Thrown Abroad

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 4

Chapter 1

The changeling hive was dark, wet and smelly.

A single changeling hesitantly trotted through it, having just been called by his queen for a reason he didn’t know. All he knew was that it was urgent.

It probably had something to do with the failed attempt at taking over Equestria just a few days prior. His flank still hurt from being thrown out by that love-shield-thing. Luckily, it hadn’t taken the changelings long to regroup after that, but the damage was already done.

He scurried on to the throne room where Queen Chrysalis sat. She didn’t look very pleased.

“Ah, you must be number 37 of the royal guard,” the queen said, more a statement than a question.

Changelings didn’t have names; they merely had a number and an occupation. He was number 37 of the queen’s royal guard, the very last number. Coincidentally, he was also ranked number 37.

He nodded meekly. “Yes, my queen.”

“Do you know why I called you here?” Queen Chrysalis stood up from her throne, which looked more like a glorified pile of rocks to the little changeling, and paced about.

“No, my queen.”

“It’s because you’re to blame for our failure in Canterlot,” she stated matter-of-factly.

He was silent for a few seconds. “Huh?” he sputtered out. “B-but, I was on guard, the only ponies I let through were those six Element-y types, and you told us they weren’t worth bothering!”

“Exactly. One of them helped the pink princess, one of those foalish lovebirds, escape, and you didn’t do anything about it. What do you have to say for yourself?” The Queen stopped pacing about and cast a short glance at him.

He was cowering like a little hatchling; being called by the queen herself because you made a mistake meant you were going to get some severe punishment. Even if it wasn’t your fault. You didn’t even do anything, he thought, it’s your fault as well. He was about to voice his thoughts, but reminded himself that Queen Chrysalis probably had enough power to flatten him like a pancake. Or worse. “I didn’t... I mean, I was just... uh.” He tried fumbling his way to a presentable excuse, but he couldn’t come up with anything.

The tall and slender queen raised a brow. “Nothing?” She raised a hoof and cast a bored look through its holes. “Then I suppose you will require punishment.”

The changeling flinched, but didn’t say anything.

She sat down on her throne again. “For disrupting our efforts to take over Equestria, and thus taking away a great source of nourishment for the entire hive, you are hereby banished.” She stated shortly.

“Banished?!” He cried out. “That’s...” he wanted to say impossible, but being the queen of all changelings, she probably had the power to throw him out of the hive. Figuratively or literally. “I’m sorry! It wasn’t my fault! I’ll do better next time, I promise, just please give me another chance!”

The queen tsked. “A traitor, reduced to pleading? How sad. Any last words before you leave?”

He sat frozen. He couldn’t think of anything. Nor did he particularly want to move from that spot.

“Very well then, I’ll throw you out myself.”

Before he could react, he was picked up in queen Chrysalis’ magical grip, and hoisted out of the cave. On the way out, several changelings stared at him, some waved at him and some snickered.

As he was levitated out of the hive, he pondered what he would do. He didn’t have the foggiest idea. After he got set down, he’d probably find some place nearby the hive to live, in case they wanted him back.

However, that plan was cut short, as for the second time in a few days, he was flung through the air, towards an unknown destination. Apparently, the queen wanted him far away.

Very, very far away, he noticed as he hurtled through the sky. He saw a forest pass by below him, followed by some grasslands, then a village, a lake and so on. He was vaguely aware of some loud noise.

Oh yeah, he was screaming. That sort of happened when involuntarily flying at high speeds, he remembered.

After a while, he had to stop screaming, in part because he was out of breath, in part because his throat was becoming as dry as sandpaper. Luckily, he had started to slow down and lose altitude a bit.

Well, that was depending on his definition of lucky; he was still going pretty fast, and he saw some mountains coming up in the distance. He hoped fervently that he wouldn’t hit them. High-speed projectiles and hard walls didn’t mix very well.

He was getting closer to the ground now. He seemed to be heading straight for some wild-looking forest, which seemed excellent. There were enough trees and bushes to cushion his fall, so he wouldn’t have too many injuries. He swore he could even see a small village nearby.

He was going at a fairly manageable speed now, and was within a hoof’s reach of the trees. He grabbed one, and with more whiplash than he would have liked, managed to get a branch through one of the holes in his hooves.

Sometimes, great changeling philosophers and biologists pondered the seemingly useless holes in the legs of changelings.

Now he knew; they were excellent for hanging onto branches. It was just too bad he didn’t have a way to let go of the branch.

He fidgeted around, but found he couldn’t dislodge the branch from his hoof. “Uh, someling help? I’m kind of stuck here,” he said to the empty forest while dangling from the branch.

There wasn’t a living thing in sight. Would there even be animals in a forest like this? Maybe there were predators. He panicked as he realized he probably shouldn’t have called out. There probably weren’t changelings around here. The only things that would come to this forest were fierce predators, who would see him as a tasty piñata, and ponies, who would see him as a piñata to take some sweet revenge on.

He swung himself about, trying to get his hoof off of the branch it was stuck on. As he stopped to catch his breath, he could hear a sound from above... A grumble? The beginning of a roar?

It sounded suspiciously like cracking wood. He cast a glance up and saw the branch breaking off right where he held onto it. “Oh, crud,” was all he managed to say before the branch broke, sending him hurtling through the air once more.

This time, however, it took him only a short time to reach safe ground, although not before he had managed to fall headfirst due to his flailing. He hit the ground with a hard thud, taking some dirt with him.

He dizzily stood up and stumbled about a bit, his eyes rolling in their sockets. He could see stars. Was it night? No, it was only morning. Maybe afternoon. Silly #37, there aren’t any stars during the day, he thought to himself. He shook the dizziness off him, and spat out the huge clump of dirt that had apparently collected in his mouth.

Surrounding him were trees, bushes, a few flowers, and other things that couldn’t talk, or feel, or communicate otherwise.

He let out a short sigh. “What am I going to do now?” Having few other options aside from ‘Sit here and starve’, he decided to walk in the direction of the little village he had seen. With some luck, he could find some unsuspecting pony couple to feed on.

He was, after all, a changeling. They only took love to survive, and they could eat other foods, but those wouldn’t satisfy. He remembered sneaking away a slice of cake at the royal wedding. It was delicious, even though it didn’t still his hunger.

He found himself thinking about the queen’s accusation. It couldn’t have been his fault that she failed in her plan to take over Equestria. While those ponies had been doing whatever it was that made them win, the queen had been busy gloating about her ‘victory’.

He snorted. Stupid ponies. Stupid wedding. Stupid queen. “We’ll defeat you with the power of love, because we’re namby-pamby ponies, whee!” he mused in a high-pitched voice. “How ridiculous,” he continued in a deeper, somewhat feminine voice, “I’m going to let you continue what you’re doing because I’m stupid.”

At least mocking those ponies and his queen-- ex-queen, he realized, since he was thrown out of the hive-- made him feel a little better.

It wasn’t long before he made it out of the forest. The walk had been easy and calm, but he certainly didn’t want to go through the same forest at night. Not that he was afraid of the dark or anything. He was an incredibly brave changeling, so what if he was a bit jumpy?

He had arrived at a stream of water at the edge of the forest. A little bit ahead was a bridge, and on the other side, lo and behold, a village.

“Excellent,” he muttered to himself, licking his lips. “Now I just need a disguise...”

Chapter 2

The changeling sat down and rubbed his front hooves together.

A disguise is simple. Think of one, use your innate changeling magic and presto, you looked like a pony. He did so, and peered into the river to check his appearance.

The ripples in the water distorted his reflection a little, but he could clearly see a black face with a horn, two large, bright blue eyes and two fangs.

He blinked a few times. “That isn’t what a pony looks like,” he noted, “that’s just my regular appearance.” Baffled, he tried again, only to receive the same outcome. “What’s going on? Changing is easy, I should be a-” he was rudely interrupted by a particular sound; the sound of a rumbling stomach. A very loudly rumbling stomach.

Oh. Of course. He hadn’t had any love to feed on for quite some time, and he didn’t have enough energy to disguise himself now. That complicated things a bit.

Time for plan B, then: sneak into the village and... He hadn’t actually figured out what to do once he got there. That would come later. For now, he had to improvise.

He crossed the bridge and saw a sign that said ‘Ponyville ahead’. Ponyville? What a lousy and ridiculous name, he thought. At least changeling hives had names like Hive #3.14 and Hive #07734. Much, much easier.

He came past a cottage that was made out of... a hill? A tree? It looked preposterous. A yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail was tending to some animals around the house, singing some awful song about pets or something. It was a horribly sweet-sounding song, but the changeling could sense the love the pegasus had for the animals she cared for. If he could change into an animal right now, it would've been easy pickings for a meal.

However, bothering the pegasus at this moment would be a bad idea, considering he still looked like a changeling. Who knew what her reaction would be? He didn’t get the feeling that this pony would attack him, though. He also got the feeling he should recognize her from somewhere, but he couldn’t remember from where. It probably wasn’t important.

Checking around the perimeter of the house, he found a basket with a large, tattered, light-grey cloth in it. It was probably a bed for an animal of some kind, but it probably wouldn’t mind if the changeling took the cloth. Might make a good cloak, if I can find something to secure it with.

“There, now don’t eat too fast, everypony,” he heard the pegasus say, although very softly, “if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to feed the little animals inside the house now, okay?”

The changeling decided to leave the house. He didn’t want to get caught, nor did he want to get closer to the source of that awful singing.

Further down the road, he reached an apple orchard named Sweet Apple Acres, surrounded by a long, white fence. The name ‘Sweet Apple Acres’ itself was already horrid enough to turn him away from it.

He was about to continue toward the village, but the sound of two talking ponies made him jump into a nearby bush. Silently, he watched the two.

One of them was a cyan pegasus with a messy, rainbow-colored mane-do and a pair of sunglasses on her muzzle. She was flying around another pony, an orange pony with a cowgirl hat on her blonde mane and small, red bands in her mane and tail. These two ponies seemed familiar to him, just like the pegasus he saw earlier.

“I tell you, Applejack, I betcha nopony has ever seen another pony do so many loops and corkscrews,” the cyan one arrogantly said, “but of course, nopony saw me, the awesome and amazing Rainbow Dash, this morning while I was practicing. Shame.”

The orange one, apparently named Applejack, rolled her eyes. “Ya say that every day, Rainbow,” she said in a thick country accent, “and besides, Ah don’t think anypony’s gonna be surprised with ya after that Sonic Rainboom o’ yers.”

Rainbow Dash landed, took off her sunglasses and put them on the fence. “Pfff, some day I’ll make a super cool trick that makes the Sonic Rainboom look like a simple loop-dee-loop.”

“Ya think ya can do better than breaking the sound barrier and creating a rainbow at the same time?” Applejack gave her a deadpan look.

“Of course! I just don’t know how to yet. But I bet I’m going to think of something so cool, it’ll blow your mind. Twice!” Rainbow Dash jumped up and started flying towards the orchard. “But what about that apple pie you said you’d treat me to?”

The orange mare rolled her eyes again. “If it ain’t flying, it’s food with ya.” She went ahead of Rainbow Dash. “Sure, let’s go.”

The changeling watched them as they went by. Whoever these two ponies were, they must be incredibly dumb. The Sonic Rainboom was no more than a story for little changeling grubs, and most importantly of all, impossible. These two ponies must have been friends with each other, which was a ridiculous notion to the changeling as well; you couldn’t just give the love that came with it to each other indefinitely. You’d run out sometime, have to leave the hive and your 'friend' to forage some love, and once you got back, you’d probably have forgotten who they were.

Then again, these were ponies and didn’t feed on love. Such a strange concept.

He noted that the pegasus had left her sunglasses on the fence, and took them for himself. He’d return it later. He wasn’t a thief!

Well, not in that way. He stole love, yes, but stealing stuff from others was a whole different deal. Changelings have standards, y’know? At least he could use these sunglasses to cover up his big blue eyes, so the ponies couldn’t see them.

Now I’m getting somewhere, he thought as he continued down the road. He had entered Ponyville a few houses back, and had to carefully make his way around. He hadn’t found anything useful yet, though.

He stumbled onto a round building, decorated in colors ranging from white to purple, with a sign saying Carousel Boutique out front.

As he looked inside through a window, he could see what was probably the most horrible, revolting, downright ugly thing he had ever seen. This abomination was all white, or at least a very pale shade of grey, and had a purple, curled mane and tail which probably took the pony far too long to groom every day.

To top it off, she was talking to another pony, a very small one — a foal, they called them? — with a curly pink and purple mane and tail. This little pony was looking quite dejected as the elder gave her some kind of lecture about fashion. He’d gotten bored after about five words and took a look around the room.

His eyes couldn’t help but wander off toward the two talking ponies, however. They were white. Oh, so very white. The ugliest color imaginable for changelings. Good-looking changelings were black, which was obviously the prettiest color. Then again, all changelings were black, but that was just a minor detail, because it pretty much guaranteed that all changelings were good-looking.

While the elder pony was still lecturing the younger, something about roughhousing with her friends, or some other nonsense, the changeling spotted a safety pin lying just under the window he was looking through. He silently pulled open the window, which he noted was far too easy. Didn’t ponies worry about burglars or anything?

He quickly slid his hoof through and picked up the safety pin, trying to make as little noise as possible. He sat down and looked at the things he had collected. Sunglasses, to cover up his eyes, and a cloak and safety pin, to hide the rest of his body from view. Sure, he didn’t have a mane and tail, but he could probably make up an excuse for that. Judging from what he’d seen, these ponies had the intelligence of a door, if you combined the whole village. Surely, they'd fall for anything he told them.

As he stood up, he rather loudly banged his head on the window he had opened.

“Huh? What was that?” He heard a voice say from inside. He jumped up and flew to the roof. As he peered down, he could see the pony with the purple curls in her mane looking outside the window.

“I don’t know, Sweetie Belle. It was probably a bug flying against the window,” she said.

“Must’ve been a really big bug then, Rarity,” he could hear the younger pony, apparently named Sweetie Belle, say from inside the building.

As Rarity pulled her head back inside, she closed the window. “It’s funny though, I don’t remember opening this window today,” he softly heard coming from inside, followed by a loud gasp. “You don’t think I’m becoming old, do you, Sweetie Belle?” She proceeded to continue into some sort of hysterical rant about how she was becoming old and ugly.

Not that she could get any uglier in the changeling’s eyes, but he wasn’t exactly willing to find out. He rolled his eyes and jumped from the roof, using his bug wings to land softly. He threw the cloak around his body, making sure everything was concealed, then used the safety pin to fasten it. After putting on the sunglasses, he checked his reflection in another window. He would have to keep his eyes halfway shut because the glasses didn’t cover all of his eyes, but at least he could see. Aside from that, he could now probably pass for a pony, albeit a somewhat creepy one.

Sadly, it was getting late, and he was rather sleepy, so he decided to head back towards the forest. He didn’t want to be seen sleeping on the street by some pony. They might check what he looks like, or worse, pity him. That would’ve been completely beneath him.

But tomorrow? Tomorrow, it was time to forage.

Chapter 3

Stealing love is very simple if you have a disguise.

The main problem, however, was that the changeling did not, in fact, have a disguise.

Well, he was wearing a cloak and sunglasses. However, it turns out that ponies do not often wear those things whilst going out in public, and his appearance, all wrapped up in a cloak to conceal his changeling body parts, and wearing sunglasses to hide his eyes, was somewhat abnormal.

What made it particularly difficult to gather love in this state was that he didn’t look remotely like any pony in Ponyville. That meant he couldn’t masquerade as any pony, and covertly steal love.

That meant he would have to forcefully steal it. Go up to a couple, use his changeling magic and take their love. With some luck, they might not even notice it.

Okay, a lot of luck. Suddenly having your love going into a different direction than you meant is quite noticeable.

Considering the stares and odd looks some of the ponies were giving him, this might actually be sort of difficult. To steal love, you had to be close, and to be close, ponies had to be not creeped out by you. Wearing a cloak that covers your whole body is sometimes considered creepy, and thus didn’t really provide the changeling an advantage.

The next problem was that there was a frightening lack of actual loving couples walking around outside. As he walked down one of the larger roads of the village, towards the market, he noticed a lot of ponies walking together, but none actually seemed like lovers. Most of the villagers were out in groups of friends, chatting about the weather or something equally boring, or doing their early-morning grocery shopping.

He paused for a moment. Maybe he had to change his plan around a bit. No couples around meant he might have to try a different area of the village. Maybe a park? Or possibly a res-

A sudden impact of what must have been a meteor threw that particular train of thought off track, and the changeling bounded backwards, landing in the debris of space rock that had hit him.

As he stood up, shaking off his dizziness and fixing his cloak, he checked what had crashed into him.

He could see three fillies, all of them in varying states of consciousness. One of them was a yellow earth pony with a red mane and a blue helmet, currently hanging out of a red cart that was attached to a scooter.

Another filly was a white unicorn with a pink and purple, curly mane, and wearing a green helmet. She was currently lying on the ground, propped up against the side of the cart. The changeling recalled that this must’ve been Sweetie Belle, the little pony he had seen the day before, in the... boutique. Yuck.

Yet another of the three was an orange pegasus with a soft purple mane and a dark purple helmet with white racing stripes. Her eyes were lolling about as she was draped over the scooter.

The three stood up and shook their heads to clear the dizziness, probably grateful they were wearing helmets, and regarded the pony they just hit.

“Ohmigosh we’re so sorry!” the white one blurted out.

“We are?” the apparently dumb orange pegasus asked.

“Well of course we are, ya kinda ran him over, Scootaloo,” the yellow filly told her.

The pegasus, apparently named Scootaloo, rubbed the back of her head. “Oh. Sorry.” She apologized with an awkward smile.

“You should’ve watched where you were going,” the changeling chided her.

“What’s wrong with your voice?” Scootaloo asked, almost immediately receiving a whack to the shoulder from the earth pony. “Ow! Apple Bloom, what’d you do that for?”

Oops. The changeling almost covered his mouth with a hoof, remembering just in time that it would botch his disguise. A changeling didn’t merely look like a bug, they sounded like one too; flapping their wings would create a sometimes annoying buzz, and their voices had a low buzz to them as well. It sounded entirely unlike a pony’s voice. “Uh, I have a sore throat. A really, really sore throat?” Okay, that was a terrible excuse, there’s no way they’ll-

“Oh, okay,” Scootaloo said, satisfied by the response. This pony must be especially dumb for a pony.

“Well then, we should be going again,” Sweetie Belle said, “we’re really sorry for running you over, mister...” she trailed off, realizing she didn’t know his name.

“Hey!” the earth pony, Apple Bloom, called out. “Are ya new in Ponyville?” she asked the changeling.

He hesitantly nodded in reply.

The three fillies looked at each other. “Maybe we could try bein’ New Pony Greeters,” Applebloom said.
The other fillies nodded their agreement, and the three yelled out, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER NEW PONY GREETERS, YAY!” The force of their shout almost sent the changeling’s cloak flying.

“Welcome to Ponyville, mister!” Sweetie Belle greeted him. “I’m Sweetie Belle!” Like he didn’t know that yet. “That’s Apple Bloom,” she said as she pointed to the yellow earth pony, obviously, and then she pointed at the pegasus, adding, “and that’s Scootaloo! What’s your name?”

Double oops. Being disguised as a new pony required a name as well, which he had not-so-conveniently forgotten about. He needed a name, and fast. “Uh, my name is, uh...” Quick, think of a normal pony name! “It’s... uh...” Cloud-something? Blahblahblah-grass? No! Sweat was starting to collect on his forehead. Okay, something obvious... I’m wearing sunglasses! “It’s Sun... uh...” And a cloak! “Sun....cloak. Suncloak!” No, you idiot, that’s a terrible name, he thought, mentally slapping himself. He decided to add a grin. Ponies never thought you were lying if you were grinning.

“That’s a nice name,” Apple Bloom said. Okay, maybe all ponies were this dumb. Or possibly only the little ones.

The changeling, or now apparently named Suncloak, released a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “Well, I should get going. But watch out next time! Or warn other cha- I mean, ponies when you’re going too fast.” They probably wouldn’t catch his little slip. Still, these were ponies he was talking to, not other changelings. Proper terminology was required.

“Okay,” the three fillies said somewhat somber, and clambered onto the scooter and cart.

As he turned around to leave, his stomach grumbled again. Not eating for more than a week tends to make that happen.

Apple Bloom turned around and asked him, “Ya hungry, Mister Suncloak?”

Suncloak pondered his choices. Maybe these fillies could lead him to a restaurant, or otherwise a household with two parents. A restaurant could have a few couples of lovebirds, and two parents were always a good source of love. “As a matter of fact, yes,” he told them.

“Why don’t you come along with us then?” Sweetie Belle asked, “so we can make it up to you. For uh, running you over and everything.”

Excellent. This was turning out to work in his favour. “Sure,” he said as the two fillies in the cart scooted over. “But I’m not going to sit in that cart.”

Scootaloo turned her head. “But it’ll be a lot faster than just walking.”

Suncloak rolled his eyes. Whatever, as long as he could get a meal. “Fine.” He hopped into the cart, and they sped off.

A few moments later, they came up to Sweet Apple Acres. It wasn’t a place he had thought of visiting, but if there was love for him to eat there, it was worth a shot.

Couldn’t they at least have called it something a bit less sappy than Sweet Apple Acres?

Once in front of a quaint house, the fillies and changeling got off of their vehicle.

Apple Bloom opened the door. “We’re back!” she called out, “an’ we brought a guest!”

An orange mare with a hat came out of another room. Applejack, if he recalled correctly. “A guest? Why ain’t that nice!” She went over to Suncloak and gave him a fierce hoofshake. “The name’s Applejack!” She let go, but that didn’t stop the changeling from shaking like a pair of maracas.

“I’m Suncloak,” he said after he got his shaking under control. Still a stupid name though, he added in his thoughts. Still, he would have to stick with it.

“Nice to meetcha,” Applejack told him, then turned to Apple Bloom. “Ya didn’t tell me ya were bringing a guest though.”

The three fillies told the farm pony what had happened earlier.

As they finished, Applejack sighed. “Ah’m mighty sorry, mister, it won’t happen again.” She glared at three rather guilty-looking ponies. “Am ah right?”

“It won’t,” the three said with a sigh.

“Oh, it could’ve happened to anyling,” the changeling said with a dismissive wave of his hoof.

“Don’tcha mean anypony?” Applejack asked him.

“Yes, anypony! What’d I say? I thought I said anypony,” he corrected himself. Changelings didn’t use words like anypony or everypony, they said anyling and everyling. Ponies and changelings weren’t exactly on speaking terms, so they didn’t use the same terms. Ponies referred to their own species, changelings referred to their own species, that’s how it worked.

Except he’d forgotten for a moment that he was supposed to be talking like a pony now, not like a changeling. Was he always such a bad actor?

Applejack gave him an odd look for a moment. “Well, ya seem trustworthy enough.”

Suncloak breathed a sigh of relief. He was in the green, for now. From here, he could get to know more ponies, and potentially find a few lovers as well.

One thing that still bugged him, though, was that Applejack still seemed familiar to him. Had he seen her somewhere before?

“And Ah think Ah know a bit ‘bout trustworthiness, seeing as Ah’m the Element of Honesty and whatnot,” Applejack nonchalantly told him.

Oooooooooh. So that’s what he recognized her from.

That would probably make this a little bit more difficult. A little.

Chapter 5

The doors suddenly opened, flooding the barn with light.

“Mornin’, Suncloak!” Applejack almost yelled, “sorry, but we kinda need the barn!”

The changeling let out a loud yelp, rolling out of the bed with something entirely unlike grace, taking his improvised blanket with him. “Gah! You startled me!” he called out as he stood up, quickly putting on the sunglasses to hide his eyes. Miraculously, his cloak was perfectly wrapped around him.

“Sorry,” Applejack said again, “but that’s life on the farm for ya. But look on the bright side, if ya’d been sleeping in the house, I’d have woken ya up half an hour earlier.” She walked over to a corner to grab some baskets. “Maybe ya can even help out around the farm a bit.”

Suncloak pondered his choices. The small bit of love he was able to steal the night before had been tasty, but nowhere near enough to end his hunger. He needed to go out into Ponyville and find some lovers, stat.

On the other hoof, sticking around and helping his host might help keep a roof above his head, and he’d be able to get a little bit closer, maybe steal a bit of that stray love again. That is, if Applejack and her family were the source.

He shrugged. “Sure, why not?” Because she’s one of the Elements of Harmony, you backwards-laid egg, he thought to himself. His thoughts could go take a hike; he’d rather have a little meal than take a chance and maybe get a larger meal.

Applejack headed for the orchard with Suncloak in tow. “Ya could try applebuckin’. Ya don’t really look all that strong, but hey, looks can deceive, right?”

She had absolutely no idea.

“Sure,” the changeling said, “I’ll give it a go.”

They reached a tree full of apples, where Applejack set down her baskets. She gave the tree a powerful buck, causing all the apples in the tree to fall down. Most of them fell in the baskets, while the rest fell on the ground. Applejack picked them up and deposited with their brethren.

The apples in the next tree wobbled every time a gust of wind passed by. “You give it a go,” Applejack told Suncloak as she set down the baskets.

This would be easy. The apples were more than ready to fall, and any buck would make them all go. The cloaked changeling turned around and gave a hard buck, while making sure Applejack wouldn’t see any part of his body.

The buck connected to the tree with little more than a squeak from the wood. Suncloak turned around, counting on all the apples falling down.

The apples stopped wobbling around.

Both changeling and pony looked at the tree like they had just seen a glass of burning water. His buck couldn’t have been that weak, could it? Applejack summed up both their thoughts nicely with a simple, flat “what.”

“Stupid tree!” Suncloak yelled at it indignantly, then turned to Applejack. “It’s probably broken.”

“Ooookay,” Applejack said, still somewhat surprised. “Maybe ya can do somethin’ else.” She thought for a moment. “Oh, Ah’ve got this book we borrowed from the library, maybe you can go return it. Just hang on a sec, Ah’ll get it.”

As she headed toward the house, Suncloak shot a piercing glare toward the tree. “Mark my words, tree. You’ll pay for this,” he told it.

The tree shuddered.

Although honestly, that could have been a particularly strong gust of wind.

Applejack returned a few moments later with a saddlebag, in which rested a book. “The library’s in this big tree house near the town square. Ya can’t miss it,” she told him.

He took the saddlebag and fastened it around him. “There are ponies who live in houses in the trees?” he asked. Up in a tree was an odd location for a library.

“No, it’s a tree house. Not a house up in a tree, but a house inside of a tree,” Applejack corrected him.

Riiiight, a library inside of a tree. “Isn’t that sort of... I don’t know, weird? All that paper inside of a tree?” Suncloak asked.

“Ah... guess?” Applejack gave him a confused look.

“Whatever,” the changeling said. He noted that the saddlebag was doing a nice job in keeping his cloak together. “I’ll get going.”

During his walk, Suncloak had enough time to check for ponies in love, or places where he could find them. He had found some signs telling him where the park was, which would be an excellent location.

But for now, he had to deliver a book. Sure, he still needed love, but to his surprise, he had felt more love in the air around him when he left. It wasn’t as much as the night before, but it was something nonetheless. He still hadn’t figured out where it came from, though. Not a single pony had noticed it, however, so it was a suitable alternative.

The library was indeed a large house made out of a tree. He walked up to the door and knocked. No need to just barge in and be uncivil.

“Come in,” a colt-like voice called, “it’s open!”

Okay, so he could have just barged in. At least he was still civil about it.

The library was a mess. Sure, most books were neatly stacked on the shelves, but quite a number of them, together with a large number of scrolls, were strewn about over the floor.

A purple baby dragon with green spikes was in the process of cleaning up. “Twilight!” he yelled, “there’s somepony here!” He took a large stack of books in his arms and climbed up a ladder. He set the stack of books on a shelf and started putting them away. “She’ll be down in a moment, I guess she’s still busy,” he told Suncloak.

The changeling took the book out of his saddlebag and put it on a table. “It’s a mess here,” he noted. Not entirely unlike the changeling hive, actually. Except this had less stones and gunk, and more books and paper. Somewhat of an improvement, at least.

“It happens,” the baby dragon told him. “I don’t think I’ve seen you in Ponyville before. You new here?”

The changeling nodded. “I’m...” What was it again? This name business is annoying. “Uh, Suncloak. Got here yesterday.”

“Cool,” the baby dragon said, “I’m Spike.” Great, more names to remember. “Nice to meet you!”

The changeling couldn’t say it was. But he had to, considering he had to play nice to blend in. “Nice to meet you too.”

They continued the small talk for a bit, with Suncloak experiencing it as probably the most nonsensical conversation in his life. Just small talk about this and that, while Spike put away books.

“By the way,” Spike said, “why are you wearing a pair of sunglasses?”

To conceal my identity from buffoons like you because I don't have enough energy to change my appearance, he thought. Since that wasn’t exactly something he could afford to say, he decided to stick with a simpler explanation. “Because of the weather.”

Spike glanced outside through a window. The sky was filled with white clouds, blocking the sun. “But it’s not even sunny.”

Oh, right. He needed some kind of save. “So?” he asked. Great save indeed.

Spike sighed, not wanting to further pursue the subject. “Twilight’s taking a long time,” he said to himself. He leaned back on the ladder he was standing on and yelled, “Twilight! Did you hear-”

He was interrupted by his own sense of balance, as the ladder stood straight up thanks to his leaning, and it was now threatening to fall backward.

Suncloak quickly shot forward and pushed the ladder back to the shelves, preventing it from falling over. He wiped the sweat from his brow and sighed.

To his dismay, he had pushed the ladder too hard, and with a slam the books jumped off of their place, now teetering on the edge.

“Oh, brother,” he managed to say before an avalanche of books covered him, with the appropriate cacophony of noise to go with it.

He could vaguely hear somepony stumbling about outside of the mountain of books which covered him. It was kind of comfortable, really, if he ignored the massive bump that was forming on his head and giving him a headache. Oh, and if he ignored the fact that he had difficulty breathing.

Libraries are stupid, he noted.

Suddenly, the books were all pulled off of him at once. A concerned-looking purple unicorn with a dark purple mane, with a streak of pink and purple, stood there. Her horn was alight with magic. “Are you alright?” she asked, arranging the books in neat stacks.

“Did you get that elephant’s license number?” was the most coherent thing he could say while stumbling about. He managed to collapse into a chair standing next to a table. “Ow,” he said as he laid his head on the table.

“Oh goodness,” the mare said as she walked over to him. He could recall her as well. Was she one of the elements of chocolate as well?

...Wait, the what now? That table was really comfortable.

The mare turned toward the baby dragon. “Spike, could you make some tea, please?”

“Aye aye,” Spike said as he left the room.

Tea would be nice. Tea was good. The changeling would’ve never liked to admit it to other changelings, but he liked tea. It was the sort of thing female changelings drank, not the males, which was a shame, because it worked wonderfully for the nerves which came with staying in a role, sometimes.

A few moments later, Spike returned with a pot of tea and three cups. He sat opposite of the changeling and started filling the cups.

Then, they had tea. Suncloak could feel his thoughts returning to him. The first thing he noted was that he had a massive headache, which was to be expected. That sort of happens when you get buried in books. He took a large sip of the tea, hoping it would alleviate his headache.

“I’m so sorry!” the purple mare said, taking a sip. “This doesn’t usually happen.”

Spike gave her a deadpan look and muttered to himself, “If by ‘not usually’ you mean ‘pretty often’.”

The unicorn shot him a glare. “Anyway, my name is Twilight Sparkle.”

The changeling spat out all of his tea in a rather impressive arch, straight into Spike’s face. “Twilight Sparkle?” he blurted out. “Element of Magic? Personal student of Princess Celestia?” He gave short look to Spike, who was drenched in tea and giving him an annoyed glare. “Sorry,” Suncloak sheepishly said.

Spike excused himself for a moment and went into the kitchen to clean up.

“That’s right,” Twilight said. “Is that such a surprise then?”

Not really; the changelings had a pretty good idea of who she was, especially since it was mainly her fault the invasion had failed. Not my fault, Suncloak told himself. Stupid queen.

“Uh, I hadn’t really expected to run into somepony so... special?” He wanted to say dangerous, but thought better of it. Telling ponies you just met that you thought they were dangerous could be considered a faux pas. “And, uh, you’ve kind of... been a hot topic all around, having foiled the changeling swarm and such.”

He had to make sure he didn’t slip up in this conversation; Twilight Sparkle was a very smart pony. And since she was the personal student of princess Celestia, any mistake could be... less than helpful.

Spike had returned, and this time didn’t sit straight in front of Suncloak, but rather one seat to the side.

“Well, we aren’t exactly done with that yet,” Twilight told him, as she took another sip.

“Really? How so?” The changeling took another large sip. Excellent. Maybe, if he gathered some information, he could go back to the hive.

“Well, we’re still finding changelings here and there. Since we don’t know what to do with them yet, the princess has given the order to lock them up for the time being.”

Suncloak spat out his tea in another rather impressive arch. This time, he turned his head to the side to avoid spraying it in Spike’s face.

However, since the baby dragon had decided to sit somewhere else to avoid just such a moment, the tea still ended up all over him.

“This is some kind of bad joke, isn’t it?” Spike deadpanned as he went to the kitchen to clean up once again.

“Oops,” the changeling said. Really, he hadn’t meant to do it!

It was hilarious though, and he had trouble not breaking into laughter.

“Is that such a shock as well?” Twilight asked him. She took a sip whilst eyeing him critically.

No time for horrible excuses, she’s on to you, the changeling thought as he tried to think of an answer. “I... didn’t know? It took me awhile to get here in Ponyville, I guess I missed that bit of news.” He gave her the same convincing grin he had given the three fillies the day before, just to seal the deal.

Twilight waited a moment, thinking. “That makes sense,” she said.

Suncloak released the breath he had been holding, and looked at his cup of tea. Empty. The entire thing must have went straight for the baby dragon.

After Spike got back, they refilled their cups, and chatted about random nonsense, mostly about what the changeling had been doing in the village. He’d sidestepped their questions about his past, though. Making up a backstory would’ve been far too much details for him to remember, and would be too dangerous for his cover, which was already incredibly flimsy, consisting of a cloak, sunglasses and a name.

He handed over the book and made his escape before they could get suspicious.

Mentally patting himself on the back, he made his way back to Sweet Apple Acres. He’d done a good job hiding himself, and now he could go out hunting, but not before returning the saddlebag. It would be something he could be easily recognized by.

Not that there was a huge risk, anyway. If he got captured, he would only be locked up until further notice. And then he would probably be banished! Or, actually, he had already been banished. So, no matter what, he'd be banished and locked up in the place he'd been banished to!

Really, no pressure. It wasn’t as if his life depended on it.

Chapter 6

As Suncloak walked on the path through Sweet Apple Acres’ orchard, he could hear a soft sound, not entirely unlike a pony cutting a tree in half with a saw.

He looked around to check where the sound was coming from. It seemed to come from up in one of the trees. “Hello?” he tentatively asked the tree.

The sound stopped for a second, then continued.

The changeling climbed into the tree, his curiosity piqued. Maybe some sort of beast had made a home in the tree, stealing apples. The ponies would certainly warm up to him if he scared it away.

As he stuck his head through the branches, he could see something blue. The sky? No, the sky was cloudy today. Something else?

Something fluffy brushed his cheek. “What in Eq-” he started to say, before the same fluffy thing streaked across his whole face. “What was...” he paused for a moment. His nose felt ticklish. “Whaaaaa...” he tried to say again as he took a deep breath. “WhACHOO!” he sneezed, and fell backwards out of the tree. He hit the ground with a hard thud, landing on his head. The other thing fell out of the tree as well.

“Hey, what gives?” somepony out of his field of vision said. A cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane entered his field of vision, hovering slightly above him. She had apparently stopped herself from falling, unlike him. This was... Rainbow Dash. “You okay?” she asked.

Not particularly, but if he kept hitting his head on things, he might one day grow a unicorn horn. That’d be nifty. “Ow,” he said before standing up.

“Huh,” Rainbow Dash said, looking at him. “Are you new in Ponyville?”

The changeling nodded. “I’m Suncloak. I got here yesterday,” he told her.

“Nice pair of sunglasses,” she complimented him. “I got the same pair, but I lost it yesterday.” No kidding, guess where it was. “Why are you wearing the cloak, though?”

Oh, right. Ponies don’t usually wear cloaks. A clever excuse was in order. “Oh, I, uh...” Suncloak started, “I have a skin condition!” Before Rainbow Dash could say anything else, he continued, “really bad! All blackened skin, and nasty holes everywhere! You wouldn’t want to see it.”

Now that was a gigantic lie. Sure, he was black, and he had holes in his hooves, but black was a beautiful color, and he prided himself on his excellent hole-to-hoof ratio. If there was a ‘Best Looking Changeling’ competition, he’d have a decent shot. Or so he always told himself.

Rainbow Dash eyed him suspiciously. “Okay...” she slowly said, “but if you ask me...” she hovered closer to him. “I think you’re a changeling!” she suddenly said.

Oh no oh no oh no oh no this is bad he was going to get caught quickly think of-

“Just kidding!” she said. Phew. “No changelings would ever come to Ponyville with me around! I’m Rainbow Dash. Nice to meetcha!”

“Nice to meet you too,” he said with an awkward smile. No, it wasn’t nice to meet her. She’d scared the living daylights out of him! “So, what were you doing in that tree?” he asked her.

“Oh, I was napping,” she told him nonchalantly. “Well, until you came along.”

“You were foalnapping some filly?” The changeling gave her an odd look. That’s what napping was, right?

“You don’t know what napping is?” Rainbow gave him the same odd look back. “It’s not foalnapping, it’s... Uh, when you nap, you just lay down somewhere in the middle of the day and go to sleep. When you’re tired.”

What a... strange concept. At least for changelings, it was weird. Changelings were busy all day, whether they were doing their job in the hive, or harvesting love. There was always enough to do in the hive, and harvesting love meant getting as much as possible in a short amount of time. The shorter you were imponysonating a pony, the less likely you were to be found out, so it was usually a race to eat your fill as fast as possible, then return to the hive for other work.

Sleeping, during the day? Unheard of. But apparently, these ponies did it.

“I can’t believe you’ve never heard of napping,” Rainbow Dash said, stupefied, “I thought everypony knew what a nap was!” Then again, Suncloak wasn’t a pony, but she didn’t know that.

How have I not heard of this before, the changeling pondered. Didn’t I learn anything from all the time I spent transformed into a pony? This ‘napping’ thing was very interesting, especially now that his headache was starting to come back. “A nap... doesn’t sound bad at the moment,” he slowly told the blue pegasus.

“A nap never sounds bad!” she told him. “Just... you know. Lie down or something. And sleep. That’s how you nap. It’s easy!” She flew back up to the tree she had fallen out of. “I gotta continue my nap. I’m on a schedule here!”

Suncloak looked at her as she disappeared into the tree again, then looked at the ground around the tree. “A nap, eh?” he told himself. The sound from the tree, apparently Rainbow Dash’s snoring, had started up again.

A nap sounded good. His head hurt. Maybe a little sleep would fix that.

On the other hoof, he still had to return Applejack’s saddlebag back to her, and ask if he could help out with anything else. To earn her trust a little bit more.

Then again, his head hurt a lot, and he had been rudely awakened that morning. Applejack probably wouldn’t criticize him for getting a little sleep.

He positioned himself on the ground and laid down his head. Aside from Rainbow Dash’s snoring, it was very calm in the orchard. Much quieter than... well, anytime, anywhere in the hive. It wouldn’t be too bad to be stuck here for a little bit, the changeling noted. He just had a few problems: staying disguised and finding some love to feed on.

Speaking of love, he could once more feel and smell some in the air around him. It felt the same way as it did the night before, loose and without a clear direction to go into. It couldn’t be coming from Rainbow Dash, since she was asleep, and there weren’t any other ponies around. Very, very odd indeed.

His horn glowed as he closed his eyes, feeding on the love. It was a bit more than the last time he fed, but it still wasn’t much. He’d still need to go out and find some unsuspecting couple somewhere.

Really, he’d do it this afternoon. For now, he’d just close his eyes. Just for a second, then he’d be good as new, ready to go. Juuuust a second...

“There ya are!” somepony suddenly yelled.

Suncloak shot up. “What? I’m awake! I just closed my eyes for a second!”

Rainbow Dash’s head emerged from the tree. “Whuzzat?” she sleepily asked.

Applejack came walking up to them. “I thought ya got lost or something,” she told Suncloak.

“I didn’t take that long to get here, right?” The changeling had to suppress a yawn.

“Well,” Applejack said, as she scratched the back of her head, “ya’ve been away for a few hours now. It’s almost evening!”

Suncloak gave Rainbow Dash a brief look, who simply shrugged. Had he really been asleep for hours? It felt like he’d closed his eyes for just a second. He was feeling much better, though. “I guess I... fell asleep?”

“At least ya delivered the book,” Applejack said as she saw the empty saddlebag on Suncloak’s back.

“Yeah, meeting Twilight Sparkle and Spike was... nice,” he said. If by ‘nice’ you meant ‘the most terrifying thing to ever happen’. At least his headache was mostly gone. Whoever invented the nap must have been some sort of genius.

“So, what were ya doing here, then?” Applejack asked him.

Rainbow Dash suddenly shot out of the tree. “I was showing Suncloak here how to nap!” She puffed up her chest in pride. “Since I’m the master of napping, of course.”

Applejack gave her an odd look.

“What?” Rainbow Dash indignantly asked. “It’s harder than it looks.”

“Right,” Applejack said, turning to Suncloak. “We were gonna have dinner. Are ya comin’?”

“You’re staying at Applejack’s place?” Rainbow Dash asked him.

He nodded. “She’s been kind enough to give me a place to stay,” he told her.

“Aw shucks, everypony’d done it for ya.” Applejack blushed. “An’ we couldn’t have let ya stay in the Everfree Forest.”

“You stayed in the Everfree Forest?” Rainbow asked Suncloak incredulously. He nodded in return. “That takes some serious guts! Nothing beats a good home, though.”

That made the banished changeling stop for a moment. “Uh, yeah.” He grimaced.

“Right, well, I gotta get to my house,” Rainbow Dash said as she flew away. The blue pegasus turned around and flew away, shouting a quick “See ya later!” over her shoulder.

Applejack waved at her as she gave a short farewell to the pegasus.

Suncloak, on the other hoof, waved absent-mindedly. A home. He had a home, right?

“Let’s go get dinner,” Applejack said, as she headed toward the house. The changeling wordlessly followed.

Not much later, Suncloak headed into the barn. He took off his cloak and sunglasses, and threw them on the makeshift bed. He sighed.

He’d excused himself from dinner as soon as possible. The food didn’t taste as good as it did the night before. He didn’t even remember what he had eaten. His thoughts had been occupied by only one thing.

A home. What was his home? The changeling hive sure wasn’t. He’d been banished and thrown far away. Really, really far away. He couldn’t even remember in what direction the hive was. Even if he knew, he’d have to find a really good reason for Queen Chrysalis to accept him back. Banishment didn’t just happen every day.

Was this barn his home? Or Sweet Apple Acres? He lifted a hoof to look at, or rather, through it. He felt along his teeth. Fangs.

If it hadn’t been for his disguise, there’d be no way the ponies would have accepted him. The ponies had been really kind for him, and he’d found it endearing in some way. They weren’t as bad as he had thought they were. But he was still a changeling and they were still ponies. If they found him out, he’d be locked up.

He had two choices: find something really useful for the hive so he could come back, or keep up his disguise until the end of time. On top of that, he had to find a suitable source of love.

Both seemed equally impossible to him as he slid underneath his cloak, which was now functioning as a blanket.

“What have I gotten myself into?” he asked himself, before falling into an uneasy slumber.

Chapter 7

The next morning, Suncloak had managed to get out of bed before Applejack could rudely wake him up again.

Sure, he hadn’t slept all that much, kept up by troubling thoughts, but right now, he needed to find some food. Some love, to be exact.

To his chagrin, there were almost no ponies outside. Again. Even worse, there were no couples walking around either. Again. Frustrated, he’d approached a mare and asked her what day it was. Apparently, it was friday.

That explained a lot. He’d been walking around the town during work hours, of course there wouldn’t be many ponies around. They were getting down to business. Friday was no different.

He sighed. Tomorrow, he thought, is saturday. Lots of ponies will be walking around then. That’ll be my time to strike! He rounded a corner, occupied by his planning. I’ll go to the park. A perfect spot for couples, and enough hiding places! They’ll never know what hit th-

His thoughts were rudely interrupted by his head painfully bumping into something. He took a few steps back, dizzily shaking his head. Great, another head-related injury.

He checked to see what he had bumped into. It was a white unicorn with a curly, purple mane and tail. This was one of the ponies he had seen on his first day in Ponyville: Rarity. And she was still as ugly as he remembered. Well, she was ugly according to changeling standards, which were obviously the only standards that counted here.

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry!” she said. “Are you alright?”

The changeling’s head still spun. “Ow.” The myth that pony skulls were made of marshmallows was false, they were made out of solid steel. Or at least, that’s how painful colliding with one felt like. Suncloak shook his head once more. “I’m okay.”

Rarity gave him a once-over, taking note of his cloak and sunglasses. “You must be Suncloak,” she said. “My name is Rarity. You’re new to Ponyville, I hear?”

Well, that took care of the introductions. “Yes, that’s my name,” the changeling said. For the sake of routine, he continued, “And yes, I’m new to Ponyville. Nice to meet you.” It wasn’t nice to meet her. Unless a ‘nice meeting’ consisted of getting a concussion again and seeing something repulsive. “How do you know my name?”

“Oh, Twilight told me yesterday,” Rarity said as she adjusted her mane. It had to have been a very, very minor adjustment, as Suncloak couldn’t see any change. Mares and their manes...

“Well, I should be going, sorry for bumping into you,” he said as he started to step past her.

Rarity, however, sidestepped into his way. “Absolutely not!” she said. “I insist on doing something to make it up to you.” She gave him a quick look again. “How about I make you a new outfit?”

The changeling took a few steps back. “No, that isn’t needed,” he told her with a nervous chuckle, “I’m okay, really.”

The white unicorn reached out toward his cloak. “Oh, but look at this ragged cloak! It’s simply dreadful, if you don’t mind me saying. A fine ch- I mean, pony such as you shouldn’t be walking around in something like this!”

Suncloak deftly stepped away from her hoof. “Look, I’m not really comfortable with this!” Compared to this, his previous encounters had been pleasant. He was getting dangerously close to being discovered! Was this mare bent on being the bane of his existence?!

Rarity stopped her advance and pouted. “Pleeeaaase?”

“No,” the changeling told her adamantly.

“Fine.” Rarity sighed. “Maybe some other time? I think it’d be wonderful to design an outfit for you!”

“Okay, fine,” Suncloak told her. Whatever, as long as he could get rid of her for now. “I really should go, I’ll leave you to your work.”

He’d return to Sweet Apple Acres for now. There were no ponies around right now, and he’d probably need to wait until the next day. Might as well rest and conserve energy. He sighed and turned to leave Rarity behind for now.

To his dismay, she started walking beside him. “Oh, you’re going in the same direction as I am! How wonderful!” she said.

Obviously, the changeling had somehow landed in Tartarus and gotten a personal imp to follow him around. “Yes, wonderful,” he deadpanned. “So, you know Twilight Sparkle?” he asked her. Might as well attempt to steer this conversation into a meaningful direction.

“Why, yes I do!” Rarity said, “She told me about her little encounter with you.” Yes, the encounter in which he had managed to injure his head again and sprayed tea over a baby dragon. Twice.

“She’s the Element of Magic, right?” the changeling asked her. Rarity nodded in confirmation. “Applejack told me she was the Element of Honesty. Do you know of the other elements?” Time to see if he could get something useful out of this mare.

“Well, I don’t want to brag, but I happen to be one myself. I’m the Element of Generosity,” Rarity told him. “but I thought that was common knowledge.”

That might have been so for ponies, but not for changelings. Most changelings never paid attention to a lot of things ponies told them, and this had just so happened to be one. Kind of a major oversight, actually. “Do you know of the others?” Suncloak asked her.

“There’s Rainbow Dash, who is the Element of Loyalty,” Rarity started. He’d already met that one. “Then there’s Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness, and Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter. That’s all of us.”

Magic, Honesty, Generosity, Loyalty, Kindness and Laughter. The changeling drew a blank as to how these Elements were supposed to represent Harmony, though. However, asking a pony about it might seem suspicious, so he said nothing. He wondered if he would meet the last two of the Elements.

Their chat continued, mostly consisting of small chitchat and general nonsense. As they came to the Carousel Boutique, Rarity stopped.

“Well, this is my stop,” she said. “It was very nice to meet you.” She headed towards the boutique. “Maybe I’ll see you again later!”

Suncloak gave her a short wave. “Maybe. Bye!”

After Rarity entered Carousel Boutique, he waited a few moments. He glanced around to see if there weren’t any ponies around. When he didn’t see anything, he loudly said, “Finally!”

By the fancy crown of Queen Chrysalis, he couldn’t have taken any longer! She was so... White! She was so... Yuck! And she’d gotten dangerously close to unmasking him as well, he noted. Maybe he’d see her again. Hopefully he wouldn’t.

On the other hoof, she had been kind to him, even if he did act like a jerk. He headed towards Sweet Apple Acres. So far, all the ponies had been nice to him. Sure, they may be annoying sometimes, but he found that being in their company was vastly preferable to being alone in a scary forest.

If he’d be forced to stick around a village like this for the rest of his life, he probably wouldn’t mind it as much as he thought he would. That is, if he didn’t have to worry about his disguise all the time.

A short while later, he had reached Sweet Apple Acres once more. Maybe he could take another one of those naps. That seemed like a good plan.

As he walked through the orchard, however, he soon stumbled upon something quite different. In a small clearing, he found Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, who were doing some kind of activity involving throwing a small tennis ball at each other, catching it with their mouth.

Intriguing. What purpose could this serve, aside from laughing at one of the fillies when they missed catching the ball, tripped, or got hit by the ball? The changeling couldn’t think of any other possible meaning. Maybe the goal was to throw it so hard that the other pony’s teeth were knocked out of their mouth?

As he stood there, pondering this dilemma, Apple Bloom missed catching the ball. It bounced a few times and rolled to a stop right in front of the changeling’s hooves.

Apple Bloom gave him a surprised look. “Hello there, mister Suncloak!” she excitedly said.

The changeling cast a short glance at the ball. “Hi. What’re you three doing?”

“We were just throwing this ball around a little bit,” Scootaloo said. “We didn’t have any ideas for crusading, so we just decided to do something fun,” the little pegasus said, fluttering her wings.

Fun. Now there was something the changeling understood! Fun was very important for changelings. It was one of the first things they learned: whatever you do, remember to have fun. No sense in masquerading as a pony and not enjoy it. You could get away with all sorts of things, granted you didn’t get caught. When a changeling was done feeding, they’d often put themselves in an embarrassing situation, only to leave almost immediately after. If pulled off right, the original pony would have to deal with it, without them even knowing what happened. Some changelings were absolute masters at this, managing to create incredibly elaborate pranks on themselves.

Why, Suncloak himself had once managed to craft an ingenious plan involving several hundred salmon, a wheelbarrow and a windmill. It didn’t work out exactly as he had hoped, but it still turned out to be hilarious.

“Mind if I join in?” he asked the three fillies. He had no idea how they found this fun, but he hadn’t done anything fun in far too long. It was worth trying out.

“Sure,” Sweetie Belle said with a smile.

The changeling picked the ball up in his mouth and threw it in Scootaloo’s general direction. He wasn’t sure what was supposed to be fun about this, though.

They threw the ball around for some time, occasionally performing some kind of strange throw to make it interesting. It wasn’t amazingly fun, but the changeling could find some amusement in it.

“So,” he suddenly started, “when you welcomed me into Ponyville, you said something about ‘Cootie Mark Somethings’?” Might as well make some small talk. He caught the ball and threw it in Sweetie Belle’s direction.

“We’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Apple Bloom said enthusiastically. “We’re trying to find our cutie marks!”

“Well, not right now,” Sweetie Belle said after she threw the ball to Apple Bloom, “because we don’t really have any ideas. We’ve tried a whole bunch of things, but none of us has their cutie mark yet...”

Huh. Cutie marks were that important to ponies? Changelings didn’t have cutie marks. Well, they did if they changed into a pony, but they could just make a fake one, no big deal.

Apple Bloom caught the ball, and threw it to Suncloak again.

A thought struck him as he caught the ball and threw it to Scootaloo. “Just a question...” he started, “What if... One of your friends suddenly turned out to be a changeling?” Let’s not make things too obvious here. “What if, for example, Scootaloo had been a changeling for as long as you knew her?”

“Hmmm,” Applebloom started as she rubbed her chin. “Ah think Ah’d be okay with that.”

...Huh?

Scootaloo threw the ball towards Sweetie Belle. “Yeah, if Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle were changelings, I don’t think I’d have minded that. They’re still my best friends! Besides, they’re way too cool to be changelings.”

Interesting. Sweetie Belle threw the ball back to Scootaloo. “I think I wouldn’t mind if anypony I knew turned out to be changeling. Everypony in Ponyville is still really nice, like my sister, and Big Macintosh, and even the ponies I don’t know that well.”

“Yeah, everypony here is pretty cool. You’re pretty cool as well, Suncloak. But not as cool as Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo said as she threw the ball in the changeling’s direction. It was a rather hard and wide throw.

Did that mean the ponies actually liked him? And they would still like him if he turned out to be a changeling? That felt... strangely reassuring. Why did he suddenly care about what these ponies thought of him?

Suncloak dawled, and the small ball overshot its target. The changeling had to jump up to try and catch it. As he reached out a hoof, his cloak started sliding off. Noticing this, he quickly pulled his hoof back and readjusted the rag he was wearing. The ball was nowhere to be seen, however.

“Hey, where’d the ball go?” Apple Bloom asked, looking around.

“I don’t know,” Sweetie Belle said, “I think you threw it a bit too hard, Scootaloo.”

“I didn’t-” Scootaloo started, but she cut off her sentence with a sigh. “Never mind, let’s look around.”

“Oh, Ah’ll get Winona, she can probably find it!” Apple Bloom said as she ran off. The other two fillies nodded their approval and followed.

“I’ll keep looking around here,” Suncloak said, “you three go ahead.”

After they left, he took a good look around. No ponies were watching. He held up the hoof he had used to try and catch the ball and pulled down the cloak.

He was looking at a hole. Or rather, a hole which was filled up by a tennis ball. “Stupid hole,” the changeling said. “Useless piece of chitin.” He bit down on the ball and pulled. It didn’t budge.

He pulled on it for another few minutes in a futile effort. This had to be the most stubborn ball ever made! Props to the manufacturer, though.

In the distance, he could hear Apple Bloom say something. “Winona, y’all go help Suncloak over there, we’ll look over here.” Who was Winona anyway?

As the changeling heard the excited yapping of a dog coming this way, he gave his hoof, with the ball stuck in it, a worried glance. “Uh oh.”

Not terribly far from there, Rarity walked along the path through the Sweet Apple Acres orchard, where she ran into Applejack. “Hello, Applejack!” she called out.

“Hey there, Rarity!” Applejack greeted her. “Ya came to pick up Sweetie Belle?”

“Oh, you know how fussy parents get when their fillies aren’t home in time for dinner,” Rarity said. Applejack nodded knowingly. “Where is she anyway?” the white unicorn asked.

“Ah dunno,” Applejack said, “she’s probably somewhere in the orchard, playin’ with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. And Ah thought Ah saw Suncloak headed in that direction. Did ya meet him yet?”

Rarity nodded. “Why, I met him just this morning. He’s a bit strange, but a nice fellow, isn’t he?”

Somewhere in the distance, somepony yelled, “No! Don’t stick your snout in that hole! OW! Especially not in that hole, you hairy grub!” A dog happily barked in response.

The two talking ponies did not notice.

“He doesn’t say a lot, though,” Applejack said, “an’ his hoof felt kinda weird when Ah shook it. But Ah guess Ah’m just a little bit on edge ‘cause of the whole ‘changelings taking over Equestria’ thing from last week.”

“Oh, I spoke to Rainbow Dash before I got here, she told me he has a nasty skin condition. It’s why he wears the cloak. It’s probably also why he turned down my offer,” Rarity said with a sad look.

“Let me guess,” Applejack said, “Ya wanted ta make him a fancy outfit?”

“Ow ow ow! Stop dragging me around, dog!” the same voice sounded from the distance, followed by a series of whacks. “Ouch. Wait, watch out for tha-” Another loud whack.

Again, the farmer and the fashionista didn’t notice.

“Regardless,” Rarity said, “I bumped into him rather rudely this morning. I simply have to apologize to a respectful and kind stallion such as him.”

“Yeah, he’s a nice colt. Seems to me he gets along just fine. Wonder how long he’s stayin’ here, though.”

Just that moment, three fillies came walking in their direction, accompanied by Winona, who had a tennis ball in her mouth. “Hi Applejack! Hi sis!” Sweetie Belle greeted the two elder ponies.

“Hello girls!” Rarity greeted back. She cast a glance at the sun, which was already starting to set. “Oh, we have to go Sweetie Belle, come along now.” Both ponies gave quick goodbyes and set off.

“Wait up, I’m coming along!” Scootaloo said, and went after them. “Oh, bye Apple Bloom and Applejack!”

After the others had left, Applejack turned to her little sister. “What were you three doing back there?”

“Oh, we were just throwin’ a ball around with mister Suncloak,” Apple Bloom said.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “And where is he now?”

“Uh...” Apple Bloom started.

Right that moment, Suncloak hobbled toward them, looking rather ragged.

“Oh, there he is!” Apple Bloom said.

“Hey there, Suncloak!” Applejack said. “Ah didn’t see ya this mornin’. Where were ya?”

“I was out,” he briefly told her as he wobbled by. He took a few steps back, noticing that he overshot his mark.

“Well, we were just about to go have dinner,” Applejack said, not noticing his odd gait. “Come along now!”

After dinner, the changeling had retreated to his bed in the barn.

The ponies actually thought he was nice. The strangest thing was how good it felt when he heard that. It was almost as like he cared what the ponies thought of him!

That was incredibly stupid, he noted. He was a predator, and they were the prey. A changeling couldn’t just develop feelings for ponies! He sighed and shook his head. This was getting ridiculous.

Regardless, there was only one way to sum up the day.

“I hate dogs,” he said before he went to a well-deserved sleep.

Chapter 8

Saturday. A day off for almost all ponies. A day often spent with friends and family.

But most importantly, a day often spent with that special somepony.

As Suncloak stepped into the park, he could already smell love. Sure, it was faint, but there was some, and most likely, somewhere in the park. He just had to find the source, and then steal some of that delicious love.

It probably wouldn’t be hard. These ponies sure didn’t seem very smart. They may have defeated the changeling army in Canterlot, but that was just beginner’s luck. Besides, how were the changelings and their queen supposed to have figured out that the power of love was strong enough to defeat them?

He decided to stick to the paths just a small distance away from the park’s center. The center would be the busiest, and if anything went wrong there, he’d have low chances of escaping. These paths, however, had numerous ponies walking about, but only a few actually stopped there.

Somewhere nearby, closer to the center, was a pair of loving ponies. He hadn’t seen or heard them yet, but he could smell them. It was the typical scent of love: thick and sweet, almost like the smell of chocolate syrup.

Curious, he went closer, and slowly found himself heading towards a larger mass of ponies. There were a lot of ponies out today, ranging from friends having a fun day in the park, to others just passing through.

Eventually, though, he’d found the pair which was the source of the love he’d been smelling.

Said pair were a red earth pony with a chestnut mane and a scroll cutie mark, and a particularly fat unicorn mare, with pink fur and a purple mane. She had the cutie mark of a songbird. The two were chatting about something, but the changeling wouldn’t dare come too close. Yet.

Suncloak had to resist not stealing their love right there. It smelled so appetizing, so delicious. However, if he were to steal it now, in plain sight, every pony in the park would know about it.

Patience was the key. He’d just have to wait until the pair decided to move somewhere else.

And, after a little while, they did. The changeling had heard them talking about ‘moving to a quieter place’, and he inconspicuously followed them. Which basically meant hiding in the bushes and jumping from bush to bush.

Not all that much further, the couple sat down on a bench again. The fat mare was apparently tired after the incredibly long walk of not even a hundred meters. The stallion sat down next to her.

Suncloak, on the other hoof, had hidden himself in a bush just behind the two. It was the perfect spot to hide, since he was close enough to steal their love, and if he kept still after he stole it, they’d just glance over or behind the bush.

As the stallion started blabbering something about how much how much he loved the fat mare, and what he’d do for her and other such nonsense, the changeling rubbed his hooves together in anticipation. Finally, he’d get what he came for! Finally, he could get a decent meal! His horn started glowing as he prepared what was essentially a hit-and-run. Steal as much as he could before they noticed anything.

“Oh, and I can’t wait for the foal to arrive!” he overheard the mare say. “It’ll grow up with the best father in all of Equestria,” she said.

Uh... She wasn’t just fat?

“Well, I don’t know about that,” the stallion said, “but I’m sure it’ll have the best mom in Equestria!”

Suncloak hesitated. They were about to have a foal?

The light around his horn died down. The dangerous thing about stealing love was that you were actively taking it away from the couple. Of course, that was all fine and dandy for the changeling, but since the couple’s love suddenly went somewhere else, and the pair didn’t know what the cause was, it could become... complicated.

It wasn’t all too uncommon for a changeling to accidentally end a relationship by doing this. Sometimes, the lovers might think they’re just having a bit of a rough patch. Sometimes, the ponies might think the other didn’t love them anymore.

But that wasn’t important right now! Changelings had to feed, and it was about time for Suncloak to get his meal.

So why did he hesitate? He couldn’t be...?

I’ve developed a conscience, he thought. Of all the things to possibly happen to me, this has to be the worst! I can’t just start caring about these ponies!

He sat there in the bush as the stallion and the mare left the bench to continue to... wherever they were going. When they were gone, he sighed. He’d just have to find a different couple. Not two ponies who were expecting a foal. Maybe some other pair somewhere. Plenty of sea ponies in the ocean, right?

As he turned to step out of the bush, he suddenly stared into two big, blue eyes. “Hi mister!” a very cheery voice said.

With a yelp which he would later call ‘incredibly stallion-like’, the changeling leapt out of the bush. He landed on something, and after a few heavy gasps of air, he looked to see what had caught him.

Suddenly, he was staring into a pair of teal eyes. Namely, the eyes of the pony who had caught him with her forelegs. With another yelp which may or may not have been his, he jumped away again. Luckily, he landed on his legs. The pony who caught him was suddenly nowhere to be seen.

As Suncloak stood there, gasping for breath once again, a pink earth pony with an incredibly messy magenta mane stepped out of the bush he had been hiding in. “Did I scare you? Sorry, mister!” The pink pony giggled.

The changeling still stood there. If his heart didn’t calm down soon, it might jump out of his chest. Then again, that might be preferable to being around these ponies for much longer.

The pink pony walked over to him and waved a hoof in front of his eyes. “Uh, hello? Are you okay?” she asked.

Suncloak remained silent for a few seconds to get his breathing under control. He managed to squeak a short “Yes.”

“Okidokiloki!” the pink pony replied, walking over to a shaking bush. Apparently, those exist. She rummaged around in it and told it something. After a few moments, she dragged out a quivering yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail. Her teal eyes showed the changeling that she was the one who caught him a moment earlier. He had seen her before. In fact, she’d been the first pony he’d ever seen in Ponyville.

All of a sudden, the pink pony had her face almost pressed to his. “Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie! Who’re you?” she asked. Pinkie Pie... the Element of Laughter. Or the Element of Scaring The Living Daylights Out Of Others. Those could both be an Element of Harmony, right?

“Uh,” the changeling replied, cringing under her stare, “I’m Suncloak.” He was going to ask her to back off, but by now, he was convinced these ponies wanted him to suffer for all eternity. Most likely, she’d never get out of his face.

Pinkie Pie rushed over to the other pony, picked her up, and set her down roughly in front of Suncloak. “This is Fluttershy!” she said with an exaggerated motion of her hoof. Fluttershy, the last of the six Elements. Sure, he had to meet them all, apparently. It’s not like they were probably the most dangerous ponies around for him to run into.

“Um, hi,” Fluttershy timidly said, trying to hide behind Pinkie.

“Right, well, it was fun to meet you,” the changeling lied, “but I have to get going.” He really had to find something to feed on now.

“No, wait!” Pinkie Pie shouted to him. She flung a hoof around Suncloak and drew him closer to her. Which was impressive, seeing as they weren’t exactly standing next to each other. “You’re a new pony in Ponyville!”

The changeling threw a short glance toward Fluttershy. For some reason, she seemed to know what was going to happen. Which struck him as odd, since this Pinkie Pie had to be the strangest thing he’d met in all his life. The yellow pegasus had probably been living around the pink pony for so long that she’d become immune to this sort of shenanigans.

“Uh, no, not really, I came into town a few days ago,” Suncloak told her.

Pinkie Pie let go of him. “That’s new enough for me!” she excitedly said as she pulled a cart out of nowhere.

“Wait, how did you..?” the changeling started to say. From the corner of his eye, he could see Fluttershy shaking her head, as if telling him not to ask. When she noticed he was looking at her, she tried her hardest to hide behind her mane.

Pinkie Pie ignored him and pushed a button on the side of the cart, causing it to open. Inside were a small confectionery stand, an oven, a bunch of flags and an assortment of music instruments, which started to play a song.

“What in the hive...” Suncloak muttered to himself, and gave Fluttershy another look. The timid pegasus gave a very short shrug, and continued trying to hide.

“Welcome welcome welcome,” Pinkie Pie sang, “a fine welcome to-”

The changeling interrupted her by stuffing a hoof into her mouth. “No,” he swiftly told her as he removed his hoof. No singing. Not now, not ever. He’d rather be thrown through the air for countless miles again. “I’ve already been welcomed into Ponyville. By those three little fillies, the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

“Oh,” Pinkie Pie said, slightly upset. “Did they get their cutie marks?” she asked, instantly becoming cheerful again. Suncloak briefly wondered if this mare had as much holes in her brain as a changeling had in its hooves. The music from the cart continued.

“No,” he answered. They were still doing... whatever they did, yesterday. “I’ll get going now.” The changeling turned to leave.

“Wait!” Pinkie Pie desperately called out.

Suncloak turned back again. “What?” he asked her. Really, she was starting to push it. Rarity had been annoying, but this was starting to become a whole different level.

The music from the cart died down. “Wait for iiit...” Pinkie Pie said. All of a sudden, a cake shot out of the oven, baked and ready.

The changeling stepped closer. A cake? That was kind of nice, actually. Fluttershy had stepped closer as well and looked at the cake. “Um, Pinkie Pie? I think you put confetti on the cake instead of sprinkles,” she softly said.

Pinkie Pie inspected the cake. “Huh. Then where’d I put the sprinkles?” Right on cue, the cart shot an enormous bunch of sprinkles up in the air, which came down like hail.

The three remained silent for a few seconds, until Pinkie Pie said, “Shoot! And I was so close this time.” This drew a round of giggles from both her and Fluttershy. Even Suncloak let out a short chuckle. No matter which pony, they were all hopelessly dumb. Ponies were a lot more amusing than he remembered, though.

“Right, I should really be going now,” the changeling told them. He gave them a short wave and turned to leave.

“Okay, bye Sunny!” Pinkie Pie said cheerfully. “I’ll see you later!” Fluttershy added a soft “bye.”

As Suncloak left, a large smile crept over his face. He’d successfully fooled all six of the Elements of Harmony! His acting skills were greater than those of Tom Flanks! Staying hidden would be no problem at all.

Now, all that was left was to find a suitable couple to steal love from. A couple that wasn’t expecting a foal. Easy, right?

After Suncloak was gone, Pinkie Pie turned her attention to Fluttershy again. “He sure is a nice pony, don’t you think so, Fluttershy?”

“Oh, he sure was,” Fluttershy told her. “But his cloak makes him look a bit scary...”

Pinkie Pie threw a hoof around the yellow pegasus, looked around suspiciously, then whispered, “I smell something fishy, though.”

“I think that’s coming from the pond,” Fluttershy said as she pointed to the park’s fishpond.

“Oh. Those fish should take a bath!” the pink mare said, clamping a hoof over her nose. “Well, there’s a new pony in town, and you know what that means,” she excitedly told Fluttershy.

Fluttershy gave her a blank stare for a moment. “Oh!” she said as realization dawned upon her face, “of course! Do you need any help?”

“Any help is welcome,” Pinkie Pie said as she dragged Fluttershy away. “Listen, this is what we’re going to do...”

Finding a couple hadn’t been easy. In fact, the changeling’s rumbling stomach reminded him, he hadn’t found two suitable ponies at all.

Every single time he’d found a couple, his newly found conscience told him not to steal their love. One couple already had a little filly. Another couple was almost getting married. Even when he ran into two ponies who showed signs of having just entered a relationship, his stupid conscience told him that it wouldn’t be worth it. He couldn’t risk destroying something like that just because he needed food, for whatever insane reason.

It was already dark when he entered the barn. It was incredibly dark in the barn as well. In frustration, he threw his cloak and sunglasses on the ground. “Bah! I just had to go and get a conscience!” he told himself. “Next, I’m just going to go and walk around Ponyville without this cloak!” He growled. “And why is it so dark in here?!”

Almost instantly, the lights sprung on, and what was probably the entire population of Ponyville, including the six Elements of Harmony, jumped out from some kind of hiding place, yelling “SURPRISE!!”

Then, they all gasped.

“What?” the changeling asked them. He looked down and saw his hooves. With holes. “Uh...” Oh, right, he’d taken off his cloak. And his sunglasses.

...In front of a few hundred ponies. “I can explain?”

Somewhere in the back, he could hear Rarity faint.

Chapter 9

“Well, this is awkward,” the changeling said as he took a few steps back. A few hundred pairs of eyes were still looking at him. Was it always this hot in the barn? “Uh, you don’t suppose we can let bygones be bygones? Then we can all just take a nice, deep breath and BYE!”

He whirled around and sprinted for the barn doors. Behind him, he could hear a pony shout something, and then a loud ‘whoosh’. He felt something or somepony tackle him from behind. He was flung forward, rolling head over hooves. While he tumbled, he could see a rainbow blur somewhere, telling him that it was Rainbow Dash who had knocked him over.

He rolled into the barn doors, jaws first. Luckily, due to his head’s earlier experience with bumps, he could quickly recover.

Now, before they can react, I’ll get out of here, he thought as he stared up at the ceiling. As he tried to move, however, he could only feel that his teeth hurt. Wait, what...?

He stared at where his head was touching the barn doors. Apparently, he’d been flung forward so hard that his fangs were now stuck in the wood. “Fufiv Fah’s!” he cursed to himself. He tried pulling himself loose again, but his teeth wouldn’t budge.

That was, until he saw a purple glow surround his head, and felt something pull at him. His teeth suddenly came loose from the door, the whiplash causing him to turn around.

Suddenly, he was staring into the angry faces of six ponies he’d already met. Apparently, Rarity had already recovered from fainting.

“Wow, fancy that, meeting the Elements of Harmony,” he said as he chuckled nervously. He tried taking a step backwards, but found he was already against the wall. He pushed himself farther away from the six ponies in front of him, causing him to sit down.

“Where’s Suncloak?” Rainbow Dash demanded, inching closer to the changeling.

“Uh, what?” Suncloak answered. He was Suncloak. Well, it was only a temporary name. He didn’t really have a changeling name since he was banished, anyway. No hive meant no job, and no job meant no name, technically. But still, Suncloak was his name! He’d gotten at least a little bit attached to it.

“Where’d you leave the real Sunny?” Pinkie Pie demanded. “You mean meanie-pants changeling! Give him back!”

“But I am Suncloak!” the changeling protested. Did they really think he’d abducted a pony named Suncloak to take his place? At least it meant that he’d done a good job with his disguise and behaviour.

“Obviously not,” Rarity said, “since you’re a changeling. You must have replaced poor Suncloak some time ago!”

Okay, these ponies were just being stupid now. “Like I said, I am Suncloak! I’ve been Suncloak ever since I met the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” he yelled angrily.

The six ponies suddenly gave him surprised and confused looks. They really did think he was a pony! Everything would’ve turned out gr-

“Ah knew it!” Applejack exclaimed.

It was Suncloak’s turn to look surprised. “What do you mean?” he asked the orange earth pony.

“Ah should’ve known when Ah thought yer hoof felt weird when Ah shook it!” she said. Uh... so she’d suspected something from the very start? “Ah told ya that Ah thought he was lyin’, Twilight!” Well, at least they don’t call her the Element of Honesty for nothing.

“But I don’t understand,” Twilight said, “I just thought you were a bit on edge because the invasion wasn’t that long ago. He didn’t really seem like a changeling when you sent him over with that book like we planned!”

Whoa, that had actually been planned in advance? Applejack must’ve gone to the library during his first night in the barn. Ponies were apparently a lot more clever than he thought...

“Well, of all the things that could possibly have happened,” Rarity said, “this was-”

“The worst possible thing?” the other five ponies finished for her with deadpan looks. Even Fluttershy, surprisingly.

“Well, I was going to say ‘quite unexpected’, actually,” Rarity said. “I deliberately bumped into him to check after Twilight told me you suspected something,” she told Applejack, “but I didn’t think he was a changeling either! His cloak is somewhat... tacky, but that hardly means somepony is a changeling. I thought changelings were meaner than him!”

How incredibly rude! Changelings weren’t mean, they just didn’t think the same way as ponies. Then again, he’d always thought ponies were really dumb, but apparently, they’d constructed schemes behind his back to find out if he was a changeling or not.

“Hey,” Rainbow Dash chimed in, “at least you didn’t make a joke about him being a changeling.” Right, she’d done that. She must’ve realized she was right by now. “He was weird and stuff, but that didn’t tell me he was a changeling. We know other weird ponies, after all.” She looked at Pinkie Pie. “I’m just surprised your Pinkie Sense didn’t tell you anything!”

“Hey, my Pinkie Sense only predicts stuff in the near future,” Pinkie Pie said seriously. “It didn’t tell me he was a changeling. Besides, I kept an eye on him like Twilight asked me to, and when I met him, he was nice and he waited for my welcome wagon and he even had to laugh when I accidentally swapped the confetti and the sprinkles!” She sat down and looked at Fluttershy. “And Fluttershy was there too! You didn’t think he was a changeling, right, Fluttershy?”

The other Elements looked expectantly at Fluttershy, who had started blushing a bit. “Um...” she started.

“Well?” Twilight Sparkle asked. “You didn’t suspect him, right?”

“Well,” Fluttershy started, “I didn’t really notice anything big when I met him...”

Rainbow Dash rushed over to her and wildly shook the yellow pegasus around. “Well? C’mon, tell us! Somepony had to have noticed?!” She put Fluttershy down again. “Uh, sorry. Got swept up in the moment.”

The timid mare shook her head to get rid of the dizziness. “If you really want to know...” She took a deep breath. “His cloak followed the contours of his hooves so I could see the holes, there were bulges where his wings were, I could see his short, grey tail, and I could see his eyes just slightly through the sunglasses. Oh, and I saw him around my house the day before Applejack met him.”

The other five ponies gave her confused looks. “But darling, why didn’t you tell us?” Rarity asked.

“Oh,” Fluttershy said timidly, “I thought it’d be really rude. Nopony likes a tattletale.”

Rainbow Dash slapped herself in the face with a hoof and groaned.

“Regardless, we have him now,” Twilight said as she turned towards the caught changeling again, “now-”

The barn door was slightly open, and there wasn’t a changeling to be found.

Twilight sighed. “Let’s split up and look for him. He couldn’t have gotten far.”

Pinkie Pie turned to all the other ponies in the barn. “Sorry everypony! The party is on hold for now!”

She was met by a chorus of ‘Awwwww’.

Suncloak found himself fleeing through the orchard of Sweet Apple Acres. Everything had gone so well until now! The ponies had suspected he was a changeling, but he’d fooled them all. They saw through his disguise, but apparently they thought he was too nice to be a changeling. Not that they were incredibly wrong; changelings could be jerks. In fact, they were jerks most of the time toward each other. Why be friends with other changelings, if they wouldn’t share love with you, anyway? They needed it to stay alive as well. The deepest relationship changelings could have was rivalry.

He wasn’t even halfway across the orchard before he felt really tired. That didn’t come as a surprise, seeing as he hadn’t taken any love for... how many days? He hadn’t kept count. But apparently, after panicking about being found out and running, he was starting to run low on energy.

Panting, he stopped next to one of the many apple trees. As he laid down on the ground, leaning against the tree, he sighed. He’d been banished from his hive, and flung through the air for who knows how many miles. He had landed near Ponyville, where he got a disguise and tried to steal love.

He’d actually enjoyed being in Ponyville. Sure, the ponies had been annoying in various ways, but he could think of a bunch of worse ways to spend his time. The past days had been far more enjoyable than he’d thought, even though he had to be incredibly careful not to reveal himself to all the ponies in town.

However, that was all over now. Either he’d starve right here, or he’d be found, thrown in jail, and then he’d starve.

He laid his head down and sighed as he heard a pony approach him. He could hear the pony lay down in the grass as well, but the changeling didn’t even bother looking.

For several uneasy seconds, they remained silent.

“What are you waiting for?” he asked the pony. “Aren’t you supposed to take me away, put me in prison?”

The pony sighed. “I don’t get it.” Judging from the voice, it was Twilight Sparkle. Great, it was even Princess Celestia’s star pupil. Maybe he could get sent to the moon, that’d make everything go much faster.

“Don’t get what?” he asked shortly.

“I thought changelings were jerks. Why were you so nice to us?” Twilight elaborated.

Suncloak shrugged weakly. “I had to stay hidden. I didn’t have enough energy to put up a disguise, so I borrowed some things and hoped I could fool all of you.”

“But why are you here?” Twilight asked. “I don’t think the changeling queen would send a hungry spy over here, and if I was a really hungry changeling, I’d go somewhere where I knew I could feed.”

Ponies were indeed far more clever than he had thought. “I was banished,” he answered, tears welling up in his eyes. “Queen Chrysalis blamed me for making the invasion fail. It wasn’t my fault, but I think she was just really angry, or wanted a scapegoat.”

They both sighed, and remained silent for another few seconds.

“So, you don’t have anything anymore?” Twilight asked. There was a twinge of sadness in her voice.

He shook his head. “No home, no friends, not even a name.” He swallowed. Did his throat always feel this tight? “Well, I suppose my name is Suncloak, but I just made that up to blend in.”

He looked at Twilight. “But I actually like that name now! I enjoyed being in Ponyville, I really did! Even though I found ponies to be annoying, being around all of you somehow made me feel good in the end! And often, after talking to one of you ponies, I could feel just a little bit of love in the air around me. Not the real love stuff, but different.” He laid his head down again. “Not that it matters any more.” He presented his front hooves to Twilight. “So go ahead, lock me up. I don’t think I can resist...”

He held them there for a few moments, but there was no reaction. He shot the purple pony an annoyed look. “Well? Come on, put the cuffs on. This is starting to hurt.”

Twilight stared pensively. “No,” she said.

The changeling laid his front legs on the ground again. “What ‘no’? You told me yourself that you were supposed to capture and lock up any changeling you found.” Stupid, ridiculous ponies. “It’s a royal order!”

Twilight shook her head. “You didn’t take any love, right?”

“Uh, no,” he answered, “if I had stolen any more than the little bits I felt, I would’ve left Ponyville already.”

“Then why didn’t you?” Twilight asked.

The changeling sighed. “Because I couldn’t. Sure, I could have stolen some love, but that would mean I could have ruined a relationship. After my time spent here, I didn’t think that’d be very... nice.”

“So you wouldn’t say you’re a bad changeling, right?” Twilight smiled.

“Well, according to changeling standards, I’m a horrible changeling right now. But according to pony standards, I guess not,” he answered. “But does that matter? Orders. Changelings. Lock ‘em up.”

“Actually,” Twilight said, “I made that up to check your reaction.”

The changeling’s eyes widened. Clever, scheming pony. And actually, that wasn’t much different from what he himself had done.

“Your reaction was far more extreme than a pony’s normal reaction,” Twilight said. She was right, he’d reacted incredibly shocked. “Any pony would probably be happy with such an order, or at the very least, slightly concerned.”

“Then why didn’t you do anything?” Suncloak asked.

“I did, actually,” Twilight answered, “I informed Princess Celestia, and-”

“What?!” the changeling exclaimed. He attempted to run away, but he didn’t have the energy to stand up. He couldn’t be blamed for trying, though.

“I told her that I pretty much knew you were a changeling, and she agreed. I thought you weren’t a bad changeling, so I asked the princess if she could let me deal with the whole situation.”

“I, but, what? I don’t, you... Huh?” the changeling bumbled. So, she’d known since they met, but she didn’t do anything?

“I thought you were a nice changeling. I talked to the ponies who had met you, and they also thought you were nice. You heard what the others said in the barn,” Twilight said. “And I think I know what those little bits of love you felt were.” She put a hoof on his shoulder.

Instantly, he felt and smelled love around him. There wasn’t any doubt; it came from Twilight Sparkle. It wasn’t the usual love that came from a couple, but a more subtle, somewhat diluted love. Unlike earlier times, this wasn’t a little bite, this felt more like an average snack. Would it be alright if he just took it?

“You were nice to other ponies, and they were nice to you. I think the love you took was friendship. Friends love each other too, although not in the way a couple do.”

Suncloak slapped himself in the face. Of course! Most ponies didn’t know he was a changeling, so they’d just treated him like any new pony. As a potential new friend. Those little bits of love he felt were actually meant for him!

“If I’m nice to ponies, they’ll just give me love? Like you’re giving to me, now?” he asked hopefully.

Twilight nodded. “And I bet that if you continue being nice, ponies will love you more and more.”

The changeling’s horn glowed as he took in the love Twilight had given him. Finally, he had gotten something! And he didn’t even need to steal it. Weird, but strangely useful. If only he had known this earlier. “Thanks,” he said as he stood up.

Twilight stood up as well. “How about we go back to the party?”

“Uh, don’t I need a disguise?” Suncloak said.

“No,” Twilight answered. “Everypony already knows you’re the real Suncloak, anyway.”

“But won’t they hate me?” the changeling asked, worried. He was a changeling, they were ponies. With the whole failed invasion thing being not that long ago, they’d probably want to run him out of the village.

“It’ll be okay,” Twilight assured him, “me, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie will explain it to everypony. We’re already your friends, and they trust us.”

The changeling looked around. “Where are the others, anyway? Did you split up?” He turned around a few times.

Twilight scratched her chin. “We split up, but they should be about done looking around. I think they’re back at the barn already. Let’s go meet them th-”

She was cut off by Pinkie Pie jumping out a bush and throwing herself around Suncloak. “Yay, Sunny’s gonna come to the party!” she yelled as she hugged him.

The changeling, on the other hoof, jumped up in the air with a loud yelp. After he landed, he struggled to get the party pony off him.

Twilight sighed. “Pinkie, were you eavesdropping on us alone in that bush?”

“I wasn’t eavesdropping alone,” Pinkie said, still clinging to Suncloak.

Applejack stepped out of the bush Pinkie had been hiding in, while Fluttershy and Rarity appeared from behind two trees. Rainbow Dash flew out of her hiding spot in a tree.

“Were all of you eavesdropping?” Twilight asked them, annoyed.

“We heard you talking, and we didn’t want to interrupt,” Fluttershy said with her usual soft tone. “So we just listened.”

“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie chimed in, “we thought Sunny sounded all sad and we felt really sorry for ganging up on him earlier and we didn’t want to scare him!” Their mission had failed quite obviously in regards to that last part.

“Like Pinkie Pie said, we’re awfully sorry,” Rarity said. “We didn’t know you were the real Suncloak. You had us all fooled! Well, except Twilight,” she added.

“Hey, he didn’t fool Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash said, “and I had my suspicions all along!”

Everypony gave her a deadpan look, except Pinkie Pie, who was still excitedly hugging Suncloak, who was still trying to get her off.

“What? I totally did,” Rainbow Dash defended herself. After a few seconds, she said, “Okay, maybe I didn’t.”

Applejack took Pinkie Pie’s tail in her mouth, pulling her off the changeling. “Ah think yer scaring him, Pinkie,” she said through clenched teeth. After she let go, she said, “Why don’t we get back to the barn? There’s still a party in there.”

The six ponies looked expectantly at Suncloak. Well, he had the support of the Elements of Harmony now, so...

“Sure,” the changeling said.

When they arrived at the barn, Twilight told him to stay outside for a while, whilst they explained to the ponies inside what had happened.

A few moments later, she poked her head out the barn doors again. “We explained it, and they understand. Come in!” she said.

Filled with far more uncertainty than he had prepared himself for, the changeling stepped into the barn.

A few hundred ponies looked at him. It was completely silent.

“Uh, hi?” he said. They hated him, he had to turn back, find another village-

The crowd suddenly erupted in cheers, while Pinkie Pie yelled “Let’s party!”

Chapter 10

“Rise an’ shine, sleepyhead,” Applejack said as she opened the barn doors.

No response.

She walked over to the improvised bed in the corner of the barn. Suncloak was still in bed, but he wasn’t moving. She poked it for good measure.

“Go ‘way,” the changeling mumbled. “Not feeling well.”

Applejack chuckled. “That party too much for ya? Ya’ll get used to it, promise.” She started tugging on his sheet. “Now come on, there’s stuff to be done.”

Suncloak stuck out his tongue as he rolled out of bed. “Yegh. Took too much love.”

“Ya can do that?” Applejack asked while she scratched the back of her head.

“Of course,” the changeling answered. “A pony eats too much food, they get a stomach ache. A changeling takes too much love, they get a stomach ache.” He wasn’t entirely sure he should call this an ache, though. He had been near starvation the night before, but the ponies had given him some love in the form of friendship. When he got back to the party, however, there were several hundred ponies, all of which interested in a changeling who managed to become friends with the Elements of Harmony.

Several hundred ponies who were all too eager to give little bits of that same love to him. Love which he had taken, since it was meant for him. No sense in letting that go to waste, right?

Well, that was what he thought then. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet, and he took pretty much all of the food. Turns out it was pretty stupid, since he now had the mother of all stomach aches. Or a stomach implosion. He couldn’t really tell the difference.

On the plus side, he finally wasn’t hungry anymore.

“Makes sense,” Applejack said. “Now come on. Ya’ll feel better later.”

Suncloak sure hoped so. He started to put his cloak on, but paused as he looked at the white blanket. Applejack had given him a replacement blanket for the night, since he’d given the things he took when he first entered Ponyville back to their owners. Fluttershy’s rag, Rainbow Dash’s sunglasses and Rarity’s safety pin. He didn’t need those anymore, since all the ponies in Ponyville knew he was a changeling now.

Still, it felt weird to go outside without his cloak. So did talking to ponies without wearing a disguise, and so did having love handed to him. A lot of things felt weird right now.

“Uh, right. No disguise needed anymore,” he said. “What did you need me for?”

“Pinkie Pie just came by,” the orange earth pony answered, “she told me to get you and head for Carousel Boutique, ‘cause there’s a surprise.”

Suncloak shot her a deadpan look. “Is it another party?”

Applejack made a motion, as if zipping her lips. “Can’t tell ya. It’s a surprise.” Right. What a lousy Element of Honesty.

“Whatever, let’s go,” the changeling said as he started moving outside. It would’ve gone a lot faster if the sun wasn’t so bright, though. And the smells in the air weren’t doing him any good, either. The soft, sweet smell of the love of friendship was making him nauseous, but it was slightly muted by a subtle, sour scent in the air. It felt familiar, but he couldn’t really figure out why. “Something smells bad. I thought we cleaned up?”

Applejack sniffed the air. “Ah only smell hay. Ya sure ya aren’t smellin’ some kinda love again?”

“No, this isn’t love. I’ll figure it out,” Suncloak said as they left.

Not much later, they arrived at Carousel Boutique. The other Elements of Harmony were there, waiting for Suncloak and Applejack to arrive. Pinkie Pie seemed to be rather energetic for some reason.

Well, more so than usual.

What Suncloak was more interested in, was the fact that Rarity was there as well. A perfect opportunity to see if he completely understood what friendship was about.

He cleared his throat as he approached her. “Rarity, according to my changeling standards, you are the most revolting and hideous thing I have ever seen, but according to pony standards, I guess you are very pretty.” There, both honest and kind. Friendship is simple!

Rarity gave him a confused look. “Uh... Th-thank you? I think?” She turned to Fluttershy and whispered, “Was that an insult or a compliment?”

Fluttershy simply shrugged. “I don’t know,” she whispered back.

“Regardless,” Rarity said as she turned to Suncloak again, “we have something to show you!”

“But we can’t tell what it is yet,” Pinkie Pie said whilst bouncing up and down in front of the changeling, “because it’s a surprise! And it’s a really really really really really really-”

Rainbow Dash cut the hyperactive pony off by jamming a hoof in her mouth. “Sheesh Pinkie, calm down.” She removed her hoof while she said, “But it’s pretty cool, yeah.”

“Well, let’s go and take a look,” Twilight said.

“Hold on,” Suncloak said. He sniffed the air a few times. That sour scent was still hanging in the air, but it was slightly stronger now.

“Ya smellin’ that same stuff again, Suncloak?” Applejack asked.

The ponies all smelled the air. “I don’t smell anything,” Twilight stated. The others nodded in confirmation.

Okay, so it was something only he could smell. It wasn’t love, since love always smelled sweet. He raised one hoof and smelled his own body. No, that wasn’t it either. “It’s...” he started. What was it? Something only a changeling could smell, but it wasn’t love. Then it had to be... “another changeling.”

“Another changeling?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Is it somepony you know?”

“No idea,” Suncloak answered. He sniffed the air a few times. “I think it’s coming from the forest. Or somewhere nearby.”

Pinkie Pie loudly gasped. “You know what this means?! A new changeling means a new friend! Let’s go look for him!” She sped off towards the Everfree Forest before anyone could object.

Twilight gave Suncloak a questioning look. “Let’s go to the forest,” the changeling told her.

A few minutes, a lot of smelling, and some pathfinding later, they had found the other changeling. Currently, they were looking at him while sitting in a bush. To the ponies, he looked identical to Suncloak, but Suncloak himself could tell numerous differences. Slight variation in eye color, amount of holes in the hooves, things like that.

“Right, you six stay here, I’ll go talk to him,” he said, before stepping out of the bush. He cleared his throat rather loudly, causing the other changeling to turn around, and said, “State occupation, rank, and business.” Short and to the point, just like he would’ve done if he was still a royal guard.

“Strike team four, number 21, ranked third, currently on my way to scout the village just ahead,” the other changeling said. “Who’re you?” he asked. “Wait,” he said, getting closer to Suncloak to inspect him. “Aren’t you the one who was banished a few days ago?”

Oh, great, so news was getting around. Which wasn’t exactly surprising, since banishment from the hive doesn’t happen very often. “Yes,” he answered, “so I technically have no name, rank or objective.”

“Whoooaaa,” #21 said, throwing a hoof around Suncloak’s neck. Great, one of the overly touchy changelings. “We didn’t think you’d still be walking around right now.” Apparently, he wasn’t one of the overly subtle changelings. “How’re you doing, buddy?”

Suncloak shrugged him off. “That doesn’t matter. You said you were scouting?” Scouting usually meant two things: either he was heading to Ponyville to keep a few ponies under surveillance, or he was checking to see if it was a good feeding ground.

“Yeah, I got orders and stuff saying I need to check if the village is safe for us changelings and whatnot. There’s a few of us nearby and we could kinda use some dinner,” #21 answered. “But now that you’re here, you can just tell me, and then we can go back to the hive! I’ll just explain everything and then you’ll be accepted back in nice and easy. I’m not ranked third in my team for nothing.”

Back to the hive? So he could leave Ponyville and its annoying ponies and confusing friendship behind? Suncloak shot a look back to the bush where the six ponies were hiding. They were silent, but looked expectantly at him. “Uh, I don’t know,” he mumbled to himself.

“Oh come on, don’t dawdle like that.” #21 took hold of one of Suncloak’s hooves and started pulling him in what was probably the direction of the hive. Suncloak didn’t budge, however. “We go back to the hive, and then you can do... whatever it was you did, and take love from those dumb ponies and junk. You managed to do that without changing your appearance, so we can get everyling together and suck those ponies dry!”

Suncloak pulled his hoof back. “No.”

“What, ‘no’?” #21 asked indignantly. “Did you get a few holes in your brains?”

“No, I didn’t take love from these ponies,” Suncloak answered. This guy was seriously annoying. “I didn’t steal it either. And they aren’t as dumb as you think, either.” Sure, they weren’t all as smart, but they’d certainly turned out a lot more clever than he thought.

21 gave him a confused look. “Wait, wait, wait. What’re you talking about? You didn’t take or steal love? Ponies aren’t dumb? Did you hit your head?”

Actually, yes, and repeatedly at that. “They gave me love, even though they know I’m a changeling. They’re friendly and forgiving, but they’re also clever and shrewd, if they want to be.”

“So a pony fell in love with you?” #21 asked. “How’d you do that?”

Suncloak slapped himself in the face with a hoof. “No, not like that. They wanted to be friends with me. Apparently, that comes with its own brand of love.”

21 looked at him for a moment, then gave a short laugh. “Okay, you had me going there for a while. You just look so serious! Now let’s go,” he said, as he started pulling on one of Suncloak’s hooves again.

“No,” Suncloak said again. “I’m not in a good mood, so go away.” He could hear a grinding sound somewhere. Oh, those were his teeth. This conversation was getting seriously aggravating.

“I thought you were never in a good mood,” #21 quipped.

Suncloak stuck his face forward, making it so he was about an inch away from the other changeling’s face. “I thought you liked having all of your teeth in your mouth,” he said with a growl.

21 let go of Suncloak’s hoof, and backed away slightly. “But-”

“I’m not that smart, and I’m not always very nice,” Suncloak said, cutting the other changeling off. “But these ponies accepted me anyway, when they could’ve locked me up instead. Give me one good reason to go back to a hive filled with jerks rather than stay in a village filled with ponies who would like to be my friend.”

“Oh come on, a changeling can’t be friends with ponies! I’ve never even heard of that before. It’s silly and stupid. A changeling belongs with other changelings, that’s how it works,” #21 reasoned. It sounded like incredibly dumb reasoning, which was to be expected, honestly.

“If everyling back at the hive is this moronic, I’d rather stay here in Ponyville,” Suncloak said swiftly. He glanced back to the bush where his new friends were still watching. “Here, I’m Suncloak, and not just another royal guard. It feels right being here.”

“So...” #21 took a few steps back. “You sure you don’t want to go back to the hive? You actually want to stay here?”

Suncloak shot him an annoyed look. “I’d rather cut down a really big tree with a herring than go back to the hive.”

21 tried walking around him, but found his path blocked by Suncloak. “Hey, what gives? I still have a job to do!”

“No, you don’t,” Suncloak said, getting up close to the other changeling again. “You’re going to turn tail and go back to the hive. Tell them that if anyling, and I mean anyling, gets close to this village again,” He prodded the other changeling’s chest with a hoof, pushing him to the ground. “I’ll throw them out myself. Got that?”

21 meekly nodded. He seemed to be trying to stand up, but Suncloak’s hoof on his chest kept him down. “Yessir,” he swiftly spoke.

“Good,” Suncloak said as he withdrew his hoof. “Now scram, you white grub!” he yelled.

21 left so fast that he left little dust clouds in his wake.

As Suncloak turned to leave, he saw the six ponies behind him leave their hiding place. “Whoa, ya weren’t a royal guard for nothin’, I guess,” Applejack said.

“You sure showed him who’s boss, Suncloak!” Rainbow Dash jubilantly said.

“Are you sure that was a good idea?” Twilight asked.

A good idea? Eating something sweet after dinner was a good idea. Challenging an entire hive of changelings, on the other hoof, was not. As far as good ideas went, it ranked all the way at the bottom, somewhere between ‘releasing Discord from his stone prison’ and ‘paint yourself white’.

Suncloak shook his head as he walked past them. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a good idea or not. I’m staying here, and that’s that.” Honestly speaking, he was somewhat worried, but also oddly satisfied. “You wanted to show me something, right?”

“Oh, of course,” Fluttershy said timidly. “Your surprise. Um, let’s go?”

They all agreed, and went to... whatever that surprise would be. Hopefully, it’d be better than meeting another changeling.

Not much later, they reached a broad street, some distance away from Ponyville’s center. They stopped at about the halfway point of the street, where Twilight pointed to one rather small house. “Tadaah!”

Suncloak arched an eyebrow. “Uh, what am I looking at?” he said after a few seconds.

“It’s a house. Duh,” Rainbow Dash said with a roll of her eyes. Thank you, Rainbow Dash. Next, she’d say something incredibly profound like ‘you’re standing on a road’ or ‘there are clouds in the sky’.

Before Suncloak could give a snarky reply, Rarity said, “I happened to know that this house has been vacant for some time. I thought this would be just perfect!”

Suncloak’s eyebrow arched a bit higher. “Perfect for what? What’re you talking about?”

“Well, ya can’t sleep in the barn forever,” Applejack said. Really? The barn would be fine, honestly. There was a bed and it was pretty roomy. What more does a changeling need? Well, there was the whole being woken up early thing, but he could probably ignore that in the future. Actually, more things would require ignoring in the future. Possibly Pinkie Pie.

“We thought you’d like your own place to live, and, um, it seemed like a nice house,” Fluttershy softly spoke.

Suncloak’s other eyebrow decided to join the other up on his forehead, probably because it felt lonely. “Wait, you did, but, I don’t even... Uh... A house! Sunday!” he said, waving his hooves in the general direction of said house.

“Oh, it doesn’t matter that it’s sunday. The ponies at the town hall were surprisingly lenient when they considered I was the personal student of Princess Celestia,” Twilight said as she levitated a set of keys out of her mane.

“I don’t know what to say,” Suncloak said. He really didn’t, which was pretty aggravating. Did he really deserve this? And if he didn’t, how could he possibly make up for it? He felt indebted now. Ugh. He just decided to hold his hoof out to accept the keys.

“Well, here are the keys. Why don’t you take a look inside?” Twilight said as she dropped the keys into Suncloak’s hoof.

With a clatter, the keys fell on the ground. Suncloak shot an angry look towards his own hoof. The keys had fallen through one of the holes, apparently. “Stupid holes. One day, I’m going to buy a ton of corks, paint them black, and put them in there. Why do I even have these stupid things?!”

Twilight chuckled slightly. “Sorry.” Well, she couldn’t actually be blamed. Not every day that she’d give things to a changeling.

Suncloak picked up the keys and walked to the front door of the house. His house. That felt kind of weird, actually. Changelings lived together in a hive, so a place to call his own was... Odd, to say the least. “What’s next, a housewarming party?” he joked aloud.

As soon as he opened the door, he was assaulted by a combination of noise, confetti, and streamers, knocking him backwards. From his new location on the ground, the changeling grumbled and looked at Pinkie Pie.

Said pink pony was grinning from ear to ear. “Do you like it, Sunny?”

Rarity, on the other hoof, looked wide-eyed at the party pony. “Pinkie? How did you put all of that in the house? You didn’t have anything with you when we came to see the house this morning and now you...” She sighed and looked at the mess on the doorstep. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter.”

Suncloak sighed and agreed. Whatever Pinkie Pie does, don’t question it. That was at least one thing he had learned. He had to laugh when he realized that he had just accepted that someling had done something that made no sense at all.

“I think I put a teensy bit too much force behind it, though,” Pinkie Pie said. No kidding. “Sorry. I don’t want to hurt anypony for a laugh.”

Suncloak stood up, dusted himself off and pulled a streamer out of his ear. Oddly, he felt like just outside of his vision, someling was watching him and laughing at his misfortune.

Someling should really stop doing that.

“It doesn’t matter,” Suncloak said as he stepped into his house, and took a look around on the ground floor.

Like it had seemed from the outside, it was a pretty small building. Through the front door was a kitchen, followed by a living room. Fortunately, there was already furniture. A couch and a few chairs surrounded a small table. There was a dining table surrounded by a few chairs as well, but he probably wouldn’t need that very often. Or did he, now that he had friends? There were also plenty of windows, which made it feel a lot different from the dark changeling hive.

The living room was connected to a little hallway, where there was a door to the back yard, which was little more than grass. There was also a trapdoor, leading to an empty basement. A narrow flight of stairs lead to the first floor.

Up on the first floor were a bathroom with the usual equipment, and a bedroom with a bed, a closet and a single window.

“So, what do you think?” Rainbow Dash asked him.

Suncloak tapped his chin with a hoof. “It’s...” Horrid, tacky, cramped, awful. He could think of a ton of words to describe the building. It felt so different from the sleeping rooms in the changeling hive. This was all light, fluffy and inviting, where the hive was all dark, dank and foreboding.

He opened the window and took a look outside. Ponies were walking around, going about their usual sunday routines. Some ponies he didn’t recognize from the party saw him and hurried on to where they were going. Well, he couldn’t blame them. He’d probably have done the exact same thing.

However, some other ponies saw him looking out of the window and smiled at him. The Cutie Mark Crusaders even passed by in their scooter-and-cart combination, waving at him and shouting a greeting he didn’t quite understand. Suncloak merely waved back.

He looked behind him. Six ponies were standing there. Probably six of the most famous and important ponies in Equestria. Six ponies who were willing to become his friend. A changeling’s friend.

The changeling hadn’t been particularly nice to them behind their backs. And then, when he was at his lowest point, they had the perfect chance to get rid of him. But they did not, and instead decided to help him.

A large smile crept across his face as he found the perfect word to describe what he thought.

“It’s home.”

And that's it for Thrown Abroad! But don't worry (unless you didn't like this, then you probably should), I still want to continue writing about Suncloak. It just won't be in this story. Anyway, here are some people who are really, really awesome:

Noble Cause: 'cause he's 'my' pre-reader for Equestria Daily. When I saw that this story was greenlighted, it was probably one of the happiest moments I've had in a long, long time. It takes a special kind of amazing to be this amazing!

Bob from Bottles: Because he helped me out with a few errors in the earlier chapters in the story, making them much more polished now. Any help in writing is always cool!

Everyone in the Dutch Bronies IRC: For putting up with my endless fawning over how well this fic was doing, and for giving me a lot of motivation to write further. And for giving me the idea to submit to Equestria Daily in the first place. Sorry for being so annoying, hehe.

Everyone who favourited, rated and commented: Yes, about all 1000 of you. Ho-ly manure, did I not expect this to take off as it did. Every time I had a notification, it motivated me that much more to write this story, and try and make it better with every chapter. I hope I did well, and I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Edit: You can now find the sequel, My Little Changeling: Friendship is Weird, right here! If you enjoyed this story, chances are you'll enjoy that as well!

Chapter 4

Suncloak stood bumbling for words. “Element of Honesty, you say? As in, one of the Elements of Harmony? As in, the Elements of Harmony who defeated our- I mean, the changeling invasion in Canterlot?”

Applejack nodded and blushed a little. “Though Ah didn’t really do all that much,” she admitted.

“Well then, I guess I should be going then,” the changeling hastily said, “bye, thanks, see you later!”

As he made for the door, his stomach rumbled once more. On the one hoof, he couldn’t stay here. There could be more of the Elements in the village, and he wasn’t exactly looking forward to being subjected to whatever those could do to him.

On the other hoof, he probably wouldn’t last much longer without some love to feed on.

“You aren’t going to stay for a while?” Sweetie Belle asked him with big eyes. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo decided to join in the puppy eyes look, probably because they thought such an idiotic thing would convince him to stay.

“Fine,” Suncloak answered. No, you doofus, you have to leave this place, he thought to himself. Still, he couldn't ignore the fillies for some reason. Maybe being hungry made him especially sappy. Or dumb.

“Well, yer lucky Ah just made some apple pie,” Applejack said, “but, Apple Bloom, yer gonna have to do some extra chores fer this.”

Apple Bloom’s ears drooped. “Awww.”

A few moments later, they were all happily eating. Big Macintosh, a large, red stallion with an orange mane and a yoke, had joined them, as well as an elderly green mare, named Granny Smith.

The apple pie was... Suncloak couldn’t really put it into words. If he had to pick one word, it would be delicious, but that didn’t really do it justice. He knew one thing for sure: apples are heavenly.

The ponies were ravenously eating their pie, except for Granny Smith, who had a bit of trouble because of her old bones. Big Macintosh was able to help her, however. The Apples seemed like a close and loving family.

Yes, there was enough love to go around here. The smell of it hung thickly in the air; the ponies might not be able to smell it, but the changeling sure could. As he slowly ate the apple pie, savouring every bite, he had to resist the temptation to steal all that love. Sure, love from a couple was the most delicious, but the love between family members could be very tasty as well.

But stealing love from a host is just something you don’t do. If they show you some hospitality, you don’t go and steal from them. That’s horrible.

It’s alright if you steal from random passersby though.

He was about halfway through his food when all the others were finished. Applejack gave him an odd look. “Don’t ya like it?”

“It’f delishouf,” he said with a full mouth. He swallowed, to his dismay. “One of the best things I ever ate!” He reached to take another bite as Applejack raised a brow. “Uh, it’s... a custom where I come from. To eat really slowly when you love the food?” That wasn’t entirely false: since changelings didn’t actually need food to survive, they ate the most delicious meals slowly, to savour the taste.

Big Macintosh pensively tapped his chin. “Makes sense,” he said. The others agreed. Another crisis successfully averted.

“So, where are you staying?” Scootaloo asked Suncloak, as she ate the crumbs off her plate.

“Oh, in the woods over there,” he said as he waved in the general direction of the forest he had landed in.

The ponies let out a gasp and stared at him with wide eyes. Except Granny Smith, who had dozed off and started snoring.

“Yer sleeping in the Everfree Forest?” Apple Bloom asked him.

“That’s really dangerous!” Applejack added. Big Macintosh nodded in agreement.

“Well, I’m only sleeping at the edge of the forest,” Suncloak offered in defense, “really, I’m doing fine.”

“Yeah, and then a manticore eats you, or you get turned to stone by one of those cockatrixies,” Scootaloo countered.

“You mean cockatrices,” Sweetie Belle corrected. Scootaloo dismissively muttered something about dictionaries.

“It’s no big deal, honestly,” Suncloak retorted. Actually, manticores and cockatrices sounded incredibly scary. So was being around an Element of Harmony, but at least she didn’t show any interest in tearing him to shreds.

Yet.

“We can’t let ya stay there,” Applejack said, as the others nodded in agreement. Well, Granny Smith more than likely just nodded because she was asleep in her rocking chair. “But we don’t have a spare room...”

A light bulb went off above Apple Bloom’s head. “Maybe we can let ya stay in the barn! Enough space, and ya could probably improvise a bed or somethin’.” She cast a glance toward the light bulb. “Ah thought Ah fixed that,” she murmured to herself.

“Ah guess that’d work,” Applejack said, “if that’s alright with Suncloak here.”

“Sure, sure,” he answered. Anything was better than sleeping in a forest with manticores and cockatrices and whatnot. He wished he actually hadn’t heard about those creatures. Ignorance is bliss, after all.

“Well, follow me then,” Applejack said, as she went outside. It was getting dark already.

The changeling quickly finished his piece of pie, then went after her, remaining silent until they reached the barn. Once there, Applejack arranged a few bales of hay in a corner to resemble a bed. Sort of.

“I can getcha a spare pillow, just wait a moment,” she said as she hurried off.

Suncloak fidgeted nervously. “Of course staying with one of the Elements of Harmony is a good idea,” he tried to convince himself, “nothing will go wrong! Nothing at all!”

He stood for another moment, and sighed. “Oh who am I kidding. I’ve gotta feed and get the hay out of Dodge. Or, out of Ponyville, actually.”

Applejack returned with a pillow. “Well, it ain’t much, but...” she trailed off, not wanting to be a bad host.

“It’s alright. Thanks,” the changeling told her. ‘Thanks’ wasn’t exactly a word he had ever counted on honestly using. Then again, being banished, thrown miles away, and ending up close to one of the ponies he should probably consider his worst enemies could do strange things to anyling. “I think I’ll go to sleep, then.”

Applejack nodded. “Goodnight, Suncloak,” she said as she exited the barn and closed the door.

“Good night, Applejack,” he echoed after her.

A few moments after she closed the door, he started hyperventilating.

“Oh by the hole-y hooves of queen Chrysalis, I’m done for!” he wailed. “They’re going to catch on at some point and then blast me with the Elements or call princess Celestia! One of these days, bam, zoom, straight to the moon!” He threw off the cloak and sunglasses; he probably wouldn’t be bothered now anyway. He sat down and chewed on his front hooves.

He managed to calm himself down after more wailing than he’d like to admit, and a few additional holes in his hooves. Now, he could notice a peculiar scent in the air. It hung loosely around him, and smelled a bit like...

Love?

Odd. There wasn’t any pony around to give love, but there was still a bit of love hanging around. The changeling’s horn glowed softly as he took it in.

It wasn’t much, but at least it was enough to still his hunger for a little while.

He draped the cloak over the bed as a makeshift blanket, and set the sunglasses aside. He could go to sleep for now. The ponies seemed nice enough, and didn’t seem to suspect him of anything, and considering the level of intellect they had displayed, it’d probably take them some time to realize he was a changeling, and by then, he would’ve already left.

Yeah, and maybe if I keep telling myself that, I’ll be able to convince myself, he thought as he went to sleep.