//------------------------------// // Of Changelings, Rats, and Yahoos // Story: Peace at Last? // by Prince_Staghorn //------------------------------// It was Wednesday, just before sunrise, and everypony was still asleep. Well, almost everypony. Fluttershy walked carefully through the streets of the town, a specific destination in mind. But she was not alone. Behind her, like a figure from a nightmare, was a worker changeling stallion with bright orange eyes (no discernible pupils, like other workers), and a particularly sharp-looking set of fangs. He was a Bruiser, a specific type of worker that specialized in demolition. What that translated into was a changeling who had the same build as Big Macintosh, but was about a foot taller. The ferocious appearance was ruined by the white bunny on his back. He thumped the changeling on the head with his foot. Fluttershy turned around. “Now Angel,” she began, “be nice to Thud. You owe it to him after all the help he’s been giving us, what with feeding the other animals, taking care of that poor ferret with the broken leg, and saving you from those Timberwolves. Say you’re sorry.” Angel harrumphed and turned his head away. “Angel…” The rabbit remained steadfast. “Angel, please…” The rabbit continued to ignore her. Thud cowered, lowering himself down, covering his eyes, and shaking. Fluttershy STARED at Angel. Angel froze, and then immediately patted the big changeling on the head. The trio moved onwards. Thud had come to Fluttershy after his pet rat had received a broken ankle earlier in the week. He had wandered around for hours until a purplish earth pony mare with several berries and grapes for a cutie mark had suggested Fluttershy, pointing the way to her house. After some initial hesitation from Fluttershy, (Thud knew he was scary-looking), her love for small animals overcame her fear of Giant Sharp-toothed changelings (though she now knew that changelings used those fangs to pierce the rinds of a particularly tough species of melon). Since putting the tiny cast on the rodent, Thud had seen it as his solemn duty to repay Fluttershy, no matter what. The thing was, Thud had repaid her enough for 100 kind deeds, and still insisted that he was in her debt, proclaiming it as part of his code of honor. Fluttershy considered it a sweet thought, but still… She stopped outside the only house with the lights on. Reaching up, she knocked three times. Bonbon opened the door and yawned, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. On her back, her pet falcon, Quicksilver, ruffled his feathers. “Is it Wednesday already?” Bonbon asked in her “annoyed” voice. Fluttershy cringed a little bit at the nasally question. “Um… y… yes. Though, I guess I can come back later, if you want.” Bonbon sighed and switched to her natural voice, which sounded a little bit like her cousin Cloudchaser’s. “No, it’s fine. Come in, and bring your…,” she looked over Thud’s massive frame, “friend, with you.” “Oh, thank you, Bonbon. Most ponies are scared of Thud.” “Eh, he can’t be that bad.” The truth was, since the Wedding, a rumor had spread that Bonbon might be a changeling. It was nonsense, of course, and hardly anypony actually believed it, but still, it was enough that she sympathized with them. It wasn’t her fault she could moderate her voice excellently (She had spent a brief time in Manehattan as a ventriloquist), but let them think what they would. Fluttershy, Thud, and Angel went up the stairs to Lyra’s large, loft-like room. It was decorated all over with blurry photos, newspaper clippings, and sketches. Her massive bookshelf was filled with novels and publications along the lines of A Complete Guide to Dinosaurs and Proto-Dragons, or The Pony’s Guide to the Primates of the World. Sleeping in a basket near her bed was Lyra’s pet, Shift, a white-faced capuchin from the jungles of Tapiri. In the center of the room was a group of three ponies: Featherweight, Cloudchaser, and Ditzy’s daughter Sparkler. Standing at a podium in front of them was Lyra. She turned to the group who had just walked in. “Fluttershy! Glad you could make it! Who’s your friend?” The other three ponies looked at the changeling suspiciously, but said nothing. Fluttershy smiled nervously and explained her situation in a voice which grew smaller with every passing second. Lyra looked at Thud again. “Hmmm… well…, I guess he can stay,” she finally conceded. “It’s nice to meet you, Thud. I’m Lyra, that’s Sparkler, this is Cloudchaser, and the little guy is Featherweight. And together with Fluttershy, we are…” she rose on her hind legs and struck a pose, “The Equestrian Cryptid Research Foundation! We dedicate our lives to finding those creatures who everyone says don’t exist, whether they be Yahoos or Smiledogs, and no pony can stop us from succeeding in our goal!” Sparkler rolled her eyes. “Can I finish my story now?” Lyra blinked and dropped onto all fours, blushing. “Right… um, you were saying, Sparkler?” Sparkler sighed and opened her saddlebag. “As I was saying,” she began, “My aunt Daring recently returned from a small expedition to the more mountainous areas of Stirrope, and she bought this from a salespony in a small store.” She pulled out the cast of a large footprint, its price tag adorned with one word: Yahoo. Lyra immediately began looking it over. “Sparkler, this is amazing! It’s flawless, it’s stupendous, it’s…” “It,” interrupted a deep voice, “is a fake.” The assembled ponies looked at Thud. “And how do you know that?” asked Sparkler. “May I see the proffered item?” Thud asked. Sparkler gave him the footprint. Thud took a breath, and then began. “If you look at the arch of the foot, you will notice a small pattern. Now yahoos, as primates, would naturally have a series of dermal ridges along the bottoms of their feet and the palms of their hands. The impressions on this footprint, however, reveal a series of small octagonal scales. Furthermore, notice how the three middle toes are the same length and clearly have claws, whereas the two outer toes have hairline cracks, implying that they were added at a later date. Lastly, the footprint itself is too big for the five-foot tall hairy semi-sapient species of bipedal primate we call a yahoo. This is the doctored print of the synapsid reptile species Jotun frigus, more commonly known as the frost troll or jotun.” Lyra looked at the changeling, then at the footprint. She went over to her bookshelf and picked out her copy of The Search for the Mystery Ape; an in-depth study of the Yahoo. Turning to a certain page, she compared the print to the image in the book. She looked up. “He’s right!” She looked at Thud. Walking up to the massive changeling, she looked into his eyes. She smiled. “I have a feeling we’ll get along just fine.” Thud smiled in return. “Indeed. Perhaps I have repaid my debt to Madame Fluttershy, and I should seek out further, more profitable employment. Are there any job openings for an educator?” Lyra considered. “Perhaps, but you may need to wait for a while.” “Excellent. Now then, may I continue to watch the meeting? It seems to be on a very interesting subject…” Outside, the sun began to rise on what would promise to be a new day for changelings and ponies alike.