The life of a Spriggan Fairy.

     Waking up, I am greeted by the sounds of crickets chirping inside the tent. As I rub the sleep from my eyes, I hear a soft yawn from Emerald. Looking over, I see the small filly curled up like a cat beside me. She yawns again and uses her fore legs to wipe sleep from her eyes. All she really needed now was a hoodie, then I'd probably die from too much adorableness. As Emerald opened her eyes, she looked around the tent. Her eyes eventually settled on me. She smiled and sat up. Sitting up, I returned the smile, careful not to show my canines with the help of an illusion spell (God alone knows what her reaction would be if she knew i could eat meat.)

    "Good morning." Emerald says, a small hint of drowsiness remaining in her voice.

    "Good morning Emerald. Did you sleep well?" I asked, still waiting to ask how she got me into the tent last night.

    "Sorta, I woke up in the middle of the night though. I thought I heard timberwolves outside. When i didn't see you in the tent I got worried and tried to look outside but the tent flap wouldn't open. After a few minutes, the sounds of the timberwolves were replaced by a Lupus. I hid under the blankets for a while. After the Lupus was gone, I rushed over to the tent flap to see if i could find you. The tent flap opened that time and I saw you laying on the ground unconscious. I dragged you into the tent by your cloak and fell asleep." She replied, tearing up close to the end.

    "Hey, look at me; I'm perfectly fine. Those wolves were like slimes. Even if they had attacked me, I would have been able to hold my own against at least three dozen at once."

    "You could?" Emerald said, in mix of fear and awe at my boast.

     I was about to reply, but at that very moment both of our stomachs demanded food.

    "Well then, I suppose that the first order of business is getting breakfast. What sounds most appealing to you, Emerald? Apples, raspberries, or oatmeal? A mix of all three?" I ask, trying to force back a yawn, and failing.

     "Oatmeal sounds nice." Emerald replies, having caught the yawn.

     As I begin harvesting most of the oats from the small grains patch, Emerald starts looking for the bowls I had carved yesterday evening. Taking the oats that i gathered, I begin to chop them with my multitool. Placing the oats into the bowls that Emerald found, i split the oats in "half," giving Emerald the larger portion( since I still was unsure of how much she normally ate.)

    Trying some of the now halved oats, I spit them out in disgust. Never before had I been so thankful for those instant oatmeal packets before; this raw stuff tasted awful. Emerald just sits down and begins to eat the raw oats. Rushing over to the stream, I fill my canteen with some of the crystal clear water. Pouring som of the water into the bowl of raw oats, I suspend it over the coals of my fire from yesterday. Dicing an apple, I place the cubes into the slowly cooking oats.

     By the time my oats have finished cooking over the coals, Emerald had finished her oats and was now nibbling happily on a few apples. Sitting down in the soft grass, I began eating my cooked meal. Well, I've had better, but it beats raw oats.

     After we were both finished, I cleaned the bowls and put them into my inventory, startling the little pony.

    "H-h-how did you do that?" She asked, scared senseless by my action.

    "You mean this?" I ask, opening my command interface, selecting my inventory, and pulling both bowls out of it; seemingly from nowhere. "Thats just the inventory feature on my command interface. I can store various items, weapons, and tools in it, as long as I have the space in the storage system. "

     "What happens to the things you put in storage? Is it like a pocket dimension that the unicorn mages use? Or do the items just shrink and end up in your satchel? And what's a command interface?"

     "Umm, think of it like a window with a few buttons on it. When you tap a certain button, another window opens that has certain properties, like my inventory, my equipment page, or my skills interface. All of those things can be accessed through the main menu, or command interface as I called it."

     I swear that the crickets in this forest seemed to get louder after I said that. I know players don't really need to explain such things, but I've never had an NPC ask me about the command interfaces. Normally they never mentioned it, as NPCs normally had their own simplified versions of the interfaces. But this little filly seemed less like the NPCs in Alfheim Online, and more like those of us living in the real world.

   "Well, Emerald, which direction is Ponyville?" I asked, wanting to break the awkward silence.

   Emerald points her hoof in a northwesterly manner, still visibly nervous about the command interface.

   "Ok, thanks. After I pack up camp, I'll try to scout out our surroundings from the air."

   "Your just going to leave me alone on the forest floor? How are you even going to scout or surroundings from the air; its not like you have wings..."

    Before she could say anymore, I activated my wings. A pair of black wings glinted in the light that passed through to the forest floor. They shined like they were made from fine crystal in the light of sun. A small blue aura radiated out from them. Letting them hang down at my sides, I grin at the dumbfounded filly as she just stares at my wings, opening her mouth to speak with no words coming out.

     Tearing down the tent, I carefully fold my canvas tarp and place the item back in my inventory, along with the ropes that had been used. I collect all of the tent pegs and burn them with a simple fire spell. My reasoning was simple: IF I can get us to town before nightfall I could get Emerald home, and rent a room at an inn (if they have one.)

     After packing up the small campsite, I cast an illusion spell over the place where I had placed our campfire. Instead of a circle of rocks with charred ground in the center, someone would now see a little shrub surrounded by mushrooms. Gathering a few apples from the trees closest to the open clearing, I placed them in my inventory, while also putting some in Emerald's saddlebag. Not knowing when I'd find tea again, I gathered roughly four pounds of the tea leaf, as well as a pound of mint to go with it; I just hope it dries while in storage.

    "Alright, are you ready to go?" I ask Emerald, wondering how she was doing after having learned I had wings.

    "Yep!" She replied, seeming to have forgotten her fear (having replaced it with giddiness instead.)

    "Alright, just come here so I can tie a bowline around you so you don't fall if I accidentally drop you."

    She quickly shoots to my side and allows me to tie the bowline around her, which I then tie around my waist.

    "Ok, here we go." I say as I pick Emerald up with care. Surprisingly she is very light, or maybe it was my STR. buff since it was maxed. Regardless, I lifted off the ground and quickly left the confines of the forest canopy.

     Checking my passenger, I see she is clinging steadfastly to my left arm. I chuckle to myself; must be her first time in the air. Well, I'll just be sure to make her first time "flying" a good experience.

     As I'm lost in that thought, Emerald lets out a shriek. I push all other thoughts out of my mind and begin to slow my flight speed. Looking around, I spy a few black pony-like creatures. They had small black horns on their heads and green wings. Unlike Emerald, these creatures had the normal NPC life gauges, level bars, and one even showed its equipped items.

    "Hmm. Changelings, level five, all five of them have around fifty life points each. Well shoot, and here I was hoping for a slight challenge. Well might as well give them a chance to flee or pursue." I mumble to myself, still holding the shaking form of Emerald.

     As I flew in the direction that Emerald had said Ponyville was, I noted that the changeling had begun to pursue us. Stopping in mid air, I waited for the group to catch up to me. As they drew closer, I noted their blue bug-like eyes that seemed to peer straight through me and focus on Emerald. Emerald, God bless the poor thing, was shivering with her head to my chest, scared beyond reasoning. With her reaction to the creatures, I began to wonder if I would be able to avoid a fight.

     As the lead changeling gets within ten yards from us, it lets out a series of angry hisses and chirps. The four behind him return these with chirps and hisses of their own. The lead changeling motioned a hoof  towards me, and the others began to advance on me, slowly but cautious of how I might react.

    "Listen to me and listen to me well, changelings. If you leave now, you might just live to see tomorrow. If you follow through with whatever suicidal plan you've just concocted; I will personally destroy all five of you." I yell, loud enough for whatever was in the forest below to hear me as well.

     The four who had been advancing halted abruptly, looking back at their leader who just shrugged. Moving closer, the lead changeling eyed me suspiciously, then proceeded to speak.

     "What are you creature? We have never in all our time seen a creature of your likeness."

     "Your question is irrelevant and of no interest to me, instead let me ask one of my own: Why do you pursue us? My passenger and I have not given you any cause to wish ill upon us. If there be one justifiable reason by which I should stay my sword, let me hear it." I retort venomously, drawing my blade.

     The changelings cower in fear, falling prostrate in midair because of the glowing blade before them. To be completely honest I felt sorry for them. Giving the blade a twirl, I sent it back to its sheath.

    "Well? What reason have you of pursuit? And also, please stand; I am no king, nor do I wish that others bow before me." I ask again, this time in a gentler tone.

    A smaller changeling, a female from the looks of it, steps forward and ties to speak a few times, yet no sound comes from her mouth. I look care fully at her, trying to see what the problem is. Her vocal cords seemed fine, and from the looks of it she has no possible condition to make her a mute. There is a slight hint of magic though, carefully hidden within her mouth. The magic, while foreign and unknown to me, must be the cause of her inability to speak. Call it a weakness of mine if you will, but even in the Virtual World, I can't stand to see such a thing placed upon a creature of any kind; be it friend or foe. My mind decided, I was determined to see what i could do to dispel the magic.

     The changeling, still trying to speak, didn't notice that I had brought my arm to its forehead until I was mere inches from her. She flinched and tried to  back away, but I caught her in iron grip. The other changelings hissed and began to advance with the intent to save their comrade from me. A glare from me sent them cowering in fear.

     My attention returned to the small female changeling before me. I gently probed her mind with a few spells to determine how I should proceed. Well what better way to find out than by asking her? Using a special spell,(I'm not giving the name because you don't need to look it up in any spellbook) I allowed a telepathic link to form between our minds.

     As soon as the link was active thousands of thoughts flooded my mind. If there has ever been a better defense against mind spells than this, well I haven't seen it. A jumbled mind is always the hardest to navigate.

     It almost seemed like this changeling, no pony, was familiar with mind spells. Dear Lord, this changeling was once a pony, a unicorn at that. This technically made her a p.o.w, but at the same time she was not. This pony had been assimilated into the changeling army, had her native language taken from her, had been forced to hurt her family and friends, but she still held on to one glimmer of hope: her daughter  Emerald Star.

     I broke the link between myself and the former mother of Emerald. Never before in my life had I seen such an horrible crime committed, even by pkers. The changelings were using their prisoners as a means to create even more soldiers for the hive. I felt an uncontrollable rage, the likes of which none in this world had seen, nor would see ever again in their lifetimes, save for the lunar and celestial princesses. My wrath burned greatly against the hive. Later I learned from Emerald's mother that my eyes had changed from blue to blood red, a sign of a terrible skill belonging only to Spriggians: Death's Touch.

     Dispelling the magic on the ponyling in my rage, I whispered to her to remain quiet temporarily.

     Turning to the remaining changelings, I easily identified the second  ponyling, a male that I presumed to be Emerald's pegasus father. I removed his curse as well, pushing him aside after finishing. Then I turned to the true changelings in the group. Passing an unconscious Emerald star to her parents, I drew my blade faster than the group could blink. One changeling body fell to the forest canopy below and a second followed before the leader knew what was happening. Slicing his horn off, I laughed at his screams.

    "Whats wrong? To much for you? Maybe your kind should have a refresher course in pain?" I laugh as I begin to crush part of his chitin armor and fragile exoskeleton with my bare hands. "I should kill you here and now; the only thing stopping me is my need of a messenger to the Hive. Now take this message to your queen: If the war does not end within the next seven days, and the changelings do not release all of the prisoners that they have taken back to their families; Then I myself shall go to the very center of the changeling hive and eradicate them all. I SHALL NOT TAKE PRISONERS!"

     To prove a point, I snapped off the first seven inches of his right leg. Not wanting to allow the wound to bleed, I cauterize it with fire from my hand, purposefully making a sloppy job of it. Oh, his screams were probably heard all the way to Ponyville and the Hive; and I just laughed.  Tying the leg to his back, I tried to make it as uncomfortable as possible. The rope was made of dried flax that was frayed and the fibers itched like hell.

     After I finished, I admired my handiwork. The changeling looked like he had just came back from a fight with an ork: he was bleeding from innumerable cuts, his chitin armor was all but destroyed: only a few meager scraps of a breastplate and helm remained, hanging by loose threads of leather, he was covered in bruises from muzzle to what remained of his tail, and his right leg was beyond any form of medical assistance.

    "Well you best be off before I decide to do anymore than I already have," I whisper to the changeling, getting a quick nod from him. He flew away faster than I could blink. "You know, I've never seen an injured creature move so fast." I mumble to myself, turning my gaze to Emerald's family.

     The family of three all stood there in midair ( Emerald of course was on her mother's back) with a look of righteous fear; they had just seen me kick kill two creatures, and then send another off in a worse condition than the dead.

    The realization of what I had just done set in after seeing their looks of absolute terror. I felt a sickening feeling rising in my stomach, and then just like that I vomited blood that was black in color. Again according to Emerald's mom, my eyes changed; this time from blood red to their normal blue. That was when my wings failed me and I fell like a rock. Thankfully Emerald's mother and father both caught me in a magic grip before I could hit the forest canopy.

     My conscious began to fade and my vision blurred as we traveled. The last thing I remembered seeing was a few buildings just pass the forest's edge. After that sight I surrendered to the darkness and slept.