There was an absolute silence in the living room as Twilight stared at the outcast changeling appearing right in front of her. The other two mares had the same reaction, except for the princess of the moon and her contingency of guards. Thorax gave a light smile as he stared at the elemental wielder. He inspected her with his emerald-green eyes while combing his tall purple fin on top of his head.
“I see you’re still processing my sudden appearance, but don’t worry I’m not alone. Sure you must have heard about my death there in the newspaper during the Great War, as you call it. But, alas, my death is fake.” he said as he swung himself on top of a cushioned chair with an elegant and proper posture. “I must say Twilight, your civilization has certainly revolutionized technologically during this past decade. Also, how’s Spike? I know he’s a slight tinge older than me, but you know he’s my type. Please don’t say he’s still looking at that whore of a unicorn.”
Twilight groaned with a disinterested side-eye as she sat next to the young adult changeling. “No, he’s not looking at Rarity anymore. Plus he’s gone. So can you politely shut your trap and get to the point of why you’re here?” Thorax’s smug smile soon turned suddenly into a frown of shock and he leaned his head back into the chair as his nonvisible pupils focused up on the ceiling.
“Well shit, I forgot that abomination has taken him. Well, at least Rainbow Dash is still single if the rumors of her preference aren't true then I can certainly snatch her up. But as you said, I must cut to the chase my little neurodivergent mare. So, you may be asking yourself, what the fuck is this insectoid trash talking about? First of all, if you’re thinking that, go fuck yourself because I don’t have six legs, are you a speciest? I know you’re not because we changelings are empathic, and I cant tell you aren't. Also to answer your question, I’m here because I’m a little tour guide if you will, with documented information. Well, it’s not that much, but still it’s useful for your investigation.” He ended with a sneer as he lightly booped Twilight on the snoot.
“Ok, you little fly you gotta start getting to your shit before I shove my hoof so far up your carapace-made flanks that I would start feeling your squishy organs.” AJ abruptly threatened him with no sense of impulse control as she slammed her hoofs on the ground.
“Fine fine fine, ok, sheesh. These documents are about an encounter during the war with this mythical entity that you call the Tallmare or some shit. We just called her, back in the day, the faceless bitch because we don’t see her, or they, or whatever pronoun in any other language to call it. But you may be wondering why isn’t this fully concrete. Well, you may not have been thinking that but I’m just going to say anyways. The hermit knows a deeper spiritual understanding of the Tallmare and you Twilight, with an interest in the Arcana and metaphysical would appreciate learning about some of the esoteric secrets of the Tallmare. And who’s to say, maybe this so-called ‘hermit of the Everfree’ may actually come to use or she may be as clueless as you are but has a better understanding of her spiritual concepts.”
“Um, who is this hermit exactly? I don’t know anyone who goes by that name.” Fluttershy chimed up while she nervously inspected her card as a distraction from the argument.
“Sheesh, hell if I know who she is. It will probably make sense when we meet her, I have a guess who it would be, and that somepony is quite the sexy mare. But I won’t tell you who, you’ll be surprised that the mare in question is my type.” Thorax jeered with enthusiastic snarkiness as he picked up a champagne bottle from his satchel and immediately started chugging it in front of the nonchangeling audience.
“Ugh, Thorax can you just take us to this hermit already? You probably know where she’s located right? We don’t have to waste the rest of the day in my house without doing any of our objectives.” Twilight demanded.
“Ok Ms. Sparkle burp let’s head to the forest hermit! Let the magician guide you to the hermit!”
Twilight followed her group under the cover of the trees as the sun dimmed down on them with its light shining through the many leaves of the Everfree. Twilight looked at her mentor’s holiest object like she was some devout follower as Celestia’s sun second by second slowly went an inch lower. The walk to the entrance of the forest had been an awkward one since Thorax really didn’t want to disguise himself as the same stallion he had dressed up as before. This time he wanted to look more magnetic per se. In simpler terms, he made himself look like an earth pony stallion with a greased haircut that was to the side and had a coat that matched his eyes. Obviously, the changeling was trying to fester up some love to feed off and also to chat up some random townsfolk as he passed. All the while as he did this on the walk, Twilight was deeply cringing watching the very flirtatious changeling attempting and failing to lure in various mares and stallions alike.
Now in the present, Twilight didn’t have to deal with that. Thorax’s disguise was shed. Her two friends had fallen behind him as he guided them down a secluded pathway. While Twilight walked she held out the folder Thorax had given her before the walk, the file contained several photos of the city of Baltimare during its famous siege. Many were photos of labor unions turned into local militias fending off against the many assaults and blitzkriegs. Others showed the many corpses that littered the street as they decomposed in many different ways, either from plant life burned into their skin with bugs making homes out of their flesh. Or the bodies slowly mummified like a dill pickle. But amongst the many photos that documented the many hardships and horrors of the sieges, there were the important ones. Those that circled an irregularly tall-looking pony behind forest lines as they stalked the various different soldiers in the collection of photos. Then there was one that really any soldier at all, but more of a militia fighter and his family. It was a young teenage stallion next to his mother and father and his older brother on his right side. The brother and the stallion labeled as ‘Iron Spade’ all sat together in an old dingy family photo with the same ominous entity behind the trees. This photo was also special because it had a small document attached to it. It discussed the sudden disappearance of the stallion and his brother as well. It was also noted that his parents were strangled or mutilated in their sleep.
After reading that document, Twilight put the folder away with its contents as she was already filled with mental images of the war she had never experienced. They continued walking taking note of their slowly darkening surroundings while their hooves crunched against the lush grass and various wild herbs that littered the forest.
Soon they came across a small clearing in front of a small cliff on top of the hill which the night sky shined upon. It was quite a beautiful view and the whole group was easily admiring the clear shining sky above with the moonlight shining off against the leaves of the trees of the everfree. Normally the sky would be pitch-black with nothing but a void filling the sky, now far from civilization near the countryside, the light pollution was only minimum at best. Then Twilight realized something, why did they stop here? This surely looked like the place where they should meet this hermit. But why here?
"Uhh Thorax are you sure this is the place? I mean we an't sure who this hermit is." Applejack questioned the changeling with uncertainty.
"Yeah yeah, I know it is because I've been to this spot so many times before, plus Moon Ass told me this is where they would meet us. got it?" growled Thorax with a groan as he looked at his map.
Then there was a sound of leaves crunching under hoofs. The group turned their head toward the direction of the sound, it came from their right, the pony obscured by the cover of the trees. Then the pony in question walked slowly out of the cover of the trees, revealing a mare that wasn't a pony, but rather the local zebra of the woods. She smiled at the group and then looked at Throax who smiled back.
Thorax rushed over to Zecora and hugged her tightly. "Well well! I didn't know my mare friend was this hermit we were called to!" He said letting go of the hug and looking her in the eyes with a grin.
"WAIT EXCUSE ME!? YOU A-ARE DATING! HOW- oh platinum this is so unexpected." Twilight yelled with a lowered jaw and a look of bewilderment.
The Hermit just chuckled and looked at the gawking ponies in front of her. "Well love is a very unexpected thing as you see, we have been doing this for a very long time. Now come here love bug, let's have a war of mouths!" Then they started to kiss each other with passion and hums while the unfortunate mare watched them make out.