A pony wandered deep into the Evefree Forest, wondering what was in there. Now, granted, he had heard stories of the vicious beasts and forgotten ruins the forest contained, but he was curious. Some would even say he was too curious, but not many people had gotten to know him well enough to learn of this unquenchable curiosity, and none had ever fully come to understand just how deep it went.
The most prominent rumor he had heard was that there was the wreckage of an old castle somewhere in there. From what the innkeeper back in Oasis had told him, it was riddled with traps and falling apart, but still stretched to the sky. He thought about this. It sounded like his kind of place. He thoroughly enjoyed exploring ancient ruins, not only because it was glorified to such an extent in the Daring Do novels, but also because ruins were typically isolated and full of traps that would be interesting to examine, replicate, or even dismantle. That was another type of place he liked. Places that were isolated. There was only one thing he hated more than other ponies, and that was talking to them.
But the thing that he thought he would like most about the place was how tall it was. When he finished gathering food for the day, he often enjoyed climbing up to someplace far above the ground, taking out his monocular, and just watching what happened around him. Sometimes he watched the wild animals, sometimes he watched roving groups of Changelings, and sometimes he watched other ponies. What he loved to watch most, though, was interactions between Changelings and ponies. He would often see the Changelings attempt to infiltrate pony society, only to accidently talk themselves into a corner almost instantly and be discovered. This made him break out laughing, but luckily for everyone he was always well out of earshot. This was the primary reason he took a disliking to directly participating in social interactions. He was afraid of talking himself into embarassing situations.
Lately, though, some idiot had done something to the Changelings. From what the wanderer could tell, one of the pony factions had extended some sort of olive branch in some way. The interesting part was that this particular faction was one of the only accessible sources of food for the Changelings, and since they didn't want to make it seem like they were blatantly disregarding this request for peace, they had stopped sending infiltrators into the territory of that faction. On top of that, they didn't really know what to do to further their peaceful relations to this faction, and were stuck in a sort of diplomatic limbo, since that faction had also done nothing more involving their relations. As a result of the ensuing starvation among the Changelings, who were deprived of their biggest source of food because of this "olive branch", more Changelings died over the course of a few weeks than that pony faction as a whole had killed in in all the years of their war with them.
While the wanderer was certainly angry that he couldn't watch any more of the scenarios that he most enjoyed laughing at, since he was in the previously mentioned faction's territory, and he had held an immense amount of pity for the Changelings even before this starvation, he couldn't help but admire the sheer skill of this political maneuver. With a single letter, or however the "olive branch" had been communicated to the Changelings, the government of this faction had not only completely nullified it's ancient rivals' offensive measures, but could quite possibly have doomed their entire species.
Though, he knew it probably wasn't intentional.
Despite the fact that he was himself a pony, he was fully aware of the fact that ponies tended to be pacifists with hopeless ideals who would often be responsible for the destruction of entire civilizations in the name of "friendship".
He could tell that this land's ponies were even worse than the rest, seeing as they not only founded their government on these hopeless ideals and lived their lives by them, but were also skilled in manipulating friendship to their advantage. They had already "made friends with" several entities previously focused on their destruction, and manipulated this camaraderie to convert them into loyal servants. And on top of that, if whatever cruel methods they used to accomplish this failed, they were equipped with an arsenal of "reforming spells" that would twist the victim's sense of morality until it gave them no choice but to serve them indefinitely.
Based on his sources, there was even a new addition to this nation's pantheon of "Princesses" called the "Princess of Friendship". He didn't know for sure what that meant, but he knew that whoever this new "Princess" was, then considering their definition of 'Friendship', she was probably a specialist in these gruesome techniques that he should stay away from.
He actually wanted to kill her. He really did. If the rumors were true and she was the one who first introduced these perverted beliefs to the rest of Ponykind, then she was indirectly responsible for most of this emotional enslavement, and directly responsible for the rest. Not to mention that she was probably the one who was beating the entire Changeling race to death with an olive branch. The wanderer thought about all that he had seen during those times when it was necessary for him to sneak into a Changeling hive and hide in an empty cocoon to stay warm and dry. The collectors that had failed to bring back food too many times to consider themselves worthy of eating hanging from the ceiling from nooses of their own silk. The innocent nymphs abandoned on the floor and crying out for some form of sustenance. Those atrocities could not go unpunished. But killing the one responsible would mean going into the territory of her and her goons, and risking being enslaved himself.
As much as he hated that monster, he couldn't take that risk.
He needed to be really careful, too, because apparently she, along with several other ponies in this sick and twisted friendship cult, lived very close by, and he really needed to pay close attention and be very stealthy to avoid being... forcefully indoctrinated.
Suddenly, he felt a painful impact and heard a loud clunk. He was too busy thinking about this to actually take note of his surroundings, and had wandered straight into a sign right next to some sort of town. He looked up at the sign and read aloud to himself:
WELCOME TO PONYVILLE
His heart began to race. How far into this field was he? Had anypony spotted him? Which was the quickest way back into the shrubbery?
He glanced at the town, then spun around. It looked like the quickest way to hide was to simply run back the way he came. He was thankful nopony had seen him yet, but wasn't confident that his luck was going to last.
He ran.
It started with a moderately fast sprint. Then the wanderer began to feel the adrenaline rush, and could hear his pulse as he ran as fast as he could toward the treeline. His pulse became so loud that he could no longer hear his own hoofsteps. Years of scavenging in the wild had taught him stealth if nothing else, but one tends to largely ignore one's skill set when running for their life, so he could usually hear the thumps of his hooves on the ground when he was running, which funnily enough motivated him to run faster because of how many predators would hear him running.
He couldn't let himself be spotted. He couldn't bear to think what sickening torture awaited him if he was caught. He, like any other person in a similar situation, chose to do everything in his power to maintain his power over his own actions.
He was almost to the treeline, so he felt it was safe to look back.
Without even so much as slowing down, he turned his head.
Just as a certain pink mare within the village turned hers.
Pinkie Pie instantly became excited. There was a new friend in town! She couldn't wait to get to know him, and someone new in the neighborhood meant an excuse to throw a welcome party! It was going to be SO much fun! But first, there was the small matter of getting him back to Ponyville. Pinkie was probably fast enough to catch him on her own, but she wasn't a long-distance runner, so it would tire her out. Better to just ask a pegasus to catch up to him and ask him what was the matter, and then to invite him back to the great welcome party she was planning! She ran up to the first pegasus she saw.
"Oooh! Oooh! Hey Thunderlane?" she asked the pegasus.
"Uhh, yes, Pinkie?" he replied with a hint of nervousness in his voice.
"There's a new pony in town! Isn't that great?!? I can't wait to throw a welcome party for him! Except when he saw me looking at him, he kinda gave me a look like I was some sort of horribly mangled zombie and ran into the Everfree Forest. Think you could catch up to him and talk to him so we can figure out what the party should be like?"
"Uhh... I don't know, Pinkie. It sounds like he doesn't want to get to know you."
"Oh come on! The same thing happened with Cranky Doodle Donkey, remember? Look how happy he is now! Please?
Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease?" Pinkie formed one of her trademark smiles.
"Okay, Pinkie. I'll help you out, but I really don't think this is a good idea. What does he look like?"
"Hmm, let's see... he's a pegasus, and his coat is a bright-ish green, but not as bright as Lyra's. He was wearing brown saddlebags, and I couldn't make out his cutie mark. While you're catching up to him, I'll be going around telling everyone about our new neighbor and the AMAZING welcome party we're gonna throw for him! His name is Treadpath, by the way.
"How do you know his-"
"Just go."
"Alright" Thunderlane sighed, and he flew off.
"Great!" Pinkie said to herself. Now who do I tell first?"
