//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - Doesn't Add Up // Story: Not Just A Bug 2 : Not Just One // by Bringiton6611 //------------------------------// After making sure Thorax was okay to keep moving, we continued down the path that Shining had mapped out for us. If everything goes well, we'll circle back to base camp in a week or so. The body we just found back there did prove one thing. There ARE changelings out here. We just have to find one that's alive and hopefully won't try to kill us. But I have a feeling life has other plans for us, because life's a bitch. At least out here it is. Not even 10 minutes after we started walking again, we come across another road block. It looks like a tree fell and blocked the path ahead. That wouldn't sound weird, if one small wasn't showing. "Hey, look over here." I call out to Shining. Once he's beside me, I point at where the tree snapped. Or rather, where it was cut. "See those?" I point at the markings, "Someone cut this tree down, and looking at those cuts, it wasn't long ago." He muttered something I can't understand and then turns back to me. "I'll see if the guards and myself can do anything about this. Try to see if there's a way around this in case we can't." I nod my head and start looking. This doesn't make any sense. Why go though the trouble of cutting down a tree just to leave it? And it seems very weird that whoever did this just so happened to pick the tree that would block our path. This area is covered with overgrown... everything. It would be a pain to find a way around. Maybe I can find a clean way. After a few minutes of searching around, I find what appears to be an old chain link fence. The door to the gate is jammed, but I can see where someone cut a hole though it a few down the fence. I guess that's going to be where we're going. I go to turn around, to go back to Shining, to tell the news... only to stop dead in my tracks when I catch movement on the other side of the fence. I take a closer look, and it seems to have a outline of a pony, that much is clear. What's unnerving about it, is that I tell it's looking at me. And I looked right back. And feel my heart stop when I see it's eyes. They're solid blue. Just like a changelings. Before I can look anymore, the changeling turns around and darts away from me, disappearing into the forest. Okay, at least I know there are live changelings here. ... I should probably go back to Shining. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When I returned to Shining and the others, they had made close to no progress on the tree. I told them about the fence I found, and they agreed that it would be better to go that way, instead of staying here. Then I told them about the changeling I saw. They seemed surprised at first, but that quickly went away as mixed emotions and suggested came out. Some of them said we should follow him/her right away. Some of them said we should forget about him/her and worry about him/her later. We came down to continue on our way, and if we saw him/her again, we would follow them. They all agreed and Shining asked me to show them the way to fence, which is where we are now, "The hole is just.... down... there it is." "Where'd you see the changeling?" I hear a guard ask from beside me. I point on the other side of the fence. "Just on the other side. I'd say about 20 or 30 feet from the fence. They took off like a bat outta hell when I tried to get closer." With that sentence finished, I push myself though the small hole on the fence. Once on the other side, I noticed something that catches my eye. There's small green spots on the fence, as well as a small splatter of it on the ground. "Look." I point to the green spots. "Is that blood?" "Looks like it." I take a closer look, and start to see a path of it going in the direction of the changeling. I move over there, and see the blood continues the same way the changeling went. "That changeling that I saw must've gone though that hole in the fence just before I found it. And from the looks of it, it was hurt." "Hmm... alright, new plan. We go find that changeling as soon as possible." I nod as I let Shining take the group forward. I notice Thorax at the back, and move towards him. "Hey, how you holding up?" "Uh... could be better. I kept thinking I saw something in the trees. It's not a good feeling." "I hear you. Being watch is one of the worse feelings someone can ever have." "Have you ever had that feeling? Before you came to Equestria, I mean." "Sometimes, yeah. Mostly it was when I was in the woods." "The woods?" "Yeah. My house back on the earth was surrounded with woods, and I always liked to go walking them. There was this one clearing that I found during the winter, I was on my way back to my house because the sun was setting, and I got the best view of the sunset from there. Of course, during the day it was nice, but once sun goes down, those woods became about 6 times creepier. There were times where I actually got lost in them, and had to spent the night in them... good times." "Sounds like a good life." "Yeah, I was younger at the time. Fourteen, I think." "How old are you now?" "Eighteen. Turning nineteen is a few mouths.... What about you?" "Oh, um... sixteen." "You're sixteen? Really?" "Yep, really." "Damn." "Hey! You two! You're going to want to see this!" We start jogging to catch up to Shining and the rest of the group. When we do, we see what they see. And my jaw hits the floor.