Far north, and now what looks to be in the middle of nowhere.The lone man stands surveying the land before him. Nothing can be seen besides small dying scrubs, and the cracked grey ground beneath him.

"Well, this looks depressing." He said as he found a stone to sit on.

Now taking a breath in the somewhat pungent air of the Changeling lands. The man soon brainstormed on what action he should take. Should he try and find other beings or stay hidden. Food and water was also going to be an issue, as it looked this land didn't offer much in the way of substance. Getting up off the stone, he wandered over to cliff edge and looked down. It was a sharp drop, with jagged rocks leading to a cold ocean below. Looking into the sky, it was very cloudy, with barely any sunlight poking through.

The ocean is a no go, so it looks like he'll have to wonder about in the wasteland in search of water. He didn't care if it was dirty or not as he could just boil the water with his magic. Using magic so freely could prove to be dangerous, as it takes a while to build up in his body. This was a drawback he had to put up with when using magic, he wasn't an alicorn afterall, who had near limitless magic.

Making up his mind, he begins to walk away from his starting point to head deeper into the wasteland. His metal armor clanks about with each step. Without knowing about the Changelings, he thought nothing of what threats he might meet besides some wild creatures he might run into. Little would he know, a highly organized civilization made these lands their own.

One Hour Later

A midnight black changeling with solid yellow eye's soon stood where the man once was, sniffing the ground along with a few other changelings keeping watch. All of the changelings here were female, most of them looking to be low in the hierarchy as they were just drones. They looked very close to your average pony in height, but instead had holes in their hooves with the yellow eye'd changeling sporting green like bug wings which were folded onto her back.

"Something was here! This scent insn't like anything I'm familiar with....." spoke the yellow eye'd changeling.

Her sister's looked at her with slight alarm at her proposition, with one of them speaking up.

"So lieutenant Mellow, what shall our plan be? Go back to the hive and report or to track this strange being?"

Mellow looked back to her sister with a blistering smile on her face.

"We shall pursue, we need to gather more information on this 'thing', plus coming back with hardly any information on the matter wouldn't bode well." She said with a slight hiss.

The small herd of changelings soon grouped up once again, as Mellow began to unfold her bug like wings. With a slight arch in her back, looking like she was about to pounce. Mellow took flight into the air and rocketed far up above her sisters. With her vintage point now, she looked over the land that laid before her, looking to see if the creature in question was dumb enough to stick around the area. Without success, she lowered herself back down to rejoin her sisters, with a grin on her face.

"Looks like this will be hunt to remember, haven't had a thrill like this in ages." Mellow uttered looking to her sisters.

They also seemed to smile, it wasn't often they got out looking for creatures or ponies. Very few had the audacity to venture this far into changeling lands. Or more over the luck to make it this far before being captured. Changelings loved a good challenged, especially in their home turf where they could freely be themselves, not having to disguise. They all began to trot slowly into the all too familiar wasteland before them, sniffing and tracking the distinct trail left by the man.

*****Meanwhile with our hero just a few miles away, He kept up his pace.*****

"I hope to god, I'm going the right way, it feels like I'm going in a large circle but I've been going in a straight line this whole time." He grumbled, as he walked aimlessly.

In his mind,he was starting to get worried if the whole continent was nothing but a wasteland. What if doomsday happened, what if this and that happened.....Stop it now he told himself. Being lost with nothing but pessimistic thoughts would lead him nowhere at this point. Looking around once again to his sides and front, he saw a glimmer of what looked to be a small pound.

"Dear god, finally some water!" He yelled thankfully.

Running over to the pond he took off his helmet, pressing his hands together firmly he scoop up a handful of water heating it with his magic just to make sure. Taking a large sip and then downing all the water in one gulp he felt much better. He soon took a few more handfuls and drank until he was satisfied.

Putting his helmet back on. He was content for a moment but oddly depressed again.

"If I only had a canteen, or something to hold some of this water, I would be set." he said with a laugh.

Before he could even say another word, a voice called out to him. It sounded neutral but ever so strange to his ears. Has he finally made content with another poor wandering in this wasteland.

"HEY YOU THERE! HALT!" Yelled, Mellow as she burst towards him past her sisters.

With her wings out and in the air gliding towards him at an incredible speed. She within five meters towards his back before stopping. She slide a bit pulling up dust from the ground around her, obscuring her for the moment. She was full of energy and adrenaline with her prey in her sights.

Slightly startled by the turn of events the man jumped a bit, biting his tongue in the process. Caught off guard and almost with his pants down. He grit his teeth together a bit before turning to the small dust cloud. His hand on his sword hilt ready to pull it at any moment, with his other hand in a closed fist.

"What is going on! Who are you!" He returned with post haste. His voice stern, but somewhat surprised.

With the dust now cleared, the other changelings finally made their way to Mellow, staying much further back from the man. Eyeing him down like in a mexican stand off they all smiled a bit amused. The man got the sight of the prominent changeling before him, she had large yellow eyes, strange holes on her hooves and small white fangs near her muzzle. She looked like to pony to him, but distorted in a way.

As most alicorn in his time, he noticed she was also naked which wasn't anything new to him. Besides that, her neck held a strange necklace with a scarab on it. The other's behind her appeared much the same way, instead much more uniform with pale white eyes and no fangs.

Mellow now look at the strange creature before her made her chuckle a bit. It wore some pretty impressive looking armor. It looked bulky like a minotaur,and stood over her by around 2-3 feet. Not to be intimidate she stepped forward with a bit of glee in each skip. At this point Mellow knew he was male from his deep voice, which her sisters picked up on also.

"That sigil on your chest-plate creature, it bothers me." Letting out a sigh, noticing the strange stoic alicorn embedded on it.

One of her sisters now spoke from behind her.

"Looks to me like a spy from the Equestria Empire!" hissing at him, giving a look of anger and disapproval.

Another changeling spoke.

"Yesssss....it looks like Princess Celestia is now recruiting none ponies to spy on us!"

Mellow follows up with a laugh and looks to the man before her.

"Not a bad recruit, a bit goofy and over dressed for a spy, but oddly handsome for a lowly creature." Mellow saying in a mocking but flirtatious tone.

Her sisters began to chuckle as they soon began to encircle the man. He stood still ready, listening to them babble about his appearance, most likely trying to mock him. They didn't look the least bit friendly and mentioned this Princess Celestia. Who was she? He wanted an answer to this along with a few other questions he had.

"Princess Celestia? Never heard of her, and just where the hell am I exactly?" He spoke, with hostility in his voice.

Mellow replied with a hiss. "Princess Celestia the immortal alicorn who controls the sun and rules over the Equestria Empire! Thats who!"

One of Mellow sisters replies also to his question.

"Your in the land of the changeling's creature, a place that will be your last, I assure you." She hissed, to soon follow up with a giggle.

The man after hearing both answers was intrigue by the information. An ALICORN is alive! Inside he felt at ease and happy, even with the enclosing enemies. But changeling? what in the hell is a changeling! He thought as he looked over the strange mare like creatures.

Mellow once spoke again.

"Playing dumb won't get you anywhere creature, its clear who you serve!" She seemed a bit annoyed by him now.

"Now will you surrender to us so we can take you back to the hive for questioning, or would you prefer a beating. And maybe possibly a mounting afterwards by me and my hungry sisters if you are feeling inclined." Her voice was very flirtatious and confident at this point.

A changeling from the herd laughs at Mellows proposition. Adding her two cents to the idea.

"I disagree sister, we should keep him intact and present him as a prize to our hive queen, then we can reap the rewards!"

The other changelings smiled in agreement, with Mellow following suit. "Good idea." Mellow replied with laughter.

Being issued an ultimatum,the man frowned ever so slightly through his helmet.

"Oh is that so now?" His voice sounding sarcastic.

"Why don't I instead beat you and your 'sisters' down, gather more information and be on my way" he said with a smile.

One of the changelings seem to not have taken well to his answer and lunged for him. Steping to the side he avoided her easily. Looking down at the little changeling on the ground before him, her butt in the air with her front hooves on the ground. The changeling grunted a bit annoyed, as she got back up jumping back to be at Mellow's side.

"Wow presenting to me already? I don't know what you changeling's are, but I'm already flattered." His voice in a mocking tone.

Mellow along with her sister's, completely in anger at his statement soon all darted at him. With a sudden jolt of his hand he pulled his sword out. It gleamed with blue light, as it struck one of the changelings back, who got up very close to him. He soon proceeded to jump to the side, charging through another few changelings as he made a run for it.

The changelings began to pursue the man as he sprinted much more quickly then they thought some creature like him could ever pull off. Especially with the amount of ridiculous armor he was wearing. One changeling stopped to access her one sister's condition after being struck down. She looked relieved when the struck sister got back to her hooves, a bit winded and weak.

"T-that sword....it felt like it drained me of my energy, but I swear he slashed me! I should be dead!" She muttered to her sister before falling back to the ground catching her breath.

She was indeed lucky, his sword wasn't a normal one. It possessed a power to suck away energy form the target when struck. It didn't cause any physical harm. It was a peace keeping tool used by him in the past. Killing was not something that had to be done to keep the lands safe.

"You changeling pony things won't catch me, I swear on my life!" He said while running like a madman.

Mellow replied amused again."Don't swear too soon, since your life will be with us in the hive!"

Mellow wasn't far behind him, as she could easily catch up with her wings if she had to. Still she didn't feel confident enough to take him alone, as her sisters couldn't keep up. She knew something was up with this creature the moment the fight started, it possessed magic either in the form of it's own manifestation or with it's shinny armor and weapon. She was no fool, and took caution proceeding to a complete stop.

"Sister's stop now! he won't get far anyways."

The other changelings seemed to be shocked by Mellow's command. They all looked at her as they caught up.

"So were just letting that spy get away!"

"We can take him, he just got lucky!"

Multiple changelings spoke with question in their voices. Mellow respond with a stern voice to quiet them all down.

"No we are not letting him get away, but I would like to send a few of you to the hive for reinforments"

Mellow's face filled with worried as she put her head down just a little.

"Now that I got a good look up close, he seemed to posses magic of some sort. Which means he's dangerous obviously." Her voice quiet but calm.

"So that is why, with some reinforcements and a better plan. We'll surely catch this slippery creature yet." Her voice hopeful now with her face back to a slight grin.

Mellow soon gazed off in the distance to see now that the man disappeared, nowhere to be seen.

10 Minutes Later

"Dear god I hope I lost 'em. At least that encounter gave me some useful information, but I feel it won't be of any use until I shake them off my trail."

He smiled, holstering his sword with his other hand making a clenched fist.

"They are determined little buggers, I might just have to fight my way out of these lands, even if they do bring more friends.....which is the most likely reason they stopped chasing me for the moment."

Looking off in the distance, he began to move again with his pace increased. His mind set to formulating a plan to help lose his would-be attackers if they decided to show their muzzles again.

Author's Note

And so the Changeling chase is on. Will our hero end up being caught and presented to the hive queen(s) or will he make it out these barren lands.

I hope you guys enjoy'd. Thank you again for reading!

[Spacing has Been fixed Edit Date -> 11/13/2018]