Chapter 3: The Pegasus
Chapter 3 – The Pegasus
-
It was around noon, the sun high in the sky. A short walk straight ahead led us to a river, the journey only made longer from my slow walking pace. Across the river – the water flowing to the right – mountains stood tall along the horizon, snow topping their peaks.
“Alright,” said Twilight, sliding the saddlebags off of her back, “let’s take a quick rest over here.” She placed her saddlebags down near the bark of a large tree and walked over to the river bank. Then, she lowered her muzzle down and drank the crystal clear water, also taking the opportunity to wash the small amount of changeling blood still staining her hooves.
Crystal, setting down her own saddlebags as well, walked over to me. “We should probably take off the bandages now,” she stated, pointing a hoof at the ground below me. “Go ahead and lie down, if you’re ready.”
I obliged, easing myself down. The grass, as soft as it might’ve been, was yet hard to feel through both my chitin and the numbness that still covered my body
Crystal inspected me carefully. “Just one quick check before we start.” As her horn glowed, I felt a familiar poking and prodding make its way across my form. Thankfully, it didn’t take long, as she only checked what I guessed to be the most important parts.
“Looks good,” she said. “I’m going to start removing the bandages now. If anything hurts, just let me know, okay?” Seeing me nod, she got right to work, her aura gently unraveling the first bandage off of my left foreleg. As it came off, I noticed that, quite unsurprisingly, there were holes in it as well.
“Why are there holes in my legs?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Crystal remarked, “nopony knows that much about changelings; they’re all relatively new to ponykind.” With the first bandage fully unraveled, she tossed it aside and moved to the other foreleg. “Every changeling I’ve seen has those very same holes, though, so I think it’s just natural.”
“I figured. I thought they were just another one of my injuries at first, but then I saw the other changelings back there and...” I watched Crystal take a bandage off of my right foreleg, tossing it over with the other. “Why were they attacking us, anyway?”
She moved her horn down to the lower part of my body, starting to remove the few bandages there as well. “If I were to guess, they were looking for Twilight. She’s pretty important to them.” She made an upwards motion with her hoof. “Would you kindly sit up? It’s hard to take the bandages off when they’re being squished under your back.”
“Oh, sure,” I said, slowly sitting up.
“Thanks,” she said, continuing to work. “I’m sorry, by the way. About what happened back there to your fellow changelings.” She looked down. “It must’ve been horrifying.”
I shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.” She glanced up, staring at me strangely for a moment. “...What?”
“Nothing,” Crystal said. With my lower body finished, she moved on to my upper body. I felt a pressure on my back that I hadn’t noticed before release as the bandages came off.
My wings, I thought. I remembered the dying changeling from before, how the wings buzzed as it slowly bled to death. I also remembered Pathfinder, bursting into green flames as he was shot, somehow transforming into a changeling.
“Crystal?”
“Yes?” Her ears perked up.
“That pegasus back there, Pathfinder. What happened to him?” I asked.
They folded back somewhat. “He wasn’t Pathfinder. The Pegasus you saw was a changeling disguised as Pathfinder.” She tossed more bandages aside.
I raised an eyebrow. “In disguise? How?”
Crystal smirked. “You ask a lot of questions, you know?”
I glanced off to the side. “Oh, sorry.”
"Oh, no, no, it's fine. I don't mind it." Crystal stopped working for a while to speak. “Changelings can disguise themselves as anypony you can imagine, and they’re so good at it that you can’t tell the difference between a disguised changeling and a real pony.”
My eyes furrowed, puzzled. “How?”
“I couldn’t hope to know; I’m... not really a changeling.” She resumed, moving up to my forehead. The bandages there were sparse, being removed in under a minute. “And we’re done!” she said proudly. “It’s a wonder your horn’s okay. If that tree came any closer, you’d probably have more than a broken memory.”
I reached up and felt my horn, the ring still tightly fitting on there. “What does it do?”
“The ring?”
“No, the horn.”
She giggled, making Twilight shoot her a rather disapproving look over from the river. “Magic, silly.”
I looked over my body, muttering the word ‘magic’ as I observed the various faint white scars shaped like cracks that covered my body. “I thought magic was nothing but a fantasy.”
She giggled again. “I hope that tree didn’t hit you too hard.”
“Honestly, I thought the same about unicorns and pegasai as well. I guess I’m just confused right now on what’s real or not.”
“Well, I promise you that I am definitely real,” she assured. “And don’t worry. Like I said, you should get better over time.”
“I don’t know, maybe that tree really did hit me too hard.” I stood up on my hooves, looking over to the river.
Twilight still stood there, looking cautiously around her as she splashed the water around with a hoof. She turned around. “Are you done yet?” she called out.
Crystal picked up her saddlebags, walking over to Twilight. “We just finished, Twilight.” She looked up at the sky. “Did you see Pathfinder anywhere?”
“Obviously not,” she scowled, “or I would’ve already told you.” She brushed past Crystal, floating her saddlebags from afar onto her back. “Let’s get going. Hopefully, he didn’t already take off on us by himself.”
Crystal and I followed, the three of us walking in a single file line, following the river upstream. I noticed how significantly better it felt to walk then with the bandages gone, although – for reasons that I couldn’t explain – it still felt just the slightest bit awkward.
“Stay under the cover of the trees,” Twilight advised. “There could still be changelings flying around in the sky.”
“What are we doing?” I asked Crystal.
She turned around. “We’re looking for Pathfinder, the real Pathfinder. We got separated from him a while ago.”
“Will we find him?”
“I hope so.” She briefly stood still and pointed ahead, making me pause as well. “He was told to wait over near the east side of these woods; we’re headed there now.”
I nodded, looking over to my left as we resumed walking. The river nearby had gigantic rocks in the middle, the current flowing around them. A couple fish jumped up from under the water and into the air repeatedly, making their way downstream. I closed my eyes, listening to the soothing white noise of the rushing water.
Actually seems rather peaceful, oddly enough, I thought. Considering the circumstances and all.
Fate, as it turned out, seemed to agree, as a loud cry suddenly erupted from behind me.
“AAAAAAAAAGH!”
I was about to turn around to find out what was going on when I was unexpectedly tackled to the ground by a dark red blur, hooves punching me across the face in an alternating manner, left to right. If it weren't for Crystal's spell, it would’ve probably hurt a lot more than it did.
I imagined Crystal and Twilight’s heads swiveling around at the commotion. "Pathfinder, no! Stop!" Crystal yelped, pushing him off of me.
"’Ave you lost your bucking marbles?!" he yelled, "I'm helpin’; that bloody changeling was about to kill you!" His voice sounded exactly like the disguised changeling's did, except he had a more pronounced accent. Even though it hurt to think through my pounding head, I scoured my mind, trying to identify it.
Almost sounds... British? What’s a ‘British’?
“Pathfinder,” Crystal panted, “the changeling’s with us.”
“...What?!”
“It’s a long story,” said Twilight.
Crystal quickly lowered herself down to me, helping me up off the ground with her horn. My head still pounded. I looked at Pathfinder, who was identical to the disguised changeling, save for the tattoo – or, 'cutie mark' – of some sort of map on his flank.
“Are you alright?” Crystal asked me.
I rubbed my head, groaning.
Her horn glowed. "A mild concussion. Doesn't seem too serious; I don't think there's any permanent damage." She looked up. "You could’ve seriously hurt him!"
Pathfinder sputtered. “Well, that was the plan, you gormless bucks! What did you expect me to do, let a changeling stalk you?" He pointed at my forehead, probably noticing the ring on my horn. "I didn't know you took one for a prisoner all of a sudden! I hope this 'long story' of yours is a damn good one, because you both got some explainin’ to do!"
Crystal was about to speak, but Twilight stuck a hoof over her muzzle, silencing her. "I'll handle it," she said, turning to Pathfinder. “We found our prisoner“ – she smirked at the word – “three days ago, dying under a tree that had fallen on it during the storm that was occurring at the same time.”
"Yeah, and?" Pathfinder pressed on.
“And as it would turn out, it was still alive. So, we decided we could get some use out of it. If there’s anypony-” She corrected herself. “...Any creature that knows anything about the changelings, it would be a changeling, no?”
Pathfinder threw his head against the bark of a nearby tree – or, he at least looked like he was about to. “Let me get this sorted: You saved a changeling, a bloody changeling, because you think it might know something?” He huffed, grinning maniacally. “Oh, bloody brilliant! How could this possibly go wrong? Barrels of fun, it’ll be, when it runs off to its cronies and tells ‘em exactly where we are!”
Twilight didn’t falter, walking over to me. She tapped the ring on my horn with a hoof. "This ring right here has a tracking enchantment. The changeling can't go anywhere without me knowing." She looked back at Pathfinder. "If it ever does run away, it won't get twenty feet before I blast it to smithereens."
“Oh sure,” he scoffed, “sounds good and all. But I’m telling you this right now: once you get whatever information it is you’re looking for, you better get rid of the changeling, quickly. Or it will happen, love. Mark my words.” Pathfinder gave me a look of disdain, one similar to Twilight’s.
"I just explained exactly why it won't happen," Twilight grumbled.
Crystal cleared her throat. "Say, Pathfinder, why are you out here anyways? This is a bit far from where you're supposed to be."
He managed to snatch his gaze away from me and to Crystal. “Well, I was plannin’ to stay where I was, but then I saw myself with a bunch of changelings walking over towards here,” he chattered. “Didn’t think much of it at first, other than, you know, the fact one of them looked like me, but then, I just got this feelin’, you know? Like I was going to find you lot if I followed them.” He scratched his head. “Probably shouldn’t have realized that thirty minutes after the fact, though.”
"Were those the only changelings you saw?" Twilight inquired.
"Uh, yeah, as far as I know. Haven't really seen too many of them around; guess they're all too busy invadin’ whole cities to be frolicking about White Tail Woods."
Twilight paced around, thinking. "Alright, so that means the group from before were the only changelings – well, other than that one," she gestured towards me, "– around.”
Pathfinder raised an eyebrow. "You ran into them?”
“Well, they more so ran into us, but yes,” Twilight confirmed. “They must have spotted me earlier while I was out getting breakfast. Probably looking for one of their own.” She glared at me with the last sentence, making me cringe internally. She broke away. “Whatever the case, they’re all dead now, so they won’t be a problem anymore.”
Pathfinder gawked. “Wait, you killed them? All of them?”
“Uh, yeah. I’m sure that’s essentially what I said.”
“Bloody hell,” he mouthed. “Sure is a bad day to be a changeling with you around.” Out of the corner my eye. I saw Crystal biting her lip, looking at me concerningly.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Probably is, but enough about that. We should figure out where to go next right now, since we’re all back together.” She reached into her saddlebags, floating out a map. She unrolled it, kicking a twig aside with her hoof before laying the map flat on the ground.
Pathfinder thought. “How about that house you lot were stayin’ in?”
"No," Twilight said, "sooner or later, the dead changelings' friends will notice they're missing. And that's the first place they'll go." She inspected the map closely. "We need to go somewhere else. Somewhere out of sight."
He reeled back. “Well, there aren’t really any places to go to then, aren’t there?”
She said nothing.
“I mean, Canterlot’s gone, Ponyville just got bucked in the arse, and they sure as Tartarus won’t be the last ones to go. It’s all lost!”
Twilight still didn't respond, staring at the map, her eyes darting left to right, scanning it.
He waved a hoof dismissively. “But no matter. You’re the brilliant Twilight Sparkle, right? You always got a plan, you’ll figure something out.”
Twilight sunk, shaking her head lightly. "I don't know," she muttered.
"Oh, rubbish! Come on, you gotta have somethin’!"
"I DON’T KNOW!" she snapped. Everybody stopped, looking at her.
"I don't know," she repeated.
“I don’t get it,” Pathfinder whispered to Crystal, “was it something I said?”
Crystal gave him a look, walking over to Twilight and placing a sympathetic hoof on her. “Are you okay, Twilight?”
Twilight’s ears drooped, immediately shaking it off. "Stop it," she spat, tensing. Crystal stepped aside, taken aback. Twilight sunk down again, looking at the floor with tired eyes.
It was raining. The sky was dark and gray, sun hidden behind the clouds. The mud felt noticeably soft and wet beneath my hooves, even through the numbness.
"Here it is." Pathfinder flew up towards the mouth of a cave, carved into the cliff face above. "Might be a bit of a climb," he shouted through the rain from above, "but I think it's doable enough. Watch your step!”
Earlier, Twilight had decided that the only thing we could do is hide away somewhere in the forest until she came up with a better plan. As it turned out, Pathfinder had, as he put it, “the perfect hiding spot.”
“There’s a cave near White Tail Hills that I’ve been staying in for the past couple days,” he had said. “We could go there.”
We embarked towards our destination shortly after, with Pathfinder leading the way alongside Twilight. Pathfinder turned out to be rather jumpy, always hearing a stick snapping from behind, or some rustling in the bushes, only for it turning out to be nothing but a harmless animal minding its own business, or even purely his own imagination.
"Well, I'll tell you this: that sparrow was definitely giving me a funny look," he said on one particular occasion.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Or, you’re just being paranoid.”
“Yeah, you’re one to talk,” he mumbled.
Crystal paid no attention. She had a habit, I noticed, of drifting away from the outside world. For the most part, she kept to herself throughout much of the trip. Sometimes, however, she snuck the occasional glance at me. Stared, as if she were trying to figure something out. And then, as I turned towards her, quickly looked away. I would've been concerned, but Pathfinder had been doing the exact same thing at least twice as much, so I tried to ignore it.
“So, what is it with you, anyway?”
I blinked. Who said that? Are they talking to me?
“Come on now, wake up, yea? I’m talking to you here,” Pathfinder said, his head already turned around, looking right at me.
“Me?” I asked.
“Yeah, you! Ever since I saw ya, you’ve only said like three words. What’s your story?”
“I don’t remember, quite honestly,” I responded.
“What do you bloody mean you ‘don’t remember’?”
Crystal spoke up, "He has amnesia."
He paused. "Really? Did it tell you that? You gonna go ahead and take the changeling’s word for it now, huh?”
“I examined him myself. I don’t need to take his word for it,” she quipped.
Pathfinder scoffed. “Oh, that’s right. You’re the doctor here, aren’t you?”
It started raining shortly after that, mere minutes before we reached White Tail Hills.
“You comin’ or what?” Pathfinder shouted, snapping me out of my thoughts. My head jerked upwards towards him. Twilight and Crystal had already made it up there, standing by his side.
I surveyed the path to the cave, a small, sloped ledge on the cliff face that started at the ground and led upwards. The entrance to the cave itself was far up, about two stories above the ground. The ledge leading to it wasn't too steep, although it was rather narrow near the bottom.
“Well? Come on, then! Fly up here!” he said.
“It can’t fly,” Twilight stated. “I put an anti-flight enchantment on the ring. It’ll just have to climb.”
I moved to the lower end of the ledge, placing my hooves on it one by one. I slowly shimmied alongside the cliff face, raindrops pelting my face as I made my way upwards. I did not dare look down, even though I didn’t think I was particularly scared of heights. It took some time to reach the top, but the ledge thankfully did grow wider up there, allowing me to move faster as I went on.
Pathfinder groaned as I arrived. “Could you move any slower?” He walked through the cave entrance, which was only a little bigger than myself.
There was a bright purplish-blue light coming from inside the cave. As I turned right to walk in, I quickly found out that they were actually two different lights coming from the tips of Twilight and Crystal’s horns – one purple, one blue. The unicorns were standing by a wall, where they had set down their saddlebags.
“Well, it isn’t exactly prime real estate, but here we are,” Pathfinder said, feeling his hooves against a large natural rock formation on one side of the cave. "You know, I've always wondered what these rock icicles were for."
"You mean stalactites and stalagmites?" Twilight said nonchalantly.
He turned around, befuddled. "What?"
"Stalactites and stalagmites," she repeated. "The former forms from the cave's ceiling and the latter forms on the ground."
"Well, what's the bloody difference? They look like icicles, they're made out of rock; they're rock icicles!"
She pushed her hoof into her face, groaning. "I just told you the difference- oh forget it.” She floated a green book, A Guide to Living in the Wilderness, by River Creek, as it was titled, out of her saddlebags, sitting down against the wall. I noted that the book wasn’t drenched at all, despite the rain.
Ah. The saddlebags are waterproof, aren’t they?
Pathfinder scoffed. “Of bloody course you’d be readin’ right now.”
Twilight peered at him from behind the covers. “The information contained within this book could save our lives, you know,” she chided.
Crystal reached into her saddlebags, levitating out a pen and looking up at Twilight. “But, Twilight, you already read every last book in your saddlebags, front to back. You told me yourself two days ago.”
“Always helps to refresh,” Twilight replied. “And it’s not like there’s much else left to do, anyway.”
“Well, I guess so, but...“
“But what?”
Crystal looked down in defeat. “Nevermind.” She pulled out a small brown book, also dry, with a tiny lock on it. She fiddled with the three dials of the lock with her magic, putting in the combination. The lock clicked.
“What are you about to write in that now?” asked Pathfinder.
“Nothing,” she said. Crystal walked over to the corner furthest away from the entrance, sitting down.
“Yeah right, ‘nothing’. You write in there right about as much as Twilight reads!”
“I said it’s nothing,” Crystal grumbled, opening the book.
Pathfinder rolled his eyes. “Always so protective of the bloody thin’, too.” He lied down on the floor, staring up at the stalactites on the ceiling.
Crystal took a breath, flipping through the pages and then stopping, readying her pen. She frowned. Hesitated. And then closed the book, setting it down with the pen before staring off into space yet again. The rain continued to fall from outside, providing some background noise to fill in the odd silence that followed.
“You’re still standing there?” Pathfinder seethed. “Sit down, already!” His head was off the floor, looking right at me. My face went red hot as I walked over to the same wall Crystal and Twilight were on. Pathfinder lied back down, muttering, “Luna, you buckin’ creep me out.”
I sat somewhere against the middle of the wall, looking around at the cave. It was well-sized, with plenty of space. Maybe under half the area of a typical gymnasium. The ceiling, which lay home to dozens upon dozens of stalactites, was a few meters high. My eye caught Twilight staring at me menacingly from a few feet away, the purple light from her horn making me squint. It didn’t seem like she wanted me there.
I stood back up, scooting as far away from her as I could, which led me to Crystal.
Crystal took note of my presence, snapping out of the daze she was in. “Oh, hello there,” she greeted.
“Hi,” I said back, sitting down next to her.
“You doing alright?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I replied.
She paused, giving me the very same look she had given me countless times when we were traveling to White Tail Hills. She looked away, thoughtfully glancing at the stalactites up on the ceiling, which glistened from the blue light emanating from Crystal’s horn. "I'm sorry. About everything," she said.
I turned to face her, squinting from the light again. A sympathetic expression was on her face. “What do you mean?”
"Well, it must have been absolutely terrible for you these last few days. Waking up, not knowing who you are, where you are..."
I said nothing, looking away.
"...How do you do it?" she asked.
I looked back. "Do what?"
"You've spent the whole walk over here with this unusually calm look on your face, like nothing's bothering you. You’re even doing it right now. How?"
My mind froze. She was right, I realized. How was I being so calm about this? I didn’t know what was going on at all. I didn’t even know my own name. I should’ve been panicking right then and there...
...So why wasn’t I?
“Well...“ I started, without having a concrete answer. “I guess, well, you know. Why panic?"
"Why panic," she echoed, gandering back at the stalactites on the ceiling. She frowned again. “You make it sound so easy.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“I don’t know. Ever since the changelings showed up, everything’s been so... depressing.” She picked the brown book back up and locked it. Set it down again, thoughtfully glancing at it. “You know I’m a doctor, right?”
I nodded. “I might’ve guessed.”
“Do you know why I became one?”
“No. Why?”
She cleared her throat. “I wanted to help those that couldn’t help themselves, maybe even save their lives. I knew that’s what I wanted even before I got my cutie mark, help ponies like that in some way.”
“Cutie mark... you mean the doves on your flank?” I inquired.
“Yeah. They symbolize my desire to help others. I’ve always wanted that.” She frowned. “But... then Canterlot happened. And all I’ve ever seen since then are ponies and changelings dying all around me. And the fact that I can’t possibly ever hope to save all of them, it just...” A tear streaked down her cheek, her nose sniffling. I started feeling the slightest bit uncomfortable.
And then, suddenly, she brightened. “And then, I found you. The one pony that I could save.”
“But I’m not a pony,” I objected.
“Well, I don’t care what anypony else thinks. Besides, you’re more than that to me. You’re the only one that gives me hope.” She smiled. “Thank you.”
I shifted around, my face turning hot again. “You’re welcome, I guess.”
Crystal blushed herself. “Oh, sorry. I-I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.”
“Oh, no, it’s fine, don’t worry about it,” I assured.
“No, I really am sorry. I’ll just... stop talking right now,” she said, glancing back up at the ceiling sadly.
I looked at her for a moment before letting out a sigh, staring outside at the rain.
I was still awake, but everyone else was fast asleep, the cave pitch black. The only noises being the crickets in the forest and what I thought was Pathfinder’s snoring. There was no rain to be heard, having stopped soon after the night fell down upon us.
I lied on the floor, rubbing the back of my neck, feeling the webbed fins that ran up to the top of my head. I reached over to my rear and felt my tail, which was also webbed but felt a bit smoother.
I sighed. What am I doing? I rolled over on my side, closing my eyes. I waited a while, but I simply didn’t feel tired enough. So I opened my eyes back up again. The stars were out, but I could only catch a small patch of the night sky from inside the cave. With nothing else better to do, I gandered at them as I pondered the day’s events.
The whole world seemed to be in turmoil, that much was obvious, and it all seemed to be because of the changelings.
The changelings...
That’s what I was, right? So why didn’t I know anything about them? All I knew is that they can disguise themselves and that they seemed to be rather dangerous. Why were they after us, anyways? Crystal mentioned that Twilight was ‘important to them’. I could’ve seen that, considering she had killed eight of them, all without breaking a sweat. And since we were all following her wherever she went, we’re part of the problem, too. She was a threat. A major threat. And even then, I conspired that I was yet to see just how much of a threat she really was.
But where do I fit into all of this, exactly?
With my memory still gone, that was the only thing that I couldn’t have possibly hoped to have figured out.
It took some time before I was able to fall asleep.
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I'm currently looking for prereaders. If anyone's interested, send me a message or make a reply to this comment.
I would love to proof read your new chapters. I really like what you have so far, I just hope you stick to it. There isn’t anything more sad than an unfinished story. (Especially when it’s a really good one.) Message me any details and in-depth info on what your looking for.
I look forward to the next chapter. Hope it comes soon.
It might not be prime real-estate but at least-i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/021/311/free.jpg
10042529
Yeah it'll come "soon" (tm)
10042782
Exquisite meme, my dude. I like it.
10042834
Thanks :)
10042529
I have about 20 quotes i rotate, some sexual, some not.
I always give the Author credit. The Author is Reykan The story..........is..........Give me a second
Twisted Fate
The Monk
“To say that Twilight Sparkle went bugfuck would be like saying the Incredible Hulk had some mild anger management issues.” -DustTraveller
Wow, this is really interesting, especially the detachment he has for the other changelings. It must be throwing the others for a loop. I can’t wait to read more about this world and see where it goes! :)
10090468
Honestly, I can't wait to see where it all goes, either. I do have some things that I know I want to happen eventually, but I'm more so figuring it all out as I go along.
Good to see that you're enjoying it so far!
Hmm, you have my attention. Looking forwards to more.
10106926
Appreciate it :)
I've said this before and I'll say it again: Stories with only one dislike don't deserve that dislike and whoever disliked it is an asshole
10112922
Eh, I just want to know why it was disliked in the first place. If there's a problem with the story, I'd ought to know what it is so that it can be amended. Otherwise, all the dislike tells me is that someone didn't like it for some unknown reason, which doesn't tell me much.
10112963
Or that they're an asshole. ;)
10112967
That's always a possibility, I guess.
I just wanted to make that one guy feel like less of an asshole.
10121687
Alright, I thought you might have been a troll at first, but on the off chance that you're not, is there anything you didn't like about the story?
10123134
No man, I was just messing around. Though I'm not going to change the dislike purely for the sake of the troll. Just imagine that one of those downvotes will always be an upvote. I like the concept of a changeling (who's actually a human) not remembering anything about who or what he is, and think so far you're doing it pretty well. Can't wait to see where you take this story and I look forward to your next update, my good sir.
10123240
Thank you! In all fairness, you did rustle my jimmies a lil' there. Took a bit of willpower to not respond.
Interesting Alt. HiE story so far, I do like that the Human is a changeling, and technically part of the 'winning side' but in the confusion of the situation makes it so that he his a captive of the resistance(being generous here) with an embittered Twilight that seems to hate his guts for good reason, but still doesn't just leave him alive but actually take care of him, just because he survived so magical phenomenon; I call bullshit and their is more to it even if Twilight wouldn't admit it herself.
I am easily guessing that this Crystal is actually Chrysalises, and is specifically following , but I wonder what she does the work herself instead of some other drone, so she has some keen interest in observing Twilight herself, and let her escape ambushes meant for her.
I can't wait to see when the guy will find some of his identity again, and which side he will pick when the chips are down, especially seeing how dickish Twilight has been with him. From the looks of things, her doesn't identify much with the changelings and it was lucky that Twilight found him before the changelings.
Also if you are looking to get a cover art for you story, I am open for commissions if you are interested in getting one for yourself. You can look up my DA gallery in the link bellow, you can PM if ever you have the chance. good luck on your story.
https://www.deviantart.com/amalgamzaku
10129423
Very interesting theory, but I will neither confirm nor deny it.
Yeah, the cover art could definitely be better, but I'm not really willing to pay anyone just to improve it.
10129423
Also, what exactly is "Alt. HiE" and what seperates it from regular HiE? That's the first time I've ever seen that term being used.
10129529
It's more of a personal term I use for a 'Human in Equestria' that happens in an alternate reality where the it has the same cannon characters but doesn't follow the shows continuum; 'Praise the Sun' is a good example of that Where Equestria is ruled over by a tyrant Celestia and the main protagonist wants to fix everything to fit the cannon show.
10129747
I see.
*Nods sagely.*
Ah, yes. A former human. Of course.
10334012
OR IS HE?
10334565
Dun
DUN
DUNNNN