Saro-Terrent is about as far from the manipulative, suave changeling infiltrator stereotype as you can get, but Princess Twilight has chosen him (for some reason) to help bridge the gap between changelings and ponies. Now he needs to give a talk to the foals at Ponyville Elementary about changelings, but there's just one problem:
He's kinda terrified of ponies.
I love this character.
I love your writing.
I love this fic.
You forgot the nigh-indestructible earth ponies, Terrent.
In any case, an excellent portrayal of acute stage fright. Here's hoping the next part goes a little smoother for our hapless narrator.
Aww! it's an adorable mob come to bring about the righteous vengeance of a thousand kawaii suns!
Check any YouTube comments section if you doubt it.
Wow, great, just kick me right in the damn soul why don't you.
No, no, it's fine. I understand. You just invite me in with stories of nervous changeling presentations and then right when I get comfy kick me in the spiritual gut with grief-induced ASD. No, no, it's fine. It's perfectly fine.
Asshole
At least the fear could distract Terrent. Now he's faced with a new concern, one far less easily faced. But he's going to have to face it eventually, like it or not. Poor guy.
DAMN. I CANNOT UPVOTE IT AGAIN.
Seriously, this chapter was great. I find this character really funny, and really engaging. I'm really curious to see where you go next with it.
do you know Doomie?
my sister kisses a dragon
my sister kisses apples
I kiss my scooter
I kiss Twilights butt
a changeling in the school?
Ponyville's not ready for this
....is that Mare called Linda or Helen by any chance?
No, not the stew! It's was probably going to be delicious.
Oh, and the irate parent. Sure, there may be some simmering discontent, but this is Ponyville. Not only is the changeling population building, they have royal support! What's the worst that... could...
Terrent, I am so sorry for whatever is about to happen.
6866704
Who's Doomie?
6869556
Nope. Not sure I get the reference, sorry.
6869707
Ponyville. Welcoming. Diverse. Insane. Dangerous.
How can a Changeling be so bad at missing relationship cues?
"Haha, I totally ship Cheerilee and Terr-"
"..."
>mfw
And then we get a botch on the Sense Motive. Way to go Spit-shine.
Interesting chapter. I'm curious to see what happens next, especially since things are looking like they've mostly resolved to some degree, although getting an ending to tie everything up would be nice.
... is what I would say if I had posted this before I remembered the first chapter. Cheerilee gives a surge of love to Terrent. At the time I thought she was doing so as a conscious effort to support him in a time of need, but no. No. She was just genuinely falling for him.
You sneaky son of a bitch.
...
>mfw
(write moar)
6872581
Undertale
PTA AU
Linda or Helen are every racist ableist horrible mother combined.
40.media.tumblr.com/e46e7c9f65323647407b53e53935fc6d/tumblr_nypk1yfF011tdfdkho4_250.png i.redditmedia.com/qf5vJlThZVzFV_ArosonwwzmgUO0rhYEthWm9qKoeMw.jpg?w=320&s=e967de2aed2ff851e6498a839ae08d49 40.media.tumblr.com/c8eff6fccddcd48a7fd10913e81743f9/tumblr_inline_nz02p9GZij1rxa8hs_500.png
6872649
Ah, heh. Not an AU I'm familiar with, but that's pretty funny. You also responded to a comment in a different chapter :P
Any thoughts on this chapter, before I go write the last one?
6872624
It was a bit of both.
6872621
Being almost constantly on-edge/terrified around people and having no sense of self-worth go a long way towards people missing even the most obvious overtures of affection. Wait, I actually explicitly had a quote for that in a previous chapter! Remember, the one about how if you have no self-respect, you can't see respect from others? Yeah, I totally covered that! Go me.
6872884
Okay, fair point
6872581 Doomie is a changling character created by Dr. Atlas in his story "DO YOU?" where Pinkie Pie and a changling fall for each other in the ' Canterlot Wedding ' episode of MLP , It a good read,,,,on FimFiction
The magic of branding!
Certainly not because those who fail the clan have but one means of redeeming themselves. That would be wrong.
Wow. Terrent cannot read Cheerilee at all. There's a reason he isn't an Infiltrator. On the bright side, he may not be the only person working on that house in the near future, especially if he makes a larger impact on the community.
6873166
Hah, someone gets the joke about him being terrible as an infiltrator.
I was partially inspired to structure the prose this way by a criticism I got for LiTwi. I was told it had too much emoting (Explicitly stating what emotion someone was feeling rather than describing the motions or facial expression that would lead one to conclude that), and while that criticism is accurate (I intend to edit it down the line), it got me thinking about a story where someone thinks they're correctly interpreting emotions and failing, heh.
All those emotions calmly swirling inside me.
It's nice.
Cheerilee and a changling?
A mare and a dragon?
Discord?
Soarin?
Apples?
books?
img00.deviantart.net/a586/i/2016/022/3/8/fishing_color_by_hillbe-d9owbbh.jpg
Wow.
I was not expecting that for an ending.
"And so we got to work, building something to honor Krittith's dream of ponies and changelings being friends – and also the house."
Truly a fantastic way to end the story, and it really re-frames all the stuff leading up to it. Everything before were tiny steps to this moment, narratively, and thematically. The class, Cheerilee, the house, the lady. Every little exchange, scene, and action Terrent takes, no matter how small or silly, is leading to this, here, between him, Cooke, and the home that Krittith built for everyone - and also the house.
It really bumps this from a great story to a fantastic one. Courage Unites indeed.
Also, dat epilogue.
I ship it. I totally ship it. I ship it like the fist of an angry god.
Poor little guy. I'm amazed he didn't jump out of his chitin yet.
Cya
Raziel-chan
The odd looks aren't from you prancing and whistling, Terrent. They're from ponies wondering if Pinkie Pie had been a changeling all along.
And it's very nice to see Cooke's character arc land him here. A lovely conclusion to the story, especially since Cooke will be very helpful in getting Terrent to comprehend these bizarre ponies and their incomprehensible ways.
Damn already ended?
6878034
Goddamnit, stop one-upping my jokes, heh.
6878342
I am considering writing a standalone sort of sequel to this down the line, starring Terrent, once the epilogues are done.
6878631 Yeah, how could you just leave this story at incomming doom I mean date :D
Reading this soon.
Right in the feels...
Cya
Raziel-chan
Well, that went well. Poor stew, it was so young and innocent.
Cya
Raziel-chan
He's a pro.
Cya
Raziel-chan
6878631 Oooooh, it can't come soon enough. I already love him as a character. He's just so adorable.
That was very nice. I hope him and Cheerile will be happy together.
Cya
Raziel-chan
Dam. Good one. I kindda hoped the two will have the scene where they open up and the feels flow out.
its supposed to be standard issued pony 'disguise'
damn it face you are about to be dishonorably discharged.
yea yea thats the reason yea. no idiot its your FANGS
goody fire. i like fire. fire pretty.
7174150 I'm glad you're having fun. Here's hoping it sticks to the end.
"Uhh... whoops. Way to be tolerant and culturally integrated, jackass."
Oh, Come on, Saro-Terrent. Cut it out with this political correctness load of horseapples covered in ponyfeathers, why don't you?
So you're culturally integrated? And so what?
There's nothing wrong in recognizing that ponies are still scary for you.
Given the recent records of Equestrians-Changeling diplomatic relations,
being ill-at-ease around them is understandable.
Fearing they might not accept you is understandable.
But that's what you're here for:
trying not to be scared anymore.
The other Changeling died in an accident at the construction site, didn't he?
6869707
Saro-Terrent can't just blame the ponies for not welcoming him and his kind with open front-legs.
Whatever war happened between Equestria and the Changeling Kingdom, it probably still very fresh in the minds.
So he can't just expect all of the ponies not to be wary of him and his race,
and act as if nothing bad ever happened.
Oh, of course, the mare's attitude isn't the right course of action, as Saro means nothing but good,
but it is legitimate and understandable.
Her attitude wasn't stupid in the slightest sense, but very misled.
Legitimate, but very misled.
But it will get better with the time.
After all, she will probably see that Changelings, if things stay the way they currently are,
are no longer a threat to Equestria.
On another point, yes, the Changeling population is building in Ponyville.
And that will be a problem if the ponies feel outnumbered - or, even worse, if they become actually outnumbered - by the Changelings.
Hmm ... that reminds me a bit too much of our world's problems. :-(
But I'm curious to see where this will go, to see how will both Equestrians and Changelings deal with new situations.
6866704
I kiss Twilights butt
Why in Tartarus would you do that, Spike? :-D
7254800 Yeah. That's covered in other stories from my Iqqelverse; you can find a link to the whole set of stories in the description for this fic.
"Cheerilee paused, and glanced away. The gesture struck me as... sheepish? Embarassed?
"I may have gotten a little heated, if that's what you mean, but it was professional. I just wanted to make her understand how her behavior was causing problems.""
Translation: She totally chewed Mint out. She totally pulled a sergeant Hartmann on her and made the school building echo with her voice. :-P
Well, well, well ... it seems our tame channy boy is in the process of getting more than just acquainted with the pone teacher lady. :-)
While it would be plausible for RD to break boulders with her face, I do have to wonder if you didn't mean Earth Pony. RD did fracture a solid cliff in May the Best Pet Win, but that was hardly intentional. Seems more like Maud's schtick, although... eh, could go either way. Just thought I'd try to be helpful.
7277124 Spike at your service. She smashes boulders with her face after getting Spike to assemble them.
Nice.
Ya know, I've noticed that characters in this series smirk a lot.
Okay, this guy is seeming just dumb enough to be really funny.
Hee.
Aaaaaand gut-punch. Guess that's the Drama tag showing up.
Yeah, the dumb delivers again, now with more (at least temporarily) thwarted shipping.
Awww...
That ending with Cooke, it's a great emotional moment, all while tying up his thread, that of Terrent's problems working on the house, and moving in that direction with Terrent's anxiety with respect to ponies. Now that's narrative efficiency.
6856698 THIS! EXACTLY THIS! And the sudden reveal is the BEST THING! Seriously! THe irony of this changeling being scared of ponies is HILARIOUS!
Aaaw I kinda wanted to see the interaction with the foals.
I dont exactly understand why Lyra did all this.