Strange Bedfellows

The scent of food and people, good and bad. Nose lifts from ground, eyes see light that dances and waves as the people above shift and move, squabble and bicker, whine and snivel. Body moves forward, tensed for any supri-

Something lands on head, jump back and growl, look down and see red and white bag. Nose sniffs, smells good. Hands grab, mouth tastes, food good.

Crack behind, Spin around, eyes see dirty man in the dark, nose smells dirty man and alcohol. "What are you, some kind of dog-ghost-kid thing?" Growl to show mean, "Shove off, Kid, play somewhere else and stop eating my food."

Huff, turn around and bite bag.

"Hey, I said don't eat my food!" Turn head and look at him, growl, walk towards exit. Dirty jumps at me, "I said drop it!" Hop away, bag drops. "Now look what you-" Eat food. "STOP THAT!" Dirty lunges again, hop back. "Oh, now your gonna get it!" Clack, Dirty holds knife "Who knows if anyone's gonna drop anything else today, I could have lasted days off of that!" He swipes, Hop back. "Now I'm going to have to kill you!" Swipes again, Hop b-

Hit something, turn head, bright light, blink and Climb through the light. "No, your not getting away that easily!" Foot grabbed, Pulled back, head hits, Pain. Pulled again, kick.

"Hey, is that a kid?"

"What's that kid doing?"

"Is that an Albino?"

"Someone help him!"

Kick again, knife flashes in darkness, Pain. Hiss, snap at hands, so many hands, all around.

"Calm down!"

"We're not gonna hurt you."

Pulled again, "If I can't have your head, I'll have your leg!" Knife flashes again, kick it. "Hey, I need that!" Growl and snap at hands. Pulled again, spin around, bite hand, tastes bad. "Ow, you little shit!" Bite through, tastes good. Dirty screams and lets go. Scramble through people, run down, trip, run again, climb up, run, hide behind curtains. Dark here, slink down.

"Oh, hello." head turns, can't find source. "Right here." Eyes darken, all can see is Big white beard. Hiss and scramble away. Happy laughter from the beard, Growl. "I mean no insult!" Hands appear beside the beard. "What are you doing here?" Eyes darken more, beard is wearing pointy hat, has stars and moons. Is stupid.

Big men appear from no where, "You okay, Oz?"

The beard turns to the men, "You guys are quick on the draw today."

"This kid has been causing a hassle for the past ten minutes, I'd say we're a little off our game today actually."

The beard turns back, "Is that so..."

"He bit off a man's Thumb apparently, we got someone trying to find out who's." The big men are closer then they were before. Growl and back up.

The other big man speaks, "Man, I hate dealing with ferals."

"I know how you feel." big man lunges, jump up, kick off back, other big man grabs arms.

"Ha, I go-" Spit thumb in his face. "Oh god!" Big man lets go, hit ground, other big man wraps his arms around body. Hiss and bite and snap and claw, useless. "Going to die... No, only little boys die!" Kick back, the big man groans. "Not a little boy, not die!"

"Right in the junk..." Kick again and again and again, the other one grabs legs. "We got you, so you can stop fighting no-" Snap at face. "Stop that or we'll have to get rough, and I don't want to hurt no kid."

"Maybe you don't have to." The beard says at it looks straight into eyes, "Your just afraid aren't you?" Snap at face. "Just as I thought," He made a strange sound, raised his arms as he said, "Stay and watch my show, little one, and you will be amazed beyond your wildest dreams!"

The big men look at him, confused, then they laugh, "It can't hurt him too much!" says the one holding legs.

"It's not him I'm worried about..." says the other one. Snap at face. the other lets go of legs, then grabs arms. Click, click. Wrists go cold.

"Lets watch the show, Kid." Kick, grabs leg. Click. Kicks with other leg, Click. "It'll be nice, and it might make you a little more complacent, it's worked on the other ones... Though this isn't an ideal seat." Carried to the side, sat in chair, hands on shoulders.

Beard walks out in front of wall and makes strange noise. "Sorry for the delay, Folks, just had to deal with a surprise guest." Laughter, "Now, on to the-" His arms shot up in front of him and birds flew out, "SHOW!"

Jaw drops, "I knew this would work." Big man says

"Like a charm." says the other.

*-*

I wake up to the sound of my head hitting the window, after a moment, I feel the pain, "Ow." I state as I rub the side of my head absent mindedly.

"It awakes!" Raul narrates as he throws his arms up in the air dramatically.

"Har de har, Where are we?"

"About half way over the mountain."

"So... Half way then?" I ask as I look out the window by my head.

"Not really, this path curves around another mountain, so that adds a day or two, otherwise it would be only slightly longer then the other one."

"Oh, I see." I watch the rocks as they crawl past.

"You don't seem quite as... Hostile today, is everything alright?"

I tilt my head as I try to make sense of the question, then it hits me, "Did you just ask if I was... All right?"

"Why yes, that is what "Is everything alright?" means."

"I was just surprised is all... I didn't think you cared." I look at him and tilt my head more.

"I don't," he said a little too quickly, "I just wanted to make sure my hotline to Chrysalis was alright."

"I'm touched, honestly." I say with faux affection.

"Get stuffed." He retorts irritably as the carriage stops, a confused look crosses his face, "I wonder why we-"

The door on my side flies open and a brown hoof hits me in the face, Pain, A brown hoof wraps around the neck of my cloak and pulls me out of the carriage.

"Name NOW!" Sev yells through his "Time Turner" disguise before he decks me in the face again.

"Ow," I state simply as I work my jaw, "You hit me." He growls and his fist crashes into my face as his other hand lets go, sending me flying, I crash into the ground, my head dangles over the cliff edge... CLIFF EDGE?!

"AH!" I roll forward and cower in a ball.

"That was... Unexpected." I heard Raul say from outside my safety ball of safety. Sev kicks me less viciously then I though he would.

"Name, Now." he says as he kicks me yet again.

"You almost killed me!" I shout at him as I curl up more. I feel a familiar warm sensation wrap around me, "Not this again..." Suddenly I was spread eagle and floating in the air.

"For the last time, Human, Name or I'll take the "almost" out of that statement."

"You killed- Oh, I get it."

"Name, Jack ass."

"That's not it, guess again." I rocket into his hoof and he clamps it on my throat.

"Name." His grip tightens

"My-" I gasp, "-Name-" the edges of my vision started to blur, "-is-" I try to cough and just end up hurting myself more.

my vision goes black, "-Bob..." His grip, both magical and physical, let go instantly.

"Bob?!" He says with disgust as my sight returns and I cough like a chronic smoker, "BOB?!" he picks me up with magic again, "What kind of bullshit lie is-" His ear flicks to the side, I noticed that Raul's had done the same... then I look up.

"Oh shit..." I croak out as the boulder teetering above us rolls over the edge. I point up at it and both Raul and Sev follow my finger.

"We'll finish this later," Sev says as he throws me to the side, "INCOMING!" He shouts both in my head and out as he buzzes to the side.

"Nice... talk..." I moan as I lay on my back and watch the boulder barely miss Raul, "Damnit, I was rooting for that rock..." I lay on my back and stare at the sky, "This probably means we're under attack, doesn't it?" I get up slowly, rub my throat, "That means I have to get Trixie, doesn't it?" I hang my head, "Not who I would pick as my first choice, but when you dig a hole, you have to live in it." I run towards the cart I last saw her hauling, almost getting crushed in the process.

"Attack!" I couldn't tell who, or from where that came from... That's probably not a good thing.

"They're attacking from the front!"

"From the back to-"

"From above- AH!"

"Protect Raul, the human is optional!"

"Hey... that hurts my feelings..." I turn around the back of a wagon and promptly get a pony to the chest. "That hurts the rest of me..." The pony on top of me was looking blankly to the sky, "Dead weight... Great." I go to shove him off of me, an arrow sprouts from it's chest. "I didn't know that they even had those here..." I rasp out as it rolls off of me.

"What the hell are you?" says a VERY close voice from behind me.

"Will you accept "Lost" as an answer?" as I turn to face a dark yellow pegasus floating at my eye height.

"No, but I am willing to accept "Dead" as one." He spins in the air and one of his back back hooves shoots out and crushes my chest... Well, that's how I think it would have gone, but while he was busy spinning, I was busy running the fuck away.

"AH!" I shout out in fear, "SOMEBODY HELP!" I could hear flaps behind me, getting rapidly closer... then a loud, sickly crunch. I slow down, turn my head, and find a dark yellow hoof sticking out from underneath a boulder, surrounded by a pool of blood and meat. "Gross..."

"Get out of the open, you idiot!" an familiar female voice shouts at me as arrows pin into the ground around me. I run towards the sound. Turn a corner and get punched in the face.

"OW!" I reel back and clutch my nose. "Why is everyone punching me today?"

"Cause your an idiot." I move my hand away from my face and find myself looking at the always lovely Four Ten, the "Nurseling", in the guise of a purple-ish pink unicorn named "Bright Reflections" with the picture of a mirror on her butt. "Now help me get to the triage."

"Uh, where is that exactly?"

"The center of the convoy, the safest point, though I use that term relatively."

"Lets get going, otherwise I'ma look like a porcupine." She runs off and I chase her, a bolt of light shoots at my head, I duck just in time, "AH!" an arrow pins in the dirt at my feet, I trip over it, "Dammit!" I scurry along on all fours, "Are we there yet?!" I shout at Four Ten as she turns around a shattered cart, "HELLO?!"

I round the corner and find a Griffon with one of his claws around her throat. "You'd fetch a nice price..." He says as he strokes her face with his other claw, one of it's digits is missing. He looks at me and raises an eyebrow, "What's this?" He punches Four Ten in the gut and drops her in the dirt, she doesn't get up. He starts walking towards me, "Never seen anything like you before..." I take a few steps back and glance at Four Ten.

"Come on, get up." I project at her, she doesn't even twitch.

"You'll be the talk of the..." The Griffon chuckles, "Block." I look at him, he steps forward, I step back. "Come willingly and we'll make sure your not beat... Too bad." He steps forward, I go to step back, but the hoof in my back stops me. I look over my shoulder and find an earth pony I don't recognize.

"Not good..."

"Depends on your point of view." The griffon says louder then he was earlier, I turn to look at him and find him right in my face. Now I know why he's louder. I knee him in the chest, he grabs my throat.

"What's with my throat today?" I think irritably as he lifts me off my feet.

"Not a smart move, from every point of view." a smile crosses his beak, "I like that one, what about you?" he turns an looks at the unfamiliar Pony.

"I liked it, sir, good use of irony." The Griffon rolls his eyes

"Oh my god, is that Cockney accent?" And I found myself trying -and failing- to laugh.

"Don't laugh at me!" the Pony shouts at me, "It's not me fault that I talk like this!"

I couldn't stop trying to laugh, oh god, did it hurt, but laugh I did.

"Is this thing insane?" the Griffon asks nothing in particular as my vision starts to blur and darken.

Kick it in the face. The grip tightens. "Are you trying to escape?" Dark, so dark... Dying... Cockney... Tee hee...

Suddenly I could breath again, the air was really wet though, I'm on my stomach. My vision returned and I was drenched all up my back. "I said you were optional." Sev's hoof appears by my head, I grab it. "Never said I'd turn down the chance to beat you again." He points at Four Ten, "Get her on my back."

I look at Sev, then I realize he isn't in his disguise anymore, "Okay." I croak as I pick her up and throw her on his back. "Triage?"

"Our strongest point." He runs off and I try to follow him, but my legs give out and I drop in the dirt face first. A pale blue hoof appears in front of my head as I turn to breath.

"Need a hoof?" Trixie's voice is suddenly alot less irritating. I grab her hoof and she lifts me up... and on to her back.

"Not... A... Child..."

"Trixie would disagree with that, but Trixie is a little too busy right now." A cart in front of us flips and she just blasts it out of the way, there were screams.

"Careful... Changlings..."

"Most of thoses left are at the center now, Trixie isn't sure quite how many that is though... Your friend never said."

"He's... kinda... like that..."