//------------------------------// // Friendship is Hard // Story: The Odd One // by theOwtcast //------------------------------// The room was bathed in daylight when I opened my eyes again. I remained in bed for a minute, reluctant to get up after the midnight adventure. What if this turned out to be another dream, innocent at first but turning into a blood-soaked nightmare when I least expected it? What if it wasn’t a dream? The ponies had been polite enough about my… uh, episode… but would they really forgive me for scaring them like that as Cadance had claimed? Would this be just another reason for them to stay away from me? Maybe they had forgotten about it, I told myself. The nightmare was still vivid in my mind, but with such a bright day out there and only a pile of blankets on the floor to show that anything had happened, even I found it hard to imagine myself in that horror, somehow. And ponies were known in the hive as overly optimistic creatures, which was a reputation that had to have been earned somehow or other, and Cadance had claimed that these ponies were used to being woken up all the time, so maybe it could still turn out fine, right? But how would I know which way they leaned? If only I could bring myself to go out there and ask! If only I could bring myself to at least get out of my room and see how they respond to seeing me! As it was, I was too ashamed of having screamed the castle awake, even if I hadn’t done it intentionally, and too afraid of their reactions to face them. But I’d have to face it sooner or later, and I had to know what to expect. I had to be able to prepare myself for what they would do when I finally showed up in public! I had to know if there was something I could do to win myself some non-hostility! But it was easier said than done! At least get out of bed and tidy up that mess you made! It won’t bring you any favors if somepony walks in and finds a pile of blankets all over the floor! Yes, let’s start small, one step at a time, I decided. I got out of bed and collected the blankets. What now? Should I arrange them as they’d been when I first saw them? Might as well. I was halfway through figuring out how to straighten them out when I heard somepony banging on the door. Now what? Was I in trouble? Was I supposed to get out of the room and do something? Why hadn’t anypony told me? Had they assumed that I knew? Pull yourself together! It’s probably nothing… too… disastrous… hopefully… I approached the door with my heart in my throat and opened it hesitantly. Sunburst was there, holding a stack of books in his magic, and preparing to bang on the door again. A little away stood a Royal Guard I hadn’t met before. “Good morning, Thorax,” Sunburst greeted me cheerfully. “Ready to start with our next lesson?” “Uh, yeah, sure.” I stepped aside so he could enter. The guard remained where he was. I must have looked confused because Sunburst asked, “Is something wrong?” “Not that I know of. But why were you banging on the door, and why isn’t the guard coming in? And where’s Trusty Shield?” “It’s called knocking on the door, not banging, and it means, ‘may I come in?’ Also, Trusty Shield’s shift ended and Paladin is taking over.” Oh. That made sense. “So I’m not in trouble?” “Not this time,” he chuckled. “Aren’t you going to close that door?” I did. Meanwhile, he set the books down and sat on a cushion. Another cushion was waiting for me, or at least I assumed it was meant for me. Unless somepony was supposed to join us? “Sunburst, may I ask you something?” “That’s what I’m here for, aren’t I? To teach you whatever you need to know and to answer any questions you have to the best of my ability!” He grinned, then smiled sheepishly. “Though I have to admit that I’ve never been a teacher before, certainly not to a changeling, so forgive my enthusiasm.” “I’m perfectly fine with your enthusiasm!” Partly because it warmed and brightened his love aura, which would make it more delicious as well… but, this time, I intended to wait for permission before sipping up any of it. “So, uh… you’ve been around the castle this morning. Are the ponies still mad at me?” “Mad at you? Why?” “You know, because of… tonight.” “They aren’t mad at you! Okay, you might have startled them - it did sound like somepony was being murdered or something, not that I’ve ever witnessed a murder - but it wasn’t your fault that you screamed! You were having a nightmare! Why would anypony blame you for something beyond your control?” “Shining does an awfully good job at that,” I muttered. “Oh.” He fumbled with his goatee. “Most ponies don’t hold a grudge, though, and Shining is just one pony. I can understand his point of view after what happened at his wedding, which isn’t to say that I approve of what he’s doing to you. He’ll come around… I think… but I haven’t been able to think of a way to accelerate the process so far, sorry.” “Are he and Cadance still fighting?” “What?! No! If you mean last evening’s incident, they reconciled immediately afterwards! Cadance was ashamed of having let her paranoia get the best of her, and Shining was shocked to realize the state of mind he’d pushed her into! They both gave a heartfelt apology to each other, in fact it helped them realize they weren’t handling the situation well!” “So you’re saying it actually… helped?” “In a way, yes. I think Shining must have gotten scared he’d lose Cadance if he remained so obstinate when it comes to you, so he agreed to loosen his grip on you as an attempt at compromise. It may not have been for the most ideal of motives, but I’m hoping we can use that to buy you a chance to prove yourself trustworthy so his next step can be for your benefit rather than for the benefit of his relationship with Cadance.” “So… any suggestions on how I should behave?” He shrugged. “Just be yourself, I guess. Keep acting friendly and try to avoid breaking any rules… but you’re doing that already, so just keep it up until I think of any more proactive ways to win his trust. Oh, and you don’t have to apologize for everything or to hide whenever something unexpected happens.” “I don’t know if I can! ‘Something unexpected’ usually meant that I was in trouble back in the hive, and so far, it hasn’t been all that different here except that punishments hurt less and don’t leave me physically injured!” He stared at me, adjusted his glasses. Blinked. Muttered a hmm. Stared some more. “I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s just… all the instructors back in the hive gave up trying to teach me anything long ago because they couldn’t see me making progress in any way. As a result, there’s only so much I know about ponies! How can I follow rules if I don’t know which rules there are to follow? How do I blend in if I don’t know if I’m doing it right? And what promise do we have that you teaching me now will be any more successful than what I had before?” He considered this. “Tell me about those lessons. Did you find anything interesting or enjoyable in them?” “Not really.” “Am I right in assuming that their focus was on deceiving ponies and defeating them in combat?” “Yes.” “And anything akin to politeness and friendship and such was for the sole purpose of deception and making ponies careless?” “Yes.” “Would you have preferred to learn other things? As in, different things?” “Absolutely!” “Do you know of any other changelings struggling with their lessons in the same way you did?” “No.” “There you go.” “What do you mean?” “Here’s my theory: the reason why you struggled with your education in the hive isn’t because you couldn’t learn it, but because you couldn’t see how it would get you to where you wanted to be and because you didn’t want to use it for what the hive wanted you to use it for! You did pick up some things, though, whether or not you realized it, and that was enough to help you escape the hive and survive in the unknown long enough to find a friend!” “I think it was just dumb luck,” I countered. “Luck may have played a part in it, yes, but there had to be some knowledge and resourcefulness in the mix too! Don’t you see, Thorax? You aren’t stupid, you simply didn’t have a reason to know what they taught you and had nowhere to learn the things you did want to know! And you want to know how to blend in with the ponies in a friendly way! I’m sure you’ll be a great student!” He hugged me firmly before I could respond, and his aura wrapped around me, warming me pleasantly and making my mouth water. “What are you doing?” I asked. “I’m just happy to think of all the things I can teach you! Though I’ll have to reconsider my approach now after this new information… I was going to start the day with a lesson on local geography, but we can do that later and focus instead on more everyday things… oh, and I guess I can give you some breakfast, too!” “You’re giving off an awful lot. I’m not sure how much of it would be safe to take!” “Then take it slowly, but do eat something! You need nourishment!” I hugged him back. I’d intended it as a sign of gratitude and to make things less awkward, but as I sipped on his aura, I came to realize I was getting sated much more quickly than ever before! I stopped sipping, afraid that I’d gotten too greedy and was draining him out, but somehow his love was finding its way into my system regardless! I broke out of the hug and took a panicked step or two back, expecting to see him fall unconscious or very weak, but he just sat there, mildly confused. How? “Is something wrong?” “I’m not sure... Are you feeling fine? Nothing even slightly, vaguely wrong?” “No, except that you startled me a little, but I’m guessing that’s not what you meant. Care to explain?” “I didn’t take much love from you as far as I can tell, and I only took yours and nopony else’s, but it feels like I’ve drained ten ponies completely, I’m that full!” “Curious,” he mused. “I don’t feel drained. Want to try it again? See if you can figure out how it happened?” I winced. “Let’s experiment some other time! I really, really don’t want to hurt you by doing this too often!” “If that’s what you want,” he shrugged. “It’s probably a smart precaution, now that I think about it. Now, shall we start with the lesson, or would you rather finish making your bed first?” The lesson on ‘everyday things’, as Sunburst had called it, had stretched through several days. I was making slow but steady progress, or so he assured me, but for every one detail I figured out, five more unfamiliar ones turned up, so the end of this kind of lesson was still nowhere in sight, proving Sunburst’s initial predictions about only needing a day or two for it very wrong. He’d never complained, though; he actually seemed to enjoy teaching me and answering all of my many questions! It showed in his aura that he shared with me before and after every teaching session in the form of a hug, and I was starting to figure out how much I could take to remain sated without actually draining him, and was still amazed by how little I needed compared to before my arrival to the Crystal Empire. I was extremely grateful to him for showing me such immense trust, but neither of us could think of an explanation why I suddenly needed far less food than before. Was I unknowingly sipping up the crystal ponies’ collective aura? And if so, how hadn’t I realized it? As much as we both enjoyed our time together, he couldn’t teach me from dawn to dusk every day; he still had other responsibilities to take care of, not to mention needs, so we’d agreed to have our sessions in the mornings until lunchtime, and to spend afternoons doing whatever else each of us had or wanted to do. Though I’d gained some marginal confidence through my learning progress, my spirits were still pretty low overall, partly due to Shining Armor’s ongoing distrust of me and lack of any progress in that regard since his argument with Cadance, and partly because I still felt that my understanding of pony ways was too inadequate to expect success in social pursuits. But I didn’t want to let that defeat me, so I’d asked Sunburst if I could read the books he’d brought to our first lesson, hoping it would accelerate my learning process and take some of the workload off his back, and he’d readily agreed and promised to bring me more books whenever I asked for some. The first stack of books had included one or two on local geography, one on the history of the Crystal Empire, one about changelings that Sunburst had brought because he’d wanted to know how accurate it was so he could understand me and my kind better, and something called ‘Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone’, which he’d suggested I try for entertainment. These were plenty enough to keep me occupied for a while, and since I wasn’t yet feeling ready to go out and mingle with ponies, I ended up spending the afternoons reading in my room. Even though I practically hadn’t left my room at all since first setting hoof in it and consequentially wasn’t meeting any new ponies and making friends as I’d originally wanted, I found my time here rather enjoyable. Sunburst’s approach to teaching sat much better with me than anything any of my drill instructors in the hive had ever done, including Pharynx’s one-on-one lessons after I’d gotten expelled from basic training, which he’d insisted on because he couldn’t stand the fact that his brother was a failure. I could also ask Sunburst anything and get an actual answer rather than a reprimand for asking stupid questions, or be laughed or yelled at, or worse! Books were a whole new discovery too; though reading and writing had been one of the few things I’d learned properly as a nymph, I’d never had a chance to really use it like I was doing now! A few sporadic texts or reports, yes, but never whole stacks of books, and never a promise that I could read whatever I wanted! Needless to say, I was so engrossed in the written pages that I’d nearly stopped noticing the passage of time and forgotten that the rest of the world existed. Was this how Sunburst felt while studying magic? Or Starlight, or Princess Twilight? If so, I could understand their passion perfectly! I couldn’t say that I was really interested in every single thing I’d read - sub-arctic meteorological phenomena, for example - but still! And Sunburst noticed. “Aren’t you ever going to get out of here?” he asked me one day when we finished a learning session. “What do you mean?” “You’ve spent a full week in the same room! Don’t you want to stretch your legs a little? Get some fresh air and a change of scenery? Meet some new ponies?” Emphasis on the last part. “But I haven’t learned everything yet!” “So what? You don’t have to know everything right away! They’ll understand that you’re new! Besides, you’ve learned enough to grasp the basics and figure things out on your own, don’t you think?” “Not really,” I replied hesitantly. “C’mon, you have to start sometime!” “I don’t think I’m ready…” “Hey, I get it that making friends seems like a daunting task for you, but that’s what you came here for, isn’t it? So why postpone it indefinitely? You’ll only feel less ready the more you put it off!” I fidgeted my hoof, staring at the floor. “Thorax, you’re not in prison, in case you need a reminder.” “I know…” “So why are you acting like you are? Go on, get out there and make some friends! You know where to find me if you need me!” I relented and went out into the hallway. Trusty Shield was guarding my room again. “I’ve, uh, decided to go for a walk around town, if that’s okay,” I told him. “Are you still supposed to follow me?” “I am, so don’t get any ideas!” he said. “I wasn’t going to,” I muttered, and we got going. We walked in silence through the castle’s hallways. Other ponies stopped what they were doing momentarily to watch us, but only a few whispered things to one another this time. None of them walked up to greet us, though. Were they simply uninterested or too busy, or had they assumed that I’d done something again and was being escorted to prison? I tried to push it out of my mind, but it had already made a crack in my confidence. Was I going to find similar reactions elsewhere? Could I compensate with what Sunburst had taught me? What if I failed? Soon we were at the base of the stairwell leading outside. One set of doors stood in the way of finding out. I swallowed a lump in my throat and put a hesitant hoof on the doorknob. Here goes… I pushed the door open and stepped outside. The clearing beneath the castle was devoid of ponies; only the Crystal Heart hovered in its place at the center of the clearing, but this time, it wasn’t emanating anything obvious like when I’d seen it first. I might have expected that; the rippling streams of its magic weren’t visible from my room, and they would have been if any of them were in the sky. It was, however, active in a more subtle way, judging from the clear skies and the warm weather. I moved on into a randomly-chosen street; a signpost said it was named Sapphire, and there were ponies milling about, enough of them to raise hopes that one might give me a chance at friendship, but not so many that I’d be over my head in trouble in things went wrong… I hoped. Well, Trusty Shield was there with me. He might be able to do something about any out-of-control ponies, right? It was his job, regardless of what he thought of me, and he would act in accordance with it, wouldn’t he? And surely the ponies wouldn’t dare to attack a member of the Royal Guard, especially one armed and fully armored and obviously on duty, would they? Okay, telling myself that had been worth a try, but my heart was still thumping wildly and my mind was still failing to come up with an idea how to approach anypony. None of them, however, had any difficulties deciding how to approach me. Most of them dropped what they were doing, just like the ones in the castle, except that these ponies were scowling at me, some of them grumbling things to themselves. Not one of them opted to approach and start a conversation. I kept walking. Their piercing, disapproving glares followed me every step, melting my confidence away quickly and easily. Their grumbling mixed with the echo of my hoofsteps, making me wonder how soon one of them would decide that they’d had enough of the intruder and try to speed up my departure. I didn’t have to wait long. Having decided that these ponies weren’t going to suddenly change their approach and welcome me with open hooves, I turned around the first corner I got to. I’d hoped that a different set of ponies might produce different reactions, but these new ones had noticed an abrupt change in behavior of the ponies in Sapphire Street, and were already strung up to learn what was going on by the time I showed my face among them. Needless to say, they were ready for something unpleasant and undesirable; one or two shouted some vulgar remarks, and another threw a bottle at me. I dodged it at the last moment and it flew past me, shattering on impact with the road. With a flashback of a similar situation in another town during my journey and the knowledge of how that incident would have ended had my reflexes been slower, I backtracked a step, ready to flee. Trusty Shield noticed this and opened his mouth, probably to warn me against doing anything I would regret, but then another object - a fruit, maybe - hit me from a blind side and I turned and launched into a gallop without thinking, then took to the air upon slipping on something that might have been liquid from that thrown bottle. “Get back here!” Trusty Shield commanded and followed me into the sky. I barely registered his ongoing shouts and warnings, not even when they escalated to threats. I couldn’t bring myself to think about the consequences of insubordination; my instinct had reduced it to a low priority. All I could do was flee on; all I could see was my broken body lying still in a pool of blood on the crystal road… or was it a bridge over a rainbow-colored river? I couldn’t tell! By the time I snapped out of it, I was already flying over the hills on the city outskirts. Out of breath, I landed on one of them. Trusty Shield caught up with me as I was turning around to look for him, and tackled me before I could tell him to slow down or dodge the impact. “Where do you think you’re going?” he demanded. “Nowhere… sorry… I freaked out… didn’t mean to-” “Freaked out.” He stared at me as if I were lying. “Yes. This isn’t the first time I had things thrown at me. Last time-” “Captain Shining Armor briefed us,” he interrupted me. “You claimed to have nearly gotten blasted into oblivion in, what, Rainbow Falls?” “I don’t know the name of the town, but yes, that did happen.” “He’s checking your story, so if you’re telling the truth, we’ll know soon enough.” He got off my chest. “And I’d like to find that unicorn from Rainbow Falls and tell him what I think about his aiming skills, assuming he exists. Get up!” I obeyed. As I was getting up on my hooves, I caught a glimpse of something that stirred a happier memory: a yellow flower, growing nicely on the top of the hill. Could it be? I moved closer. The flower was indeed familiar, and so was the layout of the surrounding hills and the city a little further away. This was my flower! I hadn’t realized how good it would feel to see it again! What were the odds that I’d find myself right next to it when flying blindly and randomly away from trouble? Had I been subconsciously drawn to it, knowing it had been a source of great comfort and hope for me when I couldn’t find it elsewhere? “What now?” Trusty poked me. “Never seen a flower before?” I opened my mouth to explain, but then decided against it. What was the point? He was there because he’d been ordered to, and quite possibly, he would have preferred a different assignment; why would he care about a flower? “Nevermind,” I said instead. “I suppose you want me to return to the city?” “You haven’t been granted permission to leave the city, so yes.” “I need permission to go somewhere?” Nopony had mentioned anything like that; in fact, I’d been under the impression that I could go wherever I wanted! “Nopony said anything about you not needing permission, so until that changes, I’m going to work under the assumption that you do.” “Figures,” I sighed. “Um, Trusty, Shield?” “What?” “Do you think ponies would be less uncomfortable around me if I looked like a pony? I mean, without denying that I’m not one.” “Do I look like I care? Besides, hasn’t the Captain forbidden you to shapeshift?” “Only if nopony is around to see that I’m doing it, unless he changed his mind in the meantime and forgot to inform me. But you’re here to witness it, therefore it shouldn’t go against his wishes.” “Assuming that’s the case, what would you look like, and how do I know that you won’t take advantage of it?” I became Crystal Hoof again. He tensed up momentarily during my transformation and readied his spear, then relaxed somewhat when he realized that I hadn’t become an oversized dragon or something else that a lone pegasus, Royal Guard or not, would find difficult to subdue if need be. “Trusty Shield, I know it’s your job to doubt me, but I really do only want friends. If I’d wanted to harm the ponies, don’t you think I would have done it by now? Or at least attempted to?” “I have no intention of answering that!” “Fine… So back to the city?” We got underway. We reentered the city by way of Beryl Street. This one was a little busier than Sapphire, which meant a higher likelihood of meeting a friendly pony, but also a bigger potential for things getting out of control if somepony were to see through my disguise. I hoped for the former, but tried to will myself out of fleeing again should the latter happen. No matter what the ponies thought of me, this was my home now, and I couldn’t keep running from them forever; I’d never manage to befriend any of them that way! The disguise might help, I kept telling myself over and over again as I strode forward. The disguise might help break the ice; it might give the ponies a less disturbing face to look at, it might give them time to get to know me for who I am without being distracted or disgusted by what I am. I’d tried that approach several times before but had always been revealed too soon; maybe now, when my presence here was allowed and the ponies aware of it, I could finally use a disguise to lessen their fears. I looked around as I moved forward; I kept my eyes open for a pony who would seem friendly, one willing to approach me or to be approached, or for a situation that would allow me to approach the ponies involved in a natural way and without being intrusive. For a while, no such opportunity came up; most ponies were busy shopping in the nearby market, some were strolling along with a friend, and a few were simply hurrying somewhere. I’d started to wonder if I might have to rethink my approach, maybe even ask Trusty for suggestions - not that I expected him to be willing to share anything useful, but one never knew - when I collided with something. Somepony, actually! I’d been so busy looking in all directions that I’d forgotten to pay attention to what was in front of me, and this mare had hurried out of the market without noticing that I was about to walk into her! She stumbled a little, but the basket she’d been carrying fell off her back, and loads of fruit rolled out and all over the street! “Goodness, I’m so sorry!” I said to her. “I didn’t mean to-” “No, I’m sorry! I should have paid attention to where I was going!” “Me too! Here, let me help you with your fruit!” “Thanks,” she said, picking up her basket and putting some of the nearest fruits back into it. “Did you see where the apricots went?” “Apricots?” I looked around. Apricots were round, orange thingies, right? “Apricots… oh, I see some over there…” I went to collect them when another voice halted me. “What do you think you’re pulling?” I turned around. A stallion that hadn’t been there before stood next to the mare, looking daggers at me. “I’m sorry, were you talking to me?” “Yes, you! You’re that changeling, aren’t you?” “Um… yes?” How had he figured it out? “I don’t know what you want with my wife - no, actually I have a fairly good idea - but you’re not getting it!” “I didn’t want anything! I was just helping her pick up the fruits-” “Likely story!” He swatted at me furiously. “Get lost!” “Okay, okay, I’m going!” He set down his saddlebag and started collecting the apricots himself while his wife gazed at nothing in particular. I left him to it. We’d attracted a lot of attention - the whole street was staring at me again, though nopony tried to hit me or to throw things at me this time - and I got the urge to get away from there immediately. This time I managed to do it at a normal pace, and Trusty Shield simply followed. I trotted on, discouraged by the incident, but still holding out some hope that my day in town wouldn’t turn out to be a total disaster. I switched to another street at an intersection. This one had fewer ponies, but I wasn’t in the mood for crowds anymore, so this was fine. A few fillies and colts were playing in the street. I pondered on whether or not I should join them, when one of them walked up to me. “I haven’t seen you around,” he said, eyeing me curiously but without suspicion or malice in his voice. “You wouldn’t have. I’m new here,” I said without thinking. “I thought there aren’t any crystal ponies living elsewhere,” a filly countered. “He’s a changeling,” Trusty Shield explained it to her before I could say anything. The fillies and colts all stared at him for a second, then switched their gazes onto me, then looked at one another. They appeared ready to respond to that revelation in much the same way as the adult ponies had so far. Thanks a lot, Trusty, I groaned inwardly. “You know, guys, I just remembered I haven’t finished my homework,” a filly eventually said with a forced grin. “See ya later!” “Yeeeeaaaaaah, and I might have forgotten Mommy asked me to… find… something…” a colt added. “Gotta go!” “Come to think of it,” another colt mused, “I really need to clean up my room! Bye, guys!” “I don’t think I’m feeling so well all of a sudden…” another filly mumbled through feigned coughs. “I think I’ll go lie down…” I watched them retreat rapidly in various directions. Were they really expecting me to believe all that? Even I wasn’t that gullible! On the other hoof, maybe they were just trying to be polite? The first two little ponies were retreating together without having attempted an excuse, though, and a little more slowly than the others. I took a step forward and opened my mouth to apologize for interrupting their game, but the colt spoke first. “Sorry, but we better go too. Mommy and Daddy say that changelings are evil and that we shouldn’t let them come near us.” Well, at least he was being honest. “Are you nuts?” the filly protested in a whisper. “Why did you have to tell him that?” “Well it’s true, sis! I don’t want to get eaten!” “But now he knows we’re on to him!” “I’m not going to eat you!” I protested. “Mommy and Daddy said that you’d say that to get us to trust you so you can eat us more easily!” Excuse me, what?! Such a theory wouldn’t surprise me if coming from Pharynx, but from a couple of ponies? And they taught their children that? Actually, it made sense. They’d want to protect their foals, and teaching them to recognize potentially dangerous situations was a sensible thing to do, even if they were wrong about this particular changeling. And I’d have to work on the leftovers of my perception of ponies as beings with no concept of violence! “Ugh,” I groaned, rubbing my forehead. “You know what? I won’t even bother anymore. I’m leaving. You can tell your friends that the coast is clear!” Was that the correct expression? I walked past them and further down the street. Trusty Shield followed, and it seemed to me that he trotted more easily than me even in full battle armor. It couldn’t have been just due to trained muscles; though he endeavoured to maintain an expressionless face, he wasn’t quite succeeding, and I noticed an ever-so-slight smirk and a funny taste of his love aura, which suggested that he was enjoying the sight of me continuously failing to maintain non-hostile interactions with others for longer than a few seconds. It definitely wasn’t a good feeling for me, and I dragged my hooves along the roads with increasing heaviness. Would the ponies have responded any better to me if Sunburst had tagged along? Or Spike? Near the end of the street, I almost collided with two mares coming out of a house. I only paid enough attention to them to be aware of their presence, but they showed more interest. “Hey, I know you,” one of them said to me. “You do?” “Sure! You were with Spike the Brave and Glorious about a week ago, weren’t you? When he was telling us stories?” “Oh. Yes, I was with him, but I’m afraid I don’t remember you specifically, sorry.” “It’s alright. If you’re a friend of Spike the Brave-” “Wait a minute!” the other mare interrupted. “Wasn’t that on the same day as that changeling was revealed?” “Oh my gosh, you’re right! And we left the house that day! We could have run into the changeling!” She put a hoof over her mouth. “You just did,” Trusty Shield informed them. “He’s the guy!” Not helping, Trusty! Please stop doing that! “Are you really?” the second mare asked. What the heck, I figured; might as well get it over with. Either it would go well or it wouldn’t, and I was getting fed up with everything. I dropped my disguise. “Ew!” the first mare recoiled. “Ew, ew, ew! You guys look as disgusting as the rumors say!” “Excuse us,” the second mare said with a grimace, then dragged the first one hurriedly back into the house. Sounds of keys turning and bolts being slid in place accompanied the echo of the door slamming shut behind them. I cast a half-annoyed, half-deflated glance at Trusty Shield. He simply shrugged. We walked back to the castle, once again in silence. I wasn’t in the mood for trying to befriend ponies anymore, and thankfully, no more incidents occurred on the way, not counting more glares from everypony we passed by. This continued inside the castle, all the way to my room. Once I was alone again, I let out a defeated sigh, sat next to the bed, and buried my face in the pillow.