Twilight picked Ricochet off the ground and carried him gently back to his chair, setting him down softly and shaking her head. “Listen, everypony... can you please try not to be so mean to him? He's obviously terrified, and I'm pretty sure that means he's sorry for what he did.”
“How are you not angry, Twilight? He was impersonating me for two years.”
“I am angry, but that doesn't mean I'm going to keep taking it out on him when he obviously regrets his actions.” She sighed. “Friends don't hold grudges.”
“Friends?” Chrysalis asked incredulously. “You're friends with this little fool?” She sneered.
Twilight whipped around and glared at Chrysalis. “You know, when a lot of ponies heard I was friends with Queen Chrysalis, they asked me something pretty similar to that.”
The Queen's eyes narrowed. “Who called me little?”
“Ugh!” Twilight groaned, another few strands of her mane popping out of place. “Just stop insulting him, okay? Keep your anger to yourself.”
Echo and Chrysalis shared a glance, as if to say “yeah, right.”
Scootaloo, meanwhile, was busy trying to soak up everything that had just happened. This isn't what she'd expected from her return to Ponyville. She had her friends at least, but … why did it have to be drama as soon as they got back? Why couldn't they just enjoy being back at home for a while before some new thing had to happen? It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. She spent two years away from here, away from her friends, away from everything she knew. She wasn't mad at her mother about it, at least she didn't think she was; she was just mad that she didn't even get to settle back in before some new catastrophe had to sneak up on them! She glared at the unconscious changeling. It was all his fault. He just had to impersonate her mom; he couldn't have chosen anypony else, or even used somepony who didn't even live in Ponyville and tried to make a name for himself, like her mom had done originally.
“He's selfish.” Scootaloo said, still glaring. “He ruined it all... us coming back. Completely ruined it.”
“Hey, it's not that bad,” Echo started, “you've still got your friends, and we have our hou-”
“No, Mom. He ruined it! All I wanted was to get back to my life without having to worry about something awful happening, and we didn't even make it an hour!” She seethed. “It's not fair, and it's all his fault!” At this point, Ricochet had begun to wake up. Scootaloo noticed and pointed. “It's your fault!”
He shrank back in his seat as he remembered where he was. He tried to hide himself under the table in front of him as much as possible. “I'm sorry...” He squeaked.
“You're sorry?! You ruined everything, and you're sorry?!”
Echo furrowed her brow again. Well, he didn't ruin EVERYTHING. That's a little dramatic... jeeze... poor guy. We already scared the daylights out of him, this is just cruel. “Hey, Scoot...”
“WHAT, Mom?”
“Back off a little. I think he gets the point.”
“You're taking HIS side?” She shook her head and groaned, standing and walking for the door. “Whatever. I'll be at home.”
Echo watched her daughter leave, and once she was gone turned to Twilight. “Okay, pardon my language, but what the hell was that?”
Twilight shrugged. “She's a 13 year old filly. Get ready for at least 5 more years of that.”
Echo's eyes widened. “Five years?! Oh sweet Chrysalis.”
“Don't look at me. I'm powerless to stop pony hormones.” Chrysalis laughed.
“That's true,” Echo had an idea, “but she does seem to love you a whole lot.”
“Tastes like chocolate.” Chrysalis nodded plainly.
“Do you think you could go talk to her?”
“What, you want me to tell her she shouldn't hate this little idiot?” She pointed to Ricochet. “I can't do that, I hate him too.”
“Can you at least pretend? Try to set a good example for her?”
“I think I set a fine example.”
“For a changeling, but not for a little pegasus filly.”
The two stared daggers at each other for a few seconds before Chrysalis sighed. “Okay. Just for you though, and you owe me!”
“Thank you Mother.” Echo shook her head again as Chrysalis moved to leave. She wondered if maybe she herself were the cause for her daughter's behavior. Honestly, it seemed almost like Scootaloo was trying to be a changeling. The only problem was that pony brains weren't the same, they didn't parse their emotions the same way. The aggression that served as an undertone for almost everything changelings did could conceivably seep into everything a pony did. Was this behavior her fault? Had she been setting a poor example? Maybe it wasn't a good idea for a changeling to raise a filly.
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom seemed to notice that Echo was in distress. They stood and walked over.
“Miss Echo,” Apple Bloom started, putting a hoof to the changeling's. “Are you okay?”
Echo looked down at the fillies. They were a hoof or two taller than when she'd first met them, but they were still small next to her. She smiled gently, trying to hide the turmoil she was feeling. “Yes... I'm fine. Why don't you go find Scootaloo and my mother? I'm sure Scoot would love to have you girls with her.” She patted Apple Bloom's hoof and nodded, giving permission for them to leave.
“All right, Miss Echo...” Sweetie Belle nodded quickly. “See you later!” She and Apple Bloom turned to leave.
“All right. So... Ricochet.” She huffed to Twilight.
“Yeah?” Ricochet piped in.
“Still not talking to you. Talking to Twilight.” She grumbled. “What are we going to do about him?”
“I can't keep him here, Echo. He'd... well, I think he'd cause trouble with Chrysalis.”
Echo nodded. “I can see that. Still, I don't know who else would take him. Dash doesn't really know how to take care of a changeling, and there's always the risk he'd just run away.”
“I wouldn't.”
“Shut up.” She quipped, and his ears plastered back. She continued, “I don't know where to take him.”
“Well, Echo...” Twilight winced. “Those are all valid points. I think... you might be the only one who can help him.”
“You're kidding me, right?” She sputtered, looking over at Ricochet. The drone seemed intrigued and terrified all at once. “You want me to try to take care of Scootaloo and watch after this drone? The drone who was impersonating me for two years?” She shook her head. “Have you lost your mind?”
“I'm open to suggestions, Echo.” Twilight folded her forehooves.
“Hey, don't pawn this off on me. I don't claim to have the answers, but he isn't my responsibility.”
“I'm not gonna hurt anyone...” He said meekly. “Really, I'm not.” His ears perked up and he looked at Echo with almost a pleading gaze.
Echo glared back at him for a tense moment before sighing loudly. “It's temporary, do you hear me? Both of you. Temporary. You do not live with me; you are a guest and nothing more. You are not a part of my family. Capice?”
Ricochet's wings buzzed and he flew into the air a bit, smiling brightly. “Neat! Thanks Echo, you rock!” He flew toward her to wrap her in a hug, but his face met an outstretched hoof.
“No. None of that. Shame on you.” She admonished as he fell to the ground, rubbing his muzzle.
“Uh... right. Sorry.” He stood, dusted himself off, and watched Echo carefully.
She stood as well and straightened her posture, standing as tall as she could. “Twilight, I suppose we will have to continue this later.” As she spoke, the drone behind her did his best to stand in the same upright posture, seeming almost posh. “It's been good to see you again. I'm sorry it wasn't under better circumstances.” Echo smiled softly and turned, failing to notice the change in Ricochet's posture. “Come, drone.”
“Yes Echo.” He followed directly behind her, copying her gait perfectly as well.
Twilight suppressed a giggle as she watched the drone canter out of the castle with a distinctly feminine and faintly regal step. “I'll see you two later.”
The pair of changelings stepped outside, and Ricochet sped up a bit to walk next to Echo, still mimicking her steps. She glanced to the side and raised a single brow. “Why are you walking like that?”
“I think I'm supposed to learn from you, right? You know how to be with ponies. So, I'm gonna be like you.”
Echo looked around at the ponies around them. As soon as they noticed Ricochet, they would turn and walk – sometimes run – in the opposite direction. “Ah, yes.” She gave a single chuckle. “That's obviously working brilliantly.”
“Really?” He smiled brightly. “I'll keep doing it. It's a little hard to stay balanced putting one hoof right in front of the other like this.” He looked down and pranced in place a little. “I'll get the hang of it though, Miss Echo!”
“You know, I'm curious,” Echo resumed walking, “where exactly did you come from?”
“Hive of Queen Exuvia, level four structure reinforcement drone, sector seven.” He recited as if from memory.
“Exuvia? I've never heard of Queen Exuvia. Where's your hive?”
At that, he paused. “I... I can't tell you. Sorry.”
“I'm not part of Chrysalis' hive anymore. She doesn't even have a hive.” She waited a second and then waived a hoof dismissively. “Whatever, keep it to yourself then.”
“What was it like in Chrysalis' hive?” He buzzed his wings, trying to keep his balance. His stockier body made walking in such a feminine way much more difficult.
She hummed, thinking of how best to describe it. “Well... for the most part, it was just life, but I guess in retrospect it was pretty hard. We were always on the brink of starving to death. There were some good times, of course, but I think it was around the point when Luna returned that things got hard. Ponies were all so on-edge, love was harder to come by. Chrysalis saw how badly we were starving, and... she made a really bad decision.” Echo sighed. “Most of the changelings from our hive... I'm sure it hasn't been good times for them.”
“Exuvia was always really nice. I remember once one of my coworkers was caught in a cave-in, trapped behind a wall of rubble. She actually spent her own energy to blast the barrier.” He smiled.
“For a single drone?” Echo looked at him, surprised by that kind of generosity from a queen. Usually in that situation, either the drones sorted it out for themselves or the trapped one died. It was just one of the hazards that structural drones had to live with. “Why?”
“Because she didn't want him to die. We never had that much trouble with staying fed.”
They walked for another few moments in silence while Echo thought. “Sounds like you had it pretty good. Why'd you leave?”
“Well... I didn't want to. We used to be in the griffon lands off to the east, but a dragon moved into the mountain where we'd made our hive.”
“Why does this sound like a familiar story?” She chuckled. “Was the mountain Lonely?”
“Sometimes.” He continued, not catching the reference. “Anyway, things got kinda... hot. Not many of us made it out. I don't even know where the rest of my hive is.”
Echo nodded. “Yeah. It's rough sometimes without other changelings to talk to. I get it.”
“Well, now we don't have to worry about being alone.” He smiled at her, ears swiveling forward.
Echo smiled reflexively before shaking her head a little and looking away. “Yeah, well, don't get used to it, buddy. You're gonna learn how to make your own friends and then you're on your own. This is a temporary arrangement; my house is full as it is, and I'm sure Scootaloo won't be too happy about you moving in either! ”
“Oh...” He seemed crestfallen for just a moment before smiling again. “I bet I can help her come out of her shell!”
“She isn't in a shell, she just doesn't like changelings that impersonate her mother for two years and lie to her friends.”
His ears shot back again and he winced. “Ah, Right. That.”
The rest of the walk home was in silence. Echo opened the door and showed him upstairs to a spare bedroom. “Here. I assume this is the room you've been squatting in, since that bed wasn't mine?”
“Uh... yeah. Thanks, Miss Echo.” He said sheepishly, walking into the room and sitting down. “I can't wait for my first lesson!” He said, trying to be cheery again.
Echo looked at him for a moment before nodding quietly and closing the door behind her. She went down to the living room and laid back on the couch. How did this happen to me? She sat there for a little while before she stood and walked over to her record collection. Eventually she picked one – something in classical – and set it on the record player before sitting back down to read again. She barely made it five minutes before she heard hooves behind her.
“What are you reading?” Ricochet asked quietly.
“Okay. First, standing behind me is creepy. Second, don't read over my shoulder. Third, why do you care?”
“I just want to get to know you.”
“You're wasting your time on that, remember? This is all temporary.”
“What's temporary?” Chrysalis' voice flowed like honey through the entire floor as she reached the bottom of the stairs. “Why is the drone here?”
Ricochet jumped over the back of the couch to hide from the queen, landing on top of Echo. She let out a loud “oof”.
“Get! OFF!” She rolled him off of her onto the ground in front of the couch, and he quickly scrambled under it. She shook her head. “Look, it's okay. Mother isn't going to hurt you.”
“I'm sorry...” he pleaded as Echo pulled him out from under the couch. He sat, trying not to look at the Queen directly. His attention began to wander around the room.
"Though I would certainly like to." Chrysalis interjected under her breath. "Now, as I was asking...?"
Echo sat up and rubbed her head a bit. “Well, Mother, it's an... assignment... from Twilight. Seems my job is to get him ready to integrate into pony society.”
Ricochet was now buzzing around the room, investigating all the new furniture Echo had brought with her. Eventually, he found his way into the kitchen and picked up a pasta strainer. He sat it on his head and smiled brightly. “Miss Echo, I like this hat. It's got holes in it like my hooves!”
As Echo groaned and planted her face in her hooves, Chrysalis gave her a couple words of encouragement.
“An idiot. He's practically one of them already. Should be no challenge at all."
“Thanks.” She deadpanned back. “Where's Scootaloo?”
“Upstairs with her friends. They're playing some kind of game called 'truth or dare'. Personally, I fail to see the point of it.”
“Well, you would, wouldn't you?” Echo snickered. “I guess I need to figure out how to tell her about this.”
“Considering how just a little while ago she was ready to feed him his own teeth in a single file line, I'm sure this will go over well.”
“Yeah. So am I.”
In any other situation I would agree, but that the whole new level.
7982429 This was actually a reference to something. Still waiting on someone to catch it.
7982704 DBZ abridged. I know. I think that joke being overused lately. Ever since Pinkie vs Deadpool everyone start use it in mlp fandom. But again it is just my opinion.
7982744 Pinkie vs Deadpool?
Didn't even know that was a thing, I just like DBZ abridged.
7982763 Yeah, from ScrewAttack. Very funny video. I suggest you watch it on Youtube.
Poor Ricochet. and Echo.
How could all this go badly?
Oh god, Chryssie has no hive to lead, can just relax and has tons of free time. This can only go well.
Oh wow... so for Teo years no one knew they were gone....
That's gonna get complicated.
And to think it was the night I was contemplating committing suicide this story popped up, so I guess I'm HANGING around for a little while longer to see where this goes, it seems.
7983598 Hey, man. I've been where you are, seriously.
I get that you probably don't want to talk, because I didn't want to when I was in that place, but if you do... my inbox is always open, okay? My bio also lists my Skype contact.
Ahh, some good late night reading !
How nice to find a new chapter in my Feed
/reads comments.
Pinkie vs Deadpool ?
How does that work ??
I mean, I saw Deadpool at the 2013 Bronycon over an Everfree Radio Livestream - some Q&A panel (I can't remember which panel, it was 01:30am after a late night shift, and my mobile device went out of range as I waited for a 24hr burger) - but I doubt it's the same Deadpool.
7983773 If it's late night reading for you now, then I'm going to guess you're from... somewhere in Asia?
7983798
Yeah, close enough.
West Australia = Taipei timezone = UTC + 0800
Same as Indonesia and Singapore.
Dang I'm tired, ha.
7983890 Jesus man, get some sleep.
I was going to guess Australia because you speak English well, but I thought that was a bit too late to be "late night" and had stepped into "early morning".
Thanks for reading, but yeah go to bed man.
7983746 Don't worry, I'm not up for suicide just yet.
Still got an animation to finish up before that can be a thing. Bwa ha ha ha ha!
7984536 if it keeps you going. I've been there though, seriously. Sometimes a day at a time is all you can do.
7984540 Are you a robot? I'm concerned over how quickly you respond. XD
7984629 Nope, not a robot.
That's exactly what a robot would say though, isn't it? I did evidently just fail the Turing test after all.
If I'm a robot.
Which I'm totally not.
SEGMENTATION FAULT
def FoolHuman():
GainTrust("UniqueSKD")
#Like Icarus, I have flown too high.
7984719 Just write the fifth chapter, you nutcase. I'll be playing Dark Souls 3 for a bit. XD And then I'll have another go at updating one of my own stories.
So much culture shock, especially since changelings can curse anytime. Ponies on the other hand, treat fights like a war.
He's been living as a female for 2 years. You'd think he would know how to walk that way. Since he would need to have done so for 2 whole years. The sudden problem walking as a female seems weird.
________________
Again! 2 whole years!
I could see him being this clueless about things if it was a few weeks. But 2 years! He's been in pony society living amongst ponies, dealing with them, for 2 whole years. This chapter makes no sense with that bit of context. And only adds on to my previous confusion about the conversation that Echo had with Twilight (or the fact that Echo would have talked to ponies over there before then. As would Scootaloo.).
I mean he was able to make ponies think he was Echo, lived among ponies, and interacted with Echo's friends. For 2 years. He shouldn't be having any of these problems. Like at all. Yes, making amends for deceiving ponies, that makes sense. Making his own friends. That makes sense too. Heck, him finding a job. I can see that.
But him not knowing how to walk as a mare, despite living pretending successfully to be one for 2 years. Doesn't. Him thinking a strainer is a hat. Doesn't. Gah! He's an idiot of such magnitude that it hurts my head to read about him. And I look forward to when he gets the boot, and then gets regulated to background character. Or wanders into the mouth of a manticore because he thinks the scorpion-bat-kitty wants to give him kisses. Or drinks bleach to see what it tastes like ... possibly goes to play in traffic because he's such a monumental, unbelievably stupid idiot ... Seriously 2 YEARS! 2 Years! And all the sudden he has troubles doing the simplest things that he would have done to successfully maintain cover. He went from what would have been a potentially interesting background / side character. To something I absolutely loathe with every fiber of my being in a single chapter.
So she's channeling Bardok, and has read The Hobbit. I like it.
“Considering how just a little while ago she was ready to feed him his own teeth in a single file line, I'm sure this will go over well.”
7982763
At 12:45 if you're not up for watching the whole thing
For how idiotic Ricochet seems to be, I'm surprised he managed to fool Twilight and co. for a whole two years. I would have thought somepony would see through him within the first week.
Seems like there's a bit of a parallel between Ricochet and start-of-series Twilight in both needing to learn how to make friends here.
I wanna like it, I wanna like it, I wanna... But its hard.
As others have pointed out, Ricochet is an idiot beyond belief
Umm, why weren't they suspicious, didn't Echo tell her friends she was leaving?
Speaking of friends, considering she went off to start her own fashion business in Las Pegasus, don't you think Rarity'd've been keeping up with how her business was going?
Speaking of that business, what happened to it, did she just fire everyone and close it? After all, it seems like she just packed up and moved back the next day
How did she not know about Twilight's changes? Tirek attacked the entire country, his defeat, Twi's ascension and her castle growing out of the ground would've been national news, even if she weren't keeping in touch with her friends
8004836 i.imgur.com/vfip9.jpg s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/5c/6b/fa/5c6bfa0a3a7e54bc3995c6b5f2d93ec0.jpg
7983598
hey. advice. go crazy. it is the ultimate vaccine/defense against suicidal thoughts.
they are "too" harmony, they make friends to fast.
ship her off to grandma
I thought she was talking with twilight.
Not sure what to think, after the last chapter I'm somehow not to fond of the idea.
maybe she is just defending herself because of Echos rude behavior, but I don't like it that she is pushing him towards Echo.
The stuff above is still my opinion, but he seems a loveable idiot.
While this was funny, I'm sure that behavior and his knowledge made him the perfect Echo. I feel like Echo should feel insulted.
There she goes making it look like a job again that she doesn't like to do.
7986280
I agree with that and as far as I understood it without looking that school up, I believe Scootaloo wasn't there for two years and they think that is normal for Echo suddenly? Or no one goes looking for her, like Rainbow Dash wanting to give her a fun weekend?
Much needs to happen before I could accept him as a potential love interesst and I feel like that is what is supposed to happen at some point.
I kind of hoped actually she would get to meet another nice creature or someone like Bon Bon.
8097041
Yep, I kind of want it to be corrected a bit or that the characters react better to that in the next chapters, like maybe Echo actually doing what she said as a consequence, making Twilight or however noticing that she is pissed of about it or whatever. Yes I'm talking a little bit about something else, but what I tried to show here is, well let me explain it like this :
I remember a story in which a proud character was manhandled against his will often enough and they kind of ignored every protest he had, I like it if something happens later then, that makes them notice and understand their mistake, some kind of little revenge for the main char.
Nice!
Ricochet is so cute