Having replaced the previous sorrow with salad and a few hot slices of pizza, you and Notaulix soon find yourselves relaxing in the aftermath of a great dinner.
"That dinner was so good, Anon... I'm full!" Notaulix remarks while patting his belly with a forehoof.
"Yes it was... Brought back some good memories. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I'm glad you're feeling better now." You say to Notaulix.
Looking over at the clock, you note that there's a bit over an hour left until nighttime arrives.
"So, going back to what we were talking about before dinner; about your ability to transform..." You begin, causing Notaulix to perk back up to attention.
"Yes? What about it, Anon?" Notaulix asks with excitement, clearly enthusiastic about the topic.
"You mentioned practicing it, and that I could help you somehow. How would that work?" You ask him.
"Oh! Once I learn how to transform into a pony, you can help me by telling me how accurate the transformation is." Notaulix begins to answer.
"I might get the teeth wrong, or the ears are not correct, the legs too long or too short, or the rump too large. You are familiar with ponies, so you can tell me those things!" Notaulix cheerfully continues.
"Ah, okay then... I guess. I have to admit, this whole concept is still very strange to me." You admit.
"What do you mean, Anon?" Notaulix questions with a slight tilt of the head.
"Well... Physically transforming into something else, changing the proportions and design of your body as you please. There's no way I can wrap my head around how that might work." You answer.
"I mean, the only way I think that I'll really understand is when I see for myself." You continue.
"Speaking of which, when do you think you'll be up to transforming again?" You ask Notaulix.
"I can transform for you right now, Anon!" Notaulix replies as he stands up and jumps off the sofa, before neatly landing on the floor, where he looks up at you with a happy expression.
"Woah, hold on now!" You exclaim while gesturing with a hand to pause. "I don't want you to transform if it's going to be too much for you and your magic at the moment." You say.
"Don't worry, Anon! Thanks to you, I think I'll be fine." Notaulix reassures you.
"Well... Okay, if you say so. Just don't push yourself. Let's see it." You say to him.
Notaulix takes a few steps away from the table to give himself more room. Meanwhile, you reposition your chair and lean forward slightly in anticipation of whatever it may be that you're about to witness.
After turning to face you, Notaulix takes a deep breath before his horn begins to glow...
Suddenly, bright green flames spring forth and envelop Notaulix, whooshing and crackling like a mighty blaze as they wildly move around Notaulix's location.
You nearly fall backwards in your chair as you recoil at the sudden display, while also raising an arm to shield your eyes from the bright fire.
The transformation process ends as quickly as it began. Upon noticing the silence as you steady yourself, you lower your arm, followed by your eyes immediately fixating on the sight before you.
Where Notaulix once stood, now stands the unmistakable half lion, half eagle form of a griffon. You can't help but stare wide-eyed as you take in Notaulix's new appearance.
Noticeably larger than before, Notaulix's griffon form sports earthy colors such as reddish, golden brown fur, creamy white plumage speckled with ochre colored spots, with a yellow beak and talons.
In addition, you find yourself caught off guard as you stare into a set of yellow eyes that are very clearly staring straight back into your own; a sharp contrast from Notaulix's unusual, nearly solid blue eyes in his natural form.
"What do you think, Anon?" Notaulix asks you in a new, yet distinctly masculine voice, his tail swishing from side to side as he anxiously awaits your answer.
"A... Anon? Is everything all right?" Notaulix repeats, concerned by the expression on your face and lack of response.
"Uhh..." You begin with a pause. "Yeah, everything is fine. I just wasn't expecting all of... that." You continue while gesturing vaguely with your hands. "Those bright green flames." You explain.
"Oh no! I'm sorry, Anon! I didn't think about that before transforming." Notaulix says as he looks down at the floor in shame.
"Ah, don't worry about that, it's fine." You reassure him. "Really though, this is amazing!" You say.
"R-Really? You think so?" Notaulix questions while returning to looking straight at you.
"I do! I feel like every time that I think that the magic of this world won't surprise me anymore, I see something new which does just that." You admit with a lighthearted chuckle.
"Still... I know you told me the other day that your transformation isn't an illusion, but it's just so hard to believe. Would you mind if I, uh... Touch and see what you feel like?" You ask.
You mentally cringe almost immediately upon the question leaving your mouth, quickly breaking eye contact as you feel your cheeks grow warm in embarrassment.
You're not sure if its the expressive eyes staring back at you, or interacting with the appearance of a race that you've seen before and know a little about, but the awkwardness of your question comes crashing down upon you.
While you are indeed curious about the details of changeling transformation, you wouldn't ever normally ask anyone such a question. It just feels inappropriate, you think to yourself.
"Okay!" Notaulix cheerfully answers, surprising you as you look back at him.
If your question bothered the changeling at all, it doesn't show. If anything, Notaulix looks happy.
Before you can say anything else, Notaulix walks forward, closing the distance between you in a few steps.
Coming to a stop in front of you, Notaulix presents himself at an angle, raising his left foreleg before resting his talons on your left knee.
You can't help but feel a little intimidated as you stare down at the sharp looking claws for several seconds, until you begin to look over the rest of Notaulix's griffon form.
Additionally, the fact that Notaulix now almost comes up to eye level with you while you're sitting aids in the intimidation factor.
You knew and have personally seen that the average griffon is slightly larger than the average pony, but to see the difference up close is something else entirely.
"Go on Anon, I don't mind! This is important to me, because you can tell me if something is wrong with the transformation." Notaulix encourages you.
"Right..." You say as you tentatively raise a hand and bring it to rest on the back of Notaulix's neck.
You immediately feel that the slightly shiny feathers that make up Notaulix's plumage are soft and silky smooth, with an underlying warmth from his body heat.
"Wow, it's so soft!" You remark as you slowly pet the transformed changelings neck a few times, in order to enjoy the luxurious feeling of the feathers more.
In response to your compliment, Notaulix's chest plumage puffs out in pride, making you smile.
Turning your attention to individual feathers, you single them out one by one and examine them closely, before giving each a gentle pull and finding they are firmly attached to Notaulix's body.
Next, your hand drifts down Notaulix's griffon body towards his midsection, specifically the left side of his body that he presented to you.
First you feel up and examine his left wing, now making use of both of your hands as the initial awkwardness begins to fade, and personal fascination takes over.
The wing feathers are not as soft, but they feel stiff and strong. You can also feel the powerful muscles lying underneath.
Meanwhile, Notaulix simply remains quiet with a happy expression as you conduct your examination, occasionally turning his head to look at you or what you're doing.
Despite the absurdity of the entire situation nagging at the back of your mind, deep down you are thankful that you have this opportunity to examine one of the races of this world up close and personal, feeding a curiosity you didn't realize that you had.
Finally, you shift your attention to the reddish, golden brown fur that covers the rest of Notaulix's griffon body.
Running a hand across his side, you note that a griffons fur is surprisingly coarse. While soft and pleasant to the touch, it's not nearly as soft as pony fur.
After several seconds of feeling his fur, you notice Notaulix has closed his eyes with a content look. With a grin, you know what to do next as you reach up and begin scratching his back along the spine.
The effect is immediately seen, as Notaulix's plumage puffs out while his head droops forward ever so slightly, his eyes still closed.
"Anon... That feels good!" Notaulix exclaims.
"I had a feeling you'd enjoy this. Ponies love these back scritches." You say before moving your attention up between his wings.
Almost immediately, an involuntary shiver runs through Notaulix's body as he begins to produce a soft, cooing sound, reminding you of a bird.
You can't help but laugh at the sound. You knew that griffons are half eagle, but you weren't expecting one to be making bird noises.
"Anon? What are you laughing at?" Notaulix asks while looking at you in confusion.
"Hehehe... I'm sorry, I didn't know griffons made noises like that, it surprised me. It's kind of cute in its own way." You admit.
"C-Cute?" Notaulix repeats.
"Sure it is. Anyway, don't worry about that. Let me finish looking you over real quick." You say while briefly resuming scratching Notaulix's back, much to his joy.
Turning your attention to Notaulix's left foreleg, you use both hands to feel up the structure of the leg.
Giving a gentle squeeze, you find yourself impressed with the firm, dense muscles there. You can't imagine these forelegs being anything other than strong.
Working down towards the talons, Notaulix shifts his weight, allowing you to lift up and hold his foreleg in place.
You spend some time looking over the various details of the talons. From the sharp claws, to the tough, scaly skin covering them, and even the articulation of the joints.
The versatility of the talons comes as a surprise to you. You've known that griffons can use them in a similar way to your own hands, but you can understand that fact clearly now.
A few minutes later, you gently lower the foreleg down and release your grip. "Wow... This is really neat, Notaulix. I have a question though." You say to him.
"What is it?" Notaulix asks in response.
"How do I say this... Things like those feathers are real, right? Can you lose them? What would happen if you lost a feather, then transformed back?" You ask.
"Actually, to add to that, what about injuries? If you had a cut or bruise or a broken bone, does that just heal itself when you transform?" You add.
Notaulix raises a few talons to his beak in thought before answering. "We... Yes, these feathers are just like real griffon feathers, and they can be lost." He begins to answer.
"If I lost some feathers, they would remain even if I transform again, since they wouldn't be part of my body anymore. The only bad thing for me is that I wouldn't recover some of my energy." Notaulix continues.
"What do you mean by that? Recovering energy?" You interject.
"O-Oh, um..." Notaulix pauses as he thinks about how best to answer you. "Do you remember what I told you before?" He asks.
"That thing about, uhh... About smaller and larger transformations taking more effort, or energy? Something like that, I think." You respond.
"Yes, that's right! When we transform into something larger than our natural form, like this griffon form, it takes more magic and energy to accomplish that transformation." Notaulix explains.
"But when we return to our natural forms, or transform into something smaller, we can regain some of what we used." Notaulix continues.
"A smaller transformation than our natural form uses less energy, but it's harder to maintain and drains our magic faster." Notaulix concludes.
"Harder? More so than transforming into something bigger?" You ask.
"Yes." Notaulix simply replies.
"Huh... Why's that?" You question him.
"I..." Notaulix pauses as his eyes widen in surprise at your question. Several seconds later, Notaulix looks away from you, appearing a bit downcast.
"I'm sorry, Anon. I don't know how to answer that question. Everything I have been telling you simply comes naturally to us changelings. It is very... challenging to try and think of how to explain certain things." Notaulix admits.
"Don't worry about that, it's fine. I think you're doing a good job explaining everything to me. I don't need to know all the details, I was just curious." You say while giving Notaulix some more back scratches to cheer him up.
"Really? You think so?" Notaulix asks as he turns his head back to face you.
"Sure I do. Hey, does touch and other sensations feel different to you when transformed?" You ask while giving Notaulix a pat on the back for emphasis.
"I feel things the way a griffon would feel them, yes. Whatever we transform into, we can feel, smell, taste, hear and see as they do." Notaulix answers.
"Although it's common to choose our senses to benefit ourselves. Almost every changeling chooses to keep their sense of smell, no matter what they transform into." Notaulix adds.
"That's interesting. Why smell?" You inquire.
"I was told that among the races, us changelings have one of the strongest senses of smell. It can serve as both a protection and a tool for us." Notaulix answers.
"Wow, is that right? This is very interesting... Anyway, I'm getting us sidetracked here. What happens if you get injured?" You ask.
"Oh, yes. Injuries stay with us. If I hurt my foreleg..." Notaulix pauses, lifting up his left foreleg for emphasis. "...my foreleg would still be hurt after I reverted to my natural form." He continues before lowering his foreleg.
"Most things stay with us. Any injuries, what we eat, what we drink, and... Oh! I remember learning of one of my hive sisters; after many trips to a small settlement, she and a pony stallion fell in love and were married..." Notaulix begins to recount.
"This meant she could live there as a pony mare for the rest of her life, and collect lots of love! Not long after the marriage, she became pregnant with her first foal." Notaulix continues.
"Even if she returned to her natural form, she would still be carrying the foal." Notaulix concludes.
"We were all so happy for Lunule... It has become rare for one of our own to find a mate among the other races." Notaulix says as his eyes relax and stare out into nothing, no doubt reminiscing of his old hive.
Silence fills the room as your conversation pauses, broken only by the occasional crackle of pop from the fireplace.
You use the time to ponder over the things Notaulix has told you. Many things seem to make sense, though you find yourself left with new questions in place of the old ones.
Regardless, you find all these things fascinating, if a bit over your head.
"Well..." You begin, breaking the silence. "Thank you for explaining those things to me, Notaulix. I learned a lot." You say to him.
"I'm happy I was able to explain some of those things to you, Anon." Notaulix happily says, now focused on you once more.
"Yep. Anyway, I don't see anything obviously wrong with your griffon transformation. You can go ahead and change back now if you want. To preserve your magic and all." You say.
"B-But what about the rest of this form, Anon?" Notaulix asks with a hint of distress.
"The rest of it? What do you mean?" You ask in confusion.
"You only examined my front half! What if there's something wrong with the rest of it?" Notaulix explains.
"Well uhh, you see, I... Uh..." You stumble over your words as you think about how to tactfully respond to Notaulix's concern.
"I mean... You remember what I said about having never properly seen a griffon up close before, right? I'm no expert, but everything I see here looks very accurate to me." You respond.
"Oh..." Notaulix says, his voice full of disappointment. "It's okay if you haven't been around other griffons before, Anon! I'm sure you can still tell if something looks wrong!" He perks up again, looking at you hopefully.
At that moment, you feel yourself becoming trapped. You can tell this clearly means a lot to Notaulix; you don't want to hurt his feelings.
You decide to go ahead and fulfill the changelings wishes, giving him the full examination that he wants. Though, you have no intention of making it a thorough one.
"All right, all right... Let's continue." You say to Notaulix, much to his joy.
"Thank you, Anon!" Notaulix cheerfully says, before moving forward slightly so that the left side of his rump is directly in front of you.
Suppressing the awkwardness and embarrassment that you're feeling, you press onward as you lay your hands on Notaulix's griffon form again, starting with his tail.
Grabbing hold of it, you gently pull the tail towards you in order to briefly examine it, while taking a little time to look over the tuft of fur on the end of it, which happens to be the same color has his wings.
Letting go of his tail, you turn your attention to the hind leg directly in front of you. Avoiding his rump and thigh altogether, you instead focus on the paw.
Bending forward, you reach down and grab hold of Notaulix's left hind paw and give a gentle tug. After a moment, the transformed changeling gets the idea and shifts his weight, allowing you to lift the hind paw.
After flexing the joints to get a good look at the underside of the hind paw, you find it to be almost exactly like a lions, a fact which doesn't surprise you.
Once you feel you've spent enough time looking at that, you gently lower the paw back to the wooden floor, where Notaulix resumes resting his weight on it.
Finally, you decide to reach underneath and feel Notaulix's belly area. While lightly moving your hand around, you stay far away from his hindquarters.
You decide to conclude your examination of that area by giving his underside a brief scratching, eliciting another pleased shiver from Notaulix.
"Alright, now turn around." You say to Notaulix after giving him a gentle pat on the side.
"Okay." Notaulix says as he does what you asked, turning around in order to present his other side to you.
You proceed to spend a few more minutes simply looking at the parts of Notaulix's body that you already examined on his other side.
"Well Notaulix, as far as my untrained eyes can tell, there's nothing wrong with your griffon transformation." You say to him in conclusion.
"Yay! Thank you, Anon!" Notaulix happily says as he turns to face you directly, his eyes full of deep appreciation.
"You're plenty welcome." You say with a chuckle.
You can't believe that for all intents and purposes, you just shamelessly felt up a changeling transformed as a griffon; an intelligent race of another world, and a male one at that.
Although with it all being said and done, you suppose it wasn't so bad... At the very least, Notaulix appeared to think nothing strange or uncomfortable of you laying your hands on him.
With that out of the way, you decide to get up and and stretch before putting another piece of wood on the fire.
Notaulix joins you by the fireplace, doing a very cat-like stretch of his own, making you smile.
Turning your attention to the clock, you see that there's about thirty minutes left until nighttime arrives.
Your gaze drifts across the living room until it settles upon the entryway by the front door. After staring for a moment, you begin to think about the special saddlebag you bought for Notaulix.
"Hey, before you return to your natural form, wait here for a moment." You say to Notaulix as you walk towards the front door.
"Okay Anon." Notaulix responds while turning his backside to the warm fire, before sitting down on his haunches to watch what you're doing.
Arriving at the front door, you grab your backpack and remove it from its hook on the wall, before returning to the fireplace.
"What are you doing?" Notaulix asks as you lower yourself onto one knee next to him with backpack in hand.
"Do you remember our brief discussion about having you work with me in the Everfree?" You ask Notaulix in response.
"Of course!" He eagerly responds.
"Right. Well, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that just as I have my own gear, you could use the same. So I picked something up for you in Canterlot." You explain to Notaulix.
"You bought a gear for me? To help me work with you?" Notaulix asks, his voice betraying excitement.
"I bought a.." You pause to lightly chuckle at the changelings odd wording. "...I bought a saddlebag for you. A pretty special one at that." You answer before digging into your backpack.
"A... A-A saddlebag...? What is that?" Notaulix stutters as he leans in closer to you, eager to see the thing that will help him work.
"It's something ponies wear to carry things, similar to my backpack." You answer him while pulling the luxurious Night Guard saddlebag, which you then hand over to Notaulix.
Notaulix, in turn, carefully holds the saddlebag in his talons, looking at it in wonder, like it's a precious object meant to be handled with care.
"Go on, take a look at it." You encourage Notaulix after tossing your backpack out of the way.
You watch as Notaulix fumbles around with the saddlebag for a few minutes, turning it around to look at the different parts and design features on the outside of the bag.
However, it quickly becomes evident that Notaulix has no idea what to do with the various straps and buckles built into the saddlebag, clearly demonstrated by his futile tugging on them.
"What do I do with this, Anon? I don't understand how it works." Notaulix asks, looking towards you for help.
"That's okay." You reassure him. "What I was thinking we could do is a test fitting and make sure this will work with your griffon transformation. I can explain everything to you along the way. Does that sound good?" You continue.
"Yes please!" Notaulix eagerly answers.
"Great! Hand it back over here for a moment." You request while holding your hands out.
Notaulix quickly complies and hands the saddlebag back to you. You begin by loosening the buckle on the thick main strap that runs under the belly, followed by pulling it loose so that the saddlebag can lay flat on the floor.
Once laid out for easy inspection, you notice a detail of the saddlebag that you previously overlooked: Additional metal rings of various styles riveted into place on different points of the saddlebag.
Confused as to what these may be used for, you open up the left bag where you find nothing. In the right bag, however, you discover an additional bundle of Glyph Skin straps with metal rings and connectors of their own.
Setting the newly discovered extras on the floor, you repeatedly look back and forth between them and the saddlebag in an effort to discern their proper usage at a glance.
As curious as you are, you take a moment to consider if bothering with them is really necessary or not at this moment. As far as you can tell, they are not necessary for simply wearing the saddlebag.
"What are those for, Anon?" Notaulix asks you.
"That's what I'm wondering. To be honest, I didn't even know these came with the saddlebag... They serve some sort of purpose, but that's not important right now." You say as you move the extras aside.
"What is important is this main strap here. That's all you need to wear it." You say.
"Hmm... So how does it work?" Notaulix inquires.
"Like this. You take the end, run it through this buckle, and..." You begin as you proceed to explain to Notaulix how to adjust the main strap, so that it will fit his body properly.
After having demonstrated it a few times, you hand the saddlebag over to Notaulix to practice himself.
With the help of his relatively dexterous talons, Notaulix is able to make the adjustments himself with little trouble.
"Anon? How do ponies without magic do this? It seems like this would be very difficult with hooves." Notaulix questions you.
"Well, the type of saddlebag most ponies wear just uses some sort of stretchy band, which doesn't need to be adjusted, and requires little effort to take on and off." You respond.
"Heavy duty bags and other things make use of straps and buckles like these... Earth ponies use this type of stuff on farm equipment a lot." You continue.
"How do the earth ponies adjust these and put them on, Anon?" Notaulix asks you, clearly interested in the answer.
"That's simple, they just... They uh..." You trail off as you try your best to recollect the moments you've observed earth ponies working in the field, or pulling heavy carts.
However, you soon furrow your brow, which Notaulix quickly picks up on. "Is something wrong?" He asks.
"To be honest, I don't know how they do it. Never really paid attention, I guess." You reply with a smile, prompting Notaulix to give you a griffon smile in return.
"I'll find the answer to that question for us another day, how about that? Either way, even with your magic this bag is unfortunately going to be a bit difficult for you to take on and off." You say to Notaulix.
"What do you mean, Anon?" Notaulix asks while tilting his head in confusion.
"This is a special saddlebag. This material here is magically resistive, meaning that you have to put in more concentration and effort to manipulate these parts with magic." You answer him.
"It resists magic...? Why would you get something like that?" Notaulix questions.
"Because I want you to be safe out there. You can never quite know what you might encounter in the Everfree. When I learned this saddlebag had built in protections like that, it just made sense to get it for you." You answer him.
"You... You really care about me that much, Anon? You would buy such a special thing for me?" Notaulix quietly asks you, his plumage puffing up as he does do.
"Of course I do! Shouldn't anyone show some concern for a partner working in a dangerous place?" You say to him.
"It's one thing to go alone and look after myself, but I can't help but feel the responsibility to look after anyone helping me out there, regardless of if it was you or anyone else." You add.
"Anon... Thank you." Notaulix says with heartfelt gratitude.
"You're more than welcome. Now let's go ahead and give this a quick test fit! Stand up for a moment and I'll help you." You say to the transformed changeling.
"Okay!" Notaulix quickly responds, handing the saddlebag back to you before standing up as requested.
After completely undoing the main strap, you scoot over on one knee to Notaulix's side, where you proceed to place the saddlebag onto his back.
You then adjust its position until it looks about right for his body. Next, you reach underneath Notaulix and grab hold of the main strap, which you pull back towards yourself.
Finally, you run the strap through the buckle on your side and snug it up, before securing it into place.
"There we go! How's it feel? Go ahead and walk around a bit." You say to Notaulix.
You watch as Notaulix walks around the living room with a spring in his step, frequently pausing to look behind him and inspect his new saddlebag.
"It's very comfortable! And it looks nice!" Notaulix happily says to you.
"It does look pretty cool, doesn't it?" You say with a grin. "Now you're looking like a real Everfree worker." You add.
At that remark, as if something clicked in his mind, Notaulix pauses as he looks at you with wide, happy eyes.
"Anon, I..." Notaulix begins as he spreads his wings out slightly. "Thank you so much!" He joyfully cries out while suddenly bounding towards you, much to your surprise.
"Hey, what are y- Woah!" You cry out yourself as Notaulix abruptly throws himself into you, his forelegs wrapping around with talons gripping you in a hug.
Caught off guard and off balance by the sudden gesture, you fall backwards, landing on the wooden floor as you find your face smothered in griffon plumage.
You wave your arms around aimlessly in surprise for a few seconds, before settling down and returning the strange changelings hug.
After releasing your grip, Notaulix does the same as he climbs off of you, looking down at you apologetically as he does so.
"Hehehe... I'm sorry for knocking you over, Anon. I just feel so grateful for this gift!" Notaulix explains.
"No worries. I'm glad that you like it so much." You say as you sit up on the floor.
"Now let's see..." You begin, pausing to glance at the clock once more. "It's going to be nighttime in about twenty minutes. How about you change back so we can quickly see how it fits on your normal self?" You suggest.
"Also, can you even transform while wearing something? Does the bag need to be removed first?" You add.
"That would only be a problem if I wanted to transform into something larger than this." Notaulix says before taking a few steps away from you in preparation for returning to his natural form.
"Good to know." You say as you preemptively squint your eyes in anticipation of the bright flames that stunned you the first time.
Not long after that, you notice Notaulix's eyes glow brightly before the bright green flames you were expecting erupt around him.
Being able to observe the transformation process more carefully this time around, it dawns on you that the bright green glow being cast across the room is a potential danger.
While it's still light outside, you wonder if this light is bright enough to be seen through the light and airy curtains covering the windows by any pony who may happen to be passing by.
And without any doubt would this spectacle be plainly obvious during the night, with the bright green glow no doubt filtering out from any nearby window.
You make a mental note that it would be a wise idea to, at the very least, pull the heavier drapes over the curtains before Notaulix transforms in order to block out the light.
Much like before, only a few seconds after it began, the green flames die down again, revealing Notaulix in his natural changeling form.
In addition, the saddlebag is still resting on his back, though you can see about an inch or so of slack on the main strap hanging below his belly.
"How do you feel? Did that take a lot out of you?" You ask Notaulix.
"No, not at all." Notaulix answers in his unusual tone of voice. "I feel a small drain from transforming, but your love and kindness is enough to keep it sustained." He adds.
"Well that's good to hear." You say in response as Notaulix walks up to you.
After spending a moment to tighten the strap and verify that it's still comfortable for him, you remove the saddlebag from Notaulix and drape it over one of the chairs by the small table.
"Think I'm going to try and take a quick shower and get ready for bed before it gets dark. Do you want in there after me?" You ask Notaulix.
"No thank you, Anon. I am clean." He answers.
"Alrighty then. By the way, I know how much you loved my bed, but... Are you fine with sleeping back out on the couch?" You ask him.
Notaulix looks up at you with a grateful smile before responding "Yes Anon, I'm fine with it. While your bed was amazing, this couch is still very comfortable compared to what I once slept on." He responds.
"Really? Well, I'm glad it's comfortable enough for you... I've been thinking, and maybe sometime after we've used your transformation to introduce you to the ponies, I could buy you a bed of your own." You suggest.
"M-My own bed?! I would love that!" Notaulix joyfully proclaims. "But... Why until after you introduce me to the ponies?" He asks, slightly confused.
"It's simple, really. As far as everyone around here is concerned, I'm living by myself. Don't you think it would be a little strange if I suddenly bought a pony sized bed?" You reason.
"We'll also need it to be known that you're living here with me, or at least temporarily staying for awhile." You continue.
"Ohh... That does make sense, I didn't think of it that way." Notaulix says.
"Right. All of that is something for another day though. Let's not worry about those things tonight." You say in conclusion.
"Okay." Notaulix agrees with a light nod of his head for emphasis.
With that, you depart from your changeling friend and head to your bedroom. Once there, you gather together a fresh set of clothes, along with the magic lantern from your bedside table, just in case you take too long.
Clothes and lantern in hand, you walk from your bedroom and into the bathroom, where you lock the door behind you.