Hope and Changeling: Summary of events & characters up to and including chapter 10 · 1:24am Jan 7th, 2015
Hey folks! This is for any readers that have been following the story since about two years ago. If you’ve forgotten what’s happened since then and want to refresh your memory without rereading 35,000 words, I’ve put together a 1,000-word chapter-by-chapter summary. Also included are some brief descriptions of recurring characters introduced up until chapter 10.
Chapter 1 - Bees: The narrator, a human, wakes up in a changeling hive, in a changeling body. He meets 6 F 26, his disdainful changeling bunkmate. Both of them leave the hive with a group of changelings to “feed”, led by the leader of the hive, called the Sergeant. Once out in the forest, the narrator is abandoned by 6 F 26 and must fend for himself in a strange, cartoonish world.
Chapter 2 - Vanhoover: The narrator disguises himself with clothing and makes his way into the nearest populated city, Vanhoover. He arrives in the town square as the mayor warns all citizens about changelings, but then the narrator’s disguise is compromised and he runs away. He runs into a filly named Taff in an alley and they play for a bit, but he is discovered and taken to jail. He is bailed out by a changeling from the same hive as him, posing as Taff’s grandfather, but the changeling abandons him in a forest.
Chapter 3 – Flour Sack: A pony discovers the narrator there, then runs away. The narrator chases after her, tackles her, and begs her to help him. The pony, named Wheat Flour, agrees. She takes him to her home, a wheat farm, where she lives with her aunt, Aunt Millie, and her sister, Whole Grain. Whole Grain immediately dislikes the narrator. Aunt Millie welcomes him with open arms. He works, eats, and sleeps at the farm for the night.
Chapter 4 – Hide and Seek: The next morning, police come looking for the narrator. He accidentally discovers his changeling powers—he can change into any pony he wills himself to be. He changes into Wheat Flour and dodges the police, but Whole Grain is furious when he does. Once the police leave, Whole Grain kicks the narrator out of the house.
The narrator then roams the city disguised as a pony named Gouda. Someone recognizes him and invites him to a wedding happening the next day. The narrator, still disguised as Gouda, accepts the invitation as to not arouse suspicion. He then makes his way to a government building to ask about interdimensional travel, in an effort to get back to his human world.
Chapter 5 – Red Potato Casserole: He is directed to a school of magic, wherein he meets a professor named Lucid. After the narrator inquires about travelling to other dimensions, Lucid tells him to find Princess Celestia in Canterlot, then sends him away. The narrator tries to buy a train ticket to Canterlot, but he has no money.
Without a place to sleep, he returns to the farm. Whole Grain literally kicks him out this time. Aunt Millie insists that he stay. He ends up staying the night, despite a heated argument at dinner.
Chapter 6 – Bird Choir: He has trouble sleeping, so he wanders around at night. He finds a lake and sees a pony sitting at the edge of it, though it’s too dark to tell who it is.
The next day, the narrator gets roped into attending a wedding. He disguises himself as Gouda, but his cover is blown during the ceremony. He is taken away by police to the dismay of Taff, who happens to be in the audience. 6 F 26 tries to help the narrator escape but fails. Wheat Flour arrives and talks the police into letting her take the narrator with her to Canterlot.
Chapter 7 - Train: Wheat Flour is adamant in accompanying the narrator to Canterlot, and Whole Grain is adamant in doing the opposite. Aunt Millie makes them both go. Thus, Wheat Flour, Whole Grain, and the narrator board a train to Canterlot.
On the train, the narrator is ambushed by 6 F 26 and the Sergeant. They beat him and threaten to drag him back to the hive. Wheat Flour and Whole Grain come to the narrator’s rescue, and the two changelings are subdued and tied up. It is then learned that the train will not be stopping at Canterlot, for mysterious reasons (the conductor got a letter from the princess herself not to stop there). It instead goes past Canterlot and stops at Manehattan.
Chapter 8 – Some Pony: At Manehattan, the three of them (the narrator, Wheat Flour, and Whole Grain) drop off 6 F 26 and the Sergeant at a police station and spend the night at Whole Grain’s cousin’s place. Things get a tad awkward, as the narrator is disguised as Gouda, and as it turns out, Gouda is Whole Grain’s ex. Also, Wheat Flour opens up to the narrator that she and Whole Grain were adopted, and although Wheat Flour was bullied as a kid, Whole Grain stood up for her.
In the morning, they plan to make their way to Canterlot on foot, as the train is no longer an option. They find Professor Lucid sleeping outside the apartment building, having followed them from Vanhoover. He tells everyone that he’s here to study changelings, but he tells the narrator that he’s really here to learn more about the narrator’s human world. They exchange information about their respective worlds.
Chapter 9 - Keelhaul: The four of them (the narrator, Wheat Flour, Whole Grain, and Lucid) board a boat headed for Fillydelphia, which is en route to Canterlot. On the boat, Lucid mentions that he studies dreams, and he discusses a bit of dream theory with the narrator.
The captain of the boat, Keelhaul, leads them through dangerous shocktopus-infested waters, and begins to ram the creatures. The narrator doesn’t tolerate this and takes control of the boat. He gets them through the waters safely, but he accidentally crashes the boat into a dock at Fillydelphia.
Chapter 10 - Perennials: The narrator gets in trouble for wrecking the dock. A judge named Honeydew gives him two options: spend two weeks in jail or two days working at her apiary. The narrator chooses the latter. Honeydew leads the group to her apiary, but Lucid leaves to catch up with some colleagues in town.
The narrator, Whole Grain, and Wheat Flour spend the afternoon planting flowers at Honeydew’s apiary. The narrator and Wheat Flour discuss some of the differences between changelings and ponies, but Whole Grain intervenes, expressing distrust of the narrator due to his and Lucid’s private discussions.
Then, in the distance, a loud boom is heard. Several far-off things fly away from the origin of the noise, and one of them crashes into a nearby tree at a high speed. It’s a changeling, they discover. With some deliberation, they decide to help the changeling. Cue chapter 11.
Characters as of chapter 10:
The narrator: A human computer programmer who ends up in Equestria as a changeling, trying to go back to Earth by finding Princess Celestia in Canterlot. He is careful, not a very good liar, and learning to take initiative. As of chapter 10, he’s more familiar with ponies and changelings, and as of chapter 4, he’s able to use his changeling power of copying another pony. He is also unnamed at this point in the story, though other changelings know him as 6 F 25, he went under the name Swiss Cheese for a bit, and he has disguised himself as a pony named Gouda.
Physical Description: Changeling. Gouda is a white stallion with short red hair.
6 F 26: A changeling from the same hive as the narrator. He’s disdainful and convinced that the (formerly human) narrator is just a stupid changeling. He ditches the narrator at the start of the story, and is later recruited by the Sergeant, the leader of the hive, to get the narrator back. He was left outside of the Manehattan police station with the Sergeant in chapter 8.
Physical Description: Changeling.
Wheat Flour: A wheat farmer in Vanhoover who accompanies the narrator on his journey. Although she is quiet and reserved, she is adamant about accompanying the narrator to Canterlot, and recently opened up to him: she had been bullied as a kid but her sister, Whole Grain, stood up for her.
Physical Description: Mare with white fur, straight gold-blond hair, and pink eyes. Cutie mark is a flour sack.
Whole Grain: Sister of Wheat Flour. She immediately dislikes the changeling human, and expresses this freely. She is strong and stubborn, but she has a soft spot for her sister. She makes it clear that she’s on this journey for Wheat Flour, not the narrator.
Physical Description: Mare with yellow fur, curled crimson hair, and green eyes.
(Professor) Lucid: Professor that studies dreams at a school of magic in Vanhoover. He follows and catches up with the narrator, as he is interested in learning about the narrator’s world.
Physical Description: Stallion with blue fur, white unkempt hair, and lighter blue eyes. Wears glasses.
I think that should do it. I tried not to be too wordy in pointing out the major plot points of each chapter. Anyway, enjoy the story!
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Nice, though the characters could do with some physical descriptions, here. You should probably link this in an author's note in chapter 10 or the story's description.
Good enough for me to resume, at any rate.
Yes! Thank you! This is what I needed, now everything is coming back to me.
2705916 Right, physical descriptions. Those are important. xP Added.
And I don't think I need to link this in the description or anything, really. Anyone who has already favourited the story will get a notification of this blog with the story tag and such, and new readers won't need to see this.
2706056
Doesn't account for people without... erm, accounts, or those who read without favoriting. Completely aside from fimfiction glarfing and not putting this blog in the notifications, which by coincidence actually happened to me - I saw the blog because you quoted me again when you linked this in the story's comments.
Not a big deal though.
2706152 Hmm, those are good points. I guess I could toss a link in the description, just in case.