//------------------------------//
// Part IV, Chapter 18 - Seaddle, Part 1 - You're Never Fully Dressed Without One 
// Story: Fitting In Is Hard To Do 
// by origami 
//------------------------------//

Thorax sat quietly in the private car of the train as it made its way onward to the city of Seaddle.  He locked the door and made sure the shades on both the window and door were drawn before dispelling his disguise, taking a break from maintaining his required masquerade.  He let out a sigh as he wondered how much longer it would be before he was accepted as a peaceful creature by Equestria as a whole and could go around without having to wear a disguise.

He shook the thought from his head as he tried to calm down.  In truth, his mind was a bit of a jumble, thinking about all of the things he experienced in Van Hoover.

He met back up with Fluttershy, spent most of the day with her, found her later being assaulted, was arrested but then exonerated, met the two ponies that found evidence that exonerated him at his trial in the Crystal Empire a little while back, was released from custody, spent the night in Fluttershy's hotel room, went with her to a pet expo the next day, and finally said goodbye to her as she went back to Ponyville.

Oh, and he got to meet her friend Treehugger, who was keen on offering him brownies for one reason or another.

Strange mare, that one.

With Van Hoover becoming more distant, Thorax could feel himself getting a bit drowsy.  Upon making sure the door was locked and the shades would stay in place, he settled down onto a bunk and took a nap in his natural form.





A little bit later, the conductor knocked on the door and woke Thorax up, letting him know they were getting closer to Seaddle.  Thanking him through the door, the changeling gave himself a quick clean up and assumed his Crystal Hoof disguise again.  With his disguise once again in place, Thorax opened the shade on his window and looked out.

Upon doing so, his jaw dropped.

Seaddle had quite a skyline, with the buildings making an abstract mountain range, with light reflecting off the windows of the high towers.

And nestled among those towers was one of the most iconic buildings in the city: the Alicorn Spire.

The building, which was one of the tallest structures in the city, was built in honor of Princess Celestia the last time Seaddle hosted the Summer Sun Celebration, which was nearly a full decade ago.  It had a somewhat unusual shape to it, as the majority of the structure resembled the Crystal Palace, with the exception of a large, saucer-like platform at the top.  Inside it was some kind of attraction, but Thorax couldn't remember what it was specifically.

Pulling himself away from the window, Thorax gathered his belongings and exited the sleeping car, moving through a dining car and into the main seating section.  The conductor announced their arrival, and the station could be seen coming into view.  The platform looked similar to Van Hoover's with the exception of a slightly different architectural style.  With the train coming to a stop, and after a wait of several passengers disembarking before he made his move, Thorax stepped off the train and examined the platform more closely.

There were columns holding up a roof, and on some of those columns were posters that were advertising a music concert, likely being held at one of the venues in the city.  One of the posters caught his interest:

OPAL JELLY

TONIGHT AT THE SEADDLE SOCIETY OF SOUND

OPENING ACT - ETERNAL TRANQUILITY

He didn't know who either of those groups were, nor had he ever heard of the venue before, but he supposed that he could find out with his time here.

As sudden as he saw the poster, he saw something else that caught his attention.  Standing on the platform not too far away from the train was a guard holding a sign with the name Crystal Hoof written on it.  Biting the proverbial bullet, he approached and engaged the guard.

"I'm Crystal Hoof."

The guard turned to look him up and down, then glared.  "Where are your papers?"

"Right," Thorax answered as he went into his saddlebags and produced all his documents and gave them to the guard.  The guard took them and looked them over, then gave them back.

"Follow me," he said as he turned and marched towards a doorway that led into the main station.  Falling into step behind the guard, Thorax took a look around at some of the other features of the platform, which was mainly the ticket booth and a schedule board that seemed to work off some kind of magic.

Once inside, the guard went down a hallway, passing several doors until he came to one that could only be the guard commander's office.  He stopped before the door and knocked.

"What is it?!" a voice called out from inside, sounding irritated.

"Crystal Hoof is here, sir," the guard replied.

There was silence for a moment before the inside voice spoke again.  "Let him in."

The guard opened the door and gestured for Thorax to enter.  Obeying, Thorax walked in to find another office similar to the other guard commanders, but this one may have been more barren than even the least decorated one he'd seen so far.

"So you're the nice changeling?"

Thorax's attention was drawn straight to the pony sitting behind the desk.  It was an older stallion, with white coat and blue mane trimmed short.  He had on the blue commander's uniform, complete with epilets and bars.

What was most unique about him, though, were his eyes.  One of them was a bright blue color, and the other was completely pink with a white pupil.  Apparently at some point, he'd sustained an eye injury.

"Well, where's your papers?" the commander asked curtly, making Thorax jump a bit.  Recovering quickly, he went into his bags and produced the requested documents, setting them down on the desk, where he saw a name plate that read "IRON OCEAN".

Iron Ocean took the papers and briefly looked them over, then back up at Thorax.  "Drop the look."

Confused for a moment, Thorax obeyed and shed his disguise.  Once the flames of his magic dissipated, he was quickly met with the commander's face in his, causing him to jump back.

"It wasn't you," he said as he looked Thorax in the eye.

"I'm sorry?"

"You see my eye?" the commander asked as he indicated the damaged one.  "That was from one of your cohorts during the wedding.  I've been itching to get my revenge whenever I caught up with them again.  Make some truth of the old saying An eye for an eye?".

Thorax became quite nervous once he got a feel of the commander's emotions.  This pony did not like him at all, and not in the 'he'll come around once he gets to know me better' kind of way.  His hatred was much like Captain Shining Armor, and possibly even hotter, and less controlled, than the Prince-Consort of the Crystal Empire.

"As it stands," the commander continued,"you aren't the one I have a score to settle with, so I'll have to be patient regarding that matter.  That said, understand this: I do not like you one bit!"

"You are allowed here only because the princesses have allowed it and set up those rules.  While you are in my city, you will obey the ones I set forth.  No disguises besides that crystal pony they verified is wholly unique to you, no feeding on any ponies, no trying to break from the tails I will have following you, and if you run into another changeling, you'd better report it to us immediately.  If we catch you breaking any of those, then we'll have you in a Canterlot jail cell before your eyes stop rolling around in your head.  Do you understand me?"

"I do."

"You'd better," the commander finished, grabbing his stamp and placing his mark on the letter and passport.  Once finished, he tossed all the papers at Thorax's hooves.

"Change back and leave my office at once."

"Y-Yes sir," Thorax complied, becoming Crystal Hoof and grabbing his papers before quickly leaving.

After closing the door, Thorax turned and came face to face with another pony.

"GAH!"

This one, a brown earth pony stallion, was dressed in a black suit jacket with white shirt and black tie.  He was wearing sunglasses that concealed his eyes.

"You're to follow me, Crystal Hoof."

"H-How do you know my name?"

"Save your questions for later.  Follow me."

The pony turned and started walking, giving Thorax no time to ask any further questions and only two choices: comply and see what would happen, or don't and see what would happen.

After walking a short distance, the pony stopped and looked back at Thorax, a quick head jerk indicating that he was to follow.  Trying to steady himself as best he could, the changeling followed along, figuring that he could make an escape if need be if things went bad.

Once Thorax had caught up, the stallion moved onward again, going past the doors and out of the hallway and out into the station.  Going across the floor, the two head to a door that is marked "Freight Handlers Only".  The stallion opened the door and gestured for Thorax to enter.

At this point, a few alarm bells were going off in Thorax's head.  First was the rather unusual behavior of the pony leading him here.  Second, nopony normally dressed in clothes, much less ones like this, unless they were working as security for a noble or some other pony of some significance.  The last one was the one that bothered Thorax the most; he could feel no emotions from this pony whatsoever.

Before he could even think to turn and run, he was pulled into the room by magic.  Letting out a yelp, Thorax was deposited onto the floor on his rump, the pony escorting him entering and closing the door behind him.

"Thank you, Agent Mocha."

Hearing a feminine voice, Thorax looked up to be greeted by a half dozen ponies, each being either a stallion or mare, and two of each kind of pony tribe, save for the nocturnal thestrals.

"Sorry for giving you the scare," one of the mares said as she stepped forward, "but we can't take any chances when dealing with possible enemies of Equestria."

"Umm..."

Thorax was unsure of what to say.  The mare put a hoof to her face.

"Where are my manners?  We haven't introduced ourselves yet.  I'm Agent Honey,and  these ponies you see before you are all members of the Secret Monster Intelligence League of Equestria."

Thorax's disguise nearly changed to be completely white.  It was S.M.I.L.E.!  These ponies were Equestria's best when it came to threats against the nation.  Twilight and her friends were counted among their ranks, even though none of them actually knew they were members.  The stories infiltrators told the queen had earned them the nickname "Bloodhounds", as their techniques exposed infiltrators and led to more captures than any time before or after the Canterlot invasion.

"To begin, I would like to assure you that you are not in trouble in any way," Agent Honey told him.

"Umm... Okay?" Thorax answered uncertainly.

"As I said before, the changelings are still technically an enemy to Equestria, and even though you are considered a peaceful defector, we still have to exercise caution.  Basically, as I said before, sorry for giving you a fright."

"Uh... Apology accepted?"

The mare chuckled and offered a hoof.  "Let me help you up."

Taking the offered hoof, Thorax was brought back to his hooves.  Looking over each of the ponies, he realized that he couldn't feel any of their emotions, with the exception of one mare who his eyes settled on for too long, causing her to give a somewhat nervous reaction to.

"Now, for the reason you're here," Agent Honey continued.  "We have been deployed here on what was expected to be your path of travel through Equestria.  The mission we were assigned was to field test new equipment for operatives.  What we have is experimental, and specifically tailored for encounters with changelings."

Thorax looked rather nervous upon hearing her say that it was made for use against changelings, but Agent Honey was quick to quell his fears.

"I assure you, it's not meant to cause harm.  Agents aren't typically assigned items such as that, unless the possibility of being captured is such a high level, it becomes a probability.  The device we're testing serves a different function."

Thorax didn't calm down much.  For all he knew, the mare could've been feeding him lines; he couldn't sense her emotions to tell if she was lying or not.

...Wait.  Was that what they were testing?  A device to hide emotions from changelings?

"I can't disclose what the intended function of the device is," Agent Honey told him, "but I am to ask you to tell us what you can sense from each one of the agents here.  It's a unique opportunity for us, as you're the first non-hostile changeling we've ever dealt with.  So please, tell me what you can feel from everypony present."

Thorax looked over the ponies in the room, trying to pick up on the emotions of the room.  Again, he could feel none from anypony but the mare he noticed earlier.

"Well, I'm gonna guess that the device your testing is meant to hide your emotions from changelings, because I can't feel anything from most of you.  In fact, that mare over there is the only one I can feel anything from."

Thorax gestured to the mare with a hoof.  Agent Honey smiled and wrote down what he told her on a parchment attached to a clipboard.  Once finished, she took the parchment off, rolled it up and put a seal on it.  After a moment, the seal glowed and the paper burst into flames, with the wisp of smoke turning a green color and flying off towards the east, and likely towards Canterlot.

"We appreciate your cooperation," Honey said to Thorax, then addressed the stallion who escorted Thorax here.  "Agent Mocha."

The stallion stepped forward.

"Please escort Crystal Hoof from the station.  Make sure the guard meant to tail him understands why we detained him and that he is not to say anything to the guard commander here."

"What if the guard questions us?" Mocha asked.

"Your credentials should be sufficient," Honey answered before addressing Thorax again.  "We have a hotel room set up for you.  Central to the town so you can get to most attractions in a reasonable amount of time.  Enjoy your stay in Seaddle."

"O... kay," Thorax answered, still unsure of what to make of the exchange he just took part in.  None of them appeared to show any relief or apprehension at his presence, save the sole mare whose feelings he could sense; hearing that he was leaving had brought her apparent relief.

"Please follow me," Agent Mocha told Thorax as he opened the door again, leading the changeling out of the freight room, then the train station and into the city.

"Wow," was all Thorax could say as he looked up at the skyscrapers towering above him.

"Yeah, the buildings here are just about the biggest on this side of Equestria," Mocha commented as Thorax craned his neck to try and see the tops of the buildings.  "Let's keep moving.  If I remember right, the check in time is almost up."

"Right," Thorax replied, moving to join up with the pony.

They walked in silence for a moment before Thorax decided to try striking up a conversation.

"So, you guys didn't seem too bothered by me back there in that room."

"Well, you were by yourself," Mocha replied,"and there were half a dozen of us, and two unicorns there as well.  Nopony was in any really serious danger."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that."

Mocha turned and looked straight into Thorax's eyes.  "The experimental field equipment was not the only countermeasure we had back there.  The risk to us was as minimal as possible.  Besides that, we have it on very good authority that, in most situations, you would choose to be a non-combatant."

Thorax decided to keep quiet for the rest of the trip; best not to aggravate a pony that could cause problems for him in more ways than one.  A few more minutes walking brought the two to a hotel set up on a street corner.

"Not the nicest place in the city, but not a bank breaker either," Mocha commented as Thorax looked over the hotel.

"I've slept in worse places," Thorax replied.

"The guard tailing you will be set up in a building somewhere here on the corner.  I'll be keeping an eye on them as well."

"Spying on royal guards?"

"We have it on good authority that the commander and some of his direct subordinates have captured changelings and have treated them rather roughly before turning them over to the guards in Canterlot."

"Treating them roughly?"

"Let me put it this way: I never thought I'd see the day where a changeling saw the castle guards in Canterlot and pleaded not to be sent back to a place."

Thorax went wide-eyed upon hearing that.  He would definitely have to watch his step here in Seaddle.

"Enjoy your stay."

Thorax turned to ask Mocha what he meant, but the stallion was gone faster than he could blink.  Even a quick look around didn't reveal where he had disappeared to.

Wow, those guys are good, Thorax thought as he went into the hotel to check in.