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// CHAPTER 8 (AKA: According to plan) 
// Story: A thing or two about changelings and their habits saga 
// by Young discord 
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Things were looking up for Mark, although to be honest they could be better but Mark was more than satisfied with what he got right now… for now
The rumours about Mark’s new restaurant being opened spread quicker than electricity does across a wet floor and it was bound to shock the owner of the restaurant especially considering the plots regarding the big “surprise” that Mark’s restaurant supposedly was going to have.
It was all going according to plan.
In the outskirts of the Everfree forest the atmosphere has been rowdy for the past 2 days, however after some surprisingly civilised debate among the woodland creatures and perhaps a little bit of persuasion from Fluttershy’s side, the animals accepted Mark’s offer but clearly emphasised on the fact that they’ll break the deal as soon as they come across something they don’t like… normally Mark would attempt to do something about that but a couple of fully grown bears, a majestic eagle and possibly a couple hundred various rodents aren’t the exact mob you’d want to argue with.
All that was left was the money… or in this case the sponsor who was the owner of the restaurant however Mark wasn’t too worried about that.
Within 3 days of Mark’s visit, the owner of the restaurant came frantically knocking on Fluttershy’s door requesting that she tells him where the elusive stallion may be so that he can cut a deal with him before it’s too late however as Fluttershy promised, she told him that she has no idea as to the whereabouts of the pony in mention.
After a day or two, giving more than sufficient time for the owner to panic, he decided he’s softened enough in his own stress to agree to the terms and therefore Mark decided to pay him a little visit.
The moment Mark’s hoof lightly tapped the first floorboard of the restaurant, the “no unauthorised personnel” doors slammed open, revealing the owner with a messy mane and a giant wave of sludgy stress slowly crawled into Mark’s nostrils.
"Ok, I had no idea this would stress him THAT much, perhaps I went a tad too far this time" thought Mark to himself
"HEY, HOW ARE YOU DOING, FRIEND?" shouted the owner with desperation
"Look, I think we got off on the wrong hoof" the owner approached Mark, gave him a friendly pat on the back
"I never got to know your name, dear sir"
Mark was already prepared for this; anyone who attended to changeling 101 knew the first golden rule of changelings: ALWAYS be prepared before you act, why? Well looking like other ponies is no problem but hiding is much more complex than one might think, it takes more than looks to fool everypony and Mark knew that there is no point in changing if you’re gonna give yourself away within the first sentence.
Mark knew that there have been countless real life examples of changelings being discovered by ponies because they gave themselves away with inconsistencies from what they have been saying and he wasn’t intending on becoming an example anytime soon.
"Sails Agua"
"Agua? That’s an unusual surname"
"And if I may ask yours?"
"Big Boss at your service"
"I see, Mr Boss sir, in that case let’s get down to business"
Mr Boss patted Sails on the back rather harshly
"Please, call me Big!"
"Sucking up, are we? I see the desperation really sunk in…" thought Sails as they entered Big’s office.
The meeting lasted just a few minutes; it all went as smooth as butter on a hot Teflon pan.
Mr Big agreed to all terms Sails offered without even haggling and soon enough, the freshly baked business partner exited the restaurant with enough bits to get him going.





Days passed by unnoticeably whilst the new restaurant building was being erected, and it seemed that the restaurant was ready to open in no time, everything was going so quickly, Mark’s plan was developing as rapidly as mushrooms grow in the Everfree forest after a refreshing cloud of rainwater.
The restaurant building was like none other in the entire realm of Equestria and beyond, rather than cutting down the trees to make room for the restaurant, the building was built AROUND the trees, the arbour trunks protruded out of the roof, the building itself was made of wood and rather that looking like a building it looked like a single massive plant being, living in harmony with the rest of the forest.
The inside of the restaurant was even more impressive, there were no floorboards or even concrete, but a sapphire green sea of grass, countless species of flowers and under all that, a spongy layer of ancient fertile and moist soil that fed life into the whole building.
The walls of the restaurants, rather than being covered in boring pictures or having been painted into a mundane generic landscape, were punctured with hollows where all the animals that Mark cut a deal with began to live in.
Everybody was satisfied and couldn’t wait for the grand opening.
"What do you think of my new home and restaurant, Fluttershy?"
"Wow! It’s amazing! But are you sure the woodland creatures are OK with this?"
"Yes, in fact they prefer this from their old burrows because it’s warmer apparently"
"Did they tell you?"
"Akhem, don’t forget that I’m a changeling, I can taste emotions, if they’d be unhappy I’d be the first to know, in any case, I think it’s about time to open this place and start business! Fluttershy, if you could, please go out to town with a few of your furry friends as we agreed and distribute the flyers while I go to the kitchen and begin preparing the promotional food samples"
"Right on it!"
Fluttershy galloped back to her hut for the leaflets and her woodland friends.
Miraculously Mark managed to keep the location of the restaurant a secret (mostly due to the fact that almost all pony folk are too afraid to come even close to the Everfree forest), this was a great way to keep up the excitement among the pony folk in town however that meant that once the restaurant was opened, nopony would come as they didn’t have any idea as to the whereabouts of the place.
Mark took his place in the kitchen and 2 cute bunnies took their place as the waiters in the restaurant.
Within 15 minutes, the restaurant was packed with equines of all sorts, the tree stump tables (obviously not real tree stumps as Sails promised not to cut down any trees in the area) were flooded with various dishes for the customers, many of the younger customers were captivated by the possibility of feeding the critters roaming in the restaurant, who were soon enough so full, they couldn’t even move.
The restaurant was a success.
By the end of the day, anypony who lived in Ponyville had already gone to the restaurant at least once, and so far nopony complained, Big was ecstatic about the success and even wanted to consider opening an entire chain of such restaurants once he has the right funding to do so but was soon calmed down by Sails.
The day came to a close and Sails put away his apron and chef’s hat, getting ready to go upstairs to bed when suddenly his plan was thwarted by knocking on the now closed door.
An unexpected visitor came to see Sails.
When Sails opened the door he was greeted by a young looking stallion with a spiky mane and a bag hung on his back
This stallion was different from the others he ever met before
Peculiar as it was, the stallion seemed to be the same age as Sails but the eyes! The stallion’s eyes were that of a being of ages, it was strange… Sails never came across anything like this before, and the emotions he emanated, dear god! It was an oncoming storm of all that is, has been and ever will be, the sheer majesticity of what the stallion must have experienced in his lifetimes must have been immeasurable.
"Hello, I’m the Doctor!"