After the dust settled, the winged pony pulled himself out of a vaguely pegasus shaped crater, with purple smoke still rising from it. Through the fog in his eyes, he could see little more than the blurred trees, and the grassy earth rising to meet his face as he collapsed.

After the dust settled in his brain, he shoved the ground wearily away from him. It didn't seem to want to move or let him go from its heavy embrace, but with some work with his wings he managed to stand and even remain upright, despite the feeling of gravity swiveling all around him in every direction except true down.

"The hoof just happened to me?" he asked no one in particular, rubbing one of his own hooves against his brow. He felt around his head, looking for whatever it was that seemed to be splitting his skull open, but whether it was nonexistent, or he simply overlooked it in the swirling ringing pain that filled his senses, remained to be seen.

He looked about and saw a bipedal creature. "You There! Peasant! Tell Us, What Has Transpired Here?"

The creature, a mangy knee high thing with fur striped in rings around its body chittered in response. It picked its way warily towards him, moving its fat body with surprising deftness, and a certain mincing nature which made the pony's head swirl.

"Goodness!" he said, stretching a hoof out to the creature, "We Did Not Quite Catch That, Could You Come Here And Let Me Have A Look At You?" The Royal Canterlot Voice (tm) was taking its toll on him, sending a good amount of pressure from his lungs up into the blood in his head, but standards must be kept, mum always said. Probably. He couldn't quite recall.

"Upon Closer Inspection," he remarked as the creature climbed upon his outstretched limb, "You Are Not a peasant at all. Good, I can stop using this ridiculous diction and speak like a real pony."

He examined the thing further, "Hrm, not really sure I know what you are. You look like you enjoy riding on my shoulder, like a parrot. But you look more like that fluffy thing... someone I know kept as a pet. Something from the land. We Therefore Decree, You Are A LAND PARROT-ow, I need to break that habit."

The raccoon chittered in agreement. It beckoned him closer, so that it could tell him something. Perhaps it wished to tell him the way out of this place. When he brought it close however, it sank claws into his neck and pulled at him. "Stop That At Once, Or We Shall Be Forced To Request That You- ow! What are you doing!? You are behaving a manner most unciv-OW!"

He flicked his hoof and sent the thing flying. It growled and leaped at him, sinking its claws and teeth into his face. With a great deal of struggle, and after acquiring several cuts to his face, the pony managed to fling the raccoon away. It chittered angrily at him and then fled.

"Unruly Beast!" he shouted. "Well, nothing to do now but find my way to the nearest semblance of civilization," he looked deep into the thick forest, "and hopefully avoid anymore of those awful things, or whatever lives in this wilderness."

His progress was slow through the thick brush and tree limbs. He staggered into a clearing to take a rest.

"Oh this is useless. One cannot trot out of a thicket, I am sure I heard that somewhere. And as weary and dizzy as I am, there is no way I can fly. Oh. Am I destined to die here alone, struggling and wounded?"

As if to answer, the foliage broke open and spilled out a jet black mare, with a wickedly crooked and jagged horn, blue hair, what looked like a plate of green armor on her back, and holes -hold on a tick- holes... in her legs?

She eyed him hungrily as she approached, sharp fangs exposed, and saliva clearly pooling in her mouth.

She mocked him as she drew close, "There you are, my Sweet Delicious Dumpling."

*** Sometime earlier

Princess Veneer ran as hard as she could into the forest. Flying would do her no good, the drones were blotting out the sun, an air escape was impossible. The drumming of the hive still beat in her heart. Leaving the swarm was starting to seem like a bad choice, but staying was out of the question. Her sister, Princess Avarice, would be the new queen and she knew that. She had accepted it, but her sister liked being certain, and a loose end like having a second successor to compete with would never do. So when the moment came, Princess Avarice struck, only to find she was moments too late.

At this point Princess Veneer regretted less that she had left, and more that she had waited so long. She knew she would miss the hive regardless, and that stumbling alone through the wilderness would certainly give her an appreciation for what she had left behind. However, staying would have meant death, so she fled, and now, because of her delay, those loyal to the yet unanointed queen were hot in pursuit.

Before she entered the forest she took a look around. At the prairie which had hosted her every childhood adventure, the towering hive which she would never again call home, and the sky which. She smiled. The squadrons of drones were not the only thing pursuing her. A huge thunderhead was plainly visible in the middle distance. It would overtake her in an hour, grounding the fliers, and making her tracks difficult to find.

With her pursuers blinded and scattered by the storm, no single one of them would be a match for her power.

She rushed into the forest.

It was slow going as she ripped her way through the foliage, relying on the jagged hooks of her horn to rend leaves, stems, vines, twigs, and the like, leaving her path free and clear. Her path was clear, but the process quickly sapped her energy.

As she worked she swore she heard the drumming of wings overhead, but the wind picked up, right on schedule. A chilly wind which seemed to rise out of the very earth, and drag its cool hands across her legs as it passed.

Thunder crackled overhead.

"Finally," she grumbled. Princess Veneer lowered her head and drew energy within herself. A huge beam of green energy crackled out of her horn, and tunneled through the overgrowth of the forest floor. It left behind the smell of charred plant life, ozone, and the sickly smell of the unnatural breath of magic.

She faltered, "Whew, overdid it a little there, but with any luck, the storm masked the spell."

Luck seemed to be on her side, and she made another easy half hour of travel before the storm became too intense for her to weather and she found shelter in a hollowed tree. The storm seemed to be without end, and eventually, the weariness of her exertion, and the stress of the last few days mingled with the calm warmth in the tree and the heavy sounds of the storm outside, and she dozed off.

The storm had been so loud that she awoke with a start when it finally relented. Weather had certainly gotten out of control since the pegasi of Cloudsdale stopped performing their services for the rest of Equestria. Indeed much of the measured peacefulness that defined the pony kingdom had vanished. But that calm was a distant memory for Veneer. She and her kind relished the chaos, it gave them the openings they needed to prey upon the weak of the herd, and the general discord that swept the land meant no force existed which could threaten the hive as a whole.

A massive thud shook her from her thoughts, and a cloud of purple smoke enveloped her, hiding the stupefied look on her face from all the nonexistent observers. She waited for the smoke to clear, and attempted to discern the direction it had come from. The wind seemed to be taking it directly away from her, so the source of the cacophony had to be in that general direction. Right?

Or was she over-thinking it? Sod-it, the smoke is getting away, better hurry Princess.

She fought her way trough the thick ancient growth of the forest floor and eventually came to a clearing, which contained a roughly pony shaped crater, a trail of smoke still spewing out of it, and a set of hoof-prints leading away.

After yet more tramping through the forest, she finally caught up with the owner of the hooves. A purple and red pony with big wings, and a raccoon on his shoulder. She felt pangs of hunger long ignored perk up at the sight of a strong stallion, and something feral lent her the strength she needed to proceed.

"You've got this," she sighed, "Just play it cool, whoever he is he'll certainly be glad to see me." She chuckled to herself as she cast her transformation spell, tapping into his mind as he struggled, distracted by the raccoon's sudden and unprovoked attack.

When the raccoon fled, she waited for him to recover his bearings and she burst into the clearing with him, crying out to him, "There you are, my Sweet Delicious Dumpling."

"I'm sorry?" he answered, "Do I know you?"

"Darling," she said, growing concerned, "Do you not recognize me?"

"No. Sorry. Who are you?"

"I." She looked down at herself, to find that she had not transformed in the slightest. She looked, as always, like a changeling princess, "b-but, I cast the-" Bucking Hoof Doddling Marmalade, she screamed internally, that's it, my cover is blown and this stallion is more than a match for me in my condition.

"That is," he continued, slyly closing the distance between them, "I certainly ought to know any mare with your beauty, so refresh my memory, and please pardon me for forgetting such a beautiful face, what beautiful name goes with it." Okay come on, the stallion chided himself, you can do far better than that, concussion or no. But to his delight, when he finished rebuking himself he noticed that she was blushing slightly.

"Er, I'm your..." she searched for the term the ponies used, "Special Somepony, Princess Veneer. Do you not remember me?" It was bold, but this tack would bring her closer to the nourishment she craved faster than the cautious route would.

"Oh?" he seemed surprised, "A princess. I must have hit my head plenty hard to have forgotten somepony like you being my Special Somepony. Tell me then, because I seem to have forgotten, who exactly am I?"

She couldn't tell if this was a test, but a quick look at his cutie mark could tell her more than she needed to know to figure out his name. She edged slightly and looked at his flank.

It was bare!

This stallion was at least old enough to have foals of his own, yet his flank was bare.

"Darling, where is your cutie mark!?" she shouted before she could stop herself.

He looked back at his flank in mild shock and concurred, "It is gone!" He looked back to her, searching her face for answers, "What's happened to me?"

Veneer noticed the sharp smell of magic gathering almost a moment too late. She reared back, and a bolt of teal energy passed between them where her head had been. Hopefully the exchange had given her enough energy to last until she could find a better target. His affectionate approach had been a nice appetizer, but she would need a main course before she could confront whatever was approaching.

Before her hooves even hit the ground again, she set a magical blast of fire into the surrounding foliage, and trotted off through the smokescreen. The stallion took a defensive posture, barely registering that she had turned to flee, as he turned to face the new threat.

Veneer did not find out for quite some time what became of the confrontation.

Author's Note

i've had these ideas in my head for a while, it's great to get them out.
as always, this is more or less rough draft, rip it apart if you like.
hope i'm not boring you.