Chapter 4
The Beginning of the end?
It had been two years. It was hard to see what had changed, and yet it felt like much had. Inn was a little taller now, and after two years of practice, she could mimic any body part voice perfectly. With many guest coming to the inn, there were many that she could test her skills with. And most opportunely of all, she could go back and forth with almost perfect timing. She was now a master at her own skill.
She now had many books, books on how to use magic and magic history. She may have been able to get a horn, but she did not get the owners knowledge of magic. And she found out if she had wings, that she needed to work out the muscles in them, the good thing was that it can transfer from wing to wing.
The filly still needed to go to school though, and was still teased. She did not have a cutie mark yet and that was just one of many things that were the sources of the jokes made about her.
During recess, the two fillies that where making fun of Inn where on either side her. “Look at that, still a blank flank. Are you always going to be a blank flank Marshmellow?” Exquisite Stone said with a snooty tone.
Elegance looks up at her friend, “Yeah, the freak will always be blank because it is her special talent. Just look at her.”
This went on until it was time to go back to class, just like always. But... Inn was not all as down as usual. Inn was losing her mind, and she knew it. She could only think of one way to satisfy this urge to lower the dementia building in her, pay back. She knew that she would have it soon, and it was just a matter of time.
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Late that night, a frantic knock at a small blue, one story house was heard. Elegance answered the door to see a little brown and blue filly crying on the steps. A shiver of fear went down Elegance’s spine, as she looked at Exquisite, face covered in tears and blood coming from the top of her head. The Earth pony was growing a horn.
“Why, why is this happening, Elegance?” cried Exquisite Stone.
Elegance stared for a few seconds, then said, “W-when did this s-s-start? Maybe w-we can find the c-cause there.”
“It, it, it started when I got near you house!” she cried, as the horn grew another inch.
Elegance backed up, her friend was standing there now dripping blood. Exquisite wined and thrashed in pain. Elegance was too worried about her to notice that there was no blood on the ground.
“Aren't you going to help me?” Exquisite cried, as she walked into the house with weak steps.
Exquisite Stone wobbles to the ground and lays there as another inch grew on the horn. Not moving a muscle, and bleeding even more. Unsure of what to do, Elegance panics, and runs to get help from her parents, who where not home.
Exquisite Stone looked up and around.
The house was empty.
Slowly, she began to laugh.
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Inn got home, and was in the attic. The attic was now place a happiness to Inn, for this is where she could do some practicing. The filly was playing with all sorts of “designs.” Making the old stallion look young again, making the young mare look old, and the most fun of all, seeing just what Elegance had seen.
“This has to be the best thing ever!” she said quietly to herself, as she changed into all sorts of other townsponies, and making them look silly or interesting.
Just as she finished, and was about to leave. she saw a small light coming from her flank. She knew what this light meant, and she was so happy to see just what her cutie mark was. Turning her head around, she saw... nothing... but the light of the cutie mark fading.
Her cutie mark was actually blank.
Happiness was replaced with sadness, hate, and confusion, all in an instant.
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The next week, Inn was minding her own business in class. But the whispering of the two in front got her attention.
“Do, you want to hang out today?” asked Elegance.
“Let me guess, my place?” replied Exquisite.
“Ah, ya if you don’t mind,”
“Ya, okay,” Exquisite sighed, annoyingly. “Why can’t we ever go to your place El?”
Elegance looked down, “Ah, I don’t feel comfortable with it for now.”
Exquisite sighs again, “Well okay, but tomorrow, we are going to the park instead of my place, got it.”
“Sure.”
Inn smiled. The last week was similar to this day, but now they where not going to be in a house.
Oh the joy.
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The park is near the forest, and this is where Inn waited. It was sunset by the time the two arrived. “See nothing happened,” Exquisite Stone said looking to Elegance. Elegance was just getting some color back after the fright she had from seeing Exquisite just pop up at her door steps. The two walked to the parked slowly and found a good place to play hide and seek.
Inn waited for nearly thirty minutes, and then it was time to make a move. She used some of her abilities to change into a stallion, but to make it look new, it was a jumbled mix. Tall and bulky, with light gray coat, mane was blue with black highlights, and to top it all off, a cutie mark of a hour class. For a short time there was a horn, but that was only for the start of this... prank.
Using magic, Inn flung herself into the air back first in the direction of the other two fillies. Trying to make it looking real but also not hurt herself, she used the horn to slow arrest her momentum near the end of the 'fall', but not so much that it would be noticeable. When on the ground again, she quickly got rid of the horn.
Shocked that a grown pony just been thrown through a the air, the little fillies look to try to see what had thrown him. Seeing nothing, they turned their attention back to him. Looking at him, they saw cuts that, while not deep, but instead wide and long.
“Ru-run! Manticore, run or it will eat you!” shouted the injured stallion. Trying to get to his hooves. Fear had paralyzed the two fillies, but after a second, the bolted in the opposite direction.
With the two out of sight, Inn changed back to normal and hopped to the trees of the park. Where there was a back way into the inn. Not three minutes after Inn was safely out of sight, the two came back with an adult mare.
“See, see right th-” started Exquisite Stone, only to stop when there was nopony to be seen.
“You fillies need to stop playing these jokes and learn what is and isn't okay!”
“But, but...” started Elegance, unable to think of anything to say. It did seem like a bad joke they just pulled.
Inn made her way home with a big smile on her face.
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Time passes.
More and more of these “pranks” are done.
Only to the two that hurt her the most.
And, over time, the psychotic feeling was leaving her.
This was her own self endorsed therapy.
Scaring those that had once scared her.
Pay back. Revenge. A long awaited vendetta.
It is not a school day, but it would not really bother Inn too much if it were. Elegance and Exquisite Stone where not bothering Inn as much as usual. They where too focused on the dying ponies they kept seeing every couple of weeks. It was now a few months later, and Inn had thought of a deadline to stop. She would stop in one or two years, depending on how frightened the two were.
After all, what she was doing was worse than what they did. And with that in mind, all she wanted was for them to be just as broken as she was.
Inn had plans for today, and all she needed was a good time to leave the inn. This was made difficult by Spark and Chrysanthemum, who wanted Inn to try working in the inn. Even if it where for just a short time, the two wanted their daughter to see what it was like to work there.
It was a long day, and all Inn could think of while sitting at the front desk and cleaning the floors, was how she would be going to mess with those two fillies tonight.
In arrived at Exquisite Stone's house, it was clear that Elegance was there by the voice coming through the walls. Seeing that Exquisite Stone’s parents where not in the same room, and most likely out or upstairs, Inn started to make her move to set up some more scares. Inn made her way to the top of the chimney and slowly lowered herself down it.
When she was near the bottom of the fire pit, she changed from her normal appearance. Let go so that she would fall into the pit, and showed her new form to the startled fillies. A half burnt mare with a blue coat and green mane. The mane was singed and looked as if some of it it had been burnt off, the tail was almost completely gone. As this sight slowly sank in, the two began to look on in fear... not again!!
“H- h- he, help, h- hel- heelp meeee,” gasped the crisped thing before them. It sounded as if it's lungs had no air and were filled with smoke. This... thing, began crawling towards the fillies, as if it wanted help. The hind legs dangled behind, useless. The fillies screamed and ran upstairs.
Then in a flash, Inn was at the door. Hiding in what would seem like an obvious place, next to the front steps. She had crouched and hid so that all they would have to do is go out the door and look down the left side of the steps and the burnt pony would be in plain sight. But with Inn’s experience, she knew that was not likely to happen.
The parents of Exquisite Stone came down the stairs, and again did not see one of the dying ponies she had mentioned. Looking up the chimney, and out the door they saw nothing and tried to reassure the two frightened fillies of this. But these words meant nothing to them.
Hearing all this made Inn so overjoyed, that she just had to try and find ways to top this one too. She went home shortly after. When she was far enough away from the house, she turned back into her normal self.
But, there was just one problem.
Unbeknownst to Inn, somepony had seen her come out of the house and then turn into another pony.