“I don’t know, Ember is a little...” D’oh, what’s the word?

“Odd?” The white unicorn, Rarity, said.

“Cryptic?” Said Twilight.

“Cold?” Ah! That’s it!

“Yeah, that one. Though... he is kinda funny.” Both ponies look at me, they’re making me feel uncomfortable. “What?” I can feel my cheeks heating up. Gah! Look away you stupid ponies!

“Nothing.” Both ponies said. It’s still pretty freaky that they sometimes say stuff at the same like the Grady Twins in The Shining.

Shiver

That was some creepy stuff.

“So, what kind of dresses would you like me to make for you?” Rarity asked as she removed the measuring tape from my hip.

“Actually, I’d like a couple pair of jeans and a few shirts. And a couple of bras.”

…

…

… They don’t know what any of those are, do they?

“What are jeans?” Twilight asked.

“And what is a bra?” There was a glint in Rarity’s eyes when she asked that. Oh~ no. Was this what Ember warned me about?

Ugh… today’s going to be a long day…

Somewhere, deep in the Everfree Forest. A queen of a changeling hive sat upon her throne. Plotting what to do since her daughter left to be with that human. How she came across this piece of information before she sent her guards after her, no one knows.

But some thing does.

“My Queen.” A high ranking changeling spoke up.

“Yes, Glare?” The Queen allowed the changeling to speak further.

“If I may suggest,” The changeling, Glare, continued. “why not just bare another next in line? We still have the King at our disposal.”

“That is always an option.” The queen nodded. “But, maybe I can convince her to come back.”

“‘Convincer her’?” Glare questioned. “Why not just take her back if you want her to be next in line then?”

“It’s that human.”

“What?”

“The human, Ember. When he arrived her of his own accord, he didn’t mention anything about Mural. That means she either asked him to come here for whatever reason. Or he really did just come on a whim. I’m inclined to believe the latter.”

“What makes you think so, your Highness?”

“Ember was so… fascinated with our kind.” The queen answered. “I never would have thought any sapient being would be interested to learn about our kind. It felt refreshing. And it gives me hope. Hope that maybe, we won’t have to keep to the shadows anymore. He said he would help us integrate ourselves into pony society.” Glare winced, not being as hopeful as his queen.

“If I may speak freely,” The queen nodded. “I… I really don’t know about this your highness. What if this is all a ploy? The ponies could be plotting something with that human.” Glare suggested.

“Glare. You fail to remember I am much more capable of tasting the emotions of others. I felt his resolve to help us any way he could. I couldn’t quite put my hoof on it, but I sensed, sympathy maybe? I don’t know, but I somehow know he knows our plight. Or, at least, he knows what it feels like.” The queens furrowed her brow in frustration.

“My queen, you mean to say you couldn’t sense what emotions the human had flowing through him?” Glare asked (blatant exposition is blatant).

“... Yes and no, my child. When I spoke with him. His emotions were… all over the place. I couldn’t hone in on one single emotion. They seemed to flicker wildly.”

“This be true my queen?”

“Yes my child. But, something else struck me as odd.”

“What would that be my queen?”

“I sensed all these feelings swirling around within him. But, he maintained an air of serenity. As if the whirlwind of emotions wasn't there, it looked to be unhealthy. I don’t know whether to think it be natural for humans, or if it pertains to just him. It worries me.”

“Why? Your highness, and also, you can just ask him yourself, if you so choose to.”

“I would rather not run the risk of… flaring any and all unsavory emotions.” The queen replied. *I have heard what he has done when provoked, even slightly.* She mentally added with a hidden shiver. *Fortunately none of my children have been harmed when that wretched demon reared his ugly face.*

“Very well, your highness.” Glare nodded. “What shall we do in the meantime?”

“Continue with your duties. And send a few messengers to the Princess of Friendship. I would like to know how things are coming along.”

“As you wish my queen.” The changeling bowed and trotted off. Leaving the queen of the hive alone with her thoughts.

*I hope my trust hasn’t been misplaced, Ember. You’re my only chance at salvation with the ponies.*

With supplies of nourishment at an all-time low. It was no wonder the queen would take any chance she would get to keep her children alive and healthy.

Well, not any chance. She wouldn’t stoop as low as waging all-out war with the ponies just for love. Changelings have morals.

But it seems some do at this point. Mirage was glad she was one of the remaining hives to still possess morals and sanity, to her knowledge.

It has been ages since she received word from another hive. Ever since that travesty that idiotic Chrysalis committed, many changeling hives went into hiding. They needed to fade from history if they ever wanted to live like how they all did before that event. They were all happy, content even. Despite making themselves hidden before hoof. But, that failed invasion changed everylings lives.

Ever since that event. The ponies have become afraid of their race. They went as far as developing new ways to detect and detain changelings. It made the lives of every hive miserable with the drops of love intake. Soon, whole hives were disappearing. It was by miracle Mirage took refuge within the Everfree with a large reserve of love and make do with the wildlife.

Mirage felt it was a gift from Mother when that human showed up.

Finally, she thought. An unbiased being who was willing to help them. A chance at survival, longevity, prosperity.

Queen Mirage believed in the human in hopes that he alone can help her. With what she knows, Ember is the only of three humans that reside in Equestria, maybe as far as the whole world. She knew she could save herself and her children, along with other hives as an afterthought, from slow, agonizing extinction. She knew the human either knew what it’s like, or at least sympathizes with them. To her it doesn’t matter, she knew this was an opportunity she couldn’t let slip through her hooves.

And it’s not like she saw the human as nothing more than a chance at survival. She saw him as a friend as well. The way he was… interested, by her kind made her think Ember has never heard of changelings.

But that’s preposterous. Changelings have been known even before the invasion. How could not know what we are? Or, at least heard of us.

But… his very being is alien to her. Never, in all of her years, has she ever seen a being remotely similar to the human. Sure, there were the minotaurs and diamond dogs. But even then there are vast differences.

How did his race evolve to look so differently from each other? There was more variety between them than the ponies. And they have four races!

Of course, it was all in theory. No one really knows more about humans than a certain purple alicorn. And there are only three known to exist.

That brought up another question to the queen: Where did these humans come from? They could be from the Great Desert of Saddle Arabia. Much of that area is largely unexplored. And their body type would suggest they live in blistering heat... She thinks.

Their body type… It is hard to discern what kind of environment they live in.

Hands seemed to let them swing from tree to tree, the jungle maybe? But, there are the ones that look like dogs. And Ember has wings for Mother’s sake.

No matter, Mirage thought. I can always ask Ember himself about his species. Who knows, humans might be more simple than once initially thought.

But even then, the queen thought, she was certain there was more to the humans. For all she knew, they could be from another world!

Again, what a preposterous thought. Right?

“Alright, now where can a guy go for a one-night stand?” I ask no one in particular. There’s a bar down the street. “The bar it is.” I grinn. “I need this.” I put on my best winning face and head to the bar.

~I know the ponies will think something’s wrong with you after this.~

*Yeah, I guess it’ll be weird for them; seeing me smile for once.* I grin. But my grin morphs to a frown. *You three better make it ruin this crap for me.*

-No promises!- Embris tittered.

*Screw off.* I grumble. But hey, a fuck is still a fuck. Even if I got voices in my head.

Yeah, I’m not schizophrenic, no. Not at all. Nope.

So he was actually warning me about mentioning clothes…

Why didn’t I listen to him!?

I mean, sure, he is a little… Harsh. But,I’m he means well. And judging from Twilight’s reaction, it was just a joke.

Sigh

I just hope he keeps his end of the deal. I still want to head home after all this crap.

And he did say he has stuff to tell me about home. Maybe he just wants me to stay here? Yeah, it could be that. Unless…

Ew! No! There’s no way any sane person would even think doing… that with a pony!

But… he’s probably been here longer than me. Maybe he… no. Just… ew.

“Amy darling. Are you alright?” Rarity asked me.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Just think about… a lot of things.” Yeah, like getting back home. Oh god, mom and dad must’ve done everything they could to find me…

No! I can’t have those thoughts again! I can’t break down! I moved past this!

Alright, compose yourself Amy. We’ve been over this. You're still alive, and you will get to see your parents again. Everything will be fine. Everything will be fine.

“Amy, are you alright?” I felt a hoof on my leg. I look down and see that the ponies are looking up at me, worried.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I… I’m just glad I’m gonna see my family again.”

“Oh! How wonderful! Well, let’s not keep you waiting then! I’ll get right on started with your clothes!” Rarity and Twilight smiled brightly while Rarity went through some doorway. And some old machine sound came from where she left. She’s already making clothes? Wow. Ponies and magic…

Speaking of magic…

How is Ember able to use magic? I couldn’t do shit! I didn’t even get wings or a horn! How is Ember using magic!?

He better tell me what the fuck’s going on…

What the hell is going on back home? Could it be about that war I was hearing about with North Korea? Maybe… there was a lot of talk about it before I ended up here.

Then there’s how I ended up here… I never really gave it thought before now…

But, all I can remember is walking down a sidewalk, then everything went white, then nothing. There weren’t any cars nearby, so getting hit by one was out of the question.

Maybe…

NO!

I did not die! There wasn’t a single thing that could’ve killed me! I was walking along the sidewalk and bam! Now I’m here! I didn’t die!

I. Am Not. DEAD!

“Amy!”

“Wh-wha..?”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” It was Twilight, her and Rarity were both charing worried stares.

“Uh… Yeah, just… Just thinking about some things.” There were tears streaming down my cheeks.

Since when was I crying?

I quickly wiped them away.

“It’s just… It’s been a year for me since I’ve last seen my family. And now… I’m going back to see them. It’s… it’s a lot to take in.” They both nodded in understanding.

“We understand, being away from you family that long must be terrible.” Rarity sympathized.

“Yeah, but how is Ember going to take you back?” I shrug at Twilight’s question.

“I don’t know, he never told me how he’s going to do that.” Twilight brought a hoof to her chin, pursing her lips with it.

“Hmm...” Meanwhile, Rarity went back to the room she was previously in, and came back out with a small stack of clothes.

“Here you go darling. A fresh set of clothes from Rarity’s boutique!” She said with a flourish of her mane. I gratefully took them and immediately went off to one of the dressing rooms.

“Hey Mirror. What do you think of that human?” Camouflage asked me.

“Honestly? I think he’s a gift from Mother.” Camo, along with Swift Strike, Vault and Looker, chuckled.

“Tell me about it. Finally we get a chance at being with those stubborn ponies!” Said Vault.

“Hey, come on. You know that’s all that stupid chrysalis’s fault ponies fear us!”

“I know, but how long ago was that?” None of us had time to answer. “Three damn years! You’d think ponies would at least forget a little bit about us at some point.”

“Maybe they’re smarter than we think, sometimes.” Looker joked. “I mean, that one pony, Twilight Sparkle, was the only one to reveal that stupid queen’s plans.”

“Yeah… speaking of plans, we’re here.” Vault announced. The gaggle of changelings looked ahead to the town of Ponyville. Abuzz with ponies milling about like always.

“I can feel the love from here.” Vault drooled.

“And it’ll all come to us soon enough.” Camo lightly punched Vault’s shoulder. Since the changeling was wasn’t expecting the light nick, he fell over with a loud ‘oof’. “And you need to stop drooling over it. You might turn into Chrysalis.” A few laughs emanated from the others.

“Whatever.” Camo grumbled as Vault helped him up. “I just want to be full for once, not scavenge for scraps and steel pony’s love.”

“I know Came. We all know. Come, let’s head to Princess Twilight’s castle.”

It didn’t take long for the changelings to arrive at Twilight’s Castle of Friendship. Since the it would take a blind idiot to miss the giant structure. And they did get a few odd looks from the ponies, but nothing like glares or worried looks. But, soon enough, after they knocked on the front door, Twilight answered it. It disheartened the group a little when they the alicorn’s eye widen and face blanch for a split-second.

“Princess Twilight.” They all bowed respectively. “We come asking for an update on the proceedings.” Camouflage stated.

“Uhm… Right. Please, come in.” The alicorn moved to the side, allowing the changelings entry. “And please, just call me Twilight. I’m still used to the whole Princess thing.” The changelings nodded and entered the castle. “This way please.” The princess of Friendship then lead the group to a small room, small for the castle anyway, with a large rectangular table with enough chairs for a family of ten. Twilight sat at one end, the changelings directly across from her.

“Before we proceed,” Twilight started. “let me just say that it will take some time before you and the rest of your kind will be recognized as citizens of Equestria. I hope you understand.” Twilight smiled apologetically.

“We understand, Twilight.” Mirror spoke. “We know the circumstances are little… against us. With past events between us and the ponies.” She looked down, ashamed of her race, but more specifically a hive she refuses to name. “And, to be honest, we don’t care how long it will take.”

“How so?” Twilight asked.

“It’s because of that human.” Vault elaborated. “When he came along and decided to help us. We were overjoyed. We finally have a chance at living a truly happy life. To us, Ember is a gift from Mother for true salvation. I hope you understand, Twilight. We truly wish to live amongst ponies without prejudice. We don’t want to live a life in the shadows, always scared of the fact you ponies hate us for a hive did to your princesses.”

“But don’t get us wrong,” Camo interjected. “We understand you ponies don’t… like us too well. But please, we know that you know what Chrysalis has done was only out of desperation. Now matter how stupid it was.” He scowled at the last part. “But, don’t let that event cloud your judgement of us as a race. It was an isolated event. We can’t stress enough how alone that late queen was when she decided to do that.” The purple alicorn raised a hoof to silence the changeling.

“I understand.” She said. “And I’m making it my duty to everything I can to you and your.. Hive, seen as friends instead of monsters.” The gaggle nodded thankfully. “Now, let’s get started. I had Princess Celestia send a few copies of citizenship documents. But I was told there are a few things we need to make clear before I can mark you all as Equestrian citizens. There will be spells involved but nothing intrusive or dangerous...”