//------------------------------// // Odd Acquaintance // Story: Storm Hawks : Equestria. // by Royal //------------------------------// I was still alive!  I felt shaken up and I couldn't see anything, but I could feel my heart thumping and my mind raced as my eyesight slowly began to return. Very slowly, in fact. I still couldn't see for almost a minute, I also noticed that the ships weren't firing anymore...why weren’t they firing? With my skimmer in this condition I was a sitting duck. Yet there was silence... I shook my head as I began to look around, it was dark...’Wasn't it day a moment ago?’ I shook my head again and looked behind me. Nothing! I was clear, home free, nothing could stop me now... The sound of my last engine cutting out shook me out of my victory rant. "Ahh c'mon!" I shouted at my skimmer as the engines died. My ride was now pretty much a flying stone, so I was left with very few options. I naturally took the most logical choice: Bailout. "Sorry baby!" I said, patting my skimmer as I jumped clear. I quickly pulled the cord on my parachute and watched as my skimmer fell and finally crashed into the ground. "What the hell...?" I thought as I tore my eyes away from the wreckage of my skimmer, only to see a COMPLETELY different landscape to the wasteland. It was still desolate, but lacking a certain amount of lava. Not that I was complaining at the moment. *Schick* "I didn't just hear that," I whispered to myself closing my eyes as I looked up. I said a small prayer and opened my eyes. Yes, there were several tears in my chute, I guess jumping from a plane that was exploding might have damaged my chute.... The tears grew as I tried to see what I could do, but I had nothing. I had a sword and a Solaris crystal. Nothing useful. I looked down; the fall would be fatal. That was all I got to think as the chute split in two and I once again entered free-fall. I forced my eyes to stay open, if I was going out, I at least wanted to see how it was going to happen. The ground drew closer and closer as I stared helplessly, and just as I was about to impact I slammed my eyes shut. No impact. Am I dead? I didn't feel a thing...but I still feel. I cautiously opened my eyes, only to see the ground not a foot away from my face. "How the hell?..." I reached out to touch it, it was real. It was then that I noticed my arm was enveloped in some sort of green light. My gaze traveled up my arm, only to see the green was coating my entire body, like an emerald aura. I looked around, trying to find the source. ‘maybe a freak floater crystal?’ I thought, only then spotting a large black figure, hovering above me. The aura disappeared. I fell head-first onto the ground, I just lay there for a moment, stunned, before blinking and sitting up. The figure landed in front of me, though it did keep its distance. I slowly stood up, I felt tired, shaken and sick, but I was still able to stay on my feet. I stared at the creature, and I saw a pair of green eyes staring back at me. The creature appeared to be horse-like, at least in shape. Instead of skin and fur, it looked as though it had a shiny, waxy body, like the carapace of an insect. It also had more equine traits, such as a mane and tail of teal matted hair, with strange holes in its limbs.  I took a step forward, only for it to drop into a defensive stance. A large black gnarled horn on it's head starting to glow green, and a pair of tattered insectoid wings sprouting from its back. I took a step back, raising my hands in a peaceful gesture. "Easy, I ain't gonna hurt ya." all the while I was thinking 'Damn this thing looks cool!'. As soon as I spoke the creature just stared at me, it looked both confused and curious. "You can speak Equestrian?" The creature said to me, causing me to very gracefully stumble backwards and fall. "You can speak Atmosian?!" The creature slowly advanced. The dark figure was now towering over me, gazing at me coolly with its forest green, oval shaped eyes. "I do not know this language, but they seem to be one in the same." It said, and I noticed that it's voice seemed to be...out of synch? It sounded like more than one person was talking at once. I slowly got up, gently resting my hand on the hilt of my sword, incredibly awkward since it was on my back. "What are you doing?" It said to me as the glow surrounding its horn dissipated, I lowered my arm. "No- Nothing. What..." I didn't quite know how to phrase this. "What are you?" It asked me, I almost laughed. "I'm a Human, and you?" She eyed me, looking surprised. "I am a Changeling." I nodded slowly, never heard of it. I gestured to its horn. "I take it that you were what saved me?" "Yes." It responded, though with a voice like that I think this 'it' is a 'she'. She smiled at me, and I noticed that she had fangs protruding from her mouth. "Thank you, but how?" I asked, it didn't look as though she had any crystals, and that glow had to have come from something. "Magic." She responded. I couldn't hold back a chuckle, only to stop as her horn lit up and several rocks floated beside me. "Whoa, that's creepy!" I said, sidestepping as one floated toward me. OK, so this creature can manipulate magic, I'm sure I could make a few rocks float with the crystals I sto- "My Skimmer!" I shouted, swiveling around and looking for the wreckage. If anything good was to come of this it would be that my crystals survived! I spotted the wreckage in the distance, the vehicle was on fire, but those storage boxes are tougher than armour plating. I started walking toward it, only to feel something tugging me back. I saw a glow encompass my hand and turned seeing a glow to match on this creatures horn. "I wouldn't recommend that." She said to me, I tugged my hand and the glow vanished. "And why is that?" I asked her, she merely pointed back to the crash "Because of those." I turned around, and noticed several gold looking figures landing around the fires light. "What are they?" I asked her, unable to make out their exact figures in the distance. "The Royal guard, the lackeys of the Tyrant Celestia." She said to me in a bitter voice, that didn't sound good. "Royal guard? As in soldiers?" I replied to her as I spotted more of them and by the wreckage. "Yes." "Any thoughts on how to..." I said, only to notice I was talking to myself. I turned around, spotting the creature walking away. "Hold up!" I called to her as I quickly got caught up with her, she didn't stop. "Where're ya going?" She glanced back at me, giving me stern look. "I have to get back to my kind." She said, before turning and trotting on. "Well excuse me, princess." "Queen actually." "Haha, yeah, your a Queen and I'm a Sky-Knight." I said sarcastically as I caught up with her. "You really are an ignorant little foal, aren't you?" She asked me, giving me a rather impressive glare. I thought about what she said for a moment. "Well, I have been called a fool before." I responded giving a small laugh. "So uhh, we're just gonna leave behind my gear I guess?" I asked her, this time she laughed. "You know I nearly died for that stuff." She full on turned to face me, a smirk on her face. "Well you are welcome to die trying to get it from them." She said sarcastically. I fell quite. She wins this round. "So...what Terra is this? I couldn't see the border from the air." I said as I followed behind her. She gave me a side-ways glance. "This is the wastes, I do not know what a 'Terra' is." She stated flatly. That wasn't good. "Right...hey wait a second, did you tell me your name? Cause if ya did, it's gone right over my head." She chuckled to herself as she began to pick up speed. "My name is Chrysalis, and what is yours?" "I'm called Raider, great to meet you." She whispered something under her breath which I didn't hear, but didn't bother pursuing. "So where are we going?" "My home." Chrysalis examined the creature she had just let fall to the ground, it appeared to be wearing tattered clothing, with random pieces of metal plating weaved into it. Physically, it appeared to be some sort of ape like creature, although it lacked their more primal traits. It only appeared to have hair on its head, a thick, spiked up tuft of dark green hair, that despite just being dropped on, retained its shape. The creature sat up and opened its eyes, blinking at her momentarily before warily getting to its feet. The creature stepped toward her and she dropped into a defensive stance as she noticed the hilt of a sword on its back. It was then that it did something she didn't expect. It spoke. This was interesting, it could talk, so it must be intelligent. No? She got her answer when she responded. This creature was not intelligent, far from it. It did however appear to be confused, and in a new location. These were things she could use to her advantage, it only took her a moment to fabricate an illusion about the Royal guard, and this creature was none the wiser. Stupid and trusting, yet it appeared to have weapons and technology. This would be a creature she could use.