Friendship is Recovering

Chapter 16

Since when do plans ever turn out to be okay?

I was awakened, not by the sun, but by the sound of knocking. I grumbled to myself softly as I got out of the bed and walked down the stairs, wondering who would be knocking on my door at this time of morning. When I opened the door, I saw a familiar looking pegasus with a mailbag. She looked at me with one eye, since her other eye looking a totally diffrent direction. I figured that I knew this wall-eyed pegasus, but she held out a letter.

"Letter for you!" She said in a happy tone.

"Hello... Do I know you from somewhere?" I asked her, faintly recalling her from somewhere.

"Ditzy Doo, we met at the party," She said looking at me confused... or is that just her eyes?

"Ahh, I forget stuff sometimes... Anyways thanks for the letter," I said to her and taking the envelope. She saluted before flying off to deliver more mail. I figured she was the mailpony around, a tad clumsy, but she's the best they got. I decided to stop standing at the door and closed it.

I first sat down on the couch, but then switched to laying down on the couch because sitting like I used to just feels weird now, and painful. When I was in a good possition on the couch, I opened the envelope. I saw a weird sigil, but I disregarded that for a moment and took out the paper it came with. I opened up the paper carfully and started to read.

Dear John,

I have Heard about you and how you have just suddenly shown up out of the blue, but I have a request for you. Inside the envelope is a map to the badlands, I have marked where you would want to go to meet me. We shall discuss more when you get there."

I was confused at the fact that there was no return address, there wasn't even a name on the letter. I shook my head and took out the map that the letter talked about and opened it. The first thing that shocked me was the fact that it was very detailed about every landmark, mountain, area, there even was a few of the plains with names. I decided to stop focusing on the details to find the mark, and after searching for a few seconds I could not find it. I decided to investegate the sigil that also came with the letter. I figured that it may help me, so I put it upon the map. A green dot suddenly appeared on the map, and I figured that the dot was where I needed to go. It was strangly near a mountain that was seperate from the other mountains, but I didn't think it was anything important. Now that I had a location, I needed to prepare for a days journey to the area. I rolled up the map and set it down to pack a travel bag that I would use for travel.

I put the final item into my bag, before picking up the map and carefully putting it into my bag as well. As I walked out, I noticed a pony walk towards me.

"Hello John," Midnight said to me.

"Hey Midnight," I responded and put the bag on my back, using my wings to make sure it stayed there.

"You're traveling somewhere?" She asked me, being confused about why I had a bag.

"Yeah, I packed enough provisions in this bag to last me for days," I said with a confident smile.

"Would you mind if I come with you?" She asked, suprising me once more with her questions.

"I wouldn't mind, but do you really want to come with me?" I asked her, trying to keep myself from flat out telling her no.

"Yes, I do want to come with you because otherwise, you could get hurt. Where are you even going anyways?" She asked me suspiciously. I sighed and decided to let her come with me.

"The Badlands, that's why I have my provisions," I told her with a frown. She looked at me in shock.

"Why do you want to go there? The Changleings are said to live in that area," She told me, being openly worried about my safety.

"Changelings?" I asked, as this was the first time I heard the word.

"They basicly look like insects, except that they can disguise themselves as other ponys," She explained to me with a frown, she probably was confused about why I haven't heard of them.

"Sounds like fun then, I'm really eager to go now," I said, letting my reckless side take over for once.

"You do know-" She started to say, but I interupted her.

"It is probably dangerous as hell and would quite possibly result in me either: being captured, or running away from something. Like I said, sounds like fun to me," I said, smiling as wide as Pinkie Pie would.

"You have an odd sence of fun," She told me with a raised eyebrow.

"If you have been a treasure hunter for as long as I have, then you can see why I do," I told her, before handing her an extra bag to pack any provisions she would need for the journey.

We would get started on our journey to the Badlands in the early afternoon. Midnight packed more than the bag that I gave her, she has an extra bag that was full of scarves, courtesy of Rarity of course, and an empty bag.

"Why do you need an empty bag?" I asked her in confusion.

"Blitz wants me to get her a souvenir while I am there, hopefully the changelings won't try to capture us so I can get one," She said, being mildly annoyed.

"Good point, you'll probably get one when you travel with me," I said, and we started off on our journey to the Badlands through the feilds of grass. As we walked, I smiled at the fact that adventure awaited me on this journey. Perhaps if I wanted to, I could unretire and be a treasure hunter. 'Nah, there's probably no treasures for me to even find here." I thought to myself, and we continued on.

By the time we reached the Badlands, I could see that it was full of dust, loose soil, and a lot of wind blowing around.

"I think we should put on facescarves, so we don't breathe in anything harmful," I told Midnight.

"You're right about that, the wind may be blowing some of the loose soil and dust around," She said and took out the bag full of scarves. I was not very pleased that she packed mainly blue scarves, but I found a yellow one at the bottom of the bag. I took it out and wrapped it around my head in a way that it would protect my face and let me still be able to see. I saw Midnight do the same thing, and I smiled. 'If I ever do have a kid here, I'm going to teach him or her of being a treasure hunter for the right reasons. That and I could always use the exercise.' I thought to myself.

As we walked through the Badlands Midnight got my attention

"By the way, where are we even going anyways?" Midnight asked me curiously, her voice somewhat muffled by the scarf.

"An area that is near a mountain or something, someone sent me a letter and wanted to meet me there, I want to see who it is before I take that request since it was without a name," I told her through my scarf.

"Alright, I hope it isn't anything that could hurt us," She said out of worry.

"Don't worry, stay with me and you will be okay," I told her with confidance, but in reality, I was not so sure myself.

"What would happen if we get attacked by changelings?" She asked nerviously.

"If that should happen, I can fight them off myself," I told her proudly, but I was still unsure about that as well.

"I hope you can... for both of our sakes," She told me.

When we arrived at the area, I could see a big mountain nearby. I removed the scarf carefuly and looked around.

"Alright, I'm here," I said out loud, hoping that whoever wanted me here was actualy here.

"So you have actualy come folowing the letter," A distinctively female voice said.

"Yeah, now who are you?" I asked, hoping that she wouldn't try to jump me.

"To answer your question, I'll have to surround you first," She said, before I heard a buzzing sound and black insect like creatures surrounded both of us. I slowly moved closer to Midnight to protect her.

"Changelings!" Midnight yelped in fear. I however glared at them, ready to attack at a moments notice if I need to.

"I'm suprised you know of us," I heard the voice say before I saw a big changeling emerge from the circle that surrounded us.

"And who might you be?" I asked her, figureing that she was royalty.

"I would appologize for surrounding you, as it was necessary to ensure our safety from you ponys," she said, not answering my question.

"I asked who are you?" I asked her again, being annoyed.

"My name is Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings," She said, sounding a bit annoyed.

"That's nice..." I said, being suddenly more bored with talking with the queen of them. I really don't like royalty because they always seem to act in certain ways that would make me want to gag.

"John, she attacked Canterlot with most of her changeling hive, I don't think it is a good idea to taunt her," Midnight told me, becoming more worried.

"I see you remember that, I can say that I have my reasons to do such a thing," She said with an evil smile. I really wanted to facehoof right now, but I didn't because I was going to do the most stupidest thing to ever try.

"Okay, that's just stupid, I know you have your reasons, but to attack a royal capital? That's just dence!" I said to her.

"You would not have any other choice if you needed food," She explained to me.

"Right, now what do you eat?" I asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"Love, we changelings actualy feed on the emotion," She explained. Wow, so she surrounded us to trap us because they really don't have enough food. I thought to myself.

"Alright, so let me get this straight, you attacked a capital in order to get food to stop your changeling hive from starving, in my opinion, that's even stupider, plus it would make all changelings look evil since by the sounds of it, you failed to do it successfully," I explained to her, the changelings bristled at how I talked to their queen.

"And you would know of another way to save my hive?" She asked me in curiosity.

"As a matter of fact, I do. First off, since you introduced yourself it would be polite to introduce ourselves, so my name is John, that is Midnight Song." I said, pointing a hoof at Midnight when I introduced her.

"And what was the point of doing that?" Chrysalis asks me in annoyance.

"Just a step towards diplomacy, now that we all know each other and that you feed on love, however you don't have enough of that to spare so your hive is starving. So you trap anyone that is giving off love and feed of off that," I explained knowingly. In reality I was hoping she was going to listen.

"Yes, but-" She started to say, but I held a hoof up.

"Let me finish first, I understand now of why you attacked, but let me be a represenitive of the pony race, rather than just a normal pony that you called here for a request, and let us talk about what can benefit both of us," I said in a way that would clearly state my intentions.

"Go on..." She said, sounding intrested in what I could come up with.

"There is a simple solution, let me work with you to get a reasonable deal between you and the rulers, no fighting and most certainly no single sided deals," I said like if I was a diplomat.

"You already know we require food," She said in bit annoyed tone.

"Well, that shouldn't be to hard to do then, you could live with the ponys in the same society while you can pledge support in times of need. Now you can also become soldiers of the army should you ask for it as well," I offered to her.

"The ponys would never accept that, most of them still remember the events at canterlot and are very biased against us," She explained to me. I frowned in frustration because I figured that that would hurt any chances of a true peace

"Well, the best plan I can come up with is to show that you are not truely evil, and that you had reasons to attack canterlot." I said, offering her a way to change their ideas.

"And how do you propose that we do that?" She asked me in confusion. I smiled because now I have something to work with, and if I pulled it off correctly, we could have a species for support.

"I want you to at least promice me a one time deal of support, I will use that deal when I manage to get into a situation that I cannot do alone and the ponys are not able to help me either," I said, explaining my plan briefly. I saw the queen pause for a moment to think, before she pulls out a very odd instrument and holds it out.

"Very well, use this when you need us, the magic in this instrument will teleport us directly to you or to a distance, depending where you want us to appear," She said, explaining what it would do. I took the instrument and looked it over, thinking that it looks familiar to something.

"What is this instrument anyways?" I asked, being confused about it.

"This is what you ponys would call a flute, some cannot play it because they don't know the way to even use it, but all you need to do is use one note to call us," She explained.

"Okay then," I said, putting the flute in my bag.

"Now then, before you go..." She said, and took a step towards Midnight. I walked right in front of her and stopped her before she took another step.

"Try to hurt her, and I will use your wings to choke you to death after ripping them off," I threatened, before realizing I was threatening royalty. But she laughed in a way that I didn't like.

"I was wondering if you actualy did care about her, very well then," She said, and then attempted to cover me in a very sticky green goo. In my panic, I decided to try to eat my way out of it. Oddly enough, it actualy worked and I managed to get out.

"Bleck!! That stuff tasted like green Jell-o that sat in the sun for an hour," I said, while attempting to use my hoof to wipe off my tongue of the taste. Everything that was watching looked at me in suprise.

"Did you just eat some of that?" Midnight asked me in confusion and disgust.

"Yeah, this is just one of the many reasons I love being a retired treasure hunter, I really do weird stuff and don't regret it later," I said, smiling wide again. Then I saw all movement halt in the circle of changelings that surrounded us.

"Wait... like Daring Doo?" One of the changelings asks me in what sounds like a star struck tone.

"I... Guess so?" I said, being confused about who Daring Doo was. I was very suprised when I heard many of the changeings, including the queen, Squeal in happyness.

"What?" I asked, being even more confused about their reaction.

"You are an actual treasure hunter?" Chrysalis asks me.

"Yep, would you like to hear a tale of mine?" I said, smiling at the huge stroke of luck. What are the odds that they would be fond of treasure hunters? I thought to myself. I would be pulled out of my thoughts as I saw all of the changelings sit down, and the queen joined them. I smiled for a bit before starting my tale.

"Well, let me tell you about the time where I went with a group to find this city of gold," I said, and I told the tale of one of my best moments as a treasure hunter.

"They were really fighting each other in an attempt to get the city of gold, but I ended it by finding a note on a pedestal, the note said that the whole entire city was NOT made of real gold, instead it was made of what we called fools gold. I even checked it and found the image of a jester upon the gold as well. I realized what happened, we all just got tricked by a city full of jokesters, and that this was their final joke. When I told them that, the fight stopped and they all checked the gold to find that I spoke truth. We were really disapointed, but I look back at that and laugh when I need to cheer up because I learned that even the ancient people have humor. That was the time I found the City of Fools... Gold," I said, and then I burst out laughing and many of the changelings joined in.

"I can't belive you did all of that for a city made of fake gold!" one said while laughing.

"I know! It is so funny to me this day!" I said, while trying to calm down.

"Perhaps it was good idea to agree to help you, I apologize for trying to trap you," The queen said.

"Why would you change your mind?" I asked, being curious about the reasons.

"We are all fans of the book series "Daring Doo", so meeting an actual treasure hunter is almost the same as meeting the actual character," She told me simply.

"Ah I understand now," I said, and I finaly understood why they reacted the way they did.

"So what now?" One of the changeling asks me.

"Now, I think I should be headed home. I have done this fun trip, but now it is time for me and Midnight to return home," I said, feeling sad about leaving. It almost felt like I was leaving a group of old friends.

"Would you ever come back?" One of the changelings asks me curiously. I looked around, and sighed.

"Maybe not, but just know that I won't ever think lower of you all," I said, and pulled up my scarf for a face mask.

"Very well, then allow me to at least help you make the journey back easier. Oh and if you ever meet my son, tell him his mother misses him," Chrysalis said, before a magic envelops both of us and I saw green fill my vission for a while. When I finaly could see again, I noticed I was with Midnight near the place we entered in the first place.

"Remember what happened last night?" I asked Midnight,

"You mean the time that you proclaimed your love for me in front of my house?" She said in responce.

"Good, your not a changeling. That was fun!" I exlaimed happily. Midnight simply facehoofed.

"You really do have an odd sence of fun, but I think we should let Twilight know about this," She told me.

"We'll tell Twilight and Dusk tommorrow, by the time we get back it would be late," I explained to her, and she sighed.

"At least I got something to keep," She said in a soft way.

"Really?" I asked, being curious about what she just got.

"I got a bit of that slime that used to cover you and this symbol of them." She said, holding out the small bag for me to see the exact things inside of it.

"Told you..." I said tauntingly, Midnight used her hoof to lightly punch me on the front leg. We both laughed and started to make our way back home.

When we returned home, I was tackled by Pinkie Pie.

"Oh not again, what do you want Pinkie?" I asked her, being extremely annoyed about being tackled again. If I had a bit for every time I got tackled in the past week, I would possibly be rich.

"I want you to help me gather everything for a great party!" She said exciteidly.

"Can't it wait? I just got back from a place that is very far away," I told her.

"Really? Where did you go? Manehatten? Canterlot? Apploosa? The editors house?"

"No, no, no, what? No, I went to the Badlands." I said, being confused about Pinkie's guessing.

"Oh, isn't that a place full of the Changelings?" She asked in wonder.

"Yeah, it'll make for a great story to tell at your party tommorrow," I said, getting up after finaly noticing that she wasn't on me.

"That would be perfect!" She exclaimed before bouncing off. I remained silent for a good while, before turning to Midnight.

"Well, Good night then, I'll see you at work tommorrow," I said, and walked off to get back to my house.

After arriving at my house, the first thing I did was take a nice shower. I was really messy from the green ooze and the dust from the Badlands. I really had to work hard, but I finaly got cleaned and I got out of the shower and dried myself off with a towel. I looked in the mirror at my reflection, before smiling. I once thought I would hate my life as a pony, but now I think my life has turned into something new. I thought to myself, my smile would disapear when I thought about how I lived my life in the past. As I walked to my bedroom, I thought to myself. Will I forever be a pony? Or is there some way that I would be able to turn back into a human. I don't know, but I don't really care right now.

I decided that it would be a really good time to rest, rather than think about depressing subjects. I would simply flop onto my bed and closed my eyes to sleep. My dream was however nothing but blackness. And I couldn't see anything, not even myself. I could hear one sound though, and it was the sound of crying. I wondered in my dream of who would cry, but then I would reconize the sound as it being... myself. I haven't had reasons to cry in a long time... I wonder what caused it? I thought to myself, but the sound faded away and I could hear nothing else.