//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Demo // Story: The Lost Changeling: Rolling Ends // by AizakkuHorooee //------------------------------// Nearly a million thoughts pop into my head all at once during my three hour flight, all of them having one thing in common. Rolling Acres. What could possibly be happening that had me in emotional agony for the past two nights? Why did I have those nightmares in the first place? Could there be anything wrong with Princess Luna’s logic when she told me to do what I felt was the best? What did those dreams all mean? Why would there be a pony named nearly after this place? Why would he die? What did Open Fields mean when he said that I missed the chance to fix Rolling Acres? Why had Rolling Acres gone missing in that last nightmare? As of right now, I don’t know exactly what my instincts are hinting towards. All I know is that it has to do with Rolling Acres. I groan at the constant, still nagging thoughts. “What is this...” Blinking a couple of times, I decide to detour over to Taco Bell to whip up a snack from its emotional contents. As I land, I briefly look at the main entrance to Rolling Acres as it’s obstructed by many colorful trees, which I don’t find so far-fetched considering that it’s actually colder here than in Las Pegasus. At first, everything looks particularly normal. Practically everything looks about the same, even the impression left by the recently taken down sign. I sniff the air for the contents, and flick my tongue out once I’m happy with said contents. Then, I fly off. During the flight though, out of the corner of my eye, something looks off in the back near the northmost sub-structure, causing an urge to fly back home to come from my mind. I fight it successfully, and enter Rolling Acres in the way I always did: the opening in the broken skylight. However, in the process of entering, I hear a particularly faint hum to my right as I still face west. It’s probably nothing. Finally, inside, everything looks like it did last month, so nothing actually changed. It was probably just my imagination with the visual oddity and that faint hum. I guess I feel pretty silly for being so paranoid the past two nights like Rusty had talked about when Trace Light was around. Suddenly, I hear a muffled, echoing square wave at eleven hundred and eighty hertz. It lasts for a third of a second, and commences every two thirds of a second. Just like that visual oddity, and that faint hum, it’s coming from the right hall. There are thirty instances of the wave. Something weird’s going on. I instantly fly back out and check out the northern portion of the ETM and... Uh oh. Oh no. What are those two carriage-drone hybrids doing inside of Rolling Acres? And why are the roof and wall in the area caved in? The larger one of the two hybrids heads in front of an edge of the roof in the area and breaks a piece off of the roof. The piece falls. I gasp in realization of what is really happening to Rolling Acres. It’s not pretty. This is what my instincts were telling me. I teleport to avoid the two carriage-drone hybrids seeing me. The resulting destination is the Court of Twelve Trees. I think back to A Great Deal More. Five years ago, I found my forever home. It was the best week of my life, and A Great Deal More. The invasion was nothing but a complete disaster. But not if it made me change, and A Great Deal More. I hope I can still reminisce to this day. Otherwise it’d be a sad sight, and A Great Deal More. I can’t reminisce anymore. Soon, this court will be gone... “No...” I slowly walk about the remainder of Rolling Acres. The first point of interest is where I landed WAY back before I ever met Rusty. It looks so different compared to when I first awoke here. There are no railings on the edges, and whatever railings remain have sagged from a lack of support. The mini structure nearby has a lot more rust than I originally saw when I was first here. For the most part, the mirrors surrounding the court are all taken down. Sometimes, I can even see the skeleton of the building itself, like in parts of where the mirrors used to be, and even in the pillars. I feel an itch, on the top of each of my cheeks, as I look over the area. Once again, I hear the blinking square wave blare throughout Rolling Acres for about twenty seconds. It stops again, just as suddenly as it came. I end up flying down to Picnic Place to see that practically half of the letters are missing on the sign. Looking down at the floor below the sign, there they are. Then, I move on to the two familiar sections of Rolling Acres I have left to pay one last visit. Looking inside the room I found the name of this place in, it looks about the same as it was five years ago. However, the theater that I found Rusty in is a particularly different story. It’s in so much disrepair that I thought I was in the wrong area, especially with the surrounding hallway paying the worst of it compared to five years ago. As of right now, the hall in front of the theater looks more like part of an abandoned camp site than part of an abandoned enclosed town market. My cheeks start itching like crazy now, causing me to immediately fly back to the opening of the broken skylight in front of the entrance to the JCPenney’s Outlet Store. At this point, I’m ready to fly home, ready to turn to my nest. When I finally do get home, I lightly knock on the door. When Rusty answers the door, what I briefly see as a confused expression turns to a shocked one. “Carve? What’re you doing here? Weren’t you going to stay at Rolling Acres?” Suddenly, I have a small pain in my chest, causing me to walk past him, over to my room. “...demo...” Listening in behind me, I hear a gasp come from Rusty, causing me to turn my head back to him. "Demo?!? ...b-but Carve, what is going on? What is happening?" “Ve nato mel.” I look ahead of me again and head to my room. After slamming the door, I instantly plop into my nest, ready for a nap.