Murex was bored.
Very bored in fact.
He has been sitting in that room for who knows how long listening to that mare across from him, who he now knows as Twilight Velvet. It was now less of a trial and more of a back and forth between Celestia and whoever she's supposed to be.
Murex tried sitting in different positions even a few silly ones that amused the mares beside him and eventually resigned to resting his head on a hoof but he was still trying to fight off his incredible boredom. Hunting was different because he was looking for tracks, smells, altered foliage or the mark itself, in other words doing something. Here he was trying to pretend to listen about the ramblings between white, wavy-mane and the clown across from him that must exist purely to be an ass. Needless to say he was exhausted but in his mind instead of his body.
The hood of the cloak was down, he simply didn't care anymore and he really couldn't think of a reason to put it back on as everypony in the room had already seen him when he jumped through the window. He was still getting occasional glances from the crowd, from the glances of fear and curiosity to the glares of disgust. 'How dare an inferior being be in their presence?' Murex thought in boredom, trying to think of what they were thinking if only to fill his mind with anything that doesn't involve gutting Twilight Sparkle, her whorse mother or the fact that Celestia is letting said whorse run her mouth.
So he raised his head from a hoof and groaned, needlessly loudly, at the ceiling and then slammed his head onto the wooden hoof-rest on the stand he sat in.
"Princess Celestia you allow this beast to conduct itself like this in your presence?!" The whorse taking the opportunity to send another verbal jab his way. He tried to lift his head to say something back for a change but found his fangs buried into the wood of the hoof-rest instead.
Luna looked as bored as he did and when she spoke it sounded... rather forced. Like she wanted to say something else but couldn't due to her position. "Mrs. Velvet we believe thou should stop speaking to our guest like he is some filth." Yeah she sounded sick of her too, he couldn't really blame her. After a while Murex decided to stop thinking altogether as it was making his head throb but his mind was as stubborn as he could be and started leading a rebellion against his conscience with his instincts and most of his organs wrecking havoc on the parts of his body still loyal to his conscience.
He let out a chuckle as he imagined the gruel battle that would take place in his chest cavity. It would be bloody and brutal! He saw the battlefield before him. His emotions grappling with his instincts for domination, his heart and stomach dueling to the death and his large and small intestine taking turns slapping each other as they were far too polite to attack without permission but Celestia's next words towards tore him from his make-believe warzone.
"Twilight will be placed under house arrest until further notice."
...
"Pardon?" Murex asked aloud. Too taken back to form any further words. His friends, especially Rainbow, had similar reactions.
"Yes dear sister, if the attack was as vicious as we hast been told we then believe a far harsher punishment is in order." Luna agreed with little hesitation.
"How can you prove that that... thing isn't lying to make my poor daughter look bad?" Twilight Velvet added and that made Luna and his friends look to Murex who was currently busy boiling in barely restrained rage. How did she know how to get under his chitin? Well... her spawn already did that so it wasn't hard.
So Murex got onto the hoof stand while ripping the cloak off his body, revealing his hole-filled hooves, black and red body and bloody bandage covered barrel, and asked "Does THIS look like lying?!" As he said this he tore the bandages off his body, reopening a few healed wounds and causing fresh blood to drip off his chitinless flesh.
The room gasped at his display and a new round of whispers circulated the room. Celestia looked somewhat surprised and Luna looked quite furious.
Murex didn't register this though as he leapt down from the stand and walked to the doors, bristling in anger.
"I'm sorry..." Twilight said to him as he pasted her. He paused at this.
He said nothing to her and just glared as he continued on his way out, having had enough of pony society for a few days.
Every snobby noble started shouting at him for reasons that Murex couldn't care less about.
Unbeknownst to him Celestia got up to tell him to retake his seat but Luna stopped her, believing it was best he left and Celestia begrudgingly let him go.
Murex had been walking through the city for ten minutes since he left the court room, struggling to find the train station. The streets were empty when they arrived so he feel he didn't need to pull up his hood but now they were packed, full of ponies, all giving him disgusted glares.
If he were to pluck a single hair off a pony's coat whenever he received a glare of any kind or a nasty comment, well...
There would be a few hairless ponies walking around.
A loud ring sounded throughout the city and the ponies, who were once walking rather calmly, started rushing around. Finishing food, buying last minute supplies or rushing somewhere Murex wasn't sure of but soon enough the once packed street was empty and silent once more.
Until an entourage of hooves behind him came closer.
"Darling you could have just asked the Princesses to be let out if you couldn't be in there any longer." Rarity panted out, clearly being unused to this level of physical activity.
"Don't care, I just don't want to stay here." Murex stated rather coldly as they started following him, Or in Pinkie's case bouncing, they didn't pick up on his mood though.
"What?!" Rarity exclaimed in shock at his statement. He wonders how long it will take them to learn and remember that he still lives in a forest. "How could you not love Canterlot? The glamour! The sophistication! Oh how I dream of living here!" Her dreams however were not shared.
"Oh... it's nice Rarity... but I can't see myself living here... I'm fine how I am... I'm not good with crowds..." Fluttershy stated meekly.
"It would be nice to live here but mah place is at the farm. Can't leave mah family behind." Applejack added firmly.
"I'd rather be in Cloudsdale if I had to go somewhere that wasn't Ponyville. What about you Murex? Where would you go if you couldn't stay in the Everfree?" Rainbow asked him which was slightly surprising to him. They can learn.
"Those woods a bit away from Ponyville, White tail I think it's called." He said absent minded. Too busy thinking about a way to get back at Twilight. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't really kill her. He'll just damage her. He is no killer no matter what others say or think, even if he really wants to. He doesn't know how yet but he'll know soon.
"Must you live in those icky forests dear? Wouldn't it be nice to live in a warm home? Not having to forage for food?" Rarity asked him, almost appalled by him refusing to live in town. What does she have against forests? The wind flowing across your form, the thrill of the hunt, the feeling of freedom as you run freely through the expansive, dense brush. Unhindered by laws or somepony in charge. Just you and nature. Murex and Zecora understand the forest and accept it for what it is, the ponies fear it because they cannot control it. Through their sheltered lives all they do is go to school then get a job and they live that way until they die. Anything that threatens this cycle is treated with fear, disgust or the need to remove it entirely.
Murex didn't answer Rarity as he felt a presence come to his mind but he was far from being in the mood of listening to Celestia so he did something he wasn't aware he could do, he tried to push her out.
It wasn't that easy though as he had to fight her whilst still walking and pretending to listen to the mares walking with him. Yet after a struggle he did manage to fight her back and even push her out of his mind, it was far from easy and he felt exhausted but not in the way he sometimes was. As he was wondering what this feeling was about a thought hit him.
"Say does Ponyville have a uh... A library? Where books are?" Murex asked his friends slowly, unsure of the name.
"It does Rexi!" Pinkie Pie supplied quickly before stopping her bouncing, in mid-air, to repeat something to herself quietly. Despite his honed hearing he couldn't understand a single word as she was talking to herself faster than he had ever heard, apparently she was slowing herself down before but it was still too fast for him.
He gave her an odd look but quickly abandoned the thought of questioning her as he spotted the train station, he shuddered by simply thinking of the name of that wretched machine.
As they approached the station Murex couldn't rid himself of this disgusted feeling and it only grew the longer he was in Canterlot. He actually couldn't wait to get on the train.
It had been twenty minutes since they got on the train and Murex was handling it a lot better than before as he knew what to expect, he still took no part in conversation, still more than upset with the events in Canterlot. The girls were all next to him as the train rocked from side to side, trying their best to make sure there was no repeat of before. He tried to explain he just didn't know what a train did and just panicked.
They weren't lucky enough to get an empty carriage and Murex didn't feel like wearing Zecora's cloak anymore so their little group was attracting a lot of looks, fear and curiosity were the most common ones.
He should pay a visit to Ponyville's library and see what he could learn about the world in general, despite being told much by the girls, he always found himself at a loss when it came to... Everything that wasn't related to the Everfree, especially trains. While he didn't know the names of things like Zecora did he could still know of something if given a description.
Speaking of things he didn't know...
His mind wandered back to the two that looked similar to him. Just what were they doing and why was it so important that a pony was going to be killed for accidentally finding them? Definitely nothing good.
His side started to throb all of a sudden and he quietly groaned as he attempted to nurse it with a hoof without anypony looking, he was okay with expressing himself with the girls as he knew them but he wanted to be seen as if he was 100% in the presence of ponies he didn't know. His actions in Canterlot were catching up to him at the worst of times and he wasn't much of a fan of past Murex at that moment in time.
"Oh my... Murex are you okay? You don't look okay..." Fluttershy asked quietly as everypony, including the carriage full of strangers, noticed his pain.
"Is that um... Creature okay? It's not dangerous is it?" A pony across from them asked with fear and concern evident in her voice as she started to get up. Murex slumped forward and clutched his strained barrel as the pain kept increasing, he felt quite dumb for tearing the bandages off.
"I'll live..." He told them through gritted teeth, his visible fangs was reason for concern but his now exposed sharp teeth was cause for some alarm for the ponies that could see them.
"Uh... That's some teeth you... Have there..." The same pony said while quickly retreating back into her seat. The knowledge his sharp teeth made the other passengers nervous and Murex chuckle. "Hey! Don't treat him like he's some kind of animal! He's my friend!" Fluttershy growled out, surprising him. It did give him another dumb idea though.
"Woah! Down girl! Heel!" Murex scolded her with a dumb grin while still holding his barrel making Fluttershy frown.
"Fine I won't joke like that I'm sorry." Murex quickly remedied, his mood darkening once more, before the train hit a bump making his barrel flare up in pain. "Damn it! I hate trains!" He shouted hatefully making the whole carriage laugh.
The train pulled up in Ponyville's station and the girls led him to the town's library which was near the town's center. The only time Murex had been in the town was to go to the train station and he had the cloak to hide his appearance. Even though they only went through the town's outskirts he still encountered more ponies there than now and he was near the middle of the town.
"Hey you girls live here. So do you know where everypony is?" He asked them while looking around, his question made them look too.
"Now that ya mention it Ah haven't seen no pony." Applejack said, the others made similar assessments and Pinkie Pie was Pinkie Pie by exclaiming they were playing hide and seek.
Suddenly two colts ran past them and accidentally bumped into Murex, making him hiss. One was thin and lanky with an amber coat and turquoise mane and the other was short and stubby with an opal coat and orange mane, both were unicorns. His barrel was doing much better than it was on the train but it was still pretty sensitive. "Hey! What're you two doing?" His bad mood was still very present too.
"Haven't you heard?" One asked but stopped to continue panting. "There's a new unicorn in town!" The other finished before they both ran off to find this unicorn they were talking about. Murex looked at his friends who were sharing his confused look before he went to find where the two ran off to.
Murex found it hard to find specific hoofprints on a road littered with them but they eventually found a large crowd of ponies standing in front of a stage thanks to a number of sounds that Pinkie excitedly called 'fireworks'. On said stage was a pale blue unicorn wearing a cape and strange hat, it looked like she was speaking to them.
"...Deep within the Everfree forest!" Or she was finishing a story... He may never know. The ponies in the crowd seemed to like it however as it was met with gasps then cheers.
He was still in a bad mood but he was always happy to learn something, it being useful or not didn't dissuade him from learning new things. His curiosity of the unknown was cause for more than a few mistakes but it hasn't killed him! Yet.
"Could you repeat that? I just got here!" He called out while approaching the crowd.
His appearance caused most ponies to turn around and look for the source of the voice. Eyes grew wide when they fell on his form, recognition in many of them, Murex didn't notice this as he was too busy looking for the details of this newly discovered tale.
"Hm? It seems more want to the legend of the Great and Powerful Trixie!" The mare on stage called out without looking at him while more of those fireworks went off around the stage. His experience with a certain friend has exposed him to what an 'ego' is so he knows how to measure the sizes of one. His own is rather small as he has a habit of kicking himself on mistakes, a certain Pegasus he knows has a ego of similar to this mare.
She retold her tale for him and his friends. She even magicked up some figures to help tell her story and it was at this point Murex was pretty skeptical to the validity of the mare's tale as she went on, her magical figures depicted her 'banishing an Ursa Major', he couldn't help but feel like he should recognize the figure. As she finished her story she finally looked at him and raised a brow.
"So what are you supposed to be exactly?" her question made those who weren't still staring at him to follow Trixie's line of sight, eyes again widening when they saw him. Before he could answer a voice he recognized as Applebloom to beat him to it.
"He's the Everfree Demon! Well... He sure ain't no Demon but the name stuck." She finished with a shrug. Everfree Demon? Guess they didn't just forget about him after all.
Everypony was looking at him now, the ponies watching him carefully. After a while of silent thought Murex just shrugged and walked away, not really caring what they thought about him. "Now where is that library?" He asked himself as he walked away. His friends stayed behind with the crowd.
Murex roamed through the town, still looking for the library. He eventually this tree with windows in a few places around it, curious of the reason why there were holes in the large tree he walked around it and eventually found a door with a hanging sign above it that depicted a book. Thinking he found the library he approached the door and knocked, remembering what he did when he went to visit Zecora.
It soon opened and revealed a small purple and green lizard who looked seemed to recognize him.
"You! You're that thing that Twilight dragged in! Uh... What did she do to you exactly?" He asked him. He scowled at the mention of his object of hatred's name but at least obliged him turning to reveal his blood-stained, Chitinless, bandageless barrel.
"Woah! That's! Ugh... I'm gonna be sick..." He mumbled before retreating inside and leaving the door open. Thinking he was in the clear he walked inside, much less enthusiastic at learning this is where Twilight took him.
At first he was awestruck at the amount of books that were in the library when he walked inside but it was short lived as he quickly found a staircase that led down into darkness despite the lit room, likely into somewhere he didn't want to think about.
"Hey hm... Do you need any help? With books I mean." The lizard asked as he came back from wherever he ran off to. While Murex was excited to read some books and expand his spotty knowledge he made one large oversight. He doesn't know how to read. Growing up alone would do that.
"Yeah could you get me a couple books about Equestria?" Murex asked quickly, it was quite a large oversight.
"Okay! History or geography?" He has no idea what geography is so he'll stick to what he knows. "History if you could." After running over to the front door, the lizard got what Murex believes is a ladder and brought it over to the bookshelves.
It didn't take him long to come back with two somewhat thick books in his claws. "You can take them with you just make sure to not damage or dirty them!" He told Murex as he handed them over, he was relieved to know he could take them with no problem. He'll just leave them at Zecora's... And learn to read at Zecora's.
"So what's you're name? I doubt it's 'Purple and green lizard'." Murex asked absently while trying to balance the books on his withers, keeping them away from his bloody barrel.
"I'm not a lizard! I'm a dragon!" He exclaimed while crossing his arms with puffed out cheeks.
"Right. So what's you're name? I doubt it's 'Purple and green not-a-lizard'." Murex repeated with a chuckle as he faced the dragon, done with the task of book balancing.
"My name is Spike. What's yours? I doubt it's 'Strange black pony with cheese legs'. Spike shot back making him chuckle again.
"Murex. See you around Purple Dragon." Murex said as he turned to walk out and got a cheerful, "You too Black Pony!" in return.
After one last check to make sure the books won't fall off Murex began to walk back to the Everfree to see Zecora after his long day.
He had been learning to read with Zecora for roughly three hours and could proudly say he could read, at most, thirty words. Both sat at her table at the side of the room with cups of tea, even though he didn't like tea he drank it anyway, finding it helped clear his head somewhat.
It was rather difficult to pick up at first, having to learn that 'letters' represent sounds, can sound different depending on how they're used and in some words are completely silent but still be present. Frustration was dominant in Murex's head as Zecora kept teaching, dropping her traditional rhyming as to not cause confusion much to Murex's relief.
The lesson was interrupted by a series of panicked yelling and an Equis shaking roar. Murex shot up from his seat and burst through the door to run off in the direction of the roar. Running at high speeds through thick foliage was routine to him, dodge a low hanging branch here, evade an exposed root there. It was rather worrying when he crossed the border of the Everfree and his worry quickly turned to dread as the amount of screaming had increased tenfold and was coming from Ponyville.
He didn't stall for a single second when he saw the gigantic, blue bear wreaking havoc in Ponyville. Recognition suddenly stuck him as he ran towards the bear. That is an Ursa Minor in town, and where there is a Minor, a Major is never far behind.