The Adventures of Pat the Changeling
"Thank you, Diamond Tiara, for that uh… enlightening presentation," Cheerilee said as her student, Diamond Tiara, wrestled with her cat Dazzle to get him back into his carrying case. "Now then, next up is… Pat." Cheerilee looked over to the back of the class, where the changeling sat on the back row climbed out of his seat with a small box in his green magical aura. All eyes followed him as he passed by Diamond Tiara and Dazzle on the way to the front of the class.
As Pat reached the front of the class, there was a silence for several seconds as the changeling stared awkwardly back at the class. Cheerilee cleared her throat, and Pat used his magic to open his box, revealing its contents to the class. The foals all gasped and screamed, and some almost lost their lunches, when they found the skeletal remains of a small lizard inside of the box.
"This is the first thing I ever killed when I became old enough to hunt," Pat explained, looking down on his prize with a prideful smile. "My daddy is crippled so unlike the other kids, I had to catch this myself. He was so proud that he let me eat ice-cream for dinner, and then my mommy scolded us and I got an upset tummy." Pat looked up and found most of the foals looking green and covering their mouths or gagging. "Yeah, like that!"
Cheerilee wasn't faring too well herself. She reached over to her glass of water and took a long chug, downing it in one go. "T-Thank you, Pat," she said in a scratchy voice.
"Oh, I could show you how I caught it, if you want," Pat offered. "I just need a lizard and-"
"N-No, that won't be necessary!" Cheerilee scribbled onto the paper on her desk. "You've already got an A! No need for anymore!"
Pat smiled and closed his box, trotting merrily back to his seat. As he sat down, he placed the box down to the side of his desk and heard screeching noises around him. Looking around, it seemed that the foals neighbouring him had gotten further away. '… Was it something I said?'
THE ADVENTURES OF PAT THE CHANGELING
Meet Pat the changeling! As part of Equestria's attempts to make peace with the changelings, several programmes were introduced to help the two countries better understand each other and their customs. One of those programmes was a student exchange in Ponyville. One student from Ponyville and one student from the Changeling Kingdom traded places, and two months later the two will return to their own countries. Pat the changeling was selected as the representative from the Changeling Kingdom. And as for the lucky student from Ponyville…
THE ADVENTURES OF PAT THE CHANGELING
"How is the new student coming along?"
The changeling teacher, Ms. Polly Morph, adjusted her glasses and hummed nervously under her breath. "Well, she's adjusting well to her new surroundings, Your Majesty."
"And the other pupils?"
"They're getting along just fine with the pony. In fact…"
Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"
"This pony is… She seems to love unconditionally, meaning that she's able to give the students plenty of energy. I've never seen them so active. I just wish she could love them a little bit less…"
"How do you mean?" The teacher stepped aside and welcomed the queen to look into the classroom behind her. Queen Chrysalis accepted the invitation and opened the door. Inside, the class was divided. Half of the students were running around playing tag or throwing paper areoplanes, whilst the other half were lined up in front of the filly, receiving hugs one-by-one. The filly, Dinky Doo, squeezed the next changeling in the line, and the changelings horn illuminated the area before her bolted off to join his friends.
As Queen Chrysalis got close, she could feel the intense love that the filly was giving off and felt her own wings buzzing in response. "So, you are the new student from Equestria."
Dinky Doo looked up and smiled brightly at the queen. "Yeah!" she answered in a cheerful voice.
"You seem to be getting along with everyone quite well."
"Mhm! Mommy says that friendship is like rays of sunshine on the heart, and that it should be shared to everyone!"
Queen Chrysalis' eyes widened and she clutched her heart. Her horn sparked and she closed her eyes to calm herself down. "Nng!"
"Your Majesty, are you alright?" Ms. Polly Morph asked.
"I'm fine," Chrysalis responded, pulling the teacher aside and lowering her voice. "This filly is incredible! No wonder Equestria is as powerful as it is! We must kidnap this filly and have her power our army at once!"
"But Your Majesty, surely Equestria has an entire army of foals like this at their disposal. We couldn't possibly win with just one."
Queen Chrysalis was silent as she considered the teacher's response. "You're right. Okay then. We'll ally ourselves with Equestria, and then steal all of their foals! Then we shall have an unstoppable army with which to conquer the entire world!"
"Brilliant plan as always, Your Majesty!" the teacher said as she clapped her hooves.
"Of course it is. That's why I had it."
Queen Chrysalis felt a tug on her tail and turned around to find Dinky Doo standing behind her, holding a piece of paper in her magic. The filly turned the paper around to reveal a crayon drawing of herself and the queen, holding hooves together under a rainbow and a smiling sun. "I made this for you, Queen Chrysalis! Thank you for having me in your kingdom!"
The teacher and the Queen bother clutched their hearts in unison and Chrysalis clenched her teeth together as she willed her wings and her horn to calm down. "Y-Your Majesty, maybe we are meddling with forces beyond our control."
"Indeed. This is not an opponent to take lightly."
Dinky Doo tilted her head to the side with a confused look on her face, before simply shrugging and skipping away to join her new friends in making paper snowflakes.
THE ADVENTURES OF PAT THE CHANGELING
Cheerilee enjoyed watching the student playing in the schoolyard during playtime, though she had to admit that she felt a little envious. She remembered when she herself was a filly, completely oblivious to the troubles of the world and pretending that she was a magical princess in charge of her own kingdom populated by stuffed animals. She giggled to herself, until she spotted a lone changeling sitting on the ground, sniffing as tears rolled down his cheeks.
"Pat?" she called out as she approached, catching the changeling's attention. She noticed he was holding his left hoof with his right one and figured out pretty much what had happened. "Are you okay?" No response came, as expected. "Did you trip and hurt yourself?" The changeling nodded his head in silence. "Would you like me to take a look?" The changeling nodded his head again, but didn't budge until Cheerilee and kneeled down his level and gently tapped his foreleg. He removed his right hoof, revealing a small cut with green liquid oozing out of it on his left one.
Cheerilee paused for a moment, before cautiously reaching out and holding his injured hoof. As her own hoof came into contact with the green liquid, it began to sizzle and her eyes slowly began to widen. "… AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
All eyes on the schoolyard, and just outside of the school, turned to the teacher as she ran around in circles, screaming at the top of her lungs as she waved her hoof around into the air. She soon began to demand water, and Pat finally returned his attention back to his injury. With a final sniffle, he brought his hoof up to his mouth and gave it a gentle lick, before slowly standing up, keeping his left forehoof suspended in the air.
THE ADVENTURES OF PAT THE CHANGELING
Weddings were rare in the Changeling Kingdom. With as many enemies as they had, the country was constantly fighting and so marriage ceremonies had to be cheap and short. Pat's only experience with weddings was clapping his hooves whenever two changelings declared that they had just signed the marriage contract.
The marriage experience in Ponyville was noticeably different, with flowers, cake, an entire audience, vows, and of course, the kiss that filled the entire room with enough love to feed an entire youngling colony for a couple of days.
The only thing he didn't understand were why the many foals in his class were sharing one seat when there were plenty available for them. They didn't share one seat in the classroom so this behaviour was quite odd to him. Still, he wanted to fit in, so he tried to join them, but the foals all ran away as soon as he tried to get close to them.
Lowering his head with a frown, Pat wondered why he still hadn't made any friends despite having been there for an entire week. 'I don't get it. I had no trouble making friends when I showed everyone the size of the lizards I killed, but the foals here just keep running away.'
Pat wanted to confide in his mother, but there was a problem as she was not there, so instead she walked over to where Cheerilee was chatting with some other ponies and stood beside her. The kind, gentle teacher was the closest thing Pat had to a mother in this town, and just being near her made him feel better whenever he was down.
He just wished he hadn't called her 'Mommy' in class the other day. His face turned red and he slowly began to back away, deciding he was getting too close to his teacher. 'Maybe that's why the others don't wanna play with me.'
THE ADVENTURES OF PAT THE CHANGELING
Not every foals was afraid of Pat, though. There were a few that were willing to open up to him and let him into their lives. There were those like the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who could see that the lonely visitor needed a friend, and made him an honorary member of their club. They had even prepared him a cape made out of a special fabric that wouldn't tear whenever he transformed.
"This is for the win!" Sweetie Belle declared, holding a stick as though it were a microphone as she threw her right hoof into the air. "Both competitors are neck-and-neck! Who will take the gold?! Will it be the reigning champion Apple Bloom? Or the new wonder from afar, Pat the changeling?!"
"Ye're goin' down!" Apple Bloom declared, closing one eye as she studied the rod in the sandpit ahead of her. She picked the horseshoe beside her up in her mouth and threw it. It hooked around the rod, and Scootaloo cheered loudly behind the fillies.
"And it's a perfect score!" Sweetie Belle declared. "Pat'll need to match it to stay in the game!"
Pat gulped, and picked up his own horseshoe in his magic. He threw it, and it seemed to be good… but as it hit the rod, it went just a little too far and fell just a little past Apple Bloom's.
"And it's over! The winner: Apple Bloom!"
The three fillies cheered and high-hooved, whilst Pat simply clapped and congratulated his opponent. It was indeed a fierce battle, and even though he didn't win, he enjoyed playing such games with his new friends.
"And now…" The three fillies turned to Pat with evil glints in their eyes, and the clapping stopped. "The loser's penalty is…"
Pat took a step back as the three fillies took out several makeup kits and some DIY toolboxes. He did not enjoy this part.
"MAKEOVERRRRRRS!"
Pat turned and ran, the fillies tackling him from behind and laughing menacingly as he struggled to break free. "NYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
THE ADVENTURES OF PAT THE CHANGELING
Meanwhile, some ponies had befriended Pat for… different reasons.
Pat transformed himself into a perfect mirror image of Diamond Tiara, and stood perfectly still as the genuine article dressed him in a frilly pink saddle and then stood back to scrutinise. "What d'you think, Silver?"
Silver Spoon tapped a hoof to her chin and hummed in thought. "I think the purple one will work better."
"You think?" Diamond Tiara removed the saddle and replaced it with an identical one that was purple instead of pink. "Hmm… Do a twirl."
Pat obliged, twirling on the spot. Silver Spoon clapped her hooves together and nodded with a smile. "Yep! The purple one for sure!"
"Well, if you say so. I'll trust your word." Diamond Tiara took the saddle off and then held up blue dress with flower decorations. "This one next, Pat!" Pat sighed, but took the dress in his magic regardless and put it on. "I think I saw a cute manepin that'd go with this! Hang on one second!" Diamond Tiara ran out of the changing room and back into the store.
Silver Spoon stared at the changeling, disguised as Diamond Tiara, wearing the pretty blue cute flower decorations. She took out a camera and said, "Smile." Pat smiled, before being blinded by a flash of light as the shutter clicked. Silver Spoon chuckled and put the camera away. "And that's another one for the collection…"
"In my country, stalking ponies is taught when changelings enter middle school."
"Hmph! How rude! I'm not a stalker," Silver Spoon responded, fiddling with her braid as she blushed. "I'm just romantic. I'm waiting for her to make the first move."
"I always feel full when you two are together," he said. "I can tell you really like her."
"Ohhh, stoooop," Silver Spoon giggled, her face resembling a tomato.
"It's the same feeling I get whenever Diamond Tiara talks to Apple Bloom."
Silver Spoon stopped giggling, and her face returned to its original colour. A deadly silence fell between the two, shattered when Silver Spoon, in a cold, harsh tone, asked, "What?"
"And then I get that feeling when Apple Bloom talks to Scootaloo, and when Scootaloo talks to Sweetie Belle, and then also when Sweetie Belle looks at you in class while she nibbles her pen."
Silver Spoon's eyes widened. "What?!"
"What are you yelling about?" Diamond Tiara asked as she re-entered the changing room.
"We were talking about-"
"Nothing!" Silver Spoon interjected, cutting off the changeling with a harsh glare. "And we will never bring it up ever again, right?!"
Pat nodded his head slowly, sweat dripping down his face.
Diamond Tiara simply shrugged and approached Pat, affixing the manepin to him. "Oh hey, how about after this we go to Sweet Apple Acres and see what those losers are up to?"
Silver Spoon narrowed her eyes. "No." Diamond Tiara turned her head and was about to say something. "No." Diamond Tiara simply nodded and resumed her work.
Pat noticed that the love inside that room had vanished, replaced entirely with a tension so thick it threatened to strangle him.
THE ADVENTURES OF PAT THE CHANGELING
Fluttershy sang as she poured the chicken feed into the troughs of her henhouses. She put the bag down and tapped the sides of one of the houses gently. "Lunchtime! Come out and eat before it's all gone!"
A grey pegasus pony stuck her head out, startling Fluttershy, before she crawled out and started to walk away.
"Um, Derpy, could you please stop entering the hen… houses…" Derpy Hooves seemed to have not heard a word as she walked away blissfully back towards the town. "Um, o-okay then. Have a nice day…"
"Excuse me." Fluttershy turned around and gasped as she found the changeling Pat standing before her, dressed in a filly scouts uniform with a wagon on cookies behind him. "I'm selling cookies for charity. Would you like to buy a box or two or three or four or-"
"Um… a-aren't you a colt? S-Sorry if I'm mistaken! I just though that-"
"Yeah, I am," Pat said.
"W-Well, the filly scouts is a group for… fillies, so…"
There was an awkward silence between the two, as Pat's face grew progressively redder. "No wonder everypony looked at me funny…" he mumbled. He was surrounded by green flames, and when they disappeared, he had assumed the form of Sweetie Belle. "Is this better?"
Fluttershy smiled awkwardly and nodded her head. "Um, I-I'll take… one box, please."
THE ADVENTURES OF PAT THE CHANGELING
"Sweetie Belle! There you are!"
Pat looked to his side to find a walking marshmallow moving towards him. Only it wasn't a marshmallow; it was Sweetie Belle's older sister, Rarity. "Where have you been?! You know that we are supposed to go shopping for our parents' anniversary present today!"
"I-"
"And is that a filly scouts uniform? When did you join the filly scouts?"
"Y-"
"Oh, never mind that! Come now, before the store closes!" Rarity grabbed 'Sweetie Belle' by the ear with her magic and dragged her through the town.
"I'm not-"
"I know, I know! You're uncomfortable picking out presents, but that is why we're doing this together!"
"But you-"
"Don't worry, I will cover your half of the purchase, Sweetie Belle."
"…" Pat removed his transformation, returning to his original form. "I'm not Sweetie Belle."
Rarity skidded to a halt. She turned around quickly, freezing up as she noticed her magical aura around the ear of a changeling. He waved nervously to her, and Rarity jumped back with a start. "OH! I-I mean, oh, Pat! I-It's you!" Rarity quickly cancelled her magic and took a few cautious step backs. "T-Terribly sorry about all of that! Please do go on about your day!"
"Sweetie Belle is with her friends at the farm," Pat explained.
"Is that so? Well, thank you… Pat…" Rarity slowly turned around… and then sprinted down the street. Pat sighed as he turned around to return to his task.
THE ADVENTURES OF PAT THE CHANGELING
Natural disasters were common in the Changeling Kingdom. Queen Chrysalis had specifically settled on a land plagued with hurricanes and earthquakes, as it repelled enemy nations, and then devised spells to protect her subjects.
It seemed that Equestria was in a similar boat. The country seemed to have been founded where it would be attacked by monsters on a weekly basis, with guardians to protect it from harm.
The first couple of weeks that Pat had been there, he was terrified of these random attacks. Now, however, he was content to just sip his juice as he watched from the park bench whilst Princess Twilight Sparkle blasted the beast with powerful beams of magic and Rainbow Dash kicked it with rainbow kicks of justice.
Pat turned to his side when he heard the sounds of laughter. There were three foals playing together in the distance – Ruby Pinch, Shady Daze, and Pipsqueak were their names. He watched as they circled around each other and laughing, until they stopped and looked over to Pat. The laughter died down, and so did the fun, it seemed.
Pat lowered his head. His juicebox was empty, so he discarded the carton into the bin beside him and slowly slid off of the bench. "Hey," a voice called out beside him. It was Berry Pinch, and the two colts were there, too. "Wanna come play with us?"
Pat blinked and looked at the three in surprise. They had actually wanted to play with him? They seemed to afraid of the changeling just one week earlier, but now they actually wanted him to be their friend?
With a smile, Pat nodded his head, and then Berry Pinch poke his foreleg. "Tag! You're it!"
The three foals ran away laughing, and Pat gave chase.
THE ADVENTURES OF PAT THE CHANGELING
Twilight stopped fighting for a brief moment as she watched the children in the distance playing together in joy and laughter, and a warm smile crossed her face. "Maybe ponies and changelings can learn to live together," she said to herself as she extended her magically-enhanced hoof to kick the giant flying fox monster in the face as it lunged towards her.
She wiped a tear from her eyes as the ponies and the changeling gathered together in a group hug. "Maybe it's time to stop the violence and extend our love, instead." Twilight turned back to the monster beside her and fired an intense magical spell, pushing it hard into the ground.
THE ADVENTURES OF PAT THE CHANGELING
The day finally came for Pat to return to the Changeling Kingdom. His escorts were all ready to go, but Pat was not. Even though his bags were packed, he had reservations about leaving all of his new friends behind. The Cutie Mark Crusaders, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, Berry Pinch, Shady Daze, Pipsqueak, Snips and Snails, and his teacher, Cheerilee.
"We're gonna miss you, Pat!" Apple Bloom cried as she gave Pat one final parting hug, Sweetie Belle joining her and forcing Scootaloo to join in as well.
"Write to us when you get home!" Sweetie Belle said.
"But we don't have a postal service," Pat told her. "And I can't write Equestrianeese very well."
"It feels like just yesterday you had just come to our school," Cheerilee said, wiping her tears away with a hoofkerchief. "Oh, how time flies!"
Berry Punch rolled her eyes as she pulled Cheerilee aside. "Honestly. She gets like this every time a student leaves…"
"Hey!" Diamond Tiara shouted. "You'd better spread some fashion sense to those other changelings when you get back!"
"But you only showed me dresses and girly saddles," Pat moaned. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to face Berry Pinch, whose face was a mess of red and tears. He face was scrunched up and her hooves were shaking. "Uhh…" Pat was interrupted from saying anything as the filly gave him a quick peck on the lips, before running off as fast as her little hooves would take her.
Everypony around was taken aback by the sudden action. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle wasted no time cheering Pat on and congratulating him on his 'new fillyfriend', whilst Scootaloo joined the colts in groaning and gagging at the disgusting act of 'cootie transfer'. Pat was simply frozen solid, unable to formulate any words whatsoever.
"Well, if you are done breaking our ambassador, we must be taking him back now," the male changeling guardian, Raijin, picking Pat up and carrying him on his back.
The female guardian, Fujin, picked up Pat's bag, which suddenly exploded into confetti as a pink pony jumped out and landed in her hooves. "Surprise!"
"W-What?!" Fujin cried, dropping the pink pony onto the ground with a start.
Pat's ear twitched and he looked over Raijin's head to find a cake being shoved into his face. "Surprise!" Pinkie Pie repeated as she appeared behind Pat, also sitting on Raijin's back. "I heard you were leaving today, so I wanted to make you a cake for your loooooooooooooong journey back to the Changeling Kingdom!"
Pat gasped and smiled widely. "Really?! Thank you!"
"And hey! While I'm here, would you mind answering a quick survey on how fun your visit to Ponyville has been?" Pat nodded his head whilst Fujin begrudgingly carried the cake onto her back. "Great! Question one: how fun was your stay on a scale from one to ten?"
"Ten!"
"Thank you!" Pinkie Pie hopped down and skipped along her merry way, humming a tune as she moved.
"Well then," Raijin said as he and Fujin prepared to move out, "Say your last goodbye to your friends, kid."
Pat nodded, and turned back to all of his gathered friends, minus on Berry Pinch. With a tear rolling down his face, Pat waved his hoof. "Goodbye, everypony!"
"Goodbye, Pat!" everypony responded as the three changelings left Ponyville.
And so ends the story of Pat the changeling, the little changeling who, together with the friends that he had made in Ponyville, forever altered the course of pony-changeling relationships for years to come. But that is a story for another time.
Author's Note
So to me, the episode really only had two flaws:
1) The princesses yet again neglecting their duties (this has really become a pet peeve of mine, since it happens WAY more often than it should).
2) The random changeling that had no explanation as to why/how it was there. If they intend to use it again later, with some backstory, then fine, but just in this episode alone, they really could've done with a minute or two to establish why it was there in Ponyville.
Because I already wrote a fic about 1), I decided to go ahead and write a fic about 2) 
