Chapter 5
Forever Free
It has now been many years, and the filly is almost a mare. After the first few weeks, Inn had decided to slow down on the 'pranks' in order to keep herself sane. She did not know why, but it seemed like most of the ponies in town were afraid of her. They had all known her since she was a foal, so why were they only now beginning to go to such lengths to avoid her?
This did not matter that much to Inn, not at the moment. She had other things to do. Spark and chrysanthemum were meeting with some of the townsponies about something. Inn didn't know what, but she didn't really care, it was probably something boring, like scrabble, or the weather. Thus Inn was left to mind the desk. There was a new guest, and he needed a room to stay in. This pony was a bit wierded out by the sight of Inn, but he tried to not let it show.
On the way to the traveling pony’s room, Inn asked if he would like to hear her special talent. The pony said yes, and with that, Inn began to speak.
“This is one of the things that I am well known for. The other being, well... you’ve seen me,” Inn said in the other pony’s scratchy voice.
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A crowd was beginning to gather close to the inn. Inn was beginning to wonder what was going on outside, but she had to tend to the inn. As she moved about, occasionally looking out a window, she saw the crowd slowly growing, and with it, her curiosity.
Then the new guest came and asked, “Is there normally some sort of parade?”
“N-no...” stammered Inn. Her curiosity finally got the better of her, she needed to go and see what was going on. Now.
When Inn got outside, she was greeted by a growing mob of ponies surrounding the inn and staring accusingly at her. She began to back up but was stopped. The new guest was blocking the door to the inn, his expression a match to the faces of the others. The mayor stepped forward from within the mob.
“We know what you have been doing, Inn,” she said in a stern voice. “We know that you have the ability to shape shift, and that you have been using this ability to do bad things”
Inn just stood there for a moment thinking about what was just said. The words spinning in her head. She grew a par of white wings and flew up to see how many ponies where there. It looked like the entire town, Even her parents were there, at the very back of the crowd with their heads down. Several pegasi flew up in order to catch Inn in case she attempted to flee. Only to see that it was pointless, as she was all ready on her way back down.
“Wow, l-l-looks, loo-looks like the whole town is here,” Inn said to the mayor. The wings retracting back into Inn’s body.
This was odd to the opposing pony, she had thought that Inn would fly away at that news. “So do you know why we are here?”
“Not, exactly... no.”
The pony sighs, “We have all heard that you have been tormenting other ponies, using a horrifying ability to change your appearance and voice.” Inn seemed unfazed by this. “We don’t take kindly to that kinda thing around here. You should know that.”
“S-s-s-so now what?” asked Inn, no real difference in her tone than normal.
“Now, you must leave our town forever.”
“FOREVER!” came a shout from somewhere in the crowd.
Inn lowered her head slightly for a moment and then raised it again. “Ah, Ms. Mayor, may I ask, where I can go?”
“That is up to you, but you must travel through the Everfree forest to get there. That is the true punishment.”
Inn was laughing inside. Everfree was like her second home, and part of the punishment was to travel in it. “O-okay. I-I-I'll go then.”
“I will bring you to the path out of town. This will be the last place that you can say goodbye, as well as anything else you may want to say.” the mayor hinted.
As they went through the crowd, Inn could feel the hateful piercing stares being shot at her. The feeling was physically painful, and she could not understand why it hurt so much. Inn just kept putting one hoof in front of the other, in a fast, walking rhythm. She made her way past crowd, and to the border between the town and Everfree.
It was a long silent walk.
When they finally got there, the mayor asked, “So, is there anything that you wish to say before you leave here forever?”
“FOREVER!” the voice from the crowd called again.
Inn cowered for a few moments, but then, she looked and saw something she did not expect. Two fillies in the crowd doing the same. Elegance and Exquisite Stone are so frightened of Inn, that even now, they could not stand up tall.
A smile appeared on her face, a big smile. It looked sinister and evil, even though that was not the intent of the smile, it was still just as horrifying. A towns pony thinking that it was them, not the fillies, that she was looking at with the smile, began to throw rocks. Shouting, “Just leave use you evil monster!” the other ponies joined in. There where exceptions, few but exceptions.
The mayor ran for cover and shouted, “Stop!” but nopony would listen.
At first, the rocks hitting Inn made her flinch. But... as her concentration narrowed, she found herself able to ignore the pain.
“I have plenty of last things to say!” said Inn, no hesitation, no stuttering, no fear in her voice.
The rocks stopped flying, as some of the crowd backed away. Knowing the filly, knowing that this was not how she normally spoke, was scared by this.
“I have never had the intention of harming any pony in this town, except for two. Even these two I was not going to harm, physically. Oh no. I only wished to mentally scar them as they had done me.” As Inn spoke each word, she took one step closer to Elegance and Exquisite. Ponies where clearing the way, but only because they thought something bad was about to happen. “All I wanted was for them to be just as scared as me, just as scarred as me. I wanted to repay the scars they had given me!”
As she drew closer, she became more animated. The crowd retreated from the two ponies in question. “I had thought that I needed more time to get the proper revenge on them. But thanks to all this...” Elegance and Exquisite Stone were now face to face with Inn. The constant gaze and smile had scared the two so much that they could not move. “... I see that my vengeance is complete. This was a triumph.”
She chuckles menially and then turns, heading back to the edge of the forest. “I do, how ever, find it sad that I have to leave my parents and the inn. But it’s not like you can really keep me out, is it?” the horrible evil tone was now gone, replace with sincerity. everypony looked at each other.
“Yes, that’s what we are doing right now Inn. We are kicking you out forever,” said the mayor with a stern commanding voice.
Inn laughed slightly. “But...” She turns into a brown and blue filly, face covered in blood, and a horn coming out her heard. “... Are you forgetting that I am the master of disguise? I can change into anypony, real or not.” The two fillies whimpered in fear at the sight in front of them. “I can hold a form for a long time, and it would to bad for the town to be isolated on my account. And you have no way of detecting whether or not it's me.”
These points rage in the mayors head, there really was nothing they could do. Maybe the princess could do something. But as Inn was just saying, She was done, she was going to stop abusing her abilities, at least if Inn wasn’t lying. And why bother the princess for a pointless thing like this? If Inn is lying, then that would be the time to get her majesty involved, but not for a self-subdued pony.
“I'm not even angry, I'm being so sincere right now. I can come back some time and show you just how long I can hold a form, and you'll never catch me.” taunted Inn as she walked into the Everfree forest. She changed into a manticore, this was obviously a clever disguise, but it was not the topic of the murmuring that followed. It was how Inn had said, “I knew I could change into one if I tried.”
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As soon as the town was out of sight Inn stopped by a tree and changed back into herself. She needed a break. That was the biggest performance she had ever done. The only way she could stop form stuttering was by acting as if she were another pony. And she had never had such a large audience before. The worst distraction she had previously had been a waterfall that added lots of weight to her, making it hard to concentrate. The rocks were a new challenge altogether.
But she did it. She did all if it. Even turning into a manticore.