CHAPTER SEVEN
Before Beast Boy knew it, he was sitting in a dark room with a large light shining on him as two burly pony officers interrogated him, but only one of them actually did all the talking.
“Well, well… fancy finally catching you, Changeling.” he said sarcastically. “Not so tough now without your fancy amulet and powers.”
“Dude, I’m not Changeling. You got the wrong guy.” cried Beast Boy.
“That’s what they all say…” said the officer “But you’re going to start saying that you wish you were never born when we get through with you, especially if you don’t tell us where you hid that amulet you stole!”
It was vain that Beast Boy tried to convince him that he wasn’t they guy he thought he was, and that he never had the amulet. “I’m telling you the truth. I don’t know how I even got here, or where even here is.”
The officer and his partner only laughed at him. “Okay then… this is the world of Equestria, a world inhabited by ponies like us.”
“Equestria…?” Beast Boy asked.
“That’s right…” mocked the officer “And in Equestria we have jails… and it’s where we put scum like you for all the things you’ve done.”
Beast Boy gulped, but made one last attempt to try and convince him, “My name isn’t Changeling. It’s Beast Boy, and just hours ago I was located in Jump City, California on Earth.”
The officer sniggered and said “Okay, maybe some time in the slammer will give you some time to think about confessing.”
Before Beast Boy knew it he was tossed into a simple jail cell. “See you in about a-hundred years.” The officer mocked and just left him there.
Beast Boy wanted to protest, but he knew there was no point. Now, feeling ultimately alone powerless, and afraid, he slumped onto the bench in his cell… and he almost actually felt like crying.
Suddenly, he remembered, “That dude… he’s still back in Jump City!”
He didn’t want to begin to think of the trouble that creep was up to.
Indeed, Changeling was up to many more dirty tricks. He also still wore his cloak and hood so people would still not recognize him, as he resembled Beast Boy too well.
He strolled down a district lined with many parking-meters. He walked right up to each meter, with an arm full of empty sacks. Then, a simple touch of his finger and all the coins inside the machine seem to fill up in his sacks until they were so full they were hard to carry. So he teleported the sacks back to his cave where no one would find them.
“I love easy money.” he snickered “This is almost too easy for me. I could go for a little amusement.”
He walked round a corner and saw a familiar girl--Terra-- sitting alone at café patio. “That’s the girl whom Beast Boy had difficulties with.” he remembered.
Suddenly, he was rudely shoved out of the way by two more girls-- Jackie and Jillian-- “Move it, bucko!” Jackie snarled as she and Jillian walked past him. Jillian then shoved him, knocking his hood off. He had not noticed this as he felt quite enraged. Having kept an eye on Beast Boy, he recognized those two troublemakers, and decided he’d maybe have a little fun with them.
Using his powers, the girls suddenly froze up. “Hey!” cried Jackie. “I can’t move!” added Jillian.
Terra heard their cries and saw them being harassed by the cloaked stranger, and she began to dash straight for them.
“Brat Boy?!” snapped Jillian.
“Beast Boy!” cried Terra
That’s when he finally noticed his hood was off. “Oh, no!” and he quickly replaced it, but the girls had already seen him.
Still, not felling much harm could be done, he merely levitated the two bad girls up, up, up, much to their and Terra’s surprise.
He then levitated the girls over a dump truck full of manure parked on the side of the street, and then he just let them fall in.
The Js screamed in disgust, and Terra was rather livid with him and glared at him, while he glared at her and threatened, “Unless you wish to share the same punishment, get out of my way!”
He sounded so fierce, so nasty. Terra felt frightened and just let him walk past her.
“Well, that was boring.” Changeling muttered to himself as he walked off. “I think I need to turn things up a bit.”
He walked out of sight and was gone.
Suddenly, Terra realized as she said to herself, “Wait a minute. Beast Boy can’t levitate things.” But there was no denying what she had just seen.
The Js crawled out of the truck in a mucky mess, and they smelled just awful. They angrily marched over to where Terra was standing, wanting to get back at Beast Boy, only to find he had already gone.
“He… is so… DEAD…!!” shouted Jackie. “Yeah, bloody murder!” added Jillian.
Terra was snapped out of her trance by their attitude and she scorned them, “If you ask me, you two got exactly what you deserved!”
The Js were shocked at what she just said. “He just threw us into a pile of… that stuff.” Jackie whined.
“And you hired those punks to beat on him. I was there the other night, I saw what happened, and I know you two had something to do with it.”
The Js now felt a little awkward. “Well, we only did it for you.” Jillian said “You’ve spent a lot of time thinking about that Bozo Boy.”
“His name is BEAST BOY!!” she yelled “And you had no right to do what you did to him.”
The Js began to realize the roots between Terra and Beast Boy. “Don’t tell me you actually like that guy?” Jackie asked.
Terra did all she could try not to blush or give anything away. “No! I… I don’t.” she said “I hardly even know him.” she lied about that. “I told him to stay away from me, and I can’t help that he shows up wherever I go.”
The Js folded their arms at her, and gave her a look of disbelief. “Whatever.” They both said, and they walked off to go and get cleaned up.
Now, Terra was on her own again, which she didn’t like being. She felt very frustrated, but deeply confused and concerned to what she had witnessed.
“Since when did Beast Boy get such powers?” she wondered, but he was already gone so she couldn’t try to even question him. Then again, that probably wasn’t a good idea anyway.
“I gave you your space… now give me mine!”
She remembered his words too well, and the attitude he gave her the other night. She hadn’t stopped thinking about it since, and it interfered with her studies and her daily routines.
“You were only thinking about yourself, Terra.”
That part hurt her the most, and no matter how hard she tried to deny it, she couldn’t fight off what was said to her. It kept on echoing in her mind no matter what she did or where she went.
The biggest and most desperate of all that concerned her was that fact that Beast Boy had mentioned that just because she had dumped him was not the only reason he was so miserable.
So, what was it that was really bothering him? Did she really want to know? It would mean having to speak with him face-to-face again.
Back in Equestria, the Mane six were all gathered at Rainbow Castle.
“So, what’s the story, Twilight?” asked Applejack.
“Are we going on some super special friendship mission?” added Fluttershy. Rainbow held her hoofs up in hope going, “Please be Wonderbolt Academy! Please be Wonderbolt Academy!”
“Actually, it’s a lot more serious than that.” Twilight said, and she showed her friends a letter she had received earlier, which told her that the wicked thief, Changeling, had finally been captured and was now in the Ponyville police-jail.
“Ahem…” Rarity said “I may like to point out that it was I who filed the report and alerted the authorities… after that scoundrel had the nerve to step into my boutique!”
“Ah, rats!” groaned Pinkie “I wanted to be the one to catch him.”
The others didn’t think too much of her greed.
“So, what’s up with you?” applejack asked Twilight, and Twilight stammered a bit and tried to put as delicately as she could, but Spike decided to spill it for her. “They’re going to put him on trial in a few days, and they’ve asked Twilight to be on the lead member of the jury, and she’s very nervous about it.”
She glared at him sternly, but then sighed, “He’s right. I’ve never been on a jury before. I’m not sure I can go through with this.”
The others concurred with her feelings.
“Wow… that is big.” said Rainbow “But, it shouldn’t be too bad. I mean, he’s a low-down, crazed pony who stole from so many. I say lock him up and throw away the key.”
“I couldn’t agree more with you, Rainbow Dash.” said Rarity. “It’s high time that justice was served to that barbarian!”
Fluttershy walked up to Twilight and comforted her “I’m sure it’ll be okay. Think of it just like giving your royal public speeches; you know in front of so many ponies… having to make a very important decision… maybe… even.” She suddenly felt her own nerves going, and her knees began to quake.
Twilight sighed again. “Maybe you’re all right. He has done so many awful things.”
“Buck up, girl.” said Applejack “If you need us there for moral support, you got it.”
The others all nodded in agreement, promising to be there, the day of the trial. Twilight felt ever so flattered. “Thanks, you guys. You’re really the best friends a pony could have.”