One changeling. Two musicians. Three fillies. What could possibly go wrong.
In an attempt to learn more about the species known as changelings, a group of scientist experiment on a changeling captive. Though the only problem is that the changeling is only four years of age. The procedures didn't go without any consequences though. Now the young changeling is free to go on with his life, but something about him isn't quite right. Join this changeling as he makes the most adventurous journey of his life.
A small creature stood on that top of a building and surveyed the city. Which he had been doing for the past few days. Guards roamed the streets and the air. This was more of a reason for the figure to stay out of sight. The figure turned his head towards the horizon and saw that sun starting to descend from the sky. Not soon after the sun vanished past the horizon the moon began it's climb into the sky. Then the stars began to appear. The creature smiled. He had always loved the night sky. It held a certain type of beauty to it. As the moonlight began to shine down the figures features began to appear. A small black body could be seen. The figure's legs were filled with holes as were his insect wings. The creature's face looked as that of a pony, but a closer look showed that two short fangs sprouted out of the creature's mouth. It's eyes were a bright green, but there was no pupil. Just a lighter patch of green where the pupil was suppose to be. Around it's midsection was a belt that held three pink crystals on each side.
On top of the creature's head as a small curved horn. The creature was none other than a changeling. The changeling shook his head as he looked back down towards the streets. A guard had stopped to talk to a mare and a little colt. From the love emanating from them it was obvious that these three were a family. Though the changeling was so far away that he couldn't hear what was being said he could definitely tell what they feeling. The guard was feeling worried that his wife and child were outside when they should be inside. The wife was concerned about her husbands well being. Though that was quickly dismissed when the husband said something. After a couple of minutes of conversation the three said their goodbyes and probably a few promises to be safe.
The changeling flinched as a small prong of pain erupted from his stomach. The emotions in the surrounding area just from those three ponies was more that enough to bring out the changeling's hunger. It would have been so easy too. While the two parents were talking the changeling could have easily came down and had them for dinner even in his weakened state.
The pain soon subsided and the changeling shook his head. He had wasted enough time here. The Night Guards would be here soon and he didn't want to get caught. The changeling looked down at the street one more time. The coast was clear, he flipped off the building and landed on the ground perfectly. He shook his front hooves a couple of times followed by his hind hooves. Then he took a running start through the street. As he ran a light blue flame started to engulf his body. His normal form melted away and was replaced with a blue coated pegasus colt with green eyes and a smoothed back black mane.
With a couple of beats from his wings he was off. He looked back towards the city that he was leaving behind him. All the house lights were off and the streets were dark. There were a few light on the streets. The changeling guessed that some guards stayed behind to do some last minute searching. Though the lights were quickly distinguished as the night guards came towards the city. The changeling kept flying as some guards took to the sky and search the area from above. Though it was couple of more minutes before the changeling tired out and descended towards the land below.
He found a couple a trees that were arranged in an almost perfect circle. The leaves on top of the trees were thick enough for the changeling to hide, yet thin enough for him to see the sky. As the changeling struggled to get into the middle of the trees his mind began to wonder. He questioned about a lot of stuff. What was he? Why did everypony run away from him? What was his name?
That last question got stuck inside his brain for a long period of time. What was his name? He couldn't remember if he had one or not. His memory was a bit fuzzy and he remembered waking up to the cold outskirts of a town, being ran after, almost being killed, and other subjects that his wish not to think about, but before that it was all a blank. He contemplated on the subject at hand for a couple of more minutes before shrugging it off until later.
He removed his belt using magic and gazed at the pink crystals. Two of them were glowing with a bright pink glow while the rest were a dull pink. The young changeling removed one of the crystals from the belt and placed half of it in his mouth, letting the other end of the crystal to poke out of his mouth. Soon a sweet taste began to fill the changelings mouth. He moaned in satisfaction. Though as quickly as the taste came it vanished. The changeling removed the crystal from its mouth. The crystal had lost it's lights and was now dull pink.
The young changeling sighed as it laid down on the ground and looked up at the night sky. He could see the constellations in the night sky. From one of the books he 'borrowed' he could see almost any of the constellations now instead a bunch of stars. Though sometimes some stars were brighter and some were dimmer than others, but all in all the sky at night as amazing to him.
Then barely a few minutes later he found it. His favorite constellation, Pyxis. The young changeling smile slightly as he closed his eyes to sleep. Before he embraced the welcoming embrace of slumber he whispered to himself saying "Hmm, nice name.".
The sun soon rose over the horizon. The warm rays of the sun managed to hit all of the land underneath it. Pyxis's eyes started to open, he stretched out his body as he morphed into a pegasus again. Looking at his crystals he saw that the one from last night had regained some of it's glow, but so far it was just a dim light. Pyxis frowned as he grabbed the belt in a light blue aura and tied it around his midsection.
Pyxis slowly made his way out of the circle of trees and surveyed his surroundings. There was a small river that cut through the land and a few trees scattered here and there. Beside that there wasn't much to see. The young changeling sighed as he looked back to where he left. The city was still there and probably filled with tons of ponies by now. The thought of going back slowly crept into Pyxis's mind, but it was soon ignored. Pyxis knew that leaving the city was his only way of escaping the guards and once he left there was no way of him going back without him being spotted.
The place had some kind of spell on it that canceled his changeling abilities for long periods of time. Though last night he got lucky and was able to transform, he didn't want to push his luck by going back. Pyxis turned his head and launched into the air. He was soon flying through the sky as fast as his wings allowed him. He always enjoyed being a pegasus. It came at a close second to being a unicorn.
As Pyxis flew he soon found a small town. One that had a large clock tower. As Pyxis descended he heard something coming towards him. It sounded like it was coming fast. Though before he could get a good look at what was coming towards him he something with rainbow colored hit him in the side. The force of the impact made Pyxis lose control of his flight path and was now heading towards the ground at rapid speeds.
The next thing that Pyxis felt was the hard earth colliding with him and pain flooded his entire being. Then he soon came to a stop. His whole body was covered in cuts and bruises. He could feel some of his ribs were cracked and one of his wings was broken. To him it wasn't anything too serious. Before he could get up he heard the sound of wings flapping and a female voice saying rapidly "Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead."
Pyxis looked up as he slowly got up onto his hooves embracing the pain that coursed through his body. The source of the voice was a cyan colored mare with a rainbow mane. The mare in front of him gasped and exhaled with a hint of relief. Though Pyxis could feel the mare's worry and made his way to her. "Hey don't worry about me miss. I'll be fine." Pyxis said. The mare looked at him with a confused look. "Your sure kid? You don't look too good." said the mare.
As Pyxis was about to answer the pain was starting to get to him as he flinched. After that the mare nodded. "Yeah your coming with me." she said as she carefully hoisted Pyxis on to her back. For a brief period of time Pyxis thought something bad was going to happen, but soon calmed down as he and the mare entered the town. The amount of love in the town was massive. It took all of Pyxis's willpower to resist taking in all of it.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw that three of his crystals were already at their full strength as they shined with a bright pink glow. Then the other side of his belt started to glow in a bright pink glow. Pyxis was amazed. He had barely been in this town five minutes and all of his crystals were already full of love. Pyxis reached for one of his crystals, but hesitated. If the mare saw what he was doing he would get into big trouble. Pyxis gulped as he removed the crystal from his belt and stuck it into his mouth. The sweet taste filled his mouth again. This time the flavor didn't fade away like all the other times before.
This time the flavor stayed inside the changeling's mouth and the light barely changed at all. This made Pyxis's eyes shoot wide open. Never before had he seen so much love packed into one crystal. As he continued to take in the crystal's stored love he barely noticed that his body was healing slowly. Some of the cuts and bruised had managed to be completely healed also his two cracked ribs. His wing healed slower than the rest of his body, but in time the wing would heal.
Pyxis heard the sound of hooves hitting something. He looked and saw that the mare had landed on the ground and was now entering a building. Inside the air was cool and refreshing. There was a couple of ponies standing in the room that the two had walked into. The mare quickly towards another mare at the front of the room. "I have a colt that got seriously hurt. Do you think you can him over." the mare said. The other mare at the front desk asked if she could see Pyxis. To make sure what type of injuries they were dealing with. The cyan mare turned to where Pyxis was insight. Pyxis looked at the mare at the desk. She had a white coat and a pink mane. On top of her mane was a nurse hat that had a plus sign in the middle.
While Pyxis looked at the mare the mare studied the young colt. He had a few cuts and bruises covering his body and one of his wings was broken. "He doesn't seem to have too many injuries, but we can fix him up right as rain. Give us a couple of minutes." said the mare as she took Pyxis from the cyan mare. "Thank you for bring this to my attention Rainbow Dash. Now how about you go find the boy's parents and tell them what happened?" asked the mare. The mare known as Rainbow Dash nodded her head. "You can count on me Nurse Redheart." Rainbow Dash said as she ran out the building. Pyxis looked at the Nurse with the crystal now in the corner of his mouth.
"Don't worry. Your going to be okay. Oh I think I have a letter from Pinkie Pie to give to you." said Nurse Redheart. As she walked deeper into the building she gave Pyxis a folded piece of paper. On it was a piece of colorful paper and writing. It read: "Hi and welcome to Ponyville! I'm soooo happy that I get to see somepony new in town! I'm going to throw you the biggest party you've ever seen! We'll stop by later to see if you are alright! Sincerely, Pinkie Pie and friends."
The ponies that looked over Pyxis were very nice. They said that he only had a couple of bruised ribs, a broken wing, and some minor cuts and bruises. With the right treatment he would be out within the hour. Though they did ask questions about Pyxis. Questions that he couldn't quite answer. One pony even asked about his crystals. Pyxis responded with a small smile and said "Oh these are just some stuff I found while travelling.". That wasn't a complete lie.
After a couple of minutes the door to his hospital room opened. A lavender colored mare walked inside along with Rainbow Dash. "Hi there. I'm Twilight Sparkle and this is Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie wanted us to stop by and see you. Your injuries aren't too bad are they?" Twilight said.
"No not really. The doctors said that my injuries weren't that bad. Two bruised ribs, a couple of cuts and bruises, and a broken wing.Though they said it would heal by the time I get home." Pyxis responded. Though he wished he hadn't said 'home' because he didn't really have a home to go to.
"Thats good to hear. I'm sorry for hitting you. I didn't look where I was going and I tried to slow down, but you know how that worked out." Rainbow Dash said.
"Eh I've had worse. I forgive you." Pyxis said. After a few minutes of talking a nurse came inside the room with a clipboard. She handed it over to Twilight who signed it using a quill. The nurse then proceed to take out a three pills from her saddle bags. "Here you go." the nurse said as she gave Twilight the pills.
"What are these for?" Twilight asked. "Their pain pills for Pyxis. Though his wing is healing later on he might experience a slight pain where his wing was broken." The nurse said. Twilight nodded as Pyxis got out of bed. "So can I go now?" he asked. Twilight nodded. The little colt ran outside to see all that he had missed while coming here. Rainbow Dash went so fast the whole world seemed like a blur to him. When he stepped outside he couldn't believe his eyes. There were ponies of multiple colors walking around doing their everyday routines. Though he saw this most of the time in Canterlot there was something different about this town. Everypony was happy and cheerful. The pure emotions that came from the town was amazing.
Pyxis was so wrapped up in everything he didn't notice that there was a trio of fillies walking passed him. A cream colored pony with bright red hair and a matching bow waved her hoof in his face. "Hello anypony at home?" she asked in a southern voice. Pyxis snapped out of his trance and looked at the filly who's face was just a few inches away from his own. "Oh. Hello." Pyxis said with a smile.
"Are ya'll okay? Ya've been starin' awfully hard." she said. Before Pyxis could reply a voice could be heard behind the filly.
"Yo Applebloom are you just gonna stand there all day. We got some crusading to do." the voice said.
Pyxis looked towards the source of the voice and found an orange colored pegasus filly with a purple mane. She was standing next to a scooter which was attached to a wagon. In the wagon was a white unicorn filly with a curly pink and purple mane. "Hey do ya think we can take this guy with us Scootaloo? He doesn't have a cutie mark either." Applebloom asked. The pegasus thought about it for a while before responding. "Is his parents okay with him coming with us?" Scootaloo asked.
Applebloom turned to Pyxis. "Are ya'lls parents okay if you come with us for a while?" she asked. Pyxis thought it over for a bit. It wouldn't be okay to lie the the fillies even if it was to have fun. Though on the other hoof he hasn't been able to interact with kids of his age in a long time. Pyxis decided. "Eh, as long as I'm back before dinner I'm good." he said. "Then what are we waitin for? Come on there is enough room in the old wagon for three ponies." Applebloom said. With that Applebloom and Pyxis got into the wagon. Scootaloo took a quick breath before flapping her wings at fast speeds. Before Pyxis knew it both him and the fillies were zooming off at brake neck pace.
"So let me introduce ya to the gang. As you probably heard, ah'm Applebloom. The pegasus driving us is the one and only Scootaloo." Applebloom said.
"You know it." Scootaloo yelled. Applebloom rolled her eyes.
"And this here is Sweetie Belle." she said as she pointed towards the unicorn. Sweetie Belle waved to greet Pyxis.
"Well I guess I should introduce myself now. I'm Pyxis." said Pyxis.
"Oh you mean like the constellation?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"Yes like the constellation." The four kid talked for a while before the made it to their destination.
"Okay what cutie mark are we going for now?" Sweetie Belle asked. Scootaloo pointed at the shop that was in front of them.
"Today we're going to get are cutie marks in.......... music!" she said with excitement.
"Wait didn't we already try that?" asked Applebloom.
"That time was with Vinyl Scratch. This time were going with Octavia. She's giving out free music lessons today only." Scootaloo replied. While the three argued about the music lessons Pyxis sat there listening to their conversation until a few minutes later.
"I have a question." Pyxis said loud enough to catch the three fillies' attention. "Whats a cutie mark?"
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?" yelled the three fillies in unison. The combined voices of the three fillies was very loud. Loud enough that it made Pyxis deaf for a few seconds. "Sorry I asked." Pyxis said as he shook his head, trying to get the hearing back into his ears. "Didn't your parents ever tell you about cutie marks?" asked Sweetie Belle. Pyxis shook his head. "They never have enough time to tell me. Their always working and almost never home." Pyxis said with a frown.
"How come I don't buy that?" asked Scootaloo. "Even if your parents didn't tell you about cutie marks somepony must have told you eventually." Pyxis was beginning to worry. Had this filly saw through his disguise with after one dumb question? He hoped that wasn't the case. The young colt was about to speak, but Apple Bloom interrupted him.
"Come on now Scoots give da poor kid a break. Its not like this is the first time we done heard somepony not knowing a cutie mark is." she said. Scootaloo started to feel bad and apologized for being so uptight about the subject. She even was going to tell Pyxis about cutie marks if it wasn't for a high pitched shrill the came out of nowhere. The four children covered their ears, trying to prevent any further damage to their hearing.
The noise continued to go on for what seemed liked hours, but soon it came to an end. The door to the music shop opened and was violently slammed. A golden colored mare walked away speaking under her breath and muttering words that were not meant for kids to hear.
Scootaloo opened the door to look inside. There were broken pieces of wood on the floor and a few smashed records. A mare with a gray coat and black mane was laying down on her back with her limbs spread out and gazed up at the ceiling. There was another more going through the smashed records. She had a white coat and an electric blue mane. She also wore a pair of sunglasses on her head. "Dude! She broke my first dupstep record! Thats just cruel!" she said with rage. The white colored mare felt a hoof tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see who it was only to see four kids. Three of them she recognized immediately. "Well if it isn't the Cutie Mark Crusaders." she said with a light smile. "Who is your little friend here?" i
"Hi Vinyl. This here is Pyxis. He's new in town." said Sweetie Belle. Pyxis simply waved. His attention was on towards the different string instruments inside the shop. "So what happened?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"Well thats kind of a long story." Vinyl said, rubbing the back of her head
"We came here to get music lessons, but seeing as how things are I think we have enough time. Wouldn't you think girls?" said Sweetie Belle
"Eeyup." responded Scootaloo and Applebloom.
Vinyl sighed as she began to remember about what happened. "Okay so here is how it goes. Octavia and I were just chilling at the shop. I was spinning a few tunes while Octavia was working on her cello. We were waiting to see if anypony had taken the offer of free music lessons, but to our luck nopony did. It was about three o'clock and Tavi wanted to close up shop, though before we could a mare came inside requesting for a music lesson. So while Octavia was giving the lesson I watched. The mare was..... inexperienced. She was starting to get mad too, I mean you could see it plainly as you could see grass. Octavia tried to explain to here that nopony could be great at playing an instrument after the first lesson, but the mare wouldn't listen and threw a major tantrum. She broke one of Octavia's violins and some of my records. I think Octavia snapped too because she hasn't moved from that spot in a while. I don't even think she has blink in over five minutes"
"Wow. Somepony woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Scootaloo said
"You can say that again." commented Applebloom.
While everypony else was distracted Pyxis grabbed a viola and a bow. He couldn't use magic because that would give away his disguise so he was with his hooves. Standing on his hind legs he began to play the few notes he knew. The music was short and brief, but while it was playing it was soft and heartwarming. The kind of music that would make anypony calm and nice. When the music was over and Pyxis couldn't think of anymore notes to play he finally noticed his friends and the two mares were staring at him. He shrugged his shoulder's and said "What?".
"Where did you learn to play like that?" asked Octavia. Pyxis thought for a bit before he gave an answer. "I think I learned it from a street performer once. He was very nice." he said with a smile.
Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom gasped as they got a good look at Pyxis. He had his cutie mark. It was different colored music notes in a circle with a bow in the middle. "Why are you three staring at me?" asked Pyxis. The response he was given were three hooves pointing towards his flank. Pyxis looked down and saw what they were pointing too. "Well what do ya know. So this is what a cutie mark is." Pyxis said.
Octavia pulled Vinyl away from the the kids and starting talking about something. They were speaking so low that the girls and Pyxis could barely hear them. After a couple of minutes of talking the two returned to the group of kids. "Pyxis I would like to ask you something please." said Octavia. Pyxis response was a simple nod of the head. "Pyxis I would like you to be my student in the music arts." said Octavia. "You show great potential and I would hate to see you talents go to waste."
Pyxis was shocked. He had barely been here a day and he was already getting noticed and in a good way. He took a while to give the mare a proper answer before his belt of crystal started to glow. He looked from side to side and finally came up with and answer. "Sure. I'll be your student." he said.
"Hey what about us? What are we Poison Joke?' yelled Scootaloo. There was a tap on her shoulder. She looked back and found Vinyl behind them holding three pairs of shades in her magical grip. She wore a worried smile.
"We haven't forgotten about you three. Octavia talked me into it and I'm willing to give you three another shot at being D.Js. This time I'm going to watch you guys closely." Vinyl said as the three fillies jumped for joy. Vinyl looked as though she just lost an extremely amount of money while her friend Octavia looked pleased to be able to spread her knowledge of music. Pyxis smiled as his crystals glowed. A muffled voice was heard by Pyxis. He looked around to see where it came from, but he found nothing. He merely shook it off as his imagination.
The sun was beginning to set and the residents of Ponyville were beginning to go home. The Cutie Mark Crusaders along with Pyxis did the same. They left Vinyl and Octavia's music shop and were now heading home. As Scootaloo dropped off Sweetie Belle at Rarity's boutique Pyxis felt a little odd. He soon shook it off as a slight feeling of hunger. He hadn't had a good chance to eat anything yet. Even though Octavia provided refreshments it didn't provide any type of nourishment.
As Scootaloo headed toward the next destination at high speeds. Within a couple of minutes she was at Sweet Apple Acres, where she dropped Applebloom off. She was about to ask where Pyxis lived at, but he said he could fly there. He made a fake story that his parents had set up camp a long way away from the town and he didn't want her to drive him all that way even if she was fast with that scooter of her's. Having believed in the young changeling's lie Scootaloo drove off towards her home.
There were not as many ponies outside now. He took out one of his crystals from his belt and began to drain the love contained inside it. As he drained the crystal he could feel his wing getting better and stronger. After a few minutes of eating Pyxis's wing became all better. Pyxis hide behind a house transformed back into his changeling form. It was darker now. He could sneak out of the town in a hurry and nopony would see him. As he went through the town he was able to remain undetected with great ease. Though he almost got caught by a dog that was barking at him, he silently thanked the orange earth pony that came to retrieve her dog. Pyxis was half way through the town when he felt something.
It felt like emotions started filling the area. Normally this would be a good thing. It would be good to get a few more days of love would be good, but this was not the case. Strong surges of negative emotions started to fill the area. Strong enough to make Pyxis recoil in the sudden change of emotions. He felt his whole body go stiff and was not able to move after a couple of minutes. Though Pyxis was now hiding in a bush he didn't feel like getting caught now. Soon the outside of his vision started to turn black and he began to feel light-headed. Then everything went black.
Twilight Sparkle was on her way back home from searching for Pyxis. She checked everywhere, but came up with no results. She had some questions for the little colt and she wasn't going to let him leave until they were answered. As she was walking out of the corner of her eye she briefly saw a flash of a dull pink flame emanating from the bush she just passed. She turned around quickly, prepared to take on anything that would come out of the push. Minutes passed and Twilight sighed as she relaxed. "Maybe Spike was right. I need some more rest." Twilight said to herself.
As she turned around to start her journey back home a little unicorn filly stood in her way. "You should really stop talking to yourself." she said. Twilight jumped backwards as the little filly talked. The filly shied away behind her mane as she started to look at the ground. "Oh I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."
The purple unicorn calmed down well enough to get a good look at the filly. She had golden yellow fur and a long pink mane with black stripes.Her eyes were a deep shade of pink. Twilight was shocked as to how much the filly resembled her timid pegasus friend Fluttershy. Even the way she shied behind her mane was exactly like Fluttershy.
Twilight shook her head of the thoughts that were distracting her. "Its okay. I was just startled. You sure have quite hooves......" Twilight said leaving a space for the filly to finish.
"You think its weird don't you?" Soaring Sorrows asked with sad expression on her face.
"Nonononono. Its not weird. Its just a little..... depressing thats all." Twilight said quickly not wanting to hurt the fillies feelings.
"Your not the first to say that." Soaring Sorrows said as she let her eyes drift towards the ground
Time passed before either of the ponies made a sound. Silence floated on the breeze as the mare and filly stood there. Staring off into nothing trying to think about something to say. Something to add on to the conversation. As Twilight thought she could see that the sun had already vanished behind the horizon and the moon was starting it's journey across the sky. "Hey its getting pretty late. Shouldn't you be getting home? Your parents must be getting awfully worried about you." Twilight said.
Soaring Sorrows's ears twitched as her horn began to glow in a blue aura. "Well you see...... I.....I...." She stumbled on her words as if it hurt just to say them. Soaring Sorrows lunged forward and held tight to Twilight's chest. "I don't have any parents!" the filly sobbed.
"Your.... an orphan?" Twilight asked.
The filly nodded her head as she continued to cry. Twilight slowly stroked the little filly's mane as she talked to her. "Its okay Sorrows. If it helps any you can stay with me until the morning. Then we'll find you a new home. How does that sound?" she asked. Twilight gained a slow nod from the little filly which put a smile on the unicorn's face.
Soon enough the two unicorns made it to Twilight's house. Once inside Soaring Sorrows gasped. Not only was Twilight's house inside a tree, but it was also a library. Oh how she loves libraries. Though she only read a few books which she 'borrowed' Sorrows always loved books and the vast amount of knowledge that held. Twilight looked back at the unicorn filly. She was still crying, but had a smile upon her face so the mare just shook it off as tears of joy.
"Spike should be back in a few minutes, but until then how about we get to know one another?" Twilight asked.
"That sounds okay." Soaring Sorrows replied.
"Good I'll go first." Twilight said with glee.
Over the course of the next half an hour and one lovesick floating dragon, Soaring Sorrows began to learn about Twilight and her life. She was amazed that she was talking to the student of the one and only Princess Celestia. Not only that, but the mare in front of her was an Element of Harmony. Together with her friends they purified Princess Luna of her evil self and returned Equestria to its normal state of order after Discord came. Now Twilight was beginning to talk about her brother's wedding. "Oh it was amazing. I've never had so much fun before. Well Pinkie did plan the party so I'm not surprised. Though it didn't start off that good." Twilight said with a frown.
"What do you mean? Did something bad happen?" asked Soaring Sorrows.
"You don't know what happened?" asked Twilight.
Her answer was Sorrows shaking her head.
Twilight sighed as she began to tell her tale. She told the young filly about Queen Chrysalis and how she attacked Canterlot along with her swarm of changelings. She got half way through the story when she saw that Sorrows was shaking and crying. It was then that she decided that she would hold off her story till later. "How about you tell me something about you." Twilight suggested.
Soaring Sorrows tried to think about what could she tell her new friend. Though her memory was fuzzy she could still remember some of her past. "Well the only thing I can tell you right know is what my cutie mark means." Sorrows said as she turned to show Twilight her cutie mark. It was a tear drop with a pear of angelic wings. "I was born with this cutie mark. Nopony knew what it meant until I was older. My horn would always start to glow when ever I there was a strong surge of sadness in the area. From what I've heard I can take some of that sadness and make it my own." Sorrows said. Twilight gasped upon hearing the filly's story. 'How can a little girl take on that amount of responsibility? How long have she been doing this?' Twilight thought to herself.
"Four months, ten days, and twelve minutes." Soaring Sorrows said as she yawned.
"What?" asked Twilight
"Four months, ten days, and twelve minutes. Thats how long I've been doing this." Soaring said as she pointed toward her horn just as it started to glow.
"How...how did you....?" Twilight was about to ask, until Sorrows interrupted her.
"Thats the answer to that question everypony asks when I tell them about my cutie mark." Soaring Sorrow said as she yawned yet again and her eyes started to close.
Twilight picked up the filly with her magic and placed her on her back. "Okay I think its time for you to head on to bed. And I promise first thing in the morning we'll find you you some loving parents." She said with a smile.
"Thats......good." Soaring Sorrows said weakly as she faded into dreamland.
Twilight chucked a bit as she tucked the filly into bed. She also began to let her mind wonder off. Things about where did this filly come from? Where did Pyxis go? And many other subjects. When Twilight started to get a headache she stopped thinking about what was going on. She decided that she would deal with this in the morning, but for now she was heading to the kitchen to grab some leftovers from last night. Though if she had stayed a bit longer she would have noticed the collar around Sorrows's neck and the soft glowing pink crystals embedded in it.
Morning came all too fast for Twilight and just like every other day she forced herself out of bed to do her daily routines. Once she was done with that she picked up the brush with her magic grip and headed down the stairs. Upon reaching the bottom floor she found that most of her books shelves had been emptied out. She also show a tower of books in the middle of the floor along with a very focused filly.
"Good morning Soaring Sorrows." Twilight said. Sorrows simply replied by waving her hoof and continued reading. Twilight walked over to the kitchen table to sit down for breakfast. Just as she sat down Spike brought her a plate. Scrambled eggs, oatmeal, and toast was on the menu this morning.
"Congratulations Twi." Spike said as he sat down with his plate of food.
"For what?" Twilight said with a mouthful of eggs.
"For finding a pony who loves books as much as you. I found her this morning with books scattered all over the floor, I thought she broke in last night." Spike said as he began to eat his oatmeal.
"Spike you do know that you um........ floated right passed her last night."
"I had......some things on my mind at the time.I didn't notice her."
"Of course you didn't."
The two continued to eat their meal just as Sorrows decided to join them. As she began to eat she couldn't help notice the look in Spike's eyes. There was something behind those young and kind eyes. Something that was slowly eating at him, but she couldn't tell what it was exactly. Normally her magic would have picked up on any type of sadness or depression, but if Spike was hiding it he sure knew how to hide it well.
Spike looked at Soaring Sorrows with a questioning look. "Uh........ why are you starring at me?" Spike asked. Sorrows blink for a bit. She didn't even notice that she was starring at the dragon. It made her blush slightly as she hid behind her mane. Spike looked towards Twilight as if she had some kind of answer, but received a shrug from the mare.
After that the rest of the morning was quite peaceful. Once the dishes were cleaned Twilight and Soaring Sorrows went out into the town of Ponyville. For hours they searched for a perfect match for Soaring Sorrows, but nopony seemed interested in adopting her. Time flew by as the two journeyed through the town. By the time they decided to take a brake it was already half past one o'clock. Twilight decided to take a lunch break. Sorrows silently thanked Celestia as she walked with Twilight into a restaurant.
The interior of the restaurant was very lively for the pack had almost every table had pony families, couples, or friends at them. "Twilight!!!" somepony yelled. Twilight looked to see who was calling her only to she a pink earth pony with a cotton candy mane waving her hoofs in the air. "Over here!!" yelled the overly excited mare.
As Twilight and Soaring Sorrows walked to the table to where the crazy pink pony was they discovered that they had more company. At the table were four other mares. One pearly white unicorn with a stylish purple mane. Two pegusi, one with a cyan coat and a cool rainbow styled hair. The other had a light yellow coat with long pink hair that she tried to hide herself behind. Then finally other earth pony, but this one had an orange coat with blonde hair tied in a pony-tail. She also wore a cowboy hat on top of her head.
"Well hello girls." said Twilight with a smile. Though before anypony else could speak the crazy pink mare started to talk really fast.
"Ohmygosh! You must be new here because I know everypony in Ponyville and I haven't seen you before which means you must be new! Oh like love meeting new friends! There was this one time when......." the pink mare was stopped mid-sentence by the cowgirl's hoof being place over her mouth.
"Excuse Pinkie Pie. She can be....... a bit random?" said the cowgirl.
"Its nothing. I like seeing somepony as lively as....... Pinkie Pie was it?" said Soaring Sorrows.
"Oh excuse our manners. Let us introduce ourselves. I'm Rarity." said the pearly unicorn.
"Name's Rainbow Dash. Nice to meet ya kid." said the cyan pegasus.
"Mah name's Applejack. Nice to meet ya sugercube." said the cowgirl as she removed her hoof from Pinkie's mouth.
"Oh...... I'm.......F-Fluttershy." said the shy pegasus.
After everypony got acquainted they started to talk. Pinkie was about to jump and prepare a party for Sorrows, but was stopped by a stallion calling out their meal number. The pink mare then what up to the counter to retrieve the order. She brought back with her at two trays and a total of seven meals. "I didn't know what you wanted so I got you a hayburger with a side of fries." Pinkie said.
"How did you know she was coming?" asked Twilight.
"I didn't." replied Pinkie Pie as she started to eat her food.
Just as Twilight was about to object to the pink mare's strange behavior she chuckled as she soon realized how pointless that would be and decided to eat. "By the way Rarity I didn't know you came to this place." Twilight said.
"Though it may not be a fancy restaurant or a pleasant cafe it does have that friendly atmosphere. Plus I can get more of these." Rarity said as she held up a puzzle piece in her magical grip.
"Whats that?" asked Rainbow Dash
"Oh nothing dear. Its just something that they give out with the purchase of a meal. Well that is if your a member of their club."
"Since when did ya'll become a member?" asked Applejack.
"I never became a member. Ever time I come here Sweetie Belle always makes me take her membership card. Its a hobby we have grown to like. They give you a different piece each time you come here. Sometimes the piece fits with the rest that you have sometimes it doesn't and you have to wait until you can get another piece."
"Wait can't you just come back to get another piece?" asked Twilight before she took a sip of her drink
"Well that is where your wrong. They have a system here to where they know who has gotten a puzzle piece or not. Every employee knows it so that makes it even more secure. You just have to get a puzzle piece one day and come back the next. Thats how they get some of the ponies in here you know."
While everypony else was talking Soaring Sorrows and Fluttershy quietly ate in silence. Only for brief moments did the two make eye contact, but then they broke away. The others were too deep into their conversation for them to interrupt now. To them that would just be rude. Feeling the urge to at least have a decent talk Soaring Sorrows took a breath and spoke. "So um...... what do you like to do Fluttershy if you don't mind me asking." she said
"Oh um.... nothing much really. I just....um take care of the animals that live n..near my cottage." Fluttershy responded.
"What kind of animals?" asked Soaring Sorrows.
"All kinds. Birds, rabbits, squirrels, bees, ferrets, mice, chickens, fish, and a bear. Though he only comes by every once in awhile." Fluttershy said sounding a bit more brave.
"Wow your amazing!"
"I'm not that amazing. I just do what I do."
The two continued to talk about things. They seemed to get along really well. Fluttershy told her how each and every creature has a specific way they can be calmed and tamed. She even began to tell about all the different types of animals she knew and has cared for. Then there sat Sorrows absorbing all the information like a sponge and every now and again she would tell Fluttershy some information she knew. Though she knew very little. The two were so into their conversation they didn't even notice that the rest of the restaurant was looking at them.
"I didn't know Fluttershy had a daughter." said a pony
"I didn't either." said another
"But she hasn't been with anypony. Not long enough to have a filly right under our noses." said a mare
"Maybe she adopted her." said somepony else.
As Fluttershy and Soaring Sorrows continued to talk Sorrows's horn started to glow. And she was stopped talking. Her smile was wiped completely from her face and her eyes started to fill to the brim with tears. Fluttershy looked concerned towards the young filly and was about to ask if she was okay when Sorrows left the table. She slowly walked towards the front door. From there she began to leave the building and head into the outskirts of the town. The five mares at the table as well as the rest of the restaurant were deeply confused.
"Oh no. She's doing it again." said Twilight as she began to leave as well. Her friends followed her in her wake.
"Twilight deary, what do you mean 'she's doing it again'?" asked Rarity.
"Well you see it happened yesterday...." Twilight started. As they followed Soaring Sorrows, Twilight told everything she knew about the filly and everything she told her. Twilight's friends gasped at the story as it was being told. Some even went as far to nearly faint.
"So why are we following her?" asked Rainbow Dash
"Soaring Sorrows is just a filly. A filly shouldn't be able to handle that type of magic all by herself. That kind of power could drive anypony crazy. If we follow her, observe her, when her magic is at work I'm sure we can find a way to tame it." Twilight answered.
For the next couple of minutes the six mares followed the filly. Then she stopped and so did they. Soaring Sorrows turned towards an alleyway that was almost completely covered with shadows. "You can come out now. Nopony is going to hurt you, I promise." Sorrows said with a kind voice. Nopony came out of the shadows of the alleyway. All was quiet and still.
"Uh Sorrows.......who are you talking too?" asked Twilight
Soaring Sorrows replied with silence as her horn glowed. The alleyway was filled with blinding light, leaving no corner unseen. While the mares watching shielded their eyes they didn't see a small creature leap out of the alley way. Though it was fast it was't a match for Soaring Sorrows's magic. With the creature in her magical grip she held it in place while the light faded away. As the rest of the light faded and the ponies began to uncover their eyes they were left speechless as they gazed at what was displayed right in front of them.
The little filly Soaring Sorrows had grown her own pair of angelic wings along with a halo. She was also wearing a lovely white dress with golden lace. "Uh.....does anypony else think the plot line is going a bit too fast?" asked Pinkie Pie.
"Plot what?" asked Applejack
"Oh nothing." replied Pinkie
"Forget about Pinkie for a minute. We have something bigger on our hooves." Twilight said
In Soaring Sorrows's magical grip was a creature that was unlike anypony has ever seen. It was a snake and was about as large as a boa constrictor, but it had three eyes and a pair of small horns. "Ugh. What in Equestria is that?" asked Rarity as she recoiled.
"Its a demon from Tartarus. A snake like creature that when fully grown can level an entire city in a matter of minutes." Twilight said in a worried tone.
"What is that thing doing here?! I thought you sealed the Tartarus!" Rainbow Dash said.
"I may have sealed it, but from time to time a small demon can escape from it, but thats not the point we have to find a way to get that thing away from here."
With the demon still in her magical grip he struggled to get free of Soaring Sorrows's grip, but soon he gave in. He closed it's eyes and awaited it's judgement.
"Sorrows what are you doing?" asked Twilight
Again Sorrows replied with silence. Using her magic she brought the snake in closer and closer until its face was mere inches away from her own. Sorrows gazed into the eyes of the demon and he froze in his place. Sorrows smiled softly. "You sure do get in a lot of trouble for a little guy. I mean really, you caused so much pain and suffering to that poor mare." she said. "And your such a long way from home too. I'm sure your family must be worried." The snake's pupils became pinpricks from hearing what the filly said. He was even more shocked as Soaring Sorrows pulled him into her embrace. The demon tried to struggle its way out. Realizing there was noway out he coiled himself around Sorrows attempting to squeeze the breath out of her.
"Sorrows!" The six mares said in unison.
Time slowed down as the mares rushed towards the filly. The snake continued to squeeze Sorrows in hope of getting away, but the demon was then shocked by what came next. Sorrows hugged him harder with tears in her eyes. "Its okay. You can cry now. No one is going to hurt you anymore." she said as her tears began to fall. She then wrapped her wings around the snake in a protective and motherly manner. "Remember all the good times you had with your family. Remember all the laughs and the smiles. I bet they really miss you."
Tears fell from the demons eyes as it remembered. He cried into Sorrows's fur while the six mares moved in.
"Sorrows get away from that thing." Twilight demanded.
"You ponies really do over look things." Sorrows said. Sorrows turned around to face the six mares. He wings, halo, and dress soon began to vanish. "You can be so much more, do so much more. If you would just open your eyes and look."
"What are you talkin' about?" asked Applejack.
"This little guy is just a baby. He is just sad thats all." answered Sorrows.
"Little?! He's four times bigger than you!" yelled Rainbow Dash.
"I know that, but thats not a good reason to just abandon him. What would you do if this was Scootaloo huh? What would you do if you found Scootaloo lost and scared?" said Sorrows. Dash just stood there not sure of how to react.
"I....I would help her of course." Rainbow said.
"Okay than answer this.What would you do if it was somepony else? Or not even that, What would you do if it was somepony you didn't even know? Would you help them or would you just kick them to the side of the road like some useless garbage." Sorrows said as her tone turned into one of a more serious one.
"I.....I.....I....." Rainbow Dash stumbled.
"Its not easy is it. When you think about it of course you would help somepony else even if their not the same race as you, but when it comes down right to it your disgusted by the idea. You may think your not though deep down you'd rather do something more worth your time." Sorrows said. The six mares gasped at the words of the young filly. Soaring Sorrows would have continued her speech if it hadn't have been for the sudden tug on her being. 'No. Not yet. Just a little while longer.' she thought to herself. "Now if you would excuse me. I have to go take this little guy back to his mother. She must be very worried by now."
With that Soaring Sorrows began her way towards the edge of the Everfree Forest. "H-hey wait!" said Twilight. The mares tried to follow her, but were blinded by the light that Sorrows produced from her horn. When the light cleared the filly wasn't there anymore. "That filly is an anomaly wrapped in mystery." said Twilight.
"Nah. Shes just been through a lot." said Pinkie Pie.
"Um...,..what does that mean? If you don't mind me asking." said Fluttershy.
"I could tell you, but that would ruin the story and I'm sure the author doesn't want that to happen." replied Pinkie Pie.
"Pinkie your not making sense. None of this is making sense" Twilight said.
"Come on Twi. Let the author do his job. Your making everything too hard. Plus I'm sure this isn't the last time we're going to see Soaring Sorrows." Pinkie said as she bounced away. The others look at the crazy mare and shrugged their shoulders thinking that she was just being as random as usual. Though they all wanted to find out what was happening they decided to take a brake before they try anything else. Thinking about this would give anypony a headache.
Soaring Sorrows walked through the dense forest along with the snake demon slithering by her side. They stayed cautious about their surroundings. If they didn't pay attention they would be in serious trouble. The two continued into the forest for what seemed like hours when Soaring Sorrows fell down to the ground. The demon rushed to her side to see what was wrong only to have Soaring Sorrows push him away. "I'm fine really, but this is far as I can go. You can find your way back from here can't you?" she asked. The demon looked around at the surrounding area. He spotted a few landmarks that he knew and was sure that he could get back. With a nod of his head Sorrows smiled. "Thats good. Now go. I'm sure your family is waiting for you." she said.
With that the demon snake slithered off into the forest leaving Soaring Sorrows behind. The filly tried to stand on her hooves, but quickly found out that it was useless for her legs were too weak for her to stand on them. Then she felt herself drifting off as darkness started to cloud her vision. "Though I wasn't able to do much..... at least I helped one person. Its the least I could do." Soaring Sorrows said to herself before she allowed herself to be engulfed by light blue flames.
Pyxis awoke a few minutes in cold sweat. Which was quite exciting to him because he never woke up in cold sweat before. Soon he got over the sensation and was brought back to the real world by a sharp pain in his stomach. As he recoiled from the pain he used his magic to pull out one of his crystals and place it in his mouth. The ever so welcoming taste of love filled his mouth and filled him with the energy he needed to survive the day. Once Pyxis had his fill he looked around to see where he was and was now slightly scared. "How did I get here?" he asked himself.
In Ponyville everypony was talking about what had just happened. Soaring Sorrows the Angel. That filly was on everypony's minds that afternoon. It got so big that the news began to spread like a wild fire. Ponies began to come up with the theories, stories, even considering that the end of times was upon them. The news was still traveling as the colt Pyxis flew into town only to be tackled to the ground by three fillies. "Oh my gosh Pyxis did you hear about it?" yelled Sweetie Belle.
"They say she has a halo and everythang!" yelled Applebloom
"She was so awesome! Well not as awesome as Rainbow Dash, but still!" yelled Scootaloo.
"OW! Okay, one get of me. Two, stop yelling." demanded Pyxis as he rubbed his vibrating head. The three fillies got off of the poor colt allowing him to get his grounding. "Now can anypony tell me what is going on?" Pyxis asked with a slight hint of irritation.
"There was a filly here this afternoon. The ponies that saw her say that she suddenly grew angel wings and had a halo over her head. Twilight says she was hugging a demon the..... um Tardaus I think." said Scootaloo.
"Its called the Tartarus Scoots." said Sweetiebelle.
"Once again you prove that your a walking dictionary." said Scootaloo with a blank expression.
Pyxis was getting a headache and it wasn't from the girls' argument. His thoughts ran away from him as he began to wonder if he had seen that filly before. Did he see her in Canterlot? Was she that girl that tried to give him a milkshake? 'Wait when did that happen? Argh. I'm getting off track.' Pyxis thought. "Hey Applebloom."
"What?" Applebloom replied.
"What did the filly look like?"
"Well from what ah heard she looks like Fluttershy with the yellow coat and pink hair. The had angelic wings and a halo over head. She also wore the most beautiful dress too." Applebloom said.
"Argh. I know I know her from somewhere, but I can't seem to put my hoof on it" Pyxis said. As he continued think about the mysterious filly his train of thought was disrupted by a sudden grumble sound coming from somewhere. Pyxis looked towards Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to see that Scoots was rubbing her stomach and slightly blushing. Sweetie Belle laughed a bit only to have her stomach growling as well.
"I suppose this is going to have to wait until later." Pyxis said.
"Sorry, there was so much going on that we forgot to eat lunch." Sweetie Belle said with an embarrassed smile.
Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Pyxis began to walk into town discussing where they were going to eat. The girls had their packed lunches and Pyxis wasn't that hungry. Now the only thing left to do was find a place to sit down and eat. After a while of walking around looking for somewhere to go the kids found no spot that could be good enough. Either one spot was too populated, a patch of grass was uncomfortable, a swarm of bees would erupt out of nowhere, or there would just be too many things going on to have a nice conversation. So Sweetie Belle finally came up with the idea to have lunch inside her sister's boutique. Nopony disagreed with the white filly's plan so off to the boutique it is.
Once inside the girls took off their saddle bags and took out their lunches. Applebloom had a daisy sandwich, a slice of apple pie, and a juice box. Sweetie Belle had a salad with a side of dressing, a bag of mixed fruit, and a carton of chocolate milk. Scootaloo had a grilled cheese sandwich, a bag of chips, and a juice box. As the fillies began to dig into their meal Sweetie Belle's older sister Rarity came into the room. "Sweetie Belle did you get the supplies that I asked you to get?" asked the older sister. Sweetie Belle nodded her head as she pointed towards her saddle bags. Rarity levitated them to her using her magic and looked inside. "Pencils, paper, my thread shipment, and my order of chocolate bonbons. Thank you Sweetie Belle." said Rarity.
"Your wephome." said Sweetie Belle with a mouthful of salad.
"Sweetie! How many times have I told you not to talk with your mouth full! Especially when there is company here!" Rarity said as she gestured to Sweetie Belle's friends. Then out of the corner of her eye she saw Pyxis sitting down with the rest of the girls. "Why hello dear. I didn't even notice you were hear. I dreadfully sorry." said Rarity.
"Its no problem Madam." Pyxis said.
"Oooh, he is cute and he has manners. You should keep this one Sweetie." Rarity said jokingly to her little sister to whom was now the shade of cherry.
"Rarity stop teasing me!" Sweetie Belle complained.
"What I can't toy around with my little sister for a bit? You know I'm just playing around darling." said Rarity. Sweetie Belle huffed as she started to drink her chocolate milk. "Well if your going to be like that I'm heading out for a bit. It will give some time to cool off. You know the rules Sweetie Belle. No rough housing, no playing inside, don't use the stove, if you need anything don't be afraid to come and get me, but most importantly. Don't go into the attic. There are fragile thinks up there and the last thing I need is for somepony to get hurt."
"Okay Rarity." replied Sweetie Belle.
"Alright then. I'll be heading out now. See you later darlings." and with that Rarity was off.
For a while the four kids talked after the lunch boxes were finished. They told each other short jokes that got a few laughs out of each other, but soon the four were starting to get bored. Pyxis mind started to get away from him again. He wonder about many things, but this time was he wondered what other rooms are there in this house. So he got up and started walking.
"Where you goin'?" asked Scootaloo.
"Just looking around." Pyxis replied.
He walked around for about half an hour. So far he managed to find a storage room, the kitchen, a downstairs bathroom, and a closet. Pyxis kept walking until he came upon a door that slightly ajar. He stopped in his tracks and starred at the door. The colt got an old feeling from the room as if something was pulling him in. As if something wanted him to go inside that room. Pyxis slowly extended his hoof to open the door fully. Slowly his hoof approached the door and he could feel it. Bit by bit he could feel it. That same pulling on his being as before. Just as he was about to open the door Sweetie Belle smacked his hoof away from the door. "What do you think your doing?" she asked furiously.
"Uh.....exploring?" replied Pyxis with a slight embarrassed face.
"Thats my sister's work room. If you get caught in there we're all going to be in trouble." Sweetie Belle said
"But...."
"No buts! I'm not about to get grounded just because you decided to go adventuring. If you want we can go outside and go on an adventure, but not in my sister's work room."
Sweetie Belle pulled Pyxis away from the door and into the living room. Pyxis could feel the pull on his being began to fade away to the point where he couldn't feel it anymore. As he allowed the unicorn fill to drag him away from the door he couldn't help, but feel as though he just lost something important. Though he couldn't put his hoof on it so for now he dismissed it.
Meanwhile, at The Golden Oaks Library. Twilight was searching through every book in her collection, searching for a spell that was very urgent as of now. While halfway through a spell book the door to the library was opened. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash came rushing inside the residence. "Twilight we got your message. Whats wrong?" asked Rainbow. Twilight continued to look through her books as she responded to the cyan pegasus.
"I'm afraid I have some bad news for you girls." Twilight said.
"What is it?" asked Applejack.
"Half an hour ago I got a letter from Princess Celestia. They have taken increased security measures around Canterlot and she has sent a squad of Royal Guards here to Ponyville." replied Twilight
"Why w-would she do that?" asked Fluttershy softly.
Twilight stopped her searching for a minute. It was as if she was still trying to register what Celestia had sent her. "It appears that they have found changeling in Canterlot and they believe that the changeling may have came here." Twilight said as multiple gasps filled the room. Though Rarity being Rarity decided to faint onto the floor.
The rest of the mane six stood in slight terror. They thought they were rid of the changelings and their queen. Hearing that one managed to sneak it's way into Equestria scared them. For when there is one changeling their is bound to a swarm of them somewhere close by. "Well what are we sitting around here for?! Lets get out there and find this changeling then kick it's flank out of Equestria!?" exclaimed Rainbow Dash as she flew towards the door. He flight was soon cut short by Twilight using her magic to grab her tail which caused Rainbow to make an immediate landing. "You know if you guys keep pulling on my tail its going to fall off." said the very angry pegasus.
" I'm sorry Rainbow, but I need you guys to stay here and help my find a spell." Twilight said as she went through another book.
" Ah'm sure that your spell can wait Twi. Right now we have ta find that changeling before somepony goes missin'." said Applejack.
" I-I agree with AJ. Maybe the spell can wait a bit Twilight, you know if you don't mind." Fluttershy said softly.
" I know you girls think that this spell can wait, but it can't. It wouldn't be much help if we don't know who the changeling is. The spell I'm looking for will allow us to be able to see through any type of illusion magic. Hopefully."
"Hopefully? Hopefully!?!? Your just sitting here to find a spell that will hopefully let us find the changeling! We could be out there searching for it right now, but you want to find a spell that might even work! Thats it I'm out!" Rainbow Dash said as she left the library
"Thats great. Ah'll go after her you girls help Twilight find the spell." Applejack said as she ran after the speeding pegasus
As everypony was looking for the book Pinkie Pie looked throughout the piles of books that were on the floor. It took her just a sweeps of her hoof to find the book Twilight was looking for as she was about to pick it up she heard a puff over her right shoulder. When she looked she saw an miniature version on herself. Except this version had a white coat coated pegasus with a blond mane and a halo on. "Don't do it Pinkie. You know what happens if you give Twilight that book. There has to be another way." she said.
Before Pinkie could respond another version of her appeared on her left shoulder. This time she was normal, except for the horn on top of her horn "But their your friends Pinkie. You should be helping them. You know how this all ends giving them that book is part of the script and you what happens if you don't follow the script." she said
"I know that, but Pyxis could be in trouble." Pinkie Pie said quietly
"At least wait a couple of minutes. Give Pyxis enough time to find it." said angel Pinkie.
Pinkie Pie looked back to see that her friends were arguing up a storm. Rainbow Dash had already left the library to go search for the changeling. 'Hurry up and and find that pencil Pyxis.' Pinkie thought.
Meanwhile, at Rarity's boutique. "I said we weren't allowed in there! Your going to get us in trouble!" said Sweetie Belle as she and her friends tried desperately to stop Pyxis. Her and Applebloom were pulling Pyxis's tail while Scootaloo was pushing him with the added power of her wings. Though even with the combined power of the three fillies it was only slowed down Pyxis. With every hoofstep the fillies grew tired and Pyxis showed no sign of stopping or even slowing down. His determination was too great.
"Come on just a little bit more!" Pyxis said as he neared the door. The door was now in his reach all he had to do was push open the door and there it would be. The thing that was so important to him was right behind this door. He lifted up his hoof to open the door. The door opened with great ease. The room the door led to was quite elegant plastic pony models were in the room along with a shelf full of fabrics and threads. On a table was an old sewing machine, but from the looks of it Rarity kept it in shape. Along the walls were dress designs that Pyxis suspected were for Rarity's clients. ' So Rarity must be a seamstress.' Pyxis thought
" Okay you got a look at the inside now come on before Rarity comes back and we get into trouble." demanded Sweetie Belle.
Pyxis blocked out the filly as he began to look around the room. The fabrics and threads gave him so many ideas that he couldn't keep a good idea down before another one came. Then he found a sketch on the table next to him. Surrounding the sketch were balled up pieces of paper. 'Rarity must have been working on a dress design, but failed.' Pyxis thought. The sketch itself had been redrawn and erased several times. Now it was just a blank pony. Blank, a word that to everyone means nothing. Though to him it meant something.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a worn out pencil. From the looks of it the tip of the lead could barely draw anything, but this pencil was all that Pyxis needed. While he was in his own world he didn't notice that a flash of purple flame came over him, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders noticed causing them to step back. "Pyxis whats....... going on?" asked a worried Sweetie Belle. Pyxis grabbed the pencil and looked towards the three fillies with their terrified expressions. He could feel himself changing and there wasn't a way to stop it. Pyxis could see it in their face as to how scared they were.
' Really......really....... you have got to be kidding me. Did I just really do that?' Pyxis though to himself as his body was engulfed in purple flames. The three fillies stood in terror as they witnessed Pyxis's transformation into something else. As the purple flames dimmed there was nothing left of the colt known as Pyxis. Instead in his place was a baby dragon with purple scales and a golden underbelly. He also had smoothed back spine scales The dragon opened his eyes. Those great purple eyes filled such imagination gazed at the fillies. It was then that he spoke. " I know what your going to say and I would thank you if would be kind enough to......." the newly transformed dragon was cut off by an air piercing shriek. The Cutie Mark Crusaders quickly grabbed a weapon of their choice. For Applebloom a broom stick. For Scootaloo a frying pan. Then finally for Sweetie Belle a lamp.
"What are you doing here changeling?!?" Scootaloo asked as she raised up the frying pan that was in her hooves. The changeling sat there and stared at the filly as if she was insane. "Answer me!!" she screamed.
" I think thats going to be hard to do and please don't call me 'changeling'. I have a name you know. Iolite Reality at your service." Iolite said.
"What do ya mean its gonna be hard to do?" asked Applebloom.
"Well I'll explain the situation as best as I can." said Iolite.
Meanwhile, at Golden Oaks Library. "I FOUND IT!" yelled Pinkie Pie. Everypony who was still in the library looked towards the pink mare as she smiled.
Back at Rarity's Boutique. Iolite was beginning to tell how he came to be. "I only have a limited range of knowledge right now so don't get mad if you don't have all the details." he said right before he began. "So to my knowledge Pyxis escaped from somewhere and managed to get into Canterlot. It wasn't until he started to explore the city did he realize that he wasn't wanted in the city. Ponies left and right threw anything they could grab at him. They had the Royal Guards sent after him. Pyxis didn't know what to do, but suddenly he just changed. He changed into the pony that you saw him for. It wasn't until a couple of days ago that he managed to escape from Canterlot which has a filter spell around it that disables his changing ability and you pretty much know the rest." Iolite explained.
"Why were you talking in third person?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"I didn't talk in third person. I was talking about Pyxis." replied Iolite.
"But your Pyxis! Are you trying to confuse us?!" exclaimed Scootaloo.
Iolite took a deep breath before he continued to speak. "I don't know how it happened nor do I know how it happens, but Pyxis has this sort of multiple personality syndrome. It happens at random times and he nor any of us has control over it. We each have different lives that we live on our own accord." he said.
"Wait....did you just say 'us'?" asked Sweetie Belle. Iolite nodded in response.
"Are there more changelings here?!" asked Scootaloo as she raised her frying pan again.
Iolite raised his hands up in defense while yelling "There aren't any changeling in Equestria I promise! Its just us!"
"Who is 'us' ?" asked Applebloom.
"If I remember correctly there are about twenty four different personalities in here." said Iolite as he tapped his finger on his head. "Including me there are twelve males and twelve females. All locked up in this head waiting to be unlocked."
"So ya'll mean to tell us that Pyxis was a changeling all along and that he has different personalitas in his head?" suggested Applebloom.
"Okay first. Its personalities and second yes, yes he does." says Iolite.
There were a moment of silence that filled the room. The quiet help the fillies process what was going on and what to do next. It was a while before any of them spoke, but it was Scootaloo who was the first to talk. "How do we know that we can trust you?" she said with a cold tone. Iolite was ready for this question. He didn't say anything, he just stood up and walked over to the three fillies. He reached out his arms and gave the fillies a hug.
" Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo. The three fillies without a cutie mark that stick together to find their purpose. The Cutie Mark Crusaders. The Blank Flanks." He said. That last sentence made Scootaloo about to smack him aside the head with the frying pan, but he kept talking. "You know what the good thing about the blank? To many it means nothing, but to me it means potential. A blank piece of paper is nothing until you draw something on it, then it becomes something."
"Where are you getting at?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"You girls are like a blank piece of paper just ready to be something and I'm about to help you draw that something." Iolite let go of the fillies and stood a few paces back. "Close your eyes." he said.
"How is this suppose to...." Scootaloo was about to say before she was interrupted.
"Just close your eyes." Iolite said. Feeling annoyed with the changeling she closed her eyes along with her friends. "Now clear your mind of all the things that is holding you back. Things that have happened in the past, old fears, family issues, anything that holds you back can't reach you anymore and relax." The crusaders did as they were told. "Now think of what is the most enjoyable thing to you. What hobby do you like to do, what are you good at, or what you wouldn't mind doing for a living." The crusaders did as they were told. The three fillies thought about what they were good at. For Sweetie Belle she thought about how she liked the listen to music and how she likes to sing. Extreme stunts and awesome tricks were on Scootaloo's mind and all Applebloom could think about were some of the many repairs and upgrades that she could do for their clubhouse. "Now open your eyes." Iolite said.
The three fillies opened their eyes, but didn't see anything that changed. Until Sweetie Belle looked down and saw what Applebloom had. She pointed her hoof at the filly's flank unable to make a sound. Applebloom saw her friend point at her and looked down as well. It was then that she saw it. On her flank was a cutie mark. It was a wrench that was in front of an shiny red apple. While looking down she also saw her friends' flanks and gasped. The two fillies looked down to see that they also had their cutie marks as well. Sweetie Belle's was a microphone with lines of music coming from it. For Scootaloo it was a flaming wheel with wings. "Do you trust me now?" asked Iolite with a sly grin
All three Cutie Mark Crusaders jumped the dragon in a fit of playful glee. "I guess we can let you slide, but if I even see somepony go missing or you step out of line. I'll get Rainbow Dash on you. Do you understand?" Scootaloo said. Iolite nodded his head as Scootaloo chuckled. "Good, now come here you stupid changeling." she said as the rest of the kids began to laugh. This was the beginning of a new friendship.
When everypony and dragon had settled down and after the fillies' weapons were put away, they all sat down to talk. Iolite answered any and all of the fillies's question to the best of his ability. Then he got some of his questions answered too. While he was answering some more questions he was also writing in a journal that the fillies weren't sure where he got it from. "So what are you here for? Are you going to take love from somepony and bring it back to your queen?" Sweetie Belle asked. Iolite stopped writing for a brief minute and gave the unicorn filly a weird look before returning to his journal.
"I thought you girls trusted me?" he asked.
"We do..... its just that.... you have to have reason to be here. From what Twilight says if a changeling comes back its just to gather enough love that so that Queen Chrysalis can get stronger." Sweetie Belle said.
"Well....... I have to get that mare some credit. She's half right." Iolite responded.
"Ah ha! I knew you were up to something! What until Rainbow hears......... wait did you say half right?" asked Scootaloo.
Once again Iolite stopped writing in his journal and this time he closed it and took a deep breath. "Once again I will tell you to best of my ability. From what I can tell if a changeling is in an area it is to take love, but not for the Queen alone. The love is shared amongst every changeling and even that isn't enough. So scouts are sent to multiple town to get love and bring it back to the hive. Also you fillies have met a changeling more than once in your life time "
"What?" asked the fillies.
"Look outside. There are some changelings outside right now that you didn't notice until now.
Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo went to the nearest window to see if what Iolite said was true. When the looked outside they couldn't believe their eyes. Some of the ponies outside and a light blue glow to their eyes. It was faint though, very faint. If somepony didn't look closely they would miss it, but even if they did see the blue light it would instantly vanish. It would make ponies think it was a trick of the eye. It took the fillies a couple of tries to see what was happening. The crusaders didn't know what to think. How could they miss something like that? Then they turned back to see Iolite staring back at them with a light green glow in his eyes. "I though you said that there weren't any changelings in Equestria?!" Scootaloo said in an angry tone.
"Well let me rephrase myself. There aren't any lethal changelings in Equeastria. The ones outside are just scouts. And from the looks of it they took on a whole different pony. So nopony has gone missing, thats good. And to answer your question about the glowing eyes a changeling's disguise is good, but its not.... how you say........ perfect. If one was to stare long enough without blinking they could see the light you just saw." he said.
"But we didn't stare that long! We didn't even stare for two seconds! It was just there!" said Applebloom.
"Yeah could you explain that to us?" suggested Scootaloo.
"Well thats going to be hard, because I can't even explain that. I guess you going to just going to have to wait until a personality that does know what's going on can tell you." Iolite said as he closed his journal for now. Scootaloo stood in front of him with a really angry face. "No you don't! Your going to tell me what you just did you us, right now!" Scootaloo yelled.
"Well if you really want to know what happened to you I can tell you one thing, but I don't know the meaning behind it." Iolite said as he felt the tug.
"What is it?" asked Applebloom. The light blue flames slowly came into view. Scootaloo backed away from the changeling as he started to change back.
"Your eyes are open." Iolite said before the flames completely engulfed him. Once the flames died down the pegasus colt Pyxis had returned. He was glad to be back to his normal self, but once he looked up he wish Iolite had stayed. Staring at him were two confused fillies along with a very annoyed one. He could feel the uneasiness in the air and it made him shiver uncontrollably. Though Scootaloo eventually calmed down.
"This is going to happen all the time around you isn't it?" asked Scootaloo with a sigh.
"Umm.......... pretty much." Pyxis replied.
"And tell me why I shouldn't go get Rainbow Dash or Twilight on you and your changeling buddies?"
"Because I know you like an adventure and here is one right in front of you." said Pyxis jokingly as he nudged Scootaloo. The pegasus filly soon gave into the changeling's joking antics and pushed him away. She went to get her saddle bags and opened the door. As she was about to walk out she saw her friends looking at her with concern.
"What? I'm not going to tell on him....... well not until he does something bad. Its just that I need some time to clear my head and I think I know just the way to do it." Scootaloo said.
"How?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"Vinyl and Octavia are still giving out music lessons." Scootaloo said as she prepared to head to the music shop. Soon her friends joined her and together the four of them headed towards the music shop. Though they had to stop every once and a while to let Sweetie Belle catch up. She was trying to read the journal that Iolite wrote, from the look on her face it was pretty interesting. Once they arrived at the shop the walked in and were greeted by the sound of Octavia's cello. The crusaders and Pyxis walked in and sat down to listen to the musician's music. Well almost all of them.
Sweetie Belle was still wrapped up in the journal. She was so into it that she didn't even notice that the music had ended. Octavia and Pyxis started to have another lesson and the music started up again. "That journal must be really good Sweetie Belle." said Applebloom. The white unicorn filly didn't hear the farm girl's comment and continued to read. Applebloom tried again to gain her friend's attention, but failed.
"Here let me do it." said Scootaloo as she took the journal away from Sweetie Belle.
"Huh, give that back. I was reading it." said an upset Sweetie Belle.
"It's that good? What is it about?" asked Scoots. She turned the journal around so that she could read it, but found out that Sweetie Belle had already gotten to the last page.
"Its kind of sad. Its about this mother who has a lot of children and they all have super special talents. Some can do magic even though their not unicorns, some can see into the future, there is one who knows a cure for almost every disease, and then there is a couple that can feel the emotions around them. Due to these gifts other ponies see them as monsters or something like that. The whole family is bullied, robbed, and eventually evicted from their own hometown. They travel throughout the land in search for a new home, but the same thing keeps happening. Word leaks out about the family's gifts and once again their evicted. Soon the family has nowhere to go so they build a new home for themselves and things go smooth for a little while." said Sweetie Belle.
"What happens next?" asked Applebloom.
"Their food eventually runs out and the mother is caught between two decisions. You see there will be a massive celebration in a town close by the following weekend and everypony would be outside have fun. While the ponies were distracted she and her children could sneak into the houses and take what ever food they could find and return to their home."
"Wait if they can do magic why don't they just grow their own food?" asked Scootaloo.
"Well the funny thing is that nopony in the family has a green hoof. If any of them tried to grow a plant it would just wither away." Sweetie answered. "Anyway back to the story. The mother had a choice either let her children starve or risk the chance of being exiled to feed her children. She took the risk. That weekend after days and nights of planing and practicing they entered the town and their job began. The cleaned out a house in two minutes flat and then moved to the next one without leaving a single trace. They kept going until they were almost done. Then they came onto a large house that looked like it belonged to a very rich pony. The house would be their last one for when they went in they didn't expect for there to be anypony in there, but inside was one small filly. A very scared and frightened filly. Once the filly saw who broke into her home she screamed to the top of her lungs and ran as fast as she could to get help. Within minutes the family was caught and exiled from the country."
"After they were exiled they stayed as a family until their mother grew weak from starvation. With barely any food to keep all of them alive the mother told her children to leave her and go on into the world and they did. Except for one small colt. He stayed behind. The mother smiled softly and whispered to the colt. "Go. Go on. Go out into that great big world and enjoy life. Oh and make some friends while your at it." she said as she closed her eyes for the last time." Sweetie finished. As she looked back at her friends she could see that Applebloom was on the verge of tears and Scootaloo was already crying, though she tried her best to hide it.
"Iolite wrote that?" Applebloom asked. Sweetie Belle nodded her head. "Thats so sad. That can't be how it ends. It just can't be."
"Thats where it stops. Except for six words at the bottom, but I don't know what it means." Sweetie Belle said.
"What were the words?" asked Applebloom.
"A Changeling's Destiny. Now you know." Sweetie Belle answered.
It took a minute for the words to sink in. It took even longer for the fillies to understand why Iolite wrote the story. Then all three looked up towards Pyxis in concern. They thought they were going to see him depressed and sad, but he wasn't. Instead he was looking right at them with a smile on his face. It was as if he didn't know what Iolite had written. It was as if....... he didn't remember what had happened. It was like he was untainted, pure, from his past and now the fillies were lost and didn't know what to do. Though seeing Pyxis's happy smile cleared their heads they knew that they were going to need some help with this, but for now the fillies listened to Pyxis's music and relaxed.
Celestia's sun began to disappeared over the horizon and as the citizens of Ponyville retired to their homes for the day. Scootaloo, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Pyxis left the music shop. Strapped to Pyxis's back was a viola that Octavia said he could borrow for practice. As for now their destination, Sweet Apple Acres. While Scootaloo drove, Pyxis asked them where they were going. Applebloom replied that they have sleep overs every other weekend, but sadly since Applejack, Big Mac, or Granny Smith didn't know who he was or his parents. Though they all knew that they wouldn't want to know. So that left Pyxis with one option. He would have to stay at the clubhouse until morning.
Pyxis didn't complain much, after all this would be the second time he got to sleep in a house of some sort. Though this time it would be him and not one of his alter egos. As they arrived at the clubhouse the girls told him about the blankets in the chest along with paper and crayons if he got bored. When the fillies left to head to the farm house Sweetie Belle came back quickly to tell Pyxis something important. "Oh I forgot to tell you...... Scootaloo keeps a secret stash of snacks under one the floor boards. Don't tell her I told you." she said as she hurried back outside.
The changeling chuckled to himself as he grabbed a blanket from the chest and wrapped himself in it. He looked around to find a loose floor board and lifted it up. Underneath was a couple of small bags of chips, some snack cakes, and a six pack of juice boxes. 'How does that filly hide all this stuff?' Pyxis asked himself. While the newly found snack wouldn't benefit him in anyway, shape, or form, it was nice to eat something solid every once in a while.
Using his magic he pulled up a snack cake and a juice box. Scootaloo would probably get mad at him for stealing her snacks, but for now he wasn't bother with anything else. After finishing his snack Pyxis went to gaze at the stars. He stared at them for hours while his mind ran it's own course. There was so much he wanted to know. There was so much that he needed to know. Yet when Pyxis tried to remember all he would get were bits and pieces.
You shouldn't think so much. Ponies go crazy thinking like that.
Startled by the sudden voice caused Pyxis to change his form back into that of a changeling. While he was still shocked to see that he was scared back into his changeling form he was even more shocked to be hearing one of his personalities talking to him. It was a little bit unnerving at first and Pyxis was getting freaked out by it. Was it even possible to do something like this or was he really losing his mind. As time went on Pyxis became used to it and started to have a little conversation. The two didn't talk much for Pyxis was getting tired. So they ended their conversation for tonight and drifted off to sleep.
As Celestia's sun began to rise over the horizon and as Luna's moon began to rest for the day the citizens of Ponyville were starting to awaken from their slumber. All except for the changeling sleeping soundly in the Cutie Mark Crusader's clubhouse. Curled up in his blanket like a caterpillar in it's cocoon, Pyxis slept like there was no tomorrow. Not even the sound of fillies rushing in disturbed the changeling's deep slumber. "Is he dead?" asked Sweetie Belle as she poked him with a stick.
"Naw, ah can hear him breathing. What do ya'll want to do to 'em?" asked Applebloom.
The fillies thought and thought, but couldn't think of anything good. Until Scootaloo noticed that the floorboard in which her snacks was now almost fully opened. She rushed over to the board and checked to see if anything was missing. Even though it was just one snack cake and one juice box it was still her snacks. The changeling was going to pay. "I know exactly what to do." said the now slightly angry pegasus.
"Scoots, what are you planning?" asked Sweetie Belle as a curious look began to grow on her face.
"Don't worry about it. Its going to be funny." said Scootaloo as a grin came to her face.
Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other before following their pegasus friend out the door of the clubhouse. Within half an hour the girls returned to find that Pyxis was still in a deep state of slumber. They had what they needed, now the only thing left on the list was Pyxis.
"I....I don't know about this girls." Sweetie Belle said with hesitation on her breath.
"Come on it'll be funny. Its not like its going to hurt him." said the ever anxious Scootaloo.
"Are we gonna do this thang or not?" asked an aggravated Applebloom.
With all their effort the three fillies lifted up the changeling and threw him in a metal tub with ice cold water. The sudden feeling of wetness and cold forced Pyxis to open his eyes and gasp for breath. Once he made sure that he wasn't drowning his attention now turned to that of the three laughing fillies. "Not. Funny." he said with a low growl.
"Thats what you get for eating my snacks!" said Scootaloo
"It was just one snack cake and a juice box!" yelled Pyxis as he stepped out of the bin.
"I don't care! You ask before you eat somepony's snacks!" replied Scootaloo.
"Whatever!" said Pyxis as Sweetie Belle gave him a drying towel.
While Pyxis began to dry off the fillies went outside to dump the ice cold water. As the water began to flow out of the tub the fillies' minds began to wonder. They had their cutie marks now, what else could they possibly do? None of them came up with an answer to that question. Their ears began to fall down and their expressions began to change. Was this the end of the Cutie Mark Crusaders? Is this the last time they would have fun together? These questions made the fillies sink into a deeper depression. "You know. Just because one chapter in you life ends doesn't mean that its the end of the book." said a familiar voice.
Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle turned around to see who had spoken. They expected to see the dragon, Iolite, again. Though this time it was just Pyxis, but something was off about him. It only took a few seconds to figure out what had changed. His eyes were now the same color as Iolite and Iolite's voice had took the place of Pyxis's. "What does that mean?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"It means that the rest of your future is blank. That its up to you what your future is going to be. Your adventures can't stop here just because a chapter in your life ended. Instead, start a new chapter in life and see what your future holds." said Iolite.
Hearing the words of encouragement filled the fillies with a new desire. To be the best at their talents and to see the future that they will make for themselves. The fillies tackled the changeling and laughed. They thanked him for his kind words and he accepted it.
Applebloom felt something bump against her cheek. She looked to find that there was a scroll tied to a balloon flying a mere inch away from her face. She grabbed it and released the balloon. As she read the letter she grew slightly worried. Iolite felt her emotions shift and asked her what was wrong. "Pinkie Pie sent us a letter. She says she's throwing a party for us for getting our cutie marks." she answered.
"Why is that such a big surprise?" asked Scootaloo.
"Because she said 'P.S. Bring Pyxis, or Iolite, or Soaring Sorrows or who ever your changeling friend is at the moment." Applebloom said. Those words made them all freeze in their positions. How in Equestria does Pinkie Pie know that Pyxis was a changeling? Better yet, how does she know who his personalities are? Another balloon came floated into their line of sight. Iolite grabbed it and read it aloud: "P.P.S. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"
The fillies seemed to loosen up a bit and sighed with relief. Iolite was left sitting in a sea of confusion now and it took a short walk to explain to him that nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise. Its the fastest way to lose a friend. Then suddenly Pinkie Pie popped out of one of the tree tops yelling "Forever!". She soon vanished amongst the leaves leaving Iolite to stand there in even more confusion.
"Can she really do that?" he asked.
"Its Pinkie dude. Don't try to figure her out." said Scootaloo
"Figure her out? No no no, I'm not doing that. She just made me think of a story to write. Now where is my pencil and book?" said Iolite as he changed back into his dragon form. The girls sighed in slight happiness. Just watching Iolite write in his newly acquired notebook, which they are still weren't quite sure he gets them from, made them all jittery. What new adventures lay ahead of them in this new chapter? None of them knew the answer, but they knew how to find it. Just follow the weird changeling.
The Crusaders and Iolite arrived at the party location, which happened to be in the middle of Ponyville, and were greeted by tons of cheers and congratulations. The girls were surprised when they found out that Pinkie planned a full block party just for them, but besides that they began to enjoy their party. Everypony was having fun, ponies who were working that day got to sell their products, and the music made it even more enjoyable. What made it even more amazing was that ponies noticed Iolite there. It made him nervous with all of those eyes on him. "He is so cute!" said a mare.
"I didn't know Spike had a brother." said another.
The emotions in the air had it tempting for Iolite to just jump at the chance and take it all, but with his will power he took a moment to rest. As Iolite sat down to on a bench for a bit, allowing his crystals to do the work for him. Pinkie Pie suddenly came up to him with a tray of gem sprinkled cupcakes. "Hi, Iolite! Nice to meet you! Want a cupcake?" said the pink mare. Iolite grabbed a cupcake and held it in his claws.
"Um Pinkie?" he said.
"Hmm?" replied Pinkie with a mouthful of punch.
"How did you know I;m a.................. well a......" Iolite started.
"A changeling?" Pinkie Pie finished for him.
"Yeah."
"Well its all in the script Iolite. Wait was I suppose to tell you that?" Pinkie Pie said as she pulled out a script from her mane. She read through a couple of pages before returning to Iolite. "Enjoy the cupcake Iolite. Oh and please, if you can try not to freak out Twilight that would be great. Oh and also, I'm sorry." With that Pinkie Pie bounced off towards the crowd of ponies, leaving Iolite in a sea of utter confusion. 'The mare is a box of random wrapped in a mystery' Iolite thought to himself as he took a bite from his cupcake. This was a party this wasn't the time to try and solve the mystery of the weird pink mare. Iolite was going to enjoy the time he had. He even might absorb some of the emotions that hung in the air. After he finished off his cupcake Iolite joined the party once again.
The party dragged on until the once blue sky turned to a shade of reddish orange. Ponies of young and old were tired from their day long parting so each pony began their way back home. Iolite was just about to head to the tree house where he had slept last night when he felt a buzz in the back of his head. The buzz made him start to twitch and soon he began to feel jittery. Overwhelmed with the new sensation Iolite wanted to get back to the club house as fast as he could.
With every step he took Iolite could have sworn that his legs were made of jelly, but he continued onward for soon it wasn't long that he felt an all too familiar pull on his being. Holding in the transformation would be hard, but if he didn't want his cover to be blown that he would have to try his best not that let his new persona take hold.
Meanwhile, Twilight and her friends were gathered around in a circle debating on what to do next. "Okay girls, from your perspectives, did the spell work?" Twilight asked. She received nods from all of her friends. This made a smile appear on her face, her spell had worked after all. Now was they were at the hard part. They would need to find a way to get every changeling in one place and at one time without any of them noticing.
"All right Twi, we know that the spell works now what do we do?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"I've counted them while the party was going on. If I'm correct than there should be at least twenty five changelings here if not more. What we need to do know is find a way to get all of them in one place. Once that happens I can simply cast a sleeping spell on them and we tie them up and wait for the Royal Guard to come and get them." responded Twilight.
"Okay and how do ya suppose we get them in one place?" asked Applejack.
"Easy Pinkie Pie sends them all fake invitations. Where the invitations will lead them is an open discussion." said Twilight.
"How about Applejack's barn. It should be big enough to hold those changelings until the guards come." suggested Rarity.
"That could work. Anypony else have a better idea?" asked Twilight. Nopony came up with a new idea so it was settled that the location would be at Applejack's barn. Twilight did her best to brief her friends on her plans, but even she didn't have a solid proof plan yet. She was doing good so far. She would think of how to fortify their plans throughout the night. After a couple of minutes of more debating the group went their separate ways for the rest of the day.
Twilight was well on her way home when she saw Iolite and due to her spell she quickly grimaced. 'I missed one. Wait a minute this one's not looking to good. Hmmmm......... maybe if I take it to my lab for some interrogation I could get some answers from it. Then I can find out why there are changelings here!' Twilight thought. So she began to carry out her plans, unaware of the trouble she was getting herself into.
Iolite was still having trouble with this new sensation, but was soon feeling a new source of energy build up inside of him. The energy grew slowly at first, but was now to the point where he wanted the run around the town three times then have a nice jog from Ponyville to Canterlot and back again. Lost in his weird sensation Iolite didn't see the lavender mare standing in front of him and soon found himself on the ground. "Oh I'm sorry." he said as he looked at who he had walked into. It was then that his heart sunk to the bottom of his stomach. Standing before him was none other than Twilight Sparkle. The one mare that he didn't want to see at a moment like this.
She wore a smile on her face, but somehow Iolite knew that she was far from happy. "Oh there you are Iolite. I've been looking all over for you." she joyfully said.
"Y.....you have?" responded Iolite. He tried his best to keep from running away, but was slowly losing that battle.
"Yes I have, Spike has been wanting to meet you for a while now. I've been searching for you, but with the party and all I wasn't able to find you. Anyway, do you want to came back home with me?" said Twilight with a smile. The smile made Iolite shiver in his scales. Quickly thinking things through Iolite came up with two possibilities on how he could get out of this. On one hand, he could run for it. With his new found energy there was a slim possibility that he could out run the lavender unicorn. On the other hand, he could go with Twilight and accept his fate with dignity. Though every atom in his form wanted to run away, Iolite chose the latter.
"S.....s...sure, why not." Iolite agreed.
"Excellent! Now just follow me." Twilight said. Iolite gulped as he began to follow Twilight towards to what would soon be the end of his carefree life.
It only took a couple of minutes to reach Twilight's home, but for Iolite it seemed like years had went by. Once they were in the confinements of the tree house Twilight's demeanor changed in the blink of an eye. Her horn began to light up in a purple aura and the door slammed right behind Iolite. He then felt his feet leave the ground. He realized that Twilight had caught him in a field of her magic. "You know.............. I expected you to run away from me when we met." said Twilight, "I must congratulate you on facing this with at least a little dignity, but now we must get down to business little changeling."
If he couldn't feel it back then Iolite could feel it now. The sheer hatred emanating from Twilight was enough to make him want to throw up. It took must of his concentration to just ignore the hatred flowing around the mare, but in that moment his new persona took it's chance and began to surface instantly. "ACK!" chocked Iolite, recoiled as the sudden take over began to take hold. Twilight looked at Iolite with confusion. He wouldn't hold out much longer. A one minute was all he had left and then it was lights out. A small smile spread across his face. "You know what Twilight Sparkle............... do you really want revenge?" he said. Before Twilight could say anything Iolite erupted in a dark orange flame.
She closed her eyes for nearly a second and when she opened them again she was surprised as to what or who was in the place of Iolite. Instead of a baby dragon was now a young female draconequus. In a way she looked almost identical to Discord except she was a cow's leg instead of a goat's leg. She had a leopard's arm instead of a lion's. Her eyes disturbed Twilight the most. She had light blue irises in seas of a deep orange.
The newly changed draconequus gazed at the mare in intense criticism. Now it was Twilight's turn to be afraid. She had studied what an angered draconequus can do. She hoped to Celestia that changeling's can't copy another being's abilities too. The two continued to stare at each other for what seemed like for eternity. "I......... don't like how you look." the draconequus said, braking the silence that filled the room.
"What?" asked a stupefied Twilight.
"I don't like the way you look. It just doesn't seem right to me. Lets see what you look like with some wings." the draconequus said as she snapped her talons. With a 'poof' Twilight had her own pair of matching wings. They actually work too. "Nah, I'm just not feeling it. How about a dog?" With another snap Twilight was transformed into a purple canine. The draconequus used her magic to lift up the newly transformed Twilight up to where they were looking straight into each other's eyes. "Hmmm its close, but not there yet. Next!" Twilight was now twitching slightly. Somehow she knew that this was going to take awhile.
Meanwhile, at Sugar Cube Corner. Inside Pinkie's room was Discord and the pink mare herself. They were sitting on her bed eating popcorn as they watched Twilight take on new transformations for half an hour. "You sure we can't go and help her?" asked Pinkie.
"You've read the script Pinkie. We can't interfere with the plot line. Actually we weren't suppose to be in this little section of dialogue. The author will catch on soon." answered Discord as he stuffed his face with a pawful of popcorn.
"Well can I get a refill of chocolate milk?" Pinkie Pie asked as she held out her unusual large cup. Discord answered he plea with a snap of his claws. The mare's cup was filled to the brim with his homemade original chocolate milk. Pinkie Pie was about to thank Discord when she realized that she had ran out of time and now had an annoyed expression on her face.
Back at Twilight's house, Twilight had just gone through here thirty fourth transformation and to be honest she was beginning to regret having brought that changeling back into her house. No, in fact she was regretting ever meeting this changeling at all! With another 'snap' Twilight transformed again. 'Argh what am I this time.' Twilight thought.
"Oh my! I think I've made a breakthrough! Twilight Sparkle do you want to see the new you!?" asked the draconequus.
"I don't think I have a choice in this decision." murmured Twilight. As a mirror was brought in front of Twilight her blood had run cold. She had become the thing of her worst nightmares. Something that she has always dreaded even as a kid. Twilight was now, and for who knew how long, a snake. She started to breath heavily as she stumbled around in her new serpent body. She was about to scream, until the draconequus placed a claw over her mouth. With a snap a pair of sound canceling headphones appear over the draconequus's ears. She gave the thumbs up and Twilight proceeded to scream to the top of her lungs.
"CHANGE ME BACK! CHANGE ME BACK! CHANGE ME BACK! CHANGE ME BACK! CHANGE ME BACK!!!" repeated the lavender snake.
"But you look so much better now. It would be a shame to change you back. Wait a minute I'm forgetting something." the draconequus said, "Oh yeah. I haven't told you my name yet."
"FORGET YOUR NAME CHANGE ME BACK NOW!" screamed Twilight.
"My name is Sariel Underwing Ganith Arel Reeth Ruin Ursa Salick Hulsor, but you may call me Sugar Rush." said Sugar with a smile, completely ignoring the snake's demand to change her back to normal.
Tonight was suppose to be simple for Twilight Sparkle. Finish the plan to capture the changelings, get some questions answered, send the changeling back to where they came from, and then go about everyday life as if nothing happened. It was suppose to be that simple, but life had other the lavender unicorn or snake in her present state. Her life seemed to be spiraling out of control. Soon she was beginning to believe that somepony was doing this on purpose to torment her.
Hours passed by in the blink of an eye and Twilight's current situation wasn't getting any better. Having been transformed multiple times, then finally being placed in the body of a snake was really beginning to wear her down. Her horn missing and all of the energy in her body used up Twilight collapsed on the floor. Using the end of her tail she waved a white flag weakly to show that she surrendered her long hard fought battle against the young draconequus known as Sugar Rush before going completely limp next to her draconic assistant who had passed out not too long ago.
Sugar floated down and gently poked the poor tired out snake with a her talons."Twilight. Twilight! Are you dead?" She said. She received no response from the snake, but luckily she could see that Twilight was still breathing. Soon it began to get quiet without Twilight's constant yelling to turn her back and threatening to send her to the deepest depths of Tartarus. Sugar didn't like it when it was quiet because it gave time to think, time to remember. She hated bringing up past memories though it couldn't be helped. It was the way they all were.
Once they reached the surface of Pyxis's consciousness the memories that they all carried would resurface too. "At least thats what the Doc said." Sugar said to herself sadly. Then Sugar felt it. She hadn't realized it yet until now. All of her energy was burnt up running away from Twilight for half the night. Her time was running out and it was running out fast. Using the last bits of her magic she reverted Twilight back into her normal form. Sugar took extra care into erasing the lavender mare's memory as well as rip out and eating the pages that contained the spell to see through changeling disguises.
"Hmm. I didn't know that paper had such a distinct taste to it. Heh, you learn something new every day." Sugar said as she left the residence of the mare known as Twilight Sparkle
Sugar had to find a place to hide before her time was up. As she began to think about places to go she concluded that she wasn't going to make it in time if she headed to the Cutie Mark Crusader's club house, the Everfree Forest was out of the question, which left only one place left to hide. She knew that it wasn't going to end well, but the only thing that she could hope on was that the author knows what he is doing and headed to her final destination for tonight.
Morning came around fast that day. Faster than someponies would want, but there was nothing they could do about it now. The small town of Ponyville was beginning to wake up and start their day. Today was a Sunday meaning that the market would be in full swing today. Ponies liked to restock on their food supply on Sundays for many reasons, but mostly because the prices went down on Sunday mornings and by mid-day the prices became normal again. It was either wake up early for lower prices or buy stuff for the regular price which someponies can't afford at the moment.
Due to a small set back on plans Vinyl Scratch and Octavia were a little bit low on money. So much to the dismay of the 'party all night' D.J. she had to wake up early than she usually did. With bags under her eyes Vinyl fought the never ending battle to stay awake as she followed her friend to the market. "Come on Tavi. I'm sorry that I forgot that my gig was pushed back a week and I blew through all those bits, but do I have to be up so early? I didn't even know there was a six a.m.!" Vinyl pleaded.
Octavia scuffed at the pleas made by her tired friend. "Begging won't get you nowhere. Forgetting to wash the dishes after your done with them is one thing, but spending nearly all of our spending money on Pony-clo cards and booster packs is just plain immature and foolish. Not to mention forgetting when yours suppose to perform. You have to learn some responsibility." said Octavia in a strict manor.
"Okay first of all its called Pony-Oh not Pony-Clo and second its not my fault! Do you even know how much power Derpy Hooves has in those dueling cards of her's? She tricks you into thinking that her cards are weak, but before you know it she summons a muffin dragon with over four thousand attack points. No, I'm serious the mare summoned a MUFFIN DRAGON! Almost her entire deck is made out of muffin based characters! It makes me hungry just thinking about it." replied Vinyl Scratch.
Octavia just sighed in disappointment at her friend's input on this conversation. Her mind was on more important details as of the moment. If they didn't get enough money by the end of this month they would be evicted out of their home. Then it was back to the apartments on the east side of Canterlot. Octavia shivered at the memory of those apartments. There was so much trash and filth in that place that she could have sworn that she saw a family of rats living in there once. Paying a pony to disinfect the place costed them a hefty amount of money, but it was worth every bit in Octavia's opinion.
After shopping around with the money little of the money that was left the duo was met by the party mare herself, Pinkie Pie. She handed them a bag full of bits, saying that it was for the music Vinyl played at the party yesterday and also to cover the cost of repairing Octavia's cello. That last part gained a mixed reaction from the gray earth mare. She then proceeded to ask Pinkie Pie what did she mean by that and what did she do to her cello. Though she wanted a straight answer, but knowing Pinkie Pie she hoped that for once the mare would respond with some kind of maturity. Sadly her hopes were shot down in the blink of an eye.
"A friend is need of your help. He wonders beyond your musical door steps. At first you maybe scared, but no need to fret. This friend means no harm and you will see that your friendship will be put to the test. Now I'm afraid that I have to go and start bakin', but I'll leave you with some words of advice. Watch out for that muffin." Pinkie Pie said.
The two mares were dumbstruck upon hearing the mare's riddle. As they were about to ask what in Equestria was she going on about a soft object had dropped out of the sky, hitting Vinyl on the head. Using her magic she levitated the object into her field of view. "Its a blueberry muffin." Vinyl said. As she spoke those words a shadow began to form over her. She and Octavia looked up just in time to see a flash of grey and yellow before dirt flew up into the air.
As everything settled they could plainly see that the flash of grey and yellow was in fact Derpy Hooves. She had the blueberry muffin that was earlier in Vinyl's magic aura balanced perfectly on her head. Though she seemed to be unharmed, little could be said about the squashed unicorn under the grey pegasus. "Sorry Vinyl. I didn't see you there." Derpy apologized. "Are we still up for our duel tonight?"
Vinyl got off the ground and dusted herself off. "Its okay Derpy. Its just a couple of scrapes and bruises. As for our duel tonight, I think I'm going to have to back out for now, but I'll see you next time okay." said Vinyl with the small smile.
"Oh. okay see you next time." Derpy said as she flew of into the distance. Vinyl waved goodbye as she waited for the mare to be far enough to where she wouldn't be able to hear her. What followed next was the D.J. beginning to spew a massive amount of words that were not fit for young colts and fillies to hear. Luckily, Octavia was there to cover her friend's mouth just in time. After the unicorn had her fill in yelling muffled words, she and Octavio hurried to their music shop.
Once there they were met with none other than the cutie mark crusaders. When asked what they planned on doing they responded by saying that they wanted to return Pyxis's belt. He seemed to have left it at their clubhouse. Since they couldn't find him anywhere in town they suspected that he would be here. "I hate to ruin your plan, but there is no way that Pyxis could be in here. The door is locked up tighter than Tavi's stash of Pon Jovi records." said Vinyl.
"While that is true I would be very thankful if you didn't state my personal collection to the public." Octavia said as she grabbed the keys to the shop with her mouth. As she came closer to the door knob the door itself opened by itself. This made her along with Vinyle, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo slightly scared. For the most part it made the two adults all the more confused. Octavia herself made sure that the door was locked before she went home yesterday. How in the world did it get unlocked?
It took less that a fraction of a second for the gears in the two mares' heads to start working. There was a possiblilty, though it was a small one, that they could have been robbed. Quickly rushing in they scanned to see how bad the damage was, but to their surprise there wasn't a single bow out of place. All the records were still there as well, but upon closer inspection Vinyl discovered a terrifying secret. "Oh no." she said softly.
"What is it? Did somepony steal a priceless record?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"Worse." responded Vinyl.
"Somepony broke a priceless record?" asked Scootaloo.
"Much worse."
"Oh for pete sake just tell us!" yelled Applebloom.
"Somepony........... alphabetized my whole collection of records." said a distraught Vinyl.
With the sound of four hooves meeting their owners' faces, Octavia along with the three fillies felt great disappointment at the d.j pony's lack of concentration. "Vinyl let me remind you that we could have been rob or worse! Who knows what somepony could have put in here during the night and your worried about your little precious record organization." Octavia said with a hint of anger.
"Hey it took me a long time to organize these things how I like 'em! Besides what you do if somepony touched your Pon Jovi record?!" yelled Vinyl.
"Do we really have to bring up my Pon Jovi collection?!" replied Octavia who was no in a full state of anger.
The two carried on for what seemed like hours, but in reality was actually three minutes. Within those three minutes certain words were said that the fillies had been told that they should never say. After another three minutes the clash of verbal assaults kept going. It seemed like there was to be no end in sight. Until Sweetie Belle looked over at Pyxis's belt. It was levitating.
With a poke to the side she managed to grab her friends attention and in turn they grabbed the adult mares' attention. The five of them watched as the belt floated through the air slowly before landing behind the woodwind section.
Slowly Octavia grabbed the closet thing to her to serve as a weapon. Unfortunately the item that she had acquired just happened to be a cello and one of her favorite ones too. She then felt her body being pushed towards the woodwinds section. Turning around she found that her friend along with the Cutie Mark Crusaders were pushing her forward. "Pray tell, what do you think your doing?" whispered Octavia.
"We're not going near who ever that is. Since we saw that you have a weapon, but couldn't move we thought it would be the right thing to do and give you a little push." explained Sweetie Belle.
"I have no intention of approaching this intruder!" said Octavia.
"Then why do you have a jello in your hooves? What you plan on playing a song or something?" asked Scootaloo
"For your information its called a cello and second of all its a means of self-defense."
"Yeah thats it Octavia. Now use some of that self-defense to knock some sense into that robber pony's head." said Vinyl.
"What are we talking about?" asked an unknown voice.
The five ponies stumbled over one another as they tried to get away from the source of the voice. They looked back to see who intruded the store. What they expected to see was a pony or at least some random unicorn who wanted to play a prank on them, a very very misinterpreted prank. Instead standing in from of them was a pitch black changeling with mismatched eyes and a confused look on it's face. "So uh........ anypony want to play a quick game of Pony-Oh?" it asked. No one responded, except for Vinyl who slowly raised her hoof.
The ponies and changeling stood in their places for what seemed like hours. Silence filled the room, a type of silence that Sugar disliked with a passion. So she decided to brake the first one to brake the ice. "Come on girls I only got a few minutes before Pyxis comes back. So stop sitting there all quiet like make some noise or something." Sugar said as she calmly walked over to the crowd of ponies.
"Wait.... you know Pyxis?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"Well duh! After all I am one of his alter-egos." responded Sugar.
"Since when did he change?" asked Applebloom
"Uh........ a couple of minutes after the party." respond Sugar Rush. Just was the conversation was about to carry on Sugar had to quickly dodge an oncoming swing from Octavia's cello. Dodging the cello was an easy task, but dodging multiple swings from the musical instrument proved to put more strain on Sugar's body. After a couple of more swings Sugar started to breath more heavily. "You know Octavia, if you would stop being such a try-hard, we could be having some fun right now." said a slowly tiring Sugar.
"Shut up you!" yelled Octavia as she swung her cello again. The Cutie Mark Crusaders tried to stop the raging mare, but was stopped by Vinyl. Looking back they could see that Vinyl was shaking her head. As Octavia continued to swing her cello as fast as she could Sugar could feel her body starting to slow down again. Pyxis's body wasn't suppose to take this much straining. She was one of the alter-egos that would burn through his reserves of energy as fast as dry grass catches on fire. If this kept going then Pyxis could be left on the edge of death, and Sugar couldn't let that happen.
Using what last bits of magic that she could muster Sugar channeled her magic into the oncoming cello. With a flash of light Octavia's cello was turned into a piece of red velvet cake. The once enraged musician now stood in confusion as she gazed at what her cello had become. "Like a good friend of mine once said, 'There is always time for a slice of cake.' " said Sugar before her body gave out and everything turned to darkness.
Octavia started to walk towards the changeling, but was stopped by three fillies. They stood proud and tall as they protected the changeling. "Girls move out the way." Octavia ordered. Her orders fell on deaf ears as the fillies stayed in there formation none of them showed any intentions of backing down. "Girls, I said to move out of the way!" ordered Octavia, only this time a little more louder and forceful. Once again her orders fell on deaf ears, but this time Scootaloo talked back.
"Give us a good reason to." she said.
"A good reason? A good reason!? There is a changeling in our store! I don't recall if you or Applebloom or even if Sweetie Belle was there, but changelings are evil things. For one to be here in Equestria after what happened at the wedding can only mean that something big is about to happen. We need to get that thing to Twilight so we can stop whatever that thing's queen is planning." Octavia said.
"Yeah that might work for other changelings, but not for him. He's different from the others." Sweetie Belle said with courage.
"Different!? How in Equestria is he different!? He looks the same, smells the same, and acts the same. He probably brainwashed you three into protecting him!" protested Octavia.
"Tavi I think you should calm down a bit. I know that you have good reasons to be angry, but there isn't any reason to be barking right now." Vinyl said.
"Oh be quiet Vinyl!" said Octavia. Her response caused Vinyl to retort in her own way. From them the argued and soon the Cutie Mark Crusaders were getting into the argument. The anger in the room swelled to the point to where it awakened Pyxis. His eyes barely opened and his hearing wasn't all that good. All he could hear was the muffled sounds of his friends arguing along with his music teacher, Octavia, and her friend Vinyl. Though he didn't hear much, he didn't need to. The anger in the room was overwhelming. It burned his nostrils.
'I change for one minute and everything falls apart. Well thats life for you,' thought Pyxis.'But I can't let things go the way they are.' Pyxis looked around the room with his limited vision and found, that in the wake of Octavia's rage, instruments lay scattered on the ground. Seeing the fallen musical equipment gave Pyxis an idea. Though his magic reserves were extremely low he already made his decision.
As the ponies continued their argument, sometimes to the point of yelling, they took no notice of the musical instruments that were starting to play. The music began to swell, it filled the store with a gorgeous melody that soothed the raging ponies. A smile grew on Pyxis's face as he saw his friends beginning to calm down a bit. He could feel that last bits of his magic fading away and decided that it was time to stop. The music didn't last long, but it was long enough. With the sudden stop of the music all the anger left the room. Octavia and Vinyl stood there mystified with the change in their mood. They wanted to be angry, but for right now they couldn't. Not with the sound of the music still playing back in their minds.
"Okay, you fillies have a lot to explain." said Octavia
"And my headache is starting to come back so could you girls make it quick." Vinyl said as she began to rub her head.
The fillies did as they were told this time. They told them all of what happened since their first encounter with Pyxis. When their story came to an end Octavia was still unsure if what the three fillies were saying was true. What if the changeling had brain washed them, filling their heads with made up dreams and fantasies? This could be a trap as well. Giving the mares a false sense of security and then when their guard was down it would take action. There was no telling what the changeling could do to them, but from what Octavia heard its not pleasant. Just as Octavia was about to abject to the fillies' story Vinyl talked first. "I believe them." she said.
Octavia's jaw nearly dropped to the floor. "Vinyl you can actually believe this!? For all we know it could be a trap set by that changeling!" Octavia protested. Vinyl just looked back at the mare as her horn lit up.
"Tavi, we've known each other since the third grade. Heck if I didn't know any better I'd think that we were sisters. I've never doubted you and you've never doubted me, so trust me when I say..." Vinyl started as she took off her shades with her magic. "I know when somepony is lying to me." Octavia stared into Vinyl's eyes. Those same eyes that once held a joking aura to them now held a very serious look. Octavia was caught between a rock and a hard place. Three fillies and her best friend were against her in this situation. She could either, as Vinyl would say, go with the flow or she could report this to the authorities. With a sign Octavia gave in.
"Fine you win. I'll believe them too." Octavia said. With a giant 'YAY' the Cutie Mark Crusaders started to dance around, giving each other a high hoof. Vinyl put her shades back on and smiled. "You know, I hate it when you used that serious look of yours against me. It really throws me off." Octavia commented.
"Oh it does huh. I might use it more often in the future then." said Vinyl with a smirk on her face. Octavia sighed in annoyance. She looked around her and saw the state of the store. There were instruments scattered on the the floor, an unconscious changeling, three energetic fillies, and a friend who likes to mess with her mind to no end. Octavia now dawned a sad expression. What has she gotten herself into now?
It took roughly about two days before Pyxis woke up again.When his eyes opened he was shocked. He found himself inside someponies house and not only that he found out multiple other things as well. His disguise was no longer working, his right and left hoof were tied to the bed, and finally he saw what appeared to be a mare standing in the doorway. "Oh good your awake." he heard the mare say. It wasn't until the mare walked over that Pyxis could get a good look at her. Standing beside him was no other than Octavia and judging by the look on her face she wasn't all too happy to see him. "You've got a lot of explaining to do mister!" she said in a loud stern voice. Pyxis sunk further into the bed as his eyes became the size of small dots.
After filling Octavia in on everything that he knew and everything that he didn't she let him go. Upon untying his limbs Pyxis asked why was she letting him go. Octavia only looked back at him and said, "To be honest I don't trust you at all. If it was up to me I would have turned you in the moment I saw you. Though I promised a friend of mine that I would give you a chance and that is exactly what I'm going to do, so don't blow it. Oh and you might want to hurry. School starts in an hour and after that you'll be coming to the store to practice on your bowing." After saying what she had to say Octavia exited the room and went down stairs. Leaving Pyxis to sit with his own thoughts.
"Wait.......SCHOOL!?" asked Pyxis as he rushed after the mare. As he ran after her a flash of blue flames erupted around his body, morphing it into his blue pegasus disguise. Octavia stopped in her tracks and so did Pyxis. She then pushed him back upstairs and into the bathroom.
"Not to be rude, but I'm afraid you're going to have to freshen up before you can leave my household. There are extra washing cloths under the sink as well as drying towels. I'll be waiting downstairs with Vinyl when you finish. " she said before closing the door.
"I don't smell that bad do I?" Pyxis asked himself. He took a sniff of himself before nearly vomiting on the floor from the smell coming off of him. Pyxis looked under the sink and indeed found some washing cloths and towels. Using his magic he levitated one of both items as well as a bar of soap that he found. "Now how do you work this thing?" Pyxis asked himself as he stared at the metal knobs of the shower. After a few minutes of deciphering the controls of the shower Pyxis managed to get a decent bath. Then after another few minutes he finished the rest of his morning routines, he proceeded to go downstairs where Octavia and Vinyl stood waiting. He barely had time to react before he had a saddle bag strapped to his back and receiving a push out the door.
"I'll be taking you to school today. Octavia will pick you up after school." said Vinyl before she tied her own saddle bags to her back. She started to walk ahead of Pyxis as he stood still. "So are you coming or not?" asked Vinyl.
"Uh.... yes ma'am." responded Pyxis as he caught up with Vinyl.
"Listen kid, I'm alright with you staying with us and all, but lets get something straight. Don't call me ma'am. It sounds like I'm old or something." said Vinyl.
"Oh okay Vinyl." Pyxis said.
The two proceeded to head to the school house. Though the walk to the school was short the duo had some nice conversations. Vinyl went on and on about her next gig as well as her next meeting with Derpy. Pyxis could see fire in her eyes as she went on for what seemed like hours about her battle strategy, with some helpful inputs from Pyxis. Before long the two of them reached the school grounds with just a few seconds to spare. As the two set hoof inside the boundaries of the school grounds the morning bell rung, signaling
When the last student came in through the door a mare followed as well. She had a violet coat and a light pink mane. Her cutie mark were three smiling flowers. From what Applebloom and Sweetie Belle said her name was Cheerilee. She tried to speak, but the noise from the class talking at once overwhelmed her voice. So she took a nail and dragged it across a small section of the board. The sudden screeching sound quickly silenced the classroom as the poor unsuspecting fillies and colts covered their ears, praying for the noise to stop.
Seeing as to how the class was now settled down Cheerilee stopped dragging the nail and began to speak. "Now that you have all calm down I have good news for you ponies. As I'm sure some of you have already noticed we have a new student in the class today." Cheerilee announced as she gestured to Pyxis. "Why don't you come up and say something about yourself." Pyxis got out of his desk and walked up to the front of the classroom. His introduction was quite short as he only said what his name was and what his cutie mark meant. When he was finished he headed back to his seat. "Well that was quite brief, but thank you anyway Pyxis. Now onto today's agenda. First, we will cover a subject I know most of you have been dying to get to, Factoring!" said an overly excited Cheerilee. However the rest of the class responded with bored sigh.
After a couple of hours trying to factor some equations and learning about the founding of some Equestria's most famous cities it was finally time for lunch. As fillies and colt exited into the court yard with lunchboxes of different varieties Pyxis looked around for a good place to sit. He then saw his friends motioning him to come sit with them.
Once he was seated he grabbed one of his crystals and began to drain the energy from it. He thought of himself as lucky to even have these things. If he didn't he would have to result to other drastic measures. Though Pyxis soon shook those thoughts out of his head. Now wasn't the time to be think of such nonsense. "So Pyxis what do you think of our school?" asked Sweetie Belle as she took another bite of her salad.
Pyxis opened his mouth to asked why the girls weren't shocked he was here, but Scootaloo interrupted him. "While you were asleep Octavia and Vinyl made plans what to do with you when you woke up. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle suggested come to our school for now. Though I don't see why, Miss Cheerilee's classes aren't always fun." she said with a black expression.
Pyxis looked over to see that Applebloom and Sweetie wearing innocent smiles on their faces. He sighed before he continued. "You're right about the classes not being that fun." he said.
"You bet I am." Scootaloo said triumphantly.
"But I think I can get used to this. You know, as long as you girls will be my friends." Pyxis said with a smile.
"We will, after all your apart of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. We never let a friend down." Applebloom said as her two friends nodded their heads.
Pyxis couldn't help, but feel delighted. He finally had a chance to live the life he wanted and so for it was going great. Though he couldn't shake the feeling that maybe this would all end soon.
The sun shined through the window of Pyxis's room, illuminating it with it's golden warmth. Pyxis slowly rose out of his sleep, wishing he didn't have to leave the comforts bed. He glanced at calendar that was posted next to his bed. With a little chuckle he began to let his mind wonder again. It had been about almost a month since he arrived in Ponyville. Who would have guessed he would have lasted this long. Though he couldn't take all the credit. Throughout the short time period he learned of his new personality. Thanks to her he could now live with the constant thought of the possibility that he could turn into a massive ball of unpredictable chaos.
As he got up to begin his morning routines he couldn't help, but hear Octavia and Vinyl's argument downstairs. "Why won't you let him compete in the talent show?! He'd be great at it! He'd probably even take first place!" yelled Vinyl. Hearing what Vinyl said was a painful reminder that he wish he did not have to remember.
It was after school and the weekend was about to begin. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Pyxis had been talking about the talent show ever since Cheerilee mentioned it in the afternoon announcements. It would be held a week from Saturday and anypony who wanted to participate would have to sign up by the following Monday. Scootaloo wasn't going to go because Cheerilee already told her that they couldn't do anything extremely over the top. Which meant no death defying stunts, no shark tank, no hang-gliding, and any other thing that was worth a trip to the hospital. Though Cheerilee had a point in Scootaloo's opinion it was very lame. Applebloom couldn't go anyway. She was going to going to visit her cousin Babs Seed that weekend. That only left Sweetie Belle and Pyxis.
"If anypony should go to the talent show it should be you Sweetie." said Scootaloo.
"What?! Why me?!" asked Sweetie Belle.
"Oh come, your singing is awesome. It could be a little bit cooler, but that first place is as good as your's." Scootaloo said.
"What about Pyxis? With him he and Sweetie Belle can do a duet." suggested Applebloom.
"I can't sing." Pyxis said as he placed one of his crystals in his mouth. Scoots chuckled a bit as well as Sweetie Belle.
"Ah meant with your music." replied an annoyed Applebloom.
"I don't know..... I'll have to ask Octavia."
"Great! With Sweetie Belle and Pyxis together the audience won't know what hit them. " Scootalloo said with her forelegs wrapped Pyxis and Sweetie Belle.
"W-wait! I never agreed to this!" Sweetie Belle said with a blush on her face.
Pyxis snapped back to reality when he heard Octavia's voice. He listened carefully. This could be his chance to get the answers he needed. "Vinyl listen to me. I agree with you when you say that Pyxis would be great for the talent show. As a matter fact I actually was hoping something like this would come up." Octavia said. Pyxis could feel small amounts of pride and joy coming from downstairs as Octavia talked. It made him smile slightly that Octavia thought of him like that.
"Ooooooh I get it know. Your afraid that you didn't teach him well enough and that he's going to embarrass himself. Tavi you should have to worry about stuff like......" Vinyl said as she was cut off.
"That's not what I'm scared of!" Octavia yelled, interrupting Vinyl. The room grew silent for a few minutes before anything was said again. Octavia sighed before she continued. "Its just that....... these last few weeks have been stressful. I've always wanted somepony to teach my music to. I never that in a thousand years that it would be a changeling." Pyxis's eyes flattened as he heard her say those words.
"Ouch." he said to himself.
"But at the same time I haven't felt this excited in years. He is a changeling yet I don't feel anything bad about him. Its like....... meeting a stranger, yet you feel like your already friends with them. Plus not many ponies can say that they have been friends with changeling and known about it can they." explained Octavia.
"See I told you he was a cool guy. You just needed to give him some time." Vinyl said with a victorious voice. Pyxis smiled once again as he finished the rest of his morning activities. During the time he was finishing up he heard Octavia's voice again.
"Yeah, but thats that bad thing. During this short time we've been together I have to admit I didn't think that it would turn out like this. Some part of me back then and to this very day still doubts him. Not to mention that there is a possibility Twilight and her friends could capture him and send him on a one way trip to Canterlot's prison. I don't think I could handle that." said Octavia. Pyxis stopped his actions just as he was starting to head downstairs.
Octavia was right. There was a possibility that Twilight and the others could capture him. No, they would capture him. He could feel it in his guts. It wouldn't be too long before his time was up and he didn't think that Sugar would be able to save him again. It made him shake in fear just thinking about it. Though he was only there for less then a month he didn't feel ready to leave.
"Well then we'll just have to burn that bridge when we get to it." said Vinyl. Pyxis's ears perked up to listen closer.
"Vinyl I'm being serious!" said an irritated Octavia.
"So am I. While you do have a good point you can't just focus on the negative. Ponies have gone insane doing that you know." Vinyl replied.
"But..."
"No butts! Butts are for donkeys!" Pyxis snickered at what Vinyl said. "Just let him go to the talent show. Have some fun and enjoy ourselves. If Twilight and her friends try to do something we'll stop them." Vinyl continued.
"F-fine, you win." Octavia said. "How come you've been winning our arguments so much lately?"
"You know what.......... I have no idea." answered Vinyl. Pyxis chuckled to himself for a few minutes before heading down the stairs ready to prepare for the talent show in a week.