Prologue

"...And you said Quiverpike's final rehearsal just finished, it went perfectly, and they're all completely ready to perform when the real thing starts, correct?" the changeling princess, wearing a small pair of glasses over her nose, asked the smaller female changeling drone in the blue dress in front of her in a rushed voice, as she tried to stand still. The drone, Punica was her name, was busy trying to attach a gem-studded collar necklace with a heart-shaped, pink diamond encrusted in its center, around her leader's neck.

"Yes, that is correct, Odyssia" she grunted in reply, as she finally snapped the pendent together, after some effort.

"And that Clydesdale moving company we hired to move the set are prepared to do so, yes?"

"As I said five minutes ago, yes, they're coming at noon to help move the set and its pieces," she smiled back, as she turned away, before bringing forth a beautiful jade-colored, silky dress.

"Oh... I'm sorry, Punica," Odyssia apologized, just before she felt the dress start to get placed over her head and back, going past her rather long, curved horn, green, curled mane, and vaguely butterfly-like, transparent wings. "I'm just so giddy about all this. We've been planning it for a month-and-a-half, I know, but I just want everything to go as perfectly as possible."

"No need, my lady," the servant replied. "Now, let's have a look at you."

Punica walked back, her hole-less, smooth hooves (as all other changelings in her hive, including the princess seemed to possess) clattering on the wooden ground of the room. She placed a hoof over her monochromatic, greenish eyes, and turned, taking them off, and gasping in awe at what she saw.

"You look just like your mother!" Punica spoke proudly, as she got a clean look at her. Odyssia looked away, and blushed slightly. "Oh... if only your parents could see you now. All grown up, and as beautiful as a blooming orchid. You even have those pretty green eyes of hers."

"If only..." Odyssia sighed, thinking of them. Her mother and the former queen of the small hive she now ruled, Queen Cypria, and father, a common, but well-liked drone named Alcmeonis, both fell to the bladed horn of an assassin before she could come out of her egg, meaning she never had the chance to know them, save for some pictures of the two that had survived until now.

The creaking sound of the door to her room being opened snapped the princess out of her thoughts on the past. She calmly turned her head and saw the shape of an elderly-looking changeling with a crumpled horn enter the room with a large, rectangular, unfolded map floating beside himself. His chitin had long since lost its dark coloring, and now looked a dull, waxy gray, but was still healthy and solid.

"Good morning, Thebaid," Odyssia greeted, warmly.

"And good morning to you too, princess," he replied jovially, as he brought the map up to her. "I just came by to see which location you settled on us arriving at first."

He placed the map in the air front of the changeling princess, and let her look over the entirety of Equestria, before continuing.

"So... where would you like us to make our grand reappearance, my lady?" he asked. "Canterlot is wonderful at this time of year, there's the Crystal Empire, which wasn't around when we last performed... it would take some time to get everything up to Cloudsdale, but I'm sure it would be worth it if you decided to-"

"Ponyville."

"Apologies my lady, but uh... what was that?"

"Ponyville," she repeated, pointing a hoof to the location on the map, despite how small it looked compared to the other, mentioned places. "I wish for us to head there."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely," Odyssia replied, grabbing the map in her hooves, folding it together, and handing it to her servant, her mind made up before he even arrived with it.

"But it's not a very large place, and there doesn't seem to be too many important individuals living within its vicinity, save for a lone princess that I've heard makes her residence there. Are you sure sure, my lady?"

"If the lady says she's sure, then she's sure, you old piker!" a cranky voice went out, speaking in a mild Eqstralian accent. Thebaid and Odyssia looked around, and saw a skinny, humanoid shape enter the room, dressed in a colorful but scruffy, moth-eaten hobo's attire, complete with a hole-filled, purple hat that had a long, grey feather sticking out of its side. His limbs were made of thin sticks of wood, while what was visible of his main body was made of straw. His head consisted of a light brown, woven sack with a torn area near the bottom, representing a mouth, and two holes near its top, where a pair of golden eyes showed through.

"Good morning, swagman," Odyssia greeted, cheerfully. The scarecrow-esque figure took his hat off in respect as he got a better look at the changeling wearing the pendant, old memories flooding into his mind.

"My.. my... my..." the animated construct sighed in awe, the sharp-pointed stick tips that made up his feet making hollow tink sounds as they took several steps forward. "Lumme if I didn't know any better, but I'd say you look like the spitting image of your mother with that pretty little thing on!"

"That's what I said!" Punica sang, from the other side of the room, causing their mistress to chuckle slightly.

"Thank you," Odyssia said to them both, as she readjusted the spectacles on her snout with her magic.

"My dear lady Odyssia Metamorphoses, I just came by to say that that bell-loving sheila, Carol, is at the ready to hand out flyers at... well, wherever it is we're going."

"Excellent," she responded. "Tell her to go to Ponyville as soon as possible."

"As you wish," the swagman replied, as he placed his hat over his head, and quietly left the room. Punica and Thebaid walked up to the Princess, prepared to take their next orders from her.

"Is there anything you need to do before we, well, do this?" Punica inquired. Odyssia gave a contemplative smirk to them both.

"Well, it appears that we're all ready..." she said somewhat ominously, as she was enveloped in a light, green flame, her form shifting into that of a tall, slender, white unicorn with a brown mane when it parted, though keeping her green-irised eyes, but with normal pupils instead of the slits they once were. Her new form bore a cutie mark representing two black-and-white theater masks, and a red ribbon connecting them both together.

"It's time to give Ponyville a performance that will not soon be forgotten..."

Chapter 1: Carol of the Bells

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Chapter 1: Carol of the Bells

With candlelight as his only companion, Thoraxis the changeling sat by himself in his study area. Sprawled out messily on the table in front of him was various maps, notes, and black, crossed-off symbols on said maps denoting the places he's searched for Skia twice, thrice, and sixteen times in a row in, depending on the amount of crosses put on the locations.

"Perhaps... she is in... the Smokey Mountains?" he whispered to himself, his voice dull and lethargic. "I've already gone there four time in the last month... surely I can try again... But what about Manehattan?"

Despite being compound, Thoraxis's eyes had turned a bright, bloodshot red, all from the amount of strain he was putting on himself. He had been up for three days in a row now, and despite what the others thought of of his strenuous efforts, he still believed he was doing the only right thing, and had the upper hoof.

"Thoraxis, what are you still doing up?" a familiar voice spoke. Turning about, but slowly, he saw Petra Whitescales, an albino wyvern and his girlfriend, enter the room, walking up to him. "Are you still trying to see where Skia could be now?"

"Yes," he replied.

"You promised me you were going to go to sleep tonight..." she said, in a hurt voice.

"This was more important than a promise that small," he argued, his tone becoming grumpy, but hazy still. "I just know that I'm on the right track. I can't give up now."

"You've been up for almost seventy-two hours, Thoraxis!" she exclaimed. "You're trying harder than your body can manage. It's breaking down!"

"Sleep is for... the weak..." he yawned. "Sleep doesn't help find Skia..."

"You need to go to bed and regain your strength, or you'll never have it to find her!"

"I'm not going to bed!" he shouted back defiantly, slamming his hoof against the desk, knocking over the inkwell, its liquid, black contents dripping into a puddle on the floor.

"Thoraxis... is that you?" Petra's tired voice suddenly spoke up from behind him. Confused, and rubbing his eyes, Thoraxis looked forward again, and saw the Petra he was talking to had vanished.

He was hallucinating again. It had been getting worse lately, and this moment was no exception. With a sigh, he turned, and saw the real shape of his girlfriend exit their bedroom, and enter the living room, rubbing her head sleepily.

"Thoraxis? You're still up?" she asked. "Who were you talking to?"

"Myself... again," he replied, wearily. "I'm so sorry I woke you, dear."

"Don't be," she said. "You need to be the one that gets some rest."

"No... not until I find Skia."

Petra groaned. "Thoraxis... you're doing the best you possibly can, and then some. But just look at yourself for one second. We both know she's alive, but we just need to find her. What you're doing is only rushing whatever you have planned, and hurting yourself in the process."

"What do you suggest I do, then?"

"Well, I'd start with getting some sleep," she spoke softly, as she rested a claw on his shoulder. "You deserve it more than any changeling, pony, or dragon I know of."

After looking at his desk, then his girlfriend, then his desk again, Thoraxis made his choice. Leaving his chair, he slowly stumbled to the bedroom, tripping twice on the way from his legs disobeying his brain. When he reached the bed, instead of jumping into it, he practically had to crawl to get on top of it, and fell on his side when he finally finished, deep, exhausted breaths exiting his mouth from what should have been a more-than-easy task.

Petra, who had walked in with him, grabbed the blue sheets, and slowly brought them up to her boyfriend's body. Thoraxis's eyes closed the second the covers were pulled over him, his chest slowly heaving up an down as he breathed easily. The wyvern smiled, before she pecked the already-sleeping changeling on the cheek.

"Goodnight, dear," Petra spoke in a gentle whisper, as she turned to leave, intending to give Thoraxis as much comfortable space as possible. "We can always try again tomorrow. Sleep well."

As she closed the door, Petra thought of the surprise she was dying to tell Thoraxis, but she knew, deep down in her heart, that this wasn't the right time. She sighed, and headed for the living area, pleased that her boyfriend was finally getting some sleep. When she sat down on the chair, she looked to Despereaux, her sleeping pet cryophoenix that rested on his perch nearby, before looking at the clock next to him, and saw it was a quarter to two. With nothing left to do, and too awake to rest, she began to reflect over how the past year had went.

Skia was missing but alive, or that was what Longinus, the alicorn that used to live with them, said. He moved out six months before, and relocated to a cottage he had created in the middle of the Everfree Forest, away from most ponies, where he spent most waking moments of his time meditating, and focusing his magic on trying to pinpoint Skia's location, but, as of right now, to no avail. He could sense that he was close, and as soon as he heard these words, Thoraxis nearly doubled his already overzealous efforts to find his daughter, checking every single possible location around Equestria, taking several unpaid vacations from his job at the pet store in Ponyville, threatening to get him fired from it.

In the process, his health had been deteriorating significantly as well. While Petra may have given him enough love to keep any changeling happy, his lack of sleeping had lead to many problems, such as a tendency to act exceptionally grumpy towards anyone, except for her, slower reactions when performing everyday events, and severe, long-lasting hallucinations. It never ceased to disturb her whenever he claimed that he saw Skia in front of himself, when instead it was only thin air that lied before them. She knew she had to find a way to get him to relax himself, for a week at the very least, or something terrible was sure to come their way.

Just as she could feel herself slowly becoming drowsy once more, Petra heard a sudden knocking coming from the front door, several feet away from where she sat.

Huh. Who could be knocking at this hour? she thought, anxiously. Petra exited the chair, quickly walked up to the door, and pulled on its handle, opening it just a crack. There, just in front of the entrance, was what appeared to be a pony with a copper, bell-shaped object enveloping its head, and a body-covering cape of smaller, cup-shaped bells and tubular chimes that trailed a fair distance behind it, and seemed to be radiating a musky, swampy smell, mixed with rotten fish. Through two very small holes near its "helmet's" middle, two, pupil-less, cornflower blue eyes peered out of. Whoever it was just stood there, staring at her, as if waiting for Petra to start the conversation.

"Hello? Can I help you?" she inquired, breaking the silence.

"Flyer," the character spoke back, in an impossibly quiet, though just barely-audible whisper, so much so that Petra couldn't discern whether it was a male, or female speaking.

"I'm sorry..." Petra apologized. "Come again?"

"Ah hae a flyer Ah wish tae offer," it spoke at a higher volume, in a clearly female voice bearing an extraordinarily thick, outlandish accent or dialect of some sort. Without further exposition, the strange pony pulled a roll of paper from under her cloak of bells, and handed it forth on a dark, phthalo blue hoof that had a shiny, wet-looking complexion, as if freshly-soaked in water. "It's fur the upcomin' event, the Theatre Metamorphoses. It rolls intae toon the-day, an' th' first performance is gonnae be tha' moorns nicht, an' we want folks tae be prepared fur it."

"No way!" Petra shouted, in a surprised whisper, snatching the flyer from the moist-feeling hoof. "The Theatre Metamorphoses?"

"That's whit Ah said, isnae it?" she spoke back, in a snarky tone.

"Why are you handing these out at this time? It's two a.m." Petra inquired curiously, after she had calmed down slightly, as she read the flyer.

"Ah saw ye waur awake," she replied. "Nopony else in toon seemed tae be, sae efter Ah posted th' ones aroond toon, Ah cam by haur first."

"This is great and all, but... wait, how did you know I was awake?" the wyvern asked once more. The bell-wearing pony just looked at her with those unblinking, blue, glassy eyes for nearly a minute of awkward silence, until she looked down slightly.

"Reasons," she said, finally responding. Without a further word, the strange pony lifted her head again, turned, and began to trot away at a snail's pace, the objects she wore making a jingling racket as they bounded up-and-down, or dragged behind.

"What in Equestria is that supposed to mean?" Petra wondered to herself, before she decided to go back inside, closing the door behind herself.

Longinus sat in a cross-legged position, his two front hooves closed together in the position of deep meditation, as the slowly-rising, orange sun showed on his back. The wise zebra, Zecora, had taught him the technique, made to clear the mind and soul. Behind him lied his small, brick cottage, and its straw rooftop.

In the months that followed his restoration back to becoming a physical being, his magic power had increased to what it was before his descent into madness from thousands of years before, and he had been using every ounce of it in his attempt to locate Skia. By combining it with his meditation, and several herbal supplements, he found it dramatically improved his abilities.

His meditation was interrupted by the sound of what seemed like the clinking of bells and chimes a far ways away. Zecora commonly passed by his place to say hello, but whatever jewelry she wore never made the sound he was hearing now. Then, as briefly as it began, it stopped, but seemed to be replaced by a horrid stench of rotting fish and unkempt marshland. Apathetic to to it, Longinus simply tried to ignore the smell until he had gotten used to it, and continued to meditate.

He knew, just by feeling it, that Skia was alive and well, and was so close to locating her. So tantalizingly close. Every day and night he would attempt to find the changeling matching her description, clairvoyantly looking at every inhabitant throughout Equestria and beyond, one-by-one, never looking at the same pony or changeling twice. The list was now running short, and this gave him hope.

"Woods ye caur tae tak' a flyer, Maister Eveningstar?"

Longinus, startled beyond all belief, lost his balance and clumsily fell onto his back, as he heard the light-sounding, female, whisper-like voice touch his ears, coming from directly in front of him. Getting back up and opening his eyes, he saw a strange figure standing right there, clad in what appeared to be chained-together bells and chimes, with a large bell-like helmet over her head.

It was a few awkwardly-silent seconds before Longinus asked, "Who are you?"

"Some caa me insane..." she instantly started in a calm, casual manner, though her extremely light voice kept its quiet pitch. "Some caa me a bampot, some caa me somepony obsessed wi' bells... but most caa me Carol. As in, holiday carols. As in the singin' ye see foals dae ootwith ay pony's hooses near th' time o' Hearthswarmin'."

"Your accent tells me you're from Lochland, Carol," Longinus spoke. "That's far away from Equestria."

"Aye, that's whaur Ah was born an' raised," she said, before her head swiveled to the side slightly. "By the way, who're ye supposed tae be?"

"Um... you just said who I was," he answered, in a confused tone.

"Nae, Ah meant who are ye," she replied. "As in, are ye guid? Are ye evil? Are ye a complete looney? Are ye perfectly sane an' rational? Are ye a kin', or a beggar? 'At sort ay hin'."

"Hmph," Longinus huffed. "I'm just a soul trying to find peace with himself."

"Yoo're sure yer nae a bit wrang in the heed an aw?" she asked again. "Yoo're nae somepony that's, say, destroyed the li'es ay thoosands fur nae guid reason?"

Longinus went silent after that comment, hitting spot-on to the kind of monster he was in the distant past. Since he couldn't see her face, he couldn't see what the strange pony's reaction to what her question did was.

"Nah, ye look mair loch somepony that's lost friends an' fowk, an' 'en gained friends an' fowk," Carol then laughed as she continued. "Soonds a reit bit loch me. Ye got onie relati'es?"

"Relatives? Well... I have two daughters, but I became very distant from them after a certain... event," Longinus responded, uneasily.

"I've ne'er hud onie foals afair. I've heard they're pleasant, but a tad bit trooblesome," she laughed.

"You seem like a rather exuberant pony," Longinus spoke.

"Ah sure am. An' ye seem loch an interestin' unicorn yerself."

"I'm an alicorn," he shot back, spreading his wings out for her to see.

"An' aam actually an ancient loch demon who's bin cursed tae wander th' lain as an insane madpony," she responded in a half-playful, half-sarcastic voice, as she shook her cloak of metal instruments with a hoof. "Everypony knows alicorns are abit as real as ghosts an' goblins. Mere stories tae teel uir foals at nicht."

"Are you real?" Longinus asked, obviously convinced that this pony either truly was insane, or just plain nutty.

"Nae," she replied, as suddenly pulled out and unraveled a roll of paper. "Are ye?" Before Longinus could answer, he felt as the paper was swiftly planted onto his horn.

"I'll see ye at th' openin' nicht performance in a few days, Maister Eveningstar," Carol then said, bidding the alicorn farewell. "We can gab abit each other's histories some mair thaur. Lang may yer lum reek!"

Unable to even think of something to say to such a strange, manic creature, Longinus could only watch as the pony went on her merry way, humming an old folk tune as her long, trailing cloak made a rattling noise, soon vanishing through the trees, and out of sight. With her passing, so did the horrible smell.

Deciding to see exactly what she was advertising, Longinus pulled the paper off of his horn, and looked at it. There was a picture of several ponies reciting what appeared to be a play of some sort, with a white, brown-maned unicorn in the center standing in a regal position, and below it was some writing.

"Hmm... "The Theatre Metamorphoses is coming to town..."" he spoke to himself, as he read off of the paper. ""Come witness the greatest actors and actresses of the millennium recite the greatest comedies, tragedies, and musicals of our time, for the first time in twenty years..." that's some boast."

Without a further comment on the matter, Longinus folded the paper up, and tucked it away, before getting back to his meditation, though he found it difficult with the distracting thought of that bell-obsessed pony running through his head.

Chapter 2: The Theater Rolls in

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Chapter 2: The Theater Rolls in

"Twilight! Twilight! Where are you?" the sound of Spike's voice went out through the castle, as he ran throughout it, attempting to find the princess in question. Flapping about loosely in his left claw was a piece of paper.

Entering the main chamber, where the thrones and Cutie Map lied, the purple dragon finally found who he was looking for. Twilight sat on her throne, an open book floating in front of her. She lifted her head as she saw her companion approach.

"Hey, Spike," she welcomed. "What's on your mind?"

"Have you seen what's going on outside?" he asked, slightly worriedly.

"No, I haven't. What's wrong?" she asked, as she placed a bookmark in her book, and closed it, putting all of her attention on him.

"This," he spoke, as he showed the purple mare the paper in his hand.

"Spike, I hardly see how one paper is worth you worrying about..." Twilight said, as she magically took the paper from him.

"But there are, like, hundreds posted all around town," he replied. "They're attached to buildings, fences, posts, windows, inside of other pony's houses... somepony or two must have done it last night. But how in Equestria could they have moved so fast and quietly?"

"Okay, that does sound rather odd," Twilight said, as she finished reading the paper. "But one thing's for sure. Apparently the Theatre Metamorphoses is back."

"The Theater-whatsit now?" the purple dragon asked, scratching his head.

"The Theatre Metamorphoses," the princess repeated. "They're a famous traveling group of actors, actresses, singers, and playwrights that first formed around four-hundred year ago, if I'm correct." As she spoke, she pulled a book off of the shelf from the other side of the room. Its cover was blank and dust-caked, a sign of being untouched for years, until now. Twilight blew the dust off of it, before opening it up to the right page.

"Hmm... their last performance was just over twenty years ago, but they mysteriously vanished after it had finished," Twilight said again, smiling. "I guess this means they've returned, and apparently, they chose Ponyville as their first stop!"

"It said on that flyer that their first performance is tomorrow night, but they're going to arrive today," Spike said again. "When do you think we'll see them?" No sooner had he asked that, the sound of the castle's front doors being flung open could be heard from where the two stood.

"Twilight! Have you heard the news?" the easily-recognized voice of Pinkie Pie rang out throughout the castle. "I don't know if you read the flyers about it, but an awesome traveling theater just rolled into the outskirts of Ponyville!"

The tall doors leading to the chamber where Twilight and Spike stood were thrust open as Pinkie Pie barged in like a wrecking ball, an enormous, excited smile on her lips.

"And you'll never believe the best part!" she cried out, as she zipped up to the alicorn, grabbing onto her face with her hooves, and stared at her dead in the eyes. "Someone I threw a birthday party for about a year ago works with them! He even told me what play they'll do first!"

"That's... great, Pinkie," Twilight said slowly, as she took Pinkie's hooves off of herself. "What exactly is it called?"

"He told me it's an original, called Once Upon a December. Ooh, I can't wait to see it!" she squealed. "I've gotta tell Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack about this! Oh, who'm I kidding. I've got to tell Discord and the princesses about this too! See ya soon, Twi!"

Before Twilight or Spike could ask anymore questions, the hyperactive mare was gone, back out the door in a blur of pink. Spike rubbed his eyes, and looked up at Twilight with an unsure visage.

"So, uh... anything else I should know about the... thing?" he asked her.

"Well, the thing was very popular back in its day..." she said, as she skimmed through the book some more. "The actors in it were said to have the greatest skills in drama of anypony in Equestria, and they only hired the best playwrights and authors to write and direct their original material."

"I wonder if it would be worth watching," Spike inquired.

"I'm willing to bet it would be," Twilight grinned, as she closed and reshelved her book. "Pinkie said they just arrived outside of Ponyville. Do you think we should try to get acquainted with the cast?"

Quiverpike may be perhaps the most skilled playwright this side of Equestria, but he was an old buck. Many seasons had passed since the brown hide on his skinny body had turned to a faint gray, and a long, thick beard had formed around his chin. A pair of frail, rickety, ready-to-shed antlers hung above a pair of bushy eyebrows, and below them were two chestnut-tinted eyes. There he sat on a wooden chair, in his freshly-pitched tent, the feeling of grass touching his lower hooves. In front of him was a hickory desk, and he was writing on the page of a book, busy trying to add to a play he was creating, the only noise going on in the tent being his feather quill as it scribbled down on the paper.

His head looked to the front of the tent as the sound of jingling bells hit his ears, and a familiar, boggy stench struck his nose. As he expected, in came Carol, her boisterous attire creating quite the racket.

"Good morning, Carol," Quiverpike greeted in a positive voice.

"An' guid morn tae ye," she spoke back. "Ah pit up every poster ye gae me lest nicht! Noo nae pony'll miss th' message."

"Did you see anypony while you posted them all?"

"Ah saw tois while Ah pit them up," she replied. "A body looked loch a dragon ay some sort, an' anither was a braw fellaw gonnae by th' nam ay Eveningstar. He claims tae be an alicorn, ur somethin' loch 'at. Can ye believe it?"

"Was he nice?" the deer asked, as he ran a cloven hoof through his beard, as if intrigued by what she was saying.

"Weel, Ah loch heem," she said back, in a happy tone. "'en again, Ah loch a lot ay ponies. But fur some reason 'at micht be as a crazy as Ah am, Ah hink he's special. There's jist somethin' abit heem 'at makes me want tae chase heem aroond fur a wee while..."

""Chase him around?" Oh, Carol, don't tell me you have a crush on the poor fellow."

"Crush? Nah," she tittered. "Aam jist canty tae see somepony as oot-of-their-min' as me."

"Are you sure it's not somepony that could help you with that little... curse of yours?"

"Ah gave up oan fixin' 'at wretched hex a lang time ago..." she replied, her cheery tone suddenly stooping to what sounded like a grim, sullen one, before returning to its previous state as she spoke next. "Noo, if yoo'll ho ye, aam gonnae fur a brammer nicht sweem. Mebbe catch a fish. See ye suin!"

"Be back by tomorrow night, or you'll miss the opening performance," Quiverpike spoke back, as he watched her move to the entrance. Just as she reached it, the tent flap began to move, revealing the shape of Odyssia, in her guise of a pony, when it was fully open.

"Oaps. Pardon me, princess..." Carol apologized to her for getting in the way, bowing slightly, before continuing the rest of the way out. Odyssia fixated her glasses with her magic, and walked in.

"Hey there, Quiver," the changeling princess said to the deer. "Is your tent to your liking?"

"Can't complain," he responded. "I was just having a pleasant conversation with Carol about last night. Between you and me, I think she may be infatuated with one of the locals..."

"Ah heard 'at!" Carol's distant voice yelled out from outside, causing the old deer to smirk. He went back to writing as he spoke next.

"Do you think you're still up to reciting the opening slogan?"

"Absolutely," Odyssia replied. "Still a little nervous to go on stage for the first time, but I'm definitely ready. I just decided to stop by to see if you have any last inklings of advice you could share with me, just in case the unforeseeable happens."

"You mean like; "if you feel worried, imagine all the ponies being dressed in their underwear?"" he said, as he placed a final period on the page he wrote on, before flipping to the next.

"No, I've heard that one a million times," she chuckled back.

The princess found herself interrupted as the noise of childish laughter, and what sounded like a mock-roar, began to echo outside of the tent.

"Grr! Run, little sheila! Or the big ol' Yowie'll eat you up like beans on rye!" a familiar voice went out. Bursting into the tent soon after, was the small form of a young, purple filly, who stopped the moment she came within a foot of the princess. Looking up to see Odyssia, she smiled, and in a green flash, transformed into a changeling nymph.

All nymphs of her hive were born with holes in their hooves like an average changeling you were most likely to encounter, but as they entered their adult years, the holes seemingly vanish. Why this happened, no changeling knew, but several popular theories popped up among them.

Joining in on whatever fun the small changeling was having, Odyssia used her magic to lift her up from the ground, and began spinning her around in the air like a loving parent with her child, getting an excited squeal from the nymph, and causing Quiverpike to smirk in mild amusement. Whatever the nymph was running from came into the tent a moment later, stick-like arms outstretched.

It was the swagman. Over his face was one of the finely-carved, painted, wooden masks pilfered from the dressing department, representing a roaring lion. As soon as he spotted the scene before him, he took the mask off, revealing his bag-head.

Swagmen, as they called themselves, were very strange magical constructs. According to legend, they start out as common scarecrows on your typical farm, but if the farm is abandoned, or the scarecrow is neglected for too long, it could form a mind of its own, and simply get up and walk off to pursue its own agenda as an adventuring vagabond. This particular swagman, Clopin, lived as a homeless rover for most of his new life, until he encountered the Theatre a few decades ago, from which he never left. His main job in his new home was to help care for the eggs and nymphs, and when the time of the show came around, he absolutely adored playing as the non-pony villains or monsters, considering his dexterity, and effectiveness at pulling off realistic, but bloodless death scenes.

"Oh, uh... sorry for interrupting anything, milady," he apologized. "I was just having a bit of fun with the little ones. I didn't know that this was Q's tent."

"No need," the changeling princess replied. "It wasn't anything major." Focusing back on the child she was still levitating, Odyssia began to place her back down.

"Put on your disguise, and go run home to your mother, little one," Odyssia smiled, as the nymph's hooves touched the ground. The young changeling looked back at the princess with an admiring glance, before doing as she was told, bounding out of the tent, and morphing back into the form of the purple filly. Clopin was about to do so as well, but the voice of Quiverpike stopped him.

"Swagman, before you go, could you tell Vektor to keep an eye on Carol, and make sure she gets back by tomorrow?" he asked.

"That mozzie fellow? Sure," Clopin agreed. "He creeps the straw out of me, but at least he has his uses, right?"

The scarecrow quickly left to carry out the task, but the second he departed, another shape emerged from behind the tent flap, causing the deer to silently sigh at all the individuals that decided to visit his tent at once.

It was Punica. She was in the form of a dark blue mare with a lighter blue mane, and was wearing a sapphire-blue dress. There appeared to be a look of urgency on her face.

"Sorry to bug you, Odyssia," the maid spoke in her usual gentle voice. "But there's a Princess Twilight Sparkle who wishes to see you, and I wanted to see if you were available or not. If you're busy, I can tell her to come back later, if that is what you'd like."

"The Princess Twilight Sparkle?" Odyssia asked, her composure disappearing for a brief moment the second she heard the name. After regaining it, she straightened herself out, and looked to Quiverpike with a vibrant gleam in her eye's. After he gave a confident nod back to her, she looked back to her servant.

"Tell the princess I'll be with her shortly," she began. "And see if we can meet by her castle, if that's not too much trouble."

"As you wish," Punica replied. As she trotted off, the princess looked back at Quiverpike.

"Did you hear that?" she asked the aged buck. "Twilight Sparkle wants to talk with me!"

"You certainly sound enthusiastic about it," he chuckled.

"She was my idol from when I was a nymph," Odyssia replied. "One of several reasons I wanted to come here was to talk with her."

"What were the other reasons?"

"Mmm... I can't really say yet..." she spoke, enigmatically. "But I thank you for your time, Quiverpike. I'll see you soon."

And with that, the changeling princess left, allowing peace and quiet to return to Quiverpike's abode. Sighing happily, he returned to his work.

Chapter 3: "...And That is my Sorrow"

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Chapter 3: "...And That is my Sorrow"

The rays of the afternoon sun rained down on the back of a disguised changeling as she strolled through Ponyville.

The young, but mature changeling, Pharsalia was her name, hid behind the guise of a young adult, red-furred unicorn mare that represented her age, with a cutie mark displaying a pair of books. She was exploring the town, hoping to sate her curiosity of what ponies did with their time. Far behind her, the grand shape of the theater appeared just over some of Ponyville's buildings, the massive stage having been moved to its location by a mixture of physical labor and a great deal of magic.

Despite being the image of changeling health otherwise, her rear left leg dragged behind in a limp, the limb rendered scarred and lame after an incident she had in her nymphhood that left it damaged beyond proper repair. Despite being offered a brace by the Theatre's doctor, she never liked the things, and went without one.

As she hobbled her way through or past the ponies that walked along the busy steets, Pharsalia stopped in her tracks as she witnessed Thoraxis, of all individuals, suddenly plod in front of her.

A changeling... without his disguise on?! Pharsalia thought, in shock. The shock as a matter of fact, was so much, that she could feel as her own false form vanished in a flash of green flame, her concentration to keep it lost. Witnessing the flash from out of the corner of his eye, Thoraxis turned his head, and gave Pharsalia a sarcastic, tired look.

"Oh. Hello again, hallucination Skia," he groaned, noting the resemblance the young changeling bore to his daughter.

"U-um... eh-yes! That's me! Hallucination Skia!" Pharsalia said nervously, her skills she practiced at pretending coming into play. Thoraxis sighed, turned his head forward, and trudged on. Pharsalia, noticing he was heading in the direction of the castle, decided to follow, quickly going back into her false form before any pony witnessed her as well.

"Why do you visions come to torment me?" the strange changeling asked, not bothering to look back. "Why must you materialize with the sole reason to taunt me endlessly? I'm doing my best to find you, Skia."

"Visions? Oh, well, that's because you... are getting close to... finding me?" she guessed, trying to piece together what he was rambling on about.

"Pff. I wish," he puffed, as he kicked a nearby, gray stone, which slid a few feet across the ground before spinning to an abrupt stop when the pebble impacted against the lower wall of a house. "Petra's right. I do need more sleep... or at least some form of medication to keep you away..."

"Um... yeah..." Pharsalia chuckled uneasily. Her brow curled into one of both interest and curiosity as she followed Thoraxis deeper into the bustling town's marketplace.

"Where are you going?"

"The library, after I meet up with someone. Where else?" he muttered.

"This town has a library? Ooh, where, where, where?" she asked, excitedly.

"In Twilight Sparkle's castle. How do you not know that, Skia? You tried visiting the place every day, remember?"

"I don't know, because I'm a... figment of your imagination?"

"Good point, I guess..."

Their conversation ended as they entered a table-filled lot near a restaurant. Sitting by one table was the white, scaly, draconid shape of Petra, one claw clasped onto a pickle jar, and the other inside of it, pulling one of the gherkins out.

"Hey Thoraxis!" she greeted, just before her mouth snapped off the end of the pickle, and chewed heartily, her stinger-tipped tail moving behind her in apparent glee at seeing him. "I'm glad to see you slept in. You looked so peaceful when I last saw you."

"I woke up about an hour ago, and came down here when I saw the note you left behind, as a matter of fact," he chuckled, lightly. Petra leaned over, and the two kissed briefly on the lips.

"I thought you hated pickles," he said after they both pulled away, noticing the taste she left behind in his mouth.

"I dunno... I guess I have a little craving for the things right now," Petra chuckled. As she finished the one in her claw, Pharsalia limped closer to Thoraxis, eager to know who this strange couple was from him.

"Who's that?" Pharsalia asked, as the wyvern greedily started on the last one of the juicy vegetables the jar held.

"My girlfriend," Thoraxis said back, keeping his head straight, and his voice in a low enough tone that he thought Petra wouldn't hear. Judging from how fast she turned her head to the two of them though, she did.

"Ooh, who's your friend?" Petra asked, putting the now-empty jar down, taking notice that he was talking to somepony else, and wasn't being grumpy or rude about it. Thoraxis gave her an odd look before replying.

"Friend? I'm just talking to one of my hallucinations again. You wouldn't believe this one either, I think I'm imagining what Skia would look like as an adult."

"Thoraxis, that's... not a hallucination..." the albino wyvern pointed out slowly, in a whisper. "You're talking to a pony. And she's standing right... next... to... you."

"Hi," Pharsalia greeted, after Thoraxis's head had spun around to her. "I believe you were calling me "Hallucination Skia?""

Thoraxis rubbed his eyes with a hoof in disbelief, before getting another, long, wide-eyed look at her. "M-my mistake..." he quickly apologized, chuckling in embarrassment. "I thought you looked like a changeling I'm searching for. I haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately, so... I haven't been as astute as I should be, heh..."

"I guess it's my fault too, for playing along this far," Pharsalia giggled. "My name's Pharsalia. I'm one of the stagehooves from the Theatre. It's very nice to meet you two."

"Oh, so you are?" Petra inquired, as she got up from her seat. "Neat! Thoraxis and I were planning on going to see the opening play tomorrow night, right honey?"

"Yes, dear," Thoraxis replied in a monotonous voice, one of his webbed ears twitching to the side lazily. "...Because you said it was good for my health, and all..."

With an arched brow and a claw on her hip, Petra looked down and gave a sardonic smile to the changeling. "You know you need this, Thoraxis," she chided.

"I know, I know," he agreed. "By the way, are you going to come to the castle with me?"

"Sure am," she said, before giving a side glance at Pharsalia. "Are you?"

"No, not right now," Pharsalia replied, sullenly. "I've got to get ready to have lunch with one of my friends. I just wanted to know more about the town to, ya'know, see if it had anything interesting, before I did so. So I guess this means goodbye for now."

"Goodbye to you then Pharsalia. I hope we get to see you again soon," Petra spoke. Pharsalia gave a last wave with a hoof, and departed, leaving the two alone as she tottered on her way.

After the goodbye had finished, Thoraxis and Petra made it to the castle a brief walk later. The tall, crystalline, tree-like structure was enough to impress all who beheld it, but both the changeling and the wyvern had gotten used to it's awesome visage by now. Just as they made it to the door, it swung open, revealing two shapes.

"...And that's how she got frigophobia," Odyssia spoke, finishing up her tale as Twilight and herself exited the castle's main door. With neither looking ahead, both Odyssia and Thoraxis collided against one another, jumping back in reaction when they recovered.

"Oops! Pardon me, sir," the changeling princess started. "I was j-"

Odyssia went silent when she saw the changeling and wyvern who now stood before her. Quickly, she cleared her throat, and spoke again, mustering up the regal, elegant voice she was trained to use.

"Please accept my sincerest apologies. I didn't see either of you there."

"Don't worry about it," Thoraxis spoke, before he got a good look her. "Say... I've never seen you around before. Are you with the theater thing, too?"

"Yes, I am. I am Madam Odyssia Metamorphoses, the leader of the Theatre Metamorphoses," Odyssia responded. Petra's eyes widened and her jaw fell agape in surprise as she heard, while Thoraxis looked indifferent to the revelation, pawing at the dirt below him instead.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Madam!" Petra said as she stepped forward, vigorously shaking her hoof (but not vigorously enough to cause a scene). "Since I first heard about what your group did when I was younger, I've always wanted to see at least one show."

"Well, tomorrow's your chance, now isn't it?" the disguised changeling princess laughed, when she retracted her hoof. Changing her field of view to Thoraxis, who had remained in silence thus far, her expression turned inquisitive.

"I take it that you're Thoraxis, correct?"

"How did you know?" he asked, his attention now on Odyssia when he heard his name.

"The princess told me," she replied, motioning to Twilight. "It was about one of her past adventures."

"Yeah... remember that time when you first came to Ponyville?" the alicorn herself asked. "We thought you were bad, you turned out to be good, and then settled down here after you found-"

"Yes... I remember," he cut in, but in a way that sounded as formal as he thought he could make it. "Those were good times."

His morose expression was nullified, however, when a strange look came about on his face, as if it suddenly went blank. His teal eyes, both widened immensely, stared in dull fashion at nothing. One of his ears twitched, listening to something the others could not hear.

"Thoraxis? Is there something wrong?" Petra asked, as she placed a claw on his shoulder. Snapping out of his trance as sudden as it appeared, and going silent, Thoraxis lowered his muzzle, but brought it up again as he turned to Petra, a concerned look on his face.

"I've got a terrible migraine going on in my head right now, so I think I'll go to see Zecora for something to help with it," he said to her. "I'll be back later. Love you."

"Okay, I... love you too," Petra replied, somewhat startled by his abrupt statement. After the two traded slightly more assuring glances, Thoraxis turned, and began to walk in the direction of the Everfree Forest, where the zebra's cottage lied.

"You'll have to pardon his quirkiness, he's been through a lot..." Twilight spoke to Odyssia. She nodded in understanding, before looking back at Petra, who simply watched Thoraxis disappear among the crowd of ponies with a worried expression glued on her eyes.

"Want to talk about the Theatre over lunch, Petra?" Odyssia asked the wyvern. "A colleague of mine and I were invited to go along with Twilight Sparkle and two of her friends."

"We can easily make room for one more," Twilight concurred. Petra looked at the two, and a small grin formed on her face.

"That sounds lovely," she answered, positively.

Longinus strolled through the dark forest, alone. The only thing to light his way was the stars and moon that showed through the canopy above.

These kinds of walks helped ease his mind whenever a disturbing thought entered it. His deeds of the past burdened him greatly, but he was slowly learning to cope with, and overcome them.

He was about to make it to the final turn on the path, and head back from where he came, but a peculiar sound then hit his ears.

"...And all they come, and all they go, remaining along and underneath the shoreline... down, down into the ocean they stay, while I arise, leaving the current's brine... But on the horizon lies my sorrow."

The voice was enthrallingly beautiful, in an utterly alien sort of way. Longinus may never have heard what a siren sounded like, but whatever he was hearing now seemed to match the description of one. Very eager to know who, what, and where it was, he strayed from the path he trotted on, and entered the thick of the forest.

"...Forthwith to the last, to leave my kin, I find my calling, though myself is blate... in this new world, in this new land, there upon lies my final fate... Too late I find it is sorrow."

Longinus turned past a final tree, and finally saw the source of the beautiful sound. To his utter astonishment, he spotted the familiar shape he recognized as Carol; the bell pony from the night before, in the distance. She was trotting through the forest, keeping only herself company, her cloak of bells jingling behind her, and still she continued her song.

"...I traveled far, seeking the sound, pushing aside all in my way in search of what created such a knell. After much travel I happened upon a town, the ville of the bell... And this is where I would find my sorrow."

"That town I found, that town I stole, and in selfishness I ruled it for years as the cruelest and vainest of things. I got whatever I wanted, for my voice compelled, but the townspony's retribution they did eventually bring... And with it was brought my sorrow."

The song was a story. Longinus, listening intently, snuck closer to Carol, whom he saw was approaching a small pond that rested in a clearing.

The ring-shaped pond had reeds and cattails growing along its waterline aplenty, and lilies were abundant everywhere else. When she reached it, Carol simply stopped, and sang some more in her haunting voice.

"I asked for a bell, the most beautiful-sounding in all the land, and they crafted that bell, but they didn't tell me what upon it was put. The ponies, in secret, had charmed the metal, and when I heard the bell ring, their vengeance bloomed like coltsfoot... The instrument's melody was my sorrow."

"And with the bell's chime a curse was placed. And with the bell's chime, a hex was cast. And with the bell's chime, my reign was brought to a final end at last. My mind is shattered by the sound, my sanity now thin, my reality all and in-between... I wander this land, alone and lost, and never allowed to love, nor dream. To dream, to dream! Oh, do I dream? What is a dream, I do not know..."

"My own unkindness brought this upon myself... and that is my sorrow..." she finished. Had Longinus possessed less control over his emotions, he may have even shed a tear. Instead, he merely continued to watch, unsure of what Carol was going to do next.

"Weel, time tae catch me some fesh," the pony spoke, her accent returning with a vengeance. After talking to herself, she lifted her hooves, and removed the bell-helmet that concealed her head. Despite the star and moonlight, he could only make out a faint outline of her shape. No sooner had she tossed the helmet away, she shed her cape, and quickly moved to the water in a blur of movement, disappearing beneath the glistening waves she started up by entering.

A minute passed. Then another. Then another, but still she didn't resurface for air. A feeling of fear jolted through Longinus's body when the fourth went by, and he came to the realization that she may not be coming back up. What he chose to do next was act.

What pony would leave a crazy mare like her alone? By the moon, she's drowning! he thought, dashing forward. He looked down to the water, but it was too dark and murky to see through. Taking in a gulp of air, Longinus dove into the cool water, opening his eyes once more when he was submerged. The second he made out the only moving, pony-esque shape near the water's bottom, he took several, powerful strokes to reach it, and then wrapped his forelegs around its form. Kicking off from the muddy depths, he and the shape went sailing back up.

Breaking the surface and gasping for air, Longinus, with Carol in hoof, made his way to the shoreline, and hoisted her over it, before he himself collapsed onto her equally-wet body, fatigue finally catching up with him. Once he had a deep, good breather, he calmly lifted his soggy head up and looked at carol's face, only to reel back in utter surprise. The being before him was female, but it was clearly not a pony!

Her head was pony-shaped, and without that helmet on to obscure her visage, he could see into her large, glassy, blue, pupil-less eyes. A white, mane-like fin ran down from the top of her head to the base of her back, and on either side of her head rested two, large ears with reddish tints at their edges, each laced with multiple bell-themed earrings. Clutched in her mouth was a large brown fish, its tail still moving around in a vain attempt to escape.

With a "ptooey" she spat the fish out of her mouth, where it landed on the grass nearby.

"Oh. Ah didne expect tae see ye haur, Maister Eveningstar! How're ye daein'?" the creature asked using Carol's voice, in the most causal manner the alicorn could swear he'd ever heard.

"You're... not a pony..." he said, slowly, as he crawled off of the creature's body, now getting a good look at its legless, serpentine visage, which ended with a white tail fin at its tip. Carol couldn't help but laugh hysterically at the look on his face, also taking the time to pull out whatever part of her body was still in the water, and sit up before responding.

"Ye thooght Ah was a pony? Hah! Hahaha!" she chortled. "Nae, heh, aam nae a pony. Aam a kelpie!"

"If you're not a pony, how did I see you walking around? You don't have hooves!" he shouted, motioning to the two, long, fin-like appendages that stuck out of the midsection of her body.

"Ah ken a speel ur tois 'at can make mah fins shift forms," she responded. "I've bin aroond a while, sae Ah ken these things."

An awkward silence came between the two that continued even after the kelpie started to randomly hum, her gaze turning also as she became distracted by some nearby fireflies. Coughing into his hoof to regain her attention, Longinus started to speak.

"You certainly have a beautiful singing voice," he complimented, attempting to break the tension he was feeling. "I've never heard something like that in all my life."

"Ye heard 'at? Hehe... och..." she sighed, sheepishly. "Thenk ye kindly, Maister Eveningstar."

"Please, you can call me Longinus," he smiled with a hint of unease, raising a hoof.

"Okay, "Longinus," if that's whit ye want tae be called..." Carol said in a playful tone as she looked back to the fish, currently flopping helplessly on the grass nearby. With a brief smack from her long tail, the scaly creature was sent back into the water, landing in the pool with a splash.

"You could've eaten that, you know," Longinus spoke. "I wouldn't have minded."

"Oh, Ah decided tae lit th' blighter live fur anither day," she confessed, as she watched the ripples settle. Before doing anything else after that, she simply went still, and fell onto her back, the long, knotted grass below cushioning her serpentine body as it landed. After a few seconds of wriggling into a comfortable spot, she gave a large, warm, toothy grin to the alicorn looking down at her.

"Wanna watch th' stars wi' me?" she inquired, a fin patting the grass nearby invitingly. "Seeing's hoo ye sae generoosly tried tae sae mah life when ye thooght wee auld me was in danger, it's only fittin' Ah shoods ask ye."

"No... I'm busy with other things," he replied. Carol frowned at his response.

"Aw, 'main 'en," she complained. "It's late, an' ye dornt swatch loch yoo're thrang wi' anythin'! Ye can lay haur wi' me fur puckle minutes, at leest? We can gab abit each other, ur jist funay mince!"

Longinus's eyes narrowed, and his ears splayed back in annoyance. "You really are insane, aren't you?"

"'at Ah main be, but Ah hae moments ay clarity," Carol answered. "It' jist 'at there's nae huir uv a mony moments ay 'at."

"Are you currently in one of those "moments of clarity?"" he asked curiously, leaning his head in.

"Weel, yoo'll jist hae tae fin' it 'en, eh?" she responded, teasingly.

The only creatures Longinus had spoken to in the last six months were Zecora, and Thoraxis whenever he dropped by. He truly did long for something new to ease his loneliness. With a sigh, he too fell back-first onto the grass, adjacent to where Carol lied.

"Ye ken what's funay?" the kelpie asked, as she pawed at one of her bell-earrings. "Ah aye seemed tae hink aw those wee stars up thaur looked loch... bits ay glitter. Ur sparklin' diamonds. Ur..."

"Or what?"

"...Giant, burnin', gaseoos balls ay hydrogen an' helium 'at ur a million miles awa'," she continued, just before one of the flying, glowing insects from before flew in front of her face. "Ur... fireflies..."

As they watched the stars, another bout of silence came between the two. It was broken once more as Longinus spoke up.

"I don't mean to sound so obtuse, but what were you singing about?" he asked. "I've never heard a song with lyrics matching what yours had before."

"Beats me," she said, shrugging. "Ah dornt pure ken half th' time. Those songs jist... come tae me at weird times. Ah dornt min' whit exactly it was, but Ah hink other kelpies called them "heart songs," ur somethin'."

"Heart song?" Longinus questioned.

"Yeah. Songs frae th' heart," she started to answer. "Every kelpie has one. When we sin' it, we're basically tellin' th' story ay hoo uir li'es hae gain up tae noo... ur it's somethin' abit hoo red bluid cells wark. Loch Ah said, aam a body bat short ay a belfry, sae Ah dornt pure ken anymair."

Her head swiveled to the left, and looked at the alicorn. "Sae... what's yer story?" she inquired. "Ah ken Ah said we'd gab abit each other's histories at th' theater's openin', but since we're haur, wa nae gab noo?"

Longinus pursed his lips as he tried to find the right words. "Where do I begin?" he finally started.

"Wi' th' beginnin' ay coorse!" Carol chuckled back.

Under the light of the crescent moon, the two began to talk and share secrets. Throughout that entire night, they spoke of many different subjects that led to where and who they were as of the present. They spoke of funny things, sad things, intimate things, and life-changing things, unaware that in the far distance, another figure; a twisted, bent, unnatural figure, was watching them from behind goggled eyes.

Sharp, mechanical claws protruding from ragged sleeves gripped a pair of long metal stilts that kept the front of its pony-sized, trench coat-covered body upright, and a fair distance above the ground, while a set of lengthy metal peg legs, similar to the stilt-crutches, projected from where the torn cloth of the coat ended, near its rear. Its head was covered by a metal helmet that matched the black paint scheme of the coat, and a metal, face-covering mask lied on the front, but what made it look eerie was the fact it ended in a meter-long drill where its mouth would have hid behind the mask.

And there it stood, just... watching, staring at the two through its round, glass goggles. Every twitchy breath it emitted sounded like a tortured, droning buzz from the wings of a gnat, with a sickly, machine-like twist added to it. Though its body constantly convulsed and jerked in a manner akin to a pony with a severe nervous tic, it remained unmoving from where it stood.

Watching.

Chapter 4: A Sudden Realization

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Chapter 4: A Sudden Realization

The lunch that Petra was invited to was a very pleasant experience. The conversation she had with everyone there went on for hours, and it was much later when Odyssia took Petra, Twilight Sparkle, and the alicorn's two friends, Fluttershy and Rarity, for a brief tour of the grounds where the stage had been brought, and her disguised hive had set up multiple tents to camp out.

Odyssia's colleague that came with them, as it turned out to be, was Pharsalia from before. Petra and the (incognito) changeling hit it right off when they met again, and it was only amplified further after Petra revealed she was an author; something Pharsalia was currently aspiring to become, once she was a little older, and had more experience. Even after the sun went down, the two, now by themselves, were still talking, only this time it was about themselves, and not books.

"So, how long have you and Thoraxis been together?" Pharsalia asked, as the two continued through the field of tents and busy figures.

"A little over a year now," Petra replied, as she narrowly avoided a passing changeling hiding under the guise of a red-furred pegasus. "Our relationship is very healthy, and we're thinking of taking it a step further... when the time is right, of course."

Pharsalia smiled, before biting her lip as she looked up, noticing the moon was up in the sky, it's silver sheen shining down upon them. Attempting to think of another question to ask, in an effort to fuel the conversation for a little longer at least, she spoke the first one that came to mind.

"Do you... have any pets?"

"Oh, yes! A cryophoenix, named Despereaux," the wyvern said back. "He loves to meet new faces. Would you like to stop by and see him sometime?"

"Eh... no," she politely declined, raising her hoof. "From what I've read, cryophoenix's are made of ice, and to tell you the truth, I don't feel very comfortable around cold things."

"Why?" Petra inquired, curiously. Pharsalia, for a brief moment, looked away, before staring back at her, ready to answer.

"My childhood was... well, I can't remember most of it," she replied, before motioning to her lame back leg. "You've seen my limp by now, right?"

"I may have..." Petra spoke, trying not to sound rude.

"I got it from severe frostbite," Pharsalia said. "It was after I had been separated from my parents in a blizzard, somewhere up north. My family, whoever they were, were once part of the Theatre Metamorphoses before it broke up, and, at the time we got lost, the group members were using magic to locate each other so it could be reformed. I spent enough time in the cold... the cold... for the frostbite to reach its fourth stage on my leg, and it almost destroyed all use of it. As our doctor here said, the trauma from being out there induced some sort of amnesia that made me forget almost everything prior. I would have frozen to death, hadn't I been found by Clopin."

"The swagman-thing?"

"Yes. Like I said before, the Theatre was using magic to locate any members, or their descendants, and he found me, right in the nick of time. He helped raise me following what happened, and I've been here ever since."

"How long ago was this?" Petra asked again, in a sympathetic voice.

"A few years ago," Pharsalia replied, lying to draw off suspicion. "I've been meaning to ask something," she started to say again, attempting to change the subject, "when I met your boyfriend, he was acting a bit... odd. Do you know why?"

"Thoraxis.... he's been acting that way since he lost his daughter, Skia. He lost her the same day he met me," the wyvern began in a somber voice, prompting Pharsalia to give a perturbed look.

"Goodness... she died?" the disguised changeling inquired, in a horrified voice. Petra quickly shook her head.

"No! no, no, no... she was kidnapped by a half-changeling, half-dragon. We later found out the thing was acting on the orders of the changeling queen, Queen Chrysalis herself," she replied. "He did something terrible to her, then threw her out into a blizzard, just minutes before we could get to his lair."

"And... where was this?"

"Several miles from the Crystal Empire."

Pharsalia gave a confused look. "It's a constant blizzard up there, and you said she's not dead. How do you know she's alive?"

"We have a friend who has an extraordinary power in the field of magic, and he's stated that she's alive," the wyvern said, cryptically. "Thoraxis told me he was like an uncle to her since she was hatched from an egg. Both of them have been spending most of their time, free or not, trying to locate her."

A thought started to form in Pharsalia's mind when Petra finished. Looking back up, she could see that the moon was higher in the sky, and told her she was up past her self-scheduled curfew.

"Well, this has been a nice conversation, but I guess this where we say goodbye for now," she said, as the thought slowly began to infect the rest of her mind. "I've got to make sure I'm rested enough to help operate the stage when the show begins. I'll see you at the play tomorrow, Petra."

"Wow... it is getting late, isn't it?" Petra spoke back in a small chuckle, as she realized how dark it was. "I can't wait to see you guys perform. See you later, Pharsalia, and have yourself a good night."

After a friendly wave good-bye, Petra turned and began to walk away, out of the campground, and in the direction of Ponyville. Pharsalia also turned, and began to limp to where her tent had been pitched earlier in the day.

"He's a changeling that lost his daughter in a snowstorm... around the same time I was found, alone, and by myself?" she whispered to herself. "Could it be a coincidence? Huh... I may have to look into this..."

Thoraxis walked up to Zecora's hut with a paranoid gleam in his eye. He went to Longinus's house first so he could tell the alicorn his suspicions, but he wasn't home. After waiting for nearly three hours, he didn't return, and so the changeling came to visit the zebra sage instead.

Walking up to the door, he checked to make sure he was presentable, and then knocked on it with his hoof, three times in a row in quick succession. Not a second later, the door opened, revealing Zecora's gray, black-striped shape.

"Hello Thoraxis, my changeling friend," she greeted in her usual, friendly manner. "Is there a trouble you have that I can mend?"

"I'm sorry to bug you at this time, Zecora," Thoraxis replied. "Longinus wasn't home, and you're the only other person I can come to. There's something of imperative importance I need to talk with you about."

"Then by all means, come right in," the zebra spoke, gesturing politely for him to enter. "To leave you without aid would be a sin."

"Thank you," he spoke, trotting inside. Observing his surroundings, Thoraxis saw the spacious room was filled with wooden idols, plants with long-reaching vines and leaves, and jars containing wide assortments of herbs. In the middle lied a cauldron, containing some sort of glowing, green broth, and smelt heavily of lavender when he neared it.

Pulling up a nearby stool, Thoraxis sat down in front of a small, round table, and was soon joined by Zecora. "Does your conundrum lie with the visiting theater?" she inquired, as she, too, took a seat. "I do not know otherwise what would make you sound eager."

"Yes, it does, BIG time," he quickly replied. "I felt something when I met one of the ponies that works with it."

"Thoraxis, the theater did not come to bring misery, that I can assure. They may seem strange, but their intentions are pure."

"Technically, it's not the theater I'm worried about per se, it's the crew," he started. "I sensed something a few hours ago when I encountered their leader. There was just a familiar buzzing going on in the back of my skull, and the last time I felt that, it was when I was back with my hive in the badlands. Zecora, you may think me a little crazy for saying this, but I think that they're all... changelings."

"Hmhmhmhm..." Zecora chuckled behind a closed mouth, her kindly expression not faltering. "You know, to truly know somepony else, you must first ask them about who they are, yourself."

"They'll just lie though!" Thoraxis replied. Zecora simply smiled, before getting up from her seat, turning, and pulling a green, cork-capped, glass bottle with a large, round body, and thin tip off of a nearby shelf, placing it on the table in front of Thoraxis.

"If a changeling incursion is something you think is real, rub this on one of their hides, and the truth will be revealed."

"It looks... like mud," he stated, peering through the glass of the item with one of his monochromatic, teal eyes.

"This is clay that has been enchanted to differentiate from the norm. If it makes contact with a shapeshifter, it will show you its true form," the zebra revealed.

"It is? Oh, now we're talking..." the changeling cackled. "This is perfect!"

"Thoraxis, answers to your questions is what you seek, but you must remember that some things are not as bad as you think," Zecora said again, her voice bearing a hint of caution.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked in reply, as he took the bottle in a hoof.

"I have a feeling that in time you'll see. But for now, I shall simply let things be."

After hearing the other enigmatic comment by Zecora, Thoraxis, knowing his business was concluded, got up, and started to make for the door.

"Sorry to leave on short notice, but I need to get back to Petra. I made her a promise that I would go to bed early tonight, and stay in bed, this time," Thoraxis said, as he readied himself to slip out.

"Then go to her you should do," Zecora responded. "Tomorrow, at the show is where I'll see you."

"Yeah, I guess..." Thoraxis sighed, before he exited the cottage, closing the wooden door behind himself gently.

Longinus woke up with a soft gasp. He felt the grass he lied on beneath him, as well as something else. Lifting his head, he looked over, and saw that Carol was still there, only she was still in the peacefulness of sleep. She was nestled up against him, her fins draped over his side, and making cooing murmurs to herself as she dreamed.

He and the kelpie had talked throughout most of the night, and both of themselves must have dozed off sometime in the early morning. Seeing how she was now, Carol most likely crawled up beside him, and passed out as well. It felt nice... warm even, and somewhat intimate. But it was also because of this that he decided what to next.

Making his move, Longinus, ever so slowly, lifted himself from the ground, and away from the kelpie's grasp. When he was in the clear, he looked back and saw Carol was still, thankfully, in dreamland. He watched as her long tail curled up against her midsection in his absence before deciding to tiptoe off.

He didn't wander far. He walked just until Carol was out of sight, and then sat down. Looking up to the pinkish hue left behind by the rising morning sun, his thoughts raced back to the past.

His wife, Aurora, had passed away many hundreds of years ago, in part due to a wasting illness she was suffering from, but also due to his own mistakes. If it wasn't for his actions during that time, she may not have died. He may not have gone insane from losing her. There would have been no Moredread Enmity. He wouldn't have attempted to kill his own daughters, Celestia and Luna. Life could have turned out differently, and most nights he wasn't focusing on finding Skia, he would often fantasize what life could have been like, had he not made such destructive, foolish errors.

But a fantasy was still a fantasy, and mistakes made were still mistakes made. When the image of Carol came to his mind, Longinus's eyes closed for the next few minutes as he felt the cool breeze brush over his face. The kelpie, in the brief time he knew her, was already leaving a profound effect on him. And this effect was one he feared to describe.

"Longinus... is 'at ye?" a tired voice yawned from behind him.

"Au-Carol. Yes, i-it is," he responded, slightly shaken by her sudden presence as he turned to face her. She had put her cape of bells back on, and the multiple objects rattled behind her, while carried in her fin, which appeared to have transformed into a leg and hoof, was her helmet. The rest of her body, whether it too had transformed or not, was concealed by her metal cloak.

"'at was th' best nap I've hud in years, Ah'll teel ye," she chuckled slightly, as she placed her helmet down, and went up to him. "An'... ye wooldnae believe thes, but... Ah hink Ah dreamed."

"Was it a lovely dream?"

"Och aye, it was!" she started. "Ye waur thaur, an' we waur talkin' abit each other some mair, an' 'en ye leaned ower an'..."

"And then I leaned over and did... what?" Longinus inquired curiously, after she stopped. Grinning, almost in a malicious fashion, the kelpie answered.

"Kissed me," she spoke, bursting into a giggling fit as she saw how red the alicorn's cheeks went. Coughing into his hoof, Longinus attempted to change the conversation.

"Ahem... well, I had a nice night with you, Carol, but I'm afraid I must go now. I have other matters in need of attention," he spoke, mustering a serious voice. Carol's face lowered with his words and her brow hung in a dejected way, until an idea popped into her head, and she let loose a smile.

"Ah ken! Ah shoods shaw ye aroond th' theatre sometime!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Och, ye woods loove it, an' Ah bit yoo'd loch tae meit some ay mah friends."

"That sounds very nice, Carol. But to tell you the truth, I..."

He stopped talking when he gazed into the kelpie's eyes. They looked like a pair of puppy's eyes. Like a couple of pretty, wet gemstones. There was no way he could refuse her after getting caught in their alluring trap.

"...I could try to make some time to visit, around noon or so..." he finally replied, albeit slowly, an somewhat reluctantly.

"Noon? Ah guess Ah'll see ye suin, 'en! Cheerio th' noo, Longinus!" she bid farewell in an excited fashion, whilst clapping her hooves together with glee. With a large smile on her face, Carol placed her head-concealing helmet on, and turned around before dashing off, out of sight, into the woods.

This kelpie was indeed a very strange creature, and Longinus knew that fact well by this point. Yet, despite whatever mental illness she possessed that drove her erratic, carefree behavior, there was something about Carol and her infinitely complex mannerisms that the alicorn couldn't help but like.

Like.

Oh no... he thought with worry, placing a hoof to his forehead as the idea hit him like a hailstone in the middle of a sunny day. I'm starting to fall for that kelpie, aren't I?

Chapter 5: From the Past

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Chapter 5: From the Past

The sun's rays that showed through the window of the bedroom awoke Thoraxis from his slumber. Blinking a few times, he let out a long, well-earned yawn before sitting up, and stretching his legs out. After nodding his head a few times to make himself more alert, the changeling looked to his left, and saw the space was empty.

Petra must have gotten up already Thoraxis thought, as he pushed the blue covers off of himself. Using his buzzing wings, he flew from the bed to the doorway of the room, and landed on the ground. From there, he walked through the house.

As he passed the bathroom, he stopped dead in his tracks as a horrid retching noise came from the other side of the closed door. Quickly realizing who it was, Thoraxis turned to it, and planted his ear against the wooden object.

"Petra? Petra, are you okay in there, dear?" he asked anxiously, knocking on the door three times.

"I'm... fine," she moaned in a sick voice from behind the door. "Just a little... morning nausea again, that's all..."

"Are you sure you're not catching something?" the changeling asked again, extreme concern building in his tone. "This is the third time this week you've felt like this in the morning. I'm the one starting to get worried now."

"Thoraxis, I'm fine... really..." she laughed weakly. "I'll be out in a few minutes..."

"Do you... want me to get breakfast started?" he inquired.

"Yes please..."

Without another word, Thoraxis quietly left the door, and into the kitchen. He passed by Despereaux, who had hopped to the nearby shelf, an equally-uneasy look on his beaked face.

"Do you think she's okay, Desp?" he asked the icy bird. The cryophoenix merely replied with a "so-so" shrug, prompting Thoraxis to sigh in a doubting way. Using his magic to lift a frying pan from one of the cupboards, and several ingredients from the fridge and adjacent shelves, the changeling placed them near the stove, and was about to start making pancakes, when a sudden knocking on the door interrupted him.

Despereaux squawked as he hopped back onto his perch, his head bobbing up-and-down in excitement, and eyes pointed to the door. After putting the objects he held up, Thoraxis walked up to the door and opened it, revealing the shape of a female, red-furred unicorn.

"Oh, uh... hello, Thoraxis," she greeted. "Sorry to stop in on short notice, I just wanted to say hi to Petra real quickly."

"Pharsalia, right?" he guessed. "Come on in. Petra's a little... "nauseous" right now, but she should be out of the bathroom shortly."

"Thanks. I, uh..." Pharsalia started again, before she caught sight of Despereaux.

"What is it?"

"The cryophoenix..." the disguised changeling replied, pointing to him slowly, as her teeth clicked together nervously. "I... don't feel very comfortable around cold things..."

Being the smart bird he was, Despereaux nodded politely with a bow from his head, and flew to the window closest to him. After opening it with his beak, he glided out of it, and into the morning sky outside. Putting a hoof to her chest and sighing in relief, Pharsalia finally stepped into the house.

"Sorry about... mistaking you for my daughter yesterday," Thoraxis apologized again for the moment that happened the day before, in an awkward tone as he rubbed the back of his head in an embarrassed manner. Pharsalia raised her hoof forgivingly.

"It's alright," she spoke. "Did Petra tell you about what we did last night, after you left?"

"Talked, became friends, that sort of thing," he chuckled. "She's a wonderful person, isn't she?"

"And a great author too, from what I heard her say," she responded. "You also mentioned something about Petra feeling ill. Is she alright?"

"She's just a little queasy again. I think she may have caught a "morning sickness" bug or something a few days ago, but she said she was going to be alright and out in a few minutes."

"That's good to hear," Pahrsalia said, as she looked around the pleasant abode. Her venturing eyes stopped when they reached a shelf that had several pictures frames on it, the most noticeable one being a picture of Thoraxis standing behind what appeared to be a young changeling nymph with green eyes, both smiling to where the camera would have been in an overjoyed way.

"Was this... Skia?" she inquired, motioning to the picture. Thoraxis, after sighing in melancholic fashion, nodded in reply.

"Yes," he spoke, in a depressed voice. "We took that photo on her first birthday."

Pharsalia, leaning in and taking a closer look at the picture, saw that Skia was holding a book, piquing her curiosity. "Is that a... book she has in her hooves?"

"It's Daring Do and the Ring of Destiny. It was the only thing she ever wanted me to get her for her birthday. She was an... avid book lover, to put it at its lightest."

Remembering his task from before, Thoraxis went back into the kitchen, and turned on the burner to the stove. He placed the frying pan on top of it, and busily set to making pancakes as Pharsalia walked behind him, touring more of the house. She trotted past the living room, and into an area that had a door that said "Skia's Room" written on it in partially faded, black ink. Unable to contain herself, Pharsalia twisted its doorknob, opened it, and peered inside.

The room looked like a miniature library. The only thing that told her that storing books wasn't its only function, was the small, foal-sized bed near the corner of it. The walls, shelves, and even bed itself of the the chamber were caked in a thin layer of dust and cobwebs, indicating it hadn't been used in a long time. Ever curious, Pharsalia walked in, and took a long look at one side of the bookshelf on the wall. Pursing her lips, and with an inquisitive glare, she used her magic to pull one of the volumes from its resting spot, and blew the dust off of it when it was floating in front of her.

An Explorer's Field Guide to Fantastic Creatures, Both Big, and Small was its title, and after opening to its first page, Pharsalia saw it had been autographed by its author. There was something oddly, but distantly familiar about this particular book. Pharsalia had seen and read many, many books in her time growing up with the Theatre, but this was the first time she had seen this one, yet something undisputedly clear was calling to her.

"Do you want a pancake too?" Thoraxis asked from where he was in the kitchen, snapping Pharsalia out of her thoughts, his normal tone indicating that he didn't realize his visitor had left the room. "I don't really eat this stuff, since I'm, well... a changeling."

Quickly putting the book back, Pharsalia rushed from the room and back to the kitchen as quick as her limp would allow, in a tiptoe. "No, thank you," she politely declined, after finally reaching it. "I ate a little bit ago."

No sooner had she said that, the sound of a door creaking open from behind her went out. Turning her head around, the disguised changeling saw the slightly larger form of Petra exit the bathroom, a soaked, green washcloth held to her head, and a weary expression on her (somehow) paler-than-usual face. Her features lit up the second she saw Pharsalia, and a smile appeared.

"Pharsalia!" she spoke. "You decided to visit!"

"I had a little time on my hooves, so, yeah," she responded.

"Are you feeling better now?" Thoraxis asked Petra, as he placed a plate he was holding down onto the table, its contents being a stack of pancakes topped with maple syrup.

"A bit," the wyvern said back. "So, Pharsalia. Did you come to borrow one of my books?"

"Oh, sorry... I can't right now, I need to... go now," the disguised changeling apologized. "I didn't have much time, and my limit's up. I guess I'll see you both tonight!"

Without another sound, Pharsalia quickly hobbled out the door, leaving behind a stunned, and confused Petra. Letting out a moan, the wyvern turned, and sat on a chair next to the table.

"That was strange," Thoraxis spoke, sliding the plate to Petra. "Are you still in the mood for food?"

Noon came faster than Longinus anticipated. Faithful to his word, he came to the grounds where the stage and tents had been set up. Looking up to the theater, he let out an impressed whistle at its size and design. It was fairly large, taller and wider than most buildings in Ponyville, and must have taken an unknowable amount of time to move. The stage itself had red curtains trailing across its front, and dozens of the workers traversing its wooden floor were carefully going about their business of moving set pieces, expertly-crafted objects and fake buildings.

Longinus had brought with him a dark gray cloak, to hide his identity. If anything, any pony that witnessed him would think of him being merely a taller-than-usual unicorn, and that's how he wanted to keep it. Longinus continued past the front of the stage, and entered what looked like a sea of tents of varying shapes, colors and sizes.

Longinus began to wander through the field, but unbeknownst to him, there was something following.

Behind him, the wretched creature from the night before was quietly trailing in his footsteps like a vulture. Though it made its foul, tortured breathing noises, it took quiet steps on its four, pointed, metal joints, each pressing into the grass and dirt below.

Following like a ghost.

At last, Longinus spotted the kelpie. She was over by one of the larger tents, talking to what appeared to be an aged deer.

From just behind him, the creature continued its advance, its drill-proboscis wagged side-to-side as its head shook to-and-fro in its attempts to get closer to the alicorn. As it was no more than several feet from him, suddenly, a pink blur passed by Longinus and approached the creature, catching his attention as it brushed past his leg. Turning, Longinus recognized who it was instantly.

It was Pinkie Pie. Following her, his eyes eventually came cross the being she was now standing in front of, causing him to reel back in shock. The medium-sized creature could only be described as looking similar to a wingless mosquito with a pony-sized body, if even that. It's visible features that weren't hidden behind its mask or coat looked like a perverted combination of metal and something alive.

"It's nice to see you, Vek! I told you I'd have time to visit you again today!" the pink mare said to the creature in a joyful voice, as if not even noticing its disgusting features. "Now that I have a second, I've been meaning to ask: why did you join up with these fine ponyfolk?"

"Hello... Pinkie. I'm a doc... tor here," the thing spoke in a voice that could only be compared to the likes of something dripping out of a coffin, making what sounded like a gasp for air every time it paused. "I mend the... sick, repair... damaged limbs... that sort of... thing."

"We need to catch up a little more when we get the time," she chuckled. "...and let me tell you, I've been BUSY meeting all your friends and coworkers. They're all so nice! I haven't even got to half of the ones here. There's so many of them!"

"I... know," the thing agreed.

Pinkie went on, "Ooh! I just can't wait to see you all do the play! I bet they'll to good, considering they're all chan-"

She clamped her mouth shut with her hooves, knowing she was about to unleash a secret to the world that she didn't want to have revealed.

"Pardon me, Vek. As I was saying; considering they're all AWESOME ACTORS!" the energetic pink mare corrected. "I'll see you tonight, Vektor. Remember, I'll be waving to you from one of the front seats!"

As briefly as she appeared, Pinkie ran off, back into the forest of tents and busy figures. Longinus had practically forgotten about Carol as his sight remained glue on the being. "Who are you?" he finally asked.

"Vektor," it responded.

"Any last name?"

"I don't... tell others... that much about... myself," Vektor replied. An interval of silence came between the two, until Longinus coughed into his hoof.

"You're a coworker with Carol, correct?" he inquired again, his voice no less friendly. "I overheard your involvement with the show."

"For the last... year, yes..." Vektor said.

"Do you know much about her?" he spoke. "I've been wanting to know more so I can understand her better, but all she was able to tell me was that she was cursed by something a long time ago."

"She was... cursed many... hundreds of... years ago, yes," the being started. "As she said... in her own... words, she was a... cruel kelpie with an... obsession... with bells. She took over... a village, and... forced its... inhabitants... to do her... bidding."

So... she was a bit of a villain? Longinus thought, as Vektor continued.

"Then she told... them to make... her the... grandest-sounding bell... in the land. When they... did so, they... placed a... curse on it... in secret. Once she... heard it... she was driven... irrevocably insane by... its toll. The curse... was made to... cause her to... never dream again... and be unable to... distinguish reality from... fantasy, thereby... becoming too mentally... unstable to... ever take control of... anypony... ever again."

"And the curse was to remain with her for the rest of eternity?"

"No. She also told... me that... the only way to... break the curse... is for... somepony to... perform an act... of true... love towards... her."

When Longinus heard these words, he fell completely silent.

"The others told... me that she... has been with... them for... a long time... even before... they broke up," Vektor went on. "They also... said that they... tried to perform... an act of true... love, to... break the spell. However, their... attempts all... ended in... complete failure... because... their actions were... not driven by... true love, they... were driven by... pity."

Both of them turned their heads as they noticed Carol moving in the background. She had apparently finished talking to the deer, and approached a barrel, sticking both hooves into it, and pulling out an apple. She then placed it against the lower front of her face, where her mouth was, but forgetting that her helmet was completely in the way, blocking it off. After several futile attempts to eat it that way, she finally noticed her error, and decided to slide it underneath her helmet, and happily began to munch on the fruit.

Longinus turned back to Vektor as he continued. "I saw how... she acted... around you... last night. I saw her... fall asleep beside... you. I saw her... dream when... she was... with you. She could never... do such a... thing, unless... she bore... a significant... affection for... somepony."

"You were there?" he asked, surprised.

"I was... assigned to watch... her, and make... sure she... didn't get into... trouble. In other... words, y-" he started, until his voice apparently gave out before she could say the final word. Taking a claw off of one of the crutch-stilts, Vektor placed it inside of the opening on his trench coat, where he began to fumble with something. After a metal squeak indicated he turned a hidden nozzle that lined somewhere along his chest, he let out a long, deep "breath" that sounded more like a buzzing, mechanical whine than anything else.

"In other words... yes," he finally finished, placing his claw back on the stilt. "You'll have to... pardon me... my respiratory... functions are... not the best."

Another pause followed. Longinus was too off-put by Vektor's deep, strained rasps to say anything.

"Longinus, the... reason I wanted... to talk to... you, was to say... that if... you have similar... feelings for... her, know... that you... may be the... kelpie's only hope... for salvation," Vektor spoke again, before he turned his body around on his stilts and peg legs. "You must... excuse me now, I... have business... to attend to."

When he stalked off into the campground at a rather fast speed that startled Longinus to a fair degree, Carol appeared to take notice of Longinus at last, and casually bobbed up to her friend.

"Braw tae see ye, Longinus!" she greeted, in an overenthusiastic tone. "Cheers fur comin'!"

"Hello, Carol," he said back, looking to her.

"Sae... talkin' abit me, waur ye?" she inquired, with a mischievous, amused expression.

"You heard us?" Longinus spoke, surprised she was listening in the whole time.

"Ah hear lots ay things," she said back in a happy voice, tapping a hoof against her metal headgear. "...E'en wi' thes helmit oan."

Carol suddenly started to look over Longinus's shoulder, spotting something that caught her attention. "Ooh! What's 'at?" she gasped, as she brushed past the alicorn's cloaked form, and to somewhere else in the campground. Rolling his eyes and smiling slightly, Longinus began to trot after her, thinking deeply about what Vektor had told him.

Chapter 6: The Beetle and the Bards

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Chapter 6: The Beetle and the Bards

One day prior

Beetle was not a normal changeling. The type of chitin that comprised his skin was as average as your normal drone, but he lacked the vital ability to shift forms. His mind was also as dull as a rock, and he took almost everything literally, but the one thing that he was proud of was a gift.

He was a technological savant when it came to armor-crafting, and his skills in combat were a legend to the hive. When they showed no sign of stopping their taunts over his disability, however, he left his home, and became a roving changeling that took many an unsavory job.

The drone whistled to himself as he worked, sweeping the dust off the porch of his rock-mound he called home, which lied in the middle of a dry canyon in the Badlands. Over his face was a red bandanna with a pattern of white flowers going along it, the cloth made to keep the dust from the occasional dust storm from getting into his mouth. Before the last of the dirt was off, he heard a sudden buzzing go through the ear, causing him to lift his head. His joyful expression turned to an unamused one when he saw the shape of a changeling fly down from the sky. The changeling landed in front of his doorway, brushed himself off, and gave a smirk to the aged warrior.

"Greetings, Beetle. I'm Weevil," the messenger introduced. "I come bearing a message for you, from the queen."

"Come inside," Beetle gestured unenthusiastically, in a somber voice.

They both walked inside of the mound of rock, and when Weevil looked around, he saw there wasn't much to take notice of in the abode. The only thing worth capturing his attention, was what appeared to be a large rack, pieces of intricate, and masterfully-crafted armor resting on it, forming a full body. Each piece was unlike a high-ranking changeling's gear, being made of a silver-steel tinted metal, and there seemed to be spike-like protrusions at every corner, the most notable being the large, razor-like crest that ran along the helmet's top.

"What's the problem now?" Beetle asked in a tired voice, walking up to the armor. Weevil scratched at his head while he answered, snapping back to attention.

"Well, Beetle, it's the Theatre Metamorphoses," the drone replied. "Queen Chrysalis wants you to destroy their queen."

"The hay is that?" Beetle asked, as he took the bandanna off of his face and ran a hoof along his helmet, examining it for any imperfections. "The Theatre thing?"

Weevil gave a thoughtful look, thinking back to what Chrysalis told him. "I know some about it, but the queen didn't explain much to me. Only that a worker that was once part of our hive stole some of her royal jelly, became a queen herself, and ran off with some deserters to start a hive of her own about four-hundred years ago. They took that name as their own."

"Why didn't Chryssi deal with them sooner? Sounds quite like it would be quite a nuisance to have a rival queen to look out for."

"She... well... tried," Weevil went on. "Twenty-odd years ago, she sent some other changeling to do the job, and he succeeded in his task. Apparently though, their queen must have laid an egg before she died, and since a new changeling queen-slash-princess is leading the show, it must have survived."

"Huh. Imagine that," he chuckled in an admiring tone, gaining a curled brow of disapproval from Weevil.

"She said that you're the only one she trusts to finish the mission. You're made to do the job."

"I don't like doing things like that anymore," Beetle sighed, taking his hoof off of his helmet, and turning back to Weevil, showing his cleft lip-scarred snout to the changeling; a wound from a past scuffle. "Nobody appreciates me for what I do. I want to ret-"

"She told me she'd have you killed if you failed to comply," Weevil interrupted, his face showing a small bit of disgust when he got a full look at Beetle's injury. Beetle gave a sharp look to the messenger, and licked his lips.

"Killed? Wow. This changeling princess must be really serious business."

"From what I've heard, it's very serious business," Weevil said back. "The queen said she's a threat to our existence."

"In what regard?"

"In the regard that she's a rival queen who threatens to steal all of Equestria's love for her own, of course," Weevil spoke. "We must destroy her before she depletes a major source of our food."

"I still don't see why I should be involved in this," he huffed, before spitting a glob of resiny, green goo to the ground. "I hunt alone."

Weevil scoffed. "You may not officially be part of the hive's military or workforce anymore, but you still serve the queen. We both know that little factoid very well."

Beetle's expression went glum, coming to terms with what the messenger was (obnoxiously) saying. "Where are they?" he finally asked.

"They're in Ponyville, right now," he replied, watching as Beetle turned around, and pick up his helmet, before placing it over his head.

"Then I'd better get a move on there, I suppose..." he responded back, his voice ominous, as he looked at Weevil from behind his face-concealing helmet, a pair of glowing, piercing eyes staring at the fellow changeling through its visor. "For the queen."

Present day

Longinus and Carol were sitting at a picnic table from just behind where the theater stage lied. The sound of the kelpie laughing seemed to drift through the air as the two talked to each other. Carol had taken off her helmet, and placed it on the table in front of her, revealing her blue, equine head.

"Sae, yoo're tellin' me 'at Pinkie Pie pony is almost as nutty as me?" she laughed. "'at doesnae soond possible!"

"Almost. Not quite, but almost," he replied, suppressing the urge to join in on Carol's tittering.

"Gezz an example, 'en," she asked.

"A few hours ago, I could swear she was about to say that the actors were "changelings," believe it or not," Longinus chuckled. Carol gave a strange look at her friend.

"But... they ur changelings," she said in a shocked tone that sounded as if she thought he knew all along.

"...What?" Longinus replied, confused and surprised by her words.

"'at they're changelings," she repeated. "Ur, at leest, 'at's whit Ah hink they ur. "

"What?" the alicorn repeated. "They're... they're all changelings? Do they steal love from others?"

"They teel me 'at they feed aff ay "adoration" 'at they gie frae their performances," she responded, rolling her helmet on the wooden table from one hoof to the other while she talked. "Fur some reason, they also teel me 'at they're nae loch th' "other hive," ur somethin' loch 'at."

"Well... I guess that would explain the "legendary acting" everypony states that your coworkers possess," he said in a troubled tone. "From what I know of Thoraxis, changelings are extremely long-lived. I presume they'd have more than enough time to hone their skills in the field of acting."

"...Ain singin'! Ye forgot singin'," she added. "They hae lots ay guid singers."

"Do you sing for the show?" Longinus asked. "Your voice is quite beautiful."

"Nah, Ah jist pit up posters, an' help build sets," she replied. As she finished her sentence, a blue mare in an attractive blue dress approached the table. On her face was a warm smile.

"Hello Carol. How are you and your friend doing?"

"Guid day punica. We're daein' guid," she replied. "Ah was jist tellin' Longinus abit hoo ye aw ur secretly changelings."

"Oh," Punica said, her face turning to Longinus, and transforming into one of extreme worry as she heard the words, before going downright pale. "Oh! Oh, no, no! W-we're not changelings, hehehe..."

"Ay coorse ye ur!" Carol said back, in an arguing tone.

"We're not, Carol. Remember what we... told you?"

"Ah min'. "Never teel anypony 'at yoo're... changelings..."" she responded, slowly coming to realization of what her mistake was as she recited the rule. "Uh-oh."

"Carol... what have we told you about this?" Punica spoke in a disappointed, and angered tone to the kelpie.

"Don't fret, please!" Longinus spoke up, attempting to sort things out. "She explained to me that you apparently feed off of willingly given adoration, not forcefully-taken emotion. I can understand that."

Punica gave an odd look. "You're not... disturbed... about us being changelings? I mean- if we were changelings, anyway..."

"Why would I be?" he laughed. "My best friend is one, and he's peaceful enough."

"Y-you are?" she gulped. "So... you're not going to tell any ponies about us?"

"As long as you don't want anyone to know about your identities," he replied. "And as long as you don't do anything that could cause harm to this town's citizens."

Punica sighed in relief, placing a hoof to her chest. "I assure you, we won't."

"Then neither of us have anything to worry about," Longinus smiled. "I still cannot wait to see your performance."

"That reminds me, I, um, came by to tell both of you that the show is starting at six," she spoke. "I just wanted to make sure you two were prepared for it."

"We'll be thaur," Carol replied, before Longinus could. Punica, finished with her business, turned her head to the left and her ears splayed back, still thinking of how to properly process the moment.

"I think I should... go see Madam Odyssia now..." the changeling said, slowly, before trotting off at a fast pace. Once she was gone, Longinus looked to Carol, and saw she was still toying with her headgear.

"Ah still cannae bide tae see th' shaw!" she spoke, excitedly, as she brought it to her head. She suddenly found herself stopped from performing her action, as Longinus placed a hoof on both of her own.

"How about you go without your helmet?" the alicorn asked, lowering both them, and the bell-shaped headware back to the table.

"An' risk lettin' those pony-folk gie scared aff frae th' shaw by mah monstroos visage?"

"It was a long time ago when they saw you as that. You're not that kind of person anymore," Longinus reaffirmed. "And besides, without that to obscure your face, you look fairly comely."

With a blush on her cheeks that lasted for but a moment, Carol quietly relented, and let her grip on the helmet falter, before retracting her hooves to her lap. Flashing the alicorn a trusting look, she smiled. "Ye truly hink sae?"

"Of course," he replied.

"Ah actually dornt ken wa Ah wear it..." she giggled, as one of her hooves began to caress the bell-themed earrings on one of her ears. "Ah guess it's loch an instinct tae me..."

"That Vektor fellow told me that you had an obsession with the instruments, before you became cursed," Longinus said. "That may be a factor in it."

Carol gave an unsure look as she stared at her helmet, before looking to Longinus.

"Trust me," he spoke.

"O-okay, Longinus," she finally agreed. They both smiled to each other, until the kelpie's eyes were distracted from his by a glow coming from over his head. Looking up, she noticed his horn was glowing a bright, cobalt blue. When the alicorn himself noticed, his expression turned to one of surprise.

"Sorry, I'm getting a message," he apologized. With a popping noise, he allowed a roll of paper to magically appear in front of himself. Unraveling it, he scanned the words that lied on it, mumbling to himself as he read.

"Whit diz it say?" Carol asked, getting up from her seat, and walking behind Longinus with a curious gleam in her eyes.

"Hmm..." he hummed in reply, as he folded the note back up, and allowed it to disappear once more. "One of my daughters wrote to me that she and her sister are coming to see the show tonight, and they want me to see it with them. How... interesting."

"Dochters?"

"Yes. Celestia and Luna."

"Ooh! Can Ah meit them?" Carol asked excitedly, tapping her hooves together. "Eh'd loove tae meit them!"

"I was actually going to invite you to watch the play with me, if you could find the time," he replied. "Since my daughters are coming, I'm sure I can find a way to introduce you to them."

"Ye waur... gonnae invite me tae come alang?"

"Of course."

"Sae, it's loch a date, is it?" Carol inquired again, as she poked the cloaked alicorn's shoulder in a playful way. Longinus coughed into his hoof when she brought the subject up, not expecting her to bring up such an idea.

"Well, err... it's not the choice of words I would personally have used, but... well, I suppose it could be considered such..." he shrugged. His eyes lit up as he felt something quickly peck him on the cheek, before realizing that it was a small kiss that the kelpie had planted.

"Ah'll see ye at six!" she said in an excited voice, before dashing off into the forest of tents. Longinus simply stayed there, eyes widened in partial shock at what the kelpie did. He slowly rubbed a hoof on his cheek, as his head turned to the table.

The helmet laid there, its two empty eye-holes focused in his direction, as if looking at him in a judging, contemptible way. Longinus sighed and turned away from the sight, confusing thoughts he hadn't felt in an incredulously long time swimming in muddled fashion through his mind.

Perhaps I should talk to Luna about this he thought, raising his head in remembrance of how understanding his younger daughter had acted toward him in the past. She may have the answers I seek...

Chapter 7: Once Upon a December

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Chapter 7: Once Upon a December

Tonight was the first time in a long while that Thoraxis wore something nice. Over his chitinous body was a thick, brown jacket, tailored by none other than Ponyville's own fashionista, Rarity. As he straightened its collar out he heard the sound of the door closing behind him, and turned to the shape of Petra. Petra's large, slouchy newsboy hat lied over her head and dorsal spines, while her pair of glasses rested over her face.

Thoraxis couldn't help but sigh as a wave of nostalgia washed over him from looking at the sight. Her attire was the same as the first night he met her.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Yep!" she said.

The two walked down from the path of their house and into Ponyville, which looked very empty from the sheer amount of ponies that decided to take the time to see the show. While they headed toward where the large stage lied, Petra tapped her two index claws together as a worrying thought swirled through her psyche.

Petra deeply wanted to tell Thoraxis the surprise she had been keeping from him, but she knew, to her chagrin, that it still wasn't the right time. She sighed despondently, before letting a smile come across her face.

"So, dear, do you think you'll like the show?" she asked.

"Oh, yes. Yes I do..." he replied in a very low and devious manner that caused Petra to raise a brow. She refrained from asking him what was on his mind though, as they rounded the last building that left the town, and suddenly came upon the hooded, black-and-white shape of Zecora. She apparently hadn't taken notice of them yet, as she was looking forward, to the swamp of chairs that lied in front of the stage, taking in the beauty of the lights that lined the stage and area around it.

"Oh, hello! It's nice to see you Zecora," Petra welcomed, prompting the zebra to turn and welcome them back.

"Ah! Petra and Thoraxis. It's always a treat to see the both of you," she said. "I take it you're here to watch the show too?"

"Indeed we are," the wyvern replied.

"I hope you two find this show to be placid," she said again, giving a glance and wink at the changeling before walking off to find her seat in the crowd. "...Especially you, my dear Thoraxis..."

The words she used caused Thoraxis to put a hoof into his coat pocket. Kept hidden inside was the bottle possessing the magic clay Zecora had given him. While he rubbed the jar, Petra leaned over to him.

"Thoraxis, I saved us some seats in the fourth row," she whispered into his ear. Her brow lifted slightly again as she realized that he didn't seem to even react to her words. "Are you okay, dear?"

Thinking quickly, Thoraxis retracted his hoof from his pocket, and flashed his partner a warm grin.

"Just... looking forward to the show!" he spoke in a lighthearted tone.

Placing his hole-filled hoof into her three-clawed hand, the two walked together to their seats. Squeezing past several ponies in their targeted row, they finally reached their spot.

As he plopped into the seat beside his partner and tried to get comfortable, Thoraxis looked to his right and saw a large shape approach, then sit in the chair next to him. It was covered in an abnormally big, pale brown coat and wore a fedora over its head. A plaid, blue scarf was wrapped around its neck, covering up where a mouth would have been visible, and the only thing on its face Thoraxis could see were two, blue eyes.

"Pardon me," it said from behind its coat, in a burly male voice. Not paying much mind to the figure, Thoraxis sighed, and looked at where the stage was.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna walked among the grounds in front of the stage and chairs, greeting many passing ponies as they trotted by. They had arrived not seven minutes before, and were expecting their invited guest to meet up with them with a hopeful gleam in each's life. Sure enough, a tall, dark-furred, cloaked figure soon appeared, and approached the two sisters before respectfully bowing his horned head before them.

Longinus, you have no need to bow before us," Luna spoke.

"I have as much reason as any pony," he replied, before motioning a hoof behind himself.

"It's nice to see you again, Longinus," Celestia went on.

"It's good to see you too. If you have the second, I'd also like to introduce you two to someone."

As he finished his sentence, the shape of Carol trotted up to the three and stopped once she was beside Longinus. Carol was dressed, not in her cape of bells, but in a fair and beautiful, crimson dress. Laced into the bottom of the fabric, where the dress touched the ground, were several, golden bells tied at separate, but equal intervals.

"This is Carol," he spoke, motioning to the kelpie. "She's my... well..."

"Date!" she finished, bouncing quickly into the air in a joy-filled manner, her bell-earrings making a jingling sound as she did so. "Longinus tauld me ye tois ur his brammer daughters. Braw tae meit ye baith!"

Celestia's eyes widened in surprise, while Luna simply smiled, in a way that could only convey that she had been, somehow, expecting this moment. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Carol," the Princess of the Night greeted right off in an overtly friendly tone, nodding her head.

"Yes, it... is nice to meet you," Celestia agreed, her previous expression returning.

"Luna, I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment... in private," Longinus suddenly requested.

"But of course, Fa- Longinus," Luna replied cheerfully, refraining from using what she typically liked to call him, seeing how they were in public. They both turned from Celestia and Carol, and walked off until they were away from their prying ears. Longinus stopped and looked back to his daughter.

"Now, I bet you're wondering why I asked Carol to come along with me, but I can explain," he began.

"Oh, I knew you were going to do something like this," she instantly replied, nonchalantly speaking the words in a way that startled Longinus.

"You what?" he asked, dumbfounded. "How did you...?"

"I'm the princess of the night," she shrugged in smug, but cordial way, her wings stretching out with her shoulders. "I see a great many things while the moon is active. That includes the sight of an alicorn and a kelpie lying in a field of grass by a pond, speaking to each other about things from their individual pasts."

"Eavesdropper," he said with a wry smirk.

"That I may be, but I see how conflicted you are over a situation like this," Luna spoke again. "And, more importantly, I can see why."

"If so knowledgeable in the field of my personal problems, then what, pray tell, is my quandary?" he asked in a quizzing manner. Luna simply closed her eyes and spoke in a matter-of-fact voice.

"I may not be the princess representing love, but I do know when a pony is having an extraordinary amount of trouble..."

Luna stopped and opened her eyes as she thought of the next words to say, putting a hoof to her chin before finding what she thought sounded best.

"...Admitting it," she finished. Instead of a grumpy expression like she expected Longinus to show, he instead sighed like a gambler that just lost a large fortune from a small bet, and gave a weary look to his daughter.

"You're right, and the main reason I wanted to speak was to ask a single question only one of you could answer," he began in a small voice, as his hoof pawed at the ground. "If I were to... fall in love with someone else, would you know if Aurora... would you know if your mother... would approve of such a thing?"

"I believe she would want you to be happy," Luna responded, assuringly. "I believe, with all my being, that she would want you to move on. If you were to say... find somepony that could fill your life once more with love and joy, then I would believe she would want you to be with them. Yes."

"How could you know, though? You never truly met her," he asked. "And how could I know? I haven't felt the way I do around Carol since I was last with her, and it is a feeling I never want to lose again. It feels like... it feels like a void inside me has finally been filled whenever I speak with Carol. To compare her with Aurora though... it feels as if I'm replacing her. As if I'm insulting her very memory."

"You must always remember; the past is in the past," she responded. "Never cling to it, no matter how dear the memory is, but also never forget just how dear it was. I believe you should follow the path your heart has left for you. The path your heart believes is right."

After lowering his head and entering a small moment of silence, Longinus looked back up and smiled to his daughter with a visage of a pony that had just taken an enormous weight off of his chest.

"Thank you... Luna," he said, before wrapping a foreleg around her neck in a small and quick, but powerful hug of gratitude.

"You're welcome," she replied, savoring the feeling despite its briefness. With a nod, Longinus turned from her, just as Carol had started to trot up to them.

"Guess whit time it is, ye tois," she asked, in a way that conveyed the feeling she could barely hold something in.

"What time is it?" Longinus inquired, playing along.

"It's showtime!" the kelpie squealed back with excitement, clapping her hooves together. Running up to Longinus, she grabbed the alicorn by the arm, and swiftly heaved him with her to where their seats were in the front, before he could react. Luna couldn't help but chuckle into her hoof as she watched the two depart.

"What did you two talk about, I wonder?" Celestia asked with a grin, as she walked up to her sister. Luna gave a sideways glance to her older sibling before replying.

"Oh, don't be so coy, sister. I know you heard everything," Luna pointed out in a sarcastic, but by no means insulting voice. "The true question you should be asking me, is if you agree with what I told him."

"Of course I do," she replied. "And I must admit, the way you phrased it was brilliant."

"Shall we get to our seats now?" Luna decided to inquire. "As the kelpie said, the show is starting."

"Is everything ready?" Odyssia asked Thebaid, as the two stood just behind the closed curtains. The disguised changeling princess was dressed in her jade silk dress, and had a breathless expression on her face.

"Yes, milady," he replied, as his aged head swung to her. "You sound a bit nervous. Is something the matter?"

"A small case of cold hooves, but I should be fine," she replied, before exhaling a deep breath. As she spoke, far behind her, the deer Quiverpike was going about examining each piece of the stage's concealed scenery, and writing what he personally felt could be improved upon for the next performance on a piece of paper he held in front of him with a crane-like device in his antlers. When he ran out of space on the paper, he rubbed his beard, put his pen away, picked up the piece, and rolled it up before putting it into his satchel around his back.

"Pharsalia!" he shouted out. On cue, the shape of the young changeling came limping up to him as fast as she could.

"Something you need, Quiver?" she asked. He shook his head up and down in reply.

"Yes. Pharsalia, I'm going to need you to go back in camp and get me a few more rolls of paper. Twelve should do it," he spoke.

"More?" Pharsalia said in a surprised voice. "What happened to the other ones I just gave you?"

"I used them," the deer replied, pointing to the dozen, written-on papers that were wrapped up, and sticking out of his satchel. "And now I need more. If you don't want to make another few runs after this, then try getting me the longer rolls that are in the wicker basket in my tent. Chop-chop, now!"

With a sardonic roll of her monochromatic eyes, Pharsalia turned about, turned her disguise back on, and started for the stage's stairs. When she was gone, Quiverpike looked to the watch that hung around his neck, and then to the princess and her assistant.

"It's time," he said to Thebaid and Odyssia. Odyssia calmly closed her eyes before opening them with a self-assured glare.

"Thank you Thebaid. I can handle the rest from here," she said to her servant in a bold tone. With a confident smile and a bow, Thebaid backed away as Odyssia faced the curtains.

"And here... we... go," Odyssia whispered to herself, as she pushed past the oversized drapes, and practically jumped onto the center of the stage. The stagelight turned on the second she appeared, and shined down upon her, instantly silencing the crowd.

There were ponies everywhere. The entire field had been filled up by all sorts of characters, some she could tell weren't even from Ponyville. If they pulled this off correctly, she knew that the adoration that could be gained from just tonight could sate her and her subject's hunger for quite a while. And they still had three more shows to do this month! They could saved the surplus for another time!

"Ladies and gentlecolts! Welcome to the Theatre Metamorphoses! Thank you for coming to the show!" she greeted in as loud, but practical of a voice she could make. The audience cheered back as she straightened herself out, before slowly returning to quiet as she raised a hoof to silence them once more.

"I have a question. Have any of you ever had that... special feeling you get around the time of winter? The time of cold? The time that brings us all together in a familiar, loving fold?" she decided to ask the crowd, in a smaller, more personal voice. She could hear some of the ponies below talking among themselves in agreement to her words. "Well then... get ready to close those windows and stir those embers! This is a tale taking place way back when, Once Upon a December!

The second she finished, the yellow light above was switched with a purple one. And with this change in lighting, Odyssia began to sing in an almost ethereal voice.

"Snowflakes falling from great white clouds, snowball fights and fortress mounds...

Foals and colts race as they sled, loving parents watching them play pretend...

Friends and family when together shine bright, huddled together for warmth at night...

Dancing on ice, like flying in frozen air on outstretched wings, only a few of my favorite things...

Thinking back way back, these are events I fondly remember..."

Odyssia gave a wink to the crowd, savoring their awestruck reactions to her hypnotic voice, as she began the final verse.

"...Back in the old days of yore... once upon a December..."

In a sudden explosion of blue smoke, Madam Odyssia disappeared from the stage in a most ominous manner. As the mist of blue dissipated and the ponies in the crowd stopped whispering amongst themselves, the curtains slowly opened up and the stage light went on, revealing a set with many buildings. Both set pieces and painted background were modeled after what the city of Trottingham looked like nearly a hundred years ago, in the thick of winter. A purple-furred, female figure in a thick pink dress and bonnet made to endure cold, and a gray-furred male shape clad in a top hat and heavy, dark coat both walked onto the stage from opposite sides, meeting up with each other in the middle, before a large group of background characters started to move a , and murmur among themselves like you would typically hear from a busy street.

"You are looking quite heavenly this December morn, my dear Sunflower," the male said, bowing his head to the mare as the crowd of characters passed behind them both.

"To greet me once more with flattery? Do you ever think to treat me as the typical town-going pony, Shoe Shine?" the character the crowd now knew as "Sunflower" smiled back in a faux-unamused tone with a roll of her eyes.

And with this first conversation, the play began.

The show had been going on for an hour now, and it was wonderful. Simply wonderful. The audience watched with delighted fascination at every scene that went by. Every character seemed to have a life and personality of their own, including the nameless background figures, and that was all without mentioning the incredible acting and special effects, some of the latter which were done by spectacularly-performed illusions.

Longinus himself found the play to be quite enjoyable, and smiled contently. His grin started to lessen however, as his attention became distracted by... something. Looking around, the only things he saw were Celestia, Luna, Carol (whose head was bobbing up-and-down in excitement), and the crowd, none of whom were the cause of his conundrum.

Something undeniable was nibbling on the back of his skull like a tick. He let out a questioning hum of interest as his mind began to search for this strange, familiar feeling. It was so very close, but he knew not where it came from. Stopping her head-bobbing, Carol took notice, and gave a look of concern to him.

"Is somethin' th' matter, Longinus?" she asked, worriedly, gently nudging his shoulder.

"I sense something," he replied, scanning the surrounding area a second time. "A presence I've not felt since..."

His voice went quiet, and his cyan eyes widened in surprise for several seconds, before waning back to the narrow slits they were before. Humming to himself, he began to stir in his seat, before turning to Carol.

"I'll see you soon, Carol. There is... someone I need to meet," he suddenly said to the kelpie. Exiting his chair, he stood up, and began to walk away, toward the campground.

Carol decided to stay put, knowing full well to do so would be against her sense of judgement. Then, remembering that she had no sense of judgement, Carol instead jumped to her hooves, and quickly began to follow the alicorn until she had caught up with him. Before she could go too far, Luna saw the two leaving, and began to stir as well.

"I'm going too," Celestia spoke to her sister. Luna responded by shaking her head in disagreement.

"No, sister. One of us must stay here," she whispered back. "If word gets out that both princesses left their seats during the play... I'd rather not think of what consequences the Theatre could suffer."

"Point taken," Celestia sighed. "Just please make sure those two don't do something that will... end poorly."

"Do not worry," Luna said, with a reassuring grin, before quietly trotting after the two. "I'm sure we'll be back in but a minute."

Chapter 8: Loss and Reunion

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Chapter 8: Loss and Reunion

Thoraxis's attention had been off of the play almost the entire time he sat there, pretending to watch it every time he noticed Petra glanced in his direction. The mysteriously concealed character next to him had also been doing something, but all the strange figure had done was bug him incessantly with his constant sobs.

"Hey. Mind keeping it down?" he asked in a grumpy mutter.

"I'm sorry, it's just... it's just so beautiful!" the figure said back from behind his scarf-covered face, as he wiped away a tear from his eye. "This is... I don't get out very often, so I don't see things like this that much. The story, the acting, the setting... I can't control myself! This is art!"

Thoraxis sighed in an annoyed way before looking to Petra, who was also fairly enamored with the performance. He put a hoof through his coat pocket and felt for the jar, deciding the time was now to test out his theory.

"Petra, I'm just going to go to the bathroom. I'll be back in a few minutes," he said to her as he got up from his seat.

"Okay. I hope you get back soon," she said, looking back to him as he got up. "I have a feeling that the climax is about to start!"

"Oh, don't worry," he replied. He squeezed through the others sitting in the chairs, and went on with his next move.

After getting out of the seating area, instead of heading someplace to relieve himself like he said he was doing, he ran in a sneaky fashion to the back of the stage. When he was close enough in the back to see workers going along with their behind-the-scenes business, he turned and saw some words written on the side of the theater.

The Theatre Metamorphoses has come to town, so while you can come bask in our wondrous sheen! Our acting may be real to some, but never forget, that things are rarely as they seem was carved into the wood in an expertly-crafted way.

"Yeah... I can see that..." he scoffed, as he snuck around some more. Then, from behind a stack of barrels, he saw the perfect victim. What appeared to be an aged deer was walking around on the grounds, instructing all he passed by on what to do.

"...And you should get that extra bale of hay onstage pronto! The final act's just starting, and it's a doozy," he spoke, pointing to a pair of what was no doubt disguised changelings. With a salute of "Yes sir, Quiverpike," the two did as they were told, and hefted the cube of straw in the direction of the set, leaving the aged being alone.

Pulling his jar out, and with a shout of "Aha!" Thoraxis lunged from his hiding spot, and let the contents of his item spill all over the deer, who reeled back in shocked surprise at the dark shape that came upon him.

"I beg your pardon?!" Quiverpike shouted, as he ran a hoof along the material staining his gray coat. "Wha- what is this? Mud?"

"Actually it's... clay," Thoraxis chuckled slightly, before his head tilted to the side in confusion. "Wait, why aren't you changing into your real form?"

"This is my real form you subnormal dolt! I'm a deer! What, did you think I was a pony?!" he shouted, shaking the dirty papers in front of Thoraxis. "And look what you've done to my notes! I need these!"

"Um... eh.. m-my mistake..." he apologized, backing away slowly. Quiverpike shook a hoof at Thoraxis, before refocusing on trying to get the material out of his items. Thoraxis turned around completely and ran in the direction of home. He was too embarrassed to care about the show anymore.

It was all pointless anyway.

Despite the fact that Carol and Luna followed him to the campground, Longinus didn't really seem to mind having the company. For the next several minutes the three walked through the grounds, until Longinus suddenly stopped a few feet in front of a large, orange tent. What he was feeling was just inside of it, he was sure of it.

"Ooh... Whit ur ye plannin' oan daein', Longinus?" Carol asked, noticing his pause.

"Something I've been waiting to do for a long time," he replied. "I need both of you to stay here. This is something I need to do alone."

"Aww... ur ye sure?" the kelpie inquired again. Luna put a hoof on her shoulder.

"I'll make sure Carol doesn't interrupt, Father," she said. Loginus shook his head.

"There is no need for worry on her part, I trust Carol enough," he spoke. "As do I trust you."

And with that, Longinus walked to the tent.

Inside of the tent, Pharsalia hummed to herself happily as she sifted around the place, which gradually turned to a hum of annoyance as a few minutes passed by, and she failed to find what she was looking for.

Oh... where is that darn basket? Shoot! she thought in a frustrated manner. Her expression lightened up as she finally found the basket, which of course was covered by a purple blanket in the back of the tent. No sooner had she stuck her hoof in to pull of the blank pieces of paper, when she heard the sound of the tent opening from behind her.

Spinning around, she saw what appeared to her to be a tall, dark-furred unicorn enter, a cloak over his back. When he came in, he purposefully hung the flap he came through open on a nearby hook, as if to let others outside see.

"Hello? Can I help you, sir?" Pharsalia asked, putting the papers down and turning her full attention to this mysterious figure.

"I'm terribly sorry to interrupt you while you are working, but I have something to discuss with you," he started. "My name is Longinus. Longinus Eveningstar."

"I'm Pharsalia," she responded. "You need directions, don't you? The seating area is a few hundred feet behind you."

"I'm not here to ask for directions. I know you are actually a changeling, but you have nothing to fear."

Pharsalia's eyes widened as she heard him speak. "Who are you?" she asked, her voice beginning to tremble.

"I'm a pony you've forgotten about," he replied. "You once called me your uncle, when you were but a child."

"Ch-changeling? Child? No... no, you must have me mistaken for... for another pony..." she tried to laugh, only to have a nervous mumbling noise come out from her mouth instead.

"You are a changeling, this I know. You don't have to hide behind that disguise," the alicorn spoke again. With a silent frown, Pharsalia was enveloped a green flame, and when it parted, a young, female changeling with a scarred back leg stood before him.

"Oh... my..." Luna whispered as she watched what was happening from the distance she and the kelpie stood away. "Could that be... Skia?"

"Skia? Who's 'at?" Carol questioned the alicorn beside her.

"I think you'll see in a minute..." Luna spoke back, as the two resumed watching the scene.

"I need details," Pharsalia said, as she hobbled to another part of the tent. "Who is this changeling you're looking for? Who do you think I am?"

"You were taken from us by wretched monster and had your mind erased by his magic, just over a year ago" he went on, in a pained sigh as he thought back to the horrible, gut-wrenching memory. "This may be a lot to take in but... your real name is-"

"Skia," Pharsalia finished. Longinus gave her a surprised look.

"How did you know that?"

"I met with a changeling named Thoraxis, yesterday," she replied. "Later on I spoke with a wyvern named Petra, and she told me about how he lost his daughter under circumstances that nearly matched with how mine started. I... never remember who my parents were and I always thought of it as being a case of amnesia, but when I heard what she said, I'm beginning to have second thoughts..."

An interval of silence came between the two as Longinus let her think over her choice. "What do you propose?" she finally said again. "How could we find out if your theory is real or not?"

"I've been working on a spell in my spare time. One that I created specifically counter the hex placed on you, and to restore the memories of somepony that has lost them because of magical means," he started. "If you will let me use it, I can repair what has been done to you."

"Would it work?" she asked. "I mean, are you... are you sure I'm the changeling you think I am?"

"I know you're the changeling I think you are," he replied, confidently.

Pharsalia closed her eyes, and let out a sigh. "Do it," she spoke in a quiet, but sure voice.

After nodding his head and taking in a deep breath, Longinus's horn lit up in a cobalt blue glow, before the tip turned into a small, solid white sphere. He bent over, and the second the alicorn's horn touched the changeling's own, a spark discharged from the sphere, a flash went out, and snapping noise sounded. Pharsalia collapsed to the floor with a cry of pain, and her body began to enter a series of convulsions while Longinus knelt over the moment this happened with a nervous, but expectant and stable expression.

"Shh... shh... don't fight it. Let it flow," he whispered to her in a tender, parental voice as he cradled her body in his hooves. While the rest of her body gasped and spasmed out, Pharsalia kept her two front hooves glued to her head where the most pain was coming from, as a series of images flew by over and over again inside of it like and endless parade of picture slides. Of the ones she saw were many key points in life, such as her first birthday. Flying lessons. The first day of school at the Ponyville Schoolhouse. Her father tucking her in at night and reading her favorite story.

As soon as it began, Pharsalia went limp. Her eyes closed as she fell unconscious, and the second this happened, Longinus gently brought her up to his body. Placing his forehead against hers, he hoped with everything he had that his spell had worked as it was supposed to. From outside of the tent, Carol and Luna let out gasps, but otherwise remained silent, afraid of what consequences could occur if they intervened during such a delicate moment.

Longinus lifted his head up as he felt the young changeling begin to stir. Looking down, he saw her slowly open her green eyes and rub her cranium with a hoof in a sore manner, before looking around groggily. The second her vision intermingled with the alicorn's, Pharsalia's entire expression changed to one of blank, unadulterated shock.

"U-uncle... M-M-Moredread?" she asked in a quivering voice, as she took her hoof off of her head, a waterfall of tears falling from her eyes.

"That's not my name anymore..." Longinus responded as he tried, and failed to suppress his own welled-up emotion. "...My precious, irreplaceable little... Skia..."

They both simultaneously threw their hooves around each other in a long and passionate hug.

"I've... I've missed you so much..." Longinus spoke into her ear. "And your father... Thoraxis had been dying every day since you went missing. When he sees you, I... I don't know how he'll react..."

"My father? Thoraxis?! Where is he?" Skia asked in a rushed tone, as she looked up to Longinus when their hug broke off.

"Unless I'm mistaken, he's with his girlfriend... watching the show."

"Girlfriend? Wait... her name's Petra! D-Dad's got a girlfriend! I knew changelings could feel love! I was right! I knew it!" she shouted in a triumphant voice, before her current feelings caught up with her and caused her tone to die down.

"We... we can't interrupt the show. Not until it's over," she suddenly said, wiping some of her teardrops away. "My hive needs the love that the ponies give off with their adoration. We've all been starved for nearly three months just because we got the play ready. If we get in the way, or if anypony else finds out that they're changelings... oh wow, I don't want to think about that right now."

Skia and Longinus looked to the tent flap as the two shapes of Luna and Carol walked in. While the kelpie stood there, clapping her hooves vigorously together with glee, Luna walked closer to the two.

"It worked, didn't it Longinus?" she asked.

Yes, it did..." he replied, smiling.

"It worked! It worked! Ah dunnae kinn whit he was daein', but Ah kent it woods wark!" Carol went on in an overjoyed voice.

"Longinus?" Skia inquired, as she heard his name. He turned and looked at her with a smaller grin.

"It's a long story..." he replied.

Thoraxis had finished getting home, trudging inside with a tired gait. He took his coat off and placed it on the rack nearby. He ran up to his desk, jumped onto its seat, and looked over what lied on it. He looked over the map. Over the countless places he had searched. All the places he'd spent what felt like a lifetime examining ten times in a row. All the places that had found nothing in. His head lifted up from the desk as a grim thought came into his head.

It was all pointless anyway.

No sooner than he had sat down, Thoraxis stood back up and headed for the only place he could think of in his muddled state: Skia's room.

He pushed open the door and trotted inside with an expression that anypony would see as being severely troubled. He looked around at all the stuff Skia had left behind when she vanished, which was mostly books on the shelves. He walked up to one, and used his magic to pull a volume from where it rested.

It was titled The Fires of the Dragon Lord. Thoraxis, at first letting out a sigh at the nostalgic memory he had when he first got the book for his daughter, let his brow slowly twitch and arch into a lower, much less positive position.

It was all pointless anyway!

"She doesn't need this!" he shouted from behind grated teeth, using his magic to tear the book in half, throwing both page-filled clumps away. He pulled the next one out, The Ingenious Gentlecolt Donkey Oaty of La Mancha.

"Or this!" he yelled, ripping it apart without a second thought, and letting the ribbons and pieces that remained fall to the floor in a pile. He savagely continued on with the next one in line.

The Box of a Million Riddles; burnt to ashes by a wisp of balefire.

Summer of Falling Leaves; pages torn out and now-empty covers dropped like a spent piece of trash.

A Varghulf Walks Among Us; thrown to the ground, and stomped upon until it was crushed and broken.

He came upon the next one with a snarl on his lips, ready to do terrible things to it in his fit of rage, until he got a look at the title.

Daring Do and the Ring of Destiny.

Skia's favorite. The only one she ever asked for on her first and only birthday. Thoraxis's expression mollified into a frown when he realized what he was doing, and he let the book drop from the telekinetic hold he had on it, to the ground below.

Falling to his knees, he screamed. He screamed a cry of pure despair. He screamed at the unfairness of it all. He screamed with as much air as his lungs could give out, before digging his face into his hole-filled hooves. He had failed the one who needed him most. All he needed left to make his failure complete and utter was to wait for the day he would rot away and finally die like the waste of life he was, however many hundreds of years from now it would take.

"Thoraxis?" a familiar voice went out, snapping Thoraxis out of his moment of anguish. His head shot up, and saw the white, scaly shape of Petra in the doorway.

The changeling could only look at his girlfriend with a surprised and sorrowful expression painted on his face and teal eyes. "Shouldn't you be... watching the show?" he finally asked.

"When you didn't come back, I suspected that you were up to something," she replied. "I went backstage, and one of the stagehooves told me you quote-unquote "threw a jarful of mud" at one of them, and ran off. So I... came here."

Thoraxis went quiet, and closed his eyes, before lowering his head. Without a word, Petra walked up to the distressed changeling and sat down beside him, before putting her arm around his body and bringing him close to her in a comforting way. "I miss her..." he murmured, as his head rubbed against her scaly hide, remembering the fact that he still had one person he cared about who was still with him.

"I know you do, but please, for your sake, don't worry anymore..." she whispered back. "I know we'll find her, Thoraxis. I just know it."

"What if we... what if we don't?" he asked. "What if we never find her? What if everything we've done turns out to be for nothing? What if I go the rest of my life without... seeing her ever again? What if I... fail?"

"Don't speak like that, dear. As long as you have hope, we have a chance for you to see her again," she said back as she kissed him on the forehead. "And I know deep down, with all my heart, that it will be one day very, very soon..."

Chapter 9: One Day Very, Very Soon

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Chapter 9: One Day Very, Very Soon

"I didn't mean to have that breakdown, Petra. And I'm sorry I made you leave the show," Thoraxis apologized, as the two left Skia's room in an otherwise quiet manner.

"It's not your fault," she replied, using her tail to close the door behind them. "I guess I... shouldn't have taken you in the first place. Your daughter is more important."

"Yes, finding Skia is important, but what you did was the right thing," he said back. "To tell you the truth, I was going to watch the show like you wanted, but I thought the show was being run by... changelings. My darn paranoia got the best of me..."

"You thought that the actors were other changelings?" Petra inquired. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think... that you'd believe me..." he mumbled back, hesitantly. She only smiled and silently chuckled to herself.

"If you were sure of it, I would have have tried my darndest to help," she spoke. "Thoraxis, I don't think you're crazy. I think you're just a changeling that's worked himself to utter exhaustion."

They both walked to the area close to the front door, before Thoraxis stopped and sighed deeply. "Petra... I want to tell you that I'm sorry... about something else," the changeling began again. Petra shot a confused look to him.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Thoraxis lowered his head and exhaled another breath of air.

"I've done so much in my effort to find Skia... I've put you through so much because of it, and... and you've stayed by my side throughout all of it," he replied in a somewhat guilty voice. "I love you, Petra Whitescales."

The wyvern looked back at him with an affectionate, touched, and very heartfelt expression. "I love you too, Thoraxis."

As they both leaned in for a gentle, warm hug, the two simultaneously turned to the sound of multiple hoofsteps approaching from he other side of the front door, as well as three voices coming from behind it.

"...I'm all over this idea uncle, but I just hope that we don't give him a heart attack or something when he gets here," the first voice, which sounded young and feminine, started.

"I didn't say we were going to jump out and yell "surprise" as we do it, did I? He'll be fine," another voice spoke, in a much more familiar, masculine tone. "I still cannot wait to see his face when he gets back from the show, though."

"Ur ye sure we cannae surprise heem, Longinus? Ah loove makin' surprises," the third, female voice spoke, in an accent Petra recognized almost immediately. The door creaked open, and three figures emerged from behind it, stopping both their conversation and movement when they spied who was standing inside the abode. The first was Longinus, his tall frame covered in a cloak. The second shape, a female figure garbed in a red dress, with a non-pony, but still equine face, Petra concluded was the strange being from a few nights before that gave her the flyer for the show.

The third, which took Thoraxis a second to recognize, was a young changeling with green-tinted eyes. The moment the two looked at each other, time seemed to stop. Things had become so silent the second the three arrived, all that could be heard was the sound of the clock on the wall as its hands ticked.

To say that Thoraxis looked as if he was seeing a ghost was even less than an understatement. His jaw was hung agape, an eye was twitching, and he felt as though he was about to faint. Behind him, Petra stood with her claws held over her mouth in surprise.

"Sk... Sk... Sk..." Thoraxis tried to say, stuttering before falling silent.

"H-hi, Dad," Skia greeted in an awkward tone. She slowly walked closer to him, and was within a meager four feet of him in the span of a dozen seconds. To Thoraxis though, it felt as though a week was passing with every step she took in his direction. Unable to wait any longer, he dashed up to her before she could react, and tackled her in an enormous hug as the others could only watch.

"Skia... my Skia..." he wept happily, as he held her head close to his. "Y-you're here! A-and y-you're all... g-grown up!"

"Yep... I am, Dad," she responded with nearly as much gusto, as she buried her cheek against his neck, lovingly.

"Y-you're... not a hallucination, right?" he asked, pleading with all he could in his mind that this wasn't some cruel illusion.

"I'm the real thing, Dad," she answered, tenderly. "And I'm here with you now... I'm here..."

After a few more minutes had passed, they finally separated enough to look into each other's eyes, shaky but strong grins of euphoria stretching from webbed ear, to webbed ear on either of their faces. Thoraxis, noticing something out of the corner of his tear-filled eye, suddenly caught sight of her damaged hind leg.

"Y-your leg..." he gasped, looking down to the scarred appendage.

"I got that a while ago, Dad. I learned to adapt," Skia quickly spoke. "Uncle Longinus told me about how you've been since I've been gone. You don't have to be bothered by what's happened to me. Not anymore."

"Y-you'd better bet I'm going to be bothered, young lady," Thoraxis tried to laugh, in an attempt to recite what he usually said to her when she got into trouble with something as a nymph. Skia chuckled, the long-lost nostalgic memories of being called by that title returning to her head.

"Thoraxis, she had been traveling with the Theatre," Longinus spoke up from behind. "That egg Discord gave you when you first arrived here belonged to her hive. I'm not sure how he got his claws on it, but..."

"Her hive?" he questioned.

"Yes," the alicorn went on. "They go around Equestria under the visage of the "normal" actors and actresses we both saw performing, and get love from the shows they put on."

"I... guess you were right about them being changelings, dear," Petra said, placing a claw on his shoulder, her red eyes still glued on the young changeling in front of him in a more-than happy way, with the knowledge that her partner's troubles were finally over at long last easing her mind more than it had been for the last few days. What truly gave off the excitement she was feeling was her stinger tail that wagged back-and-forth behind her.

"So... you're my Dad's girlfriend, huh?" Skia asked the albino creature with a mischievous smirk, turning to her.

"That I am," Petra responded. Skia stretched out a hoof to her in a friendly manner.

"Yesterday, you knew me as "Pharsalia." My name's Skia, and it's a pleasure to finally meet you at last, Petra."

The show had ended over an hour before, and the crowd watching it had finally, fully dispersed. As Odyssia walked on a dirt path from the stage that lead to a small part of the Everfree Forest by herself, deciding to get some fresh air away from a crowd, she couldn't help but smile in self-pride at how much the townsponies loved the show. It went off without a hitch, her subjects were fed, and preparations for the event next week were already underway.

She looked up to the moonlit sky, and took in a deep, relaxed breath of air, her worries now over. When she was sure she was alone with nopony watching her, she shifted into her real form, revealing her chitinous body and transparent, butterfly-like wings. As she passed by a pond on her happy walk, Odyssia couldn't help but stop and stare at its still, mirror-like water that reflected the countless thousands of stars above.

The moonlight that showed over the water also illuminated her surroundings a fair bit, showing her the forest that surrounded the pond. The trees looked fairly mystical at this time of night, especially with how the moonlight from the water combined with the true moonlight to make the nonthreatening plants cast terrifically complex shadows.

"Madam Odyssia Metamorphoses," a deep, gruff voice suddenly spoke from behind, interrupting her pleasant thoughts. Startled, she turned around and saw a wide figure, dressed in a heavy-looking coat, fedora, and scarf, standing in front of her.

"Who are you?" she asked, in a very fearful tone since she was not in her disguise at the moment. The stranger shed his attire as she spoke, throwing away his scarf, tossing away his hat, and peeling off his jacket to reveal a changeling, clad in intimidating, heavy-looking, razor-covered armor.

"My name is Beetle, and I'm here to cause your demise," he spoke as he walked up to Odyssia, his armor clinking as it rattled together. Instead of running, Odyssia stood where she was, keeping her cool.

"Are you an assassin? Or are you just some random murderer?" she asked, as he brow curled downward.

"I was assigned to kill you," Beetle spoke, as a pair of wristblades suddenly activated from his left hoof armor. "I was told you were a threat to the hive of my queen, Chrysalis."

Odyssia's demeanor held unflinchingly. "You have a choice," she said. "No matter what she tells you, you always have a choice. I also sense something is holding you back from doing your job..."

"I know," he replied, as he finished walking up to her, hoof raised, slowly letting the tip of his weapon get closer to her throat until it touched the heart-shaped gem encrusted in the locket around her neck with a small, but solid "tink" noise. "I saw your show. It was beautiful. So beautiful in fact, that the gears in my head have been turning a different direction for the first time in a while."

"If that's a compliment then thanks," the princess spoke again, through a neutral tone and expression. "If I may ask, why would you even want to kill me? What reward would be worth such a thing, I wonder?"

"Because I was told to by Queen Chrysalais. And that is the only reason I need," he replied, pulling his bladed leg away.

"Why do you wish to serve her? I could understand if she treated you and your hivemates with respect and passion, but from what I've heard of her nature..."

"All my life I served the queen and hive," he started again, his bright teal eyes blinking from behind his helmet. "Not out of fear. Not out of the hatred and pressure others gave me for my unique condition of not being able to shift forms. Not out of stupidity-induced blindness. But out of loyalty."

"If that's the direction you want to take, then know that I will defend myself," Odyssia spoke, with a defiant glare on her green eyes, as her long horn began to emit a glow of the same color. Beetle chuckled.

"You don't get it... I've done all this for my queen, and I am more than ready to fulfill my objective for her... yet, I know I have failed anyway because I got the wrong assignment."

"What?" Odyssia asked, dumbfounded. The light on her horn disappeared in surprise.

"Because I got the wrong assignment," he repeated, instantly retracting his wristblades, turning his back to her, and walking forward a few feet until he was facing over the pond. "I was told to execute you because first off; you were a threat to our food supply, and second; your hive was in general to a danger to ours. Do you wish to know why my assignment was wrong?"

"Alright then. Sure," the changeling princess agreed, her demeanor slightly shaken by the assassin's sudden turn in personality.

"I found the loophole!" he cheered childishly, looking back to her once more. "You're not a threat to our food supply because you don't utterly milk ponies of their emotion to death, and your hive isn't made for warfare, therefore isn't a threat to my hive in the physical sense. Since I'm "afraid" I'll be committing a crime against Queen Chrysalis due to lack of knowing first-hoof what she thinks she or I am up against, and since I'm unable to return after she personally told me that I'll be executed if I don't come back with your head over my shoulder, I have no choice but to self-exile myself out of shame."

"That sounds... overly complicated," Odyssia said in a perplexed tone. Beetle nodded his head in response.

"I may be an idiot, but I'm not stupid," he quipped. "And now since I, the humble Beetle, have no hive to call my own, I must struggle to find another hive that will dare to accept an outcast like me, or else live a dangerous life of solitude until the day I finally perish on my own..."

"My hive is always open to the weary changeling in need of a new home," Odyssia suggested.

"Well then, I accept your terms!" Beetle replied with a smile, taking off his large helmet with both his hooves, revealing his webbed mane and scarred face before kneeling over in a bow.

"...My queen."

"You don't have to go that far, if you wish," she spoke, readjusting her glasses with a smile, suppressing the urge to let out a nervous laugh at this turn of events.

"Very well," he said cheerfully, standing back up and putting his helmet back on. ""Madam.""

After Odyssia motioned for Beetle to follow her with a hoof, the two started on the path that headed back to town and the theater. After thinking of what to say next, Odyssia cleared her throat.

"Besides what I presume to be combat, what else are you good at?" the young princess decided to ask. Beetle chuckled to himself before replying.

"The funny thing is, if you take away the fact that I have the inability to change forms, I've always wanted to try out acting. Maybe even narration, or something," he replied.

"We have costumes and makeup artists," she said. "With a few dabs of face paint here, and hat and cowl there, we could have you looking like a pony in no time."

"Interesting..." he hummed in a joyful tune.

Chapter 10: Petra's Secret

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Chapter 10: Petra's Secret

It was three more shows, and a lot of acting and effort, but the month had finally ended. All of the changelings in the hive talked among themselves happily as they set to wrapping up their tents and putting away their personal belongings, readying to move out with the set.

Walking past most of them were the two shapes of Odyssia and Clopin, the latter of whom was holding onto several boxes in his branch-like arms, each filled with a variety of items that he was asked to carry for her. As they went on, talking to each other about when the blasted moving company would arrive to help perform the monumental task of moving the theater again, they both caught sight of a peculiar figure they were moving by.

It was Carol, dressed in her cloak of bells and helmet. She was simply pacing back-and-forth as she had been doing almost nonstop for the last two days. Her cape jingled behind her like wind chimes and her helmeted head shook side-to-side in an anxious way as she ambled around in a circle. She would occasionally stop, but only to look at something that caught her eye for but a second, before resuming her endless cycle.

"She's been like that for a while now, hasn't she?" Clopin inquired, as he used a free hand to fixate his hat.

"Yep. She's waiting for Longinus to get back," the young princess replied in a sigh. "Two days ago he told her he was going to Canterlot to do something, and then said that he would be back before we left. I guess... he just couldn't make it in time."

As she finished, a bright flash went out from just in front of them, causing the two to flinch. When the glow faded, it revealed, ironically enough, the shape of Longinus, cloak and all. He started toward Carol in a breathless way, as Clopin gave a wisecracking grin to the changeling princess next to him.

"You were saying?" the swagman chuckled to Odyssia, as the kelpie took notice of what went on behind her.

"Longinus!" Carol shouted, pulling her helmet off so she could see him better. He smiled and dusted himself off as she ran up to him.

"As I promised, here I am," he spoke.

"But we're leavin' suin. Ah won't be able tae see ye again..." Carol spoke in a melancholy voice. Though his expression at first was equally disheartened, Longinus's face lightened up as he remembered what he was about to do.

"Carol, before you leave, I just wanted to give you this," he said, before using his magic to pull a small box he had been hiding underneath his cloak. He levitated it up to the kelpie's face, and let it stay there before opening it up.

Inside was a pair of well-crafted, solid gold earrings, both in the shape of bells. Inscribed on each curve were the words "Semper Amare."

"I spent my time in Canterlot fashioning the pair at the castle's greatest forge," he went on. "It took me a while, but I managed to perfect them. Those words I engraved on the two mean "Always Love." It's how I want you to remember me, forever and always, even if that tricky mind of yours starts to forget the time we've spent together."

"Longinus, Ah... Ah dunnae kinn whit tae say... they look sae shiny," the kelpie sighed in awe, the glint the overhead sun left on the gold reflecting off of her face. As she put one of her hooves out, Longinus let the box slowly drop into it, and bowed his head.

The moment Carol felt the box touch her hoof, a glimmer streaked through her blue eyes, and it felt as though a switch had been flicked on in her head. Everything seemed so... clear for the first time in at least a hundred years. The shine on the bells, the detail on the box, the grass below... it all felt so vivid.

Huh. That's weird... she thought of the feeling with a cocked brow. Then it hit her.

She was thinking.

"Ah can... hink again...?" she spoke in a barely-audible whisper.

"Hmm?" Longinus hummed questioningly, lifting his head again. Carol, with a look of unfettered and unrivaled joy, stared back at him with a rapidly-expanding smile stretching across her face.

"Ye... thes gift... it broke th' curse," she spoke softly, before jumping into a more boisterous tone. "Ye broke th' curse! Ye broke th' curse! Hahaha! Ye broke th' curse, Longinus!"

"Wait, wha-?" he tried to say, until he was interrupted when he found Carol savagely pouncing on him, planting her lips on his, the box she was previously holding dropped on the ground and forgotten about. As Longinus's widened eyes reflected his current emotion, Carol's serpentine body, bursting out of her cape, coiled around his midsection and the surprised alicorn soon fell off-balance from the surplus weight, onto the ground. As the two rolled through the grass, Odyssia, Clopin, and the others watching the sight unfold, at first silent, couldn't help but burst out into laughing, cheering, and applause when they all realized what was happening.

The two soon rolled into a nearby tent, which collapsed on the two, covering them in its red, fabric roof. When they stopped their movement, Carol was on top of Longinus.

"What... do you... mean by... that?" the bewildered alicorn was finally able to ask, between the pauses of the rapid torrent of kisses she continued to leave on his lips.

"Ye broke th' curse!" she replied, stopping for a moment to catch her breath, looking down upon him. "Aam... aam sane again!"

"So, when I gave you those earrings, it was an... act of true love, wasn't it?" he asked again, as the kelpie allowed him to sit up. Carol, still keeping her smirk, only shrugged.

"Ah can hink, Ah can control mah actions, Ah dornt hear voices in mah heed anymair! ...Och, it feels sae guid!" she tried to explain in her ecstatic, excited, if not also slightly addled state. "Ah dunnae kinn whit else tae say tae ye, but... thenk ye Longinus! Thenk ye!"

"Do you... love me?" he decided to ask. After her eyes widened at the L-word, she grinned as her head tilted to the side.

"Ah loove ye!" she shouted fervently, just moments before her face curled into one of tragic realization. "But, wait... whit diz thes mean fur us? Whit dae we dae efter thes?"

"Well, I have friends here, and my house is too small for two to live in..." he responded sadly, but in a voice most would instantly compare with one a pony would use for teasing purposes. Carol gazed into his eyes desperately.

"Dornt ever lae me, Longinus," she pleaded. "Wa dornt ye... come wi' me! Yeah! We can... we can fin' a hoose! A bigger hoose! We can start a family together! Jist dornt lae me!"

Carol found herself being startled as the alicorn himself placed a small peck on her nose. "I won't leave you, Carol," he replied. "Never for as long as I live."

With an expression that could only be described as blissful, Carol threw her hooves over Longinus and hugged him, both laughing in glee all the while, as the tent cloth that still remained draped over them settled.

"Are you sure you want to say goodbye to your hive and coworkers by yourself?" Thoraxis asked Skia, as he, she, and Petra stopped walking in the middle of Ponyville's square together.

"I'm sure, Dad," she responded, turning to him with a cheery smile.

"You're not going to get lost? You know the way back home, right?" he asked, cautiously.

"I know the way back, Dad. I'll be fine," she grinned. After leaning in and giving him a small hug, she began to limp in the direction of the stage, before shouting back, "See you in an hour or two. Bye!" when she was several paces away.

Thoraxis and Petra both watched the young changeling leave, the former sighing in contentment. "I'm glad she's back," Thoraxis said to the wyvern for the eightieth time that month, looking up to her and the noon sun that shined from behind her tall, white form.

"She's like everything you told me about," Petra spoke. "Especially the part you told me about her feelings for books and writing."

"I'm just relieved that I don't have anything to worry about now," he smiled. "I've been getting better sleep, I don't have as many nightmares, the future looks bright for once... I'm just relieved. Nothing could possibly ruin this moment."

As he said that, Petra's expression changed to one of slight worry. "Eh... Thoraxis..." she started, as she began to nervously tap her index claws together. "There's something I've been wanting to tell you for a while... It's something I've been meaning to tell you for six weeks now actually, but I still don't know if you're ready to hear what I have to say, though."

"What is it, dear? Whatever it is, I bet you I can handle it," he replied with a confident glare. Petra gave a wry look to her boyfriend, knowing exactly what kind of reaction he was about to give her when she said her next three words. Rolling her eyes and taking in the deepest breath of her life, Petra slowly exhaled, and then spoke.

"Thoraxis... I'm pregnant."

The End