//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Trekking // Story: Life through Love // by SentientHydra //------------------------------// Well this is it, this is where my equestrian adventure had taken me now. Cowering at the bottom of a ditch, watching the sky and listening for ponies, ponies who were trying to murder me. Not just for being a 'changeling' --because being a giant terrifying bug-monster is apparently grounds for execution in Equestria--, but also for savaging Fluttershy... I'm not sure how long I was there, but the taste of her blood hadn't left my mouth. I'm not sure it ever will. The darkness didn't press in on me as much as I wished, my new eyes cast the shadows away, taking every scrap of moonlight and turned it into a blazing torch. It would be a nice place, this clearing, if I were a better per-pon-thing. If I weren't hiding because I attacked Fluttershy My mind consumed itself with grief for a while then, my voice keening loudly in the still night air as I wailed and sobbed in my disgusting non-voice, the events of the past few days finally collapsing inwards onto my psyche. Fluttershy's face as I clamped my jaws on her. Silver fighting back to defend me, even from the armoured stallions of Equestria's finest. Discord holding his hand out, grinning like a snake. I cringed and curled up in the slimy water, unable to relax or rest. They would look for me soon, as soon as Fluttershy --the pony that I hurt-- is safe I expect Rainbow Dash would hound me to the ends of the continent. Maybe Celestia herself would come down from n high, or the elites of the royal guard. I try to let myself just fall to sleep, but every now and then I flinch at a movement in the sky, at the patter of limbs touching ground. To distract myself I even make a game of it, trying to identify them by their footprints, their silhouettes. 'Timberwolf, Timberwolf and Manticore, fox, badger, fox, a dozen rabbits... Owl, Nightjar, Bat-Bat-Bat... *Yawn* I guess yawns are universal, a sure sign of sleepiness in any species. Still I couldn't relax, my mind replaying all the worst bits of the past few days as if on loop. I gave my cracked plating a cursory examination as I lay there in my ditch, surprising myself to find them almost completely healed. My eye was still bad though, my reflection showing it to be tinged darkly, still leaking from beneath a protective membrane. Looking around one last time I shrug and move along along the channel of disgusting ooze and water, using my tremor-sense to avoid the sharp pebbles and detritus on the bottom. Eventually I stop, once again hiding myself in the deep shade of a weeping willow. A few loose fronds wrapped around me as a loose camo-blanket. -------------------------------------------------------------------- And awoke to a terrifying sound. Voices. Familiar voices. They're far in the distance, but growing stronger all the time. It was still dark thankfully, but that didn't matter as the dawn wasn't far off. It was time to leave. To move on before they found me. As I buzzed away on my big bug wings I sighed. I recognized the fading voice instantly as the first unicorn from SIlver's home. He was speaking loudly, as if arguing. Then he mentioned Fluttershy, and my wings angled without a thought, swinging me back around. As I flew I shifted, flecks and bursts of green flame changing me, turning my carapace to green fronds, my wings to silent feather. Quiet as the grave I floated to a stop some meters ahead of the approaching party. I waited, listening. "And that is exactly why you need to go back Ms Sparkle. The royal guard reinforcements are almost here to help the search. You should be back there for your friend." The guard finished, his feet clomping heavily on the loam. Twilight's hooves were easy to discern from the pack, being unarmoured or adorned, her voice even more so "I can't. The Princess told me that this 'changeling' is a threat to Equestria. That means I can't rest until it's gone..." Her tone dropped a giggle or two into the realms of sadness "Fluttershy will be fine back in Ponyville with the girls." The guards snorted, annoyance flaring in his aura and his tone. He sped up, coming around to block off Twilight's path "Which is yet another reason you need to go back!" Twilight tried to step around, only to be blocked by the second guard. The first rounded on the mare, forcing her to take a step backward "What if this thing loops around and heads that way?" Twilight was forced to make another retreat when the third and fourth guard formed up in the wall. She was half convinced, but her pose indicated she was still looking to go forward "They have too many guards there, the community is too tight-knit! That thing could never infiltrate Ponyville." I could practically feel her glare "Plus the village is within sight of both Cloudsdale and Canterlot Castle, so why would it go there?" The second guard stamped his hoof to make her scamper back again "Just like it could 'never' infiltrate the elements of harmony? If you mares were so 'tight-knit' how did it just waltz right past three of you, mauling one in the process?" I didn't need to hear this. Heading to Ponyville sounded like a good idea though... I knew the most about the ponies there, and I'd be able to apologize to Fluttershy. Twilight stammered out a reply, but it was lost as the third guard flared his wings "I and Tailwind will escort you back to the Golden Oats farm, then by chariot to Ponyville." She managed a stammered half-protest before being cut off again "No buts Miss Sparkle! You are going back to Ponyville. Do you know how much trouble we'd be in if you got hurt?" It was a rhetorical question, but one Twilight tried to answer all the same "Well y-yes." As she was led away by the Pegasi one snorted at her "No, you don't." They walked on in silence. I waited a few minutes for the Unicorns to leave. Then I followed as quietly as I could ........................................................................... If I had been paying more attention that night, I might have noticed that I in turn was being followed by something high in the moonlit sky, hidden among the blackness and the stars.