//------------------------------// // Judgement pending // Story: Changeling of the Everfree // by Veryfriedguy7 //------------------------------// All attention was on the source of the snarl. Murex. He didn't notice however, being far too invested in his blood boiling fury to notice anything but Twilight, himself and all his thoughts and desires of pouncing and showing her how it feels be dissected. He didn't though, believing she is going to receive a fitting punishment anyway. Acting like the snarl didn't happen he strode down between the aisles of chairs with his head held high, ignoring all the disgusted looks he's receiving by the ponies there, a few well-dressed even repulsed by the cloak. The mares, and Celestia, following. Since he didn't know where to go, he hid it by holding open the half-door thing in the oak wall, separating the crowd from the front, allowing the mares to simply walk through. He followed them as they went left, into the empty stand and sat as they focused their attention on Celestia, sitting down next to starry mane pony. "We are gathered here today for the trial of Twilight Sparkle who is accused of ponynapping, causing severe bodily harm and resisting arrest. Twilight how do you plead?" Celestia asks a somewhat quivering Twilight. She looks off to the side, the stand opposite Murex, before looking back and giving her answer of "Not guilty". "This seems rather... rushed. Does it not?" Rarity whispers to the rest, getting noises of acknowledgement from all but Murex, who was more silent than usual, still staring at Twilight. "Murex darling are you alright?" She was ignored however. "There is much playing against you Twilight. I must ask why-" Celestia is interrupted by light gray unicorn mare with a white and purple mane who was sitting next to an azure also unicorn stallion with a dark blue mane, both smelt a lot like his current object of hatred. "Your majesties why are we even here? There is nothing wrong. All she did was dissect an animal, you act as if she committed murder." Her snobbish voice cut through the air, eliciting the entire crowd to start whispering and look disdainfully towards his stand, namely, Murex. She opened her mouth to begin again but the splintering of wood made everypony in the room to look towards a now standing Murex and his black hoof, clenched in the heavily cracked wooden railing in front of him. "You should count yourself, your boy toy and your spawn lucky that I even came here instead of simply doing what I wished." His voice was a lot less clear as he growled out his response. The fact he didn't state his possible actions served to unsettle the mare who hid it with anger. He could see it though. The same look that many manticores gave him in their final moments, hidden behind her eyes, behind her anger, was an amount of dread and uncertainty. She wasn't used to others speaking against her it would seem. "You dare speak against my wife?!" Her boy toy challenged, Murex chuckled, finding it quite funny. He would have said something back but a strong scent hit him. Sniffing quite audibly, he violently threw his head up in an attempt to catch it, throwing his hood up while doing so. He ignored the gasps in the room, too intent on finding the direction of this strange unfamiliar scent and so, for the third time in recent history. He jumped out a window. The stand wasn't too hard to clear and his intent on finding this scent driving him to ignore his barrel, currently crying out for mercy. The fall from the window would have been horrifying if rational thought had the wheel of 'Murex's actions', it wasn't as he fell with a straight face, still sniffing. His legs received no desired mercy as Murex landed heavily on some kind of hard surface, definitely on some poor saps house. Ignoring his legs also flaring in pain he catapulted down the street, or more accurately, above it. Running with an urgency he didn't entirely think necessary he jumped from home to home, roof to roof, all in an effort to track down that scent. He had no idea why he had to hurry only that he needed to. Suddenly some blue blur passed him and stopped in his path, with it not moving at that incredible speed it revealed itself to be Rainbow. He might as well hear what she has to say but if the scent disappears then he will be far from happy. "Dude! Why in all of Equestria did you jump out a window like that? Again?." She asked him with a short pause while hovering on the spot, still wished he could do that, she was apparently getting frustrated with his growing habit of de-glassing holes in the wall. Well... He would be lying if he said he had a good idea. "No clue really. Caught a strong scent. You might never know what I mean but this is strong, really strong. Quite overwhelming actually. I have to know what's causing it. I don't know why I need to but all I know is that I have to." He surprised himself by being 100% honest with her. She gave him a strange look but she eventually moved aside, letting him continue whatever he was doing. So he did just that. Beginning with bolting straight past a somewhat surprised mare with a speed that betrays his larger figure. Not much larger though. Resuming his 'chase' over the buildings of Canterlot. He cleared a good number of houses since running past miss rainbow-blur and stopped at a gap between some houses as the scent seemed to come from where he was standing. He looked down, it being the only logical place to look, and saw three figures. "Please leave us alone! We won't tell a soul! Honest!" The voice of a mare pleaded, the sound of a whimpering foal making it's way to Murex's ears. A mare and a foal, likely her foal, cornered by two black... Stallions? Despite it being day he found it hard to see any defining features on them. "Begging won't change what you saw..." One of the two black figures said darkly to the quivering mare in a raspy like voice. Kind of like how an insect buzzes but that buzz is it talking. It reminded Murex of his own voice when he was just starting to speak, only his voice dropped it, remaining as something you have to look for as he spoke. He watched silently from above, waiting for any movement or hostility... An act of aggression with the intent to cause harm. He prefers this over a court room with snobbish nobles any day. Moments of silence pasted by before one of the figures made a move, approaching the mare as he pulled something pointy from somewhere. The mare saw this and went to scream but her mouth was clamped shut from a flair of green light, originating from the other figures forehead. Seeing this as not an intent to harm but kill Murex leaped down and landed heavily on the figure, forcing them into the ground painfully while he spun around using his right foreleg to swing toward the other who was currently too busy being shocked by his sudden and violent appearance to react. His shock and inaction that cost him his life as Murex's trademark bone blade rocketed out of it's hiding place as his hoof was about to make contact, impaling the attacker through his chest, splitting chitin with an audible crack and tearing through vital organs. Wait chitin? The surprise of the sound bought the non-stallion, the... thing, some time to reorient itself and dislodge Murex from atop him. Murex's lack of current strength causing him to lose valuable footing and unbalance him, he sheathed his blade in case of an accident involving the blade going through the wrong target, there are downsides to their length. Ending up with Murex and the attacker switching places with Murex on his back and the attacker preparing to drive the weapon, now known as a jagged knife, through Murex's heart. Murex was no stranger to sacrifices of all kinds. Sacrifice the few to save the many, sacrifice a part of yourself to live another day. So in reaction to the potentially fatal blow he brought his right foreleg into the knifes descending path and cocked his foreleg for a counterattack. Unfortunately the knife found his chitin and not one of his many holes like he'd hoped, going through his tough exterior and into the soft meat underneath. It was the least of the injuries that occurred within the four second exchange. As Murex was absorbing the stab he thrust his left hoof towards the offenders chin, the muscles holding the blade within constricting to set it free. Only to be rapidly buried again. The blade struck true and went through the chin and out the other side with a small spray of blood, showing that even if he missed the important parts of the important part there would be catastrophic damage for anything in the think tank. The now deceased attacker feel limp and somewhat sprawled on top of Murex, the muscles in the body ceasing function. Rolling to the side and shoving the worlds most recent corpse off of him he turned his attention to the petrified mare and foal, staring at him with wide pin pricked eyes. He mentally kicked himself for not fixing the cloaks hood. "I am not going to harm you. Do you know who they were and why they were trying to... 'Silence' you?" Murex asked, trying to sound as gentle as possible, it didn't do what he hoped but she said something that baffled him. "You're one of them." The mare said quickly and slighty strained, fear was abundant though. Confused as to her meaning he asked. "One of who? Uh... Do you have a light of some kind?" He could see fine, not clearly but well enough. The light wasn't for him however. "You're a changeling! How about you tell me what you're scheming?" She accused while getting up, setting the quietly crying foal aside. He had no idea why she was talking like that. Did he do something wrong? Or does she not like changelings? He still hesitates to call himself that as he does no sort of 'changing' but maybe this mare knew about his species. Perhaps that was why she was cornered by these changelings. He assumes they are anyway if her 'one of them' claim was anything to go by. "Are you referring to trickery of some kind? Bah... no matter. You should steer clear of dark places. Where there is light, there is shadow." He said that last part on a whim but it felt somewhat nice to say things like that, cryptic, kinda, while also being straight forward, not really. He didn't turn to see her face as he left the alley, stopping only to fix his hood and take a glance at one of the bodies before making a path back to the castle. He wasn't comfortable with how similar they were to him, only one more thing to muse over. Now slowly walking the actual street this time he took in the sights. Keeping a calm exterior guise but within was far from calm, his thoughts running rampant over the encounter, with only more questions being added to his steadily growing arsenal. Why did they smell? How could only he smell it? Why did he feel like he did? How does she know about changelings yet everypony else doesn't? He walked past a noble as he thought that last one and the noble took one look at the cloak then scoffed, raising his snout to the clouds and walking away with an aura of self-importance. Right. But that and all other questions were entirely unimportant to Murex. All but one. Is he... One of them? He eventually came across a squad ten of royal guards who halted him. "You are being taken to the dungeons by request of the Sparkle family, creature." A quite decorated guard at the head of the pack spat that last word with a trace of venom, then actually spat at Murex. Of course they would think like that, they have the shiny armor. They must be invincible! "No you won't. I am here on request by Princess Celestia and I don't think she would appreciate having to fish me out of the dungeons." Murex had no idea what a dungeon was, not like he'd go willingly anyway. "You are but a lowly, filthy animal! I would prefer we just execute you like the wretch you are!" The same guard spat. Not noticing a rather irritated Celestia behind him. Murex just smirked and waited for her to speak up. "I mentioned you being afraid of my guards as a joke Murex." She said aloud. "Although it was quite explicitly stated in guard training that only I can command the solar guard." She added, her tone growing more serious. Much to Murex's surprise, a guard openly attempted to spear him while slurring about being a mere animal. Unfortunately for him and every other guard present Murex sprang into 'fight mode'. He used a foreleg to redirect the strike away from him as he side stepped, leaning to the side to build some extra force into his other hoof, aimed at the guards neck. His counter was very effective due to the guards total lack of neck armor and the guard recoiled while clutching his neck in pain, although it didn't last long as another strike to his mostly unarmored snout caused him to fall limp, drifting into unconsciousness. There was a very brief moment of stillness as the other guards who whirled around saw their comrade fall with minimal fight. Then they all charged him. Stop He ignored her as he forced a would-be attackers spear into the ground as he redirected the force of the attack, using his opponent's moments of vulnerability to jump into a powerful kick, landing on the side of the guards head, knocking his helmet off. Cease the fighting He used his annoyance of the guard's insults and now Celestia's interference to fuel a haymaker that knocked the recipient off their hooves. Spurred by the shouting of the residents and a few familiar voices, he leapt at another guard only to land and slide, sweeping him off his hooves and introducing his face to the pavement by slamming his hoof into the back of his skull. Murex was quite disappointed as they were down three and they only attacked once. They were only standing around him and making the motions to attack but it always stopped short. Do they not know how? "STOP THE FIGHT!" An unfamiliar and very loud voice ordered as it echoed throughout the city. Turning while assigning one of his hooves to rubbing his ringing ears he saw Starry Mane approaching. "Sister you must speak up more, you've grown soft." She chided Celestia. So that's who she is. She grew fast. "Your Highnesses. Fear not for this animal will be going to the dungeons now." That same decorated idiot declared, Murex was quite miffed that didn't clobber him. "Thou art... Murex. Correct?" She asked politely. Giving a nod while not taking his eyes of the guard. "We art Princess Luna, Ruler of the night. My sister spoke of thou and your abilities but judging from how shocked she is, we assume she has never seen them herself?" She asked him, much to the guards chagrin of her not attacking. Taking his eyes off the guard he looked to Celestia, standing next to his friends and confirmed a dropped jaw. He refocused his attention on Luna. "No she hasn't. Don't know what she's doing really." He confirmed Celestia's lack of seeing him fight, only knowing he does. "We thought as much. Come t'is time for a recess from the trial anyway." She then turned and walked back into the castle like nothing was wrong. Murex, Celestia and the girls followed her. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?!" Rainbow near shouted, apparently giddy from his display. The others, excluding Rarity and Fluttershy, had similar questions. Said questions were asked and left unanswered until they came across a room with a long table in the middle, which was rapidly being filled with food. Luna already sat at the end rock-like chair with deep blue and black cloth on said chair, a similar chair was next to her but white and yellow cloth instead. Celestia sat at this chair and everypony took a seat together, Murex in the middle of them still being bombarded with questions. He was happy to discover the chairs were padded and cushioned. They quietened down as they took food from the many discs and put it on one in front of them, Murex had no disc in front of him however, he had no desire for plants right now anyway. As he sat in silence a smell hit him. He paid it no mind as he was thinking. A while later it got stronger and the others even noticed it, he was feeling his empty stomach now. Shortly after one last pony dressed in white and wearing a ridiculous hat came in holding another disc, he didn't look at him long. He was surprised as the pony sat the disc in front of him but the contents stunned him. Sat atop the disc was a large piece of meat, he'd cooked before and enjoyed it but it took far too long in his opinion and he was just fine with it fresh off the kill. But this was a whole different beast. The brown beauty before him reeked of glory, it leaked a surplus of juice that was just as good as the meat itself which was a light brown and slightly darker around the edges, promising a world of taste. He ignored the tiny plant on top of it as he beheld it's shear beauty. The pieces of metal he is supposed to use was forgotten as he sat and admired it for a full minute with an open mouth, salivating heavily. The ignored gagging was an insult to the perfection before him. Wasting no more time and mentally kicking himself for foolishly allowing it to cool slightly, he used a bone blade to skewer it, much to all the prying eyes' surprise. It took nearly no time to bring it to his mouth and when he tore a chunk off to chew he was in heaven. All his moments of struggle, of uncertainty, of anger was void with his first mouthful. All he could feel was sheer happiness and content. He barely finished swallowing before he was going in for another. Everypony present was rather confused and slightly disgusted at his display. Confused at his behavior and disgusted at the meat while the Princesses found it amusing, having talked and catered to carnivorous races before. Murex's moments of pure bliss were cut short as he ran out out of meat. Still on his high however he resigned himself to furiously licking along his blade. Cutting his serpent-like tongue for his efforts. Satisfied, yet disappointed, he leaned back into the chair with a sigh. Resting his hooves on his stomach. The rest of the recess was uneventful and Murex eventually found himself walking back to the court room with a dopey smile plastered on his face, earning giggles from the girls. Entering the boring room like before except the guards were inside this time, he smirked at one of the guards' black eye, he sat down in his stand and stared at the 'Sparkle family' across from him. He still wants to go back to his forest.