The Changeling War

by Captain Morgan


The Dead Zone

I opened my eyes to see I was right where I had gone to sleep in the first place, in the basement of the apartments. The dream I had last night was probably the scariest I had since the war. But I was thankful that Luna was able to help before something went down.

“Good Morning, Morgan.” A familiar voice said. I turn my head to where the voice came from and there lying down next to me was Luna, my savior from last night.

“Good Morning to you too, Luna.” I greeted back with a smile. “Thanks for the talk last night… or was it this morning?” I questioned myself, wondering when exactly this happened.

Luna giggled, making my heart melt yet again. “It was the least I could do, Morgan, and besides, you need all the help you can get, physically and mentally.” She replied with a smile.

“Well, I see you two lovebirds had a good sleep.” My uncle said, walking up to us with bowls that I could presume contained cereal in each hand.

“Kenny, for God’s sake, we aren't a couple,” I said, glaring at him as a hint of blush appeared on my face as well as Luna’s.

“I know, I know, I’m just screwing with you.” He replied, chuckling all the way as he then hands the bowls of cereal to us. “Here, you guys are gonna need some energy.” He stated as he then walked off.

“I’m sorry about my Uncle, Luna. He likes to embarrass me whenever I hang out with a girl and it tends to get annoying after awhile.” I explained as I ate my breakfast.

“It’s fine Morgan. Besides, I think it’s funny that he thinks we’re in love.” She replied with a smile.

“Yeah, funny.” I thought nervously. I swear, if my Uncle finds out that I have a crush on the Princess of the night herself, I am literally going to die of embarrassment.

We continued eating our breakfast in silence until I glanced at Luna, how she levitated her bowl with her magic and held her spoon with it as well. It was very interesting how Equestrian magic works, how you could use it to lift items when you didn’t have hands in general and use it to cast spells that no human thought possible.

“What’s it like?” I asked.

“Hmm?” Luna replied with a mouth full of food as she looked at me.

“What’s it like to use magic, to use it to your advantage?” I asked again. Luna swallowed her food and gave me her answer.

“It’s a very helpful trait. We use it to get around obstacles when we are not able to simply walk around by ourselves. It is also useful when we are met with dark areas or against other ponies or creatures that wish to harm us, as we can use spells to illuminate our surroundings or to defeat our enemies.” She explained.

“Huh, Kinda wish our species was capable of using magic, cause with what I’ve seen you, your sister and Twilight do, I’m starting to like it,” I said with a smile.

Luna smiled at that and we resumed eating our breakfast. While I ate, I looked around the room to see the others talking with each other. It was nice, seeing my friends and family talking with species not of this world, even if one of the members happens to be a Changeling that our group has hated for so long. Who would’ve thought that all of this, happened just yesterday, but I had a feeling that there was more to come in our future.

“See Morgan, we all needed the rest,” Twilight said as she and Chris walked up to us.

“Ok, so you guys were right, but it doesn’t mean we're not out of Changeling territory yet,” I said, a little annoyed that the others were right about stopping for the night.

“Morgan, don't worry, once everyone is ready, we’ll continue our way down south to where the Remnants are,” Chris reassured.

I just scoffed and shook my head as I looked around the room, watching everyone talking and enjoying their company with one another. It was nice, seeing both our species getting along with each other, whether they be human, pony or a changeling. But I had a feeling, deep down inside me, that if we win this war and liberate our nation from Chrysalis and her forces, both our worlds could join together in perfect unity, making everyone feel accepted for who or what they are. I was about to say something till I noticed that Jacob wasn’t among the others, nor was he in the room.

“Hey Chris, Did Jacob ever come down?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No, he’s still upstairs, guarding the main floor. Markus went up to check on him but said that he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. He thought that he may have stepped outside to take a leak, but I have a feeling that something happened.” He replied with a hint of worry.

Something didn’t feel right, even if he did have to take a wiz, he wouldn’t have done it outside with patrols scouting the area, he’s smarter than that. “I think you may be right about that, Chris,” I said as I stood up. “I think we should go check on him, see if he’s alright.” I suggested as I then looked at Luna. “would you care to join us, Luna?” I asked.

“Of course, and besides, I need to spread my wings a bit,” Luna replied as Chris and I grabbed our gear and headed upstairs. Hopefully, nothing bad happened to him during the night.

*******

There was nothing much left that remained in the lobby, the furniture tossed about, dust and cobwebs in every corner and the only light that illuminated the room was the sunlight that seeped through the boarded up windows. A creaking noise could be heard as the door to the basement was slowly pushed opened by me with Chris, Twilight, and Luna standing right behind me.

“Jacob? You out here?” I called out. We waited a few seconds for an answer, but not one sound was heard.

“Morgan,” Chris started with a bit of fear in his voice. “I’ve gotta ba-”

“Chris, if your next words are ‘I’ve gotta bad feeling about this’ I am literally gonna push you down the stairs.” I interrupted as we started searching for Jacob throughout the lobby.

“You don’t think Jacob abandoned us, do you?” Twilight asked worryingly.

“Doubt it,” I replied as I walked behind the receptionist desk. “It’s not like him to disappear without letting us know where he’s going. if at all, he should’ve… what the?” I exclaimed as I bent down to the floor and picked up something that was all too familiar. Jacob’s cap.

“Doesn’t that belong to Jacob?” Luna questioned with worry in her voice.

“It does,” I replied, still staring at the hat. “Guys, I am really not liking this one bit. Jacob never leaves his cap lying on the floor like this!” I exclaimed with fear.

“Morgan! Get your ass over here!” Chris called out as we quickly rushed over to where he was. When we got to where he was, We saw him standing in front of a broom closet with the door ajar.

“Chris, did you find him?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, I found him alright.” He said as he pointed his finger inside the closet. We walked up next to him and saw what he was pointing at. Inside was a changeling cocoon with an unconscious Jacob trapped inside of it.

“Oh my God,” I exclaimed as I pulled out my pocket knife and walked up to the cocoon, frantically trying to cut it open. Making an incision, large enough for Jacob’s body, I reached my arms in and tried to pull him out, but he wouldn’t budge.

“Chris, help me out will ya!” I yelled as he rushed to my side and reached his arms inside the cocoon, grabbing ahold of Jacob. With Chris’ help, we managed to slide Jacob out of his confinement and onto the floor. With him out of his gooey prison, we grabbed him by his arms and dragged him out of the closet and laid him done on a bench.

On instinct, I put my fingers against his neck, hoping he was alive and sure enough, I could feel a pulse. “He’s still alive,” I stated as I started lightly slapping his face for him to wake up. “Jacob! Jacob, wake the hell up!” I called out as I slapped him harder this time. His eyes squinted as he held his hand up to where I slapped him.

“Geez, thanks for the rude awakening.” Jacob groaned sarcastically as he rubbed his cheek from the slap. “That really hurt ya know!”

“Jacob, what happened to you?” Twilight questioned as Jacob sat upright.

“It’s all a blur,” He groaned. “I was keeping watch last night when I heard something fall to the floor. I want to check on it until I was hit on the back on the head, knocking me out. I was able to catch a glimpse who did it before I passed out.”

“And who was it?” Chris asked.

“Get this Morgan, it was your old Changeling friend, Razorfang, along with a few guards.” Jacob sneered.

Upon hearing this, I facepalmed and shook my head. “You have got to be kidding me.” I cursed.

“Something’s not right,” Luna replied with a concerned tone.

“What are you talking about, Luna?” Chris asked. “Jacob’s alive and so are we.”

“That’s just it, We are still alive. Razorfang was here and yet he didn’t kill Jacob, he only knocked him unconscious and cocooned him so that he wouldn’t warn us of their presence. Razorfang also had the chance to attack us while we were all asleep but he didn’t. It doesn’t make any sense.” Luna said, skeptical at what she heard.

“Luna has a point. Why not kill us when we were vulnerable?” I commented, moving my hand away from my face.

“Jacob, did you hear Razorfang say anything about why he left us alone, anything at all?” Twilight questioned.

Jacob thought hard, trying to remember if there was something that he heard until he answered. “I could faintly hear Razorfang speaking to one of his guards. I think he said ‘have the others prepared to move the wall’. That’s all I remember.” We just looked at him in confusion from what he said.

“Move the wall?” Twilight reiterated, raising an eyebrow.

“That… that doesn’t make sense,” I stated. “I mean, what wall? The only ones in the area are the ones that border Saint Paul and…” That’s when it made absolute sense, why Razorfang didn’t kill us and what meant by moving the wall. I slowly turned my head to the front door, fear spreading across my face.

“Don't tell me, Please do not tell me!” Was all I muttered before I bolted for the door. I didn’t even hear the others calling after me, I was too busy hoping that what I thought, wasn’t true. I burst through the doors and stood in the middle of the street, looking down the road where the Dead Zone border was supposed to be, but only to see that the wall, was gone.

I then slowly turned my head to look over my shoulder and saw that the wall was now on the other side, going along the Mississippi. I closed my eyes and hung my head in defeat, our group was now trapped inside the Dead Zone, the same Dead Zone where people have gone and disappeared for the last five years.

I heard the doors of the apartment open as the others walk out, but I didn’t bother to look up. “Morgan,” Jacob yelled. “What the hell’s the matter… with… you.” His voice trailed as I guessed he saw that the wall was moved.

“Um, Morgan. What happened to the wall?” Twilight said, astonished.

“Look behind you,” I mumbled, pointing a finger behind me as I then heard Luna and Twilight gasp in shock.

“Oh, shit,” Chris exclaimed.

Regaining my composure, I look at Chris with a serious look, but he was too focused on the wall. “Chris, I want you to get everyone up here, tell them we now have a problem,” I ordered.

“Y-yeah, sure.” He replied as he started walking to the door, his eyes still glued to the wall as he almost trips while getting inside.

“Morgan?” Luna started. “Does this mean that we’re-”

“Now trapped inside the Dead Zone? Yeah, it does.” I replied with a nod, finishing her sentence as I then looked at Jacob.

“Hey Jacob, remember when I said we should have kept moving last night, to avoid being detected by patrols? Cause right now, I really want to say ‘I told you so’ but it just doesn’t seem strong enough.” I stated which made Jacob roll is eyes in response.

Moments later, Chris came back with the others following right behind him. They all stared in shock at what we had discovered. I could hear Twilight’s friends murmuring amongst each other and Celestia walking up next to me, her eyes wide open and her mouth agape at the sight.

“I know what your thinking, Celestia. This changes a lot of things.” I stated plainly.

“Indeed it does, Morgan.” Celestia agreed.

“I don’t know what you're worrying about, Morgan!” Rainbow Dash announced as she walked up alongside me. “We could easily fly over that wall, here, watch!” She then started galloping down the street, flapping her wings. She then leaped up into the air, but only by five feet as she then crashed into the asphalt, stars ACTUALLY dancing above her head before she shook the dazed feeling.

“The Hay?” She exclaimed as she then tried again, galloping towards us and leaping into the air again, but it was like she wasn’t getting enough momentum in her wings as she still didn’t make it off the ground. “What the heck is wrong with my wings!” She yelled.

“It’s not just your wings that don’t work, Rainbow. I can’t even do a teleportation spell to get us out!” Twilight exclaimed as she strained to use her magic but all that came out of her horn were small sparks.

“That’s because the entire area has been enchanted.” Shift announced. We looked at her in confusion, wondering what she meant by that.

“What do you mean by ‘enchanted’ Shift?” I questioned.

“After the Dead Zones were built, Chrysalis had thoughts that when you ponies arrived, you would end her reign on earth somehow. She originally planned to have you placed in a prison, but thought that it would better if you suffered while inside a Dead Zone. So, she ordered her guards to enchant every Dead Zone in the country with a spell that neutralizes both flight and magic to ponies, but not to Changelings. That way, you wouldn’t have a chance to escape.” She explained.

“Well, that explains a lot.” Applejack said. “But then how do we get out of here if we can’t use magic or flight?”

“There should be a door along the south side of the Dead Zone where we can escape.” Shift stated.

“How come we haven't heard of this door till now?” Jacob asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Because it’s hidden from the eyes of humans. It’s been camouflaged so that it perfectly blends in with the wall and can only be revealed with Changeling magic. All we have to do is get to the southern wall.” She explained

“So now our main focus is getting to that door, correct?” Luna questioned.

“Sounds like it,” I answered as I turned to the others. “Alright everyone, let’s get moving! Faster we find a way out of here, the faster we make our way to the Remnants.” I announced as we started our journey into the Dead Zone. This is not how I wanted my day to start, but hey, we all can't get what we want nowadays.

*******

For the last thirty minutes, we’ve been walking down the streets of what used to Minneapolis to who knows where and not once have we seen any signs of life. Only things we saw were roads littered with abandoned cars and houses which haven’t been lived in for five years. As I lead the group into the city with Luna and Shift walking next to me, I couldn’t help but feel a little paranoid by all this.

I mean, we are literally waking into uncharted territory with who knows what lurking around and I couldn’t shake off the feeling that we’re not alone out here. I constantly looked back at the others and saw that they were all calm about this, but to me, all of this was like being locked inside a haunted house while having Hauntophobia. Normally I’m never scared like this, honest to God, but ever since we were visited by that Hispanic man who killed himself, I couldn’t help but fear of what goes on in this place.

“I can sense your fear about this place, Morgan, but I’m scared just as scared as you are.” Shift said.

“Shift is right, Morgan, we are all scared of what goes on here, but we mustn’t let fear overtake us. The sooner we find a way out, the better.” Luna commented.

“I know guys, but this place just gives off bad vibes,” I stated as I looked around as if we were being watched from the shadows. As we continued walking, I just couldn't get rid of a mosquito-like question that kept buzzing around my head: Who or what dwells in this forsaken place. That’s when I remembered something, we had Shift in our group, she had to know something about the Dead Zone and what happens inside it.

“Shift, could I ask you something?” I asked.

“Sure, Morgan. What is it?” She replied, giving me her full attention.

I looked behind me, hoping that Markus couldn’t hear us, but I was glad to see him talking with my uncle, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. I looked back at her and sighed. “A few years ago, my friends and I were discovered by an injured man, claimed that he was in the Dead Zone. We tried to give him medical attention, but he was badly injured and was soon gonna die from blood loss. He then brings me close and warns me about the Dead Zone, said that there were ‘monster’ that walked the place, right before he killed himself.” Shift stared at me in astonishment from the story I had told. “What I’m trying to say is… does something live here, is it the reason why countless people have vanished?”

Shift bit down on her lip, her eyes full of worry. She was like that for a few seconds before she spoke “There’s something in here, something that isn’t human or Changeling. I’m not exactly sure what it is, but... it may be the reason why every survivor who comes in here, disappears.” She answered, uneasily. Luna eyed me worryingly upon hearing this, but all I could do was sigh in relief. I finally knew the truth that something lived in the Dead Zone but I would be a bit more happy if we weren't trapped.

“Oh for the love of- did you bribe her just to say that, Morgan?” Markus scolded. I was really hoping that he wouldn’t hear us talk about this.

“And why would I bribe the only friendly Changeling in our group, Markus? You heard her yourself, something lives in the place and it is why countless people have up and vanished when they first stepped into this hell hole! This is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly, so how about we just agree to disagree.” I shot back in annoyance.

Having enough of this, Markus swiftly got in front of me, making us stop right next to a CVS pharmacy on the corner. “Agree to disagree? is that what you want to do now?” He questioned in an upset tone. “Morgan, that Spanish guy from two years ago was obviously high on drugs and was referring to the Changelings as ‘monsters’ because they must've killed his family. But ever since he told you about the monsters, you have been non-stop worrying about something you don't even know is real and I am SICK of it! I have told you countless times about this crap and I am going to tell you again. There is no such thing as-”

He was interrupted by the sounds of metal falling to the ground. We looked up the road to see a metal garbage can rolling into the street from an alley. I quickly got in front of Markus, pulling out my pistol with Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Jacob and Kenny coming up along like me, ready to fight off whatever was about to show itself.

It felt like minutes had gone by until the figure revealed himself to be… just some guy. He had ragged modern clothes on, had messing brown hair and it looked like he walked with a limp. He started staggering his way to a car that was vertically parked in the middle of the street and knelt down behind it. I couldn’t understand if he saw us and was trying to hide or if he was scavenging for supplies.

“Honestly Morgan, I just can’t… I cannot deal with your shit anymore.” Markus scoffed as he bumped past me and started walking after the man.

“Markus, get your ass back here!” I quietly called after him, not wanting to gain the attention of the guy behind the truck in case he was hostile. But the only reply I got was him flipping the bird directly at me.

“Kid, maybe he’s right, that this whole thing about monsters in the Dead Zone is just a made up story told by some druggie who was suffering from the effects of whatever he was on,” Kenny said with a concerned voice.

Honestly, I didn’t know what to think about all of this anymore. For all I know, for the past two years, we could’ve been worrying about something that didn’t even exist in the first place. Hell, all those people who disappeared in the Dead zone were probably captured and killed by Changelings and this whole story about ‘something living inside the Dead Zone’ was started just to put fear in our hearts. This entire thing was just one, big, freaking lie and we’ve been spoonfed the whole thing.

“Evan, Shift, you two are with me. I noticed the guy was limping and he could obviously use some medical attention.” I stated, changing the subject as we started walking after Markus. He was only half a block away from us, but we were catching up with him.

“Excuse me, sir?” Markus called out as he got closer to the truck. “Our group and I accidentally got trapped in this place while on the run from Changelings and we were wonder- ” He stopped mid-sentence, his face full of fear and disgust as he walked over to the other side of the truck, looking down at where the guy was.

Seeing his reaction, we increase our speed towards him till we were a few feet from him. “Markus, everything al- what the hell?” I exclaimed as we got up next to him, looking at what he saw.

In front of us was the same guy with the limp, crouching over a corpse with his gut split open with entrails hanging out. But worse of all was that the guy was digging his hands into the corpse and was eating the flesh of the remains that laid before him.