Camo the changeling

by M Specter

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

*Yellow’s Pov*

Our leader Camo has arrived in Appaloosa, not safely but definitely alive.

He arrived here with a terrible fever, stiff limbs, and a small case of petrification. When I saw him faint in the desert I quickly made my way over to him only to find that his wings were turning to stone.

The doctor came to take a look at him recently and he said he would die in a couple of days due to the petrification if left untreated. As far as he knew no one in Appaloosa has ever had to deal with petrification and he had no clue on how to make him feel better.

I've sent our best warriors to find someone who may have a cure to what ails him but so far there hasn’t been any luck. I fear the worst for him, he has shown no signs of getting better since taking him in.

For now he resides in my guest bedroom. I’ve also taken the supplies he arrived with and put them on a chair nearby; hopefully he’ll wake up soon.

*Camo's Pov*

As I woke up I felt my body completely drenched in sweat. Too add to my uncomfortable awakening my wings felt really stiff, it was as if I could no longer move them.

When I tried to pull myself up pain erupted from my forehead causing me to lie back down.

"Where am I?" I spoke out loud.

I could've sworn I fainted in the desert. I turned my head to the left and saw a chair with my saddlebags on it. To my right was a wall with a window that showed the outside world. I opened the window hoping that the air that blew in would cool me off. It did, for a little while but the heat from the sun outweighed the coolness of the wind leading me to close the window.

I felt terrible everything hurt with an unbearable pain and I was extremely tired but for some reason I didn't want to sleep.

Soon after staring out the window for a while I heard rummaging from down stairs. At least that’s what I thought the sound was coming from. I didn't know if the house was only 1 story or 2 but considering that the noise sounded close but not on the same level as me I deduced that the sound came from downstairs.

I wanted to call the pony from downstairs but my voice felt hoarse so I couldn't say anything.

For about an hour I heard a lot of things moving downstairs but eventually the clip clopping of hooves began to ascend the stairs and began getting closer to my room. The door opened to reveal a green pony with blue eyes and a red mane and tail adorned with a cowboy hat and a green bow. She gasped and almost dropped whatever she was carrying on her back.

Apparently my being awake surprised her although what happened next definitely surprised me. One second she was shocked and standing in front of the door to my room, the next she was hugging me tightly.

"Oh Camo I'm so glad you're awake I was so worried that you wouldn't wake up or even worse die before we even found our queen."

Where have I been in this situation before? It seemed familiar but I couldn't put my hoof on it

"Yellow is that you?" I said through my dry throat.

"Yes sir." She said as she stopped hugging me.

I noticed that the soup she was carrying on her back didn't spill at all but she was leaning on me so at least some of it should have spilled out. To stop myself from going too far on that thought I said.

"So you must be the one who saved me once I fainted."

"Yes that's correct it was also decided that you would stay with me until you felt better, by the way I made you some soup to eat."

She set the bowl on the chair but I couldn't bear to move much in my state so I said.

"Can you feed it to me please I'm not in the right condition to move yet."

She looked apologetically at me and said. "Of course sorry for my indolence."

I felt like a foal as she spoon fed me the soup which by the way was delicious. The soup did wonders on my body the pain lessened considerably and moving my limbs didn't feel as much of a chore as before.

When the bowl was finished I said. "The soup was delicious Yellow but for some odd reason I can't feel my wings."

She hesitated for a split moment before saying "your wings and the rest of your body is in the process of petrification".

My face must have let on what my voice couldn't say. How am I in the process of petrification? I took a moment to think on how this situation could have occurred when I remembered the aftermath of the battle with the basilisk.

“By the way the serpent you just encountered is a Basilisk in case you didn’t know, if you looked into its eyes you would of died but if you looked at it indirectly you may have come out of that fight with some form of paralysis but judging by the look of you, your fine just make sure to get to town quickly so that they can take a look at you."

The gryphon’s warning ran through my head as I thought about my current condition. He had actually tried to help me, why? He knows for a fact that I was spying on him so why would he give me any information at all.

After a small mental debate I decided to stop and try to think upon that later.

"Yellow since I won't be going anywhere for a while why don't you tell me about what your faction has done since I last saw you."

"Of course during our time here we've integrated into the community greatly despite the size of the town and its occupants, we had to be extremely careful with mimicking the likeness of our disguises so as not to raise suspicion..." a loud boom was heard from outside causing Yellow to stop what she was saying.

"What was that?" I asked her.

"I don't know” she responded “this has never happened before."

"Let's go check it out" I said as I tried getting up.

The moment I did however Yellow sprang into motion. She laid her hoof on my body and pushed me back down onto the bed.

"No my liege you’re too weak and in your state you could be seriously injured."

"Nonsense I'm fine" I said as I forced a smile hoping she would buy it.

By the way she looked at me I knew she didn’t.

"I order you to take me to where that sound came from."

She sighed knowing that no matter what I was going to find out what happened, plus it was a direct order she couldn't say no… right?

"Alright I'll take you there but you need to be careful at the nearest sign of danger were coming back okay? “

I nodded. When she saw that i accepted the her terms she became less worrisome and helped me get up. I left my stuff back in the room as I put my hoof around Yellow for support.

Once outside we could see that most of the town’s residents were running around and screaming blindly as if it was the end of the world. The path we had to go was obvious all we had to do was just go the opposite way of the town’s residents. It wasn’t as clear as I thought it would be, they were all running in different ways.

Eventually we arrived at the scene to witness a dark shadow like figure walking over a diamond dog and making his way to what I assume was the town's library. It had a sign that had a book on it so I assumed it was so, but what had started this whole battle in the first place? Diamond dogs are known to travel in groups but this one was all alone. It could just be that his pack decided to ditch him but even so what about that pony.

He was obviously up to no good considering he looked as if he wasn’t completely there. Maybe he was using some kind of magical spell that I’ve never hear d before.

We went over to the diamond dog and yellow said "Sparky are you alright?"

His eyes opened and he looked at the both of us and said "run"

He quickly succumbed back to silence afterward.

I didn't know who Sparky was but he obviously had a good heart if he was friends with a pony in this town.

"I want to get closer" I said to her.

Yellow looked at me as if I was crazy.

"Didn't you hear what Sparky said we need to go away from it."

I shook my head.

"We need to see this pony."

Although Yellow was apprehensive about it she brought me closer to where the stallion went. He hadn't gone into the library yet he just stood there as if searching for something.

As we neared he seemed to have heard us approaching, because he began to speak.

"Ah, Camo the king of the changelings what an honor to be here before you and with a member of one of your council no less I am deeply moved."

We both could no longer move we were stunned by the fact that he knew who we were even though we had disguises. We had no reply for him he had completely stunned us into silence.

He then turned around and we were able to look at his eyes they were green and unlike most pony’s eyes his looked like a dragons.

"You should look at your faces right now I mean really what are you so stunned about?"

We still couldn't reply the fact that he was talking nonchalantly as if this was common knowledge disturbed me.

"You’re probably wondering how I know about you, let's just say I acquired the information."

The way he said acquired didn't sit well with me so when I found my voice I said "what do you mean you acquired it?"

"Simple really I just took control of some of your changeling allies. From there I was able to access their memories from their heads. By the way do you know how highly the changelings regard you as? You’re their symbol of hope; I wish they could see you now cowering in fear of my very presence, and weak beyond comprehension."

It took me awhile to process what he said 'I’m their ray of hope?'

I haven't done much since becoming the leader if anything my only goal is to look for our queen. Then my mind was able to process the second thing he said, I am not weak. I hissed at him making sure to show my fangs and he did the same oddly enough with his own pair of fangs.

"You've just become an enemy of the changelings I hope you're prepared to face the consequences."

He chuckled and then replied "with my power I could easily defeat you in my present shadow form but seeing as how you're barely able to stand on your own I assume you’re in a weaker state and would rather fight me with your full power I'll be waiting at your so called changeling hive, see you then king of the changelings."

With that said his shadow form disappeared leaving us with our thoughts.

I couldn't believe what I had just seen. That stallion although I've seen nothing but his shadow form he seemed familiar and the entirety of what he said was true.

Yellow found her voice and said "Camo can you walk on your own I should take Sparky to a hospital."

I nodded and she was on her way helping sparky onto his paws and getting him to move in what I could only assume was the direction of the hospital. I returned to Yellows house shortly after seeing them go. I laid down on the bed and thought about what had just happened.

I couldn't possibly beat him even at full strength and it was obvious that he was serious. That look in his eyes haunted me. Those eyes haunted me until I fell asleep and even within my dreams they haunted me until the next morning.

Comments

[M Specter]

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I do, its just that I don't really have anyone to read these chapters before I post them. I'm using this story as a way to get better in writing.