Chapter 2 Vaverfront.

The walk towards Vaverfront had been an uneventful affair, but still, I took the time to admire my surroundings. Passing by dead trees and the occasional bush, it's hard to believe that this area used to be a lush green forest. I remember, and this was during the Changeling War when I was a nymph my mother whenever she could find the time, would take me to the nearby forest, and there we would spend time camping, though not for long as, mother would get called back to the hive and help manage a losing war, but you know it's nice that she was able to still spend time with me, even during a war. I could feel myself sporting a smile as I reminisced about memories, and my smile quickly faded upon the realization that I’m never going to experience it again.

Orange was now looking at me, upon seeing the frown that was now on my face. I could detect her nervousness even without my emotion detection when she opened her mouth and said.

“Hey… so uh, if you don’t mind me asking.” She stops for a second, but continues-“But could you tell me, what the pre-war old world was like?”

I pondered the question for a moment. Because I grew up during the war, granted it wasn’t a war that ended the world, but it was a war nonetheless. I then thought about all the good things that had happened in my life before, opening my mouth to form a reply I said.

“It was good, there was green grass, green trees, blue skies, and the sun shining down on my face.” Pausing, I could feel tears start welling up from the resurfacing memories. Wiping away my tears using the sleeve of my uniformed right hoof, when I heard Orange comment.

“Wow, that must’ve been nice.” Orange comments on my description.

“Yeah… it wasn’t perfect, but it was home.” After I said that I stared into the gray clouds, with longing.

I noticed that she was now standing in front of me, thereby making me stop dead in my tracks, and I continued.

“And as for me personally, I grew up in war, and even with the war going on. I would take casual strolls through the Everglade, watching deer and changelings alike going about their day.” I was about to continue when Orange interrupted me.

“Wait a minute, you grew up during war? Please explain.” She asks, tilting her head sideways.

I sighed, “Very well, I’ll give you a quick rundown. Let's find shelter first.” Looking up, I couldn’t tell if it was going to rain or not, although I’m pretty sure it was. I saw Orange look up and then back at me.

“Yep, it’s about to rain alright.” The mare had stated as a matter of fact.

“Wait, how could you tell?” I asked, now looking up at the same gray clouds that blanketed the sky.

The mare chuckled and stated plainly. “Well, notice how the clouds not only look heavier but also have a spiral pattern.” She then proceeded to point a hoof at a particular cloud.

Looking at where she was pointing, I then began to notice the clouds had a spiral pattern, but they did not look heavy to me. I looked a bit closer, and yep not only do they look heavy, but they’re rounder too. I looked back to Orange and spoke, “Yeah, you are right, it will rain soon, let us depart quickly. Fortunately, I happened to know a rest stop that's not far from here.” Getting up I increased my pace to a canter, with Orange following close behind.

————————————————————————

We stopped in front of an old dilapidated wooden rest stop that was off to the side of the dirt road just in time, as the moment we entered inside the rain started pouring down hard.

The Inside, didn’t fare much better as the wood floorboards showed signs of rot, and I could even spot mold on some, a desk counter lying on the far end with a door behind it, and the metal rims of the tables and chairs rusted. At least the windows are still intact so at least we won’t get hit by the rain while we're inside.

Orange decided to look behind the counter and the room behind, while I elected to stay and look for somewhere to sit down. Looking around I spotted an area that's relatively clean and is right beside the window, at least in terms of the floorboards being free of rot and mold, as well as a table next to the wooden corner couch that's rot and mold-free, compared to the state of the others here.

Trotting over I set down my saddlebags, set my RK-30 rifle leaning on the couch, and plopped down on the couch staring out into the outside, absentmindedly staring as the rain droplets came falling on the outside.

Carrying the saddlebags in my telekinesis I pulled out a water bottle and took a quick sip before setting it down on the table. I set the saddlebags behind my head to use as a makeshift pillow.

My ears swiveled as I heard hoofsteps to my left, turning my head, and spotting Orange coming towards me sporting a cheeky grin, like the kind one would have when a foal was to reach their hooves onto a cookie jar. I then noticed the source of her grin, as on her back, Orange had brought two folded blankets, and on top were some canned grapes, two sparkle-cola bottles, and two pink blobs. Seeing the pink blobs My eyes widened.

“Is that love jelly?” I asked, pointing a hoof that was previously dangling on the side.

She looked confused for a second before turning to look at the two pink blobs on her back. “Wait, is that what they're called?” Orange asked with uncertainty

I nodded and responded. “Yes, it's love put into physical form, which is another way for us changelings to sustain ourselves”

“Huh,” Orange said, before hoofing me the love jellies, and proceeded to eat one while depositing the other in my saddlebags.

We sat in relative silence, eating our meals when Orange spoke up reiterating her previous question. “So about that explanation. I think you mentioned a war right? We have plenty of time.” The mare then looked outside at the downpour, and then looked back at me, “It doesn’t seem like the rain will let up anytime soon.”

Shifting positions now facing her I began my tale. I began to tell her of the events after my birth in 1007. Orange was now looking at me with a serious expression.

“I was five years old at the time when Queen Chrysalis of the Changeling Lands in 1011, made the fateful decision to invade our southern neighbor, Equestria.” Pausing to take a sip from my water bottle. Memories of my nymphood during the war are coming back to me. At the time I was naïve and blissfully unaware that a war was even happening.

Everglade Hive 2/17/1011

Trotting around the hive, looking for my mommy, I stopped in front of two maids who were chatting while pushing a cart. I went up to them and asked. “Umm, excuse me, but have you seen my mommy?” I asked innocently.

Suddenly the two maids went quiet, stopping their conversation abruptly, and turning their heads. Pupilless eyes stared back at me, looking at me funny, was it something I said?

The first maid, Righty, walked around the cart, and crouched down to eye level with me, opening her mouth, then immediately closing it, looking back up to her friend who also was unsure of what to say. Before turning back to say, “How do I say this, your mother… is currently gone right now.”

Confused, I tilted my head slightly to the left, before asking, “Gone, gone where?”

Righty looked at me with a guilty expression, before speaking. “Well, she’s currently on an important mission right now and will be gone for a while.”

She had tried to reassure me, but I wasn’t convinced, so I nodded my head before feeling weightless, as Lefty lifted me using magic and placed me upon her back. Turning her head to face me to address me. “Come on princess, let's get you something to eat.”

“Okay.” I weakly replied, not having the energy to be persistent.

“Unm, question, why did you call those maids ‘Lefty’ and ‘Righty’?” Orange asked, interrupting my story.

“Well, to put it simply, I didn’t know their names, and I still don’t,” I answered.

Satisfied with my answer Orange nodded, and took a sip from her sparkle cola. I did the same with my water bottle and nibbled on love jelly. Feeling the love rejuvenate me, I resumed my tale. “Where was I again? Oh yeah, so after I was placed on Lefty’s back…”

Righty, Lefty, and I, still on Lefty’s back, had entered the Hive Spire’s cafeteria, seeing as the cafeteria is packed with soldiers dressed in their dark gray Changeling Army uniforms sitting around the tables that dotted the room, we walked towards the cafeteria counter. I heard the chef and both Lefty, and Righty converse with each other while occasionally glancing towards me. Instead, my attention was focused on a deer, a fawn to be specific nervously standing in the middle of the room, being ignored by the changelings as well as any deer in the room.

Struggling to get off of Righty’s back, I was lifted off her back with magic, placing me on the ground, looking up at her Righty flashed me a smile, before joining back into the conversation with the other two.

Trotting towards the fawn with the intent to say hello, noticing my approach the scared fawn was frightened even more, and hid behind a table, making me stop in my tracks, ‘did I do something wrong?’ Well whatever it was I’ll make it right, starting by saying hello!

My approach was slow, as I didn’t want to scare the fawn, as I got closer I noticed that the fawn was a she. Ensuring that I was ten feet(or about three meters) away from her, I sat down on my haunches waving and I spoke.

“Hi! I promise I won’t be mean to you.” I tried to coax her to come out of her hiding spot, and whatever I did worked as she came out and sat the same distance from me.

Excited at the prospect that I might make a friend, I continued. “My name is Aurelia Zagria, what about yours?”

Seeing her smile, albeit a small one, she replied, “Auli Dirsvir.” The fawn replied.

“And that's where I'm stopping for now.” Abruptly ending my story, I grinned watching Orange sport a look of exasperation.

“Ughhh, come on, please you can’t just blueball me like this!” Exclaimed Orange. “We were just getting to the good part too.” The mare then slumped down the table.

“Look, I promise to continue where I left off at a later date.” Looking outside, and seeing darkness as well as the rain hasn’t let up. “And it's dark out, we better get some shuteye.”

Glaring and pouting at me, Orange said. “Fine, but you better continue.” Before getting up, grabbing a blanket, and situated herself on the other end of the corner couch. “Good night Aurelia.”

“Good night Orange,” I replied, with that said, Orange was fast asleep. Grabbing both the half-eaten and half-full water bottle in my magic, I placed the cap back on the bottle and placed both of them inside my saddlebags.

Repositioning the saddlebags back into their position as a makeshift pillow. I got into a sleeping position, but I couldn’t sleep, as scenes of recent events, particularly what those brigands or as Orange calls them raiders, the cruelty that they’ve admitted to, and that was just only a small group. I shuddered at thinking of whatever acts a particularly large group of them is capable of.

I guess, I was more tired than I thought, as sleep soon overtook me.

————————————————————————

Waking up, I looked outside and saw that the rain had ended. Getting up. Putting on my saddlebags, as well as clipping the rifle onto my left strap, ensures that the firing bit is nice and level, in case I need to shoot without magic.

Fishing out the half-eaten love jelly as well as the half-full water bottle and finishing on both of them. As I had my breakfast, I heard Orange rouse from her sleep, looking at me with half-lidded eyes, mumbling out a ‘good morning’ before walking somewhere.

I Walked outside to assess the state of the road, after the heavy rainfall from yesterday. Once outside, I had to immediately sidestep a mud puddle. I scanned the area and spotted mud puddles of varying sizes dotting the landscape.

Hearing the door open, I craned my head to look behind me and saw Orange was about to fall into the same mud puddle that I sidestepped. Fortunately she caught herself before she could fall inside, she looked at me and said. “Whoa, thank the goddesses that I didn’t fall in.”

“There are mud puddles everywhere on top of the muddy road,” I said. “This will slow us down, but we should make it to Vaverfront by the evening.”

Orange nods, then looks down “Yeah, blame the Enclave for this shit.”

Confused, I asked “Enclave?”

With a look of disdain evident on her face, she replies “Bastards, they’re the bastards who blocked the sun, with their giant cloud cover.” Pausing to calm herself down. “They’re pegasi who’ve abandoned us on the ground, but you know what? Fuck them, they don’t need us, we don’t need them. You’ll know them by their power armor, can’t miss it.”

Frowning after this revelation, I looked up at the same gray clouds that still blanket the sky. I think I have a pretty good idea of what their power armor looks like. Looking around, I soon spotted Vaverfront alongside its Hive Spire.

“We’re close to Vaverfront, and the Olenian mountains end roughly twelve miles(nineteen kilometers), and after that, we're entering Queen Tercia’s territory,” I said

“Right.” I heard Orange say, as we set off at a slow pace. Walking slowly to avoid the puddles, we made our way to Vaverfront with Orange taking the lead.

As we were walking, I was staring at Orange. Part of me wished that she would stay after we finish off Scarlet and her band of raiders, and I won’t lie, part of it is me being selfish at having a food source in the form of Orange’s love, and another fact is that I genuinely enjoy her company, I even consider her a friend. A friend who I can rely on to help me in this new and unforgiving world, I just hope she feels the same.

We walked for a couple of hours in relative silence, reaching the outskirts of Vaverfront. I readied my rifle, setting it to single shot, while Orange does the same with her pipe rifle, which I had recently been informed of.

After which we continued to walk a bit more, until we happened upon a decayed corpse, the same kind that I encountered inside the shelter, lying on the front porch of a two-story house.

I held out a hoof in front of Orange making her stop. “I encountered this type of corpse before, and if we get close, it’ll get up and attack, like a zombie.”

“I think you mean feral ghoul,” Orange said, then looked at the corpse. “Although I think zombies are more applicable to feral ghouls.”

Grabbing a rock with telekinesis and throwing it at the corpse, hitting it, and sure enough, it got up, saw Orange first, and began charging towards her. She almost fired her gun before I stopped her. I unsheathed my saber and held it with magic. I cantered towards the zombie, who by now was on the front lawn, the zombie then noticed me, and charged toward me. At this point, I increased to gallop.

The zombie and I met halfway before I slashed its head off with my saber and wiped its blood off my saber with magic. Orange galloped towards me, a look of amazement adorned her face.

“Whoa, that was amazing!” Exclaimed Orange, looking at me and then at my saber, “Didn’t know you had a sword.”

“I did. You just didn’t notice,” I said

She opened her mouth before closing it, and then she opened it again and said “Huh, fair point, guess I didn’t pay attention to what you had on you.” Stopped and then asked. “Should we search that house?”

Looking towards the front door, “I doubt there's going to be anything inside, but let's check it on the off chance that there's still something inside.” Walking towards the front door, still clutching my saber, with Orange not too far behind me.

Opening the door we entered a living room, the inside fared much better than the outside as the actual living room was still in a somewhat decent condition, and there was a set of stairs to the right that led to the second floor. Orange decided to walk up the stairs.

The living room looked sparsely decorated as the only thing I saw there was a couch with a TV in front, a flower vase situated in the far left corner, and some pottery on a shelf. At the far end of the living room is an open entrance. to the kitchen/dining room.

Seeing as there was nothing to check inside the living room, I walked towards the kitchen/dining room. Once inside the kitchen/dining room, which wasn’t much, you had the usual stove oven, a pantry to its left, a fridge to its right, a dishwasher next to the stove open, and to top it all off a square table with four chairs sat in the middle, and to finish it off there is a window on the right side of the room.

Walking over to the fridge, and opening it, I was blasted by the foul odor of rotten food, but I did find two bottles of sunrise sarsaparilla, which I grabbed. Closing the fridge door, since there was nothing else of value, I then walked over to the pantry, I opened it, and the inside had little apart from three cans of soup. After grabbing the cans I closed the pantry, and searched around the kitchen/dining room.

As I was looking around I heard gunshots coming from upstairs and outside, ducking down and unclipping my rifle, levitating it firmly with magic, and slowly crawled towards a window on the far right side of the room. Once I was underneath the window even though my horn would still be visible from the outside, I still raised my head to try and get a peek outside.

Looking outside, I spotted a group of five, four ponies and one deer, they were wearing crudely made leather barding with bits of sheet metal on them, with similar design patterns to the group of raiders that Orange and I encountered at the camp, which led me to conclude that this group is affiliated with Scarlet. There are two ponies on the ground in a pool of their blood and the rest are taking cover. I assume that the dead ponies are Orange’s doing.

Opening the window, I aimed my rifle, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, watching as the group exchanged fire with Orange on the second floor. I waited, and waited, when suddenly, a pony leaped out from their cover and dashed to the house, firing three shots, and missing all three of them, which alerted my existence to them.

The other two, now alerted of my position, began firing at my position to which I had to immediately duck under the window, and crawl to the left.

I heard the front door crash open, which caused my attention towards the front, and I saw the pony, which after getting a closer look was a unicorn mare with bloodshot eyes holding a machete in her magic.

Cackling madly the mare said, “Hahahaha, I know you’re in there little bitches.”

By now I had taken cover behind a wall, readying my rifle to fire, I hear the slow and steady steps the mare is making towards the kitchen/dining room. Once the mare was at the entrance, I leaped out and attempted to bash the mare, but blocked it with her machete.

“Ohohoho, looks like there's a bug that needs to be squashed, hahaha.” Cackled the mare, staring at me while sporting a wide crazed grin.

Of course the fight was one-sided, as due to my size I overpowered her, pinning her to the ground, she was still looking at me with that same wide grin, combined with her bloodshot eyes, and it unnerved me…

Still cackling madly I heard her say. “Aww, I was hoping we’d get to play more hehe.”

Ignoring her comment, I proceeded to create changeling wax, using it to cover her horn and bind her hooves together.

And before she could remark on being bound, I hit her with a sleep spell and would ensure that she stayed asleep for twenty-four hours. Casting that spell had taken out quite a bit from my love reserves, but keeping this mare alive would allow us to extract more information from her. I lifted her and placed her on my back.

By now Orange had gone down, and saw me lift the sleeping mare onto my back. Looking at me with surprise.

“Wait, you're taking a raider… Scarlet’s raider with us?.” Orange asked, then very quickly shaking her head, “Well whatever, but we gotta move now! I killed two more and injured the last, but more are coming behind us!”

Wait, behind us? But that's where we came from which means… by the hive mother, that means that the group of five was a small diversion force while the rest had snuck behind to attack us.

“Then that means we can only move forwards, Into Vaverfront,” I said, before cantering outside, Orange followed closely behind.

Behind us there was a large group of raiders, who began firing at us. I frantically turned to Orange, “We can't take them on, we're going to run.”

“Right,” Orange said, nodding to me, before turning around firing a couple of shots, and galloping forwards towards Vaverfront, I soon followed behind.

————————————————————————

By the time we had entered the city proper, we hid inside an office building on the second floor. Catching our breaths I sat the unconscious mare down on the floor before I slumped against the wall, Orange on the other hoof, fell on the floor, panting heavily.

“Man. That.” Orange started, before getting a steady rhythm of breaths. “That was the second longest run I’ve ever had.”

“Well, we lost them and we’re safe,” I said, then looking towards the unconscious mare, still bound in wax, which getting a clear look at her; she has a dark cherry red coat with a beige red mane and tail, and through cracks in her barding with her cutie mark depicting three cherries being sliced.

Looking at Orange, I said, “Why don’t we wake our new guest.”

Orange got up and walked towards me, and asked “Um, aren’t you afraid she’s gonna do something?”

“No, not really, and need I remind you that she’s currently bound,” I replied.

Looking at the bound mare and me. “Yeah that's fair, I suppose,” Orange says, walking over to a window to observe the streets, “Also don’t expect the raider to be cooperative.”

Rolling my eyes I Turned my attention back toward the unconscious mare. I proceeded to prop the mare up leaning against the wall, closing my eyes, and feeling my horn light up, I began to prepare a spell that would undo the sleep spell that I placed into her. Carefully guiding the magic to my horn, because undoing the sleep spell before it wears off requires extreme concentration as a single mistake will cost the mare her life.

Satisfied, I lowered my head, ensuring that my horn had touched her forehead, slowly releasing the spell, and guiding the magic, which had now engulfed the mare. Feeling that the spell had left, I stepped back, my eyes gazing intensely, and I waited with bated breath, hoping that the spell worked, hoping that I didn’t miscast the spell.

I let out a huge sigh of relief once I saw the mare stirring awake, popping her eyes open, and seeing me in her vision. I noticed that her eyes are slightly less bloodshot than they were previously, She smiled widely and spoke, “Hehe so the bug has taken me into her lair.”

Groaning, I said, “I now immediately regret waking you up.” To which I heard Orange, still observing the street say, “I told you.”

Ignoring that comment, I addressed the raider mare “First of all, we're in an office building, specifically on the second floor.” I paused, then continued, “And don’t even think about doing anything, you are currently bound, so it's in your best interest to answer my questions.”

I heard the bound mare snort as her wide smile faded, “Yeah right.”

“Now before we get started my name is Aurelia Zagria, Aurelia is fine.” I introduced myself and, then asked “And what is your name?”

“Now why the fuck would you care?” She asked, looking sharply at me.

Taking a deep breath, “Well, I don’t want to keep referring to you as ‘The Mare, or ‘The Raider Mare’ all the time.” I answered.

The mare was silent for a moment looking down and then back up at me, she opened her mouth and said, “Cherry… Cherry Splinter.”

I nodded, “So Cherry, I have to ask what Scarlet wants here?” I asked, knowing full well that Cherry will not answer truthfully.

“Territory, she wants territory and an X-39 plasma rifle that is rumored to be around here somewhere, and she’ll fuck you up once she finds out about this,” Cherry says, looking intensely at me.

That piece of info had me confused, territory, is understandable, but the X-39? As far as I’m aware no such weapon exists here in Olenia, now at the territory of the three hives further east is a different matter entirely, as before the Megaspells hit Queen Tercia had the only one manufactured. Even then it’d be hard to find as only changelings linked to her would know of its locations.

“And why would Scarlet want that plasma rifle?” I asked and in the corner of my vision, I noticed Orange now staring at Cherry.

“Are you fucking deaf” Cherry growled out, “Didn’t I tell you that she wants it so that the gang can rule Vanhoover from all the way here unopposed, she needs to find that gun, and you fuckers can’t stop her.”

I plainly stated, “You know, even if she were to find it out in the east from here, she wouldn’t be able to use it, you wanna know why?” Pausing, now grabbing the attention of the two ponies in the room, “That plasma rifle is hard coded to Queen Tercia’s magic and will require multiple unicorns experienced in dealing with changeling magic to undo the hardcoding.”

Cherry’s eyes widen, “So your fucking telling me that we came all the way here, for fucking NOTHING!” By this point, Cherry had screamed out the last word.

Orange and I looked at each other worriedly, when Orange interjected “I wouldn’t be surprised if none of you can as Aurelia put it, undo the hardcoded, hell I didn’t even know what a changeling was before you bastards chased my group here.”

“Oh yeah how are they by the way?” Cherry asked with the intent to rile Orange up.

And as soon as she asked that I detected rising anger and rapid breathing from Orange, and I heard her say “Fuck. You.” By this point, I stepped in between the two before things escalated into an altercation involving Orange beating the still-bound Cherry.

“Orange, calm down, she was trying to rile you up on purpose,” I said in an attempt to calm Orange down, which worked as Orange’s rapid breathing slowed down and her anger began to subside. Turning towards Cherry, giving her a stern look, “And you, consider this your last and only warning. Do something like this again and you’ll wish that I killed you at that house.”

At first, she didn’t say anything. Until I narrowed my eyes at her, in which she flinched back and said, “Alright, Alright, jeez I won’t do it again.”

“Good,” I said, letting the threat hang in the air. I saw Orange sitting by the window, with a downcast expression, I sat down by her on my haunches.

“They were my best friends, you know.” She said, tears threatening to spill out.

I wrapped my hooves around her, and in a soft voice I said, “Shhh, it's ok, just let it all out.” It was the only encouragement needed for the dams to break, as she leaned into me and cried on my uniform.

We must’ve sat there for a long time as Orange, still leaning on me, had calmed down. I could even hear faint snores from Cherry.

“Better?” I asked, staring at Orange hoping that I at least provided some form of comfort, I felt some head movement indicating a nod.

We separated, Orange looked at me with gratitude, “Thanks, I needed that.”

I smiled, “No problem.” I admit, I took one bite of the sad emotions, but I stopped after half a bite, as it tasted sour and it would be mean-spirited of me to take advantage of a creature’s moment of vulnerability, much less one, I considered a friend.

I stood up and began to walk back towards Cherry when I heard Orange ask, “So, what will we do to Cherry?”

Turning to face her, “Well, she’s seen me in my true form, so we can’t leave her here. Our only options are to kill her, take her with us, or wipe her memories, the last option requires me to use practically all of my reserves.” I paused to take a breath, I continued, “So this leaves us with two options. Either we kill her or take her with us, either way the choice is yours.”

Orange sat down, placing a hoof under her chin thinking for a moment before responding “We’ll take her.”

Raising an eyebrow “Are you sure?”

“Positive.” Orange said, seemingly convinced that she’d made the right decision, “And besides, she may not want to admit it, but she’s got nowhere else to go, she can’t go back to her gang as in Scarlet’s eyes Cherry had essentially abandoned her gang, and will have no hesitation on killing her.”

I nodded, convinced by Orange’s decision. I turned around and walked back towards Cherry to inform her about our new decision.

I reached Cherry’s sleeping form, and shook her awake, “Hey Cherry, you're coming with us.” I said, she’s now wide awake.

“And why the fuck would I come with you?” She asks, glaring at me.

“Well, first I am the only one here that can remove the bindings, and you also know what I look like, which normally I wouldn’t mind, but times have changed and I need to adapt, or I can kill you,” I said, before elaborating further. “To add to that, you have nowhere else to go, and judging by what little info I have on Scarlet, you’ll be killed or worse. I’m giving you an option here.”

Letting my words hang in the air for a moment, I saw Cherry look down at the floor with a scowl on her face, then she looks back to me, “Damnit, your right, Scarlet will have me flogged, raped, then killed just to make an example out of me, hell I’ve seen the bitch do worse for something minor.” The mare sighed, “You know what, fuck it, I’ll join, it's not like I have anything to lose by leaving the gang… so, uh can you remove whatever the hell these black are?”

I smiled, “Glad to have you with us.” I said as I began to remove the wax that bound the mare. After I removed the wax, Cherry got up, did some stretches, and levitated a couple of items, then dropped them off the ground. By this point, Orange had walked over to us.

Orange held a hoof towards Cherry and introduced herself. “Hey, names Orange Bright, but you can call me Orange.” Smiling, she continued, “And I hope we can at least be on good terms with each other.”

Cherry hesitates for a bit, and shook Orange’s hoof, “You already heard my name, but my name is Cherry Splinter or just Cherry.” Cherry, having reintroduced herself, continued. “And as for what I said earlier, no hard feelings right?”

Sighing Orange replied, “No hard feelings.” And she looked towards me and asked, “So what are we gonna do now?”

“Well, first I am taking on a disguise,” I said, before feeling the familiar green flames engulf me, as I take the form of a unicorn with an olive green coat, navy blue mane, and tail.

Both Orange and Cherry stared wide-eyed at me, both sporting a mixture of shock and awe, I looked at them bewildered before realizing that this is their first time seeing a changeling transformation.

Coughing to get their attention, “From now on call me Starry Skies.” I said, which shook them out of their stupor.

“Whoa.” Cherry began, but couldn’t find any words to say.

“By the goddesses, Aurel-“ Orange began, “Starry.” I corrected, “-Starry, I thought you were bullshiting about the shapeshifting part.”

I nodded, then stated, “I wasn’t, and I’d appreciate it if the two of you from now on refer to me as Starry Skies. Only refer to me as Aurelia when it's just us three, of course, this very moment being an exception.”

The two mares nodded at my words before Orange spoke up, “Well, I believe it’s safe to go outside now, as I didn’t see any patrols.”

“Be that as it may, we should still be vigilant.” I said, before turning to Cherry, “And before I forget, here’s your machete back.” Levitating the machete to her, which she graciously accepted, before adding “And don’t I’ve forgotten about you referring to me as a ‘bug’ in a derogatory manner.”

Cherry chuckled sheepishly scratching the back of her head with her left hoof.

“Well, let's go,” I said, levitating my RK-30 rifle beside me, and walked towards the emergency exit, with the two mares following shortly thereafter.

Author's Note

Chapter 2 is out, hope you enjoy it.