The preparations for the transition to autumn in Vanhoover had formally begun according to the weather reports in the paper, but despite a notable decrease in the ambient temperature in the city, the weather outwardly remained fairly calm and unchanged. This didn’t especially surprise Spike, who knew the autumn transition generally wasn’t immediate. Back in Ponyville, autumn normally wouldn’t settle in fully for another moon or more. However, according to Fly Leaf, Vanhoover, being further north, tended to start into autumn sooner than more southern towns like Ponyville due to the climate differences. The weather may be managed by ponies after all, but that didn’t mean the climate wouldn't still vary depending on the region of the world you lived in.
Or so both Spike and Fly Leaf attempted to explain to Thorax, who didn’t seem to understand. To him, the discrepancies all just seemed oddly inefficient. Wouldn’t it make more sense to just have autumn take place universally across the globe regardless of region? He assumed there was a more formal explanation as to why it was done this way that neither Spike nor Fly could give him, and made a mental note to research it further next time he was checking out new books from the library. In the meantime, Thorax decided to appreciate the slow transition to autumn anyway, as it at least meant it bought himself time to brace for it. Going from the colorful descriptions Spike had been giving him, autumn sounded visually beautiful, but being originally native to much farther south than here, Thorax was also dreading the cold that would come with it. His chitinous hide, of course, would provide sufficient insulation to bear it, and he had been wearing his new hoodie jacket every time he went out now, but that didn’t mean the cold was going to be any more enjoyable for him to be in.
Regardless, it wasn’t a bad day to be out and about in the city, and so for his lunchbreak that day, Thorax decided to go out and run a few errands. He was in a pretty good mood as he did so; there had been few problems of note that had arisen as of late. There was still the unresolved matter of the attempted intrusion upon Thorax’s mental scape of course, but there still hadn’t been any new developments on that, or any sign that there had been any second attempts at the deed or that any more were coming. This had been leading Thorax to conclude that, whoever or whatever was behind it, this had been the end of the matter. Of course this didn’t mean that Spike and Thorax weren’t still keeping themselves on guard for it, because they most certainly were; they had agreed it was better safe than sorry. But until it happened, they figured there were other things in life needing their focus more.
In this case though, Thorax was out on a personal and casual errand. He had learned that an old-timey bookstore across town was having a clearance sale, and as he was far enough into the Sky Trek book series and looking into securing copies of the books for himself, he was hoping he might find some copies there, especially from the early days of the series, which would be excellent finds from a collecting perspective. As the book series was just over fifty years old now, the first dozen or so entries in the book series had become increasingly harder and harder to come by over time, at least in their original printings, which Thorax preferred. Obviously, a number of reprints had been run over the years of these early books, but to Thorax the original printings were more desirable. He attributed this to his changeling nature; all changelings know that referring to the physical original wherever possible is the best way to form a disguise, and are trained with that in mind. Besides, Thorax preferred the original, minimalistic, cover art the early versions used that the more crowded and colorful later editions replaced.
Because of the location of the bookstore, Thorax took his usual shortcut through what Spike and Fly Leaf referred to as the “rougher” part of town. Thorax still didn’t quite see why they saw it so though. He granted that this part of town overall seemed a bit more run down, but the ponies he would occasionally meet within seemed nice enough…although admittedly he usually just ran into Ragg and his group of friends when heading through this part of town. As usual, Ragg and the group were approachable enough, cheerily greeting Thorax, asked him to do his usual “trick” running up and down the archway the group always seemed to be hanging around, before parting and letting Thorax go on his way. By this time, Thorax had begrudgingly conceded that Spike was right, and the group was no more than a gang that occasionally got into trouble…but the disguised changeling still preferred to think better of the group.
At any rate, he arrived at the desired bookstore a couple of blocks further on without further event and began skimming through their selection of books. It was indeed an “old-timey” bookstore in the sense that it specialized in selling in primarily old texts first printed decades back, usually with collectors in mind. But it also sold more recently printed books as well, probably so to appeal to more than one demographic of shopper. Because of this, while Thorax wasn’t able to find any copies of the desired early entries in the Sky Trek series that brought him here, he was able to find a copy of a relatively more recent entry in the series that he had actually just finished reading himself a week or so earlier and bought that. He also found a book supposedly detailing changelings themselves, written by a noted pony professor and published almost immediately following the Canterlot invasion. Skimming through it, he found nearly all of the details describing changelings given within were inaccurate to flat-out wrong…to the point Thorax thought it was hilarious, so he bought it too, for the laughs.
Finished at the bookstore then, and the allotted time for his lunchbreak ending soon, Thorax started the trip back for Fly Leaf’s shop, and again took his shortcut through the rough part of town. He expected to find Ragg’s gang in their usual spot and to go through their normal routine like always, and like he had done when passing through here not more than twenty minutes earlier. Instead though, as he approached, he saw the group standing around the archway as usual, but something seemed notably different. It was only as he drew closer that he realized it was because Ragg’s group had been joined by another group of lanky teens like them. Except where Ragg’s group was composed of mostly reddish-colored earth ponies, the new group was almost entirely composed of bluish-colored pegasi. Additionally, the new group all wore some kind of scarf about their necks, while Ragg’s group all wore some kind of hat, except Ragg himself, who today only wore a black t-shirt.
Thorax slowed as he started to approach, feeling puzzled, and noticed there was a clear divide between the two groups, and the mood seemed…tense. He could smell the feelings of apprehension and distrust on the air. Ragg and a burlier teen from the other group—Thorax surmised he was the leader of the pegasi group—were engaged in quiet but flurried conversation. Thorax had come to a stop just a couple feet away from the gathering, beginning to wonder if maybe he shouldn’t be interrupting, when one of the ponies in Ragg’s group spotted the camouflaged changeling and nudged Ragg so to point it out to the teen.
Ragg paused in the conversation and looked in Thorax’s direction. “Thorny!” he greeted in his usual manner, but then gave Thorax an apologetic grin. “Hey listen, you’re probably not going to want to come through this spot right now.”
“Oh, okay, I’ll go around then,” Thorax said, not wanting to cause trouble, and started to turn and leave. He quickly found his path blocked by a couple of ponies from the pegasi group.
“What is this, Ragg?” the pegasus Ragg had been conversing with said darkly. “Who’s the beatnik? I thought we agreed no outsiders for this meet’n’greet.” He shot a glare at Ragg. “Or is he one of yours? Recruiting unicorns now, are we?”
“Leave Thorny out of this, Q-Tip,” Ragg responded in a similar tone to the stallion, apparently by name. “He’s just passin’ through…he didn’t know what was gonna be happenin’ here.”
“Yes, I seem to have arrived at the wrong time,” Thorax offered helpfully, seeing no easy way past the ponies blocking his path and turned to watch the two group leaders and wait for a resolution.
“Shut up, beatnik!” Q-Tip shouted in Thorax’s direction then faced Ragg again. “You know the rules, Ragg, I never thought you’d try and break ‘em, but then again, I guess I ain’t surprised.”
“Really, Q?” Ragg questioned in a challenging tone. “I think you’re just lookin’ for any excuse to cause trouble.” He nodded his head at Thorax. “If you’re so sure I’m tryin’ to sneak a fast one on ya though, then go ahead, check Thorny out.”
“I think I will,” Q-Tip said, and lumbered over to Thorax.
Up close, Thorax couldn’t help but notice that this was indeed a burly pony, the sort one wouldn’t want to get angry, and stood about half a head taller than Thorax. The fact he had a thin scar running down one of his sky blue cheeks didn’t help with the intimidating figure he posed. Nor did the fact that his right wing appeared to be twisted and mangled from some past injury. Thorax wondered briefly if he might be a cripple and unable to fly. At first Q-Tip just stood there and looked Thorax’s disguised form up and down. But then he stepped forward and began to roughly give Thorax a pat-down, although what he was looking for, Thorax could only guess. He then pulled open one of Thorax’s saddlebags and pulled out the Sky Trek book Thorax had bought, and held it up before the changeling skeptically, as if this proved a point.
“Like I said,” Q-Tip said, turning around to face Ragg again, casually tossing the book over his head. “He’s a beatnik.”
“Hey!” Thorax cried out, quickly grabbing the book with his magic before it hit the ground. “That’s in mint condition!” He quickly tucked the book back into the safety of his saddlebag before turning back to look at the ponies surrounding him, all looking in his direction. Thorax decided to use the chance to pose a question. “Also, what’s a beatnik?”
“I said shut up!” Q-Tip shouted suddenly, and whirled onto Ragg. “He may be a beatnik, but I can see why ya’d want him around Ragg. Just what were you tryin’ to pull?”
“If you wanna make something of it Q, then why don’t you already?” Ragg challenged with a scowl. “That’s why you and your lousy gang are really here, ain’t it?”
“Lousy?” Q-Tip roared, and suddenly grabbed Ragg by the collar.
Thorax tensed as he sensed the tensions within both groups spike sharply, and realized suddenly that he had come directly between two rival gangs, one of which apparently looking for a fight. He swallowed. “Look, I think I should just go…” he began, pointing a hoof behind him.
“Thorny, you’re good with that horn of yours, right?” Ragg asked seriously as he glanced at Thorax, who kept surprisingly calm while Q-Tip’s hooves twisted the collar of his shirt.
Thorax looked up at the disguised dark-grey horn upon his brow. “…yes?”
Ragg nodded slightly and faced Q-Tip with a glare again, the burly pegasus merely glaring back, waiting for Ragg to make the first move. “Better use it,” was all Ragg said before abruptly punching Q-Tip in the face with his hoof.
Like a signal had been given, both gangs were suddenly upon each other, trying to bash the other into pulp. Immediately, the training Thorax had been given as an invader back at the hive kicked in, and he lit his horn, spinning around in time to shoot two ponies charging to tackle him with stun spells, and duck as another pony leapt at him, sailing over his head. He rose again and continued firing off stun spells, trying to knock out as many ponies as quickly as he could. He tried to keep it limited to just Q-Tip’s gang, but saw several members from Ragg’s gang blindly charge him too in the heat of the battle and started stunning them as well.
The next couple of moments blurred by quickly, Thorax eagerly trying to keep everypony that charged him stunned and out of hoof’s reach, praying the fight would end soon. He feared at one point he might have to switch to a winged disguise to escape, risking the transition between them getting noticed, but it eventually started to calm down enough as more and more ponies went down in the fight that he thought he might be able to slip away unnoticed soon without resorting to that. But while stunning another pony that was leaping at him, Thorax suddenly saw another blue-green pegasus charging his left side out of the corner of his eye. He proceeded to spin around and aim his horn to fire his spell again, but this time he was a second too slow, and the pegasus slammed hard into Thorax’s side, pushing him a few paces back as they grappled.
Thorax lost his aim briefly, and before he could get it back, the pegasus swatted his hooves and managed to land a blow to Thorax’s horn. Thorax yelped at the jolt of pain this sent through his horn and felt it go numb, briefly unable to cast any more magic of any sort. The attacking pegasus used this moment to shove the stunned changeling against the wall of a neighboring building, pinning him in place while they continued to grapple. Realizing he was cornered and at a disadvantage though, Thorax reacted instinctively like the changeling he was and, permitting his fangs to burst out of his disguise suddenly, he sank his teeth into the pegasus’s shoulder, right where it met with his neck. The pegasus jerked back from the pain, and reacted by blindly punching the left side of Thorax’s head trying to get him to let go, managing to tear a hole in Thorax’s disguise over his face, the disguise being weakened as it was thanks to Thorax’s momentarily numbed horn.
Despite this, Thorax kept his fangs dug into the pony’s flesh, feeling the tickle in the base of the fangs as they pumped subduing venom into the assaulter’s bloodstream. Soon, the pegasus began to go limp as the venom acted, and finally he dropped to the ground, unconscious. Thorax let him drop and just stood there for a second, panting and recollecting his nerves. Pushing off from the side of the building, he looked around and saw the fight had apparently ended. As he surveyed the area, all he saw were ponies crumpled on the ground, unconscious. Believing himself the last one standing then, Thorax let out a whoosh of relief, and beginning to sense feeling in his horn again, he hid his fangs back behind his disguise and began to slowly seal the hole that had torn in his disguise, hiding his exposed changeling face once again. As he did so, he realized he should flee while he could, and turned to gallop off in the direction he had originally been heading for Fly Leaf’s shop.
That was when he saw Ragg was in fact still standing from the fight too, one eye already blackening, standing there and staring at Thorax with wide, wide, eyes.
Thorax’s own eyes widened, and one hoof went to his face in time to feel the hole in his disguise finish sealing itself. It was immediately clear what had happened. He saw, Thorax thought to himself in shock.
Thorax quickly braced himself for the inevitable reaction he thought would follow, debating his options, while inwardly trying to ready another stunning spell to use should he need to, only to find his horn still hadn’t recovered quite enough to form the needed spell. But Ragg did nothing except stand there and continue to stare, clearly too shocked to move. It seemed he didn’t know what to do. Eventually Thorax realized it didn’t matter now anyway; he could hear sirens rapidly converging on the spot they stood. Someone must have gotten word to the police during the fight, and now they were close enough that neither Ragg nor Thorax could hope to escape before they arrived.
So Thorax did the next best thing he could think to do. He brought his hoof to his lips and motioned for Ragg to remain silent, wordlessly conveying to keep what he saw secret. For a split second he wasn’t sure Ragg understood or would obey, but then slowly, ever so slightly, Ragg nodded his head. It was then that a police carriage came skidding to a halt just in front of the scene, the spinning lights on the helmets of the team of ponies pulling it flashing brightly.
“Don’t move!” a police pony ordered as the carriage doors sprang open and a riot team of unicorns stormed out. “Hooves where we can see them!”
Thorax and Ragg both spun around to face them, obediently throwing their forehooves into the air and surrendering. As the officers surrounded the pair of them, moving to cuff them, Thorax was somewhat surprised at the one thought that kept running through his head.
Spike is going to kill me for this.
Finally, shit's hitting the fan! I was wondering when the tension and action would pick up again.
What the-seriously Thorax?! Oh boy, this isn't good. Can't wait to see how Spike reacts to this.
Wow. Thorax can hold his own in a fight. Good for him and good chapter.
Why does this chapter suddenly make me imagine the situation taking place in old-timey 'Overwatch' London?
By the time I read next chapter national exams will have started
he's gonna get out on bail, then fly is going to read him the riot act.
I like it when Thorax unleashes his more aggressive side
as I've always said ,if you have the fangs you use them
th04.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2015/005/8/b/changeling_by_duh_veed-d8cp5ne.png
Thorax is lucky that it was Ragg who saw his fangs, and not Q-Tip. Otherwise, things would be about to get a hell of a lot more complicated.
Oh no.... Thorax is a vampony!
This is some nice world building.
Heyhey, that's what I do.
So, given that Thorton doesn't exist he's gonna have an interesting time when they try to process him. Until they can definitively say who he is, he can't be realized on bail. From what we know right now, it looks like it's the end of the road for him. Really though, you'd think he'd be able to evade capture by local PD. Let them catch sight of a disguise, then round a corner and adopt a new one. Point the police in a random direction and exfil under a new disguise.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fa7nSzCiGXk
First off- Chageling have subduing venom now? As in their corrupted magic wasn't OP enough!?
Now that'll be an intresting to see next. Wonder how the hell Thorax manages to remain undetected... Prison Break Equestria?
8127683 as in kings row? yeah i got the same thing.
8128020
Not necessarily. In reviewing the subject just now so to ensure I have all my logistics realistically worked out for the follow-up chapter(s), I find no indications (in the US at least) that having no past identifications records on file is necessarily automatically dooming. If such information isn't already on file, my understanding then is that the police generally just starts a new file then and collect all the info they deem needed to identify the one being arrested now and in the future if needed. You know, things like name, contact information, fingerprints, mug shot...all things Thorax wouldn't have immediate problem providing and things that don't necessarily require formal ID on file already. The exception I suppose would be if the police suspect the subject is operating under a false identity (which in Thorax's case they wouldn't have cause to immediately suspect and Thorax of course is going to try to give them no reason to), and even then there's only so much they can do about it, as they'd namely would have to investigate and confirm, a time-consuming process, and of course, just cause to charge the suspect, without which he can walk free whether the police want to let the suspect do so or not.
But by all means, if I'm wrong or overlooked a detail in all of this, do tell me. I definitely I want to make sure any slip-ups are corrected and won't cause problems with what I have planned.
8128259
Why else do you think they have those big fangs hanging out of their mouths? Actually to me, given the changeling nature, it makes perfect sense. Best way in nature to catch and subdue prey for later feeding, especially if you need it kept alive, is with the use of venom. So why not?
8128446 Yes, it makes sence. But I think of Changelings as how we thought of them back in the day; insects with lots of castes and classes that specialize in certain tasks. Like a wannabe snake caste. I always imagined Appleloosa, Dodge Junction and other settlements had been fighting off Changelings for a while, so the Bugs developed a type that has snake skin that helps survive on the desert surface better, has subduction venom and specialises to kidnap cowponies. Think of lictors from Warhammer 40k.
What doesn't make much sence for me is the time duration of the venom. Venom in nature is ussually eather instant or very mild when it comes to a predator's chosen prey. When Thorax had bitten that pegasus, he should get limp in like 3 milisecounds considering the venom had been evolved to that sole purpose. If that was an Earth Pony, I could understand his magic and robust phisiology giving him maybe even a full 10 secounds of fight but a featherbrain should be limp long before his body hit the ground.
Unless we assume Changeling are a mutant species with an almost not working evolution due to no breeding outside of Chrysalis'es broods. Which the comic and the show paint as cannon. Logic would say that Chryssy can't pump out so many eggs and most are born out of previous generations but eh. I'd say hive nobility rights and tight breeding caste.
8128446 Apparently they have to be held until the trial (according to an LEO in Florida), people have to be identified before they can be released, or tried. So unless Spike can make up some fake ID that proves Thorax is who he says he is or identify him in some other way (personally, I'd go with a birth certificate from a local hospital - so long as security on the records is relaxed it shouldn't be too hard to plant)), he's going to be held for a long while.
AAaaand they will see the bite marks in that one pony. Dangit I hate cliff hangers.
Great chapter
8128497
...or I just deliberately wrote it that way to both ensure the venom didn't come across as too OP or too easy a "quick-fix" for problems, and to ensure the attacking pony had ample time still to strike Thorax hard enough to tear the hole in his disguise, the more important detail of this chapter.
If it helps, I was envisioning that whole bite sequence as not taking much more than five to ten seconds at most. I just didn't say as such directly in the chapter, because I didn't want to tie myself down to a specific reaction time on the venom just yet.
8128517
Hmm, I will dig deeper into the matter then, devise a workable solution for addressing in the next chapter, if not following chapters thereafter too. Actually, this all may work in my favor for one of these subsequent chapters which I've been feeling was lacking in a little "oomph."
8129035 Honestly, it's not a huge deal (I don't know how many people would even notice the discrepancy), though from my source, apparently, they'd eventually go to trial without proper legal identification. As for a solution, maybe he can claim he was born in a cult and that's why there was no birth certificate, though if he's gonna do that, he'd better make sure that he knows enough about said cult to pull off that deception (though really, no one's going to send police officers, court employees or federal agents across the country to search for a cult on such a minor charge).
8129043
There is also the matter of how, exactly, Equestria handles the legal documentation of its citizens. I mean, I haven't yet seen any pony with a government-issued ID card or the likes in the show, or from what I've read of the comics. In Equestria, such records may not be of such great concern as it is in real-life countries of today.
Still, I intend to look into it further, if only to ensure I've got all my ducks in a row, as it were. Better safe than sorry, right?
8129056 On the last point, I will agree with you, being sorry sucks.
As for ID, go with what you want. There's no reason that it has to exist, but there's also no reason it doesn't have to (I can count on one hand the number of times I've pulled out any government id, other than a passport, so it might just be that you'd never see it). Work within the confines of your story, but make decisions based on your story. With that being said, the two big concerns with having no identification before you release someone is that; (1) you have no idea who they are, or if they have a warrant out for their arrest and, (2) if they're released before their trail, you have no means of guaranteeing that they will show up again. Still, it is your story and your world, so you can make that decision for yourself.
8129035 I know, I'm just a bit of a biology nerd and I'm sure I'd find something off with it scince I have a very controversial wiew on the topic of evolution.
8129072
I've done a bit more research into the matter. The finer details vary on the region of course, but it seems in general that issues over identification of the arrestee really only happen if the arrestee refuses to identify themselves. In which case they are usually "booked" to get identifiers such as fingerprints, mugshots, etc, all things that the police can then use to try and find out the arrestee's identity themselves--which is precisely the reason why they do such things.
Otherwise, if the arrestee gives all identifiers themselves voluntarily, then this is cross-checked with all preexisting records on file, if any, to confirm everything matches up or, more often, if there are any past criminal records of note or any outstanding warrants for the arrestee. Finding nothing is not usually cause for alarm, especially for more minor crimes, unless involving grave crimes (like murder on up) or the police have some reason to doubt the validity of what they are given, and like with everything else they do, the police can only press charges on that matter if they have satisfactory evidence to back it up. Without such, they can't legally detain the arrestee without making some kind of charge beyond a set period of time (generally twenty-four to forty-eight hours in most regions, depending on the crime and reason for the arrest).
Assuming those rules apply in Equestria, then in Thorax's case, simply confirming that he is residing in Vanhoover and working in the employ of Fly Leaf would probably be identification enough (and should be doable enough by this time) unless, again, the police come to suspect Thorax has falsified his identity. We know he has obviously, but the police don't at this point, and of course Thorax will make every attempt to ensure it stays that way as much as is within his power. Part of where I'm going with this plotline.
All of this also assumes that Thorax is, in fact, arrested and charged, and not just detained in some manner for questioning, a point I bring up because I might as well say that it will be addressed directly in the next chapter.
Anyway, thought it might interest you. It interested me, as well as reassured me in my approach to upcoming chapters, but also give me a few ideas on how to strengthen the finer details some more, which is never bad, at least for the universe-building purposes of a story.
8129366 Well thanks for sending that to me, I did find it interesting. As well, you did bring up the point that Thorton might just be in for questioning, especially if it's made clear by other's testimony that he was acting in self-defence. So, as one who may well be an upstanding citizen (seriously, the guy's a nerd), they might just let him go. It's been a while, but I do remember that there was something about the smaller details and changelings.
Please update! I MUST know what happens next! I BEG OF YOU!
i am just sitting here waiting for too days update.
Should be "would not" for the point you're trying to make, I think.
8136562
Fixed.
This would make a good side-chapter.
Good chapter!
I will read the next chapter soon.
I always wanted to say this, and it seems now is the right time.
Why aren't you just using "mindscape"?
8138032
I prefer “It’s funny how dumb you are.”
8586602
As do I, incidentally.
Of all the ways for ponies to find out... brilliant, bravo, bon voyage, and other b-words.
More like burn you to a crisp.
It's the crips and the bloods
8133035
God damn I was stupid idiot baby.