Changeling of the Everfree

by Veryfriedguy7

Beyond a simple mistake

It felt nice to have ponies to talk to, do things with or just be around in general. Murex knows this now, he knows what friends are. He wouldn't trade even one of them for the world.

Murex wandered the border of the forest, the town still unaware of his being there. Somehow.
He finds it honestly amazing that he scared off a good maybe hundred ponies and there is no group of 'strange pony insect thing' hunters. He's not complaining though.

He has learned so much from the Zebra and the mares... His friends. The Zebra had told him so much about the life that dwells in the Everfree, from plants to animals, if it was there the Zebra had seen it and Murex had heard about it. The mares, the bearers of the elements of harmony, excluding Twilight, had told him of Ponyville and the ponies that lived there. Pinkie told him of everypony. Almost every single one. He loved talking with them all but there's only so much 'this pony looks like this and does this for a living' a ling can take. Applejack, or AJ, told him about her farm. This surprised no pony, except Murex. He had no idea what a farm was, he got force fed apple pie that day. Fluttershy... didn't talk about animals. Murex was utterly floored when she started talking medical procedures and the like. The detail of her description on how you would go about healing a family of field mice was concerning. Rarity talked about clothes, he would've said something like it would be of no use in his lifestyle but she didn't stop, he listened out of respect intending on not remembering any of it. Rainbow Dash talked to him about flying and the Wonderbolts, It had to be explained to him, the Wonderbolts that is, he never even whispered about how his wings being too small on his body to allow flight.

Needless to say he was a happy ling. Mostly.

Until he stepped on some random trap. That's what he gets for thinking on the go.

Unfortunately for him it wasn't as random as he thought and hoped. It was meant for him.

He felt the alien feeling of a spell being cast on him. He tried to fight it but it was pointless, he passed out.

---

He was only starting to regain consciousness and he could already feel the cold metal table underneath him. And the bindings.

He already hated this.

"Glad you could finally join me!" A very particular purple unicorn said to him with glee when he opened his eyes.

He hated this even more.

Murex wanted to say something, it would've been a very angry chain of words and demoralizing to any who would hear if it weren't for the fact he was gagged.

Twilight was facing away from him, mane and tail all tangled and messy, inspecting a book while humming and he looked past her to see an overgrown lizard run up the stairs.

"Why can't I find your kind in this book?!?" She screamed as she threw it across the room. "It had all the species in the Everfree in it! WHAT ARE YOU?!?"

His sensitive ears couldn't take much more of her. They felt ready to burst and he was only awake for about a minute.

"I have to get a report ready by tonight! It was meant to be a friendship report but a previously unknown creature anatomy report will be good enough for Princess Celestia I can feel it!" She seemed really obsessed with this report of hers. She even neglected to think of the fact that Celestia knows who he is. It would only end badly if she were to go through with this.

"First off: tissue sample!" He was too busy looking at the ceiling to see her magically pick up a scalpel.

---

He hated this. Every second was agony.

He was beyond patient with her, even forgetting the fact she already tried to do this.

She picked off pieces here and there, it wasn't so bad at first. Hurt pretty badly but she was being careful and it was only small stuff. The later it got, the more frantically she worked.

So many samples...

Tissue was small, a piece of his flesh under the chitin of his stomach. Getting under hurt badly, the scalpel didn't penetrate so she needed to break it off.

Then she wanted tissue samples from everywhere. His chest, foreleg, withers, hind legs.

Then there was blood samples. Blood. Samples.

The last set was the worst. She tore off pieces of his chitin. Slabs of it, more than just one.

Writing on a scroll the entire time.

Then a knocking was heard. On a door. Twilight dropped everything and ran upstairs to answer it. Words were exchanged and the door was slammed shut. But it wasn't over, salvation had arrived.

The door slammed against something as it was thrown back open and a surprised yelp was heard.

"You said you found a new creature Twilight?" He heard the voice of Rainbow. His heart started beating.

"Yes! I'm just finishing testing so you can go now! Bye bye!" She sounded so desperate. Rainbow seemed to have caught on that she was hiding something.

"Can I see it?" She asked, curious as to what it could be.

"No! It's uh... gone! Yes, it's gone now." She sounded somewhat relieved, likely assuming her friend was an idiot. Rainbow, that beautiful beautiful mare, wasn't.

"It's in the basement isn't it?" She deadpanned. Murex could kiss her, he won't but damn it he would if she asked. Zero hesitation

"No! Nothing's in the basement Dash!" And she was frantic once more.

The sound of hooves were getting closer, Twilight tried to get her to leave one last time.

"If you go down there you'll never get another Daring Do book from me again!" She declared with vigor, probably sure she'll scare Dash off. His beating heart dropped into his stomach. She told him of her love for the series.

"Okay yeah you're hiding something." She must have pushed past Twilight or something like that because she appeared on the stairs shortly after. And she saw everything.

Chunks of flesh on trays, bags of blood next to them, slabs of chitin next to a microscope across the room. And Murex on a table, strapped down and gagged, looking very cut up and missing large parts of his shell around his barrel. Staring at her with indescribable pain in his blue eyes.

She spun around and charged at Twilight who tried to apologize. He would've done the same, this wasn't a simple mistake.

He couldn't see much but he heard all of it. It didn't sound pretty. Sounded like more ponies came too.

He felt himself growing weaker as the noises ceased, the last things he saw and heard was a multitude of colors approaching him and his name being called before his blurry vision faded and Murex was embraced by the feeling of nothingness.

---

It was light out when he opened his eyes, or one of them. Something sticky covered the right side of his face, he hoped nothing was wrong with his eye, he needed that.

He used his left eye to scan the surroundings, what he saw made him smile, then grimace in pain as loose chitin moved painfully.

He was in Zecora's hut, safe and sound. Laying on a small cloud-like mattress with the softest covers he ever felt. They were the only bed sheets he's ever felt but damn it, it was comfortable.

He wondered where his friends were, hoofsteps were heard after he finished that thought. He couldn't help but smile, and grimaced again.

Zecora and his other friends opened the door to the hut and saw him awake immediately. The squealing hurt his ears.

He was hugged by all of them at once and the laughing that ensued was contagious, even though his was more like coughing. It hurt but he couldn't be happier. He was safe, he was with his friends. He could recover.

Comments

[Starlight Glimmer1]

If you don’t write a follow-up to this chapter I will be disappointed.

[Veryfriedguy7]

10833543
Oh, it’s coming.

[Starlight Glimmer1]

10833581
Good.

[Veryfriedguy7]

10833615
You act like I’m close to finishing this story. I’m having too much fun with it to stop now.

[Starlight Glimmer1]

10833623
No I just don’t know what you plan on doing next. That’s all it is. And to be fair, none of the chapters so far have continued off a previous chapter.

[rikithemonk]

And so Zecora is proven right. Nothing good comes from ponies.

Ignore the warnings to stay far away from town and this is what happens to you.

Sadly he will still be a fool and protect ponies who go into the Everfree.

Monk
"I understand killin’ but I sure as hell don't understand you sheltered bastards.” -ThePhoton

[tsaukpaetra]

Wow, that's pretty cruel. Even for season 1 Twilight...

[hmaf43]

nani?

[Amos Anon]

Huh. Why have I been reading so many stories recently where Twilight is basically evil? I could understand her maybe running a few tests, being a little bit annoying, and perhaps poking and prodding a bit, but full-blown tissue samples? That's full-blown insanity.