A Different Breed of Changeling

by Zoljen

Of Gods and Ponies

Chapter 5: Of Gods and ponies

Talon growled as he jumped to the side, dodging a swipe from the timber wolf that he just so happened to piss off by existing. He had been walking along for a few days now, low on energy and almost out of food. His sense of direction was horrible it seemed, and he could have sworn he was wandering in circles.

Talon ducked as the beast swiped at him again, snarling and baring its fangs at him as it tried to enjoy a meal that was proving highly evasive. Talon had barely been able to attack since he got ambushed, not wanting to use any magic and barely get close enough to smack it with a hoof. He slid a little bit from another dodge, and looked up just in time to see a paw crash down upon him and pin him to the ground.

He growled and tried to wiggle free as the beast lowered its snarling muzzle to him, a faint grin on it. He looked up when he suddenly felt something weird, determination? From another source? He looked towards the forest just as a blue streak erupted from the forest and slammed into the wolf, knocking it clean off of him and a few yards away.

What Talon saw shocked him; he saw a blue furred pegasus floating there, glaring at the timber wolf while hovering in a combat pose. The pegasus was wearing a blue outfit with a yellow lightning bolt down its center. The suit covered almost all of the pegasus, leaving just the mane, tail, part of his face, and wings free.

The timber wolf slowly stood up and growled at the pegasus for a few moments before shrinking away and fleeing into the jungle.

“Hmph.” The pegasus landed and looked towards Talon. “So, what are you doing out here, in a dangerous jungle, by yourself?”

Talon was about to answer when three more pegasi entered the clearing, but the only one he could make out was a grey pony with a silver and white mane. “Blizzard! Why did you fly off like that?” he asked, as the other two landed near Talon and looked the unicorn over.

Blizzard just pointed towards Talon. “I heard something, and then saw him dodging a timber wolf. So I helped.” He shrugged. “Anyway, you can answer my question now, colt.”

Talon looked between the four pegasi all staring at him and let out a soft sigh. “On my way from my hi... err, home. It was destroyed by, something. I don’t know what, and I’ve been wandering for days now looking for the nearest town. My sense of direction isn’t that good.”

Blizzard seemed to study Talon as he spoke, shaking his head slightly. “Wings would suit you better.” He turned towards the grey pony. “Silver, go fetch our medical staff. The unicorn here is hurt and could use some attention.” He then turned to the other two. “And might as well make camp here.”

The three nodded and disappeared back into the foliage, leaving Blizzard and Talon alone. Talon glanced back at the blue pegasus and saw him just a foot away. He yelped slightly and shrunk back from the imposing pony.

“I know what you are,” he whispered.

“H…how?”

“The way you carried yourself during that fight, I watched for a minute and ten seconds before jumping in to save you. Your quick and sure on your hooves; a normal unicorn is a bit slower in physical combat, and more prone to stumbling. Also, a normal unicorn would have used magic at every chance; you were saving energy.” Blizzard leaned back. “Don’t worry, I’ll only tell one of them, after you’ve gone on your way.”

Talon looked down, “Thank you,” he mumbled, leaving the pegasus to snort softly and making him look up again.

“Should be a bit more thankful than that, but I suspect you don’t normally deal with ponies.”

“What are pegasi doing here?” Talon asked, standing up slowly. “I thought you had something back in Equestria to take care of.”

“That is a work in progress,” Blizzard said as he turned from the changeling, “We are on our way to the border lands between the griffons and drakes. We just happened to be passing through here.” He took a few steps forward, “To be honest, I thought he sent you at first, but you have no clue who I’m talking about.”

Talon just tilted his head to the side, “He? Uh, no. Are you a part of the Wonderbolts?”

Blizzard let out a single chuckle. “Astute observation. Yes, the elite air force of Equestria, and part-time show pony.”

“Show pony?” Talon raised an eyebrow. “I only know of the military side, didn’t think you showed off combat techniques for the common pony.”

“More like fancy air shows.” Blizzard shrugged slightly. “Something I doubt you’d be interested in. Showing off aerial moves for pegasi and pony alike.” Blizzard turned his head to glance at Talon. “I didn’t catch your name.”

“Talon, and, I think I would be interested in that.”

“What? Don’t feed on love?”

Talon winced a little at that, “Hard to get love from something that can be much bigger than you. So we…err…” he trailed off, looking down. “Have adapted to favor pleasing them. Gratitude tastes better than love does.” He finished at almost a mumble.

Blizzard barely raised an eyebrow. “I am assuming something happened to your hive?” Talon just nodded at that. “Well, I am sure if you can fly half as well as you dodge, the Wonderbolts would accept you. If you can make it to them.”

Talon nodded with a small grin, then yelped as Silver burst out of the foliage with a unicorn medic in tow. Blizzard stood and walked over to the medic who just stared at Talon with his jaw dropped.

“You weren’t kidding Silver Lining. A unicorn, here? How?” The medic asked as he trotted up to Talon, hovering a bag of medical supplies by him. “And what did he get into a fight with? A drake?”

Talon glanced to the bandages still on his arm, “That was a week ago. Today was just a timber wolf.”

The unicorn let his medical bag drop. “You’re kidding… about that drake, right?”

Blizzard sighed softly. “He probably is. Just tend to his wounds. We are making camp here.”

The medic nodded and looked over Talon, whom had a good number of scratches and claw marks marring his hide. He glanced along his form, stopping on the cutie mark, “Huh… Never seen a cutie mark like that before.” He shrugged slightly. “Hold out your leg please.”

Talon did as told, holding out the bandaged leg for the medic to remove the coverings. “So, what are you doing out here?” The medic tried to make small talk as he worked.

“Uh, being lost, really. I heard there was a town east of the mountain, so I was going there.”

“And your plans after that?” the medic cut the bandages off, noticing the wounds had mostly healed, but were indeed from a drake. “Also, you weren’t kidding about the drake.”

“Uh, no. I wasn’t.” Talon chuckled weakly as Silver Lining stared at him, jaw agape.

“Quite impressive for a unicorn to best a drake.”

“He isn’t a normal unicorn, are you, Talon?” Blizzard looked at the pair of unicorns for a moment, then to Silver Lining.

“I have my… own talents, yes. Unique spells for me to use in combat, if I had more energy anyway.” Talon shrugged slightly, as the medic re-bandaged his leg.

“I bet it has something to do with wings, huh?” He made a head motion towards Talons’ flank, where his cutie mark; a unicorn horn with a pair of wings at its base, sat.

Talon grinned sheepishly. “Yea, but the spell costs a fair bit of energy to do, and I can only do it for so long.” He lied, but the medic and Silver didn’t need to know that.

Blizzard shook his head as the other two pegasi entered the clearing, with ten more following. Talon squeaked softly as he saw all the pegasi glance at him, and see the somewhat hurt state he was in. One of them trotted up to Blizzard.

“Is he why we are staying here? One unicorn should not delay us you know. Celestia knows we get enough of a distraction from your –.“ He trailed off as Blizzard shot him a glare. “Right, fine.” He turned towards the others. “Make yourselves comfy. You two,” he pointed towards a pair of pegasi, “go get some firewood. We’ll set up some tents and relax a bit early today.”

Talon remained quiet as the medic tended to his wounds, silently soaking up the various emotions in the air from the ponies around him.

---

Night had fallen and the only pony awake was Blizzard, and Talon figured if any pony understood why he was leaving at this time, it’d be him. Talon decided to sleep on the outer edge of the camp, still where he’d be safe in case of attack, but so he wouldn’t have to step over any ponies to leave.

He tried to be as quiet as possible while standing and gathering his satchel, which had another two days’ worth of rations in it. He took a single step towards the forest before he heard a soft sigh.

“Not even going to thank us?” He heard as a whisper next to him. He suppressed a yelp as he glanced to his side, seeing Blizzard there, almost glaring at him.

After regaining his senses, “I figured I would just slow you down, which I didn’t want to do.” He whispered back.

Blizzard shook his head slightly, “We are carrying three unicorns with us. One more wouldn’t slow us down.”

Talon looked down, then shook his head. “You’re heading off to the border between griffons and drakes. You be careful, and I’ll do the same. That town is which way?”

Blizzard let out a soft sigh and pointed. “That way. We won’t always be around to save your tail.”

Talon smirked, “I won’t need it now that I’m recharged. Though, to be fair, you’re a very hard pony to read.”

“Good. Be well Talon and good luck.”

Talon gave a nodded and snuck off into the forest. Barely a minute after he disappeared, Silver opened an eye towards Blizzard. “Why’d you let him go?”

“Because, that changeling has to find his own path.”

“Ahh,” Silver yawned and snuggled back into the blanket, then a moment later opened his eyes wide and his mouth to speak, right as a hoof entered it.

“Shhh. You’ll wake the others.” Blizzard looked down at Silver, and slowly removed his hoof. “Before you ask, he wasn’t causing problems. So keep it quiet, would ya?” Silver just nodded slowly.

---

Talon had made record time through the forest once he was pointed in the right direction. He guessed he was still a day from his destination but something new barred his path. He was currently laying down, watching what could only be described as a jigsaw puzzle of animal parts. The strange creature, he assumed was male, was pacing back and forth, mismatched arms crossed and a look of determination on his face.

His snake tail twitching as he walked, still muttering a curse or two as he paced. Talon could detect a lot of both magical power, and emotional power from it. But something told him to stay away, might have been the flashing sign near the edge of the clearing that said it, who knows.

Talon was just about to start sneaking around when it stopped, straightened up, reached a paw up and snapped two fingers, disappearing from view and detection all together.

Talon blinked, remaining where he was for a moment before sneaking out into the clearing.

“You really make too much noise breathing that quietly.” A voice came from behind Talon, which made him yelp loudly and tumble out into the clearing. “And boy are you high strung!”

Talon rolled to his hooves and turned to face where the voice came from, but saw nothing.

“For a being that can detect emotions, you certainly are blind when something is above you, eh?” Talon quickly looked up, seeing the creature floating above him.

“I happen to be a draconequus, in case you’re wondering.” Talon quickly backpedaled away from the creature. “And I can plainly tell you’re a changeling. Although…” Talon went slightly pale as the creature hovered towards him. “Certainly one I haven’t seen before. A lot of adapting must have happened over the last millennium.”

The draconequus shook his head slightly, “Nice to know I still incite terror in… most, ponies.” He grumbled near the end. Talon quickly dashed to the left of him, trying to escape the clearing, only to almost run into him as he appeared in front of the changeling in a puff of smoke.

“Running away? After spying on me? For shame. I could easily tell you were in that bush for the better part of five minutes, watching me. At least you weren’t draining me, didn’t want to taste a god, huh?” He paused, “That sounded wrong…”

Talon blinked and leaned back as the draconequus leaned forward, “Why are you tormenting me? I don't want any trouble!” Talon barked at him.

“Moi? The mighty Discord, god of chaos? Tormenting you? Why my… boy, it’s what I do!” Discord grinned widely, far wider than his face would normally allow. He leaned forward as Talon leaned back. “Though, we should get rid of that pesky disguise.” He reached a paw up and snapped his fingers, the unicorns disguise instantly shattering and revealing the changeling below.

Talon gasped as he felt it fade, quickly looking himself over, “How did you -?!” He looked back up, directly into the sneer of Discord and jumped back, flaring his wings out to side. “Gah! Stop doing that!”

“No. You can’t make me,” Discord sneered as he kept hovering. “Would like to see you try though.”

Talon shook his head. “I prefer life.” He turned and started running in the direction he was originally going.

“It was your fault you know.” Discord said calmly, making Talon stop in his tracks and glance over his shoulder. “You really think that besting a prince in combat wasn't going to upset him?”

Talon slowly turned to face the god. “H-how do you know about that?”

“How could i not? I mean it was only the talk of the dragon court for days afterwards! A prince, bested by a lowly changeling in combat!” He disappeared from view, only to appear next to the changeling. “And you are so willing to face down dragons, but run at the mere sight of me.”

Talon jumped to the side to get away from him. “I know where i stand when fighting a dragon!” Discord chuckled and floated up a little.

“Face it, you're a coward.”

Talon growled, “I am not!” and leapt into the air after the god, his form encircling in fire as his fore hooves changed into blades. Discord merely raised an eyebrow as he watched and effortlessly dodged the frenzy of attacks the changeling threw at him.

“And you're still going to run from a past that will forever haunt you!” Discord taunted as he kept blocking the wild swings.

“Shut up! You don’t know what you’re saying!” Talon spat at Discord as he floated back, his horn powering up to throw a beam of energy at the god. Discord merely caught it with a baseball glove and made the energy dissipate harmlessly.

Talon flew at Discord again and swiped with a blade, sadly getting it caught in a paw. “Shouldn’t let your emotions guide you in battle.” He grinned as he spun around before tossing the changeling back into the clearing they started in.

Talon landed with a soft crunch as he bounced from his back to his front. He stood up shakily as Discord landed in front of him, still holding that grin. “Come on, surprise me. It’s what your species is good at, isn’t it?”

Talon didn’t bother to say anything as he reclined, inhaling and making a crimson glow appear in his mouth. Discord merely raised an eyebrow before gasping, throwing his paws forward to conjure a shield as a large gout of fire erupted from the changeling.

“Huh, was not expecting that. And it’s natural too,” Discord said rather calmly as he redirected the fire upwards, to not catch the local wildlife on fire. After a few moments, the fire stopped and revealed Talon, gasping for breath. Discord looked him over, “I should have guessed you could breathe fire, but I suspect you can’t do it often, huh?”

Talon just growled and lunged at him again, bringing a hoof to Discord’s face rather hard, though his second swing only connected with air as Discord teleported away. Talon looked around for him, finally hearing Discords voice from above.

“You know, for the author of this little story liking me so much, I seem to be getting hit far more often than I should be.” He glanced skyward for a second, before looking down at the changeling who was already lunging at him again.

“You know what, Talon. I’m done with this. I already forgot what I was gonna do to Blizzard Strike today. So be gone, gnat.” He reached up and snapped his claws, making the changeling just disappear from sight with a pop. Discord paused and looked around. “Oops… that won’t come back to bite me, will it?”

Author's Note:

Blizzard and Silver Lining belong to Calm Wind.

Comments

[Jim Hoxworth]

Looks good!

[The Forgotten Comrade]

Now I'm wondering where he went.