Outside the Swarm (Literate MLP RP)

whitefire • 31 May 2013 at 9:42 PM

The first thing you realized was that you were lost. The second thing you realized was just that: you realized something. You had never thought for yourself before; only Queen Chrysalis had brought you instructions, which you had obeyed mindlessly all your life without even realizing you were alive. The third thing you realized, on the subject, was that the commands were muffled. Even now, the ties to your family were slipping away, fading into emptiness as thoughts forced their way into your mind. You were breathing. You could see. You could feel ground beneath your feet. You were lost. But the most prominent thought in your mind was that you were hungry. The thought of hunger surprised you; you had never been hungry when you were with the Swarm. But you knew this much: you needed to feed, or you would die. But how to go about finding food was another matter. You had, at this point, three options: find the Swarm, and rejoin it, join a smaller group, or go it alone. What will you do?

Overview in next post.

flareice • 31 May 2013 at 10:12 PM

Overview:
Basically, you are either a Changeling or a pony. Ponies are really nothing special here, but they're still necessary for things such as replacements (feeding). Changelings are really the main focus here. If you are a Changeling, you will start out with no emotions. Depending on how you play your choices, you may or may not gain them back, and which ones you regain depend on how everything happens. For example, if you choose to go back to the Swarm, you will find regret, resentment, and frustration mainly, but also a bit of relief and sadness. This is because once you get there, you will be happy to have your family back, but it won't be the same for you. Since you won't be in the same mindless trance as the rest of the Swarm, and you've gotten used to interacting with other ponies and Changelings, you will feel loneliness, sadness, and frustration when you can no longer do that. It will also be harder for you to eat and such when you don't have the commands to tell you when to attack and stuff, and the other Changelings won't accept you as much when you're not working in the same rhythm and such.
If you go it alone, you will gain your emotions back more slowly, but more fully as well. You will able to love, and basically live the same as everypony else, but still not as much accepted.
If you live in a group, you will gain all of your emotions back quickly but not as fully, as you won't be accepted by the ponies as much as if you were alone. Eventually you might become more frustrated than anything else.
Like I said, it all depends on what you do.
Forms and rules in next post.

whitefire • 31 May 2013 at 10:28 PM

RULES:
1. If you are a Changeling, it doesn't matter where you are or what you're doing, you cannot gain all emotions in rapid succession, or quickly PERIOD. Yes, you can gain emotions quickly, but no more than one or two per hour or so. It all depends on what you do, basically.
2. No godmodding.
3. Changelings cannot have crushes until they have all of their emotions, and there can be cross-species crushes, but ponies will not love Changelings until they know for a fact, tried and true, that they can trust them.
4. No perfect characters! We all have flaws, especially Changelings!
5. All characters must be OC's; no characters from the show!
6. BE LITERATE!!! Apostrophe in "you're," quotes around dialogue, capital letter at the beginning of a sentence and proper punctuation at the end. Seriously, it's not that hard.
7. All Changelings start out without names; they can name themselves later.
8. Put "Chinchillas" in Other section if you read the rules.

FORMS:
Name:
Gender:
Age (approximate for Changelings):
Species:
Appearance:
Personality:
Crush (ponies only; optional):
Other:

featherstar_stormclan • 31 May 2013 at 10:43 PM

Name: Toxic
Gender: Female
Age (approximate for Changelings): 18
Species: Pony/Dragon. (She has a really messed up past.)
Appearance: Pure white mare with her eintire right side covered in smokey black scales. She has a mop of red hair. She is a pegasus with one white wing and one smokey black dragon wing.
Personality: Shy and to herself.
Crush (ponies only; optional): None
Other: Chinchillas

Name: Claw
Gender: Male
Age (approximate for Changelings): 19
Species:Changelings
Appearance: NIght black with a fading green mane and eroded horn with flimsy wings
Personality: Unknown
Crush (ponies only; optional): Is a changling.
Other: Chinchillas

@whtiefire this good?

hay7199 • 31 May 2013 at 10:54 PM

Name: Sand
Gender: Female
Age: 5 years, 3 days, 17 hours, and 12 minutes.
Species: Changling
Appearance: A normal Changling but looks smaller than normal ones.
Personality: Changling -.-'
Crush: Changling -.-'
Other: Chinchillas

whitefire • 31 May 2013 at 11:06 PM

@Featherstar_StormClan
Yep! Sorry for bugging you on the Colony RP; I didn't get the ping here. XD

Name: Umberisk
Species: Pegasus, Unicorn, Earth Pony, and Changeling mix; is a shapeshifter
Gender: Female
Age: 12
Appearance: Blue mane that hangs over one green-flecked blue-gray eye which fades into stripes in her normal fur as it travels down her back and trails down into tail. She is covered in scars, the most prominent being the two on either side of her chest and the one on her right cheek, and wears a bandage over her left foreleg which leads to a light blue hoof. Her right ear is grey, and her left eye has a patch of the same colour outlined in a deeper colour. Other than this she is dusty white. Out of her forehead pokes a stubbornly short, mostly useless, smoky-gray and hole-filled horn, proof of her Changeling roots. Along with that, insect-like wings poke out of her back, but not without the occasional sky-blue feather, the likes of which crowd the base and gradually thin out as her poorly functioning wings reach their point.
Personality: Umberisk is a kind, fun-loving pony with an air of mystery about her, and she does an amazing job of covering the fact that a lot of her emotions are gone, leaving her with love, sadness, and loneliness. Most of the time, she doesn't know whether or not she wants company, and usually settles for being by herself in compromise. She usually goes out of her way to help people, and most often settles for what everypony else wants to do when in a group project. She is unusually stubborn, and will not cave no matter how much pressure you put on her if she wants something badly enough. She loves to sneak up on people, too, so watch out!
Crush: None
Other: She represents me and has two other forms, who will be introduced later. And I have a pair of Chinchillaz at home!

featherstar_stormclan • 31 May 2013 at 11:11 PM

@whitefire ok. I have a mix between a pony and changling too. 😋

whitefire • 1 June 2013 at 12:05 AM

@Hay7199
Accepted!
@Featherstar_StormClan
We need to pester somepony else who would join...

Name: Midnight Star
Gender: Female
Age: About 14
Species: Changeling
Appearance: Her skin is pitch-black, and the patch of armor which holds her wings is the deepest blue. Her eyes are the ice-blue colour of stars, appearing almost to be white. The fin that runs down her neck is, like her armor, the blue-black colour of the night sky, as is her tail.
Personality: To be determined
Crush: None
Other: Chinchillaz enjoy the fact that @Ems had better get over here.

ems • 1 June 2013 at 1:26 AM

@whitefire I see what you did there. .3. I like this plot. Very interesting and different. ^^
--

Name: Shadow
Gender: F
Age (approximate for Changelings): About 13
Species: Changling
Appearance: A very petite, lanky Changling with pitch black skin and holes in her hooves, horn, and light green wings. Her eyes are the same color as her wings, and she has pupils, but they are slitted like a cat's. Her mane is short and bright green, with a short choppy tail to match. When she takes a pony form, she is a Pegasus with bright green eyes, mane and tail. Her mane is short and brushed up, and her tail is a bit longer than a stallion's but still much shorter than average. She is a filly, with a black body and scars covering her. She has scars in both forms.
Personality: As of now, she's cold and calculating; a natural loner, but as she will regain her emotions, she becomes mind of why and quiet, afraid of the judgement of other ponies. What she wants most (once her emotions return) is to take the place of a normal Pegasus filly, though his may change as her journey continues.
Crush (ponies only; optional): Ew, she's just a filly. Maybe. Depends. XD
Other: Chinchillas

whitefire • 1 June 2013 at 1:50 AM

@Ems
Accepted! (Of course, when have you NOT been accepted? XD)

Name: Umbraticum
Gender: Male
Age: Around 20
Species: Changeling
Appearance: Umbraticum is a rather small Changeling, a look which suits his Latin name, which means "Shadow." His skin is befitting of a shadow as well, being a deep shade of gray. His eyes are a lighter shade of gray than his body, while his armor is close to black. His wings have a slightly gray tinge to them, and his tail and fin are slightly darker than his skin, though not by much. http://www.sumo.fm/#image/id=2217553
Personality: Umbraticum is a cunning creature, and is great at sneaking around. Silence is his specialty, and stealth is his greatest weapon. As a commander of the Swarm, he had a slight bit more freedom, and thus his emotions are slightly stronger than those of other Changelings. His was a job that required the natural reasoning he had been given, and the accuracy of aim and stealth that he prided in himself. He knew integrity and honour, a thing precious few Changelings understood, being that they were mainly mindless.
Crush: murp durp, none
Other: I ❤️ my Chinchillaz, and I can't wait to see them tomorrow! And Umbraticum was a commander in the Swarm, so he's slightly more developed.

ems • 1 June 2013 at 1:54 AM

@whitefire I've always been accepted. I'm just that wonderful. XD When can we start? I'm super bored. 😋

whitefire • 1 June 2013 at 2:00 AM

@Ems
I'd say right now, but were driving back to Chattanooga tomorrow morning (we're in Florida), so I won't be able to get on much.
Actually, never mind, let's just start now. XP
@Featherstar_StormClan
@Hay7199

NEW RULE GUYS!!! READ IT!!!

The Changeling was hungry. He knew that much. He had to find somepony to feed off of, and fast. But how would he find a pony when he was in the Evertree Forest, or whatever it was those ponies called it?

The Changeling opened her bleary blue eyes again. She was so confused; everything was so big, and, and just... She felt lost in more than one way, and that was all she knew, besides the gnawing hunger that ate at her insides.

ems • 1 June 2013 at 2:07 AM

@whitefire Okies.
@featherstar_stormclan @hay7199
--

The young Changling's eyes flickered open, her pupils darting about and quickly calculating her location. Where she was, she had no idea. How she got there? Forget it. The only thing she knew at that moment was that she was famished and lost. Standing on shaky legs, the small Changling realized that she was thinking thoughts that were... Hers. She wasn't taking orders from Chrysalis, in fact, the filly couldn't even hear any orders from her queen. The next thing she knew, she was feeling surprise. "I'm... Free?" She murmured, her brow furrowing and confusion.

whitefire • 1 June 2013 at 2:19 AM

@Ems
I'm... Going to bed... Too tired... *Rolls off of bed*
@Featherstar_StormClan
@Hay7199
@SSTwins You join. Nao. XD

The small Changeling quickly gathered his wits about him; he needed them all to get out of this situation. He was surprised to find his thoughts more amplified, and even moreso that there were no instructions or objections mingling with them. But for now his priority was food. He was in the... Evertree? Eversea?... whatever. He was in a forest with probably no ponies in it, so he would have to track some down into a city. That would be dangerous, he knew, but it had to be done. But how to get there...?

hay7199 • 1 June 2013 at 10:03 AM

The Changling looke around with normal blueish-green eyes and ripped up wings. She fluttered them quickly and floated off the ground, she looked around at the forest she was in. Her eyes scanned her surroundings and she flicked an ear and continued to try and find others of her kind, emotionless as she searched the area again and again. Before long she stopped flying and began walking.

featherstar_stormclan • 1 June 2013 at 10:22 PM

@dashie get your face over here. @ems @whitefire

Toxic sat up twitching her ears her scales rippling down her back. She looked around wildly. Something was srong it seemed like someting had just vanished. She shook her head what was missing she oculd'nt tell but she had a feeling right down to her pony dragon spirit that it was more than likely good.

The Changling sat up twitching his wings.

ems • 1 June 2013 at 10:51 PM

@featherstar_stormclan @hay7199 @whitefire
--

Her insect-like green wings flickered nervously. "I need an alias and a new form. I must feed soon." She said to nopony in particular. She shifted into a random form, happening to become a small black pegasus filly with the same mane and tail. She smiled, her teeth nice and straight. "Hm... I enjoy this form. It is similar to me; perhaps even my true form - if I were to be a pony." Her feathered wings stretched a bit, and she took an easy flight, rising above the trees to find the nearest town, when her innocent gaze fell upon Ponyville. "If I recall.... It has some of the most loving citizens..." She murmured, and set course in that direction.

hay7199 • 2 June 2013 at 12:02 AM

Sand flicked her wings as she strode through the forest in the direction of the strong force of what was called 'love'. But to her, it was called 'food'. She could see the town on the horizon, and transformed into a snow white pony with yellow hair and blue eyes that would be beautiful if they showed any emotion. She made her way into then town, and detected not only love, but friendship, it was her only and worst enemy.

whitefire • 2 June 2013 at 10:32 AM

The Changeling noticed other beings in the forest; not just animals. A flash of green, and the black skin he thought he had seen had disappeared. Another flash, and more skin was replaced by silky black fur: this time he was sure, there was somepony else in here. But before he could move the being took flight, soaring up and out of sight. He had few memories, but he knew he could morph as well, and quickly shifted into a deep gray pony with a slightly lighter horn and a darker mane and tail. The general colour of his eyes remained the same, but rather than the regular light-stained pits, they bore a multitude of shades that would suggest great energy and emotion were they colourful. He spread his wings to take flight... only to find that he had none.

The Changeling morphed instinctively, losing the armor on her back and becoming a pitch black pony with an icy-blue gaze which seemed to portray innocence and kindness, although of those she knew none. Her mane and tail were the darkest of blues, bordering on black, and her wings were a very pale blue colour. She spread her new feathery appendages and took flight on instinct, soaring towards the pony villiage from which she could feed.

@Ems
@Hay7199
@Featherstar_StormClan
@SSTwins Get over here or you die! XD That is, if you like Changelings.

ems • 2 June 2013 at 6:24 PM

@whitefire I have nothing to post... DX Oh well.
--

The Changling finally made it to Ponyville, a small innocent smile taped to her face. She would definitely feed well here. Another filly bounced over playfully. "Hey what's your name? I haven't seen you before!" She smiled.

Thinking quick, the Changling named herself. "I'm Shadow."

whitefire • 2 June 2013 at 6:42 PM

The Changeling sighed; he should've figured that he would end up with either wings OR a horn.
"I guess I'll just have to do this the hard way," he muttered as he began to trudge wearily to the small town he spied in the distance.

The Changeling spread her wings and took flight, her midnight-blue mane flying out behind her. Her blue eyes glittered in the sunlight as she soared towards her new feeding station.

@Ems
@Featherstar_StormClan
@Kreh You there?
@SSTwins GET OVER HEER! CX
@Hay7199

ems • 2 June 2013 at 6:46 PM

@whitefire How exactly do they feed? Do they like... Sense the love or whatever and it makes them less hungry? 😋 I want to feed off this filly, but I don't know how to. xD

whitefire • 3 June 2013 at 9:36 AM

@Ems
I know what you're asking, but I'm gonna start off on a different level.

There are a few basic methods of Changeling feeding. The first, and most common, is stealing love. This is also the widest known by pony-kind, as it was what happened in the Chrysalis-Shining Armor-Cadence triangle, where Chrysalis trapped Cadence and took her form in order to feed off of Shining Armor's love. This method is less satisfying than others, but it's still pretty high up on the scale of energy. This is, by far, the most risky method of obtaining love, as there is a chance that the replaced pony will escape and blow the replacement's cover, which could result in the death or imprisonment of the Changeling. The Changeling also has to make sure they stick to the original's habits and attitude, unless they are only getting a quick feed, in which case it no longer matters. Another method is earning love under false pretenses, which is done when a Changeling makes an unused form for itself and ponies around it come to love it, which gives the Changeling more love energy than stealing love, but not as much as being loved for the Changeling that they are, which is the most satisfying and least risky by far.

I'm gonna continue this from my side.

flareice • 3 June 2013 at 9:50 AM

@Ems
Continuing! ^w^

This method is easily the best, easiest, and less risky method, though it is a bit bumpy at first between those requiring love and those doing the loving. How long it takes for the pony to trust the Changeling typically depends on how the Changeling revealed itself for what it truly was. If the Changeling was forced out of its disguise by a spell similar to the one performed by Shining Armor and Cadence, then it will take a very long time, as the ponies will see it as a dis-honest [insert insult of choice since I got nothin']. If the Changeling was impersonating a different pony, then it will take even longer, but if it was its own design, then it will take less time, owing to the fact that it at least had the decency not to replace somepony and not to pretend that it acted differently normally. Since the Changeling chose not to tell the truth about what it really was (no matter if it was impersonating or itself), and instead maintained its disguise, the ponies will take even longer to trust it than if it just dropped its disguise one day to apologize and tell the truth, or if it had just not pretended from the start, earning it more trust. While it may take a while for the ponies to adjust to having a Changeling in their midst, it is the easiest and kindest way to feed once the ponies accept it.

Continuing again~

whitefire • 3 June 2013 at 10:31 AM

@Ems
I'll get to what you want to know soon. ^^"

Another method is to feed off of a pony or ponies indirectly. This is done similarly to how the dementors in the Harry Potter series drain their victims of emotion, but the ponies don't really feel it. The Changeling senses the love of the ponies around it for each other or their town, and draws some of it into itself, giving it energy. This is another risky method, as the Changeling risks being discovered and accused of "spying," which could land it in jail, thus negating the effects of the love it drew in with the sorrow, pain, and irritation of the inmates in the prison, as those emotions cause the Changelings suffering.
As a last resort, yes, Changelings can eat. If a Changeling is starving and cannot reach a source of love, they can take in food. However, since typically Changelings can't starve around ponies, they are typically lost in the wild when this happens. This leaves mainly two options for sustenance: vegetation, berries, and (don't you dare say this is gross or disgusting; you eat it too [I'm vegetarian, so not me!]) other living beings. This is the reason for their fangs.

Continuing AGAIN!

flareice • 3 June 2013 at 10:52 AM

@Ems
Did that explain it so far? I'm going to continue this still, though. Sorry this is taking a while; my adorable kitty cat keeps insisting that I pet her.

They need their fangs to rip their prey for eating. The reason, for the most part, why they eat emoting beings more often than vegetation, is because only emoting beings can love. Similarly to humans with fruits and vegetables, the higher the amount of love the Changeling can absorb from the substenance, the more energy they acquire. For example, if I, as a human, ate potato chips, I would not benifit from themas much as if I ate veggie chips instead, the reason for this being that the veggie chips have a higher veggie content than the potato chips. They're still not as healthy as if I ate raw spinach instead, but they have a higher benifit than the potato chips. A Changeling can feed off of regular food for its whole life, as could a human feed off of potato chips and soda, but the Changeling would not be as healthy as if it had absorbed pure love and would probably become severely bloated and depressed, as would the human who lived on chips and soda. D'you get?
And like dementors, by the way, Changelings can feed off of almost any positive emotion, although love is the best.

This is just how I understand Changeling feeding and stuff, but I think we should all follow this set of rules so that nobody gets confused.

@Featherstar_StormClan
@Hay7199
Guys, read this post and the three above it, please!

ems • 3 June 2013 at 11:04 AM

@whitefire Woah. XD Thanks dude, I get it now. ^^
--

Shadow could definitely sense that this filly was just full of positive emotions, the greatest by far being love. She loved her family, friends, neighbors... Shadow smiled. "I'm Sunrise." The filly bounced again, and Shadow noticed she had wings. Another pegasus. "I'll see you around." Shadow trotted off, terrified of revealing herself. It would be the worst way to feed, Queen Chrysalis had told her so. And though on the outside she acted with emotion, the inside remained just as cold and calculating as before. Except... Surprise and fear. Hm.

whitefire • 3 June 2013 at 11:25 AM

@Ems
She won't know it's the best method yet; Chrysalis would have told them that revealing themselves would be the absolute WORST way of feeding. They have to try different things on their own.
@Featherstar_StormClan
@Hay7199

The Changeling sighed as he realized that, as a unicorn, he would be able to teleport. And so he did just that, incidentally landing straight in front of a black pegasus. Surprised, he leapt backwards and smashed into a wall.
"Ow," he muttered.

The Changeling alighted atop a building and folded her feathered wings lightly. Not far below her, as she stood upon a short building, she watched a deep gray unicorn leap back into a wall, evidentally surprised at the black pegasus filly who stood in front of him.

I drew Umbraticum!
http://www.sumo.fm/#image/id=2217553

ems • 3 June 2013 at 11:35 AM

@whitefire Cool. XD Oh oops... Lemme edit real quick. ^^"
Sorry for not pinging, in a rush.
--

Shadow took a quick step back, startled. She couldn't sense much love from this pony. Could he be a Changling as well? "Hi there!" She squeaked, hoping that he couldn't see through he disguise. He was a unicorn, after all.

whitefire • 3 June 2013 at 11:48 AM

@Ems
Okay! It's fine ^w^
@Hay7199
@Featherstar_StormClan

The Changeling cocked an eyebrow at the pegasus's high tone of voice. The only emotions he could sense coming from this pony were surprise... and fear. For some reason she seemed terrified of something... him?
"Hello," he replied in a calm voice, though he was on an edge with nerves and worry: could this strange filly possibly know what he was?
He fought down panic as he desperately thought of other reasons why the filly would be afraid of him: perhaps she was frightened because he had appeared out of thin air.
'Yeah. Yeah, that's it. How many ponies just pop out of nowhere and ram into a wall?' he thought. How stupid of him to think she knew he was a Changeling.