Not Just A Bug

Chapters

Prologue - (Edited)
Two Weeks Later
That's a pony...
Close Encounter
The Invasion
So That's a Changeling
Another Close Encounter
Home Sweet Home... Kind Of.
Be Very Quiet...
Why Does Nature Hate Me?
That's... Stupidly Convenient
Gaining Trust
On The Road Again
Trouble
1 VS 1
Off We Go
Hey, You Look Familiar...
Hope
Home

Prologue - (Edited)

DAY 1

Hello. I’m me , which isn’t all that much. I'm just a guy. But hey, something happened to be me, and I have no idea what think of it.
One day, something happened. I have no idea what it was. It was just a blur, a flash of light, then darkness. I was pretty sure I died or something. But, it ended as quickly it started. Now, I’m just lying here, in a clearing, just feeling the breeze go over me. I open my eyes, sit up and look around.

"What in the name of God… ?"

Where the hell was I?!

I look ahead into a seemingly endless forest. There are no words to describe how scared I am right now.
Suddenly, about a million questions popped in my head.

Where am I?

What is this place?

How did I get here?

Sadly, I could answer none of my thoughts. The only thing I can do, is to get off of my butt and start walking. From where the sun was in the sky, it was either sunrise, or sunset.

...Please, let it be the first one.

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Well, at least it was the right time. I've been walking for a good 30 minutes and if it was sunset back there, it would have gotten darker than what it is right now, that’s for sure.

"I need to find a place to spend the night. Maybe I could climb a tree. God dammit, I’m talking to myself... Again."

Not much time had passed after that when I realized I was wearing a backpack. How stupid can one get? After mentally cursing myself, I slip off the pack, unzipped it, and looked inside.

I had a revolver, but I couldn't remember the exact name. Whatever, I know how it works, and that's all that matters.
Sometimes, I would have gone out with friends of mine and shoot in the woods sometimes, so I knew how to shoot. Didn’t do it too often, but I’m still a pretty good shot, if I do say so myself. I open the chamber to find it was full of bullets. At least I had some protection out here.

Setting the gun down down, I continue to search through the pack. The next thing I pull out was some kind of climbing pick.
“Okay, no clue what I was going to use that for, but every thing helps.” I think out loud.

Next was... What’s that doing in here? I don't need this, it's only a stick... How the balls did that even get in there?

Next was a more bullets for the gun, as well as a knife with a three inch blade, good for close encounters. Hopefully it won't come to that.

It probably will...

That last thing that I found was a water bottle. Of course, it had to be empty. Can’t have me getting to be too comfortable.
“Okay that seems to be it. I found a gun with seventeen bullets, a climbing pick, a knife with a three inch blade, and a empty water bottle. Dafuq was I even doing before I came here? These are things a hunter woul-”

“Oh... I was hunting for whatever reason when I ‘died.’ “

But a hunter wouldn't hunt with a pistol. I mean, sure, they could hunt with one, but I don't see how it would work out. Then that means I could have left a hunting rifle behind... Damn.

I would go back for it, eventually, but right now they are more important things at hand. One of those things is a shelter that is as safe as possible. As I said before when, I was talking to myself, I could climb a tree to get a good view of my surroundings. Now, I need to find a tree that's taller than the others around it so that I can actually see my surroundings.

I look around for a little, until I find a tree that looked like it was good enough to climb. However, there was one small problem with the tree… Or in this case, a tall one. The lowest branch was nine feet up the tree. I'm about five foot ten, so this was a problem.

Until my memory kicks in, and I remember that I have a climbing pick on my belt. The pick is about a foot long, so all I had to do now, was to jump about two or three feet, which isn’t that hard.

I unclip the pick from my belt, back up a little, and start to run at the tree. Once I get close enough, I jump up and push myself up a little more by pushing my foot up once it was on the tree. A bit more messing around, and I’m hanging from a branch.

I reach my hand up to the same branch and pull myself up. Doing this get’s my leg up on the same branch so that’s a plus. After that, I re-clip my pick to my belt and start to climb the rest of the tree.

I left my pack on the ground to make climbing a little easier, which I was glad of doing, because climbing up this this tree, there is some thick stuff that my pack could’ve gotten caught on.

After about five minutes of climbing up the tree, I get to the point where I can see all around me. After getting over the initial dizziness, I looked behind me.

“Dammit! All there is, is a couple of trees, and a castle. God f**king dammit!”

I do a double take. “Hold up, a castle? Seriously? A castle? Really? There is actually, one-hundred-percent, a castle?”
If you haven’t guessed, there’s a castle, of in the distance, being hugged by a couple of trees.

“Where the actual crap I'm I, anyway? What the balls is a castle doing here, in the middle of the woods? I mean, sure, it’s somewhere I can stay in, but seriously? A castle?” I go off on a tangent about castles in the middle of the woods, and Harry Potter.

So now that was taken care of, I had to get down. Somehow. On the way down, as my luck would have it, the branch I was holding onto snapped when I was still a good ten feet in the tree.

"OH SHI-" was all I time to say, (In a tone very alike to the Wilhelm Scream) before I hit the ground with a loud "THUMP"

Yep that hurt. That really hurt. Ho-ly crap, je winkings, Bobby Mc-Juniour, Mister Whats-i-face, that hurt.

It hurt well enough for me to lay on the ground for quite a while, trying to recover from the air being knocked from my lungs.
I was still alive, though. Somehow.

After at least three hundred and ninety four eternities, I got up and to start walking to the castle.

"This better be worth it..." I wheezed, not fully recovered from the fall.

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The walk to the castle was uneventful, thank god, but I couldn't help but get the feeling like I was being watched. For those who don't know that feeling, it’s one of the worst feeling you can have , pretty much anywhere, and I'm getting that feeling the middle of the forest.

...

“That’s some horror movie crap right here. Best not go into spooky sheds, and what not.”

After that train of thought, (Choo Choo!) I end up standing in front of the castle I saw from the tree. Let me start by saying this place is huge. I mean I know castle are supposed to be big and all, but this is nothing like I've ever seen before.

"Well... Here we go". I say, pushing the doors open.

“Well, this place has seen better days, that's for sure.”

There were stairs that led up to the next floor.They were completely destroyed.The roof had caved in at several places. It was a mess, destroyed even.The banners had long since faded, utterly destroyed. The whole place was destroyed. Completely “Rekt”
It's pretty obvious that this place had been abandoned for quite some time.

I walk over to what was left of the stairs.They looked like it could be climbed, so I unclipp the pick from my belt again, and start to scale the wall. Funny, when I first saw this pick, I thought it would be pretty useless, and yet look at me now! Eating my words from before.

I manage to reach the top without too much hassle. I turn the corner and entered what I assumed was the throne room. Much like downstairs, the room was in ruins. Parts of the walls had fallen to the ground. Over half the roof had fallen as well. There were also pillars meant to hold up the roof but most of those have fallen as well leaving only a handful left standing.

“D.E.S.T.R.O.Y.E.D. Destroyed.” I laugh to myself. In situations like these, it’s good to keep up a good sense of humour.
After walking around a bit I find a spot to sleep over by a widow that was somehow still intact. I unclip my gear and take off my backpack.

The sun was now setting making me realize just long I have been walking for. With the sun going down, it was starting to get a little chilly. I saw a slightly faded, and only partially destroyed banner on one of the walls. It was dark blue and also had a full moon on it. It didn't take to much to know that the picture on the banner was supposed to be of the night sky.

It would be my blanket tonight. I rip it off the wall and make my way back to my spot.

Laying down, I lookup to the now sunless sky. It was beautiful.

Closing my eyes, I wonder what was going to take place over the next few days. I went to sleep thinking it would be nothing major.

Boy was I wrong!

Author's Note

Hello people! This is my first story I have ever written and posted before. So I was a little nervous about posting this. But it's here so I did end up posting. If you see anything you like or dislike please let me know, also let me know about any spelling or grammar errors. As I said before, this is my first story so I don't expect it to be 100%. One more thing, see if you can the spot reference in the chapter and post your guess in the comments or on my page.
I don't know when the next chapter will be posted since school has started up soon for me and I already have a project to do for a major test grade. Life hates me. But will write with my free time if I feel like It .

Until next time.
Random Moustache! :moustache:

Two Weeks Later

DAY 14

Well. This is my new life, my forcefully turned over leaf, my new oyster, my new fish tank, my new whatever you want to call it.

It has been a total of two weeks since I woke up here and let me begin by saying, it could be a whole lot worse than it is right now. I mean, I could be dead!

Let’s not think about that one, huh?

It had been the same thing every single day. Gather wood for the fire that I started somehow, collect water from a stream I found nearby, and find food. Speaking of which, there isn’t that much meat around here. I‘d been living off of plants and fruits from said plants. At least, the ones that looked like they could be eaten, which isn’t too much, considering that only about half of the plants I see are edible, and half of many of the edible plants are filling enough to be worth it, and then half of that again are renewable. It's a miracle I haven’t gotten sick from randomly eating this shit. Well, the more you know.

Another thing that makes surviving that much harder, is the fact that every once in awhile, I get into trouble with these wolf looking things. I call them things, because they're made out of wood. Yes reader, you read that right. Freaking... WOLVES MADE OUT OF WOOD!!!. They also have a soft green glow in there chest area, which I assume is their heart or something, ‘cause I doubt those things have a real heart.

The green glow, despite being creepy as balls, has an upside. It helps me spot them if they're close by.

The first time I spotted one, well, let's say that I lost my shit. Like, you have NO idea how long I was muttering “Seriously?” after my first brief encounter with wolf kind. I did hide before it spotted me, which is a blessing, because I bet a million dollars that the moment one spots me, it will not hesitate to tear me to pieces.

Now, where was I? Man, I keep going off on tangents, don’t I? I need to get that talking under control. There it goes again. And again! And again. And again! And again.

Anyway back on track. Right now I'm in the old castle I've come to call my home for the past 2 weeks, getting ready to go on a run to see if I can get anymore food, or better yet some kind of civilization to get some help me figure out where I'm at exactly. Because with these WoodWolves out here, it's pretty clear I'm not in Kansas anymore, Toto. Took me a while to accept it, but the wooden guys really helped to solve the riddle of “Am I on Earth Anymore??? Goly gosh, I wonder?”

Right now I'm getting my gear ready to go. I Grab my revolver, unload it, clean it, load it with speedloaders, and put it in the back of my pants, wearing my belt so tight I can do that. I Grab my pick and clip it to my belt, take my switch-blade knife, (which I should mention is a switch blade), put that in my pocket, grab my backpack, which has the rest of my bullets, already in their speedloaders, should I need them, walk over to the wall to grab my hunting rifle, the same rifle I mentioned in my previous journal entry and throw it over my shoulder so it could clip to my pack. The hunting rifle has seven bullets so just like my sidearm, so I’ll have to conserve ammo, by making sure that I'm not shooting unless it's an emergency.

I had everything I needed, so I start my walk to the doors, only to stop at what was left of a window.

The window was almost completely destroyed™, with the exception of the lower half. I took a moment to admire just how much damage this place had taken, and just how beautiful it all looked. Then, I went to work on my face, cleaning up any cuts of bruises I had.

My blue eyes were completely fine. No cloudiness to them, and the pupils weren’t abnormally huge. Good, no eye infections There were bags from tiredness, but that was all that was wrong with them. My skin had been tanned quite a bit from my brief stay in the wild, and I had a cut on my cheek that was neatly scabbing over. My blonde, short-ish hair was a bit dirty and dry, but nothing too major. My black shirt was even blacker from all the grime on it, and my jeans were a greyish, brownish colo(u)r from all the muck. I don my grey jacket, usually for the night, to keep the cold out. It was particularly chilly today.

Not needing anything else, I continue walking to the stairs.

Remember the wall I mentioned where the stairs used to be? Well, I found some vines growing off of some trees ( Gee, I wonder where else.) so I can scale the wall much easier than I could before.

I slid down vines and went out the door.

What I fail to notice, were the white ponies in golden armour watching me from the roof.

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Out here in this forest, there aren’t too many traces of civilisation, but I've been lucky enough to find an old dirt path. If it leads to some kind of town, or city, or something, that’d be good. If not… well, I guess I have to take that chance.

After all, I don’t have much to lose.

But for today, I'm going to check on something else. For the past few nights, I’ve noticed a soft pink glow way in the distance, so I figured, if there are lights, there is civilization.

I've been walking down the path , undisturbed, for 15 minutes, when suddenly, I hear leafs being disturbed behind me.

There's no wind here, I would’ve felt it. I think to myself.

I watch the area where the sound came from for a few moments, but when nothing happens, I turn and continue walking, my gun in my hands.

I continue walking, listening very carefully behind me.

Movement… Movement. Movement! Movement! MOOOVEMENT! IT’S RAPIDLY APPROACHI-

“ROOAAR” Is heard about two feet behind me.

With some quick thinking, I jump to side, doing a roll in the process, and heard hearing something land in the a stop where I was just standing. I look up.

"Damn wolves!"

There was a WoodWolf not even five feet away from me.

Using all my skills, I draw my gun, take aim, and fire. The bullet hits its target, but , unluckily, it doesn’t kill it. much to my disappointment. I go to take a second shot, but before I could get my breathing and aim to align, the wolf tackles me to the ground, snapping its jaws at me.. The landing isn’t as smooth as it could have been, what, with me landing on a rock. It still hurt like a son of a bitch.

That makes sense, though, since a dog is a son of a female dog. Who else would the dog come from?

Me making über funny jokes allows the beast to quickly get on top of me. I manage to get a foot on its neck and push back, before it can get to close enough to bite me. My gun, much to my dismay, landed to the right of me, just out of my reach.

Let me tell you, this is one strong motherfucker. I barely manage to push the wolf off of me, and grab my gun, for this reason.

Wasting no time at all, I get to my feet, only to be pushed up against a tree from the wolf lunging at me again. This time however, I manage to keep the gun in my hands.

Using all of my muscle, I slam the gun onto the wolf's snout as hard as I can. It whimpers, but doesn't back down. I hit it few more times, but it's not doing anything besides making it more and more mad. I soon begin to feel weak and the wolf starts to close in on my neck.

All of a sudden, ~~Deus Ex beam~~ a bright beam of light purple hits it in the back of the head. The beast turns to the source of the beam, so I...

Aim my gun

Pull the hammer

Slow my breathing

And fire.

One being leaves the battlefield of life at that moment. And I am victorious over it.

I put my hands on my knees to catch my breath. I am interrupted, however, by voices, about yay distance away.

"Twilight, what is that thing?" A young boy’s voice asks.

"Shhhh, Spike, let me handle it." A girly voice says, apparently named “Twilight.” Weird name.

"Are you sure, that thing co-" The boy, Spike replies.

"Yes I'm sure." Twilight cuts him off, huffily.

I look up to the source of the voices, and my jaw hits the floor. In front of me are things that make me question my sanity.

There is a purple horse, probably a pony, with a violet mane, a pink stripe running through it. The tail is the same, dark violet as the mane. The probably-pony has purple eyes, and a horn, same shade of purple as the coat. It also has a picture on it’s purply probably-pony pudgy posterior, patterned perfectly with stars. The picture is made up of… Erugh, even more purple. The ears are purple, the legs are purple, everything is purple. So, so, so much purple. And it’s tiny, about 3-4 feet. Tiny, for a horse, or even a pony.

It looks like something designed for a child, how small it is, and how purple it is. A small, little, tiny, itty, bitty, baby, pony. Little pony, yom yom yom. I will eat you, you and your cuteness.

Moving on...

There is also a... Lizard... Thing on the pony’s back, about 2 feet high. Tiiiny. The lizard guy is purple, with green spikes, and a brown belly, kind of looking like a bipedal Stegosaurus.

The purple one talks. "Hello there, can you understand me?" I pick up on her voice. This one is Twilight. Talking horse. Who woulda thunkenated it?

"Yeah..." is my uncertain reply. Talking horses. Who woulda thunkenated that they are so hard to talk to?

"It can understand me and speak Equestrian!" I catch her thinking aloud. Equestrian. The sport? How does one speak a sport?

"Great! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Twilight Sparkle."

No… I would never have guessed. It’s not like the lizard said it a billion times, or anything.

Author's Note

Chapter 2 is up, yay :pinkiehappy:

So, I'm going to try my best to update every one or two weeks, but if i don't, don't be surprised. Im very busy with school right now, so i'm not sure when the next update will be :rainbowhuh:

But don't worry, I will write with my free time if I feel like it. Which will be maybe half a hour a day.

Until next time.

A RANDOM PINKIE PIE APPEARS :pinkiehappy: :pinkiegasp:

I dont know... :facehoof:

That's a pony...

In the beautiful land of Equestria, there are many beautiful and breathtaking sights.

But there are also many dangers in this land. One of which is the deadly forest known as the Everfree forest. Many stay away from this forest, afraid of getting hurt or killed.

As of today, one unicorn and her number one assistant also being one of her closest friends go into the everfree in hopes of getting answers...
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"Okay Twilight,, according to the letter that Princess Celestia sent us, we are to investigate a major magical surge that happened 14 days ago." Spike, a purple and green dragon says.

"But why wait two wee-” Twilight, a purple pony starts

“14 days” Spike interrupts

“...14 days,,,”

“Good”

“Seriously, Spike! Now isn’t the time for useless correcting of information! If the surge was as strong as she said it was, wouldn't it be wiser to investigate as soon as possible? Why tell us now?" Twilight finishes her question.

"Beats me, but I'm sure she has her reasons. Maybe it was a… I dunno, safety precaution?"

"A safety precaution?” Twilight questions

“A safety precaution!” Spike answers

“Spike. seriously? That make no sense. If this is a danger to Equestria, she should've warned us sooner. Also, why did she say for me to investigate this by myself? Why wouldn't she tell us to, say, get the Elements of Har-"

A loud bang rings out.

"AHHHHHH!" They both scream at the same time.

"What the hay was that?!"

"I'm not sure...Spike, hop on my back, now!"

"Are you serious? Are we really going to go toward that sound? Sweet Celestia, my ears are ringing."

"Yes we are, for multiple reasons. One, it's in the direction the area that the princess said the surge was. Two, there could be somepony that needs help. Thr-"

"Okay, okay! Fine! I get it." Spike says as he hops on Twilight’s back.

"Let's go!" The pony yells after Spike was on her back.

With that, the two of them go and investigate the sound.

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Soon, they start to hear sounds of a fight...

"Twilight, do you hear that?"

There was a pause as the the pony in question stops to listen.

"Yeah, I do, this way!"

A turn to the left and they find one of the many dangers of the Everfree... A Timber Wolf, attacking a certain... something.

Thinking that the victim was a pony, Twilight aims her head down and charges up a shot of magic, to fire at the Timber Wolf.

The wolf's head shoots around to look at the pony who attacked it. Only for a loud noise, similar to a firecracker, to fill the air seconds after.

Twilight and Spike both jump at the sound, again ,with Spike covering his ears with his claws and Twilight covering her ears with her hoofs.

After recovering from the shock of the loud noise, Twilight looks up to help the pony that was attacked...only to find out that it isn’t a pony at all.

"Twilight, what is that thing?" Spike asks from behind her.

"Shhhh, Spike, let me handle it." She tells Spike.

"Are you sure, that thing co-"

"Yes, I'm sure." Twilight shushes.

She looks back at the creature, only to find questioning eyes staring at her back.

Here we go She thinks.

"Hello there, can you understand me?" Twilight asks.

The creature looked hesitantly at them before answering with a short

“Yeah..."

It can understand me and speak equestrian!

"Great! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Twilight Sparkle."

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Twilight Sparkle.

It takes ounce of willpower I have not to burst out laughing at that name, and even then, it’s close. Really? Who names their kid (foal?) Twilight Sparkle?

"Twilight huh?" I ask with a grin, despite the fact I’m almost died just now, and i'm talking to an alien.

"Yeah…Iiiiis there a problem with my name?"

"No, no. Nothing wrong with your name, I've just never have heard it before!” How am I doing this, anyway? The whole ‘Battling WoodWolves Daily And Talking To Purple Ponies Without Freaking Out’ thing, without hyperventilating or freaking out? There’s either something incredibly amazing about me, or something incredibly wrong with me. I like to settle for the first.

As I think, a hush falls over the general area.

"So... what's your name?" Twilight asks, breaking the silence..

I have to think about that for some reason. Should I give her my real name or not? Do I trust her?

Pfft, why the hell not?

"David." Is my short reply, deciding to use my real name.

"David... Huh. That's a nice name. Just... rolls of the tongue."

I raise a eyebrow at the compliment, but end up dismissing it. I decide to get straight to the point,"Do you know where I am or what this place is?"

"Of course I do! You're in the Everfree forest, in the country of Equestria. May I ask what your doing here?"

"I...don't know to be honest. I got here by unknown means, about two weeks ago."

"Two weeks ago? Hmmm... That was probably the magic surge princess Celestia was talking about."

"Who?"

"Princess Celestia. She rules Equestria with her sister, Princess Luna."

"Huh..Okay then."

...

"You said that this is the Everfree forest?" I ask, noticing that when she said the name before, a worried expression appeared on her face. Kind of weird to see a horse with a humanoid face, but whatever.

"Yes, and it's very dangerous out here."

I look back to the dead WoodWolf, "No kidding, do you know what that thing was?"

"Yes, that was a Timber Wolf."

Timber Wolf, WoodWolf....Damn I was close.

"Anyway like I was saying, this place is dangerous. Where have you been sleeping? You said you've been here 2 weeks, you must be sleeping somewhere[/i[ "

". Eh, nothing too impressive. Just a castle. A ruined one, that is. Not a real, working castle. I wish..."

Twilight's eyes widened."You're staying at the castle of the twin sisters!?"

I stare at her," ...What?"

"Your staying at Celestia and Luna's old castle. The princess’ castle."

Huh, so I've been staying in a princess’ castle. Nice. Even if half of it is in ruins.

"So, again, like I was saying, this place is dangerous. I could take you back to Ponyville with me and Spike."

Twilight is really serious about this place being dangerous, maybe I should go with her. But now that I've found out what this world's main inhabitants are, I'm reconsidering. I've been living here for the past two weeks. If I was going to die, I would probably be dead now. Probably. Besides, I've got things to do. Even if I did want to go with her, I would want to go back to the castle to get what is left of my stuff I didn't pack with me, and that's a long walk back.

"Sorry but i'm going to refuse, for now at least."

"What?! Why would WANT to stay in this forest longer than you need you to!?"

"I have my reasons." I reply, its none of her business.

She stares at me like I'd grown two heads."Okay... I don't like your decision, but if you change your mind Ponyville is east from the castle."
"Okay then... Its was nice meeting you." Ponyville, go figure. Isn’t that like calling a place Humansville? Actually, to be honest, a place like that probably exists.

She smiles,"It was nice meeting you too, David. Maybe we'll meet again?"

"Most likely, I guess.'

"Okay then. Let’s go spike."

With that, Twilight and Spike (Of whom I had forgotten about, due to his silence) departed from the way they came.
Once they were out of sight, I put my gun back in my waistband and continue to the location that the pink glow was in. It's quite a ways away so it will take me awhile to get to it. Well, better get to walking.
Have I ever mentioned I hate walking? No? The more you know.

Author's Note

Chapter three is here! :pinkiegasp:

Let me start by saying if you find the conversation with David and Twilight cringe worth , I don't blame you. out of all my writing skill, dialogue is the worst for me.

But with that being said.

Thank you for those who are reading and supporting the story. Now that is story has 10 likes it just makes me more confident to write more. I got on around six p.m. yesterday and I saw that this story had 10 likes on it. That lead to me wanting to finish this chapter earlier than I had planned, which I did. I was planning for this chapter to be out later next week around Wednesday.But as you can see, that changed. Yesterday, I spent the past two in a half hours writing and checking this for the readers, so once again, thank you to those who are liking the story and giving me feed back.

Next chapter is in progress and will be here hopefully next week. No promises. :ajsleepy:

Until then. BYE. :pinkiehappy:

Close Encounter

DAY 16

Holy mother of god, I hate walking so much . I've been walking for about 2 days now, and I'm about to fall over and die.

Okay, sure, not really, but it damn well feels like it.

Seriously, I’ve been walking for so long, the sun’s now in the process of setting. I’m actually pretty surprised that I haven’t done what I said I would do.

Anyway, the pink glow is there again, albeit, much closer this time. I'm hoping that I'll see what's....causing....the...glow...holy shit, that’s a whole freaking kingdom!!!

So, let me back up. I've just walked to the top of a hill to see a whole freaking kingdom on the side of the freaking mountain. How is that even standing? It should be falling down right now! There's no way that the support beams can hold that up! It would be to heavy! The builders of that must be proud of themselves.

Did the builders create the pink bubble too? Because, that’s where the glow is coming from. It might be some sort of shield, but it’s hard to tell. There’s nothing around so my best guess is that it’s a safety precaution.

Anyway, like I said, the city is on the side of a very tall mountain and I’m on the bottom, I could scale it, but… Yeah, no, I’m not climbing that in the middle of the night, no way. I’ll be coming around the mountain when I come, thank you very much!

I am on top of a hill, I guess I’ll sleep here and climb to the city in the morning.There’s a tree nearby it’s probably better than staying out in the open. Even though the tree is out in the open. Oh well, if it rains the tree will provide some protection.

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As I slowly open my eyes, I can't help but feel like something is wrong. I soon find out that I'm right (god freaking dammit, this always happens to me!) as I hear something that sounds like it's being smacked up against something repeatedly. I look up and see there are hundreds of tiny black dots smacking themselves against the shield. To make matters worse, one of them seems to take notice of my movement, and starts to fly toward me at an alarming speed.

"Shit, shit ,shit, shit." I keep repeating to myself as I rush over to my bag to retrieve a weapon.

The more time I spend searching through my bag, the closer that thing gets. I continue to panic until I realize there a gun in my waistband...God damn it. I get so scared sometimes, I forget to remember not to forget to remember!

After mentally cursing at myself, I grab my gun out of my waist band and turn around. Only to get a face full of that bug thing.

It tastes as terrible as it sounds

Much like the tree fail earlier in this journal, the air gets knocked out of me as the bug smacks me in the chest, head on. Shortly after that, I feel a burning pain in the side of my stomach. I reach down to feel what is causing the pain only to retract my hand immediately,due to there being yet another sharp pain caused. Only then do I look down.

What I find is not pretty.

Thanks to that thing that just now crashed into me, I have a gaping hole in the side of my stomach, And holy f*cking shit it hurts like a bitch. Now is not the time to complain though, (as much as I want to) due to me still being in danger.

Noticing my gun laying a few feet away, I start to crawl over to it. You see, the mistake I made at this moment, was not looking to see where my attacker had gone.

Right when I was reaching for the gun, a very hard hoof slammed down on my wrist, causing me to let out a cay of pain. I swear on my life I heard a *crack*.

After the hoof let’s go, I look up at my attacker. As soon as my eyes meet its eyes, I freeze. I have never ever seen anything like this before.
What I see before me looks like a equine much like Twilight, but this isn't Twilight. Nope, not even close, as this isn't even a pony at all. This is much more insect-like. The creature in front of me appears to have a black carapace exterior, a webbed mane and tail, blue reflection-less eyes (my god that's f*ucking terrifying ), fangs, a bent horn, jagged ears, insect-like wings, and holes in their legs. Wait, why do they have holes?

I have no time to look any longer as its hoof lifts up to punch me again. I have to think fast. The first punch most likely broke my wrist, so I have no doubt that my body will not be able to take another punch like that. Considering it's aiming for my head, which could do some serious damage.

Not wasting another second, I pull my leg up to its chest and push back as hard as I could. Luckily, I used enough force to knock it off of me. Giving me time to reach over to my gun.

I turn around to once again meet the creature's gaze, but it has not gotten up yet. Not wasting any more time, I point the gun at the beast and line up the crosshairs on the top of the gun withit, who is now starting to get up. I pull back on the hammer of the gun. The beast is now looking at the gun instead of me. No doubt being curious. Bad move. Having no idea what's about to happen, I pull the trigger. The bullet landing in the beast's chest.

The thing lets out a cry of pain, now looking at me with fear. Not a moment later, and without taking time to line up breaths, I pull the trigger again, once firing the gun, but this time, the bullet lands in the things head. Cutting off any noise it was making seconds before its death. It falls to the ground lifeless.

Having no danger now, I quickly get up. Only to fall right back down as the pain from the hole in my stomach comes back. The adrenaline of the fight must have worn off.

So I crawl back to the tree where my bag is. The crawl is only about 15 feet, but every time I lay my body on the ground to reach my hand forward to keep dragging myself, the pain becomes near unbearable.

I don't have any kind of medical supplies with me, which is very bad. I have no doubt in my mind that this gash in my side is going to need stitches. As for my wrist, it’s not broken, which surprises me, considering how bad it hurts. It feels like the bone is just...off, If that makes sense. Which it doesn't. I know what happened it's just hard to explain. On the bright side, I know what to do...I think.
What I need to do is a lot like a scene from a game I used to play. What was the name...Far Cry 4! That was it! The game had a lot of healing scenes in it that looked absolutely brutal. One of which as when the guy you're playing as breaks his hand back into place. I have a feeling that's exactly what I need to do. I have no clue if this going to work, since this idea is coming from a video game I like, but I don't have a choice right now. I can only hope that this doesn't mess up my hand more than its already is.

I grab my wrist and prepared for the pain I know is bound to come. In one swift motion I pull my hand down, causing another surge of almost unbearable pain to shoot up my arm.

After the pain dies down a little I test my hand. To my surprise it actually works! YES! Thank you addiction to video games. Who know that this information was going to be useful?

My celebration is short lived when I realize I still have a gaze in my side. The best I can do here is to rip a strip of the bottom of my shirt off (damn, this was my favorite Shirt) and tie it over the wound.

This being the best I can do with the supplies I have, I get up, put my pack back on, and start toward the city, only for a voice to sound from behind me.

"Halt changeling!"

Okay, I have no clue what a changeling is, but I stop and turn around, only to be meant with more ponies. Not like Twilight though, these ponies look important. If that armor they're wearing is anything to go by.

"You will comply, and come with us to the Princess!" One of them shouted.

I was about to ask what was with the hostile tone in his voice, for I have not done anything wrong, but right as I was about to ask a sudden feeling of dizziness washed over me.

I take a few step to the ponies trying not fall over, only for them to start shouting at me again. Though I can't make out what they're saying. Oh no, this must be from the blood loss.

"Please, help me..." Was all I managed to get out of my mouth. They look surprised for a moment, what, did they not think I could talk?
One of them take a few steps toward me, asking me something I don't understand. This is the last thing I see before the lack of blood is too much. I pass out.

Author's Note

Chapter 4 is out! Yes! :pinkiecrazy: *ahem* so yeah, this toke longer then I expected.

There were a lot of delays. I was drowning in homework from school, and yesterday I got a mojor headache and couldn't look a screen without almost vomiting everywhere.

So once again, thank you for your patience. :scootangel:

The Invasion

I have absolutely no clue how long I was out. Maybe a few hours at the most. I woke up I little while ago, but have not opened my eyes. I've been listening for sounds that could tell me where I am right now. All I'm hearing is yelling every once and a while.

The floor I'm laying on feels like rock or concrete. My back hurts which tells me I've been laying on said floor for a while now.

I think it's time I open my eyes. I haven't heard anything close to me, so I don't think there is anyone else in the room with me.

I open my eyes, only to be meant with more darkness, but I can see faint outlines of the room. I let my eyes adjust to the darkness for a few moments. After that I can actually see well enough to get a good look at this place.

I see 5 stone walls and a wall of bars as a sixth wall. I'm in a holding cell...

Are you freaking kidding me?!

What did I do to get locked away?! Well, actually, now that I think about it. They probably locked me away solely because they didn't know what the heck I was. Their taking precautions, I get that.

It's at this moment that I (realized... I f*cked up. I had to make that joke. I'm not sorry.) noticed that the gash on my side has been bandaged. I'm assuming that it's been cleaned and stitched as well, because it's hurts right now. Like a lot.

But never mind that, I've got to find a way out of here. What can I find in here. Lets see...

Not even two seconds later I find a vent in the corner of the room. It doesn't look that strong. Maybe I can get into it. I do have to be careful though. One wrong move and I could reopen the gash I my side. I would have no way to bandage it if that happens. I would most likely bleed to death before I could find help.

Getting up on my feet, I move to the vent to get a better look at it. The only thing keeping the vent closed is a slide bolt lock. The vent is also about 7 feet from roof to floor. Im 5 foot 11, so once again, I'm going to have to use the wall for a boost.

After backing up to the anthor side of the cell, I break into a sprint toward the wall. Like before, I jump up push my foot up against the wall to give me a boost up. I need to get the bolt unlocked before I can grab the the inside of the vent, so when I jumped up I reached my hand up and with a quick motion of my hand the bolt was unlocked. I don't know how I did that, but I did.

Okay, next order of business, getting up to the vent, so I jump again, using the wall as a boost, I managed to grab the ledge with my hands and pull myself up.

I'm inside the vent now. Very tight fit, but there is enough room for me to move, so I choose a direction to crawl, which happens to be left and I crawl left.

This place stinks, but that's off topic. What is on topic is that I need to find my pack. Im guessing its in... I forget the name of the place, but it's a room where they keep the prisoners stuff, so when/if they get released, they have their stuff. I just need to find where said room is.

After about 10 minutes of wandering around, I find what I'm looking for. There is a room below me that's loaded with stuff. I just have to get down which is a problem. There's no blot on the inside. The bolt on the other side looks weak. At least it did when I was in the cell. Well, worth a shot.

Using all the man power I have I lean on the vent and push down. After a few seconds of pushing the bolt breaks and the vent opens. That was kind of loud. I hope no one heard it, but with my luck someone did.

I drop down and take a quick look around to make sure I'm alone, which i am, and look back up. Only to realize that I can't get back up. Well crap.

There's a door at the end of the room, but I'm not sure if it's guarded or not. I'm going to have to take that chance.

I walk over and grab the handle. I stop and lean my head on the door to listen if there's any movement on the other side. After I don't hear anything I slowly open the door and let go a breath I did know I was holding in.

There no one here. At least not now. I open the door all the way, slip though, and close the door behind me. next order of business, getting out of here.

I slowly start to navigate the halls. My god this is going to take a while. This place is a freaking maze.

~~~~~1 hour later~~~~~

There a dooooooooooooooooor. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssss.

Its about freaking time. I've been wandering around for about an hour and I've never been more happy to see a door.

My short little party is interrupted by a explosion from outside. I immediately start running to the doors and kick them open.

Only to stop with my jaw dropped.

The city is in ruins. There's smoke everywhere. Buildings are destroyed. whats worse is there are hundreds of those bug things from outside. A closer look reveals that the shield I saw before is now gone. Im guessing its been destroyed by them. Okay, I'm going to go. That offer that Twilight gave me sounds really good about now.

I stick to the alleyways to avoid being seen. Its works. Mostly. There are some times where I'm spotted and have to shoot my way out.

I have 8 bullets left in my sidearm and 4 left in my rifle.

I'm almost out of the city when I hear a explosion behind me. I turn around to see a new pink shield expanding and its rapidly approaching!!!!

I turn and run for about six seconds before I feel something crash into my back. The force is so great that I blackout. Agian.

Author's Note

Happy Nightmare Night everypony! This chapter is your candy form me. :pinkiecrazy:

So That's a Changeling

DAY 18

I seriously need to stop getting knocked unconscious. It's getting so annoying. Now I know how the people in the movies fell like.

To be honest, I have no clue how I'm still alive. I thought for sure as soon as I got hit with whatever I was that hit me, it would snap my spine in half. It's not broken. Somehow. It just hurts a lot. And I mean a lot.

I turn around onto my back and stare up at the sky.

This is the same time I hear something crying to my right. I turn my head to my right and see another one of those bug things. Its takes a second for my mind to register the fact that one of those things that tried to kill me is lying a few feet away from me, crying its heart out. Assuming that it even has a heart.

A few seconds after seeing it my instincts kick in and I go for my bag. Which was no where to be found. Must have been torn off of me during my flying lesson.

Remembering I'm still might my side arm on me, I reach behind my back with a pained grunt and smile when I feel the metal of the cylinder that holds the bullets. I yank it out of my back pocket and try to stand up.

My whole body hurts from the impact, which brings up another question! How the hell did I survive the impact, much lee come out of it unharmed save for a few cuts and scraps. The answer is probably magic, which I still find hard to believe.

I'm now fully standing up and getting a better look at the area I landed in. It appears that I've landed back in the Everfree. I look up and see a hole in the mess of branches I crashed though. And there's that big city on the mountains. Wow, I'm actually pretty far away from it now.

Then I remember that I'm not alone due to the sob I hear behind me. I turn around to find two big blue eyes staring back at me. Thinking it's going to attack me, I immediately raise my gun and fire at it. Since I took absolutely no time to aim, the shot lands about two feet to the left of the bug, who jumps away from the spot the shot lands. I'm about to take another shot when I hear the bug speak.

"No, no, no, no! Please!" He almost screams at me while covering his face with his hole filled hooves.

The voice sounds male. I immediately freeze and narrow my eyes.

"Who are you?" I ask him.

The bug continues to shake in fear and stares at me.

"Who are you?!" I shout this time.

That seems to do the trick. The bug flinched before answering,"M-m-my n-name is T-Thorax."

Why am I even talking to this thing? I should just kill it and move on.

"What are you?"

"I-I'm a changeling."

So that's what the guard meant when he called me a changeling. But I look nothing like him. What gives?

"What does a changeling do?"

"We feed off love to survive and we can also shape shift."

At least he's not stuttering anymore, so that I can understand him better. So the guard thought I was changeling because of a changelings shape shift ability. There were so many other changelings up there he just assumed I was one as well. So the guards just act frist and ask questions later... I hate those kind of peop-er-ponies in this case. But why were they up there in the frist place?

"What were you doing in the city?"

"Well, like I said before, changelings need emotions to feed off of or we die. Love is the most filling and we were and probably still are running very low at the hive. So my queen was very desperate and crazy at the time, so she wanted to take over Canterlot and forcefully suck the love from the ponies there, but she was defeated by Shining Amour and his wife Princess Cadence. They're the reason why the shield was formed and the reason why I crashed into you."

Huh...interesting. I thought that the shield was the thing that crashed into me. Turned out I was wrong.

"Why did you invade Canterlot?"

"Like I said before, my queen was desperate and is still crazy," his eyes windined,"please don't tell her I said that."

I rolled my eyes."Well it's not like I'm looking for her, which I'm not.... can I trust you?"

"What?" He looked surprised.

"Can I trust you? So far all the other changelings I've seen have tried to kill me."

"No,no,no, I'm not like them!"

Well... as much as I don't want to trust him... it would be nice to finally have someone to talk to. Wait! What am I thinking?! He's a killer!

But if he is a killer... then why is he so scared? I think it would be best to be on my way.

"*sigh* Fine." I hesitatly lower the gun," I'm not going to kill you, but if I catch you following me on my way home, there will be problem. Got it?"

He looks down.

"What?" I ask, annoyed

"Can I come with you?"

"Did you not hear what I just said? Why do want to come with me?" I sharply snap back.

"I don't want to go back to the hive. The queen is crazy! So are all the other changelings! Plus I can't move very well."

I look at him more closely and cringe. I see what he means. His left hind leg is is completely snapped backwards. Ouch. That looks like it hurts.

After thinking in my head for a few moments, I come to a decision. As much as I don't trust him, he needs help. And being the kind hearted person I am (and sometimes wish I wasn't) I make a choice.

"Fine."

His head snaps up so fast it a wonder he didn't just break his neck."really?" He asked with a big smile.

"Yeah. Really."

He jumps up and hugs me, much to my shock. I almost shoot at him again. How did he even jump up that fast with his leg the way it is?

"Okay, you can climb on my back since your leg is the way it is. No sudden moments." I warn him.

"Ok, yeah. Got it." He confirms

"Don't make me regret this."

"You won't I promise."

I hope so. Why am I even doing this? Short answer, I'm an idiot.

Now, first order of business, where is my backpack?

"Hey Thorax?"

"Yeah?"

"You didn't happen to see a brown bag when you landed did you?"

Author's Note

Before you start asking questions, yes, that's the Thorax from the episode "a changeling times" or something like that.

Sorry once again for the delay and sorry for the short chapters. I'll try to post a longer chapter next time.

Until then, stay awesome.
:moustache:

Another Close Encounter

Day 18

Good news, I found my backpack.

Bad news, It's thirty feet above me in a tree.

I'm standing at the bottom of said tree. starring up at my pack, wanding how the balls I'm going to get it down.

When the guards took me prisoner and throw me in a cell, they took all of my stuff and put it in my pack, so I can't even use my climbing pick, because it's in there with the rest of my gear, minus my sidearm. At least I had enough common sense to get a weapon out before I got launched into the heavens.

Thorax is leaning against a tree that's nearby. He past the f*ck out soon after we started walking, but he did point me in the right direction to my pack before that happened. He has a good eye, I'll give him that. Since he's passed out, I can get a better look at just how hurt he is.

Like I said before, his hind leg (da left one) is bent completely backward with cracks all around it, which are bleeding green blood. He's lucky that its not bleeding that bad, because I don't have anyway to bandage it. His wings are fine, minus the fact that one of them has a tear in it. One of his fangs are cracked just like the carapace around his legs and there's a crack just above his left eye. What ever did that could have completely taken his eye out, had his head been angled a bit lower. This is one lucky bug considering the fall didn't kill him and I'm one lucky guy considering the fall didn't kill me either.

I don't know when he'll wake up or even if he'll wake up. I'll just keep an eye on him.

Now, back to the main task of climbing the tree. I guess I'll have to wing it. I wish I had something to make pun out of that sentence. Well, I did fall from the sky. And now I'm talking to much again.

I'm going to do my "bunny hop," which is the thing where I get a running start and then use my leg for a boost. Yes, I called it the bunny hop. Problem? No? Good, now shut up.

Actually, now that I'm looking at the tree more closely, Its going to be to high for me even with the help of the bunny hop. Maybe I can find something to stand on and then do the hop. Good idea. Not great, but good.

I guess I'll start looking around.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...That could work.

I found what looks like a tree truck on the ground. It's hollow on the inside, so it should be easier to moooovvvvvveeee.....question mark? I can lean it against the tree as a kind of ramp and run up it and THEN do the bunny hop. It should get me higher.

Time to test that theory.

Bending down, I pick up the log. Or rather tried to. I could barely get it a foot off the ground. What if I... yep. That worked. I'll roll it over there instead of trying to drag it over.

After rolling it over to the tree I start lifting it. I lift it up a few inches, then lean it against the tree where it stays until I lift it up more.

Eventually, I lift it enough to where I'm satisfied and back up to where a can get a good running start, I break into a run and step on the log.

Only for it to fall down, and for me to slam my face on the tree.

So, here you have me, lying down next to a log, holding my bleeding nose (which hurts a lot), silently cursing out gravity.

I stand up and wipe my nose on my arm... which causes blood to smear all over my arm. That wasn't such a good idea, but I couldn't give less of a crap right now.

I look around and find a log I can use to prop up the other log. I repeat the process I did before, the only difference being that I placed the log underneath the log that is up against the tree.

I back up and run at the log, jump on said log, run up it, place my foot against the tree and push up. Luckily that idea worked. Im hanging by the very bottom branch of the tree now. I pull myself up on the branch and get myself into a standing position and jump up to the next branch and continue climbing up the tree.

With some parkour skills in play, I quickly get to my bag and do a check inside my bag. Everything's still in here. Good. Now, I just have to get back down.

It goes well.

Mostly.

Right when I get at the bottom, my foot slips (of course, why wouldn't it) and I fall to the ground.

At Least I got my stuff. I'm surprised I even spotted it up in the tree. I'm surprised Thorax knew what direction it was in.

It's a two day walk back to the castle, so I better get started.

"Spread out! Keep your eyes open!"

...Well shit. That's the last thing I wanted to hear right now. The guards must be looking for the changelings that were blasted from Canterlot. And me for that matter, since I did kind of break out of jail.

If these guards find me, I might have to fight back. They're most likely going to see me as a changeling like Thorax.

...Oh yeah, Thorax.

I look over to him. He's still out. Maybe I should just turn him in. It would save me a lot of trouble. Plus he's one of them, why should I take him? Why should I care? Why is there a voice in my head screaming no?

I look to Thorax, and then to the direction the voice came from. I hear them. There going to be here soon.

Damn it, I fell like I'm in a TellTale game.

Do I leave Thorax or do I take him with me?

Author's Note

Sorry for yet another short chapter. :twilightblush: I know I said that I would make this long but I couldn't for what I have planned. :rainbowdetermined2:

Home Sweet Home... Kind Of.

"Damn it..."

I throw my backpack on and sprint over to Thorax. As much as I would like to leave him and have this thing over with, that's not the kind of guy I am.

I reach Thorax and pick him up. Then, I make a break for the opposite direction the voices are in. As I reach the tree line of the clearing I'm in, a beam of light hits the tree beside me.

"Not the time... or place."

I continue to run though the woods, attempting to outrun the ponies giving chase to me, but without much luck as another beam was shot at me, landing about two feet to my right.

"Halt!"

"Like hell I am!"

I run through the woods like this for about 5 minutes. Not much happened, besides the running and beams being shot at me every once and awhile, which I somehow managed to dodge all of.

It wasn't until the guards stopped chasing me that I stop running.

I'll let you on a secret, It was pure adrenaline that kept me going. The moment I stopped running I fell to the ground, landing on top of Thorax, who has remained asleep this whole time. I slowly rise after catching my breath for a few minutes.

Only to be tackled to the ground a few moments later.

"Gotcha!"

I look up to see a guard on top of me. This pony has a pure white coat of fur and mane with two shades of blue in it. He also has a butt tattoo of what looks like a shield. There's also a horn on his head.

He's standing up beside me, so with some quick thinking, I turn and kick him in the side as hard as I can. He grunts as he stumbles to the side, giving me enough time to reach for my gun. I stand up the same time he does and fire a shot right in front of his hooves as a warning. He jumps back and glares at me as I glare right back.

"Leave us...alone..."

He stays still for a moment before saying something in a voice I barely heard.

"You will regret what you and your queen did."

F*cking a. He thinks I'm a changeling.

Before I can say anything else, he turns and runs back toward the city. Probably to get reinforcements. And I don't want to be around for when he comes back, so I better getting moving. I walk back over to where Thorax is lying. Looks like he finally woke up.

"How much of that did you see?"

He doesn't say anything.

"Earth to Thorax! Helloooooooooo? You alive?"

"Wha? Oh! uhh.... what was the question?"

It takes every once of willpower I have not to facepalm with the strength to break my nose and just repeat the question.

"How much of that did you see?"

"Oh, I just just woke up."

"So did you or did you not see the guard?"

His eyes widen."There was a guard?"

I can't help it this time. I facepalm.

"Yes, the guard. The same one that tackled me to the ground."

"What did he look like?"

"Uhh... what does that matter?"

"Was he white?" (racist much?)

"Yeah..."

"Did he have a blue mane?"

"Yeah... expect it was kind of two shades of blue."

...

"Thorax? You still with me?"

...

"Hello?"

"We have to go."

"What? You know that guy or something?"

"Can we please go?"

...

"...okay...fine."

I walk over and pick him up.

"You seemed pretty shocked when I answered your questions. Why was that?"

...

*Deep inhale* "I swear to all that is holy if you don't start speaking when you are spoken to I will leave your sorry ass behind." I say in a low voice,"So, let's try again, why did you look shocked when I confirmed your questions?"

...

"MOTHERFU-"

"OK!"

At the sound of him screaming, I almost drop him.

"...he..."

"Oh my fuc-"

"He caused the shield."

I stop walking.

"The dick caused the shield? As in the shield that sent us fly around at the speed of sound."

"umm... yeah."

"... How the balls did he do that?"

"You're asking me?"

"...I swear to god if you start getting smart with me."

"Sorry!"

"Just shut it."

"Okay..."

...

"Is i-"

"I SAID SHUT IT MOTHERF-"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, we are, or I am, Sitting on a rock, eating the best carrot I have ever eaten in my life. How did I get a carrot? Good question.

I forgot to pack food before I left to investigate the pink light. So, I had a plan. Since the bug on my back was hungry to, I came up with the bright idea to have Thorax degise himself and sneak in, get food, and get out.

Yes, I knew his leg is messed up. Did I care? No, I didn't. I fixed his leg up with a splint I made from the branches and vine around and attached to his leg so he could walk. He could, with some difficulty and whimpers of pain.

He took the form of a green unicorn with bluish hair. Not the best match I'd ever seen, but it worked well enough so he could go into town.

I sat here waiting around for him to return when I thought of a problem. How is he going to pay for it? As I was thinking of this problem, Thorax came up behind me without his degise and tapped on my shoulder, scaring the balls off of me.

After cussing him out and almost shooting him again. I asked how did he pay for them.

All I got was lots of stuttering and a bright green blush on his cheeks.

Long story short, I dropped the subject before I heard something I didn't want to hear.

Back to reality, I've finished my carrot and currently packing everything back up.

Thorax is sitting up against the rock I'm sitting on.

"Hey Thorax?"

"Yeah?" He said turn his head towards me.

"...Thanks for getting the food."

He smiled and nodded his head at me.

Although it wasn't a big one, I couldn't help but smile back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two Days Later

Almost home. Maybe when this is all over I can go and find Twilight and take up on her offer she gave me... maybe Thorax can come to. Maybe.

"I hate to ask this, but are we there we there yet?"

"Should be just up ahed."

"Good. I'm tired."

"How are you tired? I've been carrying you for two days."

...

"Thorax. Don't start."

"...Look..."

"What are... you...oh no."

Damn it. There must be a few dozen gruads shearching the castle for me. And that same guy that I almost shot is down there too, barking orders. I can't hear what they're saying from hear.

Oh shit, one of them is coming this way. He's going to see me if I dont do something.

This is MY home. Where am I going to sleep now?

The guard is coming closer. Shit.

I have to make a chioce NOW.

I close my eyes. Damn it TellTale.

[try to sneak past.]
[run back into the woods.]

Author's Note

I little thing I decided to put in. You, the readers, shall decide what David does next. Will I do this again?
It depends on how this goes.

You have until December 18th to make a decision. After that I will not expect anymore votes.

Tell me what you think of the decision twist.

Until next time. :heart:

Be Very Quiet...

[Run back into the woods] - 0%
[Try to sneak past] - 100% wow

Okay, now that totally epic and totally not geeky TellTale in vision is over, I open my eyes and drag Thorax over to a nearby group of bushes to avoid being spotted by the guard wandering over.

"Here's the plan," I say, turning to Thorax," I'm going to try to sneak past them."

"What do I do?"

"You are going to be staying here."

"What if one of them comes over here?"

"You can shape shift can't you? Just turn into something."

"Oh, okay... like what?"

"Oh my fhh... I don't know, something."

"But what abo-"

"Thorax, shut up!" I quietly scream at him."Are you forgetting that there is a guard not even 15 feet away?!"

"Sorry..."

"Just be quiet and stay here until I get back."

"What if you don't come back?"

"You do know that your talking to a guy that has played all of the Assassin Creed games, Right?"

"What's Assassin Creed?"

Oh yeah, different planet."Skip it."

Before he can say something else to delay me from going, I begin crouch walking to the castle while being mindful to the guard to my left.

Ok... so how in holy heavens am I going to get in and get back out with all of these guards? I begin surveying the castle and the guards around it. If one of the guards do end up spotting me, I'll have to knock them out before they can say anything. If that one that looks in charge spots me, then well shit.

There's a hole in the side of one of the walls, I can go though that. From where it is, I say it's right below my camp spot. From that, I say it probably a basement of some kind. Meaning there has to be a stare case or something. If there isn't, then hopefully there will be a hole in the ceiling I climb though. I never really explored the place, which is kind of sad, considering that I spend two weeks living here.

Another thing that is bothering me while I'm sneaking up to the castle is that how in the hell did they know where to look? This place is far from Cantorlot, so they wouldn't just come out here and start searching at a random location unless they had a lead. I bet I was their lead.

Oh shit! Man that was close. I was so lost in thought that I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and almost walked into one of the guards. He hasn't noticed me but it wont stay like that for long. I'll just have to do something about that.

Hmm.... that's a decent sized rock.

*Crack* *Thump*

OK, I'm surprised that worked.

Why are you looking at me like that? I didn't kill the guy, I just knocked him out. The crack was his amour cracking when the rock made contact. Killing the guy would have gotten me in so much more trouble then I'm already in. Killing him would've just made it worse. Plus, I'm not that kind of guy. I'm harsh, but I'm no killer.

With some exceptions.

That was kind of loud though. Luckily, I don't think that any of the other guards were close enough to hear it.

I will take that sword though. Wait, taking the guards sword might be just as bad as killing him. Never mind, I already have weapons.

I hang on to the rock incase I have another close call. I just now reached the hole in the wall, and to my dismay, there's no stairs. Fortunately, there is a trap door by the looks of it in the corner of the room on the ceiling. That has to be a way to get my stuff. Even if just brings me a step closer to the room, I'll be happy.

Approaching the trap door, I immediately notice a problem. The thing is locked with a pad lock, and I doubt I'm going to find a key out here.

Wait a minute... the lock appears to be rusted upon further inspection. I do have a pic. Let me see if I can pry it open.

Taking out my pic, I wedge it under the space where the lock holds the door to the roof, and start to pull on the pic with all of my strength.

It takes a few moments, but I eventually pry it open. The lock brakes and the trap door swings open.

Bad news, It seems that the reason that I didn't notice this door before, is because the there was I pile of stone covering it up, and me open the door allowed that pile of stone to fall to the ground, making a very loud crashing sound.

"Did you hear that?" I hear one of the guards ask.

"I did. You, come with me."

Shit, they heard the noise. I need I place to hide. I would climb up the hole in the ceiling, but I'm afraid that I wont make it. I notice some crates nearby, and decide to hide behind them. This isn't the best hiding spot, but hopefully it will be enough.

"Captain! Over here!"

I hear the clopping of hooves before a familiar voice spoke.

"What did you find?"

"It appears a trap door caved in."

"How?"

"Well, it is possible the door just gave out due to years of inactivity."

"Maybe... still, keep your eyes and ears open. The changelings could be anywhere. Now, continue your search!"

"Yes, sir!"

I hear the clopping of hooves move away. I wait until I can't hear them and carefully peak my head over the crate.

The room is empty. Good. I slowly rise and move to the hole in the wall and peak outside. No one nearby, I guess it's safe to climb.

Or as safe as I can be in this situation.

Since this rooms ceiling is close to ground for me, I can reach up and grab the edges of the hole and pull myself up with ease. I do have to be careful though, there are still rocks around the hole, and if grab the wrong one, I could fall with that rock landing on top of me.

Luckily, I get though the hole without any problems. I look around and notice there's on one inside. Perfect.

I stand up and walk over to a spot and move a rock out of the way to reveal a small opening that contains the items I came for.

The items are a grey jacket and a hat that I didn't mention I had had.

You're probably wandering why I came back for just a jacket and hat. The jacket can keep me warn on a chilly night. The hat...well... It's special. That's all I'm going to say.

I move the rock back into place and pick up the items I just aquired. I put on my hat and slip on the jacket and start moving toward the hole I came from. I drop back down into the cellar thing and go for the hole in the side of the wall. I wait a moment before I peak out to find no one close and I start making my way back toward the spot where I left Thorax.

I approach the area to find it empty.

"Son of a..."

No sign of Thorax. Maybe he had to relocate due to the guards. I'm about to go look for him when I hear a voice that makes my blood run cold.

"You made it back."

I turn around at the speed of lightning to find the captain of the guard staring right at me.

Author's Note

Surprize! Early chapter! :pinkiegasp:

Why? Because I'm nice. :twilightsmile:

Why Does Nature Hate Me?

On the outside, I'm perfectly calm.

On the inside, I'm shitting myself.

I'm sure you know why. If the leader of the guards around my camp in front of me is anything to go by.

When the captain of the guard made no movement towards me, I raised a eyebrow. Okay, that's weird. What's going on? Doesn't he want to kick the shit out of me like he wanted to last time we were together?

Then, without warning, blue flames surrounded the guard, and I drew my gun on instinct. Then, I remembered who's the only one with me that can do that. I lowered my gun and glared at Thorax as the blue flames of his died down.

"What the hell is wrong with you!? I almost shot you! Again!" I yell at him in a whisper to avoid making to much noise. The real guards are one thing I don't need, and I'm sure Thorax will agree with me.

"You said to transform if somepony came over here, so I did." He defended himself.

"Into the leader!?"

"It was the most I could do. I panicked when I heard you approaching."

"...ok, I guess that makes sense. I'll give you a pass, but..."

"But?"

"I didn't see you when I was coming over here and I had I perfect view. How come I didn't see you then?"

"I was the rock." He said like it was obvious.

I gave him him a deadpan stare before I looked down.

"Thorax, there's hundreds of rocks here."

"It made the most sense at the time. Less chance of getting caught.... what's with the hat?"

My head snapped back up at the mention of my recently acquired hat."nothing."

"I di-"

"Lets get out of here." I quickly said before moving over to him to let him on my back.

He didn't protest as he climbed on. It's not like I wanted to snap at him, I feel kinda bad now. Wait, what? Where the hell did did that come from? I don't care for him... do I? Whatever, I just want to get as far away from this place as possible.

But now that this place is gone. Where would I go? Where would WE go?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We walked well into the night without much success of finding a place to sleep. That is, until Thorax made a discovery that I had missed. Turns out that I had walked right by a cave in the side of a hill. After giving a short praise to Thorax for finding the cave, I walked up with him on my back. Speaking of which, walking around with a big bug pony thing on your back is a hell of a workout. Even when his leg heals I might just kelp doing this.

I walked up to the entrance and set Thorax down beside of it. "I'm going to check out the cave."

He gave a nod of his head and I walked in front of the hole. It was actually a semi small opening covers by a bunch of brush and plants, how Thorax saw it was beyond me,but it's a good thing that he did. Now we may have a place sleep.

I drew my gun and walked inside.

"Stay there." I called out to Thorax.

"Its not like I'm going anywhere."

"Remember what I said about being smart with me." I say in a low voice, but not so low to where he couldn't hear me.

...

Good choice.

I finally clear the entrance and get a good look at the inside. It's not that good space wise, but it would provide cover from the elem-HOLY SHIT WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!?!

At first glance, it looked like a chicken, but then I saw the snake like body, and then I got to thinking "huh, maybe that's not a chicken after all."

( what gave you that idea?)

Shut up brain.

After the argument with my brain ended, I approached the creature. Like I said before, it's head was a normal white chicken head. Beak and all. But that's the only normal thing about it. The rest of its body was that of a snake with greenish scales. There were small feet right below the head of... oh shit. Its waking up.

Nothing like this can possibly be friendly. Well, I say that and yet I have a changeling sitting outside...okay, Thorax is nothing like this thing, so I'll give him another pass.

I put my pistol back in my waist band and I pull my rifle off of my back and slightly pull the bolt back as quietly as I can to check if I have a bullet in the chamber, which I did. Right when I brought my rifle up, the things head snapped up and looked directly at me with red eyes. At that moment, I'm pretty sure I shit myself.

Again, right when I'm about to pull the trigger, my vision starts to blur, and then It feels as if my eyes have been lit on fire. I snap my eyes shut and let out a yell, and turn and run in the direction I think is the entrance. The problem is that I forgot I needed to duck and ended up smashing my head against the top of the entrance.

"David?" Ok hear Thorax ask in alarm as I launch myself from the entrance holding my hands to my eyes and the new hole in my head. The pain is starting to become unbearable and I start to lose consciousness. The last thing I hear is Thorax screaming as the thing from the cave makes its appearance known to him as well.

That's... Stupidly Convenient

Life must have a problem with me staying conscious sometimes. That tends to happens when you're thrown out of your own world and into a new one against your will. I think.

My eye's hurt, in case you haven't figure that out already. It's also quiet all around me, beside my breathing and such. I find that to be a bit strange, considering what the hell I just found in that cave. Freaking chicken lizard thing.

Speaking of which why the hell did it feel like I got stabbed in the eye ball's right when I looked at it? The answer probably doesn't make since, being a new world and all that I still have little to no clue about most things around here.

Time to find out what happened to all the noise that thing was making. I see three answers: 1) It ran away, unlikely. 2) It's dead, again, unlikely. 3) I'm dead, which wouldn't surprise me that much.

It's hard to open my eyes, with the mixture of the sun and the pain that still lingers in my eyes, but I do manage to open them.

With a groan, I manage to fully open my eyes and look around. I'm still in the woods, so I'm not dead... I think. Wait, I take that back, I'm definitely not dead. If I was dead, the pain wouldn't be noticeable at all.

After staring at the trees like they were stacks of gold, I sit up and turn to the right.

And freeze.

Whatever that thing was, it's not a problem now. Why? Because it's full of holes.

I stand up and approach the beast. Crouching down, I see a few holes in its body, and one on its head.

Wait... these are bullet holes...

I look over to where I last saw Thorax. Only to see a empty spot.

Raising an eyebrow, I approach the spot lacking the bug and crouch down to investigate. There's some green blood here, no doubt it's Thorax's blood. There's only a little of it, so I guess it's from the wounds he already had. Never really bandaged those, didn't have any thing to do so, unless I wanted to use my jacket, which is a hell no. Weird, I thought his wounds stopped bleeding yesterday. He must've done something to open them up again.

Speaking of opened up, it amazing that I haven't ripped out the stitches in my stomach yet. It hurts a lot of the time, but somehow, there still in there. I'll have to check them and the bandage later. I'll do that once were somewhere safe.

Ok, back on topic, besides the blood that is no doubt from Thorax, there are... bullet casings... did Thorax figure out how to shoot?

I slowly turn my head to the entrance of the cave. Thorax probably headed I'm there.

I try to find my rifle, but can't. Strange... I swear it was on me... I'll find it later, it's not like any thing out here knows how to use it.

I peak my head inside and around, only to find nothing. He must be further in.

And true to my thoughts, I find Thorax further in... with my gun sitting right beside him, and my rifle leaning against the wall a few feet away.

"Thorax?"

His head shoots up in my direction."H-hey David."

He seems shaken up. It's not a big mystery why."Did you do that outside?"

"The monster? Y-yeah. That was me."

My eyes fall to the gun next to him. "With that?" I point to the gun, which he nods."How?"

"I saw you do it before... figure it couldn't be that hard."

He seems... out of it.

"Are you ok?"

"I... never killed anything before."

Oh great, he's one of those people.

"You'll get over it." When he didn't respond, my eyes fell on the gun once again."Mind if I have that back?"

I started moving over to the gun before Thorax even had a chance to reply. When I'm right next to him, I pick up the gun and check the chamber.

And feel my heart sink when I see only one bullet has not been fired. I sigh as empty the chamber of the casings of the bullet that have already been fired. Wait, the only way the casings can get out of the chamber, is that the cylinder is removed by pulling a pen out from under the barrel. There were casings outside the cave, so how did Thorax figure that out too?

You know what? Never mind.

As I place the gun back in my waistband, I hear Thorax gasp.

Immediately, I look at him to see what he saw. My confusion grows when I see him looking at me.

"What?"

"Your face..."

I put a hand to my face and I feel something semi-dry. I pull my hand away and look at my hand. And feel my heart stop when I see red on my hand. My eyes are bleeding.

How does that even make sense?

Never mind that, I need to get this stuff off my face.

"I saw some kind of puddle over there." Thorax points to my left.

I turn my head and see what he's talking about. There is a little pond over by the wall of the cave. I can barely see it due to the lack of light.

"Yeah, that'll work."

I move over to the pond and remove my water bottle from my pack and was about to dip it in when I felt something hit my leg. I look down to find a small little pebble at my foot. I kick it back in the water and move to fill my bottle. Only to stop when I fell two somethings hit my leg. I look back and see two pebbles at my foot.

My mind is melting.

To confirm what I think is happening, I pick up one of the pebbles and drop it in the water. I grin when I see two pop out.

I suddenly have an idea. I take out my gun and remove the last bullet I have. I suddenly stop.

Is this a good idea? What if drop this in something happens to the bullet? I might need it.

On the other hand, this could be my saving grace for my ammo.

With a reluctant movement, I drop the bullet in the water.

And almost jump in joy as two pop out.

I'm going to be here awhile. This is stupidly convenient.

Author's Note

Sorry for not posting on Saturday. Life happened.

Gaining Trust

This little puddle thing is awesome. I've been sitting here duplicating my bullets for god knows how long. I even duplicated my revolver twice, so I can have a spare one hidden here in case a time comes where I need it. I've hidden it on the other side of the pond behind a couple of rocks with a rock placed in front of the entrance. I didn't have to worry about Thorax seeing it as he feel asleep awhile ago. I don't blame him, I'm tried as hell too, but I can't rest just yet. I still have somethings to be taken care of. One of them is finding out what caused my eyes to start bleeding, but I doubt I'll find that out anytime soon. Speaking of which, I still have all that blood on my face from my eyes bleeding.

There's no way in hell I'm using the pond in here. The last thing this world needs is two of me. One is bad enough. I'll have to go looking for one outside. Hopefully, there's one close by.

I've got nothing better to do, so that's exactly what I'm going to do.

I drop the last bullet I've made in my pack and zip it closed. I lift it off the ground and immediately notice that it's heavier. Gee, I have no idea why. It's not like I dropped 100 bullets in it in the past... how ever long I was at it. I have no idea how many bullets I made, I just know that now, I have enough. Period.

I drop the bag a few feet away from Thorax, the bag making an audible clinging sound as it hits the ground. I won't need my bag if i'm going to be just looking around the area. If something happens, I can run back here. As for Thorax, I trust to keep his hooves to himself.

Heh, look at me, saying I trust something that I tried to kill a few days ago. This world is making me crazier than I already am.

All I need is my gun and my water bottle. It's been empty for a little while and I'm getting thirsty. It wouldn't hurt to grab a refill. I'll just have to boil it with... a fire that I'm going to have to somehow start. Again.

I walk over to the entrance of the cave, but I stop and look back in the cave for a moment. My eyes land on Thorax, who is still out cold. My mind goes to war for a few minutes and I'm just left standing there.

After a few moments of debating what to do, I let out a sigh and move over to my bag. After a second of searching, I pull out my other gun that I'm not using and not hiding. I close my bag and walk over to Thorax.

And place the gun right in front of him.

After, I move back to the entrance, and this time I don't stop to look back.

These woods can be dangerous. It's better to have some kind of protection, and it's Important for Thorax to have protection when I'm not there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It didn't take look to find another source of water, surprisingly.

Turns out that there' a large lake nearby. I was only walking for ten minutes or so.

Needless to say, I striped and jumped in without hesitation. The cold water against my skin felt great upon contact. I could feel layers of dirt being washed away from just jumping in. I don't have any soap or rags or anything like that, sadly, so I'll just have to use my hands.

As I'm washing myself to the best of my abilities, My thoughts drift to Thorax. Did I do the right things to trust him with a gun? Part of me says no because of what he is. I know that's not fair, but I can't let go of it. The other part of me says yes because he certainly showed me he can, and if he hadn't taken those shots at the chicken lizard, I would most likely be dead right now, and so would he.

I'm stuck in the middle of the decision of to trust him or not. I'm guessing I'm leaning more towards trusting him since I left him the gun in the first place.

My thoughts are interrupted when a pain erupts in my stomach. I must've brushed up against my stitches. I can't wait till this heals. Having stitches suck.

Oh well. I guess that's a hint to get out. I've been in here long enough. I better get back to Thorax.

I swim back to the edge of the lake and use my jacket to dry off. It'll dry over night.

Just as I finish getting dress, I hear the last thing I wanted to hear ever again.

"Changeling!"

My head shoots up and I spot a few guards on the opposite side of the lake. They must be searching the woods for any changelings that ended up here like Thorax did. And they still think I'm a changeling.

Well shit.

"Fuck!"

I take off in the opposite direction as a blast of magic hits the tree next to me. I didn't see any wings on any of them, but that doesn't mean there are any of them nearby. I have to get back to the cave and warn Thorax. Our rest is going to be cut short.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm now walking with heaving breathing as I approach the cave. Life just doesn't want to give us a break, huh?

I reach the front of the cave and immediately hear growling. I instantly know what it is.

I HATE TIMBER WOVLES!

I spin around and pull out my gun and aim. But I don't have enough time as the timber wolf was already coming at me before I even knew it was there.

I'm thrown to the ground and I put my hands up to punch it. I land a good hard hit on its snout, which gives me enough time to pull my gun up.

*BANG*

The timber wolf instantly becomes dead weight as a bullet tears though its head. I push it off of me, but I'm instantly confused.

I didn't pull the trigger.

I look to my left to see Thorax standing at the entrance of the cave. He has the gun I left with him in his neon green magic.

Author's Note

A chapter two days after another chapter?! :pinkiegasp:

I was feeling nice. :twilightsmile:

On The Road Again

We stand there in silence for what seems like hours, but in reality, it was probably only a few minutes at most.

The silence is only broken when I speak up.

"Are you ok, Thorax?"

He doesn't say anything and just continues staring at the dead wolf on the ground. I wave my hand in front of his face.

"Yo, Thorax? Ya alright?"

That did the trick. He stumbles back when he notices my hand a few inches from my face. He then looks up at me, his eyes are still wide.

"It.. almost got you." He mumbles out.

"Yeah, it did. But you stopped it."

"I did." We fall back into silence for a few moments before I speak up again.

"Are you okay?" I repeat my question from before.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine. It was just a... scary experience."

"You don't have to tell me, I was the one about to get my neck torn out."

He visibly cringes when I say that. It doesn't take a genius to make the guess he tried to picture that.

"Oh, yeah. Another thing, we should probably get moving. Like, right now. I saw some guards at a lake I found that wasn't that far from here, and they gave chase as soon as they saw me. I managed to lose them in the woods awhile ago, but that doesn't mean there still looking for us. We need to go."

"How far?"

"I say the lake was about a ten minute walk from here. I didn't see any pegasus in the group, but that doesn't mean that some weren't nearby. Plus the noise that shot made won't help matters."

He nodded his head to show his understanding and moves to the side to allow me to gain entry. All I had to grab was my backpack, so I was in and out in a matter of seconds, but I made sure that my 'emergency stash was well hidden before I left. Who knows? We may be able to come back here.

When I exit the cave, Thorax hands me my gun back. After I stare at it for a moment, I take it and put it in my pocket, but only after making sure the hammer wasn't pulled back. No need to shoot myself in the leg.

After that, I turn around and kneel to allow Thorax to climb on my back and I jog away from the cave in the opposite direction of the lake.

I don't how far they're behind us, but I rather not find out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Where do we go now?"

"I have no clue. That cave seemed like an answered prayer. Then again, the castle I was staying at for my first two weeks here seemed like an answered prayer too, but you know what happened there. I guess we'll just have to wander around for a bit, it's not like we have someplace important to be, but that leaves the question of where to wander..."

Me and Thorax are currently in a small clearing, huddled around a small fire, that I somehow managed to make, again, talking about plans for our uncertain future. It's clear were not going to be welcomed anywhere. Not with the guards after us. That'll make getting supplies for us much harder. And we wont be able to stay sleeping out in the open for long, we could be spotted by guards or the creatures of this forest easily if were to be caught off guard.

We need to figure out what direction would be best to travel in and go for it.

Not like we have much of a choice at the moment.

"South is a no, because that's where we just came from, and the guards are that way. East is a no, because we would eventually find Cantorlot again, and I think it would be best if we were stay away from the city you attacked and I was arrested at. That leaves North and West. Do you know any of the area in those regions?"

"I know the North a little, and the West I know too, but can we not go West?"

"Why?"

"... My hive is West."

"... Not a bad reason. But if we go North, there is a problem. It's cold."

"So?

"Thorax, in case you haven't noticed, this," I point at my jacket," is not a winter coat... but I suppose if what you said about your hive is true, going West isn't such a good idea either... fine, we'll go North, but I need to figure out how deal with the cold first."

"How can you do that?"

"I might be able to find something around here to use as insulation and stick it in my jacket. It would keep me warmer, but I have no clue where or how I'm going to find some. I'll have a look around here tomorrow, but there's no sure chance I'll be able to find some. If I can't find something, I don't know what I'll do."

"What would be good insulation?"

"Something thick and soft, but just about anything could work. It's just a matter of how well it'll work. I take back what I said earlier, I'm thinking it would be better to look around now instead of later. I'll be nearby, if you need anything, just speak up."

He gives me a unsure nod. It's obvious he doesn't want to be left alone, but I have things to do.

With out another word I turn and exit the clearing.

Author's Note

3 chapters within 7 days... I'm starting to spoil you too much.

Trouble

After I left the area Thorax and I were in, I quickly ran though my memory to see what would make the best insulation. That I could find of course. Grass would be good, but it's not very thick, and it would take longer then i would want to get enough to notice a difference. Leaves is the same as grass, although I could get a lot of leaves fairly quickly, the leaves themselves are not very think, but I guess something is better than nothing. If I don't find anything else, I'll stick to the leaves.

If it comes to that, I'm going to need a lot of freaking leaves.

I continue walking for what feels like 5 minutes when I see a small pond. That's three body's of water so far. The one in the cave, The one I cleaned of in, and the one by the castle... man I miss that castle. maybe once this is all over I can go back there and actually fix the place up a bit.

But I'm looking at the far future. Let's focus on the path in front of me now.

Moving closer to the pond I see something that makes me smile. Moss.

Yes, you read that right. Moss made me smile. If you'd told me a month ago I would be smiling at a piece of moss of all things, I would've punched you in the teeth. But right now, it's another answered prayer. Moss is kind of thick, and there's a lot of it here. I take out my knife and I begin to cut the roots holding the moss to the ground. It's easy to get. The moss clumps together somewhat, and the roots aren't that strong at all. Within minutes, I've gathered at good amount of moss. It's not the best insulation, but it will work. The moss right now is kinda damp (-_- ya think?) so I'll leave it here for now and come back for it later.

I start walking back, making a metal map of the way I came from to the best of my abilities. Today is rather peaceful, actually. Now that I'm looking at it, the sky is fairly clear, save for a few clouds of course, and the temperature is decent. It's not warm, but it's not cold either. It's a cool atmosphere, just the way I like it. I never was a fan of warm or cold. I'm one of those people that prefers a temp. of about 60 or so.

I shouldn't say stuff like this just yet. I'm not out of this mess just yet and I don't want to Jinx I-

"Where's the other changeling that was with you!?"

Fucking called it.

After hearing this, I immediately know what body the voice is connected too. It's the same guard that I think is the leader of the others. The captain.

I move to the edge of the tree line and take in the sight before me.

There are three guards around Thorax, who looks absolutely terrified right now. There are what looks like cuffs on his hooves, and a ring looking thing on his horn. One of the guards is constantly holding a spear to his neck while the other two are glaring daggers at him.

"I don't know where he is! He's not even a changeling. Besides, I'm not like the others!"

"That's the biggest lie I've ever heard! Just answer the question and you don't get hurt!"

Man, they're really giving him hell. Normally, If I didn't know Thorax like I do now, I would turn around and have nothing to do with him. But over the few days that I've known him, he has proven to me that he's not like the others, just like he said. Sure he had to earn my trust, which is next to impossible with a guy like me, but he did. I've put my trust in him with I sent him to get some food for me a few days ago, and I put my trust in him with I left him with my gun in the cave. Plus, he did save my life. Twice.

I put my trust in him. And right know, He's probably putting his trust in me to get him out of that situation .

And I'm going to do just that.

Because that's what friends do.

I start looking around the area for something I can use. The best thing I can find is a rock. It;s going to have to do. I pick up the rock.

As I do, I hear a cry of pain from Thorax. I look over and see Thorax on the ground, holding the side of his face the best he can in the cuffs, and one of the guards is backing away. The fucker just punched him. He had no right to.

I almost throw the rock at the guard right then, but restrain myself. I need to make this work.

I reel my arm back and throw the rock as hard as I can into a tree about 20 feet away. The rock hit's and makes an echo as it bounces off of the bark. I look back at the guards to see them looking in the direction I threw the rock in. Thorax has a small smile on his face. He already knows it's me.His smile fades as the guards turn back toward him.

They say some things I can't make out and two of them move to investigate the sound while the other one stays by Thorax. His back towards me. This is my chance.

I begin moving forward into the clearing when I'm sure the other two are gone. I know Thorax sees me out of the corner of his eyes, but doesn't look straight at me. Good thinking. If he were to do that, it would most likely alert the guard watching Thorax like a hawk.

When I get close enough, I take out my pic and turn it around so I don't kill the guy, reel my arm back once again. Right when I go to swing, the guard turns his head in my direction and I see his eyes widen, but before he can call for help, I bring the pic down and make contact. The helmet makes a cracking sound and the guard fall into the darkness. I then move to retrieve the keys for Thorax's cuffs. Thorax shoots me a happy and relived smile as I find the keys and move towards him. I unlock the cuffs and remove the ring on his horn.

And right then is when I get shot in the back in the back by something. My back feels like it's on fire. I turn around and see the other two guards.

"It's an ambush! Get that thing!" The captain shouts while point his hoof at me. The other guard bears his teeth and starts flying toward me. So he's a pegasus.

Without thinking, I pick up my pick and swing it toward the pegasus. I make contact yet again and the pony falls to the ground. I look at the, and feel relief wash over my when I see I hit him with the blunt side of my pic.

"Thorax, go! I'll catch up to you!"

"You're not going any where." The captain says to me.

Thorax obeys what I said and starts running into the woods, leaving me to deal my the captain of the guard.

1 VS 1

Once again, on the outside, I'm perfectly calm.

On the inside, I'm shitting myself.

It was bad enough when Thorax scared the shit out of me when he took the form of this guy back at the castle. Now I know it's not him, since he just ran off behind me.

This is the real deal.

On a scale of one to ten, I'd say I'm pretty fucked.

If to prove the thought, just as I finished thinking, a beam of bright blue magic shoots past me, shaving the hair off my arm as it goes by.

Yep, I'm so screwed, but until then, I might as well go out with a bang.

I ready my pic and get into what I think is a defensive stance. I've never gotten into a real fight back on earth before, so I have no clue how to fight. I know, shocking.

Let's see, how I'm I going to approach this? I think about just rushing him head on, the I immediately shoot down the idea. There is absolutely no way I would get close enough to hit him. On the rare chance that I do get close, I would just be waving my dick around hoping to land a hit.

If I take the defensive side, and he switches to melee attacks, maybe I could land a well timed hit somewhere on him.

But for now, it seems like he's going to stick with magic, if him charging his horn again is anything to go by.

He shoots another beam of magic at me. I can easily side step to avoid the attack. This beam was a lot brighter than the last, so I'm going to guess it was a much stronger spell.

My thoughts were confirmed when the spell hit the tree behind me, which caused the tree to splitter. I look back and it was tilted instead of standing straight like it was a second ago. Damn.

He uses me looking at the tree as an upper hand to shoot at me again. I hear the magic being fired and turn around, but I was to late to move out of the way and the magic hits me square in the arm.

Right after the magic hits, I'm immediately aware of a burning pain in my arm and DAMN IT HURTS! I look down at my arm to see it's completely red, like when you burn yourself on something hot. In some cases, only part of your hand or arm is burned. In this case, my whole arm is burned with a first degree burn.

And he's charging up another spell. What. A. Dick.

I don't think he's going to let up on his spell anytime soon, so I'm going to test my luck and go wave my dick around.

Without thinking about anything else like the retard I am, I let out a war cry and charge him.

Before you start asking 'why are you not using your guns?' Two reasons. One, I don't want to kill on 'accident'. Two, If there are any other guards around here, the noise of the gunshot would bring them here if the sounds of this battle hasn't already. I don't want to take that chance.

After narrowly missing a another shot, I reach him and turn my pic around so that the pointed part is facing me. As I said before, I don't want to kill him. I just need to punch him until he cant breath anymore.

Holy shit, where the hell did that come from?

I bring my pic down in an attempt to hit him. Not surprisingly, I miss and he bucks me in the side. I didn't expect much of anything else.

The impact didn't knock me down somehow, but it caused me drop my pic, since me hit the arm I was holding it in. I go in for other charge as he charges his horn again.

I don't think so.

I put on an extra burst of speed to my legs, and reach him before he has to fire and my punch that a threw at him lands on the side of his head. He staggers, but doesn't lose balance. And now my hands hurt because I punched his amour.

When the pain in my hand registers to my brain, I let out a totally not girly scream and grip my hand with my other. He takes this time to head-butts my stomach , which sides me to the ground with a lot of force, which knocks the wind from my lungs.

I turn around so that I'm on my back, and my eyes widen when I see what's happening.

The guard is charging at me with a completely hate filled expression on his face. What causes my eyes to widen though, is that he has my pic in his magic.

And it's being swung right at my head. this guy is trying to kill me.

Before I even think about what I'm doing, I reach up grab the pic by the blade. I cringe when I feel the blade dig into my hand and fingers. I don't think I'm feeling as much as I should due to the pure adrenaline and the fear of death right now. The blade is about an inch or two away from my eye. The dick is on top of me, trying to force the pic the rest of the way down.

He doesn't get the chance as I bring a knee up to his stomach, which knocks him off balance for a second. The second is all I need for me to push him off of me and give him a good kick to the face on his way off.

He lands in front of me, but doesn't move to get back up. I'm afraid that I killed him in till I see his chest rising slowly up and down.

It's about this time that I feel the pain in full force in my hand. Not really wanting to see the damage done to my right hand, I slowly rise my hand to face.

My hand is severely cut from the blade, and is bleeding at an alarming rate. There's nothing on me that I can use at a bandage, so I'll have to find something or make something work.

I walk over to retrieve my now blood stained pic, and then start to move in the direction Thorax ran off in. Before I can fully exit the clearing, I hear a rage filled cry behind me. I turn a see the guard back in his feet charging at me, but he's quite a distance away so it will be a few seconds before he gets close.

On instinct, I pull up my gun and aim. He sees this, but doesn't slow down.

This guys not going to stop unless I make him stop. I need him to stop, or else he'll just keep coming for me and Thorax.

But if I mess up, I could hit him in the head, killing him.

Fuck it.

I pull the trigger and the gun roars to life. A second later, the guy lets out a cry of agony as he falls to the ground holding his leg that now has a hole in it. He then continues to shoot a glare at me.

"Go on, end it. It's what your kind are know for."

I raise an eyebrow. What the hell does that mean? Humans, as far as I know, have never been here beof... He 's STILL thinks I'm a changeling. Whatever, I'll prove it to him that I'm not a monster.

Without saying anything, I turn and walk away with him screaming at me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My hand really freaking hurts right now.

I'm walking though the woods trying to find Thorax at the moment. I've been walking for a while and the only think I've seen is his footprints... or rather hoofprints I guess.

I follow them for a minute while calling his name.

"Thorax!?"

"David?"

I freeze when I hear what is no doubt his voice I turn around to see Thorax standing there the best he can with his broken hoof. His eye is swollen from what I think is the punch he received from the guard.

He Looks at my hand, and looks shocked from the amount of blood.

"What happened!?"

"Things happened. Don't worry about it. What we should be worried about is getting the hell out of here before more guards show up. I'll tell what happen then."

"What about the captain?"

"Like I said, I'll tell you later."

I move to pick him up and put him on my back again when he pulls out my other gun that he ran off with. He uses his magic to move it over to me.

"I-I kind of took this from your bag when I ran off. I figured you may want it back."

I stare at the revolver in front of me, my mind is at war right now. It wont be long before one side over powers the other.

["Keep it"] [*Take the gun back*]

Author's Note

Once again, you decide what happens here.

Off We Go

I look away from the gun floating in front of me and look at Thorax with a rare smile.

"Keep it."

Thorax's jaw dropped and he lowered the gun so that it isn't blocking his view of me. "What?"

"Keep it," I repeat," you've proven to me that you aren't like the others, just like you said. You've also shown me that you know how to use it. Somehow. You've gained my trust, so I'm trusting you with this. Plus, if we get in a situation where we're in trouble, and we can't get to each other, you'll need it."

Thorax beams at me.

"Just make sure you know where you're pointing it."

He nods and tucks the gun in between his wings. Then I bend down to allow him to climb on my back. His leg is getting better, I think. But it not quite there yet. As a result, I'm still carrying him.

"Where to now?"

"First, I need to get this taken care of." I gesture to my still bleeding hand. "Any ideas?"

"I know a healing spell , but there's a problem. Two of them."

"Okay, what are the problems?" I ask as I start walking.

"First, the spell itself isn't that strong. Second, the spell won't deal with any infection that may be in the wound. It's a basic healing spell."

"Something's better than nothing. How much would it heal this?" I hold up my hand.

I feel him cringe on my back. "I don't know, I've never tried it with any thing THAT big."

"Like I said, something is better than nothing. As for the infection, that will be a problem... Wait, actually, there is a pond not far from here. I found it right before... you know."

"Yeah, are you saying we should go back?"

"Yeah. One, I can use that water from that pond to clean out my hand. I saw a little water fall there, so I can use that. Two, I found some moss while I was there, and I can use that as an insulator for when we go North."

"When do you think we'll start heading that way?"

"Well, there's not much reason to stay here. I figure after I deal with my hand we'll start heading North."

"Okay... so what happened with the guards back there after I left?"

"Ah, yeah, that... why the hell not? The pond is a good walk from here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"He almost killed you?!"

"Yep. That's why my hand is like this."

"Sounded like it hurt."

"I was too filled up on adrenaline to notice the pain, but as soon as it wore off, it hurt like a bitch. Still hurts like a bitch."

"How much further is the pond?"

"Sholud be right up here... Yep there it is." I say as I walk into the familiar area

"You think there are any guards around here?"

"I don't think so, but that doesn't mean they aren't out there. Keep an eye out." I tell him as I set him down.

He nods and I make my way over to the small water fall. It not like those big ones, not even close. This one barely reaches my waist, and is flowing at a nice and steady pace, almost like a faucet. Since this water is moving, the chance of it having any germs in it that might make my hand worse is greatly decreased. But just because it's a low chance doesn't mean that the rise isn't still there.

Not like I have much of a choice.

With a swift motion of my hand, I bring it up to the water. I stop for a second to prepare myself for the pain that I know will follow.

No big deal... just a quick motion... like a bandage...

I quickly move my hand under the water before I can convince my not to do so.

And immediately regret my decision.

"AHHHH, SON OF A FUCK!!!!"

Regardless of that outburst (and no doubt scaring the shit out of Thorax) I manage to keep my hand under the water.

"Ahhh... that hurt..."

"Are you ok?" I hear Thorax call over to me.

"Yep... peachy."

After a few more agonizing seconds, I removed my hand from the water. Immediately after, blood starts to cover my hand again, but atleast it's clean...er.

I stand and walk back over to Thorax.

"I'll take that spell now."

"Ok. Umm... I'm going to warn you that I've never done this to anypony else besides myself and a few other changelings. I don't know what will happen if the spell is used for anypony other than a changeling."

"I'll take something over nothing as this point. I don't give a crap as long as this doesn't get any worst."

Thorax takes a breath. "Okay, hold out your hand."

I do as he says and hold my hand out in front of him. He bends is head over until his horn is barley above the gash on my hand. If he were to lower his head any further, his horn would poke the gash.

That would would feel FANTASTIC I'm sure. -__-

After a moment, his horn lits up and his green magic engulfs his horn,a second later, my hand is engulfed as well.

I watch on in amazement as the gash on my hand closes ever so slightly. The magic on my hand tickles, as childish as that sounds.

After a few more seconds, he stops his magic.

I retract my hand, my jaw on the floor.

The gash is still there, obviously, but it is noticeably smaller. I pick my jaw up off the floor and look at Thorax.

He looks sightly drained. And he's panting ever so sightly. "Did it turn out ok?" He asked in between breaths.

I look back at my hand. "Well, the gash is still there, like you said, but it's noticeably smaller. Thanks. Now I need something to use as a bandage...."

My mind is working for about 4.23 seconds when an idea pops in my head.

Without saying anything, I take my jacket off and I rip my right sleeve off of my shirt with my left hand, since the gash is on my right hand, and warp the cloth over the gash, tightening it with my jaw.

Thorax looks at me with a questioning look.

"Don't give me the look. This will keep anything else from getting in the gash." I finish that sentence and stand up and look around. I spot something familiar very quickly. "Bingo."

It's the moss from earlier. Might as well go ahead and fill up my jacket.

I pick up my jacket and walk over to the moss. It as dried since the last time I was here.

I put my jacket back in, leaving it half unzipped, and start shoveling moss in it.

"What are you doing?" I hear thorax say from behind me.

"Remember when I said I need an insulator for when we go north?" He say nothing, so I continue. "This moss will help with the cold. It will still be cold as balls, but this will help."

I finish shoveling the moss into my jacket and zip it up the rest of the way. I turn around to Thorax, who has a confused look.

"What?"

"What do you mean what?"

"Cold as-?"

"Do not repeat that!"

He snaps is fanged month closed. "Sorry!"

"... it's fine, just remember I'm a horrible example when it comes to language." I tell him as I pick him up.

"Why are saying that like I'm a colt?"

"How old are you?"

...

"So, shut up."

With that, we start out journey North.

Hey, You Look Familiar...

1 Month Later

I hate the cold. Enough said.

For the past month, Thorax and I have walked a VERY long way. While I would have gladly gotten on a train, there are some problems. The main one obvious being that neither me Thorax would be welcomed. Although getting on the top of the train would be nice, there's no way I would be able to grab on with my hand the way it is. Much less hold on.

Yes, my hand is still messed up. While Thorax used his healing spell a couple of times after the first one, I notice that the wound was not looking any better. I soon found out that it had gotten infected. It's not as bad, since I cleaned it right before the spell was cast. If I hadn't done that, the infection would be much worse than it is right now. Hell, I probably would've died from it.

Since it is still infected though, there's only so much I can do.

I look down at my hand. The same bandage is still there, complete soaked with blood. The blood is dry, so I guess that's a good thing? Even so, it still hurts. A lot.

Another thing, I'm sure you've noticed that I have stopped show the days in this journal. That's because I've completely lost track of the days. If I find out how long its been, I start writing it done again.

Moving on from me and to Thorax, his leg finally healed enough to where he can walk on his own without me carrying him. His wings are healed. He looks fine, as if nothing has ever happened before.

We're currently following a train tracks for the obvious reason that they have to go somewhere, right?

I couldn't care less where we went, as long as I can get out of this cold. The insulator is working well, for what its worth. The good news though is two things. One, there's water everywhere. Two, I can finally see someplace!

I stop walking when Thorax stops in front of me and turns toward me.

"Are you okay, David?"

"I'm fine. I just need to get out of this cold. I can barley feel my fingers... what the hell is that place anyway?"

"I'm not sure. I've never been here before."

"Fantastic..."

We continue closer. As we do, the terrain becomes much harder to walk though. I soon find myself using my pick to keep me from slipping, which wouldn't be to good, considering there a giant hole in the ground not to far away. Thorax helps me along the way. Since he can fly now, he grabs me by my chest and helps me move around, since he can't really pick me up.

We get past the hole with little trouble. Then, we hear something that makes our blood run cold. Well, colder than it already is.

Voices.

"Spike the Brave and Glorious, you've faced the evil changelings before. What can you tell us?"

I immediately push Thorax to the side, behind a ice wall.

"What wa-?!" I clamp my good hand around his muzzle and use my other hand to raise a finger to my mouth, signaling him to stay quite. He gets the message when he hears the voices.

"Oh, uh, well, they are changelings, so can be change."

I can't help but face palm as I whisper to myself. "No shit."

"You hear that? These monsters can look like any of us, so be on guard, guards! Even more than normal."

Oh, god. The cringe is real.

"And they could be anywhere. So, we should cover as much ground as possible. You, search that way! And you, search that way! And...I'll ...just search... here, I guess. Not many places to hide. Unless that rock is a changeling. Okay, rock. How do I know your really a rock? Hmm. Not talking, huh? Well, you can't fool me? Uhh! Ow!"

... Did he seriously just kick the rock? Really?

What a minute... that voice sounds very familiar...

"He's sliding toward the cliff!" Before I can stop, Thorax jumps out of hiding. The next second I hear a thud.

"Phew! okay. Maybe it's time Spike the Brave and Glorious went back to, uh, protect those guards."

Spike... I've heard that name before.

Thorax immediately changed forms without warning, and I knew exactly why. Thorax didn't have a chance to jump back to cover with me, but what the hell is he planning to do?

When I see his new form, my mind starts working. I now see a baby dragon.

I KNOW I've seen him before...

"Twilight, what is that thing?"

"Shhhh, Spike, let me handle it."

Well, son of a bitch. Small world.

"Gah!" I hear Spike yell, probably seeing Thorax. "Just my reflection."

Are you freaking kidding me? I face palm repeatedly.

Thorax starts making a bunch of poses, probably to match Spikes. I only face palm harder and faster. At this point, I may as well be slapping myself.

"Huh? Ha! Ha-ha! Hmm. Just my imagination. I guess."

Thorax begins walking away, but ends up slipping on the snow. I feel my heart stop as Spike gasp.

I guess Thorax didn't see a reason to keep the form, because he chaged back to himself.

This only caused Spike to panic more.

"Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-changeling!"

"No, wait! Come back!" Thorax rushes toward Spike as I hear scearming. I follow Thorax out of hiding. Just in time to see Spike fall off the cliff, Thorax close behind.

I breath a sigh of relief when both of them come back over the edge.

"This is unexpected..."

Thorax drops him back on the snow. "The ice is pretty slippery. I wouldn't want you to get hurt because of me."

"You... saved me?"

"It's okay. I know you don't want to be friends..." Thorax starts making his way back to me. Which is where Spike notices me..

Author's Note

Yes, I know 1 month probably isn't enough time, but I needed a short time span in order for David to keep his injury, which plays a role later on. I need it, otherwise, the time span would be longer.

As always, stay awesome. :rainbowdetermined2:

Hope

We stare at each for God knows how long, every second goes by I think he's going to scream.

Eventually, I speak.

"Your Spike, right?"

"How do you know my name?"

"Remember me? The forest?"

He takes a second more to look at me. After a second, his face lights up in recognition.

"David, right?"

"Yep."

"I didn't know you were a changeling."

Oh my God, I swear if I hear someone call me a changeling again...

"I'm not a changeling, nor have I ever been one."

"Wait, really?"

"Yes, really. You have no idea how many others have assumed that."

Which is not that many, actually. You know, considering.

"Then why are you with him?" He points to Thorax." Changeling are evil!"

"Not all of them are.Thorax proved that to me. Right?" I ask, turning to Thorax.

"Yeah, all I've ever wanted is a friend. From the moment I first splint my egg in the nursery hive."

Okay, I didn't ask for his life story, but since this could be useful information for me, so I think I'll let him talk."

"I was part of the attack on Cantorlot during the royal wedding, but I'd never seen true friendship like that! And I couldn't just steal it and feed on its love. I wanted to share it! After I was blasted from Cantorlot, I met David. He's the first friend I ever made. But..."

"But... what?"

"I'm starving! And there's so much love here! It's what drew me here! But it's driving me crazy!"

"Is that you were walking in front of me half the way here?" I ask Thorax.

"Yeah..."

"Wait, why are you starving? I thought you feed off of emotions. I've been with you for over a month."

"Yes, I am. A changeling's hunger can almost never be satisfied. You've help me with that, but I'm still hungry. And with all the love coming from here..."

"That would be from the royal Crystaling. It's pretty much a giant outpouring of light and love for a new baby."

Thorax hisses, which causes me to jump back.

"Sorry!I'm just so hungry! If I had more friends, maybe it would sustain me, but I don't think anypony wants to be friends."

"What I told you there was somepony they respect and admire so much, he could convince them to give it a try."

"If only that were true..."

"It is! I mean, I am! It's me, Spike! Spike the Brave and Glorious? I'm sure you've heard of me."

"I'm not from here, so nope." I say.

"Nope, but I was raised by an evil queen.I'm Thorax. I can't believe you want help us."

"Why, hasn't anypony other than David just been nice to you?" He places a claw on his shoulder. Thorax smiles at him before breaking into another fit of hisses.

"Sorry! Kindness like that kind of brings it out. Do you still wanna be my friend?"

"Of course! I can be David's too!"

Joy.

"And I'm 100 prevent sure I c an get the whole Crystal Empire to be your friend too!"

Thorax hisses again.

Crystal Empire, huh? Sounds like heaven.

Once Thorax recovers from the hiss. Spike speaks up. "But... maybe I should just, uh, talk to them first."

Thorax muffled an agreement. Spike walked off.

As he did, I turned to Thorax. "What was that hissing? I've never heard you do that before."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thorax and I go back to the ice wall where we hid behind to rest and to wait for Spike to return.

After awhile , we hear footsteps in the snow. I peak my head around and see Spike walking over to us. I calmly vet up while Thorax rushes over to Spike, like a child going to their mother when they know she got them something from the store.

"So? so? Uh, what did they say? How many new friends do I have?"

I see the look on Spike's face, and I instantly know what the answer is.

"Well, it didn't go exactly the way I thought."

"Oh... I understand. Week, thanks for trying. I-I guess it's not surprising. How can you expect who look like this," he changes into a pony," to trust something that looks like this?" He changes back to his normal self.

"I think I might know."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How did Spike convince me to stay here while he took Thorax to the Empire? I swear I have a weak spot for kids...

Without warning, Thorax coming running looking like he's about to cry.

"Thorax?! What the he'll is wrong?!"

"Spike..." was all he said.

I then heard Spike yelling from close by. "Thorax! Hello? I just want apologize! I should have stood up for you... aw, come on, Thorax, David! I know your here!"

"Leave me alone!" Thorax shouts at him.

This scares Spike and he falls down to the cliff, barely gripping the side. "Little help?"

Im immediately on my feet and start moving to him. Thorax, however, stays where he is. "Why do you think I would help you? I'm an 'evil changeling'!"

"Thorax, cut the shit and help me! You should help him because he's your friend."

"I just wish I had been there one to you." Spike adds.

This immediately makes.Thorax move over to help Spike and me. Once Spike is on solid ground again he says, " Woah, what happened to you!?"

I follow his eyes and I realize that he saw my hand. "I... had an accident."

"What kind of accident?"

"A guard and me were fighting after I help Thorax get away from him. We fought and, long story short, he sliced my hand open."

"Ow."

"How do think I felt"

"It looks horrible."

"That's because it get infected little while ago."

"Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"It wouldn't have matterd. It's pretty bad now, we can't find anything to help it."

Spike stays silent for a moment. Thorax speaks up.

"It's okay, I know it's hard. Everyone in the Empire loves you. We appreciate you trying to help us, but we couldn't ask you to give that up for us."

"You don't have to."

This gets both of our attentions. "What do you mean? What are you going to do?" I ask him.

"What I should 've done in the first place."

Home

How did I let a baby dragon convince me that It'd be a good idea to just walk right into the castle without a disuse on or anything?

Actually, now that I say that in my head, I can see why Spike would say it's a safe approach to the whole situation. Even if it is crazy as hell.

If Thorax and I aren't disused, and I say that sentence with me in it since most of the guards thinks I'm a changeling as well, when we're spotted, maybe it would act as a sign of peacefulness... question mark?

This whole situation is nuts, and I'm only in it because of what Thorax is.

That may sound like I'm blaming Thorax for what is happening, and I would say that you are very wrong. Its not Thorax's fault for being him. These ponies just wont give him a chance just because of what he is when they should be judging him for WHO he his. I'd be lying if I said I didn't do what the ponies are doing right now, minus me trying to kill him. Other then that, the only different part is that I gave him a chance, despite all of my doubts about him.

And because of that, we've been though so much for the past month since we first met. We've helped each other in more ways than one. Of course, it came with consequences, like my hand.

But do I regret it? Absolutely not.

Why?

Because I made a friend. Someone I could trust to watch my back... quite literally actually, since I had to carry him because of his leg at the time.

As I finish that train of thought, I hear voices from up ahead.

"-light has a point. This is getting a little out of hoof."

I know that voice too... Twilight, was it?

"I understand, but I don't know what else we can do."

That one, on the other hand, is completely new to me.

Wait... why is Spike heading straight to the voices?

"I do!"

Before I even realize what's happening, a beam of blue magic shoots past my head, barley missing me. I focus my eyes toward the source.

And see HIM. The same guard I shot in the leg. If looks could kill, I would've been dead 17 times over.

Before he takes another shot, Spike steps in front of me. He's about 4 in a half feet shorter than me, but for whatever reason, it gets the guy to stop shooting.

For now.

"Spike! What are you doing?! Get away from those things!"

Spike however, stands his ground. Much to my surprise.

"No! They're not Things! There names are Thorax and David, and they're my friends!"

The kid has balls, I'll give him that.

"Are you kidding me?! There's no way that's true. That THING," he pointed at me," Tried to kill me!"

"You tried to kill me first! You kept following us! All you had to do was BACK THE FUCK OFF!"

I don't care that there's a kid in the room right now. This guy's really pissing me off.

"You think I was just going to let you go?! After what your queen did and after you killed my guards?!"

"I didn't kill anyone! I only knocked them out!"

"So, you admit that you're a ch-."

"And for the last FUCKING TIME! IM NOT A FUCKING CHANGELING!!!!"

The room drops to silence. Damn. I did that, didn't I?

That felt good.

All of a sudden, the lights cut off. Then, a single spot light comes on. Aimed right at Spike.

The fuck is happening?

"Would you say I'm a hero, Glorious and brave, If I told you something you wouldn't believe?"

Is this guy really singing? And the others are actually listening?

I don't even any more...

"That sometimes I'm scared, And I can make mistakes. And I'm not so heroic, it seems."

"But if day can turn to night, And the darkness turn to light. Then why can't we imagine a changeling can change?"

"No two ponies are exactly the same. No two snowflakes ever match their design. And I thought I was strong, but I was nothing but wrong. When I forgot to be friendly and kind."

"But if day can turn to night, and the darkness turn to light. Then why can't we imagine a changeling can change?"

"Would you say I'm a hero? Glorious and brave? If I told you something you wouldn't believe?"

"This changeling, it seems. Knows the real me, and would stay by my side 'til the end."

"So if day can turn to night, and the darkness turn to light, then why can't we imagine, Just why can't we imagine, Then why can't we imagine a changeling can change?"

That...was... what the fuck do I even say? Where the hell did that even come from?

My train of thought is broken when I hear hoofsteps coming to us. I turn attention to the sound and find that Twilight has made her way over to Spike.

"Spike, I'm so proud of you."

"You are?"

"Of course! You're a celebrity here in the Crystal Empire, and just risked all of it for friends! I can't imagine anything more brave than that." She turns to the others. "As the Princess of Friendship, (Really? -_-) I try to set an example for all of Equestria. But today, it was Spike who taught me that a new friend can come from anywhere. I guess everypony still has things to learn about friendship. Even me! And if Spike says that Thorax is his friend, then he's my friend too."

"T-Thank you, Princess."

Twilight then turns to look at me. "You too David."

"Wait! Twilight, you know him?!" I hear the unicorn shout from across the room.

"Yes, I do. I went into the Everfree one day, and found him there." She turns back to me. "But Thorax wasn't with you?"

"No, I picked him up a few days after."

She nods her head in understanding. Then she notices the badly bloodstained bandage on my hand.

"Sweet Celestia! What happened!"

All I do is point to the unicorn that shot at me when I first walked in. Twilight follows my finger. She makes a face at him before turning back to me. "I'll talk with him later. Right now, we should probably get that looked at."

"Please."

I then turn my head back up when I see a big pink pony with wings as well as a horn start speaking. "On behalf of the Crystal Empire, I would like to extend my hoof friendship to you both, and I'm sure all of my subjects are eager to do the same."

She gets her response in the from of cheering. I could've sworn I heard a baby.

The pony with the blue mane walked up next. "Welcome to the Crystal Empire, Thorax, David.(Must've heard Twilight say my name.) I'm sorry we didn't take the time to get to know either of you. Maybe we can change that now."

...

There's no way it was that easy... right?

These ponies are way to forgiving. Not that I'm complaining.

Seeing that I was lost in thought, Thorax responded to him. "That'd be so amazing! I want to learn all about friendship, and maybe one day I can take that knowledge back to the Changeling Kingdom! If my kind learned how to create lover for one another, maybe they wouldn't have to steal it."

The pony then turned his head back to me. "I have medical experience, I can take a look at your gash. Since it was kind of my fault."

Kind of?

"... yeah, sure."

He motions for me to follow him. I obey and follow after him as the guards in the room start calling out, "TO SPIKE THE BRAVE AND GLORIOUS!"

As the pony leads me out of the room and into a hall. He turns toward me. "My name is Shining Amour. And... I just want to say I'm sorry for everything that I did and caused for you and Thorax."

... Is really saying he's sorry? He tried to kill me and Thorax on more than one occasion! Chased us for who knows how long and far... I can't really blame him though for doing what he did, as I know he was just doing his job as a guard, but still... he overdid it.

He seems to take notice of my silence. "I don't expect you to forgive me so quickly. I'm just asking for a chance to start over between us. You seem like a nice guy, despite all you did to my guards. I know you were only defending yourself. Plus, you didn't take anything from the guards you knocked out, so don't think that didn't go unnoticed."

We walk in silence until we reach what looks like an infirmary.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day 54

Thanks to Cadence, I finally figured out what day it was. Now I know just how long I've been here. How far I've come in just a little time span.

I'm currently laying on a couch in a guest room Cadence and Shining had provided. It had a bed in it, but I let Thorax have it. He offered we could just share it and have one side for each of us, but I declined. Maybe in the future, but now, sleeping in same bed as Thorax is just a little weird to me.

Speaking of Thorax, If you'd told me about two months ago, that I would have made friends with a bug and a bunch of talking colorful ponies. I would've had you in a mental hospital within the hour.

Who knew having something you thought was just a bug turn out to be one of your closest friends... that's a hell of a thought, and a hell of a life I'm living with now.

My thoughts turn to earlier today, when Shining was taking me to the infirmary. I want to accept his apology, I really do, but I cant get the thoughts out of my head.

But no matter what happens, I know I can count out a certain bug to help me.

[Accept Shining's apology]
[Refuse Shining's apology]

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Next time...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Life in the Empire couldn't be better. We were finally safe from harms way.

Or so I thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I give Shining a look. "You sure want to do this?"

"Absolutely."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I quickly pick myself off the ground, only to be shot at again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Thorax! Shining! Where the hell are you?!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I walk forward into what appears to be a abandoned camp ground. Only thing is that,I think this ground isn't so abandoned, if those hoof prints are as fresh as they look.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Who the hell are you?!" I shout to the figures.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Holy shit..." I say as I get a look at the figures eyes.

"No fucking way..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not Just A Bug 2 : Not Just One

Coming Soon

Author's Note

Thank you all so much for the support you all have given me throughout the story. It is what has kept me writing.

What do you think David should do? Accept or refuse Shining's apology? You decide.

I'll see you all in the sequel!

Stay awesome! :pinkiehappy: :rainbowdetermined2: