Shade was awoken from his dreamless sleep by a rather large amount of weight being applied to his stomach. Quickly he transformed back into Sunstreak, hoping that the flames wouldn’t pierce through the hay, before he realized he was still covered in mud, and there were still sticks in his mane and tail. Quickly he bolted upright and saw Rainbow Dash flying above him.
“About time you got up.” Rainbow said, sounding a bit impatient. “You make a weird sound when you’re sleeping. Kind of like a…” Rainbow began rapidly snapping her jaw together, making a clicking sound. Please don’t figure it out. “You’ve been sleeping almost all day.”
“Really?” Sunstreak replied, looking through the small barn window and looking up at the sun. Sure enough, it was half way through the sky already. “How long was I asleep?”
At that moment, Applejack walked into the barn. “There ya are. Ah’ve been lookin everywhere for ya.”
Sunstreak rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry…must have been more tired than I thought.” He let out a little yawn. “Didn’t have any nightmares last night…or…this morning…? What did I miss?”
“Ah sent Meadow off to school with the others. She may be from Canterlot, but she still needs to learn.” Applejack suddenly realized where Sunstreak had been sleeping. “Why are ya sleepin’ in a pile of hay?”
“Oh this is nothing.” Shade said…trying to think about a reason… “When I was a foal I used to sleep in the weirdest ways. I remember this one time I slept hanging between two trees with two lengths of rope and a rock.” He added a small smile in the hopes that it would push in that it was normal for him.
“Well alrighty then.” Applejack replied, completely oblivious to it.
“Why the hay are you covered in dirt?” Oh right…
“Umm…” Sunstreak looked down at himself, hopefully making it look like he was confused. “I have no idea…Maybe there was some dirt in the hay…I don’t know.”
“Alright…then. You ever sleepwalk?”
“Rainbow!” Applejack shouted from below. “What have Ah told yah about personal questions?” Sunstreak was actually happy about this change of pace. Gave him time to fly over to the window and take a look out of it. It was a nice view… getting to see the apple orchard, some of the red apples glistening in the sunlight. The mountains in the background. The clear blue sky. Huge change of pace from black hive walls and smog covered valleys.
“Hey, fly boy.” Sunstreak looked down towards Applejack. “Ya wanna help me with somethin’?”
“Sure.” Sunstreak flew down and landed next to AJ. “What is it?”
“Ah borrowed a book from the library. Ah can’t find any time to return it. Maybe ya can help me and bring it back.”
“No problem, Applejack. Assuming nothing magical happens this should be easy.” He moved to take the sheath but stopped before grabbing it. Don’t need that right now. Oh yeah! I never told Applejack about…
“AJ, you and your family have been really kind to us. But I found an old friend, Tornado Dust, I’m planning on staying with him for a while.” After Sunstreak finished, Applejack had a pair of light green saddlebags, it had a decently sized book in it.
“Well Ah can’t blame ya fer wantin’ to catch up with him.” AJ said after she placed the saddlebags on the ground. “Just return the saddlebags when yer done, with that.”
“No problem, Applejack.” Sunstreak shouted back before taking off from the ground and flying back towards Ponyville. Until he realized he had no idea where the library was.
Crap. Maybe I should have paid more attention during my tour… If only that cart didn’t wobble after every stupid bump in the road it would be easier. When Sunstreak got to the edge of the town, he decided to land and walk around, trying to remember what the Library looked like.
The closest thing he manage to think of was that Candy store place he found, which he only remembered because it looked like a Gingerbread house. So he wanted to find someo-pony stupid terminology. That he could recognize or had at least been told about his eye to avoid the whole “Ah it’s a Changeling! get it!” moment. He did notice something rather strange though while he was looking around.
There was a bear… a full sized, five-hundred pound, meat eating bear just walking along the street and not a single one of these ponies was freaking out about it.
Sunstreak rubbed his eyes with his hooves for a minute just to be sure he wasn’t still half asleep, sure enough, the bear was still there. Just when I think I have a handle on the situation. The world throws some other BS at me.
Sunstreak shrugged and decided it was as good a place as any to start. So he walked over to where the bear was and saw a yellow Pegasus, with a long pink mane and tail, her Mark was of three pink butterflies. And she was…talking? To the bear? If Sunstreak hadn’t given up his suspension of disbelief days ago, his brain might be flashing red warning signs.
“Now just try not to make those bees angry again.” She spoke in a voice that just bled compassion, it was light, and he didn’t think that there was any possible way to make her angry…But looks and voices deceive…as he had learned well in the past few days.
“Um…excuse me?” Sunstreak said walking up to the yellow Pegasus, who gave a small surprised ‘eep’ and ducked behind the bear. “…ummm… Sorry to startle you…” Sunstreak said keeping his eye on the bear. I don’t care if these ponies domesticated everything. I am not letting that thing out of my sight. “But I was wondering if you could direct me towards the library.”
Sunstreak was shifting between the bear and the pink tail jutting out from behind the large brown bear. “I was hoping you could point me in the direction of the library. I’m new in town and I’m trying to help out the Apple family.”
From behind the bear, Sunstreak heard that soft voice, and the black wisps that followed. “You know Applejack?”
“Yeah, I’ve been staying with her for the past few days…figured I might as well help in some way.” He saw the shy Pegasus was peeking out from behind the bear.
“It’s just…over there.” The yellow Pegasus pointed down the road to a large tree. Which seemed to be made into a house, with windows and a balcony made completely out of wood. Almost as though the house was carved into the tree.
Sunstreak could tell that this yellow Pegasus was a bit uncomfortable in the situation, so he gave a small smile and replied with an appreciative “Thank you.” Before he walked away from the Pegasus, only mildly aware that he had absorbed a bit of her shyness…still need to get that under control. He walked up to the tree and took a look at it.
It seemed to be an oak tree, a strange reddish brown shade to its bark. There appeared to be window mounted flowerbeds, which were kind of weird, because the tree would…magic sun Shade…this land has a magic sun… Up on the top of the tree, there was a balcony with a telescope, the purpose for this was probably stargazing, but usually you would bring it out during the night, not just leave it there. Near the door, there was a sign saying the Golden Oak Library. Strange for all that paper to be inside a tree…But he needed to deliver that book, so he didn’t dwell on it.
He walked up to the front door and knocked on it with his hoof…still feels weird...
“It’s open!” came a male voice from inside the tree. Oh right…public library…
Sunstreak opened the door to the inside of the library, he was surprised by the amount of books, bookshelves lined the circular room, each one stuffed to the brim with books, in the center of the room, there was a wood craving that may be some important horse guy, but looked like the knight piece in chess. When he looked towards the source of the voice he was pleasantly surprised.
It was a small purple dragon, he had green scales coming from the top of his head like a ridge line, his ears looked like fins…for some reason…and he had no wings. Strange as usually only dragons hatched prematurely via magic lost their wings, and Shade doubted there were any magic users that powerful around here.
“Twilight! We have a visitor!” The baby dragon said towards a stairwell. He was currently placing books on the top shelf. He was using a ladder propped up against the bookshelf to get to that height.
“Twilight! Did you hear me?” He said turning around to look up the stairs. “I said we-” The ladder began to wobble from the rapid shifting of weight. Sunstreak dashed over to steady the ladder, but forgot to limit his strength, so when the ladder did collide back with the bookshelf, it knocked a majority of the books off the shelf.
“Son of a-” Was all he managed to get out before he was buried in a pile of books.
Luckily thanks to his numerous run in’s with heavy objects crashing into him, it didn’t render him unconscious, just very disoriented. Well at least it’s cool in here… A few seconds later he was made aware that his right eye was closed fully in an attempt to not get any books in the precious organ. But he also noticed a female voice coming from outside the pile. And then he noticed the books all lifting off of him and floating a few feet above him, suspended in some purple magic.
“Are you alright?”
“I’ve been better.” Sunstreak said, only now aware that he was slightly curled up with his back against a wall. He still had his eye closed though, just to be safe…for two reasons…in case he still had something in his eye, and to avoid a unicorn thinking he was a changeling.
“I’m sorry.” The female voice replied. “This almost never happens.”
“I have a hard time believing you…” Sunstreak said as he fell to the floor, picking himself up. He noticed who was now levitating the books, she was a purple unicorn, dark purple mane with a pink and purple stripe down her mane and tail. Her mark was of a six pointed star surrounded by a few other stars, and her horn was glowing with a faint purple glow. “Given how quickly you came down here.”
“Well…I just heard the crash and figured it had something to do with Spike.” Sunstreak figured this was Twilight. But he was focusing on the color of her magic, where had he seen it before…
“Is something wrong with your eye?” He heard Twilight ask, he still had his eye closed. “Did you hurt it when the books fell on you?”
“No. No. Nothing like that.” Sunstreak replied, giving a dismissive wave. “It’s just…most ponies freak out when they see it because of the attack a few days ago.” If by most you mean 50% of the adult ponies he had met, then that number was quite correct. “I’m just trying to avoid that for now.”
Twilight chuckled slightly. “Well I’m sure there is nothing you need to worry about. I’m not going to just throw you in a dungeon for looking strange.”
Sunstreak sighed and opened his eye, which may have been a good idea, if not for the dragon standing right next to him.
“Ah!” Spike shouted. “Change-“ Sunstreak placed a hoof in his mouth before he could finish.
“No.” Sunstreak said moving his head to look at Spike. “I was born with it. And you have no room to talk about genetics, wingless.” Sunstreak moved his hoof away. It looked like Spike wanted to retort but couldn’t find anything to say.
“That wasn’t very nice of you.” Twilight responded, glaring at Sunstreak.
Sunstreak sighed. “You’re right…I’m sorry Spike. I’m above that. It’s just I’ve been getting a lot of ponies freaking out because of my eye. Especially ever since that attack.” Then he realized where the magic color was from. He quickly looked up at the pile of floating books to be sure. “Were you there?”
Twilight moved the pile of books to the side before plopping them down in a neat pile. “Yes I was. Why do you ask?”
Because I saw you alongside Celestia. “I saw the energy shield thing that blasted the Changelings back, I was in Everfree at the time.”
“Uh huh…” Twilight responded looking over Sunstreak. “Why not tell me about it over tea?”
“Ehh sure why not.” Sunstreak wasn’t exactly a ‘tea’ drinker. Owing mostly to the fact that it was difficult to get plants to grow in the Fiords…and even more difficult to keep it from bursting into flame.
But he had to admit…it did help with the headache he didn’t realize he had, probably from the book-alanche he was just in. Not to mention that the tea really helped with him calm down his mind a bit.
“So what were you doing in Everfree?” Twilight asked as Sunstreak took another sip of tea…it was nice to actually have a decent conversation that didn’t revolve primarily around him for a change.
“I was doing a bit of field work on Nightmare Moon.” Sunstreak said between sips of tea. “I study magical phenomena and artifacts, so I figured I would try and see if there was something more I could learn about Nightmare Moon. Turned out… almost everything I could find was destroyed.”
“So how did you know I was in Canterlot?”
“The Changeling repulsion thingy, it’s the same color as your magic. I just sort of figured that was you.”
“Well it was actually my brother, Shining Armor.” Twilight was visibly blushing. “But I guess you could say I indirectly helped.”
“How so?”
“Well I found out that Princess Cadence was a Changeling, then I found the real Cadence, we got out and then we revealed her.” Twilight said this as though it was a normal occurrence.
“That normal in this part of Equestria?” Sunstreak asked, taking another sip of tea.
“Well…not normal per se…but it happens rather frequently.”
Sunstreak gave a small chuckle. “And I thought my home was weird.”
“Where are you from exactly?” Twilight replied. “I mean pegasi don’t normally want to learn about magic.”
“You should really not stereotype like that. Just because I’m a Pegasus doesn’t mean I want to be a Weather pony. But since you asked.” Sunstreak gave Twilight the same story he told Applejack’s family before.
“I’ve never heard of the Burning Fiords before…” Twilight said a slight glint of curiosity in her eyes. “What is it like?”
“Very inhospitable…” Sunstreak replied. “We needed a special spell before we could leave any of the cities, and you couldn’t fly to high up or the Phoenix Rays would get you.”
“You learned to use magic?” Twilight said and Sunstreak couldn’t tell if it was doubt or curiosity that kept her asking.
“Well…not exactly…It’s a very basic enchantment…I had a special helmet enchanted with it. It acted like a filter, taking all the bad toxic fumes out and replacing it with fresh air. Without it you would be dead in minutes.” Then a question came into his head. And seeing how Twilight seemed to technically be royalty now, or at least her brother was, it seemed like the best place to ask. “What is Equestria doing about the Changeling problem?” Being one myself this greatly interests me.
“Well…We have found a few stragglers around Equestria. But since we really have no idea how to handle them, so far the verdict is to just lock them up.”
Sunstreak found himself pausing in the middle of a drink, thinking this through… “Don’t they feed off emotions? So if you lock them up they would eventually just starve wouldn’t they?”
“Eventually no doubt, but most of them seem pretty fine after feeding off of some ponies. There is even reason to believe that a few have foalnapped a few foals.” Sunstreak, who was halfway through another drink, found himself coughing on the hot liquid.
“They what!?” He replied after managing to compose himself, hopefully it sounded genuine.
“Oh yes…a few Changelings were found attempting to drain fillies, they were given much worse punishment than the others.”
Sunstreak was glad he didn’t try and take another drink, instead, he was trying to make himself sound angry or in disbelief while hiding his own fear. “Well I would hope so. I mean…I found a Changeling trying to do that…but I figured there would only be one.” He quickly took another drink, hoping to calm his nerves.
“Doesn’t seem that way…in fact shortly after the invasion, one of the Changelings was beaten to near death by the townsponies.”
Sunstreak spat out his tea; rather impressively as it landed about three feet past the edge of the table. “What did it do?”
“Well…I’m not exactly sure…apparently it was found just inside Canterlot, apparently the repulsion spell didn’t launch it all the way out of the city.”
This is bad… This is very bad…
Desperate to change the conversation, he remembered something he wanted to read up on. “Not that all this talk of Changelings and…foalnapping isn’t thrilling. You wouldn’t happen to have a book in here about the Elements of Harmony?”
“Yes we do… Why do you ask?” Twilight said eyeing him suspiciously.
Make it convincing, it’s only your life on the line. “I was hoping to prove a theory of mine involving the effect of the Elements on certain phenomena. Like say…how it would affect…oh I don’t know…” Think of something you hatchling! “Celestia for instance.”
Twilight looked at him for a moment, so Sunstreak added a small smile that he hoped was convincing but probably came out as dreadfully forced. “Where did you say you studied magical theory?”
“A Changeling Queen out in the…” He quickly clasped a hoof over his mouth. What did I just say?
“You learned magical theory from a Changeling Queen?”
“Uh…” Sunstreak was racking his brain. He was trying to figure out what he was about to say. Did I really learn from a Changeling Queen? He was thinking quickly, trying to figure out if he had any visions about that…any possible thing that would make him say that. “What did I just say?”
“You just said you learned magic theory from a Changeling Queen.”
“Twilight you have to believe me.” Sunstreak was looking at Twilight with a worried expression. “I have no idea where that came from.” Sunstreak was actually very afraid right now. Why the hell did I say that…I don’t know any Changeling Queens… “Please Twilight…”
She just seemed to giggle slightly, “Oh believe me you are in no trouble here.” She seemed to be smiling.
“Why are you laughing?” Sunstreak was frightened, he had just said something extremely stupid and he had no idea where it came from.
Twilight just tapped her hoof on her horn, which appeared to be glowing. “Lie spell. Forces you to tell a lie that I determine. I just wanted to see how you would react.”
Sunstreak let out a deep sigh. “That was a very dirty trick, Twilight. You had me scared for a minute there.” He just became aware of the drum that had replaced his heart. “Why did you do that?”
“It’s a very simple spell, any magic user can negate its effects. Even Changelings. I just had to be sure.” For once Sunstreak was glad he was not a magic user.
“So…about that book?”
The rest of the visit was pleasant enough. After that first scare, Sunstreak loosened up, he was no longer in the firing range. So it was much better, they discussed the events of Nightmare Moon, or rather Sunstreak learned what happened, and even found out about the fate of that one Draconoquis that he heard about. Then he had said good-bye and transferred the two books, so he now had Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide. Now he just had to return Applejack’s saddlebag and head to pick up Meadow from school to bring her to Tornado Dust. As soon as he figured out where the school was…
He was trying to think about where the school was, and he was pretty sure that the fillies never told them about it. So hopefully he could figure it out. And he was hoping he could…until he found a single building that stood out among the natural looking village.
This was the one point that Sunstreak had actually taken a break from being paranoid since the road was slightly less bumpy; if he remembered correctly it was called the Carousal Boutique. And if he also remembered correctly, Sweetie Belle had said she was staying here. And he was pleasantly surprised when he heard the four fillies walking up behind him.
“Sunstreak?” He heard the familiar voice of Meadow Song from behind him. “What are you doing here?”
“Well…I was just helping Applejack out by returning a book to Twilight. Plus I got myself some reading material.” He opened up the saddlebag with his wing and pulled out the book.
“Shouldn’t you already know all that?” Sweetie Belle replied after reading the title.
“Yeah…” He replied putting the book back into the saddlebag. “But it has been too long since I brushed up on my Elemental knowledge. Might as well while I’m here. What are you four doing here?”
“We were going to ask Rarity if she would be okay with us sleeping over tomorrow.” Scootaloo said, her tiny wings flapping extremely fast and only managing to lift her a few inches off the ground.
“That seems really…soon…shouldn’t you get that okayed like a week in advance?”
“Nah we never plan out that far.” Apple Bloom replied. “We just wanted to see if she will let us on such short notice.”
“Well…I suppose it is worth a shot…” Sunstreak replied rubbing the back of his neck and finding that his mane was stuck together with dried mud. I really need to get this stuff out. Suddenly Sunstreak felt a pain in his head, similar to that of a headache, but he realized what was happening. A Changeling was mentally talking to him.
“Snake Eye, when you get home, keep your disguise on. I can’t tell you why. Just do it.”
Sunstreak hadn’t realized just how inexperienced he was with the mental connection, until the four fillies, especially Meadow were looking at him with concern.
“Are you alright?” Meadow asked, placing her hoof on Sunstreak’s leg.
“I’m fine, Meadow…just a headache.” Yeah lie some more today. Maybe I can tell her I never plan to return her next. Sunstreak had to shake these ideas away. He fully intended to return Meadow to her mother; he just needed to wait for the security to die down a little…or a lot, so that he could enter safely. He was willing to get Meadow there as quickly as possible, but he didn’t want to risk his own life in the process, and thinking about what Twilight said…
Sunstreak shivered a little bit. But was relieved when he saw Meadow’s green eyes looking back at him, full of trust.
“So were you four going to ask Rarity something?” Sunstreak said composing himself.
“Oh yeah.” Sweetie Belle replied quickly the Crusaders went up to the door, while Meadow stayed with Sunstreak.
“Was it really nothing?”
“I’ll tell you later.” Then leaning in he whispered into Meadow’s ear “It’s a Bug Pony thing.” He motioned his head towards the three fillies and Meadow seemed to understand and the two of them walked up to the door.
“Why are you joinin’ us?” Apple Bloom said, looking up at Sunstreak.
“Well I haven’t met Rarity yet, figured I might as well while I’m here.”
Sweetie Belle seemed to whisper something to her friends who giggled while Sunstreak couldn’t make out the exact words, he was pretty sure it was ‘Not while you look like that’ Sunstreak was pretty sure she was talking about all the dirt, which he now realized was mostly gone from his coat, except for his hooves, wings and some in his mane and tail. Oh well…must look worse on my Carapace.
When the door opened, Shade got a look at one of the fanciest unicorns he had seen since he got a look at that Fancy Pants guy. Pure white coat, purple mane and tail that were curled and looked as if they took three hours to do, eyeliner, curled lashes, essentially she was all that he hated about female appearances in a nutshell.
The instant she got a look at Sunstreak, she almost immediately gasped. “Oh dear, where have you been?”
“What?” Sunstreak replied, confused by the question.
“Where have you been to get all of this icky dirt in your mane?”
“Excuse me?” Sunstreak was completely taken aback by the fact that he was quickly grabbed by his hooves and pulled into the boutique. He was soon followed by three very confused fillies and one that seemed to be slightly bored with the outburst.
“I have to say that it has been quite a while since I’ve seen a Pegasus here.” She had begun taking his measurements, using her blue magic and a plethora of measuring tapes as she went. “Ever since the whole…possible overthrow of Canterlot not many ponies have been coming to me and I can’t imagine why.”
Sunstreak only just now got a chance to look around, the entire place was just as fancy on the inside as the outside. All ribbons and ivory stone. The stairway was strangely a spiral staircase…for some reason… The whole place just bled high society…and Sunstreak wasn’t very comfortable with it. Around the area he was in, he was standing on a raised platform in the middle of a semi-circle of mirrors. What Shade could see was all of the mannequins. Some having dresses placed on them. Apparently Rarity was still talking but Shade wasn’t listening. Up until she said “So what brings a stallion like you in here?”
“Well…I came here to actually meet you, because I’ve been in town a few days and decided why not. But their reason seems more important.” He pointed towards the four fillies. Almost instantly his wing felt like it was being forced open and Sunstreak slapped the tape measure around his wing. “Stop that!”
The rest of the tape measures stalled for a moment. “Sorry dear, I just got caught up in my calling in life.” She levitated the tape measures back to the drawer they originally came from and turned her attention to the fillies. Only now did Sunstreak realize her Mark was three blue diamonds. Apparently she was destined to be a high fashion pony… Sunstreak shouldn’t hold it against her… Just her job.
“What is it you thr- four…wanted to ask me?” Rarity asked, looking towards the fillies.
“Well, Rarity we wanted to ask if we could have a slumber party here tomorrow?” Sweetie Belle said, flashing a puppy dog look with her light green eyes. While Sunstreak couldn’t see her face, he was sure that Rarity had twitched.
“Sweetie how many times have I told you that I have an important order to fulfill and I will need to stay up all night focusing on these dresses?”
“Umm…once?” Sweetie Belle replied.
“Sweetie, I tried to tell you the last fifteen times that you asked me. My answer has not changed since earlier today.”
Sunstreak could tell that the fillies were slightly disheartened but the original Crusaders weren’t too surprised by it. “I simply cannot risk not getting these dresses finished.” Dresses…not exactly Sunstreak’s specialty. Or favorite topic…so he decided this conversation was boring and instead opted to fly above the two arguing unicorns.
After around the five minute mark, Sunstreak decided to fly down between the two sisters. “Can you just kiss and make up already…”
“Beg your pardon?” Rarity said, surprised by the pegasi’s input.
“Come on… You two have been arguing for the past five minutes. I’ll tell you what… I’ll talk to Tornado Dust about maybe letting you girls stay over the night. I’m not sure how he will react to it...but I’ll try.” Anything to get me out of here as soon as possible.
The three Crusaders looked at him happily. “Really?” All three of them chimed at once. Meadow was giving him a look of ‘are you sure?’
“Why that would be simply marvelous dear.” Rarity replied. “I simply must do something to repay you.”
“No, you don’t have to.” Please don’t….
“But I insist.” Rarity replied, holding her head high in that pompous ‘I’m not taking “no” for an answer’ sort of way.
Sunstreak sighed. Looking towards Sweetie Belle. “There’s no point in arguing is there…”
All three of the Crusaders shook their heads slowly.
Sunstreak sighed. “Fine…let’s get this over with…”
Only a mind numbing THREE HOURS later, Sunstreak was finally allowed to leave the boutique, he had been standing on that pedestal for fifteen minutes while Rarity had cleaned all the dirt and gunk out of his mane, tail and wings, so that was good. But the remaining two hours and forty-five minutes had been Rarity retaking all the measurements, grabbing a large variety of fabrics and gemstones to compare against Sunstreak’s eyes, mane, coat, his mark, everything over and over again. All that Sunstreak wanted to do was stretch, but he was forbidden to by Rarity, who used her magic to ensure he couldn’t move too much.
His legs were stiff, wings didn’t feel up to flying, and he was pretty sure his mane smelt like lilac. Which wouldn’t be bad, if Rarity hadn’t felt like putting a comb and brush through it…over twenty times…Made him feel like a female…
When he was allowed to leave, he quickly grabbed Meadow and AJ’s saddlebag before making a mad dash for the door. Once he was outside, and fully certain that Rarity couldn’t call him back, he slowed down. Allowing himself time to breathe. “That was the biggest waste of three hours in my life.” Sunstreak said, stopping and lowering himself down to let the filly climb onto his back.
“Was it really that bad?” Meadow asked, sitting on Sunstreak’s back.
“Well being given a full look over by a fashonista with an eye for detail, and being slightly paranoid that she will catch onto me being…yah know.” He looked back at the filly. “Along with being unable to move while she took measurements of everything… I was sure I got something wrong.”
“Don’t worry.” Meadow replied, Sunstreak could feel the compassion in her voice, and tried not to absorb all of it. “You look perfect.”
Sunstreak let out a sigh, turning to look at the brown filly. “You know exactly what to say to make me feel better.” He told Meadow. “Maybe you should become a therapist?” At this Meadow giggled slightly.
“So what did happen earlier?” Meadow asked, “With your headache?”
Sunstreak looked up and down the street, making sure that no ponies were within earshot. “Remember when I told you about Tornado Dust?”
“You mean the other Bug Pony?”
“Yes…well all Bug Ponies have a small mental connection…I’m not used to it, but he told me to keep my disguise on.” Sunstreak was looking around the streets then looked up. The sun was in no way still hanging above, but there was still enough light for business to continue. “Where is everypony?” HA! Got it for once!
Meadow shrugged, “Maybe they all decided to close up early? In Canterlot they did that a lot for fancy events.”
“Maybe…” Sunstreak said, thinking back to his visit with Twilight. Lie spell? I’ve never heard of that before…What did she really do?
A few minutes of walking down the empty streets brought the two of them to Tornado Dust’s door. Meadow hopped down off of Sunstreak’s back. Sunstreak was still thinking about the oddly empty streets, true he hadn’t been in the town for that long, but the streets were never this empty. So either everyone had decided to have an early dinner, or there was something planned…
When Sunstreak opened the door, even his good eye couldn’t see through the darkness, once Meadow stepped inside he closed the door behind them. “Tornado. We’re here.” He said through the house. “Why is it so dark in here?”
“SURPRISE!”
The lights all turned on, Sunstreak quickly took off in shock, slamming his head into one of the low rafters. “Ow…” He mumbled lowering himself back down to the ground. When he got a chance to look around the room, he saw what must have been the entirety of Ponyville was inside of the house. Streamers and balloons were everywhere. Through the throng of ponies, he managed to pick out a few that he recognized. Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were near the back of the room, just talking to each other.
“Are you alright?” Meadow asked, looking at Sunstreak rubbing his head.
“I’m fine…just going to be a little sore…” Sunstreak looked up to find himself face to face with a smiling pink pony. “Uh…Hello?”
“Hi!” The pink pony replied bouncing up and down with a small ‘Sproing’ every time she hopped. “My name is Pinkie Pie.” Really creative. “This is your Welcome-to-Ponyville-Surprise-Party! This is the first time I’ve ever done a party for two new arrivals on the same day.” She talked with an energy that could probably only be matched by hooking someone up to a generator, even then…they wouldn’t stand a chance. “So…What do you think?”
Sunstreak hadn’t actually processed that she had finished speaking for a few seconds before responding with, “When did you plan all this?” Sunstreak had never met Pinkie before now…and come to think of it…a party like this would have certainly been picked up on if it wasn’t kept a secret.
“Ever since you got into Ponyville, silly.” Pinkie was now bouncing above the two of them, Meadow seeming pretty used to the ponies energy already while Sunstreak was still confused as ever. “I knew you were staying with Applejack but I’m not allowed to throw any surprise parties in the barn because of what happened last time. So I just started planning for when you moved in with somepony else to throw it.”
“Well… It was rather unexpected…” Sunstreak rubbed his head again then looked up at the rafter which thankfully was still intact.
“It should be silly. What kind of surprise party would it be if you knew about it? It wouldn’t be. It would just be a Party-Party. While those are fun I still think a surprise party is so much better.”
Sunstreak was looking around, trying to find Tornado Dust, he luckily managed to find him before noticing just how much…happiness Pinkie had, the flame from her was practically blinding.
“Yes well…It has been a pleasure meeting you Pinkie, but I need to talk with Tornado Dust about something…” Before Sunstreak had even managed to finish the sentence, Pinkie was bouncing again.
“Okie doki loki.” She had started to bounce off to the corner of the room for God knows what reason.
“Meadow…go enjoy yourself…I need to talk to Tornado Dust.” At this the small brown filly ran off into the crowd of ponies and out of sight. Sunstreak flew over the crowd of ponies and landed next to Tornado Dust, who was currently sitting at a table with a few other pegasi around.
“Hey, Snake Eye!” Tornado said as Sunstreak landed. “Enjoying yourself?”
“If by enjoying myself you mean smashing my head into the ceiling then yes.”
“Ha! My first Pinkie Party was the same way. Trust me it gets a lot easier.” Tornado Dust looked over at Sunstreak who was twitching his left eye rather frequently. “Something wrong?”
“Yeah…can I talk to you…In private?”
“Uhh…sure.” Tornado replied. “Just follow me.” The two of them walked into a side door leading to the basement, where luckily there were no other ponies. “What’s up?”
When Sunstreak was sure he wouldn’t be overheard, he grabbed Tornado. “Help me!” He was shaking him vigorously, “I can’t control my left eye…it just sees every emotion…HELP!”
After Tornado Dust had stopped shaking he looked towards the Pegasus in front of him. “Alright, hold on…” He flew up to the basement door and made sure that it was locked. Before flying back down and revealing his Changeling form. “Damn Snake Eye…anymore and I wouldn’t have been able to hold onto that form.”
“Sorry, but it’s just...” Sunstreak took a deep breath. “I’m not used to these powers yet! At least not in huge crowds, a few ponies is fine but not the entire town! Someone is going to notice! It’s only a matter of…” Darkblaze slapped Sunstreak. “Thanks…I needed that.”
“Just calm down…I had the same problem. If you aren’t expecting it this amount of energy can freak you out. Just calm down… Turn back to normal really quick.”
Shade obliged, and shortly after Darkblaze’s horn was glowing a faint green, before he pointed it at Shade.
“There…” Darkblaze replied when he had finished. “A small spell I learned. Blocks out your emotion senses. It should stay up for the rest of the night.”
Shade looked up at his own horn, which was now coated in a faint green light. “You sure this’ll work?” Shade replied transforming back.
“It worked for me the first few times.” Darkblaze replied, turning back into Tornado Dust. “Just try not to act too out of place. I’ll try and teach you to control it tomorrow.” He noticed the saddlebags Sunstreak had. “Are those Applejack’s?”
“Yeah…She wanted me to return a book for her, and I got something to read for myself. Then when I tried to bring it back I met Rarity and…”
“Say no more…Rarity can be…”
“Overly obsessive?”
“I was going to say a perfectionist but yeah…I guess that explains why you smell like flowers.” Tornado said somewhat chuckling. “We should get back to the party before anypony suspects anything.”
With his emotional senses nullified, the party wasn’t all that bad. He was no longer blinded by every pony he talked to and was fully able to take small nibbles of energy from them without feeling like an asshole…mostly because the energy seemed to be coming from everywhere at once.
He played some of the party games Pinkie had brought and still wondered how the pony had set everything up so quickly… but was more confused when she pulled a pink cannon out of nowhere and fired a large ball of confetti at the ceiling. He learned a very important lesson about life in Ponyville though. ‘Never question Pinkie Pie…’
He did see a familiar yellow Pegasus staying away from most of the other ponies…so he decided it would be a good time to actually talk to her…without the fear of a giant bear eating him.
When he landed next to the Pegasus she seemed at least slightly more open, still a bit scared though. “Hello?” She said in her soft voice, which was almost drowned out by the sounds of the party.
“Hi… So are you enjoying yourself?” Sunstreak asked trying to figure someway to break the ice without a sledge hammer.
“Oh yes. Pinkie really out did herself with this one.” She sounded so unsure, but confident at the same time. Sunstreak had a hard time getting a nail on how she was feeling but it was luckily better than earlier. “I haven’t seen a crowd this big since Twilight’s welcome party.”
“How’d that go?” Sunstreak asked. Knowing Twilight from that little ‘joke’ she played it must not have gone too well. She seemed obsessed with organization.
“It went…well. She spent most of it up in her room.” The Pegasus stopped after this. She must be very shy.
“So…I think we met earlier today…” Sunstreak said. “I asked you where the library was but I didn’t get your name.”
“Oh…I’m Fluttershy…”
“Nice name…” It describes you perfectly. “I’m Sunstreak.”
“If you don’t mind me asking…What happened to your eye?” She almost immediately backed down from the question. “That is…if you want to…”
In all honesty Sunstreak didn’t want to, but seeing the mare all by herself back here made him kind of want to tell her. “I don’t mind. I was born with it… there’s no real big story behind it. Just a slight birth defect.”
“Oh okay…” Fluttershy started to hide behind her long mane, so Sunstreak decided it would be a good idea to leave.
“Well Fluttershy,” He said, hovering slightly above the ground, “it’s been nice meeting you. But right now there is a plate of Rainbow Cookies that desperately need my attention.” One of the best parts of being a Dragon/Changeling hybrid, resistance to spicy foods, and according to every other pony at this party, the Rainbow Cookies were super spicy.
The rest of the night was pretty uneventful, Sunstreak managed to out eat Pinkie when it came to the Rainbow Cookies, which according to Twilight was impressive that he could eat two of them before needing to drink anything, let alone twenty-four. He gave Applejack her saddlebag back, talked with Twilight about the Fiords a bit. By the time they were done talking the party was already winding down.
“…And that’s why we can’t go out during the summer.” Sunstreak said talking about the large bird rays he now recognized as Phoenix Rays.
“Interesting…” Twilight replied. “I would love to see the place myself. It sounds like a great place to observe rare creatures.”
“Well when half the population is Dragons and the other half is giant bird rays trying to kill you, you learn not to question it.” The party had already died down to just Pinkie, the Crusaders, Applejack, and Twilight, but Pinkie seemed determined to make it last through the night. “Then there’s the Flaming Valley, simply beautiful, casting the red glow of the lava flows right into the clouds. Sometimes if you’re really lucky, you can even see the moonlight colliding with the red. It creates this beautiful mixture of reds and blue…almost like staring at an Aurora. It is by far one of the most beautiful sights in the Fiords.” Sunstreak’s eyes were wide while he remembered this. It was a long time ago…he saw it in one of his visions…which startled him at first because the first time he saw the Valley he had his wing and horn ripped off…
“I’ll have to look into that, it sounds simply amazing.” Twilight said, raising a hoof to her mouth as she yawned. “But not right now… Now I need to get some sleep.”
“And Ah gotta get these girls home.” Applejack replied looking towards the three fillies. Who all let out a disappointed ‘Aww’. “You girls still got school tomorrow and Rarity put me in charge a makin’ sure you got to sleep. Now let’s go.”
“Bye, Sunstreak.” The three fillies said as they left the house. Shortly followed by Applejack and Twilight. Leaving only Pinkie who was still beaming with energy.
“Are you girls CRAZY! There’s still so much party to go around!”
Sunstreak couldn’t help but chuckle at this. Pinkie may be the craziest creature he had ever met…but she was hilarious…he gave her that, crazy…but hilarious.
“Pinkie…I’ll tell you what.” At this the pink pony looked over at him. “I’ll let you throw me another party later this week alright?”
Without even missing a beat, Pinkie Pie quickly said “Okie doki Loki.” Before bouncing out the door, clearly satisfied with this alternative. Leaving Sunstreak and Meadow in the middle of the room.
“Tornado!” Sunstreak shouted towards the kitchen. “You can come out now. They left.”
From the direction of the kitchen, Tornado Dust walked in, looking a mixture of stuffed and tired as hell. “Finally…” he said shedding his Pony disguise and collapsing onto the ground. “I thought they would never leave.”
“What’s wrong with you?” Sunstreak asked keeping his disguise on as he closed the blinds and windows. “It wasn’t that bad of a party.”
“No it was up to Pinkie Pie’s normal standards.” He said pushing himself up. “I just think it went a little too well…” He walked over to a cabinet and used his magic to pull out a small green tray that looked to be made out of crystal, he touched his horn to the bottom of the tray and slowly Sunstreak watched as the tray was filled with clear crystals, much like those Darkblaze showed Sunstreak when he first entered his house…
“How many of those things can you make?” Sunstreak asked, transforming back to his Changeling form, looking up at his horn, he saw the green energy still surrounding it.
“From one of Pinkie’s parties?” He said, placing the crystals in the freezer and creating more, “I can usually make enough for a little over a week’s worth. But now we’ve got two Changelings, a foal, not to mention how you have almost no experience in being a Changeling.” He was making another batch of the crystals. “So if we plan to not starve, I need to teach you how to be a Changeling.” After placing the last batch of crystals in the freezer, he placed the tray back in the cabinet looking almost infinitely more comfortable. “And that starts with helping you control your feeding.”
Shade nodded, looking towards the small brown filly sleeping on the couch. It was nice to not see exactly how she was feeling for once, but not seeing the small orange flame that he figured was trust, made him feel…different. “So we start tomorrow.” Darkblaze replied. Letting out a yawn. “We’ll start shortly after you send Meadow off to school. Don’t want her seeing what we’ll be doing.”
“So…beds?” Shade said, walking over and rolling Meadow onto his back.
“Oh right… Up the stairs, to the right. There’s only one spare bed.”
“I’ll sleep on the couch…I’m not picky.” Shade said, fluttering his wings to float up the stairs, the sleeping filly staying on his back.
He carried the filly up into the room, looking around. He noticed how the bed was in pristine condition, it looked like it had never been slept on at all. Which given how Darkblaze felt about other Changelings, it wasn’t surprising. Once he placed the small brown filly on the bed, he placed the blanket onto of her. Giving her mane a little ruffle.
“Sleep tight, Meadow.” He whispered. “May your dreams be pleasant…” He walked out of the door, closing it silently, before he walked down the stairs to see Darkblaze smiling at him. “What?”
“You care about her.” Darkblaze said, the smile slightly expanding.
“What? I don’t…”
“Yes you do… Don’t lie.” Darkblaze said. “That spell of mine stops you from seeing emotions, not me.”
Shade sighed. “Alright so I feel responsible for the kid. Shoot me if that’s wrong.”
Darkblaze rolled his eyes. “You would have made such a bad Changeling.”
“What makes you say that?” Shade replied.
“Well, let’s see.” He sat down and began counting on his hoof. “You can’t use magic, you don’t want to drain anypony, you know nothing about ponies, and the only reason you haven’t been found out is because you know nothing about Changelings either. Plus…you are protecting a pony without even wanting to use them as food.”
“Is that a threat?” Shade asked, completely willing to fight another Changeling if it meant he could protect Meadow.
“No. No. No.” Darkblaze said, waving his hooves in a time out movement. “I’m not with the Hive anymore, so I’m trying to get into the swing of having friends… I’m just saying that you are a terrible Changeling by Hive standards. By Pony standards… you are probably one of the best Changelings they’ve ever seen.”
Shade let his aggressive stance go, much to Darkblaze’s relief. “Sorry, Darkblaze.” Shade said. “I just don’t want to let her down… I promised to her that I would protect her.”
“And you will.” Darkblaze said placing a helpful hoof on Shade’s shoulder. “She trusts you…that’s the most important thing. So long as you don’t lose that, you will have no problems. Now you should get some sleep. We have a busy day ahead of us.”
A few minutes later, Darkblaze had left to go upstairs, Shade was lying on the couch, getting used to the semi comfortable couch, it was soft, but very firm. Shade wasn’t feeling exactly tired…then he saw the golden trimmed book. Might as well.
Shade got up and grabbed the book, walking back over to the couch and laying down, opening the book.
Over one thousand years ago…