From The Gates

by Dirty Bit

Chapter 29

Twilight looked at Greed and Lust "What was with Envy just now? Why did he choose to lash out like this? Did you do something to him?"

Lust sighed "I've only explained the situation to Envy and nothing else. The reaction could be considered as possible fear of it. Hopefully your friend Rainbow Dash feels the same way with how Envy went out the door so fast."

Greed looked out the window and noticed two flying figures with a toothy smirk "Heh, speak of the devil." He turned to the group "They're back. Twi, why don't we get started on tackling this changeling issue once they walk in?" He asked nonchalantly.

Twilight shook her head "You're awfully easygoing about situations like these, Greed."

Greed chuckled "I'm not exactly a stranger to them. Besides, it's one of the perks of being cool..." He looked out the window to see Rainbow Dash and Envy approach and sneered to himself 'If only I had some damn sunglasses to go with it!'

Rainbow Dash opened the door with a smile "Hey, everypony! Sorry about the delay." Her brief greeting, along with Envy trotting inside with its head hung in silence had placed the entire room in confusion.

Spike shifted his glance from Rainbow Dash to Envy and back before he asked "How did you-...?" He was completely baffled to see Envy look so calm and silent.

Rainbow Dash waved a dismissive hoof "Don't worry about it, Spike. It's nothing major at all, really!" She turned to Twilight "So, Twilight. Wanna toss some ideas our way now?"

Twilight snapped out of her confusion "O-Of course!" She regained her composure and held her serious tone "Now, regarding the whole 'Changelings in Ponyville' issue, we cannot be sure if it's best to notify the mayor on this particular happening.

Spike spoke up "Of course it's not! You can't expect her to listen if we waltz into City Hall and say 'Hey, Mayor Mare! We just wanted to tell you that there are some changelings in Ponyville!' without her laughing at us, getting angry at us, or possibly panicking!"

Pinkie Pie perked up "Wait a minute! What about Gluttony?" The group, save for Envy, turned to the party pony "Gluttony's nose can sniff out almost anything! We almost managed to find Envy thanks to him!"

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow "He was wrong when he thought that Lily was Envy, Pinkie." The cyan pegasus was unaware that Envy flinched slightly.

Pinkie smiled "He still managed to stay hot on her trail! We just need to give him a second chance!! Why don't we have good ol' Gluttony here sniff out any changeling sitting in Ponyville and wait for results?"

Applejack rubbed her chin with a hoof "Ah dunno, Pinkie. Do y'all really think that he can actually smell a changelin' from a mile away?"

Fluttershy looked at Gluttony with a smile "Well, we followed him for most of the day, and he seemed very adamant on finding Envy's scent..."

Twilight smiled "That sounds like a great idea! But we'll need a base scent for him to follow if we're gonna make this work!"

Gluttony smiled "Okay!" He trotted over and sniffed Envy from head to toe, snapping the jealous pony out of its distant atmosphere.

Envy grunted in surprise "Gluttony, what the hell are you doing!?"

Pinkie chimed in "Yeah! Envy's not a changeling!" She looked at the jealous pony being snifffed '...Is she?'

Gluttony stopped and looked down with a sad expression "Sorry...I'll look outside..." Unbeknownst to the others, the voracious pony shifted his pupilless eyes up to Envy and gave a quick wink.

Envy noticed and looked surprised 'Well I'll be damned...He's actually growing a brain for once...' Envy then feigned annoyance "Just don't do it again, Gluttony! Give me a warning next time!" The jealous pony inwardly smiled at Gluttony's newly-developed cunning.

Gluttony then placed his nose on the floor and trotted out the front door as he sniffed at the ground outside. He bumped into something and looked up to see Sloth sitting on his haunches, then smiled up at him "Hi, Sloth! We're gonna find changelings! You wanna go?"

Sloth moaned "Changelings are a pain..." He did not know what a changeling was, but he knew that they could be trouble for him when it comes to sleeping. He noticed the group from inside trot out after Gluttony and spotted Applejack out of them all "Applejack...Gluttony is-"

Applejack looked up and nodded "Ah know, big guy! An' yer gonna help us! We're in this together!" She trotted past Sloth before he uttered his signature catchphrase and followed the others with his sluggish pace. The changeling hunt has now begun.
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It was hard for the group to remain inconspicuous with how they've stuck together with Gluttony leading them on with his enhanced sense of smell. Several of the ponies watched them in curiousity, worry, confusion, or all three. Fluttershy cringed under the massive stares that she was receiving, and was then comforted by Applejack.

Rainbow Dash hovered over Sloth and examined his blank and unchanged face while he slowly trotted "So, Gluttony and Envy tell me you're the fastest out of your family! Is that true?" She smiled when she received a slow nod in confirmation "Seriously!? You don't seem so fast for somepony so lazy! Wanna race sometime later?" Sloth shook his head and caused the cyan pegasus to scowl "Oh, come on! I wanna put that speed of yours to the test!"

Twilight looked up at Rainbow Dash with irritation "Rainbow Dash, focus! We can worry about all this later!" She looked up at Gluttony and asked "Did you find any sign of them yet, Gluttony?"

Gluttony sniffed at the ground and then paused to answer "No, nothing. I can't find any of them-"He gave a brief gasp before he sniffed at the ground again, but more frantically. The group behind him gazed intently and quickly followed Gluttony once he began dragging his snout across the ground in his trot.

After a small fit of walking, the entire group looked up in disbelief. Rarity broke the ice "You have GOT to be kidding me..."

Gluttony smiled and pointed at Sugarcube Corner "I found it! I found Sugarcube Corner all by myself!"

Pinkie clopped her forelegs together "Very good, Gluttony! I'll go inside and bring out some cupcakes for you!" Gluttony squealed in joy as Pinkie hopped her way inside, leaving behind an exasperated group.

Envy stared at the sugarcoated establishment with a bored expression "Somehow, I saw this coming. He can only be away from food for so long..."

Rainbow Dash looked at Envy "How does he manage to still be useful while he stuffs his face on a daily basis?"

Envy looked away "Let's just say the more he eats, the stronger he becomes..."

Rainbow Dash scratched her head "So what you're saying is-"

"I'm back!"

Pinkie hopped back out with a bushel of cupcakes resting in a basket on her back "Okay, Gluttony! Fill yourself up so we can continue! We can't sniff out changelings on an empty stomach!"

Gluttony drooled at the sight of the cupcakes, and drops of his drool seered at the ground. The element bearers, save for Pinkie, winced at it and turned to Greed for an answer. All he said was "He was just born that way. You'll get used to it." Gluttony then ravaged the basket full of cupcakes and left no crumb alone.

When he finished, he sniffed at the air and trotted away. The voracious pony then quickly paused and perked up "I found one!" He broke into a gallop into a random direction and the others followed suit.

Gluttony noticed two ponies conversing with another, a blue unicorn with an hourglass cutie mark and a purple earth pony with a grape and strawberry cutie mark. After he gave out one last sniff, he narrowed his eyes on the earth pony with a grunt as he made a direct course for her. The pony the screeched when Gluttony tackled her onto the ground and leered down at her, causing the blue unicorn to snap "What are you doing!? Get off of her!!"

Gluttony sat atop the writhing earth pony and looked at Colgate with blank innocence "She's a changeling!"

Greed caught up to the three ponies with a smirk "No need to get angry, miss! We're sort of on a mission right now!"

Twilight stopped next to Greed and looked at the unicorn with slight regret "We're sorry for the trouble, Colgate! There was an urgent warning from Canterlot regarding the possible emergence of changelings in Ponyville!"

Colgate gasped "Really? But what makes you think that Berry Punch is one of them!?"

Greed laughed "Nothing gets past Gluttony's nose! I'd say we've found ourselves the genuine article!!"

Twilight's horn glowed as she stared intently at the one called Berry Punch "There's only one way to be entirely sure about this..."

Colgate noticed her horn and quickly stood in front of Twilight "Don't you DARE harm her!! She hasn't done anything to you!! I love her!!"

Envy gave a faint scoff and looked away with hidden despondency at Colgate's words.

Twilight looked at Colgate with sadness "I'm sorry, Colgate! This will only take a minute!" She managed to step past the angry unicorn and direct a beam towards Berry Punch.

Colgate was about to lash out with another remark, but she gave a low gasp at what was happening. Twilight's beam touched the head of Berry Punch and worked its way down to slowly reveal the body of a hissing changeling. Envy stared at Twilight's spell with widened eyes and feared for its own safety.

Greed shifted his smug gaze at Colgate "What'd I tell ya? Nothing gets past Gluttony's nose!"

Colgate stammered at the sight "What? But if that's a changeling..." She looked around with unbridled worry "Then where's Berry Punch!?"

Lust stepped in "She could be held captive in a secluded area around Ponyville...otherwise, she may be gone forever."

The element bearers turned to the lascivious mare in surprise as Twilight blurted out "Lust!"

Lust closed her eyes as she barely received the fright from the other ponies "I'm only pointing out logical theories. We cannot be entirely sure if the one called Berry Punch could be alive or not..."

Spike chided "But do you have to make it sound like she MAY be gone!?"

Gluttony stared down at the writhing and hissing changeling with a blank smile while Lust continued "If it gives you comfort, I will kindly dismiss the probability of the latter theory..." She looked over at the changeling "But for now, we have bigger matters..."

Greed nodded "She's right, everypony! Let's rub this thing out and move onto the next one!"

The changeling heard Greed and thrashed about even harder until it finally stopped to give out a high-pitched screech. Some of the ponies around it gritted their teeth at the unbearable tone of the changeling's call, as if somepony dragged a metal rake on a blackboard.

However, other ponies only turned their heads knowingly to the changeling with angry looks on their faces. They stopped what they were doing and slowly advanced on the group of changeling hunters. Twilight looked around "What's going on here? Why are these ponies furious with us?"

The group got into a defensive stance when one of the ponies turned into a replica of Fluttershy, followed by another turning into Applejack. Several more of the advancing ponies became exact replicas of the element bearers and former homunculi. Some managed to even change into Spike. Greed looked around as his horn began to glow "Well...at least we found all of the changelings we're looking for...Let's do this!" He changed into his Ultimate Shield form as the group prepared for battle.