“If the youth are not initiated into the tribe, they will burn down the village, just to feel its warmth.” — African proverb
Dinky Doo, Snails, Twist, and Pipsqueak are out getting candy on Nightmare Night when they realize that there's too many of them. Some thing is among them, disguising itself as one of them...but for what purpose...?
This is a Lunaverse story, but no real knowledge of the Lunaverse is needed for it other than the fact that nopony's met changelings yet. New readers welcome!
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I briefly alluded to my other Nightmare Night story up there, The Meaning of Nightmare Night. That story explains how Nightmare Night exists in the Lunaverse, which is after all a universe that never knew Nightmare Moon. Reading that story isn't necessary to enjoy this one, though.
Got a good start here. The foals' interactions are plenty adorable, especially Dinky's continuing budding crush on Pipsqueak and Twist fighting with her lisp. I like the premise that you've got going here, and the title certainly points towards where the story is going to be going with the foals starting to freak out over who's who. Can't quite recall but I think this might be the first time I've seen any strong Changeling hints in a Lunaverse story, too, although I might've missed some previous mentions if there were some.
Hmm, odd that Carrot Top is out. I wonder what she does on Nightmare Night? Maybe runs some sort of event in town? Makes me curious about what the rest of the LunaverseSix do for Nightmare Night.
I sort of think Twist's lisp is going to be significant, maybe the changeling will have some difficulty copying that.
It's a shame Snips isn't in the group, I sort of feel we missed something not focusing on his friendship with Snails in the Lunaverse.
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To my knowledge, changelings have shown up in only two other canon stories:
1) The Glass Kingdom, where it's a wham-epilogue with no hint leading up to it; and
2) Lords and Ladies, where there's a changeling in Spring's court, although it's not identified as such and instead just appears to be another weird creature.
Although when in full draconequus mode, one of Zizanie's hind legs transforms into a changeling's hind leg.
I was going to ask why this worldline didn't have some manner of "Corona Day," but it looks like you answered my question years ago.
In any case, good to see you writing again. I'm looking forward to seeing where you go with this.
"Let's take a shortcut through old Green Grape's field." Yeah, that will never end well at this time of year.
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:
There was also a changeling in Just Us Little Ponies (Volk, Fisher's bodyguard and one of the conspirators. The real Volk appeared in Climbing the Mountain.) That was another wham-epilogue. Not that the foals would know who that is, of course.
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Enjoying this story! You captured all the foals' voices really well, and the whole thing is a blast. Looking forward to more!
Okay, this is fun, and suitably spooky. I like how the number of the foals in the group varies, without it being called out.
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Ha ha! Someone noticed. Excellent.
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Right, I forgot about Volk. Need to re-read a bunch of Lunaverse stories.
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Long story short is that I can't really see there being a spooky holiday centered around the daytime, but on the other hand I do have Neigh Orleans having a "Summer Sun Celebration" that's sort of like a mix between the Mexican Day of the Dead and New Orleans' Mardi Gras.
Hold on... back in Carrot Top Season, Green Gape was a she.
Which means...
Oh my grob! The changelings have gotten to Green Grape!
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...really? Because he's a stallion all the way back in Boast Busted, the very first Lunaverse story. Although I suppose the name in that is Green Grapes...mea culpa, I wrote that story half a decade ago.
Confirmation of transgender ponies in Lunaverse canon, I guess?
Feels a little weird to have a Lunaverse story that keeps mentioning the Nightmare, but maybe I'm forgetting something.
Regardless, the Lunaverse foal stories are as cute as ever.
Think about it, Dinky, two Pipsqueaks for the price of one. Could be worse.
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"Huzzah! The Pip has been doubled!"
pre00.deviantart.net/0e54/th/pre/i/2012/336/a/a/luna_2_0_by_iceroadlion-d5mt2dx.jpg
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Unless there's a Green Grape and a Green Grapes. Who both happen to be farmers.
No, no, that would violate the OSL, and that way madness lies.
Okay, great start. Eerie, nice building tension. And that ending, awesome. Can't wait for more.
Interesting. I look forward to seeing how the altered setting affects the hive and its occupants.....
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And you don't have to wait too long! I'm posting chapter 2 now. Gimme a minute...
Very cool! So awesome to see you still writing. The Lunaverse was a huge influence on me. Having a short story for October based around Nightmare Night and changelings and the foals sounds like a really awesome idea.
Also, nice homage to The Thing with the name of the original short-story that inspired the John Carpenter remake.
Nice. Very nice.
Too bad that there aren't movies in the Lunaverse or they'd realize what sort of story they're in.
Give it a few years and I'm sure Dinky would be less upset by the idea of having multiple versions of Pip around.
Ah yes. Paranoia, suspicion, isolation. This story's title was well chosen indeed. Unfortunately, burning everypony's blood isn't an option for several reasons. Fortunately, the 'ling isn't actually going to assimilate anyone into its biomass.
Also, I just know that code phrase is going to backfire at some point. Still, we'll see what happens.
Hey, what if they're both fake? Maybe Pipsqueak was never real to begin with.
There's one way to expose the fake, extreme Dinky scolding.
You know, they're making a big assumption here that the shape-shifter can't also read minds to help with pretending.
Good plan on the chapter word count.
Yay for more updating! I've never seen the Thing. :p Anyway, great update. I loved Dinky going all nutsy on the changeling, there.
My guess is that the epilogue will have Luna frown and say to herself "So that's where they ended up."
Ah, clone drama. This should be good. I'm guessing the captured Dinky is a double bluff on the part of the changeling, but I could easily be wrong. I look forward to finding out.
So according to the title... the changeling is really Babylon Five?!
Kosh, what the frack did you do this time?
I really like Snails point of view here, and his Entomology knowledge.
Good job thinking through the problem, Snails.
Now that just sounds like a good way to get axe murdered.
RIP Pipsqueak, dead by actions that anyone who has horror movie experience would know are terrible ideas.
It's probably the changeling, but this part is probably true.
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In fairness, he knows they're terrible ideas, too. He just doesn't feel he has any other choice.
Chrysalis's folly in microcosm: Trying to terrorize people into feeding you when you eat their positive emotions is fundamentally self-defeating. Unfortunately, a hungry drone don't brain too good.
In any case, great monster story... though one must ask, who was the real monster here? Looking forward to the epilogue.
Awesome, awesome chapter. Kids, don't feel too sorry or bad about fighting off the changeling.
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The changeling was. The kids were its victims.
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Oh, I think we all know who the real monster here is.
(RDD, who’s the real monster here? I got ahead of myself and now everyone’s looking at me)
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I don't blame the foals for defending themselves, but I also can't really blame the changeling for not wanting to starve. Plus I'm pretty sure I made it clear that she was hungry well past the point of being able to make rational decisions or have any moral concept beyond "Nourishes", "Inedible", and "Poisonous".
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Well, given that I wrote a story that put a bunch of innocent foals on one side and had them be terrified for their lives, and then on the other side put a lost, scared, starved nearly to the point of insanity changeling...I guess I'm the real monster.
...
MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
It was one off the Dinky's taking off her costume which keyed me into which one was the changeling, presumably the costume is part of the changeling version's skin.
That was unexpectedly hard core in places, I didn't expect the foals to try and knife the changeling in the eye with screwdrivers!
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I can blame it. it's sort of my job around here. :D
Hmn, and here I was thinking that goop Dinky was the fake.
Screwdrivers to the eyes is a little brutal there, kids.
Poor little changeling looses to the mean, mean foals.
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I remember that when I was a kid, I fought dirty when I had to fight. And that was without me ever fighting like I was in fear of my life. Pretty sure 12-year-old me would be perfectly fine stabbing an evil shapeshifter monster in the eye, especially if it had big changeling eyes.
It's like the updated version of Secret Squirrel from Season One of 2 Stupid Dogs...they defeated its love with their hate.......
Also? Unreformed changeling Ocellus a cute! CUTE!!!
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Note that Ocellus in this is younger than she is in FiM, due to the Lunaverse being behind the Maneverse's timeline, which is around four or so years ahead of us.
This leads us to another example of the Luna Six coming across something and wondering how the Mane Six dealt with it.
You may want to change the chapter title. It's kind of a spoiler.
Well, changelings are often more than meets the eye.
I like the term "hive lord" for high-ranking male changelings.
In any case, an excellent capstone. Not all monsters are truly monstrous. Some are just desperate. Even the thought process behind the terror campaign makes sense. Certainly more than Chrysalis's plan. And speaking of whom, if knowledge of Transformers gets to Canterlot, Ol' Queen Bugbutt might be in for a bad time.
Thank you for a great read. Also, you have me shipping Snailcellus now. I hope you're happy.
Move aside, Dinky! You too, Pip!
There’s a new OTP in town!
Ocellus?? Please don't starve to death in the forest, Ocellus.
Help the poor changebug, Snails!
Hugs for bugs!
Yay!
Good job, Snails. Also, I kind of ship it, in the Dinky and Pipsqueak model.
Nice.
D'aaaaaaw!
I have to say, know it was Ocellus starving to death in front of us made that scene very hard to read. Did make it a huge relief when Snails let her feed on his love. Kind of a cute pairing. And I agree, Ocellus is cute as a base-line changeling.
Awww! Snails was just the perfect pony for accepting Ocellus and feeding her.
I'm sure this will have some interesting consequences for future stories if we ever get to the Changeling Invasion arc that both Snails and Fluttering know of Changelings, although it's likely no-pony is going to ask them until things are far to serious.
Right! Back from work
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It is kind of a spoiler, but on the other hand like Trinary points out the fact that we know it's Ocellus starving and being poisoned to death adds a lot more emotional weight to the epilogue. So I've decided to keep it as-is.
I actually see the term "hive lord" as being gender neutral. A hive lord can be naturally male or female, and assume a male or female form. Likewise because it personally amuses me (and as a sort of counterpoint to the proliferation of female kings in recent fiction) I think I'll keep the term "Queen" gender-neutral for changelings. Whoever runs the hive is Queen, regardless of their natural or current gender. All hail Queen Thorax!
I am happy about shipping Snailcellus. She's probably a little older than him...I like to think of our herd of Ponyville foals as being around ages 10-12 or so. In the show, the School of Friendship seems a lot like a college, so beings going there are probably around 18. But since Friendship is Magic Season 8 is around four years ahead of the Lunaverse (we can reach the conclusion by counting the Hearths' Warming episodes, which have various context clues that suggest strongly that none of them take place over the same Hearths' Warming), then that would make Ocellus about 14 or so here.
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I'll be making a blog post soon in lieu of an author's note; GeneralZoi's pony creator will be used to create a pony-form filly Ocellus.
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Yeah, that's what I was thinking. We'd probably feel bad for any changeling drone in this situation, but making it clear that it was Ocellus, like I said above, adds a bit more emotional weight for us, even if it does make the chapter title a spoiler. A good spoiler in this case, I think.
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I made some edits to the chapter; my intent was that at the moment only Snails will know about Ocellus. At the end there they're going off to meet Fluttershy with Ocellus in her filly form. More on that in my blog post.
Heh, "filly form" actually creates something of an insect pun. "Filiform", or thread-like, is one of the shapes an insect's antenna can take.
Is this story canon to the rest of the Lunaverse?
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Yup. Originally I was going to just make it a semi-canon webisode, due to how short it is...but looking it over it's actually about the same length as Boast Busted, the fic that started it all. So I've decided to just make it fully canon.
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Hey was wondering if you could tell me anything about the lunaverse