The Journeys of C

Chapter I

The journey begins

                      The sun was setting once more in Canterlot, but this time there was something different in the air, not the scent of a happy and lively day, but the scent of terror and death. The Canterlot castle was ravaged, walls were destroyed, guards lay dead around the castle, inside the throne room, Princess Celestia and her sister Luna were watching as the soldiers that survived gathered their dead comrades.

                      “Sister…”

                      Princess Luna looked at her older sister with a sad look on her face, she knew what happened and wondered how could she help her sister recover after this attack? Celestia had to protect her subjects and prevent such catastrophes.

                      Now she felt weak, she glazed at the sky above with a sad look, the fact that Luna was besides her helped her fell a bit better. As she moved her head to face her dark-blue sister, a light as blue as the sky in the afternoon rose from the location the prison was located and hit the palace, but nothing happened.

                     Inside the prison, in front of the most remote of all cells the bones and armor of what were guards a few seconds ago lay on the bloodied floor. Soldiers were running inside the building, towards the cell. Their hooves echoed across the prison, the inmates heard the noise. As the guards ran near each of their cells, the inmates shouted and made an even bigger noise.

                    On the corridor near the cell, there was a small light that flickered, for a second there was the shadow of a guard on the wall opposing the light, the next time it flickered there was blood on it. The soldiers were getting closer to the cell, but as they reached an intersection, they heard the scream of one of the prisoners.

                     The group split in half, one kept its course while the other went to investigate the scream. As the ponies reached the cell area, all the inmates disappeared, only clean bones soaking in blood remained, but one of the guards saw a shadow and approached it cautiously.

                       As the soldiers reached the cell, the light illuminating the room flickered and when it turned on, whatever was inside was gone, only a half-eaten unicorn remained inside. His face frozen in terror, while its intestines were pulled outside his body, and parts of his organs could be seen on the blood soaked floor.

                       The pony that seemed to be the leader of the group turned around, after closing his eyes, to face his colts, but as he opened his eyes and opened his mouth to speak, he saw one of his soldiers was missing.

"Where is Sea Storm?" he asked then looked around and yelled, but nothing.

                        The light flickered again and when the captain turned around once more, another one of his colts was missing. There were only four of them left now. They grouped, standing back to back, but the light flickered again, another one of them disappearing.

                       The remaining three were scared and wanted to run, but they had a duty, to their misfortune the light kept flickering again and again, each one pf them disappearing until the leader of the group was the only one left.

"Show yourself! I'm not scared of you monster!" He looked around, but there was no response and as he wanted to leave, the light flickered once more and he was gone.

                     The guards that were stationed outside heard screams of terror and rushed inside only to see blood and bones lying on the floor. They moved closer and saw the light in front of them flickering, after a few flickers a white skinned figure appeared in front of them, it was soaked in blood and a piece of flesh dropped from its mouth.

                     The soldiers were scared, but before they could do anything, the figure let out a terrifying scream and jumped on them. Other guards rushed towards the prison to secure it, but as they arrived, there was trail of blood leading outside of the building.

                      They looked around and saw the blood soaked figure at a distance spreading its wings and taking off towards the Ever Free Forest. The being barely flew, it was clear it was bad at flying, but the guards rushed to catch the white skinned killer, even though it was already night. If Equestrian was to sleep that night, the figure had to be caught.

                         The pegasi were flying above the Ever Free Forest, carefully scouting for any movement, if they saw anything out of the ordinary they had to call the others. Inside the forest, the guards were split into four groups, each group containing forty guards. Group number two took a dark path, the trees looked like ghost and the sounds of the owls echoed across their path. Some of them were nervous, the sky was clear and the moon shone as never before, lighting their path.

                     As the guards moved through the forest, the pegasi saw a figure moving beneath and alerted the colts that were a few meters away from it. The joined forces of the pegasi and ground ponies rushed at the location to confront their enemy, unfortunately for them, it wasn’t their target.

                      Instead it was one of the most elusive beings in Equestria, a shape-shifter, little is known about these creatures except that they are taller and stronger than a normal pony, also their body is covered in thick fur and their tail is long and have hair only on top of it.

                      To see one was considered a miracle, but unfortunately for shape-shifters, their kind was not tolerated in Equestria, they were considered just like changeling, so the order was clear, capture on sight and imprison them in the best case.

“Stay where you are!” The leader of the group said.

“Ponies, you’d better go. I’m not in  good mood this evening.” The white-furred, red eyed mare said glaring at the ponies.

“I don’t think your mood counts here shape-shifter.” The other ponies surrounded her with their spears pointed towards her.

“I’m afraid you’re in no position to speak. Your kind isn’t welcome in Equestria and I’m sure you know that.”

“Huh… If that’ll stop me pony, the world is just too big not to see it.” The white mare with blue hair said smiling.

“This world isn’t made for you, pest!” The leader said glaring at the mare.

“Don’t you dare call me a pest, pony!” The mare moved towards the leader, but was stopped by spears pointed at her.

“You make me laugh pest. You’re nothing more than mere bugs to us. You should all be killed” The leader turned around after closing his eyes and grinning he said without caring “Kill her, there’s no use for a pest.”

                 What the prideful pony didn’t know was that they were watched for a long time, from the tree tops a pair of red eyes were staring at the scene, but they disappeared shortly after the order. The leader heard movement coming from the bushes so he sent two strong colts to check out what was it.

“You don’t know what you’re doing pony!” The white mare yelled at the pony glaring at him and showing her sharp teeth while growling like a wolf.

“Nice teeth.” The pony slapped the mare with his hoof “I think I’ll sell your skeleton to a museum and make a coat from your fur.”

                As the shape-shifter was preparing to attack the ponies and make their leader her trophy a scream of pain was heard coming from the direction the two strong soldiers were sent. Some of the guards gulped slowly while others got tense. The white-furred shape-shifter stopped growling and looked towards the direction very cautiously.

                The ponies alongside the shape-shifter moved towards the direction the two soldiers were only to see blood everywhere and their bones, some broken others lost and the former armor of the guards torn to shreds.

“Keep your eyes open colts! It’s nearby.” The commander said moving forwards his colts.

“What’s nearby?” The mare asked keeping her ears aware.

                As the ponies got less tense, one of them gasped, happy that he didn’t get killed by whatever they were supposed to catch, but unfortunately for him, as he gasped their target sprung out of the tree top the gasping guard was underneath.

                With its head down and mouth wide open, the creature revealed four long and sharp canines and other monstrously sharp teeth resembling those of a wolf. The being grabbed the guard and bit his head tearing through his helmet. A stream of blood came out of the skull, and the creature pulled the pony up in the tree top right after the bite, leaving the guards unable to react.

“What was that?” The white-furred mare asked trying to keep her calm.

“A pest just like you. Now let’s…”

                The commander couldn’t finish his sentence as the creature jumped on him and tore his neck then jumped back in the tree tops. The white-furred mare was able to observe the attacker, even if it was only for a few seconds, she distinguished the species of the creature, it was a changeling, but he was white.

                  Changelings are the mortal enemies of shape-shifter, she faced changelings before, but she never saw such a savage one before. She trembled in fear for the first time in her life when she saw a changeling. All that bravery shape-shifters display when facing any opponent was gone.

                 As their commander was dead the remaining thirty-eight ponies were terrified, their enemy was swift and savage leaving them in a state of continuous tension, unable to calm down for a mere second “Stay tense or die.” that’s how you could describe that scene.

               One of the guards was so scared he threw his weapons and tried to run back to Canterlot, but as he ran towards the location they came from, the white changeling jumped out of the bush and pushed him in the bush on the other side, screams of pain were heard and after them a wild growl echoed throughout the Ever Free Forest.

                There was only a changeling and thirty-seven ponies, but how could the changeling win? One of the ponies stepped forward and spoke to the frightened ponies.

"Don't fear colts! You are the best guards there are. Remember your training. This beast is no match for you, he might have had the advantage in Canterlot, but now we know he's alive and we can win!"

                   He inspired them to regain their morale and were ready to hunt that beast, but the changeling was no fool, he was watching their every movement, he knew exactly how to act. The ponies knew the white changeling was trying to kill them one by one so they stood together and called for him.

                   The changeling kept silent and showed no response, the ponies kept their focus and were weary of every sound, the creature could be behind any of those sounds. As the ponies got more and more confident they got the changeling scared they already spoke and laughed as if they already won.

                    Those poor fools, in their overconfidence failed to notice that the white monster dropped in the middle of their group when they started celebrating, only the shape-shifter feeling the scent of blood and decay moved her head and saw him.

                    The colt next to him was laughing so hard he was crying, but as he turned his head to face the changeling, he taught it was a fellow guard and put his hoof over his back. The white-furred mare yelled to him to watch out, but it was too late, as he opened his eyes filled with tears of joy the white creature grinned and tore his neck in a flash, blood gushed from the guard’s beheaded body.

                     Without wasting time the white changeling jumped on each and every guard using his teeth to tear their armor and flesh apart, leaving some alive to scream in pain, horrifying those that survived.

                     The guards tried to fight back, but their weapons were avoided by the changeling, which after dodging them, bit their legs or snout out letting blood gush out of the bodies. The creature jumped back into the tree-top after slaughtering and mutilating about twenty-eight ponies.

                    Only nine ponies remained capable of staying on their feet, the others where, either dead or dying in pain. The guards were as still as stone, incapable to move they waited in fear for their end to come, but to their luck another group arrived to join them.

                     The group was consisting in only thirty-four ponies, it seems the others freaked out and ran or were the victims of the local fauna and flora. The joined ponies decided to leave, but as they were ready to take the shape-shifter and leave they heard the sound of hooves beating the ground in a certain rhythm. They turned around to see what was it.

                   The white changeling was hitting the ground with his hoof creating a certain rhythm resembling a funeral song. The guards realized, the creature wasn’t trying to take their attention, he was playing with them just like a kid plays with his toys or in this case with his food.

                    The white changeling stopped hitting the ground and rose up on his back legs, leaning his head to his right he smiled revealing his blood and flesh covered teeth. The guards were frozen in place at the sight and awaited the being's next movement. To their surprise the changeling leaned his head on the middle and yelled smiling.

"Feeding time!”

                    The phrase echoed across the forest and the creature jumped towards the guards opening his mouth and landing in the middle ripping the front right-leg of a soldier then tore the left wing of a pegasi then bit of his back-left leg.

                     The guards were frozen in fear, the changeling tore through them, but they were unable to move and those that were able were the first to be devoured. At a point he ripped the bone from the flesh of a guard and impaled another pony that tried to attack him with it in the eye passing through his brain.

                 The white-furred mare was frozen in fear, she watched as the guards were being killed one by one, then after the massacre the changeling started feasting on their remains.

"I faced changelings before."she kept repeating in her mind, but none as savage, nor as bloodthirsty.

                 The speed with which he was devouring the remaining flesh from the bones was incredible in only a few minutes twenty corpses were cleared of any meat and the blood that was still pouring out of some of the slain guards was quickly sucked by the white changeling.

                   The mare finally found her strength to rise up on her legs and run from that place while the he ate another body, but as she rose up, the changeling rose up as well and rushed at her, but stopped from tearing her neck, his teeth only mere millimeters from her exposed neck. The changeling moved his mouth away from the white-furred mare’s neck and stared her in the eyes.

“Don’t be scared. I mean you no harm”

“W-W-What?” The white-furred mare barely said staring the changeling in the eyes.

                  The changeling moved back from the terrified mare and swiftly grabbed a body from those that remained and disappeared into the dark of the ever Free Forest. The white-furred mare was still scared, but she was also curious.

                   She never met such a savage changeling before, but neither did she meet a changeling with white skin or one that meant no harm to a shape-shifter nor talking. She heard hoof steps approaching the area, the third group was nearby, so she decided not to waste any time and ran into the forest, following the path she was going on before the guards came.

                    The soldiers arrived at the location and saw the mutilated bodies of their comrades and the bones that remained from those that were devoured. They were smart though, so without wasting any time they took whatever they could reminding about the dead ponies and piled up the remains to burn them.

                    The pieces of the armor they took and some broken weapons were to be taken to Canterlot for a hero’s burial, they sacrificed themselves to save Equestria, but the white changeling was still at large, they’ll have to take care of him another day, their brothers needed rest.

                   The mare ran as fast as she could to avoid a new meeting with the ponies. She was tired, and she was a long way from home, she went further than any of her kind. The mare sat down underneath a tree and looked at the stars with her mouth slightly opened, the air of the night was very cold although seeing it was the end of summer. She was lucky she was covered in fur, although standing there she remembered the sheets and her bed back home, but she couldn’t go back now.

“What’s done is done.” She said looking at the ground.

                  A tear was passing down her cheek and fell down on the ground, the poor mare went through a lot, now she only wanted to rest, but how could she? She tried to stop her tears, but with no luck unfortunately, after half an hour of crying she finally fell asleep.

                 She woke up after hearing the sound of a branch cracking and went towards an old oak tree standing there in the middle of other trees. She touched the tree with her right hoof, then she closed her eyes and put her forehead on the bark of the old tree.

                  She heard the sound again, she turned around and saw behind her the white changeling covered in blood. He smiled without revealing his teeth then laughed slowly moving his head a bit to the left and right, a stream of blood poured from his mouth. The blood surrounded the white-furred mare as if it was alive.

“I mean you no harm. Don’t be afraid.” he said after he stopped laughing

                 The changeling then smiled revealing his long canines and wolf like teeth then letting out a growl jumped in the air towards her, she screamed then woke up. The poor mare was breathing heavily and shivered. She shook her head then rose up on all her fours and kept moving forwards.

                  She was still thinking about the white changeling, of what he did last night and what he told her. Her kind and his kind are natural enemies, they kill each other on sight, yet she was different from her kind she said to herself.

                  She didn’t care about what race they are, yet changelings do, as much as she wanted not to fight them, they attacked her each time they met, she defeated them, but instead of killing them like the rest of her kind she left them alive. She was the white black sheep of her kind, that’s why she was there after all.

               As the day passed she kept moving, occasionally stopping to gather some fruits she found around the forest, usually ponies avoid eating fruits in the forest, but she didn’t, her mother taught her everything about the flora and her father everything about the fauna.

                She gathered a few berries and six wild apples, although the fruits were nothing like apples, but she didn’t care, that’s how she liked to call them. She thought of eating the fruits, but she needed more than apples, she went by eating only fruits for a week already, she needed some meat.

                 She took some branches from a few oak trees and made a small circle of branches ready to be lit up, but she needed meat first. She went in search for some around the temporary camp she made, hours went by and no meat, she was really starving so decided to eat one of the wild apples she gathered.

                  She took a bite out of it and she couldn’t believe her taste how good it was. She kept chewing on the apple, but when she was ready to take the last bite she heard a boar nearby. The white-furred mare silently moved towards the brown-furred board and hid in the bush. She watched the boars movement, making sure she will catch it.

                  She knew boars ate fruit so she threw the part of the apple she wasn’t able to eat and waited for the boar to approach it. The boar heard the apple falling on the ground, he didn’t got scared, it was a light fall so he knew it wasn’t something big that could endanger him.

                    The boar approached the apple cautiously though, and after a few minutes of staring and examining the fruit, the white shape-shifter jumped on the boar making sure she grabs him then after making sure she held him tight she bit the boars neck.

                    The board let out a small scream, but once she put her teeth into you she won’t let you go. The white mare held the boar tight and her teeth inside his neck until enough blood poured out of the boar for him to die. She spited out some of the boars hair, but she was happy, she had something to eat.

“Finally, some meat! We’ll have a feast toda… Right… I’m alone…” The mare looked at the ground then after a small breath she put the boar on her back and went back to the camp.

                 She started the fire and ripped a few parts of the boars meat and put them on some branches that were held above the fire. After cooking about eight stakes she threw the boar away from her camp for the animals of the forest to eat.

                She went back to her small fire and ate the stakes, they were delicious, after finishing the stakes she was full. The white-furred mare lay on the ground for half an hour admiring the sky and the leaves and thinking of back when she was younger.

                 When she finally rose up, she kept going, the forest was beautiful she thought. She wanted her friends to see it, but there was no way to do it. The mare kept moving and thinking of her friends when she heard a stream nearby, she followed the noise of the stream until she found a lake.

“I can finally wash a bit.” She said to herself staring at the crystal clear water.

               The shape-shifter entered the water, of course, it was cold, but she managed to get used to it. She washed her fur, but seeing how enjoyable and deep enough to swim the water was she decided to spend a few more minutes there swimming, after all she loved swimming.

                She and her childhood friend would always sneak and go outside the camp in the summer and go for a swim. Half an hour passed and she still wasn’t bored of swimming in that lake, but she knew she had to keep moving, so she decided to swim underneath the water then she’d be on her way again.

             She swam underneath the water like she was dancing, you could clearly see that she was very talented at swimming, and dancing underneath the water was nothing, but time was up and she went to the shore. As she rose her head out of the water and opened her eyes, she was face to face with the white changeling from last night which was drinking some water, after they saw each other an awkward silence set on that place.

“YOU!” they both yelled pointing at each other with their hooves.

“What are you doing here?! Me?! What about you?! Stop!” they both said the same thing at the same time.

“Look, uhmm… what’s your name?” She asked the white changeling which was staring at her.

“My name?! Well my name is… I don’t remember my name.” He said looking away from the mare.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, how could you forget your own na… “ The changeling stopped her saying his name.

"C! My name is C! Nice to meet you, uhm…“ C looked at the white-furred mare smiling, revealing his teeth, but his teeth weren’t like last night, his teeth looked omnivorous, just like hers.

“Uhm… my name is Blue Ink. And… why did you spare me last night?” She stared at the changeling.

Because, those idiot ponies dared to attack you although you didn’t do anything to them and they called you a pe… you know what and I was also hungry. I tell you sleeping a long time ain’t good for your body.” C looked at the mare and smiled, then he turned around to leave

“Bye then Blue Ink! Have a nice life.”

                  The white-furred shape-shifter was a bit confused, again the white changeling didn’t attack her, but spoke to her like they were friends. Could he also be different than the rest of his kind. Blue Ink didn’t waste time standing anymore in the lake. She jumped out of the water and ran in front of C stopping him.

“Stop! I didn’t thank you for saving me. If it wasn’t for you I’d be dead.” The mare looked straight into C’s eyes.

“No need to thank me my dear, they deserved it… Now go Ink, I believe you have a family? Why not go at them instead of wasting time in this forest?” C said touching Blue Ink’s right check with his hoof.

“I can’t go back…” Inky looked at the ground “I’m all alone, I have nopony left. I ran away from them and I don’t wish to go back. I was thinking… can I come with you?”

“No, no, no, no, no, no! It’s too dangerous to come with me, those guards were after me and I can’t have anyone else slowing me down.” C said looking at the blue-furred mare which was pretty sad.

“Please C! I’m alone, if I stay alone any longer I’ll probably be caught by them and thrown into a prison or be killed. I promise I won’t slow you down, I can take care of myself very well and I can help you.” The blue mare said looking at the changeling which had a change of attitude on his face.

“Alright Ink! But with one condition, you’ll follow me temporarily as soon as we find you a place to live in peace we’ll part ways. Agreed?” C said his snout touching Blue Ink’s snout.

“Agreed. But, where to C?” Inky asked C looking at him happily.

“Well I was going in that direction.” C pointed towards the south “Do you happen to know what lays for us there?”

“I have no idea C, I’ve never been in these parts before.” She responded looking towards the direction C pointed.

“Then it’s an adventure. Andale!” C said smiling while pointing with his hoof stretched.

“What does andale mean?” Blue Ink asked staring at the white changeling which was still pointing.

“It’s Spanish for let’s move.” C responded while still stretching his hoof.

“Spani-what C?” She was confused, she never heard of such a language before.

“It’s complicated, let’s just say it’s a word I like.” C said to Inky and moved forwards.

"Are you coming?" He asked Blue Ink which started following him.

             Night finally came and the two were exhausted after the road they had. C decided to rest for tonight underneath a big tree bark that lay on the ground. He searched the bark, it was pretty warm inside so he called Blue Ink to him and they both went inside the shelter.They stood there and looked at the sky, there was a gap in the bark.

"The stars are beautiful tonight. I surely missed them." C said staring at the stars above.

"How could you miss the stars C? They have always been up there. Our ancestors have always been up there, watching over us." She replied to C staring at the sky.

"Your ancestors?" He asked the white-furred mare.

"Yes. Up there rest our ancestors, but not every one of them, only the bravest and those that did great things go there. The rest simply join them." She said to him.

"Do you see that star? That's the ancestor that guides and watched over me, one day I'll join him." She said pointing at a bright star in the sky.

"Stars aren't dead ancestors, they're only huge round balls that burn like your sun" C replied to her moving his hooves.

"That sounds interesting, but I still believe those are our ancestors. One day I wish I could see them all, but I will only join one of them and I know it will be my guiding star." Ink responded to C.

"Who knows Ink? Maybe one day, somehow, you'll see them, but until that day, you should stay with your hooves on the ground."

                          He told the white-furred mare, then turned around to sleep and Inky followed him, but as Inky lay down to sleep, C turned to face Ink and asked her something very awkward.

“Ink, can you please sleep on top me?” C asked Ink smiling while the white mare was shocked of the question.