//------------------------------// // Chapter I: Embers (Rewritten) // Story: FireStarter // by Cereal-Killer //------------------------------// Crap, did I fall out of bed? This floor is hard as stone. I pushed my self away from the floor, noticing the shadow of something falling on top of me. My eyes widened and I crawled out the way, taking stock of my surroundings as my other senses kicked in. This place was on fire, smoke pooling at the top of the building as different wooden supports burned away, dropping onto piles of wooden boxes and adding to the blaze. I yelled out, "HELP! I'M GOING TO DIE! PLEASE SAVE ME!" A sudden draft blew threw the building sending embers omto me, burning my face, and settong half of my clothes on fire. I haphazardly slapped out the fire before looking around again. This time I saw am orb, almost sunlike in appearance but with a luminance more similar to magma. "I am Lavan. I would wish to bond with you, your safety for mine. I Would lik..." "I don't care! Whatever you are, just get me out of here alive!" The ball pulsed, almost angrily. " Mortals." The orb entered me, and I passed out. 'Don't worry, I'll evacuate us. When you wake, be ready to run.' ---- My eyes drooped open slowly, taking in my surroundings. What I didnt expect to see was a small, angry unicorn with hair that looked like toothpaste. "What in the fuck are you?" I said, coughing up a bit of ash. Noticing I was binded in place. "You into bondage, ya..." I took a second to think of an insult, "Hornhead?" He took a few seconds to study me before beginning some questioning, "Ahem. John was it? John Smith? That is your name, correct. We found it on several documents in the wallet we found on you. Says here that you are twenty years of age." "The fuck do you think? Who else could that picture be of? Twat." "Earlier today. Several ponies witnessed you barging out of a storehouse in upper Canterlot. Is this correct? "I came out of a burning building, I think." "Did you start that fire?" "I was asleep in my bed at in my home, taking a midday nap on a saturday. I wake up, I'm in a burning building." "Unlikely. Burn marks on the scene ooze the same kind of magic aura as you are now. No other evidence currently points to your innoncence, so let me ask you: why did you burn down that storehouse?" I sighed. 'Steel yourself Smith. I will blast away your restrains.' "Sorry for wasting your time uh... what's your name?" I looked at the unicorn quizzically. "Shining Armour." "I'll remember that name. As an idiot who doesn't look behind himself when my friends have knocked out the guards behind him!" His eyes widened and he turned around to face the threat that wasn't there he gasped, looking back to me as fire extended from my arms and detonated, blasting apart the entire cell. I could see that the unicorn had put up a forcefield around himself and was crouching on a wobbly bit of cobblestone that collapsed from under him, dropping him down to the dungeon floors below us. Well, below me at least. Barreling through a sizable whole left by the explosion, I patted some rubble off of my remarkable unscathed clothes. 'Do not worry, I have made them resistant to my powers.' That voice again. Lavan, was it? 'Correct. I am surprised you remembered, considering your state of panic earlier.' he paused. 'There are ponies coming from either side of this hall. If you give me control, we may yet survive.' Do what you need to. I instantly felt myself pull back, as if I had been dragged out of the driver's seat and thrown into a rather luxurious cushion. I pulled myself forwards and could see normally once again. My left hand was ablaze with gouts of flame licking up to my shoulder. A troop of armoured guards rushed around the corner and into a blast of burning energy that knocked them outwards like bowling pins. Ten more came from the other side and my other arm pulled the ceiling down, caving in the passage on one side. 'You are back in control, John.' I felt weight return to me and made for the stairwell where those guards were still recovering, grabbing a small golden shield as I went. A spell flew passed my right ear and as another one came, I lifted the shield and the spell seemed to ripple off, causing a vibration in the shield and arcing off into a wall. I quickly ran over and bashed the fallen unicorn who fired the spells off, knocking him out. Turning to the stairs I decided to keep hold of my new weapon. After enough stair climbing for a lifetime I finally reached a door. It seemed like the hinges were in fairly shitty condition so I tried kicking it a few times and it eventually fell down, leading me out to a stunning view of a city built on a mountainside, while a decadant looking castle of various shades of white, gold and purple loomed above. 'Hmpf. Canterlot has barely changed, I see. I attribute it to Celestia wallowing in the past as usual.' Who's she? Your sister? 'Lover, actually. Until she locked me in a mountain because I grew too powerful.' Can't relate, man. Hey, can we get off of this tower? 'I shall soften your fall. Jump.' No fucking way. I could hear voices from behind me and the shadow of a large unicorn with wings coming from just behind on the stairwell. ...Fuck it. I bit my lip and jumped. While flying through the air, I could see the shadow of that winged unicorn again. Turning around, I saw it flying full pelt towards me before Lavan quickly took control and let off a blast, causing the horse to veer off into a nearby building while landing me on one of the less busy pavements. A set of guards had already formed a wall in front of me, forcing me down an alleyway, unluckily, Blue bitch came throught the wall at the same time, attempting to disable the arm that was on fire while Lavan took my right arm and gave her another more intense blast, knocking her back through the wall and causing more property damage. I got up and started weaving through the thin alleyways, a few blasts of energy whistling past my ears while the sound of clopping hooves became dim. The ponies had accidentally put me in an advantageous position by backing me in here, as human agility allowed me to navigate the tight paths far better than my four-legged pursuers. This continued on for a few minutes before I hit a dead end. The stampede behind me was closing in. They quickly embedded themselves forming a line...The unicorns were sat behind a wall of shields while their horns began to glow brightly. 'Damn. They are too spread out to take out at once without seriously harming them. Human, use these powers wisely, I do not have the dexterity in your form to properly use them. Just blast your way through the wall behind you. There is no doubt that you will have to fire once again as you come through to breach the next wall. Go!' I felt a sharp sting, as if burned and then my palms lit up. Pulling softly at a seemingly new muscle, I created a small blast of fire. I turned around thrusting my arm at the wall, pulling at this new power instinctively and breaking through. I looked in and saw a pony showering, singing a happy tune as (he???) scrubbed, once the horse noticed me it screamed girlishly and threw a brush at me. I snorted, pushing through until I arrived at the next wall, blasting through and landing in front of a large white horse as I readied another blast. Lavan sighed, 'She hasn't aged a day.' What? Suddenly, I found myself unable to move as a zip of light hit me dead centre and caused me to lie frozen in place. The Blue Bitch landed down beside me, nudging my frozen body and pouting. "Tia, must thou always ruin our fun?" The white horse "Tia" gave her a look that promised words later, before turning to me and glaring at me with what were probably meant to be fierce purple eyes. "Creature, you are accused of arson, assault, assaulting an on-duty officer, assaulting a princess, theft, resisting arrest, and destruction of property, what say you in your defence?" I spoke calmly, still frozen from the neck down from her spell, I looked towards the white royal, "I'm the Thane of Whiterun!" I put on my best shit-eating grin. She grimaced, "Get him back to the palace..." she looked to both of the guards before turning away, retracting her magical grip. Six smaller mares trotted over to her, the pink one waving to me which I happily reciprocated. It took me until now to see that two of them were actually Pegasi. "Prin- Celestia what is that creature?" The purple one looked upwards, gauging her reaction. Huh, this one has wings and a horn as well. Celestia turned at me, her purple voids piercing my hazel eyes, "I do not know, Twilight." She snorted before narrowing her eyes, "But it is smart enough to outrun Luna, your brother and a contingency of the day guard, and I believe this creature to be highly dangerous." I grinned at her words, my canines showing easily. Everyone but the blue one who I assume is Luna flinched at that. 'Do not fret. Our help is just about to arrive.' Help? I felt a spear jab me in the back before the two guards chained my hands again. The unicorn guard on the left taking hold of it as they lead me away, the guard holding my chain winked, his eyes flicking from blue to green, I nodded as we turned a corner. The 'guard' unchained me silently, careful not to catch the eye of the other guard. Lavan took over and the next few seconds went very fast, four seconds after a hardly noticeable click, I now stood with one hand over the mouth of a struggling pegasus, another holding a dagger by his neck, with a weird bug thing kneeling down by the guard's head. You see, right before that rather annoying unicorn from the prison took a tumble, I was waiting in a cell. This cell was already occupied by a Changeling, smaller than the ponies, it's carapace riddled with holes. This creature told me it was capable of shifting into any form it wanted, provided it had energy. It took some convincing but the creature bought into my plan, I lured a guard into the cell he drained a bit of 'love' which they apparently feed on, he took the guard's form we stole his armour, hid his unconscious body. He made sure that he would be there to swoop in and act as the back up plan if I got caught. It seems I was right to trust him. Ok. "What now?" the changeling croaked as the guard stopped shifting. "We wait until the royals move out, they're blocking the fucking gate." I whispered gesturing around the corner. The 'ling chuckled, though it sounded more like a cat dying than laughing. "What?" "That can be easily remedied." the changeling took form as a guard again, donning the golden armour. He put on a worried face as he bolted around the corner "PRINCESSES! The creature has gotten loose of the guards again!" He shrieked, I heard their heavy hoofsteps before a smug looking royal guard trotted casually around the corner and signaled an all clear. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. Smartass." I rolled my eyes at his smug little face. Changelings have wings and horns but the wings are more membranous and their horns are jagged, both have holes in them like their bodies, in case you didn't know. Means they're more effective fighters than most ponies because they're smaller, faster, and have the benefits of flight and magic. We passed the gates with out opposition, beginning our trek down the surprisingly short road. On the way down I could see that their was a sort of magical barrier under the city. 'half of it IS floating over the valley below so I'm guessing that keeps it up'. I'll keep that in mind for when they inevitably track me down and take me back here. "What shall I call you, creature?" The changeling buzzed. "'Name's John Smith, but you can just call me John, or Smithy." The changeling nodded and we continued down the mountain. "What's yours?" I ask turning to my holey companion. "Helix." He smiled, "I have to commend you on your talents, Smithy. You escaped from one of the most heavily guarded cities on the continent within an hour of getting locked up." It took me until now to notice that whenever he says an 'S' it comes out more like a 'Z'. Also what the hell?! That place was high security? The guards were incompetent, the security was low and they put me in a cell with a shapeshifter. I mean, what kind of dumbass captures a shapeshifter, then puts it in a cage with only one idiot guard? Horse soldiers are really stupid. That was pretty much a dead end topic so I tried changing the subject. "Where are we going?" "There is a settlement near the base of the mountain, it is known as Old Canterlot, just as the city above is now Canterlot," seriously? Next think you know there'll be Manechester, or Neigh York. "I would suggest against going into the town, they are rather... xenophobic, like most of Ponykind." Wow, so I'm in a country full of racist horses. "I'm guessing you'll just stay a pony while getting food and other crap 'round the town?" "Precisely, we can set up a camp, as I do not require sleep and the love you helped me recover should sustain me for a good few days, I can watch during the nights." I nodded in affirmation and began to get started at making a small camp, before turning around and asking a question as the Changeling burned green and shifted into a non-descript pony. "Why are you so friendly?" He looked back at me, confused. "You saved my life, as I most likely would have rotted away in that dungeon, this has been the fullest I've been in weeks and you helped me get that of your own free will. That, and I can sense that you are being more genuine with me than anyone else. You speak to me as an equal, despite the differences between us. That is very rare among most species, even my own." Huh, fair enough. It's funny actually, I never thought I'd find myself talking casually to a part insect, part horse, part swiss cheese creature about this kind of thing. Scratch that, I never thought I'd talk to a part insect, part horse, part cheese creature about anything at all. The steep, rocky mountain track we had been walking along had devolved into a grassland path. There were a few trees littering the road as it flattened out, none of them had any fruit on them though. The small town to the east looked so much more drab than the mountain-bound city above, where Canterlot was a filled with shops, cafes and luscious green parks, Old Canterlot simply had a market in the centre of town surrounding the town hall, I could easily make out the multicolored shapes of ponies from here. 'Wait, thinking about Canterlot, how long till the royals realise I'm gone?' -Celestia's Journal, relevant page- "Princess, I have no recollection of taking anything back to the palace." The guard pleaded, his helmet by his side, looking down at the floor at the base of Celestia' s throne. Princess Celestia was rather irritated, this creature could not have chosen a worse time to make a mockery of security, The Griffin kingdom had finally decided to consider opening up trade routes to Equestria, and the Minotaur council, a group of thirteen who each governed their own territory, were staying in Canterlot for new alliance talks, to help protect against the changeling hive which had shown disturbingly small movement in the last year since the failed siege of Canterlot. That was what worried her most, Chrysalis had been too quiet, usually there would be a raid or two every month for love, usually on Appaloosa or one of the Minotaur border towns. Both the Minotaurs and the Griffins were more warrior nations and this breach of security could be perceived as weakness, which would have been catastrophic. This creature was more troublesome than it seemed to think it was. "You are dismissed, Clean Swipe. Oh and would you kindly tell Shining Armour to come here as soon as possible?" The guard bowed, as he donned his helmet, his fur slowly morphed from its auburn colour to a pure white, before he mumbled a 'thank you, your Highness' and walking out. Celestia waited a moment before summoning a quill and scroll from thin air and began to write. Dear Twilight Sparkle The creature we encountered in Canterlot earlier today, was found to have escaped from captivity again earlier today. It is imperative that you find this creature and bring him to me as soon as equinely possible. The hopes of peaceful transactions with the Minotaurs and Griffins hang in the balance. Signed, your friend and former tutor Princess Celestia Celestia knew that she had over-dramatized the situation a bit, but that would instill urgency in her fellow princess. The scroll disappeared in an aura of golden fire. 'Spike should receive that momentarily, in the mean time-'. A dark chuckle echoed through the hall. Celestia sighed, before steeling herself for her least favourite Draconequus' antics. "Well, well, well what do we have here?" Celestia grimaced, "Oh, Celly don't be like that, I was going to offer you some advice..." Discord tutted, as if he was addressing a child. "Discord, not today, just... not today, it's been a very trying evening." Celestia pushed her ears back against her head and looked down, her hoof pressed against the space under her horn. "Hmmph. FINE I wasn't going to say anything useful anyway!" The Draconequus appeared in a flash of light, crossing his arms before turning round and walking away. Celestia opened her mouth to reply but was promptly cut off by the Draconequus that was now in her face, "well, if you must know, that creature you've been looking for? It's of a chaotic origin, which means I can trace it," He chuckled, pointing at his chest. "But YOU can't!" He punctuated every word by poking Celestia in the snout, causing her to scrunch up her muzzle. "Are you going to help?" Celestia looked at the God of chaos hopefully, yet with enough despair to last several millennia at the same time. "Well, that's the thing isn't it? Tell you what, I'll give your little elements a much needed tip at convenient time." He smiled, "if, that is, you'll allow me to help out the good man himself, I'm well acquainted with his species you see," Celestia pondered this shortly, before she spoke slowly. "Deal." Discord's smirk morphed into a mischievous smile. -John- I've had a very productive three hours. Nothing is going to go wrong I managed to set up a campfire, which I still don't know how I'm going to light, as the sun is already beyond the horizon, I have a sizable log, which I found earlier, and Helix is getting a tent. Yep, everything's going smoothly. The changeling was currently in the town, looking for supplies while I tried to set up a camp. I was having particular difficulty trying to light a fire. Nothing could go wrong at all. "Hello." A voice whispered from in front of me. Whoa something went wrong, how could I have guessed it? I looked up and saw nothing, "Who's there!? Come out!" I tried drawing a weapon on instinct, to remember I didn't have one here. A voice carried on the wind let loose a short chuckle. "That's a nice wallet," the voice said from behind me. I jumped up, turning around suddenly. What I saw behind me, in the light of the moon was one of the few sights I don't think I'll ever forget. There was... a thing, some eldritch abomination that looked like it was made of multiple animals. Red eyes in glowing yellow sockets, a giant antler and one form from a ram, eagle talons for one hand, a lion paw for another. A thick snake-like torso with one leg hooved and another like a Velociraptor. Wings, one webbed, the other full of feathers. All the while this thing was digging around in my wallet. It looked pretty badass, to be honest. Besides the wallet-taking part, I mean. You know, that voice reminds of someone... "Mix-and-match, I don't know what the hell you are, but get your paws off of my wallet. Now," he pulled his paw away from it, keeping it in the air with his talons, peeking into it, "and your talons," he levitated it, still looking inside, before pulling out my driving license with his tongue, like a frog. "First, Eww. Second, That's cheating and third, Give that back," I jumped up taking the red leather wallet from his grasp. "John Smith? That's peculiar, you know, I used to know one of your species, oh what was his name?" He started massaging his temples, "Loki? No, that's not it. Ahh! Jean-Luc Picard! That's the one! Funny that you two have such similar first names." He slithered down, tucking the license back into my wallet. I knew that voice was familiar! "Q?" I looked up at him inquisitively. He put a talon over my mouth. After a moment's silence he retracted it. "They don't call me THAT anymore..." He pulled out a Mad Hatter's hat, "I am now Discord! Lord of chaos!" He summoned up some lightning from nowhere to give him that light outline, overshadowing his front. I raised an eyebrow. He chuckled before clicking his fingers, the hat disappearing. "Not really, I'm just Discord. Anyway, since you're pretty clueless I'm going to help you out," He pointed in a direction, "Head that way, you should find a settlement called Ponyville. It's one of the nicer pony settlements that won't start a hunt when you walk into town. Your changeling friend is coming back in a minute or two," he froze before he snapped his fingers, "Oh, and by the by, give Lavan my regards. The old chap always loved to share a good bit of chaos." He snapped his fingers, disappearing into the night. I was silent for a while. "Well, that was odd." I spoke at no one in particular. "What was?" Helix was back. "I just got visited by one of my favourite TV characters," I mumbled, then turned to Helix, I spoke louder, "he told me to go to Ponyville." He was by the stack of wood and leaves I used for firewood, he shot a jet of green flame, instantly lighting the fire, but instead of fire's natural red and orange colours, this one shone with a sickly green glow. Now that's cool. "What was his name?" He asked, I told him, "Q? Never heard of him, Discord, however..." He shivered, "He came back from his thousand year banishment about a year and a half ago. He came to the hive, turned the Changelings into cheese, then left us with a mice infestation. No one was hurt but we were starving, and we were vulnerable following that." He chuckled darkly, "can you imagine that? The Changelings, great deceivers of the wastes, brought to their knees by tiny little rodents." He said the word 'rodents' with particular venom. I successfully stopped a laugh from breaking through, just... the thought of him running around screaming like a little girl, while being chased by a bunch of mice, oh God, that's way too funny. "He told me at the last second that I could perform magic, what do you think that means?" I asked. "That you can use magic?" He smiled wryly. I just gave him a deadpan stare, causing his smile to widen. "No shit, Sherlock. I mean what kind of magic. Can you sense it?" I looked him in his teal eyes. "No, you have no changeling magic, but I know that you could ask any adept unicorn mage, they would be able to identify it, unless it is chaos magic." He replied solemnly. Oh well, I'll just ask Lavan later. "No worries, we'll just ask one in Ponyville." It had been a while now since the sun had gone down, as I arrived here sometime in the evening. We sat in silence for sometime, just looking into the fire. "So..." I looked at Helix, "What is it like being a changeling?" He took sometime to think, "Do you want my specific answer? Or the biological one? "Specific." He grimaced. "I abhore it, I am nearly always hungry, I am always tired, but not enough to sleep, I am always angry, but not enough to lash out. Emotions are a rare resource, one that is rarely given for free." He sighed. "Changeling society, however, is a different story. We are divided into castes, Drones at the bottom, Hive King or Queen at the top, although a hive king has not been seen for a long, long time." He took a deep breath as I listened intently, "drones are workers, building outposts, tearing them down again. Above the drones are our military units, the Reavers, Reavers are slightly smarter than Drones, and are much better equipped, their hooves have jagged bottoms to them, making them useful for climbing, or more useful as melee weapons, their teeth are sharper, and use a siphon that can drain a litre of blood within five seconds, if the right spot is bitten, they can also inject poison through their bites, they are capable of producing a heavy anaesthetic, as well as a fast-acting aphrodisiac." 'Fucking hell, they might as well give them acid blood and a spiked tail, then you can call them a damned Xenomorph', "They are harder to breed than drones though," staring at the look of shock on my face, he continues, "Next up are the Sapients" he patted his chest with a hoof, "of which I am from, we make up the majority population, and are given rights to build, trade and generally do what we please," his expression darkened, "Before Chrysalis came to power, that is. Second to the top are the Hive Minds, of which there used to be thirteen, they would oversee any and all military operations by commanding Reavers and Drones from afar, until they were instructed by that, buffoon, Chrysalis, to attack Canterlot, but they all refused to command the assault." I could see the hatred burning through his eyes, "She killed them. All of them. I was in the room when it happened. I was a guard you see, and was stood by one of the Hive Mind's side, and I had to watch the one I protected get torn apart." He shuffled uncomfortably. "That waste, that murderous traitor. She took control of the hive on her own, and she was arrogant enough to think that SHE was capable of beating them with no assistance but Drones and Sapients, then punished us by taking away the public access to the love reserves. She didn't care about any of them, you know. When the Changelings that survived Canterlot were so overflowing with love that they began to pop," My jaw dropped, "she simply walked past them as they cried out for their 'benevolent leader' to save them." If that isn't motivation to kill her then I don't know what is, "You want her dead, don't you?" He nodded, growling at the idiotic question. "She deserves more than death for what she did to us." Helix stamped the ground, creating a small fissure in the earth. When I suddenly backed up from the log Helix let loose a long drawn-out sigh, "Goodnight," he mumbled, before turning away. "Night." -John, the next morning, the camp- I awoke to the beautiful sounds of nature, birds chirping a nice cool breeze... And Helix kicking me lightly in the side of the head. "Alright, alright, I'm up, you abusive bughorse." Helix yawned, although it sounded more like a buzz, "We are going to Ponyville earlier than I thought," he pointed towards The base of the mountain, I could see some golden and white dots, trotting in formation. 'More guards.' I stamped out the last few embers of the emerald flame quickly, I took some of the bags of supplies Helix got from Old Canterlot yesterday. "I have packed up the tent, we should embark quickly, unless you wish to be back in guard custody." He began trotting briskly, carrying things in a saddlebags I assumed he procured last night, I followed, albeit at a slightly slower pace. Suddenly he took up the conversation we had last night again. "I am still unsure of what you actually are, John. I have entrusted you with knowledge of my species, so it is only fair for you do so with yours." "I am a human. Where I come from, I'm pretty average, physically, so you can imagine me as a base point. There aren't castes like there are with your species in any part of the world, but some people aren't too happy if your skin colour is different from theirs. We're mammals, and are descended from Apes or Chimps. We are the dominant species on the planet. "How so?" He asked. Exactly the question I wanted. "A mixture of Intelligence, the correct evolutionary traits, and a general thirst for adventure and discovery. Not to say we're perfect in sny sense of the word. We've got problems. Terrorism, poverty in some places, war being the cause of most of it. But we're getting better. At least that's what I think." We were quiet for a very long time after that.