The Travels of a Lone Changeling (Private)

Flail, Moon, and Griff all arrive at the small but busy town of Ponyville. People in the streets give them a slightly odd look, but when they see Flail they suppose the others as guards and go about their business. The trio sigh in relief and begin looking around for a place to rest for a while.

Flail sighs and looks backwards seeing the Statue still behind them, not very close, but a moderate distance, he looks to Moon worriedly, "Moon where did you say your father's workshop was...?"

"Follow me." Moon said, grabbing a string that had a key hanging from it, from her breastplate. She flew down the path going near the heart of town. She looked around a bit before going to the right, towards a small building that had a sign of a clock on it. She landed in front of the door, using the key to open it. She put the key away before walking inside.

There were clocks along one wall of the building. There was a workbench in one corner and a box of clock parts next to it. On another wall were pictures of a young filly thestral, an older mare thestral and a tan pegasus stallion. "Yup. Still the same. Come on." Moon waved Flail and Griff into the workshop.

Griff slowly and carefully walked into the workshop, careful not to touch anything but the floor. "..I have never seen so many clocks in a same place before.. But then again, I usually don't go into other ponies' homes.... Still, woah." Griff says with an amazement written all over his face. He then notices the pictures of filly thestral and her family. "...Is that.. you?" Griff asks as he carefully approaches one of the pictures, looking at it from afar.

The clay statue crumbled shortly after they had all made their way to Ponyville safely. Even then, however, there were a few others like it moving about and scouting in the forest border quietly, seemingly in an ongoing duty.

Meanwhile, in the town itself, there was another such figure patrolling the streets, but this one was covered from top to bottom in what was practically a suit of leaves to conceal its identity from onlookers that barely allowed one to see the hooves or the face. One would have to deliberately look into the head cover to know it was living clay as there was nothing in its movement that was unlike that of a normal mare. This particular figure watched as the group went into the small building from a nearby corner, and began to move about once more afterwards.

At a nearby cafe, two ponies sat outside at a table. One was happily munching on a daisy sandwich while the other had a mug of apple cider in her hoof. The pony eating the sandwich was a local florist, Roseluck. The other pony was not really a local. She was just visiting a friend for her vacation. The mare, a bright yellow pegasus with a mane and tail with striking hues of blue and pink, leaned back in her chair and took a gulp of her cider as she talked with Roseluck. "...and that's why I never trust a cupcake." She finished her story and sat back up in the chair.

Roseluck swallowed a bite from her sandwich and looked at her questioningly. "That's an interesting story and all, but have you looked at the time yet?" She asked, pointing towards Ponyville's clock tower.

The yellow mare turned and looked. "Oh. Yea, I can see the sky too. Better get going. Thanks for letting me chat with you Rose." She said.

Roseluck finished her sandwich and stood up. "Thank you for providing the food Sunshine. Bye now." She turned and walked away.

Sunshine watched her go, then noticed a nervous looking pony with a cart with two others accompanying him. "Hmm, looks like something is up." She chugged the rest of her cider down and tossed it into the nearest trash can, it no longer serving a use to her. After they had gone out of sight, she pursued them until they entered a building. Sneaking over to the window, she peeked inside, hoping no one will notice her.

Flail looks around at the shop, "I haven't seen many clocks in my life... For uh, obvious reasons. These look very high quality though." He says sheepishly. He approaches Moon tilting his head, "I mean no harm, so!" He sits down and looks at her, "What do I need to do to prove I'm not going to... 'Eat you all'?" He finishes with a very unamused look on his face.

Moon looked at the picture Griff was talking about. "Me as a filly, yes." She said simply, smiling a bit. "Now as for you," She turned towards Flail. "I...Um...Damn it. I should have really thought this through and no. You wont have to 'Eat us all'. That's just ridiculous." She sat down in front of Flail, crossing her forehooves in front of her chest. She didn't even noticed the yellow mare near the window.

The leaf suit wearing patrolling clay mare had been keeping interest in the group and kept walking around the building they were in. It was practically inevitable that it would spot Sunshine where she was and approached her just close enough to clap the ground to get her attention and then try to get her to leave or leave her be depending on her reaction.

Griff smiles. "You were cute back then..." he stops for a moment before adding "...I mean, you still are cute, to be honest." he slightly blushes when saying that, almost unnoticeable. He suddenly turns his head towards the window "What was that?" he says as he looks at the 'empty' window. "...I thought I saw something yellow with the corner of my eye... nevermind" he says as he turns his look back to Flail and Moon.

"And yes, I too doubt you'll 'eat us all'. That's just... ...ridiculous."

Sunshine ducked from the window and turned her attention to the pony in the leaves, eyeing her with a curious glance. "Well... Not my first fashion choice... What do you want?" She asked. She gave the mare a more thorough look. Something did seem a little off to her, besides the leaves. She didn't really know what though. It wasn't much for her to worry about anyway. Sunshine was more curious about the group in the building.

The clay figure stood still for a moment... before it actually responded to Sunny with a subtle voice that felt both distant and near as it seemingly reached into Sunshine's mind. "... It would be I who should be asking you that, young lass... Why do you eavesdrop on the trio as they congregate? Do you know them?" The figure would not move at all as Sunshine was spoken to, but the voice of a full grown adult mare with an old Equestrian accent in her speech was very real.

Flails slowly gets back up, "So you have questions for me? I'm willing to answer most anything I suppose... Crumbling statues smacking my hoof away from them, and odd sounds around your house, it isn't the strangest thing I have seen." His ears prick slightly for a moment thinking he heard something else, but ignores it, he also keeps his emotional radar off, so he cannot detect anyponies emotions.

Moon blushed a little as Griff said she looked cute. She then turned her head towards the window. When she saw nothing, she shrugged and turned towards Flail. "Well first off, why are you here in Equestria instead of in Trixie's van? Or was it somewhere else...I really hate it when the older guards mess around with changeling locations." She muttered, frustrated. "And another question, are you alone? Why are you alone?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. Her ears flicked at the sound of someone talking, but shrugged it off as one of the ponies that live in Ponyville.

Flail tilts his head, "I don't know who Trixie is... And as for why I'm here, it's because I enjoy exploring!" She asks if he is alone as his eyes go distant, in a sad voice he manages to choke out, "Yes, all alone. No, no there is noling else, and why?" He looks at her with a deep sorrow that could cause a dragon to look away, "That's a very long story Moon."

Sunshine couldn't see the mare's features in the dark lighting, so she wasn't aware that the pony that spoke to her was made of clay. "Ma'am, I'm just feeding a curiosity. My gut felt that the group might be hiding something. Of course, the last time I trusted my gut I was almost blown to bits by a weird green thing. Oh well." She said, then paused. "That accent you have... Rather unusual. Ehhh... It'll come to me later." She looked back at the building, then at the clay mare again. "Well I don't wanna miss anything, so nice talking to ya." She turned away and went back to looking in through the window.

The clay figure simply stood behind Sunshine, watching her the entire time for anything it would consider as even remotely threatening. The voice was no more, for now, and instead a couple more figures like the one behind Sunshine came out from the forest and into town on two opposing sides and continue to make patrols in its place.

Griff suddenly turns to the window. "Okay, now I know I heard somepony outside.. and very close by..." he says and transforms his nose into one of a sabre-tooth cat. He then sniffs towards the window "...The scent is familiar... the one of the clay figure that was following us.." he says to himself. "But I'm picking up another scent.. it is quite.. unusual." he says and then transforms his nose back and walks to the window. "And what have we got here?" Griff says as he looks out of the window at the clay mare and Sunshine. "Eavesdroppers, huh?"

"We have ti-." Moon was cut off when Griff walked over to the window. "I guess we don't have time." She deadpanned, getting up and walking over to Griff. She looked out the window at Sunshine and the clay mare. She focused her eyes on the yellow mare. "Can I...help you?" She asked, glancing back at Flail. "Were you...following us?" She asked, pushing her muzzle against the window. She glared at Sunshine.

Flail backs into a corner, hoping whoever is out there didn't spot his disguise he forms the hasty brown Unicorn disguise he had on before, and busily begins detailing it, "Oh no! Uh, noling is home!"

Sunshine looked back at them with a nervous smile. "Eh, hehe..." She chuckled nervously, raising a hoof and waving at them. "Hi..." She looked around, pausing a bit at the odd mare behind her. She then looked back through the window. "I'm not from here and I got a bit lost, could I come in maybe?" She lied, hoping they'd let her in. While what she said about not being from Ponyville was true, Sunshine knew exactly where her ship was. She just wanted to see if this group offered anything exciting for her to do.

The clay figure behind Sunshine remained rather still in the same place, watching her. Of course, seeing the others stare out the window, it raised its head as if to look at them directly, seemingly judging them with its blank stare. Thus far, the figures had been harmless, and thus far would remain as such.

Griff quickly transforms his teeth to the ones of a sabretooth to quickly grin at the yellow mare and bare his teeth before turning around, noticing Flail was trying to hide. He quickly moved away from the window towards Flail, finding a sheet along the way and throwing it over the changeling, trying to cover him. "Hush, transform in silence." Griff whispered to him before walking back to the window.

Moon first stared at Sunshine and the clay figure behind her. She then turned towards Flail and Griff. She quickly shook her head and turned to Sunshine to answer her. "Yeah, sure, you can come in." She gave a quick smile before walking over to the door. She glared at Flail who was hidden by the sheet as she walked. She opened the door the the workshop and poked her head out to see if Sunshine was coming in.

Flail almost felt a glare burning through the sheet, it smelled old and musty. He sighed and finished the disguise keeping his breaths shallow and silent, even if he was in pony disguise, hopefully his friends can get her gone. He smiled, it felt good to say friends...

Sunshine smiled and took one last look at the odd mare before trotting happily inside. "Thanks. My name is Sunshine. May I know your names?" She asked, casting passing glances at the interior. She paused at each of the ponies in the room. When she saw Flail, she figured he didn't want her to see something, but didn't press the matter. She tries to make her own aura as friendly as possible, keeping her wings tucked in, especially the mechanical one which was easily camouflaged when tucked in so it looks but not feels like a normal wing.