The Hearth’s Warming Spirit
The first thing Suncloak noticed as he woke up, was that it was really cold.
Sure, the temperature had been dropping the last few weeks, but this was causing his wings to freeze! Grumbling, the changeling rolled out of bed and opened the curtains on his window.
To his great surprise, Ponyville was entirely covered by a blanket of white... stuff! Curious, Suncloak went downstairs and outside, only to instantly trip and plant his face right into the cold, white... whatever it was. Because it was white, ‘extremely ugly’ came to the changeling’s mind, but he guessed that wasn’t what ponies would call it.
With chattering teeth, he stood up again. It was even colder outside than it was inside the house! And then there was this white junk, too. And there was a lot of it: as far as Suncloak could see, everything, from the streets to the rooftops, was covered in it. And it was pretty deep, too. The holes in the changeling’s hooves kept scooping it up as he made his way forward. Where did this stuff come from?
“Wheeee!” he suddenly heard someling shout. It was Derpy, who was making a lot exuberant loops and corkscrews. “Look, Suncloak! The weather team gave us a surprise last night! Snow!” she said, still flying around. She went all over the place, scooping up the white stuff and throwing it on a heap, only to fly straight through it afterward. Suncloak could also see she was wearing a green scarf and yellow boots, to stay warm.
Suncloak stared at the happy pegasus, confused. “What’s s-snow?” His shivering made it difficult to talk. Who thought these temperatures were a good idea?
Derpy gasped, dropping straight out of the air, plopping down right in front of Suncloak. “You’ve never seen snow before?”
Suncloak arched an eyebrow. “No. Should I?”
Derpy grabbed his head with two hooves, hovering in the air. “Yeah! Snow’s great!” She swiveled the changeling’s head around, forcing him to look around. “You can make snowponies with it,” she said, as Suncloak could see two fillies making a pony out of the stuff, “and you can get into snowball fights!” Elsewhere in the street, a few ponies were making small balls out of the snow, throwing it at each other and having a good time.
The gray pegasus let go, flying up and twirling around. “And there’s so much more you can do! You can build a snow fort, you can go sleighing, make snow angels, and then I’m not even talking about the ice yet!” She landed in front of Suncloak again. “You really haven’t seen it before?”
Suncloak shook his head. “Changelings don’t even l-leave the hive when it gets too c-cold.”
“Oh wow,” Derpy said. “You’ve been missing out. Big time.” She started making her way through the snow, beckoning the confused changeling over. “Come on, let’s go find the others!”
Suncloak followed her, carefully treading through the snow. It crunched and crackled under his hooves. He wasn’t entirely sure what to make of this. Sure, the things Derpy described sounded fun, but it was far too cold to think. If only he had something warm to wear, like a scarf or something. That’d at least make the weather more tolerable.
“So, changelings stay inside the hive during the winter?” Derpy asked.
“Yeah, we just hole up,” Suncloak answered. Understandable, because this cold was unbearable.
“But... don’t you need to get love to survive? You have to leave the hive every once in a while, right?” Derpy asked, confused.
Suncloak shook his head. “Nah, w-we stockpile the stuff somewhere.”
Derpy paused, standing still for a moment. “How does that work?”
Suncloak shrugged. “I don’t know. I was a royal g-guard, I wasn’t involved in any of that.” Though, in hindsight, it might have been useful to know. Just in case.
Derpy waved her hoof dismissively as she continued walking. “Well, it’s not like it matters. We’ll be friends forever, so you won’t ever have to worry about that!”
“Right,” Suncloak said with a smile. As long as he had friends, he had a practically infinite supply of love, anyway. He just had to keep it like that, and he wouldn’t starve, ever! He didn’t need a stockpile; his friends were his stockpile!
Just a little while later, the two of them reached the street where Lyra, Bon Bon and Vinyl lived. Sadly, but not surprisingly, the three of them were nowhere to be found.
“I guess they’re inside, where it’s warm,” Derpy said, walking up to the door of Lyra and Bon Bon’s house to knock.
Suncloak shivered. He’d like to keep warm right now. So far, this whole winter thing wasn’t exciting at all.
A moment later, Bon Bon opened the door. Upon seeing her friends, her face lit up. “Hi Derpy! Hi Suncloak! The weather team sure got us a lot of snow this year, huh?”
“They sure did!” Derpy said. She glanced past Bon Bon, and then looked around. “Where’s Lyra? Or Vinyl, for that matter?”
Bon Bon stuck her head outside the door, looking around. “I thought they were playing outside. I was going to join them in a minute, but I think they’ve run off.” She looked at Suncloak, who was shivering so hard, he was almost vibrating. “Are you okay, sweetie?”
“C-c-c-cold,” Suncloak managed to say, by clamping his jaws down as hard as possible, to avoid most of his teeth chattering
Bon Bon sighed. “Well, you aren’t wearing anything, after all. Hold on, I might have something you can borrow,” she said, going back into the house for a bit. Rather quickly, she returned, wearing a set of pink earmuffs, a pink winter saddle and dark blue boots. In her mouth, she held a thick, light blue scarf.
She went over to Suncloak, quickly throwing the scarf around his neck. “And...” she said, heading back into the house again, this time returning with an old, dark green set of boots, which she put on the ground in front of the changeling. “Here, try these on. They’re a bit old, and might not fit, but it’s better than nothing, right?”
As fast as he could, but shaking all the while, Suncloak stepped into the boots, and wrapped the scarf around his neck. It felt much, much better! It wasn’t nearly as cold anymore, and though the boots were a little bit too large, it was still a lot more comfortable than just walking through the snow barehoofed.
“Better?” Bon Bon asked with a warm smile.
Suncloak nodded vigorously. “Thanks!”
“No problem,” Bon Bon said, inspecting the area again. “Now, if we could just find Vinyl and Lyra...” The only things in the street were the three of them, and lots of piles of snow.
“You don’t think they’re planning to ambush us, do you?” Derpy asked, prodding one of the larger piles of snow.
“Ambush?” Suncloak asked, arching an eyebrow. “What do you mean, ‘ambush’?”
“Well, whenever there’s snow,” Derpy started explaining, “Vinyl and Lyra always like to—”
Suddenly, the pile of snow the pegasus was prodding burst apart, revealing Vinyl Scratch, who instantly peppered Derpy with a load of snow. Another pile of snow in the street burst open as well, from which Lyra started throwing snow at the others.
Instantly, Suncloak jumped for cover behind the nearest pile of snow. He even managed to avoid getting hit! He sat there for a moment, panting slightly.
He felt something land in the snow next to him. “Hi Sunny!” Ah, it was Vinyl. A quick glance told the changeling that she had snow all over her body: clumps of it were stuck in her mane, and her coat was wet in various places. The thick, black vest and blue boots she was wearing were also covered in snow. “Want to help me defeat the enemy?” She created a ball of snow using her magic, and blindly chucked it over their cover.
“Enemy?” Suncloak asked. “That’s our friends over there,” he said as he stood up. “Not our enemy.” However, a sudden, very cold impact on the back of his head made him duck for cover again. “Never mind, they’re our enemy.” Annoyed, he shook his head to get rid of the few bits of snow that still stuck to him.
“Great!” Vinyl said, throwing yet another snowball at the enemy. “You make a stockpile while I hold ‘em off!” With that, she stood up to get a better view, but was instantly rewarded with a snowball to the face.
With that, Suncloak started scooping up snow from the relative safety of his cover. Teamwork was important, after all. After a few seconds of trying to shape it into a ball, however, the changeling was only rewarded with a crude snowcube. Annoyed, he blindly threw it at the others, over his shoulder.
A startled “Gah!” told him he somehow managed to hit Derpy, though.
This required some more craftiness. With a whirl of green flames, one of Suncloak’s hooves transformed into something more useful: an ice cream scoop. Much faster, he started scooping up snowballs, even stacking them in several neat pyramids.
Vinyl turned back from her heavy fight and looked at the pile. “Wow, that was fast.” Upon seeing the changeling’s transformed hoof, she grinned. “Good going, Sunny!” She levitated a few of the snowballs up, starting to rapidly throw them at the opposition. “They won’t know what hit ‘em!”
Suncloak changed his hoof back to normal and picked up one of the snowballs. To be honest, he didn’t really get the appeal of this game yet. So far, all he did was get hit and make ammunition. Seeing as Vinyl was having a great time, and he could hear laughter coming from the other side as well, maybe he was doing something wrong. Hesitantly, he stood up.
On the other side, he could see Lyra, Derpy and Bon Bon ducking to take cover from Vinyl’s onslaught of snowballs. As Vinyl temporarily stopped to reload, however, Lyra peeked up, wearing a bobble hat, matching the colours of her mane. Upon seeing Suncloak, she immediately chucked a snowball at him, only to have it go miles wide and miss.
Suncloak, on the other hoof, made a perfectly straight shot, hitting Lyra in the face. With a startled shout, she dropped back behind cover again.
“Hah, woo!” Suncloak exclaimed with a laugh, dropping back as well. “Did you see that? Direct hit!” Completely giddy, he started making more snowballs. Snow was fun! He couldn’t believe changelings never went outside the hive during winter to make use of this. It’d be a fun way to practice tactics, plus it felt really relieving!
“Wow,” Vinyl said in between shots, “it’s like you haven’t ever played in the snow before.”
“That’s because I haven’t,” Suncloak said. He quickly went in and out of cover to throw another snowball. He missed, but the next one would surely be a hit! “Changelings don’t leave the hive when it gets this cold.”
Vinyl arched an eyebrow. “You’re kidding. So you don’t have snowball fights, or build snowponies?”
“Nope,” Suncloak said, quickly delivering another payload of snowballs. This time, he managed to hit Bon Bon. With what must’ve certainly been a really goofy smile, he dropped behind cover. “And wow, I missed out on a lot!”
“No kidding,” Vinyl said with a smirk as she stood up again, snowballs levitating beside her. “I can’t wait to celebrate Hearth’s Warming Eve with everypony.”
“Hearth’s Warming Eve? What’s that?” Suncloak asked. He seemed to vaguely recall hearing about it, but it didn’t sound like something changelings had.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Vinyl shouted, dropping her ammunition. “You don’t know what Hearth’s Warming Eve is? You’ve never celebrated it?!”
“Uh, no,” Suncloak said, surprised. This sounded like a really big deal, though he had no idea why.
Vinyl quickly ducked to dodge a snowball, then went up again, making a ‘T’ sign with her hooves. “Time out, everypony! Time out!”
Almost instantly, the other side stopped throwing snowballs at them. Huh. This was an unusual, yet useful way to end a conflict. Maybe it would’ve worked on the Canterlot invasion as well, though Suncloak wasn’t really looking forward to going through that whole shtick again. The changeling stood up, to see that the others had left their cover as well.
“What’s up?” Lyra asked. In addition to her mint green beanie hat, she was wearing a dark green sweater and brown boots.
“Suncloak just told me that he doesn’t know what Hearth’s Warming Eve is!” Vinyl said. Suncloak wasn’t sure whether he was supposed to be confused or embarrassed right now.
Lyra, Derpy and Bon Bon gasped, though Lyra was by far the loudest of the three. She rushed up to Suncloak, pressing her face against his. “Is this true?!” She backed off a little, eyeing the changeling’s new attire. “Nice scarf, by the way.”
Suncloak backpedalled a bit. “Yes, it’s true.” Uncertainly, he looked at the rest of his friends, who were giving him mixed, unreadable looks. “That isn’t such a big deal, is it?” He sure hoped it wasn’t, because he felt really awkward right now.
“Not a big deal?” Lyra asked, astounded. “Not a big deal?! You tell me you’ve missed out on the presents, and the decorations, and the yummy food, and the snow, and not to mention all the presents, for years, and it’s ‘not a big deal’?!”
...That much? Wow. It sounded like a big deal indeed. In that case, there was actually only one more thing Suncloak wanted to know. “What’s Hearth’s Warming Eve about, anyway?”
“It’s about being friends!” Lyra said. “Duh.”
“To be more specific,” Bon bon chimed in, “we celebrate the three pony races living together as friends.”
Well, that explains why changelings have never heard of it. “Then how can I celebrate it? You know, since I’m not exactly one of the three pony races,” Suncloak said.
Derpy made a dismissive gesture with a hoof. “Oh, the whole holiday is about friendship. I’m sure nopony would mind if a changeling joined us for the celebrations.”
“Besides,” Vinyl added, “you’re already kind of thinking like a pony anyway. No sweat!”
Now that was so not true. Suncloak didn’t think like a pony! Well, maybe a little bit, but he was still a changeling, at his core. No matter how much he learned about ponies and friendship, that would always be true.
After all, friendship was kind of a big necessity for him, seeing as he would starve without it. Or he’d have to go back to temporarily taking the places of other ponies to steal love, but he wasn’t sure if his conscience allowed that. Besides, feeding off the love of friendship was a lot easier, anyway.
“Oh, oh, oh!” Lyra exclaimed, turning to Vinyl. “Is Octavia coming again this year?”
“She sure is!” Vinyl said. “In fact, her train should arrive this afternoon. It’s going to be great!”
“Who’s Octavia?” Suncloak asked. It sounded like another pony. Which also meant another potential friend.
“She’s an old friend of mine, from Canterlot,” Vinyl explained. “She comes over every year, for Hearth’s Warming. I think you’ll like her!”
Suncloak’s face lit up. Indeed, another friend! And seeing as she came from Canterlot, that would be doubly useful: if he became friends with her, he’d have a place to get some love if he ever found himself there. That was kind of a long stretch, but it was better to be prepared. “So, when do I get to meet this Octavia?”
“Like I said, this afternoon,” Vinyl said. “In the meantime, let’s have some more fun in the snow.”
Almost immediately, snowballs started flying in every direction again, the ponies and changeling erupting into a free-for-all brawl this time.
After a few hours of various activities, lots of laughing, and a load of fun, the group had made its way to the train station. The ponies were somewhat tired from their long time playing, but Suncloak wasn’t. He actually felt more energetic than usual, courtesy of spending so much time with his friends. Even now, the sweet scent of love still hung in the air.
There were a lot of ponies on the train station. A lot of them were probably either waiting for the train to arrive, so they could get to Canterlot, or they were also waiting for friends or relatives to arrive. Suncloak had been at a train station before, but never in the winter. What amazed him, was that even though the snow had only fallen today, the tracks were completely clean. Probably because the pegasi didn’t let any fall on them, considering it’d be a bit difficult for the train to ride through the snow.
Suncloak felt pretty impatient. He couldn’t wait to meet this new pony and make another friend! Strangely, yet funny in some way, he probably would have retched at the mere thought a few months ago. Well, times change, after all.
After a few minutes, the train arrived. Not that many ponies stepped out of the train, making it easy to find their guest. “Tavi!” Vinyl called out, rushing forward to hug one of the arrivals. It was a gray earth pony mare with purple eyes and an immaculately kept black mane and tail, wearing a pink and white scarf and matching boots. She was also wearing a simple, white set of saddlebags, and carried a small, brown suitcase with her, which had fallen on the ground.
Octavia was startled for a split second, but quickly returned the hug. “Vinyl Scratch!” She had a bit of a posh, distinguished accent. “How have you been?” she asked, after the hug.
“Great!” Vinyl said. “How about you?”
“Very well, of course,” Octavia said, taking a deep breath through her nose. “It is always wonderful to be in Ponyville.”
“Sure is! ‘Cause we’ll celebrate Hearth’s Warming Eve with all our friends!” Vinyl exclaimed, grabbing Octavia and swiveling her around to face the others. “Oh, and I can’t forget our new friend,” she said, motioning towards Suncloak. “Octavia, this is—”
With a frightened yelp, Octavia broke free and shot backwards a few steps. “A changeling!” She pointed an accusatory hoof at Suncloak.
“Um, yes,” Vinyl said. “But everypony calls him Suncloak.”
Suncloak merely waved, not entirely sure what to do right now. The mare’s reaction was really weird, but he didn’t want to botch his chances to befriend her.
Octavia looked between her friend and the changeling, confused at first, but realization soon appeared on her face. Not quite in ladylike fashion, she spluttered out a few syllables. After a while, she managed to say, “Are you saying you’re friends with a changeling?” She pronounced the last word pretty venomously, and glared at Suncloak for just a short moment.
“Sure am!” Vinyl exclaimed. “Cool, huh?”
Octavia said nothing for a while, composing herself again. “I... suppose,” she said with a sigh. She quickly cleared her throat. “How about we leave the station? It is absolutely freezing.”
“Sure,” Vinyl said, quickly levitating Octavia’s suitcase over their heads. “I’ll take your suitcase.” Quickly, the group took off, eager to get inside to warm up. Suncloak, however, lingered for a moment.
Octavia seemed... confused. And a bit cold-hearted. He couldn’t really hold it against her, though. She was from Canterlot, and probably didn’t know about him, so it was only natural for her to be surprised. He’d get her to warm up to him, eventually.
Quickly, the changeling followed after his friends. They were all busy talking to Octavia, but he decided to linger at the back of the group, formulating a plan. The new mare seemed quite different from the rest, since she was very... noble-ish. Very Canterlot-y. The way she talked, and the way she walked, a constant and steady gait, with her head held just a little bit high, reminded Suncloak of Queen Chrysalis. He’d need a different strategy to become friends with Octavia, most likely.
However, it could be that he was wrong. After all, here was this perfect example of a Canterlot mare, happily talking with Vinyl Scratch, the rough and cool DJ, who was almost her polar opposite. Maybe he just had to be himself, considering that’s how he made friends in Ponyville, too. A pony from Canterlot wouldn’t be that different, would it?
He was pulled out of his thoughts by Octavia starting to walk next to him. “So, Vinyl told me how you, a changeling, survives out in the open like this.” She looked straight ahead, not even sparing Suncloak a glance.
“Weird, isn’t it?” Suncloak asked. “I don’t really get it yet, but hey, it works, right? And it’s fun, too!”
Octavia said nothing for a short while. “It sure is difficult to imagine. A changeling, living among ponies? It sounds quite absurd.”
Suncloak made a dismissive gesture. “Oh, you’ll get used to it. We can be friends, too!”
“That would certainly be very... audacious, now wouldn’t it?” Octavia asked, narrowing her eyes. Without waiting for an answer, she headed towards Vinyl again.
“Okay... talk to you later?” Suncloak said, slightly confused. That was a weird conversation. Then again, she probably thought the same, talking to a changeling. Her first encounter like this wasn’t exactly the same as how the entirety of Ponyville learned of him.
Well, he’d become friends with her, eventually. The air still smelled sweet with love, so Suncloak was pretty sure everything would be okay. Though there was this strange, sour smell in the air as well, but he didn’t know what it was. But that would have to wait until later. For now, he caught up with Derpy. “So, how do you celebrate this Hearth’s Warming Eve thing, anyway?”
“Everypony does a few different things, really,” Derpy told him. “Some celebrate it together with their family, or with a group of friends, like us. But everypony puts up decorations,” she said, pointing at several ponies who were decorating houses, using lights, wreaths, bells and other things, “and there are always a lot of plays. There isn’t one in Ponyville this year, sadly.”
She kicked at the snow, and continued. “I was at the play in Canterlot last year, and it was really special. But I’m sure we’ll have one in Ponyville next year! As for the rest, well, the whole holiday is about spending time with friends, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do!”
Now that was a plan Suncloak could agree with. After all, what else did he want? This provided him with excellent opportunities to become friends with Octavia.
Not much later, they had arrived at Derpy’s house. It was there that they would celebrate, together with Derpy’s family. Once there, they all removed their winter gear, seeing as it was much warmer inside. In the living room, they found Dinky, digging through one of the many cardboard boxes standing there. And, most notably, a small pine tree. Well, it still reached the ceiling, but for a tree, it was pretty tiny.
Dinky surfaced from the box, an ornamental ball hanging from her little horn. “Hey mom! Hey everypony!”
Derpy giggled. “Already looking at the decorations?” She went over and peered into the box.
“Sure am,” Dinky said, trying to carefully remove the ball hanging from her horn. “Dad got them from the attic, but he had to go out to the store for a while, so he said I had to wait until you came home to do some decorating.”
“Well, now that I’m here,” Derpy said, sticking her head into the box and taking a wreath out of it, “we can do just that!”
Before she could do anything else, Lyra rushed forward, levitating multiple small boxes out of one of the bigger boxes. “Oh, I love decorating! Can I do the tree?”
“Sure,” Derpy said. She took another look at just how many boxes there were. “Actually, everypony can help decorating! We have a lot more stuff than I remember...”
“Yay! Hey Suncloak,” Lyra said, beckoning the changeling over, “come help me out!”
Though he had no idea what to do, Suncloak went forward. He looked at the tree, then at the boxes Lyra was holding. They were filled with various doodads, mostly balls and stars, with little hooks on them. “So, what do we do with these?”
Lyra put the boxes down and levitated one of the little ornaments out, hanging it in the tree. “We decorate the tree with them, of course!”
Well, that sounded easy enough. And just a bit silly. Why did they need to decorate a tree, anyway? This Hearth’s Warming Eve thing was really weird, so far. However, the promise of a lot of friendship was enough for Suncloak, and it was fun, in an odd way, to boot. Soon, the six of them were all busy decorating the house in some way or another.
Rather quickly, the lower half of the tree was adequately filled with ornaments, which presented Suncloak with a problem. Namely, that he couldn’t reach the top half of the tree. Lyra could, with her magic, but changelings didn’t have telekinesis, which would really come in handy right now.
Oh, wait, of course. Wings! He fluttered his wings with a buzz, and lifted off just a bit, able to reach the top of the tree. You know, having both magic and wings was pretty great, even if both of them were more limited than unicorn magic and pegasus wings.
However, after a few minutes, Octavia interrupted him. “Changeling? That buzzing sound is quite unnerving,” she said, drawing his attention. “Would you be so kind as to stop it?”
“Oh. Okay,” Suncloak said, clamping his wings shut and falling to the ground, landing neatly on his hooves. Before he could correct the mare on his having a name, however, she went about her business again. The changeling decided not to pursue the issue, though Octavia was kind of rude...
Well, whatever. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have other tricks up his sleeve. He just transformed his leg to make it much longer, able to reach the top of the tree. A bit weird, and he couldn’t walk normally unless he turned it back to normal, but it’d have to do. He would have to put some effort into becoming friends with Octavia, after all. Though, that weird, sour scent still lingered in the air. Strange.
Out of earshot, however, said pony approached Vinyl Scratch. “I still don’t get it.”
“Get what?” Vinyl asked. “Our being friends with Suncloak?”
“Yes.” Octavia glared at the changeling. “I don’t understand how one such as him ends up living among ponies.”
Vinyl sighed. “It’s a long story, and kind of difficult to explain. I’ll tell you when we have the time, okay? He’s a cool guy, honest. A bit weird and hard to understand, but he tries. Just give him a chance, okay?”
Octavia sighed as well. “I will try, though I cannot make any promises.”
Before Vinyl could express her gratitude, they were startled by something or somepony falling over. They investigated, to find that Suncloak had somehow managed to hogtie himself with a garland, the decoration snaking its way through some of the many holes in his hooves. “Uh... help?” the immobile changeling asked.
Octavia rolled her eyes. ‘Weird’ indeed.
Suncloak stared at his reflection in the ice. Sure, he’d seen ice cubes before, but he’d never seen this much ice in one place before. The whole lake was frozen! And really fast too, considering the snow had only fallen yesterday. He lowered himself to the ground and carefully tapped the ice with a hoof. “This can’t possibly be safe.”
“Sure it can!” Lyra said, jumping onto the ice. She had swapped out her brown boots for a set with weird blades under them. Using the blades, she glided across the ice, only to slip and fall after about five seconds. With a groan, she added, “If you can keep your balance.”
The changeling wasn’t convinced. At all. Who knew how cold the water underneath was? He wasn’t going to risk accidentally breaking the ice. That would be downright suicidal, and these ponies were suicidal for even thinking of playing on it! Just when he thought he understood this ‘winter’ thing, they threw this curveball at him.
Lyra, in the meantime, had gotten up again, and was skating in circles. Though she was a bit more careful now. “Come on, Suncloak. It’s fun!”
Suncloak looked at his reflection again. He could see bubbles in or under the ice. How thick was it? He wasn’t looking forward to trying it out. Sure, one pony wasn’t enough to break it, but how many would? He’d need a pretty good reason to step on this deathtrap. Something more important than the queen throwing a hissy fit, or something similar.
The others went onto the ice as well, without even protesting. The ice didn’t protest, either. Suncloak had expected it to start cracking instantly, but apparently, it was pretty strong. Still, the changeling wasn’t entirely sure. Not because he was scared, but because he was being realistic! He didn’t want to fall into the water and get frozen today, after all. Nor would he want that any day.
He chose to stay off the ice for a little while and assess the situation. His friends were having the time of their lives, all skating on the ice. It was the best ice skating Suncloak had ever seen, but that was probably because he’d never seen it before. Octavia, on the other hoof, was almost flying across the ice, making intricate figures and skillful jumps.
That settled it. If Suncloak wanted to be friends with her, he had to try doing something. Maybe they could become friends through this? However, he’d have to get on the ice to do that...
He fidgeted for a moment, but eventually decided. He flew up just the tiniest bit, and positioned himself over the ice. Very, very slowly, he lowered himself. It’s just water, he told himself. Just frozen water. When he got to the last inch, he closed his eyes and stretched his legs as far down as he could. Telling himself it was ‘just’ frozen water didn’t really help, to be honest. Very, very carefully, he dropped himself on the ice, the cold seeping in through his boots just a little bit.
After a second, he opened his eyes and looked down. Huh, he was standing on water. Kind of an anticlimax, really. The ice didn’t even groan. On to the next step: taking an actual step. Which wasn’t that hard, Suncloak noted as he started walking over the ice, albeit slowly. It was slippery, but not all that bad.
Bon Bon went up to him, slightly clumsily braking to a halt. “Well, it took you long enough to get on the ice,” she said with a smile.
“I took my time,” Suncloak said. “I savored the moment. This is my first time on the ice, after all.” And he still wasn’t the slightest bit scared by it, either.
Bon Bon smirked. “So, how is your first winter ever so far?”
“Pretty great, actually,” Suncloak admitted. “Cold, and I wish I had prepared a bit better, but it’s a lot better than I had imagined. Too bad I don’t have those ice-blade-things, but I get to spend a lot of time with you all, which is always great.”
Octavia joined the two of them, stopping herself with a fancy flourish. “Spending time with friends is the greatest Hearth’s Warming Eve gift, indeed.”
Suncloak had to agree with that. “Sure is! I haven’t felt this full in a really long time!”
Octavia gave an awkward, somewhat forced smile. “That’s... great, I think?”
“Yeah!” Suncloak said. “And once the two of us are friends too, it’ll be even better!”
“Uh...” Octavia said, awkwardly avoiding eye contact with the changeling. “I’ll... think about it.” She skated away, leaving Suncloak and Bon Bon alone again. Quickly, she skated towards Vinyl.
“I can’t do it,” the gray mare hissed through her teeth, skating alongside her friend.
“Can’t do what?” Vinyl asked, casually making circles and little hops.
“I can’t be friends with a... a changeling,” Octavia said, keeping a straight face.
Vinyl suddenly halted. “Huh? Why not?”
Octavia made a quick turn, stopping as well. “Well... How do I put this? It’s—”
“Hey!” Bon Bon shouted, interrupting her. She and Suncloak were standing at the side of the lake, waving the others over. “Let’s go get some hot chocolate!”
Vinyl sighed. “You can tell me later, okay?” she asked with a smile, then turned toward Bon Bon. “Coming!” she shouted, quickly heading to her friends, and soon followed by Octavia.
Ah, the evening. A perfectly logical time for something called Hearth’s Warming Eve, really.
Suncloak didn’t see what made it so special, though. Aside from the snow, the ice, and the decorations, tonight didn’t really feel special. Just a regular evening, though it was spent with friends. And Octavia, but they’d become friends soon enough.
They were at Derpy’s house again, and going to have an elaborate dinner together. At first, Suncloak had been recruited to help in the kitchen, the others wanting to know about changeling delights, but that turned out to be a very bad idea. Now, Suncloak was just standing around, mostly waiting, very occasionally chatting.
He hadn’t talked to Octavia yet, though. She seemed cold and distant. Was it because of the weather, or because she was a Canterlot pony? Or maybe something else? Suncloak had no idea. After all, he didn’t really understand friendship all that well yet.
As the others were setting down dishes on the table, consisting mostly of various salads, Suncloak decided. No time like the present to talk to her, right?
Carefully, he approached the mare. “Uh, Octavia?” It wasn’t the best way to open a conversation, but he had to make do.
Rather slowly, Octavia turned to him. “Yes?” she asked, one eyebrow raised very slightly.
“Ever since you’ve arrived, we haven’t talked all that much,” Suncloak said. Okay, still not the best conversation, but it was getting somewhere.
Octavia paused a moment, narrowing her eyes. “With good reason.” Well, she was right. After all, they had done a bunch of different activities, plus between winter being a new thing for Suncloak and Octavia surely wanting to talk with Vinyl a bunch, they hadn’t really talked all that much. The gray mare turned around again, to continue what she was originally doing.
“Wait!” Suncloak said, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “I just want to be friends.”
Agitated, Octavia slapped his hoof away, turning to face him. “And why exactly would I want to be friends with you?”
Suncloak opened his mouth to answer, but couldn’t find the words. First off, it was a really weird question, and second... it was a really good question. After a moment, he said, “Uh... why not?”
“Why not?” Octavia repeated, narrowing her eyes. “Maybe because I was in Canterlot during your invasion? Because I wished I would never meet a changeling ever again?”
Uh... That hadn’t crossed Suncloak’s mind. “But that doesn’t matter! I’m not like that anymore!”
“That’s rich,” Octavia scoffed. “Why would I believe anypony from a race of liars like your own?”
Suncloak could only stumble over his words, confused.
“Why would I be friends with you?” Octavia continued, becoming more and more agitated. “I don’t know how you managed to get Vinyl this far, but I will never become friends with a parasite like you!”
Suncloak took a few steps back. “I-I’m not a parasite!”
Just then, the others came out of the kitchen. “What’re you two talking about?” Vinyl asked.
Octavia, however, ignored her. “Not a parasite? Ridiculous!” she scoffed. “If you’re not that, then what are you? A monster? That is, after all, what I would call somepony who is only friends with another because of food!”
“Tavi!” Vinyl shouted, aghast. “That’s not true! Right, Sunny?”
The changeling, however, merely flapped his jaws uselessly. He looked absolutely mortified as he continued taking steps back, towards the hallway. “That... It’s...” he managed to say.
Derpy tilted her head. “Suncloak? Are you okay?”
Suncloak shook his head a little bit. “I-I have to go,” he said, turning around and leaving as fast as possible.
“Wait! Suncloak!” Lyra followed him outdoors, but couldn’t stop him before he took off and vanished into the night. The only thing she managed to catch a glimpse of was his blue scarf. “Wait!” she yelled again, but to no avail. Defeated, she headed back inside. “He’s gone,” she said.
Bon Bon looked at Octavia, who had already composed herself after her tirade. She sighed, heading toward the door. “I’ll go look for him,” she said, putting on her winter gear and heading outside.
Both Derpy and Lyra joined her, leaving Vinyl and Octavia to themselves.
They were silent for a while, awkwardly standing around. Until Vinyl spoke, sounding unusually calm and morose. “Why’d you say that to him?”
“Why? I cannot believe I have to explain this to you!” Octavia said, agitated again. “He’s a changeling! He is using you for food!”
“I know that,” Vinyl said, which provoked a confused look from Octavia. “We all know that. I think he’s the only one who didn’t, really.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Octavia said, growing more and more confused.
Vinyl sighed. “He hasn’t been here for very long, and he doesn’t really understand how friendship works yet. He’s kind of like a little foal.” After a moment, she added, “Just don’t tell him that, he’d get really angry.”
“But that does not explain why you’re friends with him,” Octavia said.
Vinyl fidgeted nervously. “I guess... everypony just sort of feels sorry him.”
“You feel sorry for him?” Octavia asked, surprised. “Why would you pity a changeling?”
“It’s kind of a long story,” Vinyl said, going to the couch and sitting down. “It started with the Canterlot invasion. As you know, the changelings... failed. Their queen blamed him, for no apparent reason, and banished him.”
Octavia sat down next to her. “And how do you know that’s true?”
“I was getting to that part,” Vinyl said. “He ended up in Ponyville, but couldn’t transform himself, because he didn’t have enough energy. Instead, he just made a disguise, and came up with his name, and started searching for love to steal.”
Octavia opened her mouth to speak, but Vinyl ignored her and continued. “A few ponies already suspected him, but he was a lot nicer than they expected, so they thought he was just a weird pony. He could have lived here like that forever, but he got caught in front of half of Ponyville.”
“How did that happen?” Octavia asked.
“Surprise party,” Vinyl said. This confused Octavia even more, but she decided not to pursue the issue. “But that doesn’t really matter,” Vinyl continued. “He ran, but they found him a minute later, because he just didn’t have the energy to flee anymore. That’s when he confessed everything.”
Octavia just looked at the wall with a thousand yard stare. “I see.”
“He admitted that he could’ve stolen love a couple of times,” Vinyl continued. “But he didn’t, because in the time he had spent in Ponyville, he started to care about us. Even if he didn’t understand why.”
Octavia cast her head down, but she didn’t say anything.
“And now he lives here. Right next door, in fact,” Vinyl said, “as the only of his kind like this. The other changelings threw him out, so he has nowhere to go. That’s why everypony just sort of pities him. Even the ponies in Ponyville who don’t like him just stay out of his way because they feel at least a little bit bad for him.”
“He does and says weird things pretty often,” Vinyl continued. “But he really is nice, and he tries his best. That’s why I don’t mind being friends with him. We all have a good friend, and he has a bunch of friends and food.”
Octavia stood up and slowly headed for the door, otherwise remaining silent.
“Hey, where are you going?” Vinyl asked.
Octavia sighed as she put on her winter clothes. “To talk to him.”
Without thinking, Suncloak had flown and walked through Ponyville. He didn’t know how long, really. He’d only stopped when he had arrived at the park, and settled on a bench. It was illuminated by a flickering streetlight, but aside from a bush standing next to the bench, Suncloak didn’t see anything.
Well, there was still a lot of snow, and it was very cold. But there were no ponies around. All of them were probably spending time with their families and their friends.
Suncloak sighed. Octavia was right; all this time, he’d only stuck by his friends because they supplied him with love. Sure, he had fun, but his foremost reason had always been food. Even during Hearth’s Warming Eve, a time where friendship was the most important thing, he only cared about that one thing. The sweet scent of love had surrounded him all the time, after all.
There was also that vile, sour scent, which Suncloak now realized was something entirely different: hate. Octavia hated him.
Suncloak had never actually smelled hate before. Young changelings were told about it, because it wasn’t healthy, or something, but he didn’t think ponies were capable of hating. Octavia sure was, and he couldn’t blame her for it. After all, the Canterlot invasion must’ve been one of the worst days of her life!
The changeling sighed, laying down on the bench. It was cold to the touch, but he didn’t really care about that. He could feel guilt gnawing at his mind, and he had absolutely no idea what to do. Right now, he felt like he was the worst friend possible.
At some point, he didn’t know how long it took, something settled on the park bench, behind him. He couldn’t see who or what it was, though. He just wanted to lay down and forget what happened.
After a while, whoever it was behind him started talking. “You know, when somepony does something really bad, it’s easy to say they’re just a bad pony and not think about it any more.” Great. It was Octavia, probably here to yell at him some more.
“But that’s wrong,” she said, surprising Suncloak. “Everypony has their reasons for doing what they do. I yelled at you because I wanted to protect my friends.”
She paused for a while again. “Vinyl told me about how you came to live in Ponyville.” And here it came, the gloating. She’d make him feel even worse, and then leave again, Suncloak expected.
“I didn’t realize what you went through,” Octavia said. “I didn’t take your feelings into account, either, and I should apologize.”
Confused, Suncloak sat up and turned to her. The incredibly guilty look on her face surprised him. “No, you shouldn’t. Everything you said was true,” he told the mare. He was a parasite, only being friends with others because of selfish reasons. Absentmindedly, he touched his scarf. Bon Bon had generously given it to him, and he had never given any of his friends anything. The whole time he’d been in Ponyville, he’d only been taking from them.
“Then why did you run?” Octavia asked. “If I spoke the truth, then that would mean you don’t care about others at all.”
“That’s not true!” Suncloak said indignantly.
“And that means?” Octavia asked, with a sly smirk.
It took Suncloak a few moments to realize. “It’s... not true. I do care about my friends!” he said with a smile. That smile quickly faded, however. “But I’m still just friends with them because it gets me food.”
Octavia shook her head. “That may be so, but it’s okay to be friends for multiple reasons, right?”
Suncloak had to agree with that. After all, he still had a lot of fun with his friends, and he really wouldn’t ever want to leave them, even if that would mean getting love even easier.
Octavia nodded. “I truly am sorry I said those things to you. I thought of you as just a changeling, but I should have trusted my friends more. They have befriended you, after all, and they would not do so without good reason.”
“That’s okay,” Suncloak said. “I must’ve sounded really creepy and pushy all the time, asking to be your friend.”
“Vinyl told me that friendship is still a new thing to you, so I cannot blame you for that,” Octavia said. “But nopony ever really understands friendship completely, I think.”
That disheartened Suncloak a little. How was he ever supposed to fit in if even ponies didn’t understand friendship?
“But that would be what makes it so interesting,” Octavia said, catching Suncloak off-guard. “What fun would it be if we instantly knew how to be friends with others?”
Suncloak didn’t reply. Mostly because he had no idea. Instantly becoming friends with a pony would really come in handy, at least it would be for him. But he had to admit, getting to know his friends better was exciting in and of itself.
The changeling fidgeted nervously. “So, um... what does this make us now?”
Octavia tapped her chin in deep thought. “I do not think I would call us friends just yet.”
Suncloak sighed. That was expected, but still a letdown.
“How about acquaintances?” Octavia smiled, extending her hoof towards him.
Even though he had no idea what ‘acquaintance’ meant, Suncloak shook her hoof and shrugged. “Why not?” he said with a chuckle.
Though it was a bit hard to notice, Octavia had to stifle a laugh of her own. “Then it’s settled. Now, shall we go back? I think our friends might be getting a little worried.”
Startled, Suncloak almost launched himself off the bench. “You’re right! They must be worried sick after I just flew off!”
Octavia giggled. Maybe not so ‘weird’ after all, and more just plain weird.
Suncloak paced back and forth next to the entrance to the cave where he met the other changelings every week. He was at the top entrance, seeing as it was a bit easier to find, especially in the snow.
He was already a bit late, but he just couldn’t find a concise way to formulate what he’d learned this week. At least, not concise enough that he’d be sure the other changelings would understand.
Strangely, though, a plume of smoke rose up from the hole he was pacing around. “What in the hive?” Suncloak said to himself, looking into the cave.
Down there, he could see the others, sitting around a fire they had apparently just started, with wood from the Everfree Forest. “What are you prissy ladybugs doing down there?” he shouted.
The other changelings looked up, one or two waving at him. “Hey boss!” #21 shouted. “We made a fire!”
Suncloak flew down, carefully avoiding the frozen pool in the middle of the cave. Didn’t want to slip, after all. “I can see that, genius. Why did you guys make a fire?” They weren’t supposed to be cold. Like him, all the changelings were wearing various pieces of warm clothing, probably borrowed from their friends in Ponyville.
“Because it’s really, really cold!” #145 said. The tiny changeling was wearing an almost comically oversized beanie. Almost comically, because according to Suncloak, changeling grubs are never funny.
He wanted to just tell them to put on some more clothes, but the warmth from the fire was pretty comfortable. “Well, never mind.”
“You never told us it got this cold, though!” #14 said, sitting close to the fire and warming her hooves. “I know we usually stay inside the hive during the cold season, but this is ridiculous!”
Suncloak rolled his eyes. “First, I didn’t know it got this cold either. Second, you can just go back to the hive anytime you want, you know. You’re not banished, like me.”
#14 pouted. “Well, yeah, but... How are we supposed to learn anything about friendship when we’re at the hive, right?”
“Right,” Suncloak repeated, sitting down. Wow, the ground was freezing cold. Good thing that fire was here. “Speaking of friendship, I have an important lesson this week, but it’s hard to explain.”
“Take your time,” #21 said with a deadpan tone, “it’s not like we’re freezing here.”
Well, at least Suncloak could always count on the other changelings to be sarcastic, regardless of the season. “Anyway, it’s...” he made some meaningless gestures with his hooves. “You all know the first reason why you want to be friends with ponies, right?”
“Love!” the others said in unison.
“And that’s wrong,” Suncloak said, drawing confused looks. “Well, not completely. We have to get our fill somehow. But being friends just for the sake of being friends isn’t right.”
#21 tilted his head in confusion. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Which wasn’t all that surprising, really.
Suncloak sighed. He knew this was going to be difficult. “Imagine you’re friends with someling, but they actually hate you, and just want something from you.”
“That sounds kind of like everyling in a changeling hive.” #14 was lost in deep thought for a few seconds. “Which isn’t very nice, I guess.”
“I don’t get it,” #145 said. “That’s normal!”
“That’s the point!” Suncloak countered. “We’re changelings! We’re always just taking what isn’t ours. From ponies, and from each other. A lot of ponies, especially friendly ponies, are generous. Do you see what I mean?”
“So what you’re saying is,” #21 said, “we have to make use of that generosity?”
“No!” Suncloak shouted as he stood up, startling the others. “What I’m saying is that maybe us changelings can afford to be a bit generous ourselves? And that maybe we should be friends with ponies because we like being friends with them, not just because they give us love?”
The others were silent, while Suncloak panted to recover from his yelling. How difficult was this to understand? Was he telling them wrong?
“You lost me,” #21 said, to which the others agreed, except #14. She remained silent.
Suncloak sat down again and threw his hooves up into the air. “Forget it. I give up.” He wasn’t getting through their dense, stupid skulls. It wasn’t surprising, but not exactly the way he wanted it to go.
#14 tapped her chin for a moment, thinking. “How did you learn it, boss?” she eventually asked.
What kind of question was that? “A friend of mine had another friend come over from Canterlot for Hearth’s Warming Eve.” The others nodded to that, apparently having been informed about the holiday by their own friends.
“This new pony, she...” Suncloak trailed off. He suddenly felt reluctant to tell. After a few attempts at starting, but ultimately failing to finish even one sentence, he settled on a different explanation. “It wasn’t very nice, okay? I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Maybe that’s why,” #14 said. “We don’t understand because we haven’t experienced the same as you.”
That made a surprising amount of sense. After all, he had to go through a pretty harsh speech to find this out. Maybe the others needed something similar to come to the same conclusion. That didn’t stop Suncloak from being annoyed, though. This was an important lesson, and not being able to teach it to the others didn’t sit right with him.
While the others talked about their own experiences, Suncloak merely stared into the fire. He still didn’t feel right about the whole ordeal.
After a long while, #14 sat down next to him. “You’re being awfully quiet, and not being a know-it-all about friendship. You okay?” It sounded oddly sincere for a changeling.
Suncloak just stared straight ahead. “I’m fine. Just a bit cold, and annoyed.”
#14 sighed. “Hey, just because this lesson is difficult, doesn’t mean you’re a bad teacher. I can know. I’m a teacher in the hive, after all. And even if that doesn’t work out, I’m sure you can find some other way to be useful.”
Suncloak agreed with a slow nod.
...Wait a second.
“Oh yeah, you’re right,” Suncloak said. “For a minute there, I was afraid you were becoming a softie.”
“As if,” #14 said, but she couldn’t contain her laughter. Figuring he had nothing to lose, Suncloak joined in.
In the end, he figured, it doesn’t really matter if they learned anything. At least they could have a little bit of fun every week.