A Short Tale

Chapter Twelve: The Lion's Roar

Travian had left Fluttershy's cottage the next day to visit Mayella. She was much more interesting than these ponies, after all. She was a... He hadn't caught what she was. While he was about to enter town, he saw Fluttershy. Or rather, he was spotted sneaking out. "Longshot? What are you doing?"

"Just... Gonna go see something. It's important to me."

"... What is?"

"Applejack said she needed me to have a look at something and I didn't quite get to see it." Fluttershy took the lie and decided to leave him alone. It was easy to get her off his back. He skidded along the outskirts of the village, hoping no one saw him. It wouldn't do him right to be seen at day when he should be seen at night. He continued along the road, or at least until he saw a rainbow trail in the sky.

He started to flee, knowing that the rainbow trail would soon find him. Sweet Apple Acres wasn't too far, and he considered himself decently swift. He saw a few trees with apples appear around him, cluing him on his location. He took a turn and saw the opening to Sweet Apple Acres. He saw Applejack at the entrance. He kept blitzing forward, saying, "Hey Applejack!" as he ran past her.

He made way for the barn, but knew he was too slow. He fell to the floor before the barn. "No!" He slammed his fist on the ground. Before he could make his way up, he heard the devilish voice behind him.

"Hey! Why were you running all over the place? Are you hiding something?" He picked himself up with much defeat. His day had officially gone horrible. Something inside him actually changed when he turned. His defeated look turned to one that was determined.

"I wouldn't hide anything from the one I trust."

"Then what are you doing?"

"I'm here to practice climbing." It was a decent response. Applejack was next to Rainbow Dash at this point.

"Applejack, is this true?" He really wanted to rely on Applejack.

"Well..." Applejack failed him and- "Yeah. It's a new thing we let 'im do." Applejack won for him and allowed him to escape punishment.

"... Can I watch?"

"Unless you wanna see a shirtless me climbing everywhere, no." He started removing everything above his waist, starting with his hood.

"Uh, ew. No. Look, I think I'm just gonna go practice my awesome flying skills. Which are so much more totally cool than your climbing skills."

"Kay." Travian was finished removing the clothing and he reached for the barn doors. He slowly pulled them open. "Go on and get out of here then." He went inside the barn and closed the doors quickly. "I assume you missed me?" Mayella glided down from the rafters, showing off her wings which actually looked really cool.

"Of course I did. You are the only one who can understand me!"

"I wouldn't go as far to say I understand you. I just know your language. Speaking of which, what are you?"

"I'm a changeling. You saw how I changed into things, right?"

"Yeah. Noticeably me. You make me look good, by the way."

"That's because you do." She froze in place, with her eyes wide open. "I m-m-mean... Of course I do!" Travian brought his claws to a beam. As he hooked on it, he began talking.

"Right. So, why were you kicked out of your hive?"

"I... I'm a bit of a weird changeling. For one, I love to talk while the others are mostly drones. The other changelings complained about my endless chattering when really I just wanted somepony to talk to..." He had reached the top of the beam by the end of her speech.

"Well now you have one to do so, don't you? Well... Not a pony, strictly speaking." He looked out to window of the barn. He saw the face of his nemesis, eyeing the room suspiciously. "Go away! I'm talking to myself!" The rainbow menace looked incredibly surprised before leaving his sight. "Now where were we?"

"I wanna know how you're here with these ponies." She buzzed up to him.

"Now that one is a doozy. So in a life before this one, I was a mercenary. I would hunt down any individual you wanted dead." She covered her mouth in surprise. "For money, of course. I would also fight in any war you had. Of course, I had a few rules. Now I was possibly one of the best out there. Unfortunately, I was betrayed before I was paid. I was..." He searched for the right words. "I was forced to come here. The ponies found me and took me in. Fun times, when you look at it."

"You... You lead an interesting life? But I never heard of anypony being a killer in Equestria..."

"Wanna hear a secret?" She nodded her head. "I'm not from Equestria. I'm from beyond the sky... I was born in a marshy land, lived in a snowy land, and left to my mercenary work when the snowy land fell to my enemies." A close enough depiction of his life.

"That's... Crazy! How can you just tell me all this and expect me to believe that?" Now he could put in the line he always loved.

"Because you are the only one I have told that to."

"You... You're interesting, you know that?"

"I know. The same can be said of you." If he was going to be honest to himself, he would have admitted he quite liked speaking to this... changeling. She was a good enough lass.

"So can I ask you a question?" Travian nodded. "Why are you so nice to me? Before I was kicked out of the hive, I learned that every single race hated changelings because they stole love."

"Not the ones that can give it. And baby, I know just how to give it." He raised a single eyebrow, letting off a smirk. Mayella just stared at him.

"What is that even... Oh." The realization sank into her. "Oh! No! Not that kind of love!"

"So is that an added benefit or...?"

"Just. No. Usually changelings don't go that far."

"Or that shallow?" She gave him a confused look. "Oh right. Ponies probably don't have those..."

"You are possibly the weirdest pony I have ever met." She needed her eyes checked.

"Excuse me? Do I look like a pony?" Mayella shook her head. "That's what I thought." He then proceeded to do what he said he would, which was climbing practice. The changeling was able to have conversations with him while he was doing so. Then, when he was finished, he climbed down instead of jumping into a bail of hay.

"So when do you think you can come back?"

"I don't know. But hey, I don't think you've been fed for a while." He then took a knee and gave Mayella a hug. "Hopefully this is enough to keep you going." Travian let some emotions out, but kept a lot to himself.

"This is... So much! How do you have so much?"

"I've lived for quite a while." He then let go of Mayella, and turned to the door. "Now go hide yourself away from the ponies. I have the suspicion they will search this place for something." He reached forth to push the door.

"Bye Longshot!" Travian's golden opportunity arrived.

"See ya, love." He pushed the door forward, looking back to see the changeling blushing. Her cheeks were a bright blue. It was absolutely adorable to Travian. The doors closed allowing him to focus on his clothes. When he got to his clothes, he noticed one part missing. His hood was missing.

"So... Who was that?" Rainbow Dash stood against the wall with his hood in hoof.

"Oh... Nobody you need to know." He slowly approached Rainbow.

"What do you mean 'Nobody I need to know.'? Of course I need to know! I know that thing looked evil, and you just can't say it was only you talking to yourself!"

"Just give me my hood and I will tell you." She looked at his hood, and then back at him.

"I'm not taking that long shot."

"Taking what?" Travian looked around.

"No, I'm just... You know what, you tell me who it was first and I'll let you have the hood." He thought of something to say to make her drop it.

"You know..." He slid close to Rainbow Dash, making her jump. She stood her ground however. "I've just been noticing you're dazzling hair..." He reached his hand for the hood, but she put the hood in the other hoof. She stamped the hoof without the hood down. He lowered himself down to a crouch "Woah. No need to get feisty. Look, I just want to..." He looked her in the eyes. "Wow. You're beautiful eyes are absolutely stunning." Her mouth moved slightly agape. He moved his hand towards the side of her neck. "You're face isn't the only thing that's stunning, you know..." He moved his hand slowly downward.

"Um... What are you-" He plucked his hood right off her hoof.

"Success!" He stood up.

"What did you... Wha- Ew. Ew! Ew! No! You... No!" She started freaking out, just as planned. Travian started laughing as he walked away. Soon enough, he saw a rainbow trail heading away from the farm. He put on the rest of his clothes just as he heard a knocking on the barn door. He opened a single door to see a changeling with a concerned expression.

"Did you... Did you really mean that about her?"

"What? No. While I admit she looks amazing sometimes, I gotta admit that those eyes and that hair does not bring me in. Why, were you planning on changing into her to appease me?"

"No! I was just-"

"Problem solved!" He closed the door. He felt kind of cruel not letting her finish, but he would get over it. He fled the farm, hoping the rainbow fiend had not told Fluttershy about him misbehaving. He knows that Fluttershy would have to punish him most severely! Her punishments were the worst... A speech about how he could have been hurt or others could have been hurt.

Fluttershy did punish him. That cyan tattle tale told her about his little adventure. When she was done punishing him intensely, she requested who he was talking to. "I told her I was talking to myself, and I was."

"... I have a feeling you're lying to me, and I don't like it... I mean, it doesn't make me happy."

"Everyone I talk to probably gets that feeling. Kinda sad actually, but eh. What can I do?" Travian led himself away from the whole questioning part of the day. It was actually getting really late, so he opened the door. He promptly got to his designated area and got upon the floor. He then slept.

In the middle of the night, he was awoken by a new feel on him. He looked down at his chest to see the changeling on him. "Mayella... What are you doing? How did you get here?"

"I didn't want to sleep in the barn... And you have a scent that is very different compared to a pony's, so I followed it." That explained everything he needed at that time of day. He went directly back to sleep with the feeling of a changeling snuggling him.

When he awoke in the afternoon, he saw Mayella was no place to be seen. Instead, there was a bunny resting next to him. "Is that you?" The bunny nodded. "You look small and adorable. Good job." He petted the bunny. Then the bunny erupted into flames. Out came... Rainbow Dash.

"I thought you said something about this one having beautiful eyes? I got a good look at her as she watched you sleep earlier."

"What." He said what to everything.

"You didn't know she did that?"

"I didn't want to know! And excuse me, but your actual eyes and your actual looks are beyond compare to Rainbow Dash's. While she's a pony, you are a changeling! You say you take love, but I don't understand why no one gives it to you." Flames again, revealing the changeling. "Woah! Look at that girl right there! Now that is what I love to see."

"Oh stop it, you. You're going to make me blush again..."

"But blue looks so good on you." And so their conversations went. Or until she noticed his equipment.

"So I wanted to ask you... What are these things?" She pointed to his things.

"They're my things." He picked up the bow. "This thing kills magic when it touches it." He pointed at the quiver. "That kills magic when it touches it." He plucked an arrow out of the quiver. "This kills magic when it touches it." He nocked the arrow and fired it over a distance. "Whatever that hits usually kills what it hits."

"Oh. That's... Horrifying."

"I'm horrifying." She looked at him with a stubborn look.

"Don't you insult yourself!"

"But baby, it's true." The conversations went that way for the rest of the day.

Fluttershy showed up with an awkward face equipped. Mayella transformed into a bunny and rested on Travian's shoulder. He wondered over to Fluttershy, expecting a story. "So I found some sort of fake turtle near the beach."

"That's... News. Anything you plan on doing tomorrow?"

"Well I have to lead some ducks through town. The river over here is too full, you see..."

"Cool. Do you need any help with that?"

"Oh... No..." Travian put up a grin.

"Well I'm coming anyways! Trust me, the ducks won't even know I'm there." Fluttershy looked off to the side, but she probably knew she couldn't win this argument. He was coming, and that was final. He then went back to his sleeping spot. It would be a long day tomorrow, and he knew it. Mayella transformed back into a changeling. Travian was going to sleep on his stomach so she could sleep on his back. It would be more comfortable for her, and that comforted him.

"I'm going into town today, so you're going to have to stay here. Go steal love from bunnies or fish or whatever. I bet you can do it."

"Fish have love?"

"They have a census for bunnies. I assume fish have love. Go take it and we'll be good to go." Travian didn't carry his equipment with him. This time, he only wore his clothes. He saw Fluttershy leading a pack of ducks. He walked up behind the ducks and said, "Do they have a duck census too?"

"Oh yes! But it isn't time for that yet."

"Why did I even ask..." He trudged behind the ducks, knowing that indeed existed. When they arrived in town, he got a few stares from a lot of ponies. Almost every stare was in fear. 'Glorious,' he thought, 'They all fear me.' To make matters worse and better, he moved off to the side, next to a few of the ponies. He then saw the pink one at a table by herself. He made his last life decisions before sitting next to her.

"Oh hi, Longshot!"

"Oh hi. What'cha doin' out here?"

"I'm just looking at this Gilda-griffon-person, seeing if I misjudged her." Something was wrong about that sentence.

"... Griffon?"

"You know, half lion, half eagle?" He looked at her strangely.

"What's an eagle?" Suddenly he heard somebody say something incredibly rude.

"Hey!" He looked to see... Some sort of four legged bird standing over Fluttershy.

"Oh... Please excuse me..."

"I'm walking here!" Travian didn't like where this was going. He got up from the table, getting angrier at the world. This Gilda person just made his day officially into the 'horribad' section he made up a long time ago.

"Oh... Um... I'm sorry... I was just trying to-"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, why don't you just watch where you're going, doofus!"

"But... But... But I-I" Travian was behind Fluttershy at this point. He didn't know how the griffon missed him. The griffon then roared in Fluttershy's face. Fluttershy started to turn around, and started to cry. Then she ran into Travian.

"Excuse me, miss, but I don't like what you did there." Gilda looked at him with disgust.

"And just what are you?"

"I'm her friend. I'm just here to make sure you apologize."

"So you're gonna try to defend these lame ponies?" Travian really did not like that word in cohesion with horses. A lame horse was a very injured or old one.

"Yes. I am. Is there a problem with that?"

"Yeah! You're just being another dweeb, and I don't like dweebs." Her eyes became slits, and so did Travian's.

"And I don't like undesirables." He probably should have gotten his bow.

"Do you wanna take this here or somewhere else, punk?"

"Are you saying I should fight you?" His eyes opened to their normal size. He then promptly stood straight up. "Because that would be barbaric! Why fight you when I can just have you apologize and get this over with? I mean, seriously. Fighting is for nerds." Now that got her buttons pushed. Yes, he had to think hard back to when he saw a few students talking and the names they gave to the 'uncool', He had done it, though, and that had her mad at his logic.

She groaned at him before saying, "I'm out of here. All these ponies are driving my buggy." He saw what she did there. His act of heroism was awarded by a few less stares of fear, and one grateful look from Fluttershy.

"Thanks, Longshot... You're very nice..." His reputation was being ruined by Fluttershy. He tried so very hard to work up to his reputation of 'feared', but now he's apparently a 'hero'.

"Don't mention it." He wondered what was with all these interesting things in this town. Stampedes, griffons, tickets... So much interesting things within a short span of time. He spent most of his time here recovering from injuries, but the interesting stuff only seemed to happen when he wasn't injured. If he could prevent injury... Would there constantly be another thing? What kind of strange magic could do that?

When he returned to Fluttershy's cottage, he saw a bunny waiting for him. It wasn't Angel, so he could assume it was Mayella. "'Ay girl. 'Ow you doin'?" He picked up the bunny which the flames consumed. Out came the changeling. He would never get over how cool that was.

"I'm doing good, now that you're here."

"Good, good. So do fish have love?" He was genuinely interested.

"Yes! I was shocked at first, but then I realized fish have tons of love!" Now he was shocked. He expected no love or little love, but tons of love? He was surprised.

"Wow. Okay, well, I have a question for you. Do all changelings burst into flames when they change?"

"Not all... Just some. Most of us change by a phasing effect instead of flames. I'm just one of those changelings." That was some handy info. Now if he had his helmet, he could record it down. Unfortunately... "Hey... Is something wrong?"

"Nah. I just sorta ruined the reputation I built up."

"What reputation?" His feelings. All of them.

"I was a fear inspiring figure in Ponyville. I helped Fluttershy against some weird flying lion-bird that was four legged. I'm a hero now, apparently. Hey, you know what a griffon is, right?"

"Yeah."

"Great. Are they normally rude?" She looked at him with such a weird stare.

"Um... No... They are normally honorable and very respectful... Well, except to changelings..." He didn't know what happened to this one then.

"Right. So... Anything you want to talk about?" And so their conversation went. Or at least it did until Fluttershy came back. She came back with a smile on her face. Mayella turned into a bunny before Fluttershy could see her. "What's got you so happy?"

"The ducks are fine, and Gilda left town! Oh, and it was such a fun party as well!" She's a party animal? Didn't- Travian face palmed himself for that. He really hated himself for that pun. "Why'd you hit yourself?"

"Dumb joke." He then let Mayella creep her way on to his lap. Fluttershy looked at the bunny.

"Who's that? I've never seen her around here..." She literally knows the bunnies around here. This was a disturbing fact.

"I dunno. She showed up and took a liking to me. I named her Mayella."

"Mayella... That's a weird name." Says the pony who belongs to a nation of ponies who's names are mostly two words combined together or one word. He took note of that. Fluttershy, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity...

"Your face is a weird name!" Fluttershy then tried to look at her face, failing slightly. He used his hand to pet Mayella. She was like a pet to him. "Now go on and do your thing." Fluttershy focused back on what she was doing. She then left the two alone. "Mayella, do you know why ponies are so weird?" She changed back into her cute self.

"Do you know why changelings are so weird?"

"You guys aren't weird. You're just small. And sexy. Sometimes." Mayella looked at him with what he assumed was a rather upset glare. "Okay, fine. Sexy all the time." Her frown turned upside down.