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A journey of a thousand miles has to start somewhere1,410 words
It's not stealing if he's dead 2,047 words

A journey of a thousand miles has to start somewhere

Doppel was a changeling just like any other. He spent most days disguised as a pony hanging out among the other ponies in Equestria and feeding off their love when he was hungry. They just had so much of it, and it was incredibly easy to get them to part with it; when they thought he was a pony at least.

Things became harder for him after the invasion of Canterlot. Doppel didn’t take part in it, of course. Invading always seemed so blunt and ruthless. He preferred a more subtle take on things. Even so, every guardspony in every city was looking for him and his kin now, which made his job all the more difficult.

*kablam*

The pot next to to Doppel's head shattered, sending potting soil everywhere. "Shit shit shit! Their aim is getting better," he swore to himself, glancing back at the squad chasing him. A half dozen gold-clad guards armed with muskets led by an officer with a comically large moustache were hot on his hole- filled hooves.

Doppel let out a yelp of pain as a ball grazed his flank. 'Scratch that, they're actually able to hit something!'

"Damn it Wingkins, I said aim for his legs! I want that roach alive!"

Doppel tore around a corner and dove inside a wagon full of hay. He had completely covered himself just as the guards came clanking around the corner.

"Alright Chaps," the officer said, using his telekinesis to unholster his pistol, "check everywhere, that bug can't have gone far."

Doppel, remained as silent as a church mouse, as he lay motionless in his straw sanctuary. But he had missed one thing when covering himself up: his tail.

He let out a yelp of pain, jumping from the wagon as something sharp stabbed his flank. Landing in a heap, Doppel got to his hooves only to find a half- dozen guns pointed at him and one smug looking mustachioed major.

"You have nowhere else to go bug," the officer said, "Why don't you save us all the trouble and surrender?"

Doppel kept silent as he spun about; the guards had formed a circle around him, so there was no way he was getting out by hoof.

"I'll give you till three. One.... Two... Thr-"

Doppel spread his insectoid wings and shot into the sky, stopping a good thirty feet in the air before turning about to face the guards. "You'll have to catch me first sir," he said, a shit eating grin on his face.

"You blithering idiots!" The officer yelled, looking back at the gawking guards, "shoot that bug!"

"Stop right there criminal scum!" they all proclaimed as they fired at once and all missed rather horribly.

"My leg!" was the last thing Doppel heard as he flew away.Landing in a nearby alley, Doppel landed in a nearby back alley and assumed a random disguise before trotting out into the street once again.

'That was too close', he thought to himself as he slinked through the crowd, 'if only I ha'-

His train of thought was interrupted as he ran into the flank of somepony. When he looked up he was shocked to see a stallion that looked exactly the same as he did.

"Balls."

"Stop right there criminal scum!"

His eyes widened, shit shit shit! I hav- Wait, magic!

Doppel dropped his disguise and began charging a teleportation spell, focusing all the energy he could muster.

Before he could finish, the guard fired and Doppel let out a scream of pain as the musket ball tore Into his flank. There was brilliant flash as he lost his focus and overcharged the spell. In an instant, he was gone. The guard simply shrugged, "must have been my imagination," and trotted off to search elsewhere.

Meanwhile in the Mojave Wasteland, where you could aim down the sight and wish for a nuclear winter; Victor the Securitron was having an alright morning. Earlier, he had dug up some poor fella who had been shot in the head and buried in a shallow grave up at the town cemetery. That man was now being tended to by Doc Mitchell and Victor was just happy to do his part.

As the large robot rolled across Goodsprings, heading back to his shack, a bright flash pierced the early morning twilight and something landed on the roof of the old schoolhouse before rolling off and landing on the ground.

"What in tarnation?" the cowboy robot proclaimed as he rolled towards whatever had just fallen from the sky. When he rounded the corner, Victor stopped as his sensors picked up something he couldn't quite identify. It was human shaped and had fingers but that was where the similarities ended. The creature's skin was black and covered in plates akin to the giant insects that wandered the less civilized parts of the wastes. Its ears were at the top of the creature's and a protrusion stuck out from the being's forehead, ending in a blunt point.

Whatever it was let out a pained groan as it rolled on the ground and the robot rolled over close to the mystery creature. At this close distance, Victor saw what was most definitely a bullet hole in the creature's stomach. Victor picked up the creature and began rolling back to Doc Mitchell's house. Whatever this thing was it needed medical attention and Doc was the only sawbones Victor knew of.

... a few days later...

Doppel awoke with a groan. 'Sweet Celestia, my everything hurts'. He opened his eyes and took a moment to get his bearings… then another… and another… it actually took him about three full minutes to pull himself into a sitting position and get a look around. He was lying on a makeshift mattress of pillows and blankets in the living room of a rather poorly lit house.

“Ow my head," groaning, he brought up a forehoof to rub his head but that stopped once he saw something was most definitely not a hoof. "What the Tartarus happened to me?"

He still had his horn and insectoid wings, his skin was still hard and chitinous, and his limbs were still full of holes. But instead of ending in stumps, his forelegs now had five smaller appendages on the ends: fingers. Doppel had been a griffon a few times, so the fingers he could get used to. But he had never been a diamond dog before; so a bipedal form was new territory.

Summoning his magic and trying to change back to his normal shape yielded no results and only left him with a throbbing headache.

“Well that got me nowhere," Doppel grumbled dryly to himself.

His ears perked up as he heard another voice coming from a nearby room, sounding like it was coming from a elderly stallion, "-could you stay here for a second. I think my other patient has woken up."

"Other patient?" a second, younger voice spoke up.

"Victor, the robot who brought you in, came back not ten minutes after dropping you off with some mutant creature claiming it fell from the sky. And I couldn't just tell the big fella no so I took it in and patched it up."

Doppel looked down at the bandage that was wrapped around his midsection. He looked back up in time to see a strange looking creature enter the room. It reminded him a diamond dog; it's head was hairless except for on the side and a moustache. it wore a black shirt with suspenders, brown pants, and a red scarf tied around its neck.

"Hello there," it said in the elderly male voice earlier, "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to help you."

Doppel blinked in surprise, this old... whatever thought he was a dumb animal!

"I'm not an foal," he frowned, crossing his arms, "I'm a grown stallion. You don't have to baby me."

*Thunk*

The old thing crumpled to the ground as a look of complete and utter shock came over his face.

Author's Note:

Edited by a whole lotta people!

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PixelFluttershy

PixelFluttershy #1 · Feb 8th, 2015 · · ·

However,But he

Rephrase that

the officer said in a posh accent.,

No reason for that

circle around aabout him

Remove that word

tThe officer yelled, looking back

Unnecesary t at start

Landing in a nearby alley, Doppel assumed a random disguiseDoppel landed in a nearby back alley and assumed a random disguise before trotting out into the street once again.

Double sentence

Hoofprints in the Mojave - bluemoon1996

Chapters NextClose A journey of a thousand miles has to start somewhere1,410 words It's not stealing if he's dead 2,047 words A journey of a thousand miles has to start somewhere

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A journey of a thousand miles has to start somewhere1,410 words
It's not stealing if he's dead 2,047 words

A journey of a thousand miles has to start somewhere