//------------------------------// // Journal Entry Five // Story: Journal of a Lost Changeling // by IMR1fley //------------------------------// Entry Five I've received little to no sleep in the time I've been waiting. I've dug a small hole to be able to see just outside for some indication of time. Thankfully, I can see the sun rising right now. It's a relief that night has passed, though I've gotten such a small amount of rest. The sun is just above the horizon, but I keep hearing the sounds nearby. I can't get a solid glimpse at them. The hole is just big enough to look at the sky. Now that I listen though, the sounds are a bit different. Not like they're a completely new sound, just the same old groaning and clanking. They sound... Well... I guess the only way to describe it is in frantic pain. Perhaps the townspeople have come hunting for me and are killing the monsters? No. That's not it. There would be something else. Someone screaming, or some sounds of battle. Perhaps the twang of the bows once again, but there's nothing. Actually, now there's nothing at all. No more sounds of clanks, no growls, no groans, nothing. What would make them stop? I'm taking a risk, and am going to come out of my shelter. Astounding! There is absolutely nothing nearby. It's as if the monsters simply vanished. Incredible. I've just found something new about my night "visitors." They weren't alive. I come to this conclusion because after searching the nearby area, I found several charred bones, (disturbing) and burnt rotten flesh. (Revolting.) Necromancy, unbelievable! This would explain the monsters appearance in the night, and their disappearance in the morning. The undead cannot live through the rays of the sun. There are many theories and myths about the "why," but the "how" is clear. Due to heat from the sun, the dead fester, and with the magic flowing through their bodies, burn when the light touches them. This raises many questions and answers about my current whereabouts. Only unicorns have the magic capacity to practice such acts. Not to mention the fact that it's illegal, and forbidden by almost all intelligent races currently living on the world. This leads me to believe that I was thrown very far from Canterlot, and landed somewhere near one of the borders of the country where law enforcement is harder to come by, making them prime places for crime, and otherwise "unwise," "unsafe," or "downright Stupid" magical experimentation. Like necromancy for example. It would also explain the various sounds I heard. The growls seem obvious, since the living dead are always in some form of pain, and the clanking was the bones impacting one another. Judging the way that the burnt flesh is never connected to bone, and vice versa, I think there are at least two types of undead walking around at night. Some form of walking dead, or for lack of a better term, "Zombies," and some form of skeleton. I should mention that the bones I found are not pony. This leads me to wonder what kind of creature was trying to be summoned? The bones are too big to be a pony's, but the wrong shape to be a griffin. It's about the size of a Minotaur's leg bone, but oddly shaped. Perhaps the original summoner was trying to summon some new form of life? I don't know enough about the subject to make any further conclusions. I'll go ahead and conclude my writings for now, since that seems to be the only thing of interest I've found so far. I'll write again if something else interesting pops up sometime through the day. Well, something interesting happened all right. A few things actually. The first event wasn't too serious, although very startling. Not ten minutes after I left and started walking through the forest nearby, I was startled (scared beyond all belief) by a sudden impact. Upon looking at my assaulter, I found it was a spider nearly as large as me. This startled me further, resulting in a panicked scramble in an attempt to get away from the giant arachnid. When I realized I wasn't in the process of being devoured, I took a second look at the 8 legged monstrosity, only to have it stare back with it's many uninterested eyes. I slowly rose with caution, though it was obvious that it had not intention of harming me. (Aside from the kind of pain one would associate with having a giant spider jumping on their backs from a tree. Hurts more than you think.) My second event of the day is much more satisfying, and for once, is actual good news. I was scavenging for more food, trying to at least find some more apples to make my current levels of love last as long as possible. I don't want to have to feed on unpleasant emotions again. After finding some apples, I started searching for some other forms of food through the nearby plains. While walking through the tall grass, various seeds kept getting caught in my leg holes. It became a constant irritation, so I started scooping them out, when a nearby chicken/duck approached me. (They have the colors and sounds of a chicken, but the shape of a duck. It's very confusing. I will from now on refer to them as chucks.) It started to eat the seeds from off the ground, and out of my hooves. After a few moments, I started to feel one particular form of emotion. Lust. I was surprised at first. I began looking around in an attempt to find the source. Turns out, it was the chuck. I thought that perhaps it was just that time of year, so I shrugged it off, since the emotion isn't one I can feed off of. As I continued to clean my hooves and cavities of the seed, I noticed another chuck approach. I watched as it too ate the grass seeds out from my hoof, and it too entered a "needy" state. What happened next was one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen. The two chucks right there followed the call of nature, but not in the way it intended. Unless simple kissing is the new way all beings reproduce these days. That's exactly what happened, however. The chucks "kissed," and then low and behold, there was a small chuckling. (Okay, that's fun to say.) Even more interesting, I actually managed to feed on the ambient love I felt. This should not be possible. While changelings can feed on lust, it's not really sufficient. Not only that, but unintelligent creatures (pigs, chickens, chucks, etc...) do not give off the feelings necessary to actually provide sustenance. Even odder, I could swear I could actually "see" the love they were giving off. This just may be me losing my mind though... I don't even know how this is possible, so I will move on to the last event of today. This event was much less exiting as the previous two. I came across a large cave on the edge of the forest and the plains. Nothing too special really. Being a changeling, I longed to go inside, as I feel a bit more comfortable underground, but after hearing the groans of the undead near the entrance, I decided against it. It was growing dark, so I returned to my hole once again. As I'm writing this however, I can see large plumes of smoke in the distance near the sunset. It's coming from the plains. I'll have to check it out tomorrow. I'd like to reach actual civilization, which would bring me closer to the hive. I would be able to find another hivemate, or at least another changeling. In any case, I'd best get to sleep before the hordes of the undead keep me from sleep all night.