Song birds began their morning sing, as Celestia’s sun began to reach above the horizon and its beautiful raise spread across the camp grounds. Within a cloud shaped tent, a cyan mare began to squirm, moving from the sound of the nearby birds. Her eyelids began to slowly open, taking in the weary gaze of the dim shine of the mornings light. Rainbow lifted herself up into a sitting position, stretching her body as she yawned loudly. She opened one her eyes, lowly gazing at her daughter, sleeping peacefully.

Rainbow gave a soft chuckle. “Heh, whoa what a weird dream…” She stood up, stretching her back, and then she made her way to the tent door, beginning to unzip it open. “For a second I really thought that my daughter was in love with a cha…” Rainbow’s voice stopped work as she saw what was on the other side of the tents opening. Her eyes locked on a black creature, with a smooth body and silk like mane. It’s fangs sticking out from under his muzzle, sitting on one of the camping sites logs, appearing to be holding something. “Oh. It wasn’t a dream…” There was a large moment of silence, the only sound of the soft morning wind slightly brushing against the nearby trees.

Rainbow continued to look at the changeling as he sat there with his head hanging low. “Well, I better say something…” Rainbow though to herself.

“G-good morning, um, Efon…” she said, a bit of an awkward tone in her voice.

Efon flinched as the voice hit his ears. In quick movement her turned to see that the voice belonged to Chroma’s mother. It took him another second to finally reply to her greeting.

“O-oh, g-good morning, M-Mrs. Dash. How are you?” Efon asked in a weary, low tone in his voice, nervous still of Rainbow.

“I-I’m…fine, um…” Another moment of silence washed upon them, Rainbow beginning to look at the ground, rubber one of her forehoof with the other, and Efon just sitting completely still. It wasn’t until Rainbow looked at Efon’s eyes, slight bags in his eyelids. “A-are you ok? You look…tired?” she asked awkwardly.

Efon put one of his hole filled hoofs up to his face, feeling the bags that had form from over the night. “Oh…that,” he spoke, “I-I didn’t go to bed for the rest of the night, you know, after…” Efon stopped speck, not wanting to get caught up in thought of last night.

“After the Timber wolf attack and the whole thing about us finding out that you were a changeling, right?” Rainbow finished.

“Yeah…” Efon said, rubbing the back of his head and turned completely around to have his body facing the cyan mare. From this, Rainbow saw that he was holding the guitar that Pandora had given him to play that song. “…that. It’s just…I’m really confused with the whole thing…”

Yet again, a wave of silence filled the air. However, this one was short live when Rainbow began to trotted over to the changeling, sitting down next to him on the log. “Y-you wanna talk about it?” she asked, still finding everything just as confusing as Efon. She was talking to a changeling!

Efon shook slightly as she sat down next to him, still felling some fear from being so close to her. He quickly swallowed he fear, realizing that he hasn’t replied to her question. “Well,” he began, “It’s just that…I don’t understand why you are even being considering to still let me hang with you, even if you know that I’m a changeling…”

Rainbow shot an unsure glance at him. “How come?” she simply asked.

Efon hung his as he began to pluck the strings of the guitar with his hoof. “Because I’m a changeling, and…” Efon paused, trying to find the word to explain himself. “I-I just feel like a monster like me doesn’t deserves this… any of it…”

Rainbow turned to look at the frown upon his face. She couldn’t figure out why she was feeling the way she did. She was feeling sorry for a changeling. Sighing, not believe what she was about to say. “Y-you’re not a monster, Efon…” she hesitantly said, not exactly saying how she really felt.

Efon lifted his head to look up at the cyan mare, knowing that she was lying. “Sorry, Mrs. Dash, but, I’m pretty sure that anything that doesn’t have a heart classifies as a monster…”

Rainbows head lifted in shock. “Wait…” Rainbow started to question, “Changeling at literally heartless?!”

“Ah, yeah...I thought you knew that already.”

“I read that in a book and heard it from Twilight, I didn’t it was actually true!”

“Well yeah,” Efon said, placing the guitar to his side, “It’s the reason why we need to absorb love energy, it keeps us alive.”

“Huh,” Rainbow said, rubbing her head, looking towards the ground. Suddenly, her face turning into a stern expression. “You know, for someone who say they were living alone their whole life, you know a lot about yourself and what you are.”

Efon looked into her cold eyes immediately responded. “W-well, that also something about changelings, we are born with the knowledge we need to survive, at least I was!” he said, shaking in fear.

Rainbow narrowed her eyes. “Right~” she said, getting up from her seat and walked over to her tent. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to keep to my word and let you still tag along with us, but if you are lying about everything, there will be severe consequences.” She turned her head to the changeling, giving her best death stare. “Ya got it?”

Efon gulped hardly, nodding in response.

“Good, now get your stuff, we’re about to move on to the next site.”

“Um, Mrs. Dash?” Efon said, stopping Rainbow in her tracks.

“Yeah?” Rainbow turned to face the changeling once again.

“Thanks…for this opportunity…” Efon simply spoke.

This was a shock to Rainbow, not expecting for him to thank her. She quickly shook it off as she said, “Yeah, whatever.” With that, Rainbow slipped into her tent, softly specking to wake her daughter.

Efon was left alone again, nothing but the wind, the singing birds, and the guitar that Pandora had given him to keep him company. “I promise you, I will do my very best to gain all of your trust…” he said to himself. “For Chroma’s sake…”

“You may have everyone else fooled…” A familiar voice stopped Efon’s train in though. He turned around to see the dragon pony he called his rival standing behind, staring at him from across the other side of the sitting logs with his amber eyes. “But I’m not falling for it, I know you have something planned! After all…” Fang turned and began to walk into his mother’s tent to awake her. “Your nothing but a dirty monster!”

Efon watch as the dragon pony hybrid zip the tent door closed. “Well, there’s one pony I will never convince that I’m not like the rest of them.” Efon took a deep breath and began to gather his things. “Why do I feel like bad things are going to occur today,” he sighed.

The sound of tent doors opening got his attention. He turned his head to the cloud shaped tent as Chroma stepped outside from it, rubbing her eye with a hoof, giving a slight yawn. He smiled at the sight of her.

Chroma soon smiled back once she stopped rubbing her eye. “G-good morning, Efon!” she said joyfully, a blush appearing on her face as she trotted closer to him.

“Well, maybe today won’t be so bad!” Efon smiled back.

“Huh?” Chroma said, giving him a questioning glance. “Efon, what do you…”

“The real sunrise has finally awoken and already my day feels a lot better!” Efon beamed, a small green blush appearing on his face. “And might I say that sunrise is looking incredibly cute this morning!”

Chroma’s face grew hot, her cheeks now a bright shade of red. She couldn’t help but smile, rubbing her leg with embarrassment. They both looked into each other’s eyes, standing there with a deepening blush printed on their faces.

“Look at you love birds!” Efon and Chroma snapped out of the trance as Camcore’s joyful voice filled their ears. They turned their attention to the orange pony in mention, bouncing merely towards. “You two are so cute together!”

“I…ah…” Efon couldn’t respond to Camcore’s statement.

“Wait a minute!” Camcore suddenly shouted, jumping enthusiastically into the air and landing back down with a thump. “It’s more like a love bird and a love bug!”

“What are you….” Efon tried to interject.

“By the way, how’s your….”

“AGH!”

Camcore’s question was interrupted by a loud grown. The group turned to see Pandora, not looking her very best. Her mane was completely disheveled, her fur ruffled, and her snake like tail tangled in its self.

“Why do you have to be so loud, Camcore?” Pandora had a very displeased look on her face as she yelled at the orange colt.

“Um…Pandora…” Camcore tried to say something about her appearance, but was interjected by another howl of anger from the princess of chaos.

“Do you know what time it is? You probably woke up nearby animals!”

“Pandora…”

“Why do you always have to be a nuisance?!”

“Pandora.”

“WHAT?” she yelled for the final time.

“Your, ah, mane and tail,” Camcore gestured to his own mane, prompting Pandora to look.

“Huh?” Pandora turned to look at her tail, seeing that it was in a nice knot, then panned her gaze up to her mane, seeing it standing straight up. With wide eye, she quickly dashed to her tent. “Oh my gosh! Fang would never love me if he sees me like this!” She entered the tent, only to pop her head back out. “Thanks Camcore, I owe you one!” she shouted.

Camcore waved as Pandora reentered the tent. “No problem Pan!” He turned back to Efon and Chroma, both having a half lite expression on they’re faces. “What?”

“You knew that was going to happen, didn’t you?” Efon asked blankly.

“What can I say, I know comic relief opportunities when I see them,” Camcore said, shrugging his shoulders.

Pandora stepped back outside her tent, her mother trailing right behind her. Her mane and tail was back to their normal state.
“Much better!” she said with joy, “Wouldn’t want my dear Fang thinking me in some type way away for looking all messy.” Fluttershy shook her head with a small at her daughter’s word, as she carefully began to take down her forest green tent down and began to packet it up.

“GOOOOOD MORNING!” Fluttershy nearly dropped one of the tents poles from the sudden burst of very audible joy. She turned, along with everyone else, to see that Pinkie was wide awake, jumping for the fun of it. “How’s everypony…” Pinkie turned to and gave Efon joyful smile, “And every changeling doing!?”

“Everything would be better if said changeling wasn’t present.”

They all turned to see Fang walking up, ready to keep moving with his survivor saddle bag resting on his back. His mother was right behind him. His eyes were locked on Efon; a grimace look on his face. It filled him with discuses that a changeling was traveling with them. It goes against everything he was taught from his combat instructor.

“Seriously, Fang!” The dragon pony turned to see his mother pulling the string on the house-like tent, causing it to revert back into portable form. “I understand that you are not very fond of changeling, and I’ll admit, neither am I, but Efon seems to be different than the rest of his kind. Can’t you at least put aside your judgement from all changelings, and just give him a chance?”

Fang stared at his mother for another second, before turn to look Efon, who, looked at him back. They were like that for a good few seconds. Finally, Fang shut his eyes and sighed.

“Fine, but I still hate him with my gut.”

“FANG!” yelled Rarity.

“It’s ok Mrs. Rarity,” Efon said glaring at Fang with a smirk. “Believe me, the feeling is mutual…” he said, speaking directly at Fang.
Fang stared back at him, the fire of hatred burning in his eyes. It was another few seconds of silence and staring.

“Rivalry” Camcore broke the tension by whispering his words into the dragon ponies ear, causing him to flinch out of his glare upon Efon.
“Alright, everyone ready to get a move on.” Rainbow had everything packed and was ready go.

Fluttershy finished putting away her tent and said, “Yup, ready to go.”

“All packed here!” shouted the lovable Pinkie Pie, her packed tent and camping supplies hoisted on her back.

Chroma sitting aside, packing up all of her things. She looked up to see that the Changeling she loved doing the same, neatly placing his sketch books and pencils away. It still was a bit hard to believe that everything Efon owned was from ponies that had entered that terrifying forest. Then again, others could make the argument that she went into the forest every Saturday to chat with a Changeling from the morning to noon behind her mother’s back.

“A Changeling…” Chroma’s thoughts began, “a creature at which to be thought as a monster. But…Efon isn’t one of them. He’s kind. He’s sweet. He’s charming. He’s…he’s…”

“Chroma are you alright?”

“Huh?!” Chroma shook her head to snap out of her thoughts.

Efon was looking down at her, his things, even the guitar Pandora gave him, on his back in his saddle bag. He looked her with a puzzling face. “You were just staring into space for a second and your face is a nice shade of red. Is everything ok?”

Chroma’s face flushed more, both from embarrassment and for the fact she was thinking about Efon like that. “Oh it’s nothing!” She quickly lifted her saddle bag onto her back. “Just thinking is all.”

“Really? Because you seem a bit…”

“Hey, Efon!”

The orange colt interrupted Efon by jumping out of nowhere, as usual. Chroma quickly wiped the sweat from her forehead, sighing in relief.
“So can you to explain to be how you could heal so fast? I mean the scar from the Timber would leave a pony in pain for days! More likely be their end!”

Efon pounder on the question for a second, trying to find an answer to Camcore’s question. “Well,” he began, “I guess it has to do with my cells.”

“What do you mean?”

“Alright, let’s go!” shouted Rainbow, seeing that everything was packed.

As they began to walk, Efon started to explain to Camcore. “Since I can turn into many creatures, my cells have that natural healing factor that some animals or bugs might have.”

“I see.” Camcore thought for a moment, trying find another question for his Changeling friend. “So, you could turn into anything?”

“Pretty much. As long as that thing isn’t huge. If I turn into to anything too big at my age, it could kill me.”

The adults raised an eyebrow at this as they shared astonished glances.

“Really?” Efon turned to his other side to see that the question was asked by Pandora.

“Yeah. It all has to do with age and the amount of energy a Changeling has. As long as you have enough energy and up to age, a Changeling could turn into a Hydra if they wanted to.”

“Are you serious? A Hydra?!” Camcore excitedly squealed.

As their conversation continued, Chroma watched from afar, smiling.

“They still treat him as if him being a Changeling didn’t matter” This made her very happy, seeing that her friends still like him. “Well, most of them.” She looked behind her to see that Fang was giving her a disapproving grimace. She frowned and lowered her head in thought as she continued walk. “He just need to prove himself to them. If he could do that…” She looked up at her crush, bring another warm smile upon her face. “…then we could be together…”

The dragon pony walks from afar, a foot behind the group of ponies and…and…that thing! His body nearly heated up to the point his mane sets a flame. He huffed to himself as walked slightly off the path to the next camp site.

“I can’t believe this…How can someone like Chroma, the smartest girl I know, could be tricked into falling for a monster?” He glazed at the ‘monster’, chatting with his other friends. The sight of it made him grunt softly. “He has them under a spell, that’s why! The second he makes a move, I GONNA…”

All a sudden a flash of green light surrounded the group, all but Efon, who was ahead of the rest at the moment.

“What the hey?” Efon asked as he turned to see the emerald green glow. “Oh no, everyone move!”

Efon trotted as fast as his Swiss cheese legs could, but it was all for nothing. A blinding green light blocked him from the rest of group, everypony and Changeling covering their eyes from the sight.

As the flashing light subsided and vision had returned, the group open their eyes to see that they were separated form Efon by a giant, green dome.

Rainbow looked around, observing the uneven outline on the outside of the dome. “Wait a sec…” a sudden realization washed over, for she had seen this kind of imprisonment before, “This is a Changeling's cocoon!”

Fang’s mane went up in flames, as his anger had reached its’s peek. “I knew it; I knew we couldn’t trust you!” He pointed a judging claw to the Changeling standing from outside the doom. “I should just have burnt you to a crisp when I had the chance!” Fang furiously banged the dome at the attempted to escape.

“Efon what’s the meaning of this!” Rainbow yelled, giving a hostile look in her eye.

“I had nothing to do with this!” Efon argued back, raising his right hoof and allowing an electrical flow of energy from his horn to run his leg and surround around his raised hoof. “Everyone stand back; I need to get you out of there before…”

Just as Efon was going to smash through the green barrier, a green energy beam was fired towards him. Acting fast, Efon used his winds to fly away from the green beam. The group turned to see what a had shot it. Their eyes moved quick as a black creator jumped from the darkness of the woods and lunged for the airborne Efon.

The creature had two sharp fang, black, hole filled legs, a curved horn and insect wings. It wore a navy blue armored body piece, along with a helmet. The helmet was mad to allow its two, webbed like frills to stick out, as well an open arc the show its face, its eyes glowing a sapphire blue, no pupil. Enveloped in his green, glowing magic was black dagger, which looked like it was made of the same smooth, black chitin that the creature’s body was made of.

“Another Changeling?” questioned Fluttershy, starting to become worried.

“That’s what a normal changeling looks like?!” Chroma exclaimed, shocked how different other changelings look compared to Efon.

“What in the name of parties and cupcakes is going on?!” Pinkie yelled.

As the charging Changeling grew near, Efon quickly shoved off his saddle bag and let it fall to the floor, earning a loud bong noise to be made for the weight of the guitar within the bag colliding with the ground.

“I hope that didn’t break…” he thought to himself.

His thought was cut off as the Changeling grew very close, the dagger now within his hoof, ready to jab it into Efon’s chest. With its sudden trust, the Changeling attempted to attack.

It didn’t go according to plain as Efon side-flown out of the way of the sharp object, rearing back his right forehoof and swung it into the Changeling’s face once it was aligned, send the armored insectoid fly back towards the ground.

As the Changeling hit the ground with a smack, it squealed in pain from the impact that was implanted on its back. It squeal was short heard as a lightning fast frontal hoof stomped right on the black creature’s chest, a whizzing cough leaving its body.

Saying that the action was ‘lightning fast’ was an understatement, for that Efon’s right hoof was literally sparking with tiny specs of light. This left the imprisoned group of ponies to slack jaw as they tried to comprehend, especially Rainbow.

“Huh…I just…what the….HUH?” Rainbow stumbled on her words upon being shocked at what happened. It was for what she saw. In fact, it was more on what she didn’t see which made her jaw drop.

She saw no movement, not an inch. She didn’t even notice a blur from the young Changeling as he collided his hoof into the other sleek black creature’s chest. Realization washed over her as she finally figured it out: either he used a teleportation spell, or…

“He…he…he’s so fast!” Rainbow slouched as she endured this information. “Faster than me…”

Chroma looked at her mother, fearing that this sudden realization would make her dislike Efon even more from the seer fact of jealousy.

“Alright you scum!”

Chroma’s attention was drawn back to Efon, who was look toward the surrounding trees.

“You’ve seen what I could do to just one of you and how easily I took him out!” Efon's had a serious look imprinted itself on to his face with his eyes shut. “I highly suggest that you turn back now before it’s too late. But if you want to me beat your sorry flanks into the ground,” Efon’s eye shot open, show his thinner green, glowing eyes and a wide smirk on his face, “BE MY GUEST!”

Silence washed over the area, as the trapped ponies looked around for more Changelings.

“Uh, Efon!” Camcore shouted, holding up his camera, ready to record more action, “Who are you talking to?”

Suddenly, the sound of rustling leafs bleached out the silence of the forest as a numerous amount of leaped out of the tree tops of the surrounding maple, all wielding sharpened weapons, from throwing stars to chitinous blades.

This only made the devious grin upon Efon’s face increase in size. “They never want to take the easy way out, do they!” he said mockingly.

Electric sparks start to disperse from the tip of his twisted horn, causing waves of energy to spread around his body. The first constricting row of Changeling made the first move, charging with their weapons within a green, magical grip. One made its way to Efon, only to slam the wielded sword into the ground as the young Changeling nimbly moved out of the way and smacking a shocking hoof in the hostile attacker in the face.

The hit was full of force, sent the insectoid hurtling into other approaching Changelings. However, it didn’t others from coming.

As the circle of monster tighten around Efon. On another weapon was swung towards him, allowing to dodge it and shooting an electric blast at the attacker and kicking another attacker from behind.

The imprisoned group watched, their jaws still hang by a thread, awestruck from what they were witnessing.

“He’s good!” Pandora exclaimed, watching Efon as he stopped an attempted kick from a Changeling and tossed him to another.

“Really good!” Camcore added, his eyes shimmering with joy. “This is just little an epic fight from an anime! This is going on the list!”

“Stop with the stupid list!”

“This is simple unbelievable! Remarkable even!” Rarity glanced at her son, seeing that he was still trying to shatter the dome, his attempts failing with each strike. “His powers are comparable to...”

“RWWWRAAAW!” Rarity’s thought was interrupted from the sound of Efon yelling as a burst of electricity prolonged from his body, pushing back many of the hostile beings.

Efon breathed heavily, panting as he abruptly had to swing a hoof at another attacking Changeling, finding it hard to put enough force into the punch to knock it out.

“Somethings wrong…” Chroma said as she witnessed Efon shocking another one of his kind.

“Huh?” Camcore said as he turned to his Rainbow maned friend, a worried look on his face. “What do you mean?”

“Gah!”

Camcore turned his attention back to Efon finding that he was now the one being rough-housed by the attacking Changelings. Efon was now on the defenses as he tried his best to dodge attacks rather than countering them, feeling his body grow weaker.

“Wait, what happened?! Just seconds ago he was whipping flank, but now he’s the one being pushed around! What’s going on?!” Pandora questioned.

“His energy.”

The groups attention was thrown to Fang, who was still trying to escape the dome by smash hooves against it.

“His energy? What do you mean darling?” his mother asked.

Fang threw a final swing at the chrysalis dome, taking deep breathes as he final gave up. “If what Efon said about how Changelings get love energy, and that he takes the very minimum from us, along with him using most of it to heal that scar of he had gotten from saving Chroma yesterday…” Fang placed his claw back onto the ground, back on all fours. “Then he had very little time to regain that energy back. And on top of that, I believe this dome is blocking any of our love energy to past through to him.”

A loud grunt from Efon alerted them, causing them to turn back to the fight. They turned to see Efon being tossed around with attacks from one Changeling to another. He found it hard to keep his balance and with an uppercut from one of his kind, Efon was forced to stand straight up on his hind hooves, walking back from the whiplash of the attack. He was then grabbed by two other Changelings by his fore hooves, holding him in that position for something.

Efon tried his best wiggle out of their grip as he shouted, “Get your dirty hoofs off of…”

*Slash*

He turned his face to the sound, though his was too late to catch what it was at the moment. Chroma’s eyes widen and began to swell up at the sight. Fluttershy did the same, putting a hoof on her muzzle. Rarity nearly hit the ground from fainting, right before Fang stopped her falling and resting her onto the ground. Pinkie’s and Camcore’s mane deflated into a droopy mane style. The rest were wide eyed, in shock and horror at what they’ve just witnessed.

Efon’s chest was pierced by a long, sharp blade, it’s handle completely halted at his chest, the blade sticking out of his back. A magical aura was surrounding the handle, its owner not to be seen.

Chroma finally broke a tear as she seen her love cough up a blob of teal fluid from his mouth.

“EFY!” she cried out loud.

“You dirty monsters!” Rainbow shouted, slamming a hoof into the chrysalis dome, anger stitching onto her face. “How can you do that to one of your kind?!”

“Well, it’s very simple, Rainbow Dash.”

An echo like voice was heard from the crowd of Changelings. They moved over to one side as a very different looking Changeling made his way to confront Efon. He looked like most of the other Changelings, though, with many differences. For one, he was a bit taller than the rest and wore different colored armor; it having a light grey color on the rim of the very black tone of his chest piece. He had no helmet, thus showing the biggest difference between him and the rest. A mane. However, unlike Efon’s teal, cobweb like mane, his was the same black as his chitinous body and was very rough looking, with it being disheveled and out of placed.

He made his way to the younger Changeling, a devious grin printed on his face. “You see Rainbow,” he said as his magic pulled back the sword from Efon, causing groans of pain leaving his mouth. “All you need to do is take the sword and shove it into the victim’s chest like this!” he howled with a smile as he forcefully drove the sword into Efon’s chest. “Don’t you guys know how torture works?!”

A shriek of pain echoed through the woods, the scream of agony rippling through the group’s ears.

Rainbow slammed her hoof against the chrysalis again, this time with more and even more anger. “STOP IT!”

The Changeling walked up to the chrysalis as she spoke. “Oh! And what are you going to do to make? You’re trapped in there and without the rest of the elements here, you guys won’t be able to do that super pony thing you guys do to escape.” A satisfying printed on his face as he seen the look on Rainbow’s face, knowing that he was right. “So why don’t you just sit there as I deal with our little ‘friend’ over here.”

Rainbow grinned her teeth as she and her friends couldn’t do anything but watch the upcoming event and something told them that they weren’t going to be pretty.

The Changeling went back to face Efon’s face, lifting his face up so he could make eye contact with the deeply gasping, little Changeling.
“So Efon, you decided to hang with ponies these days, huh?”

Efon responded, but not with words. Instead, he puckered up his lips and let a good amount of his saliva, mix with a bit of his blood, onto the elder Changeling face, nearly getting into his eye.

The Changeling brush a hoof over his face, wiping away the spit from his cheek. But with quick motion, he swung the same hoof and smacked Efon right across the face, reserving gasp from the group of ponies and some from the other Changelings, being that some of them were new recruits.

“Tell me Efon how did that feel?” smile the insectoid.

“Why don’t you go buck yourself, Cos?!” Efon growled, only to feel the sword dig deeper into his chest and letting out another painful grunt, tiny droplets of blood flying out of his mouth.

“Now Efon, you should be using those kind of slurs around your ‘friends’. I though you taught yourself better than that!”

Efon grew tired of waiting and growled, “What do you want with me?!”

The smile grew on Cos’s face grew to almost Pinkie’s level. “I’m so glad you asked my little ling, cause this time!”

Cos used his magic to forcefully pull the sword from Efon’ s chest completely, hearing another auditable pain filled grunt from the little Changeling. “You see Efon, I would normally be here to ask you the same question I always come to ask you: Do you want to join your brothers and sisters back at the hive?”

Cos started to walk circles around Efon, hearing the satisfying sounds of the littler ling desperately gasping for air.

“And usually Efon, it always ends up the same way: You fighting me and whatever recruits I have brought with me, and leaves me, and I’ll admit, running back to the hive broken and damaged. But this time Efon, you made one fatal flaw.”

He raised a hoof as it glowed in a green flame. Within seconds his hoof was replaced with claws and in a single movement, he snapped two of his fingers. With that, he two Changeling hold onto Efon, turned him around to face the chrysalis dome that held his friends’ captive.

“You thought it was a good idea to dedicate your life to spending time with this little filly right here.” Cos pointed his talon to Chroma, who was still sobbing away at the pain they were causing Efon. “And you’re doing it because you believe she’s your friend!”

Efon’s eyes widen as a hatefully frown appeared on his face. “She is my friend, and if you dare lay a hoof on her, I’m gonna…!”

Efon’s squirming around and shouting was stopped by Cos’s blade penetrating him again, grunting in pain once more.

“*Nit**Nit**Nit* Efon you got this all mixed up. Changelings and Ponies can’t be friends.” Cos shook his head, ashamed of Efon’s beliefs. “They could only be enemies, and hanging around with our enemies in your normal form is treason in Changeling law.” A devious grin appeared on his face again, as he used his magic to pull the sword out again.

He walked up to Efon again, staring at the broken boy. “And by order of the Queen, we can’t let these actions go without responding to them accordingly.”

He placed his blade in talon and raised it into the sky.

Chroma’s widen at the sight, knowing what was going to happen, though she wished it wasn’t. “N-no…please…DON’T DO IT!” she yelled, shutting her eyes as a stream of tears flowed from her eye.

Rainbow flown back a little and then dashed right into the chrysalis dome, trying to her hardest to break the through with all her might. “STOP IT! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!”

“I can’t watch this…” Fluttershy coward under her hoof, feeling utterly awful that her fear was getting to the best of her again, stopping her from helping in anyway.

“Come on, Efon! Don’t let them do this to you!” Camcore yelled, trying his best to encourage his friend to get free, finding hard to do so when his eyes started to water.

Pandora, on the other hoof, was shooting bazar magical beams at the dome from her kudu horn and antler, trying to break the dome with Rainbow, and now, Pinkie, who was shooting wave after wave of confetti from her party cannon. “Come on, work! Work!” she shouted at herself. “My sweet Fang, I know you don’t like Efon, but please hel…” She turned he head to find that Fang was no longer behind them, completely gone. “What the….”

“Oh what a shame it is too, Efon” Cos said, rearing the sword higher into the sky, his eye focused on the Changeling’s head blow his stretcher.

“You’ve would have made a great Changeling. But like all great things, they all come to an end.”

Chroma opened her eyes, seeing that he was ready to swing, she cried out, her tears leaking from her eye sockets. “NO, EFY!”

“Say good night Efo…AHH!”

Cos groaned, as something squashed his face in. Efon was shocked, to say the very least, as he saw who had just saved his life. He looked up to see a clenched clawed hoof, engulfed in a blue flame, and smacking right into Cos’s face.

“Sorry, but…” Fang opened his mouth to shot a powerful fire blast towards Cos, sending him fly right into a nearby tree. “The only one that is going to end Efon is me, and I can’t do that if guys do it first.”

Camcore grin grew to a new, excited expression. ""YEAH! Rivalry Save!"

Efon took this as an opportunity to act. He quickly rammed his elbow into the face of the unsuspecting Changeling on the right, knocking him unconscious. Then he swung one of his hind hooves in between the other Changeling’s hind legs, causing it to receding its front hooves to try and comfort his hurting privates.

Efon couldn’t celebrate just yet though, seeing that he and Fang were being surrounded by the other Changelings.

“So Fang, you decided to stop holding back now?” Efon huffed, jokingly asked, preparing for what was about to come, regaining his strength from the stray love energy from his dragon pony rival.

“You knew that I was from the beginning, huh?” Fang asked in response, slowly backing up into Efon as the Changeling’s circle around them grew smaller. “Really thought I was making myself look like a push over at school.”

“Are you kidding? I knew the second I stopped you from burning down the bakery!” Efon said with a grin. “There was no way those punks at your school really got under your skin!”

“ARG! Little bastards!” growled Cos as he struggled to pick himself up, a face of rage shown by the grinning of his teeth. “Changelings! ATTACK!”

“Are you ready to squash some insects, Fang?”

“The real question is ‘are you?’”

The two boys looked back at each other, giving one another a sly grin. And with that, they charged into attacking insectoids.
The group watched as they seen the two young colt fight through the Changeling horde, constantly knocking a bunch in rapid speeds.

“What the hey?! How did Fang get out?” Rainbow Dash asked, her face squished against the chrysalis, enjoy the entertainment.

“Cloning magic, darling…” The wakening voice of Rarity caused everyone to look back, seeing Rarity rub her head.

“Rarity are you ok?” Fluttershy asked, flying over to aid her into standing back on her hoofs again. “You lost conscious for a few minutes.”

“Yes, I’m fine dear, it’s just that I’m not used to seeing a someone hurt in such away as Efon was.” Rarity’s eye fixed onto Efon and her son, so many questions running through her head.

“What do you mean by cloning magic, Rars?” Rainbow asked, as she didn’t know a magic like that even existed.

Rarity had to think about, for herself didn’t know that much about it. “We’ll from what Fang’s teacher told me, it makes a copy of one’s self, used to fool one to think it was them. However, it only last a certain amount of time.”

“So the real Fang moved out of the green light and left a clone!” Camcore said in excitement, “That way, he could be ready to help out Efon when things got out of hand! This is seriously turning into an anime!”

“Hah! So that’s who you did it Fang!” Efon pronounced as he tossed a Changeling into a small group of them and then shocked them with his lightning magic. “You little sneaky sly snake, you.”

“RAH!” roared the fire breathing pony as he let out a huge stream of fire from his muzzle, catching a bunch of insectoids in its current.

“Humph…Did you really think that I was going to let your kind trap me? I was trained to be on guard at any given time! HAAA!”

Fang punched another shift-shaper into an incoming attacker, and set them a flame as they flew passed Efon, who was dodging a swing sword and countering it with a forceful kick to swordsmen’s side.

“We’ll props to your instructor!” Efon said, flying into the air to cause a set of Changelings to bump into one another and then shooting a lightning bolt into them.

Cos watched from a far, seeing his men as they failed to land hits on the two. “Damn it! How are they both so good at combat! Efon is one thing, but I didn’t expect that dragon pony to trick us the way he did!” Cos knew he had to stop them. He didn’t know he was going to need bring more than one-hundred Changeling knights! “I have to put a stop this to a stop, and quickly!”

Cos’s glance over to the trapped ponies, watching the action.

“Wait…” Cos thought, “Trapped. Those guys…”

A devious grin spread across his face.

“…Are trapped in my cocoon! Which means I could…”

His horn glowed a very ominous green.

“…Do this!”

In almost an instant, the cocoon that kept the rest of the group captive, glowed blinding green.

“What the hay?!” Rainbow shouted, covering her eyes with a hoof to block the brightness.

Fluttershy, copying Rainbows action, along with the rest of the group, asked “What’s happening?!”

Seemingly out of the blue, the chrysalis dome was suddenly engulfed by a searing chartreuse flame. The sound of the fire starting grabbed the battling boys’ attention.

“Oh no…” was the only thing to leave from Efon’s mouth when he seen the sight.

“‘Oh no’ is right my dearest Efon!”

Efon looked down to the chuckling Changeling down below. “You…You jerk!” he growled towards Cos.

Cos let out one more little chuckle before specking. “All right, this is what’s going to happen…” he said, his horn glowing bright. His spell caused the dome’s circumference to slowly shrink.

Noticing this, the group of ponies within where forced to step back. Rainbow, along with the rest of the adults, moved their kids behind them, trying to keep them safe from the burning heat of the flames.

“I’m willing to make a little deal with you, Efon…” Cos spoke, “I will let your so called ‘friends’ go, in exchange for your life. But if you refuse…” Cos’s magic grew stronger has increase the speed of compressing dome, “You’ll watch them burn alive!”

Efon gritted his teeth in though, gazing over to the dome, close to engulfing his friends.

“Come on Efon, what’s your chose? I’ll even let your dragon friend leave as well, free of charge!” Cos smiled as he waited for an answer, “Their lives, for yours.”

“I’ll tell you what going to happen!” Fang suddenly shouted, “We’re going to rip you apart, limb by limb before…”

“Fang, shut up!”

Fang was slightly startled at the growling voice of Efon. He looked up as fighting partner in the sky, his head hanging low and his eyes shut. A frown upon his face.

Efon didn’t have a chose in the matter. He sighted deeply as he descended from the air, his wings buzzing as he planted his hooves on the ground. He reopened his eyes but kept his head hanging low. “Fine. You win.”

Chroma gasped she heard his answer. “No…”

“Perfect! Boys, surround him to make sure he doesn’t try anything funny!” Cos commanded his remaining men.

Efon watched as he completely closed from all angles by the group of insectoids. “Release them. Now!” he spoke to Cos.

“Certainly, Efon. I’m a Changeling of my word.” Cos horn flickered as the dome dispersed, setting the hostages free.

Once it was gone, Chroma attempted to run towards Efon.

“EFY!” she yelled.

“No Chroma!” Rainbow quickly grabbed her daughter, pulling her daughter back.

“Mom we got to do something to help him!” Chroma protested, trying to free herself from her mother’s grasp.

“I know but…” Rainbow looked at the Cos, picking up a stray blade from one of the fallen Changeling off the ground, walking towards Efon and the other surrounding Changelings. “I just don’t know we could…”

“Hehe! Looks like you finally win Cos.”

The sudden chuckle from Efon was very unexpected, to say the least. “All those times fighting you, me coming out on top all those times. And here we are. The final fight between us and your men coming to an end, you finally winning. You must be proud for yourself, huh?”

Cos, as he final stopped right in front of the young boy. “I have to admit; I was one hell of a story. Almost sad that it’s all coming to an end. But like I said before, all good things come to an end.” Cos raised the dagger up to Efon’s neck, ready stab it into the boy. “However, before it ends, I must ask; do you have any final words?”

A smirk appeared on Efon’s face, a smirk that told Fang he was planning on something.

“Yes, a question actually!” Efon simple said, looking up at the older Changeling in the eye. “Have you ever seen a hoof turn into a blade before?”

In an instant, Efon swung his right hoof, which was engulfed in a green flame, quickly changing its form into sharp blade, knocking the dagger out of Cos’s magical grip.

“What the…Ahh!” Cos couldn’t get his last words out before Efon swung his blade-hoof back to the top of his head.

The group of ponies gasped as they seen Efon’s hoof easily slashed right through Cos’s horn, cutting it completely off. Even Fang was surprised by the action, the thought that Changeling horn were the same as a Unicorn’s horn: almost impossible to be damaged, at the very least to be slightly scrapped.

The remaining Changeling were shocked at the sight, backing away from the young ling. Thoughts ran through they’re head as they questioned the transformation on his hoof. How can this boy’s hoof turn into a freakn’ sword?

Cos was stunned, only let out small grunts of pain as his brain tried to register it all. It wasn’t long before he was caught by Efon’s magic, surrounding and squeezing around his neck as he was tossed. He groaned as he felt the back of his head hit into a tree. That pain, however, was quickly subsided as a different pain grew.

A sound similar to shattering glass echo through the area, followed by a long, breathless yelp of pain. Eyes widen from both the group of ponies, and the remaining insectoids. Efon’s hoof-blade successfully broke through the armor chest plate of the Changeling in front of him, going straight through Cos’s chitin until it passed his body completely and meeting the tree behind his, the edge of the slightly sticking into the bark. The Changelings jaw dropped, a very sign of fear imprinted on they’re faces.

“H-he…!” one nervously began to speck, “He pierced right through royal knight steel armor!?”

They released they’re weapons from the magic that held them, letting them clang when they impacted the ground.

“What the hell is with that kid?!” Another Changeling, shacking in fear for his life, not wanting to have the same thing happen to him.

“This isn’t worth that paycheck!”

“Let out of here!”

The Changeling’s collectively turned ran in the wood in separate directions.

“RETREAT!”

Within seconds, the area was clear of all Changelings, all but two.

Efon heavily breath, realizing that turning hooves into swords and possible other object took a lot out of him. He wearily glanced up at Cos, still in shock from the event. The area around him grew quiet, with the exception of the heavy breathing.

“I…” Cos spoke lowly, breaking the silence, “I…don’t understand…Efon…” He looked down his chest, seeing the turquoise fluid leaking out from his armor and watched it as it slowly ran down his length. “W-we gave you so many chances…”

“Chances?” Chroma quietly question, not understanding the whole situation.

“You’ve could of…been one of us…could have been the Changeling you were meant to be…you wouldn’t have been alone anymore…” Cos started to breath more deeply, felling his energy slow draining. He assumed that the lack of his horn was the cause of the sudden energy drop “But here you are…hang around with ponies…all because of some stupid girAAHH!”

Cos gasp another sound of agony as Efon shoved his hoof deeper into his chest, causing his injury to leak out more blood.

“Don’t you DARE call her stupid, you worthless pile of trash!” Efon growled, his pupils thinning as he bared his teeth. After a few deep breaths, he spoke again. “Do you really believe that I would ever want to be one of you?! A monster that goes around, disguising yourself as someone’s loved one and drain them of their energy and then leaving them weakened!”

Cos didn’t answer. A wave of silence washed over the area again.

“That’s not the life I want to live…” Efon breathed deeply, “It doesn’t matter that we strive on it, stealing love energy through dissipation is wrong!”

Cos stayed quiet, not even trying to speck anymore.

“Now, if you bother me like this ever again…” Efon raised his other forehoof up into the air. It was set upon a green flame as its form took one similar to a mallet. “I’ll mount your head on the wall of my cave!” he growled, “Do I make myself clear to you?!”

Cos had a hunch as to what was going to happen next, and with his energy nearly drained, he found that it was easier to just accepted defeat…again. He gave a slow and exhausted nod to answer the young ling’s requests.

“Good…”

With that, Efon swung his mallet like hoof and forcefully brought it to the top of Cos’s head, striking it with what little energy he had left. Cos’s eyes wide but instantly close as his fell into unconsciousness.

It was done. With the other Changeling gone due to fear and the leader now knocked out, the fight was over. Efon slide his blade from Cos’s chest, transforming both his front hoofs back into actual hoofs, one completely covered in the greenish-blue fluid known as Changing blood.
The only thing to be heard at this moment was Efon’s continuous heavy breathing and a slight gust of wind. None of the ponies knew how to comprehend the events that just occurred.

Some of them had the look of concerned. Some were terrified. Even Fang was having a hard time to find his voice. They were all filled with a bit of discomfort.

All but one.

“That was AWSOME!” Camcore could barely contain himself from yelling at the top of his lungs as he shattered the silence, his body complete filled with adrenaline. “I am so pumped up from just watching that! First Efon was like BANG! And then he threw a POW!” Camcore’s body to start acting on his own, as he began to throw his hoof in the air, making fighting gestures. “And then he was weakened and almost didn’t make it, but then Fang showed up and was like ‘That was a fake me the entire time!’” And then he jumped into the fight and teamed up with Efon! AndthenthereweresomanyawsomequotesandsomanyclichésandAHHH!” He pauses as he let out small yelp of excitement.

“That was just so cool, Efon!.........Efon?”

Efon’s body wobbled as his eyes were starting to blur, rolling up in they’re sockets. His drifted to the right as it began to fall.

“Efy?!” Chroma shouted, her shocked expression turning into one of concern, running to catch his fall.

However, Fang beat her to the punch as he swiftly moved to catch Efon with one of his dragon wings. Quickly resting the Changeling on his lap and ignoring that his scaly fur was going to be stained by the bodily fluid, Fang put two of his fingers upon his neck.

With a surprising sigh of relief Fang spoke. “He’s fine.”

After making it to Efon’s side, Chroma smiled, looking down upon the Changeling, ecstatic that he was ok.

“However, his pulse is very slow…” the dragon pony said as he lifted Efon up, gently laying him on his back. Efon’s legs dangled on either side of Fang, his body’s energy almost completely gone from the changing of his hoofs and all the lighting he was firing from his twisted horn.

Fang looked up in the sky, seeing that was a little ways passed noon. “Come on, we should get going. I believe there’s a small cave up ahead if we keep going straight this way,” he said, slowly starting to walk with the drained changeling. “Do you mind if you carry are bags for us?”

Pandora’s ear twitched at the question coming from his voice, snapping her out of her trance, all with the adults. She beamed as she said, “Of course Fang my love! I would do anything for my sweet!” With that, Pandora levitated both Fang’s and Efon’s saddle bag; it’s hard to believe she would go back to her usual self from a simple request from her so called ‘loved one’.

“Hey, hold up!” Camcore said as he made his way to the rest of the leaving kids. “Fang that was cool what you did back there! I’m so glad that I captured that on my camera!”

“WHAT? I didn’t see you pull your camera out that whole time! How did you record that?!” Pandora yelled in annoyance.

“Well, I always have my camera stuffed in my mane and recording when super exciting thigs happen!”

“YOU ARE SUCH A NUISANCE!”

The adults were soon following their children as they all made their way through the forest.

“Girls…” Rainbow announced to the other adults.

“Y-yes?” the rest simultaneously said, a shocked expression still on their face.

“What was that?” Rainbow simply asked.

“I don’t know…” the rest answered in unison.

As they continued to trot in complete thought behind they’re kids, Fang began to have thoughts of his own.

“So Efon, you’re not the kind of Changeling I took you for…” he said to himself, “You risked your life, just to save everyone’s life…” Fang looked passed his shoulder to look at Efon’s unconscious body. “And your powers, your strength, your speed…” A small grin appeared on his face. “They’re just like mine: overpowered for your age.” His serious expression returned has the group neared the small cave. “I wonder if there is a connection or it’s just a coincidence…”

Efon’s body moved in discomfort.

“N-no…” he softly spoke

He shifted from side to side.

“Oh gosh, please…don’t go…”

He moves franticly under the blanket on top. Efon’s body quickly shot up as he final opened his eye.

“Don’t leave me, Chroma!”

Efon took in deep breathes, trying to get a hold of himself. Once calmed down, he looked around, trying to find out where he was.
“I’m I in a cave?” he asked himself as he scanned the stone walls. “How did I…” His question was interrupted by the sounds of snoring. He turned his head to see that the others were fast asleep. Looking down slightly, Efon’s cheeks became flushed.

The one the closest to him was Chroma, sleeping peacefully in her sleeping page, decorated with white, puffy clouds, connected by rainbows. Efon’s glance was drawn to a med kit, sitting next to the white filly, with the words ‘Property of Fang’ written on it. He then quickly looked down his body to see that his barrel was covered with medical bandaging. Finally, he looked towards the dragon pony who, unlike the others, was sitting up against the wall as he slept.

There was so many things on Efon’s mind right now. Taking a deep breath, he got up and made his way passed the entrance of the cave. However, he didn’t realize that he unintentionally woke someone else up.

After a few minutes of walking, Efon found himself stopping by a flowing river, which lead to a water fall. He quickly dunked his head into the stream, wetting his face to clear his mind. He sat down once he shook his head dry of the cool liquid. Sitting in silence, he watched the water rushing by, thing.

“Efon…”

The Changeling flinched at the sound of the voice. He turned to see Chroma standing behind him, rubbing one of her eyes to get rid of her drowsiness.

“Chroma? What are you doing up?” Efon questioned, wondering why she left the cave.

Yawning, Chroma answered, “I heard you get up and saw that you left the cave.”

“Oh, I’m sorry for waking you.” Efon watched as Chroma walked up and sat right next to him.

“It’s ok, I wanted to know what you were doing.”

“Oh…” Efon said, “Well, other than getting over a nightmare that involved you no longer being my friends after tonight’s events, I guess I just stepped out to think.”

Chroma grew curious almost as much as the blush on her. She didn’t know she was so important to him that he would have nightmares about her leaving his side, which she would never do. “Thinking about what?” she asked.

Efon leaned back, letting his front hooves support him as he gazed into the night sky. “I guess about life. Where it is now and how it could end up.”

“Oh…” Chroma softly said, copying Efon and looking up at the stars.

“Hmm, Luna’s moon is very beautiful tonight, isn’t it?”

They sat there for a while, starting up at the night sky.

“Though, it isn’t anything compared to you,” Efon said as he took a quick glance to see Chroma’s cheeks turn a small shade of pink, “But still good enough to admire.”

Even though she did agree that the star and moonlight were a pretty sight to see, there was something on Chroma’s mind, something that was really bugging her.

“Efy?”

Efon turned to look down to the filly. “Yeah?”

“There’s…something I need to ask you…” Chroma said, frown appearing on her face.

Efon was worried by her mood change, but kept the conversation going. “Go ahead…”

Chroma winched a bit, wondering if she should say. “It’s about what you said the other night…”

The insectoid flinched that the sound of those words. He was really hoping the subject of that night wouldn’t be brought up again.

Chroma continued to speak. “You said…some things…things I can’t help but wonder about…” She paused, trying to see how to approach the situation she put herself in. “Is it true that you were…you were…”

“Going to kill myself?” Efon finished for her.

“Yeah…” Chroma said, feeling as if she was assaulting Efon with the question. “That…”

Efon took a deep breath. “Yes…” he said, looking down into the rushing water once again. “And I’m guessing you want to know why, right?”

As much as she wanted to know why, she felt it would only make Efon feel bad, and she said “No, you don’t have to if you don’t wa…”

“No. You of all deserve to know. You are my friend, and if you want to know about the old me, then I’ll tell you.”

“Oh yeah…he knows when someone is lying…” Chroma remembered.

Efon’s glanced up at the sky again, wondering how to start this conversation. “One thing you need to know about me Chroma is that before I met you, I was a very different Changeling.”

Chroma was a bit puzzled at the statement. “What do you mean?” she asked.

A serious tone was brought upon Efon’s face. “I lied when I said it was easy to live in the Everfree. Each day was a living hell. I was never really happy back then. Sure, drawing, singing and dance brought me some joy, but eventually, sadness from all the torment of the forest creatures and struggle for survival easily trumped that joy. And because of that, I was more ruthless back then. What I did today with the Changelings was nothing compared to what I use to do.”

Chroma was put at a little bit of this comfort from that last sentence. What exactly did he mean by ‘more ruthless’?

“Beside all that…” Efon continued, looking back down to the water. “I think that really caused me to almost take my life was the loneliness.”

He shut his eyes, a single tear flowing from underneath his eyelids. “I was hated. Hated among every other living being in the forest, just because of what I was. Even my own kind didn’t want me at first” He sighed deeply.

“The only ones that had some reason for me were the Twittermites, but that was only because I gave them some of my electric energy in trade for some fake love from them.”

Chroma was a bit intrigued to hear this. She wondered how he fed himself, thinking that he only ate sweet tasting fruits. But the term ‘fake’ made her think that it wasn’t very filling for a Changeling.

“Whenever I saved a pony, I was seen nothing more than just another monster by most of them, wanting the pray for himself. Eventually, the hate and neglect piled up inside to the point where it broke my spirit, losing faith in anything…”

Efon took placed a hoof on his face, trying to cover up his tears. “It hurt, and I wanted the pain to stop! And I thought there was only one way to stop it!”

Chroma’s eyes quickly became watery, listening to his suffering was pulling all kinds of emotion within her. She was so upset at the things that had caused Efon to feel like this.

“There was only one way, at the time, to stop it. I was sitting there, dagger in my hoof, ready to end my miserable life…” Efon sighed deeply, using one of his hooves to wipe his tears away. But then, much to Chroma’s surprise, a smile appeared on his scared muzzle. “But then, right before I was about to end it all, I heard the cry of an angle. An angle that need to be saved.”

Efon turned to meet Chroma’s face, a tint of red forming on her cheeks. “And once I saved her, the way I saw life was completely changed. And when me and that angle became friends…” Efon’s right wing extended and pull Chroma in to his embrace, Chroma’s face growing more red. “I finally felt what it means to be happy.”

Efon felt that thump in his chest as he looked at her. Those glasses really did make her look beautiful, especially in the moonlight. However, Efon wasn’t done talking. It was he’s turn to ask a question.

A smug grin appeared on his face. “Thought, I can’t help but wonder, from what that angle said last night: Does she want to be more than just ‘friends’ with the suicidal monster?”

Chroma’s cheeks flushed furiously. They were redder than any apple grown on aunt Applejack’s farm could ever be.

“I…ah…” was all that came out of the little filly’s mouth for the moment. “You see…um…”

“Chroma, there’s no point in trying to hiding it, I’m a Changeling, remember?” Efon couldn’t help but smile at how much she was blushing. However, there was something important that he needed to ask her first before he goes through with what he had planned.

“Chroma?”

The sudden change in voice grabbed Chroma’s attention, although, didn’t remove her blush.

“Y-yes?”

“I need to know something before I make up my mind…”

Efon took a deep breath and looked down at the water, wiping away the last bit of tears on his face.

“Do you believe that a being without a heart, someone like me, can love?”

The question was a bit more surprising to Chroma, to say the very least. She really didn’t know what to say. She was afraid that her emotions were going to get in the way of her answer. So instead of answer with a yes or no, she was going to answer in a different way.

“Efon…” she began. “There is no way that you can’t love. What you did today proves it.”

Efon’s ear flickered at that statement. “Beating up a bunch of Changelings and stabbing one in the chest with my new found ability proves that I could feel love?” he asked.

“No, not about that. About what you were willing to do,” Chroma said, peering down at the water. “We were trapped, about to be burned alive, and even though you knew you could have easily taken Cos out right there and then, you didn’t take the risk. Instead, you were willing to give up your live just for all of ours.”

Chroma struggled not to let tears build up from the thoughts of what could have happened. “That shows that you care. Not just for me, but for everyone else I cherish in my life, even Fang. And caring is a form of love.”

Efon’ ears twitched again. “She’s right…” he thought to himself, “According to my Changeling knowledge on love, caring for others is a form of affection…Why didn’t I notice that before?”

“So to answer your question…” Efon was snapped out of thought from the white filly’s voice. “You are one of the most loving beings I know.”

Efon turned he’s gaze to her, looking into baby blue eyes. That strange thumping in his chest told him exactly what to do next.

“Thank you Chroma, not only have you made my life worth living, but you also showed that you don’t need a heart to love.” He placed a hoof on her left cheek, feeling it heat up as he touched it.

“And now that is out of the way, I could finally say this…” He brought his hoof farther back behind her head, letting it run through her soft mane. Chroma looked into his emerald green eyes shimmering in the moon light.

“I love you, Chroma…”

It was at this point were Chroma’s heart was set a flame. Her blush was noticeable for miles away.

“Efy…” That was the only thing she could say before Efon brought his face close to hers.

Efon closed his eyes and pushed his lips onto Chroma’s, kissing someone for the first time of his life. Chroma’s eyes slowly shut, letting the feeling of Efon’s embrace take her over. The feeling was incredible for the both of them.

Chroma’s heart was beating so fast that it could of exploded right out of her chest. She felt so much joy, her tiny wings rapidly beat against her back as they flapped furiously. It felt so good to be kissing Efon, it was gentle and calming. Efon felt the same way. Chroma’s affection for him was so powerful and so different from everyone else’s. It tastes so much better, making his stomach feel so warm inside. However, his body was doing something it never done before. It wasn’t using her love to just gain energy. But also, it was pouring an unknowingly force of love back to Chroma, as the thumping in his chest was beating rapidly.

“It’s true…” he thought, “I really can love…Love her…” He pushed a bit hard into the kiss while bring her head closer to his with his wing genially pushing her closer to him. “And I will…I’ll love her for the rest of my life!”

The two stayed like that for a few more seconds, hoping that it wouldn’t end. Unfortunately, the lack of air got to them. They both broke the kiss at the same time, taking deep breathes. The open their eyes until they were half way open, looking at each other with a cheeky smile.

“Wow…” Efon exhale.

“Wow…” Chroma repeating him.

“That was…”

“Our first kiss…”

The embraced each other in a warm hug, Chroma snuggling under Efon’s head and closing her eyes. Efon stroked her silky mane, unable to stop. They enjoyed the sound of the moving water as they sat in silence, not noticing a cyan mare sitting on top of a cloud in the distance behind them.

Rainbow Dash had a small grin appear on her face. “Hmp, what do ya’ know? A Changeling is able to make my girl happy, truly happy.” She sat there, looking at the new couple, a couple that contained her daughter and a Changeling, and she wasn’t upset about it. “I was wrong about you Efon, you’re not the monster I took you for.” A sudden frown found its way onto her face as a thought came to mind. “What would the others back at home think of this? HOW WOULD SOARIN REACT TO THIS!?” Another realization washed over her. “OH MY GOSH, HOW WILL HE REACT!?”

“I love, Efy…”

Rainbow’s train of thought ended once her daughter’s voice hit her ear. Looking down, he saw them looking into each other’s eyes again.

“I love you too, my little dove…” Efon said, rubbing his muzzle against Chroma’s, hugging her tightly
.
The sight of this calmed Rainbows nerves, bring her a smile to her face once again. Sighing, she began to speak to herself again. “Everything is going to be fine…” she said with a knowing tone, closing her eyes. “Cause if I knew anything about love, that is it always find away.” After a few seconds of realizing what she just said, her eyes snapped open, soon with a shameful frown. “And apparently turns awesome ponies like me into saps…”

She took off back to the cave, hearing the hoof steps of the Changeling and her daughter doing the same. Again, a joyful smile appearing on her face. “Guess it’s a sacrifice even the coolest of use have to make. Especially if it’s for the equally awesome feeling of real happiness…”

Somewhere deep in the woods that was on the path to Winsome Falls, laid the bodies of the unconscious bodies of insectoids, one with a different appearance as the others leaning against the bark of the tree. The area around the shift-shapers was quite, left so after the events that caused them to be out of it. They weren’t expecting the young ling that was part of their objective to be so challenging. Well, almost all of them didn’t know what they were getting into.

The deafening sound of silence was trumped by the sudden sound of rustling bushes. Soon after, two figure popped out, entering the scene.

“They’re here,” said an echo like, feminine voice.

The voice belonged to a Changeling, a Changeling that looked different compared to the unconscious one on the ground. It had magenta, vibrant eyes, still having the no pupils like the others. Her eyes easily matched he beetle like shell and wings. And like her comrade at the base of the tree, she had a mane. But unlike his, which was just the same color of his chitin, hers branched off from the black of her chitin and bared the same color of her eyes, not changing the chitin smooth texture though. It was a short style of hair, it barely making it to her shoulder, and had an edgy bang, covering half of her left eye. She was wielding long, magic staff with a sharp tip within her pink magic aura.

“Yes,” said another, deep but calming voice, “They are. I’ll start gathering the unconscious. You deal with you know-who-over there.

This second voice came from yet another changeling. He wore a cloak of white, that covered in in weird black symbols. He too had a chitinous mane, one that was very spiky, sitting only on top of his head. His eyes were the color of grey, clouded on the inside. He moved to the bodies of the fallen, using his magic to levitate and pile them up, leaving the female Changeling to tend to the one against the three.

“Cos, wake up.” As she neared the seemingly knocked out Changeling, he held a serious tone in both her voice and face. “Cos, I’m not playing! I had a horrible day!” Growing impatient, she drew her staff directly to the neck of Cos, stopping right before making contact with his chitin.

“GOD DAMN IT COS IS YOU DON’T STOP FUCKING WITH ME I’M GONNA…”

“Geez Shell, calm yourself before you wreck yourself. Wait, that already happened!”

Suddenly, the insectoid’s body, which was being assaulted by a spear at the moment, engulfed its self in a green flame. As it disappeared, it left a different looking Cos. His mane was at least three times as disheveled as it was before, tough lolling out from between his muzzle, and eyes crossed and having different colored eyes, a scarlet replacing the light blue before. With toothy, open smile, he quickly grabbed hold of the staffs tip and flipped his body upward, balancing himself on the weapon’s edge.

“Yelling like that could break that voice of yours, and you know you need that to make does sweet noises! Hahahahahahah!” Cos crackled, laughing manically with a change in his previous voice, being scratchier and at a higher pitch.

Shell groaned, pulling her staff back fast enough to cause Cos to land face first into the ground. However, Cos’s reaction showed no signs of being hurt, instead, sitting up on his flank and letting out another crackling chuckle.

“Oh man you will never change, you angry dike! Much like our little ‘friend!’”

Shell pointed her staff back to the crazy Changeling again from frustration. “I’m not in the mood for your bullshit, Cos! You know what I’ve been through today! Now give me your report on our little ‘friend,’ or I’ll rip off your ears and shove them down your throat!”

Letting out his final chuckles, Cos spoke. “W-well, first of all, Blindy’s vision turned out to be true, mosquito boy is hanging with ponies. And let’s just say he has been hanging with one in particular. And it’s a filly!”

Shell lowered staff, laying it on her shoulder, sighing at this news. “Well Sting,” she said, turning to the other maned Changeling, “What else did your vision say is going down today?”

Sting finish putting the unconscious in a pile, turning to meet Shell’s gaze. “I’m sorry Miss Shell, all I can say is that we won’t be able to make contact with the young one till a later time, he he’ll be within the enemy’s territory for some time. However, I don’t know when will be seeing him, my powers weren’t what they use to be lately.”

“Great.” Shell huffed, turning back to Cos, a scowl appearing on her. “Is there anything else you have to report, dumbass…”

“Yes actually!” Cos exclaimed excitedly. “That fill just so happens to be the daughter of Rainbow Dash, the element of loyalty!”

“WHAT?!” both Shell and Sting shouted.

“Yeah! And guess what, he is also friends with the other children of the elements, including a dragon-pony hybrid that pretty much has the same kind of strength as Efon!”

“Why didn’t you tell me that first you fucking idiot?!” Shell swung her staff fearsomely at Cos’s face, making a scar on his left cheek. But in an instant, the scare healed immediately. “Do you know what this means!? We officially lost him to the ENEMY! Seriously, this should have been the first thing to tell me!”

“Well I would have, but you were too busy shoving your stick in my face.” Cos began to snicker a bit, ready to make a remark. “Though I have to admit, you sure know how work around that pol…”

Cos quickly shut his mouth close as the tip of Shell’s sharp staff was drawn his neck, glowing a hot pink and ready to blast him. “FUCKING SAY IT! I. DARE. YOU!”

“Shell, I believe we should be leaving now, I don’t want us to be caught by anyone else to night,” Sting stated.

Shell after a few seconds, she lowered her weapon, stopping the bright glow of the projecting light. “Fine. Teleport us back to the hive. We must tell the queen about this.”

“Very well.”

With that, Sting’s clouded eyes glowed a bright white. An equally white glow started to form around the unconscious Changelings, Shell, Cos, and himself.

“Aww man! I love this part!” Cos crackled, starting to laugh manically again. “It always give me that tingle! What about you, Shell? Do you feel that tingle when Sting puts his white stuff all over us?!”

“Oh shut up, you fucking buffoon!”

A bright, but sort light lit the area up and the all the bodies of the insectoids vanished, leaving the area to fill with silence once again.

“We’re here!” Camcore shouted in excitement as he admired the crystal clear rainbow waterfall flowing down a rocky wall.

The others also stopped to enjoy the sight. The surrounding clouds had a flow of rainbow waters flowing from there fluffy bodies, the sunlight making everything glistening and shimmer within the area. The vegetation of the brightly colored flowers bloomed, showing off their beautiful pedals as the nice, cooling breeze flowed through them, causing them to dance in the passing wind.

“It’s more lovely then I remembered!” Rarity said, capturing the beautiful landscape with her eye, “Just simply marvelous!”

“Yeah! Where going to have so much fun! Oh! What should we do first?! Have a race!?” Pinkie excitedly stated.

“Play a game?!” Camcore then continued. “OH! Maybe we could explore the area! It would be great to make a small recording of this place. What do ya think Efon?......Efon?”

Camcore turned to see why his Changeling friend wasn’t answering. He soon found out why. Efon staring right at Chroma, looking deep into her eyes. Chroma was doing the same thing, smiles printed on their faces as they stood there, getting completely lost in each other’s gaze.
“Um…Efon?” Camcore said, waving a hoof in front of the insectoid to get his attention.

With his concentration broken, Efon turned to his orange friend. “Huh? What?”

“I asked if you think a little exploration would be fun.” Camcore took a second to examine Efon’s face, pacifically at the flushed look on his cheeks. “Are you ok Efon? Are you still recovering from the attack from yesterday?”

“Oh no. That is completely healed off.” Efon quickly whisper in to Chroma’s ear. “Thanks to my little dove, and her sweet love.” This gained a blush from the little Pegasus and he could help but smile at it.

“Oh that’s great! So how about a little exploring then?” Camcore smiled.

“Sure, that sounds like fun! How about it Chroma?” Efon asked smiling down at Chroma.

Chroma smiled back at the Efon, blush still upon her face as she nodded her head. “Sure!”

“Great!” Camcore turned to look towards Fang, who was sitting in a meditation position with his eyes close underneath a nearby tree. “What about you, Fang?”

Almost immediately Fang stated, “No. I’m just going to sit here. I need to concentrate on my mental training.”

Efon, along with Rarity, rolled their eyes at Fang’s intention. Nevertheless, Camcore shrugged it off. “Ok then. Pandora, what about you?”

The princess of chaos was a bit torn on what she wanted to do; she wanted to go an look around the area, but at the same time, she wanted to stay with Fang and perhaps convince to go out with her.

“I…um… I’m gonna…”

“I will also need absolute peace and quiet for my mental training. Don’t want to be disturbed!” Fang blurted out.

“Oh please, give me a break…” Efon whispered under his breath, making himself barely heard.

Well, there was Pandora’s answer. She didn’t want to get in the way of Fang’s mental training.

“Ok, I’ll go!” Pandora said, smiling at the little group of friends.

“Ok then, let’s go!” Camcore shouted as they choose a direction and trotted off.

Rainbow smile at the little group of friends as the ran off. “You know what girls?” she said to the other adults.

“What?” Fluttershy smiled, along with the other adults as the watched the kids.

“I think I’ve grown a liking to that Changeling!”

And with that, the group of ponies and the single Changeling enjoyed their time spent at the gorgeous landscape of Winsome Falls.

Author's Note

Yeah...so its been a while since I written a chapter for this story and the reason for that is that I wanted to enjoy my summer vacation and all that, considering that this is the last summer vacation of my High School years. Also because I'm lazy...

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Any way! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. A prepare yourselves for the next one, because we'll be introduced into new Ocs and major plot introduction, as we look into the life that Efon lived before he met Chroma and reveals many things about the little, young Changeling and his strange powers....

Thecartoonmaster123 out!