Not A Good Day
NOT A GOOD DAY
It’s fair to say that I have a lot on my mind when I leave the house in the morning.
I probably could have gone straight to Azalea’s after my train arrived last night, but I convinced myself that it was late and I shouldn’t bother until the next morning. My original intention had been to catch her on the way into town, until I accidentally slept through my alarm and got moving a half an hour later than I meant to. Looks like I’ll be doing this in public, then. Not exactly ideal, but I’m going to be slammed for the next couple days with work and I don’t want to put it off that long.
Stopping in at the office, I touch base with Rainbow Dash about what needs to get done while she’s gone. It’s all fairly run of the mill stuff, no big surprises. Blossom and I should be able to handle it easily between the two of us. Once she’s done with that she explains that she hasn’t started packing for her trip that afternoon yet and excuses herself with a final ‘good luck’ to the two of us. Right, wouldn’t want to rush into anything by packing a suitcase the night before. That would be crazy. Still, it’s just us in our temporary shared office for the next couple of days.
“Hey, Blossom, would you mind if I took lunch first? I have an errand to run.”
“Sure,” she says, “what’s up?”
I hesitate, but I already roped her into this. She’ll find out sooner or later anyway. “I’m going to stop seeing Azalea.”
Blossom puts the schedule she’d been reading down on her desk and stares at me, befuddled. “Why, did something happen? Do you need to talk about it?”
“It’s not that, exactly,” I begin as I settle down into my chair, “it’s just a feeling I have. Something about our whole relationship is just... off. I need some time to figure it out.”
She watches me for several seconds like she’s waiting for me to go on, and when I don’t she closes her eyes and slowly shakes her head. “Oh, Cloud Kicker. I’m really disappointed to hear you say that.”
“Why? It’s my relationship. I just need some space.”
“You finally find a mare who you’re falling for, you date her for a couple of weeks, and now that you have all these feelings that you don’t know how to deal with you’re turning tail and running away.”
I jump back up and press my forehooves into the desk. “I’m not running away! I’m trying to sort out whether that’s how I really feel for her.”
“By avoiding her?” Blossom squeezes her eyes closed and rubs her forehead with a hoof. “This is sort of becoming a pattern with you, Cloud. If you stay with her, what’s the worst that could happen, really? But this? This is you and West Hoof all over again.”
“This is nothing like my decision not to go into the guard. That was-”
“A big, long-term change that would have taken you outside of your comfort zone,” Blossom finishes for me. “Look, I love you, and it’s your life, but if you don’t take a chance on somepony someday...” she trails off.
“So it’s marry Azalea or die alone. Thanks, Blossom, that’s really helpful.” I spin around to face the wall rather than watch her talk down to me. Just because she’s in a long-term relationship she’s suddenly the expert on how I should live my life?
“That isn’t what I said at all, and you know it. Don’t be difficult.” I hear her chair squeak behind me, and soon there are two white wings wrapped around me, chair and all, reaching just far enough around that the tips almost touch across my chest. “You wouldn’t ever be alone. If you’re sure this is what you really want to do, then go ahead. I’ll watch the office until you get back.”
“Thanks, Blossom. I love you too, okay?”
“I know.” She kisses the top of my head and leaves the room to me and my thoughts. Blossom isn’t really a ‘trust your instincts’ sort of pony in the same way I am, so it might just be that she can’t relate to the idea that I’d make a decision based on what feels right.
Or it might be that she’s completely right, and I’m running away.
I don’t regret my decision to leave the guard, but it’s certainly has cast a pall over my life for the last couple of years. Not to mention it made things difficult for a lot of ponies that I care about. But then again, didn’t Glint tell me just yesterday that they’d take me back if I ever changed my mind? Can’t I explain that this is just temporary? Or do I just want to believe I can have it both ways?
I could spend hours going around in circles in my head. Heck, I already have. When in doubt, action is better than inaction. I force myself out of the chair and through the door, leaving via the roof and then gliding down to the street below. I trot towards the square on autopilot, lost in thought. Carrot Top wanders down the other side of the street and waves as she goes by. “Thanks for the rain!” she calls out. I just wave back and keep going. I guess Azalea’s backup plan came through. Great, another reminder of something I owe her for while I’m on my way to hurt her. Just when I thought I couldn’t feel worse about this.
I approach Azalea’s cart during a lull in the hoof traffic. She and Applejack are the only ponies close enough to hear what we’ll be talking about, assuming nothing escalates into a screaming match.
“Cloudy!” she says as I catch her eye. “Want a flower? It’s on the house. How was Manehatten?”
“Azalea, can we talk for a minute?” I ask. She nods and trots over to me, but when she moves to kiss my cheek I back away.
“Is something wrong?” she asks, confused and a little hurt.
“I think that we should stop seeing each other romantically,” I say. There’s a sharp intake of breath from Applejack, but she doesn’t say anything. Azalea just looks confused.
“I’m... surprised that you feel that way, Cloudy,” she says. Her voice is rigid, like she’s choosing her words very carefully. “I was under the impression that you felt pretty strongly that everything was going well.”
“I did, I mean, I do, err, that is...” I suddenly struggle to find the right words. I was expecting angry, angry I could handle. But nothing I’ve seen from her thus far prepared me for her turning frigid. “You’re great, really, and these last couple of weeks have been a lot of fun. But it’s like I said before: I’m new to this whole relationship thing. I just want to take a little time to sort out how I really feel, and I don’t want to lead you on if I’m just going to hurt you down the road.”
“What kind of dang fool excuse is that?” interjects Applejack.
“Applejack,” says Azalea without looking away from me, “I appreciate your support, but I want to talk to Cloud Kicker privately about this. Why don’t you take your cart back to the farm? It’s almost time for you to head off to meet your train anyway, and I’d hate to make you miss it.”
“Alright, alright, ah know when ah’m not wanted. You better tread real careful, Kicker. Ah don’t take kindly to ponies hurtin’ one another.” With a few quick, well-practiced kicks, the cart she’s been selling her apples from folds right up for travel and she pulls it away from us, mumbling as she goes.
When I turn back to Azalea, there’s a little more of the hurt I expected to see in her face. “Did... did I do something wrong?”
“No, Azalea, absolutely not. I know this is a cliche, but it’s not you, it’s me.”
She takes a deep breath, then lets it out in a huff. “I think I understand. You’ve got an awful lot of love to give, Cloudy, that’s clear. You just need to find somepony that knows how to take that love and put it to good use, right?”
I frown, but she’s taking this pretty well so I see no need to contradict her. “I guess that’s one way to think about it.”
“You’ll find them, Cloudy, or they’ll find you. Maybe sooner than you expect. Just try to hang in there a little longer, okay?” She steps towards me and gives me a big hug.
“So you’re okay with this?” I ask. “I’d hate for you to disappear out of my life before I figured this out.”
“Oh, you can’t get rid of me that easily,” she says with a little giggle. “If you say there’s still a chance for us to be together then I trust you.”
“I trust you, too,” I reply. It feels good to say.
“You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that,” she says. She gives me a peck on the cheek and backs away again. “That flower I offered you is still on the table by the way.”
And so I end up walking away from the market with a spring in my step, munching away on the petals of a flower. I can’t believe how well that went. This day is looking up.
------------------------------
Well, the day was looking up until I discovered that Rainbow Dash decided to leave the entire next two weeks' schedule and payroll to us while she went off to have fun in Canterlot. I glance over at the clock: half past five. She’s probably laughing it up with Pinkie Pie while they take a cushy chariot ride up to the palace. Not that I can begrudge them too much what with all the ‘saving the world’ stuff they keep getting roped into, but asking her to do the paperwork associated with her day job half-competently doesn’t seem that unreasonable.
I twist my neck to one side and hear something crack. Cramps make me cranky, I’ll admit. Maybe my appointment with Aloe and Lotus should go ahead after all...
I shake my head and put down the paper I’m pretending to read. No way. I owe it to Azalea to figure out what I really feel for her before any of that. Maybe one more hour of paperwork, then I’ll head home, pour myself a bubble bath, and just stay in for the evening. That sounds like just the ticket.
So naturally, the clanging of the bell summoning the town to some kind of emergency meeting rings out through my office at just that moment.
“What now?” I mutter to nopony in particular, but dutifully make my way out onto the street anyway. I’m not the only one who’s confused; I’m passed by a pair of stallions complaining about having some game they were playing interrupted, but as I get closer to the town square I see Mayor Mare waiting impatiently for us to assemble.
“Hey, Cloud Kicker, any idea what’s going on?” asks Lyra from behind me. I turn to her and just shrug.
“Whatever it is, let’s just skip it,” says Bon Bon. “I have a batch of cookies that’ll be ruined if I don’t get them out of the oven in the next few minutes.”
Lyra gives her a gentle whack to the back of the head, although she follows it up with an apologetic kiss. “If they’re calling an emergency meeting, it’s probably more important than a dozen cookies, Bonnie.”
“Lies and heresy. Besides, there were two dozen cookies in there when you yanked me away.”
“We’re going to try to get a little closer before the speech starts. See you later?”
“Sure.” I reply. The two of them squeeze into the crowd, while I spread my wings and jump into the air, hovering nearby to give the earthbound ponies a bit more space. The multihued crowd mills about for several more minutes before the mayor decides that enough ponies are present for her to begin.
“Good afternoon, my little ponies,” she says. She clears her throat while the townsfolk come to order. “I’m afraid I come before you with very serious news. We’ve just confirmed preliminary reports from Canterlot, and I’m afraid there’s no good way to say this. Canterlot has been attacked by changelings.”
“What?”
“Not again!”
“Are the Princesses alright?”
“Are we next?”
“The horror!”
The mayor holds up a hoof and silence falls instantly. “Now there’s still a great deal we aren’t sure of yet, and information is patchy at best. I’m afraid all we can do for now is remain safe and hope for the best. In any case, I think the one thing we can be sure of is that we need to prepare ourselves for a long, dragged out-”
And then the world explodes.
Well, not the whole world, although the initial impact of the pressure wave would have fooled me. The force sends me flying and I plummet into the pony below me, and I don’t even have time to mutter an apology before a deafening roar drowns out all the sound around me. I look up, and from the direction of Canterlot I see a dome of twisting rainbows spreading out at impossible speed, obscuring everything in its wake. It’s rushing towards us over the fields and plains without stopping or slowing, and I have only a few seconds to mutter a quick prayer consisting of Please Shadow please don’t let me die today before it slams into the edge of the town. A second later later it overtakes me and...
...does absolutely nothing as it passes through me and travels onward, phasing through building like they aren’t even there. Well that was something of an anticlimax.
I hear a familiar voice start to scream.
The ponies around her back away to create some space, and from my vantage point I see Bon Bon rolling around on the ground wreathed in multi-colored flames. Lyra is trying to reach for her, but she’s forced back by the heat. Before I can collect myself enough to find a raincloud, her coat disintegrates revealing shiny black chitin beneath it. Her face melts away to uncover huge compound eyes and fangs. The flames abruptly extinguish themselves, and everypony knows what the creature laying there in the street is.
Before any of us can react, a thin crack starts to open up along its side and a violent, blinding light shines out from it. The crack widens and spreads, spiderwebbing over its entire body as the light only grows in intensity, forcing me to look away. There’s an unearthly screech, and the light starts to fade away. In the spot where the changeling was just a moment ago is a smoldering husk of changeling skin and, once again, Bon Bon. She opens her eyes, blinks rapidly, and squeezes them shut again. “Oh... my head... what... what...”
Lyra stares down at the... something... on the ground in front of her. Eventually, it opens its eyes and looks up at her. It smiles and raises a shaky hoof towards her.
And that’s when Lyra slaps the creature across the face.
“Where is she?” Lyra demands before striking another blow, kneeling over the thing and pinning it to the ground with her knees. “Where’s my Bonnie, you disgusting little bug?”
“Lyra! Please, that hurts. I-”
“Good!” Lyra screams into the thing’s face. “Did you hurt her? Did you kill her? Where is she?”
“I... give me a second, there are all these memories-”
“Quit stalling!” she lifts the thing’s head off the ground and bashes it down onto the hard cobblestone. “Tell me what you did to the real Bon Bon!”
“But I am... but I remember... Lyra, I remember everything. I remember us! Remember our fourth date? When I made the little chocolates with the harp marks on them? When you and I decided to call them Sweet Hearts?”
“Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare! Those aren’t your memories, they’re hers. You will tell me what you did with her or I will destroy you. Do you understand me?”
“Please believe me. Please, Lyra. I love yo-”
Lyra tilts her head up to the sky, eyes closed, and shrieks loud enough to drown out the last syllable. “I hate you, you monster. How can you say that to me? With the voice you stole? Wearing the face you took? You sicken me. Now, last chance. Where. Is. Bonnie?”
The thing’s tears mix with the blood flowing from the gashes on its face. “...Attic. I wrapped her up in a cocoon and put her in the attic. She’ll be fine. Just give me a chance to make this right, somehow. I have to. I have to make you see that I don’t need to be like that anymore. Isn’t there anything I can do to make you forgive me?”
Lyra’s chest heaves as she gasps for breath, tiny sobs of relief escaping her lips at the news that Bon Bon is safe. Her wild eyes dart around the crowd of ponies staring at the pair of them in horror, and her horn flares to life. In a rage-fuelled display of power I never would have believed her capable of, the magic field wraps around a three-meter tall lamp post and rips it out of the nearby sidewalk. She drags the post over as ponies step aside to allow it to scrape past them until the heavy metal base hovers just inches above the thing’s forehead. It stares up at the dirty iron, mouthing little words that I can’t make out from up here. With a groan, Lyra hefts the post like a baseball bat high above her and looks down at the thing for the last time.
“You can die.”
I’ll give Lyra the benefit of the doubt. It’s entirely possible she’s just trying to scare the thing that, after all, abducted her marefriend and did who-knows-what afterwards. She might not really have it in her to be a killer. I’ll never know for sure, though, because my shoulder slamming into her chest as I tackle her off the thing disrupts her magic and the lamp post lands harmlessly a few inches away from its face. It fights its way onto its hooves sobbing as Lyra struggles beneath me. “Lyra. Lyra!” I shout into her face as she tries to writhe out from under me. “This isn’t what Bon Bon needs, okay? She needs you to go help her. I know how angry you must be, but you need to settle down now. For her.”
Slowly, a touch of sanity returns to Lyra’s eyes. “For her?”
“Go be her hero, Heartstrings,” I say as I gently stroke her mane. A second later I feel her relax a bit and I get up off of her. She forces her way through the crowd, thankfully in a different direction than that thing went. Speaking of which, it’s standing in the street a small ways off from the crowd, petrified with fear.
It gasps and wipes the blood out of its eyes. Then it opens its mouth to address us, to try to explain itself.
I wonder who threw the first rock. I suspect there are a lot of things I’ll wonder about today for a long time. In the end, it doesn’t really matter.
The rock only glances along the thing’s flank, but its enough. That first stone is followed by others, and assorted trash and even wrappers as the mob grows restless. Ponies are generally peaceful, friendly creatures, but we’re also a herd species. Once the avalanche has started, there’s no turning it back. The thing does the only thing it reasonably can: turns tail and gallops for the edge of town in hopes of escaping the mob’s wrath.
I don’t chase after it like most of the other ponies do. But I don’t do anything to help it, either. For now, I just need to fly away from the whole sordid mess.
-----------------------
A few hours later, after we’ve pulled Bon Bon out of the cocoon and she’s recovering in the hospital with Lyra perched at the side of her cot, I finally return home. My house is dark and not very inviting. I can’t bring myself to go in there just yet. Instead I keep walking around the block to try to sort out the events of the day. To my surprise, Azalea’s lights are still on. I need to talk to somepony, and she probably does too. Even the pony who dumped her what now feels like a week ago. I walk up to her stoop and knock on the front door. For a long time there’s just silence, and I’m about to walk away when I hear a voice call out from behind the door. "Who's there?"
"It's Cloud Kicker. Can I come in?"
"Why? What do you want?" Great, she must be more upset than I thought. That's partly my fault. Impeccable timing, dumping her on the day of a massive changeling attack.
"I just want to talk to you," I say. There's movement in her window and a few seconds later I hear the locks on the door being undone.
The pony who opens the door is nothing like the cute and collected mare I remember. Her eyes are red and puffy from crying, and a subtle little tremor passes through her body as I watch. "How are you holding up?" I ask her. I lean in to give her a hug but she stumbles back in alarm.
"Don't touch me. Just... not right now," she whimpers. Still, she doesn't slam the door in my face.
"Sorry, sorry. I guess after everything that happened today I thought we could both use somepony to talk to."
"The invasion? I heard about that. Crazy, right?" she asks and lets out a mirthless little chuckle, far too high-pitched to be authentic.
"Were you at the emergency meeting? Didn't you hear what happened with Bon Bon?" I ask. Maybe Azalea didn't realize the significance of the bells, being new in town.
"Bon Bon? Is she alright?"
"She is now, but she'd been copied by a changeling. When that explosion happened, its disguise slipped in front of everypony."
Azalea gasps, and her shaking gets worse. "What happened to the changeling?"
"You don't have to worry. Lyra jumped it and beat it up, then we chased it out of town. If it tries to come back, there are plenty of ponies that looked pretty eager to finish it off for good." Azalea has gone very still.
"Do you think... do you think that's the right thing to do? To kill it on sight?" she asks.
"Well, if it were up to me I'd want to capture and question it first. Why? I thought you of all ponies would want it destroyed. Didn't you say that they should all be squashed?"
She starts to pace back and forth across the room, muttering to herself. Then she looks up at me with a mad, desperate look in her eyes. "Of course. Just like I said. Kill them all for what they... for all the terrible things they..." she trails off and starts crying. She runs over to me and pulls me against her, her breath coming in raspy, heaving sobs.
I hug her back, glad that I can be here to comfort her. "It's all going to be fine, Azalea. If there are any more of those monsters in town, we'll flush them out before anypony gets hurt." Something tingles at the edge of my senses. "Hey, did you change shampoos or something? You smell different."
She sniffles, but gives a little laugh. "Wow, Cloudy. You really know how to make a mare's day. First you dump me, then you tell me a friend of mine was a changeling, and now you're topping it off by saying I stink. No wonder you're so popular." She relaxes a bit, going limp in my forelegs as I lower us both gently to the carpet without letting her go. A pang of regret courses through my mind. Maybe it's just the shock of the day making me desperate, but my feelings for Azalea are becoming a lot clearer. The desperate, out-of-control need to love her feels like its been stripped away, leaving the core of something solid and lasting that I'm more comfortable with.
"Better?" I ask.
"A little. But this doesn't solve anything, not really. Do they know how long Bon Bon has been a changeling for?"
I stiffen up, not at all pleased that I have to broach this subject now before she’s calmed down a bit more. Bon Bon wasn’t in any condition to answer all our questions, but we got a bit of information while Blossom and I flew her to the hospital. "It was the night of that party at my house. That order she took must have been a ruse to get her alone in the shop so the changeling would have an opportunity to replace her without Lyra walking in at an awkward time."
"Does she know who placed the order?"
I shake my head. "She said it was some stallion she didn't recognize, and if it was a changeling they could look like anypony they wanted to."
"Sounds like a dead end, then," says Azalea, snuggling a little closer to me.
"The order is, sure. But the changeling would have to know when Lyra was out so it could make its move. I've been thinking that if there are multiple changelings, one of them could have passed a message to the others that she was out of the way. They have that whole hive mind thing going for them, after all."
Azalea slowly nods, thinking through my logic. "So maybe look for ponies who were lingering around her store that evening?"
"Nah, too obvious. I think I know where they would be watching from, but you aren't going to like it."
She looks me in the eye, scared and confused. "Where then?" she asks, almost a whisper.
"I think one of the ponies at my party was a changeling."
Azalea squeezes her eyes shut, and her sobs begin again. I can't blame her. "I know, I know, it scares me too that we could have been talking to it all night without knowing. But at least it gives us a short list of ponies who-" I freeze. Pieces start to fall into place. "I think I know who it is."
Azalea is absolutely bawling now. "Cloudy, please don't say it. Just... just lay with me here for one more minute. Let me hold on for just one more minute before-"
"I think it's Algae Bloom."
Silence falls over the room, interrupted only by the ticking of the clock. "Algae Bloom?"
"Think about it. She swings by the party just long enough to confirm Lyra's there, then she picks up Minuette to feed off of and leaves to go who knows where? It's circumstantial, but it fits. Unless you can think of a better suspect."
She shakes her head vigorously. "I think she's definitely the pony you should focus on." She rolls over and faces away from me. "Why are you telling me all this, Cloudy? I don't see how I can help."
I ponder that question for a minute. "I'm not sure, exactly. Part of it is that talking through a problem helps me solve it sometimes. Another part... something just tells me that I can trust you."
Azalea gets up and walks across the room to where a small mirror hangs on her wall, and she studies her reflection. "You trust me? That's still... uh... I mean, even after all the craziness that's happened today?"
"Sure, why wouldn't I?”
She smiles at me. “That means so much to me, Cloudy. Thank you.” She walks into her bathroom and out of sight, but leaves the door open.
“Listen, if you don’t want to be alone tonight I can stay here and crash on your couch, or you can come over to my place,” I say, raising my voice to be heard over the running water.
When Azalea emerges again, she looks a bit more put together and gives me a wry look. “Regretting what you told me this morning?” That gets a wince out of me, not that I don’t deserve it. “My answer’s no, Cloud Kicker. It isn’t that I don’t appreciate the offer, but you aren’t the only one who needs a little space at the moment. I’ve got... a lot of things jumbled up in my head right now.”
“Understandable. It’s been a rough day.” I walk over and lay a wing over her back, and she responds by nuzzling my cheek.
“I’m so sorry, Cloudy,” I hear her whisper just at the edge of hearing. I give her a little kiss on the muzzle in response. She has nothing to be sorry for. If anything I’m the one who’s acting like a fickle brat.
“I’ll check in on you tomorrow, okay? Sweet dreams.”
She watches me leave without saying something, and as I close her front door behind me the last thing I hear is her beginning to cry again. The poor thing must be terrified. I promise myself that I’m going to ferret out any more imposters that haven’t left the town yet, for her sake if nothing else.
Even though it’s late at night, an unusual number of ponies are still milling about chatting with their neighbors. I suspect a lot of ponies are in for an unquiet night. Luna will have her hooves full for the next few weeks. I, for one, am looking forward to settling in for the night. I’m practically counting the steps as I approach my front door.
The door’s ajar.
Ever so carefully, I push it open. Slowly, so the hinges don’t squeak. The interior is pulled apart, it looks like somepony was in a hurry. My saddlebags are sitting on the kitchen counter, haphazardly loaded up with the food from my pantry. I can’t tell if there was any rhyme or reason to what the intruder packed, or if they just scooped as much as they could into the bags.
As I creep down the hallway, the sound of running water from the bathroom catches my ear. There’s dim light streaming through the crack under the door. Lowering myself onto my belly and peeking through it, I can see two hooves planted in front of the sink and hear somepony muttering under their breath.
Pressing myself against the wall by the doorknob, I consider my options. I could leave to get the guard, but they’re probably running all over the place already with everything that’s going on. This pony could be long gone by the time I find one and bring them back. Besides, right now I have the element of surprise, I’m probably better trained than any burglar, and I know more about the layout of my own house than he or she does. Tactical assessment complete, I take a few moments to collect my wits and slow down my pounding heart before spinning around and kicking down the door in a single blow. In the near darkness, I can make out the shape of a pegasus, her coat the same color as mine, running her green hair under the tap. An open bottle of mane dye sits beside the mirror. I flip the main light on, and the pony yanks her head out of the sink in alarm. She pushes the soaking wet mane out of her face, and in an instant my plan to quickly subdue her is shocked out of my mind. She has my face.
I just found the other changeling.
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Well, shenanigans.
I friggin love this story!
The best part of this story is that the changelings are ... well... unknown. They're not Time Loop changelings per se; they've got more than a bit of Winningverse and, just now, references to Mendacity in the mix so that we have to stop and consider them as fresh villians.
I'm excited.
But, if Cloudkicker hadn't been replaced, why would she have a changeling?
Loving the story, Eakin! Thanks for the awesome crossover!
3151022
Pshaw. There is enough love for Cloudy around Ponyville that you'd need a veritable army of replacements to catch it all.
Also, there was probably also a reason why Azalea was not so upset by the breakup. It might not have been an issue for long.
Oh man, without the worry of heart-wrenching drama I can just sit back and enjoy the awesome hilarity that is about to ensue. :D
Poor Double-Bon. I hope that eventually things will work out as well for her as they do for Kicky and Azalea.
Well, no first this time. Not that it's important or anything; frankly juvenile at best.
Still, I'm thankful that at least I know the other plot points well enough to understand the suspicions about who Azalea thought Cloud Kicker was going to accuse as being the other changeling (though I'm amused that it ended up being Algae Bloom, in any case), as well as the other changeling showing up in Cloud Kicker's own home.
Bravo, Eakin. Bravo.
INSERT AWKWARD SUPERCRUSH MOMENT FOR CLOUDY HERE, FOLLOWED BY 30 SECONDS OF PONIES FLEEING IN HORROR AT THE PROSPECT OF THE BANGING BEING DOUBLED
3146774
I don't see how it could be. Parallel timelines with infinite universes that one person can cross between. That seems pretty solid to me. Its just not very well explained outside of finding all the recordings
i.imgur.com/JAcGzcv.gif
So... time for hijinks to ensue? Please let the hijinks ensue!
Damn, Blossom.
Paperwork and explosions, oh the equanity!
Ooooo, Bon Bon! Holy shit, Lyra!
And now the other Kicker!
Well that was awesome.
Wow... That got intense quickly.
Now I'm really curious as to what would possess Azalea to want a date with Twilight Sparkle. I know some time passes and the former changelings find acceptance in pony society, but a date with Twilight "Kill on sight once the invasion begins" Sparkle? Twilight "just rewrote the DNA of your entire species" Sparkle? I suspect that it can't just be because she's cute.
I wonder if Kicker will sell out who else in town used to be a changeling, or if they decide to let each other come out of the closet in their own time? Azalea's secret seems to have been kept, but who knows if Cloud Kicker knew before Twilight did or not? I suppose we'll find out.
I can't help but wonder what that's like for the Changlings. Based of the behavior, anything the pony they're copying felt, they feel. Surely the Changlings must have a way to normally keep they're own identities separate from the ones they're borrowing - though, if they do, then the giant spell got rid of it when it turned them all into normal ponies. What must that be like, to know who you are, what you feel - and know that its all stolen from somepony else?
3151853
Even though this is nominally a Cloud Kicker fic, that whole dynamic with the old and new identities and how they interact was one that I felt I didn't explore as much as I could have in the trilogy, hence this little spin off. It's going to suck in assorted different ways for Lyra, Bon Bon, Cloudy, Kicky, and Azalea as they deal with the aftermath.
3151817
Let me suggest a rephrasing: Twilight "just enlightened at great personal cost my entire species and freed us from psychic tyranny" Sparkle
Plus if you believe what she said during their argument in Stitch chapter eight, she never really expected the relationship to go anywhere.
Dammed be you, Eakin! I am enjoying this story much more than I should!
Which is a lot of course!
I love how Cloud interpretes the terrible state of mind of Azalea, and we do know what is going on. I can't wait to meet Kicky!
Also, it felt...odd to read Hard Reset from this perspective. All those good and bad adventures...were actually 3 hours. Puts it all in perspective.
And now I feel terrible for that secound copy of BonBon
3151022 Remember what was said earlier? Cloud and Azalea had been seen around Ponyville when Cloud was at home at that time. Cover and concealment.
3151817 Cloud didn't. Azalea told Twilight that Cloudy stood by Kicky, and I want to say daring anypony to try anything.
I'm sure there's going to be a fight, though. Then make-up sex. This is Cloud we're talking about.
Well, this is going to be interesting, in just about every sense of the word, isn't it?
Though, now I guess we can all see that Cloud Kicker has finally found her soul-mate. Maybe even literally.
3152166
I'm not gonna spoil anything, but this particular paragraph from Fate is canon...
3152180 I assumed they were with other ponies, not each other. My bad.
3152206
Oh, they are with other ponies. Otherwise I'd have phrased it as 'a long term relationship' instead of 'long term relationships.'
3152215 Someone shoot me before I say something else that's really stupid.
Hey, Twilight, got anything that explodes three times?
Yeeesss. Yeeeeeeessss. YEEEESSSSSSSS
Ok. Now my brain needs to process Hard Reset and this story. Seriously, this is just...ridiculous.
The last line of the chapter, should that be "another changeling" instead of "the other changeling"?
3152603
It helps to realize that, from the outside, the first four chapters of Hard Reset take place over three hours. By the end of this chapter, Twilight is happily in the middle of the sleepover with her friends at her parents' house.
3152215
Considering who we're talking about here, that still doesn't rule out the chances of them being in a relationship together.
3152609 Nope. Cloud Kicker is under the assumption there's only two changelings and is unaware Azalea was a changeling. She's also unaware the operative word is WAS.
Technically, should be a comma here.
Think should be a comma here as well.
How very ominous...
comma here again
Again
Anyway... ooh.... the awkwardness that will ensue if Cloudy discovers who Azalea is.
And poor converted Bons...
I do look forward to what will ensue next.
3152890
Hmmph. I think I'm treating those examples of 'and' like 'as.' Thanks.
3151022
Azalea mentioned she was going to have somepony cover for Cloud Kicker at Carrot Top's rainstorm while Cloud was busy. Cloud I think just met her.
"Hey sexy."
3151022
The help that azalea was talking about was a changeling, possibly one that they were considering having replace her.
3152838
She knows that there is at least 1 more changeling in town.
Ugh, you gotta feel sorry for some of these changlings. Becoming someone your not and being stuck like them or even having that ponies memories? Man that just has to suck and then you have the fact that everypony wants to kill you...
3156807
3153902 You win my thumbs up.
3157926
I actually might be slightly disappointed if those aren't the first words out of Cloud Kicker's mouth.
Nah, the story's too good to have a line like that.
3158498
*GASP*
3158498
NOT DISAPPOINTED. Go ahead and kill the link.
3152614 Yeah. It's just that I need to remember all of Hard Reset again(or at least what matters)and synch it up with this. That's what I mean. Still fun though :)
3159392
I'll try to weave little reminders about what's going on with Twilight in through future chapters, just to make sure everyone's on the same page continuity-wise.
3161585 Great idea! One can only remember so much when their mind is blown into fragments with new information.
MY GOD MAN! you certainly love this universe don't you?
Damn it, another spinoff.
I have my own stories I'm trying to write but I just end up reading yours.
From pre-time-loop Changeling!Azalea, that sounds really creepy.
(Edit: Also, I hope the second Bon Bon is fine.
)
I wonder whether anypony ever apologized to the new BonBon: