Converted

by Shaded Changeling

Chapter 6: My Day in Ponyville

As I began to wake up, the first things I noticed were that I was wrapped in some kind of blanket. Whatever it was, it was comfortable. The second was the walls of fire surrounding me. It wasn’t scary fire, it looked slightly comforting, and the fire was really low, only up to my knees. But it didn’t seem like it was meant to keep me in.
I blinked slightly as the sunlight hit my eyes; it was coming from a hole in the wall next to me. The wall itself had a big crack through it, hopefully that was there before.

I let out a yawn and looked around the room, I tried to find Mr. Nymph. But all that I saw was a red Pegasus lying next to a pile of rubble nearby. His mane was orange with streaks of black through it. His mane looked unkempt and shaggy, he had both his eyes closed and looked like he was sleeping.

After I did a little stretch to loosen up my legs, I hopped over the ring of fire around me and walked over to the Pegasus. I walked around to his left side; his hind leg was elevated slightly on the pile of rubble while vines held two branches around it. His Cutie Mark was of what looked like an upside down sword behind a detailed sun.

I poked him lightly in his side and tried to speak with him. “Um…excuse me, Mr. Pegasus, did you happen to see a Bug Pony around here?”

The Pegasus blinked his orange eyes, adjusting to the light before letting out a yawn. “Huh?”

“Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Pegasus…but I was wondering if you’ve seen a Bug Pony around here?” The Pegasus was rubbing his eyes with his hooves, trying to clear them. He sat up on his haunches before letting out another yawn and rubbing his right eye a little more.

“What time is it?” He said. Looking towards the hole in the wall. “Alright it’s still early.” He stretched his back, being careful not to put much pressure on his hind left leg.

“What was your question again?” He asked, keeping his right side facing the wall.

“Um…my name is Meadow Song…I was wondering if you’ve seen a Bug Pony around here?”

The Pegasus tapped his chin with his hoof. “Just to be sure.” He replied. “This Bug Pony, did he have a black shell?”

I nodded.

“And a curved horn?”

I nodded again.

“Little bug wings?” He said lifting his own wings.

I nodded again.

“And did he have a weird right eye?”

I nodded again. “Did you see him?”

“Well that depends,” he replied. “Did his eye look like this?” He turned his head to show me his right eye; it looked like a lizard’s eye. In fact, it looked almost exactly like…

“Mr. Nymph?” I asked looking at the red Pegasus in front of me. At this he cracked a little smile.

“Who else would it be?” He said opening his hooves to give me a little hug. I accepted the hug and wrapped my own hooves around him as a flash of green fire swirled around him and I was staring at Mr. Nymph.

“And just so you know,” Mr. Nymph said. “When I look like that, the name’s Sunstreak.”

“Yes, Mr. Nymph.” I replied looking up into his eyes.

“How many times do I have to tell you, my name is Shade? You don’t have to call me Mr. Nymph all the time.”

“Alright, Shade.” I could tell that he was smiling. “Did you fix your leg?”

He let go of the hug as he tried to steady himself on all four of his hooves. “Barely…I managed to splint it with some branches and vines I found.” He looked back at his leg. “It doesn’t stop it from hurting, but it certainly helps.” Then when he looked back at me, he seemed to remember something. “I found that village I was looking for.”

“That’s great!” I replied, then seeing the look of slight fear I added “Right?”

Shade sighed. “I’m just… kind of nervous about it.” His thin ears lowered to press against his head. “They already got word about the attack… And I’m sure they won’t think twice about convicting me for that. As well as in your ‘Kidnapping’” When he said “kidnapping” he made a circular motion with his hoof.

“But you didn’t foalnap me.” I replied.

“Yes, but they don’t know that. For all they know I might have you under some kind of…” He twirled his hoof while trying to find the word he was looking for. “Mind control spell or something. Sort of made you think I didn’t do it. Granted that is a load of horse feathers but again…they don’t know that.”

I walked up to his hoof and touched it with mine. “If they try to blame you for that. I’ll stick up for you.” Shade’s horn glowed a faint green color as a little smile began to creep up his face.

As he moved his hoof away he pulled the belt holding that knife he got from Canterlot out of the pile of rubble and slung it over his back. “Quick question, Meadow,” he said as he tightened the belt around him. “Could you really not tell it was me?”

I shook my head. I honestly had no idea that was him. It was so accurate. He looked like a pony. If I didn’t know about his eye, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell. “Why didn’t your eye change?”

He was bending down to let me climb up on his back. “I honestly don’t know…” He said as I wrapped my hooves around him. “I haven’t been able to change it. I was trying almost all night.”

“You were up almost all night?” I asked slightly concerned for his health. “Aren’t you tired?”

“Ehh….” He responded, stating to flap his wings and lift us slightly off the ground. “I’ve had worse. Besides, I had to make sure that you were completely safe before I decided to sleep. That was what the fire wall was for…well that and it gave me enough time to find the village.” Then he looked at my concerned look. “Don’t worry, Meadow. I’ll be fine.”

“You should rest a little bit more.” I said, slightly worried about him. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

He let out a small chuckle that harmonized with his wings. “I’ll tell you what, Meadow.” He said still chuckling slightly. “When we reach the edge of the forest, I’ll stop flying for a bit. Alright?”

“What about your leg?”

“I can handle a little bit of pressure; just don’t make me jump from any buildings or anything. The splint will help with some of the shock. So what do you say?”

“Alright,” I replied nodding slightly as he looked back at me with his solid blue eye. “But you have to promise me you’ll get some sleep tonight.”

“Fair enough.” He replied as he flew us over the crevasse and onto the small dirt path. “Whatever makes you happy, Meadow.”

His horn was glowing slightly again. “What’s your horn doing?”

He looked up at his horn than back at me and sighed. “Promise you won’t get mad.”

“Why would I get mad?” I asked.

“Just promise me okay.” He added. So I nodded at him and he let out another sigh. “I’m feeding off some of your spare emotions.” He quickly turned his eye to look at me “I didn’t think you would mind… and there’s just so much…”

“It’s alright.” I replied, stopping him from continuing to ramble. “Were you hungry?”

At that exact moment I heard his tummy rumble. He lowered his head. “Yes… But it isn’t doing much…I probably still need physical food, so far you’ve been giving me energy. I’m not really sure how to handle it when I’m disguised though…”

“Well so long as you needed it.” I replied. He did say that he was only taking little bits. So it wouldn’t be too bad…right? “What would happen if you did take a lot?”

Shade stopped suddenly and began to look around as if searching for something. He then fully landed and took me off his back. “I’ve only ever drained one other pony, he was a Royal Guard… and…” He took a deep breath. “I could feel what he felt, I saw his family… and… He had no energy left. I’m not proud of what I did. That’s why I’m trying to limit myself. I don’t want to hurt you.” He looked at me. And he looked like the memory of that event hurt him. His right eye was slightly larger almost like he didn’t want to remember it.

“Don’t worry. I trust you.” I replied. At this his eyes seemed to widen and I could see a small tear form in his right eye. He put me on his back and I saw his horn glow again.

“Thank you, Meadow…” He said. “You have no idea how much I needed to hear that.” He said as he started to hover again, keeping his hind leg off the ground. “We should be getting pretty close. When we reach the edge of the forest, I’ll land.”

---

A few minutes later, I was no longer riding on Shade’s back; instead I was riding on Sunstreak’s back. And we were heading towards the exit of the forest. On the path there was a strange burnt patch of ground that Sunstreak told me he caused.

As we reached the edge of the forest, Sunstreak landed and let me get off. “Now remember. No reference to the fact that I’m a Bug Pony alright?”

“Uh-huh.” I repeated. Sunstreak had made me promise that I wouldn’t make any reference to him having magic or being a Bug Pony. He was very stubborn about it too. “Are you sure you want to walk with your leg like that?”

“Yes, Meadow. I’ve had worse…granted I wasn’t a horse then. But I’ve had worse.” He kept making these references to a past life, but he seemed like a normal pony so it must have been a long time ago. “So do you have any idea where we are?”

“Uh…” I replied trying to remember the map I’d seen dad looking at before, pointing out the cities. “I think this is…”

“Ponyville.” He said looking at a sign half covered in vines. “Population: 235. Founded in…can’t really make it out…” Sunstreak’s voice still sounded a bit strange to me. I had gotten used to him having that weird vibration in it, so much so that the absence of it was actually weird. “This sign looks too old to be useful.”

“We’re in Ponyville?” I asked, walking over to Sunstreak. “I’ve heard about this place before. My mom visited it on business before.”

“Interesting. So do you know anyo-pony here?” Sunstreak was having trouble with saying Anypony and everypony. Maybe it’s just different where he came from.

“Well… No. Mom just kind of stayed here for the night. She had to hurry on her work in Manehatten.” Sunstreak laughed silently, he did this every time I told him about the names of the cities. He hadn’t given any examples of his own cities. So I couldn’t be certain if they were any better.

“Well we better head into the village then. See what we can find.” Sunstreak still looked kind of nervous about going into the village, but he probably wasn’t going to talk about it to me. So I didn’t ask.

---

Almost the instant we stepped into the village, I could tell that Sunstreak was on edge. His eyes were slightly bulging and he kept looking around quickly. Keeping an eye on everything. I stayed really close to him, if for no other reason than to make sure he didn’t lose me.

“So where are we headed?” I ask him, sort of to break the tension he was feeling.

“I…have no idea…” He said, not willing to relax for even a second. His eyes kept on whizzing around trying to keep everypony within his field of view.

“Well. Maybe we should try and…”

“Look out!”

The next few seconds happened really fast. First, Sunstreak’s head snapped towards the source of the voice, then he pushed me to the side. Second, I looked back to see Sunstreak get hit by a scooter pulling a red wagon behind it. Next, Sunstreak was on his back, lying on the ground while the scooter stopped and the orange Pegasus filly who was riding the scooter hopped off while a yellow earth Pony and White unicorn filly got out of the cart to check on him. Each of them was wearing a different colored helmet.

“Are ya alright, Mister?” The yellow Earth pony asked in a strange southern accent as she removed her blue helmet to show a red mane with a large bow.

“I think you were going a little fast there, Scoots.” Said the white unicorn filly, taking off her own blue helmet to show a curled up mane of purple and pink.

“Are you okay?” The orange Pegasus asked as she removed her purple helmet to show a purple mane with a windblown appearance to it.

Meanwhile Sunstreak’s eye’s seemed to be spinning. “Why yes I’d dance the moonlight in love…” he said not at all in the present situation. “I’ll just waffle the flip and we’ll scuttle towards the moonset.”

“Uh…Ah’m with Sweetie Belle on this one, Scoots.” The yellow Earth pony said looking over Sunstreak. “Ah think ya addled his brains a bit?”

“No…the biscuits in the tree log. Right next to the celestial prism.” Sunstreak kept saying.

“Uhh…Mister are you…?” The orange Pegasus began looking over Sunstreak with a confused expression.

“Oh I’m just fiddle as a Lute.” Sunstreak said as he turned over and attempted to stand up. “You smell about the moving picture show? That waffle heard delicious!”

I walked over to where Sunstreak was standing, his head still spinning.

“Oh, Plain Note. Did you get the truck of that license that hit me?” He then fell onto his stomach, his legs spread out. His eyes were still open and noticeably spinning. “Oh look! That sky in the cloud looks like a unicorn.”

“Sunstreak?” I said unsure of how to proceed.

“Oh hi, Gaia. Why are there three of you? And why are you all spinning. It is very distracting.” He shook his head quickly back and forth. Pushing himself off the ground with his front hooves and placing his right hoof on his forehead. “Ow…”

“Uh…Mister? Are ya alright?” The yellow Earth pony asked.

“Give me a second…” Sunstreak said, holding up his other hoof to silence the fillies. “I need to get my mind to stop spinning. What just hit me?”

“That would have been us…” The white unicorn, or Sweetie Belle had answered. “We’re sorry about that.”

“Are ya hurt, mister?” The yellow Earth pony asked. “We hit ya pretty hard.”

“Let me check really quick…” Sunstreak kept his hoof in front of his right eye, looking at his body; stretching his wings and folding them back up. “Well…if anything you made my leg not hurt by comparison anymore…” He dropped his right hoof from his eye and stood up. “Meadow?”

“I’m here.” I replied walking up to him. “I’m fine don’t worry about me.”

The orange Pegasus was staring at Sunstreak. “What’s with your eye?” She was quickly elbowed by the yellow filly. “ow…”

“No, no it’s alright. I always get asked that. I was born with it. It has uses…” Sunstreak replied, steadying himself on his legs.

“We’re sorry for running into you.” Sweetie Belle said. Looking right at Sunstreak’s eyes. “Oh I’ve got an idea!” She said with her voice jumping up an octave near the end. “You’re new to town right?”

Sunstreak nodded. “Yes. We are. Why do you ask?”

Sweetie Belle looked at him with her big green eyes and replied “Can we show you around town?”

Sunstreak was visibly shocked by the offer. And his right eye twitched slightly before he turned to me and gave a fake smile. “What do you think, Meadow?”

As the three fillies turned to look at me, Sunstreak mouthed ‘Help me…’ I gave a more confident smile and answered “Why not?”

“Well that settles it.” The yellow filly replied. “We’ll show yah ‘round town.” She gave a small gasp. “Maybe we’ll get our cutie marks in 'Town Greetin’!” The other two seemed to agree with her as almost immediately all three of them shouted. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER TOWN GREETERS, YAY!“ Sunstreak’s left eye had just transformed back into its solid blue form. So I motioned at my own left eye with my hoof and he fixed it giving me a small nod.

“Well what are we waiting for?” The orange Pegasus said, grabbing her helmet and getting back on the scooter. “Hop in.”

Sunstreak eyed the red wagon with the two small fillies sitting in it expectantly. “Ummm…I’m not so sure that…”

The two of them gave him a puppy eyed look. But Sunstreak seemed to ignore it. “I’ll tell you what…I’ll fly alongside you. Meadow…” he turned to look at me. Before motioning to the wagon. It was my turn to make a fake smile this time.

“I’d be glad to.” I said as Sweetie Belle handed me a spare helmet they had. Looking over at Sunstreak I could see him mouthing ‘I’m so sorry.’

---

The tour took nearly the entire day…and I got very little from it. I only really got a basic idea of where everything was… I only really remembered where the Town Hall was. And even then it was pretty easy to find. By the time they finished, the sun was already hanging low in the sky. And we had stopped at a large number of places. Including some place called Sugar Cube corner, Golden Oaks Library and Carousal Boutique. I hadn’t really been paying attention I was more worried about any possible crashes we would get into. And Sunstreak seemed to be focusing more on the cart than anything else. Prepared to swoop in if anything went wrong.

“So what’da think?” The yellow filly or Apple Bloom asked after the tour had concluded.

“Very…Informative.” Sunstreak replied. Still eyeing the wagon. He was not about to let his guard down.

“You plan on staying?” The orange pegasus or Scootaloo asked.

“I’ll…think about it…” I could tell from his expression that the instant he could, he would be leaving the town and probably wouldn’t come back.

“Where’d yah say you were from again?” Apple Bloom asked for around the third time today.

“I’ll remind you later…” Sunstreak said. Eyeing the now descending sun wearily. “We should really get going. Want to make it back before night falls.”

“What do yah mean…’make it back’?” Apple Bloom had asked, eying Sunstreak. “Ah thought yah said that-“

Sunstreak just pointed towards the forest with his hoof “We are camping out in-” He didn’t even get a chance to finish before all three of them had simultaneously said “in the EVERFREE FOREST!”

“YES!” Sunstreak shouted back. “I explained it three times to you!” In all fairness he did, but the wind and the inattentive Pegasus had made it difficult to hear him.

“You did?” Scootaloo replied, she started trying to think about when Sunstreak had managed to tell them, while Sunstreak was dragging his hooves down his face in disbelief.

“Well yah shouldn’t have to stay in a place like Everfree. Don’tcha know what is in there?” Apple Bloom had asked waving her hoof at Sunstreak.

Well from what he had told me, he actually met one of those creatures, a Timber wolf. He had a problem when he tried to get back to me and told me all about it on the walk into town.

“No please…tell me.” Sunstreak said hovering down to be eye level with the three fillies.

“Well there’s timber wolves and hydras and cockatrices,” Sweetie Belle had started to say. Sunstreak just rolled his eyes. At least until they got to cockatrice. Then he looked at me.

“On second thought… maybe we could find a new place to stay for the night…” I knew the exact reason he had said this…were it up to him, he would gladly have chosen to stay in the forest…but I was with him, so he had to rethink. I might have saved his life.

“I know!” Apple Bloom began. “You can stay with us! We’ve got plenty a room. That is if you don’t mind sleeping in a barn…”

“Well…I guess it’s up to Meadow here.” Sunstreak landed next to the wagon.

“Sure…” I replied. Giving a little smile. “Sounds like fun.” Sunstreak was looking at me with an expression that hinted at him thinking I was crazy.

“Well then what are we waitin for? Let’s head over to Sweet Apple Acre’s, Scoot-“

“Hold up there!” Sunstreak said before Scootaloo could start dashing down the street. “Meadow, you want me to fly you there?”

I tried to make it seem like I was thinking about it, but I may have said “Yes” too fast. It isn’t that I don’t trust Scootaloo or any of them. I just trust Sunstreak more… Comparing the two; while Scootaloo managed to crash into somepony, Sunstreak only did it once, and even then, he managed to keep me safe from most if not all the damage I could have taken.

When I climbed on top of Sunstreak’s back, I wrapped my hooves around him and held on like I have so many times.

“All right,” Sunstreak said once I was clinging to his back, “Lead the way.”

---

Sweet Apple Acres looked really nice. When Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had waved goodbye at the property line, there was still a large section of apple trees they had to walk through before reaching the house. Apple Bloom seemed to be ecstatic about having guests, given that she practically bounced all the way up the path; Sunstreak seemed to be doing better. He wasn’t flapping his wing to keep his right leg on the ground, but he was still limping slightly. But he didn’t really need the splint, which apparently fell off during the tour of Ponyville. I only noticed it then, but he seemed to be doing fine without it.

Once the three of us got to the rather large red house, which seemed to be something that came right out of a country story, there was an orange Earth pony carrying two buckets of apples on her side and wearing a tan cowboy hat.

Sunstreak hadn’t even noticed her for quite a while, but when he did, he stopped looking at her as if he remembered her from a traumatic event.

“What is it?” I asked him walking up to him and snapping him out of his strange trance.

“Umm…nothing…I’ll tell you later.”

When the orange Earth pony saw the three of them walking up the path. She placed the two barrels of apples on the ground and turned to look at us.

“Applejack!” Apple Bloom shouted. “We’ve got some guests!”

“Ah can see that, Apple Bloom.” She had the same country accent as Apple Bloom, so I thought they must have been sisters. “Where’d ya pick these two up?”

“Well…uh…we kind of…ran into them…” Apple Bloom said very hesitantly.

“You did what now?” Applejack said raising an eyebrow at her little sister.

Apple Bloom seemed to shrink. Just then Applejack saw Sunstreak’s limp.

“Apple Bloom, what did you and yer friends do?”

“Well…In short…” Sunstreak said walking up to Applejack, “Her and her friends knocked the wind out of me… Granted I probably moved myself into it. Don’t blame them for the limp, I’ve had it for quite a while now.”

Applejack leaned into her sister. “We’ll talk ‘bout this later Apple Bloom.” She looked up to the two of us. “Well Ah guess you might as well come inside. We were just ‘bout to settle down to eat. You two hungry?”

Sunstreak’s stomach made a rather loud rumbling noise. Making him press his ears against his head. “You could say that…”

I couldn’t help but giggle slightly at Sunstreak’s expression.

“Well, Ah think we got enough for two more. Usually do.”

---

Dinner was…a strange affair. Probably more so for Sunstreak, having an air of unease around him. Sunstreak wasn’t exactly... talking much. I think he was trying to avoid absorbing emotions. Given that there were now four ponies here and the Apples seemed to be a perfect family. I couldn’t believe a family could be that closely knit.

Sunstreak was having a tough time, anytime somepony talked to him, his eye twitched slightly, and he seemed to be causing himself pain, if I wasn’t sitting next to him, I wouldn’t have seen him purposefully applying pressure to his leg whenever he spoke. Probably to avoid any possible emotion absorption powers…but he wasn’t really open to talking, and really wanted to get out.

When everypony else was only halfway through their meal, Sunstreak had already cleared his plate, and given that Apple Bloom seemed to be eating rather fast as well, it was an accomplishment.

He seemed to be twitching a little more when he had nothing else to distract him from the emotions of the Apple family. He would later compare it to being at a candy store and not even thinking about buying anything and it showed. Anytime one of the Apples tried to talk to him, He kind of winced before responding.

“So Apple Bloom tells us you two were campin’ out in Everfree.” Applejack said. “What were ya doin all the way out there?”

At first Sunstreak seemed almost unsure of how to answer and I got a little worried that he would get caught. But quickly his expression changed.

“Well…I was traveling to the Castle of the Two Sisters, trying to find out something about Nightmare Moon.” I was surprised he knew about a lot of that. Maybe he found some stuff last night.

“Was little Meadow here with ya?” Applejack asked, raising her eyebrow.

Sunstreak moved his head in a way like he was trying to find a middle ground between what he was going to say. “Not at first.” He eventually replied. “I was just looking around the ruins when I saw some kind of…energy blast coming from Canterlot.”

He stopped for a second to look around at the Apples I think he was gauging their reaction.

“Where’d Meadow come from then?” Apple Bloom asked, looking towards me. “Is she a ghost?”

Sunstreak chuckled a little. “No. No… Nothing like that. Apparently she was being held by some kind of big black bug thing.”

Applejack had been eying her sister. But at the mention of the Bug Pony, she stared at Sunstreak. “She was fillynapped by a Changeling?”

“I suppose…” Sunstreak said, tapping his front hoof on his chin. “I didn’t really get a chance to ask it. The instant I saw it, it was about to hurt Meadow here…so I did the only thing I could think of. I tackled it.”

“Yah took on one a those Changelings? All by yerself?” Apple Bloom said, leaning into Sunstreak.

“Not before it gave me a big kick to my leg… And I returned the favor.” Motioned to the belt hanging on the wall. “You would not believe how long it took to clean after….” He stopped after seeing Applejack. “Well…anyway…I got Meadow back to the ruins… And gave myself a makeshift splint so my leg could relax. Then in the morning I brought her here, got hit by your sister and her friends. And then you can figure out the rest.” Sunstreak was looking directly at Applejack.

“Well that was mighty brave a yah ta save Meadow.”

Sunstreak seemed to relax, but he still had a small twitch. “Anybody would have done the same.” He said with a dismissive motion of his hoof.

“Where’d yah say you were from again?” Applejack asked suspiciously. “Yah talk a lot different from most ponyfolk Ah seen.”

Sunstreak seemed to be confident in this answer. “Well…I was born in a place outside Equestria called the Burning Fiords. Spent most of my childhood out there, but it was very…different. I haven’t gone back in years.” Sunstreak was sort of staring off into space.

“I moved to Cloudsdale a little after my schooling was done. Joined alongside a Pegasus named Tornado Dust. Then we just kind of…drifted apart. I went on to study magical artifacts. And last I heard he was a Weather pony.” It sounded genuine if I didn’t know he was a Bug Pony, I would have believed him.

“Well if yah managed to take out a Changeling, yah must be pretty strong for the brainy type?”

“Yeah…The Burning Fiords weren’t the most hospitable place. You learn what you have to. In my case, it was where to strike to make something stop.” Sunstreak was looking around at the faces of the Apples. So did I. Apple Bloom was looking at Sunstreak with wide eyes. Applejack was eying him suspiciously, but it was clear she found nothing wrong with his story. The large red Stallion who had been introduced as Big Macintosh was still eating. Granny Smith, the old green pony was sleeping in her chair.

Sunstreak let out a little yawn. “Sorry to ask this…but Where are we going to be spending the night? I’m a little beat.”

“Oh it’s no problem. Y’all just be spending the night in the barn. Ah’ll look and see if Ah can get yah a couple of spare pillows.”

Sunstreak gave an appreciative nod before getting out of the chair he was sitting in, walked over to the knife belt and slinging it over his back before letting out another yawn. “Now don’t stay up too late, Meadow,” He said through half a yawn. “We don’t need two tired Ponies on our hooves.” He turned towards Applejack and gave a small bow. “Miss Apple.”

“He’s a strange one ain’t he?” Apple Bloom said before being silenced by a look from Applejack. I couldn’t help but giggle.

---

As I walked into the barn, my head hanging low from exhaustion. Applejack walking behind me with a pair of pillows on her back. Both of us were looking for Sunstreak.

“Now where’d that Pegasus get to?” Applejack said, looking around.

“Up here.” Came the familiar voice of Sunstreak from above us. Looking up, I saw him laying on a rafter his head against one of beams supporting the roof; he let out a small yawn and turned his head to look down at us. “What?” he said noticing Applejacks expression of familiarity.

“It’s nothin’. Yah just remind me of another Pegasus Ah know.” Applejack shifted the two pillows onto my back. “Well yah can stay here as long as ya need, may need to make a bed for yerself outta some spare hay.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Sunstreak said with a dismissive wave of his hoof, he was leaning against the pole again. “For the past few nights, my bed has consisted of rocks and sticks. Compared to that, this is like a real bed.”

I giggled slightly as I saw Applejack roll her eyes. “Well I reckon that y’all can handle yerself. So goodnight y’all.”

As she left, I replied with a halfhearted good night and Sunstreak just waved down to her. Almost the instant the door closed, there was a wisp of green flame from above me, and Shade was lying where Sunstreak had been earlier. “That was the most stressful dinner I have ever had.” He said back to me as I found a large pile of hay and was busy arranging it into a makeshift bed.

“Why did it seem like you knew Applejack?” I asked through a yawn, I must have been more tired than I thought.

“I think that I saw her in Canterlot, she was running with a few others. I can never forget seeing a pony in a Stetson…it’s just…too different.” He replied, looking down at me building my makeshift bed.

“Was that story you told true?” I asked, I knew almost nothing about him, so it could have been.

“Not all of it, I was born in the Fiords, I’ve never been to Cloudsdale, I never met Tornado Dust, another Changeling showed me who he was. And I have never studied archeology. I found all of that history from a few books I found lying on the ground while I was looking for some good rocks to pile up.”

He flew down next to me and ruffled my green mane a little before helping with my bed. “I need to get a better control over these emotion sensing powers.” He said as he raised a hoof to tap on his horn. “I think I absorbed a bit of their family love. It tasted a little like mint.”

“What does my love taste like?” I asked, settling down in the hay bed. Shade seemed to tap his chin with his hoof for a minute.

“It may seem strange, but it tasted like cotton candy, granted I didn’t get enough of a bite to make any real judgment… And I don’t want to. It was only by bad luck that I tasted the Apple’s love.” He then shook his head in a dismissive manner. “Anyway, might as well hit the hay… no pun intended. Goodnight, Meadow.” He said as he flew up to a higher platform and nestled down in a pile of hay.

“Goodnight, Mr. Nymph.” I replied jokingly and from the pile of hay, I could hear a small pleased buzzing sound. With that, I began to nod off to sleep.

Comments

[Kuno]

Keep going. You've certainly caught my interest.

[Shaded Changeling]

6931618 Glad to hear, I'll try not to disappoint you.

(No promises though)

[Razzy]

Snrk, I now imagine changelings selling bottled love with labels stating the flavour.

[Cursed Quill]

all three of them shouted. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER TOWN GREETERS“

shouted, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER TOWN GREETERS, YAY!”
Tagged speech is punctuated improperly often.

tell me.” Sunstreak had said

cockatrices” Sweetie Belle had started to say

ya'll

y'all

Enjoying.

[Warrior Kitten]

Just two little details that get to me.

1: Horn glow while absorbing emotions. That would be counter-productive as the horn glow would show through disguises.

2: Inability to stop emotion absorption. I'd understand if it was a case of starvation but I don't think he's starving. Changeling instincts would be having an urge to feed, not an inability to stop feeding.

[FimForever]

“Well we better head into the village then. See what we can find.” Sunstreak was looked kind of nervous about going into the village, but he probably wasn’t going to talk about it to me. So I didn’t ask.

Found a mistake which confused me for a while.

[JazzyWaffles]

7233936
Actually judging by Season 6, Chnagelings have bottomless hunger. So, absorbing emotions passively would be natural.

Of course this was written before Season 6, but still.

[Black--Soul]

At least there not longer in imidiate deathly dangers anymore...