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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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11883667
Thank you I'll fix that.
Man, imagine deciding to attack someone and he dodges three lunges and knocks you out in one hit. What a scrub
At the moment I get the impression Shade is the kind of person who would hide a zombie bite in a zombie apocalypse. He deserves to have his coworkers replaced by infiltrators.
I enjoy the slice of life, but your character is kind of brilliantly stupid.
On one hand I would probably do the same. On the other, such a wasted opportunity for experiments. But then again, too much risk. Dropping them on Celestia also would be hard.
Whole encounter should probably be mentioned to Sunny-D in the end. Even if for advice what to do in the future.
hmmm It's a rather odd encounter. Changelings don't do well in the cold so to find one in the alley way is very weird (It'd be decently likely to die caught out in a snowstorm like that). Still truth is stranger then fiction so I'll keep an open mind. Wonder if Maple is going to be late to work and be sporting a bruised face.
I don't know why but I just can't believe that Maple is a changeling, maybe I'm missing something.
I think you mean spare blanket unless you need to keep spears warm
Also can he decompose any organic matter or just plant matter because if it's the former that means he could decompose the living and I think that would be a horrifying Insta kill
11883728
Yes it's supposed to say spare. And your not the first person to come to that conclusion, I'll tell you the same thing I told them.
Don't worry about it. :D
11883731
Shade can decompose plant matter but can he decompose other living matter or just plant matter?
I think that the pacifist route it isn't available anymore
11883736
Yes he can.
Good chapter
11883742
I wouldn’t say that considering he didn’t kill it.
Right now I'm organizing all the things I've found in the forest over the last two weeks, I have over a dozen types of berry seeds a few fruit seeds and three tree seeds, birch maple and pine I'll have to research them when I get back to the library, I'm also going to need a new sketchbook as mine in now full.
* is
11883795
Thanks.
11883772
11883742
Because he thumped them real good doesn't mean pacifism flew out of the window. People often misunderstand that term in general... well, it's all a bit of a mess to parse through, to tell the Truth. It all depends on what you consider "to be a pacifist" because there's a world of difference between Absolute pacifism (which disallows any form of violence even if it is to save your or even an innocent life) and other interpretations.
At its base, it started as an ideology all about rejecting war. Later it got tacked more and more about non-violence in its various facets.
But in general non-lethal and appropriate levels of self-defense are permissible.
Heck, even Hindu/Buddhist ahimsa allow self-defense if the rules above are followed.
I thought he would have teleported it to Celestia. Be like, “I found something. I don’t know what. Here ya go. Shade out.” Deuces. Or maybe wait for it to wake up? But that would be dangerous… but getting attacked out in the open years early isn’t good either…
Dangerous either way. Maybe it was following his teleportation magical signature from the forest or maybe it was just a chance meeting. That’s at least two events with that forest location the infiltrators have. Or is that the other forest? I forget which is which. If they didn’t divert resources before, they might now.
Birds can find fun from all kinds of things. Paper towel, paper tubes, little objects they can pick up and toss, swings… a tiny trampoline? Mirrors… kinda makes me wonder how Shade would interact with Tree Hugger or Fluttershy’s animal convention buddies… Maybe there’s a future tax write-off in there: the guy who helps finance Fluttershy’s animal sanctuary?
11883855
The forest with the Oak tree is the one where both Changeling incidents happened. The other is the place where Shade walked to, to test Entropy.
I find the fact that birds can talk and are also dumb enough to entertain themselves with random objects to be a source of endless entertainment.
Well, then I see plot tried to punch him in the face. This is going to spike his paranoia even more, and he will probably see shadows moving now; whether they are imaginary or not, it doesn't matter. So RIP his sanity and any semblance of a normal thought process.
Welp. This'll end poorly. He may have covered his tracks this time, but the fact that he moved them to the Oak Tree, near where he encountered them before and where he consistently visits, means they find some clues to his identity, especially if feelings have some level of individuality unique to each living being.
Thanks for the update!
Time for the changeling ark. Hmm I guess the Mc is able to make an artificial food supply for them.
Ex:
Genetically breed ironwood that absorbs love magic/ or emit love magic instead of hardening? Add runes to it that converts the influx of life magic into an emmissable form of love/dopamine?
Alter the frost plant to emit love instead of cold? Again through use of runes/genetic breeding
Maybe that tea plant can be used as a stop gap(if he doesn’t want all of the changelings attention)
Jurryrigs a lamp invention of his to emit aerosolized/liquid dopamine/love magic instead of light
Researches how changelings feed and finds a necessary rune that they subconsciously use to feed in the weird magic sucking way that chrysalis does that makes all of the above much easier( won’t have to make a love/dopamine rune from scratch)
11883855
Was my first thought too, especially since they attacked him first.
Just teleport over to the castle and be like "this thing attacked me".
He's really trying to not get involved though but one of four things has happened,
They're after the bird and he happened to be in the way. (didn't go for it but they'd know not to steal someone's pet without taking care of the owner all dependent on them being able to detect either her or her teleport)
They're using the snow as cover to attack/kidnap ponies. (seems the most likely)
They accidentally ran into him and then attacked because he saw them. (unlikely for reasons expanded on below)
They're after him. (barring them being able to identify him by smell, magic or emotion signature, I really don't know why they would be)
Really only the accident one has a chance of not resulting in this becoming an even bigger issue and even then if they're attacking ponies because they accidentally bumped into them that's a problem in itself.
Extra things of note;
If changelings can passively sense emotion they might have been able to tell someone was around the corner (depends on if works through walls, I don't think i've ever read a fic where it didn't) and certainly would have been able to tell he was feeling apologetic not fearful when he was looking at them which would seem to rule out this being an accident.
Well, my first thought is that the changeling is smart enough for espionage, so most likely they would understand that how they were treated meant that he (or at least someone) is not openly hostile to them. Because they were not given over to the guards but not cared for like other changelings would... So I would check the tree in the morning for a letter or something saying thank you, but cautiously as they could have enough time to lay a trap and get their own information. But that's not as likely given the circumstances. Plus they could potentially sense his emotions so they could immediately tell you're not disgusted or fearful of them, merely cautious.
I'm somewhat cautious of this chapter. It's an interesting read and situation, and I enjoyed reading it. I also don't think that Shade actually acted truly out of character... but it has a lot of implications.
I'd like to point out is that Shade massively escalated this chapter. Again, I'm not certain that that is actually out of character, but I think once he has a bit of time to think about what just happened, he will realize a few things.
First, again, Shade escalated this chapter. Specifically, prior to this he has been passively not sharing information in order to try not to affect the timeline too extensively. He already knows that he is affecting the timeline, but he had been trying to minimize that. However, that isn't what happened in this chapter. In this chapter, Shade actively hid information and current events rather than passively choose not to share possible events. These are two significantly different actions.
Secondly, the Changelings have escalated. A few people have thrown out options for why the encounter between Shade and the Changeling happened the way it did, and I'll mention it again later. But the implication that should come to Shade first is that a non-disguised Changeling attacked him in Canterlot. Just like with Shade, this is an escalation. Prior to this, Shade has only known Changelings to be disguised and gathering love and/or information. There are plenty of explanations for this, and it may have been entirely accidental. But it still represents an escalation.
Thirdly, it should be noted that Shade has been thinking about his own actions and the lead-up to canon entirely from the ponies' perspective. His actions in this chapter make that clear, and it may be a trap he is falling into that is completely in line with his character. What I mean by this, is that he is a pony now, and his efforts to prevent wild deviation from the plot of canon have entirely revolved around not altering the situation of the ponies. But that isn't the perspective that should be taken with this latest incident. From the ponies POV, Celestia 'knows' that Changelings are in Canterlot and has a way to detect them. But Shade hid that Changelings are potentially actively attacking ponies.
On the other hand, prior to this the Changelings had every reason to believe that they were completely hidden and unknown. But that has changed. It doesn't matter whether the Changelings can identify Shade. It doesn't matter that Shade didn't have the Changeling thrown in jail, or that he didn't kill it. What matters is, from the Changelings POV, they just went from having every reason to believe that they were completely hidden and unknown to being absolutely, unquestionably certain that their existence had been revealed.
From that point of view, it doesn't matter what Shade tells or doesn't tell Celestia. Chrysalis, who was following a long-term plan with years of build-up yet to come, just got sucker-punched in the face. Given that, I think the possibility of Chrysalis not immediately, and possibly wildly, changing her plans should be almost zero. There may be a few ways around this, but something should be done to address it.
Given that, I'm not sure it isn't time for another interlude. If I recall correctly, we have had only one part of one chapter previously that was from a POV other than Shade's. That was from Celestia's POV. Depending on how this incident is going to affect the story going forward, including one possibility I mention later, I think a chapter with a Chrysalis POV might be both warranted and interesting.
Having said all of that, I'm not actually sure what Shade would and would not realize about all of what I just mentioned. As I said, Shade has potentially trapped himself into thinking about the results of his actions from solely the ponies' point of view. I could see it going either way. If he realizes just how much his actions in this chapter will likely effect how the Changelings act, then I would expect him to bring the incident up with Celestia. If he doesn't, I expect him to be paranoid about being identified by the Changelings for a while, but to not actually bring up the incident with Celestia until he potentially sees the Changelings acting differently following the incident.
In addition to these effects caused by the events in this chapter, there are also other points I'd like to raise. First though, I'd like to ask a question. It might just be that I'm not up to speed on MLP Changeling lore, but are Changelings actually vulnerable to cold? I can't recall if that is something from Canon, something explicitly stated earlier in this story, or just an assumption that rose from the suspicion that Maple was a Changeling and didn't deal with cold well. This could actually be a pretty important fact to.
If Changelings are vulnerable to the cold, then this chapter needs some real explanations. In it, we had a Changeling out at night, alone, in the dark, without a disguise, in a blizzard. If they are vulnerable to cold, this doesn't make any sense without a real, significant reason or mission. Otherwise, they simply wouldn't be out in that situation. In contrast, if Changelings aren't actually vulnerable to cold, then it could simply be a Changeling that didn't feel the need to expend energy to maintain a disguise when they were out somewhere with effectively zero visibility and effectively no chance of running into anypony. In one case, it could be just a coincidence. In the other, there really does need to be an actual reason. Furthermore, the reason would need to be of great enough importance and immediacy that it couldn't wait until day when the blizzard wouldn't be as big of an issue, in spite of having a significant vulnerability to cold.
That could have even further implications too. At this point, the only way the Changelings wouldn't absolutely know that they had been revealed would be if the Changeling that Shade knocked out chose to keep that a secret because of, for example, fear of Chrysalis. But that could really only happen if the Changelings aren't vulnerable to cold, and it was just a random coincidence that they ran into Shade. If that wasn't the case, then there would be an important and immediate need for the Changeling to do some task or take some action. Given that they were knocked out, they couldn't, and that Changeling wouldn't be able to hide that they encountered, and revealed themselves to, a pony.
I think I've blathered on about that for long enough, so I'm going to continue blathering on about something slightly different now!
Specifically, Maple. I know just about everyone thinks that Maple is a Changeling at this point. If Changelings are actually vulnerable to cold that even gives that suspicion more credence. But I'm still actually hoping she isn't a Changeling. I think that the Maple being a Changeling would, at this point, be one of the least surprising possible reveals for her. My own preferred theory, that I don't think I've seen in the comments, is this: (In spoiler just in case I'm right and a reader doesn't want to be spoiled.)
I think that Maple might actually be an agent of S.M.I.L.E. She showed up after some of Shade's original contact with Celestia. If Celestia decided that Shade was a pony of interest, she might have assigned an agent of S.M.I.L.E. to guard or observe him. Furthermore, the same situation applies to Stone. Given that Stone is a recently retired guard trainer, that situation could also have been set up by Celestia. Especially since Stone is actually the one that approached Shade rather than the other way around.
I don't think it's unreasonable given everypony's personality, and I think it would actually be a much more interesting revelation.
Though, if Maple is actually a Changeling, and the Changelings manage to identify Shade, that puts us in an interesting situation. Just last chapter we learned that Shade isn't directly meeting Celestia for nearly six months. Given that that is just about the only thing that Maple (or another Changeling) wouldn't know about and be able to fake, it could be the setup for Shade being kidnapped by the Changelings. Probably to their detriment. If they managed to kidnap Shade, they'd also have to deal with Entropy, but if successful they would buy six months. At that point, the Changeling probably wouldn't be able to handle Celestia reinserting herself into his life. They wouldn't know about Shade's ability to detect an Alicorn with life magic, the Changeling detectors, or possibly even the hospital spell contract.
Given those factors, I'd lean towards the Changelings not being able to successfully pull it off, but the bare minimum requirements for a six month kidnapping aren't impossible.
One final question about Shade though. We know that there are deviations from Canon present, and they are only getting larger. Is there ever going to be a point where Shade stops worrying about changing the Canon future? I could see him never telling anyone about the plot of the show, but at some point there should be enough of a divergence from Canon that Shade wouldn't believe that he could keep that timeline intact. I'm a little interested in how he chooses to act at that point. More willing to interact with Canon characters, more willing to step in, but still keeping some distance because he doesn't actually want to tell anyone about the future unless there is a situation where it is truly forced.
Regardless, I'm looking forward to more.
P.S. I type too much.
11884069
First thank you for the advice on the plot.
And second I'm going to be blatantly honest and say that I've been working with a fluid plan this whole time. I have goals and ideas but that's about it.
Also you've just given me a few ideas to work with, thank you.
11884069
Also after reading through this a bit more I realize that once again I fucked up the dates. It was supposed to be a January 14, not June 14. I swear I write this stuff down and take notes but I still miss the mist obvious things.
I fixed in, thanks again for the advice.
Shade is oneday going to discover the Mergos pig ******* route is what I have learned from this chapters author notes, lol.
11884069
Your message was long so I keep finding things to respond to. Not that I'm complaining.
It is not cannon that Changelings are weakened by the cold, at least as far as I know. And it's something that hasn't been confirmed in this story either.
Im going to go out on a limb and say that changeling was Thorax, starving beyond reason and this is what convinced him that ponies can be nice and to abandon the invasion.
Weird choice... I wouldve thought he wouldve taken them straight to Celestia.
11884145
The cold weakness is assumed due to changelihgs being bug like. Ergo getting bug like weaknesses.
11884488
Thank you. :D
It’s about time you added some form of conflict.
Stuff!
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