//------------------------------// // Chapter Two // Story: The Return of The Terror // by Vanilla Mocha //------------------------------// "Listen!" Galaxy yelled. He, Mocha, Quillton and Valerium had gathered all of their friends that knew Joy from last year's Nightmare Night party. All twelve friends were in Mocha's coffee shop, discussing what had happened yesterday. The room became silent and all eyes fell upon Galaxy. "Thank you," smiling, he began, "As I know you are all aware of, Joy is nowhere to be seen. We all know is what happened to Vanilla last night, and Valerium was there to prove it." "He'll take up for her no matter what, he's her coltfriend!" Breeze, a bat pony, pointed out. Mocha raised an eyebrow. "Don't you trust us?" Breeze smiled. "Yeah, I do. But what I don't get is that Joy would do that. Look at her name! Her mark! She's good now!" Valerium sighed. "Her... Mark changed. It's a broken heart." Garfield grinned. "Broken heart? I like that." The orange cat crossed his arms in satisfactory. "Garfield!" Mocha shook her head, "Stop being Grumpy Cat, this is serious." "I am being serious," the feline responded, "I just don't care for all the lovey-dovey friends-forever stuff." Galaxy chuckled. "We can tell," sitting down, he glanced up at Quillton. "Quillton, do you have any ideas?" "Perhaps what we thought had happened was really just the impossible fooling us." Brooks replied quietly. "Huh?" Mocha asked. "She's a Changeling. Born that way, will die that way. She can't change her species because she feels like it." "She has a cutie mark, though." Paradise Oasis, a ginger maned pegasus, pointed out. "Not to mention she really has changed in her personality." Daffodil Spark, an orange earth pony, added. Professor Tacitus raised his hoof. "Ahem." Everypony turned to face the brown furred stallion. "I believe that Quillton is on to something," he began, "Changelings are known as shape-shifters and transformers. Her whole life as a Changeling is to act, steal, and deceive. There has never been a Changeling in all of history to become good: or any creature to change species, for that matter." Charming Thunder blinked. The red stallion scratched at his chin, then argued back, "What about when Princess Twilight Sparkle became an alicorn? She changed." "Not in species," The professor explained, "That would be like her becoming a Griffon, or a dragon. But not an alicorn. That's a race." Mumbles arose around the room. Frost looked up. "B-but... What if she did change? Not into a new species, but as a Changeling with a cutie mark and full fur color? She was a white furred Changeling, after all. Different from the rest." "Possibly." Quillton Brooks answered. The time traveler closed his eyes, thinking. Opening them, he sighed. "This is very confusing." Shadow, another bat pony, stepped forward. "I say we go find Joy and see what really is wrong with her!" Everypony made their way toward the exit. Galaxy Nebula clapped his hooves together. "Wait," he shouted, "I have something to say!" All of the friends stopped. "What?" Paradise Oasis asked. "We need to make a plan, first of all." Galaxy sighed, "And... I saw the pony that Mocha and Valerium saw last night." Intrigued, everypony sat down. "I... Saw Joy standing outside yesterday. With a broken heart cutie mark, and red eyes. It was so creepy... It looked just like her. After I went home, I concluded that it was a reflection... But she was in the coffee shop, just like we are... She was completely normal." He began sweating, "It was so creepy..." Quillton patted his shoulder. "We do need to be cautious of our imaginations and real life." Mocha nodded. "So, about a plan?" Paradise smiled. "How about that pony from last time, Red? He could help us." "And Sunset Shimmer might need to come along." Quillton added. "I have an idea," Frost said, "How about the adventurers, Galaxy and Quillton, work out a plan. We all meet back here later. They're the most experienced, anyways." Vanilla Mocha nodded. "That's a good idea. Let's meet back in..." "Two hours." Galaxy finished. "That should give us enough time." The ponies left, except for Galaxy, Quillton, Vanilla, and Valerium. "I have to go," Valerium said quietly, "Work today. I'll visit you tonight, promise." He kissed Mocha on the cheek softly. "Alright, I love you." Vanilla nuzzled him, smiling. "Love you too." Galaxy glanced up at Mocha as her coltfriend left. "Are... You two ever gonna get married?" Vanilla Mocha blinked. "Well, yes. I want to marry him, anyways. But I won't rush him." Quillton looked at Galaxy. "I know you were fast to propose to your fiancé, but give 'em some time." Galaxy grinned. "Speaking of which, when'll you pop the question with Sunny?" Quillton's eyes widened. "I... Will. Work has kept me busy, dearie. Also, it's a bit hard when your girlfriend is in another dimension." Galaxy laughed. "That's true." Mocha smiled. "Not to mention that I'm traditional. He's gonna have to be the one to ask me." Quillton chuckled. "I couldn't imagine Sunset asking me." Mocha opened her mouth, but before she could speak, Paradise threw open the coffee shop door. "Vanilla! Quillton! Galaxy! Heeeeeeelp!" ~~~ "No, no, no, noooo!" Vanilla Mocha wailed. She sat beside her coltfriend, whom lay in the road. Slowly, but surely, he was breathing. Tears in her eyes, Mocha didn't budge. "Please be okay... Please..." Galaxy had contacted the hospital, which was on their way with an ambulance. "Thank you for letting us know, Paradise, dearie." Quillton said quietly. "Not a problem. I just so happened to have seen something out of my peripheral vision, and when I looked up, there he was. I wasn't sure how long he had been there..." "He left the shop not even five minutes before all of this, so hopefully he won't have too much damage." Quillton looked down at Mocha and Valerium. Galaxy smiled. "There's the ambulance. Mocha, wanna stay with me for a while, then go back up there and see him? I wanna keep you calm." Vanilla turned her head to face the pegasus. Her face was red from crying. Shaking her head 'no', she walked into the back of the ambulance with Valerium, who was now on a stretcher being lifted into the vehicle. Paradise faced the two stallions. "I'll go with Mocha and help to keep her calm. You two, get the group together and figure out the plan." The three ponies watched the ambulance drive off. And a pair of red eyes watched those three ponies.