Spike helped me sit up. "You alright? You've been falling over a lot."
I shook myself out. "Hey, you try suddenly going quadruped."
"Been there." He waved a claw. "It wasn't so bad."
I had to just stare at him a moment. I was being showed up by a baby dragon. I was straight up punked. "Alright, so... how?"
Spike fell over to all fours, which looked natural enough on him. "Well, you just have to..." And he just went right into lesson time. Bless his scaly little heart if he wasn't showing it decently, and I started following his steps. Sure, there was some difference between a bugpony's stance and a dragon's, but most of it was pretty applicable, and he didn't hurry me. We must have wasted, I mean, spent at least an hour or two just drilling walking before he suddenly started grinning.
"Now that you aren't falling over just walking, you get to move on to advanced tricks."
I didn't like his smile. "How about I get turned back so I don't have to do this?"
Spike rolled a claw at me as he stood up. "One thing at a time. You need to move faster than a newborn foal. I've seen Twilight and plenty of other ponies move, and it's not a walk." He fell back to all fours. "They move two legs at a time, like this." He went into a trot, bouncing around. "They practically default to this unless they're really tired." Bouncy bouncy, look at him go. "They can do it slow and fast. The only thing faster than this is the gallop, but we'll save that for another day."
I nodded at him, watching his bouncing gait. They really did move like that, thinking on it. It was kind of adorable when they got together and you ended up with so many cute ponies doing their cute walk, and there I was, another cute.... pony? Or disgusting bug pony. Still a pony, dang it!
I lifted two legs and wobbled dangerously until Spike hurried up and put a claw on my side, supporting me. "Keep it slow, I'm here for ya buddy." He smiled brightly, and I couldn't help but return it.
"Thanks, you know, for taking the time." I put those hooves down and lifted the other two. It was even slower than walking, but I was still getting used to the idea of it. "This can't be that much fun, watching a guy struggle to move."
"What are friends for?" He moved with me, giving little tips to get my movement smoother.
"Are we friends?" I asked as I advanced. "I mean, sure, I saw you around town, but we barely talked."
Spike paused a moment, thinking. "Right! A friend in need is a friend indeed. It was written in one of Twilight's books."
I laughed at that. "Twilight sure has a lot of books. I guess you get to read a good portion of them."
"Most of them are boring." He waved it off. "But sometimes I read the stories. Do you like comics?"
"Sure." I wobbled a moment before I got my balance back. "Do they make comics in pony land?"
"Equestria you mean?" After I nodded, he continued. "Sure they do! It's harder to get the good ones way out here in Ponyville, but I have a good collection. I'll show some to you when we get back."
Get back? "What, you're taking me home?"
Spike turned to face me, getting in my way. "What else could I do? If anypony's gonna know how to fix you, it'd be Twilight."
I tensed a little. I mean, sure, he was right, but... "Will she help or zap me?"
Spike snorted. "Oh please. I'll go in first, tell her what's up and then she won't be surprised. Come to think of it, Rarity might already be telling her..." He rubbed at his chin. "And everypony else that stands still long enough."
"Is that good or bad?"
"That depends on what she's telling them." He pointed up to the large crystal tower. "That's where Twilight is. Maybe we should avoid Ponyville for now and get right to it."
I nodded quickly at that and lifted each hoof one at a time. "So... how bad is it anyway? Am I that ugly?"
Spike raised a brow as he looked me over. "Uh... Well, you're not Rarity, but who is, except Rarity? I don't know what makes a handsome changeling or not, sorry." He shrugged. "You're just kind of a bug."
"While we're on that topic." He was leading the way around the town and I followed, trying that trotting step and feeling quite awkward doing it. "What did Rarity mean by hiding?"
"Oh!" Spike looked over his shoulder. "The last time we ran into changelings, they were all shapeshifting into other things. Fwoosh! Green fire, sort of like this." He spat out a lick of green flames. "It'd just wash over them and then they were something else. They can imitate anypony they want, I think."
"Now that... sounds scary and useful." I looked back over myself, buzzing my wings as I considered my body. "So how do I do that?"
"Hay if I know." Spike shrugged. "Maybe Twilight'll know, or she'll zap you back into being a human before we have to worry about it. Either way's a win, right?"
I smiled a little. "Yeah..." Actually, either of those did sound good. At least not being a bug would be a huge step up. Being a proper human again would be ideal. "Let's find her before anything else goes wrong."
I should really learn not to say things like that in Equestria. I think this world listens.