//------------------------------// // Episode 14: Battle Scars // Story: Life of a Wanted Changeling Season 4: At Luck's End (Comment Driven Story) // by BrownDog77 //------------------------------// Falx_of_Lume’s Comment The red-haired woman blinks in surprise before her expression morphs into understanding. "You wandered into the reserve, didn't you?" She states knowingly which surprises you. "You're not the first person to do that, and I doubt you'll be the last. They really need to put a fence or something around it's border so people stop walking into those animals' territories." She says with a frown directed at the forest behind you. “Or a sign that shows rabid flesh eating monkeys,” you groan into the dirt in response. "Oh, I'm sorry. Let's get you up and over to the lodge. We've got a first aid kit and we can lend you some of Timber's clothes when we get there." She offers. “Are there monkeys there?” you grunt. “No,” she says a bit confused. “Then sure, why the buck not,” you agree as you attempt to get to your feet. “Here, let me,” she says kneeling down beside you to put one of your arms over her shoulder. Oh Luna, it’s touching me, you mentally panic before you slump your shoulders in resignation. Meh, I’ll bathe later, right now I’m too tired to care. So offering no resistance, she helps you to stand up and helps you walk in the direction she came from. “By the way, I’m Gloriosa Daisy,” she says as she hauls you onto a trail. “Bugze,” you answer in kind. “Nice to meet you sir,” she says with a smile. “By the way, is there anybody you want me to call for you?” “Call? Oh right, magic phones,” you sputter as you remember the impossibly small piece of plastic that B2 gave you. “Huh?” “Nothing,” you hand wave. “And not really, the other m-MY BROTHER is probably already at work so best not worry him.” “Oh…OK then,” she shrugs. GreyRebl’s Comment And so, the human woman gently leads you to a rather small, yet quaint lodge. The base is alive with moss, and the wooden seem chipped and old, but it’s a far better sight of a shelter than the cruddy tent that you “slept” in. Just by seeing it, you feel your situation instantly getting better as you entertain the idea of a proper roof over your head. Hopefully. “Ugh…” you groan deliriously as you stumble toward what looks like the entrance. “Better not be any crawlies in there. I think I already have a few in my mane…” The woman blinks, a hand pausing on the door handle. “Mane?” she ask as her eyes trails toward your hair. She then quickly glances away with a not-so-subtle grimace, the disgust bleeding through her voice. “I-I think we can get you bath, too...” “...Please and thank you,” You gulp, and shudder. Whether real or not, you swear you feel something slithering along your scalp...and it may or may not have more than eight legs. It’s taking all your newly born common sense to NOT give into your burning desire to incinerate your own mane and Sombra’s obnoxious laughter in the back of your mind isn’t helping! Ahhahahahahah! You’re a bug-pony! And you’re afraid of bugs in your mane? Ahahahah! Ahahahahaha! You mentally laugh sarcastically. Literally NEVER have heard that one before, Bugze, just ignore him. Selena sighs. Focus on cleaning up for now. “Can do…” you mutter, and you follow the woman into the lodge. You feel the air shift as you step inside. You can still smell the nature in the walls, but the punishing elements of the wild aren’t there anymore. The almighty blessing of the indoors soothes your aching skin, and you glance to the side and you see cots. And by cots, you mean proper beds. Beds so pristine and white and fluffy that you can just feel yourself sinking into it’s sweet, succulent softne— An icky hand grabs your shoulder, shattering your illusion. “H-huh, wuh?” you grunt and look back at the woman with flowers in her mane. She pulls you aside, guiding you to a chair. “Sit over here.” Groaning at the denial of sleep, you do as you’re told. The moment you sit your exhausted flank on it, there is a creaking so high-pitched that you swear it’ll break, if not by your physical weight, then by your horrendous juju. Miraculously, it actually holds, but the stiff, hard wood rubbing against your lower back and, uh, lower human partsmakes you wince. “Nnngh, Stupid monkey trying to chew my flank off,” you groan as you bare a stiff posture. “Okay, uh, now what?” Gloriosa pulls out what you assume to be a medkit from her bag. “I’m going to check you over, you look in rough shape,” she informs. “Right, right…. Guess that’s fine as long as-” The words in your throat suddenly die. “Uuuh...” You look down on yourself, at your ravaged clothes, your reddening skin and your useless limbs. I’m completely defenseless here, you shudder and look back at the human who opens up the medkit. “Um...” you grunt nervously and shift away from her a little. “...I-Is something wrong?” she asks, pursing her lip in concern. In the seconds that follow her question, you come to a revelation as a recollection of ALL the times you’ve participated in medical services of some kind runs through your head. A ninja nurse appears in your mind, followed by the flash of a faulty doctorate of a certain quack, which then unravels into an inky black and bleachy white that barely resembles the horrifying faces of crazies from a certain asylum. And with that flashing through your head, your brows go razor straight as you proceed to make the most logical response in the sanest manner possible. “You’re not gonna do anything weird to me, are you?!” you shriek and curl your form a bit in defense. “I...” The incredulity shoots up to her face as her arms flop to her sides. “I’m sorry—What?” Falx_of_Lume’s Comment You blink from her tone, and several warnings start blaring in your mind, which probably annoyed the heck out of the other two occupants within but-that's-beside-the-point. You forge on and repeat what you said despite the warnings. "I said, you're not going to do anything weird to me, are you?" You answer. "Because I've had a lot of weird and unwanted things happen to me from people with medical knowledge in the past, particularly from people with the words "Doctor", and "Quack", and "Silver" in their names. Usually in that order." You're not sure why you thought of him just now, although it probably has something to do with him being present in at least seventy-five percent of those weird things. Down With Chrysalis’s Comment The women gives you a stare for a few moments before she facepalms and mutters, "Oh not that loon again." Your eyes widen in surprise at her comment, and you briefly snap out of your dazed state as you ask, "Wait, you know Quack Silver!?" "I wish I didn't,” she sighs. “That nut job comes by once every year to volunteer as the camp nurse, and every year we kick him out for trying to perform illegal kidney transplants." "What! How has he not been arrested yet!? And why would you keep hiring that nutjob!" She looks confused at your question for some reason before her eyes widen and she says, "Oh no no no, not on the kids. The wildlife however...." The growl she gives as she trails off reminds you of the Ursa Major's after you beat up her cub, and that makes you start to fear for your life before she sighs and slumps her shoulders. "As for hiring him? We don’t. After the first time, he keeps just showing up when camping season starts.” “Ever heard of a restraining order?” you ask incredulously. “Yes actually, but that doesn’t stop him,” she shakes her head in annoyance. “But if you’ve run across him I can understand your fear of medicine.” No Kidding. He’s nuts no matter what the world it seems. EQUESTRIA WARGAMES' Comment Kichi’s Comment Doctor Quacksalver is drunk and belligerent (as usual) in front of Twilight Sparkle’s Library at midnight. “Sir, I’ve all but had enough of your ramblings, please leave before I get angry,” the Alicorned Twilight orders. “But come on, you’re a flappy wappy Princess now, and I need approval for my medical pursuits!” he says swaying. “I’m not going to allow you to do genetic experiments on poor helpless animals!” she shouts. “Not only is that immoral, but Fluttershy’s rage would break.” “But Equestria is in need of a troop of two headed, four armed gorilla monsters, why can’t you all see that. Are you all suffering from Crazyitis?” he warbles with a hiccup. “Why? Why would we possibly need that?” Twilight says, nearly popping a blood vessel. “It’s the only way to stop the baboons with six limbs that like to suck souls,” he says matter of factly. “What?!” Twilight says in confusion. “They exist! One of them tried to eat my soul in a back alley in Fillydelphia, but I administered sedative and ran away,” he says holding up a mallet. “But we have to prepare! Only abomination primates can fight abomination primates.” “…Get off my lawn!” Twilight growls and shuts her window. “I see you’re suffering from unbelieveitis. How about instead you let me do experiments on the dragon weasel chaos guy now that he’s hooking up with the Butterfly pegasus? I could knock out that snaggle tooth and use it to make the spider gorillas much easier?” “I’m Calling The Guards!” Twilight yells. “Whelp, time to go!” he shouts and runs off. Inside, Twilight facehooves and groans, while a bleary eyed Spike looks at her. “What was that about Twilight?” “Some nutjob trying to ask favors now that I’m a princess,” she says with a groan. “This is going to become a thing now isn’t it?” “Probably,” he nods relunctantly. “But hey, you want to hear some good news?” “Sure,” she nods. “I got a letter today from Nightshade,” he says holding up a piece of parchment. “Oh that’s nice,” she says actually smiling. “How’s she and Tennant doing?” “Not sure on BST, but she and her Grandpa are having fun on vacation.” “Well that’s lovely,” Twilight says patting the dragon’s head. “I’m glad you two are keeping contact,” she says trollishly. “I-Uh-Of course, why wouldn’t I stay in contact with a good friend?” Spike says with a blush while Twilight smirks. “Uh-Huh, just hope that BST doesn’t have one of his usual fits,” she says as they both chuckle. HUMAN LAND Down With Chrysallis’s Comment “ACHOO!” you suddenly sneeze. “Bless you,” Gloriosa says. “Thanks,” you say as you rub your nose. I feel a large amount of misplaced anger right now for some reason… “But anyway, to answer your question, No I’m not going to do anything weird to you, I just want to make sure the monkeys didn’t get you too badly. The last thing I need is you getting sick.” “…Alright,” you nod. “I’ll take your word on it for now.” "Very well then. Let’s get this shirt off of you and see if we have any deep cuts or not.” Not really paying attention due to the pain and exhaustion you nod your head and let the women get to work. Uh Bugze...I do not think it would be wise for her to unclothe you, Selena says nervously. Why? She needs to dress my injuries and all that. What's the worst that can happen? Surprisingly its Sombra who answers that prophetic phrase. I feel as if you've forgotten your battle scars. What about them? You quirk your eyebrow. Sure they aren't exactly good to look out but I doubt that means anythi- *Clunk* Stopping you mid thought is the sound of something falling to the floor. Looking up you see that Gloriosa has dropped the medical kit. Confused, you look up at her face and see the absolute look of pure horror on her face. It takes you a few moments, and the air on your chest, for you to realize why she is so horrified. Oh crapbaskets, you think as you look down at yourself. Puzzling Frost’s Comment Your scar you received from the other Cadence is very much evident on your human chest as it practically covers two thirds of it. The wound has long since healed, however with how severe it was the damage is still evident. Plus the damage from removing Chrysalis’s Throne Piece doesn’t help the picture either. The wound, having been cauterized, left a nasty burn in conjunction with the sword scar. Needless to say, it looks like you were stabbed by a massive blade, then had a large part of your upper chest blown off by dynamite. What the buck? It didn’t look nearly as bad back in Equestria! You mentally panic. You had chitin back home, this body doesn’t have the equivalent, Selena points out. Stupid weak fleshy human body! You chastise as Gloriosa looks all over your scars, on the verge of puking if the green in her face is anything to go by. "I *gulp* see you've been through a lot." She says shakily. Before you could explain yourself another human with green hair steps through the door. "Hey sis, I heard a noise and I thought you hurt yoursel-JESUS CHRIST WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU?!" the male shrieks looking over your chest. “Timber!” Gloriosa chastises. It's gonna be one of those days isn't it? You think mournfully as you slump against the chair back. Yep. Selena sighs. “I apologize for my brother Mr. Bugze,” Gloriosa says nervously. “I-I’m sorry Mister,” the boy says in embarrassment. “I just didn’t expect it.” “It’s OK,” you hand wave. “This isn’t the first time.” Even though it is, you think. “The truth is, I got these nasty scars by…uh…” You fell down some stairs. “I fell down some stairs…” They look at you incredulously after saying that. Even you feel off put by that lie. “Really? Stairs?” Gloriosa asks. “…Yes. They were really big stairs,” you double down on the lie causing them to look at each other. “But enough about stairs and some weirdoes’ unhealthy obsession with them,” you say thinking of the chuckling Umbrum, “How bad did the monkeys get me?” Gloriosa and Timber then look to your fresher cuts. “R-Right, I’m sorry,” she says as she picks back up the med kit, and Timber’s eyes enlighten. “Oh, another Preserve attack?” “Yeah,” you nod. “How often do these occur?” “More than think, but less than you’d hope,” he shrugs. “By the way, I’m Timber Spruce.” “Nice to meetcha,” you say absently as you watch Gloriosa tend to your bites and scratches. After awhile, she looks back up to you and says, “Well, they didn’t get you too deep to need stitches, so that’s a good sign. All you need is a shower and some bandages and some rest and you’ll be right as rain.” “Thank you again,” you nod as you head into the bathroom and wash all the grime and whatever evil forest things off your human body. When you are done, there are an extra set of human clothes left out for you and you put them on gleefully. When you are redressed, you head back into the main room and see both humans waiting for you. “Alright, now let’s get some bandages on those,” Gloriosa says as she starts wrapping your scratches and bites. While she does, Timber speaks to you. “By the way, where were you headed before the monkeys got you mister?” “I was looking for some place called Camp Everfree, but I got thrown off the horrible death trap bus and got lost in the woods.” They both look surprised by this. “You were looking for Camp Everfree?” she asks. “Yup.” “Well your search is over, you’ve found it,” Timber says with a smirk. “Wait, for real?” you ask and they both nod. “Huh…well that’s pretty convenient.” Aside from the killer monkey thing, Selena snarks. Yeah, aside from that. “If I may ask, why were you looking for our Camp Bugze?” Gloriosa asks as she finishes your bandages. “Well, uh…I’m looking for the nearby lake. Heard there was a monster there that might have some magical ancient artifact,” you say truthfully. Why would you admit that? Because they live near the dang thing, and if anyone would know more it’s them? …Logical, but incredibly blunt, she says with a sigh. Although your words do appear to have an effect. Gloriosa’s eyes widen to nearly dinner plates for some reason, and Timber for some reason seems mischievous. “Oh, another gloryhound monster hunter huh?” he says with a smirk. “Another?” you ask confused. “Yeah, it’s not unheard of that you bigfoot hunter types come looking to find the legendary Gaea Everfree,” he admits. “Timber…” Gloriosa whispers in a somewhat nervous scolding voice for some reason, but you kind of ignore that as a smile lights your face. Well now we’re getting somewhere. “Actually I don’t know much, can you tell me more?” you inquire and the boy smiles even wider while Gloriosa frowns. The boy then starts telling you the Legend of the Everfree (HAH!) WHAT DO YOU DO?