“Mommy!”
Rainbow dash stirred to awakeness at the mention of the name she’s been called by a certain some-ling for the past few months. She slowly opened her eyes when she felt tiny hooves on her chest.
“Mommy!”
Rainbow Dash blinked several times to get the sleep out of her eyes, before responding to the voice she’s heard enough times to recognize instantly. “Good morning to you too,” Rainbow said finally as she gently nuzzled the changeling right beside his horn. Said changeling wasted no time shooting his forelegs around Rainbow’s neck, although they were barely long enough to reach all the way around.
“I wuv you, mommy,” the changeling said as he rubbed the side of his face into Rainbow’s neck fur.
“I love you too, Bugsy,” Rainbow replied as she hugged the tiny changeling.
A few minutes of cuddling, Rainbow spoke up. “Fluttershy’s going to babysit you today.”
“Why?”
“Did you already forget?”
Bugsy thought about the question for a bit, but came up with nothing. “Maybe. What is it.”
“Well, if you forgot, then I’m not telling. It’ll be more of a surprise if you don’t know.”
“Awww,” the changeling said, before burying his muzzle into Rainbow’s fur, soaking up her warmth.
*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*
“Coming,” came a quiet voice from the other side of the door.
A few seconds later, the door opened to reveal Fluttershy behind it.
“Oh, come in,” Fluttershy said as she stepped aside to let Rainbow in, with Bugsy on her back, hugging her mane.
“I’m here to drop Bugsy off for the you know what,” Rainbow said, trying to avoid alerting Bugsy to his surprise.
“The… you know what?” Fluttershy asked confused.
Rainbow just rolled her eyes. “You know… Bugsy’s birthday party?” Rainbow whispered into Fluttershy’s ear.
Fluttershy ‘Ohhhh’ed in realization. “Well, come in.” Rainbow slowly walked in, and turned her head around to face the changeling sitting on her back.
“Time to get off, Bugsy.” Bugsy did as he was told and hopped off Rainbow’s back.
“Well, I better get going. I gotta get ready for you know what.”
“Bye mommy.” Bugsy waved goodbye as he spoke.
“Pssst, Pinkie.” Pinkie jerked her head up from baking at the voice.
“Rainbow Dash? I can hear you but I can’t see you.” Pinkie turned her head back and forth in mock confusion looking for her, before she looking up to see Rainbow up against the ceiling.
“I need you to change the party I asked for into a surprise party,” Rainbow said. She looked around the room from the ceiling before continuing. “Bugsy forgot his own birthday.”
Pinkie’s eyes shrunk to pinpricks. After a few minutes of Pinkie just standing there, Rainbow got down and poked Pinkie with a hoof.
“Uhh, Pinks? You ok?” After she said that, Pinkie snapped out of her stupor.
“Did you just… say… he… forgot… his own… party?” Pinkie slowly turned her head to Rainbow, with her left eye slightly twitching and a slightly evil looking grin on her face.
“Uhh, yeah,” Rainbow said with a raised eyebrow and a frown, dragging the ‘yeah’ out, signaling a half question.
Pinkie instantly went back to her normal cheery self. “We’ll just have to remedy that.”
Rainbow slowly nodded nervously. “O...k…”
“I’m taking you back to Rainbow’s in a few minutes, so get ready to leave,” Fluttershy said to Bugsy, who was petting a squirrel. At first when Rainbow took him to Fluttershy’s, he was a bit scared of most of the animals, especially the bear, Harry, but after a few visits he warmed up to them and vice versa. Even Angel… slightly.
“Ok,” was Bugsy’s reply.
*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*
Fluttershy jumped at the sound of knocking on the door.
“Strange, I was going to take you to Rainbow’s,” Fluttershy stated in confusion, but that confusion soon turned into fear when she heard the voice of who the knocking belonged to.
“Fluttershy? You in ‘ere? A few of yer animals have been wrecken’ my farm agin’,” came the voice of Applejack, who wasn’t in on the changeling, due to her unnatural honesty, to keep him safe from Twilight.
“Err, coming,” Fluttershy quickly motioned for Bugsy to hide, which Bugsy knew that sign all too well, and quickly ran to his favorite hiding spot; under Fluttershy’s bed.
After Fluttershy watched Bugsy scramble into her bedroom, she walked over to the door and slowly opened it.
“Oh, hi Applejack,” Fluttershy greeted in fake shyness, but Applejack just raised an eyebrow.
“Somethin’ wrong?”
“N-no! Just… tired… yeah… tired.” Fluttershy slowed her movements to make it look more like it, but Applejack wasn’t buying it.
“Fluttershy, you know I can tell if you're lying or not, right?” Fluttershy flinched, which only confirmed Applejack’s statement.
“It’s not important,” Fluttershy quickly said, in attempt to keep Bugsy from being found out.
“OK, well, if you don’t want to talk about it. Anyway. I need you to come get your beavers, they’re flooding my farm again.”
“OK.” ‘That was too close.’
“I think this looks good enough, Pinkie.” Rainbow was getting slightly irritated by Pinkie’s antics.
“It has… to be…PERFECT!” Pinkie said right as she finished straightening the last decoration.
“Finally. Fluttershy should be here any minute now.” Rainbow walked in her cloud home over to where Pinkie was floating with not-logically-enough-balloons-to-hold-her-up-but-it’s-Pinkie-so-who-cares-about-physics?
In the middle of the living room was a table with all sorts of sweets on it, a large chocolate cake -Bugsy’s favorite- with the number '5' on it; beside it was a bowl of punch with some plastic cups and plates off to the side. Streamers of all colors hanged from the ceiling and balloons in every spot Pinkie could tie them to, which was a lot of places. Of course there weren’t many spots on the floor that weren’t covered in confetti thanks to Pinkie’s party cannon.
After a few minutes of waiting for Fluttershy and Bugsy, Rainbow started getting worried.
“Where are they?” Rainbow asked with quickening breath.
“I’m sure they’ll turn up soon, Dashie,” Pinkie replied, trying to ease her friend's concern.
Then, as if on cue, Fluttershy came into view out the window, with Bugsy on her back, holding on for dear life. At the sight Rainbow’s house, Bugsy breathed a sigh of relief, happy that he would see his mommy again. Fluttershy landed on the clouds right outside the door and knocked. The door slowly opened, almost mysteriously, and they walked in, Bugsy with a scared frown and Fluttershy with a smirk.
"SURPRISE!!"
If Fluttershy didn’t already know this was going to happen, she would have probably screamed. Bugsy, on the other hoof, had no idea there was a party and gave out a short, but very loud scream of terror and shot behind Fluttershy’s foreleg. After spotting Rainbow, he immediately flew and tackle-hugged her.
“Did you really forget your birthday?” Rainbow asked in a voice that just screams ‘You’re kidding, right?’
“I told you I forgot something,” Bugsy replied with a downcast face. But Rainbow wouldn’t let her adoptive son be sad on his birthday.
“Cheer up, kid, don’t be sad on your birthday.” Rainbow looked around for something to cheer Bugsy up, and spotted something that would make anyone happy. “Let’s get some cake, it’s chocolate, your favorite.” Rainbow dragged the ‘favorite’ out to try and entice him.
Bugsy immediately snapped out of his little sadness bubble and took on the biggest smile that would rival even Pinkie. “Really!?” After a nod from Rainbow, they both shot over to the table.
After an hour long party, Rainbow laid awake in bed curled around Bugsy. Ever since Bugsy came into her life 6 months ago, she’s had much less time napping or going out with her friends, and quickly had to learn responsibility. Every once in awhile, her friends would ask where she’d been, and she always had a reasonable excuse for it, such as: “Had a meeting in Cloudsdale,” “Filled in for an injured cloud kicker in Fillydelphia,” or even “Been binge reading Daring Do.” She was never short of an acceptable reason for not being around.
*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*
Rainbow was pulled out of her thinking by the sound of knocking at her door, getting up, and making sure not to wake Bugsy, she quickly, but quietly, opened the door and slipped through.
Rainbow made her way through the halls, down the stairs, and to the door. With slight bags under her eyes from not getting a good night’s rest, she opened the door.
“Hi Rainbow,” On the other side of the door frame with Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship herself.
“Oh, hi Twilight. *Yawn*” Rainbow couldn’t help but yawn at not having slept yet, and it being about 10 o’clock. “What are you doing up so late?”
“Oh, I just had an Idea!” Twilight had a smile that only a crazed maniac could have. “And it involves you!”
“What do I have to do with… whatever you’re Idea is?” Rainbow asked as she almost dozed off, but stopped herself.
“It has everything to do with you!”
“And what exactly has everything to do with me?” Rainbow had to stop herself from dozing off again, but she wouldn’t last much longer.
“Can we go inside? It’s cold out here.”
“Yeah, but make it quick, I’m practically falling asleep here!” Rainbow slowly stepped aside to let her in. Rainbow sat on the couch across from Twilight.
“So, anyway, I had this Idea tha-”
“Mommy?”
As Twilight was about to ask the obligatory ‘What was that?’, Rainbow’s eyes were already pinpricks.
“Mommy?”
Both heads turned towards the new voice in the room, and as soon as Twilight’s and Bugsy’s eyes met, he gulped, turned tail and ran back to Rainbow’s room.
“Rainbow? You want to tell my why that changeling just called you ’mommy’?” Twilight asked with narrowed eyes as she looked at Rainbow. Rainbow gulped too.
“Nooooooooo...?” Rainbow’s voice went a bit higher than what could be considered healthy near the end.
“Rainbow…” Twilight said sternly.
“Ugh, fine!” Rainbow almost dozed off for the third time tonight, but added one last thing. “But I need you to Pinkie promise not to tell anyone about this, not even Celestia!”
Twilight was about to protest, but the look Rainbow was giving her killed any words of it. She just sighed and gave in. “Cross my heart and hope to fly-stick a cupcake in my eye.” She did the appropriate motions as she said an unbreakable promise.
“Ok, well it all started wh-” Rainbow started, but was cut off when Twilight started speaking.
“Wait, the others might want to hear this.” Before Rainbow could say ‘wait wut?’, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie walked straight through the wall. Rainbow just muttered something about getting solid cloud walls. Fluttershy and Pinkie, since they already knew, had faces of worry, while Rarity and Applejack with suspicion
“I suppose you finally got suspicious enough?” Rainbow asked with an almost deadly glare.
“Eeyep,” Applejack replied, “Now, do you want to tell us why you have a changeling?”
“Oh, fine! I’ll be right back, just don’t get creeped out ok? He’s completely harmless… Except that one time.” Rainbow added that last part with a quiet whisper. Since it technically wasn’t a lie, AJ couldn’t complain.
The door to Rainbow’s room creaked open. Rainbow slowly walked through as to not startle the already terrified Bugsy. She moved over to the bed and craned her head down under it to look at a teary eyed Bugsy.
Bugsy, who felt his mother’s presence, looked up to see Rainbow smiling warmly at him. He instantly brightened up.
“Mommy!” Bugsy latched onto Rainbow’s muzzle, after which Rainbow blew on his stomach, which resulted in giggles.
“Come on, Twilight wants to meet you.”
To Bugsy, it felt like his world just ended. “B-b-b-b-” Rainbow put a hoof over his mouth to calm him down.
“It’ll be alright, I won’t let anypony or anything hurt you. Ok?” Rainbow said in a soft tone.
At first, bugsy didn’t respond, but instead just chose to hug Rainbow’s hoof for a second before replying, “Ok.”
When Rainbow came back with Bugsy on her back, they all sat with the ones who did know about him on one couch and the ones who didn’t on another. For a few minutes, they all sat in silence, waiting for somepony else to speak first. When the silence finally got on Twilight’s nerves, she decided to break it.
“So… what’s his name?”
Rainbow looked up at Twilight, slightly in surprise, but mostly in relief that her first response wasn’t to banish him to the badlands.
“Well, after he stopped being scared stiff of me, he said it was Bugsy,” Rainbow said while rubbing her hoof on his head. Bugsy was lying down against Rainbow, fast asleep. It was very adorable. Pinkie would be bouncing on the couch if it wasn’t for the sleeping colt not three feet away from her, while Fluttershy was on the other side of Bugsy, with a few inches of space between them.
“Does Bugsy have a fashion sense?” Rarity quickly asked.
“Not to sound selfish, but he likes all things that remind him of me.” Rainbow had to hold back a small blush that was threatening to surface on her cheeks. “Such as my cutie mark, the color cyan, Daring Do, or even the Wonderbolts.” Rarity nodded her head and made a mental note to fix something up later for him.
“Does anypony else know ‘bout him?” Applejack wasted no time with her questioning. “Besides Pinkie and Fluttershy?”
“A few. There’s Nurse Redheart, Mayor Mare, some filly I can't remember the name of, Princess Luna-” Before Rainbow could finish, Twilight interrupted her.
“What!” Twilight quickly questioned in shock, before realizing her mistake and throwing a hoof to her mouth. “I’m sorry!”
“Don’t worry, Bugsy could sleep through the apocalypse. Anyway, Princess Luna, Queen Chrysalis.” Rainbow fully expected the reaction she got.
“WHAT!!” They all screamed in unison, even Pinkie, but Fluttershy just rolled her eyes at their overactive response.
“Here we go again…” Fluttershy spoke with a face hoof.
Today has been a long day, although that can be said for any day when you’re taking care of a changeling. She got up, Bugsy still didn’t want to do anything but mope around all day. On his (Rainbow’s) bed, the couch, meal time, which was just a long session of cuddling with Rainbow, he didn’t care about anything at the time.
As Rainbow was flying home, Bugsy still didn’t do much other than lay on his guardian’s back, face down like his world just ended, which, for anyone going through what he was, you’d feel the same way.
Since Rainbow needed to keep Bugsy a secret from as many ponies as possible, she went a particularly convoluted path, one that almost nopony ever came near.
When Rainbow reached her house, she turned her head around and whispered into Bugsy’s ear. “We’re home.” Rainbow only received a quiet grunt in response. Rainbow smiled, as last time their was no reply, so he’s getting better. Rainbow opened the door and walked through.
“What would ya like to do, squirt?” Bugsy squirmed at that name, he didn’t like it, at least not much, he would tolerate it, but that didn’t mean he liked it.
“Food,” was the only reply Rainbow received.
“Alright, on the couch.” Rainbow followed her own command and quickly made her way over to the couch, picked up Bugsy off her back, and laid down on it. Rainbow pulled Bugsy into her arms and hugged him with love.
“You seem to be getting along pretty well,” came a voice that Rainbow slightly recognized, but couldn’t place the exact identity.
“W-who’s there?” Rainbow started to panic.
“Did you already forget someone as lovely as me?” With the way she put emphasize on love, realization dawned on Rainbow.
“Chrysalis,” Rainbow spat out, words dripping with venom.
Out of the shadows, Chrysalis stepped out into the light to reveal herself. “Why are you here?” Rainbow questioned.
“Why Bugsy, of course, why else?” Chrysalis replied with mirth.
Rainbow’s tail curled around Bugsy defensively. “And what do you want with him?” If looks could kill, Chrysalis would’ve died yesterday.
“Oh, nothing, I just wanted to make sure you could take care of him, that’s all.” Rainbow flinched with surprise. “And it appears as though you can’t. So would you like some advice?”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “So wait, you’re not here to steal him?” Rainbow said with suspicion.
Chrysalis suddenly found her hoof attached to her face, along with a ‘slap’. “The whole point of the invasion was to find food for my subjects. I’d be a hypocrite and an idiot if I stole him from you, just to sentence him to starvation in the badlands. I may by evil, but I’m not cruel!” Chrysalis finished her rant with a glare equal in intensity to Rainbow’s earlier one.
“Well, what’s your advice then?”
“Do you see how sad he looks?” Chrysalis pointed her hood at Bugsy’s near tear face for emphasize. “That’s not healthy for a changeling, if he stays like that for too long, he may die, depending on his age.” Rainbow’s tail found it’s way around Bugsy again, along with a jaw a bit too low.
“W-what! N-no!” Rainbow started to get teary eyes
“That’s why you need to cheer him up… do you know how old he is anyway?”
Rainbow slightly perked up at that, along with a few tears being denied an exit, but then frowned at that last statement. “N-not really. Do you?”
“Let me check.” Chrysalis zoned out for a minute, most likely searching the hive mind for the answer, but soon returned to reality. “4 years, 180 days exactly.”
“T-thanks… I guess,” Rainbow stared awkwardly at the floor, unsure of what to say, before finally speaking up. “So, anything else?”
“No, that’s it. Since Bugsy can’t do any magic, remember to give him lots of snuggles and cuddles!” Chrysalis said before finally walking out the door, followed by a green flash, most likely to stop ponies from recognizing her.
“Well, you heard her, I got to cheer you up.”
“Well, that was… interesting. I didn’t know changelings could die just from being unhappy,” Twilight mused, before Rainbow shot her a death glare at the mention of death. “S-sorry.”
“Ok, I can probably guess you had a nightmare that may have attracted Princess Luna, and Nurse Redheart for obvious reasons, but why does Mayor Mare know?” Rarity chimed in.
“Simple,” Rainbow waited for a second to build up a bit of drama. “She helped with the adoption papers.” If you’d seen the looks on everypony’s faces, you’d die of laughter.
After a bit of zoning out from everypony other than Pinkie and Fluttershy, Applejack broke the silence.
“So, wait, yer not the just takin’ care of him, yer his actual legal mother?” Applejack asked in disbelief, and if it wasn’t for her lie detecting ability, she probably wouldn’t have believed her.
“Yep!” Rainbow said with a very big smile. After a moment, the other two finally returned to reality.
“But wait, you said she helped with the adoption papers, indicating somepony else was involved, who else was involved, if that's the case?” Twilight asked.
“Just sign here, here, and here.” Mayor Mare pointed to the blank spaces on the paper to indicate where.
“This is taking forever, she’s already signed like ten times, I don’t think she needs to sign three more times!” Chrysalis pouted.
“Shut it.” Luna commanded. Chrysalis just sunk in her chair off to the side.
“Actually, she has to sign three more times on the next page,” Mayor Mare said, almost a bit too cheerful. Both Chrysalis and Luna groaned loudly, while Rainbow let out a somewhat quieter groan.
“While I have respect for ponies brave enough for adoption, I wish it didn’t have so many papers to go along with it,” Luna said with obvious displeasure.
“Well you don’t have to be here you know,” Chrysalis said with even more displeasure.
“You know I have to be here to make sure there's no funny business with you.” Chrysalis just rolled her eyes.
“We’re done!” Mayor Mare interjected before a fight broke out.
“FINALLY!” Both Luna and Chrysalis screamed simultaneously.
A bit of ear ringing later, Rainbow pulled her chair in front of Chrysalis.
“So… how is this gonna work?” Rainbow’s eyes darted around the room nervously, waiting for Chrysalis’ answer.
“Are you ready?” Rainbow nodded. “Sit back, close your eyes, and hold tight to Bugsy.”
Rainbow did as instructed. Chrysalis lit her horn up and prepared a spell which would connect Rainbow and Bugsy through a hive mind, although with only two occupants, it wouldn’t really be much of a ‘hive’ and more like a permanent skype call.
“This might feel uncomfortable at first, but that feeling will go away after a moment.” Rainbow suddenly felt a slight tugging on her mind, like a small headache, but only for a moment.
“All done!” Chrysalis said with obvious joy that one less of her subjects would be doomed to starvation.
Rainbow waited a moment to see if anything happened, but after a minute or so, nothing.
“I don’t feel any diff-”
‘Rainbow Dash?’
‘Bugsy? Is that you?’
‘Uh-huh!’
‘Oh... Well, um, I guess you can call me-'
‘Mom?’
‘Uh, yeah, how’d you-'
‘Know? Hive mind.’
‘Oh, ok. But don’t do that, it’s creepy.’
‘Ok.’
Luna watched with approval that Chrysalis didn’t do anything stupid.
“So, um… What other effects does a ‘hive mind’ have?” Rainbow asked.
“Well, if you have them, and at the same time, your dreams have a high chance of being connected, and Bugsy can feed more efficiently from hugs and stuff. Other than that, since this is the first recorded linking of a changeling and a pony, I really don’t know. Maybe he’ll be able to eat normal food? Or maybe you might get a slight ability to shape-shift. I really don’t know.” Chrysalis paused for a moment to think of something she might have missed. “Oh, and, if you're not directly thinking of something, or thinking of something you don’t want Bugsy to know about, he doesn’t have the experience to pry it out of your mind, and he’ll know if you don’t want him knowing something.”
“Well, if something like this has never happened before, then we will be sure to keep record of it,” Luna stated confidently.
“So wait, you’re mentally connected?” Twilight inquired with a bit too much enthusiasm.
“Uh, yeah.”
“Have you had any connected dreams? Like Chrysalis said you would?”
“A few. But I don’t remember what any of them were about, so don’t ask.”
“Ok, so, we know Chrysalis is involved, you’re his legal mother, and that you’re connected with each other, but there’s one thing we still don’t know.”
“Ask away,” Rainbow said with a shrug of her shoulders.
“How did you came across Bugsy in the first place?” Applejack, Rarity, and even Pinkie looked at Rainbow and shrugged their shoulders, indicating that they want to know too. Although Fluttershy knew some of the story, even she didn’t know exactly how Rainbow came across Bugsy.
“This is gonna be a long night,” Rainbow said with a groan.
Author's Note
Tell me if I'm trying too hard.
Chapter 1/2.
SIX MONTHS AGO
About two weeks after the Canterlot invasion.
*PUFF* was the sound a cloud made when broken. Or should it be dissipated? Whatever.
“*Phew*, that’s the last of them,” Rainbow said, slightly tired. Now that she’s done with cloud kicking, she could go home and take a nap. It was a bit afternoon when she started making her way home.
Well on her way home, Rainbow suddenly stopped when she heard something that sounded like crying. She listened closely for a second to determine where it was coming from, before speeding off in the direction she chose.
She landed right inside the forest, with the crying… no, this was down right bawling, much louder. She listened closely while following the sound of it until she came across a small bush, the crying was much louder now. Rainbow slowly and quietly moved the top branches to the side and almost fainted at what she saw.
Right there, in the bush, a very small changeling lay on it’s side with his hooves over his eyes, bawling them out. Even with only two weeks passed since the invasion, Rainbow just couldn’t bring herself to harm such a weak creature; it didn’t even know she was there.
“H-hello?” Rainbow said softly, in attempt to not scare it, it didn’t work.
Immediately after she said that, the changeling instantly stopped crying, looked up, jumped, and ran like Tartarus...
...right into a tree...
...and knocked itself out.
‘Ow’ was the first thought he had as Bugsy regained consciousness. For a minute, Bugsy wondered if that blue mare was still there. After a minute of hearing nothing, he tried to get up…
… only to get pushed back down by a pressure on his back.
Bugsy didn’t dare move anymore. What’s on his back? Is it going to eat him? Is it that blue mare? Is she going to kill him!? No, Bugsy already died inside, dying could only ease the pain.
“You ok?” bugsy heard from behind.
‘It’s her! I’m going to die!’
“I’m sorwy!” Bugsy said in a high voice as he started to get teary eyes, seconds away from crying. He felt the mare’s hoof retract a bit.
“F-for what?” Bugsy could here in a shaky voice, not that it made it any less clear he was going to die.
“FOR EXISTING!” Bugsy knew he was going to die, and started sobbing uncontrollably.
Bugsy felt the hoof leave his back; suddenly, two blue hooves picked him up and turned him around to face the mare of his doom…
… and received a hug.
‘Wat?’
“I-I’m not going to hurt you, ok?”
“Wat?” Bugsy spoke his thoughts.
“I said, I’m not going to hurt you,” the blue mare repeated. Bugsy couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“B-but I-I’m a ch-changeling.”
“Yeah, and you were also crying, you’re tiny, and you’re freaking out,” the blue mare said nonchalantly. Bugsy just stared at her for a minute before he slowly lifted his hooves up and put them on her barrel with a small smile on his muzzle.
“So… what’s your name?” the blue mare asked.
Bugsy looked up to see the blue mare had a smile on her face. “Bugsy,” he replied.
“Well, Bugsy, I’m Rainbow Dash,” the blue mare- err, Rainbow Dash said as she brought a hoof up to clear his eyes of tears. Bugsy wondered why he was crying in the first place. “So… why were you crying?” That crushed any happiness Bugsy had and started sobbing seconds later. “Woah, sorry, didn’t mean to bring it back. I’m sorry.” Rainbow said as she brought Bugsy into another hug. Bugsy calmed down after a minute and returned the hug.
After a moment of awkward silence, Rainbow remembered she had somewhere to be. “So, um I got to go back home,” Rainbow said unsurly. Bugsy quickly whimpered and buried his muzzle into Rainbow’s fur.
“No! Please don’t leave me!” Bugsy cried.
“Um… well, in that case, would you, um, like to come with me?” Bugsy nodded furiously. “Ok, um, well…” Rainbow picked up Bugsy and put him on her back. “Hold on, ok?”
Before Bugsy could respond or properly get his hooves anywhere near the ‘hold on’ position, Rainbow was already off, with Bugsy screaming like a maniac.
Not even ten seconds later, Rainbow opened the front door to her house and in they went. She moved over to the couch and set Bugsy down on one side, while Rainbow sat on the other side.
“So, what was your plan?” Rainbow said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“W-what?” Bugsy squeaked out.
“Are you planning on feeding from me?”
Bugsy flinched back. “What!? I don’t even know how! If it’s not given willingwy I can’t,” Bugsy replied, waving his forelegs around for emphasis, which made Rainbow flinch back.
“Sorry, I just… here.” Before he could react, Rainbow pulled Bugsy to her in a hug, and then Bugsy realized what she was doing.
She was feeding him.
She. Was. Feeding. Him.
She.
Was.
Feeding.
Him.
“Whaaaaaaaaaaa…” Bugsy started, but was silenced when Rainbow put a hoof over his mouth.
“Shhhhh, just go with it.” Rainbow sat there for a minute with Bugsy in her hooves before she remembered what she came home to do in the first place. “Hey, Bugsy-” Rainbow looked down, but was surprised when she saw Bugsy was already asleep.
Rainbow got off the couch, careful not to wake Bugsy. She set Bugsy down on the couch with a blanket. She walked up the stairs, down the hall and into her bedroom, lied down on her bed and fell asleep.
Bugsy awoke the next morning thinking yesterday’s experience was just a dream, but quickly learned that it wasn’t when he opened his eyes to see a blanket atop him, along with the surroundings of Rainbow’s home. Bugsy closed his eyes to think about his fortune. There was the mare who didn’t immediately try to kill him, instead, she took him home with her and fed him. Bugsy still couldn’t believe that. No changeling could even think a pony would willingly feed them. Bugsy’s thoughts were interrupted when he heard hooves coming down the stairs.
And then a loud thud.
Rainbow just had the weirdest dream. First, she found a changeling near the Everfree, and then she actually helped it. She thought it said it’s name was Bugsy or something like that. ‘Pretty stupid name.’ Rainbow thought. Second, she took it home and fed it. ‘What’s wrong with you brain?’
Rainbow’s brain stopped processing information when her eyes fell on the small changeling lying on her couch.
And then she fainted.
Rainbow awoke a few minutes later, to the sight of the changeling she thought had been in a dream staring at her from above. Then she remembered. She really did help a changeling, and she really did take it home. She just stared at it for a minute before it got off of her and sat down on the floor next to her.
“Rwainbow Dash?” the small changeling said.
“Yeah?” Rainbow replied.
“C… can I hug you?” the changeling asked timidly.
Rainbow was slightly surprised at his question. She thought about it for a minute before slowly lifting her hooves, put them around Bugsy and pulled him into a hug.
Rainbow didn’t notice the smile on her face.
A week ago, on that fateful day, Rainbow stumbled upon a changeling that would change her life forever. A changeling named Bugsy. A changeling colt, which she found out… by accident. In a few days, Rainbow grew to like him. As long as Rainbow had time to cuddle him, Bugsy never made a fuss or whined. Although, one time, Rainbow had to fill in for an injured worker in Cloudsdale and couldn’t get home til late at night.
That was when Bugsy got bored.
Bugsy sat on the couch, well aware that Rainbow won’t be back until around 10pm. He waited and waited, comically shifting positions as time passed. Life was so boring without Rainbow around. After another long while, Bugsy grunted and got off the couch. He decided to explore the house a bit, as he hasn’t thought about at all, just the living room and bathroom were familiar to him. He walked up the stairs and down the hall. He passed the bathroom and continued on until he reached the edge of the hall and came right in front of a window.
Right when he was about to turn around, a loud sound came from the window. He turned around for a minute before turning around thinking he was just hearing things. Another sound, this time a bit quieter, came again from the window. Bugsy turned around, thinking he was hearing things again, but what he saw almost made him faint.
A filly sat right behind the window, staring Bugsy down. She didn’t have any malicious intent, from what Bugsy could sense, which wasn’t very accurate. The filly wore a genuine smile on her face.
“Hey Bugsy,” she said. Bugsy jumped back.
“How do you know my name?” Bugsy asked.
“Reasons. Anyway, I need to inform you of something.”
“W-what?”
“In a week, don’t push Rainbow away. You’ll want to, but don’t.” the filly said, before vanishing from view. Bugsy rushed forward, thinking she fell, but also wondering what she meant by ‘don’t push Rainbow away’. When Bugsy’s face pressed up against the window, the filly suddenly shot up into the sky. Bugsy couldn’t see that well through the window, but he was sure he didn’t see wings before.
After a few minutes, Bugsy shrugged and walked away, eager to explore more of the house.
When Rainbow came back home, Bugsy rushed up to meet her. After Rainbow settled down her stuff, Bugsy told her of the filly he saw. Describing her with a dark purple coat and and dark blue mane.
“Wait, I think I know that filly. I can’t remember her name, though,” Rainbow said with a hoof under her chin.
They shrugged it off and went to bed.
A week after Bugsy saw the strange filly, Bugsy remembered what she said about ‘a week from then’. Bugsy waited for something to happen, and something did.
The mailmare just hoofed the newspaper over to Rainbow Dash, who was at the door. They said goodbye. Rainbow put the newspaper on the nearest table without reading the front page. But Bugsy, who knew something would happen made his way over to it while Rainbow went upstairs. Bugsy crawled up a chair and read the headline.
Changeling Couple Executed for Noncooperation!
Bugsy burst into tears when he saw the picture of his parents. Rainbow quickly came downstairs to find out what made Bugsy cry. When she saw the newspaper, Rainbow gasped and threw a hoof to her mouth in shock. She instinctively put her forelegs around Bugsy and petted his head to calm him down. Bugsy threw his hooves around Rainbow’s barrel.
“I-I th-thini-ik that’s-s what she m-meant,” Bugsy choked out through tears. Rainbow looked down
“What do you mean?”
“That f-filly, sh-she said ‘don’t push you away’, I think this is what sh-she meant.”
Rainbow looked shocked. But just decided to hug him tighter.
A few weeks after Rainbow was visited by Chrysalis, Rainbow noticed something Bugsy was completely oblivious to.
Every once in awhile, when Rainbow and Bugsy snuggled into bed, Rainbow could sometimes hear a quiet ‘mommy’ as Bugsy left to visit dreamland.
A few days after that Luna practically burst through the door, more or less demanding that Rainbow Dash adopt Bugsy, as she was the one he referred to when he said ‘mommy’. Rainbow, of course, happily obliged, after she got over the fact Luna knew pretty much all along. Luna said something about ‘dreams can tell a lot about a pony.’
Ever since then, Bugsy had been pretty happy, although there was the time Luna sent a magic teacher and Bugsy went absolutely insane thinking he was here to take him away. He had a magic surge and almost destroyed Rainbow’s house, which Luna did send some funds to pay for the damages. But other than that, nothing really happened. And then Twilight showed up…
“You don’t need to narrate what’s happening now, Rainbow,” Twilight said with a face hoof. “Or in third pony.”
“Soooo…” Rainbow started as she petted Bugsy, who woke up sometime during the story. “Now what?”
“*Yawn* I think it’s time to go home, It’s…” Twilight paused to look at the clock. “2 o’clock… in the morning.” Twilight looked over to Rarity and to Applejack, who fell asleep some time during the story. In fact, all except Twilight, Rainbow, and Pinkie were asleep. Twilight nudged them both while Rainbow nudged Fluttershy to wake them up.
“Huh? What?” Applejack looked around to see who woke her up. “Oh.”
“Come on, time to go home.”
After everypony left to go home, Rainbow and Bugsy went upstair. Something in the corner of her eyes caught her attention. After placing Bugsy in bed, she went over to the window where she thought she saw it.
When Rainbow arrived at the window, her eyes fell upon a little piece of paper outside the window. Rainbow opened the window and picked up the note. She couldn’t see what it said and headed back to her room for better light. She passed the door and looked at the note in now much better light.
“Well that was cute, what’d'ya say?” - Gear Switch
Rainbow recognized the name and put two and two together. ‘Dark purple coat, dark blue mane. Wings without wings. Sounds a lot like Gear.’ Finally finding out who knew about her son somehow, she got in bed and snuggled Bugsy, and fell asleep.
Author's Note
There are three logic mistakes in this story. The first three people to find them can have their OC featured in a secondary role in a future story. Surprisingly the first one had already been found.
- batran
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3.
If you spot a mistake but don't have or want your OC in a story, then please do not call it out.
You can either post your OC in the comments or send it through private message.
Your OC should be hyper detailed, but if it isn't I will fill in the blanks with whatever I see fit, so don't leave out anything.
