Chapter III: ..Since saturation..
Should the insect tell about the old events? "Maybe. Want to.". Even the most ruthless rain would probably not describe the whole bitterness from the two year past. However, the orange horse seemingly knows about it already. For her looks, she knew very much. Probably even too much.
Not for nothing did the small village turn into the probably most defended outpost of the royal guard, did it? Changelings constantly provoked, their doings are nothing new. So what bloomed such harshness out there? Hunger. Curiosity. Emotions.
They led the white insect inside, and they became the reason for his speedy "banishment" and sharp changes. Changes, that appeared literally on the next day. Since so much destruction during the night is simply impossible to miss and ignore.
One of the local stores simply went sore. All the food and drinks that were there - gone. Expensive alcohol, sacks with grain, fruit, vegetables.. Only things left, are broken bottles and hints at the primary idea of the shelves. Though, nothing else had vanished.
Not the expensive crafts, not something rare and small, not even the baskets, so convenient to actually transfer all the provision. As if someone unrealistically hungry broke the lock and ate the monthly stock of the whole settlement! Truth be told, that is what happened.
However, the bug remained unsatiated. His stomach held literally everything. And burned it momentarily as well - he did not change in size at all. Which cannot be said about the establishment's owner. The first newcomer forgot how to speak, and his relative behind barely held the falling elder on his knees.
And then, the snowwhite insect realised what he lacked! "Emotions. Feelings." - some kind of drama! However, is he good after all this? The shapeshifter is very smart - he understood that he acted wrong. Yet is he guilty? He did not even know how to end his hunger and what could help him!
Nobody came too close to him, nobody helped, only ran away at the first sight of the bug! And if there would be a crowd, it would certainly leap at the troublemaker. "Like guards." - the bug compared in his head. So he waited, when the owner would be left alone. The insect knew that it would happen.
He already saw how the young did everything for the old ponies. Be it their grumpiness, disability or simply as a gesture of good will. Words came different, the situations ignorant, and the heart of it all is the same. The blue unicorn momentarily vanished thanks to his horn, for help. How? "Can I do that?".
— ..Oh you vermin! You pest! - confused elder immediately rained with emotions - G-guards! Fortune! Help!
..Whiskered insect drowned in the atmosphere so hard, that he forgot about hiding; the old hut's mood reminded of nature too much. Albeit it is dull everywhere, all the novelties filled the head with everything possible. Feelings even drunked him! Totally stronger than the wine.
Otherwise, how can one sit on the spot, remain idle, and not even understand, that one is not a broom anymore? How long can he stay unpunished near the door? Not long at all. This very feeling that guided before, ordered him to run away from food! Actual food, for the bug.
— ..So what happened back there? - the horse returned the insect to reality.
— Bad. Very bad. - whiskered bug shook his head - Wanted to talk. Did not work.
Lying is also bad. However, telling the story as it is - even worse. What if the current interlocutor refuses to be friends after all the details? Without them, the story will not be saturated, lies are always deprived of any details. Though, others did act like that tirelessly. "Ponies." - he immediately remembered.
Even the robbed stallion did not say that this changeling is white. Truly, if others would learn about that - will immediately go to hunt him down, forgetting about everything in the world! So what brought so much military? That very blue unicorn. He brought someone, who brought the forces.
The elder vanished somewhere, and the foal took the things into his hooves. So tightly, that he got rich almost from nothing, and very fast at that! White one did not even realise, how - the actions alone are not enough. But the conversations did show something. The temper of others, those very "lies".. and the local aristocracy.
Nobody rushed. Even the shapeshifter. He stayed for quite a while in Armare-de-Forge, out of unawareness of where else he could feed. "Need to listen. Hide." - whiskered bug thought back then - "Eat, not with mouth.". The problem, that the insect himself caused, was responded by only the maturing stallion. Nobody else did a thing. At all.
The guard is dreary, though nothing is weary. Some mares from Canterlot constantly resented and said completely silly things, the others waved it all off, even.. Sunshine herself did not understand a thing, with the complete retelling of those words! As if they all stayed silent on purpose, to not escalate the situation!
That is why the changeling stayed for even longer than he intended. He wanted to help, not knowing how at all. He saw similarities between himself and the new owner of the shop. However, the insectoid knew - he cannot show himself. "Cannot show that I know.". His catchy look alone already turned the hamlet upside down.
— Silly, all of them! You tried to make a dialogue so hard, and they..!
Everything that the shapeshifter could not get in the hive, he tried to attain in the wild. Even "feasting" was possible, but talking with others stayed improbable! How did insects talk at home? Why the snowwhite one cannot perform that? "Not my home?" - insectoid did not understand. Or was he simply rejected?
Simply, just like that, without a reason and desire? Like with this hamlet? The resemblances with some separate individuals stood out easily: everyone resorts from one extreme to another, yet the actions just like words - zero. Only those who stood out have tried - that is why they stand out. Blue unicorn, for example. Insectoid himself.
This town for the whole nation - like the white one for his hive. And even though the whiskered creature did not think so wide, never even knew such loud words - he sensed a lot. Almost all the situations between others, are very similar to how bug's brethren dealt with him.
And even though the clever elder disappeared somewhere, the whiskered insect's appearance made the business boom. So much so, that the caravans did nothing but travel here and there. One of such carriages was stocked with the morphed insect, without anyone realising who he is and what he is.
Since the goods are so many, there were not enough eyes and hooves to check every flask. The plated bug himself was seemingly forgotten after the months of hiding and feasting. Seemingly, since only the trader and the guest of honour remembered. How can one forget about such? So much experience!
Even beyond the obvious moments, the past constantly dropped more thoughts - then and now. Would the changeling learn to be patient? Would the shop follow the same way? Could the white one begin to recognise emotions? Nothing held him back - the feelings had no need to be given away. In such moments, his head turned on. Just like now.
Like near this orange horse. There are a lot more questions, and the answers provoke even more questions! Thankfully, now the whole experience is successfully sorted. Nobody forgot about the instincts - they are in the spotlight. Though, back then, they were the only guide.
And even though the whiskered insect does not know what "instincts" are, it is them that attracted the bug to ponies, just like a moth would knock against the oil lamp. Perhaps, the snowwhite one - is a strange moth? Changeling listened to fairytales while hiding: moths are often white, and they stayed near the warmth. Emotions are also warm. Even the negative ones.
Only the head suggested, that it is not wise to provoke negative feelings. And how to do so, in a world full of strangers? Look for similar "white crows", or constantly hide? Passively live with others, or somehow attract the crowds to oneself? ..What, if all at once?
Why split in ideas, when it is easier to grasp them all together? No matter what the whiskered bug had managed - he always left undamaged. And it is not some magic or a miracle - the insect simply tried. He worked on himself and his skills. He survived.
Like the blue unicorn. Like the beggars on the city streets, that the animated merchandise arrived to. Only the rich and lazy folk searched for excuses, having nothing to do even without that. So much so, that they did nothing but cause quarrels. With eerie problems following after them..
— So that's how you got to Monacolt!
— Mona-colt? What colt?
— The town is called that way, Monacolt! And you were in Armare-de-Forge. You were transported to Dome first, right?
— ..Dome? I don't know.
And then, the solar pony also realised something. The insect does not know how to read. All his life, snowwhite one only listened, stared and talked! He managed to grasp his bearings with only his intelligence, without any real knowledge of society! Dome adventures only confirmed that further.
Since only the fool or a truly knowledgeable individual would argue with an aristocrat. There, all things happened at the same time - like some kind of circus. "Too far. That is not all." - the changeling suddenly shifted thoughts. He did not even tell what led to all that!
Despite the sharp interruption of an important and cold exchange of pleasantries from the past, orange pegasus gladly listened to how the plated insect spent his time in the mining town. That is literally how those two met! Buffoonery, that led to something bigger.
That very invisible emotion replacement, like some tomfoolery. Where does the hurricane blow, without any actual wind? How to explain the flying sacks from behind? How to react to an eaten bowl of food, without consuming the food itself? Some loss, sudden increase - for some a joke, for some a tragedy. And nobody stood aside!
Sea of emotions, tons of feelings! Some small thing changed everything around. A little action snowballed into a whole globe of consequences: dramas, experience, observations.. Everything led to sharpening the skills, for bigger and more successful pranks. Until someone complained to the blue blood.
— Why? - disappointed the winged mare - You didn't do anything bad, did you?
— No. Maybe. Only funny.
— So who complained to whom?
— ..Not exactly sure.
If only the shapeshifter understood what is "gossip".. Nobody approached the guards for real - they were also messed with, and they had no fear! Though, the relaxed mood interfered with order, the laws. Then, the fun was paid attention to, from above, by itself.
What laugh could happen in a smithy, where the strongest steel in the world is being forged? So what, that the quality did not drop at all - nobody paid for entertainment. Dimes did not get into the treasury, yet all the faces around are pleasured. "Complained to her." - the bug put two and two together - "Thought about her.".
Trickery and disorders were blamed on the genuine travelling circus, and the head tamer tracked the insect down! Someone really wanted to get rid of him! However, after the first seconds of confrontation, it already became clear - wanted not to kill, but to keep him. For themselves.
— Albino? Pfth, one doesn't hire an angel to catch a sinner. - unicorn's snarky voice interrupted all the bug's thoughts.
— ..But you're not an albino! - the pegasus interrupted the thoughts now - You're just different! You are white, not pale! And the eyes, your wings - lilac, not red! You are, like.. a backward changeling!
— ..Backward?
Miraculously, the shapeshifter somehow understood what was said back then. Manner of speech, voice tone, appearance - everything just screamed about someone, who gets their way with the tongue. Although, that appearance is not at all common for the higher classes. And to rule a circus.. "Dirty. Silly.".
— She's silly!
— No. - the insect suddenly dismissed - Silly. And not silly.
— ..Half-silly?
— Maybe. Don't.. believe, that it is one thing.
Both sinners almost read each other. Almost, because this pony knew changelings only from the legends and merely guessed, and the snowwhite bug himself saw the likes of her every day. Or rather, remembered pretty well. Both guests and local leaders behaved identically. Identically audacious and disgusting.
The appearance alone is what stood out: legs and head are white, as if someone ineptly repainted the body; eyes are different colours, like the smudge on the back.. Or are those natural patterns? As if someone mixed the childish fantasies into one and the same image. Perhaps someone might like it, though it is not beautiful at all. Stands out with silliness and tastelessness. Like the ultimatum itself.
The changeling was made an offer that he could not refuse. And it is made in such a way, as if the aristocrat had not even a hint at a plan; made it up in a few seconds on the road. The unicorn wanted to buy the insect, for the circus. To kill two birds with one stone.
— I already told, that it is from my circus that the animal escaped. - arrogant horse raised her chin as high as she could - Alluring Bliss will not miss such opportunity.
— Alluring.. Bliss? - whiskered one did not even get the words and their purpose.
— Am I what, supposed to talk about my precious self exclusively in the first person? Be a good pet and get rid of Alluring's problems. Don't want to come with me - run away from the city by yourself. I know what you like to morph into.. - the pony pointed at the only object, that also had no ties to the bug - ..I will find you, and you will participate in the circus as a decoration, not as an animal.
— ..And if I don't want to?
The bluff gave itself away with the nervous shivering from only a thought, that the insect will continue his fun. "One doesn't hire an angel to catch a sinner.". There he realised, it would be better to play the fool, "Make a show.". Common dwellers already had a rough time - everyone lost dimes and felt uncomfortable due to the insect. Albeit it is much calmer on the soul, than without him.
Maybe, the insect is like Alluring? Partly white, very strange compared to her own kind, possesses a horn.. Though, it is completely opposite in her mind to what the bug has. Eternal bitterness. In all the words, thoughts and feelings. Almost like with others. Though both of them entertain others.
— So how did you get to Monacolt?