The heavy locomotive slowed to a stop, brakes screeching and squealing. The cars buckled, shaking heavily as the old machine finally pulled to a stop at the busy station. Ponies wandered to and fro, some to shops and others to the exit.
It was here that our Practiced Prose and his companion sauntered off the train. Their light luggage was no hindrance as they made their way to the entrance of the extensive structure. They blended in perfectly with the crowd as just another few ponies merely making their way to whatever adventure awaited them in Charm City.
Both of their eyes wandered around at various ponies going about the motions of their day. From Unicorns, to Pegasi, to Earth Ponies, nopony was spared from their curious glance. To the untrained eye they were nothing more than newcomers, eager to see every sight and sound that this new city could deliver upon them.
To those who were raised to spot such interesting characters however, they would notice the glimmer in their eyes when spotting certain ponies. The stallion for example, who seemed to smile lightly at every pony who walked past him, saddlebags filled with books. His eyes glimmered with such an interest that one would believe that the mere thought of learning would feed him. Their guess wouldn't be that far off.
Then there was the other one. The younger mare, with her wings shuffled against her side. A quick glance at her would reveal nothing but an ecstatic mare, excited at the idea of exploring her new home. One trained in the art of deception however would recognize the same thing on her person as well. She seemed excited at each pony who trotted past the two. Her eyes kept flicking between ponies that she saw were walking in pairs. Be they friends, Lovers, or just strangers was unknown to her, but the very idea seemed to encourage her.
The two began their trip, trotting towards the paved roads of the city. The Pegasus mare seemed to know not where she was going, and it was quite obvious that she was simply following her Stallion counterpart.
“Where are we staying anyway, Prose?” She asked, trotting up to his side on the edge of the road.
“Very good question, Scar.” He replied. “The pamphlet said that the local Library has an apartment available.” He answered, glancing at the hastily written directions on the back of a delivery-menu.
“The library? What kind of Library has rooms available” The mare questioned, quite confusedly
Prose shrugged, before whistling. A bright yellow and black carriage rolled up to the side of the road, the driver already gesturing for them to get on. Both ponies hastily made their way onto the carriage, before Prose nodded to the stallion.
“Take us to library please.” He told him, tossing a single bit into the tip jar.
“Sure thing. Looking into the new rooms, I assume?” The lead asked, before quickly getting into gear. He was quick on his hooves, immediately getting them back into traffic and onto the journey to their destination. The group was awkwardly silent as they progressed in the direction of their destination.
“So Shield, what do you plan to do upon our arrival?” Prose grinned at her.
“Well Prose, I plan on tidying the place up a bit. A library's dormitories can only be dirty, am I right?” She chuckled, searching through her memory for something interesting to do.
The taxi continued onward towards it's destination. The ride was uninteresting for the most part and they arrived at the grand structure quite quickly.
Dropping a pile of bits into the jar without hesitation Prose disembarked the vehicle, pulling his companion out as well.
He smiled at her, before gesturing to their new home.
“I guess this is it, eh Scar?” He looked at the structure, barely able to contain himself.
“You're such a nerd, Prose. Go ahead without me, I have the rest of the luggage to lug up there anyway” She moaned, glancing back at the bags.
“Oh sweet, Thanks Shield!” He ran off, eager to explore all the delicious knowledge contained within the library unexplored to him.
Practiced Prose leapt up the stairs three at a time in his eagerness to explore the new library. He all but sprinted throughout the structure, grabbing every book he could find that wasn't in use of he'd read before.
He'd checked them out and was already halfway up the second set of stairs by the time Shield had entered the magnificent glass doors of the main lobby.
“Hurry up you old slowpoke!” He yelled to the dismay of the entire Library population. He sprinted up the last remaining steps before whipping out the notes he'd created. Grasping the knob with his magic he twisted and pulled. To his surprise, the door didn't budge, completely resisting his efforts. He struggled for a moment, before he shoved his body towards the door in an effort to force it open.
WHAM!
He slammed onto the floor of the apartment, his chin parallel to the floor.
“Uuuugh.” he moaned, rubbing his head with his hooves, before rolling over at the sound of hoofsteps.
“What, can't you open a door without my help my lord?” She chirped, chuckling at his misfortune. She continued past him with their bags grinning like a the Cheshire cat.
“You know I still can't quite understand just how you're a noble with your childish ways Prose.” She chuckled, closing the door.
The stallion opened his mouth to reply before wincing. As he ensured the door was closed and locked, he released the faint tendrils of magic that covered his body under the assumption that Shield had checked the room.
Dark green flames washed his body, stripping away his disguise and revealing a chitinous insectoid body. He was primarily black and gray, with a dark blue-green mixture highlighting, and his body was much larger than that of the average stallion. His plated back slid upwards slightly, letting a large pair of wings slide out. They looked very similar to a Fly's, if they were scaled upwards and thicker. He stood completely, relishing in the ability to stretch himself out. His skeleton popped frequently as it took its place. Scarlet merely glanced backwards at her companion, smiling.
“You know you should probably have made sure I checked the place, but oh well.” She stretched herself out, as similar flames floated around her form. Her transformation was much faster, washing over her in no less than a second. Her body was smaller and she was barely eye-level to his chin. He smiled down at her, his wings buzzing.
“Oh, I'm sorry for wanting to get out of that disguise. It's nice to finally be back to my normal size, you know?” He replied, immediately trotting over towards the couch in the center of the room.
“I swear, one of these days you're going to get us killed. You're too damn relaxed for someling of your stance” His companion buzzed as she sauntered her way into the kitchen.
Relaxing on the couch, the larger changeling buzzed comfortably.
Prose's relaxation was cut short when a scream shattered the silence. It was filled to the brim with terror and shock. He'd never moved faster in his life than in those next five seconds. It took two to leap the over the couch, one to get to the kitchen, and one more to tackle whatever was currently blowing their cover. That last second? That was reserved for finally realizing that he'd just slam-dunked some poor mare straight onto the tile floor. She was out cold, unsurprisingly.
“Who the buck is this?!” Prose's eyes were wide with surprise.
“Uh… I believe the Librarian said that we had a roommate… I think” Shield scavenged her memories for the answer.
They both looked to their completely-out roommate before they heard heavy knocking on the door.
“That was a lot of screaming, Honey Blossom! Are you alright?” Somepony slammed their hooves on the door again.
Coughing a few times to get back into his voice, Prose replied. “Sorry about that! We might have surprised her, and she fainted! We're her new Roomies!” He yelled through the thick oak door.
“Ah. No hard feelings then dude, it's just Honey's a good friend of mine. I thought something happened to her” The voice was quieter now yet still distinctly male.
“It's fine, she's just out cold for now. Thanks for being worried though.” Prose answered.
Hoofsteps sounded through the door, before the sound of a door being shut was heard.
“Well buck, this is going to be hard to explain” Shield answered the unspoken question. How exactly were they going to explain why Honey Blossom would awake with the clear memory of not one, but two giant insect-ponies in her vision?
One thing was certain however. These two were certainly in for an interesting stay in this city. It seemed that nothing should be able to surprise them anymore, at least not to the level of this.