Philia peeked out from behind the bush, staring in wonder at the colts and fillies on the playground a few yards away. They all looked so…happy. He wanted to be their friend. It would certainly be better than living with Mom and her scary friends.
 
As if on cue, Philia was yanked down by his mother’s magical grasp.
 
“Philia Agape Armet! What in Equestria do you think you are doing? Somepony might see you,” Chrysalis scowled down at the colt, her green eyes glowing with anger.
 
“But I wanna play with them!” Philia protested. “You said I’d get to! When can we stop hiding?”
 
Chrysalis suddenly dropped him to the ground and turned away, swishing at him with her tail.
 
“Once you can perfect your disguises and blend in with those worthless, disgusting creatures out there, then you can go play with them. Why don’t we try it now? I’ll demonstrate first.”
 
A flash of green ran over her body and suddenly, she was a lavender unicorn with purple eyes and a bishaded purple mane, a mare known as Amethyst Star. The “mother” of the pony Phil would disguise himself as.
 
“Now you try,” she said in a voice unlike her own.
 
Philia’s horn sparked as he mustered up as much energy as his little body could, a flash of blue running over his own body. He looked a lot like himself, but with blue hair and no changeling traits.
 
“Like this?”
 
“Amethyst Star” rolled her eyes. “I suppose, it’s pathetic. Suits you. Now, lets get going. You have a lot foals to find fo—to socialize with!”
 
And with that, Chrysalis pushed him out the door to their temporary hideaway, trotting out in front of him with her snout held high.
 
As soon as his mother let him go, the colt galloped excitedly into the playground. He hardly paid attention to anything but his own glee, especially not his surroundings. He barely noticed the lilac purple filly in his path before slamming into her.
 
“Oh! Hello!” The filly giggled, seemingly not minding at all that Philia had bumped into her. Instead of being upset, she simply grabbed his hooves to help him up. “Are you alright?”
 
“Oh, um…” Philia was taken aback. He was meeting a real live pony! He’d always wanted to be friends with them but he had no idea how to talk to them. So he tried to remember everything his mom taught him about blending in.
 
“Hello! My name’s…Smokey Fog! What’s yours?”
 
“My name’s Swan Lake! How come you dont have a cutie mark yet? Do you wanna go play?” The perky filly asked.
 
“I, uh…haven’t gotten it yet,” Philia brushed his flank with his tail. He didn’t have the magic in him to make a cutie mark for his disguise yet. “Yeah, I wanna go play!”
 

 
After a few hours of playing, Swan and “Smokey” found that they had so much more in common than any foal either had met before. Well, easy for Phil to say since he hadn’t met one before. But to his surprise and delight, she invited him home where they could play even after the park closed up!
 
“Do you have any games you’d like to play, Smokey?” She asked once they’d entered her home.
 
Philia thought for a moment. He actually had a friend to play with! But what did he want to play? He wasn’t sure, he’d never played before.
 
“We’ll play whatever you want!”
 
“I have an idea!” Swan chimed in. She signaled that she’d be right back and soon returned with a box of rubber bands and a loom.
 
“Watch this!”
 
Over the span of a few minutes, she used her teeth to weave a friendship bracelet made of rubber bands. It was orange and pink and filled with pretty colors just like her!
 
“Now you try!”
 
Little did either of them know, Chrysalis got suspicious of where Swan was taking her son and followed behind them to spy. She watched as the filly slid the bracelet on her son’s arm, licking her lips.
 
She wouldn’t be hungry for long.