Prologue: The Journey Begins with a Single Step
A bird was flying through the sky, an eagle, searching the rocky ground of the Badlands for it's next meal. It let out a sharp cry as it spotted an out of place patch of white moving across the ground. The eagle flew away as it realized that the white being was no food and quickly lost interest.
The white figure slowly trotted across the Badlands, each hoofstep felt like it weighed a thousand pounds due to his exhaustion. He let out a dry sigh from under his white robe, his voice to dried to vocalize his complaints. His white fur was matted with sweat and dirt from the long journey he had been taking, and his eyelids were too drooped for his eye colour to be visible.
He was dragging his hooves through the sand and over rocks as he trotted. He did not know where he was going, only that he was nearing death. He was far from any form of civilization and no where near any possible help. He would die out here, of this he was sure. But he would push himself as far as he could in the desperate hope that he would find some way to live.
The white stallion knew that he would collapse soon, and not too long after that he would probably die. He had accepted this long ago, and had come to terms with his death. The only thing he regretted was that he had been unable to achieve his goal and dream before he died. He had failed his father, and he would never let himself forget that in what few moments he had left to live.
As he fell to his knees he thought to himself, 'I was given a mission by my father. He taught me his creed, "Nothing is true. Everything is permitted." Now my life ends and I haven't even managed to get out of these damnable badlands.' His breath whispered out of his body in a regretful sigh as he fell fully to the ground. His last sight was a blurry figure approaching.
He moaned quietly as his eyelids attempted to force themselves open. He immediately slammed them shut when what felt like a blinding light shone into his opening eyes. He held a foreleg in front of his face and released a pained groan as he once again attempted to open his eyes.
"You should continue to rest, changeling," an unfamiliar mare's voice said from nearby to his right.His eyes shot open in panic and he flung himself up into a sitting position. He was still weak though, and was unable to support himself for long before falling back onto the bed. He brought his foreleg back up in front of his face and sighed in annoyance when he saw that his disguise had fallen while he was unconscious, revealing his true form as a changeling.
He looked in the direction the voice had come from and saw a unicorn mare smiling at him. But it was not an evil smile, it was a concerned one. The mare had a white coat of fur, and her mane was black in colouration with silver streaks. Both her mane and tail were tied back in tight pony tails. Lastly her eyes were the shiniest gold colour he had ever seen in the irises of a pony. He narrowed his eyes at her and asked her weakly, "Who are you, and why are you helping me?"
She turned away from him and picked up a bowl of something in her magic before saying to him, "Lie back and rest. You are dangerously low on energy and you have almost died of dehydration." She trotted over to beside his bed and hovered the bowl in front of his mouth. "Drink this before you die," she told him as she placed the lip of the bowl against his lips before beginning to tip it.
Deciding that the risk of being poisoned was worth it he began to drink. He gulped down what he soon discovered was water until she pulled the bowl away. He already felt slightly more energized. Not just from the water, but the care he could feel coming from the mare was also giving him a small amount of energy.
"You still haven't answered my question," he said as he looked at her. He was less suspicious since he could feel the care coming from her, but he was still wary. His father had taught him to question everything and he would not forget that lesson easily.
"You can call me a friend," the white mare said, her concerned smile still on her face. "My father knew your father, and I was able to recognize you since you wore his robes."
He looked down at his body, and it was at this moment that he realized that he no longer had his robes on. His eyes shot around in panic before spotting his robes neatly folded and cleaned on the bedside table. He also took this moment to look around at the rest of the room he was in. It was a small room with very little in it. There was only the bed, the bedside table, and a mirror.
The mare noticed him looking around and said, "I do not have much here, but it is my home. Now, rest and relax, we can begin your true training tomorrow."
He looked at her in confusion. He did not understand how he was expected to go to sleep after just waking up. Soon though his eyelids began to droop. He cursed himself as he realized that the water had been drugged, no doubt laced with a sleeping aid in a high dosage. His head fell back against the pillow and he gave a tired glare at the mare, angry with her for drugging him. His eyelids shut and he heard a feminine giggle as he fell again into the dream world.
Chapter 1: When Someone You Don't Know is Foalnapped What are You Expected to do?
The changeling awoke with a start, pushing himself into an upright position and panting softly as he looked around the room. Nothing had changed from when he had first woken up in the room that the mare had taken him to. A plain room where everything looked like it was made of wood, The only accessories where a bedside table, which his robes sat folded and clean upon, and a body length mirror embedded in the wall beside the table.
He moved the blanket off of him and looked down at his body, taking a moment to look at his true form for the first time in many days. Like every other changeling his body was mostly covered in a black chitin, a dark exoskeleton and natural armour that offered slightly more protection than the skin and fur that covered a regular pony. His legs and hooves had many holes starting from below the knees. He could not see anything else about his body from his position lying on the bed, but he knew what it looked like.
He rolled over and slowly got off of the bed. As he was getting up he felt soreness from all of his body, making his muscles feel like they were all stiffer than plywood. He trotted over to the body mirror and looked the rest of his body up and down, taking in the ragged and transparent insect wings and and the blue section of chitin that vaguely resembled a saddle on his back. After examining his body he focused in on his face. In the reflective mirror he could see the long fangs that extended from his mouth and his slightly curled horn that ended with a sharp tip, sharper than most unicorns horns are. He turned his head slightly to the side and examined his ragged looking ears and the frill that grew from the back of his head. He faced the mirror one last time to look at his eyes, taking in the bright blue sclera that faded into a bright white that was the closest thing a changeling had to an iris and pupil.
He turned his back to the mirror, not wanting to see the foul creature he was forced to confront when he saw his reflection, and trotted over to the table where his robes were on. He picked up the robes with his magic and saw his under armour sitting underneath where the robes had been. He grinned and began to put on the two pieces of armour. He first put on a piece of hardened leather that went underneath him and used several straps that circled his torso to stay on. This piece of armour would offer more protection to his belly if any enemies managed to attack him from underneath, as his stomach was where the weakest section of chitin was and the hardest area to protect. After that he slipped on the second piece of armour, a light chainmail that covered his torso and would help to further protect him from any slashes or stabs he might take.
After he had his under armour on he slipped into his robes. They were a bright white and covered most of his body, his forelegs were covered by white leggings that extended to the ankle of his hooves before puffing out into small and loose frills that went halfway down his hooves. His tail and halfway down his back legs were covered by the ends of the robe, which were cut into roughly triangular shapes that hung loosely from just above his legs. Aside from the bright white his robes also had a blue lining the same dark blue as the part of his chitin that looked like a saddle. The blue colour lined the edge of his hood, which was big enough to hide most of his face when he had it up, and the edges of other parts of his hood. It also spiraled down his leggings and lined the edges of the triangular cut offs at the back of his robes. Lastly he tied a dark blue sash around his waist like a belt, the loose extra cloth hanging towards the ground due to gravity's pull, and slipped his wings through two slits designed so they and the wings of any pegasus form he might take would be able to move freely and fly.
Satisfied that he was now sufficiently clothed and armoured, despite the fact that most beings usually walked around naked in this world, he turned to look at the room one last time before he would leave. His eyes narrowed in confusion when he saw something he had not noticed before sitting on the table, most likely hidden by his robes until now. There was a note on the table, folded in half so he could not see what was written on it. He trotted over and opened up the note to reveal a messy scrawl with no discernible pattern, most likely written that way to prevent anypony from tracking the writting
"We have the mare," he read aloud from the note, "Come to Ponyville Hospital room 317 at noon seven days from now with the Token of Discord or she will die."
He closed the note without a noise and let it fall to the ground as he thought about what to do. He did not know the mare, he didn't even know her name. But she had claimed to be a friend, and that her father knew his father. Plus she had saved his life. He could not leave such a large debt unpaid. He would rescue her, if only because he felt obligated to, and then he could move on and continue his search for the Apple.
He trotted out of the room for the first time and saw signs of struggle throughout the rest of the house as he searched for the exit. Apparently he had been on the top floor of a two floor house, and the rest of the house aside from the room he had been in was a mess, with shards of pottery and glass from windows scattered everywhere along with other random things.
He walked nonchalantly through the mess, his chitin preventing any shards of glass or pottery from cutting his hooves. He managed to find the front door quickly, and had seen that the entirety of the house was a mess. Most likely there had been many attackers to try and foalnap the mare. He had even seen the dead body of a stallion with a large hole in his neck that looked like it had been made by a stab from a small dagger. Unfortunately he had been unable to recognize any connection to any gangs he knew of from what the stallion was wearing.
Before trotting outside he disguised himself as a pure white pegasus stallion with a black mane and birght blue eyes. He flapped his newly feathered wings to once again adjust to the feeling of having feathers and flesh for wings before folding them against his side and trotting quickly out the door.
He was in the middle of nowhere. He could see nothing for many miles except grassland and a mountain in the distance, along with a forest far away in the other direction. He could see a white and gold city extending from the side of the mountain, the famous capitol of Equestria, Canterlot. He had a feeling that Canterlot would be a good place to begin his search, but knew it would be difficult. They had increased the security majorly since Chrysalis's recent invasion, especially against possible changelings. They had even managed to create spells that could undo a changeling's disguise thanks to the magical expert and personal student of Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle.
He began to hear wooden wheels crunching against the dirt road and the sound of hoofsteps, and turned his head to see a pony pulling a caravan behind them. At closer look he could see that it was a blue mare with purple eyes and a mane coloured silver with light blue streaks.
He waited for them to get closer before asking the mare, "Are you going to Ponyville?"
"The Great and Powerful Trixie is indeed going to Ponyville, if you simply must know," she said before continuing to trot past him along the path.
He nodded before trotting alongside her and saying, "Good, I need to go there and don't know the way. I'll just come with you." He was not asking her a question and made sure to let her know that with how he had said it. He was coming with her whether she liked it or not. "How far away is Ponyville?"
"You are not coming with Trixie," Trixie said while glaring at him. "Trixie travels alone."
"Too bad," he said before hopping on top of her caravan with a bit of aid from his wings. "You're stuck with me," he told her with a cocky grin. "Now, I'll ask again since you didn't seem to hear me last time, how far till we get to Ponyville?"
Trixie continued to glare at him before saying, "Trixie will be arriving in Ponyville in about four days."
The changeling disguised as a pegasus nodded and said, "Good, that gives me the time I need."
He then lied down on top of the caravan and closed his eyes as he began to think and wait out the long journey where he would be stuck with this mare since she was conveniently going where he was going. 'Four days, that will give me three days to figure out a way to rescue the mare that saved me. I can't just approach whoever left the note up front, I don't have that token they wanted. I'll have to find another way to save her.'
As he thought of the token he also realized that it could hold some importance. 'Anything named after the spirit of disharmony can't be a good thing, but it may be powerful. I'll have to ask the mare about it after I rescue her. She must know about it if somepony was willing to foalnap her for it,' he thought to himself before sighing and yawning. Traveling in vehicles always made him tired, the rhythmic bumping of the wheels on the road and constant but low noise always seemed to lull him into a sense of peace. So he slowly descended into Luna's realm of dreams with a comfortable sigh. He could be sure that this time his disguise would hold through his sleep now that he was no longer on the brink of death, so he had nothing to worry about there. He would really have to work on his sleeping habits though, this would be the third time in what he was pretty sure was one or two days that he would fall into a deep sleep, even if one of them was drug induced. Soft snores began to come from his mouth as he finally fell asleep once again.
