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One Changeling, in a World of Foes

by Orcus

Chapter 8: Everything Goes South

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Chapter 8: Everything Goes South

"So, Twilight, d'you have any idea about what the princesses know about changelings?" Applejack asked, as Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Spike, and herself trotted up to the castle's entrance. It had been only two days since their departure from Ponyville, and arrival to Canterlot, but to Twilight it felt like only minutes since they left the town, and arrived to the large citadel that was now before them. The moon showed down on them from above, bathing them in its silver rays, while the stars twinkled and shined.

"I still have no idea what they might know, but we're about to find out..." the purple mare replied, as they approached the door, guarded by two, large earth pony stallions. Each one bore a white coat, and were clad in well-polished, golden armor, with a blue crest adorning the helmets, and spears held in their hooves.

"Greetings, Princess Twilight," the first one greeted, in a deep voice, both of them bowing humbly to her. "Princess Celestia is waiting for you and your friends inside. She told us she had urgent business to discuss with you all."

"Thank you," she said back, in an appreciative tone, before turning to her friends. "Come on, girls. Let's go."

After a hearty, and almost simultaneous "Right behind you!" from everyone, including Spike, the guards opened the doors up, and the six entered the castle's entrance hall. Passing into the hall, the doors were closed behind them with a stony clap, and they all continued on, to the throne in the back, walking past the many stained glass windows that depicted important events of the past. Each pony couldn't help but gape in awe at their beauty and detail, despite having seen them dozens of times in the past.

"Hello, Princess Celestia!" Twilight greeted, with a large smile on her face, once they were within earshot of the tall, white, rainbow-maned alicorn sitting on the throne, her voice echoing from the walls. Twilight's expression slowly faded as she noticed that the look her mentor wore remained grim.

"Hello, Twilight," she finally greeted back, her voice somber and serious, and lacking any positive emotion at all, as she stood up, and walked down to them. "I'm glad you came."

"This is about the changeling, right?" she asked again. Celestia shook her head in response.

"This isn't about the changeling, no," she quickly spoke, much to the surprise of each of them. "This is something of a much greater magnitude..."

"What's wrong?" Rainbow Dash asked, pointing out the obvious question each one wanted to ask.

Celestia, her brilliant, multi-colored mane suddenly drooping in a melancholy way, let out a sigh. "Something of an unspeakable evil has been unleashed upon Equestria. Something I need each of your help defeating."

"Ooh. Is it Queen Chrysalis?" Applejack asked.

"Is it Sombra? Did he come back?" Fluttershy inquired, uneasily.

"My money's on that Discord turned evil again." Rainbow Dash guessed. Princess Celestia only shook her head once more.

"You've never faced him before, and, if I'm correct, none of you have ever heard of him either. His name is Moredread Enmity..." she began. "In the past, he was the ruler of Equestria before Luna and I, from over two-thousand years ago. He ruled the land with hatred and fear, and every pony under his reign knew only suffering, hardship, and terror in every waking moment of their lives. Friendship, happiness, joy, and beauty were all but unknown or forgotten to them during this time."

"Tis true," another, familiar voice agreed, from behind them all. Spinning around, they all saw who it was.

"Princess Luna!" Twilight said, not expecting her presence. "Where were you?"

"I was just arriving," she revealed, before continuing where Celestia left off, as she walked to her side. "As my sister said, Moredread was, indeed, a heartless, cruel being. He was the first foe we both ever faced, and defeated, with the Elements of Harmony."

"But... why have I never heard about him before?" Twilight asked. "None of the books on the history of Equestria ever mentioned him."

"Because his deeds were so brutal, so completely... horrific, that we decreed that every scrap of knowledge or record detailing him be destroyed, to keep the pain of his memory from blighting the land," Celestia calmly replied.

"Um... if you don't mind us asking, how horrific were they, exactly? Spike inquired, curiously, before the others could. Celestia and Luna looked at each other, before the younger sister nodded in agreement, and spoke.

"Every villain you've all encountered so far, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, even Discord, before he was reformed, have had one thing in common for their ultimate goals: domination." she started. "Moredread Enmity wanted something worse. That goal was the absolute destruction of our entire world, and the quietus of every living being to inhabit it. In more blatant words, he wanted to bring about the end of all life."

The look of pure shock on Twilight and her friend's faces told the two sisters that the words had the proper impact. "We know he has returned, because he sent my sister a letter, the day before we asked for your presence," Luna said again, just before the scroll in question materialized in a purple-blue flash over her shoulder. "This is the document of which I speak."

"Umm... may I see what he wrote?" Fluttershy asked in an almost-impossibly polite voice, walking up to them both. "I mean, if that's okay with you."

"Of course," Luna answered. She let the rolled-up paper hover down to the pegasus, and used magic to unravel it, so she could read. Fluttershy spent the next thirty seconds skimming through it, while the others waited in anticipation for what she had to say.

"It... looks like he's... inviting you both somewhere," Fluttershy spoke up, in her gentle voice, once she had finished reading halfway. "And he sounds... really well-mannered about it."

"Where?" Rainbow Dash and Rarity asked in unison. Fluttershy scanned down the letter as fast as she could, and let out a frightened gasp when she reached its end.

"Ponyville."

"Ponyville?!" every being in the room, except for Celestia and Luna, cried out. Twilight, clearly aghast, looked back to Celestia and Luna. "Wh-what's he doing there?"

"That we do not know," Luna replied. "When we sealed him away underground with the Elements of Harmony, for what we thought would be forever, we used a mind-wiping spell on ourselves to keep us from knowing where he was, just in case he corrupted one of us with his dark magic. It's certainly possible that his resting spot was discovered by a hapless pony, but even if it was, we placed enchantments on his coffin to keep any pony from being able to open it. Judging from what you told us earlier, the only possible culprit responsible for releasing him would have been..."

"...The changeling," Celestia finished.

"Princesses, why would Moredread attempt to do something so terrible, anyway?" Twilight decided to say, speaking about the previous subject as she processed what was going on. Celestia lifted her head, and looked to the ceiling with a thoughtful expression, as she tried to remember.

"He was once a noble alicorn, but went completely mad," she started. "How he was driven to his violent insanity, I do not know, and what he did to Luna and I... I do not wish to tell you."

"Okay..." Twilight said. "How do you think we can-"

"Wait a second..." Luna interrupted, as she took a second look at the group. "Where is the pink one? I do not see her with you."

"Pinkie Pie? She stayed at Ponyville," Rainbow Dash said, before her face froze, and paled in realization. "Uh-oh... Do you think she's alright?!"

"Quickly, all of you!" Celestia shouted, urgently, as a white glow started to form on the tip of her horn. "We must go there at once!" The orb of magic suddenly expanded as she spoke, and covered ever pony in the room in its light, sealing them all inside a bubble-like construction. One moment later, it vanished in a bright flash, as they all disappeared.


Back in Ponyville, there was much going on for Thoraxis. His shift at the pet store had just ended, and the cape of stars that was the night had fallen across the sky. With some haste, he had been trotting all around the town, looking through windows for anything of value to help the egg back at his house. He rechecked every spot that he had burglarized last, and peeped through the windows of some of them, but didn't see anything, and his list of abodes soon shortened.

"If I could just find one more stuffed toy..." he whispered to himself. "One more, and then..."

He stopped talking when something very noticeable caught his eye. Looking to his left, next to the house that he remembered belonged to Rarity, was a large pile of something he quickly realized, to his great (and, understandably confused) delight was exactly what he was looking for. A pile of toys and trinkets, leaned against the building!

"Ooh... Now THAT'S what I wanted to see!" he quietly shouted with glee, quickly running up to the pile of items. Crudely written on the wooden sign lying next to it, in green paint, was a large "FREE, USED FOAL'S TOYS," practically smeared on. The paint looked, and smelled fresh, but Thoraxis was too busy looking over the obviously more important objective at hoof without worry.

"These will do nicely," he continued, as he sifted through the pile with his magic, looking for the largest, and most love-filled ones. "Though, I can't help but think that this situation seems oddly familia-"

"Now!" a loud voice cried out, interrupting him. Jolting his head up in surprise, Thoraxis saw a large shadow of some sort, one he hadn't noticed looming overhead in his previous excitement, coming down on him. Before he could even let out a shriek of horror, it landed on him with a thunderous clatter, and a loud thump. The dust soon settled, and everything was silent for but a few moments, until, finally, Thoraxis poked his head through the top of what landed on him, his head pushing through net's webbing. To his absolute, and abstract horror, Thoraxis came to the realization that the pile he was now stuck in, at first unknown, was in reality...

...Stamps.

Confetti?

Stamps and confetti?!

And a net.

Paper stamps, not unlike the ones you would see at a post office, and confetti, the stringy kind to be used at parties, each previously held aloft by a net that was now covering him as well, trapping him in it. All he could see was red, blue, and the tiny pictures you normally see on stamps, only adding to the changeling's extreme, utter confusion. Some of the stamps had gotten stuck onto his body in the process, but that wasn't what he was worried about.

"Wha-what?" he stuttered, looking around rapidly for the pony that had performed the deed, while simultaneously trying to remove the net around him, so he could dig himself further out of the pile, all in a futile fashion that changed nothing. "What is this? Some sort of sick joke?!"

His question was answered, as a "Your trap worked, Pinkie!" went out through the crisp night air, said by a young, feminine voice. Thoraxis shot his head to where it came from, and saw three fillies appear from behind the house. "We got the changeling, Pinkie! Just like you said you would!"

"I'm not a changeling!" Thoraxis yelled out in protest, still struggling with getting out of the pile of colorful and adhesive paper. "I was just... walking by!"

"Nice try, but you're not fooling anybody," Sweetie Belle spoke, a smug grin still on her face. "There's no pony I know of in town who would steal a foal's toys."

"But... I wasn't stealing it!" he lied. "I was... taking them, because I was..."

"Stealing them!" Pinkie Pie spoke up, as she appeared from behind the house, where the three fillies came from.

"Y-you!" Thoraxis yelled to her, in an angry snarl. "But... but I heard that you left with your friends to go to Canterlot today!"

"Nope! I stayed," she revealed. "And while I was here, I pieced together a plan of UTTER BRILLIANCE made just for you, ""Mask!" Or, should I call you..."

She spun around, and struck a pose, pointing a hoof at him when she stopped.

"Mister changeling!"

"Y-you're kidding, right?" Thoraxis chuckled nervously, in an attempt to play along.

"No, she ain't," Apple Bloom spoke. "She told us about her plan, and we helped her set it up. You fell for it perfectly!"

With a growl, and coming to the realization that he had no other choice, Thoraxis morphed into his true form, with a green flash.

"Hah! I knew it!" Pinkie spoke again. Just as she finished her sentence, a green glow enveloped Thoraxis's gnarled horn. With a cruel grin, the changeling vanished in a flash of magic, teleporting away, to safety.

"He's gone!" Applebloom said, angrily. "Tarnation... we were so close!"

"No need to fear," Pinkie Pie said, calmly, as she placed a hoof into her mane, and pulled something out of it. "I know exactly where he's going."

"What do you mean?" Scootaloo asked, confused. Pinkie smirked, as she turned to them, a mechanical device of some sort in her hoof.

"Before Twilight left, I asked her to cast an enchantment on some of the stamps. The stamps then stuck to the changeling, and that's when the spell should go into effect."

"Let me guess..." Sweetie Belle said. "It was a..."

"...A tracking spell!" the pink mare finished, in a loud, joyful tune, as she jumped into the air in excitement. "One that coincides with this GPS I made. See that red dot on the screen?"

As she spoke, she motioned to what she spoke to on the device's dark green, glass screen. Sure enough, the three fillies saw a pulsating red circle, and it was moving around. Fast.

"That's him?" Applebloom inquired.

"Yooouuu betcha!" she replied. "We just have to find out where he lives, and then..."

Her voice deepened, somewhat menacingly.

"...He's ALL OURS."

"Yeah! This is gonna be intense," Scootaloo said, punching her hooves together, intensely. "Pinkie Pie and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, on the hunt!"

"Quick, Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Pinkie Pie ordered, cheerfully, pointing a hoof in the proper direction. "Follow that changeling!"


Thoraxis collapsed on the ground, inside his house. He peeled the last stamp off of his side, and tossed it away. He was out of breath, suffering the most unbearable of headaches, and, in general, a very stressed mood.

"This is just great... just great..." he started to moan. "Why do I have all the rotten luck? I never asked for this. Everything was actually starting to go good, too! I never-"

Then he heard the sound he thought he'd never hear. The sound he absolutely dreaded to hear: Knocking on the door. Thoraxis's eyes widened in shock as he heard it.

Oh... no... he thought, in horror.

"Helloooo?" an all-too-familiar, high-pitched voice spoke up, from behind the door. "Is anybody home?"

Quickly thinking of a response in his panic, he shouted, "No! Nobody's home! Now, go away!"

However, no sooner than speaking, the door was kicked open, nearly flying off of its rusted hinges from the force Pinkie Pie used.

"How... how did you find me?" Thoraxis shrieked in fear.

"That's not important. What is important, is that there'll be no more running from you, changeling!" Apple Bloom spoke, confident as the rest of her friends, as the four entered. "We're gonna bring you to justice for all you did!"

"I haven't done anything bad to you ponies!" Thoraxis shouted back, carefully backing into a corner as they surrounded him. "I've been eating love-filled food from that Sugarcube Corner place! I haven't hurt anypony!"

"Then why have you been stealing toys?" Sweetie Belle piped up.

"I... I can't tell you that."

"Why not?" Pinkie inquired, her voice raising in volume. Thoraxis responded in kind.

"Because!"

"Because why?"

"BECAUSE!"

"BECAUSE WHY?!"

"Umm... guys?" Scootaloo suddenly spoke up, interrupting the shouting contest. Slowly, but surely, everyone's voices died down, and they all stared at the young pegasus. She continued, "Does anybody smell... something burning?"

They all, Thoraxis included, soon took a sniff of the air, and smelled the smoky tang of which she described.

"It kinda smells like... cookies," Apple Bloom said.

"Hey, it does!" Pinkie agreed, yelling in what sounded like glee, as she licked her lips, the scent being familiar to her. "Chocolate chip-and-almond cookies! The real question is: where in Celestia is it coming from?"

Her question was soon answered as she saw a shape move out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head, Pinkie saw what was clearly a metal tray, filled with blackish-brown, burnt pastries of some sort, levitating off of the ground, emerging from the hole nearby. The one that lead to the egg.

"Thoraxis! I've baked some sweet cakes for you that I learned about in a cookbook! I was wondering if you could try them out," Moredread's deep voice shouted from the tunnel, approaching quickly. "They may seem a little burned, but I tried one already, and I think they are most fair in flavor."

No sooner had he said that, his large, shadowy shape appeared before them all. Over his armor, Moredread was wearing a white apron with multiple, smiling, cartoonish flowers of varying colors, making his scary demeanor seem moot. Each of the ponies stood in either awe, or confusion, of the large, alicorn-looking figure, trying to discern whether they should feel threatened by his presence, or not. As they looked at him, Moredread finally noticed them himself, when his head swung their way.

"Oh, changeling!" Moredread said, his demented eyes widening, surprised by the sight, his voice still no less intimidating, despite wearing the ridiculous getup. "You did not tell me you were having company over. Wonderful! Most wonderful!"

"I... wasn't..." Thoraxis replied, glumly, as he sat down against a wall in a defeated manner. Everything was unraveled. All he had attempted to hide was revealed. Ponies were in his house. The cookies were burned. Everything that could possibly go wrong, was going wrong at the most inopportune of times.

"...And the mystery gets deeper..." Pinkie whispered, as she looked to you, the reader, simultaneously piercing through the fourth wall as if it was a knife through wet paper.

Next Chapter: A Chance Meeting Estimated time remaining: 20 Minutes
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