Burn The Changelings

Chapter 1:The Lost Zebra

After what felt like hours of flying, Abzan had decided to take a long well deserved rest underneath some trees and tall bushes by WhiteTail Woods. Looking through the trees, he could tell from the way the light of Celestia’s sun was shining through it was past noon. Taking a look at the missing changelings reports, it said that the three were last seen at the hive heading to Vanhoover to assist in capturing and replacing ponies, but they never arrived.

‘Hmm… it’s odd that they never made it to Vanhoover, something or someone must be responsible for these guys not showing up.’ He thought to himself, tapping his chin with his hoof, he quickly placed the contents of the folder back inside before closing it and slipping it back inside his saddlebag, deciding that now was a good time to start looking for some food. Even though he had been taught that changelings needed to absorb love from a living creature to feed and nourish their young, Abzan learned that it wasn’t entirely 100% accurate. They could eat other sustenances as long as it wasn’t poisonous for them. Which was why he had packed himself a couple of peaches for his journey.

Taking one out of his bag with his magic, he quickly took a chomp of it, enjoying the sweet juicy flavor as some of the juice from it dripped from his mouth as he continued to savor it. However, before he could take another bite, he heard the sound of some twigs snapping nearby, causing him to accidentally drop his fruit as he looked around, trying to spot the source. Just as he horn lit up, a rabbit had jumped out of the bushes, and looked at him funny before jumping off into the distance. Out of sight, out of mind.

With a sigh of relief, Abzan took a moment to survey his surroundings before finishing the first peach in a final bite before spitting out the large pit from it. It wasn’t everyday he could enjoy a peach as his members from his hive have told him time and time again that Changelings must devour the love and emotions of a pony or living creature in order to sustain themselves and shapeshift into other creatures. However, he believed it was just a bunch of rubbish created by the queen so changelings didn’t start to get ideas.

However, before he could start to bite into his second peach, the sounds of twigs snapping caught his attention once more before jumping to his hooves, his horn glowing brightly as a green beam of magic began to form, but before he could do anything, a pony with black and white stripes had fallen through the bushes, landing on the ground before passing out.

It was unlike anything he’d ever seen before when he was out on missions, only hearing rumors of a pony with black and white stripes only living in Ponyville, but here he was seeing one in the flesh. Approaching it slowly, he took note of the feminne features of it, knowing it was indeed a mare. But just as he was about to tap the unconscious mare, the sounds of chuckling stallion’s caused him to whip around quickly, barely able to see them through the treeline.

With no time, Abzan’s body was soon engulfed in green flames as he took on the form of a grey pegasus with a black mane and white stripe running through it. And without a moment to lose, he picked up the mare and set her behind some trees and bushes before laying against another tree, trying to act like nothing was out of the ordinary.

It wasn’t long until he was approached by four white stallions with blonde manes, each of them wearing black vests, each wielding a blade of some kind by their waists. Abzan took notice that two of them were unicorns while one was clearly a pegasus and the other an earth pony who had patches of his fur missing and a long scar going down his neck.

“You there! Have you seen a Zebra running around here?” One of the white unicorns asked him, rolling his eyes he stood up to look up towards the unicorn as he was a head taller.

“Annnnnd what’s a Zebra?” Abzan asked, raising a brow.

“Are you serious right now? A Zebra? They are from the south? The land of Zebrica?” He asked the changeling in disguise as he only blinked in response as nothing the unicorn had said rang a bell. He never heard of Zebrica or even knows what a zebra is to begin with

“Sorry, but don’t know what a Zebra is, but I can tell you that I did see somepony running around the woods a few miles going that way not too long ago.” He replied to the four stallions, pointing in a random direction as each of them gave him a cold stare.

“You’d better be right or else!” The Earth pony replied before leading the others into the direction he had pointed them in. Abzan wasn’t sure what was going on or why they were after the mare, but one thing he was certain of, as long as they were gone, he could fly the two of them off somewhere a lot safer.

Waiting patiently until he knew they were gone, he made his way over to see if the mare was finally awake and could give him the answers as to why they were chasing her to begin with. However, looking over from behind the tree, the Zebra was no longer there.

“Hey freak, behind you!” Quickly turning around, the last thing he saw was the mare swinging a large club, and striking him across his head.

“Nighty, night bug?”

Ponyville Tavern

It had only been a few hours since Starlight had heard that outburst from that rogue changeling and she couldn’t help but felt like there was something she could have done, something she could said to change his mind, but as she continued to down a full glass of fresh cold cider, she felt a light tap on her shoulder, startling her as she turned to see Applejack right behind her. Seeing the farmer beside gave her a sigh of relief as she gave her a welcoming smile.

“Hey Applejack! It’s good to see you.” Starlight said.

“Howdy there sugarcube, something on ya mind?” Applejack asked.

“Um… well it’s just… that changeling from before had accused me of using Thorax, and I can’t help but wonder if there was something I could have said to him you know?

“Hmm… Well no point in worrying about that one changeling, not everypony is willing ta change ya know. Chrysalis is a perfect example, you offered her a chance and she chose to leave. They’ll come around…” Applejack responded.

With a deep sigh, Starlight finished gulping down her glass of cider before turning towards Applejack with a flushed face. “I was just being nice ta that guy and instead of being nice, he screams at me. He’s such a jerk!”

“Hehehehe! Ya sure do hate that guy huh?” Applejack asked in a muffled tone as a smirk appeared across her mouth. Knowing full well about Starlight’s situation.