Previously on FiM 10: Friendship is Galactic...
'I've decided to forget about coming out of the everfree forest...'
'Trixie guesses this will do for a temporary homestead. The great and Powerful Trixie's great and Powerful apology tour will have to be on hold before I can start planning a route. Dangerous my flank, it's a forest, how much danger could there be?'
'Hmm... there goes my other theory. Whoever or whatever created such a gem with a power such as this, it must not have encountered changelings and Dragons before, but seems to recognize Minotaurs and Breezies. But, it's still my goal to understand this rare jewel...'
'Snips, Snails! Where did you two go!! The great and powerful Trixie demands you come out this instant!!'
'I'm Everchange Spectical, and I just so happen to be making my new home amongst the crazy chaos that is the Everfree Forest. I hope you can understand when I say I mean you no harm or offense, but if you also plan to stay here and do whatever, kindly keep the noise to a minimum. Not for my sake, but to keep the Timberwolves astray...'
As Tyrani-Taur and Trixie wandered through the cave, her horn providing the only source of light, they noticed that those red vines were slowly moving through holes they punctured into the rocky wall's interior.
"It's... moving. What is this thing?" Trixie wondered, looking at the red vines push and slowly slither through or against the walls.
Tyrani-Taur poked at it with his horns, but it didn't seem to deterred by the poking. "They don't feel like vines, but I feel like this thing is alive. Stay close, Tyrani-Taur, has got this." Tyrani-Taur said, smiling pridefully. As the cave went deeper and deeper, the vines were more abundant, they littered and snaked their way through the ground they were walking on, they looked almost as if they were growing something on their sides.
Trixie could feel the vines for herself, and Tyrani-Taur had a point, they didn't feel like vines, but it was alive. Why would it want two colts when a full grown mare or stallion could've been just as good, unless it only eats children... or whatever it does with them. Soon, the wall began to crack, and Tyrani-Taur was ready to strike, until the wall slightly gave way, revealing a huge pod filled with unconscious forest animals.
"Ooooooohh, Something tells Tyrani-Taur that the yellow pegasus would not like seeing this at all." Tyrani-Taur states, walking past the pod, his hooves clacking with the rocky ground with every step.
Trixie sees the wall falter again, showing a pod that reveals a Timberwolf. A huge Timberwolf as it whines and struggles in its pod. "Trixie does not like what this spells out for her assistants, at all. We need to move faster." Trixie stated, trotting ahead. Tyrani-Taur followed the Unicorn, but they soon fell down an unforeseen hole, causing the two to fall down a tunnel, luminated by glowing mushrooms.
Tyrani-Taur got up and saw movement in the shadows ahead. "Tyrani-Taur sees shadows moving... we are not alone, or perhaps we never were. Stay close, Tyrani-Taur will try to keep you safe." Tyrani-Taur stated confidently. Trixie rolled her eyes, when all of a sudden, the familiar humming sound of the Gem echoed through the cave, as it flashed a bright red color, changing the Minotaur back into the earth stallion.
"This cursed gem is against me, I swear." Everchange muttered, gritting his teeth. He heard something within the shadows and backed away, standing by Trixie's side as the shadows got closer. Trixie readied herself to attempt to fight back, until the light of her horn illuminated the shadows, revealing Snips and Snails, seemingly unharmed.
"Ahh, my great and powerful assistants, no need to fear, we're leaving this death trap." Trixie stated confidently. Everchange looked at the colts, who seemed to catch on that Everchange wasn't buying what they were trying to sell.
The colts suddenly screeched in a horrific manner, as they collided together, meshing into a slightly bigger, chunkier and terrifying hybrid of the two unicorns, as it screeched, their eyes becoming filled with a red color as they charged at the mare.
Trixie tried to blast the creature, but it just opened up a hole in itself and let the magical attack pass through. Everchange got into bucking position and slammed his hind legs into the strange creature, sending it back as it separated into two slimy ooze creatures, they hiss and squirm deeper into the cave. Trixie looked at Everchange, and he just stretched his hind legs out and cracked his neck.
"What were those things?! That wasn't natural, that was not okay!! The great and powerful Trixie demands an answer!" Trixie exclaims in shock.
Everchange looked back to Trixie, and sighed. "I don't know what they are, but I can safely say they were never documented on or studied in Equestria... I don't even think these things pre-date the Changelings with their shapeshifting prowess, and the ability to just morph and merge with each other. Stay close and don't panic, we need to say calm and keep our heads on straight if we're gonna save your assistants." Everchange stated, holding out his hoof to the mare.
"That is, if you're willing to trust me. The last couple people who saw me change were immediate to turn on me, but they eventually saw I was just trying to make the best out of a bad situation. Didn't help my case much since I'm trying to live and survive in the Everfree forest, but what can you do." Everchange added.
Trixie hesitated for a moment. She could keep going, or she could leave the colts, and this stallion to whatever gruesome fate waited deeper down... but how could she sleep at night, knowing she left innocent foals to whatever fate awaits them? After a bit of mulling over her options, she took Everchange's hoof and the two ventured deeper, knowing that she might not ready to brave whatever horrors awaited them, but she was compelled to see this through to the end.
As Everchange and Trixie step through the cave, Trixie figures it'd be a good time to try and get to know the Stallion, if they'll be seeing more of each other again, if this isn't the first or final time. "So... Everchange, was it?" Trixie asked, trying to remember the Stallion's name.
Everchange nodded, and kept his attention on Trixie. "So... what's a stallion like you doing in a crazy and dangerous forest like the Everfree in the first place?" Trixie asked. Everchange thought on the question, and tried to be subtle. "Well, uh... I just felt like living dangerously, is all. Someone of my particular talent would have to be in a place like the Everfree Forest, wouldn't you agree?" Everchange said with a smile. Trixie looked at the Stallion's cutie mark, and could not tell for the life of her what it was supposed to be. "Is your talent in Abstract concepts, or can you actually tell me what your cutie mark means?" Trixie said, obviously irritated by how it doesn't look like it could make sense.
"Well, that's a sensitive topic. Ties back to my time with my mother, even though some of those moments were rather... *ahem*, um, to put it politely, unsatisfactory. I never had many friends, but I did have acquaintances. Though, I suppose my only 'friend' was my former employer, and the day she introduces me to her friends, it felt nice for a moment to have someone not care about the then, and only the now," Everchange explained. He cleared his throat and kept going.
"That is, until I just up and panicked, like a wild, untamed beast faced with the inevitability of death." Everchange explained, thinking back to a couple nights ago. His somber expression felt heavy on him, and it almost slowed his pace down. Trixie looked at the Stallion, not interested in the sob story, but did feel a type of way, like she could understand that things didn't have to play out like they did.
She heard the stallion chuckling, and looked at him, his somber expression now a faint smile, she was wondering what was so funny at the moment. "Is there a joke you'd like to share? What's so funny?" Trixie asked, obviously not getting the joke, but felt a smile forming on her face for some reason.
"Simple. What's funny is that you're the first Unicorn to have not tried to kill me or berate me for being so different, whereas another unicorn was going to make me something special, and then they assumed because I could change my form, I was a changeling... I'd say that's pretty much speciesist, but I can kinda understand why she'd think in such a way. My first transformation was a Changeling, and it was odd. The idea that Changelings don't feel love or have hearts, reigns true, but in my case, I feel the emotions, I feel something beating within my changeling body, almost like the change wasn't entirely complete, perhaps it gave me a form of moral control?" Everchange explains.
Everchange looks at the crystal in his hoof, and starts to talk about his thoughts. "Then again, there's so much about this gem that I don't know. Where did it come from? Who or what made such a powerful artifact? Why can't I remove it? How powerful is it really? When will be the right time to utilize its full power, if it has anymore power from here on out, that is." Everchange said, bringing up some valid questions, only to suddenly feel the unicorn's magic stop him in his tracks.
He looked ahead to see a huge hole, leading down to another cave. "Yeesh, somepony or something really likes its privacy if it's getting deeper into the ground. Almost makes me think this could be the work of the Diamond Dogs, but they can't shift their bodies like a sapient glob of snot." Everchange stated, looking down the hole.
All of a sudden, there was a light push, and Trixie immediately lost her footing, slipping down and falling into the hole. Everchange tried to reach for her, until he subsequentially got shoved into the hole by an unknown force. As the Stallion fell, he tried to turn into another form, but found it difficult when falling through the air. Eventually, Everchange had changed into his Changeling form. He fluttered his insect wings and caught the unicorn in no time, though she was incredibly resistant to his grip on her to ensure he didn't let go until he was on solid or stable ground.
"Bleughh!! So you can become a Changeling, what, didn't have preferably anything else?!" Trixie exclaimed in disgust for the changeling.
"Ok, first of all, I'll just call this one, Expioflage. Like Camouflage, Exoskeleton, cause some bugs have tough exoskeletons, and Espionage, y'know?" Expioflage said. Trixie, still disgusted by the form itself, just nodded, agreeing that the name had some tact to it.
"And second of all, I'm not surprised ponies act that way when I become this one, it isn't my most popular forms to use, but then again, I didn't know I also had other options for forms, until just last night." Expioflage explained, his gravelly and warped voice echoing slightly through the cave itself. Trixie shook off her disgust, trying to just imagine the changeling as the stallion from before, all the while also resisting the urge to scream, cry, or act pompous.
Trixie cleared her throat and looked ahead, where a huge cavern-sized opening was, revealing a huge glowing reddish-magenta mass with translucent vines or tendrils or roots protruding into the dirt, as well as the noticeable mountain sized maw with sharp teeth it had. Underneath the strange beast were two pods, one had Snips, and the other had Snails, the two unicorn colts were in a mesmerized state of unconsciousness as their slimy monstrous counterparts surrounded them, licking their semi-nonexistent lips as they eyed the colts. Expioflage turned to Trixie, and decided to come up with a plan.
"Ok, here's the plan. You're gonna get your assistants and gallop like Tartarus itself is behind you, and you're gonna head back to Ponyville, it'll be safer for them and for you. I'm gonna stay behind and do some serious damage to this thing for as long as I can. If I don't make it, it was really nice to meet you, Oh so Great and Powerful Trixie. I hope your apology tour shines like a starry diamond in the roughest and blackest night." Expioflage stated, flying towards the imposter colts, spewing resin at the shapeshifting monsters as they dodged and moved every which way. Though they had no magic, despite mimicking the horns, they still tried to shoot the changeling out of the air. While that happened, Trixie used her magic to lift the pods from the ground, and started to make her great escape.
Expioflage rams one of the imposter clones off a ledge, into what looks like water, the creature exclaims and screeches in agony as its blob like body withered and dissipated into nothing. The other clone tried to do what the changeling did, but the changeling flew up and focused its attention on the huge reddish-magenta mass, the other clone falling into the water, suffering the same cruel fate as its comrade. Expioflage, using his horn as a way to fire changeling magic at the roots, was hoping to disconnect the creature with the soil of the everfree forest, but to no avail as the roots seemed to grow back. Expioflage tapped the gem on his armor and reverted to his normal form, an earth stallion.
Everchange lands on the ground, and looks up to the huge mass with sharp teeth. Everchange cycles through his forms, obviously aware of the recharging feature in effect. "Let's see... Expioflage did not work, Tyrani-Taur's strength would work, if he was fast enough... and Minifly is not for combat of any kind. But," Everchange tapped the gem, stopping on the dragon icon. "This could work wonders. I just need to stall and wait for the gem to recharge." Everchange said, keeping the icon selected as he galloped towards the mass, in hopes of distracting it.
Meanwhile, Trixie has begun the exhausting run through the Everfree, carrying the pods on her back as she clears the way with her magic. She hacked and blasted her way through the bristle, wanting a clear cut through point to escape the forest. All the while, she wondered if Everchange did have things under control.
But, by the time Trixie even knew where she was, as she was thinking about the stallion, she had run face first into a picket fence, tripping over as the pods crashed near the paved path that leads to Sweet Apple Acres. Trixie slightly moaned, knowing that she really didn't have much of a choice, but to ask for one of the elements' aide. "Trixie may regret this, but she has made progress with her tour route, it's now time to see if she can get help." Trixie states, trotting up to the screen door, and started knocking, noticing that the porch light was on, so someone had to be awake at this hour.
She heard the trotting of hooves against the hard wood floor, and saw the element of honesty, Applejack, obviously not in the best mood, and Trixie's presence didn't exactly make things better after what she tried to pull a little bit of time ago, was not feeling so willing to help at that moment.
"What, you got something say?" Applejack said, obviously skeptical of her sudden appearance. Applejack then went wide eyed, looking at the obvious two colts in what looked like green, pony sized translucent egg shaped pods. "What in tarnation happened to them?!" Applejack exclaimed, getting a feel of the pod, smooth, rubbery, but incredibly sticky.
"Something took them and with the help of someone I met, he distracted two monsters that looked like them, giving Trixie enough time to escape. Right now, that Stallion is risking his safety to stop a huge red monstrous mass that's buried itself deep under the Everfree!" Trixie explained, slowly getting more and more in a panic.
Applejack could always tell when someone was lying, though she struggled with reading Trixie before, it seemed like a strange surprise when she could tell the unicorn wasn't trying to lie.
"What was this Stallion's name, and how deep in the ground are we talkin'?" Applejack asked, trotting over to the barn, trying to find something.
"I think it was.. Everchange, I think? Trixie was rather thankful he would help Trixie get her assistants back, but now he might be in some serious trouble." Trixie explained further. Applejack came out of the barn with an axe in her teeth, and she was all too familiar with Everchange, seeing as she saw him run into the Everfree forest just this morning, probably still hurting about that personal issue.
'Partner, what have you gotten yourself into now? Startin' to think your talent is findin' trouble.' Applejack thought worriedly, as she gestured for Trixie to leave the pods in the barn, as they ventured back into the forest.
Everchange, who was making a run through the tunnels, was trying his best to escape the underground labyrinth, but everywhere he went, it seemed like some sort of bipedal mushroom monster with a mouth on its stomach kept trying to nab the stallion, until they got severe buckings to the face. Everchange found himself in a tunnel he didn't notice before, only to see the pod with the timberwolf inside. Everchange tried to break the pod, but it wouldn't even crack. Everchange found a rock and lobbed it at the pod, shattering it, and also waking up the timberwolf inside it. The huge wolf-like creature of nature thrashed as it tried to escape, and it kept on breaking through the pod, proving another thought about those pods.
"It seems like these pods can be shattered by non-living materials, and the timberwolves, being made of sticks, thorns and foliage, they aren't technically alive, despite their animalistic tendencies and behaviors, their natural material bodies allows them to break through the shells." Everchange said aloud, backing away as he tried to escape, only for him to fall through another unseen hole, leading back to the huge monstrous mass.
Everchange felt one of its roots suddenly jut into the back of his neck, feeling his nerves suddenly be told to relax. He tried to resist it, but he couldn't fight back against the sudden strip of control he no longer had on himself.
'Relax, equine... It will all be over soon.' A new voice spoke out, soothing, calming, but malevolent. Everchange continued to try and fight back, but was pretty much losing the fight as his body quaked.
"Wh-Who... Wh-What are you?!" Everchange struggled to say.
'I am the Mycelium, AKA the huge monstrous mass you were trying to uproot. I control plant life and fungus, I noticed a ripe and rare selection of flowers and fungal vegetation on this planet, and I've decided to wipe out you meat sacks and terraform this world to make it mine to rule.' The Mycelium introduced.
Everchange tried to maneuver his hoof to the gem, but he couldn't even feel his body anymore, he just felt weak.
'Don't attempt to try and transform, your world will belong to me, and you equestrians will be food for the fungal spores I'll unleash. I just hoped they'd blossom by now, the soil of this forest is so... finicky.' The Mycelium added. Everchange took in everything that it said, and knew he still had a chance, but he didn't have a plan to get free from the Mycelium's control.
Suddenly, he felt a sudden jolt go through his body, and found himself back in control. He tore the root out of his neck and slammed on the gem, being replaced by his dragon form.
"Ahah! Finally, something that could be legitimately useful. And, I got just the name for this one. Scaleblazer!" The dragon exclaimed. Scaleblazer took to the air, and started breathing fire on the roots of the Mycelium, obviously causing a form of distress. Below the Mycelium, was Trixie and Applejack, who were attacking the Mycelium directly. Trixie hit it with a few magical blasts, and Applejack cut away at some roots that were trying to dig into the ponies.
Scaleblazer started firing balls of flames at the roots, causing more pain and distress for the Mycelium, even setting the thing ablaze as the fire began to spread. It screeched out in agony, as it was burning rapidly like a coal shaped size of wood and sap. Soon enough, the caves began to start crumbling; Scaleblazer grabbed the ponies and started to fly through the tunnels, smashing the pod that had the forest animals within it, letting them run and retreat through the exit as the dragon flew above the everfree, making headway towards Sweet Apple Acres.
As Scaleblazer landed onto the ground, setting the orange pony and the blue unicorn down on the ground, in a flash of red light, Scaleblazer turned back into Everchange, who was a bit somber about the whole ordeal.
Applejack looked at Everchange and began to speak. "Ya know, I could tell Twilight that you--"
"Applejack, save it. I ran off, I ran off because I have too many personal issues, half of them equate to me having a strong and very aged distaste for Celestia. Tell Twilight what you want, say I nearly got two colts killed, say I put Trixie in danger, say I put three fillies in danger, say I made a mess in the Everfree forest, I don't care anymore, I know who my enemies are for the moment," Everchange said, obviously irritated to no end.
Applejack just let him keep going as she listened, definitely thinking he needs to just say what he feels right now. "I just wanted to apologize for suddenly running off. It wasn't the best idea, or the most mature decision, but it was better than discussing why I don't like Celestia as much as everypony else does. You can tell Twilight that my opinion on Alicorns, is due to personal issues long ago, issues that may never be properly taken care of, and I don't plan to talk about them with her or anypony else until I know I can find some form of trust or compromise so we can put this behind us and worry about something else." Everchange explained, venting as he tried to control the volume of his voice, feeling a bit better for letting out a bit of the irritable bitterness from the other night.
He turned to Trixie and sighed. "Trixie, I'm sorry you had to see me use my abilities, I wasn't exactly prepared to show off my skills with an audience, but I'm sure that someone of your great and powerful skill wouldn't mind a humble and generous rival to encourage you to keep striving to be the best, right?" Everchange said, subtly stroking Trixie's ego with a genuine compliment, all while just praising Trixie's magical skills.
Trixie smiled and trotted onwards to town, probably to get another cart she can live in. "Tis' a shame that her cart got destroyed, but maybe she'll get one made of a stronger material than wood. Though, something tells me I'm not gonna be easily excused, am I right?" Everchange said, bringing his attention back to the orange earth pony, who was contemplating something.
Applejack could only come up with two questions. "Pardner, why in the hay did you go back to the Everfree Forest in the first place? You know ya could've come back to the farm, explain a little bit more, and we'd be square." Applejack asked.
Everchange cleared his throat and looked Applejack in the eyes. "I didn't feel like you would've wanted me back here, and I didn't want to sleep in an alley in town, or sleep in another cave, so I figured I'd try to build a home in the Everfree forest, be the first actual pony to conquer, survive and thrive in such an environment. Plus, it would've meant I could provide for myself, instead of mooching off of you and your family just to earn my keep with an honest job, it just never felt right, doing hard work and being paid for it, because it never felt like I earned it... you already provided me with a roof over my head, food to eat and a bed to sleep in, I just didn't want to take more than I already had during my time here." Everchange explained.
Applejack sighed, thinking about and processing this information for a bit. She thought about it for a moment, and figured she'll pull him aside one of these days and talk about it later.
The mare rubbed and patted the stallion on the back, then firmly smacked him across the face. "Next time you do something like that, give a heads up or it won't be the Everfree Forest you have to worry about, ya hear?" Applejack warned, smirking in such an all-knowing manner.
Everchange nodded, and rubbed his face, which stung more than it should have. "Good, now mind educatin' me on what in tarnation was that huge thing in those caves?" Applejack asked, obviously needing answers.
Everchange shook his head and looked at the orange earth pony, obviously not sure of how to answer her question. "Your guess is as good as mine, but I know it wasn't anything that Equestria has hidden long ago, said something about how it came to this planet to terraform, so something makes me think it is very much, an Extraterrestrial entity. It's quite rare to study extraterrestrial beings, but it is also quite the challenge. I'll have to look into making cash somehow, so I can afford the equipment and tools to practice my studies, but, one step at a time, as I know you do plan on telling Twilight everything. So it'll be difficult to even get a proper start if this is the last time I'll see that Mycelium creature." Everchange explained and wondered, Applejack looked back at the Everfree Forest from a little ways away, and tried to think of an idea to help in some way.
Applejack quickly gathered a couple buckets and started to buck an apple tree, filling the buckets with apples, and setting them down at Everchange's feet. "I'm sorry, but I don't have the bits on me to pay. Besides, I took eno--" Applejack pushed her hoof against Everchange's muzzle, stopping his words.
"Don't matter, this is all on me, besides, you helped out plenty in your own way during your time on the farm, even if you felt like it wasn't properly earned or deserved. You've worked hard, and you've also had a tendency to overwork, but that showed you got something to prove. I'm not quite sure myself on what that might be, but I can assure you, partner, that you're always welcome here, as long as you don't bring any form of trouble with ya. Think of this as my way of making it up to you after what up and happened, I know it'll take some time and some effort to win the others over, but I'm sure they'll understand as time passes." Applejack stated.
Everchange smiled and shook hooves with the mare, grabbed the buckets and made their way back into the Everfree Forest, ready to prepare everything at their little campsite.
As the morning comes through, there's a knock on the library's door. Twilight exhaustedly makes her way down to answer it, to see no one, except for a hand delivered scroll, tied in a dark gray ribbon with strange runes patterned onto the fabric. Twilight opens the scroll and reads it aloud.
Princess Twilight,
You don't know what you've done, but allow me to educate you. That stallion, the one that changed, is an abomination of nature. Nothing more than a disgusting, mindless creature. Do yourself and Celestia a favor, and leave him to us.
~C.N