This story is a sequel to Unchanging Love
The explosion of love from the defeat at Canterlot hit harder and reached farther than any changeling expected. Firefly felt the effects as much as any, but she also gained something wonderful and priceless from it. Though this gift brought her a kind of joy she had never expected, she fears one question more than anything.
What trials will she and Fine Roast face when the invasion's inevitable fallout reaches them?
Big thanks to Cursori, SigmasonicX, Dogman15 (Chapters 2-5), and Ghost Mike for editing.
Amazing cover art by Pridark.
Friendly heads up. Beware the comments, they may contain spoilers!
Chapters (18)
Oh hell yes.
Beautiful, I love it. I'm full of happiness for an accepted changeling (accepted by one, at least), and trepidation for whatever will inevitably trouble them.
10290011
Agreed... I second that...
YES!
This chapter had a great look at what comes next following the previous story, wonderful character interactions, and intriguing developments. I only preread the first chapter, so I'll be looking forward to the rest!
Missing End Quote.
Anyways so far this was well worth the wait.
I think if any of them are going to understand Firefly's situation it'd be Skitter. Considering she's had feelings for a source before and overall seems like someone who only follows certain rules from fear and uncertainty.
I love the banter, especially Vexor and Tarsus. Really wondering what Spindle is up to as well.
I'll admit the ending had a lot of tension but glad to see it's just Roast.
Top Marks!
10290011
10290143
Thanks for all the enthusiasm! I'm glad I can fulfill your entertainment needs.
10290143
I won't say there's plenty in store for you then, but...
10290612
Fixed and thank you!
Changelings should get to have colorful personalities too, even if they can debatably be seen as love parasites. And maybe we'll get to see some of Spindle here soon...
Definitively watching and expecting the next chapter.
We don't get many of good changeling stories.
Of course the question is, is there a real Sweet Leaf and Bobby Pin in a cacoon somewhere. There is a real Rose somewhere cacooned up.
If there is a real Sweet Leaf, did roast ever meet her or has he abandoned her in favor of the changing?
10290771
I'm happy you're enjoying it and that UL/UL2 can qualify as good changeling stories.
10290852
For Sweet Leaf, check out chapter 6 of the prequel again.
As for Bobby Pin, that's currently a mystery.
'Tis here at least. Celebratory confetti-canon noises
And I'd say it's looking even better than it's predecessor already.
Can't wait to see what you've got in store.
You did a great job at weaving a recap into the story. Can't wait for more!
With no AU tag we know the changelings eventually get a happy ending. But the MLP timeline is so messed up it’s impossible to know how far away that is. Will Firefly have to live with stress and fear for months? Or years?
10292252
Hey, glad to see you're still around!
I did try to keep in mind that it had been many months since at least a portion of the audience had read it. I certainly didn't want to force people to go back and read UL again (unless they wanted to!)
As for wanting more, I hope you're ready for a ride, 'cause it's gonna be an adventure.
10292832
I dug up my old "corrections" document and copied its table at the end to here so that I could keep track of your characters: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LmxrUn-j7wY47exUF80P5_q-yJnhNfThC8vJG8OwY1c/edit?usp=sharing It came in handy when you reintroduced characters from the previous story.
Hey, here's a thought: Is there any hope that Skitter's old love interest could be rescued? Reconciliation like Firefly was able to achieve with Fine Roast? Whoever he is, he's still alive. A genuine reunion and rekindled love would be amazing. You know, eventually, even if it takes until the Changeling Reformation for it to happen.
10292865
This time, I created many more times the amount of supporting documents for plot, characters, times, etc. than I had for UL. It was all definitely necessary for this story.
That would be rather interesting to see, but without spoiling anything, I have already developed the plot from start all the way to the epilogue. I don't want to get too deep into events so no one is disappointed in what does or does not happen.
10292886
It's good that you have your own document for keeping track of things, but at least I have this one for myself and other readers to refer to known characters. Basically documenting what you've already stated. If I've missed anything, let me know! For example, I'm assuming Vibrant Brush, Warm Plate, and Rose Petal are earth ponies. Rose Petal's eye color is also unknown.
Incidentally, as a matter of trivia, this chapter is almost half the length of the entire first story! (10,000 versus 23,000) I guess you could say we're getting into the meat.
11/10 The sequel I've Been waiting MONTHS for!
*Looks at word count of the first chapter*
Ah... that's why...
A 10k chapter? You spoil us.
10304609
Spoiling, you say? Well, I suppose I could trim the next few chapters down from their combined 25K~ words.
Wouldn't want you to be excited or enjoy yourselves or anything. Couldn't have that.
10304962
Let me guess - you're currently doing what you can to try to have the next chapter out by July 2nd, right?
Interesting that the sequel comes out just a few days after the original is featured in one of Wanderer D's Recent News posts.
10310253
Not quite as interesting as you might think and the timeline is just a wee bit off.
Unending Love was posted on the 17th of June (in my timezone) whereas Wanderer D posted his blog on the 27th, 10 days after the sequel was posted.
As well, because the sequel was released, it sparked/resparked an interest in Unchanging Love. If you were to do a quick search of the Seattle's Angels submission forum, I'm pretty sure you'll find someone there who had submitted the first story.
So depending on who you are, maybe it is still interesting, but regardless, explainable.
10310529
I just went by the date shown on the front page. :/
This was a good chapter! During the friendly conversation, I was dreading it turning to changelings, in a good way, and I was glad that Roast didn't make any obvious mistakes. It was nice seeing things from Roast's perspective too.
10310253
10310529
I can verify that it's a complete coincidence - I'm the one who submitted it and I had no idea the sequel was going to be dropping just days after.
It actually was the other way around! I was hoping that by getting Seattle's Angels to feature the first, the expression of interest would encourage Azure to keep going on the sequel.
This is interesting.
I have read several stories with the premise of Changeling life after the wedding, this one - is generally more slowed down, with much bigger focus on the emotions and reactions, among common ponies and 'lings.
- The style and flow reminds me a bit of 'Crystal's Wishes'. (Wich is not a bad thing.)
Now the question is, will she turn into a pastel love bug after fully accepting that she love Roast whole heartedly.
Neat to see a bit of Roast's pov. I like that he's supportive of his buggy wife, but I bet the whole "how do I tell if I'm under mind control" thing is gonna be tough.
welp, can't wait to read more.
"...going back to Canterlot this weekend.” Did you mean to leave out a question mark here?
I suspect Silver Trinket might be a changeling. ("Visiting parents" euphemism) Don't spoil it if she is, though. Please.
"what if her hive ordered her capture him" - missing a "to".
"as he picked up a fork and knife in his hooves." This is equally as ridiculous as it is on the show. Allow me to share something made by one of the storyboard artists on the show:
https://imgur.com/gallery/S4ja3PC
i.imgur.com/qOBcRHt.png
I'm not saying you need to change this, though. It's just funny.
10311713
I'm pretty sure no changelings turn into changedlings before Starlight Glimmer directs Thorax to. He was the first. And that event is still a few years away in this story.
10312589
Well, that we know of. It's entirely possible that there were changelings that discovered it early and went into hiding. Just because we didn't see something happen, doesn't mean that it didn't.
10311497
I'm glad you're enjoying it!
You are correct. I have tried to push the focus more on how characters feel and how they feel their relationships are affected, rather than a more external view an event's consequences.
10312308
While I still love how Unchanging Love turned out, it focused almost entirely on how things affected Firefly with a minor focus on Fine Roast. In this story, I wanted it to be about them, not just her. Though admittedly, it's still a changeling story, so a slightly higher focus on Firefly might come anyway. So, all that is to say, we'll be seeing more of Roast throughout the rest of the story.
10312443
And more shall come!
10312589
Fixed and fixed. Thanks!
I 100% agree. It's totally silly that ponies have the mysterious power to "grip" things with their hooves. But since it's canon, I then have a way to allow them to eat without them shoving their faces into their plates like uncivilized animals.
10312819
I highly doubt that. But ultimately, this is Azure Notion's story. Speaking of which,
10313041
In your headcanon, are changelings able to have kids with normal ponies? Or are earth ponies/unicorns/pegasi one "kind", and can't have intercourse with any other species?
10313399
Fair enough. I'll admit though, I often find the fact that Thorax was the first changeling to figure out "Hey, giving love helps us live better lives than just storing them". It always just seemed more likely that a changeling that found that out would do their best to never be found by Chrysalis.
Course, that's just my theory, and this story isn't mine. On that note, I am eagerly awaiting more.
10313399
As far as changelings go, no, they can't reproduce with other species. An explanation of changeling reproduction (and related things (non-explicit, of course!)) will be coming in a future chapter soon-ish. For other species, things such as how hippogriffs, kirin, griffins, etc. come to be won't be relevant to the story. So I have no "restrictions" on cross-breeding between ponies and non-ponies (except changelings), but I also don't have any explicit rules on how it works.
If it ever comes up in a future story, maybe I'll hunker down and develop that part of my universe. Oh, and just to clarify, that doesn't hint towards there being or not being a UL3.
10313452
Maybe Queen Chrysalis, in her iron rule, prevented anyling from discovering that. Whether or not she was aware it was possible herself.
10313457
My bit has always been they are possible, but it requires true love, not lust, and that the non-changeling has to know the changeling is a changeling. Chrysallis' teachings have pretty much made the previous conditions impossible to fulfill.
10313513
That's an interesting head-canon. I could see how that would make sense as they are creatures that consume love and other emotions. We never got an explanation of how they consume love, so what's to say they'd have different reproductive systems in addition to different "digestive" systems?
Though, in my world, there are specific ways that the changelings reproduce which are important to the plot, insomuch that other concepts "use" that as a part of their foundation.
10313533
oh, you reminded me of one short story, where Changelings could eat regular food but not digest it properly, so they would ALWAYS throw up shortly afterwards!
this made it rather hard for the protagonist to keep up his disguise during a dinner date!
he had to make a hasty bathroom visit and was lucky no one else was there.
10314878
I remember a story like that, probably the same one, though for the life of me, I can't remember the name.
For my universe, I took a bit of a different approach to changeling nutrition, which will actually come up next chapter.
Awww yeah. I’m always a sucker for a good Changeling story.
Really enjoying this sequel! I spotted a typo though: "actually somewhat cleaver" should be "clever".
reminds me of one of my old favorites, "a change in fashion", about a changeling named "glamour" who tried to be a fashion model.
she also befriends Coco Pommel.
Really neat that changelings can choose whether or not to reveal themselves to each other. I wonder if that's going to backfire on Spindle.
Oh, if only we the readers could provide love for her.
10334391
Yeah I love that one!
Definetly one of my favourites.
Damn, that restaurant scene was intense. You really got a feel for Spindle's intense unease.
I think one of the things this chapter does best is that changelings aren't always the best at infiltration. Not every changeling is a master of their emotions or memories, and they can easily make mistakes that most (including me) would miss.
The saddlebag scenario is one I have never thought of until now, so props for a new spin on an old concept.
The way that Spindles mind keep eventually drifting back to Wavy Palette, I don't think she's quite gotten over him yet. She doesn't appear to notice how much he really means to her, probably because of the hive training.
I do wonder why Spindle is so interested in artists specifcally. She doesn't seem to have any particular reason to target them specifcally, especially considering that, as she mentioned, a lot of them can be very stuck up and snobbish due to the potential success that comes from being an artist.
Well written, and really makes you feel the emotions that Spindle goes through. Almost thought it was a Skitter flashback for a bit though, but that's not a memory problem, but rather just an intriguing thought.
Top Marks!
10334391
Now that's a fic I haven't read in a long while. That, too, was a favorite of mine.
10334548
We'll be seeing plenty more of Spindle. Though you're right. No matter how much a reader tries, the love will still just (metaphorically) splatter against the screen. Though, since she's my girl, I can make whatever love I want come true for her. The only question is, will I allow it? And if so, who would it be? And what price would she have to pay? Or would there be a price?
Okay, maybe that's more than one question...
10334589
Three months out on the job and all the sudden she's alone. I'd be very uneasy too.
10334652
Training only gets one so far. It's real world experience that really teaches us and, very unfortunate for Spindle, all her potential mentors are cities away. She's perhaps not as naive as Firefly thought back in UL, but she's still inexperienced.
A little half sentence hidden amongst the sea of words:
10334828
Maybe soon she'll have the opportunity to write a letter to them, coded for secrecy.