He rubbed his eyes.
Too bright.
Hoofsteps.
Purple and blue.
Smell of books.
"I guess you're awake."
"Wuh?!"
He turned around and rubbed his eyes again.
"Twilight..."
"You decided to sleep here after that heated discussion, Nastic." She placed a hoof over her mouth, covering a teasing smile. "Or, should I say, you went to sleep almost immediately after."
"What? I like sleeping." He glared at her. "Now, where's my comic?!"
The comic levitated to him and landed on his front hooves.
"Where's Long Winded?"
"About to wake up." She gestured towards a sleeping changeling, resting beside his book.
Nastic turned his head around.
A few ponies were slowly walking their way out of the library and through the hallway.
"Since last night's book club session started late, and Rainbow Dash didn't want to have it cut short, I decided to make that session a late night one." She smiled. "It was great, if you ask me! I get to meet with Moon Dancer again, we talked about magic both old and recent, there was a conversation about what books we need to add to the library, there was the discussion of heroes and conflict and how to—"
"Don't get yourself in that thought too much, Princess," Nastic said grumpily. He staggered upright. "Now, is it morning or afternoon? Or did I manage to sleep myself to the next night?"
"Early morning, surprisingly. Or not surprisingly...I still don't know how much sleep changelings need."
"Don't interview us again, Princess."
He walked off.
"Uh, you forgot your friend!"
"Right."
Nastic carried the sleeping changeling with a hoof and on his back. Long Winded, still dozing off, held his book tightly to himself.
He looked back at the Princess. "Thanks for the sleep."
"Well, you're wel—"
The doors slammed shut.
Twilight frowned; her ears flayed. "I hope Nastic did change his mind. At least his friend was very positive about it." She yawned. "But...I guess I need to have my morning sleep. Spike?"
Spike zapped to her side. "Yes, Twilight?"
"Set my alarm clock to ten o' clock. If anypony visits, tell them I'm sleeping. And don't misuse my being a Princess again. You know what happened last time."
Spike grinned.
Twilight lightened up her tone. "Good." She yawned again.
"Is there a newspaper stand here or what?" Nastic shouted, attracting the attention of ponies as they walked in the marketplace. He glared at one of them. "Yeah! I'm talking to one of you!"
The light pink unicorn ceased her trot. "Me?"
"Yes, you! The one with the striped and curly mane!"
Long Winded slapped him. "Can you try to be nice, Nastic?" he whispered.
Nastic pushed him away. "The Princess may have a point, but I have a point, too!" He turned back to the unicorn.
The unicorn who was now standing in front of him. "Sorry, but for a second, I thought you weren't a changeling at all! You looked a lot like a detective with that fancy-looking hat you have."
"There's somepony who respects my choice of hat after all, Long Winded!" he yelled.
The unicorn balked. "It seems you're quite grumpy this morning, aren't you?"
"Show some respect, Nastic!" Long Winded whispered. "You can't just raise your voice at Starlight Glimmer!"
"Ooh! Maybe it's a friendship problem I can—"
"Oh, no, Starlight!" Nastic looked at her. "If you can help me with my problem, all you need to do is give me today's newspaper."
A newspaper flashed in and dropped to the ground.
"Anything else?" Starlight asked, smile on her face. "I'd love to help—"
"Thanks, Starlight," Nastic said as he walked away, pulling Long Winded as he did so. "There's not much else you can do to help us, now. We'll just buy some groceries and other things like that. So, farewell!"
Starlight waved goodbye.
"First, we have ponies that just want to sneak in to whatever business we're having." Nastic grumbled as he opened his copy of the newspaper. "Let's see what the 'Ponyville Express' has to say."
Ponies eyed the rude changeling and his happy friend as the two passed by.
"'Princess Twilight Sparkle Held Late Night Book Club Session Last Night.'"
Nastic looked up from his newspaper, annoyed.
"Did I get into the headline picture?!" Long Winded yelled.
He grabbed the newspaper off of Nastic.
Nastic groaned. "Fine! I hope you don't take an hour to see whether you're not you're there!"
Long Winded placed a hoof onto the large, colored picture.
Everywhere, there were ponies whether they sat, stood, or flew. Most of them had a book nearby; many held at least one. There was Rainbow Dash, carrying a stack of Daring Do books while she flew. There were several tables in the shot, but Long Winded's hoof moved towards the table at the center of the photo. There was Princess Twilight Sparkle herself, chatting with her four pony friends—Minuette, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, and Moon Dancer. They all looked happy and pleased to be with each other again. Also among them was a blue changeling, holding a huge book.
Long Winded gasped. "I'm in the news!"
"Great accomplishment," Nastic replied sarcastically. "I'm sure everyone will know your name."
"Hey, it's the changeling from the news, Long Winded!" a pony shouted.
There were a few screams of terror, but there were more screams of delight and pleasant surprise as a few ponies galloped their way to him, one carrying a camera around his neck.
"I didn't mean it!" Nastic shouted.
The camera flashed.
The earth pony colt took yet another picture with his camera. "If you wanna get a few pictures with the changeling, then just run over there!" He looked at Long Winded. "If you don't mind, of course, Long Winded." He smiled.
"You're working for one of the newspapers?" Long Winded asked before a few ponies stood beside him, smiling at the camera.
The colt took a few pictures. "Yes, I do. The name's Shady Daze, staff photographer of the 'Foal Free Press.'"
Nastic took the newspaper away from Long Winded. "Let me see for myself this treachery!"
And he saw it.
He quickly placed the newspaper back to Long Winded's hooves. "OK, have fun with that little photoshoot of yours!" He walked off to a wall and leaned on it. "I'll be waiting!"
"Come on, mister changeling!" Shady Daze called out. "You can take a picture with your friend, too, you know!"
"I wanna picture on the news!" a mint green unicorn shouted while she stood and posed beside Long Winded.
"Me, too!" another pony exclaimed, holding the changeling while also hugging the green unicorn.
"Nastic, help!" Long Winded shouted as more ponies held or hugged him, all smiling at the camera.
As the two left the noisy and full Hay Burger, the cool breeze of conditioned air drifted to the outside.
"Why do we have to take-out?" Long Winded asked, placing his paper bag of food into his bag.
"I don't want any more ponies to be ruining the day we've planned out," Nastic replied. "Ponyville is an important place, but it's just a village, a small town. Maybe Canterlot or Manehattan would be an exciting next stop."
They continued walking on the dirt and stony roads, passing by many nice, dainty, quiet buildings. "Why?" Long Winded asked.
"In Ponyville, everypony knows everypony else. It's a small town, like I said. Sooner or later, you're going to know everypony. In Manehattan, you have the hustle of a fast-pace job, there are towns' worth of ponies in one building—you cannot meet everypony."
"Shouldn't Ponyville be much more relaxing, then?"
"It's not relaxing when everypony wants to be your friend."
"But, what about the magic of—"
Nastic grumbled. "The magic of friendship, I know," he murmured as he faced the road ahead.
Nastic spoke in a deadpan voice, "Explain to me, Long Winded, why are we here, out of all places."
Long Winded didn't answer. He clapped his front hooves giddily while he wore a big grin, looking at the simple suit that was floating in front of him.
"Now, how is this for a happy-go-lucky changeling such as you?"
The suit was monochromatic. Black, gray, and white—they were spread out in an even fashion. Only a single streak of blue broke the theme, but that made the only color stand out.
"It's amazing, Rarity! I'll wear it...uh..." He looked up, wondering. "I...don't know when I'll wear it."
"Suits and dresses are for special occasions, Long Winded, like—"
"Your birthday party?" he answered quickly.
Rarity was taken aback. "More special than a birthday party. Something more fancy."
"My birthday party?"
She gave him a short glare—but her smile appeared again. "Something more fancy than that, darling."
"Are we going to listen to her—"
"Nastic," Rarity interrupted, pacing around in the room, "I'm a qualified, eligible fashionista," —She glowered at the changeling— "so it would be nice if you'd provide me some well-deserved respect!"
He gulped.
She smiled. "Good! Spike!"
Spike ran up to her, love in his eyes. "Yes, my dear Rarity?"
"Just a moment." She looked back at Long Winded. "Now, would you want the suit with or without the gems?"
"Do they cost more?"
"They come free of charge, darling!"
Spike raised his claw. "That's because she's—"
"The Element of Generosity," Nastic said, "I know, I know, I already know about it!" He glared at the dragon. "Wait a minute—it's already ten-thirty, last time I checked!"
He smirked.
"So...?" Spike asked, still staring at Rarity.
"What is this about, Nastic?" Rarity asked, stepping a hoof forward at him.
"Nothing, Rarity," he replied. "Just finish the suit and we'll give you the bits, quickly. You probably don't wanna know what trouble Spike is in now, considering..." He gave out a lone chuckle as he looked out the door.
Princess Twilight Sparkle slept soundly on her double bed, mostly covered under a blanket.
In front of that royal bed which itself had a soft, fabric ceiling supported by four legs arching out from the bed proper, there were six other, simpler beds. They were single beds and had a pillow that looked like a roll.
Adorning the room, there were two large windows that almost stretched to the ceiling. The curtains were tied, bringing in the light of the morning sun into the room.
On one side of the wall, there was a shelf of even more books. However, above that shelf were the more prominent items—there was a mirror and there were several framed pictures. The pictures showed the enduring friendship of Twilight and her five closest friends—in all the pictures, most of them smiled, enjoying the bonds they've had over time. To think that these wildly different ponies would not only remain friends, but that they would still be the best and the closest friends they've ever known—that had seemed unlikely only several years ago. Now, not only were they such, they were also known as the Elements of Harmony, the savior of Equestria half a dozen times—and they still had the time to be together with each other not on world-saving events but on plain, modest events like a simple picnic. Despite all the hardships and the rocky roads, their friendships with each other had proved and still proved to Equestria and beyond that friendship was magic.
That didn't stop Twilight from sleeping although the clock went past ten o' clock.
The peaceful fields of apple trees for miles and miles was what they saw as the two changelings walked on the dirt road.
"Hey, Nastic!"
"What is it?" he replied. "I'm in the middle of reading a comic here!"
"What about you just admire the scenery around you?" Long Winded smiled.
"Congratulations, at least you can appreciate the scenery around you. I don't." He turned back to the comic he was reading.
"Then, why are we walking here?"
"Peace and quiet is all I want for now." He gave a long sigh. "I know the risks of going into Sweet Apple Acres because I might see Applejack any moment now. And if she sees me, she's going to give me a greeting that's too long and too kind."
Nastic turned around. "Long Winded?"
"Hey, I found Applejack!"
"What did I just tell you?!" Nastic whined.
Long Winded arrived running with Applejack. They were both smiling.
"Didn't I—"
"Oh, come on, sugarcube!" Applejack interrupted. "Don't ya' be such a sour one!"
He forced a small smile onto his face. "OK. If we're going to spend some time together to improve our friendship, let's make it quick, alright?"
Applejack blinked. "Wow. He's mighty rude today, isn't he?" She turned towards Long Winded.
"He slept in the library," Long Winded said.
Nastic groaned again.
Among the quiet chatters within the purple and pink room lushed with chic furniture and a refined rug, amidst the soothing mood of the place, Nastic struggled to get out while being pulled in by Long Winded.
"I'm not going into any spa in my entire life!"
"Shh!" Long Winded saw the ponies eyeing what was happening at the door. "You're going to disturb them!"
"Aren't they all disturbed by the sight of two changelings at the spa?!"
Then, a pink Earth pony walked up to them. "Uh, sorry, Long Winded, but we currently do not have any appropriate treatments for you according to your...specifications."
"I guess it's because they haven't figured out how to treat a changeling to a spa," Nastic commented, still struggling his way to get out.
Long Winded kept pulling him back in. "Well, what do you mean, Aloe?"
"Are you sure you want to have a massage while you stand side-ways on the wall?"
"It's called extreme massaging! I just came up with the idea minutes ago!"
Nastic broke free and pulled Long Winded out.
The door closed.
"Here!" Nastic stomped on the dirt. "Let's relax and rest over here!" He gave a scowl at Long Winded who was staring at him, having a face of surprise. "I am tired of your shenanigans!" He wrestled the comic book from his bag. "Don't disturb for the next thirty minutes of my time!" Then, he leaned on the white fence and opened the comic book.
Long Winded looked somewhere and then somewhere else. "What am I going to do without you, then, Nastic?"
"Eat some ice cream, go hang out with any or all of the Elements of Harmony and see if I'm going to be worried."
Long Winded looked around again. "Well, you brought us here over at the schoolhouse—"
"Well, it's a Saturday."
"But, what if the fillies and the colts want to play at the playground—"
"They're probably staying at home or out with their families to some other town." The angry changeling looked up from his comic. "Now, just go and do something other than annoy me!" He went back to readhing his comic, covering his face.
Long Winded beheld the schoolhouse. It was a small, wooden building. The grass around it was plentiful and green. There were simple playground items there like a see-saw and a swing set.
He took one last look at Nastic.
The changeling flew towards the school.
Sneaking up on the walls, he checked all his directions. Nopony in sight. Just Nastic leaning on the fence, reading.
He slowly raised himself, peering through the tall windows.
The darkened classroom held neatly arranged tables and chairs—little ones. The chalkboard had spots of gray. Pictures posted on the wall spoke of history and science and other such subjects along with the amateur yet cute drawings of the children. Beams of sunlight stretched into the room, giving off a warm sense of calm and silence.
A sneeze.
Long Winded looked at all angles. Nopony in sight.
Another sneeze.
He placed his head onto the grassy ground. His ear was planted firmly there. His eyes narrowed.
He eyed a narrow window on the wall. The window almost touched the ground.
"I've seen not a single sign of any colt or filly this mornin', Sweetie Belle," Applejack said, walking with the filly unicorn out of Sweet Apple Acres.
"Really?" Sweetie Belle complained. "Not even Apple Bloom?"
"I'm really concerned abou' her." She sighed.
"I've asked my sister Rarity, I've asked Pinkie Pie, I've asked Rainbow Dash, I even asked Fluttershy and she saw nopony go into the Everfree Forest—"
Applejack wiped the sweat off her face. "Phew! At least she's not lost in the Everfree Forest." She pasued and sighed. "But, wouldn't it make sense since a game of hide-and-seek isn't that worth the trip there?"
Sweetie Belle pondered. "You're right."
"Have you asked Twilight?"
"I went up to her bedroom, but the sign said, 'Don't distrub.'"
Applejack chuckled. "Perhaps they're hiding in the best hiding spot ever in Ponyville. Or, perhaps they cheated and took a train ride to Canterlot. I honestly don't know at this point, sugarcube."
There was a pause.
"Say, did you try checking the place where you started the game?"
"You mean the schoolhouse? But I've already checked it and nopony's there!"
"Maybe they moved back to the schoolhouse when you went away and started asking your sister." She smiled.
"I guess I'll give it a shot."
Then, Sweetie Belle ran off.
Long Winded silently jumped off to the window's side.
He slowly peered through the window.
There were many colts and fillies in the basement. Some were hiding under the desks, the tables, and the inking machines. Others stood proudly out in the open room. The interior smelled of newspapers both old and new.
Diamond Tiara gave out a quiet chuckle.
"Shh! Sweetie Belle might be here any moment now!"
"I don't think so, Silver Spoon," Diamond Tiara answered.
"We've got to keep our voices hushed at all times," Scootaloo reminded everypony there, whispering. "Maybe we can beat Ponyville's record for longest hide-and-seek game ever!"
"Then, we'll all get recognized in the history books!" Apple Bloom declared.
Everypony else shushed her.
"Don't you think we'll have to beat an Equestria-wide record before we can get to the history books?" Pipsqueak quipped.
"That would be better!" Scootaloo whispered excitedly.
Several ponies walked quietly, tip-toeing.
"Can we send somepony to see if Sweetie Belle's there?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Ooh! Send me!" one of the colts shouted.
Everypony else shushed him.
"Can't we all be quiet for at least one minute?" Silver Spoon groaned. "Espcially you, Snips and Snails!" She pointed at the two colts in question—a chubby unicorn and a lanky unicorn. "OK, while we're talking about sending somepony out, why Snips or Snails? They're not exactly the most stealthy of ponies."
"What about I volunteer?" Diamond Tiara asked, raising a hoof.
"That's nice and all," Silver Spoon began, "but, I want to ask this: wouldn't sending somepony out to see if Sweetie Belle's there risk us being found?"
"And think about beating the Equestria-wide record!" Scootaloo added.
Everypony nodded.
"So," Scootaloo cheerfully said, "what's the Equestra-wide record again?"
Twist grabbed a book off a shelf. "Let me check." She opened the huge book and flipped through the pages with her hoof.
The pages stopped.
"Well?" Diamond Tiara asked, poking in.
"Heh-heh." Twist gave an innocent, nervous smile. "Forty-seven hours and exactly fifty-seven minutes, anypony?"
"What?!" everypony else shouted.
Apple Bloom shushed everypony. She was gasping and breathing fast. "I think we just lost the game!" She looked up at the windows. "Did Sweetie Belle see us?!"
"Are the lights turned off?" Shady Daze asked.
"They've been off for twelve hours already!" Pipsqueak replied, exasperated.
Apple Bloom's stomach rumbled. "Oh, no. Any snacks upstairs?"
"That's why I brought this bag," Featherweight said, flying his way to her while carrying a full sack of apples.
She grabbed a lot of apples and stuffed her mouth.
Twist sighed. "I didn't expect to stay here in this boring basement for this long."
"Is there anything we can do to pass the time here?" Cotton Cloudy grumbled. She flew up to one of the windows near the ceiling. "Why didn't any of you think about just sending a pegasus to the windows?"
Sweetie Belle galloped on the dirt road.
Past the many buildings of Ponyville, past the patches of grass, now she's at the schoolhouse.
She ran up to the reading changeling. "Uh, hello, mister—"
Nastic lowered the comic book.
She gasped. "A changeling?! At our school?!"
"Heh. Looks like some colts and fillies are still scared—"
"Awesome!"
And Sweetie Belle jumped to hug Nastic. They fell to the ground.
Another changeling flew up from behind the bushes.
Sweetie Belle looked and gasped again. "This is so cool! We've got two changelings at our school! But, why on a weekend?"
"Relaxation." Nastic stood back up. "Now, just leave me be in peace and quiet." He leaned on the fence again and resumed reading his comic book.
"What he said!" Long Winded happily replied. "I'm not supposed to bother my friend, and there's not much to do, since there's absolutely nopony else around here for now!" He grinned.
Sweetie Belle's smile turned into a disheartened frown. "Nopony's here?"
Long Winded glanced at the bush. He looked back at the filly. "Yup! Nopony's here. Except for you, of course. Why?"
"It's because we're playing a game of hide-and-seek and I'm the one who's supposed to look for the hiding ponies." She tilted her head. "You know that, right?"
Long Winded nodded.
"But, I've looked everywhere and asked several ponies and still I've found nopony! We started at around midnight at the schoolhouse, but..."
"You had to sleep."
"Of course, I had to sleep, and I tried looking for them but I still couldn't find them so I had to sleep." She sighed. "I can't call the game off because maybe they might think the game's still on. Who's going to tell them unless I find them first? I could tell somepony else to tell them if he or shee sees them but...so far, I haven't found anypony who's seen them. All they know is that they went to the schoolhouse, but then, after that, where did they go?"
Long Winded patted the unicorn. "Don't worry. I can positively tell you that they're not in the schoolhosue, so you don't have to look there!"
"Did you check every room there?"
Long Winded nodded.
"Even the basement."
He coughed, though he kept smiling. "Nopony there, Sweetie Belle."
She eyed the changeling with a suspicious eye. "How did you know my name?"
"The Cutie Mark Crusaders are particularly popular in the Changeling Kingdom. Didn't you know that?"
Nastic groaned as he continued reading this comic.
Sweetie Belle gasped again. She made a big grin. "We're popular there?"
Long Winded laughed. "You don't know how famous you are over there!"
"I can't believe it!" Cotton Cloudy whispered, flapping her wings right in front of the window. "Not only do we have changelings here, but they're actually helping us!"
Everypony scrambled as quietly as they could towards the window.
Several jumped, trying to get to the window that was almost at the ceiling.
The pegasi among them just flew towards the window.
"That's cool!" Featherweight said, looking out the window.
"Just keep your voices down, everypony!" Silver Spoon proclaimed to everypony in a whisper.
"You've really checked every possible hiding place, huh?"
"Mm-hmm! You can trust me!"
They walked out of the grassy playground and back onto the dirt road.
Sweetie Belle sighed again. "Where are my friends? Maybe they really did go to the Everfree Forest."
Long Winded's eyes widened. He grabbed Sweetie Belle. "No! Just don't go there!"
"But, what if my friends—"
"You're going to...um...be in danger, of course! Heh-heh!"
She got out of his grasp. "I'll just ask Fluttershy to accompany there."
Long Winded opened his mouth in bewilderment. "Rarity and everypony else in town is going to get worried about you if you go missing!"
"What if everypony in class is already missing, Long Winded?" She threw a short fit, screaming quickly to the sky.
The changeling recoiled at the sound of it.
He glanced at the bush again.
"Just trust me and my instincts, Sweetie Belle!" Long Winded assured. "I'm certain that, if they're not in the school, they must be somewhere in Ponyville! They could hide for hours, but they possibly wouldn't want to hide for days! They ought to think about how upset and worried their families and their friends would be!"
Sweetie Belle looked up to the changeling. A smile appeared on her face. "I guess you're right."
Long Winded smiled, too.
"Which is why I'm going to ask Rarity and Fluttershy to accompany at once to the Everfree Forest."
Long Winded stood there, eyes and mouth wide open in confusion and surprise.
"Heh." Nastic looked up from his comic book. "Let's see you handle the situation, Long Winded."