him.

“What are you, exactly? Are you supposed to be some kind of giant bug pony thing? Are you more ‘pony’ or more ‘bug’?” They asked.

Zach hesitated, “I… y’know, honestly, I don’t really know. I think I might be some kind of hybrid.” He glanced back to Derpy’s house, wishing he hadn’t left. “Listen, I didn’t mean to bother any of you or make a scene, I just wanted to come out to have a quick look at the night sky.”

“You picked a rotten time to stargaze, the night sky’s been really lackluster these past couple of days. Even some of the Diurnals have noticed it.” Moondash commented.

Zach paused, “So, it doesn’t usually look like this?”

Dusky quipped, “Oh heck no! Normally it actually has stars in it!”

Moondash added on with, “I think Sunbutt is in a mood.”

Zach tilted his head in mild confusion, his curiosity once again overriding his common sense, “Sunbutt? Oh, you mean Celestia. Normally it’d be Luna who’s supposed to be managing the night sky, right? I wonder what her sky looks like by comparison.”

There was an uncomfortable silence that lasted for a good minute. Many different emotions, most of them negative, alighted on his tongue. Sadness, sorrow, resentment, anger, all flowed around him in an accusatory manner.

Strong emotions directed not at him, but in his general direction, all leaving a bad taste in his mouth as they passed through. If he didn’t have the invasive changeling emotion detector going for him, he could have easily known how they felt just by seeing the faces of some of the Nocturnes around him.

“There hasn’t been a ‘Luna’ for a thousand years now.” Moondash spoke with a bitterness hidden in his words.

“Yeah, you can thank ‘our glorious leader, Cake Guzzler’ for that.” Dusky chimed in.

Zach was hesitant to ask, given how negatively the group of nocturnes responded to his first question, but his curiosity won him over, “Ok, what about Nightmare Moon?” He pointed to the moon, hanging even lower now over the horizon.

He instantly regret it, as a wave of anger from the crowd surrounded his emotion senses.

“Buddy, that’s Diurnal propaganda. Anyone who tells you otherwise is ignorant, or a liar.” One of the nocturnes asserted with an air of arrogance.

Another spoke, “What, have you been living under a rock!?”

“Ok, sorry I asked!” Zach retorted defensively. In hindsight, he should have known better; it made plenty of sense that Luna wouldn’t have any control over the skies with her banishment. He was really regretting his decision to stay out and socialize and was about to vocalize such when Moondash spoke over the crowd.

“Guys, guys, he’s from out of the country, remember? Take it easy, alright?” Moondash quickly reminded everyone, easing the tension somewhat.

“Bah! He’s just another ignorant Diurnal, foreigner or not!” One of the nocturnes in the crowd spat, then turned to leave.

Many of the other Nocturnes started to leave. They all started to leave, until all but Dusky and Moondash remained. As they did so, Dusky quipped, “Wow, rude much?”

“Yeah, way to disprove the stereotypes, guys…” Moondash mumbled softly under his breath.

“It’s whatever anyways, sun’s coming up soon.” Dusky tried to wave off the crowd’s behavior.

Zach blinked a few times, trying to process what had just happened. “Was it something I said?” He’d intended it to be humorous, something to break the remaining tension he’d felt. He didn’t expect the response he received.

Dusky shrugged, “Honestly? Yeah, it kind of was.”

Moondash was quick to add on, “That’s not your fault though, you didn’t know, you had no way of knowing!”

Zach could sense the resentment, the dishonesty… it was mild, but it was there. If he had to hazard a guess, these two remaining Nocturnes were genuinely upset over the turn of events, but they didn’t want to hold it against him. The explanation made sense in his head, at least.

He went on to say, “I’m really sorry about all that, I was just curious, I’ve heard the stories, wanted to know for sure…”

Moondash interrupted him with a sad smile, “No, no, it's not your fault, really. I get it, you didn’t know…” He paused, looking to the sky while biting his lip, “It’s a touchy subject for us Nocturnes. For future reference, just, avoid talking about it, alright?”

Zach slowly nodded, “Ok, noted.”

Dusky leaned over and nudged Moondash with her wing, “Dasho, I said the sun’s coming up soon. Let’s get outta here before the Diurnals start waking up, yeah?”

“Go on ahead, I’ll be back to the hills in a minute.”

Zach considered the implication, and once again his curiosity won out. “Wait, the hills? Don’t you live here in ponyville?”

Both Dusky and Moondash laughed at that. Zach puffed out his cheeks in mild annoyance.

“Nocturnes living in ponyville? Yeah, you’re a foreigner, one hundred percent!” Dusky said through her bits of laughter, “I like this guy!”

‘That was a serious question! Stop laughing!’ Zach protested in his head.

Moondash composed himself before he spoke, “No, we don’t live here in ponyville, that’d be asking for trouble with the Diurnals. It is the local town though, so we all come out here to work, socialize and get groceries. We do technically live in Ponyville, we just don’t live in Ponyville.” He turned and pointed his wingthumb out towards the hills and woods to the south. “We live just over there, in the hills, underground where it’s nice and quiet. Some of us live in the woods.”

Zach tilted his head, “You… live in caves?”

Again, the Nocturnes had a laugh at his expense.

‘Again, serious question! Why is this funny to you?’ Zach protested in his head once more.

“Caves? What, do you think we’re ferals or something?” Moondash asked with a less than subtle tone and expression.

Zach swallowed hard, “I-I didn’t mean…”

Dusky quipped, “Relax, he’s pulling your tail.”

“Always ruining my jokes.” Moondash complained.

“Can’t ruin what’s already broken.” Dusky shot back.

“So..” Zach cautiously began, “You live underground, but not in caves. Are they like burrows or something?” He was visualizing the possibility in his head as he spoke.

“They’re basically like regular houses, but under the ground so we get free soundproofing.” Moondash answered, before giving a glance off towards the horizon. “Sun’s about to rise…”

Dusky gave a snarky reply, “Oh, really? Gee, I had no idea!” Promptly taking flight after.

Moondash looked back to Zach, “So, hey, I never did get your name.”

‘Called it.’

Zach thought it over for a good moment or two, ‘I don’t wanna make a habit out of giving my name to everyone I meet… not like this, not as a cockroach horse. I suppose I could get a new name for when I figure out how to change out of this bug form and take up the guise of a regular pony… but until then, I guess I-…’

“Look, I’m not gonna pry. If you wanna be a mystery, you do you I guess.” Moondash spoke with an air of disappointment.

The Nocturne turned to leave, without a look or a word otherwise.

Zach stood there and watched him leave, at least he did until the weight of what just happened rolled over him like a truck. He unceremoniously turned and slipped his way back inside Derpy’s house, shutting the door behind him and then deflating.

He slumped onto the floor and softly held his head, “It’s over, relax… it's over.” He wrestled with frayed nerves and anxiety for a good several minutes before he could regain his composure. ‘Of all the things that have changed, its so nice to see that aspect of myself still prominent in this dumb bug brain of mine.’ Zach bit out mentally, coating his thoughts with plenty of snark. ‘Stupid stupid stupid!’ repeated over and over internally. ‘I shouldn’t have stuck around, I should have turned tail and fled back inside!’

More importantly though, was the realization that he couldn’t just move about at night as he originally expected. Night time was occupied and lively in Ponyville, just like day time. ‘Welp, so much for my plan to use night as a cover to try and fly or maybe practice magic at some point. That being said, on the bright side, they don’t seem to have any issues with my appearance. Maybe I can actually work around that?’

The Nocturnes seemed unphased by his appearance, true, but they also didn’t know what he was. Nobody seemed to know what he actually was, except maybe for Blue. Zach made a note in his mind, ‘Hitting the library is my top priority. I need to know how much Equestria knows about changelings.’ A quick glance to his foreleg and he added, “Maybe figure out how to get the darn ‘changing’ aspect of being a bughorse to work while I’m at it.”

He moved over to the dining room and sat at the table. He got himself comfortable and mulled everything over in his head, sorted his nerves... then got lost in thought.

‘Boss is probably gonna ring my phone like crazy, wondering where I am… work will call my mom since she’s my only emergency contact. Mom will freak out when she calls me and I don’t answer... I’ve got at least a few weeks to figure this out before rent’s due, I think I have enough money to make it through another month’s rent and have enough to scrape by till my next paycheck… NO, no, Zach, stop thinking about it, you’re just going to rile yourself up and drive yourself crazy. You’ll get out of this, you’ll get back home, you just need to figure some things out, yeah…’ Zach rubbed at his head, “I wish I had my ipod, or my laptop…”

He looked around, “Hell, I’d take a Gameboy at this rate.” Then he glanced to his forehooves, “Oh, right, no thumbs.” His mind clicked and he mused, “I wonder what it's like to use electronics with magic?” Satisfied with this new avenue of thought, Zach laid his head on his forehooves and continued pondering the functionality of magic in place of hands.

He sat there, deep in contemplation, until his eyes slowly closed, and a brief sleep took him.

…

Previously...
He sat there, deep in contemplation, until his eyes slowly closed, and a brief sleep took him.
Our story continues
…

Zach opened his eyes to the soft moaning of winds sweeping through nearby woods and over hillsides. It wasn’t quite the howl of a gale, but it was an unnerving sound all the same.

He was in an open field at the beginning of a deep valley nestled between two mountain ranges, not a single familiar landmark anywhere to identify where exactly he was. Looking to either side of himself, there were mountains in the distance that gave the impression he could reach out and touch them. Trees coated the countryside just ahead, in the valley far below him. Looking closer, the valley was much further below him than should have been physically possible.

Everything was drenched in a menacing hue somewhere between crimson and deep, vibrant purple.

With a curious hoof, he reached out towards the mountains. Hoof hit stone, and he eyed his forehoof, the mountain it was touching, and the forests that were somehow miles below him in the valley. Despite his brain telling him this was perfectly acceptable, there was a part of him that knew this wasn’t right, everything about this was wrong.

Zach pulled his hoof away and looked to the base of the mountain, noting where it connected to the trees, the valley, the many fathoms deep that the valley ran; it all stretched to a point of absurdity.

Looking to the sky, his eyes were met with the dominating presence of a moon that wasn’t his own. The visage of a horned equine’s head was scorched into the pocked surface. As if that and everything else weren’t unusual enough for him, a vortex of what he could only assume was magic surrounded the celestial object.

The swirling colors that surrounded the moon were nebulous, cloud-like, but in some places held a consistency like dye dropped into a glass of water. All of the mass churned around with violent vigor around the glowing celestial orb like something out of a science fiction movie.

“Huh, that’s interesting.” He mouthed the words, but no sound left his lips. ‘Oh, right, dreaming… obviously. At least its more obvious this time. I hate the realistic ones that have me sitting and playing videogames. Those ones suck, I can play videogames anytime I want; I don’t want to dream about videogames.’ Zach shrugged and opened his mouth to say, “Well at least the moon looks neat.”

Neat? The moon voiced its wordless displeasure at such a simple-minded and worthless term.

Zach sighed and rolled his eyes at that, ‘The magical vortex moon is cool and scary and all, but, I think I’m gonna call this quits and wake up now.’ He closed his eyes shut, keeping them shut as tight as he could. It was an old trick he’d learned when he was younger, the fastest way to get out of a nightmare.

He’d open his eyes and wake up, be back in Derpy’s house, or back home, whichever, whatever, he didn’t care as long as he ducked out of whatever unpleasantness his subconscious had for him. Or whatever Luna had for him, as insane as that sounded.

Except, when he opened his eyes, he was not back in Derpy’s place. Nor was he home.

A frighteningly familiar and scowling black alicorn stood face to face with him; there was barely the space enough for a breath to fit between the two of them.

His heart pounded with enough intensity that he was convinced it would have leapt from his chest had it not been stuck behind his ribcage. His eyes wide with fear, he tried to speak, only to find his lips were sealed shut. Zach struggled to shut his eyes again, only to find them unable to close; his eyelids were forced to stay open by some manner that caused no small amount of discomfort.

Nightmare Moon’s eyes were staring directly into his; brilliant, blue, slitted eyes, glowing with a beautiful light that stood out against the mare’s impossibly black coat. Said coat, by contrast, seemed to absorb any light that shone upon it and refused to give any sheen. Even the darkest of hairstyles back home would reflect light of some kind, but not hers; her color looked like it was absence of light altogether.

Just behind her, the moon now took the appearance of an eye, mimicking the Alicorn’s eyes, and it was staring right at him. The stars, too, were replaced with eyes: hundreds, thousands, decorating the void with their uncanny presence. All were staring at him just like the moon was, shining in stark contrast to the blackness that surrounded them.

When Nightmare finally spoke, no words left her lips, nothing he could hear. Instead, Zach felt her words, deep within his mind. Her unspoken voice was like the bow of a violin, and his nerves the strings with which she played upon.

“I suppose I can’t blame you for wanting to wake up…” The mare said with a deceptively sweet tone, laced with a hint of venom. “After all, you wouldn’t want to miss such a lovely day, would you?”

An armored hoof lay upon his shoulder as the nightmare moved her face to his right. He felt her breath upon his neck as she leaned in closer, until her muzzle was to his ear.

Zach’s mind frayed with terror; growing dread was forcefully injected into every thought he could conceive from some outside force. He could only guess that it was all coming from her.

“What seems to be the matter? Does my appearance frighten you?” The dark mare taunted with the same faux sweetness she’d had before. “I think I understand… You just want to wake up and enjoy the warmth and comfort of the sun.”

Zach could see and feel the stars around him in the sky. They were, all of them, watching him; some glared daggers while others seemed to be grinning, their unseen faces mocking him while hidden behind their shimmering glow. He was unable to move, unable to close his eyes, unable to look around; he was practically frozen in place, paralyzed.

Nightmare Moon pulled away from his ear and locked her eyes with his once again. The terror intensified tenfold, as he took in the now grinning face of the nightmare. Grinning? No, the ends of the nightmare’s mouth were tearing, her mouth forcing itself open further than it could go; rows of teeth emerged from under the newly torn extensions of her maw.

The nightmare’s maw tore itself further open, revealing ever more sharp teeth inside; further and further it ripped until it went all the way down her neck. Impossible amounts of teeth glistened in the moonlight, eager to tear into him.

Nightmare let out a deranged cackle of a laugh, her voice filling every inch of Zach’s mind, “By all means, wake up, greet the morning, enjoy the day, cherish the sunlight…-”

Zach wanted to scream, he wanted to flee, he wanted to be anywhere but here.

Suddenly he found himself able to move again, the paralysis vanishing as if by the flip of a switch. He’d somehow managed to tear himself free of whatever force had held him; he took his opportunity and shut his eyes.

Nightmare appeared within the darkness under his eyelids, roaring with laughter, “-…it shall be the last time you’ll ever see it!”

…

Zach’s eyes opened, he inhaled sharply, and his senses returned. He lacked the usual drowsiness of waking up, thanks in part to him having slept earlier, but also thanks to the adrenaline now coursing through his system. There was a mild pain in his temple, mostly around his horn.

‘Uughhh… screw you Luna.’ He began thinking, only to stop and remind himself that that wasn’t Luna, that was Nightmare Moon. ‘Right, right, not Luna… She’s nightmare moon right now. Screw you, Nightmare; I can’t believe I ever thought you were a cool villain. What a bi-’

His thoughts were interrupted when a plate with a muffin sitting atop it was gingerly scooted in front of him by a gray pegasus’ wing. ‘huh?’

“Good morning, Käfer!” came the warm, welcoming voice of Derpy Hooves.

Zach roused himself, “Oh, um… Morning, Derpy.” He lightly yawned and started rubbing at his temple to help ease away the dull throbbing that was still present. “What time is it?”

“Eight O’clock, roughly.” The pegasus smiled, though the expression wavered as she looked more at Zach’s own expression. “Are you feeling ok?”

For a moment, the mild pain had Zach consider giving her a snide remark: ‘Oh yeah, super, I just feel like someone helped me get to sleep by clocking me in the head, never better.’ His conscience made him decide against it, “Yeah, I’ll be fine after I’ve gotten some coffee in my system.” He wasn’t interested in the caffeine so much as he sought the calming reassurance of the beverage itself.

Derpy’s ears tilted halfway back and she lightly frowned, “Did… did you have a nightmare too?”

Zach was halfway leaned in and about to sniff at the muffin when she’d guessed at his condition. The thought sparked some curiosity, causing him to pause and consider it. “As a matter of fact, I did.” He turned to face her and asked, “Why? Is that a big deal?”

“O-oh, well, a lot of folks in Ponyville have had some weird nightmares this past week. At first it was just affecting the unicorns, but now more and more ponies are starting to get them.” She explained.

That raised several rather concerning questions.

“Is everyone having the same nightmare?” He asked.

Derpy nodded, slowly, a serious expression on her face. Well, as serious as Zach imagined the wall-eyed mare could manage. “I think so. I’ve talked to a few ponies about it and I’ve heard a few ponies talking about it during my deliveries. I can’t remember all of it… but, I remember there’s always one specific detail about it that everypony seems to have in common.”

“Let me guess, it’s about the moon, right?” Zach posed it as a question, but he figured he was right on the money with his idea of what was going on.

“Yeah, that’s it exactly! Everyone always mentions something about the moon. Even the times I have trouble remembering things, I can remember that part. It’s always something to do with the moon, or… something in the moon, I think.” Derpy recalled. “Or… some pony in the moon…”

Zach was about to ask her why nobody here looked all that fatigued if they were all having the same nightmares, only to stop when he recalled what he knew about dreams and sleep. ‘If “Evil Moonbutt” wanted folks to remember the dreams for the sake of her ego, or to instill terror, it’s likely she gives out the nightmares during the last thirty minutes of sleep. Besides, maybe they have some kinda magic energy giving spell, like a magical can of redbull or something… eh, it’s not important.’

Nightmare Moon was never really fleshed out in the cartoon. She seemed the stereotypical ‘scary villain is scary and mean’ type and didn’t really do anything genuinely evil. The Nightmare Moon he saw in his dream felt a lot more malicious and menacing with her demeanor. Nightmare was actively trying to scare him, she wanted him to be afraid of her, and damn did she do a good job; If he weren’t so bothered by it, he’d have been impressed.

Taking the thought a step further, if she wanted to hurt anyone, she very well could do so simply by scaring people awake every time their body entered REM sleep. She could very easily cause severe psychological damage to everyone in Equestria in a very short amount of time if she wanted to, and there’d be little they could do to slow her down, let alone stop her.

‘Heck, if she wanted to go the genocidal psycho route, she could make it so they couldn’t get any sleep at all, and everyone would go “Game Over” of sleep deprivation within a week.’ Zach shuddered at the thought, ‘That would NOT be a fun way to go out…’

“What was your nightmare like last night?” He asked. While waiting for his answer, he leaned over and attempted to take a bite of the muffin without snagging any of the paper wrapping in the process. ‘What I would give to have my hands back right about now.’

The mare thought on it for a long moment before she answered, “Well, it started just like any of my other dreams, really… it wasn’t until the end where it got really scary and weird.” Derpy shuddered as she recalled the events, “I was flying home from a delivery at Cloudsdale. It was really dark… so dark out that I couldn’t see where I was flying. I don’t know how it got so dark, but, it was a dream, so I guess that explains that part… The lights were all out in Ponyville, even the water tower’s lights were out. I started to get scared, but then I remembered the moon can be used to navigate, I think!”

Her ears dipped back and she frowned before finishing her recollection, “B-but… but when I looked at the moon, there wasn’t any moon… it was this big, giant, dark face! The face had really bright blue eyes and, and, a huge mouth full of sharp teeth! It swooped forward and just… ate Ponyville!” Derpy flared her wings and jerked forward for dramatic effect. “It ate it all and just… laughed! It laughed and it ate everything; then it ate me!”

Zach blinked twice, mildly amused by Derpy’s antics, “Well, that’s uh, a bit different from my dream.” While her dream was different, it followed the same theme his did. If Derpy was to be believed (and he had no reason to doubt her) Nightmare Moon seemed to be giving everyone in Ponyville nightmares. ‘Maybe Moonbutt is going as far as giving everyone in the whole country these nightmares?’

More questions and implications, none of them good.

He leaned in towards his muffin and gave it a curious sniff. The smell of it was very enticing, unsurprisingly. Without any ability to hold the thing, he elected to break the norm and take a bite out of the muffin’s top. Zach’s eyes widened and he spoke with his mouth full of muffin, “Omf mmn, tha’sh good!”

Derpy’s expression perked up at his statement, and she smiled with agreement, “They really are! Sugarcube Corner makes the best muffins in Equestria! Believe me, I’ve tried a lot of muffins.” She paused for what felt like dramatic effect, then commented, “I… tried to make muffins once…”

‘Tried?’ Zach raised an eyebrow at the implications. He quickly swallowed what he had and asked, “Oh yeah? How’d they turn out?”

“I’m, uh… not allowed to make muffins anymore.”

He stared at her for a moment; Zach wanted to inquire as to the details of what happened, but he didn’t wish to pry. That, and he had a muffin that needed eating.

Zach took another bite, savoring it this time. The baked treat was sweet, but not dessert levels of sugary sweet. It was light and buttery and he imagined it’d pair well with some salty scrapple and scrambled eggs. ‘I’ve never had a muffin this good back home! Then again, I also don’t eat a lot of muffins… like, ever.’

He took another bite and offered a smile to the pegasus, “Best in Equestria, huh? I believe you.”

That brought out a giggle from the mare.

“So, what all else do you ponies eat?” Zach blurted out. It was a lot blunter than he intended, but he wanted to address the topic while he had the opportunity. If he was going to have to deal with a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle while in magical-midget-horse-world, he’d rather deal with that pill here and now and get it over with.

Derpy squinted her eyes with a look of confusion, “What? What do you mean? We eat regular food.”

He lightly huffed and took another bite of the muffin before rephrasing his question. “What kinds of food do you eat? Like, is it vegetables only, or..” He points his hoof to the muffin, “How are these baked? Do you make them with eggs?”

The pegasus smiled with an amused expression, looking at Zach as if he’d asked if water was wet. “Uhhh, yeah? You kinda need eggs to make most stuff in the bakery… I think… Do they bake things without eggs where you’re from?” Her tone lacked any condescending tone he would have expected in such a response back home. In fact, Derpy seemed more curious than anything else.

“Oh, no, we bake with eggs back home, it’s not that,” Zach started, “I’m wondering what your stance on animal product consumption is; aren’t ponies strictly herbivores?”

Derpy stared at him with her one cooperative eye for a good moment. The eye grew restless and wandered, forcing her to wrestle control of her other eye and focus it in. After another few moments, she opened her mouth and let out a low, “uuuhhh…” Scrunching up her face as she tried to process the question.

Zach rolled his eyes and rephrased the question, “Do you eat meat?”

Derpy cocked her head to one side, her ears dipping back, “Umm, no… why? Do… do ponies eat meat where you’re from?”

‘About what I expected, they don’t eat meat. Stupid question in hindsight. At least they aren’t super stingy on animal product consumption.’ He ran his tongue over those sharp, clearly carnivorous teeth, “Where I come from, equines are similar, but different to what you are.” Zach explained.

He considered trying to elaborate, or to try and explain that his kind were omnivores. ‘My kind? Humankind? I’m not a human anymore, am I?’ While it was true that he wasn’t a human anymore, that didn’t mean he no longer ate meat. He recalled eating the bug, how it tasted, that his mind had told him it was nourishment.

Zach couldn’t speak for other changelings, but he could at least speak for himself in that he personally didn’t see equines as food. Even when he was a human he frowned at the idea of eating equines. ‘Cows and pigs? Fair game. Horses? No.’

“Well, I don’t eat bug ponies, and I’m pretty sure nopony in Ponyville does either, so you’ve got nothing to fear!” Derpy asserted with a warm smile.

“I…” Zach started, but his train of thought had been completely derailed. His mouth hung open, words wanting to vocalize, but being stalled at the station in his head; the train had flown off the tracks and landed in a ravine somewhere. “What?”

“I don’t eat bug ponies.” The mare repeated.

“No, I heard that part, but, what… where did that come from?” He tried once more.

“Frrrom my mouth? What do you mean? Where did what come from?” Derpy asked in genuine confusion.

“No, I meant…” He paused, ‘Ohoho no, I’m not setting myself up for a “Who’s on first,” skit.’ He said in his head. Zach course corrected back to the point. “I thought you were afraid I ate ponies or something! I don’t, for the record; never have, never will.”

Derpy scrunched up one side of her face in an amused gesture, then started to laugh aloud; It was a giggly and lighthearted laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Zach asked, unsure where he’d missed the punchline.

“Oh, I know that part!” Derpy managed to get out after her laughter started to subside. “You think I’d just… let you in my house? And… and stay the night in my spare bedroom if I thought for even a moment that you might eat me?” She giggled again and added, “Come on, I’m not stupid.”

All he could do was stare at the mare with what he was certain was a dumb look plastered on his face for a good long minute.

“Käfer?” she started, a flicker of concern offsetting her otherwise happy and cheerful demeanor.

“Yeah?”

“Is something wrong? You aren’t eating your muffin.” She highlighted her point via aiming a hoof to Zach’s plate.

Zach conceded, ‘Oh, forget it. Muffin time.’ Without another word, he went in for another bite of the breakfast muffin. “Mmm, that is tasty.”

“Oh! Whoopsie!” Derpy said aloud and hopped up from her seat. “You asked for coffee, didn’t you? I don’t remember the last time I went to the store, I’ll see if I still have some around… if not, I’ll pick some up from the market when I get off work.”

Zach spoke up, despite the mouthful of muffin, “Ommff, yu donf haff…hmm..” He quickly swallowed what he had and cleared his mouth. “Mmh, damn this muffin is good. Hey, Derpy, you don’t have to get me coffee, I’ll be fine without.”

The mare was already digging through her pantry in search of coffee, only stopping to offer a quick agreement, “They’re the best muffins in Equestria!” Derpy dug a bit more, shuffling some loose cans aside, “No no, its fiiiine! You mentioned coffee, and I… uh… Darn it, I think I’m all out.”

“Not much of a coffee drinker, I take it?” It was an easy assumption to make. From his experience, one did not simply ‘run out’ of coffee if one regularly consumed the stuff.

“Not normally, no.” She cofirmed his assumption and pulled her head out of the pantry before shutting the door. “I mostly keep it for my friend, Carrot Top. Oh, and my mom! They drink coffee, but I don’t… at least, not often. Maybe every once in a whiiiile, but…” She trailed off and meandered her way back to the table while lost in her thoughts. She blinked and smiled with a light gasp once her eyes met the muffin she’d left where she’d been sitting at the table. “But first, breakfast!”

Zach blinked twice, ‘Did she really forget she had breakfast sitting there, or is she messing with me?’

As if on cue, Derpy shot him a quizzical look. “What’s the matter?”

“Did you forget you were in the middle of eating breakfast?” He asked.

The mare paused and stared at him for a moment, then looked down to her muffin. She glanced back, now with a sheepish look on her face, then grabbed the muffin and crammed the whole thing in her mouth.

The flavor of emotion that graced Zach’s tongue clicked in his mind as something along the lines of embarrassment. ‘Ok so she’s self-conscious about it. Noted.’, He let out a gentle laugh, “Hey, no worries. I know the feeling, you get up to do something and you forget what it was you meant to do, happens to everyone.”

Derpy’s ears tilted back and she looked away with a mildly flustered expression. It took her a little bit to finish chewing and swallowing the muffin. When she finally did, she looked back, her expression unchanged, “Its… uh, it’s not like that at all, actually…”

Zach got the message with a fresh sample of discouraging emotions that left a bitterness on his tongue, a good enough reason on its own to change the subject. Now was the perfect time to ask about Twilight’s Library, “Oh, hey, Derpy. Can you help me get to Twilight’s place? There’s a few things I’d like to look into, and…” He stopped, “What’s with the look?”

She was now eyeing him with her face scrunched up and he could almost see the gears turning in her head. “Who?”

He lightly sighed, “What do you mean who? You should know who, Twili- oh… right.” Zach stopped after realizing his obvious mistake. “Forget that part. The Library, you know, the one in the big tree? Do you know where that is?”

“You mean the Golden Oaks?” She offered.

“Yeah, that’s the one!”

Derpy looked down at the table and seemed to roll the name over in her head a few times, “Who’s Twilight?”

‘Right, I forgot, she’s not here yet.’ He waved off the mare’s question and got the conversation back on track. “I’ve got some things I need to look up and do some research about, can you help me get my disguise back on and show me to the Golden Oaks?”

She blinked once, her face returning to its usual cheery demeanor, “Oh, yeah! Sure! I mean, I have to get to work soon, but…” She nodded her head. “I’d be happy to help!”

Zach thanked her and took the last bite of his muffin.

…

Several minutes of frustration and accidental bumps later, Zach managed to re-equip his disguise with Derpy’s assistance. This time, a few adjustments were made to make it all look less like a jumbled mess of clothing scraps and more the part of a tangible, functional outfit. That said, the whole thing still looked on the ridiculous side, but it was less so than before.

“I appreciate the help, Derpy. I tried getting this on last night and I gave up after I got the jacket on.” Zach said as he looked himself over in the mirror. The saddlebags were gone, and instead, Zach wore a shirt under the jacket to cover the wing slots. Gone were the scarves tucked into his leg holes; he didn’t seem to need them anymore.

The leg holes had apparently diminished in their size and intensity. He didn’t notice any difference in sensation, but they were most definitely smaller. Zach’s legs had enough fullness in them to simply wear the socks on their own. ‘Is it just me, or is literally every part about being a changeling weird as hell?’ He mused.

He was able to use one of the scarves to hide his mouth, a much better use for the thing if he were to say so himself.

“Oh, it’s no problem at all! It’s pretty difficult to get outfits on without magic or wings… wait… Käfer, isn’t that a horn? Can’t you do magic like unicorns?” Her face shifted from her usual demeanor to an inquisitive one, eyeing the jagged horn jutting from Zach’s head.

“I don’t know yet, that’s one of the reasons why I’m heading to the library. I need some questions answered.” He offered his response honestly enough, figuring it answered her question without diving into unneeded detail.

Unfortunately, that only seemed to pique her curiosity. “How do you not know? Haven’t you tried to use magic before?”

Zach shook his head, “No, Derpy, I don’t, uh…” He had to choose his words carefully, “We don’t really use magic where I come from,” but even then, he was certain he was just confusing the pegasus even more. “Look, it’s complicated, really complicated. The simple answer? I don’t know; I just don’t know.”

Derpy chuckled and said, “That’s kind of a silly thing not to know, but… that’s ok, we don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

He paused and looked the mare in the eye, the one eye that she managed to keep focused on him. ‘Is she giving me an out? This feels like she’s giving me an out.’ Whether or not that was the case, he took the opportunity. “How soon can we hit the road?”

“Hmm? Oh! Right, I just need to get my bag and we can get going.” With that, the mare stepped out of the room and went down the hall.

Zach eyed his reflection one last time, making sure everything obviously “bug-like” was adequately covered up and hidden away. Satisfied with his assessment, he made his way to the stairwell and awaited Derpy.

…

The two stepped outside; Derpy turned and locked her door behind them.

“The Golden Oaks library is over on the west side of town, even my eyes can’t miss it!” She confidently asserted. A giggle broke free of her lips and she whispered, “It’s the easiest place to recognize, because it’s a big hollowed out tree.”

Zach shook his head with an amused huff, “That’ll make it easy then, lead the way.”

“Okay!” Derpy briefly pulled out her map, gave it a glance, then extended a wing to point in a direction. “West side is that way.” She tucked her map back into her pouch and set forth at a modest pace. “Off we go!”

The trip to the Golden Oaks was, thankfully, uneventful. It seemed that most of Ponyville was still waking up, there weren’t many ponyfolk out and about just yet. The ponies that did happen to be out and about were far too busy with whatever tasks they had at hand to give the duo any notice aside from maybe a passing glance.

‘Another score for the makeshift disguise, and for it being a major holiday today.’

…

A few minutes of walking later, the two came to the end of a line of houses and the street opened up into a circular junction. Sitting right at the center of the junction was a large oak tree. It was roughly the height of an oak tree from back home, but it’s overall size and shape was vastly different. The tree was far bulkier and wider than any tree he’d ever seen before by a considerable margin. There were balconies, a cohesive housing structure utilizing the larger branches as the main support beams and many of the smaller branches flattened to form into walls.

Many of the windows had been craftily carved out of the sides of the tree, rather than framed. The main entryway was its own structural component built into the side of the trunk. Out of all the components he could see, the main entrance and housing rooms seemed to be the only structures, aside from the balconies, that featured wood not shaped from the tree itself.

The structure may not have been a 1:1 replica of the building from the cartoon, but there was more than enough similarity for him to make the connection. This was the Golden Oaks library, soon to be the home of the endearing socially awkward purple book horse. It had to be.

Even if this place wasn’t the only “tree structure” in the town (which it was), he could have easily figured out this was the place. It most certainly had nothing to do with the fact that there was an ornate sign planted right next to the front door that had the name “Golden Oaks Library” engraved on it.

“Derpy,” he found himself thinking out loud, “this doesn’t look like it was ‘hollowed out’, it looks like they literally grew the tree into the shape of a building and then stuck additional structure onto it.”

The pegasus looked back at him, “Well… they still needed to hollow it out after it was done growing.” She looked back at the library, then added on, “It’s a lot easier to call it a hollowed-out tree, instead of, uh… magically grown Arballa…Arboree… umm… Arbora..” She struggled for a few moments before turning away and thinking.

Zach guessed what she was trying to say, “Arboreal construct?”

Derpy looked back, puffing out her cheeks and fluffing up in embarrassment, all while gesturing with a free hoof to punctuate her point. “See?”

“Ok, that’s fair,” Zach acknowledged, “hollowed-out tree is easier to say.”

As the two drew closer to the library, it occurred to Zach that this structure, even as large as it was, was still not nearly large enough to provide ample room to serve as a library. He felt like he was nitpicking, looking at the flaw as he was, but he couldn’t shake the thought from his head. Zach dropped it when he remembered the little detail that he was a ravenous love eating bug monster in the land of magical friendship ponies.

‘Ok, but everything else has been consistent, for the most part, so why’s this suddenly so obviously… well... wrong?’ he argued. ‘Wait, when’s the last time I actually went to a library? How would I know what a library is supposed to look like? I think I’m jumping the gun with this one.’

Derpy stepped up to the door and gave a few knocks.

‘Heck, maybe they use some kind of crazy ‘bigger on the inside’ magic or something.’ The thought made him chuckle. “That would be dumb. Practical and neat, but dumb.”

“What would be dumb?” the mare asked.

“Huh?” He blinked, “Oh, whoops, sorry; thinking out loud. Ignore me.” Zach quickly assured her.

Derpy smiled, “Ok!” She turned back to the door and patiently waited.

Zach observed as the mare waited… and waited. There was no answer from within, nor any indication anyone was in the library. He glanced to the windows for any signs of movement, but there was nothing to be seen.

The mare reached out and knocked again, but the results were the same. “That’s odd… normally there’s supposed to be somepony tending to the library by now.” She glanced back at Zach with a worried expression.

“Do you not have a librarian?” He asked, but Derpy never got the chance to answer.

“Sorry!” Came a mare’s voice from off to the side. “I was out late last night helping with some of the last-minute decorations!” Her coat was a mellowed light yellow and her mane was an earthy shade of orange.

“Oh, hi Carrot Top!” Derpy greeted the mare with a smile. “I didn’t know you were handling the library today.”

“Hi Derpy.” Carrot Top strolled right up next to her, returning the smile, “I-I’m not, actually, at least I wasn’t supposed to be. Lucky Day had to cancel for one of his weird reasons, mentioned something about having to watch out for someone, or some-thing.”

She sighed and continued. “I don’t know, he was very vague about it. Mayor Mare asked Corn Flower to cover for him, but she wasn’t able to either, oddly enough; That was a first for her. Everyone else is busy with preparing for the Summer Sun Celebration. Turns out I was the only one available, sorry I’m late.”

The pegasus took the news with a bit of pondering, “Really? That’s weird, I hope Lucky Day isn’t in trouble or anything…”

Carrot briefly dug through her bag and drew out a set of keys, holding them in her mouth as she stepped towards the door. “Ohh nuu, heesh fine,” She managed to get out with her mouth preoccupied, “heesh jush haffin hish ushuaw paranoih hooey.”

The mare fit the keys in and unlocked the Library door, releasing her keys and pushing the entry open with a hoof. “You know how Lucky Day can be sometimes. Last weekend it was the ‘Mare-in-the-moon’ and how she was going to eat our dreams, the week before that it was Vampires… or maybe Lycans, can’t remember which one he was ranting about, but you get the idea…”

Carrot stopped, pausing mid thought, before turning and looking directly at Zach. “Umm, Derpy… who’s this?”

“Oh right,” Derpy started with a giggle, “Carrot, this is my new friend, Käfer! He’s from out of town.”

Carrot Top gave Zach a once over, slightly narrowing her eyes, then said, “And he’s dressed like a ‘thrift store desert marauder’ because…?” She’d said the last word in an intentionally drawn out fashion.

Zach spoke the first thing that came to his mind, “What, you don’t like the ceremonial garb of my people?”

Carrot top recoiled and snorted in a failed effort not to laugh. “Ahahaha! Yeah, right friend, right, suuure.” She spoke with a lightheartedly sarcastic tone, then turned to Derpy. “Really though…”

The pegasus was overall confused by the display, but seemed to view it as positive, “Käfer’s nice, you’ll like him.” Derpy reassured her.

“Well, anypony with a sense of humor like that can’t be all that bad of a pony.” Carrot top admitted, “You didn’t answer my question, but that’s ok.” She then stepped into the library before stopping and looking back at Derpy, “Wait, Derpy, what’s got you coming to the library at this hour? Don’t you have work today?”

Derpy went to answer, “Oh I’m just showing my friend…” but a slow expression shift towards terror took root on her face, “I-I…I…” She deftly whipped out her pocket watch and recoiled in a panic, “Oh no! I’m gonna be late for work!”

The pegasus immediately took off in what Zach could only assume was the direction of wherever it was she was employed.

Once Derpy was out of sight, Carrot eyed Zach once again with that look of scrutiny from before. “So… would you care to explain what’s going on between you and my friend Derpy?”

Zach lightly flushed at the implications and shook his head furiously, “Oh, no, it’s nothing weird or anything like that. I was in a tight spot and needed a place to stay, she offered to have me stay with her for the time being. Once I can get on my fee… my hooves, I’ll be out of her hair.”

Her expression softened, “Yeah, that sounds like something she would do… I trust her judgement of character, though maybe not her judgement in general. If Derpy thinks you’re a decent pony, then I guess you’re ok in my book too.” She turned and went further into the library, “Well, the Golden Oaks is open now, at any rate. Feel free to browse and look around while I work, but I’m not going be sticking around for long.”

Zach took a step into the library and took in the scene. The bookshelves were carved out into the sides of the tree’s interior, just like the show, albeit far more orderly and deliberately. There were study tables and desks scattered about the center of the interior, piled high with leftover scrolls and books left behind from whoever used them last. Looking up showed the same upper levels as he was familiar with, just past the staircase.

Contrary to what he’d been expecting, the library was not “bigger on the inside”.

It was quite large still, large enough to serve its purpose as a small library, but there didn’t seem to be anything overly special about it. The Golden Oaks was just an ordinary hollowed out tree. Well, about as “ordinary” as a magical-hollowed-out-oaktree-turned-into-a-library-with-housing could be considered.

Carrot Top was busily removing the obstructions from the study desks and tables and shoving them into buckets and baskets. “Let me know if you need anything, I’m gonna tidy this place up a bit; after that, I’m out of here. Somepony from Canterlot is supposed to be arriving today for the Summer Sun Celebration, real big deal apparently. They’ll be staying here for a few nights and they’re going to take over Library duties during that time.”

Zach knew that ‘somepony’ was Twilight Sparkle, but he decided against mentioning it. Instead he spoke his mind on the library itself, “This selection seems a bit small for a library, doncha think?” Though perhaps he’d been a bit blunter than he intended.

Carrot looked at him with mild offense in her eyes, “What did you expect? Ponyville isn’t a city, we’re mostly an agricultural town. Didn’t you see all the farms nearby? You had to have at least seen Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Ok, but what if there’s a book someone’s looking for and you don’t have it stocked here just on the reason of lacking the room for it?” Zach inquired.

The mare finished clearing the tables before turning and answering, though she did so with a look that conveyed it was the last question she would have expected anyone to ask her. “No offense, but have you never been to a library before?”

He shrugged and replied evenly, “Never one that was in a tree.”

Carrot Top stopped, blinking once before offering a chuckle, “OK, I’ll give you that one.” She went over and grabbed a broom, shifting her posture to stand on her hind legs with the broom held between her forehooves. “To answer your question though: one, the Golden oaks has multiple levels and a basement where we store plenty of extra books. Two, we can always send in a request to one of the main libraries in one of the larger branches like in Canterlot if there’s reading material we’d like to swap out for. That’s not usually my job though, I’m just here as a helping hoof to keep the place tidy.”

Zach did his best to ignore the fact that the mare was walking in a pseudo-bipedal fashion as she swept the floors, difficult as that was for him to brush aside. He was here for a specific reason and he was letting himself get distracted. “How familiar are you with the books here?”

The mare stopped her sweeping to think about it for a moment, “I’d say I’m familiar enough to point out where a book would probably be, if we had it.” She shrugged sheepishly, “Like I said, I’m just a volunteer to keep the place tidy and functional, I’m not actually a librarian. Normally Corn Flower is the one who handles what book selection we have available.”

“Alright, fair enough.” He looked over to one of the bookshelves and gestured, “So which one of these would have something along the lines of a field guide to equinoid species?”

Carrot top stopped her sweeping once again and looked at Zach with a half-smile, half puzzled expression, “A field guide to equinoids? What, are you writing a thesis or something?”

Zach sighed, “Do you have the book or not?”

“No, as a matter of fact, we don’t. That’s not a book that exists.” She answered with a pinch of snark.

He rolled his eyes and muttered, “Oh you’re helpful.”

The mare set aside her broom and forced a smile, then she spoke with clear irritation, “Y’know, instead of copping an attitude and being a jerk about it, maybe you could try giving me an idea of what it is you’re looking for? I can’t help you if I don’t know what to look for.”

“Ok, fair, I deserved that.” He uttered with a bit of humility thrown into the mix, “I’m just trying to look for any information on a specific species. I don’t know if you would have ever heard of them before.”

Carrot left the broom aside and took a few steps over towards Zach, “Are we talking about mythological creatures or something?”

“That’s the thing,” he started, “I don’t know if they’re real, or if they would be considered myths or legends.”

Her curiosity was piqued, so she asked, “What’s the name of the species?”

Zach hesitated at first, but then mentally shrugged with a sigh; there was no point in not giving her the name, he doubted he’d find what he was looking for without her help. “They’re called Changelings. I asked Derpy, she says she’s never heard of them before.”

Carrot blinked twice before she furrowed her brow in thought, “Changelings? Can’t say I’ve ever heard of a ‘changeling’ either; if we take a peek at the available titles, maybe we’ll get lucky.” The mare walked over to a more ornate desk near one of the bookshelves and took out a large scroll. She unfurled the thing, eyed it over once, then twice, before sighing and rolling it back up. “Welp, no dice; we’ll have to do this the hard way then.”

“Do you think they would be considered mythological creatures? I’ve got reason to believe they’re real, but I don’t know for sure.” Zach ventured. He wasn’t being entirely honest with her, but he felt it necessary given the circumstances.

“What do they look like?” She asked, and then went on further, “Any crazy stories to associate with them that you know of? All the mythological creatures usually have weird stories.” She glanced back to look at him once, before stepping over to one of the shelves and looking through the stack of books. “It’s almost a requirement.”

‘Should I really describe them to her? If I don’t, she won’t be able to help me. Without her help, I might be stuck aimlessly searching through books with no idea what to look for. Oh, to hell with it, as long as she doesn’t see what I look like it should be fine, right?’ He took a breath and decided to take his chances. “They’re roughly pony sized insectoids, they look kind of like pony-bugs, if that makes any sense. One of the main features is that they can shapeshift; hence the name.”

“Really?” Carrot Top paused and considered what he’d just said, shuddering lightly, “Pony sized shapeshifting bugs… Well then, wow, that definitely narrows it down. I’m hoping that it’s going to be under mythology or legends, but I’m no bug expert. I’m more into plants and gardening; for all I know, those things could be real.” She paused and chuckled with slight unease, “Heck, we get weirder stories around town at least twice a month. Just last week, Vinyl Scratch swore she saw a ghost creeping around the old windmill when she was out on one of her late-night strolls.”

Zach scoffed, “Ghosts aren’t real.” Though, he felt a bit ironic in saying that, given the circumstances he found himself in.

Carrot considered him for a moment, then shook her head, “That depends on who you ask: Lucky Day, for example, would disagree. Then again, Lucky Day is a bit nutty. He’s a well-intentioned pony, don’t get me wrong, but he takes his conspiracies and myths way too seriously sometimes.” The mare turned and walked over to one of the bookshelves and started sifting through the available stack.

She picked one from the selection and open it up to what Zach assumed to be the glossary or index. “Changelings… chaaangelings…hmm.” She set the book back into its place and grabbed another one, looking through it much the same way she had the first one. “Nothing in the local field guides, thank Celestia.”

“They might be native elsewhere.” Zach suggested.

“Sweet Celestia, I sure hope not.” She grabbed a few of the books that neighbored the first one and briefly skimmed through their glossaries, one after another. “Nope, big nope… aaand nothing in this other region’s guide either. Welp, that about settles it, looks like you’re searching for a mythological creature. Now, let’s take a peek at what books we have concerning mythology and legends.”

Carrot walked over to the fictional reading material and peered through this selection of books and tomes in the same manner as she’d done previously. The more promising titles were pulled out, flipped open to their glossaries and given a once over. “Chaaaangelings… Ah, Aha!” The mare exclaimed and deftly set her current book down next to the field guides. “Found a reference to them in this one.”

Her overall demeanor reaffirmed Zach’s previous concerns regarding how ponies would react to his appearance. If the mere idea of a pony sized insectoid caused concern in this mare, well, he felt that maybe his caution thus far was warranted after all.

The mare sifted through a few more books and grabbed the ones that met the criteria, gathering them all together before taking the assortment over to one of the study tables. “Here, these all had references to your bug-pony thing in them. Hopefully you’ll find what you’re looking for in at least one of them.”

“I appreciate it.” Zach said plainly as he looked over the pile of books Carrot was neatly stacking onto the table for him. He reached out to grab one and was immediately reminded that he didn’t have hands anymore. ‘Oh, poop. Minor oversight, huh? Shoot, How am I supposed to turn the pages? How am I supposed to hold the book for that matter? Dammit, why did I not worry about this detail sooner?’

“Happy to help, just do me a favor and don’t mention anything about your bug-pony species to Lucky Day. The last thing we need is for him to get into his head that there might be a race of shapeshifting bug monsters among us.” Carrot said as she walked back over to her broom and resumed sweeping. “Can you imagine though? Sounds like something out of one of those nightmare night stories you’d tell foals to scare the living daylights out of them.”

The mare stopped her sweeping for a brief moment and laughed, “I can picture it now: Oh no, your best friend is actually a creepy giant bug monster! OooOOOooOOooOOoo! Scary!”

“Heh, yeah, scary…” Zach forced a chuckle and tried to ignore the one-way awkwardness. ‘There’s some cosmic irony at work here and I don’t like it.’ Taking his mind off of it, he ventured to see about actually accomplishing what he’d come here to do. “I hate to bother you again, but do you have a tool or something to help me with turning the pages?”

Carrot paused again and glanced back, “Why, is your horn not working?” She said in a half joking, half serious fashion.

“I’m just having some difficulty getting my magic up today.” He gave the vague excuse from off the top of his head.

Carrot Top snickered with a smirk and quipped, “I think there’s a pill for that.”

Zach blinked and squinted at the mare, “Wait, what?”

“Nothing.” Carrot hid her grin by looking away.

“Really?” He asked, not amused by her humor.

“I’m not apologizing.” The mare replied.

Eventually she looked back again and finally answered his question, “There’s little book holders over there on the wall next to you. They’re the things that look like little mini-easels.”

Zach glanced to the wall next to him and, sure enough, there they were. There were a couple of different designs between the assortment of these book-holding tools, but they all seemed to support the same basic idea. They had a core frame that held the spine of the book, a lip at the bottom to hold the book in place, and a collapsible support on the back to help prop the thing up at an angle. “They do kinda look like mini-easels, neat.”

He cast a quick glance over to Carrot and waited for when her back was turned. Zach quickly pushed aside his mask and grabbed one of the tools with his mouth, mentally gagging, then took it over to the study table that Carrot had set his book selection at. Opening Derpy’s front door was one thing, handling a wooden tool in a public library was something else entirely. ‘God, I hope Equestrians have strong immune systems… for that matter, I hope Changelings have strong immune systems. I do NOT want to get sick from some weird equestrian virus.’ His worry was forcibly set to the side as he had much more important concerns at hand.

He deftly set his mask back into place and checked to ensure he’s been successful in avoiding being seen. When it was clear that Carrot had been far too busy with her work, he sighed in relief.

Zach sat without any further ado, once more sneaking his mask off and grabbing a book off the top of the pile. ‘At least the books don’t taste dirty. They don’t taste like equine spit either, so that’s good. Wait, I don’t actually know what equine spit tastes like… OK, not thinking about that anymore.’ He slipped his mask back on and elected to just nudge the books from the rest of the pile as needed, rather than risk exposure.

First up was a book titled Tales of the Unknown: a Collection of Equestrian Myths and Legends. He hummed aloud, “Sounds promising enough.”

Zach was expecting the endeavor of opening the book to be about as difficult as lifting a toolbox lid with a pair of baseball bats, or something to that effect. Oddly enough, it was considerably easier than he expected. It took just a little bit of fitting one edge of a hoof between the two hardcover ends and then lifting. The book practically flipped open itself with how easy it was.

Turning the pages was a lot less difficult than he imagined doing with his hooves. The cloth that covered his legs actually helped in that regard, allowing him to snag the corners of the pages with the cloth fibers and flip them over. With that minor detail handled, he got to work looking through what the book of local myths and legends had to offer.

He would have liked to read through the book fully, but he had to focus on what he’d come here to handle first. Zach found what he was looking for, but it wasn’t at all what he was expecting. Then again, what had he been expecting? The story the book told in regard to changelings were obviously fabricated to a large degree. “Pony eaters? Changelings don’t eat ponies.” He said to himself as he read through the ambiguous witness testimonies. “Why would anyone believe this crap?”

The only things that this book seemed to get right were that changelings could change shape and that they were vaguely insectoid. Everything else was an erroneous mess, from being able to seduce their prey with songs and whispers, to the asinine idea that changelings could curse you with their spit. “I guess that’s why they’re called ‘myths and legends’, huh?”

He idly flipped through a few more pages out of curiosity, eventually coming to the image of a horned black equinoid’s head imposed over a crescent moon. “Oh hey, it’s the Mare in the Moon thing that Twilight obsesses over in the first episode, neat!” If he hadn’t had an important task at hand already, he would have liked to dive further into the myth. “Ehh, I’ll look at it later.”

Zach made a note of the page number and then set the book of myths and legends aside; then he grabbed the next book off the pile. This one seemed to be a loose collection of campfire stories and folktales. Judging by the contents, he wasn’t expecting this one to fare much better in its factual basis.

As he suspected, the book was devoid of anything even remotely factual about changelings. That being said, he had to admit that the stories were at least entertaining. Some folks seemed to believe changelings were aquatic, based on one tall tale. Others told of changelings killing a pony’s lover and taking their place, a particularly morbid and frightening idea. There was even one story of a changeling queen replacing a stillborn foal with a disguised changeling nymph, the mother having loved that disguised nymph as if it were her real foal; even after the nymph was outed as being a changeling, the mother still cared for her.

‘Huh, that last one was a nice story.’ As depressing as its intro was, he ended up liking it quite a lot. He would have mentally kicked himself for allowing himself to be distracted with what was obviously a waste of time, had he not recalled an old phrase: “Time one enjoys wasting is not wasted time.”

Zach set the stories aside and grabbed the next book in the pile, another book of legends. This one was even less helpful than the first book. This one insisted that changelings were actually a larger and parasitic version of something called ‘breezies’, which was some kind of tiny bug pony creature. “Who the heck writes this crap?” he bit out.

He tossed that book aside without looking any further into it, then grabbed the next book. More tall tales and made up nonsense. Apparently, some pony somewhere and somewhen had been convinced that changelings were alien life-forms that had fallen from the heavens eons ago and were observing ponykind while hidden in plain sight. “That guy probably overindulged in whatever he was using recreationally.”

So far, he’d managed to prove that ponies knew next to nothing about changelings. Unfortunately, it seemed to be a double-edged sword: On one hand, he didn’t need to worry about being outed as a known monster. On the other hand, if folks actually believed the myths about changelings, he’d have to contend with being outed as an entirely different kind of monster.

His saving grace was that changelings seemed to be an obscure myth, with no two sources able to corroborate similarities. ‘At least I have that going for me, which is nice. Better to be misunderstood than to be seen as objectively evil, I can make this work. I think… I hope. Let’s make sure it doesn’t come to that, yeah? Better safe than sorry.’

A short time later, Carrot Top had just about finished up with her work when there came a knock at the library’s front door. “Ah, that must be the mare from Canterlot.” She hurried over to the entrance and peered through the peep hole. Immediately after, she deftly swung open the door and greeted the newcomer with a smile.

Zach had paused his reading and looked over to the entrance. He was fully expecting Twilight Sparkle to be standing just outside the door; Instead, it was the tan earth pony known as Mayor Mare. Behind mayor mare was the famed purple unicorn he remembered.

The mayor stepped in and gestured behind her to Twilight, waving her hoof around in a warm display, “Welcome to the Golden Oaks, Miss Sparkle. As I believe I mentioned earlier, I’ve taken the liberty of having the living quarters spruced up to make your stay in our cozy little town as comfortable as possible. It’s no Canterlot suite, but I hope you find everything to be to your liking.”

Twilight stepped into the library, carrying saddlebags and a suitcase of luggage. “I appreciate that, thank you. I’m sure everything will be perfectly fine.” She smiled at the mayor, then cast a glance behind her. “Spike, don’t try and carry everything all at once, I’d rather take multiple trips than risk breaking something.”

The little dragon was carrying a bundle of luggage three times his size.

“I’m not carrying anything that could break, relax, Twilight!” Spike replied, grunting with exertion. The way his legs wobbled implied he was carrying more than he should have been. “Besides, you told me yourself, ‘work smarter, not harder.’ Right?”

“This is not what I meant when I said that.” Twilight sighed and conceded, “Alright, just be careful, ok? I’d rather take care of it with multiple trips than risk you taking a mis-step and…”

“Twi, I’ve got this.” The little dragon asserted, grunting again.

The Mayor and Carrot top both had a look that stated their belief to the contrary; Spike paid no heed and continued with his stubborn effort.

Carrot held a hoof out to Twilight, which the purple mare happily shook. “Pleased to meet you, Twilight. If you’ll come with me, I’ll show you to the bedroom.”

“That would be wonderful, lead the way.” Twilight replied.

Carrot Top ascended the staircase with Twilight in tow, moving up and out of sight from the main floor. Shortly after, Twilight returned to view, minus her luggage. “Spike, be careful!”

Spike had barely made it up to the fifth step before his balance began giving way.

In a cartoonishly amusing display, the little dragon struggled with his footing and made an assortment of sounds as if they’d help him maintain his balance. Sure enough, the wobbling and bad footing led to its expected conclusion. Spike took a wrong step and his weight shifted to an awkward angle that he couldn’t recover from. Gravity took hold and he slipped, falling off the side of the staircase and bringing all the luggage down with him.

The purple glow of Twilight’s magic caught the dragon before he hit the ground. In a fluid motion, the unicorn righted Spike and gathered the scattered airborne luggage with gentle precision. Spike landed softly and the luggage he’d been carrying was stacked neatly next to him.

Spike huffed in defeat and folded his arms, “Go ahead and say it. I know you’re thinking it.”

“I told you so.” The unicorn said with a grin to match.

“You two need any help?” Zach offered without thinking.

Carrot Top followed suit, “What he said; do you want an extra pair of hooves to help with your luggage?”

Twilight acknowledged both offers with a soft shake of her head and a grateful smile, “Oh no thank you, we’ve got things handled just fine on our own.”

Spike stared at Zach for a good long moment or two, before a big grin of excitement formed. “Whoa! Is that a ninja? Ponyville has ninjas?”

Mayor Mare seemed taken aback from the question. “Ninjas? I wasn’t aware our town had any ninjas.” Her expression shifted to one of curiosity as she looked over at Zach’s disguised form.

Zach laughed aloud, a bit nervously at that and quickly denied it, “No! No, I’m not a ninja. Why would you think I was a ninja?”

“You sure? You look like a ninja… I mean, minus the black suit part.” the dragon replied.

Carrot Top eyed spike with a look that questioned his perception just as much as her words did. “Seriously? You think he looks like a ninja of all things?”

“Actually, real shinobi wear blue.” Both Zach and Twilight corrected Spike simultaneously.

Spike narrowed his eyes, darting between Zach, Twilight and Carrot before arguing, “Well, what if he’s a special kind of ninja? You know, like from the comics?”

Twilight laughed and gave the dragon a pat on the head, “Spike, those are comics, not history books.”

The two started their way back out the front door.

“Yeah, well, history writers could take a page from comic writers and make history less boring to read through…” Spike insisted.

Zach shook his head with a smile, ‘It’s nice to see those two are pretty much the same as I remember them. I always liked Twilight.’

The pair returned, both carrying the rest of their luggage and continuing their conversation.

“I like adventure and action, tales of heroics and fighting evil.” The little dragon stated.

“History is full of plenty of that!” Twilight argued. “If you just gave it more of a chance, I’m sure you’d like some history.”

Spike rolled his eyes, “Hey, it’s not my fault history writers don’t know how to make it fun and engaging.”

Twilight sighed and gave up.

“Hey, what’s with your voice?” The little dragon asked Zach as he passed by. “It sounds like you’re gargling a radio.”

Twilight spoke before Zach could answer, “Spike! One, I highly doubt that gargling a radio would sound like that, two, you don’t just ask somepony a question like that!”

Spike shot her a look with his brows furrowed, “What? I know you were thinking it too, you just didn’t say it.”

“Ok, I admit I was curious about it too,” Twilight started under her breath, and then continued with her normal tone, “but that’s not the point!”

Carrot muttered under her breath, “Glad somepony said it…”

“I must admit,” Mayor Mare started, looking to Zach with a hint of suspicion, “I am also a bit curious as to why your voice sounds that way, and why you’re dressed as some foreign agent of espionage.” She paused and quickly added with a dash of embarrassment’s flavor floating on the air. “n-not that I wish to imply you’re engaged in such activities, of course; I’m simply curious. Its an… odd choice of attire.”

Carrot looked to the Mayor, then to Spike, and then back at Zach, “You sure he looks like a ninja? I think he looks kinda like one of those desert roaming folks from Saddle Arabia, except he got his clothes from a bargain bin.”

“Yeeeah…” Spike concurred, “I see it now, you’re right. A ninja would be all uniform and sneaky like, but this guy’s just wearing a bunch of stuff he scraped together. He sticks out like a sore hoof, no way he could be a ninja.”

Zach swallowed and wished he was anywhere else but here. “I’m just… uhh…” He dug through his mind for plausible ideas and said the first thing he came to. “Getting over a cold, throat’s still sore.” A lie, but hopefully one they’d buy for now.

Carrot took a quick step back and gave a look of sympathy, “Oh, sorry to hear that. Summer colds are the worst. Makes sense you’d be covered up like that, best way to get rid of a cold is with warmth and plenty of soup.”

“Yep, just getting over it.” Zach said as he played along.

By now, Twilight and Spike had gotten the rest of Twilight’s luggage up to her room and were settling in. Mayor mare got Carrot’s attention and said, “Thanks again for helping out with the library on such short notice, Carrot. I don’t know what’s gotten into Lucky Day; the poor stallion looked like he’d seen a ghost again when he came barging into my office.”

Carrot shrugged, “You know I’m always happy to lend a hoof whenever there’s little things that need doing around town. Corn Flower and I will keep an eye on Lucky Day, make sure he’s doing ok.”

The two looked to Twilight; Mayor Mare looked back to Carrot and gestured, “Carrot, would you turn over the library keys to Miss Twilight?”

“Oh, of course! I was just about to do that, actually.” Carrot Top nodded with a smile and went to grab the keys from her bag. She scooped them up with her mouth and set them over on one of the tables nearby where Twilight stood. Carrot then said, “It’ll be nice having a librarian in the Golden Oaks for a change, even if it is temporary.”

Twilight took the keys in her magic and held them aloft, “You’re not the librarian?” She asked.

Mayor Mare spoke up and answered for Carrot, “Our last librarian retired about a year ago. We couldn’t find anyone who wanted the job full time, so we’ve had volunteers helping to keep the library organized and maintained.”

Carrot nodded, “I’m one such volunteer; an earth pony stallion named Lucky Day and a unicorn Mare named Corn Flower are the other volunteers that look after the Golden Oaks. We rotate responsibilities between the three of us.”

Twilight gave a hum of understanding. “Well at least for the time being, I’ll be…”

Zach tuned out from the conversation and had gotten back to his reading. He set his current book to the side and closed it, then looked over to the last remaining books he had. ‘You know what? I think I’ve read enough about that to get the idea of what I’m working with.’ Zach let out a resigned huff, ‘OK, time to look for something practical, like magic, or…’ Flight, that was by far the easiest topic he could dive into.

He imagined magic would require a comprehensive uprooting of his conceptions of magic and spell-craft from the myths and legends back home. There would probably be some sort of equations or complicated techniques to learnt he ropes of even basic spellcasting. Flying, on the other hand, would be considerably easier. Not that he was going to pass up the opportunity to learn magic, of course. ‘If I’m still here tomorrow, which is highly likely at this rate, then I’ll look into learning how to do magic. Until then, I’ll focus on the simpler goal first.’

Flight was simple, at least in his eyes; you just needed a means of lift, and a manner of propulsion to enhance the lifting force through velocity. Zach had both of those in his wings, he just needed to learn how insects managed their wings. Apparently they didn’t work the same way as bird wings or aircraft wings. There had to be a book on insect biology and flight, right? Surely, someone had taken it upon themselves to study how insects flew.

‘You know what? I bet they went over that in biology class back in highschool and I just forgot about it because school manages to make learning a chore. Seriously though, how did school manage to make learning about new things such a miserable experience?’ He paused and blinked once, ‘Why am I thinking about school? I’ve been out of school for years now; who cares about school? Not this guy!’

Old resentments aside, he needed to find a book that contained details on insects and their methods of flight. Carrot Top would be able to help him find it.

Zach looked over to where the trio of mares stood, only to see that Carrot Top was no longer in their numbers. She must have left while his attention was to his books. ‘Oh, for crying out loud!’

“Thanks again for the warm welcome, Miss Mayor.” Twilight said as she finished up the conversation she’d been having.

“You are so very welcome, Miss Twilight. Feel free to let me know if there’s anything at all you need at any time, I would be more than happy to render assistance.” The mayor concluded, then turned and exited the library.

“So, what are you reading?” Spike asked, standing to Zach’s left and trying to peek over the table to see for himself. “Anything interesting?”

Zach cast a glance to the little dragon before offering an answer, “Just looking into Equestrian myths and legends, folklore and stories. Neat stuff.” The little dragon didn’t need to know what he was looking for specifically.

Spike’s curiosity seemed to grow at that, “Oh yeah?” He grabbed one of the books from the pile and opened it, holding it aloft with his claws and flipping through the pages with an ease that stirred a bit of envy in Zach’s heart.

‘Am I seriously envying the sidekick character because he has fingers and thumbs? Wow, I’ve stooped to a new low.’ Zach chided himself as he got up from his seat. ‘Twilight’s a bookworm, if there’s any pony in this town that would know a thing or two about biology, I’m confident it would be her. I’m sure she’d have a book or two, or ten to recommend to me if I asked her about aerodynamics.’

Without a word or even a glance, Spike hopped into the seat Zach had just left and popped open the book he’d grabbed out of the pile. He flipped it to a random page and started reading its contents, “Vamponies: monstrous curse, or misunderstood illness… huh, neat!”

Twilight was, as Zach had expected, sorting through a collection of books. There was quite a large quantity of them held in Twilight’s magic; she appeared to be looking through them and double checking with the scroll and muttering to herself. “Myths and legends, myths and legends… darn it, the list says the Golden Oaks has it, but it isn’t on the shelves.” She said aloud and neatly arranged her current collection of texts back onto their shelves in an efficient and orderly fashion.

Zach watched her work; the thought crossed his mind that, maybe she wouldn’t be able to help him. Twilight had only just arrived, she wasn’t familiar with where anything was in the library yet. ‘She has the library’s list though,’ he argued against the doubts, ‘she can still find it, right? She’s a smart pony.’

He was about to get her attention when, as if on cue, she turned to make eye contact with him.

“Can I help you?” She asked with a neutral look. Several books hung suspended in the air around her as if her magic were waiting for her to continue.

Zach paused, during which time Twilight had extended a hoof to him.

She set her current cluster of books down around herself and offered a smile to go with the extended hoof, “Sorry, I don’t think you and I properly introduced ourselves yet, have we?”

Zach looked hesitantly at the extended hoof and wavered, “Uhh… no, I guess we haven’t.”

Twilight looked unsure at Zach’s hesitance towards the hoofshake, but she wasn’t overly bothered by it either. “I’m Twilight Sparkle,” she glanced over to the little dragon and pointed her hoof to him, “over there is my personal assistant, Spike.”

The little dragon looked up long enough to give a wave, “Hi!”

“I see, nice to meet both of you.” Zach said with a nod, “My name is Käfer, I’m new in town too.”

“Käfer? Is that Griffonian, or Germane?” She asked with genuine curiosity in her tone.

Zach’s mouth hung slack for a moment, and he uttered a sound as if she’d asked him the delta velocity needed to break atmosphere and reach the moon. “I… which one’s farther away?” He kicked himself mentally, ‘Which one’s further away? Are you kidding me? Stupid, stupid, stupid…’

Twilight laughed, seeming to think it was a joke of some sort. “Well, I believe Griffonia is further away, if I’m remembering correctly.” She smiled and then added, “Käfer: Griffonian for Beetle; It’s definitely a unique name here in Equestria.”

“So I’ve been told.” Zach said in agreement.

Before he could get out another word, Twilight had turned and begun looking through the library’s collection once more. “Myths and legends… Mare in the Moon…” She opened a few of them and darted through their pages in a steadily growing exasperation. “It has to be here! The list says it’s here, where is it?”

Zach blinked and cleared his throat, “Uh, Twilight?”

Twilight halted the flow of pages and books, then turned to face Zach again, “Hmm? Sorry, I’m looking for a specific book, more specifically, an article on the prophecy of the Mare in the Moon.” She paused before asking, “Oh, I’m sorry, did you actually need something?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact.” He started, “Do you know of any good books detailing how insects fly?”

The unicorn mare stood there for a good moment or two, staring at Zach with a vaguely curious expression. Finally, she said, “That sounds like something you’d want to look for in one of the Canterlot Institute of Sciences Research Collections series, or one of the many pegasus published Theories of Aerodynamics; maybe you’d even find something of use in the Scientific Journals Weekly articles. I highly doubt you’d find much on the subject in a library like this.”

“Oh, you’re sure?” Zach said with his hopes dwindling before his eyes.”

Twilight grabbed the Golden Oak’s list of available books and brought it over before giving a nod, “I’m positive. Luckily, I happen to have read most of them and I’m more than happy to give you a summary of what I know concerning insect wing aerodynamics.”

Zach’s hopes were very rapidly lowered and then raised back up with a tempered air. “Wait, really? I don’t want to take up too much of your time…”

“Its no trouble at all!” Twilight asserted, “What use is knowledge if you don’t share it?” The unicorn cleared her throat, and then proceeded to go on a long-winded explanation into the physics of insect flight, and Zach was bombarded with far more information than even his brain was prepared to process.

“Based on the findings of the Canterlot Institute of Sciences, most insects use a method of flight that creates what pegasus scientists have dubbed a spiraling leading edge vortex. The insect’s wings move through two basic half-strokes. The downstroke starts up and back and is plunged downward and forward. Then the wing is quickly flipped over, this is called supination, so that the leading edge is pointed backward. The upstroke then pushes the wing upward and backward. Then the wing is flipped again, this is called pronation, and another downstroke can occur…”

…

“Uhh, Twi?” Spike interrupted several minutes later, “Twilight, I think I see smoke coming out of his nose and ears. You’re melting his brain!”

Twilight stopped her detailed explanation and then stammered, “I-I, what!? Oh, I’m sorry.” She looked at Zach with sympathy and a large helping of bashfulness, “Sorry for the overload; maybe it would be better if I drew you a diagram to explain things?” The mare offered a smile that only served to further highlight her embarrassment.

Zach’s eye twitched and his brain felt like it could have made toast if someone put some bread on his forehead. “Yeah, that would be very nice, thanks.”

Twilight turned to her assistant and started to ask, “Spike…?”

The little dragon saluted, “I’m already on it!” And with that, he ran off to grab an unused piece of parchment and a quill and ink to go with it.

“Thank you.” Twilight said as she took the items from spike upon his return and held them in her magic. She set them on a nearby table and got to work illustrating what she’d spent the last several minutes trying to unsuccessfully explain to Zach.

Zach watched her work while Spike went to go set the pile of books Zach had been using back into their shelves.

Drawing out the explanation took considerably less time than it did to explain it verbally; Twilight was done within three minutes. “There, that should be a good visual representation of the physics behind insect flight, more or less.”

Zach looked over the piece of parchment, taking in the shapes and symbols. The drawings representing the insect wings weren’t overly detailed, artistically speaking, but the labels on everything helped where the visual details were lacking. Twilight wasn’t an artist, that much was clear, but she could illustrate physics diagrams well enough to where Zach could make sense of it.

Ignoring the equations and mathematics she’d written, he got the general idea of how insect wings worked, or at least he thought he did. ‘I’ll figure it out when I get the chance to apply it. Jeez, this is crazy stuff; a vortex of air acting as a buffer for the wings? That’s gotta be some kind of magical nonsense at work. There’s no way insects work this way back home.’

“Was there anything else you needed?” Twilight asked.

‘Yeah, how do I use magic?’ He wanted to ask her, but he reminded himself that he was going to wait until tomorrow, just to be certain he was staying in Equestria for the long haul. On second thought, however, he could at least ask for a place to start. “Would you have any recommendations on reading material for someone who’s never tried to use magic before?”

The unicorn seemed taken aback by the question, tilting her head slightly and hanging her mouth ajar for but a moment of bemusement. She narrowed her eyes and Zach could practically see the gears in her head furiously spinning. Suddenly, she composed herself and smiled brightly, “Oh, absolutely! I’d be happy to help with that!”

Twilight then fired off a long list of book titles from the top of her head. “There’s the ever popular Magic:101 for if you want a no-nonsense introduction to all things magical; then there’s Basics of Spellcraft for Dummies, although I personally don’t care for that one as I believe it gives unicorns the wrong idea about their magical potential. My personal favorite though, is Princess Celestia’s own Beginners Guide to the Exciting World of Magic. There’s so many more, I could spend all day listing them!”

The unicorn reached out to several shelves with her magic and plucked books from each of them. She brought them to herself and looked them over before holding them out for Zach to see. “As I said, there’s plenty of reading material to choose from, but I’d be happy to make a recommendation.”

Zach held his hoof out and shook his head, “Oh, no, that’s fine. I appreciate it, but I was only browsing for a good starting point.” He made mental note of the titles Twilight mentioned, ‘I’ll look those up tomorrow.’ Just as he was about to bid the unicorn farewell, he found himself staring at the cover of a book enveloped in Twilight’s kinesis.

“Here, I insist, this is the Beginners Guide to the Exciting World of Magic; quite possibly the best starting point for any young unicorn looking to take their first steps into spellcasting. The Princess knows how to appeal to the young minds of…” Twilight trailed off as she held the book aloft, seeming as thought she were waiting for him to take it in his own grasp. When he hesitated, the mare asked, “…is something wrong?”

The thought of admitting to being unable to use magic caused Zach’s ears to flush with heat and knots to form in his stomach. While it was true that he came from a place where magic didn’t exist, having her assert that the starting point he needed was intended for children filled him with embarrassment regardless.

To be completely fair, it wasn’t just for a lack of magic. He couldn’t take it in his mouth for fear of how she’d react to seeing his uncovered face. It all compounded together and made everything feel worse.

He swallowed and asked in a weak voice, “Could you set it on the table for me?”

Twilight looked puzzled, cocking her head to one side and eyeing Zach’s horn. “Why not just take it in your kinesis?”

“I uh… I don’t know how…” He meekly confessed.

The unicorn stared at him with that same puzzled look, blinking only once before saying, “I’m sorry, what?”

“I don’t know how to use magic.” Zach said again with a bit more finality.

Twilights expression gradually shifted to one of disbelief, and then to shock. Her eyes widened and her mouth hung agape. “What!? You- but every unicorn knows how to use telekinesis! Even foals can perform the bare minimum telekinetic levitation spell.”

“Great, good for them,” he started with a barely concealed irritation at her attitude, “I don’t, ok?”

“Is this some kind of joke? You’re joking, right?” She stated, now grinning and offering a laugh. “A grown unicorn who can’t use magic… Ha! Good one!”

Zach scowled under his mask, his embarrassment turning to humiliation at this point. “You know what? Just forget about it; forget I said anything at all.” With that, he turned away and went to grab the illustration she’d made for him.

“Nice one, Twi.” Spike commented with no small amount of sarcasm.

Zach snatched up the parchment, pinching it precariously between his hoof and foreleg, then tucked it away in one of the pockets in Derpy’s jacket. From there, he headed for the door, “Thanks for your help, nice meeting you, I’m gonna head out now. Bye.”

“I- what? Wait, don’t go!” Twilight called out. When Zach didn’t respond, she reached out with her telekinesis and plucked him from the doorway before he could leave. “Please, don’t leave.”

The unicorn brought Zach back over to her, then turned him to face her. Twilight’s ears were tilted back against her head and she had a look on her face that rested somewhere between sympathy and remorse. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to make fun of you.” She tried to explain, “I had no idea you were being serious. The idea of a grown stallion unicorn not being able to use magic at all is, well, it’s unheard of!”

Zach had been embarrassed, laughed at, and was now being held aloft like a child’s toy. To say he was beyond humiliated at this point would be selling it short. When he offered his retort, it was dripping with spite and sarcasm, “Nice apology, that makes me feel so much better.”

Twilight winced at his remark, “I deserved that. Really, though, I am sorry for inadvertently making fun of you.” She looked at him with more sympathy, almost pity now, “You really can’t use magic? Not even a basic telekinesis spell?”

He sighed and reiterated with annoyance, “No, I don’t know how.”

Spike commented from atop one of the shelf ladders, “Wow, having a horn and not being able to use magic? That’s like a pegasus not being able to fly! Or a dragon not being able to breathe fire!”

The unicorn’s ears perked up and her eyes gleamed with an idea. She offered him a smile and said, “You know, as Princess Celestia’s personal student, magic is my expertise! There’s still much for me to learn, of course, but I know more than enough to be able to offer assistance to anyone looking to learn a thing or two about basic magic and spellcasting.”

Zach blinked at her, still suspended in the air by her magic, “Ok, and that means…?”

“If you like,” she started, “I can give you a leg up in learning the ropes of basic telekinesis spells. It goes hoof in hoof with getting acquainted with your personal magic.”

“If I say yes… will you put me down?” Zach asked with a raised eyebrow.

Twilight flushed red at the realization she’d kept him airborne with her magic this entire time. “OH! O-oh, sorry!” The unicorn set him down, gently, putting a hoof to her head in embarrassment.

Zach brushed himself off and made sure his disguise was still set before speaking, “No big deal, just, uh… don’t do that again, please?”

“The offer still stands!” Twilight blurted out, her cheeks still a little red. “If you’re interested, I mean. The books I suggested will be more than enough to get you started, but I can give you a head start, in a sense; I can help you get further along much faster than you would be able to on your own.”

“Twilight, why are you so eager to help me? You don’t even know me.” Zach asked.

She raised an eyebrow at the question, but she seemed to understand where he was coming from. “Well, for starters, I inadvertently insulted you and humiliated you…”

Zach shrugged, “Eh, water under the bridge.”

“That, and,” Twilight continued, “I’ve spent my whole life studying magic under the tutelage of Princess Celestia. I couldn’t bear the thought of being unable to use my magic. Seeing you, knowing you can’t use magic at all…” She trailed off.

“So… in other words, you feel sorry for me?” Zach asked with a mildly unamused expression.

The mare flushed red once again, “I-I didn’t say that!”

“You were thinking it.” Spike commented from across the room.

“Shut up, Spike!” Twilight shot back, her face flashing a brighter shade of red in that moment.

Zach looked over to the little dragon, then back at Twilight. “Don’t you have Summer Sun Celebration plans? I don’t want to interrupt anything important.”

“He’s got a point, Twi.” Spike stated, “Didn’t the princess ask you to oversee some of the preparations? Don’t you think we should get on that soon?”

Twilight looked at the dragon and replied, “I haven’t forgotten spike, but thanks for the reminder.” She returned her gaze to Zach and asserted, “I’d only be going over the basics, enough to get you started with a solid foundation; it really shouldn’t take up that much time at all. I insist, please, I want to help.”

Zach contemplated the idea; he hadn’t planned to do anything concerning magic on the off chance he didn’t end up staying in Equestria. He’d only come here for some information on changelings and to look up the technique he’d need to be able to fly. After all, magic was complicated, flying was easy.

That being said, he’d be an idiot to pass up the opportunity that had just been presented to him. Besides, Twilight made it sound easy enough, “Well, if you insist, I guess I’ll take you up on the offer. Its not like I have anything else to do or anywhere else to be.”

The mare was grinning with excitement as she set all the books back onto their shelves, save for Magic: 101. “Fantastic!”

Zach shrugged and eyed the book, “Ok, so what do I do first?”

Twilight’s smile widened as she opened the book and held it before her. “I’ll show you.”

...