Rocky Road

[Pacifist]

The land of Equestria has something of a natural beauty one as myself could never truly appreciate. I was a bug that was more fond of urban and suburban areas, not huge on wide open spaces. Perhaps this is due to the enclosed nature of the hive where I grew up. I wasn't terribly fond of... Well, much of anything. The other changelings were kind of rude, the Queen was a bit of a bitch, I was hungry pretty much all the time. So, I left for the land of ponies.

The first major thing I noticed was how colorful it was. Never truly cared for it, to be honest. Far too garish at times. But, as long as I was disguised, they were fairly friendly. My first disguise, Finite Hour, was unassuming and easygoing. I'd get odd jobs, be friendly-ish to the locals, and the scraps of love they threw my way was enough to get by. I quickly found that my odd sense of humor seemed to work wonders in this regard.

When I heard one day of a 'Crystal Empire' with some sort of powerful love-powered artifact, of course I had to check it out. The place was... Even more garish than ponyland, with everything so shiny. And I loved it. The ponies were made of shiny! I quickly adapted the shininess to my new disguise, Obsidian Hour.

Unfortunately, that Crystal Heart was a bit to strong for my tastes. I didn't want to lose myself, so I ended up moving back to Equestria, deciding to stay around in some small town called Ponyville. A small town with a bigflank crystal castle for some reason? Honestly it stuck out, but I was able to get a job at a pizza shop and get by fairly well once again, even getting to stay in a room above the shop this time.

And then, I met Her.

Dull gray fur, dull violet mane and tail, and those eyes... *Those eyes*...
She was so fascinating, so very different than every pony I had previously met. And her name was Maud Pie. She seemed to like my sense of humor, I think, it was hard to tell. We got along well.

And things went from there. Despite all that the Queen tried to drill into our heads, I could not help but fall in love with her, and going by the strong emotions I was feeling from her, it might very well be mutual.
We started to hang out more, then we went on a date, and we've been together ever since. She took me to the cave where she lived (much nicer pad than you'd think), and we cuddled. So much cuddling. So much love. I never felt so full of love! Eventually, I decided it was time to reveal my true self to her.
I was so happy when she accepted me for who I was, bug and all.

And so she kept my secret, even from her sister. Turns out her sister is one of those Elements of Harmony, go figure. Just my luck.

Then I heard about the Queen trying to invade again, being thwarted by ponies I have never heard of, and that the Changelings all changed form and had a new leader. Curious, I decided to go check them out, and sure enough, they looked... Well, garish, but happy. So, I let them transform me into the form you see now. Well, I wasn't shiny like this, but a bit of transformation added the effect. I just like being shiny, you see?

So I went back to Ponyville, shedding my disguise altogether so I can make myself known as Obisdian Chitin, resident Changeling. Ponies are really accepting, you know? Well, most of them, enough of them. I get the feeling you know that yourself, because that's how I met you, Tempest. You told me the story yourself; After all that "Storm King" business, you didn't know what to do with yourself. You wanted to prove to the world that you were a new mare, but you weren't sure how you wanted to do that. Part of you wanted to travel Equestria, finding yourself as you spread the news of the defeat of the Storm King as well as the values of Friendship. But part of you wanted to protect Equestria against another such attack, and become part of the Guard. You even flipped a coin.

And, well, we both know how that went, Ms. Captain of the Friendship Guard? Even playing security for that new school Twilight opened. And then you met me, and...

I'm so lucky, Tempest. I'm so lucky to have you and Maud in my life. I love you both so much.