Episode 4: Lending A Hoof
Lending A Hoof
On the outskirts of Ponyville, there are many different locations: lush, grassy fields, perfect for picnics in the weekends; the spooky Everfree Forest, only for the bravest of the brave; and Whitetail Woods, suitable for a calming walk through nature.
And then there’s the almost completely empty patch of land just a bit farther away, filled with trees, dirt, rocks, dirt, the occasional bush and, of course, more dirt. An all-round incredibly boring place, if it weren’t for the multitudes of gems hidden beneath the surface.
There, two ponies were walking around. Namely, the cream coloured earth pony mare, Bon Bon, and the minty green unicorn mare, Lyra. Both were wearing a set of saddlebags, and, most notably, Lyra was wearing a large golden necklace, inlaid with many different kinds and colours of gems.
“Are you really sure you should be wearing that here?” Bon Bon asked, eyeing the necklace with concern. “What if you lose it somewhere?”
“Oh, that doesn’t matter,” Lyra said with a dismissive gesture of her hoof. “This is my lucky necklace, after all, and we could use some luck today!”
“But Lyra, I don’t recall you ever being extra lucky when wearing that,” Bon Bon noted.
“True,” Lyra said, “but if I keep wearing it, I’m bound to be really lucky sometime while wearing it, and then it’ll really be a lucky necklace!”
Bon Bon giggled at her friend’s silly logic. “Thanks, Lyra.” She lifted a nearby rock with a hoof to take a peek under it. Sadly, there were only bugs and dirt. “Finding gems isn’t exactly easy if you don’t have a gem-finding spell.”
“Hence my lucky necklace,” Lyra said, proudly thrusting her chest forward to show off her necklace. “Still, gems for candy... How does that work?”
Bon Bon sighed. “Some fancy clients want the extra fancy candy for their super fancy parties, where they have special guests like dragons. And dragons, of course, eat gems, so they want special gem candies to impress their guests.” She lifted another set of rocks, finding a total of zero gems again. “And, naturally, only the freshest gems will do, so here we are, looking for gems.”
“Let’s find us some gems, then!” Lyra excitedly said as she went forward, haphazardly looking under rocks, between bushes and in trees. After a moment, she paused. “Wait, what kind of gems are we looking for, anyway?”
“Anything will do, sweetie,” Bon Bon said with a smile. Contrary to Lyra, she took her time looking everywhere, making sure not to miss any potential hiding places.
“Okay!” Lyra shouted back, going all over the place to search for gems. She even used her telekinesis to pull clods of earth from the ground, making small holes everywhere. She tossed the clumps of dirt around haphazardly, making a mess of the surroundings and herself. However, she made absolutely sure that her precious necklace stayed completely clean.
After a long while, the now dirty unicorn looked back at the devastation she wrought on the field. Small pits covered the landscape, making it look more like a fierce battle had just taken place. “I can’t find any!” she shouted at Bon Bon, who she had left far behind by now.
“Just keep looking!” Bon Bon shouted back. “We’ve only been here for a few minutes!”
“Feels more like an hour,” Lyra said to herself, sticking out her tongue. “Oh well, this dirt isn’t going to pick up itself.” Using her magic, she dug another small hole. Looking in it, she saw a small piece of a brilliantly glittering, yellow gem. “Jackpot!” she shouted with glee.
Carefully grabbing it with her magic, she tried to tug it out of the ground. However, the gem didn’t even seem to budge. Pouring more effort into it, Lyra tried pulling the gem out with all her might, but it seemed as though something was holding the gem in place. Lyra clenched her teeth, giving it her all for one final tug. Suddenly, the gem shot upward... with something attached to it, causing Lyra to let go with a yelp.
A small, brown dog-like creature was holding the gem. The creature was shorter than a pony, had two ears with floppy ends and yellow, beady eyes. It was wearing a gray vest of some kind, and a collar, decorated with diamonds. Its pockets were filled with various small gems. “Who are you?” the thing asked with a screechy voice.
“Uh...” Lyra took a few steps back. “I’m Lyra. What are you?”
“I’m a Diamond Dog, you mule!” the creature replied indignantly.
Diamond Dogs, creatures with a strange obsession with gems, and not known to be all that kind towards ponies. But luckily, it was only one of them.
A large hole suddenly appeared in the ground next to them, and two more diamond dogs jumped out of it. One of them was a very large, bluish-gray dog with floppy ears and the same attire as the first one. The other was sized in between the other two, had a gray coat, pointy ears and green eyes, and a red vest, instead of a gray one. Its collar also had a diamond-shaped pendant hanging from it. “You find another pony digging around in our territory?” the third dog asked the first. His voice wasn’t as screechy as the small one’s, but still quite gravelly.
The large, bluish-gray dog grabbed Lyra by the tail and lifted her up, holding her upside-down. “We don’t like ponies digging around in our place,” he snarled, in a deep, baritone voice.
“I wasn’t digging!” Lyra said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Sweatdrops were starting to gather on her head. If she played this smartly, they might just let her go.
The third dog gave her a slight tap, causing her to spin around a little. “Then why are all these holes here, hmm?” he asked. “They weren’t here yesterday, and you and your little friend over there are our first guests today,” he said, pointing at Bon Bon, who was just now running in their direction.
“Uh... I dunno,” Lyra answered. “No idea, really.” She added a big, fake grin for added effect. She hoped they’d let her go fast, because her tail was really starting to hurt right now.
The three Diamond Dogs looked at each other for a moment, then looked back at Lyra again. All three of them wore unamused looks. “We don’t believe you!” they said in unison. They had very, very unamused looks.
“Hey!” Bon Bon shouted, before Lyra could react. “Let my friend go!” she shouted, skidding to a halt in front of the Diamond Dogs.
“Your friend,” the gray, red-vested dog started, “is stealing gems from our territory.” The small, brown Diamond Dog waved the yellow gem he was holding in the air.
“These aren’t your gems,” Bon Bon protested. “They’re for everypony!”
“Our territory, our gems,” the gray dog said. “So we’ll just take what’s ours, and a little more, so you won’t do it again.”
Lyra gasped. “Y-You’re not going to p-ponynap me, right?!” She fidgeted around, trying to get loose, but only managed to make herself swing from side to side a little.
“No,” the small, brown dog said. “That didn’t go very well last time.”
“We’ll just take something else,” the large dog, who was holding Lyra, said. “Like that necklace!” With his free arm, he grabbed Lyra’s necklace and tore it from her neck.
“No!” Lyra shouted. “Nononono!” She frantically reached out to grab it with her hooves, but the Diamond Dog kept it far out of her reach.
“Don’t let us see you ponies here again,” the gray dog snarled, jumping back into the hole he came out of. The other two followed after him, dropping Lyra on her head unceremoniously.
Quickly, the distraught unicorn recovered, leaping after them. However, the Diamond Dogs quickly filled the hole back up again, causing Lyra to land face-first into a pile of dirt. “Oh, no, no, no...” she muttered to herself, trying to dig out the large pile with her hooves, but she just couldn’t get through.
Carefully, Bon Bon went up to her. “Lyra? Are you okay?”
With big, teary eyes, Lyra turned to Bon Bon. “Noooo!” she wailed, throwing her front hooves around her friend, crying.
Bon Bon hugged the crying unicorn, trying to comfort her as best she could. “Don’t worry, we’ll find a way to get your necklace back.”
“...and that’s why bubbles are my cutie mark,” Derpy finished. She, Suncloak and Vinyl were sitting in the park of Ponyville, having a good time doing various things: playing games, chatting, having lunch, and just generally enjoying themselves.
“Oooh, that makes a lot more sense,” Suncloak said. “I thought it had something to do with blowing bubbles, or whatever.” The explanation was a bit complicated, but once the changeling figured it out, it actually made a surprising amount of sense for the mailmare to have a set of bubbles as her cutie mark.
“Told you so,” Vinyl said, giving Suncloak a friendly bump to the shoulder. “Cutie marks always make sense, some just need a bit more explaining than others.”
Suncloak made a dismissive gesture. “Pfft, I don’t even need a cutie mark to know what I’m good at.” And it was true! Changelings didn’t have cutie marks, but if they wanted, they could have any one of them. Such were the virtues of shapeshifting, making you able to pretend you’re good at everything.
Though actual attempts at those things more often than not ended up in complete failure. But that’s only a minor detail. Besides, being good at everything would probably be really boring. The only changeling who was actually good at everything was Queen Chrysalis, but Suncloak wasn’t sure if that was some weird hive rule again or not.
Vinyl flopped onto her back, stretching her limbs. “Great day. Too bad Lyra and Bon Bon weren’t able to come, they’d have loved just hanging around in the park.”
“I wonder how they’re doing right now,” Derpy thought aloud. “Finding gems without a gem-finding spell isn’t the easiest task in Equestria.”
“I’m sure they’re fine,” Suncloak said. “They’re Lyra and Bon Bon. What could go wrong?” Seeing as Lyra was there, a whole lot of things, but the probability of things actually going wrong was pretty small. Hopefully.
“Vinyl! Derpy! Suncloak!” a voice suddenly shouted from the distance.
“That sounds like Bon Bon,” Vinyl said, propping herself up with one hoof and raising her sunglasses with the other, taking a good look around.
The pony in question came running up to them, her curly pink-and-blue mane slightly dishevelled from the long run. Panting and exhausted, she stopped in front of the trio. “You... have... to help,” she said in between gasps.
“What’s wrong?” Derpy asked. “Where’s Lyra?”
Bon Bon took a few gasping breaths before starting. “We were out gathering gems, when suddenly, three Diamond Dogs appeared and stole Lyra’s necklace.”
Vinyl gasped. “What?! How could they?”
“I went to get help from you guys,” Bon Bon continued, “but Lyra’s still there. I think she’s still trying to dig a hole deep enough to get to those thieves.” She sighed deeply. “That’s why I came to get you guys. Together, we can find a solution.”
Derpy jumped up and made a small loop. “Well, what’re we waiting for? Let’s go!”
Bon Bon nodded, turning around and running back in the direction she came again, followed by Derpy and Vinyl.
Suncloak lingered for a little while, one eyebrow raised. A necklace? Wasn’t this a slight overreaction? Couldn’t they just leave those dog creatures alone, and make sure it wouldn’t happen again? These Diamond Dogs were apparently strong enough to overpower a pony, so why risk going up against them?
This required investigation. Either these ponies were more crazy than he thought, or there was some kind of pony thing he wasn’t understanding. Again. Besides, more time spent with my friends means more love for me, he thought as he ran off after the others.
Not much later, the four of them had arrived at the field, to find a miserable and dirty Lyra sitting in front of a pile of dirt.
Bon Bon went forward and put a comforting hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “Lyra, are you feeling a bit better yet?”
Lyra shook her head without a word, giving Suncloak the feeling that this was serious. Lyra not saying anything when spoken to was something he’d never seen before.
“We’ll find those dogs and get your necklace back, promise,” Vinyl said, already starting to look around for any holes they could use to find the Diamond Dogs.
“I can’t believe they’d just steal it from you,” Derpy said, with as much compassion as if she were talking to her daughter.
“Well, we did kind of waltz in on their territory,” Lyra said, quietly sniffling.
“Nonsense!” Bon Bon said. “This place isn’t theirs, plus, if they really wanted us to go, they could’ve just asked.”
“Let’s get back at those jerks, then.” Vinyl jumped up on top of the pile of dirt and started digging. She was making steady progress, until something bumped her off.
One of the Diamond Dogs stuck his head out of the partially digged-out pile. It was the gray one, with the red vest. “More ponies digging around? Bah! Stop it!”
“Give back Lyra’s necklace!” Bon Bon shouted at the creature.
“No. It’s ours now,” the dog stated matter-of-factly.
“That’s a lie!” Bon Bon said. “It’s hers, so give it back!”
“Make us,” the dog said, with a big, toothy grin, before descending back into the depths.
“I can’t believe that mutt,” Vinyl fumed. “Anypony got any ideas?” To that, Derpy and Bon Bon both shook their heads. Vinyl turned to Suncloak. “Sunny, do you have an idea?”
Suncloak, who had stayed silent up until now, stared at the pile of dirt. “Why help?” he asked.
“What?!” Derpy and Vinyl both shouted in disbelief.
“Hold on,” Bon Bon said, ending any argument before it could start. “Is this another changeling thing, Suncloak?”
Oh, right. Maybe the idea of ‘helping’ was different for changelings than it was for ponies. “Changelings don’t ask for help, especially not when something is really important to them,” Suncloak explained. “Asking for help is weak in the first place. Small tasks, sure, but if it’s really worth doing, you have to do it yourself. To prove that you can.”
“But Lyra isn’t exactly a changeling, now is she?” Bon Bon asked, motioning towards her crying friend. “You help your friends because it’s the right thing to do. Because it’s the nice thing to do. And they’d do the same for you.” She was silent for a while. “And to be honest, because looking at her like that... Just doesn’t feel good.”
Suncloak took a good look at Lyra. She was dirty, and probably had been for quite a while. She hadn’t even taken the time to clean herself up. There were tear stains on her cheeks, her eyes were red and puffy... All in all, she looked pretty terrible. The changeling felt a pang of guilt go through his heart, and had to look away. “You’re right,” he said with a sigh. “It feels terrible, and I’m sorry.”
Bon Bon smiled. “I don’t think you should be apologizing to me.”
Suncloak nodded, but a stray thought entered his head. “Why is that necklace so important to her, anyway?”
Bon Bon sighed, and led Suncloak away from the others a little bit. “Lyra... isn’t the most responsible of ponies,” she said reluctantly, though that fact didn’t surprise Suncloak at all. “In fact, before she started renting my extra room, both her and her parents were quite afraid she just wouldn’t ever be able to live anywhere on her own.”
That... sort of reminded Suncloak of the changeling hive. Everyling always lived together, and no changeling ever left the hive to go live on his own. Well, until Suncloak started living in Ponyville, but that wasn’t exactly voluntarily.
“So, when she finally got her own place, both she and her parents were really happy. Her parents gave her that necklace as a present, because they were so proud that their daughter was taking her first steps towards living on her own.”
Suncloak sighed. “And now that she lost it, she probably feels very irresponsible, right?”
Bon Bon nodded. “I think so. Now let’s go and show those Diamond Dogs what we’re made of!”
The two of them went back to Derpy, Vinyl and Lyra, the latter of which was still pretty miserable. “Sorry, I, uh... I used the wrong logic again,” Suncloak said, awkwardly rubbing a hoof over his one of his front legs. “I’ll help, of course.”
Vinyl sighed. “You need to start thinking like a pony if you really want to live in Ponyville,” she chided the changeling.
Suncloak grinned as he stepped towards the pile of dirt. “Not in this case,” he said. Lifting one holed hoof, he took a good look at the pile. To remove this, some tools would’ve been useful, like a big shovel or something.
Or, of course, a changeling who could just change his body. With a whirl of green flame around his hoof, it transformed into a large shovel. Immediately, Suncloak started digging.
Again, the Diamond Dog’s head popped up again. “Gah! Can’t you ponies listen? Stop digging, this is our place!” he shrieked.
“They can listen, but I’m not a pony,” Suncloak said with a smirk. Hah, there went that ugly mutt’s logic. After all, no dog would ever be a match for a changeling! Except maybe Applejack’s dog, Winona, but Suncloak was out of energy that time, so it didn’t count.
The Diamond Dog hopped out of the ground, towering over the changeling, standing about twice his height. “Looks more like an ugly bug pony to me,” he said, bending over and narrowing his eyes.
Suncloak changed his shovel-hoof back into a normal hoof again, and prodded the dog in his chest as menacingly as he could. “Hey! I’m a changeling, not a bug pony!” He prodded the Diamond Dog a bit harder, but the tall canine didn’t seem to care at all. “And I’ll have you know that I’m an ex-royal guard.”
The dog stood upright again and rolled his eyes. “And what were you going to do?” he asked condescendingly, taking a few steps back.
“You don’t wanna kn—” Suncloak started, but he suddenly felt something tug on his short tail. Looking over his shoulder, a bluish-gray arm was sticking out of the ground, with a firm grip on his tail. Suncloak tried to pull loose, but couldn’t even move. “When I get loose, you’re gonna get it,” he told the dog in front of him, straining to get free.
With a fierce yank, Suncloak was lifted up into the air, and slammed onto his back, causing the Diamond Dog to laugh outrageously. “Very scary, bug pony,” he said, before digging back into the ground again. The arm holding Suncloak let go and disappeared back below as well.
Concerned, Derpy went over to the injured changeling. “Suncloak? Are you okay?”
“Yes ma’am, we still have plenty of fudge left,” Suncloak answered, his eyes rolling about in their sockets. “Ow.”
Vinyl lifted his head a little with her magic and shook him around. “Come on, Sunny, get your act together!”
Suncloak didn’t react for a moment, but then shook his head again to get rid of the last bits of dizziness. “Ow,” he said again, standing up. He wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, but it really, really hurt.
“Now what do we do?” Derpy asked. “If we dig, they’ll come and stop us, but if we don’t dig, we can’t get down!”
“I’ve had it with these dogs,” Suncloak said. He never thought it was possible, but he’d found a species he hated even more than he hated ponies, before he got to know them better. These Diamond Dogs were the most annoying, jerkish, horrible, terrible creatures he’d ever met, and he wouldn’t stand for it! “I’ll show those furballs what I can do.” With that, he jumped into the air, flying high above the area. Very high.
“Suncloak, what’re you doing?” Vinyl shouted up.
“Digging a hole!” Suncloak answered. “Just stand back!”
Derpy, Vinyl and Bon Bon gave each other uncertain looks, but decided to take a few steps back anyway, dragging Lyra with them.
Right. Now that his friends were out of the way, Suncloak could bring down changeling fury upon those mutts. He peered down, barely making out the pile of dirt the Diamond Dogs had made. This would require precision, speed, and, of course, a little bit of changeling magic.
He reared up, and then shot forward, diving towards the pile of dirt, the small spot he was aiming for. After gaining enough speed, the changeling wreathed himself in green flames; not to transform, but to make sure the impact wouldn’t hurt. Hopefully, he’d hit the mark, so his effort wouldn’t be wasted. This trick requires quite a bit of energy, after all.
“What’s he doing?” Bon Bon asked. Before anypony could answer, however, Suncloak hit his mark, causing a veritable explosion of dirt. The ponies had to look away to prevent any from finding its way into their eyes, but when they looked back, the changeling was nowhere to be found. What they did find, was a large shaft, leading into the ground.
“Making a really, really big hole, I guess,” Derpy said, peering down. The bottom wasn’t visible, and neither was Suncloak.
“Well, I’m going in!” Vinyl said, jumping into the hole before anypony could object.
“Vinyl, wait!” Bon Bon shouted after her. Hesitantly, she looked from the hole, to Lyra and Derpy, and back again. “Derpy, you stay here and make sure Lyra’s all right. I’m jumping in as well.”
“Okay,” Derpy said. “Just be careful!”
“Will do!” With that, Bon Bon jumped into the hole as well, plummeting down, soon disappearing from sight as well.
Derpy sighed. Even though she was really dirty now, courtesy of Suncloak’s dirtsplosion, she gave Lyra a hug. “Don’t worry, they’ll be back soon with your necklace, okay?”
Okay, so apparently, the magical shield only protects you from one impact. One. If the ground you’re landing on is a slope, and you roll further, only to fall off a ledge, then bounce further down, it still hurts. A lot. Luckily, Suncloak was able to stabilize himself in midair, managing to make the last second of his descent painless. The rest, not so much, but at least he was getting better at this ‘not injuring himself’ thing.
The cave he was in was... well, very high. He could see the ledge he fell off of above, and the ceiling. There was a ledge at about the same height on the other side of the cave as well, though Suncloak didn’t know if it led anywhere. Aside from that, the place was pretty bland, filled entirely with boring, gray rock and a lot of tunnels. That just left figuring out where to go.
“Hey, Suncloak!” he heard Vinyl shout from above. “You okay?”
Suncloak looked up, noticing that his neck really hurt from the fall. “Honestly, I’ve felt better,” he told her.
Vinyl’s head appeared, peeking out from over the ledge, joined by Bon Bon. “Oh wow, you fell really far.” Yeah, no kidding. “We’ll try to make our way down there to help you. There’s a tunnel on the other side, we’ll start there.”
Psh. Help? “I can do this on my own, I don’t need help!” Suncloak shouted back. Lyra might’ve needed it, but he, as a changeling, was perfectly capable of showing those dogs who’s the boss around here. The plan was simple: get the necklace, then get out. Sure, there were supposed to be a few extra steps in the middle of that plan, but those were up for improvisation.
He just had to figure out which of the myriad of tunnels to take first. This called for the most complicated of changeling magics, namely an intricate pathfinding... ‘spell’. Luckily, Suncloak still remembered the all-important incantation.
“Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,” he said, pointing at a different tunnel with each word, “catch a dragon by the toe, if he roars, let him go, eeny, meeny, miny, moe.” The last tunnel he pointed at, was the tunnel he would take. Easy!
As he walked through the tunnel, Suncloak thought of how he would encounter the Diamond Dogs. Perhaps they were deep in the caves, in the darkest part. Sitting atop piles and piles of gems, planning their next insidious plot.
Nah, they were probably just sitting around, being dumb dogs.
Surprisingly, in his trek through the long, winding tunnel, Suncloak didn’t encounter any Diamond Dogs. In fact, after a few minutes, he came across an abandoned room, with a very high ceiling, two ledges somewhere high up, and a whole lot of entrances to other tunnels.
Wait a second... this was the exact same room he left just minutes ago! Suncloak groaned and grumbled. Stupid dogs and their stupid tunnels. Who even digs a tunnel just to make it lead to the exact same room it started at?!
With a sigh, Suncloak headed into a different tunnel. Two down, a whole bunch of ‘em left to go. Couldn’t they have put up a map around here somewhere? That’d be really handy. There were little to no indications as to what direction the tunnels were headed, and the layout of the place made no sense whatsoever.
In fact, even after quite a long time of walking around, Suncloak had found absolutely nothing. No Diamond Dogs, no Vinyl and Bon Bon, no necklace, no gems, just rocks. A whole lot of rocks. That is, until the changeling finally ran into something different.
A brown Diamond Dog in an iron armor set was walking through one of the tunnels, presumably on patrol. The thing seemed incredibly dim witted, but very bulky and strong. Even though it’d obviously be an easy match for a changeling, Suncloak decided to back off anyway, to find a spot where he could let the dog pass, and then continue on his way himself.
Or, that would’ve been his plan, had another, identical Diamond Dog not appeared, coming from the other side of the tunnel. Suncloak found himself in the middle, with nowhere to go. He started to panic; he didn’t want to get caught, but he couldn’t get away. This called for a genius disguise, but what? With a burst of green flames, he quickly transformed, before either of the dogs could see him.
The two dogs passed each other, not noticing anything out of the ordinary.
After a few steps, however, they both suddenly realized something. They walked back to the point where they passed each other, where they found something... peculiar.
A upside-down cardboard box, with ‘ORANGES’ written on it. Highly out of place in these mines.
The two guards looked at each other, and shrugged. One of them picked up the box, to find... Nothing? Weird. He crumpled the box into a ball and chucked it over his shoulder, not paying it any more attention. Both guards went on their way again, back on their patrols.
A few moments after they left, the crumpled-up box wreathed itself in green flames, turning into a crumpled-up Suncloak. His legs were tangled, and his neck was bent in a really uncomfortable angle. “Ow,” he managed to groan. Note to self, transform into something that fits in the environment next time, he thought.
Lots of untangling and walking later, Suncloak could finally hear something that wasn’t random barking or general dog noises. He could hear talking, and if he was correct, it was the Diamond Dog he spoke to back on the surface. As sneaky as possible, Suncloak headed towards it, until he found a room with three Diamond Dogs in it: the small brown one and the large bluish-brown one, wearing grey vests, and the gray one, wearing a red vest. Behind them was a large pile of gems.
And on top of said pile of gems was a golden necklace, adorned with sparkling gems. Lyra’s necklace!
While those dogs were murmuring about gems and digging to each other, Suncloak hid behind a rock and planned. One changeling, three Diamond Dogs. This might get a bit tricky, and he didn’t know where Vinyl and Bon Bon were, but that didn’t matter. Suncloak didn’t need any help, nor would he ever ask for any. He was a changeling, and a changeling was capable of everything!
First, he had to get those ugly mutts out of the way. A little bit of old-fashioned royal guard skill would come in handy in that regard. With a fierce battle cry, Suncloak jumped out from behind his rock, delivering a devastating flying kick to the largest Diamond Dog’s chest.
The Diamond Dog, however, didn’t even flinch, and Suncloak merely bounced off and ungracefully fell on the ground. Okay, so maybe that didn’t turn out as well as he had hoped. He could still save this!
“If it isn’t the bug pony again!” the gray dog said, looking equal parts surprised and annoyed.
“For the last time, I’m a changeling!” Suncloak corrected him. If these creatures hadn’t gotten on his nerves yet, they certainly did right now. He could almost hear his teeth grinding.
The small Diamond Dog came forward and prodded Suncloak’s nose. “This is our cave! Get out!” Its screechy voice annoyed Suncloak even further. These creatures were absolutely awful.
“I’m just here to get that necklace and get out. So get out of my way,” Suncloak answered, pushing the brown dog aside.
“Or what? You’ll force us?” the big dog asked, who was now standing in front of the changeling.
“You bet I will!” Suncloak shouted, turning around and delivering a solid buck to the Diamond Dog’s chest. Again, he didn’t even flinch, instead grabbing the changeling’s hind legs.
Suncloak struggled to get free, but that furball’s grip was too strong. “Hey, let go!” he complained.
The red-vested Diamond Dog shrugged. “Might as well listen to what he says. He’s so very dangerous, after all.” Both him and the small dog took a few steps back.
On cue, the bulky dog holding Suncloak started spinning, dragging the changeling off his hooves. As he gained speed, Suncloak couldn’t help but panic a little. “Please don’t let go please don’t let go please don’t let go!”
Instead, the dog let go, launching Suncloak back into the tunnels again, and causing him to painfully crash into a wall.
“Now get out, before we throw you out!” the gray Diamond Dog shouted after him. “Oh, wait. We already did!” He laughed loudly, the other dogs joining him a second later.
Suncloak growled. This called for Plan B. Not a plan he would enjoy doing, but it was necessary. Wrapping himself in green flames once again, he transformed into something quite different this time: a Diamond Dog. To be specific, one of the dark brown, armored ones, who he’d encountered in the tunnels earlier.
Wow. This felt weird. Suncloak had to stand up on his hind legs, which was easier said than done. With wobbling steps, he managed to walk around a little bit, but tripped every now and then. If he wasn’t wearing such a stupid helmet that obstructed most of his sight, this wouldn’t be so ridiculously difficult. And then there were these arms and paws, waving around uselessly with every step. This body was really inefficient.
And the smells! This place smelled absolutely disgusting, courtesy of the changeling’s new dog nose. How could these creatures live here? Actually, Suncloak realized, they were probably the scents of the other Diamond Dogs. And boy howdy, did they reek. Changeling hives don’t smell all that well, but this was a whole new level of horrible.
All the more reason to wrap this up quickly. As swiftly as possible, Suncloak made his way back to the three Diamond Dogs who had Lyra’s necklace. ‘Swiftly’ meaning ‘slowly, swaying back and forth’. He had to give these dogs credit for at least one thing: walking like this sure wasn’t easy.
Stealthily, Suncloak made his way past the three dogs. Which meant trying to walk in a straight line and not bump into anything, which was way harder than it sounded. The Diamond Dogs were bickering about something, though Suncloak didn’t know what. He didn’t care enough to listen to what these morons had to say. When they spotted the transformed changeling, they didn’t say anything, and returned to their discussion.
That just left the hardest part: using his hoof... paw, to grab the necklace. Suncloak looked at his transformed front limbs. What was the appeal in this? These fingers were so weird. They could be used to grab things, yes, but why not use your mouth? Then again, this pile of gems was pretty big, and the necklace was all the way on top. It would be impossible to reach using his mouth, so Suncloak would have to use his new paw. He reached up, but came just a little bit short. Standing on his tippy-hooves... toes, whatever, he managed to grab it.
However, his balance was completely shot, and Suncloak fell forward, crashing into the pile of gems. But hey, he had the necklace, now he just had to—
“What are you doing there?” the red-vested Diamond Dog shouted. “Hey, get your filthy paws off our gems!”
Suncloak stood up as quickly as he could, still grasping the necklace. It seems like couldn’t leave without a fight!
The large Diamond Dog cracked his knuckles. “Seems like you need to be taught a lesson.”
Suncloak gulped. “Ruh-roh...”
Vinyl and Bon Bon were semi-casually walking through the underground tunnels. They had to keep their eyes out for any dogs, but they hadn’t encountered any yet. They had been wandering around aimlessly until a while back, when they started hearing sounds of fighting.
“I hope Suncloak’s okay,” Bon Bon said. “Sounds like somepony, or at least something, is taking quite the beating.”
“Nah, he’ll be fine,” Vinyl said, with a dismissive gesture of her hoof. “This is Suncloak we’re talking about! He’ll show them a thing or two.”
Just then, a brown, armored Diamond Dog came flying in their direction, crashing into a nearby wall and dropping to the ground. “See?” Vinyl said.
The Diamond Dog was then wreathed in green flames, turning into Suncloak. “Ow.” The battered changeling decided to just lay on the ground for a few moments.
“Oh,” Vinyl said, with an embarrassed grin. “Guess he was losing.” She went over to her floored friend, helping him up.
“Are you okay, Suncloak?” Bon Bon asked.
“Yeah,” Suncloak said, shaking his head to get rid of some dizziness. “I just need to come up with... plan D, I think?” He’d lost count. Not that it mattered, he’d go through as much plans as it’d take.
“Do you... need any help?” Bon Bon had a concerned look on her face.
“No,” Suncloak said, heading towards the Diamond Dogs again. “I can do this on my own, thank you very much.” He didn’t need help. Help was for the weak.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Bon Bon said, hastily catching up to the changeling and blocking his path. “Did you take a good look at yourself? You look terrible!”
Suncloak paused, if only because his friend was in the way. His head hurt. And so did his neck, his hooves, his back, his wings, his tail... His whole body hurt. A lot. He had already lost count of how many times he’d been thrown around today. “Your point?”
“My point is that maybe, just maybe, these Diamond Dogs are a bit out of your league,” Bon Bon said, very carefully.
“What?!” Suncloak said in disbelief. Utter, ridiculous nonsense! He didn’t need help! He tried to get past Bon Bon, but she kept blocking him.
Vinyl joined her pony friend. “We’re just saying, Sunny. Maybe you’re pushing your limits just a little bit too far.” She paused for a moment. “And it’s kinda worrying me.”
Suncloak sighed. “Fine. We’ll work together.” Truth be told, he still wasn’t keen on receiving help, but he didn’t want to upset his friends either.
“Great!” Bon Bon said, rearing up and clapping her front hooves. “And I think I already have an idea.”
Suncloak slunk forward past his friends, grumbling. “Well, they’re keeping the necklace right up ahead.” Vinyl and Bon Bon followed him, until they reached the Diamond Dogs’ room.
Hiding behind the same rock again, Suncloak pointed at the collapsed pile of gems. Lyra’s necklace was still on top, though the height was a bit more realistic to reach for ponies or changelings now. “There it is. They keep throwing me out before I can reach it, though.”
Bon Bon joined him behind the rock, soon followed by Vinyl. This hiding place was so much less cramped without two ponies sitting there as well. “Vinyl, do you have some kind of spell that makes a lot of light?” Bon Bon asked.
Vinyl tapped her chin with a hoof, deep in thought. “Yeah, I think I got something. It’s actually a spell used for lighting effects for gigs, but it makes a lot of flashy lights.”
“Great,” Bon Bon said with a small smirk. “You cast that spell on the Diamond Dogs, then I’ll run in and grab the necklace.”
“And then?” Suncloak asked. “What do I do?”
“You just sit tight,” Bon Bon said, “when I have the necklace, we run, and we get back to Lyra and Derpy.”
Suncloak grumbled. They were going to help him, and he couldn’t even do anything? That sounded like worthless help.
“Okay, ready?” Vinyl asked. After Bon Bon nodded, the unicorn’s horn started glow. After a few seconds, a great burst of light appeared in the middle of the three Diamond Dogs, flashing in a variety of colours, blinding them.
Dazed and confused, the three dogs wandered around, bumping into each other and the walls, and yelling at each other the whole time, though what they said came out quite unintelligible.
Bon Bon quickly ran in, grabbed the necklace and put it around her neck, and immediately headed back. “Go, go, go! Run for it!” she shouted at Suncloak and Vinyl. That actually sounded like a very good idea, seeing as the Diamond Dogs were quickly regaining their senses.
The two ponies and changeling quickly took off into the tunnels. “Do you even know which way we have to go?” Suncloak asked.
“We left markers on the ground,” Vinyl said. “Just follow us!”
As they ran through the tunnels, Suncloak threw a look over his back. No Diamond Dogs in sight yet, luckily. “Get back here!” he suddenly heard one of them shout. Okay, out of sight, but they were definitely chasing them.
Suncloak accelerated, making sure he could keep up with his friends. He really didn’t look forward to being beaten up yet again. After a few minutes of running, they passed through the room Suncloak had fallen into when he first got underground. All the while, the Diamond Dogs were slowly gaining on them.
“This way,” Bon Bon said, panting. “We can go up here, so we can reach the ledges above and get out.”
Suncloak complied. Receiving help or not, listening to his friends seemed like a really good idea right now. He looked back again, seeing that those three dogs had nearly caught up with them. “They’re close!” he shouted. “What do we do?”
“I don’t know!” Vinyl said. “I’m not really a mare of many ideas!”
The end of the tunnel they were running through was in sight; it ended on one of the ledges, and on the other side, the tunnel going back to the surface was visible. They’d need to get across, but they’d also need to get rid of the Diamond Dogs...
Suddenly, Suncloak had an idea. “Bon Bon, give me the necklace.”
With a flick of her head, Bon Bon threw the necklace to Suncloak, who caught it with his horn. “What’re you planning?”
“When we get onto that ledge, you two jump out of the way, and I’ll take care of our...” Suncloak looked over his back again. “...unwanted baggage.”
“You sure?” Vinyl asked. After all, Suncloak’s earlier plans weren’t really successful.
“I’m not going to do anything stupid,” the changeling told her, slightly annoyed. “Trust me.”
As they reached the ledge, both Vinyl and Bon Bon jumped to the right, out of harm’s way. Suncloak, on the other hoof, ran straight forward, skidding to a halt at the very edge of the ledge. He turned around to see the three furious Diamond Dogs rushing at him, hell-bent on getting the necklace back.
“Get that bug pony!” the red-vested one yelled, jumping at Suncloak. The other two soon followed.
Suncloak rolled his eyes. Whatever, he wasn’t going to correct them again. He took a deep breath, and with a whirl of green flame, he transformed into what was the most dangerous thing imaginable right now: a small rock. Though it still wore the necklace.
The three Diamond Dogs’ eyes widened in surprise while they were still in midair. As they realized that they would not only miss their target, but also take a deep plummet, they screamed, and plunged down. After a series of painful-sounding bounces, the three of them lay in a heap at the bottom.
Vinyl and Bon Bon let out relieved sighs. “Phew. That was close!” Vinyl said. “Suncloak, you okay?”
The rock didn’t react.
“Uh, Suncloak?” Bon Bon asked. Again, no reaction.
Vinyl cautiously prodded the changeling-turned-rock. “I don’t think he can hear us.”
Suddenly, the rock was surrounded with green flames, turning back into Suncloak again, who desperately gasped for air. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to breathe when you’re a rock?” he asked after a few moments of catching his breath.
Bon Bon arched an eyebrow. “Can’t say I do, considering I’ve never been a rock before,” she said with a smile.
“I’ve rocked out before,” Vinyl said, grinning. “Does that count?”
Suncloak inspected one of his front hooves: the necklace had somehow gone through one of his holes during his transformation. After some fidgeting, he managed to get it loose, and hung it around his neck. “So, what do we do now?”
“There’s a really narrow ledge over leading to the other side,” Bon Bon said, pointing at a ledge, just wide enough to stand on if you were standing on your hind legs, which followed along the walls of the room, leading to the other side. “We used that to get over here in the first place.”
Vinyl peered over the ledge to check on the Diamond Dogs. “Uh, I don’t think we have the time for that,” she said, starting to panic. “Our doggy pals are climbing up again and they’re looking pretty angry!”
Suncloak joined her for a moment, to see that the nuisances-of-the-day were indeed furious. Then again, falling off a ledge like that was likely to make anyling angry. Suncloak could know, it happened to him a earlier.
“Um, okay,” Bon Bon said, frantically thinking up a solution. “Flying! Suncloak, you can get us across faster!”
“Will do!” Suncloak said. He picked up Vinyl, his wings buzzing harder than ever before, and managed to lift the two of them off the ground. As quickly as he could, he brought his unicorn friend to the other side, and then went back as fast as possible to do the same to Bon Bon.
“Hah! They can’t get to us now!” Suncloak said, panting heavily.
The Diamond Dogs, who were now climbing up the wrong ledge, jumped down, and started climbing up the other ledge.
“Oh,” Suncloak said, deflating a little.
Bon Bon peered up, able to see a small point of light, coming from the surface. “We just have to get to the surface now.”
“But Suncloak can’t get the two of us up there fast enough!” Vinyl said. “What do we do?”
Quickly, Suncloak rushed into the tunnel as far as he could. “Derpy! Help!” he shouted.
Not even a second later, Derpy came flying down, quickly halting in front of them. “I’m here! What’s going on?”
“No time to explain!” Suncloak said, shoving Bon Bon against Derpy. “Fly her up to the surface, I’ll take Vinyl!”
“Uh, okay,” Derpy said, carefully picking up Bon Bon. As she started to flap her wings, she could see the Diamond Dogs closing in on them. “Okay, going up!” she said, taking off faster than ever before.
Suncloak did the same to Vinyl, who could luckily assist a little by using her telekinesis, but their ascent was slower than that of their friends.
As soon as the four of them were above ground again, Suncloak threw the necklace at Lyra with a flick of his neck, before the three Diamond Dogs jumped out of the hole, managing to pin the four ponies down. The gray one had jumped on Bon Bon, the large one on Vinyl and Derpy, and the small one on Suncloak.
“Time to teach you ponies a lesson,” the red-vested Diamond Dog said. “Stay out of our—” he started, but was interrupted by an incredibly loud gasp.
Lyra had picked up her necklace, and was looking absolutely overjoyed. Her face beamed as she put the necklace back on again. “Oh wow, you guys actually brought it back for me!” she said, still looking at the necklace. When she looked at her friends, however, she saw that they were all pinned down by the three dogs. “Hey!” she shouted. “Get off my friends!”
“Or else what?” the red-vested dog said, struggling to keep Bon Bon down. “You’re going to cry at us?”
Lyra snorted. “Worse. Now get off my friends.”
The same Diamond Dog glared at her. “Make us,” he challenged the angry unicorn.
This turned out to be just the wrong thing to say. “Fine,” Lyra said. With all the fury of a very angry pony, she jumped at the dogs, throwing all three of them off her friends.
Bon Bon, Derpy, Suncloak and Vinyl quickly scrambled away from the scene, where what was probably the most painful beatdown Suncloak had ever witnessed was taking place. Bon Bon averted her eyes, Derpy covered hers, and Vinyl raised her sunglasses to make sure her eyes weren’t lying to her. Suncloak’s eyes widened considerably. Limbs were not supposed to bend that way.
A very short, very one-sided fight later, Lyra emerged from the mess, leaving three messes of Diamond Dogs on the ground. “There. I made you.” She gave them the most menacing stare possible. “Don’t hurt my friends. Ever. Again.”
“Wow,” Vinyl uttered after a few silent moments.
Immediately, Lyra turned around again, an incredibly happy expression on her face. She went over to her friends and wrapped them all in an incredibly tight hug. “Oh, thank you thank you thank you! I was so sad and then you came to help and I was still sad and then you came back up again and I got my necklace back and then those dogs were hurting you and I was so worried!”
“No problem,” Bon Bon wheezed, the air being crushed out of her lungs by the ecstatic unicorn.
“Can’t... breathe...” Vinyl managed to say, her face turning blue.
“Oh, whoops!” Lyra said, letting go. “I’m just so happy that I have the best friends in all of Equestria!”
“I’m glad everything turned out okay,” Derpy said. “Let’s go home, okay?”
Suncloak could get behind that idea. He was hurt, tired, and just wanted to get to bed already. Exhausted, yet happy, the five of them went back to Ponyville.
As they left, the beat-up Diamond Dogs twitched a little. “Let’s... let’s never mess with ponies again,” the gray one said.
Hurriedly, Suncloak made his way into the cave. He was late for his usual, weekly appointment with the other changelings, and he wasn’t really setting a good example like this. He ran through the narrow shaft, barely managing to come to a halt in front of the field of flowers that occupied the first room of the cave. He didn’t want to step into Poison Joke again, after all.
Only, to his surprise, there was now a neat path carved throughout the small patch. None of the Poison Joke was even near the path; all of the blue flowers had been moved and put as close to the walls as possible.
Amazed, Suncloak casually walked to the other room, where he found the other changelings. “Who made the path?”
Somewhat embarrassed, #45 stepped forward. “I did that. Told you I could solve our flower problem.” Ah, right. He’d said he could do something about the Poison Joke last time. Although, Suncloak hadn’t expected such a radically... pretty solution. “I borrowed some gardening tools from my friends, and they gave me some tips,” #45 proudly explained. “So yeah, we have a path now.”
“Huh. Neat,” Suncloak said. “Anyway, sorry I’m late. I got really beat up learning this week’s lesson.” He’d been taking some long naps to recuperate, but that made him forget about the time.
“Yeah, yeah, great,” #14 said, anxiously running in place. “Hurry up and tell the lesson, will you?”
Suncloak arched an eyebrow. “Why, what’s the rush?”
“I made an appointment with a friend for tonight, and I’m starting to run late. That, and tomorrow’s a school day for Lofty Wings— I mean, #145,” she said, pointing at the young changeling, who was swimming in the pool in the middle of the cave. “He needs to go to bed soon, so he won’t be too exhausted. Again.”
“...Okay,” Suncloak said, even more surprised. Apparently, #14 had a very busy schedule now that she was spending time in Ponyville. “But only if you say the magic word,” Suncloak told her with a smirk. Might as well get some enjoyment out of this, of course!
“Gah!” #14 exclaimed. “I won’t... Bah.” She took a moment to get ready. “Please,” she said, with a considerable amount of disgust. “Just hurry up, okay?”
“Good,” Suncloak said, with a cocky smile. It was nice to pester her once in a while. “Now I can tell the all-important lesson about friendship.”
As if on cue, the other changelings gathered around as well, just like last time.
“So...” Suncloak paused a bit, searching for the right way to explain this. “After a pretty painful expedition in some caves, I realized that asking anyling for help isn’t as weak as I was taught it was. In fact, it’s better to ask for help than to try and go further than your limits, because it can really upset your friends to see you harmed by that.”
“Okay, help’s great, see you later, bye!” #14 said, quickly putting #145 on her back and leaving through the hole in the roof. The little #145 managed to shout a small “Bye!” before they both disappeared.
“She sure was in a hurry,” #21 said, giving the hole a quick glance. “So, you’re saying it’s normal for ponies to just ask help?” he said as he turned back to Suncloak again. “Sounds kinda backwards.”
“For us, maybe,” Suncloak said. “We might think asking for help is weak, but, uh...” he paused for a moment, trying to find the right words. “Isn’t it also strong to admit that you know where your limits are?”
#21 rubbed his chin. “I do guess that’s also a good thing, but... not really changeling-like, if you know what I mean.”
Suncloak sighed. “Friendship is not a changeling-like thing. We have to let that go a little bit, if we want to live here. Or at least, I do.”
“You really don’t want to go back to the hive, do you?” #21 asked.
“No. I’m enjoying myself much more in Ponyville, plus I’ve got all the love I’d ever wanted,” Suncloak said. It was way easier to stay well fed among ponies, and because he didn’t need a disguise, it saved him a lot of energy.
Besides, the hive was stupid, smelly and filled with jerks.
“Why’re you asking, anyway?” It struck Suncloak as an awfully thoughtful question for #21 to ask.
“It just... popped into my head,” #21 answered. “Never mind.”
Suncloak wasn’t entirely sure if he believed that. #21 was usually a bit aloof and not the smartest changeling around, so seeing him take this so seriously was... strange, to say the least. Suncloak had honestly expected him to make fun of this week’s lesson, but that proved not to be the case.
It was almost as if... Nah. Suncloak decided not to pursue that train of thought anymore.
For now, they would just relax, and talk about their experiences in Ponyville.
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Lez go bak 2 ponvil now, k?
~ Derpy
Nice new Chapter. I wonder when the others will drop their disguise.
This shall be very interesting.
What new adventures await?
Good luck on.
Silly Suncloak.
One of these changelings is actually Chrysalis in disguise, isn't it?
Haha, Changeling's are really getting use to it, if it continue, than maybe they will form Changeling's mane 6, even without elements, it still sounds nice.
Also Lyra probably used magic fist or something in fight again Diamond Dogs, I hear that Pony Platforming Project 4 will have Lura in it and she will use hoof to hoof and magic hoof combat style.
1848280 Either that or reporting to her.
Good episode. Nicely done and good ideas behind it.
CHANGELINGS ARE DISGUISING THEMSELVES AS OTHER CHANGELINGS!!!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1848540 Yo dawg, we herd u liek disguises…
I'm suddenly curious about little #145 going to school. Wants to see that in next chapter :D~!
This would make an amazing show.
Hmm, just a box.
1849170 QUICK! Call the animators! STAT!
One of my favorite stories actually updated in a timely manner? Best present ever!
Wait, if Lyra can take on 3 Diamond Dogs at the same time, then why didn't Lyra fight them when the Diamond Dogs took the necklace the first time?
1850063 just like Luffy, Goku, and any other anime action hero, she's stronger when fighting in sake of her friends.
My little changeling: Eeny meenie magic
1848540
Not even we Changelings are safe from each other!
-Ambassador of the Changelings,
Dopple Ganger
fastest chapter yet. KEEP 'EM COMING! I swear, this will be a spinoff someday.
1848280
That would be kind of awesome, but maybe a little over the top without some serious buildup.
1850063
Friendship is a stronger magic than greed!
My Little Changeling: Tactical Espionage Action.
1848592
U herd rong.
1859646……
……
……
…shoot…
1859649
Did it suddenly start snowing Rainbow Dash for anyone else?
1859659 It did…
I had three d'aww attacks…
Now it stopped…
1859687
I still have the page open it started on. //dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Rainbow_dealwithit.png
1859699
NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
1859749
It's gone now.
//dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Vinyl_sad.png
1859758 I know…
We will always remember you…
Adorable Raining RD's…………
even if the problums are things that the show had used its still VERY interesting to see it from the eyes of a changeling.
This story is full of awesome. Great chapter, I really like how the other Changelings though not seen as frequently are growing as people. I enjoy what you're doing with this story and look forward to seeing what the next chapters hold for us all. Maybe Suncloak meeting Iron Will and commenting that he's so tall in Minotaur form ^_^.
A mix of Applebuck Season and A Dog and Pony Show into one episodes, and with awesome characters? Well finding this amazing author has been an amazing christmas present, and I can't wait for the next episode :D
Cool stuff, though gotta say in the beginning Vinyl and co came across as rather insensitive. They seemed more inclined to just insult sunny rather than try and understand. even when they did relent and try to make sense of it they still felt rather dismissive about it.
I wonder if #145 will become part of the CMC.
I enjoyed this chapter. Alot. I squeed. not ashamed of it either.
1848280
OMG that would be an epic plot twist.
Still, gems for candy... How does that work
Have you been playing the My Little Pony game for android or Iphone?
First the "white hatred" and now derpy's BG story? what is it with you and leaving these things to ambiguity?
This aside, i quite liked the "box of oranges" joke. Not entirely sure how one thinks that is a natural thing, but it is funny nevertheless.
Just thought I'd throw this out there:
You've got an amazing mastery of the "Slice of Life" style. I love these little adventures. No big complex story arcs, just the adventure-of-the-week! However I also get this vibe that you have a grand scheme that will come to fruition down the road... Perhaps a rival changeling group will attempt to take ponyville by force instead of friendship? Perhaps the other changelings will be able to reveal themselves? Perhaps 145 might go missing? Perhaps love will blossom between Suncloak and 14? (Changeling love, oh lawdy.)
But whatever happens, keep up the good work!
Any particular reason Suncloak didn't just turn into, oh I don't know, a fucking tiger at any point?
Ya know, I gotta say, the overall writing on this chapter was a tad sub-par compared to your other works - Which may be understandable considering your lack of editors and the fact that this chapter was evidently written in a short span of time. Still enjoyable, but it doesn't quite have that Niaeruzu Touch to it. Oh well. Can't win 'em all.
1848592 So we got a changeling disguised as a changeling, so you can have a changeling be a changeling!
1868833 If he were still disguised as a pony he might become a fake member, but since changelings don't get cutie marks, it would be pretty pointless for the real him to join them. lawl
1890790 I never would have thought of that, but I did expect him to turn into a big diamond dog. In fact, I was slightly disappointed when it took him so long to finally make that decision, but oh well. -shrugs- I understand pretty much all of the stupidity in the series is inserted purposefully for comedic effect. c:
1897753
YES!!! YES YES YES YES YES!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
5 out of 5
"A few moments after they left, the crumpled-up box wreathed itself in green flames, turning into a crumpled-up Suncloak."
*ringing* Suncloak? Suncloak!? SUUUUUUNCLOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAK!!!!!
*music begins here*
Could I treat you to dinner, Lyra?
Aww, you totally missed out the cheap and great "I was totally stoned once, does that count?" joke....
why didn't he just turn into a dragon, or Manticore, OR A FUCKING COCATRICE! seriously!
Two thigs i wonder about: why did you skip the "why changelings hate white" storyin the previous chapter and how/why did you choose just Derpy, Lyra, Bonbon and vinyl to become Suncloaks friends and why is the elements not longer the ones who helps him with friendship and pony things?