Awesome / The Changeling of the Guard

• Idol's Alicorn transformation in Chapter 8. It may have drained him of months' worth of energy but he entirely thrashed the manticore that was terrorizing Topaz.
• Idol and Shining in the Everfree Forest. They killed a Timber Wolf with a Healing Factor by eating its heart.
• Chapter 30: Idol jumps off a bridge in order to catch a fleeing thief. "I bring justice from above", indeed.
• Chapter 48:
  • While it is never a good idea to manipulate the Princesses for selfish gain, when one of Flim and Flam's schemes contributes to Luna falling ill, Idol hunts them down and forces them to begin making reparations.
  • Idol's statements at the chapter's end really show how far he's come as a changeling.
    “...I love my queen. I cannot not love her. She is the Queen, and she knows best.” A tear escaped me. I could grieve, at least. “...But I think I hate her a little, too. In this too, I have failed.”
• Idol pulls a massive Batman Gambit on Cadence, Wispy, and Bold in order to get Bold to propose to Wispy, involving a fake Real Fake Wedding. Cadence is upset because she had her own plans for the proposal, only for Idol to pull off his idea first.
• Chapter 61:
  • When Chrysalis declares Idol "free of all orders", Idol promptly chooses to stay loyal to his Equestrian Guard oaths and defend Cadence, even against his former queen.
  • Cadence uses some kind of magic that can not only dispel changeling transformations, but also temporarily undoes whatever curse created Chrysalis in the first place.
  • Idol pulls off a second Alicorn transformation to try and stop Chrysalis from hurting Cadence. Unfortunately, it turns into a Negated Moment of Awesome as some mysterious force intervenes to stop him and nearly kills him in the process.
• Chapter 67 has something that puts Chrysalis here and potentially in a Nightmare Fuel page. She is such a skilled biomancer that she was able to patch Idol up with dead changing limbs in a open barracks without any issue. This, by the way should have been impossible!! The doctor who discovered the fact was severely torn between the moral implications and the benefits to society, and the promptly told Celestia " I’m going to go drown my ethical quandaries with whiskey and try not to think about it. I recommend you do the same." So yeah, Chrysalis is much more capable than anyone feared.
• In chapter 68, it's revealed that Mothchaser nearly thwarted Chrysalis' invasion herself by stumbling upon some of her changeling infiltrators subduing guardsponies. She failed to fight free of them, but she came close enough that she's being recalled to the batpony homeland to receive their equivalent of a knighthood in recognition of her accomplishment.
• In chapter 69, upon seeing the unhealthy appearance of Idol Hooves, Topaz Showers immediately forgets that she's mad at him and rounds on the princesses of Equestria in a protective fury, with such intensity that even Celestia is reduced to flustered, feeble defenses. The display leaves Idol in complete awe (and probably no little disbelief) as she starts to work herself up to righteous indignation, before he deflects her attention and her wrath.
• In chapter 72, Idol leaves Equestria for the Crystal Empire without telling Topaz Showers, still believing he somehow forced her into loving him and hoping that time and distance will "cure her". Then at the chapter's end, he discovers that Topaz and Cadance (and possibly Luna and/or Celestia too) predicted he'd try a stupidly noble self-sacrificing stunt like this, so Topaz moved out to the Empire to be with him, with Cadance giving her a grant to start the Topaz Showers New Empire Entomology Research Center and a brand new house... which is also Idol's assigned living quarters, thanks to Sombra's old barracks needing to be demolished and rebuilt from scratch. Idol can only stand there and be flabbergasted at how thoroughly he was Out-Gambitted.

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