When a changeling gets a bright idea

by Rarity Belle

Chapter 03

The train continued to thunder down the tracks. The mare got a smug grin on her face. The memories of the red flow that went through her were just breathtaking and arousing. It was perhaps the best feeling that she had ever had. Words were never spoken though. Even though she sat in the last compartment of the train, there were still other ponies that could have heard her ever word. Not to mention that a changeling in the ‘wild’ might have caused a few ideas of madness to just spark out.

No, Chara had to lay low for the moment. Not that it mattered too much for her in the end. She could always just think about how she would have tackled her new plan. During her stay in Dodge Junction were there always stories about six ponies living somewhere in Equestria. Six ponies who did extraordinary and near impossible feats because of their very friendship.

That very thought drove Chara to already finding ways to break that friendship. But it got even better when time went on. The one place where all the stories would have come together, was of course the saloon and with her looks, she often got the information that she needed.

Six names were always spoken by everypony about the six of them, six names that were almost famous throughout the entirety of Equestria. Their names were of little concern to the changeling though. She was instead much more interested in the collected name she always heard them about. Those six mysterious mares were often called the ‘Elements of Harmony’. One of them had even become an alicorn princess in recent times. Now that alone was a feat unbelievable when she heard it. Chara hadn’t the faintest idea what to expect from them.

Everypony knew about their recently gained ‘Rainbow Power’ after lord Tirek had escaped Tartarus and caused his rampage. That was perhaps the only way through which he could be stopped.

Equestria had almost been doomed, again.

Chara chuckled a bit to herself and stroked through her mane. The tales that she had heard about those six. The word unbelievable wouldn’t even start to cover how she felt about them.

The six of them seemed to be inseparable from the sounds of it. It would have been up to Chara to test whether or not that actually happened to be the case. Anything could have been said about the mares and it couldn’t have been true. “All in due time, all in due time,” she said in hushed tones to herself.

Another grin came forth across her muzzle prior to when she stood up. Chara left her seat and would have gone on a small exploration through the train. Her destination was Ponyville without a doubt, but the journey was long and boring, not up to her par. Maybe somepony aboard the train had quarrels with somebody else, or maybe she could engage herself in a conversation of sorts.

Random thoughts crossed her while she trotted calmly through the carriages and spoke to some ponies aboard. Though none of them were really glad with the fact that she spoke to them. They wanted to be left alone for the journey, not an unreasonable demand at all.

~~~~

In the end had Chara ended up in the restoration-carriage and sat down at a table. The waiter came to her and she placed her order, she felt like eating something fancy for the day and thus ordered a six course dinner.

While she waited, there was a rather handsome stallion entering. The two made eye contact the second he entered and she gestured him to sit down with her. The stallion approached her and gave a small nod with his head, than he sat down and began to speak. “A very good afternoon, fair lady. May I be so blunt to ask, what such a lovely treasure is doing all by herself on a train like this?”

Chara had a difficult time not to blush to the words, hiding most of her face by her hoof. A little giggle left her at first and she then managed to get up the courage to speak. “If the, handsome stallion, really wants to know it, the answer is really quite simple,” she began, lowering her hoof a bit more, “I plan to take a journey to the more rural parts of Equestria. I’ve heard that Ponyville is quite the sight to behold.”

The stallion nodded, confirming her words.

The waiter came with the first course. Chara nudged him and whispered. “Could you also prepare a six course dinner for my, companion, here?” A plan had hatched within her mind.

The waiter nodded and he would be off again. The stallion was surprised by the fact that Chara had already ordered dinner. Though the train had such a strange schedule to begin with. “But, Ponyville you say? Heard stories about that place. Used to be a quiet little town, right up to the point where Nightmare Moon was supposed to return to this earth. After that, it became the epicenter of all sorts of trouble and mostly destruction. The ponies are still lovely company though,” the stallion said to her. He wasn’t entirely wrong with his words though.

The changeling listened to every last one that was spoken by him. She nodded every so often. Her time with him would have been used to extract information, before disappearing on the toilet and let him pay for everything, that part of the plan was already set in stone. “But they have the Elements of Harmony, right? Won’t they protect the town?”

The stallion huffed for a moment and shook his head. “After what happened with both Discord and lord Tirek, I’m still surprised that they are called that. They made a pretty big mess if the tales have to be believed. Of course, they cleaned it up afterward, but the original defeat of those villains was, less than spectacular.”

The waiter than came with the first course of their meal and they thanked him with a smile.

With the waiter gone again, Chara saw her opportunity to ask the one question that was burning on her tongue. Obviously the stallion knew the ponies she wanted to meet. Perhaps she could squeeze out some more information about them. “Now that’s actually quite the something. But do you think that it might inflict something on their friendship, all those earth-shattering moments?” she dared to ask.

The stallion rose his eyes to her and then rose a single eyebrow to boot. It wasn’t the place for a lady like her to ask such questions. But he was too much of a gentlecolt not to answer it. “No, I don’t want to say that. I’ve had the privilege of meeting them once, they seem like a random group of ponies thrown together. But there’s one with whom I’ve spend much more time with, that being Rarity. Lovely mare and somepony me and Fleur always love and look forward to meet. Come to think of it, she might have loved this dinner as well.”

Chara wasn’t getting anywhere, anytime soon with her conversation. The stallion knew bits and pieces about them. It didn’t prove to be the source of information that she had hoped he was. Instead would the changeling have just continued on, asked questions about this ‘Rarity’. Evidently, her clothing lines had Chara often seen in magazines and even in stores in Dodge Junction. The lack of information from the others, was what concerned her.

The trip was still long and she enjoyed his company as a pony. Perhaps she could have just enjoyed the dinner for it was and then bailed out on him, hearing on a bit more about his one encounter with the other ponies that were involved in the Elements. Any big of information that could have helped her, should have been taken.

~~~~

Chara sat back on her seat after the dinner. She came to know some useful things about the ponies who formed the Elements of Harmony. Though in order to take them down where it was truly hurting, she had to find a different set of targets first. Her diabolical plan could only succeed if there was some red flow still left within her. Fresh red flow, for that matter. Ponyville was a town of friendship and strange relations, it wouldn’t have been too difficult to break at least one of those bonds, right? Right? That was the question she asked herself.

Moments later had the train decreased in its speed and the brakes were slowly applied. The massive engine had rolled in the station of Ponyville itself, her final destination. Chara took her belongings with her and would leave the train as one of the last. The door was then shut behind her and the powerful whistle from the engine rolled over the platform.

Huffs and puffs of steam came first and then the pistons came to roll, the train was departing again, heading to Canterlot itself. The changeling had a last look at the train and nodded to herself. The hour was late, but perhaps a small pension or tavern, or even an inn around town still had a place for her to sleep. So she took her luggage and went on. Her appearance was still that of Rusty Bucket, the rough and tough, yet elegant mare from Dodge Junction. Her style of clothing showed those features through and through.

Wandering through the town had made her almost sick of just how friendly and peacekeeping these dreadful ponies were. It was the complete opposite of Dodge Junction. Chara would have never survived in that place without causing some major disturbances herself. In the corner of her eye she caught a sign, a sign that was the one sign she had hoped of finding.

She rushed over to the building and opened the door. Behind the desk sat a mare with a smile. Chara had arrived at a small pension at the edge of Ponyville, far out of the reaches from the center. She arranged herself a room and would be guided to it. Eventually was the key given to her and she opened the door. A deep inhale was taken and she then disappeared through the created gap.

Between the walls was just a simple room to be found. One that wasn’t anything of interest in particular to anypony, but it would have been enough to keep her happy during her stay, at least until she had found something better. Maybe she could do it as she did in Dodge Junction? Doing some odd jobs around town and hope that ponies would compensate her for her troubles. It was maybe a bit farfetched, but it could work.

It was a trouble for the next day though. Chara was tired and wanted to sleep. She had one glance to the bed and jumped right atop of it. She wouldn’t let go of the pillow and coiled up right atop it. In all her life, she had never even used a bed normally once. Always sleeping in strange and curious ways, up to the point where she even managed once to lay upside down, with her head staring at the floor, that was one strange morning indeed.

~~~~

The morning sun broke the horizon and vanquished the night again. Chara came out of her bed, feeling more drained than when she went in. Still, she prepared herself for the day. The changeling left the room with the intents to stroll through the town. Leaving the pension without breakfast was maybe a mistake, but she was on a mission.

While the morning continued on, she saw ponies all doing their daily things and they didn’t really seem to mind her. Not that she had any problems with that. But when the time neared the afternoon hour, Chara found herself roaming through the center of the town. Still no sign from any of the six ponies she wanted to meet. What she did found were two other ponies that caught her interests.

It was at the teahouse where she saw two mares sipping their tea. One was a gray coated one with black mane, looking quite bored and classy at the same time. The other was white with blue mane, and wearing ridiculously sized glasses that blocked the entirety of her eyes. Maybe, just maybe did those two mares knew something about the mares that she wanted to meet. It felt like Chara had hit two birds with one stone.

At one end could she have gathered information about not just those two, but also about the mares she wanted to take down. And to boot, she could hone her skills a bit more and try to break the friendship between those two, to at least have some red flow coursing through her veins again.

It was a longshot, but also one that could have been of massive use to her. Chara approached the two mares and tried not to be a creep. “Terribly sorry, but would you mind it if I joined you on this wonderful day?” she asked with a classy voice, eyes to die form.

Both of the mares took a look at each other. It was a strange and rather unusual request of course. But the two ponies shared their thoughts. The white mare nodded and the gray mare spoke the words. “Not at all, please, join us miss...”

“Bucket.”

“Miss Bucket. Waiter, another cup please.”

“Coming up!” the waiter replied from the inside.

“The name’s Rusty Bucket, by the way, pleased to meet the both of you,” said Chara with a smile.

“The feeling is mutual, the name’s Octavia Melody and this here is Vinyl Scratch,” returned Octavia. Vinyl held a cup of tea in her magical hold and waved to Chara with a smile. “Forgive her lack of speech, she isn’t a mare of many words, at all.”

“And yet, you still understand how she feels?” Chara regretted the question in an instant. It had come out before she even knew what she had said. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that, I do apologize.”

By that time had the waiter arrived with a cup for Chara. It was Vinyl who poured her a cup of tea. The unicorn mare didn’t even seem to be bothered by the words, that was the signal for Octavia to answer the question.

The gray mare got a smile across her muzzle. She gave a nod to Vinyl and shifted her attention over to the disguised changeling. “It doesn’t matter, Rusty, she’s been like that since the day I met her. It’s quite the curious little thing and I do understand how she feels. Even though her eyes are obscured pretty much all of the time, you start to learn her body language quite clearly. And for that, words aren’t necessary in the slightest.”

Chara had to admit that she was impressed. The way that those two ponies were busy with each other had she never expected behind them. It gave her much more information that Octavia ever wanted to give up. The changed changeling took a sip of her tea and allowed the liquids to just glide through her throat. The taste was just marvelous and she honestly couldn’t place it. Though the act of her being a lady had to be kept even if she was craving for yet another sip of tea.

“I don’t know what to say to that, that’s quite the accomplishment you have there, Octavia.” The voice of Chara sounded genuinely impressed and the gray mare got a little blush across her cheeks. It was also obvious that the two of them were in a relationship that went further than friends. If the changeling didn’t know any better, the two were in love with each other. Breaking that bound between them, that could have been her massive victory.

“But what is it that you both do?”

Octavia chuckled while Vinyl took another sip of her tea, followed by cookie from the plate.

“We’re both musicians. I prefer the classic tunes of the music of old, playing them with my cello in a band that tours through pretty much all of Equestria. While Vinyl here, as much as I dislike to say it, prefer the music of nowadays. The hard, rasping sounds of magic electricity crashing against each other. It’s something you have to get used to. But what about you, Rusty? What do you do, and, forgive my prying, where are you from?”

It was one of those questions to which Chara wasn’t feeling like answering at all, but she had to give the answer eventually. Her coverstory depended on it and the only way she could have succeeded, was by lying with confidence in their faces. Another sip of the marvelous tea was taken by her before she would have replied.

“Well, you can say that I’m a bit of a traveler, I stay at places for some time until either I get bored of it, or they get bored of me. I’m a, wanderer, you might say. As to where I am from, I can’t tell anymore. It’s, a long and bothersome story I won’t bother you too much with. But let’s keep it on the fact that I’ve travelled for so long, I forgot where my actual home is, or was.” She wasn’t entirely lying though.

The two mares nodded to her words, it was sad to hear but that was how they accepted it. They had bought the story with open eyes. At least, Chara thought that Vinyl’s eyes were open. It could have been anything that went on behind those shades really. Not that it mattered too much. Because she had given most of her attention to Octavia. The earth pony had become the major target for Chara. All the details were remembered, all of the features of her looks. The disguise for Octavia was being formed in her mind, the act of becoming her as well. The longer they would converse, the more the changeling would come to know about their personal lives.

All of that valuable information would be used in the most devious of ways of course. Chara had set her sights on the two of them, she would create such a negative flow between the two of them that their love would break. That was the plan at least and for her, it began to taste even sweeter than the tea she was sipping.

~~~~

For the rest of the afternoon would the three mares be talking to one another. They conversed about the most different subjects that Equestria had to offer. Chara liked the conversation to some degree while Vinyl and Octavia were just happy to have some good company. But in the end, their ways had to separate while the sun set down. It was at that point where the changeling returned to her room, brooding on the plans of madness to come.