This story is a sequel to My Little Changeling: Friendship is Weird
After the most important changeling artifact, the Evershifting Stone, is stolen by ponies, one changeling is blamed and exiled. How can he earn back his place in the hive? Find the thief and bring back the Stone.
He tracks the thieves all the way to Canterlot, which has changed a surprising amount in the past year and a half. Can he really find a thief among the confusing mess that is pony life and changeling integration?
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Cover image graciously provided by Raster!
Found on Equestria Daily here!
Chapters (6)
To quote Twilight.
Oh, I can tell this is going to be good!!!
3145551 Aww yeah!!!!
Hmm!
Let's see what will happen, sure that if a great treasure was stolen are trouble.
Seem like the opening is shorter than most of your usual chapters.
Freak eating accident?
I don't get the joke.
That advisor of yours is mighty suspisious.
He´s up for no good I think. 
Sounds like a setup of some kind
Yep, it's a setup.
3145671
hmmm... ponies in royal guard armor who weren't white? or bat ponies? hmm.... secessionists? Unlikely, ponies are happy with Celestia/Luna ruling, wouldn't secede unless extremely upset, but Celestia or Luna would try to reason with would have been brought up at some point if that is the case.... possibly anti-Changeling extremists dissatisfied with the recent integration of changelings into pony society seeking to create an incident to bring more people onto their side? likely noted in previous stories final chapter that some ponies and a number of nobles weren't happy at all that changeling were being made citizens, headed by noble previously mentioned, High Mighty? Perhaps Blueblood, does strike me as pony supremacist... again unlikely.... Entire incident engineered by fellow changelings? Extremely likely, Changeling society based on deceit and focus of self, willing to sacrifice much to gain ranking in matriarchs court, possibly planning to use the stone to increase their power and preform Coup against Chrysalis? again extremely likely.... or perhaps not, likely over thinking it to some degree.
anyway eagerly awaiting more.
Amazing as always
Chrysalis is banishing another changeling for a botched operation that was in many ways her own fault (one soldier and a few random heads guarding her most important relic?). Granted at least this one was in some way responsible for the operation, but that worked out so well for her last time, even before there was an active movement to integrate immigrant changelings who were fed up with her horsecrap.
I'm going to love seeing his reaction when certain ponies inevitably think he looks really good in a white scarf
3145958
We've seen plenty of gray guards.
3146313
It was supposed to be botched... #5 was set up to fail. It's made abundantly obvious. :)
- Stone was safest at Queen's side, but ordered taken away for unknown reasons.
- Given ordinary workers instead of trained soldiers.
- "Ponies" immediately put him to sleep... so he couldn't see what was going on?
- Awoke back in the hive with no explanation of how he got there.
- Queen is quick to pronounce a sentence that he finds doesn't seem to fit.
- Advisor knew guards were white-colored despite not being there.
I suspect the guards were changelings and the stone was returned to the Queen. #5 was made to think he failed and was exiled... perhaps as a ruse to turn him into an unwitting spy among ponies (eg something to do with Suncloak) or something along those lines.
That advisor couldn't have made his involvement more obvious if he had a neon sign hanging from his neck that said, "I'm the traitor."
I look forward to the day that Abigail Lincoln gets to punch his face in.
...
I just realized how badly I'm trying to force two completely different jokes into this comment.
3146446
Well yeah, it seems obvious that it was some kind of setup, and I doubt the stone was even present -- though the reasons behind the setup could go in any number of directions. My money's on Chrysalis scoping out the integration by injecting a soldier she still trusts (and stuck with a seemingly huge failure to guilt him into continued loyalty) rather than a disgruntled deserter, and possibly spark a false incident with Canterlot to sow distrust and retard the exodus.
That said, it doesn't seem like a very good plan unless she's changed her mind since the meeting with Suncloak and is actually open to the idea (doubtful). It pretty much hinges on #5 not talking to anyone, ever. When #5 inevitably runs into Suncloak, he's going to find distressingly common ground, the Canterlot guards are going to be a lot more open and helpful than he's expecting, and Chrysalis will as likely as not lose a trusted captain.
I love it. I really like #5 as a Changeling. Keep up the good work and I cannot wait for more!!!!!!!!
Once again, you leave me with a flawless work of writing... No seriously, you have absolutely NO grammatical or spelling mistakes. How do you do it?! Everyone else I've seen has at LEAST one in each work...
I digress.
...
I look forward to seeing where this road leads... as well as the appearance of our beloved changelings from MLC. *cough*Suncloak and Nova*cough*
Also, with all these changelings running around, I feel like it's hard to know who's real and who isn't.
...What if... no one's real...?
P.S.: This was a great way to finish my summer vacation. I start my senior year in under 12 hours... I thank you, sir.
I did, and didn't expect that....
If the Princesses are involved with this(Is Twilight a Alicorn in this story?) wouldn't this attack be an act of war.
So I clicked read later... then saw that this was part of the Suncloak series and immediately took it out of my read later and favorited it.
#5 will be the equivalent of Mad Eye Moody.
Several people here are already on the right track... Good, but you're not there yet!
3145647
Only when compared to MLC, really. On that note, every chapter of MLC was a story on its own, so all of them were a bit more complex. This'll be one whole story again, so the chapters are a little bit shorter. Expect chapters to be about 4k words on average.
3146167
I don't mind, not at all!
3146663
I'm not totally sold on the idea of common ground with Suncloak, should they encounter one another. For one, Suncloak was irrationally blamed for the failure in Canterlot. #5's blame, while not entirely fair, is at least rational. After all, he could have ordered the Stone moved to a location off the route they were taking and waited for the fog to lift. He could have had one of the changelings with him scout ahead and report back every five minutes, and sending one off to investigate sounds he heard instead of stopping every five minutes; it might not have stopped the attack, but it would have at least given them some warning when one didn't check in.
Now, we know that there was probably nothing he could've done to change the outcome; he's a patsy, plain and simple. But he might feel like there was something more he could've done, so even if he thinks his punishment isn't totally fair, he feels he deserves to be punished. And unlike Suncloak, he's been offered the possibility of returning to the hive.
If anything, he's more likely to treat Suncloak as an enemy than not.
I hope you get back to whatever Suncloak's doing right now at some point, but I like the introduction of #5 and his story so far...
The third story! Yes!
Okay, this entire mission is suspicious as hell. Either the changelings are just incompetent as a species, or this mission was designed to fail.
Looking forward to seeing what the integrated pony/changeling society looks like.
This whole theft of the crystal seems suspicious on a whole number of levels. The biggest reason being: why would the ponies even want it? Stealing it like this seems weirdly out of character for them.
I have a couple hunches as to what's up, some of which I think are pretty good, but on the off chance that I might be right, I'll keep 'em to myself for now.
Anyway, looking forward to more.
3150170 The Changelings are still a dangerous underground government, despite the rumors of Equestrian Changeling citizenship. If the Equestrians have the Stone, they essentially have control of the Changeling Hives through the Queen, and can blackmail their way into a nonaggression treaty. This kind of thing would have been planned by the Lunar Guard, though. The Solar Guard's better trained, but the Lunar is more likely to do black ops like that.
That, and djthomp suggested that the mission was designed to fail, suggesting the use of spies in high positions. The Ponies can keep the stone and enforce the treaty on both ends, and with Celestia's logevity, combined with Chrysalis's, they have a few thousand years to work things out, the cultures assimilate, and eventually, the Changelings and the Ponies are the same culture. I believe that's what happened with the Griffons. You see them in Equestria all the time, apparently, and given enough time of peace, cultures merge.
3150750
Exactly what I find amiss about it. I don't see Celestia condoning this unless she felt she had no choice, which clearly wasn't the case here. As you said, Celestia is more of the one to let things fix themselves. Luna, maybe, but only if she felt she had just cause to, and I'm not certain of that (not enough facts as of yet). And of course there's the fact that whatever Luna does, she's likely to okay it with Celestia first, and then we get back to the whole Celestia not having adequate justification. I admittedly don't buy the "blackmail their way into a nonaggression treaty" idea because that's not the pony way, and seems contrary to the fanfics portrayal of the universe. So unless the guards were acting without authorization, which is possible (though currently I think not), it all seems out of character for Equestria.
Which is why I don't think the ponies that stole the crystal were ponies at all. I think they were changelings, but of what allegiances and what their reasons were for stealing the crystal, I can't say for certain at this point.
I wouldn't put it past Chrysalis to falsely stage something like this so to manipulate others into getting something she wants, though (the fact that Chrysalis seems entirely too composed about the failed mission when she has a past history of being short-tempered doesn't help).
Again, I have hunches as to why she might want that, but I'll keep them to myself for now, just in case.
Aw man... We've only just met #5, and already I feel like giving him a hug.
In some ways, his punishment seems less harsh than Suncloak's (since he has a chance to come back and such), but in some ways, it only seems so much more brutal. He had high status in the hive, was given an impossible task, and then punished with an even more difficult one, plus having humiliation thrown on top of it!
I also feel like that "advisor" changeling was just mocking him when he talked about how elite #5 was. I'm willing to bet he's in on whatever plot there is against the poor guy...
I can't wait to read the next chapter! o3o
(By the way, when do we get to see Suncloak again? I miss him. xP)
Ni, you know you've written a really good story, with proper characterization and setting elements if you have people speculating and pondering things, as with the 3/4 comments below this one.
Been watching the story unfold since the first story, and I must say, congratulations man, not many people can pull it off.
How can anyone dislike this series? I bet this is going to be one of my favorite stories on the internet, assuming it is as good as the previous two.
We of Dark Aeon take credit for the theft. Even I, third in command, don't know all the agents. But I'm pretty sure it was us.
although I want an explanation from the pony who did this on why he/she thought this would remove a threat to Equestrian national security.
>>>Either it was some kind of last-minute weather emergency, or ponies had put it in place for an ambush. #5 assumed it was the latter.>>
At that moment, one of the other changelings suddenly went rigid. "My head! Something's trying to get into my head!" he screamed, clutching at his temples. He fell to his side and flailed frantically at his throat, croaking and jerking spastically as if fighting for control of his own body. "Www...ggg...wwwwwhhaaaaa..." the twitching changeling garbled.
"What is it?!" cried another of the bug ponies (Who are evil, since they're bug ponies.) in horror at the sight of one of their own apparently being mentally controlled (Oh, so it's only ok if you bugs mind control ponies! But not when it happens to youuuuuu! Hypocrites!) *Will you cut that out, Helix? This isn't your troll segment! Keep it up and I'm going to let Chrysalis have her way with you!* (Hmph, fine.)
Anyway... where were we... oh yes! The changeling gasped and choked, rolling about wildly on the ground while his his fellow changelings drew back, uncertain if they should help, or even if they should risk being near him.
With a great cry of agony and anguish, the changeling seized violently, and then fell still.
The others, terrified and yet insatiably curious like all cast members in a cliche horror movie, edged closer. One poked him with a stick. "I think he's dead!" it said in a quavering voice.
But then the body rose to its hind hooves in an unnatural manner, as though drawn up by a pupetteer's strings. A demonic grin spread across its jaws and the remaining changelings hastily scrambled back as they saw its now inky black eyes dripping black liquid (Cuz that's always creepy, no matter how completely overused.) *Shut... UP!*
It's mouth began to move, noiselessly for the first moments, and then a hollow, distant voice which grated upon their very souls in intonations of pure horror and dread began to sound... whether in their ears or in their minds they never knew..
"wwwHHHHHaaattTTT... Ccc-ooouuuld.. PoSSSSSSSiiBbbllyyyyyy... gGGGooOoOoO... wRoooonnnnggg..."
They barely had time to scream and turn to flee before the evil spirit of Murphy's Law destroyed them all by dropping the HMS Titanic on top of them.
So, here we go again, Niaeruzu.
I have been waiting for this.
For so.
Fucking.
Long.
While we seem to have an obvious conflict, be it major or minor (leaning towards the former), I can't wait to see how the story unfolds
3151077 "I wouldn't put it past Chrysalis to falsely stage something like this"
Not likely, though possible. What could she gain from exiling an elite because of an incompetent squad? Chrysalis may be loud, but I haven't seen her short tempered. She's cold and calculating and a zerger. Not a rage combatant.
Oh another sequel? I am pleasently suprised to be honest.
SUNCLOAK!
Calling it now: Those guards were probably other changelings, the Evershifting stone was a decoy, The advisor is actually Rasputin and Soylent green is ponies.
3153104
All right, I'll just come out and say it, so here's a few theories on what I figure is happening...
1: The most obvious one is that the ponies, for reasons not entirely clear, stole the crystal, either on orders from their respective princess or on their own and the changelings were just simply caught off guard. What their motives might be for this act are unclear, and how they knew Chrysalis was moving the crystal in advance is also unclear unless they have a changeling spy or other insider in the hive, OR they just stumbled across the party moving the crystal by chance and accident. If so, then its possible they might not even know what they've stolen. But I STRONGLY suspect there is more going on than this though, but I guess we'll see in due time.
2: The "ponies" were actually rogue changelings in disguise, probably from the changelings that have since integrated with Equestria, and stole the crystal most likely in a move to try and destabilize the changeling nation and to expedite the exodus of changelings from the hive into Equestria. If so, if they had orders to do so, or were acting independently is again unclear, but I'd lean more towards them acting independently. I find this theory one of the more likely ones.
3: The theft was staged by Chrysalis herself, so to pin the blame for the theft on the apparent guilty party of the supposed "theft," thus falsely justifying a tactical move against them. The obvious choice would be Equestria, but since it doesn't seem like Chrysalis really needs much excuse to attack Equestria, I would instead suggest that Chrysalis seeks to pin the blame on the rogue changelings, her reasoning likely being that this would give her just cause to properly crack down on them, discourage more changelings from leaving her hive and going rogue, and even possibly, if she played her cards right and proved the rogue changelings acted without Equestrian sanction (since it seems they currently are under Equestrian protection), get Equestria to side with her on the matter (though that could be a stretch). Banishing the elite guard would then be done either to just keep up appearances and to keep #5 out of the way should he happen to figure out something was amiss, OR, if we want to take this all a step further, that Chrysalis intends to use #5 in some way to further her agenda in this plot, perhaps through the laying of some false trail of evidence, but I would doubt Chrysalis would have taken it quite THAT far. Either way, IMO, I find this theory one of the other more likely ones.
4: The theft was staged by some other changeling acting without Chrysalis's knowledge, which case the most likely candidate for that would be Chrysalis's adviser, since it's already been implied he knows more than he's let on. There are several possible motives as to why. He could have had the crystal stolen in an attempt to basically hold it for ransom and force Chrysalis or her subjects into doing his bidding, possibly as a personal bid for power over the changeling nation. Or he supports the rogue changelings and had the crystal stolen to again expedite the changeling exodus from the hive. Or he did it simply to get #5 banished, because he had some grudge against him or wanted his job, or some like reason (but I find it unlikely).
5: Both Chrysalis and Equestria (or some party representing Equestria or part of it) are in on the theft of the crystal due to some kind of hidden alliance between them for motives yet unclear, but given the past history between them, AND Chrysalis's reaction to discovering that she had changelings abandoning her in the last story, I find this highly unlikely.
6: Some yet unknown third party not previously mentioned in these theories is behind the theft. Their motive would then, obviously, be unknown at present.
There, I think that pretty much covers all the possibilities. So...everybody pick the one you like best.
Personally, I'm for either 2 or 3, but to each their own.
3155194
Wow, that is a very long and theory-crafty comment. I love it.
Also, none of your theories are correct, though one of them is in the right direction.
3155958
It makes the story that much more enjoyable. 
Really? Well, color me impressed then! I was actually starting to worry I had the story too figured out already, so to hear I wasn't as close as I feared as I was is definitely a good thing.
i was hoping for suncloak but im eager for this one to continue! <3
omg i love it so far and the best thing is....he is FABULOUS! :D
lol XD
3156215
If I had to hazard a guess, I'd pick door number 2.
Sound like a great story can't wait for more.
3155194
Those are quite interesting, and I'm curious to know why you think the Changelings that are integrated with Equestria would want to do this to bring the Hive Changelings in when they seem fine as is.
OMG YES!, FINALLY!
3158776
It was really more of covering all of the possibilities that I came to it. I am fairly certain that the ones that stole the crystal were not truly ponies, so, assuming that was true, then what changelings would want to preform such an act?
I figured the rogue changelings could be capable of doing it, simply because they would stand to gain from it, either from getting more changelings to see hive-life wasn't necessarily the ONLY life, OR the best life, or by making a statement to Chrysalis to basically back off. That said, I also figure that if the rogue changelings ARE in any way responsible, I figure they aren't all united behind it. It'd just be a group acting independently of all the other rogue changelings. Maybe they have a personal grudge against the hive.
Either way, it feels kind of moot to discuss it, because apparently only one of my theories is on the right track (dunno which per say), and beyond that, none of them are correct with the direction the fanfic is apparently going to go in real life.
3159843
I don't know, I think it's interesting to discuss it since I had that same thought, though I couldn't imagine Suncloak to be to happy about it since he wants them to come of their own free will and at the time it seemed that Chrysalis and the hive were leaving the Equestrian Changelings alone.
3159960
Yeah, I can't see Suncloak being thrilled about it either, which is why I find it more likely that, should this be the case, it was a group acting independently, without the knowledge of other 'lings like Suncloak.
Looks interesting so far! I think Chrysalis might just want to see how another changeling (a more trusted one) reacts in the same situation as Suncloak. Or something like that. Nonetheless, looks like another great story in the making!
I just spent an entire day reading all of these, and I can't wait to see where this new turn leads our new protagonist
I think Chryssy is a little confused about how exile tends to work.