I look down on the city of Canterlot from my perch, quickly searching the crowds for my target. "Dart do you read me?" I say telepathically through the hive mind, "Dart do you read me?"

"Yes I read you loud and clear, what is it"

"I can't find the target from here, permission to relocate?"

"Granted"

I quickly down an elixir of invisibility and take flight. Yes that will do nicely, I land on one the castles towers and start searching. "I found the target," I say lying through my teeth," they appear to be alone, permission to engage?"

"Alone you say?" Dart replies after a while.

"Correct."

"Permission granted, engage the target"

Looking down on my commanding officer, I aim and fire a single shot. The bolt hits Dart right in the chest makes a sickening sound as it pierces through his chitin exoskeleton and Dart lets out an ear piercing scream of pain, as I take a second to reload.

"ASTRIS, WHAT IN TARTARUS ARE YOU DOING," Dart practically yells through the telepathic link.

I fire a second shot. *Thud* "Damn, I missed that last one," I say aloud reloading my crossbow a second time.

Dart turns around and fires an arcane bolt at me. It lands hits my right foreleg and burns a hole straight through it completely ignoring my chitin. "Oh, that fucking hurts," I say as I start to black out.

"Contacting greater hive mind, Astris has gone rogue," goes Dart contacting all hive members in the area, "I repeat Astris has gone rogue, requesting ba-" he gets cut off as my third shot goes straight through his neck, one of the few places a changeling doesn't have chitin.

"Damn it, that took more shots then it should've," I say out loud, "now I have the hunters on my trial."

Quickly flying down I go into a bat pony disguise and drop the crossbow at my hooves. I start running to the nearest guard and start to shout, "Help! I was attacked by a change-" and everything goes black.

~ ~ ~ ~0~ ~ ~ ~

Canterlot's Central Hospital

~ ~ ~ ~0~ ~ ~ ~

I wake up in an unfamiliar room I sit up and look around. "A hospital," I say in confusion as yesterdays events start to come back to me. I look down, good my disguise is still in place.

A white unicorn in a nurses outfit walks into the room with a tray of food. " Hay, Crimson Tail, it looks like the patient is awake," she yells back through the door as she puts the tray on the bed in front of me.

Looking at the tray, "does this contain any apple or Rye products?" I ask, "because I'm allergic to those."

"No," she replies, "wow you sure are hungry, but that's to be expected after being unconscious for four days."

I stop eating for a second, "Wait I've been out for FOUR days?!"

Crimson walks in, "Yes, you have been out cold for four days. The only reason I knew you were still alive I first saw you is because I could hear you breathing," he continues as the nurse leaves to check on some of the other patients, "I called the Royal Guard before coming in here, the one that brought you in said that I should contact them when you woke up," Crimson stops talking for a second to look at me, "So do you have any questions before before they show up?"

"No, but I did notice that my foreleg has been healed thank you for that."

"Only doing my job."

"On that note how much is this going to cost?"

"Nothing," Crimson starts, "treatment for any life-threatening injuries is free in Canterlot. So I heard you were attacked by a changeling is this true?"

At this point, a Royal Guard walks in and motions for Crimson to leave, "Now I know that you have already been through a lot today, but I need you to bear with me."

"Okay."

"I'm Lieutenant Firestar of the Royal Guard. I need you to state your name and occupation."

"I'm Astris and I work as a monster hunter out in the badlands," I say as I start to mentally berate myself for using my real name.

"If you're a monster hunter what were you doing in one of the back alleys Canterlot?"

"I'm in Canterlot to see an old friend," I stop to look at Firestar's face, "they used to live in one of the apartments over there, I say used to because after getting there I learned that they passed away two weeks ago..." I say trailing off to imitate sorrow.

"Sorry to hear that," Firestar says believing my lie, "you may continue."

"Okay, after that I decided to walk to the cemetery to say some final goodbyes," I say this with quiet reverence, "On the way, I got jumped by a changeling in dark alleyway. The only reason I got hit is that it took me off guard."

"We found the changeling in question. It had two crossbow bolts embedded in it and we found a crossbow nearby. I'm guessing after the changeling attacked, you proceeded to fire back. Is this correct?"

"Yes, it is," I continue, "after dispatching the changeling I started running to go get medical attention for my leg."

"Okay, that is all we wanted to know," Firestar states with a small smile, "Now the Crimson Tail said you could check out after this and that your bags are at the receptionist's desk. If you want your crossbow back you're going to have to go to the barracks."

"That's good to hear and the guard can keep my crossbow," seeing the guards face I continue, "Part of the reason I came here to see my friend is because I retired and wanted to see them before moving to Ponyville."

"Gotcha and again sorry for your loss."

"Its okay I used to work with him and just wanted to see him one last time."

"Well, I should start heading back to report this to my commanding officer."

After Lieutenant Firestar left I followed Crimson Tail to the receptionist's desk. I got my saddlebag back and checked my self out. After leaving the hospital I went and walked into an alleyway and after checking to make sure no one had followed me I changed my disguise to that of a half-dragon pegasus reasoning if was to start my life over, like I was planning, then I should have a disguise that allows me to use the dragon half of my biology even if it might turn some heads.

With my disguise taken care of, I started walking to the train station. When I arrived I walked up to the Ticketmaster and asked, "When is the next train to Ponyville?"

The Ticketmaster replied, "In about an hour, and tickets will be 4 bits."

I simply nod and set the money down on the booth

"Okay, here is your ticket and enjoy the ride."

"Thank you."

The train arrived on time and I hand in my ticket. After boarding the train I find my seat and fall asleep.

~ ~ ~ ~0~ ~ ~ ~

Author's Note

Okay for anyone reading this I just want to state that this is my first time writing a story like this so any feedback is appreciated. Now that is out of the way if the grammar on this is atrocious I might need a proof-reader. I will ask for one if necessary, as I said any feedback is appreciated . Now I will try to release new chapters whenever I actually get them finished and at times this may become difficult due to school. I will remove these authors note when I post the next chapter, however, anything that is important will be moved over to the latest chapter.
Anyway See you next chapter
Also as a side note if you are willing to draw a cover for this fic PM I will link your social media in the description and give you a shout out.