A Friendly Encounter with the Guards
Lance woke up from his nap, rubbing his eyes (which was pretty difficult, considering the fact that he had stumps instead of fingers). Groaning, Lance looked out of the mouth of the cave and spotted the setting sun. Lance buried his face on his hoof like appendages, mumbling "Shit, this isn't really a dream, is it?...I should have woken up by now." Shaking his head, Lance looked up again at the sun. "Then where am I? Is this a hallucination or shit?" Lance sighed "I don't do drugs...usually, so drug hallucination is still a possibility..." Lance kept on talking to himself. "Ah dammit, whatever, I'mma just explore this forest thing. Waiting isn't gonna get crap done" Lance stood on all fours, then proceeded to gallop towards the forest.
Lance made it to the heart of the forest in 10 seconds minutes flat. Running wasn't a strenuous activity, however Lance still felt like he had been running for hours. Lance panted as he sat on his haunches, examining the landscape. "...Damn...I haven't felt this worn out since...uh...last time I worked out...yeah...work out..." Lance shook his head, in an attempt to gather his bearings. Lance sighed "OK then...so...the first thing I should do is look for a body of water..."
After a few minutes (...or was it hours? Lance wasn't sure) of futile exploration, Lance saw nothing of value, except for the moon nestled in the night sky. "I'm freaking thiiirsty...." Lance complained. Lance continued to trek the woods, accompanied by nothing but the sounds of his hooves crunching the fallen leaves. Lance didn't notice for a while, but it looked like all the leaves were stripped from the nearby trees. 'Must be fall here' Lance thought, hopping over a pile of rocks.,,and then failing, he appeared to have forgotten he wasn't bipedal anymore. "Fuck..." Lance groaned, his face stuck on the ground in a comical manner. Lance forced his head off the earth, spitting out dirt in the process. "Now I'm even more thirsty..." Lance whined. After a while of useless moping, Lance's ears picked up a distant sound.
:"...why we even have to scout White Tail Woods..."
"...the Princess's orders..."
"...alright then..."
Lance froze, not sure what to make of the voices he heard. The last time he made contact with a local wasn't exactly a fond moment. In fact, said local appeared to fear him and called him a "Changeling" or something. Lance thought for a while, Maybe he could befriend the owner of the voices, no that's stupid. they'll probably flee or something. Maybe he could threaten them? Yeah, that's probably a good idea, scare them and then force them to escort him to water or better yet civilization! 'Nothing can go wrong...' Lance thought, grinning stupidly to himself.
A pair of armor-clad Pegasi made their way through White Tail Woods, spears in tow. One of the winged ponies put out a hoof to stop his darker companion from proceeding any further. "What gives Cloud Roller?" the pegasus asked. Cloud Roller pointed his spear at a spot in the path, it appeared to have been recently disturbed.
"See that Mist Flicker?" Cloud Roller asked, to which Mist Flicker nodded. Readying their respective weapons, the pair trudged through the woods in a more cautious manner. A sudden movement near Cloud Roller caught Mist Flicker's eye.
"Watch out, Cloud!" Mist Flicker cried, shoving his companion off his hooves. The bush that apparently made the movement, stopped shaking, and a dark figure popped out. "It's a damn changeling!"
"OoOoOoOoOohHh!!" the changeling mocked. It stood about five foot tall, hovering over the surprised guards. It was larger than any of the other changeling the guards have encountered before. The changeling took a step forward in what it hoped to be an intimidating manner, unfortunately for this changeling, Royal Guards were trained to have wills of steel. And these Royal Guards were war veterans from when the changeling invasion occurred.
"DIE FOUL BEAST!!"
'Ohshitohshitohshitohshitohshit' Lance looked at the charging duo, with spears held by their...hooves? What's up with that? Lance would have been dumbfounded at how a flat surface such as a hoof would be able to grasp a weapon, but unfortunately, he was in no position to question physics or lack thereof. "STOP!" Lance yelled, hoping to restrain the pegasi from moving "If you don't...I'll...I'll...rape you!"
The guards froze, a flurry of emotions emanating from them. But one feeling stood out, utter confusion. The guards loosened their grip on the spears. They mouthed the same question in unison.
"What?!"
"Rarity! Are you in?" Twilight Sparkle knocked on the door with her hooves.
"Sweetie Belle! Could you be a dear and let Twilight in? Please?" A regal sing-song voice spoke out. The door swung open, revealing a pure colored unicorn filly standing on the doorway.
"Come on in Twilight, my sister is a bit busy with orders today. She didn't even let me crusading today...said she needed a helping hoof...." the filly said, almost pouting. Twilight smiled at the filly. Every time Rarity was busy with anything, she would ask anypony (or dragon) nearby to help her. 'Poor Sweetie Belle...Maybe Spike can help, I bet he'd love to spend some time here...' Twilight thought, as she trotted in the boutique. She spotted trails of fabric scattered everywhere, ponyquins toppled over, with drapes of random accessories attached to them. To make a long-story short, the Carousel Boutique was in ruins.
An alabaster-colored unicorn came in the room, her silky purple mane that was usually well-groomed had been arranged (unintentionally) in a messy manner. "Oh, Twilight! I'm so sorry you have to see the Boutique in this...state" the unicorn cried. The unicorn stressed words in a manner that upper-class ponies would.
"Oh Rarity, I've seen the library in worse condition..." Twilight chirped. Rarity flinched, wondering how in Equestria that was possible, considering that her boutique looked like a tornado hit it. Shaking her head to disperse these thoughts, Rarity smiled at Twilight.
"So Twilight, what brings you here?" Rarity's smile twitched a bit, quite an obvious sign of stress.
Twilight fidgeted a bit, she didn't want to give Rarity more work to do...but her mentor asked for a hat. Although, Princess Celestia did mention that if it were a hassle, Rarity wouldn't have to create one. "Princess Celestia asked if it were alright with you to make her a large hat...if it weren't such a hassle" Twilight said, smiling sheepishly,
Rarity's smile widened "Oh it's no problem at all, darling! Especially is Princess Celestia herself asked for it. I'll have it done as soon as possible!" Twilight let out a sigh as Rarity exited the room, supposedly off to work.
"That was easy." Twilight smiled. "Oh...wait...Rarity!" Twilight cried out again.
Rarity's head appeared in the doorway, her glasses askew "Yes dear?"
Twilight Sparkle cleared her throat. "If you want I can have Spike help out. He's already done with his chores, and is probably relaxing now, but I'm sure that he would love to help out!" Twilight asked with a knowing smile.
Rarity smiled even wider "Yes! Of course darling! That would be a great help, thank you!"
"It's no problem, Rarity."
Lance took the surprised expression on the guards' faces to as a cue to escape. "Catch 'ya later!" Lance chortled, speeding through the woods with whatever energy he had left. The stunned guards just stood there, unaware that the changeling has managed to flee from them.
"S-snap out of it Mist!" Cloud Roller lightly jabbed Mist Flicker's face.
"W-what?"
"The changeling's getting away! Let's fly!" Cloud Roller's wings popped out.
Lance had managed to create a decent distance from the guards and himself. Looking back, Lance noticed that the guards have decided to take to the skies and are currently gaining on him. "Oh--shit..they're really pegasi?!...Fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck..." Lance panted random curse words as he trekked White Tail Woods.
Lance just didn't know what went wrong.