Drone 9417’s days as a changeling were truly over. He would never be part of the swarm again, probably never see the other drones again, and now being a pony there was no real point in even trying to find them. Part of him really wanted to dwell on the loss but on the other hand doing so would accomplish nothing and he had to get moving, he'd cry himself to sleep later. Ready or not he’d have to face the world as Cloud Breaker the pony now. Not that he had much choice. He’d go back to Ponyville, meet up with Sunny and Serenity again then put a new life in place. A brief thought came to mind that he did something that he might now regret when he sent his bits to them but he’d sort that out later. He hoped.
After a little trot to make sure his no-hole pony legs worked just like his old disguised ones had he took a run and took off. He promptly dropped back to the ground and crashed. Of course, his previous pegasus disguises all used an illusion of feathered wings but he still flew with his insect-like changeling wings. Still he knew how pegasus wings worked, you had to look those kinds of thing up for your illusions to work right, and after about an hour or two of practice he was ready to set off again when an odd sensation overcame him.
Were his changeling problems returning after all? Nope, his stomach made a noise. No longer able to feed on love real hunger was a new sensation for him. It was somewhat exciting as it was a new feeling he had never truly felt before. And yet it was sort of an annoyance. He didn’t like this feeling. But it gave him a reason to eat for the first real time. In various pony disguises he’d eaten all kinds of things before but “taste” as the equines call it isn’t a feeling with much real meaning to undercover changelings. Quite oddly he was thinking about how good a buttercup, lily and tulip sandwich would “hit the spot” right now even though he’d never had one, perhaps he was more of a pony now than he thought. He looked toward the field he crashed in, mountains looming in the distance behind. The contents of the field appeared to be wheat but from the little he knew about plants from the time he impersonated a farmer pony wheat wouldn’t be ready to eat in the spring.
Between the fields he did notice a small grassy area. What was that Seapony saying about “any safe harbor in a storm.” He ended up digging in and just as quickly realized why Equestria's ponies grazed so rarely. The grass was tasteless fluff like the love a changeling could get if they used money instead of cunning. Whenever he got to Ponyville he’d have to get a good meal somewhere, maybe from that little sweet shop where the pink Earth pony element worked. The thought of her reminded him of the mission which he recounted to himself as he eat...
The pink pony was a friendly one. Pinkie Pie, that was her name. As a changeling Drone 9417 was one of several dispatched to Ponyville to investigate the Elements of Harmony as preparation for the Canterlot invasion. The mission was not a high priority one. Everyone was to play it safe on intel side. Wild card antics just to get more information would be strictly off limits. Queen Chrysalis sent 12 changelings of mostly moderate to somewhat skilled levels to Ponyville just to get a little background on the Elements as her best underlings would be held back to directly prepare for the invasion. The Queen thought that if her plan went as hoped they wouldn’t even need the element infomation for anything beyond how to distract them. After pondering a unicorn mare to blend in better Drone 9417 decided on a pegasus stallion form. He preferred male disguises anyway as they just felt more natural to him.
As time went on he blended in just fine, everyday he would take a flight over the apple orchard where the orange one worked, buzz by the blue one’s cloud house and take in a cupcake at that sweet shop where the pink one was. He would gather small amounts of data, nothing large enough to get noticed, then relay it back. The Elements never even noticed him or the others. They were always caught up in their own nonsense about a time traveler’s cryptic warning, getting caught up in a tizzy over losing at a rodeo, or a rampaging dragon they helped cause. The information gathered was minimal but that was a goal, it was all gathered from the side unnoticed as Chrysalis had put her emphasis on the element of surprise for her main attack. They collected information on appearance, personality, work ethic, and threat level. It was a simple side mission to the invasion to come, nothing fancy in changeling terms.
Each of the Ponyville spies was issued a stipend of 3,000 bits to use as needed for shelter, acquiring love, and whatever else they needed. One rather bold comrade bought a matching suit and dress from the white one as an excuse to get closer then left town to avoid any follow-ups. It wasn’t the best idea, he didn’t get enough information and described her as “too posh to be a real threat” which went right out the window when she eventually right hooked about 25 of them in the attack.
For a residence “Cloud Breaker” rented a room from what he thought was a single mare named Sunny Rays, a yellow pegasus mare with a purple mane. It was normal, a changeling would then try in this situation to get into a mild relationship and feed off the love. But the ink was no sooner dry on his four-week room leasing agreement then her coltfriend Serenity trotted in. Serenity was an odd pegasus stallion, a pink-coated pony with a blue mane, “Cloud” figured his foalhood must have been Tartarus looking like that.
He was about to try and leave until he felt a wonderful sensation, their love. It was strong enough he could get a nice fill off just being around them. It was the perfect setup. There was no risk of being found out attempting intimacy and a residence that would be filled with love anyway with no work to maintain it. For about a week everything was perfect. He had his own private room in Sunny’s house where he could drop his disguise for a few hours as needed to safely balance his transformation magic.
Sunny was a bright mare full of ideas but she was usually so caught up enough in her work designing weather patterns she wasn’t investigating him. Serenity was one of her experts on rainfall in the same division at the local weather office, they joked they’d have to get Cloud a job if he hung around long enough. Minus one close shave when Sunny walked into the bathroom suddenly while he was taking a foggy shower she never even came close to figuring out his identity. Things were going perfect until he chose to use some of his bits to take the two out to fancy diner at a fancy pegasus-focused restaurant, an eastern-style place named Fusaichi’s. As “Cloud” smiled silently absorbing off a bit of their love Serenity dropped a bombshell. Both ponies were enjoying their fine meal while “Cloud” faked interest in his. Pegasi had odd tastes for light airy food and with no sense of taste he was simply pretending to enjoy it. The suddenly it all became rather awkward.
“How long have we been dating, Sunny?” Serenity asked.
“I suppose we started about a year ago,” Sunny replied. “Why?”
“Well I think it’s been going swimmingly,” Serenity said. “You really are my sunshine on even the most cloudy of days.”
“Cloud” just smiled happily, enjoying and dining well on their lovely vibe. This was a perfect moment.
“I think we might be ready for our relationship to soar to the next level,” Serenity said.
Ut oh, this looked like trouble. "Cloud" began to get nervous.
“I was going to do this in private, sorry Cloud, but I can’t pass on this,” Serenity said, he pulled a small box out from under his wing and opened it to reveal a fancy gem earring. “Sunny, will you marry me?”
“Cloud” couldn’t believe what he was seeing, he either hit the jackpot or rolled snake eyes with this move. Sunny just smiled, slightly embarrassed. Then her face lit up.
“You bet your high-flying flank I will.”
Oh boy, the love they were radiating was off the charts. “Cloud” decided perhaps he had to make this last. Over the weekend that followed Serenity expressed a desire to eventually move from his modest apartment into Sunny’s house. They were going to do it after “Cloud” left but the changeling decided to take a huge gamble. He insisted Serenity move in right away. If he were around more that immediately meant more tasty, emotional feelings.
The couple wasn’t ready to sleep together so “Cloud” gave Serenity the room and switched to sleeping on a foldout couch. That was where it would get tricky; he eliminated most of his privacy but decided to get around that by just never letting his disguise down. After all what was the worst that could happen? For the next three weeks he went about his deception with a smile and a full feeling. But as his current predicament showed maybe that wasn’t the best decision in hindsight. Love makes you do silly things even when you aren’t the one in it.