Appleloosa...
Another rodeo was going on in the town of Appleloosa and whenever that happens, Applejack is not too far away to participate in it. This time, however, she had company. The last rodeo she took part in ended up with some complications since she didn't win any competition and was too proud to return so it was probably better to have some kind of company this time around.
This company took shape in the form of her little sister Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Star Twinkle. Originally, only Apple Bloom was supposed to accompany her but she invited her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders to join in as well. Since Star Twinkle was part of this group as well, even though he already got his Cutie Mark, he was pretty much dragged along. He was appreciating to get invited though.
They were only there for roughly an hour but they could clearly tell that everypony in Appleloosa was pumped to take part in the rodeo. The whole town was practically taking part in it and practiced their routines. Star Twinkle and the three little fillies took a good look at everypony and watched in awe.
"Aren't you glad y'all came with me to see Applejack compete in the Appleloosa rodeo?" Apple Bloom asked excitedly.
"Totally!" Scootaloo said. "This place is a cutie mark gold mine!" She said while she pointed at every pony who practiced their rodeo routines. "There's barrel racing, roping contests, rodeo clowning, steeplechase...!"
This could have continued but Apple Bloom interrupted her friend. "If we can get into some of these events, we could all three walk off the train back in Ponyville with brand-spankin' new cutie marks!" She explained happily.
"Wouldn't a barrel look good here?" Scootaloo said while she looked at her flank.
"I want a lasso!" Apple Bloom said cheerfully.
Star Twinkle just smiled at the three fillies and how excited they were for this trip. "Always a one-tracked mind, huh?" He commented.
Scootaloo turned towards the stallion. "Unlike you, we still don't have our Cutie Marks so of course we're still gonna focus on that!" She explained.
"We also don't want to fall behind you," Sweetie Belle added.
"Right!" Apple Bloom added. "Don't worry, we will get out Cutie Marks in no time so that all of us have one!" She said cheerfully.
Again, Star Twinkle smiled. It was nice how nothing changed in the relationship between him and the three girls. He almost expected them to cast him out from the Cutie Mark Crusaders but they did not hold any grudge or felt bad or anything alike. In fact, they seemed rather happy for him and wanted to work even harder from this point on. The stallion felt bad to even consider that the girls would have done anything bad after he got his Cutie Mark.
But even though the three fillies were excited for all the opportunities in terms of Cutie Marks, Sweetie Belle took a closer look around and came to one conclusion. "I don't know... All these events look a little, well, dangerous," she said worriedly.
"No risk, no reward," Apple Bloom simply replied.
But Star Twinkle did not really want to hear something like this. He knew those three well enough by now to know that they would tend to do some really risky stuff to get their Cutie Marks. This only meant that he had to keep a close look at each of them, which again, was bothering him a little bit. He figured that this trip would be more exhausting now.
As the four were walking around in Appleloosa their attention was quickly drawn by the Sheriff Silverstar, who was giving orders to the town ponies. Judging from the serious tone in his voice, it sounded rather important so the group listened to what he was saying.
"Alright, everypony, listen up! We need a big presence at this here rodeo, so make yourself plenty seen! I want that low-down varmint to know we mean business!" He said with determination in his voice.
Again, Sweetie Belle was the one who got concerned first. "I hope nothing bad is going on," she commented.
"Don't worry," Star Twinkle said. "They wouldn't hold a rodeo if there was somepony dangerous on the run," he added. But judging from Sheriff Silverstar's words, he did not intend to stop the rodeo even if that was the case. In hindsight, that is probably a lot of reasons to be actually concerned.
But Apple Bloom was not worried at all. "A cutie mark-apalooza and a low-down varmint? This is shapin' up to be the most excitin' rodeo ever!" She said excitedly.
"Yeah, come on!" Scootaloo added while she and Apple Bloom galloped away.
Star Twinkle shook his head. "I don't think you got the right message in this speech just now!" He shouted after the two fillies frustrated about how lightly they took this situation.
This only left Star Twinkle and Sweetie Belle, who both were the only ones seeing the real problem here. It was visible to Star Twinkle that Sweetie Belle was really worried so he figured that he should say some words to cheer her up again.
"Um...don't worry! I'll protect you all!" He said in a heroic tone, which made him face-hoof from the inside since he probably looked like a complete idiot now.
But to his relief, Sweetie Belle chuckled and smiled again. "We should follow them," she said before she ran after her friends.
"Right..." Star Twinkle said slightly embarrassed before he followed right behind. He didn't know if she got happy because of his weird gesture or because she knew that he tried to cheer her up but either way, Star Twinkle was happy.
Later...
Star Twinkle, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo decided to go back to Applejack. Watching her in the rodeo was initially why they came to Appleloosa in the first place. The mare was already practicing her routine. She, along with some other ponies, gracefully and acrobatically, stacked one haystack after another on top of each other to build a huge tower out of it. Once they were done, there were hundreds of them on top of each other.
In the meantime, Braeburn, who unfortunately hurt one of his legs, was looking at this and loudly cheered for Applejack. "Woo-hoo! Yee-haw! That's my cousin! Go, Applejack, go!"
The mare wiped off some sweat from her forehead. "Whew! It's been a dog's age since I got to compete. All the rodeos 'round Ponyville are closed down for some reason," she mentioned.
"Well, I guess havin' injured kinfolk in Appleloosa sure paid off then, huh, cuz?" Braeburn said jokingly.
"Just doin' my best to fill your horseshoes, Braeburn," Applejack modestly replied.
"Keep tossin' like that and I'll be out of a job!" Braeburn replied before he invited her to a hoof bump, which she gladly took. Unfortunately, Braeburn offered his injured hoof, something that both of them did not seem to notice. "Ow, ow!" The stallion said in pain.
"Ooh, sorry," Applejack apologized. The mare then looked around a little bit and noticed how something was off. "Say, where's my sister and her friends?" She then asked confused.
"Uh-oh. Gee, uh, I got so caught up watchin' you that I—" Braeburn tried to explain but Applejack would not listen and got mad at him already.
"You said you'd keep an eye on those fillies! How am I supposed to focus on practicin' if you're not gonna—"
"There they are!" Braeburn then said as soon as he saw the three fillies and Star Twinkle walking up to the two. The three girls had a bunch of souvenirs with them already, like weird rodeo hats or caramel apples. "Heh, right where I left 'em...with Star Twinkle. I knew asking him to look after them for a while was a good idea," he explained nervously.
Star Twinkle rolled his eyes. "You mean after you lost sight of them..." he thought. In reality, Braeburn asked for Star Twinkle to look after them after they ran off so that Applejack would not get mad at him.
The last part of his plan clearly failed since Applejack was looking right through him. "Aw, don't be mad!" Braeburn said before he lifted his injured leg in front of her. "Owwwwch! My foreleg! Hurts so much...!" He said in a fake sobbing voice.
Even the three fillies could clearly see through his poor acting and giggled at him but those giggles stopped as soon as they realized that Applejack was about to give them a little talk.
"Y'all can't go runnin' off like that, y'hear? Backstage at a rodeo ain't no kind of playground!" She scolded, making the three frown a little bit.
But luckily Star Twinkle was at their side. "Don't worry Applejack, I was with them all this time," he assured as he walked closer to the mare. Applejack gave the stallion half of a glare as if she was partly blaming him for this.
Now, the girls felt bad. Apple Bloom walked forward. "Sorry, Applejack. We won't wander off again," she then apologized.
Applejack was taking this apology and then began to sigh. "The rodeo is a pretty big thing here so I guess I can't blame you all for taking a look at everything," she then said with a smile on her face.
"Speakin' of the rodeo..." Apple Bloom then said as soon as she noticed how her sister was no longer mad at them. "What would you say about me and the Crusaders maybe competin' in one teensy-weensy little event or three?" She then asked.
But before Applejack could give an answer, Braeburn interrupted them. "Look out!" He said in a panic as he pointed towards the huge haystack tower. It was shaking and about to fall, right on six ponies.
There was no time to think for anyone but Applejack instinctively went and grabbed Apple Bloom and Scootaloo while Star Twinkle was grabbing Sweetie Belle and pushed Braeburn out of the way. The tower came down with a huge crash but luckily nopony was buried beneath it, thanks to Applejack's and Star Twinkle's quick actions.
Applejack was still holding to her sister while she gasped in relief as soon as she saw how everypony was alright. "Good job, Star Twinkle!" She said after she saw how Sweetie Belle and Braeburn were alright as well.
Star Twinkle had a smile on his face as he looked over to Sweetie Belle. "Told you, I'll keep you save," he had the nerve to boast, even though Applejack was the one who saved the other half.
Applejack took a look around and saw all the haystacks scattered around. "What the hay just happened?" She asked confused.
But for Star Twinkle the answer was obvious. "I guess you didn't make sure that your tower is very stable," he figured.
The mare quickly turned towards Star Twinkle with an offended look on her face. "We practiced this routine for a long time! It should have fallen over this easily! There must have been another reason!" She said, defending herself from Star Twinkle's accusations.
Sheriff Silverstar arrived at the scene shortly after and took a good look at the ground near the tower. He quickly found something that caught his attention. "Sugar and salt licks! Well, I'll be..." he said in a serious tone.
Wondering about what the sheriff found, everypony walked up to him. "What is it, Sheriff?" Applejack asked confused.
Everypony quickly saw a hoofprint in the dirt. Somepony was next to the tower when it fell, or rather, somepony was responsible for it to fall.
"Is it him?" Braeburn asked concerned.
"Who?" Star Twinkle asked confused, feeling a little left out right now.
Sheriff Silverstar nodded and his facial expression became even more serious. "Ain't no doubt. It's Trouble Shoes," he said in a serious tone, which was made even more serious as soon as some pony nearby decided to play a western song with his harmonica, much to Sheriff Silverstar's surprise.
However, Star Twinkle still wanted to know more. "And who is that Trouble Shoes?" He asked.
The sheriff then turned towards the stallion and simply replied. "Appleloosa's Most Wanted!"
But that is all the information that Star Twinkle would get for a while. Instead of explaining the situation to him, Sheriff Silverstar decided to hold another speech in front of the town ponies to warn them all.
Later...
Only ten minutes after the haystack tower incident, Sheriff Silverstar managed to gather all the folks from Appleloosa in one spot. Star Twinkle, Applejack, Braeburn, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were there as well to listen.
Unlike Star Twinkle, however, everypony seemed to already know about Trouble Shoes.
"Is it true? Is Trouble Shoes here?"
"You ain't gonna shut down the rodeo, are ya?!"
Those were only some questions that the stallion could hear in the crowd as soon as Sheriff Silverstar was stepping in front of the crowd.
"All right now, I called for a meetin', not a mob scene," Sheriff Silverstar said, causing some of the ponies in the crowd to pack away their torches and pitchforks. "Now, as many of you know, the Equestria rodeo circuit has been plagued by the dirty dealin's of a notorious outlaw," he explained.
"He knocked barrels every which way at the Hoof City rodeo! Nearly crushed my Aunt Bae Mare!"
"That's nothin'! He sabotaged the steer pen at Pinto Creek rodeo, settin' off such a stampede they cancelled the whole dadgum thing!"
Those again were some things that the town's ponies shared with everyone.
But Sheriff Silverstar remained calm and decided to explain further. "Now, now, it's true we had an incident this mornin' at our own Appleloosa rodeo. Hay bale stack came down right near on top of three little fillies!" He said as he pointed towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders, which were held by Applejack in concern. "I examined them hoof-prints myself and, uh... it was Trouble Shoes, all right," he added, causing the crowd in front of him to gasp in shock. "I reckon I oughta cancel this rodeo like all the others done. But dag-hoof it, this has gone far enough! We'll double the patrols! This rodeo will go on! Appleloosa ain't gonna be intimidated!" He announced, causing the crowd ponies to cheer for him in agreement.
And just like that, the situation was settled and everypony left. Star Twinkle had to admit that the ponies in Appleloosa were pretty brave to continue the rodeo even though a criminal was on the loose. Maybe it was also because the rodeo was really important to everyone. Whatever the reason was, the Cutie Mark Crusaders didn't mind too much what happened to them earlier and just went back to what they wanted to ask Applejack.
"Glad that's settled. So, uh, Applejack, about me and my pals competin' in the rodeo..." she asked followed by a nervous chuckle. She knew that this was not the best moment to ask this.
"About that..." Applejack then said in a concerned voice.
Later...
Applejack could only come up with one solution for this situation, and it was something that the Cutie Mark Crusaders did not like at all.
"Don't send us home! It's not fair!" Apple Bloom protested.
But Applejack already made her decision. "Now, quit yer bellyachin'. I can't have y'all around here with some outlaw on the loose," she said while she strapped a saddlebag on her sister already.
"Come on, Star Twinkle, say something!" Scootaloo begged.
But Star Twinkle didn't really think that this was his decision alone. He also did not completely disagree with Applejack's decision. "To be fair, you three almost got crushed earlier today if Applejack and I didn't come and help you," he pointed out.
"Exactly!" Applejack agreed. "And knowing you girls, you probably run off as soon as we stop looking at you!" She scolded, judging from what happened earlier today as well. She then formed a frown on her face and sighed. "Aw, maybe I oughta call it quits and go home too," she figured.
But that was an answer that Braeburn would not accept. "No, you can't! This rodeo is important to Appleloosa! And with you in there, we got a real shot at winnin'!" He said before he grabbed her and Star Twinkle and pushed them both "Come on, now, you head on back to practice and don't worry none about these three. I won't let 'em outta my sight," he said before he slammed the door shut again.
This left the two Earth Ponies outside while Braeburn kept a close look on the three fillies while the rodeo was going on. Applejack made an attempt to open the door right away but hesitated. She quickly formed a determined expression on her face though, turned around and walked away.
"Let's go, Star Twinkle. Help me get prepared for the rodeo," she said determinedly.
"Are you sure this is the best thing to do now?" Star Twinkle asked confused. "You know that the girls will be pretty upset about this, right?"
"I know," the mare replied with a frown on her face. "But this is the best we can do. You said it yourself, if we weren't there, then my sister and her friends could have gotten seriously hurt. And with a criminal on the loose, I am not taking any chances. So to answer your question, yes, I think this is the best thing to do," she said.
Star Twinkle did not want the girls to be upset but at the same time, he didn't want them to be in danger. Applejack had to take part in the rodeo and knowing the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Star Twinkle would not be able to hold them in one place forever.
"I guess you're right," Star Twinkle admitted while he accompanied Applejack to her next practice session.
Later that day...
Just like before, Applejack and some other ponies continued to practice their, haystack tower routine. This time it actually was standing without anything falling over again. Applejack was just done placing the last haystack on the top. Star Twinkle could swear that the tower was getting a little bit higher each attempt.
"Looks good!" Star Twinkle said impressed at the huge tower in front of him.
Applejack and the other ponies were happy to hear this and all smiled modestly.
Shortly after though, a raindrop was hitting the stallion on his nose. He looked up at the sky and just now realized that the clouds looked rather gray. "I think you should call it quit for now because it looks like it is about to-"
But then water came pouring down on him, hard.
"Rain..." Star Twinkle then said annoyed while his eyes were covered by his wet mane.
Everypony quickly agreed to get inside to take cover. It was good that they were done with their tower and they were smart enough to build it in front of a barn. They quickly took shelter inside of it to escape from the rainstorm.
"Whew! Good job, y'all. I know they need lots of mud for the rodeo tomorrow, but I wish they would've warned us about this rainstorm," Applejack remarked.
"Yeah, no kidding," Star Twinkle added while he was wringing out his tail.
Shortly after, somepony else entered the barn, who was not with them a minute ago. It was Braeburn who was looking a little bit in shock.
"Braeburn?" Applejack said once she saw her cousin entering the barn. But there was something missing. "Where are the girls?" She then asked. What she got as a reply was a nervous laugh from the stallion.
"No...don't tell me..." Star Twinkle said after he figured out what might have happened.
"Yeah...um...they kinda ran away when I was not looking..." the stallion admitted nervously.
Applejack replied accordingly...
"Whaaaaaaaaaat?!" She screamed in her frustration, which echoed through the whole area.
The three ponies wasted no time to pay Sheriff Silverstar a visit and request some help to look for them. Braeburn looked all over Appleloosa but couldn't find them so Applejack came to the conclusion that Trouble Shoes was the one who took them away.
Sheriff Silverstar had his doubt though. He said that Trouble Shoes did some bad things but nothing that went this far. But Applejack didn't want to take that chance and Sheriff Silverstar didn't either so they all decided to look for the three fillies to find them. The Sheriff had a good guess where Trouble Shoes could be and led the way to go after him, hoping that the Cutie Mark Crusaders would still be safe when they get there.
Meanwhile...
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were walking through a forest not too far away from Appleloosa. Applejack's assumption that they were ponynapped by Trouble Shoes proved to be wrong. However, that didn't mean that Trouble Shoes was completely out of the picture. It was him who the three girls were looking for after all. They figured that their chances to take part in the rodeo would increase once this criminal was out of the picture and there was no more reason for anypony to be worried about.
The three fillies somehow managed to find out that Trouble Shoes was living a little bit outside of Appleloosa which led them into this forest.
But...they quickly found themselves lost...
"You sure about this, Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle asked while she was looking around in concern.
"I thought I was, but now I'm not," Scootaloo replied worriedly.
Apple Bloom was the one who came up with this idea so of course, she completely blamed herself for this situation. "So I pretty much got us completely and totally lost. How could this get any worse?" She complained loudly.
Of course, she was asking for it...
She, along with her two friends slid down a little muddy hill by accident. Now they were wet because of the rain and covered in mud. Walking around the forest while it was raining like this was definitely not the safest way to travel, they needed shelter.
"We gotta get out of this rain. There's no tellin' how long this storm could last," Apple Bloom said.
And just as if their prayers were heard, Scootaloo managed to find exactly that. "Look!" She said, pointing at a cabin in the middle of this forest.
It was in really bad shape so Apple Bloom figured that this would be a good place to stay. "It looks abandoned. Let's go see if we can find some blankets or somethin'," she suggested before she walked towards it with her friends following closely.
The girls quickly ran inside to finally get some shelter to escape the rainstorm. Sweetie Belle made sure to close the door behind her quickly so that the thunder outside would not be nearly as loud anymore. The room they were in was really dark and they could barely see anything but at least it was dry there.
It was also awfully quiet. This Cabin looked rather abandoned so it made sense. But just when they thought they were safe and sound, they started to hear some noises. Someone was with them in the same room but they couldn't make out who it was because it was so dark. There was a figure in the corner of the room hiding in the shadows who also noticed the presence of the three girls and slowly walked up to them to reveal himself.
What the girls saw, however, shocked them. This figure had black skin, holes in its body, bug wings, and arctic blue eyes. The girls all gulped at the sight of this creature because they knew what it was after getting a closer look at it.
It was a Changeling.
"What's up?" The Changeling said.
AHHHHH!
The three girls screamed in terror. They were in Canterlot when the Changeling swarm attack the wedding of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor and knew all too well how dangerous those creatures were. They quickly ran towards the door, trying to open it hastily but Sweetie Belle must have slammed the door shut too hard once she entered and it got stuck.
The girls had no other option but to cower in fear in front of the door, holding each other and closing their eyes, hoping to not get hurt too much by this Changeling.
But strangely enough, nothing happened. The girls opened their eyes confused and quickly noticed that the Changeling didn't move an inch towards them and just had a bright smile on its face.
Needless to say, this behavior confused the three and they looked at each other. "He is not really chasing us..." Apple Bloom pointed out confused.
The Changeling tilted his head in confusion. "Why would I want to chase you?" He asked before his eyes widened in excitement. "Are we playing tag!? Why didn't you tell me?"
Being the trustful fillies they were, the three girls slowly walked up to the changeling and took a closer look at him. The smile on his face was definitely off-putting, or at least, weird to look at. This Changeling also was wearing a yellow headband around his head, something that made him look different as well. Changelings didn't really wear clothing except for pieces of armor, from what they knew so seeing him wear a bright yellow headband was also weird to look at.
"Aren't you a Changeling?" Sweetie Belle asked, just to confirm the whole situation.
"Yes. I am!" The Changeling replied with a smile on his face. "My name is Tagma, by the way," he then introduced himself.
Scootaloo, for a moment, completely forgot that she was in a potentially dangerous situation and just spoke out her mind. "I thought all Changelings are supposed to be evil," she straight out said.
"Who steal ponies love," Sweetie Belle added.
"And who want to take over Equestria," Apple Bloom added.
The Changeling gave a quick and casual answer. "Yes, all true," he said with a smile on his face. Of course, an answer like this confused them.
Sweetie Belle walked up to the Changeling slowly and inspected him a little closer. "You don't seem evil to me," she then said.
Tagma chuckled and rubbed his neck embarrassed. "Thanks. You don't seem evil to me as well," he commented back.
"So, you are not planning to hurt us or steal our love or anything like what the Changelings did in Canterlot a while back?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Nope, not really. I just was around the area when this huge rainstorm started out of nowhere so I needed to find some shelter," he explained casually. "Looks like I was not the only one," he added with a grin on his face.
Seeing how this Changeling was rather nice and not evil at all, made it rather easy for them to talk with him. They had no problems explaining why they were in this cabin. And Tagma listened closely. The three still could not believe that they were talking to a Changeling like this.
"So that's how it is," Apple Bloom said after she pretty much summed up their whole stay in Appleloosa.
"So you are trying to find this criminal and want him to get arrested so that things will be safe again and the town-folks will let you participate in the rodeo in return?" Tagma recapped.
"Yes," Sweetie Belle replied while she looked over to her two friends. "Pretty stupid idea, isn't it?" She added since she was against this idea from the very beginning.
"Yeah," Tagma replied casually, much to the surprise of the three. "But then again," he then said with a more exciting tone in his voice. "This rodeo thing sounds really fun! Can't really blame you to want to take part in it!"
"I guess Changelings don't have any rodeos, huh?" Scootaloo figured.
"No..." Tagma replied a little bit sad. "We don't really have many...fun things..."
"Is that why you are not with the rest of the Changelings?" Scootaloo asked boldly, which caused the other two fillies to poke her into the side.
"Nope, that's another reason entirely," Tagma replied.
The three fillies felt like as if they helped the Changeling to remember some bad memories and frowned out of sympathy. Sweetie Belle was then the one who tried to comfort him. "I hope, whatever happened with you and the other Changelings gets fixed someday," she said while she put a hoof on the Changeling.
"Yeah, me too," Tagma replied. He appreciated the words of the filly.
But this moment was interrupted as soon as somepony opened the door of the cabin and let the sound of the rainstorm inside. The three ponies and the Changeling looked towards the door in surprise and saw a huge figure standing in the doorway. The figure was covered in shadows, leaving the three fillies quite scared, especially since a thunder could be heard and accompanied the appearance of this huge stallion.
"AHHHHH!" The three fillies screamed in fear.
"AHHHHHH!" Screamed the big figure back in terror, while he hit his head and stumbled inside the room, only to slip over multiple objects, getting multiple things to fall down on his head and eventually, even knocking himself out by running into a lamp that was hanging from the ceiling.
This was a rather...weird situation that just happened in front of everypony. While the Cutie Mark Crusaders didn't know what to say, Tagma began to laugh. "That was awesome! Do it again!" He said, being completely oblivious about how the stallion was knocked out cold.
"That just happened," Scootaloo commented after not being completely sure about what she just witnessed.
"Should we help him?" Sweetie Belle asked confused.
"Probably," Apple Bloom figured as she walked up to the stallion. She did stop though and looked at Tagma for a moment. "You should probably turn into a pony. You can do that, right?" She then suggested.
Tagma looked confused for a moment. "Oh, yeah! Ponies are afraid of Changelings. I got it!" He said with a smile on his face before he engulfed himself in green flames and turned into a Pegasus Pony with a black coat, light blue eyes and a silhouette of a pony as a Cutie Mark. He barely looked different as a pony at least in terms of his colors, which probably made this transformation a little bit bad. On top of that, he had no mane or tail but still his yellow headband around his head.
But whether this transformation was good or bad, he was not a Changeling anymore so Apple Bloom continued to look after the big stallion in front of her who was just about to wake up.
"Hello? You alright?" She asked concerned.
"Surely," the stallion replied rather upset.
"We didn't mean no harm. We just came in to get out of the rain," Apple Bloom explained who now had Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Tagma standing behind her.
But the stallion did not seem to bother that. "Had some hot cider a-cookin' in the kitchen. Doubt it survived," he said while he looked at his kitchen area, which was left in ruins.
"Not after an entrance like this," Tagma said amused but then he got poked in the sides by Sweetie Belle who thought that this was a rather rude thing to say.
Again, the stallion did not seem to bother. "I ain't gonna rise to greet y'all. Awfully rude, I reckon, but as you can see, I'm the fresh casualty of an unusually unfortunate circumstance. My lot in life, I suppose,"
He was referring to how he was wrapped up in his own living room curtains at this very moment and was unable to get up on his own.
For some reason, Apple Bloom had a slight guess who that pony in front of her was but she asked him directly. "Are you... Trouble Shoes?"
"That's me," the stallion replied.
Without much time wasted, Apple Bloom walked closer to the stallion only to get stopped from Scootaloo. "W-what are you doing?" She asked confused.
"I'm gonna unwrap him," Apple Bloom casually replied before she walked past Scootaloo and to do exactly that.
"You can't do that! That's Trouble Shoes!" Sweetie Belle advised.
But Apple Bloom was already freeing the stallion "Aw, he doesn't seem so bad," she said confidently. "Just like another someone we just met recently," she added as she looked over to Tagma.
"Who could that be?" The Changeling in disguise said completely oblivious, causing Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to simply shake their heads.
In the meantime, Apple Bloom managed to free the stallion and he could stand up properly on his hooves again. The Earth Pony stallion had a moderate vermilion colored coat, a dark grayish reddish-brown mane, and light green colored eyes. He was also wearing a small stetson on his head and had a light green upside-down horseshoe as a Cutie Mark. This stallion was also big, very big. He towered over the small fillies and was probably four times the size as Tagma.
"Of course guests would arrive while I ain't got no pie to offer. Scores more misfortune points for old Trouble Shoes," he said before he walked to his right, only to slip on a banana peel, which happened to be on the ground, making him slip directly into a shelve, filled with bowling balls, that came dropping down on his head. Despite that happening just now, Trouble Shoes got up again. "Typical. Bad luck never rests," he said still with a very upset tone in his voice.
"You sure that's bad luck?" Apple Bloom asked. "Seems like maybe you're just a little, um..."
"Klutzy?" Sweetie Belle finished.
"A little?" Tagma said confused. "I don't think he took a single step without breaking something so far," he added but then he got some glares from the girls and he stopped with a nervous smile on his face.
"Tell that to the flank!" Trouble Shoes said angrily before he literally held his flank up to present his Cutie Mark to everypony. "Upside-down horseshoe – bad luck. Follows me wherever I go like sour on old milk," he explained. Having said that certainly explained all the things that happened to him so far. "Y'all best vamoose before my bad luck rubs off and sticks to y'all," he said before he went to the door and asked everypony and Changeling to leave. "Get along! Skedaddle!" he said in a serious tone which was accompanied by thunder from outside.
Of course, that was not as easy as said for the three fillies. "Um, we don't really know the way back to Appleloosa..." Scootaloo said.
Trouble Shoes got quickly upset again. "But o' course I do. Wouldn't you know it? My lucky day," he said before he offered the ponies to follow him.
A little later...
Even though he was not looking forward to it, Trouble Shoes was leading the Cutie Mark Crusaders right back to Appleloosa. Fortunately, the rainstorm stopped, making the walk a lot more bearable. As they followed the huge stallion, they couldn't help but appreciate how this so-called criminal was leading them back to town.
"It's actually kind of sweet of him to help us out like this," Sweetie Belle said towards her friends.
"I know!" Scootaloo agreed. "What do we do if he takes us back to Appleloosa and the sheriff arrests him? If I get a cutie mark for that, I'll feel guilty every time I see it," she said concerned.
"Yes, that would be quite bad," Tagma added casually.
The three girls looked at the disguised Changeling. They had almost forgotten that he was with them now. "Why are you coming with us anyway?" Sweetie Belle asked confused.
"Because I want to see the rodeo," Tagma replied with an excited look on his face. "After you told me about all the things I just have to check it out myself!"
Scootaloo walked closer to the Changeling. "Yes, but if you come to Appleloosa with us, then you should stay in your disguise," she advised while keeping a close look at Trouble Shoes, making sure that he was not aware of their conversation since he didn't know about Tagma being a Changeling.
Tagma was aware that he could not drop his transformation and understood. He saluted with a grin on his face. "Robert!"
The three fillies looked at each other confused. "Don't you mean, Roger?" Apple Bloom asked.
Now Tagma looked confused. "Who is Roger?" He asked with a puzzled expression on his face.
The girls rolled their eyes and then Apple Bloom walked closer to Trouble Shoes to warn him. "Say there, Trouble Shoes, you might not want to take us all the way back to Appleloosa. The sheriff sort of has it in his mind that you're a no-good outlaw lookin' to shut down the rodeo," she informed the stallion.
But as always, Trouble Shoes did not seem to be surprised or bothered. "My kind of luck he'd think that," he said upset.
This is where Apple Bloom was wondering something. Trouble Shoes was clearly not a bad or dangerous pony from what they saw so far, which begged the question of why everypony thought he was a criminal.
"But... is it true?" She then asked.
Trouble Shoes, for the first time, looked at the ponies behind him. "Y'all like stories?"
"Sure!" Tagma replied more excited than he probably should.
Trouble Shoes sighed. "Just my luck. I was hopin' you'd say no," he said depressed before he started his little story.
"When I was a colt, I wanted to be a rodeo star somethin' fierce, but I just didn't seem to have the knack for it. So I practiced and practiced... And then, someday, finally, I wrangled up the guts to audition for rodeo school. Right in the middle of that tryout, I knew I was doin' what I was meant to. And wouldn't you know it? In a flash comes this here cutie mark," he said as he showed his flank to the four ponies once more. "You can guess what happened next..."
Judging from his little "performance" back in the cabin, the four had a pretty good guess.
"I can still remember them judges a-laughin'. Didn't even finish my routine 'cause right then I knew bad luck was my fate. That fire for rodeo never did leave me, though. Couldn't keep away from 'em. So I'd sneak down and have a look, and wouldn't you know it? Bad luck would strike again. Just my lot in life, I reckon..."
After listening to the story, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Tagma started to feel bad for Trouble Shoes. Just when he was getting his Cutie Mark, everything seemed to have gone downhill.
Tagma was looking surprisingly thoughtful for once. "That's the second time I heard somepony not being happy to have a Cutie Mark...those things sure can ruin your life," he spoke out.
The girls didn't hear those last words from the Changeling. They wouldn't like hearing them anyway because, after all, they desperately try to get their Cutie Marks almost every single day. Now their focus was on the stallion in front of them.
"Poor Trouble Shoes," Sweetie Belle said with a frown on her face. "I can't believe those mean judges would laugh at him like that," she added.
But Apple Bloom seemed to have noticed something in the story that everyone else missed. "Don't you see? They weren't laughin' at him. They were just enjoyin' the show," she pointed out.
But Scootaloo still didn't understand. "What are you saying?" She asked confused.
"Think about it," Apple Bloom replied before she began to explain. "If we saw a rodeo clown doin' what he did back in that shack, we'd think he was the greatest!"
"You're right!" Sweetie Belle realized. "He could still be in rodeos, just not the way he thought!"
"So he's been looking at his cutie mark wrong the whole time!" Scootaloo added.
Tagma was slowly affected by the good mood that started to build between the three fillies again. "So his Cutie Mark is a good thing?" He asked confused.
"Yes!" Apple Bloom replied happily before she turned towards the sad stallion to tell him about their newfound realization.
But then suddenly...
"Gotcha!" A familiar voice shouted.
The three fillies and Tagma then noticed how Trouble Shoes was tied up with a bunch of ropes by Sheriff Silverstar with some help from Star Twinkle, Applejack, and Braeburn.
Tagma's eyes widened as soon as he saw Star Twinkle and Applejack. "Oh oh..." he said in worry.
The girls quickly walked towards the group of ponies. Trouble Shoes, being the kind pony he was, did not resist and was just annoyed by his bad luck, that brought him into this situation.
"Trouble Shoes, you're under arrest for vandalizin' the property and peace of mind of the good rodeo-lovin' ponies of Equestria!" Sheriff Silverstar said sternly. "Not to mention fillynappin'! And... generalized mayhem!" He added.
Of course, the Cutie Marks Crusaders quickly wanted to resolve this misunderstanding before it would get seriously out of hoof but Applejack made sure that she would keep them away from Trouble Shoes.
"Star Twinkle, Braeburn? Get these fillies someplace safe," Applejack ordered sternly.
"Right," Star Twinkle replied while he kept his eyes glued on Trouble Shoes. The stallion was pretty tall so he figured that he should not let him out of his sight.
But Apple Bloom still wanted to explain the situation to everypony. "No! Listen! Trouble Shoes is not a bad pony!" She said.
But nopony listened closely. "Don't worry girls, you don't give to be scared anymore!" Star Twinkle said in a comforting voice.
Apple Bloom groaned frustrated. "Come on! Tagma help us! Tell them that-" but the filly stopped in mid-sentence as soon as she realized that the Black coated pony was nowhere to be found anymore. They desperately wanted to know why he left now but then they looked at how Trouble Shoes was being taken away and how nopony was listening to them. It was frustrating.
In the end, they had to wait for the next day, once everypony was calming down again...
The next morning...
"What do you mean, release Trouble Shoes?" Star Twinkle asked confused.
"Trouble Shoes isn't the menace everypony thinks he is!" Apple Bloom said frustrated.
The first thing the three fillies asked in the morning was to let Trouble Shoes go again. Star Twinkle and Applejack really didn't understand where all this came from without the context of the situation.
"Sakes alive, what's with you? Why in tarnation would you want me to help get him out of jail when he's the one who ran off with y'all to begin with?! Now if y'all excuse me, I'm off to win the Appleloosa rodeo hay bale monster stack," she said before she left the little house where they were staying at the moment.
By now, Apple Bloom was about to confess that this whole situation happened because of her and her friends running away from Braeburn but she also feared what the consequences would be if anypony would find out, which eventually kept her from continuing.
"Come on, girls, you should be happy!" Star Twinkle then said happily. "Now that this criminal is behind locked bars, Applejack is not keeping you from watching the rodeo anymore," he added before he followed the girls outside, expecting them to follow him since they were looking forward to this rodeo all this time.
But that didn't happen...
The girls agreed that something had to be done, and the first thing would be freeing Trouble Shoes, even if they had to be the one who did it. For that, the girls went to the jail where the stallion was held captive. He was guarded by Sheriff Silverstar but Trouble Shoe didn't really mind that and just looked out of the window of his cell.
"Well, at least I get me a view of one small corner of the rodeo," he said after sighing heavily. But of course, his luck wouldn't last too long and the bed, where he was standing on to look out of the window, broke and he fell through it, making it unable for him to reach the window anymore. "Figures," he just commented.
Sheriff Silverstar got a little annoyed by the stallion. "Aw, come on now, Trouble Shoes! I'm runnin' out of mattresses!" He said as he pointed at the pile of mattresses in front of him.
The girls looked inside the room and felt once again, really bad for Trouble Shoes. They knew that he did nothing wrong, or at least, he didn't do anything wrong on purpose so he definitely did not deserve to be put in jail like this. They had to get him out of there.
"Any plan how to get him out of there while the sheriff is inside?" Apple Bloom asked into the round.
"No," Sweetie Belle replied.
"No," Scootaloo replied.
"No" Tagma replied.
The girls widened their eyes in surprise after hearing a voice that was not supposed to be with them just now.
"Tagma!?" Apple Bloom asked confused.
The Changeling in disguised smiled. "What's up?" He greeted them.
But the three girls just glared back at him. "Don't "What's up?" us!" Scootaloo said annoyed.
"Yeah!" Sweetie Belle added angrily. "Where were you yesterday!? You could have helped us explain everything!"
Tagma rubbed his neck nervously. "Yeah but...there were some ponies back there that I had to avoid because..." but he stopped in mid-sentence. It was probably a bad idea to now bring up that he once was an enemy to Star Twinkle and Applejack, who, along with his companions, tried to bring demise over Equestria. "But let me make up to it! You want to free Trouble Shoes, right? I just got an idea of how to do that!" He said before walked around the building to enter it from the front door.
The girls didn't know what he was up to and just waited for whatever was happening now but before he could put his plan in motion, Applejack walked inside the room, causing the girls to lower their heads so that they wouldn't get caught.
"Hey, there Sheriff!" The mare greeted friendly. Sheriff Silverstar was confused to see the mare here and not in the rodeo.
"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at the rodeo right now!?" He asked confused.
Applejack looked confused herself but then she explained. "They postponed our routine so I thought I tell you about it. I don't need to be there for now so how about I'll take a turn to watch this criminal?" She asked.
The sheriff rubbed his chin. "I was looking forward to seeing it so...sure? Why not?" He said before he walked towards the door. "Just don't let him out of your sight!" He warned before he then left.
"Robert!...Err...I mean, Roger!" Applejack replied while saluting.
By now the girls understood what was happening and they smiled at each other before then walking inside the room as well. Applejack smiled at the three fillies before she then covered herself in green flames and turned into Tagma's pony form.
"Good job!" Apple Bloom whispered to the Changeling so that Trouble Shoes, who was busy looking at a wall with a frown on his face wouldn't hear them.
The group quickly grabbed the keys to Trouble Shoes cell and released the guy, much to his surprise.
"Trouble Shoes! Time to get you out of here and into the rodeo!" Apple Bloom announced proudly.
But the big stallion was not feeling like going anywhere. He was a wanted criminal, after all, he couldn't just walk around in Appleloosa, let alone going to the rodeo. But the girls already had a good plan prepared which they thought was gonna work perfectly.
Later...
At the rodeo, Applejack's routine was already going on for a while, in fact, it was close to coming to an end. Star Twinkle was watching it all on the sidelines. He was pretty caught up into it since it was no longer a practice but rather an actual competition now. Things seemed to go well, and the last haystacks were about to land on top of the tower. Applejack kicked the last haystack up into the air and it landed on top of the tower and even though it was shaking, it was perfectly stacked and the tower was done.
One Pegasus pony checked the height of the tower and in the end, it turned out to be a new record, making Applejack and her team the winners of this rodeo. She and her team were covered in confetti and celebrated happily. Applejack looked over to Star Twinkle victoriously which was returned by a victorious smile of his own.
The team was now accepting the trophy for winning the competition so Star Twinkle figured that he should take a look around to see if the Cutie Mark Crusaders were anywhere around. He didn't see them during the whole rodeo so far but he figured that they should be somewhere since they were really looking forward to seeing it.
The rodeo clowns were already coming out while Applejack took the trophy so Star Twinkle walked around to look for the three fillies. It didn't take long until he saw them at the other side of the fence, watching the clowns and even go so far on cheering for them heavily. They must have watched the rodeo all this time, just like he thought.
But then he saw someone familiar next to the three and he looked shocked. "Wait, isn't that?" He said confused as he looked at a black coated Pegasus stallion that was standing next to the three, cheering for the rodeo clowns as well. "Tagma!?" He said in shock before he rushed over to the four.
Star Twinkle managed to approach the ponies without them noticing him right away and as soon as they did, it was too late for the Changeling in disguise to run away in time.
"Um..." was the only thing that he managed to say at this moment. "...What's up?" He then added nervously.
"What are you doing here!?" Star Twinkle asked. He still well remembered how Tagma was part of the group that ponynapped the princesses for their evil plans and he was not about to let him go so easily. "Stay away from the girls if you know what it-"
But much to his surprise, the three fillies were rushing to the Changeling's side to defend him. "No, stop!" Apple Bloom said. "Tagma is not bad!"
Suddenly, Star Twinkle realized something. "Wait, do you know that he is a Changeling!?" He asked confused.
"Yes, we do!" Scootaloo replied.
"We don't know exactly what he did but we do know that he didn't do anything bad since we met him!" Sweetie Belle explained.
"What are you talking about!?" Star Twinkle asked. "He is a Changeling! He and his "friends" tried to-"
"That doesn't matter!" Apple Bloom interrupted, causing Star Twinkle to get quite puzzled for a moment.
Star Twinkle didn't know what to say to this. He looked over to Tagma and realized that he was looking rather nervous but he also had a rather regretful look on his face. This caused Star Twinkle to remember back the time where he and his friends encountered the Outcasts. He was aware that Tagma was not as bad as Mystic or Fade. On top of that, Rosa and Wildheart actually regretted what they did and turned a leaf because of it after their plan failed. Tagma was different, he probably was hanging around the Outcasts because they were ready to let him stay in their group, even though he was a Changeling.
Whatever Star Twinkle was thinking about the guy though, Applejack was moving closer to the group as well to show off her trophy. On a whim, Star Twinkle decided to warn them. "Applejack is coming! Quick transform into someone else!" Tagma understood and did as he was told. He turned into Star Twinkle. "Not me!" Star Twinkle said frustrated after the Changeling made this decision. Luckily he managed to transform into some random pony with a white coat, and a dark blue mane.
Applejack did not notice any of that luckily and everypony smiled at her nervously. "There y'all are! How 'bout your big sis, huh?" She then said while she proudly presented her trophy.
"Way to go," Apple Bloom said.
"Nice," Scootaloo said.
"Great," Scootaloo said.
"Good job!" Star Twinkle said.
"Congratulations!" Tagma said.
Needless to say, all of them were pretty nervous.
"Thanks," Applejack said before she looked over to Tagma with a confused look on her face. "Uh...whoever you are," she then added.
Thankfully, what was going on in the rodeo was grabbing all of their attention before everything would get complicated. One of the rodeo clowns was literally stealing the show and put on the best performance ever.
From, stumbling all over the place and knocking into things, to making everypony else get knocked away by haystacks, this one rodeo clown managed to make everypony in the audience laugh. It didn't take long until he was walking around with a barrel stuck on his head, while his pants dropped by accident, earning him once again, some more laughter.
"That's the best rodeo clown I ever seen!" Applejack said laughing.
Everypony was happy that the attention drifted towards the rodeo so that Tagma would not get caught. Still, Star Twinkle kept his eyes on him at all times since he didn't trust him yet. For some reason, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were really cheering this one clown on.
The stallion decided to remove the barrel from his head now. The water was washing away his make-up and his nose popped off as well. It was then, however, that everypony realized who that pony was and they all got shocked.
"Trouble Shoes!" The crowd said.
"What the hay?!" Applejack said confused.
Just now, Star Twinkle realized that this clown was rather big just like this criminal but he had no idea why would decide to disguise himself as a rodeo clown. He was wondering if they were any more dangerous ponies or Changelings walking around by now.
And of course, after seeing this pony in front of them, the crowd got angry and all agreed to go and get him to put him back to jail again, even going so far to bring out some torches and pitchforks. But before anyone could do anything, the Cutie Mark Crusaders stepped in front of him.
"Wait, y'all! He ain't what you think he is!" Apple Bloom said.
But Sheriff Silverstar didn't listen. "Stand aside, young'uns! This one's goin' back to jail," he said determined to make his words come true.
"But he never wanted to ruin any rodeos! Those were just bad accidents!" Sweetie Belle explained.
"Accidents?" Star Twinkle said confused.
"Sweetie Belle, what are you talkin' about?" Applejack asked.
Scootaloo was then the one who explained the situation. "Trouble Shoes has a gift for making ponies laugh! He's maybe the best rodeo clown I've ever seen!"
"That's true!" One of the rodeo judges agreed. "He is awful funny," she figured.
"He thought his cutie mark was telling him to keep away from rodeos, but deep inside he knew it's where he was meant to be. He just didn't know how to do it," Apple Bloom continued.
This got the crowd thinking. They didn't quite know what to make out of this. Now it was Trouble Shoes who decided to say something to all of this. "What she says is true. This here entertainin' y'all with my klutzin'? That's what I was supposed to be doin'. I know it now. I didn't mean no harm, honest! I just ain't never loved nothin' like I love the rodeo, so I kept on sneakin' back and makin' a big old mess of things. Turns out I was just a-lookin' at my cutie mark all wrong," he explained while he still felt bad for everything.
Sheriff Silverstar started to understand the situation but there were still some problems. "That may be so, Trouble Shoes, but you still gotta face charges for the problems you've caused!"
But Trouble Shoes was ready to take responsibility for those things. "If I done wrong, I'll see to it that I take my medicine and square my accounts," he said.
But Sheriff Silverstar was not quite done. "Truth be told, we could understand all the trouble with the rodeos, but why'd you have to run off with these here little'uns last night?" He added sternly to which Trouble Shoes reacted with a rather confused look on his face.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders were then visibly nervous, something that Star Twinkle was noticing right away. "Don't tell me..."
Later...
It was just as he expected. The girls ran away to deal with Trouble Shoes and the whole ponynapping thing was just a big misunderstanding. They eventually explained things to everypony and just like Trouble Shoes, they also had to face the consequences for their actions. They ended up having to clean the whole town and doing some other work in town for a while. This meant that they had to stay for a little while longer in Appleloosa as expected.
But that was okay, at least for Star Twinkle. It gave him some time to have a talk with a certain someone.
Star Twinkle was having a private talk with Tagma behind a barn in town. The Changeling turned back to his usual pony form and just kept looking at Star Twinkle as if he knew that there was a rather uncomfortable conversation coming up any second.
The green Earth Pony decided to not waste any time and got straight to the point. "Why are you here?" He asked with a suspicious tone in his voice. "The girls told me that you helped them with Trouble Shoes...why?"
Tagma rubbed his neck nervously. "I don't know. I was just in the area and decided to help because I thought it would be best," he honestly replied.
Star Twinkle still had a suspicious look on his face. "The best, huh? Did you also think that it was for the best to help Fade capturing the princesses?" He then asked, referring to the actions of the Outcasts.
"You are still mad about that?" Tagma replied confused. "Come on, that was ages ago," he casually added.
By now, Star Twinkle got a little bit angry. "So you don't regret your actions back then?" He asked.
The Changeling avoided eye contact with the stallion. "I didn't say that..." he said with regret in his voice. "Back then, I thought what Fade was doing was the right thing. But I guess trying to destroy Equestria was not really that nice," he figured. "I actually regretted doing all that," he added.
But Star Twinkle figured that this was a lie. "If you really regretted all that, then you should have stayed, just like Rosa and Wildheart," he pointed out.
"I...kind of didn't expect you to trust me...guess I was right," he said, judging by how Star Twinkle was not even remotely trusting the Changeling yet.
"Well," Star Twinkle started. "You Changelings don't really have a good reputation in Equestria, especially after you attacked Canterlot," he said. "Which begs the question... were you there as well?" He then asked.
"No," Tagma replied casually. "I'm not really welcome in the Changeling Kingdom anymore," he added.
"Why?" Star Twinkle asked confused.
Tagma didn't really want to go much into detail but he thought that Star Twinkle would not let him go without explaining a thing to two. "Queen Chrysalis told me that I was some kind of special Changeling that can create love on his own. She locked me up so that I can create love, while she would feed off from me and gave the other Changelings love as well to make the hive stronger. If I wasn't freed from a one Changeling, then I would probably still be locked away," he explained with some nostalgia in his voice. "Fade and the others protected me when Queen Chrysalis was trying to forcefully take me back to the Kingdom so I thought that me helping them in return was just the right thing to do," he then added with a nervous smile on his face.
"Wow," Star Twinkle said a little bit stunned. He had no idea about all of this. Up until now he just thought Tagma was doing all those things because he didn't really care but listening to this story was actually making him look at Tagma a little bit differently. He felt in debt to the Outcasts after his own hive wanted to use him. Suddenly all made sense to Star Twinkle. The Changelings were not on his side, so he just needed someone else to accept him. Considering that the Outcasts were accepting despite him being a Changeling actually made it look as if they were not as bad which made sense since Rosa and Wildheart were regretting their actions in the end.
The Changeling did not really like talking about his past like this. It was opening up some wounds that he didn't want to remember. But then he smiled. Not only did bad memories came back but also good ones.
"Hey, do you know a pony named Sole Light?" He then asked out of nowhere with a smile on his face.
"No," Star Twinkle replied.
Tagma explained. "After I escaped from the Changeling Kingdom, Sole was the first pony friend that I made. He lived on a small farm all on his own and even after I tried to steal some food from it, not only did he gave me some shelter but he also accepted me for who I was, a Changeling," he said before he grabbed his yellow headband. "This headband belonged to him. He wore it around his eyes since he was blind," he said with a warm smile on his face. "But...some Changelings came and attacked his farm," he then added with his smile vanishing now. "I haven't seen him since and that headband was the only thing I found was left of him," he added while he grabbed into his headband once more. "I was all alone again. But it didn't take long until I met Mystic, Fade, Rosa, and Wildheart, who also accepted me for who I was." The Changeling looked over to Star Twinkle, who was feeling rather bad now after listening to all of this. "I just go along with whatever comes by and hope that I can call some place my home," he then said with a smile on his face again.
Now Star Twinkle felt bad. That was a lot to take in after all. The Changeling could probably relate to Trouble Shoes to some kind of extend and decided to help him. Tagma was not bad at all, he was just...lost.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know all of that," Star Twinkle said in regret. "If what you say is true, then I guess it can't help to give you another chance," he said, causing Tagma to be happy to hear those words and smile.
"However," Star Twinkle then said with a more serious tone in his voice now. "Mystic is not showing any signs of regret for his actions. He also broke out of his cell in Canterlot while taking Fade with him, who was still turned to stone," he explained.
This information caught Tagma off-guard. "They are free!? Really!?" He said in a mix of confusion and some happiness.
Judging from his reaction, Tagma was not aware of this, and therefore was not the one who freed Mystic. Those two members from the Outcasts were both very dangerous and still evil so having them both wandering around in Equestria was bad news.
"I really hope that you don't plan on siding with them if you manage to come across them," Star Twinkle warned.
"No!" Tagma replied. "I do miss the two if I am being honest now but I don't want to hurt the ponies of Equestria! I promise!" He added. It sounded like an honest answer from the Changeling so Star Twinkle decided to believe him. The next words, however, surprised Star Twinkle a little. "I will find them! And I will try to talk them out of their bad ideas!"
"What?" Star Twinkle replied with a confused look on his face.
Tagma smiled at the stallion. "They are still my friends. And even though they did some bad things in the past, I am not planning on giving up on them. They both may be a little bit stubborn but I will still try to make them see that not all of this world is bad and that it needs to be destroyed!"
Seeing the Changeling determined like this was new to Star Twinkle. It seemed to be really important to Tagma. Or maybe, Tagma wanted to talk to them before they would do something bad and everypony would go and hurt them. It was his way of protecting them.
Whatever the reason was, Star Twinkle wanted to trust Tagma. He was sure that his words were honest and not deceiving. At least he hoped that this was the case.
"You want to do this all on your own?" Star Twinkle asked.
Tagma grinned confidently. "I'm a Changeling! Ponies don't really trust me yet so all I can do is to be on my own!" He said before he opened his wings. "Now if you excuse me, there are three friends that I need to find!" He added before he flew up in the air.
"Three?" Star Twinkle asked.
Tagma grinned at the stallion. "Mystic, Fade, and Sole," he said before looked away and was ready to leave. But not before saying one last sentence to the stallion before leaving. "Thank you for listening to me," he added before he was gone.
Star Twinkle stood there now on his own. He had to admit that he still wanted to talk some more with the Changeling. At the same time though, he thought he had heard enough. Tagma maybe acts a little bit weird but he was strong from the inside. Considering how his past sounded like, he still kept up a positive attitude. It was kind of impressive.
The stallion couldn't help but smile. "I leave it to you then," he said before he also left the area to return to his friends.