Island of the Changelings

I wake up bleeding all over.

Great way to start a chapter, am I right?

But seriously, I’m bleeding like crazy. There’s blood everywhere. Where the heck is it coming from?! I feel all around my body with my hooves. Oh. It’s coming from my head, inside my golden mane. Doesn’t really hurt. Head wounds just bleed a lot, or something like that. Wait, but how’d that happen anyways? I don’t remember hitting my head, and that’s the kind of thing you remember pretty clearly. It’s all dried, though, so it probably happened pretty long ago. Anyway, where am I? I don’t know…feels like there’s a big wall blocking me from knowing.

The only thing that's coming through the wall are the words, Lightning Dust. Is that my name? Or is it some sort of magical powder that can cure diseases, or a trick? I'm just gonna go with that my name is Lightning Dust.

Wherever I am, I don’t see anypony else, so I guess I’ll have to get along by myself for a while. First things first, I need to wash myself off. This blood is absolutely disgusting. What can I use? I’m lying in a small grassy area, by the looks of it. I stand up. I’m a bit stiff. Hmm…I wonder how long I’ve been asleep. To my right, there’s a forest. To my left, there’s…I gasp out loud. It’s a cliff, leading down to water below. There’s my bathtub. I should really find a path down to the water, but really. Who wants to do that? The rusty blood smell was unbearable. Besides, I'm getting this feeling that I'll jump, and I'll be fine. Like I can fly or something. C'mon, you would've jumped, too.

For a second, the air is just rushing past me and it feels AWESOME. I keep thinking that I'll be fine, that I'll start flying and not get hurt. Then, I hit the water, but it feels more like concrete. Before I can shout, I’m sinking into the salty blueness. I struggle, but I don’t get anywhere. Finally, my head breaks the surface. I get enough time to take a breath, but then I’m sinking again. Whoops, I guess I can’t swim. Oh God…I can’t swim! When I come back up for air again, I see large rock a few yards away. I flail my hooves and these weird appendages coming out of my back around, trying to “swim” to the rock. I grab onto the wet surface and pull myself up into a sitting position. It’s funny how I can think that the water that was just drowning me is so beautiful. It’s turquoise and deep, with calm waves lapping against my rock. Note to self: Don’t get in the water. At least all the blood is off now.

Wait…that doesn’t make sense. If I can’t swim, shouldn’t I have known that before I jumped in? Maybe I had never been in the water before. No, I would still have known to not jump off the cliff. And why did I feel like I could fly? Maybe…I didn’t know I can’t swim? Like…I used to know, but I forgot. How would I forget that, though? Ugh. Too much thinking. Better focus on something more important, like getting back to land.

Ok, this rock is basically the base of the cliff. Since it’s connected, I could actually just climb back up. I guess the climb isn’t…impossible… Looks like twenty feet or so. It’s steep, but there are a lot of handholds. I’ll try to climb it. I put one hoof on a small, jutting out piece, and the other on an indent. With some effort, I pull myself up so that I'm braced against the cliff. Umm…what now? I see another handhold a foot away from my right hoof. But if I were to reach out and grab it, I’ll most likely fall. What can I do?

I think I should try to grab the handhold. I'm STILL getting that feeling that I can just soar up, even though it's obviously wrong. Seriously, who's ever heard of a flying pony? To not fall down, I’ve got to make my hoof move like, lightning. I shoot my right hoof out. Midway, the rest of my body starts to plop down, but I actually hang on to the handhold, so I’m dangling by one hoof! I can’t help myself from screaming like a little filly (Or like a dying cricket. Sweet Celestia, I need voice therapy…). Calm down. CALM DOWN. I can feel my hoof slipping. I need to do something quick. Somehow, I get one hoof on the rock my hand was on before. All right, I’m stable. What next?

This is probably getting boring for you, so I’ll skip all the climbing (and falling) and say that I eventually got to the top of the cliff. Ugh…that was a total waste of time. My legs feel like Jell-O. I need to get walking now if I’m going to survive. I’ve got to find shelter and food and water. I trot into the forest. Obviously, that’s the best way to find what I need. The forest starts out pretty thin, but after a long time it looks more like a jungle. The canopy blocks out a lot of the light and that makes me keep tripping over all the thick undergrowth. I could just shimmy up a tree and call that my house, but you know what? I’ve had enough climbing for a long time.

Jeez, how big is this freaking forest? I think I’ve been in here for hours now. But it’s not like I can do anything else. If I just keep walking, I know I’ll find the end somewhere. I’m getting a little thirsty, too. It’s really hot and humid down in here. I just keep walking, since I obviously shouldn’t turn back. I can't keep wasting time.

After a few centuries, I FINALLY come to a clearing. There are pretty flowers everywhere, and a brook several yards away. Woo-hoo! There’s my water source. I jog over there and take a drink. I’m sure you’re supposed to boil water in the wild first, but…

A: I’m really thirsty.

B: The water looks clean.

C: How the heck am I supposed to boil water if I don’t have a freaking fire?!

Ah…that water feels really nice. At first I dunk my head in and slurp the cold stuff into my mouth, but then, I find myself using the weird, feathered appendage on my back to scoop up water and bring it to my mouth. I still don't know what those things are. They kinda look like wings, but that's just dumb. They're way to small to support flight, anyway. . So… I need food. And shelter. Those are the highest priorities now. This little meadow is, like, the ideal place for a little kids movie. There’s GOT to be something edible somewhere. Or, at the very least, some berries. At first I want to try eating the flowers, but at a closer look, I see that they're all huge and exotic, with giant, multi-colored petals and weird leaves. I have no idea what kind of flower they are. They could be poisonous, so I decide not to take the risk of eating them.

I know food is a little more important, but I decide to go find myself a home. You know, stick to the things that seem manageable. In the distance, there’s a cliff (leading up this time). I really, really don’t want to climb again after my previous experience, but there might be a cave or something up there. I start walking over. The meadow is much bigger than it seems, though, so the sun is already close to setting by the time I get there. I look up and…whoa. The cliff stretches up farther than my line of sight. Guess it’s more like a mountain, then. I think I see a cave a quarter of the way up, though. I’m NOT climbing up, but maybe I can find a way that doesn’t use that exercise.

I look all around, and eventually find a slope leading upwards that I can walk up. I just really hope the slope leads to the cave, since it’s slowly getting darker now. I start walking up the slope. It’s a bit steeper and thinner than I thought, so it’s actually pretty hard not to go plop off the side. I hold on to the cliff wall for support. After a short time I actually find myself near the entrance to the cave. Wow…I really struck gold, didn’t I? I start to walk towards the entrance (which looks a bit smaller than I thought) but then I hear something coming from the interior. Some sort of snuffling, hissing noise, like a wild animal. I guess I'll have to attack it if I want to claim this cave as my house.

Wait. I shouldn’t just charge in there bare handed, should I? I don’t know. The animal has stopped its noise. It knows I’m right outside the cave. What if that animal is some sort of predator, like a bear? I flex my muscles. Pretty big, if I do say so myself. But could I take on a BEAR? No, probably not. But it could also be something like a rabbit.

I can’t stall any longer. Whether the animal runs or attacks, I need this cave. It’s completely dark now. Although it was hot before, now the nighttime chill brushes against me and makes me shiver. (I'm a poet and I know it!) Luckily, there’s a full moon out so I can see…somewhat. I sprint to the front of the cave and spread my hooves out, opening the feathered things wide as a sign of aggression. At first I can’t see a single thing inside, but after a little while I see a big, black shape moving slowly towards me. It looks about as tall as me. I think I hear hooves scrape the stone floor. Is it a pony? That thought is terminated when I see it's glowing turquoise eyes. No pupils or irises.

The, um...thing… advances until it’s only a few feet away. It’s so dark I can’t really tell, but it doesn’t look anything like any animal I know. It looks kind of like a pony, but it's pitch-black, has no mane, and is riddled with holes all over its body. Maybe I should run… No, I shouldn’t. If I want to survive, I need this cave. Maybe I can push it off the cliff. It appears to be a pretty fatal drop. If I attack correctly, he’d be the one going plop off the side. But how should I attack? I want to charge this thing headfirst, but then it might just push me off. Then, I would be a Lightning Dust pancake.

The thing shoots forward and tackles me to the ground, dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. For an awfully long time, it holds me to the ground so tightly I can’t move. I squeeze my eyes shut, waiting for the thing to push me off the cliff. It’s so close; I can smell its breath. It smells like blood and death. Hmm. Seems like somepony’s been eating rotten carcasses lately.

For some reason, it’s not pushing me off the side. I don’t feel any pain, so it’s not really attacking me in any way. Maybe…it’s friendly?

“Nice…uh…animal,” I whisper. I slowly open my eyes. I’m looking right into its eyes, those huge, green, soulless eyes. This thing is NOT a regular animal. Probably some demon thing from down under. And I’m not talking about the place with the kangaroos.

“Who’s a cute little…thing…?” I coo. It hisses, and opens it's mouth. It has huge, sharp white fangs. Looks like somepony doesn't like being called cute.

Now, I’m going to tell you what happens next, but you must remember all of this occurs in about three seconds.

Mr. Demon hisses and lowers his giant fangs to puncture my throat or something unpleasant like that. I start to feel that dumb flying feeling again. Mr. Demon's fangs are getting closer and closer to my throat. My wing things suddenly feel crazy strong, like I just got some major adrenaline boost. I find myself flapping them as hard as I can, and just like that, I'm shooting upwards into the sky, Mr. Demon plummeting to the ground below the cliff.

Huh. Maybe I can fly, after all.

In shock, I forget to keep flapping, and I find myself falling. I hit the ground right in front of the cave hard, all the air rushing out of my lungs. I see stars burst in front of my vision, and everything goes black.